Alex Guarnaschelli

I grew up in Midtown Manhattan.

I love it when a few simple ingredients come together on a plate, and I think, 'Wow, that's a dish.'

I grew up in a house where I was a spectator to the sport of cooking. In that way, I just learned so much about what it really takes to make food.

I've always been a great collector and lover of cookbooks.

Once you make a cookbook, you live with it as your own for the rest of your life, like a yearbook.

Sometimes I look up a recipe for chicken and tomatoes and end up cooking pork. The inspiration gets lost in translation.

Ganache is a mix of chocolate and cream. Warm cream, warm chocolate, they want to get to know each other - they're happy.

If it's not messy and it doesn't drip over the sides, it's not a holiday hot chocolate -it's just an average hot chocolate.

The best place to use vanilla beans is anywhere where they won't be mixed in with a million other flavors. Anything with dairy, yogurt, milk, cream, or eggs - any custard or flan - how can it be bad?

I've thrown vanilla beans into mustard. Nothing crazy or grainy, just normal dijon. It's great for duck. Smear some of that right on the duck, coupled with some roast plums, and it all comes together in that savory over sweet over savory over sweet way we all love.

To make fluffy scrambled eggs, the best trick is to whisk in a splash of water and nothing else. Cream, milk, and other liquids drag the eggs down!

Scrambled eggs are so simple, but they don't wait or taste better cold!

Part of health is variety!

I have a daughter who has taught me a lot along the way.

It stuns me how effective children can be in their messaging, and I believe that every child should enjoy that basic right to become an adult. Getting rid of childhood cancers is one effective way to reach that goal.

Easter is an arts and crafts moment where your whole family and friends can get involved.

I woke up on May 15, 1991, the day of my Barnard graduation, and I said to myself, 'By the end of today you will decide what you want to do with the rest of your life.'