Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. Welcome to Stephan Never
Speaker 1: told you a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 2: And welcome to another happy hour where it's not a
Speaker 2: pitchin wine the time round because I'm trying to make
Speaker 2: it a little more happier. It's more of a confessional,
Speaker 2: we'll say, for this happy hour. But before we start,
Speaker 2: just FYI were not being sponsored by anything we mentioned.
Speaker 2: If we do mention any products at this time, that
Speaker 2: could change. We all know that. And if you are
Speaker 2: doing the actual happy hour as if we were together
Speaker 2: in a happy hour just getting chilling, be responsible, you know,
Speaker 2: do you? But in a adult fashion, in a way
Speaker 2: that is responsible. Eddie, are you slipping on anything I made?
Speaker 1: Margherita, Oh yes, I'm trying to. I mean, I know
Speaker 1: I've been complaining about it for a while, but my
Speaker 1: refrigerator situation is real bad, so I'm trying to clear
Speaker 1: out space.
Speaker 3: And I still have some of that mezcal.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you're using that up real good.
Speaker 3: I mean I still got quite a bit left.
Speaker 2: But yeah, all right, I like it.
Speaker 3: I like it.
Speaker 2: You should do you, And that's a part of your doing,
Speaker 2: which is getting rid of everything.
Speaker 3: You it's bad it's really bad.
Speaker 2: Well, I so we went out last night. We have
Speaker 2: this thing where quarterly we get together celebrate we've been
Speaker 2: doing with s minty and eat oysters because I love
Speaker 2: oysters like so much. Oysters. So we went out last
Speaker 2: night and celebrated what we're doing, talking about the things
Speaker 2: we want to do for the future and eating good oysters.
Speaker 2: And that involved to adult beverages and for me, that
Speaker 2: was too much. My head was hurting. So today I
Speaker 2: am keeping it with my water, bubbly water with some
Speaker 2: strawberry flavor because my pineapple flavor is gone. Apparently it's
Speaker 2: only available in Canada and I can't order it, so
Speaker 2: Canadian friends send me some. I'm just kidding, but it's
Speaker 2: I thought that was so weird to me. I was like,
Speaker 2: why is this not available in the US. I don't understand.
Speaker 2: I'm very sad. But anyway, but that's how I'm keeping
Speaker 2: it today because I still have a small headache. Because yes,
Speaker 2: over forty means feeling like you have a hangover when
Speaker 2: you shouldn't be having a hangover. Anyway, that's there's a
Speaker 2: wine bit, you know. But today I kind of wanted
Speaker 2: to explore the fact that there's comfort mills and for
Speaker 2: comfort mills, what does that mean? So today is March
Speaker 2: twenty eight, twenty twenty four, right before Easter. So if
Speaker 2: you yeah, surprise surprise.
Speaker 1: Funny because one of the reasons if my refrigerators so foles.
Speaker 1: I have this meal I make on Easter, but I
Speaker 1: totally forgot this this weekend.
Speaker 2: Yep, it's good to use it. That is why we
Speaker 2: have these put moments together. But yeah, So one of
Speaker 2: the things that I think is interesting because I am
Speaker 2: a transracial adoptee. I am very Asian but grew up
Speaker 2: in a very Southern household. And as much as I
Speaker 2: have been exploring into Korean food and getting kind of
Speaker 2: back to my roots and things that I do remember
Speaker 2: and don't remember, like I will always have Southern food
Speaker 2: with my comfort food. Like I my sister has the
Speaker 2: best chicken and dupling recipes that I use and I
Speaker 2: love that. And apparently my partner, who grew up in
Speaker 2: North Georgia as well for a little while, has said
Speaker 2: that he had never eaten it before, which I'm very
Speaker 2: very confused by it, and he compared it to matsabal soup.
Speaker 2: I'm like, how in the world did you eat matsa
Speaker 2: bal soup in Gainesville, Georgia, but not have chicken and dumplings.
Speaker 2: I'm very confused. Thoroughly confused anyway, but things like that
Speaker 2: food and kind of that growing up as an adult.
Speaker 2: Of course, there's a couple of conversations we've had recently
Speaker 2: in that we are adults, but our life is nothing
Speaker 2: like our parents. And I know we've talked about this previously,
Speaker 2: especially like our moms putting up a whole different level
Speaker 2: standards and cleanliness and housekeeping, and we were like, yeah,
Speaker 2: we don't, we don't do that. As well as the
Speaker 2: fact that, yeah, I just figured out recently that one
Speaker 2: of my dad's hobbies which I had no idea about,
Speaker 2: because all I knew growing up was him working, being tired,
Speaker 2: coming home to eat, and doing house projects. Like he
Speaker 2: rarely had time to play games with us. We never
Speaker 2: had family board game nights. None of that happened in
Speaker 2: our house. My brother and I would sometimes play together,
Speaker 2: but then we would erupt into a fight and then
Speaker 2: we could not play together, Like that's kind of how
Speaker 2: that went down. So our house was a little different
Speaker 2: in that level. But I think our generation, when we
Speaker 2: had parents who are who are boomers? That was their
Speaker 2: life like that whole working nine to five, but for him,
Speaker 2: his commute was an hour an hour and a half,
Speaker 2: so it was like working from six thirty seven til
Speaker 2: sa uh if not later, and then coming home exhausted,
Speaker 2: and then doing the weekends as projects because he maintained
Speaker 2: the house so we didn't have plumbers coming into it
Speaker 2: through unless it was like a big emergency. Then if not,
Speaker 2: he fixed it. He went to the home depot, or
Speaker 2: he went to Low's or Ace Hardware because that was
Speaker 2: what was available in our neighborhood to fix things. But
Speaker 2: like all of these things, growing up, realizing these minute
Speaker 2: details that I never noticed, and then growing up and
Speaker 2: being like I am nothing like this. As much as
Speaker 2: like this was great, I'm nothing like this. And in
Speaker 2: that level of like growing up with different types of food,
Speaker 2: I was talking to you because when I was a nanny,
Speaker 2: the kids who were pretty well off and as in fact,
Speaker 2: I think a couple of them are had like doing
Speaker 2: their own truck to become celebrities themselves, loved ramen noodle
Speaker 2: top ramen with tons and tons of hot sauce, like
Speaker 2: they ate so much that it almost looked like they're
Speaker 2: challenging themselves and their siblings about who got the hottest version.
Speaker 2: And they loved eating that, and they loved eating Hamburger helper,
Speaker 2: which is also what I grew up with. And I
Speaker 2: was fine and feeding them this. They're very active kids,
Speaker 2: so it wasn't like any health issues had risen or
Speaker 2: we were concerned about that. As obsessed as the mom
Speaker 2: was about her features and her weight, she never really
Speaker 2: put that onto her kids. Of course the kids learned
Speaker 2: just from watching her, but she was happy with them
Speaker 2: being fed. The grandmother, the mother of the mom, was
Speaker 2: great cook. Actually she was amazing, but she was that
Speaker 2: she was Filipino, Filipino, but she did a lot of
Speaker 2: Asian dishes that the kids loved, so like, I love
Speaker 2: that aspect of seeing that was like, oh, this is
Speaker 2: like my childhood who lived in nut so rich house.
Speaker 2: But those foods were comforting, and when I would eat
Speaker 2: it with the kids, because obviously if I've made it
Speaker 2: for them, I have to have to eat with them,
Speaker 2: it was delicious. And it's been a minute since I've
Speaker 2: had Hamburger helper, Rannie. But I sometimes crap that I
Speaker 2: do too.
Speaker 1: I know that during the pandemic, people were seeking out
Speaker 1: comforting foods and one of the things my mom, like
Speaker 1: an easy thing she would make was a hamburger helper
Speaker 1: chicken alfredo and I'm sure it had so much sodium
Speaker 1: and it was like calorically dense, but I loved it,
Speaker 1: and I couldn't find it during the pandemic, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I just really want this comforting, simple, salty,
Speaker 1: delicious carbi thing that I remember from childhood, and I
Speaker 1: still can't find it.
Speaker 3: Oh, they might have discontinued it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like this could be a like I'm wondering how
Speaker 2: different everything is, because you know, we're definitely now at
Speaker 2: the age where things have changed, the tastes have changed,
Speaker 2: the recipe has changed all the different ways. Because yeah,
Speaker 2: so like I haven't had hamber helper, but one of
Speaker 2: the things that I would eat as a kid, So
Speaker 2: I again southern home. My dad's parents actually had a
Speaker 2: small enough like farmland ish but they would grow things.
Speaker 2: So you would get homemade corn cream, corn fried okra,
Speaker 2: deep fried okra, and lard, you know, or like deep
Speaker 2: vegetable oil like they eat it was real fried. Then
Speaker 2: green beans, especially string beans that they had made with
Speaker 2: at least like a hamhock, if not some other part
Speaker 2: of me bacon, fat, whatever, as well as corn bread
Speaker 2: and the skillet cornbread, not the sweet one though it
Speaker 2: was always the like the cakey one, but I had
Speaker 2: the good like brown crisp edges, as well as mac
Speaker 2: and cheese. Now the mac and cheese, I don't think
Speaker 2: I ever had homemade mac and cheese with my family.
Speaker 2: I think they always did box mac and cheese, like
Speaker 2: I'm trying to remember, like people who did make mac
Speaker 2: and cheese were the fancy people. Yes, outside of that,
Speaker 2: we did that. They just went and bought the belvy
Speaker 2: the cheese, and that's what we had as part of
Speaker 2: our meal. And growing up, my siblings and I would
Speaker 2: make what would call a hodgepodge of these, so we
Speaker 2: would take all the veggies, put it together, so corn,
Speaker 2: green beans, okra, and the mac and cheese and a
Speaker 2: giant bowl and then just crumble like corn bread into
Speaker 2: it and make it a giant mix, and we'd call
Speaker 2: it the Hodgepodge mill. And I craved that as an
Speaker 2: adult all the time, to the point that I definitely
Speaker 2: have to do at least two or three times a year,
Speaker 2: which is quite funny because my partner and I used
Speaker 2: to joke that he would make the Asian foods who
Speaker 2: was white. He is very white, and I would make
Speaker 2: the country food who was very Asian. Like it was
Speaker 2: such a like split segon and I was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: this is what I like and like the feeling of
Speaker 2: like coming into Yeah. I made literally made canned green
Speaker 2: beans because I don't I would love the homemade, but
Speaker 2: we don't have like I don't. We don't farm here
Speaker 2: like we were in Decatur, so it's not accessible. All
Speaker 2: the things. We have had issues with trees in the house.
Speaker 2: He wants to have all this garden, but I'm like,
Speaker 2: I'm not doing it because I killed Basil. I'm very sad.
Speaker 2: I'm still traumatized reacily, but like having cane green beans.
Speaker 2: There's this creamed corn that's frozen in a package you
Speaker 2: get in the freezer, a vegetable aisle, and that's like
Speaker 2: the best. I'm like, it's the best I've had in
Speaker 2: a while, even compared to like I've made homemade cream corn.
Speaker 2: It's an endeavor. It's an endeavor because I try to
Speaker 2: see if I can do it, and if I can
Speaker 2: know how I can do it, then I'll move on like, yeah,
Speaker 2: well now this is just as good, so I'm going
Speaker 2: And then like I made a box of Annies mac
Speaker 2: and cheese, not any our friend here, but the actual
Speaker 2: brand of mac and cheese. And I didn't have the corner,
Speaker 2: and I forgot the corner. But I have been eating
Speaker 2: it to the point that I ate it kind of
Speaker 2: early morning as my early lunch today because I was like, yep,
Speaker 2: I want my hotchpodged milk. It makes like to me,
Speaker 2: I'm like, do other people eat like this? Because I've
Speaker 2: always grown up eating green beans and corn together. Hmmm,
Speaker 2: and I always thought that was normal, But I don't know.
Speaker 2: That might just be our family thing. But these types
Speaker 2: of food they feel me in a way that I
Speaker 2: feel full and happy and content and just that memory
Speaker 2: of being for a moment home in the good moments.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean food is powerful in that way and
Speaker 1: that sounds delicious to me. We used to joke with
Speaker 1: my little brother because you know, some people have.
Speaker 3: The interesting thing with food.
Speaker 1: And by the way, listeners, if you have any meals
Speaker 1: like what we're talking about, that like your family makes,
Speaker 1: but it seems no one else does. Let us know,
Speaker 1: my little brother. Some people have that thing where they're like,
Speaker 1: my foods are separate, they will not be mixed.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And my little brother, we used to joke, would
Speaker 3: always make a pie.
Speaker 1: So whatever it was, he would just mix it and
Speaker 1: he was happiest when it was mixed.
Speaker 3: And I'm over here, like my noodles was not touched.
Speaker 2: What it was.
Speaker 1: It's true, it's true because I did like some things mixed.
Speaker 1: So one of the things we did that was I
Speaker 1: think it was my idea because I read it in
Speaker 1: a book, but it was. It's called like an English
Speaker 1: nest or something. It's mashed potatoes, green peas, and ham.
Speaker 2: Yeah, mixed, I know he's talking about. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: It's kind of but it sounds like the beginnings of
Speaker 2: Shepherd's Pie.
Speaker 3: Yes. It's like a very low maintenance which.
Speaker 2: I had never had until I went and worked a
Speaker 2: year in Oklahoma and they loved that. I was like,
Speaker 2: what is this.
Speaker 3: It's a very hearty meal.
Speaker 2: It is a very hearty meal. I think it was
Speaker 2: because you could do it in bulk, and because I
Speaker 2: worked at a children's home. That's how what they would make,
Speaker 2: and it was easy to get, like the canned veggies,
Speaker 2: which I hate canned veggies, like to the point that
Speaker 2: I love the queen beans, but like the mixed veggies
Speaker 2: with the peace and the carrots. Hated that stuff.
Speaker 3: Hated it.
Speaker 2: I still do did this day. I don't like can
Speaker 2: green peas. Though I do not like peas, I do
Speaker 2: not like the mother stop making me try to eat them.
Speaker 3: She did.
Speaker 2: She tried so hard. I was like, I know, no
Speaker 2: green peas.
Speaker 3: It's not like you were talking to me. For a second.
Speaker 3: I was like, whoa, I.
Speaker 2: Traumatized by that. But yeah, so like like I that's
Speaker 2: that was a bulk thing that they had box mashed potatoes.
Speaker 2: Put that on and then they always got buffalo meat
Speaker 2: Oklahoma y all. So it was very very accessible. I
Speaker 2: hated it, oh so much, but I had to eat
Speaker 2: it because I was with the kids. The kids can't
Speaker 2: be piggy, so I can't be picky. And I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: but this is so disgusting. Don't get me wrong. I've
Speaker 2: had actually good shepherd's pie and I get it. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: this is okay, this is legitimate, Like okay, I see now,
Speaker 2: this is this is what it's supposed to be. And
Speaker 2: they did again, they did what the best they could,
Speaker 2: like with the lump the giant meals that have to
Speaker 2: make because I've cooked for like larger groups of people
Speaker 2: and you realize that it takes a lot of effort
Speaker 2: in doing that. But it also made me think, because
Speaker 2: Easter is coming up, like the different traditions, because I
Speaker 2: think my parents will be doing sandwiches, but it's ham.
Speaker 2: Always involved ham. Did yours involve ham?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 1: And I won't go on my science food stuff reason
Speaker 1: why that is, but yes, most it does involve ham.
Speaker 2: All that deviled eggs. Of course, we had boiled eggs
Speaker 2: on top of boiled eggs on top of boiled eggs,
Speaker 2: because that's what we do dying Easter eggs. We had
Speaker 2: the country mill. I'm wondering is that an all of
Speaker 2: the US thing or is that just a Southern thing?
Speaker 1: I think like the devil'ed eggs are specific, but eggs
Speaker 1: are pretty popular.
Speaker 3: Again, there's a historical reason for this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the ham is pretty popular at Lamb also,
Speaker 1: but there are variations.
Speaker 3: For sure. My family did it was a like ham,
Speaker 3: deviled eggs.
Speaker 1: Those are like the main things, right, and then some
Speaker 1: kind of like green beans or cheese or something like
Speaker 1: some kind of vegetable or something.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I was looking to see what other countries
Speaker 2: would do. So this is from try Theworld dot com
Speaker 2: eleven incredible Easter mills from around the world. Apparently Austria, Switzerland,
Speaker 2: and southern Germany have traditionally braided breads, either in the
Speaker 2: shape of a loaf or a wreath. I'm not gonna
Speaker 2: try to say the word for the wreath, so that's
Speaker 2: it's interesting. Yeah, well I did. I did see a
Speaker 2: hot crossbun and it goes to Great Britain, so the UK,
Speaker 2: and they have the sweet rolls uh, and that they
Speaker 2: are marked with across to symbolize Jesus' crucifixion. Uh. They
Speaker 2: also do the roast Sunday roast, which I've never had
Speaker 2: a Sunday roast, which makes since because I'm not from
Speaker 2: the UK, but I kind of want to, but I
Speaker 2: know that's a big ordeal. And then they had the
Speaker 2: home let homemade chocolate Easter eggs, which you know, the
Speaker 2: cadberry eggs. We definitely have the cadberry eggs here. The
Speaker 2: Philippines has a whole pig and pie and fresh fish
Speaker 2: and I know fish is so associated with a lot
Speaker 2: of Easter traditions as well.
Speaker 1: That's why you can eat fish on Fridays during legs right. Also,
Speaker 1: if you've never looked it up, Lamb cakes. They are
Speaker 1: cakes that are made to look like lamb and they're scary,
Speaker 1: scary a lot of times they look really scary and
Speaker 1: I love it so much, and they have like red jelly.
Speaker 1: So when you cut it less, please write in. I
Speaker 1: had never heard of this until like two years ago.
Speaker 1: I think in Europe it's popular. But I know, like
Speaker 1: super producer Andrew who used to produce this show, he
Speaker 1: knew about it.
Speaker 3: Oh really yes, yeah, so it's the.
Speaker 2: Thing interesting, look it up. I have to look it up.
Speaker 2: There's a lamb pie in Italy, but I think that's
Speaker 2: legit lamb. Yeah. I think it's like a seafood is
Speaker 2: in Sweden. That sounds like a way to go with
Speaker 2: a cured salmon. Yeah, pickled hearing, give me some. It
Speaker 2: looks like Paraguay does chippa, which is a cheese bread.
Speaker 2: I like cheese and bread. It's made from a yuca starch,
Speaker 2: which again that sounds interesting. Easter Lamb Easter Bunny is Germany.
Speaker 2: It's also marble cake in the form of an animal,
Speaker 2: so this must be it Easter cake, Easter lamb or
Speaker 2: Easter bunny, traditional sweets in Easter in Germany, and it's
Speaker 2: a Marble's cake in the form of an animal. So Germans,
Speaker 2: let me know, send us a picture.
Speaker 3: So good, it's so good.
Speaker 2: It's interesting. But yeah, I thought that was interesting because
Speaker 2: I don't think about it. I just thought about it
Speaker 2: because it's coming up very quickly, and my partner and
Speaker 2: now are like, what are we going to do? We're
Speaker 2: gonna go to a family's house. What are we doing?
Speaker 2: It's kind of chaotic. It feels like very chaotic, like
Speaker 2: holidays don't exist. And I think a part of that
Speaker 2: for us in that we do it with family, so
Speaker 2: without children, we think of it even less because we
Speaker 2: don't have to do the prep stuff like did I
Speaker 2: see a cute Reese's Easter Bunny? Yes? Did I buy
Speaker 2: it for my partner who loves Reese's. Yes, like that
Speaker 2: that's a yes, Like I'll do things like that, but
Speaker 2: that's the end because I went to the grocery store
Speaker 2: and saw it. But I don't think I think about
Speaker 2: the holidays like that as much because there's no prep around.
Speaker 2: Like there's so many things that I've had where it
Speaker 2: feels very nostalgic right now because of like the food specifically.
Speaker 2: And I've talked about the power of food before, and
Speaker 2: I think I've talked about my hotchpodge, but like the craving,
Speaker 2: the craving is what's like, Huh, I can't believe my
Speaker 2: preference for a good meal is boxed macaroni and cheese,
Speaker 2: canned green beans and frozen cream corn as a mixture.
Speaker 2: And I'm joyfully, gleefully eating this And like I presented
Speaker 2: to my partner as if I cooked a giant mill,
Speaker 2: Like there you go, enjoying my freshly per mare box
Speaker 2: mil Hey, he got bad.
Speaker 1: So it's delicious, I'm sure.
Speaker 2: And with public fried chicken, I just that fried chicken
Speaker 2: is good, y'all. It's good.
Speaker 3: That's the thing.
Speaker 1: That's what we were saying when we were talking about it,
Speaker 1: is there's a reason why that during the pandemic, like
Speaker 1: sales of mac and cheese went through the roof. Like
Speaker 1: there's when you grow up with something that's comforting and
Speaker 1: kind of simple, but like very salty and flavorful and filling.
Speaker 1: It just to me, makes so much sense that you
Speaker 1: have these strong cravings for it. When you have it,
Speaker 1: you're like, even if you're not thinking of a specific memory,
Speaker 1: you're kind of transported a little bit back.
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh yeah, I remember when I had that.
Speaker 2: There's this feeling of safety with it, and if you
Speaker 2: can find a moment of safety, and especially when you
Speaker 2: come from chaos, the having those home moments, it's very
Speaker 2: important to you. And again, like it also brings back
Speaker 2: to like the aging and being an adult and being
Speaker 2: allowed to do this. I'm like, yeah, this is how
Speaker 2: I'm going to do it. Watch me Like there's some
Speaker 2: satisfaction in doing it that way. So yeah, thanks for
Speaker 2: going down my food journey. I'm probably gonna go downstairs
Speaker 2: in a minute and eat the rest of it.
Speaker 3: You should. I support this.
Speaker 1: I support this, and I really hope I love hearing
Speaker 1: about people's foods and traditions, and so I really hope
Speaker 1: listeners if you have any, whether they be holiday related
Speaker 1: or just something your family did, I would love to
Speaker 1: hear them for sure.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And if you did a lamb cake.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yes, well, thank you Samantha for sharing that
Speaker 1: with us, and listeners, if you would like to contact
Speaker 1: us you can. Our email is steffidiamom Stuff at iHeartMedia
Speaker 1: dot com. You can find us on Twitter at mom
Speaker 1: stuff Podcasts, or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff I've
Speaker 1: Never Told You. We have a tea public store, and
Speaker 1: we have a book you can get wherever you get
Speaker 1: your books. Thanks as always to our super producer Christina,
Speaker 1: our executive producer Maya, and our contributor Joey.
Speaker 3: Thank you, and thanks to you for listening. Stuff I'll
Speaker 3: Never Told You is a production by Heart Radio.
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