(instrumental music)
- Hey everyone, I'm Jerry James Stone.
In today's video, I'm
gonna do a couple of things
I think you're gonna like.
First off, we're gonna
make this spicy pineapple
and Aperol spritzer.
This recipe is delicious
if you like a good cocktail
that has a lot going on.
There's fresh jalapeno,
cilantro, pineapple,
the bitters from the Aperol.
It's just really, really delicious.
Plus it's inspired by this interview
that I did with Valerie Bertinelli.
I got her amazing cookbook.
We finally got to sit down and talk.
We've been talking about it for a year.
So we got to sit down and
actually have a conversation.
We talked about everything
from politics, to cats,
to her burning her onion rings.
Just lots of really fun things.
I think you're gonna like it.
Let's get to it.
(instrumental music)
So before we get into that interview,
let's get to making
this delicious cocktail.
So this cocktail is
really easily scalable.
I'm gonna show you how to make just one,
but you can make one, six,
16, however many you want.
It's a really wonderful,
well balanced kind of sweet,
kind of spicy, has a lot going on.
So take a 16 ounce mason jar
or any 16 ounce glass jar
that you have.
So we're gonna add in
some sliced jalapeno.
Now you want to use fresh jalapeno here,
because if you use the pickled kind,
it's gonna add some vinegar
and savoriness to this cocktail
that you definitely don't want.
Some sprigs of fresh cilantro,
add just a little bit of sugar.
And then we're gonna add
in some orange bitters.
Take that, add a splash
of the pineapple juice,
and we're just gonna muddle
those ingredients together.
So what we're doing by
muddling is just taking
some of the oils that
are in that cilantro,
some of the flavors that
are in that jalapeno
and just kind of extracting those flavors
and getting them into the cocktail.
So you don't need to overwork it,
you just wanna do a few little turns
to get those flavors out.
And then we're gonna add to
the remaining ingredients.
fill the glass up with some crushed ice
and then add in the
remaining pineapple juice.
Now you're gonna add in the Anejo tequila.
So I chose the Anejo tequila
because I really love,
just I love the flavor of it.
So Anejo is oaked tequila.
It's an Oaked for a minimum
of a year up to three years.
And that Oaking kind of adds
in a little bit of vanilla,
similar to what you get with bourbon.
So you get a little bit
of those vanilla notes,
but it just has a little
bit more of a robust flavor,
which I think blends really
well with the cilantro
and the jalapeno and the
sweetness of the pineapple.
So just all kind of blends
together really nicely.
But if you have just regular old tequila,
any tequila will work.
I just recommend the Anejo one.
So add in Anejo and then
we're gonna top it off
Now you have your delicious,
delicious cocktail.
So a great way to garnish
this thing up is you could use
some of the greens from
the crown of a pineapple.
You could use actual
like chunks of pineapple,
however you wanna garnish it,
adding more fresh cilantro,
but it's a delicious,
delicious tasty cocktail.
If you purchased cilantro
for this cocktail,
you probably didn't use it all.
So what you need to do is
just take that cilantro,
make sure it's fully dry.
Go ahead and wrap it up and
roll it up in a paper towel
and then put it in a plastic bag,
remove all of the air and
they'll actually keep fresh
for quite a while.
So that'll keep the cilantro fresh longer
so you can use it for maybe more cocktails
or something else, whatever tacos,
wherever you are be making.
As far as the jalapenos go,
if you did buy a lot of
jalapenos for this recipe,
I recommend checking out
my quick pickle recipe
for jalapenos and carrots.
You can find that on my YouTube channel.
It's just a really great
way to preserve jalapenos
and just get some extra life out of them.
So like I said, this recipe
was completely inspired
by my interview with Valerie Bertinelli.
I had had her book here.
We've been talking about
doing this interview
for a really long time.
And there's just some great
cocktail recipes in there,
but also just great recipes in general.
The whole cookbook feels like
you're just being invited
to Valerie's home and like
you're hanging out with her,
which I hope to someday.
Valerie, if you're watching,
I hope to come over some day
and just cook with you.
But she was a really, just
a pleasure to talk to,
but don't take my word
for it, check it out.
Hey.
- Hello.
- How's it going?
- Yeah, I'm sorry I'm late.
That went a little bit
longer than I thought
it was gonna go, but it was fun.
- No worries, no worries.
Zach was just texting.
So we had a heads up.
How was it?
You were doing a kid's
camp with Rachel Ray.
- Yeah.
I have a lot of fun.
I made it frittata and something
easy for the kids to really
get into and show them eggs
is always a great thing.
An introductory kind of thing to make.
- What's the age range on the kids.
- You know, I don't know.
I'm assuming it's like the same
as kids baking championship,
eight to 13 or something.
- Okay, cool.
Very cool.
Well, thanks for making
time for this today.
- We finally did it.
- We did it, we did.
I was trying to think, has it been like,
is it like a year or two years?
I can't remember how long
we've been talking about it.
I feel like it's been a while.
- Yeah, and I've lost all track of time
in the last five months.
- Well, I mean this year
has been 84 years long,
so I mean, it's easy to do.
It's easy to do.
I know, I was thinking about it.
I was like, "Well, everyone's
kind of trapped at home.
"So probably means their
schedules a little bit more free.
"So it's another time to
maybe come back around."
So I'm glad that you're able
to make some time for it.
And I have to say I'm really excited
for this first question,
because I was seeing this on
Twitter all day yesterday.
- Oh wait, wait.
I already know what you're gonna ask.
- It was just like, I was
sort of checking it on Twitter
randomly throughout the day.
And then I just kind of
kept seeing the gifts
go back and forth.
And so let's talk about your onion rings
and your son giving you a hard
time about your onion rings.
- My son gives me a hard
time no matter what anyway.
And if I mess up in the
kitchen, he is so happy.
I don't know why it
brings him so much joy.
- I mean, to his point,
you have a couple of Emmys
for cooking show, so people always enjoy,
taking people down a few pegs.
And I think as a son,
I'd like to give my mom
a hard time too, so I mean,
I think it's just what we do.
- I like we have that relationship.
And it's my bad because
I didn't make them fresh,
they were frozen.
And I think it's a little
slap on the wrist for me
to not be just frozen anymore.
But sometimes it's easier.
That was supposed to
be a super easy dinner.
It was supposed to be, he was coming over
and I had a hot dog bar lined up.
And I was gonna do some onion rings
and a little bit of chili,
a little bit of sauerkraut,
three different kinds of
dogs, some bacon wraps,
some with the poppy crust,
some with the skin, some without skin.
So it was supposed to be fun
for him and his girlfriend
and all of us that have
been not under quarantine
and taken care of.
And of course I burnt the onion rings.
- I think there's an
authenticity to it though.
I think that's the part
that I kind of find charming
about it.
And I mean, it's also what
I like about your cookbook.
But I think that that's the part
that was kind of great about it.
It wasn't that he was just
kind of needling you on it,
it was the fact that you
were kind of rolling with it.
You were sort of like, you know.
- Well, there are certain
things I can get really riled up
and angry about as we
are both on the same side
when we're on Twitter together,
but that's not one of them.
Making mistakes in the
kitchen, they're easy to fix.
I mean, it's because
I didn't set my alarm.
As soon as I said an alarm, I'm good.
But if I could just fix
the state of our government
by just setting an alarm,
I'd be really happy.
- Your favorite people
to follow on Twitter
because you're kind of the
two things that I love.
Politics and food
And cats, yes, exactly.
So it's like you have that
mix and I kind of wanted
to talk to you about that too,
because do you get flack from
people about being political
and kind of, what is
your sort of take on that
and how do you respond to people.
I was gonna go through a look and see
if I could find like mean tweets to read,
but I decided not to go that route
after yesterday with your son.
- Yeah, I get a lot of shut up and cook
or shut up and act.
It used to be shut up and
act, now shut up and cook.
And I'm thinking "Now,
wait a minute, I pay taxes,
"just like everybody else."
Well, except billionaires,
they don't pay taxes.
I pay taxes, I'm allowed
to have an opinion
about the government and
how they're using my money.
It's my money, you know.
It's your money, it's our money.
You can have an opinion.
And it's just always boggles my mind
that the people that are the angriest
and the most volatile and
dare I say, deplorable
are the ones that are voting
against their best interests.
You're the ones being hurt the most.
And I feel bad for them
that they're just constantly
day in and day out being brainwashed
by the things that they watch.
- So kind of a nod to one
of your last acting gigs.
I'm from Cleveland, Ohio.
We moved out here when I was really young.
So I live in California, but
we moved out when I was three,
but my parents, both Republican.
- Mine too.
- They were, like, my dad has passed,
but my mom has now become
more Democrat over the years.
But I remember kind of
around like the Bush years,
giving her like this online
questionnaire saying like,
"Hey, just fill this out.
"It tells you who you'd vote for
"based on what you believe in."
And she completely filled
it out and it was not Bush,
but she's still voted for Bush
because it's just sort
of like, she's like,
"Oh, that's the guy like."
And I was like, "But
it doesn't make sense.
"The things that you value."
- Moms will always be goggled by...
I will never understand how a Christian
can vote for the most
non-Christian like man there is.
Let's talk about something more.
- Sounds good.
- It's just so funny because
I just do not understand it.
I can't wrap my head around it.
- Yeah.
Well, for me too, like,
I've always been political.
And to me, food is one of
the most political things
out there.
It's like you have to eat
and the choices you make,
or even if you have those choices,
if you live in a food
desert or if you have access
to good food or how we treat our water,
how we treat farm workers,
all of that is political.
So like when people are
like shut up and cook,
I get that too.
I'm like, I thought I
was following a chef.
It's like you are, but these are things
that affect the business that I'm in.
'Cause I have friends that have farms
and food dying on the vine
because they can't get people to pick it.
Farm workers are being...
And not just under Trump.
I mean, under Obama--
And so you have these people that are anti
illegal immigrants and they kind of--
- Segregation of humanity
that we've been experiencing
for 400 years, at least, I
mean, in just in this country.
And it's really as simple as that.
And until we change our minds
and just open our hearts to,
why a hashtag like black lives matter,
got under so many people's skin.
It's like, are you really.
So you don't want every life to matter
because it's not all lives matter.
Black lives matter right now.
And we need to be of service to them
and to help them get an equal voices,
as we lucky white people have had.
- Right.
Well, and that's kind of
coming back to my mom,
who's sort of gone through this transition
because she was telling
me like, kind of...
I remember growing up, she
was telling me how for years
she used the N word because
everyone around her used
the N word.
I mean, she's almost 80.
- No, I heard it growing up too.
I heard it growing up.
- Yeah, it's like where I lived in Ohio,
that's what everyone used.
And she's like, "It took
me while to figure out
"that that wasn't right."
'Cause I was a little kid
and you see adults doing it
and you just sort of imitate what you see.
And I have to give her
credit, a couple of weeks ago
or maybe like kind of
the peak of the BLM stuff
that was going on.
She's like, "Can you explain
to me why all lives matter
"is offensive."
She's like, "I agree
with all the police stuff
"that's going on, that
there needs to be reformed."
But she's like, "I just
really don't get it."
And I was trying to make it really simple
at my mom's for slides.
So I tried to make it easy for her.
I was like, "It's kind of like
when you say save the whales
"doesn't mean like, "bleep"
off and die, turtles."
It just means you're seeing
the whales right now.
That's just the thing you have to address.
And she's like, "Oh okay."
- And we knew is that
simple and that horrifyingly
complicated too.
Like how are you gonna be offended
by trying to save another person's life.
Again, never cease to amaze me.
By saving someone else's life,
we're not taking anything away from you.
- Right, it's not pie.
Yeah, it's like--
- It's not pie.
- Speaking of pie, let's
talk about your cookbook.
So the thing that I
love about your cookbook
is I feel like it's really
just sort of a slice of you.
It's like kind of reading through there,
you kind of get stories
of how you live your day
and get up, have coffee
and when you're hungry
and all those sorts of
things, and it just feels
really authentic.
And I'm kind of curious,
I've done a couple of cookbooks myself,
and I'm wondering how you pick
the recipes that you picked.
What that curation process was for you.
Was it all stuff that you kind of had?
How much of it was new development,
like those sorts of things.
- A little bit of everything.
And because it was taken from my show,
I wanted to use some recipes
that I've already did
on my show and then expand on that,
whether it be salads
or whether it be soups
or whether it be stews.
And just expand on some of the
things I've done on the show
and then new ones to be able
to do on the show and back.
But I'm just always exploring new recipes.
And how to you use different flavors
and how food is just so it's like,
it's the real leveling of all of us.
I mean, we all need to nourish ourselves.
And when I think of the different
cultures that I grew up in
and just my Indonesian mother-in-law,
my Dutch Indonesian husband
and my Dutch father-in-law.
And then my Sicilian mother-in-law
when I remarried and where
my Sicilian father-in-law.
She was Italian, he was a Sicilian.
Anyway and it's very different.
And then the way I grew up,
my mother was English-Irish,
and the rest of my family was Italian.
So just learning all
the different cultures,
learning all, how it really is.
Everybody has a noodle
dish, everyone has one.
Indonesians have bami
goreng, we have spaghetti.
We all have a noodle dish,
we all have a rice dish.
We have risotto or we
have stir fried rice.
Everybody has one.
We're so much more alike
than we are different.
We need to put that
into everybody's brains.
- I know, I know it's true.
It's funny that you're saying that.
I'm thinking about it, so like, my mom
is completely Armenian and
my dad was just sort of
farmer boy, Pennsylvania guy.
And so I grew up on this kind
of weird combination of like
steak and potatoes and
then like Armenian food.
So it would be like steak
and potatoes and dolmas
or steak and potatoes and pilaf
and like that sort of thing.
We always kind of had
that sort of intersection.
And I agree with you whenever
said the dinner table
is sort of like where we
all kind of come together.
- Yeah, that's where we
embrace our melting pot,
that's where we embrace our individuality
and yet our likeness.
And I think when we start appreciating it,
as opposed to holding it against somebody,
like, speak English here.
Why, why?
I mean, why can't we
embrace other languages?
Everywhere in Europe, everywhere you go,
people speak two, three,
four different languages.
I mean, come on America, let's
speak some more languages.
It's around.
- It's just weird that
it threatens people,
that's where I don't understand.
It's like, what is it about your being
that gets threatened by that?
When I hear someone speaking
in a different language,
I'm like, "Okay, I don't
understand what they're saying,
"but whatever."
And I'm kind of curious about it,
but I don't feel threatened by it.
And I don't know.
- And I wanna learn, I mean,
I don't know that much Dutch,
but I was able to learn some.
From my husband, I learned
a little bit of Italian
'cause I love going to Italy,
but I don't get to go with enough.
But I learned Spanish
because I was in school
and I wished that I had
retained more of it.
- What was your experience
kind of getting into cooking?
Like when did you start
sort of really cook.
I think I was watching old
interviews of you yesterday.
I'll admit because I came across
battle of the network stars.
- Oh my gosh, that's
when I wasn't cooking.
- And I immediately thought like,
I want that green track suit.
That was like the first thing I thought.
- I still have it.
- Do you really?
- I do.
- That's great.
But what was sort of your
transition to the cooking?
I mean, it sounds like
you grew up with a family
that cooked.
Like when did you kind of
start doing it yourself?
- Very young, I was six, seven,
eight watching my mom cook,
watching my nanny cook,
making cappolletti and gnocchi
in my anunt Adaline's basement.
And then when I got married when I was 20,
I kind of stopped a little bit.
When I was on my own, I cooked a lot.
And then because Ed traveled so much,
and then I traveled doing TV movies,
you just kind of get out
of the habit of cooking.
And it was just for special occasions,
like Thanksgiving or
Christmas or birthdays.
And then when I had Wolfie,
I started really getting
back into cooking again.
Then when I met some
girlfriends through Wolfy's
kindergarten class who are
still dear girlfriends today,
we're very, very close.
That little kindergarten class of Wolfie
and all of his friends, we
all stayed pretty tight.
But we still have a book
group that's still going on.
So the 96 and we're still going at it.
But they got me inspired
about new dishes too,
because what their backgrounds were
and where they learned to cook,
how they learned to cook the
things they learned to cook.
And it opened my eyes to new places.
So probably when Wolfie was
born and through him growing up
is when I got really
interested in cooking, again.
- What sort of inspires you,
like when it comes to making a recipe
or even just trying a recipe,
what do you kind of look for?
Or what kind of like, "Oh,
that's the thing I wanna make."
- I have a list, a mile long on my phone.
I'm always making notes of recipes
I wanna try and develop.
But there's only so
many things you can do.
Like I said, there's only so
many, there's noodle dishes,
there's rice dishes, there's salads.
And yeah, you just put
your own touch on it
without hopefully stealing
anything from anybody.
My fear is always that,
because I'll think I'd come up
with this great idea, like,
"Oh, that's what I'm gonna make."
I'll make up the recipe and I'll go online
just to make sure, like,
damn somebody already thought of it.
So I'll change it up
and just really make it,
try to make it my own.
But I never want to steal from anybody.
Like I put a chicken
Marbella in my first cookbook
because I love chicken Marbella so much.
But I was very, very sure to say,
this is from chicken Marbella.
And this is just my own version
of how I started making it,
because I would make it so often.
So I always try to give
credit where credit is due.
I don't wanna say that,
I stole chicken Marbella
because I loved it so much.
I loved it so much, so I
wanted to make my own recipe
about it.
- And it's hard these days.
I mean, with the internet,
I mean people get so much inspiration.
I think as much as you
try to not copy something,
sometimes I feel like,
"Oh, I came up with this amazing thing."
And then you find it
somewhere, like, okay.
- So you gotta do something
that someone hasn't come up with yet.
That's not your own spin on it, basically.
It's not just coming up with the recipe
to come up with a recipe,
but coming up with it because
it means something to you
or these ingredients
mean something to you.
Like chicken Marbella because
I love the sweet saltiness
of that between the prunes and the olives
and that red wine vinegar and the way they
that they put that dish together,
I just came up with a shorter version
because I didn't wanna wait
overnight while it marinated.
And I love garlic so much.
I would use garlic stuffed
olives or find different ways
to stuff and add more garlic.
- You can never have enough.
- But it's still basically
chicken Marbella.
- Right, right, right.
What are some of your favorite recipe?
I mean, like from this cookbook,
do you have a favorite?
Does it sort of transition?
Do you kind of like, "Oh,
today it's this one."
And you know, I find with me,
it's like, it depends on
my mood a lot of times,
like what I'm kind of into.
But a year ago, the thing
I loved about a cook
in one of my cookbooks
changes, that sort of thing.
- I agree.
I think that cookbook is
what, three years old.
That's all.
But I really have moved on.
There's so many, like,
I love cooking with chicken thighs now.
I just think they're the
easiest thing to not mess up.
Like you can overcook them a little bit.
I mean, you can still burn them,
but it's not as bad as when
you overcook a chicken breast.
And I love bone in skin on,
I like to really take all the
flavor out of that chicken
that you can and really infuse it.
So at the skin and the
bone are super important.
I love quick and easy dishes.
I can make salmon every day of the week.
I love it so much in just different ways.
Either, a mustard mayonnaise
glaze or like an apricot glaze
on top or depending on how I want it sweet
or soy glaze on top,
just depending on what
kind of flavor I want.
And again, salmon is one of
those really forgiving fishes,
just like chicken thighs
are really forgiving.
I like forgiving food.
I make a lot of mistakes,
as my son will tell you.
- I know, I just go
like, are we going back?
But I think that's part
of, I mean, like me,
so I started cooking in high school
because I became a
vegetarian in high school.
Both my parents worked and they're like,
"Do whatever you want,
"but we're not making multiple meals."
So a lot of the Armenian
food kind of lends itself
to being vegetarian anyway,
so it wasn't a big deal.
But sometimes I had to cook.
And so I started cooking.
But you messing up as part
of that learning experience.
And there's times when I've
definitely screwed up dishes
and I'm like, "Oh man,
this is just the worst--"
I kind of wanna talk, like
just sort of geek out over
writing a cookbook since we
both have kind of done that.
What are some of the lessons you learned
from writing your cookbooks.
- Testing the recipes
more and not trusting
that once I've tested it and
then sending it someone else
to test it too.
We all have different tastes.
And I like to pull back
on sugar when I'm baking.
I don't like it as super sweet.
And I have a recipe developer
who I work with a lot
on my show because we have
to develop over 110 recipes
for each season.
I can't test all those out
before I go in to the show,
I'll test out 10 or 12 of them.
But sometimes I regret not testing it out
because we'll get on set and I'll be like,
"Ooh, there's too much sugar
in this recipe for sure."
And I am still not adept enough to see
and look at the ingredients and go,
"I'm not crazy about those."
I'm still not as sure as
myself as I need to be.
I'm getting there.
I can't just look at a recipe and go,
"Oh yeah, it's gonna be great."
I have to test it.
So I'll go in blindly,
sometimes on my show with a...
'Cause we have months of calls
about how we wanna put the show together
and what recipes we need in the show.
And then I'll test some,
but mainly they get tested
by two recipe testers.
And I can always tell
who writes which recipe
'cause they're very different.
And I think there's
something to be said for that
because we're all coming,
whether it be coming to a recipe
or coming into a relationship.
We have our past ghosts
and things that we like,
that we are comfortable with.
And they have theirs and I have mine.
So I wish I could test every recipe
before I actually cook it on the show,
but I can't necessarily do that.
And sometimes we have to
scrap it and I'll start fresh.
- Yeah, I mean, it's hard.
I mean, recipe testing is hard.
Like I do recipes for Costco's magazine
and they kind of run those
through recipe testers
and I'm thankful that they
do because they catch things
like you sometimes kind
of wing or whatever.
For me, when I did my first cookbook,
I made it too hard, I'll just admit it.
I wanted to flex a little bit.
I was like, I can do it.
And it was just on cocktails,
but I still made it to freaking hard.
And it was just kind of--
- Too many ingredients, right.
- Too many ingredients.
- I definitely learned
how to pull back that.
- Yeah, yeah, too many
ingredients or just,
how can you get to the same thing quicker,
kind of how you're talking
about that chicken dish.
It's like, how can I
do it without having it
have it marinate overnight?
And I think it's just,
when you're in this world,
you're like, you want it to be perfect
and like, your name's on it.
And when someone says,
just shut up and cook,
you feel all those sort
of pressures, right.
And so you want it to
be great and perfect.
And it's like, you know what,
just make it easier for people.
People are busy, they don't
have time to do all this.
It was a fun cookbook to make.
'Cause I was drinking like by 9:00 a.m,
like pretty much every day,
you know, recipe testing.
- and asleep by two,
- Right, exactly.
But it is a challenge, when
is your next book coming out?
Do you have another one planned?
- I'm doing something a little
bit different next time.
I'm excited about it,
it's, it's very different.
I don't know that anybody else
has done a book like this,
so we'll see.
Very excited, but when I
get closer to announcing it,
then I'll let you know.
- Okay, is there a timeline?
- I'm gonna start really
getting down and dirty with it
in October and hopefully by
October of 21, it will be out.
- Okay.
- As you know, it takes a
long time to write a book.
- It's so hard.
In fact, I've actually kind of
punted on that a little bit.
So I'm actually developing
right now a comic book
cookbook for kids.
- That's fabulous.
- Yeah, so it's really more
comic book than anything else.
So I'll just say I'm a
huge comic book person.
- Love it.
- And so I was like, how can I combine
my two favorite things?
And you probably get this too,
because, I love that
you're on social media.
I'll just put that out there too.
'Cause I love Twitter as
a way to connect to people
and to have those conversations.
And so you probably get
people that come to you
asking cooking questions all the time.
And as someone that grew up cooking,
like how do you not know
how to chop an onion?
Like not like in a degrading way,
but like just sort of like,
how do you get to your '40s and not know
how to chop an onion?
And so I was like, how can I
get in front of people sooner?
So this comic book is more
like a comic book series
that has some recipes,
but it's all like food
narrative stuff where kind of showing kids
like food culture, some of the things
that kind of talked about.
- I probably try and set
you up with somebody that,
cause we're doing something not like that,
but kind of similar,
coming to do with spices
and showing kids how to use spices.
Not with a comic book, with a storybook.
And I think the more kids stuff out there,
the better.
Duff has got a cooking.
He's got a baking cookbook
coming out in October for kids.
I think the more we can
engage that group, the better.
I think it grew for all of us.
- Yeah, I mean I loved cooking as a kid
and I think that my whole family cooked
and I think that's my mom's Armenian,
You grew up in an Italian,
you understand that sort of culture,
that just food is everywhere all the time.
Like, there's never enough,
they always make way too much
like that stuff.
- You're never allowed to be full.
- You're never allowed to be full.
Yeah, that still happens.
Even at 46, my mom's still
like, no, no, have more.
I'm like, I'm stuffed.
Like, No, no, have more.
But yeah, I think that kids
really wanna learn those things
and the kind of idea.
I'll DM you some of the artwork,
so you can kind of see it.
It's really about just kind of
having this superhero story,
that sort of galactic story
kind of in the same way
that Star Wars sort of
is like about Nazis.
This is sort of like this kind of galactic
food scouring things.
So I think I really wanna
hear what you're doing
with the spice thing.
- Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
It's different than what you're doing,
but I think that if we can
grab kids from every different
avenue, and they're so open to it.
I mean we put top chef
kids and master chef
and kids making championships.
I mean, kids are so into it.
- How did you get into
wanting to do a cooking show
and wanting to do cookbooks?
What was that transition for you.
- The cook book came first,
'cause I always wanted
to talk about all the different
between Mrs. Van Halen,
my Indonesian Dutch side
and being married into that.
And my Italian English-Irish side,
I wanted to just show how
you can just have all this
in your background and
it all works together.
So I wanted to do that.
And then when the book came
out, it was successful enough
that I was able to go
to food network and go,
I love to do a little show
about me going through Italy
and finding my background and seeing
where some of these dishes
came from Northern, Southern,
Cecily, all that kind of stuff.
And they're like, "Well, we
really don't wanna do that,
"but would you do an ITK?"
And I went, what's an ITK in the kitchen.
You'll be on, when Ida and Pioneer woman.
I'm like, "Yes, yes,
of course, I'll do it.
So that started, I think,
I wanna say five years ago.
So it's very, just the best.
It's so much fun, I absolutely love it.
- How did you know your
years as an actress?
I mean, 'cause I think
like cooking and then like
cooking and demonstrating or
such a different skillset.
And I kind of started
out, I had a food blog
at discovery channel that I was doing.
Then I kind of jumped
into doing YouTube videos
and I struggled for like
the first couple of years.
'Cause I never planned on being on camera.
Don't admit this to many people,
but it was really watching
America's next top model
that helped me do well on camera.
- That's cool.
- I had a friend that was just like,
"Oh, you should just watch them."
'Cause they kinda, they sit
there and they figured out
how to be in front of a camera.
And so I like watched a couple episodes,
like this is brilliant.
It's like lessons on like
just how to be on camera.
But I struggled with it for a while.
Was it a transition for you at all
or was it kind of like,
because you had an acting background.
- I think it's probably helped for knowing
where cameras were and
what I needed to say.
But what was challenging about it,
'Cause it was basically a reality show.
So what's challenging about
it is when I'm in the kitchen
cooking, I'm not talking,
I'm listening to music
and I'm just in my head.
You can't be that when you're
trying to show someone else
how to cook.
So I just developed the
skill of when to talk,
when to look at the
camera, when to show them
what I'm doing, what the process is.
It was hit and miss for a while.
But I look back at the early episodes,
I'm like, "You know, that's not that bad."
It's not that bad, I've
gotten much more comfortable.
- Yeah.
Well I think one of the hardest things
and I still struggle with this too,
is like leaving out like those
small little explanations
or tips and I think you
do a really good job
as sort of hitting that when
you're throwing mushrooms
in the pan or explaining
whatever it may be.
I think you do a good
job of kind of hitting
those little instructions.
Sometimes, I mean after I
released a video, I'm like,
"Bleep", I left that part out."
So I think that's the biggest challenge.
But I'm also kind of a one
man show in that sense.
So it's not as, I mean,
it is it's free content.
It is what it is.
Kind of coming back to politics,
the thing that bums me
out the most is like,
my parents were both conservative,
but there wasn't the bigotry part of it.
It's like, we can disagree about things,
without having to be like, "Hey."
And it seems like that's where...
I don't see Republicans
these days that aren't,
it's not bigotry, it's just that.
- Yeah, I mean between
that and follow the money,
it kind of like those two things
kind of explain where they are
and it's like the worst
part of being a human being.
Because I do know Republicans
that are really nice people,
but how can you vote for that, "bleep".
- I kind of feel like at this point too,
with like the pandemic and it
being so many Americans dead,
I just don't know how.
That's the part that still blows my mind.
It's like, literally what will it.
It's a cult of personality, it
has nothing to do with logic.
It's just.
- I truly, I mean, part of
me just feels like the energy
that's out there in the world right now
that it's like, America
is like a really bad drunk
that needs to hit bottom
before it gets better.
And I think we've hit our bottom
and now we're just trying to
get to our first AA class.
- Right, that's a pretty
good description of it.
It's sad and true.
- Yeah.
- So what are you cooking this week?
What's on the agenda.
- Let's see, what am I
gonna cook this week?
I'm made a frittata
today, I love frittatas
because you could just put
anything you want that you love.
And you got some veggies that you roasted
the night before, you
wanna get rid of them,
put them on a frittata, it's great.
I don't know, what I was gonna think.
It's my husband's birthday on Friday,
so I'm probably gonna make
some sort of butterscotch
dessert.
I just haven't figured out what yet.
- Okay, okay.
- But that's about it.
- I wanna come back to your
TV career really quick.
Let me know if we're running
over on time, if at all.
Did you watch the one day to time reboot?
- I have watched parts of it.
And I was able to spend some
time with the wonderful people
that have put it on, I
mean, besides Norman of.
I love it.
I'm trying, I mean, we're
trying to get together
so that I can actually
do a guest shot on it.
And COVID happened and my
schedule, their schedule,
it just wasn't working.
So hopefully when we can
all get in the studio again,
missing on it.
- I was kind of hoping that
that was gonna be my next question.
So I was kind of hoping that
was gonna be something--
- Me too, I'd love to do it.
I love the show.
I think I've seen two or three episodes.
- Okay, okay.
I remember just like at first I was like,
"I'm not ready for there
to be a reboot of the show
"because I watched it when they aired."
And so some of those things,
you just kind of have
those childhood attachments
to, and like, you're like,
"Don't "bleep" with this,
I love that how it is."
And then I just ended up binge
watching the whole season
pretty much within a week.
- They made it just simple enough.
- Yeah, and I liked the sort
of kind of immigrant angle
that they kind of added to it.
I thought that was very great and topical.
It makes you kind of wanna go back
and watch the oldest season.
I haven't watched the original
one on a very long time.
Do you ever go back and
watch it and are you like,
"No, I can't even."
- I have a hard time
watching myself anyway,
but watching myself 40 years ago, Oh, God.
- It must be weird though,
kind of growing up on camera.
I mean, that sorta.
- I guess it would be if I knew
what it was like different,
but that's the only life I know.
So, and I still, I think I've
been able to keep my life
fairly normal even with
all the craziness in it.
- Yeah, I would say compared
to some of the child
celebrities that we've seen
sort of the bad stuff happened to, yeah.
- I'm lucky.
- Are there any other
cooking shows that you,
I mean, you have the baking show
and your home cooking wine.
Is there anything else
you wanna explore as far
as like the TV medium
goes or are you kind of
just looking outside of TV?
- I just still wanna do
that travel in Italy show.
I really do.
I did a show called who
do you think you are
and found out a lot about my background.
I would love to do that.
Love to go to Ireland.
In fact, I was supposed
to go to Ireland in May,
but when March shut everything down,
we had to cancel our trip.
I'd love to do English food.
We don't talk about English food enough.
And then just travel
through Italy and go back
to where my great grandmother
used to sell gelato
on the Palazzo.
It'd be really fun to
do something like that.
But really the scary thing
I've learned about myself
through this five months of being at home
is I really like it.
I thought I liked traveling
because I traveled so much.
So I talked myself into loving it,
but it's been so nice to
just be home with my animals
and your nesting, this is the
longest I've ever been home
since, I'm just gonna
say maybe 13, 14 years.
That's the longest I've had off.
- What are some of your
pandemic challenges,
like now that you are
kind of stuck at home,
like, what are some of the
things you had to figure out.
- How to stop eating at a certain point?
So I can still fit in my pants.
I was just realizing this
morning that I've only hugged
two people in the last five
months, my husband and my son.
So I miss hugs.
I do miss that.
- Yeah, that's right
in person contact is...
You kind of lose that part, yeah.
- Because even when I do see my friends
and we've done social distancing,
I'm looking for a place
right now with my girlfriend
who's a realtor and we've
seen each other multiple times
in the last three weeks
and it's just like,
"Hi."
With our masks on and I
wanna hug her, but we can't.
We have to be careful.
- Yeah.
For me, it's like, I'm mostly
been living in sweatpants.
And so it's like, anytime
I go to put on jeans,
it's like, how's this gonna go?
(laughter)
I'm a little scared of them.
I just kind of like...
And it's like, usually just,
you know you kind of just
get dressed or whatever,
but like, I'll take
them out of the dresser,
I'll put them on the bed.
It's like I kinda like warm up
till I having to put them out.
Like I know they're over there.
Like I can visually see them,
but I'm not ready to like,
to the hard truth.
So, getting dressed has been a challenge
on many different levels.
- Tell me about it.
- Well, I'm hoping at some
point we can cook together.
- I know, it'll be fun.
- Maybe when you have your next book out
and people actually
wearing masks and that--
- We're not, and I have to wear a mask
and we can actually cook together, yeah.
- Right, right.
I did wanna talk to you
about your cocktails
because that was my first
book, was on cocktails.
And I love that that
was part of your book.
'Cause I feel like sometimes
when people do a cookbook,
it's like just really food.
And I love it.
(speaking in the background)
I know.
And there's one in particular
that I'm very excited to make.
'Cause I love spicy,
I love anything spicy.
And it was like a, let me see,
I have it bookmarked in here,
but yeah, it's the jalapeno
and ginger margarita.
That sounds easy.
- It's so delicious.
And you're getting two different
kinds of spices in there
that are both at different levels of heat
and they hit your tongue
differently, it's so, so delicious.
- Yeah.
Well, and that's why I think
it's actually brilliant
about it, I never really
thought about that.
And so I might do a
little spin on your recipe
'cause typically when I did the...
I think I sent you the
Freddie Prinze jr one.
I took one of his French toast
and just kind of did a spin on a bit.
I'm excited for this because
of those different levels
of heat.
Typically I try to, I
like to balance things.
So I'll like do like sweet and spicy.
I'll kind of like try
to hit all the different
kind of notes, but I like
two different kinds of heat
going in there.
so that I can make it--
- I always love that too.
- Yeah.
- Playing with peach.
- In the drinks section go,
do you have like a favorite spirit
that you kind of lean towards
or any sort of like flavor profile.
'Cause I wanna take
what you kind of created
and sort of amp it up a little
bit and do like a recipe.
- I'm always trying to
find ways to fit Aperol
in to something.
I love Aperol, I love
that kind of it's sweeter
than compari, but it's got
that nice bitterness to it.
I like that.
And I just made, what did I
make the other day that I added?
I must have had a few of them.
Sorry, I forgotten.
- Honestly, I haven't
really experimented too much
with Aperol, like I've
had cocktails with it,
I've made a few things myself,
but I haven't really
run the gamut with it.
So that's actually a good, thank you.
- If it's good, especially I made it okay.
There was gin involved and I wanna say,
it's gonna drive me crazy now.
I'm pretty sure there was gin involved,
which is probably why I can't remember.
It always makes you forget.
Dangerous.
- Well, when it comes back to you,
you'll shoot me a message.
So does your son like to cook?
Is that sort of, no, not at all.
- (speaking in the
background) kind of guy.
In fact, I tried to send
them home with stuff.
He says, no, no, I'll get
this stuff and the other.
I'm like, "Okay."
No, it's all music all the time.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Well, I mean, I guess that makes sense.
- Yeah, definitely.
He definitely got that gene
and then just exploded with it.
He's dare I say, even more
talented than his father,
which is saying a lot.
- Okay.
Well, we'll just leave that
on the editing room floor.
- Ed would say the same thing.
He would say the same thing, yeah.
- What music do you listen
to when you're cooking?
- Whatever new album I like right now,
it's Folklore Taylor Swift.
I love that album.
It's just got such a
beautiful through line.
It's you know, nothing jarring.
It's just lyrically so
beautiful, melodically.
I just, I love the different
instruments that she uses.
It's a gorgeous album
or I'll have pink on it
if I wanna get some more energy.
I love Kelly Clarkson,
all female vocalist.
- And my son.
- It took me a while to kind
of come around to Taylor Swift.
I think like at first I was like, "Hmm."
And then, you know, it wasn't this album,
but the last one.
I haven't actually
listened to Folklore yet.
- It's so good.
That's mellow, it's a good mellow record.
- Okay, the last album like
definitely made me a Swifty
and now I'm full on willing to admit that.
- Good.
- And also I will also
admit like her just getting
more political also gets me in the game.
It's like.
- Yeah, did you see the documentary?
- I haven't yet.
- It's really good.
- Is it?
- Really, really good.
- Is that the one that's on Netflix?
- Yup.
- Okay, I'll check that out.
- Yeah, very, very good.
It's really goes into who she is,
the men trying to hold her down
and all that Scooter Braun thing.
I'll never understood how I don't know,
some of these men get
away with so much "bleep".
- I mean, yeah.
- She's standing up to him
and I gotta give her credit.
- I mean, I can only imagine.
And the thing that's just heartbreaking
is like you see these things
kind of coming forward now
and I just think about like,
"Oh God, what was it like 20
years ago or 40 years ago?"
And like just, I can only
imagine how horrific it is.
And I can't even, I don't know.
I mean like my first career,
so I was actually a software developer.
That's where I started.
And I worked for the
department of defense,
which was a little bit tough
because I was a liberal
working for the department of defense
and it was mostly ex military
people and military people.
And we didn't always see
eye to eye on things.
And so, but just seeing
how that culture was
with how women were treated
and stuff like that.
And like now kind of having
all this stuff come forward,
it's just heartbreaking.
- Yeah, I mean, we all
have to adjust our brains
to basically saying
no, I'm gonna speak up.
That that's not the way that
human beings should be treated.
And I think we're learning more and more
that we can speak up and say.
But we've been taught and
brainwashed that we just take it
and move on.
I think there's a big adjustment
happening in this world
and it's a good adjustment.
But that's why you're
seeing so much ugliness too,
because things don't fall easily.
They just, they're not going to.
And people have things
that they're used to
and they don't like change.
- Yeah, well, it's like
sort of like the pro and con
of social media too.
I think like on one
level it sort of brings
all this ugliness to light, right.
Because it used to be
that editors had to decide
what made the newspaper,
what made the news
and all that kind of stuff.
And now people can just share it
and people that are
horrified and want to amplify
those voices can.
And then of course it kind
of makes it a bit of a toxic
thing itself, 'cause you're sort of in it.
- It's nice to have more
truth was being told.
It'd be nice if the social media,
if the people that ran them
were a little bit more,
if they care a little bit
more about making sure
that the truth was out there,
as opposed to letting people
figure it out for themselves.
That's not the way it works.
No, you say something when
it's a lie, it's a lie.
It's not factual, it's not factual.
You know it, because some
people are believing that.
- Well, you sort of just
see that thread too,
like just kind of through our...
I think that's how the
Republican's honestly,
that's how they succeed.
They kind of keep chipping
away at the educational system
and you see these people that
believe these really weird
conspiracies and it's like,
how can you believe this stuff?
Or they just, the stuff that
they kind of get behind,
where that...
- All projection.
Every time Donald Trump says
something about Joe Biden,
he's talking about himself.
- Right.
- That's what they do.
They bounce it off them
before they get accused of it.
It's mind boggling the people
that will actually believe it.
- Yeah, it's sad.
- But just trust, there are more of us
than there are of them.
There really are more of
us that know the truth
and that speak the truth
than there are the people
that are following this cue thing.
- Yeah, and like now I
guess like the millennials
are now the biggest block in the country.
So hopefully it's just a matter.
I think it's a matter of time.
I think Texas is gonna
get purple really soon.
I mean, I don't know if you'd
like to get into the data
of politics, but I like, that's
what got me into software,
I'm a data guy.
And Texas looks a lot
like 1993, California,
where it's just, you start
seeing it kind of chip away,
like at the GOP holding on certain things.
So I think Texas is on
its way to being purple.
Pretty strongly.
- All I care about is
changing over the Senate.
Whether Mitch McConnell gets
voted out in Kentucky or not.
Unfortunately, I mean, I'm
still gonna put my money
behind Amy McGrath and all that stuff.
But he's really got a stranglehold
on that beautiful state,
unfortunately.
And between all the gerrymandering,
we just need to change over the Senate
because Mitch McConnell
is much more powerful
than Donald Trump.
And he is using every ounce of his power
to change the shape of our
country and it's unfortunate.
But that's what we need,
we need the Senate.
- Now, we do.
- Even if Donald Trump somehow gets in
because of the cheating he was able to do.
And he'll cheat again.
We have to have the Senate so
we can hold them accountable.
- Yeah, no, I agree.
I often feel like I could almost suffer
through another four years
of him if we get the Senate
or get rid of McConnell.
- It's the only way.
That's the only way we'll get through it
because then we can hold them
accountable and impeach him
and throw him out because he
is criming every single day.
With the new crime, hit so many crimes,
we can't keep up with them.
- I know it's exhausting.
- Yes, but that's how he does it.
He does it right in front of your face
because it's just so mind
boggling that you can't believe
it's happening right
in front of your face.
Most criminals will do
it behind your back.
This guy is like he right
in front of your face.
Why we aren't holding
him more accountable?
I mean, I don't know.
There should be a thousand
Bengazi with this man.
I don't know why Democrats are so nice.
- That's actually one of the things
I liked about Hillary Clinton,
a lot is that I felt like
she just had those teeth
that we sort of needed
in a Democrat to go after it.
- Well, the AOC now, I love AOC.
- Right?
Yeah, who were you before,
I mean, obviously now
Biden's the one running.
Were you voting for anyone
else in the primary,
were you sort of tilted towards anyone?
- Kamala Harris, Warren.
I would like to see Kamala
Harris, Elizabeth Warren ticket.
But I will vote for Joe,
he's from my home state.
I will gladly vote for Joe.
- Yeah, I was a Elizabeth
Warren person, myself.
- Yeah, she seems smart.
I've liked her since she
wasn't even in politics.
And she would do the
show with John Stewart.
Who is this woman, she's
amazing, she knows so much.
I love her.
But I love Kamala Harris.
- Well, hopefully I think we
get the VP pick on Wednesday.
That's when it's supposed to be announced.
- Is that when it is.
- I saw that on Twitter,
who knows if it's true.
- Okay.
Hopefully, I'm excited.
- Okay, I will wrap this up.
I just wanna know what's for
what's for dinner tonight.
- What's for dinner tonight.
I think I'm just...
You know what, I'm just
gonna make a good salad
with some, arugula and some
sliced fennel and tomatoes,
little lemon vinegarette,
maybe a little Parmesan
and some pine nuts.
That sounds pretty tasty.
What about for you, what
are you making for dinner?
- That's a good question.
You know, I am actually,
I've been trying to develop
this an easy Thai peanut sauce
for my YouTube channel.
So I've been eating pavram tofu,
like over and over and over again
because I'm trying to like lock it down.
So it's kind of like the same thing
coming back to that chicken
recipe you're talking about.
It's like, I want to make.
Thai food is a pretty
complicated dish to make
just for most recipes.
I'm like, I want a really easy one.
So I'm probably gonna be making that.
On this roasted spinach cake,
I've been roasting it
instead of sautéing it,
which I don't know if
you've ever done that.
The one thing that's nice about it.
Well, one you know,
like you start out with
this much spinach and then
you get like this much
at the end, right.
And you don't have to like
sit there over a saute pan,
which is really nice about it.
You can put it in the oven
on a pan at like 200 degrees
and like 20 minutes later,
it's all kind of cooked down.
But it goes a little bit of a nice,
it doesn't get like is
so it doesn't get as wet
when you're sautéing it.
Which I like the part that's
just a little bit dryer
and the roasting kind
of gives us a little bit
of sweetness to it.
- I'm trying that, I love it.
- I highly recommend it, just makes sense.
- Do you put olive oil,
salt, and pepper or anything.
- Depending on the dish.
So like with the peanut one,
because it's so like kind
of a sweet and salty sauce,
like I just been doing
straight up spinach.
Sometimes I'll toss it with olive oil,
sometimes I'll just do it completely.
Depends on how lazy I am.
And it's not that like
adding olive oil to spinach
is a difficult task, it's more of like,
do I just want to rip the bag and dump
or do I wanna rip the bag and toss it?
- I hear ya.
- Yeah, it's just whatever
that lazy factor is.
- I get it, totally get it.
- Awesome.
Well, thank you so much for...
I'm so glad that we made this happen.
- Me too.
- I hope we can do this
again at some point.
Definitely--
(speakers talking over each other)
The next book and I'm gonna send to you
some comic book stuff just
so you can kind of see
some of the artwork.
And let me know about the spices.
I'd love to hear about that.
- I know.
- Okay, awesome.
Well, have a great rest of your day
and hopefully I'll talk to you soon.
See you on Twitter.
- Yes, okay, bye, bye.
Thanks so much.
- Yeah, of course, thanks Val.
- Bye bye.
- Bye.
- Isn't she just adorable, right?
I had so much fun talking to her.
As you saw in the
beginning of the interview,
just a few days before we got together,
her and her son were kind
of bantering back and forth
on Twitter, over her
burning some onion rings.
And I just found that absolutely hilarious
how she handled it.
I like to give my mom a hard
time and clearly her son
likes to give her a hard time too.
And it was just really funny
to have that exchange with her.
So please check out her cookbook,
check out Valerie's home cooking.
There's a lot of
delicious recipes in here.
Like I said, it's just really
captures what it's like
to hang out with her.
The recipes are really fresh and fun
and check out that interview again.
She's great.
If you like interviews
like this with recipes,
be sure to also look for when
I did with Freddie Prinze jr.
And the amazing chef, Sarah Moulton,
just some of my favorite people
that I've been so fortunate
to talk to.
If you like this video,
give me a thumbs up.
If there's something that you wanna see.
Hey, drop a comment down below.
And if you'd like to cook,
like I do, please subscribe.
I'll see you guys next time.
(instrumental music)
