White House Correspondents JIM ACOSTA, CHRIS JANSING, MIKE VIQUEIRA, JULIET EILPERIN, CHRISTI PARSONS & ED HENRY
TRAVEL RICHARD BRANSON’S DREAMLINER AND JAMES MADISON’S MONTPELIER
&
FASHION SEQUINS, FRINGE AND LACE
PA RT I PA ES! RT PA IE RT S! IE S!
SPORTS REDSKINS RYAN KERRIGAN & DARREL YOUNG
THE 2015 A-LIST WASHINGTON’S MOST INVITED GUESTS
lifestyles | dine and dish
Post Game:
Dishing with the redskins Ryan Kerrigan and Darrel Young serve it up B y L a u r a Wa i n m a n
How often does Chef Jon cook for you all? Ryan Kerrigan: Usually twice a day, five times a week. What are your favorite meals he makes? RK: He makes a chicken parm that is second to none. Whenever that’s on the menu I get a few pieces to take home. His salmon is great, too. Darrel Young: I had the salmon earlier. He puts some special sauce on it, I still don’t know what it is, but man it’s good. RK: He makes such a broad menu and I’ve been introduced to so many new foods because of it. I’m more likely to try them when I go out to eat now. What foods has he introduced you to?
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L to R: Ryan Kerrigan, Laura Wainman and Darrel Young mix it up in the Redskins’ kitchen. (Photo by Jay Snap)
DY: I don’t even like seafood and I eat it just
about every day here. RK: I’d never tried crab cakes before and I love his. I’m hooked on quinoa and faro now and I attribute that to John. Our first course arrives with watercress and pea shoots salad, fennel, pepper and artichoke tart and duck confit potato soup with duck skin chicarones and abalone mushrooms
prefer to spend your free time? DY: Playing PlayStation, attending other sporting events, just getting away from the game of football, honestly. I like to travel personally. I just got back from seven days in Australia where I got to hold a baby kangaroo. I went to kiss it and he just kind of licked my mouth, which I wasn’t too happy about. He didn’t even ask permission first? DY: Nah, he kind of just stole that kiss. I’ve
DY: This is what we are talking about. He just comes up with amazing stuff sometimes that we’ve never had. RK: I don’t usually like soups but this is good. DY: He makes a really good gumbo. Everyone knows if you aren’t from New Orleans you can’t say you make good gumbo, but his gumbo? It touched my soul a little bit. You’re in the off-season now, so how do you
done it before though, it’s ok. (Laughs all around table). You are both very charitably involved in Washington. Tell me about the philanthropic work you are doing and why it’s important to be active in the community. RK: It’s just the way I was raised. Religion is a big part of my life. I’ve been given a lot, not just monetarily, but with life opportunities
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R y a n K e rr i g a n a n d D a rr e l Y o u n g p h o t o s c o u r t e s y W a s h i n g t o n R e d s k i n s
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ashington is a town that gives 110 percent effort in whatever we do, from lobbying the Hill to finding the best brunch locale to cheering on those suiting up for the big game. But how well do we really know our local legends? Sure, you can recite Bryce Harper’s homer stats just as fast as you can fire off Boehner’s voting record on immigration, but do you know what makes him tick? Each month, I’ll be dining with some of your favorite sports stars to give you a well-rounded portrait of the people behind the uniforms. For this inaugural column, I headed to the Redskins practice facility in Ashburn to enjoy a threecourse dinner prepared by Redskins executive chef Jon Mathieson, formerly of BLT Steak, with linebacker Ryan Kerrigan and fullback Darrel Young. Read on to find out who is a devoted Katy Perry fan, who you may see in your Bikram yoga class and what it will take for our Burgundy and Gold titans to once again be a force to be reckoned with. >>
and it seems like a no brainer to help people when I can. I think most athletes would say the same. I know DY would since he was our Man of the Year this year. My foundation [Blitz for the Better] helps special needs and physically disabled children. I am working right now to get Kerrigan’s Korner in place at Children’s National Hospital. It will be an entertainment area with iPads, video games and TVs just to take their minds off being confined in the hospital- a way to give them an escape. DY: I decided this year to be a Big Brother, because I always wanted a younger brother. Like Ryan said, when you grow up and see how privileged you are, you just want to give back. I’m living my dream, but I’m just carrying pigskin in front of 90,000 people. The least I can do is bring someone along for the journey. With my little brother, I’ve been through every emotion with him, and I just want him to see the good things in life, whether that is getting him around guys like Kerrigan or taking him to RGIII’s summer camp, or giving him water guns for Christmas and chasing him around playing. Darrell, what did it mean to you to be the Redskins Walter Payton Man of the Year? DY: It was an honor. Walter Payton is my mom’s favorite player ever, so to be in the same category with someone my mom respects so much is better than anything I can imagine. You both work a lot with kids. What do you think are the biggest issues facing Washington’s children? DY: I want them to understand that they don’t have to just accept the situation they may currently live in. I live by the motto, “Don’t follow the path the trail may bring you to. Create your own path and leave a trail behind you so people can follow you.” Don’t settle. RK: I agree kids shouldn’t just accept the hand they are dealt. Look at Roger Mody. He is the perfect example of a D.C. guy who started off incredibly poor, but he worked his butt off and became a part owner of the Wizards and Caps. He is totally self-made.You don’t have to start off as a trust fund baby to live the life you want.
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If you could accomplish one thing before you leave Washington what would it be? RK: Get Kerrigan’s Korner firmly established at Children’s National for the long haul, and then expand to other regional hospitals. DY: I always want people to understand the importance of the military. I know what it is like for families. My brother has served four tours already and he’s getting ready to go back. They are fighting for us every day and I want people to see that. Second course arrives and the chef jokingly calls it the “Ryan Kerrigan special.” Seared John Dory is served with house-smoked bacon, fingerling potatoes, romanesco cauliflower, romesco puree and pickled onion foam. 2014 may not have been a winning season, but it was still a critical year structurally for the organization, particularly with the hire of coach Jay Gruden. What have been the biggest changes under his leadership? DY: Jay’s mindset is a little different. [Mike] Shanahan was old school in the sense of his spirit. Jay has young kids and he relates to players a little more. Before the Dallas game, he came in quoted a Juicy J line “Every time I go out, you know I gotta show out.” It
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excited the guys when your head coach is saying stuff like that and relating to us on our level. RK: He is a very intense guy both when he’s happy and not happy with what you did. If you’re not doing your job you will hear about it, which you can’t blame him for. What were the biggest takeaways from the 2014 season? RK: We were 4-12, which means everybody needs to be better. Even if you were the best player on the team, you need to be better because it obviously wasn’t good enough. Individually and collectively, we need to do something different because if we keep doing the same thing, we will get the same results. DY: I think once we eliminate all the distractions we will be ok. We can’t have people going on TV or on Twitter and calling each other out. We have to stay close regardless of what goes on, and we
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lifestyles | dine and dish
need to keep the media out of what we are doing as a team.
your own and developing the guys you’ve picked in the past.
What have you personally been focusing on during the off-season to make 2015 a better year? DY: I didn’t finish my blocks as well as I should have and that eliminates the ability to run the ball. I am tackling the little parts of my game to help me understand the whole game better and to master my mental mindset. I want to be the hardest critic of myself, in a good way. RK: There were some games where I wasn’t as productive as I needed to be, so for me it is all about consistency. I want to be a consistently highly productive player each week. I said earlier we need to do something different next season, and for me one of those things is to get more fluidity and flexibility in my hips, which is why I’ve started doing Bikram yoga.
The Redskins have the longest standing home game sellout streak in the NFL and a very loyal fan base. Do you have a sense of pressure or responsibility to perform when playing for fans like that? RK: I am humbled when I pull up to the stadium and see all these 91 jerseys and know that people are spending their hardearned money to represent me. Of course we want to give the fans wins, because they are always there for us and we’ve seen what it’s like when we give them wins, in 2012. It’s a different town when we win and we want the city to have that again. They deserve it. DY: 2012 felt like we had won a Superbowl, which is funny since we lost in the first playoff game. It hurts when we know we aren’t doing what the fans want, but I promise you we don’t go out aiming to lose. If you came to a practice, you’d have thought think the team was going to the playoffs because the energy is just that high every practice. Our guys are coming out every day looking for those wins.
In the past under Dan Snyder’s reign we have seen the Redskins make a lot of flashy free agency signing this time of year. But new GM Scot McCloughan’s mantra has been to build through the draft. How are you guys feeling about this shift? RK: I like it a lot. Scot comes from Seattle and that is what they have done, building through drafts, keeping their draft picks and they’ve been to back-to-back Superbowls. I like the mantra of keeping
What will it take for the Redskins to once again be a perennial post-season contender like they were in the 80s? DY: Consistency from every person in the building. RK: I think one aspect that a team like Seattle has, is they seem like a really close team, and when you care for your teammates that goes a long way. When you see Marshawn Lynch grab a great TD, you see Sherman and all those goes nuts on the sideline. Not that we don’t get excited when our guys score, but you need that kind of love for your teammates. The last course is presented with braised short ribs, parsnip puree, seared wild mushrooms and crispy shallots, in a red wine reduction.
Best meal you have had in Washington? RK: Filomena in Georgetown is my spot. DY: Jackson’s Restaurant in Reston has a 14
oz. rib eye that is marinated in pineapple for 24 hours. It changed my life. Go-to date spot? RK: Tony and Joe’s on the waterfront in Georgetown. DY: I haven’t really been on any dates here. Best memory you’ve had with the Redskins? DY: 2012, winning the NFC East Division Championship game against the Cowboys. The stadium was shaking. People didn’t want to go home; I didn’t want to go home. RK: There was nothing like that. I hadn’t had a winning season of football since freshman year of college, so that was the best. Last concert you went to? RK: Zach Brown Band at Jiffy Lube last summer. DY: I went to Drake vs. Lil Wayne. We have different taste in music. RK: No, not us. [Laughs] DY: I love Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus. I don’t care what anyone says. RK: Katy Perry makes some good music. If you could sit next to anyone at a dinner party, dead or alive, who would it be? DY: Beyonce. What would you say? DY: I love you. Will you marry me? RK: I’d ask Chris Farley to do some impressions.
Visit washingtonlife.com for an extended interview and behind-the-scenes video
Let’s do a quick lightning round now. Don’t over think these- just say whatever comes to your mind >>
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