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Speaker 1: You were listening to Ruthie's table for in Partnership with Montclair.

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Speaker 2: One of Zoe Saldania's mantras in life is feel the

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Speaker 2: fear and do it anyway. And what hasn't she done?

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Speaker 2: She dances, she acts, she sings, she speaks several languages,

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Speaker 2: and I think she loves to cook. Imagine my surprise

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Speaker 2: couple of months ago in October, standing outside my office

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Speaker 2: laptop and cook books in hand, with a large sign

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Speaker 2: on the door saying do not disturb. And the reason

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Speaker 2: for this wasn't a meeting with accountants or a broken radiator,

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Speaker 2: but the fact that Zoe Saldania was changing into her

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Speaker 2: dress for a lunch downstairs to celebrate the release of

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Speaker 2: her brilliant new movie, Amelia Perez. After lunch, I took

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Speaker 2: her hand and walked her to her car, talking about

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Speaker 2: how to make the perfect rice. A few minutes later,

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Speaker 2: we'd agreed to do a podcast together. And since then,

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Speaker 2: it's been quite a time for Zoe. I've seen her

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Speaker 2: everywhere on screen and newspapers, magazines and posters, and I'm

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Speaker 2: thrilled that last month she won a Golden Globe and

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Speaker 2: in February March she's this contender for both abaft add

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Speaker 2: an Oscar. A lot has happened, and a lot is

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Speaker 2: going to happen. But right now, what's happening is that

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Speaker 2: Zoe is here with me on a Saturday morning in

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Speaker 2: the River Cafe. It's our chance to sit down and

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Speaker 2: talk about food, food and memories, food and family, no fear,

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Speaker 2: just happiness and love.

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Speaker 3: That was so beautiful.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's true. It was such a quick meeting. It

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Speaker 2: was you were here, it was Netflix was giving you lunch.

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Speaker 2: Do you remember it?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, And you just reminded me. We were talking

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Speaker 3: about rice, about making rice, and we should have cooked

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Speaker 3: rice today.

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Speaker 2: We did. We cooked Go to the perfect race.

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Speaker 3: Tell me it's very simple. We saw tr rice before

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Speaker 3: we put the water in. So you put your pot

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Speaker 3: on the stove. You wait for it to get nice

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Speaker 3: and warm. You add the oil. Sometimes you can add

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Speaker 3: the salt over the oil, or you can just wait

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Speaker 3: until you put the rice, the washed rice rinsed. You

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Speaker 3: put your rinsed rice in it. You saute it for

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Speaker 3: at least two to three minutes, make sure that that

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Speaker 3: it's just you know, it cooks a little bit, and

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Speaker 3: then you put the water. So you wait for all

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Speaker 3: that water to almost evaporate on very high heat. And

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Speaker 3: then when it evaporates, then that's when you close your pot.

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Speaker 3: And you then put the fire on simmer for twenty

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Speaker 3: eight No lid in there, No, because the water has

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Speaker 3: already it's already the rice has already soaked up all

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Speaker 3: the water. The rice has expanded.

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Speaker 2: And it's nice and kind.

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Speaker 3: Of fluffy, but it's still very very odd. And then

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Speaker 3: you cover it and you allow its own steam to

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Speaker 3: cook it all the way into its you know, its

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Speaker 3: cellular sort of you know component, and then you can

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Speaker 3: you can have your rice.

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Speaker 2: It's a certain type of rice, so long rain, long grain.

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Speaker 3: Long grain. We don't necessarily cook with avodio unless we're

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Speaker 3: making a soup that carries rice like a porridge in it,

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Speaker 3: and we do. In the Caribbean. We make a lot

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Speaker 3: of soups. Every island has.

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Speaker 2: So dest from the from the rice to the soups.

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Speaker 3: Well, you we make soups with provisions, which are those

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Speaker 3: root vegetables from yucca, yeah me jaotia, I don't I

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Speaker 3: don't know the names in English, so please forgive me.

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Speaker 3: And then also with the plantains, some of them can

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Speaker 3: have plantains and potatoes, and you either choose what kind

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Speaker 3: of meat. Either it can be beef or pork or chicken.

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Speaker 3: Sometimes you can also do a fish stew or a

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Speaker 3: shrimp stewice a hardshell stew, and you cook all of

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Speaker 3: those things down with really important greens that add so

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Speaker 3: much flavor. And I think you guys use it a

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Speaker 3: lot here in England, the koulantro, it's a coriander, I

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Speaker 3: believe it's which in Spanish we call it because the

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Speaker 3: cilantro that they use in Central and South America is

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Speaker 3: the small leaf one that looks really like a four

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Speaker 3: leaf clover, and but the ones that we use in

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Speaker 3: the Caribbean is the really long leaf that when you

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Speaker 3: slap it and you sort of make, you know, you

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Speaker 3: open up all of it's like pores, and you put

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Speaker 3: it into water or your tea or or broth. It's

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Speaker 3: the most pungent, you know, smell and fragrance and taste.

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Speaker 3: Suff So that's how I grew up, just making stews

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Speaker 3: of all type soups.

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Speaker 2: But but they vary from the winter soups to the

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Speaker 2: summer soups.

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Speaker 3: We'll make soup on the hottest day of summer, and

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Speaker 3: it's always summer in the Caribbean, and but it's it

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Speaker 3: cools you off as you're having something that's really hot

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Speaker 3: or sometimes spicy. And the Medican Republic we're not really

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Speaker 3: known for eating spicy spicy food. You can, but it's

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Speaker 3: not something that is in name in our culture like

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Speaker 3: it would be, for instance, in Mexico. But we do

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Speaker 3: a lot of soups, and when you're having your soup

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Speaker 3: on a very hot day, it just compels you to

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Speaker 3: cool off, you know. It's like having a hot team

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Speaker 3: and I just love it.

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Speaker 2: So it must have been quite in many ways your

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Speaker 2: early childhood, which you were born in.

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Speaker 3: I was born New Jersey, Pa Sake, New Jersey, and

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Speaker 3: I lived in New York because my family has been

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Speaker 3: in New York since nineteen since the nineteen sixties, and

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Speaker 3: I lived there until I was ten, and then when

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Speaker 3: my father unexpectedly just tragically died in a car accident

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Speaker 3: at he's thirty eight, it was still a kid. Then

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Speaker 3: we all fly and we move to you know, where

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Speaker 3: they're from in Dominican Republic, which is where I'm from,

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Speaker 3: you know, at the root of my origin. And it

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Speaker 3: was beautiful Dominican Republic and the Caribbean. Puerto Rico and

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Speaker 3: Dominican Republic used to be places that we used to

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Speaker 3: go to during the Christmas holiday summers. Of course we did, yes,

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Speaker 3: we and we spoke Spanish at the house. But you

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Speaker 3: speak English already at school, so you're I'm very much

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Speaker 3: a one generation child in New York where you coach

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Speaker 3: switch automatically and you don't even know what that means,

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Speaker 3: and you eat rice and beans with your grandparents today.

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Speaker 2: Did your grandparents live with you it is New York? Yes, yes,

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Speaker 2: both sets?

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Speaker 3: Or yes both sets?

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Speaker 2: Did they go back with you when you when you

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Speaker 2: went back? Yes, we used to.

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Speaker 3: Well, growing up, I used to travel mainly with my grandparents.

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Speaker 3: And that's you know, in our culture. I guess that

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Speaker 3: was their version of giving, like my parents a break.

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Speaker 3: So for two weeks, you know, they would fly with

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Speaker 3: us ahead, you know, two weeks in advance, we would

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Speaker 3: sort of take take it all in from from the

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Speaker 3: gaze of your grandparents, of your no nos, your your abuelos,

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Speaker 3: and then your parents would arrive with a great tan.

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Speaker 3: They probably would go somewhere and reconnect, and and two

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Speaker 3: weeks later that we were all together. We would spend

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Speaker 3: the whole summer in Dominican Republic.

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Speaker 2: A lot of people that I talked to from especially

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Speaker 2: from different cultures, different family groups, talk a lot about

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Speaker 2: their grandparents, almost more about their grandparents cooking than their parents.

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Speaker 2: And as a mother, and now I'm a grandparent, I

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Speaker 2: was saying last night at dinner that I really noticed

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Speaker 2: the difference in the way that I cook for my

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Speaker 2: children and the way I cook for my grandchildren. When

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Speaker 2: you're cooking for your children, very often you're just trying

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Speaker 2: to get food on the table because you've worked all day,

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Speaker 2: or you know you're going out that night, or you

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Speaker 2: want to see them. But they are more important things

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Speaker 2: to do than to perhaps spend hours cooking for them.

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Speaker 2: But when you're a grandchild, there's so much you just

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Speaker 2: want to bring, the culture. You want to cook the

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Speaker 2: food that they'll remember. It's part of the memory.

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Speaker 3: Did you feel that with your Oh my god, absolutely,

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Speaker 3: what you're saying just makes me want to cry. I

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Speaker 3: just there is just so much love that my grandmother

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Speaker 3: put in every dish that she was made. My grandmother

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Speaker 3: was born in Dominican Republic in nineteen thirty five under

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Speaker 3: the dictatorship of Trujillo dictator that that was in power

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Speaker 3: for over thirty years. She was born and she was

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Speaker 3: raised under this dictatorship, got married, had her daughter, my mom,

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Speaker 3: and then in nineteen sixty one, after the assassination of

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Speaker 3: this tyrant, they were granting passages, visas, work visas to Dominicans,

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Speaker 3: and my grandmother was, I guess, in the first or

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Speaker 3: a couple of waves of Dominicans that arrived in New

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Speaker 3: York in the night in nineteen sixty one and would

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Speaker 3: later then, you know, populate that uptown region of Manhattan

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Speaker 3: that would which is now known as Washington Heights, which

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Speaker 3: is basically you know, it's all very much the biggest

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Speaker 3: Dominican diaspora outside of the Dominican Republic is in Washington

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Speaker 3: Heights in Manhattan. And my grandmother was one of those

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Speaker 3: I would say, first arrivors, you know, and worked. She

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Speaker 3: was a seamstress and she worked for in factories and

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Speaker 3: for some fashion houses throughout you know, those first two

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Speaker 3: decades of her life there. My mother must have been

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Speaker 3: my mom was born in fifty six, so she must

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Speaker 3: have been five when my grandmother arrived in New York.

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Speaker 3: But my mother stayed behind with her grandparents with my

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Speaker 3: grandmother's parents in Santo Domingo, and then in the summer

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Speaker 3: she would go to New York and spend it with

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Speaker 3: my grandmother until she was fourteen, And at that age

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Speaker 3: that's when my grandmother then moved my mom and her

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Speaker 3: parents to New York. By the time I was born

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Speaker 3: and we were living in New York, my great grandparents

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Speaker 3: had already sort of flown and moved back and retired

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Speaker 3: in the Dominican Republic. But they would always visit. So

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Speaker 3: I remember every time they would visit, like every three months.

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Speaker 3: We were a family that was always on a plane

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Speaker 3: and still today, I've always been on a plane and

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Speaker 3: they would open up the suitcases and they would bring

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Speaker 3: Dominican Republic like their plantains and their their cheese. It's

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Speaker 3: like we have a version of like a hallum cheese

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Speaker 3: that you fry. That is the most delicious thing. Why

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Speaker 3: that cheese, It's just it's just called you know, and

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Speaker 3: they call it Kisofrito. I don't know if it's called

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Speaker 3: something else, but they would bring it the blocks of it,

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Speaker 3: and the moment she would open that suitcase and that

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Speaker 3: cheese would pop out, she was immediately slicing it and

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Speaker 3: throwing it in a hot, sizzling pan. And and then

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Speaker 3: the salami you know, there was there was this this company,

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Speaker 3: and Dominican Republic is still there. It's one of the

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Speaker 3: biggest salami companies. We eat a lot of salami, but

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Speaker 3: we fry our salami. We don't really we don't really

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Speaker 3: eat it, like as I said, charcouterie, like you know,

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Speaker 3: cold and stuff, we can, but not this particular salami.

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Speaker 3: This one is free. This one is fried, and and

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Speaker 3: we would just eat that as a snack. And then

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Speaker 3: the plantains, where you know, I think I think we've

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Speaker 3: inherited the eating of plantains from our Africans of origins.

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Speaker 3: And you boil the plantains and you mash them with

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Speaker 3: butter and salt, and and you eat them and they

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Speaker 3: make it into like a paste. And it's called like

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Speaker 3: a mangoo, which I know that in Africa and certain

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Speaker 3: countries they call it like a fou fool, right, but

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Speaker 3: we call it mangool. And you put them the fried

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Speaker 3: salami and the fried cheese, and you grill some pic

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Speaker 3: is over it, and we just all the smell ine.

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Speaker 3: Let's do it.

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Speaker 2: Let's do it.

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Speaker 3: But the smell of that and our kitchen meant that that,

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Speaker 3: you know, Abulita from Dominican Republic was in town. And

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Speaker 3: we would for the whole two weeks that she was

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Speaker 3: visiting with us, my great grandmother, we knew that we

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Speaker 3: were going to eat well. And she would sometimes go

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Speaker 3: to the markets, certain markets in Queens or she would

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Speaker 3: she would venture out and sometimes go out there down

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Speaker 3: downtown to Manhattan or go to Brooklyn, and she would

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Speaker 3: buy the coconuts, like really good coconuts that they would

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Speaker 3: bring from the Caribbean. What would she do with coconut desserts, desserts,

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Speaker 3: all types of macaroons, and she would make like these

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Speaker 3: biscuits that we call cocon and she would make those,

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Speaker 3: or she would grab a spoon, a very big spoon

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Speaker 3: on My grandmother, my great grandmother, was a you know,

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Speaker 3: she was just like a like a very simple woman

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Speaker 3: and there was nothing she could do that, you know,

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Speaker 3: and she would scrape the coconut sort of meat out

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Speaker 3: of the coconut and it would it would kind of

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Speaker 3: curl up. She would scrape it and she would curl

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Speaker 3: it up, and then she she would put it on

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Speaker 3: a pan with sugar and baking soda and vanilla, and

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Speaker 3: she would let that cook down and then it would

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Speaker 3: dry up, and then she would divide in these little

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Speaker 3: like rolls that it was ours so.

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Speaker 2: Here here.

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Speaker 3: And she was a feisty lady. By the time I

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Speaker 3: was born, she was already great grandma. So she was

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Speaker 3: just like very feisty, like a really really gritty woman,

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Speaker 3: you know, and she would grab everything with her hand

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Speaker 3: like she would she would. There was one story though,

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Speaker 3: that the biggest your shock for us, you know, when

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Speaker 3: we moved to a Dominican republic was just yeah, was

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Speaker 3: just how closely we lived with nature. You know, Like

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Speaker 3: she had her garden in the back, so she would

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Speaker 3: get all her herbs and fruits and everything from her

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Speaker 3: backyard and she would come in and this was It's

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Speaker 3: kind of like when you gave me the tour in

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Speaker 3: your kitchen, there wasn't a written menu. She would make

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Speaker 3: the meatballs from scratch, you know. She would grind the meat.

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Speaker 3: She had her grinder. I remember, like, oh, the grinder's out,

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Speaker 3: and she would like it was like a transformer. It

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Speaker 3: came like a lego piece. She would like put it

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Speaker 3: all together, screw it up her and just put the

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Speaker 3: salami and the meat. She would the rabbi by by

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Speaker 3: the cheese and she would just grind that. And then

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Speaker 3: I would sit there and she would come on rush

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Speaker 3: your hands and she would put like oil on my hands.

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Speaker 3: And then we would make meatballs. And I was like,

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Speaker 3: oh my god. And then you try these meatballs and

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Speaker 3: they were just I haven't had a meatball like like hers.

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Speaker 2: You should make it. Yeah, well, you remember, is I

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Speaker 2: have a different I have a Hungarian grandmother. The story

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Speaker 2: is that she traveled with her rolling pin. That whatever

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Speaker 2: she came to visit, she'd come out just one hundred

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Speaker 2: miles from New York and she'd bring the rolling pin.

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Speaker 2: And the famous story in our family was that she

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Speaker 2: came to see her first grandson. My mother's my older brother,

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Speaker 2: and she came. It's quite a long trip and she

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Speaker 2: got to the door and they said, would you like

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Speaker 2: to come and see your grandson? And she said, let's

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Speaker 2: eat first, priorities. But what we're talking really about is,

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Speaker 2: you know, to see your face light up, to see

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Speaker 2: your memories, to feel and hear you. Is that food

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Speaker 2: is so important?

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Speaker 3: You know? Is that we're going to ask her to

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Speaker 3: make this? Yeah, that salted codfish.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 3: She would also meant like like a curd melk dessert

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Speaker 3: that was so good. And I think that the moment

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Speaker 3: my great grandmother passed away, I stopped eating dessert because

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Speaker 3: the only I don't I have a savory tooth. I

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Speaker 3: don't have a sweet tooth, as you know, but only

285
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Speaker 3: for hers, I would eat any any desserts that she

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Speaker 3: would make. And then she got sick with Alzheimer's when

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Speaker 3: I was sixteen, and she sort of slipped away from

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Speaker 3: us mentally quite quite rapidly. And then we took care

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Speaker 3: of her for eleven years. And I just remember looking

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Speaker 3: at her, like when I was like nineteen or twenty,

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Speaker 3: It's like, I'm never going to try anything your hands

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Speaker 3: ever made. And that was I remember. I cried a

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Speaker 3: lot when that sort of like realizes that. And she's

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Speaker 3: right in front of me, and I was just painting

295
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Speaker 3: her nails, you know, just a distractor, and I just

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Speaker 3: looked at her and I was like, it's over.

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Speaker 2: But she was an artist, you know. She was what

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Speaker 2: you're talking about is an illusionist, like Moses creativity going

299
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Speaker 2: in there, you know. And now probably maybe if she'd

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Speaker 2: been at a different time, she might have been a chef,

301
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Speaker 2: you know, she might given the pleasure that she came

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Speaker 2: to you as a grandmother, as you know, one of

303
00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:05,320
Speaker 2: the women in the kitchen right now. I had no

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Speaker 2: option to say, well, actually, this is what I love

305
00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:09,840
Speaker 2: in my work, and I'm like, this is what I'm

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Speaker 2: going to create. I always think that cooking is a

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Speaker 2: bit like art, you know, except art last forever.

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Speaker 3: It does.

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Speaker 2: Somebody eats that lemon tart you've worked hours over and

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Speaker 2: it's gone. You know it's they're your.

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Speaker 3: Grandmother, my great grandmother, your great grandmother hand make You

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Speaker 3: can make those memories last forever. You have to pass

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Speaker 3: it down. I have a picture of my grandmother in

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Speaker 3: my kitchen. She's the first person I see and the

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Speaker 3: last I say. Good not too And by keeping her

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Speaker 3: picture of her, we are keeping her alive. Because my

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Speaker 3: sons they won't have the experience that I had with

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Speaker 3: my grandmother and my great grandmother. They lost their great

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Speaker 3: grandmother really young. So it's in the stories I do

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Speaker 3: tell them.

321
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Speaker 2: Imagine a state bottled olive oil, chosen and bottled for

322
00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:07,080
Speaker 2: the River Cafe, arriving at your door every month. Our

323
00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:11,120
Speaker 2: subscription is available for six or twelve months, with each

324
00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:14,679
Speaker 2: oil chosen personally by our head chefs and varying with

325
00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:18,040
Speaker 2: each delivery. It's a perfect way to bring some River

326
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Speaker 2: Cafe flavor into your home or to show someone you

327
00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:24,960
Speaker 2: really care for them with the gift. Visit our website

328
00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:29,240
Speaker 2: shop the Rivercafe dot co dot uk to place your order. Now,

329
00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:37,719
Speaker 2: going back to going to the Dominican Republic at an

330
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Speaker 2: early age, you discovered the food. You burn it in

331
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Speaker 2: a place you knew, but in a different place, a

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Speaker 2: different school. And was it also that you found that

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00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:50,199
Speaker 2: by eating and discovering food, but also by dancing that

334
00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:53,399
Speaker 2: you were able to yea, you know, the tragedy of

335
00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:57,800
Speaker 2: your father's life, the difficulty of living in a foreign country.

336
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Speaker 2: How did dance affect you?

337
00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:06,280
Speaker 3: Well, the foreign aspect of Dominican Republic sort of dissipated

338
00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:09,480
Speaker 3: within the first couple of years because we are innately

339
00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:17,000
Speaker 3: where our families come from. That's just undeniable. Dance became

340
00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:21,080
Speaker 3: on a really important time in my life because trying

341
00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:23,600
Speaker 3: to fit in and find my placement right when you're

342
00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:26,680
Speaker 3: going into your early teenage years in terms of who

343
00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:30,159
Speaker 3: am I, what am I? Why am I? And so

344
00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:33,200
Speaker 3: going through all of that when it comes to discovering

345
00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:40,960
Speaker 3: your identity while mourning the death of a very big

346
00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:43,320
Speaker 3: figure in your life. The biggest figure in your life

347
00:18:43,359 --> 00:18:47,240
Speaker 3: was your ten Oh, my dad was My dad was incredible.

348
00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:52,439
Speaker 3: He played the guitar, he played the accordion. He was

349
00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:57,360
Speaker 3: a very naturally curious person, very smart for business, danced

350
00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,479
Speaker 3: very well. He and my mom they could have been arguing,

351
00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:03,000
Speaker 3: but they would just get up and kind of like

352
00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:06,400
Speaker 3: not face each other and still like like dance at

353
00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:08,880
Speaker 3: all the birthday parties. And You're like, how could they

354
00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:11,760
Speaker 3: do that? Like we're like sitting under a table just

355
00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:18,280
Speaker 3: like marveling at just the polar you know, opposites of

356
00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:23,000
Speaker 3: emotions that are being displayed in this beautiful, passionate dance

357
00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:26,040
Speaker 3: that they're doing, which is mad anger salsa, and and

358
00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:28,760
Speaker 3: they're just not looking at each other. And she would

359
00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:31,840
Speaker 3: be like by by his left shoulder, like smoking her cigarette,

360
00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:34,480
Speaker 3: like do do do do do dude, and he if

361
00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:36,680
Speaker 3: he would turn to face her, she would do do

362
00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:40,080
Speaker 3: do do do do do do? And you now I

363
00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:42,640
Speaker 3: know that I'm like that night must have been banging

364
00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:44,720
Speaker 3: for them, because you know that they were making love

365
00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:48,760
Speaker 3: while they were Dad saying still and my dad. My

366
00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:50,680
Speaker 3: dad was the was the one that taught my mom

367
00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:53,520
Speaker 3: how to cook. Because my mom growing up as a

368
00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:56,359
Speaker 3: single child with her grandparents while her mom was working

369
00:19:56,359 --> 00:19:59,720
Speaker 3: in New York. My mom had everything made for her.

370
00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:03,040
Speaker 3: She was spoiled by her grandparents. They gave her everything.

371
00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:06,920
Speaker 3: She wore the best little outfits because my great grandmother,

372
00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:09,959
Speaker 3: my mother and my grandmother were both seamstresses, so they

373
00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:12,600
Speaker 3: would make everything from scratch, and she just had the

374
00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:14,840
Speaker 3: best little outfits. So by the time she met my dad,

375
00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:18,479
Speaker 3: she couldn't even boil an egg. And my dad was

376
00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:22,960
Speaker 3: this could have been a chef. Oh my god. He

377
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:26,320
Speaker 3: would make just he would grill fish, he would grill meats,

378
00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:29,520
Speaker 3: he would make the best beans, the best desserts. He knew.

379
00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:32,679
Speaker 3: He was a baker, like just like a very self

380
00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:37,119
Speaker 3: made kind of guy, you know. And even though they

381
00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:40,480
Speaker 3: had different upbringings, my dad was just a lot more

382
00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:45,080
Speaker 3: self sufficient and more independent than my mom. And my

383
00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:48,520
Speaker 3: mom then you know, he taught her. So everything, everything

384
00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:51,560
Speaker 3: that she does for us, it always comes with the

385
00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:53,320
Speaker 3: memory of like, no, your dad used to make this

386
00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:55,120
Speaker 3: in the middle of the night when I was pregnant

387
00:20:55,119 --> 00:20:56,480
Speaker 3: with you guys, and blah blah blah blah blah. And

388
00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:00,119
Speaker 3: so I at least I lived with the memories that

389
00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:02,520
Speaker 3: she has been able to share with us, you know,

390
00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:05,000
Speaker 3: because when you're ten, you remember just ten years. You

391
00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:08,359
Speaker 3: documented ten years, and that's enough to me for me

392
00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:13,199
Speaker 3: to last a lifetime. He was really on top of

393
00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:18,520
Speaker 3: just hygiene and preparation, and with his Serio Valente jeans

394
00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:21,840
Speaker 3: and his Calvin Klin like sweater. And my mom still

395
00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:23,560
Speaker 3: remembers that. So I know I wasn't making it up,

396
00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,240
Speaker 3: and I wasn't making this all fantastical, like she was like, No,

397
00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:29,480
Speaker 3: that's the man that smelled the best I've ever met.

398
00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:30,960
Speaker 2: Anybody dance with him.

399
00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:34,160
Speaker 3: I was down on his feet. I come from a family,

400
00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:36,760
Speaker 3: and I do know this that it is a cultural thing.

401
00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:41,480
Speaker 3: We dance. We dance at funerals, We dance, had births.

402
00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:44,600
Speaker 3: We dance. If you fail to test, we danced if

403
00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:46,960
Speaker 3: you passed it. You know what I mean. It's you

404
00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:49,760
Speaker 3: just dance, and you dance adding and you dance Alsa

405
00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:53,280
Speaker 3: and neighbors all they can be doctors or architects, but

406
00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:55,040
Speaker 3: they know how to play the gonghas, and they know

407
00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:57,560
Speaker 3: how to play the drums and they'll come with a trumpet,

408
00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:02,040
Speaker 3: and everybody sits in someone's backyard and you can see it.

409
00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,200
Speaker 3: Even Puerto Rico is the same, Goolay is the same.

410
00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:07,360
Speaker 3: Dominican Republic is very much that way. So I grew

411
00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,000
Speaker 3: up just and and there's always everything is always a

412
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:13,359
Speaker 3: reason to have a party. It's somebody's it's somebody's baptism,

413
00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,360
Speaker 3: and you sort of go, why are we having this parade? Like, no, no,

414
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:19,440
Speaker 3: it's a baptism, And you're like, but he's four. You're like,

415
00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,800
Speaker 3: it's the biggest party, can last sixteen hours. And so

416
00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:27,199
Speaker 3: I grew up always seeing great grandparents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins,

417
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:31,360
Speaker 3: teenagers dancing, everybody always dancing. So we dance.

418
00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:32,640
Speaker 2: We did as well.

419
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:36,479
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, but that transition into dance was very different

420
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,520
Speaker 3: from what you do at home. Right. It was therapy.

421
00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:43,000
Speaker 3: It was medicine for my soul. Yes, because I was

422
00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:46,760
Speaker 3: I wasn't really acclimating enough.

423
00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:49,120
Speaker 2: I just wasn't a Dominican Republic.

424
00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:51,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, my mom says that we were, but I think

425
00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:55,000
Speaker 3: it was just grieving. We were just you were grieving.

426
00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:57,280
Speaker 3: It was something that happened to us was very traumatic.

427
00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:01,240
Speaker 3: In children don't really describe trauma. They don't really say

428
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:05,480
Speaker 3: I am going through something right now. They either shut

429
00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:11,320
Speaker 3: down or they overreact. They just whatever it is, they're

430
00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:14,440
Speaker 3: just not themselves. And that's the sign. That's the indication

431
00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:18,199
Speaker 3: that they've experienced trauma and they're still like in a

432
00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:23,520
Speaker 3: state of shock and ballet. Ballet became my outlet, my place,

433
00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:25,959
Speaker 3: my safe haven I would go to after school. It

434
00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:29,680
Speaker 3: was an environment that I can go and test myself

435
00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:32,320
Speaker 3: and challenge myself and learn something new. So when you're

436
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,120
Speaker 3: learning something new, that takes a lot of your attention

437
00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:38,080
Speaker 3: and your time, and that's what I needed. I needed

438
00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:40,600
Speaker 3: a lot to put all of my attention, all of

439
00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:43,000
Speaker 3: my time into something that was going to give me

440
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:47,880
Speaker 3: some kind of release and relief, and Ballet did that.

441
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:51,920
Speaker 3: It almost became an obsession. I was very blessed in

442
00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:55,240
Speaker 3: the sense that throughout my life I had really great

443
00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 3: role models that took my mom, my, sisters, and I

444
00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:03,639
Speaker 3: in and either cooking a meal or teaching us yeah something,

445
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:07,560
Speaker 3: you know. We were taken in and we were told

446
00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:09,680
Speaker 3: that we can believe in ourselves, that we can believe

447
00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:11,600
Speaker 3: in love again, that we can believe in life again,

448
00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:14,600
Speaker 3: that we can do this, and we began our healing process,

449
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:15,760
Speaker 3: but it didn't come that quickly.

450
00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:17,880
Speaker 2: It's a kind of rigor, isn't that that when you're

451
00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:20,639
Speaker 2: following a recipe or you're learning how to do first

452
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:24,480
Speaker 2: position sex position, That rigor of a discipline of doing

453
00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:28,359
Speaker 2: something allows you then to come be free. Yeah.

454
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,000
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And it gave me a confidence that I was

455
00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:34,239
Speaker 3: beginning to lose. Studies show that children when they enter

456
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:36,880
Speaker 3: middle school, which is what you know, we were kind

457
00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:38,960
Speaker 3: of about. We were still not out of elementary school

458
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:41,680
Speaker 3: when he passed away, but when the first couple of

459
00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:44,320
Speaker 3: years after he was gone, we were entering middle school.

460
00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:47,560
Speaker 3: That's around the time when children start losing their confidence.

461
00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:52,320
Speaker 3: And I'm just happy that that ballet didn't allow me

462
00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:53,359
Speaker 3: to lose it completely.

463
00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:55,439
Speaker 2: And you went to New York. You went back to me.

464
00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:58,439
Speaker 3: When I was seventeen, So from ten to seventeen, I

465
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:00,880
Speaker 3: was in Dominican Republic. By the time we were fourteen

466
00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:04,199
Speaker 3: fifteen years old, we were beach heads. We were just

467
00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:07,719
Speaker 3: like surfing. We were you you have a bad day,

468
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:10,280
Speaker 3: go to the beach. Yah. Yeah, you break your boyfriend

469
00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:12,119
Speaker 3: breaks up with you, you go to the beach. You know

470
00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:15,080
Speaker 3: what I mean? And and so we were always at

471
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:18,080
Speaker 3: the beach, we were always dancing, We were always at school, ballet,

472
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:22,480
Speaker 3: learning languages that sort of, you know. And then my

473
00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:25,360
Speaker 3: mom found love again also when we were in Dominican Republic,

474
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:29,879
Speaker 3: by reconnecting with a childhood friend, and that began to

475
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:32,240
Speaker 3: also she began to kind of step out of her

476
00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:35,840
Speaker 3: spell because my mom was in a really bad depression

477
00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:40,919
Speaker 3: after my dad passed away for I would say like

478
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,960
Speaker 3: two to four years after he passed, and then she

479
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:47,320
Speaker 3: found love and they're still together, still married.

480
00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:50,000
Speaker 2: Huh was that good for you? Yes?

481
00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:52,760
Speaker 3: I was. I was fourteen. I think when they when

482
00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:57,199
Speaker 3: they reconnected and they're still together, and he became he

483
00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:00,479
Speaker 3: became my father. Yeah he is. He's a really good

484
00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:04,479
Speaker 3: father and a really great husband, and he's funny and

485
00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:07,600
Speaker 3: he's geeky, and yeah, he dances really great. So to

486
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:11,520
Speaker 3: see that my mom also was able to regain, you know,

487
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:15,080
Speaker 3: a good dancing partner, because dancing is really a part

488
00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:17,640
Speaker 3: of who we are, alive, of our bank.

489
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:20,440
Speaker 2: You that into a profession for yourself when you came back,

490
00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:21,720
Speaker 2: did you go to Julie did you?

491
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:24,359
Speaker 3: No? No, no, no no. I danced in like a

492
00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:26,719
Speaker 3: little Academy in Queens that I had to take a

493
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:30,440
Speaker 3: train and two buses for every day after school. It

494
00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:32,760
Speaker 3: wasn't the same. I still kept at it, you know,

495
00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:36,320
Speaker 3: for I would say two more years. By the time

496
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:39,040
Speaker 3: I was like to eighteen, about to be nineteen, I

497
00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:42,080
Speaker 3: had already kind of started meddling with acting.

498
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,880
Speaker 2: So you went to auditions, tell us about just.

499
00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:49,080
Speaker 3: One thing led to another. I had. I knew nothing

500
00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:52,199
Speaker 3: about that way anything. I just knew that I was

501
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,959
Speaker 3: going to dance. And I guess, once I graduate high school,

502
00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:58,080
Speaker 3: maybe I'll go to Sunny Purchase if I'm lucky enough

503
00:26:58,119 --> 00:27:00,520
Speaker 3: and I really want to pursue this all, go to

504
00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:05,600
Speaker 3: Yale and master in some kind of dance or psychology.

505
00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:08,040
Speaker 3: And so I was starting to already think about that

506
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:10,200
Speaker 3: and working with the dean and your in your high

507
00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:13,600
Speaker 3: school and everything. But deep, deep down, I had no

508
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:17,359
Speaker 3: desire of doing any of those things because I realized

509
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:22,000
Speaker 3: I had reached my glass ceiling in ballet ballet, and

510
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,600
Speaker 3: I wasn't able to shatter it. I just I didn't

511
00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,959
Speaker 3: have the feet, and I was getting really tired of

512
00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:31,480
Speaker 3: just punishing myself for not being good enough. And I

513
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:36,639
Speaker 3: had too much hunger in me that just being in

514
00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:39,439
Speaker 3: the core of a company wasn't going to cut it

515
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:42,040
Speaker 3: for me if it cuts it for other people. I

516
00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:44,080
Speaker 3: wished I was more like other people at that time,

517
00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:46,879
Speaker 3: other dancers, but I wasn't, and I would pass by

518
00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:49,399
Speaker 3: all these little theaters. When I was in Manhattan. My

519
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:52,119
Speaker 3: mom would only let me go with my sister to Kapezio,

520
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:55,080
Speaker 3: to the store in fifty seven and Columbus to go

521
00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:58,000
Speaker 3: buy my shoes and go buy some leotards. Whenever I

522
00:27:58,040 --> 00:27:59,760
Speaker 3: was like running out and it was like you come

523
00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:01,680
Speaker 3: straight back. I hop on the train and comes straight

524
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:05,199
Speaker 3: back to Queens. But there was they were holding these auditions,

525
00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:09,199
Speaker 3: and there was this little sign, yeah, like on the

526
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:12,679
Speaker 3: basement of like this brownstone uptown and it said New

527
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:16,239
Speaker 3: York Youth Theater holding auditions for the Wiz. And I

528
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:19,679
Speaker 3: looked at my sister, who at the time she was

529
00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:25,159
Speaker 3: smoking cigarettes and she wasn't supposed to, so obviously she

530
00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 3: brings me into the city. She's like buys her pack

531
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:29,960
Speaker 3: a cigarettes and she's just smoking away as she's being

532
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:32,879
Speaker 3: like my chaperone, and I'm like, Marie, can I go

533
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:34,520
Speaker 3: check this out really quickly? And then we take the

534
00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:37,800
Speaker 3: train and home and she's like looking look like her

535
00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:39,719
Speaker 3: cigarette and kind of goes for yeah, sure and then

536
00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:44,640
Speaker 3: puts it out. We go inside, we audition and no, no, no,

537
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,240
Speaker 3: she just she was there, signs me up and everything,

538
00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:50,320
Speaker 3: and you know, but mind she's only a year older.

539
00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:51,840
Speaker 3: It's not like she's much older than I am. But

540
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:54,480
Speaker 3: we were always partners and crying. My sisters and I.

541
00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:57,560
Speaker 3: I auditioned for it, and I get called back for

542
00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:00,600
Speaker 3: the Whiz. Yes, but it was like a small off

543
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:02,280
Speaker 3: off off that way.

544
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 2: The other tribes of this story, these probably guys and actors,

545
00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:09,600
Speaker 2: standing that this little girl, she's walked off the street,

546
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:13,760
Speaker 2: she wants to audition. Okay, you know, we'll do it.

547
00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:15,200
Speaker 2: We have to do it, and it's you.

548
00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:20,600
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, and they were so nice they called me back.

549
00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:23,480
Speaker 3: I remember waiting for that phone call. Every time the

550
00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:26,000
Speaker 3: phone in my house would would ring, I'd be like,

551
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:28,600
Speaker 3: I got it, I got it, hello, you know. And

552
00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:31,080
Speaker 3: finally it was them, and I think my sister took

553
00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:34,480
Speaker 3: the call and she said, they're calling you back, so

554
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:38,200
Speaker 3: now we have to tell our parents. So I remember

555
00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:40,120
Speaker 3: we did. I waited for my mom to come home

556
00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:42,920
Speaker 3: from work and and I was like, well, don't be upset.

557
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:46,040
Speaker 3: But we I did audition for this place and I

558
00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:50,560
Speaker 3: got called back, and she was just like, okay, what

559
00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:52,680
Speaker 3: about ballet. I'm like, I don't know. I just they're

560
00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:55,280
Speaker 3: just calling me for it's a call back. It's like,

561
00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:56,400
Speaker 3: what's a call back. I don't even know what a

562
00:29:56,440 --> 00:29:58,680
Speaker 3: callback was. What's a call back? I guess it's just

563
00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:01,040
Speaker 3: the second round. It's not like I got it, it's

564
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:03,320
Speaker 3: just the second round. I'm so sorry. And then at

565
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:05,800
Speaker 3: this point, my mom takes off from work and she

566
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:08,880
Speaker 3: takes me with my sister for the callbacks, and I

567
00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:13,000
Speaker 3: remember there was I'm reading for the role of the scarecrow.

568
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:15,640
Speaker 2: Guys. I sucked so bad.

569
00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:17,880
Speaker 3: I hate my lines, but I can dance, I can

570
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:21,840
Speaker 3: do whatever. And my mom leans over to my sister

571
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:25,320
Speaker 3: and says, oh, boy, I guess that's what she wants

572
00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:27,040
Speaker 3: to do, because I guess I was really bad at

573
00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:29,120
Speaker 3: the audition because they're watching it. They're sitting in the

574
00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:32,560
Speaker 3: theater and they're allowing the parents to watch the children

575
00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:35,240
Speaker 3: because we're all miners. I was seventeen, yeah, I was seventeen,

576
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:39,840
Speaker 3: and my mom was like, oh, oh, am on, okay,

577
00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:42,000
Speaker 3: this is what she wants to do. So then we

578
00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:43,480
Speaker 3: all went back to the house. When I booked it,

579
00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:45,200
Speaker 3: I didn't book the role of the scarecrow, but I

580
00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:47,680
Speaker 3: booked to be like in the core. We go back

581
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:50,840
Speaker 3: and it's the news. Now we've told my grandmother, my stepdad,

582
00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:54,480
Speaker 3: and my younger sister, Oh my god. But we're looking

583
00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:56,680
Speaker 3: at the schedule with if I take off from work,

584
00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 3: then you can take Zoe, then maybe I'll pick her up.

585
00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:01,880
Speaker 3: So at this point we're all We've always been a team.

586
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:04,760
Speaker 3: But we realized that with all my ballet commitments and

587
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:06,480
Speaker 3: I had to recital, there was just no way that

588
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:10,320
Speaker 3: I could do it without failing this academy, which I'd

589
00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:12,200
Speaker 3: granted me a scholarship to dance.

590
00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:13,959
Speaker 2: So happened.

591
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:17,240
Speaker 3: I called them up and I said, I can't do it,

592
00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:19,360
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. I realized that my commitments with

593
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:21,720
Speaker 3: ballet are far greater and I just can't really do

594
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:26,080
Speaker 3: what but my younger sister can. And they were like, well,

595
00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:28,640
Speaker 3: I'm like, she looks just like me. People things were

596
00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:30,720
Speaker 3: twins and she used to dance, and at that time,

597
00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:32,960
Speaker 3: my sister was going through like a really hard time,

598
00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:38,520
Speaker 3: just sixteen years old. Can't fit in theater, just gave

599
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:41,000
Speaker 3: her what ballet had given me in my early years,

600
00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:43,760
Speaker 3: so I say it for the poor. They did, and

601
00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:45,720
Speaker 3: she started doing you know, she did the Whiz and

602
00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:48,320
Speaker 3: she did Bye Bye Birdie. Then she did Jesus Christ Superstar,

603
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,480
Speaker 3: and she did a whole bunch of productions with this

604
00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:54,680
Speaker 3: theater company for I would say like five six years.

605
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:58,080
Speaker 3: So all into like her, like twenty until she was

606
00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:01,840
Speaker 3: like twenty years old or twenty one. I joined at once.

607
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:04,680
Speaker 3: I stopped dancing. Then I joined this other theater group

608
00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:08,000
Speaker 3: in Brooklyn, and then they hired me. I did it

609
00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:11,880
Speaker 3: through like an internship program from school, and then after

610
00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:14,120
Speaker 3: I graduated high school, then they gave me a job

611
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:18,960
Speaker 3: with full coverage. I was eighteen, So I'm in this

612
00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:22,400
Speaker 3: theater group in Brooklyn. My sister's the one in Broadway

613
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:26,640
Speaker 3: in Manhattan. So she's the one with all jazz hands

614
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:30,840
Speaker 3: and Bye Bye Bertie. And I'm writing skits about urban

615
00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:35,520
Speaker 3: life and domestic violence and drug addiction with a whole

616
00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:38,560
Speaker 3: bunch of kids and this other and we're performing in hospitals,

617
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 3: in high schools and jails. Like I went to sing,

618
00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:43,000
Speaker 3: sing to perform, you know, with this theater troupe, and

619
00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:45,040
Speaker 3: I loved it because it was raw. It was awesome,

620
00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:47,560
Speaker 3: but it was just dangerous. My mom just didn't want

621
00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:49,560
Speaker 3: me going to Brooklyn. So one day she tells, my

622
00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,640
Speaker 3: sister just convinced her, because I was also dating a

623
00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:54,920
Speaker 3: guy that didn't want me dating whatever, just convinced her

624
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:59,640
Speaker 3: to audition for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor dream Coat

625
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:02,880
Speaker 3: at your theater and then we'll get her out of Brooklyn.

626
00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:07,400
Speaker 3: I was I think, I was like I was nineteen.

627
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:11,160
Speaker 3: It all happened really fast. This was nineteen ninety seven.

628
00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:14,680
Speaker 3: So I auditioned and I booked the role of missus Potiphar,

629
00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:19,200
Speaker 3: and I really had fun, and I decided to stay

630
00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:22,360
Speaker 3: with the production and with my sister, well at that

631
00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:27,240
Speaker 3: point was doing more production work than being on stage

632
00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:30,800
Speaker 3: because she's always had a good eye. And there was

633
00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:34,960
Speaker 3: a manager in the room and signed signed me and

634
00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:40,000
Speaker 3: started sending me out immediately for soap operas and shows

635
00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:45,360
Speaker 3: like episodics and commercials, and and I started booking things

636
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:46,120
Speaker 3: left and right.

637
00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:48,560
Speaker 2: It left home by then. Or are you living still

638
00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:48,920
Speaker 2: at home?

639
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:50,720
Speaker 3: No? No, no, no, no, oh my god, no, we're

640
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:53,080
Speaker 3: such a I'm still living with my parents.

641
00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:57,840
Speaker 2: So you were still being cooked for I'm getting to

642
00:33:57,840 --> 00:33:58,440
Speaker 2: the food.

643
00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:01,160
Speaker 3: That yes, oh, my grandmother this point, my grandmother was

644
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:06,000
Speaker 3: always with us and and her husband and they lived.

645
00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:09,040
Speaker 3: You know, my mom and my grandmother always lived within

646
00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:11,360
Speaker 3: a block from each other or in the next building

647
00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:13,239
Speaker 3: of each other. And that's how we grew up in

648
00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:16,320
Speaker 3: Queens where I would open the window of my bedroom

649
00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:21,600
Speaker 3: and go aha, and she would open her window gay

650
00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:26,239
Speaker 3: and you would go in the jon. And this is

651
00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:28,319
Speaker 3: how you greet all of your elders. You say bless me,

652
00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:31,359
Speaker 3: and then they always respond, May God bless you. That's

653
00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:33,120
Speaker 3: how you greet them. And that's how you say good night.

654
00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:45,719
Speaker 3: In Spain you do it as well. And benizion and

655
00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:48,680
Speaker 3: then she would literally come over from her apartment and

656
00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:53,520
Speaker 3: her pjs and and come inside our apartment. What do

657
00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:55,960
Speaker 3: you want? It's like Papa Mango, so beata.

658
00:35:01,640 --> 00:35:04,160
Speaker 2: The River Cafe when you said lunch is now running

659
00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:09,280
Speaker 2: from Monday to Thursday. Reserve a booking a www. Rivercafe

660
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:17,439
Speaker 2: dot co dot uk or give us a call. Did

661
00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:20,239
Speaker 2: you ever have an apartment by yourself or did you did?

662
00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:24,840
Speaker 3: I learned to cook. I remember I started doing pepper steak.

663
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:27,080
Speaker 3: I would make pepper steak all the time, like what

664
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:29,000
Speaker 3: is it with pepper steak? Like I would just make

665
00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:31,399
Speaker 3: pepper steak pepper steak. And my mom is like, okay, great,

666
00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:34,000
Speaker 3: So now why don't you learn to make beans? And

667
00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:37,000
Speaker 3: I remember I called hi. I'm like, oh my god,

668
00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:39,759
Speaker 3: are you sitting down. I figured out a way to

669
00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:42,200
Speaker 3: make beans that I don't think you've ever done before.

670
00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:45,480
Speaker 3: And she's like, let's hear it, you know, and she's well,

671
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:49,160
Speaker 3: I'm like, mom, I do the sofrito on the side

672
00:35:49,719 --> 00:35:52,040
Speaker 3: and then I put it into the beans. And she

673
00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:56,800
Speaker 3: was just like, Zoe, that's great, baby, that is so awesome.

674
00:35:56,840 --> 00:35:59,600
Speaker 3: I'm so proud of you. If I remember, I'm like.

675
00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:02,840
Speaker 2: So you can remember this when you were appearing on

676
00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:06,240
Speaker 2: stage and you're doing the pride came also in the cooking.

677
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,640
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, because even though I was I was living

678
00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:15,160
Speaker 3: in Tribecca, so a little far from Queens. I was

679
00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:16,160
Speaker 3: getting like home set.

680
00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:18,040
Speaker 2: Were you dating a lot? We were going out with

681
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:18,880
Speaker 2: people I was.

682
00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:19,200
Speaker 3: I was.

683
00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:20,480
Speaker 2: The next question is connected.

684
00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:23,399
Speaker 3: I was a serial monogamer and I should have been

685
00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:26,080
Speaker 3: more wild, you know, but I was always in relasion.

686
00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:29,000
Speaker 2: Would you ever date somebody who didn't care about food?

687
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:33,600
Speaker 2: Could you imagine being in love with somebody who wasn't No, yeah.

688
00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:38,520
Speaker 3: No, I. I always would fall for the guys that

689
00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:41,439
Speaker 3: were homebodies, that were close to their families, that were

690
00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:44,640
Speaker 3: very you know, they liked to be home and cozy.

691
00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:46,000
Speaker 3: I didn't like the party.

692
00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:49,719
Speaker 2: Finally fell for your husband to he's Italian.

693
00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:52,040
Speaker 3: Yes, and he's a single child. So and he's Italian.

694
00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:55,239
Speaker 3: So the sun rises and set some modical bayre Goo

695
00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:57,799
Speaker 3: and he looks like the Catholics version of Jesus Christ.

696
00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:05,440
Speaker 3: For a reason. He is sensitive and super just kind.

697
00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:07,920
Speaker 3: He's a really he's the kindest person I've ever met

698
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:09,720
Speaker 3: in my life. And he cooks.

699
00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:11,200
Speaker 2: And he grew up in Coma and.

700
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:17,840
Speaker 3: His family they owned a little restaurant and the cafe,

701
00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:21,200
Speaker 3: and at one point they owned a bar. And it's no,

702
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:23,879
Speaker 3: they're they're in La with us. They're in the States.

703
00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:27,440
Speaker 3: Because he's an only child. So for me, for me,

704
00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:30,800
Speaker 3: it just made sense that I just want I wanted

705
00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:33,640
Speaker 3: my kids to grow up with their grandparents from both

706
00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:36,400
Speaker 3: sides the way that I grew up with mine, because

707
00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:42,040
Speaker 3: I honestly feel that more than half of who I

708
00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:46,279
Speaker 3: am was defined by the love that I received the unconditional,

709
00:37:47,239 --> 00:37:49,319
Speaker 3: you know, love that I received by my grandparents and

710
00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:50,279
Speaker 3: great grandparents.

711
00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:54,239
Speaker 2: And so you tell us about your cooking world with him.

712
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:57,959
Speaker 2: You have two sons, three three boys.

713
00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:02,959
Speaker 3: But Madigo was definitely an Italian, you know, dandy chat

714
00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:05,640
Speaker 3: mean pirate. When I met him, you know, and I

715
00:38:05,719 --> 00:38:09,239
Speaker 3: just I remember he was always like got am bah

716
00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:11,600
Speaker 3: and I'm like, I'm from Queens, New York. I'm just like,

717
00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:13,800
Speaker 3: come on, where's your voice going here? Because he was

718
00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:17,279
Speaker 3: always a kid. He's an artist, well, I disciplinary is

719
00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:19,680
Speaker 3: a sculptor and a painter and a conceptual artist. And

720
00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:23,400
Speaker 3: now he's a director. But he does everything manco just

721
00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:25,800
Speaker 3: lives in the part and that's really he creates exactly.

722
00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:28,360
Speaker 3: And I just remember when we met, I was always

723
00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:30,480
Speaker 3: so hard and he was like, I want to take

724
00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:32,840
Speaker 3: you to go and I want you to try the

725
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:34,680
Speaker 3: best pizza in the world. I'm like, are you kidding me?

726
00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:36,840
Speaker 3: The best pizza on Prince Street. You know, I was,

727
00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:39,680
Speaker 3: come on, kid, what are you talking about? And I

728
00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:41,719
Speaker 3: just remember we we go to Napoli, we do the

729
00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:45,000
Speaker 3: whole thing, We eat the pizza Brita. It's amazing. And

730
00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:46,880
Speaker 3: then cut to you, like a week later, we're on

731
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:49,960
Speaker 3: some sidewalk in New York and we're having a slice

732
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:52,839
Speaker 3: of pizza and he looks at me. He goes, see,

733
00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:56,640
Speaker 3: without a doubt, a New York slice is the best

734
00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:58,360
Speaker 3: in the world. And I'm like, Pappy, I told you,

735
00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:00,880
Speaker 3: come on, come on, man. I know you got Italy,

736
00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:01,680
Speaker 3: but I got New York.

737
00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:04,400
Speaker 2: Baby. My friend who has a group of friends and

738
00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:06,919
Speaker 2: they go out every once a month finding the best

739
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:09,480
Speaker 2: pizza place in New York. They've come up with one

740
00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:11,919
Speaker 2: in Jersey they love they have.

741
00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:13,800
Speaker 3: Oh there's one in Jersey.

742
00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:15,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I'll find out.

743
00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:16,160
Speaker 3: You gotta tell me.

744
00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:19,000
Speaker 2: I will well, because another friend of mine did it

745
00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:21,200
Speaker 2: as well. He went, they kind of like this place.

746
00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:24,000
Speaker 2: I think it's in Jersey City. Do you like Italy?

747
00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:25,600
Speaker 2: Do I love that?

748
00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:29,279
Speaker 3: Now? It's it's home for me. It's it's it's half

749
00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:29,960
Speaker 3: of who I am.

750
00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:31,000
Speaker 2: Yeah. Where do you go?

751
00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:35,839
Speaker 3: My favorite region is Liuia. There's something really beautiful about

752
00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:36,880
Speaker 3: the Italian Riviera.

753
00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:38,600
Speaker 2: Do you go to the chic Utera.

754
00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:43,480
Speaker 3: We rented a house one time in sestri Levand there

755
00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:46,239
Speaker 3: in the middle of summer, just to see all these

756
00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:50,239
Speaker 3: Italian families come from all over Italy to vacation in

757
00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:53,399
Speaker 3: sestri Lelande, which is you know, it's close to Chincoda,

758
00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:58,080
Speaker 3: it's just forty minutes, but it's like a melting pot

759
00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:03,919
Speaker 3: of this beautiful social your economic you know, communities and

760
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:06,759
Speaker 3: so very working class, very upper class, but they're all

761
00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:08,640
Speaker 3: together and the beach, taking their kids to the fair.

762
00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:11,560
Speaker 3: So we love doing that. We definitely always go to

763
00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:14,200
Speaker 3: Lago de Gadada to visit the family who's still there,

764
00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:17,160
Speaker 3: and in other towns that are neighboring to Lago de Gadada.

765
00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:20,759
Speaker 3: Milan is always a place where we we we're just there.

766
00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:23,080
Speaker 3: We land in Milan and from there we drive everywhere.

767
00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:28,160
Speaker 3: We've been in Florence, all through Tuscany, Rome. I need

768
00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:30,279
Speaker 3: to explore Rome more because I'm a little now that

769
00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:32,680
Speaker 3: my husband is from the north, I'm a little Northerner now.

770
00:40:32,719 --> 00:40:35,000
Speaker 3: I'm always like, it's those vals. I don't know, it's

771
00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:38,040
Speaker 3: like it's no and so hot and be there's too anything,

772
00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:41,239
Speaker 3: blah blah blah blah. B Marco loves Rome and there's

773
00:40:41,239 --> 00:40:44,600
Speaker 3: something really beautiful about the Italian culture that you can

774
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:47,520
Speaker 3: you can ask a little four year old, Yeah, but

775
00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:49,279
Speaker 3: why do you how does your nor not make your

776
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:51,839
Speaker 3: boss La Basila nola blah blah blah blah, and they

777
00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:54,239
Speaker 3: tell you all the ingredients. I'm like, how good a

778
00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:58,359
Speaker 3: four year old little boy know how to make this pasta?

779
00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:02,680
Speaker 3: And it's like thirty thousand days with four simple ingredients,

780
00:41:02,719 --> 00:41:07,080
Speaker 3: and they just they're so versatile and so the Italian

781
00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:10,560
Speaker 3: cuisine and its simplicity. For me, it's one of the

782
00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:12,920
Speaker 3: best cuisines in the world. It's just so beautiful and

783
00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:15,680
Speaker 3: there's so much love in it. There's just so much love,

784
00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:17,560
Speaker 3: and I don't know, I just think.

785
00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:22,080
Speaker 2: That, well, it made sense to have lunch. But before

786
00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:25,919
Speaker 2: we do, Amelia Paris, we should talk about them. That's

787
00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:28,400
Speaker 2: how we met. Yes, we met over a movie and

788
00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:33,320
Speaker 2: you are deeply involved in the season for the prizes,

789
00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:36,000
Speaker 2: but making of it, it would be interesting to feel

790
00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:38,680
Speaker 2: just being on that movie what it meant to you.

791
00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:42,279
Speaker 3: I was so excited. It is not the first time

792
00:41:42,320 --> 00:41:45,040
Speaker 3: I've worked in Paris. I did. I did parts of

793
00:41:45,080 --> 00:41:47,680
Speaker 3: a film that I was in called Colombiana years before

794
00:41:47,719 --> 00:41:51,000
Speaker 3: in Paris, and the sound sound stages, same sound stages

795
00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:54,560
Speaker 3: that I did. I did. Yeah, there are like forty

796
00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:58,520
Speaker 3: minutes outside of the center of Paris. I'm super great.

797
00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:01,400
Speaker 3: The French hours are very much like Italian hours. They

798
00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:04,360
Speaker 3: don't like to overwork, so it's not like the English

799
00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:07,080
Speaker 3: and the South Americans. We're like, fourteen hours not enough,

800
00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:09,879
Speaker 3: let's keep shooting, and you're like, wait, wait, we've done eight.

801
00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:10,520
Speaker 3: It's enough.

802
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:13,560
Speaker 2: Because I always hear French hours big the way you

803
00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:15,920
Speaker 2: eat as well that this is it called French howers

804
00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:16,960
Speaker 2: when you don't have lunch.

805
00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:19,279
Speaker 3: Yes, but I don't know where that comes from, because

806
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:22,239
Speaker 3: the French are very much like Boom. They're like, okay,

807
00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:24,359
Speaker 3: let me put this down, let's go eat. They sit down.

808
00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:26,880
Speaker 3: Back in the day when I was shooting Caulomena, they

809
00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:29,040
Speaker 3: would have some bottles of wine on the table. Now

810
00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:33,080
Speaker 3: you don't, but that's okay. But you eat so well.

811
00:42:33,160 --> 00:42:38,000
Speaker 3: Nobody gives you a styrofoam plate and with plastic things

812
00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:41,839
Speaker 3: like we do in other parts of the world where

813
00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:45,840
Speaker 3: we shoot. Everybody has, you know, silverware and a plate.

814
00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:48,360
Speaker 3: And you sit down and we all talk and and

815
00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:51,040
Speaker 3: everybody takes a break and we really eat, and then

816
00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:53,439
Speaker 3: everybody goes smokes the cigarette drinks. They're shot of us,

817
00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:55,799
Speaker 3: but so and then we go work. But you do

818
00:42:55,880 --> 00:42:58,520
Speaker 3: your eight to ten hours and then everybody goes home.

819
00:42:58,800 --> 00:43:01,120
Speaker 3: You come home and I'm I'm shooting in Paris. You're

820
00:43:01,160 --> 00:43:04,759
Speaker 3: having a baguette and a bottle of wine. You know,

821
00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:09,560
Speaker 3: you're debriefing with Selena, with Edgar, with Godla. You know,

822
00:43:09,600 --> 00:43:11,840
Speaker 3: you're talking about what you're doing and why is this

823
00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:15,080
Speaker 3: special for you and how it impacted your life. Godless

824
00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:18,320
Speaker 3: teaching us about the trans experience by just sharing anecdotes

825
00:43:18,360 --> 00:43:22,320
Speaker 3: of her life that no matter how painful, dark or bright,

826
00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:27,880
Speaker 3: they've shaped her identity. And I'm learning from Selena. I'm

827
00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:30,640
Speaker 3: getting to work up close and personal with this pop star.

828
00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:34,279
Speaker 3: On paper, she's a pop star, when in reality she's

829
00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:37,960
Speaker 3: a decent and an incredible human being, so talented, with

830
00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:43,960
Speaker 3: such great taste. Boss Lady, Edgar's just sexy. Edgar's so classy,

831
00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:46,120
Speaker 3: so worldly. You know, he grew up he was born

832
00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:48,960
Speaker 3: in Europe, and he grew up partially in South America

833
00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:53,000
Speaker 3: and Europe and speaks like five languages. And so and

834
00:43:53,360 --> 00:43:56,800
Speaker 3: we're all here and Adriana. Adriana comes as this Queen

835
00:43:56,840 --> 00:44:01,880
Speaker 3: of Mexico with so much recognition, awards, such great body

836
00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:05,520
Speaker 3: of work, and we're all excited to be here with

837
00:44:05,640 --> 00:44:09,319
Speaker 3: Jack you know who who has been at some point

838
00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:12,120
Speaker 3: in our lives and in our careers just an icon

839
00:44:12,280 --> 00:44:16,320
Speaker 3: and a giant in his own right, and our hearts

840
00:44:16,800 --> 00:44:17,520
Speaker 3: were open.

841
00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:20,279
Speaker 2: Did you discover the restaurants so that you ate a

842
00:44:20,360 --> 00:44:24,480
Speaker 2: lot in the eleventh at those new restaurants are so interesting?

843
00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:26,680
Speaker 3: Are they are? They are a lot.

844
00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:30,160
Speaker 2: Of young cooks were doing different wines, different food.

845
00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:33,280
Speaker 3: Well. And to realize too that as city folks in Paris,

846
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:36,520
Speaker 3: like they have their version of Asian food that is

847
00:44:36,560 --> 00:44:40,000
Speaker 3: like their everyday food and its numbs. It's Vietnam Vietnamese food.

848
00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:43,040
Speaker 3: And I just remember having like the best Vietnamese food

849
00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:46,480
Speaker 3: in Paris. And and but I know, but always always

850
00:44:46,520 --> 00:44:49,120
Speaker 3: going back to my default of es cargo, a bottle

851
00:44:49,160 --> 00:44:52,799
Speaker 3: of Saint Emilion and maybe some a duck com feet.

852
00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:55,840
Speaker 3: It's just it's just what I m go to. But

853
00:44:55,920 --> 00:44:59,320
Speaker 3: every now and then I always yearned for Asian flavors

854
00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:03,359
Speaker 3: or for most cultures. There's great Argentine restaurants there, there's

855
00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:07,120
Speaker 3: great Italian. There's the sushi scene. I haven't really tapped

856
00:45:07,120 --> 00:45:10,360
Speaker 3: into the Japanese scene, but everybody loves sushi in Paris.

857
00:45:11,120 --> 00:45:13,920
Speaker 3: But I'm just so busy having real typical French food

858
00:45:14,080 --> 00:45:18,040
Speaker 3: and having Italian and Argentine food. It's like it's I

859
00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:20,200
Speaker 3: just you know, everybody loves you, but nah, that's in

860
00:45:20,239 --> 00:45:20,920
Speaker 3: all these things.

861
00:45:21,040 --> 00:45:23,399
Speaker 2: And how did the film? We should talk about more

862
00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:26,600
Speaker 2: about film? Are you here to do work for the

863
00:45:26,640 --> 00:45:28,040
Speaker 2: movie now at all?

864
00:45:28,120 --> 00:45:31,719
Speaker 3: It's so, you know, we have we have seventeen we

865
00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:35,440
Speaker 3: have what nineteen more days before the voting. Voting opens

866
00:45:35,560 --> 00:45:38,319
Speaker 3: on the eleventh of February, and then they close, I

867
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:40,799
Speaker 3: believe on the nineteen. So I guess this is very

868
00:45:40,840 --> 00:45:44,200
Speaker 3: new territory for me, and I've enjoyed, you know, the

869
00:45:44,239 --> 00:45:47,839
Speaker 3: whole process. And to me, the everything that was being

870
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:52,080
Speaker 3: put together was all in favor of complementing these four

871
00:45:52,120 --> 00:45:58,080
Speaker 3: women's journey, and their journeys were not you know, they

872
00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:01,279
Speaker 3: weren't great to say that, but they were so real

873
00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:04,040
Speaker 3: and they were so human, and they were so diverse

874
00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:06,640
Speaker 3: in their own right. You know, with a trans woman

875
00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:09,440
Speaker 3: with a young woman that was the you know, the

876
00:46:09,480 --> 00:46:14,319
Speaker 3: wife of a crime lord, with a lawyer, with a

877
00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:17,680
Speaker 3: battered woman that was trying to run away from a

878
00:46:17,719 --> 00:46:22,080
Speaker 3: domestic sort of abusive situation. And they're all just in

879
00:46:22,120 --> 00:46:26,840
Speaker 3: a way interconnected and looking for their most authentic selves

880
00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:28,520
Speaker 3: and that is what drew me.

881
00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:31,480
Speaker 2: And we're all in all of the movie and all

882
00:46:31,520 --> 00:46:34,040
Speaker 2: of what you. Thank you. And so I think that

883
00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:39,919
Speaker 2: you've described life of happiness, of struggle, of loss, of grief,

884
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:45,440
Speaker 2: of joy, children finding love. And there have been times

885
00:46:45,680 --> 00:46:49,440
Speaker 2: when obviously you've found comfort in dance. You'd say you've

886
00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:53,640
Speaker 2: found comfort in your family. And there is also times

887
00:46:53,640 --> 00:46:58,640
Speaker 2: when we seafood is not staving off hunger or expressing something,

888
00:46:58,680 --> 00:47:01,560
Speaker 2: but it is pure come for. My last question to

889
00:47:01,640 --> 00:47:04,360
Speaker 2: you is to say, if you needed comfort, and I

890
00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:06,160
Speaker 2: hope you don't, but if you did, is there a

891
00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:07,719
Speaker 2: food that you would turn to?

892
00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:16,480
Speaker 3: Any Dominican stew cures me, heals me. And now that

893
00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:20,319
Speaker 3: my husband has been in my life, an he's such

894
00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:22,719
Speaker 3: a big part of who we are and the same

895
00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:24,440
Speaker 3: way I am a big part of who he is.

896
00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:30,160
Speaker 3: Any Italian stew as well, Tenny Lisoto, I will take.

897
00:47:30,440 --> 00:47:33,759
Speaker 3: And I do have to say that the older I get,

898
00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:38,960
Speaker 3: the more I am connecting with my mother's through food,

899
00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:44,440
Speaker 3: the farm to table, the growing something and making something

900
00:47:44,520 --> 00:47:49,120
Speaker 3: with your bare hands has been an event that just

901
00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:52,640
Speaker 3: keeps growing, an act, a process that keeps growing in me,

902
00:47:52,680 --> 00:47:55,040
Speaker 3: and it's just bigger and bigger, and I just I

903
00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:57,120
Speaker 3: bake the bread for my boys, even though I'm here

904
00:47:57,160 --> 00:47:59,960
Speaker 3: promoting a movie. Right before I left, I baked their bread.

905
00:48:00,800 --> 00:48:02,879
Speaker 3: I'm going to start making their yogurt. I just all

906
00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:05,400
Speaker 3: the things that they actively eat. And I know that

907
00:48:05,480 --> 00:48:07,920
Speaker 3: the pasta eventually I will have to make it on

908
00:48:07,960 --> 00:48:10,560
Speaker 3: my own, because the more and more I'm educating myself

909
00:48:11,600 --> 00:48:14,240
Speaker 3: about the kind of food that is out there today,

910
00:48:14,320 --> 00:48:16,560
Speaker 3: which is very different to the food that I ate

911
00:48:16,760 --> 00:48:22,480
Speaker 3: as a child. A lot of our ailments come from food,

912
00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:26,960
Speaker 3: and I just want my children to always become particular

913
00:48:27,040 --> 00:48:29,680
Speaker 3: eaters and always yearn for things that are fresh and

914
00:48:29,719 --> 00:48:33,799
Speaker 3: well made and properly handled versus whatever is in that

915
00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:35,759
Speaker 3: I can throw in this instant thing and it can

916
00:48:35,760 --> 00:48:39,240
Speaker 3: give me something super back, give me something back quickly.

917
00:48:39,800 --> 00:48:42,520
Speaker 3: So we make everything from scratch. I make their bone

918
00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:45,719
Speaker 3: broth from scratch. I bake their you know, their their

919
00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:47,920
Speaker 3: banana bread, and I put a whole bunch of stuff

920
00:48:47,960 --> 00:48:50,040
Speaker 3: in it, you know, in their meatballs. I put all

921
00:48:50,160 --> 00:48:53,319
Speaker 3: the veggies that I can process, you know, I can,

922
00:48:53,960 --> 00:48:58,160
Speaker 3: I can you know, blend in it. And that way

923
00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:03,640
Speaker 3: they creating a palate that is just inflexible for bad food.

924
00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:05,879
Speaker 3: You know what I mean, because it's it's the way

925
00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:08,640
Speaker 3: that I was raised. I'm still the kind of person

926
00:49:08,719 --> 00:49:11,440
Speaker 3: that because I was raised on such great flavors and

927
00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:15,200
Speaker 3: such organic ways of eating, I can't just go anywhere

928
00:49:15,200 --> 00:49:18,200
Speaker 3: to eat. I will refuse and I will kindly pass

929
00:49:18,280 --> 00:49:21,359
Speaker 3: and drink tea, you know, until my next sob where

930
00:49:21,360 --> 00:49:23,279
Speaker 3: I can eat something fresh. And my husband is the

931
00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:25,880
Speaker 3: same way, so we want our kids to sort of

932
00:49:25,920 --> 00:49:26,560
Speaker 3: grow up that way.

933
00:49:26,719 --> 00:49:31,640
Speaker 2: Well, you're a woman of values. It's strong and strong

934
00:49:31,719 --> 00:49:32,760
Speaker 2: and no fear.

935
00:49:33,239 --> 00:49:40,880
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, thank you, thank you for listening

936
00:49:40,880 --> 00:49:43,840
Speaker 1: to Ruthie's Table four in partnership with Montclair