When I decided to become vegetarian, I had to learn how to 'recook,' if you will. For example, I used to put red wine in a big pot with the meat that I'd cooked in fat, and it was, of course, delicious. When I gave up meat, I wondered what I would make. That turned out to be vegetables, really organic and fresh.
I could see it wasn't going to be easy. I couldn't give a franchise to any old greasy spoon. And I knew the chicken had to be cooked the way I told them to cook it if it was going to be as popular as it could be.
When my mother first passed away some time ago, I didn't enjoy food anymore. I just ate to live. My mother had always cooked so well that I didn't think I could follow her.
Throughout my rapping career, I always cooked for myself and anyone I worked with. It's what actually kept me grounded through those crazy years.
When I was very young, I got my first opportunity in television with a show called 'Surfing the Menu,' and it was myself and another buddy. We traveled around Australia and we surfed and cooked and drank too much wine. And we had a lot of fun.
I had cooked a lot in restaurants, in Rocky Point and on golf courses on Long Island, and my mother said, 'Be a chef,' and my dad said, 'Be a lawyer.' But instead, I auditioned for N.Y.U.'s Tisch School of the Arts.
I always had a lot of fun in America, with much more freedom than if I had tried to cook in France. I wouldn't have the same motivation or inspiration, and I wouldn't have cooked for the same kind of people in France, so it wouldn't have given me this edge I had in America.
The seasons had always been a part of the way I cooked and ate in Switzerland, and they again became what guided me in New York.
A delicious meal cooked by a colleague for many others nourishes not only the body but also the soul.
The American people are screaming out saying it's unfair that the wealthiest, the largest corporations who can afford the best attorneys, the best accountants, take advantage of these special tax treatments that the lobbyists have, along with lawmakers, have cooked in the books here.
