The thing about all my food is that everything is a remembered flavor. Maybe it's something I had as a child or maybe it's something I had in Milan, but I want it to taste better than you ever thought.

The most important thing for having a party is that the hostess is having fun. I'm very organized. I make a plan for absolutely everything. I never have anything that has to be cooked while the guests are there. The only thing I might have to do is take something out of the oven and carve it.

You don't have to do everything from scratch. Nobody wants to make puff pastry!

They say that gardens look better when they are created by loving gardeners rather than by landscapers, because the garden is more tended to and cared for. The same thing goes for cooking. I only cook for people I love.

If you think about a Thanksgiving dinner, it's really like making a large chicken.

My extravagance is my garden - it's the first thing I look at every morning when I wake up. It gives me so much pleasure.