To write a book about improvisation is partly a contradiction in terms. Improvisation is spontaneous. It's in the moment.

Confit is the ultimate comfort food, and trendy or not, it is dazzling stuff.

Using lots of fresh foods, fruits and vegetables, helps to keep the menu buoyant - I don't know if that's the right word, but it keeps a balance of freshness and health.

I also think it's very important to consider how the food will feel to the person eating it.

Generally a chef's book is like a calling card or a portfolio to display their personal work.

But all that being said about modulation, if you're serving people delicious food, they won't complain.

I was working in restaurants as a captain and as a waiter.

I'm a serious eater and a seriously hungry person, so I set out on that path to figure it out for myself, and of course it really resonated with other people.

A lot of people who want to cook with less fat are surprised by that. You can cook vegetables in a little water in a covered pan and then throw the fat into the residual liquid to coat them.

You don't have to stick with these recipes. They're guides. As I say, they're a way in. Have fun with them. It's an easier way to cook in a busy life, once you get the hang of it.

I was aiming for the cooks that I've talked to by teaching an online course and by traveling, listening to people who are really busy and harried but want to be cooking.

If you think of something, do it.Plenty of people often think, “I’d like to do this, or that.

When you love nature, it always loves you back with the fragrance of flowers.

Scorsese, Spielberg, Tarantino, Peter Jackson - all of you: I'm here, I'm ready. I can do funny faces, I can sing, I can dance. Hire me!

Think what you want, this is what we are.

Presence is when you're no longer waiting for the next moment, believing that the next moment will be more fulfilling than this one.

You'll never meet a nicer person, let alone a nicer actress, than Mary Steenburgen.

I was always the child who wore her emotions on her sleeve.

Lies don't fix things. They don't even make things easier, at least not in the long run. Best to tell the truth and then clean up an honest mess.

I didn’t go up there to die. I went up there to live.

Sometimes when you're making songs you just make sounds, and the sounds slowly mutate and evolve into actual words that have meaning.