Latest / Dishing with Stephanie's Dish / Lisa Steele

Transcript

Lisa Steele · Dishing with Stephanie's Dish

• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hello,
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: everybody,
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's Dish,
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: the podcast where we talk to cookbook writers and also people just as obsessed with
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: food as we are.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: And today I am talking with Lisa Steele, and I can already tell I'm going to be obsessed with her.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: She has written a cookbook called Fresh Eggs Daily Cookbook.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: She's also on Instagram at Fresh Eggs Daily.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: She's a fifth generation chicken grower.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: What do you call it?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a chicken farmer?
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Keeper.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: She can keep her work.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: But in addition to that, like that isn't enough.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Lisa has all kinds of knowledge about cooking.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: She you got a certificate that I didn't even know existed at a cooking school,
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: which is so cool about how to be a recipe developer.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: I did.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's at the Cordon Bleu, which is.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: the French cooking school and they offer an online,
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: which I found it during COVID because there were a lot of online courses at that time.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a recipe writing course, which was really wonderful.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: It was eight weeks or 10 weeks or something like that.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I learned a lot.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: It was great.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: I did it over the winter.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it gave me something to do, but yeah, I definitely recommend it.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: And you also have a blog that is where you post a lot of your recipes, Coop to Kitchen.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: And you have a TV show too that I'm excited about that I didn't know that you had
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: called Welcome to My Farm.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: How exciting is that?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: I do.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it's kind of,
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of confusing because all the names are different.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: At this point, I started out everything was fresh daily and it was so easy.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: And now everything,
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like it's going in different directions,
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: but that's okay too,
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: because I,
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like down the road,
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: it'll be easier to separate if I decide I want to bow out of one or the other.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess it's going to be good, but yeah, the show is going strong.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: We're working up a third season right now.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: There's two seasons out already and it's just,
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: it's kind of a day in the life,
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: come visit me,
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: come meet the chickens,
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: come meet a local farmer.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: let's pick something, let's bake something.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's really a lot of fun.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: You just posted something on your Instagram in the last eight hours that I already
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: knew I was going to love talking to you,
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: but it cemented it.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: You have the picture of this little chipmunk eating a nut.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm somewhat obsessed with animals eating food and I post them on my stories all the time.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: I just think it's like the cutest little sweetest little moment.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: I also am obsessed,
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: and since we don't have a guinea pig or a hamster or anything,
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: because they're also super cute,
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: I make do with the chipmunk that lives outside,
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: and he has little espresso cups that I epoxied the cup to the saucer,
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: so he has his little cups with his peanuts and his sunflower seeds and all that.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: That is just the best.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: I love that about you.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so...
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Can you just give me like walk me through your whole life?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm just kidding.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, tell me how you went from like raising poultry to this whole lifestyle brand.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: And what was your experience coming into this?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so my grandparents raised chickens.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: They were legit chicken farmers, like three-story, two-wing chicken barn.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's how they supported their family.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: They supplied local restaurants.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: They sold the egg.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: They sold the meat, the whole deal.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I grew up across the street, and we had a little flock.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: It was more like a hobby flock.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: I was in 4-H, you know, all that.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: We probably, we did.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: I know we ate my grandparents' chickens.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think we ate ours because we just had layers, but I know we ate my grandparents' chickens.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: It did not even dawn on me.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: It didn't even faze me.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: So fast forward, we're living in Virginia on a little farm, and it's 2009.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: And that I kind of feel was like the renaissance of the backyard chicken.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: It was the recession.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Homesteading was getting super popular.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: And
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, I didn't really love chickens.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: It wouldn't have been my first choice of an animal.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: When you grow up with an animal and it's just chores, the chickens were mean, the rooster was mean.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't really into it.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: My husband was not willing to go for goats.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: We went to the feed store.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: We got some baby chicks.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of funny because when you're a kid, you have your chores, but you're not really in charge.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Then as an adult, I was like, I got to keep these things alive.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: I did a real deep dive into the
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Very little amount of information there was out there at that time.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Facebook was brand new.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: There was no Instagram.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there was Pinterest, I guess, maybe, maybe not.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: And there really wasn't a lot of information out there.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: So when I started talking about it and posting it on Facebook, people were looking for a source.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I realized I actually kind of knew more than I thought I did.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: It took off super, super fast.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I was doing everything naturally because that's how we live our lives.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't spray chemicals on the garden.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: We don't, you know, we try to eat non-processed foods.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I was doing everything natural with the chickens.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that really resonated with people.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: And even still,
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm amazed that now,
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: what is it,
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: almost 20 years later,
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: 15 years later,
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: how little really good information is out there.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Still, you know, it's kind of funny.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: I started writing books for that reason because I couldn't find the information I
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: was going to,
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: the scientific sites and the extension service has a wonderful network of sites
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: across the different universities.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I was doing a lot of research and I started working with brands and then I had
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: access to a lot of the poultry scientists and people there that knew.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, so I was putting out this information just randomly.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: like turning it out.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, when I first started, I thought I'll start a blog.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'll write like 20 articles.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: And it was mostly an archive because people kept asking the same questions on
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Facebook and I was getting annoyed,
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: typing the same answers day after day.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought 20 articles, I'll cover the basics.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: And again, 15 years later, there's like 800 articles.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I have 80 articles in draft that I haven't written yet.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: And there's so much to talk about.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: So that was great.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: And that was going along and I was writing books.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: I wrote six books, I think, and like a book a year.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then kind of right before COVID, I decided I wanted to write a cookbook.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: I, it kind of, I always wanted to, and I kind of was like a pretend food blogger.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: I would put recipes on my chicken blog and people would read them only because they
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: were looking for the chicken stuff.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: But I said, you know, I want to write a cookbook.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's COVID.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: And my editor at the time wasn't really excited about that.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: He wanted to fast track another chicken book because everybody who didn't already
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: have chickens wanted them.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean,
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: sales were up like 500% at the hatcheries and my blog traffic was doubled and my
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: book sales were like,
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: it was crazy.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, no, I really just want to write a cookbook.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I hired an agent and got a book deal with HarperCollins, which was a big deal.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I wrote a cookbook, which people seem to love.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually,
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: we haven't really made it public yet,
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: but I just,
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't actually signed a deal yet,
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: but I do have another deal to write the second book with Harper Collins.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's so great.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I pivot, I think kind of was the word for COVID.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: everyone kind of had to pivot,
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: whether you were a restaurant,
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: you had to start doing takeout or cooking classes.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I kind of feel like I pivoted away one of the most popular topics during COVID,
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: and just denied.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think I want to talk about chickens anymore.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: I've been there, done that.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to do any more interviews about how to get started raising backyard chickens.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Because as soon as I started talking about the eggs, I realized that's really where my passion lay.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: I love our chickens.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, they're great.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: I love animals.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: But it's really the eggs.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: They're fascinating.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: There's so much to talk about.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: And plus, you can cook with them.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: You can bake with them.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: They're so versatile.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: There's so much you can do with them.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: And as soon as I kind of opened those floodgates,
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: I was like that, that I'm not looking back.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: So my blog is not going anywhere.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: My books are not going anywhere.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: They're, you know, they're a great resource.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: They're going to stick around, but I'm not really, I mean, I've written 800 articles.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: What more can I say?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: Those 80 drafts will probably stay in the draft folder forever.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: So you're really leaning into this Fresh Eggs Daily cookbook and this Fresh Eggs
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Daily brand more from a lifestyle perspective than a,
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: all the intricacies about chicken farming.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: Which, again, is still there.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: So if people come for that, that's great.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's there.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: But like I kind of had tapped out.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: The chicken community.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I forget what the numbers were before COVID.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, with over a million followers, that's probably pretty much everybody who raises chickens.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you raise chickens, you know it's me.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: And either you like me and follow me or you hate me, you're never going to follow me.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I kind of felt like I needed to move into something where there was a bigger audience,
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: which everybody eats.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: And pretty much everybody eats eggs.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like eggs are,
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: as my radio partner always says,
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: like,
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: you can always put an egg on something that's sort of like the basis of nutrition
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: and the egg in and of itself is like this complete protein,
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: just this perfect little food in a
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: handy transportable size and everything about eggs is great.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: You've got 100 recipes.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: And the way that you organize the chapters,
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: I thought was really interesting,
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: too,
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: where,
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: breakfast,
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: obviously.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: But then you talk about taking that same egg and what you can do with it through the midday process.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Into the evening and then, you know, sauces and baking and all the different ways that we we use eggs.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: I also loved the your cookbook was really bright and beautifully done.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: It was really pretty.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: And you had like this really cute little detail where you had this little.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: metal egg that was part of the bookmark and it was just so cute I've never like
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: paid attention in that level of detail before and I really thought that that was
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: like oh this is someone who it made the book feel like a real present to myself.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love that.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I actually made those.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: They're little charms, little fried egg charms that I found on Amazon.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I buy gold ribbon and, you know, hand tied them all.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: But I did think it was really cute.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought it was just a little extra touch.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: Loved.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that you did it yourself, too.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: You're so smart.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so are you bookmarks?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Are you like a total do it yourself?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Or like, do you figure out your photography is really good?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like, are you hiring all this stuff?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Or are you at home figuring it out?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: So for the book, we did have a professional photographer.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think they would have let me take my own photos.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: I do have to say though,
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: I am going back now and redoing all the recipes and the older ones,
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: 2012,
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: 2013 are really sad.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: I look at them and just cringe because I have gotten so much better as a
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: photographer and just silent food.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: I learned so much attending the photo shoots and I have such a good time
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: taking pictures of the food that I make,
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: for the blog,
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: which is great,
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: but I will,
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: I will never be a professional food photographer.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: I know some bloggers do take their own photos, but they're professionals.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: How do you feel about social media?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Are you doing most of it yourself?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I, I, how do I feel about it?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: I don't love it, but I do it all the time.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's the necessary evil.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: And yet you're really good at it.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean,
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: your page is really well trafficked and you have a lot of variety between sort of lifestyle,
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: obviously the chickens,
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: but also recipe.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it's kind of all mixed together.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: You have a really strong point of view.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: Did you ever like... I appreciate that.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's hard.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's the mistake not to...
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: not move on.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that's a mistake a lot of people make is they,
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: start making some money,
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: they start getting the following and then they start hiring out and they have
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: somebody schedule out or do their postings and you lose your voice,
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: you lose the spontaneity.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, I don't think you can build a brand if you're not the person behind it.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not going to be cohesive.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't, I used to be an accountant.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: I had spreadsheets and I used to schedule things out and pre-plan.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: And now I literally wake up, walk outside and
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: and take a picture or something.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Or come in and make breakfast and take a picture of it.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think when you lose that and you schedule out a month in advance,
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: it just doesn't come off as genuine.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's one thing you can't really farm out to somebody.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of things you could pay people to do.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that's one thing that you should hold on to.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's interesting that for sure I picked up on that because one,
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: I talked to a lot of food people and a lot of influencer people and your
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: authenticity really spoke to me and came through.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: in a big way.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I struggle with that myself because you want to have a life.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to be just totally trapped on your phone all the time.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I do social media for some other clients too.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: So there's just days where I'm like,
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: oh,
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't even want to look at this phone,
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: especially if I'm writing recipes or whatever.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: But I do believe that
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: that is part of the charm of it when you're really following somebody,
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: like you're really getting into what their business is like and what their life is like.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: And, and it's fun.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like you really are what you see in your profile.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: My husband might say differently, but okay.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think and I'm talking mainly Instagram Facebook I dial it in I schedule out blog
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: posts because Facebook is just such a dumpster fire at this point you know so I
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: just schedule out a blog post a day it doesn't drive very much traffic huge
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: following it drives almost no traffic so I don't really concentrate there but I
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: think for Instagram you feel like you're actually reaching the person that you know
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: was holding that phone and I'm talking like even big celebrities and
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think that, yeah, I think that's a really important part of it.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: And also I don't care how many people like it or,
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: or share it or even comment because I'm not like,
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not an influencer.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I am a content creator, but that's not my focus.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm focusing on things that are alive for more than 15 seconds.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's no way I'm going to start doing a reel every single day.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: Those things take me all day long to do a 15 second reel.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: They take so long.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to concentrate on things that left like a cookbook,
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: like a TV show,
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: a blog post,
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: even things that you can go back in 10 years and it's still there.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not spending all day on something that 24 hours from now, nobody's going to be looking at.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a really good point.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: When you think about your recipes,
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: is there like a handful of recipes or a couple that you can think of that you're
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: real proud of that you feel like just really speak to who you are?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, one that I was very proud of was I've been frying eggs in cream just by accident.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't have any butter.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: I had cream.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Put the cream in the pan, put the eggs in.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: They were amazing.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: The whites were so creamy and delicious.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I tried baking them in cream.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: And the recipe was actually mentioned in the New York Times,
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: which was amazing to me because out of all the recipes in the book,
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: I would not think that would be like the one that would be picked out by the New
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: York Times,
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: you know.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think,
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean,
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think personally mastering omelets and soufflés,
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: I knew how to make both and I would make them and they wouldn't be beautiful or
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: pretty or perfect,
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: whatever.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: But for a cookbook, obviously you have to test and test again and test again.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: And you have to really try all different ways and come up with the best way.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel so comfortable now.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'll get up in the morning and just whip up an omelet,
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: which a lot of times before that would be the intention and it would end up
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: scrambled eggs because it wouldn't come out right.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: And now I can...
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: I can do an omelet without,
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: and that I think was just like a personal accomplishment because it's,
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: it's something that can be a little bit tricky sometimes.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I think everybody loves eggs, but you don't see like really refined recipes really with eggs.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought like the egg can be refined and beautiful or it can be super rustic and homey.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: like there's so many different kinds of treatment and just what an egg can amplify,
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: whether it's just leftovers,
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: for goodness sakes.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, everything with a fried egg on it is super delicious.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: When you think about your styling of your books and like,
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: are there cookbook authors that you admire that you go back to time and time again?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: it's funny because when I was writing the cookbook,
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean,
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: not knowing anything about writing a cookbook or how to put it together or even how
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: to break into chapters,
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: I went on Amazon.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: I bought almost every egg cookbook out there.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: And there weren't a ton.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: And some of them I bought used because they were almost out of print or whatever.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I looked through them.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: And the thing that I didn't like is a lot of them were just that.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Make a salad, put an egg on top.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: Make additionals, put an egg on top.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking, who needs a cookbook for that?
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I wanted...
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: recipes that were a little bit more, the egg was, you know, included in it.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I realized that in all the books that I looked at and read,
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: there was not a single one that had,
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: other than probably like Betty Crocker book that has every recipe under the sun,
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: but like there wasn't one book that had a lemon roll pie,
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: a Boston cream pie,
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: creme brulee,
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: eggs Benedict,
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: like all the classics,
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: all the things that really showcase the egg.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't find a single book that had all of them.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I wanted it to be a book where someone
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: had eggs and they had these classic recipes that they wanted to know how to make
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: because they're classics for a reason,
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: you know?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously recipe-wise, I know like everybody loves Ina.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: I love Nigella.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: She uses a lot of ingredients that I've never cooked with before.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: I get her newsletter and I love looking at them.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I love looking through cookbooks and, but I think it's more of,
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: I don't like this or I wouldn't use that font or,
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: I don't love the way that,
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: like I was looking at it more from a critical,
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: I mean,
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: I have,
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: like if I turn my camera,
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: I have shelves and shelves of cookbooks.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I found,
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: which is kind of an odd thing to say,
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: cookbooks written by men recently will be Dylan Hollis who does all those old
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: vintagey
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's he's just amazing.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: He's a cookbook of beautiful.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: But Nick DiGiovanni wrote a cookbook.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: It is beautiful.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: It is like juicy burgers and,
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: fried chicken sandwiches and like things are like drippy and they look great.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know why, but that's the kind of food that's appealing to me lately.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: Not like let's put some grains in a bowl or fill a mason jar with salad.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I like onion rings and burgers and salad.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: steaks and I don't know maybe to this grilling season but but a cookbook written by
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: a man definitely has much different recipes in it for the most part than one
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: written by a woman even if it is a baking book oh that's so interesting to think
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: about it from that standpoint I'll have to kind of spend some time with that
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: thought just thinking about like how it is so different more bold and the font is
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: different and the colors are different and it's yeah it's interesting
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: One thing that you did in your book that I thought was really clever was you have
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: like it broken down into how many eggs for the recipe.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are someone who has backyard chickens and all of a sudden you're awash
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: with eggs,
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: you can look for like the most heavy use egg recipes.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: And not even chickens, but maybe about a dozen eggs or two dozen eggs.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: You thought you were going to eat them.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: You didn't.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, I probably should use these up because they've been sitting in the fridge for a while.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of controversy about how long eggs last.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I know backyard farm eggs different than the eggs we get in the refrigerator store.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: But honest to God, you've been doing this and have had eggs in your whole life.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever felt like you got sick from an actual egg?
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: No, and I don't even think I've ever had an egg.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: In the refrigerator, go bad.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: Me neither.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we have eggs like everywhere.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like they're in the mudroom, they're piled up.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: I leave them in the coop.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes outside, I have had them go bad.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like they'll turn black inside, you crack it open, you know immediately it's gone bad.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: But I've never had an egg that's been in the refrigerator go bad.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: And even when I've really been concerned and I crack it into a separate bowl and
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking the white might be super watery.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: But that's about and I've seen some pictures of eggs that have gone bad and they
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: turn like shimmery pink and iridescent and greenish.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: And like, you're definitely going to know if it's gone bad.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I think, too.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: People are so freaked out.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: They're like dumping their eggs after a week in the refrigerator.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, what are you doing?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I've even read that the nutrition value doesn't really diminish much as the egg ages.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's more the quality of it.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: It just it thins out.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: It dries out.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of moisture has left the egg.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: Air has gotten in.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: so I laugh when people say,
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: oh,
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: for fluffy,
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: soft scrambled eggs,
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: add water or milk or cream.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking just use fresh eggs because they're like 70 percent water.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, good point.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: If you're using a fresh egg, it has so much moisture in it.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: You don't want to be adding any water.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, good point.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: Good point.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: I can never get chickens because I'm not home consistently enough to raise them
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: because they need care and tending.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I try to make friends with as many people that have chickens as I can.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: Which is, yeah, that's what I say to people.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to have your own chickens.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: Drive around your neighborhood.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm almost positive there's going to be a sign that somebody's selling eggs or go to a farmer's market.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the urban areas have great farmer's markets.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: They sure do.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking with Lisa Steele.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's Fresh Eggs Daily Cookbook.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: You can follow her TV show, Welcome to My Farm.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: And you can follow her blog, Coop to Kitchen.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: And people can follow you at Fresh Eggs Daily on Instagram and get cute little
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: chipmunk daily photos,
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: daily videos of the chipmunk eating little nuts.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: I was just like, oh, this is the cutest thing ever.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's been super fun to talk to you.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Is this a career that you thought you would have?
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you said you started out as an accountant.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: I did start out as an accountant.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: No, I never in a million years.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: And my grandmother was the chicken farmer and had chickens.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: I,
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think,
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think she might've been around for like my first book,
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: but she lived to be like 99 years old and you know,
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: she's passed away,
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: but I think she would be super proud,
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: them carrying on the family tradition in such a different way.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, then, then she did, then she and my grandfather did.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: Is your husband like surprised?
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Is he like, wow, here I have this wife who's this giant influencer in this marketplace?
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm surprised his eyes haven't rolled out of his head by this point, honestly.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: I know my husband's like, oh my God, you're 50 and you have this like whole other career happening.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's funny.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's when you sit back and you say,
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: I might be the most well-known backyard chicken keeper,
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: like in the world.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's crazy.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's crazy.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe I was crazy to pivot away from it.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: I should have just kept owning it, but it is all still there.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I wasn't going to start doing reels every day about my chickens anyway.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: So all the good stuff is still there.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: The information is still out there and, you know, hopefully people enjoy the recipes.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to evolve.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's what keeps it fun for you too.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: I can just the amount of mediums that you're in,
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: that you're blogging,
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: that you're doing a cookbook,
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: that you're doing the TV show,
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: that you're,
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: it's,
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: it's,
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: I have all that stuff too.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just an evolution of what's fun.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like you want to wake up every day and have fun in your work.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you can't burn out is a real thing.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: I belong to a couple of blog groups and,
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: the people who are purely influencers,
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think just churning out sponsored content,
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: they seem to burn out so fast.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and I can see that.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: I tried that for a while and I realized it wasn't worth it.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: The hoops you have to jump through for the little bit of money to work with a brand
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: that it's not a lasting relationship.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's just that campaign.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then they move on.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it just, it didn't make sense to me.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: I look at that.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: I need to do things that have like staying power.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I definitely feel that too.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely feel that.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Lisa, it's been a pleasure talking with you.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited about your next book.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure when it comes out, you give me a jingle and we'll put you back on the podcast.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: I definitely will.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I will.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: I will send you a copy with maybe another cute little bookmark.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that you like sit home and do that makes me so happy.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of detail that I love in an author.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: So congratulations.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: People should pick up your book.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: You guys love eggs.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's really a great book.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Fresh Eggs Daily Cookbook.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: I loved it.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll talk to you soon.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Lisa.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Bye bye.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.