Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware

We’ve got a very special bonus episode for you to brighten up your Monday morning! The fabulous Gabby Logan joined us for lunch and a game of Secret Santa courtesy of Deliveroo. As well as giving each other amazing gifts, we also learned that Gabby grew up in a sporty household, trained as a rhythmic gymnast in her youth, loved trying all the different French foods in Paris for the Olympics, once cooked dinner for Mary Berry, she (fondly!) remembers the bad gift her husband once got her, and tells us all about taking Jessica Ennis to a Barry’s Bootcamp class! Thank you to Deliveroo for the gorgeous gifts, and thanks to their speedy service you can have gifts at your door in as little as 25 minutes! #Ad

It’s time for a very special live episode with the iconic Chris O’Dowd & Dawn O’Porter, all in aid of the fabulous charity Choose Love. Recorded live at the Union Chapel with an incredible audience, mum rustled up a bunch of gorgeous canapés for our guests and she even brought a vat of her famous chicken soup for some lucky audience members. Chris & Dawn were just brilliant, we learnt about their Christmas plans, Dawn’s acting debut in the TV series Skins, what food was served at their wedding, Chris’ love of breakfast, why garlic holds a special place in their hearts, how Dawn put together the charity Choose Love, and this now marks the 3rd Irish guest this series mum has been able to talk about her Irish passport with! Choose Love does the most incredible work for refugees all over the world, and so far they have raised an incredible £120 million all going directly to those in need. Don’t miss the Choose Love store open on Regent Street in London until 31st December.

This week we have Irish comedy royalty round for dinner, the brilliant Sharon Horgan. Sharon popped to New Cross and brought her two gorgeous daughters with her. Mum made a Salmon en croute, and I made a Pannetone Bread and Butter pudding. We learned all about Sharon growing up in pubs in Hackney and Ireland, living in squats and being fed by Hare Krishna, writing and working with friend of the pod Rob Delaney on Catastrophe, filming Bad Sisters in Ireland and creating Motherland and brand new spin off Amandaland (which we’re very excited for!). Sharon is a total delight, and has co-created some of our favourite series on the telly. Bad Sisters is currently in it’s second series and is streaming on Apple TV+

It’s a foodie dream today with our next guest, chef and entrepreneur Meera Sodha. Author of the new vegetarian & vegan cookbook ‘Dinner’, Meera joined us for lunch bringing an absolutely delicious freshly baked honey cake with her! We discovered that Meera learned to cook from her lovely mum who grew up in Uganda, how she became a columnist for the Guardian magazine, her varied (and wild!) past careers, setting up her own dating agency 'Fancy an Indian?’(!), how she started writing cookbooks with the help of a smoothie company, and the fabulous story of how she met her husband (it’s like a Netflix romcom). Plus, she really gives Nigel Slater a run for his money with her incredible ways of describing food. Meera’s new vegan and vegetarian cookbook ‘Dinner’ is available to buy now.

We have Irish acting royalty joining us this week - and my new best friend - the fabulous Saoirse Ronan! We managed to grab lunch with Saoirse in the midst of promo for 2 incredible film projects, Steve McQueen’s Blitz & her very own The Outrun. Fresh from her viral appearance on Graham Norton, Saoirse told us all about growing up between NYC and Ireland, her iconic mum Monica, her love of Vegemite & Barry’s Tea, how she met her husband, being on film sets from a very young age and all about the joint love her family have for John Travolta. Plus, mum surprises us all this week with an epic version of the story of Skimbleshanks, who knew she was hiding that talent?! And who needs her on a new audiobook reading?? We absolutely adored having Saoirse join us, you really won’t want to miss either of the films she is currently starring in - The Outrun is available to buy & rent now, and Blitz will be released on Apple TV+ on 22nd November.

This week we have our favourite Bostonian comedy actor joining us for lunch at mine, and what a treat it was! Mum was over the moon to have the ‘dazzlingly handsome’ Rob in front of her, and - over an absolutely delish Nigel Slater peach and poached chicken salad - we heard all of his hilarious and heartwarming stories. He told us about meeting his wife at a summer camp 20 years ago, joining an olive oil club with his next door neighbour, working with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, the horrendous food poisoning he got from a dodgy oyster, and we’ve found another Table Manners guest with a penchant for a cold water swim! Rob is not only a fabulous actor, but also a great cook apparently - we’re coming round for a chicken noodle soup soon! Rob is currently staring in Bad Monkey which is available to stream now on Apple TV+.