Chef

Every once in a while, I want to get up and cook.

I didn't cook that much as a kid. My mother was cooking, and I was her helper. We made dishes together.

My reasons for becoming a chef are somewhat of a cliche. I always loved to eat but it was watching my parents cook that really served as the impetus for my career choice.

I think I will never stop having mentors.

I didn't harbor a huge desire to become a chef until I graduated from college.

I like all of McClure's pickles, but my personal favorites are the spicy ones.

The hardest thing for me is restraint. I see fresh beans and ramps, and I start to quiver.

I didn't want to write a cheffy cookbook with dehydrated ham chips.

I like Bobby Flay's attitude and his approach towards food. I think he's just passionate and very honest. I find him very honest about food and cooking and ingredients and I admire that because I think that it's easy to get away from that for various reasons.

I love watching a single pork chop seasoned with garlic and shallots cook and see the fat bubble around it.

We have to get out there and explain that imperfect tastes just as good.

'Iron Chef America' is so real. Imagine putting on television the whole process of making that food, the technique. It's all about technique. It doesn't even matter if you show the faces sometimes.

I exercise at a great gym and do dance classes mixed with some calisthenics. I really enjoy that because it reminds me of '80s aerobics. It's fun! I also bike ride, or sometimes I swim. Because I stand a lot, I don't really like to walk long distances. Running or jogging is out of the question.

When we eat something at a restaurant, however simple it may look, there's something in it that makes you think, 'Well, I couldn't quite do this from home.'

I have a daughter who has taught me a lot along the way.

People don't take enough advantage of the refrigerator door.

If you're making a salad of any kind, cut the herbs, stems and all, and toss them into your mixed greens salad, a Romaine salad, iceberg, Bibb - it just adds a special touch.

My mom is a self-taught home cook, so books that offer guidelines on how to organize menus are critical to 'cook from the book' people like her.

I think we love bacon because it has all the qualities of an amazing sensory experience. When we cook it, the sizzling sound is so appetizing, the aroma is maddening, the crunch of the texture is so gratifying and the taste delivers every time.

If you want to have a relationship, at some point you have to let yourself get caught. That's what I did. I got caught.