It started very early because my mother is a great cook, and she was always in the kitchen. I started helping her when I was maybe four or five. So there was never any pressure or any association with negativity in the kitchen. It was all praise for me. It was immediate gratification for me, you know, baking and making people feel good and happy. It's carried through to my being comfortable in the kitchen now.

When I tell people now who are afraid to cook, a lot of it comes from a negative association like they're afraid they're going to fail, afraid they're going to do it wrong, and from a very young age, it never occurred to me that something would flop or something would go wrong. I think in that area there's a degree of confidence that I've been able to nurture and that my mother was definitely influential in making me feel comfortable. 

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