>>female presenter: author's at google newyork are very pleased to welcome james briscione and brooke parkhurst as they introduce theirnew cookbook, just married and cooking. here we go. >>james: yea, here we are. >>brooke: [laughing] [applause] >> brooke: thank you guys for coming. enjoyingyour lunch hours with us. we really appreciate it. >> james: yeah, thank you very much. [clearsthroat] i actually love this forma, because
i think you guys are helping me prove a pointright now. brooke never believes i can pay attention to her while i'm working on my laptopat the same time. i think you guys are going to prove that point. help me prove that point.i appreciate that. thank you. i'm james. my wife brooke-- >>brooke: i'm brooke. >>james: we're both new yorkers. well, currentlynew yorkers at least. we both grew up down south. we live here in the city. actuallyjust down the street in the village. i teach full-time at the institute of culinary education,some of you guys may know the cooking school up on 23rd street. and i used to, i was oneof the sous chefs in the private dining room
at restaurant daniel before coming to theschool to teach. so i've kind of got a chef and fine dining sort of background. and brookeis a writer— >>brooke: i'm a writer. >>james: and former journalist. >> brooke: i used to work for fox news channeland quickly decided that that wasn't going to be for me. so i transitioned into my realpassion which were writing and food. and i published a novel three years ago, belle inthe big apple about a southern girl moving to new york city. and then i happened to meetthis one and was able to take my passion for culinary to a different level because he waspatient enough to work with me. and from that,
we kind of began journey to write this bookwhich we realize we never set out to write a book for newlyweds. it's something thatkind of came naturally. because like we say in the introduction it's kind of like themixed tape. the foodie mixed tape of our lives. it was just one song after other of representativemoments. it was one recipe after the other that we were cooking for each other in ourfirst year as both parents and newlyweds. things happened a little out of order so webegan our big journey all at once. so we really had to get in the kitchen because, you know,we couldn't take out an infant. we really had to get in there and figure out how tomake amazing meals for each other and for our tiny family.
>>james: yeah, so and the book just marriedand cooking is really our story. it's certainly a book for everyone. it's not explicitly anewlywed cookbook. i think there's good things in there for every day for everyone. it'sfull of just great recipes. things that are really useful but we can point to almost everyrecipe in that book and remember a time when we first started dating five years ago onup through we pushed send for the last time to our publishers where we remembered thesemeals, preparing them together, enjoying them together some sort of story. so they're reallypart of us and i think the title of the book comes as much from our story as it does. markour intended audience. >> and he gets things kind of fancy or heenjoys doing things fancy from his background.
i kind of bring him down and say, "honey,we're not making foie gras every night. we're not doing country liver pate again. we'renot going to have eggs and bacon every day for breakfast. we're going to try to makethis a healthy, easy, elegant cookbook. he also brings a different level of cooking toit. for those of you who are food network fans, if you have time to watch the food network,i don't know. he was the food network two-time chop champion. so he loves crazy ingredients,time constraints, lights, cameras. so i have to kind of tame him down for things. >> james: i enjoy the challenge. >> brooke: he enjoys the challenge.
>> james: like you. >> brooke: that's right. so what we wanted,you know, help you with today or talk to you about or inspire you is, you know, with youand your partners, both of you probably working or with your roommates, whatever it may be.you absolutely can get in the kitchen let's say three, four, five nights a week. that'swhat this book was written for, getting you in the kitchen. and we think a great placeto start is actually page 45 in the book and that is our after work apps section. and itis kind of we love happy hour. of course new york has amazing happy hours especially thistime of year. we love going out for little bites to eat, great glasses of wine or cocktails.not like it add up but sometimes it's just
nice to chill out in your house especiallyfor those of you who have children. you kind of have to get back. you have to get backto the nanny, get back to the babysitter or just get back to see your little ones. sowhy not just throw your own happy hour at home? it's also a great motivator if you'renot quite into the cooking thing yet. you have this amazing cafeteria. i would say iwould never bring my own lunch. i don't blame you. i wouldn't be packing an egg salad sandwich.i would be enjoying the food truck and everything else. but with the apps, it's great becauseyou can make them the night before. it kind of coaxes you to come back home and enjoya drink and an hors d'oeuvre. and it kind of gives you something to go on and actuallycook your meal that night. because if you
come home, you and your partner are starving.you want food then. so if things aren't prepared for you, you're going to forget. you're goingto scrap your idea of cooking right, and head out for the takeout. so this way you got alittle bit in your belly. you're going to be happy, maybe a glass of wine and then you'regoing to move on and maybe think about cooking dinner. >> james: and so, as you look through thoserecipes, they're really really simple. it's the idea you can make any of these in 30 minuteson a sunday afternoon or saturday. kind of whatever you had a little bit of time. andthey're all made to keep really well in the refrigerator. so whether it's, you know, havinga little happy hour with some friends to your
apartment after you get off work or what brookewas saying just knowing that you've got something ready to eat when you get home so you won'tstop at the deli so you don't stop off somewhere just grab something while you're going home.it's something to nibble on while you're waiting. what we always try to do because we're bothvery busy and running. if i'm at school and brooke's working and then with the baby. we'reboth kind of running around in different places. really, that end of the day is one of ourfew chances to be together. >> brooke: and who doesn't love 5 o'clock?let's be honest. it's the time to have a drink. so you might as well have something deliciousto eat with it, right? [giggling] >> james: absolutely. for us kind of findingthat reason or that excuse or that motivation
to get home and cook your own meal and startyour own meal. i think that's one really great way to help yourself get into the mode ofdoing it. it's that already have something ready to eat that's simple and satisfyingbut enough to keep you going. and then, you know, second -- another. >>female #1: i was just going to ask -- sorryto interrupt. so tell us about when you come home from work. what should you have in yourhouse right now? it's early spring and it's 5 o'clock and i know when i come home from5 to 7 i can't think. >>james: [chuckle] >>female #1: so how can we prepare to comehome for the blind spot between 5 and 7? what
would be a good thing to have in the pantry,have handy so that we don't have to run to the deli. that's why i end up. i end up withan empty refrigerator and that's where the pizza arrives. >> james: perfect. you took me into the nextstep. really you guys are a great location here. we spend a lot of time at chelsea market,shopping there. the shops are fantastic. another great motivator to go home and cook somethingis just go buy something. whether it's whatever looks good and beautiful and seasonal rightnow. certainly asparagus is everywhere and asparagus is beautiful and they have new jerseyasparagus at the manhattan fruit exchange. i was right there yesterday and it's justperfect. i think if you, you know, something
that you really love. one ingredient thatyou really really like. go buy it and just put it in your fridge even if you don't havea plan for it. because then as you start thinking about it in there as you're working. waita second, asparagus recipes. let's google some. and you know find a great asparagusrecipe. you know, you start thinking about it and then you're like wait a second, i justspent five bucks on an asparagus. i spend another five bucks on a sandwich and let thatasparagus go bad. i better figure out something to make with it and get it home. i feel likei say this every season. this is my favorite time of the year to cook. whenever the seasonschange and new stuff becomes available. i always get so excited.
>> brooke: but there's so much available now.strawberries, asparagus, little spring onions-- >>james: peas and carrots. turnips are oneof my favorite things in spring that i think a lot of people don't think about it. peoplethink of it more as a hearty winter vegetable. you get these little beautiful white turnipsradish size and we have those right there at the chelsea market, manhattan fruit exchangeright now. but it's so much fun, here in new york to go and visit all of our green marketsand just walk around. you know, that's where some of the recipes in our book came fromwas just from sort of wandering around the green market, grab a couple of-- >> brooke: what was fresh. what we felt likethat day. but there is, 5 to 7 o'clock period
where you go either way. so it's great ifyou have those stalks or spears of asparagus just waiting for you. maybe a half dozen farmeggs and you could do a great just fried egg on top of blanched asparagus, you know, alittle pecorino on top, something super, super simple. >>james: and you gotta have that ham or bacontoo. >>brooke: ham or bacon, he puts that in everything.[laughing]there's no getting around that. and then also we get asked about the necessary kitchen equipment.there really is so much out there. >> james: before we move on i just want tosay one other thing on keeping you going or helping you do it from 5 to 7. what we oftendo is, if we're making something, you know,
we make a lot of it. so if we were going togrill or roast some chicken breasts or roast the whole chicken, we might do two whole chickens.we might do six chicken breasts even though there's two of us. then you have great, good,tasty grilled chicken just sitting in your fridge and it's so easy to make a quick salador to toss it into a pasta or to-- >>brooke: yeah, don't cook for one night.cook for three nights. cook in larger portions. and then our next book is about kind of transformingeach night. and go that you've made the first night. so you have this kind of one base recipeand then by adding fresh produce and new spices it's transformed each day without a lot ofmuss and fuss. my mother did cook seven nights a week my entire childhood, bless her. butshe was in the kitchen all the time. and we
just don't have that luxury. >>james: that's another full-time job to dothat. don't if you will fool yourself and think you have to be like they do on tv andwhip something up completely from scratch every single day. kind of embrace that abilityto use something, you know, to utilize, >>brooke: stretch it. >>james: make the most of it. if you're justgoing for one or two, that one bunch of asparagus may be more than you're going to eat in onenight. so blanch all your asparagus. >>brooke: blanch means >>james: boiling in salted water to get itjust cooked through and then throw in some
ice water so it stays bright green. so youmight have that with a fried egg and some ham or bacon one night for dinner. but thenthe next day you may chop it up and toss it with some pasta and feta cheese. >> brooke: and mint and peas makes a greatsalad. >>james: which is in there somewhere. >>brooke: which is in the book. >> james: grilled chicken. kind of toss that.there's always something in our refrigerator. >> brooke: that inspires us to create it to,you know, get in there and cook. it's never just champagne and mustard. ha ha ha. [giggling]
>> james: no. it's at least orange juice forour daughter, juice and bananas and yogurt. >> brooke: but the next thing also in thebeginning we have a list of kind of can't miss gotta have kitchen appliances. i thinkit's so overwhelming walking into a williams sonoma and the store is so beautiful and wewere cooking there last night. yesterday we cooked on the today show and then in the eveningwe did a signing and demo at williams sonoma. and i could have left with 5,000 dollars worthof fun, beautiful kitchen gear. aside from having no space and no time in the apartment,there's really no purpose. especially for starting out cooks. we kind of what a top5, top what? ten list of fun can't miss kind of inexpensive things, right? he first taughtme about something as simple as kitchen tongs.
when you are blanching your asparagus, howare you going to reach in and get them? all of these things can be intimidating. oh, mygod i'm going to burn myself. i don't know how to get it out. am i going to pour thewhole pot of water out? no, you have these simple tools that he's been using all of what?your professional life in kitchens that the home cook might not think to use that makeyour life so much easier. we love a good set of tongs. a good microplane zester for gratinggarlic. people get intimidated by how to properly chop up a garlic. they don't want to do it.you get a mircoplane zester. they get intimidated by these 600 dollar knife sets. don't buya seven piece knife set. go out and get one good lightweight japanese blade chef's knifeor maybe three. jamie favors three. you favor
three. a paring knife, a serrated knife, chef'sknife. that's really all you need in the beginning. so i think the less you spend in the beginning,the less likely you are to be let down. because it's not like you made this 5,000 dollar investmentand things aren't turning out perfectly. you made a small investment. you're learning,you're working and you can always add on. the one thing we think you should invest inis a good cuisinart. for a lot of our dips and the after work apps you're going to needa good cuisinart. for a lot of great soups, homemade pestos that are going to keep throughoutthe week to toss with pasta and chicken when you come home at the end of the day. that'sdefinitely something worth investing in. but there are really few things. a great woodencutting board. go across to bowery trading
company. what is it called? >>james: bowery kitchen supply. >>brooke: bowery kitchen supply in chelseamarket and get a great 50 dollar cutting board and kind of start from there, right? >> james: right. >> brooke: another thing that we say is don'ttry to make filet mignon with pb and j skills. think about what your skill level is you'restarting off with. but we have the perfect book for that. [laughing] but when you'relooking at epicurius or you're looking online and you get stars in your eyes and we allwant to be mario batali and you pick a really,
really difficult recipe. maybe it's the secondthing you've really ever tried to cook by yourself. it's probably not going to turnout to be fantastic. so why don't you start out in our book with the skirt steak withscallion potato cakes. skirt steak is inexpensive. you mess it up. okay. you wasted five dollars.say you had bought bone in ribeye for four. you mess that out, you're out 85 dollars.chances are when you mess up the rib eye, the next thing you're going to do is get takeout.you mess up the skirt steak, you might go out and buy a second skirt steak and try itout. so the less like i said with all of this the tools, the food, the less monetarily youinvest in the beginning, the more likely you are to succeed and kinda continue.
>>james: it all takes practice. just likeanything. i think to get good at anything in life, you got to do it. so, you know, don'tbe fooled by tv that makes it all look so easy. they wave their hands around, pull somethingout from beneath the counter. yeah, it's just that easy. it's not always just that easy.it's not necessarily that hard. but it takes a little practice. it takes some doing. youknow, i was very fortunate kind of throughout my career to be able to make a lot of mistakes.starting out cooking and actually i started out as a dishwasher when i was 16 years oldand worked my way up through the ranks. as a teenager cooking, i got to work at a placewhere we were always allowed to make ourselves lunch. we weren't able to pull out the goodsteaks and just grill them all for ourselves.
but to be honest when we had the time we couldmake ourselves whatever we wanted to eat. and i was getting really into cooking andi was reading a lot and i'd go through books and see all these things and try to go dothem the next day at work. i remember the first time i tried to make risotto, i madeit are orzo pasta. i just didn't know the difference. i remember the word ended in o.that's pretty much the shape. i think this is it. so my first batch of risotto ever wasmade with pasta. >>brooke: not rice. >>james: and i learned from there, you know.the chefs were like, "okay, it tastes good, but this is no, this is not risotto. it'snot even close. first of all, it's rice not
pasta." we went on from there. making mistakesand expecting mistakes and knowing it's not always going to be perfect. but you enjoyit anyway. and have fun with the process. that's for one of us the most important thingsis just having fun with it and enjoying the process going through it together. >> brooke: and it's great at the end of theday i think we're all prone, maybe it's your computer, get in front of the television,zone out. kind of stick one person with chef duty while the other gets to relax. well,you really can relax together in the kitchen. pour yourselves a glass of wine. get in there.learn together. be a little creative. use our recipes as kind of the base. and then,throw in your favorite things. but try to
use that space as something fun and not achore. which cooking definitely can be or it can seem like it is. if you have bad recipes.but if you have fantastic recipes that are going to turn out great time and again, haha [laughing] you're going to enjoy it. >> james: oops, you have a question? >>female #2: so do you have any suggestionsfor if you have like a disparity between the cooking skills. like-- >> brooke: you're really good and your boyfriend'sreally bad? [laughing] >> female #2: my husband is really bad. andi don't want to be in there like, "no, don't do it like that, you're chopping your fingersoff or your overcooking something." i don't
want to be like the kitchen meister but atthe same time i really don't want to eat burnt food. >> james: [laughing] >>brooke: that was a good question. one forhim since he is by far better than i am. he is the chef. i am the cook. >> james: yeah, we say whenever you're tryingto cook together work together always play to your strengths— >>brooke:bbut if there are no strengths, whatdo you do? [laughing] >>james: but if there are no strengths, whatdo you do? you know, i think it's the same
thing. you know, kind of start out small.just kind of give him little things to do. >>brooke: that clove of garlic in the microplanezester that you just gone out and bought and just tell him to grate it. or give him a blockof cheese in the box grater. >> james: now is he really ambitious? doeshe want to do it at all? >>brooke: or is more than you let him? >> female #2: um, now, i mean he, he wantsto help. he doesn't want me to be the only person cooking and doing stuff. >>brooke: that's great. >> female #2: he's excited about stuff. heis successful in a couple of things -- however
it takes like four times as long than necessary.great on a saturday but not tuesday night. >> brooke: not tuesday night. >> female #2: i have to wait until ten o'clock— >> brooke: well, this is i guess when likeprepping, no one likes to hear it but when prepping ahead. and this is one of our bigpieces of advice the night before kind of clean your vegetables or trim your meat ordice things. in the culinary world "mise en place" getting everything kind of like restaurantchefs do. so if you're excited about this wednesday dinner you all are going to makesay "honey, well maybe you should get tuesday night--
>> james: tuesday night after we finish dinner,before we even clean up, let's just go and have this stuff and we can chop up some ofthis stuff for wednesday. >>brooke: right. >>james: you can go sit down and relax andlet him take an hour and a half to chop an onion. >>brooke: but that is great. you don't wantto squash— >> female #2: it never takes an hour and ahalf to cut an onion. an hour and a half >> brooke: we also teach couples cooking atice. if you want to sign up for those. ya'll can come on.
>> james: bring him in. bring him in. i'llhelp straighten him out. >>brooke: some of those are fundamentals ofcutting up, properly cutting up an onion. properly doing garlic. things like that youdo need learn once and learn them well to move on. >>james: i think learning some base knifeskills is really, really important. you know, like brooke said, for we do the couples classesup at ice up at the school. they're a lot of fun. it's kind of a fun thing to do. thenyou can just sort of stand back and say, "yeah, i told you. i told you that's what you'resupposed to do." don't ever do it. but you know some base knife skills. that i thinkonce you get it down and learn how to do it
and understand how to use a knife properlyand how to chop things up properly, it really makes the process more enjoyable because sometimesthat's like the hard tedious part. and if it takes you an hour and a half to chop anonion, you're not going to be really motivated to do much else. but when you learn thosethings and they're again, it's just something that takes some practice. but the skills,the concept of the skills is really quite simple. does anybody else have? yeah, please. >>female #3: do you have in your book anythinga child friendly recipes or if a child can participate? are they simple enough for. >> brooke: i think a lot of them are.
>>james: they definitely are. our daughteris not quite there yet. she just turned two. >> brooke: how old are yours? >> female #3: 6 and a half. >> brooke: okay. so she can. >> james: you know what? i think there's. >> brooke: our everyday's dinner's chapteris just great. these weeknights we're talking about. i think everyday dinner is very simpleand general that chapter to look at for these recipes that you certainly can do with a child. >> james: the soups and sandwiches. there'ssome soups and sandwiches and a few salads
in there that i think are really good. a lotof them a lot of times are using the salads like shaved cheese where you just take thevegetable peeler and you peel the cheese. i think those are grating cheese and doingthose kinds of things are always good things for kids. >> brooke: things without heat, hahaha. [laughting] >> james: yeah, i think stirring or mixingis always good. so in the breakfast chapter some of the things like pancakes and muffins— >>brooke: and muffins— >>james: and those kinds of things are reallygreat healthy muffin recipe in there. we just
had a bout of sickness in our house and ourdaughter was a little sick and wasn't really wanting to eat much. and i was thinking weneed to make, she loves cookies of course. as long as we tell her it's a cookie and it'sa little bit sweet and she's convinced. i was just thinking we needed to make a batchof muffins and they're healthy and a little bit sweet and pretty satisfying. >>brooke: the granola in here also. i lovemy granola recipe, girls and that's a lot of fun. throwing in the different nuts, coconut,dried fruit, mixing it. that's a lot of fun you can't go wrong. you can put more fruitthan you need. more seeds. >> james: have you found that your child,boy or girl?
>>female #3: daughter. >>james: your daughter, is she more interestedin eating when she gets to help you out with it? >> female #3: she likes to help out just ingeneral. she usually does the baking. >> brooke: right. >>female #3: she doesn't do skillet or anythinglike anything with stove related. >>james: right. >> female #3: but i'm thinking , i want herto be more healthy eater at least. i'm thinking to be involved more in dinner cooking shemight be.
>> james: definitely. you know i think- >>brooke: the spring pasta we're actuallyjust talking about the penne with asparagus, mint, peas, feta has a lot of great greensin it. it's very seasonal. it's perfect for right now. let me find the page. that couldbe a lot of fun, i think, for a little one. >>james: that's a lot of, you could do a lotof stuff at the stove. cook the pasta, cook the peas. it's all just boiling water. soyou put on one big pot of water. throw the pasta in, get it cooked through, put it inthe colander-- >>brooke: it's page 90 in the book: springpasta. >>james: and then drop your asparagus andpeas in the boiling water. scoop them out.
let them all cool a bit and then put themin a bowl and you're going to toss it with some mints and some vinegar and feta cheeseand some scallions . you're just kind of toss that all together. you can kind of have allthose things separate and let her add them in mix it up and crumble up the cheese. thoseare good things for little hands to do. lots of beautiful fresh spring vegetables thatare all really, really great right now. [pause] >> brooke: do ya'll cook a lot ya'll whenyou go home? he says no; she says yes. >>james: i don't know how you could workinghere. i don't know i ever would. it's a very nice setup you guys got here.
>>brooke: definitely. >>james: i'm jealous. i just want a scooterto ride around. i could get one push before i bump into a wall at our apartment, at ouroffice. >> female #4: tell us about how you wouldcook for a small family for a special occasion. special occasion with adults would be thebig rib eye or whatever but now we have little kids and not so much time. how do you suggestplanning that day? because sometimes to cook for like people cook for another couple withtheir little kid coming over on saturday. you need three or four hours to prep. howwould you divide up that three or four hours? would you divide it so everything was readywhen they show up or would you perhaps include
the other family so all of you are working?what are your thoughts on that? >>brooke: i think first and foremost in thosethree or four hours, you really should shop a different day. fabulous location, you'reright here at chelsea market after work one day and get your produce, your groceries.right? so that's already taken out of that prep time. then, yes we actually and the bookis divided into two sections which we haven't even talked to you about. there is life aswe know it which is a lot of these everyday type foods. and the second section is newtraditions about you and your partner and your little family maybe starting new traditionsof your own not just christmas or hanukkah and thanksgiving, new ones. and in severalof these menus we talk about getting your
guests involved because that can be reallyfun. we do love doing pizzas at home, homemade pizzas, you know, whole-wheat flour crusts.we use a lot of fresh veggies. pizza is very fun for the kids. stretch and kneed the dough.we talk about one in the back in our brussels sprout salad with a great homemade pesto abouteverybody helping, you know, clean the brussels sprouts. >>james: that's one of my favorite menus andrecipe kind of occasion ideas from the second half of the book. what do we call it? >> brooke: new traditions. >>james: right. it's the menu's called theholiday get away from the family.
>> brooke: when you go home. >> james: because christmas time typicallyfor us it means going back home to where the parents are. >>brooke: page 299 in the book. >> james: and usually mom or aunts or unclessomebody is still going to be hosting the big holiday dinner. and when you've been homefor three or four days and you have pretty much all you can handle of family and yourready to just kind of get away from them get with friends. this is like a really fun menuto do with friends. of course very seasonal and prime for november, december. and youknow, the idea is that you have this great
salad made with brussels sprouts. >> brooke: a sweet potato and brussels sproutssalad with parmesan pecan pesto. >>james: it's kind of tedious to pick allthose brussels sprout leaves and it will take you awhile to do it but we say just have abatch of cocktails made and when all your friends get together give everyone a bowlof brussels sprouts and have them pick the brussels sprout leaves— >>brooke: make them work for it. >>james: while you guys catch up and chatand sip your cocktails so then you're ready to go. it depends on what you're making.
>> brooke: the key is that we teach in ourclasses though you want to get them involved but don't actually think they want to makeit from start to finish with you. like, when you have this pizza party. don't actuallygive them a cup of water, flour and to make the dough. you want to have a lot of it preppedahead. it's just going to be easier and more enjoyable for everyone. so to answer kate'squestion directly what would we say? be well prepared. >>james: yeah, be well prepared. one of thethings we always teach in our cooking classes up at ice is a lot of times it's nice in themenus. we always do one seafood and one meat whether it be pork or chicken or beef or whateveras part of a dinner party menu. one of the
great tricks is being in new york city -- atleast us -- if you cook fish in your apartment, you're going to know for awhile. most peoplein your hall are going to know you cooked some fish. that smell can just kind of hangfor awhile. so a great trick for doing, you know, fish for dinner party or having friendsover is just actually just sear the fish on one side. get it really nice brown in thepan and then take it out and put it onto baking pan other side completly raw. and then, youcan light some candles, open the windows, turn on a fan and clear out the apartment.then when you're ready to actually have your dinner when you're ready to serve all youhave to do is throw that tray of fish into the oven. takes about five minutes if theoven is at 425 degrees. the fish will be cooked
through perfectly. it will have that perfectit won't look like sad baked fish. i would say cafeteria food, but you guys don't havesad cafeteria food here. it would look like a beautiful, roasted piece of fish but you'renot going to deal with the smell, the oil splatter and all of that mess. pre-cookingthing is such a great investigate thing to do. >> brooke: that's a chef's trick that we doin the restaurant. >>james: that's what most restaurants do inthe reality of it. when you think about when you go to a restaurant sit down and ordera bowl of risotto and in eight minutes, the bowl of risotto is at your table. start tofinish that's a 35 minute process. so the
risotto is 75 percent cooked— >>brooke:in the morning >>james: in the morning, miday and then it'scooled down and held in the refrigerator and then when you order it they just heat up apot and . and there's nothing wrong with that at all. we kind of always have this romanticimage >>brooke: fresh. >>james: of all these things being made fromscratch. >>brooke: in the moment. >> james: but pre-cooking things having thingsprepared. like we said, having things ready
in your fridge is really a wonderful way togo about it. >>brooke: another great thing— >james: and it's the reality i think for allof us. kind of the way we live our lives and the time constraints we have for cooking andworking these days. >> i think it's also really fun when you havepeople over and we think it's really easy to have bottles of wine. girls love wine.we love to get with the girls, eat cheese, crackers, drink wine. it's great. in the bookwe have several chapters dedicated to cocktails, house drinks. and if you're on a budget, itactually works out to be more economical to make great house cocktails if you think abouta person's going to have, each guest is going
to have two or three glasses apiece, thinkof how many bottles of wine you're going to go through. as opposed to you buy one nicebottle of what would be liquor and you jazz it up with some fresh juices. we like ourrosemary fresh lemonade infused with rosemary and vodka. all of that is so much more inexpensiveand you also get these big points for being a very kind of inventive creative hostesswhen all you're doing is just following our book. [laughing]it's a great touch. it's personalto make those drinks and have those ready instead of just wine. and like i said, it'seasier on the budget also. >> female #5: hi guys. >>james: hey.
>>female #5: so sometimes cooking in new yorkis really uninspiring not just because of the budget or the expensive food but becauseyour space itself is so uninspiring. it's small or ugly or cramped or your sharing itwith a roommate-- >>brooke: bad ventilation. >>female #5: all those things. so i'm wonderingif you have tips about how to make the space itself more appealing so you want to get onin there. so whether it be tips on storage, tips on making it look prettier, keeping itclean. sometimes i don't want to go in the kitchen because i don't want to be in there.i don't want to spend two hours in that room. sometimes being in the kitchen is becauseit's not fun.
>> brooke: first of all, removing clutterfrom the counters, having nice clear clean counters. think, are you actually using thattoaster oven? do you actually use the microwave that much? are you actually using the toaster?different little things that perhaps can be moved away so you have this clear counterspace. what else honey? mr. organization in the kitchen. >>james: yeah, i'm the one-- >> you are. >> james: usually in charge of that typically.i mean, it is really challenging i think in new york. counter space is almost always ata premium. so you do your best to maximize
it. we have two different size cutting boardswe use depending on what's going on really what we're working on. which cutting boardyou're going to pull out. you know, keeping just things really -- i mean, just keep thingsorganized. >> female #5: i guess do you guys turn onmusic when you're in the kitchen? do you decorate? i mean, the last place i think of you knowwhen i'm at ikea or target is decorations for the kitchen. but do you guys have photoframes-- >> brooke: well, one great thing actuallyfor organization is we have what is it called? a knife. >>james: the magnetic knife strip.
>>brooke: knife strip >>james: so the knifes hang up on the wall. >> brook: so that's one less thing also onyour counter. you have the strip up there. the knives are arranged nicely. the containerstore we do love. we do have a really big kind of pantry so we're lucky for that. >> james: yeah. we have, you know, just havingthings accessible and not having to dig through cabinets. which may seem goes against whatwe just said. but actually in the book here in the very beginning there is a list of allthe tools you should have and how to use them. and they're organized by where you shouldstore them. there's things that should be
in the drawer, you have one drawer that youpull out that has your peeler and whatever else in it. and then, we always keep a littlecrock or container right next to the stove that has mixing tools: a whisk and a spatulaand the spoons, metal spoon and a wooden spoon and a little scooper. >>brooke: your tongs. >> james: for scooping things out of the stove.so those things you would tend to use at the stove are there. and i think sort of i thinkthat's actually a really good guide. we spent a good bit of time-- >>brooke: it begins on page can have 5, whereto keep things.
>> james: putting that together. but havingthe specific sort of stove tools. keep them by the stove. keep the things by the drawer.keep the mixing bowls together in one cabinet. if you can just dedicate a few spaces to that.and you know don't keep a drawer full of takeout, because you know you're going to get freshtakeout menus every single day at your apartment anyway. >> brooke: dedicate that drawer to new kitchentools. >> james: that's right. >> brooke: we love music. i love a glass ofwine when i cook, um, sometime. >> james: we're actually very fortunate too.we have a kitchen that just has little island
that looks out over our living room. >> brooke: otherwise our daughter would neversee us if our kitchen was in a different part of the apartment or if it were closed off,she would never see us. luckily we do have an open kitchen to the living room. >> james: we watch her scribble on the pillowsand chalk like she was just doing this morning** >>brooke: morning. >>james: before we left. >>female: #6: hi. >>brooke: hi.
>>female #6: the thing that i always havetrouble with is grocery shopping. like i'll go out sunday and be like oh yeah, these veggiesthis looks great. and then i'll come home on a monday night and i don't know how tocook this. i don't know how to make this and i'll realize i need ten other ingredientsi didn't actually buy. so do you guys plan out a menu every week? do you find yourselfrunning out? >> brooke: we keep staples in the pantry whichis also in the beginning of the book with the tools. things you should have all thetime. then you can just work from and throw in fresh things in addition to that. so webegin with a well-stocked pantry. which is of course easy to say, but it makes a lotof sense to go ahead. always have not just
the flour and the sugar but anchovies forone of our pasta sauces. to always have the chicken broth. to have those things. havea very basic spice cabinet. and then what else honey? >>james: yeah, and you know the other thingi think don't feel so bound to a recipe. you know. >> brooke: easy for him to say. easy for achop champion to say.just whips it up at the last minute. i'm more like you. i like tofollow a recipe. >>james: if you have one or two ingredients,doesn't mean you can't make it. if you don't have a teaspoon of that spice, you can gowithout it.
>>james: it will be okay. you can kind of,you know, work around those things. but we definitely do plan. i mean, i actually havea list in my back, i'm going to chelsea market as soon as we finish here. i have a list inmy back pocket of things kind of think about what we want to make or what we're going tomake. and make out a list. but -- >>brooke: and menu planning is really great.you can think and plan out just three meals or maybe start with two. do not be overlyambitious because you might go out with your girlfriends or husband or boyfriend or whatelse. but make sure you have two and make sure you get all the ingredients for thosetwo. and that can be your meal planning. and then you can plan on two nights of leftovers.that's already four nights covered and do
cook that on sunday. that will last you towednesday. meal planning, it sounds like kind of what a suburban housewife would do. totallyunnecessary and way too organized but it's great to do. it's already in your head whenyou're at work or walking home or getting on the subway. what am i going to eat? thisis all so overwhelming. well, you know because you decided on sunday and you're taken careof until friday. and what we were talking about with kate, basically whatever you cookfor yourself is going to be more healthful than almost anything you get in a restaurantor takeout. you know exactly what's going into it. whether you're watching your figureor just trying to be healthy. it's great to know everything that's going into your food.or you can take things out our of recipes.
you don't want so much cheese or sour creamthat he added. you can take it out and be fine with it. we love our takeout also, butonce you get used to eating very healthfully at home and then you have this takeout foodor restaurant food, it's "wow, it's so salty, wow, it's so sweet or wow, it's so heavy." >> james: and there's also substitutes. whenyou get that great thai recipe and it calls for fish sauce. you're not going to buy awhole bottle of fish sauce just to make one thing-- >>brooke: soy sauce. >>james: one time. soy sauce is a good substitute.you pull out the little packets that you saved
up from your sushi takeout that you savedup for the last three months. >> brooke: also by the way for these questionsthings like this we have a website by the same name. honestly, we always answer questions.so for any of you guys feel free to write us and ask questions like about "i don't havefish sauce, what can i do jamie?" [laughing] you can write us and we'd love to answer allyour questions. >>female presenter: any other questions? ithink that would be it. thank you so much for your time, we really appreciate it. >>james: great, well thank you guys. >>brooke: thank you guys for coming.