Sometimes In Life You Have To Make

I Grew Up On Food Stamps. I Come From A Very Humble Background. And I've Had Many Friends That Have Been Destitute - You Know, Running Into Trouble - And Places Like The Midnight Mission Have Given Them Hope And Have Fed Them And Gotten Them Back On The Right Path.

I Think That My Interpretation Of Italian Was A Lot More Southern Than What My Husband Cooks. You Know, I Grew Up In Queens And In Brooklyn, And We - Really, It's More Southern. It's Naples And Sicily. It's Heavier. It's Over-spiced. And Like Most Americans, I Thought Spaghetti And Meatballs Was Genius.

Being Typecast Is A Great Thing For An Actor. I Was Considered One Of The New York Mob Actors.

I Used To Watch My Grandmother Make Fancy, Julia Child-style Beef Bourguignon. And Growing Up In New York City, I Was Exposed To Many Cultures. I Experimented With Puerto Rican And Jamaican Food.

I've Never Wanted To Be The Ingenue. Now That I'm Getting Into My Forties, I Think My Time As A Woman Has Arrived; I Think I Might Have A New Moment In My Career. I Have That Drive Left - Just For A Little While.