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Napa cabbage is very beautiful, all those long, pale leaves with ruffled edges.

Cabbage: a familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as a man's head.

I like to pick my own vegetables.

I love to cook for my husband and daughter. I enjoy going to the market for fresh vegetables.

I'd say I'm a good cook. I have a lot of German recipes that I can make - schnitzel, meatballs and things with cabbage. I love cabbage.

People remember the different variations of stuffed cabbage based on their mothers and grandmothers. It's not just about food. Eating something as traditional as this is a cultural experience, one that is spiritual and nostalgic. It manages to transcend time; it's food for the soul.

There's nothing I like more than picking fresh vegetables then putting them in the dinner you make that night.

One day, the people who work in my kitchen stir-fried chopped Napa cabbage to serve with some meat or fish for their own dinner. I got to thinking: 'What if the cabbage was the most important thing on the plate?'

My mum used to tell me to never boil my cabbages twice, and I think it's artistically valid. While I do find myself on similar themes in my books, I try not to repeat myself, and that's something which is all too easy to do in series books.

I try to always have flowers in the house. I have a florist in Chinatown, and they deliver orchids every two weeks. I like living with living things.