Growing up, everybody would cross the border, even to just do grocery shopping. A lot of traditional American foods stuck with my parents and became part of my upbringing. This all had to do with the proximity to the border. We were an absolute mix of classic Americana, traditional Mexican, and Baja cuisine.

I'm a purist when it comes to certain foods, and al pastor tacos (known as adobada tacos to us in Tijuana) is one of those foods. I lived off them - literally.

There are so many wonderful Mexican cheeses that people really don't consider when making Mexican food, or food in general.

I have pictures with Morimoto where I'm all embarrassed and he's so serious, it took me 30 minutes to get up the courage to introduce myself.

You can invite people over or make your kids their favorite food - that usually inspires me in the kitchen.

I hold both of them with equal amounts of pride. I feel just as strongly and equally Mexican as I do American.

My half-breed culture informs everything I do but I'm not thinking about it. I'm just doing it. Not until very late in my career did I realize that I was so fortunate to just live with this profound pride in being half Mexican without being attacked for it.

I use my Le Creuset dutch oven for everything you can think of. I even fry eggs in it.

I love my fish spatula so much. I don't have many specialty tools, but that's a favorite of mine.

I want children to feel proud of their heritage.

My boys will not only respect and admire women and see them as their equals, but they will also see them as sources of inspiration and knowledge.

I surround myself with people that are supportive of our insane family dynamic, and I savor every minute of every day I have at home with my family.

In Mexico, where I grew up, women rule the kitchen. They control everything that happens; they hold the power.

I had a lot of female role models around me as a kid, but my aunt Marcela Rodriguez was the strongest. When she was only 26, she opened Artes Culinarias Internacionales, one of the first culinary schools in Baja. She started with six students and built up to 800.

Supermarket cherry tomatoes do serve a purpose, but the flavor is vastly different than those from your own garden. Same for broccoli and snap peas.

I'm usually pretty good about knowing which of my social media posts will create more excitement, but every once in a while I'll post something and be totally surprised at the response.

Tijuana is a baby compared to pre-Hispanic cities like Puebla or Oaxaca, the birthplace of mole.

In Tijuana, because there's such a mix and match of people and regions and we're a newer city and everyone comes from some place else, I think we're just given permission to play with our food.

Usually when I have a salad it's pretty hearty, balanced and healthy and a full meal.

I love warm salads with bacon and spinach. I love the varieties of the nicoise that show up on so many menus. I love steak salads for their lusciousness and how the meat juices seep into the dressing.

The combination of charred poblanos and corn is a classic one in Mexico and once added to a rich, creamy dressing and soft potatoes, it makes for the perfect summer side.

We do two things almost every week - either grilled steaks marinated in herbs or roasted chicken. There's always a roasted vegetable, like Brussels sprouts or sweet potatoes or broccolini - whatever's in season.

I love to shop at the farmer's market or grab something from the garden and roast that.

We'll do frozen pizzas and then I'll get arugula from the garden and do a fresh salad over the top with shaved Parmesan. Or we'll buy a rotisserie chicken already made, and then we'll make tacos and a fresh salsa and we'll grill some vegetables to accompany it. We definitely try to make it a little bit homemade if it's not completely homemade.

The more you make an effort, the more life gives you things to be grateful for.

I kind of love the idea of teaching our kids that you don't have to follow the rules to be incredibly successful and live in harmony and have a wonderful life.

I cook healthy meals all the time. That's really important to me.

Cannot deal with cumin. We are not friends.

My life revolves around chipotles.

Growing up in Mexico, I know what real Mexican food is - and isn't.

I'm passionate about holding on to my heritage and sharing it with family and friends, and cooking is a great way to do this.

Growing up in Mexico, I have many fond memories of not only celebrating posadas with my family, but also of the time spent together menu planning and prepping for decoration and entertaining activities. A lot of work goes into celebrating these traditions, but that doesn't mean they have to cost a lot too.

In Tijuana, we have cuisine from every region of Mexico and cooks from all over cooking in all of the restaurants, so there is a huge influence from sources like the Yucatan, Oaxaca and Puebla.

Those of us that were raised in Tijuana have so much access to San Diego. I was crossing the border every day when I was a kid, and that back and forth has a huge influence on the cuisine. So the U.S. is coming down to Tijuana, Tijuana is going to San Diego. There's this great blending, a great exchange.

I think it's important to educate kids about food and let them help a little with the cooking and cleaning. That interaction is really important.

For me, candlelit is the only way to have a dinner. There are always candles at my table. And I like to have Luis Miguel playing in the background.

We don't eat nachos in Mexico.

It is very important to cook out of your heart.

There is nothing more satisfying to me than seeing people who eat my food have smiles on their faces. It makes the experience special.

I like risk takers. They're the ones that end up changing the world.

We're a family with a pretty light sense of humor but, still, on the anniversary of my mom's passing we don't feel like getting 'colorful' and remembering her favorite foods. Every March 5th, the anniversary of her passing, we go to church and are sad for pretty much the rest of the day.

Queso fresco, which is a very mild cheese, is definitely one of my favorites.

On the 'Today' show, I feel comfortable because I get to interact with people. I love that interaction. I love hearing other people's stories. I would much rather have that human interaction so it feels like a real conversion than just standing there and demonstrating things to the camera.

More than anything, a lot of our family's history is tied to food. It's just one of those things.

People ask me all the time, 'What do you do for Cinco de Mayo?' And my honest answer is always, 'When I was growing up in Mexico, nothing. Really, nothing. It was a school day. It was totally normal.' But when I grew up and started going to San Diego and started drinking margaritas, that's when Cinco de Mayo celebrations started for me.

When I'm in San Diego, it's carpools and making dinner and getting the kids to bed. It's real life.

Entertaining is much more than a reason to eat and drink; It's a reason to bond with friends and families.

I don't make mole everyday nor do I cook Mexican food every day.

I really only eat burritos in Tijuana from street corners that come out of coolers from businesses with no name, telephone or website.

San Diego, in fact, is one of the hardest places to sell Mexican food. You just cross the border into Tijuana and they have better food that's more authentic and for half the price.