“The world is supposed to be full of possibilities, but they narrow down to pretty few in most personal experience. There’s lots of good fish in the sea…maybe…but the vast masses seem to be mackerel or herring, and if you’re not mackerel or herring yourself you are likely to find very few good fish in…

“I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this, but first impressions are often entirely wrong. You can look at a painting for the first time, for example, and not like it at all, but after looking at it a little longer you may find it very pleasing. The first time you try Gorgonzola cheese you…

“A party without cake is just a meeting” ― Julia Child

“I saw how three or four ingredients, as long as they are of the highest and freshest quality, can be combined in a straightforward way to make a truly excellent and occasionally wondrous product.” ― Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

“I’m not a vegetarian! I’m a dessertarian!” ― Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes: Something Under the Bed is Drooling

“Salmon. Salmon, salmon, salmon, salmon. I eat so much salmon at these weddings, twice a year I get this urge to swim upstream.” ― David Nicholls, One Day

“There’s a saying in Japan, and it has to do with cherry-blossom viewing: hana yori dango (Dumplings over flowers). It basically means that someone should value needs over wants, substance over appearance. As in, make sure you have food and shelter before you burn money on something extravagant. And, you know, choose genuine friends who…

In the abstract art of cooking, ingredients trump appliances, passion supersedes expertise, creativity triumphs over technique, spontaneity inspires invention, and wine makes even the worst culinary disaster taste delicious. ― Bob Blumer

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,» said Piglet at last, «what’s the first thing you say to yourself?» «What’s for breakfast?» said Pooh. «What do you say, Piglet?» «I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?» said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. «It’s the same thing,» he said.” ― A.A. Milne