I'm trying to keep my cooking approachable and accessible but with a little fun twist.

I had a baptism of fire when I cooked in the Little Paris Kitchen.

I was fortunate that what you see on TV is who I am. I didn't change the way I dress.

On Friday, I tend to wrap up at about 5.30pm after a very hectic week at work. I love nothing better than heading straight to my local cinema, the Hackney Picture House, to catch a film with friends.

Friday nights don't tend to be late as I like getting up early on Saturday. By 8am, you can find me in a yoga class. It's great to kick off the weekend with some exercise and it does set you up for the day.

Sundays are great for a lie in, a read of the papers, a potter around at home and then brunch, which is normally cheese on toast!

I like to get to bed early and read a book.

I've lived in so many different countries over the years. I spent most of my early life in the UK, five years in Germany and summers in Austria before moving to Paris.

My dad is Chinese/Malaysian and my mum is Austrian, so food was always a big deal in our house.

Even if some of us daren't admit it to ourselves, we are all a little conscious of Christmas weight gain. The trouble for foodies like myself is the best way to socialise is over a meal.

Warming and nourishing bowls of food are something I love wrapping my hands around when the cold nights drawn in.

Children love cupcakes and so do I - a good one makes the perfect afternoon pick-me-up.

Wimbledon heralds the unofficial start of summer.

Failing ownership of a wood-fired oven, whacking pizza dough straight on to the hot grill is the next best way to achieve that beautiful scorched crust.

When I first moved to Paris, I worked as an au pair for two girls aged eight and 11.

I love to draw and paint. I did all the illustrations in my books, so I always have my watercolours with me. I was creative as a child and studied art at Central Saint Martins before getting into food.

Mum is a fantastic knitter - she taught me, too, but I can only manage simple things.

While they might have got a bit fancier over the years, I still relish a good packed lunch if I am on the road, with that mounting excitement for a particular goodie I've wrapped up for the trip and the challenge of holding out for as long as I can before I cave.

I realised filming in my own apartment that it was nice to come home and have some space. It worked for 'The Little Paris Kitchen' but now I've learned a lot about TV; you need space for the camera and you want to be mentally sound after filming.

I went to art college. I like to be creative. I use food as my medium at the moment but it could easily be illustrations in the future, or something else.

I always say I'm more of a food writer than a TV presenter, because that's what I'm trained in, that's what I spend most of my year doing. TV is about performance and I've never had any training.

I am a big fan of spice. It's not only the intense heat of chilli flakes or a sprinkling of cayenne that gets my taste buds going, but also the deep warmth of cumin and ginger.

The northern Japanese ramen is characterised by its miso base. In the south, the ramen may steer more towards a seafood-based broth, while in Tokyo, virtually every style of ramen exists.

Every Frenchie has inherited their own way of making ratatouille, usually just as maman used to make. Well, my mum never made one, so I consider that my licence to make mine as I please.

Like its breakfast companion Marmite, jam seems to divide the crowds. In many of its mass-produced guises, it seems barely acquainted with the fruit named on the jar, tasting mostly of sugar.

I adore flaky croissants and buttery millefeuilles. But sometimes I like to steer the other way, opting for light, airy cakes enriched with tart red fruits.

Angel cake is an American classic; a delicate meringue gently merged with minimal flour and zero butter, angelic because of its fluffy texture.

I grew up surrounded by generously yielding plum trees, and as a family we were constantly on the hunt for inspired ways to use up the lovely plums before age got the better of them.

A sandwich needn't be loaded with bacon or ham to make it a serious feast.

Nothing could be more French than pastry.

Every good jam tart deserves the finest preserve.

But understanding the complexities of the ramen menu is an equally tricky feat for a foreigner. Both regional and stylistic variations apply to each menu. Add to that the spin that each particular ramen chef puts on his dish, and you rarely know what you are going to get.

I had quite a few jobs in Paris before hitting the jackpot and writing cookbooks. One of them was peeling vegetables and prepping other veggie delights at Bob's Juice Bar.

Forget sushi, yakitori and tempura, ramen is what really gets the Japanese excited.

I admit it, I do like pickled red onion. I made some the other day. You just slice up the onion, pull it apart and you get these petals and you make a pickling liquid, I make mine sweet and sour.

True to his Malay Chinese heritage, my dad would regularly whip up a revitalising spicy broth in the depths of winter. He was a firm believer that spicy food is the solution to most problems, and feeling under the weather was no exception.

While studying art and design at Central Saint Martins, I went round supermarkets taking photos of shoppers and their baskets: the game was to match people with their food. For an architectural project, I made a scale model of a shop out of gingerbread rather than foam and added icing and sweets very colourfully.

I love watching the fishermen step off their boats and lay out their catch - typically sardines, monkfish and everything you'd find in bouillabaisse.

Wild garlic and crab is a revelatory pairing.

Brittany might not boast the biggest collection of Michelin stars in France, but when it comes to produce, you quickly realise that some of the key building blocks of French cuisine have their roots here.

The Little Paris Kitchen' was about my experience of living and cooking in Paris, 'My little French Kitchen' about my travels around France and 'Rachel Khoo's Kitchen Notebook' was a peek into my personal cooking diary with influences from around the world.

Alot of my inspiration comes from people that you don't see on TV like my mum and my grandma. There's so much history and knowledge.

Don't be afraid to play with combinations and quantities of spices to create your own bespoke spice rub.

When I studied at the Parisian cookery school Le Cordon Bleu, making shortcrust pastry was one of the first techniques I learned.

Back in my school days, when I would scuttle off with a cheese roll, an apple, a box of Sun-Maid raisins and a Penguin bar, my packed lunches were reassuringly predictable. And I liked it that way.

I inherited my 1960s copy of 'French Provincial Cooking' by Elizabeth David from my mother Gabrielle, who in turn inherited it from her mother Frances. It was my bible when I first moved to Paris aged 26.

For me, the best burger buns are made from an enriched dough, soft and absorbent enough to soak up all the juices.

Eating wantan mee in Malaysia is my earliest memory. The street sellers there have a whole cooking set-up on the front of their bikes.

Crumpets for me are the quintessence of a British afternoon tea, the ideal winter warmer that would welcome me home from school.

Crab meat is surprisingly sweet in its purest form, which is why it is often pepped up with zippy chilli and lifted with citrus.