Waylynn Lucas, SUNNY-SIDE UP
[0:08]Hi, I'm Zibi Owens, and you're listening to the web-enominated podcast Moms Don't Have Time
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[0:49]Hi, I'm excited to be here today with Wayland Lucas, who's the author of Sunny Side Up, more than 100
[0:54]breakfast and brunch recipes from the essential egg to the perfect pastry. An award-winning
[0:59]former pastry chef at famed restaurants like Bettina and Bazaar. Wayland has also been a judge on
[1:04]the Food Network's TV hit show, Cake Wars, and currently lives in Park City, Utah.
[1:09]So welcome Wayland. Thanks so much for coming on Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.
[1:13]Absolutely excited to be here. Thanks so much for having me. So can you please tell us,
[1:17]nurse, how you came up with the idea for this cookbook and what it's about? Who should buy this
[1:22]cookbook? Everybody should buy this cookbook. I really wanted to create a very family-friendly,
[1:32]everybody-friendly cookbook. I find a lot of chef cookbooks can be very intimidating and because
[1:39]their chefs, they do a lot of fancy things and use a lot of extravagant ingredients that aren't
[1:45]really applicable to just your regular home cook. And I wanted to do the opposite of that. I wanted
[1:51]this to be fun and easy and approachable and just sort of use what I've learned as a chef to sort
[1:56]of give little tips and tricks. And I love breakfast. I love brunch. I think as a pastry chef,
[2:03]I love brunch and breakfast so much because it's very sweet oriented. So that was sort of my
[2:09]inspiration to kind of do something more than just a regular dessert book. I wanted to sort of
[2:16]push myself and get into some more savory things but more, you know, pastries and eggs and breakfast
[2:22]brunch and sort of have my experience as a pastry chef sort of go that much further if you will
[2:29]in the kitchen. Awesome. Well, as a mom, I thank you because I feel like breakfast is the hardest for
[2:34]me. I feel like every day we're doing the same old stuff, scrambled eggs, frozen waffles. I don't know.
[2:40]So I felt like your book was very inspiring. In fact, we tried a crunchy French toast that you
[2:44]have in your cookbook. Oh, amazing. But we didn't have exactly the right ingredients. So we squashed
[2:49]up some rice crispies, but it was still really good. There you go. Perfect substitution.
[2:56]So what do you think in the cookbook are some of your best suggestions for busy
[3:01]parents in the morning before school to make for their kids? I think the fortadas, the baked
[3:08]egg cups, the bars, anything you can sort of make ahead of time and grab and go. I know,
[3:15]especially for moms, trying to get out, you know, the house in the morning and get, you know,
[3:21]your kids get everybody going, things that you can do, you know, even the night before after the
[3:25]kids go to bed and just have ready in the morning to grab and go. Or really, any time of the day,
[3:30]the baked egg cups are perfect for that. The bars, all of the bars I love, even if fortadas,
[3:36]you know, something you can make and slice up and kind of grab like a slice of pizza and
[3:41]eat and run out the door. I do that more times than I probably shouldn't. But one of my favorites.
[3:46]And you said that in the book, there's an acai bowl. It says it only takes five minutes to make.
[3:51]Is that really true? I mean, it takes me, it would take far more time to order that in. I feel like
[3:57]now the outside bowl and even all the smoothies and stuff, I think are super easy to just throw
[4:03]everything in a blender, slice up some fruit, sprinkle some granola on top. It's really a no brainer.
[4:10]There's not a lot of skill involved with those and with the acai bowl, you just kind of throw it
[4:15]in a blender and go. And you mentioned in your cookbook that how well you cook eggs shows how good
[4:20]a chef you are. So tell me about that. So there is a very, for a long time, there's been this,
[4:27]the chef with scoffier and Julia Child, even used to touch on it a lot, that how you cook an
[4:33]egg reflects sort of your talent and how good of a chef you are because I think an egg is something
[4:40]it's so versatile and you can do so many different things with it. And it's so hardy, but it's
[4:45]also so delicate, sort of like that's why I talk about with this scrambled eggs. It's the sort of
[4:50]handling and the finesse and it's the egg sort of tell you what it needs from you. If that makes sense,
[4:58]like in this scrambled egg recipe, it's not over handling it, over mixing it in the pan.
[5:04]It's not under mixing it to where you end up with a big sort of patty omelet. It's just sort of
[5:10]the right amount and it teaches you to sort of watch and look at the food as it's cooking and
[5:16]know when to handle it, when to nod and sort of practice that delicate hand if that really makes sense
[5:22]it all. I don't know, my eggs just don't really talk to me, but I'm going to listen. I'm going to
[5:27]listen a little more closely for now on. So you also mentioned in the book that you were very
[5:33]influenced by having the food network on in your house all the time, which I feel like gives
[5:37]me now license to keep the DVD on all the time, but I don't know. How do you think that affected
[5:42]you and your love of cooking? I think it just sort of became ingrained in the fabric of my being
[5:48]a few well because there was no matter what I was doing if I was sitting at the dining room table
[5:53]doing homework or hanging out my mom was making dinner or it was just always there in the background.
[6:00]I just heard people talking about food and listening about food and I think even though I wasn't
[6:06]really so into it myself when I was a kid, I just sort of heard about it, listen to it and it's
[6:12]funny now as an adult. I think that's why I love it so much and love writing this book and cooking
[6:18]as well because some of I realize now some of my best memories are just around food or spent
[6:24]in the kitchen watching my mom cook listening to the food network, sharing meals with friends and
[6:30]family. Those are I think some of the most special memories that I have in my life at any time.
[6:35]So tell me about your whole journey from when you were this kid, you know, doing homework and not
[6:41]really focused on cooking to now having your own cooking, being a judge on a cooking show and having
[6:45]your own cookbook and how do you go from there to here? How did you do that? How did you even
[6:50]know you wanted to do that? Like when did you say this is going to be this is my thing?
[6:54]It wasn't until much later in life. This was actually a big career change for me. When I was
[6:59]young, I had worked in the fashion industry and sort of swarred that off and quit and I'd always
[7:05]really enjoyed baking cookies just for fun and for friends and I started to see how happy
[7:11]cookies made people and so I sort of became addicted to that and I sort of started doing it
[7:18]more and making more cookies and friends who had catering companies would ask me to make
[7:23]you know hundreds of cookies for them and I was just like wow I really love and enjoy doing this
[7:28]but for me what was the turning point of like okay I want to make this was a career was just seeing
[7:33]the joy that desserts brought people and then looking at how eggs, flour, butter, sugar,
[7:42]however you can combine them you can get so many different results I really wanted to learn the
[7:46]science of it and I ended up opening up a restaurant when I was living in Costa Rica and
[7:52]had no idea what I was doing it was supposed to only be a coffee shop and then I started
[7:57]baking cookies again for friends on the side and everybody loved it and so then that just sort of
[8:01]fed my passion to want to feed people and make people happy and I said back up for two thing how
[8:06]did you end up living in Costa Rica? I quit my life in the fashion industry and I had a sort of
[8:13]vacation plan with friends to go to Costa Rica and I went there I fell in love I literally came home
[8:20]sold all of my belongings and said I'm moving to Costa Rica and I'm going to surf and learn
[8:25]to speak Spanish and hang out and figure it out and everyone thought I was crazy which I probably
[8:31]was. I was living down there and fell in love with it and someone said you know you should
[8:35]open a coffee shop and that sort of evolved into a restaurant and that sort of started weirdly
[8:41]my culinary career in the middle of the jungle in Costa Rica. So how long did you end up living there?
[8:48]I ended up living there for three years I had the bakery cafe restaurant for about two and then
[8:55]I just from that for my love of that I sold it I came back to the States to California and that's
[9:01]when I decided to go to culinary school to really truly understand the science and the ins and outs
[9:06]of baking the pastry. And you were all in on desserts the whole time. Yeah when I my restaurant
[9:12]in Costa Rica I actually did both sweet and savory but something about pastry just it was more
[9:19]sort of my mentality my love how much happier desserts made people it's like you can't be in a
[9:25]bad mood eating chocolate chip cookie or an ice cream cone you know it was sort of that that kind of
[9:30]made me really decide to put all my focus into pastry. And then sorry for all these I shouldn't
[9:36]sorry for the questions I am interviewing him but I'm like I'm eager to hear how this I'm curious as
[9:40]to how one gets from a love of cooking to end up you know writing this whole cookbook. So you went
[9:45]to culinary school and then what then you became a licensed pastry chef and then you started working
[9:52]for all these amazing restaurants and then somebody asked you to be a judge pretty much okay good all right
[9:58]I got it okay goodbye no get it
[10:00]That was easy.
[10:03]Awesome. All right.
[10:04]And what was it like being on a show after watching it your whole life?
[10:08]Was that just like a perfect full circle moment for you or did you enjoy it?
[10:13]Oh, I mean, I love it so much.
[10:15]I count my blessings every day that I get to be a part of Food Network.
[10:20]In any way, shape or form it's funny.
[10:23]It's still, you know, after I think six season of six seasons of cake wars
[10:28]and now this other show, cake off that I'm doing
[10:30]with Food Network and all the guest judging appearances I have.
[10:34]I still, to this day, like pinch myself.
[10:37]And I'm like, is this like really happening to me?
[10:40]Or when I turn on Food Network and it happens to be an episode of Cake Wars
[10:44]and I'm on TV.
[10:44]I mean, it lit its so surreal that I, like, I turn into a little kid all over again
[10:49]and get giddy and excited and cry and it's mildly pathetic.
[10:54]No, it's not pathetic.
[10:56]It's probably truly one of the most special accomplishments for myself as a chef.
[11:02]Not just because I get to be on TV.
[11:03]It has nothing to do with that.
[11:05]It's just the kind of how my culinary career and growing up with Food Network
[11:09]on TV.
[11:10]It's sort of how it's come full circle.
[11:12]And that was never being on Food Network was never even on my radar.
[11:16]It was never even like, this is my goal, my dream.
[11:19]I'm going to work really hard as a chef and try and get on Food Network.
[11:23]I just wanted to make good food and so this was just the icing on the cake, if you will.
[11:31]Lovely.
[11:32]Do you have any like dreams of your own?
[11:34]Like what would you do if you had you could pick your own show to make on Food Network?
[11:38]Like anything you want.
[11:39]Or is that what Cake Off is?
[11:41]I don't know about Cake Off.
[11:42]No, Cake Off is basically it's an extreme cake competition.
[11:46]The cakes sort of transform and they explode and catch on fire and spin and flip and do
[11:52]all these really crazy cool things and that's going to be actually airing in a few weeks.
[11:56]I think September 23rd maybe is the first episode on Food Network.
[11:59]So it's really just these bakers take the cakes to the next extreme level.
[12:04]But I mean, if I could ever have my own actual show on Food Network, that would be like
[12:09]the dream of all dreams.
[12:11]I might just drop dead right there on the spot.
[12:15]But I think I would want it to be a little more sort of exciting out there getting my hands dirty.
[12:23]In the food, growing the food, harvesting the food,
[12:26]then a lot of the kind of typical stand and stir shows.
[12:29]I just by nature, I love getting out there and getting dirty with my hands.
[12:34]I think that's why I love cooking so much.
[12:36]Because you're really creating something with your hands, which I think is a lost art in
[12:40]a way instead of being able to be a part of the whole food process from growing it from start
[12:45]to finish, I think is something that I definitely, whether it's TV or I know I'm starting to do
[12:50]in my own personal life, that's sort of the dream for me.
[12:54]And then how did you end up writing the cookbook and how did you pick?
[12:57]And you mentioned at the beginning why you wanted to do not just sweets, but how did it come about?
[13:02]Was it your idea? Did someone give you like how did it evolve into a cookbook?
[13:08]It was always my dream to write a cookbook.
[13:11]I'll be totally honest right now.
[13:14]That was something I was way too terrified to do.
[13:18]And people had talked to me about doing it for years.
[13:21]And I always said, oh yeah, that's sure that's a great idea, but kind of pushed it off
[13:25]because I was just way too nervous and scared to have to work so hard to create all these recipes
[13:30]and then sort of send them out into the world.
[13:32]I just was like just seeing like this daunting, scary task and opening myself up for judgment
[13:37]and all these things.
[13:38]And then finally, I think just enough friends and people pushed and pushed and said,
[13:43]come on, come on, you've got to do it.
[13:44]And it kind of seemed like the next hurdle that I hadn't quite gone over and through in my career
[13:51]that I was like, all right, I'm going to do this and set out to do it.
[13:54]And I kind of got a dream team of people to work with and to publish with Rodale and
[14:01]the team I got to work with with them and the sort of concept.
[14:04]It started out to be a dessert book and the sort of concept of breakfast and brunch kind of
[14:09]of happened sort of by accident.
[14:11]I didn't think anyone would really consider me writing a breakfast brunch cookbook
[14:16]because I'm a pastry chef, but I think they also saw how passionate I was about it.
[14:20]So decided to let me run with it.
[14:23]And do you still practice pastry chefdom somewhere?
[14:27]Like do you work in a restaurant still?
[14:28]Are you mostly on TV take up most of your time or?
[14:31]The TV does take out some of my time.
[14:32]I have a wholesale, I live in Park City, Utah.
[14:35]I have a little wholesale bakery and catering company and I provide a lot of baked goods for
[14:40]coffee shops and we'll do a lot of special custom, you know, birthday cakes and catering
[14:45]for parties and sweets and stuff like that.
[14:47]So it's kind of nice for me doing it on that level, not having an actual brick and mortar
[14:52]restaurant because I can sort of create my own schedule.
[14:55]And if I need to, you know, be filming or leave or be going somewhere for a book tour,
[15:01]I kind of have the freedom to do that, but I still get to, you know, be cooking for people and
[15:06]so it's the best of both worlds.
[15:08]Is there anything you just like love cooking in the pastry world, like something or some creation
[15:12]you may they couldn't believe you even did it or just something super cool?
[15:15]Or something you've mastered like the perfect croissant or I don't know, something really awesome.
[15:21]I feel like I've never, I don't, I'm the type of person that I don't think I'll ever really
[15:25]feel like I've mastered something.
[15:26]I'll always find something or I could be a little bit better.
[15:29]It could be a little bit more this and I'll always continue to kind of push and challenge myself.
[15:34]I do love making ice cream.
[15:37]That's something that I just probably one of my favorites and I love the challenge of like
[15:44]the croissants and baguette recipes and stuff that are in the book.
[15:47]I find bread to be such a skill and such an art form that still intimidates me,
[15:54]but that's probably one of the things that I love so much.
[15:57]That's why I really wanted to set out to try and make it easy for the home cook of like,
[16:01]all right, you can, you can do this.
[16:03]You can make croissants at home or, you know, a baguette or brioche or breads that, you know,
[16:08]that's something that I have so much admiration for people that solely do breads because it
[16:13]really is an art form.
[16:14]I feel like there's so many excuses not to bake, right?
[16:18]Like it's so easy to buy something.
[16:21]What would you say?
[16:22]I mean, I love to bake too, so that's part of why I'm super interested in this.
[16:26]For people who don't bake, truth be told, I'm not going to like sit there and bake
[16:29]croissants from scratch, but I do like to, you know, it's like a cupcake or something more
[16:32]simple with my kids in spines.
[16:34]What do you see as the biggest benefit to baking?
[16:37]Do you bake for your sanity?
[16:39]Do you bake for fun?
[16:40]Does it calm you down?
[16:41]Does it just, I know you like to make people happy, but what do you think it does for you?
[16:46]For me, it's sort of, it's kind of like an active meditation.
[16:49]It's kind of like for me, it's like, you know, a lot of people, it's like knitting or,
[16:53]you know, whatever.
[16:54]It's just that sort of time in the kitchen focusing on something.
[16:59]And I think that's why I like pastry so much because it forces you to focus on a recipe
[17:05]and just sort of, you really have to be focused and present on the recipe and on your technique
[17:11]and to not over mix your batter or overwork your dough or something like that.
[17:15]So it kind of just takes me away from everything and anything else and this lets me focus
[17:20]and be in the moment, which is really therapeutic for me.
[17:24]And then the bonus is I get to feed people and make people happy too.
[17:28]So awesome.
[17:30]Well, too bad.
[17:30]This is an in-person, so I could like sample some of your stuff.
[17:33]That's like my only sad that we're over-skype.
[17:36]Do you have any advice to anybody who is also trying to do a cookbook if,
[17:40]and that was one of their dreams or their dreams to be on a cooking show?
[17:43]Or what would you say to those people?
[17:45]Just to start doing it.
[17:48]If you want to write a cookbooks, come up with a theme and a concept and start creating
[17:53]those recipes and start putting it together as much as you can yourself and shopping
[17:59]and around to people.
[18:00]And I think the cool thing about people that want cooking shows or that sort of thing,
[18:06]I mean, YouTube and social media has allowed so many people the opportunity to do that,
[18:12]that I think that that's so much fun.
[18:14]I think there's even a part in the book where I say, you know, like my biggest thing
[18:19]when cooking is I also people have fun.
[18:22]Just have fun.
[18:23]Have a glass of wine.
[18:24]Pretend like you are on your own cooking show.
[18:27]You know, just do whatever you can and want to do whatever makes it fun for you.
[18:31]And and have fun doing that.
[18:32]Because as cheesy as it is to say, I am a firm believer that you can really,
[18:38]you can taste the love and the spirit of, you know, the mood you're in when you're cooking
[18:43]food and so just to have fun.
[18:45]I tried to explain that to my kids after making frozen ravioli last night.
[18:48]And they were like, this doesn't look good.
[18:50]And I was like, I mean, this is all my heart.
[18:53]You can taste the love.
[18:54]Eat it.
[18:56]They finally tried it.
[18:57]Anyway, I don't know.
[18:58]I believe I believe you can feel it too.
[19:00]I really can when people cook for you with care and love, you can definitely taste it.
[19:04]But anyway, well, thank you so much for sharing your experience with me.
[19:08]And sorry, I feel like I was like in a job interview, like asking you a question after a question,
[19:12]but I'm really interested.
[19:13]So thanks for answering them all.
[19:15]No, absolutely.
[19:16]Thank you.
[19:16]I love, I love chatting and love being asked all the questions.
[19:20]Okay, well, there we go.
[19:21]Yeah, fun.
[19:22]Thank you.
[19:23]All right.
[19:23]Thanks so much.
[19:24]Thanks.
[19:25]Bye.
[19:25]Bye.
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