Listeners, we're ready to confess. We just ate our very first Big Macs and are prepared to make a statement. Many statements. An episode full of statements. Along the way we start our new law firm, put on a musical and make dangerous plans before encountering burrito fountains and slippy sauce guns. Finally, we "showcase our engaging and thought-provoking dialogue" by sharing actual practical advice for recipe binder organization and getting picky partners to participate.
The Filipino Instant Pot Cookbook
Matthew's Now but Wow! - A Sign of Affection
Molly 0:00
Hi I'm Molly.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:05
And I'm Matthew
Molly 0:06
and this is spilled milk. The show where we cook something delicious. We're getting at the McDonald's drive thru. And either way we've eaten it all so you can't have
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:13
and today we're talking about what's what's the least likely thing you would have gotten to the McDonald's? What
Molly 0:19
is the least likely thing? I feel? I don't think I don't see myself ever ordering a chicken sandwich.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:25
Oh, I thought I was gonna I met like a thing that is literally not available. But yeah, like sushi, sushi,
Molly 0:32
sushi. This.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:34
This episode is about mix sushi. It though it's about Big Macs.
Molly 0:39
That's right. Matthew and I just each ate our first Big Mac.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:42
Okay, we should we should like Come come clean. Like I'm 48.
Molly 0:45
I'm 45.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:47
And we're Americans. We are we? We are American carnivores who have never had a Big Mac before it, like 12 minutes ago. Yeah.
Molly 0:55
And I want to say also that each of us like ate our full thing. And it was much less big than I would have thought it would be. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:04
no, it was like kind of adjust right Mac it was just right back.
Molly 1:07
That said I have some critiques. Oh, yes. Yeah, we'll get to that.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:11
And these are gonna be like novel critiques that I've never I've never observed before.
Molly 1:16
This episode was suggested by us during the burger buttons episode. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:21
So like, probably by like, by the transitive property, it was suggested by whoever suggested the burger buns episode, which I think might have been you.
Molly 1:27
I forgot about the transitive property. Yeah. What other properties? Are
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:30
there the commutative law? The Distributive Law, the
Molly 1:36
arithmetic algebra.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:41
These are Yeah, these are these are arithmetic things like the Law of the Sea international law. Jude Law these are these are the main types of law constitutional law national law. Yep.
Molly 1:54
I don't know any other kinds. Yeah, those were That's That's it. Oh, I know another one against the
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:59
against the Yeah. This just in we just passed the bar.
Molly 2:06
Oh, God, I heard it was so much harder. There we
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:08
are licensed to we do each get to choose. And but no, just you have to choose one of one specialty of among the types of law that we just listed off to focus on I picked Jude. Oh, I pick against that. Okay. All right. What should we call our what should we call our law firm? Um,
get gig because like, if you're if you're if you've been, you know, arrested, we'll get you off. Oh,
Molly 2:38
wow. Let's take it out of context and see what happens. Yeah, let's do it. Okay. Anyway, so we have no memory lane for this. But Matthew has a has a song.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:49
I mean, yes, I remember the song like Okay, so like as a kid, I never got a Big Mac because I was afraid of the sauce. And that kind of seemed like the whole point because it was literally in the song. And the song goes like has to all beef patties special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles onions on a sesame seed bun. Is
Molly 3:04
there more to it than that's it. But it feels like it leaves me hanging. It leaves me wanting a Big Mac. That's right.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:12
I mean it like I was thinking about like, you know, it doesn't mention the name of the product. I think that's kind of common for jingles. Hmm. Because like I was the only other one that came to mind like, well, you know now
Molly 3:24
tater skins that mentions the product. Well,
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:27
like the one that popped into mind which I think I think like went red. Yeah, that big red freshness last right through it. Your fresh breath goes on and on. While you chew it say goodbye a little longer, make it last a little longer give you a breath long lasting fresh. With Big Red. I was thinking we love to fly. And it shows what airline was that? No idea. Perfect. Or was it even an airline maybe it was a kite company.
Molly 4:00
I was listening to an episode of planet money this morning that had an ad on it from Delta Airlines about like their Wi Fi access, just access their Wi Fi first SkyMiles members, the Delta employee that they had, like sort of giving a little testimonial as to like how great it is that they now have this service. It just sounded so hollow. And she was like, and I'm just so excited for our customers to be able to feel at home in the air.
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:32
I have a story about this. So like we were literally on the way back from from a trip to the East Coast. I recently took with my mom, my mom was using the free Wi Fi on the plane and she like showed me her iPad. It was like loading, loading loading and she said Why is it doing this? Is it because it's because you're on airplane Wi Fi? Yeah. Like did you expect this to work at all?
Molly 4:52
But is that what it's like at home to maybe so I might sometime open I hope
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:56
that's like you know, I would I would worry about my parents if they had to unreliable Wi Fi at home. That's
Molly 5:02
really what what I worry about about my parent so I just want to say at the front that it's really hard to avoid like downer nutritional stuff when you're Googling this but oh sure in this episode we're going to avoid download solute attritional things. So I've done all the googling of Big Macs that any of you need to do you being the listener, so don't don't worry about googling
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:25
it. Okay, so I overall like I'm gonna have some criticisms also, but like, I'm really glad we had this experience. I'm really glad we had it together when we arrived with a with a McDonald's sack. Yep. Full of full of Did you text me and say I said, I got the booty. I think I had the loot. Okay. Yeah, you text me and say I got the boot. You got the bite. I always have the booty. So I'll just text you each time. I'm leaving my house to come here
Molly 5:50
at all. Okay, so here's the deal, as everybody knows, and I think this is like truly everybody because this is a globally known prod. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:59
was wondering like, is it like, how global is it but I guess everywhere there's Donald
Molly 6:03
get ready for how global the Big Mac of course is one of McDonald's flagship products. And as Matthew just saying, it contains two beef patties, cheese, shredded lettuce, pickles, minced onions, and a dressing or a sauce. That's kind of 1000 Island D. And it's on a three slice sesame seed
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:25
bun. And that middle bun, I think is going to be kind of the crux of like, what makes it special and also may make it problematic. Yeah. In terms of construction. Yeah.
Molly 6:36
As of 2007. And I must say that I did not go looking for more up to date information. But basically as of 17 years ago, there were about 17 Big Macs sold every single second in the United States alone.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:50
Yeah, and I wasn't the one buying them. It was some someone else.
Molly 6:54
That was right. It was me with with the booty. It was right. Anyway. Okay, Matthew, I took quite a bit of fun dredging up big mac history. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:03
was so hoping you would when I asked like I asked you like which episode that we're recording today. Do you want to research but I was I was so hoping you would say Big Macs because I love your corporate history. Oh,
Molly 7:13
here we go. Here we go. So the Big Mac was created by this guy named Jim delegatee, who was an early McDonald's franchise owner and he opened the first of his 48 branches Wow. In Uniontown, Pennsylvania, which is like 40 miles south of Pittsburgh.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:30
Wait were all of his 48 branches in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Like a town consisting entirely of McDonald's?
Molly 7:37
Is this one of those like grammar lessons like eats shoots and leaves? Yes. He opened that first one in Uniontown, Pennsylvania in 1958. And he came up with the Big Mac in 1965 I guess in the kitchen of I think a different one of his McDonald's but I was like, I'm not gonna be tracking like I felt like I was gonna have to start like drawing a map like
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:59
like, Family Circus cartoon. Like belly is like going around and has like a dotted line. Yes. Yeah,
Molly 8:04
exactly. So the Big Mac officially launched at that union town, McDonald's hit the first of his branches on Earth Day of Avon. Like in April 1967. Presumably it wasn't Earth. Earth
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:20
Day started in 1970. Okay, I know this because why for this show. Laurie correctly answered that on Jeopardy.
Molly 8:26
Yes. You know, I think we can all agree that if there's one thing that has done really great things for the earth, it is the amount of beef we know downers note. Oh, sorry. Anyway, so yeah, the Big Mac was born in 1967. And when it launched it cost 45 cents. Okay, which sounds amazing. It's slightly less amazing when you figure it out in 20 $23, where it works out to $4.11 How
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:53
much were the Big Macs that you bought today? Oh,
Molly 8:57
the receipt is in the bag. First I nearly choked looking at the menu because he said it was 1149 for Big Mac.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:04
That was the meal though. Okay, two Big Macs 1278. Before Tax Can we can we do the math?
Molly 9:11
Yeah, so that's going to be 39 Yes, it's 39. So, anyway, if you figure that the first one was like $4.11 That's not too bad. Yeah, by 1968 Guys, so literally in less than a year it was on the menu of every McDonald's in the US. Okay, so
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:31
I have a question about this. If I'm a fast food franchise owner, and I do own 70 Carl's Jr. is in Tigard, Oregon. Can I am I still allowed to just like make up a new item and put it on my menu? I don't know. Like, what's the process there? I assume now it has to go through like endless red tape even if I'm allowed to do it at all. I would
Molly 9:53
think so because McDonald's is so heavily branded as McDonald's not like Jim Delgado is McDonald's. So I don't know if you can just do this anymore. I mean, what what a stifling of invention. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:06
I mean, I'm sure like, like, you know, like teenagers who work at McDonald's or like I always hear about this, like a taco bell or creating like the most appalling like Franken burgers and like, burrito burrito fountains. It's like and yeah, like, I mean, that's like, like, lovingly, lovingly with admiration. Yes.
Molly 10:29
So, Jim della Gotti, he admits he did not invent the double decker burger that was created by the Big Boy hamburger chain in the 1940s Bob's Big Boy, or a different big, I think different different big boy.
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:43
Wait, no, really?
Molly 10:44
I don't know. It just I just saw the big boy hamburger chain. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:47
think it is Bob's Big. Do you think it's Bob's Big Boy? Oh, I
Molly 10:50
don't know. Anyway, della Gotti. And he actually like, this is a quote from him. So he likened his creation to a light bulb. He said he didn't discover the light bulb, but he screwed it into the socket.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:02
Okay, I'm gonna say delegatee is like better with burger innovation than just like, that sort of implies that, like, we have light bulbs, and we have light sockets and put them together. Right, so he came,
Molly 11:15
we had like, two burger patties, but we'd never figured out to stack.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:19
Okay, yeah, but like, first of all, like before, before they figured out you put the light bulb in the socket, people were just sticking their tongues in the sockets, right?
Molly 11:27
That's what my son does. Does
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:28
he mean when he says double decker burger, I assume. I'm wondering if this means like with a with a bun between the patties, or like the double burger as a concept.
Molly 11:39
So in the amount of time that I had allotted for researching this episode, I did not get to go deep on the three slice, but that's fine. But it would be interesting if any of our listeners know anything about the history of the three slice been at McDonald's and if it came about with the creation of the Big Mac, or did it already exist? Yeah, let us know. Contact
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:00
it spilled milk. podcast.com. So
Molly 12:03
apparently delegatee received no royalties for the Big Mac. All he got was a plaque plaque that suck. I know does not right. That is just like it's like worse than employee. That
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:17
flag. It's like it's like a beautiful like, like handcarved flag just says fuck you.
Molly 12:25
So according to his son, he ate a Big Mac every week. Okay. Yeah. It seems like something you should do. About right. In 2007. He opened a Big Mac museum that apparently has a Big Mac statue that's 13 feet in diameter.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:39
2007. Yeah. Like he started in the in the burger business in 57.
Molly 12:45
Yeah, he was old. Okay. Some people in union town were really mad because the Big Mac museum was not put in their town. Wow. It was put in North Huntington, Pennsylvania.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:56
I mean, shouldn't the people in Union Town be able to like fall back on the fact that they have 40 McDonald's? What kind of museum should we start at like a like a museum of podcasting?
Molly 13:10
Yes, that's right. The Big Mac had two previous names, both of which failed in the market. Oh, okay. One was the aristocrat. That's terrible. Yeah, no, and then the other was the Blue Ribbon burger that fits pretty.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:23
I think that's pretty good. But it doesn't it doesn't like sound. It doesn't relate to McDonald's.
Molly 13:28
That's right. The name Big Mac was created by Esther Glick Stein rose a 21 year old advertising secretary at the corporate headquarters in Oak Brook Illinois. Okay, I wonder if she was also the one who ordered the plaque for a chip delegate. That's
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:43
right. Just got this guy a plaque like you know, shut him up. Anyway,
Molly 13:47
so I want to talk about like, what this thing is in detail. This is where we can really get into our scintillating critique, did
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:54
you we should have taken out some calipers to measure to measure our sandwiches
Molly 13:59
we should. Okay, the beef patties are 1.6 ounces each so the whole thing is like a three ounce burger.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:06
Okay, yeah, so pretty like in terms of total than the Quarter Pounder with Cheese,
Molly 14:13
I guess so. If we assume that a quarter pounder is actually a quarter pound
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:16
I believe it is it is a quarter pound before cooking. Got
Molly 14:20
it? Okay, okay. The lettuces iceberg it's shredded to mine looked like it was chopped. I wouldn't call it shred Yeah, but I liked it. Yeah, I did to the cheeses American and there's only one slice that seems like a strange choice. That seems like a strange choice to meet you. I want it and for me it was on the bottom patty.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:42
I'm sure it doesn't vary I'm sure like if you if you're making a Big Mac and you deviate from like the corporate dog like where you're Yeah, you're like immediately just like trapdoor opens Exactly. And you fall into a deep fryer. That's right. I would like a second slice of Cheese. Yeah, I wonder I bet you can ask for that and they charge you extra maybe
Molly 15:04
maybe I do have a Okay, so I'm going to come back to that. All right, there are two slices of dill pickle. Yep, I really liked the dill pickle. And then the sauce ingredients were apparently revealed in a YouTube video in 2012 that was made by the company executive chef. Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:20
um, do you have any more information about this? Like why I thought it was like a secret recipe you
Molly 15:25
and maybe he was leaving and they they had given him a plaque and he was like, fuck you. I'm gonna make this video. That's right.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:33
That's what I was like it was this an official McDonald's videos video or is this like,
Molly 15:36
I didn't look it okay. But anyway, what the sauce contains according to this guy is storebought man Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:43
pause already. When you say storebought vo it implies that like they're like fighting over the Albertsons next door like buying a jar of best foods. I'm
Molly 15:53
sure that's exactly what's happening. No, I mean, I guess it's just so that we don't get excited thinking they make housemaid Manny's for this you know,
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:00
a cots D adult child of the show December works like sometimes at a local cafe as a barista. And sometimes will will like tell a story about how like they ran out of milk or something and had to like send someone over to the Safeway to like grab ingredients. I'm sure you've you've worked on that person, right? Like this always gives me exactly the same feeling as when I'm reading the celebrities. They're just like us page in US magazine. Like oh, wow, the people the people at the at the cafe they buy milk at Safeway, too. Yes.
Molly 16:30
So true. It's true. It's like I'm sure we've talked about how I had moments in middle school. I really like just, like, couldn't get my head around the thought that like the guy I had a crush on, like, brushed his teeth. Oh, sure. Had to take a shower. Like he slept overnight in a bed.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:51
Or maybe he didn't do any of those things. And that's why you had a crush on him because he was like a bad boy. Yeah, greasy, greasy hair like five o'clock shadow. In fourth grade. Ah,
Molly 17:03
Jared Leto. Okay, all right. Anyway, okay. Storebought, Mayo, sweet pickled relish and yellow mustard. Plus smaller amounts of vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika. Okay, so no ketchup. No ketchup. Interesting. Oh, hold on. I want to come back to that. So this special sauce is delivered to restaurants in sealed canisters, which I guess then they hook up to like a calibrated sauce gun. Yeah, you got it. And it is applied to the burger via this sauce gun. There was something
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:34
recently where I was like, That is so cool. I wish I had one of those in my house even though even though it would make no make no sense for me to I don't remember what that was. But now I want a saucepan. Yeah, yeah.
Molly 17:44
And then of course, the Big Mac is served in like a clamshell container not like wrapped in foil, like the burgers at Dick's for instance, which are in like paper line foil. The clamshell used to be Styrofoam. Do you remember? Seeing the ads? And now of course it's kind of like a thin cardboard.
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:02
I certainly remember getting other burgers in styrofoam clam shells as a kid. I guess I do too. So yeah, and the box it's a really appealing box. Like when I pull the box out like yeah, this is living
Molly 18:22
so Matthew, I think that this is a good time for us to get into more of our critiques and Okay, I'd like to go first so please do in addition to the fact that I want another slice of cheese, I also felt like once the dill pickle was gone, and you know, it has a tendency to get pulled out maybe on like the second bite of yeah of it. Once the dill pickle is gone. I felt like the Big Mac was lacking in acidity. I wanted a little ketchup. Okay. Yeah. And I'm sure people put ketchup on them.
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:53
I suppose I could have done that. Yes. Like we even have ketchup in the house. I think weird. Yeah, I think most of my criticism is going to be leveled at the middle button, which I'm sure like is a thing that has been discussed to death, but it's a lot of bread and it causes a lot of slippage. So as there was so much slower, so much slippage, I had to like reposition my burger. I kept like rotating it like top to bottom, like in my hand. Yeah, there was so much maneuvering, but But I think what sort of like what I'm saying here is like yeah, like I would probably like it better overall, if you just like took that middle button like fruit, like pulls it right out of there. Yes, but but but then it's not a Big Mac because like like I've said, you know, yeah, I like Tom Waits, but like if only his voice wasn't so gravelly.
Molly 19:42
It wouldn't look like a Big Mac. I'd venture to guess it would taste better.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:46
I think probably but like it is what it is. It is what it is. And I did enjoy it. I
Molly 19:51
ate the whole thing too. But I did feel like there was really a law of diminishing returns here and again, it wasn't as big a burger as I thought it might have been well they have done like bigger version they have they also have smaller ones. Anyway, we'll get there but my feeling was really by maybe the last four bytes and I guess this is a sign I should have just stopped eating it. I felt like the flavor was just flat and bland. I liked it better than then that I think okay, but I do I do agree like I wanted kind of pickle in every bite. Yeah, I want pickle in every bite.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:24
I think that I wanted a pickle in every pot. And I've been in every garage.
Molly 20:29
For my money. I prefer a Quarter Pounder with Cheese.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:32
So that's what you say when someone's pregnant, right? Because I've been in the garage.
Molly 20:37
Because a Quarter Pounder with Cheese has that like little bit of the onion.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:41
100% Quarter Pounder with Cheese. It's so much better.
Molly 20:45
It's got the ketchup. It's so much better.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:49
Which one is more popular? Do you have any like thing like you had some some sales figures from 2007 on the Big Mac, like didn't get on the quarter pound. Like I sort of wonder if the Big Mac is like a thing that can never take off the menu and like is popular, but is maybe like no longer like their most popular item. If it ever was me. I
Molly 21:07
mean, I can imagine like a family going to McDonald's. And I can also imagine that Yeah, and I I don't imagine many kids ever ordering a Big Mac. Yeah, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:19
think it probably depends on like, the size of kid. Like the age of kid. I don't mean like, okay, okay.
Molly 21:24
I just it's a really interesting not really interesting
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:30
question. It's a compelling, but I
Molly 21:34
I do have to guess the Quarter Pounder sell more. It seems like you're right. It's also cheaper, isn't it?
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:40
I'm not sure about that. Probably. It's, it's more meat. And it's less slippy.
Molly 21:46
That's right. Okay. Matthew, you wanted to you wanted to know, like, exactly how, like global monopolies this phenomenon? So it is, it is global enough that the economist uses it as a reference point for comparing the cost of living in different countries. Yes, yes. Because it's so widely available. And it's pretty standardized across markets. So you can imagine this thing, and we know what it costs here. So if we look at what it costs in this other country, like what an interesting index? Yeah, so it's some, sometimes it's called the Big Mac Index. Big surprise there. I also found places that referred to it as burger nomic.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:28
Of course. Yeah. Is there anything? We can't nomics? No. I like that because as nominate which is what I did. So do you know like, who who's like highest and lowest on the Big Mac Index?
Molly 22:39
I don't. Okay, great. But there definitely are on Wikipedia, there are,
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:44
I just turned the page. And there's a funny picture. On
Molly 22:47
Wikipedia, there is a whole chart of like, sort of variations in like size and things like that across countries in terms of the components of the Big Mac. And it is interesting to notice how like the size of the burger patty varies here and here to whatever. Anyway, all right.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:05
Yep, that is interesting.
Molly 23:08
So Matthew, as I was scrolling down the Wikipedia page, I came upon this picture. Does this look familiar to you? Sure. Does. I bet all of our listeners who grew up around the time that we did in the US at least will remember the MacDonald land play plays? Yes. And the host of characters that were turned into playground equipment there one of them being the officer, Big Mac, who was a climb in jail. Okay, so
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:37
I've a couple a couple observations to describe this. I will try so it's like a burger with a face. And the the burger like the top bun is like raised a couple of feet above the bottom bun and there are bars connecting them so it becomes a jail. It almost looks like he's got weird tea. The the first the first thing I want to say is like if you'd asked me what is the name of this character, I would have had no idea
Molly 24:01
officer Big Mac, like, where did this come from? And I assumed like I've been
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:04
I've been seeing like, you know, some sort of like graffiti in my neighborhood that says like, a c a b, and I assume that stands for all cops or burgers. Okay, good. That's really good. He's like, Yeah, this is is this a funny joke? Not really. But is it a good joke kinda well,
Molly 24:21
so. So I did just say that. I don't know where office or Big Mac came from. But I do.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:27
Run the police academy. He he is modeled
Molly 24:31
on something called a keystone cop, which was like, I'm familiar with Keystone Cops fictional policeman in a series of like silence slapstick films in the 19 teens. And apparently, they were like humorously incompetent. Yeah, he would like fall down a lot. So you know, I think we should talk for a minute about McDonald land. Yeah, we should because I had forgotten about McDonald land.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:56
So like McDonald land was like a place I wanted to go as a kid. Good but usually didn't get to because my parents didn't like McDonald's. Yes,
Molly 25:03
right. My parents didn't like McDonald's either. But hold on McDonald land in. Its like original. Like if you say McDonald land to the world of like marketing history. What you're referencing is actually just a televised ad campaign. Yes. That were basically there were these characters that were McDonald
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:23
land kids. I think you're the Burger King Kids Club. Oh, no, that's
Molly 25:27
different. Okay, so Okay. Basically, there was this ad campaign that launched in 1971, where they created basically this land where Ronald McDonald has all of his friends live. Is that when Ronald McDonald originated? I'm not sure. But that is definitely when Ronald McDonald became a character that looked like a clown with a white face, particular clothes and the big shoes and he had these friends with him grimace who I had to look up because like sort of like a purple blob and
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:58
recently ramus grimace shakes were like hugely successful. It was like a berry flavored shake. Maybe but it was like purple like grimace. Oh, yeah. Grim is is very popular character on the internet.
Molly 26:09
I'm not sure why he was ever called grimace.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:12
Not sure. Anyway, he
Molly 26:14
kind of looks like a like a proto Barney.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:16
Yeah, totally.
Molly 26:17
Then of course, there was the Hamburglar Yes,
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:19
I not a month of my life has gone by when I haven't made some kind of joke about the Hamburglar. What What a perfect word like what a great concept. Then there was also the Happy Meal gang. There were the fry guys. I don't know what they do. But they were fry guys were they like, like anthropomorphic fries? Probably
Molly 26:38
okay. Then there was also something called birdie. The early bird.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:42
Is that Is that supposed to like promote McDonald's breakfast? Yeah, like
Molly 26:46
egg McMuffins or something. Okay, so after this ad campaign. Okay. Then they created these play spaces where they used these characters to make like themed playground equipment. Matthew, you can't see in the black and white printout that we've got here. But do you remember this slide? It was alternating red and yellow. Like, McDonald's close.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:10
But who's this pirate guy on top? I'm
Molly 27:12
not sure I couldn't figure that out. Captain cap Captain
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:17
chicken.
Molly 27:18
Yeah, there you go. Then do you remember these things? They were like those teeth are not watered down. See thing? Yeah, you would sit on it and it had a spring underneath. You could back off the
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:29
nation. We have to use a link to this picture. I'm pretty
Molly 27:33
sure this was like a fish sandwich. So what we've got here is a little saddle on a fish. Okay, head is like a burger bun with a weird square filet. And basically this is horrifying. Do you remember sitting on 102 I remember going down this slide. I remember it's so clearly and I remember sitting on this thing and then Matthew flip it over
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:56
this thing this is like you know like a like a David Cronenberg movie monster. These are horrifying. Oh my god. Okay, now this child is about to get eaten.
Molly 28:06
This is like the apple. It's called like the apple pie tree or something like that. I remember these these are like red molded plastic stools. I do remember those yellow almost kind of like, scalloped like sort of flower petal shaped tables. And it was like a single unit. The table was in the middle with these kinds of like stems that came out and the the stool tops were on them. Yep. And anyway, I remember this so clearly.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:36
Remember like the plastic the plastic stools and the plastic tabletops Yes. So this picture you put in here like there's this cute baby and like the the tree is behind it like looking at me like like I'm hungry. You know, you're about to become lunch.
Molly 28:51
If you look up McDonald land playground, you will? Well if you're around my age, you will have a real memory lane. We have
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:01
to post a link to the picture of the of the fillet of fish like writing machine. Mechanical ball.
Molly 29:09
What I want to what I want to say is that apparently there was a plagiarism lawsuit brought against McDonald's in 1973. Because this whole concept like all these characters were stolen from a TV show called HR Puffin stuff.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:27
Okay, I've heard of HR Puffin stuff. I don't know quite what it is. I think I always got the impression that it was like a cartoon show for kids that all the parents know know to be like marijuana themed, but this goes over the heads of the kids.
Molly 29:40
Maybe so I don't really know anything about it. I think it's puppet based. Okay. Oh, yeah, puppet that makes sense. And like for a good time, math, you look up the Wikipedia page for HR stuff because it lists all the characters. There are so many characters are and they're quite humorous. But anyway, A the old HR puff and stuff people won the lawsuit against against so
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:05
so then Dell. Now do does HR profit stuff get like a cut of all the McDonald land profits or something?
Molly 30:13
I have no idea. Okay, I didn't go that far. Okay, we're nearing the end here but we're still not there yet. Okay. All right, so Uh Oh, but wait a minute just to go back to the officer Big Mac.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:22
Oh, please. I love talking about officer big bag for the rest of the day. The officer
Molly 30:26
Big Mac piece of playground equipment. Like, where did this concept come from?
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:31
I have no idea. Well, I
Molly 30:32
remember getting inside one. Well, yeah, no, I do too. I think there was like so. So basically, this burgers on kind of this like pedestal, basically. I think there was like a little ladder at the back of it, and you would climb up and into the jail. And
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:48
I mean, I do see like, I would have enjoyed this as a kid. Yeah,
Molly 30:52
I mean, like, What a weird concept.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:54
Okay, can we go back to something I said just a second ago because I think I have, like, you know, how we often have like, multimillion dollar business ideas. And yeah, all the time. Oh, we got on Shark Tank. That's right. The I've got a new one. And I think this may be our best yet. So you know how, like you you want to like have your kid's birthday party or like, you know, get your kid worn out. So you take them to like a trampoline park or some other kind of play place like that. Right? What if there was one of those but it was mechanical bowls like child sized mechanical bowls. And just kids just like flying through the air and there's over the blades there's got to be
Molly 31:28
like a someplace where you can go ride mechanical bulls like over ball pits or pits, right? Yes, exactly. I would be thrilled by that. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:38
Cuz I mean, like, you know, there is like the kids like, you know, put in a quarter and like the thing like goes up and down very slowly. But Fred, I just, I just want that only like juiced up like 10x. Yeah,
Molly 31:50
and I want I want a nice soft place to land. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:54
All right. Shark Tank call. I
Molly 31:55
would like to write a mechanical bull one day.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:59
That's a good question. What
Molly 32:00
I like it wasn't
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:06
that was a good statement. Would I like to ride a mechanic? I think I think yes, like, I would be like afraid of getting permanently injured. But I like yeah,
Molly 32:15
I'm a little worried.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:16
I think we should do it. Let's go to Texas.
Molly 32:19
I think that we could probably do it here. Okay, I need to figure out where let's look on
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:23
Yelp. Okay, let's see like a bad putting a search for best mechanical bowl. Seattle.
Molly 32:27
We should use this to plan our next corporate retreat. That is a really good
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:31
idea. Like, White Horse mechanical bull resort. Okay.
Molly 32:37
Is it like where they put them when they're retired?
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:47
They're all rusty. Yep. Okay,
Molly 32:49
so Matthew, as you mentioned earlier, yes, there are variants. Oh, pickaxe. Yeah, there are different ones in in like different cultural contexts for sure. Especially to adhere to certain like religious foods. Yeah. You know, protocols. There is this thing called the mega Mac and that has four patties and an extra slice of cheese now, I would contend that it needs three more slices. Cheese. Yes. It's also called the double Big Mac. Yeah, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:14
almost like that. I think that would be even more slippery. But I think I think I would
Molly 33:22
ratio there you use previously misled be Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:27
Okay, all right. Yeah. No, I don't I don't think I have anything else to say about Big Macs. This, I think like the internet will conclude that this was the definitive statement on Big Macs. Today
Molly 33:38
I do. I am perplexed though, by like, I just don't think it's a very, I don't think it's perfectly engineered. It's
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:45
not at all perfectly engineered food product like but you know, they've been doing it so long. Like it has an iconic look. It has an iconic name. And I think that's maybe kind of all you need.
Molly 33:56
What else has an iconic look and an iconic name and David Bowie. But he also has substance. Yeah, that's true. Big Macs better than a Big Mac. That's
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:05
true. Oh, like another thing that like where the actual thing doesn't quite live up to?
Molly 34:09
Oh, no, I could get myself in big track trouble. Yes. Saying what I really think oh, that's somebody else. Oh,
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:17
I'm not going to Okay, we'll do that. We'll do that off. Yeah. Okay. Matthew,
Molly 34:23
I heard we have some spilled mail
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:25
you heard right.
It's from listener Angela who writes Hello, Molly mentioned her recipe binder in the non alcoholic wine episode. How do you organize your binder as well? How do you determine what meals to cook during the week with work and jam I often find myself cooking similar types of meals over and over again. It also doesn't help that my partner is a semi picky eater. He doesn't like zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, bitter greens. He doesn't really eat beef, pork or sausage meat and he's also lactose intolerant. Do you have any suggestions or advice for me on how to add more variety to our home cooked meals. Thank you listener Angela,
Molly 35:02
this is tricky. But now that I'm reading this list of things that Angela's partner doesn't like, I would say my partner also doesn't like a lot
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:09
of those things. Sure. Is this where you suddenly learned that Ash has like a secret second family? Oh,
Molly 35:15
yes. I Yes. This is where I'm learning. I said ash does eat beef porks and sausage meat. Okay, great. The bottom line here is, I think, and maybe he does, but I think that your partner should play an active role in your plan in the meal planning. Yes. So that shouldn't entirely be up to you. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:37
And like the idea I had is, give him a cookbook, like hand him a cookbook and say, you know, if you're the cook, what do you want me to make from this? Yeah, totally. And like, you know, we did we did it like, you know, kind of beginner cookbooks answer like spilled mail recently, were recommended, like, you know, anything, anything America's Test Kitchen, that they come in many, many different categories. So pick like something that you think like, he'll be able to find something in here and like, hand it over.
Molly 36:03
I did this with ash with the book. Simply Julia. Yeah. And it was great. And ash, actually, the additional challenge that Ash and I concocted is that they were choosing something that they were willing to make Oh, sure. So so it's had the The upshot to have ash doing a bit more cooking, because there are some dishes that they now feel pretty competent at making. And they're also dishes that Ash really likes because they chose them. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:30
So don't don't make this like a guessing game where you have to do twice the work of like figuring out what to make and also making it Yeah, yeah, get him on board with the planning, because the planning is kind of the hardest part. The planning
Molly 36:43
is the hardest part. I mean, the cooking itself, I think that like I'm a much faster cook than Ash is. So the I think that they feel that the cooking is onerous. But man, if you're the dedicated cook and meal planner, planning meals really feels like a chore, son. Oh, yeah. Oh my god.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:02
Yeah. And like to, to like the other person, it probably does not seem like it would be a chore. And so like, you can like make clear like you would be helping me you're not, you're not like giving me extra work to do by picking these things and assigning them to me, you're like giving me less work to
Molly 37:18
do well, and the awesome thing is like, if you're choosing the cookbook, then you're also sort of setting the parameters of what you're willing to do. I think another thing that's helpful just to echo kind of what you were saying about the Americans Test Kitchen books. For me, there's nothing that gives me a better kick in the pants than a new cookbook, that right off the bat, I can identify a few dishes I'm interested in making. So like for instance, do you remember when we had a guest from the Filipino Instant Pot cookbook? Yes. Was it Romeo? That's right. I mean, getting that book, which is a fantastic book, not only introduced me to kind of like a new vernacular in terms of cooking, but also it was all like Instant Pot stuff. And so right off the bat, I had like this whole book that already was full of flavors that I didn't usually make. Yeah, totally. So I think that sometimes getting a book that is in a cuisine that is new to you, or uses a cooking technique that's new to you could also help kick you out of a rut. Absolutely.
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:19
And Angela also asked how we organize our recipe binders I kind of kind of glossed over Oh, yes, okay, mine is online is digital. So I just, it's not really organized it just like search for the thing I'm looking for and it comes up. Mine
Molly 38:32
is organized. You know in the typical three ring binder with those special little like binder like the little dividers with a translucent colored tab that you can slide a piece of paper into, and I've got like a breakfast one I've got soups because I really like soup so I have a whole soup category I have a whole pasta category. I've got a category I call mostly vegetarian meat and fish I have a Japanese and Korean section because those are cuisines I cook a lot from and then I have a bread section and a sweets section nice and and sometimes it's hard to figure out where to slot something like corn muffins for instance. Do you put it under bread or do you put it under like I don't know what do you do with it for like panics do you put it with soup? Because you eat it with soup? yeah anyway but for the most part it's very straightforward and here's
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:29
what you do is you you put the bread section next to the soup section and you put the put the corn off into like at the edge of the bread section so it can be like near but soup friends. Yeah. All right. Problem solved listener Angela. Yeah, like get back in touch and let us know like how this goes because I'm curious. Yes,
Molly 39:46
I am to good luck, Matthew. I heard you have a now but wow, we do
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:57
this one was introduced to me by my friend An S who recommended a manga series called a sign of affection which is available in English. And it is a romance series but it's not really the romance that I'm interested in. The main character is a profoundly deaf girl who falls in love with a hearing boy and teaches him sign language. And the most interesting part of it to me is like seeing the action, the interactions between Yuki the heroine and her death friends and the way the comic really shows how like people's personalities come through in the way they speak with sign language. And like capturing that in like a black and white comic must be so hard to do. And they there's like an author's note where they talk about, like some of the ways they approach that. And like also, you learn about some of the like their multiple different Japanese sign languages, and you learn about like the nuances and the differences between those. It's a really cool series, and I look forward to reading more of it. That sounds
Molly 40:54
fascinating. So wait, what was it called?
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:56
It's called a sign of affection. And it's a series so I think they're like eight or 10 of them so far, and that's a sign of affection by su Morticia. And that is I think, a pen name for like two authors who work together.
Molly 41:07
Oh, okay. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 41:08
Well,
Molly 41:09
our producer is Abby circuit tele.
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:11
Molly's got a newsletter called I've got a feeling that you should check out it's in Molly weisenberg.substack.com.
Molly 41:17
Matthew makes music that you can listen to anywhere you can listen to music. Yes band is called early to the airport.
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:25
Yeah, it's we're available in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. We've just expanded to Pittsburgh. What about North Huntington? We're exploring a merger with with a Jack in the Box in North Huntington.
Molly 41:38
Anyway, all right, you can rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:41
and debate. The structural integrity of Big Macs with other listeners and everything spilled milk.reddit.com
Molly 41:48
Thank you for listening to spilled milk the show where we
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:53
are introducing a third button that's gonna go between
folly wise and bad. I'm Matthew Amster-Burton.
Molly 42:06
Is it is it in the garage right now? Yeah.
Speaker 1 42:16
Lulu Lulu Lulu toodle doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Molly 42:25
doo doo doo ha That's such a cute little ditty buddy do btw boopity Boop. It's the
Matthew Amster-Burton 42:30
intro music for our new segment.
Molly 42:34
What should Bhupen What's your Bhupen
Transcribed by https://otter.ai