Secrets from All-Star Chefs

Giada on Starting a Family

LHJ: How do you decorate your outdoor table?

GD: My house is by the beach, so that's what inspires me. I often collect seashells and rocks and I'll mix them on the table with candles in brass holders. Rather than flowers I would display little herb plants in pots.

LHJ: And when you entertain, you're wearing your necklaces? They're your signature, after all.

GD: They never come off. People say they recognize me by them.

LHJ: Are they available in stores?

GD: No. My husband, Todd Thompson, had them made for me. But if someone likes the look, it's possible to buy jewelry that's called "by the yard." Diamonds by the yard and so on.

LHJ: Your television work is certainly keeping you busy.

GD: And my books [available at www.giadadelaurentiis.com]. My third one, Everyday Pasta, came out this past spring, and I'm going to begin planning one that will be published in September 2008. But yes, I'll be doing more for Today, I'm continuing to shoot Giada's Weekend Getaways -- I just did a New Orleans episode -- and I have done a series called Giada in Paradise, in which I go with my extended family to Capri and then with my husband to Santorini, Greece. Everyday Italian is ongoing as well, with 20 new episodes in the works.

LHJ: When will you have time to start your own family?

GD: In the next several months hopefully things will level off, and my husband, who is a clothing designer for the store Anthropologie, and I might start working on that. We'd like that.