A Styling Life
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Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Sweet Paul podcast, Chasing the Sweet Things in Life. It's number 15. 15. I know. That's kind of like a Jubilee thing, right? 15? Yeah, I mean, it's half to 30. Isn't that when people have like...

They're bar mitzvahs? I don't know. I was more thinking like a parade and key to the city. No. 15 doesn't mean anything. Okay. It's usually 13. 13? Oh, quinceañera. Well, I'm not talking about that. Oh, quinceañeras are 15. Okay. It's our quinceañera. Episode? No, it's not. No. I call this episode The Styling Life. A Styling Life? Yeah.

Yes. I was going to call it stylish. We just came, uh, we went to Disneyland last Thursday. So it's like, yo, ho, yo, ho, a styling life for me.

Yes. Oh my God. We had such a good time. Amazing. I am not a Star Wars geek, but I have to say that one ride was amazing. Yeah, it was. It was next level. Yeah, truly. I mean, not to give away too much stuff, but like doors open up and you're surrounded by like...

100 stormtroopers. Oh, yeah. You're on the... Where are we? Death Star? No, it's too early in the morning. I can't even think what they're called. But, yeah, it was worth the entire trip to go on that ride. Yeah, it was so fun because you have to sign up in the morning on your phone.

So they open the park at 8, and then at 9, you can sign up. Yeah, so everyone's on their phone waiting. It's a little bit stressful. It's so incredible because just before 9 o'clock, you can hear a pin drop at Disneyland. Yeah. Because everyone is on their phone, and then 9 o'clock, and people start screaming. Like, yes, I got it. Oh, my God, yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, we were number 13. Yeah, so we got to go on it really early in the day, which was nice because we could just relax the rest of the time. Yeah, that was fun. So we had good food, corn dogs, fried chicken, even took a nap in the middle of the day. We have to talk about something.

Can we talk about what a wimp I am? What? That I'm such a wimp when it comes to rides. Yeah, he got afraid of the hand gliding ride, the soaring ride. I know. It's so bizarre because I know we're like five feet up in the air and there's nothing that can happen. But I was terrified. Yeah, he was freaking out. I had my eyes closed. I was holding onto James's hand. The guy next to me, I think my elbow was in his stomach. I was just...

Once in a while, I would open my eyes a little bit and I was like, oh no, no, no, no, make it stop, make it stop. I am such a wimp when it comes to heights and roller coasters and that stuff. Yeah, I'm afraid of heights too. And that ride is intense, but I just don't get hysterical about it. You got hysterical about it. Yes, yes. So now I know I can't take him on any...

Well, I can do the Snow White one. Oh, God. The Peter Pan is a little scary. No, I'm just kidding. Well, I mean, I love stuff like Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean. Yeah, where the thing goes like two miles per hour. Yes, I'm more like that kind of ride. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. No, those are fun. Okay. Okay. What are we talking about? Part two? Part two. So...

Last time, it ended with me sitting at home, making a list, pros and cons of having a flower shop.

And when the pros was... No, the cons was longer than the pros. I was like, okay, I'm going to stop. So I closed my flower shop and started kind of right away full-time as a photo stylist. Yeah. What was your second job? Or you just did... You did specs for that same publication? Yeah. And then in the beginning, I was like, well, I can't like... I have to have some kind of like steady income. Yeah.

So a friend of mine was the manager at Laura Ashley. So I actually got a job at Laura Ashley. I worked there twice a week in the shop. So random. I was a shop boy at Laura Ashley. Yes. Oh my gosh. Selling like pink shins and everything with flowers and truffles.

triple ruching and everything. Yeah, it was crazy. Yeah. Was that the heyday of Laura Ashley? No, it was a little after. Okay. The heyday was over. They still had their fans, but it was definitely... And it wasn't a time where... I don't think the company, Laura Ashley, knew exactly where they were. Because, you know, she was dead.

they had a bunch of different creative directors and it was kind of all over the place. Yeah. Like the fabric collections didn't really make sense. Yeah. But it was kind of fun to work there. Yeah. Because I had like a more masculine approach to it. Yeah. So I could put stuff together that maybe they didn't think about. Yeah. So I did some windows that turned out really cool. Oh, cool. Installations in the shop.

That was more like, I butchered it up a little bit. Yeah.

Interesting. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. So I told a story about us going to the magazine and they bought, you know, two stories that we had made. And the funny thing was that the photographer, her name was Nina, she married an American guy called Jim from Miami. And us three kind of became a team. Yeah. It was Nina, Jim and Paul.

Yeah. And we would make stories for a bunch of different magazines in Norway at first. And of course, after a while, you kind of have to pick who you want to work for. Yeah. Because they don't want you to do work for everyone. Yes. So we worked for the biggest magazine back then, which was called Maison. Yeah. And it's very different working as a stylist in America opposite to Norway because, you know, here everything is so big. Yeah.

So let's say you do a food shoot. You will have a food stylist. You will have a prop stylist. You will have a photographer. If there's a set involved, maybe there's like...

Oh, I want it to look like a kitchen bench and blah, blah, with these colors and stuff. Yeah, but then you also have editors, you have art directors, you have creative directors. Yeah, and there can be maybe a set builder involved. Yeah. But back in Norway, I had to be all of those things. Yeah. And their editorial teams are small. Much smaller. So there's not floors and floors of people that you have to deal with. It's tiny. Oh, no, no, no. For example, the Norwegian edition of Eldecore, I think it's four people. Yeah.

In the US, it's probably 4,000. Yeah. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. So I had to learn food styling. I had to learn prop styling. I had to learn how to, you know, assemble furniture, painting, wallpapering. Yeah. So I kind of became this person that, you know. Could do everything. Could more or less do everything. And did you just approach it with your own taste? Like, I mean, did you, were you, you just did what you thought was pretty? Yeah. Yeah. Always. Yeah.

And, you know, I was always been interested in history. So I would always like pull references from history or fashion or, you know, and I did everything from, you know, pure food shoots to whole rooms, like build whole rooms. Yeah. And it was, it was super fun. I loved finding, I loved mixing, um,

You know, old furniture, new furniture, Ikea. We used a lot of Ikea. Oh, my God. I broke the register at Ikea twice. Because they were ringing up too many things? Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm actually very proud of that. And that was a time where, I mean, maybe it was highly recognizable, but... This is the 90s. Yeah. Yeah. Or when Ikea was like revolutionary. Yeah, Ikea back then was really, really good. Yeah. And also they had an amazing press office where you said, okay, I would like to get this and this. I'm going to paint it purple.

Is that okay? And they were like, yeah, sure. Just send it back. And, you know, they would let us do more or less everything with their products because they realized that the best PR is editorial. Yeah. I once, I was doing a whole like setup and I got this chest of drawers from Ikea and

had four drawers and usually I had someone help me. I had like an assistant that would help me with stuff like that because I hated putting stuff together from Ikea, especially with drawers. It's like,

a nightmare. Yeah, it is. Chicken helped me and I was in the studio. It had to be done. We were shooting the next morning. It was like 8 o'clock at night. And I had to start this project. And I started and I was like, oh God, this is crazy. You know what I did? I hot glued the whole thing together. Yeah. It was so funny. And you know what I also did? You sent it back. I sent it back to Ikea. Oh my God. Yeah.

That is so crazy. So poor person that bought that chest of drawers. Yeah. I think they returned it and said there might be something wrong with it. Oh my gosh. Because what they did was that whatever we borrowed for shoots, they would put in like their sales thing. Yeah. The discount. Yeah. Oh my gosh. That's hilarious. And often I would use stuff and I would, I remember once I painted this dining room table and it turned out really good. And I was like, Ooh, I want that table.

So we returned it and I waited like for two hours in that section. Until they put it out? Yes. And they put it out? Mine! Yes, they put it out. Oh my god. Yes. That's hilarious. Yeah, so that was my Ikea. That was fun.

So pretty soon after we became a team and started working, we got approached by a publisher, a big publisher in Norway called Gyldendal. And they said, you want to do a book, a cookbook? And that was based on just your editorial work? Yeah. Yeah. And we were super excited.

Of course. So they were like, send us a few ideas on what you want to do. And yeah, we'll take it from there. So our idea was a book called Summer Food, which is easy food that you eat in summer.

That was your first book? Yes. Well, I'll come to that. Okay. And it was all kind of based on like recipes, like super easy things that you do in summer. And it was as easy as... So, in your editorial work, were you developing recipes? Mm-hmm.

Oh, you were already doing that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I did everything myself. Absolutely everything. Yeah, develop recipes, cook, style. Yeah, we did it all. Because it's so different. They don't have like a separate food editor and all these things. So they just wanted, you know, a finished package.

Yeah. Yeah. So the food was super easy. It was as easy as like, you know, a tomato salad with mozzarella and basil and a good vinaigrette. It was things like that. Yeah. Super simple. But everything was really good.

And called Summer Food. It came out and we decided to do it kind of like paperbacky. It was like a paperback, fully illustrated. And it sold like hotcakes. Really? Yeah. Because it was the first kind of... This was 90s. And up to then, all the books in Norway had been kind of like... Old-fashioned. Yeah.

Yeah, a little old-fashioned. So who was credited? Were all three... Was it your under... By Paulo? No, we were all three credited. They did the photography and I did the styling and all that. The film and stuff, yeah. Yeah. It became a super hit. It was the lead book in one of those book clubs. Yeah.

Yeah. And it was the best selling book they ever had. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Which was like, yeah. And it was like for the first book we made, I was, did you get like royalties from it? Oh, you did. Yeah. Based on sales. That's great. Yeah. We made a good amount of money on that book.

So, of course, they were like, okay, okay, okay, now we need to make more. Yeah. So, the next one was called Winter Food, which was, you know, food in winter. Yeah. A little heavier, more like, you know, soups and stews and cakes. The funny thing is that I still meet people, well, not so much now that I live here, but I still meet people that still uses the recipes from those books. So funny. Yeah. That says, like...

Yeah, my book is more or less in tatters, but I still use it. Yeah, that's awesome. So, of course, Winter Food sold a little less because it's not...

Summer is more like, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Outdoors. Yeah. But then Jim had a really good idea. He was like, okay, we need to make more books, but we need to travel to make these books. Yeah. So we decided for the publisher that we want to go to Italy and make a pasta book. We would want to go to Tuscany for two weeks, shoot, research, come up with recipes, do everything there. Wow. And they were like, sure, why not? Okay.

gave us a bunch of money and we rented this beautiful house on the farm

stunning and we would go to the farmer's market in the morning and come back and cook and shoot in the afternoons that's amazing it was truly incredible and on this farm there was this little old lady that i saw like running around and i asked like the owner of the farm who she was and he was like that's maria our cook and i said can i join maria for a day and cook with her

And he was like, okay, I'll ask her. And she said yes. So I spent a day with this woman that was half my size, half my height.

But I think she weighed as much as me. Oh, my God. Amazing. Yeah. And she all day drank from this little bottle, which I think was port wine. Yeah. So she became more and more drunk while she was cooking. Yeah, but she taught me a few recipes that we put in the book. Oh, cool. Yeah. She was one of the first to show me how to really make pesto. Oh. Yeah, with a mess. What's it called? Oh, pesto. Yes. Mortar and pesto. Yes. Thank you.

Wow. Yeah, that was amazing. So we spent two weeks there, photographed, traveled, ate. We were in Tuscany. We had some days off and we would just, you know, we rented a car and traveled to all these little towns. And then Jim had heard about a butcher in a small town that we had to go to. And we drive like two hours and in the middle of more or less nowhere was this building.

And that's where the butcher was. And we walk in and there's full on opera music. There's a big table in the middle with a huge porchetta, like a pork roast with a crackling. Some bottles of wine, glasses, knife, some plates. So you could cut yourself some porchetta, have some wine and then shop. Which was like the most incredible experience I think I ever had in a shop. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And I've been to a lot of different places. But that was like, and of course, the butcher was extremely handsome, like, you know, dark, big hair. It was incredible.

So we didn't really need any meat, but we bought some anyway because we just, you know, we felt we had to. Yeah. That was amazing. So you got, did you get the entire project done in two weeks? Yes, we did. Wow. We came home, the book came out, was a big hit. It was before, I have to say that, was before the whole like low carb thing. Yes. Of course. Yes. Because I don't think anyone makes pasta books anymore.

No. I think that's kind of over. Yeah. So people were still eating pasta. Yeah, the book came out and it was a big hit. It actually sold to seven different countries, the US being one of them. Wow. So it's out here in the US. I see it sometimes on eBay. Yeah. It's called Pasta A Passion. Yeah.

Yeah. And it was really cool. And it was what we did. It wasn't like a normal book. It had like a... Spiral bind. Yeah. Ring spiral. Yeah. Yeah. It was really cool. Yeah. Which is actually very practical because it lays. Yes. That's what we were thinking about. Yeah. Cookbooks are... Yeah. Don't stay... Yeah. No, I know. I know. Yeah. Yeah. So let's take a break and then we can talk about my first visit to America. Yes. Yes.

Okay, and we are back. With the snoring dog and everything. With daddy snoring in his bed. Okay, let's talk about my first visit to America. Yeah. Yeah. For another book? For another book. This time, hot and spicy. Really? Yes. So...

you convinced the publisher to send you to America? Well, yeah. Not just America, but the Key West. Wow. Yeah. We came up with the idea of doing a book called Hot and Spicy. And

And of course, where else would you shoot a cookbook called Hot and Spicy? Thank you, West. I mean, that's just what you do. Actually, before that, we shot a book called Preserving Summer, which was about canning and stuff like that. Guess where we shot that? I don't know. Norway? France. France.

Oh, really? So that was another trip? Yeah, that was another trip. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I know. I know. It was four of this series. It was hot and spicy, pasta, preserving summer. What was the last one called? Oh, my God. This was one more. I think it was Asian. And we shot that in Norway. Oh, my gosh. By then, the publisher was like, no, you can stay home. So how many total books did you do for this publisher? A lot. A lot.

Like 30 books or something. And what was the time span ultimately? Like 15 years.

Oh, okay. So like two a year. Yeah. One, two a year. Okay. Okay. Wow. And then all the books would come out in like different editions, you know, if it's been out for a while, it would come in like a, like a cheaper version. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. But I was super excited to come to America. I'd never been. And I remember we landed in Miami and

And I had never been to like a tropical climate. Yeah. And when the doors open at the airport. Yeah. And you walk outside. The humidity. Oh, my God. I thought I was like in hell. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was similar for the first time I went to Hawaii as a kid. Well, the only time I went to Hawaii. The only time I left California, essentially. That same feeling. Yeah. It was... Because I think we left...

I think it was maybe like September, October. And it was kind of cold back home. Yeah. So that feeling that, oh my God. Yeah. No, that was insane. Yeah. And it was actually a crazy trip. But we had some really beautiful days in Miami. We shot like some of the book there. Yeah.

And then the newspapers and television started talking about a hurricane. Yeah. And a hurricane was on its way. And I mean, Jim is from Miami. But he wasn't that worried. He wasn't that worried. And he was like, it's not going to be that big one. It's fine. So I remember the morning when it was supposed to come, we went to this mall to go shopping. And I remember I got these amazing Prada boots. I was so excited. And all of a sudden, this woman came up to us.

Oh, because Nina and Jim had a daughter. They had like a young, she wasn't a baby, but she was maybe like three. This woman came up to us and said, what are you guys doing here? You have a kid, you need to go home. And we were like, what are you talking about? She was like, they

The hurricane is coming and it's big. Oh my gosh. So we went back to the hotel and I remember the wind had started and... But Jim was like, no, no, it's going to be fine. Don't worry. This is like nothing. Because he had been in Andrew, that like huge one. Yeah. So we come to the hotel and by that time it's actually really windy. So they closed the main door into the hotel. So what we had to do, we had to go like the back way by the water.

And we put our belts together because we were afraid that we were going to be like blown into the water. Oh my gosh. It was actually kind of dramatic. Yeah. And we get into the hotel and the electricity is out.

Yeah. So we have to walk up. I think we were on 18th floor. Stop it. No, we had to walk up 18th. Carrying your product bag. Well, I'll get back to that. So this hotel had an outside pool on every fifth floor. It was a huge hotel before the hurricane because everyone was kind of like, oh, this is not going to be a big deal. They didn't drain the pools. So all the pools on those floors, they run over.

And all that water was running down the stereo cases. So, you know, it was complete, like, Titanic feeling, you know, walking up those stairs. Oh, my gosh. Okay, so we got to the room and...

And thank God this hotel was built after Andrews. So it had hurricane windows and it was meant to... Yeah. But you could see the windows. They were going out. Yeah. For sure. Like a bubble. Yeah, it was really crazy. Yeah. And we realized that, oh shit, this is actually going to be a big thing. The hurricane was only a one. But for us, it just felt like it was crazy. Yeah.

Because we had no electricity and you could see the water rising in the streets. Yeah. During all this, Nina and I, Nina had also got a pair of shoes and we had forgotten them in the car. Yeah.

You know what we did? We made Jim go down and get our shoes. Oh, my God. Because we were worried that the car was going to be swept away by the water. We didn't care about the car, but what about our shoes? Oh, my gosh. That's hilarious. So he went down and got our shoes. Oh, my gosh. I know. Poor man. Yeah.

Yeah, we did not stop until they did it. We were like, yeah, we were being good. I mean... So that hurricane lasted...

We didn't leave the hotel for two days. It was actually really scary. So it lasted for two days? It lasted for two days. We were locked in a hotel and nowhere to go. And I was standing by the window and all of a sudden I see a 7-Eleven sign just like, fly by. What did you eat? We had food. Oh, you did? Yeah, we had food. Because it was a hotel where you had like a little kitchen in the rooms. Oh. And we had been shooting stuff. So you had food. Oh my gosh. Thank God. I know. Yeah.

And in the middle of all this, I look out the window and I'm like, what is that? And it's Superman walking up the street, like water up to his belly. You could see him walking with his hands like up and down in the air. It was a man dressed as Superman walking in the streets. I guess he was out to save Miami. Oh my gosh. And I thought to myself, only in America. Yeah. Oh.

Oh my gosh, so funny. So after two days, we could leave and we left to Key West. Did you drive or fly? No, we drove. And it was, you know, you saw all like the destruction and stuff. It wasn't that bad. Yeah. Just like probably debris and... Yeah, what I was... Like from trees and stuff. Yeah, what I was mostly worried about was like snakes and stuff because...

Jim had all these crazy stories about whenever there's a hurricane, all those animals get thrown around. So when we came to our house in Key West, I was like, okay, let's check and see if there's any little snakeys around. Oh my gosh. Yeah, but they weren't.

That's good. Yeah, so we had a fabulous time. The weather after that was beautiful. We shot the book. I have to say, Key West is a really beautiful place. Yeah, I've never been. It's really, really beautiful. I mean, it's, of course, very touristy because all the cruise ships upstairs and stuff. Yeah. But if you overlook all that, it's kind of a magic place. Yeah. And it has the most incredible sunset.

Yeah. You can go on like a sunset cruise and it's, you just have to stay away from like main street. Yeah. But we should go back now because I can enter earning Hemingway lookalike contest. Oh, they have those there? They have those.

Oh. Yeah. That's cool. It's a Hemingway bar because he lived there. Yeah. His house is still standing. That would be fun. You can go on tour. Yeah, they like Hemingway lookalikes. Oh, perfect. That could be me. Yeah. Yeah. So that was my first time in Miami. Oh, I have to tell. So when we landed in Miami the first day, it was like in the afternoon, we freshened up.

And we went out, there was a diner across the street from our hotel. And we went there and had a burger. And I was like, oh, I want red velvet cake.

Because I never had that before. Yeah. But I read about it, you know, in all the magazines. It was older age. Yeah. And I remember I ordered it and I literally got a quarter of a cake. Yeah, of course. And I'd never seen such a big slice in my life. Yeah. And I said to the waiter, I think there's a mistake. I just ordered for me. And she was like, oh, no, honey, that's for you to enjoy. Yeah.

Oh my God. I was like, okay, this is heaven. Yeah. Welcome to America. Welcome to America. Land of the big slices. Yum. Was it delicious? Yes, it was very good. Oh my God. I do love a red velvet. It's incredible.

OK. I think that's good. MARK MIRCHANDANI: For now, yeah. Oh my gosh, there's so much more to talk about in the publishing world. MARTIN SPLITT: I know. We'll come back to that. We have a bunch of questions today. So we'll take a little break, and then we'll be right back. MARK MIRCHANDANI: Yes.

And we are back for What's Up, Sweetball? What's up? Okay. So Susan from Ontario says, Easter is coming soon. Oh my gosh, it is. Yeah, I know. And I would love to hear about Easter traditions in Norway. How are they different from American traditions? Oh, I love the podcast. Keep it up, boys.

Thank you very much, Susan. We're trying. It's actually very different. Easter is big in Scandinavia. Easter is big in Scandinavia. First of all, everyone is off. Yeah. You're off for more or less a week. Yes. And this is the time when, in Norway, it's very popular to have a cabin in the mountain. So if you have that, everyone will go to their cabin. Yeah. Yeah.

The towns are more or less empty. The cities. Yeah, the cities. Because people leave. Is there snow still in April? It's in the mountains. Well, it can be both. It's the first Sunday in April, right? Well, it all depends.

no no easter's always the same sunday is it yes it's like the third sunday in april or okay yeah it can't be snow yeah it's snow in the mountains yeah yeah so people will go skiing and you know it's a big it's like a big family week yeah totally so all businesses are closed you can't get anything done that week

The only stores that's open is like grocery stores. Yeah. The big traditions... Well, food is, of course, lamb. Do you have semla buns? No, that's Swedish. But that's for Easter, isn't it? Or Lent? Yeah. Yeah. Our big thing is like the Easter egg. Yeah.

It's like a big papier-mâché egg that's filled with candy. Yeah. That we give to all the kids. Yeah. For Easter. Yeah. And yeah, I told that one year when my family went and we rented a cabin up in the mountains and I had finished all my candy and my mom and I snuck into the other kids that were with us and stole some of their candy. Oh my gosh. I know, I know.

Yeah. Did you have an Easter bunny? No, we don't have that. Yeah. The main thing is like being together, being outdoors, getting away, family. But what does the egg symbolize? Where does the egg come from? Well, we don't have, I don't know. Well, I guess it's Easter bunny, but we don't have like you guys like, you know, collecting eggs and stuff. Yeah. I think that's just America. Yeah. I have a photo. I don't know. Father Christmas leaves it or something. No. No.

I don't know. So there's no, like, goose or Easter anything? No. But, yeah, so I think the main difference from here is that everyone is off. I mean, here no one is off. Well, yeah. No, I think there is an Easter break for kids in school. But people still work all week. It's just the schools are off. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Cool. All right. Next question is John from Singapore. I really enjoyed the coming out episode. I always love hearing other gay men's stories. I'm a 60-year-old man born in England, but now live in Singapore. How is your relationship with Asian cooking? Do you enjoy it? And how's your tolerance level when it comes to spicy food? Ooh.

Well, first of all, I love Asian food. Love Asian food. And I have been to Singapore and I have been... One of my favorite food memories is actually sitting by the river in Singapore eating chili crab, which is crab cooked in this amazing chili sauce. Yeah. It's spicy, but it's not like overpowering. Yeah. I'm not very good at cooking Asian food. I have to learn more about that. But... Well, it's hard to stalk...

all the proper ingredients. Yeah, you have to have so many different things. Yeah. And it's one of those things you buy it and then you think you'll keep forever, but, you know, of course it doesn't. Yeah. But yeah, we should get better at like cooking. Yeah, I love Asian food. I love all Asian food. Like Thai is incredible. Thai is incredible because, you know, when you're growing up, you tend to have like American Chinese food. And when I first experienced Thai food,

It's just so amazing to me. Like, you know, if you think about like Oaxacan food or food from poor cultures that is so sophisticated. I know. And complex. Unfortunately, I can't eat a lot of Thai food now. Like I can't have the fried rices and the noodle dishes that I loved for so long. But they have a lot of other really good foods. Well, that's the thing. If you, you know, we go to this Thai food restaurant in San Francisco and

that's like legit real Thai food. So they have a lot more dishes that aren't just like pad Thai. So there's a lot more like sort of protein and vegetable based dishes. Yeah. People don't, yeah. People don't realize that as you said, Thai food is much more than, than pad Thai. Yeah. You know, it's very sophisticated. Um,

And it's delicious. And it's actually a lot of vegetables. Yeah. The morning glory and all that stuff. So, yeah, we love that restaurant in San Francisco. But we don't like it too spicy. No, not anymore. I remember when I first moved to Seattle and I really got into Thai food. And there was so much amazing Thai food. You know, on the West Coast, they ask you...

how spicy do you want it like so you say it's either by stars like how many stars or how many between one and four mild medium and hot yeah well in seattle it's like stars like four stars three stars two stars so there was a point where i was eating at this restaurant downstairs from my apartment like every day and i think i got up to like four or five stars oh wow so i had like the tolerance for it then

But now in my older age, I'm a little less tolerant of spicy food. Yeah, I still like it. I kind of now like it mild to medium. I just don't like it when it gets overpowering. And it also depends on what it is. Of course. Horseradish, I don't mind.

chili flakes totally destroy me i cannot have chili flakes and then there's there's other sort of spicy i think chili i don't know certain things like jalapenos i don't mind but there's certain types of spice that are yeah i disagree with me more than others yes yeah me too yeah so like mild to medium is i'm happy with that yeah i mean i'm clearly medium look at me i'm clearly medium yeah thanks john

Okay, Eva from Philadelphia says, love the podcast. It's so funny. And of all the stories, let's talk food disasters. Has there been any? Oh my gosh. Well, yes, there was a big one. I had just gotten my own apartment and I invited my family to dinner.

And I made cheesecake for the very first time. It was a baked cheesecake, I remember. And it turned out really bad. Really? Like, really bad. Like, dry? I just think something was completely... Did it collapse? No, it didn't collapse. But I think I may have done, like, something where I substituted, like...

Okay, first of all, you never do that. I know, I know. But this was like, you know, I was young. I think I might have substituted like...

Let's say I couldn't find Philadelphia cheese, so I substituted it with some Norwegian cheese. I don't know what I did. All I can remember is that still up to this day, my family can say like, oh, cheesecake. And I know exactly what that means. And you're triggered. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. They were not into my cheesecake.

I wasn't into my cheesecake, but you know. Yeah. That is so funny. I know. Yeah. So you can buy Philadelphia cream cheese in Norway? I think, no, I think you can. No, you totally can. Here's the thing. I don't know what I did. Yeah.

All I know is I made a really shitty cake that tasted like poo. And my family made fun of me for years. Oh my gosh. But I got my revenge. Because a couple of years later, my mom made the worst meal we have ever had. Oh my gosh. It was up in our cabin in the mountains. She was going to make this, I don't know why, she boiled the chicken.

And served it with rice that was completely overcooked. So it was like mushy. And then she made like a beunet sauce to go with it. That was super watery. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So whenever they would say like cheesecake, I would just turn to my mom and I would say boiled chicken. Oh.

Oh, my God. Yes. So, yeah. So, cheesecake and boiled chicken are trigger words in my family and can't be used. Yeah. Yes. When I was growing up, whenever my mother tried to be adventurous with cooking, like if she cooked like pork loin or like duck or something, it was always a disaster. Yeah? Yeah. Was it dry or? Yeah, overcooked. Yeah. Yeah. So, I was like, you know, stick to Mexican food. Yeah.

Stick to what you know. No cheesecake and no boiled chicken. No. Okay. One more question. Yes. Susan May from Los Angeles. I'm not the best at cooking, but love to get my hands dirty and try. My husband loves a good steak, but every time I try to cook one, it's a disaster. It's either too raw or dry as a shoe sole.

Any tips? Interesting. That's a good one. Can I try to explain this one? Yes. Okay. First of all, buy a good cut of meat. Second of all, the pan. Use a cast iron pan. Correct. And it should be screaming hot. And then you put it on, put the steak in it.

With maybe like some butter, olive oil, maybe. Or not. Well, here's the thing. Cast iron, pine, absolutely. The first thing you need to do is the meat cannot be directly from the fridge. Okay, yeah, it has to rest. It has to be more or less room temperature. And what do we not forget? Salt and pepper. Well, yeah. So, screaming hot pan, good salt, kosher salt, sea salt.

lots of pepper, put it on one side, put that side in the pan and don't touch it. The steak should only be flipped over once. So leave it in there until it's cooked and crispy and seared and

And then season the top of it well, flip it over and then cook it that side and then that's it. But what is the rule in terms of how long to cook it to get like a good medium, medium rare?

So, you know, people have different ways of doing this, but the rule, like the golden rule is to hot pan, use olive oil because it has like a high, like, what's it called? Burning point. Yeah. Put the steak in, should be salt and pepper on it. You can actually flip it every minute. No, only flip it once. Okay. Okay.

But it's usually, I think there's some sort of equation, like for how many ounces it is. Well, for a regular steak, it's usually like six, seven minutes. And that's medium rare. I thought it was more like, oh, maybe you do like four minutes on one side and then flip it over for like maybe two or three minutes. Yeah. But the way I do it, I put it in.

And I flip it every minute. It still gets that. What you want on the top and bottom, you want that caramelized, seared crust. Yes. That's very important.

And then what you do when there's a couple of minutes left, you put a big slab of butter in and then you baste the steak. Yeah. So it gets that butter all the way around. And you can add garlic and you can add shallots. Yeah. You can add rosemary or thyme. Yeah. You know, just to get like a little bit of extra. Yeah. But I would say six, seven minutes for medium rare.

Total. Yes, total. So four minutes on one side, two or three on the other. Yes, if you do it the James way, that's what you do. And if you do it my way, that's... Go back and forth. Yeah, but always let it rest. Yeah, and then once... A couple of minutes before you cut it up so that the juices...

get like time to settle in a steak because what will happen if you take it straight from the pan and cut it in half all the juices will run out yeah yeah and the thing is I think the more you cook meat the more you'll intuitively yeah you will you know get to understand it absolutely absolutely

It's like a trial and error, but it's very easy to overcook it because you think it's, oh, you know, you don't want it to be raw and stuff like that. But, yeah, it's so easy to overcook meat. Yeah. And here's the thing. If it's undercooked, just throw it back in for a couple of minutes. Yeah. It's totally possible. Yeah, for sure. For sure. It's better to do that. Better to be undercooked than overcooked. Exactly, exactly. Yes. Cool. Is that it? Well, I hope that was helpful.

I think that was it. If not, you can complain to the IT department. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's it for this week. Cool. Okay. Well, we know the spiel. If you have any questions for us, and we do love your questions, please, you can DM us on SweetPol Magazine Instagram, or you can send us an email, podcast at sweetpolmag.com.

Rate us, review us, give us stars, five stars. Yeah, wherever you listen to this podcast. Yes. All right, guys. We'll see you next week. Bye. Bye.