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People came to my parents' parties because they were going to have fun and, if lucky, our mother would belly dance. What they didn't know was that the hostess made sure every morsel placed in front of them was pure and without anything artificial, no matter what the cost.

Birthdays are just weird! I like to have something simple like a dinner with friends and family if possible.

I have the best memories as a kid eating ice cream. It was a family tradition that I had with my father. It was nice.

My mother would organize huge parties for my elementary school classmates. To prepare, she would go back to the bakery in her old neighborhood of Inwood and get special shamrock cookies. Hawaiian Punch was served and we had shamrock napkins. It was a lot of fun.

Thanksgiving was always a favorite holiday for me. The preparation was fun! My grandma and I would walk to the butcher on Jamaica Avenue in Queens, order the bird, and buy all the fixings at the market.

You can imagine the kind of dinner parties I had to go to at a young age... pretty dull.

Every December, I host a tree-trimming party. I serve chili with cornbread and lots of good wine. It's a wonderful party, and it shows how much adults like to play.

I have a good house for hosting, so we had the barbecues, and some of the guys over for Thanksgiving, even Christmas.

After my first movie was released, my wife and I went Bouley. A fantastic meal. The whole thing, getting dressed up, acting very adult-y, a lot of fun.