503: Waffle Cones
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:00
Hi. 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
Molly 0:10
any. Today we are talking about waffle cow.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:13
And I think we already did ice cream cone.
Molly 0:16
You know, I was researching waffle cones last night. And I was looking at the Wikipedia page for ice cream cones because there's not a separate one for waffle cones.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:24
Oh, that's so unfair to waffle cone.
Molly 0:26
And I was skimming down the ice cream cone page. And I was like, like 50% of it. I felt like I'd never seen before which which is possible. I mean, it's Wikipedia.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:36
There's been a lot of new stuff in the world of ice cream cones in the last like eight years since we did the episode or whatever.
Molly 0:43
But then the other half of the stuff I was like, Oh, right, there was a guy named Abe dumar. Do you remember?
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:49
Right and wait, was this this is the St. Louis fair? Yes. Yeah. Do you remember I was there is 1908. Right. Sounds like maybe anyway 16 maybe
Molly 1:00
anyway, but that has nothing to do with waffle cones. That's just cones in general and like the inventor of the old like ice cream cone.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:07
Yeah, so we don't we don't need to like give a bunch of more free publicity to ape do Mars. They do Mars watch wants us to talk about him. He can you can buy an ad.
Molly 1:16
I think it's a dumar no s
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:18
Well, I mean, any number of a Abdu Maher says,
Molly 1:22
okay, Matthew, let's go down memory lane. What's on your waffle cone Memory Lane
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:26
on my waffle cone memory lane. So I associate with waffle cones with being one of those things that was hard to talk a parent into springing for the upgrade. I thought you
Molly 1:36
were gonna say one of those things that's hard to talk with a parent about.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:40
Yeah, that's right. Okay, like
Molly 1:44
sex squabbles with friends. Yeah, sex
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:48
squabbles and cones. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 1:50
Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:52
Like, teens if you need if you need help, talk to your you're talking to your parents about squabbles. We've got we've got ideas
Molly 1:59
we do. We've also got waffle cones.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:01
We got we've got squabble cards. Yeah. So yeah, so these are definitely like a difficult thing to talk about. And that's why we need to talk about it on the show. Yes,
Molly 2:10
yes. This is this show is death, sex and waffle count.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:13
Exactly. D SW, which is awesome. website.
Molly 2:19
Anyway, but Matt, what's on your memory lane? Again? start over?
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:23
Okay. Well, I was I was kind of serious. It was like, we would go to the ice cream place. I would smell the waffle cones. And I'd be like, Can I get one of those? And and my parents would be like, it's $1 extra. Are you sure I'd like now I'll get the regular cut.
Molly 2:37
While your parents were a real Riot?
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:40
Yeah, I don't know. Like, I feel like, I don't know. Maybe I try and say yes to that kind of thing.
Molly 2:47
Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:48
I think but like, should I maybe I should be more restrictive. Because like, when when teenager the show December gets out into the real world, which is going to happen sometime pretty soon. Yeah. They're quickly going to realize that waffle cones cost money.
Molly 3:02
They are right, they are so I'm not sure what you should do about this.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:05
Okay, well, we need to sit down and have a tough conversation about waffle cones and squabbles.
Molly 3:12
Okay, well, um, so my memory lane of waffle cones is that like, at a certain point? I learned that they existed.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:21
Yeah, I mean, it's kind of a brilliant sales mechanism, right? Because,
Molly 3:24
well, they make them in the shop. Of course, most of the time. I mean, there are plenty of scoop shops like I'm thinking of one like that. I've been to like Rehoboth Beach, Delaware that had waffle cones, and I'm pretty sure they weren't making them on the spot. But
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:38
okay, a lot of shots fired robot beach.
Molly 3:42
A lot of the time. waffle cones are being made on the spot. And it's kind of like the way that a French bakery sort of lures you in with the smell of butter. Yes, exactly. An ice cream cone or ice cream shops like lures you in with the smell of freshly waffling waffle cones.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:59
Yeah, exactly. And then yeah, then you get in there and whether you get the waffle cone or not, they've got you. They've totally got you right. So that's like I remember the waffle cone aroma much better than I remember actually eating waffles.
Molly 4:11
Me too. I think that the number I've eaten the number I've eaten waffle cones. Yep. is less than three.
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:20
Do you do you make notches on one of your many bedposts Yeah, did you have to get a special bedframe with extra posts because you're tallying so many things?
Molly 4:32
tallying lastly
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:32
do not remember me.
Molly 4:36
I was just I was just on a camping trip.
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:40
And you had to break bedposts with you in case you need to jelly like how many bits you got in the bed post. Fancy dead
Molly 4:51
anyway but one of the like preteens on the trip actually She's not even a preteen yet. She's 11 Okay, but she listens to the show.
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:00
Free tea. I think anything from zero to 12 and a half. It's free.
Molly 5:06
Right? I think you're right, fine. Anyway, she listens to the show. Okay. And she's like a super smart kid with a really dry sense of humor. She like does not suffer fools gladly. Yeah, either anyway. But um, she came up to me we were talking about something. Wow, my memory is great. We were talking about something while I was while I was cooking dinner. And she asked me if you and I had done an episode on some particular food items is a great story. I could not remember. And I was trying to explain to her like the way in which like you and I can never remember what we've just said on the show. Yeah, and she just looked at me like I was a total idiot. Because Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I am an idiot, but so I don't remember what I was putting notches on the bedpost for I just keep putting notches.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:05
notches on your cheesy streak behind them. Yeah, but I mean, yeah, who cares? Like if you could reach over from bed and like, grab a Nacho anytime you want that is living.
Molly 6:19
Anyway. So yeah, the aroma of waffle cones is is the way that I've consumed them most often. I've consumed them in in aromas.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:28
Okay, you've consumed them in smellivision.
Molly 6:30
Yeah. And I don't. Yeah, I just never ordered them because it's like too much ice cream. Oh, because they put more ice cream in to fill the larger cone. Yeah, I feel like even if you get a single scoop in a waffle cone. It's different from a single scoop and a sugar cone. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:48
I think so too. So like, I realized just now like as I was like, going through and adding a few things to the agenda that I didn't really spend much time thinking about whether I like waffle cones, and I think I don't but maybe we'll find out great. I think I okay, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm not gonna speculate. I'm just gonna go in. I'm gonna go headfirst into this cone aperture.
Molly 7:06
Okay, great. Wait, hold on. Yeah, hold on. Before we go into the aperture. We need to talk about what these are. Okay, yes, I want to I want to begin with the definition from Wikipedia.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:17
Sure. I will
Molly 7:18
read quote, waffle cones are brown, brittle and sugary. They are baked flat and roll up, which is the opening, teardrop shaped and rough looking. Ball made from the same batter. Broad flat bottom now. How did this get past the Wikipedia people?
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:42
Because it sounds like they're, they're like, slagging off, saying like, you know, fuck waffle cones. What you want is waffle balls, you idiot, right? Meanwhile, a waffle bowl is a treat. Very funny.
Molly 7:58
You're right. Okay, so anyway, moving right along. Let's let's get to a more informative definition. So a waffle cone is a cone that is made in a special waffle iron. Like, you can't use a regular waffle maker
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:13
because your waffle cone would be like half an inch. Right? Okay. Yeah.
Molly 8:16
Now you have to get a special waffle cone iron. And, and then as soon as the the waffle cone like cookie thing comes out of the iron, you wrap it around a special form called a waffle cone form.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:34
That's like like a cone is a What's the name of that shape? That the format?
Molly 8:40
Yeah, it looks like a white plastic like smooth sided Christmas tree on a stick?
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:46
Yeah, okay.
Molly 8:47
Okay. So, so yeah, you bake these things on a special waffle iron, and then you roll them onto this conical form to shape them kind of like like, kinda like you might do a Tweel if you've ever made those, which I've
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:59
never I haven't. But I've seen the made like on Bake Off. Sure. Um, I have one of these like, sportful style questions, right, but it just can't wait. He's a waffle cone of flat bread.
Unknown Speaker 9:09
Oh my god. Anyway,
Molly 9:14
I have a higher sugar content than sugar cones. Okay. Okay. And they're medium to dark brown in color.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:21
Do you think we should start calling waffle cones, sugar cones and start calling sugar cones? Non waffle cones?
Molly 9:26
Yes, I think. So I want to just like to, like kind of to orient us I want to talk a little bit about sugar cones just for a minute. Because sugar cones are are about the same color as a waffle cone. Yeah. And they also have a lattice pattern on the outside surface, but it's not usually on the inside. You know what I mean? Right? It's usually smooth. Yep. And sugar cones are made from a batter that's designed to like cook so that it's harder and crunchy or and stronger.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:55
And I think that's like what I appreciate about a sugar cone because I work About a waffle cone structural integrity. Hang on. Yeah. All right, hang on there.
Molly 10:04
And I also want to say that unlike waffle cones, which according to Wikipedia are rough
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:09
looking and brittle and brittle not a treat
Molly 10:12
as a sugar cone is flat on top where you put the ice cream
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:18
and that has that has advantages and disadvantages. Yeah,
Molly 10:20
so I mean this this gets us down to what waffle cones are good for which I know both you and I have been wondering
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:27
absolutely nothing
Molly 10:34
I never thought of this but according to the website for joy cone, you know that company like the cones, so if you get a sugar cone or a cake cone in like just a mainstream scoop shop, it'll have a paper wrapper around it this
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:46
is joy I wouldn't go to a mainstream scoop shop calm I have I noticed the brand name joy. I don't think I have and yet I've eaten hundreds of those kinds.
Molly 10:56
Yeah, it's like the dominant brand.
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:58
I think it's one of these is one of these like under the radar brands that like you know, like why kk zippers or something? Oh, yeah, right. k
Molly 11:05
k zippers. Oh, man.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:08
Yeah. When was the last time you thought about the brand of your zipper?
Molly 11:11
I haven't ever. This is wow, this is illuminated radically. I'll
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:16
come across an article about like, you know, why kk they actually make the best tippers, but we don't appreciate them enough.
Molly 11:21
That's right. We don't
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:23
Okay, let's use zippers next week. Okay,
Molly 11:25
but according to the website for joy cone, waffle cones are the cone to choose if you want toppings on your ice cream and you want a cone. That makes sense because waffle cones, you know, they've got this tall, sort of, I couldn't figure out what to call this like the color or I yeah, I think that like our chair, you were cut but that
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:44
is like the size of it. It's like a pop color.
Molly 11:47
It is it's like I had like a turtleneck. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:49
rough but like all the way around. And this is like kind of up in the back.
Molly 11:54
This is like an asymmetrical Elizabeth and color that looks like it's been chewed up.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:59
Yeah. Now who has it in for waffles.
Molly 12:03
Anyway, so the tall like color of a waffle cone can hold like a sauce. It can hold your toppings without spilling nearly as readily as other cones do. I hadn't thought about that.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:17
Yeah, no, that makes sense. And that's I think that's why waffle cones are so common at like frozen yogurt places and like frozen custard because it's softer. Not that you can't get around at those places. thought about that? What? No, no, it's not just that it's softer, but that that people want toppings that those are very topping oriented places.
Molly 12:36
Yes. Yeah. That's a good point. Right. Okay, let's taste these while we talk about whether or not we ever ordered them.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:42
Okay. I never order waffle cones. Sometimes I kind of gaze longingly at the dipped waffle cones that have like a chocolate color. So Matthew, I
Molly 12:52
think that we should eat none uh, nope. We are going to start with the like the Safeway, select.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:57
Okay. And I don't know, I think we got these last time we did ice cream cones. I think we may have concluded that they're really just sort of waffle shaped sugar cones, but let's find out. That's
Molly 13:05
okay. Okay, so we're not tasting any joy cones today. Now these may bring us joy. If if we're lucky.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:14
Oh, so did joy cone like make like waffle cone supplies for making because?
Molly 13:21
Do you mean like, can you buy joy cone in the grocery store? No.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:23
I mean, like, if you're an ice cream shop like do you get your waffle cone batter joy from joy waffle cone related information on their website, but you but I got the impression that they were like the big makers of like sugar cookies.
Molly 13:39
Oh, man. I love ice cream cones.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:42
Oh, yeah, this is good.
Molly 13:43
This just tastes like a like a sugar cone though. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:45
think got such distinct vanilla flavor. I feel like the smell of a waffle cone has a lot of vanilla going on.
Molly 13:52
I hadn't thought about that. Hmm. Okay. Well, you know, we don't have any sugar cones to compare it to but this is fine.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:58
I mean, I would I would definitely. I would be willing to eat ice cream on this car.
Molly 14:02
Okay, okay. So, yeah, this is just the Safeway select brand. Now we're going to taste these ones from Frankie and Jo's.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:11
Okay, acquiring these was an interesting experience.
Unknown Speaker 14:13
Look, wait, let's
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:14
talk about Frank Kern shows for a second. fraggin Joe's is a Seattle based maker of non dairy ice cream.
Molly 14:21
women owned and they make their own waffle cones on site. It's a gluten free cone. They say our Maple vanilla waffle cone gluten free. Uses maple syrup, oat flour, bloomed flax seeds and a hint of brown sugar. I mean, this is a precious cone.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:39
It was very good. It's
Molly 14:40
really good though. Right? So
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:42
Molly gave me a lot of homework a lot of and made me run a lot of errands for her. She said go and get some like storebought waffle cones, and go to Franken Joe's and wait in line and get some of their cone shards which are actually called cone shatter. Oh whoops. Sorry. Because I did not know what I was going to be stepping into I thought I thought I was going to be like maybe asking for some off menu item and that this was just going to be like, do you have any like fucked up waffle cones from earlier in the day? But no, this is like a product that they sell.
Molly 15:12
Yes. And I now understand why they do having read some waffle cone recipes online. So here's the thing. Like it's a real learning curve to make waffle cones.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:25
Okay. Oh, you think these are these are like discards from trainees who haven't learned to make waffles.
Molly 15:30
That's probably how it started out. Yeah. And I think that the truth is, is even if they're doing a great job, they probably have some they get broken every day. And I think also, they probably found that this made a terrific topping. So the idea is, you can do this if you're making waffle cones at home, too, if you're that kind of person, which we'll talk about in just a second. But you can just crumble up a waffle cone and use it as like an delicious crunchy ice cream topping. Or apparently, if you're really going to go for it, you can like dip them in chocolate and spread them out on a cookie sheet. And then you have like chocolate dipped waffle cone pieces, which I think is what's in American dream, right?
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:12
Oh, right, huh.
Molly 16:14
Okay, so what do you think of this? So now we're having the the Frankie and Jo's cone shatter with signature select vanilla bean ice cream.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:22
Oh, I think it's a very tasty topic. The other thing is, I had to ask them to like get some cone shatter from the back because it wasn't that there wasn't any in the case. Like it was really like like a stressful situation. And you should be very proud of me.
Unknown Speaker 16:35
Is it stressful? Because you had to talk to someone? Yeah, that
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:38
was mainly it.
Molly 16:40
Did you have to wait in line forever? Were you afraid that somebody would see you think you were the kind of person who would pay $8 for a scoop of ice cream?
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:49
I believe I believe the cone shards are like also like $7 I did also get a scoop of ice cream. By the way. This show bought me a scoop of of salty caramel ash was very good. Ah,
Molly 17:01
what do you think of the the idea of eating charcoal?
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:04
Oh, I mean, when I was a kid, I always liked the look of charcoal briquettes
Molly 17:13
or not or before being lit
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:15
before being led. It's just like a pleasant shape and heft to them. And like so I guess I kind of wanted to eat those and probably the same.
Molly 17:24
Did you ever think about misbehaving so you'd get them in your Christmas stocking?
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:28
Is that is that what you get? Is that what it is a charcoal briquette the same as the lump of coal
Unknown Speaker 17:36
listeners
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:37
way is the only way to find out is to ask listeners.
Molly 17:40
Yeah, okay. All right. Well done. Now back on back on topic. So I did look up one recipe for waffle cones just to kind of get get my bearings. And of course, the one that I chose to look at was Stella Parks's recipe from serious eats Stella Park's being the the go to person for so many baked goods. Stella is is the person who told me that you cannot use anything but a waffle cone maker to you to make a waffle cone. So yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:08
she can't do it like freeform like a crepe.
Molly 18:11
That is correct. Okay. Also, what I discovered from looking at her recipe is that waffle cones, making waffle cones is a great actually Can I have one more scoop of ice cream is that making waffle cones is a great way to use egg whites that are leftover from making ice cream.
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:28
Oh,
Molly 18:28
so at least Stella's waffle cone recipe uses egg whites and I think that many of them do, which gives them both like lightness and crisp to crispness. Chris crispy net crispness. Anyway, here's the other thing I learned from Stella parks which just cemented my feeling that I'm never making waffle cones. Okay. Yeah. Which is that they don't keep long.
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:55
Oh, I'm glad you mentioned that.
Molly 18:57
Yeah, so a freshly made waffle cone that is just kept out in the air can go stale in as little as like 15 minutes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:04
I was wondering that about the cone shards whether like if I bought them yesterday, they would no longer be good today but you store them in the freezer.
Molly 19:11
Yeah. So here's the thing. I find this perplexing if you want to keep them fresh, you need to store them in an airtight container but isn't it going to take at least several minutes for it to cool down enough to not steam a little bit in the airtight container cool it outside the container well, right you cool it outside the container but then you've got to quickly get it in the container well before 15 minutes goes by
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:35
right but here's the here's the key you keep your kids in the container and you just like toss waffle cones, ice cream cones into the container and close it up.
Molly 19:44
Why do I keep my kids in there and I only have one kid by the way so
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:47
I can keep your kid in a container like convenience to keep them fresh and keep them fresh and portable. Have you have you seen the the Erie Indiana forever where episode? No. Okay, some some listeners. Definitely. Know what I'm talking about. This was like a cult show from the early 90s I think and about like a town where like weird shit was going
Molly 20:07
on see squabbling with friends and not talking to my parents about difficult things during that time, so I
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:12
wasn't, but also watching a lot of television.
Molly 20:24
Another thing that you can apparently do with waffle cones, and I think this is kind of good to know, is you can pulverize them to make crumbs for like a graham cracker crust. You can use waffle cone, or I mean, conceivably also sugar cone, right. Instead of graham cracker crumbs.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:39
That's That's good to know. Because now I'm gonna have a bunch of leftover waffle cones. I don't know good problem to have. Maybe I'll make like a key lime pie with a waffle cone crust. That sounds Does that sound good? sounds really good. Do you think I'm not gonna I'm not gonna waste the fancy cone shatter. I'm gonna use the Safeway cones for this. But yeah, I'm just excited about the idea of of pulverizing a bunch of cones. It feels like a satisfyingly destructive and like a demolition derby. Sort of what are you gonna get out? Will It Blend?
Molly 21:09
Are you gonna get out your monster truck? rally voice?
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:12
I'm gonna Yeah, I'm gonna get Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. cones will be destroyed. My feet again? It's okay.
Molly 21:22
Do you have anything else to say
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:23
about waffle cones? Um, let's see what's going on here. So what kind of person? What kind of person would buy a waffle cone maker? Because like, how often are you going to do this?
Unknown Speaker 21:36
I mean, I,
Molly 21:38
like many look back on my pre child days, and realize how much time I had. This is the most boring part of any conversation.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:46
Right? So you're saying like, if you could if you had a time machine,
Molly 21:49
if I had a time machine, you would go back still wouldn't travel back in time and make this
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:54
Oh, okay.
Molly 21:54
No, what I would do is I would travel back in time, and I would make more like pies and more and more pastry. things. Like, I once even bought salt cod. And like me, we talked about this. I did this once, too. Yeah. I mean, we used to have a lot of time and energy to burn and we thought we were going to be the kind of adults who did this forever.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:21
Oh, absolutely. And now I've not I wouldn't I'm never going to make Baka Lau Is that what it's called? Yeah, again, or is that caught? It's the cut itself. what's the what's like the dip you make? With the cod? Hmm? Well, in French it's
Molly 22:35
brand odd.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:36
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Yeah.
Molly 22:37
Matthew sorry. I have another camping example.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:40
So Brenda also also your first your former husband.
Molly 22:52
That is fantastic.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:54
I didn't think that was a good joke. Thank you.
Molly 22:56
Um, I'll add that to all the nicknames that that like various friends and stuff have for Brandon. There's there's Brando no brand Downey. There's Brando. Okay, now we've got brand dad.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:07
Yeah. Is it good nickname?
Molly 23:10
Could have brand dad. Someday
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:13
Yeah, someday could be. That's pretty good.
Molly 23:16
And, well, they call his bandanas which he used to always wear when he was working the pizza oven brand danis brand danis those are pretty good.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:24
But anyway, what was I going to say something else about camping?
Molly 23:27
Hmm. Okay, so Saturday night was our second night camping and I took a sort of the for me like a very easy like low energy meal. I took sausages that basically were already cooked that just needed to be rewarmed corn on the cob. And a can of baked beans.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:46
All right, is this this is what we had when we were camping. Except it was hot dogs right? Yeah.
Molly 23:49
And there was a burn ban this time. Okay, there wasn't a burn ban when you and I went camping.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:54
So does that mean no stove
Molly 23:56
So no, you could use it you can use anything that you can switch on or
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:01
turn it on.
Molly 24:02
So no campfire and no use of charcoal grill
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:06
or little Bearcats are gonna go on burned.
Molly 24:08
Anyway. So um, so yeah, I used to camp stove. But our friend Joe, we were camping on Hood Canal and Joe is the kind of person who was like, I'm just gonna find a way to put out some crab pots. That's what you call crab traps. I know. I'm gonna find a way to put out some crab pots and maybe we'll have crab for dinner Saturday
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:28
night. Wow.
Molly 24:29
So he totally winged this. Our friend Matt.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:32
He put the crab pots out like in a field.
Molly 24:34
Our friend Matt had brought a couple kayaks. And so Joe and his son paddled out in kayaks like midday Saturday and dropped some crab pots like out in Hood Canal. they wound up catching like eight crabs, but they will but they were all too small. Okay. But anyway, so he drove to paulsboro like he got in the car and drove to pozo, which is a town not terribly far from where we were But not exactly close and bought live crabs came back killed them and cleaned them and then proceeded to make Did you try and convince you that he caught the crabs now he is the kind of person who goes camping with a walk. And like a propane like gas ring to put the walk on.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:18
Okay, that sounds great.
Molly 25:20
And he had brought fermented black beans. Yeah, and like fresh ginger garlic scallion. And he made he broke down the crab into pieces, stir fried it and then added like fermented black beans.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:35
really classic Cantonese style preference.
Molly 25:38
Oh my god, like it's so so good. And then he like made you know, Uncle Ben's like, minute rice. That's easy to do, and you're camping. And we sat around on Saturday night and ate like crab in black bean sauce with rice. I would never cook this way on a camping trip said,
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:55
Wow, No, me neither. What I'm saying I wouldn't be even beyond the camping trip. And indeed, I wasn't
Molly 25:59
like Joe and Joe is also like, not a precious person. Like Joe does this because it's like fun for him. And he is someone who loves like, he's fine with living with a certain degree of chaos and mess so that he can like, you know, just wing it and do stuff like this. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:16
no, I can't live that way.
Molly 26:18
I can't live that way either. But all this to say is Joe is probably not only the kind of person who would have made Brian Dodd at the age of 26, or whatever, but he's like, gonna make brown dad's still at the age of 44 on a camping trip. Yeah. It's like, yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:35
and you said he has a kid.
Molly 26:36
He has two children. Wow. And he is our excuse. I know. And anyway, he's just he have a job. Yes. Joe is a like a design and build guy. He's a contractor. He's like a one man operation. I mean, he's not like making tons of money on it. And you know, but it's
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:55
around raw design build ethos to that dinner.
Molly 27:00
Yeah, I can't even tell you it was so good. Anyway, so shout out to all you people who were young brown dad makers who are
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:09
still they're still out there and that's salt cod.
Molly 27:13
Yeah. And and and cooking crab with black bean sauce on camping trips. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:18
I mean it to anybody who's out there pounding anything. We salute you. Yes. This we should do a crab episode because I have to admit, I don't know if I like crab. Oh, but I'd like to. It's just I haven't eaten it very much and just like I don't know how to cook it and like you know, just haven't encountered it as often as you have.
Molly 27:40
Oh, God crab is like I think one of the greatest delicate, greatest like readily available delicacies.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:49
would you would you like serve me crab? If we do a crab episode?
Molly 27:53
Well, here's, here's my my thing. So usually when I make crab I just cook it in salted water.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:59
Yeah, that sounds great. Eat it. You don't you don't have to, like fully Cantonese. But
Molly 28:05
I think we should also do Cantonese. Okay, because that was so delicious. Like, you know, I feel like you could pretty much take anything and do like a Cantonese black bean situation on it. And it would be delicious.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:16
Yeah, I mean that there was
Molly 28:18
something special about the flavor of crab too.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:21
Yeah, I've always wanted to try Singapore chili crab, which I've never tried but but I think the idea is like like you get like the sauce all over your fingers. Oh, reading it is.
Molly 28:29
It is a real mess.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:32
Yeah, I had it really dry sticking my finger into the stump of this of this waffle cone.
Molly 28:36
I had at one point gotten up from the table. I thought I was finished eating. And I went like down to the water spigot and laboriously like washed my hands twice to get all the crab stuff off. And I come back and I'm sitting there talking to our friends Matt and Beth and Matt is like Molly, Can you pass me that last crab leg? And I looked at him and was like I showed him my clean hands. And Nice try he roared with laughter This is like Matt's kind of dad joke that he thought he could trick me into like getting my hands dirty again.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:05
It didn't work it didn't know Yeah, no, I we've talked about this before I think many times on the show like how I have this thing about clean hands that I want to like continuously clean my hands like throughout the meal.
Molly 29:18
But what if it's something that like what if you're eating like shell on shrimp Can you just can you just like chill out and be a pig and slop for a little while
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:26
I can't chill out. It's It's It's partly about the water glass like I drink a lot of water when I'm waiting and like it's gonna get like like you have shrimp juices all over my water.
Molly 29:35
Just for one night you can try being different
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:38
like a roleplay kind of role play as like a guy who can handles having shrimp fingers.
Molly 29:47
I mean just Just think about it. Matthew, do you want to go to your grave knowing that you were never able to enjoy like a messy like rolling and slop kind of meal or you
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:58
know when you put it there. That way like, Okay, so how but how are we going to make this happen? Like, what is it going to be the crab scenario? I think it's gonna have to be the crab scenario to the crab scenario and you're gonna like not let me you're gonna forcibly restrain me from from like going and washing my hands,
Molly 30:14
but this doesn't sound like very much fun for me.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:17
Well, I mean, it was gonna be fun. No, okay, I think Yeah, Challenge accepted. I'm gonna I'm gonna try and enjoy the crab feast the way it was meant to be. Okay. Okay, on the clambake and the shrimp boil. And I mean, the crawfish boil.
Molly 30:33
I think part of what I mean, we'll talk more about this when we get to it, but I think part of it
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:37
let's segue into the crowd. We don't have any crab here. But let's segue into the crab episode right now.
Molly 30:42
I think part of the thing is, you just have to know that when you're done with the meal, you're just gonna, like start over with a new water glass. Because yes, yeah. are going to just get that glass. Disgusting.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:56
Can I like wear like special clothes? Despite?
Molly 31:01
You know what I like to do? Actually? I like to wear whatever apron I was cooking in. Oh, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:06
do that all the time. While
Molly 31:07
I know. I love doing that. Anyways, all right. I like doing that while I'm eating something that is messy like this where I don't want to worry about it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:15
Yeah. Like, I've worried that like, am I actually worried about this now? But like, do you think listeners are like inferring from what I said that I'm like, bad at sex? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Just like, it's like you're on the same page.
Molly 31:27
Yeah, okay. Yeah. Cuz people who don't like to get messy, actually, but I'm fine with getting messy. Like when I'm cooking. I struggle with it in some other ways. Interesting. Yeah. So maybe our listeners are looking for the opposite. Wow. Yeah. No, I. Yeah. I mean, when I'm cooking, or when I'm eating, there's like a sink nearby. And I know when the meal is going to be over and like when I go wash my hands, okay. Whereas otherwise, I'm kind of like, Oh, do I have to take a shower because I just showered this morning or in what I mean? Yeah, no, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:59
don't you mean, this is never struck me as a problem.
Molly 32:03
Oh, yeah. I don't really like shout. I don't really like bathing. Like the less I could do it. The better.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:09
No, I agree. It's like something. It's something that I think
Molly 32:12
I mean, I always enjoy it when it's over. It's like writing, bathing and writing are the same.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:16
No, yeah. In the
Molly 32:18
flow of it. Literally the water. Oh, yeah. You're like, yes. But then when it's like when you're finishing it up, which is to say you are like toweling off maybe putting on lotion if you do that. Yeah. kind of a pain in the ass. It's sort of like editing and going over proofs. But then when it's done and you can like feel how cool you are. When you can feel how clean you are. Yeah, so great. Until then, all of a sudden, you have to do it again.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:49
Yeah, no, I do like being clean. And like I think I think the way I feel about like the actual time spent showering is like really a function of like, like phone addiction and like, like, you know what, like, I have to stand under this water for four minutes like I could be getting so much more done.
Molly 33:05
Oh God you are.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:09
But I mean what what's your problem with it is you don't like the feeling
Molly 33:13
no for me part of it is I feel like I need to put on lotion when I get out of the shower because I like I can feel my skin getting sort of dry. And I also have a lot of like really thick hair. Yeah. And it needs to be like dealt with
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:28
covering every inch of your body.
Molly 33:31
Every inch of my body. I am Chewbacca. Anyway and so like showering whether or not I wash my hair feels like a bit of a chore in that I need to put on lotion afterwards.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:41
Yeah, recently I've had I've been loosening my hands like I was like once a year like it really dry skin on my palms. And I asked why you're showering? Yeah,
Molly 33:49
what have you been doing?
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:51
Oh, you don't want it no fun things. And I asked for the show Laurie like can you can you teach me how to moisturize and she's like Okay, first try like the cheap drugstore say dive stuff that we've got on the bathroom counter didn't like it. And I tried another one didn't really like it. And then she said try this Neutrogena. hydroboost This is not an ad, but I think I'm hooked on hydroboost so I it's not greasy at all. Does it do anything to my skin? I don't know. But I like it.
Molly 34:17
I really like weleda Skin Food but it's expensive. Okay, and it like you go through It's so fast. So I'm currently I'm really enjoying the Trader Joe's hand cream, which is like 499 for a tube. It's way more like, way more palatable.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:34
No, it makes sense that you go through Skin Food fast because like I go through regular food. Yeah, very fast.
Molly 34:39
Okay, are we done yet?
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:40
We are done. Okay. segments, spilled mail. We got nothing this week, hit us up contact at spilled milk podcast.com and we will probably answer your question.
Molly 34:56
I feel like maybe this is the only place I haven't talked about my love for labor. dot fm, or
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:01
am I? So I don't think I know what it is.
Molly 35:04
Oh libro.fm is it's an app. It's an like an audiobook app. Okay, that is basically a competitor to audible Alright, but and you pay you know a monthly amount like you do for audible. It's about 16 bucks a month, you get one credit per month. So basically one book is included in that got it monthly thing, it's an app you can put on your phone. They've got all the all the books that audible does, but when you set up your Libra account, you can declare the independent bookstore that you want a portion of all your sales.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:37
Which one did you choose?
Molly 35:38
I chose Secret Garden bookshop in Seattle. Nice. Anyway, so yeah, I use labor.fm for audiobooks because it benefits independent bookstores. Okay, not Jeff Bezos now is the
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:51
is that your pick? Or are you also gonna
Molly 35:53
know? So what I was going to talk about? Is this book. Okay. You may have heard of it. listener. It's called how the word is passed by Clint Smith. The subtitle is a reckoning with the history of slavery across America. Okay. I believe it came out in 2020. I started hearing about it and a couple newsletters I get from really smart people. Anyway, it is fantastic and difficult. As you might imagine, Clint Smith reads it the audiobook version. And he has just a he's great at reading his book. But also, I just really like the approach of this book. Not only do I feel like I am learning some stuff that I I should know and should have learned a long time ago. But also there is a certain amount of like, kind of you feel like he is a really good guide for this. Like
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:41
he said, Yeah,
Molly 36:42
there's there's a personal narrative and a personal perspective on this and like a personal motivation that he brings to
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:50
it. Yeah, I've definitely read and appreciated some of Clint Smith like columns, but I've not read this book, and I'm gonna put on my list. Yeah, that's great. Okay, how the word is passed. That's right. Our producer is Abby sercotel it please rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts. Maybe you get us on libra.fm I don't know if that's possible.
Molly 37:07
That's possible, but maybe Spotify,
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:08
maybe Spotify. I don't think you can review things on Spotify. Maybe like click the heart button. Click the heart button.
Molly 37:15
There's a button just in general just click if you see somebody you like Chris go hard. But
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:20
that doesn't mean reach out and like know, you should ask
Molly 37:23
consent before before.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:26
Yeah. where's where's your heart button located? reddit.com slash are slash everything. spilled milk is where I keep my heart button, where people warmed my heart by saying nice things about our show and talking about it with other listeners.
Molly 37:40
Thank you for listening to spilled milk, the show
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:42
that
Molly 37:44
that starts to soften after just 15 minutes. Matthew Amster-Burton
and I'm Molly weissenberg.
And did we say that our producers Abbey circuit Ella,
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:00
we did but we can't say it too many times. Yeah.