Latest / Cookbook Love Podcast / Episode 410: About Comedy, Death, and Cookbook Writing with Gus Constantellis

Transcript

Episode 410: About Comedy, Death, and Cookbook Writing with Gus Constantellis · Cookbook Love Podcast

• 0:02
  Speaker: You are listening to the
• 0:03
  Speaker: cookbook Love Podcast with
• 0:04
  Speaker: Maggie Greene, episode number
• 0:07
  Speaker: four ten.
• 0:11
  Speaker: Welcome to the cookbook Love
• 0:12
  Speaker: Podcast, a podcast that
• 0:14
  Speaker: celebrates cookbook readers,
• 0:16
  Speaker: buyers, collectors, writers, and
• 0:18
  Speaker: clubs.
• 0:19
  Speaker: And now your host, cookbook
• 0:21
  Speaker: author, culinary dietitian, and
• 0:23
  Speaker: cookbook writing coach, Maggie
• 0:25
  Speaker: Greene.
• 0:31
  Speaker: Hi, everybody.
• 0:32
  Speaker: Welcome back to another episode of the cookbook Love Podcast.
• 0:36
  Speaker: How's everybody doing today?
• 0:37
  Speaker: Hope you are all having a wonderful summer.
• 0:41
  Speaker: We are enjoying our Kentucky summer here.
• 0:45
  Speaker: Have had some.
• 0:46
  Speaker: Well, I think I already talked about that at the end of June we
• 0:49
  Speaker: had a family wedding.
• 0:51
  Speaker: Uh, the fourth of July we spent with our daughter.
• 0:54
  Speaker: And recently I celebrated a birthday.
• 0:58
  Speaker: So we've had a really good month
• 1:01
  Speaker: so far and taking our kids on a
• 1:04
  Speaker: little vacation at the end of
• 1:05
  Speaker: the month.
• 1:05
  Speaker: So it's been a really nice time of year.
• 1:08
  Speaker: Looking forward to spending more
• 1:10
  Speaker: time with everybody coming up,
• 1:12
  Speaker: and I hope that you are having
• 1:14
  Speaker: the opportunity to somehow do
• 1:16
  Speaker: the same.
• 1:18
  Speaker: Summer always allows us to slow down a little bit, cook
• 1:20
  Speaker: differently, spend a little bit more time outdoors, and I hope
• 1:23
  Speaker: that that is the same for you.
• 1:26
  Speaker: Today on the show, I'm excited
• 1:27
  Speaker: to have an interview with Gus
• 1:28
  Speaker: Konstantinidis.
• 1:30
  Speaker: Gus is a Brooklyn based stand up
• 1:32
  Speaker: comedian and first generation
• 1:34
  Speaker: Greek American.
• 1:36
  Speaker: We are here today to discuss his
• 1:38
  Speaker: debut cookbook, My Mom's Greek
• 1:40
  Speaker: Recipes.
• 1:41
  Speaker: This book grew from a viral
• 1:44
  Speaker: social media presence featuring
• 1:46
  Speaker: his late mother, and evolved
• 1:48
  Speaker: into a grief processing project
• 1:51
  Speaker: combining her authentic Greek
• 1:54
  Speaker: home cooking with his humor and
• 1:57
  Speaker: vulnerability.
• 1:59
  Speaker: Gus wrote the first draft of
• 2:01
  Speaker: this cookbook without a
• 2:02
  Speaker: publishing contract and thinking
• 2:04
  Speaker: he was going to self-publish,
• 2:06
  Speaker: ended up securing a traditional
• 2:07
  Speaker: publisher.
• 2:08
  Speaker: After posting about the completed draft for his book,
• 2:12
  Speaker: and he credits the entire process writing, recipe testing,
• 2:16
  Speaker: and photo shoot as integral to navigating his mother's loss.
• 2:22
  Speaker: Today on the show, we talk all about Gus.
• 2:25
  Speaker: We talk about his mother.
• 2:26
  Speaker: We talk about his writing process.
• 2:29
  Speaker: We talk about grief and humor
• 2:31
  Speaker: and vulnerability, Greek home
• 2:34
  Speaker: cooking, as well as the way that
• 2:38
  Speaker: our society doesn't always like
• 2:40
  Speaker: to talk about death, which is a
• 2:42
  Speaker: universal experience that we all
• 2:45
  Speaker: face.
• 2:46
  Speaker: We talk a little bit about
• 2:47
  Speaker: immigrant authenticity and also,
• 2:51
  Speaker: as usual, cookbooks that
• 2:53
  Speaker: influences Gus's cooking
• 2:55
  Speaker: experience.
• 2:56
  Speaker: So I think you're really going to enjoy this episode.
• 2:59
  Speaker: Gus is a true comedian at heart, but I love the way he talks
• 3:03
  Speaker: about his mom and can't wait for you to hear him share more about
• 3:08
  Speaker: her as well.
• 3:09
  Speaker: So without further delay, let's
• 3:11
  Speaker: dive into this interview with
• 3:12
  Speaker: Gus constantly.
• 3:15
  Speaker: Hi, Gus, welcome to the Cookbook Love podcast.
• 3:19
  Speaker: Hi. Thanks for having me.
• 3:20
  Speaker: I'm so excited.
• 3:21
  Speaker: Yes, I'm excited you're here.
• 3:22
  Speaker: We got a lot to talk about.
• 3:24
  Speaker: But before we dive in to talking
• 3:26
  Speaker: about your book and some other
• 3:28
  Speaker: topics, tell us about a little
• 3:30
  Speaker: bit about who you are and what
• 3:31
  Speaker: you do.
• 3:33
  Speaker: I am Gus, I'm a stand up
• 3:35
  Speaker: comedian turned cookbook author
• 3:37
  Speaker: through this weird path that I
• 3:39
  Speaker: took.
• 3:39
  Speaker: Um, my parents are immigrants in America.
• 3:42
  Speaker: They came here in nineteen
• 3:43
  Speaker: eighty four, and I've been doing
• 3:45
  Speaker: stand up for about ten to twelve
• 3:47
  Speaker: years now.
• 3:48
  Speaker: And I was writing for kids TV for a long time.
• 3:51
  Speaker: Um, but I'm originally from Brooklyn, New York, and that's
• 3:55
  Speaker: where I was born and raised.
• 3:56
  Speaker: So I'm a true city boy at heart.
• 3:58
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 3:59
  Speaker: I don't think I've had a stand up comedian on the show before.
• 4:02
  Speaker: That's so funny.
• 4:04
  Speaker: Yes.
• 4:04
  Speaker: So very excited to help people take the leap from what in the
• 4:10
  Speaker: world is a stand up comedian doing on Cookbook Love podcast,
• 4:14
  Speaker: talking about food and cooking.
• 4:16
  Speaker: I'm still trying to figure that out, honestly.
• 4:18
  Speaker: Yes, yes.
• 4:19
  Speaker: So there is a journey to why we're here today, um, to talk
• 4:23
  Speaker: about your, your book also.
• 4:25
  Speaker: But so why don't we talk kind of start kind of a little, um,
• 4:29
  Speaker: higher level about what brought you to this point for being
• 4:33
  Speaker: here, talking about cookbooks?
• 4:35
  Speaker: Um, so I, you know, I do stand up.
• 4:37
  Speaker: I do a lot of stand up about my family.
• 4:39
  Speaker: I do a lot of stand up about my
• 4:40
  Speaker: Greek parents, specifically my
• 4:42
  Speaker: mom.
• 4:42
  Speaker: And over the pandemic, I was doing like an impression of her
• 4:45
  Speaker: online that went viral.
• 4:47
  Speaker: And then eventually I started putting my actual mom in videos,
• 4:50
  Speaker: which was really fun because she didn't speak any English, I had
• 4:54
  Speaker: to subtitle her.
• 4:55
  Speaker: But like a huge community of
• 4:56
  Speaker: people absolutely fell in love
• 4:58
  Speaker: with her and was like, I love
• 4:59
  Speaker: this persona.
• 5:01
  Speaker: I love who this represents in the community, but also like,
• 5:03
  Speaker: this reminds me of other people in my life.
• 5:05
  Speaker: And then suddenly, about three years ago, yeah, almost three
• 5:09
  Speaker: years ago now, she passed away.
• 5:11
  Speaker: Um, we had like a ton of content together.
• 5:13
  Speaker: We were doing a lot of fun stuff together.
• 5:15
  Speaker: And cooking was always like
• 5:17
  Speaker: integral to how she presented
• 5:19
  Speaker: herself and how she was, you
• 5:20
  Speaker: know, she was always in the
• 5:21
  Speaker: kitchen and I was learning her
• 5:24
  Speaker: recipes while she was still
• 5:25
  Speaker: alive.
• 5:25
  Speaker: And then I decided I wanted to
• 5:27
  Speaker: write a cookbook in order to,
• 5:29
  Speaker: like, honor her life after she
• 5:30
  Speaker: passed.
• 5:31
  Speaker: And that's what this is.
• 5:32
  Speaker: So yeah, yeah.
• 5:34
  Speaker: So she actually was known online
• 5:37
  Speaker: before you actually wrote the
• 5:39
  Speaker: book.
• 5:39
  Speaker: What was it like to go through,
• 5:41
  Speaker: first of all, uh, sharing
• 5:44
  Speaker: content with her as a person
• 5:46
  Speaker: online?
• 5:47
  Speaker: It was really, it was so fun
• 5:49
  Speaker: because I only thought I was
• 5:50
  Speaker: going to do it like one time for
• 5:52
  Speaker: like a birthday party video that
• 5:54
  Speaker: I shot.
• 5:54
  Speaker: And I just wanted people to, like, see who she really was
• 5:57
  Speaker: because I had been doing the impression on TikTok for so
• 5:59
  Speaker: long, and everybody just loved her so much.
• 6:02
  Speaker: And it was so fun.
• 6:03
  Speaker: And then obviously I kept filming her.
• 6:06
  Speaker: I at first she hated it.
• 6:07
  Speaker: She thought I was making fun of her.
• 6:09
  Speaker: She thought I was like ridiculing her.
• 6:12
  Speaker: But then when all of her friends from church started, like
• 6:15
  Speaker: following me and following her videos, they were like, oh my
• 6:18
  Speaker: God, you're so funny.
• 6:19
  Speaker: We love what you're doing.
• 6:20
  Speaker: This is great.
• 6:21
  Speaker: So she grew to really like it.
• 6:23
  Speaker: And so especially in Greece
• 6:24
  Speaker: where she was getting recognized
• 6:26
  Speaker: everywhere she went like we were
• 6:27
  Speaker: in the ocean and there was
• 6:29
  Speaker: Australian swimming and they
• 6:30
  Speaker: were like, oh my God, it's the
• 6:32
  Speaker: mom.
• 6:32
  Speaker: They were like on the side of a
• 6:34
  Speaker: mountain one time in the middle
• 6:35
  Speaker: of nowhere.
• 6:36
  Speaker: And someone was like, I heard your voice from across the road
• 6:39
  Speaker: and like, went up to her and took a picture.
• 6:42
  Speaker: I think she really enjoyed it at the end because she didn't speak
• 6:44
  Speaker: any English, so she wasn't always social and communicating
• 6:49
  Speaker: when she was in America.
• 6:50
  Speaker: So she.
• 6:50
  Speaker: And she was a very social person.
• 6:52
  Speaker: So this gave her an opportunity to just like, smoke a cigarette
• 6:54
  Speaker: outside, get recognized by a few fun fans, and then just chit
• 6:58
  Speaker: chat with them.
• 6:58
  Speaker: So I think she really appreciated it.
• 7:00
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 7:02
  Speaker: So what about your mom though,
• 7:04
  Speaker: that, um, you would like people
• 7:06
  Speaker: to know that didn't have a
• 7:07
  Speaker: chance to get to meet her on
• 7:09
  Speaker: social media?
• 7:10
  Speaker: Um, she was exactly the way I portray her in those videos.
• 7:15
  Speaker: Like there is some light editing, but it really is like,
• 7:18
  Speaker: oh, she was just a firecracker all the time.
• 7:21
  Speaker: And that was just her energy.
• 7:23
  Speaker: So I would say like, go watch one of the videos and you will
• 7:25
  Speaker: understand what I had to put up with all my childhood, but also
• 7:30
  Speaker: like, why I think people really fell in love with her.
• 7:33
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 7:33
  Speaker: And this book though, brings in the topic of grief and the grief
• 7:39
  Speaker: and the combination with humor.
• 7:40
  Speaker: Because your mother passed away while she.
• 7:43
  Speaker: You were doing this with her?
• 7:45
  Speaker: No. So I it was something I had planned on doing it with her and
• 7:49
  Speaker: I talked about it.
• 7:49
  Speaker: I learned some of her recipes before, but it was something I
• 7:52
  Speaker: really started after she passed.
• 7:54
  Speaker: Like literally four days after she passed, I, I made meatballs
• 7:57
  Speaker: and I just started writing some recipes down just to have them
• 8:00
  Speaker: and compile them.
• 8:01
  Speaker: And then it turned into what this book is.
• 8:04
  Speaker: I see, so she actually was
• 8:05
  Speaker: never, um, how did she get known
• 8:08
  Speaker: then by people that saw her in
• 8:10
  Speaker: the ocean.
• 8:11
  Speaker: Oh, you mean this?
• 8:12
  Speaker: This was like this.
• 8:14
  Speaker: You know, when I was doing all the videos and stuff, I was I
• 8:16
  Speaker: was posting videos of her, like, you know, while she was alive.
• 8:19
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:19
  Speaker: And that wasn't from a food perspective, though.
• 8:21
  Speaker: No it wasn't.
• 8:22
  Speaker: I mean, yeah, food was part of it.
• 8:24
  Speaker: And like she was cooking in those videos, but it wasn't like
• 8:27
  Speaker: she was like teaching recipes.
• 8:28
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 8:29
  Speaker: Yes.
• 8:29
  Speaker: The food part came after she
• 8:30
  Speaker: passed away, but people still
• 8:32
  Speaker: did get to know her online
• 8:33
  Speaker: because I'm sure the people that
• 8:35
  Speaker: knew her online that when they
• 8:36
  Speaker: found out she had passed away,
• 8:37
  Speaker: there's a grieving process for
• 8:39
  Speaker: them also.
• 8:40
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 8:40
  Speaker: I mean, I still get messages
• 8:42
  Speaker: from people that are like, you
• 8:43
  Speaker: know, when your mom died, I
• 8:45
  Speaker: cried when I found out and I
• 8:47
  Speaker: told.
• 8:47
  Speaker: I called everybody I knew.
• 8:48
  Speaker: So it wasn't interesting
• 8:50
  Speaker: experience to kind of be so
• 8:53
  Speaker: vulnerable, but also like it was
• 8:55
  Speaker: it's there, there's a there's a
• 8:56
  Speaker: lyric in Graceland by Neil Neil
• 8:59
  Speaker: Simon where he says, uh, losing
• 9:02
  Speaker: love is like an open window and
• 9:05
  Speaker: everybody sees it open and
• 9:06
  Speaker: everybody can sees the wind
• 9:07
  Speaker: blowing through.
• 9:08
  Speaker: And like, it really felt like that where like, I was in pain
• 9:12
  Speaker: and it was like I was in Greece while it happened.
• 9:16
  Speaker: And everywhere I went and turned, there was someone else
• 9:19
  Speaker: that was like, either knew that had happened, that she died or
• 9:22
  Speaker: that they didn't know.
• 9:23
  Speaker: So they were like, oh my God, I love your mom.
• 9:25
  Speaker: So it was a very weird experience to kind of navigate
• 9:29
  Speaker: for a little while.
• 9:30
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 9:30
  Speaker: And what was it like for you to
• 9:32
  Speaker: strike that balance between
• 9:35
  Speaker: grief and healing and humor as a
• 9:38
  Speaker: comedian?
• 9:40
  Speaker: Um, I think that I don't know, my mom always just talked about
• 9:45
  Speaker: death so much like it was part of the family.
• 9:47
  Speaker: Like she lost her parents.
• 9:48
  Speaker: She lost her mom and her two older brothers before she was
• 9:51
  Speaker: even twenty five.
• 9:52
  Speaker: And so, like, grief and like
• 9:54
  Speaker: death were just such a part of
• 9:55
  Speaker: how we lived and how, like, we
• 9:57
  Speaker: talked about things like in
• 9:58
  Speaker: America, I guess, like sex and
• 10:00
  Speaker: death, we just don't talk about
• 10:01
  Speaker: it's very like, don't talk about
• 10:04
  Speaker: it taboo.
• 10:05
  Speaker: But in Greek culture, it's just way more common to always be
• 10:08
  Speaker: like, I'm gonna die one day, you know, call me when I die, you
• 10:12
  Speaker: know, things like that.
• 10:13
  Speaker: It was it's part of it.
• 10:14
  Speaker: So I think it was easy to find the humor, but it was like
• 10:18
  Speaker: really sitting down and thinking about like, what stories do I
• 10:21
  Speaker: want to tell about her?
• 10:22
  Speaker: But what stories do I also want to tell about what the grieving
• 10:25
  Speaker: process is like?
• 10:26
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 10:26
  Speaker: So let's talk a little bit about this taboo topic of death,
• 10:30
  Speaker: because you're right, we don't talk about it.
• 10:32
  Speaker: And if anything, all that we hear about is longevity, like
• 10:36
  Speaker: living forever, like trying to like extend our life, you know,
• 10:40
  Speaker: make everything so that we don't ever have to die.
• 10:43
  Speaker: But I don't think that's possible.
• 10:45
  Speaker: Do you?
• 10:46
  Speaker: No. I mean, I mean, listen, they have that dog thing now that's
• 10:48
  Speaker: trying to like lengthen the, the, the lives of dogs.
• 10:51
  Speaker: And I think they're assuming that eventually it'll be
• 10:54
  Speaker: transferable to humans.
• 10:55
  Speaker: But I'm like, we're still gonna even with all that, we're still
• 10:58
  Speaker: gonna die one day.
• 10:59
  Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
• 11:00
  Speaker: Even with all of these things like GLP one, all this, you're
• 11:03
  Speaker: still gonna die.
• 11:04
  Speaker: It doesn't really matter.
• 11:05
  Speaker: So I don't know.
• 11:07
  Speaker: There's an element of me where I'm like, we should and can be
• 11:11
  Speaker: talking about this way more because it's so important to
• 11:14
  Speaker: just understanding like how people navigate these things.
• 11:18
  Speaker: Like I think it's grief can just feel so lonely.
• 11:21
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 11:21
  Speaker: So when you, when you can talk
• 11:22
  Speaker: about it and actually be
• 11:23
  Speaker: expressive about it, then it's
• 11:25
  Speaker: like, maybe it'll still feel
• 11:26
  Speaker: lonely, but it won't feel as
• 11:28
  Speaker: uncomfortable.
• 11:29
  Speaker: Right, right.
• 11:30
  Speaker: And you know, you said your mom
• 11:31
  Speaker: lost her parents in her mid
• 11:33
  Speaker: twenties.
• 11:34
  Speaker: Um, I would think that'd be a, I don't I don't know exactly how
• 11:37
  Speaker: old you are, but I think that that when people are kind of
• 11:40
  Speaker: like really just getting started in their own life, you know, to
• 11:43
  Speaker: have that person that meant so much to them to leave.
• 11:47
  Speaker: I think that I think that'd be a difficult time to lose a parent.
• 11:51
  Speaker: And maybe I'm reflecting on that too, because that's kind of
• 11:53
  Speaker: about the age that my children are mid mid to late twenties.
• 11:57
  Speaker: And, um, I think they're, they're navigating life without
• 12:01
  Speaker: their parents now, you know, doing their own thing.
• 12:04
  Speaker: But I still think there's this
• 12:05
  Speaker: strong connection, at least
• 12:06
  Speaker: until they have children of
• 12:07
  Speaker: their own.
• 12:09
  Speaker: But you said your mom always talked about it.
• 12:10
  Speaker: And one of the things on the front of your book, it says, she
• 12:14
  Speaker: died and I wrote this cookbook.
• 12:16
  Speaker: And when I first got, I get these cookbooks, you know,
• 12:19
  Speaker: delivered here, and I get to look at them.
• 12:20
  Speaker: And when I saw that, I'm like,
• 12:22
  Speaker: oh my gosh, like, why in the
• 12:24
  Speaker: world they put that on the
• 12:26
  Speaker: cover?
• 12:26
  Speaker: Like, I wasn't really sure like what that meant.
• 12:30
  Speaker: But now that I've talked to you and I hear that your mother,
• 12:33
  Speaker: like, talked about it all the time, saying she died is
• 12:36
  Speaker: probably not that unusual.
• 12:38
  Speaker: No, no, no, no. And even on the back cover, there's a quote of
• 12:41
  Speaker: hers that says, when I die, you're all going to starve.
• 12:43
  Speaker: So there is this like, you know, oh, in the book, just overall,
• 12:47
  Speaker: like this mention of death.
• 12:48
  Speaker: It's funny because the original title of the book was supposed
• 12:50
  Speaker: to be My Dead Mom's Recipes.
• 12:52
  Speaker: And the publisher said, no, no, no, no, no. And I think it was
• 12:55
  Speaker: definitely the right call.
• 12:56
  Speaker: And I'm so happy with how it turned out now.
• 12:59
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 12:59
  Speaker: And another connection for a lot of people with your content was
• 13:02
  Speaker: because they saw their own immigrant parents in her.
• 13:07
  Speaker: Yes.
• 13:08
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 13:08
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 13:09
  Speaker: She was, she wasn't like a, you
• 13:12
  Speaker: know, she wasn't a sitcom mom
• 13:15
  Speaker: where it's like she's buttoned
• 13:16
  Speaker: up and beautiful and always
• 13:18
  Speaker: smiling and always kind and
• 13:20
  Speaker: always this.
• 13:20
  Speaker: She was like a real mom, like a real European mom.
• 13:24
  Speaker: And she presented herself that way.
• 13:26
  Speaker: And I think that people were
• 13:27
  Speaker: like, it's refreshing to see
• 13:29
  Speaker: authentic people.
• 13:31
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:32
  Speaker: And one of the things that was
• 13:33
  Speaker: part of what she did is writing
• 13:36
  Speaker: not well.
• 13:37
  Speaker: Your mother, like many immigrant parents, didn't really write
• 13:41
  Speaker: down her recipes.
• 13:42
  Speaker: Yes.
• 13:44
  Speaker: But yet you have written copies of her recipes.
• 13:47
  Speaker: I see photos of them on the wallpaper of the book.
• 13:49
  Speaker: Tell me about the process of
• 13:50
  Speaker: getting her to write things
• 13:51
  Speaker: down.
• 13:52
  Speaker: Um, so it was, you know, at first it was just like for,
• 13:55
  Speaker: especially for like the, not the food, not the desserts.
• 13:58
  Speaker: It was like, I just would call her and I would follow along
• 14:01
  Speaker: with her or I would just follow along with her.
• 14:03
  Speaker: And then that's how I would break down the measurements.
• 14:06
  Speaker: Um, there were a lot of recipes that I found in her little book,
• 14:09
  Speaker: uh, which was great.
• 14:11
  Speaker: Um, those we all had to adjust and like figure out and like
• 14:14
  Speaker: really fix because there was things that she left out or she
• 14:16
  Speaker: didn't tell us like how much flour to put in for a lot of
• 14:18
  Speaker: those recipes and, um, the written ones, um, she wouldn't
• 14:22
  Speaker: include like the recipe for the syrup at all.
• 14:24
  Speaker: So there was just like basic
• 14:26
  Speaker: kind of outlines for a lot of
• 14:27
  Speaker: them.
• 14:28
  Speaker: I just went to my aunt, her sister, and she helped me really
• 14:30
  Speaker: compile and like fine tune them, which was really nice.
• 14:32
  Speaker: And then I, you know, it's weird
• 14:34
  Speaker: because I got to know her
• 14:35
  Speaker: through her sister in, like, a
• 14:36
  Speaker: different way.
• 14:37
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:37
  Speaker: What a jerk.
• 14:39
  Speaker: Aunt have to say about your mom as a sister that surprised you
• 14:43
  Speaker: or that you thought, wow, I wish I had known that about her.
• 14:47
  Speaker: Well, it's really funny because she, um.
• 14:49
  Speaker: The first thing she said when I asked her for help was.
• 14:51
  Speaker: Oh, you know, your mom hated my cooking, right?
• 14:53
  Speaker: So she she always said I was the worst cook in the family.
• 14:56
  Speaker: So take that with what you will.
• 14:58
  Speaker: And then her kids also, like, confirm that too, which I
• 15:00
  Speaker: thought was so funny.
• 15:01
  Speaker: Um, but yeah, yeah, I think what struck me and I think what
• 15:05
  Speaker: struck me with, uh, two of my mom's other friends was how
• 15:09
  Speaker: integral she was in their lives.
• 15:11
  Speaker: Like it was, it was, she was
• 15:13
  Speaker: part of their routine day to
• 15:14
  Speaker: day.
• 15:14
  Speaker: Like she would call my aunt every morning.
• 15:16
  Speaker: She would call her every night.
• 15:18
  Speaker: And it was the loss of routine that was so hard for them.
• 15:21
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:22
  Speaker: I think connecting on the phone,
• 15:24
  Speaker: especially for immigrants, and
• 15:25
  Speaker: especially if they couldn't
• 15:26
  Speaker: speak English and have
• 15:27
  Speaker: conversations with somebody
• 15:28
  Speaker: else.
• 15:28
  Speaker: I'm sure calling family was a big part of what they.
• 15:31
  Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
• 15:33
  Speaker: Being able to talk and connect.
• 15:35
  Speaker: I know my mom called my grandmother every day and when
• 15:37
  Speaker: we got older and moved out, she's like, are you are you
• 15:40
  Speaker: going to call me every day?
• 15:41
  Speaker: Like I called my mom every day?
• 15:42
  Speaker: Now, the funny thing about that
• 15:45
  Speaker: is my grandmother had four
• 15:47
  Speaker: children.
• 15:48
  Speaker: One of them lived with her, so
• 15:50
  Speaker: she didn't have to call her
• 15:51
  Speaker: every day.
• 15:52
  Speaker: And my other aunt, maybe she
• 15:54
  Speaker: called my grandmother every day
• 15:55
  Speaker: too.
• 15:55
  Speaker: And my mom called every day.
• 15:56
  Speaker: But then my mom went on to have eight kids.
• 15:58
  Speaker: Can you imagine if all eight of us called her every day?
• 16:02
  Speaker: That would just be her whole
• 16:03
  Speaker: day, would be her whole day,
• 16:05
  Speaker: right?
• 16:06
  Speaker: And then she had a hard time
• 16:07
  Speaker: getting places on time anyway,
• 16:09
  Speaker: so I could see her like saying,
• 16:10
  Speaker: oh, I was on the phone with so
• 16:11
  Speaker: and so.
• 16:12
  Speaker: And sometimes she would say that
• 16:13
  Speaker: I'd say, well, what were you
• 16:15
  Speaker: doing?
• 16:15
  Speaker: She's like, oh, I was on the phone with Theresa, you know,
• 16:17
  Speaker: and I, you know, whatever.
• 16:18
  Speaker: So they love to talk on the
• 16:19
  Speaker: phone, but talking on the phone,
• 16:21
  Speaker: like on a landline phone while
• 16:23
  Speaker: they're.
• 16:23
  Speaker: We have a picture of my mom giving the dog a bath, talking
• 16:26
  Speaker: on the phone.
• 16:27
  Speaker: You know, that's hilarious.
• 16:29
  Speaker: Talking on the phone.
• 16:30
  Speaker: It was connected to this with this long cord in the kitchen.
• 16:33
  Speaker: You know, it was just part of
• 16:34
  Speaker: chatting on the phone while she
• 16:36
  Speaker: was doing stuff around the
• 16:37
  Speaker: house.
• 16:38
  Speaker: That's so funny.
• 16:38
  Speaker: I have a friend now who we also chat on the phone, like the way
• 16:41
  Speaker: my mom and my aunt used to do.
• 16:43
  Speaker: Like we'll be on the phone for like three or four hours.
• 16:45
  Speaker: Like I will go to the gym, I'll go to the supermarket.
• 16:47
  Speaker: I'll still be on the phone with her.
• 16:48
  Speaker: I'll take a shower.
• 16:49
  Speaker: I'll still be on the phone with her.
• 16:50
  Speaker: I'll like, you know, I'll change.
• 16:52
  Speaker: I'll put my laundry away.
• 16:53
  Speaker: I'm still on the phone with her,
• 16:54
  Speaker: and it feels like I'm connecting
• 16:56
  Speaker: with my mom in a whole different
• 16:57
  Speaker: way.
• 16:57
  Speaker: It's kind of fun.
• 16:58
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 16:59
  Speaker: You use your phone or do you use FaceTime?
• 17:02
  Speaker: Well, I use my phone.
• 17:03
  Speaker: I don't like FaceTime as much.
• 17:04
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:05
  Speaker: I've seen people in the grocery
• 17:06
  Speaker: store with the phone, like in
• 17:08
  Speaker: their cart, like FaceTime on
• 17:11
  Speaker: almost like the person is
• 17:12
  Speaker: sitting in the cart where the
• 17:13
  Speaker: baby belongs.
• 17:14
  Speaker: I know I see that at the car in the concerts too.
• 17:16
  Speaker: It's really funny.
• 17:17
  Speaker: It is funny.
• 17:18
  Speaker: It's like a little portal into
• 17:20
  Speaker: with this other person, you
• 17:21
  Speaker: know.
• 17:21
  Speaker: And for immigrants though, when
• 17:23
  Speaker: you when people are here in the
• 17:24
  Speaker: US and they're talking maybe to
• 17:27
  Speaker: someone on FaceTime, they maybe
• 17:28
  Speaker: don't get to see them all the
• 17:30
  Speaker: time?
• 17:31
  Speaker: No.
• 17:31
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 17:31
  Speaker: Like my aunt, they probably saw
• 17:32
  Speaker: each other once or twice a year,
• 17:34
  Speaker: you know?
• 17:34
  Speaker: So, like in real life.
• 17:35
  Speaker: So it was very important for her.
• 17:36
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 17:37
  Speaker: So your mother never learned to speak English?
• 17:40
  Speaker: Mhm.
• 17:41
  Speaker: When you.
• 17:42
  Speaker: I always joke.
• 17:42
  Speaker: The only thing she knew how to
• 17:43
  Speaker: say in English were, hello, how
• 17:44
  Speaker: are you?
• 17:44
  Speaker: And fuck you.
• 17:45
  Speaker: Which is ridiculous.
• 17:47
  Speaker: So when she actually, um, came on your videos, she spoke in
• 17:54
  Speaker: Greek, and you said you put the subtitles up to translate.
• 17:57
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 17:58
  Speaker: And what about when you impersonated her?
• 18:02
  Speaker: You do that in English?
• 18:03
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 18:03
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 18:04
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 18:04
  Speaker: So it gave people an opportunity
• 18:05
  Speaker: to, like, understand her in that
• 18:06
  Speaker: different way.
• 18:07
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:08
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 18:08
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 18:09
  Speaker: Funny.
• 18:09
  Speaker: Okay.
• 18:10
  Speaker: So, um, let's talk a little bit about the viral Greek mom
• 18:14
  Speaker: persona, the one that you put on as her, uh, one liners.
• 18:20
  Speaker: And, uh, what types of things really appeal to people as you
• 18:23
  Speaker: started doing that?
• 18:25
  Speaker: Um, I think it was, uh, I did like an Easter video first.
• 18:29
  Speaker: That was like one of the big
• 18:30
  Speaker: ones that went viral and that
• 18:32
  Speaker: was like, it covered all the
• 18:34
  Speaker: Easter classics.
• 18:35
  Speaker: And it was during the pandemic, like at a time where everyone
• 18:37
  Speaker: was still stuck inside.
• 18:38
  Speaker: So they were like, oh, this is great.
• 18:40
  Speaker: And I think like one of her, one
• 18:42
  Speaker: of her main catchphrases was
• 18:43
  Speaker: like, oh, I went to the, I went
• 18:45
  Speaker: to the Greek bakery and Tula
• 18:46
  Speaker: took the last of the feta cheese
• 18:48
  Speaker: that beats.
• 18:49
  Speaker: And then like, Tula was just
• 18:51
  Speaker: like running character that she
• 18:52
  Speaker: hated.
• 18:53
  Speaker: And so yeah, she had her own little catchphrases.
• 18:57
  Speaker: But it was also like all
• 18:58
  Speaker: inspired by things that my mom
• 18:59
  Speaker: or my grandma or my aunt had
• 19:00
  Speaker: said, which was, which was fun
• 19:02
  Speaker: to bring to life in a lot of
• 19:03
  Speaker: ways.
• 19:04
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 19:04
  Speaker: So are you a second or third generation Greek?
• 19:07
  Speaker: I think we're we're first.
• 19:09
  Speaker: First because we came here.
• 19:10
  Speaker: She was right.
• 19:11
  Speaker: So you would be first.
• 19:13
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 19:13
  Speaker: What do you um, let's talk a little bit about, um, this book
• 19:18
  Speaker: specifically and, um, talk a little bit about Greek cooking,
• 19:23
  Speaker: Greek home cooking, and, uh, what that means to someone like
• 19:27
  Speaker: you who hasn't had a mother that came from Greece.
• 19:30
  Speaker: Um, tell us a little bit, first of all about the food.
• 19:34
  Speaker: Um, the food.
• 19:35
  Speaker: What I love about the food is
• 19:36
  Speaker: that one, it's so funny because
• 19:38
  Speaker: when I wrote the book, I didn't
• 19:39
  Speaker: think anyone was going to make
• 19:40
  Speaker: the food.
• 19:41
  Speaker: And now all my friends and everybody is sending me pictures
• 19:43
  Speaker: of their food and they're like, it's so good.
• 19:44
  Speaker: And I was like, right, right.
• 19:48
  Speaker: Duh.
• 19:49
  Speaker: But like, I think what's striking a lot of people is that
• 19:53
  Speaker: how simple they are.
• 19:54
  Speaker: They're not complicated.
• 19:55
  Speaker: They're not really insane.
• 19:57
  Speaker: You know, if there is some
• 19:58
  Speaker: ingredients that you do have to
• 19:59
  Speaker: like go and find, but they're
• 20:01
  Speaker: all, they're all like, uh,
• 20:02
  Speaker: replaceable there.
• 20:03
  Speaker: You can find substitutes for
• 20:04
  Speaker: them and they all very simple
• 20:06
  Speaker: recipes.
• 20:06
  Speaker: Like I am a stand up comedian writing a cookbook.
• 20:08
  Speaker: And my mom was not a professional chef.
• 20:11
  Speaker: And so there is like a very
• 20:12
  Speaker: homey quality to a lot of the
• 20:14
  Speaker: recipes.
• 20:15
  Speaker: Um, I think what's also very
• 20:17
  Speaker: striking about them is that most
• 20:19
  Speaker: of them are for like batch
• 20:21
  Speaker: cooking.
• 20:21
  Speaker: Like most of them are for like
• 20:23
  Speaker: six to eight plus, like some of
• 20:25
  Speaker: the cookie recipes too, are for
• 20:26
  Speaker: like sixty to one hundred
• 20:27
  Speaker: cookies.
• 20:28
  Speaker: Like it's an insane amount.
• 20:29
  Speaker: And I think that also speaks to
• 20:31
  Speaker: a little bit of that
• 20:31
  Speaker: authenticity, which is like, my
• 20:33
  Speaker: mom didn't cook for two or three
• 20:35
  Speaker: people.
• 20:35
  Speaker: She cooked for eight all the time, like she cooked for us.
• 20:38
  Speaker: And then we had leftovers for two or three days.
• 20:40
  Speaker: And I think that's, that's really fun.
• 20:43
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:43
  Speaker: So Easter was a big deal.
• 20:45
  Speaker: I bet in your family.
• 20:46
  Speaker: Huge deal.
• 20:46
  Speaker: I mean, we would have like a full lamb when we bought the
• 20:49
  Speaker: house that we bought that we're currently that my dad's
• 20:51
  Speaker: currently living in when I was like fifteen, we had a backyard
• 20:54
  Speaker: so we could buy a spit and we bought a spit.
• 20:57
  Speaker: We have a whole lamb on the spit every year we would do it.
• 21:00
  Speaker: It was an insane thing.
• 21:01
  Speaker: And my mom would like peel off
• 21:02
  Speaker: the skin from the lamb on the
• 21:04
  Speaker: spit and be like, this is my
• 21:05
  Speaker: favorite part, you know, like
• 21:06
  Speaker: all this.
• 21:07
  Speaker: And it was, yeah, big, big party.
• 21:09
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 21:09
  Speaker: So you get the lamb from a local
• 21:11
  Speaker: butcher that would butcher the
• 21:13
  Speaker: lamb.
• 21:13
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 21:13
  Speaker: The butcher's like provide it for you, right?
• 21:16
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 21:16
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 21:16
  Speaker: Usually.
• 21:17
  Speaker: So you could, you could either
• 21:18
  Speaker: drive to a farm upstate New
• 21:20
  Speaker: York, or you can just go to the
• 21:21
  Speaker: Greek store and they have, like,
• 21:23
  Speaker: you know, the Easter lambs ready
• 21:24
  Speaker: to go?
• 21:25
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:26
  Speaker: So what do you want people to know about Greek home cooking
• 21:29
  Speaker: that they might not be exposed to in a restaurant?
• 21:33
  Speaker: I think the restaurants well,
• 21:34
  Speaker: first of all, this book is
• 21:36
  Speaker: written for for my mom's
• 21:37
  Speaker: perspective.
• 21:38
  Speaker: And she was a mainland Greek.
• 21:40
  Speaker: And which means there's not a lot of seafood in here.
• 21:42
  Speaker: So and I think a lot of people
• 21:43
  Speaker: really associate Greek food with
• 21:44
  Speaker: seafood.
• 21:45
  Speaker: Um, so there's not a lot of seafood in here.
• 21:47
  Speaker: I think, uh, what's great about it is it's, it exposes you to
• 21:53
  Speaker: the classics, which are, you know, spanakopita, pastitsio,
• 21:56
  Speaker: moussaka, the souvlaki, but it also has, you know, a lot of
• 22:01
  Speaker: Greek things you're not going to find in a Greek menu here in
• 22:04
  Speaker: America, but are just classic Greek home cooking at home, you
• 22:09
  Speaker: know, things like macaroni or her her sauce, the green bean
• 22:13
  Speaker: stew, the beef stew, a lot of the desserts, other than a few
• 22:18
  Speaker: desserts that I think are popular, like baklava.
• 22:20
  Speaker: There's so many desserts in here that I think are delicious.
• 22:23
  Speaker: Like the walnut cake, like the almond shortbread cookies that I
• 22:28
  Speaker: think people will be like, oh, wow, I love this.
• 22:31
  Speaker: And you start to see a lot of like the Arabic and other
• 22:35
  Speaker: European influences in the food and that you'll start.
• 22:38
  Speaker: Yeah, you start seeing like
• 22:39
  Speaker: cloves and cinnamon and nutmeg
• 22:41
  Speaker: and allspice and a lot of fun
• 22:43
  Speaker: stuff.
• 22:43
  Speaker: And so yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 22:45
  Speaker: I got to mention that I'm, uh, I live in northern Kentucky, right
• 22:48
  Speaker: outside of Cincinnati.
• 22:49
  Speaker: So home of skyline and Cincinnati chili.
• 22:52
  Speaker: And the story goes is that it
• 22:54
  Speaker: has, uh, the guys that found
• 22:56
  Speaker: skyline, uh, and the Cincinnati
• 22:59
  Speaker: style chili had Greek were, were
• 23:02
  Speaker: of Greek heritage because it has
• 23:04
  Speaker: cinnamon.
• 23:05
  Speaker: It has cloves.
• 23:05
  Speaker: Oh, nice.
• 23:06
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 23:07
  Speaker: So it's a, it's a hamburger
• 23:09
  Speaker: sauce, but it's served over
• 23:11
  Speaker: spaghetti.
• 23:11
  Speaker: So it looks like it looks like spaghetti.
• 23:15
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 23:15
  Speaker: And then they serve cheddar cheese on top.
• 23:17
  Speaker: That's the big thing.
• 23:18
  Speaker: And then sometimes they'll put onion on it.
• 23:20
  Speaker: but the spices of it are what is so unique about it and made me
• 23:23
  Speaker: think about that.
• 23:23
  Speaker: When you mention the types of
• 23:25
  Speaker: the influence of the spices into
• 23:28
  Speaker: the food from the Arabic
• 23:30
  Speaker: culture.
• 23:31
  Speaker: Yeah, there's the herb macaroni recipe is her Bolognese recipe,
• 23:35
  Speaker: and it is that it's like cinnamon and cloves.
• 23:37
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 23:37
  Speaker: And it's so good.
• 23:38
  Speaker: And everybody at first is like, that's so weird.
• 23:40
  Speaker: And then they taste it and
• 23:41
  Speaker: they're like, this tastes like
• 23:43
  Speaker: fall.
• 23:44
  Speaker: This is amazing.
• 23:45
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:45
  Speaker: Have you ever had Cincinnati chili?
• 23:47
  Speaker: No, I haven't, I haven't been to Cincinnati.
• 23:49
  Speaker: You'll have to go to you can go to Amazon and order.
• 23:51
  Speaker: I think skyline sells cans.
• 23:53
  Speaker: So you'll have to give it a try.
• 23:54
  Speaker: I love that.
• 23:55
  Speaker: Yeah yeah yeah yeah.
• 23:56
  Speaker: But of course they pile all this cheese on top of it.
• 23:58
  Speaker: I don't know if the Bolognese
• 24:01
  Speaker: was served with any cheese on
• 24:02
  Speaker: it, feta or parmesan or
• 24:05
  Speaker: mizithra.
• 24:06
  Speaker: Actually, it's a special Greek cheese.
• 24:07
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 24:08
  Speaker: And it's it grates.
• 24:10
  Speaker: Yes.
• 24:10
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 24:11
  Speaker: I've seen that in the supermarkets.
• 24:12
  Speaker: So it's kind of a similar thing then, but they use um like a
• 24:17
  Speaker: mild cheddar, I think.
• 24:19
  Speaker: And great.
• 24:19
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 24:20
  Speaker: That's great.
• 24:20
  Speaker: That's neat.
• 24:21
  Speaker: I'm going to have to try the bowl.
• 24:22
  Speaker: I'm going to have to try one of the recipes in the book and try
• 24:24
  Speaker: the bowl of these and see, oh, see how it tastes.
• 24:27
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 24:28
  Speaker: So let's talk a little bit about
• 24:29
  Speaker: your grief after losing your mom
• 24:31
  Speaker: and, um, how you use humor and
• 24:35
  Speaker: how you use what you were doing
• 24:37
  Speaker: here with her book to process
• 24:39
  Speaker: that.
• 24:40
  Speaker: Um, you know, it's funny because I just wrote these stories as a
• 24:45
  Speaker: way of like every, like I would just spend like three or four
• 24:48
  Speaker: hours on the book every day and hopefully would get somewhere.
• 24:52
  Speaker: But it really reached a point
• 24:53
  Speaker: where I could only spend three
• 24:55
  Speaker: to four hours a day, and then
• 24:56
  Speaker: I'd have to put my laptop away
• 24:57
  Speaker: and go for a walk and clear my
• 24:58
  Speaker: head.
• 24:59
  Speaker: But I really helped me just sit
• 25:02
  Speaker: and process a lot of the
• 25:03
  Speaker: feelings that I was feeling, but
• 25:04
  Speaker: also just reflect, but also
• 25:06
  Speaker: think about in general, like, I
• 25:08
  Speaker: really think that my brain was
• 25:11
  Speaker: thinking in my head that whole
• 25:12
  Speaker: time.
• 25:12
  Speaker: Like imagine you fifteen to twenty years from now, you're
• 25:17
  Speaker: going to want this.
• 25:19
  Speaker: You're going to want these recipes.
• 25:20
  Speaker: You're going to want this, these stories in a lot of ways.
• 25:24
  Speaker: And I and your niece and nephew are going to really want them
• 25:27
  Speaker: because it really is like, here's grandma's, you know,
• 25:31
  Speaker: biography in a lot of ways, this is what grandma gave you.
• 25:35
  Speaker: Um, and so through that, I think
• 25:37
  Speaker: I was really able to just buckle
• 25:39
  Speaker: down and do it because I know
• 25:41
  Speaker: like my future self is going to
• 25:42
  Speaker: be like, thank God I have these
• 25:44
  Speaker: things.
• 25:45
  Speaker: Thank God I have this.
• 25:47
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 25:48
  Speaker: And you just said something that
• 25:50
  Speaker: to me is so key about doing
• 25:52
  Speaker: anything that you really want to
• 25:54
  Speaker: do, because you can't always
• 25:55
  Speaker: find the motivation in the
• 25:56
  Speaker: moment, right?
• 25:57
  Speaker: But if you say to yourself,
• 25:58
  Speaker: future self, in fifteen years,
• 26:00
  Speaker: you're going to want to have
• 26:01
  Speaker: finished this and you almost
• 26:04
  Speaker: like, flash forward to that time
• 26:06
  Speaker: and talk to yourself back to
• 26:08
  Speaker: now.
• 26:08
  Speaker: From then, it really is very helpful to do that.
• 26:12
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 26:13
  Speaker: You imagine a future where your
• 26:14
  Speaker: nieces and nephew have the book,
• 26:16
  Speaker: where you have the book, where
• 26:17
  Speaker: you have everything written down
• 26:18
  Speaker: and documented.
• 26:19
  Speaker: When they're twenty two and they're like out of college and
• 26:22
  Speaker: they need to cook at home, they're going to be calling
• 26:24
  Speaker: Little Uncle Gus, and they're going to be like, hey, yeah, I
• 26:27
  Speaker: want to make this.
• 26:28
  Speaker: And I'll be like, all right, you got it.
• 26:29
  Speaker: Yeah, here's grandma's all of her stuff in this.
• 26:33
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 26:34
  Speaker: So, um, did you feel like it was funnier or more vulnerable on
• 26:40
  Speaker: stage to be the Greek mom?
• 26:43
  Speaker: Um, after she passed away.
• 26:45
  Speaker: So I would, I would say, um, it's, it is vulnerable.
• 26:50
  Speaker: I think what's vulnerable about the book is that I just, it's
• 26:54
  Speaker: like the recipes, I didn't think, I didn't think it was
• 26:56
  Speaker: going to be published.
• 26:56
  Speaker: So I just wrote it to write it.
• 26:58
  Speaker: And then now I'm looking back
• 26:59
  Speaker: and I'm like, oh, I basically
• 27:02
  Speaker: put my Social Security number in
• 27:04
  Speaker: here.
• 27:04
  Speaker: I'm that vulnerable.
• 27:05
  Speaker: Like I really needed to, to maybe pull back a little bit.
• 27:08
  Speaker: But I think that it's the vulnerability that I think
• 27:10
  Speaker: people are relating with because I'm not, I like the way my mom
• 27:13
  Speaker: talked about death.
• 27:13
  Speaker: I also talk about death, which is not shy and very real.
• 27:17
  Speaker: And I think people that have
• 27:19
  Speaker: experienced the loss will really
• 27:20
  Speaker: appreciate that.
• 27:21
  Speaker: I think the ones that haven't
• 27:22
  Speaker: are going to appreciate it one
• 27:24
  Speaker: day.
• 27:24
  Speaker: And in terms of doing the Greek
• 27:26
  Speaker: mom character now, I just feels
• 27:28
  Speaker: very different.
• 27:29
  Speaker: I think I've just separated myself from like being my mom.
• 27:32
  Speaker: And it's like, this is just some fun character that I did before
• 27:35
  Speaker: she passed that I can keep on doing in a different fun way.
• 27:39
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 27:39
  Speaker: Does that make sense?
• 27:40
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 27:40
  Speaker: Vulnerability is often a really, uh, most, uh, common point of
• 27:47
  Speaker: connection with people, right?
• 27:50
  Speaker: When we allow ourselves to be vulnerable.
• 27:52
  Speaker: Right.
• 27:52
  Speaker: Even with people who were closest to.
• 27:55
  Speaker: If I allow myself to be vulnerable with people that
• 27:59
  Speaker: you're closest to, like with my dad, sometimes I'm like, I
• 28:02
  Speaker: struggle to be vulnerable because I'm like, well, I don't
• 28:03
  Speaker: want to bum him out.
• 28:04
  Speaker: Yeah, I know he doesn't want to bum me out.
• 28:06
  Speaker: So how can we do this?
• 28:07
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:08
  Speaker: But it's such a, it's such an opportunity to like, you know,
• 28:11
  Speaker: kind of said like, let your guard down and like be real
• 28:14
  Speaker: about something rather than just hip hopping along the surface of
• 28:17
  Speaker: life, you know, and not really taking, I think it allows people
• 28:20
  Speaker: to talk about things in depth and a little bit deeper.
• 28:24
  Speaker: And, um, you know, some people have that relationship all the
• 28:28
  Speaker: time, but with your dad, I could see if that's not typically part
• 28:30
  Speaker: of the way you talk, then it's like, I don't know if I really
• 28:33
  Speaker: should say this.
• 28:34
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:35
  Speaker: But the older my mom got, the more I saw that I was had a
• 28:38
  Speaker: limited amount of time with her.
• 28:40
  Speaker: And I'm like, I need there's
• 28:42
  Speaker: some things that I knew she, we
• 28:44
  Speaker: just talked about things in a
• 28:45
  Speaker: different way, like probably the
• 28:47
  Speaker: last couple years that she was
• 28:48
  Speaker: alive.
• 28:49
  Speaker: And I intentionally made a point
• 28:50
  Speaker: sometimes if I was like taking
• 28:52
  Speaker: her to the doctor rather than
• 28:53
  Speaker: rushing out, like, I gotta go
• 28:55
  Speaker: home.
• 28:55
  Speaker: I tried to like, you know, make
• 28:57
  Speaker: some time to have some lunch and
• 28:58
  Speaker: sit and talk to her for a while
• 28:59
  Speaker: because that's what she really
• 29:00
  Speaker: enjoyed.
• 29:01
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 29:02
  Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
• 29:03
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 29:03
  Speaker: So anyway, I think the vulnerability is a huge.
• 29:06
  Speaker: Absolutely.
• 29:07
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 29:07
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 29:08
  Speaker: So, um, the book does contain contain some painful moments and
• 29:12
  Speaker: a lot of laugh out loud things.
• 29:14
  Speaker: Um. All together.
• 29:16
  Speaker: When did you decide what was going to be vulnerable and what
• 29:19
  Speaker: you were going to joke about?
• 29:21
  Speaker: I think what happened was I wrote the first draft and I
• 29:23
  Speaker: really look back on it and I was like, oh my.
• 29:26
  Speaker: I read it through and I was
• 29:27
  Speaker: like, oh God, some of this is so
• 29:29
  Speaker: depressing.
• 29:31
  Speaker: And so I think it was through that process that I was like,
• 29:34
  Speaker: all right, now let me go in and find some, some lighter moments
• 29:37
  Speaker: because the first pass at it was like, truly a bummer.
• 29:41
  Speaker: Not like all of it, but some of it, I was like, oh, okay, yeah,
• 29:46
  Speaker: maybe I can pull back there.
• 29:47
  Speaker: And so I think I tried to infuse
• 29:49
  Speaker: it more with humor as it went
• 29:50
  Speaker: along.
• 29:51
  Speaker: And it was also because, you
• 29:52
  Speaker: know, distance and time had
• 29:55
  Speaker: passed.
• 29:55
  Speaker: And so I was able to find some
• 29:57
  Speaker: of the funny and some of those
• 29:58
  Speaker: moments again.
• 29:58
  Speaker: Right.
• 29:59
  Speaker: Did you so you didn't know when you were writing this that you
• 30:03
  Speaker: had a contract for a book?
• 30:05
  Speaker: No, I wrote it.
• 30:06
  Speaker: I literally wrote it.
• 30:07
  Speaker: Like I started writing it.
• 30:08
  Speaker: I thought I was going to self-publish.
• 30:09
  Speaker: I posted a video about finishing the first draft, uh, about like
• 30:13
  Speaker: a year after she passed away.
• 30:15
  Speaker: And that's when an agent reached
• 30:17
  Speaker: out to me and was like, um, we'd
• 30:19
  Speaker: love to.
• 30:20
  Speaker: We'd love to see what you got.
• 30:21
  Speaker: We'd love to, to meet with you.
• 30:23
  Speaker: And I had already written a
• 30:25
  Speaker: proposal because I read online
• 30:27
  Speaker: that you should have a proposal
• 30:28
  Speaker: ready if you're trying to sell
• 30:29
  Speaker: this thing.
• 30:29
  Speaker: So I sent them the proposal, and then it was a pretty quick
• 30:33
  Speaker: process after that, because everything was with the proposal
• 30:35
  Speaker: and the first draft done, they were like, well, I mean, this is
• 30:38
  Speaker: ready to go.
• 30:39
  Speaker: So we just pitched it out.
• 30:41
  Speaker: We got a few offers.
• 30:42
  Speaker: I took the best one.
• 30:44
  Speaker: Right.
• 30:44
  Speaker: And then it was about a year of production after that.
• 30:47
  Speaker: And that was the other thing that the timeline was a little
• 30:49
  Speaker: sped up because I had so much of it already done.
• 30:51
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 30:52
  Speaker: I think you used writing then, I think, to process grief.
• 30:56
  Speaker: Yeah, I did and I used, but also
• 30:58
  Speaker: like, I have to say, like the
• 31:00
  Speaker: publisher was so great to work
• 31:02
  Speaker: with.
• 31:02
  Speaker: And they really understood what I was doing and wanted to just
• 31:06
  Speaker: bring that to the book.
• 31:07
  Speaker: Like they weren't like, okay, we
• 31:09
  Speaker: bought this, we bought this
• 31:10
  Speaker: Greek cookbook, and now we're
• 31:11
  Speaker: going to do whatever we want
• 31:12
  Speaker: with it.
• 31:12
  Speaker: They really were like, we love
• 31:13
  Speaker: this guy, we love his mom, and
• 31:15
  Speaker: we're going to make this
• 31:16
  Speaker: special.
• 31:16
  Speaker: So even the photo shoot, I was there for the photo shoot all
• 31:19
  Speaker: five days, and we really got to connect like me and the photos,
• 31:22
  Speaker: the photographer and the stylist and the and the editor through
• 31:26
  Speaker: this like weird lens.
• 31:27
  Speaker: And like we did like a picnic after the photo shoot was over
• 31:31
  Speaker: and like, sat in like a lake and ate the food that we had made
• 31:34
  Speaker: and we all connected.
• 31:36
  Speaker: So it wasn't just the writing and just the recipes.
• 31:38
  Speaker: It was like the whole process
• 31:41
  Speaker: was like weird, like a weird
• 31:43
  Speaker: coincidence, but like a
• 31:44
  Speaker: beautiful step.
• 31:45
  Speaker: Like everybody I met through, it
• 31:47
  Speaker: was like integrated into the
• 31:49
  Speaker: process.
• 31:49
  Speaker: So it was really cool.
• 31:51
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 31:51
  Speaker: And I think you bring up some important points about cookbook
• 31:54
  Speaker: publishing specifically that I think make it unique.
• 31:57
  Speaker: And that's, first of all, agents and publishers are paying
• 32:01
  Speaker: attention and watching what's going on online.
• 32:04
  Speaker: and they're looking for people to write their next books.
• 32:08
  Speaker: They don't have people to.
• 32:09
  Speaker: They don't write the books.
• 32:11
  Speaker: They need people to do it for them.
• 32:12
  Speaker: So I always tell people, if
• 32:13
  Speaker: you're interested in doing it,
• 32:15
  Speaker: make yourself visible somehow,
• 32:17
  Speaker: either on video, in writing or
• 32:20
  Speaker: in audio somehow be out there
• 32:22
  Speaker: online.
• 32:23
  Speaker: You can do things in your community, but there's less of a
• 32:25
  Speaker: chance that someone might see you actually doing it.
• 32:28
  Speaker: And then absolutely, the second
• 32:29
  Speaker: thing is it's not just the words
• 32:31
  Speaker: of the book, but the whole food
• 32:33
  Speaker: part of it in the photos and
• 32:36
  Speaker: making sure things work and
• 32:37
  Speaker: testing.
• 32:38
  Speaker: And, um, and this takes a team
• 32:40
  Speaker: of people to put this together
• 32:42
  Speaker: and your publishing team became
• 32:45
  Speaker: people that you got to know, you
• 32:47
  Speaker: know, personally.
• 32:48
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 32:49
  Speaker: And you, and that was really nice.
• 32:50
  Speaker: It is great.
• 32:51
  Speaker: It's great.
• 32:52
  Speaker: And I think that it's such a misconception that you just like
• 32:55
  Speaker: lose total control and they're going to take over.
• 32:58
  Speaker: And even you had that conception before or perception.
• 33:01
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 33:02
  Speaker: I mean, there were certain things that they had control
• 33:04
  Speaker: over, but it always felt like it could be a conversation like,
• 33:08
  Speaker: and they were able to be like, oh, okay, I get this like, oh,
• 33:11
  Speaker: okay, you know what I mean?
• 33:12
  Speaker: And that was really nice.
• 33:13
  Speaker: Nice to be able to work with
• 33:15
  Speaker: people that are collaborators at
• 33:16
  Speaker: heart.
• 33:17
  Speaker: It could even be something as
• 33:18
  Speaker: simple as there was a certain
• 33:19
  Speaker: way your mother said something
• 33:20
  Speaker: or spelled something or talked
• 33:22
  Speaker: about something, they'd be like,
• 33:23
  Speaker: oh, no, editor says, we got to
• 33:25
  Speaker: change it.
• 33:25
  Speaker: You're like, no, we cannot change that.
• 33:27
  Speaker: That's the way she said it.
• 33:28
  Speaker: That's the way she did it.
• 33:30
  Speaker: We're going to leave it that way.
• 33:31
  Speaker: And they'd be like, oh, okay, we need to stay true to the who she
• 33:34
  Speaker: is and what you were trying to communicate in the book.
• 33:38
  Speaker: Right.
• 33:38
  Speaker: And so your journey then doing it this way versus
• 33:42
  Speaker: self-publishing, you had the editorial team, you had
• 33:46
  Speaker: photographer, you had people doing the photos, people, and
• 33:49
  Speaker: then just the actual creation of the book, right?
• 33:53
  Speaker: Um, it's an amazing experience
• 33:54
  Speaker: to work with a traditional
• 33:56
  Speaker: publisher.
• 33:56
  Speaker: So I'm so glad to hear that you had that experience as well.
• 34:00
  Speaker: Yeah, it was cool.
• 34:02
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 34:03
  Speaker: Yeah, it was very cool.
• 34:04
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 34:04
  Speaker: So let's talk a little bit about the book specifically, um, named
• 34:09
  Speaker: my mom's Greek recipes.
• 34:12
  Speaker: Um, a lot of stories, but let's walk us through about the book,
• 34:16
  Speaker: um, how you laid it out, what you thought about.
• 34:18
  Speaker: It's got a pretty traditional
• 34:20
  Speaker: table of contents, everything
• 34:22
  Speaker: from appetizers, soups and
• 34:23
  Speaker: salads, main courses, side
• 34:26
  Speaker: dishes, desserts.
• 34:27
  Speaker: And then there is a whole chapter on Easter.
• 34:30
  Speaker: Yes.
• 34:30
  Speaker: And cocktails and coffee drinks.
• 34:34
  Speaker: Uh, was there a particular chapter that you enjoyed doing
• 34:37
  Speaker: and really pulling together more than the others, maybe even
• 34:40
  Speaker: related to the type of book that your mom was?
• 34:43
  Speaker: It was the Greek Easter section
• 34:45
  Speaker: because, you know, it was the
• 34:46
  Speaker: Easter video that I did that
• 34:47
  Speaker: went viral.
• 34:48
  Speaker: I was always posting Easter videos.
• 34:50
  Speaker: Easter is such a huge holiday in
• 34:52
  Speaker: Greece and such a huge part of
• 34:53
  Speaker: my childhood.
• 34:54
  Speaker: So I really was like, I want to make sure that Those those
• 35:00
  Speaker: stories and those recipes in particular are just really tight
• 35:04
  Speaker: and really good.
• 35:05
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 35:06
  Speaker: And I also love how open the
• 35:08
  Speaker: photographer, not the
• 35:09
  Speaker: photographer.
• 35:10
  Speaker: The publisher was to putting your photos of your mom and your
• 35:14
  Speaker: family in the book.
• 35:15
  Speaker: Yes.
• 35:15
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 35:16
  Speaker: And we had they weren't as many in the first draft.
• 35:18
  Speaker: And I was like, please put more.
• 35:19
  Speaker: And they like infused it with so many more.
• 35:21
  Speaker: And so it was, yeah, it's really cool.
• 35:23
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 35:24
  Speaker: Now at the beginning of the chapters, um, there are funny
• 35:28
  Speaker: little post-it notes, like notes from your mom thought of that
• 35:32
  Speaker: and did all of those.
• 35:33
  Speaker: And they just watched my videos
• 35:35
  Speaker: and they pulled all of that
• 35:36
  Speaker: stuff.
• 35:36
  Speaker: So I thought that was so fun.
• 35:37
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 35:37
  Speaker: There's all these little post-it
• 35:39
  Speaker: notes with like quotes of hers,
• 35:40
  Speaker: which I think are so cute and
• 35:41
  Speaker: fun.
• 35:42
  Speaker: It is cute.
• 35:42
  Speaker: Like in the Greek Easter, it says they ate like they've never
• 35:46
  Speaker: eaten food before.
• 35:48
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 35:48
  Speaker: And these poor Americans, these
• 35:50
  Speaker: poor Americans that was
• 35:51
  Speaker: referring to my friends, family
• 35:52
  Speaker: who would come over for Easter
• 35:54
  Speaker: and they would pile down on our
• 35:56
  Speaker: food.
• 35:56
  Speaker: In fact, like there was one year
• 35:57
  Speaker: where my mom was like, I put
• 35:59
  Speaker: some extras in Tupperware in the
• 36:00
  Speaker: refrigerator.
• 36:01
  Speaker: So if they clean us out again,
• 36:02
  Speaker: we at least have something to
• 36:03
  Speaker: eat tomorrow.
• 36:04
  Speaker: Like literally, she was like,
• 36:06
  Speaker: these people, they come
• 36:07
  Speaker: starving.
• 36:07
  Speaker: It's so funny, these poor Americans.
• 36:09
  Speaker: And then also in the dessert chapter, it says, I made all
• 36:11
  Speaker: this food and not one person said, thank you.
• 36:14
  Speaker: Oh, yes.
• 36:15
  Speaker: Iconic.
• 36:16
  Speaker: Yes, yes.
• 36:17
  Speaker: So I think it's really sweet
• 36:19
  Speaker: that they were able to pull
• 36:21
  Speaker: those out and write those notes
• 36:23
  Speaker: and funny things that she said
• 36:24
  Speaker: throughout it.
• 36:25
  Speaker: So let's talk a little bit about, um, some of the, um,
• 36:29
  Speaker: entrees, I guess the main parts of the meals.
• 36:32
  Speaker: Uh, what would you like people
• 36:33
  Speaker: to know when it comes to just
• 36:35
  Speaker: everyday meals?
• 36:37
  Speaker: Uh, the main dish, the types of
• 36:38
  Speaker: things that you're used to her
• 36:40
  Speaker: cooking.
• 36:41
  Speaker: Um, there is an element of, you
• 36:45
  Speaker: know, she would always say like,
• 36:47
  Speaker: use your, I like to make sure
• 36:49
  Speaker: that things like, you know,
• 36:51
  Speaker: there's enough of something, not
• 36:52
  Speaker: enough of something or that
• 36:53
  Speaker: something's, you know, going
• 36:54
  Speaker: well.
• 36:54
  Speaker: And I think that's kind of it with a lot of the main courses.
• 36:58
  Speaker: A lot of them come down to the simmer and really watching them.
• 37:01
  Speaker: So it really is like, use your eye.
• 37:04
  Speaker: I think once you start cooking these recipes enough, you'll
• 37:06
  Speaker: start realizing like, oh, I know, okay, this needs a little
• 37:09
  Speaker: bit more water.
• 37:10
  Speaker: This is here, this is there.
• 37:12
  Speaker: And you start really putting those pieces together and you
• 37:14
  Speaker: can apply them to like other things that you cook.
• 37:16
  Speaker: And I think that's really nice.
• 37:18
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 37:19
  Speaker: Now you do have a whole little
• 37:20
  Speaker: story here about a very Greek
• 37:22
  Speaker: barbecue meat, meat and more
• 37:24
  Speaker: meat.
• 37:26
  Speaker: Lots of meat, huh?
• 37:27
  Speaker: So much meat.
• 37:28
  Speaker: That was the thing.
• 37:29
  Speaker: My mom never.
• 37:29
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 37:30
  Speaker: It was I had a I had a boyfriend
• 37:31
  Speaker: who was vegetarian, and my mom
• 37:33
  Speaker: hated it.
• 37:33
  Speaker: She was just like, I. I don't know what to feed him.
• 37:36
  Speaker: I only have meat.
• 37:37
  Speaker: She would put chicken stock in her lemon potatoes and she would
• 37:39
  Speaker: not tell him.
• 37:40
  Speaker: And he was like, these are so delicious.
• 37:43
  Speaker: And she'd be like, yeah, because there's chicken stock in them.
• 37:46
  Speaker: And yeah, she was very meat heavy.
• 37:48
  Speaker: Like I think it's funny because
• 37:50
  Speaker: like, you know, people think
• 37:50
  Speaker: about their moms when they see
• 37:51
  Speaker: other moms.
• 37:52
  Speaker: The one time I cried after she died.
• 37:56
  Speaker: Looking at like another person was when I saw someone like
• 38:00
  Speaker: eating a chicken wing down to the bone because I was like, oh,
• 38:02
  Speaker: there's my mom.
• 38:03
  Speaker: That reminds me of my mom.
• 38:05
  Speaker: So she.
• 38:07
  Speaker: And the things that she said was
• 38:09
  Speaker: just, she wasn't trying to be
• 38:10
  Speaker: funny.
• 38:11
  Speaker: She was just like being who she was.
• 38:12
  Speaker: Well, she, she was just trying to be who she was, but who she
• 38:15
  Speaker: was, was genuinely really funny.
• 38:17
  Speaker: And she knew when she was like, I'm telling jokes right now.
• 38:19
  Speaker: I'm telling a funny story
• 38:20
  Speaker: because there was a time I went
• 38:21
  Speaker: to South Carolina with her, and
• 38:23
  Speaker: she told me this hilarious story
• 38:24
  Speaker: on the plane, and it was so
• 38:26
  Speaker: funny about her going to Canada
• 38:28
  Speaker: as a kid, and I thought it was
• 38:29
  Speaker: so funny.
• 38:29
  Speaker: And then later on that night, we
• 38:30
  Speaker: were with a group of women, and
• 38:32
  Speaker: she told the same story, but she
• 38:33
  Speaker: like kind of adjusted it and
• 38:35
  Speaker: fixed a few things, made it even
• 38:36
  Speaker: funnier.
• 38:37
  Speaker: And she turned to me and she goes, you see, I fixed it.
• 38:40
  Speaker: So I was like, oh, you know what you're doing?
• 38:41
  Speaker: You know how to fix things and
• 38:42
  Speaker: make them funnier, which is
• 38:43
  Speaker: great.
• 38:44
  Speaker: Yeah, she's a little stand up comic.
• 38:46
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 38:47
  Speaker: I think it's neat to think about that.
• 38:49
  Speaker: So we got a lot of meat.
• 38:51
  Speaker: What about soups?
• 38:52
  Speaker: I know there's some soups that I've heard of before.
• 38:54
  Speaker: What kinds of soups stand out in
• 38:55
  Speaker: your mind when you think of
• 38:56
  Speaker: your.
• 38:57
  Speaker: I mean the classic there is avgolemono, the chicken, the
• 38:59
  Speaker: egg, the chicken egg, lemon soup that I think everybody is very
• 39:02
  Speaker: fond of in America.
• 39:04
  Speaker: Um, and that is delicious.
• 39:06
  Speaker: I mean, with just the right amount of like pepper on top,
• 39:09
  Speaker: it's just so good.
• 39:10
  Speaker: So I'm glad with that recipe
• 39:12
  Speaker: because it turned out really,
• 39:13
  Speaker: really good.
• 39:14
  Speaker: And then I do hate lentil soup, but I did include her lentil
• 39:19
  Speaker: soup recipe in here, which people have told me is good and
• 39:22
  Speaker: they live and they love it.
• 39:24
  Speaker: They like it, but I just hate lentil soup.
• 39:26
  Speaker: And she also hated lentil soup, which I thought was very funny.
• 39:29
  Speaker: So why did she make it?
• 39:30
  Speaker: Well, because of because of the iron.
• 39:32
  Speaker: She was like, you need to get your iron.
• 39:34
  Speaker: It was the it was the nutritional value.
• 39:36
  Speaker: So and my dad loved it.
• 39:37
  Speaker: So it was just one of those
• 39:38
  Speaker: things that was always in the
• 39:39
  Speaker: house.
• 39:40
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 39:41
  Speaker: So she would make something that
• 39:42
  Speaker: she didn't like, but she would
• 39:44
  Speaker: do it for your father, which is
• 39:45
  Speaker: sweet.
• 39:46
  Speaker: And, but she would eat it also make you eat it.
• 39:48
  Speaker: She would eat it.
• 39:48
  Speaker: She would make me eat it.
• 39:49
  Speaker: She would make me French fries and then make me eat it.
• 39:51
  Speaker: And then for her, my dad would
• 39:53
  Speaker: feed it to her with like a spoon
• 39:54
  Speaker: and she would, like, run away
• 39:55
  Speaker: from him.
• 39:56
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 39:57
  Speaker: That's funny.
• 39:58
  Speaker: So tell me about meatballs.
• 40:00
  Speaker: I love meatballs, and I know
• 40:02
  Speaker: that this is a of course it's
• 40:04
  Speaker: meat, but it's ground meat and
• 40:05
  Speaker: it's season.
• 40:06
  Speaker: So tell me about the role of meatballs.
• 40:08
  Speaker: I think you have them in the appetizer chapter.
• 40:10
  Speaker: They are they're the first recipe in the book.
• 40:12
  Speaker: Um, it was the her meatballs were the first thing she ever
• 40:14
  Speaker: taught me how to make.
• 40:16
  Speaker: I was living in LA and I like
• 40:18
  Speaker: called her one day and I was
• 40:19
  Speaker: like, listen, I need some
• 40:19
  Speaker: meatballs.
• 40:20
  Speaker: And she taught me how to make them.
• 40:21
  Speaker: Uh, it was the first thing I made after she died.
• 40:25
  Speaker: And it was the first recipe in this book.
• 40:27
  Speaker: So it feels very special to have them in here.
• 40:29
  Speaker: Um, there is mint and parsley in them, and that's what it's
• 40:36
  Speaker: they're very herbaceous, so it just makes them really pop. And
• 40:40
  Speaker: you can fry them, you can bake them, but they're just so good.
• 40:43
  Speaker: And I love those meatballs.
• 40:44
  Speaker: And they were always eaten, uh, just plain as a meatball, plain
• 40:48
  Speaker: as a meatball.
• 40:49
  Speaker: I would put a lot of ketchup because I was.
• 40:50
  Speaker: I'm a ketchup fiend.
• 40:51
  Speaker: But she would either do like French fries or she would do
• 40:54
  Speaker: like a pasta or rice with them.
• 40:56
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 40:56
  Speaker: Very nice.
• 40:57
  Speaker: I have to talk about cookies.
• 41:00
  Speaker: Mhm.
• 41:00
  Speaker: That's a big part of what she did.
• 41:02
  Speaker: She baked as well as cooked.
• 41:04
  Speaker: Yes.
• 41:05
  Speaker: Because sometimes you don't find people that do a lot of both.
• 41:08
  Speaker: Right.
• 41:08
  Speaker: That's actually true.
• 41:09
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 41:10
  Speaker: Um, with her baking was.
• 41:11
  Speaker: So what was so special about her
• 41:12
  Speaker: baking was that she made her own
• 41:13
  Speaker: phyllo dough.
• 41:14
  Speaker: So she was always making phyllo
• 41:16
  Speaker: dough in the house and bread,
• 41:18
  Speaker: fresh bread.
• 41:18
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 41:19
  Speaker: So it was an intense process.
• 41:21
  Speaker: Like I have the feel of dough recipe in this book, but I, I
• 41:24
  Speaker: really don't, I don't make it.
• 41:26
  Speaker: I just buy the prepackaged stuff.
• 41:27
  Speaker: I just call it a day.
• 41:28
  Speaker: It's too hard.
• 41:29
  Speaker: I live in a studio.
• 41:30
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 41:30
  Speaker: Where am I going to make phyllo dough in this?
• 41:32
  Speaker: Like in my, in my shower?
• 41:33
  Speaker: AM I standing shower?
• 41:35
  Speaker: So what would people, if they
• 41:36
  Speaker: lived in Greece or they had a
• 41:37
  Speaker: small apartment and people made
• 41:38
  Speaker: it?
• 41:38
  Speaker: What would they do to make phyllo dough in a small place?
• 41:40
  Speaker: What would they do?
• 41:41
  Speaker: A lot of people in Greece really just do buy it.
• 41:43
  Speaker: Like I'll be honest.
• 41:44
  Speaker: Um, but yeah, so I mean, it's also like, I think even in
• 41:47
  Speaker: Greece, like the younger people my age, like they barely know
• 41:49
  Speaker: how to do it nowadays.
• 41:51
  Speaker: It's like a skill that even people in Greece are like, oh,
• 41:53
  Speaker: the older people know that.
• 41:55
  Speaker: Do you think it's something
• 41:55
  Speaker: that's going to be lost over
• 41:57
  Speaker: time?
• 41:58
  Speaker: I hope not, but, you know, maybe unfortunately, yeah.
• 42:02
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 42:03
  Speaker: Maybe there'll be somebody that continues to make it.
• 42:05
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 42:05
  Speaker: Um, it's the same for making pie crust, making biscuits.
• 42:11
  Speaker: Yes.
• 42:12
  Speaker: Making certain kinds of cookies.
• 42:13
  Speaker: Uh, maybe a little bit more labor intensive.
• 42:16
  Speaker: Um, I'm not sure.
• 42:17
  Speaker: With phyllo dough now, she might have said to you, you can tell
• 42:21
  Speaker: the difference between frozen and fresh can.
• 42:23
  Speaker: Now, what about you?
• 42:25
  Speaker: Can you tell the difference?
• 42:26
  Speaker: Like if you were to think of the way her phyllo dough was and
• 42:29
  Speaker: buying it, is it pretty similar?
• 42:31
  Speaker: Oh, no. It's different.
• 42:32
  Speaker: It's definitely different.
• 42:33
  Speaker: Hers was also a little thicker,
• 42:35
  Speaker: so that was kind of the
• 42:36
  Speaker: difference.
• 42:36
  Speaker: But yeah, it was definitely super different.
• 42:38
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 42:39
  Speaker: So what about the cookies?
• 42:41
  Speaker: I know those were a big deal in, uh, Greek cooking.
• 42:44
  Speaker: Which cookies?
• 42:45
  Speaker: Well, I don't know.
• 42:46
  Speaker: There's some there's a lot of different ones.
• 42:47
  Speaker: So many.
• 42:48
  Speaker: There's so many in here.
• 42:49
  Speaker: Right.
• 42:49
  Speaker: The butter, the the butter
• 42:51
  Speaker: cookies, the Easter cookies are
• 42:52
  Speaker: so good.
• 42:53
  Speaker: I think the almond shortbread cookies are my favorite.
• 42:55
  Speaker: The kourabiedes, the ones with the powdered sugar on top.
• 42:58
  Speaker: Those are like Christmas cookies.
• 43:00
  Speaker: Those are really delicious.
• 43:02
  Speaker: I mean, those I think turn out so good every time I make them.
• 43:05
  Speaker: And there's some that look like
• 43:06
  Speaker: they're jam or marmalade
• 43:07
  Speaker: thumbprint cookies.
• 43:08
  Speaker: Yes.
• 43:09
  Speaker: You used to make these thumbprint cookies that were
• 43:10
  Speaker: like non-holiday specific.
• 43:12
  Speaker: And she would do it for the grandkids.
• 43:14
  Speaker: And I had to make those for, for
• 43:16
  Speaker: the book cover, which was really
• 43:18
  Speaker: fun.
• 43:18
  Speaker: So, um, yeah, yeah, yeah, it was really funny because it was one
• 43:22
  Speaker: hundred and ten degrees in New York when I was making those
• 43:24
  Speaker: cookies and my air conditioning was not working.
• 43:26
  Speaker: So the butter was not cooperating at all whatsoever.
• 43:30
  Speaker: So I had to do like three
• 43:31
  Speaker: batches of those cookies to get
• 43:32
  Speaker: them right.
• 43:32
  Speaker: And then they ended up on the
• 43:33
  Speaker: book cover and I was like, thank
• 43:35
  Speaker: God.
• 43:36
  Speaker: And that's the ones that it's a table for those of you describe
• 43:39
  Speaker: it, the table spread of food, the cookies that are down in the
• 43:42
  Speaker: bottom right hand corner is what you're talking about.
• 43:45
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 43:47
  Speaker: Um, and we have to talk about bundt cakes.
• 43:50
  Speaker: Oh, yes.
• 43:51
  Speaker: I do have a bundt cake recipe in there because I did love the,
• 43:54
  Speaker: the, my big fat Greek wedding reference of it all.
• 43:56
  Speaker: And, uh, she used to make that bundt cake.
• 43:59
  Speaker: It was something I actually
• 44:00
  Speaker: found in her in her little
• 44:02
  Speaker: recipe book.
• 44:03
  Speaker: Um, and the only thing it was missing was the, uh, the, the
• 44:06
  Speaker: frosting on top.
• 44:07
  Speaker: So I just plop that in there.
• 44:09
  Speaker: Um, but yeah, she used to make a bundt cake like that.
• 44:11
  Speaker: It was really funny, but it was never because of the movie.
• 44:14
  Speaker: It was always because she just had this bundt cake recipe.
• 44:17
  Speaker: But um, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 44:20
  Speaker: So tell me a little bit about,
• 44:22
  Speaker: um, do you think this book is
• 44:24
  Speaker: the final chapter of your mom's
• 44:25
  Speaker: story or just a new beginning of
• 44:28
  Speaker: new people getting to see her,
• 44:29
  Speaker: um, through the eyes of this
• 44:31
  Speaker: book?
• 44:32
  Speaker: Oh, I have no idea.
• 44:33
  Speaker: People keep asking me, like, are you going to write another book?
• 44:36
  Speaker: And I didn't think I was going to write this one.
• 44:38
  Speaker: So I don't know, maybe my, my boyfriend did say I should do
• 44:42
  Speaker: like a tenth or fifteenth anniversary edition where I have
• 44:45
  Speaker: like ten extra recipes and then ten extra stories that like are
• 44:49
  Speaker: more about like the later years of grieving and how that's
• 44:51
  Speaker: impacted me or like any stories that I didn't want to include.
• 44:54
  Speaker: And I think that would be really, really fun if I get a
• 44:56
  Speaker: chance to do that.
• 44:57
  Speaker: But I don't know.
• 44:58
  Speaker: I keep joking that like, you know, my, my dad is a tailor and
• 45:01
  Speaker: when he dies, maybe I'll do like hemming jeans with my dead dad
• 45:04
  Speaker: or something like that.
• 45:06
  Speaker: But I don't know.
• 45:06
  Speaker: I think I'm a one and done here,
• 45:08
  Speaker: but it would be awesome to write
• 45:09
  Speaker: another book because I did love
• 45:10
  Speaker: it.
• 45:11
  Speaker: I just don't know if I have another cookbook in me, per se.
• 45:13
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah, maybe it might be about something else.
• 45:16
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 45:17
  Speaker: And there is something that's, uh, cathartic.
• 45:20
  Speaker: And I think, I think writing is a great way to process emotions
• 45:23
  Speaker: just in general.
• 45:25
  Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
• 45:26
  Speaker: Absolutely.
• 45:27
  Speaker: I'm not a very vulnerable person
• 45:29
  Speaker: when it comes to like my day to
• 45:30
  Speaker: day life.
• 45:30
  Speaker: And so I think I really just lend it, I put it all in paper
• 45:35
  Speaker: and my writing.
• 45:35
  Speaker: I just really like, I've noticed that as I've gotten older, I
• 45:38
  Speaker: really am just like, I'm, I'm free to say anything on a piece
• 45:41
  Speaker: of paper, but when it comes to just me as a person, sometimes
• 45:45
  Speaker: I'm like, I don't want all this.
• 45:46
  Speaker: I don't need this.
• 45:47
  Speaker: It's Tuesday afternoon.
• 45:48
  Speaker: I don't want to talk about this.
• 45:49
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 45:49
  Speaker: Because there is an element.
• 45:50
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 45:51
  Speaker: Easier to write it than it is to actually say it out loud.
• 45:54
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 45:54
  Speaker: It's easier to write it, put it down and have someone experience
• 45:57
  Speaker: it than have someone experience it in front of you and have to
• 45:59
  Speaker: be like, oh yeah, that's true.
• 46:03
  Speaker: So if your mom could see this
• 46:05
  Speaker: book, what do you think she'd
• 46:07
  Speaker: say?
• 46:08
  Speaker: She'd say, uh, half of it is all wrong.
• 46:10
  Speaker: And I hate not just kidding.
• 46:12
  Speaker: She would love it.
• 46:13
  Speaker: She would love it.
• 46:13
  Speaker: I think it would have just been such a different thing if she
• 46:15
  Speaker: was still alive.
• 46:16
  Speaker: It would have just been like, obviously more recipes and
• 46:19
  Speaker: things, you know, uh, different types of stories.
• 46:22
  Speaker: But I think she would have seen
• 46:24
  Speaker: what I did after she died and
• 46:26
  Speaker: she would have been like, Holy
• 46:28
  Speaker: shit.
• 46:28
  Speaker: Wow.
• 46:28
  Speaker: That's great.
• 46:29
  Speaker: Cool.
• 46:29
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 46:30
  Speaker: Even if she didn't want to tell
• 46:31
  Speaker: me to my face, she would tell
• 46:32
  Speaker: her friends.
• 46:33
  Speaker: Yeah, because this book is so much recipes, but a lot of
• 46:36
  Speaker: stories and a lot of writing.
• 46:38
  Speaker: So if you're someone that enjoys reading cookbooks as well,
• 46:41
  Speaker: there'll be a lot of material in here for people to enjoy.
• 46:45
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 46:45
  Speaker: So as we're wrapping up, Gus, I love, of course, cookbook love
• 46:49
  Speaker: podcasts, like to talk to you about cookbooks, other
• 46:53
  Speaker: cookbooks, if there's been any that have influenced you in your
• 46:56
  Speaker: life other than recipes from your mom and this work that you
• 46:59
  Speaker: did related to your mom?
• 47:02
  Speaker: Um, I really, there's a cookbook
• 47:04
  Speaker: called Yaya or Yaya, which is
• 47:06
  Speaker: really sweet and it's recipes
• 47:08
  Speaker: from older Greek women all
• 47:10
  Speaker: around Greece.
• 47:11
  Speaker: And it, there's a little bit of
• 47:12
  Speaker: their stories in each of them,
• 47:13
  Speaker: not too much, but it is their
• 47:15
  Speaker: recipes.
• 47:15
  Speaker: And that's like a really special book.
• 47:17
  Speaker: Um, I think taste by Stanley
• 47:20
  Speaker: Tucci really influenced me a lot
• 47:22
  Speaker: during the writing process of
• 47:23
  Speaker: this book.
• 47:24
  Speaker: And I have a friend who's
• 47:25
  Speaker: obsessed with Alice and Roman,
• 47:27
  Speaker: so I do try a lot of her food,
• 47:28
  Speaker: and I do love an Alice and Roman
• 47:30
  Speaker: recipe, even though I think some
• 47:32
  Speaker: people find it's she can be
• 47:33
  Speaker: polarizing in the community, I
• 47:34
  Speaker: think.
• 47:35
  Speaker: But I don't know everything he's ever made for me.
• 47:37
  Speaker: me. I'm always like, this is great.
• 47:38
  Speaker: Never mind.
• 47:39
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 47:40
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 47:40
  Speaker: But yeah.
• 47:41
  Speaker: Great.
• 47:42
  Speaker: I'll be happy to, uh, look those up.
• 47:45
  Speaker: Link to them in the show notes.
• 47:46
  Speaker: People are always curious about
• 47:48
  Speaker: the cookbooks that cookbook
• 47:49
  Speaker: authors love.
• 47:50
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 47:51
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 47:51
  Speaker: So, um, as you we wrap up here.
• 47:54
  Speaker: I'd love for you to tell people
• 47:56
  Speaker: how they can connect with you
• 47:58
  Speaker: online.
• 47:59
  Speaker: I am at constantly Gus on everything TikTok, Instagram.
• 48:03
  Speaker: You can find my website constantly, Gus dot com.
• 48:06
  Speaker: And you can see my upcoming tour dates there.
• 48:08
  Speaker: And if you want to buy the book,
• 48:10
  Speaker: you can buy the book there as
• 48:11
  Speaker: well.
• 48:12
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 48:12
  Speaker: Great.
• 48:13
  Speaker: Well, I want to thank you so
• 48:14
  Speaker: much for coming on the show
• 48:15
  Speaker: today and sharing all about your
• 48:18
  Speaker: journey through your comedy to
• 48:21
  Speaker: write the book, My Greek Mom's
• 48:23
  Speaker: recipes.
• 48:25
  Speaker: She.
• 48:25
  Speaker: Thank you.
• 48:26
  Speaker: I wrote the cookbook.
• 48:28
  Speaker: Yes.
• 48:29
  Speaker: Thank you so much.
• 48:29
  Speaker: Thanks for having me.
• 48:31
  Speaker: Thank you so much for joining us today for this episode of the
• 48:34
  Speaker: Cookbook Love Podcast.
• 48:36
  Speaker: again.
• 48:36
  Speaker: All the links can be found in the show notes at w w w dot
• 48:39
  Speaker: cookbook dot co.
• 48:41
  Speaker: And if you are interested in
• 48:43
  Speaker: writing a cookbook of your own,
• 48:45
  Speaker: please check out the free
• 48:47
  Speaker: Cookbook Writing Masterclass
• 48:48
  Speaker: called How to Get Paid to Write
• 48:50
  Speaker: a Cookbook.
• 48:51
  Speaker: It is designed specifically for
• 48:53
  Speaker: food or nutrition experts, and
• 48:55
  Speaker: you can check that out at w w w
• 48:58
  Speaker: dot cookbook writers academy dot
• 49:00
  Speaker: com.
• 49:03
  Speaker: So that's it for today's episode of the Cookbook Love Podcast.
• 49:06
  Speaker: This is your host, Maggie Green.
• 49:08
  Speaker: And until next time, have a
• 49:09
  Speaker: great day and keep loving your
• 49:11
  Speaker: cookbooks.
• 49:16
  Speaker: Thanks for listening to the Cookbook Love podcast.
• 49:19
  Speaker: You can find out more
• 49:20
  Speaker: information at w w w dot
• 49:22
  Speaker: booklover.