One of my favorite PBS cooking shows is "Lidia's Family Table". I find the show very warm, easygoing, and the recipes tempting.

In the Washington Post last week, Lidia answered a few questions from Bonnie S. Benwick.

When asked for a first bit of advice, she says:

Don't become a slave to the recipe. Follow it the first time, yes. But after that, don't worry so much about the measuring. Really.

Then there is some more advice when it comes to fixing your mistakes when cooking Pasta:

Speaking of Italian, give us a fix for a pasta-cooking mistake.

Here are two: If you have oversalted the pasta-cooking water, immediately run some hot water from the faucet and add it to the pot with the pasta [still] in the cooking water. Add plenty of water, finish cooking and drain.

If you have oversalted the sauce, take raw, peeled potatoes and add them to the sauce (when they're cooked, remove them); they should absorb some of the extra salt.