Power of Words
Erin Jeanne McDowell
Join Sondra & Jeni as they talk with Erin Jeanne McDowell about how the poem The Peters Family by William Stafford and a quote from the Korean American cookbook by Eric Kim impacted her life. They discuss the power and connection of preparing food, meditation, and yoga practice.
Show Notes »
Transcript »
Presented by the Kansas City Public Library & Jewish Family Services of Greater Kansas City.
Join Sondra & Jeni as they talk with Erin Jeanne McDowell about how the poem The Peters Family by William Stafford and a quote from the Korean American cookbook by Eric Kim impacted her life. They discuss the power and connection of preparing food, meditation, and yoga practice.
Show Notes »
Transcript »
Presented by the Kansas City Public Library & Jewish Family Services of Greater Kansas City.
Hi everyone, and welcome to our podcast, Power of Words. Thanks for stopping by.
Jeni Starr:Hi, I'm Jeni Starr. My pronouns are she her, and I'm the Health and Wellness Specialist for the Kansas City Public Library.
Sondra Wallace:And I'm Sondra Wallace. My pronouns are she her, and I'm the Director of Mental Health Programs at Jewish Family Services at Greater Kansas City. I'm glad to be back doing a program again with Jeni.
Jeni Starr:All thanks, Sondra. Sondra and I have worked together on mental health programming for several years, and we're pleased to bring you our latest project where we talk with community members and connect stories through words that matter.
Sondra Wallace:We're excited to have our guests share a little bit about their mental health journeys and their love for Kansas City. We've asked each of our guests to share an example of how specific words have empowered, changed, encouraged, or strengthened their mental health and wellness.
Jeni Starr:We hope one or two of the words from our conversation today allow you to connect to words that matter to you.
Sondra Wallace:Hey, Jeni. How are you doing?
Jeni Starr:I'm good. We're both so interested in how the other one's doing.
Sondra Wallace:I know.
Jeni Starr:I'm doing all right. How are you doing?
Sondra Wallace:Yes, I am doing all right as well.
Jeni Starr:Did you have a good week? Weekend?
Sondra Wallace:Yeah. Yep. Yep. My, our, our youngest daughter headed back to her college setting, and that was a little bit hard, you know she's been home for three months and so. It's always, you get back into a routine and you get all settled again, and, and then things change and that's hard.
Jeni Starr:Yeah.
Sondra Wallace:Change is hard.
Jeni Starr:Well, she, she's the baby of the family, which is also maybe.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah,
Jeni Starr:hard.
Sondra Wallace:It's a little bit too quiet around here. I was worried about our dog, because I'm the only one home, and so I was like, oh, when we record today, I need to make sure that he doesn't bark. But then she took him with her back to school. I was like, I don't know what's gonna make any noises today. Hopefully there aren't any unexpected noises during our recording because
Jeni Starr:I hope
Sondra Wallace:it would be very unexpected. I hope so.
Jeni Starr:That would be really a little creepy perhaps if that were to happen. Yes. Well, I can't promise my animals will not be making noises. I feel like they heard me start talking and they got interested in what's going on in the world.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah.
Jeni Starr:I wanted to tell you an interesting resource in Kansas City. Well, like resource is maybe not the right word. I had friends come visit last week. A friend of mine that I went to college with and her family came and stayed with me for a couple of days. They're on a road trip from Massachusetts to California.
Sondra Wallace:Woo. Wow. Wows the Wowser.
Jeni Starr:So they stopped here for like laundry and but some Kansas City things. And so what I learned is on the first and second Thursdays of the month at noon, The Jazz Museum, The Blue Room that's attached to The Jazz Museum, has free jazz, has a free show. At noon.
Sondra Wallace:Wow.
Jeni Starr:And it's like you get the performance, but it's kind of educational, so they ask the performers some questions and the audience gets a chance to ask questions. And it was delightful. And
Sondra Wallace:Wow.
Jeni Starr:I mean, it's like over the lunch hours. So if you just need a little something to do, it's free.
Sondra Wallace:Oh, that's great. And so did you say the first and third Thursdays?
Jeni Starr:First and second Thursdays.
Sondra Wallace:First and second. Okay.
Jeni Starr:Yes, at noon. I
Sondra Wallace:At noon. Okay. That's awesome. It'd be a great little, even kind of field trip, right. For staff.
Jeni Starr:I for sure was thinking it would be fun to take my team to that one time.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah, that would be really fun.
Jeni Starr:And they don't serve food or anything. It's a nightclub during the week at night on a few days that they're open. But I, I don't know if you could take food in, but there's restaurants around there maybe, or, you know,
Sondra Wallace:huh. Very cool. You just never know. I know, and you know what I love about when we have visitors and folks come to town is that they do find kind of those hidden gems that those of us that live here, we kind of take, we, I especially, I take for granted, I don't go digging sometimes for those things and
Jeni Starr:Well, for sure. And like they just told me,'cause they're coming to Kansas City, they wanted to eat barbecue. Check, we did that. Yes. And then they wanted to hear jazz and they were here on Thursday. And I know Thursday evenings you can kind of find stuff, but I had to work on Friday.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm. Yeah. So
Jeni Starr:I can't be out all night on Thursday at a night club. So I found it that it was, I was like, what in the world? It's at noon. That's amazing.
Sondra Wallace:Right.
Jeni Starr:And it really worked out. And then we were able to go to the Negro Leagues Museum next door.
Sondra Wallace:Oh nice.
Jeni Starr:And look around there, which is a gem as well. They're gonna build a new one soon.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah. I.
Jeni Starr:But the one that's existing is pretty neat, so yeah,
Sondra Wallace:absolutely. Oh, that's so fun. That's. I'm glad you got to go do something with them too, right? Like Yeah, maybe step away from the busyness and the
Jeni Starr:Yes.
Sondra Wallace:The project driven world of work and just.
Jeni Starr:Yeah. I took a real last minute day off because I didn't know when they were coming until the Friday before they came, so I was Oh. But it worked out
Sondra Wallace:Nice.
Jeni Starr:It worked out. Yeah, and I think they had a good time and
Sondra Wallace:That's good.
Jeni Starr:Now I knew a new thing to go do.
Sondra Wallace:I know. Thanks for sharing that. That's really cool to Yeah. Take a look at that.
Jeni Starr:And the people who performed, I don't wanna say the name'cause I can't remember it, but they are faculty of the UMKC, like
Sondra Wallace:Oh, nice.
Jeni Starr:Yeah. Jazz program.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah. Conservatory or,
Jeni Starr:They were incredible. It was incredible. So.
Sondra Wallace:And so they, do they have different people each week or?
Jeni Starr:Yes, they have different people because the ones that were there last week said they'd be back in October. They gave the date they would be back.
Sondra Wallace:Okay.
Jeni Starr:It's an, it's not, they're gonna come back for an evening, which I decided to maybe go see that because that would be really fun. But
Sondra Wallace:that would be,
Jeni Starr:yeah.
Sondra Wallace:Huh. That's great.
Jeni Starr:And Monday nights they have an open jam at The Blue Room Oh. To people who want to come and perform.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah. Yeah. So that's very cool.
Jeni Starr:Yeah. Time know about any of these things, but it's exciting.
Sondra Wallace:No, I hear you. I hear you.
Jeni Starr:Well, have a fun guest today and I think, it might be fun to have. Karen, who listeners, if you don't know about Karen, she's our AmeriCorps Vista who supports our show and she's actually in her last month of service with us. But it's perfect because this guest is special and brought to us by Karen and we love Karen. If you would come back from behind the scenes and share a little bit about this guest.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah, I don't know the story. Yeah, I was gonna say, how did you, how did you get connected with her, Karen? Or what's, what's, what's the story?
Karen Whitestone:Hi y'all.
Jeni Starr:Hey.
Karen Whitestone:Thanks for having me from out behind the scenes. And I am Karen Whitestone, she her, and I'm an AmeriCorps Vista member at Kansas City Public Library. And I I am excited about this guest today because it's been a story. And I I thank you for asking about the story.
Jeni Starr:A fun story. A fun story,
Sondra Wallace:A fun story.
Karen Whitestone:So I am not from Kansas City. I moved here for this position from California. And I mentioned that because. I, that was around the same time when I was living in California. Didn't have Kansas City in mind yet when I found Erin online. She has a video touring her kitchen from her house in New Jersey. I found from the New York Times Cooking app, which we have a fun fact we have access to through the Library. You can also find the video just on YouTube, but in terms of finding recipes that was a fun thing that I did during pandemic was cook and bake more and stuff. I found the tour of her kitchen and her personality just came through and it really, it hit me in the right moment. There's a hilarious moment with a very tiny spatula, because she has just lots of little fun things in her kitchen that have very specialized use or. I don't know. You could just sense that the whole kitchen was just full of love and self-awareness and. Smelled like pie, which seemed really great. I wanted to be her neighbor.
Sondra Wallace:Yes.
Jeni Starr:Well, let's make sure to link that in the show notes so the others can be delighted by it.
Karen Whitestone:Yeah, for sure. Great. I, so since that moment, like I shared that video with a bunch of people and I was like, isn't this funny? Isn't she funny? I had fun with that. I checked her cookbooks out of my local library at the time. And, baked some pies, et cetera. Just had fun with it. And then continued with my life and eventually decided to take this position in Kansas City and moved to Kansas City. And what do you know I had followed her on social media at this by this time, and I discovered that she also was moving from New Jersey to Kansas City.
Sondra Wallace:Oh my gosh.
Karen Whitestone:Kansas City. Wow. And I, I told fate, Hmm. I was living with my best friends and her husband, and I was telling them this, and they were like, well, she is just, it, it's gonna be fate, you know, gonna be, you guys are gonna be friends somehow. You're gonna cross paths somehow. And I was like, God, that would be so cool. And then I found that she was doing a book signing at Andres the Swiss. Bakery, chocolate place south Plaza.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah.
Karen Whitestone:And I went there for her new book. And it's felt like for a while that we could just easily be best friends. I'm not quite sure like how, how better to explain it. I was kind of starstruck at this interpersonal friendship, which I've never really had, but I pursued yes, for this podcast as another way to get in touch with her, but also as just like a really unique take on connecting mental health with our passions when her passion is baking. And I think that's cool. And I've, and to be clear, she said it's okay, like at every turn where I'm like, Hey,
Jeni Starr:You're not actually stalking there. Like I,
Karen Whitestone:She's like, no, please get in touch with me. Like this is a cool idea. I wanna be on. And so now you guys will see just, she's just very fun to talk to, so,
Sondra Wallace:oh my gosh,
Jeni Starr:so excited. Today is the day. Today is day.
Sondra Wallace:I feel like I need to freshen my lipstick or something. No, I just need to drink some more water. Just be ready. This so cool.
Jeni Starr:Well, thanks Karen for bringing her to us and we're excited that it's also, you know, a personal interest to you. So without further ado, let's begin.
Sondra Wallace:I am excited to introduce our guest and it's Erin Jeanne McDowell. Welcome.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Thank you so much for having me.
Sondra Wallace:Yes. I am excited to learn so much more from you and about you. Erin develops recipes and cookbooks. She makes some really great instructional videos and I understand some that even have a little. Slice of humor or things that other folks can very easily connect with. So you'll have to be sure to check those out and we'll have those links in the show notes. You may have seen some of her work on bake it up a notch on Food 52 or a list of bestselling baking books on the New York Times. I understand that Karen was introduced to you by watching the video on the New York Times cooking app that really brought her a great deal of joy and we don't wanna say that she's a full, like really intense follower. But it sounds like she's a pretty intense follower.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Oh, we're best friends. Have you not heard? We're best friends? Oh yeah.
Sondra Wallace:No, I haven't heard that.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:We're, everybody who wants to bake with me becomes my baking bestie. So Karen and I are new baking besties.
Jeni Starr:Oh, wonderful.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:But yes, we met shortly after I moved to KC, so that was especially fun.
Sondra Wallace:Yes. That's a really incredible connection that, that you have. And so you've been baking for, well since you were 14, so, so a few years because of your grandma's kitchen. So I'm excited to hear more about that. And you studied at the Culinary Institute of America, which is very impressive. And now you are here in Kansas City closer to family, and you were out in New York for 17 years you said. Is that correct?
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Yes.
Sondra Wallace:And you back from
Erin Jeanne McDowell:between New York and New Jersey, which is a big distinction if you live in New York City. But for me, since I was in New York, I was in New Jersey. I was in New York. Less of a distinction, but that's because I'm clearly a true. Kansas, Missouri kind of gal where they're close enough, right? New York, New Jersey.
Sondra Wallace:That's awesome. Yes. And as those of us in the Midwest, we think everything over there in the east is the same. I mean, it's just all one big, but it's very, very different spaces. I understand.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Well be comforted by the fact that out there on the east coast, they think all of us are just the same. Nebraska and Kansas, Iowa, they're all the same, right? They, they all. Somewhere in the middle there.
Sondra Wallace:Right, right. With a lot of land around them.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Yeah, exactly. A lot more than is out there. I was eager to move home to be closer to my family, but I. I'm not gonna lie, the increased square footage was another extreme lure after years in small apartments and small kitchens.
Sondra Wallace:Yes. I understand. I understand. Well again, it's so great to have you here today. I shared a little bit about you that we had from background information, but what else do you want us to know about you?
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Well, you sort of hit the nail on the head. My number one thing is that I'm a teacher first. I really want people to learn to bake because when you understand what's happening behind a recipe, it becomes a lot less intimidating. So I think the fear that a lot of people carry with them into the kitchen when they're doing a new task, that's something that I just want to get rid of. So that's why my first book was called'The Fearless Baker', because I really want people to get in the kitchen. I find so much joy there. I find it very meditative. I find it, it can be very calming, but I think part of the reason for that is because I have the education in it. So I know what to do when things go wrong, and I know how to troubleshoot major problems, and that's what I'm trying to give back because I feel like a lot of recipes that are written and published. Don't do that.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:So my series'Bake It Up a Notch' that you mentioned. It not only shows how to properly do things, it also shows you where mistakes could happen and how to fix them. So my show is often spending hours and hours making mistakes just so I can show you side by side with the proper one so you can really see the difference. Because those visual cues, so many people are visual learners and
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:That's one of the wonderful things that the internet gives us is the ability to do things differently than just in print alone. But, my goal with everything that I'm doing, books, recipes, videos, is to teach. One thing that's really brand spanking new but is fun for people to know is that I just did my first TV series and it is available to stream now on Netflix.
Jeni Starr:Wow.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:It's called'The Big Nailed It Baking Challenge' basically they brought myself on and another coach. His name is Robert Lucas. And we were brought on to coach the bakers. And every episode we teach them something new that they can apply and get better and better. And the ideas as they go through the competition, they come in as totally amateur bakers and they leave with a lot of professional skills, and it was really a remarkable journey. So everyone should check that out, streaming now on Netflix.
Sondra Wallace:Oh my gosh,
Jeni Starr:How exciting. Yeah. Well, I love that you talk about making mistakes in the kitchen, because I think people are often afraid of making mistakes. So it's easier just to not start,
Sondra Wallace:mm-Hmm.
Jeni Starr:But it's okay to make a mistake and learn from that and do it a different way the next time. And I love that thinking.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:I would argue you learn a lot more from the mistakes than the successes, especially when you're a new baker, which is not to say you should set out trying to make a mistake.
Jeni Starr:Sure.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:When you make a mistake, you have a tendency to not repeat that. Whereas when you have a success, sometimes you don't even realize what you did that was so successful. Sometimes with pie dough, for example, I had someone call me in a panic once, a friend saying. Oh no, I left it in the fridge for two hours and it was like, actually that only benefits it that that isn't a mistake. Just because the recipe said 30 minutes. This was one case where it was okay, but I understand that fear. And just remember the first time you learned to do anything, a musical instrument, a sport. Anything? It was hard the first couple of times we
Sondra Wallace:mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:We don't all just immediately take to things. But the cool thing about baking and cooking and all of these things is it's really a practical art form. So,
Sondra Wallace:mm-hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:If you learn it, it also can benefit and literally feed your family and feed your friends. And that's a wonderful thing about it.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah, that and what I, oh, sorry Jeni. I was gonna say, I just am so grateful and intrigued by this approach to cooking and to baking that it, it's such a different angle than, well, and I don't cook a ton, but it's very different than other things that I've seen or read in in the past. So I love that. I'm just very intrigued. Very cool.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Especially nowadays, I think that we see a lot of perfect end results, you know?
Sondra Wallace:Yeah.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:We see on social media, on the internet, on tv, we only see the perfect thing. But actually I'm really taking a page directly out of one of the greats books, Julia Child. Julia Child didn't have an amazing huge elaborate swap system. She had people who were literally crouching under the counter handing things up to her, and sometimes she made mistakes on camera, and what she would do was roll with the punches and tell you how to fix it.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:And I learned a lot more watching her style of cooking show than I do from a lot of the cooking shows today, so I can't even take full credit from it. She always really inspired me and I'm just trying to kind of do what she did for so many people in a different subject, which is baking, even though she sometimes covered that too.
Jeni Starr:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, she just made it so accessible and that's what you're doing and that's wonderful.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Trying to, for sure.
Jeni Starr:Yeah. Yeah. Well, we know that you're new to Kansas City, just been been here a few months, but are there any things that have helped you to start feeling connected to Kansas City?
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Definitely, I mean, one of the most fun things for me whenever I move and I've moved a lot in my life and career I love to connect with the community through the farmer's market and through CSA programs. Obviously a lot of the ways that I connect with the community are going to be food related, so spoiler alert, but I love checking out different farmer's markets everywhere I go. And it's a great way to also start to get to know some of the local businesses and discover some of the small businesses in particular who if you give them your support, it can really make a huge difference for them. So that's been something that's really great for me. And my neighborhood, which is Midtown Kansas City. I really didn't know very much about this at all. And so I've really just been learning so much. By kind of walking around and seeing some of the things. One of the resources I wanna share later is a yoga studio that's located right here in my neighborhood in Midtown KC. And it is so special and so great because it's a pay what you can yoga studio. So anyone who has that payment barrier could still get some of the benefits of yoga and meet some cool people in the community who are interested in the same thing. So, I mean, inspiration is everywhere you look, especially in a very lively city like KC.
Jeni Starr:Yeah. Very cool. Very cool. Thank you.
Sondra Wallace:Really great. Well we'd love to learn a little bit more about the words that you're gonna share with us. I feel like we could talk forever and ever about even just the words that you use within your published work and your videos, but we do like to ask our guests to bring some words that have provided, some inspiration, some hope words that help ground you or help keep your fuel if you will, your mental health.'cause we know that it, it takes work just like our physical health. It takes work to, to keep it healthy and strong. And so you shared with us a poem that's called'The Peters Family'. And do you happen to have a copy of it in front of you?
Erin Jeanne McDowell:I do, yes.
Sondra Wallace:Okay. Would you be willing to kind of read it to
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Yes.
Sondra Wallace:Our guests and then
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Absolutely. I, yeah. I have two sets of words. The first is this poem and the second is just a single line from a favorite cookbook.'cause I couldn't. Resist also saying something from a cookbook.
Sondra Wallace:Sure.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:'cause I think cookbook isn't always viewed as writing is the same way, but there's some beautiful writing inside most cookbooks. Absolutely. So first is this poem by William Stafford, who was born in Kansas and spent a lot of time in Kansas. So my dad is really interested in poetry and raised me reading a lot of poems during the pandemic. He sent me a postcard every few days with a different poem on it so that I was getting mail and staying kind of connected. And this has always been one of my favorites. So much so that I actually have the last line tattooed on my body because I love it very much. And in particular, this poem, well, I'll read it first I guess'cause that's what you asked me to do, called'The Peters Family'."At the end of their ragged field, a new field began, miles told the sunset that Kansas would hardly ever end. Beyond the Cimarron crossing and after the row crop land, a lake would surprise the country and sag with a million birds. You couldn't analyze those people. A no pattern had happened to them. Their field opened and opened level and more than forever never crossed their world. Went everywhere." Almost teared up reading it.'cause that's how important it is to me. I love this poem for a number of reasons. And the main reason is that I, realized I wanted to be a professional baker when I was about 16 years old. I got a job in a bakery and I applied to go to this culinary school in the Hudson Valley in New York, The Culinary Institute of America. I knew that that was the right decision, but if I'm being honest, I'm an extremely, deeply nostalgic person and I didn't ever think I would leave Lawrence or Kansas or this area.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:I am very, very close with my family. They're extremely important to me and I reached this point at a very young age of 16 years old, of realizing that what I wanted. To do with my life and where I wanted to do it. Were not meshing.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:And I think that's a problem that a lot of people face is, I am gonna have to move to do to, if I wanna be a marine biologist, I can't probably live in Kansas, for example.
Jeni Starr:Probably not.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:I mean there, there's right some, some things like that that come up for a lot of people and even just people who have a really strong attachment to their home. And I decided I needed to be brave and follow this dream of mine. So I, I moved to New York when I was 17 years old and to go to this pastry school. And really was difficult for me. At the time. I was really, really homesick. I loved school, I loved what I was doing, but this poem really helped me to feel connected because I realized that that connection was more than my physical location. The connection was going to be nurtured, however I nurtured it, and I realized that if I spent my career using my family and that place where I was from, and that connection that I loved to. You know, sort of be my story and, and set me apart from other people to share cuisine of the Midwest. Share family stories of my family that, truly built a little house on the prairie in 1866. I was always in Kansas for the rest of of time, so specifically the last line,"their world went everywhere."
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:That made me feel like I could be anywhere. And still be part of the family. I could be anywhere and carry that connection through.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:And the early part of my career, I wanted to be a food writer. And the first writing jobs that I had, if you kind of trace my career back, I'm writing about my mom and my grandma.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:We mentioned that my grandma is one of the reasons that I bake. My mom is really the other one. Both my mom and grandma were wonderful cooks and bakers and. Really, the reason I fell in love with food and cooking was because of my family. So it was very easy to have them become part of the work and the inspiration for the work. And I laughed because I thought the whole time I lived in New York, I feel like I was telling people I wasn't gonna live there much longer. And the next thing I knew I was there between New York and New Jersey, I spent 17 years, so
Sondra Wallace:Wow.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:I was always thinking, I'm gonna go back, I'm gonna go back. I'm gonna go back.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:But my career just kept going in this upward trajectory and I felt sort of tied to New York City specifically. So I. This poem and the feeling of making that connection what it should be. You ask any single person I met in my time in New York and they would tell you that I'm from Kansas because it was one of the first things outta my mouth. It was a huge part of who I was and how I introduced myself and. How I'm remembered. You know how sometimes people have many names. They have five Sarahs in their phones. So it's Sarah High School, Sarah College, Texas. Yes. Well, I was Erin Kansas in everyone's phone. Like that was my, you know, quantifier, my, how people knew me. And so, what's interesting is, I know not everybody feels this attached to their home and where they're from. I know that is something that is a little bit unique to me. When I started to fall in love with baking and I was falling in love with baking largely at my grandmother's house. She lived outside of Overbrook, Kansas in a home that was an original homestead home built by my great, great great grandparents.
Sondra Wallace:Wow.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:And she, it throughout that time. When my grandma was a child, it was her grandmother's house. Mm-Hmm. When my father was a child, his grandmother lived there, and then when I was growing up, my grandmother lived there.
Sondra Wallace:Wow.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:So this house, this very special house, this homestead home was always. Grandma's house. And it wasn't until I started baking a lot with my grandma that I really started asking these questions about the house. And even to this day, I'm 36 years old, my grandma has passed on. I am largely the family historian for my family. And it's only because I actually asked those questions and I tried to get the details from my grandma. And, and again, that ended up being one of the main things I wrote about, I wrote my senior thesis on it in pastry school, on heirloom recipes and family connections. Oh. I I've just kind of, it's always been the focus and even now that I have finally moved home. You know, I always hoped I would, but. I've now realized it took until it was time for me to come home to realize that the connection was strong, whether I was here or not.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:But living here, again, has been fulfilling in a way that's very difficult to describe to most people because it's not only being close to my family. And last week was my dad's birthday. I was able to bring him a pie, which is how I tell people I love you. So it's just so wonderful to be able to do that. But it's more than that too. It's also that I'm feeling an inspiration to create work here that is different because I've always been writing about my family, but now I'm surrounded by them as I do it.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:And I think like a lot of people during the pandemic, when I, a lot of people had mental health struggles and a lot of people. I felt like I lost time. My whole family was here and I was somewhere else and I was not. I, you know, no one was in the same room, but at least they could drive up each other's driveway and wave. I couldn't do that and it was during the pandemic that I realized it's time I can be a writer from wherever I am. I can make videos for the internet from wherever I am, and I can fly to New York when I need to, and I can fly to California when I need to, and I'm gonna spend the rest of the time living here. Mm-Hmm. And so, mm-Hmm. This poem means a ton to me now, but it also really got me through a time when I may. Questioned, you know, can you say you're from a place, if you haven't lived there in 15 plus years, you know?
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Of course you'd never stop being from there, but you don't live there. And I think that is a difference is I didn't feel like I could necessarily be a representative of the Midwest. While I lived on the east coast exclusively, but now that I'm back, I can really sing the praises of what I love about food and rural farming communities and, and all of those things that are part of where I felt that connection early on in my life.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm. Wow.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:The other words I wanted to bring
Jeni Starr:Yes.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Are, it's just a short line from a cookbook, but it's from a wonderful food writer named Eric Kim, and it's from his debut cookbook called'Korean American'. Mm-Hmm. Which came out in 2022. It's a wonderful cookbook. It's a cookbook that even if you didn't make a single recipe in it, which you should, but if you didn't, you could read through the whole thing and you will find some wonderful gorgeous essays in it. It's. Absolutely gorgeous to read. And I happen to know Eric personally. He's also a columnist for'The New York Times', and we have worked together at several places through the years. So he sent me a preview of the book and this was one of the very first sections that I read, and it just instantly had me in tears. And you'll see why, because it's kind of for the same reason as the poem, which is why I thought they went together nicely. The quote is,"we are who we are because of where we come from. One way to find ourselves when we're especially lost is to return to our place of origin if only for a bit." And Eric is referring to the fact that when he started to write this cookbook, he needed to go home to Atlanta and be near his mother, who was really the one who taught him the basics and fundamentals of Korean cooking.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:But what's interesting is that line in context of his book is beautiful, but obviously spoke to me in a completely different way. Which is that even when I did live far away, if I ever felt disconnected, all I needed to do was come back. And what I love in particular about food is food allows you a way to transport yourself, even if you're unable to physically transport yourself. So I could make a recipe that my mother made, I could make one of my grandma's favorite recipes. Something that I did a lot was even for the birthdays of my grandma, I still make one of her favorite desserts every year on her birthday, sort of to celebrate her because
Sondra Wallace:mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:I miss her and I miss having that dessert on that day. And it's one way to both acknowledge the grief and also. Celebrate that person still.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:And celebrate the positive things, with taste and with those memories. Smell is one of the most
Sondra Wallace:mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:...things tied to memory, taste is not far behind. So these things are a really special way to connect from wherever you are.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:And yeah, this line in Eric's book really, really spoke to me because there were a number of times through the years that I worried that connection I had to this place was dissipating.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:And whether I could physically go there and kind of re-up that feeling like solar charge myself back up. Or if I just had to make a favorite dish with sweet corn in the middle of summer to pretend I was there, it didn't matter as long as I. Tapped into that feeling. I think it's also a great example of just how beautiful the prose in cookbooks can be, which is something not everyone thinks about.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah. It's a beautiful connection.
Jeni Starr:That's beautiful.
Sondra Wallace:Thank you for sharing those.
Jeni Starr:I've been tearing up while you talk about this. You're the first one to make me tear up, Erin. Oh my gosh. Because I was just thinking about how we connect with place and people and you mentioned making your grandmother's favorite thing. My dad passed away in 20, gosh, it seems like. It hasn't been this long, but 2016 and so, yeah. I'm making the special things that he loved, helps me to feel connected to him even though he's not here. Ah, sorry, everyone.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:No, I, I, I was crying almost all through that, so please don't.
Jeni Starr:Yes.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:So I was trying to keep that choke in my voice.
Jeni Starr:Yeah.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:You're only recording sound,
Jeni Starr:right? So I just think we don't always think about those things, but it's important to think about how we can connect with. Whatever it is we wanna connect with. But food is such a powerful thing, and I sometimes think we kind of don't appreciate food in some ways in our culture in the United States.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Jeni Starr:And this is just a good reminder of a new way to appreciate it, or an old way maybe, but,
Erin Jeanne McDowell:well, and also maybe new to some, you know, as a food person. Food is always at the center. You know, if I'm taking a vacation, I'm thinking about the food. If everything's about food for me, but not everybody is that way. And also for a lot of people, very understandably, food is a necessity. You know, we need food for energy. So I think it does sometimes take somebody reminding you that, you know, for me, I, I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. That was what my, I have a brother who's a painter, another brother who's a photographer. I wanted desperately to be like them, and it took reframing it in my mind to view food as a medium.
Jeni Starr:Yeah.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:For me to realize that I could be a different kind of artist.
Sondra Wallace:Right.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Even if I didn't naturally have those skills with pen and paper. And I love, for me, I love that line that it's both a necessity and an art form, because...
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:...that's not true of many art forms. Art is always needed, I think,
Jeni Starr:right, right. Yes, course.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:And at the same time,
Jeni Starr:this is literally required.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:You wake, don't look at a painting all day long. You are not going to drop dead. So that's one of the things that is so magical about food is. I think growing up here, that's really one of the other ways that I learned respect for it was my parents are avid gardeners and they grew things from scratch, and so I grew as a kid, an appreciation that something could go from a seed to a plant giving us tomatoes. I also saw all the farmland and all the cattle and all of these things. Mm-Hmm. And, and you learn about it in a different way than when you live in a major city. And maybe that stuff is a little bit more outside your, your, your, but also I. When I started asking those questions and my grandma, I found out that my great-great grandparents were cattle farmers and mm-Hmm. Of course, at a certain time, most people in Kansas were farmers, right? And so these things are really interesting, but they start to give that connection to food and how many people and how many hands and how much land and how much energy is required.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:To bring that food just to your grocery store, to your farmer's market. And then it's up to you to bring it to the plate and there's something
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:So. Special about that if you do take the time to appreciate it because
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:It can change the way you look at food and it can change cooking, feeling like a task.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:To suddenly being this really wonderful, I keep using the word meditation because meditation has been really crucial for me in my mental health journey.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Stress levels managing all of the travel that I do all of these things. And I happen to find baking very meditative. And if you don't naturally find it meditative, you just have to find whatever it is that does it for you. And usually what I advise people is make the same thing over and over again.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Because it then becomes like muscle memory. And even if it's this simple pasta dish, or it's mac and cheese or whatever it is, you make it enough, you don't have to think about it anymore.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:And that's when you can get into that. Beautiful. I'm creating something, I'm creating something, and then I'm gonna nourish myself with it. And that's a really beautiful, full circle.
Jeni Starr:Mm-Hmm mm-Hmm, for sure.
Sondra Wallace:I was thinking about, our daughter does a lot of cooking and she wanted me to go to one of the big box stores and get the brownie mix that she has. Habitually or muscle memory fixed in our house for years and years. And as she was leaving to go to college for the fall, she wanted me to go get it. And I was like, no, you don't need that giant box of brownies. You are gonna be sitting around eating brownies all the time. But as you describe that, I think okay, that that's a comfort for her, that that is Mm-hmm. That is bringing some of home to where her new home is.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:And sharing it maybe with your friends.
Sondra Wallace:I start crying, I mean, and feel like a terrible mom.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:No, I think, I also think it's, it's interesting though because I don't think that I always joke that when my mom, first, when I wanted to bake, I, like I said, I was about 14 when I started doing it seriously. And my parents were as supportive as they could be. But I also mentioned that my mom is an amazing cook, so. When you're an amazing cook and someone comes into your kitchen and makes a horrendous mess because they're 14 years old and they don't really know how to clean up after themselves yet. You know, that is a different kind of support that she gave me because I knew some days she hated it, like I know she did.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:But when I went to pastry school, one of the things they taught us was how to clean. So the first time I came home from school, I not only baked what I was going to bake, but I cleaned up after myself and it rocked her world. Like Oh my gosh. Because that's a skill, a learned skill too.
Sondra Wallace:Yes.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:So at the end of the day, one of the things is, you know, it's not too late. Send her a care package with the brownie mix.
Sondra Wallace:Yes.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:And she would be so stoked to get it. But I also think that it could be a comfort thing and it also could be a way to connect with new friends, you know?
Sondra Wallace:Yes.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:I enjoy sharing this with my family. Now I wanna share something with my new family, and I'll tell you from firsthand experience, there is no faster way to make new friends than to walk down the street pedaling brownies. I. Once during a snowstorm, when I still lived in New Jersey, there was a horrible snowstorm and people were all shoveling their cars out and I made donuts and I walked down the street with fresh donuts. Unfortunately, on the East coast, a lot of people thought that I might be up to no good. They don't assume that it was a good hearted measure, but I found a few, and I warmed their day with donuts, but it was just as much joy for me as it was for them. So,
Sondra Wallace:yeah.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Yeah, it's a, it's a magical thing.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah, thank you.
Jeni Starr:Yeah, that's such a funny thing to think about. So I just was at my 25th college reunion and I went to school in Massachusetts and I'm from Texas, so I did bring things from Texas with me that I missed. And you know, also college food is a little bland sometimes. I think it's so much better now. Like what they're eating now. I can't believe. We had.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Well, Culinary Institute of America was not typical college food either.
Jeni Starr:No. You did not have that experience.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:No, I did not.
Jeni Starr:Sure you had deliciously. I truly didn't. Ours was just bland and we had the same, you know, we got tired of it. Now they have these like amazing stations and you all these choices. Yeah. But anyway, good for them. We didn't have that. I would bring my things from home that I would like to make and one of my friends said, I just remember Jen going to your room and every weekend you would make some sort of treat and host us all and how much fun it was. So that's funny. I had a. Put those things together. But yeah, it is a good way to make friends and to share your culture with someone else too.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:For sure. I mean for me I love gathering people around a table, but sometimes you don't always have a table.
Jeni Starr:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:You know, sometimes what you have is a bunk bed. Sometimes people have, is a park bench sometimes what you have, but. Yeah, that's, it's definitely a way to share. And so many memories are tied up in food. And also something, I am very happy that traditional gender roles are not strong in the same way everywhere.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:From the standpoint that women are not expected to learn to cook and men can enjoy learning to cook or doing those things whatever. But the truth of the matter is, is that most people leave for college or leave into early adulthood without really learning much about cooking yet.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Encouraging people to cook at a young age. Like I actually get a lot of emails from parents who say things like, my 7-year-old is really interested in cooking. How do I encourage it safely? How do I do this? But the reality is you're actually really imparting such an important life skill as well with with cooking and food. It also can, while you do have to put a little more effort into it, it can also really help you to learn more about nutrition just by learning naturally that, man, I ate a huge plate of food, but it was all carbohydrates and now I'm still hungry and
Sondra Wallace:Right.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:There's really so many other lessons I say for really young kids. It's amazing how many science lessons are in there, practical fractions. There are so many things that you can teach kids by getting them to join you in the kitchen, even for only part of the bake, even if they're not interested in the whole process. Or you just bring them in at the end. There's really so many ways to get all age groups involved. So anyway.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Jeni Starr:Yeah. And I find kids are so proud when they have created something in the kitchen, they're so proud to share it. It's like a good little self-esteem booster.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:I'm still proud. I'm like, yes, yes. I mean, you should see this YouTube shows it's a great satisfaction and it's a totally achievable satisfaction, you know?
Jeni Starr:Mm-Hmm mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Especially in the day and age of comparisons, it's very easy to try to make unimpressive tiered cake for the first time and have a massive fail and feel bad about yourself.
Jeni Starr:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:But don't start with that. You know? Start with chocolate chip cookies, the back of the bag, you can do it.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm. Right.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:All of those things end up building on each other. But I think it's different because it's the same thing. I mentioned yoga before. It was very hard for me when I first started researching yoga. I'm a very full-figured person, so I was only seeing these skinny yogis demonstrating, and sometimes I would try to get in that position and I couldn't get past my belly.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:But during the pandemic, I found somebody who was a, very full figured plus size person doing yoga, and it was amazing to see. Somebody that looked more like me, because I became a lot less afraid to try that.
Jeni Starr:To try this. Yeah.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:And also to understand that some of my limitations were physical, but they weren't actually limitations. You know, I could still reach my toes. I just have something kind of in my way, in a way that not every yogi does. So I think that, that's the case with baking also is kind of just start step by step. Remember that it's muscle memory and it builds on itself, but also just start simple because there are truly so many easy recipes out there. In fact, in all of my books, I rate everything easy, medium, hard, and I don't label it easy unless I've sent it off to someone to test it. Who doesn't bake at all?
Sondra Wallace:Oh yeah.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:So my dad is often in this tester and he always gives me a hard time that I advertise this on, on podcasts and radio and stuff, but he isn't really a baker. But if he can make it, then I know it really is easy. And I don't wanna say that something is easy unnecessarily.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah,
Jeni Starr:Yeah.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah. Oh my gosh.
Jeni Starr:Yeah. I love a little peek into that process of your building recipes and rating them that way. That's awesome.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah. So great.
Jeni Starr:Yeah. Testing them. Yeah. And that yoga thing that you mentioned is interesting because I, I have had similar experiences. I'm in a larger body and I've had some traumatic experiences related to yoga, which I will not get into in this moment. But what I've learned is maybe having to do something differently, it doesn't mean there's something wrong with you, right? It's just that there's a different way of doing it and then we can all think do things differently and that's okay. So
Sondra Wallace:Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's totally a saying we have at our house. It just because it's different doesn't mean it's wrong.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Well, and I think, I thought at some point, especially the way our brains are sometimes conditioned to think that there's one definition of beautiful or one definition of healthy.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:I think that, I thought for a chunk of my life like that you couldn't be flexible if you were also fat. And I use fat as not in any way a negative word. Like the reality is absolutely. I have a belly, I have thighs, I have hips, I have a chest. So I thought that, you know, oh, I have all this extra stuff. I can't be flexible. Well, now I've learned that's not the case at all. Like there are sometimes barriers and there's even things. That I learned to do. Like sometimes it feels better to literally like move my stomach around and like make it sit somewhere where it feels comfortable.
Jeni Starr:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:But that's because I am also in a contorted, twisted position.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:And that's what feels good then That's what feels good. So, there are definitely people I know who are way bigger than me who can do way more intense yoga positions than I can do because they're also stronger and more flexible. And it has nothing to do with their size. It has to do with how much they stretch and how much they practice.
Jeni Starr:Mm mm-hmm. Right, right. Yeah. And that practice can really help you to connect with your body and appreciate all the things that can do.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Jeni Starr:You know, and how it can change too to get stronger or more flexible. Yeah. Very neat.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah. Well, and Erin, I'm just thinking so much about the connections that you've made or that you've created or maintained through food and how it can be so healthy for our physical health as well as our mental health, which a lot of times we haven't thought about. Food being something that's helpful for our mental health, but the stories and the examples that you've shared today have just really, truly inspired me to think about the connections. And again, my daughter leaving, I made chicken noodle soup last night. Okay. You don't really make chicken noodle soup in the summer usually, but that's a family favorite. And it was her last meal. And so you just cook it. Right. And so the smell as we're talking about it and you mentioned how smell has such a powerful impact on your memories. Like I feel like I'm smelling it right now, and it could be from the microwave I, you know, but, but it's really just, it's the memory of that. And so thank you for bringing that to us today. So,
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Of course, yeah. I mean it really is remarkable how, how it impacts different people and I think even people sometimes who have a difficult relationship with food, since we are talking about mental health.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:If you, that actually learning to cook can really be part of. Creating a healthy relationship with food and I'm in no way a doctor, I should not be probably talking about that, but I just mean to say I have known people in real life.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Who baking is
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Has helped them to have less of a disordered relationship with food.
Sondra Wallace:Sure.
Jeni Starr:Mm-Hmm mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Because also it's instructions. There's a fantastic, one of the contestants on the Netflix show that I was on, I didn't know this at the time we were filming the show, but when I watched the show, I learned that he has OCD. And that one of the reasons he liked baking is because there were rules to follow. There was an order so he could satisfy some of those things, but it also helped him to realize, okay, well this took, this said five minutes, but it took 10. That has to be okay. Like it really helped him in a way that I thought was fascinating that I wouldn't have myself ever thought of. So, yeah. I, I mean, I always think it's about how, how you handle it and how you do it, but
Sondra Wallace:Sure,
Erin Jeanne McDowell:...certainly even if you maybe don't want to eat a ton of sugar or you can't have dairy, that doesn't mean you can't bake for other people. And there are so many people who can benefit from it. I got a fantastic email this week. I'm trying to figure out how we can bring this to life in KC. There's a group of people around the holidays in this town in Pennsylvania that create what they call the Pie Brigade, and last year they created 60 pies between all the members of the Pie Brigade and they deliver them to seniors who are alone for the holidays.
Jeni Starr:Oh.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:And so it's a special way to both make a connection with somebody in the community, show them that they're cared about, give them something that maybe they wouldn't have, and then also they can share it maybe with other friends and people who live in their community. And I just thought that that's also the power of baking is even if you don't eat the calories, even if it's not, you know?
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:What? What? That's not part of your journey. It's also part of sharing.
Sondra Wallace:Right.
Jeni Starr:Yeah.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:And there's a lot of people who can benefit from the sharing of it as well.
Jeni Starr:Yeah. So we talk a lot about generosity on this podcast.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-Hmm.
Jeni Starr:And that's like such a perfect example. Well, if you start a pie brigade, Erin, please let us know.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Yes, yes.
Jeni Starr:I'll, I'll, I'll be, I would love to participate in that. That sounds so fun.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah.
Jeni Starr:Such a joyful thing to do.
Sondra Wallace:Well as we kind of wrap things up, we always like to ask our guests as of today, right now, in this moment, what's your favorite word?
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Pie.
Jeni Starr:That's a good word.
Sondra Wallace:That's a good one.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:I think I, I know that's a little bit of a night off answer, but I never knew when I was 14 years old, making my first pie in my grandma's kitchen that it was going to become such an important word in my life and that I was going to be able to spread a gospel of my own sort as it were.
Sondra Wallace:Mm-hmm.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:In the nature of flaky crust and pies and all of these things that I am talking about, but I truly didn't know. And you know, my grandma didn't know, and I don't think I could say that I had a single favorite word without it being pie because it really, I mean, pie changed my life.
Sondra Wallace:And it's not the 3.14.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Yes. Not that pie.
Jeni Starr:Different pie.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Different D pie. Fruit filled or cream filled variety.
Sondra Wallace:Oh, yum.
Jeni Starr:Wonderful.
Sondra Wallace:Oh my God,
Jeni Starr:this is making me want some pie right now. I know I have to eat after this.
Sondra Wallace:Yeah.
Jeni Starr:Well, Erin, are there any resources or other connections in the community that you want listeners to know about? I know you mentioned a yoga studio, but are there any other organizations or websites or things that you'd like to share?
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Yeah, the the pay what you can yoga studio is called True Love Yoga. It's on Broadway and Midtown KC, so you can check them out. Another one, they're not actually directly in this community, but they're sort of from my previous community in New Jersey. A friend of mine does free guided meditations on her YouTube channel. It's called Infinite Soul. I mentioned that meditation and yoga have both been really helpful for my own mental health journey, and I just always like to encourage people, especially if they're trying it for the first time. You don't need to buy an app or invest money in it. You can start with some amazing free resources from people who are passionate about it. She's called Infinite Soul on YouTube, and I sent you all the link to that as well. And then even though it's not directly linked to the community, I really want everyone to check out my own web series, which is a little slice of fun. You'll laugh in every episode if I've done it right, but you'll also learn something and even if you never actually bake anything. I think it has brought a lot of joy to people and I really actually, when you make things for the internet, it's very easy to forget how many people are on the other side, even as numbers tick up and there's views and all of these things. And when I did my very first book tour for my most recent book this past fall. That's actually how I first met Karen. But here in KC, not on tour, but, but during the book tour and, I couldn't believe the number of people I was meeting who were just clutching my hand and saying how baking really changed something for them and that it helped them get through the pandemic. It helped them get close with their mom. So many different things and I was very moved and taken aback by the fact that I thought I was just making this silly little show to bring people some happiness, but it was really impacting at a, a deeper level and. So the great thing about it is they're all free. There's over 60 highly bingeable episodes, hours and hours of content available for you on YouTube. The show is called'Bake It Up a Notch', and it is on Food 52's website or on Food, 52's YouTube channel.
Jeni Starr:Okay, we will make sure to link all of these things in the show notes. Thank you for sharing that. And as always, be sure to check out our resources at kclibrary.org for the Kansas City Public Library and Jewish Family services at jfskc.org for our programs and resources. And I just have to say we're so happy that Karen came to your book signing
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Me too.
Jeni Starr:Almost a year ago. And, and we're able to, you know, develop this connection. And we're so happy that you joined us today, Erin.
Erin Jeanne McDowell:Of course. Thanks so much for having me. And anything for my KC fam.
Sondra Wallace:Oh, that's very sweet. Well, thank you again, Erin, and until next time, we challenge you to listen, react, and respond to the Power of Words. Thanks for joining us.
Jeni Starr:Thank you. Thank you for listening, and we hope you enjoyed this episode of Power of Words.
Sondra Wallace:This episode is produced by the Kansas City Public Library and Jewish Family Services of Greater Kansas City. With support from AmeriCorps.
Jeni Starr:We encourage you to explore our health resources and services available in the show notes
Sondra Wallace:and follow or subscribe for new episodes wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.