If you weren’t a pastry chef, what would you be doing?
I’d either be arranging flowers, a working artist or art teacher, or a performing musician like the rest of my family.
What was the experience of having your own cooking show on Food Network like?
Like nothing else really. It was so exciting and such a pleasure to be able to teach that way. I loved going to New York to tape 30 shows in 2 weeks, I loved writing 90 new recipes for every season, I loved the staff, the intensity, the hair and make up (!), the predictable work hours compared to my kitchen life, the guest chefs I got to have on my show (Bobby Flay, Marcus Samuelson, Emily Luchetti, Ina Pinkney, etc.) the increased book sales, being a part of the Food Network Family (with Emeril, Mario, Sarah, Paula, Padma, etc.) and just getting into so many people’s homes to cook with them. I became a part of so many people’s lives without me even knowing it, and now over the last 12 years, I’m meeting them all everywhere I go to cook.
In your opinion, what is the best recipe you ever created? What inspired the recipe?
Right now it would be President Obama. I would love to do a pie tasting for him.
What is your best advice for those looking to succeed in your industry?
Always answer all your mail, return all your phone calls and say “thank you”…and always wear comfortable shoes. And learn to say “Yes chef!” when you are first starting out, no matter what (well almost no matter what) they ask you to do.
Who is the coolest customer you have ever had?
Maybe Robin Williams, though Michael Jordan and Carol Burnett were pretty great too…and President Clinton. Once I got to help with a luncheon at Winsor for the Royal Family when I lived in London. And then there was Julia Child…why do you ask such HARD questions?
Which of your cookbooks is your favorite and why?
That’s like asking which one of my children is my favorite! But if I had to choose I’d say “Butter Sugar Flour Eggs” for the recipes (that’s the most stained one of my books in my kitchen) but “Gale Gand‘s Brunch” for the photography and design.
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