HGTV stars Ben and Erin Napier share their thoughts on how food makes a place feel like home and some of their favorite household meals.
HGTV stars Ben and Erin Napier share their thoughts on how food makes a place feel like home and some of their favorite household meals. They talk about the most important thing to keep in mind when they are renovating kitchens on their show Home Town and some clever kitchen updates they absolutely love. Ben and Erin dive into the reason they bought a farmhouse outside of the city of Laurel and why renovating their own home was much more complicated than their typical client work. Erin talks about why she loves when her children’s bath water is dirty and some non-negotiable things they wanted in their new home. They dive into their family plans for the holidays and what it was like to have to memorize lines and act naturally in their holiday feature film debut - A Christmas Open House. Ben and Erin share their own love story and reveal who they would want to play them in a movie about their lives before giving their two cents about their favorite Christmas music.
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Learn More About a Christmas Open House: https://press.discoveryplus.com/shows/a-christmas-open-house/
Find episode transcripts here: https://food-network-obsessed.simplecast.com/episodes/ben-erin-napier-on-how-food-makes-a-home
Jaymee Sire (00:03):
Hello, hello and welcome to Food Network Obsessed. This is the podcast where we dish on all things food with your favorite chefs, food influencers, and food network stars. I'm your host Jamie Sayer, and today we have a favorite home improvement couple sharing their holiday plans and of course what they plan to eat. They are the stars of hometown on HGTV and they are making their holiday movie debut and the new Discovery plus movie a Christmas open house. It's Ben and Erin Napier. Ben and Erin, welcome to the podcast. Where are you joining us from today?
Erin (00:53):
Yeah, we don't have any fancy lighting or anything, so I'm glad this is audio only.
Jaymee Sire (00:59):
Ben (01:30):
I mean, for me it's like 60%
Jaymee Sire (01:34):
Ben (01:35):
The formula.
Erin (01:35):
Yeah. I mean, when you walk in the front door, isn't it great when you can kind of smell what's coming?
Ben (01:40):
Well, so that's, for Aaron, the smell is like 75% of
Erin (01:45):
The experience
Ben (01:46):
Of the experience. And so if it's something cooking, it's even even better.
Erin (01:51):
Yeah, no is food is so important. I mean, we're southerners, so we like to eat. We exercise the table muscle.
Ben (01:59):
Interesting. So going to our respective parents houses. When we go to Aaron's parents, like the meal is almost ready when you get there. You can smell it. My family
Erin (02:12):
And my mom cooks exactly enough for the people who will be there. That's it. No leftover
Ben (02:16):
Erin (03:00):
That sort of thing. Even though none of these men live in
Ben (03:03):
Her house, none of us live there.
Jaymee Sire (03:04):
Erin (03:05):
Ben's dad, and that's
Ben (03:06):
It. Yeah, my brother, one of our brothers lives close by and his family's over there for dinner a lot. But anyway, Aaron's family, there's four of them and Aaron and her brother are spread way out in age. And
Erin (03:18):
So four in my entire house that's not siblings. It's a little family
Ben (03:25):
Yeah. So food is part of home, isn't it?
Jaymee Sire (03:29):
Yeah, it certainly is. I mean, you talked about those smells. What are some of the smells like when you walk in to your own home or to your parents' home and exactly what is being cooked in the kitchen?
Erin (03:41):
Well, if you walk into our house, you're gonna smell garlic. I'm an Italian cook. That's what I enjoy cooking and it's what I'm best at. But if you walk into my parents' house, my mom always has something like southern traditional casserole, oli, chickeny, something
Ben (04:03):
Erin (04:11):
Going through a deer thing right now. But at Ben's parents, when I think of Vince's parents, I think of roast and gravy and rice. That's like,
Ben (04:20):
That's a big state, a
Erin (04:22):
Standard Napier
Ben (04:22):
Family. There were a lot of rice and gravies going on in our house having to feed that many kids. But it was, for me, it's my mom's biscuits because she, everybody's mom makes biscuits and they're the best and all that
Erin (04:44):
A food service,
Ben (04:45):
Like a nine by 12 or bigger. Bigger, bigger, way bigger than that. A big tray tray. And
Jaymee Sire (04:52):
She'd like a big sheep pan.
Erin (04:53):
Yes, it's the
Ben (04:53):
Huge one. And then she would fill it with biscuit dough and then they would, she'd bake it and then she'd cut 'em out. At squares,
Erin (05:00):
A restaurant would have to do
Ben (05:02):
Erin (05:03):
And
Ben (05:04):
So for me, it's biscuits. And my mom, Erin's fascinated my mom when we were in high school, I thought it was totally normal. And oh, this is what everybody's mom's does. But every morning there would be something for breakfast cooked at our house.
Jaymee Sire (05:18):
Wow.
Ben (05:19):
And I just thought that was part of it. And then Aaron was like, No, I ate a lot of niggas. And
Erin (05:24):
Jaymee Sire (05:26):
On my own
Ben (05:30):
So for me it's biscuits in my parents biscuits. Your parent. Of course we got the holiday, so that's on our mind. But at your mom's house or
Erin (05:36):
Your gumbo is her recipe. Her signature holiday dish is her gumbo.
Jaymee Sire (05:42):
Yeah. Have you taken on that tradition as well?
Erin (05:45):
I've tried it once. On tv.
Ben (05:47):
On tv? Yeah. We have a Christmas special coming up,
Erin (05:49):
But it's all about food and my family's recipe, so this is kind of top of mind right now. But yeah, I've tried it once and she said, This is great for your first time
Ben (06:00):
Erin (06:02):
Southern, Oh, take
Ben (06:03):
It. A perfect southern lady. Aw, bless your heart.
Jaymee Sire (06:07):
I was just about to say, was that the equivalent of a, Bless your heart comment
Erin (06:14):
Listen, it's a complicated dish to make, so I'll take it. I'm happy with that.
Jaymee Sire (06:20):
Well, let's talk about that special hometown Christmas and Laurel, What makes experiencing the holidays in your town so unique?
Erin (06:30):
We have a really huge first weekend in December, and that's when it kicks off in Laurel.
Ben (06:35):
It's not, So there are a lot of people who plan their family holidays around the first weekend in December cuz they plan to come home for that as opposed to coming home on Christmas.
Erin (06:49):
It's pancake day and the Christmas parade,
Ben (06:52):
The tree lighting in downtown. The open house in downtown.
Erin (06:56):
That's this
Ben (06:57):
Weekend. But no, no, no. There's one that they do in December. It's our, it's closer to Christmas. The magic of
Erin (07:01):
Laurel. The magic of Christmas is closer to Christmas Day.
Ben (07:03):
Okay.
Erin (07:04):
Anyway, the tree lighting,
Ben (07:06):
Tree lining the gala it's the, our gala, I don't know how
Erin (07:10):
You say it. That's the art museum. It's the art museum. It's the black tie event.
Ben (07:13):
Wow. Christmas Parade and the Big Pancake Breakfast Pancake day.
Erin (07:18):
Yeah. Yeah. So all those traditions, they're just a part of your life, your whole life. And it becomes the thing we look forward to maybe more than actually Christmas Day. Yeah.
Jaymee Sire (07:30):
Really
Ben (07:31):
Food. Yeah. I mean for me, when I met Erin and we started dating and we started spending holidays together, it was just amazing that you have this magical Christmas weekend, three weekends before Christmas. So it's like, you know get it twice an appetizer and for the food world. And even those are surround, I mean, you've got, at the gala, there's always an amazing catered meal for the pancake breakfast. The pancakes aren't that great.
Erin (08:04):
They are great
Ben (08:05):
They're
Erin (08:05):
Amazing. They're wonderful. And they are served witha sausage on the side. Now, I don't know how much you know about Conka sausage. Well, it's an Alabama brand that is kind specialty.
Ben (08:17):
Kaneka County. Alabama.
Erin (08:19):
Alabama, Evergreen, Alabama. It's kind of hard to find. It is the world's greatest smoke sausage in the world. What makes it so good? It's the perfect amount of spices. It's
Ben (08:27):
Not too spicy flavor. And they have, you can get a Cajun or a spicy or a, But the original is I've never met someone who didn't say, that's the best
Erin (08:39):
One.
Ben (08:39):
I've ever had. We didn't say it's the best.
Jaymee Sire (08:41):
Wow.
Erin (08:43):
Maybe this is just me, but when you eat a Dorito that has that perfect amount of seasoning on it,
Jaymee Sire (08:49):
Yes.
Erin (08:50):
That's what Connecta sausage just got this really special proprietary blend of spices that is kaneka specific. Anyway, we're obsessed. I
Jaymee Sire (09:00):
Mean, what is it like to share these very special hometown traditions with your audience on the show?
Erin (09:09):
Well, I hope they find it relatable. I hope that everybody has a version of this wherever they live.
Ben (09:16):
Erin (09:50):
But that's not equal. Special is about, the special is our family's recipes and the ones that we always cook every year. And I tried my best to make them myself and it was good for my first time. So that's pretty good.
Jaymee Sire (10:04):
What else did you make aside from the Gumbo
Ben (10:06):
And Napier Brothers punch, which is not what it's actually called, but I was not allowed to call it what we call it
Erin (10:13):
Ben (10:18):
The bold oatmeal. Peanut Peanut butter, butter cookies,
Erin (10:23):
Ben (10:27):
It's a podcast. I think we can say that.
Jaymee Sire (10:29):
I think on the podcast you
Erin (10:30):
Can say, we'll say cat poop cookies. How's that
Jaymee Sire (10:42):
Oh,
Erin (10:43):
Interesting. Yeah, they don't always set if the humidity's not
Ben (10:46):
Right. It was one of the first Christmases that Erin and I were dating. Her mom made a bunch of 'em. And for some reason, like Erin doesn't eat sweets, I don't eat chocolate. Aaron's mom kind of eat sweetss, but not a lot. And Phil's like, her dad was like, I don't even like these. And so she gave me this 10 of them and I was driving to my parents' house, which at the time they lived nearly five hours away. And so the whole way home I sat there, I was driving and instead of stopping in the gas station and getting something, I was eating these cookies. And so now it's like I will revolt if they don't make, we have a cookie baking night and they're like, Okay, we're gonna do chocolate chip, we're gonna do sugar cookies and shapes. And I'm like, you know what about the cookies
Erin (11:31):
And they're just for Ben though. Just for him.
Jaymee Sire (11:34):
You will protest if they do not make an appearance on the holidays. What
Ben (11:39):
Else do we have? I can't even remember.
Erin (11:41):
Ben (12:04):
That was, it's been a while since
Erin (12:05):
The cookies and the punch.
Jaymee Sire (12:07):
Yeah, I mean, I'm hungry just hearing those things so I can only imagine seeing it come to life on the screen. And for those that don't know, I mean your show hometown, you guys are constantly really reimagining and updating these homes. When you guys are renovating kitchens specifically, what is top of mind for you in terms of form and functionality?
Erin (12:32):
Durability,
Ben (12:41):
So one time we missed,
Erin (12:42):
My life has been changed by a single basin sink. We
Ben (12:45):
Missed the part. Now I don't care who the architects are, we love our architects. They're amazing. But until you actually fill a space out, you don't really know. One time we messed up and the island was too close to the other run of cabinets and it just made everything really tight. When you opened the oven, you couldn't stand and open the oven. You had to move to the side and open it. And we went back and fixed it. But it was
Erin (13:13):
A very, would've been nice to
Ben (13:14):
Know. It was an expensive mess up.
Erin (13:15):
Felt a little tight
Ben (13:16):
Before it was done. And it was one of those deals where the appliances weren't in yet and we had to run to film the scene about the plumbing. And so we had to get the sink in the island. And then it ended up, once it was done, we were like, Oh shoot. And so that's a thing that we're always, once you mess up something like that, it's always front of mind when you mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire (13:50):
Are there any must haves or clever updates that you have made to kitchens that really make that process of cooking and preparing a meal for people a little bit easier?
Erin (14:01):
I'm obsessed with under cabinet lighting. I feel like you can just see so much better when you're prepping and cutting vegetables and I don't know, it feels like something's missing if we don't have under cabinet lighting. And we often don't do it because it is, it's a budget thing. It's aur, it's a budget thing. But when we get to use under cabinet lining, it makes a big difference. I think I, I'm a big fan.
Ben (14:23):
We've always done, we did it our first project for us, which was our loft after we got married, we did under cabinet lines. Let's
Erin (14:32):
Stick on.
Ben (14:32):
They were so cheap. And that's all we did before. But we loved them. We loved the way it looked and all. And then when we did this house, we had 'em. And then when we redid the kitchen, we had 'em. And then when we redid the kitchen again
Erin (14:45):
We had em. 'em Big Ben.
Jaymee Sire (14:50):
I love that though. It's something that you obviously have taken with you through future renovations that have that spirit of that first kitchen renovation that you did better
Ben (15:04):
Every time.
Jaymee Sire (15:05):
What slightly bigger budget.
Erin (15:12):
I try not to notice trends. Yeah. I'm the wrong person to ask
Ben (15:15):
So this is the thing, we actually just had a talk with some of the executives at HTV and Food Network. We were talking about how we really try not to watch other home improvement shows. And we also try to not look at trends. So
Erin (15:35):
Keeping things as personal as possible is always my goal. If my homeowner tells me I love the color red and I really, really, really love red, I'm gonna give 'em a red kitchen and I'm not gonna see a lot of that out there in the inspiration world. It's, if it's not on trend, I don't care about it. I don't care about what's on trend. And in that way we get to stay fresh because we never know what our homeowners are gonna ask for. We were just about to paint someone's kitchen lavender, which I'm very uncomfortable with the colored lavender. But my homeowner loved it. And I was excited to find a lavender that felt good that I could be proud of and that I knew she would like to. And then they found out their house had some foundation issues and they're not gonna be able to do it. So I'm so sad. I was about to be my first lavender kitchen and it's been jerked out from under me. But
Ben (16:30):
One thing that is a trend that we both more from a quality standpoint is the use of more industrial or restaurant equipment in kitchens.
Erin (17:05):
Back. Yeah, the og. Yeah, it
Ben (17:06):
Was Craigslist,
Erin (17:33):
Then it changes the world when you start cooking with gas. Holy cow. When you literally start cooking with gas.
Ben (17:38):
Yes. A good range, good oven is,
Erin (17:42):
It makes cooking so much more enjoyable. It
Jaymee Sire (17:45):
Really, it's a game changer.
Ben (17:46):
And when the recipe says set it at 4 25 for four hours or whatever water
Erin (17:52):
Are you cooking? I'm
Ben (17:54):
Not cooking anyway, but
Jaymee Sire (17:57):
He says three 50 for minutes, Turkey is what
Ben (18:00):
Hess gonna be. Perfect. Yeah. If it says three 50 for
Erin (18:03):
18 minutes, 18 that's more,
Ben (18:05):
What are you cooking? I'm
Erin (18:07):
Making cookies.
Ben (18:08):
Oh, okay.
Erin (18:10):
Anyway, so yeah. We're the wrong people to ask about trends. I'm sorry,
Jaymee Sire (18:14):
Erin (18:52):
Once you have little kids, you realize how you want them to be able to roam outside
Ben (19:13):
It's an easy, I mean out to let them have a phone or let them have a tablet. And we found it was easier. It's easier for them to find something to do and not want to be entertained out in the country. Like our house here in town, if it was in Brooklyn, this is a huge yard. But compared to the yards, I mean Erin's yard, her parents' house is five acres. That's what she
Erin (19:46):
Land is affordable here too. So it just made sense to, for us, we found a very historic old home with acreage and you just don't find that there are no historic houses with lots of acreage. And we found that and we thought if someone else buys this,
Ben (20:04):
It felt like it was this. Like God said, here is this house that you need
Erin (20:10):
Ben (20:11):
Way. And we were like, I don't looking. And then we, so Holly Williams is a friend of ours, we reached out to her and we're like, Hey what do you
Erin (20:20):
Think about this? She renovates houses,
Ben (20:21):
She does a lot of houses. She specifically looks for historic homes with more than 10 acres or something like that. And we were just felt the price for us felt expensive. It was nothing compared to even the prices in Jackson, Mississippi. And she was like, If you don't buy it, I'm going to buy it. And we're like,
Erin (20:43):
So then we had to beat Holly to it.
Ben (20:47):
So it was just such an incredible deal and such a great house. And we had been, cause of the way that Aaron and I had grown up lived, both of us lived in, I didn't live in the country, I always lived in small towns, but I always worked and hung out on farms that were right outside the city limits. So it was just the way that we had been raised and we wanted our girls to experience some of that
Jaymee Sire (21:22):
Yeah. It's nice to have both though. And I, Aaron, I love this quote from you say that when the girls come home at the end of the day, you want their hair to be tangled and the bath water to be dirty. What does that mean to you? Why is that important?
Erin (21:35):
I feel like it means they learned something that day. They really did something. They saw something new, they explored, they were little adventurers. And boy, I've gotten my wish, the bathtubs stay filthy at the farmhouse and that's awesome. I have to actually rinse them out after the girls bathe. But I'm loving that.
Ben (21:59):
But it's something that we don't like. We never have to do that here.
Erin (22:02):
Never. And that makes me feel like, did they really enjoy the day? Cuz little ones they wanna see and do and get into things and in the country they really can. It's been awesome to see the way
Ben (22:16):
With May one year old, if she's fussy or whatever, you can say, Do you wanna go outside? And she stops what she's doing and runs and to the
Jaymee Sire (22:27):
Door
Ben (22:27):
Erin (22:30):
And then you can just let her the she roams and the dog walks beside her and makes sure she doesn't get into trouble. But it's a special way to grow up, spending a lot of time outdoors. And that was a big part of who we were as kids. And it's kind of all we know as far as parenting is that that was good for us and
Jaymee Sire (22:50):
A as far as the design of the house and making some of those decisions. Was approaching your own space more or less complicated that than doing it for a client?
Erin (23:01):
Way more. It was way more
Ben (23:03):
But also more satisfying.
Erin (23:05):
Yeah. Yeah. I didn't sleep a lot in the first part of this year. January through March. We just didn't sleep at all for a couple of reasons. One Helen Hall, the old 1950s Frankenstein, five minutes of it and she didn't sleep for six weeks. She did not sleep. Oh wow. So she wanted daddy every night. He didn't sleep either. I was laying there awake thinking, did I choose the very best light switch cover
Jaymee Sire (23:31):
Erin (23:33):
Yeah. Did I choose the right switch plate? Should we have another light in the bathroom or do we have enough?
Ben (23:41):
I know we're trying to avoid can lights everywhere in the house House, but would it be good, would it be good to have one in the laundry room, in the mud
Erin (23:49):
Room? I mean, you just second guess yourself so much when you're designing for yourself. And we have the advantage and also disadvantage of having renovated over 90 houses. So I've seen a lot of options. I know what's out there
Speaker 4 (24:02):
Ben (24:04):
And then your team, your electricians and your plumbers, they also know what's out there and they
Erin (24:10):
Mm-hmm
Ben (24:12):
And they're like, it's gonna be really dark in this corner. You sure you don't? No sir. We want it to be moody like that. But what if you're cleaning and you won't and then you're like
Erin (24:24):
So it was like that for an entire six month process. But wow, I'm really happy with every decision. There's nothing I wish that we had done differently.
Jaymee Sire (24:32):
What were some of the non-negotiable elements that you really had to include in the stream home?
Ben (24:40):
Has a list.
Erin (24:41):
There's a lot. Yeah. Okay. I'll just give you a very, very few things. But for me, I really wanted unlaced brass for our plumbing fixtures everywhere because I love the way it's called a living finish and that it changes the way a copper penny does. Copper and brass are both beautiful metals the age in different ways. And I wanted that. And I was obsessed with the kitchen from down Abbey, the downstairs
Ben (25:25):
And the previous owner. So the previous owners, the kitchen was great. The way they had done it, it was solid white oak cabinets with white oak countertops. And it was really unique the way they had done it. But
Erin (25:40):
They were a petite family. So the countertops, countertops were very low but maybe six foot six. And he likes them to be one inch taller than standard heights. So
Ben (25:51):
I'd like them to be two inches taller than standard height when we combines
Erin (25:54):
At one inch. Yes. Cause I'm a normal sized person, but
Ben (25:57):
Then the uppers only, I could easily reach the top of the upper cabinet. We, and we were changing the layout a little bit,
Erin (26:07):
So we had all new cabinetry and no, my other non-negotiable is lamp light everywhere. I don't like overhead lighting ever. Really?
Ben (26:23):
Which meant that you had to have plugins in the right place.
Erin (26:26):
Ben (26:28):
Did we film the scene where we went around? Yeah. Yeah. We actually made a scene out of,
Erin (26:33):
I'm sure they're not gonna use
Ben (26:34):
That. Well I mean if they did, it'd be interesting cuz it was our house and we were thinking about, okay, we want,
Erin (26:41):
Where would I put my stand mixer? I'd put it right
Ben (26:44):
Here. We wanna plug in here? Yeah, we wanna put a lamp on the countertop right here. Can we have a plug in under
Erin (26:51):
The bar? Stuff like that. Super boring. Super boring stuff. No,
Jaymee Sire (26:56):
No. I think it's fascinating. I mean I also think it's fascinating how this house came to be in the first place. Have you guys done any research on who the original owners and builders were and why they decided on this tutor style home?
Ben (27:11):
So Mr. Moore went and fall World War I and he lost his leg and he
Erin (27:18):
Stationed in
Ben (27:19):
England. He was in Europe
Jaymee Sire (27:21):
And
Ben (27:21):
He came home and he wanted to build his wife a house like these houses he had seen in England and in Europe. So he built a Tudor style house. He didn't use any we don't know who. He hired a carpenter who moved to the farm to build it. But if you follow history something happened around the time of war, war I that made alcohol hard to find. Mr. Moore was a chicken farmer at one time. Our farm was the largest poultry farm in the state of Mississippi at one time. But also he was known for making some, growing something else there on the property.
Erin (28:45):
He was a
Ben (28:46):
Bootlegger. He was a bootlegger famous bootlegger. You pull his cars in there,
Erin (28:49):
Really load the moonshine and then leave in the cover of night. So that's the lore around town
Jaymee Sire (28:58):
That is so fascinating.
Ben (29:00):
It's the most incredibly well built house I've ever been
Erin (29:06):
In. I mean it's built a church. It's built Wow. Like
Ben (29:10):
A cathedral. It's extremely well built and it has these giant two foot by two foot pillars in the basement that are formed concrete. And then it's got these 65 foot long 12 by 12 Pine B. It's incredible.
Erin (29:27):
This is a food network.
Ben (29:29):
Sorry.
Erin (29:29):
Yes. No, not the woods.
Jaymee Sire (29:31):
I think there's a lot of crossover.
Erin (29:34):
He would love to discuss the intricacies of wood with you right now. But suffice to say it's really well built house.
Jaymee Sire (29:41):
Yeah. Oh wow. And I'm sure already feeling like a home. Are you guys going to be hosting the holidays at that house?
Erin (29:48):
Yeah, I'm sure
Ben (29:50):
Both. Yeah. We had Easter at our house at the farm. We haven't discussed. Thanksgiving is traveling, is a lot of traveling and it'll be by grandparents and then yeah, we don't know about Christmas yet.
Erin (30:06):
I'm sure we'll have something.
Ben (30:07):
Yeah, something will be there.
Jaymee Sire (30:10):
Coming up next, Ben and Aaron talk about making their holiday movie debut in the Discovery plus original movie, A Christmas Open house. Well we'll save to say you guys are a Fesa family and as we've kind of alluded to, you are making your holiday movie debut and the Discovery plus original movie, a Christmas Open house. Can you guys talk a little bit about this project and how you became a part of it?
Erin (30:41):
Yeah, I mean we haven't seen the movie, but the trailer looks like it's gonna be pretty cute. We were asked by HGTV if we would be interested but originally what that would entail or if we would be good
Ben (30:54):
At that. And we're not actors so we were like, Hi, I really don't know. And they suggested that we talked to some of the people who redrawing
Erin (31:06):
And Reese said it was the most fun she'd ever had and absolutely do it
Jaymee Sire (31:11):
Really.
Erin (31:11):
So we said, Okay, we'll do it. And yeah, it was fun. Hilarious that a actual movie production came to Laurel, Mississippi for a few days. There was a lot of hubub around town over that
Jaymee Sire (31:27):
And you're play, I mean you talk about that you're not actors but you're essentially playing yourselves. Correct?
Ben (31:33):
Yes. And was, My name is Henry Wright. I'm an avid woodworker and fisherman.
Erin (31:40):
I'm Sarah Wright,
Ben (31:42):
A designer.
Erin (31:43):
Designer an artist.
Ben (31:44):
And so that was the only way we felt comfortable doing it was that we were essentially playing.
Erin (31:50):
Yeah, it's a good way to ease into scripted entertainment just to play yourself with a different name.
Jaymee Sire (31:56):
Ben (32:09):
Making it sound natural was cause we learned the lines days before we studied them. And
Erin (32:17):
So you basically just said what actors do is difficult.
Ben (32:21):
Yes. But then yeah, going out there and okay, so we've got our lines but we know exactly what we're gonna say and we know what he's gonna say. But then he said it in a certain way with this inflection. So now I gotta change. So gotta change the way that I'm gonna say it so that it sounds like an answer to what he's saying, the way he said it. And so yeah, honestly what made it easy was getting to know them.
Erin (32:45):
Yeah. Katie and Victor,
Jaymee Sire (32:48):
How much I direction did you receive while filming and how well did you take the direction? They just
Erin (32:56):
Let us go. It was mostly of really stand
Ben (32:59):
Here, stand here, make sure you land here, make sure. So there's a scene where we're, we're all out walking through a park and we start dancing to, there's someone playing guitar and singing and Aaron and I are supposed to be dancing and kind of turning and we had to make sure that we timed it so that we turned and we stopped open the camera at the right time. So things like that,
Erin (33:25):
It's basically choreography was the hardest part, but there was no direction about, Say it this way or say it way
Jaymee Sire (33:31):
Erin (33:33):
Let us go on all that. Yeah.
Jaymee Sire (33:36):
Ben (33:43):
So
Erin (33:45):
David and Melissa were friends growing up and
Ben (33:49):
Melissa's parents Melissa's mom is getting remarried and her family home, they're gonna put it up for sale. They
Erin (33:56):
Are. And Melissa has had a big city job in Atlanta as staging houses and
Ben (34:04):
She's wanting to try to sell the mom's house, the family home. And her mom says that's fine, but you gotta use David as your realtor.
Erin (34:13):
That was her middle school crush. Yeah. Okay. So Sparks fly,
Ben (34:21):
Snowflakes fly.
Erin (34:22):
They are doing some minor updates on the house to get it ready to sell and they reach out to us. Ben and David. Oh I'm sorry. Henry and David and old friends who go way back and he wants us to make a couple special projects for the house. So that's how we get involved.
Jaymee Sire (34:41):
Ah, that's so fun. I mean was there anything that was, that kind of surprised you about being on set for something like that?
Ben (34:49):
The amount of people?
Erin (34:51):
Yeah. So many people, like millions of people
Ben (34:55):
So with hometown, our crew that's on set. Or our quote camera or its like five of 'em. Did
Erin (35:02):
You crew? Yeah. So the babies both said crema instead of camera Anyway,
Ben (35:09):
Like six or eight. Yeah people. But there's like
Erin (35:13):
A
Ben (35:14):
Hundred, there's like six or eight people on the specifically camera team. And then there's the
Erin (35:21):
Seriously a hundred people were there.
Ben (35:22):
Yeah, it was so many people.
Erin (35:24):
It was wild.
Jaymee Sire (35:26):
What was the reaction from the people around town?
Erin (35:31):
A lot of curiosity, a lot of speculation. A lot of made up stories about they're bringing in a hundred vintage cars for the scene in downtown. There was not a single vintage car. I have no idea why that be. It was in the news that was happening. Yeah, actually I know so many rumors people made
Ben (35:48):
Up the, There's one scene with a vehicle and it's David's vehicle. It's
Erin (35:54):
A brand new
Ben (35:54):
Truck and it's one of the guys on the crew who drove the pickup truck. So I dunno, can we use your truck for this scene?
Erin (36:00):
Ben (36:05):
Where are you from?
Jaymee Sire (36:07):
I'm from Montana so I can relate. I grew up on a farm and my hometown is a little bit bigger, but I know how the local news and the Oh yeah, the gossip mill works. It gets around pretty fast, right?
Erin (36:22):
Ben (36:23):
Did. And just, it's amazing how much everyone knows
Erin (36:28):
That knows nothing
Ben (36:29):
Who actually know nothing.
Jaymee Sire (36:31):
Yeah, exactly. But they think they know. Oh yeah, yeah. And they will report it as fact. Are you guys planning to have a viewing party?
Erin (36:40):
Oh my gosh, you're like the fifth person to bring that up.
Ben (36:43):
We didn't even think about
Erin (36:44):
It. We have not thought of that, but we should somewhere. You should. Nine days now.
Jaymee Sire (36:51):
It's
Erin (36:51):
Coming up in nine days. We gotta figure this out. Maybe
Jaymee Sire (36:55):
Your mom can make some
Erin (36:56):
Gumbo, maybe
Jaymee Sire (37:03):
At the farmhouse. Yeah. Throw a big sheet on the outside of the house and put a projector up.
Erin (37:09):
Keep our party, Jamie. I know this is a great idea. That's what we'll do.
Jaymee Sire (37:17):
I love. What about, would you guys ever consider writing your own movie about how the two of you met?
Erin (37:25):
I don't know. I don't think we're that special or important.
Jaymee Sire (37:28):
Ah, come on,
Erin (37:29):
Write a book about that. And that was fun to revisit. It's my favorite love story.
Ben (37:33):
It's a good love story.
Erin (37:34):
And it happened at Christmas.
Jaymee Sire (37:35):
Well I have to hear the love story now. What is the love story?
Erin (37:39):
Oh, you don't know.
Ben (37:41):
Well
Jaymee Sire (37:41):
For anybody that doesn't know, I know a little bit. Well
Erin (37:44):
So we met, well I had this crush on Ben for two years in college. It was a year and a half. We were only, it was freshman year, so wasn't it sophomore? I had a huge crush on Ben for a long time because he was very popular. He was in every club on campus and
Ben (38:03):
It was a very small
Erin (38:04):
Campus. It was a small, It's like thousand people, isn't it that small? Anyway, the yearbook, I was the design editor of the yearbook And
Ben (38:12):
Now also, I can tell you the exact moment. I saw Erin for the first time and she stood out to me because she was walking across the cafeteria at Jones Junior College. So I'm thinking the College Jones College now. She was wearing like loose fitting jeans, which were not the style, not the mainstream style at the time. And a tight t-shirt. And she had
Erin (38:41):
Interesting that you lingered on that
Jaymee Sire (38:42):
Ben (38:43):
She had just cut her hair really short.
Erin (38:47):
It was a pixie cut and he was obsessed with Meg Ryan in nineties, which I was too, but he tells me that's why he noticed. But anyway, the yearbook was doing feature stories on the 10 most interesting people on campus and they were polling, who are these 10 people gonna be? Everybody raised their hands. The first person they said, Ben Napier, that guy is awesome. And I was like, I can be there for that feature story. I will help head that up
Jaymee Sire (39:43):
Wow.
Ben (39:44):
December 13th. I told her I was in love with her and I was gonna meet
Erin (39:46):
Your Not true. We were separated. You had to go home for Christmas for two weeks and it was just devastating. It
Ben (39:51):
Was a week. Although no, a week I came back, it
Erin (39:54):
Felt like a year.
Jaymee Sire (39:55):
It is a lovely story and one that we are so blessed to be a part of, just having a little snippet of your lives on television and here on the podcast. So we do appreciate you guys sharing all the stories. We're gonna finish things off with a little rapid fire round and then we have one final question for you here on Food Network Obsessed. So first rapid fire question, who would play your characters in a movie about your life?
Ben (40:25):
So if it's modern day Chris Sullivan. He is Hollywood Ben Napier.
Erin (40:30):
They're good friends. This is a hilarious joke to them that they're like
Ben (40:38):
So who would tell
Erin (40:39):
You? I don't know. Can we get Meg Ryan from 19?
Jaymee Sire (40:41):
Yeah, I was gonna say I think Meg Ryan Meg do
Ben (40:43):
It right? 1997. Yeah, he got me all era
Erin (40:47):
Meg Ryan. Yeah,
Ben (40:49):
But if it's going back to college, I don't know who would play me. I don't
Erin (40:53):
Know. We don't know any young people. Well you
Jaymee Sire (40:54):
Probably have to have multiple actors obviously play the college version and then the present day version, right? Yeah. Alright. Rate your acting skills on its scale of one to 10.
Ben (41:05):
Whoa. What's 10
Jaymee Sire (41:07):
Erin (41:08):
Ten's. The best 10 is James Gandini and the Sopranos. Okay.
Jaymee Sire (41:13):
Yeah, exactly.
Erin (41:15):
We won't say what number one is that would hurt someone's feelings.
Ben (41:18):
I dunno. Cause we haven't seen it. We
Jaymee Sire (41:21):
Haven't seen it. That's true. Okay, maybe we'll have to revisit this questions each other after the viewing party.
Erin (41:26):
High five Viv. That's
Jaymee Sire (41:27):
Too far.
Ben (41:33):
You probably know
Erin (41:38):
I love them both. But those are Uhoh not my favorite. I think we might have the same favorite home alum.
Jaymee Sire (41:43):
Oh, ah no,
Erin (41:45):
You It's a wonderful life.
Ben (41:46):
Yeah, mine's It's a wonderful life. Yeah.
Erin (41:48):
Come along. One or two. I don't have a preference. I love the meat.
Jaymee Sire (41:52):
It's a classic for sure. You can only choose one Thanksgiving side. What's it gonna be?
Ben (41:58):
Dressing.
Erin (41:59):
Dressing? Yep.
Ben (42:00):
That be
Erin (42:01):
Dressing with cranberry sauce. The can not homemade.
Jaymee Sire (42:04):
I like the homemade, the jiggly can with the slices.
Erin (42:06):
Right
Ben (42:07):
Now I don't, don't turn my nose up at any cranberry sauce, but I like the homemade just as much as I like the
Erin (42:14):
Can. I like the can. I like it to sound like Alpo coming. That can
Jaymee Sire (42:23):
I mean I can hear it coming outta the can Must have Kitchen tool or appliance
Erin (42:31):
Gas range.
Ben (42:33):
Erin (42:35):
Ben (42:50):
Bet it's also got the bad,
Erin (42:52):
It says it has no bad stuff in it. It says zero bad stuff
Jaymee Sire (42:57):
Erin (43:00):
Yeah. 50 years ceramic skillets are killing us all.
Jaymee Sire (43:04):
Alright, holiday song that by heart
Erin (43:07):
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
Ben (43:09):
Tony,
Erin (43:10):
That's, this has Ben's favorite genre, but Judy Garland, Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas. And listen, I had a stressful day yesterday and I said I don't care. I'm doing it. And I went to Holiday Traditions on series. Oh you did? And it was my song. It was Judy and I thought, oh, I needed this. This is so good. Okay, well thank you Judy. For what? Thank you Judy. You're so great.
Ben (43:36):
Jaymee Sire (43:47):
Like all year round.
Erin (43:48):
Yeah. Yeah. He does
Ben (43:53):
It started doing covid because it was like, well the world's burning down. I'm gonna get Christmas out of this.
Jaymee Sire (43:57):
You're like, I'm making sure that I'm getting this in. Maybe he's Santa in the
Erin (44:02):
Sky. Think that might be it.
Ben (44:04):
He started my day on such a joyful note that I was like,
Jaymee Sire (44:08):
Yeah,
Ben (44:09):
I'm sticking with this.
Jaymee Sire (44:10):
I can see that. I can see it. Best Christmas gift you ever received as a child.
Erin (44:16):
Rock Tumblr.
Ben (44:17):
Best Christmas gift Rock Tumblr. Okay, so this is a combination. I've answered this before, but it's a combination Christmas because
Erin (44:24):
I'd to explain my rock Tumblr,
Jaymee Sire (44:25):
By the way. Yeah, I was gonna say I need more context on that. It's
Erin (44:28):
Like there's like science toy catalogs that come out anyway. Maybe not. But it was you put this little bag of rocks in the rock Tumblr and it tumbles for six weeks and when you open it, you have precious gemstones.
Jaymee Sire (44:43):
Wow. Did it work?
Erin (44:44):
I don't know, maybe
Jaymee Sire (44:56):
Erin (44:57):
Made me happy. I thought I'm gonna get diamonds out of it in just a few more wig.
Ben (45:02):
So for me, in one specific Christmas,
Erin (45:05):
The journey, not the destinies. Yeah.
Jaymee Sire (45:07):
Ben (45:08):
You don't care what you got
Erin (45:23):
So
Jaymee Sire (45:24):
Ben (45:25):
1993, my brother was born. We, Oh wait, wait. Back up. We moved to a new house that was on a farm. We had all this land and everything. So we moved to the new house. My brother was born, we got a basketball goal and we got a new
Erin (45:41):
Dog. That sounds like your mom was
Jaymee Sire (45:43):
Just super
Erin (45:43):
A dog. That's what all of that sounded like to me.
Jaymee Sire (45:50):
Ben (45:52):
Fantastic. And when I look back at pictures like that, Christmas
Erin (45:57):
Fell. That was childhood.
Ben (45:58):
It felt so
Erin (45:59):
Magical. You were nine.
Ben (46:01):
I was 10.
Erin (46:01):
10.
Jaymee Sire (46:03):
That does sound pretty magical.
Ben (46:05):
Pretty
Erin (46:05):
Fantastic. I also got some moon shoes one year. I don't know if you remember moon shoes.
Jaymee Sire (46:09):
Oh, I do remember those. They, yeah. Those are pretty
Erin (46:12):
Cool. Be dangerous and could have killed myself on them. But I loved them.
Jaymee Sire (46:16):
Erin (46:17):
There were trampoline shoes for each foot.
Ben (46:20):
That sounds like a torn,
Erin (46:22):
We never let my children jump on those things. Now
Jaymee Sire (46:25):
There's a lot of things that we had as kids that are probably very, very dangerous as it turns out,
Erin (46:32):
Here we
Jaymee Sire (46:33):
Are. Here we are. All right. Well our final question that we ask everybody here on food Network obsessed. And this is not rapid fire, so you can take as much time as you want. What would be on the menu for your perfect food day? And you guys obviously can answer differently. They can be your own personal food day. We wanna hear your breakfast, your lunch, your dinner, and your dessert. And there's no rules. You can spend as much money, You can travel time, travel, anything you
Erin (46:59):
Need. You got it. Okay. My breakfast is definitely gonna be the best croissant sandwich ever. A very fresh and flaky croissant from B Isar, the B in New York City, The B breakfast croissant sandwich that has ham and grayer. And then my lunch is gonna be a tomato basil bisque with a grilled cheese on brio bread, like fried and butter. And then my supper is gonna be a huge Greek salad with a really great, really strong feta dressing.
Jaymee Sire (47:44):
And no dessert cuz you're not a dessert.
Ben (47:46):
Sweets,
Jaymee Sire (47:46):
Right? No sweets.
Erin (47:48):
Tara Misu available. I might eat a bite or two.
Jaymee Sire (47:51):
Yeah, I just always wanna bite. That's it.
Ben (47:54):
Erin (47:55):
What's your breakfast?
Ben (47:56):
What do you think?
Erin (47:57):
Steak eggs from
Ben (47:59):
Somewhere? No, I'm going breakfast burrito.
Erin (48:01):
Breakfast burrito.
Jaymee Sire (48:03):
I love a breakfast burrito.
Ben (48:04):
I am
Erin (48:05):
In a Mexican dive in New Mexico. Yeah, we did this recently. We went to eight dive in New Mexico where he had chips and salsa and a breakfast burrito.
Ben (48:13):
The best thing about it is that everyone in there, I was like, Oh, these people have no idea who we are. We don't have to worry about anything in here. They're not paying attention. And when we stood up to leave, I mean it's all these
Erin (48:25):
Men who were filthy and worked on farms or
Ben (48:28):
Oil rigs or whatever, but you could look at 'em, tell they
Erin (48:31):
Don't
Ben (48:32):
Watch tv. They're not watching hgtv if they are watching tv. And when we stood up to leave, they all were like, Youre the, you're the people from the
Erin (48:42):
Show. Yeah. We're like,
Ben (48:44):
Yeah, we are.
Erin (48:46):
That's
Ben (48:47):
Funny. Yeah. So
Jaymee Sire (48:49):
The burrito have the hatch green chili in there. Yes. Yeah. So good.
Ben (48:54):
I've recently discovered that. So yeah, it's gonna be
Erin (48:57):
Chili cus what
Ben (48:59):
We had chili Chichis.
Erin (49:00):
Chichi.
Jaymee Sire (49:01):
Yeah.
Ben (49:02):
Chili
Jaymee Sire (49:06):
Okay. It's Love
Erin (49:08):
It. I'm gonna be French toast. That is your favorite breakfast food
Jaymee Sire (49:13):
You can have. I mean, you can have as many breakfast food as you want. There's no rules. French
Ben (49:18):
Toast. Yeah. BS are the
Erin (49:19):
First place. I think Valar is our breakfast meal.
Ben (49:22):
We have to do this
Erin (49:23):
Together. We're doing this together. We do everything together.
Ben (49:25):
Okay. Does anybody know Ifar has a breakfast burrito?
Jaymee Sire (49:30):
No, but there's a really great spot in Brooklyn I can send you to you that has the New Mexico. It's a specifically New Mexico place. So maybe you could do a combo,
Ben (49:38):
Which is we're gonna New York for two weeks and oh, we'll have time to go to Brooklyn. But
Jaymee Sire (49:43):
It's called Santa Fe, so you can't forget
Ben (49:45):
See, this is the problem is I love a good French bakery breakfast B, but I also love a good Mexican breakfast. And we don't have that here. You can't, And Laurel, you can't get a breakfast burrito unless it's fast food and it's not good. But then I love a tradition, traditional diner, waffle house style breakfast.
Erin (50:13):
Okay, let's get to
Ben (50:14):
Lunch. All right. So lunch. There is a place in Jones County that I will not say the name of it because it's my secret place that I go and have burgers. But I'll say Phillips Drive in is, it's in Laurel,
Erin (50:32):
An equally
Ben (50:32):
Good burger. It's an equally good burger. And that's what I'm gonna have, I'm gonna have a number three jumbo basket cuz if this is a dream lunch, I'm not worried about calories or,
Jaymee Sire (50:43):
Nope, no calories. Don't count
Ben (50:44):
Bar. I'm going to number three, jumbo basket with tots. And I'm gonna have a cherry Sprite with it. And I might have a milkshake.
Erin (50:56):
All right. Which milkshake?
Ben (50:57):
Maybe just a vanilla.
Erin (50:59):
Okay.
Jaymee Sire (51:00):
Ben (51:01):
And then
Erin (51:02):
What's for supper?
Ben (51:03):
Can you guess what my supper is?
Erin (51:04):
It's gonna be a steak from Del Monica.
Ben (51:07):
We're going to Delcos in New York. Okay. And we're gonna have the del
Erin (51:14):
And that cream
Ben (51:15):
Spinach. I'm gonna have cream spinach. I'm gonna have, it's a loaded potato, a twice potato. But I'm also gonna, it's a really good lettuce wedge wedge salad I'm gonna have. And for dessert, one time when I was a kid, my mom made a cake that was a Coca-Cola cake or something. It was like a chocolate cake type thing. And I don't even know if it was that good, but it was just at the time, it was so good. And I always think about it and I never asked hard or anything red velvet's my go-to. Okay. But that's where my mind's at right now.
Jaymee Sire (51:55):
I mean, sounds like a great day. I think the only decision is, is you guys deciding which place you guys are going together.
Erin (52:01):
Yeah.
Jaymee Sire (52:02):
But no, that sounds like a wonderful day and so many exciting projects for you guys coming up. Thank you so much for taking the time and sharing some of it with us.
Erin (52:11):
Thank you all for having us. This was really fun.
Ben (52:14):
Can I, Yay. Real quick. Can I tell you Yeah. How Delco happened for us?
Jaymee Sire (52:19):
Yeah, sure. Please.
Ben (52:20):
For me, this is a great story. It may not be that really, it may not be great. Were for our honeymoon. We were going to New York City and it's Christmas time. It was Christmas time. My parents, Oh, neither one of my parents had ever been to New York at the time. And my dad's, both my parents are ministers and our dad, My dad officiated our wedding and he was talking to us and he was like, Where you going for your honeymoon? And I said, I don't gonna go to New York City. And he said, Oh, you gotta eat at Del Mocos while you're there. And I said, What
Erin (52:54):
Is
Ben (52:54):
That
Erin (53:03):
The cowboy
Ben (53:03):
Movies? And he said, Oh yeah, you watch old cowboy movies or old gangster movies. If they go to New York City, the first thing they're gonna do is go to Delco and get a mistake. And so I took him up on it and I researched it. And at the time I was in graduate school and I was taking a class called Who's the professor had he'd done his thesis on the history of restaurants in America. And he said, Where are you going for your honeymoon? And I said, We're gonna New York City. And he said, Oh, where are you gonna eat? And I said I think we're gonna eat a steak at Delco. And he was like, Oh, fantastic choice,
Erin (53:42):
And maybe it's just because they were leading the witness, but it's really good
Jaymee Sire (53:52):
I think mean food also is so much to memories and Yes. And the way it makes you feel. And so I totally get that. And I love Del Mocos too. It's, It's great
Erin (54:18):
Thank you Jamie. And for the idea for the party too. Thank you for that. Yes.
Jaymee Sire (54:21):
You're so welcome. Thank you guys so much. Well, I personally am a Christmas music after Thanksgiving person. Not sure about the workout music, but whatever works for you, Ben, you can catch this couple on a Christmas open house only on Discovery. Plus make sure to follow us wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss a thing. And if you enjoy today's episode, please rate and review. We love it when you do that. That's all for now. We'll catch you foodies next Friday.