Unlike some people who love to go out, I love to stay home. Laurie Colwin

The thing about homebodies is that they can usually be found at home. I usually am, and I like to feed people.

My idea of a good time abroad is to visit someone's house and hang out, poking into their cupboards if they will let me.

Cooking is like love. You don't have to be particularly beautiful or very glamorous, or even very exciting to fall in love. You just have to be interested in it. It's the same thing with food.

One of the delights of life is eating with friends; second to that is talking about eating. And, for an unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends.

Cooking is like anything else: some people have an inborn talent for it. Some become expert by practicing, and some learn from books.

The fact is that modern life has deprived us of life's one great luxury: time.

When I was alone, I lived on eggplant, the stove top cook's strongest ally. I fried it and stewed it, and ate it crisp and sludgy, hot and cold. It was cheap and filling and was delicious in all manner of strange combinations. If any was left over, I ate it cold the next day on bread.

Not everyone can write a book or paint a picture or write a symphony, but almost anyone can fall in love. There is something almost miraculous in that.

Somehow or other, I always end up in a kitchen feeding a crowd.

- Laurie Colwin