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Nourish Your Life: with Molly Baz · QUESTION EVERYTHING

0:04
Speaker 1: Big things happen when you're pretty, pretty bold, pretty clever,
0:08
Speaker 1: pretty strong. I'm Danielle Robe and each week my guests
0:12
Speaker 1: and I have conversations that put a new spin on
0:15
Speaker 1: pretty This is pretty smart. I'm currently in a New
0:21
Speaker 1: York hotel room. So if you hear any beeping or
0:26
Speaker 1: people yelling, I've tried to record this a few times.
0:30
Speaker 1: There goes another beep. It's just New York people are
0:37
Speaker 1: in a rush. So excuse all the noises. The episode
0:39
Speaker 1: doesn't have them, maybe just the intro, but no that
0:43
Speaker 1: it's real and it's coming from my heart. Okay, So
0:46
Speaker 1: there are a few places as intimidating to me as
0:49
Speaker 1: a kitchen, well, a kitchen and Ikea. When I moved
0:53
Speaker 1: to La ten years ago, I went to Ikea to
0:55
Speaker 1: get some furniture and I got back to my apartment
0:58
Speaker 1: and I was like, Okay, never done this before, but
1:01
Speaker 1: I can do anything I put my mind to. So
1:05
Speaker 1: I watch a few YouTube videos and I try to
1:07
Speaker 1: put this furniture together. I could not do it. I
1:12
Speaker 1: tried again. I tried a different way. I watched more
1:15
Speaker 1: YouTube videos, and I could not figure it out. I
1:18
Speaker 1: ended up having to hire a task rabbit, and that's
1:21
Speaker 1: sort of just how I feel about the kitchen. I
1:24
Speaker 1: don't know where to start, and even the basic stuff
1:27
Speaker 1: I do know how to make, it's just never gonna
1:30
Speaker 1: taste that great when I make it. And I'm very
1:33
Speaker 1: aware that there are world class recipes just a Google
1:36
Speaker 1: search away, and yet I haven't been able to bring
1:39
Speaker 1: myself to want to learn how to cook. And I'm
1:42
Speaker 1: not alone. A twenty eighteen study from Porch found that
1:46
Speaker 1: only five percent of twenty to thirty somethings consider themselves
1:50
Speaker 1: very good at home cooking well. Our Guest Today says
1:53
Speaker 1: it's literally her purpose in life to change that, to
1:57
Speaker 1: teach people how to cook and to feed themselves. Mollie
2:04
Speaker 1: Baz is a former chef turned food personality and truly
2:08
Speaker 1: a star in the world of food. Her new cookbook
2:11
Speaker 1: More is More is aptly named.
2:13
Speaker 2: Go for It, taste as you go, keep adding, keep tasting,
2:18
Speaker 2: like no timidity.
2:20
Speaker 3: We're not doing like a.
2:22
Speaker 2: Little bit of pepper flakes, Like let's taste it, let's
2:26
Speaker 2: learn what our limitations are. And so it's like it's
2:29
Speaker 2: a maximus is maybe not the right word, but like a.
2:32
Speaker 4: No fear of failure, no fear of failure.
2:36
Speaker 1: That's the energy she brings to the kitchen, but that's
2:39
Speaker 1: also the energy she brings to her life.
2:42
Speaker 2: And I worked there for like a year and like
2:43
Speaker 2: cried every day in the back room, but was like,
2:45
Speaker 2: I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna learn everything.
2:48
Speaker 1: And that she did. Molly is fierce and I don't
2:53
Speaker 1: use that word lightly. I don't think you've ever heard
2:55
Speaker 1: me use that word on this podcast. After starting her
2:58
Speaker 1: career and fine dining, she took the food fundamentals that
3:02
Speaker 1: made her a great chef and decided to do things
3:05
Speaker 1: her way. She dropped the chef title. She finds it unapproachable.
3:10
Speaker 2: Everything I do and my career is this sort of
3:13
Speaker 2: innate fear that we could get to a place where
3:18
Speaker 2: most people don't know how to put like even the
3:20
Speaker 2: simplest meal on the table because it's so easy to
3:24
Speaker 2: get a delicious meal via takeout or Postmates or Uber
3:28
Speaker 2: eat or go out to a restaurant. There's just nothing
3:31
Speaker 2: to me that can replace like the feeling of sitting
3:33
Speaker 2: down like in a actual home, even if it's not
3:36
Speaker 2: as yummy as what you had at that Like Michelin,
3:39
Speaker 2: start whatever it tastes better because like you're so enveloped
3:44
Speaker 2: in like an experience of coziness and warmth and whatever.
3:48
Speaker 2: And so I think that has driven so much of
3:52
Speaker 2: what I do.
3:53
Speaker 1: My mom used to say something to me when I
3:55
Speaker 1: was younger, and I think it's at the core of
3:57
Speaker 1: who I am now.
3:58
Speaker 4: We would be at the park, she would.
4:00
Speaker 1: Say, Danielle, see all of those people on the park
4:02
Speaker 1: benches over there. You can either be on the bench
4:05
Speaker 1: watching people living their lives, or you could be the
4:08
Speaker 1: one living walking around. If you want something, go get it,
4:13
Speaker 1: Go live. And as I was sitting with Mollie, that's
4:16
Speaker 1: what I kept coming back to, If you want it,
4:18
Speaker 1: go get it. I felt like I was sitting with
4:21
Speaker 1: a person who unapologetically went after what she wanted. She
4:25
Speaker 1: made things happen, and food just happened to be her vehicle.
4:29
Speaker 1: So today, through her deep love of food, Mollie is
4:33
Speaker 1: teaching us why leveling up our palate could actually just
4:36
Speaker 1: help us level up our lives. And a little teaser,
4:40
Speaker 1: she drops the one ingredient you need to change your
4:43
Speaker 1: food and your cooking. So, Mollie, you wrote in your
4:50
Speaker 1: book that the word chef makes you cringe in regards
4:53
Speaker 1: to your own title.
4:54
Speaker 3: Why I'm just like not a chef anymore. And I was.
4:59
Speaker 2: I definitely sel identified as a chef when I was
5:01
Speaker 2: working in restaurants, and then I've spent so much of
5:05
Speaker 2: my like actual adult career honing the skill of learning
5:10
Speaker 2: how to really get in the head space of an
5:12
Speaker 2: amateur cook, like a home cook, that I'm like no
5:15
Speaker 2: longer a chef. I feel like I'm just like a
5:17
Speaker 2: really badass home cook. And the word chef like, obviously
5:21
Speaker 2: I love chefs and I so appreciate what they bring
5:24
Speaker 2: to the world into restaurants, but for me, like it
5:27
Speaker 2: suggests a like buttoned upness that I just don't possess
5:32
Speaker 2: and don't want to because I want to be really
5:34
Speaker 2: relatable to just like your average home cook trying to
5:37
Speaker 2: put a meal on the table.
5:39
Speaker 4: How did you come to this?
5:40
Speaker 1: Because most people are aspiring to the big title, the
5:45
Speaker 1: big job, and you're like, I'm good with the opposite.
5:48
Speaker 2: I had like a real revelation when I got my
5:52
Speaker 2: first job working in food media, like at a food magazine.
5:56
Speaker 2: I had been working in restaurants for so long and
6:00
Speaker 2: was like, I want to branch out. I want to
6:01
Speaker 2: see what this like food media situation is maybe I'll
6:04
Speaker 2: work at a food magazine. And I had a really
6:07
Speaker 2: tough transition actually because I brought like my cheffiness into
6:10
Speaker 2: that space and it was so not the space for it,
6:13
Speaker 2: where like what you're supposed to do is or what
6:17
Speaker 2: like the most successful version of a recipe developer is
6:21
Speaker 2: not one who's like pulling out all the bells and whistles,
6:23
Speaker 2: because your average cook.
6:25
Speaker 3: Is like never going to succeed in that way.
6:27
Speaker 2: But I've felt like a lot of pride around being
6:30
Speaker 2: a chef, having just like spent years and years in kitchens,
6:33
Speaker 2: and it was very humbling to then go into an
6:36
Speaker 2: environment like the test kitchen that I was working in
6:39
Speaker 2: and have all of these like really talented, incredible cooks
6:42
Speaker 2: that weren't like chefy in the real like restauranty sense,
6:46
Speaker 2: And it really brought me down to earth, and I
6:49
Speaker 2: found a real appreciation for the skill of figuring out
6:52
Speaker 2: how to create truly delicious food that doesn't rely on
6:58
Speaker 2: like seventeen steps and you know, like overnight braises and
7:02
Speaker 2: reductions and micro this and molecular that, and that it's
7:07
Speaker 2: almost harder to put something truly revelatory when you can't
7:13
Speaker 2: rely on all of those things. Yeah, And so I
7:16
Speaker 2: took that as a challenge and kind of rejiggered my
7:21
Speaker 2: relationship to cooking to be one that was like seen
7:24
Speaker 2: through the eyes.
7:24
Speaker 3: Of a home cook.
7:25
Speaker 1: So in what I do, there's this guy Bob Costas.
7:28
Speaker 1: He's like a famed news anchor sportscaster, and years ago
7:33
Speaker 1: I read that he said the best interviewer's hosts know
7:37
Speaker 1: one hundred percent of the information and use twenty five
7:40
Speaker 1: percent of it on.
7:40
Speaker 4: Air, And I thought that was nuts.
7:43
Speaker 1: And as I got older and got more comfortable in
7:45
Speaker 1: my skin, I understood what he meant. Yeah, but I'm
7:49
Speaker 1: in such admiration that you recognize that at such a
7:53
Speaker 1: young age. It sounds like you have like a really
7:55
Speaker 1: great sense of self.
7:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's an interesting way to put it.
7:59
Speaker 2: I think it is like, I know I can do
8:00
Speaker 2: all these things, but I feel like my job here
8:03
Speaker 2: is to like take all of that one hundred percent
8:05
Speaker 2: and distill it down into like the most kind of
8:08
Speaker 2: easily digestible twenty five percent for like the larger population.
8:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's why so many people gravitate towards you. Well,
8:16
Speaker 1: one of the reasons so for some family's food is
8:20
Speaker 1: a really big deal.
8:21
Speaker 4: I did not grow up in a food family.
8:23
Speaker 3: Neither did I.
8:24
Speaker 4: Okay, so how did you come to food?
8:26
Speaker 3: It's crazy.
8:27
Speaker 2: I think that like it's a nate like you either
8:30
Speaker 2: like have a palette.
8:31
Speaker 3: That is curious or not.
8:33
Speaker 2: And I think I was just born with a curious
8:35
Speaker 2: palette for starters. But it was really not until I
8:38
Speaker 2: was like out on my home, living outside of my
8:41
Speaker 2: family home, on my own, feeding myself, and then studying
8:45
Speaker 2: abroad and being exposed to food outside of what I
8:48
Speaker 2: had known my whole life that like kind of my
8:50
Speaker 2: world opened up and I was like, oh my god,
8:52
Speaker 2: what is cooking? This is insane. There's like such a
8:55
Speaker 2: crazy breadth of flavor and ways that food shows up
9:01
Speaker 2: in the world. And I think I'd just been a
9:03
Speaker 2: little bit sheltered, isn't the world isn't the word, but
9:07
Speaker 2: just sort of in my own space, in my own
9:10
Speaker 2: comfort zone with.
9:11
Speaker 3: The food I grew up with, which was like totally
9:14
Speaker 3: fine and not exceptional. Sorry Mom, sorry Dad. And then
9:16
Speaker 3: I just like got out.
9:17
Speaker 2: In the world and was like, oh, this is sick,
9:19
Speaker 2: Like there's so much to explore.
9:21
Speaker 1: Do you have friends at college that had a different palette.
9:24
Speaker 1: Like I remember the first time a friend showed me sushi,
9:27
Speaker 1: Like we didn't eat sushi in my house.
9:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely surrounded myself with people who were like also,
9:32
Speaker 2: Like my best friend in college was like obsessed with
9:34
Speaker 2: food also, and we actually, kind of embarrassingly now as
9:39
Speaker 2: we look back on it, had a supper club in
9:41
Speaker 2: college where we would like turn our living room into
9:43
Speaker 2: a dining room and like our other best friend was
9:45
Speaker 2: the waitress and she would like check you in at
9:47
Speaker 2: the door.
9:48
Speaker 3: That's so cool. We would make like four course meals.
9:50
Speaker 2: So we were very I was very exploratory during college,
9:54
Speaker 2: studied abroad, ate a lot, learned a lot, and then
9:57
Speaker 2: as soon as I left college and graduated, I.
9:59
Speaker 3: Was like, Okay, this is it.
10:00
Speaker 2: I'm doing it for my career and my degrees in
10:03
Speaker 2: art history, which has actually served me so well. I
10:07
Speaker 2: think just because like what I do now is so
10:09
Speaker 2: much more than just food, and it's like a brand
10:11
Speaker 2: and it's really visual and I show up in the
10:14
Speaker 2: world beyond just what's on the plate. And so having
10:17
Speaker 2: gone to school for something visual, like really I think
10:21
Speaker 2: informs all of that. My mom had some roles, but
10:26
Speaker 2: I was a pretty good girl. I would say I
10:29
Speaker 2: likes not go out of the house once and it
10:30
Speaker 2: was a major drama, but beyond that, like I was
10:33
Speaker 2: pretty good, so I didn't break the roles. My brother,
10:35
Speaker 2: on the other hand, was like always breaking them, so
10:38
Speaker 2: like relative to him, I just looked like an angel.
10:41
Speaker 1: You mentioned a curious palette. I'd never heard that term before. Yeah,
10:44
Speaker 1: I really like that.
10:45
Speaker 3: Yeah.
10:46
Speaker 2: I think I don't know if it's like a personality
10:48
Speaker 2: thing or a palette thing, or like maybe where they intersect,
10:51
Speaker 2: But I think it has to do with like trying
10:55
Speaker 2: something new and then being like curious enough to like
10:58
Speaker 2: ask or find out more about it or want to
11:01
Speaker 2: like explore it or have it another time, and not
11:03
Speaker 2: just like have the experience end right there.
11:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, do you feel like you happened a curious palette?
11:09
Speaker 1: So I've noticed that when I date people who have
11:13
Speaker 1: curious palettes, mine becomes more curious, and I'm really grateful
11:16
Speaker 1: for that.
11:17
Speaker 4: Like I never I looked at food as fuel previously.
11:20
Speaker 1: Okay, and the opposite, Yeah no, but now I look
11:23
Speaker 1: at it differently, and I'm so interested and I think
11:25
Speaker 1: it's it's an art and a science.
11:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, totally it's a little bit of both.
11:30
Speaker 4: So how can somebody refine their palette? Like, is it
11:34
Speaker 4: just by eating out at restaurants?
11:36
Speaker 3: Is it?
11:36
Speaker 4: What do you think it is?
11:37
Speaker 3: I think it is.
11:40
Speaker 2: It's about paying attention and so it's so easy to
11:45
Speaker 2: move about the day, the week, the month, the year
11:48
Speaker 2: just eating and not really like stepping back and taking
11:53
Speaker 2: kind of clocking what's actually going into your body and
11:56
Speaker 2: thinking about how it tastes and like what it reminds
11:59
Speaker 2: you of and is it some to this and like
12:01
Speaker 2: how did the texture improve or take away from the dish.
12:04
Speaker 2: It's about self reflection and like in the same way
12:08
Speaker 2: that it's important to spend time with yourself, just being
12:14
Speaker 2: with yourself, thinking about yourself. You know, mental health is
12:17
Speaker 2: so important. Like I feel like eating can be that
12:19
Speaker 2: as well, and so many people just like rush right
12:21
Speaker 2: through it to get like through the meal or to
12:24
Speaker 2: the next thing. And I feel like developing a palette
12:26
Speaker 2: is like slowing down and like thinking about what you're eating.
12:29
Speaker 1: That's so well said, Thank you. I think when I
12:31
Speaker 1: started thinking of food as art as nourishment, Yeah, that
12:36
Speaker 1: like the self care aspect of food is really big,
12:39
Speaker 1: because when you talked about making your own food. In college,
12:41
Speaker 1: I hear like a sense of pride, like I know
12:44
Speaker 1: how to feed myself.
12:45
Speaker 4: Totally I didn't know how to feed myself either.
12:48
Speaker 3: Yeah.
12:48
Speaker 2: I think one thing that has really fueled like everything
12:52
Speaker 2: I do and my career is this sort of innate
12:56
Speaker 2: fear that I have about our my generation or just
12:59
Speaker 2: sort of world we live in, that we could get
13:03
Speaker 2: to a place where most people don't know how to
13:06
Speaker 2: put like even the simplest meal on the table because
13:08
Speaker 2: it's so easy to get a delicious meal via takeout
13:13
Speaker 2: or Postmates or Uber Eat or go out to a restaurant,
13:16
Speaker 2: which by all means like we need to keep those afloat,
13:18
Speaker 2: and restaurants are such.
13:20
Speaker 3: An important part of my life.
13:21
Speaker 2: But I worry that like modern conveniences will make home
13:26
Speaker 2: cooking kind of obsolete and there's just nothing to me
13:30
Speaker 2: that can replace like the feeling of sitting down like
13:33
Speaker 2: in a actual home and not a restaurant that's meant
13:35
Speaker 2: to look like a home, and eating whether it's something
13:39
Speaker 2: that you cooked or a family member, like even if
13:41
Speaker 2: it's not as yummy as what you had at that
13:43
Speaker 2: like Michelin, start whatever it tastes better because like You're
13:48
Speaker 2: so enveloped in like an experience of coziness and warmth
13:52
Speaker 2: and whatever, and so I think that has driven so
13:56
Speaker 2: much of what I do.
13:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like the idea of food as love, and
14:01
Speaker 1: I think that's what you're talking about, and.
14:03
Speaker 3: Like we could lose that and that would be a bummer.
14:06
Speaker 4: You seem like a trial by fire person to me.
14:09
Speaker 1: I was laughing when I was listening to a lot
14:11
Speaker 1: of your podcasts because people are asking you these like
14:15
Speaker 1: very chefy questions and You're like, well, I worked in
14:19
Speaker 1: a kitchen and.
14:19
Speaker 4: It was insane. Yeah, and so I was like, yeah,
14:22
Speaker 4: I'm out.
14:23
Speaker 1: And then you just went on to this sort of
14:25
Speaker 1: job that felt like you had sort of dreamed about
14:28
Speaker 1: it even before you knew it existed.
14:30
Speaker 3: Yeah.
14:31
Speaker 2: I'm definitely someone who's like open to exploring things. So
14:35
Speaker 2: I think when I realized that I had a passion
14:37
Speaker 2: for food and wanted to make a career of it,
14:39
Speaker 2: I was like, well, I have to learn how to cook,
14:41
Speaker 2: because I'm going to have like no credibility in this
14:42
Speaker 2: world if I don't learn how to cook. So I
14:44
Speaker 2: was like, fuck it, I'm going to go work in
14:46
Speaker 2: a restaurant. I have no idea what I'm doing. I
14:49
Speaker 2: honestly to this day, don't know why I got hired
14:51
Speaker 2: because in retrospect, like I was a total mess. I
14:55
Speaker 2: remember the first time that I, like day one, working
14:58
Speaker 2: the line in a restaurant. The chef must have seen
15:01
Speaker 2: something in me I don't know, and he was like
15:03
Speaker 2: I was like shadowing the line, cook on the line,
15:06
Speaker 2: and he was like, hey, Molly, pick up the chicken.
15:08
Speaker 2: And I was like okay, okay. And I opened up
15:10
Speaker 2: the oven and there was like a chicken roasting in
15:12
Speaker 2: the oven in a skillet at four hundred and fifty
15:14
Speaker 2: degrees and I was like I don't what, where's the
15:17
Speaker 2: Like I don't have an oven mit? Like could someone
15:19
Speaker 2: get me an oven mitt? And they just like looked
15:20
Speaker 2: at me like we don't use oven mits and kitchens.
15:24
Speaker 2: We use like side towels and rags, and like I
15:26
Speaker 2: didn't know. I didn't even know what to do. I
15:29
Speaker 2: was like, how do I get the chicken out of
15:30
Speaker 2: the oven?
15:31
Speaker 3: Like I'm gonna burn myself.
15:32
Speaker 4: It was like this at the Boston restaurant.
15:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, at the Beigonhelby Strow and someone passed me a
15:37
Speaker 2: side towel. She was like a dish towel, and I
15:39
Speaker 2: was like, okay, got it, like keep side towels onto you.
15:43
Speaker 2: It's like I was a mess, but I knew that
15:47
Speaker 2: being put into that environment would teach me like so
15:50
Speaker 2: much faster than I then, like going to a cooking
15:55
Speaker 2: school and having like a formal but like slower education.
15:58
Speaker 3: And I think I'm kind of like a let's get
16:01
Speaker 3: to the point kind of person.
16:03
Speaker 1: So after the Beacon Hill Bistro, you went on to
16:07
Speaker 1: a Brooklyn restaurant that was like high end food.
16:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I did Beacon Hill Bistro too. Then I
16:14
Speaker 2: went into fine dining in Manhattan. So I went to
16:18
Speaker 2: this restaurant called piachelin Ooh and that was like very
16:23
Speaker 2: like fourteen course tasting menu, super like French brigade system kitchen,
16:28
Speaker 2: like very classic what you expect when you think about
16:30
Speaker 2: like a Gnarley kitchen. And I worked there for like
16:33
Speaker 2: a year and like cried every day in the bathroom.
16:35
Speaker 3: I was like, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna learn everything.
16:38
Speaker 4: Everyone has a cry every day at Yorks Story, Yeah.
16:40
Speaker 3: That was mine.
16:41
Speaker 2: And I was like treated like absolute shit but had
16:44
Speaker 2: to wear with all to be like this isn't forever,
16:46
Speaker 2: like I'm learning so much. And then I went to
16:48
Speaker 2: Brooklyn and I worked at this like British gastro pub
16:51
Speaker 2: for a year, and then I worked at this restaurant
16:53
Speaker 2: called The Glassary, which I don't know if you've been
16:56
Speaker 2: to Kismet here, but the same chef Sarah and Sarah
16:59
Speaker 2: who opened ran the restaurant were the chefs of the
17:02
Speaker 2: restaurant in Brooklyn that I last worked at.
17:05
Speaker 1: So I heard you talk about this because you said
17:07
Speaker 1: it was the first time you worked for a woman.
17:09
Speaker 4: Yes, and it was a completely different experience.
17:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, like way more sensitive and emotional and like harder
17:19
Speaker 2: and better all at the same time. Why harder harder,
17:24
Speaker 2: Because like I felt like other like there was a
17:28
Speaker 2: lot of women in the kitchen. It was like pretty
17:31
Speaker 2: much all women. I was like scared to hurt feelings,
17:33
Speaker 2: and feelings got hurt. And you know, a restaurant is
17:36
Speaker 2: like such an intense, high stress environment that it's like
17:40
Speaker 2: easy for things to snap and like miscommunications to happen
17:43
Speaker 2: and people to feel unsupported, and so it was like
17:46
Speaker 2: emotionally challenging. And then also like felt so good to
17:51
Speaker 2: be able to like be a woman in a restaurant
17:54
Speaker 2: and like not have to hide the fact that you
17:56
Speaker 2: like have emotions and are sensitive and like your feelings
17:59
Speaker 2: might get hurt if like someone doesn't hold you down
18:02
Speaker 2: on prep.
18:02
Speaker 3: You know. Yeah, so it was a bit of both.
18:05
Speaker 1: Do you feel like now that you work for yourself,
18:08
Speaker 1: you get to be who you fully are?
18:11
Speaker 2: And that's the greatest like joy I have every day
18:14
Speaker 2: is like I feel like I have people around me
18:18
Speaker 2: who celebrate me, and that's why they're around me because
18:21
Speaker 2: I'm like I feel I feel seen by the people
18:24
Speaker 2: I work with and really supported.
18:27
Speaker 3: And like I can be.
18:31
Speaker 2: Like vulnerable with them and like disappointed in things and
18:35
Speaker 2: not feel like I'm being like a Debbie Downer. And
18:37
Speaker 2: I can also be like kind of a dumb ass
18:39
Speaker 2: when I need to and I'm not being judged. And
18:42
Speaker 2: when when it's like when I run the show and
18:44
Speaker 2: I'm choosing who those people are that like make me
18:47
Speaker 2: feel safe and good, that feels really incredible. You Know.
18:52
Speaker 1: There's this guy Matt Higgins who I had on the podcast.
18:55
Speaker 1: He's in like the VC World, and he was a
18:57
Speaker 1: guest on Shark Tank and he said when he was
18:59
Speaker 1: looking for a life partner, it was the same as
19:02
Speaker 1: when he was looking for employees, and it was like people.
19:05
Speaker 3: Will say, oh, like VC energy, but I liked what
19:09
Speaker 3: he said.
19:10
Speaker 1: He said that everybody will tell you like, find somebody
19:13
Speaker 1: who like really brings you down to earth, who keeps
19:15
Speaker 1: you grounded as yourself. And he was like, the whole
19:18
Speaker 1: world keeps me grounded. I want someone who can show
19:20
Speaker 1: me I can fly. And I was like, yes, that.
19:24
Speaker 3: Energy, Oh my god, that one hundred.
19:26
Speaker 4: And it's the same with people you work with totally.
19:28
Speaker 2: My agent and my manager both are that, like that's awesome.
19:32
Speaker 2: My agent is a woman named Nicole, my manager Ben,
19:34
Speaker 2: and they like will do anything for me and like
19:37
Speaker 2: I know how deeply they love me and feel me
19:41
Speaker 2: and like know who I am in the world and can.
19:43
Speaker 3: Help me navigate it.
19:44
Speaker 2: When I'm like, this is the first time I'm ever
19:45
Speaker 2: doing X, Y or Z. Yeah, I feel like they
19:48
Speaker 2: do exactly that for me.
19:50
Speaker 1: Speaking of first times, you work at these restaurants and
19:54
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden you start doing work at
19:57
Speaker 1: bon Apetite, and I love the story you tell because
20:02
Speaker 1: you were like I worked there like one day a week,
20:04
Speaker 1: and I.
20:05
Speaker 4: Thought that was it, Like I had it.
20:08
Speaker 2: I was actually working at Epicurious, which is like the
20:11
Speaker 2: sister company, so it's like the digital sister brand to
20:16
Speaker 2: Bone Apetite, but it was right next door on the
20:20
Speaker 2: same floor as Boneaptite, and I was like, Okay, I'm
20:24
Speaker 2: going to get in here, and I recipe tested like
20:28
Speaker 2: once a week, and I would just like sneak into
20:30
Speaker 2: the Bone Appetite test kitchen, which just had these like
20:32
Speaker 2: big windows on the world downtown in New York, and
20:36
Speaker 2: I definitely think that and I guess this is something
20:41
Speaker 2: that's good about me. Like I felt so proud of
20:43
Speaker 2: myself for having even gotten in the door there that
20:47
Speaker 2: I was like, I'm peeking, Like this is as high
20:49
Speaker 2: as I can possibly go. I'm working for like a
20:52
Speaker 2: major food publication. It was Epicurious. But then I started
20:55
Speaker 2: working like little by little for BA but being a
20:58
Speaker 2: recipe tester, which means like I wasn't doing anything actually creative.
21:02
Speaker 2: I was helping just test other people's recipes and making
21:07
Speaker 2: sure that they like function properly. But no one was saying, like, Mollie,
21:10
Speaker 2: what do you want to cook at all? And then
21:11
Speaker 2: I started food styling for them, and it was the
21:13
Speaker 2: same thing. It was like making other people's food look good.
21:15
Speaker 2: But still I was like, oh my god, I've made it,
21:17
Speaker 2: have made it, have made it. And then just like
21:19
Speaker 2: kind of kept getting better. And then at one point
21:22
Speaker 2: they were like, do you want to develop a recipe?
21:25
Speaker 2: And I was like yeah, And then from there it
21:28
Speaker 2: was do you want to just like maybe try being
21:32
Speaker 2: on camera. You can like shoot a video and we'll
21:35
Speaker 2: see how it goes. And it just like I just
21:37
Speaker 2: I had died and gone to heaven.
21:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you just you set your sights on it.
21:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, I had.
21:42
Speaker 2: That is one thing that people say, or like my
21:46
Speaker 2: my best friend Rachel always says, she's like you are
21:49
Speaker 2: a manifestor like you know what you want and like
21:52
Speaker 2: you say it and then like you've manifested. And it
21:56
Speaker 2: doesn't mean that you're like forcing through trudging through things,
22:00
Speaker 2: but like for whatever reason, like the energy you put
22:02
Speaker 2: in the world, like manifest the things that you want.
22:04
Speaker 2: And so I feel like it kind of manifested that
22:07
Speaker 2: whole job for myself. I also like asked for the job, right,
22:12
Speaker 2: but you got to do a lot of manifesting.
22:14
Speaker 4: Also, how did you manifest the next phase?
22:19
Speaker 3: So like the cookbook and like going on into my
22:21
Speaker 3: own phase.
22:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you leave BA and you've never worked for
22:26
Speaker 1: yourself before, and kitchens are very structured places, do not
22:30
Speaker 1: be late, show up at this time, and like everything
22:34
Speaker 1: is kind.
22:34
Speaker 4: Of there for you.
22:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, Honestly, I think I wouldn't have been able to
22:41
Speaker 2: manifest this second phase of my career where I am
22:44
Speaker 2: my own boss if I hadn't been given the votal
22:48
Speaker 2: confidence from my cookbook publisher initially, Like I got an
22:52
Speaker 2: email out of the blue from them when they were
22:54
Speaker 2: first interested in working together, and it was like the
22:57
Speaker 2: dream email to receive. That was like I saw the
23:01
Speaker 2: Penguin Random House, like as the at Penguin Random House
23:05
Speaker 2: dot com, and it was like from this woman Jen.
23:07
Speaker 3: I didn't know who Jen was at the time.
23:09
Speaker 2: She's now my editor, but I just remembered being like,
23:12
Speaker 2: oh my god, like I've I have died and gone
23:15
Speaker 2: to heaven.
23:15
Speaker 3: I got the email from like the publishing house.
23:18
Speaker 4: And they reached out to you.
23:20
Speaker 2: They reach out to me because they had seen me
23:22
Speaker 2: on camera at FT and they probably were like, it's
23:25
Speaker 2: a rising.
23:25
Speaker 1: Star energy, but it's very different energy when you reach
23:28
Speaker 1: out to them versus when they reach out to you.
23:29
Speaker 2: Totally different and so That's what I mean that, like
23:32
Speaker 2: they really gave me the confidence to like look at
23:37
Speaker 2: myself in a different way. So to this point, I
23:40
Speaker 2: had been so like kind of at the service of
23:43
Speaker 2: the company I was working for and still sort of
23:46
Speaker 2: in disbelief that I'd even gotten as far as I
23:48
Speaker 2: had in my career, and certainly didn't think that anyone
23:51
Speaker 2: was going to be like and now like, let's it's
23:53
Speaker 2: the Molly Show.
23:54
Speaker 3: What cookbooks do you want to write?
23:56
Speaker 2: And so when I, after many conversations with them, finally
24:01
Speaker 2: got my first book deal that was just going to
24:03
Speaker 2: be like the Mollibas Cookbook, I think that was like
24:06
Speaker 2: a really pivotal shift in the way I perceived myself
24:11
Speaker 2: and my value to the world and my ability to
24:14
Speaker 2: like create something entirely my own that no one else
24:18
Speaker 2: was helping like curate for me. Like all of the
24:22
Speaker 2: work I did at bone Ft Magazine was like to
24:25
Speaker 2: develop recipes for a specific story that the magazine wanted
24:30
Speaker 2: to tell, And now I had this chance to write
24:32
Speaker 2: a book that was just like what story and food
24:34
Speaker 2: do I want to tell? Or like what do I
24:35
Speaker 2: feel like the world needs to learn about cooking just
24:38
Speaker 2: from my perspective period like nothing beyond that, and that
24:43
Speaker 2: I feel like was the moment.
24:45
Speaker 4: And you worked with designers who had never done cookbook
24:50
Speaker 4: layouts before.
24:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, why did you make that choice both times? Actually?
24:54
Speaker 2: So for my first book, yeah, I hired a French
24:57
Speaker 2: design team called Villenimi and then this second time around
25:01
Speaker 2: with this book, play Lab, which is an agency creative
25:05
Speaker 2: agency here in LA And I was very intentional about
25:08
Speaker 2: that because and kind of with everything I do, I'm like,
25:12
Speaker 2: I don't want to look like the spinning image of
25:15
Speaker 2: a cookbook or recipe developer or like chef or whatever
25:20
Speaker 2: it is that like people might call me. I want
25:23
Speaker 2: to do it like my way, in a way that
25:25
Speaker 2: feels unique. And I felt like hiring a design team
25:28
Speaker 2: that had done a million cookbooks before, they would have
25:32
Speaker 2: this idea of what a cookbook is supposed to look
25:35
Speaker 2: like and how a recipe is supposed to be laid out,
25:39
Speaker 2: and I was like, I don't want anyone to come
25:41
Speaker 2: in with preconceived notions about that. I want to like
25:44
Speaker 2: rethink it all. And I feel like as a result,
25:47
Speaker 2: the book, like both of them look you know, the
25:51
Speaker 2: insides look like cookbooks and on the outside They're like.
25:54
Speaker 3: Is it a cookbook? Is it an art book?
25:56
Speaker 1: Like?
25:56
Speaker 3: What is it? And I like that sort of ambiguity.
26:00
Speaker 4: Do you miss the adrenaline of working in a kitchen
26:02
Speaker 4: at all?
26:03
Speaker 2: Yes, big time? Like that's definitely the biggest loss. I think,
26:07
Speaker 2: do you get it elsewhere? Are you skydiving? What's at all?
26:10
Speaker 2: Not really Like I'm like running on the treadmill and
26:13
Speaker 2: being like, way to go, But like I don't have
26:17
Speaker 2: it baked into my life in the same way.
26:20
Speaker 3: I don't.
26:20
Speaker 2: Honestly can't think when the last time I had like
26:22
Speaker 2: an adrenaline rush akin to getting through service.
26:27
Speaker 4: The steaks are so high.
26:28
Speaker 1: I was a waitress at an Italian restaurant and it
26:31
Speaker 1: was a Friday night, which is busy. Yeah, and somebody
26:35
Speaker 1: ordered like the broiled chicken and I forgot to put
26:37
Speaker 1: it in. And that's like a forty five minute wait
26:39
Speaker 1: if you don't put the chicken in.
26:41
Speaker 3: Yeah.
26:42
Speaker 4: I still to this day I feel PTSD. Yeah, that
26:45
Speaker 4: sort of host I haven't felt in any other career,
26:49
Speaker 4: Like the kitchens are insane, Yeah.
26:52
Speaker 2: I think, like and it's like the bad comes with
26:55
Speaker 2: the good, Like the good part of that is like
26:57
Speaker 2: it's exhilarating, and you like experience like a whole roller
27:00
Speaker 2: coaster of emotions every day you go to work, which
27:02
Speaker 2: is like no better way to feel alive, and then also.
27:06
Speaker 3: Like it's terrible, no better way to have a hard Yeah,
27:09
Speaker 3: like the.
27:11
Speaker 2: The bads are really bad, you know. And so now
27:13
Speaker 2: like things are mellow ish in my kitchen.
27:19
Speaker 1: If you're just tuning in, let me catch you up.
27:21
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Speaker 1: I'm fascinated by this concept, and I'm so curious about
29:23
Speaker 1: your pulse on this. It seems like so much of
29:25
Speaker 1: your career has come from just a place of yes.
29:29
Speaker 1: How do you now at this stage determine when you
29:32
Speaker 1: say yes versus when you say no?
29:34
Speaker 3: Very easily?
29:35
Speaker 2: And I think I figured this out kind of right
29:38
Speaker 2: when I was building this second chapter of my life,
29:42
Speaker 2: which is my career.
29:43
Speaker 3: On my own out I have outlined for myself what
29:49
Speaker 3: sort of my purpose is here as far as what
29:54
Speaker 3: like I want to.
29:55
Speaker 2: Do and accomplish in my career, And the purpose is
29:58
Speaker 2: I want to teach people how to cook. I want
30:00
Speaker 2: to make it easier for people to eat deliciously in
30:04
Speaker 2: the comfort of their own homes. And I want people
30:06
Speaker 2: to like find the joy in it where it can
30:09
Speaker 2: otherwise be stressful. And so as opportunities come my way,
30:14
Speaker 2: they're all basically filtered through that lens of like, am
30:17
Speaker 2: I getting closer to my goal? Like am I landing
30:20
Speaker 2: one more meal on somebody's table? And so if that's
30:23
Speaker 2: through starting a recipe club, knowing that like I'm disseminating
30:27
Speaker 2: my recipes out.
30:28
Speaker 3: Into the world, taking cookbook deals.
30:30
Speaker 2: Starting a wine company because I'm like, I want people
30:32
Speaker 2: to be able to drink delicious wine. All of all
30:36
Speaker 2: of the opportunities that are coming my way get filtered
30:39
Speaker 2: through that system, and it's like then very easy to
30:42
Speaker 2: be like, you know.
30:44
Speaker 4: I really like that.
30:45
Speaker 1: So do you ever like you'll have an opportunity come
30:48
Speaker 1: your way and then look at your purpose like read
30:50
Speaker 1: it on your computer and say one hundred.
30:51
Speaker 2: I mean it's in my head because I know it
30:53
Speaker 2: so well. But my manager also like very much knows that.
30:56
Speaker 2: That's sort of the north star, and so it's a
30:59
Speaker 2: conversation that we're constantly happening.
31:01
Speaker 4: Does the purpose ever evolve for you? Or is it
31:03
Speaker 4: pretty It's.
31:04
Speaker 3: Been the same.
31:05
Speaker 2: It's always been that, and you know, like it can
31:08
Speaker 2: kind of take on different forms. Like there's a very
31:11
Speaker 2: literal way to interpret it, which is like did I
31:14
Speaker 2: deliver a recipe to someone? And then there's like did
31:17
Speaker 2: I deliver on the like experience of creating joy around
31:22
Speaker 2: eating cooking, making it less stressful, making it more fun,
31:26
Speaker 2: less serious, more casual. That's sort of like the broader
31:29
Speaker 2: goal and objective and a lot of things will filter
31:32
Speaker 2: into that.
31:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, you said it's exhausting to work for yourself, but
31:38
Speaker 1: you've also said that you've never felt burnout like when
31:40
Speaker 1: you were in a kitchen.
31:42
Speaker 4: Yeah, where do you stand now?
31:46
Speaker 2: I feel momentary, fleeting moments of burnout yea, Like right now,
31:53
Speaker 2: I am like pretty close, to be honest, I'm like
31:57
Speaker 2: gearing up for my book tour, which is happening in
31:59
Speaker 2: like three weeks, and looking at my schedule like kind
32:04
Speaker 2: of gives me hives because there's just like so many
32:08
Speaker 2: asks from so many people, but it's all also such
32:12
Speaker 2: incredible opportunity and I'm like so excited to do every
32:15
Speaker 2: single one of them that I take so much.
32:20
Speaker 4: On burnout and the term burnout a lot, But exhaustion
32:23
Speaker 4: on your own terms is better than exhaustion on someone else's.
32:26
Speaker 2: Term, totally, And I think I know I have a
32:29
Speaker 2: pretty good sense of like where my limits are and
32:32
Speaker 2: can manage, like even though my schedule is like totally
32:35
Speaker 2: bonkers right now, and like for most people, it would
32:37
Speaker 2: just be like absurd to even like entertain the idea
32:41
Speaker 2: of taking another photo shoot next week, which I'm going
32:43
Speaker 2: to do. I can feel when I'm like gonna snap,
32:47
Speaker 2: and I never let it get there.
32:51
Speaker 3: And yeah, so I say yes to a lot.
32:53
Speaker 2: Of things, but I'm so invigorated by what I do
32:56
Speaker 2: that like that oftentimes really outweighs any like sense of burnout.
33:01
Speaker 4: How do you balance it with a partner?
33:04
Speaker 1: And I'm going to use the word nourishment because we're
33:06
Speaker 1: talking about food, but like you're nourishing your business, you're
33:09
Speaker 1: nourishing yourself at a moment of exhaustion. Like I know
33:16
Speaker 1: being a wife is really important to you too.
33:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm glad you brought it up because in our
33:21
Speaker 2: conversation yesterday you were asking, like what's a failure or
33:25
Speaker 2: what's something that you failed at? And what I came
33:29
Speaker 2: up with involves this exactly, Like I really oftentimes put
33:35
Speaker 2: my career in all of the chaos and moving parts
33:39
Speaker 2: of it first and to the detriment of like my
33:43
Speaker 2: family life. And that could be like whether it be
33:47
Speaker 2: with regards to my partner, or like staying in touch
33:50
Speaker 2: with my parents on the other side of the country,
33:54
Speaker 2: or making time for friends that I haven't seen or
33:56
Speaker 2: talked to me a long time, Like the pace of
33:59
Speaker 2: life feels so fast to me right now, and I'm
34:03
Speaker 2: really really working on slowing that down and finding balance.
34:06
Speaker 3: I started working.
34:07
Speaker 2: With a life coach recently who has like totally kind
34:11
Speaker 2: of shifted the paradigm for me and helped me realize
34:15
Speaker 2: that like sprinting to the finish line isn't the most
34:19
Speaker 2: graceful way to go about building something as big as
34:23
Speaker 2: I want to build, and that there is something to
34:27
Speaker 2: be said for slowing it down and like relishing in
34:31
Speaker 2: every moment of it a bit more so that it
34:33
Speaker 2: doesn't just like whiz by you and in doing so,
34:37
Speaker 2: allow you to make space and time for people who,
34:41
Speaker 2: like you, would regret so deeply having not made time
34:45
Speaker 2: for if you got to the other end and look
34:47
Speaker 2: back and were like, oh shit.
34:48
Speaker 3: Yeah.
34:48
Speaker 2: And so that's something that has troubled me in the past,
34:52
Speaker 2: because it's so hard to slow down when there's so
34:54
Speaker 2: much momentum and that I'm like constantly working on.
34:58
Speaker 4: I think that I resonate with that so deeply.
35:02
Speaker 3: Yeah.
35:02
Speaker 4: I appreciate your honesty. Yeah, Yeah, it's exhausting.
35:06
Speaker 3: Yeah.
35:08
Speaker 1: Your first cookbook is called cook this book, so it's
35:11
Speaker 1: all about essentials. Yeah, and you say you simply need
35:14
Speaker 1: to set yourself up for success in the kitchen in
35:17
Speaker 1: order to truly enjoy it totally.
35:20
Speaker 4: I'm gonna be really honest with you right now.
35:23
Speaker 1: Not only do I feel totally inept in the kitchen,
35:26
Speaker 1: but I do not enjoy it.
35:28
Speaker 3: Okay, why don't you enjoy it?
35:31
Speaker 4: Part of it is that I feel like I don't
35:33
Speaker 4: know what I'm doing.
35:33
Speaker 3: Yep.
35:35
Speaker 1: The other part is I live in like a one
35:37
Speaker 1: bedroom apartment in West Hollywood, so my kitchen's a little like, yeah,
35:41
Speaker 1: it's hard to move around. Yeah, and similar to what
35:44
Speaker 1: you said, it's so easy to order sweet greens and
35:48
Speaker 1: have a delicious meal. Yeah, I'm nervous. I'm gonna have
35:51
Speaker 1: kids one day and not know how to feed them.
35:53
Speaker 3: I'm nervous for you too. That's literally like why I'm here.
35:56
Speaker 3: I know, like I'm nervous for people like us.
35:59
Speaker 2: This is sort of like what my whole philosophy boils
36:02
Speaker 2: down to, which is that if it's not fun, you're
36:06
Speaker 2: never going to pick it up and do it.
36:07
Speaker 3: It's going to be the last thing that you want
36:09
Speaker 3: to do.
36:09
Speaker 2: And you're gonna find a million reasons why tonight is
36:12
Speaker 2: not the night to cook a meal and So my
36:14
Speaker 2: whole sort of like theory on cooking is that, like
36:20
Speaker 2: it is my job to break down the barriers to
36:22
Speaker 2: entry for someone like you, to deliver a meal that
36:25
Speaker 2: can be made in a kitchen with like sizing constraints
36:29
Speaker 2: and that doesn't use like seven hundred pots and pants,
36:32
Speaker 2: that you're not like super annoyed that you have to
36:34
Speaker 2: do all the dishes afterwards, and to deliver the message
36:37
Speaker 2: of it and the language around it and the direction
36:40
Speaker 2: in a way that is like lighthearted and playful and
36:43
Speaker 2: like uses goofy words so that I can signal to
36:47
Speaker 2: you that, like it's just not that deep.
36:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not that serious.
36:49
Speaker 4: And I don't have to google the words you're using totally.
36:52
Speaker 2: They're colloquial, and I think that's like the ticket to
36:55
Speaker 2: enjoying it.
36:56
Speaker 4: And so, so More is More, which is your new cookbook?
37:00
Speaker 3: Will you grab it?
37:00
Speaker 4: Because it's so pretty? I want to show everybody, Yeah, Okay,
37:04
Speaker 4: More is More.
37:05
Speaker 1: Yeah this is really well designed, and I love the
37:09
Speaker 1: red Okay, but if I pick up More is More,
37:11
Speaker 1: you're saying, I can sift through it and like go
37:15
Speaker 1: to the grocery store and I could do this.
37:17
Speaker 2: One thousand percent so this book was made with like
37:22
Speaker 2: every average national grocery store in mind, so like it's
37:26
Speaker 2: not going to call for something that you're going to
37:27
Speaker 2: special order online, that's for sure.
37:30
Speaker 3: This looks so good, so good.
37:32
Speaker 2: A piece of fish, some potatoes, some lemons, some parsley,
37:35
Speaker 2: some walnuts.
37:36
Speaker 1: I love how you mix cultures too. Yeah, like I
37:40
Speaker 1: see some Asian fusion here.
37:42
Speaker 3: Yeah.
37:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I pull from like all of my
37:44
Speaker 2: eating experiences. I feel like the other thing is that
37:48
Speaker 2: this little guy, his name is Leroy the Lemon, I
37:51
Speaker 2: named him, and he signifies a recipe that's like super quick,
37:55
Speaker 2: so when it's a cleat cook, yeah, so like this
37:58
Speaker 2: one probably takes fifteen minutes.
38:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's your homeide. And so there are like little
38:05
Speaker 3: things throughout the book that helps you through it.
38:08
Speaker 1: So part of me feels like you're such a less
38:10
Speaker 1: is more person, So why title it more is More?
38:13
Speaker 2: My feeling is that sort of what sets apart a
38:16
Speaker 2: really amateur novice cook from a professional one is this ability,
38:22
Speaker 2: yeah you from me, is this ability to sort of
38:24
Speaker 2: like take control of your kitchen and just like go
38:27
Speaker 2: for it and like throw in some herbs and squeeze
38:29
Speaker 2: some lemon juice in there and season with your hands
38:32
Speaker 2: and lose the measuring spoons and that it's like a
38:34
Speaker 2: more is more mentality of like go for it, taste
38:38
Speaker 2: as you go, keep adding, keep tasting, like no timidity,
38:43
Speaker 2: not we're not doing like a little bit of pepper flakes,
38:47
Speaker 2: Like let's taste it. Let's learn what our limitations are.
38:50
Speaker 2: And so it's like it's a maximus is maybe not
38:54
Speaker 2: the right word, but like.
38:54
Speaker 4: A no fear of failure.
38:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's being fearless.
38:59
Speaker 2: It's being confident in yourself and knowing that like you
39:04
Speaker 2: are going to fuck it up occasionally, but like you're
39:08
Speaker 2: gonna learn so much from that mistake that it will
39:11
Speaker 2: pay off in the long run because you'll never do
39:15
Speaker 2: that again and you'll like learn something about it. And
39:17
Speaker 2: so it's just like it's about like just like going
39:19
Speaker 2: the extra mile.
39:20
Speaker 3: Yeah.
39:21
Speaker 1: So I know you always carry a tiny tin of
39:25
Speaker 1: mouth is it mouthed malden, Yeah, mold and flaky sea
39:27
Speaker 1: salt in your bag.
39:28
Speaker 3: Yeah.
39:28
Speaker 1: And then I saw your tattoo and it's also indicates
39:32
Speaker 1: the salt of salt.
39:34
Speaker 3: What is it?
39:35
Speaker 2: I think for me, the maybe first thing that any
39:38
Speaker 2: cook needs to learn how to do is season properly.
39:41
Speaker 2: Food does not taste like or ingredients do not taste
39:49
Speaker 2: like themselves until they are seasoned.
39:51
Speaker 3: Okay, So, like.
39:53
Speaker 2: A boiled potato can be a totally glorious thing on
39:58
Speaker 2: its own if the water has been properly seasoned, and
40:02
Speaker 2: if it hasn't, it just tastes like starch, like chalky
40:06
Speaker 2: axi starch, with like nothing pulling out. It's like very natural,
40:11
Speaker 2: innate essence. And so for me, it's not like I
40:13
Speaker 2: like salty food. It's like I want everyone to taste
40:17
Speaker 2: food the way it's like meant to be tasted, and
40:19
Speaker 2: salt brings those inherent flavors out.
40:22
Speaker 3: It's a multiplier of flavor.
40:24
Speaker 4: Okay, So you did a podcast all about sandwiches, Yeah,
40:28
Speaker 4: which the whole podcast is about sandwiches.
40:32
Speaker 1: So I that's the one thing I can make. Can
40:35
Speaker 1: you build me the perfect sandwich.
40:37
Speaker 2: Right here on the spodcast? Yeah, I certainly can. So.
40:41
Speaker 2: So I think like the the glory of a great
40:44
Speaker 2: sandwich is a balance of like texture, fattiness, saltiness, and acid.
40:51
Speaker 2: And so there's a reason that the like Italian hogi
40:56
Speaker 2: is sort of like an iconic sub and there's a
40:59
Speaker 2: recipe in this book.
41:01
Speaker 3: For my version of it, you almost flipped right to it.
41:04
Speaker 3: Oh perfect, it's spread.
41:06
Speaker 4: Okay, wait, build me this sandwich.
41:08
Speaker 3: I will.
41:09
Speaker 2: So we've got like a crusty sesame loaf that has
41:13
Speaker 2: like some gives so that when you bite down into it,
41:17
Speaker 2: it does all the innerds don't explode out.
41:19
Speaker 3: Okay.
41:20
Speaker 2: Then we have our fattiness in the form of all
41:23
Speaker 2: these cured meats, and those are also where the saltiness
41:26
Speaker 2: comes in because they're cured and they're salty. And then
41:29
Speaker 2: we've got crunchiness in the form of shredded iceberg and
41:34
Speaker 2: jardinera and like pickley things that have crunch and texture
41:37
Speaker 2: to them. And then that's where all of the acid
41:40
Speaker 2: is happening as well. So there's like the jardinera is
41:43
Speaker 2: like a pickle brine, and then it's tossed with red
41:45
Speaker 2: wine vinegar.
41:47
Speaker 3: And then I have.
41:48
Speaker 2: Added Calabrian chili here because I like spicy sandwiches. But
41:52
Speaker 2: that's like how you build a like holistically balanced sandwich.
41:56
Speaker 1: I would have never thought that you're supposed to stack
41:59
Speaker 1: it in a certain way for crunch and all of that.
42:02
Speaker 4: That's very cool to.
42:03
Speaker 2: The architecture of a sandwich is just as important as
42:06
Speaker 2: what's in it, because like the eating experience can be ruined.
42:09
Speaker 2: Like in a really like simplified example of this is
42:12
Speaker 2: like when you get a burger and instead of the
42:15
Speaker 2: burger sitting on the tomato, it's sitting right on the lettuce,
42:18
Speaker 2: and by the time you eat it, the lettuce is
42:20
Speaker 2: hot and wilted, and you're like, why is the lettuce
42:22
Speaker 2: even here? Like it's not doing its job. But if
42:24
Speaker 2: you put a tomato in between the patty and the lettuce,
42:27
Speaker 2: it's a barrier and the lettuce days crisp.
42:29
Speaker 4: So like architecture, okay, anywhere in the world, what is
42:35
Speaker 4: what is your favorite restaurant to eat at?
42:37
Speaker 2: The place I dream of and like we'll go back
42:40
Speaker 2: to every time I am. There is called Ches George
42:45
Speaker 2: and it's in Paris, and it's a really really old
42:48
Speaker 2: school steakhouse and it's really boisterous and it's like a tiny,
42:54
Speaker 2: little long corridor of a restaurant, like you can barely
42:57
Speaker 2: make your way through the line of tables and then
42:59
Speaker 2: you get sat in a booth and the man who
43:02
Speaker 2: runs the restaurant comes over and he like carts over
43:06
Speaker 2: a table side cart of pete and riettes and pickles
43:11
Speaker 2: and bread and butter, and he just like takes a
43:12
Speaker 2: big scoop out of it and just like slops it
43:15
Speaker 2: onto your plate. And it's just like the most visceral
43:19
Speaker 2: eating experience. And I already love Paris, like even if
43:23
Speaker 2: that restaurant didn't exist.
43:25
Speaker 3: So to me, that is like the one.
43:28
Speaker 4: I love your vocabulary. The way you describe things. I
43:31
Speaker 4: feel like I'm there with you. Oh okay, rapid fire. Yeah,
43:36
Speaker 4: for Molly's More is more.
43:38
Speaker 1: Food is about flavors and recipes and culture and memories,
43:42
Speaker 1: And to me, I think so much is about nourishment.
43:45
Speaker 1: Like I said, how are you nourishing yourself right now?
43:48
Speaker 1: Especially in this busy season.
43:50
Speaker 2: I am getting massages and I am putting calendar invites
43:57
Speaker 2: on my calendar with my husband to do like seven
44:01
Speaker 2: to ten minute walks around our property, which is so
44:04
Speaker 2: crazy that we have to, but like stepping out of
44:06
Speaker 2: the headspace and going for a walk outside and like
44:10
Speaker 2: leaving the phones behind is everything I need to.
44:12
Speaker 4: Reset in seven to ten minutes, We'll do it.
44:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, totally.
44:16
Speaker 4: Can you beat Bobby Flay?
44:18
Speaker 3: Oh my god, I've never tried.
44:21
Speaker 4: Yes, if I don't know what wine to order, what's
44:24
Speaker 4: like a basic thing I can ask for.
44:28
Speaker 2: I would say that the best way to approach, like
44:32
Speaker 2: going into a restaurant and a wineless that you're just
44:34
Speaker 2: like I don't even know, is to ask the waitress,
44:37
Speaker 2: like give them your use the vocabulary.
44:40
Speaker 3: That you have available to you.
44:42
Speaker 2: And it's like, are you in the mood for something
44:44
Speaker 2: like strong and bold and like in your face or
44:47
Speaker 2: are you feeling like light and ethereal and like use
44:50
Speaker 2: other words to describe what you're looking for and let
44:53
Speaker 2: the somlier guide you towards a wine that like embodies
44:58
Speaker 2: that characteristic.
44:59
Speaker 1: That's great. What's a book that you've read that changed
45:02
Speaker 1: your life? Something you think everybody should read?
45:04
Speaker 3: Pretty much every of Ruth Reichel's books.
45:08
Speaker 2: She's been an idol for a really long time, and
45:11
Speaker 2: growing up I read all of her memoirs and just
45:13
Speaker 2: like got lost in the way that she describes food.
45:16
Speaker 2: It's just like, interesting that you said your vocabulary, because
45:19
Speaker 2: the way that Ruth Reischel describes the experience of eating
45:25
Speaker 2: is unlike anyone I've ever met, and so like for
45:28
Speaker 2: someone who's so curious about it. All of her novels
45:32
Speaker 2: are just like incredibly compelling.
45:35
Speaker 1: Will you grab the card game right behind you? Okay,
45:38
Speaker 1: so open it up. Choose a card that feels right
45:43
Speaker 1: to you, Just any card. What's this one that's the explainer?
45:48
Speaker 3: Oh? Okay, okay, should read it up?
45:51
Speaker 4: Yeah please?
45:52
Speaker 2: What is your earliest memory slash example of what success
45:56
Speaker 2: looked like? How did that impact you? Well?
45:59
Speaker 1: You got it?
46:00
Speaker 3: Deep one, very deep. Okay.
46:02
Speaker 2: This may not involve success as much as it does
46:08
Speaker 2: like self assuredness and sense of self. But my brother
46:14
Speaker 2: growing up was like constantly reinventing himself and had like
46:20
Speaker 2: so many what we just like would call phases of
46:22
Speaker 2: like the way he kind of like held himself.
46:25
Speaker 3: In the world and the way he dressed.
46:27
Speaker 2: And I think that it like instilled in me the
46:32
Speaker 2: realization that like you are never you're you are one
46:36
Speaker 2: person that has like a million different.
46:39
Speaker 3: Evolutions over the course of.
46:41
Speaker 2: Your life, and that you can kind of continually reinvent
46:44
Speaker 2: yourself and it's not just like you're not stuck as
46:47
Speaker 2: like you in your time and so like, while that's
46:50
Speaker 2: not like career success or financial success, I think that's
46:53
Speaker 2: like to me a really successful sense of self or
46:57
Speaker 2: like way of seeing yourself in the world to say,
47:00
Speaker 2: goot out to my brother Adam.
47:01
Speaker 4: That is really nice. Is he in New York?
47:04
Speaker 3: No, he's in La. He's the best.
47:06
Speaker 1: Okay, last question, what is the smartest decision you've ever made?
47:09
Speaker 2: To move to La which happened accidentally. I'm a generally
47:15
Speaker 2: very happy person, like I can find comforts and joys
47:19
Speaker 2: wherever I am, but it wasn't until I moved here
47:23
Speaker 2: that I really felt like I found my place. And
47:27
Speaker 2: I feel like joy, environmental joy every day of my life.
47:32
Speaker 2: And it feels like it has opened up so much
47:37
Speaker 2: in my life, like so many new friendships and connections
47:40
Speaker 2: and work pursuits and opportunities, and it just like I
47:43
Speaker 2: feel like I pulled the curtain back.
47:46
Speaker 4: So many people don't feel that when they moved to LA.
47:48
Speaker 2: I know, I think I'm always trying to convince people
47:50
Speaker 2: like it's really great, I swear, but I'm just like,
47:52
Speaker 2: that's my experience.
47:54
Speaker 1: I felt that way too. No, Yeah, I landed here.
47:56
Speaker 1: I didn't know anybody, and I was like, yeah, this
47:58
Speaker 1: is my place.
47:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, we found our place.
48:06
Speaker 1: Okay, you know what time it is, Today's a good
48:09
Speaker 1: day to have a good day. I'll see you next week.