In a New York Times article released the same day that the first batch of her As ever product line was available to shop, Meghan Markle spoke of her work ethic, noting that until she met husband Prince Harry, she hadn’t been without a job since the age of 13.

“I need to work, and I love to work,” Meghan told the outlet in an interview released April 2, adding that her lifestyle brand “is a way I can connect my home life and my work.”

The interview marked the first time a reporter was invited into her kitchen, The New York Times mentioned; Meghan famously drew criticism for not filming her eight-part Netflix lifestyle series With Love, Meghan at her own home in Montecito, California, opting instead to film at a nearby rental. The New York Times pointed out that “unlike the sleek white kitchen in the show, this kitchen—designed and built by the previous owners—has a weathered wooden island (in addition to a marble one), a well-used Viking stove, and classic accents of blue-and-white tiles.” (Meghan’s real kitchen pops up from time to time on her newly relaunched Instagram, particularly when cooking or baking with kids Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.)

Though no photos were allowed to be taken, The New York Times described Harry and Meghan’s abode in snippets, like their “old-fashioned butler’s pantry with cabinets holding glasses and tea sets” as well as “a modern pantry stuffed with carefully organized ingredients and snacks.” Cookbooks by Giada De Laurentiis, Yotam Ottolenghi, and Toni Tipton-Martin line the shelves, as does “a well-thumbed copy of From Seed to Skillet, the 2010 classic by the celebrity gardener Jimmy Williams about creating and cooking from a home garden.”

“And just outside the door, a framed picture of Harry as a boy with his mother, Princess Diana, holds pride of place,” the outlet continued.

Meghan—described by the publication as a “passionate home cook who knows her way around a vinaigrette, is quick with a lemon zester, and deft with a knife”—was also quick to admit that she has a lot to learn. Her home’s two pizza ovens “are mostly dormant,” The New York Times reported, and Meghan told the outlet that her first attempt at making sourdough bread was “both boring and traumatic enough to send her back to bakeries.”

“There are professionals who do that better than I ever will,” Meghan said.

In one part of the sweeping article, she recalled her original dinner parties as a college student at Northwestern, remembering when she was “20 [years old], in a tiny little apartment in Evanston, serving that sandwich [a Rachael Ray grilled cheese sandwich recipe] and a bottle of Two-Buck Chuck—that was when Trader Joe’s was getting big.”

“We all thought it was so fancy,” she added.

Elsewhere in the article, Meghan kept it real, gesturing at her home’s impressive views and saying of her critics, “Don’t they know my life hasn’t always been like this?”