Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S16 Ep 2: Zoe Ball

Episode Date: October 25, 2023

Mamma Mia! Fresh from our fabulous month in Corfu filming 'Mamma Mia: I Have a Dream’, the one and only Zoe Ball joins us this week for a Greek Mezze inspired brunch. Zoe came straight from her early morning BBC Radio 2 show over to New Cross, laden with all sorts of delicious food. She confessed to us that she is a self proclaimed ‘terrible cook’, told us all about her star studded nights out in the 90s (pole dancing with Sheryl Crow being a favourite memory), the struggles of growing her own sprouts, how she wishes humans hibernated in the winter, and how she won ‘pig of the year’ at school for eating 19 spam fritters in one sitting! Zoe, you’re a true DELIGHT and we can’t wait to have you over again soon. 'Mamma Mia: I Have a Dream’ is on every Sunday on ITV1 and ITVX. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm sitting directly in the sun. Darling, that's where you light the light on your beautiful face. I don't know about that. But anyway, we have a wonderful guest coming today. So excited. We're in New Crossgate. Yeah, she's schlepping. She's schlepping. We've been cooking. And we're doing a Greek meze today. Because in keeping with the new television show that Zoe Ball and I are on,

Mamma Mia, I Have a Dream, we thought why not bring it back to our beautiful Greek romance back in May. If you haven't seen Mamma Mia, I Have a Dream, it's a show which is trying to find the new Sophie and Skye for the West End show Mamma Mia. And we both were very excited. We're on the same flight out there and we were kind of a bit like what is this month gonna hold for us and we just really loved it it was amazing it's on your screens now I of course ordered for the table obviously and she seemed to appreciate that was it as fun as it

looks yeah oh my god we just had such a giggle I felt like I was kind of on a summer camp like club where you yeah I felt quite young and like you're meeting all these new people making friends having a hoot and also the sun's out and you having a gyros every other day and no responsibility that too yeah it was amazing but zoe was there i loved working with her she was so positive with the contestants so warm really looked after them always looked fabulous and um i got to hear a few kind of 90s zoe ball stories which i I hope that she offers up on the table today. She's, you know, Zoe Ball's pretty rock and roll. Like, she's been on our screens forever. I was in the audience for Live and Kicking,

and now she's in our ears and on our screens. But she's been working... How long has she been... I mean, what, she's been in telly for three decades. And she's still working. How long has she been? I mean, what? She's been in Tieteli for three decades. And she's still sunny and positive. Yeah, and she's killing it. And she's amazing. And I'm looking forward to having her for brunch.

You know, she actually suggested we had some kind of Greek food. It's almost like dinner time for her. I know. She's been up since three in the morning, I'd have thought. We've divvied it up. I've done, I'd like to say I've done the majority today. You have, darling. So I'm just going to let everyone know I do sometimes do the cooking.

I have advised. Yes, you have. I've been integral. Yes, you have. You've exacted this. So on the menu today is a bit of a mezzé. So you've done spanakopita, little triangle. Labour of love, darling. Yeah yeah don't let anyone forget ever

forget how long it takes to to make those little triangles okay so you've done that yeah i've made a baked feta and tomato dip that was that easy now this let's shout out this chef because he was really excited i love him john gregory smith yeah and he does lots of kind of sexy dips and salads um loves middle eastern food turkish and greek stuff um this is a baked feta tomato dip because i felt like obviously you need to do feta but i can i didn't want to do the feta in filo with honey and sesame because you were doing your spanakopita so i've done a mellet what do you call it um it's not mellet zani because that's italian it's like you've done an aubergine i've done an aubergine dip which actually a shout out to georgina hayden from her book

taverna um so it's a greek sip she's greek cypriot she's an amazing amazing cook so i got a dip out of her book i'm making a salad also John Gregory Smith salad peach radicchio rocket cherry tomatoes with a date molasses uh vinaigrette which actually I didn't have date molasses so I used pomegranate it'll be slightly sharper but so that's a salad and then for it's not really a pud but when we were on holiday I went to a taverna um which I love um just do greek yogurt like smeared on a plate and then I've made a carrot jam which they wouldn't tell me the recipe when I was like this is amazing it was so simple they just give it to you at the end of the the thing and I said what is it and they went oh it's just carrots and you know jam

and I was like okay so I got out of them that there was a bit of vanilla in it and cinnamon. We've kind of zhuzhed it up a bit with a bit of bay leaf, lemon, I didn't have orange. Anyway, carrot jam with yogurt. It's going to be a bit Marmite. Some people are going to be, what is this? But darling, do you know what I read

when I was looking for recipes for carrot jam? That they used to use it, carrots in the war to make jam because they couldn't access fruit. So it was an easy... They could get hold of carrots and grow them. They used to make jam out of it. Fascinating.

Yeah. Thanks for that. And, yeah, Zoe Ball's coming up just come from your breakfast show with so many gifts for us. You've just stopped at a deli and got us flowers. We've got cannolis, we've got feta, which I've now used in the recipe. You're just the best and

you've come in still happy what time did you wake up this morning i was gonna ask the same question first you can't come empty-handed and i'm hoping that my my my produce that i bring it will make up for the fact that i am a terrible cook and i know nothing about food um so i'm in the perfect place okay so this is making up for your terrible answers I know you'll be appalled and shocked but what time did I get up today about 5 never sleep though

never sleep the night before I've already had a lovely chat with your mum about pooing people who do shift work will know your whole system is not... Do you know what, Zoe? I think this is an ongoing...

We talked about pooing in Greece. We talked about pooing because when we were in Greece, I would get up, have a coffee, chat to Alan over the garden wall, have a lovely poo, go to work. It's a whole different thing. Did you ask Alan if he'd been? I didn't ask Alan about pooing

in fact Alan looked horrified at one point where we were all putting on our nude coloured fat pants in the room with him and he was like enough already and there was a conversation about sex toys at one point as well what's he in there for that? I don't know it was something about ordering sex toys online

and too many turning up or none turning up oh my god I did not see this I think he was like at that point Can I have my own dressing room please This is turning into a porno podcast And mum likes it Are they crisp No they're still not crispy

I'm a bit worried for you mum How high is the oven Your oven's so shit How high is the oven darling The oven is so shit. How high is the oven, darling? The oven is high enough, Mum. Do you want it, like, blazing? No, it should be... 200.

Then I'd just turn it off now and just leave them... That's going to make it steam up, no? I don't know, darling. Let's blast it for two more minutes. OK. Zoe doesn't cook, she's not going to care. Yeah, I wouldn't even know if it wasn't I serve my kids raw food

all the time but they are cooked but I don't understand it'll be great it'll be amazing so Zoe back to you it's very interesting you're always the one

asking me questions I know it is not a natural state for me to be in I don't normally go on podcasts because I always want to ask questions but I have to say

Jessie you do that as well Jessie's really good that she'll come on my show and then ask us all questions you're like jesse i'm here to talk about you well i'm here just talk about i want to know if you you always so my niece rang me this morning and said oh it's so it ball on the podcast she listens she listens you and joe wicks are the only two that have announced it before but yeah i can have them edit that no it's gone out is it gone out it was live sorry and she said please tell her she brightens up every single morning of my life i love your niece yeah i love her is it ever hard though when you're maybe feeling maybe not like you need to cheer up a nation if you're

feeling like how do you get into the zone to be honest i love my job i've always loved it i love being a buffoon and uh dancing around as it and also my team they are such a laugh i mean they're all half my age their parents are all younger than me but you go in and the first thing you do it's really bad bbc coffee which is just unforgivable frankly um but that's what we have to do until six o'clock when the local coffee shops open um so we all have a coffee what's everyone done over the weekend and they are just such a laugh and we all know each other so well you know it's like any family that there are you know there's scandals and gossip and da da da da and then we're like oh come on let's talk to the nation and also I'm always gobsmacked how many people are up at that time of day so many people

are up so really you're paid to play some tunes and chat a bit of nonsense and it is so much fun and it's not as my dad always points out not a proper job um so I kind of love it and you know my bowels might not work and i might be a bit grumpy about four o'clock i need a nap but it's it's just a joy and i love it jesse take them out darling take them out are they gonna be are you gonna be disappointed they're better they're better okay darling i don't know what they are i'm a fan of copy this little triangle good good good yeah i hope so so my i've i was lucky letting that i terrible cook never been able to cook awful and i always had amazing flatmates who cooked so my friend david or my friend vicky and they i'd come in and be a bit pathetic with a ready meal and be like oh and they'd go let me cook you

something and uh david will always make me spend a copy time he's the best really i hope it's quite tricky to yeah it was tricky last night i was listening to the rugby i don't know i don't i'm not it was just on radio five i like football yeah do you like rugby do you know what i never used to like it and then uh i was friends with someone who did so i used to watch it quite a lot don't really understand the rules they change the great thing is you don't need to know but you can you can watch it and they're big and burly and they're enthusiastic and they're pretty darn good at it so you get up at five so do you go to bed very early no i'm useless at that so what time do you go to bed

well ideally i'd probably go about nine but i don't because there's always something to watch something to catch up on you know but it's kind of hard to go to bed before your kids so do you have a sleep in the day so i occasionally have a nana nap i do like a nana nap oh god it's just the way forward isn't it it's so lovely when no one bothers you and yeah um but i don't do it very often so i'm always slightly grumpy and a bit twitchy but then in the evening i like to sleep at the one show or you know listen to i like to listen to joe wiley because she plays brilliant music and then if i'm still listening during trevor nelson's show then i'm in trouble because then it's really then it's well late do you have

to catch up at the weekend yeah and when you're on holiday a saturday morning nice lion who what's your version of a lion now you're like nine o'clock no do you know i'm like a bear we're like bears us lot woody's the same we are if we If we... Once we're out, that's it. We're done. We're gone. Menopause played a bit of havoc with the sleep for a while. Would you sleep right through the night? Oh, God, yeah.

I could sleep like... Oh, you're so lucky. I would hibernate, Lenny. I don't understand why we don't. Gather nuts and berries, find a cave, go underground after Christmas, New Year, come back out in March. Oh, my God. look at this piece. It's slightly dark. I knew she was going to say it.

Why did you do that? It's going to be fine. Why did you do it, darling? I know it's going to taste fine, and Zoe doesn't mind. I don't mind. I'm too impatient. It's too dark. You overdid it.

Why do you do that? But that's what happens to regular people like us. No. That one side is cooked better than the other. Don't say fuck off under your mat there. I saw that. Shut up. Do you know what?

I love this, though, because I have a 13-year-old daughter going on 18. That's great. And there's a lot of eye-rolling in our relationship. And she's very... Was Jessie always very spirited and sassy? No, she's always been good fun. Yeah. She was easy.

Right. All right, so this is too hot, but just help yourself. And I'll get some actual things that you can help yourself with. This looks amazing. Have an overdone spanicopter. Oh, you just had to get that little shady dig in there, didn't you? But I'm all for it. Can I just go straight in on the spanicopter my oh this is dry you're dead does your daughter swear at you oh yeah all right okay

they're not dry so we're not trying to do They're delicious. Fine, Mum. Absolutely delicious. Well, you wanted the crisp, and we got the crisp. Mmm. Crispy, juicy, delicious, moist in the middle. Good. Perfect size. I could fit all of that in my mouth, actually, if I was a big boy. Okay, we all have a long one then. So delicious.

This is heaven for me. Can I just say you do? Honestly, you have been so amazing. You've talked about us for so many years about this podcast. This has been a long time in the making. Slightly obsessed. But Lenny, it was great to meet you on Mamma Mia. It was great to meet you, darling.

In Corfu. I was so excited. Corfu, what an amazing place. Oh, we loved it. You got a car out. Fiat 500. Yeah, Fiat 500. Got my Shirley Valentine on.

And you had a lovely time, didn't you? I did. I took myself off on little drives. Yeah. Found little beaches. Amazing. Yeah, it was quite a good, it was quite a nice, sort of like a healing, healing qualities, that island.

I agree. I think it was, I really, I really adored it. And I think we just had such a hoot and i think i'm sure i'm sure the producers won't mind us saying we didn't necessarily know what we were going into we have no idea and we were all at the airport we were a bit like looking like we're going on our holly bobs but knowing we have to do a bit of work but it didn't feel that hard work did it no it didn't and alan turned up with his hat on and he'd had some wine that he'd had a reaction to on the plane. Three bottles.

He was the colour of his shirt. It was so... He was so funny. Isn't he the best? You are friends for the life, aren't you, Lenny? I could see you guys chatting. I love him.

He's just a naturally hilarious, adorable man. He is. And he's so naughty. He is. And was a so naughty. He is. And was a hilarious neighbour. I felt bad, actually, because I was like,

he probably doesn't want to be my neighbour. Do you want another? Can I, then? Yeah. How was after anything? They are good. How do you make a spanakopita? I can't even remember what I put in,

but spinach. There's some feta, onions, spinach, dill, mint, parsley, spring onion. It's frozen spinach though, isn't it? Yeah. Which works better. See, frozen veg is actually such a good thing at the moment. Money taping doesn't go off. I know that people are going to judge me.

I've got diced onions in there. Jessie, that takes so little time. But it helps. But it does help. And also, someone like me. Yeah, what's your eating? Oh, gosh. Well, thank you so much, Jenny.

I'm going in for a salad. Is this kind of like a lunch for you now? I love food. Always have done. I just can't prepare it. Okay. That's the only thing I don't know

where I was when everyone else was learning to cook you were on the telly and I was working or I was mucking about and also

I grew up in the 70s which as we know was a time of you know panda pops and I remember my dad burning potato croquettes

in the 70s that lovely smell of burnt potato croquettes gorgeous and it was the time of cheese cheese and pineapple on sticks in Upside Down, you know, and fondues. That was a thing. There were fondue sets. Everyone got one for a wedding present.

So it wasn't, I guess, the most exciting culinary time. Flat toast, like, heavy. Growing up in Heston. Is that where you grew up? I grew up in Heston, yeah. Isn't the service station? That was the place people used to take you out to the service station when you were

lucky. Oh, God. Hang out in the cars. Let's take it back to the 70s. You're around the dinner table. Who's around the dinner table? Who's cooking? What are you eating? Well, my step-mom would cook. she was pretty brilliant which i pretty tasty sometimes around the dinner table it would be my nan my granddad my uncle paul uh my two little brothers who i grew up with i've got another brother and he grew up with my mum um because i'd sort of separate modern modern family

and so yeah so there'd be a lot of people. One of my favourite things was my gran, my great-gran, who was born when Queen Victoria was on the throne. And she had a shop and they had a horse and cart and her and her fella would go to the pub after closing. They would get drunk and then they would fall asleep on the cart, of the horse and cart and in the morning

the horse would just take them I mean it's like Steptoe and Son. The horse would take them back to their shop in the morning and they'd wake up and go back into it.

Oh my god. I mean it's another time isn't it? Who needs like you know robot cars when you've got a horse and cart that can get you to the right place?

A horse and cart just takes you home. That's brilliant. It's such a great story. What was in their shop? I think they had like food supplies. I've absolutely no idea to be honest. It's terrible isn't it? What was in their shop? I think they had like food supplies. I've absolutely no idea to be honest.

It's terrible, isn't it? But my gran, she was my great gran, she would sit next to me and she would do that thing of she would always pass the food she couldn't eat to me and I would finish it. And at school, I loved school dinners and it was the age of spam fritters. Oh, Jesus.

I know. Proper deep fried. And everyone used to pass their spam fritters down know proper deep fried and everyone used to pass their spam fritters down the table because no one ate them they were disgusting

except me and I was I got the title pig of the year and I ate 19 in one sitting once I mean it's disgusting really isn't it

were you this tall though skinny as a rake yeah so I would eat everyone else's food yeah oh my god that's brilliant it's the only thing

I ever won pig of the year things haven't really changed So I would eat everyone else's food. Oh my God, that's brilliant. It's the only thing I ever won. Pig of the year. Things haven't really changed. So did your dad ever cook? So it was your step-mom cooking. What was a memorable dish of hers? She would do desserts.

It's always the desserts I remember. Pavlova's, like really good. Kate crumbles. She did do main courses, but it's always been about the dessert for me. Pavlova's, like, really good. Kate crumbles. She did do main courses, but it's always been about the dessert for me. Have you got a sweet tooth? Massive sweet tooth, yeah. Really? Really love a dessert. But, yeah, I didn't really learn.

I was saying to Lenny that I had housemates who would cook for me because I just couldn't. I can barely boil an egg. Eat anything except razor clams. And that was after Norm, back in the day, one day went, I'm going to make you razor clams. Norm was not a cook then. He is cooked by name, not necessarily by nature. Now he's brilliant.

And he kind of met Jamie Oliver via my show when I was on Radio 1, Breakfast. And I remember having Woody and coming home and all the parents were coming to meet my boy and Norm was like God what am I going to make and he called up Jamie Oliver and he went do the fish pie and so it was the first time Norm really cooked anything Lenny have you spilled

it's every time shit it wouldn't be the podcast if she didn't get a bit down her chest save it for later it's a good bit so he made the fish pie Every time. Shit. It wouldn't be the podcast if she didn't get a bit down her chest. I would save it for later. It's a good bit. So he made a fish pie? So he made a fish pie and then it became, you know, the sort of food that we always cooked.

And he was really good at it. And I think that was the sort of first time he cooked. But he one day decided to make me razor clams. Romantically. The fact that they go up and down out of the sand. Oh my God, I didn't know that. Sorry, should I not say that? No, tell me more. romantically the fact that they go up and down out of the sand it oh my god sorry no tell me more

they sort of go you know you can stand on them they really hurt your feet are they the long ones they're the long ones I'm sure they're delicious they've cooked right

but I was looking at them thinking this is not going to go well for me and I said Norm do you mind if I don't eat the raised clams if I eat the rest of it and he looked so crestfallen

that I ate them I was so ill so it's the only thing so are you allergic to them or did norman do a really bad job at them i'm not sure they cooked right because you live apart from that he's very good because you live by the sea and so i guess there's a fish shop right next to where norman lives yeah so it's handy you get your fresh fish every day maybe it wasn't that fresh or maybe norman just needs to stick to the fish pie maybe the fish pie

yeah because when we said anything you eat and it was just anything apart from razor clams I was like don't worry you're not getting razor clams you're not getting razor clams I wouldn't have to

come in the morning to be honest they'll burrow down into the sand I guess that's quite similar to lots of shellfish though right shellfish should live on the bottom

of the sea a lot of them I have no idea darling about the life of a mussel being a Jew we're not supposed to eat shellfish are we because they call them scavengers of the sea

and they don't have scales we're not supposed to eat anything without scales because they're scavengers the rest of them are scavengers it's a bit harsh isn't it well they're not eating like plants they're eating anything aren't they? Well, they're not eating like plants. They're eating anything, aren't they? Right.

I still think they're delicious. They are. We bought my daughter tropical fish for her birthday. She said, I want fish. We went to Pets for Homes. We said, can we get some goldfish? And they said, actually, freshwater fish are much harder to look after than tropical fish. I said, say no more.

I want tropical fish. I've never had that. Easy way. Right, go and get that tank and it's got this they get the water thing you do the thing you do it you get it acclimatized don't come until thursday because the fish are coming from korea or something and they need a day to acclimatize we're like we're in there's some sea snails my daughter loves snails we're like amazing anyway they go on Friday within an hour all the fish were dead

a whole birthday present all the way from Korea oh no they just left it all the way here and they came to New Crossgate and then they fucking did it

they were like I'm not living here no I don't know what happened we did everything by the book Sam said maybe I wasn't gentle enough

putting them into the water. Yeah. Because they get shot. They didn't want to live in New Cross. No, exactly. I was like, take us back to Korea. Slobs. It's lovely.

Well, they didn't know that New Cross is a totally different place. They won't get to know now, but it's very sad. I lived here with John Thompson. You remember Cold Feet? Yeah. We lived on Florence Road around here back in the day. Did you? I came around and I was like, God, it's got lovely around here.

God, I bet you and John Thompson had a lot of fun. We did have some very silly times. road around here back in the day did you i came around i was like god it's got lovely god i bet you and john thompson had a lot of fun we we did have some very silly times and was james nesbitt ever involved in that i did get to meet james nesbitt yes how did you end up living with john thompson so john ended up living with me in manchester i went up to manchester when i was about 18 19 to work in telly. Went to poly in London. Messed up my exams. Hopeless. Left convent school, got into boys.

The rest, you know. Yeah. You know, Lenny. You know how it is. Also, convent school girls. I mean, so repressed. And then you go mad. It's, yeah.

So anyway, so I went to some poly in London andon and was like this isn't for me um so i thought i'd better start working so i started working as a runner went up to manchester worked on um all sorts of kids shows and um during my time up there i sort of became friends with coogan we used to go and watch steve we used to go and watch um john and steve and jeff green and that lot they used to rehearse and the wonderful caroline hurley used to go and watch John and Steve and Jeff Green and that lot. They used to rehearse. And the wonderful Caroline Hurley used to rehearse their stuff in this little pub on a Sunday night. And you'd just go watch them.

And I mean, God, I mean, Caroline, I think, one of the most naturally gifted, funny women that I've ever seen in my life. You know, she was phenomenal. And she'd just get in, and sometimes she hadn't even prepared anything. And she'd just start talking about her mum or a shopping list or something, and you'd just tears down your face. So John ended up moving in. And, yeah, they were funny, funny times.

So you just surrounded yourself by funny people who just laughed your way through your early 20s? They make you funnier. I'm not a funny person. And if you hang out with funny people, you have a funny time. No shit. Did any of them cook for you? John? My distinct memory of John is

him making strawberry daiquiris in a very small kitchen and not putting the lid on. Oh. And imploding strawberry daiquiri all over the kitchen. I don't remember a lot of food. Oh, I do remember that i'd run out of cash and was prizing some ikea meatballs off the back of the freezer because that's all

there was in the house to eat with a tin of tin of baked beans and someone had won some champagne so we had like these really dried out frozen meatballs. Yeah, so again, not great cooking. So was Live and Kicking your first telly gig? I did all sorts of other things. I did a lot of kids' TVs, to read the birthday cards in the morning on Children's BBC. And the broom cupboard. Yeah, I got to do the broom cupboard with Chris.

It was the Anna Rae. How do you remember that? Because I used to watch the broom cupboard. What was that on, Charlie? Was that Gordon and Gopher? Gordon and Gopher. I was after Gordon. I think to watch the Broom Club. What was that on, darling? Was that Gordon and Gopher? Gordon and Gopher. I was after Gordon. I think I was after Ed the Duck.

Ed the Duck, yeah. All these great people who went before me. So it was such a great place to learn, though. Paul Smith, who ran it, was an absolute superstar. And he took a bit of a chance on you because you'd turn up and you'd never done anything before. I'd work done anything before. I'd work behind the scenes.

And, you know, the great days where the BBC would take you on and train you up and teach you about live telly and it was so fun. And I loved it. And a lot of those people who came through there, you know, they're all still going strong, actually, a lot of the people who came from kids' TV. Did your dad ever say, don't do this what

are you doing go and get a proper job well or did he say go on yeah go and go for it yeah really he did say what did your dad do and he was he in entertainment yeah so he was in entertainment and he did he did do you remember play away and play school those you know play school play school he did play school and then he went on and he was really interested in maths and science And he went on and did that He was in the RAF and did accounting In the RAF And had a super crazy brain

So maths and science and stuff So he kind of went on to teach that But I watched him I found it quite mortifying watching him on telly Because it was so embarrassing But actually years later I'm so proud of him he's he's he's amazing he's 85 still going strong he's an absolute wild wild one he's so much fun does does um what about woody and nell do they cringe or are they really proud i mean she came on set

when she'd done her hair and i wanted to give her a big cuddle and she seemed like she was really into the she loved that she fell in love with all the guys on mamma mia fabulous you know wanting to be sky and a couple of the dancers she loves bit of drama um all her cousins do as well there's a there's a sort of street that runs through quite a few of them they're all into acting and you know we don't know where that comes. Do you think that's what she's going to do? I don't know. I don't think she knows yet, Lenny. She's 13. I mean, when did your girls know what they wanted to do?

She's leggy, isn't she? She's nearly taller than me. God. I thought I wanted to be a family lawyer. Wow. Did you do law? I was about to and then I was backing singer for my mate and then the rest is history. Your mate being Jack?

Jack Pignate, yeah. Yeah, I know. I love that yeah I know I love that I know love that story does Nell cringe when she sees you on does she listen to you in the morning she likes Greg James uh let's just put it that way it's fine she'll tune in a bit and then she'll be and whenever you mention Greg James name she goes I love Greg oh stab in the heart do you know what know what? She is very supportive. She often is like, who's on? Nah, not interested. But she's great. You're a fabulous guest.

Day in the life of Zoe, you're not coming with like your pre-prepped salad or boiled eggs. No. So what are you having? As soon as those shops are open, what is the order, Zoe? Well, I've been training with JTPT, introduced by Scott Mills. Who's JTPT? JTPT, Jonathan. He is in the gym around the corner.

Love that. I'd sort of be like, oh, sluggish, menopause, putting a bit of weight, blah, blah, blah. And Scott, who is basically mine and Joe Wiley's fixer, he's like, you need a tan? Call Scott Mills. Need your nails done? Call Scott Mills. I love that. He's so brilliant.

Need your eyebrows threaded? Call Scott Mills. So he's set me up with JT who has changed my life he's brilliant I mean I know I'm not

you know is this the first no but is this the first time you've done personal training before I've done it before I do something for a while but JTPT is the one he's so good

and it was all about he knew loads about menopause and it's all about strength training and he was like you need to fuel yourself i tried intermittent fasting it doesn't work for me i have like sugar slumps i'm like yeah and then i reach for all the bad stuff so but the thing he's kind of taught me protein in the morning so i have a

protein yogurt sometimes i have a protein bar they're a bit disgusting food's better a couple of eggs i don't know yeah and then train yeah only three a week. It's often one because I'm, oh, I'm really busy. I've got other things to do. Right. But I managed to lose a stone and eat food. And he's always like, what are you going to eat today? And he said, are you a chef or a preparer of food? I'm like, I wouldn't even call it a preparer of food.

I open the packet, empty it in a bowl. So he'll do things like get some feta, chop it up. Yeah. Put in some prawns, have it with some rice yeah add a bit of beetroot and i'm like this is really tasty i think it's keeping it simple yeah for someone like me so um but i so i try to eat three meals um so what do you what's your first thing you eat you don't have a bacon protein no but we do have days well it's so tempting some days you just smell it sometimes a greg's is all you need yeah yeah you know i love a bit of pastry yeah i love a bit of so i try to be healthy some days but the rest of the

time and also i could eat i mean it's my favorite pastime let's talk about mama mia a bit it's on telly now what kind of are your food memories from Mamma Mia when we were there for a month? My first meal we went out, we went missing. We were sent for a meal. We got to the set and they weren't quite ready for us, were they? It was our first day. We were like shooting in an empty fence. It was raining.

It was pissing down. It was raining. None of us really knew what we were doing. And they sent us for lunch. The drivers all got lost. We couldn't find the restaurant which was about two minutes from it and then we drove halfway around the island

went to a hotel ended up somewhere and we're like no we're going to stay and we're going to eat and Jessie it was amazing because I was sat next to Judy Kramer who has the best stories about Cher

and Meryl and Colin Firth and everyone and Benny and Bjorn and then you ordered for us all I was like this is what it means to go away, not holiday we kept calling it the holiday

on working with Jessie because Jessie orders for everyone so you'll never take a minute she orders for everyone as well don't share with Jessie no but you were sharing and I love love she did share and also she always

it's not her strong point at the table she always would be like you haven't got any of this here you need this and she'd explain each dish selfless mum it was the greatest thing

and that was my favourite thing oh I love that on that trip it's like Jessie's in charge she'll just order for us all and we it ate so well out there

I thought you said I ate so much because i was ordering just like and you need some more of this that was absolutely brilliant and it was it broke the ice a bit it was really funny getting lost and us all being like in the talent cars everyone was separate it was like we were like in the rolling stones or something we were completely lost in corfu and then we just found a taverna and it was perfect there for hours yeah right we did eventually do some work and i hadn't realised Corfu had such an Italian influence because they do that soffritto for food and that's an Italian thing soffritto.

Yeah someone was telling me that Corfu town was built by Italians. Italians yeah. I would happily come go back to Cor Corfu I thought it was beautiful loved all the little coves and everywhere you went to eat they couldn't bring enough for you they'd always bring extra dessert little drinks and all sort of for a chat

absolutely beautiful and some fun boat trips and watching Alan have a couple of glasses of rosé with Maz Murray was very fun. Oh see I missed that. Yes. Where's Maz Murray?

Maz Murray plays Donna. Donna on the stage. So she will be the mum of whoever gets the role of Sophie and she's phenomenal. She's like Western royalty.

So did she come to Corfu? Yeah she did a masterclass. Oh wow. And she was incredibly kind and fabulous. And hilarious and very glamorous.

Right, let's go on to your last supper. Oh, my last supper. I've thought about this a lot. Have you? Okay, you've got starter, main, pud, drink of choice. Okay, so last supper you've thought about this have you okay okay you've got starter main okay pud drink of choice okay so last supper starter if none of these go together and you might be like what but it's my last okay ceviche i love it it's one of my favorite things and i can make that because it's fish lime juice i've never tried to make that one but it's okay it's really it's really easy isn't it? Your lovely fish.

Because it's such a Mexican thing. And I think I had it in Mexico when I went travelling there. Good fish, though, you have to get. You have to have really good fish. You've got a fishmonger near you. Right next door. So, handy. What fish would you use in your ceviche?

I'm thinking, I'm looking at Lenny. Cod? Cod? Seabass. I don't know. I can't remember what I use. I think people do seabass. It's generally whitefish, isn't it?

It's whitefish. Whitefish. So are you doing your, are you cooking your own, this is very bold of you. I don't cook, darling. You're cooking your own last supper. I could cook my own last supper.

Unless, you know, I'm sort of slightly trapped somewhere. I don't know. It depends if I've had a comedy death or not. You don't have to cook it though. You don't have to cook it. But I love that you've gone straight in. The person that never cooks

is about to do a ceviche for her last supper. I'm going to do a ceviche. It's actually quite, I think it's difficult to go wrong with ceviche. Okay. Look at Lenny. Fine. And if the fish is raw,

it doesn't matter because I'm going anyway. So I can take myself down my own cooking. What's your drink? My drink would be a margarita. It goes hand in hand. Margarita, yeah. So you've got that kind of. Okay.

I'm slightly ruining it by going completely in a different direction from the main, which would be steak with greens, like lovely cabbage and fried tomatoes. It's my favourite. It's my... When I'm a bit weary, that is my go-to. I can make it. I can... I've worked out how to...

Like a bit of butter on the steak. I love cabbage. I think it's the best vegetable in the whole universe. Any particular cabbage or? I like a sweetheart cabbage. Oh, lovely. And it's quite sweet and I like lots of pepper on it. Yes, loads of pepper on it.

Yes, and butter. Right. Delicious. Is it still blowing my mind, Zobel? You literally said that you can't cook, but you were cooking your last sandwich. You're blowing my mind, Zobel. You literally said that you can't cook, but you were cooking your last supper. And now we've got steak and cabbage.

And also, someone taught me, if you cut the cabbage up and you put it in a pan with a bit of water and butter in it, and so it steams itself in the butter. I tried doing that, and then it's quite, mmm. Is that nice?

Yeah, but you have to only do it a little bit. Have you ever roasted a cabbage? These are literally the only three things I can do. You didn't have to cook your last supper. She's such a bit sad it's tragic cooking her last supper that's it

it's the end that is sad darling I could be alone well this could be you come into the world alone you leave alone are you having a glass of something with that

no I'll probably just have another margarita it'll only take a couple tequila's really a big thing now I've noticed it even the bus shelters have got tequila

what people drinking it are you getting tequila seriously are you getting the bus shelters have got tequila adverts what people drinking it tequila adverts seriously are you getting the bus keeping it real like Andrew Ridgely

I thought you were saying does he take the bus yeah he got the bus wasn't he amazing he was really I loved that show those stories man

yeah what a life he's such a gentleman but you were a WAM fan weren't you I was a WAM fan I was a WAM fan and I was a Wham fan. And I once, I was a very uncool kid.

I used to wear tracksuits. Never met him. But I used to, this is such a weird story. I used to wear a lot of tracksuits, velour. I don't know why. It was, you know, it took me a while to find myself, Lenny. No, there was that make. Juicy Couture.

Yeah. Juicy Couture. This was before that. And I had gone out the front of my house to pick grass for the guinea pig. Weird. With a miniature wheelbarrow. Okay. Because the guinea pig had eaten the grass and the patch.

Okay. And who should come down one pin lane opposite me? George Michael in a convertible sports car. I was probably about 14. And I just stood there with my little green wheelbarrow in a track suit like i love you and then he drove off down the road and that's the only time i ever saw george michael picking grass for my did he stop and look at you picking grass i think he probably called social services this looks like a dodgy situation um but i know it's what an amazing man. So what's your pud? Sweet tooth ball.

Sweet tooth. Could I have a trolley? Yes. Can I have a dessert trolley? Yes. Are you making this one too, Zoe? I possibly won't make the desserts because I can't. I'm terrible.

I'd want a sticky toffee pudding, please. A cheesecake, baked cheesecake. Oh, I love a New York cheesecake. Oh, I love a New York cheesecake. I made one once. You did? And I could not believe how much sugar I know cream I know you pour it in no wonder it tastes so good but my biscuity base was very soggy where would you go out for a steak um because you're always in so well yeah because you kind of want if you're going to go out for a steak you want them to not

it's nothing more disappointing than you are like I'm going're going to go out for a steak you want them to not it's nothing more disappointing than you I'm like I'm going to treat myself again I'm a steak and then it's really thin and it's overcooked and you're like oh god I could have done one at home

steak what's that one iron flat iron flat iron good I actually have never been there what's the other one

the other one Walsmore I like the one in the Sanderson Hotel which one's that what's it called Bernie Bernie's Bernie's Bernie's it called? Right. That's quite 90s. Burners, Burners.

Oh, God. Burners, it's the addition. Oh, the addition. Right, so, and that's... Chateau Briand. Oh, they have fabulous steak there. Really? I might try that.

It's round the corner from work. Yeah, you should definitely go there. I love that Lenny's hanging out in Sanderson. And they serve it. They serve it. Did you hang out? What's the point? They used to hang out in there.

And the rooms were all wonky. Actually, I will get a little bit of poudre out now it's not really I think it should open the cannolis I'm going to open

the cannolis I know don't worry but I basically we got and this I don't know if it's going to work

so there's no pressure at a taverna that I was at in the summer at the end of the meal they just kind of shoved it on your table. And it was just Greek yogurt with carrot jam. So I tried to make it.

Okay. So we'll see. How do you make carrot jam? With lots of sugar. Great. Okay. Carrot and sugar. So is it hard to, when you have to get up so early early is it hard to look after your children i mean

and i have well woody's you've got something living his life now yeah but i have we have super nanny yeah adele because norm their dad tours quite a lot yeah and um i can't do school run in the morning yeah and to be honest with you i'm more like a child in the evening than nell is yeah so sometimes she'll put me to bed um but dell basically is amazing i've got a really brilliant teamwork um well now she's at a point where she's cleverer than all of us boarding school no no she's she's down the road but i mean she her sort of both woody and her their homework standard i mean they passed me at you know eight or nine i wasn't able to help with i can i can help if it sort of involves a show tune or you know but anything yeah mathematical sciences i'm hopeless grammatical you know doesn't matter darling they're so clever but

you don't she she just gets on with it she's pretty cool yeah she's pretty cool with it and i think it's that thing that she's been used to both of us working and you just kind of make the rest of the time i mean to be honest with you she's getting to a point where she wants to hang out with her mates a lot but i love it that she you know there was a massive spider in her bedroom the other day which we couldn't find and she ended up sleeping in my bed and she's taller than me and you know when the kids sleep next to you and they just look like angels and she i up sleeping in my bed and she's taller than me and you know when the kids sleep next to you and they just look like angels and she I almost got a photo of her and she woke up and screamed don't take that photo mother um but I just remember being in the hospital with

her when she was born the first night and you're left on your own with them and everyone goes and you're just and there was that little perfect little face and she refused to boob feed right from the beginning and i knew then i was like oh my god she knows what she wants you are stubborn you've literally just popped out but she is such a beauty and she's really smart and we kind of joke norma and i'm like, our kids are really clever despite us. I know. What do we put them through? Woody DJs, like his dad. Oh, wow. So listen, just try it. This is how they did it in Greece.

Okay. And you just have a little bit like that, and that's it. So you just take a bit of the carrot jam, which is such a beautiful, it's like a really dark-looking marmalade. I think that's nice. Is it like the one you tasted? Yeah. That looks delicious.

I think it may be even better. Oh, my God. It's quite. I think it may be even better. Oh, my God. It's quite nice, right? That is so sweet. I know. It's got a lot of sugar. That is divine. It's nice, right?

Mmm. See, this is the great thing when you travel. You get these ideas, don't you, of all these fabulous... Mate, there's rose water as well. Yeah, you could add a bit of that. Oh, no, that reminds me. I tried to make chicken that was rose-flavoured. And it was basically rose chicken.

It was disgusting. That sounds pretty disgusting. That's what my usual cooking experience is like. So, Zoe, I know... I just need to know about some food experiences you had in the 90s. Oh, wow.

Or even the early 90s, like with Norm, you must have travelled the world together. Yeah. Our first, I mean, we're great mates and it's nice that we can kind of,

It's amazing. he, we, our first date, we had crab. Like a crab, like cooked in some slippy sauce.

Was that in Ibiza? No, that was over here somewhere and I always say to people, do not eat crab on your first date. It's ridiculous. Bits flying off all over the place. Like a pretty woman's slippery sucker. I mean, Norm didn't

eat a lot, to be honest with you. His food was a white Russian, to be honest with you. So, but we did, you know, when you're touring or you're musicians and you know what it's like, you get taken to the greatest places in the world and the finest restaurants and that was so wild and

sometimes i think god did we actually really appreciate how he now does a thing where she'll tell you himself where he will tour and choose places because of the restaurants that you can go to and stuff but um man after my yeah i think there was mainly drinking in the 90s. Not huge amounts of eating. But I guess all the places we used to go were Nobu and it opened. Yeah. And then you'd go downstairs to, what was that club called everyone used to be in?

That bar. Not Bungalow 8. No, it wasn't Bungalow 8. The Met Bar. The Met Bar. And everyone used to be in that place. Who would you see there? I remember sitting in a booth one night

and I was sat next to Matt Dillon, Robbie Williams, Lawrence Fishburne, and Johnny Lee Miller. And what was playing on, who was the DJ spinning? Janet Jackson, I imagine. And you'd all be sitting there going,

how am I in this group of people? It was very silly and lots and lots of fun. I remember going for lunch with Jamie Theakston to a hotel in holland park was it blake's one of those really posh hotels and liam was in there and he'd had a row with i think patsy okay at the time and he'd come to sort of you know drown his sorrows right and you know i mean that was peak 90s you know, drown his sorrows. Right. And, you know, I mean, that was peak 90s. You know, he's running into Liam, things like that. Now you'd see Noel at Chiltern. Yeah, I know.

And you would. Or you'd see them out for a nice meal because everyone's grown up. And I kind of love seeing all those guys years later that, A, everyone's still going. Everyone's still got the spirit. You can tell all these great stories because I think there's a little bit of a time

after all the craziness and the chaos of the 90s where you sort of forget some of it and you put it slightly aside but now years later when you've grown up at last mainly um and your kids are sort of taking the baton you know Woody's sort of living the wildlife now and he often says tell me the stories and you forget and I often find myself off air on the radio show where I'll play something and go oh it reminds me of when we were pole dancing with Cheryl Crowe and ODB and uh Sophia Coppola in in you know you forget these things happen and actually they were really fun silly daft adventures but I what I love and respect about you Zoe is that you have been in everyone's kind of life on whether it's television or like children's television me being

in the audience at live and kicking um so great yeah like radio one radio two strictly it takes like you've done all these things you are a household name and you're loved yet I always feel like your private life was always quite private and I think that it must have been quite hard to balance that I kind of yeah I think it's quite a weird thing because you know there were times when it wasn't so private and there were times when it was really quite difficult it not being private and um you know and now it's so lovely that no one really is that you know and also the other thing is you say everything on the air you know I mean never tell me any secrets because I will just all my friends are like oh

you've told that story about me on the air oh god sorry yes um but yeah so it's not so bad and also the younger generation have more interest to to people now and that's actually quite nice um because there were times when it was it was quite difficult but you know what i think if you you work in that industry you could sort of slightly accept it i think it's great also now that people can own their own stories a little better you know and i really love it when especially women because you know it can be so you know it always annoys when you see the paper she's flaunting this or she's blatantly doing this that and the other you're like no this is a woman who is out and the language used is often very different and now a lot of you know young musicians uh they work so hard i think it's something i've really noticed

now there were wild days in the 90s not everyone survived it you know but nowadays they're so professional everybody works so hard because they have to because things are so different um but also you can slightly own your own story I know you know when they write something about Miley Cyrus she can then put out something on her own socials and say actually no that's not about that this is about this and I love that and with Taylor and you know it's even with May Muller in the Eurovision when she she had like, it could have been such a, I think it was really tough for her, the experience. She kind of turned it around. And you turn it around and then you,

and I think also you just have to protect yourself slightly. Yeah. With socials and stuff. I mean, I've got a Twitter account, but we tend to use it for work. I don't really read it. No, I don't either. You know, because you only have to read one comment

that just can send you down such a because people feel sometimes they want to tell you terrible things and also you know I annoy myself so of course I'm going to annoy some people yeah do you think that's been like a coping mechanism you've worked out how to kind of yeah be able to do it you just go don't read it go around here and then sometimes you can see something and then you think all right okay here I go you know um but you have to remember that you know what everyone has value got to believe in yourself but also the most important thing and you find it too is your family and your friends and your and I love that my mates are like just take the mickey out of me

and my kids now as well they just bring you back down to earth and that's kind of what life is about isn't it it's your friends and your family and i i'm really lucky to do a job and still be doing it yeah 30 years later i mean it could be cancelled at any moment it's a risk every morning that you are all only one sentence from cancelling yourself zoe can you give me a nostalgic taste? Sad, happy, that can transport you back somewhere. Christmas pud. Christmas pud. Is it a happy taste?

Happy. It's kind of my favourite because if you get to Christmas pud, the stress of a family Christmas is mainly over by that point. And you can all relax. Not that you've been in the kitchen. Not that I'm in the kitchen. I've been hosting. I made Christmas dinner once.

And I've never seen a family so quiet everyone's just like it was like the john major thing in spitting image past the peas it was so tasteless i've never been allowed to do it again that's all right my brother's do it it's fine um but when you get to christmas puds and you can relax and all and you know i love the taste that reminds me of my grandparents of all all this. And now you look, and my dad's a bit older, and those times are so treasured when the family are all chilled. It is moments before the Bull's pickled eggs come out. Bull's pickled eggs?

Yeah, so my granddad Fred used to make pickled eggs for Christmas. Huge, big jars of them, pickled eggs. And everyone would have them, and then later on in the day, you get this odour of pickled egg. It is pretty grim. Why did that start? I don't know why it started. They're a bit like stink bombs

but then my Uncle Paul would make them and now my brother Nick makes them. But what happens is the family leave and I have jars of these goddamn things. Give them to the chip shop. I don't think the chip shop want them, Lenny. That's what they do they do you get a pickled egg with your chip shop with your savaloy that's not what i thought was going

to come out of your christmas memory a pickled egg no i kind of like it it's a big thing yeah maybe could it work well on boxing do you perhaps it's your christmas lunch or dinner it's sort of or in the afternoon yeah yeah i think we've plumped for that in the end later later because you've got the chaos of everyone opening presents and the kids and we eat later and later so you can't eat that dinner yeah it's a lot or eight o'clock at night you won't ever go to bed i know and my favorite bit is the later bit when you get the hams and the cheeses and out you know now zoe just tell me should i be moving to Sussex? Sussex is fabulous.

For the good life? The good life, it's lush down there, it's very green. I mean, it's a very different life to London and it's a different life to Brighton. I sort of moved inland because I wanted a, you know, veg plot and some fruit trees and da-da-da-da and a bit of space. You talked just about a veg plot oh yes in the zoe ball veg plot you know what last year was really good loads of good stuff last year sweet corn

cabbages um squash um this year terrible because we went to greece so i just never got any of it in my tv um i had two cabbages left they've been kind of eaten I had one horseradish medallions are a disaster but I've just put in some spinach some spinach cabbage and some radishes and some sprouts I was really excited

I was like get the sprouts in they take 30 weeks they're not going to be ready for Christmas so if anyone's going to want any sprouts around April or May they might be though they'll be ready because of the weather well the

weather's played havoc uh yeah so i don't know but it's so hit and miss it's kind of a bit of a full-time job do you grow stuff no but i love this because i cook you could be my supplier i could be your supplier if you need some sprouts next year i push it my pusher man jesse's got lots of apples do you need any apples no i've? No, I've got apple trees. I've got plums. I should have bought them for you. What would you... I've got a load of plums. I love plums.

What would I make with plums? Oh, there's a great recipe in the New York Times called Plum Tort, which is just basically a batter, and you put 12 plums in, in half. You can get rid of a few of them. You pour the batter on top. Perfect. I'll send you the recipe. I just like stewed plums.

I love it. And I like roasting plums and having it with a mascarpone Jessie stews them with Lapsang Souchong with the Lapsang Souchong tea a few tea bags of Lapsang so it makes them smoky it's really nice

that was a Ocado magazine just get a little idea and then do it I think if you're very keen on food you find recipes all the time yeah so if we eat something we'll try and work out what's in it and then make make it that's how we do it so much fun so much fun i mean yeah i might do a course i i decided that i would do a course either an upholstery swing dance or cooking and why was swing dance because that was your local local area no i was terrible at that but i was like oh let's do a course give me something to focus on

on the darker nights and um maybe i should try the cooking yeah do it at least you get yeah you know i want to learn how to make bread oh gosh yeah i would really love to do yeah let's do that learn to bake bread and babka. I don't need to learn to bake babka, otherwise I'll be... No, we'll be like twice as big as we are, yeah. And Zoe Ball, thank you so much for coming on Table Manners.

We absolutely love you. And thanks for always supporting us. And it's taken a while, but hopefully, hey, we can do round two in the next destination that we go to. Yeah, where we go to next. Maybe if if it goes well fingers crossed thank you good luck with the early mornings and i'll see you at the live final see you at the live final Oh, Zoe Ball, just the gift that keeps on giving. She's so lovely, isn't she?

Every time, I just love her a bit more. She's just like a ray of sunshine. She is heaven. I love that she's got no idea how to cook anything, but brought the goods. Enjoyed my carrot jam. She's absolutely gorgeous. I'm so glad she made time to come.

I feel exhausted just thinking about her day though, getting up so early. I think it must be really interesting that you kind of have to be so on. 6.30 she's on and she has to be like energy for everyone else. So it must be, you almost need to, probably need to go and do yoga and meditate for, and say she came here and ate delicious spanakopita, good darling very good good very good like could be a really good little

canapé that you do do a little fennel yogurt dip with it darling that was made with love and effort yeah i i appreciated every good crispy mouthful okay i think it's better than the big pie don't you yeah i do too. Also the John Gregory Smith baked feta and tomato dip, very delicious. You must try it at home and very easy. You can add a little bit of chilli in there too. And his peach salad.

The peach salad, which I actually didn't add chilli in, which it did need, which would have been gorgeous. It was really lovely. I thought that was, I was doubting peach. A peach salad. Yeah, and it was great. It's been a good day for gastronomically, Mum, hasn't it?

Yeah, gastronomic success. That cannoli from Bailey and Sage was unbelievable. Delicious. I think I only had half, so I think I need to finish off. Yeah. Thank you so much to Zoe Ball for coming over. And you can see us both on your screens at the weekend. And you can listen to Zoe every morning, every weekday morning.

And we'll see you next week. Bye.