August 6, 2021 • 18 mins
This episode of “Summer Series: From The Beach” was recorded poolside at the W Hotel South Beach on a breezy Miami day in February of 2020.
During this conversation, Burkta mentions the untitled Matrix 4 movie that his husband Neil Patrick Harris is filming. Warner Brothers Pictures has rescheduled the theatrical release of the film for December 22, 2021.
For more from David Burkta, follow him on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/dbelicious
For more updates on “Four Courses with Geoffrey Zakarian”, follow Geoffrey on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/geoffreyzakarian
“Four Courses with Geoffrey Zakarian” is a production of iHeartRadio and Corner Table Entertainment.
“Four Courses” is created by Geoffrey Zakarian, Margaret Zakarian, Jaret Keller, and Tara Halper. Our executive producer is Christopher Hassiotis. Four Courses is produced by Jonathan Hawes-Dressler. Our research is conducted by Jesslyn Shields.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, listeners of Four Courses with Jeffrey Z. Carrion. It's
your host, Jeffrey. I'm here today to share a very
special announcement. One thing you may know about me from
social media is that I love meeting my friends from
the food world at events around the country, and I've
even made it an annual ritual to interview many of
them at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival in Miami.
So for the rest of this summer, we will be
(00:23):
bringing you our Summer Series from the Beach. Each Friday,
will be publishing short and intimate conversations that I've had
with some of the top talent in the food world.
And even beyond. The conversations you'll here for the next
six weeks were recorded pool side at the w Hotel
in South Beach as my friends and I enjoyed great
cigars and magnums of rose as we discussed our past,
(00:44):
present and future. Without further delay, please enjoy Summer Series
from the Beach with my good friend David Bertka. I
think now, I think the millennials are getting it. I
think the millennials are understanding that the modern pot luck
is because people want to do because they're always in
their phones and they're not social, so they need these
(01:07):
outlets to sort of get together and and hang out
and make meals together and and feel a sense of belonging.
I so agree. And pot luck is one of those
things where you invite people you know, have one good dish,
you bring that, you ring this, you ring that you
bring this, you curate the manu, and suddenly have a
great dinner and no one's like stressing out. Do you
(01:27):
have not many invites for people from their house because
you're an iron chef and acclaimed chef? No? Do people
not tend to invite you because they feelings to what
we do is we invite a lot more than we
get into the same here. Yeah, so I'm I'm okay
with that. But I think that once we have people over,
what's funny is to watch their reaction of them because
(01:48):
they think that like, we're going to have this like
butler service, like that it's family. Start doing the dishes.
We open three or four balls of wine, put them
in the middle, drink whatever you want and by the way,
you do it yourself. I'm not pointing the wine for you.
And a tart that we make and CHAKUI in the kitchen.
(02:09):
But is it a nice when people come over and
you put them to work. I think people like that.
People think like to be a part of the meal.
In four seconds, if you if you bring him in
the biggest part of your house. In four points six seconds,
they come to the kitchen, they find the kitchen, and
then when they get in the kitchen, they're they're not nervous,
They're not okay, right, I use those pots, so I
(02:29):
have those. It's it's this sensory memory thing that makes
them feel relaxed. So I go for them, like and
when you when you give them a job like peeling
carrots or chopping earth. And then and then you get
to the carrots at the dinner and you're like, oh,
Jeffrey's carrots are amazing. I feel like they're a part
of it. That's nice little thing to do. So we
(02:49):
have a long relationship of like cooking and eating together.
And you live up the street. Literally, did you throw
the absolute best Halloween party? I've ever been to five
levels of your brownstone and it is it's uncanny of
a chocolate shop, a horror shop, a pastry room, a
photo booth, a secret room. You're not supposed to go in,
and when you go in and I know something bad happens.
(03:12):
You never went in it. I haven't got in yet.
I'm scared. And then a feast and everybody loves it,
and you have all these children come at the right time,
then they go home at the right time, and then
you have kind of an adult thing after. So you're
really doing something. You've done all that party. Yeah. My
husband is a huge Halloween fan and when we lived
in l A. He was really famous for throwing putting
(03:33):
on a haunted house for the teenagers of the neighborhood.
Not the kids who are going trigger treating, but he
would do some really scary stuff. I mean, it was
how does that happen? How does one like he build
a maze in his backyard? It was crazy? It was nuts.
(03:54):
How have you maintained your performance from every mathia done?
From TV to screen a Broadway to music to writing,
to cooking to catering to being a chef? How do
you perform at the top level? What is it that
drives you and how do you maintain what you're doing
and get better every year? I feel like I do
(04:14):
a lot of things, but do a lot of things mediocre.
I don't do one great thing. So start your day out.
How is it that you you wake up? What is
the first thing you do? Give me a routine. I
do a bit of a meditation and then I wake
my kids up, make them breakfast. Then my husband hates it,
but I'm a short order cook, so whatever they want,
you know. I started as a toast front, you know,
(04:36):
and Worsted Eggs, and I started making one thing and
that's it, and like, well, can I have an egg?
And we have like pancakes, and like no, that was yesterday.
And then it's like okay, and you just like succumb
because they don't try to plan something. So it's a
little bit of surprises every now and then. But when
Neil's waking them up, it's hot cereal, cold cereal. That's it.
That's it. So get them to school. I usually go
(04:59):
out earlier, workout, yeah, early, riser because I have to
um and I'm home a lot, a lot alone because
my husband's away. Yeah right now, he's shooting. Actually he
comes tomorrow. He's shooting in San Francisco. The Matrix four
four Yeah, yeah yeah, Kiano, yeah, he all of his
scenes are with Kiano. I don't know if I'm supposed
to say that, but it's okay. Yeah, he's uh the
(05:20):
mare Carrion Moss and Kanu Reeves and he him Basically,
it's pretty exciting. So you're up, you're at the gym.
What is your workout? Tuesday Thursdays or more cardio, Saturday's
cardio and then Monday, Wednesday's Fridays or weights like body weight,
so very specific five days. When you try to do
when you travel, yeah, you do when you try. I
(05:41):
feel like I try when I travel more. I'm more
able to work out because usually there's a gym in
the hotel. Downtime aren't around like a vacation. When I'm
going for work, right, you feel that you get to
sleep in by nine or ten, you're done with your
prepping for the day. Yes, then you get into it
and then I get into it. So it's usually, Um,
I've got meetings for this one show that I'm doing
(06:02):
that's coming up from Netflix. Can we talk about it?
I don't know. Netflix is a big deal. It's a
Netflix show and it's what is it kind of about?
I can't really talk much. It hasnt been announced, but
it's with food and drag queens, Food and Drag Queens, Yes,
being the two together. So it's it's a wild it's
(06:23):
a wild fun show, Food and Drag Queens. That's the
first I wish I had thought of that. Damn well,
you can come go on, you can come woke him
dress Jeffrey and Jag. I don't think he'd be a
very pretty woman though hadsome man. Not a pretty woman
at the heels thing with in the makeup thing, but
very masculine features. I do thank you, So I don't
think thank you so that if you're working on that show.
(06:46):
So working on that show, working on that. I'm prepping
for the Food Network show. I'm writing a show right
now that is in the beginning stages. I just took
a class and improv class because it's took an improv class.
Yeah with upright, So this is aid and it was fun.
It was wild. So do you feel the need to
sort to keep up your ship? I do. I feel like,
you know, since the kids are getting older, I'm getting
(07:08):
back into acting and I've been up for a bunch
of stuff and turned down a lot of stuff that
the Broadway stuff I'm not able to do right now.
Still but it's hard because it shows a week with
kids and Neil's always gone. It's like we just saw
wil Uge and I was like, how do they do
that right? I mean, I know it's ninety minutes two hours,
but it's just physically and mental to take such good
kid when you're doing the musical, when you were doing
(07:29):
when talking about performance, when I'm doing plays. When I
was doing plays, I was always my best performances were
when I was hungover. So if I partied the night before,
it just came out of me emotionally because I was
emotionally tired. But with musicals, you've got to take care
of your voice. You got to take care of your body.
To stretch. You have to stretch an hour or two before.
I did a show where I had a you know,
seven minute dance solo in the show, and I had
(07:51):
to get there an hour and a half just to
warm up. And then it's warm up your voice and
get enough sleep and eat right and eat clean. I mean,
you've got to be an athlete to do a Broadway musical.
And you notice that everybody is probably thirty or younger.
Thirty two are younger. It's just what you phase out.
I mean, I was doing answer to the chorus for
a really long time. And if you step like milusion
(08:12):
know if you've seen it, If I did, I loved it.
The show has been tab but the set is like
the orchestra pit and the stairs, and if you make
one misstep, you're running around. Oh yeah, and if you
one misstep when you're you're gone. I mean. And also
the show is so technical, so I can imagine if
the set doesn't move and there's a big dance number,
I mean, you're stuff. If it's one second moves one
(08:33):
second when you're not expecting it to move, and you're
like in the middle of a step your toast, I'm like,
I'm shocked by how they do it, and they get
up for it, and it's really spectacular. It's a true
it's a really true Broadway musical. I feel like lately
there's been these musicals that are just stripped down and
not many people. But this is the sets, the costumes,
the dancing. There's not much substance, but who cares, no,
(08:54):
it's great. Who needs substance when you get dancing. So
we're at noon, what do you eat for lunch? I
usually have a big salad bar, Like in my my
middle drawer, I have a bunch of different lettuces and
(09:16):
sliced up cucumber, carrots, celery, a couple of different dressings,
and I just put a big salad. Sometimes I have
protein like shredded chicken or shrimp, garbonzo beans or some
type of protein and plan this. I mean, you have
a plan every every weekend. I put the salad bar
together so it's there so I'm able to eat like
a big salad for lunch. We always say that like
(09:36):
if you're not prepared, you're gonna fail. If you don't
have stuff, you should have stuff and you open the
bridge that you can right here is good. Yeah, those
are my favorite kind of meals is just looking at
the freaking seeing what you have, pulling something out of
your ass. So dinner is control. So usually around three
thirty four o'clock, I'll start prepping and get things together
(09:56):
and and I try to switch up the proteins. Where
would you chicken in or pork or we do a
lot of fish in our house. Um My kids eat
everything like yours do. So everything. It's because at seven months,
you know they were eating you know, viale parmesan your plate.
It's like it's a little piece of veal. It's like fine.
I have to say, I was so impressed with your girls.
You invited me to this met family night. Yeah. They
(10:18):
did their own cooking, this cooking demo, and Neil and
I were just blown. Oh wait, they were incredible. They
were there like and I'm standing next to them. I
want to help him. I'm like, They're like, oh can
you can you season this? Dad? You're like, I'm the
soux chef here. It was great. I had no purpose
on that stage. I felt. I felt proud and sadly,
(10:39):
sadly lonely, like that's it. That happened real fast? Do
they want to do that? Is that? Like? You know,
there's twelve and they have a cookbook coming out, book
coming on October. It's incredible. I saw a card there
then it said there's a Carrian family cookbook. How genius?
How was that with them? Was that hard putting it together?
We shot at at our house in Niagara Falls in
(11:02):
the summer. In the entire month of August. We had
a studio in Buffalo, and my ex pastry chef happens
to live in Buffalo. She also works cooks as well,
so she did all the recipes and we had a
photographer next door that did all the photos. So we
did in one month. I love how soft the photos
are too. They're they're very different than most of these
photos you see in cookbooks right now. It's kind of
(11:24):
food different cookook. They wanted to do, and they said
they did not want to do a kid's a kiddie cookbook.
They wanted an adult cookbook that was like smart and
had great colors and and really popped. They didn't want
to do sort of like ABC cooking, and they wanted
to They want to start here. So he must be
so proud. I'm very proud of them. Does George get
into it? George's getting is eating. He eats everything, and
(11:47):
he's starting to like understand. But he's five, so right,
of course, that's she's still pretty young to be. He's
very young. Snacks do you snack? Do I snack? Uh?
Not really, I should know. Usually criticism I try to
not eat. But if it is, it's you know a
handful of nuts or some apple with almond butter, or
(12:08):
some veggies, So that's that's good snacks. That was really yeah, right,
Like if I don't eat or a skip lunch. I'm
going for the carbs and going for How does how
does Neil take his diet on the road like that?
Does he have someone that just cooks for him? No? No, No,
he doesn't eat. He doesn't. It's weird like he eats
half portions of things all day and then by the
(12:28):
time ten o'clock rolls around, he eats heats about seven
ess peanut butter cups full esus peanut butter cups. Really, yes,
at ten ten o'clock a nut because he's like hungry.
I think so he's hungry or he's a tasty to it.
It's like it's like Heroin for him. Peanut butter and
sugar come on a chocolate. He will forget to eat ice,
(12:49):
like he's like, oh, I had oat meal today and
it's eight o'clock. I was like, what, how can you
forget to eat? I forget to have second or third lunch.
It's impossible for us foodieas So, where was it for
(13:14):
you that you decided that this is really natural, this
food TV, this this thing is very natural for me,
and I could still have You're really in three worlds.
You could have all three worlds and you know, it's
kind of incredible to have that as Act two and
a half or three. When did that happen? Yeah, I
don't know. I took a break from acting because my
(13:35):
mom had died, and then I had to get away
from the rejection of acting because I was living in
l a and not loving l a Um. So food
always made me happy. Cooking always made me happy. So
I went to culinary school and sort of things started
falling in my lap um and it's been great. I've
been loving balancing both the two and then realizing with infants,
(13:56):
I can't go on the road, I can't do something
on location. So it was nice to sort of stay home.
I had a catering company, I had, you know, I
made a cookbook, so it was nice too. When the
kids were at school, I was able to do my work.
So it just sort of lent itself that I was
able to sort of dabble in cooking and acting every
now and then. And I did a one man show
it at Studio fifty four, and so it was sort
(14:18):
of like I went in and out. It must be
amazing to be a home full time and cooking for
them every night. Five nights a week. That's special. I
wish I could do that. I cannot do that. I
can tell him to come to the restaurant, but it's
not the same. But you know, I'm also putting together
meals in forty five minutes. But very it's very simple,
you know, It's it's simple for you. That takes time.
A lot know a lot of people that if they
(14:38):
come over for dinner, like on a week day, they're like,
you just threw this together. So we we have this
issue I think in our society and especially the culture
that we're in now, is about we want to spend
ten minutes cooking. I mean, you can't spend ten minutes cooking.
You might as well just order. You'll you'll get a
better meal, you get a better outpoint. And there's nothing
wrong with ordering. Thank God for seamless, thank God for
(14:59):
the ability to have I'm gonna come to your house
and bring great food and if you want or from
a fancy restaurant, you do it. I'm amazing how that
that exists. But to put food together, it takes patience,
It takes time, takes effort, it takes energy, and it
really takes focus. You have to spend some time to
do it. It's not one to three. Those one to
three cookbooks are just I can't get into my My
(15:21):
husband bought one of those insta pots. I can't get
into it. I don't understand those. I mean I I said,
I'm gonna do a meal a week. He hasn't. It's
still in the box. That's what happens that we have one.
We have one. I'm not going to mention the name,
but it is literally you try it out simplastic, right,
and I have my old Dutch oven. That's that's how
(15:41):
you wrap, is what we use. That's how your brace thinks. Well,
it's easier. I don't have to worry about it do stuff.
I do suvite because I've been doing it in my
kitchens my entire life. So for us, it's it's so simple.
But suvite is actually another step as well, because you
have to think about putting in and actually getting into it,
and then you have to caramelize it after. So I'm like,
(16:04):
just caramelize the ship out of it right away. I'd
like to have a lot, Like if it's protein, if
it's poultry, I'd like to have it already ready to go.
In the freezer in that morning, I bring it out,
have it come to room timp and then syric because
that's takes ten seconds. Ten seconds, you know. So what
is your go to weeknight meal when you're deep in
the weeds and you're tired. Probably a roast chicken. Roast chicken. Yeah.
(16:26):
What is your favorite dessert When you need to make
a dessert on a Sunday someone's coming over, you need
to whip something up in forty five minutes and make
it homemade and not go out and get it in
the summer, it's usually some sort of berry or peach
or something like something a cop or just or in syrup,
you know, like a shortcake or because you can make
(16:48):
short I did that for you. It was super eatid
and it's super easy. I did that. I was desert.
I need to be tastic. I thought you bought it.
I really did know, because it was like it was like,
it takes time to make that, but did it? I know,
it's like a biscuit. It was so fantastic. That's really
the berries. It's really the berries and everything that's it.
You really have great balance. But so that's dessert. So
(17:09):
you're waking up in the morning, big breakfast on a Sunday.
I keep a bunch of frozen scones in my that
you made. I make them and then I freeze so
smart they're they're raw and all different kinds. So I
do that. I do like a bunch of like new
ski thick bacon. I usually do some baby maybe some bagels,
and then maybe some poached eggs if someone wants a
(17:30):
poached egg with like grilled toast, and that's it. That's it. David,
thank you so much. You just made us a day,
a week, and about five years of your life.
Hello, listeners of Four Courses with Jeffrey Z. Carrion. It's
your host, Jeffrey. I'm here today to share a very
special announcement. One thing you may know about me from
social media is that I love meeting my friends from
the food world at events around the country, and I've
even made it an annual ritual to interview many of
them at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival in Miami.
So for the rest of this summer, we will be
(00:23):
bringing you our Summer Series from the Beach. Each Friday,
will be publishing short and intimate conversations that I've had
with some of the top talent in the food world.
And even beyond. The conversations you'll here for the next
six weeks were recorded pool side at the w Hotel
in South Beach as my friends and I enjoyed great
cigars and magnums of rose as we discussed our past,
(00:44):
present and future. Without further delay, please enjoy Summer Series
from the Beach with my good friend David Bertka. I
think now, I think the millennials are getting it. I
think the millennials are understanding that the modern pot luck
is because people want to do because they're always in
their phones and they're not social, so they need these
(01:07):
outlets to sort of get together and and hang out
and make meals together and and feel a sense of belonging.
I so agree. And pot luck is one of those
things where you invite people you know, have one good dish,
you bring that, you ring this, you ring that you
bring this, you curate the manu, and suddenly have a
great dinner and no one's like stressing out. Do you
(01:27):
have not many invites for people from their house because
you're an iron chef and acclaimed chef? No? Do people
not tend to invite you because they feelings to what
we do is we invite a lot more than we
get into the same here. Yeah, so I'm I'm okay
with that. But I think that once we have people over,
what's funny is to watch their reaction of them because
(01:48):
they think that like, we're going to have this like
butler service, like that it's family. Start doing the dishes.
We open three or four balls of wine, put them
in the middle, drink whatever you want and by the way,
you do it yourself. I'm not pointing the wine for you.
And a tart that we make and CHAKUI in the kitchen.
(02:09):
But is it a nice when people come over and
you put them to work. I think people like that.
People think like to be a part of the meal.
In four seconds, if you if you bring him in
the biggest part of your house. In four points six seconds,
they come to the kitchen, they find the kitchen, and
then when they get in the kitchen, they're they're not nervous,
They're not okay, right, I use those pots, so I
(02:29):
have those. It's it's this sensory memory thing that makes
them feel relaxed. So I go for them, like and
when you when you give them a job like peeling
carrots or chopping earth. And then and then you get
to the carrots at the dinner and you're like, oh,
Jeffrey's carrots are amazing. I feel like they're a part
of it. That's nice little thing to do. So we
(02:49):
have a long relationship of like cooking and eating together.
And you live up the street. Literally, did you throw
the absolute best Halloween party? I've ever been to five
levels of your brownstone and it is it's uncanny of
a chocolate shop, a horror shop, a pastry room, a
photo booth, a secret room. You're not supposed to go in,
and when you go in and I know something bad happens.
(03:12):
You never went in it. I haven't got in yet.
I'm scared. And then a feast and everybody loves it,
and you have all these children come at the right time,
then they go home at the right time, and then
you have kind of an adult thing after. So you're
really doing something. You've done all that party. Yeah. My
husband is a huge Halloween fan and when we lived
in l A. He was really famous for throwing putting
(03:33):
on a haunted house for the teenagers of the neighborhood.
Not the kids who are going trigger treating, but he
would do some really scary stuff. I mean, it was
how does that happen? How does one like he build
a maze in his backyard? It was crazy? It was nuts.
(03:54):
How have you maintained your performance from every mathia done?
From TV to screen a Broadway to music to writing,
to cooking to catering to being a chef? How do
you perform at the top level? What is it that
drives you and how do you maintain what you're doing
and get better every year? I feel like I do
(04:14):
a lot of things, but do a lot of things mediocre.
I don't do one great thing. So start your day out.
How is it that you you wake up? What is
the first thing you do? Give me a routine. I
do a bit of a meditation and then I wake
my kids up, make them breakfast. Then my husband hates it,
but I'm a short order cook, so whatever they want,
you know. I started as a toast front, you know,
(04:36):
and Worsted Eggs, and I started making one thing and
that's it, and like, well, can I have an egg?
And we have like pancakes, and like no, that was yesterday.
And then it's like okay, and you just like succumb
because they don't try to plan something. So it's a
little bit of surprises every now and then. But when
Neil's waking them up, it's hot cereal, cold cereal. That's it.
That's it. So get them to school. I usually go
(04:59):
out earlier, workout, yeah, early, riser because I have to
um and I'm home a lot, a lot alone because
my husband's away. Yeah right now, he's shooting. Actually he
comes tomorrow. He's shooting in San Francisco. The Matrix four
four Yeah, yeah yeah, Kiano, yeah, he all of his
scenes are with Kiano. I don't know if I'm supposed
to say that, but it's okay. Yeah, he's uh the
(05:20):
mare Carrion Moss and Kanu Reeves and he him Basically,
it's pretty exciting. So you're up, you're at the gym.
What is your workout? Tuesday Thursdays or more cardio, Saturday's
cardio and then Monday, Wednesday's Fridays or weights like body weight,
so very specific five days. When you try to do
when you travel, yeah, you do when you try. I
(05:41):
feel like I try when I travel more. I'm more
able to work out because usually there's a gym in
the hotel. Downtime aren't around like a vacation. When I'm
going for work, right, you feel that you get to
sleep in by nine or ten, you're done with your
prepping for the day. Yes, then you get into it
and then I get into it. So it's usually, Um,
I've got meetings for this one show that I'm doing
(06:02):
that's coming up from Netflix. Can we talk about it?
I don't know. Netflix is a big deal. It's a
Netflix show and it's what is it kind of about?
I can't really talk much. It hasnt been announced, but
it's with food and drag queens, Food and Drag Queens, Yes,
being the two together. So it's it's a wild it's
(06:23):
a wild fun show, Food and Drag Queens. That's the
first I wish I had thought of that. Damn well,
you can come go on, you can come woke him
dress Jeffrey and Jag. I don't think he'd be a
very pretty woman though hadsome man. Not a pretty woman
at the heels thing with in the makeup thing, but
very masculine features. I do thank you, So I don't
think thank you so that if you're working on that show.
(06:46):
So working on that show, working on that. I'm prepping
for the Food Network show. I'm writing a show right
now that is in the beginning stages. I just took
a class and improv class because it's took an improv class.
Yeah with upright, So this is aid and it was fun.
It was wild. So do you feel the need to
sort to keep up your ship? I do. I feel like,
you know, since the kids are getting older, I'm getting
(07:08):
back into acting and I've been up for a bunch
of stuff and turned down a lot of stuff that
the Broadway stuff I'm not able to do right now.
Still but it's hard because it shows a week with
kids and Neil's always gone. It's like we just saw
wil Uge and I was like, how do they do
that right? I mean, I know it's ninety minutes two hours,
but it's just physically and mental to take such good
kid when you're doing the musical, when you were doing
(07:29):
when talking about performance, when I'm doing plays. When I
was doing plays, I was always my best performances were
when I was hungover. So if I partied the night before,
it just came out of me emotionally because I was
emotionally tired. But with musicals, you've got to take care
of your voice. You got to take care of your body.
To stretch. You have to stretch an hour or two before.
I did a show where I had a you know,
seven minute dance solo in the show, and I had
(07:51):
to get there an hour and a half just to
warm up. And then it's warm up your voice and
get enough sleep and eat right and eat clean. I mean,
you've got to be an athlete to do a Broadway musical.
And you notice that everybody is probably thirty or younger.
Thirty two are younger. It's just what you phase out.
I mean, I was doing answer to the chorus for
a really long time. And if you step like milusion
(08:12):
know if you've seen it, If I did, I loved it.
The show has been tab but the set is like
the orchestra pit and the stairs, and if you make
one misstep, you're running around. Oh yeah, and if you
one misstep when you're you're gone. I mean. And also
the show is so technical, so I can imagine if
the set doesn't move and there's a big dance number,
I mean, you're stuff. If it's one second moves one
(08:33):
second when you're not expecting it to move, and you're
like in the middle of a step your toast, I'm like,
I'm shocked by how they do it, and they get
up for it, and it's really spectacular. It's a true
it's a really true Broadway musical. I feel like lately
there's been these musicals that are just stripped down and
not many people. But this is the sets, the costumes,
the dancing. There's not much substance, but who cares, no,
(08:54):
it's great. Who needs substance when you get dancing. So
we're at noon, what do you eat for lunch? I
usually have a big salad bar, Like in my my
middle drawer, I have a bunch of different lettuces and
(09:16):
sliced up cucumber, carrots, celery, a couple of different dressings,
and I just put a big salad. Sometimes I have
protein like shredded chicken or shrimp, garbonzo beans or some
type of protein and plan this. I mean, you have
a plan every every weekend. I put the salad bar
together so it's there so I'm able to eat like
a big salad for lunch. We always say that like
(09:36):
if you're not prepared, you're gonna fail. If you don't
have stuff, you should have stuff and you open the
bridge that you can right here is good. Yeah, those
are my favorite kind of meals is just looking at
the freaking seeing what you have, pulling something out of
your ass. So dinner is control. So usually around three
thirty four o'clock, I'll start prepping and get things together
(09:56):
and and I try to switch up the proteins. Where
would you chicken in or pork or we do a
lot of fish in our house. Um My kids eat
everything like yours do. So everything. It's because at seven months,
you know they were eating you know, viale parmesan your plate.
It's like it's a little piece of veal. It's like fine.
I have to say, I was so impressed with your girls.
You invited me to this met family night. Yeah. They
(10:18):
did their own cooking, this cooking demo, and Neil and
I were just blown. Oh wait, they were incredible. They
were there like and I'm standing next to them. I
want to help him. I'm like, They're like, oh can
you can you season this? Dad? You're like, I'm the
soux chef here. It was great. I had no purpose
on that stage. I felt. I felt proud and sadly,
(10:39):
sadly lonely, like that's it. That happened real fast? Do
they want to do that? Is that? Like? You know,
there's twelve and they have a cookbook coming out, book
coming on October. It's incredible. I saw a card there
then it said there's a Carrian family cookbook. How genius?
How was that with them? Was that hard putting it together?
We shot at at our house in Niagara Falls in
(11:02):
the summer. In the entire month of August. We had
a studio in Buffalo, and my ex pastry chef happens
to live in Buffalo. She also works cooks as well,
so she did all the recipes and we had a
photographer next door that did all the photos. So we
did in one month. I love how soft the photos
are too. They're they're very different than most of these
photos you see in cookbooks right now. It's kind of
(11:24):
food different cookook. They wanted to do, and they said
they did not want to do a kid's a kiddie cookbook.
They wanted an adult cookbook that was like smart and
had great colors and and really popped. They didn't want
to do sort of like ABC cooking, and they wanted
to They want to start here. So he must be
so proud. I'm very proud of them. Does George get
into it? George's getting is eating. He eats everything, and
(11:47):
he's starting to like understand. But he's five, so right,
of course, that's she's still pretty young to be. He's
very young. Snacks do you snack? Do I snack? Uh?
Not really, I should know. Usually criticism I try to
not eat. But if it is, it's you know a
handful of nuts or some apple with almond butter, or
(12:08):
some veggies, So that's that's good snacks. That was really yeah, right,
Like if I don't eat or a skip lunch. I'm
going for the carbs and going for How does how
does Neil take his diet on the road like that?
Does he have someone that just cooks for him? No? No, No,
he doesn't eat. He doesn't. It's weird like he eats
half portions of things all day and then by the
(12:28):
time ten o'clock rolls around, he eats heats about seven
ess peanut butter cups full esus peanut butter cups. Really, yes,
at ten ten o'clock a nut because he's like hungry.
I think so he's hungry or he's a tasty to it.
It's like it's like Heroin for him. Peanut butter and
sugar come on a chocolate. He will forget to eat ice,
(12:49):
like he's like, oh, I had oat meal today and
it's eight o'clock. I was like, what, how can you
forget to eat? I forget to have second or third lunch.
It's impossible for us foodieas So, where was it for
(13:14):
you that you decided that this is really natural, this
food TV, this this thing is very natural for me,
and I could still have You're really in three worlds.
You could have all three worlds and you know, it's
kind of incredible to have that as Act two and
a half or three. When did that happen? Yeah, I
don't know. I took a break from acting because my
(13:35):
mom had died, and then I had to get away
from the rejection of acting because I was living in
l a and not loving l a Um. So food
always made me happy. Cooking always made me happy. So
I went to culinary school and sort of things started
falling in my lap um and it's been great. I've
been loving balancing both the two and then realizing with infants,
(13:56):
I can't go on the road, I can't do something
on location. So it was nice to sort of stay home.
I had a catering company, I had, you know, I
made a cookbook, so it was nice too. When the
kids were at school, I was able to do my work.
So it just sort of lent itself that I was
able to sort of dabble in cooking and acting every
now and then. And I did a one man show
it at Studio fifty four, and so it was sort
(14:18):
of like I went in and out. It must be
amazing to be a home full time and cooking for
them every night. Five nights a week. That's special. I
wish I could do that. I cannot do that. I
can tell him to come to the restaurant, but it's
not the same. But you know, I'm also putting together
meals in forty five minutes. But very it's very simple,
you know, It's it's simple for you. That takes time.
A lot know a lot of people that if they
(14:38):
come over for dinner, like on a week day, they're like,
you just threw this together. So we we have this
issue I think in our society and especially the culture
that we're in now, is about we want to spend
ten minutes cooking. I mean, you can't spend ten minutes cooking.
You might as well just order. You'll you'll get a
better meal, you get a better outpoint. And there's nothing
wrong with ordering. Thank God for seamless, thank God for
(14:59):
the ability to have I'm gonna come to your house
and bring great food and if you want or from
a fancy restaurant, you do it. I'm amazing how that
that exists. But to put food together, it takes patience,
It takes time, takes effort, it takes energy, and it
really takes focus. You have to spend some time to
do it. It's not one to three. Those one to
three cookbooks are just I can't get into my My
(15:21):
husband bought one of those insta pots. I can't get
into it. I don't understand those. I mean I I said,
I'm gonna do a meal a week. He hasn't. It's
still in the box. That's what happens that we have one.
We have one. I'm not going to mention the name,
but it is literally you try it out simplastic, right,
and I have my old Dutch oven. That's that's how
(15:41):
you wrap, is what we use. That's how your brace thinks. Well,
it's easier. I don't have to worry about it do stuff.
I do suvite because I've been doing it in my
kitchens my entire life. So for us, it's it's so simple.
But suvite is actually another step as well, because you
have to think about putting in and actually getting into it,
and then you have to caramelize it after. So I'm like,
(16:04):
just caramelize the ship out of it right away. I'd
like to have a lot, Like if it's protein, if
it's poultry, I'd like to have it already ready to go.
In the freezer in that morning, I bring it out,
have it come to room timp and then syric because
that's takes ten seconds. Ten seconds, you know. So what
is your go to weeknight meal when you're deep in
the weeds and you're tired. Probably a roast chicken. Roast chicken. Yeah.
(16:26):
What is your favorite dessert When you need to make
a dessert on a Sunday someone's coming over, you need
to whip something up in forty five minutes and make
it homemade and not go out and get it in
the summer, it's usually some sort of berry or peach
or something like something a cop or just or in syrup,
you know, like a shortcake or because you can make
(16:48):
short I did that for you. It was super eatid
and it's super easy. I did that. I was desert.
I need to be tastic. I thought you bought it.
I really did know, because it was like it was like,
it takes time to make that, but did it? I know,
it's like a biscuit. It was so fantastic. That's really
the berries. It's really the berries and everything that's it.
You really have great balance. But so that's dessert. So
(17:09):
you're waking up in the morning, big breakfast on a Sunday.
I keep a bunch of frozen scones in my that
you made. I make them and then I freeze so
smart they're they're raw and all different kinds. So I
do that. I do like a bunch of like new
ski thick bacon. I usually do some baby maybe some bagels,
and then maybe some poached eggs if someone wants a
(17:30):
poached egg with like grilled toast, and that's it. That's it. David,
thank you so much. You just made us a day,
a week, and about five years of your life.
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