With every success in life, the stakes get raised a little higher. The glare of the spotlight intensifies. People expect more from you.
It's enough to make anyone crack, so just before the second-season debut of USA'sPlaying House—a comedy about two best friends taking on everything from cheating husbands to raising a baby—we decided to help the show's stars (and creators) Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair prepare by putting their feet to the fire.
Or rather, putting their faces to some fiery-hot nuts.
Our (admittedly flawed) theory: If you can take the heat of one tastebud-searing dish after another, you can conquer anything. Anything. With each dish, we turned up the heat—from jalapeño cheesy poofs to "abusive spicy" wings—and asked a few burning questions along the way.
How do you feel about spicy food in general?
St. Clair (JSC): "I don't go on food safaris looking for spicy foods, but I won't turn down trying them. Lennon is a wimp. She has a delicate constitution when it comes to—"
Parham (LP): "That's not true. When have you heard me say that?"
JSC: "You did here. You were all—"
LP: "I don't generally go for spicy. I generally go for mild."
Okay. Well, which one of you is the better cook?
JSC: "Me. 100 percent. But Lennon's the better baker, because I don't measure anything. I had a Christmas party, and I made lemon bars that were hard as rocks, and Lennon had to re-do them."
What are your signature dishes you make better than anyone?
JSC: "She makes an incredible banana pudding with Nilla wafers. That's her signature, and I make a great chicken salad dish that I stole from Giada [De Laurentiis]."
LP: "You make lamb. You make a great quiche."
JSC: "I love to whip up a quiche."
What kind of quiche do you make?
JSC: "I try to be as French as possible. I read obsessively about how French women behave, and they always said you can throw anything into a quiche. I love bacon, I love mushroom. I threw shrimp into a quiche once and I thought, 'This is crazy. Who does that?' and it was delicious. It was shrimp and spinach."
What's the key to making a great quiche?
JSC: "You've got to use a Pillsbury crust. I know it's got stuff in it that means it can last for 14 years, but you've got to use it, because it is straight-up delicious."
In the first season of Playing House, the brunch scene pretty much exemplifies every awkward, getting-to-know-you hangout women have. How did that come together?
JSC: "Lennon and I have come across several women in our lives who don't have any female friends, and they're a terrifying animal. Like, when we complimented Bird Bones and said, 'That's a beautiful sweater. Where did you get it?' And she says, 'my birthday.' If you ask someone where you got something and they don't say something like, 'Marshall's, and I only paid $12.99 for it,' you should know that woman probably doesn't have any girlfriends."
LP: "She would be a good girlfriend if she knew the rules. Most women connect by sharing their faults and women who seemingly don't have any faults and don't feel comfortable sharing them, those women are terrifying."
Have you had any food moments on-camera that have made you go, "I can't believe I'm doing this"?
LP: "I did shots of maple syrup in the first season, but it was really Earl Gray decaf tea or something. And even though it was decaf, I [was breastfeeding and] my body wasn't used to caffeine, so I got a terrible headache."
JSC:"Twins play baby Charlotte, and they love [baby food] puffs, so we had to have puffs in our pockets at all times, and if they got a little antsy, we'd say, 'Puff 'em. You gotta puff 'em.' So you'll see a lot of times they're munching on something, and that's why."
So you guys are well-versed in managing talent.
JSC: "Yes. We had to do that with the Property Brothers too, when they were on the show. We had to keep giving them puffs, just to keep them happy."
You heard it here first. To see how Parham and St. Clair handled tastebud-searing foods, watch the video. To catch the duo on Playing House, tune in on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EST on USA.
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