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AE: You both have to spend so much time cooking for, and catering to, the tastes of others. How do you like to spend your own leisure time? What are your own favorite cuisines? Vacation spots? Leisure activities?
D&S : Having a business has been like having a child. It's often been 24/7 and you need to be constantly vigilant and nurturing in order for it to thrive. It's truly exhausting. Because of that, we always try to find really relaxing vacations. Usually some place warm. The idea of lying on the beach and having someone bring us drinks always gets us through the busy months.

That being said, we NEVER do that because once we get to that beach or vacation spot, we ("we" meaning Steve) must get out and climb mountains, snorkel, sight see. We spend a lot of vacation time trying to make sure we don't miss anything. This year, we're going on a cruise to see if we (again, "we" means Steve) will relax if we're on an enclosed space in the middle of the ocean!

As far as daily leisure time is concerned, that is now a thing of the past with the arrival of the baby. But, we're pretty happy to unplug the phone and spend an evening watching reality TV and eating hors d'oeuvres.

AE: So do all the chefs on the cooking network hang out, socialize and cook for each other, etc? Have you made any special friends among the other star chefs? Any fun escapades, rivalries, or gossip to share about the other food network hosts?
D&S : We only see each other at photo shoots or an occasional TV spot. But, we recently had a great dinner with Giada and Bobby Flay. We've become very friendly with Marc Summers who is a great guy and has been eager to help us out and give us any advice. We've talked with Paula Dean a few times and she's one of our favorites; we've decided she's our adopted step mom.

Food Network is different than your average network in that there are a limited number of hosts and we get to interact. So, this leads to a real family atmosphere at the photo shoots with people teasing each other and laughing a lot.

AE: Does catering for gay weddings differ much from catering straight weddings? Any special challenges? What are some current popular trends in catering gay weddings?
D&S : When we started to cater gay weddings, we made a decision that there would be no difference between them and a straight wedding. In fact, we've had a client or two that has really underplayed the ceremony and reception and we have found ways to bump it up for them and make it as special as they'll let us. There is no way we'll approach any union ceremony as second best or settle for less than our heterosexual counterparts.

So, we've had great success in that. The only difference is that the couples are same sex (and the gay guys usually look better in their tuxes). That being said, we're disappointed that there are not nearly enough gay weddings performed. But we imagine many people must feel as we do; we don't want a civil ceremony or just a personal exchange of vows. We want what every other American has the right to do and we will have a ceremony as soon as we are afforded that equal right.

AE: As you are both chefs and lovers, do things ever get temperamental or testy between you in the kitchen? Any cool tales of plate smashing, rolling pin wielding or food fighting? My Italian mom's weapon of choice in the kitchen was her trusty wooden spoon. What's yours?
D&S : That's a good question. We rarely argue and whenever we do it is business related. We definitely never argue about cooking because we have specific roles involved in that part of our life. Whatever Dan says in the kitchen goes. As far as the rest of our lives, Steve must be obeyed, but Dan gets the kitchen.

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