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With Maria Lopez.

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So yall Mario Courtney Lopez joining us on

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Zoom judge and mentor for Master Chef

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Junior. Daphne Az. How are you, Dafney,

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I'm doing well.

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How about you, guys?

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Well, thank you doing great. Master

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Chef Junior is back and I just think these

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kids are so adorable

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and the new season just premiered, So how is the competition

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looking so far?

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Well, yes night one was on Monday,

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and I'm fairly certain

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everyone is going to fall in love with every single

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one of these kids. They are the cutest eight

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two well technically they're allowed to be eight to

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thirteen, but I'm pretty sure the oldest is only twelve this

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year. And when I tell you,

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they're going to throw down in this kitchen, they are going

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to be cooking with ingredients they've never

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used before. They're going to be, you

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know, making their own pasta and deep

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boning fish and just doing things that if you're

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as you guys are, if your parents like you can't even

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imagine your children doing at home, especially

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at these young ages. I think it's just this

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season, especially you're getting to have because

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of Zoom and things like this, we were able to interview

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kids all across the country. So you were getting

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such a cast of characters, kids who've

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never left home before. Literally the first time they

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are leaving home is to be on national television

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on Fox. So I think you're just it feels

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so real, it feels so relatable, and

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yet you know you're watching them cook with things.

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You know, most families are not cooking with at home. So

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to see them kind of struggle through that and come

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out on the other side that much more confident and engaged

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and loving to cook and loving to eat, and just

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you know, proving that kids are up for the

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challenge in many ways. And I

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maybe we need to give them a little more credit where credits due.

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I think it's just beyond.

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Well, our kids need to step it up.

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Well I need to step it up. I

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can't even find ingredients at the

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grocery store when I'm looking at a new recipe,

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like I'm it's embarrassing.

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So I probably could learn as they attracted. We're thinking

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about a lot of things when we go to the cost You're right

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here, are these cab just curious?

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Are these kids sons of chefs

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or how did they get into cooking at

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such a young age, because that's not something that you just

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sort of stumbled across totally.

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I mean, that's what's kind of amazing. We do have one

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contestant who's a parent, or actually

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one is a restaurant owner, and one whose parent is a chef,

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and you know, one who who's been cooking in barbecue

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competition since they were three or four. But

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then you have other kids who you know, cook the cook

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the shrimp they pull out of the bay themselves,

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or cook the you know, elk that is

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on their North Dakota ranch.

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It's just like a there's such a wide wide

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range of interest and where that background

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of loving to cook comes from. I don't know about you guys.

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I grew up cooking with my mom and my grandma

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at their elbow. I knew that the kitchen

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was the heart of the home. I knew it's where all the good gossip was.

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I knew it's where like I had to be if I

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wanted to be in the mix. And I think

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a lot of our kids are just drawn to

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being a part of the love that happens around

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a family table and around around a meal time,

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and that's probably where their love started. And then they

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just they're fearless, Like if

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you teach them a new technique,

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they're going to go in and try it immediately. There's no

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oh but like what if I don't do it right? There's nonother that trepidese

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and around not being perfect,

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which I think is very inspiring for adults

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and kids alike.

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Absolutely, And I will say this because

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our kids can make the lomelets

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and scrambles some maings. Whenever our son does

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cook himself or himself little

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eggs, he'll eat everything. So

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if you have a kid that's a

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picky eater, if he can cook it, he's

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now motivated to want to finish.

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You.

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Have you noticed that he cooks it and he finishes everything.

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I mean, I've only seen him make it one time.

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But I've seen him make it a couple of time.

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No, I've seen him make it a couple of times. I've seen him

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make it a couple of times with Grammy and he finished because

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he asked, Dad, can I make it? I said okay, and then I saw finish

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everything.

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So yeah, no, that's great, that's great. I

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know when I'm cooking, which is rare, I

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don't I eat as I go

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along, and then I don't want to eat the dinner. Are

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you like that as well?

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Yes, of course, because you're so hungry

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by the time you actually start cooking that of course

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you're snacking as you go along. And I think

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then the technique I was sort of

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like shown by a friend is to have put

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out a little crue de tape latter being, you

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know whatever, cut up all your reggies and put your homess

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out, or your your yogurt dip, or

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even your ranch dressing. Sometimes I'll make a homemade

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ranch and just leave it in the fridge, and that way I have it throughout

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the week. And because it's not just me that's snacking

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while I'm cooking, it's also my kids snacking I'm cooking,

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and if I'm, you know, making this meal, you

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all better sit down and eat together. I

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had this epiphany.

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A friend of mine told me that she was doing this with her kids,

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and I was like, Oh, does it really make that big a difference?

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And it really does. I

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have four kids. We scatter after school. It's

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crazy. They're going to four different activities. It's absolute

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madness. So when we get to sit down for a family

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meal together, I like candles.

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And when I tell you eating by candle light. It

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sounds insane, I know, but just go with

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me. Try it. Put a candlestick in, you

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know, a bag of rice, and just like, see

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what happens when there's

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that sort of like quiet moment that's set

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by it. People don't have their cell phones out, they're not

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freaking out about things. They just settle into

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the moment. And it really has made such a difference

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in sort of giving us that that that solidity

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of the family meal that I was craving

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at the end of the day when it, you know, when we're able

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to sit down together.

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I too like candles, and I appreciate

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what you're saying. However, we have a four year

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old that's obsessed with blowing out candles,

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So.

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You have little one.

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He blows it out all the time,

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and when

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we go to restaurants,

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get mad because we

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have to keep.

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But does he make a wish every time? So

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many wishes?

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You know.

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I have to say, sometimes these

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meals last fifteen minutes, and maybe it's

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a good you know, like delayed gratification

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experiment to be like, okay, you can blow the candle

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up four times, this whole meal you get four

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times when those four times

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happen, you know, don't blow it all at once, that

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kind of let's see how it goes, report back,

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please.

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Let enough So, Daphne, the world is celebrating

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International Women's Day today, So

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in honor of that, who are some of the amazing

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women who have inspired you throughout your life?

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You know, I'm so grateful

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and lucky to have incredible

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friends and mentors and just

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women I look up to who do inspire me every

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single day. I love that women

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can wear as many hats as we do, and juggle

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as many roles and live as many lifetimes as

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I feel like we do, even in one day. You know, you're

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like four different people throughout the day. But

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the obvious answer, but it's also the truthful answer,

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is my mom and my grandma have always been

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my biggest inspiration, my biggest

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cheerleader. But really it's setting

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the goal high and setting my sites

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high. But they have, you know, been

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the cornerstone of their families. So much love,

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so much intentionality. But they

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also really invest in themselves and like both

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my grandmother and my mother went back and got graduate

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degrees later in life, they continue

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to invest in learning and expanding

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themselves. They want to contribute

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and take care of the people and communities around

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them. Like it just really showed me

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how you could balance being the

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best mother you could be and best wife that you

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could be and investing in, you know, the relationships

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that are foundational. But also we're

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not forgetting that you are a whole person yourself,

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and that it's really powerful when

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you are filled up, so to speak, how much

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more you can pour and how

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much more you're able to enjoy

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the summer, the chaos, and be flexible

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to the things that don't go to plan. You know, when you're running,

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when you're fried, it's hard. It's really

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hard to manage because it's a lot

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we deal. Women are incredible, We deal

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with so much.

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And you're a mother of four, yes, to

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which I want to ask a question, last

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last question actually being that

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you have four kids, how do you any

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advice on how to get your kids to try new

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stuff? Because I get so frustrated

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with my daughter with the boys sometimes

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to get them to try new things, because come on, I'm

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like, you can only eat chicken nuggets and so

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many times throughout the day.

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So any any advice.

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So I will share the advice that my grandmother

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gave me, and she's a mom of six. She said,

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never make your kids resist

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you more than the food. It is such

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a battle of wills and a battle of the egos when you sit down

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on the table and again, like you just described, you do you cook

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this meal and you know you be able to

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enjoy it, and you're forcing them to try it, and then

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they're just fighting with you the whole time. And who that's not

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fun. So what I've started

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doing in addition to this candlelight experience

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is I will serve things family style, And all

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I say is big kids try everything once. I just don't

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want them to be afraid to try new things. But

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I let them portion what they want on their plates. Obviously

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helpful little ones, but like I let them take their portions,

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I let them try everything once and not have more if

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they don't love it. But what I've found is by you

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know, increasingly exposing them to the same things, they

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are less like averse

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to it. For some reason, they start to develop a taste

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for it. And also you make it cool. When

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an adult is eating or doing anything, it's like

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automatically you know what the kid is interested

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in. So I think lead by example, don't

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make it a battle of wills, and try

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to keep it easy on yourself where you can, because

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you know it is that it's

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your end of the day too. It's your relaxing

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to come to guy at the end of the day too. So I think once you're

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at the meal, just like relaxing.

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That's some great, great advice. Well, Daphne,

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thanks so much. It's been great catching up with you

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and everyone. Please be sure to catch

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up or pardon me, be sure to catch Daphne

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Oz in the new season of Master Chef Junior

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Monday nights on Fox. Thank you so much for

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joining us.

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Thank you guys. Great to see you by, Good to

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see you and Daphne.

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Please tell I love I love

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Memet. That's my guy. If

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you remember, please give me my best.

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Of course, will of course so

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much.

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With Mario Lopez