Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome
Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy be Wilson and I'm Holly Fry.
Speaker 1: Have some behind the scenes on our live show on
Speaker 1: Barbecue Slash our tour through three cities in Texas, which
Speaker 1: was an adventure, a totally different adventure from the last
Speaker 1: time we went to Texas. That's true. Last time we
Speaker 1: went to Texas, we got diverted to Shreveport. Uh. This time,
Speaker 1: all of our travels were pretty smooth. All of our
Speaker 1: travels were pretty smooth before the time that we So
Speaker 1: we had gone to do a live show at the
Speaker 1: Dallas Museum of Art. On approach to the Dallas Airport,
Speaker 1: we got diverted to Shreveport, and we found out we
Speaker 1: had been diverted once we were on the ground. That
Speaker 1: was the whole uh little adventure. But then also the
Speaker 1: one time I had been to Texas before, at by Air,
Speaker 1: I had what continues to be the worst in flight
Speaker 1: experience of my life in terms of the turbulence level,
Speaker 1: and it put me off of flying for more than
Speaker 1: a decade after that. Uh, And so I had I
Speaker 1: had some assorted Texas travel baggage. Once I was home
Speaker 1: from all of it and had not even had like
Speaker 1: there had been I had had no flight delays of
Speaker 1: a meaningful amount and like pretty smooth flights. Everything went
Speaker 1: really smoothly. I was like, Okay, I feel pretty good
Speaker 1: about this. Yeah, uh knock good. I mean I almost
Speaker 1: I even though we're done with tour for this year,
Speaker 1: I'm scared to say it all went well. Like something
Speaker 1: will come and bite us in some way, we're seen,
Speaker 1: but we had pretty good fortune throughout our travels, both
Speaker 1: in the Middle West andrew Texas. Even I on one
Speaker 1: leg of it had like a fifteen minute turnaround in
Speaker 1: an airport where I had to make a connector and
Speaker 1: that went fine. Big thanks to the Delta app for
Speaker 1: now having maps in the app of the terminal you're
Speaker 1: flying into so you can see exactly how you have
Speaker 1: to get to the next place, because I just booked
Speaker 1: it off my flight and I knew exactly where to go,
Speaker 1: and I made it no problem. Like I literally got
Speaker 1: to the next gate as they were boarding my group
Speaker 1: and I just walked right on. So it worked out perfectly. Um,
Speaker 1: but yeah, we had a great time in Texas. We
Speaker 1: ate a lot of spectacular food in every city we
Speaker 1: were in. I feel like I need to apologize to
Speaker 1: you because when we talked about Lexington barbecue and your
Speaker 1: form of slaw, even though we whenever we have a
Speaker 1: live show, we try to get that outline to one
Speaker 1: another ahead of time, more so than we would if
Speaker 1: we were recording the show in the studio, and we
Speaker 1: review it several times because it is live and you
Speaker 1: wanted to be as smooth as possible. But for some reason,
Speaker 1: even though I had read it probably at that point
Speaker 1: seven times, I had always completely missed the whole thing
Speaker 1: about catch up being used in the cole slaw that
Speaker 1: you grew up with. When it came up in the show,
Speaker 1: I was like, what, yuck? Which is not cool. Oh
Speaker 1: that's not cool at all. It's totally fine. People like
Speaker 1: what they like. And I did feel like and it
Speaker 1: didn't really occur to me until afterward. If I am
Speaker 1: making a coal slaw or eating a coal slaw that's
Speaker 1: made with with a lot of mayonnaise, like usually it's
Speaker 1: it's pretty, there's there's a lot, there's a lot of mayonnaise.
Speaker 1: But with Lexington style barbecue slaw, like the end result
Speaker 1: isn't gloppy in any way. It doesn't feel like it's
Speaker 1: saturated with ketchup, Like I wouldn't even know that ketchup
Speaker 1: is necessarily the ingredient without reading a lot of recipes
Speaker 1: about how to make it myself because you can't buy
Speaker 1: it anywhere in Massachusetts. Does it just have like a
Speaker 1: tomato eat appeal or a look to it like a
Speaker 1: tomato looks. The color of it is pretty reddish. It
Speaker 1: does not look like it's drenched in ketchup or tomato
Speaker 1: sauce or anything like that. Because a lot of the
Speaker 1: component ingredients to go into it make up a lot
Speaker 1: of barbecue sauces. Sometimes people make it with a barbecue
Speaker 1: sauce instead of with ketchup. It kind of depends on
Speaker 1: who's doing what, but it winds up having a spicy
Speaker 1: quality to it. M I really enjoyed. So my favorite
Speaker 1: thing in terms of Lexington style barbecue is to have
Speaker 1: a barbecue sandwich with a slaw on top, served on
Speaker 1: a hamburger bun. Really delicious. I know all everyone in
Speaker 1: the audience is like just waiting with bated breath. What
Speaker 1: kind of barbecue is Tracy? Like? Best um so for
Speaker 1: folks who were not on any of our Texas tour,
Speaker 1: I think, apart from the random scattering of North Carolinians
Speaker 1: who were in the various audiences who have transplanted to Texas, uh,
Speaker 1: the revelation of what that s law is like just
Speaker 1: brought on abject horror from every It was a little
Speaker 1: shocking for Rents every night. Yeah. Then the other thing
Speaker 1: was when we chose barbecue as the topic because we
Speaker 1: wanted something that seemed like fun, and because the tour
Speaker 1: was was in Texas, we wanted something that felt kind
Speaker 1: of Texasy. Like we said that in the intro um.
Speaker 1: I wasn't really uh concerned about that as a topic
Speaker 1: until we cut closer to it, and I was like,
Speaker 1: what if people like, We've heard very from various folks
Speaker 1: in the audience who don't eat meat about their preferences
Speaker 1: of regarding how we would talk about meat on the episode,
Speaker 1: And I was like, what if? What if people don't
Speaker 1: like what we're talking about? And then after we did
Speaker 1: the first one, I was like, what if everybody's opinions
Speaker 1: about barbecue are so strong that no one has fun
Speaker 1: on the rest of this show. But I think people
Speaker 1: did have fun, so it worked out. Yeah, everybody went
Speaker 1: into it with really really a great sense of humor,
Speaker 1: and even though all of our audiences were really fun
Speaker 1: and that they were very reactive and they would let
Speaker 1: you know how they felt about the barbecue you were
Speaker 1: talking about, but it was all in a really really
Speaker 1: fun sense, like I never felt like, oh, they they're
Speaker 1: against us. I had a great time. It was so
Speaker 1: spectacularly fun. I had been worrying. I mentioned this during
Speaker 1: the show in a part that that isn't going to air,
Speaker 1: that I've been worried because I'm not the biggest fan
Speaker 1: of barbecue generally. It turns out that I have recently
Speaker 1: had Texas barbecue prior to going on this tour, and
Speaker 1: I freaking loved it. So I'm very pleased that worked
Speaker 1: out for me because then I was on a tour
Speaker 1: of delicious things and I could sample Texas barbecue throughout
Speaker 1: the state, which was a very good piece of fortune
Speaker 1: for me. Yes, I would also like to say I
Speaker 1: had am in Houston. I had a very delicious vegetarian
Speaker 1: lunch because after the first two days of the tour,
Speaker 1: which involved a whole lot of meat and cheese, my
Speaker 1: body was like, hey, how about some vegetables. Yeah, I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't have that problem yet. When I got home,
Speaker 1: my body was like, please eat nothing but broccoli for
Speaker 1: the next two days. Yeah. Yeah, but I needed some
Speaker 1: some leafy greens. But we had a great, great time.
Speaker 1: We did, Tracy, I have exciting news. What is it.
Speaker 1: For the first time in a few years, I think
Speaker 1: I might have holiday spirit. Yeah, you've been a little grinchy.
Speaker 1: Is that what you're telling me. I don't It's not
Speaker 1: even that I've been grinchy. I've just been too busy,
Speaker 1: and even though I'm actually probably busier this year than
Speaker 1: I've been in previous years. I don't know. We're just
Speaker 1: feeling it. We're also going to try a Christmas tree
Speaker 1: this year for the first time in like five or
Speaker 1: six years, because last time we attempted it, our cats
Speaker 1: destroyed it and we haven't done it since. Or we've
Speaker 1: put up like a very tiny two footer. But I
Speaker 1: got a seven foot, bright purple Christmas tree this year.
Speaker 1: That sounds awesome. We have not put it up yet.
Speaker 1: We'll see how that goes. Yeah, I think we're doing
Speaker 1: the opposite and not putting up a tree because we
Speaker 1: have kittens, and we also have the first time that
Speaker 1: we're leaving them with a pet sitter overnight during the
Speaker 1: season when a tree would be up, and we're well
Speaker 1: nervous about that. We don't want to do it. That
Speaker 1: is a valid I think, even with our sorts, just
Speaker 1: gonna put plush on the trees. But it did occur
Speaker 1: to me if I can find and I think you
Speaker 1: gave me a cute guerilla ornaments covered uh several years
Speaker 1: ago in one of our previous installments. That's wooden, so
Speaker 1: that won't break if it falls off, like it's a
Speaker 1: flat wooden carving um. And we're gonna do little plush things.
Speaker 1: I think for a lot of it to be safe,
Speaker 1: because again I love them, but I don't trust them
Speaker 1: now now I also feel like we should mention. One
Speaker 1: of the most harrowing aspects of doing any of these
Speaker 1: international holiday episodes is always a language issue. Yep. I
Speaker 1: always feel terrible, particularly when we get to any Asian words,
Speaker 1: because I butchered them and that is not my intent.
Speaker 1: We actually got an email from a listener once about
Speaker 1: how disrespectful he found it, and I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to disrespect anybody. I assure you, I'm just
Speaker 1: not good at this. Yeah, neither of us speaks a
Speaker 1: tonal language, which Japanese is not to be clear, but like,
Speaker 1: neither of us speaks a tonal language. And there's a
Speaker 1: lot that goes into trying to get pronunciations right on
Speaker 1: the show, Like there's a ton of time that is
Speaker 1: spent trying to find tu But even at the same time,
Speaker 1: for the vast majority of languages on the planet, you
Speaker 1: and I are are beginners, like absolute beginners. It's like
Speaker 1: being on your first day of a foreign language class
Speaker 1: every time. Um, so, yeah, there's there's a lot of
Speaker 1: time and effort that gets put into that. But like
Speaker 1: we're always going to sound like we don't know how
Speaker 1: to speak this language because we don't. Yeah, I also
Speaker 1: have the really bad habit of because the only other
Speaker 1: language that I've spent a good deal of time with
Speaker 1: and I'm not even proficient in it, but I'm better
Speaker 1: in it than anything else is French. I pronounced everything
Speaker 1: with the French checks well, which is terrible. We've also
Speaker 1: gotten that as advice from someone on pronunciations before, Like
Speaker 1: I just heard it works really well if you just
Speaker 1: pronounce every thing as though it sounds French and I'm like,
Speaker 1: that's not correct. That's a fast way to offend a
Speaker 1: lot of people and make sure they don't know what
Speaker 1: you're talking about. Uh though it might sound pretty just
Speaker 1: in terms of like musicality, Yeah, probably not for the best,
Speaker 1: but yeah, so I it's one of those things. I
Speaker 1: also really really loved. I did not know much prior
Speaker 1: to this episode about the Seven Lucky Gods, and I
Speaker 1: kind of love that idea of visiting seven different shrines
Speaker 1: and just kind of spending time with your hopes for
Speaker 1: the year in that way. Yeah, which is something I'm
Speaker 1: trying to figure out, like a way to incorporate a
Speaker 1: similar idea of just um not just rushing through my
Speaker 1: my resolutions list, which I make one every year and
Speaker 1: I love them. I'm a big fan of the resolutions list.
Speaker 1: I know it's not for everybody, but really thinking about
Speaker 1: what I'm what I hope for in the new year
Speaker 1: in a way that's a little bit less goal oriented
Speaker 1: and more just hopeful. So that's lovely this episod. So
Speaker 1: it ended up kind of giving me food for thought
Speaker 1: about how I think about So you did the research
Speaker 1: on this one, and when you sent the outline to me, Um,
Speaker 1: I thought that the Seven Lucky Gods were entirely new information.
Speaker 1: But then when I went to get artwork for the
Speaker 1: episode and I saw pictures of them, I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I've seen like this picture. Yeah, and this grouping of like,
Speaker 1: I've seen this in a lot of places. So it
Speaker 1: was nice to have the context for this imagery that
Speaker 1: I've seen in that I was already familiar with and
Speaker 1: didn't realize. Yeah. And even though they all do have
Speaker 1: individual personalities and and um associations in terms of their virtues,
Speaker 1: they usually are depicted in a group together and I
Speaker 1: had similarly, I had seen images of them, but I
Speaker 1: didn't realize what I was looking at. So I felt
Speaker 1: like this kind of expanded my worldview a little bit
Speaker 1: and opened up my brain. So thank you for the
Speaker 1: world of of history and traditions, because we learned stuff
Speaker 1: that can impact us in positive days. Uh. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: hope that is how listeners feel about things as well. Uh.
Speaker 1: And once again, I just want to make sure everybody,
Speaker 1: no matter what you're celebrating, has fantastic, fantastic end of
Speaker 1: the year. Yeah, And if if you're celebrating nothing. I
Speaker 1: also hope that you, yeah, a great year end. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the holidays can be rough for people. It comes with
Speaker 1: a lot of different different flavors of baggage, for sure.
Speaker 1: And if just getting through the end of the year
Speaker 1: is what feels like success for you, bravo, we hope
Speaker 1: that you have that and that it is the smoothest
Speaker 1: possible journey through a potentially difficult time. So thank you
Speaker 1: for listening all year round, uh, and we really appreciate
Speaker 1: having you with us this year and every year. Stuff
Speaker 1: You Missed in History Class is a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radios How Stuff Works. For more podcasts For my
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.