Nobody Puts Writer Colu Henry in a Corner

Colu Henry is the dream dinner party guest (ugh, remember dinner parties??). Not only because the New York Times recipe contributor and author of the best-selling cookbook Back Pocket Pasta is smart and funny and knows literally everything about food so she’ll appreciate all the hard work that went into making that cheese board. She’s also just one of those people who is so fun to talk to. She’s got that thing where she makes you want to know her whole life story—and tell her all about yours. That’s part of the reason our recent phone conversation with her lasted well beyond the scheduled 30 minutes and made us cry a little bit (in a good way). It also ran long because who doesn’t want to talk about Dirty Dancing and Patrick Swayze and sixth grade insecurities and that iced tea mix that comes in a can?? When we start having people over again, she’s at the very top of our list.

Name: Colu Henry
Occupation: Writer and food-lifestyle expert
Handle: @coluhenry
Location: Hudson, NY

What’s the item that stars in your Haystack Story?
The movie Dirty Dancing. I re-watched it recently. Growing up, I’d go to my friend Jen Gilbert’s house every day after school—she lived one street away from me. She had one of those grilled sandwich pressers and we’d make grilled cheese with Kraft cheese and white bread and iced tea out of that dry mix and we’d go down to her basement and watch Dirty Dancing. I don’t know how many times we did it.

Why was it so perfect?
I loved Dirty Dancing for a number of reasons— obviously the girl gets the guy storyline is great, but I especially loved that she was an underdog who gets the hunky dude. But I also really loved the music and dancing because that’s what I was super into at the time—I ended up majoring in musical theater—so just the whole genre. And the fashion too—I noticed when I watched it again that she was wearing Keds and I’ve been wearing those a lot over the past few years. The sex scenes were fun and exciting as a kid but nothing seemed too suggestive. It was a feel-good movie more than anything else but I don’t think a movie like that had come out at that point and I just loved it. I had the soundtrack on tape. They even had concerts where the dancers from the movie would perform to the soundtrack, but I never made it to one of those.

What was re-watching it recently like?
The class piece of it was something I never noticed before. When I was young I didn’t pick up on the whole “affluent family stays at a resort and gets to know the hospitality team who everyone looks down on” thing. I just never even put it together—I saw it simply as this love story where a do-good girl falls in love with a bad boy, but the class piece jumped out at me this time. So that was a big takeaway I didn’t have as a kid. The abortion storyline was interesting—Jerry Orbach thought it was Patrick Swayze and all along it was shithead Robbie who everyone liked because he was going to medical school. But when her dad realizes at the end that it wasn’t him, there’s at least some redemption. But it was sort of too little too late, Jerry. Honestly it’s just a really good movie and Jennifer Grey danced in it and it was so impressive—it was a lot to learn and she’s not a formally trained dancer. And Patrick Swayze! It’s amazing how he was able to play this role since he was also doing things like Roadhouse with that tough guy persona. But he was formally trained in ballet! And sings! He was a triple threat. You have a lot going on in that film. It’s a musical but also a sweeping family story and a story about classism. It’s fun and light but that the same time there’s a lot going on.

Two cute: Colu (right) and her BFF Jen back in the day.

What else was going on in your life back then?
I was probably 10 or 11 when I started watching it at home, of course we had to rent it, which seems so crazy now. Sixth grade was tough for me. I’m a November birthday so I was young for my year but in sixth grade I grew seven inches in a year. My family was concerned I was going to be an actual giant because I grew so quickly. And of course I couldn’t find clothes that fit me. The only thing I could find were Cavaricci jeans, which ran very long but were also very expensive. They were totally the it jean at the time [ed note: This is absolutely true and they are absolutely worth Googling]. My mom was so worried about my being ostracized that she got them for me. In sixth grade you’re already super insecure and then if your pants are short and you’re super tall on top of it it’s just not fun. So my mom bought me one pair that were full price and my dad was like ‘no no no, these are too much.’ But we weirdly ended up finding a lot of them on sale at Marshalls. They were a total status symbol at the time. So those Cavariccis were a real savior for me and helped my insecurity. And I didn’t end up being a giant, I’m just tall.

Who did you have a crush on?
There was a boy named Richie Jarer who I had a crush on. He gave me my first pity dance at a school dance. I was kind of a dorky kid. I loved Almanzo Wilder and Anne of Green Gables. I had literary crushes.

What did a typical Saturday night look like?
On Saturday nights we probably had pizza. My family had a lot of pizza nights. There was an amazing place called Martino’s. It was beautiful inside—super super old school. So we’d order a pizza and watch TV in the basement.