Chefs Susan Feniger, left, and Mary Sue Milliken sip lattes
and show their enthusiasm for food, even when there are
no knives, pans or TV cameras in sight.

"I have this little pepper mill I carry in my purse everywhere I go," she tells the audience, emphasizing her belief that freshly ground pepper is a must in good cooking.

"It's sick," scoffs cooking partner Susan Feniger in mock derision while dicing onions.

The byplay between chefs Milliken and Feniger - the TV Food Network's popular "Too Hot Tamales" - is pivotal to the pair's extraordinary chemistry, which is even more appealing on a breezy Valley Isle morning than it is on the tube.

Milliken, the tall, blonde, Martha Stewart almost look-alike, and Feniger, the short, brunette, Geraldo Rivera almost sound-alike, stormed Wailea last weekend for a Grand Chefs Tour series of cooking demonstrations, wine workshops and signature dinners.

Feniger, 43, and Milliken, 38, run the Border Grill in Santa Monica, Calif., and recently unveiled their fourth cookbook, "Too Hot Tamales." (It's available on television and will reach bookstores soon.)

Yet, they are not resting on their laurels; on their agenda are:

Renaming their year-old TV show to "Tamales on Tour" or something similar, and expanding beyond Mexican cuisine to Asian and other foods.

Two hourlong Food Network travel/cuisine specials in the new year.

Three to five more restaurants in Southern California - including the rebirth of their original, eclectic City Cafe - and possibly a restaurant in Las Vegas.

Going national with their popular Los Angeles public radio show in six to eight months.

Milliken, pursued by culinary partner Susan Feniger,
struggles to put on her shoe before starting a cooking demonstration.
Part of the pair's charm is their playfulness and
childlike sense of wonder.

Feniger speaks in a broad Toledo, Ohio, accent by way of Russian Jewish lineage.

"My mom is a hundred percent German and my dad is a sort of an English, Irish, Scots mix and I was influenced a lot by mom's cooking mostly," rejoined Milliken, of the Detroit area.

Their mothers are both named Ruth and one of their cookbooks is "Dedicated to Ruth and Ruthie, the Two Hot Moms."

The Tamales prepared Indian potato fritters and stuffed pasta tubes in a tent-topped venue on the hotel lawn. They chopped fennel seeds; filled fresh rigatoni shells with creamy chicken mousse; sauteed whole cumin and mustard seeds; and wielded an Armenian fritter mold with such enthusiasm that they could have sold two dozen on the spot.

They're hands-on, especially Milliken, whose fingers poke at sauces for a taste, push blond locks behind her ears, and dip into a salt cellar and scatter kosher crystals at each step of a recipe.

The Potato Bhujia (pronounced BUD-chee-uh) fritters with spiced yogurt and fresh herb chutney made one's palate jump and whistle and shout. A refreshing Vine Cliff Chardonnay provided the perfect foil.

Later in the day, they reprised the dishes as part of a five-course candlelit fusion dinner with selected wines. The menu included perky mango gazpacho by Avalon restaurateur chef/restaurant and taco mini-mogul Mark Ellman; and the Tamales' exuberantly spiced lamb riblets and luscious fresh pomelo-hazelnut confection. The upscale affair was for hard-core foodies, at $115 per palate.

The Tamales resemble the cuisine of their 16-year partnership - bold, direct, vibrant, different.

Milliken and her co-habitant have lived together for 10 years and have a 6-year-old son Declan Bond, named for singer Elvis Costello (real name Declan McManus) and Agent 007.

Feniger says she's not single; she has a girlfriend.

Mary Sue Milliken prepares the black mustard seeds,
cumin seeds, garlic and onion for a dish of Potato Bhujia..

Milliken: "I absolutely can't imagine why it hasn't happened sooner."

Feniger: "When I saw the headlines here, I thought, 'It's really amazing,' and I love that judge - the questions and his responses were really great. I was wondering, 'Why is Hawaii the only state that's even considered it?'"

The two speak in a seamless tandem on various subjects: Do they fight?

Feniger: "I read this quote in the L.A. Times, 'If you and your partner never disagree, it's almost like: Why do you have a partner?'"

Milliken: "It's probably not a very healthy partnership would be my guess."

Feniger: "We've been partners for 16 years - we don't really fight about things."

Milliken, mischievously: "I think we fight." (She pauses, then breaks into heh-heh laughter.)

Milliken is asked to describe Feniger:

"OK, that's easy - Susan is short (heh-heh). She's extremely generous, really one of the best friends you could ever have, very caring; really, really interested in the other guy, making sure he's happy, comfortable, feeling good. And, she's a great cook."

Feniger takes her turn:

"She's really smart, very meticulous and organized, really disciplined, very witty and funny ... She's extremely caring.

"And the main thing is I find that we still laugh after all these years. We do events together, I hate to do events alone. We'll be sitting there and we'll have worked a 14-hour day and really we're totally laughing and having a great time."

Which chef do they admire?

Feniger: "Probably we both really admire Alice Waters (chef/restaurateur of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif.) a lot.

Milliken: "She's got strong convictions, she's a visionary, and her food is very simple, very very flavorful and pure, straightforward."

On their own influence:

Feniger: "We're very functional. Our food is pretty but it's not fussy. Like the rigatoni - it's three pieces and cream and a little bit of chives."

Milliken: "It's not squirting and pushing and building and tall and all that."

Feniger: "Our goal is that flavor and taste are what's important."

Milliken concludes about her passion, "When I'm able to expand somebody else's horizon, or get them interested in something they might not have thought of before - I love that.

"Think of the whole generation that got brought up eating Kraft macaroni and cheese, and they had no role models in cooking."

Feniger: "We get fan letters from these 5-year-olds and we put them in our newsletter. It's really cool. It's great."

Milliken: "Just call us and get on the mailing list, at the Border Grill, 1-(310)-451-1655."

Cooking with the Too Hot Tamales is about getting the most mileage out of fresh herbs, whole spices, diverse foods - and living.