Quotes from Marcela Valladolid

My half-breed culture informs everything I do but I'm not thinking about it. I'm just doing it. Not until very late in my career did I realize that I was so fortunate to just live with this profound pride in being half Mexican without being attacked for it.

Honestly, I'll take a little lard over the 20 chemicals and ingredients I can't pronounce in some store-bought tortillas.

I hate perfect centerpieces and formal tablescapes.

Those of us that were raised in Tijuana have so much access to San Diego. I was crossing the border every day when I was a kid, and that back and forth has a huge influence on the cuisine. So the U.S. is coming down to Tijuana, Tijuana is going to San Diego. There's this great blending, a great exchange.

My aunt was a chef and she inspired me deeply so she was a huge motivator but more than anything it was a quest for independence and freedom that lead me to an L.A. Culinary School.

I love to shop at the farmer's market or grab something from the garden and roast that.

I'm not going to focus on the bad days. I choose to live in gratitude.

I kind of love the idea of teaching our kids that you don't have to follow the rules to be incredibly successful and live in harmony and have a wonderful life.

People don't realize that we're spending money throwing food away rather than feeding people.

More than anything, a lot of our family's history is tied to food. It's just one of those things.

I know how to bring recipes down to the level where people with no experience can feel comfortable making them.

It's what makes me the happiest - to make beautiful things for the people I love, and to fill my home with love and laughter and music and food and people.

Usually when I have a salad it's pretty hearty, balanced and healthy and a full meal.

In Tijuana, because there's such a mix and match of people and regions and we're a newer city and everyone comes from some place else, I think we're just given permission to play with our food.

I'm passionate about holding on to my heritage and sharing it with family and friends, and cooking is a great way to do this.

Our holiday table is loud!

I'm all about simple appetizers when it comes to the holidays.

There isn't anything hotter than a guy who cooks.

My goal and my mission is to cook the home-style food that I grew up with - simple, straightforward, inexpensive and homemade tortillas. Nothing fancy and no cream based sauces - just tomatoes & chiles and nothing pre-processed.

I love my fish spatula so much. I don't have many specialty tools, but that's a favorite of mine.

My former assistant used to tell me I have a problem with cushions and she was totally right. The reason is because I'm constantly rearranging things in my house. And if I can't move a whole piece of furniture, the easiest thing to rearrange is cushions. I like to keep things fresh.

We're a family with a pretty light sense of humor but, still, on the anniversary of my mom's passing we don't feel like getting 'colorful' and remembering her favorite foods. Every March 5th, the anniversary of her passing, we go to church and are sad for pretty much the rest of the day.

I do the best I can to remind my family as often as possible that I love them more than life itself, and to let them know that every step I take is with them in the very front of my mind.

It fills my heart with pride and joy that international food writers and press have taken an interest in Tijuana.