Ina Garten

Ina Garten knows never to show up to a podcast taping empty-handed. Amy hangs with the author and host of 'Be My Guest' and talks about whether or not Ina's husband, Jeffrey, is in the CIA, her favorite New Yorker cartoons, and how to make a store-bought Thanksgiving fabulous. Host: Amy PoehlerGuests: Julia Louis Dreyfus and Ina GartenExecutive Producers: Bill Simmons, Amy Poehler, and Jenna Weiss-BermanFor Paper Kite Productions: Executive producer Jenna Weiss-Berman, coordinator Sam Green, and supervising producer Joel LovellFor The Ringer: Supervising producers Juliet Litman, Sean Fennessey, and Mallory Rubin; video producers Jack Wilson, Belle Roman, and Aleya Zenieris; lighting director Caroline Jannace; audio producer Kaya McMullen; video editor Drew van Steenbergen; and booker Kat SpillaneOriginal Music: Amy Miles Walmart.com/shop/gifts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

• 0:00Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by American Airlines. You'd think sitting on a plane with just a couple of hours between you and your vacation would be reward enough, but American Airlines said, what if we gave them even more? With the American Airlines Advantage Program, you earn miles not only when you fly, but with thousands of your favorite brands, and then redeem those miles for flights, upgrades, and experiences worldwide. That, and Advantage members also enjoy earlier boarding and free high-speed Wi-Fi in-flight. Join for free and start earning towards your next adventure at aa.com/amy. Well, hello, everyone. I'm very excited for this episode of Good Hang.

• 0:42Amy Poehler?

  I'm Amy Poehler, and joining me today is Ina Garten. Ina is just a delight, and we are going to talk about so many fun things. We're going to talk about her TV show, podcast, Be My Guest. We're going to talk about the best way to cook carrots. We're going to talk about enriched uranium. And she arrives with the best gift I've received yet, and the first gift I've received. So I can't wait to show you that. But before we get started, we always like to talk to somebody who knows our guest and has a question for them, and we have a real humdinger on this one.

• 1:23Amy Poehler?

  I mean, just a comedic genius, everybody's fave. I mean, what hasn't she done? Emmys, TV, movies, just a social activist. She's in her garden, she's protecting herself from the sun, she's wearing a giant hat. Her name is Julia Louis-Dreyfus. JLD. This episode is presented to you by Walmart. I'd like to say that I'm a pretty good gift giver, and for me, it's about making the extra effort to find the perfect gift. Walmart has the top brands we all love in one place: Nespresso, Nintendo, Apple, you name it. That's why it has to be Walmart for all my gifts this year.

• 2:07Amy Poehler?

  Guest Best Gift Giver Award goes to yours truly. Get the brands everyone loves at prices you'll love at Walmart. Who knew? Go to walmart.com or download the app to get all your gifts this season.

• 2:27Amy Poehler?

  Your hat looks great.

• 2:36Speaker 01

  I don't know what else to do.

• 2:37Amy Poehler?

  I mean, look, at this point, we should, hats, whatever, scarves, whatever.

• 2:43Speaker 01

  Yes, scarves, hats.

• 2:45Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God, you're the best for getting on and doing this. Hi, friend.

• 2:50Speaker 01

  Hi, my friend. I'm so happy to see you.

• 2:53Amy Poehler?

  I'm so happy to see you, too. And I was just thinking about the last time we saw each other, which was, um...

• 2:58Speaker 01

  Getting our hair colored.

• 2:59Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, at the salon. At the salon, where all the ladies go to meet. Are you in California, or?

• 3:07Speaker 01

  I'm in California. I'm in Santa Barbara, California. Hence, this hat.

• 3:12Amy Poehler?

  It is a very California hat.

• 3:14Speaker 01

  It is, actually. But I do, in fact, this isn't bullshit. I actually do wear this hat all the time because I'm conscious of getting too much sun.

• 3:23Amy Poehler?

  You know what? I was just saying, I was just telling someone that my dermatologist told me, like, no more sun, like, you're done with sun. The end, period.

• 3:33Speaker 01

  Yeah. And are you listening to your dermatologist?

• 3:35Amy Poehler?

  I'm finally, sadly, I've known this for many years, but I need to talk to you about, and all the women listening, about full sun shirts.

• 3:45Speaker 01

  I know everything.

• 3:46Amy Poehler?

  Oh, I can't wait. I knew you would. I knew you would.

• 3:49Speaker 01

  I have so much information for you. First of all, get this hat. Number one.

• 3:56Amy Poehler?

  I knew you would, and I so appreciate it because, first of all, babe, you look incredible. Nobody looks better than JLD.

• 4:04Speaker 01

  And all the filters that are on this computer, thank you as well.

• 4:08Amy Poehler?

  At one point, you should do that Zoom thing where you just get, you put sunglasses on yourself, and then you turn into a cat, and then the background turns into a beach.

• 4:17Speaker 01

  I wish I knew how to do that.

• 4:20Amy Poehler?

  Well, we're talking to Ina Garten today.

• 4:23Speaker 01

  Lucky you.

• 4:24Amy Poehler?

  And you know what? Before I even get into that, congratulations on your podcast, and...

• 4:29Speaker 01

  And congratulations on your podcast.

• 4:37Amy Poehler?

  Thank you. Just two ladies having a podcast.

• 4:40Speaker 01

  Welcome to Showbiz.

• 4:42Amy Poehler?

  Um, where did you first meet Ina?

• 4:44Speaker 01

  On the podcast.

• 4:46Amy Poehler?

  Wow, you became pot, you became friends after the pod?

• 4:50Speaker 01

  Correct. Like, real, proper friends.

• 4:53Amy Poehler?

  Oh, cool. How did that happen?

• 4:56Speaker 01

  I don't know. I just feel like she's... Have you ever met her?

• 5:00Amy Poehler?

  No, never met her.

• 5:02Speaker 01

  Oh, well, you're gonna just have the best conversation because she's as... She's exactly what you think. She's completely authentic. She's very kind. She's obviously very intelligent. She's hilarious. She's just got a great attitude. She's incredibly cheerful. FYI, that's a question you need to ask her.

• 5:23Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 5:24Speaker 01

  Why are you so cheerful?

• 5:26Amy Poehler?

  And say it that aggressively?

• 5:27Speaker 01

  I mean, I actually mean that. I don't mean it sarcastically, although it sounded it, but I mean, like, seriously, why are you so cheerful? And also, what puts you in a bad mood? I'd like to know what really puts Ina in a bad mood.

• 5:41Amy Poehler?

  It's, it's so interesting you say that because, like, in doing research on her and, and, you know, like, she has this, uh, you know,

• 5:51Amy Poehler?

  she talks about it in her book, like, a decision she makes to decide to enjoy life. She just, like, kind of, you know, a lot of it is meeting Jeffrey.

• 6:02Speaker 01

  A lot.

• 6:02Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, and him saying, you know, "I'm gonna give you a safe container in which to decide, you know, what kind of life you wanna live, and we're gonna find joy in our lives." But she really seems like she's the kind of person that made a decision and makes a decision every day.

• 6:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think she does. She's very intentional that way.

• 6:21Amy Poehler?

  Mm-hmm.

• 6:21Speaker 01

  And, uh, and she's a hard worker. I mean, she's, I don't know if she'd call herself a workaholic, but she works hard. She likes to work.

• 6:29Amy Poehler?

  Mm-hmm.

• 6:30Speaker 01

  And, uh...

• 6:33Speaker 01

  And that's reflected in the work that she does. And speaking of which, this is, I have another question for her that I'd like you to ask her.

• 6:43Amy Poehler?

  Yes, please.

• 6:43Speaker 01

  And then call me afterwards.

• 6:45Amy Poehler?

  About sun, sun protection?

• 6:47Speaker 01

  No, no, yes, sun protection for sure. Definitely call me.

• 6:50Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 6:50Speaker 01

  You're getting hats you're wearing all day long, you're sleeping in it. But I'm in my kitchen, and the reason I'm in my kitchen is because it's a cooking question.

• 6:58Amy Poehler?

  And also, I just want to point out for people who are listening but not watching, a gorgeous bowl of lemons behind you. Just a gorgeous bowl.

• 7:06Speaker 01

  What an extraordinary segue, Amy Poehler, because the dish that I created was a lemon dish. Yes. And I made a lemon sorbet, which I'm going to show you.

• 7:18Amy Poehler?

  Brag.

• 7:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 7:20Amy Poehler?

  We're going into Julia's refrigerator right now. She made a sorbet in a lemon. Okay, so listeners, this is a gorgeous sorbet that is in a lemon.

• 7:32Speaker 01

  In a lemon.

• 7:33Amy Poehler?

  Rind? Is it peel? The lemon case?

• 7:37Speaker 01

  It's in the, it's in the, shall we say, the casing?

• 7:41Amy Poehler?

  The lemon cup? She took...

• 7:44Speaker 01

  The casing of a lemon.

• 7:45Amy Poehler?

  Okay, she made the sorbet, and then she scooped out the lemon, and she put it back in. So now the lemon serves as a dish.

• 7:51Speaker 01

  Correct. And so the sorbet is delicious.

• 7:54Amy Poehler?

  Looks incredible.

• 7:54Speaker 01

  I made it with lemon, water, and sugar. And lemon zest. But here's the issue. It's very icy, and it's not creamy.

• 8:07Amy Poehler?

  Ah, I see.

• 8:09Speaker 01

  So the question, I don't know if you cook, Amy?

• 8:11Amy Poehler?

  I do. I love to cook, and I want to talk to Ina about it, because I was late to cooking, very late.

• 8:16Speaker 01

  Well, by the way, all of her books are good for you, because they're so easy. It's not crazy complicated and delicious, delicious recipes. But anyway, I need to know what to add to this. I'm guessing it's some sort of a binder of some sort that I can add to this to give it more of a creamier sorbet texture versus what I've got. Which, by the way, is totally delicious. But you can see, it sort of, it sort of breaks off.

• 8:48Amy Poehler?

  I find ice cream and sorbet to be very hard to make, very hard to make well.

• 8:55Speaker 01

  I got news for you, this is delicious. Maybe don't ask her anything.

• 8:59Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, maybe it's perfect.

• 9:02Speaker 01

  But I would like, no, I really would.

• 9:04Amy Poehler?

  Okay, so I'm gonna ask her about the sorbet. I'm gonna ask her about her positive attitude. And I will just say, and this is an obvious question, but now that you are friends and you hang out, have you and Brad gone to dinner with Ina and Jeffrey?

• 9:17Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 9:19Amy Poehler?

  Great. And two very successful, long marriages, both of you. You know how I feel about you and your husband, Brad Hall. Truly couple goals, both of you, just...

• 9:30Speaker 01

  Oh, that's so nice.

• 9:32Amy Poehler?

  You know, you know, there's not always a lot of couples that you want to hang with.

• 9:36Speaker 01

  That's true.

• 9:38Amy Poehler?

  It's true. It's usually one or the other.

• 9:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's true. We have dinner plans tonight with the couple. And let's just say I'm thinking of a way right now to get out of it.

• 9:49Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Yeah, you could just say you were wearing a hat and it...

• 9:53Speaker 01

  I was wearing a hat and I got a headache.

• 9:56Amy Poehler?

  Got too tight.

• 9:58Speaker 01

  I ate too much sorbet. Uh, I'm sick.

• 10:02Speaker 01

  Add it, that'll work.

• 10:03Amy Poehler?

  Okay, so I'm gonna ask Ina about her attitude, sorbet, and what puts her in a bad mood.

• 10:10Speaker 01

  I'd really like to know what puts her in a bad mood. I hope she'll answer honest.

• 10:14Amy Poehler?

  I know, I wonder. I mean, truly, what is so interesting about her is her success came late in life.

• 10:22Speaker 01

  Yeah. FYI, she worked in the White House in nuclear energy, as I recall.

• 10:33Amy Poehler?

  Dang.

• 10:34Speaker 01

  What a life indeed. So I interviewed for talking to her and tell her I said hi.

• 10:39Amy Poehler?

  I will.

• 10:40Speaker 01

  Call me later and I'll give you a bunch of sunscreen tips, including clothing.

• 10:45Amy Poehler?

  I know.

• 10:45Speaker 01

  And products for your face.

• 10:47Amy Poehler?

  I gotta get the whole thing.

• 10:49Speaker 01

  Do the sunscreen. I've got good sunscreen that doesn't turn your face white, too.

• 10:52Amy Poehler?

  Okay, I always use sunscreen, but I think I'm at a point now where I have to wear the full shirt, which...

• 11:00Amy Poehler?

  I know, God. You know, it's just like, it feels like everything fun is taken away.

• 11:09Speaker 02

  That's the attitude, Amy.

• 11:10Amy Poehler?

  Except for sorbet.

• 11:11Speaker 02

  Wait, tell Ina that. Tell her that.

• 11:17Speaker 02

  Help me get out of this funk if you can.

• 11:20Amy Poehler?

  Do you ever feel like everything fun is taken away? Anyway, Julia's having some trouble with her sorbet and the creaminess of it. So let's get to that.

• 11:31Amy Poehler?

  All right. Thank you for jumping on. I really appreciate it. And will you come, will you come do this someday when you're not doing yours? I know you're so busy, but come.

• 11:38Speaker 02

  I would love to. Absolutely love to. Because you are, in fact, a good hang.

• 11:43Amy Poehler?

  Thank you. So are you, friend. And I think about our times together a lot and always want more of them. So let's make it happen.

• 11:50Speaker 02

  Done and done.

• 11:52Speaker 02

  So I brought you a little present. I shopped all over the world for it. I went to Hermès. I went to all the fabulous stores. And I chose something I thought you might like.

• 12:02Amy Poehler?

  Ina! Listeners, Ina's giving me a beautiful green bag. This is some ASMR, some crinkle ASMR.

• 12:11Amy Poehler?

  Oh my goodness!

• 12:14Speaker 02

  Did I guess right?

• 12:15Amy Poehler?

  I'm getting chills.

• 12:19Speaker 02

  No, it's not a diamond necklace.

• 12:23Amy Poehler?

  This is so incredible! Jenna, do you know what this is?

• 12:30Amy Poehler?

  Ina brought a fake roast chicken!

• 12:36Speaker 02

  Just to add to your collection.

• 12:39Amy Poehler?

  Actually, my heart is pounding.

• 12:42Amy Poehler?

  My heart is pounding. First of all, there's so many things I love about this. Thank you ver- I love this. I really, I'm always gonna cry. I like that it is the same size as a roast chicken.

• 12:55Speaker 02

  It's not a fake fake. It's a real fake.

• 12:58Amy Poehler?

  I like the glistening. There's some kind of fake.

• 13:02Speaker 02

  I like that its little legs are tied together.

• 13:06Amy Poehler?

  This is actually how you would have- because I make your roast chicken with fennel. Yes, it's my favorite recipe. And you talk about tucking the wings and tying here and putting the lemons inside. And the weight of it, you can't, listeners, you can't feel it, but it's got a good weight, but not too- Like if you dropped it on your toe, you would break it.

• 13:27Amy Poehler?

  I know, that is the ni- as you've heard, I love fake food.

• 13:30Speaker 02

  And I've gotten that idea here.

• 13:32Amy Poehler?

  And I know I should probably put it in the back, but I also want to keep it close. Oh, I love it. Okay, I'll put it in the back. Thank you so much. A lovely gift. And now, everyone who sees it will know that it came from you. I mean, your roast chicken, we have a lot to talk about today.

• 13:49Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 13:49Amy Poehler?

  But, I'm sure you've heard this from many people, but what, you are like a translator. So, you take what you've learned and what you know, and you make people understand it. And it's a rare skill.

• 14:03Speaker 02

  Oh, thank you. That's wonderful.

• 14:05Amy Poehler?

  I just, this roast chicken, even though it's fake, is making me think about the fact that you taught me how to make a roast chicken, which, and what is bigger than that and deeper than that is...

• 14:17Speaker 02

  It's not about the chicken. It's about when you cook, everybody shows up. And then you create a community around yourself. And I didn't know that until I started writing cookbooks. But it's just a really important thing, that we all need to feel like we're part of something, and that we take care of people, they take care of us. And a roast chicken is the most basic thing. They're almost, I don't think there's a culture in the world that doesn't have some kind of roast chicken.

• 14:40Amy Poehler?

  So, people start podcasts sometimes to check mics, and they say, "What'd you eat for breakfast?" Like, "What did you eat for breakfast?" is the question that a lot of people ask when they're starting a podcast. I know, what did you have for breakfast this morning?

• 14:53Speaker 02

  I have the same thing I always have. I either have, and I go for years with one breakfast, and then I switch, and I go for years with another breakfast. So, I always have whole grain toast with really good butter. I love French butter and coffee. And that's breakfast.

• 15:09Amy Poehler?

  Coffee drinker, how do you take your coffee?

• 15:12Speaker 02

  With milk.

• 15:13Amy Poehler?

  And tea drinker at all?

• 15:15Speaker 02

  I start drinking tea around 10:30. Like, not at 10:29, not 10:31, but at 10:30, my brain goes, "Tea."

• 15:23Amy Poehler?

  And no more coffee the rest of the day?

• 15:24Speaker 02

  Probably not, yeah.

• 15:26Amy Poehler?

  That's smart. I was telling a lot of my friends, I have a lot of young friends who talk about how they can't sleep, and when you check out their coffee intake, they're having coffee.

• 15:34Speaker 02

  It's like crazy. It's crazy. But I have, I brought something else with me too, while we're on that subject of breakfast.

• 15:40Amy Poehler?

  You brought something else?

• 15:41Speaker 02

  And I think Jenna might have it right here.

• 15:44Amy Poehler?

  I know.

• 15:45Speaker 02

  We play our cards right.

• 15:46Amy Poehler?

  Wait, Ina's giving me more things? I'm overwhelmed.

• 15:50Speaker 02

  Well, I thought we have to have a party here.

• 15:52Amy Poehler?

  I know you two know how to drill a party.

• 15:54Speaker 02

  We love a good party.

• 15:55Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my gosh. Okay, so listeners.

• 15:57Speaker 02

  They had fabulous strawberries at Edely downstairs.

• 16:00Amy Poehler?

  Ina's pulling out some strawberries.

• 16:02Speaker 02

  They're from Harry's Berries in, I think it's in the northwest.

• 16:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, Harry's Berries is really big in California, too.

• 16:08Speaker 02

  It's just the best. And I thought we have to have something to drink with.

• 16:11Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 16:12Speaker 02

  So we got a nice chilled Toreseco.

• 16:16Speaker 02

  This could be breakfast.

• 16:19Amy Poehler?

  I want you to know, I barely drink anymore, so I'm a real lightweight.

• 16:23Speaker 02

  Oh, I'm worse. I'm totally worse. I always say I spend so much more time talking about drinking than I do actually drinking.

• 16:29Amy Poehler?

  If I have a half a glass of that, I'm gonna really start spilling some secrets. There's gonna be some tears.

• 16:36Speaker 02

  I think I might have to fill your glass. First getting it open's not so easy.

• 16:40Amy Poehler?

  Well, I used to be in the food service industry.

• 16:42Speaker 02

  Oh, you were so on.

• 16:44Amy Poehler?

  I'd be happy to open it for you because...

• 16:46Speaker 02

  I think you're gonna be the one to do this.

• 16:47Amy Poehler?

  Okay, because I used to open a lot of... Wait, why are you flinching, Jenna? I know how to open. So here's the key.

• 16:54Speaker 02

  Turn the bottle, not the cork, right?

• 16:56Amy Poehler?

  Exactly. And also, you wanna do the thing where you talk about something else while you're doing it so you distract.

• 17:04Speaker 02

  Oh, that's a very good idea.

• 17:05Amy Poehler?

  You just say, like, you know, when you're opening your champagne, you're just saying, "So just a couple of things about the specials tonight. We have a gorgeous fake roast chicken

• 17:16Amy Poehler?

  that is really delicious. And we have, we have..."

• 17:20Speaker 02

  Well done, like a pro. Whoa.

• 17:24Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God. May I pour?

• 17:25Speaker 02

  Yes, please.

• 17:26Amy Poehler?

  Thank you so much. Okay, we're pouring champagne.

• 17:29Speaker 02

  Very little for me.

• 17:30Amy Poehler?

  This is the most fun I've ever... Podcasts are great, guys. All you do is you get presents and then you have champagne with Ina and strawberries. Cheers.

• 17:41Speaker 02

  Isn't this very pretty woman? Champagne and strawberries? Cheers.

• 17:45Amy Poehler?

  This is how we imagined our life. Cheers. Cut to me immediately crying.

• 17:52Amy Poehler?

  Okay, wow. And these strawberries look amazing. You know, I'm gonna say something a little controversial. There's gonna be a lot of controversy in this podcast.

• 18:02Speaker 02

  Fruit? Fruit? You don't like fruit?

• 18:06Amy Poehler?

  I like it. But I'll take a vegetable over fruit. I'll take vegetables over fruit.

• 18:11Speaker 02

  But fruit that is picked before you eat it, that's that tastes like fruit. The problem is, a lot of things here have been picked like six months ago. And they're shipped somewhere. They're not, it's not like going to a farm stand and buying. When you go to France, there are stores that sell fruit that when you go to pick out a pear, they say, no, you want these pears. And do you want to eat it today or tomorrow? And they're choosing it by how ripe it is. So it's going to be perfect today or perfect tomorrow. The problem is, we're eating fruit out of season.

• 18:43Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 18:44Speaker 02

  I mean, the strawberries are in season. We're eating fruit that's not ripened on the vine.

• 18:48Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 18:48Speaker 02

  It's been ripened by sitting around, which doesn't ripen it.

• 18:51Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 18:51Speaker 02

  It just ages it.

• 18:53Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 18:53Speaker 02

  So the thing about good, like, good strawberries, it tastes like strawberry jam. You don't need to do anything with it.

• 18:59Amy Poehler?

  And I know this is kind of a Sophie's Choice, but if you had to go between sweet and salty, what would be your choice? Are you a savory or are you a sweet person?

• 19:07Speaker 02

  Probably savory.

• 19:08Amy Poehler?

  Me too. That's what I'm saying. So fruit sometimes is a little like, I'd rather have a cheese than a fruit.

• 19:14Speaker 02

  Oh, I'm with you there.

• 19:15Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 19:15Speaker 02

  Cheese and bread. I mean, like, cheese and bread, desert island, you and I are good.

• 19:22Amy Poehler?

  What, you grew up in Brooklyn. What did you eat growing up? Your mother was a dietitian.

• 19:26Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:26Amy Poehler?

  Did you have, did that, what were you eating at home? And what did you eat?

• 19:30Speaker 02

  It was, she was very extreme in what she served. And she believed that you should only eat protein and vegetables and nothing else. I mean, there were no, there were no, there wasn't bread. There wasn't french fries. There wasn't, there was, I mean, literally no carbs.

• 19:48Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 19:49Speaker 02

  So I was like starving when I was a kid. There were no cookies and milk when you got home from school. If I asked her for something for, if I got home and I was hungry, she'd go, oh, just eat an apple. I mean, nobody wants an apple after school.

• 20:02Amy Poehler?

  No. Especially since they've just given one to a teacher. It's associated with teachers. But it's interesting because, you know, when you grew up and after, there was a I mean, there still is, of course, this crazy diet culture, but there was this like weird fear about food, like, and the fear shifts all the time. Sometimes we're afraid of carbs, then we're afraid of fats, then we're afraid of, like, and you've witnessed this, the trends that where people come and go and they decide what we're supposed to be afraid of. And I remember growing up, grew up in the 70s. There was just a lot of misinformation about food. It was just, we just didn't know what we didn't know, I guess.

• 20:43Speaker 02

  I mean, at the end of the day, I think the more you cook and choose simple things to cook and the less you eat processed foods, that's really all you need to know.

• 20:52Amy Poehler?

  I know.

• 20:53Speaker 02

  And if you eat a balanced diet, you feel better.

• 20:55Amy Poehler?

  I know.

• 20:55Speaker 02

  It doesn't mean you're, you know, you're living on carbs or you're, there are no carbs. It's balanced. And if you want to be healthier, then eat a little more vegetables and a little less protein and carbs. But, I mean, that's, it's not that complicated.

• 21:08Amy Poehler?

  But real food was not something discussed in the 70s. The 70s was about gadgets and shortcuts, right? Because women were going back to work and it was very much like, hey, you don't have to make the meal, make, you know, make stuff in your microwave instead. And there was, I remember, I'll speak on behalf of my mom, like, a freedom in things being faster and easier and kids being able to do it and all that kind of stuff, but we

• 21:33Speaker 02

  Did you cook when you were a kid?

• 21:35Amy Poehler?

  No.

• 21:35Speaker 02

  Because you didn't start cooking until you were like 40, right?

• 21:38Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 21:38Speaker 02

  So what, what changed?

• 21:39Amy Poehler?

  So I, I really believed, and kind of what I, what I was saying to you earlier, I really believed that I just was the kind of person that, I was like, I just, I just don't think I'm the kind of person that cooks. And I would save myself to-

• 21:52Speaker 02

  You don't, you're not the kind of person who can cook or wants to cook?

• 21:55Amy Poehler?

  I think a little bit of both. I think it was like, I don't really know enough dishes and maybe it's something I'm not interested in. But what motivates me sometimes, Ina, is watching really dumb people do things.

• 22:10Amy Poehler?

  Because I'm like, wait a minute, there's a lot of, wait, look at Ina interviewing me, by the way. I'm doing so much talking. Wait a minute, hold on, I gotta pause. You're good. You're interviewing me. We're having strawberries over you. All right, I had one sip of prosecco. What?

• 22:30Amy Poehler?

  One sip. And I'm like, you know what the thing is? I know. The 70s, no. But you were a big part of me feeling like, wait a minute.

• 22:40Speaker 02

  Was I that dumb person, Coach? We have to back up here.

• 22:45Amy Poehler?

  No, I guess I mean that like, I was motivated by, I watched people learn how to cook and I thought, hold on, I know how to learn new things. I can learn new things.

• 22:55Speaker 02

  One of my favorite things that Jennifer Garner ever said was, was she said, as you get older, you're not willing to try new things because you're afraid of failing.

• 23:04Amy Poehler?

  Of course.

• 23:05Speaker 02

  When you're a kid, you try everything and you fail, you get up, you do it again. But as we get older, we're not willing to do that. And I think it really got me to think about the things that I wasn't doing because I thought I wouldn't be able to do them well.

• 23:15Amy Poehler?

  That's a pattern in your life, over and over again for you, is you decide to kind of evaluate where you are and choose a joyful next path. Like, you've done that over and over again. So you grew up in Brooklyn. We gotta bring Jeffrey in right away. I mean, I don't know, we just gotta bring him in. I'd love to bring him in here right now. I mean, Jeffrey and you meet first when you're 16 and then...

• 23:39Speaker 02

  I was like 17 when he saw me. And I was 16 when he saw me and I met him when I was 17.

• 23:45Amy Poehler?

  And you were married at 20?

• 23:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:47Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 23:48Speaker 02

  Smartest thing I ever did.

• 23:49Amy Poehler?

  I know. I have to say...

• 23:52Speaker 02

  Against everybody's advice, if your mother tells you not to marry somebody, listen to yourself, not your mother.

• 23:57Amy Poehler?

  And what did Jeffrey's parents think? Did he...

• 23:59Speaker 02

  They were just wonderful to me.

• 24:00Amy Poehler?

  They were?

• 24:01Speaker 02

  They were wonderful, yeah. Jeffrey's grandmother, when they met me, I met them at some family bar mitzvah or something, and Jeffrey's, his button fell off his coat. And I said, oh, just give it to me, I'll sew it back on again. And his grandmothers were taking their wedding rings and going, marry her now before somebody else does.

• 24:19Amy Poehler?

  She knows how to sew a button.

• 24:21Speaker 02

  She knows how to sew a button on.

• 24:26Amy Poehler?

  I think what people, I know what people respond to about your relationship with Jeffrey, and it is that... You kind of can't fake mutual respect.

• 24:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:38Amy Poehler?

  You just see it, or you don't. And you two have a lot of respect for each other.

• 24:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, and we do, we keep it very simple. We have a very different kind of life than, than we expected to. I mean, we don't have kids, we don't have cats and dogs, we don't have gerbils. We're just, it's just the two of us. And if we're trying to figure out what to do, we figure out what he wants to do and what I want to do. And this is what Jeffrey taught me, is, is let's figure out how we can both do what we want to do. It's not about whether we get to do what you want to do or I want to do. And, and big things like careers and small things like what movie we go see. I, I just, I love that about him. He's so respectful. And it's pretty hard not to, you know, to return that.

• 25:21Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, it's just, in a long marriage, in a long relationship, it's like, one of the things you have to be vigilant about is just trying to stay respectful with someone that you, that you know so well. Because we just get very familiar with people. And we forget that part where we have to be kind of tender with them. And you're, you both are very tender with each other.

• 25:41Speaker 02

  I don't take it for granted, ever.

• 25:43Amy Poehler?

  What do people say to you about your relationship with Jeffrey? Because I bet people project a lot on it. I know the internet does.

• 25:50Speaker 02

  A lot, a lot of people say, "Oh, I have a Jeffrey too." And I think to myself, nah.

• 25:58Amy Poehler?

  You're like, bring it to me, Al.

• 26:00Speaker 02

  In your dreams.

• 26:02Amy Poehler?

  And then you're like, stay away from mine, Jeffrey. Do women ever hit on you, Jeffrey?

• 26:07Speaker 02

  No, I hope not.

• 26:10Amy Poehler?

  Oh my god, I would kill those women. But, yeah, people say, "Oh, I have a real..." And what do you think they're saying when they say that?

• 26:16Speaker 02

  That I have somebody that I have a really good time with, that I just adore and he adores me back. Which is all you really want, right?

• 26:23Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, but you know, that's what you want, and I, I relate to that too. But I think sometimes people forget the fun part in relationship.

• 26:30Speaker 02

  It's so important.

• 26:31Amy Poehler?

  Why is it important?

• 26:32Speaker 02

  I mean, what's the first thing you look for in a friend or a spouse? They have a sense of humor. Because otherwise, I mean, everything, there's such crazy stuff going on. If you don't have a sense of humor about it, you're just too serious. You're too serious to live with.

• 26:44Amy Poehler?

  I know. I know, it's very simple, but it's sometimes hard to learn. And I do think that the other thing that people see in your relationship is a man who is very in love with his partner and...

• 26:59Amy Poehler?

  You are choosing someone who loves you, I guess is the simplest way to say it. And that's, it seems so easy and simple, but it's not always what people do.

• 27:10Speaker 02

  I knew somebody who would fix people up with, you know, together.

• 27:14Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 27:15Speaker 02

  And Jeffrey said to her, what do you look for in somebody that you're fixing up with a friend of yours? And she said, three things. Are they a good person? Do they want to take care of you? And that doesn't mean financially, that means everything. Like, do they want to take care of you? And the third one really shocked me because it was so simple. Does he want to be with you?

• 27:37Amy Poehler?

  Mm.

• 27:38Speaker 02

  So many people want a wife, but they want to go play golf. But that's the thing about Jeffrey, he just follows me around the house. And every once in a while, I turn around and go, does he want to be with you?

• 27:53Amy Poehler?

  Yes, do you want to be in each other's company?

• 27:56Speaker 02

  Do you want to be together? Are you just looking for that, to fill in that blank?

• 28:00Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, that is so deep.

• 28:02Speaker 02

  It really is. It's so simple, and yet it's so important.

• 28:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, and I know that you, you know, you, anyone who's been married, how many years have you been married?

• 28:13Speaker 02

  Fifty-seven.

• 28:15Amy Poehler?

  So you have this, you know, ever-changing story, right? This song that keeps changing and growing. How have you grown, how have you both changed from when you were married at 20? Like, how are you different?

• 28:28Speaker 02

  Well, I think when we were married at 20, we each had, like, roles. You know, he was the husband, I was the wife. I'd go, you know, we both had jobs and, you know, he would go to the State Department, I worked in the White House. And it was assumed that I would come home and make dinner until I found it just incredibly annoying. I just didn't want to have the girl role and him have the boy role. And so we just threw the whole thing away and started all over again.

• 28:51Amy Poehler?

  So, yes.

• 28:52Speaker 02

  And he took the checkbook and he said, here, you do it. It was one time, he said to me, he said to me, what's he doing that bills? And he goes, what's this bill from Bloomingdale's? And I thought, I'm not about to justify to you what my bill from Bloomingdale's is. And he picks up the checkbook and he hands it to me and goes, okay, you do it. Do it. And I said, fine. And that was that.

• 29:11Amy Poehler?

  So funny. I have such memories of my parents sitting at the kitchen table with their checkbook.

• 29:15Speaker 02

  Doing it together?

• 29:16Amy Poehler?

  Doing it together.

• 29:17Speaker 02

  That's interesting.

• 29:17Amy Poehler?

  And, and, and it being a big deal about who was doing it. And you're right, especially a lot of women during that time just didn't, weren't even aware of their financial situation, let alone knew how to do it.

• 29:27Speaker 02

  Exactly. And, and recently, actually, Jeffrey said to me, so how much do we spend on the garden?

• 29:33Amy Poehler?

  And you were like, Jeffrey, don't ask questions like that. It doesn't matter. We have strawberries. We're fine.

• 29:37Speaker 02

  I just went, I don't think so. Then he goes, okay, I get it.

• 29:45Amy Poehler?

  Okay, we cannot blow past the White House. What you just said so casually. I was at the White House. He was at the State Department, like, like an episode of The Americans or something. But, um.

• 29:55Speaker 02

  That was us. You didn't know that. That's the untold story.

• 29:58Amy Poehler?

  People could say, could argue that you and Jeffrey worked for the CIA.

• 30:03Speaker 02

  Well, I think a few people, you know, you don't know this about Jeffrey, but he was a paratrooper and a Green Beret. And then his first job was in the White House. And then he worked for the Secretary of State. So everybody I know thinks he's in the CIA. And every once in a while, I go, are you, are you actually in the CIA?

• 30:19Speaker 02

  And he always says, you know, the wives are the last to know.

• 30:24Amy Poehler?

  That would be an amazing show. I would watch that where he reveals at age 90 that he's.

• 30:29Speaker 02

  And I'm a Russian agent.

• 30:33Amy Poehler?

  But you worked in the White House and you were working during the Ford administration, the Carter administration, like during the, those Ford.

• 30:39Speaker 02

  I started when Ford came in and then stayed on through Carter.

• 30:43Amy Poehler?

  And what were you doing there?

• 30:46Speaker 02

  I worked on nuclear energy policy.

• 30:48Amy Poehler?

  Nuclear energy policy.

• 30:50Speaker 02

  So it's the part of the, the federal budget that, I worked at Office of Management and Budget, which writes the president's budget. And I, I oversaw the budget for nuclear power plants. And interesting that it's come up now in rich uranium.

• 31:05Amy Poehler?

  Yes, it's, it's, it's very, uranium is in the news.

• 31:08Speaker 02

  It's in the news.

• 31:09Amy Poehler?

  It's back in the news.

• 31:10Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 31:11Amy Poehler?

  And how did you get that job? How'd you get a job?

• 31:14Speaker 02

  I just, I think Jeffrey knew somebody in the White House who was looking for somebody. And I applied for the job and got it.

• 31:19Amy Poehler?

  And you talked about how it was pretty, it was tough for you. There was, things moved slowly.

• 31:25Speaker 02

  Slowly.

• 31:25Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 31:26Speaker 02

  Oh, my God. Every year, we would take something out of the budget, something big. I mean, at the time, it was, there was one nuclear project that was $20 billion, which was a lot at that time in the 70s. And it would go up to the hill. And the congressperson, I think it was Strom Thurmond, was from the district that this plant was in, and that we were trying to get rid of it or give it to private industry. He would have no control over it. So he would put it back in.

• 31:51Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 31:51Speaker 02

  And then the next year, I'd write the same papers to the president to take it out, and the next year, Thurmond would put it back in again. And after four years of that, I was like, OK, I'm done. I'm so done.

• 32:00Amy Poehler?

  So done.

• 32:01Speaker 02

  I'm not writing this paper one more time.

• 32:03Amy Poehler?

  So you're writing budgets, and you decide, I need something where there's, I really need to do something that, like, where I can make something, do something, and I can see the results of it fast. And so, can you just tell me, how do you go from, I mean, I've read about it, and I've, and I've watched you talk about it, but still, the leap from working in that very corporate job to running a store is such an interesting leap. What made you, what gave you the courage to make the leap? How do you make that career change?

• 32:40Speaker 02

  I knew I was done with working in the government.

• 32:43Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 32:43Speaker 02

  And I was, when I lived in Washington, I taught myself how to cook. I used to, just for fun, buy old houses, renovate them and sell them. And, and actually, I was going to business school at the same time. I don't know how I did any of that.

• 32:57Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 32:58Speaker 02

  And I knew I was either going to go into real estate or the food business, and I just didn't know which one. And then this ad showed up in the New York Times. And I came home that night, and Jeffrey, I said to Jeffrey, I really need to find something else to do. And he said, just pick something fun. Pick something that you think you'd love doing, and if you love it, you'll be really good at it. And I was like, funny you should mention it. I saw an ad for, for a business for sale in a place I'd never been. It was a specialty food store. And he said, let's go look at it.

• 33:28Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 33:29Speaker 02

  So, I mean, what an incredible guy. He was, it was in a place that he didn't live. He was working for the Secretary of State. It would basically blow up our lives. And, and he said, just, just go, go, go look at it.

• 33:42Speaker 03

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• 34:26Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by Allstate. Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. Not checking which group chat you're typing in before hitting send? Next thing you know, you sent a scalding hot take about the restaurant to the group with the person who picked it. Yikes. Yeah, checking first is a good idea, so check Allstate first for an auto quote. It could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary, subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate North American Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. This episode is brought to you by PayPal. Shine at gift giving this year by planning ahead. Shop your favorite online stores with PayPal this holiday, like Sephora for gift sets,

• 35:09Amy Poehler?

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• 35:52Amy Poehler?

  Quiet ride, comfortable, love my Subaru, can't get enough. With up to 581 miles in the Subaru Forester Hybrid, and even more, 597 in the Crosstrek Hybrid, you can go further between stops and stay in the moment longer. Visit Subaru.com/hybrid to learn more. The Subaru Forester Hybrid and Crosstrek Hybrid, love goes the extra mile. You have now a business, employees, and you have to learn very quickly how to be a boss.

• 36:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 36:22Amy Poehler?

  Right? And so, what, you know, how would you describe yourself as a boss?

• 36:25Speaker 02

  I, I always wanted to be the boss that I wanted to have myself. And so, I'm very collaborative. I think in the beginning, I was probably too collaborative. Like, what do you think we should do here? What should we do there? And, and as I got better at it, somebody actually gave me, a friend gave me the advice, your employees need two things from you. They need you to be clear, and they need you to be happy. And, and from then on, I would say, I need these candies bagged, and I need them wrapped up like this. And if I was having a bad day, I would just disturb the energy in the room. Sometimes I had 50 or 100 employees, and they'd all be like, what did I do wrong? But it had nothing to do with them. So I would just walk out of the store,

• 37:07Speaker 02

  I'd walk around the block, calm myself down, and come back happy. And it was, I think that was the best lesson I ever had for business.

• 37:15Amy Poehler?

  Do you, how do you give feedback or criticism?

• 37:18Speaker 02

  I'm very clear about two things. If I'm criticizing you, I'll take you out of the room and discuss what you can do better. If I'm complimenting you, I'll do it with everybody around.

• 37:28Amy Poehler?

  I totally agree.

• 37:30Speaker 02

  You do, don't you, right?

• 37:30Amy Poehler?

  I think compliments with everyone around is a huge thing that people forget to do. I think they actually do the opposite quite a bit. They criticize with everyone around, and they compliment privately.

• 37:42Speaker 02

  And if I have to fire somebody, I'm always worried, what are their, what are their colleagues gonna say? And, you know, I usually give them a lot of warnings, explain what they have to do better. And at the end of the day, it doesn't work, I fire them. Usually in a way that makes them say thank you and kiss me when they leave. Like, this isn't the right job for you, but that could be the right job for you. And then I call everybody. Together and that works for me. And I say, I need to explain to you what happened. Why this didn't work out with that person. Because I'm so worried that their colleagues are going to be mad that their friend is gone.

• 38:14Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 38:14Speaker 02

  And 100% of the time, they're like, oh, such a pain in the neck. We hated working with them. I'm so glad you fired them.

• 38:20Amy Poehler?

  Right, right.

• 38:20Speaker 02

  So it turns, it always, but you need, need that communication.

• 38:24Amy Poehler?

  It, it, it was, and it's a kind of a on the job learned skill. Because to your point, I think we're going to make a huge generalization here. But sometimes a lot of women are good collaborators. So we figure out like, I think the best way to be in charge here is to make sure everybody's voices are heard and I'm constantly collaborating until you realize that people are looking.

• 38:47Speaker 02

  For direction.

• 38:48Amy Poehler?

  For direction.

• 38:49Speaker 02

  And I, I start with the assumption, everybody wants to do a good job. I just have to give them the tools to do it. I have, I have to tell you one story though. The first probably a month in, when I bought Barefoot Contessa and there was, I think there was a cook and three people working in the store. And one of them was just dreadful. And they were all like 16 years old. But she was just, I mean, she had no vision. Like if I tell her to, you know, clean the counter, if there were 20 customers waiting, she'd be cleaning the counter.

• 39:18Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 39:19Speaker 02

  She was just very sweet, but not very good. So I took her out in the back and I explained that, you know, I'm sure there are other jobs that you're good at, this isn't the one. And it was so gentle because I was so worried about hurting her feelings. But the next day she showed up for work again.

• 39:34Amy Poehler?

  She didn't know she fired.

• 39:38Speaker 02

  And the worst part is I couldn't do it again. So she stayed for the whole summer.

• 39:44Speaker 02

  I've gotten better than that.

• 39:46Amy Poehler?

  I could see that happening too, to me too. Yeah, where everyone's like, thank you for the feedback. I'll see you tomorrow. And it's like, oh no, what have I done? Barefoot Contessa, when you opened the store, what was the stuff that you were trying to sell there that spoke to people who were wanting real food?

• 40:05Speaker 02

  Well, you know, I had to learn it.

• 40:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 40:07Speaker 02

  I, I thought this is, it's an expensive store. It's very expensive to make specialty foods. I'm in the Hamptons. I, I'd never been there before. So I had an image of it being fancy. And so if I made, I mean, while we're talking about roast chicken, if I made roast chicken in the store. I'd take a huge white platter and I'd fill it with fresh herbs and then I'd put the roast chickens on it and then put them out and nobody bought them. And I was like, okay, what am I doing wrong? I took the chicken back in the kitchen and I put all the chickens in little red and white paper cups like you would put french fries in and put them on the counter and they all sold. And I thought, oh, that's so interesting. People want really accessible food.

• 40:50Speaker 02

  They don't want fancy food because they're eating it at home. It's different. When you go to a restaurant, you want something that's interesting, that you've never had before or takes a long time. At home, you want simple food. You want roast chicken, roast carrots and brownies.

• 41:04Amy Poehler?

  Yes. And, and what do you say?

• 41:06Speaker 02

  Really good ones, but.

• 41:07Amy Poehler?

  Really good ones.

• 41:08Speaker 02

  Good ones.

• 41:09Amy Poehler?

  And they're, they taste good when you make them.

• 41:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:12Amy Poehler?

  Then they're the really good ones. But that is a thing that I think is just, it's like that thing that you capture with the, your cookbooks, your show, your, your podcast, this idea that, you know, you have everything you need. Like you've got it within you. It's very like, you know, Wizard of Oz or something, which is like you, you, it's been in you all along.

• 41:35Speaker 02

  You just don't know it's there.

• 41:37Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 41:38Speaker 02

  You just have to unleash it.

• 41:39Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 41:40Speaker 02

  That's, one of the things that I, what really wasn't prepared for when I started writing cookbooks is people sending me gifts. They were, kept sending me things. I'm like, why are they doing, what, I mean, people were like making huge pots and, and that they threw themselves and sending, I was like, why are people being so nice to me? And I realized that it was, I wasn't giving them something like a cookbook. I was giving them the tools to make something for themselves and they would put it out and people would say, you made that chocolate cake yourself? And they felt good about themselves. And that's, I think they wanted to thank me, which was so lovely. It was such a realization that it was, that it was, it just felt very generous. It was really nice.

• 42:20Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 42:21Speaker 02

  That we're giving, giving people the tools to do something for themselves.

• 42:23Amy Poehler?

  People really attach to you, Ina.

• 42:26Speaker 02

  That's so sweet.

• 42:27Amy Poehler?

  It's really sweet. I mean, I think you remind them of someone in their family. I think they feel exactly what you've taught them, something. It's like teacher and mommy and, you know, Jedi master and like relationship goals and all that stuff. How does it feel to get all that like love and attention from people?

• 42:47Speaker 02

  Well, I mean, who wouldn't like it?

• 42:48Amy Poehler?

  I mean, it sounds great.

• 42:49Speaker 02

  That's really, when they start throwing things, we'll talk about it.

• 42:54Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, it sounds great. Dumbest question I've ever asked.

• 43:00Speaker 02

  Okay, I have a question for you.

• 43:01Amy Poehler?

  Okay, here we go.

• 43:02Speaker 02

  What's your favorite New Yorker cartoon?

• 43:04Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God. I heard you love New Yorker cartoons.

• 43:06Speaker 02

  I love New Yorker cartoons.

• 43:08Amy Poehler?

  I don't remember any of them.

• 43:09Speaker 02

  Oh, really?

• 43:10Amy Poehler?

  Yes, but they're so good. Oh, no, I do remember one.

• 43:13Speaker 02

  I knew you would.

• 43:14Amy Poehler?

  Okay, thank you for asking. And for anyone under the age of 55, The New Yorker is a magazine. And you can read it in person and you flip through it like it's, um, like a book, but skinnier and flatter. And for, and for those who forget, a book is a...

• 43:36Amy Poehler?

  It is a piece of rigatoni on the phone.

• 43:43Amy Poehler?

  Calling somebody and saying, "You silly, you crazy bastard, how are you?"

• 43:52Speaker 02

  I love that you have a food one, because all of mine are food.

• 43:54Amy Poehler?

  Oh, okay, yeah, mine was a...

• 43:56Speaker 02

  My favorite one is a little pig sitting on the examining table in a doctor's office. And the doctor comes in with his clipboard and he goes, "I have very bad news. It's your ribs. They're delicious."

• 44:17Amy Poehler?

  Do you ever, do you ever enter those contests?

• 44:19Speaker 02

  No, I wouldn't have a clue how. It amazes me how people can write those things.

• 44:24Amy Poehler?

  Okay, me too.

• 44:24Speaker 02

  Did you?

• 44:25Amy Poehler?

  And I mean, I write, no, I write jokes for a living, one could argue. And oftentimes, I'll be, I'll just be staring at the picture like, some, like, why do I stay here? And it's so funny. It's just like, I guess, hey, guys, what's going on? Like, it's...

• 44:41Speaker 02

  I actually just saw a cartoon, it wasn't The New Yorker, but I just saw a cartoon. It was two dogs coming up to the front door, and there were two dogs answering the door. And one of the dogs, the ones arriving, said, you know, Cheryl said, "Life is short. We really have to smell the roses."

• 45:02Speaker 02

  And you saw that there was a mailbox and it said, "Rose." So the dogs inside were the roses.

• 45:10Speaker 02

  "Life is short. We really have to smell the roses."

• 45:14Speaker 02

  I just started laughing. I couldn't stop.

• 45:16Amy Poehler?

  What do you like about, what do you like about New Yorker cartoons?

• 45:19Speaker 02

  The play on words.

• 45:20Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, the intelligence behind it.

• 45:23Speaker 02

  What kind of a mind thought of that cartoon? Life for sure, we really have to go smell the roses. And they said, and here we are.

• 45:31Amy Poehler?

  Well, you know, I usually ask this question at the end, but I want to ask it now, which is, what do you, what makes you laugh? What, like, what are you reading, watching? What you, I can tell that you like to laugh.

• 45:42Speaker 02

  I do, my friends. I just, I don't tend to watch humorous movies or shows or things like that. I just, my, I love, my friends have great sense of humor and they just make me laugh all the time.

• 45:55Amy Poehler?

  Well, how important, you know, in being in your seventies, what are, what do female friendships mean to you? What do your friendships mean to you?

• 46:02Speaker 02

  It's everything.

• 46:02Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 46:02Speaker 02

  It's everything.

• 46:03Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 46:03Speaker 02

  I mean, I, I mean, Jeffrey's clearly my best friend, but, but women bring something totally different. And it's really connection. And actually, that's what, I always thought that, I was so pleased that I was in the food business because I could really work out the issues from my childhood and I, and it was just wonderful. But when I started doing Be My Guest, I realized what I was missing really is connection. And, and it's, that's been just extraordinary. I've made, well, your dear friend Tina made, made great friends.

• 46:36Amy Poehler?

  I'm so jealous. You guys went out to eat.

• 46:38Speaker 02

  Oh, my God. That was so much fun.

• 46:39Amy Poehler?

  And you're friends with Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

• 46:41Speaker 02

  Julia, exactly.

• 46:42Amy Poehler?

  Congratulations to queens.

• 46:43Speaker 02

  She the best.

• 46:44Amy Poehler?

  Well, she, not only is she the best, but she spoke to us before this podcast.

• 46:48Speaker 02

  Oh, she did?

• 46:49Amy Poehler?

  We got a question.

• 46:50Speaker 02

  Oh, was she the one?

• 46:52Amy Poehler?

  She was a special guest. We talked to Julia because.

• 46:54Speaker 02

  Oh, great.

• 46:55Amy Poehler?

  Yep, and.

• 46:56Speaker 02

  So smart. Oh, my God.

• 46:57Amy Poehler?

  And she said the same thing about you. She said, you're really smart.

• 46:59Speaker 02

  She did? Thank you.

• 47:00Amy Poehler?

  Smarties all around. And Tina, all smart people. Smart, wonderful, talented women.

• 47:04Speaker 02

  I think smart people have a sense of humor, have the best senses of humor.

• 47:08Amy Poehler?

  Well, Tina has said this, which is you can tell a lot about somebody by what they laugh at.

• 47:12Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 47:13Amy Poehler?

  Although that doesn't say much about me because I laugh at everything.

• 47:18Speaker 02

  You just like to laugh. That's all. That's good.

• 47:20Amy Poehler?

  But you're right. A sense of humor is a sign of intelligence. And also, it's the way we just tell each other what we care about. So Julia, we spoke to Julia. She says hello. She was wearing a giant sun hat and going through her refrigerator when we talked to her. And she had a question for you.

• 47:41Amy Poehler?

  She said, "How are you so cheerful?"

• 47:46Amy Poehler?

  And then she said, "And what makes you..."

• 47:51Amy Poehler?

  "What puts you in a bad mood?"

• 47:54Speaker 02

  Passive-aggressive people, who tell you what you want to hear and do exactly as they please, makes me crazy. And I can chew on them for years.

• 48:03Amy Poehler?

  I'm going to say more about that. What do you mean? So like, someone who placates you?

• 48:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, well, we all know people that... If you're doing something with someone, you want to be collaborative. Let's just all figure out what the issues are, what we need to do, and then together we'll make a decision. Unless, you know, unless it's my business. But, you know, just moving forward. And I don't like people that withhold information so that they control the situation. Because then I'm making a decision without the real information. And I just find passive-aggressive makes me crazy.

• 48:43Speaker 02

  I mean, crazy. And you also asked what... How I keep my happiness, my joy. I think that it needs to be nurtured. I think we're either born with a positive or a negative energy. And, you know, I think about when I do yoga and my instructor says... What does she say? "Find your inner smile." I think you either walk around with an inner smile or you don't. And if you don't, I think you need to just nurture it. And I feel like... I was just born this way. My parents used to say... I came out like playing with my toes and giggling. And it's... I think it's an important thing to do. I think it makes life easier.

• 49:23Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, it's true.

• 49:24Speaker 02

  It's really... I think it's really important. And yes, we've had extraordinary lives, but we've also had difficult times.

• 49:30Amy Poehler?

  You have... You talk a lot about it in your memoir.

• 49:32Speaker 02

  We've all had difficult times. And how you deal with it is... It's up to you.

• 49:39Amy Poehler?

  You know, if I may, you spoke about your late-in-life...

• 49:45Amy Poehler?

  Would you say reconciliation with your dad?

• 49:48Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 49:49Amy Poehler?

  Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

• 49:52Speaker 02

  You know, my dad was not a great dad. He was really tough and critical. But later on, he just, we were together at a, they were giving him a party for me for my second book. So it was 2000. And he was sitting with me and he said, said to me one sentence that made all the difference in the world. He looked at me and he said, I don't know what I was thinking. And it makes me cry just now. And that changed our whole relationship because he felt badly about it. And he basically said, I'm sorry in that sentence. And then we went on. But my dad, I have to say, he was a tough dad, but he also gave me something when I was a child that was really important. He loved to talk through, he was a doctor, but he loved to buy real estate.

• 50:36Speaker 02

  So he would always talk through real estate deals and he'd say, come, come in my, in my study and talk through this deal with me. And so he taught me how to, you know, borrow money, go to the bank, borrow money. I credit him with a lot of, lot of things that I've done that don't scare me because I'm used to talking about it that way.

• 50:53Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I mean, it's also such an example of like, you have to be open to the idea of forgiveness. So, or the idea of letting things go, basically. Like, it shows up in all different ways. It shows up in the way you are in relationship with your husband, which is like, we just kind of don't sweat the small stuff. You just have to kind of like, you know, like, love, love each other through hard times. It's, it shows up in the way that you cook, which is when there's like a mistake or an accident or like an oopsie. It's like funny. It's fun.

• 51:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 51:22Amy Poehler?

  It's not the end of the world.

• 51:23Speaker 02

  Just let it go. It's not the end of the world.

• 51:25Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, yeah. And, but, but then it becomes, of course, much deeper when it has to do with your family of origin and, and deciding like, how much you're going to hold on to.

• 51:35Speaker 02

  And it doesn't mean you always forget. I mean, every once in a while, I'd have lunch with him and I'd go, I can't believe I'm having lunch with this monster. But he wasn't then. He really had come around and, you know, but it's, you have to push that away. That's, that was then, this is now.

• 51:47Amy Poehler?

  And you know, there's all, we fetishize, well, we fetishize marriage, especially, you know, you know, cis, straight marriage. But we also fetishize children and people who have them. And you don't have children. What is the best thing about not having children?

• 52:05Speaker 02

  Not be responsible for them.

• 52:09Speaker 02

  Not having teenagers.

• 52:13Amy Poehler?

  You don't want somebody who says, "I hate you."

• 52:15Speaker 02

  No, not so much.

• 52:17Amy Poehler?

  Crashes the car.

• 52:18Speaker 02

  Are you trying to lease yours out?

• 52:22Amy Poehler?

  Well, I mean, I don't think people, you know, there's all these studies. Buried people without children are the happiest people. Like, there's all these studies and everyone keeps going, "Well, they just haven't met my children yet," you know? But, um...

• 52:34Speaker 02

  I mean, it's amazing to me that I made that decision so young. And that, thank God, Jeffrey was OK with it. But I just can't imagine my life any other way. I've done what I wanted to do. I've had, you know, just a wonderful time.

• 52:49Amy Poehler?

  You made very counter-cultural decisions for a woman of your generation. You really did. But I, maybe, maybe I'm just projecting, but I feel like, you know,

• 53:01Amy Poehler?

  when you were working and doing all of these, making all these choices and making these big leaps and big swings,

• 53:09Amy Poehler?

  you didn't have as many women doing the same thing at the same time?

• 53:13Speaker 02

  I didn't have any. I really didn't have any. I can't think of anybody that I knew at the time who made the same choices. I really can't.

• 53:22Amy Poehler?

  And, and right now, as a, as a woman running an empire...

• 53:25Speaker 02

  It's not an empire.

• 53:26Amy Poehler?

  I know, it's an empire.

• 53:29Amy Poehler?

  Let's start calling, I want to call more women geniuses and I want to call more female business owners. I want to call more female-run businesses empires. Empires are not just for men.

• 53:40Speaker 02

  Well, I just, I think of an empire as having a thousand employees. I have two.

• 53:45Amy Poehler?

  You only have two employees?

• 53:48Speaker 02

  Actually, and a part-time, part-time office manager.

• 53:50Amy Poehler?

  OK, I want to talk to you about this. This is incredible. Because you've scaled down.

• 53:55Speaker 02

  I just, I want to walk across the lawn to the barn where I have people that I love and I want to cook all day. Did Tina ever tell you how she interviewed me at the Brooklyn Academy of Music?

• 54:05Amy Poehler?

  No, tell me about that.

• 54:05Speaker 02

  So she, she started and she said, "You know, my friends think you have this perfect life. You get up in the morning, you walk across the lawn, you cook all day, your friends come to, come by to visit you, you go out for dinner, your husband leaves on Monday, he comes back on Friday."

• 54:24Speaker 02

  And then she said, and I told, told my husband, I was, I told my husband I was going to say this, and he said, "You know I'm going to be in the audience when you say that, right?"

• 54:34Speaker 02

  And she was kind of right. That's really what my life is like. It's just been great.

• 54:38Amy Poehler?

  So are you looking to, like, you were hustling so much in the,

• 54:41Speaker 02

  I worked.

• 54:42Amy Poehler?

  You work really hard.

• 54:44Speaker 02

  Writing the memoir made me realize I worked really hard. What did you learn from your memoir? That you didn't know about yourself?

• 54:49Amy Poehler?

  Well, my relationship to work, like, I think about it all the time. I'm always troubling it because I get such esteem from work. Like, I get a ton of self-esteem from work and I don't want to give that up. I also get a lot of self-esteem from parenting and being a parent to my kids. And like you, I feel like I desperately need connection with people and my friends. So all of those things. And a lot of connection comes from work. But I don't know about you, but as I look ahead, it's just an interesting, like, what is our relationship to work? To what is enough to, you know, what do we want to, how do we want to shape the third act of our life? And you are a life shaper. You, so what do you see the last?

• 55:33Speaker 02

  I don't think that far ahead.

• 55:34Amy Poehler?

  You don't?

• 55:35Speaker 02

  I just think, what do I want to do? If I know what I want to do today, and by the end of the day, I'm going to decide what I'm going to do tomorrow. It's all I need to know. It's kind of like my first book. I thought, my God, how am I going to write a book? A whole book. And I thought, okay, I don't need to know how to write a whole book. All I need to know is what recipe I'm going to test today. And then tomorrow, I'll test another recipe. And somewhere along the line, at the end of the line, I'm going to have a book. But I don't give myself overwhelming projects. I give myself manageable bites.

• 56:05Amy Poehler?

  Yes, I relate to that. It's just taking, I like to call it, like, you know, like, this season. You know, like, think about it in certain terms of seasons because the idea of like, the next year is going to be fill in the blank. That's overwhelming.

• 56:17Speaker 02

  It's overwhelming.

• 56:17Amy Poehler?

  Winter season, we're going to work on this. And spring, yeah, yeah.

• 56:20Speaker 02

  And you know what? There's this great expression, like, I'm embarrassed to say, I can't remember the name of, who said it.

• 56:26Amy Poehler?

  I have a laptop. I can look it up.

• 56:27Speaker 02

  J.P. Morgan, I think. I think it was J.P. Morgan. Is, go as far as you can see. And when you get there, you'll be able to see farther. But if you if you map it from here to there, you're going to limit yourself. You need you you map it as far as you can see. And then when you get there, there may be other options you wouldn't have even thought of when you get there. So just leave I just like to leave myself open to what things come along that is like, no, not interested. No, lose my number. Wait a minute, wait a minute, that's kind of interesting, actually, come back here.

• 56:58Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I mean, I think that's success. Success is being able to decide what you get to work on.

• 57:03Speaker 02

  It's a surprise. I mean, you don't want to do the same thing over and over again.

• 57:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, and when you were writing your memoir, how did you? How do you like to write?

• 57:10Speaker 02

  Never.

• 57:11Amy Poehler?

  No kidding, isn't writing the worst?

• 57:13Speaker 02

  The worst.

• 57:15Amy Poehler?

  People are always like, what are you doing? I'm like, anything but writing. I'm organizing my closets. I'm I'm I'm making amends to all my friends, whatever it takes to not write. Okay, so fast, fast round, Ina, are you ready?

• 57:26Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 57:27Amy Poehler?

  Okay, here we go. Best way to cook carrots?

• 57:30Speaker 02

  Roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper.

• 57:34Amy Poehler?

  And do you enjoy a feta on there?

• 57:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, I enjoy feta on anything.

• 57:38Amy Poehler?

  I put sometimes I put feta and honey on my carrots.

• 57:41Speaker 02

  Fabulous, or balsamic vinegar, syrupy balsamic vinegar. So good, because the sweet carrots and the vinegar are good. I like things that have an edge.

• 57:49Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 57:50Speaker 02

  Vinegars do.

• 57:51Amy Poehler?

  I love a vinegar, me too. Oh, Julia wanted me to ask you this. How do you make? She's been making some sorbet and she it was very fancy. She's speaking of fancy. She had she made sorbet and then she scooped out a lemon and put it back in the lemon. It's so cute. But she found her sorbet wasn't as creamy. She it was icy more than creamy. Any tips? She said she made it with sugar, water.

• 58:15Speaker 02

  Did she make it in an ice cream maker?

• 58:17Amy Poehler?

  Great question.

• 58:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, I don't know. Some some some recipes have you just freeze it and and like a almost like a granita.

• 58:25Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 58:25Speaker 02

  And that's that would be grainy.

• 58:28Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 58:28Speaker 02

  But if you make it in an ice cream, I I I'm not an expert on.

• 58:33Amy Poehler?

  I know, I I don't I don't really love desserts, making them. It's like a whole other world. Okay, favorite New Yorker cartoon, we got that.

• 58:40Speaker 02

  Was that on your list?

• 58:41Amy Poehler?

  Yes, it was on my list because I heard you love New Yorker cartoons, but you brought it up, Jinx.

• 58:45Speaker 02

  Oh, my God. Can I tell you my other favorite one?

• 58:47Amy Poehler?

  Yes, please.

• 58:48Speaker 02

  Dog sitting at the bar and the bartender walks over and he said, what can I get you? He said, I'll take a Scotch and toilet water.

• 58:59Amy Poehler?

  Do you cook on Thanksgiving?

• 59:01Speaker 02

  Yes, I love Thanksgiving.

• 59:02Amy Poehler?

  Me too.

• 59:03Speaker 02

  It's just, it's like the best holiday.

• 59:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 59:05Speaker 02

  Because it's traditional things, you can make them better. And yeah, I love Thanksgiving.

• 59:10Amy Poehler?

  What's your new, like, what's something you make on Thanksgiving that people would be surprised is at your table? Like, is there like, you know, like huh? That on Thanksgiving?

• 59:21Speaker 02

  Well, you know, a couple of years ago, the New York Times asked me to do a store-bought Thanksgiving. And I thought, who could ever do that? So I said, I don't think so. And then I started thinking about it and I realized that if you could take a store-bought ingredient from the store and make it easier, wouldn't, wouldn't that be fabulous? So I went and got Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix and I made a bread pudding out of it. Which was so good, it was crazy. So I have a lot of Thanksgiving things now, like to get, like you can, you can actually get good mashed potatoes. But then I add sour cream and Parmesan cheese and garlic and it's just delicious. And you have no idea that there's a store-bought ingredient in there.

• 1:00:05Amy Poehler?

  Okay, young chefs or food writers that you're into?

• 1:00:08Speaker 02

  I mean, I have a few people like Erin French from Lost Kitchen, I love her. So, you know, like the other day, she sent out a recipe, I'm like, oh, I'm making that.

• 1:00:17Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:17Speaker 02

  But I don't, I don't really spend.

• 1:00:18Amy Poehler?

  What did you, what did she send out that you wanted to make?

• 1:00:20Speaker 02

  It was something that was great. Now I can't remember what it was.

• 1:00:22Amy Poehler?

  Do you ever watch TikTok or Instagram reels or any of the young people that are cooking on there?

• 1:00:26Speaker 02

  TikTok, no. Instagram, I love.

• 1:00:29Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:29Speaker 02

  And I just think, you know, if you're interested in gardens, you know, you see a lot of stuff on gardens. You have to be careful about not watching cute puppy things because that's all you ever get.

• 1:00:41Amy Poehler?

  Do you ever see all those, like, this, like, version of the macho guy who's like in the woods and cuts the meat and puts it on the grill?

• 1:00:49Speaker 02

  What are you watching?

• 1:00:52Amy Poehler?

  Come on over to my FYP, Ina.

• 1:00:56Speaker 02

  Your profile's different from mine.

• 1:01:00Amy Poehler?

  We don't all have a Jeffrey, Ina. We don't all have a Jeffrey. Secret ingredient that makes things better?

• 1:01:05Speaker 02

  Oh, it's always something with an edge, like balsamic vinegar, or Parmesan cheese, or Dijon mustard. Things that, a splash of red wine in a big pot of lentils, it just changes everything.

• 1:01:21Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 1:01:23Speaker 02

  Lemon zest.

• 1:01:24Amy Poehler?

  Lemon zest. When you, that's the other thing is, it's really, I learned when I started cooking later, two things. One is, you know, sometimes my anxiety needed to go somewhere. Sometimes it just needs to land, like, in your day, right? You have to, you're making a list of what you have to do for your kids, or do for your work, or whatever. And I found, like, thinking about what I was gonna make was a really nice way to put my anxiety...

• 1:01:49Speaker 02

  To sleep for a while.

• 1:01:51Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:51Speaker 02

  Because, you know what it is? The thing about, Jeffrey always says this about me. Cooking is hard. And if it weren't hard, I wouldn't be interested in it. It's the challenge.

• 1:02:01Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 1:02:01Speaker 02

  And if you're doing something that's really hard, you just put everything else out of your mind. And I think that's one of the things I love about cooking. I mean, when I start, when I invite people over, I'm like, "Oh, this is gonna be so much fun." And they're like, and then I'm like, "Why did I invite them?"

• 1:02:16Speaker 02

  Oh, my God.

• 1:02:18Amy Poehler?

  Everybody relates to that. Everybody relates to that. Like, very relaxed, "Oh, shit." Feeling.

• 1:02:25Amy Poehler?

  And I just wanna say, you brought up a lemon zest. And I'm, I will say that for people who are learning how to cook, I would say, reward yourself with a tool.

• 1:02:34Speaker 02

  A zester.

• 1:02:34Amy Poehler?

  Because when I got a zester, I was like, "Look at me." "Look at me with a zester." I was like, and I would just take it out, and you're just like, "Look at this." Because, you know, sometimes we need a little treat at the end of our learning. And get yourself a zester.

• 1:02:52Speaker 02

  And don't keep it forever.

• 1:02:54Amy Poehler?

  Oh, really?

• 1:02:55Speaker 02

  Yeah. You can't sharpen it like a knife.

• 1:02:57Amy Poehler?

  Oh, right, it gets too dull.

• 1:02:58Speaker 02

  After a couple of years, get a new one.

• 1:03:00Amy Poehler?

  Throw it right in the ocean.

• 1:03:03Amy Poehler?

  Okay, anything you refuse to cook?

• 1:03:07Amy Poehler?

  Like anything you're like, no.

• 1:03:08Speaker 02

  It's so funny. We were just talking about this the other day.

• 1:03:10Amy Poehler?

  Really?

• 1:03:11Speaker 02

  I was with a friend and, and we were talking about what our mothers used to make. It was like Monday, it was one thing, Tuesday was something else. Tongue.

• 1:03:20Amy Poehler?

  That's a tough one.

• 1:03:21Speaker 02

  Tongue was on her list and liver and onions was on her list.

• 1:03:25Amy Poehler?

  Ooh, liver and onions.

• 1:03:27Speaker 02

  Never need to cook either one of them.

• 1:03:28Amy Poehler?

  No.

• 1:03:28Speaker 02

  But also things that are really complicated, like, you know, I don't know, there's, I mean, like bouillabaisse, a really good bouillabaisse takes forever.

• 1:03:38Amy Poehler?

  You know, I don't know what a bouillabaisse actually is.

• 1:03:41Speaker 02

  It's, it's a fish stew.

• 1:03:42Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 1:03:43Speaker 02

  So.

• 1:03:43Amy Poehler?

  Which I heard Jeffrey doesn't like.

• 1:03:45Speaker 02

  No, no, no. I made, I made a fish stew. It was the only thing I ever made that he didn't like.

• 1:03:50Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 1:03:50Speaker 02

  It was terrible.

• 1:03:51Amy Poehler?

  But that, but that's not considered a bouillabaisse?

• 1:03:54Speaker 02

  It wasn't a bouillabaisse. A good bouillabaisse, literally cooked for days.

• 1:03:57Amy Poehler?

  Got it, yeah. And it's good all the...

• 1:03:58Speaker 02

  The bones and the heads and the stock and all that stuff.

• 1:04:01Amy Poehler?

  I mean, the idea of like making your own stock to me is, I mean, that's just like a level of, there's just certain levels where you think like, maybe someday I'll, I'll do that.

• 1:04:11Speaker 02

  You're gonna, you're gonna come, come visit me.

• 1:04:14Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:04:14Speaker 02

  And we're gonna make chicken stock and you won't believe how easy it is. And what an incredible difference it makes. You take a big pot and you put like 10 things in it.

• 1:04:22Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:22Speaker 02

  And you cook it for four hours.

• 1:04:24Amy Poehler?

  I love something that you can cook forever and forget it and leave it.

• 1:04:28Speaker 02

  Forget about it. Just set a timer. I leave the house, I come back, it's fine.

• 1:04:31Amy Poehler?

  That was the thing about why everyone got into sourdough during the COVID is because everyone was like, it takes three days. And everyone was like, I need something.

• 1:04:38Speaker 02

  That's exactly what I don't want.

• 1:04:40Amy Poehler?

  Do bay leaves do anything or is this some kind of conspiracy?

• 1:04:43Speaker 02

  Oh, it's so funny. David Remnick at The New Yorker and I had a long conversation about this. Beats me.

• 1:04:49Amy Poehler?

  You're not ready to...

• 1:04:50Speaker 02

  My guess is that fresh bay leaves can make a difference. There's like an undertone that you can taste. Bay leaves that have been in your spice drawer for 40 years, I don't think so.

• 1:05:01Amy Poehler?

  And also fresh bay leaves, like that's... One needs to plan ahead for weeks to get, like, when you see a thing that says fresh bay leaves, it's like, I'm out. I mean, actually, it's true. Like, sometimes in recipes, you'll be chugging along, and then you see something, you're like, you know what, I'm out. I just can't do it. I just can't get fresh bay leaves.

• 1:05:18Speaker 02

  That's why, when I'm writing a recipe, I always say to myself, if somebody, when I'm doing a book, is somebody gonna look at the photograph and go, that looks delicious? Look at the recipe and go, I actually can find all those ingredients in the grocery store, and it's simple enough for me to make. And that was like, from my first book to the one I'm working on now. It has to be all those things.

• 1:05:39Amy Poehler?

  It has to be.

• 1:05:39Speaker 02

  If you see, you know, like, you see an ingredient you've never heard of before, is that like, an alcohol, or is that like, a spice? I have no idea.

• 1:05:47Amy Poehler?

  Absolutely. And then you also have that ingredient in your cupboard for years to come, and it mocks you. You're like, why did I buy zatar? I'm never gonna use this again.

• 1:05:59Speaker 02

  That was exactly the spice I was thinking of.

• 1:06:01Amy Poehler?

  Come see our zatar comedy. Yeah, I was like, oh, I'm never gonna use this again. And I see it every time I open the thing. Okay. And then the last question is, and apologies for my language, but have you heard, did you watch The White Lotus?

• 1:06:16Speaker 02

  I, not all.

• 1:06:18Amy Poehler?

  Okay. Well, there's this term that's happening right now, like, where she has a cunty bob. And you, sorry, I know, I apologize. But you've had a bob for a very long time. You have great hair.

• 1:06:32Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 1:06:33Amy Poehler?

  And you have a very sharp, it's gone different lengths, of course, in life.

• 1:06:38Speaker 02

  A little bit, yeah.

• 1:06:39Amy Poehler?

  But what do you enjoy about having a bob? And are you aware that you're very on trend?

• 1:06:43Speaker 02

  Very on trend?

• 1:06:44Amy Poehler?

  On trend.

• 1:06:45Speaker 02

  I am? Oh, no, I have no idea.

• 1:06:46Amy Poehler?

  Everyone's getting a bob.

• 1:06:47Speaker 02

  Do you know when I first got that haircut, I was 25 years old, I lived in Washington, I had hair all the way down my back, and I had heard, a friend of mine went to a salon at the Watergate, and it was run by a man, Sylvan Malu, who had just come to the United States, and she had a bob. And I went right to him, and I had him cut my hair like that. And you know, I've never changed it. It's been the same haircut since I was 25. I've tried a few, every once in a while, I'll try something else, and I'm gonna go, no, I'm going right back to where I started.

• 1:07:21Amy Poehler?

  It's a perfect bob, but now, I mean, everyone is going for it.

• 1:07:24Speaker 02

  That's so funny.

• 1:07:25Amy Poehler?

  Every Gen Z-er is cutting their hair, and also...

• 1:07:30Amy Poehler?

  You know, it's like feeling very brave while they do it.

• 1:07:35Speaker 02

  Well, you have a bob, right? It looks great.

• 1:07:36Amy Poehler?

  I mean, I kind of am at the point where my hair just kind of cuts itself. Like, it just doesn't really, it doesn't ever really grow that long.

• 1:07:43Speaker 02

  Oh, that's really interesting. You know, the French always say that if your hair is short, it shows your ensemble better. That if your hair is long, it's not the right profile.

• 1:07:53Amy Poehler?

  How much time do you spend in France?

• 1:07:56Speaker 02

  As much as possible.

• 1:07:58Amy Poehler?

  Yes. And do you speak French?

• 1:08:00Speaker 02

  Hmm, badly. Enough to, enough to deal with a greengrocer.

• 1:08:05Amy Poehler?

  Oh, you do? Okay, and they'll, and they'll speak it back to you.

• 1:08:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:08:09Amy Poehler?

  And did you take lessons?

• 1:08:11Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:08:11Amy Poehler?

  Just from being there?

• 1:08:12Speaker 02

  I mean, from high school, from high school French.

• 1:08:15Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you, uh, would you?

• 1:08:16Speaker 02

  I dream that someday I'm gonna live there and full-time and go to Berlitz, but it hasn't happened yet.

• 1:08:22Amy Poehler?

  Well, you never know, you never know. Because I know the one thing I've learned is like, there's just, the sky's the limit. I mean, and I feel like that is really like the, the theme of a lot of what we talked about today is just that there is, um, there, there's no reason why, there's no, there's no timeline as to when things are supposed to happen in your life. You get married really early, you start your business later, you're writing a memoir at this age. There's, like, there's all those different ways in which you're just deciding what you want to do next. And like, you're the architect of your own life, basically.

• 1:08:59Speaker 02

  Yeah. And do it now. Don't wait.

• 1:09:02Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:03Speaker 02

  I think a lot of people say, well, you know, first I'm gonna do this and then I'm gonna do what I really want to do. Do what you really want to do now.

• 1:09:08Amy Poehler?

  Aina, thank you so much for the presents, for the strawberries, for the prosecco, for the fake chicken. I feel like lousy with gifts.

• 1:09:16Speaker 02

  Someday I'll make you a real chicken.

• 1:09:18Amy Poehler?

  I can't wait.

• 1:09:19Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:09:19Amy Poehler?

  Thank you so much for coming.

• 1:09:20Speaker 02

  It was so much fun.

• 1:09:21Amy Poehler?

  It really meant so much. It was really fun.

• 1:09:23Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 1:09:25Amy Poehler?

  Thank you so much, Ina. That was so great. What a great conversation. And I loved talking to you. And, you know, I hope that this episode gets you hungry. I know it did me, and it made me think about all the stuff I want to go home and cook. And so for this polar plunge, I just wanted to share something that I like to cook. My recipe, kind of a go-to recipe that I do a lot, which is just a very kind of simple chicken curry. I get chicken breasts with bone-in chicken breasts. And I, I put it in a pot with some rice, chicken stock, bunch of curry, coconut milk. Sometimes I'll throw in some chickpeas, throw in some parsley,

• 1:10:10Amy Poehler?

  make it look green, put it in the oven, slow cook it. And that, that shit's amazing. Okay, you look like a million dollars. You can, you know, you want to brown the chicken first, right? You want to brown it in a pan first. Then you put it in with the uncooked rice. You put whatever it is, two, two cups of rice, or whatever it is, three cups of chicken stock, put some coconut milk in, put in tons of curry, put in the oven, 375 for like an hour. Keep checking it, stirring the rice if you need to. You take it out, you put it on the table. People think you're a genius. You can serve it from the pot. You

• 1:10:50Amy Poehler?

  can serve the rice, take the chicken, and Bob's your uncle. So, that's my chicken curry. You can tell how I don't have a cooking show, because I'm not great at explaining it. But you get it. You get it. You can do it. I believe in you.

• 1:11:05Amy Poehler?

  All right. Thanks, everyone, for listening. Bye.

• 1:11:08Amy Poehler?

  You've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and me, Amy Poehler. The show is produced by The Ringer and Paperkite. For The Ringer,

• 1:11:18Speaker 04

  Production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane, Kaya McMullin, and Aleia Zaneras. For Paperkite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.

• 1:11:34Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by Sephora. Holiday gifting can be a tough gig. You're frantically searching, second guessing everything, and accidentally buying your dad eye cream he's never gonna use. Thankfully, Sephora is here to save us from ourselves. Whether you're shopping for a total beauty guru, or someone whose whole routine is hand soap, Sephora has the perfect gift for everyone on your list. And if you're still lost, don't panic. Their beauty advisors can guide you to safety. This holiday season, we all Sephora. Shop gifts at Sephora and give something beautiful.

• 1:12:07Speaker 05

  Pink Pantheress here. Coach and Spotify are teaming up to bring music and style together, and they want you to be part of it. Grab your friends and head to the Tabby Tour, hitting cities around the country with live performances from special artists, exclusive experiences, and personalized products. And discover custom playlists on Spotify, booked just for you, based on who you are and how you listen. Live your story with Coach. Learn more at coach.com.