As long as I can remember, [costs] continually increased. Periodically, we switched plans to mitigate some of the expense. We probably switched plans four different times in the past 10 years.

When I was 5 years old, my mother read me 'Gone With The Wind' at night, before I went to bed. I remember her reading almost all year.

I don't know how we can sustain these increased costs.

Though Nathalie Dupree did not remember much about my presence in her class, it marked me forever. I remain her enthusiast, her evangelist, her acolyte, and her grateful student. She taught me that cooking and storytelling make the most delightful coconspirators.

We have to continually buck the tide of increasing costs.

A laugh, if purchased at the expense of propriety, costs too much.