I think the main mistake people tend to make is that they rush desserts. Take your time and plan ahead.
For me with sugar, it's all about balance. It's about being strong enough and to have the willpower to say, you know what, Saturday is my treat day, I'm going to eat cake, I'm going to eat dessert, I might eat a packet of biscuits.
My favorite dessert for me to eat at home is Milo and ice cream.
The most classic French dessert around the holidays is the Christmas log, with butter cream. Two flavors. Chocolate and coconut. My first job in the kitchen when I was a boy was to make these Christmas logs.
I grew up always having dessert after dinner. Always. It's such a hard habit for me to break. It's fine to have dessert every once in a while, but not seven days a week!
With my husband, I do really appreciate the fact that we - even though we're different kinds of Asian, there is a cultural shorthand between us, and I don't have to explain anything. I've dated guys before who weren't Asian-American, and it frustrated me when I would have to defend why beans belong in a dessert.
When I saw contestants fighting for their lives on 'The Biggest Loser,' I realized I just wanted to be healthy - to have fun playing soccer with my son or teaching my daughter to shoot hoops. Then it was so much easier to say no to carbs, soda, or dessert, and the weight just came off.
I was in the Pritikin Center in Santa Monica once, trying to lose 30 or 40 pounds in a month. I'd work... on a treadmill and with the weights, but it was driving me nuts. So I escaped. Tom Arnold picked me up and we went to Le Dome and had tons of desserts.
I take medications every morning and night - they're my breakfast, and they're my dessert. I love them.
Thanksgiving Day, we do a huge lunch. Big family, like, 60 people, we get together. Everybody brings a covered dish, everybody brings a dessert, and we go all out.
