Latest / Dishing with Stephanie's Dish / Ashley Russell

Transcript

Ashley Russell · Dishing with Stephanie's Dish

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Hello everybody and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's Dish,
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: the podcast where we talk to people in the food space,
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: a lot of cookbook authors,
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  SPEAKER_01: manufacturers,
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  SPEAKER_01: people that are doing cool things with food.
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  And Ashley Russell came across my desk and she has a cookbook
• 0:19
  that's called What's
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Cooking Good Looking.
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  SPEAKER_01: And I was first of all captured by
• 0:25
  the illustrations in the book um you are working or have they
• 0:31
  were very um how do I
• 0:33
  describe them they were like tattoos they were adorable yeah
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  tell me about um the
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  book and how you decided to illustrate it the way you did and
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  then I wanted to talk
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  to you specifically about self-publishing a book because I
• 0:46
  think a lot of people
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  think about it but they're not sure how to do it so I just
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  wanted to get your
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: feedback
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  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
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  SPEAKER_00: So I started this book inspired by my grandma.
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  SPEAKER_00: She passed away in 2024, summer of 2024.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it was almost immediate.
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  SPEAKER_00: It was like, we have to have all the family has to have our recipes.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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  And so she had a really cute little vintage recipe card box and
• 1:20
  the whole process
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  SPEAKER_00: just sort of unfolded over the past year and a half.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is definitely a lot of Southern cooking.
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  SPEAKER_00: She's from Texas, but lived the past 30 years up in Northern Washington.
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  SPEAKER_00: And her and my mom and her siblings lived all over the country.
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  SPEAKER_00: So there's just a little bit of everything in there from,
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  SPEAKER_00: like,
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  recipes she got from neighbors or things that she learned from
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  different parts of
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  SPEAKER_00: the country.
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  SPEAKER_00: So it's a really fun, like, eclectic mix of American cooking.
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  SPEAKER_00: And it's just so much her.
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  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's sugar and everything.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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  It's just,
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  I'm so happy to have all of the family favorites in one place.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Did you work with members of the family or was it primarily,
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  SPEAKER_01: did it fall on you to compile everything?
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  I definitely compiled everything,
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  but my family was there every step of the way.
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  SPEAKER_00: Like my grandma wrote in...
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  SPEAKER_00: cursive and I couldn't always read it.
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  SPEAKER_01: A lot of our grandmas wrote in cursive and it is hard to read.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's so hard to read.
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  And so we started this text group and I would be like,
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  does anyone know what this says?
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  And then also things like vegetable oil or sweet milk or,
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  you know,
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  Oleo,
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  exactly.
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  SPEAKER_00: What is that?
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  SPEAKER_01: It's shortening, but I mean, nobody knew.
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  SPEAKER_00: Nobody knew.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so it was a lot of just like,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  there were puzzles to it and it was funny and it brought us
• 2:56
  together and it kept us
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  SPEAKER_00: talking about her.
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  And then in addition to the community that I reached out to
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  here in Portland,
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  SPEAKER_00: all my family members helped recipe test because it's like,
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  SPEAKER_00: they remembered how it was supposed to taste.
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  SPEAKER_00: So it was almost like,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  I think that this is missing this because she didn't write
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  everything down.
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  SPEAKER_00: Like,
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  SPEAKER_00: A lot of things lived in her head.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_01: Had you ever done this before or anything like this?
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  SPEAKER_01: Do you, what's your background?
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  SPEAKER_00: No.
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  SPEAKER_00: So I worked for a decade in costume design.
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  SPEAKER_00: I worked on a lot of small budget indie film and TV.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so I think I'm used to like,
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  SPEAKER_00: okay,
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  SPEAKER_00: we have this big hurdle of a project ahead,
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  SPEAKER_00: but I've never,
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  SPEAKER_00: I've never written a book.
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  SPEAKER_00: I've never written a cookbook.
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  SPEAKER_00: And the whole process was such a journey, but it was all so much fun.
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  I think because I was like learning and uncovering things about
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  my family along the way.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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  Well,
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  the creative process,
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  too,
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  I think,
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  you know,
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  you talk about being a costume designer.
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  I didn't really think about writing a cookbook or recipes or
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  being a recipe
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  SPEAKER_01: developer as a creative endeavor until I kind of started doing it more.
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  SPEAKER_01: And then I was like, oh, yeah, this does require creativity.
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  SPEAKER_01: And this is where that where I scratch that itch.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yes, totally.
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  SPEAKER_00: I agree with that.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is super creative.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I never realized that either.
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  SPEAKER_00: I have a few cookbooks.
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  SPEAKER_00: But in this process,
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  SPEAKER_00: it made me realize like,
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  SPEAKER_00: what little magical,
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  SPEAKER_00: creative books they are,
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  SPEAKER_00: and how much you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: there's people's dreams,
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  and they nourish us and their little windows into different
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  parts of history and
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  SPEAKER_00: people's lives.
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  SPEAKER_00: And
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  SPEAKER_00: they're just pretty cool.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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  And people talk about like,
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  I'm,
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  I'm in the process of I just released a book in September.
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  So I'm out at bookstores and grocery stores and selling the
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  book everywhere.
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  And a lot of people are like,
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  Oh,
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  you know,
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  nobody really needs cookbooks anymore.
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  And I was like,
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  well,
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  actually,
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  you can always look up a recipe on the internet that's there.
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  But the the narrative,
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  the piece of how that fits into their life,
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  the memory that that
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  recipe brings or that combination of spices that transports you
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  to a place.
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  SPEAKER_01: That is what is unique about a cookbook.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's, it's so much more than just the recipe.
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  And if you're not jazzed by any of that,
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  then yeah,
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  it's probably not for you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
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  SPEAKER_00: Like you have to be inspired by it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Right.
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  SPEAKER_00: And like, I don't know, I get pretty annoyed with recipes online.
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  SPEAKER_00: There's a ton of popups and your phone,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: has the auto timer and it has to face ID every two minutes.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's just when you have it in a cookbook,
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  SPEAKER_00: it's almost like the record version of like a Spotify song.
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  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
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  SPEAKER_00: Like you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_00: Like,
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  SPEAKER_01: and you can get a song,
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  but you don't have it in the context of the songs in the record
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  that the artist
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  SPEAKER_01: had.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's very similar actually.
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  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
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  SPEAKER_00: And like people love listening to records and collecting records.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I, I really just think it's, it's, it's a similar thing.
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  SPEAKER_00: Comes from a similar place.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_01: OK, so your book, What's Cooking Good Looking?
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  It is a spiral bound,
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  which I thought was an interesting choice that I want to ask
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  you about.
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  SPEAKER_01: And it's also got these illustrations.
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  SPEAKER_01: Did you illustrate it or did someone else?
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  SPEAKER_01: They're real cute.
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  SPEAKER_01: They're like tattooed inspired and they're kind of jazzy.
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  SPEAKER_01: And it kind of it had like a hipster core vibe to it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
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  SPEAKER_00: So my boyfriend's brother's sister,
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  SPEAKER_00: so more or less my sister-in-law,
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  SPEAKER_00: I've known her for six years now.
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  She's a tattoo artist and she does a lot of florals and she did
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  like a food flash at one point.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I've always loved her art.
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  SPEAKER_00: And when I was first starting the book, I was in Canva.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oh, clip art's cute.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I was like,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I would ever release a book with clip art in it,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: and I wasn't sold on doing photography,
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  SPEAKER_00: I knew how specific and how it had to be like,
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  SPEAKER_00: People have nailed food photography.
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  SPEAKER_00: If I was going to do it, I wanted to make sure it rocked.
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  And so I asked her one day,
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  I was like,
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  would you want to illustrate this book?
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  SPEAKER_00: And she was like, oh my God, yes.
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  SPEAKER_00: And her tattoos are in black and white already.
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  SPEAKER_00: So it kind of, it transferred pretty easily into a print form.
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  And so I was able to use all of her tattoo library,
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  like things she had already drawn.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then she drew things specifically for the book as well.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I just think it's awesome.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it really does.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's real sweet.
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  SPEAKER_01: And what about the choice of spiral bound?
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  SPEAKER_01: And can you talk?
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  Can you make that be the introduction of talking about like how
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  you decided to self publish?
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  SPEAKER_01: And did you go out and try to find agents?
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  SPEAKER_01: Or did you go right to self publishing?
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  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
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  SPEAKER_00: So I,
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  in the past couple of years have been really inspired by Rizzo
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  prints and graphic
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  novels and a lot of small press publishing and super inspired
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  by vintage cookbooks.
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  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of them are spiral bound or they're notebook bound.
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  SPEAKER_00: And it's,
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  it's kind of like it gives it this retro feel and it's kind of
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  an homage to all of
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  SPEAKER_00: like the women's groups and church groups that
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  did cook books over the decades,
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  but I also think it's super functional in the kitchen.
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  And I had a graphic design friend mentioned to me that she
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  loves when a spiral
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  SPEAKER_00: bound is a color that totally offsets the book.
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  SPEAKER_00: So my book is like very black and white and yellow,
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  SPEAKER_00: and then it has this bright red spiral binding.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I just think it makes it pop.
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  SPEAKER_00: Like it's fun and practical.
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  SPEAKER_00: Um,
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  SPEAKER_00: so as far as self-publishing,
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  SPEAKER_00: so when I started this,
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  SPEAKER_00: it was really just a project for my family.
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  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was really just, you know, I wanted them to have all the recipes.
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  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't even sure if I was going to print it.
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  SPEAKER_00: And as the process unfolded more,
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  I realized more and more that I wanted to make this a book and
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  I wanted to put my
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  SPEAKER_00: heart in this book and I wanted to share who we
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  SPEAKER_00: Wanda and our family is with the world.
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  SPEAKER_00: And it really was just like,
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  SPEAKER_00: a flower slowly blooming,
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  SPEAKER_00: like every week would be like,
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  SPEAKER_00: oh,
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  SPEAKER_00: I have to put the ingredients in the order of the method.
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  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you have to do this.
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  Oh,
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  people like,
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  you know,
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  like you want everything on a recipe on one page.
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  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to have to like go back and forth.
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  And it became this really fun project puzzle for me to be like,
• 10:17
  maybe I can create a cookbook.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so I didn't reach out to agents or anything because
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  I think the main important part was for this book to be about
• 10:28
  my grandma and come from me.
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  And I was worried that having an agent or a publisher might
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  dilute that a little bit.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_01: They'd have feedback or input or change things.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_00: So I was able to work with,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: a lot of friends,
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  SPEAKER_00: family and get a lot of feedback throughout the entire process.
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  SPEAKER_00: I hired an editor,
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  SPEAKER_00: And so there was that constructive criticism.
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  But I didn't feel like the voice or the vision was changing for
• 11:01
  for profit per se.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so self publishing is what I stuck with.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I and I think that
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
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  in order for me to print this book the way I wanted to and for
• 11:15
  it to look the way
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  SPEAKER_00: it does,
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  I don't know if I could have if I could have convinced a
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  publisher to get on board
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  SPEAKER_00: with that.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
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  So then you make that decision and you've got your book
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  assembled or your PDF
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  SPEAKER_01: pages,
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: essentially.
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  Did you tell me about like,
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  did you go out and just Google like how to self-publish?
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  SPEAKER_01: Did you figure out like how to print on demand?
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_01: Was there color considerations?
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  SPEAKER_01: Kind of walk me through that process a little bit.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I did start looking up print on demand and I started Googling,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: how to write a cookbook.
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  SPEAKER_00: I listened to Maggie Green's podcast, Cookbook Love, like religiously.
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  SPEAKER_00: I got books on the subject and I really just created like,
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  SPEAKER_00: it was my own research project and I was learning as I went.
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  What turned me away from doing like on-demand printing or
• 12:10
  online publishing was
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  SPEAKER_00: that I really wanted it to be spiral bound.
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  SPEAKER_00: I knew that from the beginning almost.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I really wanted to do a mixture of Rizzo printing.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I wanted the paper.
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  I just wanted everything to be really high quality and feel
• 12:26
  like her note cards,
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  SPEAKER_00: feel like her recipe cards.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't think I would get that with online printing.
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  SPEAKER_00: So I went and talked with a few print shops here in Portland, Oregon.
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  SPEAKER_00: And Brown Printing got the project right away.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been working with them.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: um, for the past several months.
• 12:47
  Have you,
• 12:48
  have you printed like X amount and you're kind of selling stock
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  as you go?
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  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_00: So I, you know, budget has been a concern throughout this whole process.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like anyone who's made a cookbook knows it gets very expensive,
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: um,
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  SPEAKER_00: between recipe testing and,
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  SPEAKER_00: and I did end up doing photography.
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  SPEAKER_00: I did it myself.
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  SPEAKER_00: Um,
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  SPEAKER_00: All of those things really add up.
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  And so I did an initial print run of 300,
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  which is almost gone at this point.
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  SPEAKER_00: I just picked it up in the beginning of the month.
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  SPEAKER_00: And Brown's doing another run of,
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  SPEAKER_00: I think,
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  SPEAKER_00: 300 for the 1st of December so I can have more for the holidays.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then do you package them up and ship them when people make an order?
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Can you talk a little bit about that?
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  Because people don't think about that,
• 13:38
  but you have to buy like special envelopes.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: You have to go to the post office.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: There is a category for media mail that makes it a little cheaper,
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: but it's still it's a process.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: It is a process like every bit of this has been such a process.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so,
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: yeah,
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  I had about 180 orders to ship out when I got all the books
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  from recipe testers,
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  SPEAKER_00: pre-orders,
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  SPEAKER_00: family,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: you name it.
• 14:08
  And our whole our whole living room and kitchen was just like
• 14:11
  stacked with boxes.
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  SPEAKER_00: And they're bigger than you think.
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  SPEAKER_00: They're bigger than you think and they're heavy.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: And a box of like 15 books is like a big box and they're everywhere.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: They're everywhere.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: So,
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: it's kind of like if you're an Etsy shop owner,
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: kind of our pain,
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: I guess.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: But,
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: you're doing,
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: you're the manual labor and you're the author and you're the publisher,
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: so you're doing everything.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I lugged them all down to UPS and USPS and shipped them off.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: Where do you go from here with it?
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like you got to sell through your next 300, obviously.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:57
  Did this like create a pathway for you or is this where you'll
• 15:01
  end this journey and
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: just one and done and it was great?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so when I first started, I had over 300 recipes from the family.
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  And I reached out to my first editor contact and they were
• 15:17
  like,
• 15:17
  whoa,
• 15:18
  that's a lot of recipes.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, books are usually like 75 to 150.
• 15:23
  And I was like,
• 15:24
  oh,
• 15:25
  and like now seeing this printed and it's 260 pages,
• 15:28
  like I get it.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: But at the time, I was like, I just wanted to have everything.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so I have at least one other book of Wanda's on the horizon.
• 15:39
  But for now,
• 15:40
  I'm really just trying to put myself in what if I had a
• 15:44
  publisher?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: What if I had an agent?
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: What would they be doing?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a lot.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: it's a lot of reaching out to retail stores,
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: seeing if I can get an interview on a podcast.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:57
  trying to put my book out there in ways that I know of and
• 16:02
  seeing where it lands.
• 16:06
  I have,
• 16:07
  there's about seven stores in Portland that are carrying the
• 16:10
  book right now.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: And they're all stores I really love.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that's super exciting.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Do they carry it on consignment or do you sell them to them outright?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: It depends.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: So a couple are wholesale and a couple are consignment.
• 16:24
  Wholesale obviously works better for us,
• 16:28
  but I'm just happy to have the book out there.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a good time of year.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, she made all these dishes for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it's the time to have it in your kitchen.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: Can you talk about like how much you make per book?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 16:48
  So if I'm talking just printing costs to do the 300 with the
• 16:54
  brown printing and the
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Rizzo printing I did by hand at Outlet PDX,
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: we're looking at about $20 a book.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I have the book priced at 38.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: So because I'm not splitting this with any publisher or agent,
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: that means technically $20 profit goes back into my pocket.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: But at this point, we're still paying off all the production costs.
• 17:23
  And it also doesn't include,
• 17:25
  that dollar amount doesn't include like my labor costs.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: So when you really figure it out, it's probably... Or food.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Or food.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: When you really figure out the numbers,
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: this first round probably cost me about $50 a book to make,
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: you know?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then...
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: the hope is over the years,
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: if continuing to sell copies here and there,
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: you break even,
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: or maybe you make a few dollars.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's,
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: it is kind of like that as you get like past Wanda's story,
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: do you see this being a journey you'll stay on?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: Or is it really just, I'm curious if it ignited something in you.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: Cause you seem like a creative person.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like I've always wanted to be a writer and it's been pretty daunting.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: My grandma always encouraged me to be a writer.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: This feels like that first step.
• 18:21
  I also like the idea I've heard a cookbook is like the best
• 18:24
  business card,
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: and I think that's like a great way to look at it,
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: too.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's something that I've made that I can say,
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: I wrote this,
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: I've made this,
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'd like to do this project.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's fascinating because that is,
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: for me personally,
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to have agency in the cooking space and I wasn't a writer.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, how am I going to get that?
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to have a television show.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to do more podcasting specifically about food.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: I had a radio show about food,
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: but I needed to have more agency and that was kind of how I started.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: That makes sense.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Did you, do you feel like that helped you?
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: achieve some of the dreams you had.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, for sure.
• 19:09
  I have a TV show now and I wouldn't have had the TV show if I
• 19:14
  hadn't have written
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: the cookbook,
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: Because even though I'm a home chef or a home cook and not a chef at all,
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: actually,
• 19:21
  having the book gives you some credibility of why this person's
• 19:27
  going to invest in
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: you and put you on television station,
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: 88 markets.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think they would have done that if I wouldn't have had the book.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly,
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: like I think being a home chef,
• 19:37
  you almost write a better cookbook because you can anticipate
• 19:42
  what other home chefs
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: are going to be confused by or what they need written down.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well,
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: and a lot of the best chefs who I have much admiration and respect for,
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: their books are really challenging or technical.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: And and that's great.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like maybe that's who they're writing them for.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: But some of my favorite chefs,
• 20:05
  I get their books and I keep them because I love the
• 20:08
  photography and I just admire
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: so much of the skills and what they bring to the party.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: But very few of them I actually ever cooked out of.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're like these beautiful aspirations.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they're aspirational books for sure.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um,
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: and you talk a little bit about Wanda,
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: just your grandma,
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: like you just have a real spirit about you that must come from her.
• 20:34
  And I'm just curious why she was so meaningful to you outside
• 20:38
  of just being your grandma.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, totally.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, um, I was raised by my mom.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was just me and my mom.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I would spend a lot of time with my grandparents.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think when you're set up in that sort of one parent system, um,
• 20:52
  I was either going with my mom everywhere or I was spending
• 20:56
  summers at my grandparents.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: And those summers at my grandparents,
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: I,
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like as an adult,
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sort of chasing that feeling,
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: of,
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: of being,
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: you know.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's so touching.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's true.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Whether it's cooking in the kitchen or laughing with my grandpa,
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: my grandma taught me how to sew and,
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Later on in life,
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: I worked in costumes,
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: and I used to bake with her,
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: and now I'm making this cookbook.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: She meant a lot to me,
• 21:32
  and I know both of them meant so much to our whole family that
• 21:38
  I don't want us to
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: lose that,
• 21:41
  and I don't want anyone that comes next in our family to not
• 21:45
  know about it.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's bad.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what a beautiful sentiment.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: I just,
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: the what you said,
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: just I've been chasing that feeling is really,
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: I wrote my book for very similar reasons.
• 22:04
  You know,
• 22:04
  my mom had died early of breast cancer,
• 22:06
  and I wanted to document family recipes.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just the way you said that was really beautiful.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: So, oh, that's so nice.
• 22:17
  I feel like whether or not we're aware of it,
• 22:19
  that we're kind of doing that,
• 22:20
  right?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, where's your happy place?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: What makes you, what brings you happiness?
• 22:26
  And those memories really do,
• 22:31
  as I'm sure other memories for other people do for them.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: All right, well, I have loved hearing your story.
• 22:38
  I knew right away when the book came across my desk and you
• 22:42
  reached out to me
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: directly,
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: I was like,
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: oh yeah,
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: I do wanna talk to her.
• 22:45
  I wanna figure out like what inspired her to take this on
• 22:49
  because it is a labor of love.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: You even if I mean,
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I've not read a statistic,
• 22:55
  but like most cookbooks and most cookbook authors are not
• 22:59
  getting rich by writing
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: cookbooks.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: They're using it to parlay into other things.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: So it's usually not actually a money making endeavor.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's more a creative process.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: And something that you do is a labor of love.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I think a lot of people that love cookbooks,
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: maybe listening,
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: have wanted to do this.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I wanted to like really document like, how did you do it?
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: And what did you think about?
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: And how did you decide to put it together?
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: When you put your list of recipes together?
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Was it obvious what was going to make it?
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, it started with what are the family favorites?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: What do we have to have?
• 23:35
  And then it was with,
• 23:37
  you know,
• 23:37
  what turned out really well in recipe testing.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: And from there, like, you know, the baking sections over half the book.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:49
  And then it was sort of trying to round out the other sections
• 23:52
  of the book.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:53
  And there were recipes that could stand the test of time and
• 23:57
  that people would
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: still want to make.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: And also that my grandma would enjoy.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: What are some of your favorites?
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean,
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: her banana bread is like,
• 24:09
  I knew I wanted to start the book with her banana bread and end
• 24:12
  it with sweet tea.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's my grandma to the core.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: and then in between,
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: there's,
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: there's so many great,
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: um,
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: home cooked meals,
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: home cooked desserts.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: She had a famous chocolate pie, famous pecan pie.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: Her Italian cream cake, um, is to die for.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a coconut cake.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 24:34
  My Aunt Angie,
• 24:35
  her oldest daughter,
• 24:37
  said that people used to request that she make that.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that was fun to learn and to put in the book.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: And now you know how to make all the things, too, or a lot of the things.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: My family's like,
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: well,
• 24:50
  I guess you're cooking for Thanksgiving now because you know
• 24:53
  all of her recipes.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's so great.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: I really enjoyed talking to you.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: It is Ashley Russell.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: The book is I wrote the what's cooking good looking.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
• 25:08
  It is a really beautiful,
• 25:10
  fun,
• 25:11
  different way to approach this topic of cookbooks.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I was really I'm impressed by what you did.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I know your grandma would be she would love it.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: She'd be real proud of you.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really nice to talk with you and share your story.
• 25:26
  I'll put a link to the book in the podcast notes and put that
• 25:31
  all together and
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: hopefully we'll help you sell through your next 300,
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: Ashley.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Stephanie.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate it.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was great to hear your story and to just spend time with you.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: Good luck.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: Have a good day.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: Bye-bye.