Q What's your favorite recipe and why?

My favorite recipe would have to be a simple blackberry cobbler with homemade vanilla bean ice cream because it showcases the best of ripe New England berries in a good old fashion recipe.

Q What's your favorite combination of junk food and junk TV?

I think probably Cap'n Crunch and "I Dream of Genie," because it just takes me back to the warmth and comfort of pre-work and pre-homework days.

Q Who would you like to invite to a dinner party (from history or today) and what would you serve?

I'd invite John Adams. I would serve him classic New England food with a new twist, to show him that we're still proud of celebrating what's authentically New England, but not too smug to fail to adapt as times have changed. In particular, fresh Maine mussels in a white wine and toasted almond sauce, and maybe some good old Heritage Massachusetts wild turkey with wild mushroom stuffing and caramelized onion gravy.

Q What food do you hate?

I don't really hate to eat any food, but there are foods that I hate to work with. Like slaughtering live eel, for obvious reasons. And I also don't like the process of killing live soft shell crabs.

Q What's your favorite kitchen tool or machine?

A mortar and pestle, or a molcajete in Spanish, for grinding fresh spices. You get a much more fragrant flavor from spices by grinding them.

Q If you owned Milliway's, "the restaurant at the end of the universe" - what would you serve as the universe's last ever dish?

Moo Chu pork and pancakes, with pan fried dumplings, because most of the people on Earth are Chinese anyway, and besides, it's my favorite food.

Q What's your favorite restaurant?

Probably K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen. The flavors are just so deep layered, and rich. It just always leaves you full and smiling.

Q Who is the best chef in the world other than you or your mum?

Jean Louis Palladin because I think he's the most spontaneously creative chef that I have ever worked with. He's able to extract the most natural flavors and bond them in the most interesting ways.

Q What's your favorite cookbook?

"The Yellow Farm House Cookbook," by Christopher Kimball. He does a remarkable job of teaching why and when to use particular apples or potatoes in a given recipe, and how best to work with them. You'll know what type of ingredient is best for frying, baking, mashing...the appropriate uses for each. It's just really great education. He also puts forth recipes that he tests thoroughly, so you end up with some really useful information.

Q What do you have in your refrigerator?