Fostering A Love Of Cooking In Your Kids | Martin Glover (Dad of 1, Founder of Dad What Cooks)

[00:00:00] Martin: the time does fly, like I mentioned before, you know, this 19, 20 years has gone in a blink, really in the scheme of things it has.

And I think there's points there where you think, oh, I really enjoyed that point. And I wish we'd slowed down a little bit there and enjoyed that. And I think, yeah, just take it one step at a time and just enjoy the moments and cherish them

[00:00:22] Adam: Welcome to Startup Dad, the podcast where we dive deep into the lives of dads who are also leaders in the world of startups and business. I'm your host, Adam Fishman. In today's conversation, I sat down for a special holiday cooking episode with Martin Glover. Martin is an IT professional who started a popular side project called Dad What Cooks.

He's on a mission to help dads learn cooking skills and be more involved in the kitchen, starting with making it less intimidating. In addition to his cooking pursuits and work in IT, he's also a husband and the father of one daughter, who also loves to cook. In our conversation today, we spoke about cooking, from the origin story of Dad What Cooks, to how you can do it safely with kids of all ages.

We talked about how to foster a love of cooking with kids, how to make it fun, and the biggest messes he's made in the kitchen. We covered his favorite recipes, tips for any dad trying to do more cooking with their family, and the core dishes appearing on his holiday table this year. We also talked about what to do with all those leftovers.

Outside of cooking, we discussed being an empty nester and watching your kids grow up and become adults. I hope you enjoy today's conversation with Martin Glover.

[00:01:38] Adam: I would like to welcome Martin Glover to the startup dad podcast, Martin. It is a pleasure having you here with me today. Thanks so much for joining me.

[00:01:48] Martin: Thank you, Adam. Pleasure to be here too.

[00:01:50] Adam: All right. So I've had quite a run on British guests lately. You are one more in a long line of people from the UK. So I’m very excited to have you here. And we figured out the time change, which was all excellent, so a little worried about that. You, Martin, are a founder of a very cool website called Dad What Cooks, but that is not your full time gig.

So can you tell us a little bit more about your professional background?

[00:02:20] Martin: absolutely. Yeah, of course. So I am basically an IT security compliance guy. That's where I started. Well, I started out as a networking engineer and then moved into sort of the, as things went to the cloud and networking became probably a little bit easier. It was just clicking boxes and ticking things.

I moved into the security side of things and the compliance. And now my main job is working for a website where I do that kind of stuff. But the Dad What Cooks site is the obviously a food blog. And it's a bit of a labor of love if nothing else which I enjoy doing. And it keeps me sort of up to date with the tech world from the blogging aspects of it all.

But Yeah. So it kind of runs in parallel with things, but it's not the be all and end all of work.

[00:03:02] Adam: Awesome. I think so many successful things start as a passion project or a labor of love as you described it. So, you know, I really wanted to have you on the show because I think talking to dads about cooking and about being active participants in the household is super important.

Also, we have holidays coming up. They tend to center around food. So, we're going to spend a lot of time talking about that, but also dive in a little bit into your family life and some lessons that you've learned today. So, tell me about the origin story of the Dad What Cooks site.

[00:03:36] Martin: Yeah. So obviously grammatically incorrect. I'm sure for as you can tell from my accent, I'm from the North of England. So, we let things slide like that. Dad What Cooks it's I'm a dad what cooks. So it's bad grammar, but how it is. So the site's been around since about 2020.

And obviously with lockdown COVID and all that kind of stuff going on, you need something to do, don't you? So, while I've kind of registered the domain and done all that before that point I really got serious with it following the never ending loaves of, you know, making loaves of bread and things like that.

And I think just getting them on the site was good fun and getting the recipes in there and just seeing if I could really do a food blog. So I did a bit of a revamp of it in 2021, just to make it a bit more like the others, you know, you do want them to be unique, but they also have a distinct character of how food blogs have to work in order for people to understand them.

You know, you have a lot of different parts of the post and then the recipe card at the bottom and all that kind of jazz. And then last year, so 2023 was real, I thought something could come of this, you know, and you never know. So gave it a bit more effort and got a bit more regular with posting and developing recipes and making sure that if I made something that was nice, taking a photo of it and getting a bit of branding sorted for it and that kind of stuff.

So it's always been a hobby. It's never been a full time thing never say never though, I think, you know, it's hopeful maybe one day, who knows?

[00:05:04] Adam: Yeah, I love that. I love that. And that's okay. A lot of these things are fun hobbies, but still putting a lot of value out in the world and helping people out, especially dads who are clueless when it comes to cooking.

[00:05:16] Martin: I hope so. I mean, I think the other point I wanted to really do with it was, you know, I didn't do any real cooking. You know, I was never a chef. Like I say, I've said, I'm an IT guy. So picking up a few ingredients and changing it up a bit gives you the option to make new, nice, tasty dishes.

And it's not that difficult. And that's what I really quite liked about being able to share with the site was. Collating some recipes. I've got a post on there which links to kind of the basic ingredients to have. It's almost a starter post, if you like. And having all these ingredients in your cupboard, off the back of that, you can then make some really nice dishes.

So basic stuff like onions, peppers, you know, a few herbs and spices and you know, the basic cupboard raw ingredients, but with a little bit of meat and a bit of pasta or something like that, you can have a really nice dish. It's really tasty.

[00:06:08] Adam: Tell me a little bit about what you were like as a kid. What was life growing up like? 

[00:06:14] Martin: So not too far. So I've, I've probably moved about an hour and a half from where I used to live up the motorway. So, I'm still within the north. And there was me, my sister and my mom and dad. So the four of us I was the youngest. So, I was the annoying little brother, as my sister will say.

And she will always say that you know, I got my way all the time. And we always have this, even to this day. And I think, you know, It's funny when you are, you know, I'm what, 43 now. And I think still, if we visit my parents house and we both go there, you go back to your childhood mentality and you start being annoying to your sister.

And it's just one of those things that little brothers do. So yeah, it was a really happy childhood though. You know, no, problems. It was just a normal Northern England house and, you know, family was important. It's important.

[00:07:02] Adam: Tell me about your family now. You have a partner, you have a wife, and you have a college aged daughter, as I understand it.

[00:07:08] Martin: That's right. Yeah. So my wife, my daughter so there's just the three of us and then we've got our two dogs as well. So my daughter has gone off to university last year. So she's into her second year of uni now. So it's just me and my wife. Now, which would have been probably a difficult thing, but I think at the same time that my daughter moved off to university, we also moved house.

So we downsized our house. So we went from a four bed down to a three bed. I think if we'd have stayed in the four bed and our daughter went off to uni, it would have been a real kind of, you know, she's fled the nest now, it's really quiet and really quite upsetting. Whereas we had our own next step in our chapter by moving house and I'd also went off to uni.

She set up her accommodation. So it probably didn't feel as difficult as the actual situation was, you know, cause it's weird going from three of you to two of you. And is quiet and it is strange. And I can imagine that if we didn't have the move, it would have been much more difficult, but you know, she stays in touch.

It's not like she's, left forever. It's she still visits. And what I really like is she's always in touch to you know, take photos, I've made this food, I've done this recipe, and I think it's lovely because, you know, she's always been a keen cook as well which I quite like. I like to think that involving her from a young age in the kitchen has really helped with that.

And giving her the confidence to be able to go on and do stuff cook and look after her and her housemates. So, yeah, hopefully I've played a part on that one.

[00:08:39] Adam: Well, we'll dive into that in a bit. I wanted to ask you with you and your wife, what was your decision, like, for the two of you to start a family? Because I think you started on the earlier side. Is that right?

[00:08:53] Martin: Yea, you could say that, I think I was 24 or 25 when we had our daughter. So yeah, I suppose in the scheme of things, it was quite young. I mean, what was the decision like? I think I was at a place, we were both at a place that we were really happy and, you know, happy with each other. And yeah, we just did.

[00:09:05] Adam: Yeah. Just kind of made sense. What is the earliest memory that you have of becoming a dad or right after you became a dad? 

[00:09:15] Martin: Oh yeah. I mean, that, that's one of those, I think most dads are, I would hope that most dads will be able to say that they can remember it. And I certainly can, as though it was yesterday, you know, I can certainly remember cutting the card and being in that maternity ward in New Manchester.

 It's a surreal experience, I think, for anybody. But from a dad point of view, you know, you almost feel helpless while you're there, there's nothing you can do and you've got doctors and nurses and everyone around you. And you know, you just have to be there and just being there is what you have to do.

It offers the support it's an important part and it's something that you'll cherish. And for me, yeah, definitely. It was a real experience, cause we had to go into surgery as well for a little while, so it was you know, getting the gowns on and stuff like that was kind of, it was quite frightening, I suppose, but at the end, you know, my daughter's there, she's in my arms, and I remember that, I can still see it now, and yeah, cutting the card was not how you'd expect it to be.

I don't know why you just assume you just cut, but it was like really, really quite grisly. Is that the word? I don't know. Probably don't want to maybe cut that. I don't know. Yeah, so it's definitely one that stuck in my mind. And even that journey back, you know, back from the hospital going home, you know, I've never driven so carefully and so slowly and I've never known so many potholes in the road.

You know? Going that way. It's like, be careful. I can't, I'm kind of, you know, you just do what you can. But it's all new and you know, it's a scary journey, but people do it. And a, it's a chapter in your life.

[00:10:41] Adam: Yeah. Well, and now, if you fast forward, you're an empty nester. And you mentioned this downsizing your house. But I'm curious to ask you a little bit about the journey from newborn to leaving the house. Parents always say, it's kind of cliche to say, Oh, it happened so fast. They're gone before you know it.

But I'm curious, was that your experience? How would you react to that?

[00:11:04] Martin: When you look at it from now, looking back, you know, it's nearly 20 years and it's quite a, it's quite a long time looking at it from a calendar point of view, but if you think at the different phases and ages and things like that, you know, you've got starting nursery, you've got starting primary school, starting high school getting into college, getting the exam results, getting, you know, seeing the journey.

All the way through and getting what she wanted to do and doing that. And along the way, you know, you make some really good friends as well. When she was really young, we had a, I think was it, would it have been yeah. Pre- sort of around nursery age, so maybe three, four, something like that, there was a, yeah, a dad’s play group that I joined. And I made some really good friends there and people are still to this day taught to, you know, because as you mentioned, I was a little bit younger than probably my fellow dads at that point, whereas they were in their thirties. I was in my twenties.

So my immediate peers and friends weren't having kids. You know, they were still either in uni, coming out of uni or going into work. And obviously there weren't people my age that I knew, but these guys were were probably sort of five, 10 years older than me. And they'd been through where I was at.

So I knew, you know, I knew what I was like and what I was going through and just my experience of life at that time, I suppose. And they were really supportive and they were really good to, you know, a good bunch of lads who kind of were all in the same boat and it didn't matter if you were a dad, a granddad, you were welcome.

And it was probably a good break for the moms as well. You know, they got part of their weekend back and gave them a bit of free time do stuff. So, you know, cause it's a two person job, you know, there's no doubt about that.

[00:12:42] Adam: Yeah. Do you remember how you found the dad's group? Because I think one of the things that comes up a lot in this podcast is that sometimes it can be lonely to be a dad. and I am very supportive and encouraging of what you found , that group. So how did you go about finding it?

[00:12:57] Martin: Nowadays, it's probably a lot easier. If we think back to when that was, though, that would have been 2007. So like Facebook has only just started really, you know, that was what, 2004. So the whole social media side of things was very, very early days. So I think we found it in either the local newspaper or it was a council initiative. So it was I think at the time the labor government were, we're under, I won't get too political with this, but it was a labor government thing, which is something they were very keen on doing. And so they were trying to, you know, encourage support really for younger families of which this was one of them.

So it was a quite a new initiative, but yeah, we got word either from the local paper or maybe even a nursery or something like that, from what I recall. And I remember the first, you know, it was almost like my first day at school going into this play group, you know, with, really young one.

And I met the guy who was running it and he introduced himself and we just got talking and, you know, more and more people turned up and there was probably, the first session was, there was probably only about four or five dads there. But those four or five dads were the ones that kind of stayed all the way through, you know, you'd see some come and go but these ones were like the core dads that the hardcore dads that stayed.

And yeah, it was good. And we used to do, you know, lots of activities. We had trips out and things as well as the play group as a group. And you get, like I say, you get this support network around you where, you know, If you're out and about, oh, there was one lad who had two kids, so he'd have to go and change the nappy on one.

So we'd look after the other one and, you know, you just become really close friends like that. And was just a good time and a good group of people.

[00:14:33] Adam: Yeah, sounds like a great community to be a part of from the beginning. So that's fantastic. So I want to talk about food now. You said that in 2020, during the beginning of lockdown, you got into baking bread. I mean, who didn't, right? Like bread is, bread's delicious, by the way. I love bread.

We're going to ask you more about bread in a bit. But were you the resident chef in the household before 2020? Have you always kind of been…?

[00:15:00] Martin: Yeah. I've always dabbled. I've always been keen to kind of try new things. But I think when I was thinking back about this and actually, you know, I figured you may ask me about where it started and probably, you know, throughout school, college early twenties, I wasn't really into that sort of, you know, making food, I'd be buying it, reheating, you know, the usual stuff you get from the supermarket.

And then we had a bit of a health kick probably in the early 2010s and we decided, right, let's start eating better. And I think for a saving money point of view as well, you know, you could buy a bag of potatoes and make lots of meals out of that rather than buying an individual dish to go into the oven.

So you become a bit more aware of what you can do with ingredients at that point. And probably my curious nature, you start then seeing recipe books and you start trying different things and making different stuff. And at that point. It kind of just naturally fell. I didn't say, right, that's it.

I'm cooking now. It was never like that. It was just oh I fancied doing this tonight and I enjoyed it as well. I found it you know, a de-stressor. You come in from work, you just get in the kitchen and chopping a few veg and things like that. I find it quite relaxing. I think a lot of people like to sit and eat the food.

Whereas I really take joy in preparing a meal, you know, I think my wife, sometimes I'll make a curry from scratch and she'll be like, you've been in the kitchen all day. You know, what are you doing? Yeah, well, I've got to make the sauce. I've got to make the base sauce. I've then got to chop these onions and you know, and it takes all day and it really, it genuinely does if you're doing it from now.

But my theory is that I'm making big batches of it. So they go in the freezer and yeah, it might take all day, but it takes you 10 minutes of an evening after work to prepare it and eat it, but that whole process of preparing a meal, I really enjoy. And it's, I think from there it, naturally fell into my wheelhouse.

So, yeah that's what I do.

[00:16:52] Adam: Awesome. And you mentioned a little earlier in our conversation. So your daughter likes to cook now and she sends you pictures and things like that. And I think you attribute that to her being more involved in the kitchen with you at a younger age. Tell me about that and how do you get a kid interested in their earlier years in joining you in the kitchen?

[00:17:16] Martin: I think it's all about making it fun. Because if they get bored, they wander off and they do something else. And, you know, I don't know what it's like nowadays, trying to distract from screens and video games and things like that, because we didn't really, I mean, we did have those things, not like I'm talking years and years ago.

But it was never as in your face as it is now, I don't think. So it's about getting the attention, I suppose, making sure that they can understand what's going on and you know, making it fun. So I think my daughter, I was always brought up when my mom was baking to kind of join in and, you know, cracking egg in there and whisk that and do that.

And you always get to lick the bowl afterwards. And that's the fun part, eating the icing and stuff that shouldn't be. And she was always, when my mom was baking, when my daughter was around you know, she would be involved in it and she'd bake with her Nana quite a lot. And I think having that ability to just let them, you know, stand on a little stool and get close up and put an apron on and start getting hands in and messy.

And, you know, it's probably never going to come out perfect, but you can't take away the facts of the fun that they're having as they're making this mess and the flours going everywhere and the eggs are smashing. So I think having the ability to be able to do that and then not get into trouble, you know, you don't want to be shouting at them because they're making a mess.

You know, kids make mess and that's what happens. So I think it's important that they understand that they can do that. I think it's a good opportunity for learning as well. So if you think of weighing out ingredients, you know, grams and ounces and milliliters, and well, how many milliliters is in a centiliter and a liter and all that kind of stuff.

And I think it gives good opportunity to differentiate between teaspoon and tablespoon and dessert spoon and those measurements that, you know, I'm sure when you've made something, I know I've certainly done it. You've confused tablespoons with teaspoons because it's one letter short in a different in the recipe, isn't it?

And it ruins it or it makes it too sweet or salty or whatever, you know? So it's understanding those little bits as well. And then I think, you know, giving them the skills early on to, I’m not necessarily recommending this for really young kids, but, you know, chopping a pepper or peeling an onion and slicing it up as long as they've got supervision and they're safe.

You know, these are key skills that they'll take with them throughout their life. Understanding the risks and the dangers in a kitchen as well. You know, things are hot, things are sharp. It's making sure you pass the dangers on without them hurting themself and, you know, making sure that they are safe.

Going around the kitchen and saying, well, what could that do? You know, what's the danger if we do that? And why don't we touch that? And you know that kind of thing, just to raise that awareness. And then I think as well you know, if you do want to get things cleaned up, make things a race, you know, how quick can you tidy that?

How quick can you make that? Can you beat me doing that? And obviously they'll try and beat you because they want to beat you. And then other things I'm just thinking like, the food chain, you know, where does our food come from? Where does the milk come from? All these conversations that you can have and rather than just standing in silence, kneading some dough or mixing some food, it's, you know, it's an opportunity to have those conversations and even nothing to do with food, you know, find out about how they're getting on at school, what have they learned, you know, get them to tell you about things and having the, as we've probably all experienced when you, your little one comes home from school, they don't, they just say how school, that was fine.

You know, and you don't really get anything out of them because they're probably tired. And if they've had school all day and they don't want to tell you, and it's their thing as well, you know, it's all to them. But I think when you have these opportunities to, to make conversation and conversations flowing it's nice to get involved that way.

[00:20:55] Adam: Yea. So there's a few things that you mentioned there that I wanted to come back to. One is this idea you're talking about sort of measurements and conversion and things like that. It's really funny because my daughter is studying fractions in school right now. And you know, she's wondering.

Well, how do you use this practically? And you know, if you ever want to double a recipe or cut a recipe in half or something like that, you're basically multiplying and dividing fractions. So you can use it as a teaching opportunity. And then I had somebody else on the pod who mentioned we were talking about books and getting kids to love reading and reading a recipe is just another way to get kids to try to read.

So I just wanted to underscore those two points that you made. And then I want to ask you a little bit more about safety. So you mentioned kind of taking your daughter around the kitchen and pointing things out and saying, Oh, what do you think could happen there? And what about over there and things like that?

But are there other kind of tips that you have to make sure it's safe in the kitchen with young kids?

[00:21:55] Martin: So the one that sticks in my mind, it was one I saw on a TV show and it's probably not. Well, your child is there, but the concept was if you've got really young kids coming around. So this is probably one for, you know, if they're visiting grandparents or something like that, get on your hands and knees, get to their height and crawl around the kitchen.

What can they grab? What can they pull down? You know, if there's a pan that's hanging over the hob, can they reach up and grab it? You know, it's little things like that are the sharp corners and we're probably sort of baby proofing now. So probably a little bit younger, to be honest, if we're doing that, we should have a gate on the kitchen and stop the going in altogether.

But sometimes that's not possible. And I appreciate that. So you know, get at the height of the child and see if you can see what could be an issue. And if you do need those cupboard locks or the catches to stop the oven opening or you need to put a safety gate in front of something, it should become more apparent when you're at the two foot, three foot high level, you know?

[00:22:53] Adam: So get on their level so you can see what they see around the kitchen and because you may not notice the dangers as a taller person. Yeah, the last thing you mentioned there in that description of, kind of working side by side with your daughter, it reminded me of a podcast episode that I recorded with Tod Francis, where we talked about.

How to build memories with your kids and have conversations and doing those kind of like side by side activities where everyone's sort of on equal footing, right? Maybe you're making a new recipe and neither of you have any idea what you're doing, you're sort of peers in that sense.

And it opens up this opportunity for conversation and just like the struggle together.

[00:23:32] Martin: Yeah definitely. I think as well there's the point where you make a decision as well. You know, you get to a point in the recipe and you think, well, does it mean that, or does it mean that? So it opens up the opportunity to have that talk, right? Well, what do you think will happen? If we do X, what do you think will happen?

If we do Y, shall we just say, can we split it and do one of each and experiment? You know, is there any opportunity to do that? And I think, yeah, it's definitely a nice way to communicate and share memories,

[00:24:00] Adam: Yeah, I love that. In introducing the scientific method into the kitchen.

[00:24:03] Martin: That's my analytical brain kicking in, obviously.

[00:24:06] Adam: That's right. kind of a funnier question for you. If you think back, what's the biggest mess that you and your daughter have ever made in the kitchen? 

[00:24:14] Martin: Oh, the biggest one. I said before about don't let things frustrate you, but the amount of times that she would leave an egg on the side and it would roll off and drop on the floor and I'd say, no, put it on some kitchen roll, put it on some paper, stop, leave it in the box till you need it. So there was a point where I just, alright.

I've give up saying. I'll just let her do it. And then obviously eventually she learns cause it's like, oh, catching it. And it's there. That one is always a messy one to clear up. And I think the other one is about how it is always a little bit of fun. And I think they do this. You probably know that the TV show, the Great British Bake Off, but Paul Hollywood did this one on a recent show.

I seem to recall when the mixing icing sugar in the mixer, the trick to make it mixing and not fluff up everywhere is to put the mixer on full speed as fast as you can. And it totally isn't. It just makes it go everywhere, but it's really funny to watch them try and do this and they get covered in flour.

So yeah that's certainly, although it's messy it's worth it. It's a good giggle.

[00:25:16] Adam: It's pretty fun. I heard a story one time about a mom who was making pasta with her young kids and was like, you know, the kids just want to play with this pasta. And she just turned the entire thing upside down and dumped the pasta all over the floor. And then the kids just like played with it and whatever.

And I heard that as me as my very like type A person. And I was like, oh God, that's the worst thing. I'm going to break out in hives. Just hearing that, but I do love a good mess in the kitchen, so.

[00:25:41] Martin: Yeah, definitely.

[00:25:43] Adam: What are some of the more surprising things that you've discovered as a dad, and probably not food related or cooking related?

[00:25:49] Martin: Surprising. I suppose was how adaptable I probably am as a person. I think, you know, as I mentioned earlier, it's one of the biggest changes to your life. If not the biggest change to your life and you go from, you know, boy to man as quick as it can be, because you just got to step up and do that. So, you know, your protective mode of everything around you becomes more, more heightened.

But yeah, I think. Survival instincts kick in and you want to start providing and doing your best. And whereas you might have been a bit before and still in, you know, they have a little bit of teenager mentality. I think you just, right. Somebody here is relying on me now. So, that's probably surprised me the most as to how I adapted to that.

[00:26:37] Adam: Yeah, fastest way to grow up.

[00:26:38] Martin: Yeah, definitely. Definitely.

[00:26:40] Adam: if you could rewind the clock to the time right before you had your daughter, And you meet younger Martin, what advice would you give younger Martin about becoming a parent?

[00:26:53] Martin: There's always a phrase about when anybody says about what's good advice there's always a passage that sticks in my mind. It's one, I think Tom Hanks relayed it on a TV show at one point, but this too shall pass. I don't know if you're familiar with it, but you feel bad right now and you feel annoyed, I'll edit it for the audience.

This too shall pass. You feel angry, you feel upset. This too shall pass. You feel great. Everything's going really well. It's brilliant. You're having a great time in the kitchen, but this too shall pass. And I think that it's about time being your ally and your worst enemy at the same time. And I think essentially what I take from that is about just taking a step back and just enjoying the moment and being a bit more involved and not wishing the weeks away. And, you know, the time does fly, like I mentioned before, you know, this 19, 20 years has gone in a blink, really in the scheme of things it has.

And I think there's points there where you think, oh, I really enjoyed that point. And I wish we'd slowed down a little bit there and enjoyed that. And I think, yeah, just take it one step at a time and just enjoy the moments and cherish them.

[00:28:06] Adam: Yeah. What about the opposite side of this? As a young dad, you probably got a lot of advice from other people. Maybe not your friends because you said they weren't necessarily in the season of having kids. But is there any advice you would tell yourself, your younger self to ignore? 

[00:28:22] Martin: Yeah. Well, the advice I would give is don't take anyone's advice because that is the best piece of advice you can give somebody as a new parent to be. There's a fellow I work with and he's expecting a baby next year. And I've said like my bit of advice, cause everyone will give you advice is don't take any advice off people.

And that's it. You've got to trust you got, because if you start taking advice, you'll think, well, such a body did it this way, but that's for their situation, their scenario, that's what suits them and their family and that particular moment for them. So you know your child, you know, your life and your relationships and things.

The advice is just do what's right. Trust you got.

[00:29:02] Adam: Love that. Back to cooking. Tell me about your absolute favorite recipe?

[00:29:10] Martin: My absolute favorite is, it's comfort food. You know, I love making halloumi fries, deep fried. Can I say certain southern fried chicken chain coating? So, I've got a recipe on my site, which is copycat coating of the various herbs and spices, wrap it around halloumi, deep fry it.

And I mean, it's calorie, calorie, calorie, but it's really nice and really tasty. And that in a cold sort of mint mayo dip is beautiful. That's a good one. And then, you know, when it comes to bread, people who know me know I love my bread and make all sorts of different types. But a good chunky piece of fresh sourdough dipped in well covered in thick butter, dipped in soup is, you know, for a winter's day.

It's a really, really, really nice one. So a couple of various ones there, but yeah, definitely the halloumi fries.

[00:30:05] Adam: You know, I've never made halloumi fries, but I keep seeing them everywhere. So I'm going to have to take that recipe off your website. We'll link to it in the show notes too.

[00:30:13] Martin: Excellent. Yeah, that'd be great.

[00:30:14] Adam: For anyone who's trying to do more cooking with their family are there like a set of basic tips that you would recommend just to make it easier for people to get comfortable cooking or encouraging their kids?

I think we talked about ingredients a little bit experimentation, but let's elaborate on that a little bit. Tell me what your sort of basic standard set of things is.

[00:30:41] Martin: Yeah, absolutely. So I think we mentioned, like you say, it's having a sort of a baseline of ingredients, so some potatoes, peppers, onions, carrots And then, you know, maybe even chicken breasts in the freezer, some pieces like that, something you can just draw out and make something with, but yeah, herbs and spices a decent oil as well.

And I think if you can get that and maybe a bit of pasta, you know, you've got a good selection of cupboard basics, bare essentials that from that you can stem some dishes from. So, Like a tomato base dish you might get, and you can make a, you know, a nice spaghetti bolognese if you've got some pasta or spaghetti and you've got some tomatoes, you can mix them into a sauce. You can put a bit of oil in it, bit of salt and pepper, and you can blitz it down and you've got pasta based sauce. And then if you've got some, you know, beef or mince or something like that from the freezer, you can stick that in and hey, presto bolognese and you know, it doesn't have to be expensive and it could be left over things as well.

And I think that we touched on it there also about experimenting, you know, try it once. You know, because it might be nice and you might think, oh, this is actually really, really good. I mean, it might be awful as well. That's the other thing, but it's, you know, it's food. What goes in is not going to change too much in taste unless you put too much salt in or too much stuff, that's probably another point as well. When you are cooking, taste as you cook, don't just serve up and hope it's okay if you're doing like a sauce or you know, you're boiling something down or reducing it you need to be tasting it as you go, really. So if it's too salty, you want to, you know, put a bit of cream in or, a bit of acid to, to level it out.

And this whole, like, if you want to learn about balancing those sorts of things, I mean, people go in absolute detail on YouTube, there's videos all over the place of how to, you know, I've done this and it's an absolute disaster. It tastes awful. What do I do? And there'll be something that you can balance out the ingredients with and the flavor will come back.

So it's not always a disaster. If it is a disaster, then just blitz it all and you've got a soup or you've got a base sauce, then use a little bit of it and you know, don't just throw it out of the way because there's always something you can do with it. I think prep as well is another good one.

You know, if you've got something that's got five or six different vegetables or even different ingredients you want to make sure that you've got peppers cut, your onion sliced you've got your chicken diced as it needs to be, have them ready before you start cooking, before you put that heat on, make sure everything's available into hand because firstly you'll realize you'll get to ingredient number four and realize you've not got it and then you'll be like it's the key ingredient I can't do this or it's just it something takes too long to cut and then you've burnt what's in the pan so having it all ready and ready to go it's so easy to throw in as I mentioned about when I'm making curries it'll It takes all day because most of it's chopping and dicing and I'm not a fast, you know, these professionals, they whiz through a carrot and a pepper.

Don't they like there's no tomorrow, but not that quick and luckily still got on my fingers. So it's one of those where I don't want to speed up too much and, you know, I'm in no rush. But yeah, having it all prepped and ready to go is good. And then that also allows you to clean a bit more as well.

So clean as you go, rather than have a chaotic mess in the kitchen when you come back in from eating because you're full and you just want to sit down in front of the TV once you've eaten, don't you? You don't want to be stuck cleaning up. So if you can put in things in the dishwasher or washing them up as you go along, you'll thank yourself later, Martin thanks earlier Martin for that one, because it's just one of those it's you know, it does help.

[00:34:15] Adam: Yeah, yeah. My favorite thing to do is make sure to clean the like pots and pans along the way because that's always the thing that I hate the most, especially after something's been sitting in there for a while. It gets even harder to clean.

[00:34:27] Martin: Do you do the, I've just left it to soak line? Is that the one? Yeah. And then,

[00:34:32] Adam: That was my dad's favorite. That was my dad's favorite cleaning method was the soaking method.

Then somebody else deals with the actual cleaning.

[00:34:39] Martin: Absolutely!

[00:34:41] Adam: So to recap there, I heard it. You know, start with a good but basic selection of ingredients. Keep a basic cupboard. Definitely don't be afraid to experiment. Try something else. Like maybe it's not going to go so well the first time, but give it a shot.

Taste while you're going so that you can adjust. Do your prep beforehand as much as you can. So it's kind of like those cooking shows where you see you're like, wow, it looks so easy what they're doing because everything is like already portioned out. But I do that when I cook and it makes such a huge difference.

Clean as you go. So do what you can so that you're not kind of doing all the cleaning at the end. And then if everything goes wrong, just throw it in a blender and turn it into a sauce.

[00:35:24] Martin: Absolutely.

[00:35:25] Adam: Yeah. Love that. Those are amazing tips, amazing tips. So the holidays are coming up and even though you know, the UK has some different holidays than me here in the US.

They kind of all involve food to a certain extent. What are the core dishes that are going to be on your holiday table this year?

[00:35:45] Martin: It's always a roast dinner for Christmas dinner. Cause that's our main holiday, I suppose. That's coming up. Obviously you guys have Thanksgiving. Whereas ours really starts Christmas and Christmas is a real family orientated time, especially like in our house. It definitely is.

And think it's a UK thing is it's people descend on you or, you know, you've got to quickly, If you don't know they're coming, have something in the freezer ready to put in the oven as well. Just, you know, some sausage rolls or something. Pigs in blankets if they're there. Do you have pigs in blankets in the US?

[00:36:13] Adam: Oh, yeah. One of my favorites. Yeah, totally.

[00:36:15] Martin: Beautiful. Excellent. Yeah, that's good. That's good. So yeah, I think, yeah, a roast dinner. So whether that be chicken or turkey they will certainly be the centerpiece then there'll be, you know, Yorkshire puddings. That's an important one.

Sprouts it's a love them or hate them sort of dish, but certainly a popular one in our house. Obviously a nice selection of roasted veg, roasted potatoes, carrots, parsnips, far too much food trifle for dessert, Christmas pudding. And then a cheese board. So there'll be, you know, cheese and crackers and then there'll be some after dinner mints, just in case you're still a bit hungry and then there'll be far too much food, far too much, it won't get eaten.

So then there'll be loads of leftovers and that's when boxing day comes in and it's leftover stuff for Boxing Day.

[00:37:03] Adam: Awesome. So what do you do with the leftovers? Do you make something new or you just heat them back up and you're done?

[00:37:12] Martin: This is where you can get a bit clever and experimenting as well, I think. So for me I do like to do a curry with whatever meat we've got left over. So a turkey curry is always nice. A chicken curry, vegetable curry, even, throw them potatoes in and a bit of a bit of spinach and you've got yourself a saag aloo Bombay aloo.

I can never remember which one it is, but you know, something nice there. Yorkshire pudding fresh batter or batter you've made previously the other day before, or the one before that, have that available, heat up a roasting tin with some oil, put in some leftover veg, potatoes, carrots, all that kind of stuff, and pour in the batter, a bit of meat as well, or some pigs in blankets is always a good one, put that in the oven, I'm drooling just thinking about this, put that in the oven, and then, you know, half an hour, 40 minutes, and you've got a really nice, Big Yorkshire pudding full of leftovers.

That you know, you can just pick it out and chop that off and enjoy that one as well. And obviously calories don't count at Christmas. So it's it's fine. You know, it's the rules. And then we have something in the North called the picky tea. I don't know if this is one you've heard about. So I don't know if it's like a Manchester thing.

It’s definitely the North, but essentially it's a buffet where there's lots of bits of food that you can pick.And tea is not drinking tea, but the evening meal in the North. So, whereas in the South, you've had, it's a big argument that they have all over the UK at this point. In the South, you've got breakfast, lunch and dinner, but in the North, you've got breakfast, dinner, tea.

And that's just, you'll never settle it, but it's funny that way. Um, But for me, it's breakfast, dinner, tea, and we'd have a picky tea because that's what we that's what we call it. And there will be bits of leftovers, buffet food. Little sausage rolls, pigs in blankets, again cheese and pineapple on sticks.

I don't know if that's one you have, but that's a nice sweet and savory

[00:39:03] Adam: No, but it sounds delicious.

[00:39:04] Martin: taste. Oh, it's beautiful. I think it's a very 1970s dinner party type thing. But it's one that I've tried to keep alive, cheese, pineapple. And if you brave a pickled onion on the end as well. And yeah that's quite a nice little one.

[00:39:17] Adam: Wow. Oh, I'm gonna have to try all these things. And I'm also very hungry now. So, um, I wanted to ask you, you're big into both barbecue and baking. If I go to dad, what cooks? There's a lot of barbecue recipes. There's a lot of baking. I would say up until pretty recently I didn't think I had mastered the barbecue and I am certainly not great at baking bread.

We struggled mightily with this over the lockdown, a lot of failed experiments. What are your tips for mastering the barbecue? And then does somebody get better at baking bread?

[00:39:54] Martin: Okay. Well, barbecues then. So the barbecue is. It's a definite art form. And I think depending on what you're cooking, obviously makes a big impact as to how you cook the food. So there's generally two schools of thought. There's low and slow, there's hot and fast and low and slow is for your bigger pieces of meat.

So, you know, your briskets your part joints and that kind of thing. And then your hot and fast is regular summer burgers, sausages, that sort of type of food. I think the art to mastering the barbecue is mastering the temperature control on your barbecue, because I think if you can know where the hot part is, where the cooler part is, and you can even hazard a guess as to sort of what temperature it's running at and how you can increase it, decrease it. If you understand that, then you can successfully cook without burning the outside and having a raw inside, you know, it's all about temperature control. So friends have always asked me about you know, what barbecue should I buy and what should I get?

And I think whether you want to be sort of loyal to a brand or not I've got one particular brand that I like and I use but I think a lot of the different brands do have the same sort of features in that there'll be vents on the barbecue and they will help control the temperature. So if the vents open, there's more air going in.

So science lessons might kick in here, but yeah, you know, more oxygen equals more flame and more heat therefore. And so you close the vent to cool it down a bit. I think the early mistakes people make is, Oh, it's getting too hot. I'll take the lid off and then you just get loads of air in it.

And so, you know, you've got to keep that. And then there's a whole sort of world of smoking meats as well. So put in some smoke flavors on the barbecue coals. So you could add a few chunks of you know, different woods and to get a nice, like a pear, like a cherry wood for a fruity smoke.

And, you know, I think what else, like an oak for a more smoky, you can buy like even cut up oak whiskey barrels those sorts of things. You can put them on and it gives you a good smoke to the meats. So that's a really good one for the barbecue. I think the game changer for me was I did a barbecue course which I got for a Christmas present off somebody one year.

 And essentially it was a, you know, a half day with a guy that cooks on the barbecue all the time. And I mean like all the time, it just didn't stop. So much so that when I was on the course, it absolutely started lashing down with rain and we all went inside because we just had enough barbecuing and he was stood outside still doing his, you know, his meat, making sure that was okay.

So, you know, if you can get on a course, I think that they're always worth doing because they'll teach you how to use the different types of you know, whether it gas or charcoal and, you know, ease to their own. And I know some people say, oh it's not charcoal. It's not proper, but sometimes you just, a gas grill is nice and quick.

And you know, why not? And then I think the other real success piece as well for the barbecue is to get a thermometer, a decent meat thermometer that you know, when that piece of chicken is done. I mean, you can buy accessory after accessory for barbecues. You know, I've got myself a wok for mine.

I've got a chicken rotisserie skewer machine. I've got the, like I said, a meat thermometer, which is a Bluetooth one. So I can even just plug it in the meat and then come back inside and it Bluetooth to my phone. It'll beep when it's ready. You know, it's cheating, but is it cheating? I don't know. It's technology embracing, isn't it?

That's what we like to say. So, you know, you've got those as options. And I think there's a whole world out there if it's something that you fancy doing. Somebody once said to me, when you get to 40, you either get into classic cars or smoking meats. There's only two paths.

And I think I've obviously took the the smoking meat route. And then for breadmaking I think for breadmaking, it's patience. You've got to have patience. You've got to be prepared for disasters and it not to work because early days. You need to understand the whole science behind it all building gluten in the bread and when you're kneading it, why you need it and what you're looking to achieve at the end of kneading it.

And it's getting a sort of a firm dough that will fight back when you're pushing in and that's when, you know, you've got a good strong gluten. And then at that point, it's then about the proving it leaving it rise. And, you know, that all depends when I write my recipes on my site, I've got to be really considerate of the different audiences because, you know, somebody in Scotland will have an ambient temperature of like six degrees, whereas somebody in in the US you know, there's might be 40 you can't just say, let it rise for an hour. You've got to say it, let it rise until it's nearly double in size. And that's the piece that you're looking to learn and understand what your kitchen's like.

Now there's a recent game changing mode that I've started using my air fryer for, which I only discovered probably about six weeks ago was the prove mode in my Ninja foodie. I absolutely love it because during winter here, you know, we don't put the heating on because it's only really me in the house during the day.

And as I sit in my office when I'm at work and there's no point heating the whole house, but the house is cold. So if I'm ever wanting to make bread or anything like that, I need to make sure that the ambient temperature of the room is decent enough to get a good rise. Now the Ninja Foodi has a prove mode where you can set 30 degrees Celsius for 60 minutes and you put your dough in there and it just rises.

And all day, every day, it will go to the right size that you want. And, you know, it just works a dream. So over the winter period, it's a nice little cheat, but it works.

[00:45:24] Adam: I love that. I think I'm going to go master bread baking and barbecuing now. So we talked about food items and sort of the staples that you want to have in the kitchen, but what are the most important, like, items or gadgets or utensils to have in a cook's kitchen?

[00:45:42] Martin: I think having a good knife is a real key piece of equipment to have. a good sharp chef's knife and a smaller paring knife. And I think if you can do both of those, that's all you need. You know, you'll see these knife blocks online and you know, everybody sells and you've got to have this, all these different sorts, but I think a good, decent chef's knife, you can do pretty much everything with, but it's got to be sharp, And, you know, if it's not sharp, it's dangerous because a blunt knife will slip and you've got to be really cautious of that.

So having a good knife and a good chopping board to suit that's steady on the work surface as well. A chopping board that moves again is dangerous. So, keeping those two ready and available, I think is the best thing you can have in your kitchen.

[00:46:23] Adam: Awesome. What is your personal guilty pleasure kitchen gadget?

[00:46:30] Martin: The most unnecessary gadget that I've got there's probably two of them. So the first one's a garlic press. I don't need a garlic press, but it's just really easy. And just putting the garlic in, squeezing it, done. You can chop garlic. But it's just easy to have a garlic press. And then the other one I think is the pasta maker that I've got, I just, it's so much more convenient buying fresh pasta, even buying not the dried stuff, but buying fresh pasta is probably much more convenient than making it.

But it's just something about the process of making pasta. And eating the pasta that you've made, but reeling it out on a pasta machine is, I don't know, it's quite good fun. It makes me feel like a real proper chef doing that. I don't know why, I don't know what it is, but I quite enjoy that.

And that's another one that I totally don't need, but really enjoy using.

[00:47:21] Adam: All right. So garlic press and pasta maker we'll link to two of those in the notes. All right, back to family stuff for a little bit. It's hard to kind of round out the show. I have found that partnership is super important when you have kids, but it's also hard to agree 100 percent of the time with your significant other. What is an area or what's something that you and your wife don't agree on or maybe didn't agree on when it comes to parenting?

[00:47:48] Martin: That's a really difficult question. Because I think you've got to be a joint force when it comes to parenting. So while you may not agree on things such as if you, I'm trying to think back to, cause we're probably talking about when my daughter was, you know, in her school years, I suppose, and can I go to such a buddy's birthday party?

Well, you've been naughty this week and I don't think you should be going, but your mom says it's okay. You know, you've got that sort of thing. I don't know. That's probably a bad example, but I think there's a partnership where you show solidarity together. There's always the risk that you could get played off against each other.

If you've got a clever little one and I think, well, mom said it's okay. Oh, right. Okay. Did she? Right. That's fine. And then you find out later that mom didn't say it was okay. And that's always a bone of contention if then Mum says, well, why did you say she could do that? And it's, Oh, well, did you not say? No?

And you know, that's always a risky one. But I think communicating between the two of you is just, you know, having that, you may not agree, but having the vision to your young one that you agree on it and nothing else can change that is an important thing. So I've probably dodged the question there because there's probably loads of stuff that we've not agreed on, but I'm trying to think to something that comes to mind isn't, it's not jumping out at me.

So it obviously wasn't as big an issue

[00:49:19] Adam: Yeah. So I want to ask you about technology. So you're an I. T. professional when you work in, you know, security and compliance and things like that. What was the relationship or how did you approach the relationship that you wanted your daughter to have with technology as she was growing up?

I mean, obviously, she's an adult now. But how did you think about it? What were the factors and considerations as she was going through her life?

[00:49:45] Martin: Yeah. I think there's obviously at the time that she was growing up as well, everything's quite new so you know, it was new anyway in sort of the nineties, 2000s when I was sort of school teenage, it was this whole new thing called the internet that you had to dial up for and, you know, all that kind of stuff, it was only going to get more and more integrated into life.

So you can, there's no avoiding it. That's the bottom line. So I think it's about awareness and safety and. You know, being sensible around giving details out and who are you talking to? So it's the whole stranger danger conversation really, isn't it? Whereas, you've got to think of a message coming to you as that stranger who approaches you at a car and says, well, you get in my car and I'll give you some sweets if you get in my car.

And it's, you know, it's making them aware of that, but also online, don't reply to anybody. Don't give your information out to people you don't know, or, you know, if somebody says X, Y, and Z, it might not necessarily be that somebody you think it is. So it's having that awareness and why are they asking me this kind of conversation to have.

And it's a really difficult one. And I do not envy parents in this day and age about having to deal with that whole the social media side of it as well, because, obviously there's some really sad statistics about things that are happening and that phone that's in that child's room, you know, unless you know what's happening and your child talks to you, it's a difficult one to approach.

So I think it's making sure you've got that communication, that confidence, but their awareness, you know, they're much more switched on as children to tech, you know, sort of try maybe asking them, you know, they're the experts really in the technology field. I don't have a clue about TikTok, but I know that my daughter can say if I needed to.

You know, do a video or whatever for my site, then this is what I need to do. And I sound really kind of old man when I'm saying that, but there was somebody I was talking to not too long ago and were saying, I don't use Google anymore. I search on Tik Tok and I couldn't get my head around it because I'm thinking how? But if they wanted the product review, they go to Tik Tok and not.

Google and well, Google's full of ads and sponsored posts and it's all SEO, blah, blah, blah. Whereas TikTok, it's just somebody who's got it and they've opened the box and that, you know, and it kind of makes sense. So, technology is just ever changing. I think that's the bottom line and it's, while you can't always remain ahead of the curve, be aware that there's a curve and another curve coming.

So, just having that awareness, I think is the key thing.

[00:52:16] Adam: Yeah. Okay, good, good, good. Alright, two last questions for you before our lightning round. What is a mistake that you've made as a dad?

[00:52:27] Martin: A mistake. I think what. It was a difficult one to say, probably, but I've only been a dad as long as my daughter's been around. So, I've not been a dad all my life, but they expect you to know all the answers. And they take what you say, most of the time, as fact, and, you don't always know all the answers.

So it's difficult to reason sometimes with young ones if that's the case and you know, I'm on this learning journey as well as she is and finding that that level, I think getting her to understand that I'm quite new to this dad thing as well is probably something that I don't know why I didn't think of it, but it's something that I probably needed to be aware of more so, through, through growing up and yeah it's as I mentioned earlier, it's a big life changing thing, so just being a bit more prepared, maybe.

[00:53:31] Adam: Yeah, okay. Well, to end, how can people follow along or be helpful to you?

[00:53:40] Martin: Well, I mean, for me, the more people I can looking at my recipes and commenting and feedback, you know, I'd love that. So there's Dadwhatcooks.com, which is the main website. I've got the Facebook page, facebook.com/dadwhatcooks and Instagram @dadwhatcooks. It's all dadwhatcooks, dadwhatcooks.

So yeah, I mean, I'd love some interaction with people take a look and, you know, share and that'd be brilliant.

[00:54:06] Adam: Awesome. Well, I have perused the site extensively. There are a lot of amazing recipes. I'm going to check out the halloumi fries one, which I saw. But didn't download yet or print out. So that'll be on my, that'll be on my list. And I thought there was also some really interesting stuff. Like you had kind of your list of core ingredients.

You had what to do with sourdough starter, like, so you kind of also have a whole bunch of informational stuff too. So hopefully folks will check that out. I found it to be a great resource so can't wait to spend some more time there. Alright, are you ready for our rapid fire round?

[00:54:40] Martin: I’m locked in and ready.

[00:54:41] Adam: Here we go. What is the most indispensable parenting product that you've ever purchased?

[00:54:47] Martin: I'm thinking parenting from newborn was the nappy bin that we had. So the nappy bin made nighttime changes so much easier. It was get the stinky nappy, chuck it in the bin and it wrapped it all up for you. And it was ready to go and you could get back to bed before.

[00:55:04] Adam: Yes.

[00:55:05] Martin: before you smell it, you know,

[00:55:08] Adam: In the States, we call that the diaper genie. That's one, for example. Yeah, that's good. Okay, what is the most useless parenting product that you've ever purchased?

[00:55:18] Martin: I don't know what you call them the trolley, the buggy, the pram type thing. Cause the amount of walking that we didn't do when we bought that. And we spent an absolute fortune on it as well. You know, we took the bit out that goes in your car and clip that in the car.

And that was fine. And then you can go for a little walk, but we had a, like a collapsible trolley. So the big pram that had, you know, all the bells and whistles on it and everything, I don't think I've probably left the house like twice because the little portable one was so much easier.

[00:55:48] Adam: Okay, great. All right, finish this sentence. The ideal day with my daughter involves this one activity.

[00:55:56] Martin: Oh, without a doubt going to the zoo. We love the zoo. I was not done it for a while. Actually, we were probably due a zoo visit, but no, absolutely. I loved it when we went and yeah, cause it was always me when she's at school and she's learned about some new animals and see those animals and the animals I'd never even heard of, you know, and you're thinking, how do you know all about these?

And it's, it was really nice to see that development coming through. So, yeah, absolutely.

[00:56:17] Adam: What is the most frustrating thing that has ever happened to you as a dad?

[00:56:21] Martin: As I mentioned, we did the dad's group and we used to do days out and trips out. And one of those every other week we did a swimming trip. So we drive off to the swimming baths which was a little bit further than the regular play group. And. My daughter wasn't the greatest traveler in the car on longer journeys and car sick when you're on your own in the car with your daughter in the back.

It's just a disaster. And always just as you're pulling up where you need to go as well. It's never kind of, you're just getting her out in time. It's just as you're approaching, isn't it?

[00:56:53] Adam: I could see the look on your face right now. You're having these horrible flashbacks. How many parenting books do you have in your house?

[00:57:01] Martin: Probably. Not many at all. Now, I think we've probably done about three or four house moves in the time of my daughter being born to now.

So as we move house, things disappear but there was one book that does stick in my mind called You’re Pregnant Too, Mate is the name of the book. I don't even know if it's still got, it must be going out there somewhere, but it was a fellow's perspective of the pregnancy and there was things in there that I was like, yeah, I get this guy.

I, yeah, I'm with it. So I think for any new dads on the way certainly worth a read if it's still available.

[00:57:35] Adam: We'll see if it's still in print. I'll bet it is. How many parenting books have you read cover to cover?

[00:57:42] Martin: Probably just that one.

[00:57:44] Adam: Okay.

[00:57:45] Martin: That's probably the only one. Yeah, I don't think we've done many.

[00:57:49] Adam: How many dad jokes do you tell on average each day?

[00:57:54] Martin: Well, as, as everybody knows, who's a dad you take an oath when you first become a dad and you've got to, the oath is to do as many as possible. And you know, as, and when possible. So even like reversing the car when you know, and you kind of, you do that and you reverse, yeah, this takes me back.

That's what you do. You say that when you're reversing, it's as many as you can possibly fit in.

[00:58:14] Adam: I love that. What was the most embarrassing thing that you've ever done in front of your daughter?

[00:58:20] Martin: Probably. We were on holiday one year and we were sat in the bar drinking with some families from, I think, Scotland and Ireland. It was just a, like a little apartment pool and it was a pool bar and the Scots and the Irish were really enjoying a sing song and they were like, right, come on.

Your turn. I mean, I'm not a singer and I had to sing. I think I sang an Oasis song just because it was like Manchester and all that. But I think probably my daughter disowned me when I was singing in the bar at that point.

[00:58:51] Adam: She pretended she didn't know you.

[00:58:54] Martin: Yeah, probably.

[00:58:56] Adam: Have you ever secretly thrown away a piece of your daughter's artwork?

[00:59:00] Martin: She might watch this. So they've never been thrown away. They're just in the loft. They're in the attic. Um, No, I think. In all seriousness, you know, there is a lot of artwork that comes home from school and playgroups and things like that. And I think I saw one of the best sites recently where you can actually send them the artwork and they'll print it in a book for you and then send you the book back.

So you kind of, you can always go through with your child, right? Which one should we get put in the book? And then once they've gone to that place, they don't come back. So, you know, you've got to be aware of that, but I think with house moves you know, there was always a bit of clear out and stuff when we've done them.

So, is still some over the years it gradually decreases.

[00:59:42] Adam: What is your favorite kids movie?

[00:59:48] Martin: I mean, I'd argue it's a kid's movie, but the SpongeBob movie is a pretty good one. I like that. That was probably my favorite, is one I've seen a couple of times.

[00:59:55] Adam: Okay. Now, very important in your household. How long can a piece of food sit on the floor and you will still eat it?

[01:00:02] Martin: So, well, I mean, obviously the rules have changed since COVID. So, pre COVID. I think it was the five second rule. During COVID. It was probably the three second rule. We've got two dogs now, so you've got to be quicker than the dogs. That's the bottom line.

[01:00:17] Adam: That's right. Or it won’t be there.

[01:00:18] Martin: To be honest, it doesn't. Yeah.

[01:00:20] Adam: All right. What nostalgic movie usually I say, to force your daughter to watch, but maybe you already have. So what was your favorite nostalgic movie to watch with your daughter?

[01:00:34] Martin: Just a couple. So the Goonies was the one that I wanted to really make sure she saw because it's just a classic, isn't it? It's just the best. But then as she was a little bit older, I think it was either the Naked Gun or Airplane. It was one of the Frank Drebin ones that was on the TV and she was, you know, trying not to laugh, but like, it's just so stupid.

You can't not laugh. I love those films. I think they're brilliant. So, um, yeah, that, that was the other one, but that was obviously she needed to be a little bit older for that one.

[01:01:07] Adam: Yeah, slapstick humor and dad jokes kind of go hand in hand, I think. So, yeah. How often do you tell your daughter back in my day stories?

[01:01:16] Martin: Back in my day. Yeah, quite often because I think that goes hand in hand with technology. Doesn't it? So I always joke, I always say I joined the war because that's a reference to a, the Only Fools and Horses TV show that's on here. I used to be on here. And that uncle Albert used to always have these war stories that went on forever.

So I'd always say, Oh, well, when I was growing up, join the war. And it'd be things like. You know, like I say, technology. So trying to explain to her that, that Netflix used to come in the post, like she couldn't get her head around that. It's like, you know, you went on, you ordered your DVD and then three days later it came in the post and then you watched it and then you sent it back and you could have two DVDs a month or 2 DVDs at a time and it costs you $ 7.99 a month. It's just like. You know, just one of those yeah. And like rewinding tapes, taking them back to Blockbuster and what's the association between a cassette tape and a pencil, you know, giving them that challenge and, you know, we all, anyone who's sort of over, I don't know what it is now, 30, 35 knows what that is, but try that.

That is a, yeah, they didn't.

[01:02:19] Adam: Yeah, that's amazing. I hadn't even thought about that. Not only the concept of the DVD, but the DVD used to come in the mail. That's pretty amazing. All right. Well, that does it for our lightning round. Thank you so much, Martin, for joining me today on Startup Dad. I learned a ton about cooking and we'll be checking out Dad What Cooks for weeks to come.

Best of luck to you and your family. Have a wonderful holiday and a great start to your new year.

[01:02:50] Martin: Thank you. You too, Adam. It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much.

[01:02:54] Adam: Thank you for listening to today's conversation with Martin Glover. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe, share, and leave me a review on Apple or Spotify.

It'll help other people find this podcast. Startup Dad is a Fishman AF production with editing support from Tommy Harron. You can join a community of over 11,000 subscribers and stay up to date on my thoughts on growth, product, and parenting by subscribing to the Fishman AF newsletter at www.fishmanAFnewsletter.com. Thanks for listening. See you next week.