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Food is love.
    In my life, everything revolves around food. Whether somebody is born or has just died, gotten engaged or divorced, the first thing I think is, “Want me to bring food over?”
    If somebody is upset, I’ll make them cookies. If it’s cold outside, I’ll make soup.
    Now that the kids are out of the house, I don’t cook as much as I used to. The boys aren’t home anymore, and Lauren has the store, so there’s no point. I’ve cooked enough in my life for a growing family that these days I don’t feel like cooking for myself when it’s just me. I’m not sad about the change. Lauren and I still cook together when she’s home, and I still have to cook for enough family events, so I continue to do my time in the kitchen. And I love it. It’s one of the most satisfying things in my life, to be able to cook something special for the people I love and then watch them enjoy it.
    My all-time favorite meals
    Sunday dinner: It’s the great constant in my life to know that every Sunday, my house will be full of people I love, talking and laughing. It’s all about family and friendship and is incredibly important to me.
    Christmas Eve: This is my hugest holiday meal and it’s my favorite. I look forward to it all year.
    Breakfast with Al every day: Before Al goes off to work we either eat together at home or go out and grab breakfast. We connect and chat, and it starts the day off perfectly.
    One meal a day with at least one of my kids: I make it a mission to have a meal with at least one of my kids every day. It’s fun and casual, and I cherish it.
    Birthday dinners: Any birthday dinner is a great fun meal in my family. The five of us always go somewhere together to celebrate.
    I cook every Sunday at home, and now when I go to visit the boys in Hoboken, Christopher loves to cook for me. When he’s cooking, he always texts me pictures of whatever he’s making or he’ll call me and ask for a recipe and I’ll talk him through it. He has inherited my love of cooking, and that makes me so happy.
    Food is one of the best ways for me to connect with my family and my past. Think about it—you’re sitting in your kitchen and you smell something cooking; you close your eyes, and suddenly, you’re twelve again. The smells can take you back to wonderful places. I can be transported to my mother’s kitchen in my childhood by the smells of Thanksgiving dinner cooking in the oven. The smells that I remember from my grandmother’s kitchen are going to be the same smells that my grandchildren grow up with.
    Food is tradition, food is love. Nothing is better for bringing a bunch of strangers together than a nice home-cooked meal and a cocktail.
    Listen, I’m not saying you have to slave over a stove for hours every day. If you’re busy and you need to heat up frozen dinners for your kids, that’s your prerogative. Just make it special. If you’re microwaving a store-bought meal for your kids, involve them in it. Let them poke the holes in the plastic, serve it to them on a funny plate. Always approach food in ways that shows your kids that you care.
    BEHIND THE SCENES
    I treat my crew like guests in my home. I tell them to pretend they live there too. They don’t have Porta Potties, they use my bathrooms. They’re welcome to help themselves to the fridge. We don’t have catering, but they’re all so self-sufficient, they always bring stuff to eat even when I’ve told them it’s not necessary. If I’m cooking, I’ll cook for them. If I order pizza, I order for them. It’s starting to sink in—finally, they’ve stopped asking if they can get a cookie, and they’re all helping themselves to my leftovers. I wouldn’t have it any other way—these people work so hard, we could never do the show without them and they don’t get enough credit.
    When Albie was young, I