Welcome back to another episode of "Dishing with Stephanies Dish," where today's conversation centers on love, food, and the evolution of a dynamic partnership. Stephanie is joined by the charismatic duo, Randy and Katherine Feltes, the creative minds behind @KatherineWants. This episode delves into their unique journey through life's intertwined paths of romance and culinary passion. From serendipitously reconnecting after years apart, to building a family and launching their new "Ultimate Date Night Cookbook," they share how their love for food enriches their relationship and social media community (follow them on TikTok! @Katherinewants) and shope their cute merch at @Katherinewantshsop

Tune in to hear about their adventures in the restaurant business, their vibrant social media presence, and their candid insights on balancing career, creativity, and family life. Whether you’re looking for inspiration in the kitchen or in your personal relationships, this episode is sure to serve up a hearty helping of both.

Here is a recipe they shared from the “Katherine Wants: The Ultimate Date Night Cookbook” for the ultimate Sea Scallops

SEARED SEA SCALLOPS with CELERIAC PUREE and CRISPY GUANCIALE

2 SERVINGS • PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES • COOK TIME: 12 MINUTES

Ingredients

CELERIAC PUREE (MAKES 2 CUPS)

1 small (8- to 12-ounce) celeriac (aka celery root), peeled and diced

1 apple, peeled and diced

2 cups milk

1 clove garlic, halved

2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Scallops

3 ounces guanciale or pancetta, cut into matchsticks (about 1 cup)

6 dry-packed sea scallops (U10/20 size), “feet” removed

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted

⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Make the celeriac puree: Put all the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a gentle simmer, then cover and continue to simmer for about 10 minutes. When the celeriac is tender, transfer the contents of the pan to a blender and puree until smooth. Adjust the seasoning if needed.

2. Place the guanciale in a small frying pan along with a splash of water. Over medium heat, render the fat as the water evaporates. Continue cooking until the desired crispness, then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

3. Preheat a 12-inch cast-iron frying pan over medium heat.

4. Meanwhile, dry off the scallops on some paper towels and season with the salt.

5. When the pan is very hot, pour in the olive oil. You’ll know the oil is hot enough if it smokes a little. Gently place the scallops in the hot oil and do not touch until a crust appears on the bottom edge, 2 to 3 minutes. Give a flip and repeat. Remove to a plate and let rest for 2 minutes.

6. To serve, spoon ¼ cup of the celeriac puree into a small pasta bowl and top with three scallops and half of the crispy guanciale. Garnish with half of the toasted pine nuts and pepper. Repeat to make a second serving.

Note:

To get a proper sear on your scallops, make sure you dry them very well with a paper towel and have your pan good and hot.

📸@katherinewants

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Stephanie [00:00:11 ]:

I am here with Randy Feltes and Katherine Feltes, and they are the social media creators and content creators, really, because you guys have lots of assets outside of social of Katherine Wants, and your latest initiative is a cookbook. You've got restaurants. You've got cookbooks. You've got kids. You've got a marriage. You've got a dating situation.

Get our listeners caught up to, like, how you guys started because your story resonated with me so much because it was kinda like my story. My husband nightclub. I was a cocktail waitress, and that when I was 19. Oh. And we've been married thirty years.

Katherine Feltes [00:00:51 ]:

Wow. Okay. So super similar stories.

Randy Feltes [00:00:55 ]:

Restaurant people. Right? Like, we like to stay together, and I think it's the love of food that actually keeps us together. And, you know, you just don't find those type of people outside of the business. So Mhmm. Katherine, do you wanna tell how we how we got to

Katherine Feltes [00:01:07 ]:

we yeah. So Brandy was the chef and owner of Oscar's, which, you know, people still talk about Oscar's in our town to this day. But anyways, it was a fine dining restaurant in Barrie. And I had a big crush on him and we finally, you know, started this relationship and I was young and dumb and I went on this trip with my ex boyfriend. Anyways, it's a long story.

Randy Feltes [00:01:34 ]:

You messed it up.

Katherine Feltes [00:01:35 ]:

I messed it up. I messed it up and we broke up and then, you know, there was a big period of time like fifteen years? Fifteen?

Randy Feltes [00:01:44 ]:

Thirteen thirteen years.

Katherine Feltes [00:01:45 ]:

Thirteen years in between. Anyways, I got married to somebody and Randy got married to somebody and then we both found ourselves divorced at the same time living down the street from each other. And well, I found us actually both divorced because I immediately was like, I have to jump in his DMs and, like, make this happen because I just I just knew we were meant to be all those years, and here we are.

Stephanie [00:02:14 ]:

Do you think that if you would have stayed together the first time around?

That you would have made it? Because sometimes, like, I I my husband, I didn't meet him till he was 29. If I'd have met him when he was 19, I'd been like, no way. You're old.

Katherine Feltes [00:02:30 ]:

Listen. I'd like to think that we would. I'd like to think maybe that we wouldn't because I want to believe that everything happens for a reason, of course. But being together now, sometimes when I think about it too much, it makes me really sad that we didn't get all those years because I I just we have so much fun together. And, you know, we were only together kind of a short period of time before we decided that we were gonna procreate because we're both getting older.

Randy Feltes [00:03:03 ]:

And listen, I'm I I'm a different I think that everything happens for a reason, and now I can hold it over Katherine's head that she messed it up the first time around. And, you know, I kinda get get in the jail free card. And, you know, we would never trade the happiness we have now, and so you really can't play that game of if we went back.

Stephanie [00:03:23 ]:

Yeah. And you guys you got together then, and you had a kid, and then you, right away, kinda have had another kid.

Randy Feltes [00:03:30 ]:

Mhmm.

Stephanie [00:03:31 ]:

Yes. How is going from a family of two to three to four in a somewhat short period of time?

Randy Feltes [00:03:38 ]:

Well, Katherine has well, I have a a son as well from my first marriage. So there was Katherine was, like, a part time stepmom. And then, like, when we first got together, Katherine was like, oh, I guess how old were you? Thirty Thirty six. 30 six. And Katherine's like, oh, I'm not interested in kids. And I was like, like, I don't believe that for a second. And I wanted more kids. So then it was only about a month later.

Randy Feltes [00:04:01 ]:

Katherine's like, would you consider I was like, absolutely. So we got right into it, and and then came Libby. And so, yeah, the family has grown quickly, and we're really feeling it this time around with Romy because the house is it just gets more full. But

Katherine Feltes [00:04:18 ]:

Yeah.

Randy Feltes [00:04:19 ]:

There's a lot of juggling going on.

Stephanie [00:04:21 ]:

Yeah. And you guys so you are active restaurant tours, and you also have this social media presence with TikTok and Instagram that really blossomed through the COVID times. And now you've taken, some of that content, the recipes that you developed, and put it into this book that is real cute. It's called the ultimate date night cookbook. And it is a cookbook and a great cookbook with lots of great photos and good recipes, but there's also this element of having the, the dating, tips and the how to keep the romance spark alive and some of those fun elements that