I was once made honorary mayor of my hometown of Newark, Del.

The homeland is secure when the hometown is secure.

I didn't go to university. I didn't go to culinary school, barely made it through high school.

When I was a kid and my mom made tomato soup, she would cut buttered toast into squares and float them on top of each bowl.

In my 'Big Dinners' cookbook, I recreated my mother's recipe for crab dip. The creamy dressing for this dip, made with mayonnaise, tomato paste, a touch of honey, sliced chives, lemon juice and zest, horseradish and Tabasco, is reminiscent of Thousand Island dressing.

In terms of scorekeeping, I think the mayor did well. He was firm, feisty, aggressive, and he showed a side of him that New Yorkers might want to see more of.