0:02

Hi, I'm Margie Nomura and welcome

0:04

to another episode of our side dish,

0:07

the Dream Dinner Party. This is the

0:09

mini episode where we invite a guest to

0:11

tell us all about their dream dinner

0:13

party. This is a game I know a lot

0:15

of people have played, definitely around

0:17

the kitchen table, possibly on a long

0:20

car journey,

0:21

and I think it would

0:22

be a good game for a first date. It's

0:24

really fun to sit down with a different guest every

0:26

week and hear who they would invite and

0:29

what they would serve. This week

0:31

we're talking to Donna Hay. Donna

0:34

is the much-loved and respected queen

0:36

of cooking in Australia. She's

0:38

got a new cookbook out called

0:39

Even More Basics to Brilliance,

0:42

which is the follow-up to her first book of this

0:44

series. I was so honoured to host

0:46

Donna's Supper Club at Fortnum and Mason the

0:48

other week, where we talked all about

0:51

the new book and then we were served the most

0:53

delicious food all from the book. Donna

0:55

is extremely fun and

0:58

she did not disappoint with her dream dinner party,

1:00

which I think I describe as

1:02

amazing many times throughout

1:04

this, which I'm very sorry about,

1:06

but I just couldn't get over how

1:09

amazing it sounded.

1:10

So without further ado, here

1:13

is Donna's Dream Dinner Party.

1:18

I do love the dinner party. I'm a casual

1:20

dinner party thrower and

1:22

I do have a lot of people over for dinner. I have

1:25

a very casual house. It

1:27

has no roof at the moment.

1:29

Very casual. Yeah, it's very casual.

1:31

It's very breezy. Great for the Australian

1:34

summer. So I

1:36

don't know what I'm going to do for the next six months.

1:38

I'm going to have to have dinner parties

1:40

on locations, I think. So

1:43

I feel like I've bought my magazine back. So

1:45

I love to throw a dinner party. I

1:47

love a Sunday lunch. I think that that's

1:50

a great time to entertain.

1:52

It's Sunday, such a casual day

1:54

and it's just not pressured,

1:57

Sunday lunch. time

2:00

to entertain. I don't get

2:02

invited to many dinner parties as you

2:04

can imagine and I do to

2:06

be honest foster people coming to my house

2:09

anyway. So yes

2:11

I am usually

2:14

the dinner party thrower.

2:16

And something that you were talking about the other day that

2:18

I can't stop thinking about was your dip

2:21

club. Yes I belong

2:23

to a dip club. You're the founder

2:25

and host of dip club. I'm

2:27

the host with it's a very small

2:30

dip club. It's quite exclusive. We're

2:32

quite selective and it came

2:34

out of the necessity to want to still connect

2:37

with the girls that I was in a book

2:40

club with. And I

2:43

could never keep up reading the book because

2:46

I just it was too much like getting

2:48

your homework done to me. And also

2:50

sometimes I didn't love the book and

2:53

my publisher has always said to me oh

2:55

just because you've started a book doesn't mean you

2:58

need to finish it. And I out

3:00

of respect to the author always trudged

3:02

through. And she was like no no not

3:04

every book is going to be for you. So I kind of was on

3:06

the outer of the book club. Okay. But

3:09

I feel like that connection of

3:11

what

3:12

it was meant to be

3:14

then became the dip club because I

3:16

still needed to catch up with these girlfriends

3:19

and talk girl talk and

3:21

solve the world's problems or just our own problems

3:24

or you know just that connection. And

3:26

I think it's for me it's really

3:28

important to have those close girlfriends. You know that

3:30

you can have a really genuine conversation

3:32

where then you know that they're not just gonna go

3:35

oh yeah Donna oh you're the best. Yeah yeah

3:37

you do everything great. You know like you need those

3:39

people in your life that go okay well another

3:41

view on that situation could be this. So maybe

3:44

you just need to twist around. So dip

3:46

club to me is is so much

3:48

more than eating dip and crackers for dinner which

3:51

I mean who doesn't want to eat dip and crackers for dinner

3:53

now. That literally sounds like my perfect

3:55

club Donna. And I think you said

3:57

also that pajamas are welcome

3:59

at

4:00

Yes, the rules of Dip Club

4:03

are there is no rules and that

4:05

you can come in your pajamas and slippers if

4:08

need be. Jim gear, I mean there's

4:10

just no rule. Okay. So if you want

4:13

to drive to my house and your pajamas. Donna, that

4:15

sounds like an invitation. I'm coming. I'll

4:17

drive from London. So

4:21

Donna hey, welcome to your

4:23

dream dinner party. We're gonna start

4:25

by talking about the guest list. Who are

4:27

you thinking of inviting? Well, I

4:30

like a casual dinner party and I

4:32

do only have a few rules of my dinner party that

4:34

we never speak about politics or religion. Okay.

4:37

Or school face. Okay. Or the price of real

4:39

estate. So I can't even help. Says

4:42

the girl with no rules. So I

4:45

like to keep it quite light-hearted. So

4:47

the first person that really intrigues

4:50

me from an entertaining point of

4:52

view but obviously a really clever guy

4:54

and very creative is Ryan

4:56

Reynolds. Ooh, yes. Really

4:59

intrigued by him. I love the way he's bought

5:01

the football club, made a documentary

5:04

out of it and just done so much for the

5:06

town and I love how he's

5:08

got his, you know, mobile company, his gin

5:10

company. His head sort of does what

5:12

my head does and I think we would be good mates

5:15

and I would just love to hear him natter

5:17

on. I find him quite entertaining. He's

5:19

obviously very clever, very

5:22

funny. So he would be my first pick

5:24

that, you know, and someone that I would like to

5:27

get to know a bit better. Yeah. Excellent

5:29

choice. I know with the football club he's basically

5:32

living out his own Hollywood movie

5:34

script, isn't he? I think it's unbelievable.

5:37

Yeah, completely agree. Okay. Perfect

5:40

first choice. And then another

5:42

one for entertainment value but he's

5:44

such a lovely human.

5:47

Hugh Jackman, nod to

5:49

Australian talent. Do you know him? No,

5:52

I don't but his

5:55

former wife used to come into my store

5:57

when I had a store in Sydney and buy my

5:59

cookbook. and take them back to New York. I

6:02

feel like I do but I don't. So we know that he knows

6:04

who you are. But I do know,

6:06

um, such a random

6:08

story. I love random stories Donna,

6:11

I'm here for it. Do you know

6:13

the other Australian actor, Dacre

6:15

Montgomery? Oh yes, yes,

6:18

yes, yes. He DMed me and said,

6:20

my girlfriend is a huge fan,

6:23

we're going to be in Sydney, would

6:25

you ever do a little workshop for

6:27

us? I'm going to be honest, I didn't know who he was.

6:29

I don't watch a lot of TV. Anyway,

6:32

so then my girls in the office, I was like, oh

6:34

by the way, I've had two messages from this guy.

6:36

I think it's spam, he's got like three

6:39

million followers. I think it's like a spam account

6:41

trying to get me. Anyway, they were like, you

6:43

are an idiot and

6:47

you need to reply to him right now. Anyway,

6:50

Dacre, his mentor is

6:52

Hugh and he was telling me how warm and genuine,

6:55

so I already loved Hugh. And then he was going,

6:57

you know what, he's done so much for my career, he's been

7:00

so helpful, he's been my mentor,

7:02

he's pulled me aside and you know, really given me

7:05

confidence and directed me how

7:07

to get my way around Hollywood and

7:09

LA. And then so then I had a deeper respect for

7:11

him of how generous he is with his

7:13

time for the younger Aussie actors.

7:16

Yeah, that's so nice. I love

7:18

that he slid into your DMs and you almost

7:20

ignored

7:20

him. So me.

7:24

The only Hugh

7:26

Jackman fact I have is that he,

7:29

on every film he's ever done, he

7:31

has bought every member of the crew

7:33

a lottery ticket and

7:36

no one has ever won the lottery

7:38

from his tickets, which shows

7:41

the odds of winning are really quite dumb, aren't

7:43

they? Okay, so if he gives you a lottery ticket,

7:46

don't get overexcited. Okay, but

7:48

he might bring one to supper. He might. I'd

7:50

say he would. A bottle of wine and lottery ticket.

7:52

That's actually quite a good present for us, isn't

7:54

it? Okay, this is sounding

7:56

very good so far. And then I'm going

7:58

to invite Jamie Oliver. selfishly

8:00

because I love hanging out with him. He

8:02

is so easy to hang

8:05

out with and he's very funny but also if

8:07

I ran late on the cooking we're good at cooking

8:09

together. Have you done that many times before?

8:11

A couple of times. I think I annoy

8:14

him because I clean up as he makes

8:16

a mess. I kind of push him over and I clean

8:18

as he's trying to chop and one day

8:20

he will chop my finger I'm sure but yeah

8:23

I kind of cook next to him really

8:25

and then I see how much mess he's making

8:27

because he's so frantically

8:30

great and energetic but I try

8:32

and clean up after him. It's

8:35

much to annoy him. Anyway I

8:37

love the idea of YouTube being friends in real life.

8:39

He's such a great guy. He really is and

8:42

like there's no club of foodies that

8:45

we all belong to because no one, this

8:47

is not and he's so generous

8:50

with his time and I just

8:53

really love hanging out with him. I feel

8:55

like we're little kindred souls in a way

8:57

like little spirit and he's just an

8:59

amazing guy. He's very genuine.

9:02

He's great at what he does. Love

9:04

love love. Perfect. We love to hear that

9:06

and so I guess like very comforting

9:09

when you find out how someone appears publicly

9:12

is actually how they are privately.

9:14

It's always quite a relief I think. Yeah

9:16

yeah he totally is. Okay

9:18

you've got one slot left at the stream

9:20

dinner party. I know I'm struggling the last one

9:23

because I've got too many and

9:25

I want a woman to balance us out

9:27

but I want someone who would be super funny.

9:29

You know entertaining light-hearted as the rules

9:32

are no politics no chat about

9:34

cost of real estate and schooling

9:37

children. I think

9:39

I'm going to go, I don't know that

9:41

much about her but I think her wisdom

9:43

of the entertainment

9:46

industry and the way that she's just

9:48

so funny would might be Gillian Anderson.

9:51

Yes she's very wry

9:53

in her. Yeah I think she would be

9:56

the naughty one as well which would be good.

9:58

You know you've got to deflect that off yourself. She

10:00

could take that role in the dinner

10:02

party. Oh, yeah, actually I can

10:04

see you two being quite good friends So

10:07

I think she would in the mix, you know as far as everyone

10:09

getting on I think she would be great Hmm. So

10:12

you say you don't watch a lot of TV, but have you

10:14

seen Jillian in any my goodness?

10:16

What is that? Series that

10:18

she has on Netflix the sex education.

10:21

Yes, so that's what we're hoping Jillian

10:23

is like in real life Which I feel like she yeah

10:26

Well, hasn't she just launched some sort of

10:28

soda and I've been following her on Instagram

10:30

being really funny about launching this fizzy

10:33

drink Okay, we need to get her on desert island. Yeah,

10:35

she just launched a soda. Okay. Yeah, I'm

10:38

gonna get on that Hey, so she'd probably bring

10:40

that to the dinner party. I'd make that in some Very

10:46

helpful, thank you Jillian. Okay.

10:48

So how does it begin? Are we having it as

10:51

a Sunday lunch or what time are you gonna ask

10:53

people to arrive? Look I'm

10:56

going to ask them to arrive at

10:58

one of my favorite places in the world because

11:00

I'm renovating I did think about this. We just

11:03

cannot go to my house. So they

11:05

are going to fly down

11:07

to Tasmania Then

11:11

jump on a sailing boat and sail down

11:13

the coast

11:14

To a very small island called satellite

11:17

island

11:17

And that yes, it's

11:19

my favorite favorite place

11:21

in the entire world and we

11:24

are going to start our Little dinner

11:26

together in the afternoon as they sail

11:28

on to the island. It's only got

11:31

one two little houses on it So it's an island

11:33

owned by a family and so we'll

11:35

just be tucked away there And

11:37

it has the most amazing

11:40

boat shed on a jetty It's

11:42

the most peaceful place in the world all

11:44

the blues of the ocean and the blues of the sky

11:47

of Tasmania Which is the air

11:49

is so super clean and crisp It's

11:51

just amazing and then all the seafood

11:54

that surrounds the island. There's oysters just

11:56

on the rocks. There's muscles

11:59

just off ropes just hanging

12:01

just on I guess like a little mini muscle

12:03

farm that they've created just off the island so

12:05

we could just easily row the little boat out there.

12:08

So I'm thinking that it's quite a

12:10

long Sunday on the island

12:13

and we're just going to casually perch ourselves

12:16

down at the boat house outside. I'm going

12:18

to light the little fires and

12:21

yeah it's going to be quite a casual affair. Sounds

12:24

like absolute heaven. No one's

12:26

ever going to want to leave and they don't have to. They're

12:29

going to stay there forever. Okay

12:32

so once they've arrived how are

12:34

you going to begin? I think we would have to

12:36

nod to the clean surroundings so

12:39

the beautiful rock oysters and the

12:41

mussels and just something

12:43

simple done with those. Tasmania

12:46

also has the cleanest produce

12:48

like the fruit and vegetables just taste

12:50

amazing. So when I was

12:52

there last like even the potatoes just taste

12:55

like no other potato you've eaten in your life and

12:58

I had some. Really? Yes it's insane

13:01

and purple Brussels sprouts and sprouting

13:03

broccoli and so we would just do that

13:05

all over the fire. I would just yeah

13:08

we would start and then some local fishermen

13:10

would drop off some fresh lobsters and

13:13

we would just slowly graze

13:15

our way through whatever's coming

13:17

off the barbecue. Oh my goodness Donna

13:19

this sounds amazing. At this kind of thing

13:21

would you serve drinks? Yes I

13:23

would serve drinks. I mean we'd be going off

13:26

Gillian's fizzy. We'd probably have

13:28

to have Jim how many

13:30

probably bring a bottle with him? Probably

13:34

yeah maybe. Yeah so we'd

13:36

and some really nice cold bubbles and

13:38

then Tasmania has really beautiful cold

13:40

climate wines. Some nice whites

13:43

and really lovely crispy paint

13:45

or something a bit peppery. Gorgeous

13:48

okay so are you imagining the

13:50

whole meal as just this

13:52

beautiful seafood feast?

13:54

Yeah I think we would just graze our way through

13:57

some seafood. I might find

13:59

what else is on the menu. the neighbouring island

14:01

and then just really beautiful Tasmanian

14:04

potatoes made into some crunchy chips. I think

14:06

we need a bit of crunch in there. I'd make some homemade

14:09

tartare. We just have simple

14:11

grilled lobsters. Might do a little lemon

14:13

and pistachio butter over the top. Donna,

14:16

this literally sounds like heaven. Is

14:19

this a supper that you, not with these guests

14:21

obviously, but is this something that you have actually

14:24

done? I did. Yeah. It's so

14:26

great because the boathouse has two bedrooms

14:28

as well so you can just wake up right

14:30

on the water with that sound or

14:33

no sound. It's just birds and a really

14:36

gentle ripple. It's just the most peaceful

14:38

place in the world. So everyone would probably

14:40

want to stay over. I think so, yeah.

14:42

You'd be camping out for a couple of days. Sounds

14:44

amazing. And would

14:47

you serve a pudding at this? Yes, I'd

14:49

have to have pudding because I'm good at pudding. But

14:51

I might do, because I'd have the fire

14:53

going and I wouldn't want to walk up to the house to use

14:55

the oven. I thought I might do some

14:58

upside down pavlova where I would

15:00

get a pan over the fire and do some

15:02

nice Tasmanian berries and stone

15:04

fruit. And then I would put meringue

15:06

on the top after they'd kind of simmer

15:08

down and I'd torch the meringue. So it

15:11

would be sort of some reverse pan

15:13

pavlova type thing, meringue toasty

15:16

thing. Gorgeous. Have you just invented

15:18

that or another thing? Yeah. Okay,

15:22

well that needs to... Yeah,

15:24

I've got to go because I've got to go write that down for

15:27

another book. Yeah,

15:29

that needs to go in the next book. That

15:31

sounds amazing. Gorgeous. Okay.

15:34

Well, I don't think anyone's going to be complaining about that.

15:37

No, I hope not. So I think that would be

15:39

nice. That would keep us around the fire as well.

15:42

Yeah. And at your dinner parties, is

15:44

music a big part of your life? Usually

15:47

I would, but it's so serene

15:50

that

15:51

I don't know, if someone bought an instrument, that

15:53

would be fine. Hugh Jackman. Hugh Jackman. He'd

15:55

probably want to belt out of tune. Jamie's

15:58

quite musical. Yes. kind of drums

16:00

and percussion so might ruin

16:03

the ambience. But it's just

16:05

such a peaceful place, I'm not sure we

16:07

would need

16:08

too much music. We have the crackle of

16:10

the fire and the ocean because this

16:13

boat house is like right over the

16:15

water. So that sounds perfect.

16:18

So after everyone is eating the food and you're

16:20

all around the fire, how

16:22

do you see the evening progressing? Is

16:25

there more drinking?

16:27

Is there dancing? Games?

16:29

There's more drinking, there wouldn't be any games. There

16:33

would be more drinking and I think

16:36

there might be a quick dip in

16:38

the very chilly ocean of Tehizma. I

16:40

think we'd do that kind of thing where after

16:43

doing anything it's a really great idea to

16:46

all jump in the freezing water. A skinny

16:48

dip? Well you never know, I can't reveal that,

16:51

can I? Are

16:54

there sharks in Tasmania? There

16:56

is but I just don't think jumping off the boat

16:58

shed will be fine. I mean we wait for

17:00

great news anyway but what

17:04

a way to end a dinner party. Imagine

17:07

the headlines. So we'd probably go for a quick

17:09

night dip and then back around

17:11

the fire, you know, get some blankets around

17:14

us and continue telling stories

17:16

and having some more

17:17

drinks. I forgot this actually, this sounds

17:20

so good and maybe not appropriate

17:22

for this particular dinner party because you're all

17:24

staying over and it's going to carry

17:26

on for a few days but when you're entertaining

17:29

in general are you the kind of

17:31

host that never wants the evening to end

17:33

or is there a time where you would actually

17:35

quite like people to go so you can go to bed?

17:38

Sometimes I am that person that never wants it

17:40

but it depends on what's happened during the week. I

17:43

know that sounds very practical but

17:46

I mean that's why I think I like entertaining

17:49

on Sunday because people usually

17:51

know that

17:53

it's work tomorrow or they've

17:56

got to do so. So I quite like the Sunday entertaining

17:58

because I never feel like I need to kick anyone out.

18:01

Are you the kind of person like do you need a lot of sleep?

18:03

I don't need a lot of sleep luckily. No.

18:06

And the other thing is when you leave a dinner party

18:08

of mine is that you always leave with the leftovers.

18:11

I quite panic when I have a fridge full of

18:13

leftovers. Oh do you? Yes

18:16

I don't know why that I open the

18:18

door and there's so many I don't know. But

18:20

you've got two teenage boys you must never have

18:22

any leftovers. I know and yet I

18:24

give all the food away. Reason

18:27

unknown. Okay

18:30

it's just one of those things we can't explain. Well

18:33

Donna that sounds absolutely

18:35

amazing. I think we have to make sure

18:37

this dream dinner party actually comes

18:40

to life. Thank you very much

18:42

for sharing your dream dinner party with us. Oh

18:44

thank you. So there

18:47

we have it Donna's dream dinner party

18:49

is over. The food has been eaten,

18:51

the guests have gone home. I do hope

18:53

you enjoyed today's episode and make sure you are

18:55

subscribed to catch all episodes

18:57

of the dream dinner party and of course there's

19:00

the island dishes. Thank you so much

19:02

for listening. Bye.