Actress and philanthropist Eva Longoria is no slacker -- especially when it comes to her culinary skills that began with the first egg she cooked at age 6 sans butter or oil. It's one of many kitchen memories in her first book, "Eva's Kitchen: Cooking with Love for Family and Friends" (Clarkson Potter, $29.99).
Lest you think the "Desperate Housewives" star can't cook, remember that she co-owns two Beso (Spanish for kiss) restaurants, one in Los Angeles, the other in Las Vegas that feature some of her own recipes. And last summer Longoria served as a judge on "The Next Food Network Star."
The Corpus Christi, Texas-born, San Antonio resident, 36, has filled her tome with recipes for tostones (salty, crispy plantains), tortilla soup and tilapia with a citrus-garlic sauce.
She's a cook, not a chef, she says when we caught up with Longoria by phone to chat about her flair for cooking just days after she premiered her documentary about migrant farm children, "La Cosecha" (The Harvest), as the film's co-producer, at Mexicos Guadalajara International Film Festival.
Q: Compared to other projects you've done, how was the experience of putting this book together?
A: This is the hardest thing I've ever done in my professional life. It took about a year to write the book because I'm a cook -- a dash of this and a pinch of that -- not a chef. So to get the recipes out of my head and onto paper was really difficult. The memories weren't hard to recall. It was the actual testing and measuring of ingredients that had to be really precise.
Q: Why did you want to write this book?
A: You know, in my family every time someone gets married, we all submit one recipe and we do a cookbook for the bride so that she is armed and ready to do her domestic duty and cook. We always did these cookbooks in our family.
Q: Why did you dedicate the book to your Aunt Elsa?
A: She was a caterer and she's the one who taught everyone in the family how to cook. I remember how we were making tamales one Christmas and we were arguing about how much comino (cumin) goes into the masa. My other aunt was saying, "It's this much" and my other aunt was saying, "No, no, it's this much." And the question came up, "Does anybody have recipes?" And nobody did. And soon we realized this legacy of Aunt Elsa's was going to be forgotten if we hadn't gotten all of the recipes written down and made sure we shared them with the rest of our family.
Q: With so many cookbooks out there, how is yours different?
A: It's different because basically it's really a memoir of my life told through food. It's an insight into how I grew up and how my cooking has evolved. It's also about my experiences, my travels and my life. It's a pretty personal book.
Q: What is it about being in the kitchen that you like most?
A: I find it creative. I'm obviously a creative person, being an artistic actor, and I find cooking to be an extension of that. It's so fascinating to me to be able to take all of these ingredients, put them in a pot and it comes out a pot roast. It's like painting a canvas -- you start with all these different colors and you end up with a Picasso. So to me, cooking is a creative process -- and it's also very therapeutic for me. It's something that I look forward to doing. Most people go, "Oh, I have to go home and cook dinner." But I treasure it and I value it and I love that it is always centered around family.
Q: Being as busy as you are, why is it important to find time to cook?
A: I feel like cooking is a lost art with the modern-day woman even when she does have the time and the desire to cook, which is another reason why I wanted to do this book. But obviously, I always find it a little healthier to cook at home. I'm just a picky eater -- that's why I prefer to eat at home. But with the fast-food nation that we're living in, I think it's important to be aware of what's going into your body and you have more control over that when you're