Today we taste the flavor of nostalgia and Matthew doesn't get it. We reject the Cold Case and take a long, meandering path towards Memory Lane as we pay penance to our Chocolate Overlord. Then, we're crazy with lust as we discuss unnecessary encumbrances before providing the definitive ranking of blizzards.
Shaker Cornmeal Pumpkin Bread with Toasted Walnuts
Matthew's Now but Wow - Set On You, by Amy Lea
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Molly 0:00
Hi I'm Molly.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:05
Oh, I'm Matthew
Molly 0:06
and this is spilled milk, the show where we cook something delicious. Eat it all and you can't have any
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:11
and today we're talking about supermarket cake.
Molly 0:13
Yes, yes. I mean, I came up with this one. Oh yeah, give me the give me the credit.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:18
You came up with the concept of supermarket IDs.
Molly 0:21
But what I was thinking of is like supermarket like birthday cakes. And what I mean by this is sheet cakes. So rectangular cakes, most typically with like a white frosting that gets a little crusty on the top layer Sure, and with like tons of rosettes in garish colors
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:43
oh you did mention rosettes and I did not you did not get the memo right but I got typically said lots of rosette did do you want me to like see if I can pipe some Roseanne No,
Molly 0:54
I went and got the Rosa you got Yeah, you
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:56
got the real thing. Now what we have here and we will go down memory lane listeners. Don't worry. But this is this is like a kind of food that I'm generally skeptical slash fearful up. Ah, fearful is the wrong
Molly 1:09
I'm sorry. I have to start eating this because I'm so excited. This literally tastes like nostalgia. Is just a flavor of nostalgia. Have you ever had an astrologer before?
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:19
Yeah, I mean, it does it like it reminds me of like, childhood birthday party. Yeah, I wish there was better cake.
Molly 1:24
Oh, no, no, no, no, no. This was this is what childhood birthday parties tastes like. And that is right.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:33
But I mean, can't we do better? Let's let this be a super antagonistic episode right off the top. Oh, this
Molly 1:39
is already making my mouth hurt a little bit.
Unknown Speaker 1:41
It's so sweet. I love it. Yeah.
Molly 1:45
Okay. So wait a minute. Hold on. We'll say what we're eating. Should we say what we're eating?
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:49
Yeah, I think we should.
Molly 1:52
Sorry, I just got so excited. So Matthew and I were each responsible for going to one like sort of mainstream grocery store this morning. No fancy. Nothing fancy here.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:01
Yeah. So I went to Dean and DeLuca and you went to Bell do cheese.
Molly 2:06
Safeway, and I went to the depressing Safeway at 85th and 15th. Oh, yeah. In Ballard and Matthew, you went to QFC. Matthew texted me it was like you're not going to believe how much cake I bought. And it made me realize like, oh, Matthew really doesn't get it. So when I went to Safeway, I specifically went looking for the closest thing I could get to like an entire birthday cake sheet cake and you said you had to ask at the counter what were you asking? Well so here's the thing so there was like a you know a cold case where I could just reach in and get an episode of cold case slices of cake that were like ready to roll but none of them were the kind of like single layer sheet cake with like rosettes or garish shit on top. And so I went over to the like the case where you have to actually get some help.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:57
Oh, like the glass case? Yeah. The health case.
Molly 3:01
And there was nobody working there. And I was like, Is there a bell I can dig it was falling over. There was no bell like a ding and then I noticed that there was like a whole bakery setup just behind like a kind of slanted wall.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:18
Wait with this, like a Narnia type of thing like Yes.
Molly 3:21
With like, ovens. Wow. Okay, anyway, you went into the land. And so I kind of like walked back there a little bit. I know I wasn't supposed to and I found a guy working back there and was like, Can you help me with a cake from the case? And he was like, Yes, sure. So I bought the tiniest case that I did things like five inches in diameter. It's they they did on chairs. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:46
think you know what I mean? They described
Molly 3:47
it as a five inch single layer cake. Okay, it is round, it's not square. And it turns out it's not a single layer. They cut the layer and two and put frosting in the middle of it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:59
A wild and novel thing to do.
Molly 4:03
Anyway, but so I chose this one because it looked like it would have white cake. It has white frosting and a whole bunch of rosettes piped on top even though all the rosettes are just white frosting. I am delighted because it tastes exactly like it's supposed to and this is what I wanted to talk about not your fancy cakes. Okay, so
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:23
All right, two things. First of all, we I mean three things we haven't even gotten to Memory Lane yet. Like the amount the my approach to this cake like eating it for the episode where I know I'm gonna have to take four more cakes is exactly the same approach I would have taken at a birthday party. You were just like, Okay, I I'm biting I took a bite of the cake. Happy birthday, Clem. My friend just didn't clap
Molly 4:46
because I you clearing your throat after taking. Well, I took the approach that I would take which is I literally ate the entire thing instantly but I left behind a little bit of the rosette frosting sure is hideously sweet so much so that the roof of my mouth is itching. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:04
it was like they they made they'd be like a supersaturated plasma. So good now counterpoint. The title of this episode is supermarket cake and I went to the supermarket and got Kate Matthew
Molly 5:19
I believe I pitched up pull up our text thread because I pitched this to you as supermarket birthday. We text
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:27
so much um, you have to scroll so far back people are gonna be sitting ours all the time. Okay, now here we go. Do they sell cake like that? Buy this Okay, wait, wait it in under new new new new grocery store cake like the frosted birthday kind. I'd be happy to hit the Safeway near me. Do they sell cake by the slice like sheet cake with Rosetta frosting? Well, anyway
Molly 5:51
I feel vindicated. Okay, but I completed the assignment.
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:56
Okay, but also good news. We have four other kinds of cake if you want to taste them. Great. Let's taste some cakes. And the episode here at the seven minutes
Molly 6:07
and we're going to talk about memory lane. Okay, let's start with this lemon cake. Okay, God I'm so glad I got this plain white cake me too. Literally the only thing on the table like this. Okay, so
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:19
what I have Whoa, that is a strong lemon aroma.
Molly 6:21
Let me smell. Oh,
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:23
oh yeah, shocking is pretty rude to L lemon ice lemon cake to SLC from QFC I was noticing oh the cake code. What does it say again to L lemon. I see lemon cake to SLC. Oh to SLC is two slices. To L two layer lemon. I see lemon integrated circuit.
Molly 6:47
Perfect. Okay. Matthew, wait. I also want to point out that the little cake I bought was $6.99 Oh, nice. So this was 350 I gotta hand it to that was not 350 This was 499 Can you read? Oh, it was marked down to 350
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:04
I use my QFC advantage card. A thing I've been complaining about since they first introduced them in like 2000
Molly 7:10
Well, what are you doing? You're putting an entire slice on my plate. That's
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:14
what I was gonna like. Try and hear. Yeah, let's just eat slices the bites off your plate. Okay, I don't have a plan here. I've been playing Legend of Zelda all day.
Molly 7:22
Hold on. Did everybody understand that the cake I bought was only 699. I mean,
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:26
probably when you said the cake I bought was 699 they got that vague impression at least.
Molly 7:33
Okay, well, I'm happy to report this is still frighteningly Sweet, huh? That's pretty good. I mean, it's pretty good. There's something about the like, slightly gritty sugar frosting. Yep, with this lemon flavor.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:45
I don't care for it. I did not get any pudding cakes because we already did that. We already did that. That's right. All right. So memory lane. I associate this type of cakes especially like a grocery store sheet cake or or round cake birthday cake with the cake wrecks blog and book do you remember this? I do remember this? This was like the early days of blogging. Yeah, so it was people would send into this blog and that Molly Weissenberg girl was blogging right? Oh man. Oh man the good old days. A lot of poetry and stuff. Yeah, so she would people would send her like, fails from from like supermarket cake decoration either because like the decoration looked ridiculous, or they had misinterpreted what they were supposed to write on the cake with frosting. The only one I specifically remember and I say it all the time anytime there's like a baby someone wanted to write welcome little sweetie for like a baby announcement but they wrote welcome little sweaty. And so now like every time I hear about a new baby, I'd say welcome little sweaty and it's spelled s w e TT IE. That the Yes.
Molly 9:01
At the baby shower that we had. Before Eames was born. The hosts bought a really beautiful like cloth over boards, a hardcover, beautiful like sketchbook type thing. Oh, she says like a guest for the baby to sketch it. Yeah. And it had this lovely kind of teal cover and they asked me because they like my handwriting they asked me to write welcome baby on it and like in my nice handwriting, I knew you completely cocked it up. Alright, so June 1 through third grade teacher has become a friend and she was standing at the table cord is sort of like watching but not really watching while I did this, but I felt that she was watching and so I decided I had to do it in cursive. It came out welcome FABY everybody really enjoyed laughing at me because welcome Fabian because because my friends know me well and enjoy laughing at me. But anyway I could never quite get over it and we had to hide it away.
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:04
Welcome, baby, but it's still lurking somewhere.
Molly 10:07
Ah, yeah, I think we I think we tore out all the paper and used it as like scratch paper and then got a different book and glued all the pages that people had written on into the new book. So
Unknown Speaker 10:19
I have a good story we have it was a great story
Molly 10:23
because a little dry but pretty good chocolate flavor. What's the stuff in the middle? I'm scared. Is
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:27
it German chocolate cake. So it's coconut coconut chocolate frosting frosting is very gummy.
Molly 10:33
Yeah, the frosting is weird. Gummy is the right word.
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:37
So while I was QFC I was sorely tempted by a product that I did not end up getting because I thought it might like set a bad precedent. Hold
Molly 10:47
on. Yeah. Okay, I'm enjoying the flavors of this cake. You have cake? For the right side of your face. Literally.
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:59
I don't feel it
I mean, get there. I still I don't think I got it yet. And now it's on your finger. Oh, yeah. Okay.
Molly 11:17
I gotta take off my sweatshirt this this episode is to stimulate this is
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:21
gonna be this is gonna turn into like a classic Cat in the Hat came back scenario where like, I just spreading. It's the one where there's like a pink spot and like, it gets on everything. And so like, I'm just gonna get cake on everything. And it's just gonna keep spreading.
Molly 11:35
Oh, man, you were saying something? I don't know, I was saying, I like the flavor of this cake. But this cake needs to be served at room temperature
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:44
or refrigerated. So I put them in their refrigerator when I got home whether or not it was the right thing to do. So I was saying that I noticed a product that I'd never heard of at QFC that I that I really had to force myself not to buy because it looks pretty good. It was it was a cake parfait which is sort of like a trifle in like a big deep square container. That seemed to have like five inches of chocolate frosting in it. And and some other stuff. Wow, it looked intense. Wow. And it was like $9, which for a cake like item at QFC is pretty expensive. Yeah, so I'm probably gonna get it at some point. Cool. I also also didn't get any of like mini cheesecakes, which are pretty tasty. You know,
Molly 12:30
I think I just didn't realize until I was doing research with air quotes. For this episode, I had sort of forgotten that the grocery store is a place where you can hold on. That's not the end of the sentence. Grocery Store is a place where you can get a slice of cake anytime you want it. Oh yeah. Which I just think I hadn't thought about because I grew up. I mean, bless her. Tony Negroni really looked down upon things like supermarket cake. And I'm really happy to be raising a child who takes an equal opportunity approach to foods of all stripes now, but
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:09
I had I ended up being a person who looks down on supermarket cakes, like I don't feel like this really fits my brand in general. I don't think it does, either. So look at my shopping list. Like currently, the shopping list has some like vegetables on it and that are crossed out and all that remains on the shopping list is m&ms and chips. So yeah,
Molly 13:27
I mean, I'm not sure like where where the line is for you.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:32
It's like the it's like well, first of all, as you know, I'm not a big fan of cake. And then it's like,
Molly 13:37
we have to go back to this because I keep forgetting it. Are you a pie person?
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:42
I guess I'm a pie person. Oh, that's right. You guys have like members of a pie club. Like I wouldn't join a cake club. Oh, I
Molly 13:48
would join a cake club and never a pie club.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:50
Never would you like to try serving this up because I'm wow, I do it and you're gonna laugh at me. Oh
Molly 13:54
my god. I thought this was called the chocolate overlord slice. Look, it looks so close to overlord but it's overload. Yeah, of course.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:04
I had to get the chocolate overlord.
Molly 14:06
I'm just gonna eat this right out of the box. That's smart. Oh, okay. Oh, really good flavor. I'm here for this. Also this frosting this frosting is doing way better in its like, chilled consistency than the other one.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:21
I see why this is my new chocolate overlord.
Speaker 2 14:24
Mm hmm. I just got like some chocolate Krispies on the side. I'm having trouble stopping with my chocolate overlord. And this one is not overly sweet. No, I mean, it's very sweet. But compared to our vanilla overlord over here,
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:37
yeah. Okay, so my birthday is coming up. Like, when's this episode aired July 27. My birthday is one month away. I want this and I want I don't want them to write something stupid on it. Like welcome back. So welcome back sweaty. Happy Happy 48th Mr. sweaty. That would make me so happy really?
Molly 14:57
Matthew or I'm turning 40 Five. Oh, that's a big one. And I get to do the rite of passage of all 45 year olds, which is, you know, because you probably did it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:08
I have no idea what your colonoscopy Oh, of course, yes.
Molly 15:13
I'm gonna have my first colonoscopy this fall.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:14
Yeah, no, I talked about it a bunch on the show. Remember? I forgot Yeah. Yeah, that's that was good that you blocked it out. Yeah. It's bad.
Molly 15:25
What's the prep? That's bad? Yes, of course. Yeah. Which prep. Did you do?
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:29
The the jug?
Molly 15:30
Was it the big jug? The big Jock. Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, anyway, this is an episode about cake has gone down my memory lane yet, even though it's really, really short, but sounds like they're gonna be going
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:43
up your memory.
Molly 15:47
I'm sure we're gonna have many more opportunities to talk about this, because Oh, yes. So my birthday is September 14. I'm getting my colonoscopy sometime after that. So that insurance will pay for it. Sure, of course, because if there's one thing I don't want to do is pay out of pocket for a colon. And what I was going to say is, right, memory lane. Yes. So
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:11
we always do it at this point in the show. For you, I thought this might be our best episode. Every
Molly 16:19
birthday party I attended as a kid had supermarket sheet cake with garish decorations. Yeah, there was like, I mean, and these days, I mean, I'm aware that I'm living in a coastal city with quote unquote, coastal elites. Yeah, everywhere in it. Hello. But I don't think any of my child friends have this kind of cake at their birthday party. Or what do they have? Like a like a? Oh, they have like a homemade cake. Yeah, it's going to be a homemade cake. Or it's going to be something you know, some other special thing like cupcakes or whatever, but like really nice cupcakes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:57
Not several. Cupcake Royale. Decorate your own cupcakes. birthday party. Yeah,
Molly 17:02
yeah, yeah. So actually hold on now that I'm saying it I do think Jun may have gone to one birthday party where there was a sheet cake like decorated from the supermarket. And you never let them play with that kid. No, but it was actually pretty recently and I remember it's a family I don't know very well. And I remember thinking like I want to get to know these people better. Because a cake Yeah, because they got this cake.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:26
You know what my experience was? It was that like, I like chocolate things but not vanilla things. I didn't like vanilla ice cream as a kid I'm fine with vanilla ice cream now but like I wanted to go to the party where there was chocolate cake not vanilla cake, right? But they make chocolate sheet cakes. Like I know it's sometimes there was chocolate cake and then I would be happy and if there wasn't that I would cry and call my mom so really
Molly 17:47
like there were there are very few cakes that I would refuse to eat. Can we talk a little bit about cakes we would refuse to eat because I would say you essentially refused to eat that white cake I brought over Yeah, I don't
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:59
like it at all.
Molly 18:02
Wow.
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:04
I mean thank you okay,
Molly 18:05
what so what kind of cake I mean, so you don't like cake right? I'm guessing you have a vast spectrum of cakes you would refuse to eat well but can you tell me a few of
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:15
them I mean like refuse is a strong word like what I like you know if I was invited to your party and us and you like served a white sheet cake as your as your birthday cake would I like stand up on the table and like you know make a scene. Yeah, cuz that would be pretty funny. Like I'm imagining myself right now standing standing on the table and one foot in the cake. Like I don't actively hate cake it's just it always makes me feel like I want a different dessert. Wow, I like this but this this one no I kind of do actively hate really
Molly 18:47
oh my god I just polished mine off as you can tell. So there are not a lot of cakes that I won't eat I find the the appearance of a German chocolate cake a bit off putting Yeah, I struggled the lumpy the lumpy coconut. Yeah, and the kind of like, you know,
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:02
like glaze was sort of like a slime.
Molly 19:06
It does it looks like slime with chunks in it. Yeah, that they put all over it. It's just not my favorite thing. Even though I love chocolate. I love coconut. I love nuts. They're nuts.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:17
I don't know if they're not in a German chocolate cake.
Molly 19:20
Okay, but cakes that I would refuse or cake or that have any sort of like a like a gelatinous fruit layer. Hmm. Oh cherry pie filling.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:32
Like like a even if it's like a jam or jelly like Victoria sandwich. I only go from bake off
Molly 19:39
if it's like a jam or jelly. That's cool. But like picture okay, picture you're going to a cafeteria. I haven't been to a cafeteria and
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:46
I saw one of the cakes you're talking about at QFC this morning. It was like the strawberry shortcake. Yeah, no,
Molly 19:51
I can't I cannot handle it. It's like to like gelatinous fruit. It doesn't even taste like fruit and I don't want any part of that. So yeah, if I think countered that I'm thinking about so often when I'm teaching, I wind up sometimes in settings where I'm like, in a college cafeteria, or like a kind of like institutional food setting where there are like small pieces of sugar on small plates and you get to choose which one you want. In general, yeah, if it's got fruit in it, and I'm not feeling that it's going to be like fresh fruit or a particularly tasty jam. I'm going to turn it down. I will always go chocolate or always go vanilla. In that kind of context. I also don't really care about a lemon poppy seed cake. Just don't I just don't care. Now. On the other hand, almond poppy seed.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:40
Oh, yeah, like an almond poppy seed pudding cake now.
Molly 20:43
That is the stuff. I mean, that makes me feel crazy with lust.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:48
Okay, now we're talking. Now Now I know what you're gonna be serving at your birthday party. Yeah.
Molly 21:02
What else do we have?
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:03
I'm saying we've got one more and I think it's going to be bad.
Molly 21:06
Okay, wait, hold on. Let's read the label on this. It looks very unintelligent is
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:10
murmur Lu? CC Si. Si. KDGH. Cake SLI. Murmu Si, si. Si. KDGHK SLI?
Molly 21:25
How did you figure out what this was to purchase it?
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:28
What makes you think I did? Okay, I think I actually do know what it is.
Molly 21:34
I think it's marshmallow. Chocolate chip cookie dough cakes. Like that's
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:38
what it looks like. It looks bad. It looks like it was
Molly 21:44
rejected. To be clear. I don't know if I can do this. To be clear. This looks like three layers of chocolate cake with like layers of cookie dough kind of smeared between them like a sludge of cookie dough and then like a layer of marshmallow fluff on top of the cookie dough.
Unknown Speaker 22:02
Just what you want.
Molly 22:03
This looks like it would kill a person. Is it your marshmallow overlord? How is it? Well, the cookie dough looks softer than I would have expected. Is it like
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:16
this? I think if I were a cookie dough person, I would enjoy that. I'm not a cookie dough person. I like have you ever tried taking you know, you know cookie dough? The popular snack? Have you ever tried taking that and putting it in the oven for a while? No, Ben it did. I like it. So I don't
Molly 22:33
I find this like so crazy sweet. I'm really excited about the marshmallow part of it. Oh, yeah. Let's get in on some of them. And I want to have a little bit of the marshmallows. That is that right? Yeah, that must have felt like a little marshmallow blooper on top. I'm here for that. Now. Why is there not chocolate cake with marshmallow filling? That would be really good.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:54
There there is. It's just it. That's what they also added the cookie dough. I'm sure you can get a chocolate cake with marshmallow filling without cookie dough somewhere.
Molly 23:03
Okay, Matthew, if you had to eat any of these again. Oh, chocolate overlord. 1,000%. Yeah, chocolate Overlord is the way to go. Yeah, yeah. Okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:12
And you liked the vanilla one.
Molly 23:13
I mean, I like it in in the style chick way. And Hi. I am not someone who I find this style just to be a really pleasurable feeling. And I think that you maybe are like, I remember you telling me once when you were editing something written? You told me you're allergic to sentimentality. Oh, that
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:32
does sound like something. Yeah, I
Molly 23:34
remember you wrote it into the margin. But But I feel like you've also told me you're allergic to nostalgia. And like nostalgia gets a bad rap. I mean, like nostalgia is what like creates like, Make America Great Again, right? I don't believe that about nostalgia broadly.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:50
Right? Like, no cake cake. Nostalgia. Seems pretty harmless. I agree. I just don't experience it in the same way as you I experienced like,
Molly 24:01
what's something you felt nostalgic about recently?
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:04
Oh, like, you know, 90s music like all the time? Yeah. Yeah. Like and it's it's that I can't I can't enjoy it the same way I did when it was brand new. Yeah. And like, that makes me feel old. And I don't like feeling old. And like I remember when I was when I was young, and like things weren't better than things are now. Yeah, like being being like, a grown up is better. But but you can't have you noticed. You can't go back and be young again. And if you try it doesn't go very well. Yeah, you hurt something. Either either emotion emotionally or physically, but usually. Yeah,
Molly 24:44
yeah. I was feeling nostalgic recently for what it was like to be me when I was like a college student living in France. And so basically, like not worrying about money because I I had like an allowance. I had delicious food cooked for me by my host mother twice a day, probably lots of access. And I think I felt this. I mean, I think I was I was pretty lost and like quite, I think it's very easy to get lost in France insecure. Like, like it lost in terms of identity. Okay, I didn't know I was lost at the time, but I think I was like, I just caught I used to, like, just walk for hours and hours and hours and I like Miss that kind of unencumbered life.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:34
So why why do we? Oh, no, this is about just about to be like a real question. Yeah. Why do we like give ourselves all of these unnecessary encumbrances?
Molly 25:46
Oh, well, no, I think about this all the time. Like, my my two children are tremendous. incumbrances Yeah. And take so much from me all the time. And yet, I feel that my life has more meaning because of them. Yeah, like, I feel that I have a I feel like I am more myself,
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:09
ya know, there's definitely like a very strong, strong connection between like, the need, the need for meaning and like encumbrances, that we that we choose are like how we create meaning.
Molly 26:21
I mean, every now and then I think to myself, well, Mali at any given time, like you could pack up and go live in another country, with your family or without them. But I'm not going to write big or like, somehow I wound up in Seattle. And like, I'm very lucky to own a home here that I'm able to afford, or most of the time. And, and yet, it's like it foreclosed all these other decisions. Like I could have been somebody who like every now and then when I go to well, especially when I go to New Mexico. Oh, when I'm teaching in New Mexico, or going to New Mexico for our first time, I often feel like what would it be like? Like, what would my life be like if I just picked up with my entire family? And we went somewhere else? Like, I can't even fathom it. I've been in Seattle for so long. And I have like foreclosed all of these other things. Because now I have many things that tie me here. No. And I think I think
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:14
like on the whole, like closing doors is good. Because otherwise you like burn out all your brain cycles, thinking about like, I could do this, or I could do this?
Molly 27:24
For sure. I mean, I think that's a huge part of the relief of these incumbrances. Yeah, that's true. Cool. So
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:30
we solve that great. Okay, well, what should we call that segment that we're definitely going to do again?
Molly 27:36
Let's call it
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:38
the encumbered life.
Molly 27:40
Let's call it Molly and Matthew, discuss adulthood
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:43
and Cumber sandwiches?
Molly 27:45
No, I've been thinking a lot lately, because it seems like everybody I know has been going on vacation. And like vacation with like a capital V. Like the kind of thing that costs like 1000s of dollars, you know, like, like, they're losing their V card. They're big cartel. They're like going to Europe or going to like another country. Right? This is not just like going on a road trip with the family and camping. And I feel so nostalgic. That's so far from my existence right now.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:15
Yeah, I mean, you will you will be able to do that again, at some point if you want to.
Molly 28:20
Oh, I want to Oh, man. Okay, well, anyway, this is called the sad Spilt Milk.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:27
I don't think that was sad. I think it was just real. Yeah.
Molly 28:31
Speaking of real, Matthew, I feel like maybe there are a couple things I learned about supermarket cakes that I should share. Before we wrap this up. What have we learned? Well, so just in case people have wondered, and I wondered, most cakes that we see at the grocery store in the bakery section arrived at the grocery store pre baked and frozen. Sure. But even when that is the case, usually they are decorated on site. Yeah, that makes sense. It makes sense because you can call your local grocery store and like get a custom cake or whatever and they're going to have to decorate it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:05
Yeah, you can write whatever you want on the card. It will come back saying welcome little sweaty however.
Molly 29:10
Yeah, okay. Of course some stores do have in house bakeries, but most do not. Yeah. I'm now really curious about the Safeway secret like behind the scenes that you discover. I mean, that looked like a full on bakery. You should have seen how many speed racks there. Were back there. You know, like the tall racks that hold sheet pans. Also, unfortunately, none of the cakes we got today are from Costco, but apparently Costco has the best basic birthday.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:39
I have heard about the Costco sheet cake and probably I'm sure I've eaten it at some point. I assume it's very large, right?
Molly 29:45
I mean, I would guess and I like like a like an acre like a KCUR Yeah, hectare.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:51
It's one hectare of case that's bigger or smaller. Tears bigger than an acre. Okay, well,
Molly 29:55
that's ag ter. Yeah. Okay, so that's all we have to say about supermarket can AIX
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:00
all right so do we have any spilled mail? We do?
Molly 30:03
Shall I read it? Sure
this is from listener Brooke. Hi, Matthew and Molly. I just recently listened to the soft serve episode and I was surprised that you didn't say anything about Dairy Queen blizzards. In my opinion, they are the best way to eat soft serve. I'd love to hear your ranking of the different flavors of Blizzard whether you've had them or not brick really good. My top three are Pumpkin Pie Blizzard. The chocolate covered strawberry and smores The worst thing is that all three are seasonal, so I can't have them year round. Thanks for the laughs listener
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:42
Brooke. Okay, this is this is really interesting. I I want to pull up the current seasonal Blizzard menu so we can rank them.
Molly 30:50
Okay. Okay, let's do it. And God hold on listener Brooke. I gotta say I love this question. And wow, I do not like the sound of the blizzards you like me? I know knew. I do not want a Pumpkin Pie Blizzard. I don't want a chocolate covered strawberry and I think based on my feeling about the sort of sharp marshmallow
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:15
Oh, yeah, we take situation we just like to have in blizzard.
Molly 31:21
Okay, hold on Matthews pulling up the menu. All right,
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:23
summer Blizzard flavors. 2023 Okay, okay, are you ready? So first of all, I would say like my regular like, of the of the normal ones. It's gonna be the one with the brownie chunks. The butter finger and the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. So view them all here we go. Alright. Peanut Butter puppy chow smores Oreo Brookie. Cotton candy and chocolate dip strawberry,
Molly 31:49
man. Okay, and what are the the standard flavors? Okay, because I don't want I don't want any of those. None of them. Chocolate chip
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:57
cookie dough turtle pecan clustered choco brownie extreme. And then the classics. Oreo Reese's butter finger m&ms, Heath, and Snickers and then there's a couple of royal ones were they like in Jack? No, I don't want the slime into the middle. Okay, all right, Matthew.
Molly 32:13
Do your ranking now that you know what the seasonal ones are?
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:17
Okay of the seasonal ones. And I think I may have tried one or two of these. Am I okay, so very curious about peanut butter puppy chow. I'm gonna put that at number one. I'm going to say Oreo. Brookie is number two smores is number three. Choco dipped strawberry number four and cotton candy sounds like a crime.
Molly 32:34
I don't want any seasonal flavors. However, I do want to shout out I want to shout out a different seasonal flavor. You know what you and I had a Dairy Queen and yes, it was it was like hot cocoa. It was like hot cocoa flavored. And it wasn't hot. We had Oreos added to it. Yeah, so it was basically nothing
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:55
we asked them to add Oreos. I think it was like Oreo hot cocoa. Okay. Well, it was it was great. I think it
Molly 33:02
was like October maybe so maybe this is like a fall flavor sounds like it but anyway, basically the the ice cream part was chocolate hence the hot cocoa
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:12
but it wasn't just chocolate. He tasted like Swiss Miss cocoa powder like hot cocoa mix. Okay.
Molly 33:18
I don't totally remember. Like,
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:20
how is that different from a chalk from chocolate soft serve? I don't know. But I that's that was what my brain identified.
Molly 33:26
And then it had Oreos. That is my number one. That was great. That was my number one. And I think
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:30
I think why for the show. Laurie got the pumpkin pie. Really? Yeah. Laurie loves pumpkin pie anything. Wow.
Molly 33:37
Okay. And then my second favorite.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:40
Wait a minute. Hey,
Molly 33:42
I'm not done. Sorry. And then my number two I think would be Butterfinger. Yeah. Number three. Regular Oreo.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:48
Yeah. Do you think that one of the ones one of the season was was called the Oreo? Brookie. Do you think it's named for listener Brooke?
Molly 33:55
I hope so. Yeah, I hope so. Hey, wait listener. Brooke had a PS Oh, great. Did Molly ever get the recipe for the pumpkin bread with cornmeal in it? I was so intrigued by that idea. Well, yes listener Brooke. I did. I scanned it for you and you can find it in our show notes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:11
I haven't now but wow for you. Okay.
I just finished a romance that I really enjoy called set on you by Amy Lee. And it was a really fun I wrote moderately steamy, but actually pretty steamy romance between a fitness trainer and a firefighter. And it's genuinely funny. The main character crystal is a delight. And I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series, which is about like crystals friend. That one's called X's and O's. Get it?
Molly 34:47
I get it. Okay. X is E X E S Yeah. And
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:50
O's as in the big one. Yeah. I highly recommend this book. There is some very frank discussion of body shaming, and it's so so that is a content war. If, if that is not for you, but I love this
Molly 35:02
weight, quick question, is it a frank discussion as in like, the body shaming?
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:08
Oh, yes, yes, absolutely. The main character experiences body shaming. Okay. Yeah, that is that is part of like what she has to work through in the book.
Molly 35:17
That sounds really satisfying that that there is like this steamy romance and also this personal transformation, which I know is like a hallmark of a good novel and a good romance novel as well. But anyway,
Unknown Speaker 35:31
I like that. That sounds really good set on you by Amy Lee.
Molly 35:35
Matthew, do you have any tips for how readers can find great romance like this?
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:40
Okay. Yes, I absolutely do. I assume they are still doing this. This was a thing that I think started during the pandemic, but I would be surprised if they're not still doing it. Go to the website for the Ripped Bodice.
Molly 35:50
Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:51
they have, like it can you can do it as a subscription or probably a one time thing. Also, I'm kind of speculating here. But they will you can tell them like what you're into. And they'll send you a box of like four books that they pick out that they hand select for you. And there's going to be at least one thing and probably many things in the box that you're going to enjoy. It's it's not going to cost a ton and it's a great store.
Molly 36:15
And so is that where you find things.
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:17
Um, we we were getting the box for a while I usually find things through through like online recommendations, or like I will because I love checking ebooks out from the library. I will often like do a search for like, you know what, what is like new, newly released and in, in romance that's available as an ebook delightful. Okay, yeah. If you're if you're not, if you read ebooks, and you're not checking ebooks out from your library, get on it. It's Oh, yes.
Molly 36:43
Well, and the best part is, is that if you like you don't even need to have like an e reader. You. I mean, I use the Libby app on my phone. And strangely, I felt like I read faster. When I'm reading an ebook on my phone. Somehow I feel like I just get through it faster.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:00
Yeah. And I mean, the great thing is like what it's once you once you start, like figuring out like what kind of romances you like, like there are going to be more that that are going to be like, you know, a good genre and, you know, tone fit for you. And, and it's not it's not going to be hard to find them. I don't think
Molly 37:16
great. All right. Well, our producer is Abbey circuit tele.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:20
Molly's got a newsletter called I've got a feeling and it's available at Molly weisenberg.substack.com. I subscribe and so should you. Oh,
Molly 37:28
thanks, Matthew. Matthew makes music and he has a band called early to the airport.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:33
Yeah, we definitely by the time you hear this, my cover or cover of Robins dancing on my own will be out because I'm supposed to get the final mix today. And that was that was fun and challenging to record but we've also got some original songs just early to the airport wherever you get music awesome. Five is on Reddit everything spilled milk.reddit.com where you can hang out with other people who listen to the show and talk about like what what you would like to have injected into your cake. Is it cookie dough or some other sort of like semi solid? You can also talk about the semi Sonic because it is closing time for this episode. Hi Molly. Matthew Amster-Burton Nice
Molly 38:22
oh god I'm so pumped about this. I'm Are we recording? We are recording. Matthew. I have not been so excited for an episode in quite some time. I'm glad