I was recently asked whether I wanted to interview Paula Deen, Georgia's best-known cook.

I didn't have to be asked twice.

I prepared a list of questions and made myself a big sign to help me stay on task during our interview. The sign said: Ask questions, don't gush.

I called the home of Ms. Deen and her husband, Michael Groover. A few minutes later, I was talking with Ms. Deen, the star of two Food Network Shows, author of six cookbooks and a memoir, Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin' (Simon & Shuster, due out in early April). She'd just gotten up and was getting her coffee when she picked up the phone.

Ms. Deen was taught to cook by her grandmother and became known for her Southern home cooking at her Savannah restaurant, The Lady & Sons, which she runs with her sons Jamie and Bobby. "The boys," as she calls them, have their own Food Network, show called Road Tasted, and run the restaurant. The family is tight-knit, and I asked her how she kept a close relationship with her sons.

"Start a business and tie 'em to it," she said with a laugh. "I watched over my children like a hawk."

I asked Ms. Deen whether her sons were picky eaters growing up, and fortunately, that wasn't a problem.

"They were good eaters," she said. "They didn't want to go to eat at anyone's house. They'd say 'You're a better cooker, Mama.' They loved everything. They just oohed and aahed."

(By the way, son Bobby's favorite meal is goulash, which Ms. Deen described as "homemade hamburger helper." "It continues to be his birthday meal. He says, "Mama, it's the best stuff I've ever put in my mouth,'" she said.)

My son Tripp has made the same comment about Ms. Deen's recipe for Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding, which he requests instead of birthday cake. When I told her, she offered to let me run the recipe in the column, agreeing that it is one of the best "no-cook" banana puddings around.

Family meals were a big part of family life in the Deen home, and Ms. Deen said she knows that getting dinner on the table after a busy day can be difficult.

"Bottom line, I am a housewife. I have to juggle a lot of balls like the rest of the women out there," she said.

She suggests having a well-stocked pantry and avoiding those highly processed convenience meals.

Ms. Deen opened her restaurant 17 years ago with the goal of "giving people a good meal at a fair price," she said. Her other goal was financial.

"Just for us to pay our bills. Nothing more. To go buy groceries on Wednesday if payday wasn't till Friday," she said.

She continues to achieve her first goal and has surpassed her financial goal, but it hasn't come without a lot of hard work.

"Opening a restaurant," she said, "it would not be a dream. It's a nightmare. People who cook very well are not necessarily candidates for a restaurant," she cautions. Ms. Deen said that success in the business requires "100 percent dedication to that restaurant. You definitely work when your friends are playin'. You've got to have a good business head."

While her sons watch over the restaurant, Ms. Deen oversees Paula Deen Enterprises, which is based in an office over her garage. The business will soon move to a new headquarters and Ms. Deen says she'll miss all the activity in and around her home.

Ms. Deen, who suffered with agoraphobia (the fear of leaving her home) for many years, says her life took a turn in 1989 when she decided to take complete responsibility for herself. After her moment of truth at age 40, Ms. Deen says she can't wait to go to bed at night in order to wake up in the morning and see what will happen.

"For 40 years I felt like I was someone else's responsibility. I moved from daddy's house to my husband's and didn't realize I was capable of taking care of myself," she said. She describes her road to success as an unbelievable ride. "I made the commitment and God provided the work," she said.

Ms. Deen says she sees herself in a lot of women her age.

"They found themselves in their 40s with no husband. It's a very scary place to be," she said. "I married in 1965. You got married and stood by your man. Today it's not like that. A woman has to be able to tend to herself and realize that she cannot rely on someone else."

She says her success has been a wonderful surprise and that her busy schedule varies daily. The day we spoke, she was heading out to do voice-overs for her show. Later, she would be in the studio voicing the audio version of her memoirs.

There was a photo shoot scheduled for the next day and she had just returned from a trip that took her to New York, Miami and St. Lucia, where she met up with the whole family to tape a Food Network Deen Family Vacation special, which will air this summer.

"I do not need a whole bunch of rest," she said. "The energy just comes from somewhere."

Ms. Deen says one of the secrets to her exuberance is the people she works with.

"Surround yourself with fabulous people. Extend yourself through other people," she said.

Her favorite quote: I can't, but we can.

"And I have a good dedicated team, one of the best teams around," she said.

Her parting remark summed up her philosophy: "Life is a fabulous gift we've been given."

Life is definitely a gift, and for me, so was spending time over coffee with Paula Deen.