Every now and then I experience one of those surreal moments where I can do nothing less than embrace the truth, as I am simply a random guy living an extraordinary life. Case in point -- yesterday, I found myself sitting down with Trisha Yearwood in the kitchen with a mix of Christmas songs and Linda Ronstadt crooning while her husband Garth Brooks was on the roof stringing holiday lights. Let me distill that down just a bit more: Trisha Yearwood, random holiday tunes and Mr. Yummy a.k.a. Garth Brooks in overalls hanging Christmas lights on the roof. Life has a way of being brilliantly awkward....
Joshua Estrin: What exactly is the difference between a kitchen north versus south of the Mason-Dixon line?
Trisha Yearwood: Grease, boiled peanuts, chocolate gravy and real butter and cheese. Perhaps I have done the unthinkable and not mentioned fried chicken, but this whole frying thing has gotten to be a bit of an urban legend. Yes, we do fry things down south, but so do my friends up north. And for the record, as for deep fat fryers, my good friend Paula Deen is easily the only person on the planet that I know of who has a commercial-grade deep fat fryer permanently installed in the island of her kitchen.
JE: Rumor has it that some guy named Garth will be joining you in the kitchen on November 24th. You know how I feel about rumors... So is it true?
TY: True it is! My show, Trisha's Southern Kitchen on the Food Network will be welcoming that guy Garth. And while on the topic of rumors, I don't know about other men, but Mr. Garth Brooks, that man has the three C's down to a science. He is cute, he can cook and he even cleans up after himself. He's really a girl's best friend.... He comes off the roof after putting up the Christmas lights, smelling all diesel, comes into the kitchen looking ever so fine and actually knows the difference between coarse and regular salt. Come on! What more could I ask for?
JE: What do you eat when no one is looking?
TY: Potato chips and sour cream. Sorry if I've disappointed anyone as it might lack the culinary edge that some were hoping for. But I have to keep it real, so you bring me a bag of chips and a tub of sour cream and you can just go find something to occupy yourself with for a few minutes because this country girl is about to get her snack on.
JE: Do you have a favorite kitchen gadget?
TY: I'm nothing without my KitchenAid mixer. And I have to admit I have several of them. After all, it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind and the mixer is fantastic. Not to mention they fit my moods... red, cobalt blue, white... Diamonds are a girls best friend, but I also get a little flushed at the thought of an army of multicolored mixers just waiting for me to whip up a batch of Miss Mickey's Peanut Butter Balls.