I was never afraid of failure after that because I think coming that close to death you get kissed. With the years the actual experience of course fades but the flavor of it doesn't. I just had a real sense of what choice do I have but to live fully?

If you look over the years the styles have changed - the clothes the hair the production the approach to the songs. The icing to the cake has changed flavors. But if you really look at the cake itself it's really the same.

Pastry is different from cooking because you have to consider the chemistry beauty and flavor. It's not just sugar and eggs thrown together. I tell my pastry chefs to be in tune for all of this. You have to be challenged by using secret or unusual ingredients.

My contribution I hope is to get people to eat full-flavored food. If I could come away with that alone that would be a fantastic accomplishment. I'm also very proud of being a very American chef.

We incorporated new tastes and flavors into our kids' diets from a very early age which helped to develop their palates and prevented them from becoming picky eaters. We don't buy junk food and give them options of fresh fruit yogurt raw almonds or dried whole grain cereals for snack time.

With the song 'This Christmas' I wanted to do something that was kind of different. I mean Donny Hathaway is an amazing artist. So I wanted to bring my flavor to the song so when people over the age of 45 or 50 hear it they'll be like 'OK he did his thing with that record.' It's like I can appeal to everybody and not just a younger demographic.