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I like cooking, but I don't think I could be a chef. Everyone from the ground up does terrible hours, whether you've just walked in off the street and you've got no experience, to whether you're the head chef. You can work 14 or 15-hour days. It's really, really intense.

I was hired as a sous-chef at a restaurant on the Upper East Side. The chef liked to drink - some mornings we would find him sleeping. Two weeks after its opening, I became the chef. I was 20 years old, and way over my head. I had to hire the cooks and do the menus.

I get quite lazy about cooking because when I come back from work it is the last thing I want to do, really is spend loads of time cooking.

I studied cooking all through high school.

I spent several years cooking on a line.

Keep in mind that in 1975, when you became a cook, it was because you were between two things: you were between getting out of the military and... going to jail. Anybody could be a cook, just like anybody could mow the lawn.

When it was availed to me that I had free time, I chose to go to cooking school every day, six hours a day, like a diploma program. I wanted to learn something new.

You know, from age 17 on, my paycheck was coming from cooking and working in kitchens.

I still love football, though, and I think cooking is like football. It's not a job, it's a passion. When you become good at it, it's a dream job and financially you need never to worry. Ever.