Bitchin' About Food

Constance Bauer wears many hats. Mom, Daughter, Sister, Wife, Lawyer, Therapist, Couples Counselor, Sex Therapist, soon to be Podcaster! Kath and Constance dig deep into their memory archives and reminisce about the old days of waitressing at the base of the Prudential Plaza in Chicago (Kath’s first job in the city!) as well as how she and her husband, both lawyers at the time, managed to feed their young family using the infamously named “Dinner Man.” Other far-ranging topics include Lima, Peru, Philadelphia, Sanibel Island, and a recent safari in Africa! A grand old reunion with a true renaissance woman. Listen in!

Kath and Jan are back! We missed you! To start our long housekeeping and catch-up, we quickly veer into politics, as Jan makes a last ditch effort to show one presidential candidate’s er…shortcomings, to say the least, ending in a tearful plea to vote! Then we head back over to food topics and talk about Kath’s new attitude towards Thanksgiving and a new ramen joint she tried, as well as a bizarre experience in Zion National Park. Later in the podcast, Jan’s best new pal Melissa Sherman joins us briefly (due to throat recovery) to talk about growing up in LA, then moving to a shack as a child, and finally ending up on Oregon! Since we have not been on mic since early August, it was great to be back! Listen in!

Even though they claim to be simple country folk, in reality, dear old friends Michele and Dave Barbee are displaced city slickers who both are avid foodies. We discuss our mutual history together (Chicago theatre, naturally) as well as the fascinating childhood experiences that Michele had growing up in a restaurant-owning family. We examine their respective migration from Oklahoma and Indiana to New York and Chicago and then back to Indiana and how the cooking duties have shifted during retirement and semi-empty nesting. A grand old reunion with wonderful friends that we need to see more often. Listen in!

A conversation with Kathryn Schorr is like zooming down a runway in a jetliner, so Kath and Jan strap in with their tray tables up for rollicking good time as we take a deep dive into Kathryn’s childhood, complete with E/R surgeon dad and deceased sibling and then move into her own grown-up life and how a meteor (or maybe two – we lost track!) landed right in the middle of it and we somehow manage to also bitch about food! A few years back, Kathryn had a hit show - “Death – A Comedy” which chronicled the events that changed her life and was proof that even in the worst of times, she can find humor. A fantastic conversation with the fastest talker in the West! Listen in!

With a name like Viva Krasinski, you know things are going to be interesting. Thanks to our previous podcast guest Emily Vollmer, Viva was brought to our attention and we soon realized she had a lot to say about food and other topics, and we were delighted to meet her. A nurturer from a young age, Viva tells of helping out with her much younger sister and then becoming a very young mother herself. Now living in the high desert, she and her husband maintain two huge gardens and have learned what to grow in the heat! Viva shares her favorite fermenting recipes near the end which has us drooling – a very tasty episode – listen in!

Kath and Jan have a new friend! The phrase “lovely and talented” gets used way too much, but in this case, it truly applies to our guest, Clara York. Coming in smokin’ hot off her successful play “The Jailbait Chronicles” at the Fanatic Salon (next show, August 4th!), Clara recalls her Maine-born-and-bred Mom’s love of lobster and oysters, her charming but shady high school boyfriend and her husband of 35 years and their adopted daughter. In a remarkable story of survival, she reveals how she literally and figuratively gave their daughter a new life. A terrific episode – listen in!

Elizabeth Cortell has stories. She has been entertaining Kath and Jan for decades with them, and today’s episode is no exception. A very unique childhood, a killer wit, a keen eye and a razor sharp mind all lead to Liz’s recounting of her Dad’s Christmas menus, her beloved Mom’s cooking, how her folks knew where to shop in Chicago and her own journey with food as she got older, married, had a kid, moved abroad and then back again. 

We are lucky to have her nearby (ish) since she may be feeding us from her backyard farm in the future if food prices continue the way they are going. A wonderful conversation with a great friend we don’t see enough of – listen in!

Jennifer Stander claims she is not a genius, but Kath & Jan suspect otherwise. The three of us do a deep dive into mysterious worlds: computer programing, coding, 8 hour work meetings, vegetarianism, Purple Carrot, train travel and the food in the western suburbs of Chicago. Jen reveals the reason she thought she hated food as a child and the relishes the memory of her first really good steak (with herb butter!), as well as a tofu scramble that went south many years ago. During housekeeping, Kath and Jan discuss a variety of topics, catching up on what's been going on and why they've been away for a minute. A terrific conversation with a new friend, who now seems like an old friend. Listen in!

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Mariann Sauvion has been cooking and feeding the world since the age of 5 and hasn’t stopped since! Kath and Jan enjoy an extremely convivial conversation with Mariann as she recalls her salad days (see what we did there?) as an 18-year old chef in Manhattan at the late great Paris Bistro, her Culinary Institute adventures, the Coffee House Club, her catering business with her beloved late husband and their extremely successful food styling business. They were a team and people knew them as that, even though they both did their own separate jobs. Mariann has carried on with this business alone and it thrives to this day. Best of all, she dishes on the one time she styled for Martha Stewart and reveals her own secret to a successful Thanksgiving turkey at the very end. We were honored to have Mariann join us via Zoom and if you aren’t hungry by the end of this episode, have we even met? Listen in!

A Bonus Episode as we once again re-visit Jan's mom Frima and her sister Barbara on Kath's patio to honor Frima on her 95th birthday! Amid the pastoral sounds of hummingbirds, wind chimes and our neighbor's incessant leaf-blower, we relay family tributes (more corn memories!), Barbara revisits an old forgotten cookbook, Frima talks about her famous portrait (pictured) and we all look forward to a third (!) birthday cake (this time from Costco).  A tasty little episode for a milestone day! Listen in!