Quotes from Ruth Reichl

Lacy little green fronds waved up through clear liquid; it reminded me of a forest stream in early spring, just after the ice has melted. I picked up a frond, and as I put it in my mouth, I experienced a moment of cool, pure freshness. What is it? I asked Jake, enchanted. Mozuku, a special kind of seaweed from Okinawa. You don't think it's slimy? Slippery, but I love the way it feels in my mouth.

The celebration had to be postponed: Carol had ovarian cancer. She refused to be gloomy about it.

Because all the talk about "quality time" is utter nonsense; children don't need quality time. They need your time. Lots of it. And they let you know it.

I wasn't exactly known for self-confidence, but I could taste the cake in my mind. Strong. Earthy. Fragrant. I remembered the nose-prickling aroma of cinnamon when it comes in fragile curls, and the startling power of crushed cloves.

Now rush the eggs into a large bowl of ice water; this will keep that unattractive green ring from forming around the yolk.

Life is so endlessly delicious

I had done this. I had pulled my life apart. I would never, ever be safe again.

I felt that I was really living in the moment. I did not know where my life was going, but right now the future did not trouble me.

One of the effects of cheap food is, we have food that is so unsatisfactory. We need to go back to flavor.

I like poached eggs, but I'll make scrambled or fried or whatever anybody wants.

I learned so much in Laos. I learned that fried silkworm larvae are delicious. I learned how to make ant-egg salad.

To me, cooking is man's natural activity. But I think writing is really hard. Certainly writing fiction is the hardest thing I've ever done.

I have to say I know much more about football than I would like to, because my husband is a rabid football fan, and it's been so horrible.

Given a choice between great food and boring company or boring food and great company, I'll take the great company any day.

My mother started out by being a very good girl. She did everything that was expected of her, and it cost her dearly. Late in her life, she was furious that she had not followed her own heart; she thought that it had ruined her life, and I think she was right.

In really good times, you say, 'No, I'm not taking that ad.' But in bad times, you'll take anything.

One of mom's greatest acts of generosity was that she trained me to be defiant. Her great gift to me was encouraging me to be the person that I wanted to be, not the one that she and my father wished I was.

The secret to life is finding joy in ordinary things. I'm interested in happiness.

Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.

Anyone who thinks they're too grown up or too sophisticated to eat caramel corn, is not invited to my house for dinner

in the end you are the only one who can make yourself happy. More important, ...it is never too late to find out how to do it.

When a person has lived generously and fought fiercely, she deserves more than sadness at the end.

She was a great cook, but she cooked more for herself than for other people, not because she was hungry but because she was comforted by the rituals of the kitchen.

it was so rich and exotic I was seduced into taking one bite and then another as I tried to chase the flavors back to their source.