I think times have changed so much that women are willing to buy a home rather than wait to get married and then to buy a home.

Women feel and look different without men around.

People have more fun if they don't eat so much they have to be taken home in an ambulance.

I learned that the hardest party to pull off successfully is Saturday night dinner. This meal is expected to be elaborate: appetizers, first course, dinner, dessert, and coffee. People arrive at 7:30 or 8 p.m. and stay for hours - definitely past my bedtime - and they all go home exhausted.

When I wrote 'Barefoot in Paris,' I wanted to make simple recipes that you could make at home that tasted like French classics.

We are friendly to the female shopper, while Home Depot is contractor friendly. Women like the look of Lowe's, the ease of finding what they want, the cleanliness. And women are the ones making the decisions about what carpet to buy and what color to paint the rooms, so why not make it pleasant for them?