WEBVTT - The Primal Joys of Nature w/ The Ebony Anglers and Melissa Clark 0:00:01.600 --> 0:00:04.680 Welcome to Go Ask Ali, a production of Shonda Land 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:08.480 Audio and partnership with iHeartRadio. Rolling on the full. Laughing 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:10.280 is a thing I can I've seen you know, We've 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:14.239 all seen people do it. I've done it. Kiddy's for me. Now. 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:17.840 The work is to warrant what I have, even kind 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.799 of shitty stuff. You know, that's my works. It's imperfect. 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:23.240 So let me ask you a question about actors because 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:27.560 you are Yeah, me too. We are old funny duddies. 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:29.840 We go to sleep at ten, we wake up at six, 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:32.800 we go to bed at eight, so there are more 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:36.639 funny duddies than you. You are the funny duddiest. Yes, 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:47.240 welcome to Go ask Alli. I'm Ali Wentworth. Now, before 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:50.240 we jump into the most amazing episode of Go Ask 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:54.720 Ali ever, guess what. We've been nominated for a Webby Award. 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:58.040 It's a People's Choice award, so our people need to 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:02.040 vote for us. That is you please. I'll say more 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:04.360 about this at the end of the show, so stay tuned, 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:07.080 and there's also info in the show notes, or you 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:09.880 can go to the real Alley Wentworth Instagram and click 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:13.320 on my bio. Okay, we'll spin your rod and get 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:16.000 at your clamming rake, because this is an episode for 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:20.120 the books. Everything I love is in this episode of 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:25.880 Go ask Alley Fishing and clamming badass women, foragers and providers. 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:31.160 That's right, I have some unbelievable guests today. First up, 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:34.080 I get to introduce you to the Ebony Anglers, a 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:38.560 trailblazing team of sport fishing women. And later I share 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.319 a giddy conversation I had with my clam and sister 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:44.520 and soulmate, award winning New York Times food columnist and 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:48.520 cookbook author Melissa Clark. We talk about why we love 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:53.480 crouching and saltwater by ourselves. So damn much. Okay. First up, 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:58.640 the Ebony Anglers. Oh lord. They are a trophy winning, 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:02.120 groundbreaking group of women who have come together to promote 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:06.360 the joys of fishing, boating, and the great outdoors. Their passion, 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:10.040 victories and awards have inspired the creation of the Ebony 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:15.720 Angler Foundation, which has created educational programs, mentorship, and access 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:20.280 to phishing and voting experiences, primarily with a BIPOC community. 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:23.519 Its driving force is to make all of the outdoors 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:27.520 accessible and enjoyable for everyone. Based in North Carolina, the 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:32.800 Ebedy Anglers are Gia Peebles, Leslie Maousi, Tiana Davis, Bobby 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:36.000 at Palmer, and Glenda Turner, who unfortunately could not join 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:37.960 us for this. So we got four out of five, 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:43.000 which was a miracle. Damn it. It's the best day 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:44.560 of my life. And I'm going to tell you why, 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:47.840 because the Ebony Anglers are with me. I have been 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:53.320 chasing them like Moby Dick for years. I was emailing them, 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:55.960 I was going to their website. I was like, dear God, 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:59.000 I think that there Reese Witherspoon faster than these people. 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:03.840 And finally the day has come. The Ebony Anglers are here. 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:06.639 And first of all, ladies, thank you for being here, 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:10.240 thank you for anchoring and coming in and talking to me. 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:14.560 And second of all, I am a huge fisherwoman. I 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.920 showed you some photos before we started this podcast. I 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.720 am in it. I love it. It is my happy place, 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:26.160 it is my meditation place. I love to fish. And 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:30.600 you know, I've always been intimidated because my husband doesn't fish. 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:34.000 But I've never had a girlfriend that would go fishing 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:36.760 with me. And I've always wanted to go on a 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:40.560 fishing trip and I don't want to go with some dudes, 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:43.360 I want to go with my girlfriends and nobody will come. 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:46.760 So when I saw that you were a group a 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:51.160 bad ass fisherwoman, I was like, I want in, but 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:55.080 you're ebony Anglers. So unless the Ivory Anglers come along, 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:58.280 I'm out of luck. But we can be the ebony 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:01.920 and ivory angle. There we go. Absolutely, that's beautiful. Consider us. 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:05.280 Your girlfriends come on and join us. Listen, don't do 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:07.080 not say that to me. I will be on a 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:11.080 plane so fast it'll make your head spend everything about 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:15.000 the Ebony Anglers, your charitable component, all of it. And 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:19.159 I'm a big child advocate. I'm all about raising awareness 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:23.520 for girls. And there you all that one delicious little 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:26.839 net of fish. Have you captured everything that I love? Okay, 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:29.040 So I'm not going to talk anymore because I want 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:31.240 to hear from you. How did this start? How did 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:34.640 you guys come together? Were you drinking you know, sex 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:36.800 on the beaches one day and You're like, we could 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:40.160 start a fishing group. Yeah, so I'll jump in on 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:45.200 that one. Essentially, I got into fishing because my husband 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:46.919 loved to fish, so it was something kind of we 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:51.520 did as a pastime to equal out our crazy lives 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.440 as entrepreneurs. But we were down at the coast and 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:57.839 there's a huge tournament called the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament. 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:01.440 And the first day, this boat is backing in and 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:04.760 five ladies get off the boat, and then another boat 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:07.640 backs in and five more ladies get off the boat. 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:09.599 So I look at him and I'm like, okay, what's 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:12.880 going on here? Why all these women? And he was like, well, 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:16.440 the first two days is the ladies tournament. So, being 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:20.120 the natural competitor that I am, I'm like, okay, how 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:23.520 do you get into this right? And so he's like, 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.159 you gotta get a boat, you gotta get a captain, 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:30.920 you gotta get a team together. So immediately my rolodex 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:34.839 starts turning, like, Okay, who can I call that is 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:38.279 crazy enough to do this with me? Because, like you, Alie, 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:41.200 I don't know a lot of other women who fished, right, 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:45.440 who'd you call? Who'd you call? First? I called Leslie? Yes, yes, 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:49.320 And we actually had just been out fishing together and 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:51.960 I saw her fishing off of our boat and I 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:55.640 was like, okay, she's got some grit about her. So 0:05:56.080 --> 0:06:00.359 she immediately rose up. So I called Leslie. Then I 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:03.039 called Bobby. We kind of have a long relationship in 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:07.000 the beauty industry. Then I called Glinda. We worked together, 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:11.920 and Leslie brought in Tiana because she knew her very well. 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.320 Tiana's a mother of five and owns the business, and 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:18.520 so I said she'd be a perfect fit for us. Okay, 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:20.480 you know what we're missing, Glinda, but let's do a 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:24.479 quick intro of everyone else here. Okay, I am Bobby 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:30.440 at Glover. I am recently married, I will be turning forty, 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:35.800 and I am also a grandmother, which is funny. And 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:38.400 I have five kids now. I went from one biological too. 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:40.520 Now I have five kids, a grandchild and one on 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:45.919 the way. I'm Leslie MAUSI I am a wife, a mom, 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:50.480 a retired educator. I own a music festival. I'm a 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:54.360 newly published author, and I turned fifty this year. I'm 0:06:54.360 --> 0:07:00.200 a hashtag boy mom and all things music. That's me. Hello. 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:04.760 I'm Tianna Davis. I'm from Long Island, New York. I'm 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:09.400 the owner of a hospitality and catering company, the mother 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:14.000 of five amazing children, all of whom I've pushed through 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:19.760 my womb. And I'm a badass ebony angler I'm Ga Peebles, 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:28.560 the mother of three sons, entrepreneur, stylist, and former professional athletes. Amazing. 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:32.080 So okay, so let me here's my first question, because 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:36.200 I know there's a good answer to this. How do 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:43.080 the white men I feel about a bunch of black 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:48.040 women competing with them for fish? Because that is a 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:51.720 primal thing. You must have some stories about this, and 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:55.080 I want to hear them right now. The totally love it. 0:07:55.360 --> 0:08:02.480 White men love us. Yeah, after they get over the disbelief, 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:06.040 like you know, like shock, like yes, are they really 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:08.960 out here fishing? And then after they realize we're really 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:11.120 out there fishing, they're like all in. They want to know, like, 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:13.480 you know, what are y'all doing? Who are y'all? How 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:15.720 are you doing this? Until we beat their ass? Not 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:17.920 only that they're that's right, they're looking at us and 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:20.240 we've got a full face of makeup and we've got 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:23.440 all these matching outfits. They don't we're matching outfits out 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.760 there on the water, but we're all color coordinated. Well 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:32.880 maybe they do below deck, but they certainly, and they're like, 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:35.000 what's going on here? But then when we pull our 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:37.200 fish out, you know, and we go up to the 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:40.319 way station. Then I think that's where that respect comes in. 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:42.640 And then they want to come over and talk and chat. 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.640 So it's like, oh, yeah, these ladies are serious, and 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:47.679 well how do they react when you beat them in 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:52.800 a competition? You're all smiling? Come on, I want to 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:58.480 hear just like fill the tea right, yeah, in disbelief. Yeah, 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.640 they're shocked. They're in disbel leave. Like you know, I 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:04.120 think even what you know, one person was like, yeah, 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.920 I'll checked the scale, you know, like and and they 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:10.040 just because they just couldn't believe it, you know initially. 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:13.240 But we walked over proud with our fish, like yeah, 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:15.640 you know we've won. This is our fish. You know, 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:18.720 take note, take note, take note. We're doing this too. 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:23.320 So all right, So to put it in a relationship metaphor, 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:26.520 do you all each have a story of the one 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:29.920 that got away? Did you have like a Marlin or 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:33.640 something huge at the end you lost it? Because that's 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:38.160 got that I oh, that's heartbreaking more than losing a relationship. 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:40.240 If that big fish is on and you lose it, 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:43.679 poor Bobby. Yeah, let me tell you my heartbreak in 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:48.360 marlins story. Um, so you know, it takes a lot 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:52.440 of intestinal fortitude. I always say to do this deep 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:58.160 sea fishing thing, especially competitively. And the first like super 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.360 huge tournament we had besides our very first one that 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:05.400 we won was the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament and 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:09.120 we are out on our you know, sixty foot yacht 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:13.440 in eight to ten foot ocean swells while it's pouring 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:17.959 down rain, and we did pretty good. We had a 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:21.720 pretty good hawk. We caught four large mahi, about twenty 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:26.080 twenty three pound mahi. And so it was my turn 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:30.360 up at the rod, and wouldn't you know it, five 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:35.560 six hundred pounds marlin hits the rod. And when I 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:39.360 tell you, it was like a train hit the rod. 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:43.440 I was not ready. Was I saw Jaws? I know 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:45.800 what it feels like. I guess it was like Jaws. 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:50.800 And I'm telling you that fish for forty minutes just 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:56.080 swam straight down like, did not rest, did not give 0:10:56.120 --> 0:11:01.679 any slack. And I just remember thinking, well, something's wrong 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:05.360 with this rod because it's not the reels. It's just 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:08.800 not reeling. It just won't go. It wasn't the rod. 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:12.360 It was me and you know, just fighting this fish 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:16.320 that I'd never experienced that power before ever and could 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:20.960 not fathom what that felt like. And so, you know, 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:23.800 forty minutes and at this point, I didn't think that 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.440 I could pass the rod to my teammates because you know, 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:29.680 every tournament has different rules and we're knew, we're still 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:32.880 learning everything and um, and so no one could touch 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:35.240 the rod. You know, everybody was like yelling at me, 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:37.959 like hey, keep really keep red. I'm like, I can't, 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:40.600 and I'm thinking, you know, trying to trying to do 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.080 this thing. I put me in the fight chair and 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:45.720 for another twenty twenty five minutes, I'm in this chair, 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:50.199 fish swimming straight down. Next thing I know, I'm like, oh, yeah, 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:53.080 I got this. Now. The rod's easy to reel now. 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:57.760 And that's because he was gone. That was the last 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:00.720 opportunity that we had in that tournament to get something. 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:04.360 And I just felt like, oh my god, I failed 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.400 my team. And also I was kind of like, oh God, 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:13.440 thank god this is over. Wow. So, Tiana, for people 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:19.480 that don't fish, it explain to my listeners how strong 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:22.840 you have to be to be a fisher person. Like 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:25.960 when you've got a big fish at the end on 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:30.079 your hook, it's your guns better be like Michelle Obama's 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:31.760 I mean you got to reel that thing. And there 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.520 are times where I want to give up because I'm 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:37.719 just like, I don't have the strike. Yeah, absolutely, to 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.400 talk about that. Yeah. So one of the things that 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:42.200 we try to do is, you know, make sure that 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:44.640 we are ready and stay in shape, like we're hitting 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:49.400 the gym and we're working on our cardio and weightlifting, 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:53.960 because as Bobby had said, once that fish hits the line, 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:56.640 you feel like you've been hit by a truck, and 0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:59.880 it is like sink or swim. Right, forgive me for 0:12:59.880 --> 0:13:02.320 the poor metaphor right now, I love it, but it 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:07.440 is really a test of everything that you have inside 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:11.920 of you. You're great, you're endurance, particularly in the tournaments 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:14.880 when you cannot pass the rod over to your teammate. 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:20.320 You have this potentially three four five hundred pound fish 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:25.160 fighting for its life and you're fighting for a million dollars. 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:29.880 So who's gonna win? Right, Gia. Let me ask you 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:33.760 this greatest win like for some people that oh the 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:38.239 super Bowl that you know, for you guys, what competition 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:44.560 did you win? And it was just great? So people 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:48.640 can fish, you know, basically their entire career and never 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:52.120 win a tournament like just like the last one we 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:55.520 fished in for KLLA. I think those ladies had been 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:59.200 fishing for seven years and that was their first win 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:03.360 at So we always say it was kind of divine 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:08.560 order for us to actually win the first tournament that 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:13.600 we ever competed in as a team. Right, So with 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:17.360 that kind of being said, we're always chasing that high, 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:21.320 like that initial experience was just I mean, it gives 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:25.360 me goosebumps now just thinking about it. Right, our boat 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:28.560 captain was eighty years old and when we ruled that 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:31.520 fish in, he leaped off of his feet because he 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:33.320 was like, oh my god, this is the biggest catch 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:37.520 that he's ever had of his career. So I would 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:41.440 have to say that it's called the Carteret Community College 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:45.080 Spanish Mackerel Tournament. That was the first tournament that we 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:49.320 competed in as a unit or a team together, and 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:53.200 that was our first win. And do you get a trophy? 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:55.200 If you get a trophy, do you get a J 0:14:55.400 --> 0:15:01.000 max gift card? Like what do you win with? So 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:04.240 we did get a monetary prize along with a trophy 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.400 as well. Yeah, and we would have took the TJ 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:11.160 Max to gift card also because to look at exactly 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:14.960 who wouldn't, right, who wouldn't So Leslie, let me ask 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:18.200 you this. So, when you guys you're doing these tournaments, 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:22.040 what's the furthest place from home you've gone to compete. 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:28.240 The farthest we've gone is Almarado, Florida. We really wanted 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:31.840 to take advantage of fishing during the winter months, and 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.280 here in North carolina's just so cold, it's kind of 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:37.720 miserable on the water. So we were just thinking, where 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:40.280 could we go it's warmer, Where do they have fishing 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:45.280 all year long? And we actually met on social media 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:49.240 some lovely, lovely ladies called real Gals, and that kind 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:52.880 of took us down to Florida, the West Palm Beach area, 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:58.000 and we found a really nice tournament down there called 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:02.400 the Fish for Holly Tournament, and it was tied to 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.600 a really great cause. And you know, we had just 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:09.120 put on Instagram that we were going to travel to 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:13.200 Florida and participate in this great tournament for a great cause. 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:15.840 And we get down there. We're wearing our sweatshirts and 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.880 our hats, and there were so many people there that said, 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:21.920 we know you guys. We were so happy to hear 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:24.960 that you were coming like we follow you. So just 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:28.200 to just to get all the way down to our 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:33.320 maraud Or Florida, the Keys and meet up with people 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:36.920 who had followed our journey and to know that we 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:39.120 all had the same connection. And that was the love 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:43.000 for this sport and it was the respect for um, 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:46.040 this family who had set up this wonderful tournament in 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:50.320 honor of their child. Yeah, it was a great experience. 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:53.640 How often do you guys fish in a year? Every 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:57.640 weekend every few months? Only wanted to hot out, like, 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:01.080 how does your schedule work? So we formed the team. 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:04.399 We wanted to make sure that we were fishing once 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:10.000 per quarter competitively and then um in between there how 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:14.840 often can we realistically practice? And so we try to 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:18.440 get out there maybe once every six to eight weeks, 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:22.800 and it doesn't always happen that way. Imagine trying to 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:27.280 sink five schedules and it's it's hell getting you on 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:35.359 my podcast exactly exactly now you understand one. So, Gia, 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:39.040 it's expensive the sport. Yes, you know. I know that. 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.840 When I want to fish in the summer because I 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.960 love it, it's it's cost me a pretty penny. So 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:48.159 it must cost you guys money renting the boats, buying 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:52.160 the gear. It really does. And you're exactly right, because, 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:56.359 especially for the larger tournaments where the purse is a 0:17:56.359 --> 0:18:00.359 lot bigger, we have to charter a much larger like 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.000 Bobby had said, you know, sometimes it's forty one foot 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:07.439 to sixty, you know, plus and from North Carolina, we 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:10.040 have to go about two hours off of our coast 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:13.080 to get to the gold stream where the much larger 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:16.800 fish are that we're looking to catch. So you know, 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:20.399 we pretty much have financed it all ourselves. That is 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.640 the beauty of having a team, and that we can 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.480 kind of divvy up the costs and split it among 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:30.520 the five of us to all pitch in. And you know, 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:33.199 we agreed in the beginning, like we all agreed that 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:35.760 we were committed to this and it was something that 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:38.119 we not only wanted just to do, we wanted to 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:41.320 do it well. And so you know, we're all moms, 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:46.000 we're all business owners, were all wives. It's a sacrifice, 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:49.640 but we've been willing to make that sacrifice. Now, if 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:53.200 truth be told, for some of us, it is an escape, right, 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:58.959 I don't know what you're talking about. It is an escape. 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:02.280 We need that little breath, you know, just to to 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:07.080 recharge ourselves. And so it does make it nice to say, oh, honey, 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:09.640 I've got a fishing tournament this weekend, so I'll be 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:14.560 back so with your camps Black Girls Fish and Black 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:17.960 Boys Boat, which I think are incredibly fantastic. Has there 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:20.720 been a kid or an experience that really stands out 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:25.120 to you. One of the things that really is just 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:28.119 amazing to me each and every time it never loses 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:30.600 its luster, is when we see a kid that's caught 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:35.120 their very first fish that has happened so many times, 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:40.080 where the look on their face, the pure unadulterated glee 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:43.919 that they are feeling because they've caught this little pinfish 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:47.960 that's like four inches big. Right. But but for them, 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:50.719 you can't say that it's not that fifteen pound salmon, 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:53.720 right or the five hundred pound balls right, because it 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:57.720 is life changing. Y. Yeah, it's a moment of success, 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:00.840 it's an accomplishment, it's a reward, and you have to 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:04.800 have patience. They call it fishion, not catching, so you 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:06.800 you never know if you're going to get something and 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:09.960 you're casting out, you can't see what's below the surface, 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:12.879 and you know when you feel that tug on that line. 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:16.960 It's adrenaline, you know. It's that it's those endorphins that 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:20.040 are released and reeling it in and seeing what it is. 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:23.240 And when something hits our line, it's that moment when 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.399 you first see color, you know, and you're wondering what 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:29.919 it is. And you know, we're learning to tell different 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:32.639 fish by the type of fight that they give, but 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:36.600 you really never know until you see that color come 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:38.800 toward the surface, and when it breaks that surface, you 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:42.040 know that that's what these kids are feeling. It's that adrenaline, 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:46.240 natural high. Don't you think there's something really primal about 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:49.959 it too. You know. I remember during the during COVID, 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:52.879 I went out fishing a few times, and there was 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:56.320 something great about coming home with a fish and putting 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:59.159 it on the counter and looking at my husband and saying, like, 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:02.640 I'm a prof fighter. Yes, you know, I went out, 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:06.119 I got dinner. I cooked dinner. That's right, you know 0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:11.200 what I mean. I love that feeling too, yes, absolutely absolutely, 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:15.840 and that that just adds to the feeling of accomplishment. 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:18.280 And I think for not only for us, but for 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:21.520 the kids, you know, learning how to fight something that 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:25.159 you can't see learning how to fight the unknown. Like 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:27.600 Bobby was saying, you don't know what it is until 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:29.879 you reel it up. So the only thing you have 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:33.000 to depend on is you your strength and your fortitude, 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:35.880 and you have got to pull it in and it's 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:39.680 all up to you. So it's a it's very self rewarding, 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:43.320 you know, and it's a great feeling to pull it 0:21:43.359 --> 0:21:45.560 out the water. And that's why we do what we do. 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:48.520 You know, tournaments are amazing. We do that for the 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:52.359 thrill of it, but our foundation really is so that 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:56.240 we can impact lives of little kids that look like 0:21:56.440 --> 0:22:00.280 us and just open them up to so many more opportunity. 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:07.080 I love it. There's a lot more to come after 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:19.080 the short break and we're back. You know. I actually 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:22.000 think teenagers could benefit so much from this too. I mean, 0:22:22.040 --> 0:22:26.520 with all the issues they're dealing with right now, mental health, trauma, addiction, 0:22:27.080 --> 0:22:30.760 global warming, civil unrest. You know, I've been saying for 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:33.320 years that I think there's a real mental health crisis 0:22:33.320 --> 0:22:36.879 in our country for teenagers, and how amazing would it 0:22:36.920 --> 0:22:41.159 be for them to have a place to go to 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:46.679 be competitive and to find their strength is such an 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:51.199 important thing, you know. I found clamming during COVID. But 0:22:51.560 --> 0:22:54.119 you know, but it was a great coping thing for me, 0:22:55.160 --> 0:22:59.119 and I think they need those sort of outdoor coping things. 0:22:59.160 --> 0:23:03.679 But it's empowered too, and it's healthy, and it's something 0:23:03.720 --> 0:23:07.680 else to focus on. Yeah, it is. It is healthy. 0:23:08.160 --> 0:23:13.200 We have really noticed how children, even with addiction to devices, 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:16.160 when they're with us, it's a no device zone, and 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:19.040 so how they kind of don't want to release their 0:23:19.080 --> 0:23:23.000 devices or turn them off. But after about thirty forty 0:23:23.040 --> 0:23:28.320 five minutes there are yards away from their backpacks. They 0:23:28.320 --> 0:23:32.440 are not thinking about phones, video games, consoles, none of that, 0:23:33.440 --> 0:23:36.400 and they are playing with one another like we used 0:23:36.400 --> 0:23:39.320 to back in the day, right outside, rolling around in 0:23:39.359 --> 0:23:43.159 the sand, frolicking in the water. And it is just 0:23:43.240 --> 0:23:48.040 a return to what's most important. And that was the 0:23:48.160 --> 0:23:52.359 vision behind really creating the camps, because you know, we 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:55.960 see kids they deal with so much, whether it be depression, 0:23:56.119 --> 0:23:57.960 a lot of kids are cutting themselves, a lot of 0:23:58.040 --> 0:24:02.600 kids are coming out of the pandemic with emotional trauma 0:24:02.760 --> 0:24:07.439 just from isolation. So we're really really glad that we 0:24:07.560 --> 0:24:10.480 can be a part of healing. It's healing to us 0:24:10.960 --> 0:24:15.240 to be out there. I mean just mentally, emotionally, it's 0:24:15.280 --> 0:24:18.040 healing being out on the water perfectly. And I don't 0:24:18.040 --> 0:24:20.400 know if you ladies remember, but we had a young 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:25.240 lady that was very apprehensive about engaging with the group. 0:24:25.640 --> 0:24:27.680 I don't know if you ladies remember that, like I do, 0:24:27.760 --> 0:24:30.920 remember socialization perspective. You know, she was like, I don't 0:24:30.920 --> 0:24:33.960 have any friends, and you know, kind of nobody wanted 0:24:34.000 --> 0:24:37.080 to play with me. And I think it was Tianna. 0:24:37.160 --> 0:24:39.000 I think Tiana you were the one who kind of 0:24:39.000 --> 0:24:42.200 really facilitated that. She took the young lady, she brought 0:24:42.200 --> 0:24:45.800 her over to the other girls, and Tianna introduced her 0:24:45.840 --> 0:24:49.120 to the other ladies, and like like Leslie was saying, 0:24:49.160 --> 0:24:52.120 by the end of the camp, they were, you know, 0:24:52.320 --> 0:24:55.800 playing together. You know, they're probably lifelong friends. Like remember 0:24:55.800 --> 0:24:58.879 when we were in camp. What's really incredible with the 0:24:58.960 --> 0:25:01.800 children is that I think for each of us, we're 0:25:01.840 --> 0:25:05.199 able to identify parts of ourselves in these kids. So 0:25:05.280 --> 0:25:08.320 for that particular young lady, I wanted to beat for 0:25:08.440 --> 0:25:11.760 her what I needed when I was her age, and 0:25:12.440 --> 0:25:15.480 just I saw something in her that really was an 0:25:15.480 --> 0:25:19.040 opportunity to make connections that she could not do on 0:25:19.080 --> 0:25:21.760 her own. In that moment and she just needed some nurturing. 0:25:23.000 --> 0:25:25.720 Do you guys ever get any animal activists after you 0:25:26.080 --> 0:25:29.640 I once posted a picture of me holding a big fish, 0:25:29.680 --> 0:25:32.679 and people started talking about how inhumane I was, and 0:25:32.720 --> 0:25:34.879 I was like, I ate it. I fed my family 0:25:34.920 --> 0:25:38.639 with us. Yeah, we absolutely have, Okay, Yeah, yeah, we 0:25:38.720 --> 0:25:41.240 do get some comments like that on social media. You know, 0:25:41.400 --> 0:25:44.840 for the most part, it's it's positive, overwhelmingly positive. But 0:25:44.920 --> 0:25:46.879 you know, you get those trolls out there and the 0:25:47.960 --> 0:25:51.200 animal activists, they are serious and just like you said, 0:25:51.240 --> 0:25:55.639 you know, like we picked charitable tournaments. You know, we're 0:25:55.680 --> 0:25:59.480 about conservation. We always you know, when we bring in 0:25:59.760 --> 0:26:02.480 meat fish and we divvat them up between our families. 0:26:02.520 --> 0:26:06.920 We have fish tacos. You know, our husbands are waiting 0:26:06.960 --> 0:26:10.080 at the docks for us to cook up our fish 0:26:10.160 --> 0:26:13.280 that we went out and caught. And we really are 0:26:13.400 --> 0:26:17.639 about stewardship of the environment and teaching the next generation, 0:26:18.320 --> 0:26:21.520 which is why we started our foundation, you know, to 0:26:21.520 --> 0:26:24.160 teach kids how to fish and how to boat and 0:26:24.560 --> 0:26:29.720 you know, and about conservation. And we do have some news. 0:26:30.000 --> 0:26:33.200 If I kid, you're giving me some breaking news, breaking news, 0:26:33.440 --> 0:26:40.200 we saved it just for you. Yes, So um. So 0:26:40.280 --> 0:26:45.640 our nonprofit is the Ebony Anglers Foundation, and we are 0:26:45.720 --> 0:26:49.159 so excited to say that we've just partnered with the 0:26:49.320 --> 0:26:52.679 National Parks Foundations and the National Parks Service and they 0:26:52.720 --> 0:26:57.080 have awarded us a large grant to expand our programming 0:26:57.600 --> 0:27:00.760 and our goal is to take the programming nation and wide. 0:27:01.080 --> 0:27:04.200 We started off with a summer camp for kids here 0:27:04.240 --> 0:27:07.760 in Durham, North Carolina, black girlish um about twenty twenty 0:27:07.760 --> 0:27:12.960 five kids, Black girlsmission black boys. Yeah yeah. And and 0:27:13.080 --> 0:27:16.320 the National Parks Service and Foundation they found us and 0:27:16.440 --> 0:27:19.200 they you know, they pursued us and said, we want 0:27:19.240 --> 0:27:20.880 to be a part of this. We love what you're 0:27:20.920 --> 0:27:23.800 doing and we want to help, you know, and so 0:27:23.840 --> 0:27:26.800 this is our pilot program and they have just been 0:27:27.320 --> 0:27:30.440 so amazing and giving us the support that we need. 0:27:30.800 --> 0:27:34.000 UM and so you know this this is huge for us, 0:27:34.080 --> 0:27:37.720 huge for our foundation and our goals as UM as 0:27:37.760 --> 0:27:41.000 a team to teach teach the littles. So we are 0:27:41.040 --> 0:27:46.480 just so is amazing. Thank you. That is really great. 0:27:46.680 --> 0:27:50.000 Thank you. Oh gosh, I just that is the best news. 0:27:50.040 --> 0:27:53.560 And because I love the blueprint for your whole foundation 0:27:54.440 --> 0:27:56.879 should be nationwide. I mean it should be global, but 0:27:56.960 --> 0:28:01.160 let's start locally, but it should be nationwide. So congratulations, 0:28:01.240 --> 0:28:04.000 thank you. So I can be part of it in 0:28:04.080 --> 0:28:09.320 any way, Please tell me thank you. I'm serious. Oh absolutely, 0:28:09.720 --> 0:28:12.480 we would love to invite you to come fishing with us. 0:28:13.680 --> 0:28:17.240 I'm there, I am there, I am this is I 0:28:17.240 --> 0:28:21.280 am not bullshitting you. Okay, lying there? Can you invite me? 0:28:22.000 --> 0:28:25.159 I am gonna come. Wonderful Okay, yes, well you have 0:28:25.200 --> 0:28:27.920 an open invitation, so just let us know when you're 0:28:28.080 --> 0:28:33.800 You're available. I'm available, I'm available. Why don't you guys 0:28:33.920 --> 0:28:36.200 come up to Long Island and come fishing with me? 0:28:36.359 --> 0:28:39.440 How about that? There's some big, big fish in Long Island. 0:28:39.640 --> 0:28:46.360 Let's do it. That would be awesome. So, you know, 0:28:46.480 --> 0:28:49.400 my my podcast, Go Ask Ali, I ask people a 0:28:49.400 --> 0:28:52.200 lot of questions, and so I like to give them 0:28:52.240 --> 0:28:54.480 an opportunity at the end of the podcast to ask 0:28:54.600 --> 0:28:58.560 me something. So all four of you can ask me 0:28:58.600 --> 0:29:01.000 a question. You can go ask Ali, and let's start 0:29:01.080 --> 0:29:04.800 with Bobby. Ask me anything, Bobby. You know, Al, I'm 0:29:04.840 --> 0:29:06.360 so glad that you started with me because I have 0:29:06.360 --> 0:29:10.320 a very important question to ask you. And my question is, 0:29:11.800 --> 0:29:14.280 if this was a zombie apocalypse, what is your weapon 0:29:14.280 --> 0:29:17.760 of choice if it's a But by the way, I 0:29:17.840 --> 0:29:20.200 watch The Walking Dead and I'm watching The Last of Us, 0:29:20.240 --> 0:29:24.680 so I think about this all the time. I don't 0:29:24.880 --> 0:29:27.160 I don't believe in guns, but it seems to be 0:29:27.240 --> 0:29:28.880 the only thing that they can use to kill the 0:29:28.960 --> 0:29:30.600 zombies because you have to, you know, get them in 0:29:30.640 --> 0:29:34.360 the head. So um, but I think some kind of 0:29:34.360 --> 0:29:37.440 a big like a fish gutting knife would be you know, 0:29:37.440 --> 0:29:38.960 because you can get him in the head with that, 0:29:39.560 --> 0:29:43.360 you can kill the un zombie humans with it. So yeah, 0:29:43.960 --> 0:29:46.800 pick cutting knife. She's given this some thought, Janna, how 0:29:46.800 --> 0:29:51.360 can I answer her question? Okay, my question? So I 0:29:51.600 --> 0:29:54.320 had several really great questions, but the one that I 0:29:54.400 --> 0:29:59.480 landed on is what makes a good spy Um, a 0:29:59.560 --> 0:30:04.000 poker face. A SPI will not let you know what 0:30:04.040 --> 0:30:07.840 they're thinking or what they're doing. And I say that 0:30:08.320 --> 0:30:12.320 as an empowered female, because you know, female spies are 0:30:12.320 --> 0:30:16.040 always just using their sexuality. I think it's so much 0:30:16.080 --> 0:30:17.720 more than that. But I think if you have a 0:30:17.760 --> 0:30:21.640 poker face and they can't guess what you're thinking or doing, 0:30:21.720 --> 0:30:24.880 or the fact that you've got a gun duct tape 0:30:24.920 --> 0:30:29.400 to your thigh, or a good SI, I like it 0:30:29.440 --> 0:30:33.760 is okay, giaf okay. So I am a beauty professional. 0:30:34.000 --> 0:30:38.520 So I have a beauty question. To wax or to shave, 0:30:39.200 --> 0:30:43.600 that is the question. What is your proper gia? I'm 0:30:43.920 --> 0:30:47.080 I'm fairly hairless like that has never been an issue 0:30:47.120 --> 0:30:50.920 for me. I shave okay. I have a Greek husband. 0:30:51.200 --> 0:30:54.480 So my daughters are half Greek and they are dipped 0:30:54.560 --> 0:31:00.520 in wax weekly. They are very good for me. Save 0:31:01.200 --> 0:31:07.600 for my little Greek hairy daughters. It's wax everywhere everywhere. 0:31:07.800 --> 0:31:12.720 You're not dipping the babies, are you. I'm not dipping them? 0:31:15.720 --> 0:31:18.560 All right, leslie? What about your question? All right? So 0:31:18.680 --> 0:31:25.680 here's my question. What was the worst advice you ever received? Oh? 0:31:25.760 --> 0:31:34.280 Just stay with him, collaborate, listen. I am so happily 0:31:34.280 --> 0:31:37.400 married right now. But you know, we all had our 0:31:38.000 --> 0:31:42.120 bad choices. Our our frontal lobe hadn't developed. So you know, 0:31:42.200 --> 0:31:46.400 I dated some bad boys and one of them was just, 0:31:46.880 --> 0:31:49.080 you know, a bit of a drinker and a philanderer. 0:31:49.120 --> 0:31:53.320 And I would say to my friends, well, he's cheated 0:31:53.360 --> 0:31:55.600 on me so much. He's always drunk, and he never 0:31:55.640 --> 0:32:00.440 pays for anything. And I would get nobody's so cute, 0:32:00.440 --> 0:32:04.479 just stay with him. And I was like, that is 0:32:04.520 --> 0:32:08.720 the worst advice now ever, I wish I got advice 0:32:08.840 --> 0:32:11.760 like from my mother, like where sunscreen and you know, 0:32:11.840 --> 0:32:14.760 have your own bank account. But this was the one 0:32:14.800 --> 0:32:19.640 that stands out as the worst. Ebbony Anglers. I'm obsessed 0:32:19.680 --> 0:32:22.000 with you. I love you. I am coming fishing with 0:32:22.040 --> 0:32:24.680 you because I have it on tape, you asking me 0:32:25.400 --> 0:32:28.080 and let's do it. I so look forward to it. 0:32:28.160 --> 0:32:32.520 I love everything you do. Keep winning those competitions, keep 0:32:32.600 --> 0:32:36.600 supporting our youth, and I'll see you down south soon. 0:32:36.880 --> 0:32:41.600 So thank you, thank you, absolutely, thank you, thank you. 0:32:45.360 --> 0:32:47.480 It's time for a short break. But when we come back, 0:32:47.560 --> 0:32:50.040 we're going to jump off the boat, put our tushies 0:32:50.080 --> 0:32:53.479 in the wet sand. Go from competition to meditation with 0:32:53.560 --> 0:32:57.320 Melissa Clark, the New York Times food calmnist and cookbook author. 0:33:08.280 --> 0:33:10.440 Welcome back to go ask Gali, and now it is 0:33:10.480 --> 0:33:13.640 time for my clamming soul sister. Melissa Clark is an 0:33:13.640 --> 0:33:16.960 award winning New York Times food columnist and cookbook author. 0:33:17.240 --> 0:33:20.400 She has written forty five cookbooks, including the best selling 0:33:20.560 --> 0:33:23.800 Dinner in French and the award winning Dinner Changing the 0:33:23.880 --> 0:33:26.320 Game In twenty twelve, she joined the staff of the 0:33:26.320 --> 0:33:28.880 New York Times, where she writes the highly popular food 0:33:28.920 --> 0:33:32.120 section column A Good Appetite. Her latest book is Dinner 0:33:32.160 --> 0:33:35.560 in One, a collection of complex tasting but easy making 0:33:35.640 --> 0:33:38.600 one pot, one pan meals. She lives in Brooklyn with 0:33:38.640 --> 0:33:48.120 her husband and daughter. So one morning in August, I believe, 0:33:48.520 --> 0:33:52.960 my husband, George emailed me a article that you wrote 0:33:53.000 --> 0:33:57.400 in the New York Times about clamming, and it spoke 0:33:57.480 --> 0:34:01.200 to me like no other book article I've ever read, 0:34:01.320 --> 0:34:05.840 because I discovered clamming and I got into it really 0:34:05.880 --> 0:34:09.800 hardcore during COVID because we were out in Long Island, 0:34:09.880 --> 0:34:12.040 and it saved my life because I would go out 0:34:12.080 --> 0:34:17.000 there in my waiters with my rake, and I started 0:34:17.040 --> 0:34:19.920 getting a few clams for the family, and then I 0:34:19.960 --> 0:34:24.560 became so good at it that I started getting clams 0:34:24.600 --> 0:34:28.480 for our neighbors, and then some food pantries, and I 0:34:28.600 --> 0:34:32.080 just I became this incredibly. I don't know if there's 0:34:32.080 --> 0:34:35.480 a god god in Greek mythology that clams, but I 0:34:35.520 --> 0:34:39.640 became that person. So when I read your article, and 0:34:39.840 --> 0:34:43.759 you too loved clamming and felt very meditative about it, 0:34:43.840 --> 0:34:46.960 I thought, wow, I can't believe I married George. I 0:34:47.000 --> 0:34:50.879 have just found my soulmate. So tell me about your 0:34:50.880 --> 0:34:56.959 whole clamming experience. Well, first of all, I also found 0:34:57.000 --> 0:34:59.320 clamming during the pandemic. I didn't grow up clamming. I 0:34:59.360 --> 0:35:02.160 grew up in brook We didn't eat a lot of 0:35:02.160 --> 0:35:04.400 clams though. I mean, we went to Lundy's, you know, 0:35:04.440 --> 0:35:05.920 we did the whole Brooklyn thing. We went and we 0:35:05.920 --> 0:35:08.319 had clams there, but we didn't actually go out and 0:35:08.320 --> 0:35:10.080 get our own clams. It just wasn't a thing. We 0:35:10.120 --> 0:35:12.799 went to fish stores and bought them. So I was 0:35:12.840 --> 0:35:15.560 out on Shelter Island the first year of the pandemic 0:35:16.160 --> 0:35:18.799 and I just got it in my head that I 0:35:18.840 --> 0:35:21.960 wanted to clam because I love pasta with clam sauce. 0:35:22.160 --> 0:35:25.239 I thought, well, they're right there, they're there. I don't 0:35:25.239 --> 0:35:27.920 see them, I don't hear them, but I had faith. 0:35:28.040 --> 0:35:31.479 It was crazy. It was like, I'm not religious, I'm 0:35:31.520 --> 0:35:34.680 not a meditator, but somehow I knew that those clams 0:35:34.680 --> 0:35:36.400 were there and they are waiting for me, and I 0:35:36.440 --> 0:35:38.560 was going to get them. And I thought I'm gonna 0:35:38.560 --> 0:35:41.200 I'm gonna try it. And I'd never done it, but 0:35:41.320 --> 0:35:43.400 I asked my friends who live on Shelter Island we 0:35:43.400 --> 0:35:45.680 were out visiting them, if they knew anything about clamming. 0:35:45.719 --> 0:35:47.920 And they had a friend who was a clamming guru 0:35:48.480 --> 0:35:51.560 and they went clamming all the time. So they brought 0:35:51.600 --> 0:35:55.200 me along. I put my waiters on, I had my bucket. 0:35:55.200 --> 0:35:57.520 They gave me a rake, and I got out there 0:35:57.640 --> 0:36:00.279 and within fifteen minutes I had shed all that. I 0:36:00.280 --> 0:36:02.239 was like, you know what, my toes need to be 0:36:02.280 --> 0:36:05.359 in the sand. I like clamming with my toes. So 0:36:05.440 --> 0:36:09.000 I it's summertime now, I assume it's warm out. Yeah. 0:36:09.040 --> 0:36:11.960 Oh this was This was July or August actually, and 0:36:12.000 --> 0:36:14.319 so every the water was warm. It was hot out. 0:36:14.560 --> 0:36:17.600 I was in the sunshine and I was just like 0:36:17.719 --> 0:36:19.799 doing a little shimmy dance on the sand because you know, 0:36:19.840 --> 0:36:21.640 you do a little dance and your toes get in 0:36:21.680 --> 0:36:25.040 the sand and you can find those clams with your 0:36:25.080 --> 0:36:26.799 toes and you go down and you pull them up 0:36:26.800 --> 0:36:29.040 and you're like, it's a rock. At the beginning, I 0:36:29.040 --> 0:36:31.799 felt like Charlie Brown at Halloween. Yeah, you know, I 0:36:31.840 --> 0:36:34.120 got a rough. I got a rock. But then I 0:36:34.120 --> 0:36:36.720 started to my toes got sensitive and I could feel 0:36:36.760 --> 0:36:39.880 the curve of the shell, and I was like, oh hah, 0:36:39.920 --> 0:36:42.000 that's a play. I'm not a rock. And I started 0:36:42.000 --> 0:36:44.960 to figure out what was what, and soon my bucket 0:36:45.000 --> 0:36:47.400 began to fill and we caught one hundred and twenty 0:36:47.400 --> 0:36:50.480 five clams that day between five of us, and we 0:36:50.560 --> 0:36:54.080 made the biggest pasta with clamshus feast ever. And I 0:36:54.120 --> 0:36:58.880 was ecstatic, right because here's the thing, Melissa. The first 0:36:58.960 --> 0:37:04.120 part is there's something very primal, particularly during a global pandemic, 0:37:04.600 --> 0:37:08.480 with the idea of I'm going to go out and 0:37:08.560 --> 0:37:11.160 be a provider, like I'm going to actually go out 0:37:11.280 --> 0:37:15.759 and get the food. So that was my first excitement 0:37:15.920 --> 0:37:18.880 because I love my husband, but he is not a 0:37:18.880 --> 0:37:23.160 forager of any kind. Then the next thing was and 0:37:23.239 --> 0:37:25.919 I experienced a similar thing where I had a hard 0:37:25.960 --> 0:37:28.759 time finding the clams. My first couple of times I 0:37:28.800 --> 0:37:31.640 brought nothing back because I didn't know what I was doing. 0:37:32.440 --> 0:37:36.520 And then when you start to find a few, whether 0:37:36.600 --> 0:37:39.040 through your toes or with your rake or I use 0:37:39.120 --> 0:37:43.960 my hands, it is like finding diamonds in a mind. 0:37:44.120 --> 0:37:46.719 It is the most exciting thing. And then you sort 0:37:46.760 --> 0:37:50.239 of hone your skill. Then you start to realize how to, 0:37:51.360 --> 0:37:54.000 like you said, figure out what is a clam, what 0:37:54.160 --> 0:37:57.600 is a rock? What is a broken shell? Exactly? Yeah, 0:37:58.040 --> 0:38:00.439 and then you know your spot, right, you go back 0:38:00.440 --> 0:38:02.759 and you're like, that's my spot. And then you see 0:38:02.760 --> 0:38:05.080 someone else in your spotty really mad, even though you 0:38:05.080 --> 0:38:06.960 know you don't live there and you're just visiting. Oh No. 0:38:07.040 --> 0:38:10.319 I got extremely territorial about this area because I would 0:38:10.360 --> 0:38:13.360 go to a place in the springs in Long Island, 0:38:13.400 --> 0:38:16.759 which usually there was nobody ever there, which another part 0:38:16.800 --> 0:38:19.560 of it I loved was it became very meditative for me. 0:38:19.680 --> 0:38:22.160 It's like I like to go out there by myself, exactly, 0:38:22.400 --> 0:38:25.160 and every once in a while I'd see usually this 0:38:25.239 --> 0:38:27.719 like eighty year old guy with no shirt on, you know, 0:38:27.760 --> 0:38:31.600 with his basket. But we had that very simple nod 0:38:31.840 --> 0:38:34.439 of like you stay out of my area, I'll stay 0:38:34.480 --> 0:38:36.759 out of your, you know, And it was very if 0:38:36.760 --> 0:38:40.239 it's very calm. So then my clamming and I don't 0:38:40.239 --> 0:38:42.279 know how far it went with you, and I'd like 0:38:42.360 --> 0:38:44.799 to hear, but my clamming has gotten so out of 0:38:44.800 --> 0:38:48.960 control that I do it in the winter and I 0:38:49.760 --> 0:38:51.880 recently at the end of the summer in Long Island 0:38:51.880 --> 0:38:55.880 they have the biggest clam contest that I tried to 0:38:55.920 --> 0:38:58.520 win and just missed out. So then I had to 0:38:58.520 --> 0:39:01.720 go look for the biggest clam and I found almost 0:39:01.719 --> 0:39:04.839 a two pounder. You didn't. Yeah, So then it's like, 0:39:04.960 --> 0:39:07.520 how do I find like the little ones for the 0:39:07.719 --> 0:39:10.240 linguidy of Bengali, but that I need the big ones 0:39:10.280 --> 0:39:13.080 to win the clam contest. So tell me about that 0:39:13.160 --> 0:39:16.040 part of the experience. Okay, that you are a clamor 0:39:16.120 --> 0:39:18.799 beyond me and will you take me clamming? Will that 0:39:18.800 --> 0:39:21.200 ever happened? Yeah? I feel like now you could be 0:39:21.280 --> 0:39:24.680 my new clamming guru. Because we don't have a place 0:39:24.719 --> 0:39:27.080 on Long Island. The first summer we rented a place 0:39:27.160 --> 0:39:30.400 on Shelter Island and we went clamming there. Then last 0:39:30.440 --> 0:39:33.279 summer we went to Orient on the North Fork and 0:39:33.400 --> 0:39:35.080 we rented a place there and I got I got 0:39:35.080 --> 0:39:38.879 my legal clamming license. It isn't that a great feeling. Yes, 0:39:38.920 --> 0:39:41.400 I went down to the town hall and they sold 0:39:41.400 --> 0:39:44.320 me the seafood license and so I was very official, 0:39:44.719 --> 0:39:46.839 and so I was out there every day and so 0:39:47.000 --> 0:39:48.400 for me it was only two weeks. You know, it 0:39:48.440 --> 0:39:51.359 was a week in summer twenty twenty one, and then 0:39:51.400 --> 0:39:54.680 a week in summer twenty twenty two or two weeks then. 0:39:54.760 --> 0:39:57.600 So I've all told three weeks of clambing experience. So 0:39:57.640 --> 0:40:01.440 obviously I'm nowhere near where you are, but it really 0:40:01.560 --> 0:40:04.160 is to me. I can't wait. I mean, I'm looking 0:40:04.200 --> 0:40:05.600 for my house again this year. I'm like, I need 0:40:05.640 --> 0:40:07.759 a house where I can go clamming because I need 0:40:07.800 --> 0:40:10.359 the meditative experience and that is the most important part 0:40:10.400 --> 0:40:13.279 of it. Yes, I love the clams. I don't want 0:40:13.280 --> 0:40:15.160 to buy clams. It's funny because I think about it. 0:40:15.200 --> 0:40:17.120 I'm like, I, like you said, I need to pull 0:40:17.160 --> 0:40:19.080 them out of the sand myself. Yeah, for to me 0:40:19.160 --> 0:40:23.480 as delicious and satisfying. So you made the Linguinian clams, 0:40:23.560 --> 0:40:27.200 so I found that was my daughters their favorite food, 0:40:27.239 --> 0:40:30.160 and I kept making Linguinian clams during COVID and then 0:40:30.200 --> 0:40:33.040 they were like enough with the linguinan so then I 0:40:33.080 --> 0:40:35.440 had to be creative. But there's nobody more creative with 0:40:35.520 --> 0:40:39.919 food than you. So did you make other things besides absolutely? Yes, Okay, 0:40:40.000 --> 0:40:42.280 let's hear the beginning with clam was like the first summer. 0:40:42.320 --> 0:40:45.040 Then the second summer I branched out. I did clam chowder, 0:40:45.080 --> 0:40:47.840 all kinds of clam chowder. So I did traditional clam 0:40:47.880 --> 0:40:51.960 chowder with milk and potatoes. I did Manhattan clam chowder, 0:40:52.000 --> 0:40:55.600 which I love with the tomatoes. I did a coconut 0:40:55.600 --> 0:40:58.680 clam chowder with corn and coconut milk, which was so good. 0:40:58.719 --> 0:41:01.680 It was almost a little bit a tie and inspired 0:41:01.719 --> 0:41:05.600 by Thai food. There was a lemongrass and cilantro and 0:41:05.800 --> 0:41:09.880 um lime juice and it was so good, um okay. 0:41:09.880 --> 0:41:12.359 And then so I decided that really what I love 0:41:12.840 --> 0:41:15.600 is I love raw clams. I love the crunch of 0:41:15.640 --> 0:41:18.120 a raw clam like I love oysters. But I really 0:41:18.120 --> 0:41:21.040 love raw clams. And so I decided I was going 0:41:21.120 --> 0:41:23.319 to try to open them, and I can't do it. 0:41:23.440 --> 0:41:26.200 I am brilliant at opening oysters. Give me two dozen, 0:41:26.280 --> 0:41:28.320 three dozen oysters. I can open them in two seconds. 0:41:28.400 --> 0:41:30.600 You're a shucker. I can't get the damn clams open. 0:41:30.640 --> 0:41:33.399 They won't open like when they're when they when they 0:41:33.400 --> 0:41:37.239 clam up, they do not want to open for me. 0:41:37.360 --> 0:41:39.480 And they were good the ones you got when you 0:41:39.520 --> 0:41:41.719 went clamming a Long Island, I mean the three that 0:41:41.800 --> 0:41:43.440 I got open. Yeah, Oh you know what, I did 0:41:43.440 --> 0:41:45.640 a lot. Also, we steamed them. So I steamed him 0:41:45.680 --> 0:41:50.320 like muscles, garlic, white wine, red pepper flakes, and parsley, 0:41:50.360 --> 0:41:52.400 and then a big bag yet and you just yes, 0:41:52.600 --> 0:41:56.000 we did that. We did that too. It was delicious. Yeah. Um. 0:41:56.400 --> 0:42:00.480 So here's the thing I'm wondering now if after my 0:42:00.719 --> 0:42:06.320 clamming I kind of want to get an oyster bed now, Okay, 0:42:06.560 --> 0:42:10.839 so that interests you at all? Yes? So, yes, I've 0:42:10.880 --> 0:42:13.120 written about oysters. I wrote a big story about how 0:42:13.160 --> 0:42:15.600 oyster farming is going to save us. I truly believe 0:42:15.600 --> 0:42:19.120 in oyster farming. I belong to an oyster CSA where 0:42:19.120 --> 0:42:23.319 I get oysters every other week. How do you do that? 0:42:23.640 --> 0:42:26.520 I want to be part of that. It's amazing. They'll yeah, 0:42:26.560 --> 0:42:28.920 they have delivery points. They're Maine or they're from all 0:42:28.920 --> 0:42:31.080 actually from all over the Northeast. It started out in 0:42:31.160 --> 0:42:34.040 just Maine and now it's in Massachusetts. They have some 0:42:34.120 --> 0:42:39.239 from Canada. And it started out because the oyster industry 0:42:39.440 --> 0:42:42.680 was having a huge problem during early COVID because all 0:42:42.680 --> 0:42:44.960 the restaurants were closed and they couldn't sell their oysters. 0:42:45.480 --> 0:42:49.360 So they started in oyster CSA to distribute directly to 0:42:49.400 --> 0:42:52.359 people so that they could stay basically stay afloat. And 0:42:53.239 --> 0:42:56.319 I've been a member ever since, and there's so much 0:42:56.360 --> 0:42:58.879 easier to shut. Yeah, they're easier to shut. I don't 0:42:58.920 --> 0:43:00.480 cook them. I don't like them cook. If I'm gonna 0:43:00.480 --> 0:43:02.680 eat my I like my clams cooked or raw. I 0:43:02.760 --> 0:43:05.239 like my oysters raw. They have to be raw. Yeah, 0:43:05.280 --> 0:43:07.840 I don't like them any other way. What about muscles? 0:43:07.920 --> 0:43:09.920 Can you can you go muscling? Like in Maine? It 0:43:09.920 --> 0:43:11.960 Can we just go gather muscles on the beach somewhere? 0:43:12.000 --> 0:43:15.760 I'm sure. Well, two of my best friends are from Maine. 0:43:15.840 --> 0:43:19.359 They're main girls, and they say yes. And I've seen 0:43:19.440 --> 0:43:22.080 a lot of muscle shells in Long Island, and I 0:43:22.160 --> 0:43:24.160 know that you can go scaloping, So I don't see why. 0:43:24.200 --> 0:43:25.840 I mean on my feeling is if I see a 0:43:25.880 --> 0:43:28.000 trace of it, you got to be able to do it. 0:43:28.040 --> 0:43:30.080 So if I see lots of muscle shells, there's got 0:43:30.080 --> 0:43:32.320 to be muscles in there somewhere. The question is is 0:43:32.360 --> 0:43:34.440 there enough of them to gather or are they protected? 0:43:34.640 --> 0:43:37.399 So well, that's now that we have our license, our 0:43:37.480 --> 0:43:41.160 seafood license, this is stuff we need to explore exactly. 0:43:41.360 --> 0:43:45.400 But the big issue is will it be as meditative 0:43:45.440 --> 0:43:48.279 as it is when we go clamming, because I used 0:43:48.280 --> 0:43:51.840 to go crabbing, and crabbing I found meditative and I 0:43:51.880 --> 0:43:54.839 did it with a long net off a dock, and 0:43:54.960 --> 0:43:58.640 that was very meditative. And it also had like a 0:43:58.680 --> 0:44:01.560 bit of battle, you know what I mean. There was 0:44:01.640 --> 0:44:03.319 you felt a little bit like you were a game 0:44:03.360 --> 0:44:05.640 of throwing trying to get the you know, lure them 0:44:05.680 --> 0:44:08.560 in and then grab them up and then grab them up. 0:44:08.680 --> 0:44:12.799 And that was exciting. But it's not necessarily meditative the 0:44:12.840 --> 0:44:16.160 way the clamming is. So I'm curious if there's other 0:44:17.080 --> 0:44:21.520 crustacean sports that will give us the kind of sedated, 0:44:22.120 --> 0:44:26.400 you know, less anxious state that obviously Melissa and I 0:44:26.440 --> 0:44:29.600 need to be in. Well, I think the thing about clamming, 0:44:29.680 --> 0:44:32.840 and for me, the thing that really is attractive to 0:44:32.880 --> 0:44:34.959 me is that I don't I can't have my phone 0:44:35.000 --> 0:44:39.279 because I'm in the water. Yeah, so no phone, I'm offshore, 0:44:39.520 --> 0:44:42.360 I'm away from my people. No one wants to go clamming. 0:44:42.480 --> 0:44:44.480 Let me tell you, no one wants to go clamming 0:44:44.480 --> 0:44:46.359 with me. I beg people to come clambing with me. 0:44:46.600 --> 0:44:48.840 I know, I can't get people now, wait, let me 0:44:48.880 --> 0:44:51.040 ask you this. How deep in the water have you gone? 0:44:51.160 --> 0:44:55.000 What's the deepest? Um, I guess okay, So I only 0:44:55.000 --> 0:44:57.680 go as far as I can take my arm and 0:44:57.840 --> 0:45:00.880 reach down to pick up the clam without getting my 0:45:00.880 --> 0:45:03.000 hair wet, okay, because I don't want to have to 0:45:03.000 --> 0:45:06.360 shampoo every day, So fair enough. What about you? So 0:45:06.640 --> 0:45:09.279 I same with me. I could get up to the 0:45:09.280 --> 0:45:11.640 waist as long as I could take my arm down. 0:45:11.680 --> 0:45:13.399 But there was a few times in the summer where 0:45:13.400 --> 0:45:16.840 I got overly excited and I went under, oh like 0:45:17.040 --> 0:45:22.080 literally submerged myself because I my hand felt a bevy 0:45:22.680 --> 0:45:27.719 a host as you call it. But I felt a 0:45:27.719 --> 0:45:30.840 lot of them, the convention of clams, convention of clams, 0:45:30.840 --> 0:45:33.359 and I just I couldn't help myself, so I went under, 0:45:34.200 --> 0:45:36.200 which was I had to. I had to sort of 0:45:36.239 --> 0:45:38.640 pull myself together after that because if I felt a 0:45:38.680 --> 0:45:43.319 little aggressive and slightly crazy. But usually it's I need 0:45:43.360 --> 0:45:47.640 to just reach down as far as my hand can go. Yeah, exactly. Um, 0:45:47.680 --> 0:45:49.320 I mean if I time it right with the tides, 0:45:49.680 --> 0:45:52.040 there's times when I can go and I'm just up 0:45:52.040 --> 0:45:56.040 to my ankles right. Well, No, I always go low tide. Yeah, 0:45:56.080 --> 0:45:58.600 because it's just not worth it. So I always go 0:45:58.680 --> 0:46:00.839 low tide, and there's been time times where it's been 0:46:00.880 --> 0:46:03.839 so low that I'm not even in water there. It's 0:46:03.840 --> 0:46:07.960 just like muddy mushy, and I can feel down with 0:46:08.000 --> 0:46:09.880 my hands and pull them up, which I like to 0:46:09.920 --> 0:46:12.480 do as well. I mean, they're all forms of clamming, 0:46:12.520 --> 0:46:15.080 and I love them all equally. Have you ever done 0:46:15.200 --> 0:46:19.080 razor clams? No, because I don't like them as much. 0:46:19.280 --> 0:46:21.680 I like it. They're not as thick and chewy as 0:46:21.680 --> 0:46:30.880 a regular cohg. Yes, little neck carrystone co hogs. I 0:46:30.960 --> 0:46:33.359 love them all too. I mean, and I'm a cape 0:46:33.400 --> 0:46:37.600 cod girl, so I love steamers. You know steamers are funny. Okay, 0:46:37.680 --> 0:46:41.279 so I love steamers too. I think I love them 0:46:41.320 --> 0:46:43.600 because of the melted butter. I think, well, of course. 0:46:43.800 --> 0:46:45.959 But given a choice between a little neck and a steamer, 0:46:46.000 --> 0:46:48.359 I'm gonna eat the little neck. Oh that's interesting, I'll 0:46:48.400 --> 0:46:50.239 eat the steamer. You'll eat the steamer. Yeah. And I 0:46:50.360 --> 0:46:55.800 love fried clams, fried steamers, ipswich, fried clams, fried clams amazing, 0:46:55.960 --> 0:46:57.440 but they have to be real clams. I don't like 0:46:57.480 --> 0:46:59.080 the clamstrips. I don't like it when they give you 0:46:59.080 --> 0:47:01.239 the fried clam strips and pretend they're clams. I like 0:47:01.320 --> 0:47:03.799 the clam bellies. Oh yeah, you have to have the 0:47:03.800 --> 0:47:06.319 clam bellies you can. Otherwise it's just fried dough, you know, 0:47:06.320 --> 0:47:07.840 like that. I don't even know what. I think they're squid. 0:47:07.880 --> 0:47:10.080 I think they lie. I think they're not. It's fried dough. 0:47:10.200 --> 0:47:14.800 It's fried dough. It's not even anything. Do you potentially think, Melissy, 0:47:14.840 --> 0:47:16.719 that you could write a cookbook that was just all 0:47:16.800 --> 0:47:20.000 clam based recipes of all the different clams, or would 0:47:20.040 --> 0:47:23.200 that end up at the Strand bookstore? Well, it depends. 0:47:23.280 --> 0:47:26.719 I think that if um, if I had enough storytelling 0:47:26.800 --> 0:47:29.360 behind it, you know, like all, get all the clamming 0:47:29.400 --> 0:47:32.920 personalities out there, like you and whoever, and all the 0:47:32.960 --> 0:47:36.640 recipes right, and get everybody's recipes and everybody's clam stories, 0:47:37.000 --> 0:47:40.360 and and maybe if it were a clamming how to 0:47:40.920 --> 0:47:47.080 meditation wellness guide crossed with cookbook, see, I think that 0:47:47.120 --> 0:47:49.640 would work. And then I think if you threw in 0:47:50.600 --> 0:47:55.919 a menopause group that would go clamming together, oh my god, 0:47:56.000 --> 0:47:58.359 and you got Oprah to endorse it, I think then 0:47:59.160 --> 0:48:01.040 you get your pollar. So when you're out there and 0:48:01.080 --> 0:48:03.359 you get a hot flash, no problem, You're just like, oh, 0:48:03.400 --> 0:48:07.440 I'm just gonna spend right down and splash myself off. Exactly. 0:48:07.680 --> 0:48:11.239 I feel like there is a thread between clamming, menopause, 0:48:11.360 --> 0:48:14.440 and meditation that I'm going to figure out and I'm 0:48:14.480 --> 0:48:16.360 going to pull you on board as one of the 0:48:16.440 --> 0:48:19.600 members of the new of my Foundation. I am one 0:48:19.680 --> 0:48:22.200 hundred percent there. You know another thing, though, I think 0:48:22.200 --> 0:48:24.799 that it might actually be true, I do sleep better 0:48:24.840 --> 0:48:28.480 when I clam, Like I sleep better, you know. Oh yeah, 0:48:28.520 --> 0:48:30.160 It's like when I'm out there and then I come in. 0:48:30.200 --> 0:48:32.319 I mean, maybe it's just the physical exertion of it. 0:48:32.480 --> 0:48:34.320 Maybe it's because I only clam when I'm on vacation, 0:48:34.800 --> 0:48:38.080 but I sleep so much better. Of course, you're you're 0:48:38.120 --> 0:48:41.279 exerting muscles that you probably don't use that much. I 0:48:41.320 --> 0:48:44.319 don't care if you go to soul cycle. You know, 0:48:44.440 --> 0:48:47.440 some of the stuff you do for clamming is not typical. 0:48:47.719 --> 0:48:51.279 And yeah, that reaching down you're in the water, yea yeah, 0:48:51.320 --> 0:48:56.960 and the water is very soothing. And also I'm bringing 0:48:56.960 --> 0:49:00.160 it back to the caveman thing, you know what I mean, 0:49:00.200 --> 0:49:03.720 you foraged. That's exhausting. You know, you go you hunt, 0:49:03.760 --> 0:49:06.000 you gather, and then you sleep. That's what we used 0:49:06.040 --> 0:49:07.839 to do, and that's all we used to do as 0:49:07.960 --> 0:49:12.280 human beings. So you know, I've gone mushrooming. I've gone 0:49:13.120 --> 0:49:16.040 foraging in the woods. I have done that, but it's 0:49:16.080 --> 0:49:18.400 not like clamming. No, it's not. And I'm scared of 0:49:18.480 --> 0:49:20.480 mushrooming because I'm afraid I'm going to pick the wrong 0:49:20.560 --> 0:49:23.279 mushroom and I'm going to have a different experience. I've 0:49:23.280 --> 0:49:26.200 only gone mushrooming where it was like morals, where you 0:49:26.239 --> 0:49:29.360 really knew right like there's no mistaking them, there's no doubt, 0:49:29.600 --> 0:49:31.400 and you're like, oh, okay, that is a patch of 0:49:31.440 --> 0:49:33.640 morals and I know exactly what they are, and all 0:49:33.640 --> 0:49:35.680 these other mushrooms around here are just going to stay 0:49:35.880 --> 0:49:37.719 right in the ground. Yeah, because I don't need to 0:49:37.840 --> 0:49:40.000 go on some acid trip and think I'm Bob Dylan 0:49:40.080 --> 0:49:42.239 for the rest of my life. No, don't need any 0:49:42.239 --> 0:49:46.719 phantom thread, no experiences. What about truffle hunting? Have you 0:49:46.719 --> 0:49:48.920 ever done that? I have done that, But you know 0:49:48.960 --> 0:49:51.440 the thing about truffle hunting is it's ninety nine percent 0:49:51.560 --> 0:49:53.960 when they bring people like me and you out there staged, 0:49:54.000 --> 0:49:57.759 it's all staged, they bury the truffle totally. Oh okay, 0:49:57.840 --> 0:50:00.759 so forget it. Forget It's not if they dumped a 0:50:00.760 --> 0:50:02.920 bunch of clams in a baby pool and asked us 0:50:02.960 --> 0:50:06.880 to go. Okay, all right, again, nothing compares to clamming. 0:50:07.040 --> 0:50:09.760 There is. It's just being out in the water by ourself. 0:50:09.800 --> 0:50:11.680 And even when you go with someone, I mean a 0:50:11.680 --> 0:50:14.040 few times I've dragged my poor family out with me. 0:50:14.640 --> 0:50:17.080 You're kind as far away and the water absorbs the 0:50:17.120 --> 0:50:19.760 sound and you can't really hear what they're saying. Yeah, 0:50:19.800 --> 0:50:22.520 which is kind of a good thing. No, exactly, because 0:50:22.520 --> 0:50:25.120 then you've got companionship. Like if you and I would clamming, 0:50:25.280 --> 0:50:27.520 we would be out there, we'd both have our buckets, 0:50:27.719 --> 0:50:30.760 we'd like say hi, maybe we'd like compare hot flashes. 0:50:30.760 --> 0:50:32.680 Then we'd do our clamming thing and we wouldn't even 0:50:32.719 --> 0:50:34.840 talk to each other, except if we caught like a 0:50:34.880 --> 0:50:36.919 big one, we'd be like yeah, or you know, we'd 0:50:36.920 --> 0:50:39.840 show our buckets occasionally and then we'd be so happy, 0:50:39.920 --> 0:50:43.000 and then we would come in and we'd make lunch. Yeah, 0:50:43.040 --> 0:50:46.319 and that's where all the talking happens, exactly, yea. And 0:50:46.440 --> 0:50:48.760 I mean, another thing that makes it meditative is because 0:50:48.760 --> 0:50:50.560 you are so in the moment, right, you don't have 0:50:50.560 --> 0:50:53.000 your phone, You're not thinking about work. All you're thinking 0:50:53.040 --> 0:50:56.360 about is the sensation of can I feel the clam? 0:50:56.400 --> 0:50:58.279 Can I feel the clam? Can I feel? And there 0:50:58.360 --> 0:51:01.759 is no other time that I'm as the moment as that, right, 0:51:01.800 --> 0:51:04.560 And so think about when we were in a global pandemic. 0:51:05.200 --> 0:51:09.239 There was so much anxiety at that point that clamming 0:51:09.280 --> 0:51:12.799 to me was meditative because I just focused on the 0:51:12.840 --> 0:51:16.719 one task at hand and it was incredibly relaxing not 0:51:16.800 --> 0:51:20.360 to be reading the paper and freaking out or listening 0:51:20.360 --> 0:51:24.480 to my husband doing ABC news briefs down in the 0:51:24.520 --> 0:51:28.480 dining room so zoom. Yeah. So that to me, it 0:51:28.600 --> 0:51:31.560 was on all levels meditative because you focused on the 0:51:31.600 --> 0:51:34.560 one thing. Yeah. All right, So I'm going the summer. 0:51:34.600 --> 0:51:37.560 Are you going to come with me? I am all right, 0:51:37.600 --> 0:51:39.680 I'm gonna be there. We're gonna clam we're gonna cook, 0:51:39.800 --> 0:51:41.640 and then we're gonna put it on our instagrams and 0:51:41.680 --> 0:51:44.480 people are gonna go, oh, what about that? Those girls 0:51:44.480 --> 0:51:46.799 were talking about clamming, and they went and they did it, 0:51:47.120 --> 0:51:49.560 and there they are and there's the recipe, and everyone 0:51:49.560 --> 0:51:51.440 else can go clamming too. You know, I don't know 0:51:51.440 --> 0:51:53.359 if people like clams as much as you and I do. Though, 0:51:53.400 --> 0:51:57.839 I feel like people don't understand clams. They just don't know. 0:51:58.400 --> 0:52:00.360 So we are going to take them by the hand 0:52:00.640 --> 0:52:07.319 and the rake, and we're going to show them exactly. Hey, 0:52:07.320 --> 0:52:09.600 do I get to ask you the question? Yes? Oh 0:52:09.640 --> 0:52:12.400 my god, I was again so excited about finding a 0:52:12.400 --> 0:52:14.840 clambing partner. You can ask me anything you want. The 0:52:14.960 --> 0:52:18.799 Wasp Cookbook, Yes, you wrote that. I wrote that a 0:52:18.880 --> 0:52:23.319 million years ago. And it is not a real cookbook 0:52:23.480 --> 0:52:26.880 in that I don't want people to actually make their recipes. 0:52:26.880 --> 0:52:30.799 It is a social commentary on my people because I 0:52:30.840 --> 0:52:35.040 grew up eating deviled eggs and prune whip and chipped 0:52:35.080 --> 0:52:39.480 cream beef on toast, and I didn't realize that there 0:52:39.560 --> 0:52:43.160 was a whole culinary world out there. Things like garlic 0:52:43.280 --> 0:52:47.600 existed and spices, and so that's what got me interested 0:52:47.640 --> 0:52:50.359 in cooking. Is there? Okay? So if I was going 0:52:50.400 --> 0:52:53.120 to make one recipe from your Wasp cookbook, which I 0:52:53.200 --> 0:52:57.480 have ordered, oh my gosh, what is the recipe from 0:52:57.520 --> 0:53:01.399 your Wasp Cookbook that I should make? Well, I mean, 0:53:01.440 --> 0:53:05.239 I have to say deviled eggs or a staple, and uh, 0:53:05.400 --> 0:53:07.360 you know, I say in the book that there's a 0:53:07.400 --> 0:53:10.759 fine line between white trash cooking and wasp cooking. There's 0:53:10.800 --> 0:53:14.400 a lot of mayonnaise with both. But the deviled eggs 0:53:14.440 --> 0:53:18.919 and then bourbon balls, I call them Grandpa's bourbon balls. Oh, 0:53:19.000 --> 0:53:22.319 bourbon balls balls, So that would be it. I mean, 0:53:22.360 --> 0:53:25.680 prune a whip sounds disgusting, but it really tastes good. 0:53:25.760 --> 0:53:29.120 It's just basically whipped cream and prune juice, which is 0:53:29.400 --> 0:53:34.040 actually delicious. But everything else, I would enjoy the book 0:53:34.080 --> 0:53:37.680 for its social commentary unless it's recipes. Okay, well, I'm 0:53:37.760 --> 0:53:39.560 very excited to get it. I'm going to make the 0:53:39.800 --> 0:53:42.520 bourbon balls because I do love them, and make deviled eggs, 0:53:42.880 --> 0:53:44.600 and then you and I are gonna go clambing. It's 0:53:44.640 --> 0:53:48.320 gonna be awesome. I can't wait. Thank you, Thanks, I'm excited. 0:53:54.080 --> 0:53:55.799 Oh don't think I'm not going to be deep sea 0:53:55.840 --> 0:53:59.040 fishing with the Ebony Anglers or clamming with Melissa Clark 0:53:59.120 --> 0:54:02.120 this summer, because I am. So you just be checking 0:54:02.200 --> 0:54:04.319 my Instagram because you're going to see a lot of 0:54:04.400 --> 0:54:07.880 pictures of me bringing in a marlin or chucking a 0:54:07.920 --> 0:54:11.279 bunch of co hogs. Thank you for listening to Go 0:54:11.320 --> 0:54:14.319 ask Alli. The ebbty Anglers team is on Instagram and 0:54:14.400 --> 0:54:18.000 Facebook at ebboty Anglers and its website is super easy 0:54:18.120 --> 0:54:20.719 ebbedy anglers dot com and be sure to check out 0:54:20.760 --> 0:54:23.800 Melissa Clark's New York Times food section column a good Appetite. 0:54:24.120 --> 0:54:26.160 You can also keep up with her on Instagram at 0:54:26.239 --> 0:54:28.960 clark Bar for more info and what you heard on 0:54:29.080 --> 0:54:32.759 this amusing episode. Check out our show notes. Okay, so 0:54:32.800 --> 0:54:35.800 what about the Webby Award nomination. It's for the best 0:54:35.920 --> 0:54:39.800 individual interview talk show episode and we are beyond excited. 0:54:40.040 --> 0:54:42.640 It's a People's Choice awards, so our people need to 0:54:42.680 --> 0:54:46.520 vote for us, and that is you. So please go vote. 0:54:46.640 --> 0:54:49.000 I've done it and it's super easy and the link 0:54:49.040 --> 0:54:50.719 is in their show notes. Or you can go to 0:54:50.920 --> 0:54:54.160 the Real Alley Wentworth Instagram and click on my bio. Okay, 0:54:54.320 --> 0:54:56.840 be sure to subscribe, rate and review Go ask Alli 0:54:57.080 --> 0:54:59.520 and follow me on social media on Instagram at the 0:54:59.560 --> 0:55:02.480 Real Wentworth. Now listen, we're coming to the end of 0:55:02.520 --> 0:55:05.400 Go ask Alli's third season, but keep those questions and 0:55:05.520 --> 0:55:08.000 suggestions coming in because I'd love to hear from you. 0:55:08.040 --> 0:55:09.480 And there's a bunch of ways you can do it. 0:55:09.920 --> 0:55:12.240 You can call or text me at three two three 0:55:12.239 --> 0:55:15.319 three six four six three five six, or you can 0:55:15.360 --> 0:55:17.840 email a voice memo right from your phone to Go 0:55:17.920 --> 0:55:20.480 Ask Aali podcast at gmail dot com. And if you 0:55:20.640 --> 0:55:22.400 leave a question, you just might hear it. I'm go 0:55:22.440 --> 0:55:30.239 Ask Alli. Go Ask Gali is a production of Shondaland 0:55:30.280 --> 0:55:34.880 Audio and partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, 0:55:35.320 --> 0:55:39.399 visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 0:55:39.440 --> 0:55:40.360 to your favorite shows.