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Lucy Lean

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in Chef· Chefs and Restaurants· Must read· People Who Inspire Me

Moments of Grace with Nancy Silverton and Ruth Reichl

Cherry Bombe’s 100th taping, Moments of Grace with legends Nancy Silverton and Ruth Reichl was inspiring, insightful and downright hilarious – The Nancy and Ruth Show – needs to go on the road.

Moments of Grace with Nancy Silverton and Ruth Reichl and Kerry DiamondLast night I was privileged to be in the room where it happened – Moments of Grace with Nancy Silverton and Ruth Reichl. Cherry Bombe was celebrating 100 episodes of its radio show with Kerry Diamond interviewing Nancy Silverton and Ruth Reichl. Cherry Bombe is one of those rare beings – a beautiful biannual food magazine that celebrates women and food—”those who grow it, make it, serve it, style it, enjoy it and everything in between. It is about sustenance and style and things that nourish the mind, the eye and, of course, the stomach.” In the cavernous colorful warehouse that is Hedley and Bennett a who’s who of the LA food scene (mostly women) gathered for drinks, food and most importantly to listen to two very good girlfriends talk about their lives in the world of food.  They did not disappoint and to crown it all Nancy, Ruth and Ellen did a #JumpforJoy – my work is done!Moments of Grace with Nancy Silverton and Ruth Reichl and Ellen Bennett - JumpforJoy

The evening began with Ellen Bennett, founder and CEO of Hedley and Bennett, swooping in on her zip-line. She can check that off her bucket list!  Ellen then proceeded to give us a pep talk – pretty and sassy and bad ass, dressed in a chic navy blue jumpsuit with red belt she read inspiring quotations off brightly colored cue cards. Ellen’s effervescence is intoxicating – she’s enthusiastic, elegant  and always on, rather like the Energizer Bunny.  I wonder if she ever runs out of batteries?

Moments of Grace with Nancy Silverton and Ruth Reichl - Host Ellen Bennett of Hedley and Bennett

Do the Ellen Hustle:
1. Wake up and Fight
2. If the door isn’t open, climb through the window.
3. Be scrappy, you are stronger than you think you are,
push through the nasty parts.
4. Hustle your heart out.
5. They aren’t bumps in the road, they are the road.

Next up we were treated to a reading by Stephanie Danler, author of the bestselling novel Sweetbitter who read about a briny seduction in the seafood walk-in. Sweetbitter has been described as the Kitchen Confidential of our time – a coming of age story set in the New York restaurant scene. I can’t wait to read it.

Moments of Grace with Nancy Silverton and Ruth Reichl - Author SweetBitter- Stephanie Danler

Kerry’s interview of Nancy and Ruth was full of amusing stories and anecdotes that you could only get with two very close girlfriends reminiscing together. They had the audience in stitches. Kerry said Nancy was living up to her rockstar status as she put on her sunglasses to avoid the glare of the lights.

Moments of Grace with Nancy Silverton and Ruth Reichl

“The Importance of Family Dinners, Not About the Food”

Ruth took us on a cross country road trip from the Lower East Side to her hippy days in Berkeley California.  She and her husband lived on $3,000 a year in a commune they started with friends, growing vegetables and then opening a restaurant together.  In contrast Nancy talked about growing up longing for convenience food, like Rice-a-Roni, as an antidote to the awful school lunches her mother literally threw into a bag for her. Nancy’s mother wrote General Hospital and Nancy said she had never watched it and learned too late that her mother wished she had. Nancy’s family came together for dinner every night but it wasn’t for the food, rather the conversation, the cases her attorney father had won (yes, he usually won) and her mother’s experiences in the writer’s room. She highly recommended everyone shares family dinners if they aren’t already.

“I invited her to dinner.”

Ruth and Nancy became friends when Ruth came to LA as the Los Angeles Times Restaurant Critic and someone rang Nancy to say please look after Ruth as she had no friends! “So I invited her to dinner,” said Nancy. Ruth said she never reviewed any of her new BFF’s restaurants for ethical reasons, it was just too hard to be subjective.

Chef’s Table

Nancy talked about the trials and tribulations of shooting Chef’s Table season 3 for Netflix, that airs February 17th. They shot 10 hours a day for 10 days and her biggest worry was how they were going to tell her story given that she doesn’t own an island a la Francis Mallmann or a farm a la Dan Barber. She explained that it came about when she met Dominique Crenn at All-Star Chef Classic, the event I co-founded, when they cooked together. She was asked to talk about Dominique for her episode of  Chef’s Table. Nancy went to San Francisco to tape Dominique’s episode and shortly thereafter the producer called and said they wanted to film the Nancy Silverton episode.

All-Star Chef Classic - lunch Nancy Silverton, Nancy Oakes, Waylynn Lucas, Naomi Pomeroy, Dominique Crenn

Rise Up! The Politics of Food

Both Nancy and Ruth stressed how political food was for them back in the 7os but somehow as their careers took off it got put on the back burner. Nancy recently marched in the Women’s March in Washington DC for her great aunts – both suffragettes – one chained herself to the White House and was jailed for her actions. Ruth talked about how she had struggled with whether to post on Twitter in recent months in case her “airy fairy” 140 words about her coffee and the weather seemed trivial during dark times. She said that ultimately people had been missing them and we had to “find moments of grace everyday to get through it.”

Moments of Grace with Nancy Silverton and Ruth Reichl

So let’s take a time to find moments of grace everyday – two stand out ‘trivial’ fashion tidbits from last night: As you would expect at a gathering of women in food the fashion statements were everywhere – Nancy and Ruth always look sophisticated and cool, Nancy in stripes with mustard yellow socks and white shoes and Ruth head to toe in black apart from a white shirt.

I sat next to Carolynn Carreño, author of my latest obsession Bowls of Plenty fame, who was wearing the most darling sparkly shoes from Frances Valentine – happy feet.

Moments of Grace with Nancy Silverton and Ruth Reichl

And then there was the publisher of Cherry Bomb who carried the cutest purse made out of the New York Times Dining Section – obviously.  And the only branding we could find on it was a cleverly placed Chanel in print of the paper.
Moments of Grace with Nancy Silverton and Ruth ReichlLast night was a true example of women empowering women and I loved every minute of it – thank you Cherry Bombe. I can’t wait to listen to the radio show – episode 100 – and I highly recommend you do too.

You can thank me later!

Leave a comment below with your Moment of Grace today – be it fancy shoes, bags or inspiring words.

 

Filed Under: Chef, Chefs and Restaurants, Must read, People Who Inspire Me Tagged With: #JumpforJoy, All-Star Chef Classic, Bowls of Plenty, Carolynn Carreno, Chef's Table, Cherry Bombe, Dan Barber, Dominique Crenn, Ellen Bennett, food magazine, Frances Mallmann, hedley and Bennett, Inspiring women, Kerry Diamond, Moment of Grace, Mozza, Nancy Silverton, Netflix, Ruth Reichl, Women and Food

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Anxiety levels have been high these last few weeks Anxiety levels have been high these last few weeks and just when you think it can’t get any worse it does - Covid levels rising and hospitals dealing with record numbers of very unwell patients, a third lockdown and schools going online and exams cancelled, then there was the runoff in Georgia 💙 overshadowed by the insurrection in D.C. which led to the swift impeachment (again), there’s the excitement of Joe Biden’s inauguration that is being sucked away by the pandemic, the rise of white supremacy with troops guarding the Capitol and ever present fear.  But through it all we have to have hope - for the vaccine, for the teachers helping our kids learn online, for the nurses and doctors working against the odds, for M&S and Ocado deliveries,for a new administration, for arrests of violent rioters, for congress doing its job and for decency to be about to be sworn in.  It’s a lot and we all struggle daily to keep our heads above water.  On a personal level I find painting helps, as do walks in nature and family suppers, I’m wearing pretty dresses, silk underwear and wrapping myself in soft cashmere and yes I’m consuming more champagne than I usually do - if not now then when?  #Lockdown #Stayhome #staysafe #EnglishCountryHouse #EnglishCountryside
#snowdrops went for a walk to search for snowdrops #snowdrops went for a walk to search for snowdrops today - last year the lawn was carpeted in white, this year nothing.  Maybe they are late? Painted a small bunch #oilpaint #flowerpainting #snowdroppainting a sign of #spring I chickened out of painting the tiny glass jug that was a Christmas present - not sure I know how to paint that aqua colour - help!  #EnglishCountryhouse #EnglishCountryGarden #englishcountryside #Lockdown #Staysafe #stayhome
Frosted primroses #oilpainting sketch #sundaysketc Frosted primroses #oilpainting sketch #sundaysketch - we haven’t had snow but this magical frozen landscape is a beautiful alternative - painting again because that’s what got me through the last lockdown #painting #Englishcountryhouse #Englishcountryside #frost #ice #lockdown #staysafe #stayhome
#Lockdown weekend post a crazy time in the world o #Lockdown weekend post a crazy time in the world of #covid #brexit #onlineschool  #Georgia and then the #insurrection in D.C. I took it easy today - I tidied and cleaned #declutter #springcleaning I even cleaned out the #snack cupboard and found the plates I bought and had put in a safe place @jimbobart and made a couple of loaves of @richardbertinet #sourdough ready to wake up and bake tomorrow xxx #stayhome #staysafe #EnglishCountryHouse #Englishinteriors #Georgian #architecture
I love peaches 🍑 Thank you @staceyabrams for tr I love peaches 🍑 Thank you @staceyabrams for truly making America great again - Midnight snack - someone ate the whole pumpkin pie but was thoughtful enough to leave me a slice for breakfast... time to make more! Peach pie 🥧 for everyone x #Epiphany
#Lockdown #Day1 - climbed to the top of #CleyHill #Lockdown #Day1 - climbed to the top of #CleyHill with @chloescotland #walkingandtalking made a pumpkin pie #crimping needs practice - enjoyed the early evening light across the lawn #EnglishCountryHouse #englishcountryside and then came in and made a cozy #fire and made myself a #champagnecocktail - #dontjudge it’s been that kind of day after yesterday’s news came thick and fast crashing over us from morning until night x #staysafe #stayhome #thankyouNHS 🌈
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