The Chef Next Door: Food, Friendship & Finding Home

How does a simple meal become the ultimate anchor? This week, chef to the masses (and my former neighbor!) Nico Torres joins me in the kitchen. We’re talking identity, intentionality, and the radical act of feeding yourself on your own terms.

 Plus, we dive into concept-based cooking, navigating dietary constraints, and finding boundless creative freedom inside a tiny New York kitchen. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:06

Wait, is this thing on can y'all hear me? Okay. Here we go.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Just a dash. Just a dash.

SPEAKER_04 0:29

Just a dash.

SPEAKER_03 0:34

Make a clap. Make a clap. First of all, hello to everyone. Hi, sweet peas. This is a special episode of Just a Dash. For those who are new or for those who are returning, um, this is the second season. And you might know, if you don't know, we are focusing on home and really what it what are the different things we cultivate in our lives to create home. And I'm excited to have Nico here with me because Nico is one of my good friends, neighbor to friend pipeline. You'll notice that that's a big thing in my life. Nico, yes, Nico is one of the 1282 gang, so just someone who I lived in the same building with for a long time. And I wanted to have this conversation and this experience with Nico today because our relationship began through food and it really nurtured our friendship, but it also nurtured my understanding of home. Nico, something, and I tell you this all the time, something I really admire about you is your relationship to food. It's I think it's a way that you center yourself, but also a way you find community, the way that you show people you care, and you really you create everything from your heart. So I really wanted to explore this topic with you because, especially in a place like New York, which can feel so transient, food can sometimes be treated as just like sustenance, you know, like you're just getting a quick meal, you're not really enjoying your relationship to food and understanding how it also allows you to feel at home and in your body, you know. So, you know, I I've done a lot enough chatting, but I do want you to introduce yourself a little bit, you know, and just whatever you'd like to share with you know with our viewers and our listeners today. If you want to share how we met through food, just take it away. Do your thing.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Goodness. All right, well, let's see. Um, my recollection of how we first met was you knocked on our door, we had just moved in, or I had just moved in, take your mother. Um, and you were like, hey guys, I'm having a Halloween party because Halloween this year is my favorite hallowed day. Yes. And I was like, Oh, okay, cool, thank you. I'll let people know. Um and you said it smelled delicious. And I said, Oh, well, I'm not cubing. I said, I'm just making, I'm cooking enough food for like 40 people. I'm literally in here by myself. Here, let me make you a quick like so. I sent you with a Tupperware. Yes. And then the next time I saw you, you're like, Oh my god, thank you. And you were like, That felt like home on Haitian Caribbean food is so grounding. Absolutely. And so that was that was the start. That was the start. And I brought you lights for your party. I can't come to your party, but here's some lights.

SPEAKER_03 3:01

No, Nico. I I literally was just telling Nico this before we even started recording, but Nico is truly a jack of all trades. You're such a creative person in so many different spaces. Um, but I think my favorite thing is also there's just always so much intentionality around the food. I mean, that was the first meal, but you also had your own meal prep service at a certain point called Feast Fairy, and I got to be one of the first participants in that, and that was incredible. Every time I would heat up this food, it would taste better and better. And there was just you were always so mindful with just like how the food was preserved over time, you know. It was just it was so special, and you continue to stay in my life when it comes to food. Actually, when I moved into this apartment, you made the food for my housewarming party.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

I don't know if you remember that.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Yeah, like remember that it happened, and yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:51

Yes, and I remember, you know, in that moment I had a friend who you had created, you know, we we really worked on the menu together.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Right, and poet friend. I remember that discussion. That check.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

And she was like, There's Caribbean food here, there's like Oxtail, like, who is the chef? And I pointed you out, and she was like surprised. There's a beautiful way that you integrate food, you know, just into someone's story, into someone's background, which we're gonna get to in a little bit. But before we even jump into all that, you've already begun. As you can see, the chef is already hard at work. I am the sous chef today. I am usually, if I'm over at their apartment, you know, you and Ty, I am helping, I feel like, in the kitchen. I enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Indeed. So, in the home kitchen, I feel like the one of the principal responsibilities of the sous sous chef is to chat.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Um, in a restaurant, like restaurant chefs, you know, you're like basically the sous chef is doing everything, and the chef just like appears every once in a while to scream.

SPEAKER_03 4:46

Okay, you're a different type of chef, though. You like to be involved, you like to be in the mix.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Oh, you know what I didn't grab? May I please have a spoon? Absolutely. Thanks. I'm on it. Thank you, sous chef.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Nobody's ever heard those words. We need to love sous chef.

SPEAKER_03 5:03

Um, but before we actually even jump into the the conversation, I do want to start with so, and I think everyone who who's watching me, who listens to me frequently enough knows I love there to be intentionality in whatever I'm doing. So, even today, you know, part of the reason that I wanted to capture this on film, if you will, is because it's an experience to cook together. It's an experience to make a meal, to share a meal, and to do it in your home and to do it with a friend. But I know you also were pretty intentional about this meal. So, what are we making today and what inspired it?

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Alright, well, this was gonna be this was the plan formerly known as poblano mac and cheese.

SPEAKER_03 5:45

Now it's gonna be- Oh my gosh! Okay, child, we could not, we could not find poblano pepper cheese.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

I mean, there's like a global poblano shortage, and nobody's ever heard of them. Never. They're looking at decent, yeah. They were very confused. But then when I say, okay, well, I'll take some jalapenos. Friend said, Well, jalapenos are spicy, poblanos aren't spicy. I was like, so you do know what a Papano is.

SPEAKER_04 6:05

So you do know what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

By the way, so I can't find them anywhere lately. It's been weird. But um, so it's gonna be a poblano mac and cheese. Part of it, you know, I come from a design background, so like really embracing your constraints, and Dash was like, we have minimum, you know, kind of surface or area. This is a New York apartment. So I was like, okay, what's something that we don't have to like spread out too much or like you don't have to reset too many times on our space. So um, you know, most of this takes place on the stove because we just have to make the mac and cheese sauce and boil our noodles. But also, um, I have a buddy at work who we decided to make like a little lunch club where we each just make extra of something on alternating weeks and uh bring extra for the other friend. And so she had made some poblano mac and cheese a while back and it slapped. Well, I didn't get to eat hers because I'm gluten-free, so I had to make my own, but that slapped. Yeah, and so I was like, dude, I'm craving that again, we gotta do it.

SPEAKER_03 6:59

Okay, so and that actually I love that you even said that you're craving that because I think one of the best things I love is that like if you are craving something, you're like, I'm gonna make it. Like, that's it. Like, it's it's really that simple for you.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

I love having what I want. And like it's so hard to do in this world. It's so hard to do in this world. So if you can like be like, I want Pablono mac and cheese, like you can just have you can have that. Or I mean, I'm very lucky to be able to just go to a store and like get something.

SPEAKER_03 7:25

Right, but you can source what you need to create it, yeah. There's I think it's a daily way to just like get a dopamine hit.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

And it's like I gotta eat anyway. So I could be utilitarian about it, but it's like a daily, constant opportunity to indulge, too. Like, um, and I'm kind of an indulgent person.

SPEAKER_03 7:43

Okay. Before I jump to my first question, is there anything I can help with? Or is it better for me to just be asking questions right now? What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 7:51

I think as the needs arise, we'll know, and then I can just okay. But for now, you just do your thing to just be in your curiosity.

SPEAKER_03 7:59

Okay, I feel a little bit like Vanna White.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Quick PSA if you're dealing with jalapenos, wear some gloves because you can wash your hands a hundred times, but you still can get those jalapeno hands, and that's the best case scenario. Slightly less good, you like scratch your nose and then your little eyeballs are. That's no, that's like worst case scenario, you like scratch your thigh or something, or go to the bathroom.

SPEAKER_03 8:20

And then I know that you're speaking from experience just based on that reaction.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Um, and not firsthand, that's anecdotal, that's like not my story to share, but I've known I do know someone firsthand which now, you know, friend of a friend now makes it not a credible source, but I I know that it's a credible source. You heard it in my life.

SPEAKER_03 8:38

I trust you, and I'm I'm sure that I've done something similar before. I kind of want to rewind because I feel like in general, you have such a fascinating backstory, and just we both, you know, have we're we're Florida people over here, okay?

SPEAKER_01 8:52

I can really claim that though. I left Miami and I was like a baby. I got a job. I'm being a baby in Philadelphia.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

But there was a lot of influence, I feel like, when I when we talk in terms of just like at least culturally, I feel like there's a lot of influence, maybe not Miami, but definitely being Cuban. I think there's always a tie there. And so I'm curious about where your love for food really began, and what really is the first meal that really struck you? Like, oh, like I have a different relationship to food than you know, maybe other people might have.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Oh, that's a good question. Um, thank you. Well, I think like a big one would be a bowl for these peppers. Um, yeah, I'll put them here. So maybe get on bowl. But what I do need, can we put we're about to burn our tucasses? Can we preheat the oven? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 9:42

What's the this next summer day?

SPEAKER_01 9:44

I don't know, 420.

SPEAKER_03 9:46

Okay. Let me make sure nothing's in here, shop.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

That's see that yes, especially in New York, because you're like storing your extra linens in there. Okay. Check your oven before you preheat it.

SPEAKER_03 9:57

And I do know from experience, I actually did have a roommate who forgot something in the oven and literally, I think it was like Tupperware, and the fire department was called. Because of course, you know, when you have these gas stove shot, anything could happen. Um, but yeah, what what can you or it can't just be like your first memory around food? Like what is what's like the first thing that feels most striking to you?

SPEAKER_01 10:20

I mean, I think it's like I mean a big one is I and I know there's like the world now requires people to have like two working parents, and like I grew up in a like multi-generational house at one point, there were four generations, so like my grandma cooking for us every day was a you know a pretty constant thing, and so I think just like you know, that's a former privilege doesn't get named, but like somebody that loved me and knew my face was cooking for me every day, yeah. And you know, I think that then the difference between like that food and the food that like I literally thought of them as the American kids. I like also I have a US passport, uh but like as a kid, you know, I'm like, oh, this is different, like you just are eating your food, right? Right, and then the first time you like go to someone else's house for dinner, yeah. I'm like, oh, they're like eating spaghetti and drinking milk.

SPEAKER_03 11:08

Um food combinations are really consistent.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

It was just very I'm trying to be non-judgmental bad, but I'm just like, this is not this is not what I eat at home. So I like began, I came to like understand, I was always like very aware of my identity because the food that I ate was different. And we like we did school lunches, my mom and grandma were lunch ladies at my elementary school. Um because everybody had to work at our house, like it was like um, but which being as a kid that's like mortifying. You're like, oh my god, my mom and grandma, like not only work at my school, but then like the lunch, because kids are just such jerks, like we we inherit classism so early, and they're just like, oh, the lunch ladies. I'm like, dude, that is the person who is feeding you your lunch every day.

SPEAKER_03 11:45

Which is a good point, even what you're saying about like the quality of food and how it is a privilege what you have accessibility to or who's cooking for you in your home. Right?

SPEAKER_01 11:53

So even at school, eating school lunches with probably on some kind of like that's probably why they worked there, so they could get like subsidized lunch. But like, even then, my grandma was still handing me like that. That's what I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_03 12:05

I know you were still getting a home-cooked meal, but it does make a difference in your life when you get a home-cooked meal. I do think there is something to be said about food routines being established from a young age if you're seeing that in your home, versus like if your parents buy out every day, or if you get out at a restaurant every day, or if you eat in front of the TV, like those things become your established relationships.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

But then, even like restaurants, you know, that's another kind of like my I have an uncle um from Argentina who had restaurants. He and my cousin had opened a pizzeria. We love pizza Argentina, it's like a big pizzeria. Really? Yeah, there's so many Italians there. Like it's like German and Italian, kind of the biggest. I could see that pizza is like the next most popular one after stakes. So we had this pizzeria. My cousins and my brothers and I like ran it together for years. Um downtown Denver. It was a beautiful era. But that uncle, he's also like he had like a giant like brick barbecue that he had built in his backyard with like a coal heating pit in it with like a shovel and like it. All resourceful, and it just runs in your family. It would be family, like immigrants.

SPEAKER_03 13:07

My dad was like that too. He's my resident MacGyver.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

But I mean, a giant backyard girl is like standard issue in Argentina. Like my uncle told me, he was like, No, we were talking to a friend that was having a house built, and he was like, Oh yeah, like I, you know, the girl will go here, and he's like, Oh, you're always thinking about the girl. He's like, That would be like building a house without a toilet. What are you talking about? Like, so it's a standard issue, yeah. So, anyway, but that was like he had like disco lights in his living room, had a huge sound system, a huge music collection. Like, he knows how to party. The life of the party. He knows how to party, so yeah, we would like have these huge gatherings. I was always allowed to bring whatever friends, you know, because I think the other thing with like my like American friends or whatever is like family time was family time. Like you they're like, I have to go to this thing with my family, or I have a family gathering, and like my family gatherings, like my friends were allowed to come out. I have like eight friends come to our like barbecues and stuff. So that was they're always like really porous with my friends, or like I never really came out to my family, like they just started bringing girls to the party. Yeah, I was really like, she's sweet, is she nice to be able to do it?

SPEAKER_03 14:00

It was always it was always like a I feel like every time you share a story just from like your youth or from your upbringing, it always feels so communal. And that was just, I feel like, just I feel like that was just the baseline of how you engage with your community and you know how you show up for each other, how you care, how you appreciate one another. I just feel like they they set you up to be this person who shows care through your actions in that way.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

I feel set up by that. It's another form of privilege that I name. I just I feel like they really let me just be myself, and not everybody got to be their self life. Some people just get to meet themselves as an adult, and yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:37

Because you're the sort of person, Nico, you will always offer to like if someone comes over your home, you're cooking for them, or you're offering them a snack, or you're or you're presenting something new that you created, an ingredient that you experimented on. I mean, you made deconstructed chicken sandwiches for Easter. They were I I cannot say how delicious these chicken sandwiches were. Like it was a combination of every like fast food chicken sandwich you love, and you just always are excited to share. So I'm curious, you know, why is food such an important part of friendship and community for you? Like, how do you center that in your life now?

SPEAKER_01 15:16

I mean, part of me is like the pragmatist in me where I'm like, we gotta I gotta eat. Like, you're like, and you know, as a person who's gluten-free, like I have like these dietary limitations, so a lot of like things that I want, I can't just go to like you know, these try not to product place from this big, huge horrible corporation. But I'm like, dang, I want that classic chicken sandwich that's like nostalgic, but if I ate it now, it would probably be gross. But if I get like yummy grass fed chicken not grass fed chicken, whatever they are, yeah, you know, happy chickens and I cage free. And I usually cage free, yeah, free-range chickens, and I get my like gluten-free flour and I get my gluten-free buns, and then I can have this like classic chicken sandwich. And so um sometimes it's yeah, it goes back to that like craving where I'm like, I want this thing, uh, and I can't necessarily have it. And but then the thing is then then that that's gonna take time. And so I'm like, I you know, if I will only cook by myself, then I will never see anyone. So I'm just like, come sit with me while I'm cooking. So I just like then by virtue of that, it means that I'm like you know, inviting people into my space to be with me while I'm doing this thing. Yeah. Um, but also, yeah, it's just like there's sort of this practical level to it too. Okay, this was ready. Amazing. Alright, so we're gonna I'm gonna finish cutting the I got some questionable jalapenos. Uh well, not questionable, I'm just cutting the the less than beautiful parts off.

SPEAKER_03 16:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

And then we're gonna we're gonna put we're gonna like toss these in. We can get rid of all of our little scraps in a second here, and then we'll use that same bowl to toss these in some oil. Do you want olive or canola? Go olive. Thank you. Okay. Give it a general squirt.

SPEAKER_03 16:55

And do you need um are we using this for the peppers? Sure are.

unknown 16:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 17:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Yeah. Oh wait, like I can't believe you did it. I know, it's like this. I cannot, it's like this physiological response. If I say yeah or hear yeah, I can't. Yeah, same thing happens when you say slow motion.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

Or I won't, I want to. Boom. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Pop it in. You wanna pop it in, Susha? Yes.

SPEAKER_03 17:25

I do. Alright, do the honors. Alright, we are putting the peppers into roasts. Check my technique. And this is definitely how I know that you come from a Caribbean background because you just said that you don't have a set timer. You it's by how you feel. That was like definitely how no ethnic people do.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

No.

SPEAKER_03 17:43

I definitely, I'm just gonna say now, I don't think I have like a written-down recipe from any of my family members. It's either by word of mouth or watching them. There are two dishes that my mom makes really well: mac and cheese and potato salad. I've had to learn just by watching her. I've not mastered the mac and cheese yet, but I have mastered the potato salad, which I feel like you can adjust. Absolutely. That is my signature, that is my signature dish.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Yeah, you just do it till it's done. That's kind of the pretty much.

SPEAKER_03 18:14

Okay, so what do we have next?

SPEAKER_01 18:16

It's boiling, the oven has been preheated. We are about to make our sauce and boil our pasta. So make sure the slide isn't too hot. Hop into it. Make this boiling water, salty like the sea. Beautiful, beautiful. Um, okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

You want to wait till it's boiling, apparently, because it maybe boils faster. I thought it lowered the boiling temperature, but apparently you wait till it's boiling.

SPEAKER_03 18:36

I do have a question for you while you're doing this. Yeah. So you did mention earlier that you know, part of cooking for yourself and even creating new ingredients or new recipes for yourself has to do with your own food restrictions around being gluten-free. How do you think living in New York, you have to really become creative around that, or do you think that this is a place that allows you to be able to feed yourself in the ways that you most desire without sacrificing, you know, quality ingredients, quality food, quality tastes? How has that been for you?

SPEAKER_01 19:10

I think that the sacrifice is more like financial. Like, I pay more for everything I need because I have a particular need, and I I think that from like a radical equity standpoint, it would make sense to just absorb that into the cost of all of your pizzas instead of making me pay two dollars more for my pizza because I have a medical condition that requires me to like so that part of it is hard, but you know, like you get three extra dollars to for like a sandwich that's half the size. It's like it becomes insulting at a certain point. Yeah. How do you combat that? I suck it up and pay it, and I cook, yeah, I cook for myself. I'm like doing that on my on my own.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

Yeah. Like, yeah. When you think about this, like, because obviously you have a love for food. I feel like you get excited to cook a meal, you have like a natural motivation. Oh, for how long?

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Um for 13 minutes, apparently.

SPEAKER_03 20:02

Okay. Um, and that's gluten-free pasta, by the way, that we're using. Um, I guess my other question for you when it comes to like accessibility and those sorts of things, like, what do you think is a more sustainable, or when you imagine like what food sustainability or food accessibility looks like, what would be ideal to you? Like, what do you how do you think it should be to make people more engaged and excited about what they're eating?

SPEAKER_01 20:27

I mean, I think more localized food sources so that we're like not using so much fossil fuel to transport food. Yeah. Um, I think feeling more connected to um the people who are actually growing our food would be helpful. I think that because it is such a community thing, you know, by the time it's that like itadaki masu thing. Like it was like so much has to happen for like you to even have just like a raw vegetable in your hands. Like so many hands have touched that. Um, and to like to have less hands touch it. So maybe it's just like a farmer and maybe like someone who works there on the farm, and maybe whoever came to like sell it to me. Yeah, um, yeah. So that's part of it, and then I think I mean I this is I'm like a creative evangelist, and I think food is creative, and I'm like, people forget that they have creative power, like and I think that there's like helplessness that's taught to us around a lot of things, and like this huge one which it like we have to deal with always and forever, we feel so helpless about, and so yeah, I just want people like I think if we if people felt more empowered to cook, so I like concept-based cooking more than like recipes, and for some people the recipe feels safe, but I'm like, then I have to buy everything on this list and stuff. I want to be able to like work. What is concept-based cooking? Like, just looking at what I have, just understanding that basically stuff is gonna have a shape, there's a way of heating it, yeah, there's like a way of giving it flavors, and like beyond that, you know, like yeah, we all have a huge frame of reference for food. Like we if you like you know what a hamburger looks like, and if you're willing to actually form the thought, you can like create it, do the thing, yeah, you know, or and that's Many dishes, like just sit down and think about like the plate at in front of you at the restaurant, right? Like, okay, well, it has this and that and that. Okay, like worst case scenario, you don't get it right, but like it's still unless you severely burn it or like super duper oversalt it, like it's gonna be fine.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

Like you're eating some vegetables. So yeah, I do think sometimes people overthink it, you know, and it feels like a skill set that's almost scary, and you don't know what to do or how to start. I'm like, you could do it. Like yeah, I like the idea of making it approachable in that way. Okay, what's the next step that we're doing right now?

SPEAKER_01 22:33

We're making this mac and cheese sauce, and I know that there are like recipes for this, and I see this may or may not turn out well because I don't use recipes, I just like kind of remember loosely what we're doing. Okay. Like, I know I'm like, I always start by melting the butter because you gotta make like the roux, apparently. So we're gonna melt this butter and we're gonna like mix some gluten-free flour into to make this like gooey paste. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 22:53

Alright, I'm excited by this. How many of the meals you create are like original concepts, or is it something that you are pulling from a memory from before? Like, what how do you come to determine what meal you're creating?

SPEAKER_01 23:08

I think if it feels like I don't have an idea of how to approach it, I will just type into the internet, you know, chicken picata recipe, and then I'll just look at the list of ingredients. Yeah. And I'll kind of like kind of blast through the steps and make sure there's nothing that was like out of left field. Yeah. But I'm like, okay. And if it's what I thought, then I'll just kind of do it. Like this. I'm gonna just kind of do it. I tried to make an alfredo sauce last night and it turned out kind of like gritty, like the ricotta stayed, and it's like ricotta, and then I'm like, so what? It still tastes good. Like, so like most of the time it comes out really smooth for me. This might turn out lumpy mac sauce, but you know what? It's gonna be melted cheese and noodles.

SPEAKER_03 23:43

It's still gonna be something you can consume. I think that's also a really beautiful part of your mentality around food as well, is that you take a lot of the pressure off any creativity.

SPEAKER_01 23:53

Like, write a bad song, make an ugly graphic, take a photo that you throw out in post-production. So what? You're not afraid of it.

SPEAKER_03 23:59

Somebody dies in that way. Yeah, so real. And I I do love when I come over and it's like, do you want to try this? It was an experiment. It turned out kind of weird. I don't know how it turned out, but let's just try it, you know. And I also I think a really important piece too about the way that you cook that I really appreciate is your resourcefulness. I think, you know, even the last time when on Easter we spent Easter together, and when you made these chicken sandwiches, you didn't have like this proper bag for the flour. And I remember you like used another bag that you had. I don't even know if you remember this. So that the flour wasn't going everywhere. No, it was for the chicken. You were put you were putting the chicken in flour, and like it was just so inventive. And I remember I complimented you on it, and you told me how it should properly be done, and I was like, I would have not even known, I still would have been so impressed. And so I think it's I think that's also something for me that I'm learning, especially. It's difficult, I think, with my lifestyle sometimes to be inspired around cooking, you know. Like at the end of the day, I can feel so exhausted, or I'm like, I don't have everything that I need in order to create what I want to create, and that's not always true, you know. Like, for example, I don't have like an iron cat skillet, which I'd love to get, but I still make pretty you can send one to just a dash if you want to make an okay uh donation. I still don't make a pretty bonus like smoked salmon though, even just in like my famous steel pan. Like, I I think people shouldn't be discouraged from experimenting or doing different things.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

This is a thing where I like sometimes try to be grown and I'm like, I don't need to sift it, but then I end up with these big chunks of flour in my stomach. So you do actually want to like sift the flour.

SPEAKER_03 25:40

Yeah. And do you feel like you learned these like tricks and trades just through experimenting? Do you feel like it's important to look things up or to understand like how ingredients work together? Or do you think people really should just explore and have fun?

SPEAKER_01 25:55

Oh, I mess things up a lot. Um not really though, it's like not that big of a deal.

SPEAKER_03 26:00

Like period.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Oh no, I made this like weird stringy cheat, like, even if it just you know, like it's different in a you know, a restaurant setting where like I just made you like pay eighty dollars for this plate. Like, yeah, you better be consistent on it. But like when you're cooking at home, it's a different, it's chill. Yeah, you could have just do your own. It's okay.

SPEAKER_02 26:19

Thank you all. Yes, here we go. Beautiful beautiful. I'm good. Do you have a whisk in front? Let's see. Dun, that's okay. Oh, I do.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Look at that. I actually have not that sharp little green fallen right next to your foot. Oh my gosh. This is really toes like I think I just like saw a Miami beach memory flashing. Which is your preference? I just like the color. This fabulous mind green. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 26:52

Um my next question that I have for you, and it's kind of in the same camp, is around inspiration of flavors. So, another thing that I really enjoy about anything that you create is that there's always a combination of different cuisines. You're always pulling from different regional flavors, and I feel like you like to explore different restaurants. Why is that important to you to like make your food global, to not just stick to one sort of palate?

SPEAKER_01 27:21

Um, I mean, I think again, it's just kind of functional. It's like what makes sense to me. Um I think that it is a cool way to like food is so connected to like a place and a people, and usually a cuisine has the ingredients it has because that's what grows indigenously there. So, like you're learning something about the landscape and the geography, and like so. When I talk about again concept-based cooking, sometimes I think about like what continent do I want to be on, you know? And then from there you can kind of think about like what spices they tend to combine, like, and everybody knows it intuitively. Like, some of the some of them are more like oh, garum masala or something right, but largely we have a concept of what different foods taste like if we if we've had them, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:02

And so I think just like I think also, at least I've experienced this, and I'm maybe you feel the same way, but I also think it's a beautiful way to connect with people. I think something I always really, really value and appreciate is when I do have friends of different backgrounds who want to understand what Haitian food tastes like, or who want to, you know, understand why that you know, subjumu has significance. Why you know it's a way to me that I, you know, I do think of certain friends I have who they've never expressed any interest around my culture, you know, or what you know I grew up eating, or what I enjoy, or why it matters to me. And I do think those are different ways that you get to understand and learn about someone else's home, someone else's upbringing. You know, these are the ways that we we integrate into each other's lives, you know.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

Right, and it's kind of a snapshot into their like visceral being too just like smells and things that yeah, absolutely, and I think that was definitely one of my favorite things when you did Feast Fairy.

SPEAKER_03 29:03

I feel like it was so intentional what food it was so curated, you know, like what are flavors that you enjoy that are familiar to you, you know. And I think a lot of the times, you know, and I and I've done many different types of food services, but you know, they can make it more universal or what everyone else, you know, enjoys chicken breast and broccoli or something like that, you know. Right. I feel like when you did Feastberry, it was just so intentional about the person that you were working with.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Right, and I think yeah, because like everything it was very bespoke, and it was usually, yeah, different people had different ways of establishing what their menu would be for the week. And somebody that used to like to look at Instagram things and like send me five or six things that looked good. Yeah. I was like, look at the picture of that, look at the thing, and maybe something like that. Other people, you know, I had a friend that was like he's very regimented, he's a fitness trainer. Like, yeah, I made him a form to fill out every week, and he just dropped down, he's like, I want chicken and salmon and beef this week. I love it. This week I just want salmon and whatever. Like, so like I want my green thing to be broccoli and asparagus this week. I want my like and we I just made like colors, and he just picked his color, like, so there's just different ways that people want to get at it. Some people really are into like looking at sandwich boards, you know, like the A boards, like outside of restaurants, and like send me pictures of that and be like, that thing looks so good. Yeah, or if you like remember something you're talking about with someone, like tell me that. Um I'm okay.

SPEAKER_03 30:28

I think what also like I'm listening to. Listening, it's about deep listening. It is about deep listening, and as I'm listening to you, I'm also like you you inspire people to be excited about food. I feel like what we were discussing my menu from Feast Ferry, like it was so intentional about like what makes sense for my schedule, what makes sense for my lifestyle. There's a lot of constraints. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

As humans, and I come from a design background, and in design we just embrace the constraint and move on. Oh my gosh, look at you just cutting this open with that knife, child.

SPEAKER_03 31:01

Y'all saw that? Okay, what are you doing now?

SPEAKER_01 31:05

I'm putting some ricotta cheese in there. That's like part of my experiment sometimes. Like it just I feel like it just gives us a little bit more creaminess. It is kind of grainy, so I feel like I gotta do better than I did yesterday, but it kind of makes it really bangs. I just hang- that's it. Thickens it up, thickens it up a little bit. Okay. I feel like it my hope is that it's gonna give the cheese something to kind of grab onto when we start melting this cheese in here.

SPEAKER_04 31:26

Okay, beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

And so one thing that I have learned about making these cheese sauces from my mistakes is that if you eat it too fast, the like cheese separates from the fat and then it like gets string, you have like the stringiness in the oils. I think, oh look at that, they gave us the thing.

SPEAKER_02 31:42

Oh beautiful, okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

So you get the kind of like stringy, melty cheese that separates from the oil because of that clump. So if you want it to like be together, you have to like pour it in a little bit at a time and like kind of slowly melt it. So you can't just like dump the whole thing in. Great. Let that drain in there, beautiferous.

SPEAKER_03 31:57

Okay, there's our pasta.

SPEAKER_01 31:59

Oh, we're making such progress. We want to make it dark, like really dark, like our poblanos that are helping us, but we want to make it really nice and dark though. Alright. We're making pretty good progress. Like the hottest day we've had in months. We're like, let's walk around the Hlacking Parade in the sun and then come and turn on this oven and roast some peppers and boil water and make sauce.

SPEAKER_03 32:22

I thought that today today when I was literally getting all these ingredients. I was like, I would pick a day, but like it's the noisiest. They're blasting music.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

I wasn't like, let's make some pansier chicken on a salad. No. I said, let's make some winter food.

SPEAKER_03 32:36

Okay, and they're making a lot of it so that we can have some for each one of us, which I'm I'm really excited about. Um, I do want to jump back into to what we were talking about related to accessibility and finding the time if people have different lifestyles. I think a question I have for you is you you always carve out time to make a meal for yourself. And what do you think is maybe a starting point? How do I create a relationship with food where I want to cook, where I want to step into the kitchen and create a meal for myself? Like, where does someone begin?

SPEAKER_01 33:09

Because I can't like make you want something. For me, it's about desire. I've been thinking about this Pabllon and Mac and Cheese for days. Like, I am so and like literally physiologically, digestion starts in the head. Yeah. Um, and your yeah, like your brain turns on, it's like, we're gonna eat, and then tells you like digestive enzymes to start going, and like, yeah. And so that's why you get super wasted actually when you are on vacation. When you leave your house to go to like your bar, yeah, like you know kind of where you're going, and so your body sort of automatically starts creating these enzymes to like metabolize alcohol. And when you are in an unfamiliar place, like you know in your brain that you're leaving to go to the bar, but your body doesn't know the weight of that restaurant, and so it doesn't start making these things, so all of a sudden you're just mashed up for no reason. So yeah, it's like about getting excited about something, and that was the thing that I tried to do on my calls with my clients. A lot was just like get the desire because then it was something that they could be excited about. Like there's so much like drudgery in the everything we do, where there's like so much work here.

SPEAKER_04 34:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

And so to like have something to be excited about, um, and then to like yeah, to want and to have, and I'm just I'm like, I'm indulgent in that way. I just I want to want something and I want to have it, and yeah, I want it now. And I can't, you know, like I during the pandemic, like I did not live near anywhere that had Indian food and when I lived in Seattle, I lived right around the corner from really ummy Indian food and I missed it so much, so I said, I got nothing but time. Let me figure out how to make this because it's a really labor-intensive type of food to make. Um, and so I was like, let me make learn how to make some of these dishes that I'm really craving. Again, it's usually like I want something and I can't have it, and so I make it. I don't accept that.

SPEAKER_03 34:37

I don't accept that I can't have it. Yeah, that's real. And I mean, I have to tell you, there's a lot of perks to having a really good friend who's a chef. I'm not gonna lie. Um, but it does also inspire me. I I feel like also part of the reason why I wanted to have this conversation with you is because I find that we have starkly different relationships to food. Like you are a person every time I speak to you. There's so much intentionality, there's love, there's enjoyment, and there are times for me where food can feel so utilitarian. Where it's just like, okay, like it's the end of the workday, I'm exhausted. It would be lovely to be up in my kitchen playing shops, but I just need something quick to eat, right? But I also realize how dissatisfying that was for me, and how you know there is something to be said about enjoying a meal and what that reflects about your own self-care.

SPEAKER_01 35:25

I like to think about future, Nico, and maybe that's part of my habit of making enough food for 40 people at all times. Is I'm like, I don't wanna be like, I want this effort to last me a few days. Yeah. Or I want sometimes I'll make something that I can like go a few different directions with. Yeah, but like mix it up. But yeah, a lot of times, and in general, just like I think as a like production manager and all these other like fields that I work in, like having foresight is so useful. And so I like try to get ahead of things, and so yeah, like I'm a future Nika's gonna want easy food. Yeah. So I like just make fun of it.

SPEAKER_03 35:51

I love also you calling it easy food.

unknown 35:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:55

Easy food.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

No, that's like so. That's a kind of funny, that's this area of silly debate in our house. Um what a snack means. Oh my gosh, I mean, I'm no. Um semantically, a snack just means a small amount of food. Okay. I think that the marketing companies have told us that snacks mean food in packages that are ready to go. So it's funny, like she laughs at me because I'm like, I want a snack, and then I'll get up and spend the next 40 minutes cooking and then make like the smallest plate and then eat the smallest thing. Sure. But then I'm like, and then I'll eat that other thing. I gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 36:30

There's this one snack I love to make, which is, and you could do it with saltines or Ritz crackers, but I take Ritz crackers, a little bit of smoked salmon, a little bit of Guire. Guier? Alright, that's cheese and a Calaman olive. That is one of my and when I lived with roommates, they would refer to it as my elevated snacking. I think something that has been really helpful to me, at least as I've been really nurturing my relationship with food, is really knowing what flavors I enjoy and how I can mix those things together. But also, what are my go-tos on a day when I don't know what to eat that I know are tried and true and I enjoy? But I'm curious what you think about this. Something that by my sister, and I don't know if she still does it, but I always thought it was fascinating. She goes grocery shopping each week. I know a lot of people when they do their grocery shopping, I'm guilty of this. You do it for the month, you try and get things for a longer extended period of time. No, it goes bad. And it goes bad, or like what you desire changes so frequently.

SPEAKER_01 37:30

And I think it's two Sundays ago, this like big bag of apples look so good, but now I'm over it.

SPEAKER_03 37:36

And I think a lot of people, we that's a mentality that maybe we need to shift. And I don't know if that's part of Western culture. I know for me growing up, we definitely were going to VJs, we were buying things in bulk. Right. And something I had to really learn, especially when I moved to New York, I'm not with a family of 40. And you we don't have space to do that. We don't have space. That's like a suburban luxury.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

So like a huge pantry or a massive 20-pound bag of rice.

SPEAKER_03 37:59

Exactly. And I think we've at least for me, it felt like a state of luxury to be going to the supermarket every week. But in reality, when you shift your mentality and understand that it's more efficient, it's more effective, and it allows you to have a bit more control over an area in your life. Carving out time differently for food, I think, changes your relationship to it.

SPEAKER_01 38:20

Yeah, and I think back to that kind of foresight. Like, if I'm at the store, sometimes I'll go just to do like a stock up of like organic meats. Or if there's like I see something like on sale is grass-fed beef, I'm gonna go and get a few of them and throw them in the freezer. So that really all I have to do is stop by any number of places to just grab produce. Like and I know I've got some form of meat, and I decide what continent to take it to, and you know, figure out my veggies accordingly. But that's like a way to do it. Yeah. Can you, Sushef, grab us a splash of milk? Absolutely, I'm on it. Chicken like a polaroid. I am a licensing nightmare. No. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 38:53

You interrupted yourself soon enough. That was barely like 30 seconds. I cut it. Alright, let's get food. It's good. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 39:00

It looks so beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

It's coming out smooth. We're getting it right. I'm so glad on camera we're I was like, this is high pressure. What if I mess it up? Oh well. I've messed up so this is a thing I said to the music students all the time. My little performing kiddos that get so nervous. I'm like, you know what, yeah? I have messed up so many times, so many people. Zero casualties today. Nobody like I I had another show after that, and I don't know after that. I still have a career. I still have a freaking career. I am here today teaching you. There are hundreds of people that witnessed that mistake, and it's okay.

SPEAKER_03 39:32

But I'm gonna pat you. Yeah, and this is our chef, y'all. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 39:36

Look at our chef. I feel like a rapper. Look at okay.

SPEAKER_03 39:42

On the stage, but they're performing, okay? Period.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

Mickey Fresh.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

Do you want some water?

SPEAKER_01 39:50

Um, I will have a minute.

SPEAKER_03 39:51

We're almost done with our sauce. Okay, beautiful. Um, actually, while we're finishing up the songs, I think the last question I have for you, just like in this framework that we're talking, you've mentioned a couple times now a few other creative endeavors or other things that you also do. You know, whether that's teaching music or as a project manager. How do you think that overlaps around how you are in the kitchen?

SPEAKER_01 40:16

It's like the spiritual teaching, like how you do anything, it's how you do everything. And so I think there's just like kind of no matter what I'm doing, it's all part of like creative process. Like in one of four phases. I'm either like, I call it spew phase, where I'm like, where I'm outputting or like brainstorming, yeah, or I'm evaluating the contents of that brainstorm, right? Like, what are the okay, now what are the ridiculous ideas? What are the fully undoable ones? What are the ones that are restricted by the what are you know, get rid of the ones that don't serve you. So in the context of cooking, you know, it's like pull everything out of the fridge, right? That's the spew. I'm like, look at what I'm working with. I'm like, okay, well, that and that are rotten. So this, I'm like, okay, throw that out. Okay, I'm gonna put honey in my pasta, move that out of the way. And once you've kind of narrowed down what you want to work with, then you can start to organize it into like something that you want to work with. And like that's when you can get myopic and like deal with details. But I think if you get into like details too soon, right? People are like, I can't make my release, like what if the what if the cheese? And like so what?

SPEAKER_03 41:07

Because people get really intimidated. I've known more than one person who who is afraid of cleaning chicken, or how do you cook chicken, or where do you start with chicken?

SPEAKER_01 41:15

Whether or not you even clean it is up for debate, but like we clean it up in this household, yeah. But also if you're too scared, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:23

Yeah, in Caribbean upbringing, it's called Shodet, and you know, you and it's just a and you do it really quickly. It's just a blast away any yeah, it's just a quick little rinse. And I will tell you, I know many people who find that controversial because they think it's like you're already cooking the chicken or you're taking away flavor. I've not had that experience.

SPEAKER_01 41:42

I just want to rinse off when I leave the airport, you know. That chicken came a long way to get to me from whatever farm.

SPEAKER_03 41:47

Like that's literally what it is. Like rinse off, especially in terms of quality of food, which is something that we know we were talking about earlier. But I think I remember when I traveled to Costa Rica.

SPEAKER_01 41:56

It also feels like a moment to like that was a life, you know. It also feels like a moment to actually like it's like that life to like thank you.

SPEAKER_03 42:03

It's like preparing the dead, like preparing prepare and honor your food is so different, you know, around the world. And in my own upbringing, I remember when I traveled to Costa Rica, I do feel like the quality of food almost felt different to me because the way it was prepared was different, you know.

SPEAKER_01 42:20

There's no like chef screaming at everyone, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:23

Which I do think influences how your food tastes. Yeah, it's I've actually had direct experiences. You know, I think many people associate like the their elderly, you know, family members with food, like it just being enriching and delicious and flavorful, and that is my experience. But literally, you know, like their heart goes into it, and I've had the opposite experience of like when a family member is heartbroken or not at their best cooking a meal, and it does not come out the same way. So there is this emotional connection. My god, what's this?

SPEAKER_01 42:55

Do you want to be a trier of this? You want to get a spoon, see if it needs anything. It might need to be.

SPEAKER_03 42:59

I keep beaming at this camera because I'm so happy that the socks is coming out. I'm very excited. Okay, hold on.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

Alright, let's see. It should like coat the spoon nicely too, if you just dip it and take it out.

SPEAKER_04 43:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:18

Nico's favorite vocal stick. Oh, it's so good. Sweet, doesn't need anything. I kind of want to think so. I was gonna say, yeah, that's what I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_03 43:29

Yeah, because I was gonna say we could put onion, garlic, and black powder.

SPEAKER_01 43:32

I don't have onion powder. Oh, you got it.

SPEAKER_03 43:34

Yeah, but I think that in terms of oh, let me open this one. But in terms of salt level, it's good. Great.

SPEAKER_01 43:39

Okay, I meant to put all these things in earlier. But that's okay. So this might I don't know if there's like uh if a real chef that went to culinary school, uh all this stuff would be pressed. Yeah, it well that no, if like if they're like you needed to have put those dry things in together with the flour or some kind of thing like that. But you don't worry about it. I mean, sometimes you're like, dang, I should have done that, but I'm not gonna be too worried about it right now.

SPEAKER_03 44:00

Be real with baking. I find that it is really important, the order of things. I actually prefer cooking to baking because I feel like you can be far more experimental with cooking. Like you can get away with a lot more. You can get away with the order in which you do something, and like it'll still turn out great.

SPEAKER_01 44:14

PSA, I'm like, I don't use the little sprinklies, I just pour it into the measurement. Kind of yeah. So I'm like, okay, we're gonna go like a not even the just like a light fatful.

SPEAKER_03 44:25

Maybe that's gonna feel like I also always I feel like use the actual containers as my form of measurement. Like I do that with my olive oil. Like I think I always use the lid.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

I think like a fat palm full is about like a fat palm full is about a tablespoon. Okay. Uh for me. Yeah, that's kind of that's kind of how I measure things. I think like six gloves is about a quarter cup, maybe I don't know. I've like done little kind of experiments before. Ooh, black pepper.

SPEAKER_03 44:49

You like the community chef, okay? That's the energy you're giving.

SPEAKER_01 44:52

Oh yeah, definitely chef chef to the masses. So yeah, we are getting a little bit of like powdered onion powdered clump, but I think it's gonna be alright. It's gonna dissolve.

unknown 45:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 45:06

But alright. I know, I'm excited to taste it again.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

Okay, let's just turn off our oven too, because it's getting hot. And then we can let those kind of finish doing their thing in the like residual.

SPEAKER_03 45:23

You're looking great. Okay. And then what's our next step after this? Then we just need to put this in anything?

SPEAKER_01 45:30

No, we're gonna, I'm gonna just like let this mix up, and I'm actually gonna turn the heat off and let it cool down a little bit so it can kind of thicken. And then we're gonna dump this into this, so we'll put this back into that. We are taking these roasted um jalapenos out of the oven. You put it in, you can take them out. Woo! It looks so good. So roasty. Yes, so roasty. Udie. Do you want to have a pair of tongs? I do have a pair of tongs. Yes, okay. So I think another PSA, if there is one kitchen tool that you need, it's tongs.

SPEAKER_03 46:01

Oh, that's actually a great segue. What do you think? Like, if someone is just starting out cooking, like, but they're really wanting to make everyday meals for themselves, what are key things you should have?

SPEAKER_01 46:13

Yeah, like five pairs of tongs. Love tongs. Love tongs.

SPEAKER_03 46:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 46:18

Um, yeah, it's like, oh no. We lost one! Oh my god! No, it's the sip on the concrete for the mummies.

SPEAKER_02 46:26

I love that, period.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

The sink. Okay. Okay, sad. That was a good one too. Okay. Alright, now I've got gloves on, so I probably shouldn't burn my fingers too much.

SPEAKER_03 46:37

Okay, you're gonna chop these. Chop these up. This was such a quick meal to make, y'all, actually, and pretty straightforward. I really just I think I say it countless times, but I feel like your the food that you create is always so delicious, but it's also so accessible. I feel like it's it's always less than 10 steps. You know, like it's not anything too crazy to create. So I'm very excited to eat this meal. I'm excited that we were able to put it together on camera. I hope people are inspired and they'll create their own version of this.

SPEAKER_00 47:07

You could cook along, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:08

Yeah, you can cook along, you can learn from this recipe. It can be your new meal that you create for the week. Who knows? Like, you could make this quantity too, honestly. Because this is for more than two people.

SPEAKER_01 47:19

Um also I skipped uh like people who roast peppers will tell you, like, what I should have done really was pull the skin off before I chopped them up. But I, you know, sometimes the skin will be really like big and clear and can come off like that. So I kind of chop it up and then look for the big pieces, but otherwise I don't worry too much about it. Like, I'm eating the skin anyway. If I, you know, eat it in another format.

SPEAKER_03 47:39

So do you feel that in general, like for example, when you make mashed potatoes, skin on to potatoes or skin off?

SPEAKER_01 47:44

I get I'm so utilitarian. Unless there's like unless the potatoes are green and I need to peel the green off. Yeah um, because the green is dangerous.

SPEAKER_00 47:52

Um there's like poison in it.

SPEAKER_01 47:54

But unless it's yeah, unless it's green, I don't really like to peel vegetables. I don't worry about peeling vegetables because it takes a lot of time and I don't feel like doing that. And that's where all the nutrients are, anyways, in the skin. You are and the stems and the stems and stuff. I don't peel, I don't pull herbs off of stems. I'm just like, give me those dill stems. Alright, what's next? Okay, so next, I guess let's put our pot on the is there any specific way I could just pour it in. Just pour a little sauce on there. We'll stir it up. Yes, yes, yes, sauce everywhere. Work. Oh, work, work. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:34

Beautiful. It is so spatula. So good.

SPEAKER_01 48:38

A spatula is a really good one to have because I'm like, I want to get everything.

SPEAKER_03 48:41

I actually have a little spatula. Oh, you can't get a few. The little flexible kind, yes. Little flexi spat. I know it's and I actually have many different types of spatulas. This is maybe the one thing I would recommend because I love to make, I love eggs, and I love making poached eggs or scrambled eggs or a flipping man or an omelet, and you need different spatulas to achieve that. So I've always ended up with you know many different spatulas, and I will say when you live in New York, especially like again, it can be very transient, which means you might live in a lot of different apartments. My apartment, I always joke, like I'm the little the little old lady who lived in a shoe who just like has a hodgepodge of things from people, but I do like my kitchen is a hodgepodge of pans, of pots, of spatulas, like all of it can be useful. Um, and shout out to the people who let me take you know things with me. Like my electrical teapot is maybe my number one if you're a person who enjoys tea, who enjoys coffee, like things that help simplify. I think something you have that I think is amazing is an air fryer.

SPEAKER_01 49:38

Yeah, I actually I make toast in it. Like I'm gonna do it.

SPEAKER_03 49:40

That's a pretty incredible thing to have in New York, yes.

SPEAKER_01 49:44

I think uh, and you know they come in different sizes, but like those um you know, electrical pressure cookers. Um, I don't even need to, there's not any specific brand I even need to plug. Thank you. All right, let's get some stir up. So you do the honor, stir it up a little bit. Oh goodness, y'all, it smells so it's so gooey. Oh, it looks like I need to eat that. Period. Don't even buy it.

SPEAKER_03 50:08

Okay, well, as we wrap this up, so I have one last closing question for you. Okay, wash your hands. Alright, fire away. Okay, my question for you is when you think about the word home and you think about food, what about those two things feel synonymous for you?

SPEAKER_01 50:27

I think recharge, like, my home is my place where I gotta recharge. Like, really recharges me to have my friends around. It um yeah, and so that can mean a lot of things. Like, I identify with uh the turtle because like they're just their home is everywhere, they got their home on their back and they're just always at home. So I think home, yeah, it's like a feeling. I think home is a place for stillness, home is a place for and I think food is such a recharging thing, right? Yeah, like so. I I'm a such a picnicker. I'm like anywhere we're gonna go, I'm like, what are we gonna eat when we're there?

SPEAKER_03 51:01

You are that person, absolutely. It's like the beach, like what are we having?

SPEAKER_01 51:04

Like, I am not going somewhere if I don't know what I'm eating. I love that. If you want to show me love, think about what we're gonna eat if you're gonna ask me to go somewhere.

SPEAKER_03 51:12

Okay, period. Okay, and with that, we are gonna enjoy this meal. Nico, thank you so much for joining me for just a dash. Y'all, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope that you are inspired to make your own meal. I hope that you'll start thinking about how food can help you nurture the home within yourself and at large, and have a meal with the friend.

SPEAKER_01 51:31

Okay, and that's that. Quick theory on food is even better when it's shared, and it's not well, so and it's not it's not like by multiples. So it's not that this is gonna be twice as good because we're having an and my friend, and my friend at work is gonna have it. Yeah. So it's not that it's gonna be three times as good, it's gonna be to the power of three. It's like exponentially better with each person that you uh like add into the mix, I feel like. So that's why like big meals are so special.

SPEAKER_03 51:55

Yeah. I was gonna ask you what's the one last thing you wanted to leave with folks, and I think that was it. Share your food. Share your food. Thanks, everybody. I'll catch you on the next episode, sweet peace. Bye.