The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - #32: What's Gaby Cooking with Gaby Dalkin

Episode Date: October 11, 2016

Author of Several Cook Books, Food Blogger, & All Around Awesome Chef Gaby Dalkin, joins Lauryn & Michael to discuss how to pick the right brands to work with & still stay authentic, why knowing how to make a few dips & sauces is great for the beginner in the kitchen, how to work with your spouse comfortably, and some basic tips for the kitchen. To connect with Gaby click HERE To connect with Lauryn click HERE To connect with Michael click HERE This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential Bombshell Body Guide and Meal plan.  tired of combating inflammation & bloat? Want to feel lighter and sexier? Check out lauryn’s latest 7 day meal plan. In this simple & super effective plan you’ll find: + tsc grocery list with every ingredient you need for the 7 days. + what the f*ck to do when you love carbs guide. + quick and delicious recipes: breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner and dessert. You will also find 28 weeks worth of fat burning, muscle toning, 27 minute long, effective workouts you can do at home with no equipment. USE PROMO CODE: HIMANDHER at Checkout for 20% Off

This episode is brought to you by Beautycon Box. Okay, so as you guys know, I love a good beauty product. That's why I'm super excited to introduce you to Beautycon Box. So basically, it's a subscription box that's delivered to your door every season. Each beauty box is carefully curated by your favorite beauty gurus. Isn't that fun? Some of their highlights are their Flutter Lash or Ofra Liquid Lipstick, which I've heard are wildly popular in the YouTube community. There's over $150 worth of product for only $30, and you save $20 if you sign up for the annual payment plan.

With the seasonal payment plan, you can pay each month for the box and shipping costs. If you love beauty, you guys will love this box because it's filled with so many goodies. Check out beautycon.com slash box to sign up for your subscription. If you guys want 20% off, amazing, use the code boxbuzz. That's B-O-X-B-U-Z-Z. Again, check out beautycon.com slash box to sign up for your subscription today. Enjoy. All right, let's get this started. The following program is a podcastone.com presentation. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic.

And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her. Why do you have such a sharp, straight shave today? I got my little, my photo shoot coming up. I know, that's the sharpest line I've ever seen.

It was, it's a little bit too sharp. A little too sharp. Yeah, you always do. Welcome back, guys, to the Skinny Confidential, him and her podcast. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Lauren Everett's creator of the blog and brand, The Skinny Confidential. I love spicy nuts, making fun of Michael's anal bead necklace. He was wearing it the whole time in Hawaii.

And a cold, fresh beer. I was not wearing an anal bead necklace. My name is Michael Bostic, internet marketer, investor, business owner, big deodorant fan. Lauren didn't bring any to Hawaii, so I'm now the number one fan of deodorant and the creative director behind the Skinny Confidential. Projectile vomit. As always, we want to thank you guys for subscribing and rating our podcast. We really, really appreciate the reviews and the messages on social media. If you guys have not rated or reviewed the show, please do so. Even

if it's a one star, just drop us a line and let us know how we can continue to improve. If you like the show, let your friends know so we can continue to grow this awesome skinny confidential community. The more friends you tell the better. We're thinking of even hosting a huge ass giveaway for subscribers. So please, please, please share our podcast with anyone and everyone. We're hoping to grow this way bigger so eventually we can do live podcasts around the U.S. How fun would that be? We would do live questions, bring some champagne, hang out. All right, on that note, let me introduce you to today's guest, Miss Gabi Dalkin, creator of the blog and brand What's Gabi Cooking. Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Missed, Very, very bad in the kitchen. Hi. Hi. She makes you look like shit in the kitchen.

Did I make homemade bread last time you guys came over? Yeah, it was like I made pita. And pita bread and hummus. Yeah. I still think about it. We had a little Mediterranean meze situation. And you peeled the chickpeas or something. It's the keto.

I did this yesterday too for this event. You have to peel chickpeas when you're making a homemade hummus. It's everything. No big deal. No, it's the best. Every time Lauren gives me an ice-cold piece of gluten-free bread from whatever shitty health store she got it from, I just pretend it's the homemade pita bread. You can come over anytime.

The funniest thing is when we were at your house, he was looking at me out of his peripheral, eating the bread with this smile on his face like he was going to kill me in my sleep because I don't make homemade bread. I could teach you to make homemade pita. It's so easy. How is this easy? It's the least intimidating bread you'll ever make. Really?

Mm-hmm. The least intimidating bread you'll ever make. And I don't have time to spend three hours in the kitchen. I'm a big fan of homemade bread. I've been a big fan for a long time. You know they make bread makers. You just throw all this shit into a machine and you have bread a couple hours later. Oh, okay.

That could be doable. You could make it. My dad makes it, Michael. It could be your bread master. Yeah, I might have to make something. Put your apron on and let's see you make something. It might be nice to eat something other than like a kale leaf and a green drink how do you have time to do it all with your blog your brand i mean you're growing into a global brand and make homemade bread um that's a great i'm a

big fan of to-do lists so i make i try and cross everything off and then i can go play in the kitchen or i mean part of my job is creating recipes so it's it's like when i was cooking for you guys i was recipe testing for my cook. So it was kind of work kind of play. Okay. So tell, tell us like anyone who doesn't know you tell us a kind of a summary. Sure. So, um, let's see. I, my name's Gabi. I was a private chef for a number of years when I started my food blog. I did both of them, you know, in conjunction with each other. And then, um, as soon as the blog kind of took off, I stepped away from private chefing. And now I write cookbooks. I do the blog. I'm working on a product line. And the whole What's Gabi Cooking brand very much revolves

around being this like California girl where everything's approachable. You can wear flip flops or a red lip. We don't take ourselves too seriously. It's very approachable. In fact, it's so approachable that Gabi and I met at Skinny Girl. We were both working with the brand to develop cocktail recipes. Yes, and I was nervous to go because sometimes when you go to these blogging events, people are mean and clicky. We have the same manager, and she was like, no, you have to go and meet Lauren. You're going to love her. And I was like, like i don't know and then we fell in love it's a good thing you were there too

because lauren doesn't know how to travel without me apparently you made it on time you were at every event i kind of made it on time i was late going back did you miss your flight almost okay by a hair you can travel i i'm not quite as aggressive as Michael is when I travel, but I'm always on time. I feel like if we travel together, we'd be on time. There's no way. It would be no problem. Laura and I really have to battle to get her through. Yeah, it's actually a battlefield.

But you did arrive literally three hours before Hawaii, the airport. We could have slept in for a minute. And there's nothing to do in the Hawaii airport. No, it's so... Yeah, and it's outside, so it's like real smelly. Yeah, yeah. Hawaii was... Michael didn't love Hawaii.

It wasn't Michael's favorite. Not my cup of tea, if we could say that. Why? Listen, here's the thing. I get it. Hawaii is a place where people go to vacation relax take their horde of children i say horde because they're never-ending children in hawaii and it's just too much for me and too little yeah i was gonna say it's too slow it's too slow for me i like i like a quick pace

but how's mexico in comparison he likes mexico he likes cabo he that's we're getting married there obviously i feel like they put xanax in the air so we definitely like mexico he likes cabo he that's we're getting married there obviously i feel like they put xanax in the air so we definitely like mexico over hawaii well the thing is i mean it's a long way to go and i don't want to bash hawaii because people fucking love hawaii right like if you if you say the wrong thing about hawaii people will turn on you quickly i hope people turn on you about hawaii but i'm just not i'm just not i'm just not a fan you know i think that you know half the population down there are people that are semi-retired and they want to go down there to live out the rest of their life.

And so they go down there and they're chilling out. But a lot of time they get jobs in the service industry. And then they're servicing you. Slowly. Slowly. Very slowly. Very lax. It's like, listen, I'm not retired.

I'm trying to move down here. Yeah, he made everyone in Hawaii on edge. Everyone was on the edge of their seat. You were so annoying. You panicked the whole island. I never described myself as a bored person, but I was a bored person. Really? What, you were bored?

I was bored. Oh. I think island time and island fever. Because they just lay there. People, that's what you do in Hawaii. You just like lay there and get a tan. Yeah. I feel like I stimulated you with my smells, though.

Well, it was like every time I started to go into relaxation mode, that smell would hit me. It was like a smelling saw just ripped me out of my coma. I forgot deodorant, and I didn't realize it was so humid. It was incredibly humid. I mean, it was the most humid we've ever been. Well, the fastest we ever moved on the trip was when I was running as fast as I could to find the nearest liquor store to find you some deodorant. We got some at the ABC store. Okay. So I want you to give some tips to some listeners that maybe aren't the best in the kitchen, but want to try. Oh man. I would say find like three or four recipes on blogs or in cookbooks that have 10 ingredients or less.

It doesn't require a lot of pots or pans or just things that are really easy and then kind of put them into your rotation. I'm also a huge fan of dips and sauces and things. If you have a really good salad dressing and you make it once a week, then you can jazz things up with it all week long. You could put it on roasted Brussels sprouts. You could put it on a salad. You could put it on some grilled chicken or fish or protein. That way you're kind of experimenting without it being too, you know, scary. That's what your friend Steven says who's a chef.

They say sauces and dips are the way to go. Yeah. You need to really get the classes. I just need to learn like three sauces and three dips. You've been saying that for about three years so let's get on it.

I'll teach you. We'll make homemade hummus as one of them. Yeah. And then like a basil vinaigrette and maybe a chipotle salsa. One time Lauren tried to serve me a grapefruit vinaigrette

Okay. as pancake syrup. And I had... It was a raspberry vinaigrette. Whatever it was, it was fucking terrible. And she took all this time and it was like a romantic morning. You know those movies

where the couple wakes up and there's like dough batter in the kitchen and you're holding hands and dripping it into the waffle maker and everyone's super excited. It's know like it's something you film as a romantic comedy movie but um you know so she was taking all this time to to make this amazing these waffles and the waffles were great but she didn't have any maple syrup or any syrup i forgot or whipped cream or powdered sugar yeah okay so she put a salad dressing and then i started crying when he wasn't eating it i was trying to pretend that i like it and finally i just said you know what

fuck it and just threw it all in the trash and it was terrible i almost broke up with you that was so notebook of me yeah but it was you know it was salad dressing okay well i'm gonna learn a couple sauces clearly i need to learn how to make syrup yeah or just buy it in bulk or just buy it i'll even take aunt jemima i I like Aunt Jemima. I've seen your pantry. You have like every, you just need to stock it. I don't want to touch it though. What do you mean? You don't want to touch syrup?

No, I don't want to touch the pantry. Like the pantry is like a museum. It's perfect. Yeah, I don't want to touch it. Oh, well, can you put syrup in the fridge? Yeah, I don't like to touch the fridge either. You need your own fridge, Michael. I have a little drawer.

What? Yeah, it's this little drawer well you made it for me but everything's just crammed in there and i don't know what it is and you know no he has a drawer with organized pretzels he has a couple cheese it's annie's cheese it's you have your like little like things yeah there's nothing more exciting than walking in the pantry and seeing the container full of lima beans what the fuck am i gonna do with those i wouldn't know what to do with those either I wouldn't know what to do with those either. I don't know what to do with them either. They just look pretty.

They're on brand. Do you have everything labeled? I don't, but now that you just said that, you're making me nervous. I come home from a hard day. We're like, I can't wait to soak the lima beans for an hour and then just heat those up. I'm going to make lima beans next week.

I bet it would be really good with a raspberry vinaigrette. Yeah. In a salad. Totally on brand. Okay, so tell us about your journey. You told me you were cooking for Jessica Simpson, who you said is lovely. Yeah, she's like the most incredible human on the planet. But before that, I was a private chef for a family of six. So I was cooking like a bajillion things tonight because one of them was gluten-free,

one of them was vegetarian, one of them only ate meat, blah, blah, blah. And then I started cooking for Jess, and I cooked for her for like two years um and then eventually I just went full-time with what's got me cooking and that was we that was like right before my wedding which was a little over four years ago and you're running a very organized structured strategic brand yeah I run a tight ship and I don't have a lot of people working for me. I don't have anyone actually full time, but I have people that help me with social media a little bit. I have my two best friends shoot all the images and food style, all the images for my website. So it's like a very well-oiled machine so we can churn out content and everyone focuses on what they excel at. So no one's wasting time.

They call that a solopreneur. Michael's getting horny when you say that you run a tight ship and it's strategic. He loves it. I also really love watching TV. So I have to factor TV time into my life. And if I didn't run a tight ship, I wouldn't be able to watch The Housewives or whatever I want to watch. I am not the most organized, but I still watch Housewives. Sometimes I feel like Lauren's ship.

I was just watching the Titanic the other day. And it's like this big, beautiful ship that's so amazing and it's put together perfectly. I'm going to stab you in your sleep. There's all sorts of different levels, but it's going full steam ahead sometimes towards that iceberg.

That's why you're there, to steer it away. Yeah, be my Jack. I just fear that I'm going to turn out like Leo and just be in the ice-cold water dying as she floats away on the plank of wood. Never let go, Michael. Would you let me live if there was a plank of wood?

I would let you live. No, you wouldn't. Your eyes are blinking. What a liar. What I like about your brand, though, and I want to kind of give a BTS to the listeners so what's really cool about Gabi's brand is that she she does like I think it's a once a month shoot in a huge industrial kitchen yeah so um my photographer and my food stylist they're married

um his name the photographer is Matt the stylist is Adam and they have this like incredible studio down in Long Beach with like every single ceramic everything you could possibly imagine for a food photo shoot and so like once a month once every three to three weeks we go down and we shoot like 10 to 12 recipes so that means I have content for like two to three weeks basically um and so I'm not shooting every day like I was when I was doing everything on my own. I would like make a recipe a couple times and then I would shoot it and then I would be on the blog the next day.

This way I kind of stockpile content. Like we have all of my Thanksgiving content basically done. Michael's horny part two. Michael's like literally like blinking and staring at me out of his peripheral. This is like another homemade bread moment. I mean, that sounds amazing. just having all that done in advance we get it michael we get it i really think it's a great idea it's a great idea but also it's a little it's a it's tricky because like if a sponsor if sponsored content comes up and they're like we want something to

be up for thanksgiving i have to like kind of rejigger my schedule around, which is fine. And it's helpful to let most of it's done in advance. So I can just like move my little post-its around on my editorial calendar and then it's done. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Okay. So, um, I think you snapped a picture somewhere. You showed me the picture. You text me a picture. How did I see your calendar? I think it was the first time you came over for dinner. You saw it. I said, what is that?

I went in her office and there was these calendars, these four calendars with Post-its all over them. And you can kind of tell us. So my management team always wants me to have a digital editorial calendar so they can see where my mind's at. But I like crossing things off of an actual list. I don't get as much satisfaction just deleting text on a computer. So I made like life-size editorial calendars. So I have these four big calendars on the wall. And I have little tiny post-its that fit each day.

And it has whatever piece of content is going up, like mashed sweet potatoes. And it goes up, and then when it's done and I've promoted it and it's gone on every social media channel, I rip the post-it off and I throw it in the trash and move on to the next day. Amazing. Doesn't that sound nice, Lauren? Ripping it off. Wait, Michael.

Actually, I went and got the calendars off Etsy. You can go to Gabi's blog. And she'll design them for you. She did yours a custom color. Yes, she did mine light pink. And mine matched the red in my logo. Yeah. They're super, super cool. We've talked about this on the podcast before. I think I've shouted you out about this, but you can go to her blog. Just Google what's Gabi cooking calendar, editorial calendar. Yeah. It's amazing. You guys. And they're like framed and every month I switch them out so I can always like

yesterday I just put up January's and I can't even think that far in advance. I'm capped off in November right now. What am I posting tonight? What's going on tonight? No, actually, really, what am I posting tonight? Well, it's a little bit different for Lauren because a lot of the stuff requires her in the shot. So a lot of the times-

Oh, I can't even imagine yeah i mean so much more well no that's not true though because because cooking and buying and get in prepping that's it's a different kind of work it's different but also like i if i post a picture of myself on instagram people are like unfollow bye yeah right no they are they're like you don't look like a cookie okay wait a minute people love gobby on snapchat she's super raw and real and she gives you i feel like you share a story of the day i do i wait i feel like we both talked about this when we started snapchat like unless you're you have to share like a beginning a middle and end basically there has to be like some sort of just some i don't know like a story yeah without oversaturating right and it can't be like too obnoxious or whiny like there's

some people that just are like you i don't know you just you have to wait there's some people that are like what well i just think ever since instagram stories came out some people are just like i made this recipe and it didn't work and you're like i don't want to hear about that yeah you want to you want to watch something that's entertaining people will message you that they try to make the recipe that no like, like other influencers, you know, kind of complaining about their job or something. And I just think people are giving you or me or Michael, whatever, they're giving you your time to watch your Snapchat story or your Insta story or look at your feed or whatever it is.

You have to be providing them with some value. Like you can't just be, you know... Michael's favorite subject. Michael's 40 part three. Just can't be a weird filter of yourself with you like with the angel halo over your head. Or you with your headphones walking around spouting off random shit. I'm not spouting off random shit. It's very calculated and informative and awesome.

Snapchat, Michael Bostic. Oh my God. He plugs his Snapchat every second and it's with one S, Michael Bostic. No, no. Two S's. Like boss. Boss. We get it.

Yeah. So Snapchat's been a really cool medium i think for both of us because it's allowed us to kind of showcase our personality more than than through the blog and i think a lot of people have abandoned chip to instagram story but i'm still kind of loyal to snapchat like snapchat all day long yeah instagram story's my mistress like snapchat's like my main man yeah there might not be that many snaps going on on my bachelor party. Where's your bachelor party? Yeah, where's your bachelor party, Michael? Montreal.

Shut up, really? That's awesome. The French Quarter. When are you going? Very cultured. I'm getting ready to go next week. Fun. The PIs are ready.

Lauren says she has PIs. No. Okay. No, that's too much. Too much to me. The conversation of joint bachelor, bachelorette started and we shut that down. No, it didn't. I don't want a joint bachelorette with you. Cut that. No.

No, I cut that down. I don't remember my bachelorette party. Really? Nope. Because you were drunk. Yeah. Lauren's going to Palm Springs. Ugh, I wish I had done that. I'm going to Montreal. Honestly, like, I just want to chill. I just, I don't need... So do I. And honestly, I'm fine, like, just my friends are trying to make this whole deal.

My buddy Weston called me on the way here. Yeah, you want to read. He's in a deep panic. I'm like, listen, will there be books on this trip? Will there be... Literally, your bachelorette party, your ideal bachelorette party, is to go with the chihuahuas away from everyone in silence and read and listen to heavy metal. Yeah, or bossa nova. Oh oh you like bossa nova now these guys they're trying to set up

they're like this look there's one dinner it turns into a club do you want to do that like we got to get everyone's trying to like scrounge together their pennies to see if they could pay for it i'm like i'm like this sounds terrible already they got one big airbnb yeah at one point they were trying to share um four beds with eight guys and I had to shut that down and get some, it's too much. Yeah. I don't know. They're just a lot of work. Yeah. You're going to have to change your diaper by 11. Weston will change it for me. Great. That's great. That sounds really fun. Mine's going to be relaxing. We're going to have good food and just do nothing. Take some Instagrams and that's about it. You're going to Palm Springs?

Yeah. You should stop by. You have to go to Workshop Kitchen. I'll go to Palm Springs anytime, but Workshop Kitchen is so fun in Palm Springs. Okay, I need to write that down. Yeah, it's great. Okay, I can't wait to recap that. And I'm also podcasting at my bachelorette.

What? Without Michael. Solo? Just you? Yeah, thank God. It's going to be so fun. It'll probably be the worst show that we've done. No. Probably the best. Probably the best. I'm just kidding. No, you're thank god it's gonna be so fun it'll probably be the worst show that we've done no no probably the best probably the best i'm just kidding no you're excited about it so anyways yeah

snapchat's still fun still relevant we're loving it um i think it's really important like you said to be grateful yeah humble grateful on snapchat instead of complaining about your job agreed and i just like sharing valuable content that's just what that's what our business is all about no one wants to hear about how you don't like your job on Snapchat. No. Before we get into the him and her tip of the week, I want to tell you about one of my favorite sponsors. Okay. So I've talked about BioClarity before, and you guys know it is an awesome product for skin. It really, really helps with acne, especially young adult skin.

So it's created by nature and powered by science. And it's a totally new acne treatment designed, like I said, for young adult skin. It's naturally better. Bioclarity is clinically proven to clear up acne blemishes, such a win, and help maintain clear, confident skin. Kind of what we all want, right? We'd love to use that pretty filter on Snapchat. You don't need to use it with this. 90% of the clinical study patients reported a reduced number of blemishes and would recommend it to friends. Love it. So basically there's three easy steps here.

The first step is to cleanse. It's a rich foaming facial cleanser that washes away dirt, oil, and pollution. Great for LA. I always tell you guys that when I'm in LA, it's awesome. This includes a powerful plant extract from green tea, which is super detoxifying, cucumber cooling, love it, it's my favorite, and chamomile, which is super calming. So the face wash is awesome because there's no harsh chemicals in it. The second step is to treat. Very important step. This is a gel that penetrates the pores and attacks the bacteria that causes acne.

Got to get this on Michael. It contains antioxidants from oat kernel extract and powerful skin moisturizers. Lastly, and the final step, is to restore. This is a gel with floral lux in it, which is the green stuff in plants, and it kind of makes Bioclarity unique. It's a patented ingredient proven to help reduce the redness, the size of pores, and soothe the skin. So what are you guys waiting for? Get clear skin today. Just go to bioclarity.com. The Skinny Confidential, him and her listeners will get their first month for only $9.95. Love it. Such a deal. That's a 20% savings and it comes with 100% risk-free money back

guarantee. So if you guys don't like it, you send it back but i know you'll love it that's bioclarity.com enter my code skinny at checkout s-k-i-n-n-y at checkout don't wait go to bioclarity.com today all right i'm going to share this tip of the week with everyone out there and you too it's all about sleep i think you might appreciate this um i have a new bedtime ritual which I bet you're both excited to hear about. We can't wait. Lauren's seen it already. I bought this really comfortable sleep mask. You ever use sleep mask? No. Like for your eyes? Yeah, for your eyes. But you know that it's super annoying because they have the like little straps that go over your ears like you're in a science lab. Like the ones they give you on airplanes? Yeah. So now I got this new one.

It's like a silk satin thing and it it has a velcro strap and it goes all the way around your head and your ears so you can't see anything the light's like completely blocked out this is the shit i have to deal with i heard about it on the tim i was listening to tim ferris show and he and he mentioned it i was like man i hate those sleep masks with the with the thing so this is a velcro strap goes around your head and then i got ear plugs that go under as the velcro strap goes over your ears. So you can't see or hear anything. This sounds like you have like a really high tech strap on.

Yes. Well, no. And then I go a step further and I drink a bunch of sleepy time tea. Oh, that's the best. Yes. Or my new favorite, which is the caramel bedtime tea by I think... Yogi Tea. Yogi Tea. Yogi Tea.

Yogi Tea, always. And so now my senses are diluted. I can't see, I can't hear, and then the sleepy time tea knocks me out and I sleep all night. So my tip is to get the sleep mask. It's on Amazon. I think it's called like the Sleep Master. You gotta leave the links on Twitter. Yeah, I'll leave the links on the show

recap and the sleepy time to eat and you'll sleep like a baby how many hours a night do you sleep six to eight okay how many do you sleep um i can sleep a lot but last night i didn't sleep it just kind of varies i mean i can sleep a lot i could sleep nine hours that's like a good night yeah i'm an eight to nine hour girl yeah yeah i need a lot of sleep if you really want your man to fall asleep you can roofie them just sprinkle a little bit in their sleepy time tea and they'll have no fucking idea okay on to my tip of the week this is the her tip i was going to do something on bridal curls but i think i'll do it next week because i feel like my tip's fitting and we can kind of talk about this my tip is is iPads. Oh my God. You are the one who introduced me to iPads. Really? Yeah. I bought them because of you. Okay. I love iPads. Aren't they amazing? Yeah.

I don't even know what they actually do, but they make me feel awake. They make you feel awake. And I put them on the second I wake up, except for today I was running out the door, but I put them on the second I wake up and I make sure they're really close underneath my eye. I like the ones that are all collagen, too. But these are, like, whatever you're wearing right now is very high-tech. This is high-tech. Like, they're sticking to your face. Yeah, these are Revelations RX.

They're anti-aging fine lines eye masks, and they do fill in the fine lines. Really? Don't you feel like that? I don't know. I just feel like I want to wear them out. Like, I want to put them on when I'm in an Uber. I want to wear them to the grocery store, and I don't want anybody to judge me. No, they won't. You just put sunglasses on. No, I don't even. I just feel like I want to wear them out. Like I want to put them on when I'm in an Uber. I want to wear them to the grocery store and I don't want anybody to judge me. No, they won't. You just put sunglasses on.

No, I don't even want to do that. I just want to rock on. That's fine. That's totally acceptable. If you guys don't have eye masks, get on board. Every single morning, I swear they're a game changer and they kind of like plump your skin and infuse your skin with kind of collagen. I will do a blog post on this because I'm so obsessed with them. Are these ones from Amazon? Those are from Amazon. You can also get them on revelations.com, I think. But there's tons out there.

You don't have to go super expensive. I know there's some that are like $70 per pack. I got the Korean ones, I feel like, that you were talking about once upon a time. They come in like a light blue package and they're white. Okay, I loved those. And then I was starting to investigate ingredients. And there was one ingredient I didn't love. What?

I don't know what it is. I'll text you. It's something like chemical. It's something just weird. And it's your eyes. So that's why I got these. And if you read what's in them. This is just vitamin A, vitamin C, hydraulic acid, and collagen.

And basically it brightens and refreshes your eyes. It's antioxidants. It's amazing, you guys. Try it. And if you're hungover, it's the best. Truth. Yes. In the beginning I thought you were talking about the Apple iPad. No, you didn't. I did. And it wasn't until about halfway

through your spiel that I got that you were talking about iPads. Michael has finally accepted it's time for him to get a little Botox. I have not accepted that, but I know I'm not. There's a bit of a cursive line on your forehead. I'm going for the Grand Canyon. No. With that.

I have to look at it. We will be right back from the break. Season two of some inspiring podcasts from Forbes is now on podcast one. First, if you worry that you're not the type who could succeed in starting and running a business because you're not an extrovert, hiding in the bathroom with Maura Arons Mealy will change your mind and maybe your life. Then, Forbes contributor, author, and entrepreneur Denise Ristori invites you into her New York City apartment to tap into her conversations with successful women who are sharing some mentoring moments. And finally, hosts Christina Wallace and Kate Scott Campbell will blow the doors off traditional one career thinking and prove to you that the limit does not exist.

Get inspired and download all three shows now on the Podcast One app, iTunes, or at podcastone.com. This is the Skinny Confidential, him and her. Just like that, we are back and we've got some questions. Putting Gabi in the hot seat. Lay him on me. Yep. We're actually kind of getting like business blogging more than cooking,

so we'll have to have you on for another cooking episode. Next time we do that, I'll bring all my food in and we can eat while we're talking. Love it. We can peel chickpeas. Yeah. Okay. So I've kind of gotten into a lot of the answers myself on this show that I'm going to ask you, but I kind of want to, I want to provide some value to the listeners from somebody else's point of view, somebody that's in the same space and we can have a debate. So my question is, what's it been like being an influencer in the niche field of food and cooking? How have you been able to grow your brand and stand out in an industry that is

becoming highly saturated, that industry being the influencer space? Yeah, so when I started What's Copy Cooking, I had no idea what my brand was. I was just like, look, I'm in culinary school and I'm a chef and look at all this shit that I can cook. And I don't think I stood out at all for the first couple years. And it wasn't until I really like honed in on my message of being this like really approachable California girl, where you're only spending like 30 minutes in the kitchen tops, and you're churning out all this incredible food that I did start to stand out. And I think I now I run my business with that in mind. So I always want to be providing people things with like that are California girl

related, even if you don't live in California, you could live in Nebraska and still live the California girl life. So once I kind of adhered to that, it made my brand stick a little bit more. And it's since grown because I always am telling this, you know, the story with the, it just continues up the road. So your advice to someone that's just starting out in 2016, they're trying to stand out is to really adhere to their brand. Yeah. Like, and you, you might not know it off the bat, but like figure out what you stand for, figure out what your voice is. If you want to have like this, if you're a really great writer, maybe you want to write a lot. If you're a really good photographer, maybe you want to take more photos, but figure out what it is that you want to tell

people and, and stick to it. Because I think think we're so inundated with bloggers and influencers these days. You have to be really telling a concise story in order for people to relate to you. It's kind of like doubling down on your strengths. Yeah. And I think it's really nice for brands, too, because brands know exactly what they're going to get when they come to you. And you can be really, you know, you're like, no, this doesn't work for my brain. This is so off brand. I can't do it. Or yes, this is exactly what kind of things I would do. You just said something and Michael touched on it. Um, earlier this week when we were in Hawaii,

you said it's about the story. And I think to stand out in the saturated influencer space, you do have to tell a story. And you said something the other day, you said, you're not telling the story that was your story five years ago, you're telling today's story. And you have to be able to pivot with your brand and know how to tell that story instead of telling the same old story, if that makes sense. Yeah. What I was saying is, you know, you, if you captivate any type of audience in any field, people get bored with the same old story, like the same, you know,

I was this and I've always been this and I'm going to continue doing this. That's great. Those are your roots. That's your core, but you need to evolve the stories so that people can come along for a ride, for a journey. But Lauren and I were talking, I said,

listen, you know, your story and your roots were this, you were a broke bartender. You had an idea to start a blog and since then it's obviously like her story has changed it's evolved she's getting married she's met an amazing man he's the best thing that's ever happened in her life literally shoot me literally like do you guys hear this shit i have to fucking deal with it was so eloquently like

laid out see that's a story i brought you along for the journey and brought you in but no but seriously though um so now her her story is little bit different. She still has those roots, but there's different, you know, she has product line coming out. She's working, she's got a podcast, the brand's growing, it's evolving. I'm assuming the same thing has happened for you. Yeah. I mean, I think, like I said, like I didn't have a brand, so I wasn't even telling a story six years ago when I started What's Copy Cooking. But, you know, now I work with brands, I'm working on a product line, my second cookbook's in the works. So all of that plays into

the story as I'm evolving. I got married four years ago, I talked about that. One day in a billion years, maybe we'll have kids. So I don't know. I think all that kind of evolves with you. And I think there's been a lot of top tier bloggers that had started out, you know, working from a nine to five and their brand grew and they ended up getting married and having kids. And now you look at some of these girls and you're like, wow, you know, they have it all. It's been so easy.

And you forget kind of the whole story and you just see the end with the kids. And they've done a good job though of bringing these readers on because the readers are following along with the journey. Yeah, I also think it's really interesting because as like Snapchat, you and I both share behind the scenes kinds of things. But on Instagram, our lives look really perfect all the time. But I love that people now get to see the behind the scenes on Snapchat.

And like you're not always looking perfect or the kitchen's not always pretty or whatever it is. I think that helps tell the story and make you real and approachable and relatable, which is a big deal today. Which is why I love Snapchat. It's all about the story. And storytelling, we always say this, is underrated. It is. So if you could give a new influencer, somebody going into a niche space,

one piece of advice on how they can help themselves stand out, what would it be? How to stand out? I know that puts you on the spot. Oh man, how to stand out. I would say, I mean, this is just more general advice that I tell people, but I, if I have an idea, I'm just going to do it. Like I'm not going to sit around and wait and think about it for three months. I'm just going to see if it sticks. So I would see if it sticks and put it out there and see people's response to it and go for it.

Love it. I 100% agree with that. Launch fast and adjust with feedback. Yeah. Okay. So let's talk about brands. How do you pick and choose who you're going to work with while still staying authentic to the What's Gobby Cooking brand?

Sure. So this actually changed a lot for me since I figured out what What's Gobby Cooking stood for, because back in the day, five years ago, I would just be like, Oh my God, you want to pay me $200? It doesn't matter if it's a cat food brand. Like, sure. Even though I never talk about my caps. Um, now I know exactly what my audience wants. I know what my message is. So the brand has to fit into that as a whole. Um, and if there's a way to like like kind of like, for example, Lululemon, if Lululemon came to me and was like, we want to work with you. I'm like that work. That makes sense.

I wear your clothes all the time. Like I can put them on a Snapchat. I cook in my yoga pants all the time. Like I said earlier, if a cat food brand came to me now, I'd be like, that doesn't make any sense. I never talk about cat food. I cook human food. So whatever it is has to fall into the bigger what's got to be cooking picture. Love it. But I also like made

a lot of mistakes five years ago and I worked for brands or like a, like a frozen lasagna company that I would never, I would never make a frozen, frozen lasagna. Did you get blowback for that? I sure did. And so learning that about my audience was invaluable and I, and I would never make that mistake again because without our audiences, we're toast. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's really, really important to listen to your audience. I've definitely, when I first started blogging, made a couple of mistakes along the way of

working with certain brands or advertisers. And I listened to my audience and I listened to their feedback. And instead of being combative towards it, I embrace it. And I want to know what they think and if they feel like something's off brand. You know, you just have to really pick and choose who you're working with. I mean, I've turned down things that... For so much money, but it just doesn't make sense for you. Yeah.

I mean, there was a product that someone approached me with that was a very good deal. And it would have been a very easy blog post, but there was soy in it. And I just didn't want to promote it it just wasn't the right fit and I said no and you have to do that I think to play the long game agreed and I also think it helps for you to explain that I get on the phone with brands before I say no to them and say listen my audience isn't going to respond to this like you can pay me as much money as you want and I will deliver beautiful photos, but it's not going to work for me.

You're not going to have a successful campaign with my audience. So I'm not your girl. So do they appreciate that you do that? I think so. I think maybe it's a little sad because they're looking at your number game, and they're like, oh, we really want access to her audience. But it's the PR team coming to to me or whatever intermediate asking me to do this, the brand's going to have like real shit results. And that's going to look bad for everybody

involved. I think that's a great answer. If you guys are bloggers, take note on that. Don't make the same mistakes we made in the early days. We did them for you. Okay. This is my last and final question, putting you in the hot seat. You also work with your husband, Thomas, who we all know here and love. Is it as awesome and chaotic as Lauren and I's relationship? So I don't know how to answer that question. I mean, Thomas, Thomas works with me, um, kind of behind the scenes. He does a lot of website development for me and helps me make some big decisions. But we're not together every day because he has a regular job, like a 9-to-5 job.

He's in advertising. But I've brought up him, like, working with me full-time before, and that's a hard no for him. He is not interested in working with me. He's like, I'll help you with your web design. I'll help you, you know, creative creatively. And he's just like, but I can't, he doesn't want to be with me all the time, which is fine. Listen, I fully get it. I think you have to have your own things. And if he's making the conscious decision to have like his own thing, be his main thing. I commend him. That's very smart. That's what he should do because it is not easy you know luckily

enough I have a couple of my own you have your own you have tons of things going on but you know definitely this year has been trying as we've as Lauren and I have jumped in this together it's really interesting like how do you turn like one time Thomas and I were in Palm Springs together and it was like 120 degrees and he wanted to sit inside but there was really shitty light inside and i need good light for a photo so i'm like no we'll sit outside and he lost his shit on me like god thomas never gets mad at me i mean you know kevin knows i mean sometimes we need to get the boxing gloves out even in the studio like he's like everyone's like whoa whoa whoa it's like two cats like fighting in an alley yeah it's tough but you learn you

learn we have learned what is for us, what doesn't. It's a learning curve. Absolutely. I think it's definitely doable. I mean, Juliana and Bill Rancic, I think, are like such an incredible couple to watch working together because they just like get it. You guys, like you just do it. I mean, I haven't seen you. No, you guys are good.

Half the time we want to stab each other. The other half, he's okay. 100% of the time she doesn't have deodorant. I'm not going to work on that. I don't like it. I think working together is very, very difficult. And I always say this, it's like a dance and you have to figure that dance out and you have to figure out what works for you.

I don't recommend it if someone is only coming into your business. So, okay. Michael has his own thing. I have my own thing. And then we work together, right? A lot of couples, like one will have their own thing and then the other one will come into that person's thing. And that's the only thing the other person's doing. Am I explaining that meaning like if law if i didn't have anything going on for me and i just jumped into the skinny confidential that would probably be a problem because then you don't have anything of your own yes and also the person like lauren would probably resent me in that instance because she'd say hey you're jumping into my thing even if she knew even if she didn't want to even if i was really helping yeah it's because it's her thing so you, this podcast was a way for us to kind of carve out our thing together. And then

obviously I come in and help her when she needs help on the, on her site. But also I have my own things that I can, you know, call my own, put my flag in and keep separate. I think that's really smart. So I guess our advice here is, is make sure you each have your own thing. If you decide to go go into business together so you each can give energy to your own thing as well as your thing that you're doing collectively. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. And Michael, always have a smile when you're working with me. And Lauren, always have a stick of deodorant.

Michael, come on. Do you have anything else you want to say to the audience? I know you'll be back to do a cooking show. I bet they'll have questions. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Well, I'd love to to the audience? I know you'll be back to do a cooking show. In fact, they'll have questions. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, well, I'd love to hear the questions. I don't know. I can't think of anything.

Where can everyone find you? So whatsgobbycooking.com is kind of my hub. Like, everything lives there. And then all my social channels are whatsgobbycooking. No G at the end because Instagram cut me off back in the day when it started. Yeah, I'm on Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook. Snapchat's fun, you guys. The most fun.

Yeah, you'll learn a lot. It is the most fun. Instagram's prettier, though. Instagram's prettier, but Snapchat's fun. The most. Definitely check her out. She will be back. We'll do a cooking show.

Before we go, though, I want to take a minute to thank all our great sponsors and all of you listeners and readers for supporting The Skinny him and her podcast. You guys are what keeps the show growing and you give Michael and I the confidence to keep going. We really appreciate it and we will continue to do our best to bring you entertainment and value on a weekly basis for free. Now here's an easy way for you guys to show your love. Use our Amazon link to do all your online shopping. It costs you nothing. Super quick. Just go to my podcast one show page and click on the killer deals button above the show list. Then click the Amazon banner and go shopping fun. There's even links for Canada and the UK. So

if you're in Canada or the UK, you can also support the show. Speaking of Amazon, you guys know how much I love books. I love wearing my headphones, love learning. I'm always on the go, so why not combine it all together? Click the Audible button right next to the Amazon button on our show page. It will take you to some awesome reading lists that you can check out and buy from Audible. They're giving listeners a free audiobook when you sign up. I use Audible all the time, and it's a great way to catch up on books when I'm on the go. Thank you guys again so much for downloading, subscribing, and of course supporting.

What's Gobby Cooking has been so much fun today. And remember to send in your questions to Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag AskHimAndHer. You can send us questions to our Snapchats at Lauren Everett's and at Michael Bostic. Two S's. I'll be nice. Or you can email podcast at theskinnyconfidential.com. We're also going to be doing more call-ins. We had fun doing those last week on Taylor's show.

So if you want to call in, email us at podcast at the skinny confidential.com subject line, Colin. Again, that's podcast at the skinny confidential.com subject. Colin, ask us anything and we will do our best to answer or just drop us a line and let's talk. Okay.

I'm craving some hummus. We're off. We need to make some. Bye guys. Thanks for listening to the skinny confidential him and her with Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic. Download new episodes every Tuesday at podcastone.com or subscribe now on the podcast one app.