Your idea of that dish has evolved, and if you're a cook, you can start thinking in different ways about it, maybe even a different way than I think about it.

Now the restaurants have begun to catch up with the wine-making; there are numerous great restaurants in Napa Valley, and it's wonderful because the people are there for just that: great food and great wine.

Some of the recipes in the book have evolved for us. Many haven't.

I like to drink young wines, wines which are robust and have a lot of forward fruit to them.

You're getting to know who the great chefs are through their books.

Once you understand the foundations of cooking - whatever kind you like, whether it's French or Italian or Japanese - you really don't need a cookbook anymore.

We go through our careers and things happen to us. Those experiences made me what I am.

Let's face it: if you and I have the same capabilities, the same energy, the same staff, if the only thing that's different between you and me is the products we can get, and I can get a better product than you, I'm going to be a better chef.

My childhood wasn't full of wonderful culinary memories.

Then, as the day progresses, depending on how the product is coming in - for instance, the fish man will fax us and say black bass is great - throughout the day, we'll also make judgment calls and adapt to what's available.

I hope the cooks who are working for me now are getting that kind of experience so they can use what they're learning now as a foundation for a great career.

It's one thing you aspire to: someday, you'll be able to write a book.

Your idea of that dish has evolved, and if you're a cook, you can start thinking in different ways about it, maybe even a different way than I think about it.

Food should be fun.

But once in a while you might see me at In and Out Burger; they make the best fast food hamburgers around.

In any restaurant of this caliber, the chefs are in the same position, building relationships.

My favorite wines are Zinfandels.

I drank more wine when I wasn't working as much, to be honest.

The law of diminishing returns is something I really believe in.

I think every young cook wants to write a book.

Hopefully, imparting what's important to me, respect for the food and that information about the purveyors, people will realize that for a restaurant to be good, so many pieces have to come together.

They know what my standards are. They know what I need and how to get it to me, and they know how to communicate with me if for some reason they can't get it.

A kaiseki meal is like that, very small courses over a long period of time.

When I go out to eat, it's usually something moderate in style.

We rely on our purveyors to tell us what's available and what's good.

Whether it's destiny or fate or whatever, I don't think I could do a French Laundry anywhere else.

It wasn't about mechanics; it was about a feeling, wanting to give someone something, which in turn was really gratifying. That really resonated for me.

I have no formal culinary training, right.

I wanted to learn everything I could about what it takes to be a great chef. It was a turning point for me.

No, it's funny, when I eat out it's not typically in the kind of restaurants people might imagine.

I wanted to write about what we were doing at the French Laundry, the recipes and the stories.

The book is there for inspiration and as a foundation, the fundamentals on which to build.

In any restaurant of this caliber the chefs are in the same position building relationships.

Youre getting to know who the great chefs are through their books.

Once you understand the foundations of cooking whatever kind you like whether its French or Italian or Japanese you really dont need a cookbook anymore.

You have to be driven. You have to be focused. You have to be aware.

A recipe has no soul. You as the cook must bring soul to the recipe.

I became hooked on the idea of being able to shoot an image and process it myself, and end up with a product.

After I'd produced about two dozen pen and ink drawings, one evening I decided that they needed poems to accompany them. I still have no idea where that notion came from, but it took me about two hours to produce verses for these creatures.

Yeah, that's what kind of, we get the idea a little bit yeah, because other people from different countries also try as hard as they can to get a medal or a gold medal in the Olympic Games. And you know, if they can work hard, we can work hard as well.

What's fascinating is that when you write a script, it's almost a stream of consciousness. You have an idea that it means something, but you're not always sure what. Then when you get on the set, the actors teach you.

I also do not like the idea of soft money, these issue ads - people don't know where the money is coming from, millions and millions of dollars outside of the control of a candidate - there's no accountability.

From the beginning, the series has been story driven - I began with a story idea - but research feeds it.

Then I decided I couldn't just crawl in the corner and die, so I started putting pen to paper and wrote some songs. I had no idea what for or who I was going to work with. I tried to find my way and direction.

The idea is, if I can't heal from my art, then how can you heal?

There is sometimes a peculiar confusion in the West that equates progress to whatever is recent or whatever is new, and it is time we understood that progress has nothing to do with the chronology of an idea.

The idea of licking stamps seemed great fun for me.

Learn about the world, the way it works, any kind of science and anthropology, it's really an interesting place we live in. Evolution is a really fantastic idea, even more than the idea of God I think.

It's slightly complicated for people to grasp the idea of a head of state in human form.