I'm the only girl on The Food Network who grills - I have two bestselling grilling books. I try to really focus on what men and women can do outside together out on the grill. I think it's really fun to have men and women out there together having fun working and enjoying themselves.

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.

When I do a 30-minute meal for instance on Food Network that's my food you see at the end of the show and it's not perfect. And if sometimes things break or drop or the pasta hits the wall when I'm draining it they never stop tape. They just kind of let me go with it.

People come up to me all the time and say 'Oh I love to watch Food Network ' and I ask them what they cook and they say 'I don't really cook.' They're afraid they're intimidated they know all about food from eating out and watching TV but they don't know where to start in their own kitchen.

Don't try to be the next Rachael Ray or Bobby Flay we already have those people. We want someone who is going to make their own mark on 'Food Network.'

Nobody believed the 'Food Network' could last. Even I was short sighted and thought to myself 24 hours of food on TV? They'll run out of things to talk about in four days! But that wasn't true. 'Food Network' continues to get better and evolve.

'The Food Network' was just starting in New York and I was getting lots of attention from Mesa Grill. They had no money so if you couldn't get there by subway you couldn't be on. It wasn't like TV was something I really wanted to do - but I knew it would be great publicity for my restaurants.

I was at a party and some squiggly looking dude with a bow tie came up and said 'How'd you like to be on TV?' Turns out he was the programming guy at the Food Network. They had me come into the office and I did a 'Ready Set Cook' with Emeril Lagasse I believe.

My Food Network shows 'Emeril Live' and 'Essence of Emeril ' are not in production right now but I wouldn't say that I'm necessarily leaving Food Network. I have a lot of television still in me. I enjoy teaching people so it's just a matter of time before I do something new.

You want to put out a TV show? If you have the money to do it on your own by yourself and you have a TV network you can do it by yourself. But the nature of the beast is art needs finance. That's how this industry works. So until the Internet becomes our source of entertainment - and watch it I believe it will - this is how things go.