Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Katie Curic and this is a bonus
Speaker 1: episode of Next Question Dadada. Today I'm sharing another stop
Speaker 1: on my book tour, and this time it's Atlanta. Everyone said,
Speaker 1: please don't say Hotlanta. Don't worry Atlanta. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to where I got to talk to one of my
Speaker 1: favorite people. And yes, I'll be saying that a lot,
Speaker 1: but it's true. The Barefoot Contessa herself in a garden.
Speaker 1: So bonapatite. You guys are in for such a treat
Speaker 1: because my next guest is one of my favorite people
Speaker 1: on the planet, probably one of yours too. Iin a
Speaker 1: garden seems to iin a garden, to me, seems to
Speaker 1: signify everything that is good in the world. Her very
Speaker 1: name just makes you feel better, doesn't it. Her cookbooks
Speaker 1: are my go to for everything from pants and ella
Speaker 1: to pasta pesta with peas and pine nuts, which is
Speaker 1: very alliterative. From her famous coconut cupcakes to her delicious
Speaker 1: roast chicken, which we'll talk about. She's got her show
Speaker 1: on the Food Network. Of course, she's developing another show
Speaker 1: with guests. Maybe she'll invite me. A Muhlner fingers cross
Speaker 1: and she's currently working on her cookbook. So please welcome
Speaker 1: Iina Gardens here. Oh my gosh, I know everyone's so
Speaker 1: excited you're here. Um. I shouldn't say this, but you're
Speaker 1: my favorite guests in all the cities, so don't tell
Speaker 1: anyone secret. So so let's talk about because I think
Speaker 1: during the pandemic, Iina, you were such a comforting presence
Speaker 1: for so many people. Before that you were comforting presence,
Speaker 1: but you spread such joy. And one of my favorite
Speaker 1: moments was when you poured a giant cost abow that
Speaker 1: was what he saw that it was more than the
Speaker 1: size of our heads. Um, I think we actually have
Speaker 1: a video you there we go what I would say
Speaker 1: you no, stay safe, have a very good time, and
Speaker 1: don't forget the cocktails. Did you drink that whole thing?
Speaker 1: There's a bottle of vodka in there. Where did that
Speaker 1: idea come from? Because it cracked me up. It actually
Speaker 1: started out as an April Fools thing. And um, when
Speaker 1: when the pandemic hit in the beginning of March, I
Speaker 1: said to my assistance, let's go downstairs in the base
Speaker 1: and clean it out and then we'll have room to store,
Speaker 1: you know, shelf goods and things like that for the year,
Speaker 1: because I thought we were going to be in this
Speaker 1: for a year or two. And there were these huge
Speaker 1: cocktail glasses martini glasses somebody gave us as a joke,
Speaker 1: and I said, oh, let's throw these out. And my
Speaker 1: assistant said, you never know when you're gonna need them.
Speaker 1: And I thought, I needs a cocktail glass like this,
Speaker 1: and you needed that, then you thought so, Then I thought.
Speaker 1: A month later, it was April one, and I thought,
Speaker 1: I'll do a little April Fool's joke. But as as
Speaker 1: you know, as it kind of evolved in my thinking,
Speaker 1: I thought, nobody needs a joke the second week of
Speaker 1: the pandemic, so but everybody needs a cocktail. So I
Speaker 1: just decided I'm just going to do it straight. And
Speaker 1: I had enough ingredients to make one of those. That
Speaker 1: was it. If I'm if I messed up the video,
Speaker 1: I was in trouble, I had to make a totally
Speaker 1: different cocktail. Well, it made everybody laugh, and I you know,
Speaker 1: I love following you on Instagram because you have so
Speaker 1: much fun, and you know, I think it's given you.
Speaker 1: I mean, you were already huge and so popular, but
Speaker 1: it's kind of giving you this whole new presence and
Speaker 1: such as a place where your fans can see you
Speaker 1: on a regular basis. It's amazing what it's done right.
Speaker 1: It's funny when when the pandemic hit and my friend
Speaker 1: of mine, who's the head of publicity and um at
Speaker 1: my publisher, said, you know, you should be the person
Speaker 1: that people go to if they don't know what to
Speaker 1: do with the white beans in there in their pantry.
Speaker 1: And I was like, I can't tell them that. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know that. And I thought about it for
Speaker 1: a day and I thought, well, let me see if
Speaker 1: I can. So I sort of posted a picture of
Speaker 1: my pantry, which was funny because they were Ramen noodles
Speaker 1: in there, and everybody went, she has Ramen noodles? Why
Speaker 1: does she at college? I had bought them. I had
Speaker 1: no idea what to do with them, but I ended
Speaker 1: up making raman chicken noodle soup, which was actually great. Wow.
Speaker 1: So you know, I think we both have because I
Speaker 1: I love Instagram too, and I and I actually don't
Speaker 1: live too far away from each other in East Hampton.
Speaker 1: And you know, there's something great about being able to
Speaker 1: talk directly to an audience. I was just completely blown
Speaker 1: away when I when I said, okay, I'll just try it,
Speaker 1: and I started posting something every day and people were
Speaker 1: talking to me, and it was all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: I felt like I was connected again. It was really
Speaker 1: incredibly satisfying. Love. I hear the answers which shocked, you know,
Speaker 1: like what should I do with the white beans? I
Speaker 1: just I knew what to do. And there is something
Speaker 1: really wonderful about the interactivity that you get, you know.
Speaker 1: I during the pandemic, Yeah, I did a lot of
Speaker 1: videos about frontline healthcare workers, and you know, I try
Speaker 1: to post things like when they're these these tragedies and
Speaker 1: they're these faceless victims, I try to to show human
Speaker 1: that the humanize it and showed that these were people
Speaker 1: with with lives and families, and I think that's something
Speaker 1: that that people forget when they hear statistics. So I
Speaker 1: I really like going direct to consumer, as they say,
Speaker 1: and you probably never get trolls, do you, I mean
Speaker 1: people who have nasty things to say about me? Yeah? Oh? Never, rarely,
Speaker 1: I have to say, really I imagine, I mean, who
Speaker 1: would say something mean to Ainah? I get plenty of them,
Speaker 1: and I just blocked their asses that's a good play. Definitely.
Speaker 1: Um So, So I want to talk to Iina because
Speaker 1: Iina is also writing a memoir, which is so it's
Speaker 1: not gonna be like Katie's. I mean, she's in the
Speaker 1: very beginning stages. But tell me a little bit about it. Well,
Speaker 1: tell me first how you started. So you just decided
Speaker 1: to do it. And I have to say, it was
Speaker 1: so brave of you to really get you know, just
Speaker 1: decide you're gonna put it all out there. You're going there? Yeah,
Speaker 1: were there any times when you said to yourself, well,
Speaker 1: maybe I shouldn't go there? Well? I did. I did
Speaker 1: keep some things out, believe it or not. There's like
Speaker 1: two things in my life that are still private but
Speaker 1: didn't evolve. Or did you know going in that you
Speaker 1: were going to do that? Well? I was working on
Speaker 1: it for three years and I really wanted to write
Speaker 1: a book that felt like I was sitting down with
Speaker 1: friends and sharing what it felt like to be in
Speaker 1: my position in all kinds of situations. And and John
Speaker 1: said to me, and it's all his fault. If you're
Speaker 1: not going to be honest, you shouldn't write a book.
Speaker 1: And so I really tried to just share myself with
Speaker 1: people because I didn't want it to be like, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm great by Katie Curic. I wanted it
Speaker 1: to be introspective and reflective. And I also did it
Speaker 1: against the backdrop of pretty dramatic social change when it
Speaker 1: comes to gender politics, race in this country, you know,
Speaker 1: gay rights. I witnessed so much, and I wanted to
Speaker 1: kind of talk about being front and center and having that,
Speaker 1: you know, front row seat to history. And then, you know,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of people who've dealt with loss
Speaker 1: and grief and I never wanted to write about it
Speaker 1: right after Jay died, i know, because I felt like
Speaker 1: it was private, this was him. But twenty years later,
Speaker 1: I felt like I could share what I went through
Speaker 1: because you know, I have so many people d M
Speaker 1: me me, who have six spouses or who are dealing
Speaker 1: with a terminal illness themselves, looking for support and guidance,
Speaker 1: and I thought by sharing my story, maybe I could
Speaker 1: help them, and you doc, I'm trying but wonderful. Well,
Speaker 1: it was hard. It was hard to write. And one
Speaker 1: of the nice things I was going to say, is
Speaker 1: is it kind? You know for my daughters. They were
Speaker 1: so little when Jay died and writing about him when
Speaker 1: we met and fell in love. Um. You know, it
Speaker 1: made their father come alive for them. And they both
Speaker 1: called me after reading the chapters and they were just sobbing,
Speaker 1: and they said, thank you so much for writing this.
Speaker 1: It's such a gift to us, so wonderful. But but
Speaker 1: tell me about tell me about your memoir, because you've
Speaker 1: actually been traveling to some of the places where you've
Speaker 1: lived and grown up, etcetera. I'm working with a friend
Speaker 1: of mine who's a writer and has written actually two
Speaker 1: memoirs with people, with Tina Turner and with Oprah, and
Speaker 1: she's just doing a lot of the research, like going
Speaker 1: back and finding my high school friends, which has been
Speaker 1: so amazing to reconnect with the you know, their women
Speaker 1: that have changed their names twice. I don't know how
Speaker 1: she found them, but she did, and it's just really wonderful.
Speaker 1: So so they remember stories that I don't remember, and
Speaker 1: they kind of trigger, you know, a memory for me.
Speaker 1: Um or Um. We went back to my my life
Speaker 1: in Washington, which was in the seventies, late seventies, and Um,
Speaker 1: I used to buy old houses and renovate them. So
Speaker 1: we went to see each one and the last one Um.
Speaker 1: She just said to me, Okay, we're standing standing in
Speaker 1: front of the townhouse that I had bought and and
Speaker 1: I lived in when I moved to West Hampton, and uh,
Speaker 1: and she said, imagine yourself on the steps. And I
Speaker 1: just lost it. And I realized it was a really
Speaker 1: painful ex parents that had completely forgotten. So actually being
Speaker 1: there and seeing it with somebody saying imagine yourself there
Speaker 1: was really powerful. Did you find any of those experiences
Speaker 1: where you didn't? I mean, how did you? Did you
Speaker 1: have journals? Did you how did you remember? I don't
Speaker 1: remember anything. Well, I'm just making it up, guys. So
Speaker 1: that's why that's why I had to write it. Now.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm sixty four, and I thought about calling
Speaker 1: it while I still remember. You know, I'm a pack
Speaker 1: rat and so I'm not everything. Hell, you're like John,
Speaker 1: he doesn't have a sentimental bone in his body. But
Speaker 1: I kept all my speeches, I had diaries, I had
Speaker 1: um you know, of course, and and the Internet is
Speaker 1: really helpful because I could go back and look at
Speaker 1: stories I had done in the past, and the archivists
Speaker 1: that all the networks were really generous and sending me
Speaker 1: material and you know, I kept, like my, my, my
Speaker 1: little flash cards from the two thousand and eight election
Speaker 1: down in my basement, folders from our specials I had
Speaker 1: done on the Central Park Jogger. I mean, so I'm
Speaker 1: just happy I can now clean my basement. Honestly, I
Speaker 1: can throw those things and what's out. But you know,
Speaker 1: I think it is a very emotional experience. I think
Speaker 1: looking back on your life, and you know, you talk
Speaker 1: about Washington, and one of the one of the really
Speaker 1: interesting things of many things that I love about Iina,
Speaker 1: is she actually started as a nuclear policy analyst in
Speaker 1: the in the Carter White House, right in the form
Speaker 1: White House. I mean, I don't know, and I said
Speaker 1: to Iah, well, what will you tell us what attracted
Speaker 1: you to nuclear policy? Doesn't sound attractive, It doesn't It
Speaker 1: doesn't sound very interesting to me. You know, I think
Speaker 1: when when you know, it was in my twenties, and
Speaker 1: I think I was writing policy papers that went to
Speaker 1: the president to make decisions. So it felt, you know,
Speaker 1: it felt serious, and you know, I mean part of
Speaker 1: me thought, I can't believe they trust this to year
Speaker 1: old But but that's what I was doing. And I
Speaker 1: like science. I find science really interesting, and so all
Speaker 1: of the scientific issues were interesting to me. Um. And
Speaker 1: and the funny way, I think I find cooking science
Speaker 1: as well. Ya, They're really related. So you just except
Speaker 1: for one you end up with nuclear energy and the
Speaker 1: other one you end up with coconut cupcakes. I'll go
Speaker 1: for the coconut cut too. Well. So how did you
Speaker 1: make the transition? So you're you're doing this wonky job
Speaker 1: in Washington, d c. Thinking there's got to be something
Speaker 1: more fun than this, right, and it's just not floating
Speaker 1: your boat, and you decide that we'll tell us about
Speaker 1: the how you got from nuclear policy to the barefoot contessa. Um.
Speaker 1: I was sitting in my office one day, thinking I've
Speaker 1: got to do something else, and I was reading the news,
Speaker 1: the New York Times, which I should probably should have
Speaker 1: been working, but I was reading the Times. And there
Speaker 1: used to be this thing called the Business Opportunity section
Speaker 1: in the Times that had like cleaners, dry cleaners, and
Speaker 1: like dell ease and head shops for sale. And there
Speaker 1: was a little specialty food store in a place I've
Speaker 1: never heard, I've really never been in the Hampton's And
Speaker 1: I just thought, oh, that sounds interesting, And I went
Speaker 1: home that night and I said to Jeffrey, you know,
Speaker 1: I really need to do something else. And he gave
Speaker 1: me the best advice. He said, do what you love.
Speaker 1: If you love it, you really good at it. And
Speaker 1: I said, you know, funny, you should mention it. I've
Speaker 1: seen this little it was a tiny little ad and
Speaker 1: um and he said, and he said, let's go look
Speaker 1: at it. And I think, now in retrospect, I think
Speaker 1: he was just humoring me. So the next day we
Speaker 1: drove up to West Hampton and I saw this four
Speaker 1: square foot store, just like the size of this carpet,
Speaker 1: and they were baking chocolate chip cookies. And I thought,
Speaker 1: this is where I want to be. And I just
Speaker 1: made her a very low offer, thinking, you know, she'll
Speaker 1: come back, will negotiate, of time to think about it.
Speaker 1: And we drove back to Washington and the next day
Speaker 1: she called me on the phone and said, thank you
Speaker 1: very much. I accept your offer. And I went, oh, Ship,
Speaker 1: now I have to do it. It wasn't supposed to
Speaker 1: work that way. When we come back, the dish that
Speaker 1: almost broke Ina and the meal she'll never forget, I mean,
Speaker 1: Ainah and Jeffrey, let's let's talk about Ina and Jeffrey Shaoy,
Speaker 1: I mean years. I mean it's like such a great
Speaker 1: love story. And I was so moved when when you
Speaker 1: were talking to me about Jeffrey, because he has given
Speaker 1: you so much, and he really gave you the power
Speaker 1: to believe in yourself. You know your your parents were
Speaker 1: not as not supportive. They weren't supportive, and you know,
Speaker 1: writing this book for me, I so was so grateful
Speaker 1: for my mom and dad because I was always very
Speaker 1: very close and they were you know, my friend Wendy
Speaker 1: knew my parents well and they just gave me such
Speaker 1: an unconditional love and support. But you came from parents
Speaker 1: who were kind of withholding to say the least, there
Speaker 1: were anything but supportive. They really thought I'd never amount
Speaker 1: to anything, which is amazing and um, but you know,
Speaker 1: in the end, you and I've talked about this, we
Speaker 1: only need one person to really believe in us. And
Speaker 1: it could be a teacher, it could be a parent,
Speaker 1: it could be a spouse, just one person who just
Speaker 1: believes in you. And for me, that was Jeffrey, and
Speaker 1: my whole life turned around. And what was it that
Speaker 1: he gave you that that made you could do anything? Anything?
Speaker 1: I wanted to do and he would. He would put,
Speaker 1: I mean when I bought the store, it was twenty knowledge,
Speaker 1: which was I mean, if we had a thousand dollars
Speaker 1: to our name, that was a lot. You know. We
Speaker 1: got a loan for the rest of the money, so
Speaker 1: we put in more money than we had, and he
Speaker 1: was just like, just go do it. And uh, I
Speaker 1: think that's that kind of unconditional support is really extraordinary.
Speaker 1: You know, he's become sort of a little bit of
Speaker 1: a rock star too. I'm much more popular than I am.
Speaker 1: What does he think when people make such a fuss
Speaker 1: over him? Look at that? That is the cutest picture.
Speaker 1: I think he likes when people make a fuss over
Speaker 1: me more than himself. Really does he feel uncomfortable with
Speaker 1: all the int Come on, he gets a kick out
Speaker 1: of it, doesn't he. He likes when people say, I
Speaker 1: like what your wife does. That's really sweet. That's nice.
Speaker 1: And you know you mentioned one person, and I know
Speaker 1: I mentioned this earlier, but I just have to tell
Speaker 1: you all, especially because I'm here in Atlanta. Don Farmer,
Speaker 1: who is Justin's dad who passed away this year, was
Speaker 1: so so supportive me. Of course my parents were as well.
Speaker 1: My dad was a big supporter, and he was a
Speaker 1: journalist and thought I could write. And I was a
Speaker 1: big procrastinator, so he thought I'd be good under deadline
Speaker 1: because I never did my homework until I was waiting
Speaker 1: for the School of Us in the morning. But but
Speaker 1: on Farmer, you know, he he gave me an opportunity.
Speaker 1: He worked with me, he nurtured me. And I tell
Speaker 1: the story in my book. I walked into a meeting
Speaker 1: at CNN. It was full of male executives and one
Speaker 1: young woman who was doing the promos. And the number
Speaker 1: two guy at CNN said, well, that's not like Katie.
Speaker 1: She's successful because of her intelligence, hard work and breast size.
Speaker 1: And this was when I was twenty six years old,
Speaker 1: and I was so taken aback and I came back
Speaker 1: to Chris and Donn they were a husband wife anchor team,
Speaker 1: and I said to them, this just happened to me.
Speaker 1: I don't know what to what to do. And he
Speaker 1: put a piece of typewriter in his IBM S electric
Speaker 1: Google at you young people, and we wrote a memo
Speaker 1: to the guy at the time aid no relation to
Speaker 1: Ted Turner and basically, um, you know said what you
Speaker 1: did was totally inappropriate. I would like you to apologize
Speaker 1: to me immediately. And Ed Turner called and he was just,
Speaker 1: you know, beside himself apologizing, And as I write in
Speaker 1: the book, I loved having his nuts and advice. Um
Speaker 1: is that wrong anyway? But but don really I think
Speaker 1: in a way he slept the tone for me for
Speaker 1: the rest of my career that I didn't have to
Speaker 1: put up with that kind of guff. And you're right
Speaker 1: about one person kind of just being your champion, just
Speaker 1: being your champion. You can do what you can do anything. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And meanwhile, you've taken so many risks. And I think
Speaker 1: that's something you and I have in common. Because you
Speaker 1: left the White House. You then um, you know, bought
Speaker 1: The Barefoot Contessa. Then you sold that to two of
Speaker 1: your employees. Then you decided I'm going to write start
Speaker 1: writing cookbooks. No, I decided I would write a cookbook
Speaker 1: while I figured out what to do with myself. Oh,
Speaker 1: that's just a transitional project. Well it worked out pretty
Speaker 1: worked out, really well. But but I don't know, you
Speaker 1: weren't earnous about writing a cookbook. I didn't think I
Speaker 1: knew anything about writing a cookbook. And now you're on
Speaker 1: your team. Yeah, it's great. I mean, I think my
Speaker 1: my philosophy of life is that you have to jump
Speaker 1: in the pond. You can stand on the side of
Speaker 1: the pond forever talking about what the pond is going
Speaker 1: to feel like, but you have to get in. You
Speaker 1: just have to jump in. And when I found out
Speaker 1: when I was writing cookbooks, it was really fun. I
Speaker 1: love the team of people that did the photographs. I
Speaker 1: loved um designing the books. I loved testing the recipes
Speaker 1: over and over to make sure they're really good. I
Speaker 1: loved every part of that process. I love making sure
Speaker 1: the binding was right so that the book stayed flat
Speaker 1: when you um when you opened it, you don't want
Speaker 1: the pages to go up. I mean every detail of
Speaker 1: that book. As an I wanted it to be beautiful
Speaker 1: object as a gift, but also really accessible if you
Speaker 1: wanted to use it as a cookbook. And I know
Speaker 1: when you come up with recipes, Aina, you have to
Speaker 1: you're very very exacting, aren't you. You have to. Really,
Speaker 1: she's very controlling, actually controlling. That's why we get along
Speaker 1: so well. But you you have to kind of have
Speaker 1: a real plan and play right, take us with you know,
Speaker 1: kind of tell us how you develop a recipe, because
Speaker 1: I'm fascinated by that. Well, first I have to have
Speaker 1: an idea of exactly what I want the recipe to be.
Speaker 1: So I'll take an early one like pan fried onion dip.
Speaker 1: I remembered Lipton's onion soup mix, and I thought, I'm
Speaker 1: sure I can make something that's better with real ingredients.
Speaker 1: And then I would just start cooking. I would just
Speaker 1: start making sautet onions slowly caramelized and then add ingredients
Speaker 1: until I reach exactly what I have in my head
Speaker 1: the flavor, the texture, the heat, the whatever it is
Speaker 1: and um. And then once I've I've done that, I've
Speaker 1: written it down, I give it to at least one
Speaker 1: other person, often two or three and watch them make it.
Speaker 1: And I find out what somebody with a printed page
Speaker 1: does with that, with that recipe, and I learned so much.
Speaker 1: You know, somebody's like chopping onions and they'll go and go,
Speaker 1: just stop. I want to know what your question was,
Speaker 1: so I can answer it in the margin. So somebody
Speaker 1: knowing you know, has the same question you have, they'll um,
Speaker 1: They'll just see the answer. There is there anything that
Speaker 1: you just have not been able to master right. I
Speaker 1: think I remember you telling me it wasn't a Boston
Speaker 1: Cream Boston Cream Pie. I've probably worked on that for
Speaker 1: six years. It's like it was like crazy I would
Speaker 1: make it. It's it's complicated because it's the cake, the
Speaker 1: pastry cream and the chocolate glaze have to be perfectly layered,
Speaker 1: and the textures have to work together. So if the
Speaker 1: chocolate is too strong it overpowers the pastry cream, or
Speaker 1: the cake is too boring, it doesn't stand up to it.
Speaker 1: It's there's there's kind of a layering. And I had
Speaker 1: it almost right. And I had a um actually an
Speaker 1: interview with Christina Tosie, who's the woman who wants Milk Bar,
Speaker 1: and I said she she asked me the same question.
Speaker 1: I said, I'm really close with Boston Cream Pie, but
Speaker 1: the cakes a little dry. And she said, why don't
Speaker 1: you try a soak, which is an orange juice, orange
Speaker 1: zest and sugar syrup that you brush on the cake
Speaker 1: and that kind of trickles down. It just flavors the
Speaker 1: cake and it keep it moist. I went home that
Speaker 1: I hadn't made it, and it was like bingo, that
Speaker 1: was exactly what I was looking for, and I think
Speaker 1: it's in. It's in comfort food, modern comfort food. And
Speaker 1: let's talk about your your famous chicken, because your roast chicken.
Speaker 1: I make that all the time and it's been renamed
Speaker 1: engagement chicken. And the genesis of the engagement chicken is
Speaker 1: funny because I was at a party and is there
Speaker 1: a picture of engagement with the chicken? Yeah. I was
Speaker 1: at a party and there were the young women from
Speaker 1: Glamor magazine who came over to me and said, oh,
Speaker 1: we love your roast chicken recipe. We actually call it
Speaker 1: engagement chicken. And I said why and they said, because
Speaker 1: every time a young woman in the office makes it
Speaker 1: for their boyfriend, they're engaged within twenty four hours. That's
Speaker 1: a powerful chicken, right. I was like, what do you
Speaker 1: would in that bird? Like love potion number nine? What
Speaker 1: is it? And I think recently Emily Blunt didn't she say?
Speaker 1: She told Ruth Rogers at um at River Cafe on
Speaker 1: a podcast that she made it for John Krasinski and
Speaker 1: he asked her to marry a register after works and wait,
Speaker 1: and there was somebody else reasoning, oh, yeah, Megan Marco,
Speaker 1: there you go. That's incredible, that's magical. What are someone
Speaker 1: like that? Do you think are the most important skills
Speaker 1: that you need to to learn in the kitchen? Um?
Speaker 1: You know, I don't think you need to be a
Speaker 1: restaurant chef. I think you need to know how to
Speaker 1: make four things really well and just make them over
Speaker 1: and over and and really kind of get comfortable and
Speaker 1: they don't have to be complicated. If you can make
Speaker 1: a roast chicken, you can make roast turkey, just takes
Speaker 1: a little longer. Um, you can make um, I mean
Speaker 1: you can really. If you make roast broccolini, you can
Speaker 1: make roast squash. Roasting vegetables is really easy. And you
Speaker 1: and I were talking about how some tomatoes, yea simple
Speaker 1: food is sort of the best. And I've been cooking.
Speaker 1: I cooked a little more during the pandemic. My daughter
Speaker 1: carries vegan and she was cooking all sorts of recipes.
Speaker 1: And you know, I have a garden, and in the summer,
Speaker 1: if you have farm stands and you have this, there's
Speaker 1: nothing like going out to have this really simple and
Speaker 1: like taking one of those what I think to the
Speaker 1: yellow ones. I have them do and and they're just
Speaker 1: warm and delicious. They're like candy and that's why I
Speaker 1: love cooking in the summer. Is that your favorite season
Speaker 1: for cooking. I'm like cooking all the time. In the winter,
Speaker 1: I like stews and you know, like red one gray
Speaker 1: short ribs and things like that. But in the summer,
Speaker 1: you know, when it's the farm stands have corn and
Speaker 1: it's delicious, just cut it off the cob and sauntet
Speaker 1: and butter, it's like you're done. Yeah, it's just really good.
Speaker 1: And now you've got your your show, and I'm excited
Speaker 1: about this new show you're working on. I know for
Speaker 1: Discovery it's called be My Guest and tell everyone about
Speaker 1: it because I know you've shot four episodes four episodes.
Speaker 1: Haven't seen it yet, so I'm hoping it's good. I'm
Speaker 1: sure it'll be good. Um. And each each episode, I
Speaker 1: invite somebody that I want to talk to, and so
Speaker 1: I invited Willie Guys too is with but Today's show MSNBC,
Speaker 1: and uh Sunday to Sunday Today is Sunday Today. Um.
Speaker 1: So my first guest was like a great interviewer. So
Speaker 1: I was really nervous, like you were doing the interviews,
Speaker 1: doing the interviews, and it would happened over the pandemic
Speaker 1: is usually people were interviewing me, but people started asking
Speaker 1: me to interview them, and I was like, I'm not
Speaker 1: a journalist. I was really surprised, like like m John Grisham,
Speaker 1: I mean people not even in the food field, Stanley Tucci, you, um,
Speaker 1: And I just thought this is so interesting. Maybe I'll
Speaker 1: just kind of follow that stream. And really it's really
Speaker 1: the art of conversation and you do it around cooking,
Speaker 1: and this is the best job in the world. You
Speaker 1: can ask somebody that you think is really interesting to
Speaker 1: come over for the day and have a good time
Speaker 1: with them. I mean, that's what you do. It'sous and
Speaker 1: you're really good at it. And you had Julians and
Speaker 1: my friends Rob Marshall and John DeLuca, who are the
Speaker 1: producer and director of major movies like Chicago and Mary
Speaker 1: Poppins Returns and just wonderful movies. And then in French
Speaker 1: and there's a woman whose name I don't know how
Speaker 1: many people know her. Her name is Aaron French. She's
Speaker 1: the owner of a restaurant in Main called Lost Lost Kitchen.
Speaker 1: Does anybody know her? Yeah, she just wrote in the
Speaker 1: last year about really her harrowing uh, sort of brings straordinary,
Speaker 1: extraordinary journey to the hardest restaurant in America to get into.
Speaker 1: In order to get into this restaurant in Maine, it's
Speaker 1: in the middle of nowhere town of seven hundred nineteen people,
Speaker 1: they count exactly how many people aren't down. Um, you
Speaker 1: have to send in a postcard by April one, and
Speaker 1: by lottery they pick out every single reservation for the
Speaker 1: entire season on April one. And people try for years
Speaker 1: to get into this restaurant. I actually haven't gotten in yet. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think somehow something tells me. But she's really able
Speaker 1: to get extraordinary, extraordinary woman. Yeah, and there's a she
Speaker 1: has a areas I'm discovery now, which is wonderful called
Speaker 1: Moss Kitchen. Someone's in the kitchen with Dina, and I
Speaker 1: guess that's me get it. Only people of a certain age,
Speaker 1: probably anyway more with einor Garten. Right after this, I
Speaker 1: was interested in your views on aging because I'll be
Speaker 1: jam child and and you know, I think, especially women,
Speaker 1: we still have so much to offer and still have
Speaker 1: so much energy. And how are you feeling about getting
Speaker 1: a little the maturing process a little creekier, but the
Speaker 1: brain is still working just fine. Um, you know, I
Speaker 1: think you can spend a lot of time worrying about it.
Speaker 1: It's just not worth it because it's gonna happen anyway,
Speaker 1: I think, Um, I mean, I think the key is
Speaker 1: really staying engaged and doing things that you love doing
Speaker 1: and just um, I mean, I just I hope they
Speaker 1: drag me up by my feet. I'm getting curious and interested.
Speaker 1: And you know what's great about you and I hope
Speaker 1: that I have some of this too, is that we're
Speaker 1: always looking for new challenges at the same time really
Speaker 1: kind of appreciating staying in the moment and being present
Speaker 1: or whatever. And I'm worry about the future. Just doing
Speaker 1: just so we do. You and I do the same
Speaker 1: thing we do, we do really well, and the next
Speaker 1: thing just it shows up. You describe something about like
Speaker 1: being on a in a stream. A friend of mine
Speaker 1: who's a therapist, said that, Um, we're all in a stream,
Speaker 1: and we're swimming in a stream. And if you keep
Speaker 1: hitting against the river banks, you're in the wrong stream.
Speaker 1: But if the stream is carrying you along, then you're
Speaker 1: in the right stream. But you also have to relax
Speaker 1: enough to let the stream get in the pond in
Speaker 1: order to get in the stream. You can't. You can't
Speaker 1: do it from the river bank in the stream. Lots
Speaker 1: of water analogies here. Okay, so I have a couple
Speaker 1: of questions. Um, oh, what was your biggest cooking disaster?
Speaker 1: Me cooking disaster? I think once, when Jeffrey and I
Speaker 1: were first married, I made something with ground beef and
Speaker 1: corn that was awful. Really, that sounds it was awful
Speaker 1: like Hamburger helpers. I think it probably tasted like Hamburger helper.
Speaker 1: What was What's Jeffrey's favorite dish? Probably roast chicken. Really,
Speaker 1: I would say that the last thing that I made,
Speaker 1: whatever I've made for him. He goes, it's the best
Speaker 1: thing you've ever made. I mean, is that a good
Speaker 1: husband or one? We all need a Jeffrey in our lives. Okay,
Speaker 1: so here's some rapid fire questions for me as well.
Speaker 1: All right, Aina, what's your favorite junk food? Come on,
Speaker 1: favorite chunk food? I don't know as ice cream junk food? No? No,
Speaker 1: do you like any kind of like? I don't? Don't
Speaker 1: you don't? Really? Right? Well, I'm sorry, that's all right.
Speaker 1: I like that. Oh ships in that category? I like
Speaker 1: what foods do you absolutely hate? Oh? I know the
Speaker 1: answer to this, Cilantro. No. I love Cilantro. Okay, what
Speaker 1: would be your last meal if you had to pick it?
Speaker 1: You know? I had somebody made a meal for me
Speaker 1: in Paris that was incredible. My favorite thing in the
Speaker 1: world is Chateo we Kim so turn, which is like
Speaker 1: a sweet dessert wine. And she served every single course
Speaker 1: with Chateo we Kim, which sounds crazy like you wouldn't
Speaker 1: drink a sweet dessert wine for a main course. But
Speaker 1: she served fog raw with Chateo we Kim, which goes
Speaker 1: together really well. And then she made lobster with grapefruit
Speaker 1: with a little cheto we kim with sturn, which just delicious,
Speaker 1: and an apple tart. That was my favorite meal ever. Really,
Speaker 1: it was just the simplicity of it, and that every
Speaker 1: course was served with sweet dessert one was just in
Speaker 1: so luxurious. Okay, that's a good one. Um. I was
Speaker 1: going to say what food I hated is is that
Speaker 1: I would never eats just what shad row? Oh God,
Speaker 1: do you like that? Don't? I don't like odd things.
Speaker 1: Mike Typeles used to love shad row and it is
Speaker 1: so nasty. Okay? What sweetbreads is mine? Yeah? What what
Speaker 1: is your favorite spice or ingredient? My favorite vanilla vanilla andanilla.
Speaker 1: And make my own vanilla by putting vanilla beans in
Speaker 1: vodka and let them sit for like six months. I
Speaker 1: have a jar that's been going for like thirty five years. Yeah,
Speaker 1: actually maybe forty. Now do you take a little nip
Speaker 1: every No, then don't drink it? Okay, I know you're swifty.
Speaker 1: What's your favorite Taylor Swift song? Shake it off? Okay?
Speaker 1: What's your go to cocktail other than a giant Cosmo? Um?
Speaker 1: Whiskey sour whiskey? Okay and um. I already asked what
Speaker 1: Jeffrey's favorite dish was, So now you've got some questions.
Speaker 1: On the way down, Katie and I realized we'd both
Speaker 1: had pop quizzes, So she's now on the hot seat.
Speaker 1: What's the movie you've seen the most? Um? Love? Actually,
Speaker 1: that's great that I watched it every Christmas. That's a
Speaker 1: good one. What food makes you happy? Cupcakes? Cupcakes? Oh good,
Speaker 1: I know what to make you. What's the best job
Speaker 1: you've ever had? Probably the Today Show? And I think
Speaker 1: I know what the worst job you've ever had is Yeah,
Speaker 1: the best president you ever got, the best president I
Speaker 1: ever got. Oh gosh, I thought, I don't know, Wendy,
Speaker 1: do you have any ideas at a lot of people
Speaker 1: chose to something that's from their childhood. Oh, I know.
Speaker 1: My grandmother, my nana, who she was from Omaha but
Speaker 1: originally from alex City, Alabama, married an architect. My grandfather
Speaker 1: lived in Omaha with Buddy, my uncle um My. My
Speaker 1: grandmother um has the most had the most beautiful collection
Speaker 1: of purses that she bought in Paris, and my mom
Speaker 1: had them all wrapped in tissue paper in a drawer
Speaker 1: in my sister Emily's room, and my mom gave me
Speaker 1: one of those purses. And then when my mom passed away,
Speaker 1: my sister Kiki and I divided up the purses. So
Speaker 1: I have these just beautiful vintage bags from Paris that
Speaker 1: my daughters cannot wait to get their hands on. That's right.
Speaker 1: I think that's my favorite gift. And my last question
Speaker 1: is from a very famous interviewer, James Lifton, if heaven,
Speaker 1: If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God
Speaker 1: say when you arrive welcome. I just want to know
Speaker 1: what your room looks like as long as he says
Speaker 1: there's no room, as long as he doesn't say there's more,
Speaker 1: she doesn't say there's no room, I'll be happy. I mean,
Speaker 1: this was so thanks so much for doing so wonderful.
Speaker 1: Thank you so hard, Thanks so much to the one
Speaker 1: and only Ina Garten. Her upcoming news show is called
Speaker 1: Be My Guest. It will air sometime in two and
Speaker 1: you'll be able to find it on Discovery Plus and
Speaker 1: the Food Network channel. Word on the Street is there
Speaker 1: might also be a companion podcast, so keep an ear
Speaker 1: out for that. Next Question with Katie Kurik is a
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Media and Katie Kurk Media. The
Speaker 1: executive producers Army Katie Kuric, and Courtney Litz. The supervising
Speaker 1: producer is Lauren Hansen. Associate producers Derek Clemens and Adriana Fasio.
Speaker 1: The show is edited and mixed by Derrick Clements. For
Speaker 1: more information about today's episode, or to sign up for
Speaker 1: my morning newsletter, wake Up Call, go to Katie Courrek
Speaker 1: dot com. You can also find me at Katie Curic
Speaker 1: on Instagram and all my social media channel else. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart radio, app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Speaker 1: H