“With food, we feed our bodies. With family, we feed our spirits. And we are family.”

“Remember that stories are more than just words, more than fairy tales. They are magic.”

“When he looks into your eyes, tells you he loves you-and the pickled herring and onions are stronger than his voice-yet you still smile. You still want to be close to him. Yes, then you have found love.”

“Shared joy is double joy," he said brushing a tear from my cheek, "and shared sorrow is half the sorrow.”

“Mama. I chose you.”

“I think preparing food and feeding people brings nourishment not only to our bodies but to our spirits. Feeding people is a way of loving them, in the same way that feeding ourselves is a way of honoring our own createdness and fragility.”

“How we prepare our food, how we consume our food really makes a difference in how our food satisfies us and shapes the role we give food in our lives. Is it something we stuff in to satisfy an urge or something we savor to feed us physically and sustain us spiritually?”