0:00

Looking out in the River Cafe. I'm

0:02

always happy to see couples having a great

0:04

time, but I also know that every table

0:07

has a story. A child who just

0:09

received a degree, a colleague at

0:11

work who might be changing jobs, a marriage

0:14

proposal or a separation.

0:17

I met the couple Carrie Russell and

0:19

Matthew Reese when they were playing

0:21

a couple Philip and Elizabeth Jennings

0:24

in my favorite TV series, The Americans,

0:27

and I watched their story through thick

0:29

and Thin for six years. It

0:32

was there for a big moment for me seeing

0:34

them sitting at a table in the River Cafe. They

0:36

were with my friend, Ambassador Jane Hartley,

0:39

who loves Carrie, playing a sort

0:41

of her in the Diplomat. Today

0:46

we were here at a home in New York

0:48

City to talk about all this and

0:50

more. You are our first couple,

0:53

yeah, they

0:57

I know it's true. It'll

1:00

be fun that way. Yeah, Rogers,

1:07

I have said to you before we put

1:09

the MIC's on, how amazing it is that you came

1:11

up down downtown.

1:13

Do you like uptown downtown? Did you ever think of

1:15

living uptown?

1:16

I didn't personally know, did you

1:19

No?

1:19

But we took the train up here together and

1:21

it's just you feel like uptown

1:25

just feels like you're in a movie in a New York.

1:27

New York. Yeah, I think

1:29

when people say where should I stay in New

1:31

York? I was as an American, I love

1:33

staying downtown. But then I

1:35

think, if you're coming to New York for the first

1:37

time, Central Park, the high

1:40

buildings, the density, the avenues,

1:42

Park Avenue, so New

1:45

York for that first.

1:47

Yeah, I totally agree. That hit again when

1:49

we came out of the subway, when your borough

1:52

is is so alien to this, when you kind

1:54

of go, what in New York? I

1:56

know it sounds so stupid. I go, Manhattan

1:59

brings my that magic again? Or you think

2:01

of the movies you're saw growing up. You

2:03

see the park again in a way you haven't seen

2:05

it, and you just go, I'm always I'm

2:08

always kind of falling in love again with

2:10

this city.

2:11

It's so romantic. Yeah, you

2:13

know, seeing everyone dressed in

2:15

nice clothes here, yeah, all

2:18

over no where we live, it's like, you know, we're

2:20

all sweatpants taking our kids to school.

2:22

So what we thought, Mike do is start

2:25

with a recipe. And the recipe I

2:27

understood that you would like to read is a

2:30

lot to do with sage

2:34

like sage.

2:34

But yes, in fact, if you could

2:37

spread butter on say a leaf

2:40

of sage, you kind of be.

2:42

Already there

2:46

is that a piece of sage that you've

2:48

plucked from a plant or that you've bought, you

2:50

grow it a little bit.

2:51

We don't. We tried, we with

2:53

our children. It's like it's like trying

2:55

to grow something in within a family of chimps.

2:57

Everything is plucked or ripped or or

3:00

torn or destroyed before you go. You're

3:02

constantly going who did this? Who

3:04

pulled the stage?

3:05

When I take that stage?

3:07

We were growing this.

3:08

Yeah, so it never never seems to last.

3:11

So we do, we do shamefully. But we have

3:13

a great farmer's market by us which we we

3:15

get a lot of the hoops from.

3:18

And yees, sage and butter is a is a is

3:20

a heady mix. It's a it's a great

3:22

source of comfort.

3:23

I love butter. We can talk about better later because

3:25

I always say that as Italian chefs, we're supposed

3:27

to and we do love olive oil and that

3:29

is you know, that is the ingredient,

3:31

you know. And so when people say what do you want to have in your

3:34

in your cupboard. I would never say I

3:36

have kil of Italian butter. I'd usually say

3:38

a bottle of extra Version olive oil.

3:41

But butter is like it is. But I think

3:43

we should just do a podcast called butter.

3:46

Tally Tally with portin am I butchering

3:48

tally Tally. I got it right, That's

3:50

it. With Porcini and sage, will

3:53

begin with.

3:53

Oh okay, is that me?

3:55

Yes?

3:55

Three hundred and fifty grand dried taglia.

3:58

Thirty five grams have dried porcini mu rooms.

4:00

Eight fresh sage leaves

4:02

finally sliced.

4:04

Or could be sixteen who knows. Two

4:07

thousand grams of unsulted butter.

4:10

Oh sorry, one hundred grams of unsalted butter.

4:13

Two garlic cloves peeled and crushed.

4:15

Another family favorite. One dried red

4:17

chili crumbled like us for.

4:21

Like me, especially today. Yes, had a little

4:23

too much wine last night. It's rough,

4:26

little fragile.

4:27

I'm getting it through a Yeah, maybe you should have another

4:29

classify maybe probably probably only way

4:32

way.

4:33

Four tablespoons double cream and.

4:36

The zest and juice of one lemon.

4:39

Do we continue on to go away?

4:40

I've been nice to know how to make it.

4:43

No, then you just get all that

4:45

stuff.

4:45

Yes, how you make it's your problem. Good

4:48

luck.

4:48

Expect me to write a book and tell you how to do

4:50

something.

4:50

It's really rude like me to tell you to live your

4:53

lives. Yes, happy hunting.

4:55

Soak the mushrooms in hot water for twenty

4:57

minutes. Oh see, that's why you're

5:00

magic.

5:00

Yes, you see. Then drain the porcini,

5:03

keeping the liquid and roughly chop strain

5:05

the liquid through a sieve lined with kitchen

5:07

paper to remove the grit.

5:09

Melt the butter in a thick bottomed pan.

5:11

Add the garlic, sage, and chili and

5:13

fry gently until the garlic is soft.

5:16

Add the porcini and stir to combine.

5:19

Oh my god, this is so good.

5:20

This is working already.

5:22

This is what I need?

5:22

Is all I need?

5:25

Yes, cook for fifteen minutes. When the

5:27

porcini is soft, stir in the cream,

5:29

lemon, zest and juice, and season.

5:32

Cook the tagliae in boiling salted

5:34

water until aldente.

5:36

Then drain, add to the sauce, toss

5:38

well, pour wine, drink and enjoy.

5:41

Good And so tell me about

5:44

cooking. And do you make tagutailey? Do you make

5:46

a little pasta with the kids.

5:48

Well, pasta is the absolute staple of our

5:50

house, the absolute staple,

5:52

as I'm sure it is for many people with young

5:55

children. However, I've been

5:57

out for some beautiful dinners

5:59

with care and she's come home

6:02

and then made a bowl

6:04

of pasta with butter and stage and I,

6:07

with great genuine wonderment, go way,

6:11

way way, and how sometimes

6:13

you do come home hungry?

6:14

Thanks. Yeah, I love the food when

6:16

I eat it. And then if we've stayed up,

6:18

if miraculously I've made it awake

6:21

beyond nine pm, which is difficult for me

6:24

by ten thirty.

6:24

Any More, food, did you discover

6:27

early on the food that

6:29

you ate affected the way you acted? So

6:32

that would you find that if you're doing a

6:34

scene that you would want to be not

6:37

full of food or you wanted to eat, you

6:39

know? And also if you ask, this is a

6:41

load of many questions directors.

6:43

They never want to stop food.

6:44

I just want to stop and thinking that there was one French

6:47

director when I worked in France. There's one French

6:49

director I worked with who is just

6:52

a true gastro.

6:55

What's the wood I'm looking for?

6:57

Yeah, he was like he was.

6:58

Like no, he sit down for one

7:00

hour, one hour half, we have a nice launch,

7:03

and he goes, it's not like America where

7:05

you get one plate and you put sushi

7:07

on it and a burger and salad,

7:10

French fries and you put all mess on

7:12

one plate. This terrible one

7:15

thing. Yes, And then so we went into this beautiful

7:17

tent. There's there's long trestle tables

7:19

with white linen, classes wine

7:21

on that. I was like this first day, I was like, oh my

7:24

god, where am I? And we all sat

7:26

down and I'm next to the director and I said,

7:29

I said, I said, do we choose? Is

7:31

there a menu? Because no, they will come and

7:33

put it in front of you, and it's sort

7:35

of like this sort of yeah, this sort of you

7:37

know, duck Liver put down in

7:39

front of us. And I went, but what if you're a vegetarian?

7:42

And he took a second and he just went, sorry,

7:52

that was

7:54

was.

7:54

That the one? I mean? But normally what

7:58

happens.

7:58

So I think we can both confirm

8:01

that I mostly donuts.

8:04

Donut fiend she can inhale

8:06

them.

8:07

Not so much anymore. But when

8:10

we were doing The Americans, we were

8:12

shooting that here in New York and

8:15

often in winter outside night,

8:18

and I would inhale donut.

8:20

It became your kind of true comfort

8:23

and seemingly engine

8:25

fuels.

8:27

Yeah, I'm sure that was really

8:30

good for my health.

8:32

Can we as we mentioned it? You know my

8:35

obsession Americans? No, really,

8:37

I have to say, you know, I've loved them all. I you

8:39

know what people said to Richard, when

8:42

do you have time to watch so much? But you know

8:44

it wasn't but we watched a lot. But for

8:47

me, it is the pinnacle. It

8:49

just was. It was about family,

8:51

It was about marriage, it was about secrecy,

8:54

it was about loyalty. But I think

8:56

that there were so many aspects of

8:59

the American and so that was just

9:01

stunning, beautiful. And there

9:03

were meal times, it was a domestic setting.

9:06

There was the times when the kids

9:08

would go next door and eat

9:10

something or be at a table. Was

9:13

your feeling about that?

9:15

There was definitely thought a lot of thought, possibly

9:17

more by the writers, about when when it seemed

9:20

when it was meant to be presented as an

9:22

excess, that that Philip

9:24

Elizabeth might go or Elizabeth possibly

9:26

I don't speak on your behalf might go

9:29

my you know, might be post

9:31

or repelled by it, by the indulgence

9:34

of it, or the.

9:34

Excess of it.

9:36

There was actually an episode

9:38

I directed when Martha

9:41

is being relocated to you know,

9:43

one of the characters being relocated to Moscow

9:45

for helping the kdub And

9:48

it was a very brief moment,

9:50

but I just I just put in this moment where

9:52

she's eating peanut butter on toast and

9:55

wondering kind of yes,

9:57

what her life will be, And it was kind of one of those

10:01

things I just kind of planted in as to

10:03

the just as the choice

10:05

that we have in comparison

10:07

to what may have happened. I

10:10

mean, the meal times were always always

10:12

kind of pandemonium because it was always when

10:14

the set fell apart, do you know what I mean? Because

10:17

you're in that one concentrated day for so

10:19

long, everyon goes a little crazy.

10:22

Everyone is trying to figure out how to eat

10:24

without eating.

10:25

Because you shoot obviously that scene

10:28

that is you know, five minutes,

10:30

you have to shoot it over four

10:33

six hours because you have to shoot everyone's

10:35

coverage of it.

10:36

So yeah, yeah,

10:39

And what about now when you're in the Diplomat.

10:42

Well, one of the fun things about The

10:44

Diplomat is the

10:46

writer who I just I love

10:48

so much, Debra Khan, who created the show, and

10:52

she puts it in very specifically. She

10:55

wants the character to eat like really

10:57

messy, like just constantly be like shoving

10:59

like food in her face and like eat really mess you,

11:01

like, you know, have no manners

11:04

and like a dude, which I think is really fun,

11:06

but it gross. It's gross too

11:08

because you have to continually eat.

11:10

I know, I do. I appreciate that. On The Diplomat you do

11:12

eat. We always I think

11:14

a lot of actors always talk about people those

11:16

actors who do eat on screen and

11:19

those who can see kind of nibbling on cucumber.

11:21

And I'm always I'm always, I'm

11:23

always on this. I'm always on this. So I

11:25

remember Noah Emeric and I had this one

11:27

scene in The Americans when we ate pizza,

11:30

and I directed at the time, said listen, I

11:32

really want to see you eat. And

11:35

we really to map it out, like the length

11:37

of the scene, how long you'll shoot coverage wise

11:40

when and we ate

11:42

it goes, I want to see you swallow the pizza.

11:45

I don't want chewing. And then

11:47

we cut away and then spit bucket and we were

11:49

like, okay, we'll go for it, and I had

11:51

I was sweating I had so much

11:53

dough in my stomach. At the end, I was like, I

11:56

don't I don't feel well. I don't

11:58

feel well at all.

12:04

Did you know The River Cafe has a shop. It's

12:06

full of our favorite foods and designs.

12:09

We have cookbooks, linen napkins, kitchen

12:11

ware, toat bags with our signatures,

12:13

glasses from Venice, chocolates from

12:15

Turin. You can find us right next

12:18

door to the River Cafe in London or

12:20

online at Shopthrivercafe

12:22

dot co dot uk. So

12:31

growing up and we can figure this out if

12:33

one of you wants to go first, so you can

12:35

talk to each other about because I assume you didn't

12:37

grow up together, but you did, grab

12:40

maybe you did. You met in the hospital, little

12:43

beds. Okay, that

12:45

was it. So you sort of started out with milk.

12:48

But what was it like in mobile

12:51

to carry? What was it like in your household?

12:52

My mom wasn't

12:56

the best cook or anything like that, but what

12:58

she was great at was

13:01

you know, my dad traveled a lot, so it was he

13:04

was just like a suit for

13:07

like a car company, so he would get in the car

13:09

and drive multiple places. And it was

13:11

my mom and three kids, four

13:14

nights a week, and even though she wasn't

13:17

such a great cook, what she was

13:19

was just you know,

13:21

like, do you want pancakes tonight? Eating pancakes

13:24

tonight. There were no rules and there weren't that

13:26

the magic of that was really nice to grow up

13:28

with. That being said, I

13:31

really noticed when there was

13:33

good cooking that you know, a friend's house

13:36

or something, and no

13:38

disrespect to my mom at all. But I loved

13:41

mothers who really spent

13:43

time, and I remember watching them cook

13:45

and the way, we know, loving that whole

13:47

feeling. And

13:50

then as I grew up, I guess, I,

13:53

oh, both my grandmothers were great cooks.

13:55

Grandmothers.

13:56

Yeah, it's funny because they're very different. They

13:58

were raised in completely different places,

14:01

but they both made an

14:03

incredible homemade chicken

14:06

noodle soup, so that I definitely

14:08

remember. My dad's mom was a bit

14:10

more of the kind of elaborate

14:13

meals than there were rules, and

14:15

people dressed nice, and I remember, you

14:17

know, just kind

14:19

of more fabulous people coming over to dinner

14:21

parties and things like that, which was all there as fair.

14:24

And they both the grandmothers ended

14:26

up living in California, so we would

14:28

you know, drive a town, say I'm sort of

14:30

kind of near each other as they retired.

14:32

Yeah, you always said you can always remember,

14:35

you remember the clink of ice because

14:37

cocktails were always big, you.

14:40

Know, like the tumblers like and ladies

14:42

wearing like nice slacks with painted nails.

14:44

My mom was a little bit more of a hippie and so that was

14:46

also kind of exotic to me.

14:50

Would you sit down to you

14:53

add to your brothers sisters.

14:54

I'm the middle, so I have an older brother and a younger

14:56

sister.

14:57

Yeah. And so with meal times, even though you might

14:59

have pancakes or something, yeah, kind of that's

15:01

our was it always expected that you would sit

15:03

down.

15:03

Yeah.

15:04

We always ate together and it was a really

15:06

easy, not stressful, you

15:09

know, really kind of loving and fun

15:11

and imaginative time.

15:14

She was a really good mom in that way. And

15:17

yeah, we all ate together, and our family

15:19

we really make a point. Yeah,

15:22

maybe even though our

15:24

teenager doesn't always love it. We eat really early,

15:27

like six thirty

15:30

six, and I like that. Everyone comes

15:32

home, you have to eat and you can do anything

15:34

after, but we all sit together. And yes,

15:36

I mean.

15:37

When you said that you envied the kids that you

15:39

liked going to my son, I have to

15:41

tell you. Once called me up.

15:42

He went to the American school and.

15:44

He called me up. He said, Mom, can you come over to Tedwood

15:46

Square, which is a square right around the corner from where we

15:48

live, to my friend's house. And I said why?

15:51

And he said, well, I just like to show

15:53

you what a good mother's fridge looks

15:55

like.

15:58

First of all, I don't know how to unpie clous statement

16:01

because saying that to

16:03

you.

16:05

Exactly because if you opened our fridge,

16:07

you'd see it. You'd

16:09

see a piece of parme, see

16:11

some beans that have been cooked, and then you know those American.

16:14

Yes double double. These people

16:16

had.

16:16

That, and there was just you know, I

16:19

didn't go, So I don't know because would I go, No,

16:22

good mother. I like the idea of your grandmother.

16:25

And the cocktails. I think cocktails are

16:27

really that is a cultural phenom, don't

16:29

you think, Matthew? Eventually did you have cocktails

16:31

and whales?

16:33

Not so much cocktails. The staples

16:36

I think for my parents were sherry. There

16:38

was always a kickoff. Was always a sherry and

16:40

then and then wine with the meal. Yes,

16:44

or it was either a shabby kickoff or a gin

16:46

and tonic kickoff.

16:46

Was just for a dinner party that was entertaining.

16:49

Yeah, shatties were usually Sundays and then

16:51

sort of you know, the gen tonics

16:53

were usually kind of for dinner parties or

16:56

sometimes Sundays also. But

16:58

but my day or to use

17:00

it, well, actually any any any

17:02

day and ending in a why but my

17:05

mother, my mother did. Look, she loved to cook and

17:07

there's a good cook and love to entertain as well. So

17:09

we did, you know, we certainly grew up with that

17:12

being instilled that we Saturday, you know, everyone sat on

17:14

the table and and and I know

17:17

I've become the stickler in our house about

17:19

table etiquette, about the table. I

17:21

mean, but we're down to basics at this

17:23

point. We're like, maybe to use a fork. That's

17:25

a big one. That's a big one.

17:27

Yes, we have to.

17:28

This is scary if I come to dinner to.

17:30

Oh, good grief, yes, my god.

17:31

Yeah, there's a spoon for knuckles.

17:35

But ilse still have to do.

17:36

No nothing crazy, nothing crazy. I'm a little

17:39

too crazy about the holding

17:41

of knife and fork.

17:43

That is another cultural difference.

17:45

Yes, yes, My big thing is

17:47

it's not a pen. I'm like, it's

17:49

not Are you writing with that knife?

17:50

It's not a pen and then

17:53

Americans put their knife down.

17:55

Yes, when they eat.

17:56

And then so the far more selective which

17:58

is why, which is why meals take hours?

18:01

Yes, and lord,

18:03

can we mind dying the dessert?

18:06

Okay, So back to the etiquette at the at

18:08

the house. We have to sit down at the table and use our knape

18:10

and fork.

18:11

Correctly, and then and then

18:13

and then and then you know, then went into then went to the

18:15

second phase, which is conversation, which

18:18

can you please can you please ask

18:20

a sibling a question?

18:22

Well, you know, Joe Biden I interviewed

18:24

his sister and she talked about meal

18:26

times at the Biden household, and everybody had

18:28

to go around the table and talk about their

18:31

day. I'm with them, there we are, and

18:33

he became President of the United States. Of

18:35

course, this could also end up with somebody

18:37

who just dreads meals.

18:39

You know, that's my hope for the children.

18:43

I think I think we're succeeding.

18:44

Then I think we've succeeded. I

18:46

think I think we've nailed it. Yeah,

18:50

we've set aside money for their therapy

18:53

so they can say we used to dreaded

18:56

times were it was

18:59

it was positive.

19:01

River, especially by the time we come around to him,

19:05

well, how was your day?

19:06

Yeah, just like it's like, what's the minimum

19:08

I can say that, get me away from this table as quickly

19:10

and get.

19:11

It done as quickly as quickly.

19:13

So the meal time. So you so, growing up

19:15

you had they but

19:18

actually it's interesting that you had wine your parents.

19:20

Was that only for entertaining or.

19:22

No, they have wine, they have mine themselves. Yeah, yeah,

19:24

they enjoyed wine. I mean the culmination

19:27

of the week was always the Sunday roast and

19:29

that was everything kind of everything. You

19:31

know, we'd go into the dining

19:33

room for that, do you know what I mean? And it was always

19:35

Where did you grow up in Cardiff and Wales?

19:38

Was that like my parents were teachers

19:40

and then my father became a principal of.

19:43

A Welsh speaking school.

19:45

Yes, yes, so, and you know, I think

19:47

the Welsh, like a lot of the Celtcer, kind

19:49

of very culturally minded

19:51

in order to kind of keep their

19:54

own culture alive. So culture

19:56

was a big element in the house. Music

19:59

was big.

20:00

You say it was a Welsh speaking school. Did they speak

20:02

anything other than most in.

20:03

The school nor English? Lessons

20:06

were in English, but that was it. Everything else is taught in

20:08

the medium.

20:08

Of Welsh, and had you spoken of before you went?

20:10

Yes, yeah, I learned English.

20:12

I remember, I remember, I remember learning

20:15

English like there was this new phenomenon

20:17

my you know. It was like we used to call it yes, no language,

20:20

because it's all I could say for a while, and I was like, why

20:22

are we learning this language? What's this?

20:24

And do your children?

20:25

I speak only Welsh to our

20:27

youngest Sam, and

20:29

he's entering into his the beginnings

20:32

of the rebellion, when he's now saying no, no, no,

20:34

just say it in mama's language, when you

20:36

know the greater complexities are coming

20:38

in. You know, I'm trying to explain to him what insurance

20:41

is in Welsh?

20:42

Wait what what?

20:43

Just say in mom's language. No.

20:45

He he knows

20:48

everything you're saying, and in his accent is

20:50

exactly right. But

20:52

he likes to answer in English.

20:55

He's in school. I was. I lived

20:57

in Paris and a friend of mine had six

20:59

children American in Paris, married into

21:01

this very very ground French

21:04

family, and she said, I have to

21:06

speak to my children in my language, you

21:08

know, because speaking to your children is complex

21:11

enough. Of course, then if you're trying to think about

21:13

the past or the future chance or whatever

21:15

it is. You know, but do you feel more comfortable

21:17

in Welsh?

21:18

I do, And it wasn't it wasn't a particularly conscious

21:21

choice. It was just something I did absolutely

21:23

instinctively when he was born. But

21:26

then I speak to dogs in Welsh as well, so I don't know

21:28

what that tells you.

21:29

I want to tell me about Welsh food very

21:31

sores an identity as much as language.

21:33

With the food, there is there is in that way

21:36

that I think the Irish and the Scots have, which is

21:38

very much a peasant culture

21:40

that off cuts are

21:43

primarily everything you do and the big,

21:45

the great dish in Wales is

21:49

we call it cowl, which is a

21:51

lamb's neck soup, so

21:53

it's lamb's neck and then usually potatoes,

21:55

leaks, carrots.

21:57

How do you make it?

21:58

Very very simply. Everything is

22:00

basically boiled with milk and salt and

22:02

that's kind of milk. Yeah, a little bit of milk.

22:05

I remember the milk, milk going.

22:07

Not not a huge amount. Well maybe

22:09

I've mis misremembered that, but no,

22:11

I'm pretty yeah, dash kind of a dash of

22:13

milk and then yeah, you kind of

22:15

you you you know, fry up the onion and the leaks.

22:17

First the carrots, boiled

22:20

the potatoes a bit, and then fry

22:22

up the lamb's neck and then add it all

22:24

together and boil it up.

22:25

Do you take the beat off the neck? Does it?

22:28

Yeah?

22:28

Yeah?

22:28

Yeah, yeah yeah, with some time and

22:31

salt.

22:32

What else do you eat the

22:35

The.

22:35

Other big one was seaweed or

22:37

you know, lava bread, which is a triple cooked seaweed

22:41

and that is usually made into

22:43

a patty with kind of oatmeal and then fried

22:45

in bacon. Fat.

22:46

Fast has nothing to do with bread lava bread,

22:49

No.

22:49

It's basically more like a kind of looks more

22:51

like a hamburger paddy and and then's

22:53

eaten with kind of cockles. So

22:57

you know, the majority of the country

22:59

is by the sea, so enormous

23:02

kind of again peasant influenced.

23:04

Where can they scavenge from from the

23:06

shoreline.

23:07

But you had the Sunday rose that was always

23:09

big, and that was would that be lamb?

23:12

A lot of lamb My father's

23:14

family predominantly, A huge

23:17

number of them are sheep

23:19

farmers. Yeah, so a lot of lamb

23:21

is eaten. It was lamb and beef. Those

23:23

are the big favorites. And then you know we were always

23:25

obsessed with Yorkshire

23:27

pudding, which I've which I've terrified

23:30

carry with because but your Yorks puddings are challenged.

23:33

Fantastic, isn't it.

23:35

The kids love the kids obsessed.

23:37

Yeah, yeah, they call them those bread things.

23:40

And did you go to restaurants?

23:42

I didn't go. I mean that I

23:44

don't think we had the money for that and I

23:47

did not go. So it was all in

23:49

my kind of twenties starting

23:52

to go to restaurants and our kids

23:54

come with us to restaurants.

23:55

Restaurants for me growing up very

23:58

special.

23:58

Is it like in Cardiff?

23:59

I mean, you know it was. It was. There

24:02

was a there was a great seafood game there there

24:04

was, but there were especial occasions

24:06

Birthdays, Mother's Day we

24:09

always went out. And then

24:11

yeah, there was like you know, when when we finished

24:14

big, big exams, there was this one

24:16

place I think it's still going called the Walnut Tree

24:18

in Abergaven.

24:19

I remember the Walnut Tree was really

24:21

what was his name? Do you remember? Under

24:24

Time? Yes, because I think he started

24:26

a bit before before Rose and I did the River

24:28

Cafes. It must have been in the early eighties

24:31

that you did.

24:31

The Walnut It was because my parents. My

24:33

parents said when we finished at eighteen, the

24:36

big you know, a level that the walnut

24:38

tree was where we were allowed to go. And that was

24:40

for me, like that, the dizzy and height.

24:42

What did you what did you eat?

24:43

What did they used to do?

24:44

This incredible seafood platter there And

24:48

the first time I met my older sister, she know,

24:50

she finished exams and we took her there and I

24:52

saw the seafood platter, was like, what

24:55

is that? So when I went, that's what I ordered

24:57

again.

24:57

Because it just seems so fancy.

24:59

It was. It was something incredible. It

25:01

was like a work of art.

25:09

If you like listening to Ruthie's Table

25:12

four, would you please make sure

25:14

to rate and review the podcast

25:17

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple

25:19

Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever

25:21

you get your podcasts. Thank

25:24

you. So

25:29

you sort of grew up in these houses which were

25:31

that you sat down for a meal, you were cooked for

25:34

sometimes you had a cocktail and your grandmother and

25:36

did that. And then and then you particularly

25:39

I think you started pretty young being away

25:41

from home. What did you do? Yeah? I think, so what

25:43

was that story of kind of being taken

25:45

away from this or it's hard to separate

25:48

it from the comfort of.

25:50

Yeah, you know, I guess I was.

25:52

I was.

25:52

I started working about

25:55

when I was about fifteen, pretty

25:58

young. I my

26:00

life. I love everything

26:03

that I have been able to

26:05

do because of this strange circus

26:08

upbringing that I've had. But there

26:10

was a point when I was doing a television show in

26:12

my young twenties called

26:14

Felicity and working crazy

26:16

long hours, and I had

26:19

at that point real like

26:23

romantic nostalgia heartache

26:27

for regular

26:29

things like family

26:32

and dinners, like really

26:34

basic normal stuff,

26:38

girlfriends and birthday parties.

26:40

And because I was working at such a pace

26:43

for so long that I think

26:47

the wonderful thing about

26:50

our lives now is, you

26:52

know, we work really hard, crazy long

26:55

hours till three in the morning or whatever while

26:58

we're shooting a show or a movie

27:00

or whatever, and it's this uphill sprint. But

27:02

then it affords us six

27:04

months off where I get to do nothing but do

27:07

laundry and organized birthday parties

27:10

and walk kids to school and cook bad

27:12

dinners.

27:12

And you know what I mean.

27:14

So, you

27:17

know, I think it informed

27:20

my real longing for

27:24

and the importance

27:26

of those family dinners in

27:28

my younger twenties. I

27:31

consistently would seek out boyfriends

27:33

that had that big family and those moms

27:35

who cooked, And I realized, oh, I'm dating

27:38

you for your mom.

27:38

Yeah, okay, you're

27:41

you're okay, Yeah, yeah,

27:46

you know I want I want that like cozy,

27:50

you know those I just think cooking

27:52

to be a good cook, which I

27:55

am not.

27:56

After one kid, I was a little

27:58

bit more involved in it. I would bake a lot, do

28:00

a lot of things. And then now that

28:02

we have three kids, life is really

28:04

busy and careers, and I

28:06

know I'll get back to it. But to be

28:09

a good cook, it's just I just think it's

28:11

the highest art. It's just such

28:13

a you've got.

28:14

She's got a very good she's being modest, she's

28:16

got a very good baking game. Makes

28:19

it gin just gone. And every birthday, every

28:23

birthday, I ask there's only one thing

28:25

I have my birthday, which is a

28:27

pear cake that you make with her. What's

28:30

the cream cheese frusting?

28:31

Yeah, that's a good one, that is That's.

28:32

Only only thing I asked for every birthday.

28:35

But I'll get back to it. I like, I like doing it

28:37

when I have time.

28:38

When you take

28:40

the time, when did you leave.

28:42

Home when I was eighteen, you

28:44

know, going to college in London. Where

28:46

did you get I went to the Royal Academy to study

28:49

acting.

28:50

Did you go home when you were living in London?

28:53

Oh?

28:54

Yeah, I have such visceral memories

28:56

of running to Paddington and grabbing a

28:58

four pack of Stellar to our for the train. That

29:00

was what we always what we always did.

29:02

What I need right now?

29:03

Yeah? Yeah? And the real Yeah,

29:06

the real treat was always say you went back

29:08

for a weekend or something you would like,

29:10

Mum would do a slightly earlier Sunday

29:12

roast so you can get you know, the train

29:15

and one of the last trains back to London. But

29:18

yeah, we always headed home for Christmas and

29:20

all the big holidays.

29:22

Did you have either of you ever work in a restaurant?

29:24

I worked.

29:24

It wasn't quite I wouldn't call it a restaurant,

29:27

but I was. I was a kitchen porter for

29:29

for a little while, well for a summer,

29:32

just being shouted at as I washed dishes.

29:34

Did you ever I didn't. I liked

29:36

other things, but yeah.

29:37

I played a chef once a.

29:40

Yeah, who did you play?

29:42

And who trained you?

29:43

It was?

29:45

No, it was Who's who was the three Mission

29:47

stars Marcus.

29:50

Yes, I remember that, Yes, And

29:52

I remember when he was doing that and I.

29:54

Bradly Bradly Cooper,

29:57

you know, did a lot with a

29:59

number of different chefs. He was kind of you

30:01

know, filleting grouse and

30:03

all kinds of stuff. And I remember

30:06

they said to me, and they said, you

30:08

have this scene where you make a French omelet

30:10

for Bradley and then you make an espresso and then you smoke

30:12

a cigarette. And they're like, you'll be fine, You'll be fine, You'll be

30:14

fine. Right, So we had we

30:17

had all Marcus Marcus's people

30:19

on set, well initially actually

30:21

have to make them. So they say, we're going to

30:23

pull you in an hour early and we'll.

30:24

Show you an hour early.

30:26

And I was like an hour omelet.

30:29

I was like, surely, I put it in a microwave, don't I.

30:31

This is madness. So I'm

30:33

showing how this, how this French omelet

30:35

is made, and there's so much

30:37

whisky, like you've got to get here into this, You've

30:39

got to get into this. I was like, well, that's easy,

30:42

it's just whisk And I tried

30:44

this thing so many times and for some

30:46

reason, it came out looking like a

30:50

trainer that a dog had chewed right,

30:52

and you could see whoever Marcus

30:55

is kind of one of his suit chefs was

30:57

looking on abject horror as the way

30:59

I was doing this, as was the director, like

31:01

he can't do it. And in the end, it's

31:04

not even my hands who make the omelet in the movie.

31:06

It's actually playing the piano. Oh my god, it's

31:09

because and I was so arrogant in my

31:11

in my thinking that was like, oh.

31:13

I can anybody can do

31:15

it was.

31:15

It was to me. That's when I was a humbling

31:18

moment.

31:19

Do you go out to restaurants in Brooklyn?

31:20

The good restaurant we do the real

31:22

scene are my most favorite

31:25

thing that we did

31:27

when we were dating, and we continue to do even

31:30

more than sitting in a restaurant.

31:32

I love meeting you. We

31:34

go to great restaurants, but we always

31:37

sit next to each other at the bar. Yeah,

31:39

and I love that. I love

31:41

going early and you can sit

31:43

closer to somebody and just and

31:46

we usually leave just as it starts getting

31:48

busy.

31:49

Yeah.

31:49

Yeah, it's the best thing to do.

31:51

It that sounds like things are good,

31:53

Yeah, really good. And so the

31:56

love you have and reminiscing

31:58

about your memories. So there is also

32:01

food as comfort. So

32:03

times when maybe things are

32:06

not exactly as you want them, would you turn

32:08

to a food for comfort?

32:11

And if you did, what would that be? Who

32:14

wants to go first?

32:15

I would almost

32:17

always cook something like we're going to cook. I

32:19

mean, you make the joke

32:22

about when we go out really late and I

32:24

come home at eleven, still make that before

32:27

going to bed, which is just a you know, like

32:29

a really simple pasta with

32:31

butter and whatever

32:33

I have. I'll even add rosemary to it, but stage

32:35

would be ideal, but whatever. It just

32:38

kind of salt and butter in pasta.

32:40

That's what feels good.

32:42

Yeah, I'm certainly with you on that pasta.

32:45

But to me, if I'm talking pure

32:47

comfort, it would it would always be that the

32:49

cow.

32:50

The super I was going to say, I thought

32:52

it might be that.

32:53

Made just so it's hard lined in

32:56

that it was always the great source of comfort, even

32:59

when you to play football, you know, play

33:01

soccer, and I went coming in on a winter's

33:03

morning when you're so cold, and that was always

33:05

on the stove, and it would be with a huge piece

33:07

of bread that you tea and some cheese and

33:10

that was that was kind of everything.

33:12

Actually when your mom, before we lived

33:15

together, your parents would come and she

33:18

would leave, and before she would walk out of

33:20

the apartment, everything would be clean, and she would leave

33:22

cow on the stove for.

33:23

You, yes, and then she would they would

33:25

go to the air would she would It

33:27

was one thing quickly I was

33:29

when I lived in La just before I'd

33:32

gone to Los Angeles, I'd.

33:34

Gone to Argentina because there's there's

33:37

a Welsh community in southern Patagonia,

33:40

and I felt very in that very cliched,

33:42

obvious male way, kind of fell in

33:44

love with Malmon style of cooking and the

33:47

great asado is great, incredible,

33:50

and I had we kind of had a distant We found a

33:52

distant relative who was obsessed with a sad

33:54

and he taught me how to had a cook, you know,

33:56

a whole whole lamb on the cross. And

33:58

when I was in La, every month, first in

34:00

David's day, I would go and

34:03

buy a full lamb and

34:05

we would we would do it on you know, we would

34:07

do a Sada style on the cross over like seven

34:09

hours and have this huge

34:11

party when it was kind of carved

34:13

up at the end of it. That was always a

34:16

real highlight to me March the first Could you

34:18

do that?

34:18

Now?

34:19

I like to think that I could.

34:21

I was going to say one thing about

34:23

you and I think is we both

34:25

have I think we both love the

34:28

bringing everyone together and having really

34:31

good food. But I think there's something

34:33

in the fun of the theater of

34:36

it as well that we love. You know,

34:38

your friends Jason

34:41

and Tash are such intuitive,

34:44

beautiful, creative cooks, and it

34:46

just becomes a whole

34:49

fun theatrical thing visually

34:51

as well. And you know,

34:54

we did that thing for all of

34:56

our friends up in the mountains, up where

34:59

we had that chef and we said

35:01

we want to do it outside with everyone

35:03

came up on the mountaintop and I think.

35:05

We both was that here, Yeah,

35:07

the whole

35:09

hot gross.

35:10

Yeah, it was really.

35:12

I think food is drama, you know, being

35:14

in a regiment, and also the

35:16

idea that you know, no matter how you're feeling, you.

35:18

Have to act.

35:19

Yes, you have to do it. You have to do it, you have no

35:21

choice. You don't need to do

35:24

that.

35:24

But mostly I don't have to because I love I love

35:26

being the River Cafe and just

35:29

see your beast, Where when are you coming

35:31

soon?

35:31

Because I'll be back for the diplomat hopefully

35:34

soon and will come always

35:36

always always be with I would.

35:37

Okay, you're going to get Sean still

35:40

with you very very

35:42

well. I was going to say, ask her about

35:44

the ask about Cowl.

35:45

I'm sure all our conversation it's

35:47

really well, you'll meet him, and thanks

35:49

so much.

35:50

Thank you for asking

35:53

that you fund.

36:06

Ruthie's Table four is produced by Atamei

36:08

Studios for iHeartRadio.

36:10

It's hosted by Ruthie Rogers and it's produced

36:13

by William Lensky.

36:14

This episode was edited by Julia Johnson

36:17

and mixed by Nigel Appleton.

36:19

Our executive producers are Fay Stewart

36:22

and Zad Rogers.

36:23

Our production manager is Caitlin Paramore,

36:25

and our production coordinator is Bella Cellini.

36:28

Thank you to everyone at The River Cafe for

36:31

your help in making this episode