A great home cook needs much less than a great professional chef.

People are overambitious.

Serve everything at room temperature, and serve one hot dish.

The ideal kitchen is in the center of the house.

Rubell likes a good knife and a heavy pan. She can live without appliances.

Rubell does not like processed food.

Rubell always has olive oil, sea salt, pepper, garlic, lemon, and herbs.

Good ingredients and a modern conception.

Women tend to stay earthy, and men lean toward restaurant style cooking.

Cooking is the antidote of consumerism.

Start simple and add on.

People are insecure of what they think of as high class.

A host needs to be calm, relaxed, comfortable, and she cannot feel judged.

Rubell writes about food and entertaining at home.

It’s like being a fish IN water.

It’s harder to live in New York now.

A problem solving New Yorker.

“I think actually Americans can understand Middle Easterners much more than they think.”

“I strive to make the Middle East much more understandable to a broader American public.”

The Holocaust, Nasr says.

Historically, the U.S. has been involved for a very long time.

“I think there is no harm in talks.”

“I think the most significant issue is whether the U.S. will continue to look at military options as the primary vehicle for protecting and promoting its interest in the Middle […]

Nasr says that many countries, in addition to the US, agree that a nuclear Iran is not an acceptable option.

“There is a big difference about American secularism or European secularism.”

Nasr says it is multi-tiered, and varies from country to country.

“In the long run democracy has to be the answer.”

Vali Nasr: “The Pakistan military has helped with the fight against terrorism, but not wholeheartedly.”

“We face two problems actually in the Muslim world. One is anger at our policies. The other is now lack of respect for our abilities.”

When traveling for academic rearch, Nasr’s advice is, to have a broader perspective of where..your little country or your little area fits in much broader trends in the world.”