Christina Tosi

“I took a Chinatown bus to New York to enroll in the International Culinary Center's pastry program.”

“I never saw the light of day at Bouley. I remember I would bring home a roll of toilet paper a week because we got paid so little, if at all.”

“I approach life with a 'jump' sort of mentality, although I wasn't raised to take crazy risks. I was raised to be a crazy hard worker. It seems to be a pretty good match of qualities.”

“When I opened Milk Bar in November 2008, I was quite adamant about making sure the bakery was an honest reflection of life and food through my eyes. I had no intention beyond that.”

“I went to culinary school to eat.”

“When I'm going to do something, I go all in.”

“The secret to having an epically beloved bakery is consistency.”

“I could never really decide what I wanted to be when I grew up, and for a while, I thought that maybe I wanted to be a writer... I've always loved to write, that form of expression.”

“Milk Bar is a quirky American bakery, where the original inspiration is the humble beginnings of American-style baked goods and loving trips to Dairy Queen.”

“Most of my memories are of softball games in Falls Church with my sister, yard sales across town on the weekends with my grandma, grocery-shopping and errand-running with my mom, learning to drive an old Volkswagen bug down Old Keene Mill Road with my dad.”

“No matter how bad your day is, when you start talking about cookies or cakes or pies, or you bring someone cookies, there's just not bad news. The worst news is, 'Hey, there's sugar in that.'”

“I went to college, and I didn't want to be in a sorority, so I started working in restaurants. In my mind, that was my social outlet.”

“I live and die by my SodaStream. I love sparkling water. When you're eating all the time, the bubbles are nice to help settle your stomach.”

“Baking without gluten is an awesome challenge in terms of the opportunity to learn so much more about what you can create.”

“You can't do a good deal with bad people, and you can't do a bad deal with good people. I often use that as my compass.”

“Every time I baked cookies for people as a kid, it made me so happy. But when I was in culinary school and working in fine-dining restaurants, that was not a thing.”

“I think my biggest heartbreak was when I just couldn't get an American cheese cake/pie with a saltine cracker crust and green tomato sorbet to work out in my favor.”

“I like trying to keep as honest and straightforward of a point of view in our kitchen as possible.”

“The hardest thing to do is dig deep and be patient about the things you're going to learn month to month and quarter to quarter.”

“I'm a fan of the hand-me-down recipes - friends, family, bake sales, community cookbooks - those are the recipes that have withstood the test of time and fed many hungry fans.”