I think the most wonderful thing in the world is another chef. I'm always excited about learning new things about food.

The wonderful thing about Food for Thought is that it lets you keep your hand in theater and be in front of a live audience without a commitment of six months or even three months.

My late wife Olympia was Goan and I've been to India many times. I love the food there. We used to do our shopping in Southall where you can find cheap but wonderful fruit like mangoes vegetables and spices. I didn't do much of the cooking as Olympia did a lot - I was the under-chef and did some of the chopping.

Sandwiches are wonderful. You don't need a spoon or a plate!

When I was in fourth grade... this wonderful teacher said you didn't have to write a book report you could just talk about the book you could do a drawing of the book you could write a play inspired by the book and that's what I did. I got to be so famous. I had to go around to every school and perform it. It was just so natural and fun.

To put it simply - you know a lot of people believe that the benefit of this job is fame and fortune. I believe that you pay for the fortune through the fame. I don't buy into the notion that being famous is somehow a good thing or an exciting thing or a wonderful thing.

We had such a wonderful set of circumstances in Wilmington. Yes the four of us became famous literally overnight but we were in a small town and we always knew when people were coming down. We always knew when to behave.

I was lucky. My family is wonderful. And it's funny because most of my best friends come from very large families. So it always felt as if I had lots of siblings though in the end I had to leave them and go home. I kind of got the best of both worlds as a kid.

It's a little known fact that one in three family pets gets lost during its lifetime and approximately 9 million pets enter shelters each year. That's why it's a wonderful thing to get your pet microchipped and registered with your contact information because then they can be located and the owners can track where their pets are.

Of course I will continue to share my favorite Southern recipes just like my mama grandmother and family shared with me over the years. And now I'll be adding a little bit of a lighter touch to some of these wonderful dishes.