Today, Matthew is in Calgary while Molly delivers a thesis on Figs as they dodge experts, wasps and grocer's itch. We play hard to get as we attempt to deliver injections of knowledge before inventing a new game and identifying the works of Gustav Klimt.
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Unknown Speaker 0:00
Hi I'm Matthew and I'm Molly.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:06
And this is spilled milk, the show where we cook something delicious. Eat it all and you can't have
Molly 0:10
any. Today we are talking about figs.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:14
And this episode was suggested by listener Ren.
Molly 0:17
Thank you listener Ren. So I did the research for this episode. I don't know if you listeners know this because our show is sometimes so scant with information. But we actually do research and we take turns doing the research for this show. And today, I learned a lot about things.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:34
Yeah, I'm excited. Can I tell you people like why we're recording remotely? And where where we are. Oh, where I am? Yeah, you're in your home as usual. No, usually you're in my home. That's right. So I'm I'm on vacation in Calgary. I'd mentioned this on the show while back by the time you hear this, I will have been back for a while, but I'm having a great time in Calgary. And I just want to tell everybody that the best thing in Calgary is the black billed magpie. It is the like the world's most beautiful bird and it's like a pest and they're everywhere. And this morning, I saw so it's like pigeon size and shape of bird. But with with a black beak and like like white feathers with like green, green or blue iridescent plumage and an extremely long tail and looks majestic in flight. This morning when I was out of my walk. I saw one swooped down over Kensington Avenue and glide to a stop and start picking out a pool of vomit. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
Molly 1:33
Wow. Well, you know, gosh, I'm glad to know or maybe I'm a little disappointed to know that Calgary is a city just like other cities with pools of vomit. I hoped that it would be maybe free of that.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:45
I mean, I haven't seen many but we're staying with St. I was walking down is like like an entertainment sort of nightlife area. So this is probably I was gonna say this leftover from Saturday night but No, last night was Sunday night so I don't know.
Molly 2:00
Somebody had a rough Sunday night, I guess at home knitting meanwhile,
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:04
so I was at home eating Korean pizza delivery. Oh, Korean pizza. It was cool. Gogi pizza. It was really good.
Molly 2:12
Yes. Okay, but today we're talking about fix.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:16
Yeah, this was so this Yeah, suggested by listener Ren who I'm assuming is a bird who just likes to like fly around and eat figs. I was like, I liked these things. I'd like to hear about them on a podcast.
Molly 2:25
I bet listener Ren has never heard that before. Okay, maybe not the fig version of the joke. Matthew. So you know today we're gonna be talking about fresh figs. We're gonna be talking about dried figs. But we're going to begin by going down memory lane as we always do, where hopefully there are not pools of vomit.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:43
Yeah, I hope that you go first. Okay,
Molly 2:45
so, you know, my dad was a man of many things. And you know, he was the end of man. What else was he he was that he discovered? Altoids
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:56
a great, invented Altoids and dive man. In any video Altoids in like the 1790s I think
Molly 3:03
something like that. Yeah. Well, he also loved figs. My dad loved figs and dates in particular. But I distinctly remember my dad loving figs. And I remember at a certain point, this probably was the 90s, which we're going to talk more about in a minute because I feel like the 90s ushered in just like a wave of all things. Fig. Yeah, in the American culinary scene. But I remember my dad, at some point, being able to get a little pint of fresh figs at the grocery store in Oklahoma, and we'll talk a little bit later about why fresh figs are hard to get. I mean, they're just they're perishable. They don't transport well, they play they play hard to get but I just remember my dad having one of those like dad ecstasy moments, eating a fresh fig. And so yeah, I always think of figs and my dad he was
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:53
having sort of like a buck in Dalian blocking all pigs and dates out sound like someone something so when we get really excited about in ancient Greece,
Molly 4:04
right. I know. I know. Well, they had Altoids back then. Right? Maybe
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:08
I was gonna say maybe your dad's history of culinary invention goes back further when than we realized maybe he was the first like back in ancient Greece.
Molly 4:17
I need to find a way to kind of sum up my dad's food tastes. I mean, he was he was he was hedonistic for one thing. I mean, ah, he loves shirts like that. So like, you know, rich flavors, but but definitely he aired toward like, the the the old continent. Oh, yeah, I
Unknown Speaker 4:36
think he. Yeah, okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:38
great. Okay, so your dad ate figs back back in age, my dad and more recently,
Molly 4:44
and I remember when my parents bought the house that they like sort of the house of their dreams which they bought when I was like in eighth grade Nichols. They in Nichols hills. They did some landscaping outside it and they planted a fig tree. And I don't remember ever getting to actually eat figs from this tree. I do remember my mother stressing out about the fact that birds were always eating the figs. It was listening to Ron, right. But my parents had this fig tree and I don't think a fix is growing in Oklahoma, but they did grow quite well, I think in some people's yards. Namely my dad's best friend Michael Devilman. Who I may have spoken about on the show. I don't remember that name, but maybe oh my god, I cannot believe I haven't talked about Michael day. Oh, no, you did and I wasn't paying attention. Oh, perfect. Okay, well, then I won't repeat the whole story for the listeners who do actually pay attention. But anyway, Michael was my dad's friend who he met outside a Scaggs alpha beta grocery store because my dad was admiring Michael Citro N.
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:42
Oh, nice.
Molly 5:44
Do you remember this? You
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:45
don't remember this? It sounds vaguely familiar now. Like, I think I'm just not surprised. But I am delighted that your dad was inquiring Is it true in
Molly 5:53
in a in a Scaggs, alpha beta parser. That was the grocery store. Well, so Michael was a former like New York cab driver, who had fallen in love with a woman from Oklahoma when she got into his cab like years earlier when he had moved to Oklahoma with her. So it was Michael and Becky. And she was an artist, and she would like hand painted T shirts and things and they started out selling them at like flea markets and fairs. And it grew into this like, massive multi million dollar company.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:24
What kind? Okay, this does sound familiar, what kinds of T shirts
Molly 6:27
I don't know if the company still exists, but T shirts with like, like really cute little like repeated images of animals on okay, and all different types of clothing. Yes, actually, her name was MC Escher. And anyway, so
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:51
she's like, I'm going upstairs, and like hours later, so magic is still climbing the stairs.
Molly 7:01
Okay, hold on, but by the time so when my dad,
Unknown Speaker 7:04
by the time she got to the top of the
Molly 7:07
show Shut up. Okay. When my dad met Michael in the grocery store parking lot. He'd been living in Oklahoma for a while with Becky and this company was like really big and was basically sustaining the two of them. And he was a writer. He's one of those writers who you know, you'll never see a thing he writes. He devotes hours a day to reading and writing. And still does as far as I know. But anyway, Michael and Becky had this beautiful garden in this house that they now owned. And I remember going to their house and it was the first place I ever ate almond paste. Oh, Becky made this incredible almond cake. But anyway, they had like absolutely thriving fig trees open. I think this is where my parents got the idea to plant a fig tree. That's the end of that story.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:00
Okay, I have one question about that story. If you know the answer, how long did your dad hang out by the Citro end before Michael showed up? Was he like waiting, like lying in wait to meet the owner of this cool car?
Molly 8:12
I have no idea, actually. But do you know what can I just tell you one more like really dear thing. And you can imagine this because both of the both of these men were like at that point. Well, Michael was younger than my dad. Michael is younger than my dad was. So maybe Michael was in his late 40s. My dad maybe in his early 60s or late 50s. And the two of them would get together and they would walk around the neighborhood together just like talking about like big ideas.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:39
Oh, that's nice. We do this such so dear.
Molly 8:43
I mean, anyway, that was that was my dad's best friend. For the last part of his life.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:48
We usually talk about small ideas, but we've occasionally talked about big ideas. Oh, yeah. I feel like if you and I lived in the same neighborhood, we would do this pretty often. Oh, yeah.
Molly 8:57
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And they also they also were kind of little catty bitches sometimes. And we'd go like walk through houses that were under construction and like critique the houses. Sure. Yeah. Which we would never do because we are not catty like that.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:11
Right. Okay, so my fake memory lane. So I remember eating dried figs as a kid as just like one component of one kind of dried fruit that I would occasionally get. And like my first real fig memories are like from the 90s when suddenly figs became like a hip Mediterranean ingredient. And like yeah, here it started appearing everywhere along with balsamic vinegar per Shooto caramelized onions and goat cheese.
Molly 9:39
That's right. That was like a holy, not a trendy.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:43
Quinn. tennety There you go. Yeah,
Molly 9:47
yes. Yeah, yeah, this was very Is it like a northern Italian vibe? Is that what feels
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:53
like it's a northern Italian vibe. I never really knew like to what extent this represented anything That was or had ever gone on in Italy but like, you know when I think about eating like a pizza with like fig and prosciutto and caramelized idea that still sounds pretty good. Maybe like a drizzle of balsamic after it comes out of the oven. That sounds good, right?
Molly 10:13
This was, you know, one thing that we forgot to add to the Quinn tennety. Whatever it's called. It's arugula,
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:20
of course. Yep. Toss some of that on the pizza when it comes out. This is sounding I might make this. I mean,
Molly 10:26
there's a reason why it was so it was so trendy and popular. It was
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:30
absolutely yeah. And then sometime in like the 2000s. Maybe, like early 2010s. There was a guy I knew whose name I'm not gonna mention. But I mean, it was a very nice thing that I'm complaining about. But he had a backyard fig tree, and it produced hundreds of figs every year. And he would like try and like foist them off on on everyone he knew and you can't say no when someone's like, can I give you some fruit from my backyard tree and the figs weren't good, but he would give me a bag of like 90 of
Molly 11:04
them. Wait, was this in Seattle? Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:07
they were greens figs. Okay, yeah, I didn't really think of like figs growing in Seattle either and they were good. They were not great but they were pretty good. And I would eat like three of them and then throw the rest away.
Molly 11:20
You know? It's interesting cuz I actually after we decided on the topic for this show, a couple days ago when I was out walking around in the neighborhood, I saw a young fig tree with little tiny fruits on it and was like July there's a fig tree. Were they excited? June is very into fruit like June is just an enthusiast when it comes to foods so yes, June was psyched to see these little tiny green figs. Okay, that's alright. It's interesting to me that because I you know, well we're going to talk more about where figs originated in the Mediterranean but the you know, it's in much drier like more arid climates, sandier soil, things like that. So it's shocking to me that they have done so well throughout the world in all kinds of temperate zones.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:09
Yeah, that makes sense. And I'm not surprised you noticed a fig tree like when we were about to this episode is like a thing. How like, you know, when you get a Citro, and suddenly you notice it seems like everyone's driving a tetreau in.
Molly 12:19
That's right. That's exactly right. So let's talk about what figs are. Because I feel like if you know like a little bit about figs, just a little bit like you might know that there's like a wasp, right? Oh,
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:32
we got to talk about that. Why? One thing I'm so excited about is that finally we're talking about a fruit that's not a berry. I think.
Molly 12:39
I think you're right. I think you're right, because I didn't see the word bury at all while I was researching this. So get ready. We're gonna throw down some botany here in a minute. We're gonna have from Mr. Mr. Botany, we're gonna have a visit from Mr. Etymology. And it's going to be great. So okay, so just, you know, let's start out talking about what this fruit looks like. So it's teardrop shaped. Sometimes it has a green skin and that may ripen or it always has a green skin, but sometimes it may ripen to purple or to brown. Okay, the flesh inside is soft and reddish. I think of it as being like more rosy, the more ripe it is. Oh, yeah. And it has tons of little crunchy seeds in it. It's like the original chia seed.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:22
It's like, well, but Chia seeds are kind of a kind of like, like mucousy right?
Molly 13:27
Bubble but don't you think of the inside of a fig as being a little? Yeah, no, I guess it's
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:31
a slightly different texture. But But yeah, I see what you mean. No, it's like okay, it's like the original Inside Out chia pet.
Molly 13:38
There you go. And if you have ever like sliced into a fig or maybe broken a fig off of the plant, you may have noticed that the green parts give off this like milky sap. Which if you get it on your skin is an irritant.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:53
Is this like, remember our winter squash episode, which I think was episode two how we like cut into the squash and it was like sweating little droplets that there were extremely astringent. Is it something like that?
Molly 14:06
No. Okay, but I, but I know what you mean. Alright, so actually, so I just want to have a little sidebar here. A mental sidebar
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:14
is like a judge's bench. Like we're having a sidebar. That's exactly right. Whenever you're here, don't let the jury hear what we're about to say.
Molly 14:22
Okay. supership murder. Okay. Anyway, Matthew, when I was researching figs, I learned about something called grocers inch.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:32
That sounds really bad,
Molly 14:35
which is unrelated to the milky sap. But I just want to tell everybody what it is because I just had no idea like, it sounds like grocers everywhere might suffer occasionally from this, I don't know. Occasional and not constant. Okay. So it is a cutaneous condition characterized by a dermatitis that occurs from coming into contact with a tie A fruit might or house might. Okay and it usually occurs when people handle dried foods like figs dates, prunes, grains, Sunrise cheeses,
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:12
what about Germany?
Unknown Speaker 15:15
I don't know.
Molly 15:19
But anyway, I mean I imagined like maybe if you if you work the bulk section if your job is to like refill the bulk foods, I wonder if this is something you know about, like grocers itch or like the mites that want to live inside these like dried foods
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:34
first, I hope this is covered by workers comp. But also I feel like if I were a grocer, I wouldn't want the like word of this to get out that there's that there's a condition called grocers hitch because like Pete then people like first of all, like my asked me like, Hey, do you get groceries which and then also, they might like not want to get close to my skin? Yeah,
Molly 15:52
Riley. It's like it's like when I once dated a guy who had necrotizing gum tissue.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:57
Oh, yeah, it's that that actually seems worse.
Molly 16:02
Anyway, but that said, Matthew, you know, just as a PSA guys, I learned from my dentist that you know, we all have similar bacteria in our mouth. It's just some of us kind of keep it in check. And some of us can't. Yeah, so I don't think necrotising grim Grom tissue
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:18
is catching. Okay, that's good. Grump. That's
Molly 16:21
the grocer's it might be catching? I don't know. But but also,
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:25
like, I mean, even if it's not catching, like, I don't, I don't want to see it. I don't want to have it and like I feel bad for the person who has it, but also I don't want to see it or kiss it. Right. Oh,
Molly 16:35
okay. All right. Well, Laurie, you've been warned. Okay. So, okay, let's go back to talking about about what this fruit actually is because this is really cool. So the fruit of the fig tree is referred to as a Sikh conium. It's SYCON iulm. That That sounds
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:58
like wow. Like it sounds like something from like a like a sci fi like like cyberpunk post apocalyptic novel,
Molly 17:06
A ciconia is a fleshy hollow receptacle with lots of tiny ovaries on the inside surface. So I mean, exactly what it is basically. So in other words, a sub conium contains, like hundreds to 1000s of highly simplified little flowers are florets all over its inner surface. So so that's that's what a fig fruit is. But a botanically it's an infected essence. Okay, it's a type of multiple fruit and isn't that what a pineapple is too?
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:40
Sure. Yeah, it's like, it's like a whole bunch of fruit smushed together. Yes. Yes. Kind of. Yeah. However a pineapple I think is a berry. It is don't double check now, but yeah.
Molly 17:51
Oh, dear. Okay, so the ciconia here we're back to talking about the fig is closed off from most organisms.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:59
sealed off sometimes I feel that way too.
Molly 18:01
Yeah, everybody does. Okay, you know, it's okay. As long as you keep a small opening Okay, I'll try that preferably is like fringe with with some like little scale type leaves. So that only the ones you want can enter all right. And you know, recently we watched a horror movie called Let The Right One In.
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:21
Oh, I've heard of that. But I haven't seen it because horror movies are too scary for me. So basically,
Molly 18:26
the PSA conium is designed to Let The Right One In. And the right one here is a is a specialized type of wasp. Oh yeah. Big wasp. Okay, so the fig wasp is able to enter through that little opening at the you know, the rounded end of the teardrop shaped conium and what it does is it pollinates the tiny little flowers on the inside. Yeah, after which each little fertilized ovary develops into a seed Okay, so at maturity these little seeds which are actually like single seated fruits line the inside of the fig so yes, it is a like a receptacle filled with little tiny fruits.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:12
Okay, a couple of things. So first of all, I imagine you know, this is a symbiotic relationship right? And there must there must be like not just like one kind of fig Wasp but lots of different kinds like, like different ones for each species of fig. Probably. Right?
Molly 19:25
That would make sense. That would make sense. But here's the other thing, which we're gonna get into is that not all figs require this kind of pollination. So there are there are three different types. We're not going to go deep in this there's there's a persistent or common type fig. And then there is a Caduceus fig. Oh, and yeah, and there's there's one that's like,
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:47
that's also a pharmacist.
Molly 19:50
That's right. Okay, I may be pronouncing it wrong.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:55
I'm not sure I've never seen this word before. What does it mean to hold
Molly 19:58
on so the calm In the persistent or common type fig, so black mission is one of these types. It has all female flowers on the inside of the ciconia and it does not require pollination for fruiting. So the fruit can develop through parthenocarpic means Do
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:18
you know what? I do know what that means? So parthenocarpic It's like the like the plant equivalent of parthenogenesis. So it's went in a the ovary of the plant develops into a fruit without requiring fertilization. Okay. Oh this Mr. Botany speaking by the way. Oh, and it is something that is relatively uncommon in nature but relatively common in commercial fruit production because it's produces seedless fruits and watermelon, right. It also doesn't require spending money on on pollination. I don't think all seedless fruits are produced through this process, but any fruit produced through this process is a seedless fruit. Okay, so like
Molly 20:59
seedless watermelons are definitely made this way.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:03
Okay, like Wait so when you're eating a black mission fig like the the crunchy seeds in there are like a boarded seeds, they are not quite fully developed seeds because they were never pollinated fertilized.
Molly 21:14
Well, no, though. No, I, the seeds happen after fertilization. Because here's the thing. So you've got these little flowers in there figure like little florets. Okay, this is pre fertilization, just let's talk like in general, if we're talking about a fig that needs to be fertilized, okay. You've got these little flowers in there. They've got these little ovaries and when the fig wasp or the pollinator comes in and pollinates them, those little ovaries develop into a
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:46
seed. Oh, yeah, no, I think you're absolutely right for it. So
Molly 21:49
the one kiss fig. Yeah. But whereas, but about like a common type fig. Okay. So for those, they Yeah, they develop the seed without needing to be pollinated. Right. So I don't know ethically is not a seed. Oh, so it's it's like an aborted little like ovary.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:09
Like a pre pre know the ovary develops into a fruit but it produces. It produces like it can't produce seeds because it hasn't been fertilized. So it produces like things that have like parts of a seed but not like the embryo. Oh, maybe
Molly 22:22
like the it has like the one of the some kind of carp or something. Definitely
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:27
not a carp like a koi or
Molly 22:31
I hope it's not one of those invasive carp. Oh, yeah, we've been imagine. Yeah, that'd be terrible. Bite into a fig and invasive carp come out of it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:41
Well, we but we should talk about that. Because like, you know, people always ask like, you know, people always come up to ask, like, is there a wasp in my fig? And the answer is sort of sometimes
Molly 22:51
I don't know of anybody who's ever like bitten into a fresh fig and found a wasp in there. But with a black mission fig. If you're buying black mission figs, I think you can feel pretty confident that you're never going to find a wasp in there. Because it was a wedge in there. That's right. That particular type does not require wasps. Okay. On the other hand, these could do this. Am I pronouncing this right? Do
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:13
you Well, I mean, based on the spelling I liked could Ducasse. Okay,
Molly 23:17
so. So those kinds of fix, for instance, a smear enough fig, or a Kalmar nuffic, which we'll talk about in a minute, as far as I understand those do require cross pollination by a wasp.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:30
So yeah, so what happens is the Wasp crawls in there, like pollinates the fig and dies, and then the fig produces an enzyme ffice in that dissolves the dead Wasp long before you eat the fig. And so there was there's been like a debate on like whether Wasp pollinated figs are vegan for this reason. And I noticed that the Vegan Society of the UK says yes, it's fine. This is the result of like mutualistic relationships, and the wasp is completely dissolved by the time you get the fig in your mouth.
Molly 24:01
Do you know what I find really especially interesting about this? Is that the Wikipedia entry like I looked at multiple different Wikipedia entries going from you know, like one to another to get all this information and none of them said what happened to the Wasp so Oh, I wonder I guess they're embarrassed to tell you I wonder if it's like bad PR for figs or something and like they try to maybe somebody keeps going in each day and adding you know the end of the Wasp story to the Wikipedia comes in erases it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:31
Oh yeah, but now like they can't erase our podcast finally the truth now about but like how the Wasp cannot come out of the fig.
Molly 24:38
That's right. Okay, but wait, so what's in it for the was Oh, okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:41
So this is calling on like stuff I remember from like biology class many many many years ago, but, uh, figs are dioecious right? So they're, they're figs figs with male parts and figs with female parts. Yeah, and the fig Wasp wants to get in to a male fig because that's where it can lay its eggs. You know crawls in it lays its eggs the male and female wasps made inside the fig and like then the females board their way out and the male the male fig wasp is just like a little an adjunct
Molly 25:17
This is so much more information than than I found Wow Matthew Wait a minute so so they're basically using it as like a little love nest
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:26
right? And the males are not edible to us at least. So they're they're okay, okay, fig tree wants to lower the Wasp into a female fig where that it will pollinate okay, this is not good for the Wasp because the Wasp just crawls in and dies
Molly 25:43
got it? Okay, but the Wasp has already used the male figs to propagate itself
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:49
not this was this was hit a dead end
Molly 25:51
okay we're laid somewhere so
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:54
this this was was born in a male fig came out when and like oh, I need to go like find a fig and lay my eggs there. I'm gonna go into this one. It's a female fig I'm okay. Why is the male is the female fig like not a good environment for the for the Wasp to like lay its hatchet to eggs. I don't know.
Molly 26:16
Interesting. Wow. Okay. Well, this is so interesting. I'm really glad that Mr. Botany showed up to tell us these things. Yeah, this Mr. Botany by. So Matthew, wait a minute. If I'm eating a black mission fig, I can feel quite confident that there was never a wasp in there. Right? And if by meeting a smear enough fig or a cow Merna which we'll get to in just a minute, maybe
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:40
you can be confident that there was a wasp in there.
Molly 26:43
Okay, great. Good to know, wasp or no wasp. That's our new game.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:48
Okay, personally, I always hope for no loss, not because not in the fig context. But just like I got, you know, I got stung by a yellow jacket a couple years ago and it sucked. Glory got stung by one this year. And it sucked.
Molly 26:59
We're sure it gets done. I mean, where did where did she come into contact with the yellow jacket?
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:04
Well, it was outdoors. I know that. I don't remember but like it's done on her arm and it got all swollen.
Molly 27:09
This is so interesting, because you guys, I You spend so much less time outdoors than I do. In the summer that I grew. I encountered tons of yellow jackets. I mean, I went camping this summer in a place that was swarming with yellow jackets and mosquitoes. And so far knock on wood. This is me knocking on wood. I have not yet been stung, but I feel like I'm constantly trying to evade a Yellow Jacket sting
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:35
So I mentioned that I recently went to Joshua Tree National Park right went on went on a hike and there was like a guide like a like a park ranger who like gave us a little lash Beale before like, you know, when you when you're halfway done with your water turn back. And also that the park is full of rattlesnakes, and I will never forget what she said. Which was like you know, when you imagine someone getting bitten by a rattlesnake you imagine them getting bitten on the ankle right? Well that's not how it usually happens. Usually when someone gets bitten it's because they sit down on a nice looking rock and they put their hand down and the snake bites them on the head I did not see anyone sit down on a rock on this hole we were all terrified
Molly 28:17
oh my god I'm so I've gone to Joshua Tree maybe two or three times and have never received this warning. Well I sat on rocks and eaten lunch and I've like Gone scrambling on the rocks and crevices and oh my god hands
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:33
in weird crevices is one of my favorite things
Molly 28:35
me too
back to fix Okay, so because right figs of course don't you know because they're really like delicate. They don't transport well and so most commercial fig production is in like dried and processed forms of figs.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:57
Yeah, I've definitely gotten moldy fig like at the bottom of a little pint of figs. Not pleasant. That sounds like an insult like you moldy fig Yeah. Or like, like a British pub with a with an ironic name. Like the moldy fig. Or wasn't the moldy peaches a band?
Molly 29:14
Yes. I'm pretty sure Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:15
Okay. Glad we established that. Anyway.
Molly 29:17
So the the world's largest producers of figs, you might you might guess, are in the Mediterranean area, which is the area of the world that figs are native to. Okay, so as of a few years ago, I don't have up to date data, Matthew, but 2018 the world's largest producers of figs were Turkey, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria. Okay, that makes sense. And this totally makes sense because yeah, figs are native to the Mediterranean and Western Asia and they have been cultivated there since ancient times. In fact, Matthew the edible fig was one of the first plants cultivated by humans. Wow. Should we talk about
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:56
fig leaves? Like why? Why that you use them to cover your junk if you're in a garden of Eden type of arrangement
Molly 30:03
figs in part because of how ancient they are and and that they are native to a part of the world where like a lot of religions have holy sure SS figs are tied up in a lot of their they're tied up in like Islam Christianity I'm not sure about Judaism but they show up in many religious texts and histories. Yeah, and you know, supposedly in the Garden of Eden after after they ate the fruit from the serpent. And then they they noticed that they were naked and felt shame they covered themselves with fig leaves. Okay, does that answer your question?
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:44
That that definitely answers my question. Yeah. Was the was the fruit in the garden of Eden of fig? I know this is a thing that can actually be answered.
Molly 30:52
I think they talk about it as being an apple but it would make more sense if it were a fig.
Unknown Speaker 30:57
Okay, let's let's say that it is an apple. Oh, definitely. But
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:00
then like you were like, you know, but actually like, you know, historically it was probably it's probably a fig fig or an apricot or something. I
Molly 31:07
don't know. You know, if there's one thing we are known for, it's our religious scholarship. Yes. So we are the authorities
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:15
you know, clearly we need to call upon here mister theology
Molly 31:18
we do. What a shame he's out for the day. Too bad. He's on a field trip.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:23
Office hours for Mr. Theology are on Wednesdays and Our show comes out on Thursdays. Okay.
Molly 31:30
Well, everybody a good thing. I'm here with my second rate knowledge. Oh, great. So this is pretty cool. So I mean, like thinking about how how long humans have been cultivating figs. Pretty cool. So fossilized figs were once found in, you know, in the excavation of a Neolithic village in Jordan, dating back to the 9000s BCE. So that means that that fig cultivation predates the domestication of wheat, barley, and legumes and according to some may be the first like known instance of agriculture, like humans intentionally growing and cultivating certain plants.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:10
Okay, I know I'm supposed to be Mr. Etymology, but I have a etymology question for you that you may or may not be able to answer. Why is it called Neo lithic? What's the what's Why is it new? Like, why is it just lithic?
Molly 32:22
Because it's probably in contrast to Paleolithic like course. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, I mean, I think it's all relative.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:30
It's all relative. Yeah, good answer. It's all relative. All right. Yeah. plots on the test.
Molly 32:35
Thank you. Anyway, figs were widespread in ancient Greece, as you might guess. Aristotle wrote about their cultivation. And he also
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:44
and his friend's dad was his friend, Michael,
Molly 32:48
Michael. Yep. Figs were also like a common food source for ancient Romans. Pliny the Elder wrote about figs. Hell, yeah. Here's a fun fact. Rome's First Emperor Augustus, was reputed to have been poisoned with figs from his own garden that his wife had smeared with poison. Okay, and that's
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:07
why they're called smear. Man. We both those are both good jokes. Exactly the same time remote recording is awesome. Okay.
Molly 33:17
Anyway, Matthew, would Mr. Etymology like to make a visit because we're not going to talk about Neolithic anymore, but we're now going to talk a little bit about where the word fig comes from. It's time for Mr. Etymology.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:35
Hi, it's Mr. Etymology The word fig was first recorded in English in the 1200s. And it comes from the old French figue itself from oxygen or province salt figa, from the Romans fika from classical Classical Latin Ficus meaning fig or fig tree in Italian figs, or Feeco, derived directly from the Latin. What do you think of? There
Molly 33:57
we go. I think that's great. Thank you, Mr. Etymology
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:01
is a ficus tree like a type of ornamental fig tree. Yes,
Molly 34:05
yes. So here's the thing. So. So figs are grown throughout the temperate world now both for the fruit and as an ornamental plant. And so the the genus Ficus has something like 800 different plant species, okay. Of which Ficus carica which is the tree that produces the edible fruit that we know as the fig is just one. Okay, that makes sense. So So anyway, yeah, it's it's, you know, what we think of as a fig tree like that grows the edible fruit has a really distinctive look to it. It's got these big leaves with three to five like deep loaves loaves. I mean, flow but anyway, but I have I have a fiddly fig tree upstairs in my live. What does that mean? Well, so it's the leaves are shaped like the body of it like a violin. But the interesting thing is Matthew if you cut off one of the leaves or injure the plant that milky sap comes out,
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:09
okay, I'm looking at a picture of this fiddly fig and people have amazing imaginations to claim that this leaf looks like a the body of the violin.
Molly 35:20
Hold on. Ah, fiddle leaf fig.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:24
This just looks like a regular leaf to me.
Molly 35:27
No, no, these pictures are not doing it justice. Like if you will they look they look a bit teardrop shaped. Okay, in these pictures, but anyway, whatever. Shut up, Matthew. All right. Moving right along. So you know, I feel like, especially in the 90s when we were all getting into things. Yep. Yep. I tend to think of talent. Like, that's right. Like, well, as everyone knows, there is a stage in human development. That is the fig Wasp stage. Yeah. And back in the 90s. That's when you and I were passing through that state. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:03
we were like, I was like, hey, Molly, I'm really getting into figs lately. And you
Molly 36:06
were like, Yeah, and I was like, oh, with goat cheese and balsamic and I was like, just to lay my eggs. Yeah, now's a good time. Anyway, I remember thinking of figs as being kind of synonymous with like California food very much. And part of this is that figs grow really well in California. And there is a pretty long history of this, at least that predates the founding of the US. So when Spanish missionaries led by UniPro, Sara, when they when they came to California, or at least, they brought figs to California in 1769. Okay, and the the variety they cultivated is the mission variety, which is still popular. This is from Wikipedia. As the population of California grew, especially after the gold rush, a number of other cultivars were brought there from the East Coast of the US and from France and England. By the end of the 19th century, it became apparent that California had the potential for being an ideal fig producing state, all right, because of its Mediterranean climate, and it's latitude of 38 degrees, which lines up San Francisco with Izmir turkey.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:13
Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, it's interesting. I think. I think I would have guessed that like San Francisco was like, well, north of Turkey. But no, I
Molly 37:21
would have guessed so too, because I think of it as being like, I think we also often hear the Bay Area being compared to like wine regions in France. Yeah. Or maybe wine regions in Italy or something.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:33
But maybe we just don't know geography. You know, who we should call upon?
Molly 37:37
Mr. Geography? Yeah, that's right. Do you bet his office hours aren't till tomorrow, though, Friday? Fine. Anyway, a guy named
Unknown Speaker 37:44
GP I feel like there's like not
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:46
a lot of gender diversity among the experts that we call on for this show. Maybe we need to work through why
Molly 37:51
don't we have like MS theology? Yeah, why not? Like, mix geography? Okay, let's get some new experts. Okay, I'm not done a guy named I think a guy or a person named GP Rexford. Okay, first brought Smyrna figs to California in 1880, the most popular cultivars of the Smyrna type fig, so again, this is a type that does require a fig Wasp for pollination. The most popular cultivar of the Smyrna type fig is Cali Mirena being a name that combines California and Smyrna. The cultivar, however, is not one that was produced by a breeding program and instead is from one of the cuttings brought to California in the latter part of the 19th century. It's identical to a cultivar that's been grown in Turkey for centuries. They are all my information.
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:43
I have a question and an observation. My question is, is it cow Mirena? Like ca LM or is it Callum Mirena? Because I thought it was cow Merna?
Molly 38:52
I've always pronounced it cow me or not, but Wikipedia spells it. Cali. Marinette, let's look this up. It was cow Merna
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:00
No, I think I think we're wrong. And it's California. Also, Google suggests that maybe I met chlamydia. Oh, but he might have Yeah, the other thing is speaking speaking of ways to transmit chlamydia, it here in Calgary, there are a couple of light rail train lines and like train lines in many places. It says on the front of the train what like the terminal destination of the train is and one of them terminates at 69 street and it doesn't say 69th Street it says 69 straight so every time I see that elbow elbow wife the show Lauria like I'm taking the train to 69th Street and to like she did laugh the first time I'm pleased to report
Molly 39:42
Okay, okay, so Matthew, You know what, this episode is already gotten way too long. Let's just talk about how we eat things.
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:49
Okay, I don't even do things very often but okay, can I can I bring up my prop here, please? I've got here the dick Taylor craft chocolate 72% Dark with black fig. I bought it at a place called Luke's Drug Mart in Bridgeland Calgary. Which is a this is okay. This is the most hipster thing I've ever encountered in my life. It is a pharmacy, grocery store, vinyl record store and coffee shop. And of course they also sell fancy chocolate I think this chocolate bar was $18 or unit hitting eight Canadian dollars. And it's 72% Madagascar dark chocolate with black figs. So there's like chunk little chunks of dried black mission figs stuck to the back of this chocolate bar and I'm gonna try some now.
Molly 40:34
Great. Can you taste the fig? Hmm,
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:38
it's a good chocolate. Yeah, I don't know if I can taste the fig. It's got like little like knobbly bits that remain in your mouth after you've finished like swallowing the chocolate.
Molly 40:51
The fig experience
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:52
and yet now that the chocolate has dissolved and I'm like chewing on these old novels now I'm getting a little bit of fig flavor. I think there's a pretty good bar.
Molly 40:59
Okay, that sounds pretty fun. Okay, excellent. Well, you know, another thing that I think everybody has encountered at some point in their lives, or at least I hope they have encountered is a Fig Newton, which is I feel like every kid at least of our generation grew up knowing that Fig Newtons existed and yet none of us probably ever thought about what an actual fig was. No, or the fact that we were eating these weird little crunchy dried niblet bits.
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:29
I think we just showed where we ate Fig Newtons like a packaged cookie episode or something. They're so good when I was a kid like my mom would buy them at like the natural food store and they weren't Fig Newton brand and we call them fig bars. And so they were like whole grain to the to the wrapper. Those were those are pretty good too. But then like when I got my hands on like actual brand name fig dudes are like, Oh, this is like a cookie.
Molly 41:54
Yes. Yeah, yeah, totally. Do you ever just buy dried figs for eating? Like any other dried fruit
Matthew Amster-Burton 42:00
they'll most recent most recent time I've done that was when we did the dried fruit episode a couple months ago. So no, do you
Molly 42:06
Yeah, I don't tend to I don't tend to either I think of the most often coming shaped into like a little disc. Like neatly nestled around one another. And they're usually light colored in that form. Yeah, do you know what I mean? Like you know come in like a little hockey puck shape. And I think of those as being maybe smear enough figs or some like you're right like Cali Marinette figs. Although you can also get like a black fig that is dried but a dried fig just doesn't quite do it for me the same way that other fruits do
Matthew Amster-Burton 42:40
I so like when I get a good black mission fig. Like I want to eat like 10 of those and then I'm good for like till till next year probably. Like that's like that's how i That's my relationship with figs. I don't think about them a lot. And sometimes they'll like come across my plate then I like reach down with my my big like beefy hand and dad just like shoving ball in my mouth. In a in a box and all that I go back to being Mr. Etymology
Molly 43:11
fix. It's interesting. They have this real like aura of delicacy to it. Also,
Matthew Amster-Burton 43:17
that gets sort of like a sexy fruit. Right? Like partly because
Molly 43:21
I think that that you know, they kind of look like a big giant ovary. We don't think about the fact that they're actually just filled with ovaries.
Unknown Speaker 43:29
Yeah,
Molly 43:30
um, you know, I think but they look like I picture an ovary looking. I mean, I know I go to my own ovaries looking like that like once a month. Like they just pop out one of those little little crunchy wasps. Yeah. But anyway, the the flavor of a fresh fig is so subtle, but so delicious. When you get a perfectly ripe one. If you were to sit me down and be like, Molly, I have prepared for you a platter of delicacies here. Yeah, like, rice a lot. This happens to me all the time. It's gonna it's gonna happen to me tonight. I just know it. Yeah, well, I mean, I'm gonna be the one who has to prepare it and pay for
Matthew Amster-Burton 44:08
it. To say it's usually you you like cry out? Like, like, prepare me by platter of delicacies. This is kind of your catchphrase. Oh, no, just as I said that Molly froze up. I don't know if I think it's my internet. Okay, I think we're
Unknown Speaker 44:20
back. Okay,
Molly 44:21
I missed everything you said. But as long as it was funny, we can go on. Okay, great. Okay. Anyway, you know, Matthew, I would be really pumped to sit down in front of a platter that had some like fresh figs, maybe a little pot of honey that I could drizzle onto things. Some goat cheese, maybe even a little bit of kind of reduced balsamic slightly reduced balsamic, like honey and figs. Even though figs are sweet. There's something about the flavor of honey. I'm salivating just thinking about it. The flavor of honey with figs is really wonderful.
Matthew Amster-Burton 44:54
You know what this reminds me? It reminds me of a thing I need to do, which is not really fig related, but the other night. I'm just gonna keep going Calling out places in Calgary. Hang on. I'm gonna finish chewing first. Hey,
Molly 45:03
this episode of course is coming out right after the Christmas holidays and yeah, did any of you have figgy pudding? I mean it seriously go to our Reddit and tell us if you had figgy pudding. We want to know
Matthew Amster-Burton 45:15
reddit.com/are/everything spilled milk? Yeah. What is figgy pudding? I think like I've read an article like seven times, like, you know, did you know that? This is what figgy pudding really is. And maybe it doesn't even have figs in it. And then I forgot again. Yeah, me too. The other night. We ordered a cheese and charcuterie platter from a place called peasant cheese in Kensington, Calgary. And it was very good and had like a huge array of like accompaniments for the three cheeses and three meats. And so they were like some dried cherries, and, and like various pickles, or like pickled brussels sprouts that were a little spicy and really good. And then there was this thing that looked like maybe some sort of like pickled citrus are like dried citrus peel, but didn't taste like citrus. And I have not the slightest idea what it was interesting. Have you had an experience anytime, like recently, where you ate something and you're like, This is good. I don't know what it is. And I might never find out. I might have to call them.
Molly 46:11
Yeah, I think you should find out. I have not had that experience recently. But I think it's because an ash and I were talking about this the other day that we have so gotten out of the habit of going to restaurants like we did before the pandemic.
Matthew Amster-Burton 46:23
Oh, sure. And we brought this platter home. Yeah, it's
Molly 46:27
just I think some of it is is financial. Oh, sure. Some of it is definitely like we are just out of the habit of being like, hey, let's do something special and go out to dinner like now it's like, Hey, I'm tired. Let's get some Thai food do Yeah, absolutely. That sounds depressing. But I don't mean it that way.
Matthew Amster-Burton 46:47
No, no listeners I know are very excited to find out what this dried thing was. And I'll let him know on a future episode if I remember to call this cheese place.
Molly 46:57
Great. Okay, Matthew, I think we need to head into segments. I think we do this could be our longest episode. This could be our most boring informational. No, no, no, no visitor episode.
Matthew Amster-Burton 47:10
No, no, we're like we're like wasps like stinging your brain with with little injections with knowledge. Yep. Matthew. Do we have any spilled mail We sure do.
This smell is from listener Tessa who writes before my parents met, the way in which ketchup was applied to one's hot dog was never questioned, my mother puts ketchup directly on her hot dog bun. Conversely, my father dipped his hot dog into the ketchup on his plate. Once they started dating their condiment worldviews collided, and they realized that they had assumed that there wasn't any other way. This only applies specifically to catch up ostensibly and not other sauces or condiments. My question is, do you have food habits that didn't become apparent or deemed strange until you met your partners? Are there things you do differently and think that the rest of the world is doing incorrectly? And do you apply ketchup or other condiments directly? Or are you a dipper? Okay, so let's start with the first part of the question is like, Do you have any food habits that you didn't realize were like individual to you? That unique to you and no other human on Earth? Until you met your partner or me?
Molly 48:16
Gosh, I'm sure there must be something I can't think of anything right now until I have something
Matthew Amster-Burton 48:21
not really like I've been with my romantic partner and my comedy partner for so long at this point that I don't remember back that far.
Molly 48:30
I think that for me, it's a little bit tricky, too, because I have had to, you know, I was with Brandon for oh, man, we were together for 10 years. And with ash well, we just celebrated our 60th anniversary of dating. Isn't it crazy that Ash and I have now already been together six years. So I've had these two fairly long partnerships. And it's hard for me to remember like what I did before I met Brandon. Like, how many of the habits that I had coming out of my relationship with Brandon did I have going into it? Like especially as food goes because we were both really interested in food? I have no idea. I don't remember anymore.
Matthew Amster-Burton 49:11
Yeah, I mean, I'm sure the fact that I don't really like most condiments is weird. And like any anyone I eat with probably thinks that's weird. So yeah, so we're totally normal. And we don't have any weird habits is what we're saying.
Molly 49:23
That's exactly right. That's what we're saying. Matthew, are there any things that you do and you think the rest of the world is doing doing it wrong? The way that the rest of the world is doing it?
Matthew Amster-Burton 49:33
No, because it because I don't I don't want to like yuck anyone's yum. And like if everyone seems to be doing something differently, like I'm definitely the weird one.
Molly 49:41
You know what it occurs to me Matthew to remember when we on one of our episodes, we talked about how much we both like eating fruit when it's chilled. Yeah, that is true. Room temperature. Bueller. It seems like yeah, people wrote in and they were just astounded. I would say that that is something that you and I do that But the rest of the world does differently and it's not that. I don't think other people are doing it wrong. I just prefer
Matthew Amster-Burton 50:05
No, it's just a thing that makes us better than other people.
Molly 50:08
That's right. Okay, now But to answer the question about ketchup, I definitely apply the ketchup to the hot dog. I don't apply it to the bun, though. I apply it on to the hot.
Matthew Amster-Burton 50:19
I thought that was an interesting way of expressing that. Yeah, no, it
Molly 50:23
goes on to the dog. Yeah, no, like,
Matthew Amster-Burton 50:26
I don't usually put a sauce on a hot dog. I prefer like to like tuck some, some pickled jalapenos in there, and maybe some sauerkraut, but I don't like ketchup or mustard, as you know. And still haven't made much progress with that. But if I'm going to put like barbecue sauce on a burger, like, I'm going to put it on the burger patty and then kind of smoosh it down with the bun. So like yeah, like and if I'm putting hot sauce on something, I'll I'm doing like a like a shaking hot sauce motion here. But like, it depends on the food, I guess because like, I'm not gonna like put a sauce on fries. I'm gonna dip the fries in the sauce.
Molly 51:00
I think that it depends on whether the thing is like I think of a condiment as being something that goes on the food. Whereas a dip is something that you dip into,
Unknown Speaker 51:09
for instance, like sauces can
Matthew Amster-Burton 51:11
serve both functions. Sure, sure. But
Molly 51:14
like for instance, if you get fresh rolls at like a Thai restaurant, yeah, maybe they come with a peanut sauce or something. That peanut sauce I'm always gonna dip into because it is too thick to be portable. It's it's meant to be a dip.
Matthew Amster-Burton 51:28
But yeah, I'm thinking mostly about barbecue sauce, which is like most like if you come up to me on the street. What was it people were gonna come up to us on the street to ask earlier? I don't remember. If you'd come up to me on the street and I seem like lost in thought. I'm probably thinking about barbecue sauce. We went to we had a barbecue place where there were like three sauces. People don't want to hear any more about things I did in Calgary three months ago.
Molly 51:54
I mean, I'm already bored.
Matthew Amster-Burton 51:55
I know. I'm bored with myself. Okay, anyway, so like barbecue. I love dipping. But but this is but this isn't the thing that happened in Calgary. Like I love dipping fries and barbecue sauce. I also love pouring barbecue sauce on a on a burger. It can do both of those things.
Molly 52:12
Okay, well, thank you listener Tessa for inviting us to think about this. This is this was a really important conversation.
Matthew Amster-Burton 52:20
Yeah, thank you for inviting us over for hotdogs. We'll be right there. Matthew, do you have a now but Well, I do I've done now but well, that I'm really excited to share
it is a substack newsletter by to Huang ha called the weekly grief. And I subscribe to it because I saw I kind of had like searched substack or like you know followed like, you know, a recommended newsletter from someone else. Because she lives in and writes about Japan. But she's just like a wildly great and creative. And just like prose on fire kind of writer whose mind goes all kinds of places. And like the most recent piece was about learning finally learning her blood type in Japan, which is a place that has a lot of superstition around blood types, and what they mean for your personality, and highs, definitely skeptical of this sort of thing. But also is not going to like write an essay that's as simple as like, you know, I am skeptical of that there's a relationship between blood type and personality. It went a lot more a lot more interesting places than just like skepticism or belief. And like I find her writing really transporting and just like spending spending time with with her her language is a privilege.
Molly 53:36
I want to clarify that the piece about blood type that would have been the most recent piece at the time of us recording.
Matthew Amster-Burton 53:41
Oh, right. Right, right, which is recording this in October and it's now like the end of 2022. So yeah, so probably there have been like other great newsletters since then. So yeah, so absolutely. Like, Subscribe and pay. This is a writer very much worth your time. Weekly grief. That's WEKLYGR i e f.substack.com.
Molly 54:03
Ah, awesome. I am pulling it up on my computer as like speak
Matthew Amster-Burton 54:07
or writing so good. Oh,
Molly 54:09
cool. Okay, excellent. Well, our producer is Abby circuito. Ella and she is probably dying over how long this episode is and how much we now know about your trip to Calgary. Right? We know so much more than we wanted to
Matthew Amster-Burton 54:23
is probably taking taking solace in the fact that she is paid by the hour. That's true. My co host Molly also has a substack newsletter called I've got a feeling it's at Molly weisenberg.substack.com. Also very good.
Molly 54:39
Thank you. Thank you. You can rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts.
Matthew Amster-Burton 54:43
Yeah, you know who appeared in an interview and on Molly's in Molly's newsletter recently.
Molly 54:48
You did Matthew? Yes, we had we had a wonderful conversation that I think people really enjoyed so
Matthew Amster-Burton 54:55
do and like yeah, we it was like a walk with like your dad and his friend Michael talk. You bet big topics, except, like sitting on opposite ends of a wire talking about big topics.
Molly 55:06
That's right. You can chat with other spilled milk listeners on our Reddit that's reddit.com/are/everything spilled milk. And until
Matthew Amster-Burton 55:13
next time, we're gonna be crawling into your ears like a big wasp. And just doing arts right, and
Molly 55:21
we're just gonna get dissolved and stay in there. So hi, everybody.
Matthew Amster-Burton 55:26
We've, we've been in for like, 13 years now. It's been great. I'm Matthew Amster-Burton.
Molly 55:32
I'm Molly Weissenberg.
Matthew Amster-Burton 55:40
We can't make people listen to our podcast.
Unknown Speaker 55:41
But wish we could. Yes, yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 55:46
No, if we could we would if we had Oh, yeah. Like look, coercive means at our disposal.
Molly 55:51
I mean, if there were a way to use our powers for evil, I mean, I might
Matthew Amster-Burton 55:57
be doing that by now. We just haven't quite cracked the code. This this clipped painting behind me would be would be very much at home and an evil lair.
Unknown Speaker 56:04
That's exactly what I was thinking. Yeah, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 56:06
wish all of our listeners could see this painting that's behind my head.
Molly 56:09
You could probably Google like famous clipped paintings and you find out which one it is and then the listeners would know because you would tell them to open it
Matthew Amster-Burton 56:17
in the show notes. I'm gonna I'm gonna Google right now. Famous clamped paintings. naked lady. It's called Water serpents. Two. Oh,
Unknown Speaker 56:27
wow.
Matthew Amster-Burton 56:28
Oh, this is only part of painting. Oh, we're changing the or I did find a painting and we're now the topic of our episode is going to be paintings
Unknown Speaker 56:39
water serpents, water serpents.