Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Saber Protection of iHeartRadio. I'm any
Speaker 1: Reo and.
Speaker 2: I'm Lauren Bolblabaum, and today we have an episode of
Speaker 2: listener Mail for you.
Speaker 1: Yes, you know we love these. Yes, Oh, y'all are
Speaker 1: so delightful you are, and we love that you take
Speaker 1: the time to write in and you share these stories
Speaker 1: with us, and we love how you interact with each
Speaker 1: other after hearing from each other. It's the best. It's wonderful.
Speaker 1: It's been a minute since we've done one of these.
Speaker 1: And I counted on you, Lauren, because I was just like,
Speaker 1: I don't know what number. This is, no idea.
Speaker 2: I did have to look it up. This is number
Speaker 2: twenty two, just my favorite numbers.
Speaker 1: Oh it is okay, great, cool, Yes, but yeah, thanks
Speaker 1: as always to everyone for writing in. We've got some
Speaker 1: really good ones today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, some real meaty ones. Yeah. Truly truly a
Speaker 2: spot of joy in a really heck and weird world
Speaker 2: that we're living in right now. So so thank you
Speaker 2: all so much. But yeah, you want to dive in, yes,
Speaker 2: I will start.
Speaker 1: And I do have to say I have loved how
Speaker 1: many people have written about pasta Sality, especially after Lauren's
Speaker 1: pretty Uh. I won't to say not intense, but just like.
Speaker 2: Slightly slightly harsh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know that's okay. Yeah, but that didn't stop
Speaker 1: you all?
Speaker 2: No as well?
Speaker 1: It should shunt. Yeah, no, it shouldn't. So we've got
Speaker 1: some pasta sality emails here. Kelsey wrote, when Savor's latest
Speaker 1: episodes started in my cueue this afternoon, I was prepping supper,
Speaker 1: specifically pasta salad. I had not glanced at the title
Speaker 1: or synopsis before listening. It was very fun listening to
Speaker 1: you talk about pasta salad while I made some. When
Speaker 1: I make pasta salad, it is usually because it is
Speaker 1: hot out and I am trying to avoid cooking late
Speaker 1: in the day. It is always a what have I
Speaker 1: got and how can I use it?
Speaker 2: For centure.
Speaker 1: Occasionally I crave a lemony garlicky feta and olive strewn taboule,
Speaker 1: but no one else in my house really wants that,
Speaker 1: so it's just for me. Tonight's pasta salad is fusilli
Speaker 1: with grated parmesan dice, tomato dice, bell pepper, corn, and
Speaker 1: chopped pickled chilis. The dressing is salsa, canola oil and
Speaker 1: a bit of mayo, a squirt of ketchup with cumin, coriander, paprika,
Speaker 1: and regano all run through the food processor to smooth
Speaker 1: and emulsify. It'll be served alongside grilled Smoky's and a
Speaker 1: green salad. I have to say all of your sometimes
Speaker 1: I'm so envious of your dinner situations listeners when I
Speaker 1: hear what you do and how you have these go
Speaker 1: to recipes. My mom, she was a big to boulet.
Speaker 1: Oh she loved it, but similarly, my brothers and dad
Speaker 1: didn't really like it, so it was just for her also.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean that sounds that sounds delightful. That
Speaker 1: sounds like the tabulet one sounds like exactly what I
Speaker 1: would like to eat. That other one if you left
Speaker 1: out the pasta, I would be great with it. But uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just a personal thing that I'm going to have
Speaker 1: to continue working through, you know or not?
Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, lean in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, But I also appreciate like it's a like a summertime.
Speaker 1: It's a fun time. I can make this. I have
Speaker 1: to say, this is something I have to work through.
Speaker 1: If I see like I have to put something in
Speaker 1: a food processor.
Speaker 2: Oh oh man, we need to get you like one
Speaker 2: of those little immersion blenders.
Speaker 1: That you just have.
Speaker 2: Oh it's so easy, Annie, I know.
Speaker 1: E'sye. I know, I need to work through it. Okay,
Speaker 1: we both have things. Maybe we'll think about more.
Speaker 2: There you go. There, that's always always room for self consideration. Sure, yes, uh,
Speaker 2: Cale wrote, Hi Annie and Lauren, your recent episode on
Speaker 2: You Guessed It? Pasta Salad had me considering whether or
Speaker 2: not it is a dish I actually enjoy. I loved
Speaker 2: the butt when you say how it's never really the
Speaker 2: main event, but more of a side option at potlucks
Speaker 2: and barbecues. This is eventually what I decided as well,
Speaker 2: and ultimately it's a side I most often try to
Speaker 2: avoid due to my sensory issues with certain food textures.
Speaker 2: Lo and behold. A few days later, my partner lovingly
Speaker 2: made pasta salad as a main dish for dinner. I
Speaker 2: took this as a sign from the universe that maybe
Speaker 2: it was time for me to give it another chance,
Speaker 2: especially because the dish was a childhood favorite of my partners,
Speaker 2: as her mother would make it on hot days because
Speaker 2: of its simplicity and well general coldness. The verdict, I
Speaker 2: can now say I am a big fan of my
Speaker 2: partner's pasta salad. It is still up for debate whether
Speaker 2: I enjoy all pasta salads or just this one. But
Speaker 2: I do think any dish made with love is a
Speaker 2: dish worth trying, regardless of past experiences. While my partner's
Speaker 2: mom passed away some years ago and I never had
Speaker 2: the pleasure of meeting her, I feel so lucky I
Speaker 2: get to meet her in all the wonderful qualities and
Speaker 2: traditions my partner shares with me. Thanks so much for
Speaker 2: continuing to be a bright spot in my week and
Speaker 2: for allowing me the opportunity to cry about pasta salad.
Speaker 2: Oh always, absolutely, we support crying about food. Oh but yeah,
Speaker 2: that is so lovely. That's really cool.
Speaker 1: That is that is and there is something special about
Speaker 1: someone sharing something that is important to them, that has
Speaker 1: this history, maybe to their family or something. And so
Speaker 1: there's something about that that I do think adds an
Speaker 1: extra like, okay, I can taste how much you love this? Almost?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah? And of course any personal dietary restrictions notwithstanding.
Speaker 2: You know, if if someone makes a dish with love,
Speaker 2: you know, even if you're even if you think you
Speaker 2: might not like it. Try it, Try it, you might
Speaker 2: be so pleasantly surprised. Yeah, yeah, when you can. When
Speaker 2: it's when it's safe too, you know, yeah, have fun
Speaker 2: out there.
Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, don't make yourself miserable. But no, Generally,
Speaker 1: when people make something, I think they want to share it,
Speaker 1: and they're happy to share it, and so if you're
Speaker 1: open to it, I say, go for it.
Speaker 2: Absolutely no.
Speaker 1: Bass the salad. Okay, Now we have a note from
Speaker 1: Ric about a couple different things. Ark wrote, Dorito's are
Speaker 1: an interesting snack. I can't recall anyone coming close to
Speaker 1: making a similar slash clone of the chip. They are
Speaker 1: a chip I enjoy, but it is also a chip
Speaker 1: that I need to be in the mood for. They
Speaker 1: do hit the spot when in the mood. If I'm
Speaker 1: going to have a walking taco, I will take Dorito's
Speaker 1: over Frito's. While Frito's are the original, I think Dorito's
Speaker 1: make a better walking taco. I've also used them in
Speaker 1: a taco salad instead of regular tortilla chips to give
Speaker 1: a bit of a twist. They do have a variety
Speaker 1: of flavors, but there is something about the original nacho
Speaker 1: and cool ranch flavors. I've tried a couple of different
Speaker 1: flavors over the years, but nothing really struck me. If
Speaker 1: I go overseas at some point again, I'll have to
Speaker 1: look and see what is there and even compare their
Speaker 1: base nacho to what we have here. Oo Oh, pasta salad.
Speaker 1: I know you are definitely going to hear a lot
Speaker 1: of strong video here. While I don't mind pasta salad,
Speaker 1: I think there are very few that are done really
Speaker 1: well to the point that I want to have more.
Speaker 1: During the summer or at potluck type gatherings, I'll grab
Speaker 1: a small bite to try. I think a large majority
Speaker 1: fall into the It's fine, but nothing really special or
Speaker 1: memorable going on. The dressing really makes a difference on it.
Speaker 1: I generally encountered it either being overdressed or underdressed, and
Speaker 1: when overdressed it seems like it will be an oil
Speaker 1: bomb or a Mayo bomb. Yes, with the dressing, I
Speaker 1: think an oil based one works better for the most part.
Speaker 1: While I like a good Mayo for the most part,
Speaker 1: I think mayo and pasta don't really go together. Well.
Speaker 1: Maybe someone can change her mind, but I haven't found
Speaker 1: one I liked yet. Seems like it is more common
Speaker 1: with elbow macaroni for some reason, and oil and vinegar
Speaker 1: with the appropriate herbs works better. As Lauren mentioned, she
Speaker 1: might like an orizo based pasta salad more. Those are
Speaker 1: generally simpler and not overdone. Just cook up some orizo ads,
Speaker 1: some good chopped olives, dice cucumber, some sliced cherry or
Speaker 1: grape tomatoes, a little finely diced red onion or shallot,
Speaker 1: and a little asiago. Then at a dressing of your choice,
Speaker 1: a simple herb red wine vinaigrette would go well. I
Speaker 1: don't have a recipe handy, but I do remember having
Speaker 1: one like this that was definitely one of the better ones.
Speaker 1: Also a wild thought, maybe if we take a sosa
Speaker 1: pasta salad add some doritos to it. Finally, I can't
Speaker 1: remember if you've done an episode on lentils. I've been
Speaker 1: cooking with them a lot more recently. They are so versatile.
Speaker 2: We we have a November of twenty twenty two, the
Speaker 2: sentimental lentil episode. Yes, classic title. Hats off to Annie
Speaker 2: for those titles all the time.
Speaker 1: I have to say, I'm loving this sort of Madman esque.
Speaker 1: Let's just add doritos to it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it does. Why let's go Yeah, walking taco withas
Speaker 2: I do think that sounds really good. That sounds slightly
Speaker 2: overwhelming to me, Like Dorito's are already kind of like
Speaker 2: a heightened flavor experience, and so I'm like, would I
Speaker 2: be able to handle a walking taco dorito situation?
Speaker 1: Only one way to find.
Speaker 2: Out, right, And yeah, like why not put some cool
Speaker 2: ranch Dorito's into your nice orzo pasta salad? I don't
Speaker 2: see where we could possibly go wrong?
Speaker 1: No, I mean at least the experiment will give more knowledge,
Speaker 1: more data, and you can go from there.
Speaker 2: Which is always worth having.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is, And I really hope more listeners continue
Speaker 1: to write in about pasta salads and perhaps experiments with Dorito's.
Speaker 1: I think that would be great. Love that.
Speaker 2: I love that other people have strong opinions about this.
Speaker 2: That's I mean, I shouldn't be surprised. We have strong
Speaker 2: opinions about just about every.
Speaker 1: Food out there. But yeah, here we are. Yes, it's fantastic.
Speaker 2: Well, we do have a bunch more listener mail for you,
Speaker 2: but first we've got a quick break for award from
Speaker 2: our sponsor and we're back. Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you,
Speaker 2: and uh Okay, Nova wrote first, let me thank you
Speaker 2: for doing an episode on cultured meats. I was very
Speaker 2: sad to hear that bistro and vitro was never a
Speaker 2: real thing. I'll have to wait a bit longer to
Speaker 2: sample some lab meat, though apparently not in my home
Speaker 2: state of Florida. To make it more relevant, I've been
Speaker 2: waiting for a Saber Classics episode to come up on
Speaker 2: chocolate chip cookies to write you this email, but decided
Speaker 2: to throw caution into the wind and send it anyways.
Speaker 2: Based on your cultural references, I deduce that both of
Speaker 2: you are in my age group or thereabouts, so you
Speaker 2: probably remember the days of the chain email. You may
Speaker 2: have even seen this one come through your inbox at
Speaker 2: some point in time, because it's been around for a
Speaker 2: long time. I received it in two thousand and nine.
Speaker 2: It was possibly a chain letter even before or email
Speaker 2: was commonly used. I always had my doubts as to
Speaker 2: its authenticity, but either way, I have made these cookies
Speaker 2: several times and they are yummy. Indeed, it's a bit
Speaker 2: long winded, so feel free to paraphrase Okay and then
Speaker 2: Nova pastes in this chain email. That is a thing
Speaker 2: that exists, so okay, let's go into it a little background.
Speaker 2: Nieman Marcus, if you don't know already, is a very
Speaker 2: expensive store. They sell your typical eight dollars shirt for
Speaker 2: fifty dollars. Let's let them have it. This is a
Speaker 2: true story. Good mark of any actual true story on
Speaker 2: the internet.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: My daughter and I had just finished a salad at
Speaker 2: Anemen Marcus cafe in Dallas, and we decided to have
Speaker 2: a small dessert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers,
Speaker 2: we decided to try the Nemen Marcus cookie. It was
Speaker 2: so excellent that I asked if they would give me
Speaker 2: the recipe, and the waitress said, with a small frown,
Speaker 2: I'm afraid not, but you can buy the recipe.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: I asked how much, and she responded, only two fifty
Speaker 2: it's a great deal. I agreed to that and told
Speaker 2: her to just add it to my tab. Thirty days later,
Speaker 2: I received my visa statement and the Nieman Marcus charge
Speaker 2: was two hundred and eighty five dollars. I looked again
Speaker 2: and I remembered I had only spent like nine to
Speaker 2: ninety five for two salads and about twenty dollars for
Speaker 2: a scarf. As I glanced at the bottom of the statement,
Speaker 2: it said cookie recipe two hundred and fifty dollars. This
Speaker 2: was outrageous. I called Neeman's accounting department and told them
Speaker 2: the waitress said it was two fifty, which clearly does
Speaker 2: not mean two hundred and fifty dollars by any reasonable interpretation.
Speaker 2: Nieman Marcus refused to budge. They wouldn't refund my money because,
Speaker 2: according to them, what the waitress told you is not
Speaker 2: our problem. You've already seen the recipe. We absolutely will
Speaker 2: not refund your money. I explained the accounting department lady
Speaker 2: the criminal statutes that governed fraud in the state of Texas.
Speaker 2: I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau
Speaker 2: and the Texas Attorney General's Office for engaging in fraud.
Speaker 2: And I was basically told, do what you want, don't
Speaker 2: bother thinking of how you can get even, and don't
Speaker 2: bother trying to get any of your money back. I
Speaker 2: just said, okay, you folks got my two hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty bucks, and now I'm going to have two hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty dollars worth of fun. I told her that
Speaker 2: I was going to see to it that every cookie
Speaker 2: lover in the United States with an email account has
Speaker 2: a two hundred and fifty dollars cookie recipe from Nieman
Speaker 2: Marcus for free. She replied, I wish you wouldn't do this,
Speaker 2: and I said, well, perhaps you should have thought of
Speaker 2: that before you ripped me off and slammed down the phone.
Speaker 2: So here it is. Please, please, please pass it on
Speaker 2: to everyone you can possibly think of. I paid two
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty bucks for this, and I don't want
Speaker 2: Nimon Marcus to ever make another penny off of this recipe.
Speaker 2: And then the recipe follows, I'm not going to read
Speaker 2: it out right now, but you can absolutely Google. You
Speaker 2: can email as or Google if you want the purported recipe.
Speaker 2: Nova finishes the email. If you are planning a new
Speaker 2: cookie esque episode, may I suggest Stroopwaffle. Growing up, we
Speaker 2: would visit my family in the Netherlands every few years,
Speaker 2: and these guys were a special treat for us. But
Speaker 2: more recently they have been popping up at restaurants all
Speaker 2: over the US. Okay, several things. First of all, yes,
Speaker 2: for some reason, I was just thinking about streep Waffles
Speaker 2: the other day and how we have not we've been
Speaker 2: remiss and not talking about them.
Speaker 1: Indeed very important. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Second of all, you're correct about us being of an age.
Speaker 2: I'm like a couple years older than Annie, but certainly
Speaker 2: I remember chain emails and physical chain letters. I even
Speaker 2: remember the Ya horror books by Christopher Pike from the
Speaker 2: late eighties or early nineties called Chainletter and Chainletter too,
Speaker 2: the Ancient Evil. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it'd be like, if you don't send this
Speaker 1: to ten people, that's the end.
Speaker 2: For you, right, yeah, yeah, And this one functions on
Speaker 2: like a slightly. It's not a threat to you, but
Speaker 2: like you're sticking it to the man if you continued
Speaker 2: the email, which which is a great way to motivate
Speaker 2: people to send along an email. That is an urban myth.
Speaker 2: It has indeed been debunked. One weird detail that proliferates
Speaker 2: within the myth is that the writer found the charge
Speaker 2: on her visa statement, but Nieman Marcus only accepted American
Speaker 2: Express until nineteen ninety nine, which is years after the
Speaker 2: story began circulating. This is one of our points of evidence.
Speaker 2: I had to look into this, so okay, Niam and
Speaker 2: Marcus maintains that they have never charged customers for recipes. Furthermore,
Speaker 2: they didn't even have a company recipe for chocolate chip
Speaker 2: cookies in the mid nineties, but apparently people believed this
Speaker 2: story and were writing into them, like absolutely incensed, to
Speaker 2: the point that by nineteen ninety seven they were so
Speaker 2: fed up with this rumor that they had their executive
Speaker 2: chef create a chocolate chip cookie recipe and they posted
Speaker 2: it online for free, with like explicit notice that anyone
Speaker 2: was free to distribute or print it as they wished.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, this.
Speaker 2: Was in nineteen ninety seven. You can still find that
Speaker 2: recipe on their website. It is different than the one
Speaker 2: in the chain letter. The chain letter version uses powdered
Speaker 2: oatmeal and like a grated chocolate bar. The company version
Speaker 2: uses instant espresso. They both sound pretty good anyway. As
Speaker 2: of twenty sixteen, which is when Facebook had an iteration
Speaker 2: of this tale circulating, Nieman Marcus's VP of communications told
Speaker 2: Eater that she had not received an angry email about
Speaker 2: the whole thing in six or seven years, and you know,
Speaker 2: good for her. Wow, not done yet. So this is
Speaker 2: not the first urban myth about a customer being like
Speaker 2: sneakily overcharged for a recipe by some kind of uppity
Speaker 2: retailer and then taking revenge by distributing said recipe. Snopes
Speaker 2: found iterations of this going back to nineteen forty eight,
Speaker 2: when this cookbook titled Massachusetts Cooking Rules Old and New
Speaker 2: printed a recipe called twenty five dollars fudge Cake along
Speaker 2: with this story about a woman who enjoyed a slice
Speaker 2: of cake on a train, asking the chef for the recipe,
Speaker 2: and being billed twenty five dollars for it, which at
Speaker 2: the time was a lot more outrageous. In the nineteen sixties,
Speaker 2: the villain was the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and it was
Speaker 2: a three hundred and fifty dollars red velvet cake recipe.
Speaker 2: In the seventies, it was Missus Fields and a two
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty dollars chocolate chip cookie recipe. Some versions
Speaker 2: of that story shifted the blame to Marshall Fields the
Speaker 2: department store, and Snopes thinks that that is probably where
Speaker 2: it to Nieman Marcus the department store.
Speaker 1: Fascinating. That is so interesting to me.
Speaker 2: It's really wonderful in a kind of sick way.
Speaker 1: Wow, because I feel like every chain letter I got
Speaker 1: what the end wanted, some action from you. This one
Speaker 1: I guess spreading this recipe. Yeah, but if it's not
Speaker 1: really their recipe, I don't know that's interesting to me.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a part in my use of an
Speaker 2: industry phrase. But it's a great way to go viral.
Speaker 1: I guess they clearly did. I can't believe that me
Speaker 1: and Marcus is still like, please.
Speaker 2: Leave us alone about the heck and cookies.
Speaker 1: The recipe is all for free.
Speaker 2: We didn't even have one, but we made one for you.
Speaker 2: Please leave us alone. Wow, this poor VP of Communications,
Speaker 2: this woman who made it up through the chain of
Speaker 2: command at name and Marcus and has been plagued by
Speaker 2: accusations oh god decades.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, wow, whole thing. So thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you for putting that on our radar.
Speaker 2: We got to look into it. How wonderful.
Speaker 1: Wow. I had no idea. That's now I want to
Speaker 1: I want to go in all further deep dive.
Speaker 2: Right like urban legends about I'm sure that others are
Speaker 2: out there now now, I'm like, these can't be the
Speaker 2: only ones.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, well listeners right in if you've got any more, Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: but in the meantime, do you have more listener mail?
Speaker 1: For you. Yeah, Janet wrote one of your episodes, asked
Speaker 1: to send you my interesting cooking projects. I feel like
Speaker 1: many concepts and food differ only by tradition. For example,
Speaker 1: every culture has a version of things like bread, fried dough,
Speaker 1: and dumplings. To test how different or similar food concepts are,
Speaker 1: I like to make hybrid monstrosities a midway point in
Speaker 1: between two disparate food ideas. This one is Lamington pizza.
Speaker 1: I took the idea of a baked dough circle topped
Speaker 1: in cheese, sauce, various herbs, especially basil and other vegetables
Speaker 1: or meats. I combined it with the idea of a
Speaker 1: square of sponge cake dipped in chocolate sauce and coated
Speaker 1: in desiccated coconut or sometimes other nuts, oftenandwich with cream
Speaker 1: and jam. This resulted in me making a marscapone and
Speaker 1: sliced pineapple jam filled square bakedo dipped in tomato, chili
Speaker 1: and chocolate sauce and covered in sliced roast almonds and
Speaker 1: fresh basil. Thus it is a completely new abomination because
Speaker 1: the pineapple is inside the pizza. It was generously filled,
Speaker 1: so it was a rich dessert. Both soft and crunchy,
Speaker 1: with the brightness of the basil counterpointing the sweet sour
Speaker 1: of the jam, the richness of the marscapone, and bitter
Speaker 1: umame of the chocolate sauce. It was so much better
Speaker 1: than it had any right to me. If I made
Speaker 1: it again, I would definitely coat it in desiccated coconut
Speaker 1: to pair with the pineapple. Please find picture attached and
Speaker 1: picture wells attached.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would absolutely try that. It does look slightly
Speaker 2: like an abomination. It looks a little aggressive. That's a
Speaker 2: good word for it. Yeah, threatening, Aura, Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's a little menacing. But I adore that you're doing these.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like, why not?
Speaker 1: Absolutely you might. I mean you could discover something. Maybe
Speaker 1: this will become a whole thing we don't know, or
Speaker 1: it could be the stepping stone to something.
Speaker 2: Else, right, And really you never know until you try.
Speaker 1: You never know until you try. I do love I
Speaker 1: know that's what it is. But I love your continued
Speaker 1: usage of desiccated coconut.
Speaker 2: Uh oh does that make you feel like like like
Speaker 2: mummies are about?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Okay, it just adds another layer of like monstrosity.
Speaker 1: It's said with fondness. This is great. Please write in
Speaker 1: any other experiments.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I need to know more about more of these.
Speaker 2: That took a number of turns I did. But again,
Speaker 2: I'm really really curious. Huh, I am.
Speaker 1: Too, I am too. Yeah, keep the listeners. We always
Speaker 1: want to hear about your food experiments.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, well we do have a little bit more
Speaker 2: for you here today, but first we've got one more
Speaker 2: quick break for a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1: And we're back.
Speaker 2: Thank you sponsors, Yes, thank you, Cecilia wrote your podcast
Speaker 2: topics are always interesting and enlightening and sometimes amazingly pertinent
Speaker 2: for me. On April fourth, you put out an episode
Speaker 2: about Turkish Delight. I was in France at the time,
Speaker 2: but made sure to listen as I was headed to
Speaker 2: Turkey in a few weeks. Once we got to Turkey,
Speaker 2: I started looking out for Turkish delight or Lookum, as
Speaker 2: you said it was called. That is the name used
Speaker 2: in Turkey, but because they want to appeal to tourists,
Speaker 2: the shops there also call it Turkish Delight. I did
Speaker 2: get some on our second day there. The shop had
Speaker 2: lots of varieties, but I wanted to try the plain ones.
Speaker 2: I bought a box of three flavors. They had rose,
Speaker 2: honey and mint. They were delicious. Later I bought another
Speaker 2: box to take to my son and his wife. That
Speaker 2: box was from a rest stop on a highway and
Speaker 2: it contained rose and lemon. I like those even better.
Speaker 2: All attach a photo of a shop in the town
Speaker 2: of Saffron Bola, which is named after Saffron. After Turkey.
Speaker 2: We went to Cambridge, England to visit our son, daughter
Speaker 2: in law and grandson. They lived next door to a
Speaker 2: Sri Lankan family and mentioned that the family had cooked
Speaker 2: a delicious dish for them that included leaves from the
Speaker 2: curry tree. I tried to correct them to say that
Speaker 2: curry wasn't a plant, but a mix of spices. They
Speaker 2: insisted the neighborhood said that there was a curry tree.
Speaker 2: That night, I looked at your podcast feed and saw
Speaker 2: an episode on the curry Tree that I had just missed.
Speaker 2: It is hard for me to keep up with podcasts
Speaker 2: when I'm traveling, so I listened to that episode and
Speaker 2: admitted my misunderstanding. The next day and now camembert ah
Speaker 2: cam and Beert. As I said at the top, we
Speaker 2: were in France, Normandy. Actually for the month of April.
Speaker 2: We have a house there in a small village. We
Speaker 2: spent the month getting the house ready for the market.
Speaker 2: So if you know anyone looking for a small house
Speaker 2: in a small village in Normandy, let us know. We're
Speaker 2: asking ninety five thousand euros. It's a charming village and
Speaker 2: we love the Normandy area, but with a grandson in England,
Speaker 2: we need to spend more time in England. We'll still
Speaker 2: vacation in France, though we've been spending time in Normandy
Speaker 2: every year except twenty twenty since twenty ten. One year
Speaker 2: we visited Camembert. There's a museum there devoted to the cheese,
Speaker 2: but it was a disappointment. It consisted of some wallboards
Speaker 2: with pictures. I don't even know if there's a factory
Speaker 2: there producing cam and Beert. We did see the statue
Speaker 2: of Marie Harel in the town center. It was interesting
Speaker 2: to learn more about the statue through your podcast.
Speaker 1: So we're moving to Normandy, Lauren.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not doing it next week.
Speaker 1: Let's go put our funds together. Cecilia continues. The Prisidon
Speaker 1: Factory has a larger and more interesting museum that we
Speaker 1: visited in Laval last year. That one takes you through
Speaker 1: the entire history of cheese in that area, with lots
Speaker 1: of pieces of equipment on display. They describe and detailed
Speaker 1: the production of the cheese, but they don't let you
Speaker 1: visit the actual factory. I suppose her reasons of safety
Speaker 1: and cleanliness. In contrast, we did visit the factory in
Speaker 1: Lone l'abier. On that visit, we were right on the
Speaker 1: floor where the biscuits were being made. They were making
Speaker 1: chocolate cookies at the time. They have a gift shop,
Speaker 1: of course, but our guide told us we couldn't buy
Speaker 1: the biscuits we saw them making because those were made
Speaker 1: to ship to America. They are sold here under the
Speaker 1: name Pierre Biscuity. But we were discussing camm bear. Our
Speaker 1: house in Normandy is not far from the President factory
Speaker 1: in Don, France, which claims to be the largest manufacturer
Speaker 1: of cam and beer's in the world. We often see
Speaker 1: the President trucks go by the house with the morning's milk.
Speaker 1: Whenever we go out walking or driving in Normandy, we
Speaker 1: see cows in the fields and orchards. Most of the
Speaker 1: herds we see are small, twelve to forty cows. I'll
Speaker 1: attach a picture of some normand cows. We see other
Speaker 1: varieties as well. I have some Camembert in the fridge
Speaker 1: at all times when I'm in Normandy and most of
Speaker 1: the time here in North Carolina. There are many brands
Speaker 1: available in the grocery store in Normandy. I've tried several
Speaker 1: of them. Most are made from pasteoroid's milk, but I
Speaker 1: did find one made from raw milk. I didn't notice
Speaker 1: a difference in taste, but maybe I'm just not sophisticated
Speaker 1: enough to taste the difference. I often buy the President brand,
Speaker 1: but I've tried others as well. The cheeses in the
Speaker 1: supermarket in France are fresher than the ones I buy.
Speaker 1: Hear there's one variety I've bought called Les Rustique. This
Speaker 1: one is creamier. When my sister in law was visiting,
Speaker 1: she said that that one was the best, but it
Speaker 1: is still made from Pastchoi's milk. And finally, you asked
Speaker 1: for recipes. I loved baked bree or Camembert. And if
Speaker 1: you are having people over or have a large family,
Speaker 1: that's a wonderful way to serve the cheese. But if
Speaker 1: you are just one person in the household eating it.
Speaker 1: Baking a whole cheese at once is not a good idea,
Speaker 1: so I have found out a way to enjoy baked
Speaker 1: caman beert one serving at a time. You need a
Speaker 1: five inch wheel of cammbert, a five inch round pocket peda.
Speaker 1: I buy Joseph's which are low carb, a pop up toaster,
Speaker 1: and a wire cheese cutter. I hope everyone who enjoys
Speaker 1: cheese has a wire cutter. It is the best way
Speaker 1: to cut soft cheese. Take your wheel of cheese and
Speaker 1: cut it first in half so you have two semi circles.
Speaker 1: Do the same with the peda. Then stand one semi
Speaker 1: circle of cheese on the cut side in the wire
Speaker 1: cutter and use a knife. Score the outside rind parallel
Speaker 1: to the cutting wire, about one eighth inch in from
Speaker 1: the edge. You need to score the front part where
Speaker 1: the wire enters the cheese and the top, but once
Speaker 1: the wire is in the cheese, it will continue to
Speaker 1: cut through the rest of the rind. This trims off
Speaker 1: the outside rind. It's fine to use this as the
Speaker 1: first slice, but if you prefer not to eat that
Speaker 1: much rind, you can just leave that part off. Next,
Speaker 1: score the cheese twice more and cut two semicircular pieces
Speaker 1: of cheese, put each one in the peda pockets and
Speaker 1: drop them in a pop up toaster toast on a
Speaker 1: medium setting until the cheese melts. The peda will keep
Speaker 1: it from leaking into the toaster. I've been doing this
Speaker 1: for years, never had a problem with leaking. That's it.
Speaker 1: Enjoy your low carb sandwich. Well, I just have to
Speaker 1: let you know how much I enjoy your podcast and
Speaker 1: how often it relates directly to something in my life.
Speaker 1: And lovely pictures were attached, by the way, Yeah, so
Speaker 1: sad sometimes where we're.
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, there were there were pictures. They were images.
Speaker 2: We're not in an image medium, no, but yeah, oh
Speaker 2: I love it when y'all write in and these like
Speaker 2: weird coincidences. I promised that we're not surveilling you.
Speaker 1: No, no, but people write in about that kind of frequently.
Speaker 1: Yeah right right, yes, also a cheese peta.
Speaker 2: Oh right. I'm kind of mad at myself for never
Speaker 2: having thought to do this.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it sounds like so.
Speaker 2: So obvious, like you have that you have the technology,
Speaker 2: Like why wouldn't you.
Speaker 1: Just put the cheese in Theah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, delicious, so cool and oh my goodness. Thank you
Speaker 2: for all of the information about Camembert and various cookies.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, always, we love that you go on such
Speaker 1: You always sound so well traveled. You go on all
Speaker 1: these journeys, Cecilia.
Speaker 2: And a lot of y'all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of you do, and we love that
Speaker 1: you share that with us and we get to live
Speaker 1: somewhat vicuriously through you. Yes. Well, this brings us to
Speaker 1: the end of this listener mail episode, but we do
Speaker 1: love so much hearing from all of you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, thank you. Thank you to everyone who wrote in.
Speaker 1: Thank you to everyone who wrote in, and please keep
Speaker 1: those letters coming. We'll be here for twenty three and
Speaker 1: if you would like to message us, you can. You
Speaker 1: can email us at Hello, atsavorpod dot com.
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Speaker 2: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit
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Speaker 2: your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers
Speaker 2: Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening
Speaker 2: and we hope that lots more good things are coming
Speaker 2: your way.