ABOUT THIS COOK:

I'm the guy who you may know as The Amateur Gourmet. I live in L.A. now and I have a cookbook coming out in Fall 2012 about me cooking with 50 famous chefs and home cooks. Today I might have quinoa for lunch.

• What is the strangest food you have ever eaten?
  Raw venison liver.

• What do you cook when home alone?
  Pasta with butter, nutmeg and Parmesan.

• Your most treasured kitchen possession:
  A little bird that used to hold my great-grandmother's saccharine.

• The ideal number of guests for a dinner party is:
  6