Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 30 - Guilia Rozzi

Episode Date: December 1, 2020

This week we discover what makes a great sandwich, uncover the childhood fuel of the great comedian Guilia Rozzi, and have a quick bite with Ryan Hamilton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hey! sourdough. Hey, it's time for Breaking Bread with Papa. Hey, don't you know, it's also a show. Hey. Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Breaking Bread with Tom Papa. I'm Tom Papa. Thank you so much for joining us. Your comments have been amazing. Your participation in the podcast has been exceptional. I have to say I'm very excited to see the people are actually posting their version of their bread, their version of their sauce, things that we've talked about, getting hungry, going and trying things out on their own. It's exciting, I have to say,

good job, good on you. I just saw someone making the simple tomato sauce with the onion and butter and canned tomatoes. And good on you. Good on you. You're living. We're whirling into the holidays. Happy holidays to you. Wasn't so bad, right? Everybody was all worried about Thanksgiving and what's going to be like. It's going to be so weird that I can't travel and see my yin, yeah, it's pretty great. It's always great. Big thing, change it up, small thing. Who cares? It's fine. More food. Sit around, be lazy. That's all the holidays are about. And we're going to do the same thing through the rest of the holiday season and then get a vaccine in our butts and be happily ever after. We have an amazing show for you today. We have Julia Rossi, who is just a

hysterical comedian, and I follow her at the comedy store often. It's super funny, and she's got some great stories about growing up Italian and how being Italian does not necessarily mean that you're going to stay away from fast food. It's very funny. And we also have a new segment today. we have a quick bite segment, quick bite, where we're just going to give a random phone call to some of our friends out there in the world and see what they're eating. It'll be quick, it'll be a phone call, and they get to join the podcast. And today we're going to start off. The very first one is Ryan Hamilton, another great comedian and great friend, and he's in New York, and he's come back from Idaho and has a lot of, the only thing he can do is order out food because you can't do stand-up comedy or anything else. So we're in the middle of the show.

We're going to give Ryan a call. So it's going to be great. We're going to have a really good time. Thank you for subscribing. Make sure you subscribe if you haven't. Go to Apple or wherever you do your things. Make sure you rate us. Give us lots of stars.

That's always very helpful. It helps spread the word. And we're going to start off today. Also talking about bread and sandwiches because this is left over get fat time. So we're going to roll into it, you guys. So yeah, so if you also go to YouTube, if you watch this on YouTube, which you can, that's good for you. Even though the video looks like it's a little crooked right now. If you want to go to YouTube to my YouTube channel where these episodes are, there's also all of the episodes of getting baked where I actually show you how to

bake bread and do different things that I've learned to do. I'm no expert, but I'm muddling my way through it and figuring it out. And there's been a lot of really good tutorials on baking sourdough bread, getting your starter going, all that stuff. And the next one I'm doing this week is holla, hollabred for the holidays. Get it? It's the holidays. I'm sure I'm not the only one that's ever said that before. But I am just kind of figuring that one out. It's a great bread. It's, forget the sourdough starter. Forget all of the three days baking and getting into it. This is so simple. It involves a lot of eggs. It involves some sugar, of course, some flour, some salt, and then mix it all together and get it. The hardest part is doing this braiding thing to make it all,

which I haven't mastered. I get close. I get pretty, pretty bubbly goodness, closeness. But I'm going to try it again, and I'm going to film it this time, and I'm going to post that recipe

and that video on YouTube. So they're pretty fun, I think. They're a little humorous, and we also kind of muddle through it, and people actually get to make the stuff, which is pretty damn cool. The hollabred, last one, was a little dense. It wasn't that light super fluffy.

Like when you peel hollabred apart, it kind of has a little stringiness to it. It's got that good light airiness. This one was a little dense. Okay, live and learn. I think I know what I did wrong. I skipped adding oil into the very end. And I also put all the eggs in it once. It's very finicky this baking thing, isn't it?

you have to do these things, you're just like, oh, just throw the flour. And now you've got to sift the flour and you've got to do it a little bit by bit. And my whole kind of vibe and philosophy is, ah, just throw it in there. Who cares? But that doesn't really work. There's actually some chemical reactions to do all this stuff. So you got to kind of follow the rules. But sometimes the rules that you get aren't that great.

And this one wasn't. And it's like, I've already put in four eggs and they're like, and one by one with them. It's like, I just already put the eggs in, and now you're telling me it's too late. And then I get a dense one, which is fine. That's okay. It's all right if it's a little heavy. It was still delicious. Throw a little butter on it.

And, of course, the next day, slice it up, make French toast. It's kind of the only reason you really make holla. I mean, really. It all comes down to next day, dip it in some egg, fry it up, put some butter and syrup on it and enjoy. Oof, so good. It's not a great sandwich bread. It's not the best sandwich bread.

I have to say that. It's good. But you're not, there's one at Cantor's Deli in L.A. They do a Monte Cristo, and I think they use the hollow bread. But I have to say, you want your bread in a sandwich to, it's got to hold. It's got to have a little structure. If you get that light airiness that you want, out of a hala, you really want that as the bookends of your sandwich? I don't think so.

What I really like, I didn't know, look, I'm not saying I'm a bread snob and have to, and you need the perfect thing, but bread does make the sandwich. Come on. My sourdough that I make, ooh, the leftovers for Thanksgiving. Oh, come on. You have that great, great structure, and you have that great shape, and then you take the sliced turkey and then the cranberry, sauce and the stuffing, put it all on the sandwich, mayonnaise, salt, pepper, lettuce, that is a sandwich. Slice it. The bread is still firm enough but soft enough that you can slice through it. Oh, man, I had two of those sandwiches. It's like a cartoon. It literally is like a cartoon from the 1950s. I might as well be cracking open my newspaper, smoking a pipe,

been ignoring my wife as I down this big gargantuan sandwich. I think the sandwiches in the 50s in the comics where they were always so big because they didn't have a lot. So when the husband snuck into the kitchen and made himself a sandwich, it was going to be big because it was going to last him until Wednesday. Because he knew this wasn't, we didn't just, whenever you look at movies too, the sandwiches were like one slice of something, one little slice of bologna, one little slice of bologna. A little dollop of mustard on two thin pieces of white bread done sandwich.

We've gone the other way and it's gotten too much. It's gotten too big. You shouldn't have to unhinge your jaw to put a sandwich into your face. A nice moderation. But look, like I said, I don't think that you have to be a snob about it. I think the best sandwich bread really is I go to these Italian delis and you get that nice Chabada, ooh, that is good. Light, airy, there's good structure to it, but it's got, it's going to hold tight. It doesn't have to be this big overpowering flavor thing either. It just has to,

it just has to hold and do the job and be light and airy inside and nice structure on the outside. That is good. The problem is at home, I'm not making rolls. I'm not making rolls. I'm not spending hours and hours to make three rolls that are gone in two seconds. Certain things you've got to go out there and just buy. I'm buying those. I'm buying croissants. I'm buying cupcakes. I'm not making these things. That's what living in the world is about. Somebody else is going to go crank out the chabada rolls and then I'll just roll in and get six of them and make a sandwich in a second and they won't be offended. I can't spend that much time on it. I can make the sourdough. That's great. Now I'm going to tell you a sandwich that is completely

non-artisan, completely anti-snob, and delicious. And I found it by mistake. If you make a tuna fish sandwich, okay, you have to be in non-tuna. Fine. As you know, I love all canned fish, sardines, anchovies, tuna, all in. I read something that the tuna industry is kind of taking a hit. Young people aren't into it that much. Bad on you? You're missing. out. Either way, let's not debate that. Let's just tell you my simple, silly sandwich. This is a tuna sandwich. You make your tuna however you make it, mix it up, mayo, whatever you do, add a little relish, had a little celery, salt pepper, put it in the bowl, mix it all up. La-di-da. Then you're looking around as I was. And I was like, what am I going to put this on? Where is it going to go? How am I going to

I had a bread? My bread is done. The sourdough, there's nothing like. I was like. I was like, I was like, left really to make. I look panicked. I find a baguette in the bread box, and it's hard as a rock. Can't do that. And the only thing I had were these hamburger rolls. The store bought doughy ballpark hamburger buns,

you know, the little ones. Soft, perfect. Through some tuna on that, they make like not mini sandwiches. They're not like slider size. but they're not gigantic either. So you can merely make two of them. Man, that bread and that tuna, that was the perfect.

I have to say one of the best sandwiches of the year so far. Really, really good. Yeah. So what do we got to be so fancy about? Same thing with an egg sandwich. Take those same hamburger rolls, crack an egg, fry it up, put some cheese on it, bacon if you're into it, put that on that roll. Done.

Look, are there chemicals in it? Sure. Is it going to last in your... cabinet for six months probably with no mold that's okay technically not bread but if you just want to enjoy yourself look if you're eating the tuna sandwiches this isn't the time to be fancy pants mcgee just get out one of those little buns throw it on there heaven that's your little tip for me that's a pretty wide gamut isn't it started holla and then it up at hamburger buns but i'm telling you it'll be delicious. And this is the season. There's going to be left over stuff.

You want to be making sandwiches and getting creative. And do get creative. Throw some stuff on it. I made an egg sandwich the other day with my bread. Crack the eggs. Throw in some hot peppers. Through in some mayo and some Dijon on the other slice of bread. Live your lives. All right, we have an amazing show for you today. We have Julia Rossi, who's so great. I really, she just makes me laugh. She's such a great, great. person, super funny. Watching her, you know, I of course have an affinity for all things Italian. And to hear her in this interview talking about her parents who are really pretty like Northern Italian attitude, European, kind of refined Italian, not so much my New Jersey

throwing red sauce against the wall kind of variety. But how she grew up with it and how it formed her taste is pretty, pretty funny. She is a real talent, great comedian, great actor, great writer. So please enjoy Julia Rossi. And when we come back a little later, we're going to check in with Ryan Hamilton. Julia. Hi. Hi. Hi. How's it going? Good to see you. You too. Thanks for doing. I have a dog on my whole. Oh, look at that. What's your dog's name?

My dog's name, Mrs. Roper. Roper? Mrs. Roper, like from Three's Company. That's awesome. What kind of dog is that? I don't know, like a poodle mix. She's adopted. She's been a real, I have a new baby, so she's been a real bitch.

Oh, no, really? She's getting jealous? Yeah. Oh, my God. Well, let's start off just talking about that because I have, we got a pandemic pug that that my daughter went and rescued and just she was full focused his name is frank he's uh he's a boy he's peeing everywhere it's total chaos but we had a black lab who was here already Bella and she is really uh having a hard time with this new addition in the house they these these animals these

children these everything they just there's a real jealousy yeah she's like I don't understand understand what this other dog, why does other dog get to sleep in your room? And I don't. I'm like, no, it's a human. It's a four month old human. How is she acting out? Well, she's much better now, but like the first two months, she would just bark, even if the baby, like, moved an arm.

And I was also like sleepless and it was like postpartum and, you know, my boobs were leaking. And I was like, we have to get rid of the dog and maybe the baby, you know, like, I was just, It's much better now. I know. Don't you, those moments of real chaos when everything's where the baby's acting up, the dog's acting up, you're just like, what did I do to my life? Yeah, I didn't have to do this. This was so much more simple. Is this your first baby?

My first baby. Wow. Congratulations. Thank you. I had a pandemic baby. Oh, where? Are you in L.A.? I am in L.A.

So how is the whole hospital COVID going for checkups, going for birthing? Um, it was like the last few checkups. My husband had to wait in the car. So if you would like FaceTime to watch the, you know, the sonograms. Thankfully, I had her in July and around June is when they started letting partners come into the room. Uh-huh. Which I never really understood why they didn't let partner. Because like if if my husband has COVID, I would definitely have co. I don't know. Yeah. But it worked out fine. Right, right. Yeah. Oh, man. That was a, yeah. Well, that, they also didn't know what was going on back then. It was just,

it was complete chaos. So did you name the baby COVID? I named her, yeah, I named her Corona. No, her name's Stella. Stella,

that's beautiful. Good job. Yeah. Good on you. So what are you doing for Thanksgiving? How are you going to, just going to lay low? I think we're just going to eat,

like just cook for us. We were going to have another couple over, but they don't know if they can get tested. It's just, I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing. I know. Nobody knows.

What are you doing? There's no sense in making plans. I don't know. We were thinking about going to a hotel. Like there's this hotel that we always go to after the big Thanksgiving meal. The next day we usually go to a hotel and just kind of relax and get out of the house. And we were like, well, wife and my two daughters. Okay.

And then we were thinking, well, you know, this year we're not going to be doing the big cooking, all of our East Coast family. isn't coming out. So maybe we just go to the hotel and then everything started getting weirder. And it's like, do we want to be in a hotel right now? No. Because you're in L.A. too, right? Yeah. Yeah.

I know my whole family's on the East Coast too. So like my daughter hasn't even met her grandparents. Oh my God. That's so weird. Where are they? My family's in Boston and my husband's is in Columbus. Okay. Yeah.

And is yours a big Italian family in Boston? It's a big. it's shrinking. But it's a big Italian. Like I have a sister and my parents have siblings, but, you know, every year they stop talking to one of them. Right. Yeah.

Yeah. That's a very Italian trait. Oh, to be bitter and angry for years and years and years. Yeah, to like, yeah, to hold a grudge. Yeah. And no one knows what it's based on, like one, but it just goes on forever. Exactly. Did you grow up in a food-wise in a typical Italian kind of environment?

Yes. So my parents are like off the boat. So I'm very, I grew very, I guess I would say European almost because I do think there's a big difference between like European Italian and like 10th generation Jersey Shore Italian. Yes. I'm not going to say one is more refined. But no, we're not. We're a bunch of kovom just the same.

What part did they come from? My mom came from Sperlanga, which is a beach town near Rome. And my dad is from Abruzzi, like a farm area. Wow. And they met each other in Italy? No, in Watertown, Massachusetts. They were set up. They were like, we're getting old.

We're both Italian. This is literally the story they tell. They're like, we're almost 30. She was Italian. I was Italian. I was like, wow. And then you just stay together. But yeah, I grew up like, you know, people were always like, oh, my God, you must have grown up with like the best food.

And I did, but I didn't like pasta growing up. What do you mean? Why? I don't know. I was like a real picky eater. I liked pizza, but like my mom would make, you know, pasta and all these wonderful Italian meals. And I, there was the saddest thing. There was a Burger King, like a half a mile from us.

And I would go in a hunger. strike and demand a happy meal and I only wanted pickles and ketchup only. I was afraid of mustard. So my dad would go to the drive-thru and wait in the car for them to scrape the mustard off. What a good dad. But I had like high cholesterol when I was 10. Did you really? I did. I mean, I was eating Burger King of McDonald's like probably four or five times. I mean, a lot a week.

So your parents? are able to make this great Italian food, which most people would kill for. And you're just like, no. Yeah, no. No. No. I only liked to eat fast food hamburgers,

pizza, and I loved pork fried rice from Chinese food restaurants. And then for breakfast, I would eat cookies and milk. Oh, my God. I know. And I remember going to the pediatrician with my mom, and he was like, yeah, she has high cholesterol.

And my mom's like, well, probably because she literally. sticks your finger in the butter container in the fridge and we'll be like, I mean, like, I would just eat butter like as a taste. And the doctor was like, she'll grow out of it. And I did. I mean, then when I became a teenager, I was like disgusted by all this food. Like, I don't think I've had McDonald's or Burger King in 20 years.

Yeah, me neither. Yeah. At least, like, probably 30. It was like when I went to college. And that's when like McDonald's was like, people were first finding out like all the evils of the packaging and all the, it was like that big moment. moment and I was just like and I just never went back. I just never went to it. But that's so funny that you were doing supersized me as a six year old girl. I know and it wasn't and the thing is because I

wasn't like an obese child. Right. So my mom definitely was like, I mean, she no fat. So who cares? You know, like it was really about if you were fat or not and I wasn't. But I am curious to know, like if any, I don't know, maybe that's what caused my adult depression. Like, who knows. what that food did to me as a child. That's why you're a comedian. Yeah, exactly. Just because of the McDonald's and Burger King. Wow, that's amazing.

So now do you, are you drawn back to that food now as an adult? Italian food? Yeah. I mean, I definitely like pasta more. I oddly was mostly craving pasta when I was pregnant. Uh-huh. And that kind of eased off. I don't know if it was like a carp thing or if my baby,

likes pasta. I don't know. But yeah, I definitely am more into, I always, I will say this though. As a kid, I always did like, the only Italian food I liked was like an antipasto. Yeah. Like I loved like those marinated mushrooms and all of salamis. And I would, we had no food rules in the house. Like, I didn't grow up in a house where it was like, mommy, may I get a cookie from the cabin? Like, it was just you eat what you want when you want. Yeah. it was very like American to see people do that like when my friends were like yeah I get to have like one fruit snack a month or whatever they did I don't know what they did but I was like oh really I like literally eat laying down but I just love the idea of your friend describing that and you're like

watch this and just walking to the fridge taking the butter out you get a scoop eating with my man but I remember I remember when my I very distinctly remember like I think I was 11 and And my sister is four years older. So she was, let me do math, 15. And, you know, so she's starting to get into that, like, body conscious, you know, because all the teen magazines are like, how to get a boyfriend, be skinny, you know. And then meanwhile, every guy I know is like, what's a calorie? But my sister was just starting to be, like, food conscious.

So I was like 11. And I remember it was like a Sunday night because I just watched married with children. And then I at like 10 p.m. made myself an antipasto platter. Like I pulled out like the prosciutto and the provolone. And my sister walks in the kitchen. She's like, you're so gross. And I just have like cap a goal in my mouth like a little Tony soprano. I'm like, you're gross, you know, like just a little monster.

Good for you, though. Good for you. Really? Like to think of her like being all paranoid about all that stuff that is so hard to battle against as a female. I mean, I ended up becoming just like that. Did you? Did you? Of course.

I'm a girl. Man, is there any protecting against that? I've got two daughters and it's like it's, you know, we made it so, such an effort to make that not an issue and eat what you want and never like, you know, comparing people's weights and all but it just from wherever else they travel in their life it just seeps in yeah how old are they uh 15 and 18 i think it's better now i mean i have a lot of mixed feelings about the internet i love it and hate it yeah i do think one of the positives is like there's the whole like body positive movement and like you know people like on television there's so many different sizes like i remember i remember when i first got into this business like

literally hearing an agent say to somebody or hearing that an agent said to somebody, I only rep really skinny girls or really fat girls. I don't know what to do with a size 10. Oh, my God. I mean, but that used to be the case. And so now I do think that young girls have more, there's a lot more variety in size. I hope it becomes with age too because I'm getting old. But yeah, I think it's, I mean, I hope it's better.

now. It was terrible. When I was growing up, it was like, I feel like it was the peak of, you know, antarxia. Yeah. No, absolutely. It definitely was. But I guess it depends where you look now, because I feel like the one, one of my kids, like, didn't digest a lot of the kind of like the pop culture stuff. So she kind of was more of the friendly, you know, empowered end of it all. But the other one is a little bit more into like the pop culture things. And you could tell. that she gets a lot more signals of what looks good still. Yeah. You know.

I mean, what do I know? I have a daughter, too. Yeah. We'll see what that's like in 15 years. Right, exactly. Now as a mom, if you see, what's her name again, Stella? Stella, yeah. You see her walk over at five years old into the refrigerator.

Are you just going to let her do what she wants to do? or are you going to have American rules on her? I'm going to have something in the middle. Uh-huh. Like, because I think for me as somebody who went from being like a child, you know, a fat kid in a small body,

essentially. And then in college, I was absolutely bulimic. You were? Oh, yeah. I mean, everyone was. It was very in.

And, you know, to kind, As someone who's kind of gone the whole gamut of like overeating, under eating, thinking about what I eat not, I feel like conscious eating was like the thing that really worked for me of sort of. And it took, I mean, I don't think I got conscious until my 30s where I was like, oh, like naturally like if I ate a burger one day, I naturally craved a salad for my next meal. Like it wasn't a punishment. whereas I think the difficult part is when you kind of go one way or the other, when you're in the mode of like,

I'm so bad I had a burger, I have to eat vegetables for a week. But you also don't want to be like, I had a burger, I'm going to have another one for the rest of every meal going forward, you know? Yeah. There's like a flow that,

you know, for me it took a lot of trial and error of like different extremes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is such a strange thing. it's such a strange thing. I think a lot of it too is that the types of food that we have before us can be so toxic and not like purely poisonous but so filled with sugar or so filled with grease and especially like in the fast food or any kind of like even you don't even know what you're getting. Like if you go to the supermarket and you get like a roast chicken or something and you don't realize how much sugar is in it or what have you. Like they've had such impact on us that. You should be able to just eat. Just eat the stuff that's kind of available. But it's all this Frankenstein stuff that's impacting our bodies in a way that you don't even realize. And forget even being that you realize it.

You actually end up with these cravings that they put inside of you based on this highly processed scientific way to hook you. Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm like very, and it's very easy to do in California. Like I'm, I only eat meat if it's organic. I mean, you know, obviously if I go to. someone's house for dinner. I'm not going to look through the packaging and the garbage or whatever. But, you know, I try to eat as, but like, I'm sure you've been, you've been to Europe, right? Yeah. So I went and did shows in Europe last year and I'm lactose intolerant, but I was in

Paris. I ate all the cheese and cream. I didn't feel sick once. Wow. And it's because it's so clean and pure. Yeah. And then you come here and you're like, it's a bummer. It's a real bummer. It's a real bummer. I mean, I have the same thing with the bread that I bake. Like, I, that's why I started getting into it was I didn't realize that it was just flour, water, salt, and yeast. That's the only thing. But, and all the good bread that I thought I was buying for my family in the supermarket has 30 ingredients in it. Yeah. And all my friends, not all my friends, but a lot of my friends that were questioning,

do they have a gluten intolerance? Because they were getting upset stomach every time they ate bread. They could eat my bread and have no problems. Same thing with your cheese story. It's like there was all this extra stuff thrown in. It wasn't, bread wasn't the problem. It was the way that they're processing it and giving it to us.

Do you have a bread maker? Is that how you do it? No. Oh, no. Oh, what do you do? I use Dutch ovens, these two Dutch ovens. How? Yeah, and then you're going to get a bread for doing this podcast.

Yay! Yes. I'm so excited. That wasn't even in an email. Oh, yeah. No, it's kind of just an add-on. Okay. Because I hesitate it saying yes and the bread, what is?

Yeah. No, it's it really is such a great thing. And I do probably four loaves a week in these Dutch ovens and kind of play around with different versions of it. I just actually nailed being able to make fakasha, which is, which I didn't really, I wasn't really trying to figure it out until recently. And I had a couple fails, but then I nailed it. And I was like, oh, Italians are the best. Do you do a sourdough? Yeah.

Oh, that's my fave. Okay, good. Yeah, just wanted to let you know. Yeah, you got it. That's what you're getting. Thank you. Absolutely. Hey, why don't we give Ryan Hamilton a call and see what he's eating?

Hi, Tom. How's it going? Not too bad. Sounds like you're in your kitchen. I was in my kitchen. Now I'm in my living room. That's just how close they are. Yeah.

You're not going to believe what I'm up to again. What are you doing? I'm playing chess again by myself. It seems like every time you call, that's what I'm doing. I like that. We should do that thing where you play over the phone. Like you make the move, you have to know the board, but you make the move and then tell your friend about it.

Oh, okay. And you make the move when you go back and forth. It's almost like, you saw it where? I saw it on the Queen's Gambit. It's not a big deal. Oh, I watched that. I don't remember. Yeah, we could do that.

They didn't have cell phones in that show. Or computers or the Internet, apparently. Yeah, we could do it that way, too. So you were telling me that you went back to New York and that everything's kind of closed down, but the one good thing has been food. That was the main thing. on your list. Yes, that's right.

You went from Idaho where, well, it's beautiful to look at and has lovely field of potatoes, not the culinary landscape that Manhattan has. Yeah, we have all the same ingredients. We just don't do the same things with them, apparently. What has been some of your highlights, or what has been something that you've been repeating? Well, I've indulged in quite a lot of good pizza. Two spots here in my neighborhood that are both great,

and really overdid it on one. But there's this place that makes like a square piece that's kind of a pan pizza, not like a deep dish, but a pan square pizza called Mommatoo's. Not the traditional New York spot. But in order to order it, you've got to order a big, like it's a big pie. It's really big. It's like 10 pieces or something. So I wasn't going to go up there and get a slice, I decided.

So I just decided to order the whole pie. And, yeah, it's pretty dangerous. Putting into your tiny apartment. Yeah, yeah, it barely fits. And then, but it was. was really good. And how long did it take you to get through that? I'm ashamed to say it only took three days, but there's a lot of pizza. Yeah. There's something about the return to New York that makes the pizza thing, like you kind of lose your mind for a minute. Yeah, I know, especially when I was

gone for seven months. It's like, I'll go months and months without eating pizza here. But then it's like when I moved here, I remember I put on all this weight just because I was like, oh, there's pizza on every corner. I'm just eating pizza all day. Anything else? Anything else? Let's see. What else have I? You know, what I got today, I'm excited about tomorrow. I decided to do like a big Jewish deli kind of meal for tomorrow. So I got bagels and locks and cream cheese and what else did I get? I got this honeycake. I got some pickles, capers, latkas. You say this is for tomorrow.

Will you be able to hold off? It was difficult, but I, yeah, I'm going to hold off because I just decided I'm going to wait until tomorrow. It'll give me something to do tomorrow. So that's the thing I'm doing tomorrow. I like that you're going hardcore traditional New York. Like you come in and it's like boom Italian, boom Jewish deli. Yes.

I like to, I don't know, I like to do where I am kind of thing. Right. Which is why after six months you get out. Right. Steaking potatoes for a long time. And then. Oh, beautiful. Yeah.

What else? I'm trying to think of anything else I've had. I mean, I'm sure I've had some other stuff. I'm trying to remember now, but... Do you ever end up with anything sweet or you don't... I don't think you have much of a sweet thing. Oh, I mean, I do, but it's been real hard for me not to go get Van Lue and ice cream every night over in my neighborhood. But I haven't done it yet, so...

Oh, boy. That's my weakness is the ice cream, but... Well, I'm glad I planted it in your head because now it won't be... be able to get out until you eat it. I know. It's happening. I don't want to take up any of your time. This is just a quick bite.

Yeah, I got it. Well, it's fun to talk to you. What are you guys doing? What are you doing traditional? Yeah, right now I'm just about to start whipping up these cranberries. These whole cranberries with jalapenos and sugar and cayenne and. Cyan and lemon juice. Oh, it's one of my favorite things to do.

Cranberries are underrated, I got to say. Completely underrated. Yeah, that's fantastic. That sounds really good. Delicious. Yeah. All right, buddy. Well, I'll talk to you later.

Sounds good. Thanks, Tom. Hi. Bye. That was the great Ryan Hamilton. And now back to Julia. So do you ever travel back to Italy and see, do you still have family there? So I went, I've gone.

Did I go twice? No, I've only been once. I did a semester in Europe and college, and so that's when I went to Italy. But my parents have never been back. Whoa. It's like, it's honestly like the biggest thorn in my side, which I know is a very privileged Thorne to have. So I apologize to anyone listening.

But they, my dad immigrated here when he was teenager. My mom immigrated when she was in her late 20s. And it just was like one of those things were like, every year they'd be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're going to try to go back. And then they have a family and then work and then whatever. And, you know, now they're in their late 70s. And my sister and I have been like, well, now we're not going. I'm not even leaving my house.

But I've, I really like before they leave this planet, like I want to go with them. Yeah. You know, like I want them to show me things. And they have like cousins and stuff still there. Like all of their siblings moved over here. But so, yeah, no. Like I didn't grow up. People always assume like, oh, you know, your family must have gone back every year.

And I'm like, no. There was always like a, I almost feel like anxiety almost just kind of got in the way. Like you wait so long. Yeah. I wonder. I wonder. Did they, were they the kind of immigrant family? Like my family came over and they dumped speaking Italian.

Like they wanted to blend in. So they kind of, so we, none of us speak Italian because they were just like, not embarrassed, but they wanted to just make sure that they had the advantage of assimilating and making their way here. Was there any of that? No, I mean, we, I grew up speaking like a weird, a tanglish. It was like English and Italian mix. So I can speak Italian, but it's really bad. And I need to practice more.

So I don't think they really had that. The sort of assimilation came more from like, you know, I was the, you know, I was the, you My sister and I were the American-born daughters. And so we would be like everything we wanted to do that they didn't really know about. And I don't even know. Okay, for example, like, if I got invited to a sleepover. Right. My mom would be like, but you have your own bed.

And like, I don't even know if that was necessarily Italian, because I'm sure they have sleepovers in Italian. Or if it was just age, like maybe in the 50s, they didn't do that as much. But there was sort of like a lot of, you know, they didn't understand. And I remember like we had to like sell wrapping paper for like the class camping trip or whatever. Yeah. And they were like, no, you're going to embarrass us by begging for money. Right. That's like that.

So that's where the assimilation came in. And also they're very much like, yes, yes, yes, yes. Be yourself. But like you don't need to be like a leader. You know? Like it's so it's very cautious. Yeah, tone it down. And then meanwhile, for whatever reason, like I ended up being the one in my, I think,

really my entire extended family that like you know I'm divorced I'm a comedian I'm married outside my race I live out of state like I did right all the things that we're going to like crumble their world right right and everyone's fine and they're okay yeah but man to do that trip would be really great yeah that would be special I mean it's especially because I mean it's one thing to go even like I've thought about going to Sicily with my parents just to kind of be there, but they don't have the connection that your parents have where, you know, my parents, so they were the second generation here. So, like, to actually have them take you and show you these places and end up having this storied connection to these places,

I know. You can care for the rest of your life. That's a must, that's a must trip. I mean, now that it's, like, now the pandemic is sort of icing on the cake as far as excuses, but I just started, I'm in the process of like collecting all my paperwork to get dual citizenship. Ah, yeah. Not that Italy is not also corrupt, but I just wanted a backup plan. No, I've thought about that too. It's a cool thing to have, you know? Yeah, you never know.

Yeah. I don't know what part of the planet's going to start burning first. Yeah. At least it's an option. It is, you know. I mean, if I'm going to live, you know, under a terrible government, at least I could do it while like stomping grapes or something. Right, exactly.

At least there's some good food around. Eating cheese without lactase. Like that would be cool. Yeah. But it now is the process that I think changed a little bit though. I mean, you'll be okay. But I think there's a language portion of the citizenship now, right? Like don't you have to be, no?

Not that not in what I'm doing. What are you doing? Well, before I was supposed to go into the conference. But now they're closed. So I'm actually doing it all through the mail. But my mom is still, my mom is green card. My mom never got her. So she's, it's actually very easy.

Like, I'm surprised I didn't do this earlier. Yeah. So she's technically still, she's a citizen of the U.S. through my dad. Got it. But because she stole her Italian passport, I'm very much entitled to. Yeah.

So this, yeah, this should be pretty easy. Yeah, it's just a lot of like people like I got to get. But now because of COVID like it's hard to get like this is so boring to your listeners. No, it's not. It's not really because I got to call the DMV, you know, like it's just collecting a lot of shit. Yeah, no, I know. And you know when you had a baby like the last thing, I can't concentrate, you know, I'll be on a website trying to get a document.

Yeah. And I forget what I'm, I fall asleep at my computer. I mean, I don't know why did I open this? Yeah. And now I'm looking at USA today for some reason. Yeah, exactly. No, I have a whole book on trying to get the citizenship completed. I think about that you wrote.

No. I wrote a book on dual citizenship. Yeah. No, it's kind of, but I am always intrigued by it because there is this, there's kind of like this salmon thing of like going back to where we came from. There is a pull to it. Like even beyond the just the practical, like, what if I have to get out of here kind of thing? There is this.

Oh, yeah. this strange kind of magnetic pull back to those places. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't know how my parents seem to be at peace with not possibly ever going back. Yeah. So they must.

It drives me nuts. Yeah. But if I were to go into their house, would it feel like? Italian? Yeah. Like, oh, well, first thing would be the plastic on the furniture. I mean, it's. Like all the stereotypes, plastic on the furniture, tons of, like, Catholic, you know, statues and whatnot.

Only go to church twice a year, but tons of that. Yeah, a lot of Mary in the house. Yeah, a lot of Mary and Jesus. I mean, you know, jars of marinated mushrooms in the cabinets. Jug a jug a wine. Nice. A carlo Rossi, like, jug. I don't know what else. Sounds great. Yeah, it's just very... But I have to say, it doesn't sound that far from Jersey where my Italians are from.

Yeah, I didn't mean to insult Jersey. No, I know what you're saying. There is that range, though, like that European, like the, you know, especially kind of goes north to south in Italy. Like, the northern Italian down to Sicily is a very... You know what it is? It's just, and I know I'm... No one's going to look to Italians for representation on television.

I probably shouldn't even say it. But it's just, you know, every Italian they've ever showed on TV has been just such a guido. Yes. And I'm like, I guess other than everyone loves Raymond, but I'm like, but that's not, I want like my family. Right. You know, I'm trying to pitch a sitcom right now.

No, but I'm saying like that, like a, like honestly, the closest thing I ever saw to my family on the screen was my Fat Creek wedding. Right. Yeah. I understand that. And Moonstruck. Yeah. What about Moonstruck?

Oh, yeah. Moonstruck. Yeah. Yeah. So it was like the, where it was, they were Italian, but it wasn't like, I'm a hold in the salami as I talk, you know, like. And everyone's in the mafia. Yeah. Like it wasn't like a caricature.

It was just, you know, people. I mean, I guess there were, you know, there's my Fat Greek wedding. There's literally in the title. But I just, I would, I would love to see more characters. And I mean this for all ethnicities, but I really only care about my own. No. I think that like it's they just happen to be Italian or they just happen to be Mexican or they were out without them being like a cartoon. Right.

Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Because that's the, when I even look at my family and I've had the same thoughts is. Yeah. And I actually wrote something about it. And it's, they are hilarious.

But they're not hilarious for the for the tropey reasons that. television thinks that they're hilarious. Yes. It's really just in how they're like free to speak and blurt things out or like the way. Very rude. Yeah, very rude. Roodness is always great for comedy. Yeah, yeah.

My parents are so rude, but like so somehow lovable, I think. Right. Like we, when I got dropped off at college, you know, there's like orientation and whatever or whatever. And there was, I mean, I'm painting my parents out to be fat shamers, which I think they are.

And there was a heavyset woman at in, in the orientation, someone's mom. My parents started just talking shit about her in Italian, full volume. But like would throw in like one or two English words to be like, oh, Quista, don't if that, you know, like, and you're like literally,

nothing's being hidden. And then the woman later on, ended up coming up to him going, oh, Parlo Italiano. And she spoke Italian, but she never indicated if she heard what they said. That it was like so, like I was so thrilled to see this unfold because I was like, the time you learned. I mean, it taught them nothing. They continued to be.

I know. Blunt monsters. The other, the other strategy that my grandparents would do would, the loud whisper. It's a whisper, like, because it's, because it's a little like this, at a volume that's as loud, louder than talking. So I'll be like, oh, get a load of this one over here. My husband is constantly like, he's like, I'm not being mean. He's like, but why are you talking so loud?

Like, because it's either I'm talking very loud when I'm next to him or I always choose when I leave the room to be like, oh, and another thing. And he's like, we were sitting in the same room. from quietly for 20 minutes and you said nothing. And then I go across the house and I'm like, what do you think about? And he's like, what's wrong with you? This sounds like very much a quarantine. Oh, yeah.

Right? It's at a higher pitch now. All of these small moves after being in the house for eight months together. Yeah. I'm not sick of them, though. I will be honest. It's pretty great, right? Yeah.

I mean, if there's anyone I had quarantined with, I think the good one. That's really good. How long have you been married now? We've been married a little over a year, but together about, oh, I should remember this, six. Nice. Oh, that's great. Yeah. This is really exciting.

This is a lot. I mean, it's such a weird time, but to be able to, like, get married, have your baby, going to have these first holidays, like, with her. I mean, this is all good. Yeah, I mean, we're just talking about it because like I don't, we're hoping to maybe go back east for, it's not going to happen. We might do it in January if things we'll say. Yeah. But I was like, you know, I know she's not even old enough.

She's not even old enough to like eat food yet, you know. But I'm like, there is something kind of neat about how much time I'm spending with her. It's not like I can go out and do. I mean, I'm not a comedian anymore, I guess. Right. We're all in semi-retirement. Yeah, I honestly don't know what I do for. living. I'm a full-time housewife and mom, and it's not the worst. It's pretty great. Yeah. I almost

like don't want things to go back to normal because then I have to like do stuff. I know. That's going to be, that's not going to be easy. It's not going to be easy, especially that you're getting this this rooted time with her. Yeah. You know, my wife was a comedian as well. And yeah, Cynthia Corey. And she, and she, you know, we, when she, So we had kids and it just became, you know, it's, it was like a spot at the cellar or get to like put her in her pajamas and have that moment of reading the book and being this thing. And, you know, over time it just became like a more important, more enjoyable aspect of life. You know, you could totally do it. And she did in other ways and broke out, but that you are having right now this deep, like,

elongated cuddle time. Yeah. I know. I mean, my husband, he's a comedian too, and he's sort of shifted a lot more

into television writing, which has been great because he can do it from home. Right. But like the two of us are like, yeah, I don't know. If I get asked to do a show

in six months, like it's so weird because I don't know if you're doing show, or have you done any shows? I have. I have. Outdoors or in clubs?

In clubs. I went to like five different cities. during this whole thing, which I just did my final one in Cleveland last week. And you felt safe? Yeah. I only went to places that I knew very well, you know, like, that I knew, like, that the place was really big, that they were doing it right, that they were limiting the capacity, that it was run by people that I know and love for 15 years.

Like, and if the city was okay, you know, I canceled a couple as I went along because it didn't feel good. Yeah. But I was able to pull off five of them. And did you feel good about your performance? I did. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

There's a, there's a, you know, the bar has been lowered. Yeah. They're just so happy to see you making an effort to make them laugh and, you know, there's all of that. And we've, and, you know, comedy is so based on this common, relatable stuff. And we're all, the whole planet is going through these. same emotions and these same cycles and, you know, the anxieties and the little joys that we're finding, all of it is so everyone wants to share and wants to talk about it. So you kind of can take your time and just kind of go through it. And it's really funny. And just to be able to laugh

at that. I mean, I feel like that's kind of why people are even extra stressed is the comics haven't been around. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like they usually help you get through stuff. Yeah. No, but it's been really pretty great. And you know, you've been doing it. You would get up there. I'm telling you the first you'll walk up and be like, oh, there's people and I. But then all of a sudden you'll just come out. You'll be like, oh, it turns out I know what I'm doing. Yeah. All right. It's been eight months for me. Weird. You start to question who you are, right? As a person. I mean, I love washing dishes. that's all I've learned about myself in the last day. I've gone in internal a lot and I love washing dishes is what I've learned. I'm with you. I know that sounds kind of weird, but I'm totally with you. Yeah.

I'm, I rearrange my house every few days. I literally got up this morning and I was like, I have all this stuff to do. And the first thing I found myself doing wasn't thinking about it, wasn't planning it, just decided to reorganize the freezer. It's so relaxing. I know. It's the only thing that it, because I'm like working on a couple projects right now or attempting to. And unless it's like, I don't look at the news, which I've kind of really pulled back on. Yeah.

Baby I know is handled for a few. Like I really can't concentrate on anything. And so the only thing I can do is like I, one of my goals on my list is to organize the Tupperware. Right. I want the covers with the containers. And if they're not, if there's no sets, you're out of here. Ooh, that's going to be a great day. I think that's what you're going to do on Thanksgiving. I know. I'm not going to put food in it. I'm just going to organize and just eat like one turkey leg. I'm out. Yeah, that's awesome.

Well, thank you so much for spending some time. It's really nice to check in with you. Yeah, you too. Thank you so much for having me. You always run into each other and now to actually like see you. And the vaccine's coming. We'll be back at it. Yeah.

Yeah, we can do it. We're going to be okay. Yeah, bring Stella along. It'll be fun. I'll watch her in the back. Yeah, that would be so fun. All right, take care of yourself. Okay, bye.

I'll see you soon. Well, that's it, everybody. Thank you so much for listening to Breaking Bread again. We love you. Thank you for coming. Make sure you continue to post and send me pictures of all the attempts that you have. Try the tuna sandwich. Try, show me the wine that you got.

Show me something that I don't know. And also make sure you subscribe. Make sure you go and give us lots of likes and lots of love. as we continue on this journey together. It's the holidays, kids. So we're all told that we should stay home and be safe. Why not? I'm going to stay home and be safe and get fat.

All right, enjoy everybody. See you next time.