I was in pure, flavorful heaven at the Cordon Bleu. - Julia Child

But my favorite remained the basic roast chicken. What a deceptively simple dish. I had come to believe that one can judge the quality of a cook by his or her roast chicken. Above all, it should taste like chicken: it should be so good that even a perfectly simple, buttery roast should be a delight.

And the great lesson embedded in the book is that no one is born a great cook, one learns by doing. This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook — try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!

"I had a lack of confidence, which caused me to back down from forcefully stated positions; an i was overly emotional at the expense of careful, "scientific" thought. I was thirty-seven years old and still discovering who I was"