Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Join Kosta and his guest: Andrew Buckner, Musician, Author and Editor-in-Chief of Cookeville Lifestyle Magazine. This week we're celebrating Thanksgiving, biscuits and gravy, and all the ways we're better together. In the immortal words of Adam Sandler, "Love to eat turkey, 'cause it's good. Love to eat turkey, like a good boy should." Thank you to our special guest host and officiant of Questions from a Cornucopia: Caroline Moore. Thelma’s Cornbread Recipe:Ingredients:1 Cup Cornmeal1⁄3 Cup S...
Join Kosta and his guest: Andrew Buckner, Musician, Author and Editor-in-Chief of Cookeville Lifestyle Magazine.
This week we're celebrating Thanksgiving, biscuits and gravy, and all the ways we're better together. In the immortal words of Adam Sandler, "Love to eat turkey, 'cause it's good. Love to eat turkey, like a good boy should." Thank you to our special guest host and officiant of Questions from a Cornucopia: Caroline Moore.
Thelma’s Cornbread Recipe:
Ingredients:
Directions:
Find out more about Andrew Buckner:
https://www.andrewbucknermusic.net/
Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is a product of Morgan Franklin Media and recorded in Cookeville, TN.
This episode of Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is made possible by our partners at Aspire Barber and Beauty Academy.
Find out more about Aspire Barber and Beauty Academy:
https://aspirebarberandbeauty.com/
Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is a podcast about business, parenting and living life intentionally. We're here every week to bring you intentional conversations on making your own path to success, challenging the status quo, and finding all the ways we're better. Recorded in Cookeville, TN, Kosta joins guests from all walks of life to bring fresh perspective and start your week with purpose. We're better together.
Morgan Franklin: This week on
better together we're
celebrating Thanksgiving and all
the people that make us better
when we're together. Please
welcome our special guest host
Caroline Moore with this week's
guest, Andrew Buckner for
questions from a cornucopia, a
speed round of harvest delights
to ring in the season of
gratitude.
Caroline Moore: Hello, it's your
favorite Turkey Caroline and I
am beyond excited and honored to
once again deliver the rapid
fire of a lifetime to the
multitalented oh so generous,
and omnipresent Andrew Buckner,
are you ready, Andrew?
Andrew Buckner: No, but let's do
it.
Caroline Moore: Okay, let's go.
First up Thanksgiving lunch or
dinner. Dinner, for sure. fried
or baked turkey? Baked. Canned,
or organic cranberry sauce?
Neither they shouldn't exist.
Controversial. Pumpkin or pecan
pie. Pumpkin. Alright, now what
is your favorite Thanksgiving
dish?
Andrew Buckner: My favorite
Thanksgiving dish would have to
be gravy and rolls together.
Caroline Moore: That's a good,
that's good. Now, if you could
have any musician play at your
Thanksgiving meal, who would it
be?
Andrew Buckner: Chris Daly from
Nickel Creek? No doubt about it.
Well, I'd
Caroline Moore: have you this
way.
Andrew Buckner: I'd have a
Nickel Creek instead.
Caroline Moore: Okay, now would
you rather cook the Thanksgiving
meal or clean the dishes? Cook?
Yeah, I'm I would clean. I'm a
bad cook. You don't want me
cooking your Thanksgiving meal?
Andrew Buckner: Would you even
want me cooking it either, but I
like to cook. So.
Caroline Moore: Would you rather
run a turkey trot? or attend a
football game? Football game for
sure. Me too. And I don't even
like football. But I will not be
trotting. All right,
thanksgiving parade or the
Westminster Dog Show?
thanksgiving parade. Now at the
thanksgiving parade. Do you
prefer the Snoopy balloon? Or
the charlie brown balloon?
Andrew Buckner: Charlie Brown.
Caroline Moore: And finally,
Black Friday, or Cyber Monday?
Andrew Buckner: Cyber Monday.
I'm allergic to Black Friday.
Log Me In the house. Get away
from the
Caroline Moore: crowds. Oh, and
of course I gotta ask what or
who are you most thankful for?
Andrew Buckner: I'm thankful for
my wife, Brenda, she helps keep
me as sane as whatever this is.
She helps level me off and get
me through the rough day. So I'm
very grateful for her. Well,
Caroline Moore: Andrew, this
concludes another iconic
Thanksgiving rapid fire. I'm so
excited to hear you on the show
and Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Morgan Franklin: Welcome to
Better Together with Kosta
Yepifantsev, a podcast on
parenting business and living
life intentionally. We're here
every week to bring you
thoughtful conversation, making
your own path to success,
challenging the status quo, and
finding all the ways we're
better together. Here's your
host, Kosta Yepifantsev.
Kosta Yepifantsev: Hey, y'all,
it's Kosta. Today I'm here with
my guest, Andrew Buckner,
musician, author and editor in
chief of Cookeville Lifestyle
Magazine. Andrew, it's
impossible to define who you are
or what you contribute to our
community with a title for many
titles. This year, you've taken
on the role of editor in chief
for Cookeville. Lifestyles
magazine, while continuing your
career as a writer and musician.
Our audience might not know
after you graduated from TTU. In
2010, you became an insurance
agent. How do you go from
selling insurance to full time
creative?
Andrew Buckner: I love that
question. Well, when I graduated
college, that was in 2010. So I
was entering economic crisis in
the recession. So I took a job
at I read Express when I was 22.
Doing customer service, I was
the slowest on my team at 80
calls a day nice. I got an
opportunity to go through
insurance, which I thought
Anything's better than answering
phone calls. So I went to an
insurance agency where I
answered phone calls all day and
wrote policies and took payment
and filed claims. I did it in my
hometown. So I knew everyone's
backstory, it was in Monterey,
very tight knit community. I did
that for a few years. And I
became very disenchanted with
it. It was a it was a very poor
fit for creative. And I had an
opportunity to come and work in
human resources in Viet morale
officer for a company and I
transition there and then that
kind of gave me the freedom to
actually think for the first
time to get out of across the
cycle. And I got an opportunity
to go rat and Knoxville and it
was more fertile ground for me
to receive that opportunity. I
was able to say yes to it. We
relocated to Knoxville and I did
script writing and narrative
construction and ran second
camera for videography company.
And it gave me a taste of what
the creative life could be like
and I was doing creativity for a
living from there. When we
decided to move back. I thought
I'm just going to go for it. And
I started freelancing, and I
started writing resumes and I
started writing listings for
realtors and editing my friend's
copy on their websites and then
I slowly started writing with
Chelsea over time. I just built
up a book of business and then
continue to play shows
throughout all that. So it's
been a wild journey, but one
that it kind of makes sense.
Whenever he pulled back, it
didn't in the moment while I was
living it, but from a higher
level view, it makes sense. So
Kosta Yepifantsev: like when you
were a kid, were you always
excited about the book report?
Like you were just like jazz?
Like, I can't wait to write
this. I mean, when others what
is writing mean to you? And how
did it become something that's
such a big part of your life?
Well,
Andrew Buckner: it's weird. To
answer your first part, yes, the
Scholastic Book Fair was the
most exciting thing for me. And
you know, when we had the
writing assessment in sixth
grade and 11th grade, like I was
all about it, I think I got a
six out of six. So I was like,
there's the see there of some
things. So
Kosta Yepifantsev: you know,
it's good. Well,
Andrew Buckner: I definitely
didn't at the time, and I know
more of what I'm doing now that,
but then when I graduated high
school, I was attending
Tennessee Tech, and the Herald
citizen had a sports journalism
position open and I was covering
my hometown sports, I went from
job shadowing on a Thursday to
writing an article the next day.
So I spent the next five years
learning how to, not in a
professional sense, because I
definitely wasn't making a
living doing that, but in a semi
professional sense, write and
express myself. So the bug was
always there. And the romantic
ideal of a laugh to me was
always Hemingway in a room or CS
Lewis, and whoever it may be,
that was even more so than the
life of a touring musician. The
romantic ideal was a house with
a big window and a guy smoking a
cigar lating and writing on that
Kosta Yepifantsev: movie, the
window by Johnny Depp. Is that
what it's secret windows?
Andrew Buckner: Except less
madness.
Kosta Yepifantsev: Okay. I'm
starting to gauge a theme here.
So there are so many parts of
your life that feels
serendipitous. And as someone
that believes in the power of
fate, I want to know if there
were any clues or signs from the
universe that you were on the
right path?
Andrew Buckner: You know, I
think, yes. And I think it came
in the form of conversations,
there were these guidepost
conversations where I would meet
a hero of mine. And whether they
believed it or not, they would
encourage me to keep going and
to keep working and to work on
guitar to continue to rap. And
they seem to come at moments
where I could have easily leaned
into a corporate laugh, which is
a great life, but not a life
that I wanted for me. And so I
feel like the serendipitous part
was that the right people came
along at the right time to give
me just enough nudge to maybe
get three weeks or a month, or a
month and a half of
encouragement to keep working on
guitar in my bedroom or to keep
writing. And so yeah, there's
definitely been a serendipitous
component to it. And it's come
in the form of other people.
Kosta Yepifantsev: So if you
have this vision of wanting to
be the author just writing these
sensational novels, fiction or
nonfiction regardless, but then
you're also playing the guitar,
and you're, you know, obviously,
excelling as a musician. And I
know, we talked a little bit
about kind of like your
background in movies. So if you
packaged it all together, what's
the dream job?
Andrew Buckner: You know, the
dream job is probably to be an
acoustic guitar player that
plays house concerts for 30 to
50. People are not okay to tell
stories, to enhance evenings to
be conversation starters, to
give a fertile environment for
people to connect. That's kind
of my dream. You know, there's
this kind of pervasive thought
of it's, you know, celebrity or
bust. To me, nothing could be
farther from the truth. You
know, one of my favorite quotes
is Dave Matthews. He said, I
think I only have 35,000 fans,
but they come to every show I
play. And to me have it an
audience and a body of work,
whether it's a small audience, a
big one, a tiny one, I don't
care to have a body of work that
I'm proud of. and a small
audience that connects with
that, or any audience that
connects with it is kind of my
dream. And just being a
connecting point for people
through art, whether it be
through writing or through
music. That's kind of the dream.
And I'm kind of getting to live
it in a way like it's, you know,
scattered right now, because I'm
doing so many things. But if I
had to pin it down to one
category, it would probably be
playing small concerts 150 units
a year.
Kosta Yepifantsev: And you know,
when it comes to being a
creative, and I mean, I guess I
could kind of call myself a
creative to an extent, I'm sure,
I'd say Morgan probably is more
of the creative in the bunch. I
feel like it's hard. Because,
first off, you're very much in
high demand. I mean, there are
people all across every single
community across the United
States that need, whether it's
graphic design, whether it's
audio engineering, whether it's
producing a podcast, whatever it
might be, but it's expensive,
because you are in such high
demand that you are so valuable,
that you can only have a small
group that you can actually work
with that are able to afford
your services. Or if you take
the other side of the coin,
you're going to have to work
like 50 different clients. So
like how do you find time for
yourself when you are going from
one end, working with somebody
over here to working with
somebody over there is it hard
to find time for you?
Andrew Buckner: It is and you
probably experienced this too.
Having the time and being calm
enough and present enough to
enjoy that time are two
completely separate things. I
try to end every A alone.
Honestly, I try to take an hour
and a half every day to be
alone. And if it's the same
YouTube video I watched the day
before, while I look at my
fantasy basketball bets for the
day, you know, that's fine.
Kosta Yepifantsev: How are your
beds doing? Yeah,
Andrew Buckner: I'm up 1700 On a
yes. I'm waiting to hit a big
one because every gambler ever
since. But the cool thing is,
over the last six months, I've
been able to narrow my focus a
lot. And there's these beautiful
aspects of our community and
these businesses and these
people that I've getting to pour
into, you know, glass tangerine
is a really big part of my life
now in the crab tree and her
team over there. You know, I get
to they're some of my best
friends. She's wonderful. She's
insanely great and has no
competitive spirit and just
wants everyone to succeed and
helps all these other
businesses. So I've put a lot of
my energy in that. And I've been
able to lighten my load just a
little bit. And narrowing my
focus is definitely helping me
do better work, I think. And
also be happier doing the work.
You got kids, no kids. And I'm
Chester who rolls our life in
our house.
Kosta Yepifantsev: But you have
a spouse, right? Yes. Okay,
nice. Very cool. So I'll tell
you, one of the biggest things
for me is the component of
having children and finding time
to also spend time with them.
That's something that it's a non
negotiable thing. You know what
I'm saying? And so, I'm still
working on I talk about a lot on
this podcast, I'm still working
on trying to find time for my
kids enough time that it's
meaningful for myself and for
them as well. Let's talk about
Cookeville lifestyle magazine.
Yeah. Through Cookeville
lifestyles, you've had the
unique opportunity of telling
the stories and sharing the
legacy of some of Coco's most
influential and impactful
community members. Is there
anything that surprised you
about getting to know this group
of individuals?
Andrew Buckner: Absolutely. The
biggest thing, especially in
their like, political realm, is
if there's a parenthese, with an
RNN or an IRA day, it hasn't
mattered. Everyone has been
incredibly kind. And I've seen
that the Venn diagram, the
center circle in this community
is so much bigger than ever,
certainly, I've seen the
servants, you know, whether it
be Lauren or Randy, or whoever
you want to name Rob Owens, just
the list goes on. I mean,
Morgan's mom and dad are a great
example. It's selfless people
that want to succeed, and
they're driven and they're
hungry. But man, they're just as
hungry for their neighbor's
success as they are their own.
Yeah. And that has been
incredible to
Kosta Yepifantsev: see they're
dedicated to the community as a
whole. Yes, you know, they're
trying to bring everybody with
them. It's like not one, there's
not a single person that I've
seen featured in the magazine,
that's not reaching out to
people that maybe have had a bad
day or going through something
like hey, how can I help come
on, or somebody that's, you
know, starting something new or
a new cause championing for
them, helping them financially,
it's a network of leaders. And
that that is a through line that
I've taken from a lot of our
conversations with Cookeville.
That is, the strongest aspect of
our community is we have a
network of leadership that goes
beyond our political ideologies,
our personal, you know tiffs
that we might have had, going
all the way back to elementary
school, you know, when you got
into a fight on the playground,
or some crazy like that. But I
got to ask, though, like, when
you do meet these people, and
you realize specifically the
people that have the AR, the eye
or the D, and they're just a
regular person, do you ever
reflect back and just say, like,
Gosh, I wish they could be like
this all the time. I wish they
weren't kind of put into this
weird box where they have to be
somewhat polarizing.
Andrew Buckner: You know, less
than that. I feel shame at the
boxes that I've put people in.
I've labeled people based on
their, whatever worldview they
have, and I base it on other
people's opinions. And over the
last six months, I've learned
I'm never doing it again. You
know, it's gonna be about our
personal relationship, how you
treat me and how you treat those
around me. And that's been what
I've learned. If I've learned
anything from the magazine, it's
been that I've been misguided in
where I've placed my affection
and love and admiration and
respect. And that's definitely
changed for me, for sure.
Complex.
Kosta Yepifantsev: We're all
complex, complex. So here's the
truth. You can never make
everyone happy. Cookeville
lifestyle magazine has rubbed
some people the wrong way,
whether they think it's self
serving or elitist, or just
downright unnecessary. There are
always people quick to
criticize. What do you say to
those people?
Andrew Buckner: That's a great
question. I do believe that is
definitely the case. I think
it's overwhelmingly been
received positively. But with
any type of publication or
creative outlet, there's going
to be criticism, but I'll say
Chelsea that owns and runs the
magazine. I know her heart and I
know my heart and I know what
our passions are and what our
end goals are. We're not doing
this to make money or to be
known. We're doing it because
there's a lot of beautiful
stories that have never been
told in this community. I mean,
we have a shared friend, you and
Tina Francis. She's amazing.
She's existed in the shadows and
she's changed countless labs,
you know, and if this magazine
if there was only one article
published and It was harder than
it's been worth all the work.
And so criticism is great, some
of it is warranted, it's making
a sharper, mechanist better,
it's making us think more about
our community and see it through
other lenses and through those
that are marginalized or might
not be celebrated as much as
they deserve. So we're ever
growing and expanding and
changing and reevaluating it or
stepping back and saying, How
can we be better? So to those
that are critical of it, hope
that in a year, you've seen the
problems diminish, right.
Kosta Yepifantsev: And that's
the beauty of it. It's just like
any business, you know, you take
the criticism, because that's
the feedback that you need to
get better. Honestly, the
magazine has only improved issue
by issue. And so I can't even
imagine was great when it
launched, I didn't think it
could honestly improve. But when
I opened I just, you know, I was
reading Randy Porter's the most
recent issue while we were
getting ready for the podcast,
and I was just like, this is
just lights out. This is
amazing. And is this something
that's being produced locally by
someone in Cookeville? A team of
people in Cookeville, obviously,
I guess I just have to ask, what
kind of criticism could people
possibly have?
Andrew Buckner: I think it most
of it comes from a good place. I
think most of it comes from
people that love their friends.
Yeah. And want their friends to
be celebrated. And what I would
say is they're gonna get
celebrated. Yeah. You know, it
may say most influential and it
may say, movers and shakers and
everything. But it's not the
only most influential people are
the only movers and shakers,
that we want to celebrate this
entire community. And if there's
a great story to be told, we're
going to try to mine it and
we're going to try to share it
and we're going to try to make
connecting points between people
that may not realize that there
are a lot a lot.
Kosta Yepifantsev: When I
started college, I had no idea
what I wanted to be when I grew
up. Maybe that's why it took me
14 years to graduate. getting an
education is what you make it
and that's a lesson I've had to
learn the hard way. Today's
episode is presented by our
partners at Aspire barber and
Beauty Academy and Aveda concept
school providing a one of a kind
education experience to aspiring
barbers and beauty professionals
with over 52 years of real world
experience. Aspire instructors
are equipped with the hands on
knowledge to help you become the
stylist you're meant to be. And
I'll tell you, I can't wait for
you guys to find like that one
person that you know you never
expected. And you get them in
the magazine and you you listen
to their story and you write
their story. And you're just
like, oh my goodness, some of
the best podcasts that I've ever
had were people that I'd never
met I'd never heard of. And they
come in and I'm just like, My
mind is blown. Justin Beals was
a great example. I've never met
Justin before, I don't know
anything about him, you know,
and he comes in and he just lays
down the gauntlet. So anyway,
can't wait for that period. I
want to talk about your work as
a musician and artist. You
released your first EP in 2017
coffee and a good book and your
second EP in 2023 coffee and a
good book volume two. These are
both solo acoustic albums that
feel exactly like the peace and
familiarity of coffee, and a
good book. As an
instrumentalist. What does
success in music look like to
you?
Andrew Buckner: I touched on it
a little bit earlier, but
creating something that's taken
so many hours in the bedroom
alone to work on to practice
this crazy, high and low, you
know, craft to make something
even if it's a tiny audience
that is celebrated, don't say
celebrate, don't care about
being celebrated, if it
resonates with someone, and if
it I mean, I'm someone who deals
with depression and anxiety, and
you know, it's like I know,
little tiny pieces of art can be
like the macro savior of a day,
you know, and it's like, if my
little song paired with a
podcast I love or a movie
rescued somebody for a day, then
that's incredible to me, that
lifts me up and keeps me going.
You
Kosta Yepifantsev: could have
stayed as an insurance agent,
you could have continued to work
at a root even though I know
working in customer service
eight hours a day is very
difficult. You could have
continued to be head of morale
for an HR, you know, why pick
something so hard? I know I kind
of asked that question a little
earlier on. But you could have
done something a lot easier than
than what you're doing. Now.
Andrew Buckner: What's funny, I
appreciate the way that you
frame that because you don't
think about that light when
you're living it. If you have
that artistic fire inside of you
trying to suppress it takes just
as much energy as living it. You
know, when I lived all these
years thinking that's not
possible. And I can't have that
type of community and I can't go
on stage with this type of
person. You know, when I kept
working, and I'm still working,
I'm far from where I want to be
as a musician or a writer, but
it's incremental, tiny growth
that you can't see when you look
in the mirror that when you've
been lifting weights for three
weeks, and then you can't see it
in three months. You can't see
much of a change but your
friends can and your family can
because they're not looking at
it through your own eyes. And so
to see this growth and to look
back to step out of myself and
say, Hey look, be happy with
where you're at and be happy
with what you're getting. to do
and so yeah, it's been hard, but
I'm so thankful. Have
Kosta Yepifantsev: you your
biggest credit? Oh,
Andrew Buckner: 100% before you
walked in, I was already
thinking like, man, that segment
I did with Carolina, I could
have done a lot better on that.
So yeah, I'm definitely my own
worst critic. I'll play a show
where I have to do improv guitar
for two hours. And I'll be like,
Man, I really messed up the solo
on the 14th song. What were you
thinking? Why did you try that?
You shouldn't try that idea. And
I'm like, you're having to
create something for two hours
Shut up. So at least now I can
argue with myself pretty well.
Yeah. And
Kosta Yepifantsev: I'm sure
it'll get easier, you know, with
time as you get older, right. I
mean, I look at like Dave
Matthews. And he was producing
albums. Like, all the time, he
was always in the spotlight. And
then he got to like, 5055. And
he's like, You know what, me and
Tim Reynolds. We're just gonna
go hang. Yeah, we need 35,000
fans to come to every show. And
that's all we need. You know,
I'm saying, yeah, and
Andrew Buckner: let's open a
vineyard. Yeah.
Kosta Yepifantsev: I know,
storytelling is something you're
incredibly passionate about. And
as this episode is celebrating
the start of the holiday season
and Thanksgiving, I want to talk
about your favorite Thanksgiving
tradition and how it started.
Well,
Andrew Buckner: every
Thanksgiving, we go to my
grandma's house, which I've got
a recipe of hers to share, maybe
at some point, but her name is
Thelma and we get to her house
every Thanksgiving. And she
makes this incredible spread of
food, her homemade gravy, and
Turkey and homemade dressing and
all this incredible stuff. So
eating my grandma's food is my
favorite Thanksgiving tradition.
Kosta Yepifantsev: I'll tell
you, if anybody hasn't listened
to the Thanksgiving episode.
Last year, Thanksgiving is my
favorite holiday. It's
incredible dude. And I will tell
you, alright, so you know, like
when I was talking about the
cooking on the square, like I
started myself starting Monday
so that I can eat as much as I
can on Friday. So Thanksgiving,
I haven't eaten any at all in
November. So I'm just gonna go
ahead and wait until I get all
the way to Thanksgiving guys.
I'm joking. By the way I don't
like starving myself. But I will
say I love everything that
Thanksgiving represents because
it's one of those days where a
lot of people it's Christmas.
You know, for a lot of people it
is for me it's not because
Christmas is just so hectic.
There's like, you know,
presents, there's trash. My OCD
is like through the roof. I've
got trash bags I need honestly,
I need like a helper on
Christmas. However Thanksgiving,
we also go to Jessica's parents
house and they cook and it's
food. It's football. And it's
family. And they obviously want
us to leave after the food. But
I'm like, Nah, I'm stay like the
sun's going down. You know, at
this point, we've watched
football all day just because
mom's like, hey, I want to watch
some TV too. And so she puts on
like some old movie. She only
watches the ion channel. She
watches law and order. And like
old movies that come on. Like I
think we watched Twister last
year or something like that. But
yeah, man. It's the it's my
favorite holiday. It's the best
holiday of all time. Oh, yeah.
Andrew Buckner: Have you heard
the Thanksgiving song by Ben
Rector? No, I'll send it to you.
You're gonna sing it right now.
Just don't watch it when
anybody's around because you'll
be stopping it come out in like
2021. And it's, I'll send it to
you. Okay, we're gonna talk
about it anymore, because I
can't do
Kosta Yepifantsev: it justice.
Well, and I'll tell you the
thing about Thanksgiving for me,
I guess is like, and we're just
going to talk about Thanksgiving
guys. Because I mean, it's our
Thanksgiving episode. So why
not? We talked about everything
else. Now it's time to talk
about Thanksgiving. When we came
from Russia, there is no
Thanksgiving in Russia. Let's
just start there. More
importantly, No one ate turkey.
Yeah, they ate goose or duck.
Right. So our first
Thanksgiving, my mom made a
goose, not a turkey. And I had
to explain to her the next year
because you know, at this point,
they're talking about it in
class. So I realized like
pilgrims, you know, indigenous
people. And there's a turkey
there. We embraced it. It was
one of those holidays. I mean,
we put our own little spin on
it. We brought the vodka and the
pickles out. But ultimately, we
embraced it. And it was
something that brought our
family together more than really
any other holiday. And that's
the beauty of Thanksgiving is
you know, you can spend a day
where you're unplugged, where
you're not worried about what's
going on around you.
Everything's closed.
Everything's going to be closed
the next day, and you get to
just exist with your family.
Yeah, that's a wonderful day,
the recipe before we wrap up, it
wouldn't be Thanksgiving without
telling a few family secrets.
Will you tell us about your
favorite Thanksgiving dish and
how we can make it okay,
Andrew Buckner: so mine's a
little bit layered. It's
cornbread that my grandma makes,
which is my favorite thing that
she makes and it's a recipe that
was handed down to her from her
mother in law, but you can also
use this for stuffing. So the
ingredients are very simple. One
cup cornmeal, 1/3 cup self
raising flour, three fourths cup
buttermilk, cooking oil and
nonstick cooking spray. The
direct winds are super simple to
sew. Combine the cornmeal and
flour. Add buttermilk until the
consistency is slightly thicker
than pancake batter. That's
usually about three fourths of a
cup. Then add two tablespoons of
cooking oil to a small seasoned
cast iron skillet. If you don't
have one, that's no problem.
Just spray a coating of cooking
spray on the cast iron skillet
before adding the cooking oil.
Pour your flour and cornmeal
mixture into the skillet. And
then place that in the oven at
450 degrees and do not preheat
your oven, just let it heat as
it goes along. It usually takes
about 25 minutes to cook. But
when it's a beautiful brown on
top, you'll know it's ready to
pull out and cool off.
Kosta Yepifantsev: And that's
it. That sounds incredible. Oh,
it's
Andrew Buckner: amazing. It's so
crispy can have some Oh, I can
like just I'll just take
Kosta Yepifantsev: a square like
a little square like next time
you see me running just like
pull it out of your pocket and
be like, Hey, I've been waiting
for you.
Andrew Buckner: I'll carry a
cast iron skillet around the
west side just in case we run up
on each other.
Kosta Yepifantsev: I mean, if
you have a skillet in your hand
between the hours of nine and
11, you have a pretty good
chance of seeing me on the west
side.
Andrew Buckner: If you're in the
west side, you have a pretty
good chance of seeing me.
Kosta Yepifantsev: See what I
see walking across the street
all the time, but you're always
in a hurry. And you're going
from one from one side of the
west side to the other and back.
And it's so true. There's
somebody that's like following
you and they're just trying to
keep up just like you're on a
mission. Yeah.
Andrew Buckner: And I'm always
waving at you. I'm always like
live in both directions. Like
thank you so much for honoring
the simple traffic rule. Yeah,
the crosswalk is a real thing.
Kosta Yepifantsev: I'm so happy
that you let me use this
crosswalk. Thanks. So remember
guys, before we get to our final
question, a crosswalk means that
if you're driving and somebody
wants to cross the street, you
have to stop and allow them to
cross the street. So there is no
stop sign. There is no traffic
light. It's just a simple
crosswalk, but you do have to
stop and yield to pedestrians is
my
Andrew Buckner: favorite PSA of
all time.
Kosta Yepifantsev: So we always
like to end the show on a high
note, who is someone that makes
you better when you're together?
Andrew Buckner: Obviously my
wife I mean, she has helped me
navigate anxiety and depression
and the creative life and the
ebb and flow of oil. That person
said something great to me and
that person doesn't think I'm
good enough you know that the
high and low the roller coaster
of being a creative so having
her along for the journey and
the lot that she brings to it is
a huge gift to me.
Kosta Yepifantsev: Thank you to
our partners at Aspire Barber
and Beauty Academy for
presenting this episode. Aspire
is an Aveda Concept school
providing a one-of-a-kind
education experience to aspiring
barbers and beauty
professionals. Created by the
owners of Loxx Salon and Spa,
Aspire’s instructors bring over
52 years of real-world
experience, equipping students
with the hands-on knowledge to
help you become the stylist
you’re meant to be. New classes
are now enrolling. Visit
aspirebarberandbeauty.com
Morgan Franklin: Thank you for
joining us on this episode of
Better Together with Kosta
Yepifantsev. If you've enjoyed
listening and you want to hear
more, make sure you subscribe on
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or
wherever you find your podcasts.
Leave us a review or better yet,
share this episode with a
friend. Today's episode was
written and produced by Morgan
Franklin post production mixing
and editing by Mike Franklin.
Want to know more about Kosta
visit us at
kostayepifantsev.com. We're
better together. We'd like to
remind our listeners that the
views and opinions expressed
during this episode are those of
the individual speakers and do
not necessarily represent or
reflect the official policy or
position of this show its
producers or any related
entities or advertisers. While
our discussions may touch on
various topics of interest,
please note that the content is
intended to inspire thought
provoking dialogue and should
not be used for a substitute for
professional
advice.Specifically, nothing
heard on this podcast should be
construed as financial, legal,
medical or any other kind of
professional advice. We
encourage our listeners to
consult with a professional in
these areas for guidance
tailored to their specific
circumstances.