I always have music. I love it to be very upbeat. When you’re having drinks, I like something like Cesaria Evora. During dinner, I like the much more traditional – old Frank Sinatra and things like that.
I love Alton Brown’s show ‘Good Eats,’ about the chemistry of food. It’s really thoughtful.
I always like to have flowers on the table. I think they make it look special.
All my life I dreamed of an apartment in Paris where I could cook, and now I have one, on the Left Bank.
When I thought my professional career was over, it hadn’t even started yet.
I get up every day, do the best that I can do, and go home and have a good time.
One of the great gifts that you can give people is to cook for them.
People have more fun if they don’t eat so much they have to be taken home in an ambulance.
I time everything. I’m a scientist at heart.
The thing about all my food is that everything is a remembered flavor. Maybe it’s something I had as a child or maybe it’s something I had in Milan, but I want it to taste better than you ever thought.
I’ve lived in the Hamptons since 1978, when I first bought my store Barefoot Contessa.
It’s so important that you don’t put the stuffing in the bird, where in order for the stuffing to get cooked you have to overcook the turkey. It’s better to do it on the side.
The planning is everything. Deciding which dishes you’re going to prepare can turn into the make-or-break decision five days later, when you actually serve the meal.
I think the best shortcut is to choose really simple recipes. Because I think you can make simple recipes that are as delicious as complicated ones.
Food is about nurturing: not only physical but also emotional nurturing.
I actually think that the food our mothers made may not be what we are nostalgic for. It’s more an emotional picture of a mother who was always there, knew what we needed, loved us, let us run free when we wanted to explore.
Cooking is one of the great gifts you can give to those you love. It says “you’re important enough to me to spend the time and effort to cook for you.
I’d like to think that when I invite friends to my house, they know what I’m really saying is, “I love you; come for dinner.
It doesn’t really matter what the occasion is – big or small – but it’s the connections that we have with people we love that nourish our souls. Entertaining isn’t just about making dinner parties. It’s about celebrating those connections and I think that’s what makes life worth living.
A good home should gather you up in its arms like a warm cashmere blanket, soothe your hurt feelings, and prepare you to go back out into that big bad world tomorrow all ready to fight the dragons.
Most of life’s problems can be solved with a good cookie.