Do some ethnic cuisines lend themselves better to quickly prepared dishes than others?
Yes, some, although most cuisines can be adapted to quick preparation. Take Chinese or Japanese, for example: a great many of the seasoning ingredients used in these cuisines — oyster sauce, soy sauce, various vinegars, sesame oil and paste, hoisin sauce, shrimp paste, and garlic paste — are all available readymade at the market. I take advantage of timesavers like this, too, whether I use prepared mayonnaise or chili sauce or buy pre-washed salad greens. How has your life changed in the past few years? I don’t think my life has changed much. It’s a process of getting older and maybe eating simpler and more straightforward foods. Certainly, becoming a grandfather (to Shorey, Claudine’s daughter) this year was a milestone. As for the publication last year of my memoir, The Apprentice, the response was amazing and very gratifying. I see myself as moving forward, progressing; I don’t see myself as being static. And I think that there is still time and space for me to do better things th
