I don't cook very often but when I do I try and make Georgian food. I made a hinkali recently, which is like ravioli but is the size of your palm, with meat in the middle and thicker dough.
— Katie Melua
We Georgians are really into food and drink. We would never have finger food at a party or a wedding - celebrations are always one long meal, on one long table, with endless toasts.
When I had a mental breakdown I was 26 and the most important thing before that was my work. And I still adore it. But it was all that mattered and everything else was secondary: my relationship, my family, my own health.
At 19 I was lucky enough to start making money from my music career, and when I was in my early twenties I trusted financial experts and advisers to guide me with how I invested money.
I don't get to do that very often so to just have a completely free evening where your mind is relaxed enough to read a book is exquisite.
Queen were the first western band I got hooked on. I got a bootleg - there was hardly any legal buying of CDs in Georgia.
I'll go through the budgets for tours and recordings, royalty statements... You have to wise up about it a bit more.
I'd also like to explore more of Georgia, my home country, because one day I really want to make an album that is written in the Georgian language.
I would advise everyone to have a travel drawer. Mine contains adaptors, ear plugs, blow-up pillows for the plane, travel health books, disposable cameras, a first aid kit and torches.
Children are resilient - they can always find a way to play.
Buying books is probably my biggest vice when I travel.
I'm not a huge fan of Las Vegas. It's a fun place to go to play a bit of poker but it's so man-made. And being quite environmentally conscious, I couldn't believe the amount of neon lighting in the city.
Norway, for some reason, I find Norway really fascinating, you really feel nature in that country. And then there is somewhere like Japan, which is the most interesting culturally because their whole psychology, how they think is so different to us and how I've grown up.
I love a classic, white silk shirt with dark trousers or jeans or a dark, knee-length skirt: timeless clothes that are not too fussy always work.
When I do my own makeup, I limit my options: I have one Mac eye colour, a neutral shade with a bit of shimmer, plus eyeliner and subtle mascara. I wear a little foundation and put Laura Mercier concealer around my nose, underneath my eyes and on any dark spots.
I used to think being in the West would be incredible and then when I was nine my parents moved us to Belfast. I was initially amazed by little things - in toyshops you could actually play with the toys, the schools were more colourful and there were so many magazines everywhere.
I don't mind doing publicity but I want to make sure it's the right type and it's about promoting my music and not me.
I love fruit. One of my earliest memories is climbing trees for figs, and I once got stuck in one when I was six. I could see the biggest, juiciest fig and I climbed up and got it and ate it right there, sitting on a branch. Then I realised I couldn't get down.
I love being out in nature. That is really important. It's everything actually.
To be healthy is, for me, linked in with feeling happy about yourself.
I go into a book store and start having heart palpitations. I get very excited.
I have spent a long time being asked questions in interviews, so I've experienced it on the other side but I'm really not afraid to ask any question myself.
It started in Georgia. Everyone sings there. I mean, it's all they do. So at eight, I heard a lot of Georgian singing, which is often really complicated, with seven- or eight-part harmonies.
When I wasn't touring I'd be really down, then suddenly after a few weeks of crazy travelling - America, a double headline with Ray Davies in Denmark, TV shows here and just partying... Suddenly I had an acute psychotic breakdown.
The Russians invaded Georgia in 2008 and my mum got stuck and had to be airlifted back to the capital by the UN because she'd left her passport at my grandparents. It was absolutely terrifying and it's why I always carry my passport in my handbag now.
Everybody in Georgia is musical, but I was slightly obsessed.
If I have children, I am never going to read them stories about finding Prince Charming because they will grow up feeling disappointed.
When I'm working, I'll often be upgraded to a suite though I don't ask for preferential treatment. I'll be there with a tour manager, my band and various promotions people and the hotel will offer to upgrade one of us; luckily, it's usually me.
The Georgians will treat you like royalty, and the odds are you'll do a lot of eating, drinking and toasting.
I wouldn't really call myself a Jazz singer I think it's offending to real Jazz singers to call me a Jazz singer.
I've started making my wardrobe a uniform: I find that the fewer options I have, the better my state of mind.
I'm the worst customer for a credit card company because I always pay my balance off every month.
I know I've been lucky, but I'm not very materialistic - I don't believe in collecting many unnecessary things and I'm not into girlie shopping.
There are all these tests that are done on young kids and they all say they want to be famous but I just always felt that for my generation being famous was kind of corny and cheesy. Maybe because fame isn't something that proves you're good at something.
I grew up eating quite well, even though the idea has got around that my family were terribly poor in Communist Georgia. I think it's partly because we had different standards then - it was tough, but we never truly struggled for food.
Throughout my 20s it was all about achieving and working as hard as possible. To the point that you don't think twice about working in a music studio with no windows from 11 to 11. And you don't bat an eyelid if you fly four times a week and do promo in a different city each time.
My focus was, and still is, totally on making music, getting on the road and performing live.
I wolf food down like you've never seen. For some reason, I have no self-control when it comes to the pace of eating.
I became this dorky 15-year-old, in my bedroom all the time with crossed eyes, staring at my computer. It was all drum loops, R&B and pop - silly songs that I hope to God no one ever hears. But that's what got me in to music.
Maybe when you're 18, 19, 20, you could have a bit of a wobble if you're going on live TV and playing guitar. But in your thirties you've got to just grow up about it.
To have been able to buy my parents a house in London is something no one can imagine.
When I was younger I dreamt of intrepid travel and whenever I had some time off I wanted to scuba dive. Nowadays I'm a bit more relaxed but I'd still like to do an Amazonian trek.
I moved schools seven or eight times, but I never thought of it as a problem. I didn't become attached to people.
I think singing is such an important and incredible art form and it is quite undervalued at times.
I spend eight to nine months working abroad and cram in a holiday when I have the odd week off.
Of course, I like to keep my private life, private.
Some of the songs are inspired by personal things that have happened. Others have been inspired by other people's stories, you know, like someone that witnesses something and so I tell the story through my own eyes. And some songs are just about how I feel about the world and others about the places that we have travelled to.
I love the French philosophy that everything starts with great-looking skin.
But I do believe in living life to the full and so I have no problems spending money on travel and holidays.
I do tend to drape my real feelings with pretty words and different layers and stuff.
