Padma Lakshmi on losing a loved one, learning to cook from her grandmother, and being a klutz 

I think every immigrant in this country, we’re  all trying to navigate that path, that integration   where we feel at home in our lives. Oh, wow.  This is a hard question. This I feel like this   is this is like that show, this is your life, you  know, you see every aspect of your life. I don’t   want to stay the same. I don’t that’s unnatural.  something either um atrophies or grows.

 You know,   anything that even stays still will decay.  I’m Rachel Martin and this is Wild Card,   the show where cards control the conversation.  My guest this week is Podma Lockshmi. There is   an inherent curiosity about Podma. She wants  to know all the secrets to a stellar dish,   but she also wants to know the story behind  the person who made it.

 She’s published a new   cookbook called Podma’s All-American: Tales,  Travels, and Recipes from Taste the Nation   and Beyond. And I am so very happy to welcome  Podma Lakmi to Wildcard. Hi. Hi. Thank you so   much. Are you ready to play the game? Yes, I  am. First round is memories, and you pick one,   two, or three. I’ll pick one. One.

 What was your  most intimidating move? I mean, all of my moves,   I have to say, have been um ones that I’ve been  excited about and sort of had a lot of wonder   about. Starting from when I came to the US at 4  from India, I flew as an unaccompanied minor. But   um after college, I was scouted and I went to  Europe to model. I had a lot of college loans   to pay off, so that helped.

 And when I was in  my late 20s, I decided to move back to America   um shortly like a year before my first cookbook  was published. And I was very much uh a fish out   of water all over again because I’d experienced  this wonderful uh openness in Europe actually,   interestingly enough, where you know most people  in in many of those countries were Italian from   Italy or French from France.

 But um in America  where we have more diversity, I felt much more   otherred than I did when I lived in those European  countries. And I knew that cuz I often went back   and forth and I was I was worried about it and uh  it took me a bit of time to find my way. Um but   when you were making this particular move, like  you said, you were in your what? Late 20s.

 Yeah,   I was 28, 27, 28. 28. Yeah. And you already had a  career going for you, like you said, it was right   before or after your first cookbook was coming  out. Right before. Yeah. Right before. So you   were going home to good and exciting things. Yes.  Um, but it was still more intimidating for you   even when even than when you came as a child as an  unaccompanied minor to meet your mom in America.  

Yes. Because when I was coming here, I was a  child full of wonder and I was coming to meet   my mother. My mother had come from India 2 years  prior to make a new life for us here in New York.   And I stayed back with my grandparents. So maybe  it was the reunification with my mother that was   uh pulling me toward America with excitement or  my grandfather also was um quite uh a lover of   America and American culture.

 He had traveled  extensively as a hydroener through America   working with the Indian government teaching the  American government how to do certain things   um you know in their waterworks and stuff. So,  you know, he loved baseball. He loved coffee and   donuts. He, you know, he knew all this stuff and  he made me memorize all the state capitals and   states in alphabetical order of America, which is  probably something I couldn’t do today.

 And so,   I felt very primed. You know, America seemed  very exciting to me. And it was. And of course,   as a as a, you know, fouryear-old, you’re  very protected. So, I had a child’s view of   America and I landed in New York, which is one  of the most diverse cities in the world. And so,   I had a wonderful time.

 And it wasn’t until I was  older, you know, sort of late elementary school,   middle school, that I started understanding that a  lot of Americans didn’t necessarily see me as the   same as them. Even though, you know, I lived in  the same neighborhood, I went to the same school,   I had the same homework and all of that,  watching the same TV shows. Yeah. Okay. One,   two, or three? Two.

 Two. Where would you  go when you wanted to feel safe as a kid? My grandmother’s house. Um, every summer I was  a latchki kid in New York. My mom was a single   mother and every summer right after school  let out in June I was sent back to India for 3   months and I loved it there. My grandparents were  retired. We lived in a seaside town in Chennai   uh with my uncle and aunt and all my cousins  in the same house.

 There were eight or 10 of   us in a two-bedroom flat. And I remember being  very happy, not really having a lot of toys,   but playing with these wooden dishes, which  in Tamil are called chopu. And you know,   just play cooking. It’s really interesting if  I look back now, it’s no surprise. Yeah. And   those first lessons in the kitchen were not only  about cooking, but also about life.

 And you know,   she used cooking as a way to teach me about life  and saying, you know, everything just like life,   everything has its time. Everything has its  moment. You don’t want to rush anything and   you don’t want to wait too long. You know,  there there’s a time for every vegetable to   get dropped into the curry, you know.

 So, you want  to make sure you add your potatoes long enough,   early enough so they have time to cook. You want  to make sure, you know, you don’t add the cilantro   too early because it’ll just all the flavor will  cook out. And um, you know, I learned so much   at my grandmother’s elbow. I learned all about  spices. I don’t think I would have been able to   write the spice encyclopedia if I hadn’t had that  very early education from her.

 She ground all her   spices, which is very common in middle-ass Indian  homes. But she just had the touch. She had a real   uh sense of taste and and flavor that was  so nuanced and subtle. And in Tamil there’s   a saying which means her hand has an aroma. So  that everything you touch or that person touches   becomes something that smells good is aromatic and  delicious and and you know my grandmother like the   mightest touch except for flavor. I love that.  Yes. Exactly.

 What did the kitchen look like,   Padma? It was very small. It was very humble,  very small. You know, she cooked for those 8   to 10 people with two burners and we had a big  gas tank underneath that got hooked up once a   month that supplied the gas. Uh we did not have  any sponges. She she w you know she washed or   other people washed the dishes with some uh mature  coconut fibers like the beard of the brown coconut   with some with some powder that she wet. Wow.

 And  I didn’t really see a sponge until um I came to   America and in my grandmother’s house I didn’t see  sponges until the late 80s because she well she   hated those sponges because she didn’t think they  were clean you know. And now we’re learning that   those old ways are much better for the environment  and better for our bodies.

 You know, these sponges   with microplastics and stuff. So my grandmother  knew even if she didn’t know the reason. Yeah.   Do you still have her in your life or I don’t,  you know, she died uh during CO unfortunately and   I was able to somehow swing a visa and run to her  bedside at the hospital and she died 8 hours after   I saw her. So she waited for me. Um and you know  she lived a really long beautiful life.

 She was   89 years old. She came from a sibling a family of  16 siblings. and um she was one of the oldest so   she took care of a lot of people over the course  of her life and I think it taught her patience.   My grandmother was not a cuddly person. She was  a nice person and a and a kind person, but she   wasn’t very warm or cuddly. But I really loved  her, you know, and she was very matterof fact.  

And I remember asking her once, you know, pi, are  you are you happy? And she would answer by saying,   you know, for her, happiness wasn’t a thing to be.  It was a a verb. you know that if she had finished   all the things on her mental list for that day  when she went to sleep she went to sleep happy   because she had gotten done everything you know  she was she’s just a very practical pragmatic   woman and I think I learned so much from her  that had nothing to do with cooking but also   everything to do with cooking. Yeah. Oh, I love  that portrait of her. Last one in this round. One,  

two, or three? Three. Three. When have you  felt like you turned a page in your life?   You know, there was a moment when I I you know,  I lived in the East Village in New York City at   the time and I had an apartment on the fifth floor  and the sixth floor apartment which was a little   bit bigger and sunnier and had a roof deck opened  up and I was looking for an office space and so I   rented it out and you know I’m a pretty secular  person but uh just to hedge my bets I called the   priests from the Ganesh Temple in Queens And I  had them come out and do a blessing, you know,  

sort of like a housewarming but an office warming.  I had my showroom there at that time. We should   just say who Ganesh is Yeah. God and Hindu deity.  And Ganesha removes obstacles or removes Yes. He’s   a remover of obstacles. That’s right. But he’s  also a very gluttonous deity.

 Like he loves modak   and different um dumplings and things like that  and sugary sweets. Yeah. He’s my guy. So he’s kind   of jolly as well. So you know they came to do a  puja or a ritual offering and bless the office and   um you know in that moment and I had invited my  my uh cousin and my nephews to come and also my   makeup artist Michelle was there, my employees  were there.

 Um, and you know it was really a   special sweet little ceremony and for the first  time I felt like my American side and my Indian   side were completely reconciled and at ease with  each other. You were seeking an integration.   Correct. Yeah. And I think every immigrant in  this country, no matter where they’re from or or   whether they’re even just, you know, descendants  of immigrants, second or third generation, I think   we’re all trying to navigate that path, that  integration where we feel at home in our lives,   even though they’re our lives, you know, at home  in our bodies, in our lives, in our country. Yeah.

We’re going to step back from the game and talk  about your new cookbook, which this is not a   thing I do, Pa. Um, I’m not really a cook person  anyway, so I and cookbooks kind of intimidate me,   but I got this book and I read the whole dang  thing because it is it was a beautiful experience   to just sit with the book. I mean, the photos  are gorgeous. Your writing is beautiful.

 There   are the the recipes look amazing. I have to try  some. Okay. Um and I do feel motivated to try   them. Um but it’s I I experienced the whole  book and I left feeling very uplifted. Oh,   good. Um you have done this before. You have, as  we’ve mentioned, you’ve written cookbooks before.   What What is different about this project for you?  You know, just because the book has great recipes   doesn’t always mean a cookbook has great writing.

  And it was very important to me that the writing   be just as strong. And so, you know, that’s  why throughout the book between every chapter,   you have these profiles of people that I meet on  the road. Uh I spent the last five years of uh my   professional life before I started really getting  into the writing of this book, traveling eight   months out of the year on the road for both Top  Chef and Taste the Nation.

 and it really gave me   an education road by road, community by community  um about what America is like. And so the people   that are profiled in the book really moved me for  different reasons and that’s why they’re in there.   Um, and I sort of I wanted to give the reader a  snapshot of what it means to be American in our   many faces and not just what you see on prime  time network and cable television.

 You know,   if you just watched network TV, you would think  that we were a 94% white Caucasian population,   right? or as I like to call them, European  Americans, you know, Western European Americans   maybe, but um rather than white people, you know.  So, I wanted because we’re all immigrants. We’re   all immigrants. All of us.

 Unless you are except  for except if you’re native and you did spend time   Yes. with um a beautiful woman in who you profile  in the book. I profile Twilight Cassador in the   book and I had one of the most moving days of my  life at the San Carlos reservation um in Arizona   and we were in the desert and if you had dropped  me there uh alone I would have starved and froze   within a day and a half.

 But you know with her  guidance uh we forged for every single thing we   ate that day. We cooked on an open fire. We baked  bread in the ashes of the fire that cooked the the   the gloss show or you know uh desert packrat that  we ate. There’s an adaptation of that recipe using   chicken. I noticed that. Well, it’s very hard, you  know, to get desert packrat.

 It’s a psychological   also. Not to mention Exactly. And it’s a wonderful  recipe which is really easy to make and you can   probably buy all the ingredients at a very  good supermarket. You know, it’s got sumac,   it’s got agave, um it’s got u you know, chili  tapin, which is the only chili that is indigenous   to North America. It’s very easy to make.

 I use  scallions instead of wild onions that we foraged   in the desert. And um I got a real education  not only on food and eating naturally from your   environment, but also about how resourceful  and knowledgeable these First Nations um are   about how to live in harmony with the land. And I  think that indigenous people all over the world,   but specifically in this country, have a lot  to teach us about how to go back to those ways,   much in the way my grandmother does in her own  kitchen. She got two burners.

 She got the coconut   threaded sponge for cleaning. It’s just keep it  detailed but simple and and you can be empowered.   Yeah. I mean, there’s sacredness to everything  if it’s done with care and intention. Yeah. I was   always taught that, you know, and I think it’s an  important lesson to learn.

 We’re we’re such a fast   culture now. We just breeze over everything to  get to the next thing. And I hope that this book   inspires people not only to slow down and cook,  but also to get to know their neighbors. You know,   we’re so, you know, we’re at a very tenuous  and difficult time in our country. And what I   wanted to do with the book was really provide  an antidote to everything you see with ICE,   everything you see happening regarding immigration  and the vilification of immigrants and and all of   that. Because honestly, what actually makes this  country great is our plethora of generations upon  

generations of immigrants who have built their  life here and in turn built America to be exactly   what it is and what it will always be, which is  an amalgamation of the best of all the cultures   that have come here and settled.  We’re  going back to the game. Round two. Insights. One,   two, or three? Three. What’s an irrational  fear you cannot shake? I have so many.

 Which   one would you like to start with? Yes, of  course. I don’t know. I still look under my   bed before I go to bed at night and I walk  around my house and I check all the doors,   even the sliding glass ones that I’ve  not opened because it’s winter. Um,   I also have an irrational fear of um running on  the treadmill.

 So, I will only walk on a steep   incline because I’m because people die on those.  Because I’m terrified I’m going to slip and fall.   And I can picture myself hitting my mouth on  the bar and all my teeth breaking and my mouth   bloody and just tumbling. And one time when I was  Sorry, I shouldn’t laugh. I just also I also share   this. Yes. And one time when I was 27, I’ll never  forget it. It was at Gold’s Gym in Hollywood.

 Um,   I did fall on the treadmill because my trainer  always was encouraging me to run and my the hem   of my sweats got caught in the belt and I got  dragged. Oh, no. I mean, it was more, you know,   embarrassing than any and I’m kind of klutzy  in general. So, when I fall, I’m actually glad   because I somehow statistically feel that my turn  has passed for the next six or eight weeks.

 So,   um, yeah. Oh my god. Can I just tell you,  I never fell on the treadmill, but I have a   treadmill related fall story in that like a year  ago, I joined this new gym with my husband and we   showed up at this exercise like circuit training  class and it was so hard and by the end of it,   the last thing we had to do was race each other.  Yeah.

 And I was super competitive and I was trying   to raise my husband who’s like insanely fit. And  so our last thing, we’re racing and I’m running   and I’m like laying it all out. I’m trying so hard  and I ran into and through a treadmill like it was   right in front at the end of the finish line of  this race and I ran you know the mouth of the   treadmill like where the belt I just I just fell I  tripped and went right through it and slid my face   on the on the belt. Oh my god. And then I had to  it’s f it’s fine. Yeah, I’m I’m good. But I also  

it it’s a it’s treadmill related. And so now I I  have a really hard time on treadmills in general.   Yeah. I mean I don’t I’m afraid of the ocean.  I’m afraid of waves even though I’ve always grown   up near the ocean like in in Madras. Ocean is so  deep. Who knows what’s under there. Exact. Well,   it’s also the waves. I’m not scared in Sardinia  because it’s flat and see-through, you know.

 But   the Indian Ocean, yes. The Atlantic, yes. The  Pacific, absolutely. I think we’ve established   that both of us have some fears. Yes. Afraid of  the dark. Afraid of, you know, afraid of the dark.   I mean, there I I also um afraid of the French  metal mandolin. I only use the Japanese plastic.   Well, that thing will kill you. Exactly. French  mandolin will kill you.

 You’re going to lose your   finger right there. Chain mail glove, but it’s  just so big. Like I’m like Michael Jackson or   I’m like caliber, shall we say? um with this uh  metal, you know, chain mail glove that I you use   so you don’t hurt yourself using the mandolin.  Everyone knows that this is the little kitchen   instrument you use to make potatoes really  thin, slice vegetables, and it’s like a frigin   guillotine. I mean, it’s just it’s so sharp. You  can do a lot of damage. Slicer. Nuh-uh.

 I’ll make   my guy at the at the market do it, you know?  Yeah. So now I’m very afraid just in general. Gonna take a second. We’re all gonna be fine.  Okay, last question in this round. One, two,   or three? Three. What have you found surprising  about getting older? How happy it makes me. Oh,   please say more.

 Yeah, I mean, you know,  listen, I started modeling after college   and modeling was great for me because I would  have never had the resources as a young person   to travel as extensively as I did because  of my work as a model. And it’s what gave   me this education in food. You know, I didn’t  go to culinary school. I certainly was never   working the line at a restaurant. I did work in  restaurants, but nothing, you know, cheffy.

 But   um you know I um I because I was modeling and I  because I started after college I was always you   know I was terrified of becoming 30 and then  I was terrified of becoming 40 and now I’m 55   and I have to tell you I feel great. I am the  happiest I’ve ever been. Obviously physically   I’m not what I was 30 years ago when I was 25. I  wouldn’t change.

 I wouldn’t trade and go back to   my 20s for all the money in the world. I really  wouldn’t. And I was so hard on myself about every   little thing or every, you know, imperfection.  I love the way I look. I love the way I feel.   I feel confident both physically and mentally.  I know that I’m going to be okay. Can I ask you   about what it is like though as a woman who has  lived in the spotlight for a long time and and to   have started so young in modeling to have your  self-worth so wrapped up in things that you do   not control. It’s you know you’re born into your  body. You’re born with those cheekbones and and  

the color of your skin. Yes. And the color of your  skin. And it these things are are not changeable.   And I imagine that that that is hard to live for  years associating your value with how someone   else perceives your external beauty. It’s really  difficult. It really is.

 And when you are a model   and an actor or any kind of performer, so much  of what you do is tied to your physical self.   And for most of us, most of our self-worth,  if especially if we haven’t had families yet,   comes from what we do for a living. And it’s very  hard to compartmentalize or be very strict with   your emotions and say, “This is not about me. This  is about what I look like.

” And that takes a lot   of fortitude. Fortitude that you really don’t have  at the time. Most young women are modeling. I was   lucky. I started modeling actually not as young as  most girls. I started after my bachelor’s degree.   I studied theater and American lit in college.

  And so I only started modeling in my last semester   when I was studying abroad in Spain. And so I  graduated and had a bachelor’s degree before I   really got into modeling. And I think that helped  me. And I it wasn’t that, you know, there were a   couple of people that asked me to model when I  was in high school or after high school. And I   remember my mother saying, you know, if you’re  pretty at 17, you’ll be just more beautiful at   21. I really think you should go to college first.  And she was right.

 You know, I But I also started   modeling before retouching and everything. And  I have a very large scar on my right arm from   a car. Yeah. And you know, I had to learn selfac  acceptance at a very early age. And it was because   I had a scar in my arm. And eventually I was  discovered by Helmet Newton who shot me because of   my scar. And then overnight my career took off. I  mean it was not already.

 He thought your scar was   interesting. He thought he thought that it made  you an interesting model. Exactly. And that’s why   he used me. And it was a great lesson very early  in my 20s that showed me that our standards of   beauty are arbitrary. And I was the same person  two weeks ago that I was after Helmet shot me. But   of course, my agent milked that and told everybody  about it.

 So all of a sudden, I went from having   zero fashion shows and only fitting jobs that  were paid by the hour by designers for their   atelier the week before fashion week to booking  eight shows the first season and then 15 shows the   next season and then going from Milan to Paris to  New York. And those same people who had only put   me in long sleeves were now saying, “Oh, no, put  it in short sleeves.

” Because under the makeup,   you know, they do the same makeup and hair for  everybody. They wanted to show the scar because   helmet thought it was cool. So, it took, you know,  it in a way it took somebody else deciding that   this thing on my arm was suddenly beautiful  and that that was special for me. You know,   I needed somebody with that authority and with  that power to give me permission.

 I guess to feel   confident. Last round. Beliefs. 1 2 or three.  Two. Have you ever experienced a divine power? Yes. Yes. Oh, I love the way you said that.  My child was an infant and I had um a lover   who I cared very deeply for uh passed from brain  cancer. And the early the morning that he died,   they called me at 4 in the morning.

 My phone was  charging in the kitchen and I took the phone and   I remember not going back to the bedroom where my  daughter and I slept. I remember just collapsing   on the couch and I didn’t want to enter the  room. I wanted her to still sleep in a world that   contained her poppy. And so I didn’t tell her you  she was just very small. She was just under two.   And um a few hours went by, my assistant came, my  housekeeper showed up, my makeup artist, Michelle,   who I would work out with, came to pick me up for  the gym, not knowing. And Krishna was strapped to  

her high chair by the table. And we were all sort  of bustling around. And she said, “Poppy’s here.”   And I said, “What?” And she said, “Poppy’s here.”  And I said, “Where?” She said, “Right here.” And I   said, “Can you see him?” She said, “Yes.

” I said,  “Can you give him a kiss?” And she sort of leaned   forward and puckered up. And I said, “Is he saying  anything?” And she said, “Oh my.” He says, “Hello,   I’m fine. Goodbye.” And it was literally within 8  hours of his passing. And it gave me chills. And   I’m so glad that, you know, there were three other  people in the room who heard this because all of   us froze. Wow. Yeah.

 You know, and I mean,  I happen to believe that after someone dies,   um, there’s another space, you know, for a while.  Yeah, I do too. In two places at the same time.   You know, for the first three years after after  Teddy died, I would still talk to him out loud,   you know. Um I after a while I didn’t do it  because it would unnerve Krishna you know but   um I could feel him like I would feel something  some presence and you know again see above given   how scared I am of anything and scary movies  especially or any kind of the occult or you   know that kind of stuff. I don’t play with Ouija  boards. I don’t you know like I’m not looking  

to invite any of I felt I do feel a presence. I  always feel it sitting on the side of my bed or I   can feel when it comes in and then when it leaves  and it doesn’t happen anymore but I don’t know you   know is that wishful feeling rather I don’t want  to say it’s wishful thinking because it’s not like   an intellectual thought certainly or fully formed  concrete thought but it’s a feeling and I don’t   know if that is divine or not I just know that for  me it’s a it’s a blessing and a positive studying  

feeling and I’ll take it. Thank you. Yeah.  Right. Thank you for sharing that. That’s   beautiful. I know. I feel kind of I hope people  don’t think I’m a crazy person, but it did happen   and I did have three or four other witnesses  in the room who heard Krishna say it. So,   no, I mean that it always feels validating when  someone is else there.

 When someone else is there,   right? It’s not just me, right? But um that’s  a beautiful story. How old was your daughter?   She’s She doesn’t remember it, right? She  doesn’t She She says she does, but I don’t   I can’t imagine that she does, but she was a year  and uh 9 months old. Yeah, she was little. Okay,   last three cards. One, two, three. One, one.

  Do you think people can really change? M only if they are really moved to change because  they see the effects of their behavior. I’ve   seen people change. I have. And I’ve seen  surprisingly people completely not change.   their judgment doesn’t improve or, you know,  they’re still a little tonedeaf or arrogant   or have a weird chipmissing about being able  to stand in someone else’s shoes.

 You know,   not that they’re a bad person, but they’re  little bit arrogant, so they put their foot   in their mouth or, you know, so you know,  maybe it’s painful to change, but there’s   always pain when there’s growth. There’s no growth  without some destruction. Mhm. You paused a long   time before you answered that question.

 I did  because it you really stumped me and I I feel   both those things very much. Like I literally  know people close to me who I’m surprised   um haven’t changed more because of you know their  own life experience at least seen from my vantage   point. Right. And then I’ve seen other people  who are so different and I like to think that   I’m the latter. you know, I don’t want to stay the  same. I don’t that’s unnatural.

 Something either   um atrophies or grows. You know, anything  that even stays still will decay. We end the show the same way every time with a  trip in our memory time machine. Okay. Okay. In   the memory time machine, you pick one moment  from your past to revisit. It’s not a moment   you would change anything about.

 It’s just  a moment you’d like to linger in a little   longer. Oh wow. This is a hard question. This  Which moment do you choose? This is like that   show This is your life. You know, you see every  aspect of your life. Um see what comes by. It   doesn’t have to define your whole life. It’s just  what comes to the four in this particular moment.   Um, I really miss um my daughter as her younger  self.

 I like I like seeing every stage of her   development and you know there’s conversations  I have with her that are extraordinary and   she teaches me so much as children do and  she’s a teenager and she’s 15 now. But gosh,   she was so juicy when she was five and four. She  was just so you wanted to bite her like you know.   I know.

 And I I can so viscerally feel her her  plump little body and her cheeks and, you know,   her curly ringlets that are just so soft. I can  smell um that mustella baby bath mustella that I   used to use on her. And you know, we used to have  these rituals where we did bath time together and   we’d take a bath together again cuz I was a single  mom.

 And so, you know, I would just like I used to   make her sing. Like if she was in the bath and I  had to go answer the door or something, I would   make her sing. So I could run and and you know,  turn off the stove or let somebody in because as   long as I could hear her, you know, obviously she  was safe. And I used to sometimes I used to just   sit in the other room and make her sing and not  come back because she had this sweet wonderful   voice. I mean, she still sings. She’s a, you know,  singer and a songwriter and she’s a performer. So,  

and I, those times, those bedtimes, those bath  times, her singing in the bath and you know,   we had a song that she would sing like, “I  love you, mommy. Oh, yes, I do. I love you,   Mommy. That much is true. I love you, Mommy. I  do. Oh, please, Mommy, say you love me, too.” Bum   bum.

 I don’t even know where we learned that song,  but we always sang it to each other and she would   sing it and then I would sing back to her from the  other room. I love you Krishna, you know, and it   was sort of this call and repeat. So those moments  I wish I could just have one weekend of gosh,   you know, I’d pay really high figures for that,  but you know, that’s not possible.

 I have my photo   albums, that’s about all. some some videos of  her singing. Um, you know, I think you should go   right home and send her to the other room and make  her sing that song to you immediately. Yeah, she   does sing in her room. Now it’s just, you know,  Charlie XEX and sexy. Yeah, it’s not the same. No,   it’s not. Podma Lakshmi, this has been so fun.  Thank you so much for doing it. My pleasure.

 I’m   so glad to finally put a face to this voice that’s  been so much a part of my mornings. It was really,   really lovely to get to do this with you. Podma’s  new book is called Podma’s All-American: Tales,   Travels, and Recipes from Taste the Nation and  Beyond. Thank you so much, Podma.

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