I Am all In.
As I Smell Pop Culture with Easton Allen and iHeart Radio podcast.
Do you smell something I do? I Smell pop Culture? Hey, everybody, this is Easton Allen. This is the I Am all In Podcast one eleven productions. I Heart Radio, iHeart Media, iHeart podcasts. We're doing I Smell pop Culture. I'm back again. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you. I've gotten all your letters, I've gotten all your fan mail. It's just overwhelming the amount of positive reaction we've gotten from
this show. So thank you again. Before we get started to hear on this next episode, I just want to thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for giving us a chance. You know, given me the
gift of your time. I listened to a lot of podcasts, Okay, I listen to a lot of shows, and like every now and again, a show you'd listen to, you'll get like the sidekick or like the third guy on the microphone will like have his own bit or his own he'll host the show, like some as the producer that you hear from from time to time, we'll like host their own show. But never once have I listened to a show and heard them say, Okay, we're gonna let
the sound guy host it. I've never heard that before, so I don't want to use the term trailblazer or pioneer lightly, but I do believe that we're covering new ground here. We are going boldly into a place that
has never been to before in the world podcasting. And I'm so glad, glad that you're coming along with us, because you know, you download a podcast about your favorite show, it's hosted by the guy that plays your favorite character, and then you press play and you hear the sound guy instead, and that's got to be a audio whiplash on a scale hitherto undreamed of. So thank you for coming along with us. We're we have a really exciting show for you today. So here's what we're doing this week.
You know, Melissa McCarthy did not return as Suki for the revival for the Year in the Life mini series, and the fix there was to bring in a bunch of like celebrity chefs that would fill her vacancy at the Dragonfly in And we're going to talk to a chef that was mentioned in A Year in the Life summer, and I'm so excited to get into this, but first I got to preheat the oven here, I got to adjust my table scapes. But stick around and we'll be right back after these words.
iHeart podcasts. Listen on the iHeartRadio app.
Hey, wow, those are some fantastic products, fantastic services. I can't wait to spend all my money there and use all those promo codes that we so graciously give you. My name is Easton Allen. This is I smell pop culture here on the IM all In podcast. So as I was saying right before, right before we heard all this wonderful commercials. In a Year in the Life, we have a vacancy at the Dragonfly In. The chef position is open, and they bring in celebrity chefs like Roy Troy,
Anthony Bourdain, Rachel Ray. They all come by to try to get the job at the Dragonfly In. They're all chefs vying for this prestigious role. And in summer, in a Year in Life, summer, there's a scene where Luke and Loralai are arguing in Luke's diner and Luke storms off, but first he says, I've got muffins in the oven at the end for breakfast tomorrow, because Sandra Lee called and canceled because she talked to Aine Garden who said,
don't go to the Dragonfly because it's awful. How was that? Scott? Was that good? Could I be Luke in a in a stage production? Maybe? But so Luke says that, And we're going to talk to Sandra Lee. Yes, Sandra Lee is going to be here on I Smell Pop Culture. We're heading into the kitchen today. We're going to head into the kitchen. We're going to talk to this legendary chef and crafting icon, Sandelie. She is a pioneer herself, talk about trailblazing like we're doing here on this podcast.
Sandralie is truly an innovator. She created the semi homemade concept that was her show on the Food Network. It ran for fifteen years, Semi Homemade. And what that concept is is it's the fraction is like seventy percent store bought thirty percent fresh ingredients. You're taking like a pre made food, food thing and adding in something else, changing, tweaking something, adding in a different ingredient and creating something new.
And I think that is just such a such an interesting and exciting idea, especially for if you're trying to create something excellent on a budget. I think that's such a cool idea she got. She won an Emmy Award for Semi homide Cooking with Sandralie. It ran for fifteen seasons. She's also a best selling author. She has written twenty seven books. Friends, I don't think I have read twenty seven books in my lifetime. She has written twenty seven books,
the cookbooks, She's written a novel. She's a breast cancer survivor, she's an advocate, she's an aspiring business woman, truly inspiring. We're going to talk about it all, and I promise you we're going to find out what would have happened if she hadn't bailed on the Dragonfly and if she had taken that job, what would have happened. We're going to find out about it all. But wait, do you hear?
That?
Looks like it's ready. Sandra Lee. She's here. Let's bring her in. Sandra Lee is here with us. Thank you for doing this. We're so excited.
I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for including me.
You're such a legend. There's so much to get into, but I want to go back to the beginning. I want to start at the start. That's a great place to start. How did you first fall in love with being creative through crafts and food and things?
Like?
When did you discover you had a passion for that?
Always when I was I mean I remember being when I lived with my grandmother until I think I was six years old. We were always in the kitchen or I was in the sandbox and making something in the backyard, or coming in the kitchen and decorating cakes with her. Because my grandma makeed all the cakes for the church.
So that was kind of her donation because we didn't have a lot of money, but she would bake all the wedding cakes, she would bake all the shower cakes and all the birthday cakes, and so that was her gift because she couldn't donate money, so she did that and she ran the community service there for her entire adult life.
I think is that where did she when you were baking cakes with her? Did she like did she get super creative with how she decorated them? Is that kind of where you kind of got that.
Her decoration and her presentation. So my birthday cake, my sister and I our birthdays are one year and four days apart, so I'm July third, July seventh. So my grandma would bake cake. She would bake them from scratch, though she's not a box girl, but she would do things like make us an eight inch cake and bake two of them right like you do. And then she would take one of those silver pie tins and flip it upside down and put the cake on top of that as our pedestal.
I love it.
It would decorate it with all the icing and all the little fancy stuff, and we would each have our own cake, and then she just hand us a fork.
And I still do that, like I have friends. I'm a godmother of two boys with my best friend Alexander Stanton and her husband Sam, And before they were even married, we would go to the store if we were like having a week and I was just starting semi homemaid living in New York City to do some my homemade and we would go to the store and buy a sheet cake, take it to the hotel, get forks, and literally just sit there and eat the sheet cake and talk.
I knew I was gonna love talking to you that I did this exact same thing. There's nothing matter in just eating she cake with a fork.
I know. I have this new QVC show coming it's called Sandra Lean Now, but it's introducing it Sandy Claus and they're like, do you want to put cakes in your show? I'm like yes, and they go, okay, so how are you going to slice and serve it? I go, I'm going to stick a fork in it? And they go, I don't think you can do that. I'm like, I think I'm gonna do that. Okay, I'll cut a slice and then I'm going to stick a fork in the cake. Why not?
Oh my god? I love it. And speaking of QVC, you've you've been with QVC for a long time.
There is my entire adult life.
It's something I was really impressed by that I didn't know until I was doing some research for this. You created a product in the nineties called the curtain Craft, and I was so impressed and blown away by that, Like how how did you come up with that? For people that don't know's, it's like it's a system to create your own drapery and things like that and take spare fabric and repurpose it. How did that idea come to you?
Well? I needed to decorate on a budget. And I had a bedroom that I was renting in California in a house and I it was actually hairy Malibu. I was a waitress at the time, but I went down and I got fabric sharing fabric from downtown LA. It's like a dollar twenty five a yard dollar ninety nine
maybe ninety nine cents. It was really inexpensive. And I take coat hanger wire and I just started bending it and like making these apparatuses where I could pull fabric through and make pretty flounces and you know, swags and ruffles. And my uncle came over, my uncle Bill, who just went to Heaven a couple of years ago, and he said, honey, those he was he's a welder and a construction worker, and he goes, I think that's a product people would like. So I showed it to my aunt, who was a
huge crafter. I mean she did everything from tri kim which is like painting, to jewelry making to art making. I mean she was just a genius crafter, baking, she did everything you could eat, all for Flora's aunt Peggy. But my uncle said, you have a gift in this is a product line, and you have to take it to a fair and exhibit it. And so his friend was a welder and he made up all of these for me, and I took it to the La County Fair. I won the Blue Ribbon for Product Display and Design.
It's a home decorating line. It ultimately wound up being about one hundred and twenty products. People think I always wanted to be a personality, and maybe I did, but I hired Florence Henderson at this time to be my spokesperson, and Gary Collins from the Homey Home Show Days, which nobody remembers that show, but it was just this brilliant
how to show. And so I really started in product design and manufacturing and creating packaging and ways for people to do things that were beautiful like you saw in all the fancy magazines, but on a budget. And so curtaincraft was born, and then floral craft was born because my grandmother would say, Honey, don't send me flowers. They just die. And I'm like, she's right, they just what
should I do? So it was this silica gel crystals and you put a flower in them and you cover it up completely and you leave it in there for like a week or two and all the water is absorbed and you just have this gorgeous, real flower. And then I would take the you know, the flower wire and the flower tape, the floral tape, and I would make her a bouquet that lasted forever. And she loved them. But then she called me and she's like, Sandy, it just collects dust.
I'm like, you can't wait.
Can I say that on the air? I was like, so, I'm like, she's right. So then I created a product line. I got with a chemist and I created a product to go with that silica gel that ate the dust so you would it wouldn't hurt the flowers, but it ate up all the dust. I'm like, Grandma, look and she's like, oh, that's really She goes you know what I saw, honey. I saw these pretty Cape de Monte flowers that are on the side of a vase. And I used to like my first money ever, Nobody's going
to know what the hell I'm talking about. They're just going to think I'm like crazy. But I drove all the way out to Librea, California, from Santa Monica, which is like ninety minutes, because they had a new store called fitzen Floyd wasn't a new product, but a brand new grand opening store, Fitzmfloyd. We was all these teapots with like bunnies on them or bears on them, and they're really collectible. You were talking about. This is like the early nineties. So anyway, yes, I was born before
two thousand. Anyway. So I drove all the way out there to buy this teapot and I'm like, cro call my aunt Peggy. She's like, you don't even have an apartment yet, honey, and I go, I know, but I have to have this teapot from fitz Employd. So fast forward. Kapi de Monte was like the next level of Fitzmployd, which you still can't afford. But they make these gorgeous
flowers out of glass. So I created a product within the floral Craft line that if you sprayed it on the flowers multiple times, they turned into this glass like thing.
You spray it on the like once living flower.
On the one living flower that you dried. So then that was born. So floral Craft became a whole line. And I really what I do is I invent products. Nobody knows that I like invent products like I'm doing Christmas now and I'm working on twenty twenty five Christmas because twenty four is done and we're loaded in. But look at this bow. This is like a double bow.
It's stunning.
It's stunning. You can't get this one yet, but I mean I literally pulled it out this morning. I'm like, that's twenty twenty five. So when you're sitting I think about this Christmas, I'm already decorating for next Christmas. That's called it Sandy Clause. Like, I just love it.
I love it. And that's something that I'm so impressed by with you, Like the level of inn I mean, how many people are when they're creating, come up with an idea or a product, They're like, let's get a chemist on the phone, and like so they can create what I see in my head and what I want to do. I love that.
Thanks. Everything is chemistry. Everything is science, like every single thing. And that's how some my Homemade was born and it was so big and everybody told me, they're like, you can't do that. I go, why And they're like, because you just can't tell people what name brands to use. I go, But we are shopping at grocery stores, and every product has different ingredient bases, and every product goes with another product differently, Like Hellman's and Best Foods are
the same thing, but that's not miracle. Miracle with is salad dressing. These are mayonnaise. People don't realize that what we have to share and cookie mix can be a base for a pie. Why can't we create recipes and tell them exactly what I use that they can be successful at home. Because you can't tell people what brands to use. I go, okay, well I'm doing it anyway.
No, I love it, And like I mean, at least in my experience, I always thought it was like it was one or the other. It's like, Okay, I'm either going to make everything from scratch or I'm like making it from the box and I'm only going to use what they say on the box. I didn't like. I didn't really until I watched sam My Hood Made. I was like, oh, I didn't realize you could mix them or change that. And it's just such a brilliant idea.
Yeah, it calls for water, and if you don't want to use water, use chocolate. Malk and a chocolate cake recipe it just deepens the flavor. If you don't want that, use coffee. If you want something more elevated. It depends on the audience that you're serving. Like for brownie mix, I only get I only buy the browning mix that has the chocolate pouch in it, and I only put coffee. I don't even put cof coffee in that. I put espresso in that.
Oh.
I underbake it by about eight minutes and it is so gooey and delicious and fattening.
That's the best, guy, Oh my god, I absolutely love it. I I want to go back to to your blue ribbon at the La County Fair. I'm so glad you filled me on that because I read that you want a blue ribbon, but I couldn't find what you want it for, and so I was so curious. Was it for something baking?
But it was booth display and design on curtain craft booth display and design.
We're going to talk more about the fair element here in a bit, but I just really want to fanboy out over the idea of fair. The fair is like my favorite thing all year long. I live for it. I go to the La County Fair, I go to the OC Fair. I've been to the San Diego Fair.
That's the best fair this Oh my gosh, the San Diego Fair that was my first fair really put off my student loans on that fair I did.
That's incredible. It's I mean, the San Diego County fair grounds are stunning. But the thing about the fair that I love is that, especially these days, we're so like we're so disconnected as people. But when you go to the fair, I love walking through the baking and the crafting competitions and seeing like these are things that people in my community are making, and these are talents that people have, and I just feel so connected to my community and people around me. Like brings a tear to
my eye. I always run to the city who got those blue ribbons at the fair, and I love that you had that same passion.
You know what's amazing this particular year in the largest fair in this country, which is the Texas Fair. It takes place in Dallas. I've been to it. It is incredible. I think the child there was a child that took the blue ribbon in the adult baking competition, and I think that I think, I don't know exactly, I just kind of like you know, heard it through the grape vine. Yeah, I think that this kid was thirteen, maybe twelve, like it was a thing that this kid won a thing.
But yeah, to look at the baking cases, and it's also very motive. You really should go though and look at the baking cases right after they hand out the ribbons because that's when the baked item looks the best, right when you go down where it's like, how did that win a ribbon? Well for three weeks baby? And that green stuff on there is called mold because the
cases are not refrigerated. But yeah, there's something like two hundred different entries that you can place jams, jellies, you know, fruit preserves, you can cookies, brownies, wandies, pies, cake pops, cupcakes, cakes, like, and that's just the sweet part. There's a whole savory section.
I mean, there's something for everybody there. What do you think about the Sometimes I'll walk by the cake decorating and I see the ones that are like ninety nine percent fondan't you know like where it's like it almost turns into sculpting at that point, Like, what do you think about that style of cake decorating?
Well, when I was first going to QBC my first three years, and I was in my late twenties early early early thirties, like maybe thirty thirty one. QBC sent me over to launch QBC in England and Germany, so it was UK and then I was in Dusseldorf in Germany.
When I went to the UK, my sister Kimmy used to come with me because it was you know, what you did here in an hour, it took you a week to do there, and you're sleeping on couches and you're just like, it was such an incredible process to launch this network, but it was you know, it's a grind. You're launching something brand new, and I was in I was launching home, garden and crafts, so I was in that department. I hadn't gone into food yet, but I was.
My sister and I would go to Herod's and Harrods is like one of those great department stores in the world, Like you have to go to Herods and we would go to the food court and we would buy my nieces and nephews in Santa Claus all their stocking stuffers. They had candies we didn't have here, and we would buy them all the beanie baberries, which now are worth working. I wish we would have kept them. Kids would have known like we got them all. You couldn't get them here.
But they had a cake area, and in their cake area was the most beautiful cakes you've ever seen. And I was sitting there in absolute wonderment thinking of my grandmother, and I was like, how did they get the icing that smooth? Like, I don't understand, how do you do that? And then when they shared with me the process, it was all fonded. And then years years, years years later you go to Michael's or Joanne's and you can buy it ready You can make fond it yourself, but you
can buy it ready made. And they would also use like almond paste and they would make these great little like bunnies for Easter, Santa's, for Christmas or whatever it is. And now it's every day here. Back in the day, and when I first started some my homemaid, no one was doing it, so I just felt like I was so smart sol and coming to the walk around foodstems, I was like, I'm in hair is learning how to cake decorate.
Oh my god, I love it so much. We have so much more to get into with Sandra Lee. Stick around, We'll be right back after these words. Sandel is with us, the legendary Sandra Leie. I'm so excited about this. Something I wanted to bring up is when I go to the fair, the first thing I look at are the table scapes, the table scaping competition. That is something that I am. I'm obsessed with. My wife and I are obsessed. We study it. It's our favorite thing at the our
single favorite thing. And you coined the term table scaping. I mean that term is attributed to you.
Yeah, because I created the word.
Yes, that's what I'm saying.
Like, well, because for me, I really didn't want to do the Food Network show, and Ray and I are really good friends, but they said, just watch Rachel Ray and do what she's doing. And I'd already created two semi homemade cookbooks and I'm like, yeah, but what Rachel does is not what I do. She's doing thirty minute meals.
I do semi homemade and I'm not from scratch. And for me, I at the time, remember I was doing home and gardening crafts and even though I did cooking, I almost did the cooking because they told me I couldn't do it. I was like, oh yeah, I watch this, and no one will publish it. So I'm like, oh yeah, I watch this. So I was like bringing my paper from Japan. I was printing it in China because I
was manufacturing anyway. Then I wrote the cookbooks and they weren't perfect, but they were me and they were I was happy.
And so I I told them that I would do it with a couple conditions, because I really want an HGTV show.
They said, redecorate your kitchen. And I said, every single show. And they're like, yeah, did which the outfits came from, the hair came from, and the window treatments came from and all that had come from that, the florals and all the color palettes, like you know, now you know my background, so you understand how they came to life.
And I said, the job of this show, the job of Semi Homemade, is to give you quick tips and tricks and thoughtful ways to use what you have in your pantry, not just to save you money, but to bring your family around the table. Right, your job is to bring your family around the table and create a community with your own family and or friends. So I want to do. I want to do the place settings. I want to teach people how to do the tables and make it beautiful. And they're like, oh, that's a
great way to end the show. So that will be yours. So you're going to have to figure out what you want to call that, and I said, well, it's a table escape. It's escape, right, and they said great. So every single show I end the show, that's an amazing show. That show. I think I did four recipes, a cocktail, two wardrobe changes, and a table escape. I mean, I couldn't have been happier. And we shot almost three hundred
of those shows. It was on for fifteen years. Yeah, it was on for fifteen years and two Emmys later. I mean, I have an Emmy for makeup because I don't look like this in the morning.
Like seriously, oh my god, it's incredible. Can you think of the most like I don't want to say or no ambitious tablescape that you that you pulled off? Like, what was like the most complex that you can think of?
It was a Thanksgiving tablescape?
It was.
It was. I did it up in Albany at the Mansion and I ordered these huge chocolate turkeys, which you can get online. They're a fortune. And I ordered flowers and I just it was a table. I think that was set for. I mean, I want to say thirty people, big table. So the tablescape had to run down the entire line. And then we had a dessert table and two buffet tables. So there was a kid's table, and then there was that and I and in addition to that was so I had the flowers, I had the
edible turkeys, I had all of it. The room smelt amazing. The other one, I would say was probably my wedding, and I think that was back in two thousand and one. Obviously, you know that my marriage at the time only lasted my relationship only lasted seven years. So but the wedding tables were really important to me and how I did them. And then we had it done at a private home.
We did it at a private home, Green Acres in Beverly Hills, which was so fun at the time because remember from where I come from, like a small town in Washington State, welfare and food stamps and you know, parents that were not participating in our lives. That was to goat so to be able to do like my magic at this amazing home and being getting married at thirty two and having built company, I wanted to be
over the top, of course I did. But my nieces and nephew's table was the most important table to me. So I did the centerpieces. But in the centerpiece I put these huge vases, and the vases were full of water and they were full of goldfish.
Wow.
And it was a Midsummer's night dream table. And then at each place setting for the child that was there, my niece or nephew that was there, they got a beta fish to take home, so all the color was all the way around, and beta fish have to be kept separately, right because they're fighting fish. And then they had plume flowers, so it was flowers and it was fish, and it was just this fantasy. So that tablescape was
super important to me too. So those are the one those are the two I remember the most, but they were for my personal me. It wasn't I couldn't do that well. I did recreate for Alexander Stanton, which I brought up earlier. My best friend for her wedding, I did all individual cakes and individual sugar eggs, so I
wanted her a wedding reception to reflect Faberge eggs. So I worked with Sylvia weinstock makes You Rest in Peace, and we did all these edible fab Faberge eggs for individual wedding cakes on the table, and then we did big huge sugar eggs that reflected those. So it was an inredibly jeweled tone bowls. We did everything, so hers was probably like definitely the top three.
So in the time you've done that, you did semi homemade. Uh, there's there's a lot of things that stuck in people's minds. Like me and my sister watched the show a lot and I told her that you were coming on, and she was just like beyond excited.
Why isn't she on with us? She's on with us. I always hear that, and they never invite like their mom or their sister or their aunt, Like just it's a party, it's us, let's just do it.
You know it's a party. Well, let's let's say had to my sister Kimberly. You know she's she's sitting at home listening.
That's her name, Kimberly. M name, Kimberly.
Isn't that a great sister name. It's a great I call her.
What do you call your sister?
I call her Kimberly, I do the full thing.
Yeah, well I'll call her Kimmy. Hi, Kimmy Aunt. Sandy loves you.
Oh my god, she's gonna she's gonna die. Thank you. But uh, you know, so we were talking about like our favorite things that you did on the show, and there's a lot of things that people talk about online still, like the glassware Christmas Tree.
The cocktail Christmas Tree. So that's where cocktail glasses and turn them all upside down and hung them in the tree and wired it in. It was cocktail Time tree because everybody loves cocktail. Yes, cocktail time was mine too. I that was my whole thing. I was the first person to bring cocktails onto the show. They didn't want me to do drinks. I'm like, okay, I don't really want to do the show anyway. They're like, I go,
I really don't want. I don't care. It took nine months to do the show, to do the contract for the show. I'm like, I don't really care. And they're like, who says that everybody wants to be on TV? I'm like, yeah, but that's not what I want.
To do.
I want to do a daytime show. I wanted to do a Monday through Friday, like thirty minute or one hour show and like semi homemade four point oh. So they told me, okay, fine, but just so you know, nobody wants to do cocktails. And I said, my best friend Colleen Schmidt and for Donia Wisconsin, who I went to college with, who I'm still dear, dear friends with. She is having a bloody mary when she's watching the Packers every Sunday at noon. I'm telling you right now.
And they're like, hm, maybe she's right. So they said, fine, we'll let you do cocktails, but you have to be really responsible with what you did, and I said, sure, two shots of vodka.
Yes.
It just is kind of like it is. It is like when semi home aid, Like, you can't do semi homemaid. Why cause you can't tell people what to use. I'm like, I'm doing that. You can't do cocktail time. You can't do more than like one shot per drink. I'm like, oh, yeah, okay, no problem.
There's no rules in the world of Angele.
And then it was like the biggest meme in the world, Like my nieces. They're traveling in like Europe, and people are like, wait, Sandra Lee like two shots of vodka? Time is your aunt? Yes, she's actually my aunt. I know she's called Aunt Sandy, but she's actually my aunt.
That's I'm so jealous of your nieces. I'm sorry, Like that would be so cool to have you as an aunt.
I should like Aunt Sandy. I'm not putting it to your on my head. I'm like, there's only you have one job. I'll do everything else. I just wanted to hear on your head. Danielle, She's like.
Ye, do what Aunt Sandy says.
She's she's definitely my niece doing that.
So you're you're super close with your nieces. Do you see them often?
My niece, Danielle. I was just with her in Arizona. The love one of the loves of my life. I love that child And now I know how my grandma feels when I don't call her. Oh yeah, he I never guilt trip my niece and nephews. But my niece and called me for two weeks. That is like, that's like taking this pencil and sticking in my heart and I'm like, Dan, I finally sent her a guilt trip, which I never do. I literally never guilt trip her.
I'm like, you're perfect, You're fabulous, You're this, You're not like I love you so much. You're like fabulous and smart and all the things that that, and she's like yeah, yeah, yeah, Like it's some days I wish my aunt was here saying that to me, but not today. So I said Danielle, I was so dramatic. I'm like, really hurts my feelings when you don't call me poor child, But yeah, she's perfect. My niece Katie is in medical school. Wows going to
be a doctor. My niece Stephanie is a teacher, and she teaches children that cannot communicate with their parents because they're deaf. She teaches them sign language and their parents sign language. She's like amazing and smart. So I have three nieces, Danielle, Katie, and Stephanie, and I never feel like I'm close enough to any of them. But then they're like, Aunt, Sandy, you can be sitting on top of me kissing my face and you wouldn't feel close enough.
So true, if they're throwing like a party or having an event, do they call you and ask for ideas or anything do they do they know this valuable resource, they have their fingertips.
No, no, no, no, Bryce, Bryce might, but when Bryce and I do it, my nephew Bryce, who grew up on my show. Bryce's with me a lot, so Bryce might do it, but the other one's not so much. I think they're just used to me kind of saying, oh, I think you should be this for Halloween, or I think you should do that, or you know, I'm you know how kids.
Are, Yeah, you know, Yeah, I get it, I get it.
You just got to tell them that you love them and wait for them to call Danielle.
Yeah, daniel if you're listening, calling it Sandy right now.
Right now and right wrong, right now?
Maybe we're waitnutes yet.
She And then of course the other day when she finally did call, I was on the other phone doing something I couldn't put down, of course, Like all I wanted to do was take her call. I'm like, oh, yeah, every parent goes through this when their kids turn thirty two. And when she told like, I keep forgetting she's thirty two because to me, she's five. The other day when I was with her, She's like, yeah, I'm thirty two. I go, you're thirty two. She's like, Aunt, Sandy, and
I just started crying. I'm like, you're two. She's like, are you crying? You know we lost I go, yeah, but gosh, gosh, you're thirty two. And then it occurred to me how old I am? And then we cry hard or not really, I'm happy.
To be Sandelie is with us. It's I smell pop culture here on the I Am On podcast. We have so much more to get into. You know, we gotta talk about Gilmore Girls. We have to talk about Gilmore Girls. Stick around with us. We'll be right back after these words. We're back with sandel Lee. So it's in the Netflix revival they mentioned you, and I wanted to know if anyone, Yeah, did any did anyone call?
Everybody sent it to me? Yeah, everybody sent it to me. How I found out, I was like, Wow, good for them, good for me. This is auce.
So the context of the mention is they're they're bringing in all these like celebrity chefs to work at the at the Dragonfly in and and you canceled because you heard it was bad. That's the that's the reference. It was a bad gig. Would you have actually wanted to work at the Dragonfly in Stars Hollow? Is that something you would have won?
You know what's interesting is my personality, My real personality would have never canceled because I would have been like, Okay, I can fix this.
Yes, that's what I thought. I was like, that doesn't sound like xchange.
Really give me twenty four hours. I'm telling you, I am at Sandy Claus for a reason. It's just like a whirling dervish. When has happened? Does everybody go away? And I'm like Courtney Cox her character and friends. Yes, and it's true, like I'll do everything for everybody and I'll make it perfect. And then I literally halfway in the party, I'll like crawl and go to bed. My sister, Kimmy kimber Lee will come in the room and she's like, Sandy,
you always do this. You have a party, and then you miss all the fun and all the kids are out there having a great time and they're dancing and you're not seeing it. She's like here and she'll shove coffee in my face. It's like, drink this coffee, get your ass out of bed, work, go into party. And so I'll just put on sweats and I'll like go hang out. But it's a thing like I would have fixed that.
Yeah, yeah, I mean that that was something else I was going to ask, is what what would you have done to make this small town like bed and breakfast something grand that would bring in people from all over? What's something you would have suggested for them?
Well, I'm saving that from my own show, of course, I can't tell you.
Sorry, It's okay. I had to ask. I still have to ask. And how does it? I know you do, and we'll we'll get to see it at some point, right.
I hope. So, yeah, did you just knock on wood?
Yes?
I did. I Oh, my Angelie, look at us. How does it when you heard from all your friends, everyone that sent you the the reference, They're like, oh, they talked about you and gil mor girls. How does that feel? I mean, that's not the first time, obviously, that you've been mentioned in something. I mean, everybody talks about you all the time. How does that feel to be like I am part of popular culture to the point where these TV shows are talking about me saying my name. How does that feel?
Obviously, my career is a big part of my life and building my career was a big part of my life, and I did it for a reason, probably a lot because of where I came from and how I was raised and what we had or didn't have, and what I want for my family and the experiences that are really important for us to get to have. So it came from that place. But there is definitely I mean, there's the professional Sandra Lee, and then there's you know,
Sandy who I am, and there's Aunt Sandy Claus. Like, you know, there's days where I don't feel like my peppy, wonderful, little cheer lady self, and sometimes those days are triggered by people just being mean. You know, there's a lot of that I'll never forget. When The New York Times came out with that scathing review of Semi Homemade when it first hit the air, that really hurt my feelings.
But the network called immediately and said, whenever we see something this big, that means it's going to be really huge, and it was. Semi Homemade was I think the top show for almost three years and in the top ten for the next ten. Semi Homemade was just like this crazy zeitgeisty thing that helped so many people and I was happy to do it and proud to do it. And it requires being the face of it. I mean I was trained. I was I was educated. I had fantastic mentors.
You know.
Florence Henderson really taught me how to be a good talent. Florence Henderson did not require makeup and hair. We went to Chicago to launch curtain Craft. She was a spokesperson for that. She's like, I'll do my own hair and hair and makeup. I only had a small amount of money. I did an infomercial and I had a small amount of money left, and I needed a talent to do the infomercial. And she said no to me every which way,
and I finally said to her agent. I co called the agent and I was I don't know what I was thinking. I was like twenty seven, twenty six wow, And I said, I want to meet with her. I know she lives in Marine del Ray. I live in Marine del Ray. I want to meet with her. So she sat down with me and I explained her my story and I told her what I wanted to do and why it had to be her because when I watched Brady Bunch, she was literally my mom. I didn't
have one. So the Brady Bunch mom was my mom, and it had to be Florence, and that's who it was. They wanted it to be this mom from this mom and that mom and this other mom, and I said, no, it's Florence Henderson. It has to be Florence. And so she finally said yes. She accepted my money. She took all of it. I'm happy to give it to her. But she would show up and she would post for photos a certain way, and she would stand there certain way, and she would go to trade shows a certain way
which was different than my way. And she taught me how to be good talent. Good talent doesn't sit in a green room with her feet up. Good talent is like, how can I help you make this better? How can I work a little bit harder? What will make your life easier? That is how she rolled. Gary Collins was the same way Gary Collins taught me about lighting, because he would walk around going where's my pill? Where's my pill?
And I thought Phil was his assistant. Is like light, it comes up so you don't look, you know you're a and it like fills you. Right, there's a reason why Jennifer Aniston always looks the way she looks on the set right in Reese Witherspoon, they have a light like light, light light, and I like God's light. But God's light can be a little harsh, yeah, compared to studio lighting. But yeah, being a talent is a And then I saw a really famous person at Gladstone's here
and I sat there and I watched him. And this is when I was a waitress and some one came up to him and he turned around and handed them there. But were approaching him while he was in a conversation out in public, And in my mind I thought, I didn't say anything because I wasn't that bold yet. I would probably say something now, But I thought, your talent, your job is to be available. You wanted to be famous, you are famous. You wanted to be an actor. You're
on the biggest show in the whole wide world. And someone wants to talk to you and say hello, and that made their life a little bit better and you just handed them there. But not cool. Yeah, being a talent and being famous comes with a lot of responsibility, and it also comes with you have to eat it sometimes, meaning you have to suck it up. You have to eat the bad reviews with the good reviews. I mean, people always say to me, your facelift is terrible. I'm like, oh, well,
I didn't get one. I gained thirty pounds thanks, I aged thirty two anymore. And they say like the meanest things. I'm like, delete delete, delete, Get off my Facebook, get off my Instagram. You're not nice. Don't be mean to me. Why would you be mean to me.
That's something I'll never understand, Like where that that just breeds more negativity in your life and it poisons you. I don't know why people do that. It's insane.
Why would you want me to have to go have two shots of vodka because you're mean not nice? So yeah, so there's good and bad with being famous.
Yeah.
And by the way, you don't always get the reservation even when you're a foodie.
Sandeleie is here. Your new show is called Sandra Lee. Now it's on KVC. I know that's so exciting.
Home Decorp Trimetry Linen's Gifting. So the first show starts November tenth. Is that four pm Eastern Standard Time, which is one pm Pacific. We all know that. And the first show I'm just picking out all my favorites for holiday. The second show, which is on the seventeenth of November, is all my termitory stuff, and that'll probably be the only show that there is. And I did something very specific this year. I did a lot of gingerbread and very kind of pale blonde colors so that you could
take it from Thanksgiving all the way to Holiday. So the things you're going to see in my show on the seventeenth you can use on your Thanksgiving tablescape and you can decorate the tree with it. I decorate in advance. I used to decorate the Friday after Thanksgiving, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I don't do that anymore. I am it's time on November first, so I put it all up and I do copper. My sister Kimber does a lot of copper, and I collect cookie getters, so I do a lot
of copper. I do a lot of gingerbread. Now gingerbread is like the big deal of this Christmas is like the trend.
Wow.
So a lot of gingerbread, and I'll carry it right through the holidays. I might put some red bows on, but I leave that off until right after Thanksgiving, and then it only takes me like an hour. And I used to do seven trees and themed every single room, but now I only do two trees.
A modest two trees I do a moda is too huge.
And I just love Christmas. I have a storage unit full of Christmas decor and I love creating crafts at Christmas time. Love it. And you'll see a lot of those beautiful, easy things that you can use in the kitchen. There's like this gorgeous rolling pin that I designed based off the European Christmas markets which I've gone to for the last couple of years, and of course I went
to when I was super young. And there's these charming cookie cutters, Christmas trees, gingerbread Christmas trees, stockings, I love stockings, stars and snowflakes, which I love. So there's little there's these tree lights like Charles Dickens tree lights that are candle, three of them. I love those your tree and it goes it's They're incredible. I think you're gonna love it.
And then the last show is on the twenty third, right before right before Thanksgiving, and that will be giftables and food and just yeah, yeah, if you like Semio made and you like what I did, You're gonna love these shows, So tune into QBC. This is my thirtieth anniversary.
Yeah, this is a big deal coming out with Dan Sandy Claus on QVC. It's sanje Lee now. And then you can also watch the fantastic and incredible Sandelie on The Blue Ribbon Baking Championship which is on Netflix, and that is incredible too. I have seen that show. It's so much fun and brings the joy and the love of our state fairs and the thrill of getting a Blue ribbon right to your screens. You got to check that out too. Thank you so much for doing this, Sanjelie.
You're just the absolute best. I'm such a big fan. Thanks and this was a dream come true.
You're in great host. It's fun.
Oh my god, thank you. I'm blushing. Hey everybody, and don't forget follow us on Instagram at I Am All In podcast and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.