What were your favorite foods growing up? Why?
Plain, I know, but they were bread and butter, probably because they were what my grandmother and great-grandmother would give me as a snack between meals. Also, my mother made delicious Pullman bread.

What are your least favorite foods? Why?
Caviar. I like it in very small doses.

When did you get interested in writing about food?
I was in college and first started reading restaurant reviews and food books like The Gastronomical Me.

If you didn't start your career as a food writer/editor/cookbook writer, what field would you have pursued?
I studied Finance, so maybe I'd have a lot more money by now. Hmm...

What are some tips you have for new food writers?
Cook and eat out as much as you can. Nothing can replace experience.

What are some recent dining and culinary trends you have been observing?
A parade of amuses bouches replacing the parade of petits fours. And chefs finding every last unfamiliar neighborhood in Brooklyn to open their groovy-but-serious restaurants. (See Vinegar Hill, a few questions below.)

What was the most challenging meal you've made? Why?
Probably turducken, which is a turkey that's stuffed with a duck that's stuffed with a chicken, and is layered with sausage. Talk about an assembly and timing challenge!

Do you have a signature dish?
Almond cake, a recipe from my mother-in-law (It's in one of my books, "Cooking for Mr. Latte.")

What are your favorite culinary weapons in the kitchen?
I like to use a bone-handled fork with thin tines because it's light and small and is useful for so many tasks, like checking the doneness of vegetables, turning meats, and testing cakes.

Which foreign country inspires your style most?
Italy, although I wish it were equally Laos and India.

Have you ever thought about opening a restaurant?
No. I really love dining out, and if you have a restaurant, that's usually the only one you frequent.

Do you like to cook at home? How often?
I love cooking, and for the past 5 years I've been working on a cookbook, so my kitchen has been super busy. For a while this summer I was making 20 recipes a week.

When you are not at home, where do you eat?
It depends. Next week, I'll be eating at Vinegar Hill and Insieme.

What are some good tips, tricks and techniques for home cooks?
Here are a few:
1. Always salt your pasta water generously -- it should taste like seawater.
2. And use the pasta water (after the pasta is in it) to thin your sauce -- the starch and salt are helpful components.
3. Any time a baking recipe calls for raisins, soak them in some kind of spirit (gin, bourbon, cognac, rum) for at least an hour before adding them to the recipe. I even add the soaked raisins to oatmeal -- a little kick-start to your day...
4. Double the salt in any old baking recipe.