The American Dream is ownership … a house, a car, a vacation home and, even better, your own business

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.

There are pockets of great food in Spain, but there are also pockets of very mediocre food in Spain, and the same in Morocco and the same in Croatia and the same in Germany and the same in Austria.

If you want your kids to listen to you, don't yell at them. Whisper. Make them lean in. My kids taught me that. And I do it with adults now.

I come from an Italian family. One of the greatest and most profound expressions we would ever use in conversations or arguments was a slamming door. The slamming door was our punctuation mark.

When I was a child, our whole family cooked. All my cousins cooked. All my aunts and uncles cooked. It was part of our heritage.

The passion of the Italian or the Italian-American population is endless for food and lore and everything about it.

I got some media coverage for using the tail, the ear, the oink.

Close your eyes and place your finger on a map. Wherever it lands, that's the theme of the evening. So many times we settle for routine dishes. This forces you to try new cuisines.

Chefs don't actually say 'That's a spicy meat-a-ball,' except to indicate that there's a bomb threat in the restaurant without alarming the customers. Terrorism is the spiciest meatball there is.

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.

Life is a test. A test of Character and Strength, experience is our study guide... so remember what you learn and more importantly-apply it.

You are always going to love him, " she said. " You're stuck with that.

Know your margins

Night is the mother of counsels.

Length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery.

I have tried therapy a couple of times, but it hasn't worked.

The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.

I think generally I'm a pretty good person if I had to grade myself. Or toot my own horn.

Don't be afraid to ask the 'dumb' question, everyone else will be relieved you had the guts to ask!

I'm currently working on a Mind Siege for youth.