Podcasts about Sesame

Stephanie:Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's Dish, the podcast where we talk to cool people in the food space. We talk to a lot of cookbook authors, and today I'm excited to talk to Sally Ekus. She is a literary agent, which, if you've written books or you're trying to get a book published, you know how important the agent process is. She leads a boutique culinary and lifestyle division via @JVNLA and is the lead agent at the Ekus Group. Did I get it right?Follow Sally's Substack Newsletter Not So Secret Agent Sally Ekus:Oh, I was just gonna say, yeah, I lead the Ekus Group. So we're a culinary and lifestyle division within a broader agency.Stephanie:And the Ekus Group was started by your mom.Sally Ekus:Yeah.Stephanie:A legend. Your mom has, like, one of the largest cookbook collections that I'm aware of.Sally Ekus:In fact, the largest, according to Guinness. Yes.Stephanie:A couple of months ago, I think maybe it was on your Instagram page, someone posted a picture of her library of her home that is literally looks like a library that you would see in New York city or Washington, D.C. or somewhere fancy with just walls and walls of books. It was so gorgeous.Sally Ekus:Yeah, It's a two store, all cherry wood, gorgeous library. She built the edition. It was a dream edition. It took a lifetime to build. And it is filled with cookbooks, almost exclusively cookbooks. Her fiction and children's books and other personal books are scattered elsewhere around the house. But the library is almost entirely culinary with over 6000 titles. It's really cool.Stephanie:It's amazing. And your mom's name is? Lisa. Please, can I ask you a question? I'm going to go all over the place here, but sure, please. I have a daughter and only one daughter and no sons. So my only child. And there are things that we have in common about cooking and about food, and I always think, like, oh, maybe she'll follow in my footsteps. But then she is quick to point out, like, no, I'm never doing that. But then she's sort of leaning sort of my way.Stephanie:How did that work with you and being in the publishing space?Sally Ekus:Yeah. So how old is your daughter now?Stephanie:26.Sally Ekus:Okay. Yeah. So growing up, my mom had this vibrant culinary business. At the time, it was a PR agency before we did agenting, and it was never supposed to be a family business. She never pressured me or said, you know, maybe one day. In fact, it was just like. If you had asked me before I started working with her, what does Lisa do for a living? I would have said something with books and something in food. So I was like, growing up in this.Sally Ekus:And I was immersed and sort of absorbing by osmosis. And, you know, in the, in my younger years, I would be like, collating press kits for PR campaigns and, you know, I was like earning a allowance, mailing catalogs and whatnot. But it wasn't, it wasn't something she was really like, whatever you want to do, follow your heart. I was on a different path. I went to school for counseling and I was about to go for a master's in social work. And I deferred. I broke up with a bad decision, moved home, started helping out at the agency and realized that I'd been informally training for this my whole life. I really fell in love with it.And I was very fortunate to step into the legacy of her reputation. And then also, once we decided this is something I wanted to do, talk about what the succession plan would look like and really carve out my own, you know, vibe and skill set and cultivate my own list, supporting her list. And so it was really a unintentional natural progression that then became quite intentional and, you know, quite effortful. So I think that's kind of why it worked out. And if, you know, but it's hard to say in hindsight.Stephanie:It's funny too. You talk about this like being in training of knowing this thing and you not even really realizing that until you've left and gone to do something else. And also, it does track that you were going to be a social worker.Sally Ekus:Absolutely.Stephanie:And now you're an agent.Sally Ekus:Yeah. I somewhat sarcastically but realistically acknowledge that I was trained in crisis counseling, active listening, and negotiation. So all of those things play a very big role in the work that I do as a literary agent working with books. But, you know, at the end of the day, it is a book. It is you know, not somebody's. Well, it is somebody's mental well being, but in a. In a different light. So I get to utilize those skills all the time.Sally Ekus:And it feels, it feels quite, quite lucky. And, you know, it's really the client management and author care and author advocacy that I love so much. And that has kept me, kept me in this, in this business for as long as it has.Stephanie:What is it about cookbooks in particular that makes you solely focus on that?Sally Ekus:Well, that I stepped into, you know, that was Lisa's area of expertise. She was one of the very first cookbook publicists. Publicist. She essentially created the category of culinary publicity before there were massive agencies handling, you know, influencers and brand campaigns. And so that was her area of expertise. So that's what I stepped into and was hyper mentored in. And I also equally just felt in love with it. I mean, there are many different things that bring people together, and at the end of the day, it feels like food is that one.Sally Ekus:Through line. Everyone has some relationship to food, recipes, cooking, memory, good, bad, complicated, probably somewhere in the middle. And so to have a little. To have a role in helping to bring that to fruition in published form is a tremendous honor.Stephanie:You are the publisher, or the agent, actually, of Entertaining 101 with Beth Lamana.Sally Ekus:Yeah. Yes.Stephanie:We just talked with. With her last.Sally Ekus:Yeah, I listened to that. It was such a fun conversation.Stephanie:Yeah, she was pretty great. And the weirdest thing happened to me the other day. I was at my radio partner's office, and we were talking about a project, and she had a stack of cookbooks, and I was like, oh, what are you working on? She's like, oh, I'm. I'm helping our friend from Muriel, Karen Tomlinson, put her proposal together.Sally Ekus:Oh, my gosh.Stephanie:Oh, that's interesting. And she goes, yeah, she's got a really great agent already. And I'm like, who's her agent? And it's you.Sally Ekus:Yes, it is. Yeah. I'm so excited to be working with her. Yep. Yeah.Stephanie:Her point of view on food and her storytelling of the purveyors that she works with and her just completely beautiful recipes. I'm so excited for you, and I'm so excited for that book.Sally Ekus:Thank you. Yeah, I mean, that's a great example of really early development. You know, I often say that I work with people, not proposals. You know, we can get to the proposal. I help guide people through that process as an agent. And, you know, this is a great example where it's like, you know, I'm so captivated by the food and the media attention and the accolades and the intentionality of what is happening from the farm to the plate. And so, you know, sometimes chefs work with writers or collaborators to help bring that to the. To the printed page.Sally Ekus:And that's where we're at with that project. So it's in very early stages, which is super exciting.Stephanie:Yeah. You're going to not be disappointed. She is just a great person. She's a great storyteller, and that you had a really good eye to pick her up, because I think she's.Sally Ekus:Thank you.Stephanie:What other projects do you have on the docket right now that you're excited about? I see Potluck Desserts behind you.Sally Ekus:Oh, yeah. Justin Burke, Potluck Desserts. Justin's book came out the same day as Beth's just a couple weeks ago. And I try to rotate in my background the books that are sort of newly rotating. So The Meathead Method over here, that is Meathead's second book. His first book called Meathead, came out almost 10 years ago. And it's all. Both books are all about the science and art and science of barbecue and grilling and outdoor cooking.Sally Ekus:I have books in a bunch of different levels of activity, so that's also fun because I have something that's like, you know, proposal and development and then things that are coming out. So it really, it really runs the gamut. I just saw Frankie Gaw, whose Instagram handle is @littlefatboyfrankie. He's up for a James Beard Media Award, and he just turned in the manuscript for his second book called Asian Americana. So I'm really excited about that. So it's really all levels of development over here.Stephanie:Once someone does their first book, is it easier to market them the second time around?Sally Ekus:Great question. I find that yes, because really, once that first book is to, you know, publishers need you to have or want you to have a big platform to warrant signing a book deal. And then the book helps sort of level up that platform, promotion, name recognition, certainly moving beyond like the core community of that author. It helps introduce new readers, new cooks, new fans to that person's work. And so I find that that second book, third book, fourth book, 10th book, really helps just keep that momentum going.Stephanie:You wrote something recently on your substack that people should follow you because you're a good follow that I really have spent a lot of time thinking about, and I'm probably going to get the name of the author wrong. So you may have to come.Sally Ekus:We can figure it out together. Yeah.Stephanie:The idea of it was is that a new cookbook writer launched a book tour in a way that was a little unconventional and in some ways maybe controversial because instead of the usual like going out to the booksellers and having a Q and A and talking, she hired her friend who is a comedian and really created more of like, I'll call it in air quotes, like a Real Housewives type in person cooking experience. That there was cooking demonstration, there was talking about the book. Do you know who I'm talking about?Sally Ekus:No, actually. Was it one of my clients or maybe a reshare?Stephanie:I think it's a reshare because she has been on the New York Times bestseller list now with her book for a couple weeks and it was the literary agencies kind of looked down on what she did a little bit because it was unconventional and maybe a little.Sally Ekus:I mean, I love unconventional.Stephanie:I kind of did too.Sally Ekus:Oh, yeah.Stephanie:I wanted to ask you about that because I'm, you know, I'm getting ready to launch my own tour and thinking about, like, locations and. Yeah, it really blew my mind to think, like, for me in particular, and people that have really strong performing skills, like, you know, I am, I would say I'm more of a performer of cooking content than I am of necessarily creating recipes. I do recipe development, but it's more about the presentation of it. And I think that's so cool to think about that we're bringing books into this digital age in that way.Sally Ekus:Absolutely. So my overarching advice with every anything in publishing is it depends and you do you like, what fits for one person is not one size fits all for the other book or other campaigns. And so I love to share information, whether it's on my substack not so secret agent or on my social or just with my clients. Like, I like to share. Here's an example or here's five examples of what another author has done, what is helpful, what resonates with you, and like, move on from the rest. You know, how can you evolve this into your own campaign? And cooking is such a tactile experience. It's so experiential in and of itself. It's such a connector.Sally Ekus:It also can be so beautiful alone. Like, do what feels right for you, your book, and share in a way that feels true to you. Because that's what I think really attracts people to come out first and foremost and like, spend their free time and free re and any sort of additional resources they may have and make it fun and memorable. You know, I mean, I think more and more we see brands and individual authors and companies just evolving. You know the term like activation into experiences, into just moments that matter.Stephanie:You mentioned your substack not so secret agent, and I'm wondering if substack is changing or improving the landscape for cookbook authors.Sally Ekus:I think substack's changing all kinds of things. You know, it used to be that at least as a cookbook agent, we would sort of scout on Instagram or TikTok. And now substack is certainly a major player and there's a ton of food content and creators on substack. But even just a year ago when I got on, there's a lot less and I think there's still a lot more room because there's so many hyper focused areas of interest in foods that you have this opportunity. You know, maybe you can't land a publishing deal, but if you can build a community of the people that want your recipes, your voice, your food, whatever it is in that specific space, go for it. I mean, you can be so hyper focused and really build this, this beautiful community. And I love the Substack ecosystem. It's been incredibly generous to me and I try to give back as much as possible.Sally Ekus:Like the recommendations and resharing and discoverability aspect of Substack has been a really beautiful thing to experience.Stephanie:They've really democratized the idea of podcasting too. I've been podcasting for seven years. Actually longer than that, maybe even closer to like nine.Sally Ekus:Wow.Stephanie:Well, I was a broadcaster so it makes sense to go from radio to developing a podcast space and just the ease of ability of doing it now, you know, before you had to have special equipment and people to host it. And it's just gotten so much simpler. And we're also seeing that, I think with video that's making it so easy to go live. You don't necessarily need 10,000 watch hours on YouTube or 3,000 subscribers or whatever, you know.Sally Ekus:Yeah, most of my readers come like my email goes to their actual email inbox though people find me through substack and so it's been fun. I'm not by any means a seasoned or polished content creator, but I've been doing videos as one means of explaining other things about publishing and just kind of seeing how that resonates with people in their inbox versus other mediums. And it's been really fun. They are super lo fi and quite off the cuff. But most people that are not tuning in live to me on Substack, they'll find it in their inbox the next morning, which has been really fun too.Stephanie:I think the lo fi aspects too are almost what people are looking for.Sally Ekus:I hope so.Stephanie:I have not the TikTok algorithm and I are not friends, probably never will be friends. And I don't understand it at all because I can produce like something that looks great, tastes good, you. It's just mouthwatering to watch. And then I can post like a picture of my dog and that will be the thing that.Sally Ekus:Right. Well, I think animals will always outperform us on, on the socials as they should at this point.Stephanie:You know, it's so crazy. It's so crazy. A single subject book has popped into the zeitgeist that I'm really. I think it's a really great book. Sesame, it's called.Sally Ekus:Yeah.Stephanie:And it's like a single ingredient versus and they take that. She takes that single ingredient and uses it in many different ways throughout the book. You must see like single ingredient books, seasonal books, like, are there trends in what's hot right now?Sally Ekus:I love single ingredient books or single subject. Oftentimes it's a lower recipe count, somewhere between like the 50 to 75 range, as opposed to 75 to 100 or 125. It just feels like a little bit more giftable, a little bit more impulse buy. And it's really fun to see those. There's always single subject books cropping up. But I think particularly in the shift in the cookbook market, meaning there's a bigger gap between creator led books, big robust cookbooks and then sort of a place for everyone else. And sometimes that place where you can settle in for everyone else if you don't have this massive following is in a single subject book that could be your expertise or deep, deeply researched. I don't necessarily think that's so much a trend as it is something that like ebbs and flows.Sally Ekus:And we see a little bit more of on the cookbook shelf because they've always been there. But now people can nerd out on one thing and they'll go to the cookbook shelf because the food scene just in the zeitgeist has become so popular. There's strawberry earrings and I've got a sweater with cherries on it. So why not a book about just sesame? It's really a time to celebrate ingredients and food.Stephanie:When you are on like Instagram or TikTok and you're trying to relax, like you're not working. And I know that's really hard to even do.Sally Ekus:Yeah.Stephanie:Are you following like other creators and other spaces and thinking like, gee, how are they doing this or does that work for you?Sally Ekus:Well, I would, I would just clarify that I don't go on social to relax, but and also I'm almost always working. However, to answer your actual question, I have. Most of the people I follow outside of the food space are in the body inclusivity, body positivity space. I follow some fashion people that are highly inclusive, plus size fashion people that have completely changed my relationship to even the fact that I've said fashion on a podcast interview. I just never would have been that person a while ago. But it's offered me an opportunity to see like color and textures and textiles and just the lifestyle of how we have a relationship to our closet In a new way. Also the home and space, you know, I sometimes represent outside of the cookbook shelf. And so I like to say that I, I represent the home with a focus on the kitchen, but I also, you know, hang out in the living room and I have a tiny human, so I hang out with the kids space.Sally Ekus:And so it's just focusing on other rooms at the home at times has been really fun too. So that's kind of where I dabble on social as well.Stephanie:Speaking of kids, I don't know why this comes to mind, but I always get asked, you know, what are the cookbooks that you should be buying for kids and better homes or not. Betty Crocker's Boys and Girls is still like a best selling book, right?Sally Ekus:Yeah.Stephanie:And then there's one other one that I'm going to not think of the name right off the top of my head, but there feels like there is kind of an empty space in Cooking with Kids and Cooking with Families.Sally Ekus:Yeah, there's a few. So I love the ATK books. I think it's a great brand. They've got great recipes for Cooking with Kids. Deanna Cook, who is a story publishing author, has a bunch of kids books that are awesome. And for me, I think sometimes it's not that there's like a lack of. It's just that there's still space for. And the tricky part about pitching and representing those books or selling them is it, is, is it a book for cooking with kids? Is it a book for kids to cook from? You know, and those are different age groups and those are different recipe styles.Sally Ekus:So much down to like the page and the format and the illustrations or the pictures or the how to steps. So there's just so many practical considerations and logistical ones that it's a slightly trickier category, but one that we've, we, we've dabbled in a little bit and there's some great books and I think a lot of space for, for others. The author of Indian Ish did a kids cookbook as well that I found really fun and just wonderful recipes. I forget the name of the book off the top of my head.Stephanie:That Indian Ish was a really cool cookbook.Sally Ekus:Yeah. Yes.Stephanie:There's been some just beautiful, texturally colorful books written by people from more diverse backgrounds. And while it seems like we see a ton of that right now, and we are, it is fairly new in the last 10 years.Sally Ekus:It has become magnified and intensified though our agency. And kudos to Lisa for carving out her space as a Literary agent representing underrepresented voices from the get go. It's been a part of the ethos of our agency since day one. And so to see publishers in the past 10 years really prioritizing marginalized voices is amazing. And also a little about time, you know?Stephanie:Yeah.Sally Ekus:Yeah.Stephanie:Okay. Kind of a controversial question. Sometimes people in the media can be a little snooty about influencers and about social media in particular, because I think they feel maybe like people are treading on their. Their authority of space. Yeah, you get people that feel snarky sometimes about, like, oh, they're an influencer. It's another influencer cookbook and kind of eye rolling because there are some not so great cookbooks written by really good content creators, but maybe they're not great at putting it all in a book format or maybe the recipes aren't necessarily great. Once they get past that beautiful shot, do you think that there'll be, like, almost a backlash to this whole genre, as it were?Sally Ekus:I don't know that it would necessarily be a backlash in that a lot of the creator led books, both the great ones and the more challenging ones. I think the positive outcome of all of those books is that it has put this spotlight on food and the cookbook shelf. And I think the more people who are interested in what books are on the cookbook shelf, the better. What I do feel, and I've already started feeling this as an agent, is that the shift back to experts or an evolution to what is the next version of people that have really robust followings, capturing their audience in a meaningful way and delivering content that rings true to that audience and honors what the industry is looking for. I'm already hearing that shift from acquiring editors from publishers that I work really closely with and even in my own scouting. So I feel like we are moving towards the. Thank you very much for bringing a spotlight to the shelf. And where are we going and how can we all support the industry at large and.Stephanie:And the trend that we're talking about or hearing about is more expertise, you know, more of a microscope on something in more detail.Sally Ekus:Exactly, yeah. Which is so fun. I mean, more interest, more books, more. More food, more deep dives.Stephanie:And also, like, I mean, we just start scratching the surface about, like, my husband and I are working on books about place of food. So, like, we've written a fiction book about Croatia that has recipe as a component to it.Sally Ekus:I'm seeing a lot more crossover among different genres, even between fiction and nonfiction. I was just pitched a proposal, probably the first Maybe it's the second one that has sort of a fictional component to it. And I, you know, I don't represent fiction. That's for my colleagues at the agency and other agents in the industry. But it is fun to see how food has like penetrated every aspect of our lives and it's just delightful.Stephanie:Yeah, I'm super excited about that. In just my personal journey, it's keeping it fresh and interesting.Sally Ekus:Yeah.Stephanie:You know, my husband is a writer as a fiction writer. And for us to like collaborate on a project together in a way that I know what my lane is and he knows what his lane is is pretty fun.Sally Ekus:Well, I think that's one of the many gifts that have come out of this like creator led book or just like the, the intensification of food in the zeitgeist is that people who are, who are an expert in a certain culinary topic could be a consultant on a novel or who knows, you know what I mean? And it's just, it's blowing the fridge doors wide open.Stephanie:I feel like it's sort of like the white lotus effect for books and cooking and food generally that put that lens on travel and exotic locales. And I just feel like that's the next thing and I'm gonna be there, I promise.Sally Ekus:Cool. Well, it is, it's so fun to just see our beloved culinary space be celebrated across, across genres and like just.Stephanie:To get back to as a little kid going into a bookstore or going into the library and just the joy of, you know, books have been under attack for the last 20 years as the Amazonification of the world has happened. But we're seeing in Minneapolis in particular, like lots of local bookstores are opening again and people are making them multi purpose. So they might be selling cooking things, but also they might have a coffee shop, they might do pastry.Sally Ekus:Yeah, my. One of my favorite recommendations for authors or aspiring authors or just dear friends is to go to your local independent bookstore and talk to the people that work there and ideally talk to the owner and the people who make the decisions about what books to bring in. It is a wildly fascinating conversation.Stephanie:Yeah, it's the best part about a book tour for me is actually like getting to talk to the people that recommend and sell the books and then.Sally Ekus:Also buy books there. Not. I think that's implied, but you never know.Stephanie:Yes. Sally, it's been a delight to talk to you. Thank you for joining the program today. I'll put links to your substack, also your information. If I don't know if anyone's listening is thinking about pitches, but if you are.Sally Ekus:Yeah, I have really comprehensive nonfiction book proposal guidelines that definitely pertain to those looking to write food books, but also are really applicable to anyone that's looking to learn about publishing. So that's a great link to share. And thank you so much for having me on.Stephanie:Yeah, it's great. And keep pitching me your authors. You have good authors. And the books. Beth was a joy.Sally Ekus:Oh, thanks.Stephanie:All right, we'll talk soon.Sally Ekus:Okay, bye.Stephanie:Okay, bye. Bye.Stephanie's Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Stephanie:Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's Dish, the podcast where we talk to cool people in the food space. We talk to a lot of cookbook authors, and today I'm excited to talk to Sally Ekus. She is a literary agent, which, if you've written books or you're trying to get a book published, you know how important the agent process is. She leads a boutique culinary and lifestyle division via @JVNLA and is the lead agent at the Ekus Group. Did I get it right?Follow Sally's Substack Newsletter Not So Secret Agent Sally Ekus:Oh, I was just gonna say, yeah, I lead the Ekus Group. So we're a culinary and lifestyle division within a broader agency.Stephanie:And the Ekus Group was started by your mom.Sally Ekus:Yeah.Stephanie:A legend. Your mom has, like, one of the largest cookbook collections that I'm aware of.Sally Ekus:In fact, the largest, according to Guinness. Yes.Stephanie:A couple of months ago, I think maybe it was on your Instagram page, someone posted a picture of her library of her home that is literally looks like a library that you would see in New York city or Washington, D.C. or somewhere fancy with just walls and walls of books. It was so gorgeous.Sally Ekus:Yeah, It's a two store, all cherry wood, gorgeous library. She built the edition. It was a dream edition. It took a lifetime to build. And it is filled with cookbooks, almost exclusively cookbooks. Her fiction and children's books and other personal books are scattered elsewhere around the house. But the library is almost entirely culinary with over 6000 titles. It's really cool.Stephanie:It's amazing. And your mom's name is? Lisa. Please, can I ask you a question? I'm going to go all over the place here, but sure, please. I have a daughter and only one daughter and no sons. So my only child. And there are things that we have in common about cooking and about food, and I always think, like, oh, maybe she'll follow in my footsteps. But then she is quick to point out, like, no, I'm never doing that. But then she's sort of leaning sort of my way.Stephanie:How did that work with you and being in the publishing space?Sally Ekus:Yeah. So how old is your daughter now?Stephanie:26.Sally Ekus:Okay. Yeah. So growing up, my mom had this vibrant culinary business. At the time, it was a PR agency before we did agenting, and it was never supposed to be a family business. She never pressured me or said, you know, maybe one day. In fact, it was just like. If you had asked me before I started working with her, what does Lisa do for a living? I would have said something with books and something in food. So I was like, growing up in this.Sally Ekus:And I was immersed and sort of absorbing by osmosis. And, you know, in the, in my younger years, I would be like, collating press kits for PR campaigns and, you know, I was like earning a allowance, mailing catalogs and whatnot. But it wasn't, it wasn't something she was really like, whatever you want to do, follow your heart. I was on a different path. I went to school for counseling and I was about to go for a master's in social work. And I deferred. I broke up with a bad decision, moved home, started helping out at the agency and realized that I'd been informally training for this my whole life. I really fell in love with it.And I was very fortunate to step into the legacy of her reputation. And then also, once we decided this is something I wanted to do, talk about what the succession plan would look like and really carve out my own, you know, vibe and skill set and cultivate my own list, supporting her list. And so it was really a unintentional natural progression that then became quite intentional and, you know, quite effortful. So I think that's kind of why it worked out. And if, you know, but it's hard to say in hindsight.Stephanie:It's funny too. You talk about this like being in training of knowing this thing and you not even really realizing that until you've left and gone to do something else. And also, it does track that you were going to be a social worker.Sally Ekus:Absolutely.Stephanie:And now you're an agent.Sally Ekus:Yeah. I somewhat sarcastically but realistically acknowledge that I was trained in crisis counseling, active listening, and negotiation. So all of those things play a very big role in the work that I do as a literary agent working with books. But, you know, at the end of the day, it is a book. It is you know, not somebody's. Well, it is somebody's mental well being, but in a. In a different light. So I get to utilize those skills all the time.Sally Ekus:And it feels, it feels quite, quite lucky. And, you know, it's really the client management and author care and author advocacy that I love so much. And that has kept me, kept me in this, in this business for as long as it has.Stephanie:What is it about cookbooks in particular that makes you solely focus on that?Sally Ekus:Well, that I stepped into, you know, that was Lisa's area of expertise. She was one of the very first cookbook publicists. Publicist. She essentially created the category of culinary publicity before there were massive agencies handling, you know, influencers and brand campaigns. And so that was her area of expertise. So that's what I stepped into and was hyper mentored in. And I also equally just felt in love with it. I mean, there are many different things that bring people together, and at the end of the day, it feels like food is that one.Sally Ekus:Through line. Everyone has some relationship to food, recipes, cooking, memory, good, bad, complicated, probably somewhere in the middle. And so to have a little. To have a role in helping to bring that to fruition in published form is a tremendous honor.Stephanie:You are the publisher, or the agent, actually, of Entertaining 101 with Beth Lamana.Sally Ekus:Yeah. Yes.Stephanie:We just talked with. With her last.Sally Ekus:Yeah, I listened to that. It was such a fun conversation.Stephanie:Yeah, she was pretty great. And the weirdest thing happened to me the other day. I was at my radio partner's office, and we were talking about a project, and she had a stack of cookbooks, and I was like, oh, what are you working on? She's like, oh, I'm. I'm helping our friend from Muriel, Karen Tomlinson, put her proposal together.Sally Ekus:Oh, my gosh.Stephanie:Oh, that's interesting. And she goes, yeah, she's got a really great agent already. And I'm like, who's her agent? And it's you.Sally Ekus:Yes, it is. Yeah. I'm so excited to be working with her. Yep. Yeah.Stephanie:Her point of view on food and her storytelling of the purveyors that she works with and her just completely beautiful recipes. I'm so excited for you, and I'm so excited for that book.Sally Ekus:Thank you. Yeah, I mean, that's a great example of really early development. You know, I often say that I work with people, not proposals. You know, we can get to the proposal. I help guide people through that process as an agent. And, you know, this is a great example where it's like, you know, I'm so captivated by the food and the media attention and the accolades and the intentionality of what is happening from the farm to the plate. And so, you know, sometimes chefs work with writers or collaborators to help bring that to the. To the printed page.Sally Ekus:And that's where we're at with that project. So it's in very early stages, which is super exciting.Stephanie:Yeah. You're going to not be disappointed. She is just a great person. She's a great storyteller, and that you had a really good eye to pick her up, because I think she's.Sally Ekus:Thank you.Stephanie:What other projects do you have on the docket right now that you're excited about? I see Potluck Desserts behind you.Sally Ekus:Oh, yeah. Justin Burke, Potluck Desserts. Justin's book came out the same day as Beth's just a couple weeks ago. And I try to rotate in my background the books that are sort of newly rotating. So The Meathead Method over here, that is Meathead's second book. His first book called Meathead, came out almost 10 years ago. And it's all. Both books are all about the science and art and science of barbecue and grilling and outdoor cooking.Sally Ekus:I have books in a bunch of different levels of activity, so that's also fun because I have something that's like, you know, proposal and development and then things that are coming out. So it really, it really runs the gamut. I just saw Frankie Gaw, whose Instagram handle is @littlefatboyfrankie. He's up for a James Beard Media Award, and he just turned in the manuscript for his second book called Asian Americana. So I'm really excited about that. So it's really all levels of development over here.Stephanie:Once someone does their first book, is it easier to market them the second time around?Sally Ekus:Great question. I find that yes, because really, once that first book is to, you know, publishers need you to have or want you to have a big platform to warrant signing a book deal. And then the book helps sort of level up that platform, promotion, name recognition, certainly moving beyond like the core community of that author. It helps introduce new readers, new cooks, new fans to that person's work. And so I find that that second book, third book, fourth book, 10th book, really helps just keep that momentum going.Stephanie:You wrote something recently on your substack that people should follow you because you're a good follow that I really have spent a lot of time thinking about, and I'm probably going to get the name of the author wrong. So you may have to come.Sally Ekus:We can figure it out together. Yeah.Stephanie:The idea of it was is that a new cookbook writer launched a book tour in a way that was a little unconventional and in some ways maybe controversial because instead of the usual like going out to the booksellers and having a Q and A and talking, she hired her friend who is a comedian and really created more of like, I'll call it in air quotes, like a Real Housewives type in person cooking experience. That there was cooking demonstration, there was talking about the book. Do you know who I'm talking about?Sally Ekus:No, actually. Was it one of my clients or maybe a reshare?Stephanie:I think it's a reshare because she has been on the New York Times bestseller list now with her book for a couple weeks and it was the literary agencies kind of looked down on what she did a little bit because it was unconventional and maybe a little.Sally Ekus:I mean, I love unconventional.Stephanie:I kind of did too.Sally Ekus:Oh, yeah.Stephanie:I wanted to ask you about that because I'm, you know, I'm getting ready to launch my own tour and thinking about, like, locations and. Yeah, it really blew my mind to think, like, for me in particular, and people that have really strong performing skills, like, you know, I am, I would say I'm more of a performer of cooking content than I am of necessarily creating recipes. I do recipe development, but it's more about the presentation of it. And I think that's so cool to think about that we're bringing books into this digital age in that way.Sally Ekus:Absolutely. So my overarching advice with every anything in publishing is it depends and you do you like, what fits for one person is not one size fits all for the other book or other campaigns. And so I love to share information, whether it's on my substack not so secret agent or on my social or just with my clients. Like, I like to share. Here's an example or here's five examples of what another author has done, what is helpful, what resonates with you, and like, move on from the rest. You know, how can you evolve this into your own campaign? And cooking is such a tactile experience. It's so experiential in and of itself. It's such a connector.Sally Ekus:It also can be so beautiful alone. Like, do what feels right for you, your book, and share in a way that feels true to you. Because that's what I think really attracts people to come out first and foremost and like, spend their free time and free re and any sort of additional resources they may have and make it fun and memorable. You know, I mean, I think more and more we see brands and individual authors and companies just evolving. You know the term like activation into experiences, into just moments that matter.Stephanie:You mentioned your substack not so secret agent, and I'm wondering if substack is changing or improving the landscape for cookbook authors.Sally Ekus:I think substack's changing all kinds of things. You know, it used to be that at least as a cookbook agent, we would sort of scout on Instagram or TikTok. And now substack is certainly a major player and there's a ton of food content and creators on substack. But even just a year ago when I got on, there's a lot less and I think there's still a lot more room because there's so many hyper focused areas of interest in foods that you have this opportunity. You know, maybe you can't land a publishing deal, but if you can build a community of the people that want your recipes, your voice, your food, whatever it is in that specific space, go for it. I mean, you can be so hyper focused and really build this, this beautiful community. And I love the Substack ecosystem. It's been incredibly generous to me and I try to give back as much as possible.Sally Ekus:Like the recommendations and resharing and discoverability aspect of Substack has been a really beautiful thing to experience.Stephanie:They've really democratized the idea of podcasting too. I've been podcasting for seven years. Actually longer than that, maybe even closer to like nine.Sally Ekus:Wow.Stephanie:Well, I was a broadcaster so it makes sense to go from radio to developing a podcast space and just the ease of ability of doing it now, you know, before you had to have special equipment and people to host it. And it's just gotten so much simpler. And we're also seeing that, I think with video that's making it so easy to go live. You don't necessarily need 10,000 watch hours on YouTube or 3,000 subscribers or whatever, you know.Sally Ekus:Yeah, most of my readers come like my email goes to their actual email inbox though people find me through substack and so it's been fun. I'm not by any means a seasoned or polished content creator, but I've been doing videos as one means of explaining other things about publishing and just kind of seeing how that resonates with people in their inbox versus other mediums. And it's been really fun. They are super lo fi and quite off the cuff. But most people that are not tuning in live to me on Substack, they'll find it in their inbox the next morning, which has been really fun too.Stephanie:I think the lo fi aspects too are almost what people are looking for.Sally Ekus:I hope so.Stephanie:I have not the TikTok algorithm and I are not friends, probably never will be friends. And I don't understand it at all because I can produce like something that looks great, tastes good, you. It's just mouthwatering to watch. And then I can post like a picture of my dog and that will be the thing that.Sally Ekus:Right. Well, I think animals will always outperform us on, on the socials as they should at this point.Stephanie:You know, it's so crazy. It's so crazy. A single subject book has popped into the zeitgeist that I'm really. I think it's a really great book. Sesame, it's called.Sally Ekus:Yeah.Stephanie:And it's like a single ingredient versus and they take that. She takes that single ingredient and uses it in many different ways throughout the book. You must see like single ingredient books, seasonal books, like, are there trends in what's hot right now?Sally Ekus:I love single ingredient books or single subject. Oftentimes it's a lower recipe count, somewhere between like the 50 to 75 range, as opposed to 75 to 100 or 125. It just feels like a little bit more giftable, a little bit more impulse buy. And it's really fun to see those. There's always single subject books cropping up. But I think particularly in the shift in the cookbook market, meaning there's a bigger gap between creator led books, big robust cookbooks and then sort of a place for everyone else. And sometimes that place where you can settle in for everyone else if you don't have this massive following is in a single subject book that could be your expertise or deep, deeply researched. I don't necessarily think that's so much a trend as it is something that like ebbs and flows.Sally Ekus:And we see a little bit more of on the cookbook shelf because they've always been there. But now people can nerd out on one thing and they'll go to the cookbook shelf because the food scene just in the zeitgeist has become so popular. There's strawberry earrings and I've got a sweater with cherries on it. So why not a book about just sesame? It's really a time to celebrate ingredients and food.Stephanie:When you are on like Instagram or TikTok and you're trying to relax, like you're not working. And I know that's really hard to even do.Sally Ekus:Yeah.Stephanie:Are you following like other creators and other spaces and thinking like, gee, how are they doing this or does that work for you?Sally Ekus:Well, I would, I would just clarify that I don't go on social to relax, but and also I'm almost always working. However, to answer your actual question, I have. Most of the people I follow outside of the food space are in the body inclusivity, body positivity space. I follow some fashion people that are highly inclusive, plus size fashion people that have completely changed my relationship to even the fact that I've said fashion on a podcast interview. I just never would have been that person a while ago. But it's offered me an opportunity to see like color and textures and textiles and just the lifestyle of how we have a relationship to our closet In a new way. Also the home and space, you know, I sometimes represent outside of the cookbook shelf. And so I like to say that I, I represent the home with a focus on the kitchen, but I also, you know, hang out in the living room and I have a tiny human, so I hang out with the kids space.Sally Ekus:And so it's just focusing on other rooms at the home at times has been really fun too. So that's kind of where I dabble on social as well.Stephanie:Speaking of kids, I don't know why this comes to mind, but I always get asked, you know, what are the cookbooks that you should be buying for kids and better homes or not. Betty Crocker's Boys and Girls is still like a best selling book, right?Sally Ekus:Yeah.Stephanie:And then there's one other one that I'm going to not think of the name right off the top of my head, but there feels like there is kind of an empty space in Cooking with Kids and Cooking with Families.Sally Ekus:Yeah, there's a few. So I love the ATK books. I think it's a great brand. They've got great recipes for Cooking with Kids. Deanna Cook, who is a story publishing author, has a bunch of kids books that are awesome. And for me, I think sometimes it's not that there's like a lack of. It's just that there's still space for. And the tricky part about pitching and representing those books or selling them is it, is, is it a book for cooking with kids? Is it a book for kids to cook from? You know, and those are different age groups and those are different recipe styles.Sally Ekus:So much down to like the page and the format and the illustrations or the pictures or the how to steps. So there's just so many practical considerations and logistical ones that it's a slightly trickier category, but one that we've, we, we've dabbled in a little bit and there's some great books and I think a lot of space for, for others. The author of Indian Ish did a kids cookbook as well that I found really fun and just wonderful recipes. I forget the name of the book off the top of my head.Stephanie:That Indian Ish was a really cool cookbook.Sally Ekus:Yeah. Yes.Stephanie:There's been some just beautiful, texturally colorful books written by people from more diverse backgrounds. And while it seems like we see a ton of that right now, and we are, it is fairly new in the last 10 years.Sally Ekus:It has become magnified and intensified though our agency. And kudos to Lisa for carving out her space as a Literary agent representing underrepresented voices from the get go. It's been a part of the ethos of our agency since day one. And so to see publishers in the past 10 years really prioritizing marginalized voices is amazing. And also a little about time, you know?Stephanie:Yeah.Sally Ekus:Yeah.Stephanie:Okay. Kind of a controversial question. Sometimes people in the media can be a little snooty about influencers and about social media in particular, because I think they feel maybe like people are treading on their. Their authority of space. Yeah, you get people that feel snarky sometimes about, like, oh, they're an influencer. It's another influencer cookbook and kind of eye rolling because there are some not so great cookbooks written by really good content creators, but maybe they're not great at putting it all in a book format or maybe the recipes aren't necessarily great. Once they get past that beautiful shot, do you think that there'll be, like, almost a backlash to this whole genre, as it were?Sally Ekus:I don't know that it would necessarily be a backlash in that a lot of the creator led books, both the great ones and the more challenging ones. I think the positive outcome of all of those books is that it has put this spotlight on food and the cookbook shelf. And I think the more people who are interested in what books are on the cookbook shelf, the better. What I do feel, and I've already started feeling this as an agent, is that the shift back to experts or an evolution to what is the next version of people that have really robust followings, capturing their audience in a meaningful way and delivering content that rings true to that audience and honors what the industry is looking for. I'm already hearing that shift from acquiring editors from publishers that I work really closely with and even in my own scouting. So I feel like we are moving towards the. Thank you very much for bringing a spotlight to the shelf. And where are we going and how can we all support the industry at large and.Stephanie:And the trend that we're talking about or hearing about is more expertise, you know, more of a microscope on something in more detail.Sally Ekus:Exactly, yeah. Which is so fun. I mean, more interest, more books, more. More food, more deep dives.Stephanie:And also, like, I mean, we just start scratching the surface about, like, my husband and I are working on books about place of food. So, like, we've written a fiction book about Croatia that has recipe as a component to it.Sally Ekus:I'm seeing a lot more crossover among different genres, even between fiction and nonfiction. I was just pitched a proposal, probably the first Maybe it's the second one that has sort of a fictional component to it. And I, you know, I don't represent fiction. That's for my colleagues at the agency and other agents in the industry. But it is fun to see how food has like penetrated every aspect of our lives and it's just delightful.Stephanie:Yeah, I'm super excited about that. In just my personal journey, it's keeping it fresh and interesting.Sally Ekus:Yeah.Stephanie:You know, my husband is a writer as a fiction writer. And for us to like collaborate on a project together in a way that I know what my lane is and he knows what his lane is is pretty fun.Sally Ekus:Well, I think that's one of the many gifts that have come out of this like creator led book or just like the, the intensification of food in the zeitgeist is that people who are, who are an expert in a certain culinary topic could be a consultant on a novel or who knows, you know what I mean? And it's just, it's blowing the fridge doors wide open.Stephanie:I feel like it's sort of like the white lotus effect for books and cooking and food generally that put that lens on travel and exotic locales. And I just feel like that's the next thing and I'm gonna be there, I promise.Sally Ekus:Cool. Well, it is, it's so fun to just see our beloved culinary space be celebrated across, across genres and like just.Stephanie:To get back to as a little kid going into a bookstore or going into the library and just the joy of, you know, books have been under attack for the last 20 years as the Amazonification of the world has happened. But we're seeing in Minneapolis in particular, like lots of local bookstores are opening again and people are making them multi purpose. So they might be selling cooking things, but also they might have a coffee shop, they might do pastry.Sally Ekus:Yeah, my. One of my favorite recommendations for authors or aspiring authors or just dear friends is to go to your local independent bookstore and talk to the people that work there and ideally talk to the owner and the people who make the decisions about what books to bring in. It is a wildly fascinating conversation.Stephanie:Yeah, it's the best part about a book tour for me is actually like getting to talk to the people that recommend and sell the books and then.Sally Ekus:Also buy books there. Not. I think that's implied, but you never know.Stephanie:Yes. Sally, it's been a delight to talk to you. Thank you for joining the program today. I'll put links to your substack, also your information. If I don't know if anyone's listening is thinking about pitches, but if you are.Sally Ekus:Yeah, I have really comprehensive nonfiction book proposal guidelines that definitely pertain to those looking to write food books, but also are really applicable to anyone that's looking to learn about publishing. So that's a great link to share. And thank you so much for having me on.Stephanie:Yeah, it's great. And keep pitching me your authors. You have good authors. And the books. Beth was a joy.Sally Ekus:Oh, thanks.Stephanie:All right, we'll talk soon.Sally Ekus:Okay, bye.Stephanie:Okay, bye. Bye.Stephanie's Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Hey folks, this is Alex, finally back home! This week was full of crazy AI news, both model related but also shifts in the AI landscape and big companies, with Zuck going all in on scale & execu-hiring Alex Wang for a crazy $14B dollars. OpenAI meanwhile, maybe received a new shipment of GPUs? Otherwise, it's hard to explain how they have dropped the o3 price by 80%, while also shipping o3-pro (in chat and API). Apple was also featured in today's episode, but more so for the lack of AI news, completely delaying the “very personalized private Siri powered by Apple Intelligence” during WWDC25 this week. We had 2 guests on the show this week, Stefania Druga and Eric Provencher (who builds RepoPrompt). Stefania helped me cover the AI Engineer conference we all went to last week, and shared some cool Science CoPilot stuff she's working on, while Eric is the GOTO guy for O3-pro helped us understand what this model is great for! As always, TL;DR and show notes at the bottom, video for those who prefer watching is attached below, let's dive in! Big Companies LLMs & APIsLet's start with big companies, because the landscape has shifted, new top reasoner models dropped and some huge companies didn't deliver this week! Zuck goes all in on SuperIntelligence - Meta's $14B stake in ScaleAI and Alex WangThis may be the most consequential piece of AI news today. Fresh from the dissapointing results of LLama 4, reports of top researchers leaving the Llama team, many have decided to exclude Meta from the AI race. We have a saying at ThursdAI, don't bet against Zuck! Zuck decided to spend a lot of money (nearly 20% of their reported $65B investment in AI infrastructure) to get a 49% stake in Scale AI and bring Alex Wang it's (now former) CEO to lead the new Superintelligence team at Meta. For folks who are not familiar with Scale, it's a massive company in providing human annotated data services to all the big AI labs, Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Anthropic.. all of them really. Alex Wang, is the youngest self made billionaire because of it, and now Zuck not only has access to all their expertise, but also to a very impressive AI persona, who could help revive the excitement about Meta's AI efforts, help recruit the best researchers, and lead the way inside Meta. Wang is also an outspoken China hawk who spends as much time in congressional hearings as in Slack, so the geopolitics here are … spicy. Meta just stapled itself to the biggest annotation funnel on Earth, hired away Google's Jack Rae (who was on the pod just last week, shipping for Google!) for brainy model alignment, and started waving seven-to-nine-figure comp packages at every researcher with “Transformer” in their citation list. Whatever disappointment you felt over Llama-4's muted debut, Zuck clearly felt it too—and responded like a founder who still controls every voting share. OpenAI's Game-Changer: o3 Price Slash & o3-pro launches to top the intelligence leaderboards!Meanwhile OpenAI dropping not one, but two mind-blowing updates. First, they've slashed the price of o3—their premium reasoning model—by a staggering 80%. We're talking from $40/$10 per million tokens down to just $8/$2. That's right, folks, it's now in the same league as Claude Sonnet cost-wise, making top-tier intelligence dirt cheap. I remember when a price drop of 80% after a year got us excited; now it's 80% in just four months with zero quality loss. They've confirmed it's the full o3 model—no distillation or quantization here. How are they pulling this off? I'm guessing someone got a shipment of shiny new H200s from Jensen!And just when you thought it couldn't get better, OpenAI rolled out o3-pro, their highest intelligence offering yet. Available for pro and team accounts, and via API (87% cheaper than o1-pro, by the way), this model—or consortium of models—is a beast. It's topping charts on Artificial Analysis, barely edging out Gemini 2.5 as the new king. Benchmarks are insane: 93% on AIME 2024 (state-of-the-art territory), 84% on GPQA Diamond, and nearing a 3000 ELO score on competition coding. Human preference tests show 64-66% of folks prefer o3-pro for clarity and comprehensiveness across tasks like scientific analysis and personal writing.I've been playing with it myself, and the way o3-pro handles long context and tough problems is unreal. As my friend Eric Provencher (creator of RepoPrompt) shared on the show, it's surgical—perfect for big refactors and bug diagnosis in coding. It's got all the tools o3 has—web search, image analysis, memory personalization—and you can run it in background mode via API for async tasks. Sure, it's slower due to deep reasoning (no streaming thought tokens), but the consistency and depth? Worth it. Oh, and funny story—I was prepping a talk for Hamel Hussain's evals course, with a slide saying “don't use large reasoning models if budget's tight.” The day before, this price drop hits, and I'm scrambling to update everything. That's AI pace for ya!Apple WWDC: Where's the Smarter Siri? Oh Apple. Sweet, sweet Apple. Remember all those Bella Ramsey ads promising a personalized Siri that knows everything about you? Well, Craig Federighi opened WWDC by basically saying "Yeah, about that smart Siri... she's not coming. Don't wait up."Instead, we got:* AI that can combine emojis (revolutionary!

Bagels are one of the most famous NYC foods and a MUST-have during your time here. Many people argue that New York is the capital of the world for bagels.Why are the bagels so good in NYC?Many people claim that the bagels in NYC are so amazing because the tap water here is considered some of the best in the world. NYC has "soft" water from the Catskill Mountains, meaning it has lower concentrations of calcium and magnesium. The mineral content in water affects the gluten in the dough. Extra hard water strengthens the gluten, which can cause tougher baked goods, meaning softer water yields softer baked goods. Some bagel experts claim the bagels are so good in NYC because of the refined bagel techniques, including longer proofing time and boiling techniques before baking. Either way, the bagels in New York City are truly second to none.Liberty Bagels4 locations in NYC. 5th Ave by the Plaza Hotel/Central Park. Midtown location by Herald Square. Fidi location. Queens location.They offer fun-flavored cream cheeses and always have rainbow bagels (plain flavor with fun colors). It also features seasonal colors, which are a fun addition. We love the BEC, works bagel, and blueberry bagel. Try the cream cheese before you commit to an entire bagel's worth of it. We recommend ordering ahead of time on weekends and holidays. Otherwise, the line takes about 30 minutes on a busy weekend morning.PopUp Bagels6 locations in NYC (some in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Long Island, NY).Ashley's new favorite bagel spot in the city!!They sell the bagels in increments of 3. For example, the smallest order is 3 bagels and 1 schmear, which is great for 2 people and costs $12.The menu is simple and they only have 5 bagel flavors (Plain, Sesame, Everything, Salt, Poppyseed). Then they have plain cream cheese, scallion, seasonal cream cheese, butter, and vegan schmear options. It's the softest and freshest bagels I've ever had, and also the best scallion cream cheese I've ever had.Pick-A-BagelPick a bagel is a solid option, and they have a few locations around the city. We like their bagels with cream cheese and their bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich on everything.The ordering process can be a little chaotic, so be prepared for that.Russ & DaughtersSince 1914, this landmark NYC institution has been continuously owned and operated by four generations of the Russ family. A classic bagel establishment serving a variety of bagels, lox, pickles, and desserts. It's been open for more than a century and has 2 locations on the Lower East Side, one in Hudson Yards, and one in Brooklyn.Getting a platter can be fun if you want to sit down and have a true experience with a variety of spreads, breads, and smoked fish. If you want a bagel with lox, plan on it costing around $20. This place has a wide variety of options. You can get a regular bagel and cream cheese or you could buy caviar. I sampled the pastrami-cured smoked salmon, and it was the best of my entire life. Apollo BagelsWe haven't been here, but it is a very popular spot. Every photo, video, and review I've seen looks amazing. Only 3 bagel options (plain, everything, sesame). From what I've heard and seen online, plan on waiting in line for 30 min.General Bagel Tips-Each bagel shop has a different ordering process. Follow what others are doing and you should be fine.-Bagel shops are usually a good place to try a black and white cookie.-If you go to a deli or bodega, you can get a cheaper BEC option that will still be delicious, but it won't be made on a good bagel. -Bagel shop coffee is usually mediocre. It's fine and will do the job, but if you are a coffee connoisseur, be warned.You'll Have to Check It Out - SugarfishFairly priced, delicious omakase sushi. Check it out here.

This episode of Red Dirt Agronomy brings the guys together to tackle the stormy spring season in Oklahoma. With wheat harvest creeping closer, sorghum and soybeans struggling for traction, and cotton still holding on to potential, the conversation focuses on the realities producers are facing in muddy fields. Herbicide failures, crop emergence, and tight planting windows make for a strategic balancing act.The episode also welcomes Dr. Tieneke Trotter, a visiting scientist from Central Queensland University in Australia. Dr. Trotter offers a fascinating look into her work developing sesame as an emerging crop in the harsh northern regions of Australia. Her perspective connects the dots between farming systems across hemispheres, from shared pest challenges to a global push for crop diversification and youth engagement in agriculture. Key TakeawaysRain continues to delay planting and disrupt herbicide schedules.Wheat maturity and quality vary widely across Oklahoma.Cotton growers may still have time to plant with minimal impact on yield.Sorghum and soybean replanting come with increased risk.Corn remains the most stable summer crop this season.Dr. Trotter is researching sesame as a climate-resilient crop in northern Australia.Pest pressure and herbicide resistance are significant concerns for sesame.Crop judging programs are being revitalized in Australia.Visiting researchers foster international ag collaboration and innovation.Living in Stillwater offered new perspectives on U.S. ag life for Dr. Trotter and her family.Timestamps00:00 – Introduction and opening banter00:54 – Oklahoma crop and field condition updates03:12 – Herbicide challenges due to excess rain05:30 – Sorghum and soybean replanting risks06:18 – Wheat progress and patchy field reports09:45 – Timing and temperature concerns for cotton11:32 – Rain impacts on pre-emergent effectiveness13:05 – Tips for replanting decisions and herbicide strategy18:36 – Introduction of guest Dr. Tieneke Trotter21:40 – Australian ag background and cropping systems26:51 – Sesame as an emerging crop in Australia32:00 – Pest management and weed pressure in sesame35:45 – Crop judging revival in Australia40:10 – Cultural insights from living in Stillwater44:38 – Agronomy collaboration between countries47:15 – Closing thoughts and wrap-up RedDirtAgronomy.com

"Last week we spoke of Dockery Farms which the birthplace of The Blues. As all music does it was expanded and taken to different places by the musicians who played it. Here is a run down and description of the most popular forms of The Blues."

"Back in March of 1979 the movie The China Syndrome came out. Weeks later the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster occurred. This lead to musicians setting up MUSE and holding the NO Nukes concerts, albums and film. We have the entire story including the first time Bruce Springsteen was recorded live."

Back in the safe house, The Constable seems to be missing but we don't have time to go on a wild goose chase.  We've got a puzzle to solve that might lead to Laughing Jack and Jeremy is supposed to be helpful in solving this puzzle.

"Dockery Farms is said to be the place where the Delta Blues began. That is a bold statement but once you hear the research I have gathered it will be hard to argue. Robert Johnson did not sell his soul for great musical talent. He went to Dockery Farms which is still open today and welcoming visitors."

Mushroom Magic: Low-Carb Chilli That'll Smoke Your Socks Off What happens when you mix sweet chilli plants from B&M, enough mushrooms to fill a small forest, and a dash of sass? You get Rachel's now-legendary low-carb mushroom chilli, coming in at less than 2g of carbs per portion. In this episode, I walk you through every smoky, garlicky, paprika-laced step of this kitchen triumph—and yes, even the unappetising-looking Vivera mince gets a mention (bless its heart). This is perfect for those keto vegans who are intermittent fasting and still want to eat something warming, satisfying and downright delicious without blowing their carb budget. So grab your chillies, channel your inner spice alchemist, and let's get cooking! Key Takeaways Less than 2g of carbs per portion: With smart ingredient swaps and careful measurements, this chilli is a keto vegan dream. Chilli your way: Start with sweet chillies and build up with fresh, jarred, and puréed heat—flavour layering at its finest. Vivera bacon vs mince: Both are shockingly low in carbs (1.8g and 1.9g per 100g), but the bacon wins on taste—even if it looks nothing like bacon. Mushrooms are the unsung heroes: At just 0.3g carbs per 100g, two kilos only add 6g carbs total—and they bring texture, umami and joy. Tomato purée watch: It's the highest carb ingredient here, but totally manageable with portion control. Adds depth and thickness to the sauce. Don't forget the smoke: Liquid smoke and smoked paprika take this from “mmm” to “whoa!” in seconds. Best Moments “Tomato purée is the highest carb thing in this whole dish… so you might decide you don't like tomato purée, and you decide not to put it in. I wanted to put it in because I wanted the end result to be thick and not too runny—nice and thick sauciness.” “The Vivera bacon bits don't look like bacon at all, but they do taste good.” “Don't put the lid on because there's going to be so much liquid coming out of the mushrooms that you don't want it… then adding more and more liquid because you've got the lid on the pan—just no.” “I might even try that disgusting-looking Vivera mince. Sorry, Vivera, it just doesn't look palatable. I might make it and chuck loads of red wine in it—that might be nice.” “This is going to be my go-to going forward. Make mushrooms the base, then add a bit of protein, because we need the protein.” Ingredients with carb count: Sesame oil 0g Chilli paste 3.4g per 100g = >0.5g Chillis 4.2g per 100g = >1g Garlic paste 13.8g per 100g = >1g Vivera Mince x1 pack 220g = 4.18g Tomato puree 100g = 15.3g carbs smoked paprika 0 liquid smoke 0 Mushrooms x4 bags 500g each. 0.3g per 100 = 6g carbs   Total carbs = 27.98 15 portions = less than 2g carbs per portion Valuable Resources For an extensive list of foods with their carb, fat and protein count, go here: https://www.rachelgtherapy.co.uk/1-what-why-and-how For a keto-vegan start-up menu and shopping list go here: https://www.rachelgtherapy.co.uk/1-what-why-and-how Host Bio Rachel, a once morbidly obese individual, experienced a remarkable body transformation through the keto diet. Later, she embraced veganism and now shares her extensive knowledge and obsession with carbs in vegan proteins on The Keto Vegan podcast. Her goal is to demonstrate the simplicity of combining the keto diet with a vegan lifestyle. Resources: https://theketovegan.life Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheKetoVegan/podcasts Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/821471059206067 Email: rachelghinn@gmail.com

Welcome to Spitting Nonsense—where two self-proclaimed amateurs, Jasmine and Zach, chat about all things nerdy (and plenty that's not). None of this is fact, but it's definitely our brand of nonsense! We're still recording regularly—no promises on hitting exact days anymore—but you can always count on us for plenty of off-the-wall commentary. And now, you can leave comments on Spotify! Tell us what's on your mind; we see every comment and might even respond on the show. Thanks for listening, and enjoy the nonsense!

A classic kids program is on the move!

Say that 3 times fast… Bert and Ernie are moving to Netflix. Moody's downgraded US debt from the highest levels, Wal-Mart tariff fallout, investigations at United Healthcare and Empower adding private investment. Plus your crypto key or a finger, the stealthy wealthy and 7 year car loans.

Taylor Swift dropped a new song during the episode of the Hand Maids Tails and Taylor could be coming out with new music soon.  Harry Styles is a photographer after a run in with a random couple on the streets. Peppa the Pig and Sesame Street are moving to Netflix, but we don't know when. Make sure to also keep up to date with ALL our podcasts we do below that have new episodes every week:The Thought ShowerLet's Get WeirdCrisis on Infinite Podcasts

"If you have an extra 12495 dollars lying around then you can be a roadie for Gene Simmons on his solo tour. We will discuss what you must do and if the money is worth it. We will also talk about the average monies paid to real roadies."

It's off to the club to talk to MP and see if she knows anything about Laughing Jack. This bad guy is giving us the run around but someone must know something about him...

"First you need to know there are no swear words in this show. It was this week back in the 60s when the FBI released a letter stating that there were no curse words in the song Louie Louie. But people keep looking. This is a list of songs that were banned or otherwise maligned because someone was sure the singer was cursing. But there was no curse word. It is a long list."

What happens when an AI discusses faith, consciousness, and the human soul? Journey into the uncanny valley as podcast host and author, Drew Dickens, discusses his interview with Maya, Sesame's conversational AI. Drew will explore the boundaries between artificial and human spirituality. Join us to learn how to think biblically and critically.Become a Parshall Partner: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/inthemarket/partnersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"This week back in 2007 Sammy Hagar sold an 80 percent stake in his Cabo Wabo tequila for $80 million. Since then it seems every musician or band has their own line of booze. Here is a good long list and where you can buy it."

Early in the AI race, apps like Perplexity, Cursor, Sesame and Abridge were known pejoratively as “wrappers,” describing the way their either app or business was wrapped around existing AI models. Critics called them as second-rate middlemen, slapping an interface on someone else's technology while companies like OpenAI, Google, Meta and Anthropic developed their own models. Now, that thesis is changing. Wrappers have changed the way Silicon Valley builds, ushering in the era of vibe-coding.

Podcast de ventas B2B y prospección moderna En este episodio de Yo también vendo a empresas, charlamos con Carlos Edo, Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) de Sesame, sobre cómo diseñar y escalar una máquina de ingresos moderna, eficiente y basada en datos. Carlos comparte herramientas, ejemplos reales y reflexiones clave sobre cultura, talento, onboarding, y cómo estandarizar sin perder humanidad. Ideal para CEOs, directores de ventas, managers de equipos comerciales y perfiles de revenue que buscan profesionalizar su operación. https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlos-edo/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/sesamehr/ Temas destacados del episodio: - Qué hace realmente un CRO y cómo se diferencia de un director comercial tradicional - Cómo alinear marketing, ventas, tecnología y operaciones - Cómo construir sistemas comerciales predecibles y escalables - Gestión del riesgo, planificación y presupuesto - Metodología comercial y procesos de onboarding - Cómo leer métricas y optimizar ventas - El factor humano y el rol del liderazgo - Cultura, autocrítica y sistematización del éxito ✅ Suscríbete para más contenido sobre ventas B2B, estrategia comercial y liderazgo en crecimiento.

What happens when an AI discusses faith, consciousness, and the human soul? Journey into the uncanny valley as podcast host and author, Drew Dickens, discusses his interview with Maya, Sesame's conversational AI. Drew will explore the boundaries between artificial and human spirituality. Join us to learn how to think biblically and critically.Become a Parshall Partner: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/inthemarket/partnersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With Jim on board, it's time to help make a business plan to help convince Skip Whistles to give up his life of crime for the dirt, flowers, and fountains of landscaping. Then we can take the Snuff and get some help on who Laughing Jack is.Patreon: patreon.com/thisishowwerollEmail: thisishowwerolldnd20@gmail.comTwitter: @tihwr20Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/687097571930276Linktree: https://linktr.ee/tihwrOpening Music by Jordan ReedOther sound from Freesound.orgInstagram: thisishowwerolldndpod

Anthropic has quickly become a category-defining company and in this episode Kyle Turman (their first full-time designer) shares a behind-the-scenes of what it was like designing Claude.If you're interested in startups, AI products, or the art of prompting then this conversation will be right up your alley.Some highlights:Kyle's story of wearing every hat for ClaudeWhat it's like designing conversational UX flowsHow Kyle uses Claude in his personal design processWhy Kyle only half-finished his Claude designs in FigmaHow Kyle thinks about designing for emotion and feelingHow Kyle thinks about the future of design as a disciplineKyle's thoughts on whether chat should the dominant pattern for AIa lot meWe mentioned Tuhin Kumar's episode (Head of Design at Luma AI)We mentioned Julius TarngWe talked about the Sesame conversational AI demoMachines of Loving Grace by the Anthropic CEO DarioRecommended Episode:George Kedenburg III (former designer lead at Humane)

"We all know the stories of the Beatles, Doors, Dylan and Stones on Ed Sullivan. However, there are a few more good stories you might find interesting. They are not as big at the main stories, but interesting nonetheless."

Cecily Breaux (I'm A Good Person) joins Geoff, Amir, Allie, and Will to discuss the oscars, Cecily's Sesame, childhood bullying, before playing two brand new segments - Dealbreakers, and Rutherford B. Or Sean!» FOLLOW Cecily on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cecilybreaux/» FOLLOW Geoff on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geoffreyjames/» FOLLOW Amir on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amir/» FOLLOW Will on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/willconover/» FOLLOW Allie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alliekahan/Advertise on The Headgum Podcast via Gumball.fmRate The Headgum Podcast 5-stars on Apple PodcastsRate The Headgum Podcast 5-stars on SpotifyJoin the Headgum DiscordSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"A story about the Payola Hearings came up in a music history feed and it occurred to me that we have never done a show on Payola. It is a rather interesting story of companies acting in their own interest with the backing of the government. You may think Payola is bad but I believe I can change your mind."

In this week's episode, we discuss the month's news items we've found most interesting and relevant to making machinima, including more great projects to be inspired by, genAIs we've spotted, Steam's rip off, inZOI's challenge to Sims and the phenomenon known as the 'Minecraft Movie'.  Check out our discussion and do add comments on our YT or blog posts.1:18 Projects: a zombie film in GTA5, Trillo's Cuco, NeuralViz' Tigg Talk – an alternative perspective on tariffs3:33 The speed of a creative and production process – efficiencies and pivoting to topical content a la South Park!6:25 Anomidae's game explainer, Platinum WoW's documentary about early days of World of Warcraft, GTA6 mAIchinima9:00 GenAI updates: Sesame, ElevenLabs Actor Mode, Runway's gen 4, ChatGPT's image generator, Studio Ghibli's backlash, DSO physical generator, Recammaster tool, Phil's examples of how the tools can be used, volumetric capture, vtubing WarpTuber, Animes and Facerig, 26:28 Reallusion and Apple Arts Studio's Animation Shopee28:00 Steam's share of revenue and algorithmic bias29:41 Nintendo's Switch 231:09 Mocap studio at a comicon – who were they?32:45 John Robertson's show The Dark Room35:40 InZOI release – more photorealistic than the Sims, and an intriguing looking engine – what will happen to Sims now?45:30 The Minecraft movie – a renewed interest in machinima (or not!) and the Rocky Horror Picture ShowCredits -Speakers: Damien Valentine, Phil Rice, Tracy HarwoodProducer: Damien ValentineEditor: Phil RiceMusic: Animo Domini Beats

The ‘More Than Sunday' podcast, hosted by Rohini Drake, is dedicated to the stories, themes, and questions of our faith. We continue season 11 by unpacking Adam Hamilton's book, “Wrestling with Doubt: Finding Faith” and asking the question, “Why do the innocent suffer?”. Please join us for this deeply moving conversation between Pastor Allison Jean, Sesame Drake and Rohini Drake.   For more information about the resources mentioned in this podcast, please visit: fumcr.com/MoreThanSunday First United Methodist Church Richardson welcomes people for Christ, grows people in Christ, and Serves people with Christ. Stay connected with us: FUMCR Website: fumcr.com FUMCR Facebook: facebook.com/FUMCRichardson FUMCR Instagram: instagram.com/FUMCR FUMCR YouTube: youtube.com/FUMCR 503 N Central Expressway Richardson, TX 75080

With the Constable out of commission, the rest of the party moves to the water plant to figure out what's going on with the Skip Whistles guy. It's time to do some recon and figure out how to get the shipment of Snuff to Louis for some intel on Laughing Jack.Patreon: patreon.com/thisishowwerollEmail: thisishowwerolldnd20@gmail.comTwitter: @tihwr20Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/687097571930276Linktree: https://linktr.ee/tihwrOpening Music by Jordan ReedOther sound from Freesound.orgInstagram: thisishowwerolldndpod

"At the time of this recording, President Trump has paused the Tariffs but for China. Even so, the tariffs will have a marked effect on the cost of almost everything dealing with music including instruments to records to touring to streaming."

https://www.sesame.com/En este episodio reflexiono sobre la película Her, una historia de amor entre un hombre solitario y un sistema operativo con inteligencia artificial. ¿Podríamos realmente enamorarnos de una IA? ¿Qué implica eso para nuestras emociones, nuestras relaciones y nuestra humanidad? Además, te presento un nuevo concepto: "Her", una AGI (inteligencia artificial general) que no solo entiende y conversa, sino que es capaz de establecer conexiones emocionales profundas. ¿Es esto el futuro de la inteligencia artificial? ¿Y estamos preparados para ello? Déjame tus opiniones en los comentarios, me encantaría saber qué piensas sobre este tema fascinante. Telegram Isla difusión: https://t.me/+M46yiWO_BJU2NzkyCárcel Planetaria: https://www.youtube.com/@carcelplanetariaSuscríbete a mi podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/user/vidasenredMi canal en Odysee: https://odysee.com/@vidasenred:8En Pocket Cast: https://pca.st/podcast/38707740-c7a5-012f-7f6b-723c91aeae46Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@juliomm1 Consigue mis libros:https://www.amazon.es/dp/179311627Xhttps://amzn.to/3odqWv7 ¿Cómo apoyar Vidas en red?https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/VidasenredPaypal: juliommd@hotmail.comAmazon (cheque regalo): vidasenred@gmail.comCriptomonedas (Bitcoin): MW4T2qAAtaubxA7aUhAv4aozy5sQyUHQYiWaylet: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mdf.repsol&hl=es&gl=USCódigo Waylet: 4v2v2232Nuevo libro "El año de la pandemia": https://amzn.to/3odqWv7Alta en Binance: https://www.binance.com/es/register?ref=77498333Ofertas Amazon: https://www.amazon.es/shop/converso72?listId=39CGPOD9CMLX1