"When I was in college, I used to write little ditties and short stories and poetry for my friends. Writing a book is another thing. It is so much different from my traditional day of dirty fingernails and greasy hair and hot pans."

"The kitchen really is the castle itself. This is where we spend our happiest moments and where we find the joy of being a family."

"We would load up the yellow Cutlass Supreme station wagon and pick blackberries during blackberry season or spring onions during spring onion season. For us, food was part of the fabric of our day."

"Everyone makes pesto in a food processor. But the texture is better with a mortar and pestle, and it's just as fast."

"I told my father I had to try political science for a year. He thought I was throwing my life away."

"I dreaded having a boring life when I grew up. And I certainly can't complain about being bored."

"People dance at any age."

"Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging."