Ask Mimi With Mimi Sheraton (Reheat)

Mimi Sheraton has seen it all in her 92 years. In this Reheat of our spinoff podcast, Ask Mimi, the legendary food critic offers advice on food and life to live callers and celebrity guests. The Sporkful's Dan Pashman moderates. In this episode, humorist Mo Rocca joins Mimi and Dan live on stage to ask for help with an issue involving his mom.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Dan Pashman?

  As we turn to fall and the weather starts to cool down, I think of things like crunching leaves. I think of sharing from the sidelines of a soccer game, walking the dog in the woods. And when I think of doing all those things, I'm usually wearing something from LL Bean. Whether it's my puffer vest, my puffer coat, my scarf, whatever you're doing outside this year, you probably need something from LL Bean, whether it's their boots, their Scotch plaid flannel, their rugged field coat, or more. Grab the layers and people you love and get outside. Visit llbean.com to shop the fall collection. LL Bean, be an outsider. Start the day strong with Quaker protein products. Quaker makes it easy and delicious to get a good source of protein. No matter what the day has in store, Quaker protein

• 0:42Dan Pashman?

  products give you a variety of ways to reach your protein goals. Oatmeal, granola, bars, and rice snacks in flavors you already love, like maple and brown sugar and blueberries and cream. Quaker protein helps fuel you to start whatever's next. Get your protein with Quaker. Available at a store near you.

• 1:01Dan Pashman?

  Hey, everyone. Dan here with a very special, sporkful reheat for you. This is the debut episode of a spinoff podcast we did a few years back called Ask Mimi. Ask Mimi was an advice show starring legendary food critic Mimi Sheridan. She was the first woman ever named New York Times restaurant critic. She was known for not being shy about her opinions. Also, as you'll hear, her comedic timing is unparalleled. We made eight episodes of Ask Mimi that culminated with us celebrating Mimi's 92nd birthday live on stage. Now, I should mention that Mimi died in April 2023 at the age of 97. I am so glad I got to work with her when I did. And I'll tell you, one of my memories, so we did the first live taping of Ask Mimi. My producer on that project, Margaret Kelly, and I, we would go to Mimi's

• 1:45Dan Pashman?

  house for like coffee and we would plan the show. So after the first episode, look, Mimi came up on stage, she had this crowd eating out of the palm of her hand. They were laughing when she was giving advice. They were silent. They were just total reverence and adoration for Mimi. And after that first show, we show up for coffee at Mimi's house to plan the next show. And Mimi's first question, she turns to two of us and says, how can we make it better? And that was such a great lesson. Here's someone, she's already accomplished everything there is to accomplish. She crushed it. She crushed it onstage, and yet she wanted to know how she could do better and how the show could be better. And that's a great lesson about any kind of work you're doing. And that's how you end up being as successful for as long as Mimi was. So I'm very excited for you to hear this one.

• 2:28Dan Pashman?

  Now, if there's an episode of The Sporkful you want us to pull out of the deep freezer and reheat, you gotta let me know. Don't be shy. Send me an email or voice memo to [email protected]. Tell me your name, location, which episode you want us to reheat, and why. Thanks so much, and enjoy this episode of Ask Mimi.

• 2:47Speaker 01

  Great to be here and wonderful to see such a terrific crowd at a place I never heard of before.

• 2:55Dan Pashman?

  From Stitcher and The Sporkful, this is Ask Mimi. I'm Dan Pashman, and we're coming to you from Union Hall in Brooklyn, New York.

• 3:13Dan Pashman?

  Thank you so much, everyone, for coming out. Welcome to our new podcast. It's very exciting. In this show, Mimi Sheridan offers advice on food and life to live callers from around the country, audience members, and celebrity guests. Coming up in a bit, humorist Mo Rocca will be here to ask Mimi for advice. And, you know, to do a great advice show, there's one thing you need more than anything else, and that's the right person to give the advice. Mimi Sheridan has been a food critic and writer for more than 60 years. Today, she's a columnist for The Daily Beast, and she's written more than a dozen books. I host a food podcast called The Sporkful, and I was asked to interview Mimi a few years back upon the release of her book, 1,000 Foods to Eat Before You Die, which

• 3:57Dan Pashman?

  features everything from caviar to frozen Milky Ways. So I was gonna go interview Mimi, and I was asking people, you know, what can you tell me about Mimi? How should I prepare? And people said, you're interviewing Mimi? Watch out.

• 4:11Dan Pashman?

  Mimi is so tough, and she is so thorough. You gotta prep, Dan. You better be prepared for this interview. Because Mimi, she's the kind of person, like, when she did a story about which deli in New York gives you the best value for your money, she had 102 pastrami sandwiches in her car. That's Mimi. She's the kind of person who, like, when a chef didn't like one of her restaurant reviews, he accosted her, and she did not back down. All right? Mimi was the first woman ever named New York Times Restaurant Critic back in 1975.

• 4:42Dan Pashman?

  And I was just getting nervous. People were like, "Don't cross Mimi."

• 4:48Dan Pashman?

  "Mimi is a silverback gorilla. She will kill you where you stand." And I interviewed Mimi, and I found that everything I just told you was true. But I also found that she is incredibly witty, and kind, and warm, and wonderful, and we totally hit it off. Couple years later, I had her on the sporkful, and we took questions from the audience. It was live onstage again, and I said, "Mimi onstage, the crowd, the advice, this is its own show." And that is the story of how we are here tonight. So you guys ready?

• 5:22Dan Pashman?

  Let's bring on the star of the show. She once tweeted, "Forthcoming New York Times Magazine piece on simple way to prepare kale. Mine is simpler. I call it farm to garbage pail."

• 5:38Dan Pashman?

  You must need advice about something, so it's time to ask Mimi. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the one and only Mimi Sheridan.

• 5:56Speaker 01

  Thank you all, and thank you for coming. It's just wonderful, with such a reception, and I hope you enjoy the evening.

• 6:05Dan Pashman?

  Hey, Mimi.

• 6:05Speaker 01

  Hi.

• 6:06Dan Pashman?

  So, one of the cool things about this show is we're actually taking live calls from all over the country. A safer show would just tape these people, Mimi.

• 6:14Speaker 01

  Not as, not as interesting, not as funny, I think. It's sort of dead. This is better.

• 6:21Speaker 01

  And it's wonderful having an audience, because you feel much better talking to real people.

• 6:24Dan Pashman?

  I love that you're giving a review of our show while we're doing it.

• 6:28Speaker 01

  We like it.

• 6:33Dan Pashman?

  All right, let's go to the phones. Paul in Alexandria, Virginia, you're on with Mimi Sheridan.

• 6:37Speaker 01

  Hi, Paul.

• 6:38Speaker 02

  Hi, Dan. Hi, Mimi.

• 6:39Speaker 01

  Go ahead.

• 6:40Speaker 02

  Okay, so I have a question regarding food truck etiquette, I guess. So I had just started a new job out here with two other coworkers who were also new. And for lunch, we would frequently go out together to get our meals to eat together. So our first adventure was out to the food trucks that were parked outside. Two of us went to one food truck, had kind of like an average wait time before we got our food. The other person went to another food truck, and it took a really long time. We ended up standing there waiting with him to get his food, but by the time he got his food, my meal was cold, the ice cream that came with my meal was smelted.

• 7:23Dan Pashman?

  Oh, God, yeah.

• 7:24Speaker 02

  At what point is it safe to abandon the people you're with and just go eat your meal?

• 7:29Dan Pashman?

  All right, well, so it sounds like we have an etiquette question here, Mimi. What do you want to ask Paul?

• 7:33Speaker 01

  I think Emily Post never dealt with this, but we obviously need a new etiquette for street eating. Was he aware of how long it would be at the truck he chose?

• 7:45Speaker 02

  No, all of the lines were basically, they were long. You know, I've always grown up that you wait for everyone to have their food before you start eating it.

• 7:54Speaker 01

  That's at a table, though. I mean, or in a restaurant where you think everything will be put down in good order, even if one takes a little longer. But I would say this is so informal that you should just go ahead and eat. But what is surprising me is that he had no indication that his truck would take much longer than yours, because if he had ascertained that, it would be incumbent upon him to either change his choice of truck or to take his chances.

• 8:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, and eventually about thirty minutes into it, he did say, "Oh, this is kinda taking forever. Why don't you guys go eat?"

• 8:40Dan Pashman?

  I mean, is this guy, like, clueless? I mean, did he say anything to you? Did he at any point say, "Paul, like, you know, you guys go ahead. You just eat your food. Like, this is insane." Wasn't he also disturbed about the state of his food? Like, what? There's a lot of problems here.

• 8:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, a lot of problems there. I agree.

• 8:58Dan Pashman?

  Alright, so Mimi, it sounds like you're saying, "Next time, Paul should just eat."

• 9:02Speaker 01

  Oh, I think absolutely. I mean, even at a table, let's say, a dinner at a home, if someone puts three or four plates down and it's very, very hot, I really think the other people should say, "Go ahead and eat while it's warm."

• 9:16Dan Pashman?

  Well, Paul in Alexandria, Virginia, thank you for your call.

• 9:19Speaker 02

  Alright, thank you, Dan. Thank you, Mimi.

• 9:24Dan Pashman?

  Alright, next call, Stephanie in Oakland, California. Hey, Stephanie.

• 9:27Speaker 03

  Hey, how's it going?

• 9:28Dan Pashman?

  It's going well. What's your question for Mimi?

• 9:30Speaker 03

  Hi, Mimi. Okay, so, I am a super amateur home cook, and I am looking for ways to add acid to my dishes. But my challenge is that I actually really can't stand vinegar. There's something about it, I just hate it. Like, I've hated pickles since I was a kid, and I'm the kind of person that will, like, go to brunch, get a really good Bloody Mary, because I love them, and I take the entire garnish and I put it on the side. Or I'll, like, go to a barbecue place and put all the coleslaw, like, off this beautiful sandwich.

• 9:58Speaker 01

  Stephanie, as a home cook, have you tried alternate acids in your home cooking? Have you tried citrus juice?

• 10:06Speaker 03

  That's my question, yeah.

• 10:08Dan Pashman?

  So, what would you suggest?

• 10:09Speaker 01

  And what happened? Were you happy with lemon juice, or orange juice, or lime?

• 10:14Speaker 03

  I do. I love citrus. I use lemon in just about everything, and I like vinaigrette a lot.

• 10:18Speaker 01

  Have you tried what are known as sweet vinegars? Sherry vinegar, apple cider vinegar, and balsamic vinegar? Those are sweet.

• 10:28Speaker 03

  Yeah, those are good alternatives.

• 10:30Speaker 01

  Are you using white distilled vinegar?

• 10:33Speaker 03

  Um, not that... So what would you put that in?

• 10:35Speaker 01

  Nothing.

• 10:47Speaker 01

  That's much too caustic. You can clean your chopping board with white distilled vinegar, but there are very good white and red wine vinegars from Italy and France, plus those I mentioned, the sherry, the apple cider, and the balsamic. And if you're happy with citrus, I can't imagine that you have a problem. If you go out to a restaurant and there's coleslaw made with vinegar you don't like, you just can't eat the coleslaw. There's not much you can do about that.

• 11:19Speaker 03

  I was just hoping there was some magic trick to liking the coleslaw on a barbecue sandwich.

• 11:24Dan Pashman?

  Well, there is a trick, but it's not magic. I mean, I can say, as someone who has learned to like acidic flavors relatively late in life, it's just a matter of doing what you're doing. To start off with baby steps, just very small amounts. And when you enjoy very small amounts, then you add more. You could also try a balsamic reduction. Take balsamic vinegar, add a little honey, and cook it until it reduces down and let it cool so it's thick and it's almost like a syrup. And it's mostly sweet and only a tiny bit vinegary. And you put that over some, like, sweet potatoes or something, and it's fantastic.

• 11:56Speaker 01

  Sounds very sweet.

• 11:57Speaker 03

  That's great. I'll have to try that this week.

• 11:58Dan Pashman?

  It is sweet, but she doesn't like vinegar, Mimi. I'm trying to help.

• 12:04Dan Pashman?

  All right, thank you, Stephanie.

• 12:12Dan Pashman?

  Next up, we have Charlotte in Westport, Connecticut. Hi, Charlotte.

• 12:15Speaker 04

  Hi, Dan. Hi, Mimi.

• 12:17Dan Pashman?

  What's your question for Mimi?

• 12:18Speaker 04

  Yeah, for some reason, I attract these men who really don't like food. Some of them have total disinterest in food. Some of them have, like, really specific foods they don't like. One of them refused to eat, like, any noodles or pasta. Like, one wouldn't eat any fruit. On the other hand, I love trying new foods, trying new restaurants. Because you're mentioning new foods. So I would wanna, you know, share my love for food with these people who I was spending my time with, and so I tried to get them to be less picky and more adventurous, and then I kinda realized that I was trying to like change them to be these people that I wanted to, you know, spend time with and share this thing with, and that's not always like a good thing to to change someone. I feel like it's not good to not just take

• 13:00Speaker 04

  someone for who they are, and so the the question is that I need advice on is then that do I just, you know, not date people who don't love food as much as I do, because that feels like very snobbish, but then at the same time, maybe it's better than, um, you know, asking someone or trying to get someone to change into someone who wants to, you know,

• 13:20Dan Pashman?

  Right.

• 13:20Speaker 04

  share all the food things with me.

• 13:22Dan Pashman?

  Okay.

• 13:23Speaker 01

  Well, if it happens frequently, and you find that out later, I'm wondering what other characteristics they have that attract you that might also indicate they don't like food. For example, do you meet them in a gymnasium?

• 13:44Speaker 04

  Yeah, that sounds awful.

• 13:45Speaker 01

  You know, are they jocks? Are they very thin? I mean, there must be, you you can't know how they feel about food until you know them, but you are attracted to so many who have that problem, or it's your problem, that there must be another telltale. I don't know if people who don't like food exude different pheromones than people who do, but that might be it. What what do you look for in a man?

• 14:17Speaker 04

  I feel like I look for people who are are nice and and funny and good to talk to. I'll pretty quickly figure out if they don't like food. I don't know.

• 14:27Speaker 01

  Well, let's let's let me ask you this, if it might pry into a more private corner of your life, since the love of food is is indicates a certain sensual appreciation. Do their lack of food appetite indicate a lack of sex appetite?

• 14:50Speaker 04

  Not directly, I don't think.

• 14:53Dan Pashman?

  Ooh, it's getting hot in here, Mimi.

• 14:56Speaker 01

  Charlotte, are you there?

• 14:59Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah.

• 15:02Speaker 04

  Yeah, sorry, I said not directly, I don't.

• 15:05Dan Pashman?

  Okay. And where are you meeting these guys, Charlotte? Are you meeting them online? Is it Tinder or something? Or are you meeting them in person?

• 15:12Speaker 04

  Um, you know, a mix of both. Some I met while I was at school. Some are from, you know, Bumble. Not Tinder, Tinder's not so great.

• 15:22Speaker 01

  Have you ever met a man who loves food?

• 15:24Speaker 04

  Um, yeah.

• 15:25Speaker 01

  What else was wrong with him?

• 15:31Speaker 04

  He was kind of annoying.

• 15:39Dan Pashman?

  Mimi, Mimi, let me ask you. Do you think it's possible for a food lover, someone really passionate about eating, to have a good, long-term relationship with someone who's a picky eater?

• 15:49Speaker 01

  I suppose it's possible, because I know some people who do, but I cannot imagine living that way. I did a column for The Daily Beast not long ago on, um, questions that are asked of people who are going to marry each other to judge compatibility. Not one of them asked, "Do you eat well together?" And that was the point of my column, that if you are interested in food, if you're not interested in food, of course, it doesn't matter. But if you are, and you are constantly, a couple of times a day, faced with someone who's eating lettuce while you're eating prime rib, um, it's a very funny feeling. So, I mean, there are people

• 16:33Speaker 01

  who like one thing and not another. I mean, my late husband and I, we ate very well together. There were a few things he loved that I hated. He ordered them, and I did not. That's a different thing. But the interest in eating, and the interest in food, and the feeling of adventure and experimentation was on both sides. Now, obviously, with my occupation,

• 16:57Speaker 01

  That magnified the necessity to be with someone who was interested in food. But that's kind of what drew us together in the very beginning. In fact, when he and I were dating, we were at a former very popular Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village, and my husband was Italian-American. And he ordered this huge meal, an appetizer, a pasta, meat and salad, and I ate everything. And he said, "You're all right. You want to get married?"

• 17:32Speaker 01

  So, you know, there's a casting couch and there's a casting table.

• 17:42Dan Pashman?

  So, Mimi, what advice do you have for Charlotte? What do you think she can do to find a better eating boyfriend?

• 17:47Speaker 01

  Now, if you really want to be sure, the first question you ask a man almost before you say hello is, "What do you like to eat?" And see what happens to you when you say that. I can think of no other way to be sure so soon and not waste a lot of time.

• 18:04Dan Pashman?

  And the only thing I would add, Charlotte, is maybe try taking a cooking class. Maybe you meet a guy in a cooking class or something. Like, go hang out places where people who are passionate about food are liable to be hanging out, and you may get a self-selecting sample.

• 18:15Speaker 01

  You go to a supermarket and see what's in a man's basket.

• 18:19Dan Pashman?

  Oh, that is good. I like that. Yeah, yeah. If he's got 16 boxes of mac and cheese, you're going to move on.

• 18:30Dan Pashman?

  Well, Charlotte in Westport, Connecticut, good luck on the dating scene. Thanks for calling. Thank you.

• 18:44Dan Pashman?

  Coming up after the break, Ask Mimi continues. Mimi will give advice to live audience members. Plus, humorist Mo Rocca stops by to seek out Mimi's guidance.

• 18:54Speaker 05

  There is a guy down the hall who's super friendly, but I think he's a total pothead. And nothing, there's something wrong with that.

• 19:00Speaker 01

  Right.

• 19:00Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 19:01Speaker 01

  We all know that.

• 19:02Speaker 05

  Right.

• 19:05Dan Pashman?

  That's all coming up. Stick around.

• 19:22Speaker 06

  It's time to open up a can of advertisements.

• 19:29Dan Pashman?

  You put a lot of love into the things you send during the holidays. It's baked with love, carefully packed with love, or shipped with love right from home. Because what you're sending isn't just what's inside the box. It's the time, thought, and care you put into it. And this holiday season, the United States Postal Service is delivering your love to more addresses in America than anyone else. So send it with love. Send it with USPS. The United States Postal Service. Learn more at USPS.com/holiday. As we turn to fall and the weather starts to cool down, I think of things like crunching leaves. I think of sharing from the sidelines of a soccer game, walking the dog in the woods. And when I think of doing all those things, I'm usually wearing something from LL Bean.

• 20:10Dan Pashman?

  Whether it's my puffer vest, my puffer coat, my scarf, whatever you're doing outside this year, you probably need something from LL Bean. Whether it's their boots, their Scotch plaid flannel, their rugged field coat, or more. Grab the layers and people you love and get outside. Visit LLBean.com to shop the fall collection. LL Bean, be an outsider. As someone who has been lucky enough to go to Napa Valley, I can tell you, it's everything people say it is. Beautiful scenery, quaint, beautiful towns, and phenomenal food and drink everywhere you go. I don't even know that much about wine, but I know that every glass of wine I had in Napa Valley was excellent. I mean, there's no bad glass of wine and no bad meal. Choose between hundreds of wineries, tasting rooms, and chef-led restaurants from a low-key

• 20:54Dan Pashman?

  lunch on a vineyard terrace to a full tasting menu paired by the winemaker. Plan your trip at visitnappavally.com.

• 21:03Dan Pashman?

  Start the day strong with Quaker Protein Products. Quaker makes it easy and delicious to get a good source of protein. No matter what the day has in store, Quaker Protein Products give you a variety of ways to reach your protein goals. Oatmeal, granola, bars, and rice snacks in flavors you already love like maple and brown sugar, and blueberries and cream. Quaker Protein helps fuel you to start whatever's next. Get your protein with Quaker. Available at a store near you.

• 21:36Dan Pashman?

  Welcome back to another Sporkful Reheat. I'm Dan Pashman. Hey, if you want to hear what I'm eating and reading every week, you should sign up for the Sporkful newsletter. I'll give you my weekly recommendations, and so do our producers and the whole rest of our team. We also share announcements about exciting things happening with the show, when there's special discounts on my pastas. And on top of all that, if you subscribe to the newsletter, you're automatically entered into giveaways for cookbooks featured on the show, as long as you live in the US or Canada. There's literally no downside. Sign up right now at sporkful.com/newsletter. I promise we won't spam you. We're only gonna send you really good stuff. Again, that's sporkful.com/newsletter. Thanks. Now, back to this week's reheat.

• 22:17Dan Pashman?

  All right, we have reached the audience participation portion of our show. Please step right up. This is your opportunity to ask Mimi. Please step right up to the microphone and tell us your name.

• 22:26Speaker 07

  My name is Chelsea. So, my boyfriend is 31 years old and has never tried soup.

• 22:33Speaker 01

  Never tried what?

• 22:35Speaker 07

  Soup.

• 22:36Speaker 01

  Soup?

• 22:37Speaker 07

  Yes.

• 22:39Speaker 07

  So, I would like some advice as to how I can convince him to try soup.

• 22:47Speaker 01

  Why doesn't he try soup? What has he got against soup? He never had soup at home with his mother?

• 22:55Speaker 07

  Nope, not once.

• 22:57Speaker 01

  Why? Why not? What about him... What about soup puts him off?

• 23:04Speaker 07

  Honestly, I think at this point, he's only not eating it because he likes being the person who's made it 31 years through life, never having tried soup. It's just stubbornness.

• 23:15Dan Pashman?

  Do you feel like he just enjoys giving you a hard time about it?

• 23:18Speaker 07

  We can ask him.

• 23:22Speaker 01

  Were you once scalded by hot soup as a baby?

• 23:29Dan Pashman?

  Not that I can recall.

• 23:30Speaker 01

  Did your mother make soup?

• 23:31Dan Pashman?

  She wasn't much of a cook.

• 23:33Speaker 01

  Oh, so there was no soup for everybody else at the table to be eating?

• 23:37Dan Pashman?

  That's correct.

• 23:39Speaker 01

  And what puts you off about it now?

• 23:41Dan Pashman?

  Uh, I don't know, the texture, the consistency, just, yeah, general stubbornness and...

• 23:47Speaker 01

  General stat you could get over.

• 23:52Dan Pashman?

  Do you drink things?

• 23:55Speaker 07

  So, he actually really likes the broth when I make braised short ribs and I keep telling him that this is soup.

• 24:06Speaker 07

  He insists that it's different somehow.

• 24:09Speaker 01

  Well, it's very hard to know what to say. Have you tried it? Have you used a spoon?

• 24:16Dan Pashman?

  I'm working myself up to that.

• 24:19Speaker 01

  You like stew that has gravy all over it, like thick soup?

• 24:23Speaker 07

  No, he won't eat that. I think he would just refuse.

• 24:26Speaker 01

  I think it's a pose. I think he just does it to be different and annoy people.

• 24:36Speaker 01

  He probably secretly eats soup.

• 24:40Speaker 01

  When no one is looking.

• 24:45Speaker 07

  We don't live together, so he might.

• 24:49Dan Pashman?

  Yeah, find his soup closet.

• 24:53Dan Pashman?

  It's somewhere.

• 24:54Speaker 07

  I'm gonna look for it.

• 24:55Dan Pashman?

  All right, thank you very much.

• 25:02Dan Pashman?

  That is not one I anticipated, Mimi.

• 25:04Speaker 01

  I love soup.

• 25:10Dan Pashman?

  All right, we got time for one more audience question. Hey, look, it's a celebrity questioner. It's my dad.

• 25:20Dan Pashman?

  I wanted to know if you're...

• 25:22Speaker 01

  Son had a food-related podcast. What advice would you give him?

• 25:29Speaker 01

  Get an honest job.

• 25:41Dan Pashman?

  All right.

• 25:44Dan Pashman?

  Thank you, Mimi. Thank you, Dad.

• 25:48Dan Pashman?

  Now it's time for our special guest. He's a contributor to CBS Sunday Morning and the host of CBS's Innovation Nation. You've also seen him hosting Cooking Channels, My Grandmother's Ravioli, and you've heard him as a regular guest on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Please welcome Mo Rocca.

• 26:15Speaker 01

  Thank you for coming.

• 26:20Dan Pashman?

  Mo, thank you for being here.

• 26:21Speaker 05

  Well, thanks for having me.

• 26:22Dan Pashman?

  Before we get to your question for Mimi, can you just tell us briefly, sort of, give us a little bit about your relationship with food?

• 26:29Speaker 05

  Well, I grew up in a house without much salt, actually. I think that the food that I ate growing up was pretty flavorless but healthy. My mother's Colombian, and she's amazing in many ways, but she made a diet. She liked rice and chicken and a vegetable. And we basically had a very consistent diet without much flavoring added.

• 26:59Dan Pashman?

  Is she here tonight, Mo? Because you seem very reticent to, uh...

• 27:03Speaker 05

  No, because I don't want to hurt her feelings because she's amazing. But by the time I got to college, when I ate college food and I tasted salt, it was like crack cocaine. I mean, it was crazy. It tasted incredible to me, so I never complained.

• 27:14Dan Pashman?

  Okay, so what's your question for Mimi?

• 27:17Speaker 05

  Well, about a year and a half ago, my brother and I moved our mother up to New York City from the suburbs of Maryland, where we grew up, right outside of Washington, DC. And my mother moved into the top floor of my apartment building. I love it. It's been amazing. I really do. It's been wonderful. And I want to help her make friends. So I want your advice on that. Before she came up, I sort of asked the doorman in the building, like, who were the other older women to hang out with? Like, who were the ones that were really fun? And I was told that Norma on 3 and Wendy on 5 were like the women.

• 27:55Speaker 01

  Did you know them?

• 27:57Speaker 05

  I knew them a little. I knew that Wendy is super cool, and she's really popular. And she's British, and she's kind of funky. She's a little bit funky. She's younger than my mother. Norma is Italian. My mother's Colombian, but my father was Italian, so I thought there might be a little simpatico there. And my mother is so charming and is in great shape. She's pretty introverted. And so, at first, I would just hang out in the lobby waiting for either Norma or Wendy to come by. And I did, like, I would sort of skulk around the mail area, like, pretending I was checking mail when I already had, if I could hear Wendy coming. And my mother enjoys playing cards.

• 28:41Speaker 05

  She's not like a serious bridge player, but, um, you know, one day, you know, I was doing a fake mail check. Wendy came up to get her mail. And I said, "Oh, Wendy." I said, "Wendy, um, I'm just wondering, do you play cards?" And she said, "Oh, love, no, I don't. But if it's for your mother, maybe go to the senior center down the street." And I said, "Oh, no, no, no." I said, "Actually, it's not for my mother. She hates cards. What do you like to do? Anything you like to do, she would love to do." So, you know, and, and she's great, but it didn't, it didn't work. So, we're a year and a half into this, and... So, I'm just trying to make my mother friends.

• 29:16Speaker 01

  Have you had a little welcome reception for her in your apartment, of which you might invite some other people in the building?

• 29:24Speaker 05

  That's a good idea. I've probably been spending too much time in the mail area. But, okay, so, that's interesting.

• 29:31Dan Pashman?

  With a mail area-focused strategy.

• 29:33Speaker 01

  An afternoon tea where you, you don't have to prepare the food, I'm sure. Where do you live?

• 29:39Speaker 05

  In the village.

• 29:40Speaker 01

  In the village, so there are many places where you can get little sandwiches, little pastries, tea, if you think it should be tea, if you think the ladies are more given to cocktail parties, you might want to do that. You might want to ask more than just the ladies, just a few other people you know in the building, so it isn't so obvious, there must be some men or couples, and just a welcome to whatever your mother's name is.

• 30:08Speaker 05

  Right, right, Teeny is her nickname, Teeny. Okay, and she's got a penthouse apartment. Her apartment's better than mine.

• 30:15Speaker 01

  So maybe invite them to her apartment.

• 30:17Speaker 05

  Good idea. I even had little cocktail napkins made up, cocktail napkins with green writing that say, Teeny's penthouse, as if it's like a hot new club in town.

• 30:28Speaker 01

  Like Hernando's Hideaway.

• 30:30Speaker 05

  Right, exactly. There is a guy down the hall who's super friendly, but I think he's a total pothead. And there's nothing wrong with that.

• 30:39Speaker 01

  Right.

• 30:39Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 30:39Speaker 01

  We all know that.

• 30:40Speaker 05

  Right.

• 30:43Speaker 05

  But I don't, I don't want to just have, but I think you're right, I should cast a wide net in the cocktail party that's in my mother's apartment.

• 30:51Speaker 01

  Right, how long has your mother been there?

• 30:53Speaker 05

  About a year and three months.

• 30:54Speaker 01

  Oh, it's a little late for welcome, but...

• 30:58Dan Pashman?

  Is there like a birthday or an occasion you can have as an excuse?

• 31:01Speaker 01

  Or an anniversary of her having moved in?

• 31:03Speaker 05

  There you go. Sure, I could do like a 15-month anniversary party.

• 31:07Speaker 01

  Sounds logical to me.

• 31:10Speaker 05

  I could do that, I could say it's like a Colombian tradition.

• 31:15Speaker 05

  Every, it's not a quinceañera, it's a quince mes.

• 31:20Dan Pashman?

  You know what else, Mo, at the cocktail party, you can have a signature cocktail, and you can call it a Teeny Teeny.

• 31:27Speaker 05

  Oh my god, that is so great! Oh, I'm dying, I'm so happy!

• 31:34Speaker 05

  Can you be my mother's friend? That would be, that would be amazing, a Teeny Teeny!

• 31:40Dan Pashman?

  There you go.

• 31:41Speaker 05

  That is awesome!

• 31:42Dan Pashman?

  If you serve them in small glasses, you know what it would be called?

• 31:45Speaker 05

  A Teeny Teeny Teeny?

• 31:49Speaker 05

  Teeny Cubed. And my mother, yeah, she loves guava and mango and...

• 31:55Dan Pashman?

  This thing mixes itself.

• 31:57Speaker 05

  It really does.

• 32:01Speaker 01

  Would your mother like that if you did it?

• 32:04Speaker 05

  That's a good question, because it's hard with people who-

• 32:05Speaker 01

  Would your mother be willing to do this in her penthouse?

• 32:09Speaker 05

  The thing is, is that she's, as I said, charming classy person. She's not, I don't know, I think that she thinks it's the kind of thing, "Look, it'll just happen." I mean, I'm more concerned about it than she is.

• 32:20Speaker 01

  What does she do all day?

• 32:22Speaker 05

  Okay, so, she loves baseball. So, six months out of every year, remember Dame Yankees? But anyway, so for six months out of every year, she's doing that.

• 32:31Speaker 01

  Playing?

• 32:32Speaker 05

  Watching baseball. No, she loves watching baseball.

• 32:34Speaker 01

  On TV? She doesn't go to Yankee Stadium or Shea?

• 32:38Speaker 05

  She's been a couple of times. So, she also plays this game on MLB.com called "Beat the Streak." And so what it is, is you know, DiMaggio got a hit in 56 consecutive games. And my father always said that was the greatest athletic feat ever, because no one's ever come close.

• 32:53Speaker 01

  But she stays alone and plays these games?

• 32:56Speaker 05

  Look, here's the thing, if you can guess 57 players in a row who will get a hit in a game, basically, you win $5.7 million. So, my mother sits there with an iPad on one leg and an iPhone on the other, like a bookie, looking back and forth, keeping track of all the different games. So she does that, so she talks on the phone with friends. She'll go for a walk to Washington Square Park. She volunteers every couple of weeks there.

• 33:21Speaker 01

  Does she go to any of the wonderful free movies at the Jefferson Library just across the street?

• 33:26Speaker 05

  Well now, now you're talking.

• 33:29Speaker 01

  They have wonderful movies. They have talks, they have interesting people, free.

• 33:36Speaker 05

  Okay, but let me ask this, not to be a buzzkill. Some of the public libraries in New York have bedbugs.

• 33:42Speaker 01

  Bookworms, I can tell you. Bedbugs, I don't-

• 33:47Speaker 05

  Very good. Very good. The NYPL thanks you for that, deflection.

• 33:58Dan Pashman?

  I think it's interesting to me, Mo, that you said that your mom is introverted. And Mimi said, "Are you sure that she wants this?" And I think sometimes, because, you know, Mo, when I know that sometimes folks who are in the world of entertainment, as you are, are kind of extroverted at work and introverted in their personal lives. So perhaps you actually take after her to some degree. But sometimes it's hard for people who are extroverted to imagine that people who are introverted are actually happy being by themselves.

• 34:25Speaker 05

  That's a great point. Because my mother will often say, "Stop worrying, stop worrying, I'm fine." And I'll say, "What did you do today?" "Well, I talked to Luisa, and she told me about her trip to Spain." And I'll think like, "Oh, that's all you did, is you talked on the phone? I'm worried that that was like, really nice, that she caught up with her friend Luisa, who told her over the course of an hour and a half, every single step of what happened when she and her husband Tony went to Spain." But I will say that, just, it's kind of a grounding thing for me, because, you know, I can get through a whole day, and you say, "What did you have for lunch?", and I can't tell you what I had for lunch. And my mother, living in my building, it's a reminder, I know this sounds weird, but it's a reminder of how, the value of like, the quotidian of the everyday. Like, she'll tell me about her day,

• 35:10Speaker 05

  and sometimes it'll make me realize how much of my own day I'm ignoring, caught up in work stuff.

• 35:16Dan Pashman?

  So, Mimi, do you have any final advice for Mo? And should he be trying to help her get friends, and if so, how?

• 35:22Speaker 01

  Well, by having this reception at home, that would be one. The other is taking her with other people to restaurants that she might become friendly with. It would be awkward to invite other people in the building out to a restaurant.

• 35:38Speaker 05

  Mimi, I'm just wondering, what are you doing next Sunday afternoon?

• 35:46Speaker 01

  I'm not far away from you.

• 35:49Dan Pashman?

  Mo Rocca is a contributor to CBS Sunday Morning and the host of CBS's Innovation Nation. Big hand for Mo Rocca!

• 36:01Dan Pashman?

  And a big hand for our star, Mimi Sheridan!

• 36:09Dan Pashman?

  This has been Ask Mimi, thank you for coming out, goodnight!

• 36:13Speaker 01

  Thank you all, thank you.

• 36:25Dan Pashman?

  All right, there you have it. The first ever episode of our first ever spinoff podcast, Ask Mimi. I hope that you enjoyed listening to that as much as we enjoyed making it. Ask Mimi is produced by Margaret Kelly and me. Our executive producers are John Asante and Jenny Radelit. Our engineers are Jared O'Connell and Eric Jorgensen. Special thanks to the amazing staff at Union Hall and engineer Dave Polk. Artwork by Ninya Kayaban. Photography by Vitor Hirsch. Special thanks to James Park. And special thanks to Ample Hills Creamery, who provided free samples of their amazing ice cream at the Mo Rocca taping. Also shout outs to Bronx Hot Sauce and Butter and Scotch Bakery, who provided food at our other live tapings. This show, by which I mean The Sporkful, is produced by Anne, Sandy and me. Music help from Black Label Music.

• 37:08Dan Pashman?

  Our executive producers are Chris Bannon and Jenny Radelit. Until next time, I'm Dan Pashman. This is John Zia Hudgens from Macon, Georgia, reminding you to eat more, eat better, and eat more better.

• 37:34Dan Pashman?

  This reheat was produced by Gianna Palmer. The team that produces The Sporkful today includes me along with managing producer Emma Morgenstern. And senior producer

• 37:42Speaker 05

  Andres O'Hara.

• 37:43Dan Pashman?

  Our engineer is Jared O'Connell. The Sporkful is a production of Stitcher Studios. Our executive producer is Camille Stanley. And hey, did you know you can listen to The Sporkful on the SiriusXM app? Yes, the SiriusXM app, it has all your favorite podcasts, plus over 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, plus live sports coverage. Does your podcasting app have that? And there's interviews with A-list stars and so much more. It's everything you want in a podcast app and music app all rolled into one. And right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Until next time, I'm Dan Pashman.

• 38:23Dan Pashman?

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• 38:30Speaker 04

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• 38:52Dan Pashman?

  Hey, it's Dan here. Thank you so much, first of all, for tuning into this portfolio every week. We really appreciate it. And I want to let you know, if you want to hear new episodes ad-free, subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts Plus on Apple Podcasts or visit siriusxm.com/podcastsplus to listen with Spotify or another app of your choice. Thanks.