I like doing food as a focal point on my table. It is not like going out and buying flowers or candles, which are expensive.

Christmas is more stressful with present buying and making sure everyone gets included, but Thanksgiving is really not that. I don't ever really get stressed out about the food.

We need Pau to be our focal point. Everyone knows that.

For the dining room table, skip the traditional two candles as a centerpiece and go for glass jars filled with red stones or marbles. Add lots of small tea candles and sprinkle rose petals all around.

I have an expensive hobby: buying homes, redoing them, tearing them down and building them up the way they want to be built. I want to be an architect.

Baking cookies is comforting, and cookies are the sweetest little bit of comfort food. They are very bite-sized and personal.