Casseroles are one-pot-wonders!

My plans are not to open a restaurant, but what I would like to do is open a kitchen somewhere in D.C. proper and have a chef's table where people can come and taste my food without having to have a catered event.

The biggest challenge of being a pastry chef is that, unlike other types of chefs, you can’t throw things together at a farmer’s market. When you’re working with baking powder and a formula, you have to be exact. If not, things can go wrong.

If you’re not in a good mood, the only thing you should make is a reservation.

I say no to nothing, yes to moderation. Thats how I approach everything. No matter if its candy or foie gras. When you have the real deal, youre satisfied with that one bite. I say go full throttle and call it a day.

I lost my mother two years ago to cancer. But the greatest gift she gave to me was showing me how to be a wonderful and loving mom to my two sons, even now that they are grown men.

When I first started cooking, I was very much an intuitive cook when it came to taste, but that didn't mean I didn't want to know why some things worked and why others did not. My interest took me to culinary school.

I went to L'Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and I think French cooking is the basis for a lot of classical cuisine, a foundation of a lot of other cuisines. That said, it's not the only way to approach a cooking career.

I was in Paris, Milan and London from '89 until '91, and I did mostly runway modeling. I know there's so many people out there looking for pictures, but this was way before the age of the Internet, sorry!

When people around me are getting rattled, I may just close my eyes and do a breathing exercise.