This is one of those rare recipes, surprising in its flavors and wonderful in its simplicity -- an out-and-out favorite of mine.

Most plants taste better when they've had to suffer a little.

The chile, it seems to me, is one of the few foods that has its own goddess.

I come from an interracial family: My father is from Nigeria, and so he is African-American, and my mother is American and white, so I rarely see skin color. It's never an issue for me.

I am still married, yes - no children. I have Benzo, though; he's my dog, a Lhasa apso.

I have a suggestion for a new name for the developing world. Let's call it the world.

There are a lot of records coming out, in every field of music, not just jazz.

Soy sauce is really a multi-purpose seasoning.

We must not stand upon trifles.

Truth cannot be sacrificed at the altar of pretended tolerance. Real tolerance is deference to all ideas, not indifference to the truth.

I am too slow to be a good climber, so I film instead.

Sometimes our best is simply not enough.... We have to do what is required.

Zhang Yimou is always going to need young, pretty girls for his films. But I don't really concern myself with what Zhang Yimou's next starlet looks like.