transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:04] Hi, everybody. You're listening to Radio Cherry Bombe, and I'm your host, Kerry Diamond, coming to you from New York City. Today's guest is Sabrina Rudin. Sabrina is the beloved restaurateur behind Spring Cafe Aspen, the organic plant-powered eateries in Aspen and Greenwich Village. She is also a brand new cookbook author. Her debut book, Healthy with a Side of Happy, 100 Plant-Based Recipes to Feed Your Family, drops next Tuesday, April 28th. If you love easy nourishing recipes, Sabrina's book is for you. What else? She just turned 40. We actually did this interview on her 40th birthday, and it was an honor to talk to her on such a milestone day. She and I have been trying to make this interview happen for years, literally, and I'm so happy we finally sat down for a chat because I learned so much about Sabrina, including the fact that she's a mom of three boys and a singer-songwriter. Stay tuned for my talk with Sabrina Rudin. Our Jubilee Conference is this Saturday in New York City, and I can't wait. We have an amazing day planned for everyone. Great food, drink, talks, lots of book signings, so many brilliant folks under one roof, including Chefs Jody Williams and Rita Soti, Nara Smith, Tony Tipton-Martin, Jenny Nguyen, and Carla Lali. Be sure to go to cherrybombe.com to check out the entire lineup. Tickets are sold out, but you can join the wait list at cherrybombe.com. Any Jubilee questions? Email us at jubileeatcherrybombe.com. Special thanks to Rezzy, American Express, Sam Pellegrino, Ghirardelli, Square, California Prunes, and Vuv Clico for making Jubilee possible. Today's episode is supported by Coyuchi. Mother's Day is right around the corner, and if you are stumped for gift ideas, I'm here to help. How about giving your mom the gift of rest? Everybody needs that. And Coyuchi has you and your mom covered. Think gorgeous sheets and duvets, comfy pajamas, fresh towels, and more. If my mom is listening, cover your ears. I want to surprise you on Mother's Day. Anyway, Coyuchi products are made with 100% Gotts certified organic cotton, the highest standard for the healthiest sleep. And many of their items are also Fairtrade certified. All Coyuchi sheets and bedding are soft and embody lived in luxury, perfect for moms and families. Coyuchi sheets are also lightweight, naturally breathable, and designed to keep you cool at night. I know I'm supposed to be shopping for my mom, but I've got my eye on their print percale sheets and their newest patterns for spring. I also love linen sheets, and they're known for their high quality linen that will literally last for decades. And this will make you feel good. Coyuchi is female led and was founded 35 years ago as the first brand to offer 100% organic cotton bedding. So sustainability isn't something new to Coyuchi. It's fundamental to what the brand is all about. Discover everything Coyuchi has for your bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. Learn more and shop at coyuchi.com/cherrybomb. That link is in our show notes. Radio Cherry Bombe listeners, you get 15% off your first purchase with the code cherry. Be sure to check out our Instagram for a special giveaway with Coyuchi. It ends on Friday, so don't delay. Now, let's check in with today's guest. Sabrina Rudin, welcome to Radio Cherry Bombe.

Speaker 2:
[03:27] Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1:
[03:29] I wanted to say those words for what, three years? Did we talk about this three years ago?

Speaker 2:
[03:34] I think more. We've been manifesting this for a long time.

Speaker 1:
[03:37] Well, we went to, I'll tell people the back story. It was a female founders fund dinner with a new doogle we love who's been on the show, and Amanda Hesser, founder of Food52. They brought together all these, I was going to say cool, okay, we're cool. All these cool female entrepreneurs. We sat outside at King.

Speaker 2:
[03:58] Long table.

Speaker 1:
[03:59] Long table. There were a lot of women I knew of but didn't know, like Jennifer Fisher and you and so many others. It was so nice to meet all these people because sometimes, when you're an entrepreneur or founder, you don't get the time to really sit and have a lovely conversation and meal with people you admire but don't necessarily know.

Speaker 2:
[04:20] Very true. I had the pleasure of being seated right next to you. You don't know this but I was fan girling you as I walked in. I was like, oh my God, bomb squad. You very kindly at that dinner said, I would like to invite anyone at this dinner onto the podcast. I've seen quite a few of the women from that dinner on the show, so you really meant what you said. I'm so happy it's happening now. I've been saying this quote a lot lately, but it seems to resonate with people where the universe only ever has three answers, yes, not yet, or I have something better in store for you. So, it was coming.

Speaker 1:
[04:57] I just got chills, Sabrina. I think we can end the interview right there. That's one of the coolest things anyone has ever said on this podcast.

Speaker 2:
[05:04] Wow.

Speaker 1:
[05:04] I love that.

Speaker 2:
[05:05] I love it, too.

Speaker 1:
[05:06] Say that one more time for our listeners who were distracted.

Speaker 2:
[05:08] So it goes, and I didn't make this up, it's my mantra. The universe only ever has three answers, yes, not yet, or I have something better in store for you. And if you reframe your life that way, even the disappointments feel like gifts. So that's what I've tried to do. And it really, I think it does help, especially as an entrepreneur and a founder, when people I think don't realize you get more no's than yeses and you get more letdowns than you ever see on social media and people come and go, team members come and go. So now I just reframe it in that way.

Speaker 1:
[05:41] The other amazing thing, it's your 40th birthday.

Speaker 2:
[05:44] It's my 40th birthday. This is the best birthday gift ever.

Speaker 1:
[05:48] Happy birthday, babe.

Speaker 2:
[05:49] Thank you.

Speaker 1:
[05:49] 40 is a big deal.

Speaker 2:
[05:51] I know, that's what everyone's telling me. New decade. Birthdays don't usually phase me. I just love birthdays. But this felt big. Last night, I was thinking, okay, last night of my 30s, new decade.

Speaker 1:
[06:03] Did you go wild?

Speaker 2:
[06:04] No, I was in bed by 9 p.m. with my red light mask, taking my homeopathic allergy medicine. And my eldest came in telling me about his anxiety over a school trip. So that's about as wild as I went. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Speaker 1:
[06:17] So you went hard last night.

Speaker 2:
[06:18] I went real hard, real hard.

Speaker 1:
[06:20] And of course, you are in your cookbook promo period. Were you like, oh my god, why is this happening the week I turned 40?

Speaker 2:
[06:28] It was very interesting. When I sold my book, my wonderful agent told me, she was like, I don't want you to be shocked. Books take a really long time. Yours is going to come out the spring of 2026. And the minute she said it, I just knew. I said I turned 40. And I'm very sentimental and sort of spiritual. So my 40th and just April in general, and I have a thing with sixes, and it's 2026 and 16s. So I knew. And then originally, my book was supposed to come out in May. And I remember the first time I met my editor in person was during cover day of the shoot. You know, Amanda Wellen, I said, you know, I have one question. Is there any chance it could be an April book? Because I just think that's what it's meant to be. And at the time, Amanda said, you know, not really, that's not really how this works. And I just let it go. And then about a month later, she sent me an email. She said, I have news I think you're going to like. We're pushing your pub date up a few weeks, your April 28th. And the minute I heard it, I knew. So I love the convergence.

Speaker 1:
[07:31] I love when number stuff works out. So it's a little bit of Taylor Swift.

Speaker 2:
[07:33] It's a little magic.

Speaker 1:
[07:34] Meets numerology.

Speaker 2:
[07:35] Exactly.

Speaker 1:
[07:36] Exactly.

Speaker 2:
[07:36] And I'll take all the Taylor Swift look I can get for this.

Speaker 1:
[07:39] And you mentioned Amanda. We had the same editor for our cookbook. So your book will be as brilliant as our cookbook is, obviously. But Amanda, I know you're listening to this, so hello.

Speaker 2:
[07:49] Hi, Amanda.

Speaker 1:
[07:50] Okay. So you are 40. It is a big deal to turn 40. I remember turning 40 very well. Felt very momentous. Any big goals for your 40th year?

Speaker 2:
[07:59] I think the biggest goal is, I mean, aside from the work and the book and, you know, to grow the brand and to propel spring and to have the book be a success. I think my 30s, especially the later part of my 30s, were really about just like a shedding, so to speak, and just letting go of thought patterns and, you know, apologizing for success. I think my goal for my 40s is really to just embody that woman that I finally feel like I've become and to let the rest go and just live it. I have a best friend. Are we allowed to curse on this podcast? I think she calls it the it 40s, because it's just this moment. Everything else was leading to this moment. And I know who I am. I feel good about who I am. And I don't want to question that all the time. I just want to go forth with that mindset and do it all, do my thing. So I think that's my biggest goal.

Speaker 1:
[08:54] Do you sit down and write out your goals?

Speaker 2:
[08:56] I do. I've always been a manifest or a journaler. I love this term. Cassandra Thurstwell, she founded Kitsch, and I saw her speak at a summit, and she talks about future journaling, and I love the way she puts that. So I do future journal. I write about things that will happen or I want to happen as if they have. And I do. I write down lists of things or I, more classical manifesting where I say something will happen on or before this date. I think it works.

Speaker 1:
[09:26] Oh, I love that.

Speaker 2:
[09:26] I've lived my life that way.

Speaker 1:
[09:27] Were we at the same event? I heard her speak at Hello Sunshine's conference.

Speaker 2:
[09:32] It was at G9, at Amy Griffin's Big Summit. And she was giving a talk on Kitsch and her story. And she talked a lot about future journaling.

Speaker 1:
[09:41] She's such an interesting entrepreneur. Kitsch, for those of you who don't know it, is a hair accessories line.

Speaker 2:
[09:47] Yes, and beauty. And it's huge. She calls it the biggest brand no one's ever heard of, which I think is so genius.

Speaker 1:
[09:53] Where did you grow up?

Speaker 2:
[09:54] I grew up until I was six years old above Spring Cafe in New York City at 250 Mercer. Most people don't know why. So that was a very full circle moment.

Speaker 1:
[10:04] Wait, does your family own the building?

Speaker 2:
[10:05] No, my dad was one of the original partners who built, it's a co-op, and it was a very funny story because I got sent the listing by a broker when I was looking for spaces. I texted it to my dad and I said, wouldn't this be a full circle moment? And one of my dad's partners is still involved, my dad and his partner still own part of the commercial space. And my dad was like, absolutely not. I want nothing to do with being your landlord. No way. And I said back to the broker, you know, this is really funny because I know this space very well. But I managed to make it work and I had many lectures from my dad that like if my rent was ever one day late and he ever had to hear about it from these partners, that would be the end. So I mean, my dad's my biggest cheerleader, but he really did not. This was not something he wanted to be involved in.

Speaker 1:
[10:57] Crazy full circle of stories.

Speaker 2:
[10:59] We still laugh about it because like three days before the rent is due every month, I get like a text from my dad that says, dot dot dot, just making sure here. I have to say it, I know it's coming, it's coming.

Speaker 1:
[11:11] That's a riot. So you can't blame your dad for the scaffolding that's around your cafe right now.

Speaker 2:
[11:17] No, but my dad did help fight for the umbrella bridge that they nicely put in front of spring because the other one was such a disaster. So at least for the warm weather, we have a bit of a prettier scaffolding, but scaffolding is such a bummer. It's still a bummer, but it's okay. We're making the best of it.

Speaker 1:
[11:35] Yeah, that's New York.

Speaker 2:
[11:36] You just got to learn to live with it. No, we actually got yelled at by the upstairs neighbor for the scaffolding and I had to politely explain to her that she should have to take it up with her building and not with the restaurant who also did not want the scaffolding.

Speaker 1:
[11:50] Any restaurateur in the world is like, get the hell away with the scaffolding.

Speaker 2:
[11:53] Exactly. So it's been a bit of a saga. Oh, gosh.

Speaker 1:
[11:57] We'll be right back with today's guest. Today's episode is supported by OnSite. OnSite is a Shopify design and development studio that works with modern consumer brands. Their mission is simple, help brands turn their websites into the most powerful growth channel, not just an online catalog. They've worked with some of your favorite brands and mine, Fishwife, East Fork, Diaspora Spice Co., Stumptown Coffee, and yes, Cherry Bombe. The On-Site Team has become a trusted partner of ours. On-Site designs and builds high-performing Shopify sites, improves conversion rates and the customer journey, and helps brands launch new products and campaigns online. They're focused on turning brand storytelling into a digital experience that drives sales. What's really special about On-Site is that they operate like an extension of your team, helping you continuously improve your site and your customer experience. If you're a founder or brand leader thinking about improving your website or moving to Shopify, learn more at onsite.co or email hello at onsite.co. You can find the URL and email address in our show notes. Okay, we'll move on to the next thing. So, New York City kid.

Speaker 2:
[13:08] And then my parents decided, it was in the 80s that New York wasn't for them. It was too sketchy, it was dirty, and they wanted to try the farm life. My parents are a little esoteric alternative, which is how I got into this type of food. And they decided to move to 180-year-old farmhouse on a farm in Catona. It was very remote at the time.

Speaker 1:
[13:30] It's still in New York State, outside New York City.

Speaker 2:
[13:34] And that's where I grew up, in this tiny little, very small little 180-year-old farmhouse.

Speaker 1:
[13:40] And did they farm?

Speaker 2:
[13:41] No, but they loved animals. So we had horses, goats, an assorted array of other creatures, dogs. It was really beautiful. And then that was where I lived until I went to college.

Speaker 1:
[13:53] Where did you go to college?

Speaker 2:
[13:54] Kenyon and then NYU.

Speaker 1:
[13:56] Okay. What did you think you wanted to do?

Speaker 2:
[13:58] I always knew I wanted to write. I didn't know that a cookbook would be my first book, but I knew that I wanted to tell stories and I knew that I wanted to tell my own story even as my story was unfolding. I never thought I'd be in food. I knew food was a part of my life, but I went to school for, well, I went to Gallatin when I went to NYU. So it was make your own major. And I did international affairs, literature, diaspora. I was working with refugees being resettled in New York at the International Rescue Committee. I was teaching English and literacy. Now that I think about it, food always played a central theme because my favorite thing to do was when refugees were resettling in New York City, I would go and have like their first meals with them at home and take them to the farmer's market or take them grocery shopping. And I loved it because we had a lot of Uyghur families and South Asian families. And so they would cook me all of their traditional foods and it was my favorite thing to do. So I thought I would start my own not-for-profit. My dad joked and still jokes that by opening a restaurant, I did start a not-for-profit.

Speaker 1:
[14:56] I know how that is.

Speaker 2:
[14:57] Yes. But didn't know it would be in food. So a few pivots along the way. But I thought it would have something to do with writing, not-for-profit work, music.

Speaker 1:
[15:09] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[15:09] And then-

Speaker 1:
[15:10] Let's talk about the music part. You unbeknownst to me are a singer-songwriter. I love music. I thought I was going to be a music journalist.

Speaker 2:
[15:19] I could so see you as a music journalist.

Speaker 1:
[15:21] Well, I could too. And then I couldn't. I worked at Spin in 1991. And I realized it was so bro-y. Oh my God, it was so bro-y. And I realized I liked music as a fan, not the insider thing. Like you would go and you would get to go backstage and it was a bunch of like bored guys and then people maybe go out afterward. And I don't know, I just- it kind of shocked me. I was like, I'm so not into this. I just want to be back at the show watching it as a fan.

Speaker 2:
[15:50] I wanted to be performing it, which I did. I've always written songs. I never played an instrument. I tried to play guitar, but I would write all melodies and lyrics and then I would sing them to a guitarist and they would accompany me and write the music against my acapella tracks. And I loved performing. I played out in the city, Bottom Lines, Sullivan Hall, John Oates Festival, and Aspen. And I still write music and I still, you know, my kids listen to it or I sing a lot. Music is a big part of our life. I never quite hit the pop star or singer songwriter lame, but I do feel it's interesting because I always knew some part of my life would be public. Like as an author, I just, I knew I wanted to write and to perform and my team has all been laughing at me because I keep saying like, this book coming and this tour is my Super Bowl. And it sort of feels, even though it's not as a singer songwriter, getting to go and talk about the book and be in front of people or doing TV segments, it feels like somehow it was all part of the same thing or meant to be.

Speaker 1:
[16:59] Well, I'm looking at your tour schedule and it pretty much is like a concert tour. Impressive.

Speaker 2:
[17:05] Thank you. I did a funny reels with one of my best friends who's coming to the Palm Beach stop with me and we acted out because we were singing Beyoncé in my kitchen and my husband walks in and interrupts us and he says what, we had wind fans going and microphones and he says, what are you doing? And I say, well, we're rehearsing for tour. And he's like, you know, it's a book tour, right? But to me, and I just thought that summed it up perfectly. So we did a little funny bit because it does, it feels like tour.

Speaker 1:
[17:32] You've got an impressive line up. I see lots of our friends, Camilla Marcus.

Speaker 2:
[17:36] Yes, love.

Speaker 1:
[17:36] Camille Stiles.

Speaker 2:
[17:38] Love. And it's very fun in Philly, which we haven't announced yet. It's all coming full circle because my moderator and conversation partner is Fran Costigan, who's like the fairy godmother of vegan baking and made my cakes as a child and taught me so much of what I know.

Speaker 1:
[17:55] Now, you might not want to tell us this, but you do perform under a different name and you do have music on Spotify, right?

Speaker 2:
[18:01] Kerry, yes. I sing with my grandmother. My grandmother passed away at 106. Recipes of hers are in the book. Her last name was Scott. Her name was Hazel Scott. And so I sing under the name Sabrina Scott. And yes, you can find it on Spotify. Or my husband likes to slip people's CDs, old school CDs when they come over and he gets a kick out of it and they get a kick out of it. I sometimes get a little embarrassed.

Speaker 1:
[18:25] How often do you release new music?

Speaker 2:
[18:27] I don't anymore. I haven't released one since I was 22. But this has all reignited my desire. And I feel like a lot happened in my 30s. So I don't know, maybe I'll write some songs and play a show in New York when after the book stuff.

Speaker 1:
[18:41] I'm dying to hear you sing. You know, we did a Cherry Bombe talent show in 2020. We did a virtual Jubilee because we had to cancel the in-person Jubilee. And we were just so desperate to keep everybody's spirits up because it was such a effed up time. Oh, my God. So we decided as our after party, a week after, we were going to do a talent show. And Tom Colicchio performed.

Speaker 2:
[19:08] Well, if you ever need a musical interlude at Jubilee.

Speaker 1:
[19:12] Well, funny you say that. I don't know if we will have announced it by now, but we are opening with some music at Jubilee. And we did our first Cherry Bombe concert last year.

Speaker 2:
[19:23] I think I remember that.

Speaker 1:
[19:25] I saw that. The amazing Jessie Balin performed. We had dinner and a concert. And it was so much fun. And I was like, oh my god, we have to do this all the time. We did a St. Patrick's Day luncheon with Kerry Gold and had this amazing singer-songwriter named Murphy perform.

Speaker 2:
[19:40] I know.

Speaker 1:
[19:41] And Murphy was fantastic. She did an original song and a cover of Linger by the Cranberries, which is one of my favorite songs.

Speaker 2:
[19:49] I love Linger too.

Speaker 1:
[19:51] Tell us your influences. What kind of music do you love?

Speaker 2:
[19:54] It was all the old school singers, Cranberries, Jewel, Joni Mitchell, Indigo Girls are my everything. The Indigo Girls are the soundtrack of my life. So it was a mixture of all of that with some pop thrown in. I'll send you the tracks after this.

Speaker 1:
[20:10] I'm going to make you sing. I think we're only allowed to play like five seconds of a song, so maybe I'll make you sing five seconds of Closer to Find.

Speaker 2:
[20:16] Oh, my gosh.

Speaker 1:
[20:17] That's the best song.

Speaker 2:
[20:18] I'm trying to tell you something about my life.

Speaker 1:
[20:21] Oh, my God.

Speaker 2:
[20:21] You have a beautiful voice. Thank you.

Speaker 1:
[20:23] This is so much fun.

Speaker 2:
[20:25] I could start singing Closer to Find is literally the soundtrack of my life. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[20:29] I was so happy when that was in Barbie. Oh, yes. Oh, my God. It felt like it came from out of nowhere, but I was like, this is so great that it's in there. I remember seeing the Indigo Girls at Radio City when the first big album came out.

Speaker 2:
[20:42] I don't think I've ever seen them live.

Speaker 1:
[20:43] You must have been in diapers.

Speaker 2:
[20:45] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[20:46] I love them so much. Folks, I swear to God, we'll talk about food eventually. Did you see the Lilith Fair documentary?

Speaker 2:
[20:52] No.

Speaker 1:
[20:53] Because you were too young for the Lilith Fair.

Speaker 2:
[20:54] I didn't see it, but I should watch.

Speaker 1:
[20:57] But for those who don't know it, it was this all-female concert that toured all over the country and all over Canada. Sarah McLachlan was behind it. I never got to see it. I was never a big festival person. But I saw all the performers individually in concert, but not together at the Lilith Fair.

Speaker 2:
[21:17] Maybe that's why we need to do a festival.

Speaker 1:
[21:20] Well, now we have Jubilee. I would love to do a Cherry Bombe music festival. If anyone's listening who does this for a living, call me.

Speaker 2:
[21:27] Sponsor us.

Speaker 1:
[21:29] Exactly. You can perform as part of it.

Speaker 2:
[21:31] I would be an honor.

Speaker 1:
[21:32] But the Cherry Bombe Festival, wouldn't that be all women? Yes.

Speaker 2:
[21:35] It would be brilliant.

Speaker 1:
[21:36] Amazing.

Speaker 2:
[21:37] With the best food ever.

Speaker 1:
[21:38] With the best food ever.

Speaker 2:
[21:40] Like a food truck, Cherry Bombe food truck.

Speaker 1:
[21:42] I was telling my friend Ellen Bennett, I want to do like Lilith Faire plus food. How much fun would that be? Anyway, Hulu, there's documentary on the Lilith Faire. It's so interesting to watch it now. It was really moving for me because I felt like there were a lot of parallels with Cherry Bombe and how Sarah saw the super bro-y world, where they wouldn't even book a female opening act for one of the big female acts. Because back then, you just would never pair two female acts together.

Speaker 2:
[22:13] So crazy.

Speaker 1:
[22:14] Now, when you look out at the landscape, I mean, just Beyoncé and Taylor and everybody crushing it, Charlie, Sabrina, you can go on and on and on. It's really great. It's just such a great moment for women in music.

Speaker 2:
[22:27] It is. And I'm all about it. I mean, I was an heiress tour fan. I'm all about it. Beyoncé, I love them all.

Speaker 1:
[22:33] We should mention your arm party. I need to take a photo.

Speaker 2:
[22:35] It's not a Taylor arm party, but everyone thinks it is, so I'm just going to run with it. But it's all different. A friend's daughter made me some.

Speaker 1:
[22:43] We're talking about all Sabrina's bracelets. It must take you 10 minutes in the morning to assemble that.

Speaker 2:
[22:48] I leave two minutes. I leave two on always and then the rest I.

Speaker 1:
[22:54] You said you put one on for your 40th.

Speaker 2:
[22:56] What did you add? I put on, my mother-in-law very kindly gave me these for my 40th, so I put these on and then my cousin sent me a little beautiful blue ones, so I put that on for my 40th.

Speaker 1:
[23:07] How sweet. You're in Katona, you go to college. How do you wind up with a cafe in Aspen?

Speaker 2:
[23:15] Well, when you say it like that, even I have to raise my eyebrows. No, my mom was ahead of her time and she raised me completely holistic, natural, mostly vegetarian, all organic. Food co-ops coming to the apartment or the house when we moved. All the old brands like Knudsen and just the bean, like Eden Foods, Arawan before it was Arawan, it was just a packaged food company. So I had a deep understanding about food and well-being, and I had a love of food because she was an amazing home cook and cooked most of our meals at home. I went on to college and I became that person. Well, the food at college was generally terrible, especially at Kenyon. I sort of became that person who would always have a, I stocked a little mini-fridge and I would make a stir-fry or oatmeal in the dorm kitchen and friends would inevitably wander in, or the late night snacks. Mine were always a little bit more elaborate than pizza. And I loved food and I kept teaching myself how to cook, continuing on from what I had learned from my mom. I wanted to teach snowboarding after college. I really loved the mountains. My parents had their honeymoon in Aspen many, many years ago and brought me there every year going up. I loved it, I loved the mountains. Felt very different from New York, obviously. But just like I needed something after. I had just written my first album and I called it like my wild woman year. I was gonna go live in the mountains and teach snowboarding. That was my dream. I was living there and there was nowhere to get healthy food. I would come down off the slopes starving and I talk about the story in the book and there's a few headnotes that dance around it. But everyone would say, I didn't want elk chili. I didn't want a really heavy burrito. I wanted tofu and rice and beans and veggies with tahini sauce. That's all I wanted. And you couldn't get it in Aspen. And Aspen was such an activity-driven culture. It had a little bit of the LA vibe, very beautiful, bright. I couldn't understand how there wasn't an Earth Cafe or Cafe Gratitude or something there.

Speaker 1:
[25:20] Oh my God, Cafe Gratitude.

Speaker 2:
[25:21] Oh, the best, my favorite. I tried to sort of see if brands were wanting to come there, if I could partner with someone, but no one did. So my boyfriend at the time, who's my now husband, he was also moving to Aspen after college, and mutual friends introduced us, a lot of mutual friends. He was sort of taking a sabbatical before coming back to work in New York City. We both wanted to go into grad school and going back and forth. But he had developed this building, and he had a space on the first floor, and we really wanted to bring in a restaurant. I would call Cafe Gratitude, I would call Earth Cafe. A few people would return my calls, but everyone was like, you're crazy, Aspen's seasonal. No one wants this kind of food there. I kept saying, no, no, no, no, no, someone's going to do this. I don't know how to run a restaurant, but I know exactly what the food should be. Maybe I could find and invest something. I kept talking to people about it, locals, and then finally I turned to them and I said, why don't we do it? I'll do it. Let's open this. Everyone thought we were out of our minds, but we opened and that was 13 years ago.

Speaker 1:
[26:33] You're married now.

Speaker 2:
[26:34] We're still married and we still have the restaurant. I think it was a very specific moment in time where people did in fact want this kind of food. As I said, I had no experience in restaurant operations.

Speaker 1:
[26:46] Had you ever even worked in a restaurant?

Speaker 2:
[26:49] I had worked in a cafe at Kenyon called Middle Ground.

Speaker 1:
[26:52] I worked on a hot dog truck as a 16-year-old and then had my restaurants having never worked in a restaurant.

Speaker 2:
[26:58] I had never worked in a restaurant, but my mom owned a cafe for many, many years when I was younger called Pamela's Naturally Delicious, and it was actually next door to where Spring is now in the city. That's why I was very serendipitous to be in that building.

Speaker 1:
[27:11] What years did your mom have her place?

Speaker 2:
[27:13] Oh, God, in the very early 80s, because I was born in 86, so before that, and then when I was younger, she had it for a few years.

Speaker 1:
[27:19] I wonder if I ever went there. I worked in SoHo at a bookstore all through high school and college.

Speaker 2:
[27:24] Maybe, because it was iconic back in the day, and she would bring in all these cakes and exported goods, and then just do healthy. It was all grab and go.

Speaker 1:
[27:34] Your mom was ahead of her time.

Speaker 2:
[27:35] She was really ahead of the time, and she would keep me on her lap in the cafe, and she was always working the register. So for the first five years that I had Spring, three to five years, I loved working behind the register. That's what I would do. My team would not let me expo. They said I was terrible at it, even though I wanted to. But I loved to be behind the register, serve. You order at the register, and then if you've ever eaten with us, we bring you your food, but it's not full service. So I loved taking orders, talking to everyone. It's an interesting place, Aspen, because one, everyone comes through. So a lot of musicians, a lot of actors, a lot of policy makers, you have the Aspen Institute, Ideas Fest. So many things converge there people don't realize. And then people from all over the country. So LA, Dallas, like all the places that I'm now getting to go on tour, a lot of those bookstores invited me because their founders love Spring over the years and have all come through Aspen. And it just kind of became this spot.

Speaker 1:
[28:32] Did it take a while to catch on?

Speaker 2:
[28:34] Yes. It took five years for people to say, because everyone was very upset at first. People in Aspen don't like when someone from New York City comes and opens a restaurant there. A few years ago, there was a joke going around social media where, remember when we said Spring Cafe wouldn't last a day and now it's the oldest restaurant in Aspen? Because a lot of the old places have closed and it's all sort of new restaurants that are all lovely, but a lot of them are locations of existing outposts. And Spring is still there on the little corner. We're outside the core, we're on the east side of town. Everyone said we were crazy, we'd never make it, no one would go there. A few years later, the Aspen Art Museum opened right there. We got really lucky because to this day, no one else is doing that. So we're the only healthy vegetarian spot in town.

Speaker 1:
[29:24] How has it been finding employees over the years? Because it is so seasonal.

Speaker 2:
[29:28] We lucked out. I had a founding chef, her name is Blanca. She's very integral to my story. She was the chef at the original vegetarian restaurant. There was a place called the Explore Bookstore in Aspen that's still there, founded by a wonderful woman named Catherine Sterling. And she's long since passed away, very sadly, but she had a vegetarian organic restaurant upstairs. And Blanca was the chef there. It's where I would eat growing up. And it was some of my favorite food. And when I opened Spring, when I was opening Spring, I said, there's one person in this valley I can do it with. And so we tracked Blanca down and I said, do you remember me? And she said, of course I remember you. I've known you most of your life, like you would come in with your parents. I said, I have a crazy idea, but I want to give you your own kitchen. And so she worked with us for a decade. She was my chef for the first 10 years, and then we had to go back to being with her family. So she retired and I luckily just found a different chef who I had also known. But many of my team members have been, like our manager has been with us for almost nine years. I don't know, we got lucky there. Through COVID, everyone stuck with us. So it's actually much easier in Aspen than in New York.

Speaker 1:
[30:38] Five years, that's a long time. How did you pay for everything?

Speaker 2:
[30:41] I started with my own investment, like just a small, I mean, it's much smaller in Aspen. It's 1200 square feet, our kitchen's tiny. My husband had developed the space and he was like, I guess, let's invest in this. My rent was decent, but he had investors in the building. So we had to pay somewhat market rent and we both invested a small amount and then our parents were, I guess, both our parents were our only first small investor. Then we just bootstrapped for five years, but we were lucky in Aspen. Our sales picked up pretty quick. I don't want to say quickly because it wasn't easy, but it was somehow sustainable and we were very lucky because we stayed open, so we had a local following and we would just close one week in May and one week in November and that's still what we do. Now we close two weeks May, two weeks November. But we bootstrapped for a while and then it wasn't until I opened in New York that I brought in outside investors and did a raise and that was because people loved it and asked them and wanted to bring it here.

Speaker 1:
[31:41] What were some of the things on the opening menu?

Speaker 2:
[31:44] The superhero burrito.

Speaker 1:
[31:45] And are they still?

Speaker 2:
[31:46] It's still our number one best seller.

Speaker 1:
[31:48] What's in a superhero burrito?

Speaker 2:
[31:49] It's tofu or eggs, roasted potatoes, peppers, onions, spinach, vegan cheese or goat cheese. People love it because I always wanted a healthy breakfast burrito that I could eat after teaching that I still would feel really good about. And so I said to Blanca when we were opening, I said, I want to make a dream vegan burrito and then one option with egg. And so we came up with this recipe and she made it for me. And I was like, yes, that's it. Some variation of the chocolate chip cookies, which are the ones I brought you, which are also in the book, of course. And the tempeh ruben, the sweet potato white bean burger, curry, these sort of very hearty nourishing dishes that I think prove to people you didn't need to be eating elk chili to stay satiated and nourished. And those are still on the menu in New York and in Aspen. The falafel wrap, that and our superhero were our best sellers and they still are.

Speaker 1:
[32:41] So cool. At what point do you decide we're going to open in New York?

Speaker 2:
[32:46] When I opened Spring in Aspen, I think I knew eventually. We were just kind of in town and we were driving in the car and going to the opening because I think I had gone to the supermarket. We were out of something already. And I was like, Dad, next up New York. My dad's 88, has worked every day of his life since he was 15. Parking cars at a racetrack and then built his career. And he's a realist and he's very supportive, but he does not like sugarcoat things. So he was like, you know what kid, let's just survive this. Just let's see. You don't know where it's going to go. Maybe you'll wind up somewhere else. It wasn't until, I guess, we opened in COVID. So five and a half, six years ago, a customer of Spring in Aspen, a few things happened. I was thinking to myself, Spring was sort of taking off as a brand. I knew our food, I knew we had the food dialed in. I was like, I guess, I think we're ready to like bring this to New York somewhere. I was going to open in Chef's Club. They were doing a rotating pop-up.

Speaker 1:
[33:48] Soho or Noho, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[33:49] One of my investors, actually Amy Griffin, she was one of my angel investors. She said, don't open a pop-up. She was a huge fan of Spring. She said, open a restaurant. I said, how am I going to open a restaurant in New York? That I can't bootstrap. I'd have to do a real raise. Who's going to invest in me? She said, you have fans. People love your burritos, because our favorite was the superhero. People will invest in you. She was one of my angel investors. Then Martin Dolphy, amazing. He has Beliade, which is in Hill House, and a lot of amazing brands.

Speaker 1:
[34:27] Tell me what it was like raising money, because you didn't really have to do it the first time. You did family.

Speaker 2:
[34:32] That was what was so interesting, but I really lucked out the second time because both investors, he approached me. He said, I love your spot in Aspen. If you're interested in bringing it to New York, I'd love to talk. And I was like, this is terrifying. I don't know if I want to, how am I going to bring in outside investors? This is so scary. I just have two. I have Belial and G9 and did a small raise.

Speaker 1:
[34:55] That's pretty badass. G9 is behind some of the most major female founded brands. That must make you feel good.

Speaker 2:
[35:01] I texted with Amy today for my birthday, because she really is such a mentor in my life. And I sat like the gift of the both of them, but really Amy was the first one, because I was about to do the pop-up. And she was standing in my house. We were doing an event for something else. And she said, don't like believe in yourself. Take the shot on yourself. Don't do a pop-up. It's a waste of money. Just go for it. We went for it. That was a pre-COVID world. It was a very founder led word where everyone was like, you're great. We believe in you. Take your vision. And now the world is obviously very different. Both of them encouraged me to open another restaurant. And I will. I think we'll do Upper East Side one day. I just have to figure it out.

Speaker 1:
[35:43] My friend Marcy is a super fan of yours. And I said, Marcy, do you have any questions for Sabrina? And she said, when is she opening on the Upper East Side?

Speaker 2:
[35:51] One day, Marcy, I promise. Martin just asked me that too. I would like to. I have to figure out the best way because operating restaurants is not my strength. Connecting with people, creating a brand, the food. It's a very mission driven concept. It has been since the day we started. We're 100 percent organic. We've always been seed oil free. We cook with all non-toxic materials. We filter our water. That's the only reason I want to have a restaurant, is to feed people in the way that I believe food should be served. So I've got to figure out a way to scale that and bring in someone who can really operate that.

Speaker 1:
[36:28] Let's talk about your beautiful cookbook, your cookbook baby. Best title, Healthy with a Side of Happy. That's what we're talking about. Healthy with a Side of Happy. How did you come up with that great title?

Speaker 2:
[36:40] It's so funny. I keep telling one of my really close friends that she helped me come up with it and she has no memory, so I'm just taking all the credit. I feel like we were running titles off each other in the car. I think especially in the world of Instagram and social media and health these days, everything is so polarizing. Food is politicized, health is politicized. I wanted the way I eat and the food that the book is about, it's not about deprivation, it's not about what you can't eat, it's not about what I don't eat, it's about what you can eat, what I do eat, what you should, you know, not should, but like what you can eat and feel great. And I just wanted to evoke joy. Food for me, I write about it in a headnote in the book, but one of my dear friends, she sent me a picture of carrots because I convinced her to go to the farmer's market one day. And it's this wild bouquet, for lack of a better word, of carrots, rainbow carrots and they're nubby and they have their tops on them. And she sends it to me and she goes, is this what carrots are supposed to look like? Because she was used to buying Cal Organics from the supermarket. And I wrote back and I said, yes, aren't these so beautiful? Like, look how vibrant and they're so gorgeous. And she said, you talk about vegetables the way I talk about shoes. And that's in a headnote in the book. But it's so true. And I've learned over the years of owning Spring and talking about food and teaching people how to cook on social, that people really don't know how to cook vegetables. They're intimidated by vegetables. And it's not even, I didn't even set out to want to write a vegetarian cookbook. I did it, I mean, I'm mostly vegetarian, but I did it because I think a lot of people far more talented than me teach people how to cook meat and chicken and fancier, more, you know, developed food and recipes. But I really wanted to teach people how to go to the farmers market, buy a bunch of veggies and eat them in a delicious way and in a way that would make them feel happy. And I do think that food is central to well-being and central to how we feel. Sometimes with a few tweaks, if you change what you eat, like you are what you eat and food is medicine, or that's really my philosophy.

Speaker 1:
[38:48] You said earlier, I don't know if we were rolling or not, but that this specifically is not the Spring Cafe Cookbook.

Speaker 2:
[38:55] Well, it's funny, when I first wrote, when I signed with my agent, she wanted me to write a Spring Cafe Cookbook. And I thought that would be the book people wanted because that's what people knew me from, Spring Cafe. And so we wrote the proposal as sort of the origin story of Spring and the hits and the publishers, well, either it got rejected or there were three publishers who said, we love Sabrina, but we don't want this book. We want a Sabrina book, not a Spring Cafe book, which actually I was very happy to write because like I think I said earlier, I always wanted to write a book and I wanted to tell my story. I wanted to do something separate from Spring, but include Spring. So it's not actually a Spring Cafe cookbook. It's my story of growing up the way I did, my mom's philosophy and its recipes from my childhood, from her kitchen, ones that I've developed throughout my life, ones that I wrote specifically for the book. It's Sabrina cookbook, not a Spring cookbook, but the best, the hits are in there.

Speaker 1:
[39:49] The hits are in there?

Speaker 2:
[39:50] Yes, like the burritos in there, the talkative cookies and a few other things, just because I thought, why not?

Speaker 1:
[39:56] You kind of have to.

Speaker 2:
[39:57] You have to, and it's a nice crossover.

Speaker 1:
[40:00] Let's talk about some of these recipes. Let's start with the chocolate chip cookies, since you very kindly brought me a present on your birthday of the cookies.

Speaker 2:
[40:08] Well, my birthday present is coming on the pod on my birthday.

Speaker 1:
[40:12] What makes your chocolate chip cookies special?

Speaker 2:
[40:15] They're vegan, they're gluten-free, they're made with really clean ingredients, and they're just delicious. I mean, I've said this now a few times this week, I hate the word, but they're moist, and they're really craveable and addictive.

Speaker 1:
[40:28] We had a whole moist conversation with someone else. Oh, Lucy from the Ferrier.

Speaker 2:
[40:32] Oh, I love from Lucy. I love cakes. They're genius. I mean, we have to bring the word back. How do you describe food and baking?

Speaker 1:
[40:38] I was saying, I think it was when I was at InStyle, that word was one of the banned words.

Speaker 2:
[40:43] It's still a banned word, but they are moist and not dry. People just love that. They love these cookies and they're slightly different in Aspen. I did the New York recipe in Aspen because of the altitude. They're not vegan in Aspen. We use egg in the batter. Here, they're vegan, but both are equally as popular. The New York ones, it took us a long time to get the recipe right. I'm so devoted to these cookies that if something goes off or the almond flour that we use goes out of stock, I can tell there's a difference and there's a change, and I will go into the kitchen and roll my sleeves up and I make the dough with the team until it's perfect again. So it's like a running joke with my friends, like if God forbid the cookie goes off, like I'm on the cookies, I'm very attached to these cookies. So I had to put them in the book.

Speaker 1:
[41:30] Okay. Everyone's going to have to make those cookies now.

Speaker 2:
[41:32] Hopefully you will like them now that I've said so much about them.

Speaker 1:
[41:36] Tell us another recipe that's really meaningful to you in the book.

Speaker 2:
[41:40] I would say my grandmother's kugel. So my grandmother, she was with us till she was 106.

Speaker 1:
[41:45] You mentioned that, that's remarkable.

Speaker 2:
[41:47] That's the one whose name I borrowed to sing with, and she was a phenomenal home cook, and just a really, just an inspiration in my life. She loved to entertain. She loved to bring people together. She was a girl's girl. She loved her girlfriend. She would sit for hours, and every morning she would put her face on, which was her way of talking about her makeup. And then I would just marvel that she would literally set out like an hour to two hours in her day to just talk to her friends. Like they would call her and she would call them, and they would gab and kibitz and spill the tea. A little bit of like Jewish grandparent gossiping, but really just in a wholesome, beautiful, like what's going on in your life? What do you need? How's your husband? How's your dog? How's your child? In a very wholesome way that I grew up listening to, because I would love to sit next to her. And I talked to her on the phone every day, religiously, and she had a few recipes that I really loved. I want to write a book that's Pasketarian, so I can include her salmon recipe because it's still my favorite. But her kugel, which is, if you're not Jewish, is a sweet noodle casserole that you eat on the high holidays, is really exceptional. And she gave me her recipe and taught me how to make it. And it's delicious. I make it every year. Everybody loves it. So that's in the book.

Speaker 1:
[43:04] Have you made it more Spring Cafe-ish?

Speaker 2:
[43:06] Well, so it's funny. The one in the book is like the Sabrina-fied one. And then I, in the acknowledgment, say, I hope you don't mind that I swapped in the cashew sour cream. But I've also given people the real one, like I've put it on social media and given it to people. But actually, you can't tell the difference. Because I keep all her, instead of white sugar, I use coconut sugar. And just because I feel like the people who are buying the book will want that version and it's equally as delicious. But that's a sentimental.

Speaker 1:
[43:34] So Sabrina-fied, that's what I'll call it moving forward. Even though the recipe is not in the book, you have to tell us about her salmon. You can't say she is the most amazing salmon recipe and then not tell us.

Speaker 2:
[43:44] So she would buy salmon. She was not worried about wild salmon. I'm pretty sure we went to Publix to buy the salmon. She did not use parchment paper. She used tinfoil, which if you follow me, you know I disavow. But salmon, she put mayonnaise, pretty sure it was Hellman's, like we won't tell. My mom would sort of-

Speaker 1:
[44:02] I do love Hellman's.

Speaker 2:
[44:03] It was my dad's mom. So like my mom would just sort of like scoot away when she was doing her cook. But even my mom loved her cooking. Both my grandmothers were amazing cooks. So it was salmon, mayonnaise, dill and salt and pepper. And then she would cover it in tinfoil and bake it. And she never timed it. It was just the perfect. She just knew when to take it out of the oven. And it's melt in your mouth and it's so delicious.

Speaker 1:
[44:28] It sounds so good. It sounds like a Molly Baas recipe. Are you friends with Molly?

Speaker 2:
[44:31] I'm not. I love Molly. I don't know her. So she's going to think this is a real fan girl moment, but I'm just friends with her from afar just because I love everything she does.

Speaker 1:
[44:39] With her A-O-Mayo. She loves dill.

Speaker 2:
[44:42] It's a very Molly, like A-O-Mayo, dill pickle salmon recipe for sure. Molly, if you're listening, please make this salmon with me.

Speaker 1:
[44:50] Or you two should do a cute video together or something. You told us chocolate chip cookies, the noodle kugel. Tell us a really healthy recipe.

Speaker 2:
[44:58] All the salads are in there. I just made a kitchen sink chopped because my kid's school started a CSA with Halal Pastures Farm and we were cracking up because people were sending in these photos of radishes and all these veggies saying, what is this? I'm just used to peppers and lettuce. So I did the kitchen sink chopped from my book, which is a real like OG old school hippie salad recipe, but it's basically every vegetable in your refrigerator. It looks like a rainbow. And then this delicious lemony mustard dressing. And it's so good. I have it in the fridge and I've been eating it every day. So things like that. My mom's lasagna is in there, which I love.

Speaker 1:
[45:38] What makes your mom's lasagna unique?

Speaker 2:
[45:40] She uses thinly sliced white potatoes in lieu of ricotta cheese. And no one thinks about potatoes and lasagna, but it is so good. Creamy and the texture, it's like hearty. And I make it for a lot of friends and they love it.

Speaker 1:
[45:54] Sweet potato instead of ricotta cheese.

Speaker 2:
[45:55] Yeah, so she doesn't put any cheese or ricotta. Sometimes she'll put a little tofu and then there's cheese on top, but she very thinly, like almost a mandolin thin, slices white potatoes like Yukon gold potatoes, and she layers them in with spinach and mushroom.

Speaker 1:
[46:09] How interesting.

Speaker 2:
[46:10] And it's delicious.

Speaker 1:
[46:11] And does it taste like a lasagna?

Speaker 2:
[46:13] Oh, yes. It's so good. Next time I'll bring you a lasagna.

Speaker 1:
[46:16] Okay, I'm totally intrigued.

Speaker 2:
[46:18] It's really good. It's probably my favorite meal of all time and like my comfort food.

Speaker 1:
[46:23] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[46:24] Like anytime I came home from college or after I had all my kids, I would ask her to make me a lasagna.

Speaker 1:
[46:29] All right. And how many kids do you have?

Speaker 2:
[46:30] Three boys.

Speaker 1:
[46:31] Oh, three boys. Wow. Just interviewed Ashley Graham, who also has three boys. Yeah. Three is like the magic number. She's three girls. I'm three girls. We're talking about the Mar sisters. They're three girls.

Speaker 2:
[46:41] I'm an only child.

Speaker 1:
[46:42] You're an only child.

Speaker 2:
[46:44] I wanted chaos. I don't know if I wanted this much chaos, but I'm very hot and I did.

Speaker 1:
[46:49] I just interviewed Caroline Chambers, four boys.

Speaker 2:
[46:52] Yes, I love Caroline. She loves Spring and she's so kind about everything.

Speaker 1:
[46:55] Isn't she great? Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[46:56] We've actually never met in person. We're text friends because we had a moment of mutual admiration on Instagram and then we always try to get together, but we haven't made it work yet. But I love everything she does.

Speaker 1:
[47:09] Okay. Your book sounds amazing and this tour you're going on, how many cities?

Speaker 2:
[47:14] Oh, gosh. I think the first week is like seven.

Speaker 1:
[47:18] Seven in the first week?

Speaker 2:
[47:20] Yeah. We're in New York, Palm Beach, Miami, LA, Montecito, Dallas, Austin. We're seven in the first week, and then I come back and I do Greenwich, New Rochelle, Chicago.

Speaker 1:
[47:31] You're hitting all the fancy cities.

Speaker 2:
[47:33] Exactly. Then I come back and I do Marin and Aspen, because I had to go to Aspen. Wow.

Speaker 1:
[47:40] All right. Well, you eat healthy, so you're going to be-

Speaker 2:
[47:42] Filly.

Speaker 1:
[47:43] It's not like you're going to fuel up on junk food to get through your book tour.

Speaker 2:
[47:45] No, I'm going to eat a healthy with a side of happy.

Speaker 1:
[47:48] Oh my God, I love it. Well, if folks have never been and they find themselves in Aspen, they need to go to Spring Cafe, and then it's in New York City, right down in the village, right near NYU. One thing I'm going to say is I was shocked when I walked in that you did not have the name of the place behind the counter.

Speaker 2:
[48:06] Oh, at Spring? Yeah. I know.

Speaker 1:
[48:08] What do you do for all the people who want to take photos?

Speaker 2:
[48:10] I don't know. Did you see the juice, the refrigerator?

Speaker 1:
[48:15] Yes, I almost took a picture of that.

Speaker 2:
[48:17] We have all of our produce and for whatever reason, that's become our-

Speaker 1:
[48:20] And you make the juices to order.

Speaker 2:
[48:22] We make the juices to order. We do Fresh Juice Bar.

Speaker 1:
[48:24] Very few places do that in New York.

Speaker 2:
[48:25] You can't really get it anymore. If you know Candle Cafe, that used to be uptown. It was always my favorite to sit. The Juice Bar was always the sort of heart and soul of the cafe in Aspen when we first started in here. That's very nostalgic for me because my mom would always take me to a juice bar and we would sit.

Speaker 1:
[48:41] I do think women are sometimes too modest about their places and their websites. Sometimes there's not even an about on a website. I mean, Cherry Bombe might be guilty of this too. But they don't write about themselves on their websites. A female chef who we love had opened a place in the Celebrity Food Hall, I forget which resort it was in. Every single guy had his name on his place and she was the only one that didn't have a name. I took a picture and I sent it to her and I was like, all the guys have their names on this year, the only woman here and the only one without her name on it. But I want to walk in and see like Spring Cafe by Sabrina Rudin.

Speaker 2:
[49:18] You know what it is though, but you're seeing it, I love you. You're seeing it with the scaffolding. So usually when you walk up, you see it on the awning and in Aspen, it's like a big turquoise, I mean, it doesn't say me, but it says Spring Cafe, which I love these like big block turquoise letters. The signs there, but yeah, I don't have it inside above the registers.

Speaker 1:
[49:39] Because I want to take a picture.

Speaker 2:
[49:40] You would have been able to if the scaffolding, it's the scaffolding. When the scaffolding goes, we'll do it.

Speaker 1:
[49:46] New York, so much scaffolding in New York.

Speaker 2:
[49:48] I know, so bad.

Speaker 1:
[49:50] All right, you, let's do a speed round. You're going to be great. What beverage do you start your day with?

Speaker 2:
[49:55] Green juice.

Speaker 1:
[49:56] What's always in your fridge?

Speaker 2:
[49:57] Tofu is always in my fridge, farmers market veggies and tamari.

Speaker 1:
[50:01] You mentioned vegan cheese when you talked about your burrito. I remember when I was at Yahoo Food and we did a vegan cheese taste test. This was years ago and they were pretty much borderline repulsive. What's a good vegan cheese these days?

Speaker 2:
[50:15] I don't love vegan cheese. I eat a little goat cheese, but if we're doing it, I like the Violife. Violife or Monte's, they both make a good.

Speaker 1:
[50:23] I don't know those brands.

Speaker 2:
[50:24] Violife, I think it's pretty clean and it melts really well and it's delicious on pizza or burrito.

Speaker 1:
[50:30] Okay. I'll check it out. I was just curious when you mentioned.

Speaker 2:
[50:31] But I'll do tofu as my speed answer for my fridge.

Speaker 1:
[50:36] What was your favorite food as a kid?

Speaker 2:
[50:39] Watermelon and gluten-free pasta with tomato sauce, probably.

Speaker 1:
[50:43] You didn't like the gluten pasta?

Speaker 2:
[50:45] I didn't get a chance to eat it. My mom, it was like brown rice pasta. So that's all I think about, like the brown rice shells are the pasta of my childhood.

Speaker 1:
[50:53] What's your favorite snack food today?

Speaker 2:
[50:57] Probably hummus and like a cracker, hummus and something salty and crunchy.

Speaker 1:
[51:02] What are you streaming right now?

Speaker 2:
[51:03] Well, I was a huge Heated Rivalry fan, so I've just recovered from watching reruns. That's my last thing. I'm waiting for Kate Hudson's show to come back, the basketball one. I'm forgetting the name, but I'm obsessed with it.

Speaker 1:
[51:18] I didn't see the first season. Is it good?

Speaker 2:
[51:19] Oh my God. It's so good.

Speaker 1:
[51:21] Oh, I got to watch it.

Speaker 2:
[51:22] That and Heated Rivalry were it for me.

Speaker 1:
[51:24] My Instagram is still filled with Heated Rivalry.

Speaker 2:
[51:26] My husband gave me the jerseys for my 40th birthday of Rosenov and the Hollander jersey this morning because I'm so obsessed. He was like, what happened to you? You've been taken out. He'd understand. I had to send him memes for him to understand that it was not me.

Speaker 1:
[51:42] Are you reading anything interesting? There's so many good books out right now.

Speaker 2:
[51:45] So many good books. I just finished Strangers and I'm reading The Encore by Juliette Zahn, who I love. Before that, it was Heart the Lover.

Speaker 1:
[51:54] I think I bought that because the cover is great.

Speaker 2:
[51:57] It's so good.

Speaker 1:
[51:58] Yeah. Too many good books right now.

Speaker 2:
[51:59] There's a lot of good books.

Speaker 1:
[52:00] It makes me so happy though. I mean, it bums me out that I don't have enough time to read all of them. But in this time when we're just so kind of obsessed with AI and how that's just ruining lots of things that people are still writing these really amazing-

Speaker 2:
[52:14] And really good books and a lot of female authors right now are writing bomb books.

Speaker 1:
[52:21] I forget that the guys write books. Sorry, guys.

Speaker 2:
[52:23] I know. I read a lot of female authors, you know.

Speaker 1:
[52:26] What music you're listening to right now since you love music so much?

Speaker 2:
[52:30] It's funny. I've been in a nostalgic phase, maybe because I'm turning 40 in the book. I've actually been listening to a lot of Indigo Girls lately. I listen to a lot of Taylor at the moment. I'm in a Taylor moment and Indigo Girls and Taylor.

Speaker 1:
[52:43] Dream travel destination?

Speaker 2:
[52:46] Mongolia.

Speaker 1:
[52:47] Really? Why?

Speaker 2:
[52:48] There's a festival that takes place in Mongolia called the Nadam Festival with horses. I'm a big horse, equine animal lover. I've always wanted to go. I have a picture saved from a National Geographic from years and years ago. That sounds beautiful. Then my husband gave me the photo. I've always wanted to go there. Then anywhere I can surf, like the Mentowai or somewhere.

Speaker 1:
[53:07] Are you a surfer?

Speaker 2:
[53:07] Yeah, obsessed.

Speaker 1:
[53:09] Okay, last question. I have no idea what your answer is going to be.

Speaker 2:
[53:12] Gosh, I'm nervous.

Speaker 1:
[53:13] If you had to be trapped on a desert island with one food celebrity, who would it be and why?

Speaker 2:
[53:18] Oh my Lord. Probably Amy Chaplin, who wrote at home in the Whole Food Kitchen. Beautiful book. She was one of the chefs from Angelica's and that's my favorite. If I could be trapped in a desert island and she could make me dessert every day, I would be fine. For sure, Amy. She's great.

Speaker 1:
[53:37] I haven't seen her in a long time. Hi, Amy.

Speaker 2:
[53:39] Hi, Amy.

Speaker 1:
[53:40] Thank you. This took so long to come together, but I'm so glad it did.

Speaker 2:
[53:44] Thank you for having me on my 40th birthday.

Speaker 1:
[53:46] I can't believe it's your birthday. Happy birthday, babe.

Speaker 2:
[53:48] Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker 1:
[53:49] All right. We're going to do fun things together. Post this.

Speaker 2:
[53:53] I would love it.

Speaker 1:
[53:54] I just know it.

Speaker 2:
[53:54] We're going to sing.

Speaker 1:
[53:55] Indigo Girls, The Cherry Bombe Festival.

Speaker 2:
[53:58] We have a lot to plan.

Speaker 1:
[53:59] We have a lot of work to do. So anyway, I hope your 40th year is your best yet. Congratulations on your beautiful book.

Speaker 2:
[54:05] Thank you. You're an inspiration. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1:
[54:08] That's it for today's show. Thank you to Sabrina Rudin for joining me. Don't forget Jubilee is happening this weekend, Saturday, April 25th in New York City. Tickets are sold out, but you can join the wait list at cherrybombe.com. If you're a listener and you're coming to Jubilee, be sure to say hi. Our theme song is by the band Tralala. Special thanks to City Vox Studio in Manhattan. Our producers are Catherine Baker and Jenna Sadiou. Our executive assistant is Bridget Pittman, and our head of partnerships is Rachel Close. Thanks for listening everybody. You're the bomb.