Co-host of the Chew, best-selling author and overall domestic goddess. Her new cookbook, The Happy Cook, redefines Happy Meal!
What’s your motto?
Live in love, not fear.
What’s on your nightstand?
I just cleaned up, so we’re down to last week’s T Magazine and The Complete Sleep Guide for Contented Babies and Toddlers. A candle and matches. A photo of my hubby and kids. An orchid. A GIANT jug of water, I am always thirsty. Aromatherapy diffuser and eucalyptus essential oil (I change it up regularly)…and my cell phone/alarm clock.
What gives you goose bumps?
Great food/great food memories. Serendipity/fate. True love.
What is your bad day backup plan?
A great meal, a 30-minute Chinese acupressure massage, or a pedicure.
What are you grateful for?
My family!
How do you define success?
Happy kids. A partner with whom you want to share everything. A day when you laughed until your sides hurt. Loving what you do.
Best advice you’ve ever received?
Work hard and have fun.
Best advice you’ve ever given?
Run towards the fear (and then show me how to do it)! It really worked.
What are you working on now that you are excited about?
Book tour for my new book, The Happy Cook!!
How do you press pause?
I listen to podcasts or books on tape whenever I commute or just need to zone out for a second. I love being read to.
What did your 8-year-old self love doing?
Riding horses and pretending to be Pocahontas in the woods near my grandparents’ farm. Cooking with my mom. (I still love these things.)
If you could have one magic power what would it be?
Teleportation. I am always late.
What makes you forget to eat?
Umm….??? Adventuring. But all the best adventures end with a great meal.
What 3 things would you grab in a fire?
The people are all safe, so photo albums, jewelry, and a painting my grandfather made for me.
What is the hardest thing you’ve ever done – your greatest challenge?
Trying to raise happy, healthy, good kids. I don’t know if it’s the hardest thing or if I just care about it more than anything else.
Favorite word? Why?
YES! It unleashes all the possibilities.
Favorite work of art? Why?
I love Hunt Slonem and Alex Katz. Their works are vivid, alive, and totally specific. I’ve loved John William Waterhouse’s A Mermaid since I was little – my mother had a reproduction hanging in her bathroom, and I always thought it must be a painting of her.
Favorite book? Why?
Hemingway’s The Garden of Eden. It’s not one of his well-known works, but I love his prose here in particular. I love all the Harry Potter books. I just started Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces, and it is great.
To learn more about Daphne Oz, visit her website, www.DaphneOz.com, check out her book, The Happy Cook: 125 Recipes for Eating Every Day Like It’s the Weekend, and follow her at:
