When I was growing up, Chef Charlie Trotter inspired me a lot.

My learning from my travels is that taste is objective. If a thing is tasty, it's universally tasty. Or, just not.

I found most of my learning has taken place after culinary college, when I travelled and met chefs and non-chefs.

The thing about innovation is, where do you stop? There are movements across the world where people are asking restaurateurs to bring back the regular plate. So, yes, we are fed up of drinking out of shoes and eating out of hats.

I want every idea I have to make me money. I want every post I write to have 10,000 Facebook likes. I want every talk I give to have people laughing at all the right jokes. I want everyone to like me all the time.

I have done everything I have ever wanted to do. I have swum with tiger sharks, been charged by lions and elephants. I have been shot three times, chased by crocodiles and, God be praised, I've made enough money that I can continue to do all the things I want to for as long as I am able.

When you're a business man, you have a lot of businesses, a lot of times they think you're laundering money or you're pretending you're writing things off that you don't.

Here's my gift-giving rule: Respect your current financial situation.