Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of the Sweet Paul podcast, chasing the sweet things in life. Yes. This is episode 16 and this episode I have called loss and gain. Loss and gain. I know. Oh, yeah, you'll get it.
Is it about your weight going up and down? Oh, my God. Oh, my God. The shade. How dare I? I dare you. Well, first of all, I have to say. Well, that has to be its own four-part episode. Okay. Yes.
That is, yes, a nightmare in itself. Okay. Yeah, that's... So, sorry about being so low energy in the last episode. I, as you know, I'm diabetic. And, you know, I usually... Paul makes us eggs in the morning. And what happens is, if we're out and about, usually by noon, I'm like...
All of a sudden, I'm like, I'm starving to death, and I feel crazy, and I'm a total nightmare. So, yesterday, or not yesterday, but a couple days ago when we recorded the last episode. A week ago, yeah. Actually, I think we recorded it on Monday. That's why it came out on Thursday. That's true. So, now episodes are coming out on Thursday, by the way. But anyway, so I had a slice of nice local sourdough bread that we bought at the farmer's market. Mm-hmm.
And it literally sucked all the energy out of me. I was so exhausted. Yeah, so I can't... Clearly, I can't eat carbs in the morning because it was so weird. Carbs are the devil. Yeah, so that's why I was so...
Sort of quiet and sluggish last episode, but it's okay. We forgive you. I know. Yes. I'm still trying to get a handle on what's best for my body and my mind and my sanity when it comes to eating and, you know, sustaining my blood sugar. There's no more, no more carbs in the morning. No. In the evening, it's, it's much easier to, to deal with rather than setting my day, uh,
Yeah, off to the wrong start. So anyway, okay, so getting into today's... Well, what I'm actually curious about with the start of your career in flowers and then in prop styling, were you living at home the entire time you had started your little career? Not... At the end of my flower career, I had moved into an apartment by myself.
So, like, you were 24-ish, 25? Like, 25. Yeah, I was, like, a slow, I don't know what you call it, slow bloomer. To leave the nest? Yeah, I was very slow. A late bloomer? I was very comfortable where I was, and three meals a day, my grandmother would iron my underwear. Yeah.
Yeah. She ironed, they ironed everything, including the rags they used in the kitchen to clean. Yeah. They got ironed. So into your mid-20s, your grandmother and your great aunt were still very much a part of your life. Yes. Still taking care of you. Well, I mean, less because they, of course, got much older. And my aunt started, she gotten, it was clear that she, you know, was getting senile.
Yeah. We should come back to that. I want to, you know. But yeah, so what happened was that my parents decided to sell our home, our childhood, my childhood home. Yeah. Which I actually was very sad about because I loved that house. It was just for them, it was too far away.
To drive every day to like the restaurants and stuff. So they decided it's better to sell this house, buy something new that's closer to where everything is. So we did that. And while doing that, I put all my clothes in black garbage bags, which of course I shouldn't have done.
They got by a mistake thrown out. So this is when you were moving. Yeah. Because you mentioned that before. Oh, I mentioned that before? Yeah. Yeah, but I thought it was because you were moving down into the... We never talked about when you moved to the basement. Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God, that's true. Yeah, so I lived on the second floor of...
And then, you know, I was going to get, I wanted more space. So there was, you know, the big room in the basement. Yeah. So I said, I want to move down to the basement. Yeah. And it was kind of a room because my parents had for a while used it like, you know, in the 70s, everyone had a bar.
Yeah. Like a bar lounge. Yeah. So, yeah. So, I moved into the bar lounge. And was this the room where you used to make your airplane? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It actually had a fireplace, a working fireplace. And it was really cute. Of course, now that I think about it, it was super dangerous because right outside my room was the furnace. Oh, my gosh. And there was a tiny, tiny window.
high up on the wall. And if something happened, I wouldn't have been able to get out. To get out. So how old were you when you moved to the basement? I think I was 16. Okay, so you were there for almost 10 years in the basement. Well, no, because we sold the house when I was maybe around 20. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's when we sold the house.
And we bought this, my parents bought this big brick house close to where all the restaurants were. In Oslo? Outside. Oh, okay. Outside of Oslo.
It was a beautiful house, very modern, huge windows. I think my parents were kind of like hinting like, Oh, maybe you should move out. Oh my God. A little bit, a little bit. But then again, I think they liked having me there. Yeah. And your sister was still there. My sister was there. Yeah. Because she's younger than me. So, you know, she's definitely there.
Yeah, so I had my room there and I would, you know, travel in every morning to the flower shop and all that stuff. And your great aunt and grandma moved too. So all of you moved to this new house? Yeah, not my great aunt. Oh, yeah, she always had her own house. But yeah, my grandma was there. And I think just one morning I woke up and I was like, okay, I need to get out of here.
Yeah, I need to get my own place. And what happened was that I was super lucky because in Norway we have something called, or in Oslo we have something called, it's called Obus, which is kind of like this. How should I describe this? It's like a foundation of homes that you get on like a, it's like a membership thing. You become a member and then you can get something
or apartments that belongs to this organization. It's so weird. I know. But the thing is that my grandmother was a member and she had been a member since 1947. And
And that's how you became a member? And that's how I got a really cheap apartment. Now, what is the organization? Why are you a member? Well, I wasn't a member, but I used my grandma. No, I understand that, but why was she a member? Because... Was it like a union thing? It wasn't a union thing, but it was this organization who owned a bunch of...
you know, houses and apartment buildings and stuff. And you became a member and then you could get apartments and houses through them. And was there a membership fee? Yes, but it was very small. Interesting. Yeah. So you brought yourself into like apartments. You had to have first access or whatever. And of course she was a member since 47. Yeah.
So the first apartment I looked at and I loved and was really cheap, I got. And it was in her name. Yeah, it was in her name. Interesting. Yeah. Love it. Yeah. So that was actually a really, I mean, it wasn't big. It was one bedroom, one bathroom.
Small kitchen, a little hallway, but I made it so freaking charming. Really? Yeah. Okay, wait. So how old were you? Now I must be like 24, 25. Okay. And was it in Oslo? Yeah, it was in Oslo. Okay. So you got the apartment. I got the apartment. You bought all new furniture. You painted. Well, I had a bunch of furniture already because I had been like,
Collecting. Yeah, collecting and saving it for when I got my own space. Yeah. And then my parents gave me a couple of things and friends gave me some things. I remember the only thing I didn't have was like the stove and the fridge. Oh, because you have to bring your own appliances. Yes, your own appliances. Yeah. So I went to this secondhand place and I got a dark green...
fridge with matching oven stove oh my god so cool is it like 70s super 70s like that dark green color yes how fun yeah so what i did was i painted the entire apartment ink blue
That's so chic. I know. And so rare for Scandinavia. Yeah, ink blue. And I had my couch was in denim. My bed had like a denim. So literally nothing has changed in your life. Everything is ink blue. Yeah, and I had like a denim headboard, a denim bedspread. All the furniture was kind of like old, rustic, antique-y, vintage-y. Yeah.
I guess it was like shabby chic, but in like dark. Yeah. It was really small, but I made it super sweet. The hallway, I remember I painted like this like acid green color. And then the bathroom, I did something really cool. I wallpapered the walls with pages from old books. Yeah.
And then I lucked it over to make sure that, you know. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, it was super nice. It got photographed for a Norwegian magazine and a Swedish magazine. And I think it was in a German magazine as well. Do you have those pictures? No. I know. It was very charming.
And this was kind of when I was at my end of my flowering career. Yeah. So, of course, when I quit the shop, I took all the fixings and stuff home. The fixtures. Yeah. So it kind of looked like... A flower shop. Yeah. It was kind of in between like a shop and a home. But yeah, I used to have people coming over and we would do like little workshops and stuff.
Oh, so fun. Yeah, it was a very... Yeah, it was a fun time. And I loved, like, for the first time, I was living by myself. I could eat what I wanted when I wanted. Yeah. You know, I could take a nap when I wanted. So, do you remember the first night you stayed there? Yes. Was it weird or did you feel free? I felt very free. The only thing, it took like a week for my fridge and stove to arrive. Yeah. And I remember I...
It was actually winter. So I put my food, like butter and some cold cuts and stuff. I put it in a bag and I put it out in the... I had like a small veranda. Yeah. So I put it in a bag out there. And the next morning, I look out on the veranda. I'm like, oh my God, there's been a war here. Of course, the birds had... Oh, it has attacked you. The crows. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh, that's so funny. No, it was an absolute feeling of like...
Emancipation. Yes. You know. Yeah. I remember when I... The first time I moved out of... Literally, it was like... You moved early. The day after... Yeah, the day after I turned 18. I was like out. And I remember driving away. The first... When I first moved away from home, I moved to Orange County just to live with this friend. And I remember thinking like, I can do whatever I want to do. Like, I'm completely...
On my own now. And it's just so weird because when you live in your parents' homes, you have to... And my parents were kind of strict. So, it's like you have to do what they say. But all of a sudden, when you no longer live there, it just... The dynamic changes because they have really no say over what... In an instant, they have no say over what? Over your life. Yeah. Yeah. And then even more so when I moved to Seattle, that was when it was like...
They're not even like in the next county. Yeah, exactly. So far away. Yeah. But yeah, the feeling of freedom and emancipation is like so intense. Yeah, I remember the first time my parents invited me over for dinner at their house. It felt so amazing to leave. Yeah. That I was able to like...
say bye love ya and then just you know yeah i left that felt amazing yeah yeah so okay so i was you know i was living by my own and i was thinking well maybe i should like try dating oh my gosh i know and i was you know i was so what happened was a couple of years you know i sorry this is list that drinking water in the background okay camel that's enough
We can't let him drink too much because he will. Pee his pants. He will pee. He's an old gentleman. He needs, what's it called? Depends. Depends for doggies. Oh, my goodness.
So what happened was that, okay, so, you know, I was always, you know, chubby, big guy. I had a really good friend. Her name's Alexandra. She was... Remember the woman I talked to you about who I started the shop with who made the iron furniture and stuff? Yeah. Yeah, it was her daughter. Oh, okay. Alexandra also was a bigger girl. We were both pleasantly planned. Uh-huh. And...
We used to work together a little bit. And one day she came and she was, oh, I signed us up for something. And I said, oh, my God, a fun workshop. What is it? And she was like, no, it's Jenny Craig. Oh, my gosh. It wasn't Jenny Craig, but it's kind of like, you know, similar to Jenny Craig in our way. Or like Weight Watchers or something. Yeah. At first I was like, oh, come on. No, I don't want to. Oh, God, no. I don't want to do that.
But she was like, no, no, we need it. We need it. We need to lose weight. So what happened was that we started and I got really into it. For me, it became this like going on the scale once a week became this
Yeah. Completely. Yeah. I was obsessed. Yeah. It became kind of like what my entire life revolved around. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In some ways, it's kind of like a challenge and can be fun. Mm-hmm. But it can also be an obsession. Like...
Well, it can also be terrible. Yeah, it can also be what you're consumed by. Absolutely. But I did it the right way. And in a year, no, six months, I lost over 100 pounds. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Yeah, I lost so much weight that those six months that I was like in the running to become like, you know, every year they have like the diet person of the year.
You know, this person lost weight. Yeah. Yeah. I was a runner up. Really? I had this girl beat me. The biggest loser. But I got a cookbook signed by like the, her name was Greta Rode. The founder. Yeah. Yeah. She sent me a book. That was very sweet. Oh my gosh. But yeah. So do you know what the crazy thing was? In my head.
I was still this chubby kid. Oh, yeah. In my head, I was super fat. Of course. That's the thing. The biggest part of that whole thing is your head, your mind. It's the dysmorphia that you have to fix. I mean, on my lowest, I weighed 89 kilos. I don't even know what that means. It's very little. And I think I was a size 32 pants tall.
Are you serious? Mm-hmm. But I was still in my head. I was still chubby. Of course. So what happened was that I was at a photo shoot, and we were building these kitchens. And the photographers back then would take Polaroids to see the light and everything. Yeah. And he took a Polaroid, and I was in the picture. And I look at it to look at the lighting and everything. And I'm like, yeah, this looks nice. But I was like, who's that guy in the picture? Yeah.
They were all like, are you serious? You crazy person? Yeah. And they were like, it's you. And then I was like, holy shit. You were skinny. I am skinny.
Yeah. That was kind of like a revelation. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I needed... And I mean, I looked in the mirror every day. No, but you... Yeah, I needed to see that picture. You had to be outside of your body looking in. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I've experienced those kinds of dysmorphia issues in my life. And it's sort of like the joke. People...
When they're older, they look back at themselves in their 20s when they thought they were fat. And now they're like, I was skinny. You know what I mean? It's perception. Yeah, you have to change your mind about a lot of that stuff. That was absolutely crazy. Yeah. Okay, so I lost all this weight. I leave it by myself. And I was like, okay, maybe I should... Okay, let's see if I can start dating. Yeah. Yeah, and I do have to say, it's a little bit...
frustrating to hear that you thought, oh, now that I've lost weight, I'm worthy to date. Absolutely. It doesn't work that way. No, but in my head, that was the only thing. That was the only. And I was very shy. I didn't want to go out. I didn't want to go to bars. I didn't want to do anything like that. So of course, I mean, how was I supposed to meet anyone? So I was sitting with a good friend of mine one night.
complaining that, you know, oh, I wish I could meet someone. I wish I had a boyfriend, blah, blah. And she was like, okay. And remember, this is years ago. There was no internet. There was no, like, apps on your phone or anything. So what did you do? You put an ad in the person's. Oh, yeah, totally. Yeah. So she was like, okay, let's write an ad.
And we wrote an ad together. I have to say she helped me a lot. She more or less wrote the ad. Yeah, of course. And okay, the next day I sent it into the newspaper and it was a really cute, fun ad. Yeah. It was very sweet. Yeah. No picture or anything. Yeah. And they must really have liked it in the newspaper because the week, it was always on like, I think it was Saturday or Sundays, they would put like, you know, in the newspaper and it came like the next weekend.
And I was like, oh, my God. I'm not sure if I'm going to get any replies, blah, blah. What did that say? Do you remember? I remember my ad. You had an ad? Yeah, in Seattle. This is, again, still pre-internet. Well, yeah. What did it say? It said something about liking the Smiths. That was my way of feeling like that would weed out people, you know, if you like the Smiths.
Yeah, I think it said something about funny, artistic, blah, blah, blah. Oh, and I... Oh, my God. And then at the end...
We wrote no cowboy boots. Are you serious? That's hilarious. Yeah. Because I always had, especially back then, I do it less now, but I would judge people solely on their shoes. Of course. No, back in the day, I would have said no Birkenstocks. Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, no. Birkenstocks was a big name. And now that's all we wear. Uh-huh. But yeah, there was like, yeah, cowboy boots was like my worst. You did think. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah, for sure. So funny. Yeah. Yeah.
That week, I got this enormous envelope in the mail. Enormous. And there was no picture of you? No, there was no picture of me. I think I got like 50 letters. No. Yeah, it was insane. Oh, so people actually wrote a letter. I think when I was doing ads, there was still... I think it was done through the Seattle Weekly or something. Yeah.
So I think we did get emails.
But this is even before email. This is before email. Yeah, so what people had to do, they had to send a letter to the newspaper and go and deliver it. That is so old-timey. I know. So 50, yeah, about 50. And I got some after that, too. Yeah, I remember calling my friend, and I was like, oh, my God, you're not going to believe what happened. How did you even get through 50? Well, you very soon, like... Did they send pictures? Yeah.
Some did. Yeah. Some did not. Some was just rubbish. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And some was just like, kind of like sexual. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I would say... And was it in a section, like a man for man section? Or did you have to say you were looking... You had to say that you were gay. You were, okay, yeah. I think there was maybe like 15 that was like... Potential. Serious, potential, yeah. So I remember, I was like, okay, what should I do?
And of course, what I should have done was contact them and say, let's meet somewhere like... For coffee. Yeah. Yeah. No, what I did, I invited people for dinner. No, stop it. I did. I did. Which was so stupid. Because, you know, then you got people in your home and if you didn't like them, you know, you were like stuck for a few hours. Yeah, of course. Yeah. So I should have done the coffee thing. So how many came over?
I think I had like six and then I was like, okay, I need to stop this. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We need to take a break and we'll come back. Oh my gosh. Six gentlemen callers. Yes. I had six gentlemen callers. What was the first one like that came over? Were you so nervous? I was super nervous. I remember I wrote in the letter that, you know, I was very shy and stuff. And then he came over. The first guy that came over was,
lived kind of close. So I was thinking, oh, that might be. How old was he? He was in his 30s. And the first thing he says, oh, you don't look very shy.
Oh my god. Yeah, and that didn't really... I mean, we had dinner, and then I remember he was like, oh, can I buy those lamps from you? He liked a couple lamps. Oh, that is so funny. Random. Yeah, I got him out pretty quick. You weren't into it? No. Okay. I weren't into any of them. Oh my gosh. No.
I also, because I hadn't been dating, I also thought it was so weird, the whole thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. Did anyone try to, like, smooch you or anything? No, nothing. Yeah. So funny. So after that, I had a few left, and I would meet them out for coffee. Yeah. And I dated one of them, like, for, like, a couple of months. Oh, okay. Yeah. But nothing more than that. But at least I got a smooch. Yeah. Out of that.
But yeah, but that was fun. That was like, so. But the crazy thing was like, I invited them over for dinner. Oh my gosh. You were just being like a good. I thought that's what you did, you know? The way for a man's heart is through his stomach, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's, yeah. So funny. Yeah. Remember I made lamb chops for the first one. Stop it. Lamb chops in like a little creamy sauce.
Yeah, so they all got really good dinners. It wasn't like, you know, a pizza. I made really good. I think I had like a little set. That is so funny. I know. I know. Lesson learned. Lesson learned. So cute. Yeah.
Yeah, so now we should talk about something that maybe isn't so funny and cute. So, because we have to talk about my grandmother and great-aunt passing. Yeah. Yeah. My grandmother went first. I think I was 27. And, you know, she smoked.
Like at least 20 a day. Yeah. A pack of cigarettes a day. Yeah. And she smoked maybe more. Yeah. And she smoked without filter. So she had heart problems. Yeah. And she had been in the hospital a couple of times. What happened was that she was at home and...
I guess she had a heart attack. So the ambulance came. I remember my mom called me and we went together to the hospital. Where were you? I was in the apartment. Yeah. So we went there together and then...
I stayed at their house for a couple of days just to be like, you know, because the hospital was kind of close to their house. Yeah. Oh my God. The first thing my grandmother said when we walked in the door was, did you bring my cigarettes? No! She's lying there with like oxygen and drips and, you know, this little tiny woman, which was like four, four and a half feet tall. She was like, did you bring my cigarettes? Oh my gosh. So fabulous. I mean...
I mean... Yeah, yeah. And we were just like, oh my God, you've got to be kidding. How old was she? She was in her early, like mid-70s. Wow, that's not that old. No. What happened, and it's so tragic. So what happened was that during the first night at the hospital, she tried to get out of bed. She fell and she broke her hip. No. And of course, they had to put her into surgery.
And, you know, that's not good when you just had a heart attack, but they had to do it. Yeah. So I remember when I came the next morning to the hospital and saw her, she had that, I don't know if you've ever seen someone who's about to die. No. Their eyes become kind of like, oh, like glassy. Yeah. Kind of looks like they have some of the color in their eyes disappear and they become kind of like,
Glass eyes. Yeah. It's really weird because I have seen it a few times. Yeah. But people that I know are very, very sick and don't have much time left. Yeah. Do you remember we watched TV the other day and I was like, look at him. He's about to. No, never mind. Yeah. She was definitely reduced. She didn't know. She didn't really know what she were, where she was. Yeah. And she was upset with my mom that my mom had sold, like, she called it her house.
Oh, wow. Yeah, so that came up and it was, yeah, it was very tragic. We went back in the evening. She was the same. And then I remember I was staying at my parents' house and in the middle of the night, the phone rang.
Did you know? Well, what I did was I listened in to the call. The hospital. Oh, because you were... Yeah. Yeah, the hospital. Because there was a phone in my room. Yeah. The hospital called and said that she passed away that night. You know, very sad. But I will say she had...
kind of long good life. Extraordinary life. Yeah. She did what she wanted. You know, she was an orphan girl that went to work in a factory and after the war she started her own company doing children's clothing. Yeah.
She did really well. She made a good amount of money. And she was surrounded by family her whole life. And she did what she loved to do. She loved gardening. She loved cooking. She loved making things, sewing. She loved you. And she certainly loved me. That's for sure. And I loved her too. Yeah. And, you know, she's always with me.
I think about her. In everything that you do. Yeah, and I think about her more or less every day. She always comes up in some thought. Yeah. That, oh yeah, she would have done this. Yeah. Wow. My great aunt is another story. So my grandmother died. It was kind of just before Christmas. Yeah. So of course, Christmas was very sad that year. And I remember my dad went and got my great aunt.
You know, she was constantly asking about my grandmother. Yeah. And we were just like, you know, okay, well, she's dead, she's dead, you know. Yeah. It was really tough. Was she still living on her own at this time? Yes, she was living on her own. What happened was that, and this is actually very sad and very, like, disturbing, but, you know, I loved her very, very much. More or less the same as my grandmother. Yeah.
And what happened was that, okay, she got more and more senile. Yeah. And what she started doing was accusing people of things. Yeah. I hadn't been to her house for a while, but my sister went quite often. And she said that there's notes all over her house that you have been there to steal things. And I'm like, what are you talking about? I haven't been to her house in like two years.
And she was like, yes, there's like notes. Paul came today, he stole a thousand crowns. Paul came today, he stole like books from the bookshelf. Paul came today, he stole like clothes. Paul came and stole the dishwasher. It was like insane. Wow. And I have to admit that I took it so hard.
Yeah. That I refused to see her. To me, it was like such a betrayal of everything. Yeah. So what happened was that she couldn't live by herself. So she had to go into an old people home. Yeah. And she died kind of shortly after that. But she didn't stop accusing, especially me, of things. And I took it so hard that I didn't go to her funeral.
Wow. I refused to go to her funeral because to me it was just such a horrible betrayal. Yeah. And of course I should have gone and I should have, you know, it wasn't really her who did it because her mind was gone. Yeah. And my conscience is 100% clear that,
I never took anything from her, but I just couldn't get past it. Yeah. I could not get past it. Yeah. Yeah, that's really tough. Yeah, it was very tough. And I remember when the funeral was and my mom was like, are you sure? Are you sure? And I was like, no, I can't. I don't want to go.
I do not want to go. Yeah, it's like, who is this woman? And why would she... Yeah, I can understand. Here was this woman I grew up with. You know, both her and my grandmother was kind of like a second mom. Of course. And I had so many good memories. And I was so... I loved them so much. And then she, you know, she did that thing to me. And I was just...
I was devastated. Devastated. I just could not get over it. Yeah. That she would do this. Yeah. And of course, it wasn't, I mean... So later, did you sort of reconcile that within yourself? Yeah. No, I did. And of course, it was very hard because, you know, she died and, you know, we had to go and clean her place. And we found like, you know, so many of those notes that...
It was really... Paul came and stole the dishwasher. Yeah, but the dishwasher is right there. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Paul stole all the books from the bookshelf, but all the books are there. It was really bizarre. Yeah. Yes, but I completely... It's totally fine now. I, of course, forgave her, and I hope that she forgave me. Yeah, for sure. For not being there. Yeah. I could not...
I didn't go and visit her at the old person's home and I didn't go to her funeral because I just, I couldn't. Yeah. So that's that. Yeah. You know. But that's how life is. I mean, sometimes it's cheerful and sometimes it's not. It's just, you know. And it's not the proudest moment of my life, but where I was back then, I just could not get over it. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Well, you have decades of...
memories of both of them. Whenever I think of her, I never think about that. It's always the good stuff. I never dwell about... I used to do it.
Yes. Because, you know, I knew other people saw those notes and God knows what they thought of me, but, you know, I... Yeah, but also what they may have thought about you not being at her funeral. Like, you know, we were talking the other day about like what sort of things we regret and...
in our life and a lot of times they're small things like that but you know sometimes decisions in life are difficult to make but we can make peace with all those things we learn and we move on yes okay so take a break should I do sing and dance now no okay we're gonna take a little break and then we're gonna go to what's up sweet bar
Okay, we are back. We are back. With What's Up, Sweet Paul. When we answer your questions that you have sent in. What do we have, James? Hit us. Georgie from Dallas says, Hey, Paul and James. Love all the stories, especially all the ones with more and more in them. Oh, well, this is... Question. Last time you talked about your cookbooks. I have Eat and Make.
There are more books out in the US? If so, how can I get them? Yes, there are three more. So there is the pasta book, which is called Pasta a Passion.
It's out of print, but you can get it on... eBay. Yeah, eBay, Etsy, like places that sell vintage stuff. And then I made a comment about Summer Food because your first book was called Summer Food, but then you published a gorgeous...
Bigger book called Summer Food. Yeah, so we kind of did like, we wanted to revisit the first one. Yeah. So a few years back, we made a new book called Summer Food. And that one is actually also out in the States. Yeah, it's beautiful. You can get that on Amazon. Cool. It's called Summer Food. Yes. Then I made a book called Slurp.
which is this cocktail book. That book is called Slurp. That is out of print, but again, you can find it on eBay. Wait, there's one more. I think that's it. Yeah. Yeah. There should be four. Yeah, I have four books out in the States. It's Eat and Make, which is still in print and you can get on Amazon.
Or, you know, wherever you buy books. Slurp, pasta, passion, and summer food. Yes. Yeah. That's not bad. No, that's fabulous. Go get them. Bye, bye, bye. And then we have Tim from San Fran. Did he actually write...
San Fran? Or you wrote San Fran? No, I wrote San Fran. Oh, okay. Because the funny thing is, I'm always told by people in San Francisco, anyone that lives there doesn't say San Fran. Oh, they don't? Yeah, that's like, you don't say that. Oh, that's like the tourist thing? Yeah. Yeah, totally. Or they don't say Frisco. Oh. Maybe San Fran. I don't think they say either of them. But anyway. Yeah. Tim says, great podcast. I'm curious to know if you both had any idols growing up.
Who was on your posters on the walls? Mine was Bowie. That's such a good question. Okay, you go first. Who do you have? Well, when I was a kid, obviously it was like Michael Jackson. It was Madonna. It was Robert Smith of The Cure. It was Morrissey. Those were the musicians...
And bands for sure. Yeah. But in terms of like an idol, see again, here's the thing. My parents were very strict and the older I got, closer I got to high school, the stricter they got. So the way that I would be punished is they would throw away my records. What? They would take my clothes away from me. What? And it even got to the point when I was in high school and I loved fashion and
And I would have Vogue magazines. My mother would look at Vogue magazine as if it was a pornographic magazine. What? Yeah, because it was... That's crazy talk. I'm sorry. Yeah, it is crazy talk. It's lunacy. So I would get threatened to be thrown out of the house. All this stuff. So it wasn't until I moved out that all of...
Those things that were taken away from me when I lived with my parents became... Is like a positive and negative. The positive is I never became materialistic. But the negative is that...
That, well, I guess it's a double positive. I never became materialistic because I felt like things weren't, I didn't like hold on to things too tightly. But the other thing is, is that aesthetics became that much more important to me because they were taken away from me. So it was all part of my development and personality. But yeah, I wasn't the type of kid that like had, you know, my bedroom plastered with posters because they would have all been torn down anyway. Yeah.
I don't know. I became kind of obsessed with Elvis. It was Presley when I was a kid. But I don't think I had any posters on the wall. I just remember I liked looking at him. Yeah, because he's cute and dark-haired. Yes. And I remember I was obsessed about the movie Blue Hawaii. Yeah. Which, of course, was...
you know, Elvis. And a lot of it was, you know, he was in like swimming trunks, but there was also Angela Lansbury. Really? Who's playing his mom. In that movie. In that movie. Of course, he's like a total gay icon. Yeah. So I didn't have a poster of him on the wall. I did have a poster of Sunday music though. You did? I did. I was obsessed about Julie Andrews. And I remember the first time
The youngest boy in that movie is called Kurt. And I remember the first time I saw Sunny Music, I went with Rudy, my friend, and her mom. Yeah. And after the movie, I turned to her mom and I said, I want to be Kurt. Oh, my gosh. Yes. I wanted to live in that whole, like...
you know sunny music world yeah you know dancing around and singing yeah i really wanted to do that i love it yeah so i guess i was closest i got to an idol yeah i mean when i got older it was like you know morrissey and stuff like that but when i was a kid no yeah not really yeah totally
Okay, next question. Martha from Westport, Connecticut. Is that Martha Stewart? Oh my God, Martha Stewart lives in Westport. Can you imagine? Yes, Martha. Can we have some tips for you? Can you imagine? What is your go-to party dish? Do you have any simple dinner party recipes you can share? Love the pod. Love it. That's clearly Martha. Yes. Hi, Martha. Hi, Martha.
Yes, I actually do. My go-to favorite dinner party dish is super freaking easy. You go to the fishmonger and you buy, depending on how many people you're having over, one or two sides of salmon. Yeah. Then you make a mixture of fresh dill, lots of it, grated parmesan, and salt and pepper. You put the fish...
on a greased baking rack, baking pan, and you pack the dill cheese mixture on top. So the whole fish is covered. Into the oven at like 370 and cook until, you know, it's done. It takes like 25 minutes maybe. And you serve it with, I often serve it with like cream spinach and maybe potatoes or something.
It's the easiest thing, it makes itself, and it's really delicious. So delicious.
That's our dinner party. One of your dinner party dishes. For sure. I love that one because it's super, super easy. So it's just dill, parmesan, salt and pepper. And then you just bake the salmon. And you just bake it and the top becomes a little bit crispy and it melts in your mouth. It's so good. Really delicious. Another really good one is my maple syrup chicken. Which is super easy. You get a big organic raw chicken.
you rub it in salt pepper, olive oil,
into a baking pan and you drizzle and you scatter like shallots and potatoes and carrots and stuff around. And then you baste the whole thing with maple syrup and into the oven. Wow. So good. Delicious. And then if we're going to a party, one of the dishes we often make is the shrimp salad. Yes. That's like your classic. Yeah, which is easy because it's just peeled,
Shrimp with the tails off with, you know, a little bit of mayo, a little bit of sour cream, dill, salt, pepper, lemon, onion, red onion. It's so good. It's really delicious. Yeah, and you serve it with, like, you know, lettuce cups. You could either do lettuce cups or you can do buttered toasts or you could do it like a shrimp roll in a buttered.
Hot dog bun. Oh, my God. But, yeah, it's easy. It's a crowd pleaser. Yes, please. Okay, Martha. Well, thanks, Martha. I hope I answered your question. Just let us know. Okay. So this has been an up and down episode, I must say. Yes. Life is up and down. But, you know, I thought I had to say that. It has to be honest about that. Yeah. Okay. So we all know the drill.
If you have any questions for us, and please keep sending the questions. We love, love, love getting them. You can either do it as a direct message on Instagram at sweetpaulmagazine, or you can send us an email at podcast at sweetpaulmag.com. And please, please, please, if you do love the podcast...
Please rate and review us on whatever platform you listen to this podcast on. Yes. Okay? All right. Okay. That's loss and gain. That's loss and gain. Until next time. Bye. Bye.