Hi, I'm Deidre, and I'm Senator Harris' Iowa Chair,
and I am so excited today because she is coming to my house
to do one of my favorite things, cook.
[Deidre] Hello! [Kamala] Hi, Deidre!
(upbeat music) (women laughing)
[Deidre] You ready to cook?
[Kamala] I am, I am, let's do this (laughing).
[Deidre] All right, so what are we making?
[Kamala] We are making apples with bacon.
My mother used to make this.
[Deidre] Your mama was a wise woman, putting bacon in this.
[Kamala] Oh my God, look, bacon is a spice
as far as I'm concerned. [Deidre] Yes it is, yes it is.
Yes it is.
[Kamala] Okay, so what we're gonna do is we have these
beautiful Iowa apples, which are in season right now.
We've got some Iowa bacon over there.
You know there are so many of my mother's recipes
that, I mean she never wrote anything down.
[Deidre] Really? [Kamala] No, it was just
a matter of watching.
And so some of them I have been able to recreate.
And you know, part of the problem is with family recipes,
like, my mother would not give up the family recipes.
Like, it was literally like, or she would say,
"Oh, just a little bit of this, and a little bit of that."
(laughing)
Okay, while we're doing this, I'm gonna start the bacon.
(upbeat music) (bacon sizzling)
[Deidre] So you've always loved cooking.
[Kamala] Yes, well my mother said to me,
"Honey, you like to eat good food,
"you better learn how to cook."
(laughing)
And let's just sprinkle it with a little nutmeg.
(oil popping)
[Deidre] So how much?
[Kamala] Just a little bit.
(women laughing)
[Deidre] There you go, there you go.
My goodness.
[Kamala] (laughing) I can't help myself.
(women laughing)
Start mixing that little bit. [Deidre] Okay.
Mm, pretty.
[Kamala] Right?
It's nice to have around the holidays,
like a holiday brunch.
[Deidre] Yes.
I'm gonna try this for Thanksgiving.
[Kamala] Do you wanna put a little of that bourbon?
[Deidre] Yes! [Kamala] Okay.
[Deidre] Let's drop a little bit in here.
[Kamala] Okay, go on and put a little (laughing).
[Deidre] Ooh, it's working. [Kamala] Yeah.
And it'll caramelize.
Mm, smell that, Deidre.
[Deidre] Oh my goodness. [Kamala] Right?
[Deidre] This is gonna be great.
(upbeat music)
[Kamala] I'm starving.
Pancakes.
[Deidre] One or two?
[Kamala] Oh, I think two.
Pancakes are meant to be stacked,
and you have to combine a little of the apple
with a little of the bacon.
[Deidre] All right.
[Kamala] Okay?
(Deidre sighs) [Kamala] Aw, yeah (laughing).
[Deidre] Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is right here.
[Kamala] Mm. [Deidre] Mm, mm.
So tell me about your first time in Iowa.
I always love hearing about people's first times.
[Kamala] Well my first time in Iowa
was in 2007.
[Deidre] Ooh, throwback.
[Kamala] And I was here the week between Christmas and New Years.
[Deidre] Oh, my goodness.
[Kamala] Campaigning for a senator by the name of Barack Obama.
[Deidre] Was it warm?
[Kamala] It was warm by some people's standards, (Deidre laughs)
but not by this Californian's standard.
[Deidre] Not by, did you bring the right coat?
[Kamala] I brought the right coat.
[Deidre] Good.
[Kamala] I had the right boots,
and there was no job too small or too big.
One of the most memorable moments for me
during that time in Iowa, and really one of the things that,
for that reason, gives me the feeling I do
about who Iowan voters are, and the difference they make,
is, so I was here campaigning
and preparing for the caucuses in '07,
and I got to the headquarters.
It was late, and I said, "Okay, is there anything else
to be done tonight before the caucuses tomorrow?"
And they said, "Well there's a senior center
that nobody's gone to yet.
Would you go?"
So I went there, and I started knocking
on the doors of the various, like,
studio apartments. [Deidre] Sure.
[Kamala] Where these seniors were living,
African American senior home,
and you know, invariably, folks would answer the door,
and I remember at least a couple of the saying,
"Oh, baby, come on in.
"Can I give you a cup of coffee?
"Oh, you look a little skinny, you want something to eat?"
(women laughing)
[Deidre] They always wanna feed you. [Kamala] Always, always.
And then I knocked on this one door,
and the occupant answered the door.
The chain was on.
And she was this petite lady,
must have been well into her 80s,
perfectly coiffed wig,
perfect makeup, elegantly dressed.
And she wasn't expecting anybody that night.
And so she answers the door with the chain on,
and I was really excited, and I said,
"Hi, I'm Kamala Harris, and I'm here for the caucuses.
And they're tomorrow, and I'm supporting Barack Obama.
And are you gonna come and join us at the caucuses?"
And I was all excited,
and she looked at me with a straight face and said,
"They're not gonna let him win."
(Deidre moans)
And I looked at her,
and I realized what I was looking at.
Which is, this lady, in probably the 85 years of her life.
[Deidre] That's a lot.
[Kamala] All the indignity she has faced,
all the injustice she has witnessed,
and she is holding on the her dignity.
And she wasn't about to suffer
another disappointment at this stage of her life.
And, at that moment, I just decided I am not leaving here.
And I put my purse down, and I just kept talking with her,
and she opened the door
a little bit more. [Deidre] That's good.
She never took that chain off the door.
(women laughing)
[Deidre] She didn't offer you anything to eat.
[Kamala] She never took that chain off the door.
And Deidre, the next night at the caucuses,
guess who was there?
[Deidre] I hope she was.
[Kamala] In the corner all by herself,
with her perfect kinda like fox stole.
And she was there, and Barack won.
[Deidre] That's awesome.
[Kamala] And what that says to me, is it really is about
the fact that when we believe
that it's possible,
even when it's against the odds,
or when other people say, "Maybe it's not,
they're not ready,"
or, "They won't do it."
If we do it, we can actually make it happen.
Look, I'm really clear
about what is required to break barriers.
I have had to break barriers my entire career.
When I ran for District Attorney of San Francisco,
there had never been a woman,
there had never been a person of color.
People said, "Oh, no, it's just, nobody like you
has done it before.
It's not your time, it's not your turn."
[Deidre] What did you tell yourself to keep going,
just to bypass all that?
[Kamala] I eat no for breakfast.
[Deidre] I know that's right.
(women laughing)
And apple pancakes.
[Kamala] And apple pancakes with some bacon.
[Deidre] Yes, yes, yes, (upbeat guitar music)
[Kamala] Hey guys, I'm here in Iowa
with my incredible Iowa team, Deidre, Will,
and whatever you can do to continue to support us,
it'll make a difference.
Please visit kamalaharris.org, donate $5.
Or $10.
Or 20, whatever you can do, thank you.