The Kitchen: Laura Lee

This episode was recorded around the time of the pink full moon. Laura Lee, local evening news anchor and co executive producer, talks about her home kitchen and weaves a story of the love, intuition, and excellence that have guided the cooks in her family across generations. Her interview also touches on how you can care for children with food. We met in my kitchen; Laura was a wonderful guest. Keep an eye out for her upcoming show, Cooking with Laura Lee, on Northern News Now. 

I sometimes will set a 15-minute kitchen timer and do dishes for that long. For our interview, we set the kitchen timer for 12 minutes and did an AMQAP (as many questions as possible). We go over time jussst a bit. 

Bonus at the start of this episode is a tribute/ad for The Blue Heron Trading Company, a place that is a kitchen store, but so much more. Thanks, Sam Connolly, for this contribution. The Blue Heron is best visited in person at 394 S Lake Ave.

Suggested podcast pairings:

Rice

Boiled rack of spare ribs 

Fresh turnip greens

Hibiscus gingerade (Chef Lachelle Cunningham’s recipe)

The song Tourniquet by Zach Bryan 

Hope you can create love in the spaces where you find yourself. 💚

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Episode cover art "Tenacidad" by Gubits.Art from Oaxaca, Mexico.

Visit @galeriacopal or @gubitsart for more. Also @gabrielo.gr. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hi listeners, welcome back to another episode of Home. This is Brennan Greenfield, your host. Today there's two parts to the episode, and I wanted to introduce them at the beginning. First of all, my recent idea was to have an ad at the start of each episode. So today's ad is for Blue Heron Trading Company, which is in the DeWitt Sites building in Canal Park. And I worked with Sam Connolly for this. She's the one who is doing the ad. However, it sort of turned into a love letter. So we might have love letters instead of ads. You'll hear that first. And after that, brief love letter to the Blue Heron Trading Company. You can hear my interview with Laura Lee. And I love speaking with her. It was really wonderful, and I hope you enjoy uh listening to it as well. And we're doing a MQAP. Those are that's capital A M Q A P, which is as many questions as possible. I set my kitchen timer, which you can hear it ringing in the end. At the end of the episode. We set it for 12 minutes and we tried to get through as many questions as possible. Thanks for listening. Enjoy the show.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Forty-six years ago, Jane and Betsy looked at Canal Park and saw something that not many other people did. At the time, the area was in the midst of a gritty industrial transformation. But they could sense the specialness of that place and they decided to plant a seed, which became the Blue Heron. What started as a sweet vision between friends has grown into a true character. For nearly a half century. Today as the soul owner, Jane continues to gift our little city with her remarkable tenacity. You can just feel the loving energy that we pours into this way. It's more than a shop. It's a true testament to Jane's vision and her enduring heart for our community.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Hello, and welcome to this episode of Home, a podcast by Brenna Greenfield. This is episode eight of Home, and today I am so pleased to be joined by Laura Lee. Would you like to introduce yourself?

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Hi, thank you so much for having me on your podcast. Um, I love this home concept, and uh when I think about what belongs in a home, definitely comfort, love, and feeling probably the most you.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. So you have a very public persona. Yes, I do. Um, and what do you love about the news?

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Um well, the the most important thing about being on the news is getting to know the people. I think everyone has a story to tell. And so to be able to be on a platform where I can get to share those stories is a not only a privilege, but it's pretty it's an amazing honor too. Um not every story has to be fancy and and not every story has to be like this grand, you know, lifestyle or political figures to celebrity, you know, to Hollywood superstars. I mean, some of them are the best stories are the ones that you don't often hear. You know, the guy that's standing on the street and why he's there. You know, what what what made what decisions did he have to make in life or what were some of the difficult things he's had to endure uh to place him where he's at in his life? And I think all of us are not immune to pain, all of us are not immune to heartbreak. And so I think there's this illusion that if you're on this big stage that you must have this grand life, and that's not the case. And so it's important to be able to share every story. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

It's so clear that you bring like a lot of love and compassion to the work. You do, and that's beautiful. Yeah, and I'm so happy you're here.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Um, so it's today's April 1st, 2026. Yeah, that's when we're recording, and we're gonna transition into the kitchen a bit. But how does the kitchen help you when the news is soul crushing?

SPEAKER_02 4:51

I think the kitchen is in any home the focal point. It is the place that grounds any home. Food is made in the kitchen, love is made in the kitchen. I mean, when you think about food, food is nourishment, right? In my household, the kitchen is where my children and I live the most, and it's where we're together the most. You know, we all go to our own bedrooms to sleep in, but the kitchen is where everyone always comes through, you know, no matter what. Throughout the day, I think about my kitchen, my kids are coming through in our busy lives. Everyone comes through the kitchen, everyone stops for water, drinks, food. They they stop to replenish, right? And to fulfill and to nourish. And that's not just physical nourishment. I'm talking about spiritual nourishment, energy, you know, re you know, the if you think about your zen and your core being, all those things rebuild your your fill your cup for the day. And in my home, kitchen is kitchen, the kitchen is where you is where you are most happy, I think, because your children and and you are are cooking together, you're eating together, you're talking together. Um, that's where the memories I think are most made.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

How do you make your kitchen a place where your children want to be?

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Um, for one, you make good food. Hi, my mom is an amazing cook and she's never been taught, and she's not a trained chef, but the kitchen is where my most fond memories are with my mom and my sisters and my parents. Um, and my kit my kids, I want them to feel the same way. I want them to remember the kitchen is where they have those fond memories of, oh, I remember that dish that mom makes that I love, you know, and I remember, oh, you know, I I remember this the spoon we bought from Portugal, or you know, or or this cup we bought in Puerto Rico, or this is where the you know the chopsticks we bought in Florida, you know, or and whenever we're making food, we're always shh, it's those memories that kind of give us those happy moments, and so that's why I want I want my kids to always remember the kitchen is where that love is at.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Do they like to cook?

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Yes, luckily, and I think it's one of those things where if you get your kids involved earlier in life, whether it's helping them roll dough or dumplings or helping them roll egg rolls or making rice, like I was taught to make rice at seven years old, and so I made my kids all learn how to make rice at seven years old because my mom always told me if you can't live off of anything, rice will keep you alive. So she was like, if you know how to make rice, you'll always know how to stay alive. And I was like, I just it's stuck with me. And I I use that same lesson to my kids like if you can always make rice, you'll know how to survive. And so they all learn how to make rice at seven.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

This is what happens in your family.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

This is my family tradition.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Yeah. What's the secret to making good rice if you're willing to share?

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Uh the perfect amount of water. Because if you put too much water and I use my finger line, I know that's really strange, but if you use your middle finger, you use this line right here, uh indented in your finger. You always want to make sure the water line hits that part and the rice will always be above the rice. Above the rice. Okay. Yeah, perfect.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Uh can you think of a time where there was a mishap in your kitchen that's funny?

SPEAKER_02 8:03

There's so many mishaps, like the alarm going off, and all of us racing. My son, who's 17, has to reach for the the I'm like, grab the smoke alarm. He'd have to grab the smoke alarm because one of the things that I tend to do, and my kids always tease me, is I tend to, uh, and maybe this is a metaphor, this is um a metaphor for me in life, I tend to do more than I can handle. So I start the water, it's boiling, I'm having, you know, I'm I've pin, I'm battering the fish over here, but the oil's going, and then I have the asparagus going, and then I have a sauce going, and then I'll the then I have something I'm rinsing in the sink, and then before you know it, this is burning. I'm like, you know, the alarm's going off. I'm gonna crack open a window, call my son to take the smoke alarm off because he's so tall and I can't reach it. And then my kids are like, Mom, and I'm just like, help me. And then they all come running in, you know, and they're like, mom, I'll just do one thing at a time. I'm like, well, if I want dinner to be hot at this, because I I do it's a pet peeve if my food's cold. So I do want to serve everything kind of at the same time and have it be warm and hot. Um, but sometimes you have to do one dish at a time, and then you know, you have to kind of cover it and keep it the temperature correct because when you were already served, you want them all, everything, every dish to be warm. It's challenging. It's challenging, you know, and if you're if you only have like a few hands in the kitchen, um, and let's say like my daughters and my sons love to cook, but they might not know how to make the sauce or they might not know how to make this meat a certain way. Then I have to do several things, and then it just so sometimes I have to remember, okay, Laura, you can only do so much, do what you can, and then ask for help for the other stuff, or just don't do it, and that's okay too.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Yeah, but you learn by coming up to your edges, right? Yeah, so absolutely in this apartment I was um cooking like smash burgers, and then there was so much smoke and um the alarms went off, and then I had five firefighters come because it automatically calls them, and I was like, don't call them, and it just didn't. And suddenly then uh you can hear the alarms outside and they came in and they were like, Oh, we'll just help you get the smoke out, and I was like, Oh my god, this is happening again, this is not a good use of city resources and my child burgers.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Oh no, but I'm just waiting that they at least come and they take those fire alarms seriously. But yes, I would be like, Yeah, I'd be mortified too. If all of a sudden I'm like, oh my god, let's just crack open a window.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Yeah, I need some more fans in here, so fun, fun memory. Let's see. What's the food you ate growing up and who prepared it? Oh that you loved?

SPEAKER_02 10:39

Um, oh my god, there's so many good dishes. But one dish that my mom that my mom would make that I I completely absolutely love. And it's weird because when I was little, I I really preferred like the stir fries and like the fried egg rolls and like all the yummy dishes with lots of flavor. And my dad and my mom were always eating like the more plain soups and broths, and I was like, that's a boring dish. You guys eat that, we'll eat all the yummy stir fries. And now that I'm older, it's so weird. I'm like craving the things that my mom and dad ate, and my kids like like the fried stuff, fried dumplings, fried egg rolls, stir fries. And I crave the broth. And I my mom said, Do you know why you're like that now? I'm like, why? She's like, because that's the soul food. That is soul food. So I'm talking about pork and greens. I'm talking about plain, like a rack of spare ribs, but you don't fry it, you don't barbecue it, you literally boil it. And I know that sounds kind of like boring and plain and but if you do it well, it can be delicious. It's delicious, and you add fresh turnip greens to it, and that's it. It's like three ingredients. I'm salading it, but it's so it's so it's so fulfilling, it's so nourishing, it's so simple but flavorful, and it really it tastes it tastes amazing, and I feel like it really feeds your soul, and that's why my mom's like, that's why your dad and I ate that, and you guys never understood was because that was soul food to us, and now you're at a point where you appreciate that food, so it's it's you crave it because it's soul food. Yeah, wow, yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, it's yeah, it's really good, and it's interesting because my kids say the same things that I mom, why do you like that so much? I'm like, because it tastes delicious, and when you are a little older and you appreciate the hands that go into making food, the the effort it is to go earn money, to go buy food, you start to, you know, you you start to appreciate the simplest meals and know that it still nourishes you the same way, and it tastes so so good because it's clean and it's very fresh ingredients. Yeah, yeah. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Is there anything that you are wanting to learn to cook that you haven't cooked yet? It sounds like you're a very good in the kitchen.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

No, I what do you want to uh I learned everything from my mom, and even my mom is still like the best cook out of her whole family. Like we all learned from my mom, and my older sister is really good too. She's close to she's starting to pick up a lot of my mom's techniques and stuff, but um, I still there's there's a stew that my mom makes that. I mean, when we think about villages, because my parents, you know, they grew up in village, my mom's stew, it's sweet pork stew, and people would travel from all over. And and now, like they have a farm in in southern Missouri, and people from other towns, when they come and they've tasted my mom's, they try to make it or mimic it or and they bring ice cream buckets, like empty ice cream buckets, so they can take ice cream buckets home because it's that good. And we've oh, my sisters and I, there's six girls, we've all attempted to make it, and it's just never the same. Like, because my mom doesn't cook with measurements, she just cooks like with love and taste in her eyes. And we've all like watched her like a hawk, like, okay, she puts that first, that second, okay, there's three stocks of that, okay, and yet ours never tastes the same. Wow, it's something to be said about that.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Yeah, yeah. I thank you so much for sharing these stories. We're doing a 12-minute as many questions as possible. And I hear our timer, we only have a minute left. Okay. So my last question is what do you want your children to remember about your kitchen after they've moved out? If they move out. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Like me, it's funny. Like when my mom, I my mom, like she can make the most simple thing, like plain eggs, and her eggs will still taste better than any eggs I've ever had, you know. And I think it's because I think it's because when a mom cooks, she know her that's her love language to you, right? And so I want my children to know. I don't know why I'm getting emotional, because my children are about to maybe leave my house because my daughters are of college age, that when they leave my house and move on and and get their own apartments, that they come home always knowing that I will always have eggs or whatever they want made for them because that is my love language to them. My whole life I've been loved by my mom throughout cooking, and I want to give that cooking to my kids, that love through my cooking to my kids, and I want them to always know that that that I I loved that they are loved growing up and will always be loved because I will always have a home cooked meal ready for them to feed them, and and that they will always know that that that that was my love language to them.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Well, before you came, because I'm doing four episodes, you're the first of like people who I'm not related to.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

And I thought of what the themes of different ones were. So there's one that's gonna be like food as presence, food as abundance, food as necessity. But the theme for yours I just knew coming in was food as love. Oh, um, so this episode is called Food as Love with Laura Lee. Thank you so much for being my guest. It was an absolute pleasure, and I loved hearing your story.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

Oh, thank you for having me. This has been a lot of fun.