As she slowly approaches her due date in early 2014, food writer and expert Gail Simmons opened up about her pregnancy, marriage and what it is exactly she loves about being in the kitchen.

The Canada native presented an honor to Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi at the SELF Magazine's Women Doing Good Awards on Sept. 11 in New York City. Simmons walked the red carpet with a pregnancy glow and posed for cameras proudly holding her baby bump for full display. She talked to Enstars about getting ready for her first child with husband of five years, Jeremy Abrams.

"Pregnancy's going great. I feel great, I feel very lucky," she said. "So far so good."

The couple chose not to find out the sex of their child and have not done much preparations for the baby, with the Top Chef judge revealing that they have not began buying clothing or nursery items. 

Abrams has been "amazing" and supportive throughout his wife's pregnancy so far, which surprised Simmons.

"I thought hed be the one who'd be really, really nervous and he's actually really calm," she explained. "He's so much less neurotic than I thought he would be when we got the news. He's been a lot calmer than I am."

Simmons waited years to become a mother and when asked what excites her the most about donning the new role, she said, "everything from beginning to end.

"I know it wont be easy but I've been waited a long time for this little one to come along so just cuddling would be nice, just knowing it," she explained. "Getting to put the face and the name to what's happening. I just cant wait to meet him or her."

A love of cooking is something Simmons will perhaps try to instill in her child, since the head critic on Top Chef Masters had an early start in the kitchen. She recalled spending a lot of time when she was a child in the kitchen with her mother, who ran a cooking school. She also credited her mother as her inspiration for getting into the culinary world. Simmons moved from Toronto to New York City in 1999 to attend culinary school at the Institute of Culinary Education.

Simmons' favorite part about being in the kitchen is simply explained as her love for creating. She enjoys "feeding people" and making delicious food she can then share with those close to her. She described her husband as being "the ultimate sous chef" in the kitchen. What she enjoys cooking depends on  the season and what she is craving, which at the beginning of her pregnancy was peanut butter and Popsicles.

Top Chef: New Orleans premieres Oct. 2 on Bravo. Guest judges include Lea Michele and Jonathan Favreau. 

Simmons was previously host of Top Chef Just Desserts. She joined Food & Wine in 2004 and directs special projects for the magazine. Her first book, a memoir titled Talking With My Mouth Full, was published in February 2012.

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