Into it: Giada de Laurentiis

... Reading?

Lately, I've read Suzanne Goin's [Sunday Suppers at Lucques] and Da Fiore from Venice [The Da Fiore Cookbook]. Because I was just in Italy, in Torino for the Olympics, I picked up Italian cookbooks along the way. They always inspire me. I have a handwritten cookbook from my grandmother that I've been trying to translate so that I can start testing some of her recipes and put them in my new cookbook that comes out next year. Although I can read Italian pretty well, when they handwrite it, it's very difficult to read. I'm constantly calling my mother to translate for me.

Now that I'm on book tour, I try every other morning to get up a little extra early and go to the hotel gym.... so I listen to Madonna, her new album [Confessions on a Dance Floor]. Pink, her new album [I'm Not Dead] - I love to listen to it when I'm working out as well.... I love to listen to John Mayer [Heavier Things] when I'm making dinner. Cooking, for me, is very cathartic and therapeutic, and John Mayer keeps me sort of even-keeled.... When I was growing up, my mom made us listen to Pavarotti and Julio Iglesias.... When I need to be inspired or come up with stories for my show, I love to listen to that music. It brings back all the kitchen memories.

I'm afraid to tell you.... I love The Sopranos. It's [only] one depiction of Italian Americans in this country, but it also tells how important family is. That's a big part of my life and what I do, so I enjoy that show tremendously. Sometimes I watch Desperate Housewives, just for pure entertainment. Brokeback Mountain was the last movie I saw. It was so hyped. My husband wasn't so thrilled about seeing it, and I had to convince him.

• Giada de Laurentiis's new cookbook is 'Giada's Family Dinners.'