Gilded Trash
Ride shotgun with Comedian Scott Reed and Creator Crystal Reed as they travel the country in search of ...what? When they figure it out, you'll be the first to know!
Gilded Trash
Yinz Hungry?
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Join us on a flavorful journey through Pennsylvania, where every meal tells a story and every dish holds a secret.
Our discussions take a playful turn as we compare the culinary landscapes of South Central and Western Pennsylvania, showcasing how a humble dish like pigs in a blanket reveals the quirky nuances of local culture. From chicken corn soup that turned into a contest-winning marvel to weekend chili cook-offs, we share stories that highlight our love for cooking and family traditions. Our kitchens become stages for culinary rivalry, whether we're making lumpy gravy with a side of laughter or perfecting our prized smoked meats. These cherished memories are more than recipes—they're snapshots of love, shared with those we hold dear.
As we reminisce about the best subs and hoagies, ponder the impact of fast food culture, and salute the Waffle House's festive spirit, we invite you along on a nostalgic trip down memory lane. Our conversation blends personal anecdotes with broader cultural reflections, offering a delicious blend of humor and heart. We wrap up with a light-hearted nod to self-acceptance and a charming quote from Leslie Jordan, reminding us that every 'garbage can has its lid.' So, pull up a chair at our table and savor the stories that make food not just a necessity, but a delightful part of life.
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Food Traditions in Western Pennsylvania
Speaker 1All right, so this is episode six already, babe.
Speaker 2That's hard to believe.
Speaker 1I know Time flies when you're having so much fun.
Speaker 2It's just crazy how much I mean it's. It's been a wild ride already Just a couple episodes.
Speaker 1Yeah, it has so yeah, I'm ready. And uh, so one of the things that we happen to work into every single episode, whether you want to hear about it or not, is Food.
Speaker 2Yeah, food I mean we've always talked about it Every place that we get, everything that we talk about, I always reference back to food. I mean, of course I have a whole joke. One of my biggest, longest jokes is all the different things of how food incorporates into my life.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Food parables. You know sugar pies, all that stuff, but no, but I'm saying like, so obviously I incorporate it into everything. In every story I tell, I think about every trip that we take. Every single time that I leave the house, I spend the majority of my day thinking about food, Like if it's not work.
Speaker 1You heard that guys eat food, not me.
Speaker 2No, of course I think about what I'm going to eat. I, before I eat. I have spent probably four hours of debating in my head going back and forth about what to eat, what not to eat. All that what I'm looking for. It becomes everything it's it's. It's actually ridiculous. It's probably a little borderline psychotic. Because, like, just for example, when I go, when we go to eat places, I can't, I get analysis, paralysis when it comes to food and I can't decide.
Speaker 2So it's like I can't, my brain can't say, we will come back here again. So it's like how can you get everything that this place offers Right?
Speaker 1So there's a cure for all this food noise and it's called glp1 and I'm on it. Full disclosure um I know, but I like it no, no, but what I'm saying is that now you probably that's lessened a little bit, because you order what you want, I order what want, and then you get half or three quarters of mine plus whatever you want and you like stuff that I like.
Speaker 2So yeah, we like very seldom Do you order something that I don't really care for. For example, though, that stuff that you got that, or something that had avocado on it. What was it? A wrap?
Speaker 1Yeah, I'm not a big fan of avocado.
Speaker 2I mean, I like avocados, I love guacamole, I like avocados, but I don't like them on sandwiches. I don't like mushy texture on my sandwich. I like crisp.
Speaker 1Crunch. So before we get into that, I do want to do a real quick callback To the last episode. We are starting to get fan mail, babe really yeah, we are um. So, uh, they like the episode, they like what we're doing. Um, there's a couple spammers that want to help us oh well, of course edit our stuff.
Speaker 1But what I'm saying is I'm still learning, so I don't know how to respond back to the fan mail that we're getting yet. So just know that we see it, or I see it, and tell Scott about it, so we hear you, thank you, and thank you for the reviews on you know all the apps and shout out to whoever's in Louisiana listening.
Speaker 2We haven't figured that one out, but shout out to you because you're a frequent listener yeah, whoever's in louisiana or bouncing out of louisiana, we see I don't think it's a vpn, because it's consistently in the louisiana area. Usually if it's a vpn, it's like over the place, so we would have random ones, but regardless.
Speaker 1I'm with you, but so you were talking about sandwiches.
Speaker 2I sure was.
Speaker 1And you said that you like a crunch on your sandwich. So we're going to go down all the food rabbit holes today, but there's a slight chronological. Did I say that right?
Speaker 2Chronology.
Speaker 1Chronology to it. So I want to start with like kind of you're from what would you say south central pennsylvania? South central pennsylvania represent and I'm from greater southeast pittsburgh. Just kidding, I'm from johnstown right, which is western pennsy. It's right in the heart of Western Pennsylvania Right. Because it's like in the middle.
Speaker 2It's like you know what I mean. It's definitely Western Pennsylvania. I always say you know. So if you travel from where you know, from where I'm from, like Franklin County, pennsylvania, chambersburg, waynesboro, that area, and you're driving to johnstown, I assume you're taking 30. But once you cross the mountain, once you cross down into breezewood that I call that mountain, like sidling hill, the great cultural divide, because that's where it's no longer part of, like the mid-atlantic region. It becomes the midwest and western pennsylvania.
Speaker 2I lump in with the midwest because they have much more in common with you know, like ohio, indiana yeah, you know like what would you consider like midwest, because they just in their attitude, in the way that they talk and, more importantly, the foods that they eat that's exactly it, because it's crazy. You can take a two-hour drive from you. Know where I'm from to johnstown and immediately you see things that people you might have heard about it because there is a little bit of crossover. Certain things like obviously I never heard a pig in a blanket, as what people in Johnstown? Which is a cabbage roll?
Speaker 1Yeah, and that's the one of the biggest things that I got made fun of for when I was younger, when I left Cambria County and went to Franklin County and made friends. You know, part of that is cooking and the one day I'd made the comment that it was going to take me all day to make pigs in the blanket and they thought what you thought that it was a hot dog wrapped in a bisquick biscuit.
Speaker 2Yeah, what pillsbury.
Speaker 1It does take me all day to do that too, but that's because I'm a perfectionist. Those are delicious. They are, I'll be honest.
Speaker 2They're my more favorite pig in a blanket yeah we're having a tournament of pigs in a blanket Hot dog and a fucking crescent roll wins every time, but I do like the regular pigs though.
Speaker 1Right, and if you're not familiar with what a pig in the blanket is, it's Polish, or that region Hungarian, and the official name is Hlupki, depending on which language you're using Hlupki there's Hlupki, not to be confused with Hlusky, which is just which is delicious, fried cabbage and noodles probably if I was picking foods that I never had before until I came up here.
Speaker 2Hushki is definitely, I mean, at the top of the list. It's just fried cabbage and noodles and it's delicious.
Speaker 1There are two camps of thought on whether or not there's also fried onion in there I mean, I can go either way.
Speaker 2Yeah, I don't get angry I don't get angry at either way but um.
Speaker 1But a pig in the blanket or a halupki is um. It's hamburger sausage, if you're a traditionalist I would like it with sausage but, um, some of them put lamb in it, um, but so it's a mixture of meats and cooked rice and seasoning garlic. Garlic is everything. You'll never, I'll, never, I don't. I think I put garlic in my cheesecake, I'm not sure. Um, but so um. And then you roll all of that up into a cabbage leaf and tuck the ends in and it looks like a little cute little it's a cabbage roll.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's a cabbage roll and then you cook it in the oven in like a tomato based sauce Now, my mom's pigs are, according to friends and family, the best ones around and she uses ketchup and sauerkraut and that is it, and garlic powder, salt and pepper. Um, so that's her secret. Oops, um, um, I got to carry the tradition, but anyway. So, um, that's, the kind of foods that I grew up on in Western Pennsylvania was what we call hunky foods, which are, um, you know, hunky is where honky came from, actually, but it actually, but it really means Eastern European.
Speaker 2I just want to say that the best, though, is when you go to a family function and there's speaking of holishki, and there'll be five different varieties of holishki.
Speaker 1Yes.
Speaker 2That's the best, because then you're trying different ones and you know, honestly, there's so many different ways you can go because there's so many variations of noodle that you can have. Yeah, that's where the real difference comes in yeah, is the ratio and the kind of noodle, because you have skinny noodles, wide noodles, I've seen it all homemade noodles. You see it all sorts of ways and there's nothing better than showing up.
Speaker 1And there's five different kinds of alishki yeah, absolutely, and we're gonna have to like bat this back and forth because I don't want to lose track of some, but I don't want to go down the pennsylvania western tangent when you talk about variety.
Speaker 2One of the things that I had never heard of until I went over to franklin county was chicken corn soup chicken corn soup, which more comes because franklin county, because it does sit in the central portion of pennsylvania, has access, easy access, without crossing the mountains, to get to all of like eastern pennsylvania, like the dutch country, right, so it's like you know a lot of those foods. So you get this, in particular this like mix of german, penn, pennsylvania, dutch cooking, some Western Pennsylvania influence and then also some like what I would call mid-Atlantic influence in the cuisine there, as if Franklin County has its own cuisine.
Speaker 1I mean it kind of does though Every place, does though Every place is a blend of the places around them. Yeah.
Speaker 2And I mean that's what makes food great. But food is also, like a great representation of a culture, of a certain area that's absolutely. That's why it's important to, like me, is you get a feel for, and especially like, if you stop at places and we always try to do this when we're traveling when you stop at places that are unique to that area, then you get a feel for not only the food but the people what's happening?
Speaker 2There's nothing better than to slide into a place like that. You get the total vibe of like the town or whatever.
Speaker 1Yeah, we used to have. They were called old-fashioned bargain days way back in the day, like in the 80s, and I just remember all of the church ladies would each gang up in their church basements.
Speaker 2Wasn't that special.
Speaker 1And all the moms would get together in the kitchens with the grandmas and everyone would have their own booth at the old fashioned bargain days with all the Eastern European foods. There's a lot of Polish, a lot of Greek folks in Johnstown, a lot of Hungarians.
Speaker 2A lot of ethnic whites.
Speaker 1Yeah Again, eastern European Right, that's exactly right yeah.
Speaker 2You don't get that breakdown Like once you cross over into certain other areas, you're just white.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2There's no break. They're like oh, they're that, they're that. I'm well italians, but they're their own thing yeah, but like up here there's like people there's. Like you know, I never heard of a slovak club or a polish national alliance or some shit like that.
Speaker 1That sounds like hitler camp but really it's just a place to get really cheap beer and hang out with some cool people, like a bfw or something like that. But I'm just saying like there's no reference to any like eastern european thing, there's no like hungarian national association no, I didn't have to take a note of alliance to join the pna, although I do have a lot of polish blood in me, so I am one of the OG. No, I'm joking.
Speaker 2No, but I'm just saying there's no breakdown of like. There's much more, like you said, eastern European influence here in the terms of like ethnic, like Slavic stuff, polish stuff, greek stuff, whatever.
Speaker 1Yes, and like I just Italians. Well, so the other thing that they all got together and made, so we talked about halupki, which was always on the menu, halushki is always on the menu, um gobs, which crack me up, because if you go east of the, the mountain there saddling hill, then you're gonna hear them call it whoopee passies.
Speaker 2Right, because that's the like Amish influence, that's where that all comes from, like Pennsylvania, dutch country which is also known as the Pretzel Belt or the snack capital of the world.
Speaker 1The world? No, it is I mean you're talking, it's every snack, and we talked about that a little bit in the first episode. We sure did, but we forgot to mention the candy companies too, because you've got like Right.
Speaker 2You got like Hershey's, boyer's.
Speaker 1Remember when we took a drive in that one town.
Speaker 2It was in Elizabeth Town. It's the Dove Chocolate Plant.
Cooking and Food Traditions
Speaker 1Yes, when we drove into the town, we kept sniffing chocolate. Yeah, the whole town smells like chocolate it was amazing. It was so crazy. I've never experienced anything like that in my life.
Speaker 2It smelled like it smelled like how you would imagine hershey smelled at one point in time right it doesn't anymore because they're.
Speaker 1It's like because they're a more modern plus, it just sits like away from stuff.
Speaker 2Yeah and for sure, and yeah and that, but you in elizabeth town, that was amazing because we're like what is that smell? Yeah, is that chocolate it is. And then we looked it up and boom, there you have it. Yeah, but it's funny. I also want to go back to you mentioned chicken corn soup, which so not only do I love food, but you also know that I love to cook food.
Speaker 1Yes.
Speaker 2Like I spend you know I obsess over it, always have, and. But I remember the first thing now, obviously I had made things eggs, stuff like that but the first thing that I ever tried to make like on my own, where it was my idea to be like I want to make this thing, was chick. I mean, I wanted to make chicken corn soup because we had a recipe in school, because we were doing like I don't know, I don't remember like in home ec or whatever. No, this was elementary school oh, wow we were just doing it, you.
Speaker 2You were encouraged to go home and make like something with your parents, but it was like I think it was like I don't know if it was a Thanksgiving thing or what it was but I picked chicken corn soup and of course I didn't want my mom to help me. So I was like I'm doing it on my own and that was the first thing that I made. And then I continued to make that and it became award winning.
Speaker 1So award winning.
Speaker 2No, it did. It won an award in the soup cook-off.
Speaker 1I went third place in a chili cook-off at work one time. I also won Because I used your smoked meat in the recipe.
Speaker 2I also won a baking contest one time with Grandma's monkey bread.
Speaker 1Grandma made it.
Speaker 2No, I made it, but it was her recipe. Oh, it was her recipe, yeah.
Speaker 1I, grandma made it. No, I made it, but it was her recipe. Yeah, I love that, but um, so your chicken corn soup again with the variations. Do you put hard boiled eggs in your chicken corn soup?
Speaker 2well, here's the thing is I used to not to, but then, when I tried it, I love it so much that I put them in there now yeah mine is fully.
Speaker 2I call mine fully loaded chicken corn soup Because it's chicken corn obviously rivels. I put a little carrot and celery I mean a little carrot, celery and onion in there. I put hard-boiled egg so it's like fully loaded Some chicken. That's the thing. Is you talk about variations? Yeah, it could be just straight chicken and corn. I like them all, I'd eat any of them. That and a pork patty? Yeah, buddy, yeah, um. But speaking of sausage, let's talk about when we got so, when we first got together. I'm not going to talk about the first dinner that I made you, but it was a pretty good one.
Speaker 1It was Well. It was the first time that I do not like green beans.
Speaker 2I don't care for them.
Speaker 1I fried the green beans, yes, fried in olive oil, and I think you added almond or garlic too.
Speaker 2Garlic almond and onion actually.
Speaker 1So that's the only way I like green beans now, because I really don't like them anymore.
Speaker 2Yeah, fried green beans are delicious.
Speaker 1But sausage.
Speaker 2But sausage, yeah. So just two funny stories. She tried to make she talked up this sausage, she talked up all this sausage gravy all week when we first got together and then finally we had it like a week later, and when she made it it was lumpy and everybody's like this is lumpy gravy.
Speaker 1I mean, I have never lived that down in 16 years.
Speaker 2Not lived it down. I mean you have because I haven't even brought it up in like 10.
Speaker 1No, but every time we see Jimbo, he brings it up to whoever we're with.
Food and Family Traditions
Speaker 2Well then, also he brings up another sausage story, which is the time we're talking about a friend of mine. And we always have, you know, cookouts, parties, barbecues, whatever, and we always, you know, go over the top on food, way over the top.
Speaker 1Way over the top.
Speaker 2Make way too much, make way too many things, but regardless, we become known for having like a full spread at our events, and most of it we cook ourselves.
Speaker 1We do, yeah, like I a full spread at our events, and most of it we cook ourselves. We do, yeah, like I'm not saying people never bring anything. People always contribute, but we're just control freaks and we love to cook, so we do most of the food.
Speaker 2Right and she made these sausage balls that she makes with like Bisquick sausage and they're good Cheese and she made them and I tried them and I like, was like I can make these better. And then I took it and I threw it in the trash. I've never lived that down.
Speaker 1Because his anger was misdirected. It had nothing to do with the sausage bowl, and he can't make better sausage bowls than me. I've come up with new variations. Oh that's a good idea. We need to have a cook off one time where you and I make something and have people come judge us and my brother can get on on well, that's.
Speaker 2The other thing, too, is we are blessed oh, all, right, yeah, now there's also lots of things that like we've gotten into, like, since you and I've gotten together, like I've gotten into smoking meats. Uh, I, he got me my first smoker. Did your parents give me my first one? Did you give me my first? I think my parents got you the first your very first one, yeah, and then we um, I you know, then I just kind of became famous for my barbecue.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, I mean in the family and friends.
Speaker 2is what I'm saying? Not famous, but I'm just saying like when people come to our house, they expect that I'm going to be smoking something that's exactly right. Yeah, and so it's like you know, that's become like kind of a passion of mine.
Speaker 1I got my brother into it, yeah, and that's what I was going to say is we're actually very blessed to come from families who have really amazing cooks. Yeah, yeah, I mean sure, For sure.
Speaker 2I mean, a big part of where I learned a lot of stuff is was, you know, watching cooking with my grandma, read Cause she always like she was like an old hillbilly cook. You know what I mean? Good stuff.
Speaker 1I love that you said that Butter cast iron fire.
Speaker 2No.
Speaker 1No, because I think that's where you got your. So I tease Scott a lot because he has a preference for what I refer to as old people meals and one of his favorite old people meals is fried spam and hominy. And I had never even heard of hominy, I didn't even know what that was.
Speaker 2But yeah, but that was a meal that I grew up eating. That came more from my mom. My grandma didn't eat spam and hominy but, like the old lady, food I would say probably came from Grandma Fliggle Myrna Mom, all that side of the family. Because there's a bunch of old ladies on that side of the family. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1And I don't mean that in a bad way, no, not in a bad way, but they all make that old school like just very traditional whatever they grew up with, and we both come from families who very much incorporate food into their events, as I'm sure a lot of people do. Um, that are you know in our generation that so we were. Every time we were around each other, somebody was cooking or baking or doing something like in that in the kitchen you know, just well, even down to the snacks.
Speaker 2The love of snacks that I have comes from my grandma. Well, my grandma was a snack pusher.
Speaker 1My grandma read yeah, what am I doing?
Speaker 2right now, smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee? No, I'm not right now, but I'm just smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee and eating potato chips and pretzels while you read or watch TV Right, just fucking bullshit.
Speaker 1Yeah, my mom's was popcorn and so obviously I came into the world before the microwave and so my mom made popcorn on the stove the traditional way, which I still love to do. We've had air poppers, we do microwave popcorn every once in a while, but I love to make stovetop popcorn in a skillet with some oil and do it that way, and she made it like every night so yeah, so like.
Speaker 2well, grandma then passed her love of chips and pretzels and stuff. Well, like again, we come from, where you have so much variety, so many choices of the best snacks in the world, and back then they weren't everywhere, us wasn't national.
Speaker 1Right Us was. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2You had what your locals yeah, yeah, you could get from like a little, probably a couple hundred mile radius from like where you live. But that was about it, and so you had martin's then. No, we ate gibbles, nibble. I mean, we ate martin's too.
Speaker 1We mixed it up we weren't a one chip family. We didn't. We weren't the love for sure, and I still do.
Speaker 2It's like how I eat pizza I get. I don't want the same thing every time.
Speaker 1He's so DEI on snacks that his favorite snacks are wrap snacks.
Speaker 2But what I was going to say, though, was dad then loved chips. So when we were kids, we just a whole big bag. We would crush bags of chips.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Like regularly.
Speaker 1Well, oh, whole big bags. That's a good time to bring up the fact that my grandfather on my mom's side was a Tasty Cake driver.
Speaker 2Tasty Cake, another great Pennsylvania tree.
Speaker 1Yeah, he owned his own Tasty Cake route, and so I grew up literally living off of Tasty Cakes, literally, you know, and that's why we're both fat. Right, that's exactly it.
Speaker 2Not Tasty Cakes for me, but other stuff.
Speaker 1Right, his snacks, my snacks, and we both come from food-pushing families, and your grandmother lived during the Depression right, oh yeah, it's definitely.
Speaker 2People that are grandparents were in the Depression, the grandchildren of Depression.
Speaker 1Families are food pushers, are food pushers?
Speaker 2Well, they get food pushed on them is what I'm saying.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Because aren't necessarily food pushers, but they come from food pushers right so that when you're visiting your grandparents growing up, if you're the grandchild of a depression family, eat, eat, right that generation is like, you know, right, which is why, well, also, we live through the explosion of fast food.
Speaker 2So if you're born from like, say, say, 75, to like 85, that's the explosion of, like, all the different varieties everywhere of fast food. Right, fast food begins, like in the 60s and 70s, but it becomes huge in the 1980s, right, right, you know what I mean. Like that's when it explodes, because the explosion of television, that's really what it has to do with the explosion of television and advertising. Advertising Leads to this huge boom in well, not only, but like fast food, but like chain restaurants, like this food culture.
Speaker 1Well, you found out a fun fact today that ties right into that, about the first ever commercial.
Speaker 2Yeah, burger King was the first people commercial. Yeah, burger King was the first people, first person. Burger King was the first company to advertise a sandwich on television.
Speaker 1There you have it, folks.
Speaker 2And there you go. That's it In the 1960s actually. We're going to educate you Back when they were Insta-Burger King.
Speaker 1It's not just about Scott and I and you listening to our stories. We like to throw in some actual facts.
Speaker 2Well, because I love obviously, like I love the show, I love food shows, this is a good time to talk about that. So not only do I, but not only do I love food shows in the sense of like diners, drive-ins and dives, which we've visited, many of those.
Speaker 1Yes, which we've visited. Many of those yes.
Speaker 2We do a lot of food tour. We don't specifically do food tourism, but anytime we're going someplace, I am on. I'm finding every restaurant that's ever been on TV, because I'm going to pick the one that I want to go to or whatever multiple whatever.
Speaker 1So if you're keeping up with our historic episodes, our dream tourism package includes food, music, a good murder and some paranormal shit going on.
Speaker 2Yeah, this is all exactly every trip we've ever taken is the subjects that we're talking about.
Speaker 1Yeah, and now comedy. We're now Larry and comedy. Do you know what I?
Speaker 2just remembered the name of that convenience store in Ohio Pettit's.
Speaker 1Pettit's.
Speaker 2And the only reason we're bringing this up again is because the other day we were trying to think of this and I could not I mean, for the life of me, could not reach into my memory and pull this name of this place out.
Speaker 1Why were we talking about it, though I don't know, it doesn't matter, because we were talking about doing the episode coming up and stuff.
Speaker 2Oh right, right. Another good thing that we could. What were we just talking about, though? What were we going to get into? Oh, TV shows.
Speaker 1Yeah, TV shows.
Speaker 2So and we were talking about what we do on trips Not only do we love TV shows where they review food, where it's like you know, diners, drive-ins and dives, that kind of thing, but I love shows like food that built America, about the history of food, the history of companies, and like the Kellogg versus post-wars and Heinz versus everybody else, and it's it's interesting they were like Ruthless.
Speaker 2Heinz wants the ketchup manufacturers. Heinz didn't want the. This is my favorite story. Heinz didn't want the other ketchup manufacturers like competing with him, so he bought up all the glass jars in all of surrounding Pittsburgh, put them on a giant barge and took them out and sunk them in the middle of the Ohio river. So the other companies couldn't make ketchup.
Speaker 1It was like the ketchup revolution.
Speaker 2Can you imagine a company doing that now? That'd be wild If you heard about that. Kfc bought all the chickens sent them out in a big ship in the middle of the ocean Just drown them all. Holy cow.
Speaker 1That's crazy, but so, um, when cooking shows first came out much like what I mean cooking shows been around for forever my dad used to watch.
Regional Food Favorites and Memories
Speaker 1uh, justin wilson the cajun cook all the time. I love him, I he. He's the reason I think that I love cajun, to be honest with you, because I went through a little stint of trying to cook Cajun and trying to cook Southern when we lived in Myrtle Beach and learned all those recipes. So I wanted to try to eat healthier and I learned this recipe on television and it's a meatloaf that has feta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes in it and it's amazing, the kids loved it, like it was a hit. It was 10 out of 10. But when Scott told me who he thought the person was, I just I giggled for days.
Speaker 2Gita De Laurentiis, gita De.
Speaker 1Laurentiis or Giada.
Speaker 2Giada, as she's properly known. As the rest of where I come from, it's gita.
Speaker 1But that's just a funny fun story for but yeah that recipe is good and I actually just looked it up not too long ago and it's still on her old blog, so you can look up giada de la rentis's meatloaf made with oh, and it is also made from turkey meat, which is so it makes it like super healthy, it's good, yeah, it's very good, um, but again that well speaking of dried tomatoes.
Speaker 2So my love of food doesn't only extend to cooking it and preparing it, but it extends to growing it. Yeah, it's higher in the nickname big country.
Speaker 1It is my big garden in the middle of the hood. We literally live in the city and in a residential area, and I'm thinking about getting a tractor.
Speaker 2That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1We have like a half acre of yard and um, and he's right now it's only 25 percent garden, but when I'm done. My goal is 80. It's a farmette but um and I'm gonna build a greenhouse and then of course.
Speaker 2So then I like can all my stuff and do all that nonsense. Free stuff, can it? Um, and that that's that's how much I love it. I love not only growing it, I like to take it from my yard to my mouth. That's farm to table.
Speaker 1That's why he's big country that's why I'm big country.
Speaker 2that's exactly right now, so this begs an interesting question, though, is what is your favorite food? You're dying, what last meal, what is it?
Speaker 1That's a toughie. But I mean honestly, it's crab Like king crab meat.
Speaker 2That's a good choice. I don't even need butter If. I'm leaving this world. I want one last slice.
Speaker 1Pizza, of pizza Speaking of which, I have two pieces in the microwave.
Speaker 2I forgot that I heated up, oops, we had pizza last night. How do?
Speaker 1you think about that? Foxes.
Speaker 2We haven't had foxes in forever, though years yeah, like I said, I'm not afraid to some people that love pizza they like, stick to the same one well, that's not what I was gonna say. So they like to shit on the chains, but not me. I like that. I incorporate the chains into my variety, which, but I just want to give a special shout out though to from for our johnstown listeners yes my favorite pizza in johnstown hands down jr sports den jr sports den.
Speaker 1Jr Sports Den.
Speaker 2Craig takes time and love is in that pizza.
Speaker 1First of all, they're just the nicest people you will ever meet, but they're really really really honestly care about the food and what they put out.
Speaker 2And I've had it three times in the last month.
Speaker 1That's how much we love it. But yeah, I wasn't really a pizza fan when when you and I got together.
Speaker 2Right, and I'm a pizza fanatic.
Speaker 1Fanatic, I'll eat any pizza.
Speaker 2Frozen shitty dollar pizza. Yeah, sign me up the only ones. I don't care for those. Celeste, mama Celeste or something yeah. I don't like those, but I do like the like the totino ripoffs that the store brands. I'll eat those all day, I don't care.
Speaker 1I love those. So I don't eat ketchup bread, but but yeah I love ketchup chips if, whenever it like when we talk about where we're going to order pizza from, if we already know it's not a chain, because, like we, we do switch up all the time, all the time, j all the time JR's is the only place that I'm like yeah, I really want JR's, that's our Johnstown local food shout out no.
Speaker 2But so let me ask you this so, of all the different places that we've gone to on trips, what would you say was your favorite restaurant that we visited? Maybe not favorite restaurant, but like favorite thing that you had at one of on one of our trips.
Speaker 1Oh, favorite thing I've had on any trip because it it was new to me was the pumpkin soup at Finn McCool's in Philadelphia. Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2That pumpkin soup changed my life. That's all I'm going to say, because I never had pumpkin soup.
Speaker 1Yeah, we went out to Philly just rando weekend. We liked to day trip a lot and it was around your birthday.
Speaker 2I believe it was 2011. I'm just saying that because I don't know if that place is there or not. But regardless of any of that, this pumpkin soup. I didn't even know you could make a soup out of pumpkins first off, and then when I tasted it, I was like first off, I was like how could it even be good? I don't like pumpkin, like that. I mean, I like pumpkin, I don't dislike pumpkin Right, but I don't ever actively seek a pumpkin flavor pumpkin pie. That's about the extent of my pumpkin enjoyment.
Speaker 1He's not one of those basic white bitches that likes pumpkin spiced coffee.
Speaker 2Yeah, I don't like that, and so I was hesitant of the pumpkin soup. But it had like some fresh cream in it and some bacon. The bacon flavor that came through, oh my God, I just can't even describe to you the savoriness of this soup. So much so we called the chef out of the kitchen. No, we didn't call him.
Speaker 1Now we told the waitress, she brought him out and she was like tell him what you think of this.
Speaker 2Yeah, it was amazing we were so talking about it.
Speaker 1I mean like we were like weirdo, like yeah, we're like this is the best thing I've ever eaten in my entire life it was who made this.
Speaker 2They brought out some kid named Chris that just happened to be working at.
Speaker 1No, it was the actual chef, it was the actual guy that made it.
Speaker 2It was delicious, though, Okay so what would yours? What would mine be? I'm going to go with it was because, first off, you know, how much I love chicken sandwiches. You know where I'm going with this.
Speaker 1I do know where you're going Joyland.
Speaker 2Joyland In East Nashville the best chicken sandwich I've ever eaten in my entire life. It was just mind-melting.
Speaker 1But we could go down category lists, for sure.
Speaker 2I could sit here and name. Give me a topic, give me a category, I'll name the.
Speaker 1Best Burn-Ins.
Speaker 2Best Burn-Ins Chubbies, chubbies.
Speaker 1And I don't know.
Speaker 2I can't think for the current state. I mean 15 years ago, 15 years ago.
Speaker 1Because that's the thing.
Speaker 2Where are they at Emmitsburg, right? Yeah, that's what I said. Oh sorry, I didn't hear you. Um, yeah, no, yeah, if we're referencing a place, because places go through changes of ownership, different cooks- right and we say that all the time like, even when you visit fast food places, it depends on who's working. You know what I mean. You can go to a McDonald's and have a great experience. If somebody, if somebody takes the time and the love to make that burger correctly, it's delicious.
Speaker 1So there's one place that I'm going to forget the dang name of. Where did we stay in the Outer Banks with your parents last time? It was that cafe.
Speaker 2Rodanth. It was in Rodanth. I don't know the name of the cafe. I think it was called the Rodanth Cafe. I don't know or something like that.
Speaker 1Right, but they had that grilled mahi wrap. It had cheddar and grilled onion on it. I know.
Speaker 2You've been talking about it ever since. Every time I fry up tuna on the Blackstone. She's got me trying to make this, recreate this legendary wrap that she had in nights in rodanthe.
Speaker 1It was amazing, amazing, but that's a good question.
Speaker 2Rodanthe, it is rodanthe, but I'm just a huge seafood fan that's like my, that's my go-to yeah, yeah, I mean, I love seafood too, obviously sure I I mean I love underwater bug meat, but no, I mean well, and that's part of my dream is I would love to go eat some, like go to Maine, eat some fresh lobster.
Speaker 1I mean, I've had lobster, obviously, but not in Maine.
Speaker 2Right, not from some guy selling it out of his boat.
Speaker 1No.
Speaker 2You know what I mean and that's what I'm trying to do, yeah, or like go to Louisiana and eat some fresh shrimp Although we did have some fresh shrimp when we were in the Outer Banks.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Some like caught local shrimp, which was amazing.
Speaker 1We cooked a lot down there too. We cooked a lot of seafood down there.
Speaker 2We were Dan and Linda's personal chefs.
Speaker 1It was awesome.
Speaker 2Yeah, I mean seafood. Down there, we were dad and linda's personal chefs. It was awesome. Um, yeah, I mean let's talk about, though. I mean, here's another big category of food that people talk about a lot is wings. We're gonna have wings later today, believe it or not sunday, fun day pierce wingdings which are the best wingdings yeah, that's the name brand pierce yeah and I think that schwan's originally carried them.
Speaker 1I don't know how we got turned on to them, but so it's weird because in johnstown, pennsylvania and I don't know if this is true of other places, but in the late 80s, early 90s, we had wing nights in Johnstown, but they weren't buffalo wings, they were breaded wings, and we have hand-breaded wing competitions here.
Speaker 2And there are some places that that is one thing that I will say is like yeah, that's another thing. Now, down there, you know what is crazy is like. So where I grew up, there's almost none of that wing breaded, wing thing going on, but there is a lot of fried chicken going on, true, which you don't have in Johnstown.
Speaker 1No.
Speaker 2Which is another weird thing. They have fried chicken wings like breaded chicken wings. It's like fried chicken, but there's not a lot of places to get fried chicken around here, no, whereas where I'm from you can go to like 20 different places. You can go to like all the Amish markets that have it, all the little gas stations Everybody's got fried chicken. And it's good, homemade fried chicken yeah, it's good fried chicken.
Speaker 1But you can't bring up fried chicken without bringing up the best fried chicken that I've ever, ever had and I'm not saying there's not better out there, I'm just talking about that I've had personally a million times in my life. If we're just talking numbers, Royal Farms If you've never had a Royal Farms chicken, you need to go.
Speaker 2You need to go, go to Maryland and get it.
Speaker 1Yeah, because that's primarily where they are. Yeah.
Speaker 2I mean they are starting to branch out into some other areas. I mean, well, there's ones in like Virginia and stuff like that.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Delaware, delaware, virginia, the DMV as they say.
Speaker 1That's where they are, oh right, right, but yeah, oh, they need to bring it, but they are. Well there are actually some in Pennsylvania now, because you know there's one in Gettysburg.
Speaker 2There's one in Hanover. So they're starting to Come on over to the West. They're entering the fray, they're entering their throwing their hat in the ring with Sheetz Wawa and Rutters, which, speaking of, so we're from Pennsylvania. So this is a great debate. Everybody calls it the Sheetz-Wawa say nah, fuck both them right rudders rudders.
Speaker 1Rudders rudders is number one in my book and we are getting one in johnstown, pennsylvania. It's opening soon and I suggest you go if I, if you've never been to a rudders, I recommend starting with their coffee, because their coffee bar is the best coffee bar just all it is is it's just a better sheet.
Speaker 2It's just a better sheets. There's nothing else crazy about it. It's just a better sheets.
Speaker 1The food's better, the coffee's better and they may or may not have a casino attached.
Speaker 2Yeah, like a little casino attached to it, like it's pretty wild it's real loud a seven, seven set. What do they call it? 7-7-7 room.
Speaker 1Yeah, something like that, who knows? Triple seven, but yeah, I mean Rudder's is awesome. Royal Farms Chicken is hands down the best. But yeah, royal Farms.
Speaker 2Chicken is Well. Royal Farms Food and Wine Magazine said it was the best gas station fried chicken in America.
Speaker 1Well, there you have it, folks.
Speaker 2Or best like fried chicken. I don't know about best fried chicken, because I'm sure there's some fancy schmancy restaurant that they're giving that to, but in terms of just fried chicken from a place Roe Farms, is it?
Speaker 1man. But going back to wings for a second, when you think about breaded wings again, jr Sportsden hands down. Fabulous, yeah, and they're hand breaded.
Speaker 2Yeah, I would say that too. I don't. I mean, if we're talking johnstown restaurants, I would put that up there too the bistro is a close second and jr sports.
Speaker 110 is underrated as far as you like it is as a food place, as a food, as a food place you and johnstown, it's my favorite.
Food Traditions and Memories
Speaker 2Um, now, let's get into. We did a little sheets wah, now let's get into. We did a little Sheetz Wawa, let's rank them. I'm going to rank them real quick here for you In my order. If I was looking at Sheetz Rutters Wawa, rural Farms, I'm going Rutters Wawa. Yeah, rutters, rural Farms, wawa, sheetz.
Speaker 1Yeah, I would go the same exact order. I thought we were different in the middle, but yeah.
Speaker 2Well, because Royal Farms beats out everybody but Rutters just on.
Speaker 1That's how good the chicken is, that's how good the chicken is, it doesn't matter about anything else, and they have good coffee too. Yeah Well, yeah, they do have some.
Speaker 2it's nice in other ways they do have good, can you tell we travel? Now let's get into another Pennsylvania debate, sub Hoagie Hoagie Grinder Now I mean people you know, because Philadelphia has a big footprint as far as, like Hoagie's go because of being right next to New Jersey. That all spilled over into the great you know food debate of Pennsylvania which, like, and I don't know it just depends on where you're at as to what they're calling it, whether it's a hoagie. But people get really upset about this.
Speaker 2There's whole Facebook groups dedicated to what goes on a freaking hoagie, it's actually ridiculous and I'm a foodie and I get tired of it because it's like whatever you I say whatever you like, that's you eat it. You're the one eating it. Who cares what other people?
Speaker 1right, there's no you want it.
Speaker 2As far as these people that are like traditionalists and say you can't have mayo and italian hoagie, we'll blow it out your ass, son there you have it.
Speaker 1Folks blow it up. I get angry about this but um so they're very different.
Speaker 2Um, subs in johnstown are very big long contraptions with 22 inches long yeah, they're, they're but yeah, no, I mean every place their variation, and it's an interesting debate because I mean everybody eats subs all over the country but nobody's, and those names have spilled over into, you know, other places. The term hoagie, hoagie, the term hoagie it comes from like out in, you know Philadelphia.
Speaker 1But let's talk about the best. I think we agree on the best sub or hoagie we've ever had.
Speaker 2Romeo's Wayne Sparrow, pennsylvania. That still exists today, circa 1985 to 1994.
Speaker 1Because they had homemade bread.
Speaker 2Well, not only did they have bread, they had bread that was otherworldly. They were doing bread magic in that place.
Speaker 1Some type of fried Puerto Rican flatbread.
Speaker 2What were you referring to? The best place that has?
Speaker 1subs.
Speaker 2Turtles, turtles Shout out. Hagerstown, maryland, is my favorite because of one thing. Well, two things the seasoned lettuce and the sweet peppers. They make the sweet peppers in house. That's the real truth.
Speaker 1I didn't know that yeah.
Speaker 2That's the thing that really makes, sets them apart from other, you know.
Speaker 1Well, if you're a sweet pepper fan, but the seasoned lettuce is something that I've never experienced in my life until I met you.
Speaker 2Right Now I've been spreading that love all over Pennsylvania with the seasoned lettuce.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2And teaching people every time I meet them and I find an opportunity to educate them.
Speaker 1We do Because.
Speaker 2I am. People know me as a great sandwich maker. I'm a sandwich connoisseur. I don't know if you've ever seen the episode of king of queens where danny, he's like a sandwich master and so like, oh, yeah, yeah, back into this business.
Speaker 1That's how I feel, like I'm a sandwich like I just I study I think my dad would want to throw his hat in the ring on that one. You've heard of this the skeebo sub.
Speaker 2I've allegedly heard of the skeebo's. I've heard of these alleged skeebo sub that he's always like every time I make subs, I take a whole loaf of italian bread and I get eight pounds of daily meat and I put it on this sub and I do it all up and it's like this thick and I've never seen one in 15 years we've been together. I've been hearing about these things and I've yet to eat. We live next door.
Speaker 1They've brought me 17 different m subs and I've yet the same day at one time, three on the same day at one time and here I sit and you've never had I've never had one of her dad's legendary subs so he's going to, in his brain, remain the king on that. However, it's a great segue, speaking of my father, to talk about breakfast food because, my dad also. You've had some of his legendary breakfast.
Speaker 2I have, and also at this same time. Well, I'm going to talk about that real quick, but then I'm going to bring up another thing. Your dad's breakfast is amazing. So the the routine for Johnstown used to be when we lived other places and we would come back to visit her parents.
Speaker 2We would usually be out with her sister and brother brother like the night before a party, and we'd be at the bar or doing karaoke, whatever so we get home late be you know, wake up hungover the next day, and her dad would always make tons of eggs, toast bacon, sausages why scott turns italian every time he's talking about food.
Speaker 2I have no clue, but all right that because that's just, it just comes out in you, it oozes out of you with these salted meats. Um, you can't help a talk like that, you, you just, it just puts a little snaz in your voice. Um, no, but he meant you know like it would have all the fixings of a great, just greasy, like skillet fried breakfast.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2And speaking of greasy skillet fried breakfasts after nights of drinking, this is at the time that I'd like to bring up one of my favorite food establishments, the great and powerful Waffle House. Shout out Norm, my stepdad. God rest his soul. He was the real. He tried to spread waffle houses to the northeast. He worked his damnedest. Every time we went to a waffled house he would say you guys need to get one of these up and wherever. Finally they got some in the area up where we were from and he was a happy camper. But you couldn't go on a trip with him without him mentioning every waffle house, pointing out every waffle house along the way. And then when he got alzheimer's, that's when the real fun began with the walk, because it was waffle house he loved talking about.
Speaker 1It was awesome and it's fun and it's a great memory that every time we pass a Waffle House we just shout out to him.
Speaker 2We laugh, because not only did he do it to me like obviously growing up and embarrassing me. This is how much he loved Waffle House. Every Christmas day we ate breakfast at the Waffle House. We would go in Christmas morning and eat waffle. I eat at the waffle house. That was our Christmas tradition.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2And we did it like the whole time. Even after we like grew up and moved out, we would meet at waffle house for breakfast.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2On Christmas morning.
Speaker 1Which is amazing, because who wants to cook on Christmas morning? Right?
Speaker 2And it's actually like it's busy, Like people that love waffle cook on Christmas morning, right, and it's actually like it's busy, like people that love Waffle House on Christmas morning no, and we so much so that there's a song about it. You can go look it up. Just look up Waffle House Christmas. It's a real country song, like a legitimate real country.
Speaker 1We both, I think we both cracked up and cried the day that we both cause we were coming home from being over that way. We were coming back to Johnstown from Franklin County and we heard that play and we both like just laughed and cried. It was cool.
Speaker 2Yeah, it was very cool. But yeah, waffle House is fantastic. I love any 24-hour breakfast establishment like 24-hour IHOP. Yeah, ihop is like Waffle House's stupid uppity bitch sister.
Speaker 1But if any of my high school friends are listening at all, they'll remember when Eaton Park used to have a late night breakfast buffet that's a Western Pennsylvania thing.
Speaker 2I had never been to an Eaton Park until late night. Breakfast buffet that's a Western Pennsylvania thing. I had never been to an Eaton Park till we got here, so that's another Western Pennsylvania staple. They love their Eaton.
Speaker 1Park? We do, but we had the late night breakfast buffet, so we'd all go out drinking and then, for whatever less than $10, if we still had beer money left over we would get pancakes and bacon.
Speaker 2And in the South there's a chain huddle house. Yeah, I don't know if they're 24 hours, but I've definitely eaten a minute pretty early in the morning not to be confused with the strip club in west virginia called the huddle club.
Speaker 2Speaking of norm now, the first time, when we were kids. So there's a chain of restaurants in the south called the huddle house. There used to be a strip club in west virginia called, uh, the huddle club, and I was like we were like eight and we got back from, we went with my dad, my stepmom, on a trip and we stopped at the huddle house. We went to myrtle beach and we stopped the huddle house for breakfast and when we were telling mom and norm about the story, when we got home, norm was, like there's a strip club in West Virginia called the huddle club. Is that where you had breakfast? Yeah, because they took us to a strip club, although the huddle club did have steak and egg specials.
Speaker 1That's a food anomaly that I can't even wrap my brain around is food at strip clubs Right.
Speaker 2Like you're sitting there watching women. You're like, yeah, I could go for a steak potatoes, green beans ranch dressing.
Speaker 1I'll take it rare Right.
Speaker 2It's just so weird, like I just it's. It's a very strange thing.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Um, um, to be sitting there and you're like, you're like sitting there with your buddies eating some eggs. Oh, look at her tits.
Speaker 1Just it's so strange uh, but that's a good way to, but they they.
Speaker 2There's some strip clubs. I mean I don't know, but I've heard people say that like he knows. No, I'm no, because they're not anywhere than any place that I've ever been, but like no, because they're not anywhere that any place that I've ever been. But like they talk about certain places like in vegas, that are known for, like their steak and egg specials right something like that, where the food is actually like legitimately good at the strip club yeah, no, I'm, I'm joking, but let's so.
Speaker 1That's speaking of quirky shit like that let's talk about. So my girl, bambi, at work introduced me to a place that I must have their Eggs Benedict sandwich from. It's called Eggslut, and I just want to say that a bunch of times it's in California, oh, eggslut.
Speaker 2Eggslut.
Speaker 1Eggslut, I love it. I love it, but there's also, so there's a diner in.
Speaker 2Londonondon, and I can't remember the name of it right now I think it's karen's diner.
Speaker 1Yeah, oh yeah, karen's.
Speaker 2I did add it to the list, thank you well, not just there, but like there's some places like ed to bevix in the united states that do this yeah and but so ed to bevix, if you're not familiar, they insult you, right.
Speaker 1The waiters insult you, the servers, the service is shitty. I don't know, I've never been there.
Speaker 2No, they're not, they're just. They say mean things.
Speaker 1They say mean things. It's like meant to be a comedy thing, right? People know.
Speaker 2There's various institutions across the United States that are known for this so-called mean waiter thing, Just think of Matt Rafe was your server at a food place. Why he doesn't? Really serve people to me Crowd work. Well, yeah, I guess.
Speaker 1But no, and that Karen's place does something similar. But I just, I'm like, even if somebody insulted me in a British accent, I don't know if I would know that it was happening.
Speaker 2I would say it's more like if Jeff Ross was your waiter.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, that's a good one. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2They're going to roast you. Yeah, that's what they're doing. They're roasting you yes.
Speaker 1Yes. And then your good friend Dusty Slay. Is he the one that went to Biscuits and Porn? Did he bring that up? Oh no, he was just talking about buying coffee from strippers.
Speaker 2Yeah, there was a coffee club outside, a little coffee bar outside a strip joint. Yeah, no, no, no. Biscuits and porn. You're just thinking of? That's a store in the Outer Banks that sells biscuits and porn. They're old school. They got magazines. Yeah, get a club magazine.
Cooking Traditions and Holiday Baking
Speaker 1I don't know, I've never been in there, but I've heard their business. We didn't have a bit, we just saw. We were like hey, it's important.
Speaker 2And then we looked it up and they're actually. They have good reviews for their biscuits. People really give up. They love it. They love a little biscuit and porn.
Speaker 1I don't know if they're reviewing the porn on there though no, just the biscuits all right. What else is on our list, babes?
Speaker 2I mean all kinds of stuff. I mean we've just about covered all of it, unless you want to talk about fad diets no, I don't want to talk about fad diets.
Speaker 1there's going to be a whole about me segment in my TikTok. We're getting a Peloton Dana White, don't be mad at me.
Speaker 2We still support you.
Speaker 1We still support you, but I needed a Peloton in order to hold myself accountable. But that'll all be on my TikTok. I know you guys can't wait.
Speaker 2I also want to give a shout out, though, to all the local markets out there, all the little hole in the wall joint serving hoagies and pre-prepared salads, pre-made ham salad sandwiches, baking their own bread and cinnamon rolls, making their own fried chicken and homemade meatballs Um well, yeah, that's a great one, but there's so many of them.
Speaker 1Let's talk about Rocky's Angry Pizza man.
Speaker 2for a real quick second, let's talk about how every town has a pizza guy that really engages on Facebook or like Instagram or whatever, Because I've noticed that every town well, here's the thing. I belong to a lot of different Facebook groups that are specific to.
Speaker 1Towns that we know.
Speaker 2Towns that we know or go to frequent a lot and their pizza, and every town has one of these. Maybe they even have multiple, but there's like an angry Italian guy that cannot take Real Italian like accent, like I mean, if you criticize them, and I mean this in the best way possible. I don't want rocky on my bad side no, we love and they deserve, and. But the thing is is there's, and what I'm going to say is in every town there's an italian pizza guy that tells customers like it is yeah like when they're dicks.
Speaker 2You're like he'll be. Like you know, fuck you. No, no soup for you. No soup for you, and like he'll snatch it back across the counter and you're not getting it very soup nazi-ish but rocky's comes up with some crazy creations. It's like on the fly, don't knock your socks off. Shout out Rocky's Pizza in Cascade, maryland. Yes, you are doing the damn thing out there.
Speaker 1And your Facebook posts are entertaining. Yeah, and you're the best.
Speaker 2Keep on telling those people about themselves, because the customer is not always right.
Speaker 1But I get his passion though, because clearly, from what you see him putting out his food is his art Right.
Speaker 2That's exactly right. People that care about their food that much are going to react like that I like that. I don't want a happy, well-adjusted cook back there.
Speaker 1No, I don't want him.
Speaker 2You know a drinking problem.
Speaker 1Hopefully did six years in prison. Exactly, yeah, at least one sleeve of tattoos For sure.
Speaker 2For sure, he definitely still smokes cigarettes.
Speaker 1I want my cook and may or may not be on either heroin or fentanyl, yeah, anything.
Speaker 2You can do anything. I want my cook with his life fucked up. I don't want a well-adjusted.
Speaker 1I don't want some kid whose parents paid for him to go to culinary school cooking my fucking food bag.
Speaker 2I don't want some bush bag cooking my fucking cheese steak.
Speaker 1Okay, cool speaking of cheese steaks. Real quick, shout out. I wish I knew his name. I'm gonna butcher it. It's a african name in pittsburgh. We were at parkway theater the other night. It's an African name in Pittsburgh. We were at Parkway.
Speaker 2Theater the other night and that His name was Mustafa, something or other.
Speaker 1Yes.
Speaker 2I have it on my Venmo.
Speaker 1That fucking cheesesteak was hands down.
Speaker 2It was so good, it was just we were at one of my comedy things at Parkway Shout out Parkway Theater, mckee's Rocks. He was just he's got like a little thing. It's basically like a food truck but it's inside the like bar.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2And it's just like a little flat top and like a thing and he's just got a couple menu items. But let me tell you what his cheesesteak was right up there with one of the best cheesesteaks I've ever eaten.
Speaker 1Yeah, I am. So I don't like a greasy cheesesteak and I'm very, very, very particular about the meat. It has to be a certain texture.
Speaker 2It was seasoned perfectly.
Speaker 1Oh, let's talk about those fried potatoes that he had.
Speaker 2Well, he was black. Of course, he was seasoned incorrectly.
Speaker 1I mean, I season. No, that is true though. Oh my God.
Speaker 2I'm just saying that they pre-season when you go to a restaurant. I don't like having to add salt.
Speaker 1Agree or other stuff. Agree, so like I like it to be seasoned.
Speaker 2I hate when something is like deliciously cooked but has no real flavor.
Speaker 1Flavor Right Like a chicken with no seasoning. Right, a chicken breast with no seasoning.
Speaker 2It's bland.
Speaker 1Right, agree, but yeah, these potatoes were seasoned perfectly, the meat was seasoned perfectly.
Speaker 2Yeah, I mean, that's what makes so many good things. The bread was good.
Speaker 1There was something else I wanted to shout out too when we were just talking about that, but I think we're good to wrap up.
Speaker 2Sure.
Speaker 1An hour in.
Speaker 2Well, well, no, maybe not quite um an hour and two minutes.
Speaker 1Oh no, no, I I do have two more subjects real quick. So, um, it is about to be holiday season well, that's another thing.
Speaker 2Seasonal foods yeah the foods that come back every year at the same time, and now we're entering into my. We've been grilling and chilling all summer long we in the summer I grill, like every time I'm making dinner. It's, you know, it's grilled chicken, steak, shrimp whatever it's outside cooking, yes, I take advantage, full advantage, of the good weather for outside cooking yes but now we're getting into the time.
Speaker 2It's football season, we're partway through. It's getting cold, there's a chill in the air. We're going to hit the 30s this week, oh God. And so now it's time that. So I cook all summer, basically. Now you'll be taking over Of the cooking.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2I mean because, obviously mean, because obviously not all of it, but you know, for the most part because you are more the soup maker. Yeah, the pot pie, the yes traditional casserole, yeah 1950s housewife cooking is what I'm gonna.
Speaker 1Yeah, hardy hardy, I look corn fed. There's a reason, um, but yeah, so um. So you know we're definitely gonna do. We're gonna do a thanksgiving episode. We're not gonna talk about the food so much, because everybody does the same damn foods for thanksgiving I'm not even worried about. We all do the same thing. Let's's be real.
Speaker 2Right, if you're.
Speaker 1Italian. You might throw some lasagna in there.
Speaker 2We get it Right. You might have some rigatoni, if you're Italian, with your Thanksgiving meal, but what I love about Thanksgiving, though, is yeah, everybody has the same things, but all Thanksgiving meals are not created equal. No, they are not, not by any means, I like a good, I like the seasoning, I like the stuff that tastes good. I don't want to go to Bland old Blanche's Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1Yeah, and so, like my stuffing, for instance, that was passed down to me from my mother, the key is a fuck ton of butter and the perfect example is like grandma fliggle.
Speaker 2The stuffing at grandma fliggles is good, but but it's not at the level of what we're eating up here and there's.
Speaker 1but what do we always look forward to when we go out there? Her cranberry relish, her fruit salad, which is hands down. I can't even tell you. I don't know how you can make fruit salad any different or better. I've never, tasted better fruit salad than his grandmother Flagle's.
Speaker 2Because she puts bananas in it.
Speaker 1That's part of it.
Speaker 2I mean, it's just canned fruit salad, but she adds extra grapes and extra banana and adds banana and extra grapes. I think she adds a little pineapple something Well no, there's pineapple in it, but yeah, it's just amazing.
Speaker 1And um, your grandma reads biscuits, of course.
Speaker 2They weren't biscuits, they were rolls.
Speaker 1Rolls Sorry.
Speaker 2And they were. It was some of the best bread you'll ever eat in your life.
Speaker 1Yeah, but the reason why?
Speaker 2I'm just saying, like different people, you know, like you try different things at different Thanksgivings, and some are good, some are.
Speaker 1And the reason why I was even bringing up like the whole holiday thing is because I do bake.
Speaker 2I loved holiday baked goods.
Speaker 1I hate it some years. I love it some years when my kiddo comes home. She came home last year and helped and we got through a lot, so it was fun. Not that Scott doesn't help he will but that's like my domain and I don't really.
Speaker 2I don't like him around. I love cooking, but baking like baked goods pastries, breads is not my thing. I don't really do it. I like that because it's not the foods that I love to eat. I do like eating them and obviously I gobble up everything that you're making.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2But it's just the one thing that I'm not really into making.
Speaker 1Just eating. No, it's fine though, because um, and and I've gone through phases I tried Um. But the reason why I'm bringing all that up is, uh, because if you have not ever visited the PA wedding cookie table spot on Facebook, go check it out. That's what I mean. We're known for like some really intricate cookies over here in Western Pennsylvania, not just those fancy iced thingy dingies. We make all kinds and they're just days worth of work, days, days, days. And we've got a wedding coming up soon and we're going to get some of them.
Speaker 2Mm cookies, days, days, and we've got a wedding coming up soon and we're gonna get some of those.
Parting Food Wisdom and Quotes
Speaker 1yes, and, and they were on the the wedding cookie table site. So, um, a bunch of my cousins are getting married over the coming year and a half and so we're gonna get lots of pennsylvania wedding cookies. Um, but for me, wrapping it up, I think there's two movies that, if I want to just wax nostalgic about cooking and growing up, and just there's two movies that always get me in the mood to cook or bake or whatever, no matter what.
Speaker 2Good Burger no.
Speaker 1I don't even like that movie.
Speaker 2I know.
Speaker 1Now one is you're probably not even thinking of this one, but Feast of Seven Fishes.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's a good one, Very good.
Speaker 1The whole concept behind that movie brings me right back to that's an excellent food movie, it's not a food movie, but it's an excellent movie.
Speaker 2That has food in it. That makes it's like it is. It makes you nostalgic about those moments.
Speaker 1Yeah, it really does. If you're a gen xer, especially if you grew up in the midwest or in western pennsylvania. Uh, feast of seven fishes really like hits home, but it's a good story of how food brings people together. And then the other one, which is not so touchy-feely pull on your heartstrings is good fellas.
Speaker 2Yeah, I mean. There's only a couple scenes in there that specifically tie when they're cooking at the end. Oh, the cutlets, baby the cutlets. But when I'm thinking about Also when he's shaving the garlic, when they're cooking in prison. That's iconic.
Speaker 1It's iconic, shaving the garlic with a razor.
Speaker 2He cuts it so thin that it just like disappears in the oil, just melts into the oil or something.
Speaker 1He says something like that it's so good but, it's just a good another good depiction of how, um, there is always food, no matter where you're at or what you're doing.
Speaker 2Yeah you know, central story, which is why I would also like to call out the Big Bang Theory has some of the best looking cafeteria food in the history of television. I just want to say that.
Speaker 1Yeah, what's the guy's name that produces? Chuck Lorre. Yeah, chuck Lorre.
Speaker 2He always makes sure that there's good food in there, because it's also in Young Sheldon.
Speaker 1Yeah, the devil's in the details, man it's probably going to be in the new uh george and mandy's first wedding.
Speaker 2So, yes, it comes out this thursday. I'm so excited about that.
Speaker 1Um so do you have any parting words of wisdom for us today?
Speaker 2I would like to offer up one quote here and uh, when you compare yourself to others, you only insult yourself, and that was said.
Speaker 1I'm cutting it out.
Speaker 2No.
Speaker 1This is a food episode.
Speaker 2I said it wasn't about food or trash.
Speaker 1No.
Speaker 2That'll be fun, but that'll come back for next time. Just remember that.
Speaker 1I don't want to get canceled, just remember that.
Speaker 2Just remember that. I don't want to get canceled, just remember that. Just remember that If you compare yourself to others. But I do have one good food quote, I'm sure if I just think about it here for a second. This week's quote is brought to you by the great Leslie Jordan, or, as my co-host likes to say, leslie P Jordan. Well, I guess every garbage can has its lid.
Speaker 1There you go.
Speaker 2I love that quote, see ya.
