In this episode Chef Holen invites three combat veterans into his kitchen to make ground lamb lemongrass skewers with tzatziki sauce on pita with cabbage and heirloom tomatoes. They discuss a documentary titled “Battlegrounds and Backroads” created by two of them, Brad Pietzyk and Sean Davis, with the music created by the third, Matt Zedwick in collaboration with Jesse Taylor who co-wrote and performs the song. The documentary follows them around the backroads of Oregon where they have discussions with other veterans regarding Veteran suicide prevention.
In one moment, you can have it all. They survived the battlegrounds of war only to
face their hardest fight back home in Oregon. Today, we’re talking about this and how to make
the best lamb skewers and Tzatziki sauce you’ve ever had. From combat photos to finding connection
on the back roads, this is a conversation about service struggle. And sometimes all you
need is good food and listening ear. [Music] Welcome to this episode of What Do You Want
to Cook? I’m Chef Chris Holland. in the next studios here in Astoria, Oregon. And uh we just
finished cooking. We’re enjoying a wonderful meal with some new friends here. Uh one I’ve known
for a long time, Matt Zedwick. How are you? Say hello. Brad Pietzyk. That’s right. All right. And
Sean Davis over here. We’re talking about um well, we’re talking about homegrown lamb and Tzatziki
sauce and pita and cabbage. But more importantly, I want to have a conversation about veteran
suicide prevention uh post service. Um Brad and Sean, so you have recently finished a documentary.
Yes. Titled Battlegrounds and Back Roads. Um where you explored Oregon um and talked to a lot of
veterans along the way along with a number of other people. Tell me about tell me about your
documentary. Well, it’s a uh 52 minute documentary in which we interview like you said people all
over the state of Oregon. Some of them experts, some of them have told us their own stories and
a gold star mother who lost her son to suicide. uh a gold star wife who and how I met her is we
had done a Veterans Day event at Ten Fifteen last year and the paper wrote a story about us and
I went to Fred Meyers to get a couple of those papers and she was the cashier and she’s like why
are you buying all these papers and like well and I explained that we’re doing this event to try to
stop veteran suicide and she looked at me she’s like well my husband was one of the 22 a day and I
was like it just showed me like it could happen it could be anywhere anybody, you know, and it’s it’s
really prevalent and like, you know, like I said, Oregon is always really high on all of the it’s
in the top five for states for veteran suicide in rural areas. And so that’s what we were trying
to figure out why. And so we jumped in his Bronco and we drove 4,000 miles and talked to people.
And we had pretty much the same answers over and over again. Yeah. We uh we heard a lot that
veterans complaints with when they first got out of the military was they felt like they had no
purpose. They no longer had an identity. These are all things that you’re almost issued at uh
basic training when you get them. And uh yeah, they’re gone and they move to rural
Oregon where there’s a high gun culture, uh um drinking culture, and um you don’t have
your battle buddies anymore, and you don’t really know what you’re supposed to be doing. And
then also haunted with, you know, sometimes PTSD or depression. Um, and so talking to people, we
learned like what we kind of a couple solutions is to get people veterans more engaged in their
communities. I think it’s all about community. That’s why I was really excited to come on this
because I know you’re all about community too watching the show. Oh yeah. Just your intro, you
talk about community. Yeah. That that cut intro that you do. I love all over. Thank you. We’re
going to plug that in. Good. Yeah. finish. Good. I promise. Good. And I I should mention uh you’re
asking us about the documentary, but Matt’s also in it. Matt did music for the documentary, the
song during the credits, and that’s at the end, but everybody sits there until the song is over.
So, and they love the song. You know, we’ve only shown up twice so far. And the first time was
in Denver at um Together with Veterans National Conference, and we got a standing ovation. I sent
a five minute standing ovation. and he said, “No, it’s not.” But it just seemed like a long time
sitting there probably 30 seconds. And uh and then we did it again in Ben at the women’s uh veterans
conference out there and they loved it. And in attendance was the head of the Oregon Emergency
Management Department, the head of the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs, and everybody
just loved it, you know, and it was really cool. And we were down yesterday presenting to the state
senate committee for veterans emergency management and world affairs and federal affairs. Federal and
world affairs and um he can do a lot. He can do a lot. The chairman uh Senator Manning, he’s a state
senator. He’s like, I want to show this to the entire legislature. So yeah, it’s man. And and if
you guys don’t know, Z and I uh serve together in Iraq. In fact, we were in a pretty bad um ambush
in Taji and uh you pulled me out of the Humvee. I did. So, thanks. And then you moved to Astoria and
bought our old house. Yeah. Now you’re shooting a documentary and it’s just 100% like the whole
circle is like coming back together. Yeah. You linked me up with Creative Bets to team up and
write the song. Yeah. And the song I wrote is exactly what you just spoke about about community
and purpose. And the song itself is called Pain into Purpose. Yeah. And that fit so fit amazing.
We didn’t even plan it. Yeah. No, this work. But but that’s the thing. So we’re talking to people
across rural Oregon and they all have the same reasons why veteran suicide might happen, but
they also have uh the same solutions and it’s like community. Community is huge. And so that’s why
we’re trying to uh not only, you know, we have a community here. Um, we have veterans coffee every
Thursday at the Elks from 9 to 11:00 at the Elks Lodge downtown here in Astoria. Uh, we do things
like we’re doing the uh, Columbia Crossing 10K, which I understand you guys. Oh, heck yeah. You
guys are walking it. We’re going to walk. I might skip it. I started running and I was going to
I was not skip not missing but just skip the trucks. Yeah, the jump rope jump rope. I went to
the high school track and I’m running. I’m like, no. But finally a Vietnam vet joined to do it and
he’s like, “I’m going to walk.” I’m like, “I’ll walk with you in solidarity.” I am I am there with
that walk. Yeah. Maybe a cartwheel at the end. Oh, that’d be nice. So, I am we talk about the
documentary and and uh community and I’m kind of a case study in how these things work because I’ve
been through some pretty rough times myself. And um my therapist said, “There is a veteran coffee
breakfast going on right now up the hill. If we cut our session short, you can go there. You need
to you need to meet these guys.” And when I was there, I met Josh Davis, the veteran service
officer at the time, and he introduced me to Shawn. He introduced me to Donald Marie Ducker,
who was with Together with Veterans, who we work with and is in the documentary. And that was the
moment when I started getting out of my shell, started calling myself a veteran, and joining the
veteran community. And I’m doing so much better now. Yeah. I mean, that’s a good point because
when we first started off on this, we were like, we’re going to help some veteran that we don’t
know about, that we don’t know their name or their face. And what we realized is like this helped us.
I mean, it’s it is exactly what we’re trying to do is create community and and so we kept going from
that. So, we have a U radio show on KMUN. Now, the community radio, what’s it called? Uh, Rogue
Cell Radio. And Rogue Cell Radio. Yeah. That’s your right your production company, right? Yeah.
Well, it’s our little It’s our everything. It’s your everything, right? And so that’s that last
or the fourth Thursday of every month at 9:00. And then um we in our vet coffee at the Elks. Yeah.
Right there in our vet coffee. And I think you can you can also watch the you can listen to the
show uh online as well. So if you don’t live here, you don’t have access to radio. I believe they
stream it. Yeah, we have a docu podcast and it’s anywhere you get podcasts. uh Apple, Spotify,
you know, wherever. So, and we interview a lot of amazing vets, but also we’re it’s about community.
Like, we interviewed um Commissioner Andy Davis uh here and um we interviewed an amazing general who
had bipolar disorder and during the war and his interview was just so great. Um, we interviewed
Donna Marie Ducker who is the executive director, but she’s not a veteran herself, but she is just
a really amazing powerhouse. And I don’t know, we have probably 20, 30 episodes already. I I
have no idea. It’s amazing, right? There’s some gaps in there. Yeah. But, uh, I I would like
to tell one story about the kinds of things that I do. Yeah. Take a bite. Everybody take
a bite cuz this will take a little bit. So, one of the people we interviewed, Sean, mentioned
a gold star mother, and we didn’t talk about what that meant. That means that they in a case of a
gold star mother, she lost a son or a daughter, and this one was she lost her son to suicide. And
she’s in our documentary. And she told me over text one day, because we’ve stayed in touch with
her. He tugs pretty often now. And she said, “Oh, Gary Sinise is gonna be in town in Klamath Falls
where she was at.” And to those that don’t know, uh, he does a lot of veteran outreach. And
Lieutenant Dan Ban, the Gary Sinise and the Lieutenant Dan Band. Okay. So, I shot some emails
off and I rarely put my whole title in emails, but I was like, “All right, we’re gonna talk
officer to officer here and talked with their uh public relations team down at the Air Force
base or Air Guard base that’s down there.” And 12 hours later, she was watching the Lieutenant Dan
Ban and stuff like that. I mean, we went to that national conference in Denver and we they had a
guest speaker um um it’s my turn for what was his first name? Israel del Toro. Israel del Toro. And
he was in a a bad accident. He was special forces air force. 80% of his body was burned. And they’d
say, “You’re never going to breathe without um without assistance. You’re not going to be able to
walk. You can’t do this.” He’s he did it. He did it all. And he joined the Air Force again. and he
was doing he was jumping out of planes again, you know, and and u so we talked to him and we had a
friend here in Astoria who was special forces air force and he’s just not having not doing very well
and so we linked them up. We haven’t seen what happened yet, but so far so good and we’re really
excited. So, you know, doing these things and helping people is just really amazing. And that’s
what really helps me out because after I got back from I was in Haiti in 95 during Operation Uphold
Democracy and that was horrible and I was in Iraq and I was critically injured in the ambush. And
then when I was able to walk again, I went down to Katrina, New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. It
was horrible. So when I got through all of that, I was a wreck and I didn’t know what the heck
I was going to do anymore. And it was really um art was really huge in my healing but also
getting out there and helping other people and and that’s what we keep doing. It’s been 20
years and I’m not stopping. It’s a purpose. Yeah, that’s the purpose. I saw on your documentary I
watched it I haven’t watched the whole thing but I watched a couple of the trailers and there’s
something super profound on there that really stuck with you know, a lot of people I didn’t
serve. Um, but I think a lot of people don’t know how to speak to veterans, I guess, or how
what do you say, right? You know, if you know, but there was something that on there that really
struck me and it wasn’t like, you know, me saying, “How can I help you?” But me saying, “How can
you help me?” Yeah. I need I got a mission for you. That’s all you got to say. That’s why we need
our missions. Mission oriented, you know. Yeah. I think it’s really important. It’s a a purpose
and a mission. Well, we’re so proud, you know, and we’re always like, ah, rub some dirt on it,
you know, take a knee, breathe through your nose, it’ll be fine. But sometimes that doesn’t work,
you know, it but having a mission is, you know, having a purpose that is just really amazing
and it helps so many people. It does. I would say like one thing I’ve recognized even through
my own healing process community being close to you Sean and a lot of our guys from our
units when you got back home. We’re so lucky that national Yeah. We’re blessed dude. That was
probably the best thing that we could call each other up and instantly just hang out. Yeah. And
there’s something unique about veterans in that when you talk about community, like when you put
on the uniform, we’re serving together. It’s not just community, it’s also part of our identity.
Yeah. And so when you get out and that disappears because it’s actually pretty fun getting out.
You have this honey and moon phase like, “Yay, get to have fun. I don’t have to show up.
They’re not gonna make show up at 5:30 PT formation.” And it’s great for like the first
six months, but then it really starts hitting home and you start feeling really alone. Even
with my spouse, my wife, she’s amazing. Well, you didn’t trauma bond with her the same way you
did. Yeah. Yeah. That’s that’s for sure. But when you lose that identity in that community and you
start feeling alone, especially when you go out to like rural Oregon, now you’re really alone.
Now you’re away from the group. Like, you know, they don’t have what we had. We saw that with a
lot of our guys, too, when they left outside of where we were centralized, even after Iraq. Those
are the guys that actually suffered the most. And I love what these two guys are doing because it’s
really profound. They’re bringing people like back into the fold. Veterans back into the fold. Yep.
So, our veteran coffee, we got people that come in there and they’re like from Vietnam. Like
I never called myself a veteran because I just got back and this the country didn’t treat me
very well and I just didn’t want to have that identity. But I wanted to see what you guys
were about. But now they’re there every week and and it’s they have that camaraderie again and
that makes it all worth it. Just one person tell you that. It’s pretty amazing. He uses the word
community to describe it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of good guys and it’s growing, you know. We just
added another team member on Rogue Cell and he’s doing some stuff with us and just uh working on
another one after that, too. Yeah. Yeah. It’s It’s working. It’s It’s working. When are you going
to join Z? Yeah. When are you We already did. I know. Yeah, right. We’re all in uniform. It’s
the uniform. You guys, thank you so much. Oh, thank you coming on the show. I think uh it’s been
a pleasure. It’s been an absolute It was worth it for the sauce. I’m behind. I think uh I think as
we discussed before, we shot this out of order, so you have to follow along. So, I guess now I
could say we’re going to get in the kitchen. All right. Show everybody. Let’s do it again. How to
make this. You can make it at home. give you a few uh cooking tips along the way. Maybe some uh maybe
these guys will share some uh crazy food stories about their their adventures on on on behalf of
the United States government. I have a feeling. And um maybe and uh everybody, thanks so much
for watching. We’re going to get in the kitchen um right after this hot show. My name is Chris
Holen. For the past 25 years, I’ve had the privilege of calling Astoria, Oregon home. It’s a
place that’s authentically reinventing itself and bringing about new life. And it’s all happening
through the incredible people that live here. They’re making a difference, one meaningful act
at a time. And that’s not just an Astoria story, is it? It’s a common thread intertwined through
every thriving community around the world. Whether it’s a small town or a big city, it’s powered
by its people. folks dedicated to putting good out into the world. And what do you want to
cook? We’re bringing these stories right into my kitchen. This show is about connecting with
the heart of the community, no matter where you are. We’ll cook dishes that tell a story. We’ll
explore how these guests are making a difference. And we’ll discover together why these moments of
connection are so vital in today’s world. It’s a cooking show, a talk show, and a celebration
of good people. So, what do you want to cook? And what stories do you want to tell? All right,
everybody. I think all the viewers want to uh want to know how we made this uh this dish. So, we’re
going to show them. All right. On this uh episode of What Do You Want to Cook? You got to see us
eat it. We had just a a wonderful conversation um about veteran suicide prevention um and things
like that. You guys, thank you so much for coming on the show. It’s been awesome. Now, let’s make
some food. Yeah, we are shooting this backwards. So, magic of television. Um, that’s exciting
stuff. So, we appreciate you guys coming on. So, I’m here in the kitchen with uh with the um
we’re going to call uh semi-professional chefs, Brad, Matt, and Sean. Um and we’re going to make
a dish for you. If you are enjoying our content, make sure to hit the subscribe button. Don’t
forget, doesn’t cost you a thing. It’s free. Share with your friends. Tell everybody know.
We appreciate it very much. Let’s let’s share all this content with everybody. I think
these are important stories to tell and um and uh thanks for watching the show. We got a
couple things we’re going to do. All right. Now, we’re going to start with we’re going to put the
lamb on a stick. All right. So, that’s what it was. Lemongrass. These are make ideal and it kind
of sense the inside of the lamb, right? When we’re cooking. It’s super delicious. We’re going to
grill it. All right. So, we’ll kind of undo a few of these. Um, and we’re going to cut them the
appropriate appropriate length. And I’m going to leave that to one of you guys to do. Let me do a
quick little demo. Maybe just cut it right about here. Okay. All right. All right. So, somebody
can do that. Let’s kind of make them similar. Okay. What we’re going to do is make the lamb into
a ball. We’re going to go like that. Squeeze them on there. It’ll be It’ll make them like longer
like that. And we’ll put them right on the grill. We’ll just grill them right on there. So, when
we’re done, as you saw, we’re going to put it right onto the pa. Just pull it off. Put the sauce
on. Put the Put the cabbage on. Put some tomato on. That sound good? All right. So, you’re right
here. I’m going to move this way. All right. So, all right. So, Matt, this is your lamb. You grew
this yourself. And by the way, health department, guys, we’re not selling it, so whatever. My wife’s
a veterinarian. It’s fine. It’s veterinarian raised. It was healthy. He gave me some a shank
and some other Yeah. Yeah. He gave me a shank and some other ground beef and I cooked it. It was
amazing. I love it. I just put it however I could cook it. I’m going to try to this next time. You
know, he he was a he was a man of few words when I called him and invited him on the show except for
talking about bringing you guys on the show. Yeah. Have you ever had more than one person? No. It’s
it’s a little tight in here, but I I feel like I feel like I’m in a in a culinary sleeping bag. Oh,
no. Is that I would say a fire team because that’s how that’s how we rock. Yeah, we’re on a fire
team. So, we we got the lamb. It’s ground. So, the only thing Matt said to me when when I called,
he’s like he’s like, uh, well, he said he said, I was thinking about what we do if you ever called
me. So, I’m going to get a grinder or whatever. So, you going to do some lamb or I’ll call you
back. It was something like that. I don’t know. Anyway, I when he told me about this, I said we
should do a chili mac because it’s the worst m. Yeah. You like the chili man? He talked me out
of it. He said something about that and I I uh I distracted subtly distracted like immediately.
We could have just brought in MREs. We could do chili mac or anyway good. Yeah. Yeah. So, what
we’re going to do, we have about um this is a lot. We’re probably not going to cook all this like
right now, but we’ll make enough for us to eat um a few minutes from now. I don’t know. How is the
show shot? It doesn’t backwards. Shot backwards. All right. Um and then the rest we’ll we can
put together. You guys take it home, eat it, uh, do what you want. All right. Sound good? So,
this is what, three lbs. 3 lbs. All right. So, what’s it going to do? We’re just going to do
that. Let’s put it into a a bowl. You grind that today? I did. So, it’s a shoulder and front chain.
So, I actually butchered the lamb myself. Yeah. Pulled out today. Did like a partial freeze and
ran it through the grinder. And I’ve learned how to be a little bit of a semi-pro butcher thanks to
my neighboring. So, she does that for her mommy. They’ll live off the grid. Yeah. When the grid
goes down, I’m going there. Yeah. Go to his. Yeah. That’s Well, when you have four kids, it helps to
live off the grid a little. Yeah. I bet in here, what I was thinking, um, I have some spices,
coriander, cumin. All right. Um, black pepper. And then since we’re shooting this in the fall
here in Astoria, Oregon in the Pacific Northwest, this is Chanterelle mushroom salt. We’ll add
everything. Maybe uh dare I say I don’t like using the word umami, but I just used
it just now. So there you go. Anyway, so I think we’re safe with just like we’ll put
all these in there. Can I smell the coriander? I’ve never even used it as a spice right here.
That shell salt. I know. I love using that at home. It’s amazing. Is that what you have over
here? I love cumin, but Oh, yeah. Coriander. Yeah, these are just spices. I uh these are I got these
in the bowl at the co-op. You probably right. All the ingredients except for Matt’s lamb come from
the story co-op. As you know, I can’t say enough good things about these Story Co-op. So, thank you
again at Story Co-op. And Christian over there, the produce guy scored us all these lemongrass
sticks. So, appreciate that. These are perfect. They might have like a handpicked or something.
I love them because they always remind me what my co-op number is, and they don’t get um impatient
about that. It’s funny. Exactly. Cannot remember. I always forget mine, too. We got to look it up.
It might be in the five digits at this point, right? So, it makes it a little more complicated.
Okay. So, we’re going to take all these spices, the salt, etc. We’re going to dump it all in the
bowl. Matt, you are in charge of that. Um, and I’m going to do that. Start cutting. Yeah. Oh, I’ll
start cutting. Yeah. So, and then um if you want you use gloves. I have gloves. Lamb gets pretty
sticky. It does. All right. So, there’s gloves back there. Yeah. Yeah, you’re going to chuck them
all in there. You’re going to mix it up really, really well. All right. Now, all right. So, I
think I probably ought to probably should ought to get another knife. Um, you’re going to do a
couple of uh See this thing? Those are amazing knives. I love the feel of the handle. We’re going
to do a couple of small It’s all in the wrist. Oh, I have a pair of knife, too. Look at you. Yeah,
it’s all in the wrist. All right, here we go, man. It’s tight here. It’s working out. I feel like I’m
orchestrating the whole situation. This is good. All right. Um, okay. We’re going to do this
cabbage. I think you’re all right. Just like right here. All right. Okay. Do this cabbage. Just going
to We don’t need it all. Maybe we’re going to take uh we do like a quarter of it. Okay. And we’ll
use the rest like later. We can take send it home, make part of the rest of the meal for later, the
family or whatever. We’ll cut it in quarter. We’ll cut it in half. Cut it in quarter. And then
we’re just going to shred it all up in this bowl. Does that make sense? Yeah. All right.
So, there’s that. You’re on that. Perfect. Uh, all right. How’s it going? That goes there.
Great. This sounds really good. I’m excited. Anybody? I think it’s Mike. He sounds like
uh story time. What’s the craziest thing you ever ate while um What’s the craziest thing you
ever ate or I guess were offered. All right. So, I got one while on deployment. I got one. Uh
I don’t know the answer that besides a chilly memory. That’s already weird enough. I don’t
know what the answer is to that, but I’ll tell you the story. So, we are we’re walking through
uh Baghdad and uh we’re doing a move into contact because they’re having a new elections and we
want to make sure that no uh mortar people set up to bomb the only federal building that was
still up, which happened to be the agricultural building. And we’re walking through the Baghdad
Zoo and we smell somebody cooking something and we get over there and uh the guy’s like, “You
guys want you want a burger?” All right. So, I’m talking to him while he’s cooking and he’s
saying, “I’m the I’m the guy who’s in charge of the zoo and the war started. Everybody left and
I love these animals so much that I didn’t want to leave them here, but it’s been months and I ran
out of food for the the big guys. So, I had to I had to feed the plant eaters to the meat eaters.
And I ran out of plant eaters. And I’m thinking as I’m eating this burger, there’s no cows in back.
I have no idea what it was we were eating. But, uh, it tasted good. Well, we didn’t see any
cows. Yeah. What do you hope it was? There’s a big I think it was a hippopotamus.
It tastes a little gy, a little fishy. You’re I like the bite and the crunch of raw
cabbage. Yeah, I think it’s 100% good all by itself. That sauce is going to go on there. Um,
etc. All right. Okay. Now, okay. We have You’re going to go just little um cubes. They’re like
diced, right? So, Chris, why is it yellow? Cuz it’s extra special. Okay. That’s a beautiful
tomato. This is an heirloom tomato. It belonged to your grandmother from the Astoria Co-op. It
belonged to my It belonged to my grandmother. Oh, here. Try try this. That’ll be unreal. Oh, I need
to have some of that. Yeah, that is real. These are those are delicious. Okay, so somewhere in
that vicinity, there’s sunshine in my mouth. Just kind of cut that out. There’s not really much
in that bowl. It’s fine. All right. Okay. Next, we’re done with all that. We need to uh put meat
on sticks. All right, here’s the deal. Meat on sticks. I got the sticks. Here’s the deal. I’m
going to put gloves on cuz this I have to get more gloves. Lamb lamb is so uh there’s room for two of
you guys. So sticky aromatic, too. Um Yeah. Right. And and if you you almost need to pre-wash your
dishes before washing your dishes. It leaves a residue. It’s like the residue stays on the plate
like it does for days, right? Okay. So, here So, here’s the deal. We’re going to take a ball. What
do you think? Maybe I’m just guessing. You don’t have to weigh it. Let’s Let’s take a ball. Like,
this is probably This legit This is probably like 2 ouncesish. Somewhere in there. Okay. It’s like
an ice cream scoop. It’s like an ice cream scoop. You probably Yeah, that would be interesting. Put
on meat. We can have a meat col. I used to work at a uh fast food restaurant in Nebraska and we
had to portion all the meat out with an ice cream scoop there. Check it out. It’s a good story. What
we’re going to do just like that. That’s a great story. What else? What else you got? You got Tell
me the craziest bra. What’s the craziest thing you congregate while on deployment? MREs are included.
Oh, you know, I was one of the uh guys that were is in support more. Yeah. And I didn’t leave the
installation as much. You’d call me a fobbit for a forward operating base. Okay. And I ate most of
my food from a short order cook line. So every day for breakfast, I’d have my coffee with an omelette
that got made for me right in front of me with cheese, ham, jalapenos, fresh salsa, and fresh
pineapple. That was It was rough. Some coffee, you know. So, that’s where I learned to drink
coffee and I’ve become a coffee snob since. But, uh, I think I was in recovery from what I started
on. Who else? This one’s the smallest. You know, the best MREs though are actually the vegetarian.
Well, at least when we got ones. Yeah. Well, they just tasted better. I think the worst
one was the jambalaya. The shrimp jumbo. You weren’t in as long as I was in, man. I came
in 93. They still had those old uh old Cold War MREs and they would have something called
eggloaf and it was just it was just a block of egg with little sausages in it. And then they had
this we called it was like a cardboard bar. No, sawdust bar and you’d have to take a little
bite and drink water or else your your mouth ranger cookies. Is that what you called it?
I don’t know. I called it a sawdust bar. Let’s do like let’s do like eight of those.
I remember opening up a ham slice and uh you know I was a private at the time. So here here
I am learning how to do all this stuff. Right. I’m opening up this ham slice M and salt. Here
you go. Who was my team leader? I’m the stick hand. We’re about ready to go out on the weekend
into done for us and do training for the weekend. Dude, when I popped that thing open,
ham juice went everywhere. And then you smell like Oh, no. You smell like
M ham juice, though. The whole weekend did. So, I kind of got the brunt of
that one, but I’m guessing that he didn’t forget that. No. No. So, so I have
another story about about good food in uh in wartime. So, we’re we’re in the war.
starts 2004 and these Texas ranchers like, “Hey, we want to do something for our boys, so
we’re going to send them over an extra special package.” They sent us all these rib eyes
and New York steaks and but our our cooks were contracted out of the Philippines and they
didn’t really make that connection. So, what they did is they diced up the ribeyes and put it in
rice and we were like, “Where’s our ribeyes?” It was good rice. I bet. I bet with nice
tender beef. What was your best meal? Oh man, cuz I definitely remember mine. You know, some
of the best meals were just with you guys out in the field, you know, when we were cuz when we were
over there. So, Mhm. Z and I were in Iraq together and uh he was actually he got a silver star for
pulling me out of Humvee that after we got blown up, he went back and got all of our equipment
and radio stuff out of there and they made him into an action figure. I I know he doesn’t brag
about this, but the the Oregon National Guard turned him into an action figure. Actually,
right up there. I wonder I wonder I wonder if we couldn’t get that action figure brought over to
look at. I know someone that could pick it up for us. Let’s ask the producer if she can go pick that
up so we can show everybody the action figure. Oh, he was a comic book character. It was so funny cuz
in the comic book it it did not happen like that. In the comic book, he kind of flipped the Humvee
off of us and threw me over his shoulder and ran off. That’s eight. And then he was also a video
game character for the Oregon National Guard, right? You were America’s Army video games. Oh, I
played that. In the top 10 online plays for like almost a decade, but it came out in 2006. I was
assistant instructor over at Camp Buckner at West Point. And so they found me out in the field
helping train these cadets like we’re making a video game and action figures. I’m like, what is
this? So, I actually helped test that game when I was in officer candidate school. Did you really?
Yeah. And Yeah. They were there and they’re just like, “What do you think of it?” And I was
like, “This guy right here, the Zedwick one, you might want to clear that up. Clean that up
a little bit.” Look at Look what we found. No, that’s true. I got the hang on the wall. That’s
it right there. Look at that, guys. So, well, okay. So, the the big lie here is that that’s my
shotgun and he did not ever carry it. I carried that shotgun. Interesting. I have Sergeant M.
We’re carrying it. Silver Star. That’s f That’s amazing, man. That was the first Silver Star
in Oregon since World War II. Pretty pretty awesome. You and I got our purple hearts same
day. Same day. Well, I got mine for getting blown up. He got his because when the secondary
explosion went off, he covered me with his own body to block from shrapnel. So, pretty awesome.
Let’s talk more about that. Who’s grilling? All right. The ambidextrous one. All right. Check
it out. Yeah. So, these are ready to go. So, you can just put them right just line them all
up. Oh, dude, that looks awesome. Like little meat lollipops. Meat lollipop. I I for one think there
should be more send it right into here. More more meat on sticks. Oh my gosh. I think there should
be more on sticks. And uh take a moment and preach on that. I think the world’s missing out by by
trying to eat everything uh with forks. I know. We’re going to get our up close and personal
view, but try not to melt the GoPro. Oh man, that looks amazing. That’s what they built it for,
right? Yeah. I dropped I dropped mine and clearly water. Mine too. He’s getting up close shot.
Yeah, this is amazing. Hey, everywhere we go, like all the other countries, I love eating
the food how they eat it. Like a lot of bread, flatbread, naan that uh tortilla chips. I don’t
know. I don’t like using forks and spoons. It’s more It’s just more efficient. Right. It is.
Everything you put in your mouth, you’re eating. That’s right. Oh, fingers more accessible, too. I
do like uh I am a fan of chopsticks, so I have to Oh, yeah. I have to say that. Well, for a long
time when we’re outside the wire, what we would do is just uh get some Iraqi kid to come over.
I’d give them $5 and just say, “Hey, have your mom cook us something.” And they would come back
with all kinds of things. A lot of it was really, really good. You scored us some amazing chicken
that Yeah. Yeah. By the bridge. Case’s family. Yeah. Yeah. That was That’s I say I try to say it
right. And it was my first falafel. That was my very first experience. They put the little pieces
of lamb fat in the middle of these falafles. And I have never been able to find anybody else who
did that. It was just so good. You know, lamb fat in the falafel. Now we Now we have some lamb.
Now we got lamb fat in the lamb fat. Here, we got to let that Oh, now I smell it. We got to let
it rip for a minute. So, the deal is, you guys, you probably know this, but it should it should uh
when it freely releases from the grill, it’s time to turn it. It’s still kind of stuck there. It’s
not ready yet. Okay, good. Yeah. So, that’ll be that’ll be Yeah. So, it might take a minute here.
And I haven’t actually tried this before, so it could take half an hour. I don’t really know.
Well, I got more story. I got the money. Yeah. More can have some more stories. No, I was
trying to think about my favorite meal and it was probably that chicken by the bridge
and they came out. And these guys, you know, those families, they don’t eat much. And for
them to actually slaughter a chicken for us was really cool and they were awesome. It’s
good family. A lot of good people over there. It was cool because it wasn’t only food and
that’s what I love about food is also that you helped us build like amazing rapport with
the local community. Well, it took being able to speak Arabic, you know. I wasn’t able to uh
speak it fluently, but like a kid because I read it. I before we went over, I bought the complete
idiots guide to Iraq and Arabic book. And then I learned Arabic for like six months and I was like
learning Egyptian Arabic, which is like speaking, you know, Queen’s English in Tennessee or
something. So, I had to relearn it over again. But yeah, just to communicate and then eating
food is like a big communication in a way, you know, just sitting down and and eating food
with a family. It’s really cool. You uh I think it’s amazing you felt like comfortable doing
that. Yeah. Like Yeah. random strangers in a far away land. Yeah. Some people like, “What are
you gonna do? What if they poison you?” I’m like, “You going to shoot at me? Poison?” I don’t know.
They were nice. I mean, those were not our the bad guys, you know, I was talking to. So, it was
really cool. It’s good people. So, my my best meal I’ve ever had in my life, I think, was in Iraq,
also, now that I reflect on it a little bit. Yeah. It was uh I was promoted to captain and my uh
platoon sergeant uh and I went to the D, not the dining facility, but to the PX and we got all the
Bubba burgers that they had. What’s above pre-made burgers and we we grilled them out. Was it White
Star or No, White Castle. White Castle. White. No, these are these are like they’re they were I mean
considering they’re bubbly. They’re not that bad. So, we grilled that out. But my motor sergeant
made out a engineer castle spatula. So, the entire company had a grilled Oh, Engineer Castle on their
burger. insignia for and then afterwards they promoted me and that’s because of your sergeant
because of your bubba burgers. And then afterwards my motor sergeant broke three ribs on me with
the uh we don’t haze in the army. Oh no. Well, don’t make Bubba burgers, man. Oh, they were so
good. He’s trying to give him a company tattoo, sir. I tell you what, you guys hang on one
second. We got It’s time now. I think I think the best approach is gonna be to kind of kind of
roll it like that. Okay. Nice. Okay. All right. Try to pull it up. It might fall off. So, let me
do one more. Right. Just kind of roll it up. Oh, yeah. Oh, that one This one’s easy to roll.
Yeah. Super nice. That smells so good. Oh, yeah. It’s the same for a lot of stuff when you’re
grilling it. Number one thing to know is that have a clean grill brushed off clean. Spray it or oil
it before you start cooking on it. But any just about any protein including salmon should release
freely from the grill when it’s ready to turn. Yeah. It’s a cooking tip of the day. By the way,
cooking tip of the day. You should have graphics that pop up. Cooking tip of the day. I know a
graphics guy. You know, a graphics guy. That’s Oh, he read a book. I read a book. Tell me about like
like on that adventure. I want to talk about more of the mission here in a few minutes, but sure.
On that adventure that you’ve had together twice. Twice over two years. Multiple times. Tell me
about like I don’t know. I’m curious about like things that that uh that you came across. Well,
we drove 4,000 miles around the state of Oregon to as many rural places we can because I know
we’ll talk about a little bit, but Oregon has been consistently in the top five of all states
for suicide veteran suicide in rural areas. So, we decided like we’re going to go out and figure
out why. We jumped in his Bronco with some cameras and we drove and we talked to lawmakers. We
we talked to Senator Merkley. We talked to uh mayors of towns. We talked to uh veterans
especially and community leaders. But yeah, we had a lot of fun and went to a lot of
different places everywhere we go. There’s just such amazing places, you know, and people
to talk to. It was really awesome. I returned to one of the places just this last weekend and ate
with Dale, our friend that’s a Vietnam veteran. We went to the uh Oh, that place you
had steak. Yes, the something fox in uh Silverton. There’s a lot of people themed
restaurants in rural Oregon. Silver Fox. Silver Fox. Maybe Silverton. I don’t I wasn’t that. Oh,
man. Well, you can cut out the name. You’re kind of a silver fox. We got it. I’m working on it.
I’m working on it. I appreciate that. Thanks, man. You’re welcome. What a friend. I’m well on
my way to being my own little Anderson Cooper. When it comes to silver foxing, he wins. Oh my
god. Okay, let’s We’re going to put we’re going to put one of these together so we can show show the
viewer how awesome this turns out. Um, but first, we didn’t talk about the secret sauce. Yeah. Oh.
Which is the secret sauce. I’m gonna go ahead and call it Tzatziki. But we’re going to call it
Chef Holen’s special Tzatziki. I don’t know. It’s made with extra love. Let me tell you how we made
it. All right. So, this is made This is made with uh full fat Greek yogurt. You could do low fat if
you want, but full fat Greek yogurt. You want to get the the the You want to get this outcome. I
wish we had taste of vision. Smell of vision. You know what I’m saying? Smell of vision. Oh, yeah.
Can you smell that? Extra dank. It’s dank. That’s uh I appreciate the human humor on that or the
dank. So we we what we did is we uh is we shredded a cucumber, an English cucumber. A whole English
cucumber. So here’s the recipe. If you’re ready, pay attention because I’m not going to type
it across across the screen. A whole English cucumber shredded. Lightly salted with a little
bit of flake sea salt. I put it into a uh I put it into a strainer over a bowl and let it sit for
about 20 minutes. What happens? That salt helps pull the excess moisture out of the cucumber. It
intensifies the flavor of the cucumber and and then you’re you don’t end up with a soupy sauce.
Right after that, we squeezed it into the bowl. All right. I used a half of a lemon. So, cut
in half. Squeezed half of a lemon in there. Cut up some dill and then some raw garlic. And
then of course, as you do, I seasoned it with my good friend here, Chef Daddy. Savory blend salt. I
know where you can get some. Stuff’s really Where is that? You ready for that? Where can you get
some? Enhancing life flavor. You can find this on uh right, there’s a link on the YouTube page.
I’ll follow it. You can just call us up and say, “I need to get some of that.” have a couple of
retailers carry it as well. Anyway, little bit of Chef Daddy in there. Season it up. Just I
just used a whisk, folded it all together. Um, and it turned out it’s a wonderful sauce. All
right. So, what we’re going to do So, I got in my time machine and I already tasted it. Excellent.
And I got to say, it’s it’s just like you said, it’s dank. Donk. Donk. So, just pick up. We’re
going to stack those up on there. All right. We’re getting the bitter end. Sean is Look at that. Oh
my gosh. They just come right up. Meat on sticks. Yes. Again, I believe we’re all in agreement about
having meat on sticks. Look at that plate. That is beautiful. He’s got a pretty happy I want to eat
them all. I’m going to I’ll be right back. Yeah. Be right back. All right. Here’s the deal. We are
just going to let’s quickly we’re going to quickly grill a pa. All right. Well, quickly for as long
as it takes, I guess. We’re going to put some heat on it. Uh we’re going to put a little cabbage in
there. We’re going to put a little of this. We got this wonderful heirloom tomato, right? And we’ve
got our Tzatziki sauce. Look at that. It’s not soupy at all. This is awesome. We got to get it
right there. See? Not soupy. I love that tip with the salt that you gave us. That’s amazing. That is
awesome. Yeah, it’s good. It’s good stuff. Let’s uh Okay. Oh, yeah. That’s nice. I like that.
Is it true all chefs have asbestos fingers? Yes, it is. I was I was feeling hot just trying
to get them off of the thing. I don’t I didn’t turn the whole grill on, though. That’d be raging
in here. All right. I know. Now we got We’re just going to put a little bit cabbage, right? We
got to put I’ll tell you what I’m going to do, though. Let’s put the GoPro on it so we
can see everything that’s happening. Oh, perfect. Look at that. It’s an action shot.
It’s an action shot. Okay. A little bit of cabbage. And again, I I just personally I like
to draw. I’m going to put a little bit of this heirloom tomato. Okay, that’s
beautiful. That’s good color. Then you’re going to just take a skewer
like that. Like that. Pick up your pa. Pull it off. Little bit of sauce. Huh. You could have
You could turn this into the new the new the new Browns meat lamb feed. Be
all All right, that’s it. Boom. That looks amazing. I’m pretty excited
about that. I’m pretty hungry. I know. Me, too. I’m pretty hungry, too. I think we should
sit down and eat these. Yeah. Just uh real quick, uh folks, if you’re enjoying our content, we
appreciate it very much that you’re watching. Subscribe to the channel. Tell your friends.
Share away. We want to share the stories of all the good things that people are doing out
there in the world around the state of Oregon, around our community, and around the country. Um,
watch the show, be inspired, learn a few things about your brothers and sisters. Right. We’re
going to go sit down and eat this guy. Of course, most importantly, thanks you guys for coming on
the show today, Brad. Thank you, Chris. Sean, oh, thank you so much. Thanks for coming
on the show. And of course uh thank you for your service. Thanks. We appreciate that.
And uh we hope you enjoy it. What do you want to cook? [Music] I’m going to get in one moment.
You can have it all. And in the next who does the editing. That’s what happened to me. I thought
that I won and I had it made in the front of my mind. This was great. I was lost as I could.
Look at that plate. I was trying to fight back my soul. I want to eat them all. When I looked
at my heart, all I saw was it was lonely. It was hard and it was dark as it could be. But it
was turning pain into purpose for me [Music] up close shot. Yeah, it’s amazing.
Dining and Cooking