02x03 - Easy as Pie

[bunniefuu]

[lighthearted soul music playing]

Can't you just get lost in a bookstore?

[Michael] I sure can.

Me too.

♪ When everything is going wrong ♪

Oh.

We are grabbing some books

for my new friend, Tan,
who's coming, who has two children.

And I thought, "Let's come
to my favorite bookstore in town

that my friends
Jennifer and Victoria created."

If a friend is coming and they have kids,

one of the best gifts I think you can give
is the gift of story.

And so many of my favorites are here.

So gotta start with It's Only Stanley,
also because it looks like Guy.

♪ So I keep hope in my heart
For something... ♪

I think that's a very nice assortment.

Hopefully he can bring home
great reads for his kids.

Let's head back and wrap these.

♪ Hopin' ♪

♪ Hopin' ♪

♪ Hopin' for something new ♪

[music fades]

[Meghan] Okay, we are back.

First things first,
we want to get these wrapped up.

I think half of the joy of the gift
is the presentation.

Let's get started on our wrapping
and what we have here.

Lemons.

It doesn't mean you get
a neutral or plain ribbon to go with it.

You can stay in the yellows
and do something with a different pattern,

like gingham,
and then do something fun on top.

Just an extra gift.
Free gift with purchase.

There's another element that I love
when it comes to giving books.

Personal embossers
that you can do for your children.

Tan's children are Isaac and Ismail,
and I had these embossers made online.

They're super affordable.
These both say "From the library of,"

and you can emboss
the inside of their books.

I have embossers for my personal letters,
my business. They're great.

I'm gonna save that project
for them to do as a family,

but I will show you on a little gift tag.

Press all the way down,

and it will make
a raised impression on the paper.

And it ends up being
a really sweet motif like that,

and then that will sit on top.
So we'll wrap those separately as well.

All right.

[jazz music playing]

Double stick tape, lest we forget.

So Tan will be here tomorrow,
and I'm so excited.

I love making new friends.

I also love making new parent friends.

So, I thought we could have some fun
doing things our kids would enjoy,

and, you know,
Tan obviously loves fashion,

but I also know
that he's an avid home cook,

and that his husband apparently makes
a pretty legendary home-baked bread.

So when he gets here,

we're gonna make the French toast
he makes every morning for his family,

and then hand pies.

Think of your good,
fast-food apple pie that I used to love,

but making your own home version of it.

We're going to do some crafting
and do these aprons for our kids,

which I think will be fantastic.

But first, let's do it
again and again and again.

- Do you want to put music on?
- [Michael] Do you want to?

Always.

[happy big band music playing]

♪ I like a song with a skipity beat... ♪

I'm giving myself a little cue there.

Now that we know where that's
going to end up, more or less,

we're going to do seamless on that side.

♪ La-la-la-la-la ♪

- ♪ That could be a thing ♪
- ♪ When it's bright and it's breezy ♪

♪ It's so easy to sing ♪

♪ The whole world is waiting
For a musical treat ♪

♪ With the skip-skip-skipity beat ♪

Look at that sweet one.

♪ La-la-la-la-la ♪

- ♪ That could be a thing ♪
- ♪ When it's bright and it's breezy ♪

♪ It's so easy to sing ♪

♪ The whole world is waiting
For a musical treat ♪

♪ With the skipity beat ♪

♪ Skipity beat ♪

♪ Skipity-skipity-skipity-skipity beat ♪

[music ends]

[upbeat music playing]

So now, we're ready for our new friend.

Okay. I will see you guys in the morning.

♪ Here I am
A girl with the good vibration ♪

♪ I'll never face frustration ♪

♪ Life is too short ♪

[Meghan] Morning, g*ng.
Who needs some caffeine?

Let's get some things
to introduce and invite our friend.

I'm thinking, nice fruit platter.

Yes. And then I could do a latte.

Good old basic latte.

You could do a lavender Grey latte.

Doesn't it just sound chic?

But first, let's finish this platter.

I always think of a fruit platter
wanting to feel like a bounty.

So, if you don't have tons of items,
just choose a smaller plate.

It will look plentiful.
Just about the vessel.

Let's get some oranges in there.

Passion fruit.
Let's put some of that in there too.

Grapes are a really easy way to create
that bounty that I'm talking about.

By nature, they take up a lot of space.

They give you something to build upon.
It just feels indulgent.

Even though it's just grapes.
Little things, big difference.

Lovely.

Okay.

Let's make a la-tte.

We have some whole milk.

You could do this with oat milk,
any milk alternative,

whatever brings you joy.

Tiny bit of vanilla extract.

♪ With the sun ♪

Just a dab will do ya.

Mm! I love the smell of that.

Let's put some honey in there.

So we're giving the flavor
to the milk itself.

And it's going to meld with the tea.

[Michael] I just like seeing the honey.

I did that shot exactly for you.

And only you!

Get that nice and warm.
Not bringing it to a boil.

We don't want the milk to scald or burn.

And,

this is a blend of Earl Grey tea
with some citrus notes.

I can smell it. Mm!

[jazz music playing]

A hug in a mug.

Let me get my hand frother.

[whirring]

A little bit of extra love right on top.

Not tons, but just enough.

[lively music playing]

- [Tan] Hello!
- Oh, my God!

- So nice to meet you!
- Nice to meet you!

- How are ya?
- Thanks for being here!

So happy to be here.
I brought you something. Some bread...

Oh, yes, I heard.
This is the bread your husband makes?

Yes! It's the only thing he makes.

- [laughter]
- Unfortunately.

- Wish he made everything else, but yes.
- Consistently?

- He does, and it's gorgeous.
- Okay, fantastic!

So, I just made a lavender Grey latte.

Oh, that's so nice. Thanks for having me.

[Meghan] Thank you for coming.

Okay, so let's talk about
what we're going to do with your bread.

I hear you like
the family ritual of breakfast.

- I do! I--
- French toast?

Yeah, I know
it's not the healthiest breakfast,

but Ismail is my eldest.

I don't eat breakfast,
and I think he's learned this from me.

He doesn't like to eat breakfast,
but the only thing he'll eat every day

is French toast if I make it.

[Meghan] It must be delicious.

- [Tan] Can we dive in?
- Yes.

So, milk bread.

- [Meghan] Oh, that's beautiful bread!
- [Tan] Ain't that pretty?

Japanese milk bread,
in my opinion, is the best bread.

- [Meghan] Delicious. Do you need eggs?
- [Tan] Yes, saw your eggs.

- I'll help myself to these.
- Help yourself.

- I'm going to take this off.
- Are you...? Let me put it somewhere.

- Fabulous! Make yourself at home. Love it!
- Great.

Want me to whisk the eggs,
or are you doing it all in this pan?

- All in here.
- I love it!

♪ There's a heatwave, heatwave ♪

Let me get you Half-and-Half.

I don't use measurements.
Sorry, I just go... I do my own thing.

I love that you do. You are full of beans.

- I'm sorry!
- Had coffee already?

- No!
- [laughter]

- No, it's good.
- I'm always loud. I can't help it.

- I don't think you're loud.
- All Asians are. We can't help it.

We're the loudest people in the world.

When I see we're not on TV a lot,
like, how's that possible?

We were entertaining
our way out of the womb.

We wanna keep people
happy and entertained.

[Meghan] That was eggs
that you whipped together.

- Cinnamon, and Half-and-Half.
- Yep.

A little powdered sugar to sweeten it.

- Okay, can I teach you what I do?
- Please.

So, I fork my bread,
and then I put it in the toaster.

- [Meghan] Oh, great for people to know.
- My husband makes bread almost every day.

And in the morning,
we have bread available.

Because it's fresh.

- Fresh doesn't make good French toast.
- Can I try it fresh?

Yeah, it's lovely,
but it doesn't make good French toast

because you want the bread
to soak up the custard.

- Mm-hmm.
- So I like to dry it out for a minute.

- Good tip.
- It'll soak it up better.

When you fork it,
it means it's going all the way through.

I hate a French toast
where it's got custard on the outside

and then it's just
dry bread on the inside.

[Meghan] Yes, agreed.

We're gonna give that a minute,
and then get to this.

[playful music]

- It's very good bread.
- Right?

Is that-- It's easy?

- It must be if he's doing it often...
- No, it's a really complicated bread.

No, stop it.

Really time-consuming.

- How does he have that much time?
- He doesn't.

But he'll like...
In between a freak-out from a kid,

he will go
and instead of screaming into a corner...

- Oh, it's his moving meditation.
- Yeah, yeah.

- "Papa's gonna make some bread now."
- Yeah, yeah.

- Quietly stand there.
- He's got his own time out.

- It's basically his own time out.
- Smart!

For me, that's a glass of wine.
Or some yoga, maybe.

[laughter]

So, that will go in. Thank you.

♪ Woke up this morning
With a song in my head ♪

♪ There's sunshine on the road ahead ♪

- [Tan] And then some butter in here.
- [Meghan] Okay.

[sizzling]

- [Meghan] Want me to get this moving?
- [Tan] Please.

Perfect.

Okay. So, it's going to go on there.

Going to keep it on a low heat,

and I'll turn it up
as we're starting to brown it.

[Meghan] I make hot breakfast
most mornings for the kids and my husband.

It's not as complicated
as people think it is.

This is so easy to make.

Feels like a big undertaking,
but you're just slicing bread.

- Dunking it in eggs and calling it a day.
- Literally ten minutes.

So, you're doing some kind
of skillet thing most days for the kids.

They're not just eating a cereal.

- Yes. Fried eggs and... pancakes.
- Yeah.

But I like to do
surprise pancakes for the kids,

so I always put some ground flax seeds.

- [Tan] Smart.
- Pour chia seeds.

And Lili will ask, "Can I have chia seeds?
I want it to have freckles."

Oh my gosh! That's so cute!

- Do you like coconut at all?
- [Meghan] I love coconut.

My mother-in-law, she's been making this
for her kids for a long time.

So we started making it for our kids,
and I love a crust on it.

Ooh! Layers of flavor.

- Love a layer of flavor.
- Accessorizing your French toast.

Amen.

And I love to accessorize.

- Precisely.
- My favorite.

That, ooh, that's a nice color.

Okay.

[Tan] Okay.

So, my eldest is three,
and he just started pre-K,

and so, breakfast, a nice breakfast,

is a way of me
getting him excited about school,

because it's turned
into a ritual at this point.

Yes, the ritual of breakfast.

- It's a sacred time as a family.
- Yeah.

You pace it. You can talk about
what they're excited for for the day.

So, just take a minute of calm
before the day,

wherever the day's going
to end up taking you.

[Tan] Yeah, agreed.

Oh, I like this. That, like,
oh, that yummy, nutty flavor.

Should I cut them and beautify them and...?

Yes, please.

Let's dress them up a few different ways.

One thing I do with my kids,
I'll say, "That takes a bit more time."

- I like the presentation for them.
- [Tan] That's next level, okay.

Archie will say,
"Oh, mama, that looks beautiful."

Wow.

Let's put some berries here,
and then the persimmon right there.

[Tan] So lovely.

Do you put powdered sugar
or anything like that?

Not for my kids, but when we have it,
we put powdered sugar on it.

- What was that that you just added?
- Flower sprinkles.

I love them.

Wow, that's the gayest ****
I've seen in a long time.

[laughs]

I really like things to look beautiful,
but it can be like, beautiful like that,

or kid-beautiful.

- Smiley face or whatever.
- Yeah, why not?

No, you've really inspired me.

- I'm not just saying that.
- [Meghan] It's an outfit.

That really is a cute way of making food
more entertaining for the kids.

You eat with your eyes first.
It's a first impression.

- "I'm so excited about that. I love that."
- Yeah! I like that. I do like that.

Easy things.
And you can use frozen waffles too.

It doesn't have to be fancy.

[Tan] Okay, this is done also.

- [Meghan] Fabulous.
- Excuse me.

[Meghan] Thank you.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

[lively music playing]

- Can I put the tiniest bit of this there?
- [Tan] Yeah.

- Oh, I always add maple to mine.
- [Meghan] Okay, great.

- We have three ways.
- [Tan] Gosh, that's impressive.

Now let me try this feast you created.

[chuckles]

Mmm!

- I love that one.
- Isn't that nice?

[Meghan] Mm-mm!

- That is so good.
- Thanks.

- Do you want to try our creations?
- I do.

[Meghan] It's delicious.

It's so good.

With the fig, that's lovely.

Mm!

[Meghan] "Mm-mm!," he says.

[music ends]

I'm going to save my bread to take home
because my kids will be so excited,

as will my husband.

And then I'm thinking, a little crafting?

- A little or a lot, whatever you want.
- Let's do it.

[upbeat music playing]

I have some sparkling
blood orange juice for you.

[Tan] Thank you so much.

Oh! Gorge.

Okay, so because we like to be
in the kitchen with our kids...

Yeah.

...and I had gotten
my children aprons really early on.

I just went online and I got sweet ones,
but also really fun to make them.

So I thought, make aprons for our kids,
and I'll send the kit home with you

so you can do it as a family, also.

I don't have one for my kids, so yes.

In addition to painting
with fabric pens or puffy paint,

there's ways to use things in the kitchen
that can become stamps of their own.

- Can I show you a couple?
- I would love.

A couple of ideas here. Just bear with me.

You're like,
"Now the woman's getting some celery out."

Were you a crafty kid?
Like, you did stuff like this as a child?

Yes, but I-- I would not
classify myself as artistic.

I'm not an artist.
I didn't like art class.

Oh, okay.

I always did calligraphy.

I guess I had an eye for things,
but I couldn't paint you a picture.

- Could you?
- [Tan] No, I could draw a dress.

I was obsessed with design,
like clothing design.

So anything to do with clothing, yes,
but I couldn't paint anything really.

[Meghan] Right.

Just so we have an idea,
you could use potatoes to make shapes.

- The kids would like this.
- [Tan] Great.

These also become stamps,
and this can also become part of a flower.

Let me just show you with different colors
what we could do.

This is just some acrylic paint.

Okay, I can tell, even from that,
that that was going to be pretty.

Well, right, so picture this
if we're pretending that this is a flower.

- [Tan] Yeah, that's nice.
- [Meghan] Right?

So we can have a lot of fun with whatever
we want to do shape-wise, just using pens.

- I've a feeling you'll be super artistic.
- [whispers] I'm not.

And then you use the potato to make
other stamp designs if you wanted to.

[Tan] My kids love stars.

[Meghan] Great.

So we end up having
a whole world of things we can do.

[Tan] This is great.

[Meghan] Okay, some aprons.

- [Tan] Thank you.
- You're very welcome.

[pop music playing]

What's your vision?

I don't know if the lemon
is going to work as well as your lime did,

and I don't know what the difference is,
but it doesn't seem...

- It's beautiful!
- That's not bad. I'm gonna go with a lime.

- What are your kids' favorite colors?
- My eldest, his is blue.

My youngest is anything that looks edible.

As a one-year-old,
he wants to put everything in his mouth,

so whatever looks like it might be a food,
he's down for.

Oh my God, how sweet.

Do you have a color
that your kids are into?

- [Meghan] Ooh, a lot of pink in my house.
- Is your daughter a pink girl?

Oh, my gosh. Lili loves pink,

and now I can just stay in a world
of ombré pinks and call it a day.

Oh, you're "ombré-ing" yours?

- Very nice.
- [Meghan laughs]

I'm just going to do, like,
a little ombré, the heart world.

I can't decide if I want this
to be a balloon or a flower.

Do I want leaves like this
or a string for a balloon?

Okay, that's nice.
That does not look like...

You said balloon. I trust your judgment.

- [Tan] Yeah.
- You've got style.

- He knows what he's talking about.
- I'm an aesthetic person.

♪ Get in the mood ♪

♪ Get in the mood ♪

♪ Get in the mood
Baby, get in the mood ♪

I'm impressed. The little trio
of flowers here is very pretty.

I'm done with this one,
and no joke, I think that is so chic.

- I think it's very chic.
- [Tan] Isn't that so pretty?

[upbeat music playing]

- [Meghan] I've got her name.
- [Tan] It's beautiful.

[Meghan] And then
I'll do Archie's similarly.

I don't know about the color
of that balloon string, but here we are.

It's looking really pretty.

- Do you have ideas for your second?
- I don't. [laughs]

[Meghan] Hmm.

What are you thinking?

- That was all the creative stuff I had.
- [Meghan] No!

Could do rainbow?

Too g*y. Too on the nose.

[laughter]

But you said your kids like stars, right?

Actually, he has star wallpaper.
We'll just go yellow with stars.

[Meghan] I like that idea.

[jazzy music playing]

For Archie?
Why don't I start with his name,

and then we can work around that.

My sweet little boy. What would he like?

Oh, he's like the most tender,
sweet, adorable child of all time.

[Tan] My eldest is the most tender.
Did you always want children?

Oh, I always wanted to be a mom.

- Always?
- I'd save my allowance.

I'd go to Kmart and buy a real diaper bag.

I was like, "I don't want the kid version.
I don't want the pretend version of it."

"I want a real diaper bag
that a mom would have...

Oh, yeah.

...to take care of my doll." Like, I just...

I always wanted to be a mom. I love it.
It's better than I even expected.

You know, it's funny,
but when parents are like,

"Oh, I just can't wait for them
to go to college and be out,"

and I'm like,
"I never want my children to leave."

They're not allowed to get married.
Not allowed to leave my house.

I'll miss them so much.
You want to be the parent who's like,

"Yes, go do it.
Go do your thing. Go live that life."

- "But I'm gonna miss you so much."
- I might die without my kids.

I need my boys.

If I don't see them for a couple days,
I feel like my heart is broken.

Oh, I know.

The longest I went without being around
our kids was almost three weeks.

- Oh, yeah.
- I was... not well.

Yeah, the last season of q*eer Eye,
I was away Monday to Friday.

It changed
my relationship with my kids so much

where now they don't treat me
like I'm the go-to parent.

I'm like, "No, please, my baby.
Don't punish me for going to work."

- [Meghan] That's hard.
- [Tar] It's a painful component.

- [Meghan] You want that connection.
- Yeah.

It hurts my heart thinking
I'm not as important as the other parent.

- Really hard.
- I know. But it'll change.

There will come a moment
where you're the favorite, and then it's...

It's just keep ebbing and flowing.

- How did you guys meet?
- We met online, uh... 16 years ago.

Wait, meeting online 16 years ago is...

And it was a... uh, truly a dating site,
not like one of the apps these days.

Okay.

So my husband, uh,
he had just come out, uh, that week,

and he got on to a dating site because
he wanted to go on his first real date.

Wait, on the very week
that he comes out, he meets you?

I'm the only man he's ever, like,
properly, properly dated.

- [Meghan] And then you get married?
- Married a year later in England.

That is so sweet.

- And you got your guy.
- [Tan] I got my guy.

I can't help but ask personal questions.
I'm known for it.

Was there a moment you were like,
"I know that I love this guy?"

Yes. That was our third date.

You fell in love on your--
your third date?

We met in Botswana,
and we camped for five days together.

So you really had time to fall in love
in those few days. That's nice.

You really get to know somebody
when you're in a tent together,

and there's like, [gasps, whispers]
"What is that outside the tent?"

"That's an elephant.
Are we gonna be safe?"

"Yeah, you're safe." "Okay."

Did you tell him first,
or did he tell you?

He told me.

Oh, that's nice.

That is really... [laughs]
You started to blush. [laughs]

I will stop this line of questioning.

- She's still got it.
- She's still got it.

[funky music playing]

This is, uh, little blue balloons.

Do you know what makes yours so lovely
is how pretty your writing is,

but I can't, I don't have that skill.

- I'm happy to write your kids' names.
- No, it's okay.

Like, look, it's fine.
But yeah, yours wins because of that.

[Meghan] Yours are gorgeous.

[Tan] My kids actually
are going to love that.

[Meghan] Hopefully, it will inspire them
to start crafting and cooking with you.

All right, we've got big plans.

- Shall we take it to the kitchen?
- Let's.

[Meghan] We'll make a homemade version
of my favorite fast food apple pies.

Okay.

So let's go do that. That is something
you can bring back to teach your kids.

Love.

[funky music continues]

♪ I can't live without your love ♪

So we have apples.
Let's do Granny Smith's.

They'll have a bit of tartness and bite,
which will hold up as they bake down.

Again, this is from your garden.

Yes. Well, I have the Fujis
and the Anna Apples.

- I think we can add some in the mix.
- Okay.

- It's not going to make it taste bad.
- [chuckles]

It's going to make it taste loved.

Do you experiment?
Do you add things and take things away?

- Or you're not an experimenter?
- Yeah, that's part of the fun.

Great.

"Oh, we'd rather make these
like a spiced ginger apple pie."

- Delicious. A little...
- Ginger on everything.

This little pie, this little hand pie,
is just a vehicle for flavor.

[Tan] Yeah.

I'm going to give you some apples
and put you to work on peeling.

So, my love
of a little handheld apple pie runs deep.

[Tan] Okay.

And it is because
when I was an auditioning actor,

if I thought I did
really well at an audition,

most actresses would probably think to go,

"I went on an audition,
I'm going to go to the gym..."

Nope. I was like,
"I went on the audition."

"That went well, I'm going to treat myself
with a drive-through apple pie."

Oh, yeah.

So I'd go to the drive-through
at McDonald's and buy myself an apple pie.

- [Tan] Loved their apple pies.
- Yeah.

And so for me, cooking and food,
it's really the sense recall.

- Yeah.
- It's, "This reminds me of, oh..."

- It takes me right back to...
- "My anniversary dinner when the..."

"Oh, this reminds me
when I was backpacking..."

That everything is connected to memory.

And that's what makes it
so sentimental and meaningful.

Yeah, it's not just
a bite of food you're taking.

It's a memory that you're consuming.
I love it.

- Love.
- Mm-hmm. Me too.

[jazz music playing]

What is your dish?
You say someone's coming over,

but you want to show them what you do.

Up until a year ago, it would have been,

I think Westerners
would call it butter chicken, but...

Oh, God. Especially in the UK, people love
butter chicken or chicken tikka. Oowee!

In England, yeah. You know this.

England, their national food
is an Indian dish.

- It's called chicken tikka masala.
- I love it.

Love, but now I don't eat meat.

- You're not doing chicken anymore.
- No.

So now I will do
like a paneer tikka masala.

- That's good.
- Do you like a spice in your Indian food?

- Like how hot? Like a vindaloo hot?
- Yes.

- I have a very strong palate... for heat.
- Okay.

And I love spices.

Yeah. Everything I eat, even if it's
something Western, like lasagna,

you're gonna add some spice to it.

- [Meghan] Some kick to it.
- [Tan] Yeah, I need some heat always.

[Meghan] Agreed.

I cook Indian food every day at home.

And then my husband "pre-games" on,
uh, gosh, what are those pills called?

Chalky flavored... what are they called?
- Tums!

Tums! He pre-games on Tums every night,
and then he can enjoy my food.

- Pre-games.
- Pre-games.

- He just gets ready. He's like, in it.
- Gets ready, yeah.

He's tailgating with Tums.

He loves the food.
He just knows that it hurts his stomach.

That's love.
That's why you guys are in love.

Let's get some cinnamon.
Half a teaspoon of kosher salt.

This is going to go in.

A heaping two-thirds cup of sugar.

I think we'll do the juice of a lemon.
Do you want to...?

- I would love to.
- Wonderful.

- [Meghan] Ginger in. You and I like it.
- [Tan] I love.

We should grate the ginger, so you...

You don't want chunks of it.
We'll microplane that.

♪ Forever ♪

♪ We all have our ups and downs ♪

You think that's good? Or more ginger?

- Oh, get involved. Oh, I like it.
- I like more ginger.

- Do like a lot more ginger.
- Spicy.

I would have added
a little bit of heat, too.

- Like the...
- A spicy apple pie?

The tiniest little bit of chili
just to really bring out the flavor.

We don't have to.

- Yes.
- No, no, no, we could just do ginger.

- Let's do it.
- Like the tiniest pinch in the world.

- It will just wake it up.
- [Meghan] Love it. Cayenne?

- Yeah, yeah. Perfect.
- Love it.

[in singsong] ♪ Fabulous ♪

Yeah, it won't even actually taste spicy.
It'll just taste warming.

- Yeah, that's exactly it.
- Mm-hmm.

We'll put some butter in
and let this reduce for ten to 12 minutes.

[music continues]

So then some cornstarch and water.

We're going to make a little slurry.

- My friend Vicky taught me that word.
- [Tan] Love.

[Meghan] So look,
this is cooking down nicely.

Now we're going to put in the cornstarch,
uh, mixture to thicken it up a little bit.

- It smells great.
- It smells gorgeous in here.

- Do you want to give that a stir for me?
- [Tan] Yes.

One of the things I miss the most
about the UK is the radio station called...

Our radio is so good.

...Magic.

Magic FM? Wow!

Now, um,
sorry to say this to you, uh, publicly,

but that's such a grandma station.

[Meghan laughs] I'll be that grandma.

My-- my favorite station in my car
is called Mom Jeans.

These are throwback, great,
sing-along, you forget they existed.

- I love it.
- [Tan laughs]

["All Around the World"
by Lisa Stansfield playing over phone]

♪ Been around the world and I, I, I ♪

It's so good. [laughs]

♪ I can't find my baby ♪

[Tan] It's so good.

♪ I don't know why
Why he's gone away ♪

♪ And I don't know where he can be ♪

♪ My baby ♪

♪ But I'm gonna find him ♪

This is good. Let's set this to the side.

We'll let it cool.

- Let's get our puff pastry ready.
- Okay.

We're going to use
pre-made, good puff pastry

as opposed to making
our dough from scratch.

["All Around the World" continues]

I'm going to prep our pans.

Would you like me
to cut yours out whilst I'm at it?

- [Meghan] Oh, please. Thank you.
- You're welcome.

- [Meghan] What a gentleman.
- Mom raised me right.

- Manners make the man. See?
- They sure do. [laughs]

Okay.

So, we have our gorgeous,
cooled apple filling.

[upbeat music playing]

It's almost like a little baby empanada.

[Tan laughs]

Or, from my side of the world, a samosa.
A sweet samosa.

- Also.
- Yeah.

We can fold these over.
It might be easier to lift it and pinch.

Ah, okay.

♪ I will be by your side ♪

Then we'll take a fork on the edges,
just to give it that little seal.

We'll put a little egg wash
on this while we...

♪ Oh, I tried ♪

♪ An enigma I can't understand ♪

[Meghan] Some finishing sugar.

It has that texture
so it doesn't melt down.

- [Tan] Yeah.
- Okay. So we have our egg wash, our sugar.

You could do this step before. I forgot.

We'll give it, like, some slits.

They don't have to be big.

Okay, so those are going in
at 400 for 25 to 30 minutes.

Easy as pie.

- Easy as hand pies?!
- [Meghan] Yes!

[Tan laughs]

So, while we are waiting for this to bake,
I do have one thing for you,

because I know you are a... a spice lover.

Ooh.

- Qu'est-ce que c'est que ça?
- I even like the thing you put this in.

That's so cute.

This wrapping is called furoshiki,
and it's honestly so simple to do.

[feelgood music playing]

Sometimes, when I go to shops and I find
something that I think is extraordinary,

I don't know who it's going to be for,
but I know that I need to get it.

So, maybe a year or so ago,

we went into this little shop
in North Carolina, and I found this.

[mimics heavenly choir]

Spice container.

This is a masala dabba.

That's what this is called.
I just thought it was fantastic.

Knowing his love of spices, I thought,
"It's the person I wanna share it with."

So, let's get the spices
and then go from there.

So, let's do something
that I think he will probably use often.

This is some garam masala.

Lovely spice blend.

And I'll put it inside this little pouch.

So sweet.

Coriander.

This is Kashmiri chili.

And some turmeric.
And a little bit of cumin in there,

which we know I love.

You can smell the smokiness of it.

So, I'm gonna wrap it up for him.

My friend Vicky, one of the things
that she's done a lot when she gives gifts

is a Japanese style of wrapping
where you use fabric. Furoshiki.

And essentially,
it's a great way to upcycle,

use, and reuse fabric for wrapping a gift.

I think it's really fun
if you can go to a vintage shop as well

and just get old vintage scarves
for like a dollar a piece.

Repurpose it, use it as that, and then...

[jazzy music playing]

[laughs] Okay.

So, beautiful options.

We do not need all of them.

And then, when you do this,

so your box is going to go square
in the middle of wherever the diagonal is.

And I'm going to show you.

I'm gonna do this side.
It's just going to go very easily over.

Flop over the side.
You don't need to tuck that edge in.

This equally is going to come over.

Nice and snug.

Fold it over almost like gift wrap,
so you're getting that little V there.

Same on that side.

That's going to go there,
and you'll get this tide shape,

which is going to flip around on top.

Let me grab a flower,
because this can anchor it in the middle

and be very pretty.

Just a little extra interest.
You don't have to do this.

Okay. We have done this.
Do the same on the other side.

Fold it over.

These two edges are going to come up,

and just tie them in a knot.

[upbeat music playing]

And this could be with some branches
or some other little gift.

But because these flowers
actually match the coloring pretty nicely,

that's gonna go in there. Okay.

And look at how sweet that is.

So, that's furoshiki.

Easy.

- Can I open this?
- Yes.

[gasps]

- It's a vintage masala dabba.
- Yes. [giggles]

That is so... I can't--

When they said you love spices,
I was like, "I had this thing I bought."

"I wanna share it
with someone who'd appreciate it."

This is the kind of thing
your parents pass down to you.

I've never had a masala dabba.

- Thank you so much.
- You're welcome.

That actually has given me goose bumps.
That is so beautiful.

I will pass this down to my children.
That's how beautiful that is.

Thank you so much.

That is the nicest gift
you could have ever gotten me.

Oh, I'm so glad.

- That is so lovely. Thank you. Well done.
- Oh, good.

Fantastic!

I'm gonna call my mom and say,
"I've got a masala dabba."

- She's gonna be blown away.
- Oh, I love it.

We'll have some pies on the go.

- And end our day on the beach.
- Okay.

Let's get some sweaters.
It gets chilly at the beach here

once the sun is going down.

So, I'll make us a nice little warm tea
to take with us.

Then the pies will be done. I'll wrap
those up and we'll be on our way.

♪ I wake up in the morning ♪

♪ She greets me with a kiss ♪

♪ Had a smile that fades without friends ♪

♪ I love you more today ♪

Wow. So, this is just
your relaxing space, huh?

[laughter]

[Meghan] Breathe it all in!

It's just heaven. Let me give you this.

- Thank you.
- Of course.

People forget
it gets chilly in the evening.

Oh my gosh, it's so nice, though.

[Meghan] I have some tea for us.

- Here's your yummy chai.
- Thank you.

[mellow jazz music playing]

Chai with pie.

- That's a good chai, too.
- Is it good?

- That's a really good chai.
- Love hearing that.

- This yours?
- Yes, thank you.

Let's see how
our little darling pies turned out.

- [Tan] That's so cute.
- [Meghan exclaims]

- See?
- I'm so excited. Thank you.

- I'll take one. Thank you.
- Thank you.

Fantastic. And we'll warm ourselves up,

but just being outside
in the fresh sea air...

It's so special.

I can see why you live in California.
It is gorgeous.

- But I'm glad you came to visit.
- I'm so glad I came.

- Thanks for making the effort.
- Oh my God, thanks for having me.

I loved being here.

[pleasant music playing]

Mm!

And that sugar on the outside?

Mm-hmm.

- So?
- Heaven.

Delightful.

There's a bit of heat.

- Warm.
- Warm. Gorgeous.

- That was all you.
- Uh-huh.

The idea of putting
that tiniest bit of cayenne.

No one would think that's spicy.

No, they'd say they feel warmed up inside.

[Tan] Oh, my gosh.

- [Meghan] Cheers, dear.
- [Tan] Cheers to you.

- I'm so glad we finally got to hang out.
- I know, I love it.

This is what life is for me.

- A tea, a baked good, and a view.
- Ooh.

[Meghan] Yes.

[upbeat music playing]

[seagulls squawking]

Hear the birds?

- [Tan] Wow.
- [laughs]

♪ ...chance to the wind ♪

♪ I never thought I would win
But now I'm back in the game ♪

[Tan sighs]

- Yeah. I'm envious of your life.
- [Meghan] Sea air!

- You're gonna come to California now.
- [Tan] Yeah, I need to come back.

♪ You, you drive me crazy
With the things you tell me, baby ♪

♪ Why don't you tell me it's alright? ♪

My face mask recipe.
Gonna need you to try it.

It's this simple.
We just add this, give that a mix.

- [Meghan] Green tea and Greek yogurt.
- [Tan] Yes.

Put that on your skin
for about ten minutes.

Like that thick.
Like literally that thick.

Okay.

A little... [laughs]

What?

Do that once a week. And if I--

I promise you if my skin changes...

I know I'm gonna hear about it
in every interview you ever do.

"Why does Meghan look so good?"

"Well, you know Tan France?" "Yeah."
That's how much it'll change your life.

Your kids will be freaked out thinking,
"Where did Mom go?"

[laughs]

♪ The things you tell me, baby ♪

♪ Why don't you tell me it's alright? ♪

♪ I was trying to buy myself
A home inside your heart ♪

♪ I guess I'll settle
For a Saturday Night ♪

♪ You, you drive me crazy
With the things you tell me, baby ♪

♪ Why don't you tell me it's alright? ♪

[music fades]