Welcome to another episode of "Dishing with Stephanie’s Dish," the podcast for everyone obsessed with food, cookbooks, and the stories they tell. Today, host Stephanie Hansen sits down with Jenna Helwig —a true powerhouse in the cookbook world. You may know Jenna as the creator of the Cookbookery Collective newsletter

but she's also the food director at Real Simple magazine and a prolific cookbook author herself.

In this conversation, Stephanie and Jenna dive into their mutual love for cookbooks, discuss the enduring charm of print in a digital world, and explore the evolving landscape of cookbook publishing, from celebrity chefs to everyday cooks and influencers.

Jenna shares insights from her career, talks about the resurgence and diversity of cookbooks, and lets us in on what it’s like to balance her editorial roles at Real Simple and her Substack. They chat about memorable cookbooks from childhood, the pressure (and freedom) of home cooking, and the unique joys of discovering new recipes and makers.

Whether you're a cookbook collector, home cook, or just love a good food story, this episode is packed with inspiration, nostalgia, and plenty of practical wisdom. So grab your favorite cookbook, get comfy, and join us for a delicious discussion!

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS:

Stephanie Hansen:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to @DishingwithStephaniesDish, the podcast where we talk to people that are obsessed with food, cookbooks, and all things in the food space. And today, I'm speaking with Jenna Helwig, and I kinda came across her mostly on Substack, which I think maybe will make her be surprised. I found her as the creator of the cookbookery collective cookbook newsletter, and I was like, hey. You're into cookbooks. I'm into cookbooks. Let's talk about cookbooks. And we got the call set up, and then she said, oh, and by the way, I am the food director of Real Simple magazine. And I was like, oh, just that small detail that I literally did not even know about you.

I'm so embarrassed. Welcome to the program.

Jenna Helwig:

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. And I'm thrilled that you found me through the substack because that's a newish thing for me, and I love that, you know, people are reading it.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yes. And I was so like, I'm just obsessed with cookbooks, and I am a cookbook writer. I'm on my second book that's coming up, and I read a lot about trying to get published and different points of view of cookbooks. And we have quite a few good cookbook authors that hail from the Midwest in the Twin Cities here. And you had, I think, done an interview with my friend Zoe from Zoey Bakes, which probably is how I found out about you.

Jenna Helwig:

That is probably right. Yes. Zoey. Also, I think of Amy Theilan. I know she's not right there, but she's, you know, in the vicinity. Right? So yeah. For sure. And Pinch of Yum, aren't they based in Minneapolis? So yeah.

Jenna Helwig:

They are. A good a good food thing going.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yes. And the Food Dolls just published their book. They have, like, 8,000,000 followers.

Jenna Helwig:

Amazing. I guess I've been through that interview. Yeah. And who is that?

Stephanie Hansen:

Sarah Kiefer, do you know her?

Jenna Helwig:

Oh, yes. Of course. Her cookies, baked goods. Yeah.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah. We are all from, the Twin Cities, and most of them have, like, specialty angles. Like, I am just a home cook, so that's sort of my point of view on the Midwest. But it has been a really great market to be in. And one of the things that I started a radio show about seventeen years ago, so we've talked a lot of these people along the way. And right when we started the radio show, you know, Facebook and Instagram were launching, and it's been such an interesting trajectory to see cookbook authors in particular. And, like, everyone's like, oh, print is dead. Like, magazines are dead.Publications are dead. And yet, you know, cookbooks are, in some respects, doing better than ever.

Jenna Helwig:

Yeah. I agree. I feel like they are thriving. I also feel like, you know, at least for me personally, and I do notice this though with a lot of other people that we are on our screens all the time, and we're kinda tired of it. So whether it's a cookbook or even a print magazine, like, there's just something so lovely about turning pages, just, like, shutting out everything else. No other notifications are popping up on your screen. So print is very special.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah. And it feels like you can have, like, personal one on one time with it because you can set your phone down and really immerse yourself in the story.

Jenna Helwig:

Yes. Exactly. We all need more of that.

Stephanie Hansen:

I think so. My food magazines too, you mentioned that you're the food director of Real Simple, and you guys are having your twenty fifth anniversary. Yes. And I literally before you sent me that text, I was, like, reading it. And I'm a subscriber, so I'm gonna hold up my copy here. Because I really I love food print too. I worked in the newspaper business, and I'm kind of a tactile print person also. And you had a really cool feature this month about what's the best takeaway you've ever gotten from Real Simple because you guys are in your 25th birthday. So I thought I'd ask you what your best takeaway is.

Jenna Helwig:

Oh my gosh. That's such a hard question. Alright. I I'm sure it's going to be food related, and I'm kinda gonna cheat and pick something from that month. I worked with Molly Ye on the beautiful birthday cake that's on the cover. And, you know, one of the things she did that I feel like I've used in other in other applications, but never for frosting, was she used instead of food coloring, freeze dried raspberry powder to make the beautiful pink frosting. And I just hadn't done that before, and it was so easy and such a kind of natural way to make something look so lovely.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah. That's funny because, yeah, and the cake, it's a it's a lemon poppy seed cake, and then it has like a a raspberry pink frosting on the outside and then raspberry jam on the inside. It really it also gives you a little bit of that raspberry flavor in the frosting, but it's not like super wet like it would be if you used real raspberries or also, like, super overly sweet if you used just jam.

Jenna Helwig:

You know what? That is exactly right because it lends that little bit of tartness to it too, and so it's just such a nicely balanced frosting.

Stephanie Hansen:

So you are a cookbook writer yourself.

Jenna Helwig:

Mhmm.

Stephanie Hansen:

I'm forgetting the name of your books. It's Minute Dinners or Dinner and

Jenna Helwig:

“Bare Minimum Dinners.” The most Bare minimum. Yes. “Bare Minimum Dinners”.

Stephanie Hansen:

I'm all for that. And you've had, a number of cookbooks, I think. Aren't you? Like, you've had a few more of that too.

Jenna Helwig:

Yes. So I've written five books. Three of them were more in the, like, family baby toddler space. I used to be the food editor at Parents Magazine. Sure. And so that was really how I kind of got into cookbook writing. I started with real baby food and then wrote one called baby led feeding. And I will say that is by far my best selling cookbook.

Jenna Helwig:

You know, it's still something we actually did a reissue a couple of years ago, so I did an updated version. It's still something that parents are finding, and that just makes me so happy.

Stephanie Hansen:

My neighbor who just had a baby, she's gonna be two, was obsessed with that book because I just she knows I write cookbooks, and I film a TV show in my house too. So I'm always bringing them food. And when she first had the baby, she showed it to me, and she was like, have you ever heard of this book?

Jenna Helwig:

And it was yours. Oh my gosh. That's amazing. Well, that's so great. I'm I that's a really hard time of life as I you know, just, like, trying to figure out no one really tells you how to feed your baby, which is strange. And so I think anything that I could do to make it just less stressful, that was always my goal with those books.

Stephanie Hansen:

And I think that there's so much to be said about just getting dinner on the table. Like, it's almost a political act these days just to, like, be working, be taking care of your mental health, be worrying about your social time with your kids, your family, your family, aging parents, and then all of a sudden every day someone is supposed to, like, be putting all these elaborate meals on the table, like, sometimes just even surviving a day without the food, and then you have this whole other stressor on top of it.

Jenna Helwig:

I could not agree more. I mean, which is why I thought of bare minimum dinners. Like, it's this idea, and we do this also in real simple. You know, it's very similar. They're like I call fussy the f word. I'm like, nothing fussy, you know, especially when we're talking about recipes in the magazine. Skip the garnish. Like, you know, there's you're not putting on a show for anyone.

You know? Just do what you can. That's really you know? But is it better or good is better than perfect. Done is better than perfect. Just get it done.

Stephanie Hansen:

And some people, like, because they feel like they're trying to live up to something in a Instagram photo, it prevents them from having a dinner party or, making food for a neighbor because maybe it's, like, not good enough. You know, just the sheer act of eating and providing food for your family, whoever your family looks like, or even just for yourself, you are gonna eat better. You're gonna have more control over what you eat. I have eaten at a million restaurants in my life, and I just find that I always feel so much better when I'm cooking at home.

Jenna Helwig:

I agree. I love to go out to eat. However, then if if I do that too much, I'm like, okay. I just need to reset at home. And, you know, I've also noticed that in some cookbooks, there has been this trend towards the food not being overly styled or the author doing that themselves and thinking about, like, Julia Tershen with her last book. You know, she photographed that herself, and the food looks great, but also real.

Like, you could do it. And, also the book Chinese Enough that I just featured in Cookbookery Collective. You know, those recipes just don't feel like nitpicked to death. You know? They're just very natural

Stephanie Hansen:

looking. I feel like we might see more of that. I photographed my own book, but it was simply out of necessity because I didn't have $20 to pay someone. So I said to the publisher, well, if my Instagram's okay, I'm gonna do, like, similar to that. Is that okay? And they were like, sure. Oh, great. As we look at cookbooks as a genre, things have changed a lot because it used to be that you were a professional chef or you were a restaurant chef and you were writing about your restaurant or you were a small group of people that were super experienced in cooking, and maybe you had, you know, 10 books that you were writing in the different genres. You did vegetarian and gluten free and then dairy free.

Now, like, the cookbook space is really kind of being taken up by regular people or influencers in a lot of respects. Does that, open the door for more excitement or is it sometimes do you worry that maybe the books aren't as good? Oh,

Jenna Helwig:

Oh, that's a tough question. I think that anything that gets people cooking is good. So I am you know, if the it is someone without a lot of cooking experience who has a book, but it still excites people to get into the kitchen, fantastic. So that's really my main goal. I do think, you know, where I am in my life, like, I really wanna learn something new from a cookbook. So that's what I personally am looking for, but there are cooks of all different, you know, ability levels and experience levels. So I think that having a variety of cookbooks that can reach everyone where they are is probably the answer.

Stephanie Hansen:

There is so much diversity too in cookbooks now. Like, the no offense to the old beautiful Asian cookbooks that you would get, but, you know, you didn't really feel like you could make a lot of the things out of there because maybe you didn't have the ingredients or you weren't familiar with technique. The the more recent diversity in cookbooks, it feels like you can actually make some of these things.

Jenna Helwig:

Well, I think that's right. Some of the things do feel more accessible. And, also, we just have access to so many more ingredients now, which is amazing. Just even at, like, regular grocery stores. My parents live in Colorado and, like, in the suburbs, and I was, you know, just driving by where I used to live. And there was an H Mart, you know, which I like, my jaw just, like, fell on the floor. There's no H Mart there when I was growing up. So the fact that I could have had access to all of those ingredients, and now the people who live in Broomfield, Colorado do is a miracle.

Stephanie Hansen:

That's so funny because I'm actually reading crying in H Mart right now for my book club, and it's just a delightful memoir about a woman who's experiencing the loss of her mother through the Korean cooking and heritage that she had growing up, and it's really a delightful book. It's so good. When you are thinking of what you wanna write about for your substack, because I'm in some ways, I'm surprised that you still find this topic and this genre interesting after having worked at Real Simple for five years because I've I it's almost like feels like is it too much of the food, but it it really is steeped in you. And how do you pick, like, what you wanna feature on your Substack versus what would maybe be a potential something in the magazine down the road, or is it just all the love and all of the same?

Jenna Helwig:

So I for real simple, you know, obviously, I get to kind of put a lot of myself into there and, you know, kind of direct that coverage, you know, pitch what I think we should cover. But I'm always doing that through the lens of our audience. You know? What and I she's usually a she. You know? What does she want? How much time does she have? What's gonna make make her life easier? So I really hyper focus on that. And a lot of it does kind of mirror my life because I am, you know, kind of similar to the real simple reader, but that's primary. I feel like with the substack, I can just do whatever I want. It's really, like, the books and the authors that speak to the me the most. It's nice to kind of have that, you know, freedom even if it's something that maybe we wouldn't cover in the magazine or might be a little more obscure.

Jenna Helwig:

You know? It's just fun to be able to follow my passions and my interest. And I do love food, and I really love cookbooks. So it's it's funny that I spend even extra time with them, but it really makes me so happy.

Stephanie Hansen:

I am hoping that in substack's evolution that we get more information about who our readers are. Because when you're, like, at a magazine, you know, you have a deep dive in your target market and the radio show, they know exactly who your p ones are. In Substack, you have followers, but you don't exactly know that much about them except basically where they come from.

Jenna Helwig:

That is such a good point, and I'm sure you also know so much more about this than me. I'm still I'm such a newbie. I've been a Substack subscriber for a long time. But now I just, you know, launched this, you know, like, over a month just over a month ago, and so I'm still figuring out all the analytics and everything. But I agree that that would be super helpful just to know more. Like and I'm I've also been thinking, and maybe you've done this. Like, have you done surveys of your audience, your subscribers? Yeah. And, also, like, people don't love to fill them all out.

Jenna Helwig:

I love surveys.

Stephanie Hansen:

See, I do too, but that's probably because we're, like, the publishing types. Right? So I did a survey, and it kind of mirrored what I thought from an age perspective, but I didn't get much more details than that. K. So I think if I was gonna give Substack advice, and maybe they'll ask me someday. Who knows? Mhmm. That it would be to help us understand who those markets are more because it does help you frame who you're writing for. As you look at the the newsletter, are you going to continue to speak to authors? Will you ever do recipes on your own like you've been in that space?

Jenna Helwig:

So I don't think I will do recipes on my own. I feel like, you know, when I have ideas for, new dishes or new, you know, like, stories. I kind of direct those to Real Simple. And I've done a lot you know, I've done all those cookbooks. So I sort of feel like the world maybe doesn't need more recipes from me. You know? I'm I'm very interested in what other people have to say. I think that I love doing these author interviews or just the interviews with other people in the cookbook community. Like, recently interviewed the woman who started Instagram's oldest cookbook club.

And so she was fascinating. Oh, great. Yes. And there was such a good response to that. I'm interested in talking to people in cookbook publishing. So just really kind of anyone in that community. I I think there might be room later for more, like, reported stories.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah.

Jenna Helwig:

You know? That so not interviews, but, like, on a certain topic, like book design or titles or spines. I don't know. But, but I I don't think it's gonna be recipes for me. We'll see.

Stephanie Hansen:

It is interesting. You asked, the woman with the cookbook collection how she organized her collection, and she said by, type of food or genre. But then there's other people that I know that organize it by color.

Jenna Helwig:

I do that.

Stephanie Hansen:

Okay. And and it looks so cool. Like, when you have a huge collection, it just it looks so cool on the shelves. But I was like, oh, that would be so hard because unless you remember the color of the cookbook, how could you find it?

Jenna Helwig:

Yeah. You know, I will say so I live in Brooklyn, New York in a not huge apartment. So I first of all, everything has to look as tidy as possible, and color colors help with that. And I really only have room for about 250 books as opposed to, like, Deborah was saying, she has 2,000 Yeah.

Stephanie Hansen:

It was crazy. Thousand.

Jenna Helwig:

So jealous. But so somehow in my mind, I know what the color is. I don't know how to say it, but I

Stephanie Hansen:

don't know how to catalog it. Purple one.

Jenna Helwig:

Yeah. So if I had more, maybe that wouldn't work.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah. Well and you okay. So you live in Brooklyn. That is such an amazing food community. Yes. And you just have so many great makers. And I do find a lot of good makers in Real Simple, like people making new artisanal products, and I had a podcast about that for a long time. That is really like, when you feel like you've discovered something that someone turns you onto and it's great, That's, like, one of my favorite discoveries about being involved in the food business, and I feel that way about cookbooks too.

Jenna Helwig:

Absolutely. And I think that when it comes to Real Simple, that's really one of the things that people come to us for. They trust our recommendations, you know, and things that we've discovered. And I feel like that is especially true with our holiday gift guide Yes. Which, you know, is, like, pages and pages every year. We spend months on it, you know, finding things, testing things. And believe it or not, I'm gonna be starting that again soon. But, yes, I I think that that it's such a privilege to be finding these new things and sharing them, and I think we really do get good feedback from them.

Stephanie Hansen:

Do you get to travel a lot around the country? Or

Jenna Helwig:

Yeah. I mean, you know, there are certainly trips that I am taking for like, I went out to Expo West recently. Do you know that? It's a big, huge, like, food trade show in Anaheim and, went and met with a bunch of different brands, saw what was going on, what was new. So I try to take as many opportunities for travel as possible. I really love to just be out and about.

Stephanie Hansen:

Did you run across, at that show two gals? They have a product called Maza Chutney.

Jenna Helwig:

Okay. I was literally just talking to someone about this today. In fact, I was I sent a photo to my executive editor because, yes, I did meet them, and then I was at the Cherry Bomb Jubilee Yes.

Stephanie Hansen:

And they sampled there.

Jenna Helwig:

Days ago. Yes. And they sampled there, and I actually got a couple bottles. I was like, can I take that? And they let me. And so I was just I made some eggs for lunch today, and I put the cilantro chutney on top. It was so good. And I was, yeah, just telling one of my colleagues about it. So funny.

Stephanie Hansen:

I produce culinary markets in the Twin Cities, and they were one of the first makers that I met when I started doing this. And I was just like, oh, those those girls are onto something, and it's a family business. Their story is so great.

Jenna Helwig:

The branding is amazing Yep. And the food tastes great. Are they from there?

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah. From the Twin Cities. Wow. They've just developed to, like a lentil spread. That's a like a hummus, but with lentils and also super flavorful and delicious. So watch for that because that's a brand new product line that they just are launching. But, yeah, weird coincidence, but Oh, funny. Yeah.

Great product. When you can you can you remember your actual first cookbook that you got?

Jenna Helwig:

Oh, okay. So I don't I know it was a Betty Crocker, like, cooking or baking for kids book. I am not I think it was baking. I actually was trying to find the cover recently, just, like, Google search, and I couldn't. But I think that's what it was. Do you have one?

Stephanie Hansen:

Well, I mean, I have a few vintage.

Jenna Helwig:

I kinda select Yeah. It wasn't that one because it was for kids book, but I love that. It was like baking for kids or something.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah. And then did it have, did it have, like, wiener roll ups in it?

Jenna Helwig:

Oh my god. Maybe. The thing I remember the most were little English muffin pizzas or something like that. I remember my brother and I making those over and over.

Stephanie Hansen:

It I think it also had these, like, clown cupcakes.

Jenna Helwig:

That also sounds familiar. And maybe like cat cupcakes?

Stephanie Hansen:

Yes. Oh, so funny. Every year, we do a cookbook swap, and it's a super fun event. And people come and bring books that they no longer want or use, and we kinda sort them loosely in this huge room. And then we say go, and everybody, like, runs in. And however many books you bought or brought, you get to roughly take the same amount out, but you don't have to. But it's been fascinating, the books that people bring. And, I mean, I there's, like, a New York Times 1973 edition that has this recipe in it that's only in that book that's for a lamb ragu.

Stephanie Hansen:

And every year, I see that book come by, and I, like, pick the woman who's probably, like, twenty, twenty four. And I like press this book into her hands and I'm like, you need to have this book and you need to make the recipe on page one twenty one. And it's like three times it's happened and then they'll email me and they're like, I would have never found that recipe without you. It's such a great fun event.

Jenna Helwig:

That sounds wonderful. I love that idea.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah. It is really fun, and we get a lot of, like, boxes of people's recipe cards that were, like, someone's grandma's. And my radio partner and I always sort of move that stuff to the side, And then we keep it for a year and, like, go through it and look at it, and then we bring it back the next year. We've been doing this for, like, ten years. So it's been so fun to see what, like, really are in people's collections and what they get rid of. And, I mean, how many peanut butter blossom recipes there are in the world.

Jenna Helwig:

You know what? The world needs more peanut butter blossoms. Delicious.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah. Always delicious and always tasty. Well, it has been super fun to chat with you. I want people to follow your Substack. It is the Cookbookery Collective Cookbook newsletter, and we are with Jenna Helwig. And I'm just really appreciative for your time today. Congratulations on your twenty fifth anniversary with Real Simple. That's fun too.

Jenna Helwig:

Thank you so much. It's been a real pleasure to talk to you.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yes. Absolutely. Thanks, Jenna. Mhmm. Bye bye.

Jenna Helwig:

Bye.

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Welcome to another exciting episode of "Dishing with Stephanies Dish." In this episode, I am joined by my fellow travel enthusiast, Michael Kenney from Defined Destinations, as we dive into the world of adventurous group travel. Fresh from their trips to Croatia and Asia, they're setting their sights on a new journey to Sicily, Italy. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or a wanderlust-driven explorer, you'll discover the unique experiences that Sicily promises, from breathtaking historic cities to mesmerizing volcanoes and, of course, delectable Italian cuisine.

Join Stephanie and the Michaels for a delightful conversation about the joys of traveling with a group, the thrill of meeting new people, and the authentic charm that awaits in Sicily. Whether you're considering joining their next adventure or simply living vicariously through their tales, this episode offers a captivating glimpse into the magic of defined destinations. Let the journey begin!

Stephanie Hansen:

Hello, everybody. Welcome to the podcast, Dishing with Stephanie's Dish. I hope you're doing great today. I am here with my friend, Michael Kenney, and Michael and I have been traveling together a couple years now. Right, Michael?

Michael Kenney:

Yeah. We've had, two trips under our belt. So it's, a trip to Croatia and, just recently that Cambodia Vietnam trip. So we've been we've been putting some miles down, Stephanie.

Stephanie Hansen:

I actually actually was somewhere last night and ran into someone from our trip, and we were comparing our bracelets from when we met the Buddhist monk because both of us still have ours on. Yes.

Michael Kenney:

Mine, like, just kinda fell apart.

Stephanie Hansen:

It was such a Oh,

Michael Kenney:

I woke up in the sun.

Stephanie Hansen:

Trip. Yes. I'm I'm gonna keep it on as long as I can. It was such a life changing trip. Asia was somewhere that I'd always wanted to go and really didn't have the confidence to do it by myself. So you gave me confidence. Going with other people gave me confidence, and we ended up having such a great time. Pretty good.

Stephanie Hansen:

I have had another great trip with you. We went to Croatia, and that was an awesome trip. We were on kind of like an exclusive private yacht with, Stan, our tour guide, who was probably one of the best tour guides ever.

Michael Kenney:

For sure.

Stephanie Hansen:

And you're going back there to Croatia this summer, aren't you?

Michael Kenney:

Yeah. Personally, I'm not. I'm gonna have somebody else. I'm a little envious because, yeah, that that trip was straight out of a dream. And, you and your, listeners, followers, they were so much fun.

Stephanie Hansen:

So Yeah. We did have a good time.

Michael Kenney:

Yeah. It was great.

Stephanie Hansen:

So I wanted to podcast with you because people ask me all the time about these trips and, like, how it works and what we do and, you know, like, are you, like, checking people's passports? I'm like, no. Silly. I'm not. But we have a trip coming up to Sicily, a taste of Sicily, which you have so sweetly on your your background there. That's smart. October 14 through the twenty second. And our final payments, I think, are due in June. So we're kind of in the hunt for getting everybody signed up and confirmed.

And I wanted to talk with you. I've been to Italy a lot, actually, but I've never been to Sicily. So I'm excited about what that area is gonna be like and you've been. So I thought, alright. Let's just talk a little bit about this and get to know a little bit about how these trips work. So, I like to do trips with people because I like to travel with others. And people always ask me, well, are they food trips? Yes. They are food.

Like, we eat food. We enjoy food. We talk about food, but it isn't, like, exclusively a food trip. We know that when you're going to some of these historic destinations that you also wanna see some of the beautiful sites. So we try to mix in some food things like special tastings, special wine events, or special dinners, but we also wanna give you some time to explore the region on your own so that you can go to the restaurants that really appeal to you. And, you know, when you're going with the group, sometimes it's not easy to go to some of these really exclusive special places because you have a larger group. Our group on a trip like this would be, what, would you say, like, less than, like, 26 probably?

Michael Kenney:

Yeah. It this group size will be anywhere from 20 to 30 maximum on this trip. So it's a real nice, you know, size group for sure.

Stephanie Hansen:

And you've been to Sicily before. When was the last time you went?

Michael Kenney:

I was with a group two years ago in Sicily. So I've been there three other times. So just most recently, just two years ago.

Stephanie Hansen:

And you and I like, I kinda gave you my short list of places. And you asked me about Sicily, and I was like, oh, well, I don't know. I've never really thought about that. And you were like, oh my gosh. It's one of your favorite places in Italy. So tell me what it is that you love about Sicily in particular.

Michael Kenney:

Yeah. No. That that that's a great question. You already mentioned you've been to Italy several times, and we get a lot of people that have been to Italy. And they're like, alright. I've already done that. Or maybe you haven't, you know, seen the the Colosseum and Venice and things like that. Sicily is is Italian, but it's an island in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Michael Kenney:

So it's just it's it's it's similar, but it's different. I think everything is elevated. Their food, their sites. I mean, the history has a whole Greek, northern the Arabs. It's a Spanish influence in Normans. They've all kinda come to this island in the middle of the the Mediterranean and put, like, their best foods, their their best everything. And it's kinda mixes and makes a Sicilian dish, which is really cool. So it's it's similar, yes, with their pastas and things like that in Mainland Europe, but it's it's a different notch.

Michael Kenney:

I think it's above, regular standard Italian food. It's just the flavors, the the spices, everything like that is just it's so good. And that's just the food side of it. And then, of course, I already mentioned with with the Greeks in the Spanish and the Normans, they have their own architectures that they brought, a mix of different languages. So you really feel like you're in a whole another country. It says in Italy, but the Sicilians say we're Sicilian first, then we're Italian.

Stephanie Hansen:

That's funny.

Michael Kenney:

So it's it's really so different, of an experience on that end. And I even have, a couple of friends going on this trip, and they've never been to Europe before. And they're saying, hey. We're we're gonna join you on this trip because it sounds lovely, but we've never been to Europe. We've never seen the Colosseum, things like that. Like, is this a good trip for us to take? I go, for sure it is. I mean, you don't have these, you know, the Leaning Tower Of Pisa, but once you get get to these places, you'll say, oh my gosh. I mean, a church that's, a thousand years old, or the little villages that are, you know, 500 years old and just oozing with this with charm.

So you're really, having this real great Italian Sicilian experience, but maybe not knowing the sites, but it'll kinda resonate even better when you come back and tell your stories. It's just a beautiful, beautiful trip.

Stephanie Hansen:

And I think, you know, I've been to Rome. I've been to a lot of the little Italian islands on sailing trips with my husband. And we've been to Naples. We've been to Venice. We've been all over, really. And each of Italy has its own uniqueness, but the islands themselves are just something different because you really did get a lot of influences of people coming through and the trading that happened. And they also weren't as involved in the wars because they were sort of moving to the mainland. So you get a lot of different preservation possibilities, and the culture just held up because they weren't impacted by the wars in the same way.

Michael Kenney:

Exactly. And I think even early on, Sicilians were were very poor as well. So a lot of things just really, held. So they didn't, you know, knock down buildings and build new skyscrapers, things like that. It's like you're being, on the set of The Godfather, which was filmed there too, part of it at least. And, it was, like, set in time, and you're going there and just really experiencing the the feel, the taste, the smell, even you could call, like, the grit of, like, Palermo. I mean, it has this edge to it in a sense, like, this is a real living city. It sound like all spruced up to be perfect, like, on a set, but that's what makes it so so fantastic.

It it's it's real. And I don't think you always get that experience that you're in in Central Rome, and they they, you know, it's all beautiful up. Again Palermo and all these cities that will visit are extremely beautiful but it has it's just a different edge to it and every group that I've ever been there with Stephanie if they've come back and said wow this is a dream. Not just the food, the sites, the experiences, the people. The people are real. They're they're fabulous. So it's it's a real real, just an amazing immersion, if you will, to Sicily.

Stephanie Hansen:

One of the things that people ask me about too, and I'll be honest with you. I'm not really, like, someone that you would think of as a group traveler. I like a certain amount of, alone time. I don't love to have every single thing coordinated for me. My husband, as you know, is a big adventurer and explorer. He's always the first one to do anything crazy on these trips. But it having a group is it's so nice when it's a smaller group like this because you do get to meet new people. You do get to create a community amongst your travelers.

And I'll tell you, my friend Laurie Bargini that went on our Asia trip with us, she was very she's a big traveler too, and she was like, I don't know about this group thing. I was like, just give it a try. Like, Asia's a good one to test it out because it's probably a destination you wouldn't go alone. And she signed up right away for Sicily. She was like, I loved the group elements because when I wanted to, I had a group of friends and it was fun and we could hang out together and do fun things, but also when I wanted to be alone, I could do that too. It she thought it added a whole another layer to the travel experience than you just get either with you and your spouse or you and your friends because you have this whole other dynamic of people that for the most part is pretty great.

Michael Kenney:

Yeah. I know. And I and that's great. And Laurie was great. I'm glad she signed up because on the flight back from Asia, she sat next to me on the flight, and that's a seventeen hour flight. And if she wants to go back, then that that that's great.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah. It's good. Well, you know she talked to you the whole time probably.

Michael Kenney:

No. I tried to again, maybe it's like the group element. You know, have time on, time off. So I'm glad that was brought up. And I've been doing group tours for twenty eight years now, which I I I can't believe. And I I first started getting into tourism because I wanted to see sites. I'm like, I know I can't pay for it, so I need to be a tour guide and and going from that. I didn't realize the whole experience and having shared experiences with others was gonna be my highlight.

And to this day, that's my favorite part is going to meet people that I've never met before and going having these shared experiences with. And and sometimes, you know, you build friends for a lifetime off of that.

Michael Kinney:

I think especially our last group too, we we really, built that with several of the the travelers, which is great. So and I so if you're hesitant, like, well, I'd like to this trip sounds great or any of our trips, but I am kind of worried about that. We really try to balance all our tours out. It's it's it's imperative that we have that balance of, some of the group time to have these, shared experiences to leisure time so that you can go and have your own adventures. And that is so crucial to all of our trips. That's why our hotels, and we can talk about that later, are centrally located. So once we go out and do, say, our city tour, our our our food tour in Palermo and walking around, you'll have, like, the remainder of the day to go explore on your own or some of those new friends that you met. Maybe you can go out and have a glass of wine with them.

But again, it's all about that balance. And we each and every itinerary that we put together, we really work on making sure we have that balance in in the trips itself. Because I think that is the success of it. So we don't pack the days all day long on, like, seeing this, this, and this. We give you the nice highlights, and we'll have some other fun inclusions. But again, each place that we go to centrally located hotels, we have that free time too. So you can do your own thing or jump on with a group that you've met and have cocktails, Aperol spritzes in the main, Piazza later on. So it it's so fun, but it it really comes back.

You register for a trip, but you don't know you're gonna meet some great people. And at at the end of the trip, it's typically these, these people and these, shared experiences come back, and that's where the meaning of the the trip comes in. It's so it's it's so much fun to see them build together.

Stephanie Hansen:

On each of the trips that I've done with you, we've had solo travelers

Michael Kenney:

Mhmm.

Stephanie Hansen:

Which I think people are like, oh, you know, I don't know. I don't have a partner to go with or my friend can't go. And that to me has also been super fun, like the solo travelers and the friends that they've made. And, like, one of the gals I saw from our Asia trip, I saw our friend Annie last night, and she was a solo traveler. Ended up pairing up with Laurie in a room and sharing, actually, actually, which a lot of solo travelers don't wanna share. I get that. But in this case, they both did, and they are like fast friends.

Michael Kenney:

That I mean, that's that's so much fun to see that. First off, if, you know, we all have it like your maybe your husband or wife or friend they don't want to go but you're like interested in this trip. We get that on all of our trips and we specifically specifically have, several single rooms set aside for those, adventure traveler seekers to have that. So you can pick your own room and go as a single or maybe you want us to to pair you up. We can do that too and get you in contact with another solo traveler like lorian annie did and that typically works out really well too but it's it's I think the like minded people looking for adventures you'll never feel like you're by yourself on any of our trips So, like, oh, I'm a third wheel. Never ever ever. And sometimes that's the best way to travel because you don't have to make sure your traveling partner is having a great time. You only can worry about yourself.

Hey. I'm gonna have a great time. And, you know, all of our trip travelers that I've I've ever heard from, they've had a great time going solo, and they meet these like minded people. And, again, all of a sudden, they have friends for a lifetime, like, you know, Lori and Annie did. So if you're you're even thinking about it, like, I'm solo and I'm a little skeptical about going by myself, give us a call. Send us an email. We we can get you your own, room, single, room. They are filling up quick, though.

We have a few left, or we can pair you up with somebody too to share that single supplement. But, again, you'll never feel like a third wheel with any of our tours. And this, in addition, just works really, really well for single travelers, and you'll meet some probably good friends on it.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah. And, also, like, ladies, some of you I know, like, getting coming out of relationships or divorce, you wanna do something unique. I have someone in my family who are shall remain nameless, who's gonna be joining us, who wanted to get back to Europe, but she's just not in a relationship status that would work for that as the way she thought it was gonna be. So I was like, come with us. Like, we're gonna have a ball. There's men. There's women. You know, my husband has come on some trips, but others, he hasn't.

And Mhmm. It's just there's a great mix of people.

Michael Kenney:

Yeah. No. It it it it's great. Now this isn't a singles trip, but maybe you can find Giuseppe at the local cafe. You never know. So you never know. So anyway, yeah, it it works great for whatever status you are in life, single, you know, whatever. It these really, really work really nice.

And sometimes, like, my brother came, and we shared a room on our the last trip, and he just wanted to kind of have a experience and get away from, you know, what's going on in life over here and just do a reset. And he came back and said, I'm really recharged. And he's kinda like going into he's retired, and he wants to do something else in his, you know, second part of his life. And he he's going after something right now because he he was able to kinda just disconnect Yeah. And then just take it all in and then kinda come back and, like, let's go. So regardless from relationships to job hunting or whatever, sometimes these trips are great. Even if you go solo, that could even be better.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah. Just to get a reset.

Can you give us, like, without, like, going into all the detail, like, a high level, not day by day, but just, like, what are the towns we're gonna visit? What are because we're gonna be in, I think, three different areas.

Michael Kenney:

Yeah. Correct. So if you if you go on our, at definedestinations.com and look at, taste of Sicily Twenty Twenty Five, you can find the day by day, itinerary on that, and you'll get to be able to see through it. But again, it reads like a brochure, and you go through each item. And everything that we mentioned on that, it's, it is included. But the neat thing is we go from the North to the South and then all the way over to the, the East side of the island. So you're really having a great feel for the entire island itself. And, we have three nights in Palermo, and then we have one night in Agrigento, which is at the very southern on the beach, our hotel's right on the beach.

You can walk right down there. And even October mid October is a great time to go too because the temperatures are, like, mid seventies, so it's super comfortable. And the water temperature is still pretty nice if you want to jump in. And then we have three nights in Siracoosa. So we we have these, like, kind of, hub and spoke places that we we do our adventures from the but we always come back to our centrally located place. So, anyway, we'll we'll find the Palermo. We have a connection. If you do our included flights, there's no, direct flights from from Minneapolis into Sicily.

So we have a connection, on that.

Stephanie Hansen:

And let me just touch on that because some people want to work with the travel agent to have all of the flight things arranged for them, and that is an option with you. But you also do have options where people can meet you at the destination. So, like, for me, we have a lot of miles that we're always trying to burn up. Yeah. So for us, we book our own airfare so that we can use our miles, and then we sometimes add a few days on at the end, or we might even go to a different destination. With your group travel plans, both of those options are available to people.

Michael Kenney:

A %. I'm glad you asked that too because, yes, there's people that have miles or if they only wanna stay exclusively with Delta or United or whatever, that's fine. Our trips truly begin and end at at the hotels. With that, we do offer an included group package you can jump on, but the whole group will not be on that flight for sure. It's just an option to do that. And my my team can also, get you, flights separate from that too if you wanted to come early like you said, Stephanie, or stay light. Hey. I wanna go see the Colosseum on this trip.

Great. My team can put a pre tour, post tour package together if you want to do that. Or even if you don't want any of our help, that's fine. You can just book our land only. You'll be able to see our group flight numbers on there too so you can kinda coordinate that. But the great thing is that both, airports, in Palermo we fly into, and then we fly out of Catania. They're close to both, towns, so you can easily take an Uber. So it's really pretty easy to get to and from, and that's where the, the the the tour start from.

So if you're hesitant, hey. I need to book the group air. Don't worry about that. You don't have to do that by any means. We're happy to help you, on all the other aspects too to to get the airfare, with that. So, yep, we fly into Palermo. We'll settle into our our our three, our centrally located hotel, which is fabulous. Again, remind me that we need to touch on the the hotels too a little bit.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yep.

Michael Kenney:

But it's right in the center. We'll do a food tour of one of the local markets. Again, like you mentioned, maybe we have some guests on the trip that could care less about food or wine tastings. It's just a a piece of of our trip. So even if you're, a modest food lover or you only like cornflakes, there's gonna be some fun things to do on this as well. And we find that, you learn a lot about the culture through the food. Yeah. That's the reason we we do part of that too.

So it'll be fun regardless. You're going through the markets. You're learning about the foods. Things like that. We go to, the the Cathedral Of Monreali, which, hey. We're seeing another church. We typically don't always do that, but this is really specific. This church is beautiful.

It's got, it's it's a massive church built in the twelfth century, and they're famous for all its mosaics. The whole interior, the churches, all these fine mosaics they did almost a thousand years ago. It's unreal. So it's beautiful that we'll be doing that. We'll go to Cefalu, a little, seaside village, which is outside of Palermo a little ways. Maybe you've seen White Lotus. Part of that was filmed there or all parts of the, that, season two was filmed in Sicily. So we'll have a lot of White Lotus moments, as well on that, which which will be a lot of fun.

And then from there, we'll be driving after our three nights in, in Palermo. We'll be heading south, crossing the entire, island itself. Absolutely beautiful. Even our coach rides, which aren't a lot, that they're just stunning. And and enjoying the countryside is absolutely beautiful. And we'll be going to that's where Agrigento is, and it feels like you're being stuck in Greece. Like, wow. There's all these Greek ruins, you know, two, three thousand years old.

It's like, this is unbelievable. They have some of the better Greek ruins even outside of Athens, which is amazing. So walking through Agrigento, experiencing that, seeing that during the sunset, it's it's it's magical. I use that word a lot, but I think the whole trip really is. And then we we we settle into our hotel right on the beach, which is lovely. And then from there, we'll be going over to Siracusa, which is one of my favorite places ever. My first time I went to Sicily, we didn't go there. And I went back and I said, how do we skip that the first time? Siracoosa is, it's unbelievable.

And you've agreed too. We we're staying right in they called it Ortega. That's like the old city of Siracusa. And we're staying right inside the city wall. So our bus will drop our private bus for our group will drop us off, and then we have to walk about ten minutes to our hotel, which is on a small little alleyway. And we'll talk about that later on. But it's a great location that we'll be doing, having different experiences, seeing all the the ruins, walking around at night. It's just beautiful.

And from there, we'll be out we'll also be going to see Mount Etna, which is still an active volcano. We'll be on the sides of it. It's unbelievable. All of a sudden, you feel like you're being transported onto the moon. You see the vents and things like that. It's beautiful. And they grow some amazing wines there too on the slopes of it, and we'll be tasting some of those.

Stephanie Hansen:

That's so cool.

Michael Kenney:

Yeah. It's it's it's it really is pretty cool, because of that that rich soil just offers great Sicilian wines and the dry and the the elevation. So it it culminates to be really, really good. So, work on your Sicilian, reds. They're they're quite good.

Stephanie Hansen:

It will be exciting. Yeah.

Michael Kenney:

No. It it it's great. So I mean, it's it's seven, nights, a nine day trip, in Sicily. You'll have a real good flavor of the city, of all the areas that we visit. So it's it's quite nice. And if you go on the, the website, you'll see all the the inclusions as well. So we include mostly everything that we've talked about. There's really, we don't include all the meals because we want some experiences, for yourself too to go out and go, hey.

Michael Kenney:

We're gonna go to this little restaurant or whatever. Mhmm. And we have a local guide with us the entire time that will really help, talk about the history, and, you know, what's going on with the people itself, but then just pointing out great restaurants and other little experiences you can do

Stephanie Hansen:

during the free And that's I love that because when we go to some of these places, like, I think I told you my husband is, he's kind of an you know, he's in venture. He always wants to do his own thing. So if we land in a place, he's like, okay. We're gonna take off. We're gonna go do this. We're gonna do that. And, you know, we try to balance, like, doing the group things with also him having his best life and doing some unique, food experiences just on our own. So every everybody gets a little bit of everything.

It's a real delightful mix. You've been to Sicily. Now I think this will be, you said, your third time, fourth time?

Michael Kenney:

Fourth time.

Stephanie Hansen:

I'm so impressed that you're coming.

Michael Kenney:

Yeah. I'd well, I can't miss with your groups too. I can't go on all our trips, but this is definitely one I I, notched away because I think, part of me still is in Sicily. There's there's just something about it, and you can't you know, I've been to other parts of Italy plenty of times, and I feel like I'm an Italian, but, there's just something with Sicily. Maybe I meant I meant the grit. I've talked about that. It feels like a real city, real sites, real food, just from the the different markets, the fish markets is just everything seems really authentic.

Stephanie Hansen:

I love it.

Michael Kenney:

That's what I really, really love, and I think the guests do too. I'm I'm just envisioning myself walking and through Palermo with my last group, and there was, like, there was music being played in the streets, and people are sitting down and having glasses of wine. There was no festival going on. It was just this this zest for life that

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah. The Italians just in general, they stay up late. They eat late. So they have, like, a happy hour kind of at, like, six to seven, and then they go home and get ready to go out for the dinner time in a lot of cases. So they spend a lot of time outdoors, and they like to do it when it's not in the blazing hot sun. So things really there's a great nightlife. People are, out and about into all hours of the evening, which is fun. So I'm just super excited.

So if people wanna join us, you said I mean, I know we've got some rooms booked already. Yeah. So are there some rooms left if people wanna book, and what is the timeline that they should be doing that, and how do they do it?

Michael Kenney:

Yeah. That's a great question. So I said we have about we can handle maximum of 30 people. So we have about seven rooms up, so about 14 people. So if someone calls and say, well, will this be booked up by next week? It probably won't be, but I always tell people, go ahead, put your deposit down, hold the seat on the trip itself. And you just have to go to definedestinations.com. You can book everything right then then and there. It's super simple process.

You just put your your information in. You don't need a valid passport right now to to enter that in. But you just go ahead and you fill that out, put your deposit down, at least then you'll you'll have a, a seat held for you. Then you can work on if you wanna get your own air fryer or if you wanna stay earlier, you know, stay after later on the trip itself. You you can do that all right there as well. So it's pretty simple.

Stephanie Hansen:

And then once you're booked and we know who's coming, we usually try to have a call to kinda give everybody the particulars of that trip. Sometimes depending on our time frame, we try to get together in person. I wasn't able for the last one because I had so many things coming, and I'm not sure what'll happen with this one because I've got the cookbook coming out, in September. But one way or another, we will see each other's faces, and we will get on that plane, and we will arrive together and have a blast. So I'm looking forward to it, and we've got other trips planned. I know we're trying to book another Croatia trip possibly for the following year for the fall and something in the spring. So if you guys have any destinations you wanna check out with me, let me know. I'm always looking for new places to go. You just went to the Galapagos. It sounded like it was amazing.

Michael Kenney:

Yeah. It that that was, fabulous. I was just doing a site inspection because we're looking about having groups go to the Galapagos and the Amazon, and it it was it was unreal. I loved it. Completely different experience from going to, to going to Sicily. Well, that's great. There's so many experiences to have on our on the world, and we only have so much time to be able to do those. So you gotta kinda hit that hierarchy of, you know, what's what's important.

For anybody that's just thinking about it or if this is the first time you've ever even heard of Sicily, please take a look at this because it is really a magical trip, and we have so many fun inclusions. Our hotel locations are in the city center. I wanted to mention that, not, just because we're on tiny little streets. So you mentioned, like, the the nightlife. It's we're not on a bustling street where all the cars are going by. It's like you feel like you're a local. You'll go out the door, and there's mama Rosita across the street, you know, cutting her

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah. Sitting outside. Yes.

Michael Kenney:

That's the experience we want, not just on this trip, all of our trips. We want you to feel like you're kind of a, a local for even three nights when we're there, so you'll know where the the nearest bakery is and, the restaurants. And I think you'll have that on this trip. I it's it's really

Stephanie Hansen:

I love it.

Michael Kenney:

Something else with all our hotels. You'll absolutely love that. We know exactly where to stay, and sometimes that's overwhelming when you're looking at doing a trip in your own, like, where should I go? What should I where should I stay? Like, it's overwhelming. We want this to be just book the trip. We're gonna be taking care of all the highlights for you.

Stephanie Hansen:

Pack your bags and come along. Yes.

Michael Kenney:

Exactly. So that's that's what's really important to us. And I

Stephanie Hansen:

think I'm looking forward to it. It's gonna be awesome. I'm gonna release this podcast, not this Friday, but next Friday. So k. Between now and then, you guys, I hope you get your seats booked, and I hope to see you on this amazing trip. Thanks, Michael.

Michael Kenney:

Wonderful. Thanks, Michael.

Stephanie Hansen:

It was awesome. It's defined destinations. You can find them at defineddestinations.com. Taste of Italy is right on the front page. Click that, and you can see all the itinerary of the whole trip. And we're gonna have a great time.

Michael Kenney:

Taste of Sicily.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yes. The taste

Michael Kenney:

of Sicily.

Stephanie Hansen:

Oh, what did I call it? What did I say? Taste of

Michael Kenney:

Italy. We have one of those too. Oh, okay. The Sicily one.

Stephanie Hansen:

Taste of Sicily specifically. Yes. And then if you like Italy, you can go back because there are a lot of places to go back to. Amalfi Coast is great, but it's different. And, like, I there I've been to a lot of different places in Italy, and they're all a little bit different. And I like them all for different reasons. So I'm really excited to explore Sicily.

Michael Kenney:

Yep. It's gonna be great. Well, thanks so much for the time.

Stephanie Hansen:

Yeah. We'll talk soon.

Michael Kenney:

Yep.

Stephanie Hansen:

Bye. Bye bye.

Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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Watch the episode of "Taste Buds With Stephanie" that Rachael styled

Get the @FoodDolls cookbook "Pretty Delicious"

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Join me for my next live video on the Substack app.

Live Video and Recipes will eventually be paywalled as a perk for Subscribers so join me now

Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscribers

Get the Recipe we made:

GRANDMA BEA’S DILLY CRACKERS

Serves 8

Ingredients

(2) 12 oz packages of oyster crackers

1 package Hidden Valley Ranch Original Dressing Mix

Or alternately

2 Tbsp Dried Dill

1/3 cup fresh dill minced

4 Tbsp garlic powder

1 tsp black pepper

2 tsp fine sea salt

2/3 cup olive oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 250

Put all dressing ingredients in a 3 qt Jumbo plastic Ziploc Bag and shake

Distribute crackers evenly on two large baking sheets covered in foil

Bake for 20 minutes

Shake pans to redistribute crackers

Turn oven off but leave pans in the oven for 15 more minutes so crackers have more time to lightly brown.

Crackers will keep in an airtight container for about 30 days.

Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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Join me for my next live video in the app

Let's get into it. I've never done a live on Substack before, but I thought it would be fun and I've been wanting to do them more.

So I'm going to just tell you about a few things that I got today.

I went to Surdyks and it had been a while since I'd been there and I was glad to revisit them - on their 90th Anniversary!

They are a local store in Minneapolis and I am a big fan and I bought some things

that I wanted to tell you about.

The first one is a product that is made in Minnesota.

It's called Pommeau and it is from Milk and Honey.

And it is the most delicious like honey apple Brandy liqueur.

And what I do with it is I will pair it with whiskey or with rum.

So I might have like an ounce and a half of whiskey or an ounce and a half of rum

and then an ounce of this and I have it on the rocks and

And it's just a delightful after-dinnery type drink.

So milk and honey, I was out of it.

I was happy to see it was back on the stores.

Here is a new product that I'm excited about.

I got it because it's from Vietnam and I was just there, fun!

Song Cai the name of the gin.

They had three different kinds of these Vietnamese gins at Surdyks

And I happened to chat with one of the folks there and they said this one was their favorite.

So I have not tried it yet, but can you see how pretty the bottle is inside it?

It just looks amazing.

So I'm going to go ahead and give this a try.

I think I'll, it's floral gins are kind of good with tonic or with club soda.

So I'm excited about trying that.

I will report back.

Something that is not alcohol, but I do have two of those left too.

It is Ryze Mushroom Coffee

This is something that I'm nervous about.

Now they say that mushrooms are super good for you.

And I absolutely believe that, but

Could this product replace like my love of coffee or is it just like another thing

to give you more of a wellness supplement?

There's 2000 milligrams of mushrooms in here, which is a lot.

So what you do with it,

and I haven't done it yet,

is you apparently take a tablespoon of this and then eight to 10 ounces of hot or

cold water and you can ice it if you want to or hot.

from 9-11 on MyTalk 107.1 and Ill chat about it with Stephanie March

So I'm going to do this in the morning tomorrow before my radio show.

It's called Ryse and there's 30 servings in here.

It's from Massachusetts and there's 15 calories in a tablespoon.So it's low cal, which is fine, but we'll have to see how I feel about the mushroom coffee.

Okay.

Also,

I got this at Christmas time and Beauty Counter was, all the rage

and I don't know all the things that happened,

but it was like a woman started the company and then she enlisted all these people

to sell it and it was a great product.

Then someone bought it like an investment company and apparently trashed the company,

This product in particular is a Beauty Counter Hydrating Body lotion and it's

but somehow it's back.

This product in particular is a hydrating lotion.

Okay, at Surdyks today, they had a wine that is from Croatia.

It is called Plavac Bura.

It is made with Plavac Mali grapes.

It is called Plavac Bura.

And it is a very delicious red table wine.

And I also noticed it at my friend Leslie's place, Sip Better Wines

I got this at Surdyks - I have noticed this at Total Wine too.

This is like a $19 bottle of wine and it is fantastic for the value.

It is Croatian.

You'll find it kind of in the weird section where sometimes the best wines are.

But I would like you guys to try this.

I just love this wine.

Another wine and  I have only found this at Surdyks before.

I'm going to be bringing it to a party tomorrow.

a,

drier fruitier kind of bubbly effervescent type of white,

that's not like full on champagne.

It's not probably like that, but just has a tiny bubble.

A Gruner Vertliner is a good wine for you to try.

And this is from Austria, Weingut Brundlmayer

I really like the wines that they have from Austria at Surdyks

But when I hear about organics, it makes me happy.

So this is something that you would have with like a fish,

Or if you're someone that likes a Sauvignon Blanc,

but you just want to try something a little bit different,

I'd highly recommend this.

And then last but not least, La Croix.

Okay, right.

Everybody loves a good La Croix.

I don't really love like the weird little flavors of some of these soda things,

but I do like this Limoncello La Croix.

It has like a vanilla taste almost to it and a little hint of lemon.

It is still no calorie, so it's nothing, but it has some weird sweetener stuff in it.

Let's face facts.

They put chemicals in these things.

I don't know why, but it tastes good.

So this is the LaCroix.

What I like to do actually,

and that's here,

is I take one of these cans and a plain can so that it tempers down the flavoring a

little bit, but it still tastes good.

And then last but not least, I was on Jason's show today and this darling couple.

I ran out of there because I had a meeting.

And when I came back, they had left this on my bag of my Jason show things.

And it is says taste buds on there.

It is adorable, a little embroidered tea towel.

As you know, I did a textile, a class at textile center and it was super fun.

They have really great classes there.

If you are a Minnesota person and you want to

get your needling skills going.

So you guys, that's it.

My first live on Substack.

I would like to do more.

I'm also considering like maybe another format where I talk with someone else.

But if this is something that you liked or you would like to see more of,

I could even do like cooking things that are live.

I just decided I would try it today since I had the good hair and I was alone with

just little Stanley here tonight.

For dinner,

we're going to be having the spring roll in a bowl that I made on Jason's show

today that I marinated some carrots in a fish sauce that I put on my spring roll in

a bowl,

and it made the entire Fox Studio smell like stinky fish.

But it's delicious,

and that's what I'm going to be having for dinner tonight with a glass of this white...

that I'll be having.

And then in the morning, I'm going to try the mushroom coffee so you can tune in.

We'll probably talk about it during the top two an hour or two, which is at 10.05 exactly.

And if you want to hear what I thought about the mushroom coffee, feel free to tune in tomorrow.

Otherwise, have a great weekend.

It's supposed to be super nice.

I'm very excited about that.

I am going to be sitting with my seed catalogs.

Planning for some of my seeds because I've got to get things planted.

And if you follow along,

you know that I garden in a very cold northern place that I only have about 50 to

60 days with the seeds to get them to do anything.

So I'm going to be getting my seeds going in the next couple of weeks.

If you have any early plants like early tomatoes that you recommend or anything

that you've tried and you want to pass that along,

I'm always open to new gardening ideas.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for following along on Substack.

I started my Substack about a year and a half ago.

It is just a joy.

I love it.

I love spending Sunday mornings writing it.

I think about all of your faces and like what recipes I want to share.

And it really just gives me joy.

So thanks for following along.

I hope that you guys have a great night and we'll try and do Substacks again if you like it.

Thanks.

Bye.

Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to another episode of "Dishing with Stephanies Dish," where today's conversation centers on love, food, and the evolution of a dynamic partnership. Stephanie is joined by the charismatic duo, Randy and Katherine Feltes, the creative minds behind @KatherineWants. This episode delves into their unique journey through life's intertwined paths of romance and culinary passion. From serendipitously reconnecting after years apart, to building a family and launching their new "Ultimate Date Night Cookbook," they share how their love for food enriches their relationship and social media community (follow them on TikTok! @Katherinewants) and shope their cute merch at @Katherinewantshsop

Tune in to hear about their adventures in the restaurant business, their vibrant social media presence, and their candid insights on balancing career, creativity, and family life. Whether you’re looking for inspiration in the kitchen or in your personal relationships, this episode is sure to serve up a hearty helping of both.

Here is a recipe they shared from the “Katherine Wants: The Ultimate Date Night Cookbook” for the ultimate Sea Scallops

SEARED SEA SCALLOPS with CELERIAC PUREE and CRISPY GUANCIALE

2 SERVINGS • PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES • COOK TIME: 12 MINUTES

Ingredients

CELERIAC PUREE (MAKES 2 CUPS)

1 small (8- to 12-ounce) celeriac (aka celery root), peeled and diced

1 apple, peeled and diced

2 cups milk

1 clove garlic, halved

2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Scallops

3 ounces guanciale or pancetta, cut into matchsticks (about 1 cup)

6 dry-packed sea scallops (U10/20 size), “feet” removed

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted

⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Make the celeriac puree: Put all the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a gentle simmer, then cover and continue to simmer for about 10 minutes. When the celeriac is tender, transfer the contents of the pan to a blender and puree until smooth. Adjust the seasoning if needed.

2. Place the guanciale in a small frying pan along with a splash of water. Over medium heat, render the fat as the water evaporates. Continue cooking until the desired crispness, then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

3. Preheat a 12-inch cast-iron frying pan over medium heat.

4. Meanwhile, dry off the scallops on some paper towels and season with the salt.

5. When the pan is very hot, pour in the olive oil. You’ll know the oil is hot enough if it smokes a little. Gently place the scallops in the hot oil and do not touch until a crust appears on the bottom edge, 2 to 3 minutes. Give a flip and repeat. Remove to a plate and let rest for 2 minutes.

6. To serve, spoon ¼ cup of the celeriac puree into a small pasta bowl and top with three scallops and half of the crispy guanciale. Garnish with half of the toasted pine nuts and pepper. Repeat to make a second serving.

Note:

To get a proper sear on your scallops, make sure you dry them very well with a paper towel and have your pan good and hot.

📸@katherinewants

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Stephanie [00:00:11]:

I am here with Randy Feltes and Katherine Feltes, and they are the social media creators and content creators, really, because you guys have lots of assets outside of social of Katherine Wants, and your latest initiative is a cookbook. You've got restaurants. You've got cookbooks. You've got kids. You've got a marriage. You've got a dating situation.

Get our listeners caught up to, like, how you guys started because your story resonated with me so much because it was kinda like my story. My husband nightclub. I was a cocktail waitress, and that when I was 19. Oh. And we've been married thirty years.

Katherine Feltes [00:00:51]:

Wow. Okay. So super similar stories.

Randy Feltes [00:00:55]:

Restaurant people. Right? Like, we like to stay together, and I think it's the love of food that actually keeps us together. And, you know, you just don't find those type of people outside of the business. So Mhmm. Katherine, do you wanna tell how we how we got to

Katherine Feltes [00:01:07]:

we yeah. So Brandy was the chef and owner of Oscar's, which, you know, people still talk about Oscar's in our town to this day. But anyways, it was a fine dining restaurant in Barrie. And I had a big crush on him and we finally, you know, started this relationship and I was young and dumb and I went on this trip with my ex boyfriend. Anyways, it's a long story.

Randy Feltes [00:01:34]:

You messed it up.

Katherine Feltes [00:01:35]:

I messed it up. I messed it up and we broke up and then, you know, there was a big period of time like fifteen years? Fifteen?

Randy Feltes [00:01:44]:

Thirteen thirteen years.

Katherine Feltes [00:01:45]:

Thirteen years in between. Anyways, I got married to somebody and Randy got married to somebody and then we both found ourselves divorced at the same time living down the street from each other. And well, I found us actually both divorced because I immediately was like, I have to jump in his DMs and, like, make this happen because I just I just knew we were meant to be all those years, and here we are.

Stephanie [00:02:14]:

Do you think that if you would have stayed together the first time around?

That you would have made it? Because sometimes, like, I I my husband, I didn't meet him till he was 29. If I'd have met him when he was 19, I'd been like, no way. You're old.

Katherine Feltes [00:02:30]:

Listen. I'd like to think that we would. I'd like to think maybe that we wouldn't because I want to believe that everything happens for a reason, of course. But being together now, sometimes when I think about it too much, it makes me really sad that we didn't get all those years because I I just we have so much fun together. And, you know, we were only together kind of a short period of time before we decided that we were gonna procreate because we're both getting older.

Randy Feltes [00:03:03]:

And listen, I'm I I'm a different I think that everything happens for a reason, and now I can hold it over Katherine's head that she messed it up the first time around. And, you know, I kinda get get in the jail free card. And, you know, we would never trade the happiness we have now, and so you really can't play that game of if we went back.

Stephanie [00:03:23]:

Yeah. And you guys you got together then, and you had a kid, and then you, right away, kinda have had another kid.

Randy Feltes [00:03:30]:

Mhmm.

Stephanie [00:03:31]:

Yes. How is going from a family of two to three to four in a somewhat short period of time?

Randy Feltes [00:03:38]:

Well, Katherine has well, I have a a son as well from my first marriage. So there was Katherine was, like, a part time stepmom. And then, like, when we first got together, Katherine was like, oh, I guess how old were you? Thirty Thirty six. 30 six. And Katherine's like, oh, I'm not interested in kids. And I was like, like, I don't believe that for a second. And I wanted more kids. So then it was only about a month later.

Randy Feltes [00:04:01]:

Katherine's like, would you consider I was like, absolutely. So we got right into it, and and then came Libby. And so, yeah, the family has grown quickly, and we're really feeling it this time around with Romy because the house is it just gets more full. But

Katherine Feltes [00:04:18]:

Yeah.

Randy Feltes [00:04:19]:

There's a lot of juggling going on.

Stephanie [00:04:21]:

Yeah. And you guys so you are active restaurant tours, and you also have this social media presence with TikTok and Instagram that really blossomed through the COVID times. And now you've taken, some of that content, the recipes that you developed, and put it into this book that is real cute. It's called the ultimate date night cookbook. And it is a cookbook and a great cookbook with lots of great photos and good recipes, but there's also this element of having the, the dating, tips and the how to keep the romance spark alive and some of those fun elements that you don't usually see in a cookbook. Mhmm.

Randy Feltes [00:05:05]:

We really didn't wanna write a traditional cookbook in that sense. Like, I don't think anyone needs to learn how to make a chicken stock. And if you do, you probably have 10 cookbooks that all have a chicken stock recipe in it. So we just skipped right over that part and went right to the goods. Like, the all star stuff from Katherine Watts. And then we're like, you know, this is basically just a page in our life. And when we wake up in the morning, the first thing we we talk about is what we're gonna have for dinner or where we're going for lunch. And so it's always based around food.

Randy Feltes [00:05:33]:

So when we when we started stripping it down and putting the chapters together, they wrote themselves. It's like, okay. Break the ice is the first. It's a cocktail one. And then it's the first date. Right? And then it's the morning after the first date.

Stephanie [00:05:45]:

You have a lot of morning after breakfast recipes. It made me wonder.

Randy Feltes [00:05:49]:

How many of the afters you had?

Katherine Feltes [00:05:52]:

You know what? The the for me, the cookbook is I mean, Randy's a chef, so it was really fun for him to, you know, finally be able to realize that sort of part of his career. But for me, the cookbook is more, like, something for couples or just people, friends, family to do. Like, rather than saying, oh, I better get the cookbook because I wanna make this. It's like, I'm gonna get the cookbook out because we're gonna have a date. Right? Like, it's something that that brings two people together or, you know, in the in certain, chapters, what what would you make when you're meeting the parents or for for bigger groups of people. So it's kind of like a fun, like I feel like we should sell it at, like, where they sell board games.

Randy Feltes [00:06:42]:

That's funny. They should they should definitely do that.

Stephanie [00:06:45]:

Not a bad idea, actually. What I did, as someone who's written a lot of recipes myself, I was surprised, Randy, because when I first got the book and I read the story and I was like, oh, a chef. Sometimes chef cookbooks are too and too hard for the home cooks, and I felt like yours is very accessible.

Randy Feltes [00:07:06]:

Thank you very much for bringing that up, Stephanie. I've been, I also do a lot of daytime TV over the last fifteen years. So we have a very popular show here called City Line, and I was on the on there for fifteen years, just as a like a kind of a what do they call us?

Katherine Feltes [00:07:22]:

Guest. Expert.

Randy Feltes [00:07:23]:

Guest expert. Guest expert. That's right. And I really learned that if you wanna resonate with the general public, you kinda have to simplify things and get away from the cheffy stuff. The simple things go and they work. Nobody wants a cookbook that they're just gonna look at the pictures and go, I'm never gonna make that. There's too much steps and it takes too long. You want things that you can actually achieve.

Randy Feltes [00:07:42]:

And so all of the recipes in the book, we bought the groceries at the grocery store. We didn't use the restaurants. Right? And then we executed them at home, and we shot them ourselves and styled styled it ourselves so it's attainable and it's achievable. And the whole point is that, you know, if somebody is having a hard time dating and they grab our book, the hard part shouldn't be cooking for the date. It should be the date itself. Yeah. Right?

Stephanie [00:08:07]:

And I thought the way that the recipes were were organized was cute, but also, like, you had all the prep in there. Did you guys shoot the book, or did you have someone shoot it for you? Because it felt personal.

Katherine Feltes [00:08:19]:

This is a really, really fun part of of our stories. So, I mentioned that I was married before and my ex husband is way better at photography than he is at being a husband.

Stephanie [00:08:35]:

Yep.

Katherine Feltes [00:08:35]:

So we hired him and and you know what it was it was Randy, myself, and Honza, my ex husband, who's from the Czech Republic. It was the three of us in the kitchen, and I was cleaning up after them. It was just like good old times. You know? That's hilarious.

Stephanie [00:08:53]:

I love it. I love it so much. But that also shows, I think, a certain maturity about your relationship too, like security and not having to be all, like, weirded out about that stuff. When you talk about, like, during COVID that the social media kinda blew up, how did you know you had something? Like, what was do you remember that first video where you were like, oh, this is something?

Katherine Feltes [00:09:19]:

Well, it was just sort of like a build up. Like, you know, people kept asking, can you share the recipe for that? And then we did that one video of me eating king crab and just using a fork. And people went crazy. And it was like, okay. Well, maybe this is a thing.

Randy Feltes [00:09:39]:

It's like we found our people, you know. It's like all of a sudden we have this whole audience that loves food as much as we do and is actually interested in what we're cooking and what we're talking about. And then we had the other recipe, the one pan potatoes, which is the simplest recipe in the world. You just simmer the potatoes in water and evaporate them until they get crispy. And it went bonkers. Right? And it's that kind of idea, the same as the recipes in the cookbook, that make it simple. It's like if you can achieve it, then they're gonna share it because they're gonna share that along the way. And then we're like, this is so much fun.

Randy Feltes [00:10:10]:

Just one little kitchen hack can get, like, millions and millions of views.

Stephanie [00:10:14]:

Mhmm. Did it does has it ever felt overwhelming, like, that this whole voyeuristic piece is, like because sometimes I think, like, you we share so much as creators, and then, like, what do you keep for yourself?

Katherine Feltes [00:10:32]:

Yes. But I don't know if maybe it would feel different if we didn't have little kids. Not because I'm I'm not and I respect the people who don't wanna show their children. I don't I'm not very, like, big on it. I don't hide them, though. But it's just overwhelming sometimes maybe more than more than anything. It's just finding the time to share, and it definitely seemed way easier

Randy Feltes [00:11:01]:

Without children.

Katherine Feltes [00:11:02]:

Without children. Yeah.

Stephanie [00:11:04]:

And even just, like, I also, I think the algorithms are changing and that they're favoring content that's less produced.

Randy Feltes [00:11:12]:

Mhmm.

Stephanie [00:11:13]:

And then so, you know, like, you're working on this thing, and you're gonna put this thing out there, and it's gonna look a certain way and feel a certain way. And then, like, some other random thing that you put up is the thing that goes viral that you weren't even planning on. Or

Katherine Feltes [00:11:27]:

Right.

Stephanie [00:11:28]:

So all of that is changing, and the mediums are so different. I think what gets seen on TikTok is very different than what Instagram favors.

Randy Feltes [00:11:37]:

Agreed. Mhmm. And we've really tried hard to figure it out, and we don't have a clue.

Stephanie [00:11:44]:

Me neither. And no one else does do that. Of it.

Randy Feltes [00:11:46]:

And I think what you have to do is sit back and kind of enjoy that and just go, we're just gonna do what we want and try our best. And if it works, that's great. And if it doesn't, that's fine too. Because a lot of times, you get tied up in it, and I have a saying that I like to use. I'm like, you can't let the tail wag the dog. Right? Yeah. So we just try to enjoy ourselves and and find time for

Katherine Feltes [00:12:07]:

it. It's way too hard to try to be something you're not.

Stephanie [00:12:11]:

And you also have these other restaurants. Like, let's just talk about the life of a restaurant tour and hospitalitarians.

Randy Feltes [00:12:20]:

Yeah. It's already

Stephanie [00:12:21]:

a challenging life, and then you're adding, like, this whole other component on top of it. Do you feel like you just work all the time?

Randy Feltes [00:12:29]:

Yeah. I'm on my phone way too much. Okay. I don't necessarily work at the restaurants anymore. I'm at the restaurant, but I don't do shifts. Yep. So I I manage the managers. I manage the chefs, but I try to hire really good people that I can kinda walk away from for a few days.

Randy Feltes [00:12:46]:

And that's worked out really, really well. Mhmm. But there's still the phone calls of, oh, the restaurant's on fire. Yeah. It's time to manage the shop. Yeah.

Katherine Feltes [00:12:56]:

Yeah. And I don't talk about this often, but, you know, I am a realtor, and I have been for eighteen years. Kind of forgot about that though because this got us so busy, and it just really didn't make sense to go out and, you know, grind it out like I was, because this let me be at home more with the kids and Yeah. You know?

Stephanie [00:13:25]:

Yeah. Do you think your recipes will change? Because cooking for a family is different. And that might be an exciting evolution of your story.

Katherine Feltes [00:13:35]:

Well, our three and a half year old really needs to get with the program when it comes to her palate. So I don't think I don't I don't know that I can see that happening yet.

Stephanie [00:13:48]:

Until you start having to, like, sneak vegetables into her.

Katherine Feltes [00:13:51]:

We're way too adventurous for and we're not willing to compromise.

Randy Feltes [00:13:56]:

And I kinda like keeping it from them. I'm not gonna share my caviar. Oh, that's funny.

Stephanie [00:14:01]:

So do you think you'll be one of those families that has three separate meals, or will you make the one meal and, like, here it is kids, and

Randy Feltes [00:14:09]:

if you don't wanna eat it, you don't have to eat it.

Katherine Feltes [00:14:11]:

We're already one of those families. Yeah. With between a 13 year old and and, you know, the three and a half year old, we're kinda just but we're grazers too. Like, our three and a half year old just eats, like, a mini child's charcuterie for dinner. And Yeah.

Randy Feltes [00:14:30]:

She's girl dinner every night.

Katherine Feltes [00:14:30]:

She's girl dinner every night.

Randy Feltes [00:14:32]:

And there's certain meals that we can. Like, if we're doing, like, steak, the 13 year old is the happiest kid around. He likes salmon. Right? And but then it's like, okay. What does that one do to eat? He has there's a lot of food getting like, you're getting cooked every day. Yeah.

Stephanie [00:14:45]:

Yeah. No. I know. And you I can see it. I mean, I'm a mom too. My kid's older, but you just you spend so much time worrying about, like, are they getting enough of this? Are they getting enough of that? How do you feel about social media? This is a kinda random question, but we're in this area where I think people are starting to put guardrails up for kids more with social media.

Katherine Feltes [00:15:06]:

Mhmm.

Stephanie [00:15:07]:

And your whole, like, platform kind of is this thing that is the social media. Do you feel like I wonder if your three and a half year old will even be on social media till at least 16 years old. I kinda feel like we're getting to the point where people are just gonna say no.

Randy Feltes [00:15:22]:

It's pretty easy with the 13 year old and because last few years, he doesn't wanna be on. Mhmm. He's like, don't put me on. If I take a video, he's like, don't you put that up. Yep. Okay, man. Cool. That's easy.

Randy Feltes [00:15:33]:

And that's probably easier than if he was asking to do it because then I'd feel like I'm working for him. So that's that but I don't know. I think, like, my personal feeling on it is is just respect their boundaries, and we don't shove it. We don't make them do anything like that. No. I'm

Stephanie [00:15:49]:

sure you don't. Yeah. I'm sure you don't. I mean, more like the idea of society's expectations. And Oh. I really feel like we're getting to this place where people are gonna just not have kids under 16 to have access to social media. I feel like we're gonna go back to the flip phone for communication purposes, communication purposes, potentially text, and then that's it. It just seems to be that there's a lot of trends that way.

Stephanie [00:16:14]:

So we'll see how that all on unfolds.

Katherine Feltes [00:16:17]:

He doesn't seem to be interested. And I thought that Facebook was for the sort of, like, older generation. Apparently, Instagram is. Like, he doesn't even know what Facebook is.

Randy Feltes [00:16:29]:

He doesn't know what Instagram. He know he doesn't know what Facebook is. He doesn't know.

Katherine Feltes [00:16:32]:

He's like, what?

Randy Feltes [00:16:32]:

He doesn't know yeah. He doesn't have an Instagram account.

Katherine Feltes [00:16:35]:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Randy Feltes [00:16:37]:

But the funny thing is his classmates have found us on TikTok, and they watch us on TikTok. Mhmm. And so we're kind of the cool parents, which Okay. I like it. Yeah. Alright. It has its benefits.

Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber

Stephanie [00:16:50]:

Now here's a weird thing that just happened to me, like, in the last two days. So I'll tell you about it. I got a new phone, and I upgraded or I updated my phone and, you know, do the I'm a Apple user, so the new Apple phone. My TikTok, my CapCut, my Lemonade, all those apps that are owned by ByteDance will not outload on my new phone

Randy Feltes [00:17:10]:

Really?

Stephanie [00:17:11]:

Because they're not available in the App Store in The United States.

Randy Feltes [00:17:14]:

Woah.

Stephanie [00:17:15]:

So I know that, like, everyone's like, oh, we're on this reprieve, but you literally I cannot get them on my new phone. So I have to keep my old phone activated in the cloud so that I can use those apps. It's just it's kinda crazy, and it never occurred to me until I I was like, why can't I get this to work? So I think that's pretty interesting as we move forward as people upgrade their phone. So don't upgrade your phone because they need

Randy Feltes [00:17:42]:

a lot of people to use it.

Randy Feltes [00:17:43]:

Well, we're in Canada, so I don't think that that that ban actually happened. But maybe with the cap cut, it's who knows?

Stephanie [00:17:52]:

I don't know.

Randy Feltes [00:17:53]:

I'm not good with technology, so I just keep the same phone until it dies.

Stephanie [00:17:56]:

Well and I'm gonna I'm in Minnesota, so maybe I'll just, like, try and walk across the border.

Randy Feltes [00:18:01]:

There you go. Yeah. I'm gonna go to work.

Stephanie [00:18:04]:

Where where in Canada are you guys? Where do you hail from?

Katherine Feltes [00:18:06]:

Just North Of Toronto.

Stephanie [00:18:08]:

Okay. Canada's like, well, Canada's huge, but Vancouver is probably one of my favorite cities in the world, and I have faced

Randy Feltes [00:18:14]:

with people.

Stephanie [00:18:15]:

Yeah. And Montreal, actually, too. Right?

Katherine Feltes [00:18:17]:

Oh, we love Montreal. The

Randy Feltes [00:18:20]:

food scene is outrageous. Mhmm.

Stephanie [00:18:22]:

And it feels like you're, like, in Europe. You know what I mean? If you're from United States, it feels so different than just being in Canada as it were.

Katherine Feltes [00:18:31]:

Yeah.

Stephanie [00:18:32]:

When you look at other, like, people that you admire, either content creators or cookbook authors, are there people that are like, oh, yeah. I'm they're my person.

Randy Feltes [00:18:46]:

I I we've followed so many content creators, and I love them all for their own little thing. Yeah. Right? Like like, Max the meat guy, and then there was the Thomas the butter guy. And then he got away from the butter, but I just I love his food. He's English, and it's just straightforward and simple. And I like some of the more complicated stuff, like the Michelin star stuff, even though I don't wanna click that anymore. Mhmm. So I I I just love the aspect that you can find anything you want and kind of dive deeper into that, right? And there's just an endless outlet now of, like, inspiration and ideas, where when I started cooking, we did we had to buy cookbooks.

Randy Feltes [00:19:28]:

Mhmm. Like like, I I bought Charlie Trotter's very first cookbook. Right? I bought Marco Pierre White's, White Heat Cookbook, and that's how we were like, look at these photos. This is crazy. You couldn't get that anywhere else. And now you just have to drink a little bit.

Stephanie [00:19:41]:

Yeah. The other day, like, that was how we taught ourselves to cook. And then the Food Network kinda came on, and that was pretty revolutionary. And we only had, I don't know, maybe five years before it started to go to, like, the competition route.

Randy Feltes [00:19:56]:

Yep. Mhmm.

Stephanie [00:19:57]:

And I gravitated towards Food Network Canada because Chuck Hughes and there were so many good chefs there. Mhmm. And now it's kind of all competition cooking, but we're getting back to new channels that are going back to the cooking again. We're seeing more Jamie Oliver and Odelingi has a show that I was just watching the other day. There's we're getting back to that. So it's just it's fun to think about how much the food world has changed really in fifteen years.

Randy Feltes [00:20:23]:

Mhmm. The Food Network did break it wide open. Yeah. And it made it popular, and it made it fun, and it made it cool. And it gave the consumer and I and I'm saying consumer. I mean, in restaurants. It gave them, like, another level of almost, intelligence as far as what was going on. Because a lot of times, you would write a menu and most, like, most of the people in the dining room wouldn't know what the big words were.

Stephanie [00:20:47]:

Yeah.

Randy Feltes [00:20:47]:

And now they get it. They know what duck confit is. You know what I mean? It's like, woah. This is awesome. Mhmm.

Stephanie [00:20:52]:

Yeah. And they want full gras on their burger.

Katherine Feltes [00:20:55]:

Oh, yeah.

Randy Feltes [00:20:57]:

That's a better place. Yeah. It's a better place.

Stephanie [00:21:00]:

Alright. Well, the, social media channels are Katherine Wants. The cookbook itself is Katherine Wants, Randy Cooks. It's Randy Feltis. Katherine Feltis. I'll put notes in the, show comments about how people can order your book. I'll attach your social channels. Your love story is pretty cute.

Stephanie [00:21:16]:

I love it. I've just it's fun to talk to you right before Valentine's Day. Will you have any special Valentine's Day plans?

Katherine Feltes [00:21:24]:

Oh, we're going to Mexico.

Randy Feltes [00:21:26]:

Yeah. We're called vacation.

Katherine Feltes [00:21:28]:

Yes.

Stephanie [00:21:28]:

Where in Mexico do you go?

Katherine Feltes [00:21:30]:

We are this time, we're going to a place called Playa Mujeres. Yes. And we're going to a resort called the Finest. We're very excited about that. Randy's a hotel snob, so I like traveling with him.

Randy Feltes [00:21:44]:

I and I'm not that I don't really like the all inclusives, but Mexico, I do love because it's tacos and tequila. It's hard to, like, they just it's it's fundamentals. Right? But with the girls, like, all inclusives count. With the three and a half year old, our Livvy is just off the walls. So well,

Stephanie [00:22:01]:

if you're anything like me, we would make they have these kids' clubs, and we would make our kid go to the kids' club.

Katherine Feltes [00:22:07]:

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Stephanie [00:22:08]:

I mean, we made her. We were like, nope. This is part of the trip. You have to go. Mom and dad need four hours without you every day.

Katherine Feltes [00:22:17]:

Yeah. Oh, yeah. She's going to the kids club.

Stephanie [00:22:19]:

Yeah. We loved those all inclusives for that. And Mhmm. I'm actually I'm going to Mexico too. So I was like, oh, that's funny. We'll be there at the same time. Oh, yeah.

Randy Feltes [00:22:27]:

Good stuff.

Stephanie [00:22:28]:

And everyone from Canada goes to Mexico. It's like

Randy Feltes [00:22:32]:

Go ahead. Yeah. She's Baby Christ.

Stephanie [00:22:34]:

You've got a baby that woke up, so we'll wrap it up. But it was nice to talk to you guys. Good luck with the book.

Randy Feltes [00:22:40]:

Thank you

Stephanie [00:22:41]:

People can get it in the show notes here or at your favorite bookstores, and I'll launch all of the socials. And it's just been great to talk to you. Good luck.

Randy Feltes [00:22:50]:

Stephanie, it was great talking with you. Thank you so much for a wonderful day. Appreciate Thank

Stephanie [00:22:53]:

you, Katherine, too, for me.

Randy Feltes [00:22:55]:

I will. Okay.

Stephanie [00:22:57]:

Alright. Bye bye. Bye bye.

Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to another episode of "Dishing with Stephanie's Dish." Today, we're thrilled to talk with Rebecca Blackwell, a recipe developer, Substack writer, and published cookbook author of the “Lets Get Lost Cookbook”. Rebecca shares her fascinating journey of selling her possessions to live and travel full-time in an RV with her husband.

Join us as we dive into Rebecca's upcoming cookbook, "Let's Get Lost," her inspirational journey of writing and recipe development, and the launch of the “Lost Supper Club.”

We'll explore how she balances creativity and connection while on the road, finding community through food, and the power of diverse culinary experiences that make the world feel a little bit smaller and certainly more delicious. Get ready for a heartwarming discussion about food, community, and life's unexpected adventures!

Here is a recipe from the book

This is an upside down cake, with a sticky caramel date mixture that’s baked on the bottom of the cake but is then flipped over to become the top. The batter is flavored with pureed dates, an entire orange, a bit of miso, and a lot of vanilla.

Wait. Miso? I fell in love with miso in baking after making the Miso Maple Loaf in Baking With Dori and I haven’t looked back. Just as it does in savory dishes, miso adds layers of complex flavor, including a hint of umami - and a little umami is always a good thing, even in sweet treats.

Candied pistachios add some crunch, and I would like to mention that if you want any leftover for the actual cake it’s wise to make extra because you and everyone around you will find them irresistible.

It’s also worth mentioning that one of our Lost Supper Club guests (you know who you are, Narissa) actually squealed with delight after tasting this cake. Like an actual, alarmingly loud, squeal. It was really more of a scream, and I can’t imagine a higher endorsement.

Orange and date cake with candied pistachios

Ingredients

For the caramel and date glaze:

* 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

* 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar, light or dark

* 1 tablespoon corn syrup

* 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

* 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, OR 1/2 teaspoon table salt

* 8 ounces dates (about 1 cup), pits removed, cut into bite-size pieces

For the cake:

* 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

* 1 3/4 tsp baking powder

* 1/4 tsp baking soda

* 1/4 tsp salt

* 1 medium to large size orange

* 1/2 cup brown sugar, light or dark

* 1 stick (4 ounces/ 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

* 1/4 cup white miso

* 2 large eggs, at room temperature

* 8 ounces (about 1 cup) dates, pits removed

* 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

* 1/3 cup plain, unsweetened greek yogurt, whole milk or 2%

* 1/2 cup orange marmalade

Instructions:

Get Instructions for the recipe here

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Stephanie Hansen [00:00:15]:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's dish. I'm Stephanie Hansen. You are here at the podcast that talks to foodies, cookbook writers. And today, we have, I would say, all 3 plus more. We have Rebecca Blackwell. She is a recipe developer. She is on the verge of releasing her “Let's Get Lost”, the cookbook. She is a Substack writer who has a Substack newsletter called “Let's Get Lost. She also is starting and launching the “Lost Supper Club” and has been out in the space. One of the things about Rebecca that intrigues me, not the most because you're just a nice person, but beyond that, you live in an RV. You kinda upended your life, sold your worldly possessions, and bought a pull behind, and you and your husband travel all over the United States in your RV. We are talking right now in your RV, which I know you've got a good cookbook shelf. I see it behind you. Welcome to the show, Rebecca.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:01:11]:

Thank you so much for having me, Stephanie. I'm so happy to be here.

Stephanie Hansen [00:01:14]:

Me too. So for people that maybe aren't familiar with your story, can you talk about how you decided to just chuck it all and get into the RV?

Rebecca Blackwell [00:01:24]:

Yeah. Absolutely. So, we had 3 children, and, when our youngest was about 7, we decided that we wanted to work towards getting to the place where we could work from anywhere in the world by the time all of our kids were graduated. And so our youngest was getting off or getting ready to go off to college in in 2019, and and we had done it. We were both working virtually, and and we could work anywhere where there was an Internet connection. And and so we were our initial plan was that we were gonna just rent Airbnb's in various places for, you know, 3 months or 6 months or whatever at a time. So some friends of ours in Southern California were heading off to Europe for a couple of months and asked us to come house sit, and we were like, great. This will be a great test run for how this works.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:02:11]:

And we loved living and working in a new place, but we hated living in somebody else's home. And so we weren't sure what we were gonna do about that, and, we met up with some old high school friends while we were there that lived in an RV, and it was like the answer to all of our problems. We had never considered living in an RV. We had never in our entire lives spent one night in any kind of a camper of any kind. We're just not the camping kind of people. But we went home from that trip, and, within 5 months, we had sold our house and bought a 5th wheel RV and moved ourselves into it. So the first night we ever spent in a camper, we had already sold the house and bought our RV. So and that it's been a long time 5 years.

Stephanie Hansen [00:03:00]:

Did you feel brave doing it at the time?

Rebecca Blackwell [00:03:04]:

You know, we just felt very exciting until the night we closed on our house, and then I got a little freaked out. Understandably. What have I done? But, you know, the first night, we, we lived in Colorado, and we drove, we closed on our house on a Monday, and we drove to, Katy, Texas to pick up the RV on a Tuesday and, picked it up on Wednesday. And that first night in the camper, I wasn't worried at all. It it instantly felt like the right decision. We felt at home in it almost immediately. And, you know, we really haven't looked back. We we say that we'll keep doing it until we get tired of doing it, but so far, you know, it's been almost 5 years, and we're not anywhere close to being ready to stop.

Stephanie Hansen [00:03:53]:

What I think is kinda hilarious about you in particular is you have this sort of idea of who might be in an RV park, and I've been in a lot of RV parks.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:04:02]:

Yeah.

Stephanie Hansen [00:04:02]:

And you're I don't know about your husband, but for sure, you are like this type a organized, hyper productive person who's doing all this work from an RV park. I mean, your substack newsletter alone with Let's Get Lost kind of focuses on the RV living aspects and the travel aspects, but also recipes. And then as if that wasn't enough, you've launched the Lost Supper Club that just launched. What made you decide you needed yet another outlet? Because you just seem super prolific.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:04:34]:

Yeah. Well, you know, ask me at the end of the year if I regret adding another thing, and I'll I'll let you know. But but, really, at the end of last year, I I was just looking for more ways to connect with people on a more meaningful way as we travel around. It you know, we love being in a new place and kind of immersing ourselves in the culture of the place as much as we can. And we have met people without even trying all over the country, and that's been really fun. But this year or this last year, I I was just thinking a lot about how, when we're in a new place, when I have the opportunity to spend a few hours with somebody that lives there, it it just enriches both of our lives, in a in a really meaningful way. And so I thought, well, with the lost supper club, if I can do that and then write about it, then maybe I could also inspire other people to get together with friends over dinner on a more regular basis. I feel like it's kind of a a lost art that, and we're we're we're just craving that in person connection.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:05:42]:

Everywhere I go, I talk to people about this, and everybody seems to be craving that in person connection, but they're not really sure how to go about starting it. So that's kinda what I'm hoping to do is by doing it myself and writing about it, inspire more people to do the same thing.

Stephanie Hansen [00:05:56]:

I think food too is so common in that everyone speaks the same language when it comes to food. You know, no no matter what you eat, whether what you prepare, it has a way of bringing people together. And one of the things that you and I have talked about offline is how challenging you know, when you're a a nomad, we'll call it, it's challenging to keep up those, relationships with friends and family because they don't know where you are, and you can't just, you know, have your weekly tennis date.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:06:27]:

That's right. That's right. Yeah. That's been a big challenge with our friends back home in Colorado is maintaining those relationships with some of our closest friends. Thankfully, we tend to attract the kind of friends that are also similar in that they, they're very independent. They have they travel all over the place. And so it's pretty easy to just pick up where we left off. But, but I I'm just I'm starting to become a little more conscious of, trying to do things like phone calls and just just text messages and and just reaching out in any way I can to some of these relationships while we're on the road because because they are important.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:07:05]:

They're, those those connections that we form with people that become lifelong friends, you know, it's it's one of the most valuable things, in my life. The older I get, the more I realize how how deeply important they are.

Stephanie Hansen [00:07:22]:

Also, like, I'm curious what your thoughts are because I don't know your husband at all. But, my husband has a small group of friends, and they're the same friends he's had since, like, 6th grade. Oh, wow. I am, like, someone that craves a lot of friends, lot of different types of people. Everyone I meet becomes my friend. Like, we just have different needs. I'm an extrovert. He's an introvert.

Stephanie Hansen [00:07:46]:

Like, how to fill our buckets. Would you say you're more introverted? Or how do you is your husband, like, on the same page with you? Or do you spend a lot of time forging connections?

Rebecca Blackwell [00:07:56]:

Yeah. So, both of us have a strong tendency to just keep to ourselves and hold ourselves away. And that's part of the the more concentrated effort on my part of reaching out to more people and making those connections. Because if it's not deliberate, we won't do it. We're very happy parking ourselves in the middle of nowhere for months at a time and not really talking to anybody except each other.

Stephanie Hansen [00:08:23]:

My god. That's horrifying to me.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:08:27]:

We love it. We love it. We love it. But the like, no matter how introverted you tend to be, those those connections with other people are are just important. And, and so, you know, my my husband's a little worried about how many social activities I have planned for us this year because he, he gets really worn out by it. But, but, also, when he's there, he has a good time, and he knows that it's good for him as well. So, so we'll see. At the end of the year, we'll we'll take stock and see if it was too much for us or or not.

Stephanie Hansen [00:09:07]:

So let's get lost details. It's your newsletter on Substack that details all the places that you are and what you're cooking along the way. The Last Supper Club is the new paid version of substack that you will belong to this club. You'll talk about ways to entertain. You'll share recipes in your January edition. You did a really nice overview of homemade pasta. Because I just filmed a TV show about pasta, and I made pasta myself at home for the first time.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:09:37]:

Oh, fun.

Stephanie Hansen [00:09:38]:

Yeah. So it was really fun to read your recipe and your techniques. And then the let's get lost, the cookbook is on the verge of coming. So tell me where you're at with that and when we'll be able to get our hands on it.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:09:50]:

Yeah. So that should be out the last week of this month, January, the last week of January. And, there'll be links on, rebecca Blackwell.com and on both of my blogs. So, yeah, I'm I'm very excited about that. It's a 140 something recipes, 135 page cookbook, full color photos of every of every recipe. And, it wasn't a book I had intended to write last year. I just I was publishing so many recipes on substack that I thought, you know, I'm just gonna throw these together into, like, a quick little downloadable book, and then it turned into a full blown a full blown cookbook. So

Stephanie Hansen [00:10:35]:

So how do you do it? Are you printing on demand? Because you're obviously not warehousing things in your RV.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:10:41]:

Exactly. Yeah. No. Yeah. We're printing on demand. So it'll be available on print and, downloadable PDF and Kindle. So 3 different options for that. And then I'm already started on volume 2.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:10:55]:

So this year's volume 2 will be focused more on, supper club, and it'll be organized by the areas, that we've traveled to. So Southern California, Louisiana, the Midwest. There's a there's a pool. Yeah. And it'll include other people's recipes as well. So as we travel around and and cook and have dinner with other people, they will contribute recipes to the book. So it'll be more of a a collaborate collaborative effort.

Stephanie Hansen [00:11:23]:

Oh, gosh. I just love it. You're so prolific. You were a marketer in your other life before getting into the RV and kind of branching off and doing your own freelance. What did you market?

Rebecca Blackwell [00:11:34]:

Yeah. So I mostly worked with, businesses who wanted to improve their online strategies. So, strategies. So, I put together very comprehensive strategies for them that included, you know, a lot of different factors, and I did a lot of writings, wrote a lot of websites, a lot of emails, a lot of blog posts. I was the ghostwriter for quite a few companies' blog posts over the years. So back in 2013, I thought, maybe I'd like to do this for myself, and that's when I started my first blog. And and then gradually, I started as the blog grew, I was able to let go of some clients on a very gradual basis and was finally full time with food blogging by 2020.

Stephanie Hansen [00:12:18]:

That's so exciting. When you're in your RV and you're, like, making a recipe, you know, do you find space as a limitation, or how do you get, like, the perfect photograph? And have you had to adapt?

Rebecca Blackwell [00:12:30]:

Yeah. Yeah. That has been a a big adaption in in our house before we sold it and moved into the RV. I had a whole room just for photography, and that was that was amazing. But I have discovered that there's really nothing that you can't do in a small space. If you have it's like money. If however much you have, you seem to need it all. And that's how space is.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:12:53]:

I think however much you have, you figure out a way to need it all, but you don't actually need it all. So, for an RV kitchen, mine is much nicer and much bigger than a lot of RVs. As we were looking towards buying an RV, we looked at, I don't know, a 100 different models and found one where the kitchen would work for me. And it hasn't limited what I've been able to do really at all, which has been really nice. And then photography, I just use these, like, 24 inch photography boards. And Yeah. You know, some of them, you would never know that it's a board even though it's a small little board. You know, the cover of the cookbook has a window in the background, the the cover photo.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:13:40]:

And people are shocked to know that that's not a window, that it's just a a board that I set up on on my kitchen table.

Stephanie Hansen [00:13:48]:

And create, like, a little good light, and there you go.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:13:51]:

Exactly. Exactly. Artificial lighting for photography has been a a game changer for me because, relying on how the light comes in and what time of day it is and where we are in the world and what the weather is doing and, you know, all of those things affect it. And so that's been that's been really important to use artificial lighting in in the RV.

Stephanie Hansen [00:14:14]:

One thing I'm curious about, I feel like travel and being in new spaces and meeting new people, I feel like that so, like, inspires creativity and gets you sort of out of your day to day existence. Does that persist when you're, like, your day to day existence is all those things? So I'm just curious. Like, I'm wondering how it is that you, like, ground yourself when everything around you is changing, or is that just a constant source of inspiration? Like food, like the ingredients. Everything is different everywhere you go.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:14:52]:

That's true. Yeah. That's very true. You know, it's interesting. I I just started listening to a book that's talking about the difference between, it's it's mostly focused on anxiety and the difference between right brain and left brain functionality. And our right brain is really where our creativity lies. And, the more stressed out and anxious we are, the the more it shuts down creativity. It, like, just closes that part off of us. And I feel like as we travel around, I can identify how when we get into a new place, the more I'm able to just be present in that place and appreciate the experience of being there, the more I can feel that creativity opening up and, just relaxing relaxing my mind enough to to, like, really see where are we and and and what is this place like. And and that just brings forth a whole bunch of new ideas. And then also What's the book?

Stephanie Hansen [00:15:55]:

Do you know?

Rebecca Blackwell [00:15:56]:

Oh, yeah. It's, Martha Beck.

Stephanie Hansen [00:15:59]:

Okay.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:15:59]:

And, I don't remember the title, but it's her it's her newest one, and there's the word anxiety in the title.

Stephanie Hansen [00:16:04]:

It's highly recommended. And just put it in the show notes in case anyone

Rebecca Blackwell [00:16:08]:

Very good. Yeah. Because she has this idea that we can use our creative mind to calm stress and anxiety in our lives, and I I love that idea. So and, you know, before we moved into the RV, I I could have, you know, shopped at the same places, and I could have very distinct ideas and just go to the grocery store and get them. And now I have to show up with a very loose idea of what I want because you never know. You never know what's gonna be there. Yeah.

Stephanie Hansen [00:16:33]:

And that just

Rebecca Blackwell [00:16:35]:

also been a creative, I think a creative boost to not be so rigid in that thinking.

Stephanie Hansen [00:16:41]:

Yeah. I love that idea. Also, I think for we're in this kind of weird political place where everybody is very polarized in their silos, and you're either all this or you're all that, and there's very little nuance. One thing I found about traveling that really helped me a lot is this idea that wherever you are in an RV park, like Yep. Whether you're alone or you're with others, everybody's kind of there for the same things.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:17:11]:

That's right.

Stephanie Hansen [00:17:12]:

You might approach them differently. Like, your political flag might fly differently. But at the end of the day, they're sitting out there at their campfire. You're sitting out at your campfire. It doesn't hurt you to kinda go over and introduce yourself and share a beer or a glass of wine. And I just felt so appreciative that I had that experience because when I'm in a dark place and I'm feeling like I'm alone in my own silo, I remember that, oh, no. There's all these other people out there, and we kinda get to it a different way, but we want security for our family. We wanna have jobs that are meaningful.

Stephanie Hansen [00:17:47]:

We wanna love and be able to be, you know, in a place that's beautiful. That really helped me have a lot of empathy for people that weren't like me.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:17:57]:

Yeah. I agree completely. We had this one experience a couple of years ago where we were talking to a couple in our campground, and, he got on a a tangent of all sorts of political ideas. And and we just stood there listening, and and I didn't agree with pretty much anything he was saying. And at the end of it, I I just said, you know, I didn't actually agree with anything that you just said, but one thing that I've learned is that there are good people everywhere even if they think differently from me. And so then we ended up talking about that. And that, I I have strong opinions about a lot of things. And so the more I meet people that don't share that same perspective, the the better it is for me, the better it is for my my state of mind.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:18:50]:

I can get very pigeonholed into thinking that the world is a dark place. And then when I'm out in it and actually meeting the people that live in all of these places, it's a it's a solid reminder that it's not it's not a dark place. Most people are very generous and very kind and very friendly. And in every state, that's true.

Stephanie Hansen [00:19:12]:

We Yeah.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:19:13]:

We have states that we enjoy more than others, but we have found good people and beautiful places pretty pretty much everywhere.

Stephanie Hansen [00:19:23]:

That is, like, the moral of the story, isn't it? Like, right what you just said. And it's why I I love sailing. I love RV ing. I love going to Europe. I love traveling. And Yeah. You know, I'm fortunate in that I have some reserves to do that, but you can just travel to your state park down the road and just really explore it in your car and sleep in your car and meet so many different people. And I didn't sleep in a tent for well, honestly, I've only slept in a tent, like, probably twice because I've either had an RV or a cabin or but it is a very eye opening experience to just put yourself out there and the people that you meet.

Stephanie Hansen [00:20:03]:

So I'm really excited about your lost, the let's, not the let's get lost. I'm excited about the lost supper club. Because in the Midwest, as you know, supper clubs are such a big deal here.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:20:15]:

Yes. I know. So that I did I didn't know anything about supper clubs until we visited the Midwest. And then I was like, well, this is cool.

Stephanie Hansen [00:20:24]:

Yeah. And some of them are they're sort of older, folks here, but then there's others that are more modern now, and we're kinda getting back to seeing fancy relish trays and fancy high end restaurants. And just the idea of the supper club being, like, a place where you gather on a Friday or Saturday night, and it can be with friends. And it doesn't have to be at a restaurant all the time, and it certainly does not have to always be steak.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:20:49]:

That's right. Well, and in the south, if you say supper club, people don't even realize that you're talking about an establishment. They supper clubs are a group of friends that get together on a regular basis. They're very organized, and, we we met some friends in Louisiana a few years ago. We're we're gonna do a supper club, at her place this year. But but she invited us to her home for dinner, and that's what it was. It was a supper club, and the table was tablescaped, and the China was out, and everybody was in their Sunday best. And, I mean, like, it was a it was an amazing dinner, an amazing event, and they they just she just does that all the time.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:21:29]:

It's just a a normal part of life to have these

Stephanie Hansen [00:21:32]:

Oh, fun.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:21:33]:

Amazing dinner parties with groups of people gathered around her table. And and so that's more what it is in the south. So, there's there's a lot of options and a lot of variety, for people to kind of create more community over food. And and, honestly, there's something about humans where we want if we're gonna get together with people, we want there to be food.

Stephanie Hansen [00:21:56]:

Yeah. Yes. Hot tea does not do it. You gotta have a stone or a biscuit or something else.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:22:03]:

Yes. That's right. That's right.

Stephanie Hansen [00:22:24]:

You can preorder the book now. We will provide a link in the show notes. Rebecca Blackwell, thank you for being our guest today. It was super fun to just chat with you. I think it's funny too the cookbooks behind you that made it on the RV list. You have probably, like, 30, way more than I would have thought.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:23:09]:

I have another 30 in our bedroom.

Stephanie Hansen [00:23:12]:

Okay. So do you read cookbooks like you read novels? Yes. Same. Like, at night when I'm in bed, I'm, like, reading a cookbook, not necessarily a book as it were.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:23:23]:

Yes. Well and I'm starting to order more on Kindle because, you know, I only have so much space. And Yeah. And I don't love the the Kindle cookbooks as much. It's ugh. I love having a book in my hands, but I can't stop buying them. So Yeah. Something has

Stephanie Hansen [00:23:40]:

Yeah. You gotta make make do where you can. Well, it was great to chat with you. Like I said, I'll have all the links for everything in the show notes here, and good luck. And I can't wait to connect with you next year after you've had this whole year of creativity behind you to see where it goes.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:23:56]:

Thank you so much for having me.

Stephanie Hansen [00:23:58]:

Thanks, Rebecca. We'll talk soon.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Born and raised in the Midwest to parents originally from Egypt, sisters Alia and Radwa Elkaffas created their Food Dolls platform to share exciting, fast, healthy meals. Born and raised in the Twin Cities to parents originally from Egypt, their recipes from “Pretty Delicious” are flavor-packed, Mediterranean-inspired, and plated with their signature style.

Recently, we had a chance to catch up with the Food Dolls sisters on the eve of their cookbook launch for “Pretty Delicious” (pre-order the book here now) when we recorded a “Taste Buds With Stephanie” (episode drops on Fox 9 2/22/2025 at 8:30 am. ) at Radwa’s gorgeous home. The sisters were as delightful and warm as ever, and we loved the recipes. “10 out of 10.”

We made 3 recipes from the book, “Pretty Delicious”.

I also riffed on their Marinated Tomatoes and Feta Dip and made it my own with all the same ingredients but as a baked pasta dish in homage to their talents.

Cheesy Tomato and Feta Baked with Pasta and Herbs

By Stephanie Hansen

Ingredients

* 2 cups cherry tomatoes about 1 pint

* 1/4 cup olive oil

* 2 teaspoons salt

* 1 teaspoon pepper

* 8 oz. full-fat cream cheese at room temperature

* 8 oz. feta cheese at room temperature

* juice of half a lemon

* 1 Tablespoon honey

* 1/4 cup fresh parsley

* 1/4 cup fresh basil

* 1/4 cup fresh mint

* 8 oz penne pasta

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Add the tomatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon and honey to a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Nestle the cream cheese and feta cheese in the center of the baking dish amongst the tomatoes

Bake for 22-25 minutes

Meanwhile, boil the pasta until el dente

Remove from the oven and add the sour cream and stir the mixture, breaking it up combining the cheese and the tomatoes with the pasta making a sauce

top with the fresh basil, parsley and mint, and serve hot

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Stephanie:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's dish, the podcast where we talk to people equally obsessed in the food spaces as we are. And today, I'm with the Food Dolls. I'm with Radwa and Alia Elkaffas, and we had an opportunity to record a taste buds episode with them that will air at the end of February. I think it's gonna be February 22nd right on the eve of your book being available at stores.

Alia Elkaffas:

It well, we go live on the 25th.

Stephanie:

Okay. So you can preorder, though, your book Pretty Delicious right now. And if we talk about cookbooks in particular, the preorder is like it's crazy because what people don't know is all those preorders that you say you want this book, they count towards day 1 sales. And for people like Food Dolls who have such a massive following, it could be the day that launches them potentially to the top of the New York Times, cookbook list. So preorders for cookbook authors are super important. So we want you to get your books when they come out live, but we also want you to preorder because all of that stacked up on that first day counts to get them we're trying to get them on the New York Times bestseller list with their book. Would you like that, girls?

Radwa Elkaffas:

That would be just a dream.

Stephanie:

I know. It would. When when we spent time together in your home and watching you guys make your magic, When I left, one of the things that I asked, I'm like, so, you know, what are your intentions? And you were like, we wanna get our book on the New York Times bestseller list. And I think I really think you can do it because you guys have such a huge following. The book is so great. It's pretty delicious. Can we just back up? Like, you guys said you've been doing this pretty much since pre pandemic, but I feel like, you know, you've amassed such a huge following. Like, how did it get started?

Radwa Elkaffas:

Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me on, and it was so fun cooking with you last week. I well, we definitely started around 9 years ago now, which is so crazy to think that it's been that long. I think when we first started, we didn't really have, like, the best direction of what exactly Sure.

Stephanie:

No one did.

Radwa Elkaffas:

And we were trying to figure out social media. Both of our backgrounds were not chefs. We have no we have no photography background, no videography background. We had nothing, but we just knew that we love to cook, and we wanted to share with the world how easy and delicious you can make recipes. And I think that's been it since day 1. Our shift kind of changed a few years later on really kind of honing in on, like, our culture and our background and what we grew up eating, and people loved it. People loved it, and they love our, like, sister vibe.

Stephanie:

Yeah. You 2 are real life sisters, and are you 4 years apart?

Alia Elkaffas:

Yes. That's right.

Stephanie:

And, your background is your parents are from Egypt. Right. So you're you're leaning into that sort of cultural vibe. And what maybe a lot of people don't know, and I know a tiny, tiny bit, but, that Egypt is a very modern place all told. Like, can you just give us a little bit of, why it's a touchstone for you to still be speaking about this food that you guys have lived here most of your lives, but you still feel like this is such an influence for you?

Alia Elkaffas:

So our parents were they immigrated here in the early eighties. And so we were both born and raised here, but they really tried very hard to keep our Egyptian background alive. So whether it was with food, with, cultures, traditions. So, basically, we're very we're very Egyptian and Midwestern at the same time. So you even see a lot of our recipes. We do fusions between Egyptian and Mediterranean, Middle Eastern food with our Minnesota side.

Stephanie:

It's funny that you mentioned that today because, prior to talking with you, the way that taste buds works usually is we go out and we have an adventure somewhere. And in this episode, that adventure was with you guys in your home. And then we take what we learned from that adventure, and we come back into my kitchen. And so one of the things that I made was your, what was it? It was the Egyptian orzo with ground beef, and it had cinnamon in it. It was super delicious. The recipe worked beautifully, and everybody loved it. But what was funny was when we were making it, my cameraman said, oh, it's just like a casserole or a hot dish. And so I laughed.

Stephanie:

I was like, yes. This is like the Egyptian hot dish. That's exactly the mashup.

Alia Elkaffas:

Exactly. Yep. And that's what we we always say. It's like an Egyptian, hamburger helper, you know, casserole. So it's it's yeah. It's really good.

Stephanie:

Even down to, like I don't know if you guys ever have had rice aaroni, but it was like a combination between rice and pasta, and you sauteed it just like you did with the orzo to get the color on the pasta. So it was just really it it was a delicious recipe. The other thing that we did that will surprise you maybe is I was trying to think about how to take what I learned from you and your book and the way you cook and make that kinda my own too because I think that's so much of what you inspire people to do. So I took the marinated tomato, and creamy whipped feta dip that we made on the show with you, and I took all those same ingredients literally to the letter, but we made a pasta bake with it.

Radwa Elkaffas:

Oh, that sounds delicious.

Stephanie:

Yeah. So you'll see that on the episode. We made it and we made it into, like, a pasta bake because when I was looking at the recipe that you guys made when we were in your kitchen, I was like, oh, this is kinda like that feta where the roasted tomatoes. And so that's the surprise for you that you'll see that we just took your dish and all the ingredients. It was very fun to and it was interesting too because, Michelle, my producer, she was like because she loved your dip so much. And then she was like, and it's so weird that this is the exact same ingredients, but the flavor profile is so different.

Radwa Elkaffas:

Changes everything.

Stephanie:

Yeah. And maybe just the roasting of the tomatoes too and the heat and the pasta because that was the one thing we did add. But it was really fun to think about how to take a recipe from your book, but kinda, like, just twist it with all the same stuff. It was fun.

Alia Elkaffas:

Yep. Awesome. Yeah. And that's what we love to do. We love taking these just these simple ingredients and just turning them into something amazing. You know? You don't need like, you don't need anything crazy and any crazy ingredients, and you could just make something that's really good and with simple ingredients.

Stephanie:

Yeah. I think that's why we really liked your recipes that also, we made a beautiful chicken dish. Do you wanna describe the chicken dish that we made?

Radwa Elkaffas:

Oh, that's sassy chicken and potatoes? Yes. And that's the thing. Like, we are busy moms who don't really have a lot of time, so we're always thinking, okay. What can we do that's just easy, delicious, and you could just throw it together. Literally throw everything into the baking dish, make your, marinade, and throw it together and pop it in the oven. So you could do it the night before, so it's a great make ahead, or you can make it the same day, but really just getting those flavors to infuse overnight is awesome. And who doesn't love having dinner the day before? So all you have to do is throw it in the oven when you're ready to eat it is exactly what we love to do.

Stephanie:

How many days a week do you okay. Let's just back up a second. You guys have I think we determined it was 8,000,000 followers over all the platforms. How many days a week do you actually spend together creating content versus the marketing and the managing of the content?

Radwa Elkaffas:

I think this that's the beauty of having 2 of us is we do a lot of divide and conquer, which really helps us a lot, and it alleviates a lot of pressure off of each other. There's things that we obviously have to do together, like our end shots. Or if we're filming, like, a recipe clip that we're actually in, then we have to be together. I think we just kinda take it week by week because maybe we have, like, a high sponsored week that we have to do our sponsors, or if we have a lighter week, or we, you know, are going on vacation and we need to film as many as we can so we can have a little bit extra, content. I think we just kind of take it week by week.

Stephanie:

When you look at your content calendar, how far in advance do you go, or do you just do it week by week?

Radwa Elkaffas:

I mean, I would love to say that we're the most organized, sisters ever, but we're not. We really just kind of sometimes we wing it. Sometimes even we don't recipe test the recipe. We're like, okay. Let's just try this, And sometimes it is a 100% fail and it does not work. And other times, we're like, we nailed that. Like, it is absolutely amazing, and then we get super excited. Sometimes those are our best recipes when it's just spur of the moment.

Alia Elkaffas:

I I was gonna say sometimes we have this, like, master plan. Oh, we're gonna make x y z today. It's gonna be great. And all of a sudden, we're in the middle of making it, and it turns into something a 100% different, and and we just we just go

Stephanie:

with it.

Alia Elkaffas:

You know?

Stephanie:

Yeah. It's so fun. And the styling of the book, what I noticed when I was at your home is you both have a similar style, but your homes are very curated and full of beautiful art and beautiful flowers, and you have a a real, statement color palette. And that kinda translates to your work online and the book. Have you always been like that since you were little kids? Oh, you're both matching. You have all the perfect lips, the perfect hair, all the stuff.

Radwa Elkaffas:

You know, it's so funny. Like, our favorite color is really black and white. Like, it's not just something that we created for our brand. It is it's legit what we love. We love black and white. When we went through our brand and what we wanted it to look like, it was okay. How are we gonna incorporate this into our brand? Because what we like at home, this is what we do at home, and we also love it in our clothes. So it's not just we like black and white, and I I this might sound a little crazy that we love black and white and everything, but we do.

Radwa Elkaffas:

So it ended up being that we love it at home. We love it in the book. We love it in online. Like, it's just so it's it's just part of our, Food Dolls identity at this point.

Stephanie:

Can you remember the first thing you guys ever made, like, by yourselves just, like, as a kid? Or, like, did you have a first cookbook? Or do you remember just, like, that first thing you really made?

Alia Elkaffas:

I would I'm pretty sure the first thing we probably ever made together was probably baked cookies. You know? Like, just straight up cookies or a box of brownie mix or something.

Stephanie:

Totally. That is and, it was always like cookies or brownies because it was kind of a one bowl situation. Right? I didn't wanna make a mess with your mom. Is there a recipe that you feel like, a, gets a lot of attraction, but, b, like, really represents you? It's like, this is the one that we feel like is our statement.

Radwa Elkaffas:

Wow. That's a really good question. Okay. I will say this. Our most popular recipes are the most shocking that we would have never guessed that these are, like, the most popular recipes. We did, a a baked spaghetti that went absolutely crazy. Would we have thought that that was gonna be our number one recipe on the website? No. We love it, but people went crazy over

Alia Elkaffas:

it. Yeah.

Radwa Elkaffas:

So crazy. And it was it's just really shocking to us. But I think we kinda came to the conclusion is our top recipes are, like, the simplest, easiest. Like, you've got these recipe you've got these ingredients in your pantry. So all you have to do is throw it together, and I think that's what always wins.

Stephanie:

Yeah. And it's always surprising, like, the ones that get the most traction, and you just think like, wow. That's weird. Like, one of mine is this chao chao relish that they bake usually in the south, and I always have green tomatoes that I garden with. So I ended up just having to kind of make this thing, and it's, like, always in the top three. I don't know who's clicking on that recipe that much, but people are. It's weird.

Alia Elkaffas:

Yeah. It's funny how that works. It's just what what you think is gonna like, people are like, oh my god. This is so good. It's the opposite, and it's like something that, you know, is the most, like, and simple and basic. And you know?

Stephanie:

When we talk about your Egyptian heritage, and I asked you guys about this when we met, What is it specifically, like for instance, when we were doing the Orzo bake, they the the producer asked, she was like, what do you think about this makes it Egyptian? And I was, like, saying the flavor profiles and the types of ingredients that we use. But is there something that you feel like is uniquely Egyptian that you bring to the party?

Alia Elkaffas:

That's a really good question. So I'd say a lot of the dishes in the book are not necessarily, like, true Egyptian. It's got, like, some fusion to it with, like, Mediterranean flavors. And a lot of the, like, the real traditional Egyptian recipes might be a little bit more intricate, so we were trying to simplify it by using some of those those same flavor profiles, but not necessarily doing it step by step like our mom would do our aunts or grandma. You know?

Stephanie:

One of the ingredients in the casserole that we made was tomato paste, and you cooked down the tomato paste. But that like, when you think about tomatoes in warm climates, you know, the flavor is so intense and so concentrated, and you do kinda get that from a tomato paste. I hadn't really thought about that before.

Alia Elkaffas:

Yeah. That's very true. And we do have a lot of dishes that are very tomato based as well.

Stephanie:

Yeah. I love it. Okay. So when you guys are, like, absolutely exhausted and the kids are driving you crazy and it's 6 o'clock and you have to put something is there, like, a go to meal for each of you?

Radwa Elkaffas:

I'm, like, thinking about it because I'm like, okay. There's a lot. I feel like our like, the chicken and potatoes, I think, for sure, to just kind of throw together. But I really do love that to sit overnight. But if I'm, like, in a pinch, I will say the kids maybe sometimes eat something different than I do, because they're so picky. Like, I have a 4 year old, a 9 year old, and one wants, you know, quesadillas, and the other one's, like, fighting me on the chicken and potatoes and rice. Like so I would say that what it's always 2 different things. I'm not even gonna lie about it because they they drive me absolutely crazy about getting them to eat everything all at the same time and and the same thing.

Radwa Elkaffas:

So I would say for me, it would be the chicken potatoes. For them, it would definitely be some sort of pasta. And we love 1 pot pastas because you can have it ready in 15 minutes, and we have so many 1 pot pastas in our book.

Stephanie:

Yeah. You do have a lot. I tried to make the dish as a 1 pot with the pasta already in the baking dish and make the sauce right in the pan, but I couldn't get the right ratio of water to pasta. I made it twice, and the pasta kept coming out a little crunchy. So I'm done, and I just make I just made it I just boiled the pasta and did it that way and added it later. But I did try twice to get it, like because I kept thinking it would be so great if you could just do this all in the oven in the one pan. And maybe a different pan or a flatter pan, I could have

Alia Elkaffas:

That could be. And it could be also the kind of pasta that sometimes makes a difference as well.

Stephanie:

Yeah. I should have tried an orzo, but I had a penne. So yep. Do you when your kids are, like, picky like that, do you feel like, okay. No, kids. This is what I made. This is what we're eating. I'm not a short order cook.

Stephanie:

Or are you more lax and you're like, just whatever we're eating, go ahead. Eat it as long as you eat.

Radwa Elkaffas:

I would have to say I kind of started, especially with my kids, learning how they are, and I don't care if I make the same thing every single week if I know they're gonna eat it. Why am I gonna sit here and fight every single week to try to get them to try new things? Because I I see I see Alia as, like, the perfect examples because my kids are younger. Hers are older. So now they're starting to eat anything. So I know hopefully, eventually, they'll get there, but we're in this, like, little phase right now where I'm trying to just get them to eat. I just want them to eat. I don't care what they eat. I just want them to eat the dinner.

Radwa Elkaffas:

So I will make the same things over and over and over again because I know they like it, and I know they'll eat it. So

Alia Elkaffas:

I was gonna say a lot of times, like, even, like, for example, we do have, like, a southwest salad in the cookbook. So what I'll do instead of assembling it altogether as a salad, I kind of keep it some of the components separate so all the kids could kind of grab what they do like and what they don't like. So that way, it's like it feels custom to them versus, you know, making it putting everything together and forcing them to eat it as is.

Stephanie:

That's smart. It's like the Chipotle method. Right? Giving them choices. Yep. I I do think too, like, we spend a lot of time worrying about stuff that's probably not super consequential in the grand scheme of life. Kids are gonna eat, you know. Sooner or later, they're gonna eat. Sooner or later, they're gonna develop their palate whether, you know, they were part of the clean plate club or not.

Stephanie:

It feels like kind of a weird thing to worry about looking back on my childhood and how much time and struggle there was about, like, what you ate and you couldn't leave the table till you ate it and just kinda dumb. When you think about social media with your kids, I noticed that we don't really see your kids. Is that intentional, or how do you feel like you want your kids to show up as, teenagers and young adults in this profile of their moms being so famous?

Alia Elkaffas:

Yes. That is a great question. So we purposely, we do not put our kids on social media, and we have very, very little images of images of them anywhere just to protect their privacy as well. You know? And it's like once stuff is out in social media, once it's out in the world, it's out there forever. So, yeah, we choose to keep them up.

Radwa Elkaffas:

Sure that they have that decision later. You know? Like, it will not come back at us. Like, why did you put me on there? You know? Have that choice later. And so now we're gonna be mama bears and just protect them.

Stephanie:

I think too we're seeing, the social media I guess Facebook just turned 20 recently, which is hard to believe. But when it first came about, you know, like, we were just on it, and it was new, and it was exciting, and we didn't really think about the big picture. And I think now if I had my daughter's 25. So if I had it I made her wait till 13. And if I had to do it all over again and I was in this day and age, I definitely would I might get my kid, like, a flip phone or something terrible that they can only call me on, but I would have waited because I do think social media adds an element to young, kids' lives that maybe they don't need or aren't ready for it until later.

Radwa Elkaffas:

Absolutely. A 100% agree with you on that.

Stephanie:

How do your parents feel about your business?

Radwa Elkaffas:

I think it took them such a long time to fully understand it.

Stephanie:

It's probably so

Radwa Elkaffas:

weird. Grasp what we what it is exactly we are doing. But I we know that they're so proud of us and super excited to see us do this and, you know, especially mom, you know, she was a really big influence for us growing up and in in the cooking world. So we love making them proud.

Stephanie:

Do you have anxiety about, like, keeping up or, like, always being on the churn? And what do you do for, like, self care?

Alia Elkaffas:

Oh, that's a great one. Yes. I'd say we do have definitely have the anxiety, but we try to we always talk each other down, calm each other down, and just know that, you know, just talk things through together. But and I'd say probably self care. We like to work out just to kind of, you know, really get the release those endorphins. You know?

Radwa Elkaffas:

And we we actually do yell at each other, like, stop working. You need to stop working. Stop looking at your screen. Put your computer down. Stop doing this. We do that all all the time to each other.

Alia Elkaffas:

Yep.

Stephanie:

What are your favorite types of workouts?

Radwa Elkaffas:

I would say lifting and walking.

Stephanie:

What was lifting and walking?

Alia Elkaffas:

Yep. Same lifting, walking, and, you know, doing some sort of cardio.

Stephanie:

Yeah. And you have kids too. So you're probably trying to fit it in when you can. And it's hard to, like, go to a structured gym and do all that when you've got a lot of family at home and, a structured gym and do all that when you've got a lot of family at home. And how do you feel about working from home? And does that work for your schedules? Or do you ever visualize, like, someday having an office where you have all your production stuff? And

Radwa Elkaffas:

I I love working from home because of the flexibility and having everything at home where you could quickly just, but it it's definitely a challenge to disconnect sometimes because work is home, home is work. So it's hard to, like, break the 2 apart. But it's nice that we have 2 houses. So if we need a break from 1 house, we go to the other one.

Stephanie:

Yeah. That is nice. Like, just it because it can just feel so much like, oh, you're just in your house all the time doing all this stuff.

Alia Elkaffas:

And it's it really is hard to disconnect. So it's not like we try to have work hours, but it's like it's almost impossible. So, like, we'll work, and then we'll take a break, even run kids' activities, come back, finish working. So it's like it feels like sometimes it's like a nonstop cycle. But, yeah, that's when we have to put each other in check, say, get off and go take a break.

Stephanie:

Yeah. Okay. Switching gears, what is your and each of you can have a separate answer, of course, but what is your, like, most used kitchen utensil or gadget or thing that, like, you could not live without?

Radwa Elkaffas:

Air fryer.

Stephanie:

That was so fast.

Radwa Elkaffas:

Absolutely. I have to suck at her on.

Stephanie:

Yeah. Yep. Really? I I use my air fryer so rarely. It's in the garage. Like, do you use it every day? What are you doing with it?

Radwa Elkaffas:

Every single day. Like, there is not a day that goes by that I don't use that.

Alia Elkaffas:

Really? For reheating things, for making things. We actually do have some instructions in the cookbook. Like, if if you wanna make this recipe in an air fryer, how to do that. But it just makes things so much easier even if, like, the kids wanna make chicken and fries or something. You know? It crisps it up perfectly, and it feels like you're eating it, you know, freshly, like, deep fried. You know?

Stephanie:

Alright. I'm gonna have to get my air fryer out of the garage and give it another try. I just I don't know. It's like, and I have a convection oven too. So I think the convection oven does the same thing, but I don't have kids, so maybe that's different, you know, just the speed and convenience of it being right on the counter like that.

Radwa Elkaffas:

And you mentioned what we do on there. And, honestly, like, even we do, like, French toast. Like, if you wanna make French toast, you can throw your French toast in there. Or if you make a marinated chicken, just throw it in there, shut it, and it's done in no time. And you don't have to worry about a mess.

Stephanie:

Yeah. And it goes faster too. You guys will be on a book tour, I'm imagining. Is that all coming together, and how is that feeling?

Radwa Elkaffas:

It's exciting. Super excited to do that. That's gonna be end of February, beginning of March. We have we're stopping at 5 different cities. So we're really excited about that.

Alia Elkaffas:

And our last office is gonna be here in Minneapolis.

Stephanie:

So we're gonna so great. Do you know where you're gonna be or what you're doing yet?

Alia Elkaffas:

We're gonna be at the Barnes and Noble in Edina. So that'll be where I don't think we have a confirmed time yet, but that'll be on March. It's a Sunday, March 2nd, I believe.

Stephanie:

Alright. Well, when you know, just let me know, and I'll make sure and share it. It's been super fun just chatting with you guys. I knew just from kinda following you that I like, oh, I'm gonna like these girls. But really, honestly, it was, like, one of my best days. And I just so proud of you, and I feel like you know, how you you meet people and you want them to be successful or you're so proud of their success? That's how I feel about you guys. You really work hard, and you've really earned, everything that's coming your way. And I think the book's gonna be amazing, and it was just it's been fun to just be a little tiny, tiny part of the journey for a second.

Stephanie:

It's been a blast.

Radwa Elkaffas:

Thank you so much. And, honestly, your energy that you brought to that table last week was everything. You made us feel so good, and we we we felt like a $1,000,000 after you left. So thank

Alia Elkaffas:

you for having me. So honored to have gotten to work with you, and now we get to be friends and Yes.

Stephanie:

I'm I'm actually I just I'm planning, I I I booked a do you know, a Khmeran feast at Vinay? And I've had one for a while, and so I was like, oh, I wonder. Maybe I'll do a gathering of, like, food ladies just to do something fun and different.

Radwa Elkaffas:

Yeah.

Stephanie:

Alright, you guys. Your book's gonna be great. Keep me in the loop. I'll keep you in the loop if anything fun's happening. And just thanks for being taste buds.

Radwa Elkaffas:

Awesome. Thank you so much.

Stephanie:

Alright. We'll see you soon. Bye. Bye bye.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

I am thrilled to bring you the latest episode of "Dishing with Stephanie's Dish," where we welcome the incredibly talented Hayden Haas, the creative mind behind "Simply Delishaas: Favorite Recipes from the Midwestern Kitchen." Discover Hayden’s unique path from being a dishwasher on the Food Network to becoming an assistant to Molly Yeh and, eventually, a renowned cookbook author and now Minneapolis resident! Follow Hayden on Instagram @haydendelishaas

Featured Recipes

This pickle soup recipe is from Hayden’s Food Blog where he has other delicious recipes including the Cranberry Tortellini recipe we talked about from the book.

Pickle Soup

Serves 6

Ingredients:

* 3 russet potatoes or 3c (2-3pounds) diced (this also works with frozen potatoes) (300- 420g)

* 3 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil (13g)

* 2 carrots roughly chopped (130g)

* 2 stalks of celery roughly chopped (120g)

* 1 yellow onion, diced (150g)

* 6 cloves of garlic, minced (60g)

* 2 tbsp butter (14g)

* 4 tbsp ap flour (30g)

* Salt and pepper to preference 

* 4- 6 cups of vegetable or chicken broth (940-1410g)

* 1 heaping cup of dill pickles chopped (about 5-6 pickles)

* 1/2c pickle brine (127g)

* 1 bunch of fresh dill, divided (100g)

* 2 bay leaves (less than a gram) 

* 1 tsp fresh thyme (10g)

* 1c freshly grated havarti cheese (83-100g)

* 1/2c heavy cream (119g)

* For garnish

* Heavy cream for drizzling, sriracha for drizzling and remaining fresh dill  

If you’d like an addition I grew up eating  this with garlic bread! 

* In a large pot over high heat begin boiling about 6cups of salted water. Once boiling add in potatoes, boil and drain.  ( you can make this all in one pot or two separate ones!

* cook for 20 minutes and drain. If using a second, over medium heat add olive oil, onion, celery, carrot and garlic. 

* Cook until translucent about 8-10 minutes . Season with salt and pepper to preference (I use about 1tsp of each) 

* Once translucent, add in butter and melt then flour and mix until coated. Slowly start to incorporate the broth (you’ll see it change to a light creamy color) add in the potatoes, pickles, pickle brine, fresh herbs and simmer for 20-30 minutes over medium heat. Add in the cheese and heavy cream and mix until combined! 

You can enjoy from here or dress a bowl! To a bowl add your soup, a drizzle of heavy cream, sriracha and fresh dill! Enjoy!

Pickle Popcorn

This Pickle Popcorn recipe is from Hayden’s Food Blog He calls is Netflix and (Chi)Dill

Ingredients:

3 tbsp Oil of choice (see tips)

1/2c  Popcorn kernels (a heaping 1/2c)

5 tbsp (or more) Good quality butter (I like to use Kerrygold) 

½ bunch Dill fresh or dried, chopped

½ tsp Italian seasoning 

½ tsp Garlic powder 

½ tsp Onion powder 

1 tsp cheese powder (optional) 

3 tsp Pickle juice (brine) from a jar of pickles

Salt ( i would recommend fine salt for this)

-optional hot sauce for serving if youre Selena Gomez

Tips: you can use avocado oil, refined coconut oil, vegetable oil, or even olive oil! I would recommend using a dutch oven or your favorite soup pot for this recipe (something with a lid)

Instructions

To a large pot over medium to high heat, add the oil, when the oil is hot add 2 or 3 kernels to test to see if its ready, then add the rest of the kernels and cover, leave a little crack to let some steam escape if needed. Another helpful tip when making popcorn over the stove, is to gently wiggle the pot while holding the lid and handles to jiggle the kernels around. Listen to the kernels, when it has mostly stopped popping, removed from the heat then add to a large bowl.

In the meantime begin melting the butter on the stove or microwave in 15 second intervals. Add the seasonings to the butter along with the pickle juice, stir to combine, slowly incorporate over the popcorn and give it a light shake to distribute the pickley butter. Serve immediately! Store in an air tight container, Enjoy!

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Stephanie Hansen [00:00:16]:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's dish, the podcast where we talk to people in the food space, cookbook authors, people generally obsessed with food. I am holding in my hot little hands favorite recipes from the Midwestern Kitchen. Book is called simply Delicious by Hayden Haas. Delicious. I love the title. It's so funny.

Hayden Haas [00:00:39]:

Thank you so much, and thank you for having me on.

Stephanie Hansen [00:00:41]:

Oh, it's a blast. So let us talk about your cookbook and, like, use you somehow have not been on my radar. And then I, like, found your Instagram, and I was like, oh my gosh. This guy's from the Midwest. He has almost 500,000 followers. He's friends with Molly Yeh. I mean, how would how tell us about how you got started in the cookbook world because you must have been a food stylist. Your book is incredible.

Hayden Haas [00:01:06]:

Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Yes. I did have a little bit experience, with, food styling. I got my start on Food Network surprisingly as a dishwasher and sort of led me, on an unexpected path into the food world where I was then met with Molly and then, you know, the pandemic happened one thing or another. And then I was her personal assistant and then got to see all everything that's involved with that whole world. And Molly was such a joy and kinda taught me how to write my own recipes. And I'm so thankful for all the time that I did spend with her, learning behind the scenes.

Hayden Haas [00:01:51]:

The most important part was obviously the recipe development but also kind of, when I was working behind the scenes I kind of learned how to film and direct my own videos as well as, edit them at the same time too. So it was kind of just a full package deal. I still to this day don't even really realize that I'm doing so many people's jobs, and I'm so thankful that I had that opportunity.

Stephanie Hansen [00:02:18]:

Yeah. Your your book is well, it's beautifully shot, and you can tell, there's a lot of lifestyle to it and, yes, we're looking at recipes, but many times we're looking at, not completed recipes, like the ingredients of making it. There's a lot of color in the book. Whoever did the design, it has a real rainbow flare, which I think is really cute. Yes. I just loved it. I really got the book, and it feels really like, if I knew you, I feel like this is really a reflection of you.

Hayden Haas [00:02:54]:

Thank you so much. I that was something that was really important to me. I kind of think of this as, like, my debut album. And I it's so so special to me because one of my best friends actually took all of the photography for me, and there's so much, family and friends and everything tied into it. And my designer's name was Lindsey Dobbs from Penguin Random House. So I I really wanted to include a lot of color. That was something that was really important to me and kind of all seasons. Even though,You know, it is based mostly in the Midwest, and we have winter here maybe, like, 6 to 9 months of the year. So, trying to cover all of those bases and get pictures was probably the hardest part.

Stephanie Hansen [00:03:42]:

Yeah. And people I mean, just the shooting of a book and having the seasonality to it, it is hard. Like, I'm working on a book that's a sort of cozy winter cooking book, but we haven't had snow for over a year. So I'm trying to find snowy pictures.

Hayden Haas [00:04:01]:

Yes. Yes. You're also a published author, and I was just checking out your books as well.

Stephanie Hansen [00:04:07]:

I am a published author, but I think I'm in a different vein than you. Because while I do like developing recipes, my point of view is usually typically from, like, someone's inspired from a grandma or a friend or and then I kinda take it and make it my own. I am getting a little more confident in just being like, oh, I'm just gonna make this and kinda knowing how things come together.

Hayden Haas [00:04:33]:

Yeah. And that's, something that's super important in my cookbook too because that was inspired by all the important women in my life, like my mom and my grandmas and, you know, of course, like Molly, there's so many people who have contributed to me at this point that I couldn't not also include them and all these people who have motivated me and supported me, including all of my followers and stuff. Like, this wasn't originally my intended career path, but I am so thankful that it is.

Stephanie Hansen [00:05:04]:

What was your intended career path?

Hayden Haas [00:05:06]:

I went to school for architecture and drafting. I had dreams of becoming an architect, and then I decided that that wasn't really where my heart was, but it was a very good paying job.

Stephanie Hansen [00:05:18]:

And you live in North Dakota. Is that correct?

Hayden Haas [00:05:21]:

No. I actually recently just relocated to Minneapolis.

Stephanie Hansen [00:05:25]:

Oh, so you're probably like a neighbor somewhere.

Hayden Haas [00:05:28]:

Yeah. I'm freshly here for a couple of months, so I'm still kind of catching my bearings and, making my little space home, but Minneapolis has been so welcoming, and I have literally no complaints. It's a really great place to be.

Stephanie Hansen [00:05:45]:

Yeah. So now are you here for a short time? Or

Hayden Haas [00:05:49]:

No. I'm here to stay until further notice.

Stephanie Hansen [00:05:53]:

Okay. So I need to I'm gonna connect with you, and we'll have a cup of coffee, and maybe I could help because do you need do you need this sounds so weird. Do you need friends?

Hayden Haas [00:06:05]:

I do need friends. Yes. Been so actively looking for friends. I need more foodie friends. You know, I'm kind of like I don't wanna say I'm a shut in, but since I work from home, I just cook all this food, and I get to share it with all my friends and neighbors. So it's just a great little opportunity and kind of like a howdy neighbor to Minneapolis.

Stephanie Hansen [00:06:29]:

Yeah. I love it. And same. So I'm always cooking tons of food. I'm also, like, because of the radio show, we go out a lot, but I'm always looking for people to eat with. I know that seems weird, but, like, not everyone loves to go out.

Hayden Haas [00:06:46]:

I'm also in that category. I also love having people over because, you know, you make a ton of cozy recipes. So it's like when you provide that environment of home and, just being able to host somebody in your home is just so wonderful, and that really fills my cup.

Stephanie Hansen [00:07:04]:

Yeah. Alright. Well, we've got a mission to get you introduced because we're getting into what I think could be the long winter months. I don't know. It's 80 degrees out, and it's practically Halloween, so it's very weird.

Hayden Haas [00:07:17]:

Wow. So strange how that's happening. I always knew Minneapolis was slightly warmer than where I'm from in North Dakota by at least 20 degrees. So I'm like, oh, if this is really what it's like, I'm all on board.

Stephanie Hansen [00:07:29]:

No. It's not at all. It's usually cold as hell. Alright. So I first found out about you from my friend Paul Folger from channel 5.

Hayden Haas [00:07:41]:

Oh.

Stephanie Hansen [00:07:41]:

And he was telling me about when you were on Twin Cities Live with him and Elizabeth and that you brought this pickle popcorn.

Hayden Haas [00:07:52]:

Yes.

Stephanie Hansen [00:07:53]:

Okay. And I'm obsessed with popcorn so much so that I really am not supposed to eat it because I used to eat so much of it. I had, like, stomach problems.

Hayden Haas [00:08:03]:

Oh, no.

Stephanie Hansen [00:08:05]:

But he brings me in this ziplock bag full of this pickle popcorn, and pickles are like, I'm obsessed with pickles, and I love popcorn. How did you think of the pickle popcorn recipe? Because it's a great recipe.

Hayden Haas [00:08:19]:

Thank you. I am in the same category as you as popcorn was literally my favorite snack when I was growing up. I just made a video talking about this slightly. Like, I was such a little weirdo with my popcorn. I mean, after school, we lived pretty close to a movie theater, so you could, like, pop in and grab some movie theater popcorn as a great little snack. So popcorn's always been one of my favorite things, along with pickles. So combining the 2 just kind of felt great. I love using pickle brine as an ingredient, and any opportunity to use fresh dill.

Hayden Haas [00:08:55]:

And we all know and love butter, so I kinda just fell hand in hand.

Stephanie Hansen [00:09:00]:

This is funny because I really am obsessed with dill too just because I grow it and it's like it volunteers in your garden where you don't want it, and then you're like, oh, I have dill, and you just have so much of it. You just end up using it all over.

Hayden Haas [00:09:14]:

And I think that's such a great problem to have too. I I don't know. It's either dill either because I'm also a little bit of a gardener myself. You can either grow it, and then it'll have, like, a bunch of abundance, or you're just done for it and you're not gonna have dill that year.

Stephanie Hansen [00:09:28]:

Yeah. I've had those years too. And then, like, the years you have it, you're like, wow. What I thought was so fascinating about the popcorn recipe was that you used the brine with the butter and it it didn't completely sog out the popcorn. Like, it did have kind of a, day after taste a little bit, but I love that about popcorn.

Hayden Haas [00:09:50]:

Me too. I, not to go back to movie theater popcorn, but I always loved it more the second day.

Stephanie Hansen [00:09:58]:

Yeah.

Hayden Haas [00:09:58]:

So when when you kind of combine those together and you coat them kind of gradually, it, you know, you don't want it to be, like, soggy from all of the butter and whatnot. So kind of figuring out how that works is, you know, you kind of figure it out the more often you make popcorn.

Stephanie Hansen [00:10:14]:

Well, Paul said that you were considering putting it in your next book.

Hayden Haas [00:10:19]:

Yes. I haven't announced that I'm doing the next book or anything like that, but I am so happy to share it. And so that is one of the next, recipes that I do plan on sharing. But it is already available to share on my blog, and I would happily make a video for everyone to follow along with.

Stephanie Hansen [00:10:38]:

Yeah. I really loved, he brought it in. I am not supposed to eat popcorn. I ate a handful. I loved it. And he was like, oh, no. You can just keep the bag. I was like, Paul, I can't because I have no self control, and I will end up eating this entire bag either by the time the show's over or on the way home

Hayden Haas [00:10:58]:

in the car. Totally delightful.

Stephanie Hansen [00:10:59]:

We laughed about that. When you your book has everything. Like, you have desserts, you have cozy casseroles and hot dishes, you have drinks, which I also really enjoy. I have a lot of drinks in my book too. You've got a lot of soups. We're in the Midwest. Right? Soups are great. How did you decide? You have a lot of recipes in here too.

Stephanie Hansen [00:11:22]:

Like, they must have been cutting you off.

Hayden Haas [00:11:24]:

I we had kind of a tricky time deciding on we did originally have more recipes that we wanted to do, but we kind of decided on, you know, the photography that was really important to include and any, like, follow along steps. But there's over a 125 recipes. I tried to make it, kind of accessible, for everybody to be able to shop because I came from a really small town where, you know, some of the largest stores you had were probably like a Walmart or something along those lines, Target, Walmart. So you should be able to shop most of these ingredients from places like those wherever you are in the world. So I took a lot of thought into that. So you based on things that you have in your pantry and or fridge that are just like staples to always keep on hand. I it was really important to me to, share with the reader that you can make all these delicious things with things that you probably already have. A lot of my personal favorites, I'm a big breakfast and brunch kinda guy.

Hayden Haas [00:12:28]:

I also love, like, the meat and potatoes of things. I think that's kind of very Midwest. If you know my dad, he's, like, always more protein, always more protein. Just can't get enough of that meat. And soups are kind of like my favorite thing in the entire I think it should have its own food group because it's just the best, and I love just always

Stephanie Hansen [00:12:52]:

You and I are gonna be fast friends, dude. I can just tell.

Hayden Haas [00:12:55]:

No. We need to have you over for a fine bowl of soup. And then, of course, I'm not much of a sweet tooth, but I love making them for other people. And then same with, the adult beverages, there's mocktail options in there too. So I really wanted to cover all of the bases, things that I regularly enjoy or that were from my childhood and nostalgic, but slightly modernized and from foods of all kinds of cultures that I really wanted to share and also put my own little fusion or twist on.

Stephanie Hansen [00:13:24]:

You seem very excited about your food life. Do you ever feel, like, taxed by it? I mean, with so many followers, you gotta be spending a lot of time on social media. Does it ever feel like you're giving up too much or just like you're burned out?

Hayden Haas [00:13:39]:

I I that's a great question. Thank you so much for asking. I definitely experience burnout, on those days. I would say that I film maybe like 3 or 4 days of the week, and sometimes it can be 2 recipes, sometimes it can be 3. So it kind of just depends, weighing on my schedule and then other projects that I have going on, trying to make that all work. It's so much fun and stressful at the same time. I love it so much that it doesn't always feel like work, but that doesn't mean that I don't get emotionally or physically taxed from it. So sometimes where I'm like, today is not a filming day or, like, let's say I get, like, a zit or something like that.

Hayden Haas [00:14:20]:

You know? Because we all have everyday problems and stuff like that too. I, that's also really important where it's like, I don't, like, edit any of my videos where it's, like, lighting them different or even when I'm food styling, it's not like I'm doing anything crazy. So I want people to when they see a video or recipe of mine where it's like, how you see it is probably how it's gonna show up. That's, you know, how I intended it. And I tested that recipe 10 times or a 100 times. So it's like, I want you to have that result because I know the person at home, whether they're living on a budget or, you know, just trying to get more experience in the kitchen, that they have that confidence and they can pretty much jump into any recipe in the book that you know, it's anybody from any walk of life would be able to. So that was super important. And but sorry to get back to your original question, being taxed by the or tax or burnout.

Hayden Haas [00:15:19]:

I definitely experienced burnout, but those are the days where I'm like, it's more of a work on my computer type of day and Right. Let's order some takeout.

Stephanie Hansen [00:15:28]:

Yeah. I, when I looked at your book too, because I'm in the final like, I'm just in the final edits of my book. Yeah. That's due December 31st for my second one. We have a couple of, like, similar recipes. They're different, but they're similar. So it'll be fun to see when we when mine's out, we can kinda compare notes on some of the recipes.

Hayden Haas [00:15:53]:

I would love that. And that's something that I also value so much about the community and followers that I've built is a lot of these people do try the recipes, whether they post it or share it or whatever. People are making it for their families, and it's bringing so many people together, which is what makes me so happy. Or I love when somebody makes, like, a soup or a dessert recipe for, like, their friends and stuff because that's what I love to do. Yeah. It just feels full circle and it really makes my day.

Stephanie Hansen [00:16:24]:

So what is the first dish that you remember, like, making yourself? Can you remember? Did you cook as a kid?

Hayden Haas [00:16:32]:

There's so many things. My mom always had us in the kitchen. So we were always doing, like, baking and fun stuff like that. A recipe I guess this the one I can remember the most is not actually, like, an eating type recipe, but my mom and I used to make our own Play Doh.

Stephanie Hansen [00:16:49]:

Yes.

Hayden Haas [00:16:50]:

Yes. And, I mean, occasionally, I'm sure I you know, kids eat Play Doh, so I would taste it and be like, oh, that's salty. And so, like, not quite a recipe that's supposed to be edible, but that's the one that I think about and I wanna share all the time, but I don't have any kids to play Play Doh with.

Stephanie Hansen [00:17:05]:

That's funny. No. I think, yeah, we made that a lot as kids. And, also, I don't even know why we ever made this, but we used to make our own, like, homemade tootsie rolls.

Hayden Haas [00:17:15]:

Oh my gosh. I bet that was so special.

Stephanie Hansen [00:17:17]:

Yeah. And I don't know where we got the recipe or why we would make those, but I had sisters and so that's what we would do.

Hayden Haas [00:17:24]:

You have a mother's sweet little treat like that.

Stephanie Hansen [00:17:26]:

Yeah. Are you a freezer hoarder because you're cooking so much?

Hayden Haas [00:17:30]:

Oh, yeah. There's a lot of, disorganization that happens in but at the same time, I'm pretty good about, not having food waste. I kind of like auction things off to my neighbors and, you know, people that I meet that are kind of like within the vicinity where I'll say like, hey. For example, I just made, my breakfast pizza recipe and so I can kinda just auction it off to my friends who are all super busy and whatnot. And, oh, it's just great because I kinda get to feed my own little community and get their feedback at the same time where it's like, yeah. Don't add onions to this or that was too salty or something like that. So it's so helpful to get that here.

Stephanie Hansen [00:18:12]:

I'm creeping my neighbors out actually because I'm always like I just this morning, I did a TV segment. I had all these rice crispy bars. I didn't want them in the house because I'll eat them. So I just loaded up paper plates and kinda went door to door. And people are just like my neigh my next door neighbor, I know. She's just like because I this in this week alone, I've brought them a chicken pasta dish. I brought them apple muffins, and then I brought them rice crispy bars. And that's, like, within the last 3 days.

Hayden Haas [00:18:46]:

Yeah. I don't hear the problem in any of this. I think you're probably the favorite neighbor.

Stephanie Hansen [00:18:51]:

I hope.

Hayden Haas [00:18:52]:

I'm sure of it because I do the same thing. I was dropping off tiramisu, cheesecake, and some pizza and brownie. So we're in the same category. And if they don't want those leftovers, I'll take them.

Stephanie Hansen [00:19:05]:

That's so funny. Yeah. I need to I just I feel like, oh my gosh. These people probably think I'm so crazy because I'm always just

Hayden Haas [00:19:12]:

Oh.

Stephanie Hansen [00:19:13]:

Walking door to door with piles of food. And I have a brand new neighbor that's literally right next to me that I haven't met yet. And they looked like they moved in over the weekend and then maybe were are doing some painting. So I left some of the muffins on their, like, door. And I my friend said, she goes, do you real do these people realize who you are and, like, what a gift it's gonna be living next to you? I'm like, I don't know.

Hayden Haas [00:19:42]:

No. I, 100% support all of that. Spread the love. I always say it's like, Nesquik, don't come for me, like, legally, but I always say share the wealth. And if your wealth is baked goods, share them. People are gonna love it. Exactly.

Stephanie Hansen [00:19:55]:

And then

Hayden Haas [00:19:55]:

it's not like you're gonna give them anything terrible or anything. Yeah. We only weigh our best creations. Right?

Stephanie Hansen [00:20:01]:

Yes. Exactly. So when you were at Food Network, you did you directly work on Molly's show or did you work on some other shows too?

Hayden Haas [00:20:10]:

I worked on Molly did a couple of things with HGTV, so that was fun to see what that was like. But I did, I started off as a dishwasher and then moved up to a food stylist. And then, at the same time, I was also Molly's assistant. And I've also had my own little touch of reality television because I was on Food Network's Chopped.

Stephanie Hansen [00:20:35]:

Oh, you were.

Hayden Haas [00:20:37]:

It was love.

Stephanie Hansen [00:20:37]:

Hear about that.

Hayden Haas [00:20:39]:

It was really fun. I did a blind date episode where yeah. It was so much fun. I was matched with somebody that I had never met before. And so you kinda go on a blind date. And then, you know, you get the basket with all of the mystery ingredients. And I think my ingredients were, like, like a cranberry kiss cocktail and, like, a red tail snapper and some heart shaped ravioli. And we I my partner and I, when we went into it, we initially kind of had, like, a situation where I was like, do you wanna take the lead, or do you want me to be sous chef or whatever? And he decided he wanted to be the lead, then I was like, I'll support you whatever you wanna do through the way.

Hayden Haas [00:21:25]:

So I was happy to do that. I wouldn't have, necessarily made the dish that we ended up making. Spoiler alert, I didn't end up winning, but it is still a really great episode, and I'm still friends with all the women on that show. So

Stephanie Hansen [00:21:38]:

So what did you end up making? Because I was listening to your ingredients and thinking, oh, well, the cranberry's gotta be a sauce.

Hayden Haas [00:21:45]:

Sure. If you're familiar with, like, kind of like a pate situation, it was kinda like that but with fish. So not not always a big winner. If I could have made what I wanted to, you since you have the cookbook right there, I won I would have made or leaned in towards my cranberry tortellini recipe.

Stephanie Hansen [00:22:04]:

Yeah.

Hayden Haas [00:22:05]:

And I think that would have, like, surprising people. But it also might have been, like, kinda boring because it's, like, pasta and Alfredo cranberry sauce or whatever. You know?

Stephanie Hansen [00:22:15]:

No. Alfredo sauce is never boring. I don't care. I feel like I eat noodles 62 times a week.

Hayden Haas [00:22:22]:

Yeah. I'm always a huge advocate of pasta myself.

Stephanie Hansen [00:22:26]:

Yeah. That's I'm gonna just go to that recipe right now, and we're gonna talk about it. Because, I love pasta. I eat pasta all the time. And I made spaghetti for a friend this weekend, and she came over and she goes, no offense, but can we just order takeout? I really hate noodles. What? I was like, who are you?

Hayden Haas [00:22:48]:

Interesting.

Stephanie Hansen [00:22:49]:

Yeah. I thought it was. Okay. So for cranberry sauce, let's see what we have in there. Here we are. Yep. Oh, I went on the wrong page.

Hayden Haas [00:23:03]:

Puerto Rican Alfredo sauce that we make from scratch, and then I do have my grandma's cranberry recipe. It it is like a I like I guess I like my cranberry sauce a touch sweeter, but, you know, you can make it as bitter as you want to.

Stephanie Hansen [00:23:21]:

Okay. This looks really good. It's got it's the sauce is kinda pink. It's got a sun dried tomato, mushrooms, artichoke hearts. Looks delicious.

Hayden Haas [00:23:29]:

Yeah. Big fan. When I was in college, there was this little restaurant, not not Olive Garden. But when when I was waiting when I was waiting tables in college, that was one of the more popular dishes from that restaurant.

Stephanie Hansen [00:23:46]:

Let's talk about all the, like, plates and the dishes in your book. Are these all things you own, or did you guys rent things?

Hayden Haas [00:23:53]:

No. I did not rent things. All of those were things that I do own because I am kind of a mix match person. So none of my plates match. None of my cups match. I, maybe a bit of a maximalist, if you will. So I love selection. I also kind of display them in my dining room.

Hayden Haas [00:24:14]:

So then whenever I have somebody over, I'm, like, grab any glass. So then that person kind of gets to pick whatever fun glass or fork or plate, whatever they

Stephanie Hansen [00:24:23]:

Phew. I love that idea.

Hayden Haas [00:24:25]:

So much fun. And then, you know, you always get really fun pictures at the same time.

Stephanie Hansen [00:24:30]:

Yeah. For sure. And I am feeling a little bit like and and I'm getting to the end of this book, so I'm feeling a little horny at this point. And, like, oh, I need to, like, maybe get rid of some of this stuff or repurpose it to the next house. Goodwill is my friend, but sometimes the things go back to the Goodwill too. Right?

Hayden Haas [00:24:48]:

Hey. You just don't have to tell me. I'm a avid thrifter myself, so I love, finding, like, a plate or 2 every time you visit or something where you're like, I have a vision for this particular plate, and it's gonna have some delicious pasta on it. And or here's this old pillowcase that I could sew into a napkin or something. So it's like, repurpose those things, make them beautiful, and share them with everyone.

Stephanie Hansen [00:25:14]:

Okay. I love that you would actually repurpose a pillowcase into a napkin.

Hayden Haas [00:25:17]:

Oh, and I've turned an old tablecloth into something els Shoot. It's all mix-and-match. I tell you, I love it. I have a whole cabinet ’ whole cabinet just for my linens.

Stephanie Hansen [00:25:29]:

Can you think of something, like, where you got a real score at a thrift store? Like, do you have a favorite thing you thrifted?

Hayden Haas [00:25:37]:

Good question. I do, but I don't have, I really would love to provide, like, a image for you. But I since I am such an avid thrifter, I have a whole collection on my living room wall of mirrors. Cool. So it's kind of like you know how people have those, like, picture collages and stuff in

Stephanie Hansen [00:25:59]:

the house?

Hayden Haas [00:26:00]:

It's kinda like that, but for mirrors. So it's like the whole and they're all different kinds. Like, some are new and nice. Like, I'm sure some are from, like, a Target or whatever. Sure. Got a cute one. But they're all different kinds and, some have little stands on them. I've my favorite one is, like, this vintage cover girl mirror.

Hayden Haas [00:26:21]:

Oh, it's so it's, like, tiny and cute. I everybody loves it when they come and check it out.

Stephanie Hansen [00:26:26]:

Oh, that's fun.

Hayden Haas [00:26:27]:

Yeah. And I don't know if a mirror is probably the greatest example because I really don't even look at myself in the mirror that much, but it's just such a fun little, addition to home and calling it cozy, and it's always a conversation starter when somebody walks in the door. And I Yeah.

Stephanie Hansen [00:26:46]:

It sure sounds like it.

Hayden Haas [00:26:48]:

Say that they wanna copy it. I'm like, it's all yours. Please enjoy.

Stephanie Hansen [00:26:52]:

So when you think about, a cookbook that you wish you had written, can you think of 1?

Hayden Haas [00:27:02]:

A cookbook I wish I would have written.

Stephanie Hansen [00:27:04]:

Yeah. Like, you just find it so inspiring.

Hayden Haas [00:27:07]:

I there's so many people that I'm inspired by. That's so tough. I would say somebody who I am always inspired by what is Molly Ye, of course.

Stephanie Hansen [00:27:19]:

Yeah.

Hayden Haas [00:27:20]:

I learned so much from my time with her. There's a couple of other people who are kind of influential. So going back a little bit when I was kind of burnt out in between architecture and whatnot, also very Minnesota of me, I went to go work for Target, like, part time, but then they ended up wanting me as a manager, which is great. I loved my time with them. In that time shift, that's when I started cooking for myself, and I really didn't have, like, social media before that. So it, like, started out fresh at, like, the age of 27 and started posting, like, food, blogs, pictures, like, kind of starting out, my own little food photography or food journey. And I started my mom had gifted me Chrissy Teigen's cookbook. And I was, so thankful for that, and I cooked my way through it.

Hayden Haas [00:28:10]:

And I started sharing some recipes, and she started commenting and liking on some of my things. And that inspired me to do more, which kinda led me on my way to meet Molly Ye. But there's so many other people like Anthony Bourdain and, you know, most of the people on Food Network. So that was, like, so funny that in my small little town that I was given, like, an opportunity for something I didn't think I would ever have.

Stephanie Hansen [00:28:34]:

Yeah. So And Chrissy Teigen's cravings book, I thought that that was a good cookbook. She's got

Hayden Haas [00:28:41]:

about 3 or 4 in her series. I've haven't done as much investigating into the newer books, but the first couple were so great and, like, everything, you know, you can pretty much make from home.

Stephanie Hansen [00:28:55]:

Yeah. I really liked Pepper's book too, her mom.

Hayden Haas [00:28:58]:

Oh, yeah. I also have that one. She's so cute.

Stephanie Hansen [00:29:00]:

Cute. Do you have, like, a white Pyrenees? Or what's your dog?

Hayden Haas [00:29:03]:

This is Max. You'll see a ton of him in the cookbook also.

Stephanie Hansen [00:29:07]:

Cute.

Hayden Haas [00:29:08]:

He's an English cream retriever, and so Max makes a couple of, cameos in there as well.

Stephanie Hansen [00:29:14]:

Well, Stanley, my dog, I was

Hayden Haas [00:29:16]:

Listen.

Stephanie Hansen [00:29:17]:

Yeah. I was gonna say you you may have heard him. He was in a squeaky toy earlier, and I was like, shut the door.

Hayden Haas [00:29:23]:

I I wasn't sure if you heard Max earlier, but that was him.

Stephanie Hansen [00:29:27]:

That's funny. Well, this has been a real delight. Hayden Haas, Simply Delish Haas. I it is, recipes from the Midwestern Kitchen. It's a beautiful book. I am excited to connect with you. We will eat or do something fun. I feel like we're gonna be fast friends.

Hayden Haas [00:29:46]:

We're gonna warm up at some point.

Stephanie Hansen [00:29:48]:

I think so. Yes. But it was great to talk to you. Congratulations on the book. People can follow you at I'm sorry. I didn't write your Instagram down.

Hayden Haas [00:29:58]:

It's the same thing. I wanna tell you congratulations on your book, and I can't wait to get together sometime.

Stephanie Hansen [00:30:04]:

Thank you.

Hayden Haas [00:30:04]:

You can find me if you usually type in Hayden, h a y d e n, and then Delish Haws, d e l I s h a a s, because or if you just type in Hayden Haws Cook or something or other, it'll come up. I'm on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, all of the stuff.

Stephanie Hansen [00:30:26]:

Alright. I'm just I'm amazed and impressed with all the work that you're putting out, and your book is great. Thanks for being a guest today. I'm sure we'll get together soon.

Hayden Haas [00:30:35]:

Yes. Thank you again so much for having me.

Stephanie Hansen [00:30:36]:

Alright. Good to see you. Bye. Alright. Bye bye.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to another episode of "Dishing with Stephanie's Dish," where we dive into the world of food with our guests from all corners of the culinary landscape. This time, we're delighted to have Nicole Aufderhar with us, known for her Instagram page @TenThousandBakes, where she showcases her incredible baking creations. Our conversation traces her baking journey from family traditions to competing on the Great American Baking Show, where she reached the final three and participated in the finale. Nicole shares her love for Minnesota State Fair Baking and her insights into balancing a creative passion with an artistic career. Join us as we explore her baking adventures, inspirations, and the sweet success she's found along the way.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Stephanie Hansen [00:00:16]:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's dish, the podcast where we talk to people in the food space. And today, my guest is Nicole Ofterhauer, and she is at 10000 Bakes on Instagram. And we became friends, kind of funny, through the Jason show's hottest day on record at the state fair.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:00:36]:

Yes. Where we were all dying and couldn't think straight.

Stephanie Hansen [00:00:40]:

Yeah. We were just, like, sweating ourselves off, and you had made these super beautiful blueberry macarons. And you were there to talk about your experience that you'd had as a state fair baker, but also on the Great American Baking Show, which if people don't know because I still think people don't know that that show exists.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:01:01]:

They don't know. Even, like, my friends and family sometimes don't know that it exists. It's yeah. Everyone knows the British version, but surprise, there's an American one.

Stephanie Hansen [00:01:10]:

Yes. So The Great British Bake Off, spun off a great American baking show, and Nicole was a guest on it and did very well. Weren't you, like, in the final 3?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:01:20]:

Yeah. Yeah. I made it all the way to the finals.

Stephanie Hansen [00:01:22]:

Okay. So that's exciting. And I just wanna point out, I don't know when people are gonna listen to this because I'm probably gonna release it maybe this Friday or the next Friday. I haven't decided yet. But

Nicole Aufderhar [00:01:34]:

Mhmm.

Stephanie Hansen [00:01:35]:

If you haven't gotten a chance, please go right now to Nicole's Instagram page and look at 10,000 Bakes. Because, honestly, she has some of the most amazing spooky treats on there. Girl, I mean, those the skull truffles with the raspberry filling, are you kidding me?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:01:51]:

Oh, yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I I've always been kind of a Halloween nut. Like, always been my thing. The spookier, the better. And so for me, Halloween baking is kinda all about embracing kind of the quirky and weird. So I just go all in with it.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:02:07]:

It's always fun every year.

Stephanie Hansen [00:02:09]:

I mean, your stuff is real cool looking. Very beautiful. There was also a black was it what kind of a, cake was it?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:02:18]:

Yeah. So I made it was a peri breast, actually. So, like, a patichou base pastry.

Stephanie Hansen [00:02:26]:

Yeah. It looked like chew pastries stuffed or filled with, like, a cream of some sort.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:02:31]:

Yep. Yeah. So I used, black cocoa creme pat, and then there was also you couldn't see the picture, but there was, like, a raspberry gel as well. So kind of that dark chocolate raspberry thing kinda fitting with Halloween.

Stephanie Hansen [00:02:44]:

I mean, it was unbelievably fantastic looking.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:02:47]:

Oh, thanks. Yeah. Like I said, it's I get to be my weird artistic self this time of year, so it's kind of fun.

Stephanie Hansen [00:02:53]:

I like your weird artistic self. Take that and the listener kind of on the journey of how this whole thing started for you.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:03:01]:

So I have kind of been baking my entire life. You know, like, most people grew up mom in the kitchen, Nestle Toll House, Christmas cutout. You know, nothing, like, crazy, but just, you know, family baking. And as I grew up, I just kinda started to dive more and more into it. I'm kind of a shy person. So when I would go to parties, like, talking to people is stressful, but if I bring a bank, that gives me something to talk about. Sure. So, you know, I kind of started doing that more.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:03:30]:

And in college, I actually studied photography with, like, emphasis on food photography. And because I don't wanna take pictures of babies. So I decided to do the food route, and then I kinda decided that, well, if I wanna take pictures of beautiful things, I might have to learn how to bake some of these things. And so it's just kind of continued to grow and grow, and it's always been kind of my creative endeavor that's just for me and just for fun and really lets me express myself without the pressure. You know, I'm an artist full time, so I have that pressure there. So this is just just for fun, just for me. And when I saw that there was a great American baking show, which I didn't even know. You know, I've watched the British version for years, and then I saw online that they were casting for the American version.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:04:19]:

I thought, oh, well, let's let's see. Why not? You know? And I put my hat in the ring, and I made it all the way to the final round of 1st year, which I wasn't expecting. It's a very long process, and I just what I thought would maybe just be something that I'd enter and never hear from again ended up being this multiyear journey of traveling with baked goods and auditions. And after a couple 2 years of auditioning, I was cast on the show.

Stephanie Hansen [00:04:51]:

So yeah. So exciting.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:04:53]:

Yeah.

Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Stephanie Hansen [00:04:54]:

So how long from the beginning of you arriving to start the taping to when you go home is that length of time?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:05:04]:

So you are there basically for an entire month. For us, it was the entire month of August. You do a lot of prep work stateside before you go, you know, coming up with your own recipes and stuff. But once you are there, you are there the whole time. Even if you're eliminated, then you just kinda get a London vacation, but you're there for the entire month.

Stephanie Hansen [00:05:24]:

So they do it in the Great British Bake Off same space?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:05:28]:

Yeah. So for the Great British Bake Off, there's 2 tents. There is a tent where they film the version everybody knows, and then there's a tent where they film, like, celebrity versions, and I believe it's coming from Janae Baycock is still there as well, but, yeah, there are 2 tents. We're in the the other tent, like so it's not the tent, but it's one of theirs.

Stephanie Hansen [00:05:51]:

Yeah. And Paul and Pru are still judges.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:05:55]:

Yeah. Yeah. It's the same judges. It's Paul and Pru. We have American hosts. You know, that's the difference. People always kind of, I don't wanna say, hate on the American version, but they always say, oh, we don't like it because they're hypercompetitive, and they don't have the accents and all this. And I'm like, well, yeah, we don't have the accents.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:06:12]:

Sure. And that's the baddest. Yeah. Yeah.

Stephanie Hansen [00:06:16]:

So there's that.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:06:18]:

Yeah. So, you know, I mean, if you wanna nitpick, but it's still, like, a heartwarming, friendly show. Like, once people sit down and watch it, they're like, oh, that's actually enjoyable. I'm like, yes. That's what I've been telling you.

Stephanie Hansen [00:06:32]:

It is funny that the perception of Bake Off and what people love and what attracted me to it too was just how kind and supportive everybody is. And we've gotten used to watching these, you know, chopped and these sort of aggressive male dominated, like, shows of competition. And it is funny because I do think America in general this is a very gross generalization, but I do think we're more competitive. We're very aggressively business focused, like, success focused. And I think what is nice about The Bake Off is there's a lot of people from all these different walks of life, and they just happen to make pastry too or they're bakers.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:07:20]:

Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly what it is. And that's when I auditioned because I talked a lot about my state fair, you know, competing background. And they purposely were, like, asking me, well, are you hypercompetitive? Are you how do you feel if you don't win? You know? And so I had to make sure that I expressed that I'm not competitive despite all that. Like, I love the community behind these competitions and the friends that I've made, and they are trying to seek out people for that show that are there to just be with other bakers and have fun and get this experience and aren't there because I wanna win. And, I mean, the prize is a cake plate. You know? Like, you're not getting $20,000 or a book deal.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:08:01]:

You know? You get a cake plate. So if you're not there to just have a good time, you know, they're not gonna put you in the tent.

Stephanie Hansen [00:08:09]:

You happen to mention the state fair. Can you talk a little bit about your state fair baking experience? Because you're pretty well known and traveled in the state fair scene too. Minnesota State Fair.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:08:23]:

Yeah. Yeah. Especially the last year, people have kind of, I don't know, found my like, I've always shared about my journey with it. That's kinda why I started my Instagram page was because I wanted to share this community and show how accessible it is. Like, you don't have to be an incredible baker to enter. You just start. You just start entering stuff, and you get to meet people on entry day. And sometimes you get feedback from the judges.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:08:48]:

Sometimes you get head scratching feedback from the judges, but, like, it's just a super fun thing. And so I grew up with a step grandma who competed and kinda taught me the ropes from a young age and was kinda harsh about it, but it served me in the long run. And, so then about gosh. It's been 10 years now, I believe, I started. I did my first contest. I just entered three things, you know, just to kinda feel it out, and all 3 of them ribbon. I got 2 seconds and a 5th, and I was like, oh,

Stephanie Hansen [00:09:20]:

okay. You know? That's either this is

Nicole Aufderhar [00:09:24]:

you know, I wasn't sure what to think. I'm like, oh, this is easier than I thought, or I might actually be kinda good at baking because your friends and family are always like, oh, everything's fantastic, but is

Stephanie Hansen [00:09:33]:

it really? You know?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:09:35]:

So it's kinda given me this avenue to try new things and meet new people. And over the years, you know, I've I've done pretty well, and I've made some really amazing friends, and I just it's something I look forward to all year round.

Stephanie Hansen [00:09:48]:

What do you remember what the three things you were that you made in the first?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:09:53]:

Yeah. They weren't even I'd call them baking light. Honestly, it was like a granola bar and then some granola, and then they used to do this thing called the recipe challenge Yep. Where everyone would get the same recipe. You know? So it's kinda like the technical on the makeup, honestly, which is what appealed to me is you all get the same recipe. You kinda have to interpret it. And so I got a second place on that. I got a second place on the bars, and then I got a 5th place on the granola.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:10:23]:

And the the funny thing with the cookies was I was always under this belief that you had to enter things freshly baked that morning, you know. So I woke up early to do my final round, and they didn't they failed. The dough, I don't know what I did wrong or if it was the heat, it failed. And so I'm crying in the kitchen. I'm like, what do I do? Well, I had ones that I had stored in the freezer, like, 3 weeks ago. I mean Yeah. I was like, I wanna save them just in case, and I'm so glad I did because that's what I ended up entering were 3 week old transfer cookies, and they still placed.

Stephanie Hansen [00:10:55]:

Yeah. And a lot of people do that. Like, I know another woman, and she enters, like, 82 contests. And some of her stuff comes

Nicole Aufderhar [00:11:03]:

in

Stephanie Hansen [00:11:03]:

the freezer, and she pulls it out the night before, and that's what they enter.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:11:07]:

That's what I and that's what I've been telling people this year, especially, people are surprised to learn that I did that. And I'm like, yeah. And they're like, well, but don't they taste them? Like, yeah. You know, you can kinda tell freezer goods from the fresh, but that's what everybody else is doing. So if you're the best of the freezer bunch Yeah. You know, and it works.

Stephanie Hansen [00:11:25]:

How many categories did you enter this year?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:11:28]:

This year, I ended up doing 12, I believe it was, which I'm not I mean, there's people that show up with laundry baskets full of stuff, you know, and max out at 20. I doing 12 was a lot for me. I usually, like, keep them in the single digits. But, yeah, it went really well. Half of them ribboned. I got a smoked steaks for the first time, so it was a lot of fun this year.

Stephanie Hansen [00:11:52]:

Yeah. And what people maybe don't know I mean, you said mentioned that you're an artist. You make, leather bound journals and leather goods. And, what's your website for that? Because I wanna make sure we tell people because your work's really

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Nicole Aufderhar [00:12:07]:

So my website is wayfaringgoods.com, and it's not wayfair like that big furniture supply place or whatever. It's spelled wayfaringgoods.com.

Stephanie Hansen [00:12:21]:

I love it. Yeah. Because you're not doing this in a professional scope.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:12:28]:

No. Baking is right now, you know, probably, you know, I don't know, forever. It's just for fun. I I love what I do with my leather business. That has been something I've been doing full time for 15 years. Like, that's really where my I don't know. I'm as passionate about baking as I am about leather, but I like keeping my leather as my business and my baking as my creative passion, which I think is important for professional creatives to have that thing without the pressure of selling.

Stephanie Hansen [00:13:03]:

And let's talk about that for a second because that's sort of uniquely American too. I think that this idea is like, oh, well, she's making all this stuff. She's in competitive realm. She's doing really well, so she must be planning a bakery because we, like, don't really just allow ourselves to have these creative outlets without making them into something. We feel the pressure from ourselves.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:13:28]:

Yeah. Oh, exactly. And I think I mean, it's so important to have that creative passion that you don't have that pressure behind. And I I think so I started my business right out of college. I could have either gone the professional photography router than what I did. And so I think because I started young, I learned how important it is to have that creative passion just for fun. I see a lot of my friends that have since pursued kinda similar art businesses, and I see them now struggling with this. Like, oh, well, I'm also good at this, so I should sell this and I should do that.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:14:05]:

And it's like, no. You don't have to sell everything you make. Like, if you're a creative person, you might be good at a lot of different creative things.

Stephanie Hansen [00:14:13]:

Yes.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:14:14]:

You know? And it stops being fun when you know, like, if I have a failure in the kitchen, I'm disappointed. You know? I get frustrated, but it's okay because it's not going anywhere. I don't have to worry about someone a customer coming. I don't have to, you know, it's a different kind of failure versus the feeling when you're struggling with the business. And so I I like having those two things very separate.

Stephanie Hansen [00:14:41]:

Yeah. I can see that too. And, also, like, this idea that because you're good at something or because you make something, then it's becomes less a hobby and then a job. And sometimes I struggle with that because I'm just cooking now between the cookbook and the show and the adjacent appearances and, my blog.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:15:02]:

I feel

Stephanie Hansen [00:15:02]:

like I'm just cooking all the time. And sometimes, like, I feel another like, I have to, like, videotape everything I'm doing. And, like, the other day, I was like, I'm not pulling out the video camera. I'm going to cook something that could I? Sure. But, I'm just going to make these apple muffins because I have apples and I feel like an apple muffin and I'm not going to videotape it and you know what? I'm not even going to write down the recipe. And I just was like I just sat in the moment. I enjoyed the bake. I loved the smell it made my house.

Stephanie Hansen [00:15:33]:

The muffins came out. I ate 1. I gave one to the dog and then I went and distributed them the neighborhood and got rid of them and came home and was like, oh, that was fun.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:15:43]:

Yeah. Isn't that's the best. That is those are that's the best feelings. And I know exactly even though, like, I don't do my baking on a professional level, just in the world of social media. Like you said, you have this pressure to film everything you do and turn everything that you do into some form of content. And that just sucks sucks the fun out of it. You know? Like, you know, sometimes it's fun, you know, but if you're not feeling it, like, don't do it. If Yeah.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:16:11]:

I don't know. You know, it's important to, like obviously, for you, it is part of your work.

Stephanie Hansen [00:16:17]:

But But is it I mean, also and I'm sort of like I don't know. I'm just sort of working through this too. Like, we give a lot away of ourselves as creators, as people in a social media space, and it's just demanding. And I don't wanna, like, sound not grateful because I am because you build a platform and people really dig your stuff and that's fun, but also, like, trying to recognize what's real and what's not real sometimes.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:16:50]:

Yes. Yep. Yeah. Because people see a version of you and and a version of what you do, and they expect that over and over and over again.

Stephanie Hansen [00:17:00]:

Yeah.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:17:00]:

And it can be exhausting. Yeah. And some days

Stephanie Hansen [00:17:04]:

you don't feel like delivering that.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:17:06]:

Yeah. I don't. You know? And and then sometimes I feel like, oh, I have to put it out there because I put everything out there, and then I do it and it doesn't do well or whatever. And then I stress out about that. It's like, why? Why?

Stephanie Hansen [00:17:17]:

Yeah.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:17:18]:

You know?

Stephanie Hansen [00:17:20]:

Well, you and I had coffee, and I think you well, we met at the hottest day of the year, and then you followed up. And you're like, would you ever wanna have coffee? I was like, yes. Of course. And I I also loved that you reached out to me because I do like bringing this creative online life sometimes into the real life of you and I just sitting and having a cup of coffee and talking about what we're into and what's fun. And I just I was I was appreciative that you reached out. And I I wish more people would do that kind of in a real space because I think that's how you grow and how you can help mentor others and help others find their path because so many people have helped me along the way. My goodness.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:18:04]:

Yeah. No. Yeah. And I I'm still so grateful you said yes because Sure. It is super important. And I think that people are kinda surprised when others are willing to do stuff in person and meet in person. And even for my tiny little thing that I do at the state fair, I met people online and they were worried about bugging me or asking me questions. And I'm like, why? Like, oh, I Yeah.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:18:27]:

I I and maybe not I love talking about that kind of stuff. If I can help somebody else, like, I go to competition. I'm like, so, like Yeah. Like, it's better for all of us in the long run, you know, if we're encouraging others to do it and get better and help the people where we can with stuff that we've learned along the way. And, like, I personally enjoy doing that. So that's why it was so exciting to Yeah. Get to sit and talk with you and, you know, meet someone else of the food, you know, yeah, and just learn from each other.

Stephanie Hansen [00:18:59]:

So what's next for you, Nicole? Have you thought about that?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:19:05]:

All the time. No. Again, after having done the show and now I've I've been very fortunate since the show came out with opportunities that have come my way. You know, you never know if anyone's gonna notice or pay attention or anything, and I've honestly been quite overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that I have done. And so people, you know, they expect the bakery. They expect us to expect that. That is not that's not on my realm. That's not what I'm thinking at all.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:19:36]:

I long term dream, short term dream. I don't know. I always tell people I would like to do a cookbook. That is something I thought of wanting to do years. I mean, that's kinda always been in the back of my head because Yeah. I enjoy the recipe development portion of baking. So that's kinda where my strong suit is. That's where I that's what I enjoy the most.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:19:59]:

So, you know, obviously, I'm gonna be continuing on with my leather business as always Yep. Gearing up for holiday season right now. So that's, you know, the main part of my life, but I'm just gonna continue to create recipes, share that, share the state fair knowledge, and just be willing to embrace and be open to whatever might come from it.

Stephanie Hansen [00:20:26]:

Alright. Let's do something fun. Are you ready for fun? Maybe. Always. I have, like, 5 to 10 questions. We'll see how it goes. Just random kinda rapid fire questions.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:20:40]:

Oh gosh.

Stephanie Hansen [00:20:42]:

They're not hard. They're they're all about you. They're not hard.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:20:46]:

Okay.

Stephanie Hansen [00:20:46]:

Oh, okay. Here's number 1. What is the first bake you remember making yourself?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:20:54]:

Cupcakes. Cute. Yeah. Like, as a kid? It's so basic, but that's yeah. Strawberry cupcakes with Swiss meringue buttercream. Yum. That was my first, quote, unquote, real bake that I did.

Stephanie Hansen [00:21:08]:

I love it. Okay. When you go to a potluck, what do you typically bring?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:21:16]:

Macarons.

Stephanie Hansen [00:21:18]:

Oh, fancy. Yes.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:21:20]:

They're easy to share. They look impressive, but they're pretty easy to whip up.

Stephanie Hansen [00:21:25]:

Okay. What is the first thing you eat from a Halloween candy bucket?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:21:32]:

That's funny. Snickers popped into my head first, but Reese's are my favorite, but I guess Snickers would be my first.

Stephanie Hansen [00:21:37]:

Okay. I love that. Reese's is the number one popular candy. You probably know that.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:21:41]:

Yeah.

Stephanie Hansen [00:21:41]:

Yeah. What, is the restaurant that you've been to more than any other?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:21:51]:

Well, green scene since moving up to Walker. That would be yeah. Okay. I love the green scene here in town.

Stephanie Hansen [00:21:57]:

And you live in Walker. I should mention that. Yes. What's your most used pan?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:22:05]:

I my little I have a little saucepan, and I will shove anything I can into it even if it's not supposed to fit. I love it.

Stephanie Hansen [00:22:12]:

I have one of those too, and it's funny. Yeah.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:22:15]:

Yeah. Yeah. Doesn't fit. Okay. I just did that last meal with some jam. It was poor decision but I think it worked.

Stephanie Hansen [00:22:21]:

But you still loved your pan. Okay. This is your last question in the in the final round of the rapid fire questioning. What's an existing cookbook you wish you had written?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:22:36]:

Oh. Oh. I'm looking at all my cookbooks. I know. It's a

Stephanie Hansen [00:22:41]:

hard one.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:22:42]:

That is a hard one. I can't I well, it's funny because I feel like picking any of them. I'm not worthy of any of them, but I have they're all old vintage ones. Like, I have this rose what's her last name?

Stephanie Hansen [00:23:03]:

Birnbaum Levy Birnbaum.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:23:05]:

I use a lot of her books. I wish I had the skill and the abilities to write something like that.

Stephanie Hansen [00:23:11]:

Do you know that that cake bible book that she wrote is having its 35th anniversary this year?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:23:17]:

I don't see that. I know. I can't believe it because except I have all, like, the real old vintage ones of it, and it's it's so cool that it still has stood the test of time.

Stephanie Hansen [00:23:27]:

Yeah. No. I love that you have those. That's amazing. Well, Nicole, I hope people will follow you on Instagram at 10000 Bakes. We're gonna for sure have you on, Jason's show next summer so we get a chance to connect with her there again. Wonderful. Also been doing reviews of Great British Bake Off with Bradley and Dawn on my talk 107.1.

Stephanie Hansen [00:23:50]:

Yeah. Yep. People should follow you, and you're making really cool Halloween stuff right now.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:23:56]:

Yeah. Thanks. Yes. We're having fun over here.

Stephanie Hansen [00:23:59]:

Yeah. It's amazing. Alright. Well, when you're gonna be coming down to town next or not downtown, down to town, next, give me a shout, and we'll have coffee again. It was fun.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:24:09]:

Oh, definitely. Totally.

Stephanie Hansen [00:24:10]:

Alright. Thanks, Nicole. I appreciate you spending time with us today. Yeah.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:24:14]:

Thank you.

Stephanie Hansen [00:24:14]:

We'll talk soon. Bye bye. Bye.

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