For me inspiration is pretty much life. The life around you and everything that happens, the people you meet, where you go, what you've eaten in your childhood.
Mostly my ideas come from within, from my experiences, my childhood and the master of all sweets and lollies, Mr. Willy Wonka.
Inspiration is everywhere - life, travel, childhood, nature - it depends on how you see it, how you can absorb the inspiration, and it depends on how your mind thinks. It could be a pattern on the floor that may be the next pattern I put on a cake, it just depends upon how you take it, when you're seeing it and what you're looking for.
I'm hoping someday that we'll be able to start a consortium with places like Carnegie Hall to work on early childhood education. I really feel that's the most important place to put the arts.
On the banks of the Nile, the Rosetta branch, I lived an enjoyable childhood in the City of Disuq, which is the home of the famous mosque, Sidi Ibrahim.
I like birthday cake. It's so symbolic. It's a tempting symbol to load with something more complicated than just 'Happy birthday!' because it's this emblem of childhood and a happy day.
In terms of foods for me, I think I have more of the usual associations - foods from childhood that I associate with care and love, from relatives or special restaurants like the kind elderly man who dusted seasoning salt on French fries at the corner burger joint.
If you watch any John Hughes film of the eighties, that was my childhood experience.
My mum was the most wonderful cook and our house was always full of delicious food and interesting people. I remember dad entertaining the likes of Des O'Connor and Bruce Forsyth. But what really shaped my childhood were the amazing Jamaican dishes that mum produced so effortlessly.
My brother, a businessman, is the main cook in his home and my sister teaches cookery. Good food and good music were the mainstays of my childhood.
