Amy Sedaris can take it easy this month for a couple of key reasons.
“I’m going to my brother’s house for Thanksgiving, and his boyfriend does all the cooking,” Sedaris tells TODAY.com over Zoom, referring to her brother, David Sedaris.
“I’ll bring a bottle of gin or whatever he wants, but I don’t really cook for big occasions anymore,” she adds. “I happily show up and just don’t do anything.”
It’s true that the actor and comedian is known for her mastery of home economics — her 2009 tongue-in-cheek homemaking tome “I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence” became a New York Times bestseller and inspired the singular TV show “At Home with Amy Sedaris” — but for her, November is all about self-care in the form of letting others put food on the table, even if she is a spectacular cook.
Speaking to TODAY.com in partnership with Amy’s Kitchen, Sedaris says Greek food is her “favorite thing” to prepare.
“Pastitsio, spanakopita, Greek beans,” she specifies. “I love roasting a chicken. I love a pan-fried steak.”
She also mentions making chocolate chip cookies and spaghetti with meatballs for her godkids, but says her brother David’s favorite is her pastitsio, a Greek baked pasta dish with layered ground meat sauce, tubular pasta and béchamel.
“David’s a really good eater,” Sedaris says. “I call him ‘Snatchy-mas’ because he’ll just snatch food right off your plate. But, you know, he’s fun to cook for because he just doesn’t stop eating, and my little brother’s the same way. They eat so much food, it’s ridiculous.”
The Emmy nominee is looking forward to stuffing and pumpkin pie this season at her sibling’s place, but before then, she’s cooking up something with Amy’s Kitchen.
“Oh, hello. Thanks to Amy’s giving me a night off, I’m able to spend some quality time with my hus— with my chil— with my doll house,” Sedaris says in a spot for the organic foods brand, filmed at her home in New York City. “If there’s one thing I know, it’s two things: Animals love snacks and people love miniatures. Thanks, Amy’s.”
It concludes with Sedaris taking a teeny-weeny spoon of Amy’s Broccoli & Cheddar Bake Bowl, savoring a bite of it and placing a miniature box of Amy’s pizza on an itty-bitty sparkly green armchair.
On Nov. 3, the comedy queen teamed up with Amy’s Kitchen to launch “Amys’ Night Off,” which offered anyone in the U.S. named Amy a free Amy’s Kitchen dinner, and a year’s worth of them for one lucky Amy.
“I love Amy’s Kitchen so much, and they still have that mom-and-pop vibe to them, which I really appreciate,” Sedaris says, adding that the house in the ad is really hers. “I own the apartment above me. The dollhouse lives upstairs, so I was so happy to bring it downstairs to my apartment and play with it.”
Sedaris, who has made many a memorable appearance in everything from “The Mandalorian” to “Elsbeth,” also stars in two other spots: In one, she takes time to create a beautiful family of popsicle stick people, and in the other, she lambasts the chore of chopping vegetables for dinner.
On Nov. 10, the Amys extended the deal: With the help of Instacart, folks can score a much-needed holiday season break in the kitchen — whether you’re an Amy or not. Now through Nov. 30, anyone can claim a free Amy’s meal on Instacart. Here’s how you do it:
- Visit Instacart.com or use the Instacart app.
- Add any eligible Amy’s Kitchen meal to your cart.
- Enter promo code LETAMYSCOOK4U at checkout for one free meal.
- The deal is limited to 1 item per customer while supplies last.
“I do cook a lot every single night, but I like it if people are starving and I’ve got something in my freezer to be like, ‘Look, you want some enchiladas?’” says Sedaris. “I mean, who doesn’t want enchiladas?”
