Give me 26 lead soldiers and I will conquer the world.
I have a Madonna portrait done in the style of a Russian icon. My mother, the chef Lidia Bastianich, and I bought it together. It reminds me of her.
The pressure, the heat, the almost impossibly fast pace at which you need work - this is the reality of working in the culinary industry. This is what professional chefs do night after night.
There are certain things that make restaurants work and a certain kind of DNA that people who excel in restaurants need. But it's a lot like life, in the sense that you get out of it what you put into it.
Working in a restaurant means being part of a family, albeit usually a slightly dysfunctional one. Nothing is accomplished independently.
The general manager is kind of like the step into darkness when you reach the top of the league. As GM, you're responsible for everything, including the maitre d's and the sommeliers - all these people who have their own agendas. But you probably make less than the maitre d' and have a lot more work and a lot more headaches.
At home, I make a large batch of tomato sauce and freeze it in meal-size portions in freezer bags.
As a musician, you want the music in as many hands as you can get it into. More importantly, I want people to get the music for the fairest price, and in the most convenient way. And that's really turned into iTunes when you're talking about selling albums.
It's not the troubles we run into, it's what we do about them which determines their net effect upon our lives. . . by the very act of trying, our spirit is making progress.
I receive Thee ransom of my soul. For love of Thee have I studied and kept vigil toiled preached and taught.
I love movies that make me cry, because they're tapping into a real emotion in me, and I always think afterwards: how did they do that?