Welcome back to House of Style.

This is the exclusive bonus content section.

So we have some questions that we're just.

We're going to have some fun.

What's your all time favorite recipe?

I think it might be the kale couscous.

No, it's not.

Oh.

What's your all time favorite recipe that you've created?

I don't know.

You don't know?

Is that choosing a child?

Favorite movie?

No, that's not.

Mike.

For those listening, Mike just asked.

You don't have a favorite child.

I won't ask you yours all time favorite recipe.

I think you can have two if you need, like.

I mean, I have like 3,000 recipes, Grant.

Oh, I'm bragging.

Like, there have to be a couple that you either make more often or that maybe the kids like or I don't know.

Okay.

The.

My favorite cake is a tahini chocolate chip cookie cake.

It's very underrated on my site, so I love baking cakes.

Are you saying that so it becomes less underrated?

Maybe.

All right, that's fair.

That's a great.

Yeah, it's a great strategy.

All right.

Mike says it's quite delicious.

Have you had it?

Oh, did we make a video of it?

Ah.

Back in the day.

I want to come to some of these videos so I can just try all these recipes because, like, it'd be way easier if I didn't have to read and make them all myself.

That.

That's true.

And then.

Okay, yeah, we'll go with the killed couscous salad.

I don't know.

That's great.

I mean, those are two great ones that you don't like.

There's nothing a little bit of both.

Right.

All right, that's fair.

Can you share a hilarious kitchen mishap that didn't quite make it to the blog or cookbook?

I specifically remember this.

So my first intern assistant, her name was Rose, and I hired her and I was like, come over, like, we'll make a recipe together.

And I.

I was into experimenting and I was like, I'm going to make lentil cookies with cooked lentils.

Okay.

I was like, you know what?

No, they were trash.

And we just kept putting more and more ingredients and she was like, these are delicious.

I was going to say it was her first day.

I was going to say, like, as an intern, was she like, oh, my gosh, these are so delicious.

And like, later you find out, like, she's vomiting.

Like, no, not vomiting.

But to this day, she still Says she's like, those are really good.

Like, you're lying.

Is.

Wait, is Rose one of your full time employees?

No, she used to be one of my employees, but she was kind of my first assistant.

And you still keep in touch?

That's nice.

Yeah, she's great.

Yeah.

What dish instantly takes you back to childhood, and why is it special to you?

My mom's Puerto Rican rice and beans.

Well, that sounds good.

Simple, simple.

But we always had it in the fridge.

It was just an easy staple that was inexpensive for her to make, I think, and just nourishing.

So do you make that now?

Yes.

Yeah, often.

So good.

Not that often because my kids aren't into beans.

So.

Have you put a twist on it or.

It's like, I'm cooking like mom.

No, the only twist I've made is with different beans, such as chickpeas.

But otherwise, keep it simple.

Yeah.

What's a recipe you've always wanted to master but haven't tackled yet?

Is there anything, I mean.

Oh, of course there's things.

I'm just blinking.

I don't know.

Probably like a pastry.

Probably like, like an eclair or something.

Or a croissant.

I feel like those are, like, tough because it's so much science, like getting the perfect flakiness and all that.

I mean, I've watched enough kids baking, you know?

Yeah, Just like a really amazing pastry.

Sometimes I feel really bad, like, it will take me way too long to make a cookie from a recipe.

And I see kids baking on TV like, these kids are 8 years old and making these ridiculous pastries and cakes.

I'm like, oh, my God, how did they do that?

Yeah, it wasn't a big thing in my family growing up.

I don't know if it was that I'm one of four boys and we were all in sports all year round.

I didn't know you were one of four boys.

That's my nightmare.

It's.

I.

I think I think about this all the time.

I.

I have two.

Two girls and I'm already exhausted with the amount of work and, like, doing all the dad stuff to have four.

And in a time where.

And this might actually be better or worse, taking people to all the different practice.

You didn't have Google Maps to tell you how long the drive was going to be.

Mm.

You didn't have any of that.

And, like, it might have been better.

And I feel like carpooling was a thing back then.

That's not as much now.

But I think about how crazy my parents were and how difficult that had to be to manage four boys, like, all, what, we're probably all under nine or ten, Something like that.

It's remarkable.

Yeah, not for me.

No.

No, definitely not.

Can you tell us about a moment when you felt truly proud of yourself and, like, felt like you made it and that ambitious kitchen, like, made it?

Well, definitely.

When I got my cookbook deal with my publisher, I felt like that was extreme validation.

And obviously, when I got the New.

York Times bestseller list, like, those are more recent.

Like, you've been doing this for, like, was there.

Was in the.

I want to know.

And that's totally fine.

If there isn't.

Was there nothing before that?

I don't.

It's hard because I think my definition of success or, like, making it is very different.

I feel like my check boxes are just like, okay, next thing, next thing.

And I think we've talked about that a little bit.

But so, I mean, definitely, I'd say when I got my first 50,000 page views in one day on my website, like, there's, like, these little moments that I think have been building.

It's been over a decade, so it's hard to, like, say, oh, there's been a certain moment.

But, you know, I think when I would get featured in certain magazines or other people would make my recipes bigger people, that was certainly validation.

Yeah, I.

So we had John Manion, the chef of Bracero and Elche Steakhouse.

I've met him before.

He.

If you haven't seen the episode, make sure to check that out too.

He was so cool, so fun to be with, and the restaurants are awesome.

And I actually asked him, like, where he gets inspiration from, and he said he'll look at home chefs and food bloggers just because, like, they can make incredible things too.

And I.

I always, like.

I think most people think of looking towards chefs and going to.

To restaurants.

Yeah.

I imagine getting covered by a chef, like, making your stuff would be really cool.

Yeah, definitely.

That.

That would definitely be.

I think that goes back to the credibility thing I was talking about.

If someone, like, bigger than you, I really respected was, like, did something or mention, I'd be like, yes.

Like, that was that really hit.

Yeah.

Fun fact about El Sha bar.

I got drunk there on my birthday and left my purse there.

After I was at the chef's bar or the chef's table with him, I had to come back the next day.

I was like, hey, I.

You know, he was great.

I think that probably happens once.

One of the stories he shared was about.

Actually, it was in the bonus content when we.

When we really started getting into it.

But it was about a guy that came in absolutely hammered and was like putting up a whole, whole big thing.

But there were a few of those stories, so it might just be that way.

I'm actually going there tomorrow night for dinner, so who knows what's going on?

Who knows what's going to happen?

No kids there, so we'll find out.

But yeah, he was an awesome guy.

What's one of your biggest fears as an entrepreneur and how do you navigate it?

I think a big fear is losing traffic, as in like just Google obliterating my site off of SEO.

It's been a thing lately with AI and trying to navigate that world.

So I think that would definitely be a.

Be a big fear of mine just because that's where I make a majority of my income.

Yeah.

Do you.

Can you spot AI created recipes?

Yes.

Yes.

And you can kind of tell on Facebook they create profiles now and they'll create basically these brand Facebook pages and then a fake website that are.

Yeah.

Interesting.

So they take a bunch of different recipes and kind of make their own for was for like raisin cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies.

They would pull from maybe five different sites and kind of craft their own.

Interesting.

Are there any like, words or is it.

Is it like, is it a structural thing, like the way it's bulleted and listed or certain words?

Because when now with how many descriptions I read of people's show notes for podcasts, I mean I've had to gone through minimally 500 shows and studied their show notes and even more episodes and.

And just there are a few words.

When I see it, I'm like, I know that's chat gbt because anytime I use I.

I use chatgpt as like my foundation.

Like, give me an outline.

So.

And I want it structured this way to get these points across and it will give me my outline.

And I feel I write everything.

It's kind of like we were talking about the intro.

I will usually use Chat GPT to give me an outline and to.

To help me structure it so that me left to my own accord.

I'm just going to talk for a while and just continue a long rant.

So I need that structure.

But I write everything in and so I know which words to avoid now.

And it really irks me when I see a few of these words.

I'm actually, I think one of my, like, upcoming videos is going to be on this word.

And like spot like the style of Chat.

GPT.

I know this word.

So can you recognize it?

A lot of times it's just robotic, like you said.

But it's also.

They'll create a fake picture about an author, and you can kind of tell that it doesn't look real for sure.

Slightly.

It's getting better and better.

And it's just like, I live in Ohio with my three children, and there's just a certain style about it that doesn't feel realistic.

Like, so a lot of times it's.

The photos are fake.

That's how, you know.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah.

What's a personal ritual or habit that you find yourself doing in the kitchen?

Like, do you have any, like, weird quirks in the kitchen?

Oh, sorry.

I don't know.

You're a quirky person with no quirks in the kitchen.

Oh, I always leave my cabinets open.

Oh, no.

Yeah, I always do.

Like, when I'm.

When you're cooking or do you walk away?

No, no, no, no, no.

Just when I'm cooking.

That's fair.

Because it's an efficiency thing.

Yeah.

All the time.

Okay.

That's fair.

I thought you walk away from them and you forget that they're open, and that's.

Would drive me bonkers.

My husband does that, but I don't do that.

It's just like when I'm cooking and baking and I'm recording a video, and I'm like, there it is.

Open.

There it is.

Hope it looks nice.

And it's organized.

Do you organize everything?

Well, I do now.

I do feel like that.

But it gets messy really fast, especially my baking cabinet.

I We actually.

The episode with Joe Sasto on Food Network, Mustache Joe comes out next week.

Two weeks comes out soon.

And he was describing what the, like, tables look like in the cooking stations look like after cooking competitions.

And it sounds.

I usually think when I cook, it's pretty messy.

What he described sounds ridiculous.

Do you ever have, like, those times where you're filming anything that it's just crazy?

Yeah, it's a show.

Usually I like to clean as I go.

Like, if I'm cooking for my family, I'm like, I have to.

Otherwise it's too chaotic.

And I don't want to spend, like, an hour cleaning up later.

Yeah.

But if I'm in a rush and I'm trying to get, like, four recipes done in a day, it's just like.

And then it's the cleaning.

Yeah.

And the cleaning.

It's terrible.

What's a piece of advice you wish you can give your younger self Starting out on this journey or to the younger food talkers that are starting out.

I think a lot of it is in regards to, like, finances and getting organized that way and just like understanding the business aspect of financial planning.

That was a big one that I didn't do for a long time.

I put it off.

And do you think, like, that's what, like, took things to a new level?

Like, once you understood that, or it was just like, good to know because you had just more general awareness?

Yeah, it was just good to know.

Just like the back end of how you should operate your business and tracking things and organizing.

I think that really helped me to become more successful financially.

Sure.

I think it's important to know.

So a lot of times I feel like as entrepreneurs, we'll put that off.

Like, we're like, oh, we're too busy doing.

Rather than like, let's get organized and, you know, do the things that actually need to be done.

Some of the admin tasks.

The admin tasks, those are the worst.

Hate them.

Yeah, hate it.

What's a funny or embarrassing moment that you've experienced during live cooking or that may have been caught on tape, whether it made it to the final edit or not?

Anything.

I.

I don't know.

That's what we're gonna add.

So we're just gonna be voiceover.

This whole bonus section is just gonna be funny bloopers.

I feel like it's mostly just me being like, did we do an intro?

What?

Oh, I hear that.

Yeah, I hear that Mike said getting splashed with sauce.

But yeah, I am regularly in these.

Did I do that intro?

Sometimes I.

Now I think I'm more comfortable and I can just say them, but early on definitely had to write them and then I'd forget to write them.

Especially when you start filming multiple in the same day.

Yeah.

And your videos are shorter and quicker, so you're probably cranking them out.

Yeah.

I think intros interest can sometimes be hard.

Like when we are starting out the day, especially for the first time.

If we're shooting for the first time in a long time, it'll be a little bit difficult.

It might take me like four times before I nail it.

It happens.

Yeah.

All right, last question.

So I know there's a book in the works sometime in the next 2ish years.

What else is on the bucket list?

Maybe that, you know, you haven't been so quick to just check, check, check to the next one, next one.

Like, what is something that's big?

Like, are you coming out with your own pots?

And pans or, you know, something new business.

I mean, I thought a book was big, but I guess not.

Not big enough.

Were you.

Were you number one on the.

On the bestsellers list?

I wasn't.

Maybe the next one kick off Dolly Parton and her sister.

But right now, I am honest.

Maybe a new website redesign.

I haven't done one in like five years, so I need to do that.

That is a whole undertaking like we were talking about nightmare.

So that's.

That's big on my list.

But other than that, like, honestly, some personal big projects.

We're renovating another place right now, so kind of just.

That's nice.

That's great to have that on the.

But like, I feel like you hit a certain point of success when you can go back to thinking about the family things.

Well, it's not my house.

I'm renovating someone like my.

My husband's project, so.

But hopefully, hopefully, hopefully I'll get to my house, start designing it a little bit.

You have a couch, and you have the kitchen table and chairs and a bed, and you're set.

That's fine.

Yeah.

And you have a mirror.

Yep.

And your kitchen stuff.

Well, thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

This has been the bonus section.

Thank you very much for being here.

This is House of Style.

I'm Grant Alexander.

That was Monique.

All her info is in the show notes.

Thank you for being here again.

And remember, style isn't in your wardrobe, it's in you.

See you soon.