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Dance Through the Seasons of Life and Enjoy the Joys of Gathering!
240 Plays7 months ago
Welcome Jessie-Sierra Ross--fabulous cookbook author, television contributor, and food & lifestyle blogger at Straight to the Hips, Baby.
A native Bostonian and former professional ballerina, Jessie traded in her fast-paced urban life for the farm-to-table landscape of Western Massachusetts. She then ReBloomed as a self-taught cook and avid home entertainer. She brings her unique artistic background to her “light & bright” food photography style and recipes. Jessie-Sierra shares her easy elegance with a variety of audiences to empower the home cook to create their own food experiences for family & friends.
Find her new book, Seasons Around the Table on Amazon or follow her on Instagram and Facebook @straighttothehipsbaby.
Guest Links:
Website: www.straighttothehipsbaby.com
Book Pre-Order on Amazon Seasons Around the Table: https://a.co/d/5z7qCzC
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/straighttothehipsbaby/
Facebook @straighttothehipsbaby
ReBloom is proudly sponsored by Jet Creative and UrbanStems! Jet Creative is a women-owned marketing firm committed to community and empowerment. Looking to build a website or start a podcast--visit JetCreative.com/Podcast to kickstart your journey.
UrbanStems is your go-to source for fresh gorgeous bouquets flowers and gifts delivered coast-to-coast! USE: BLOOMBIG20 to save 20%!
Subscribe to this podcast and follow us on Instagram and Facebook @rebloom.podcast
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction: Embracing Creativity and Joy
00:00:01
Speaker
Do you have a dream that is a small seed of an idea and it's ready to sprout? Or are you in the workplace, weeds, and you need to bloom in a new creative way? Perhaps you're ready to embrace and grow a more vibrant, joyful, and authentic life. If you answered yes to any of these, you are ready to re-bloom.
00:00:24
Speaker
Welcome to the podcast where we have enlightening chats with nature lovers, makers, and artisans as they share inspiring stories about pivoting to a heart-centered passion. Hello, I'm Lori Siebert, and I am very curious to hear from friends and artisans about the creativity that blooms when you follow your heart. And I'm Jamie Jamison, and I want to dig deep into the why behind each courageous leap of faith and walk through new heart-centered gardens.
Meet Jesse Sierra Ross: From Ballet to New Beginnings
00:00:54
Speaker
Each episode of Rebloom will be an in-depth conversation with guests who through self-discovery shifted to share their passions with the world. Get ready to find your creative joy as we plant the seeds for you to Rebloom.
00:01:11
Speaker
Well, hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Rebloom. This is kind of a fun one because it's sort of a bloom to rebloom. And I am so excited. I'm Jamie Jamison. And I'm Lori Seamer. And welcome today because we are we have invited one of our very dear friends, Jesse Sierra Ross. Oh, my gosh. How are you, Jesse? All right, Jesse.
00:01:37
Speaker
I am doing so well and I'm so thrilled to be talking to you too. Some of my favorite bloomers, I should say. Well, we should disclose. I know this is such fun. We have all come together through a venture that we have been working on, which is Bloom TV Network, and we were able to meet each other
00:01:58
Speaker
virtually, and then in person, and form wonderful friendships. And here we are, all three of us together. This is pretty exciting. Yeah, we held each other's hands through our terrifying first filming adventure. Yeah.
00:02:15
Speaker
I must say that doing audio is way, way easier. Wait. Yeah. Oh, for sure. Oh, for sure. Well, welcome, Jesse. Jesse Sierra Ross hails from Massachusetts and she has danced her way through her career in a variety of wonderful, wonderful experiences. And we are so honored to have you here today, Jesse. So thank you for joining us.
00:02:44
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I'm so
Empowering Dancers and Transforming the Dance World
00:02:45
Speaker
curious to hear your whole story because like we know you, but we don't really know you. So like now we want to get into the real nitty gritty details about your journey. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. So thanks. OK, well, let's start with. So, Jesse, you started as a professional ballerina. What? Like, let's start there.
00:03:10
Speaker
Oh, my goodness. Well, I thank you again for having me on and being able to share my pivot story. I think having a plan B has been my life story. But yes, I started out dancing and I started my lessons at age five. I was a little shy, socially awkward.
00:03:28
Speaker
little girl with big brown eyes and a speech impediment and a stutter. And I didn't know how to communicate easily with the world except through dance and through music. And during that path, I discovered art, I discovered imagination. And people who understood me, whether I could actually verbalize or not, because dance gave me
00:03:50
Speaker
this beautiful safe space to create and to explore. And I followed my passion. I was sort of tapped very early on that I was going to have a career. And so at age six or seven, I think I decided I was going to be a ballerina. And I followed through. I trained at the bar for hours a day, point and modern and Isidore Duncan technique.
00:04:16
Speaker
By age 14, I had signed my first professional contract with a professional ballet company. It wasn't unusual to see my biology
Life Transitions: Marriage, Motherhood, and Challenges
00:04:25
Speaker
homework next to my pointe shoes. I danced with members of American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Paris Opera, was exposed to diverse personalities, diverse artists from all around the world.
00:04:41
Speaker
It was living and breathing ballet and music and art and culture and those years were stunning. Just stunning to be on stage under the lights and sharing that inner story that I had outward.
00:04:58
Speaker
That's amazing. And how incredible to have your childhood be filled with such beautiful creativity, music and ballet. And that's amazing and helping you to build your confidence.
00:05:13
Speaker
Absolutely. And I can so relate to that, Jesse, because I was an incredibly shy girl and my outlet my outlet was painting and drawing and making.
Culinary Ventures and Storytelling Through Food
00:05:24
Speaker
So that that creativity, I think it really does feed your soul and it's it saves you in a way, I think I think of it as therapy.
00:05:34
Speaker
Absolutely. It was that inner life that was so fertile, so blossoming, frankly, that kept me going, especially under the pressures of professional dance, which I eventually peeped out of my shell when I was a teenager and I had a beautiful group of friendships. But you have to have a very strong inner sense of self.
00:05:55
Speaker
and drive to succeed in that uh, career and it's a very short-lived career. So you have to just go and that's it. There's, you know, your carrot on the stick is the only thing that you can really see in this world of dance. It's achievement. You know, it's achieving that position in dance companies and the competition is very fierce. And um, I learned so much about
00:06:21
Speaker
really not shutting out the world, but maintaining that sense of identity of I have a purpose. What I'm doing is worthwhile. And even though those around me, due to the pressures and competitions of this dance world, they may be trying to shape or tear down or criticize. But in the end, it's you. It's your voice that matters and your real sort of
00:06:49
Speaker
embracing of that goal as your ideal, as your true sense of self. Well, and it's believing in yourself. And then that established the foundation and probably gave you the strength for everything else that you've done because you've built that foundation. I mean, you knew that that you knew about you and what you loved. And that's fantastic.
00:07:16
Speaker
So I'm curious then, you talked about age 14, you signed a contract with a company. So how long after that were you still pursuing that dream and then what happened next?
00:07:32
Speaker
That's a really good question and this would be my first pivot point, my first plan B.
Family Influence and Cookbook Project
00:07:37
Speaker
So I had joined another professional company at age 18 or 19 and at the insistence of my mother, I had also applied to college because she was a very wise woman to understand that you can't pin all your hopes and dreams on a ballet career. But I followed through with this larger company and it was a very intensive phase of my life. It was not all together.
00:08:02
Speaker
mentally healthy. It wasn't an emotionally healthy situation. I had a very complex relationship with the artistic director that I was working under. And although I love the work, I love the teachers, I love the dance, it was very difficult. And by the time I was 21, I started to feel burnt out. I started to feel that the sort of outside influences were taking away from the true passion that I had for dance. And I
00:08:32
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left at age 21. The spring season ended in June. I went down to Point Park University, one of the universities that I had deferred. So I went down to View School in July. I had an offer of a full ride in the conservatory, and I enrolled in classes that September.
00:08:52
Speaker
And I went for a BA in dance with a focus in ballet and it was a really great experience. It was a nice, I want to say cushion spot for me to figure out what I was going to do next because I knew I wanted to still be in dance, but I was very clear that I wasn't going to put up with some of the outside pressures that I had been under at that
Inspiration and Taking Risks
00:09:18
Speaker
time. Dance was a very different world.
00:09:19
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At that time, there was a, yeah, it was very different. Think Black Swan. Okay. And so, you know, this educational pause, I wouldn't ever consider education a pause, but you took a pause from your career at that point because, as you said, as a ballerina, you're very young when you have to pursue this. But what did that educational pause do for you?
00:09:43
Speaker
It gave me a glimpse to the other side from the audience side of the stage versus being on stage. I could expand. I could learn about different things. For the first time in my life, I was writing. For the first time in my life, I was able to have the time to delve into topics that I really was passionate about that were outside of dance. But it was a period of time where I had to discover myself as separate from Jesse the ballerina.
00:10:10
Speaker
It was now Jesse the blank and that's a really scary place to be. It's very unknown and having decided from such an early age, age five, I was Jesse the ballerina. It was both absolutely terrifying.
00:10:24
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and absolutely thrilling. And so that period of time let me explore other facets of my personality as well as my still sets. I realized that I had other strengths besides moving to music on stage. And that really set the tone for being a lifelong learner for me and understanding that even though one chapter ends in your life, one that you were completely devoted to, it doesn't mean your life has actually stopped. You have to take that opportunity and embrace that fear.
00:10:53
Speaker
to grow and to open yourself to new opportunities and new pathways. So you were studying dance in college. So you were still in that dance world pretty much. Did you think that you were still going to follow that path? You know, that's that's such a good question because for the first year and a half,
00:11:23
Speaker
I looked at my college education as a pit stop, a place to train, obviously, and to get better. And I still said, but I was still sending out audition tapes and contacting different companies. And I had quite a few bites, but in the end, it didn't resonate with my soul anymore. It didn't align. And as much as I wish it could have, I had almost moved past that point of understanding my own value.
00:11:53
Speaker
And in dance in particular, sometimes it depends on the environment, but we are often treated as
00:12:01
Speaker
juvenile. We are called girls or called young ladies. We're very, very much not empowered at that time. Thankfully it's changed. And I realized that I could not take a step back into that philosophy. I was now a grown woman and I knew I was starting to really understand my self worth. So yes and no, I went on to teaching and I went in to teaching and coaching and choreography with the intention of not only staring
00:12:28
Speaker
sharing the still sets I had gained and the remarkable dance history that I was part of. I was part of a long lineage of amazing teachers. But I wanted to go into it to change the environment. I wanted to empower my young dancers. I wanted to let them know they had a voice in this as much as they had a talent. Hmm. So did you have wishes at that point then of starting your own studio? I did. And my intention was coming out of college
00:12:58
Speaker
I had a business plan lined up, I had funding, and I was going to open up an arts charter school with a particular focus in dance and theater.
00:13:08
Speaker
And when I returned to Boston after graduating, I started teaching at different studios and making connections and really embracing that life, again, to take control of the narrative and could change the environment. But then I met my husband, my future husband, and he had another pivot point.
00:13:33
Speaker
And well, and you know, that's interesting, too, because it's it's great to have a long term goal like opening a charter school. That's fantastic. But you still do need to have some of those experiences, like you said, just starting with teaching along the way. But then, of course, life comes at you. And so you pivoted. So then you you now danced into marriage and motherhood. Was that your next step?
00:13:58
Speaker
That was. So I continued dancing part-time in a professional company up until 2016. I married and started my life with my wonderful Canadian husband who I met in Boston randomly. And you know, I was still teaching at six months pregnant. My little baby who was in my tummy did not light waltz of the flowers when I would rehearse. He would walk around in there, let me know.
00:14:25
Speaker
And, you know, after having my first child, you know, another big pivot, I was in a situation where I was suddenly a mother. At that point, I also had some devastating losses. My mother became ill with cancer while I was pregnant with my first son and I
00:14:44
Speaker
was her primary caregiver until she, she passed six months after I had given birth. And so suddenly I was both mother to my first child, but I was also mothering my mother and my family who, my mother was the core of our family. And when she was not able to be that core, kind of started to, the wheel started to fall off. And so my husband and I made a very conscious decision to step in to be
00:15:09
Speaker
to be the parents. I was suddenly parenting my family. With all those changes after the loss of my mother, there was another shakeup. I left dance because I needed to regroup. I needed to really care for my baby. I found myself suddenly based out in Western Massachusetts right on top of it because my husband had taken a position
00:15:34
Speaker
I had a hospital out here. So, I was a new mom. I was a new Western Mass resident and I was a new me because suddenly I didn't have dance at all. So, all those anchors
00:15:46
Speaker
I had listed. And so there was opportunity, but at the same time, again, that terrifying leap off the cliff and you don't know whether you have your parachute or not, but you hope you do because you have all the stills from those times before. Wow. I didn't know this part of your story.
00:16:05
Speaker
It's so interesting to me to hear all the ways people navigate, not only the things internal, but also things that are thrown at them in their lives. And what happens and do you choose to, you know, go into a cocoon and fold or do you choose to face them and move forward and maybe make changes that might be an even more authentic
00:16:34
Speaker
fit for where you need to be. I think you find your eyes. I like how you mentioned authenticity. I had to
00:16:46
Speaker
I had to step into my own light at that point. It's very funny because I think until you lose a parent, you are almost perpetually a child. Um, in a way, even if you're a grown and when you lose that anchor, there's a sense of freedom. They're a great, great loss. Don't, don't get me wrong, but it was suddenly a chance to define where I was going and
00:17:16
Speaker
under my own sort of influences and being the caregiver definitely was something that shaped how I perceived the world. But it also made me grow. It was almost like a forced sort of sprout, you know, really forced bulbs. And under great stress, under great duress, sometimes something really beautiful happens. Let's take a quick minute and thank our amazing sponsors.
00:17:44
Speaker
Our podcast is proudly brought to you today by Jet Creative and Urban Stems. Jet Creative is a women-owned marketing firm committed to community and empowerment since 2013. Are you ready to rebloom and build a website or start a podcast? Visit jetcreative.com backslash podcast to kickstart your journey.
00:18:06
Speaker
They will help you bloom in ways you never imagined. And bonus, our listeners get an exclusive discount when you mention Rebloom. And a huge thanks to Urban Stems, your go-to and our go-to source for fresh, gorgeous bouquets and gifts delivered coast to coast. Use Bloom Big 20 and save 20% on your next order.
00:18:30
Speaker
And don't forget to subscribe to this podcast and follow us on Instagram and Facebook at Rebloom Podcast. Thanks to our sponsors and thanks to you for joining us today.
00:18:44
Speaker
I was just teaching in Seattle with another artist and she had lost her husband and had two young children. And one of the things she said, which I really like, it just is so inspiring, is she said she didn't want to waste that pain. She wanted to use it to help other people.
00:19:10
Speaker
So she started painting rainbows and that is like taking on a life of its own. And I know you, Jamie, experiencing loss. You are looking to share hope with others as well. You're right, Lori. I have experienced loss. Obviously, like you both actually have lost my mom and I cared for my mom for about six months and recently lost my daughter.
00:19:36
Speaker
And what you find is that, like you said, Jesse, there's strength inside of you that maybe you didn't even know you had. And it just kind of blooms out of nowhere. I mean, I hate to use, I mean, I love to use that analogy, but that is what happens. I didn't know that many of the things that have happened to us that I could even move forward.
00:20:02
Speaker
certainly balancing a brand new baby and losing your mom at the same time. But that beautiful inner strength that your mom gave to you, I think as a child between dance and certainly telling you to go to college, yay, mom. But, you know, I think the gifts of our mother, the gifts of our children, they're with us and they let us to move forward and let us to accept those new responsibilities as we pivot forward.
00:20:31
Speaker
Absolutely. I can't agree more. That inner strength that you didn't know you had or needed until that pressure. It's kind of like the pressure to make a diamond and it's beautiful and it's bittersweet, but it's a process and we're now in a place, all of us actually, so that when we talk about grief, we're able to relate it and we're able to experience it and let people know there is another side and there isn't more growth to come.
00:20:59
Speaker
There is and grief, we've all experienced grief and that's certainly the thing that I've learned through all of this. But we've also experienced a wonderful journey. I think each step in life lets us experience new things, as you said, that open the doors to new possibilities. So I was reading in your bio that you're a mom, you've sort of walked away from the dance career,
00:21:27
Speaker
And you are at a Thanksgiving dinner and it's a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner and you pivot again. What happened to that? I want to come to your Thanksgiving dinner.
00:21:39
Speaker
It's always, you know what, it's always open because I always have it on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. So friends can come. They will have an open invite. But yes, so after settling in Western Massachusetts and I had this little 18 month old, then suddenly I had another son and I had two children under three years old. So I was going cuckoo banana pants. And it was a wonderful, beautiful, hectic time. But I realized
00:22:06
Speaker
I needed an outlet. I needed a focus. I'm very type A. I've always worked. I've always had a project and I was drawing a little bit crazy with all the baby babbles. So, I decided after a very successful Thanksgiving dinner where, you know, I had tried out all my recipes and I had friends over. There were 16 people and instead of emailing my recipes out as most people had requested them, I looked to my husband. I said, I'm going to start a blog.
00:22:34
Speaker
And this is during the time when everybody and their mother was becoming a flip blogger.
00:22:41
Speaker
I didn't care. I didn't care if I was one of a hundred thousand. What I really love is connecting with people and it taps into that teacher and me too, you know, that instructor. I love telling stories and cooking obviously is such a passion for me as well as home entertaining. And that's a facet of my background that I was able to explore once I had left dance, once I had moved out to Western Massachusetts because suddenly I was in the real
00:23:09
Speaker
birthplace of farm to table living. You know, up the street, there were farms and dairies and local butchers. And I had access to all these incredible ingredients. And I had time. Suddenly, you know, it was necessity because I had to feed two small children and myself occasionally. But also, you know, I had time. I mean, you know, he's very happy with sushi takeout, but he is an incredible gourmet. And it's funny enough, he used to do all the cooking before we had children because I was never funny.
00:23:39
Speaker
So that was another kind of switch. And this blog was born and I started writing and teaching and creating and trying to come up with a name for it. And we were sitting and discussing with my brother one day and I said, I need a name. I'm thinking straight to the hips.
00:23:57
Speaker
something like that because I've always been a bit pear-shaped, don't tell anyone. And I was like straight to the hips and I love that style of cooking with butter, with sugar, real ingredients, not really shying away. This is not everyday food, but this is the food that you serve. This is the food you celebrate with.
00:24:13
Speaker
And I was like straight to the hips, straight to the hips, but it needs something. My brother chimed in, he said, how about baby? Straight to the hips, baby was born. Oh, he knew baby. My new baby. And I started blogging as a hobby with my husband taking the photographs and I did the writing and the styling and
00:24:34
Speaker
It was marvelous and it was a great way for us to have a project because his life as a physician is very controlled. So getting, you know, behind the camera was very creative for him, while my life was very chaotic with two small children at home, soon to be three. And having the structure of styling and the structure of recipe developing gave me more control. So it was a great kind of yin-yang element in our career.
00:25:03
Speaker
So I have this theory that people often circle back to something that they loved when they were young. So dance was a primary focus. But did you always have a thing for food and entertaining even when you were younger or is that something that developed later? You know, it was a complicated relationship. So I loved cooking. I have very strong memories of cooking with my mother.
00:25:31
Speaker
and at being five, six, seven, eight years old and I'm one of those late gen actors or elder millennials who were you know I was cooking dinner by the time I was nine. So I knew how to do it I loved it but being in dance
00:25:46
Speaker
created a lot of conflict with food, and it was highly controlled, and I would look at food more as fuel, and I wasn't able to indulge. I wouldn't allow myself to indulge in these sort of celebration foods because I had to be 120 pounds. I was 5'7". I was all muscle, and you're taught to an extent, and thank goodness this is not the way it's done anymore, but we were taught
00:26:14
Speaker
whether implicitly or not, you don't eat. And so my love of cooking was there, but I definitely didn't have the time or sort of the psychology yet to dive into it. But once I had children, once I had time, once I realized that food was a beautiful canvas to play with and the theatrics, the drama of the sting, which has always been with me, I'm very dragged.
00:26:44
Speaker
And I always say to people like, do you want me to speak? Do you want me to tap dance? You know, I'm ready and willing to do anything. But that beauty that I grew up with and really crystallized my point of view, I was able to sort of layer that on top of my food work. And if you look at the photography that we use, it's very light. It's very dreamy. The flowers, they remind me of all the beautiful costuming and tutus and the lighting and the scenery.
00:27:11
Speaker
And setting up tablescapes is a direct correlation to the choreography, you know, where things relate to each other, the distance, the spatial awareness, and the color. And, you know, being creative, but also very... I gravitate towards the kinetic, the movement. I was able to use that in something that would normally be very static. And we changed it. We changed the game.
00:27:38
Speaker
your table became your stage. And you pulled all of the different elements that make up a beautiful production, whether it be the symphony or the dancers, it's the food, it's the plates, it's the flowers, you pull it all together. And what an incredible pivot, but it's still pulling from your wonderful creative background.
00:28:01
Speaker
and bringing all of that together. And so you started with the blog. And obviously you're making connections. And then where did that take you? Where did that lead you?
00:28:12
Speaker
So the blob was a wonderful baby of mine, as you said, that I could really get going and sink my teeth into. And then there came a point after my third baby and the passing of my father, who I was the primary caregiver for. And this is a recurring sort of theme of rebirth after loss. After several years of intense caregiving, I found myself
00:28:39
Speaker
for the first time in my life with older children who were in school full time and this amazing passion for food and home entertaining and I embarked on the year of why not.
00:28:51
Speaker
I had these words, you know, right after I lost my father in the fall and grieving and coming out and going into the new spring, I decided I was just going to go into life with why not and say yes to opportunities. And suddenly the opportunities found me. So I had done some publishing work, but it was very haphazard. And then suddenly I was introduced to the producer of a morning chat show.
00:29:15
Speaker
who said, hey, I think you'd be great on TV. And instead of saying, oh, no, I could never do that. I'm a silent artist. I am not a speaking artist. I said, why not? Why not? Why not? And that really launched me. So I began to do TV food and lifestyle segments all across New England.
00:29:35
Speaker
the pandemic put a little bit of a hiccup in it but at the same time it opened up possibilities because suddenly I could zoom. I could zoom into kitchens in homes on the west coast without ever leaving my home. And my knack for step-by-step directions and recipes but also that performance
00:29:54
Speaker
that performance little beastie in me came out to play and I found television a natural fit for everything that I had done up to this point and it was a pivot. It was a pivot in direction, a pivot in media where I wanted to share my work and it's been a real foundational drive for me to use television whether it's streaming or broadcast to connect with new audiences and to empower the new home cook or home entertainer.
00:30:23
Speaker
I love when like all of your strengths and learnings, everything that you kind of cultivated throughout your life all come together. It's like a beautiful circle that I keep getting this visual of you like dancing through one circle after another after another. And like when you talked about the relationship of food in your past and now
00:30:51
Speaker
Like I just, I just saw this vision of you breaking through all and leaving behind all of those things that you had associated as negative and now making twisting it around and magically making it something beautiful and positive.
00:31:10
Speaker
I mean, I think all of us as creatives and artists, we do an awful lot of shadow work, an awful lot of finding out what's holding us back because in this life, a lot of those barriers, they're artificial. They're the ones we put on ourselves and they're the ones that are directly related to the psychology of us.
00:31:31
Speaker
our fears, our sensitivities, our anxieties. And through a lot of thinking and realizing, my husband teases me, but it seems like every 10 years I reinvent. I move on to the next phase, but never leaving those skills that I gained from the previous career. This is my third or fourth successful career. And I say successful because I left
00:31:58
Speaker
the previous careers or morphed those previous careers under my own power, under my own choosing. And I think that's been a theme is taking back that power of creativity and self because you can drive that engine, you can find your goal and you can create the platform to get it.
00:32:18
Speaker
Well, you absolutely can. And you can also, as you've done in each stage, and I love how Laurie said that with the circles, you've brought each one of your past careers or past passions with you forward. And they're all part of it. Your family is a huge part. I mean, your family is one of your passions and is a huge part of how you navigate a new change.
00:32:46
Speaker
And it's feeding your family. It's creating meals of celebration. And so I'm curious, I know you like butter. We all love a little butter. And there are lots of cookbook authors. As you said, there's lots of bloggers. What types of recipes and things do you look towards that are celebratory that you bring to your table that you like to share with your friends and family?
00:33:14
Speaker
That's a great question. So, you know, food, I grew up with food as love. I'm the daughter of an immigrant, I'm first-generation American. And our family events circled around food. It was one of those things that if you celebrated, there was going to be a table, absolutely, but debt with everything. So when I think celebration, I think big. And big doesn't necessarily mean fussy. You know, I like to quote that.
00:33:41
Speaker
I make food that's fancy but not fussy. So the flavors that I love are clean. They're bold. They're layered. They are recipes that pack a big punch. They're impressive, but they're not hard to create. So some of the flavors I draw upon are from my Slavic roots. I'm Ukrainian with a good dose of Eastern European in there. So some of my favorite dishes are chicken pakrakash.
00:34:07
Speaker
which is normally an all-day braised chicken dish with smoky paprika and vegetables and you know, the meat is falling off the bone and you serve it very saucy over potatoes or egg noodles and it's comfort, it's love, it's a hug. But knowing me and knowing most of the people around me, we don't have time for an all-day braise. So, for me, it was disturbing how do I enrich
00:34:31
Speaker
that dish with all the flavors of home without losing that nuance because of the time. So I started creating recipes that could be done in an hour. And the chicken paprikash is one of my favorites. It's one of the best on the blog. When we were going through pandemic, when sourdough started, you know, it was all the rage. I had a sourdough starter that I grew. His name was Paul Reiser. Maybe rest in peace. I forgot to feed him for a week or two.
00:34:57
Speaker
But I started creating sourdough recipes and one of them was an ode to my father because Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe and he had a love of bread that you can't imagine. So I started creating crusty loaves that would
00:35:12
Speaker
crack when you'd open them and, you know, sluffiness inside. So food, food was memory. Food was connection. Food was a way that I could bring my mother and my father to my kitchen for my children. Um, I often say that, you know, I used to make challah with my mother and she would put her hands over my hands to help braid the dough. And I found myself selling, doing that with my little five year old and her, the she's of her hands over ours.
00:35:40
Speaker
Aww. That's pretty amazing. It's a way, it's a universal language. It is. It's love and it's food and it's family and it's a way to make sure those that have lost, those who are going to come and gather on my table in the future, can't wait for grandkids but don't have them too soon boys. Don't be amazing Lori and I love them just saying. Like when I get to that stage, I want
00:36:06
Speaker
there. I want those recipes and those memories and the experiences to be there and ready. And that goes for my family as well as everyone's families out there who enjoy good food. What what a legacy of love that I love how it's it's just a chain that keeps passing on. So you are actually folding a lot of that into a project
00:36:32
Speaker
Yes. We'd love to hear about. Yes. What a great pivot. Very nice, Lori. Yes. Thank you for bringing that up. Yes, I have. This stunning journey has, you know, it's brought me so much joy and let me set tremendous goals and
00:36:54
Speaker
one of those goals I had since just before I turned 40 was I would like to write a cookbook and it's been stewing and boiling and simmering in the back and about a year and a half ago an opportunity arose with Schiffer Publishing and they wanted me to write a book and I said you want me to write a book? I will write you a book. This is what we're going to write about.
00:37:19
Speaker
And I had never written a book before. I had no idea about the world of publishing. I had read up on it. I had circled around it, but it was one of those situations of right time, right place. And so we created a book, a home entertaining book that focuses on
00:37:38
Speaker
seasons and seasonal cooking and celebration. And the book is called Seasons Around the Table and it's through Schiffer Publishing and it's due out October 28, 2024. And it's in pre-sales right now. But this book, this has been my fourth baby. It is
00:37:56
Speaker
act with light and bright photographs, lush florals, table stapes, seasonal menus. And the gist of the book is for each of the four seasons, there's four holiday menus and each of those four holiday menus are themed. So for spring, let's say we have an Easter brunch. We have a Mother's Day feast. We have a strawberry soaring. We have all of these things. And each one has at least four recipes in a cocktail.
00:38:24
Speaker
because I love cocktails. And a table state that goes step by step through the process, not difficult to follow and using items that are found around your house.
00:38:39
Speaker
flowers that you can buy at your grocery store but also modern home entertaining advice. Advice that I use in my own kitchen so that I can be with my guests versus slaving away the entire party over a hot stove and you know my parties
00:38:55
Speaker
These are dinner parties. These are parties for 16 to 24. We're not talking throwing huge blowouts. But these are the parties where you create original food experiences for your guests that will leave them talking and remembering years later. And that's what I love, is that you've frozen that moment in time. The people around your table are so, again, kinetically.
00:39:21
Speaker
connected to the table, to the people around them, to experiencing and exploring the food that tastes, the table states, the small little details, and for those two to four hours,
00:39:34
Speaker
they are there, they're present. And I think in this world where we're constantly being pushed and pulled at technology and current events and family and work, it's a breather. It's a moment of Zen where the element of true discussion and enjoyment can be present.
00:39:54
Speaker
a hundred percent and you know you're creating well first of all I love it you're filling tables with love not only with food love but with family and friends but as I said earlier it's it's like you've created a theater you've created an experience for people and you're helping people to do that I grew up my mother was a gourmet cook she loved to have people over it was back in the 60s 70s you didn't go out to dinner you had people over and you had beautiful
00:40:21
Speaker
You had dinners and my mother would spend hours doing that. I remember that growing up as a child and I remember the people coming. I remember the laughter. I remember the excitement of her preparing it. And those are the memories of my childhood and you're helping us and others to do that in our own homes.
00:40:45
Speaker
something that I think we've gotten away from. And it's so important. It's so important to gather people in our homes and and create those experiences. So, yay, I cannot wait for this book.
00:40:58
Speaker
So I imagine you, Jesse, dancing around the kitchen while you were preparing meals. I wonder, did your family get to the benefits of you writing this book? Did they get to enjoy all the food that you prepared and all the styling? I mean, that's another beautiful thing is that
00:41:24
Speaker
Your family is all part of where you're headed and what you're doing. I love that.
00:41:30
Speaker
Absolutely I mean it was a family project as you know as I mentioned earlier in the talk my husband is my chief photographer I would say he's my chief taste tester and my editor because I like commas too too much and you know my children they love shoot days because they get the taste and product but also my elder son would help us he'd hold the light streams he'd help with lighting and direction we also let him take some
00:41:59
Speaker
photographs for himself. My youngest son loves to play with garnishes and he'll help advise me. He's very, he has a keen eye for style and he's quite a harsh critic, but he's so cute with his dimples, I forgive him. And my oldest son was someone who liked to act as a susha.
00:42:17
Speaker
And he would be in the kitchen asking and questioning. He's very much like I am. Always, always asking questions. And, you know, this book is the the end result of those family dinners. It's the it's that feeling of togetherness that I hope that my children will also take forward. But also, as Jamie mentioned, too, that
00:42:41
Speaker
that gap in knowledge, I think there's been a generational gap because of all of the polls that society places on us that oftentimes there's not enough time or there might not even be enough knowledge out there that's easily accessible. So I think this next generation is turning back and taking the best parts of home entertaining and cooking and cooking for others and leaving behind the unnecessary and focusing.
00:43:10
Speaker
in on the beauty and what really resonates with them whether it's the beauty of a table steak or the full flavors of a home cooked dish or maybe a wine pairing or original cocktail. It's all about finding what works for you and then streamlining the process so it's not stressful because if it's stressful we're not going to do it.
00:43:32
Speaker
No, we're not. And it's and it's also a beautiful creative outlet, but it's also an amazing opportunity for your family. I mean, I took my kids out to dinner a lot, but I also made dinners for them often at home. Think about the experiences that they're going to have and what they're going to say. And Jesse, how proud they are of you and your husband for putting this. This is huge. You're showing them about following your dreams and your passions. And there's an end result. And that's a huge lesson for a child. And
00:44:02
Speaker
Yay, you like that's amazing. Amazing. Thank you for saying that. Oh, it's incredible. And for all those who are listening to, we will have links to Jesse's new book, which you can preorder on Amazon. And where else can you preorder your book, Jesse? Yeah, so you can preorder on Amazon as well as Barnes and Noble.
00:44:22
Speaker
Also on Shipper Publishing, any large platform will have it right now. And I hope you do. And we will be having some events come this fall and special promotions. So if you do pre-order the book, make sure you take a photo of it and send it to me via Instagram because I have something very special in the works for those fans. You always do. You always do. Well, Jesse,
00:44:47
Speaker
You have been an incredible delight. You've danced from ballet to motherhood to a blog to this wonderful book that's coming out. I mean talk about reblooming along the way and taking all the blooms with you. What advice would you have for people who
00:45:08
Speaker
are a little afraid. I mean, maybe they've done some things in their past and they just I mean, I love the why not. That's for sure. That is a definite. But what would you say to folks who are just trying to figure out how to take that next step? You know, it's.
00:45:26
Speaker
It sounds very cliche but just take the leap. What's the worst that's going to happen? You know, measuring your, you know, what's at risk if it's, you know, choosing to quit your job and becoming a, you know, a study instructor, maybe don't take that leap yet. Make sure you have a plan B. That's the advice I've always had is have a plan B, a backup.
00:45:47
Speaker
give yourself the grace and the chance to believe in a passion. And whether it's a passion that leads to a beautiful hobby or a new and stunning career, it's understanding that your interests, your creativity, and your focus on that topic is worthwhile not only to you to explore, but for the other people in this world who are kind of waiting to do the same thing and you can inspire them to do it.
00:46:17
Speaker
I have never looked back because this was so fulfilling to my soul. And I think for others, it can be too. Just take the wrist and see what happens. Why not?
00:46:32
Speaker
Why not? I love that. Oh my gosh. You are an inspiration my friend. You are a huge inspiration. I mean, we just love you and it has been such a joy to not only get to know you the past couple of years, but certainly now to share your beautiful story with all of our listeners. So thank you so much. Thanks Jesse.
00:46:59
Speaker
Thank you and thank you for your beautiful friendship. I count myself so lucky in this world. Well, we count ourselves lucky to know you and we certainly count ourselves lucky to have also said, why not? Because it brought us all together. So thank you for thank you for speaking with us today. You're the best. Take care. Thank you. Oh, my gosh, Lori, that was incredible. What did what did you take away from this?
00:47:27
Speaker
Well, what I'm always fascinated by are common threads. And, you know, I love when someone, you know, Jesse had a passion for dance that was deep, but she also knew herself. And as she was growing, she knew that she needed to maybe make a change, but she brought forward
00:47:54
Speaker
all the strength and her love of the theater and in the love of food that she gathered from her family. And she just kind of has woven it in to what she's doing now. And so I'm always I'm a little bit of a geek about common threads and how people take things that they love and they gather them together and then that's what they take forward in their lives.
00:48:24
Speaker
No, I felt the exact same way. Her comment about creating a table filled with love and trying to bring that forward, but also her passions, her passions for the arts.
00:48:40
Speaker
and creating not only just food on the table but a beautiful space for people to gather. And to me, that is almost like a performance. You're pulling together the elements and then at the end, I was in some productions, not as fancy as she was for sure. But I remember prior to dress rehearsal, you think, oh my God, how is this going to come together? And when you're cooking,
00:49:05
Speaker
Sometimes, you feel that way too. There's little elements here or parts here and you think, how is this going to come together at the end? But then it does. And then you're able to do a beautiful presentation but more importantly, bring your audience together which are your family and friends. And I love that she's encouraging us to do that because I think particularly since the pandemic, we all
00:49:28
Speaker
We all need to come together and we need those those opportunities to gather and create memories and remember not only the past, but remember and help others to remember moving forward. Yeah. And I certainly need her book because I am not. And my family has stories of like for my daughter's birthday, I attempted a carrot cake and we now dubbed it salad cake because it was so crunchy.
00:49:56
Speaker
So, our family's stories around food are usually comical and me making mistakes. We didn't need Jesse's book. Well, I think we all need Jesse's book and certainly I hope you'll all follow Jesse and straight to the hips baby on Instagram. She is fantastic and wonderful and kind.
00:50:20
Speaker
and definitely pick up her new book. And we thank you all. So peace, love, and read Bloom, everyone.
00:50:28
Speaker
Life is too short not to follow your passions, so go out there and let your heart plant you where you are meant to be and grow your joy. We will be right here sharing more incredible stories of reinvention with you. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast so you never miss an episode of Rebloom. Until next time, I'm Jamie Jamison. And I'm Lori Siebert. Peace, love, and Rebloom, dear friends.