When The Idea Of 'chopped' Surfaced, It

You Know The Great Irony Is That People Think You Have To Have Money To Enjoy Fine Food, Which Is A Shame.

I Had A Little Epiphany When I Was A Writer At 'chicago' Magazine. I Sat Down To Dinner At The Ritz-carlton. Somebody Poured A White Dessert Wine With Chocolate Cake. It Was A Wine I Would Never Have Expected To Make Sense. The Idea Of Any Wine Tasting Fabulous With Chocolate Cake Was Fascinating To Me.

People Who Hardly Ever Cook At All, Suddenly At The Holidays, Feel Like It's Their Responsibility To Not Only Cook Dinner For Large Groups Of People Suddenly, But To Serve Things That Are Fussy Or Fancy Or Formal. And I Don't Think That's What Anybody Really Wants, Especially If You're Not Good At It.

To Me, The Kitchen Is A Place Of Adventure And Entirely Fun, Not Drudgery. I Can't Think Of Anything Better To Do With Family And Friends Than To Be Together To Create Something.

The Best Way To Learn Is Live, In Person, Cooking, Feeling, Smelling And Tasting, But Tv Is The Second-best Thing To That; It's A Halfway Facsimile.