Phil: [00:00:00] Hey, Derek. How's it gone?
Derek: [00:00:01] I'm good. How are you?
Phil: [00:00:02] Great. Well, thanks. Thanks so much for joining
Derek: [00:00:04] Yeah, thanks for having me.
Phil: [00:00:05] dad, with the pan, what a sweet image you've got going on there.
Derek: [00:00:09] Thanks. Thanks.
Phil: [00:00:12] It's obviously more than just an image. It's a lifestyle and crushing
Derek: [00:00:16] Yeah. Yeah, it's been, what now? What, four or five years that I've been doing this maybe longer? I don't know. I think I started this in like 2014, so, it's been a long road, but it's been crazy. I didn't really think I'd ever get to where the point it is now. So yeah, I don't know.
It's, it's, it's just insane what you can do on the unit these days.
Chris: [00:00:33] Yeah. Did you mention that it's now a full-time deal for you?
Derek: [00:00:36] Yeah. Yeah.  I put in the the two weeks at my nine to five end of October of last year, So it's just been that I couldn't do it anymore. I was doing like, you know, 50 hours at the nine to five plus trying to maintain everything I was doing with the blog. And it was just like, it was getting obviously that you that's, there's no way you can maintain that in the whole.
Atmosphere that we're living right now in, you know, this pandemic world that we're in. So it was just like, it was just way too much stress. And it was just like, I think this is, this is the time which is weird. Cause I'm really bad at like timing, I guess. Yeah. I think quitting your job in the middle of the pandemic to go, you know, full-time self-employed is probably not like what you imagined you'd be doing, how you'd be doing it, but.
Chris: [00:01:18] Some people might say that's a 
little 
Derek: [00:01:20] Yeah. And it's funny because like my wife, this has been something I've been trying to like mentally prepare my wife for like, for years. Like, you know, like I, I'm going to have to go full time. I'm going to have to, you know, this is, this is where we're going. If we want to like, you know, really support the family.
And she's very like, you know, I have to have a plan for everything we need to do this. And when I told her, you know, I think I'd have to quit my job. I can't do this anymore. And she was like, all right, well I, I support you. And I was just like, usually I get like a lot of pushback and there wasn't any pushback.
And I think she kinda knew, like there was no way we could do this, with my son who's, you know, behind me right now on his own, zoomie doing distance learning. He's like, She can't have me out of the house for like, you know, 50 hours a week trying to maintain the house and then me coming home and not being there.
Cause I have to catch up on content. It was just, I think it was just, the writing was on the wall. It's time to time to make the move.
Phil: [00:02:06] Yeah, it sounds like to me, you're not bad with timing, but amazing at timing.
Derek: [00:02:12] Well, you know, it feels like it's bad timing, you know, w when you're, when you're going, it's like, you don't know what the future holds anyways. But like, when you know, everything's up in the air with, like, everything has been going on in the world, you just like, you don't know what the next, you know, six months is going to bring. So it's like anything you do, there's always an uncertainty. So I guess it just depends on how you kind of look. Yeah.
Phil: [00:02:31] Yeah, well, uh, you know, Chris and I, I think we can both relate to that. We started this podcast right around the same time that you quit your job. And which it's I guess, October of last year and outside of the podcast, both Chris and I have have our own little gigs go on, you know, we're both self-employed and so I think we get it, I think I would say you're in a safe place for sure.
Derek: [00:02:52] Awesome. Awesome.
Chris: [00:02:53] Yes. I think one thing that we did want to know is just what was kind of the. The impetus or Genesis of dad with the ban on the food blog.
Derek: [00:03:01] Man. So I always say that, like I accidentally fell into this so like my whole life I've always done like crazy things on the side. Like always like, I think it always came down to the fact that like my nine to five never fully paid the bills, which is weird to say, when you're in it, everyone thinks like, you know, you're making making bank, but, sometimes that's not always the case.
 so, you know, like I always started doing like, you know, like craziest one that I think I've had was I was going to do beta fish breeding. And my wife always laughs and gives me crap over that. Cause she thinks I'm crazy. I always have like these crazy like ideas, like these little business ventures that I'm always going to do and it never really comes to fruition.
But like one thing that I've always enjoyed probably as much as I enjoy it, it's been cooking. Like I've lived on my own since I was. 18 or 19. So like learning how to cook on my own. Especially when you know, money's tight, that's something you have to learn how to do, unless you want to be eating top ramen every week learning how to cook at a young age and then Kind of always being the one who cooked at home. It was something that's always just been a passion of mine. So as you know, we had kids and As the, you know, the person who brings home the paycheck, that pressure to keep, you know, everything, flowing in that kind of, it's always in the back of your mind.
So it's like, well, I, I can't keep this going in it. What else can I do? And, you know, I started seeing other people starting to share recipes and it wasn't any more like, you know, this random rep website with like a, you hokey picture, not to put down anyone who does that. Cause everyone starts somewhere.
But I mean, even me and my website, you should see the pictures of the beginning, but you start to see like more higher quality like photos and, And I was like, man, I want to do that. Cause like photography has always been a passion of my too. So it's like, well maybe I could put all these things together and being an it.
And I mean, I think my first website was like when I was 15 and actually got like an, a paycheck, like a $20 paycheck from like ads, which was crazy at the time. maybe I could do this. So, you know, I, started putting my head down and, with a lot of push of my wife, because you know, I'll start ideas and I'll kind of fizzle them out.
She was like, Co has kind of pushed me. So I was like, all right, let's, let's get this going. And when I finally got the website up, it was more of a kind of a hobby. I th I, I, I thought like, well, maybe I can just like, share my, share my recipes. And at most it's just going to be a, you know, online database for like my own recipe.
So I always have, you know, a way to kind of look back and figure out like what I did and how I made it. you know, I, I met some people that were really helped focus my energy and my attention on where I should, focus things on to kind of really make this successful. And probably within the first six months, I think I got good enough feedback to know that like this was actually going to go somewhere.
But five, six years down the road now, I never thought I'd be to the point where I was at. I was thought it would be like a side job, and probably would fizzle out one day, but like, I don't see an end in sight, which is crazy, but I mean, gosh, there's so many people doing this nowadays, so it's, it's been really fun.
Phil: [00:05:36] Derek. One of the things I love about your Instagram feed is that you'll, you'll take these like very basic food items that we all grew up with as kids like, like hot dogs or nachos or ramen noodles. And. But you figured out a way to actually make us want to have those again, you know, for me growing up nachos were basically just these round tortilla chips, chips from a bag.
And then there was a side of nacho cheese sauce. It wasn't even case. So like, we didn't even know what Kaiso was back then. It was just like this very ordinary rudimentary cheese sauce. That was probably like 80% plastic, to be honest with you. 
And. somehow you have taken that and you've made a gourmet, like you've got this, you've got this, this picture of nachos.
That, what is, is it baked? Like, it's, it's like scorched on top, but it looks so good. And there's things like a lobster in it. And. many other items, like what is their sausage in that? What does that black beans? I don't know what that is. I just know that I want it. And then it's, you know, topped off the cilantro and then served with Negra Modelo.
And it just looks so tasty, 
Derek: [00:06:43] that's awesome. You know, it's funny, you mentioned not just as a kid. cause I took a coding class in in high school and I think one of my, like my eye opening, like wow moments, you could do this cause was, the cooking instructor said, well, sprinkle some cumin on the chips or on the, on the cheese.
And when you, you know, cause like, like you said, like nachos were like little round chips with the knots or cheese. I think mine was nacho chips, like a Napoleon dynamite style where you just load it with cheese and throw it in the microwave for 30 seconds. And and then she just like, just put cumin, it just like one simple spice.
And I was like, Oh wow. Like, That's where, that's where that flavor comes from. And sometimes when I put things together, I don't really have an end goal in mind.
I just kind of like, take what I like and then put like, I guess inspiration that I've taken from watching other people do it, or like a restaurant that I like, and just kind of do my own spin on it. 
Chris: [00:07:30] Yeah. So, I mean, it kinda sounds like, really the, the whole adventure in and of itself, as well as a lot of your recipes, they just kind of develop organically. And it's this whole thing. Maybe not, it didn't start out with this grand vision in mind, but it's just kind of developed into something that's just naturally naturally kind of an expression of, of where you're at and like what your, your tastes and style and likes are.
Derek: [00:07:53] Yeah, for sure. I think that's probably like the, probably the thesis of my life is just running gun.
Phil: [00:07:58] Oh, hundred percent. Me too. 
Chris: [00:08:00] yeah, 
I can, I can relate a little bit. I, I have, I always have like grand designs of coming up with this really like developed plan, but it's everything just kind of turns into kind of flying by the seat of my 
Derek: [00:08:13] Yeah, I can have a vision of something. And like, that's where I want to go in the Taiwan, but like how to get there, like I can put down a strategy and like figure it out, like, say like, okay, well here's a game plan, but it's like, once the rubber hits the road, it's like, no, that's, that's not how that's happening.
Phil: [00:08:27] Do you ever make something that is just like super inspiring and it looks amazing and you bring your family over. Cause you're so proud of that. And you're like, wow, you guys got to try this. This is going to be so good. And then you try it on. It's just like horrible, but, but you have to keep it because it looks so good for social.
Derek: [00:08:44] Yeah. So it's like or like there's, to be honest, there's been a few times where like, I've made a recipe. I was like, Hmm. That's that's not good, but like, I I've already shot the photos and I've heard like, no one knows what it tastes like from the pictures. So like, I can, I can easily fix it.
Like, I'll just, you know, like I'll, you know, I'll I'll instead of shooting it again, I'll just cook it again and be like, all right, well, here's how to fix it. And then. That's the new recipe with the same pictures. So we'll easier fix by video. If you do video, there's no way you got to redo out. You got to redo it all.
 Chris: [00:09:14] so that high school class is that kinda how you really got into cooking because,  you said that you've always been kind of the one, the primary cook in your family, but you know, that's, that's obviously not necessarily the norm and at least from, from our experience too, like we.
Are both really just getting into this. So is that, is that kind of where you started and it's just kind of taken off since then? 
Derek: [00:09:37] Yeah.
I think well, like I think I grew drew a lot of inspiration from my mother cooking. Not that she was, I mean, she wasn't like a world-class cook or anything, but like she would, you know, kind of teach me how to cook in the kitchen every now and then, But then I think it really started to hone in once I took that class in high school, I mean, I actually wanted to go to court on blue, and, you know, go into the whole culinary world.
And then I think, I don't know what happened. I think I just decided to go down the it road. Cause that was what my father did. But I think if I had to do it again, I probably would have went down the culinary road. But as far as like me being the. The main person who cooks. I think that just kind of like, I want to say accidentally happened, but it was just because I was always doing the one cooking.
I was younger when I was living by myself. And it was just, it's kind of something that I always enjoy doing for me. I don't know if it's like the Italian part of me, but like, I feel like cooking for someone and cooking for people is a. To like, you know, give them food that like you really enjoy and sharing with them.
I think that's a great way to like, show, like you're loved to other people. And, so it's like, it's, I think it's kind of like my way of like showing my love to my family.
Chris: [00:10:43] Yeah, that's great. 
Yeah, that's something that my, my wife says all the time. I don't, I don't know if I really like fully got it until this little endeavor that we started. You know, I didn't, I didn't necessarily grow up in a foodie family. We've we've talked about that a good bit. And so this whole, this whole space is, is super new.
To me, but yeah, no, I can, I can absolutely see how, like, so there's so much effort and thought and care that you put into it and, it, it definitely can be an expression of, of that.
Derek: [00:11:13] Yeah.  
Phil: [00:11:13] Speaking of cultural norms you know, this is something I've been thinking about quite a bit, actually.
And well, I, I actually got the idea from, from you, from your blog a little bit, you know, going through and reading some of your story. You talk about how. You love your mom's cooking and you love your dad's barbecue. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. That's, that's how it was for so many of us growing up.
And I think it's kind of shifting a little bit and I think, I don't know, like maybe we should be celebrating that, that shift and. Yeah. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, you know, these domains, like it's, you know, moms only belong in the kitchen or dad's only belong on the barbecue. It doesn't have to be singular.
I think they can be interchangeable. I think I want to celebrate this, this concept, this idea that wherever the family is, wherever that's taking place, we can be too. Yeah.
Derek: [00:12:03] Yeah.  It's. Yeah, I've always found it fascinating that, you know, in the professional, like the culinary world, it's a, it's a men's space. But then like in the home it's, that's, that's the women's space and it's, it's never really made any sense to me though. Cause like you see a lot of like men, like I see it all the time and I don't know it.
I think it's what you said. It's like a quote unquote court's cultural norm right now. It's like, they, they feel like, Oh, I don't want to be in the cook, the meals that's that's the woman's job. And or like there's I've I've I've also seen people go. Oh, that looks really good. I'm going to have my wife or girlfriend cook it for me.
I'm like, you can, you can try cooking yourself. I mean, I've got just instructions. Just, just follow them. 
Chris: [00:12:41] You think that I go, like, what do you think contributes to that? Is, is, is there still an element of, kind of like traditional gender roles that play into that? Because I've wondered if it's that or if there's also not this, this. Element of not necessarily knowing where to start. You know, you mentioned that your, your mom kind of taught you a little bit, but like, I know that I didn't have that.
And so when I was out on my own, and I, when I moved out, I had an apartment and everything, I, I like, honestly, like, didn't even know how to put something together. I didn't know where to start. Like if I was going to go to the store, I didn't know what to buy, how to pick a recipe. So, yeah. I ate out a lot.
Do you think, do you see either one of those two things being the primary thing or is it some type of like mix of the two?
Derek: [00:13:19] Yeah, it could be a mix of the two, because now that I'm thinking about it, I'm kind of thinking it of it, like from the reverse aspect of, you know, there's not a lot of women who, you know, barbecue at home. That's usually like the that's what used, what the guy does. And from like a guy perspective, I can see how barbecuing is less intimidating.
It, you know, you're, I feel like there's fewer ingredients. Like for the most part, if you want to grill a steak, all you really need is meat, salt, and pepper, and then you just throw it on fire and pull it off when it looks done. Like that's, that's, that's pretty basic to me, but it's delicious. And I think that's, you know, it's.
One of the best things that you could do. But yeah, like I, I can see like how going to a grocery store and like, well, I don't know how to pull this together. I don't know what ingredients to get. I don't know what to do that, you know, like that's, I could see that being contributing to an intimidation factor.
Now I'm thinking back into like the whole kitchen world. Like one thing that I'm not great at, and I probably never will be at in that. And this is where I always defer to my wife is baking and it's not, to me. It's not, Oh, well that's what women do. Women just bake because I feel like women still pretty much hold that space.
But for me, it's like, I'm not good with attention to detail. And when it comes to baking, like it's not a quick fix. Like if I'm cooking on, you know, if I'm you know, I'm just. Tanks something on a pan. I can taste as I go. And I can, like, I can, you know, change the course if I need to, to kind of get the recipe back on track.
But like baking, like if you got to like do a test batch, like you gotta, like, if you're doing cookies, you gotta like, make sure like flour to the, you know, The egg mixture is right. And you've got to make sure that the actual steps, like the process that you do is it's gotta be exact or it does not come out.
Right. And I always, like, I always tell my wife, like I didn't come out. I was like I said, cause you run through everything. Just like take your time. And like, you have to follow like the directions and it's gotta be this. I'm like, I don't got time for that. 
And 
she always laughs. I always his labs to you because she's like, I don't understand how you can cook.
Like, like things like you do, and you can't even follow like the steps on like the back of a macaroni box. Like, I couldn't tell you how many times I've screwed up a batch of macaroni.
Chris: [00:15:22] Yeah. Now, Phil, I think you've definitely talked about that a few times where like, it's really interesting to see different people's personalities come out in the kitchen in different ways.
Phil: [00:15:31] Now, I think we become more of who we are in the kitchen. Don't you? I mean, you know, for me, I, I'm not a details guy. In fact, Derek, I think in another life, you and I might've been best friends. But Chris and I were just kind of talking about this idea before we started recording that, you know, take the great British baking show, for example.
Probably the greatest form of entertainment ever to come out outside of dad's kitchen, I might add. And you know, they, they've got these technical bakes on, on the show. So if you're not familiar with the show, you basically got a signature bake, a technical bake, and then a show-stopper challenge. And then the, the technical bake is, are these very detailed, nuanced?
Ingredients lists and then, and then these directions and you have to follow them to the T and I, I would do so bad at those. Cause I just have a hard time following directions. My wife, on the other hand, absolutely slays at these. And you know, like if she's going down a list and it'll, it'll, it'll call for a rise and.
Derek: [00:16:26] What's that?
Phil: [00:16:27] I, you know, I I'm, I'm sitting there like, well, what do you use? Do you use baking soda, baking powder? Like, what are you, what are you? This is the difference. I don't even know what the difference is between the two. And she's like, you know, did you pay attention to in chemistry class, it's actually pretty, fairly obvious.
You have an acid and a base and you put them together and they make a rise.
Derek: [00:16:42] Yeah. Yeah. It's, that's funny that you mentioned the chemistry thing. Cause I always loved chemistry as a kid and like, you know, like put things together and seeing the reactions, but like that doesn't for me that doesn't translate over to baking at all. I'm just like, eh, I'd rather like. I think maybe it's a guy thing.
I don't know, like, like fire it's it's I love, I love the flame. Like even like my, just putting a pan over, you know, the, the flame on your stove and just, you know, making the, you know, the flames come up when you, you know, you're stirring the, you know, the pan a little bit to get like some kind of reaction.
to see too. So I don't know.
Chris: [00:17:11] Yeah. It's almost like the next evolutionary step after like a campfire, I don't know, just like, as a kid, like I grew up loving to like tend to fire and like put it together and stuff. And so I can see, I can see an evolution of that. Like campfire grill, like stove, 
Phil: [00:17:29] Staring into a fire is like at the heart of humanity, you know, like, like all of life's great mysteries and, and problems have been solved. Like so much philosophy has been built around just, just looking into fire.
Chris: [00:17:42] So I'm kind of one of the, one of maybe the. Goals that we defined when we were starting. This podcast was one just to personally, like get into the kitchen more and looking at your blog and kind of your, your about, and a little bit of that mission to make, make that kitchen space more approachable to dads.
I think we really resonated with that. And so kind of a question along those lines, would it be. Yeah. Out of, out of your back catalog of recipes, if you had to give one for, or like pick one recipe for a dad that might be a listing, that's just thinking about like, taking that plunge and diving in and trying to make something on their own.
What would, what would that one recipe be?
Derek: [00:18:25] Oh, gosh. This might be the Italian to me, but like, I think. A good homemade marinara sauce is always like, that's always something that you should have in like your arsenal, like it's, and it's, it's fun to make. It's not anything where you have to like blow up the kitchen, even though I'd blow up the kitchen every time I'm in there.
But like you can take your time, get everything cooked, and then just kind of let it slow cook over the day if you want. And then, you know, boil up some pasta and then. You've got a whole mill that everyone's going to love.
Chris: [00:18:54] Yeah, no, I think that, I think that's interesting and good. I, that was, that was one thing that I always felt comfortable with early on was pasta is it's kind of like at, at a base level, it feels like one of those things that's hard to just royally screw up. But then it feels like there's, there is a high ceiling, as far as like, what, what good  
Derek: [00:19:14] Yeah, for sure. I think that's, I think anything slow cooked, I feel like, or even just not slow, slow cook, but like anything that, like, you can kind of taste along the way and kind of get a handle over what it should taste like and being able to make those minor changes as you go. I think that's always a great way to start.
Your cooking adventure, I guess you could say.
Chris: [00:19:33] Okay. So are you, have you ever kind of dove into homemade pasta at all?
Derek: [00:19:38] I have not, but I've, I really wanted to actually, I think I'm planning on trying to make some homemade Yaki. And then maybe go from there and make some actual homemade pasta. I just need to, you know, give myself a little kick in the rear to actually make the investment on getting a pasta, you know, one of those little pasta, rollers where it be call it either.
I have one of those kitchen AIDS. You know, like the, the stand mixer as I, you know, talk about how bad I am at baking, I rarely use it for baking. I actually use all the attachments, you know, I got like a, a little vegetable strainer slash meat grinder. And so I want to get like, you know, the pasta attachments and all that crazy stuff for it.
Chris: [00:20:08] Yeah. So we, we got like one of those, I don't remember the exact brand, but one of those kind of traditional hand crank ones and. The thing is a workout. It is, it is like so hard to use. So we've been talking about getting the, the kitchen aid attachment. But that's something that we we've loved doing.
You know, my wife's from the East coast, so Italian food is like a big deal to them.  And, you know, we, we here in Colorado where we're at now. You don't really see a lot of good Italian. We have we a lot. We have a lot of like fantastic Mexican, but the Italian is something that I kind of miss out on. And honestly, yeah.
Yeah. There's just not a lot here. I don't know if we have a lot of chains but not a lot of, you know, like the, the smaller places that have like really good pasta. I don't know. One of the things that we've found in, in making our own is that. Sometimes you're like, you don't even necessarily need to, to roll it out or use the machine.
Like some of our, our, our favorite pasta we've just hand rolled and then cut with a knife.
Derek: [00:21:01] Yeah, there was some, there was a recipe I did last year where it was it was It was a post I was working on with PBS. They were trying to promote this cooking show. And all I really had to do is recreate one of the recipes. And the one that like resonated with me was a Pasa one. And it was like a hand-rolled one.
It was really cool. Like you would like. You would almost make a, like a little ball of pasta dough and then roll it out with your hand. And it would make like these little twirled, like pieces of pasta. I wish I remembered, I wish I would remember what the name of the pasta was, but I can't remember it, but it was it was fun.
I made it with my son and it was not the prettiest dish I've ever made, but it was a, it was fun to make
Chris: [00:21:36] Yeah, I think that's one thing that we've loved about pasta is  the. The process of like making it together. Actually we did that. I want to say it was my wife's 30th. We had a few friends over and you know, just a couple of bottles of wine and we turned our whole kitchen Island until like a pasta making station and everybody was able to get involved.
And I don't know, it was, there was a ton of fun and that's one thing that I think that my wife has really. I dunno, it's just, it's the one thing that she's always loved, but, I think I've, I've grown to enjoy with her. It's like that the process of us, like in the kitchen together, the, that shared experience.
Derek: [00:22:12] Yeah. It's it's always, it's. I don't know what it is about, like cooking food together, but like, there's kind of like a, I guess, a bonding time that you can have. I've noticed that with my kids, like they love coming in the kitchen and, and always asking to help. Like my son's favorite thing to do now is when he sees me making eggs in the morning, he was asked if he can make them like, can these.
Like, he's almost at the point where he can just, I can just hands off and just say, okay, go 
at it. Um, 
but like, it's, it's just, it's fun. Being able to do something with, you know, the people that are around you, whether it's, you know, like going and doing an outdoor activity or even just in the kitchen, you know, cooking a meal.
Okay.
Phil: [00:22:46] Chris. I'm so sad to hear that you don't actually have a good pasta out there like this. This might be a great opportunity for you to open up a restaurant in Colorado,  
Chris: [00:22:55] That sounds like way too much work. I'm going to be honest. I'm going to stick to cooking at home now, Molly and I did talk about a bakery at several points in time. And I met my wife, Derek did actually go to culinary school and,
um, w with an emphasis in pastry arts and restaurant entrepreneurship. So, She has, she loves more like French style pastry.
That's kind of like her thing. Not necessarily like patisserie or anything that she, she likes, she likes more croissants and things like that. So we we've, we've talked about it, Phil. But I don't know. That sounds like a little beyond where we're at right now.
Derek: [00:23:28] And my grandmother French. So.
Phil: [00:23:30] Derek. You've got pretty good Italian. And where do you live?
Derek: [00:23:32] ah, I live in  
Phil: [00:23:34] Okay, so you've got everything.
Derek: [00:23:36] Yeah. I think that's probably one of the biggest, like, you know, perks of living, in this area is, you know, you always, you got great Mexican food. I've never had bad Italian food out here, unless you want to. Count olive garden, but I mean, it's all the guardians a chain, but yeah, there's, I mean, there's, there's great.
Mexican there's great Italian. There's great Asian. I mean, we've got there's pho and ramen bowls, like everywhere you go. I mean, and even Indian food although I've a neighbor of mine is originally from. England. And he was like, you guys is in Indian food out here is horrible. He's like, he's, I've only found one good place and it was a place I always go to.
So I based my Indian food off of the one place that I go to. He's like that place. They have good Indian food. So I don't know. Maybe, maybe it's maybe it's out. Maybe the jury's still out on whether or not we have good Indian food, 
Phil: [00:24:22] And good fusion too, right? I mean,
like, I feel like Southern California almost invented this Asian fusion,
Derek: [00:24:30] Yeah. I feel like, especially like if you go out in LA with all the, anywhere where you got like food trucks, they're just going to do fusion, everything. Yeah.
Phil: [00:24:38] Is pineapple on pizza considered fusion,
Derek: [00:24:40] I don't know, but if you want to piss people off, that's a good way to do it. I will say I haven't
almost thought, Oh my gosh, everyone. It's so poor. I don't know why that's such a polarizing, like thing to say. I mean, I I'm, I'm probably going to piss off a bunch of people too. Right now I enjoy pineapple on pizza.
Like I like if someone has like, you know, the Hawaiian, you know, the ham with pineapple, I have a slice or two. And then I remember I don't remember who it was, but there, it was, I think it was like one of the guys that my mom was dating for a point in time, he would order pepperoni with pineapple and I was like, all right, I enjoyed it.
And I was like, okay, that's, I've never eaten it again. But I was like, okay. I actually, I thought about I thought that'd be a good post to do on Instagram with, so my wife's like, I'm just going to do it like a homemade, like pineapple. You know, and pepperoni or something, pizza and just post it. And it's like, no, no caption.
Just put, discuss, and then just watch the comments below because I'm sure they will.
Phil: [00:25:32] Caption this photo, you should get like a little mini slices of pizza and then a slice of pineapple and put those on it.
Derek: [00:25:38] No, man, just watch, watch everyone just melt.
 Chris: [00:25:41] no, no. I was just gonna say, yeah, I can get behind. I can get behind Hawaiian, but when you start like mixing pineapple with other things, I dunno.
Derek: [00:25:48] Yeah, 
I 
think 
it's 
Phil: [00:25:51] Okay. So you take your basic Hawaiian pizza with your Canadian bacon and your pineapple, and then you add roasted jalapeno, and then. I've seen it in with a 
Sonic reduction 
and how it just makes it like that, that Masonic reduction gives it the sweet and the jalapeno gives it the spicy.
And it's just so God, 
Derek: [00:26:12] Yeah. It's um,  
I was just say it's it's it's it's good. It's just, I don't, I don't know what the Italians w I don't know what they, they would take on, you know, what the Americans have done to like their dish.
Phil: [00:26:23] So I'm out here on the East coast. And as you can imagine, this is like, A pretty hot topic item for where I live. Well, every Friday night, a family tradition we'll do pizza and movie, right? It's like super fonts are a little thing that we'll do as a family and highly recommend it. But you know, my girls, they're, they're young.
They'll, they'll share a little 10 inch pizza, but they always get the same toppings. They'll do pineapple. And black olives and okay. Sure. Whatever, it's their pizza. I get a form. And the other day I went to go pick it up and the guys in the pizza place, they were giving me a hard time because they said they always know it's me.
And I'm like, I know, I know the pineapple and black olives, whoever thought to put pineapple with black Allah's and they're like, no, man, that's not it it's just because he put pineapple on it.
Derek: [00:27:09] The only one who uses pineapple.
Phil: [00:27:10] The they'll order it
Derek: [00:27:12] Like we only, we only order pineapple because you order it.
Phil: [00:27:15] make the regulars happy. 
Derek: [00:27:16] it's funny that you mentioned the olives. I totally forgot that. Like my dad used to put olives on his pizza   
Phil: [00:27:22] it's not bad.  
Derek: [00:27:24] No, it's not my choice, but it's yeah.
Phil: [00:27:26] Okay, Derek, speaking of pizza, toppings, what, what are some foods that your kids absolutely refuse to eat?
Derek: [00:27:34] Oh, man. Let me roll out the list. My kids are well for sure. My son is a picky eater. He's getting better. He I've he's he's starting to willing to at least have a bite and then rip it apart and make it and eat it to how he wants to, which is absolutely plain. I'm trying to think of something like they haven't touched though. They usually they're as picky as they are. Like, he won't eat a lot of the things, but he'll at least have a bite. It's about texture. Everything boils down to texture. I mean, I made, I made over the holidays. I made these They're called snowball cookies, which they're just like they're like a sugar cookie rolled in powdered sugar.
And it almost makes like this soft, almost doughy, like outer. And then they're really nice and crisp on crunchy on the inside. He didn't like them. He acted like I gave him poison. Like you should've saw his face. He was just like, he, like, he took a bite and Amelie opened it up and acted like there was like fire in his mouth.
I was like, what's wrong? And he's like, ah, Yeah. Yeah. Like I could not believe it. I was like only my son would be offended by a cookie. And then my, my daughter she's she's a little better. I think she's going to be, my foodie is Brayden enjoys cooking. So I think it's, he's slowly going to, you know, kind of build up a like a love for food.
I say a like, like he hates food, but like, I, I feel like my daughter is more like me. She just like, ah, just everything in the mouth. But Brayden's old more like if it has an odd texture it's it's not going down.
Phil: [00:28:55] Do you find that by involving them in the cooking process, they're more apt to try some of these irregular foods.
Derek: [00:29:02] that like, there's, like, I thought that was going to be the trick. I was like, well, you know, cause he always see all like the, everyone, Oh, we'll get your child to like help you cook the dish. You're gonna be more like intrigued eat it. And there's been times where my, my son, like, I was like, all right, I'll try it.
And, I think it's about a 50 50 shot if it's gonna work or not. There's been times where like, Oh yeah. And then he takes a bite and like, no, or he won't even, like, I'm not eating this, like as we're cooking, he's like, I'm not going to eat this. I'm like, all right, well let's just cook it.
Yeah. 
Chris: [00:29:27] that. Yeah. I feel like I had found with, with my oldest, that, that kind of knowing he knew what went into something that made him a little more accepting of it. But yeah, I don't know. I can, I can get the texture thing. A weird texture is definitely throw me off. What, what type of textures is he adverse to? Is it, was it like the soft part of the cookie or, kind of the combo or the crunchy soft or.
Derek: [00:29:51] I think it's it's for him. It's like a, a grainy texture that he doesn't like. I think that's what I've noticed. So if like, and I think there was, I think I put nuts in there if I remember correctly. And that was just, I think that was a non-starter for him. Like, I think that's the second he felt that night.
He was like, no, I'm done. But like it's, it's if S. It's I feel like it's always just like a crap shoot with him of like guessing what he's going to like and what he's not going based on texture it's but I feel like it's, it's a grainy thing for him.
Phil: [00:30:18] Does he like Kiwi
Derek: [00:30:20] loves Kiwi. 
Phil: [00:30:21] really? I was listening to a different food podcast, actually just this morning. And they were talking about how the texture of Kiwi. Feels like broken glass in your mouth.
 Chris: [00:30:33] I don't know how I feel about 
Phil: [00:30:34] that. 
Maybe like the little itty bitty crunch. I don't know. I didn't say that this was a different podcast. This is the one that people are not listening
Derek: [00:30:43] Oh, what kind 
Phil: [00:30:44] because they're listening to dad's kitchen. 
Do you think people actually push shards of glass in there? Like, like, like you know, the nineties, Halloween trick to get you to not trick or treat, donate those caramel apples 
Derek: [00:30:55] Oh, my gosh.
I remember my mom was always like, like, Oh, let me check all your food. There's always, or all your candy. So I was going to put like a razor blade in there and I never, 
Phil: [00:31:03] That's never happened. There's never been a razorblade in a caramel Apple. That was a ploy by worried moms to keep us from trick-or-treating
Derek: [00:31:12] And it's probably the candy companies trying to like, make sure everyone's buying candy instead of giving out homemade food.
 Chris: [00:31:17] Awesome. So there, we asked you kind of the, that if somebody was starting recipe question, but if, if you had to pick like your favorite recipe on your blog, that people could go check out, what would that be?
Derek: [00:31:30] I think one of the recipes that I'm probably most proud of right now is my carnitas recipe. It's a it's I start off by smoking it. And then braising it in like a or heel peppers and a little bit of a situ like I throw a couple oranges in there and like just, it's just, ah, it, when it's done it is so good.
Like I, which is weird. Cause like I was never a fan of carnitas for years and like I recently started doing Quito. And like one of the meats that they was kind of pull you towards is, you know, poor cause it's got a higher fat content.
And so I started eating carnitas and I was like, man, these are so bland.
Like everywhere you go. Like, and then like finally one place I ate them. I was like, Oh, okay. I can, I can get on board with these. These are good. And so I started kind of figuring out how I could do like my own carnitas and like just how they're made and how I can make them good. And, now I'm pretty proud of it.
Chris: [00:32:20] that's something that I can definitely get behind. Yeah. I feel like, I feel like carnita is they can either be like really bland and dry or like the best of the Mexican dishes ever. So, yeah, we'll definitely have to, we'll definitely have to check that one out.
Derek: [00:32:32] Yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a long, it's a long cook, but it's it's worth it. If you're into carnitas.
Phil: [00:32:36] As with most things, you know, things that are not easy and take a long time often are the best.
Derek: [00:32:42] Yeah. 
Phil: [00:32:43] so Derek, any upcoming projects that we could be aware of?
Derek: [00:32:46] So this year I've got. Like a whole slew of things planned and it's just basically comes down to, if I can, like I said, I, I get a goal and I have, or I have a vision in the night, you know, I set my goals and then once the rubber hits, the road hits the road, it's kind of all over the place, but I'm really planning on, I'm really hoping to get a cookbook out.
I don't know if it will be published, but at least be done and ready, published this year. That's one project I'm working on. And then I am going full speed ahead with YouTube this year. So  
Chris: [00:33:14] Thanks. Yeah. So if, if somebody wanted to kinda check those videos out, do you, do you have a YouTube channel yet? Or should they just follow you on social and
Derek: [00:33:24] YouTube is it's live in, you know, I, I'm starting to post videos. Once a week, it's just youtube.com. The dad with a pan. I started off at the end of the beer, kind of like I was getting all the videos out and I was pretty consistent. And then work just hit, like, you know, my nine to five got crazy.
That was like a big push to why. Like I decided to quit as like, I put all this energy into my YouTube channel and now I have to like take it away. And it's just like, I can't do that. I really want YouTube to be like a big, you know, platform for me. So, videos are going up. Once a week and hopefully I can get more out too.
Phil: [00:33:58] Ring the bell smash that like button
Derek: [00:34:01] Mash that like button. Oh man. I, one of the videos I did, I said that and I'm like, I was like, Oh my God, that I just say that, like, it was just like, it was just like a re like a knee-jerk thing, response to say, it's like, it's you see it? Hear it so many times     
Phil: [00:34:15] Okay. So youtube.com slashed out of the pan. And is that your handle on all your social platforms as well?
 Derek: [00:34:22] dad with the pan. No spaces on. Pretty much every  
Chris: [00:34:28] And then if people wanted to check out your food blog kind of same, same URL.
Cool. Well, I will definitely have to go check out that Carney's recipe.
Derek: [00:34:36] Yeah, man. 
Phil: [00:34:38] 
I'm going to make some carnitas 
this weekend and some pasta sauce. And I don't know my put them together. We'll see what 
Derek: [00:34:44] Just all the things and just get some nuts or cheese while you're at it. And some rounds around chips.
  
Chris: [00:34:51] Awesome. Well, Hey, thanks Derek. I spent a ton of fun, just kind of hearing a little bit of how, how you got started and what you're up to and yeah, no, it's, it's been great.
Derek: [00:34:59] Yeah. Thanks for having me. This was a lot of fun.
Phil: [00:35:00] Great. Thanks Derek.