I've got married, moved into a house, settled my children into new schools and been pretty busy with real life! One of the difficulties of filming is that the days are long and when I tape I can't take the children to school in the morning and collect them in the afternoon, and I felt I needed and wanted to be around to do that for a while. Luckily, I can write books during school hours, so I wrote a book, and a big one -- "Feast" -- and have been cooking up a new one. And actually, the TV series took a while to plan, too. I really wanted it to be right.

I think my children would not thank me if in the time I was not writing books or taping shows I was at my computer writing a column! I adored writing for The New York Times and hope the time will be right to do so once again at some stage ...

I think she will be utterly brilliant: she is so ebullient and so naturally great on camera. So I don't think she'll need any advice from me. When I did something approaching this in Britain, I'm afraid I found a lot of my natural shyness came to the fore, something I strangely never feel when I'm doing my cooking show.

What a lovely thing to say! You see, I don't think that comment is about looks, it's about a feeling, a desire to be cared for and nurtured and fed: and we all have that, male or female.

I think we lose a relationship with food, and we also lose confidence in ourselves as cooks. We start believing that we need qualifications or expertise in order to be able to cook properly, which of course is nonsense. I believe there's room for everything, and I am also sympathetic with the no-time factor, but cooking can be simple. Anyone can put a chicken in a roasting tin, put it in an oven and take it out again and hour or so later. And that's the best meal in the world.

Funnily enough, as a child I was one of those nuisance non-eaters. Mealtimes were an agony and an ordeal for me. But once I started cooking, which was young (I am the oldest girl in a large family) I began to enjoy eating and have never looked back. I think my tastes are pretty broad -- I rack my brain in vain to think of something I don't like -- but I certainly find I appreciate plain, simple food more and more. Regular home-cooking is the best food in the world. My children do love to cook, and I certainly would like them to be confident in the kitchen when they are adults. The difficulty is, you need to be very, very patient to cook with children, and patience is not always my strong point!

A really rare steak, all seared at the edges, with home fries and béarnaise sauce and creamed spinach or roast chicken, buttery peas and even more buttery mashed potatoes. I don't need an appetizer or a dessert after that, but I'd find it hard to say no to some gorgeous Gorgonzola or an ethereally light zabaglione.

I have so many food and cookbooks on the floor by my bedside, it is frankly a health hazard. Right now, I'm devouring "Heat" by Bill Buford (Knopf, $29.95) and "Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously" by Julie Powell (Back Bay Books, $13.99) and "The Bon Appétit Cookbook" (Wiley, $34.95). I have to have everything by Mario Batali and Art Smith, both of whose passion and personality are always inspiring.

I don't think strange concoctions and combinations are the future of food, but I understand why people like to play. I particularly think that chefs feel a pressure to do something new as they probably get bored cooking the same dishes over and over. Plus, when you're paying for food, you probably expect something "more" than you could get at home, so there is pressure from the diner, too. That's why home cooking is so liberating: you are not cooking for a hundred six nights and seven lunches a week, so you are not obliged to throw yourself into novelty. And yet you have the freedom to try new things whenever you want.

Cook the pasta according to package instructions in plenty of salted boiling water, and then after 5 minutes add the peas to the pasta water. When the pasta is cooked, drain the peas. Put the dry pan back on the heat with the cream, ham and Parmesan and warm it through. Add the pasta and peas back to the pan, tossing everything together well. Makes 2 to 3 servings.

This is cache, read story here