Dinner and a book is supported by the Rex and Alice A. Martin Foundation of Elkhart, celebrating the spirit of Alice Martin and her love of good food and good friends.

All my life, I dreamed of acquiring a shabby chic house and renovating it, writes the Olive Farm author Carol Drinkwater, a British actress who starred in James Harriet's All Creatures Great and Small One.

Carol and Michelle spot a hillside villa with an olive vineyard in a village near Köln.

They defy common sense and become landowners.

Let's meet my guest, Tyna Walker-Lay.

Find out more about this region of Provence.

Welcome.

Hello again.

Thank you for inviting me here.

I'm so glad to have you.

You know, this book is very similar to other books that we've read in the past, the Under the Tuscan Sun and the other one a year in Provence.

How does this compare with that?

Is it the same kind of style or does it have more oomph or.

It's very similar.

I think there's this sort of home improvement trend that everybody loves to read about.

And I think she tries to be very authentic about blending the renovation project with the blended family.

She's trying to create with this new budding romance.

Yes, it's she meets Michelle like, what, four or five months?

And now they're jumping in to buy this place, which.

A 10 acre olive farm.

Turns out to really be a disaster.

It will tell you all the problems they have.

But, you know, we're going to be doing some special foods today.

And you brought some of them from your shop in Bedford, Bedford, Pennsylvania.

So, first of all, let's talk about what you have right here.

What did you bring?

These are some almonds, stuffed olives, really, really delicious.

I have some here in this bowl.

They look very interesting with the olives or the almonds sticking out like that.

It really does look good.

Yes, they're quite delicious.

A nice crunch to the soft part of the olive.

That works really well.

And I have some other olives with me today, too.

I have a lemon stuffed olive, a preserved lemon and a beautiful brine, very lemony and very crisp tasting.

And then we have the medley of olives that's in them almost like an oil brine and with lots of cooked onions, which is kind of unique.

We're still in the Mediterranean, right?

Absolutely.

We have Spanish olives, but they're eaten everywhere.

And this book is about the production of olives as well.

I mean, yes, olive trees, olive tree, saving them and producing the fruit of the trees.

And there is so much that goes on in this book.

It really is almost unimaginable.

It's like three stories.

And one, it's a love story.

It's a home improvement renovation book.

It's a lot of history and culture of Provence and that whole southern region.

I like that part.

Well, you know, it's a it's a book that sometimes you like it, sometimes you don't.

We'll get into that a little bit more.

So what, you're going to be making a some baguettes and you're going to some slices of baguette.

Yes.

And you've got the tapenade here.

And I love that that word.

And I love tapenade.

And so you're going to slice up some bread crumbs will fly everywhere, but we don't care.

And then we'll get to talking about your tapenade and what is in it.

But this is the gorgeous food from the south.

I'm going to be doing a fruit salad in this segment and we'll serve that at the end of the meal.

You know this woman.

She's an actress.

And she kind of goes back and forth about her weight.

Now, I've got to be ready to to, you know, to film another series.

I have to be ready to take a theater role.

So she's always torn between eating and not eating.

So we're going to have we're going to prepare a good meal for her beautiful fruit.

And then I'm going to do a very simple French salad.

The French like to use bib lettuce, so we're just going to go great guns ahead with bib lettuce, bib lettuce and a dressing of sliced lemons, lemon juice and some olive oil.

And in the second segment, I'm going to slice up a chicken and we'll get to that.

Why we're doing a store bought sliced chicken.

So why don't you get started because this is this is always an exciting time.

Now, you like to start.

You're going to do yours on the diagonal, right?

I am.

Is that how you do yours?

Oh, sometimes.

Sometimes I do it right across.

You make rounds of it.

And I like it this way.

I do.

And you know, when I was in Spain, we started breakfast with these sliced slices of bread in the toaster and then we topped it with some fresh olive oil, slices of tomatoes and then more olive oil.

And that sounds so good.

I could have that.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Yes, so you keep slicing and I'm going to cut up some fruit here.

This is the simplest thing to do and I just think fruit is really good.

And I usually like to add some triple sec, and it makes a wonderful dessert.

It makes a nice breakfast accompaniment.

And we we eat fruit all day long.

So we want the vegan route.

And we found that you can lose weight very easily if you're a vegan.

M. Maybe I need to try that.

We'll we'll talk about that another time.

So I have some melon here.

And then we'll have some blueberries and I'll slice some strawberries and then I'll pour a little of our La Vieille Ferme.

It's a rosé wine from France and we'll have that.

But getting back to the book now, I find that it's unbelievable what happens in this story.

Just when you think they've settled down, something comes up.

And the thing that jumps out to me is the way they handle money.

They talk about not having any and they kind of live paycheck to paycheck and they go out by five thousand dollars worth of shrubs and plants for this farm.

And they take on all kinds of new dogs and they take them to the vet and they have all kinds of expenses related to that in their new bed and their pool.

The pool.

Oh, huge.

Major expense.

That was a really big priority to them.

Well, they didn't have any water.

They didn't have any electricity.

They had to find the water source.

And of course, by the time they uncovered that pool, it was a mess.

It was dirty.

And but they are they're good spirits.

And they he brings his two daughters teenagers from Paris.

And would you say they're open to about anything?

They seem like typical teenagers who are also trying to accept their father's new love.

And ready to be up for an adventure and take a risk.

And at the same time, you know, they're teenager.

They're a little crabby at times, dower and and she works very hard.

To to get to know them.

But they have all this going on.

They don't have a kitchen in the beginning.

No water, no electricity.

Just a little Bunsen burner.

And that's about it.

And she rhapsodizes about how romantic this is, how we don't have any money.

But let's go out and let's see what we're going to buy.

Now, if it's not flowers, then we're going to buy some more olive trees, a truckload.

And that was the one thing that kind of drove me crazy about this book.

But you know what?

It's a book and it's fiction.

And they had a good time, didn't they?

Yes.

And, you know, a lot of it seems to me a little metaphorical, you know, taking something.

They'd both come from previous relationships and they were trying to blend this family and take something and build something new and productive.

And she keeps saying food is life.

She's a romantic.

She's not a realist.

And it pops up all the time.

But, you know, we all need some people like that, too.

But I don't think I'd want to be around them 24/7 because she says, oh, this is going to be wonderful, this will be perfect.

And they come home.

She come home, comes back to her, to the house one time and it's been robbed.And, oh, you've got some nice slices.

Tell us what you're putting on.

This is some brown butter, toasted, roasted...Imagine if you put a stick of butter in the oven and you can roast it and toast it that way and it has a little bit of Southwestern flavor to it.

So it's really, really nice.

You know, if you make brown butter from scratch a second too long, you've burned it, a second, not long enough.

It doesn't gel.

So this is just a perfect.

Well southwestern France.

You know, they have the Camargue region, which is sort of like gaucho.

It's like cowboy like, oh, my gosh, we're moving quite along here on this this segment.

And you're doing a great job of getting those things put together.

You're going to put some tapenade on.

Well, I think some of these can have it right on top.

Wait, do you taste how this goes to go?

I can't we can't wait.

So we are we're moving along day by day with them and people come to help them.

And this is the time when a lot of Arabs were in the south of France.

And so there are many that can come and help out.

Some of them are characters, some are not quite characters, but they add quite a touch, and she goes along with them very well.

And she said in the south of France, she was walking along holding the arm of one of these helpers.

And she said the French really wouldn't accept this.

And but she said, I don't care.

So here's my fruit salad.

I'm putting a little Vieille Ferme and we have about a minute here to.

You have plenty of time.

You can keep going on this and then we'll come back.

So delicious.

I can smell the spices and the capers and the richness of the Kalamata olives.

Right now, I can smell it over here.

Smells delicious.

She could smell the difference.

She doesn't mention too much about the the fragrance of things.

She's too busy rhapsodizing and she has fun.

Now, we're going to take a short break.

We're going to show you some scenes from the region of Cannes down in Provence near the ocean and where she goes and swims every morning before she gets too busy.

And then we'll be right back.

So stay with us.

Don't leave us.

We'll be right back.

My guest is Tyna Walker-Lay, and we are discussing The Olive Farm, aren't we?

By Carol Drinkwater.

And we have found out all kinds of things that go wrong when you want to buy a shabby chic place.

And it's so romantic to tear it down and build it up and discover all kinds of creatures in the walls.

Yes, a wall of roses.

Can you imagine discovering such a thing?

They had this place was so overgrown that they didn't know they had a pond.

They didn't know they had a wall, and as you say, with roses.

So it is a sort of a magical place, but it's a big headache, too.

Let's do a little toast here today.

We'll have a little Rosé and I will splash some of my fruit here to the fruit salad.

We can drink to one of her favorite lines in the book, which is Food is Life.

Food is love.

She says that so many times.

Oh, well, she's full of that love.

She loves love.

Well, she has Michele.

He's the most gorgeous man, you know,.

And so doting.

Yes.

Oh, yes.

Well, you know, it's a great time in their life.

It really is.

And this is to you.

Oh, and to you as well.

Thank you for coming so far.

To do this show.

We certainly appreciate it.

Oh, thank you.

So I'm going to have a taste.

517 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:31,149 Well, it's very mild, it's nice, it's like it's a summer, wine isn't very pleasant.

All right, now you're going to continue to slice and dice and spread.

Don't forget the dog food, because as we said, there are about 12 dogs in this story, from puppies to dogs that have been hit by cars and beaten up and and she takes them all in to be repaired.

And of course, that's another five thousand.

And we don't know where all this is happening or coming from.

That's a good thing.

She's in the entertainment business because they always seem to know how to drum up some more money for the budget.

And he'll come back and say, I just sold the series in Australia.

And now, well, as we get to the end of the book, they're really running out of money and they have to get a loan.

And the French bank really puts them on the on their heels.

We want we can take possession of your farm if you don't pay up.

That would be a lot of stress.

Oh, this place this story is full of stress, but they love it and she loves it.

I think she... that's fuel for her.

She uses that to keep on going.

I think.

We've all met that kind of person.

All right.

I'm doing my Bibb lettuce and I love this lettuce.

It's just amazing.

It's the best lettuce.

It really is.

I know everybody has their own favorite, and I like to kind of keep it in little wings.

I just think it's fun.

Even though you have to cut it up.

I will put in some lemon juice and then some olive juice and some salt and pepper.

Well, I think I'll just do sea salt and that will be part of.

Well, it's almost part of every meal because they don't have a kitchen and they never get a kitchen.

They don't do they?

It's never a priority.

She talks about this kind of broken down table.

No refrigerator.

Just I don't know how they do it all.

But I like the fact that they go and they buy a chicken in the village, they buy the readymade salads, they buy their wine in their beer and they share their beer with the workers.

Yes, at nine o'clock in the morning.

And that's the way to live this.

I mean, you package and you buy and you make do.

But I, I lived in France and I remember the same meal they had almost every every evening and it was a lot of French string beans and I loved that too.

So.

So that's your favorite now?

I'm just adding a little bit more of this.

Kalamata and Kaper.

You know, traditionally they say that there's anchovies in these.

I think that's maybe a little bit of has now.

But I have friends that just adore them.

I can look at them at a distance.

So we're having some more pieces here.

Somebody said you always tear your lettuce.

You never cut it.

And let's see if I'm going to do anything else with this.

I might put some slivers of radish in here just for some color.

Then we're going to squeeze the lemon.

I open the new jar.

This is the green olive one.

This is really nice.

A lot of chopped olives and really, really good olive oil.

You can just smell how rich that is.

Smells like summertime, my former house, the back patio, we'd have this.

I just think it's wonderful.

You've brought some lovely items.

These are all from your shop, which your shop called.

It's called Peppercorn Market.

Peppercorn Market in Bedford.

So if you're going through Pennsylvania, why don't you stop at the peppercorn market room?

You'll even meet Tyna Walker-Lay.

You can taste everything.

Oh, that's that's even better.

A little interesting side note about that.

When I was learning about the history of our building, I learned that the person in the 1700's paid the rent with peppercorns.

Oh really is that how the name came about?

Isn't that fascinating?

I know.

And of course.... can't imagine that right now, And so we are going through this whole year is like a year and a half and they don't live here all the time.

You have to get one of the neighbors to look after the dogs or one of their Arab friends to come in and and they really enjoy them.

They share their wine, their beer and some of their food.

They have people come from England to stay with them.

I can't imagine this, but they stay in a hotel.

That's the same saving grace there.

Well, neither one of them are originally from France.

She's coming from London.

He's German.

She was originally born in Ireland.

I think maybe his daughters still live in Paris, but they're all over the place.

That's European life.

You fly from England to France.

It's like flying from from here to New York.

And it makes life a lot different and very interesting.

Lots of I think students have a great advantage to living in Europe.

All right.

There is our French salad and we have a fruit salad.

Did I pour wine in there?

You did a little bit.

Let's do a little more, Right.

If a little is good, a lot is better.

These are nice.

Very, very nice.

Let's talk about the dog food.

I know that is not well I'll put this right here so why did you bring dog food?

There's a dog theme throughout this entire book.

All the strays that she takes in the daughter's dog that they bring.

Pamela.

Oh, yes.

A big, fat, waddling...I can't remember what... old dog or something.

Some big lazy old dog named Pamela, which I thought was such a funny name for a dog.

At first I had to think about that for a minute.

Every time they mentioned Pamela, I was like, oh, yes, Pamela the dog.

And I think if it's a bulldog, it's just makes it all the more hilarious.

But she says it snores frequently and, you know, makes a lot of noise and ruckus.

My my daughter had a friend who had a bulldog.

He named it Claudia.

So now we have a few minutes left here.

I'd better get lessons.

I think I'll open this sun-dried tomato and olive one and add that to some of these.

You do whatever you want.

Oh, OK.

Thank you.

It's been a pleasure having you.

And I think we've learned a lot about these different kinds of food that you have you have in your store.

And I love those almond stuffed olives and then you've got them melange, the medley over there.

Now this whole story about the olives, I mean they tried to learn about how to take care of the olive trees because they find they have about what, 20 or maybe even more.

And they get a disease but it doesn't harm the fruit.

In other words I can't remember what they call them dupes or something.

Oh yes.

I forgot about the cheese.

Did you?

Just hadn't gotten to it yet.

Right.

All right.

We've got a few minutes.

Tell us about the cheese you brought.

Well, I brought some halloumi cheese.

It has a little bit of herbs.

It's a sheep and goat cheese kind of combination.

I really like that.

Kind of unusual.

And this is a big chunk of Parmesan with she, of course, talks about all the time for her salads.

And so we can get that over here.

Have you ever tried halloumi cheese?

No.

Tell me again what it is.

It's pronounced halloumi and it's a goat and sheep cheese.

I normally like goat cheese very much.

I liked what the Walker woman did from San Francisco.

She's the one that did little balls of of goat cheese and put them in the salad and started a whole new trend in the United States.

I'm thankful for her.

Yes, I am, too.

So you see how simple this can be.

You just.

Put some sprigs of basil.

They live that way for a long period of time,.

They never had a kitchen now.

Thank goodness they had the swimming pool.

But, you know, it was a good excuse to go out and buy foods, made salads, whatever.

I'm going to slice some tomatoes.

And this is from a home garden nearby and we'll just put it on the platter.

That's not a good knife for that.

For some color.

And how are you doing there?

I'm doing pretty well, I think.

I'm resisting the urge to eat at all, so that's good.

You know, one advantage they have about being in the south of France is thatvyou have access to bakeries and butchers and the best produce and fresh fruit.

You can walk romantically hand-in-hand down to the village and eye all your produire is the French would say yes, indeed,.

And experience all the sunsets along the Mediterranean Sea.

Let's move on.

Yes.

Let's fix up some kind of a dump that we can buy.

Right?

Well, we have to figure out how we're going to get the money for that.

That's also what we just dream a little.

I love the fact that you brought all of this.

It just shows the variety.

And if people say, oh, I can never have people over spur of the moment, au contraire Right?

So we're going to take a little break, pull ourselves together.

We're going to move the table out and invite you all to join us in our diner Provençal.

We'll be right back.

Cheers.

Oh yeah.

Cheers to some more wine.

Carol Drinkwater was the author today of The Olive Farm, and my guest is Tyna Walker-Lay, so good to have you today.

Thank you.

It was a wonderful experience.

I loved every minute of it.

It was great having you.

And I just wanted to say I made a French bibb lettuce salad and I have a tray of chicken sliced.

We went and bought it at the delicatessen supermarket and sliced up some things tell us what you brought.

You had this beautiful fruit salad, too, which looks so colorful and bright and it's right smack in front of me.

I brought from my shop three different kinds of olives.

This medley of ones that are cooked with onions and almonds stuffed one to give a little crunch, some dried lemon, stuffed olives.

It's kind of unique.

And that lemony brine.

And I brought three different kind of tapenade and kalamata and kaper one a green olive, one a sun-dried tomato, one, too.

And then this lovely brown butter was sort of a southwestern taste.

And the honey infused with almonds.

It was it was a fun book.

I have to say.

I couldn't have lived that life maybe so many years ago, but not not anymore.

And I wanted to say it was a pleasure having you.

We had our French wine.

And let's have one last toast.

To Carol,.

To Carol,.

To Carol and her busy life.

Thank you for joining us.

We hope you come back next week.

Remember, good food, good friends, good books and good guests make for a very good life.

We'll see you next time.

This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you thank you.

Dinner and a book is supported by the Rex and Alice A. Martin Foundation of Elkhart, celebrating the spirit of Alice Martin and her love of good food and good friends.