Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - In Conversation, live at Waterstones Piccadilly

Episode Date: March 13, 2020

A little something for the weekend! Last week we celebrated the publication of 'Table Manners: The Cookbook' with an 'In Conversation' at Waterstones Piccadilly, we met some of our lovely listeners, for those who couldn't make it here is a chance to listen in... enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to a very special bonus episode which was recorded at Waterstones Piccadilly where mum and I did a Q&A with the lovely Fiona Lindsay on the day that our book launched Table Manners the Cookbook. So for those that couldn't get tickets, they went in an hour. I love tickets. They went in an hour. Jessie. I had to kick. I had to kick. Yeah, they went in an hour. So... You're loving this selling out. Love that. Selling out.

Love selling out. How's that feeling? Feels good. Yeah. It was such a lovely audience. Yeah. Lovely questions. So warm and lovely.

So, yeah, it's questions and a conversation between us and Fiona, but also the audience members. So thanks for all the lovely questions. Thank you for turning up on a really rotten evening. Wow. And it was, yeah, such a pleasure to meet you all. So enjoy. Hello, everybody.

Good evening. It's lovely to see so many of you here on such a miserable night, but I'm sure we're going to have a very tasty and very nourishing conversation. I've done a lot of work in theatre and as I was thinking about this evening, I was thinking about Shakespeare and there's a quote at the beginning of Twelfth Night, I'm sure you all know it, if music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it. When I was at the R of Twelfth Night, I'm sure you all know it, if music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it. When I was at the RSC many years ago, I used to hear that a lot, I saw that play a lot, and in my head all the time, that phrase flipped to, if food be the music of love, eat on, give me excess of it. And I don't know why, but it always did that. Several other

quotes did the same. They used to flip. But that one stuck with me. Anyway, earlier today, I was thinking about that. I was thinking about food and music and love and what a potent and seductive combination those three things are. And the fact that our guests have that in dollops. It oozes through their DNA. have that in dollops. It oozes through their DNA. In 2017, as you all know, they launched a podcast, bring some friends over, make some food, have some chat, eat the food, have some chat, a recipe for success. And here we are in 2020, and they have just launched today their first book and in fact their first audiobook as well. A mother and daughter combination who have sort of struck gold with this particular podcast based very much on their relationship. They're philosophers in many ways, they're flavourists

of course, they're gastronomes and they are both utterly gorgeous. Please give a warm welcome to mother and daughter Lenny and Jessie Ware. You've got the throne. You've got the throne. It's perfect. I didn't think the configuration was going to be like this, darling. Sorry. Are you comfortable, Lenny? I'm very comfy, thank you.

Jessie, are you comfortable? I'm comfortable. Should I be on your level? I don't know. No, darling. Are you sure? Yeah, are you sure? I'm going to be on my own level. Okay. It's going to continue like this, I think. Very warm welcome to this, the launch of your first ever book. Thank you.

How are you feeling today, mum? Really excited and happy and proud. That's wonderful, wonderful. And it's not just the launch of the book,'s the launch i believe of your audio book as well they've got you're making an audio book of the cookbook yeah we have yeah which is quite unusual it's a first for audio books isn't it yeah well no i i believe we are the first food podcast that has been made into an audiobook but correct me if I'm wrong but yeah I think that is the first so with that thank you pioneers of the podcasting world food podcasting world um no so we um it's all the kind of memoir and writing in the book along with mum and I in the foulest move of each other recording six recipes and so god bless our editor Alice because gyda'r mam a fi yn y ffwrdd fwyaf gyda'i gilydd, yn recordio chwe resipi. Felly, gobeithio ar ein cyfrifiadwr, Alice,

oherwydd, gobeithio, fe wnes i ei wneud... Nid oeddwn i'n gallu gwneud hynny oherwydd roeddem am ddynnu'n gilydd y dydd hwnnw. Felly, ie, mynd i wrando i weld a allwch chi glywed y tensiwn. Yn amlwg, yr hyn rwyf am ofyn yw pam, yn gyntaf, rydych chi'n ymwneud â'r fad, ond rwy'n gwybod, os wnawn ni wneud hynny, ni fyddwn ni'n mynd i fynd i fynd i'r pethau

rwy'n hoffi gofyn iddo, felly nid wyf am ofyn iddo hynny o gwbl. Ond rwy'n hoffi gofyn i chi to ask is why immediately why you're in the bad mood but i know if we do that we won't get on to the things that i really want to ask you so i'm not going to ask you that at all but i do want to ask you about the sort of lead up to this moment because you were all over in loads of publications over the weekend and you were on the front cover of you magazine i have to say that was me taking one for the team if you can see i'm the one that's got the trifle in her mouth, and Mum is there looking like this. What did you say to them, Mum? I said to the photographer, if I look old or fat, I will come and get you. So I did OK, I think, out of that.

So, Lenny, just what does it feel like suddenly, and I know you've been doing it since 2017, this podcast, but what does it feel like to suddenly be in the spotlight your daughter has been for many years but for you to suddenly be in the spotlight and be recognized for your voice and for your face it feels strange it's not the most comfortable place for me to be to be honest i mean it's fine when we do the podcast is there an echo coming back because i can hear it echoing no reverb no it's okay when we do the podcast. Is there an echo coming back? Because I can hear it echoing. No. It's a reverb. No, it's okay.

Okay. Is that good? Do I need that for my voice? Your voice sounds really beautiful. Okay. Thank you. I think that it's not my most comfortable place, but of course I've enjoyed doing the podcast so much

and doing the cookbook. It's been a fantastic experience. And what about for you, Jessieesse having your mum suddenly side by side and and equally sort of getting the attention i mean look we all know why you're all here and it's not for me and that is why i shouldn't be on the big stall um but no, I think it's... I've always been incredibly proud of my mum and the fact that I wanted to include her in this podcast just shows, like, everyone should know Lenny

and everyone now does, including bartenders in Birmingham and people in the Tube and people in the sea. Yeah, I read that you were on holiday in Greece and you were just chatting away and someone came up to you because they heard your voice. And equally, on the tube recently, you were saying something and someone was like, oh.

Because you have a very distinctive voice, actually. Have I? Yeah. OK. Jessie said it's my whinging voice. Your whinging voice. I actually think you're going to be doing voiceovers soon. Do you think?

I do, yeah. We'll get you an agent. But no, what happened? Didn't it happen the other day? Where were we the other day? I don't know. Oh. Oh, we were at...

I was in the Lou. Gizzy Erskine's new place. And I went to the Lou and I said, I can't turn the taps on because the light, I couldn't. And she said, oh, I'll help. She said, do you know what, Lenny from the podcast. So that's like six words that she had to say. Already she's iconic.

I love that, Lenny from the podcast. That's good. That's your new sort of a strap line. Right, we are going to talk about the podcast, but I want to talk about, before we sort of get into the nitty gritty of that, I want to sort of go a little bit further back. And I think it's appropriate because it's what you really do with your your guests you talk about memory a lot all sorts of memory yeah and I think for all of us you know food is it's a we index it to all sorts of things in the landscape of our lives so you're a mother and daughter and obviously a lot of your sort of food comes from Lenny. But I'd like to ask you, Lenny, about your food memories and your family.

So I was brought up in Manchester in a Jewish family. We always sat down for dinner every night together. My mum was a great cook. Not adventurous. I remember when she first made spaghetti bolognese we thought we had gone wild it was just so exciting and she's put vinegar in her spaghetti bolognese and it just livened it up or livened the tomatoes up kind of not balsamic it would have been no it would have been malt vinegar yeah we didn't know about balsamic then darling but i put balsamic in mine yeah me too

and um food was always very important. But we always ate the same thing every day of the week. So I knew on Monday we'd be having some sort of pie. On Thursday, it was always chopped and fried fish balls that my mum made. Friday was always proper Friday night dinner. Saturday was always cold food. And Sunday was always from the delicatessen to put whatever we could in bagels. So it was quite predictable. But we love food. We used to go out to eat a lot, for dinner a lot. And so I think food was a really important part of our family life. I mean, for me, cooking is very important. life i mean for for me cooking is very important feeding i think oh sorry um i think that when i think it's the same for you isn't it now absolutely yeah we're big feeders yeah never knowingly under cater that's never knowingly under cater and also i was something that made

me laugh you said um you you don't share and i think that's an interesting thing i mean people say i don't share i think i know you share she doesn't share i just get to the food before then like you know do you like people picking off your plate i don't care as long as i'm okay and i'm eating more than everyone else it's cool no it's hopeless never go for tapas with jesse because she's eating it all before you get down to it you mentioned spaghetti bolognese and i'm just wondering is that one of your big food memories yeah but not for the right reasons go on mum used to do spaghetti bolognese in the pressure cooker no not always only when i was a depression how i remember this is how i remember it and it was too watery it was very

watery it was not your best but i know And then you did it accidentally with lamb. Yeah. In Wales, in the chalet that we used to have. And what happened? It was oily and delicious. And I'll never forget it. I think we were like 10 and it was like, it was April, Easter holidays.

And I was like, what is this divine thing? And I kept on, it was delicious. And now I'm doing it with vegetarian alternatives to meat. Beth yw'r peth duw hwn?" Ac fe wnaethon ni ddewis. Roedd yn ddewis, er bod... Ac nawr rwy'n ei wneud gyda chynulliadau ffegetariaid i'r gwaith. A rwy'n gwneud yn iawn, dwi'n dda. Ie. Rydym yn dod i'ch ysbrydoli i'r byd ffegetariaid a'r ffegon. Ond pam ydych chi'n cofio bwyd yn glir, Jessie?

Oherwydd roeddwn i'n gwych, ie? Fel y dywedodd mam, ac rwyf wedi ysgrifennu amdano yn y llyfr, Clearly, Jessie. Because I was a greedy cow. Right? Like mum said, and I've written about it in the book, that I came out hungry, like starving and greedy. And it's just kind of lived with me ever since. And so, I don't know, I think probably because mum also cooked so well. And I always felt, I felt like we used to go out for, even if it was Buona Sera on a Sunday. We went out a lot.

We went out, but it wasn't fancy places. It was like going to this pizza restaurant on Northcote Road. Or where else would we go? Our friends had Orms, which I remember the crinkle chips that we used to have. And I remember being way past my bedtime and eating those crinkle chips that you can't really find anywhere anymore. This was the 80s and us being there. ychydig o chriwtiau crincle. Ac roeddwn i'n cofio bod yna, ymlaen o'r amser fy ysgol, ac yn bwyta'r chriwtiau crincle nad ydych chi'n gallu eu canfod o unrhyw le. Dyma'r 80au, ac yn y bar bwyd o Orms,

ac roedd yn ddigon hwyl bod yna. Ond dwi'n gwybod, ie, rydyn ni wedi mynd allan, dwi'n meddwl oherwydd roeddwn i'n hoffi bwyd yn fawr, ond hefyd oherwydd rwy'n meddwl bod fy mam yn bwyd gwych. Felly rydych chi'n ei ddisgrifio yno, ychydig o'ch blant, a'r llawrfa o'r profiad cwlion. So you're describing there sort of your childhood and the richness of the culinary experience.

Are you trying to now sort of do that with your own young family? I'm trying. It's hard when all they want is pizza and what does... Beige food, really. They like not... Yeah, not too exciting. It's beige, it's's carbs it's not very when i was weaning them they would eat anything so it'd be like i'd be making amazing kind of i don't know i was picking everything whether it was dals or kind of i mean the roasted pumpkin risotto for my five months old like it was ridiculous um actually probably wasn't five months because

you're not allowed to do whatever it was like whatever it was the right time um with goat cheese and rosemary and like and now they literally would look at me and be like are you kidding i'm not eating that shit so um yeah it's difficult at the moment but i i believe in them and we had nigella lawson on and she said she was a really fussy eater when she was younger so that's what i just maintain that my daughter maybe it's slightly fussy but it's funny because my daughter and my son will always eat my mum's food which i know is great but i feel like i'm i'm a good cook too but like last night you did chicken rose yeah but i avoid and he was just like there i just avoid quinoa darling and things i haven't cooked quinoa in a good year. Because I've been living with you, yes.

Food and family, they sort of feel like they go together for you. And one of the things that comes across in the podcast, and also it's very evident in the book, which is a beautiful piece of art, actually. It's so well produced, is eating at a table. Did you always eat at a table? did you always eat at a table did you always eat at a table how important is the eating of food at table I remember always eating at the table and I think I I remember some of my friends finding that quite strange especially my husband who was my boyfriend when we were 18 you know I'd be like do you want

to come over for dinner and he'd have to not have to but like he'd be sitting with my mum and her friends and us and and he used to eat his food in his room and play playstation and smoke weed so and just I don't know we it was the way we finished our day and even if the conversation was fraught we'd be eating together and having that conversation and um it was incredibly important and I always remember it you know my mum my mum worked but there was always cooked food and um I always I found it quite exciting when we'd have chicken Kiev sometimes. It was quite rare.

You mentioned, Lenny, when you were growing up, you knew what you were going to have every day of the week. And I remember that actually growing up as well. My mum worked and we had the same food on a regular basis. Wednesdays were soup and pudding, etc. Did you carry on that tradition when you were bringing up your children? No. So what did you do?

Because you were working and busy. Yeah, I worked. I mean, I prepared well, I think. And so I would have cooked something in the morning or prepared something in the morning that we would eat in the evening, so if it was a casserole. But I always knew what i was going to cook and had thought about it um early in you know the day before probably i still think about food all the time

now i'm finishing my mouthful of lunch thinking what i'm going to have for my supper um and it's what are you thinking about it because you're looking forward to the actual practice some people love the preparation no no okay that's blunt is the eating yeah or is it the occasion i love the occasion of eating yeah and i love people coming over yeah and i love it when we have lots of people over and in fact because we've been doing the podcast and that's been and jesse's been living with me for the last six months i think i haven't done as much entertaining since we've been doing the podcast yeah even though like we have like two guests every week yes I'll never I won't forget

and I think I talked about it on one of the podcasts you've probably heard this but like there was this moment where we'd we'd had guests but mum had her like her proper dinner party on the Saturday and you were being amazing. I was like a teenager up in my room coming down to say hi and trying to steal some food and going out. When you had dinner parties it was like, that's exciting.

When I was young I didn't want to know who was there what she was cooking. But honestly the pride and the joy that was radiating compared to when you're prepping for a famous people have dinner parties as much anymore I don't know one that one of the things I mean I read the book and I've just I found myself doing two things feeling really I felt like I was eating something really good almost on every single page but I also sort of felt really ashamed of myself

because I'm not doing any entertaining at all. And actually, getting people around and just getting all mucked in and not having it, it's not posh, it's just getting stuck in. That's what it sounds like. Yeah, absolutely. I think we've all become food critics. We watch MasterChef and we want to up our game and make fantastic food. And then someone says, oh, you're such a good cook.

So next time they come, you want it even to be better. But I think we should just make something that we can all share and just enjoy. And I hope that the cookbook really is the essence of being, just simply good cooking, which doesn't take masses of time. So, Jessie, can you describe, roll back a few years, or even just now because you are living with your mum,

she's making food in the kitchen, you're about to have a big family meal yeah what's what's the atmosphere like fraught you what is what's the atmosphere um fraught um she i'd be like waiting around because i was excited about the food coming so i'd be like mom do you want any help do you want any help and i remember, you potentially letting me do a bechamel sauce and then, or like a white sauce, maybe it was for leeks for a roast on the weekend. And I'd try and then she'd be like, you're doing it wrong! And take it.

And so I learn to cook through her not letting me cook and just watching her. That's not very good and I've learned but I've also let all my friends find it really annoying when I cook them dinner because I always do well they think too many dishes they always seem to do it quite simplified so they'll just do like a shepherd's pie and it will be really nice and they'll do like one side whereas I would have like 10,000 sides and two mains and you know three puts and that is because my mum would be doing that and she'd just be like spinning plates and doing it and it would all be it doesn't it didn't

look effortless but she'd get it done and it all as soon as people and she'd be exhausted by the time people came but that's what it was like yeah you mentioned that in the book actually there's a ond byddai hi'n cael ei wneud a byddai hi'n cael ei gydnabod wrth i'r amser bod pobl wedi dod, ond dyna sut roedd hi'n ei fodlon. Ie, rydych chi wedi sôn am hynny yn y llyfr, mewn gwirionedd, mae ganddyn nhw ddibyniad yn ennill, ac yna mae'n mynd i mewn i gynhwys. A ydych chi wedi dod o hyd, Lenny, wrth i chi fynd ymlaen, bod chi ddim yn rhoi llai o gynhwys, ond rydych chi'n newid sut rydych chi'n ei wneud? Rwy'n credu fy mod wedi dysgu llawer o ran Jessie oherwydd ei fod yn wythnos you're changing how you do it i think i've learned a lot from jesse because she's quite an innovative cook and says my son i mean they will just toss things in and be much more adventurous i'm much better on classic things that i know what i'm doing um so i've learned a lot from her and i made a proper curry from scratch the other week the the prawn curry i made and it was really good o'r prwncari y gwaith y ddiwedd y ddiwedd y gwaith. Roedd yn dda iawn. Roedd yn dda iawn ac roedd hynny'n fwy addysgol na'r ffordd y gwnaethom ei wneud.

Felly, ie, rwy'n credu fy mod wedi dysgu wrth fynd ymlaen, ond rwy'n ddiddorol iawn yn bwyd. Felly rhai o'r resipïau yw pethau rydyn ni wedi eu bwydo ond ni allwn ddod o hyd i gwasanaeth ac rydyn ni wedi gwneud hynny neu wedi cyd-ddeallio'r pethau gyda'r gwaith, are things that we've eaten that we couldn't find a recipe for and we've kind of made it up or managed to concoct it together, having eaten it somewhere. So some of the Greek things, like the boyardi eggs, I'm not really sure how you make them, but that's what it tastes like and so we managed to get it sorted somehow. Yeah, you must have a fantastic palate then to do that.

Or you eat a lot of food. or you eat a lot of food when you eat out together just the two of you not other family members no children just the two of you and you go into a restaurant and you both take up a menu and look at it what's that like between you i think we've done that for ages but i remember when we did it um i'm not going to name the restaurant but it was a local restaurant and i really felt like we thought we were grace dent and jay rayner we were literally like right let's see what we've got here okay we'll have one of them we'll have and we won't root to the staff at all but like we had it and we were tasting it and we were like thought yeah john tarodon's oil we were like yeah this could do with something yeah I think we thought we were kind of yeah

pretty big time I don't know why it was so I think we were also thinking about what we were doing for the cookbook so we're like slightly obsessed with flavor and taste and how yeah things can work so yeah it was actually rather unpleasant i think i think we can relax now no i really i really want to take mum to raymond blanc's uh what's it so um it's impossible to get a table there but like i really will ring him up darling yes because you have interviewed had him on your podcast well we did and you know what he couldn't resist. So Jesse said, we're going to make fish. What was it? Halibut in a wild garlic.

I said, where are we going to get wild garlic from? No, wild garlic was in Cedar. Yeah, but I didn't realise. I thought I was going to have to go foraging in Brixton, in Loughborough Junction or somewhere. So we found, we got wild garlic from Ocado, I think. And I made this efume or whatever it is. And we ended up, I was making, doing the fish.

He actually couldn't stay on his stool, could he? He actually came over. Yeah, but mum, the best thing about this story is the fact that, like, Raymond Blanc's all about, you know, sustainable eating and seasonal eating. Oh, I know, but... And it was like, we were speaking about Girolds or however you call them. Couldn't get Girolds. No, so mum had on mushrooms Korea South Korea yeah no carbon footprint coronavirus he was he was helping me and he said I can tell you I'm very good cook so I said oh Raymond it's a little opening for me at Le Manoir?

He said, I also tell you, do not take orders. So I said, oh, how can you tell? That's nice. What is your kitchen like then, Lenny? Describe it. Describe the colours. It's quite a big kitchen. It's all cream.

I had it done about four years ago. Nice black marble surfaces. You copied your best friend Susan in Manchester. No, I didn't. It's very white. No, I did not. She wouldn't have a black surface. So it's black granite and cream cupboards.

Is it messy? Do you tidy up as you go along? It is at the moment. But when Jessie moves out, it will be back to its pristine state. Mum, I'm not the problem with the cupboards. Sam is the problem with the cupboards. Sam has a lot of vegan protein. Yeah.

And coffee paraffin. The R is hidden everywhere. Coffee paraffin and vegan protein. And there's a lot of baby food around as well. Yeah. Bottles and things. So when they all go, your kitchen will be back to this show kitchen. It's going to be sad and lonely. I'm going to miss us. Get my zen back. Yn ffordd, mae'n ddiddorol. Felly pan fyddant yn mynd, bydd eich cffin yn ôl i'r cffin sioe. Mae'n anodd iawn.

Mae'n anodd iawn. Mae'n anodd iawn. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin.

Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin.

Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. Felly byddwch yn mynd i'r cffin. as they cook and as they go along and I try and do that but it's just sometimes quite hard but I in my head I'm I'm gonna every time I try and cook I'm like right I'm gonna be like this and then yeah just darling in your head are you a tidy person no I'm sorry I'm very very messy um verging on slob and it drives my man yeah so when you're cooking together does that cause a lot of friction between you yes like we had my son's birthday at the weekend and it was we had all our different stations because but we kept on colliding it's me Alex and mum because I was worried that my Victoria sponge was like so flat and stupid and was like the most embarrassing birthday cake ever.

So we made two of them. And then, no, three of them we made. And then Alex did the brownies because anyway, and we've all got colliding. It was like Mrs. Wobbles. What's it? What's that? Mrs. Wobble the way. Yeah, it was like that.

We're kind of all like just colliding into each other. And we should have been on motor skates. You've mentioned Alex twice now, so that's Dr Alex, your brother. He's here in the audience. Any single men in the audience? Aunt Jessica. But you credit him very beautifully and generously.

Actually, put your hands up, though. There you go. Hi. Front row, spare chair. He's front row though so you credit alex with um being you know laying a table beautifully i'd like to know more about that and also about being probably better at baking than either of you, puddings and cakes. Yes, I can confirm that because I made some triple threat brownies and they're overdone. But they're chocolate, they'll taste fine. So I apologise.

Alex saw them as they came out of the oven because I have lots of other things to do. I love you guys and I appreciate you being here so much. But I had lots of other things to do as well today. But i give them to you with love and but yeah they're overdone and i'm sorry but they're going to taste slightly the same and alex should have fucking done them so what about the table laying because um that's very important isn't it the laying of a table well even uh even for the party at the weekend i saw the touch he'd come in and sorted it all out and it looked beautiful yeah no alex can make a table yeah you kind of

queer ride it like at the end it was like he let all the like mayhem happen then he went right okay crudités let's go yeah he's the anthony of yeah actually yeah it is like theatre isn't it the pulling together of a great occasion a great culinary occasion and the the table laying is the set design yeah I think it is I mean I always love those very arty people that have beautiful bowls and they're none of their crockery matches you know when we started doing the podcast I thought I'm not having Jay Rayner with a mixture of Tesco plates so I bought all new white china which Jessie thinks is terrible and she said where's all the all the nice old plates where have they all gone with the spots on I just threw them out because for Jay Rayner

I just thought he's a food critic he can't come to my house and have odd plates that's a great quote for jay rayner yeah yeah one of the things that comes across and i said this earlier when we were talking very strongly in the podcast and very much so in the book as well is it feels like it's a love story a love story about food but also a love story to family too so food and love can you talk a little bit about that you mentioned in the book meetings going to sam's house for the first time and uh a meal wasn't prepared but you did sort of have to observe someone eating yeah so i have been with my husband for a very long time and there it's there's a really lovely recipe this pistachio am ddiwrnod iawn. Mae yna resipi gwych iawn, y rhag o ffyn,

ac roedd gen i lawer i ddweud am y rhag o ffyn, ond fe wnaeth fy nghymryd yn ôl i feddwl amdano pan es i gyfarfod Sam ac es i ar y diwrnod cyntaf hwn. Es i i fynd i'w tŷ, a dyna fy nhyrdiad I went over to his house, no, it was my third date, and annoyingly it was on Valentine's Day, which is quite high pressure when you're 18, and a virgin, and you're like, oh my God, this guy's really cute, and oh, is he going to think that I, if he's inviting me around to his house, will I have to have sex with him? Jessica! I'm sorry!

My God! It's true! I know, you're oversharing now. Sorry. We'll call it in the book I guess anyway is that too well now you want to read it yeah we didn't have sex and I like lugged like half a whole bottle of amaretto before I got there I got from Felix White for my birthday present for my 18th did anybody else give alcohol to each other when you were 18 it was like hey welcome to the club like um anyway so I was a bit drunk and nervous and then I hadn't eaten because I was nervous and I

didn't know whether he was like going to cook anyway as Sam does when he's at his house his parents house I said hi to his parents and then I was led upstairs to his room. And he was like, do you want to get Domino's? And I was like, I love Domino's. And I couldn't eat it. I let him eat it because I was so scared I was going to get something in my tooth or, like, taste of the garlic dip.

And it was a very stressful occasion, denying myself Domino's. And anyway, but... It's still together anyway yeah it's all about love and then I yeah anyway read the fucking thing podcast podcast whose idea was it to

do a podcast and why? well it was mine I didn't know what it was what did you think a podcast was? I thought it was I didn't know what it was at all just a podcast I? I thought it was... Something to do with dolphins. I didn't know what it was at all. Just a podcast. I didn't know it was like a radio programme.

No. I thought it was something you do online. For the first year of us doing the podcast, Mum's... I said, Mum, like, I know it's quite a lot, but thank you, and she'd be complaining about it, and then she went,'s fine darling I'm just helping you so you can get a really good presenting job yeah so it stopped singing and touring yeah

she's like it's fine it's just so you can be the nude this morning presenter it's fine so um no mum didn't um mum didn't know what podcast was but asked her. And it was my really good friend Jamie who said that I should do something. And I think I was slightly... I'd fallen a bit out of love with doing music solely and I wanted a bit of an escape. And the way that I escape is through food and cooking. I love cooking. It's the time when I switch off and I don't think about anything. So why was I doing all the cooking? Cwcio. Rwy'n hoffi gwneud gwneud, mae'r amser pan fydda i'n newid i ffwrdd ac dydw i ddim yn meddwl am unrhyw beth.

Felly pam wnaeth i wneud yr holl gwneud? Os yw hynny'n digwydd, oherwydd rydych chi'n well yn ei wneud. Ond ie, felly fe wnes i feddwl sut i feddwl am rhywbeth nad yw'n ymwneud â cerddoriaeth. Roeddwn i'n meddwl y byddai'n ddiddorol, doeddwn i ddim am siarad am gerddoriaeth, roeddwn i eisiau siarad am bwyd a phrofiad, pethau sy'n music I wanted to talk about food and family things that are very important to me and so yeah I thought well who did I initially I thought I should do it do it in a restaurant I kind of wanted to basically be Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon and be like oh yeah let's go to really nice restaurants and chat but I thought it'd be a nightmare and then Jay Rayner did that so there you go I shouldn't have done it no I shouldn't have because um and then I thought well I've always invited people around to my house um to my mum's house to meet my mum and be cooked for and hosted by my mum

so why don't i invite strangers to that and and see how it goes and it just worked a treat so you thought i was going to be in the back having a backstage i did think maybe i did think maybe you were going to have a little more of a supporting actress role. However, you are a leading lady and everyone knows that. So give us a peek behind the scenes. So they tend to be between 40 and 55 minutes. Yeah, not for Alice over there. No, no.

They're like two and a half hours. Okay. So how do you get your guest? Do you ask them what they want how do you decide what you're going to give them how does it all work well first of all i take a day off from my proper job now to be able to cook otherwise yeah it is a proper job now um so we talk about i mean we have an author yeah i know darling and a podcaster yeah so we've like we're having someone on tomorrow can we say who it is yeah fuck it um yes it's now it's now do you say it's

now we ashton yes the actress who we're very excited about because i she's such a great actress and she looks really fun and interesting so we talked about what we were going to make for her. She's not a vegan. We asked dietary requirements. Yeah, so she's not a pescatarian like Callum Turner. Everyone's a bloody pescatarian. Everyone's a pescatarian. Then you ask them what their favourite meal is and they say roast beef.

So, yeah. We say, well, we could have done that easily. How many pescatarians are in the audience? How many vegans? Oh, lovely sauce. How many pescatarians in the audience? How many vegans? So tomorrow night I'm going to do they are like three vegan press yeah I'm with that you appreciate you being and we're getting better at it, and that's my new knife Veggie Lenny goes... Plant-based Lenny, yeah. So, I'm going to save the planet.

You're not with all the fucking single-use plastic that you give my children? No, darling. Right, she got my son. Sorry, I know we're going off pitch. No, it's OK. I can get us back on. So, for my one-year-old son, for one of his presents, he doesn't need anything, he doesn't know what presents are yet, he's fine, he gets all...

Why do you think he loves me? Yeah. She was like, it's just a little something. Car keys, plastic car keys. Doesn't need them, they beep, they're like, it's done. He goes, uh, uh, uh, and then it's done. And Sam is so angry at you. Oh, can I just tell you?

You might complain about my plastic. We're going to have extinction rebellion outside our house because you leave so many bloody lights on. But with the curtains closed during the day and the lights are on, they'll be there demonstrating. Touche, Mother. Yeah. No, it's fine, because I think everybody's probably having the same thought.

You've done a podcast, you've done a book, you're doing your live tour soon, and you have to have a telly show, surely. Oh, well. It's not just a present, you're going to be doing it too. I've just... Well, she says no, but if the money's right but we were talking about behind the scenes that's what we're talking about so how you

check out dietary requirements we check out dietary requirements and then we just then we decide what we're going to make and then we order it and tomorrow i'll be cooking you make out that you we order in no no no, no. We order the food. Yeah, sorry, yeah. So then often, you know, we do either a Tesco or a Cardo. And then we've got a wonderful butcher just around the corner from me and a great fish shop. And so we order. So tomorrow I'm going to make sticky short ribs and then some potato. And then we're going to do some griddled nectarines with mascarpone I've ordered.

Well, I wanted to try creme fresh ice cream because i had it um did i have it at braun the other day well you make it okay so we decide what we're going to make and then it's we it's planned so if it's something you cook at the last minute but it's quite difficult because we start the podcast maybe at seven o'clock and we talk first and then eat so when we had um um mel what was it scary spice yes scary spice we did a roast dinner she was so fucking and now and a half late why was she late because she's rude because she's mel b gosh she was scary no who was later than her but we forgave them who was later nicole sherson was late but she was really nice so no and so was mel b mel b was great

alice they're beautifully produced podcasts because it's really difficult isn't it you've got chatting you've got cutlery you've got cooking noises and everything you've got eating noises how do you so balance all of that then so you you said you have all the talk before and then you eat without talk before we eat and then we do try and do a bit i mean we don't have ideal conditions for a podcast because i've got granite surface and all black and the real dining that my dining room is in a conservatory with glass roof. So we have to do it in the kitchen. It would be better when you moved house.

I'm having a lot of glass in my extension, so I'm slightly worried about the acoustics. Now, we've been talking for 45 minutes, believe it or not. Yeah, we have. Time flies, Mum. So we're going to now just welcome everybody else into joining in this conversation. There's some roaming microphones. So how we'll do it is you put your hand up if you've got a question, keep it up so we can get the microphone to you,

and then obviously speak into the mic loud and clear. Question over here. First, brilliant. Happy release day. Thank thank you um my question is what would you say with the lamb with the lebanese style lamb it does say here it goes with a variety of middle eastern vegetable dishes side dishes what would you what what what i... I've got a Lebanese rice cooker, if anyone's ever seen those. So you can make this taglik, which is that crispy stuff underneath, and then you turn it out and it comes out like a big rice cake. So I love serving it with that, but they're very hard to get hold of.

You have to buy them from America or Iran or somewhere. No, it's a Persian rice cooker. So I would make... Who did you get it off? Your osteopath? My physiotherapist. Who came from Iran and he loved me. It was a lot to manipulate, you see. So I would cook it with a very nice rice dish, one of the otolenghi lenghi ones you know with rice and lentils and things like that and then serve it with jesse's lovely carrots with you yeah my pickled carrot yeah yeah yeah yes you could do that with like loads of salads um yeah and then maybe i'd say labner but maybe it would not be too thick but you could just do a yogurt couldn't you otherwise you could do like it wouldn't be like tag tag tad lick, couldn't you? Otherwise, you could do, like, it wouldn't be like tadlik?

How do you say it? Tadlik. You could do microwave onion rice. It's really easy. Dead easy. It's so easy. But I think that's my favourite dish. I love Lebanese lamb.

There's some toasted almonds on the top. Jogs are good in. Okay, another question. Over here. Hello. I was wondering what the actual vibe was when David Schwimmer insulted the cake. Oh, yeah.

Was it bad? Was it funny? Did you take offence? I couldn't gauge whether you were smiling or not. We were thankful to get a little bit of, like, Ross. So I think we were thankful. We felt like he was holding back. And then he just let rip in the last, like, five minutes. He was really funny. Mum fancied him.

He was gorgeous. He was really funny. Mum fancied him. He was gorgeous. He was so handsome. And I thought he was kind of serious and educated and cultured. Do you take to your guests sometimes and think, oh, God, I have big crushes on them? Yeah. Yeah? So he was one.

Who was another? He was one. Yanis from Foles. Oh, I love Yanis from Foles. They got so drunk together. And he's, like, very intellectual, cocky with it, too. Loved him.

My mum's kind of man. Kept on speaking in Greek. Yeah. Loved all that. But, no, we were... Where are you there? I think we were quite thankful for that because it was hysterical.

It was funny. We didn't tell Dr Alex. He found out through another doctor on a night shift. He said, I hear your banana rubber is dry this week. So what are you talking about? Poor Alex. We didn't want to break it to him.

And can I tell you, that recipe is delicious and it isn't dry. I don't know what happened. Do you? He left it in for 15 minutes too long because he'd just done a really long shift. That's what happened. Fine. So just don't do that. Ohawn. Fynd yn dda. Felly peidiwch â gwneud hynny. Awn.

Ychydig. Y cwbl. Ie. Ie. Cwestiwn arall, os gwelwch chi. Beth yw'ch reswpia ffur yn y llyfr ac pam? Allwch chi fynd yn gyntaf, Mam. Wel, rwy'n hoffi'r llam lebanes.

Oherwydd mae'n hynod o haws ac yn hynod o ddiddorol. Felly, os ydych chi'n cael llam o'r llen bwtaflau ac rydych chi'n ei marino, ond rydych chi'n rhaid because it's so easy and so impressive. So if you get a butterflied leg of lamb and you marinate it, but you only have to cook it for 40 minutes and it's so impressive, I think that I love that recipe. I like all the Jewish recipes in there because I grew up with them and I'm confident. Okay, I'm going to do like five that are all different. I think because it's like, so the beef tagliata I think is just so easy Mae'r ffynion yn gwahanol. Mae'r taliatau bwyd yn dda iawn ac yn ddwylyg iawn. Rwy'n hoffi'r ffynion nad yw'n cymryd y llaw a'u bod yn deall bod wedi gwneud ychydig o waith.

Rwy'n hoffi'r ffynion hynny. Roci oedd yn hoffi hynny, oedd hi? Ie, do. Ie. Beth arall? Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy.

Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy.

Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy.

Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. Mae'n ddwy. massive winner um what else do i like the sweet i really like the spinach and artichoke dip yeah the hot spinach and artichoke dip it's like i remember eating it in freeman's in new york this really like dark restaurant that's lovely they all have it they used to have it in new york like in the early like noughties don't know god i feel old and it's really really lovely um shit the lemon ice cream i think lemon ice cream, I think. Lemon ice cream is amazing. Turkey meatballs are really light as a feather, and they're so tasty.

I also really like the midweek roast ones that we've got. Actually, they were through Alice. Because we have a roast in the week. I don't know if anybody else does, but we kind of don't save it for a Sunday. And so there's just two super simple recipes. The olive tapenade one that we did for Jo Brand, shove olive tapenade and herbs de France under the skin

and then in the cavity with some squashed garlic and it's super easy. Or you do boursin. This one is like a game changer. Boursin cheese under the skin and in the thing. And it's like a really posh chicken'r llyn a'r peth. Ac mae'n ffynnu'r bwysau a'r peth. Mae'n ffynnu'r bwysau a'r peth. Mae'n ffynnu'r bwysau a'r peth.

Mae'n ffynnu'r bwysau a'r peth. Mae'n ffynnu'r bwysau a'r peth. Mae'n ffynnu'r bwysau a'r peth. Mae'n ffynnu'r bwysau a'r peth. Mae'n ffynnu'r bwysau a'r peth. Mae'n ffynnu'r bwysau a'r peth. Mae'n ffynnu'r bwysau a'r peth. Mae'n ffynnu'r bwysau a'r peth. Mae'n ffynnu'r bwysau a'r peth. I told him I was here tonight. He said... Was it for a date? He said, as they have had the privilege

of living out that question of who would you invite for a dinner party, which dead celebrity would you both have liked to cook for? Is it morbid? And what would you have cooked for them? Who and what? Okay, who and what? I know.

Why is he not here? You're so mean. He's obviously a huge fan. Lenny, go on. I know it's something. Go on, Lenny. It would have to be Nelson Mandela. Yeah. Cos he's such an icon and an idol of mine. What would I cook for him? I think he'd be really easy to cook for, because I think he's so... He was so generous-spirited.

So I'm not sure what I'd cook for him. Probably give him some meat. Nice. Sticky short ribs that you could lick your fingers afterwards. Nice. Amy Winehouse. I'd give her a proper Jewish dinner and just give her a massive cuddle, I think.

Yeah. Yeah, Amy. Yeah, that's two good choices there. Question down here, we said. What's the worst meal you have ever had? I'll never forget getting food poisoning in Andorra. Oh, do you remember? Yeah, and I'd got...

It was veal with cheese and ham. Do you remember? And it was, like, breaded. Yeah, and you weren't well after and I got food poisoning that will always stay with me forever as the worst meal what's yours yeah those meals you know when you end up and it's quite late you've arrived late somewhere I think it's when I had a boyfriend who had a house on the Isle of Arran and I ended up in a town called Ardrossan yes you know Scotland I know that you know what Ardrossan is like not glamorous not glamorous and there was

no ferries because it was the weather was terrible and we ended up in a hotel that the man was drunk I had to cook breakfast for everyone the next day because he didn't get up and people were we were all desperate but that night he cooked a kind of it was kind of just a fried up everything it was horrible and it was just miserable our drosson in the rain and wind and storm did the romance last no one final question you always asked everyone what their last supper Y rhamant, y llwyr? Nid. Un cwestiwn olaf. Rydych chi bob amser wedi gofyn i bawb beth fyddai'r bwyd diwethaf, ond beth fyddai'r bwyd eich hun? Ie, cwestiwn da.

Felly, fyddai fy mab yn gael gwasg o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o fwyd o bwyd, a byddaf yn ei alw'n fathu'r mathsa i mewn i'r gwasg, ac wedyn hefyd gael ei gael gyda'r gwyllt bwyd. Yna byddaf yn cael dîm Creswmys i mam gyda'r holl triniaethau. Ac yna mae'n ymgysylltu rhwng tiramisu, ac efallai y byddaf wedi cael y tiramisu mwyaf i mi oedd wedi'i cael mewn lle yng Nghymru. Mae'r Gwyddon yn Nghymru. Ydych chi'n byw yng Nghymru? Fe wnaethoch chi edrych ar ei gilydd ac wedi... Y gwyliaeth a gofyn y cwestiwn yw, yng Nghymru. O, wow! Yn wir! Felly mae'n i lawr i'r

Cymun Cymru ac mae'n ffwrdd. Mae'n i lawr fel Ynys Hill. Ynys Hill. Y pizzeria, ac mae'n llygaid hyfryd iawn, ac maen nhw'n Gwyddon, the one the pizzeria and it's like quite fluorescent lighting and they're all italian and it's really good right the pizza's amazing but they're tiramisu i don't even care if it's like this shit is i remember it so well what's the place called just so we can get it on the bravi ragazzi yes so my friend shun who i mi, o, erioed, mae gen i farn arall yn dod allan. Ie. Felly, mae hi'n gweithio gyda chyflwyniadwr enw Dan Parry sy'n byw yng Nghymru.

Ac rwy'n hoffi bod fy ffrind o Caerfyrniau, Sion, yn dweud wrthi am lle rwyf wedi tyfu i fyny, fel ar gyfer yr olaf, y cyfan o fy nith. Ond, mewn gwirionedd, fe wnaethon ni fynd gyda'r plant cyn Xesnes ac roedd yn wych. Felly byddwn i so I'd have tiramisu from there or I'd have my mum's trifle I'm obsessed with it it's like yeah I just love it fantastic and how about you your last supper it's funny because I do love roast dinners so I'd always have a roast dinner but I do and it's quite not um I like black bread, but only the Jewish black bread that you can get in Manchester. You can't get it here. It just doesn't work.

So it's like a rye sourdough bread. And I like really good cheddar cheese, you know, the bits with crunchy bits in. And tomatoes that you buy in Blackpool. Because it's odd. I used to go to the Ill illuminations as a child every year we'd be schlepped along and my head would be out the sunroof looking at the illuminations i don't think it's as magical now and then when you drove back before there was a motorway used to buy fresh tomatoes on the way and the tomatoes were always delicious and hard and sweet

so a lovely cheese and tomato sandwich with black pepper on. And I really like that. I can taste that. I can taste that. So beautifully described. Well, I think Alex's lemon ice cream. Yeah, it's good. Yeah, it's so nice.

Well, I think it's appropriate we finish on Dr. Alex, actually. Yeah, because he's been a feature of the occasion as well. I can't believe it's gone so quickly you've been absolutely delightful to talk to and so generous with your memories and yourselves and your stories thank you to alice as well for being there and letting us talk about you too and to alex um thank you all so much for coming along this evening thank you to waterstones and to everybody but thank you, Lenny and Jessie. Thank you.