Snot Suckers | Dinner Plus Drinks #6

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Bridget.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Nick.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

It's been a big weekend. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 0:19

I uh it's been so great. I'm just so excited. Smiles ear to ear.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

I am too. It's Saturday night as we're recording this. A little unusual for us, but welcome to the podcast, everybody. Welcome to let's call this Nick and Bridget are excited.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

It's a big week, guys. Are we always excited?

SPEAKER_00 0:36

I mean, not like this.

SPEAKER_02 0:37

I know. So why, Nick? Why are you so excited?

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Well, I'm very excited because of Winterfest. I love all the Winterfest things. We did the pretty awesome sauce polar bar.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Awesome sauce, huh?

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Awesome sauce.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

That is special, man.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

I love seeing the sculptures. Yep. Uh Coco Crawl.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

They're so fun.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Shout out Team Dino Fight.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Shout out, guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

There are the homies.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Thanks for chatting with my little kid who's so curious about all the questions. Elliot? I know. He's curious. She asks so many questions. He asks a lot of questions. If you've ever met him, you would know.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Coco Crawl on Friday was fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Oh yeah, so fun. I mean, no better way to shove all the sugar in your child, but I don't care. It was fun. We got all of us friends. Nick and I are friends, guys. Surprise. Surprise! Um, we all got to walk around together, enjoy as much chocolate as we could handle.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

But my favorite part about Coco Crawl is I really don't like hot beverages.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

I know, weirdo.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

So I don't eat any of the cocoa.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

You just eat the treats.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

I eat the treats. Do you eat cocoa or drink it? See, this is how not into hot cocoa I am. I don't know if you drink it or eat it.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

Well, it's so fun. So Winterfest has been awesome. We've got one more day here, Sunday. Um, it's usually a little less crowded. So if you didn't get to see the snow sculptures this yet, go down on Sunday.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

We're just being diplomatic. Sunday's a dud. So I mean, if you hate crowds. If you hate crowds and want to see the sculptures, come on Sunday. There's still the um all the warming tents and everything are still up. So you can get all the amenities.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

And by amenities, he means fried, deep fried Oreo. Yeah. Did you get one of those this week? No, I didn't. Oh my god, do it. In the warming tent. It'll be the best decision you've ever made.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Riviera's open. There's potties. Potties are key.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

There are. There's an ATM, a new ATM location.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

I didn't.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Down by the riv.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

I don't have a debit card. My wife works in banking and financial services. And she's explaining to me that debit cards are the devil.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Could you not alienate, you know, 99% of our listeners?

SPEAKER_00 2:37

No, I'm trying to help 99% of my listeners that if you have a debit card, you are just Well, guys.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

Gonna get robbed. I use a debit card all the time.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

You're gonna get robbed.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

So Sunday is also a little bit duller and quieter because what else is going on?

SPEAKER_00 2:53

I believe what's called El Partido Mejor.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

Oh, is that what it's called?

SPEAKER_00 2:59

I believe so.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

The big game.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

The big game is.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Uh we can't call it what it really is because a certain football league is very aggressive on people that don't pay them to be sponsors.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

And you guys were not sponsoring it, so.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

I know it's a shocker, but we are not sponsoring the big game.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

Uh, but let's like the football's great and all, but I live for Super Bowl ads. I love them. I'm gonna go on a little rant, buckle in, okay? Alright. I was an advertising and PR student in college, okay? So I wrote more than one. Why are you looking at me like that?

SPEAKER_00 3:35

That's a degree?

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Uh it was a sub, so I was journalism and mass com, and then you had to like pick a path.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

How do I not know this about you?

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Oh guys, surprise.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

You took the path less traveled.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

I took the advertising.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

It's like a wild uh like this is how serious my degree was.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

In some intro to advertising class, I had to write a paper. I wrote a paper on advert advertising during the Super Bowl, and like how many of it is? You know, I think it was 10. That was like a big deal, okay?

SPEAKER_00 4:01

14.5.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

I did, yeah. Just sneak those margins in a little. I did a lot of research on Super Bowl ads, and I am obsessed. I love commercials. Like, I know we live in the day and age where people cannot stand them. I love commercials because if you did a good job, I'm gonna pay attention to it.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

And I didn't used to like that the Super Bowl ads kind of in the most recent years have been like leaking online. I don't like that either. But I just watched one that definitely almost made me cry.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

So, you know, I'm a huge Star Wars fan. And I think if you really love something, like I don't watch any of the trailers, I don't read the spoilers. I think that purity of being surprised by something and living in the moment, you know. Hashtag live the moment, you know, pitbull, whatever. But yeah, pitbull. Uh that's why I don't watch spoilers. I want to like watch the Super Bowl and be like, oh, there was frog saying you're my butt, and it's like my aunt, my dad, and I'm so sad. Like, I want to have that moment.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

But no matter what, I I miss a commercial. Like, I you have to go and watch it afterwards. Okay, right. Well, I watched it ahead of time.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

It got me Yeah, during the game. Who cares?

SPEAKER_02 5:07

I like football too. Okay. First quarter, nobody cares. Guys, it was for Google, so I want to hear once you watch the ads, yep. Tell me if you know exactly which one I'm talking about, okay? This was an ad for Google. I won't tell you anything else, but write us and tell me if you know what ad I'm talking about after you watch it.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

All right.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

I think we should um It's time to celebrate a little because it's been such a fun weekend.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

It's been such a fun weekend. We had a great time, our uh Tuesday podcast, our unusual Tuesday podcast about Winterfest.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Yeah. Was so fun. We got to interview all Whoa! There's the celebration, everybody. We're drinking bubbles today. Surprise! Um yeah, we had so much fun recording that Winterfest podcast because we got to talk to a lot of um businesses that we're friends with, people we know, um, everyone that's putting on a lot of great events um that we all have been enjoying over the past few days. So again, thanks to everybody hosting those events, and thanks for talking to us on a really busy week. And I hope you guys got to listen to that podcast and help plan your Winterfest adventure.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

So I picked some cool bubbles today. Are you interested in the specifics of said bubbles?

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Well, I think our listeners might be. So let's talk about it and cheers to what's been a really awesome weekend so far.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

So um this is yes, cheers. I'm so excited, I forgot to be polite to you. I apologize. Very rude. So this comes from Ridge View, and could you imagine where this comes from?

SPEAKER_02 6:24

Um, a ridge with a view.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Comes from England. Merry old England. This is English sparkling wine. What? Yes. Do you know my obsession? No.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

I studied abroad in London, and it is like my favorite place. One of my favorite.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Okay, well, this comes from Kent. So little south.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

Oh my gosh, you guys. Okay, this champagne was meant for me today.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

So uh climate change is a thing.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Uh, it affects different people in different ways, and it's great for sparkling wine production in England. Because previously England had this terribly crappy environment for making wine, and it was all a joke, but now it's just warm enough. Because for sparkling wine production, you want cold climates because you don't want ripe grapes. Too much sugar doesn't make good sparkling wine.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Agreed.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

So you want um cooler climates, so little under ripe makes amazing sparkling wine. So, Kent, south of England, it's uh perfect for that. Just warm enough. This is from Ridgeview, it's called their Bloomsbury Brut. It's traditional champagne method, it tastes just like champagne, um, super high quality.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

That's great.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Little less money than champagne. Uh, we actually did an interview with Simon, the winemaker, uh family-owned, always vintage-dated. Um so yeah, we talked with Simon. Uh we'll put a link to that previous episode. Yeah. But uh, if you want to hear about why he decided making sparkling wine in England would be a good idea, take a listen to this episode. I love that. Never would have guessed it was from England. It's it's like one of those hot take things of every year people want to know what's next in wine. And the hot take the last like 20 years has been like, oh, English sparkling wine's coming on. Well, look. But the last two or three years, it's really been I gotta tell you, like it's it's a thing.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

I'm on board with this.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

It's next level quality. I mean, it's so good. Bloomsbury, they are the um, I think they have a uh uh what do you call it? A mark from the Queen? A warrant, a royal warrant. Yes, they have a royal warrant.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

Oh which means the queen drinks it. That's a big deal.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

But not uh, you know, Megsit. Not uh not those guys for another day. Not those guys.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Not them.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Not those guys.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Okay, guys, we we are just clearly off track today. Okay, Nick, tell me what you ate this week.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Alright, so this was a good week of eating. Yep. I uh I had I had quite the quick the kick of of uh cooking. Okay, and there's a three different things I was thinking about talking about.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

I mean, like I'm not gonna say too I'm not gonna break my arm with patting myself over the back, but we did some good things. But I decided we did these barbecue tri-tip sliders. Whoa. Yeah. Whoa. And they're super easy, super yummy. I think I'm on record as saying tri-tip is my death row meal.

SPEAKER_02 9:18

Your go-to, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

So uh basically it's so easy. It's things you have laying around the house, probably, or you can easily get. Just buy a tri-tip from like Shane Country Meats, season it with your favorite barbecue rub. We have a Texas one because you want to do a little bit more kind of that salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder thing than like sweet sugar. Um, grill it. You can you can bake it, but grill it uh if you can get a little smoke on it, slice it thin, and then you make little slider sandwiches with refrigerator biscuits.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

What?

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Yes, so get your Pillsbury grams. I love refrigerator. Oh, they're so easy, and they're so good. They're so good. They're flaky and buttery and delicious.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

I could maybe eat the whole roll.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Yes, yes. So, you know, those are so easy to make. So while you're grilling the beef, put the the biscuits in the oven, and then just a little barbecue sauce, whatever your favorite barbecue sauce is, just you know, brush the brisket. Brush the brisket. Brush the biscuit.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

I got you.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

And then some uh pickles.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

Okay. What kind of pickles?

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Uh, you know, just like a like dill or the sweet weird one? A dill one, like a burger slice, you know, because you just want little because they're small, they're biscuits, you don't want the huge ones.

SPEAKER_02 10:27

I just had to make sure we could still have a bigger one.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, the sweet ones. I'm not, yeah. So just little burger slices, you know, pickles, and then some slices of beef, and then coleslaw.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Oh, great.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

We use creamy coleslaw. Oh, you know, there's a little bit of spice in the barbecue rub. Um, you can just do like a quick pickle of your own slaw if you want, like an Asian one if you want to bring a little spice. Um, and then the biscuit, and you're you're good to go. Yum. Pickled red onions would be a great addition. Some hot sauce would be a great addition.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Um totally flexible.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

But they're so good.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

That sounds awesome. And um easy too.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Yeah, oh my god, so easy. It was ready in 30 minutes. I think I ate like seven of them. I mean, okay, I don't judge you. It was, yeah. It was it was one of those times where you like sitting back and you're like, ugh, uh, I'm gonna take the buckle out a little bit. One of those. It was really good.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Okay, great. Both sound awesome.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

How about you? You said you had a couple things.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

I know, I know. So, um, okay, first, I had a little bit of a learning curve this week with um my diet, let's say, and it just turns out that I'm not eating enough protein is one of the things I learned this week. So I'm really, I've really been focused on that, okay? Okay. Let's see how long this lasts. But more beans.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

More like quinoa.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

Quinoa. I I know it sounds like.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

Or we're saying like chicken beef?

SPEAKER_02 11:45

So, okay. Chicken and quinoa is what I've been doing a whole lot of. So these are because it's lentils are for another day, man. I'm not that advanced yet, okay? So I'll make a whole lot of quinoa and I'll make a whole lot of chicken. So I buy the like two-pack at Lake Shima Country Meets.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Yeah, you got the it's a full chicken breast. It's huge. Yes. Like gargantuan.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

I'll just bake that and then have chicken for the whole week. And um, yeah, because then it makes my lunches easy. So I do a salad of some sort with quinoa in the salad and just wheat berries. So I don't have wheat berries in my so like I yesterday was eating a salad, spinach, quinoa, uh, cucumbers, tomatoes, and a homemade dressing with like green.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

What type of tomatoes?

SPEAKER_02 12:29

Cherry tomatoes. So good. So yeah, I'm all on board with quinoa chicken in some kind of salad. So like you can have it for dinner, great, but um, I'll eat the same salad every day for lunch, and I don't feel like that's very nice to my husband and children. So for dinner, we'll try all different kinds of things. But right now I'm on the protein-packed quinoan chicken salads.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Do you do like the marinade ones? No, you took the plain ones home the other day.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

Yeah, so it just depends, but like the plain ones I find then I can add different flavors and things, so then I can make what I want.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

I think going with the lemon pepper marinade is just like such a good base. So good.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

I'm learning still, okay? Bear with me. So the other thing I think that was probably a favorite of Nick and I, we had some darn good croissants this week.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

We need to talk about this.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

Did you guys know it was National Croissant Day on the 30th?

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Uh, it's pronounced croissant.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

I'm sorry, yes. I'll let Nick talk about it. But they were good. Our friends at Simple Bakery and Market make an awesome croissant.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

So I have a problem with carbs.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

In that he loves them. Um doesn't.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

And in particular, I have a problem with croissants. They're so good. Everywhere I go, I need to try I search out, you know, on the Yelps.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

On the Yelps.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

You know, Best Bakery. And uh I go and I have their croissants. And I've traveled all over the world. That's not true. I've traveled to Canada, parts of Europe, good portions of America.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Traveled a chunk.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

And uh I've had the croissants everywhere, and I have to tell you, the grass is not greener on the other side. Simple bakery and market, Lake Shneva, Wisconsin, God's country. God's country. The best croissants in the world. I have spoken to the bakers, I have spoken to the managers, I have spoken to the owners.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

The owner particularly doesn't know why they're so good. But they are. But they use great butter, the great flowers, and all the things, and they're so good. They do it all by hand. So yes.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

They get all the layers and all the flakes.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

It's a uh laminated pastry, is the technical they get a laminate.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Um yeah, so we had uh Nick had one of their very fabulous full size, but they did a really cool thing on National Croissant Day, made mini croissants, um, delivered them to some local businesses. Um they gave away free croissant croissants with a purchase in the bakery, so I have staying it wrong. I know, you know what? Whatever. So I had a little mini one along with some other baked good. Um anyway, another favorite thing from this week.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

It was very good. Thanks, Simple Beach. We did a we did a fun little video. If you're aware of um Barstool Sports and the one-bite pizza reviews, we did a little takeoff of that. We'll uh put a link to that video. I'm told it was funny. I'm told I'm very funny.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

I mean it was a good video.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

So we'll if you want to know how we feel about the croissants.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

Take a look at the video.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Take a look at the video.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

So we're looking forward to next week already. I'm looking at our meal plan. So our meal plan will be out on Facebook Sunday night and up on the blog. Um, I've got a favorite recipe that I'm pretty excited about. We are going to try the spicy Portuguese beef kebabs.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Oh, those are really good. So you're gonna learn. I think it's I think I say several. I'm like, oh yeah, that's really good.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

Yeah, surprise.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

I put a lot of recipes up. I don't remember. That one's really good.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

So you're gonna learn a lot of things about me if you keep listening to this podcast. Um, I love spicy foods.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Bridget, I don't think people want to learn a lot of things about me.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

If you're listening, you're going to. I love food on a stick, okay? And I love a good tapas dinner because like I can't make a decision. I like small bites. So these kebabs are all the things for me. They're a little bit spicy, they're on a stick, and they can be an appetizer or a meal. So like I can eat four other things and feel okay about it. And it sounds like they're pretty good protein, so it's going along with the protein.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Great protein. Very lean, very delicious.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

See, it's going along with what the doctor ordered, so I'm giving that a try this week.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

I put that recipe on the site because I'm way into Portuguese wine right now. Oh, yeah. Um, really great values, really yummy. They've upped the like production quality because previously the production quality was was it was always been cheap wine, but it wasn't good. And like it's you know just cheap. Yeah, it was just cheap. And there's other cheap wines. Um, but like they've really done a great job. So I was like, oh, let's find some Portuguese food. And I found that recipe and I was like, hmm. I want to go to there.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

Yeah, so give that a try and we'll see how it turns out like this week.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

One of the recipes I was uh very excited you put up was uh beef a la modi.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

That's how you say it.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Uh I think mode. Uh we talked about this in uh another podcast episode, actually. We're gonna keep up the cross promotions. Um, but this is a recipe that it's a French recipe. Uh means beef in the style. Doesn't mean with ice cream. Which I thought it was beef with ice cream, so I was very excited. But so Thomas Jefferson's cookbook from his kitchens from the people he owned that cook for him, so like don't yell at me, yes, they were slaves, and yes, that's not okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

And we we get it.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

We get it. Um, but the cookbook has passed its way down, and for the Fourth of July, we did a um we recreated some of the recipes from that. Nice. And one of these was this beef à la mode recipe, uh, which is a uh a French beef stew that Thomas Jefferson really enjoyed while he's in France and then made his kitchen staff, whom he owned.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

Heard we get it.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Okay, move on. Yes, he made them cook for him. Um and it's really good. It has a lot of different types of alcohol in it. Um, it has brandy, white wine. Um, so really complex flavor, really delicious. Um, if you're looking for a really yummy stew that's like a very traditional old school style of stew, uh we don't use stew meat, we use a top-round thing that you you cut yourself. Um want to kind of recreate what Thomas Jefferson was eating, which is kind of cool because you know he was an OG, right in the Declaration of Independence and all those things. Um really great flavor. Check this one out. Also has bacon in it.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Oh, well then there you go.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

That's how you build flavors. You sear things in bacon grease.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

Also, people love bacon.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

So check it out. Beef allo mode. Um, I actually might make this this week because I'm feeling some stew. We haven't done stew in a while.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

All right.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

It's just like a very, very uh homey meal. Yeah, OG style.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

Like it. Okay, I received a really great gift for Christmas this past year, and it is a very special winter hat. As we are out and about at Winterfest, I wear this hat all weekend. My sister got it for me, and it is a CC is the brand, a CC Beanie, and it's a great color, it matches everything, but the best part about this hat is it has a ponytail hole.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

So I noticed this.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

It's so great. Do you see my little top knot sticking out of my hat?

SPEAKER_00 19:28

As a male, I forget that women have ponytails. Yeah. And I have to admit, Lake Geneva Country Meets had some really cool hats that were one size fit all. Those don't work for women. Don't.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

So this was awesome. Um, it's a great gift for anyone on your list because like it's very cost-effective, comes in a thousand colors. But if you have kids, they're constantly pulling at your hair, or if you just, you know, want to put your hair up because doing your hair is hard, you can just put your hair in a little top knot, messy bun, like we all do. And this hat will keep your head warm. You can just pull your little top knot and it's adorable and totally. We love doing that.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Yeah, I like to read occasionally. Um, I got my copy from the Lake Geneva Public Library.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Shout out, we love you.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Love you, Lake Geneva Public Library. But uh, it's Robert Iger, Bob Iger. Uh he's the CEO of Disney if you've never heard of him. And his book's called The Ride of a Lifetime, and it's about things he learned while he's been CEO of Disney. Um, really great, I think, leadership things, but also just kind of life mentality. Um, I'm someone that always wants to get better, especially at the start of the year. I'm like, uh, let's do it. And uh actually heard this recommendation on another podcast, called up the Lake Stream of the Public Library, I was like, yo, get this book. You got this book. Um so you can't have it right now because I have it. I'm only a couple couple of chapters in, but it's really good. Uh we'll have a link up that you can get it, but I would highly recommend reading this book. I mean, the dude's like, Disney's killing it, damn everything. Disney's doing great. So read this book.

unknown 20:57

Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

All right, we're back with the mailbag. I love the question this week. It's so great. So we have a question from listener Tony, and he wrote in and said, Hi Nick and Bridget. I usually just do grilling.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

I like that you said Nick and Bridget.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

I know, me too. Thanks for including me, Tony. Great job. I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Most people usually write you. Why are you including you?

SPEAKER_02 21:23

Yeah, right. Nick's the celebrity here, guys. I'm new to the game. So, Tony, and he's like right on my level here. So, Tony's saying, I usually just do grilling of brats and burgers with occasional steaks. I'd like to make something nice for my wife for Valentine's Day. Can you give me an idea of a meal that is not too complicated, but will seem like I worked very hard on it. Tony, thank you for being honest. We're here to help.

SPEAKER_00 21:45

Um, I love this. I love I love the people that want something that looks super chefy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

But it's like, um But you can do this, and he's being honest.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

So we've done this um as a sale a couple times, it's never gone super well. Um, so we focus more on surf and turf because a lot of people like this. Um, but what I really recommend to people like Tony, there's both genders um actually really are very I get this question a lot of like how can I make something that looks really nice for my spouse? We don't want to go out, we don't want to deal with it. Yeah, but we want to have a very nice dinner, something that seems really nice, didn't work super hard. And my recommendation is always a pork tenderloin. Um it's perfect for two people, really flavorful, honestly quite affordable. Um, and so I'm gonna put up a recipe link that is gonna let you just look like a chef. It is a pan-seared pork tenderloin um with like a balsamic fig sauce.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

So that sounds very fancy, right?

SPEAKER_02 22:46

And it sounds great.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

Um, but very easy, very quick to pan sear a pork tenderloin, a little uh butter, a little garlic based, based, based, based, based. Because butter's butter.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

Butter's better. So delicious.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Um the sauce is really easy to make, or you can even just buy some. Um, because it's a pretty, pretty you can buy like a balsamic fig sauce? It's pretty easy to find that sauce. Um it's a pretty standard flavor combination. Pork's really great with that. Pork's a fattier protein. Um, figs, balsamic, you got some bitterness there in addition to the sweet. So fat, bitter, sweet all go together. Um a little bit of thyme is another classic pairing with pork. So you just get those nice medallions, lay them on your plate, take a spoon, um, pour some of the sauce on the spoon, and then just do a quick little drizzle. So if your plate's round, um on the left half, just kind of take three or four slices.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

You guys can't see Nick, but he's doing this with his hands right now, okay?

SPEAKER_00 23:43

And just kind of lay them out, fan them out. Um, pour the sauce in there. Sure. Little drizzle. Um then do some mashed potatoes. Um you can make mashed potatoes from scratch. It's super easy. Boil some potatoes. Drain them. I never take the skins off. Oh, I was just gonna say it. Yeah, I don't I always do um red potatoes because I like the skins. It's more flaky.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Smashed potatoes?

SPEAKER_00 24:10

No, you still mash them. So you dry, drain them, put them in the thing, in the pot, bunch of milk, bunch of heavy cream, bunch of butter, salt, pepper, a little garlic powder.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

This is the diet version.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Mash, mash, mash, mash, mash. Um also packed smashed potatoes are really good and really easy.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

Uh we sell like pre-made mashed potatoes. So you can lots of ways you can figure out the mashed potatoes. Put that in the upper right. Um, and then to go with the pork and be healthy and show that you care. Um, simplest salad. My friend Doug, his wife Liz does this all the time. It's so good. Um, some mixed spinach greens, salad greens, uh balsamic dressing. Just slice up some strawberries, some walnuts. Oh, yeah, so good. Uh blue cheese if you want. You're not, it's Valentine's Day, so probably not the blue cheese.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

You just do goat cheese, which is my favorite cheese.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Still, don't do the cheese. Um I just put that in that lower right, and uh it looks looks amazing. It's really flavorful. I'll put up the recipe for the pork at least.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

You can figure out the salad in the extra mile for Tony. So can we pair a wine with this for him?

SPEAKER_00 25:11

Oh, yeah. Um, I would definitely do um red. I would or sparkling. You could do um beat. Sparkling wine's always sparkling wine's always great with anything, but Pinot Noir, Pinot Noir would be the great pairing. Um, French, burgundy. Um we have Lay Charmelle that's pretty affordable. Uh it's not cheap. It's I think $13. So it's not like five dollars.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

Affordable for Valentine's Day.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

Very affordable. Um if you want to spend some more money. Burgundy's a little bit more expensive. It's French, but it's got that little bit of earthiness that goes with balsamic the pork. So great. Happy to help you out with that. Yeah, Tony, just stop on in. Let me know. We'll uh we'll hook you up.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

Yeah, great. Thanks for writing in. All right, guys. What time is it? Kid Corner!

SPEAKER_00 25:57

Oh, was I supposed to do a kid corner thing?

SPEAKER_02 25:59

Sorry about the singing. It was me this week, not Nick.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

So we'll just see what you're like. Okay, neither of us are singers, so um, is it is it the time that we're finally gonna hear about the forgotten child? Let's go. What's her name?

SPEAKER_02 26:11

Uh Brittany wanted to ask the story, and it was like, I can't do this. I need to talk about Lucy. So, guys, if you didn't know, she's a super smiley, wonderful child. Dude, she has the best eyelashes, okay? Not anything about a woman, but sh uh dang girl, I'm jealous. She's got good ones. Thanks, man.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

So every time I see her, I'm like, oh Lucy.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

So Lucy! Although you never hear about her, I have a second child. Her name is Lucy.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

She's in the sky, she has diamonds.

SPEAKER_02 26:41

She's very fancy. Her um, she'll be, she's just about eight months. So, big news in our house. We have transitioned her into a crib. Woo woo! So I know you guys might think that's great, okay? With Elliot, like he was in his crib at four months, but Well, he's the first child, he was loved more. What they say is true. It's fine. We got lazier with the second child, but also doctors scared us and say the American Association of Pediatrics now recommends that your kid stays in your room until they're one, which, like, no, thank you. I love my children, but no, go in your own room, okay? So we bought this house. It's got rooms. Yeah, there are rooms. You stay over there. I can hear you across the hall. So we just like it took us a little time to transition her. Um, but I'm gonna blame it on the recommendation from the doctor, okay? So we finally like she slept six straight hours in her crib, which was big news for us, let me tell you. Okay. Six hours might as well be a full night sleep over here. Cheers to that. So we're really excited. Lucy's in her crib. She has an adorable little room with I made it more girly than I ever swore I would for a kid's room, but whatever. It's adorable. And she's making it. We're doing great. She's got them lashes. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_00 27:53

Lucy with them lashes.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

Lucy with them lashes. We're gonna make up a song about it because our singing's so good.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

Congratulations.

SPEAKER_02 27:58

So thanks. Yeah, that's big news. Now tell me about Simmo. What's up?

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Uh little Simmo. She's so um this is daycare's fault. Everybody says you send your kid to daycare, they're gonna get sick. Well, she's been at daycare and she's she's, you know, she's got sick. I'm okay with this.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

Build up the immune system. Yes, okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

You know, you don't want to get, I don't know, coronavirus later because you never went to daycare. Like, so I'm okay with this. Um, but she's this is the first kind of illness. She's not really that ill, so I don't want to be over dramatic, first-time parent about this. But she's pretty stuffy. Okay. And I think it's funny because she sounds like a pig, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:34

Oh. So she's like, I was like, please demonstrate. Aww. Baby girl. Yeah, that's exactly the reaction I would have.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

No, I think it's funny. She's like cute, because you because then you can snort back at her and be like, and then she thinks it's funny, and then she laughs, and she's like, and she, you know.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

I want a video of Nick snorting at Simmo right on, and we'll we'll see if we can make that happen.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

She laughs, she's cute.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

Um that's great.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

So, but it affects her sleep. Yeah. You know, and she like kind of started snoring.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

Oh, good. Ladylike and beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

You know, she's she's a little congested. Yeah. And so um It happens. I didn't know we had this. You know, everybody has snot stalkers, right? Oh. You know, we got the little bulb things. And so I'm working those, you know, whatever. We've done that. And um But we have the tube that you actually suck. No, I can't.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

I've never nose freedom. Nose freedom. I mean, maybe that's a brand I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

I think that's what we have. I was unaware of this until about four o'clock in the morning one day when Simona wasn't sleeping great, and Sarah takes her uh to the changing table.

SPEAKER_02 29:41

And I'm gagging already.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

All I hear is from Sarah or Simona. From Simona. And I'm like, what is going on? I thought you just needed some food or a diaper change or something. Nope. And uh I waddle my way over there because it's you know, four in the morning and I'm not all at four in the morning? Well, yeah, everybody, because you're like, what's going on?

SPEAKER_01 30:04

You're like, ugh.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

Stagger? Would you prefer stagger? Stagger. I don't know. So I'm like, and she's like, suck it out the snot. And uh Oh, I can't handle that. Yeah, so um I was kind of grossed out by that.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

Yeah, it's disgusting.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

But again, my wife, Sarah, is the best mom I've ever seen. I hate, I always hate like when you're like, oh, happy, happy wedding anniversary because you're like the best mom. Like, you shouldn't objectify, like, oh, you're a mom. Like, you're still a person.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

Parents are parents.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

And like, I hate the like, oh, I love you because you're a great mom.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

Yeah. But uh thank you for that. That was a nice thing to say.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

Holy cow. Like, I've never seen anybody love the way she loves Simona. And it's not.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

It's just like it's a pretty selfless thing.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

She's the best mom.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

She is a great mom.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

There's no love the way she loves Simona.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

Sarah, you're better than me already. I've never used one of those, and I never will on either of my children. I can't handle it. So I can't do it.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

It's not sucking.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

So that's you guys, that's what we have for this. That's what we have for you this week.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

Um, love to hear what you think of this week's meal plan if something looks good. Want to hear about the Google commercial?

SPEAKER_02 31:17

Uh yeah, please tell me if you know what commercial this is.

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Uh, it's it could just be a straight-up poll. Like, Bridget, I don't understand what you're speaking about.

SPEAKER_02 31:24

Why'd you cry at a commercial? But you will cry too if you have any feelings. Okay, tell us about your Super Bowl commercials. Did you make it down to Winterfest if you're local? Love to hear about C. Who's your favorite sculptor? What other things did you enjoy? Did you eat or drink all the hot cocoa?

SPEAKER_00 31:40

Did you do that? Um, subscribe. You'll keep doing us every week. I know that seems like a punishment, but to us it's uh you know, it's a great gift.

SPEAKER_02 31:49

We're having fun. We hope you are too. So, yep, rate us if you like us, send us a note if you don't.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Hot or not, subscribe, whatever. Swipe last wipe right. Hello at dinnerplusdrinks.com is the mailbag. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks, Tony, for the great question this week. We'd love to hear from everybody else and answer your question. See ya.