Sara Mellas

00:00Hi, it's Brandon Styll, host of Nashville Restaurant Radio, and I'd like to relay a message from What Chefs Want. They know this has been the craziest past two months any of us have ever experienced, and they are excited to work together to get our industry back on its feet. They've been working hard this whole time to make improvements and feel like their service model is even more helpful than ever to help you manage your food cost and difficult to protect inventory needs. Now, they'll still be breaking every single case. No minimums on orders, 24-7 customer service to help you, and deliveries when you need them the most. In addition to that, they've expanded their to-go selection as well as partnering with local farms who desperately need help right now. And finally, if you have any questions or anything that you need, please contact their 24-7 customer support team at 800-600-8510. They look forward to getting you moving again and continuing to be What Chefs Want. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, a podcast for and about the people of the Nashville restaurant scene.

01:07Now, here's your host, the CEO of New Light Hospitality Solutions, Brandon Styll. Hello Music City, and welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll, and I am your host, and we are so excited today. We are going to do a little bit of a departure from our typical Nashville restaurant radio. And it's not far. It's still in the realm. So we're interviewing a woman today, and her name is Sarah Mellis, and Sarah is an author and food stylist. So she's not actually in restaurants, but it is to do with food, and she has a new book coming out next week, and we're going to talk about it. She's got three books actually coming out. And I think that she's, I think this is a fun interview that you're going to enjoy, and hopefully you can learn something. But I want to talk real quick about Springer Mountain Farms Chicken. Did you guys know that the farms are actual real working farms with nearly all of them growing other crops other than raising animals?

02:16The most recent change at Springer Mountain Farms is a commitment to non-GMO feed ingredients. They're about two-thirds of the way there, and their new Springer Mountain Farm Plus line is the best chicken ever. So if you go out to eat, ask the restaurant, do you serve Springer Mountain Farms Chicken? Because it is the best chicken. If you're at the grocery store and you see it, you know you're getting the best quality chicken that is out there. So check them out. Find out for yourself. SpringerMountainFarms.com and join the flock. Put your email address in and get all of their great newsletters, new recipes in your inbox immediately. So go, also we have a new website www.NashvilleRestaurantRadio.com. We have a new blog and all kinds of cool stuff in there. So check out all the past episodes. My favorites are posted in there as well. But let's jump into today's interview with Sarah Mellis. Okay, so we are here now with Sarah Mellis.

03:18And Sarah, you are a cookbook author in food style. Is it fair to say cookbook author or just author? Right now it's cookbook author, but that's another thing. I'm trying to branch out into more of the general author territory. Okay, because I've kind of done a little bit of research on you and you're versed in a lot of things. That there's a lot of there's a lot to you and I'm excited to get into some of that today. So thank you for being on Nashville Restaurant Radio today. I appreciate you having me. So you let's just jump right in and let's get the plugs in. Because you have a book coming out in one week and it is called the Easy Baked Doughnut Cookbook. Correct. Yeah. When is that coming out? It is coming out June 2nd, which on total coincidence, my publisher did not know this, but I keep this kind of stuff just like running in my brain. So I knew immediately it is three days before National Doughnut Day. Look at you.

04:19Was that you said that was coincidence? Yeah. So when they told me they're like, it's they told me the original release date when they brought me on to write it. And I just like know off the top of my head, of course, that the first Friday in June is National Doughnut Day. So I thought it was intentional and they were like, no. And I was like, well, this is we're going to try to work this to our advantage then. Of course, the first Friday in June is National Doughnut Day. I mean, everybody knows that. Not is it like because they're you know, there's all the obscure food holidays, like it's Strawberry Cheesecake Day. It's like, all right, let's calm down. But National Doughnut Day is a real one. You know, like Christine endorses it, Duncan endorses it. Wait, you realize you just really made angry all of the people that created Strawberry Cheesecake Day, right? I'm sure that the National Doughnut Day aggravated. So doughnuts, why write a cookbook on doughnuts? Is that like your thing? Do you are you just a doughnut lover? You know, it was really the publisher came to me with the idea.

05:19And, you know, because I kind of pride myself on my versatility. And it's also like a little bit of ADD where it's just I never really hone in on one thing because I love making everything. And if I don't know how to make something, I figure it out. And that's what it's really cool doing, just like general recipe development, because it can be anything. But there was they had this idea for a doughnut book and it all kind of came together as a way that really would be perfect. Because interestingly enough, like any time I've ever made doughnuts and posted on the Internet, it gets more attention than anything else. Like, really, people love doughnuts. And I've always had more success baking doughnuts. And it's just like even really weird things. Like the first thing I put on Instagram in like 2019 was a picture of doughnuts. And I write stupid shit on Instagram all the time. But I said something like this is my 2019 aura portrait. And it was like Cookie Monster doughnuts. But that said, it was like the end of 2019 here.

06:21I get this offer to do a doughnut book. And I was like, OK, universe. But yeah, I've been making baked doughnuts for years. And it was just a really fun thing to write about. What was your first post of 2020? If I'm wondering what happens at the end of this year? Yeah, right. Well, I have to check. But when I had that in my mind, I was like, I better be intentional with this stuff now. It's rainbows and kittens. No, I was thinking more like a fat stack of money, just like with a big heart on top or something. For everybody, for sure. Let's see, what did I do? Sure enough, it was a picture of doughnuts. But in fairness, that was it was hot chocolate doughnuts, but they were out of the book. So and I had just natural. Well, your pictures of doughnuts make me like want doughnuts so bad. Let's give everybody your handle on Instagram. They want to see your doughnuts. Where do they go to find them? Oh, it is just Sarah dot Mellis, S-A-R-A dot M-E-L-L-A-S.

07:26So she has got just the most amazing pictures of sweets and doughnuts and things I've ever seen. And so go check her out on Instagram and cookbook on doughnuts coming out in a week. And you have two more books. You have the quick, I'm sorry, the one pot casserole cookbook that comes out in August and the quick and easy breakfast cookbook, which comes out in September. Indeed. So my online presence would lead a lot of people to believe that I just snort sugar up my nostrils all day, which in some ways I do. But I do a lot of cooking that people wouldn't believe I do. Actually more cooking than baking just for work. So but I'm really big into just true American food. I love different cuisines, of course, and have nothing but respect for people who bring different cuisines into this country. But I like for someone from New England, I'm really about like down home cooking. And so casserole is really fit the bill and was given this offer to do a book of just like casserole is kind of reinvented.

08:35So let's like do the traditional but let's not use all the canned soup. So it was really fun to like do with a tuna noodle casserole that actually doesn't taste like a tin can and all of that. And then the breakfast cookbook, you know, my favorite meal of the day is breakfast. And so it's just like this that books a little bit shorter, but it's over 50 recipes for breakfast that can be made ahead or for grabbing and go on the morning. Good for kids. Nice. What's your so you said tuna noodle casserole? That's just like the example I always use because that's like the casserole. What's the casserole in there that you with that's like your go to like the one that's like the easiest, but it's also like the best flavor, best tasting casserole that you got? Oh, damn, that's hard. Well, because there's chapters for everything from breakfast. There's a beef chapter, there's a chicken chapter, a vegetarian chapter, a side dish chapter and a dessert chapter.

09:37I'm really happy with the recipes in the vegetarian chapter. Interestingly, and again, we're like taking casserole is like a pretty broad term, like pushing the boundaries of the casserole. But in the vegetarian chapter, there is this one recipe for a chickpea and orzo cassoulet. Okay. I called it a cassoulet because that sounded so elegant, yet did not know that a cassoulet is actually like a thing with like duck fat in a lot of meat from France shows how much culinary training I actually have. And here it's like this vegetarian like orzo chickpea sundried tomato goat cheese thing. But that's what I'm saying. It's like, it's not all like the, you know, I definitely like pulled the Midwest audience of like, tell me what you know about casserole. So like I've got things that are topped with Fritos, of course. But then I have these things that are like spinach and Mediterranean flavors. And then like dessert chapter, of course, of like, how do you make a dessert casserole?

10:39Oh, I love that. I love that you said, I mean, of course, I have casserole topped with Fritos because, I mean, everybody has casserole topped with Fritos. I don't know if I've ever had a casserole topped with Fritos, but it's an of course thing. I mean, when I was doing my like, I guess you might call it research of like these Midwestern like traditional bakes. I saw some stuff, you know, it's far as what people are eating. So let's go back in time because obviously you're very motivated and you are driven. And you love cooking. You have a passion for cooking. You love to create. So you've created all these dishes. So you're definitely innovative and creative. So my question to you is where did it all begin? Let's talk about you. Let's get back into your story. Where are you from? So I was originally born in the San Francisco Bay area, but my family moved to Massachusetts when I was five.

11:44So I grew up like a total mass hole in New England. And so I think like my personality was when I went to California, they're like, wow, you real Northeast, aren't you? And so like, I think I do have like that whole New England, Northeastern thing ingrained in my personality. But after college, where I went to school in Hartford, I went back to the San Francisco Bay area to go to grad school and stayed there for five years. And I just moved to Nashville at the beginning of this year because I have always wanted to live in the South and your neighbors out time. So that's a very interesting progression. So you're far West Coast to the far East Coast, back to the far West Coast, but you've always wanted to live in the South. I've had this like fixation with all things Southern culture since I was little. Like I would read so many books about the South, you know, just like totally imagine it.

12:47And I, you know, I traveled a lot when I, you know, throughout my life, but, and I've been to Nashville plenty of times, but I think this, I mean, Nashville is the South, but it's not like the Bayou, you know, it's kind of like the culture in South, no offense to those from the, I'm just saying, I don't know if I could hang in the deep South. So this is kind of like a nice easing into it. Well, we're, we're, you know, we're kind of a nice bigger town here in, in like downtown Nashville. You get a lot of the things that you would get. We have an NFL team, we've got an NHL team, we've got the major arenas to see all of the great sporting, but you can also be in the country. So I like that a cultured South. Yeah. And most importantly, the best Whole Foods in the United States is in Nashville. Coming from someone who has been to over 50 Whole Foods markets, like the one in Green Hills, Nashville, that is like, that is it. I've seen more celebrities in Whole Foods, I think, than I've seen in anywhere else in the city. No kidding. See, I've yet to see my like music celebrity that I'm supposed to be seeing, like out in the public, I guess.

13:54Really? Yeah. I mean, well, granted, I've been in my apartment for two months. Yeah, I'm gonna say I'm moving to Nashville. This dream of living in Nashville and write these books. I'm going to move there 2020. That's the year I'm going to meet people. How are we doing? But I mean, that said, I had a good start and in California, be it San Francisco, I was living in a 220 square foot studio apartment for five years and. 220? Square feet. Yeah. There's a bedroom in there? It was a studio and I mean, this wasn't even San Francisco. I lived in Oakland, which is like the Brooklyn of San Francisco. And I loved it. It was nice. I mean, I called it the gingerbread house because that was approximately the size. But that said, now I live in like an 1100 square foot condo, like a, you know, basic human being would want. And I feel like I'm in a castle. I'm queen of this castle. So the quarantine has not been as bad because, you know, up space.

14:58See, so that's what I'm trying to share with people is it's all about perspective. If you live in a 200 square foot gingerbread house for five years, staying at home in an 1100 square foot apartment is like being in the Hearst Castle and you'll get that reference because you're from there. But hey, living in Oakland, you're just that much closer to Napa. Oh yeah. And I definitely went up plenty of times because I'm sure we'll get into it. But I was a professional musician and so there was a lot of like music activities I had to do up in Napa and wine country. And there's, I mean, talk about good American food and cultural food. San Francisco is it. So you started the segue into music, which is another fine Nashville connection. Tell me about your musical history. What got you into music? So the two things I've done my whole life are music and food.

16:00And when I was like a middle schooler, I was just like the total like punk rock middle schooler. And I had my dream was to be in a rock band and like that was it. And then I got pushed into a choir, which was very not rock and roll. But no, it's not rock and roll, but they've hung out together. Yeah. And so, well, funny enough, like my senior project, I remember I did Queen. So I talked about choir and rock and roll coming together. But that said, my music teacher in high school was a huge influence on my life. And, you know, helped me make the decision that I wanted to go into music. So I went to school for music production technology to become like a recording engineer because as much as I like wanted to fulfill big dreams of being a musician or whatever, I also like stability and income. And, you know, I don't think I could like do the whole like touring life, even if it were to happen. But long story short, went to music school about a year and a half in I because they when you go to music school, most schools make you audition on either classical or jazz voice or instrument.

17:07So I was able to get in as a classical vocalist, started studying opera because apparently to my I didn't know at the time, but that's what classical voice means. So I remember like coming in with a carol king song being like, I want to sing I feel the earth move. And they're like, you're going to sing Cardo Mio Ben. And but started to fall in love with that, doing all these choirs. And basically took a trip with my choir to Hungary, saw this school of kids at the Kodály school, try to make it short again, Zoltán Kodály was a Hungarian music composer and educator that had this whole philosophy of music education, but it was how I was taught to read music in college. And I saw these nine year old kids doing what I was doing as a 19 year old and their musicianship was just incredible. So shots fired in my brain. I was like, okay, I need to be a teacher. I need to do this. But I never wanted to teach little kids. I wanted to teach older kids. But when you're an older kid and you look like a little kid, which is kind of my scenario, it would pose challenges.

18:09Anyway, I changed my major to music history, just so I could graduate and be a good musician that I that's when I went to California because they had the only program in this specific methodology of music education like in the US. And so I did my master's degree in like nine months time. Wow. And then started working as a choir conductor, music teacher out in California. Did all sorts of different stints. I was a high school band teacher. I was the director of music at a couple of churches. But then I was conducting the San Francisco Boys Choir, which was my last like good gig until I started to hate my boss. I don't know if I'm allowed to say that on podcasts, but it was just complete horseshit. And at the same time, food started taking off. So that's when I love music. There's a lot to unpack there. Yeah, I'm working on making that story shorter, but it's not happening. So you can say whatever you want on a podcast. That's kind of the joy of it being a podcast and working with kids.

19:09So you're wanting to work with kids and helping kids learn music. Was there ever there's a million movies about it. Was there ever a moment that you felt like you like changed somebody's life? Like, was there a kid that you just like really helped you saw this metamorphosis happen right in front of you? Man, that's that's really hard to think of. I can only hope, you know, I can only hope I made some kind of impact on the kids. Because also I was like a young teacher and like it takes time to get good at anything. So I definitely made some mistakes. And again, I was teaching high school when I was 24. And like some of these kids are 18, just like, who is this? But again, it's like, I mean, I'm sure you can already tell I don't really have a filter. So I think I definitely created some memorable moments if I had like an actual impact on kids. Like, man, I hope so.

20:11All right. So I will reverse that question and I will say what did you learn from the kids? Oh, gosh, what didn't I learn? So I did have the privilege of working with all different age groups. So when I was working at the church, I was working with like older adults or like old people. But then I was also doing like elementary music for a couple jobs. And then like I said, I was doing middle and high scores. The elementary kids are as much as like, I never want to be in a room with 25 year old, seven year old boys again. But it's like, there was a story every day. Like those, like the kids say the darndest things as like Bill Cosby would say. But they really do. And just their way of looking at the world can be so magical. And so learned a lot about like seeing the world through the eyes of a child or whatever. You know, if I got there after I like went home and face planted on my couch from like exhaustion with all of them.

21:11From the middle and high schoolers. High school is my favorite age group because it's amazing to me how they can be so smart, but so freaking stupid at the same time. Like they have this amazing aptitude to learn and they come up with these great ideas, but then they make these dumb ass decisions or just like can't get their act together. And then there's all the hormones. So yeah, it was just really interesting to learn about development of like humans, I guess. Yeah, well, I think you see a lot of progression there. I'll tell you a story my wife's gonna kill me for telling this story. She last week for some reason, I don't know, she had some some acne on her face, which she hasn't been maybe 15 years. I've never like seen one. But we have a six-year-old almost seven-year-old boy. So I'm very familiar with that type of room of 20 of them scares the hell out of me. But he walked up to her in the morning and he said, Mom, oh my gosh, you have a bunch of bug bites on your face.

22:16And she was just like, yeah, they will say the darndest things. There's no filter. And they don't know and it was so sweet and it was so innocent, but she was just like, yeah, I needed that. Thank you, honey. Yeah, exactly. I definitely got a lot of that. He has a thing with, like that's what the young kids will do for sure. The high schoolers, like they at least have enough, like most of them have enough social consciousness, right? To like not say something like that, but they will like, you can't get away with anything with high scores. Like you make a mistake, they're the first to call it out. So kept me at my toes. Oh, yeah, absolutely. All right. So music, you had the boss that you didn't really vibe with. Sure. Anything you want to share there? No, well, that was kind of like my tipping point where I just learned. Like, it's not that I'm not like a collaborative person because I do like really appreciate input and feedback of others, but it was kind of that moment of like, I've got to work for myself, man.

23:16Like I can't like deal with this extra because again, working in schools, it's like you're always, you know, having to answer to like greater administrative systems. And maybe this is just a facet of being young and dumb, which and like the ability to like, I don't have kids, I don't have a husband, it's like I can kind of just like take my own risks for myself without consequences. But I am at that point where I'm like, if I don't have to like work for someone else's cause, like why not create my own and try to help people through that and like do creative work through that. So that was kind of that moment. But that said, like that was a really, you know, working for the boys chorus, there was like a level of prestige with that position that was attractive too, but because that is like one of the America's Better Children's Choirs, but it just made me realize like something might look and sound really good on a resume or from the outside, but was I really enjoying it day to day? Like not, not necessarily. So that takes a, what you just said right there, there's a lot and the idea that you can work for somebody that may have a different core value system that you do and every time that you do work for somebody, you make a decision that you want to go to work.

24:31I mean, I think that that's the weird thing today is that a lot of people feel like they have to go to some job or some job is if they're in a bad job, it's kind of like being in a bad relationship that you have the choice. Like when you go to an interview, I think a lot of people get so nervous that they're in an interview that part of the interview is you interviewing me. So if I'm the one interviewing you in a work setting, I always appreciate it because I've been a manager of some sort since I was 22. But every time I interview, I always, the people that I most time hired asked me the best questions. They were the ones that came and said, what do you have? And they said, tell me about your core values of your company. Tell me about the things that you guys do that are different. And I always appreciate that because almost like they're interviewing me to decide if they want to come work in my environment. And I think that's a big part that a lot of people miss when going into jobs. That's really good insight. And I mean, that's because, yeah, it's like taking, like applying for positions and interviewing in itself takes practice.

25:37And like, man, did I get some of it? But that's really good to know in case I ever have to get a real job again, because I feel like I'm just going to show up with my resume. They're like, what the fuck have you been doing for the last six years? You're like, I don't know, man, cooking. Well, you have, I mean, there's your resume. I've got three published books that are out there right now. And you have, you have more than that. Do you have other books that you've written? I put out an ebook last fall just, you know, through like Jeff Bezos publishing on Kindle. But no, that's been, I do have a published paper for music, but those are the books and I am working to get a few more picked up right now. And I mean, yeah, I mean, it's great. And I guess that's like something but, and it will feel more real once they're like officially out. But I was just joking the other day that like to this day, my father still sends me job postings for like music teachers because he like doesn't believe I'm like, like he's like proud of me and knows what I'm doing. But he's like, do you know that Lipscomb University is hiring an adjunct professor right now?

26:38You should really apply. Dad, I'm an author. Well, and like, and not to like toot the old horn, but it actually became the number one best-selling cookbook on Amazon last week, which blew my mind. I was like, who made that list? My mother, like, I don't know how that happened because it's not even out. But I guess that's something, you know, it didn't feel real. And I'm super excited. But it's just like, here I have this cookbook that is like presumably going to be doing well. And even so, people are like, you should really get a real job. Well, no, it's when you listen to people like that, that you don't get to follow your dreams and you don't get to be happy. To get back to what you said, I kind of went on a tangent about interviewing people when you're in an interview. But the idea that you seem like somebody who makes calculated risks, right? So as much as you're saying, oh, you said you're not married, you don't have kids. And the risk that you're going to take don't necessarily affect other people.

27:40A lot of people don't have those luxuries. And those are luxuries. And that is a calculated risk. And when you kind of feel like you don't want to go work under somebody else's system and you want to create your own thing, I mean, I applaud you. That's being an entrepreneur and that's taking risk to follow a dream. And I just, I think that that's one of the most special things. And that is when people say, live free. I live in a free country. I'm not going to wear a mask or wear a mask. I mean, I don't care where you are on that take. But to me, living in a free country is the ability to say, I don't want to go work for the man and I'm going to start my own thing. And I'm going to use my own talents to create. And I applaud you for that. I think that's fantastic. Well, I can't thank you enough. That is really like the encouragement I need. Because it comes with pros and cons, for sure. But like, it's funny you say calculated risk because I use that term all the time. And it's just, I just think of like, okay, when it gets really hard, I'm like, what's my alternative?

28:43You know, like, it's, you know, you're either going to try or you're just going to kind of see what happens. So I'm going to take the higher, like the more positive and proactive route. But I do understand, I don't take it for granted. You know, there's a lot of privilege that like, you have to have a certain level of privilege to be able to do what I'm doing. And I realized that not everyone can just be like, yeah, man, I'm going to go like, chase the dream and screw everyone else. You know, because if you have, like, if you've made decisions, you know, because they're like, it's the independence and being able to do this goes hand in hand. And, you know, if I was struggling in some capacity or if I had people I had to take care of, which I realized is a reality for some, like, couldn't do it. So the point is, I don't take it for granted. Well, good. So let's get into a little bit of this quarantine, COVID-19, moving to Nashville, taking that leap and moving to Nashville. What part of town do you live in? I'm like between like edge of Bellevue, edge of Belle Meade.

29:46Nice. You live out by me. Really? Awesome. Yeah. I live out kind of Bellevue-ish, edge of Belle Meade. I get all sorts of looks when I tell people, especially my age that I live here, and I don't get it because it's so stunningly beautiful. I could not be happier to be posted up here. I guess they think it's like boring or something, but I'm like, I don't want to live like on Broadway. So I grew up in Southern California. Oh, really? And have family there and it's gorgeous. But I think that people don't recognize that when you live there, it's really hard to live there because there's traffic and it's just, you have to plan your day around all these things and it's super expensive and you can't do the stuff that you'd like to do. And there's a couple roads. My wife's grandmother passed away several years ago and I never forget at her funeral, they said, she's one of the people that every time she'd pass a flower, she would stop and smell the flower and just kind of look at it and marvel in its beauty.

30:49And one thing that she would want us to say today is to stop and smell the flowers because everybody gets so busy. And to this day, every time that I see a pretty flower, I stop. And I'm like, you know what? I can't deny this. Sometimes you have to live in the moment and there's a street right down the street from me called McCrory Lane. It's right past the Loveless Cafe. I live kind of right over by the Loveless Cafe. But there's a street called McCrory Lane and it takes you straight to 40. And every time I'm on McCrory Lane, I don't even care if it's raining. I open the sunroof and I just turn the music off or up louder. And I just kind of enjoy driving down the street because it's like this tree tunnel, the most beautiful street in Nashville. And we just don't have those roads anywhere in California. And I just kind of sometimes stop and go, God, I drive down the street a lot and I might take it for granted, but this is so beautiful where we live. I'm glad that doesn't go away. Because yeah, I wonder if being new here, I'm in just like a honeymoon phase with the city.

31:53But it's like, yeah, at least once a day. I just like, rain or shine, you look around, you're just like, how could something be so beautiful? Again, I think it's perspective. I think that you have to train your brain. And if you are able to see beauty, some people don't see beauty. Some people just see hate and they see anger and everything they do, they're looking for what's wrong. And you have to train your brain to look for what's right. If you're constantly looking for what's right, you'll find that you smile a lot more than you frown. And that's, I think they just said it throughout a quarantine, you're at home. But like, if your perspective is, I get to look outside, then you look outside and you see beauty. If you go, I'm stuck at my house and I have to look at this outside, then you're not. I mean, it's all about how you look at things. For sure, sure. So it sounds like you've written these books, you moved to Nashville. So you have been at home for a couple months now. What are you doing at home? Do you just watch TV?

32:55Do you listen to music? What do you do? Well, I don't have a TV. Yeah, I never have. It was just like, where the hell was I going to put a TV in a studio apartment in California? So I just got used to not having one. I do love to read, I read a lot. But I'm one of those people where I just never stop working. And it's even more so now that it's like, because the line between what I like to do and what is now my work is non-existent. And so it's just like, I have tried, like quarantine, if anything, has made me have to be like, all right, we need some boundaries on ourselves because they're just like it, because it will get to a point where it's like, just like it's not doing anything productive. It's just like burning energy. But that said, like prior to quarantine, obviously I don't have like a commercial kitchen. I don't have a co-working space. It's like I was writing these books from my apartment anyway. There you go. So another aspect of who you are, what you do, is you're a food stylist.

33:59Yeah. What does that mean? So anytime you see something edible in a commercial or in an advertisement, print or digital, nowadays a lot of it on social media, there is somebody getting paid to make the food appear a certain way just as someone would get paid to put a certain outfit on a model or set up like props if it was like a home ad or whatever. So I do a lot in commercial advertising and it will vary based on the client. So if it's something like a restaurant, like McDonald's or whatever, you're working with their menu developer because they have very, very specific guidelines for how they want things to look. And a lot of people have heard lore of the non-edible food. Is it really the food? And in a lot of commercial settings like that, you are using smoke and mirrors. You start with the food, but there's all sorts of props within the food to get it to when you're spraying shit on it, to make it shiny, whatever.

35:06Um, but, or like, you know, the turkeys will be raw and painted with shoe polish, which like, I don't mess with that, but a lot of times it's real. Turkeys are raw and painted with shoe polish. See, so this is the stuff you listen to Nashville Restaurant Radio for, ladies and gentlemen. We are just tearing the lid off here. We are going to, let's get behind the scenes. If you heard that those things were fake, now you're getting the real story. You know, McDonald's is very particular about the way their food looks in commercials, but in real life, not so much. I don't know. I've got nothing against McDonald's, but yeah, it's like they want it. They have very specific guidelines. Um, as they should, huh? As they should. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I make that McDonald's and get the McDonald's, but, um, yeah, every time I work for them, I'm like off to work the McDonald's job and get my paycheck and just the joke never gets old is what I'm trying to say.

36:10And anyway, but there's other brands, you know, where it's like, it's very, and that's what I like more is the very natural stuff, you know, because it just becomes not food when you're like doing, and it's very stressful. But the more natural stuff with like photographing, doing editorial spreads for magazines, that's certainly something I'd like to do more of because that's like, you know, I'll be hands-on, actually preparing the food, you know, positioning it, working with a photographer, um, and that's real nice. How would we see something that you've done? Is there something out, is there a way you could put us in touch with something that you've done that's like, that you could tell a story behind like, oh, we did this one and instead of a tomato, we used a beef tongue or, you know, something crazy that I could go to the internet, find in reference. Right now I have a lot of pictures out and it's so, it's amazing how long this stuff takes to like actually hit the public, um, because I have like, probably the coolest thing I've done was like a year and a half ago and it's still not out.

37:14And, yeah, um, and that was actually like, there's this film series on YouTube called Food Films, and it's totally just like a cinema, it went viral at some point, but, um, it's basically like food videos, recipe videos done in the style of famous directors, so like Quentin Tarantino makes spaghetti and meatballs or whatever, and it's very cool to watch, um, and they're very short, but, so basically I met the director and went on to work on the second season, so like we're waiting for that to come out, but we did, um, Christopher Nolan inception with like a chocolate covered strawberry and like carrot soup, so we did this thing where like the strawberry was attached to a drill underneath the table and like spinning like the top in inception, but like spewing chocolate everywhere, and then the scene where Leonardo DiCaprio like falls backwards into the bathtub, we did that with a carrot into a sink, and it's like total goofball stuff, but it's very cool.

38:17That is, did you have that idea or is that just you helping execute it? Absolutely not, so it's the director's idea and I gotta give him credit that really, really fantastic ideas that he's had and really great execution, so I just came in as the food stylist for that. Hey everybody, we're gonna take a 20-second break so I can tell you about Kurtz Hospitality Marketing. Times are tough, we all know that, but recovery doesn't have to be. Kurtz Hospitality Marketing is a full-service sales, marketing, and public relations agency dedicated to growing revenue for their clients. Contact them at 615-456-3953 or at kurtzhospitality.com. That's k-u-r-t-z-hospitality.com. So welcome back, we are here again with author Sarah Mellis. What are your hopes and dreams for the rest of 2020? You've been quarantined for a couple months, what are some things in Nashville that you want to get out and do when you can?

39:21The reason I settled on coming to Nashville was because it has both a thriving food scene and a thriving music scene, and you know, I'm like, you know, I'm not like wilding, like I like interacting with people, but like I guess I'd identify as an introvert or whatever, but I think this has knocked the introversion right out of me, and I would just love to go see some live concerts. I was ready to get like, be one of the woo girls at the summer music festivals with whatever the White Claws they drink or whatever, all I wanted was to do, to play that role for like just one summer, and now I'm like, I can't like, I just want to swoon over some Thomas Rhett, isn't that what they do in Nashville? Pretty much. Yeah, so, but I think like, I would just, I know that like live music is gonna take a while to come back and that's okay, but I would, you know, plus like COVID and then compounded with the tornado, I would love to see the city get back to a place where it's feeling positive again and more on its feet, you know, obviously we have some huge changes coming our way, but to be able to return to some kind of connection, whatever that's gonna look like again within Nashville, you know, while maintaining what the city is known for and loves to do.

40:45Well, hang in there, because once everything does go back to normal, I don't think that there is gonna be a normal, but whatever the new normal is, Nashville is a ton of fun and there is a ton of things. I just got the notification last week that my, the Alicia Keys tickets that I had got for August, the show has been postponed and I was really sad because I was like fingers crossed over here going, that show hasn't been canceled yet, like August, maybe it'll still be good. So I'm a little upset by that, but I think things will come back and I think that you will get to have somewhat of a fun summer and if you haven't done it yet, there is a place down in Pegram. So it's not far from where you are and you can go to a place called Tipa Canoe or Canoe Music City. There's another one called Foggy Bottom. We like Canoe Music City, if you're gonna use a canoe and we love Foggy Bottom if you're gonna do the kayaks, but it's like 12 minutes from where you are and it is the most beautiful trip in the entire world.

41:52I highly recommend canoeing the Harpeth River and you can do that socially distancing, like you could just go get on a kayak by yourself and spend a day on a river right now. That's like a fabulous time and you just said so many fun words, Foggy Bottom, Tipa Canoe, I mean Tipa Canoe sounds, I would not go canoeing, I would go Tipa Canoeing. Because it's funny you say that to me just two days ago because everyone's buying stupid quarantine shit and like I mean I bought like an entire second bedroom and like my newest thing is like maybe I should get a kayak and I'm like oh because what do I want to do this summer drown like I don't know how to kayak, I need guidance. It's so easy, no listen you go to the Harpeth, it is so easy you just get a paddle and a kayak and you just it's not like a white water, it's like a lazy river, like you have to paddle if you want to move forward. It's like being on a still lake. That seems my speed, that seems like yeah it's amazing. Seriously though check it out, Google it and look at pictures of it and you're gonna go I need to be there like today and you'll be your new favorite place in the entire city it's something you can do, I think they opened today, they've been closed this entire time but today phase two starts today and I think that they open like today and then it's gonna be a zoo on the river but you can still stay away from people so.

43:12Yeah it's hard to get within six feet when you got a boat around you. That's a thing. Okay Sarah Mellis, thank you so much for joining us today. What is anything else you want to say to the people of Nashville, anything that is on your heart, on your mind? I mean I guess stay positive and if anyone wants food that's like a huge, so here's my issue with what I do working from home I make like an obscene amount of food every day like enough to feed like a family of 20 so when I worked at high schools it was great because they're garbage cans and you can bring them whatever they don't care what it looks like that's been like my biggest issue with quarantine is like I don't have no one to give this food to so if like in all seriousness if there's like someone listening and they're just like hey I got a family we could use some snacks like send me a message and we can arrange something because I will give food to whoever be hungry I may edit that out and just send you a message okay no I'm kidding so find her on Instagram at sarasara.mellas m-e-l-l-a-s dot com dot com you have a website and then on Instagram would be my Instagram is sarasara.mellas and then my website is just saramellas.com please do not message me on Facebook because I rarely see it and when I do it makes me uncomfortable because I'm like oh my god they found me on Facebook which I did last night no but that's different you didn't like set like I get people who will like find my recipes from like random brands on the internet like I had a woman the other day not even a hello just like straight up are you the lemon bar person like somehow I figured out what she meant but I'm just like this feels invasive that said Instagram's great my email is great I love people who message me I love to chat so I am not even going to put your name on the header for this it's just going to be the lemon bar person from this point forth

45:13I mean yeah there's been a lot of names the donut lady whatever so donut lady lemon bar person aka sarah all right well I wish you nothing but the best of luck people if you're out there in a week go get the easy baked donut cookbook and in August the one pot casserole cookbook and in September the quick and easy breakfast cookbook these are getting available to you they're authored by Sarah Mellis and thanks for joining us today yeah likewise thank you so so much all right I want to say thank you again to Sarah Mellis for coming on Nashville Restaurant Radio hopefully that was educational for you learned a little bit of something hopefully you if you're a donut maker you now know the book to go by but we want to thank our sponsors again What Chefs Want Springer Mountain Farms Chicken and Kurt's Hospitality Marketing you guys are amazing and we hope the rest of you are doing well out there and staying safe love you guys bye