Southeast Asia food uses many different types of spices which are quite new to me like the curry leaves which I saw at the Kreta Ayer wet market in Chinatown. With such spices used in cooking this usually imparts a strong aroma to Southeast Asian food which appeals to the senses.

I think there is a real misconception about Indian food being super spicy. And I know that's because when you go into an Indian restaurant it is pretty spicy. But it doesn't have to be. In fact my husband can't handle a lot of heat. I've had to temper my cooking so that he can eat with me.

Whatever I'm doing I'm in that moment and I'm doing it. The rest of the world's lost. If I'm cooking some food or making soup I want it to be lovely. If not what's the point of doing it?

When I said a few weeks ago that our people would eat cooking oil and olives if necessary I didn't mean that there really would be only oil and olives. What I meant was that our people have the necessary patience to endure the current difficult situation. Palestinians would rather do without certain food items than their national rights.

In '71 or '72 I returned to New Orleans and stayed there. I started cooking Louisiana food. Of all the things I had cooked it was the best-and it was my heritage.

Taste as you go. When you taste the food throughout the cooking process you can make adjustments as you go.

My sisters like cooking at my place. It has a bit more room and the food tastes a little bit better. A big pot of spaghetti and sauce some warm French bread - works all the time. I think I've been eating pasta for 26 years.

This June I'll travel once again to the Food and Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen Colorado. For many years my dear friend Julia Child and I have teamed up to teach classes together at the event for the past seven years my daughter Claudine has been my cooking partner on stage.

I taped my first series for PBS in 1982 at WJCT-TV in Jacksonville Florida. The show called 'Everyday Cooking with Jacques Pepin ' was about saving time and money in the kitchen - and it was a celebration of simple and unpretentious food.

When I came to the Food Network I didn't want to do a cooking show. I told Kathleen Finch for nine months I didn't want to do a cooking show I wanted to do a home-and-garden show.