Salt is so, so, so important. If that's the one thing everyone remembers, every step of the way, whenever I cook, I try to incorporate salt.
When I was studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse, I would overdraft my bank account and not have enough money to buy groceries. But I also discovered how to cook with very limited resources.
When I was around 18, I got kicked out of my parents' house, and I wasn't allowed to take anything with me. I slept on YMCA towels for a whole semester in university before my father found out and bought me a mattress. I felt really free because I was finally living on my own, but I was also really depressed because I had nothing.
After the passing of my personal hero, Anthony Bourdain, I've been reflecting a lot on his influence on food culture. He made street food from around the world, that most of us have never heard of, accessible.
There's a deodorant I wear called Baux, from L'Occitane, that is super nostalgic because it reminds me of being in Greece in the summer. When I put it on, I'm immediately taken back to that feeling of having salty skin and hair from the ocean and the taste of fresh fish.
Food not only connects us at the idyllic dinner table setting with family and friends: it is also part of our mundane, daily transit to and from work.
Food can offer a moment of pure emotional pleasure in an otherwise hard and difficult world.
There's not a lot of things that I'm confident about in life, but the way I feel about food is my one thing that I really feel such a strong connection to.
I could not be more thrilled to be writing about the recipes I love and think are essential to any novice home cook, professional, and somewhere in between.
I love a good yoga class. I like to switch it up.
I can't do too much of one thing, or I get very distracted.
I get really manic on set, and then to just get myself to a place where I'm alone in my apartment again, it's like this recalibrating thing that happens.
If the person needs avocados, then I'm not going to deny them avocados because some troll decided I use avocados too much.
I would want to do a cooking show. But I want to honor the opportunity that's been given to me with 'Queer Eye.' I feel like my work is cut out for me with the show alone. If it ever goes bust, then I'll explore that possibility.
I have experience more on the front-of-house side of things, but I've always had a strong reverence and a respect for chefs... they've always been sort of like my rock stars.
My problem with boxer briefs is sometimes they are a little too short, and they ride up your leg.
I don't cook around heat in my underwear.
I usually like loud T-shirts and band shirts, so I just try to keep it as simple as possible with jeans and white kicks that are worn in and, like, a simple jacket.
My father is Polish, and at 68, he still wears a Speedo to the beach, and he wears regular briefs - so did his father. That was my upbringing.
Part of the intro to life in the public eye is, you get a bit of attention from fashion designers.
