499: Calzones
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:04
I'm Matthew and I'm Molly and this is spilled milk The show where we cook something delicious eat it all and you can't have any today
Molly 0:10
we are talking about
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:12
I
Molly 0:13
don't know. Either I'm gonna call these calzones I'm
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:17
okay so
Molly 0:19
you've been saying Killzone it's making me uncomfortable
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:22
that's what that's what mama the show Judy amster called them when I was a kid and and data the show Richard amster like these were always called zonies Killzone which is not how you would say it in Italian you were like called Zone A Thank God. So, but every other kid called them Cal's out
Molly 0:42
Yeah, there's something that feels weird about Killzone.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:46
Yeah, it seems it seems okay, let's just go with kill zone for the rest of the episode. I'll probably get it wrong.
Molly 0:53
You say Killzone? I say Cal zone
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:56
and let's do the show and let's call the whole thing off.
Molly 0:59
No, no, let's just go right ahead.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:01
Okay, because the thing is like there was another like almost exactly analogous. Oh, yeah, debate when I was a kid that maybe Maybe you remember this one. Also? I do. Was it Porsche or Porsche?
Molly 1:13
I think I did an even 5050 split. And I kept a tally of every time I said it and made sure that the next time I said it, I said it the other way.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:20
Did you did you like scroll this on the unlike? Your bed? No, it was on my bed posts. That's right. Sorry, we've already established that you had a lot a lot of notches on your bedpost.
Molly 1:34
I was keeping track of how I said Porsche and Porsche
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:37
and why did kids talk about cars?
Molly 1:40
Oh my god. A Porsche was like the coolest car you could have
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:45
a Porsche or Lamborghini but no one really
Molly 1:48
badly bikinis but people did actually have portions right
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:51
so but yeah, so it's so weird like like that these these words kind of fall into this liminal space.
Molly 1:59
I have a neighbor who has a Porsche Porsche SUV.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:05
Oh, the Cayenne
Molly 2:06
a maybe and he's got it like all tricked out.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:09
I mean, you can trick out an SUV does have like spoiler,
Molly 2:12
like funky rims.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:14
Does it have dual overhead cans?
Molly 2:18
It's got eyesight, it's got Sirius XM Radio.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:22
It's got eyesight like like it can see or is this an actual My
Molly 2:26
car has eyesight. My car is like six years old and it has eyesight which is this thing where like it beeps when you go outside the lane or like when the car in front of you at a stoplight moves if you haven't, you
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:36
know, moved? No, no, I've noticed that when being in your car that it beeps a lot because you're always drifting from side to side. Tokyo drifting.
Molly 2:43
I have like whole my speeding tickets when you're in the cars. It's true. It is true. Like Matthew gets in the car with me and all of a sudden and you want to show us our
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:54
cool guy.
Molly 2:56
Yeah, okay. But anyway. Yeah, my neighbor. I think that he's like, the accents. That could be Chrome. He's got like bright red.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:05
Wow. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I
Molly 3:08
mean, do you think he's compensating for something?
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:10
I mean, I think you should like ask ask him. If you can, like have a ride in it. He would be he would be so excited. If you ask
Molly 3:16
the kind of neighbor where like when I'm out watering the plants and he drives by he's got all the windows down and he kind of like leans forward and sorta, you know, gives me like a little point of the finger or they
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:27
tinted windows.
Molly 3:30
There. And he leaves this car parked at the end of his driveway facing down the driveway. Like Like he's ready for a getaway smart.
Yeah. Because that's what you got to do. If
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:40
you got a Porsche. That's right. Yeah. Especially an SUV.
Molly 3:43
Yeah. You and your kids can get away together.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:47
Like when I was a kid, I used to talk to other kids about like, which cars could go zero to 60 fastest?
Molly 3:52
Yeah, was it seemed important? This did seem important. Right? Wasn't it sweet? When that was all we had to worry about? Yeah. Okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:59
All right. So let's go down memory lane. And actually, you know, I realized just now like, really our Cal zone Memory Lane begins at our most recent live show the in person live show, right? Because that was I think, showcase. I think that was the one at at dinos where the world learned that you've never had a cow's up was it? Or was it before that
Molly 4:21
make us a kill zone?
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:23
I don't think so. Oh, baby ready Cal zone.
Molly 4:28
Okay, Matthew, I have little recollection of this clearly, because I've spent now nearly 43 years not eating calzones and so being told in front of a roomful of people in 2019 that I hadn't eaten a kill zone had little effect on me. I was just like, yep, tell me something. I don't know.
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:49
Wait, I don't I don't think you were you were told that you had never anything else. I think you were the one who gave up this information. This wasn't the epic I said where I became psychic. I mean, I guess,
Molly 5:03
I guess, when I'm vamping. I just I become all people,
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:09
right. I mean, I guess if I were to guess, like, Is there a common experience has Molly had? Smart Money is on? Have you ever liked cat or taken a ride? You know what? I once took a ride in my friend's dad's Corvette. Oh, that was awesome. Like, the thing I remember about it is that like, you get into the car and it is so low to the ground. You feel like you're gonna like scrape your butt on the pavement.
Molly 5:38
I'm pretty sure that I my brother had one of those like sports cars. My brother who's like 15 years older than me had one of those sports cars when he was in his like late 20s. But I don't think it was a Corvette definitely was not a Porsche.
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:54
A but I think those are the two main sports car.
Molly 5:58
Sure. It was one that had like, what do you call those like weird blinds on the back window though those like
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:05
Yeah, I do. I don't know what those are called. But the point of
Molly 6:08
that to like reduce glare on the windshield. On the rear view window. Let
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:13
me The point is that it looks so cool that you remember it to this day. Do
Molly 6:16
you remember when they made sunglasses that had those? It was Max?
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:21
I think it was Max Headroom. Yes. Yes. God, this is great. Max Headroom is so cool.
Molly 6:27
Okay, so wait a minute. Hold on.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:30
Take these out. I think they're probably warmed through.
Molly 6:33
My memory lane doesn't have any calzones on it. Except I think that when we were opening de Lancey, I think Brandon would occasionally make calzones like, just, you know, like for a staff member
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:45
he wants made us one when we were eating at two lancy because we asked, like, do you ever make calzones and he's like, man came back with one.
Molly 6:53
Yeah, well, we're gonna get into this, but like, why, why do this? Why not just eat pizza? We're
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:00
just gonna skip my memory lane. Oh, no, sorry.
Molly 7:02
Let's go. Let's
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:03
go down here. Memory. Okay, so my main count. I mean, I don't really remember a time when a Cal zone wasn't considered like an exciting pizza alternative. Like, it always seemed to be like, you know, we get pizza, but like, you know, this time, maybe we'll get a cow's
Molly 7:18
work, like an exciting pizza. Like it was anything more. Did pizza need to get more exciting for you as a kid? I mean, what kind of adrenaline junkie? Were you?
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:27
I mean, I wrote in a Corvette once. So a big one. Obviously, I went zero to 60. Whoa, but probably not much above 60. Because I would have gotten scared and cry. Yeah. But I don't know. It just seemed like a cool thing that you might get alongside or instead of your pizza. Like, you're right. Pizza is the most exciting thing when you're a kid. And so I'm not sure like, yeah,
Molly 7:51
I mean,
Unknown Speaker 7:52
what was wrong with you, man? A lot,
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:55
obviously. Okay. But I remember one time when, when we for the show, Laura and I were living in New York, which still feels recent, but was actually like in 1998. We were reading timeout in New York, and it said the best. The best calzones in New York are at a place in the Bronx. And we had never even Well, that's not true that we'd never been to the Bronx, I think we had been to, I think Laurie was student teaching at a school in the Bronx. But other than that, we'd never been to the Bronx. And we took the subway to the Bronx. And we we walked up what we learned was Arthur Avenue, which is like, where the Italian stuff that's like the real Little Italy, okay, and we went to this place and God kill zones, which were like, different from what I was expecting. And I've come to understand, like more Italian style, they were like, not like full sized folded over pizza side. They're much more like individual size. And the filling was like a ricotta mozzarella mixture that was probably thickened with egg and herbs, and beautifully baked and I probably there was like optional tomato sauce for dipping. But you know, we I'd never I'd never been to a place like Arthur Avenue and the calzones were really delicious. And
Molly 9:06
I imagine that filling being like really like, I mean, like, good fresh ricotta, like really kind of pillow exam. Ah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:15
wow. And then also I have very fond memories of the Pizza Hut per zone, which is pizza huts countdown and like,
Molly 9:21
I was gonna I saw this written on the agenda and I read it as p
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:25
zone. It's the pizza. Yeah, that's what it says on the bathroom door at Pizza. I bet 100 people have made that joke before, but it's still true.
Molly 9:35
Yeah, go on.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:36
I know I've talked about this on the show before. But there used to be a Pizza Hut within delivery range of our house and it closed many years ago and I still miss it because I think I'd like pizza better than Domino's. And every time we order cheap delivery pizza, I'm like, why did they close the pizza?
Molly 9:52
Yeah, no, I feel that I feel that. I don't know what was going on the other day, but we drive frequently along at Fifth Street, you're near your house. It's near my house. But there's let's give listeners directions to your house if the my address. So there's a Paul yachi Pizza like in Greenwood Sure, okay. And it had a sign outside the other day that said like now serving lunch and slices and this was on a Friday and there was a line of people that wrapped around the building.
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:23
Wow.
Molly 10:24
And it was there at like 11 in the morning. And it was still there at like two in the afternoon. Same
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:30
people hadn't moved at all well, but
Molly 10:32
I was just like, what is going on here? This is not a place. This is not a neighborhood where there's like a tremendous amount of lunch commerce. We're not talking about like, downstairs. It was I mean, I drove by and was like What is going on? This is so exciting for our
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:49
lives a great story. And I think pizza is just one of those things that like every time there's a new pizza option people it's like people have never had pizza before.
Molly 10:57
People are like whoa, Paul yachi is open for lunch and slices. Let's go stand in line.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:01
Oh, and I'm not saying I'm immune to this. Like every time there's a new pizza place in my neighborhood, which is pretty frequently I'm like, we should try the new pizza place even though we have pizza places that we already like.
Molly 11:10
This is so interesting. I'm very much I'm you know, as we've discussed in our Diffusion of Innovation sections segment. Do you remember the diffusion of innovations we discussed before? Dude?
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:24
Is this like a Steven Johnson book? No,
Molly 11:26
I feel like it's like some guy named Ernest.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:29
Okay, this sounds right. But anyway, was it was it earnest from the earnest movies? Hey, Vern, let me let me talk to you about sociology.
Molly 11:42
No, this was when I was like that.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:44
Now you may have an image of like a solo inventor in his garage, like black invented laser printer. But that that that ain't how it works first. We are all standing on the shoulders of giants. I didn't know I had an earnest impression on you. seen an earnest movie? I've only seen the commercial. I couldn't even tell you what, what earnest shelled for.
Molly 12:17
I certainly grew up with with earnest and burn or was it Ernie and burn?
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:23
burn a burn. Burn Vern was never seen Vern. Vern was like a phantom. Yeah,
Molly 12:29
burn was like a way of interpolating the
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:34
viewer. Yes, it was a way of interpolating the viewer. That's right, we are all burn.
Molly 12:43
I would not rush out to the newest pizza place like this is Daniel cart
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:48
used to say favorite new segment. Diffusion of Innovation. The collective unconscious that wasn't caught, was it?
Molly 13:02
I don't know. Okay, I'm just thinking of the the medium is the message martial arts.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:07
Yeah, that would be fine. That name would be really fun to say in in an earnest voice, but I think maybe I'm done. But who knows? You might pop back out and
Molly 13:17
go on. You weren't done with your memory lane.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:20
No, there was one other on here but I'm not going to mention it because it's like a place to close. That wasn't very good. So good. Okay,
Molly 13:26
great. So hold on, like, what is this thing and why?
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:30
Okay. A cow zone is a folded pizza turnover unit this and it's different from a Panzer rottie, which looks similar but it's fried. What and it's also different, like, like every smaller like a small fried pie with pizza like small fry. A small fry. Yeah, that's where the term small front comes from. And a Stromboli. Yeah, when you Google Cal zone. There's a lot of articles about like how is a kill zone different from a Stromboli? I've never had a problem distinguishing these things. I don't know why this is a big deal.
Molly 14:00
Stromboli is basically like if you if you were to cut it into cross sections. It's like a pinwheel. It's like a pinwheel. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:07
Okay, got it. Okay, so the question you're asking is like, why not just eat pizza? Right? Yeah. Okay, so let me let me answer your question with a question. Why would you make a double crust pie when you can make a single crust pie? Gotcha journalist.
Molly 14:25
Because the crust is yummy.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:27
Yeah, cuz the crust is yummy. And like this way, you get twice as much crust in each bite. You can pick it up and eat it like a sandwich. And like because it's sandwich II like it's more cheese focused and more crust focused, as you'll see when we eat these. And you can pick it up and there's kind of like, like the feeling like squishes together and squishes out in a sandwich II sort of way that doesn't happen with a pizza. And I was very pleased to see that Google Docs spell checker does believe that sandwich E is a word did not underline that for me.
Molly 14:59
That's great. Okay. So yeah, I can I get the portability angle? I
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:04
mean, like you wouldn't bring a homemade pizza to the park probably right. But you could we've brought like a sack of calzones to the park many a time.
Molly 15:11
That makes a lot of sense. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:14
I get that. Okay, we put the calzones in the in the trunk of our Porsche. Yep. Yep. We just got cut into these, whatever so one of them has tomato sauce and one doesn't. And usually when you have a countdown that doesn't have tomato sauce, you get optional dipping sauce on the side. Would you like that? Because I can do that.
Molly 15:30
I don't know. What do you want?
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:31
I want dip and sauce. Okay.
Molly 15:33
I think that I think the thing is, is you know, we've talked about well, like a decade ago, we talked about my fear of dental emergencies, right when it comes to like corn nuts or something like I love corn nuts and I fear for my fillings. So with this I fear for my like taste buds because not because I don't think this is going to be delicious. I fear I'm going to be scalded
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:56
No, these have cooled for a while.
Molly 15:58
But I think of calzones is just being like a pocket of lava. Oh, dude, these do look really good. Oh, these look like less explosively filling. Yeah, and I mean explosively filling as in like so much filling and as in like, they will make you feel very full.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:19
Yeah, no one of these is like a perfect meal size serving for me. And as you know, I'm not a big eater.
Molly 16:25
You're not a big eater. I usually eat more than you do. Okay, wait, we're starting with this is like a cheese. Tomato sauce. sausage.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:34
sauteed onions.
Molly 16:35
This is so much tinier than I expected. stuff not falling out.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:41
Now, I certainly could have stuffed more stuffing in there, but this is how I like them kind of it's more. It reads more like a bread dish than pizza. I know pizza is a flatbread.
Molly 16:53
I'm gonna make this for my family.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:54
Mm hmm. We'll talk about how and then the other one is. Also cheese and sausage but with no tomato sauce and some steamed broccoli, which sounds boring, but it's really good,
Molly 17:06
huh? I'm here for I'm literally here. We're in the studio. Everybody. Okay, I have one more bite of this one to to kind of shave off this
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:18
love it's happening. You gotta even out that peninsula.
So I gotta say, like, I grew up with American style calzones that are like the super overstuffed I still have a soft spot for that. But I do like that this is this is kind of more manageable.
Molly 17:40
Yeah, see? strategizing my perfect bite it like do these exist in Italy.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:47
So let's talk about the history of calzones I'm just gonna show just chew through the rest of the episode. It seems that way. Seems like that's just because these are really tasty. Alright calzones originated in southern Italy, probably Naples in the 18th century. And they seem like based on my copious research to have arisen not much later than pizza which is which really dates from the same time like there were there were flatbreads called pizza before that but pizza as we know it today is really from like the mid to late 18th century probably okay. And there are as you would expect versions like different variations across southern Italy especially like in Sicily. There's one called Kudu dooney, which is made with that. Anchovies, onions and mortadella. In Basilicata, there's pastizzi made with pork, eggs and cheese. I found one restaurant website that claimed that calzones became popular in the US after the Seinfeld episode of The Kaos zone aired in like the 90s which is completely false, but funs wrong. Have you seen that episode? Ah, the joke is that Kramer has been warming up his clothes in in a pizza oven. That's basically that's basically
Molly 18:58
that's the joke. Okay. Wow, this sausage is spicy. What's the sausage?
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:04
It's Hill's Italian sausage. It's pretty spicy. Huh? Never heard of it. Oh, Pendleton, Oregon. They make good bacon and sausage.
Molly 19:10
Is it common to have a bowl of tomato sauce served next to this
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:15
thing? Yeah, I think that seems like what what we would see like in New York and like I really enjoy like dipping things in tomato sauce. You know, I'm afraid of most condiments but tomato sauce especially homemade tomato sauce. I make an exception. Hmm. Oh, man. Oh, yes. Huh? This is from friend of the show. Kenji Lopez halts New York pizza sauce recipe on serious eats. We can link to it.
Molly 19:38
Yeah, cool. Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:39
let's see what else so I mean if burn if not burned. Yeah. If Ernest were here, like what would he want? Well,
Molly 19:47
he would want to tell us about so how's that?
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:55
How's the weather? Hey, Vern. Yep. No, wait. If you're saying hey Varun then you're earning
Molly 20:02
I am earnest. I'm trying this out. How's this dough different from pizza dough? No, no. It went suddenly like deep sour. Okay, as opposed to sort of light south. That's
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:17
true.
Unknown Speaker 20:21
Real drone.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:24
Let me ask you a question. How do I know if I'm a redneck?
Molly 20:26
Um, you might be a redneck if. Okay, anyway, I'm gonna stop doing accent Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:33
now, what was it about how is this different from pizza dough? It's not it's pizza dough. That's that's folded over around some stuff. But
Molly 20:39
is it do brush it with olive oil? Does it get this evenly gold color?
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:43
Right, so so I'll, I'll roll out kind of a small pizza and I'll use a rolling pin which I won't do with pizza, then fill it fold it over leaving kind of a margin to crimp and then the crimp always comes undone. Like I don't really know how I'm supposed to be crimping these things, but usually I don't get too much leakage. These these ones came out pretty good. They're not beautiful, but but they've got a rusticity to them.
Molly 21:07
What is the word kill zone
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:08
mean? I think it means like trouser leg. Oh, okay. Oh, I didn't answer your question. Yes, I brush them with olive oil and sprinkle them with salt.
Molly 21:16
Hmm. That's great.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:19
I like that my trouser legs.
Unknown Speaker 21:20
Oh, yeah.
Unknown Speaker 21:22
Before you put the
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:23
pants in the in the pizza. Right.
Molly 21:26
So tell me about other calcium fillings that you enjoy. It seems like you've made like a sausage cows zone and then like a sausage and broccoli kale.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:34
So these are kind of the ones I usually make. I do love pepperoni and a cow's out and I think I was thinking the other day like would there be a way to like get the pepperonis to like crisp up and like turn into little cups but still be inside the kill zone? Probably not. But I don't know if we were if we were one of those like food science adjacent shows where we were always like trying like, you know, invent the greatest grilled cheese sandwich. We would probably and we'd be the sportful then we would be the sportful
Molly 21:58
Shout out to Dan Pashman. Yo, Dan.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:00
Yeah, he invented his own pasta shape. He did and but nobody's talking about it.
Molly 22:07
Wow, Matthew Matthews a little bit jealous. Everybody's talking about
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:11
are you kidding me? Like people, people at work? I said, I said
Molly 22:14
it where I'm getting texts from my daughter's best friend's mother because she's excited about the pasta. Yes. Here's what
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:23
happened at work. We were talking about like pasta shapes as you do at work. And I was like, oh, a guy I know invented a pasta shape thinking like nobody would have heard of this and like to be like, you know, Dan Pashman? Yeah,
Molly 22:36
yeah. And to sink, spilled milk and the sportful started around the same time.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:41
Yes, but, but it turns out one of us was much better at this than the other.
Molly 22:48
All right. Well, Matthew, Do we have anything else to say about calzones? You know, wait a minute, you wanted me to ask you to remind you about the Wikipedia photo of a cow zone.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:57
Okay. I gotta get my computer. It's okay. It's so disturbing.
Molly 23:00
Okay, go get it. No, no, no. What is what it's like sighs
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:09
it looks like it. First of all, that is a kill zone made with like a dove like a double crust pie style. Like they made. They rolled it out, put toppings on and then put a whole other crust on top. So it's circular.
Molly 23:19
Yeah. And they cut it into pieces.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:21
They cut it into pieces, like a pizza very badly. And then there's just like, tomato sauce. Like, like, you know, Jackson Pollock on top that's like dripping down.
Molly 23:33
And then there's what looks like a banana slice. And
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:37
by the way, this is what's replacing the cute animals.
Molly 23:43
We have decided to retire the cute animal segment. It's not that we're tired of cute animals. I mean, I can't get enough of my own household cute animal. But I think we're both tired of researching cute animals. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:57
I mean, it has been observed that hearing people talk about a cute animal that you can't see because you're like around town with your phone. or listening in your car. It's less than fun. Maybe maybe not the most entertaining segment.
Molly 24:08
Okay, in that case, let's move on to a really entertaining set segment we have called spilled mail.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:19
This is this is back to like, like early days levels of chewing.
Molly 24:23
This is so much chewing. I feel like I keep looking at you going Oh God, should I keep talking? He's still chewing
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:29
gum was from listener Kiersten. My question is about store brands versus name brands. We do a lot of our shopping at Aldi to save money and we also appreciate that Aldi generally uses food coloring from natural sources instead of artificial and we can find a lot of healthier choices for better prices. For us. A lot of the store brand items taste identical to name brands, oatmeal, Greek yogurt, pasta noodles, frozen veggies, most snacks for our kids, etc. For some items we know the name brand is a bit better and spend more when we can some cheeses especially. Are there any products that you absolutely must by the name Brandon That you like the store brand as well.
Molly 25:02
Oh my god. So first of all I have to say, I don't know what all the is we don't I think
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:06
that's all he is is an East Coast thing. I've found that
Molly 25:09
phenomenal.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:10
Yeah. They've got all kinds of stores on the east coast. We don't have Wegmans, we don't have Wegmans.
Molly 25:15
We don't have Wegmans. We don't have Paley wiggly. Piggly Wiggly a&p.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:20
Yep, fairway. Yeah, we don't have any of those. No, we
Molly 25:23
don't have any of those. Especially
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:24
Piggly Wiggly because that's the most fun to say.
Molly 25:26
Okay, Matthew, do you want to begin with this one?
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:29
Yeah, I do. So I totally agree about cheese like I will always spring for the the tiller muck or the Cabot cheese in terms of in terms of chatter, like sometimes I will get storebrand jack I'm fine with that. Some cereals I think you gotta get the name brand like a cinnamon toast crunch there is there is going to be like a store branded app, but it's not going to be as perfect as Cinnamon Toast Crunch for like brand flakes. I'll go store brand. But I have I think what I think is a hot take here. And I hesitate to even promulgate this hot take because it sort of throws one of our advertisers under the bus. But you know what? I'm not saying that what our advertiser makes is bad. You're ready yeah, I'm ready. I think premium store brand ice cream is generally the best ice cream you can buy in a store.
Molly 26:17
You know I'm realizing listening Okay, and not that I'm ignoring this heartache but but I'm realizing listening to you talk about this that the store. The two stores that I shop at don't have a lot of store. Hello. So we have a Safeway near our house and it is bleak. Oh yeah. I think it's the worst Safeway in town.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:39
I know what you're talking it's a horrible Safeway. The worst safe we intend used to be the Broadway Safeway, but it closed years ago. Okay,
Molly 26:45
well, this one needs to be closed. So I don't go to Safeway, which I know like Safeway signature brand dumplings we've talked about
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:55
those are way better than the name brand.
Molly 26:56
Yes, there are certain things that we have at least for periods of time gone to Safeway specifically for like that name brand, Safeway brand dumpling that said so we tend to go to like our kind of, I will also say the Q FC in our neighborhood, which is kind of like one step up from Safeway. Yeah, is also not my favorite. Sure. So we tend to go to a place called Ballard market or a place called central market which are run by I think a local company called Town and Country
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:29
market All right, that makes sense
Molly 27:31
and they are a bit more expensive than Safeway and at the same time I will groceries are far and away my biggest budget item
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:39
Yeah, of course.
Molly 27:39
So I don't tend to buy a lot of storebrand stuff you know occasionally for things like I know that this is probably sacrilege sometimes for pasta I don't really care what the brand is angry and I know that like you know people who are super into their bronze dyes and whatever are freaking out listening to me say this.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:00
I guess I always buy the store brand of of dad passwords, pasta.
Molly 28:07
Yeah, anyway, but I have to say that. Yeah, I don't have a lot of experience with store brand stuff because my main grocery store doesn't have much store brand stuff.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:18
Okay, maybe maybe we'll make a whole episode out of this at some point to do like a reason. Yeah, of every single store random
Molly 28:25
interesting. I mean, I've now lived in this neighborhood since 2006. Sure, that is a long time. Like I just I think I had even sort of forgotten what I don't have access to. Yeah, what I choose not to.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:39
Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, cuz we do most of our shopping at KFC or Safeway. And then occasionally Trader Joe's or the co op.
Molly 28:47
Yeah, we do most of ours at balewa market. We do most of ours at Ballard market occasionally stop and PCC cuz I really like their eggs. And then Trader Joe's, of course. And then actually I use Central Market a lot as my kind of legend
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:03
Maya Oh, yeah, central bargainer like great selection of Asian grocer.
Molly 29:07
It has a fantastic selection of Asian groceries. So yeah, Central Market is an amazing place. I mean, it's also more expensive than say shark UFC.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:16
Can I finish my heartache? Or was it Do you think I I like
Molly 29:19
to I'm curious about this like this makes me want to go to Safeway or KFC on the way home and pick up some storebrand ice cream.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:26
Yeah, so like, I think I won't even name any specific name brands that I think it's better than but like, you know, like a like a private selection extreme mousse tracks. I would rather have that than any name brand pint of ice cream and it's it's, the texture is better. The mix ins are better and it's cheaper. Like the private selection English toffee crunch ice cream is one of the best ice creams I've ever had period.
Molly 29:52
is private selection only available at Safeway or is it available.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:56
Private selection is only is a Kroger brand, I think But some there are some that like solid store brands that are available at multiple stores like president's choice. Like I don't know how like the, the the whole, like business structure and marketing and branding has gotten very complicated.
Molly 30:12
You know what I always wish were a better grocery experience target.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:16
Mm hmm.
Molly 30:16
Man environment target, I'm like, Oh, cool. I'm gonna like get a big bag of chips. And you're gonna, like, get a 12 pack of whatever like soda we want I'm going to, and they never have what I want. And I'm like, why even have a grocery section? If you're not going to go all in? This is my take.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:34
I attributed that to the fact that I go to the downtown target, which is like a small target.
Molly 30:39
The small targets are so useless.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:43
Well, I mean, there's a lot of non grocery stuff. I get there and I do buy chocolate chips there because they have the big bag of ghiradelli 60% chocolate chip.
Molly 30:50
There is now a small target in Ballard The first time I went there we were like what is the store even here for it has nothing interesting.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:59
So maybe the downtown one isn't that small because they got we've gotten like bedding there and spatulas and that sort of thing. The main two main things you need for your home.
Molly 31:08
I have gone back to the Ballard target twice, hoping that I was just like having a low blood sugar moment or something the first time we went and it disappoints me every time unless what I need is shampoo, or like menstrual products. It's got a really good personal hygiene section.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:24
Now it's where I get my periodontic mouthrinse
Molly 31:29
Oh, I wondered about that your bathroom.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:30
That's cool. Yeah, it's this this brand that my dad recommended that I'm sure is like the same or worse than Listerine. But it comes in it comes in every striking bottle that teenager the show December described as it looks like a bottle of gas that you would pour into a robot
Molly 31:48
which is basically accurate. Yeah. Okay, well,
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:52
I feel like my answer was my robot runs on clean fuel only.
Molly 31:57
I use recycled biofuel. Dammit. I know. listener. Kiersten. I'm really sorry. I feel like my answer was like, I don't know. I feel like my answer was great. dissatisfying like snooty answer paper. Okay. All right. That's it. Now it's time for now, but wow.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:21
Okay, now it's time to redeem yourself.
Molly 32:22
Okay, so I'm really excited about this week's now, but wow, I mean, the whole idea of now powwow is that we're excited. Yeah, about it. But so I heard in 2020 many different times about this book called Memorial Drive by Natasha. Truth away. Okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:36
Have you heard about this book? No, I have not
Molly 32:38
Natasha, truth away is best known as a poet, extremely accomplished and widely known poet. And she, she has written her her first memoir, as far as I understand. It, came out in 2020. It was one of Barack Obama's favorite books of 20. It's the story of Well, basically, her mother was murdered by her former stepfather when she was 19. Yikes. And her mother is black. her stepfather was white. And so it's not only a story about her mother, her relationship to her mother, grief loss, etc. but also really powerful interrogations of race, particularly in the south. The story takes place largely in Atlanta. Anyway, it is gorgeous. And what's really interesting to me as a writer is that she waited like 36 years to write this. Wow, yeah, she's now in her 50s. This happened when she was 19. So I'm really interested in what it looks like to have so thoroughly, like lived with the material for that long anyway, her writing is as spectacular as you would imagine from someone who is a poet, and it's really powerful. I think we should probably all read it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:51
Okay. Memorial Drive by Natasha trethewey. Our producer is Abby Cerquitella. Please rate and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Come on to the Reddit. I always come on to the Reddit. I've said that before. Like, why did these things come out of my mouth? Hop on
Molly 34:08
the old Reddit train? Hey,
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:10
hop on the old Reddit train. Okay, it's not it's not just for racist conspiracies.
Molly 34:16
Okay, it's Reddit comm slash are slash everything spilled milk.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:20
Yes, people on our subreddit are very nice. And you can talk about whether it's a Killzone or a kill zone and things will quickly descend into flame wars and recriminations.
Molly 34:29
Oh, I can't wait.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:30
So go to the Porsche or Porsche subreddits. Probably reddit.com slash are slash Porsche or Porsche.
Molly 34:37
Yeah. Tell everybody how long it takes for your Porsche Porsche to go from
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:41
zero to 60. Like, I feel like if your car is good, it should definitely be able to go from zero to 60. Within an hour to two hours.
Molly 34:55
Too much pressure on the car.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:57
Let's not put too much pressure on the car. Okay. constrain the the shocks or the or the struts.
Molly 35:03
I'm Oh, thank you.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:05
No, thank you. I'm Vern.
Molly 35:10
And I'm Ernie. Like, oh god, this show is totally short circuiting like a weird robot.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:20
Oil. Yeah. Hi, Matthew Amster-Burton Hi,
Unknown Speaker 35:22
Molly
Molly 35:23
weissenberg
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:29
Did I tell you I joined a new team at work?
Unknown Speaker 35:32
No, no, it's
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:34
a sports team or Yes, now I'm on the the zoom badminton team. So I have my own. Wow, Bertie, and badminton racquet and I just kind of hit it at the screen and pretend I want