Latest / Pop of Culture / S03 E13 - We Ready Our Tastebuds

Transcript

S03 E13 - We Ready Our Tastebuds · Pop of Culture

0:00
- Support for "Pop of Culture" comes from
0:01
Stallings Wealth Management,
0:02
Daniel Stallings Financial Advisor,
0:04
Securities and Advisory Services offered through
0:06
Cetera Advisors, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC,
0:09
a broker/dealer and registered investment advisor.
0:12
Cetera is under separate ownership
0:13
from any other named entity.
0:14
(upbeat music)
0:16
- This week on "Pop of Culture,"
0:17
a tantalizing tableau for your taste buds.
0:21
We'll stop by the village in Muncie to learn
0:23
about Indian cuisine.
0:24
We'll get a quick shot of the team behind
0:26
the YouTube channel, A Taste for Whiskey.
0:29
- It is a neat experience.
0:30
It's amazing how some things just blow up in your mouth
0:33
and it does not taste good.
0:35
But then the next one you try is like, oh.
0:38
- And then we'll abandon all of that
0:40
and head north for spring.
0:41
Coming up...
0:43
- Support for "Pop of Culture" comes
0:45
from Stallings Wealth Management.
0:48
And from you.
0:50
You might have seen this week that a federal judge
0:53
ruled against an executive order to defund public media.
0:57
This does not reverse our loss of federal funding.
1:00
So, you are the reason local programming is still on IPR.
1:07
Give today at indianapublicradio.org.
1:13
- From IPR, this is "Pop of Culture."
1:16
I'm Kara DuQuette.
1:17
- And I'm Michelle Kinsey.
1:18
Today on the show,
1:19
we get a taste of local culinary offerings.
1:23
I took a microphone to our first stop in the village,
1:26
in Muncie.
1:28
"Pop of Culture" is at Bayleaf Indian Restaurant
1:31
in Muncie, Indiana,
1:32
in the village near Ball State University.
1:34
We are talking with the owner of BAYLEAF, Prabhu Krishnan,
1:38
about the art of making Indian food.
1:40
Thank you for letting us come to your
1:42
beautiful restaurant today.
1:43
- Thank you, Kara. Thank you, Luke.
1:45
It's very nice to see you all.
1:48
- Well, we have lots of questions
1:49
about the art of making Indian food.
1:52
And I want to start by asking you,
1:55
what inspired you first to start cooking Indian food?
1:59
- Yeah, that's a good question, you know, start with.
2:01
So first of all, I love eating food. (laughs)
2:07
Second thing is my since my childhood,
2:09
my passion is to start my restaurant
2:13
and I learned cooking as well.
2:15
So I know to make a different kinds of foods,
2:18
varieties of breads, varieties of curries.
2:23
And we make like a lot of different dishes of a vegetarian
2:28
and the non-vegetarian as well.
2:30
- Well, that's really interesting.
2:31
I know that there's a lot of different ways
2:34
that Indian food is prepared.
2:37
Let's start by, can you tell us, like,
2:39
what's the first dish you ever made?
2:42
- First ever made is, I'm from South India.
2:46
There is a famous dish called sambar.
2:49
We call it, here we call it as a lentil soup, you know.
2:52
That's the most popular dishes in South India.
2:55
So that's how I learned from my mom.
2:57
She used to cook it in a very simple way.
3:00
When we see her, how she prepares this lentil soup,
3:05
it gives nice aromas.
3:07
So that's the first dish I ever made in my life.
3:11
- So what are some of the difference between North
3:13
and South Indian cooking?
3:15
- Yeah, the difference is like mostly in the south side,
3:20
we use rice and then like lentils and most of like meat,
3:28
like chicken and goat and stuff.
3:30
But compared to the north, they like some sweets
3:33
and they love the breads, the naans,
3:35
some chicken curries...
3:37
It's called like chicken tikka masala, the butter chicken.
3:40
Those stuffs are very much famous in
3:43
North Indian region actually.
3:45
North Indian people, they love to have more sweets.
3:49
That's the reason everyone in the menu everywhere,
3:52
you add a dessert after your meal.
3:54
So that's followed the tradition from there actually.
3:58
- Well, for someone who's never tried Indian food,
4:03
what would you say it's like?
4:05
Could you describe it?
4:07
- Yeah.
4:08
For example, if a new customer coming into the restaurant,
4:12
we hear many queries that people never tried Indian food,
4:17
can you give me a suggestion?
4:18
So that time I will start asking some questions
4:22
to figure out what they are in the mood of eating.
4:24
Some people like vegetarian,
4:26
some people go for chicken or goat.
4:29
So they say,
4:30
"Yeah, I'm very much interested in eating a chicken curry."
4:33
So chicken.
4:34
So I will give, there are a couple of options like,
4:36
"Are you like a sweet cream curry based sauce you want?"
4:41
Or, "You want like spicy sauce?"
4:43
That's a different thing, so I give some options.
4:45
So they will choose,
4:46
"Yeah, initially I want to go with very sweet
4:49
and soft cream, curry base.
4:51
So then I will give a suggestion for chicken tikka masala
4:53
or a butter chicken.
4:54
And that too is the number one fast selling
4:57
and everybody likes that item.
4:59
So first time I don't want to make them disappointed.
5:01
So they want to try the chicken tikka masala
5:04
and a butter chicken.
5:05
They love it and from then they'll keep coming
5:08
to the Indian restaurant
5:09
and they keep trying the different different things.
5:12
It's based on the spice level. We can give more options.
5:15
- Can you liken it to something that's a non-Indian dish?
5:19
- You know, like, comparatively, you know,
5:21
all the croissants, like, how they made it, the croissants,
5:24
some pizza, something like that.
5:26
So I can call it as idli as an Indian pizza something.
5:29
(group laughing)
5:30
But pizza is a flatbread, but this one is, like,
5:32
still little puffy something.
5:35
And then that, the initial I mentioned about the sambar,
5:37
the lentil soup, that's a real good combination.
5:41
- Well, I need to know more about the chicken tikka masala.
5:45
- Mm-hm. - Like, what does
5:47
tikka mean?
5:47
Is that a preparation?
5:49
Masala? Is that a spice?
5:52
- Yeah, you know, the masala.
5:53
- I know chicken. - Yeah, you know chicken.
5:55
You know chicken.
5:56
The tikka is like tikka and masala is a combination
5:59
of a sauce and the marination
6:02
what we added on the chicken pieces.
6:04
- Mmh.
6:05
- So we have a lot of marination ingredients
6:09
to be added in the chicken.
6:12
For example, chili powder, you want to add some yogurt,
6:15
you want to add some garam masala.
6:17
The garam masala is a combination of cloves, cinnamon stick,
6:21
star anise, some cumin seed, black pepper, and some nutmegs,
6:30
and then we need to add some coriander seed powder in that.
6:34
Green chilies, yogurt, sour cream.
6:37
We do it in an oven.
6:38
We cook the chicken and different things.
6:40
And to make a sauce, you have to make it
6:42
with the tomato-based sauce, as I mentioned earlier.
6:45
People like some sweet, something like that.
6:48
And then you need to add some whipped cream into it
6:51
to make a sauce.
6:52
Add some chili powder based on the spice level.
6:54
Some people like extra spicy, so we can add some chilies,
6:58
green chilies, or else medium spicy we can add
7:01
some chili powder it doesn't going to change
7:03
any taste of it actually.
7:05
- Nice. - Yeah.
7:06
- You know I'm interested to know
7:09
why your restaurant is called Bayleaf Indian Restaurant.
7:14
Is there a significance to the bay leaf in Indian culture?
7:18
- Yeah, that's really good question.
7:20
You know, like bay leaf, you know, that is the leaves.
7:24
It's kind of light green leaves,
7:26
which we use all the biryanis,
7:28
we use for some chicken curries, some...
7:31
That's most famous in India.
7:34
- And then...
7:35
Did you take a survey of the community?
7:37
How did you know that this would be a good fit for Muncie?
7:43
- I know there is not much Indian restaurant in Muncie.
7:46
I heard like only one restaurant was there before
7:49
and still there is one more restaurant continuing.
7:51
So I thought like, you know, when you have a competition
7:55
with the 10 restaurant and having a competition
7:57
with the one restaurant, it's totally a different scenario.
8:00
- You didn't open a pizza parlor.
8:01
- (laughs) No.
8:02
So my thought and my process, what I was talking to myself,
8:07
like go with the slow pace, stick with one destination
8:13
where demand is more.
8:15
I live in Fishes.
8:16
I've been living in Fishers for 10 years.
8:19
If you ask me how many Indian restaurant,
8:21
there is like 10 to 12 restaurant is there.
8:23
I want to be a little away where the demand is more.
8:26
Then we want to continue there. Slowly we will establish.
8:29
From there we can move on to the next step.
8:31
So that's my idea of these things.
8:33
- Nice. - Yeah.
8:35
- How's business going?
8:36
- Yeah, that's a really, really good question though.
8:39
You know, this winter, this year winter played
8:42
a very, very crucial role.
8:44
And I didn't expect this kind of worst weather.
8:48
(group laughing) - None of us did.
8:49
- Yeah, none of us though, but business is like pretty,
8:52
I would say like a decent, manageable,
8:55
but the thing is like we need to improve a lot.
8:57
We are showing good customer satisfaction
9:02
that is reflecting on the reviews, everything is going good,
9:05
but there is a lot of things to be improved.
9:08
We need to give good quality food and service,
9:10
then the business will go to the next level.
9:13
Since this is a student area, so just we need to focus more
9:17
on the students and students cannot afford like how,
9:21
it's basically a pricing factor, we need to work on it.
9:25
Right now there is no combos in the restaurant.
9:27
I'm planning in the future for a combos actually,
9:29
combo pack, like two curries with one naan and some rice.
9:33
And then the next plan is like for introducing a food truck.
9:36
So the food truck is really good
9:40
for all kind of restaurant industry actually.
9:43
- Oh, for sure. - Yeah.
9:44
- There's many festivals.
9:45
- Yes, many festivals.
9:46
We can take the food truck to downtown.
9:49
We can travel Indy 500.
9:52
Like you can go to the downtown and park the truck
9:55
and people, a lot of...
9:56
Offices like, you know, like Salesforce, Bank of America,
10:00
offices in Indianapolis downtown.
10:02
So we can just establish and that is one of the way
10:06
of promoting our business in a different dimension.
10:08
You know, that really helps us to grow the business
10:11
and as well as the business name.
10:12
So everything.
10:13
- I think it's wonderful that you're considering
10:15
the population and all the students and bringing them in
10:19
and making it a place that they can be.
10:21
- Yeah, yeah.
10:22
And really, Muncie is really supporting me, actually.
10:26
You know, like I said, like, I'm pretty new to this place,
10:29
but I didn't feel like that, actually.
10:30
You know, people are very supportive.
10:33
People are encouraging me.
10:35
And a lot of customers like be like a family of Bayleaf,
10:40
you know.
10:40
- Mm-hm.
10:41
- I know that's a big word, but I mean it really
10:43
because they are giving like inputs to me to grow
10:48
the business and they are like taking care
10:50
of very well actually.
10:51
You know, sometimes I feel the business is slow.
10:53
I never felt bad or something in a different way.
10:56
I say like, okay, we can do it better in future.
10:58
So we need kind of a community support is very important
11:02
to get success in any kind of business actually.
11:05
So I feel I'm getting from Muncie really happy for that.
11:09
- Yeah, I feel like you say they're supporting you
11:12
and you're supporting them by actively listening.
11:14
And I very much appreciate you spending time with us
11:18
and telling us all about your journey.
11:20
- Oh, no, definitely.
11:21
I'm very happy to share my journey, you know.
11:24
- We've been speaking with Prabhu Krishnan
11:27
along with Gopi Janarthanan.
11:30
They own Bayleaf Indian Restaurant in Muncie.
11:33
(upbeat music)
11:42
This is "Pop of Culture."
11:44
I'm Kara DuQuette.
11:45
- And I'm Michelle Kinsey.
11:47
We have two of the three guys behind the video series,
11:50
"A Taste for Whiskey," with us before you meet them
11:53
at the Public Media Pours event on April 11th
11:56
at Cornerstone Center for the Arts in downtown Muncie.
12:00
Jeff Clark and Chef Jason Reynolds are in the studio,
12:03
and they didn't bring whiskey or food.
12:08
What's up with that, guys?
12:11
- I actually thought about it.
12:12
- Fine, whatever.
12:13
(group laughing) Whatever.
12:16
So, Jeff, you've described your YouTube series
12:18
as a destination for all things whiskey.
12:21
Whether it is food and whiskey pairings,
12:23
American whiskey, scotch whiskey, or cocktails,
12:26
we focus on the positivity of community and fine spirits.
12:32
Love that, first of all.
12:33
- Yeah. - Yeah.
12:34
- I didn't want to just do a review channel.
12:38
- Yes.
12:39
- And I didn't want to be a TikTok where, you know,
12:41
in order to get views, you got to be divisive
12:44
or you got to create some kind of negative
12:47
type of a scenario.
12:49
- Yeah. - And I'm like,
12:51
I want to be like a food channel where you get
12:54
some education and you have the opportunity to, you know,
12:57
you're not gonna get all these bleeping or bad languages.
13:00
I hate that.
13:01
It's like just good, clean expression of our passion,
13:06
our love in a very positive format.
13:09
How could you not like that?
13:11
- Right? Exactly.
13:12
And it's beverages and food and conversation.
13:15
- Yes. - I mean, those are
13:16
the three things that I think we can all come together on.
13:20
Speaking of coming together,
13:21
how did this happen with the three of you?
13:24
And please mention the other partner in crime
13:27
who is not with us.
13:28
- Yeah. Good buddy, Deric.
13:29
Deric is the kind of the comedy relief
13:32
and he kind of keeps us on track to be honest with you.
13:34
I'm the straight guy.
13:36
- As Deric would say though,
13:38
he comes just to eat and to drink.
13:40
- Yeah. (group laughing)
13:41
That's exactly right.
13:42
- I mean, what a gig.
13:43
- It's a tough job, right?
13:44
- So that's why he didn't show up. Let the record show.
13:48
- No food, no whiskey, no show.
13:50
(group laughing)
13:52
So, you know, it really started out with
13:55
the world's top whiskey tasting.
13:57
There was an event put on by Bardstown Bourbon Company
14:00
that basically throughout the whole country is, you know,
14:03
send us what you know about whiskey.
14:05
- Yeah.
14:05
- And you're gonna go through a kind of
14:07
a regional competition where you're gonna
14:09
go through a selection process.
14:11
If selected, you'll go through a regional competition.
14:13
And if you win that, then you go to the finals,
14:16
which at the time they had 10 regions.
14:18
And the winner of each region would go down
14:20
to Bardstown Bourbon Company, where you would go
14:22
in a series of competitions about
14:26
what are you tasting in the glass?
14:28
We're not gonna tell you.
14:29
Give us the age. Give us the proof.
14:31
Tell us what the label is.
14:33
- Yeah.
14:34
- Give us a blend of your own whiskey,
14:35
and it's gonna be judged by the master distiller.
14:38
- Wow.
14:39
- Tell us what perfect pair, what food
14:41
and whiskey will pair perfectly together,
14:43
and that's gonna be judged by Peggy Noe Stevens,
14:45
the Whiskey Hall of Famer who started
14:49
the Bourbon Women's and started the Bourbon Trail.
14:53
- Wow. No pressure there. - Yes. No pressure.
14:55
And you're sitting there and she's saying,
14:57
tell me what you're going to, here's a tenderloin sandwich.
15:00
Tell me what would pair with that.
15:01
- Whoa! - So it was a
15:02
serious competition.
15:03
It just wasn't sitting there drinking.
15:05
Now we drank quite a bit. Not gonna lie.
15:08
But in order to do that, this came together as a result of,
15:13
I said, you know what?
15:14
Probably not gonna win, but let's just see what happens.
15:17
Ended up getting selected, winning the regionals.
15:21
And then it's like, I'm going to the world competition.
15:26
What am I gonna do?
15:27
So my friend Andrea basically said, I got my buddy Jason,
15:31
who's a chef at Ball State.
15:33
You need to get with him and talk to him about food.
15:36
Didn't know Jason at all.
15:38
We met and our very first time together,
15:41
I started talking to him about whiskey.
15:43
He started talking to me about food.
15:45
Three hours later, we became great friends.
15:47
He hadn't even had whiskey.
15:49
And after that three hour conversation,
15:51
he was liking whiskey and I was loving food more.
15:53
And then Deric stuff was like, let's do this.
15:56
- Wow, that is very cool.
15:58
So chef, talk a little bit about the fact
16:01
that you were not a whiskey drinker.
16:04
And was that a little daunting at first?
16:06
How did you approach this task of okay,
16:09
my whole thing is going to be pairing food
16:12
with different whiskeys?
16:14
- Yeah, that was a challenge at first
16:17
because I never did taste or drink whiskey.
16:20
When Jeff or Andrea invited me, he said,
16:23
okay, let me just pour you this.
16:25
This is a simple, nice dram here.
16:28
You just tell me what you smell. Tell me what you taste.
16:31
And, you know, a chef's palate with the flavor profiles.
16:36
- Yeah.
16:37
- Man, I just started naming the things off.
16:39
And he goes, you're absolutely right.
16:42
And so he said, what do you think that would go with?
16:44
And we started talking about food
16:46
and the whiskey type pairing.
16:48
And he said, oh, yeah.
16:50
So when Jeff got, believe it or not,
16:52
at the whiskey competition, the pork tenderloin,
16:55
he knew exactly what whiskey he was gonna pick
16:57
for that pairing. - Wow.
16:59
- And hence our perfect pair series on a taste
17:03
for whiskey that we do.
17:06
That's what we call it. The perfect pair.
17:07
'Cause that's, but yeah, it was a neat, neat challenge
17:11
and I love it now.
17:13
- Yeah.
17:14
- I'm a kind of a connoisseur myself.
17:16
Sometimes Jeff say, this is your gig now
17:18
because you're coming to me like saying
17:20
this whiskey is gonna go with this
17:22
and this food is gonna go with that.
17:24
And so, yeah, it's kind of a good collaborative.
17:26
- Wow.
17:27
Can you remember a time, and both of you,
17:30
please feel free to chime in, when you were kind of stumped
17:33
as far as like what that perfect pairing would be?
17:38
- 100%. - Oh, yeah.
17:39
We've had some good researching tastings.
17:42
- Exactly.
17:43
And we're actually going to, we kind of are bringing
17:46
this to the Media Pours.
17:49
- Yeah.
17:50
- So if you get the all access pass,
17:51
one of the things you're gonna find out is we're actually
17:53
going to be one of our dishes will be that exact experiment
17:58
that we had, we thought for sure this was in the bag.
18:04
So we actually videoed it and we did it.
18:06
We knew it wasn't gonna work because we tried it.
18:08
We're like, this does not work at all.
18:11
So we thought, well, let's put this in our YouTube
18:13
and let's just talk about how we got there.
18:15
- Yeah. - And we thought
18:16
it was perfect.
18:17
We tried it and it was awful.
18:19
Like my mouth was on fire, we it was like, this is bad.
18:23
And we went ahead and shot it that way
18:25
because we wanted folks to say that, yeah,
18:27
there are times when this doesn't work.
18:29
It's like eating, some people might like it,
18:32
but eating, drinking milk with Oreo cookies,
18:35
much different experience than drinking
18:37
a Coke with Oreo cookies, right?
18:40
- Yeah.
18:41
- But that's part of our Perfect Pair series is that...
18:45
We tell you what we thought was gonna go and then we say,
18:48
this is what does go.
18:50
- Yeah.
18:51
- And we do the research, but we explain that to you too
18:52
in the video series.
18:54
And it is a neat experience.
18:57
It's amazing how some things just blow up in your mouth
19:00
and it does not taste good.
19:02
But then the next one you try is like...
19:03
Oh, holy cow.
19:06
It's either a flavor explosion
19:08
or it's a balance or a counterbalance.
19:10
And we can get into that stuff, you know, later on.
19:14
But man, it's a great experience.
19:16
- You know what I like about it too is
19:19
you don't have to like whiskey
19:21
and you really don't have to like food.
19:23
You know, you don't have to be a foodie
19:25
and you don't have to be an enthusiast to enjoy this.
19:28
I find this to be another form of art.
19:31
- Yeah. I can see that.
19:32
- Just being able to see how these two things go together.
19:36
- Yeah, exactly.
19:37
- We know that you drink beer as just a pastime.
19:41
Wine has always been known to go with food.
19:43
- MM-hm. - But up until now,
19:45
I never heard of whiskey pairing an 80, 120 proof,
19:49
130 proof whiskey to food.
19:52
- Right.
19:53
- Just didn't even cross my mind.
19:54
- Right. And these are whiskeys.
19:57
These are beverages that you are just sipping along
20:00
with the meal?
20:01
- Yeah. Yeah. - Is it just straight,
20:03
not on the rocks?
20:04
- Just a dram. Just a neat dram.
20:05
- Gotcha. - Mm-hm.
20:06
- All right. All right.
20:08
So tell me about your involvement with Public Media Pours.
20:11
I know, Jeff, you kind of alluded to
20:13
kind of the VIP situation.
20:15
Tell everyone a little bit more about that.
20:17
What's gonna happen next?
20:18
- Can we go for it?
20:19
- Yeah, go ahead, Jason. - Tell us, chef.
20:20
- Well, the Public Media Pours, Jeff kinda just said,
20:23
"Why don't you take this
20:24
and just run with it, with the tasting part."
20:27
So these, I'm gonna give you a hint of what they are,
20:31
but I'm not gonna tell you what they are,
20:32
'cause I want you to be surprised.
20:33
- Absolutely. - 'Cause it's gonna be,
20:35
so we're gonna call it the Indiana Heritage.
20:37
And which is gonna involve any Indiana Heritage food
20:41
or spirits.
20:42
- Okay.
20:42
- So it's gonna be a combination of both.
20:44
So three different tastings
20:46
with some other surprises in there.
20:48
So it's gonna be all Indiana-influenced somehow, someway.
20:51
And we like to call this an experience because it's
20:56
gonna be an experience you've never had before.
20:58
- Sure.
20:59
- And tasting the whiskey and the food together.
21:02
And when we were approached, I said,
21:06
Jeff, what do you think?
21:07
And yeah, you know, and that's another avenue
21:09
for us to get out there and share our knowledge
21:12
with people on like, well,
21:14
if you go and order this at dinner,
21:16
this is maybe what I'll have to drink with it
21:18
instead of just water or wine, whatever.
21:21
- Yeah.
21:22
Put a little more thought into it than just,
21:23
oh, I'm just gonna go with the usual whiskey I get.
21:28
- Well, and we're using different whiskeys,
21:30
not just bourbon.
21:31
So there's gonna be a rye, there's gonna be a bourbon,
21:34
and then there's gonna be a scotch.
21:36
So we double dabble in a little bit of all whiskey. Yeah.
21:39
- I love that. I love that.
21:40
And that is during the VIP experience.
21:43
And then during the main event, you're gonna sit down
21:47
and you're gonna talk with me a little more in depth
21:50
about what you do, why you do it, some advice,
21:54
some education, if you will.
21:56
- Okay. - On pairings and whiskey
22:00
and your show.
22:02
So we don't want to give too much away
22:04
because it's gonna be, I can already tell it's gonna be
22:06
a great conversation, but here's what I will ask you guys.
22:09
If someone is coming to the event
22:12
and they're not really experienced in bourbon tastings
22:16
or even the VIP, what tips would you give them
22:19
for getting the most out of this event?
22:22
- Don't be afraid. Don't be intimidated.
22:25
So many people come to our events and they're like,
22:27
well, I don't really know much about whiskey
22:31
and I don't really like whiskey.
22:32
So I'm gonna kind of shy away from this
22:35
or I feel like everybody here is so much more experienced.
22:38
And it's like, no.
22:40
You don't, you know, a lot of people say,
22:41
how are you supposed to drink it?
22:42
It doesn't matter if you want to add a cube,
22:44
if you want to drink it on the rocks,
22:46
if you want to drink it with Coke,
22:49
if you want to drink it with root beer,
22:51
or if you just want to pour it in a glass and drink it neat.
22:54
You know, there's nothing that you need to come to the table
22:57
with other than the desire to want to experience
22:59
a really good time.
23:01
Three words.
23:02
- Yes. - Nose, sip, eat.
23:06
- Okay.
23:06
- You'll hear that when we do this,
23:08
because there's a process to doing this.
23:10
And we'll talk about that in detail when we're there.
23:13
- Yeah, so somebody that's like,
23:14
"Oh, I'm unfamiliar," as Jeff said, like, "I don't know,"
23:17
you're gonna provide that guidebook
23:20
for getting the most out of the experience.
23:22
- Absolutely. - Why don't you come?
23:23
Love that.
23:24
And for people that want to watch the YouTube series,
23:28
which is great, by the way,
23:28
I love when you guys go on the road
23:30
and you talk to people at different places,
23:34
different distilleries, different locations,
23:36
just super fans of whiskey.
23:39
Like one of my favorites was the interview you did
23:42
with Brian Blair over at Pumpkin Pulp.
23:45
That was awesome. - That was amazing.
23:46
- Yeah, that was awesome.
23:47
So if people want to check that out,
23:49
how do they find you on the YouTubes and social medias?
23:52
- So I say the easiest way to get to YouTube
23:54
is follow us on Instagram,
23:56
all one word at Atasteforwhiskey and then go to the profile
24:01
and that'll take you to our latest video.
24:03
But you can also go to YouTube and just type
24:06
in a taste for whiskey and then type in Jeff Clark.
24:10
And then that should get you to our perfect pairs.
24:13
- Oh, perfect.
24:14
And then if you if you're listening right now
24:17
and you want to get in on Public Media Pours,
24:19
all you have to do is go to IndianaPublicRadio.org
24:21
for more information about the event.
24:24
Lots of great stuff going on.
24:26
Thank you so much, guys, for coming into the studio.
24:28
Look forward to chatting with you more
24:31
about all things whiskey and tasty food
24:34
at the Public Media Pours event.
24:36
- Thank you so much for having us.
24:37
- Thanks Michelle. - Yes, thank you.
24:39
(upbeat music)
25:00
- You're listening to "Pop of Culture." I'm Kara DuQuette.
25:03
- I'm Michelle Kinsey.
25:04
- And I'm Jen Blackmer.
25:06
The world is full of beautiful things.
25:09
If we take just a moment away from the chaos of daily life,
25:11
if we take a breath, we begin to see them everywhere.
25:14
In nature, in the changing seasons, in moments of kindness,
25:18
smiles from strangers,
25:20
especially in the eyes of those we love.
25:22
In partnership with
25:23
River Teeth Journal of Creative Nonfiction,
25:26
"Pop of Culture's" regular series, "Beautiful Things,"
25:28
explores these moments through the words
25:31
of writers across the country.
25:33
This week's Beautiful Thing takes us to Ginny McDonald
25:37
in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
25:39
Ginny, whenever you're ready.
25:42
- Trout lilies.
25:45
I want to tell Allie that the trout lilies are up.
25:48
that wood frogs are chuckling where
25:50
the marsh marigolds shove their leaves through the mud.
25:54
The sandhill cranes are back, the geese, the ducks,
25:58
innumerable brown and gray birds peep and chatter.
26:01
All the things that were meant to come back came back.
26:06
I want to let Allie know that the autumn leaves
26:09
were beautiful when she left.
26:11
And now the trees are budding out in every green.
26:16
The days are long again, and I showed her kids
26:19
where the wild strawberries bloom.
26:22
The growing is so quick and condensed up here.
26:26
I wouldn't need to tell her that.
26:28
She loved these north woods. Her children love them too.
26:32
They know the yellow birch, the wintergreen,
26:35
how to keep their boots on in the mud.
26:39
I think Allie knew that her kids would be all right.
26:43
We all are all right.
26:45
The people she loved felt the leaves fall.
26:48
We watched the snow fall.
26:51
And now here's spring with trout lilies.
26:55
Then will come the spring beauties, ginseng, star flowers,
26:59
jack-in-the-pulpit, lady slippers, jewelweed,
27:04
all the blooms whose names I didn't know
27:07
before she taught me.
27:09
And everywhere along this path, forget-me-nots.
27:14
- Everywhere along this path, forget-me-nots.
27:17
Ginny, thank you so much for your reading of "Trout Lilies."
27:21
What a lovely, lovely piece.
27:22
- Thank you for asking me.
27:23
(group laughing)
27:26
- I'll start with the question we ask all of our
27:29
Beautiful Things contributors.
27:31
What inspired this piece?
27:35
- Well, I...
27:37
"Trout lilies."
27:38
- Yeah, gorgeous little flower.
27:40
And I thought I knew what they look like.
27:44
But then before we started today, I looked them up
27:46
and I was like, yeah,
27:47
you kind of see those popping up all over.
27:50
- Yep. Well, Allie loved wildflowers very much.
27:56
And for a while, she When she was living elsewhere,
28:00
as soon as the trout lilies came up,
28:02
I would take a picture of them and text her and say,
28:06
"Trout lilies are up!"
28:09
Then came the year when there was nobody to text.
28:15
So that's how the inspiration for the piece started there.
28:22
- Yeah.
28:23
And it really captures, I think, that moment where somebody
28:28
who is so very, very important to you is no longer
28:33
in reach that way, right?
28:35
And the simplest things, the things that you notice
28:38
every year that you know that they would, too,
28:40
you just want to say, hey, by the way,
28:42
I love to look at birds online.
28:47
And my mother did, too. (laughs)
28:50
And every time we sit, there's a barred owl's nest
28:54
that I look at every year
28:55
and we used to look at it together.
28:56
And it's, yeah, that was the first year they came back
29:00
to their nest box and I saw them online was really hard.
29:04
- Yeah.
29:05
- I do have a question and you can choose to answer it
29:09
or not.
29:11
But who was Allie to you?
29:15
- Well, okay, I'm kind of glad you asked the question
29:18
because I left that out intentionally when I was writing
29:25
the essay because I wanted people who had experienced loss
29:32
to be able to enter into this Without being too specific,
29:39
because truly, Allie could have been anybody, my partner,
29:43
my sister as it is, that she was our daughter
29:47
and she was killed by breast cancer at 42
29:50
and left a huge hole in our family.
29:53
- Of course.
29:54
- And...
29:55
But a lot of people have experienced a lot
29:57
of different types of grief.
29:59
And I didn't want to say, my daughter died of breast cancer.
30:03
I wanted to just express the loss
30:08
and share that with people.
30:10
- Yeah.
30:12
I think that's also incredibly profound
30:16
with the relationship of the speaker to the children, right?
30:21
That there is a stewardship there that feels
30:26
almost effortless in a way, right?
30:29
It's like I would be walking with Allie
30:31
and now I'm walking with Allie's children, right?
30:33
And they know the things that Allie told me as well.
30:37
So that also lends to the feeling of hope here,
30:40
which is, which again, is really lovely.
30:44
- Thank you. Yeah.
30:45
Yeah.
30:46
We've been blessed with being able to keep
30:49
a close relationship with her kids.
30:51
Her surviving spouse has been very generous
30:55
and we've spent a lot of time with the kids and that helps.
31:02
- Of course. Yeah.
31:03
- That helps the continuity. Yes.
31:05
(group laughing)
31:06
- And how to keep their boots on in the mud. (laughs)
31:12
I can't tell you the times I've cleaned up after my kids
31:16
after hiking in the woods in the mud.
31:18
(group laughing)
31:21
- "Grandma, I'm losing my boot." Okay, here we go.
31:24
(group laughing)
31:28
- That's wonderful.
31:29
Ginny, have you have you written much microfiction?
31:32
Or was this a new form for you?
31:36
- I've written quite a bit.
31:39
Not a lot of it has been published.
31:42
It's a niche.
31:44
- Of course, yeah.
31:45
- Yeah, it's like growing vegetables in the UP.
31:48
You know, it's a lot of hard work for very little reward.
31:54
But yeah, I really do enjoy the extremely short form,
32:02
not only to write it, but also to read it
32:04
because you don't have a lot of time
32:07
to dilly-dally in there.
32:08
You have to get to the point of what you're trying to say.
32:13
And sometimes it can, when you're reading a really good one,
32:16
it can just hit you right between the eyes.
32:18
- Yeah, and that's what yours did. I'll say that.
32:21
What is it like being a writer in the Upper Peninsula?
32:26
(group laughing)
32:28
- Yeah.
32:32
I came to this type of writing very late in life.
32:38
And I ended up getting my MFA
32:43
at Northern Michigan University when I was 55.
32:47
So it's not like I have decades of writing experience
32:52
to share with you.
32:53
I have zero writerly wisdom, okay?
32:58
I can't really impart, I don't have a writerly persona.
33:05
I just write these little things.
33:09
I don't suppose being a writer in the UP
33:11
is any different than being a writer anywhere else,
33:13
except we don't have a lot of venues.
33:16
It's not like there's going to be a writer's group meeting
33:18
every night of the week at some different place in town.
33:23
But we have a strong writing community connected
33:26
with the university,
33:28
and we have a very active group of poets.
33:33
And...
33:35
You know, the opportunities are there to write
33:38
and the opportunities are there to meet other authors
33:43
and writers.
33:44
So it's a little isolated, but then that's what you come
33:47
to the UP for.
33:49
- Right, yeah. Yeah.
33:50
And that's, I think, where the question came from
33:53
is that there's so much nature in this piece.
33:55
And I didn't know if that was something
33:58
that you had sought specifically
34:00
or was responding to just the place that you are,
34:05
the place that you found yourself.
34:07
- Ginny McDonald lives in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
34:10
When she's not writing, she grows vegetables in poor soil
34:14
during a short season.
34:16
Thank you, Ginny.
34:17
- Thank you. Have a good day.
34:20
- This story comes from IPR's collaboration
34:23
with River Teeth's "Beautiful Things,"
34:26
a weekly magazine of micro-essays.
34:28
More at RiverTeethJournal.com.
34:31
I'm Jen Blackmer.
34:32
(upbeat music)
34:47
- We have yet another culinary experience
34:49
coming up this weekend.
34:51
- Magic City Sip and Savor will take over Mad Jack's
34:56
in downtown Muncie on Saturday, April 4th.
34:59
And here to tell us all about it is Cheryl Crowder
35:02
of Muncie Downtown Development
35:03
and Lindsay Montgomery of Ariel Annex.
35:06
Thank you so much for coming into
35:07
the "Pop of Culture" studios.
35:09
- Oh my gosh, thanks for having us.
35:11
- Yes, thank you.
35:12
- All right, Cheryl, let's go over kind of the basics.
35:15
What is Magic City Sip and Savor and what's happening there?
35:20
- Okay, so originally it was Magic City Brewfest
35:22
for two years.
35:24
This year we've turned it into Magic City Sip and Savor
35:26
to kind of include a food portion of it.
35:29
Ivy Tech Culinary School as well
35:31
as Ball State University's culinary departments
35:34
are providing eight bites that come with the ticket.
35:38
So they're preparing probably as we speak, who knows.
35:42
(group laughing)
35:43
- They're getting ready.
35:44
- Some little nibbles to go with all of the beverages
35:48
that will be available.
35:49
So we have wineries, we have distilleries,
35:51
we have breweries, we have some NA options
35:55
that are all part of the ticket.
35:56
We've got lots of music with the Songwriters Showcase.
36:00
There are, let's see, four different musicians
36:04
who are playing.
36:06
The Chord Fat Roller Derby team will be there
36:08
rolling around, kind of promoting their season.
36:10
I'm very excited about that.
36:11
- Yes.
36:12
- We're kicking off Downtown Idol with karaoke,
36:15
hosted by Mike Barton.
36:17
Muncie's Maker's Market will be there.
36:20
And I think from 3 to 4 o'clock, The Aerial Annex.
36:24
- Yes. - Go ahead and tell them.
36:25
- Yeah.
36:26
So the Aerial Annex will be performing
36:28
from three to four o'clock.
36:29
We'll be set up in the main hall.
36:30
We'll have one of our silks hanging.
36:32
So we'll just be taking turns with different performers
36:35
alternating in and out for that hour.
36:38
- Lindsay, I know that Aerial Annex calls Mad Jacks home.
36:43
That's where you are. That's where you have your classes.
36:45
You do a lot of performances there.
36:47
For people that are not familiar with Aerial Annex,
36:50
could you talk a little bit about what it is
36:52
and what you do?
36:55
- Yeah, absolutely. So we are located in Mad Jacks.
36:58
We've been there for five years now.
37:00
It's a great spot for us.
37:01
We're actually in the loading dock area.
37:04
- MM-hm.
37:04
- It works really well because we've got the high
37:06
23 foot ceilings there.
37:07
We've got the garage doors we can open during the summer,
37:10
get some exposure that way.
37:12
But basically what we are, it's a circus school.
37:14
So what aerial silks are originally came from Circus Arts.
37:18
- Mm-hm.
37:18
- It's becoming more of a mainstream form of working out,
37:23
you know, aerial arts expression.
37:26
So, yeah, we offer classes in the aerial silks.
37:29
We also have started offering classes on aerial lira,
37:32
which is like the aerial hoop.
37:33
It looks like a hula hoop.
37:35
And then aerial sling classes.
37:37
And we are going to soon be offering pole fitness classes.
37:41
- Wow. - So that will be
37:42
a new class that will be offered here
37:44
in the next few months.
37:45
- Wow. And do you offer classes year round?
37:49
- Yes, absolutely.
37:50
It's all year round. Yeah.
37:53
- And you've probably seen Aerial Annex if you've been
37:56
to a lot of events, the old Washington Street Festival,
38:00
the $2 tour here on campus.
38:03
You set up...
38:05
Kind of an, I don't know, is there a technical term
38:08
for the rig that you set up?
38:09
- That's what it is. It's called the aerial rig.
38:11
- Oh my goodness,
38:12
look at that. - Yep, you got it.
38:12
(group laughing)
38:14
- So smart.
38:15
- And actually, the whole thing can fit in my car.
38:18
It looks like a clay-on car when I drive
38:19
and pull this thing out.
38:20
It comes out in pieces.
38:21
But yeah, we set it up. It goes up about 25 feet.
38:24
It takes four people to set up,
38:25
but we can set up anywhere outside.
38:27
And we'll be setting up, and sometimes indoors as well,
38:31
depending on what the ceilings are like,
38:32
where we'll be performing.
38:33
If there's something we can attach to where we are,
38:35
we'll try to do that.
38:36
Otherwise, we can bring the rig.
38:38
- You're ready to go. - Right?
38:39
- You're ready to go.
38:40
Cheryl, talk a little bit about why you decided
38:43
to add the savor part of it.
38:46
Why you decided to add, you know, what I think,
38:48
you know, a really important kind of a food element
38:51
to go along with all of the sips provided.
38:54
- I feel like it's kind of just an evolution of Brewfest.
38:57
So maybe something new to try along with that.
39:02
I think that there are a lot of people
39:04
who are not into drinking.
39:05
So more of the NA products
39:08
and another thing to add to the ticket as a value for it.
39:12
- Yeah.
39:13
I think it's also cool to kind of spotlight
39:15
what culinary students are doing.
39:17
- We are so excited to have them be a part of this.
39:21
Yeah. It's just very exciting.
39:23
- Yeah.
39:24
And we should probably point out that
39:25
Magic City Sip and Savor is for those event goers age 21
39:30
and older.
39:31
Is that correct? - Correct. Yes.
39:32
- Because these will be tasty sips.
39:36
- Not all of them, but a lot of them.
39:37
(group laughing) - Yeah.
39:41
- Where should people go, Cheryl,
39:43
for more information about Magic City Sip & Savor?
39:47
- Magic City Sip & Savor and all the events downtown
39:50
at downtownmuncie.org backlash sip and savor.
39:54
But if you just go to events,
39:55
you can see everything we have for the whole year.
39:58
- Ah, We should also, before we go,
40:00
we should mention that there is kind of a VIP experience
40:03
if you want to add that on to your day,
40:06
your Sip and Savor day.
40:07
Talk a little bit about that.
40:09
- There is. The VIP starts at 7 Rock Brew at 12:30.
40:16
So VIP members will spend an hour there.
40:20
We do have a shuttle so you can leave your car there.
40:23
Alford Customs and Rides are giving rides back
40:27
and forth to Mad Jacks.
40:28
So you don't have to worry about finding parking
40:30
or anything like that.
40:31
They'll drop you off and pick you up.
40:33
And then it's a half an hour early entry into Sip and Savor.
40:37
- Awesome.
40:38
And I understand at the VIP event,
40:39
Foxy's performing, right?
40:41
- Foxy is performing.
40:42
- So the vocalist Foxy will be there.
40:45
There will also be a lot of live music
40:47
at the actual Sip and Savor event.
40:50
- Correct.
40:50
- And the Muncie Makers Market, which is what? How many?
40:53
How many makers are we talking about?
40:54
- We'll see how many she can get in there this time.
40:57
(group laughing)
40:58
We kind of set up and then Mott Danner,
41:00
who does an amazing job with the Makers Market,
41:02
will come in and fill in every nook
41:05
and cranny with makers after that.
41:07
- Every single one. - Yeah.
41:08
- Absolutely. Absolutely.
41:10
Well, again, the event is April 4th from two to five.
41:15
And then also there is the VIP event an hour before that.
41:19
And for all of the information, go to downtownmuncie.org.
41:24
Thank you so much, Lindsay and Cheryl,
41:25
for coming in to the IPR Studios for "Pop of Culture."
41:28
We really appreciate it.
41:29
- Thanks, Michelle.
41:30
- Yeah, thank you for having me.
41:32
- And now for the rest of the arts and culture happenings.
41:36
Carol, why don't you kick us off?
41:37
- I sure will.
41:38
April 3rd is First Friday in Anderson.
41:41
Check out exhibits, performances,
41:43
and more at downtown locations from 5 to 8 p.m.
41:46
The whole shebang Women's Wellness Expo is Saturday,
41:50
April 4th from 11 to 4 at the
41:52
Horizon Convention Center in Muncie.
41:54
The event will include more than 60 wellness resources
41:57
and vendors, panels, entertainment,
41:59
and a restorative sound bath.
42:02
- Oof, that sounds great.
42:04
Shebang, shebang.
42:05
You remember that song?
42:06
- Yes, I do remember that song.
42:08
- This weekend is your last shot to see
42:10
the Muncie Camera Club annual juried show at Minnetrista.
42:14
Through a range of subjects and styles,
42:16
these images invite you to see the world
42:17
through fresh eyes and experience artistry in every photo.
42:22
The show closes Sunday, April 5th.
42:24
The NCAA Final Four is this weekend in Indy,
42:27
and there is no shortage of arts
42:30
and culture coolness to take in.
42:32
The Indy Arts Council will host SWISH, an immersive arts
42:35
and culture experience in downtown Indianapolis
42:38
April 3rd through the 6th.
42:39
More than 175 Central Indiana-based musicians, dancers,
42:44
spoken word poets, and other performers will take
42:47
center stage with live performances during the tournament
42:50
across multiple venues.
42:51
You can also check out more than 60 new sidewalk murals
42:55
and browse the new sidewalk galleries.
42:57
IndieArts.org has details.
43:00
- Okay, some arts and sport.
43:02
- Mm-hm.
43:03
- Swish!
43:05
And the March Madness Music Festival is Friday
43:08
through Sunday, April 3rd through 5th
43:10
on the American Legion Mall in downtown Indy.
43:13
The fest will feature performances by 21 Pilots,
43:16
Zac Brown Band, Dominic Fike, and Post Malone.
43:20
NCAA.com has more details.
43:23
- The Ball State Studio Band will perform at the
43:25
Jazz Kitchen in Broad Ripple at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 7th.
43:30
This has become an annual thing for the studio band,
43:33
Friends of "Pop of Culture."
43:35
We are so proud of them.
43:37
- Excellent.
43:39
The funky band Here Come the Mummies
43:41
will perform at Anderson Paramount Theater April 10th.
43:44
And if you have not experienced this band before,
43:48
no one knows who the members are because, yep,
43:50
you guessed it, they perform as mummies wrapped
43:53
from head to toe.
43:54
The fun begins at 7.30 p.m.
43:57
Taylorville, a tribute to Taylor Swift,
43:59
will take over the Gas City Performing Arts Center
44:01
on April 10th.
44:03
The tribute band takes audiences on a journey
44:05
through Taylor's career.
44:06
The concert begins at 7 p.m.
44:09
The University Singers' 62nd Annual Spectacular Spectacular
44:13
is April 10th and 11th at Emens Auditorium.
44:16
The university singers have been recognized since 1964
44:21
as one of America's top
44:22
collegiate entertainment organizations.
44:25
The show will include songs by Aretha Franklin,
44:27
Green Day, and more.
44:29
Hey, send us your spectacular events.
44:33
Go to indianapublicradio.org/contact,
44:35
then click "Pop Of Culture."
44:37
Now let's roll the credits.
44:39
(group laughing)
44:42
- Support for "Pop of Culture" comes from
44:45
Stalling's Wealth Management.
44:47
And from you.
44:49
You might have seen this week that a federal judge
44:52
ruled against an executive order to defund public media.
44:56
This does not reverse our loss of federal funding.
45:00
So, you are the reason local programming is still on IPR.
45:06
Give today at indianapublicradio.org.
45:10
- And that's our show.
45:11
Our interim general manager and executive producer
45:14
is Angie Grimes.
45:15
This week was produced by Luke Jones,
45:18
who would like to remind guests that they are welcome
45:21
to bring samples to the "Pop of Culture" studios.
45:24
Thank you.
45:25
- We had production assistants from Andrew Montavon
45:28
and Stephanie Wiechmann.
45:29
Our audio fellow is Maya Doss.
45:32
Our show was hosted by me, Michelle Kinsey.
45:34
- And me, Kara DuQuette.
45:36
"Pop of Culture" is a production from IPR
45:38
on the campus of Ball State University.
45:42
- Sorry, I'm getting so nervous.
45:44
- You cannot do it. (laughs)
45:45
You are nervous. I should be nervous.
45:47
(group laughing)