No matter how bad your day is, when you start talking about cookies or cakes or pies, or you bring someone cookies, there's just not bad news. The worst news is, 'Hey, there's sugar in that.'

I think a lot of people think being in the kitchen is being really serious, and especially that baking is very serious, very straitlaced. For me, it's about figuring out your voice, finding your personality, and getting in the kitchen to explore.

The thing I love about Vegas is there's something for any type of mood you're in and something for any kind of adventure you seek out.

Baking's meant to be done at home. It's meant to be a good time. It's not about, like, hoarding secrets. It's about sharing them.

Being a great baker and pastry chef requires the upmost open mind. I try every dessert that comes my way!

Good food is good food. It doesn't have to come with pretense.

When I get up early, I appreciate the quiet time to enjoy a coffee or water my plants.

Nike Air Zooms are what I usually run in. In the kitchen, I wear a beaten-up pair of Converse All-Stars in winter and Keds in summer.

A bright lipstick is a quick way to glam up my look.

The secret to having an epically beloved bakery is consistency.

Know who you are and stay true to it. Have a point of view, keep your head down when noise tries to drown out your inner voice, and whatever you do, keep pushing.

I chose a career in the kitchen because the thought of sitting and doing the same thing every day and being stationary was not something that I could get my head around.

There's something about fall that very much translates into those nurturing, nostalgic food flavors. It's the season where you can really make the marriage of fresh produce with spices and aromatics.

I was an infamously picky eater as a child but also had an infamous sweet tooth. All I wanted was dessert for every meal of the day.

There is no right or wrong way to pair or prepare a dessert. Follow your instincts, edit, and taste-tweak-taste until you get it just right!

I love the warmth of apple pie.

I need healthy options around, or else if I get hungry, I'll go straight for a cookie.

I have this nook at Milk Bar that's my office, and my desk was just full of every box of Kellogg's cereal, and at different times during the day, I would open up a box, eat a bowl of cereal, and I live in a world of Post-it notes, so I would leave tasting notes on all the cereal.

Nothing could be lovelier than running across the Golden Gate Bridge in the middle of the fog.

As a chef, I got into this because I love the creative energy and I love the science, but I also love to feed people and make them happy.

Baking without gluten is an awesome challenge in terms of the opportunity to learn so much more about what you can create.

When I was about to graduate, I asked myself, 'What could you do every day and never get sick of?' My answer was really simple: Make cookies.

I feel like a lot of the pastry chefs and chefs I worked for and worked under were always really, really big on the philosophy of 'everyone's in it together in the food world.'

I love cookbooks. I certainly have my fair share at home, but I'm a really funny cookbook person: I don't really ever cook out of cookbooks. I like cookbooks for the commentary or the pictures or the history.

Eating together was a big part of my upbringing and a tradition we keep daily amongst the amazing team at Milk Bar.

I like to be in over my head always, at all times.

There are so many messages out there about what you should be eating and drinking and what you should be putting in your body at the beginning of the day. It's confusing, and people get very overwhelmed. Really, one of the greatest options is just a bowl of cereal and milk.

I guess technically I am a female chef, but I don't really think of myself as such.

Whether I'm making a gluten-free cookie or a lactose-free milkshake, my end goal is always to make it so awesome, clever, and creative that you'll want to indulge whether you have a sensitivity, dietary nuance, or don't.

I make a huge batch of cinnamon buns on Christmas Eve and bake them off early Christmas morning.

When I opened Milk Bar in November 2008, I was quite adamant about making sure the bakery was an honest reflection of life and food through my eyes. I had no intention beyond that.

Any team member, any community member wants and needs to know they count, that they're welcome, and that they're important.

Be your own biggest critic. Don't let someone else beat you to constructive criticism.

You can't do a good deal with bad people, and you can't do a bad deal with good people. I often use that as my compass.

My curiosity and love for food started at an early age. My mother was a working mom, so I learned to whip up sweet and savory food using everyday pantry and grocery store ingredients that required little supervision.

People underestimate the power of the root vegetable.

Inspiration is one thing. Stealing is another.

Failure gets a bad rap, but I'd like to change that. Failure is necessary. Let it in. Chew it up, and use it as fuel for your soul.

Nothing feels better then to sit down on a six-hour flight with tired muscles from a workout.

At first, learning to bake was purely selfish, but I quickly learned I can't eat every batch of cookies myself, so I would bake and eat what I wanted and give the rest away. I fell in love with feeding others as much as I loved eating sweets myself.

I worked in a bunch of really tough kitchens, but when I got yelled at and screamed at, it wasn't really for being a woman. It was just for making a bonehead mistake.

When I'm going to do something, I go all in.

Why not question what can or can't be a layer in layer cake?

I'm a fan of the hand-me-down recipes - friends, family, bake sales, community cookbooks - those are the recipes that have withstood the test of time and fed many hungry fans.

The matriarchs of my family loved to bake, and the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Baking became something I did every day; it became a time where my creative and nurturing side took stage.

For me, I love Portland. I love the food scene, I love the vibe, the environment.

The 'Momofuku Milk Bar' cookbook is rather technical. I wanted it to feel like you were walking into the doors of our kitchen, it was your first day at work, and we were going to teach you everything.

Being humble is one of the most important things, and not being afraid to put yourself out there is important. I think really successful chefs put themselves out there on a daily basis.

As a boss, as a CEO, as a creative director, as a chef, I've learned that failure will always come. I've learned to give it a big squeeze, smile at it, humble myself to it and then use it as a springboard to send me on my way to strength, success, and fulfillment.

Every time I baked cookies for people as a kid, it made me so happy. But when I was in culinary school and working in fine-dining restaurants, that was not a thing.