Welcome back to What Have You. I am Rachel Jankovic. I'm Becca Merkel. Today, we sit looking over a cow pasture.

Yeah. This is a new

A new venue. New take. New hot look. And and it smells like a cow pasture right outside. It's pretty great.

Basically, a mud pit with cows in it is what it is right now.

But not as bad as it is sometimes. It's a little drier. It's a little bit of the springtime turning a corner into

pleasant weather. The ground is not, like, fully a sopping wet sponge like it was a couple weeks ago. Yeah. It's slightly dry, but it's also that perfect wonderful time when you go out to plant things, and and it just easily digs. And you forget that in in August potential for everything.

Yeah. Shovel will just skitter across the top of the ground.

The the shovel will chip a tooth when you try to get a get a bite of soil. Exactly. And you're like, well, it turns out I don't weigh enough to get this shovel.

Have been having a time because out in my garden last year, I had planted garlic, and you plant garlic in the fall, you know, like a bulb, and then it

Yeah.

Comes up and does its little thing. And two years ago, I had ordered special hardneck varieties of garlic and planted it, and then I saved it was really delicious too. And I saved some and replanted them the next year. So, like, look at me. Sustainable.

Just you

can't even believe it. But then what I proceeded to do was be out of town during the time when I should have cut the

scapes off. How how when do you cut the scapes off? How big should they be when you

came off? When they just get up there and you see them and they're curly and whatever. Okay. But, like, what

length is the time when

you I it probably depends on

the different varieties. Have garlic that's, like, this tall.

Like The scape is the bloom. So the garlic is this tall, but it won't

I think it's I'll have to go look at it.

No. It won't have the bud till later. So it's just the bloom that

you're trying to get off.

Yeah. It's basically the stem and the flower is what you're cut that's the scape. And so you wanna you're saying I don't have any. You don't have any. No.

How do you know?

Because I my garlic is also like this, and it doesn't have

any. Okay.

But it that's more of a summertime operation. And I was not there. It was early. Well, the garlic is growing early, but when the scapes it's probably I don't remember. When?

June? Let's let's just guess that we'll

somewhere else. You don't behind. No.

You're not

behind on my garlic.

I am. But so what happened was I didn't cut the scapes because I was gone. And by

the time I got there,

it flat yeah. It it went to seed. I I basically wrote it off. I was like, well, that was dumb. I missed it.

You take the scapes. They make a really amazing pesto if you just blend them up with anyway, that's a side point. But so so I they go the whole distance. They get brown. It's time to really pull them up.

Right. I I pull them. They're like runts because I didn't cut the skin. You know, they were there, but they were like, this is stupid. And I just wrote them off.

And I pulled them all up in the fall sometime, and I they they're, like, lying in bundles across the garden bed, and I never even moved them. And so now, going out, what do I have? I have a thick mat of all the cloves together in one wad, all growing in the dirt there. And at the other end, all the seed fell down, and it is all a wild mat of tiny little garlics coming up from seed. So then it was like, oh

my goodness. A new garlic farm.

Yeah. So then I went out and just dug up a clump of the of the cloves that were all coming up, and they're, you know, like, this tall too. You know, like, four or five inches. So then I start separating them, but the roots are, like, eight inches long. These things are, like, not minor.

And so that takes a whole thing to disentangle all the roots. And then I planted, yeah, like, a full acre and a half of my garden with these stupid they're probably gonna be the world's most miniature garlics because they already were miniature garlics. And it's like now I have

Now you're getting it.

To myself a special localized teeny garlic.

It's the flight of the concords. Like, the children are having children, and it's a ridiculous Russian doll situation.

I know. And so but, anyway, I we'll see what happens, but I'm like, I can't I don't wanna just throw these all away. It's the so anyway, planted them. And now, of course, I don't know which variety it is because I had two different ones. And hardneck is really genius.

I did it real I decided to do that because

I think I got hardneck, but

I can't remember my decision making process. I if you get hardneck, you can't do the cool braid, I don't think. You can just sort of bundle it. But I think the kind of garlic you buy at the store is softneck, so, like, it's readily available, whatever. So I got the hardneck.

And it's like when you get the clove or the head of garlic, it only has, like it looks small, and it only has, like, five or six cloves. Oh. But everyone is huge because even though the overall thing, you just crack it, it it doesn't have all those Yeah. Like, million little ones. It's just a few really big beautiful garlic cloves.

Anyway, I don't know. We might not have that this time. We might have little wee garlic.

I did our first time planting garlic, but I can't remember why I what I did. I had no preference on I think I settled on hardneck and I ordered but I it's like I don't know what these different varieties are. Like, how what does it mean?

Yeah. I have one that was

like a before I have

any opinion. German something and one was a Montana something and Fun. Anyway, but now I don't know which is which, and and they're gonna be quarter sized. So Well I don't know.

It sounds

But the garlic is having a big time in my garden. And I've got sun. And my tulip pots that last time I reported, I only had one tiny little They're coming now? They're coming? Yes.

Yes. I have more

Mine.

Leaves than I've ever had. Now that doesn't mean anything good will come of it, but I'm just saying we've got we've got some signs of progress.

Piece of bad news, and that is that the two planters that I planted with bulbs outside

Gosh. Squirrel came and ate them all?

No. The dog the dog did not eat them. But what did happen is that there was some digging

Mhmm. Heard. Of course.

But then so it's like the dog jumbled up the bulbs and made the dirt uneven, but now tulips are coming up. Yeah. So you're like, well, I can't really I don't wanna mess with it.

Maybe you and I can both post some

pictures of our guys. Tulips. Guys. My also, I think I said it. I'm sure I told you guys my great update about the sod.

I I mean, probably I told you about the desolation that occurred when I got the sod and tried to lay that stuff on a absolute murky water bed of mud. And it was the most out of control sensation you've ever had crawling on sod that felt like you were on the open seas with the with the mud underneath it. It was horrendous. Mhmm. But I scattered all my cute little bulbs.

Yeah. Right.

You know? Yeah. Thinking this will be pretty and they come up every year and it just looks like trash. And the fact that it looks like literal trash has been scattered out on our one little area of of yard. And this year, I feel like in my heart that they look a tiny bit better.

Okay? I was like cute. Really? Doesn't look so much like packing peanuts as it and I have blue ones Oh. In the front because I love it when those naturalize.

And I actually still think it could get good if they keep multiplying every year. You would then get more of a impressive amount of them would not make you think it was just flex of garbage candy wrappers. But every time it comes up,

I just get the giggles about like,

oh, masterful. A masterful hand. Refer to

it as your bold blonde.

Yeah. It's my bold blonde. It's my look at that. What was she thinking? Know?

Well, I a few years ago, I planted tulips out in my rhubarb bed. So, like, I separated a bunch of rhubarb, made it into more of a rhubarb bed, and then I planted tulips through it because I thought that will be pretty, you know, when they come up. And I I don't know. Like, it's just the classic case of what it looks like in the picture and what it looks like in real life.

Are you having a Pinterest bunny

roll kind of a look? No. It's like they're actually stunning tulips. They're these huge, like, huge parrot tulips. But they are flaming orange and bright purple, which is not they're not the two colors that I thought I was putting in there.

Like, I thought they would be more of a harmonious look, but it's not harmonious. It's just wild. But they're such enormous cool tulips that I think they have started to like, they're they're actually multiplying. So this year, they're all coming up in the garden, but they are in clumps, which is very exciting. But I have a feeling that it's only the orange ones.

I'm not positive. I think the purple might be dwindling out, and the orange are really ripping along. And so I never meant to have the sort of electric orange rhubarb patch.

But why not? Why not have the electric rhubarb patch?

I'm sure I said this, but I planted all of these narcissus along my little driveway under the hedge that I laid. You know? And I spent forever picking out all white, and I wanted them to be early, mid, and late. Yeah. So, you know, I put them all in so that I have a longer display.

They all come up rubber duck yellow. Like, what on I think there's like two white ones in there. And now I have like they're they're all staggered. They are all coming to me. So now I have a like prolonged display.

That's It's not just a change of plans.

It's different.

It's different. Planted a bunch of daffodils because you can have a bunch of daffodils in the country and the deer won't eat

them. Mhmm.

What you can't have is a is a nice looking bed of anything where we are right now. So it ends up being like a weird shaved hatch with some daffodils in it. It's not like a nice border. It doesn't. It's more like here's a here's a little stripe where by the absolute sweat of our brow and turmoil did we break into the earth and put these bulbs.

The funny thing about them is I also got a variety of different Mhmm. Heights and sizes. Yeah. They were actually very cute. They're just very cute.

Not and they're not in the spot to make them shine. Like Yeah. It's kinda like having a cute flower arrangement on your bathroom counter with all the stuff you need to put away.

Yeah. Right. Right.

Right. Right. Like, could be pretty, but it's not really the crowning glory of

I the have all these little lettuce varieties that I had planted, and they're little. And I just went out a couple days ago, put them all into one bed. So I've got rows of different varieties and some red and some green and whatever. And I was feeling pretty like, hooray. I like, lettuce is out.

We're gonna have salads of power. Anyway, then I pull up. Like, the next morning, I pull up in my car, and there is a cat just in the lettuce bed just scrabbling all of my lettuce out, like, threw the lettuce everywhere. And for no reason that I can tell because

You mean you started the lettuce? It was all plants of lettuce? Yes.

I had all these little starches. So I had these little rows of little Why?

Just little perpetrating the fruit of the devil.

Spirited cat. And so then I shouted and flung my coffee at him, and he ran away. And then I went and I found all my little lettuce plants and put them back in, but he had, like, curse scuffled up two whole rows. And I'm just like, put I've never even seen this cat before. And he just came for my lettuce.

Like, he's very mean.

That's actually very funny.

I know. But I have I put it back, but I just feel put out with it.

Well And there's a rabbit. I need to say I feel like I need to say a positive thing, and a positive thing gets said. You say

a positive thing, I just have to tell you that a rabbit came and ate off all my saffron crocus.

What you really mean Chomp is did all off. You are turning into mister McGregor. Thoroughly. Thoroughly. He just buzzed off all the saffron crocus.

And I'm like, what am I gonna do

about a rabbit? A maple tree that we planted in an inauspicious time. We planted a maple tree, And we picked a spot based on how it would look with the view from the house. Like, was a good spot to put it. It was a poor spot to put it when you when you consider that we had no hoses that could reach it.

So just out of reach of the tender care of water. And then the deer just ate the thing down to a nubbin's. Oh. So now it is like an angle high maple bush. And I hate to get rid of it because it's trying to live.

I think

it'll do fine.

It'll get up to cut off the dead tree part of it. Yeah. Because they they just ate everything. They gave it Yeah. Discouragement.

Well, that was like my Chicago fig that every every year would die to the ground. And then sometime in July, I'd be like, oh, there's a fig leaf. It's coming up. And then after about three years of that, it just

You're like, let's just not live this fizzled out. Let's just not live this panic.

But anyway, you were gonna say something good. I just needed to get my bad thing in there again.

Bright side

of it. Bright side. Yeah.

We have two arctic willows that just can't get enough of their life. And they're just and it's like the one plant we planted up there that is pleased with itself. Oh, that's good. And the one that was closest to our house died, and I don't know why. Closest to the door.

But then we planted a forsythia there only because we couldn't find Arctic willows. We wanted another one, but it wasn't at the time. And then I think mom gave me a forsythia, so I just put it in the hole. And now I know why the Arctic Willow died because that Forsythia gets I don't I have no idea why it faces such damages right there, but it is always getting stuff dropped on it, things knocked off the porch, the branches crunched, but the Forsythia just keeps leaping and bounding back.

Okay. Good.

And I'm like, well, we're just really giving it a rough start to give it Train it. Train it. Yeah. To get it to kinda Yeah. You know, have a will to live.

To know that it's gonna have a rough and tumble time.

But in other areas, nothing we do looks good. So, you know, we just kinda we're hanging on for dear

We life out poured we didn't. We got someone to pour a very cool concrete thing in our backyard that has now committed us to a whole situation because we are gonna have it's impossible to describe. I should never have brought this up. It's gonna sound so weird. But It's actually not at all weird.

It's very cool. It's like a sidewalk. Picture a sidewalk that goes in a rectangle following the general gist of the backyard. The cows are getting into it over there.

I don't think I've ever seen cows.

Yeah. They're kinda are they playing or they fight?

I don't

know. But, anyway, you picture, like, a square a rectangle. So in the center will be lawn, and around the outside will be planting beds. So it's, like, four four feet deep all the way around the edge, deeper on one end, whatever. But it is gonna be lawn in the center, and then it has kind of cool decorative corners to try to make it look slightly more formal.

But the real key here is it will look like a more formal shape lawn. There's a little round hole in each corner to plant something. So I'm thinking a shrub of some sort. But because the corners are thicker and have this little extra flourish, it means that it really is, in fact, a racetrack for the grandchildren with big wheels because you can cut the corner. It's not like a it is a full 90 sharp 90 degree on the outside.

Yeah. But you can you can cut the corner and and do a a racetrack situation.

It's good.

And none of them are quite big wheel sized yet, but Badr has been running the laps on that sidewalk. It is just a hit.

Oh, it's good.

And it's like it's actually a long way that

you could ride on your Big Wheel, and you can be,

like, in the backyard still.

You're gonna have to make a little a little parking garage for Big Wheels.

I have a spot for it. It's gonna be kind of like yeah. There's a I've thought through this. I've thought through this. But, anyway but we went and committed ourselves, and I'm a little worried because now it's like well, it looks like we just did a big concrete project.

So everything's like looks like that cow pasture over there. It's a lot of mud. It's a lot of bumps. It's a lot of clods. And But, you know, I know

someone who has a lot of garlic cleaning to put

stuff somewhere. I know. But I can't plant back there until we, like, get the we need to get it flattened and tilled or whatever. And I'm like, but if we don't get it done, like, ASAP, we're gonna find ourselves in the summer with a wild thistle patch.

There with a drill bit trying to break up claws.

A thistle patch, no lawn, and a weird conglomerate of concrete back there. So, anyway, I we're gonna get there, but it's it's a constant battle. Indeed. But, also, I just remembered that there is something that I think we need to go back, Rachel, and we need to revisit and tell the people.

Okay. Go. What was it?

People who have been with us all these years. I checked with my husband, and he's like, yeah. Yeah. You could you could do it now. Remember when

Oh, I don't know what's coming, guys.

When, like

I'll be a surprise to you all.

Years ago, we were podcasting, and we pulled over because Ezra was sad.

Yes. We really lost the plot.

We were talking about not letting your children just undress for dress ups.

It was a really odd time because when I said because we were just talking

about were we talking about that anyway?

We're like talking about house rules

and just basic

wisdom. No. I think it was, like, the kinds of rules that you can have for your kids that are not weird to have.

Like, like, take your clothes off. And then right as we are in the middle of this, a man just steps forward and undresses.

But we're, like, on side of the road. Side of the

of our childhood home. And that and then we both lost it completely. And then the part that that our dear listeners don't know

is that we had

it the part but the reason that we fell apart to such an extent is that as we're laughing and, like, what is happening here? I We're not

this road is not at the beach. No. No. We're just why in the middle of town you need to change your clothes. Right the road.

As we are both gasping for air, I say, Rachel, that is our city councilman. And then afterwards, I was like, shoot. Because maybe I shouldn't have said who it was. And I tell I call my husband, and he's like, oh my word. Have Camden take that out because he was about to have to go to city council to get something or other day.

Some tent something was going down at city council. And he's like, let's maybe just wait a couple weeks, then you can tell people that it was the city councilman.

Coming back to say that one time, he got surprised. But I'm just saying, like,

there was a much bigger joke that was happening right there is that it was our literally one of Moscow's city councilman.

Of our best ruling elite.

And he is one who has it in for us. He's like He doesn't like us. He's a real hostile tot.

And He did that to us.

He did that. Mhmm. Anyway, I just felt like we should we should go back, and we should set that

record straight. It now that it was like

I know. But the other day, was like, Ben, I never said.

I wanna tell

the crowd. Said, and I tell, like, people should know. And he was like, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They can know now.

I think, actually, he wouldn't care if he knew this was public. I think he'd be rather proud of it.

Yeah. No doubt.

Anyway, sorry. That was just a little thread from the past.

Just something that came

up on phone. To get tied.

Yeah. But That is funny.

Yeah. Anyway, Rachel, what do you have that's more edifying for us?

Oh, wow. That's a little pop

Put you on the

spot. Pop quiz.

How about this? Easter's coming Yeah. Next week. Isn't this week as Palm Sunday? Yeah.

And then next week is Easter. Uh-huh. Give us all some better ideas.

Oh, man. I haven't I haven't locked in on nailing this quite yet. So but Easter is well, we were just talking about I always do sourdough croissants. Yeah. We always do the same.

Yeah. It can be different dishes, but it's the same genre of Mhmm. Grilled. Usually, there's grilled lamb and there's ham and there's that's usually the only two main meats, isn't it?

I yeah. When we host, I I Everyone there. Always do lamb, and I sometimes do ham.

We might have done a beef of some kind.

This year, we're Rachel's hosting at her house, and I'm hosting at my house. So we're gonna be doing separate meals, but I will probably do a ham just to throw in the mix. Yeah. But the lamb for us is the nonnegotiable.

The grilled, like, tell you a secret about myself. Not just myself, but I just don't like lamb very much. So I like it for, like, a bite.

Mhmm.

And then I'm done with it. But shrimp is this way for me too? Sure. So I can like a shrimp, and then the texture just hits like you're eating a finger. Well And I can't do it anymore.

I it's so it's like I can be like, oh, that's delicious. But also hard stop. Yeah. And we talked about this because I found out I found this out recently that this is a thing that a lot of people have. And I I don't even know what it's called, but that it is actually common.

It's not just a thing that that I have. Okay. That is things that you are enjoying eating it, and then you hit an incredibly hard line. Yeah. Scrambled eggs.

It's like that. No. That's That's totally delicious. And then, actually, I will gag if I have Yeah. One more bite

of this.

I know. That's true. And shrimp is that way. Sushi is that way for me. Like, I can really enjoy it.

But the last on a sushi roll, unless I'm starving, the last piece of sushi is gonna make me gag. Like, can't and it's funny because you're like, this is delicious.

I'm with you on shrimp on that, and same for me would be well, no. I think calamari is one where I would like I can enjoy maybe one.

Yeah. Calamari, I'd run out of gas on that too. Yeah. But the other thing I don't hate it. I just can't.

Duck and Duck. Yeah. Lamb. That's true. It is a textural thing for me that is like, it feels too fleshy at some point.

You're and it can happen with other things. It just doesn't what I'm trying to say is, I really like having the lamb or having a grilled lamb, but for some reason, it doesn't ever feature as what I would eat as a whole protein. Like, I wouldn't eat a lamb chop for like,

I would get tired. I actually I yeah. The the grilled leg of lamb, always have at Easter, but it it is true that I would take probably one little slice. Yes. Would And it's delicious.

Yeah. But it would it would stop.

Major on all of the sides.

Salads. Yeah. The salad and stuff.

It is funny too. We've probably talked about this before, but I have realized the more we have traveled around, I never used to think that the Northwest had any specific cuisine, anything. Oh. You know? It just felt like, you know, well, we just eat normal stuff.

And but it it isn't true. Like Yeah. The Northwest has a very it's very produce forward. Yeah. Like, lots more fresh veg and salad and, like, a lot more than you would find in other parts of the country necessarily.

Not everywhere, but you know what I mean? And you know

what else? Classic southern food.

A lot yeah.

Southern food the same as

would be a lot of fried things or, you know

Fried or slow cooked.

So Yeah.

Veg that has been cooked like collards

Collards.

Or something is a it's a it's like a different

Yeah. And I think there's there's something that I would say

that the Northwest Northwest food actually part of the this is gonna sound funny, but I think what could wear it, That actually a feature of it is variety. A feature of it.

Because one of the things

that I don't think you can pull off here is doing the same thing. Like, I'm always confused by we don't do the same you have things that are benchmark traditions.

Mhmm.

But the whole southern thing where this is the established menu and people have to make these particular like Yeah. You have handed down particular recipes and the entire family insists on it to the death that it will be the same deviled eggs or it will be the The

the same mac and cheese

side. Thing. It has to be the same thing. And here, I actually think that people would feel like you are phoning it in a little hard if you're doing the same thing all the time. Like, there's something where we like it to be

different. Well and It's funny too because I was just chatting with Belle because we're talking about our Easter menu. We gotta get our heads around it. But to me, like, the sort the like, an Easter menu is a lot of fresh, a lot of

Oh, yeah.

That's herbs, a lot of green, a lot of but I was like, but a for many people, I do think an e a traditional Easter dinner would be heavy on the, like, or

not that.

I do love mayonnaise.

But I actually don't know, but I would assume cheese with potatoes and ham. Ham and yeah. And it wouldn't necessarily be quite as veg look forward. Yeah. We do hit hard on the asparagus, the fresh herbs, the Yeah.

Like Lots of, like, lemon and kind of

Yeah.

Light. I I don't know. It's a

That's what we like best.

Yeah. But it is funny to me that, like, stuff that I just kind of took for granted as this is just a generic, nonregional something. I've started to realize, like, no. There is a regional thing.

Mean I always I I thought we were not coffee snobs.

Oh, and it turned out

we went to Indiana, and then I found out that I apparently my comparison of myself to people who live in Portland or Seattle

Yeah.

Right. Left me so far in the shade of coffee snobbery that I assumed I wasn't that way. But then you get yourself into a different context and you're like, oh my word. I I do have a

You know what's weird? Ben and I only just realized this about ourselves, this great difference between us. Both of us are from Idaho. Idaho native. I, born and raised in Moscow.

Him, born and raised in Boise. And Boise is 300 miles south, like, basically straight line south from us. Mhmm. But it is randomly one of those strange time zone crisscrosses where we are in the Western time zone, the Yeah. Pacific time zone.

And Boise, although just due south of us, is in the mountain time zone. And so, I don't know why that is.

It's because it follows a river, isn't it?

But I was talking the other day about, well, up in the Northwest, blah blah blah. And Ben was like, you know, it's weird. Like, I never ever in my life felt like I grew up in the Northwest. And he said, until, like, moving to Moscow in college, everybody acts like you're in the Northwest. And he said, growing up in Boise, he grew up in the Rocky Mountains.

Like, he grew up in the mountains. And I was like, what? We're obviously in the Northwest. And he's and then we were like, maybe it's the time zone. Like, maybe the fact that we grew up identifying with the Pacific side of things.

But he was like, no. Like, growing up in Boise, you're identifying more with the Colorado's of the world, which I think is really weird.

Yeah. But not that weird when you think they

are quite a bit more southern. Yeah. But still, the I mean, the Northwest is like Washington, Oregon, Idaho is the Pacific Northwest right there.

Right now. But I always thought we were where we are.

I mean, because he's like The inland the inland Pacific Northwest. Yeah.

And I but I also wouldn't when you because I think we're the outer edge, aren't we, of what you would call the Pacific Northwest because we're not we're really not by the Pacific. We're not. So, like, Montana is no longer No.

But see that Montana why would Ben grow up identifying more with Montana and we grow grew up identifying more with Washington?

Don't know.

Which is odd.

Can't tell you.

Yeah. I know. I'm just saying. Yeah. So when I talk about the cuisine of the Northwest, I think it probably is highly influenced by Seattle Portland.

Yeah. Boise would be way more I would have thought that that would be more Mormon influence.

Yeah. Maybe.

Down there. Like, it's a different it's because we're not yeah. We're definitely not. And

yeah. Anyway, that's a

random excursion. Variety, and I actually think that this is okay. I have something to say that I think is fun k. That I'll probably well, one hopes that I'll say it somewhere else in a more thought out manner Okay. Sometime.

But this be kind of the preview of a thought.

Sure. This is the scramble that she's gonna

lay Yeah. Exactly. You all know that we love hospitality. We do a lot of hospitality work and thought. And we just we love it.

We love the work of it. We love the fruit of it. You know, all kinds of stuff. Which actually reminds me, should tell you about a very funny dinner we had Monday. K.

It was great. It was hospitality in sort of its pure purest form. So it's very funny hospitality. It was old worldly. Okay.

But I'll come back to that. Okay. No. I won't because it's be way off topic. I'll just tell you really quickly right now.

Luke's last job, he had a lot of a lot of people under him, different teams, and he had a team in Milan and a team in outside of London. And he went there one time to see them all, they had had him there. But they were all coming here. Oh, you told me. All came coming.

You never told me how

it went. They all came to our house. And the reason I say it was hospitality in pure form is the just the hilarity of it being like, you're a foreigner who's here that we have some connection to you and we'd love to have you over and really just show you hospitality. Sure. And that's it.

That's the only there's no there's no, like, ongoing relationship or need for us to do this or anything that's gonna be you know what I mean? Like Sure. It's just like we would But to return the favor of your hospitality, you know. And but but all group of people from Milan don't look like they they don't look like we're dealing with the same breed of people that we ever deal with. And English and English is everyone's second language.

And while they're competent, they're maybe not it's maybe not that comfortable. And not everyone that we had knew each other. So it was like the British contingent, a Bosnian man, these people from Milan, and one of the ladies from Milan is actually Peruvian, but has been living in Milan. I mean, it's like a very funny. Someone from New Zealand was there.

It was a real wild. And I'll just tell you, when you gotta figure out what to feed that group of people Yeah. You're like, can't have nothing to do with pasta or tomato sauce. We're not going we're not even gonna act like we've heard of basil. Would be it would be bad form to act like we're allowed to have it.

We're not gonna give the poor Englishman tea. And the English people, not we're doing tea, but we're certainly not doing anything Indian. We're not approaching anything that we know that they outclass us by a long shot.

Yeah.

Yeah. And so in the end, we did the most normal thing you could do and did a taco night. Perfect. Yeah. We're like, well, they won't have a lot of experience with tacos.

They won't.

But the on the bright side, it and it was really was interesting. The whole thing was funny. We we did tacos in part because everyone doesn't know each other. They're probably gonna be jet lagged. It was an odd group of people, and this gives you a way to not get stuck in one location.

Yes. Yes. So it was like instead of doing a formal or formal or a more formal sit down dinner where you get parked in your spot. Yep. We were like, this gives people the graze around the buffet and sit wherever you want and change locations if you want to.

And so that's why we set up we actually our other option was Saltado. Yeah. Which is delish. Which is delicious, but it is more like you just get that food and then you sit down. You don't really have a reason to go back.

That's why we decided against Saltado, but then we had a Peruvian and I was like, good job us not doing Saltado. Like, let me make the cuisine of your homeland while you're here. And I'm really not that worried about making things that and just to be clear. Sure. I have we do we go rogue all the time, but that just seemed like too much.

But they were all very sweet and very kind. And one of the Italian guys ate more guac than I have ever seen a human consume. And when he would come back for like, come back to refill his plate.

Yeah.

He would lay a bed of guac on the plate. Like, probably, like, a cup and a half of it. And then and then put toppings and stuff on

it. Wow.

And Titus made the guac. It was very good guac. So I understood it, but I was like, wow. Yeah. That is different.

That's not one of the ways we've done it before. And it was very fun. And Bosnian guy was just a big fan of the sourdough chocolate cake, but kept being like, wonderful brownies. And which made it really funny because we were like, that well, it's a cake. And then someone else would be like, Devor told me I had to eat a brownie.

And I was like, well, it's a it's cake. Like, this is and we and we had this sort of go it was not like a controversy at all. It just kept what you just kept being like still not had a brownie. It's not a brownie. You don't

know what you're looking done it.

You don't know what you're looking at. It's a cake. And and then later when I was putting Ezra to bed, he is just sitting there. I would not have known he'd been paying any attention to any of this. But he just looked at me suddenly and said, brownie, and then died laughing, which was very funny because I was like, it's not a brownie, it's a cake.

And he thought it was so funny. And he doesn't eat he's never I don't think he's ever had a brownie. He doesn't know what he's talking about. But he knew that there was something funny about That's hilarious. The terminology of the brownie.

But all that, it was a very sweet and I will say that I made chocolate chip cookies because I was like, what's a real Mhmm. American

Yeah.

Unique to America in the sense and and you know what? It's pretty cute in a very funny way. I this is a theory I have about chocolate chip cookies. People don't want them off of a platter or on a cute tray. But if you serve them straight out of the oven on the parch like, I pull the whole parchment sheet out and put it on the counter, like, so they're cooling on the counter on the parchment sheet.

It's an excessively low brow way to offer Sure. A cookie. Like, it's not Sure. You know. But there's something about it that I think makes people feel like they're getting something out of their grandma's kitchen or something.

And it

just it just is very don't know. That's funny.

I haven't thought about that. I put them on a platter all the time.

But Well, I baked them during dinner, so they were hot. They were warm. I couldn't have stacked them or anything. Was too warm. It's soup But there was something I about

have often just served them hot off the tray on the parchment on the table.

It hits a different spot.

Yeah. But I've never thought about the difference. Because if I'm ahead of time, I put them on a platter. And if I'm not and I'm baking them while everybody's there, I sling them out on the table as is. But I've never noticed the difference

in very like you're something. I don't know. It feels like you were invited into the back room or something. Yeah. Yeah.

Something about it. But what was terribly cute was a whole group of very swanky looking people from Milan having their first chocolate chip cookie Oh, yeah. And connecting with it on a primal level. I was like, I'm glad you like a chocolate chip cookie. Like, that's good.

That's good.

Anyways That is good. That was my random hospitality experience.

About to tell us something else.

Okay. I think this is really one of the things, in spite of the fact that I love hospitality and we think about it all the time and we talk about it all the time, it's scripture doesn't. We have a lot of different applications of things that I have seen in scripture about hospitality due to the experiences you have as you do it. You know, like, I've and I know I've said that in here before about stuff like, it's interesting that all the commands about hospitality are about showing it. And in some ways, I think showing hospitality is better for the soul than like, that the important part of it is what it does to the giver.

There is an important element there. K. And I I you know, just different thoughts about hospitality. But then but one thing that isn't really spelled out in scripture is why it is so emphasized. It's not like it's fleshed out a ton.

Do you know what I mean? It's just like do it without grumbling. Do it, you know, like different Yeah. It it comes up a lot. It's a requirement for elders.

It's like it's it's a requirement for widows in the church to have been someone who did do this. There's so there's a lot of places where it's like almost like this is key character formation Yeah. Pre reqs. Like, you need this as your pre reqs for something. And then it just struck me and I realized observations from Captain Obvious in some ways.

But I was like, you know what? All of history is God getting ready for a dinner. True. That that all of this is preparation. Like Mhmm.

That everything that's happening and God is doing it in a wildly more intricate manner where he's making all of the guests and growing the guests into the guests they need to be and bringing all of these different elements together. But then when you are doing that work of trying to prepare to give a good thing. Mhmm. That just in the same way that, like, being creative is imitative of the character of God.

Right.

Getting ready for dinners Yeah. Is imitative of what God is doing Mhmm. In the earth Yeah. In the big picture. Right.

Like, the whole thing is we're getting ready for the marriage supper of the lamb. Mhmm. And I feel like that's something that is really wonderful to think about because you think, does God not understand the hour of darkness or the obviously, the Lord is not struggling with his work the way that we might struggle with ours. But it is actually I just think it is it is neat to think of the work of hospitality as imitating the work of God Mhmm. In history and through time.

Well

and it really, there are kind of two different ways to approach, like, throwing a big event. One is thinking the whole time about how it will make you look. You know, like, everyone will be so impressed. That's how

I do it. Yeah. That's

that this is, in fact, the preferred method. Yeah. This is how everyone will see that I'm such a good cook. This is how everyone will see I'm such a good hostess. This is gonna look so good on my Instagram.

This is gonna like, whatever. It's all very

Self serving.

Self serving, and the guests are kind of there more as props Yeah. Or an audience for you. But, if you're not doing it that way, which I hope you're not, it actually is so much more, like, you have to try it's very golden rule ish. It's kind of like, if I was a guest, what would make me comfortable? What would I enjoy?

How can I do this for them? How can they have a fun time? It's like you really can flip it and make it all about yourself. But if you're doing it the right way, it is a very consider others more important than yourself exercise. You know?

It's like, how can I do something for them that will cost me actually quite a lot of headache and Sure? Frazzle. But I'm gonna do it and I'm gonna give it to them.

But I also think, and I not that this was not a big deal for myself. So I'm using this as an example, but not because I think it's a a big deal. It's just recent for me. K. The whole concept of when I was thinking, if I was visiting Italy, then they were just doing this.

It's just a work trip. There's no other reason to come here to Idaho. Mhmm. So it's not like they're hitting stuff on their bucket list. No.

Like, while I'm there, I'm gonna see these big sites of America. We don't have that. So I don't know what they're gonna see while But you're I was thinking if I was in Italy in the same way, what would I want to experience? Yeah. Meaning, like, to me, it's more fun that they could come into the kitchen and see Yeah.

Things that would be totally bizarre and foreign Yeah. To them. And do actually one guy from one British guy came into the kitchen while I was scooping chocolate chip cookies

Mhmm.

Out into dough balls and asked me what I was traying up. And and I was like, oh, it's chocolate chip cookies. But he looked and I said, don't you guys have chocolate chip cookies? Because and he was like, oh, yes. You know, like, yeah.

Yeah.

Of course, we do. But it was also clear that he didn't recognize in the form of a cookie dough ball, a cookie. Yeah. You know, like that this was something that was foreign. Right.

And then he followed that up by telling me he'd never been in the kitchen as big as ours except in castles. And there I stood with my tray of cookie dough in my castle like kitchen. I was like, well, yep. There

And you're like, this is The difference is I've never been in a castle.

Right. That's what I think of. One of the things I've never experienced is what you're talking about, but it was fun. But it it was also fun because to be willing to just treat yourself as the foreigner that would be where it's fun for them to experience something. But what you're talking about is also, like, either going the extra mile because it's kinder.

And one and one thing I have found when we do dinners is that it is kinder to do the work of a seating arrangement. Yes. Yes. And it is a pain to do

it. Is

a pain. And sometimes you do it and you don't feel like you're nailing it at all. Like, you're like, that is a pain. And yet you're still taking trouble from your guests. And when you do a seating arrangement, you're just removing the awkwardness of people trying to find a place to sit.

Much to entertaining that I feel like you figure it out as you go along. And, of course, that means you look back and say, so I've been doing this in the awkward way for the last twelve years. Perfect. But, like, once you kind of, like, crystallize something like that, like, you're removing the the feeling when you're in a group and you're supposed to find your own seat, but you're with your husband and that one only has one. So I guess let's go over here, but I don't know those people and get is it okay if we sit here?

Were you saving these seats? Like, it just when you when you suddenly realize, okay. Like, that does feel awkward. And then you realize, okay. How am I gonna troubleshoot this and and try to remove that for my guests?

I really good exercise. But, like, one thing I've noticed Hero and I were talking about this, and it seems to be true just no matter what, not at, like, a family event. But if you go to a thing, as soon as people have a glass in their hand, it's like they can they can relax a little bit because they have something to do. They have something to hold. But if everyone's just kind of standing around and they don't have anything in their hand yet, it can feel like they don't know what they're supposed to do.

And Yeah. And so they they can stand around in this sort of or what are we? Should I be standing here? Are we you know what I mean? And I when you start to notice those kinds of parties or events where you go in and somebody just immediately hands you something Yeah.

It feels like, oh, we're in the party. If everybody's standing around, it feels like we're waiting for the party to begin, and we're not really sure what our role is yet. And so I don't know. A lot of entertaining is is trying to, like, oh, okay. I see this weird little dynamic, and I okay.

That's something we can fix. Like, when people show up, you can offer them a drink right away Yeah. Or whatever. But it is there is a lot of that just having to be observant of other people. And And sometimes they're not there are different

depending on your setup, the kind of food that you're giving, and the odd and who's coming. It is not like the difference of people who would like to be a help. Like they're like, is there anything I can do? Yes. A lot of the time there are people who really want a thing to do when you don't really have anything Yeah.

For them to do. And it actually is an odd time to be trying to dream up how to introduce them to the task.

I keep I've heard tips. I've never done this, but I've heard tips from people who just specifically they'll specifically save a bunch of cilantro and a cutting board and a knife over there. Yeah. And when somebody says, what can I do? They're like, oh, would you chop this up and you just use it for garnish on top of whatever you're doing?

But it it is the same thing of like

It's welcoming people. I've done it with, like, not cutting the bread when we could have cut the bread, but leaving it there so that if somebody is looking for something, you're like, oh, could you go ahead and cut that? Do whatever. But the reality is I don't necessarily ideally, in a perfect world, at Sabbath dinner for us, other people are there who are like partial hosts because we have Yeah. Mom and dad would be at our house and they can act like the hosts and visit with people while we

because I'm

in the

kitchen. I'm always in the last frizzle when you have guests in the living room, but Ben's searing the meat and I'm in the kitchen trying to finish whatever. So then you've just left people dwindling out by themselves on the couch.

I hope you're having a good time at this party where we've cared for you so well. I know. But it is But we're under the pressure of the Northwestern cuisine that doesn't allow us to have just put a bunch of crock pots No. On earlier in the day. You've got to be that we actually have to be making something that we've never made before.

That's what we do. We do a lot

about it.

We don't make it straightforward, and I don't know why we don't, but we don't. And I don't want to.

Yeah.

I'm always like, ah, but it's time for something fun if we didn't. Time for something Do know what? Last night,

Hero made dinner, and she was making, like, a cucumber slaw that had, like, red onion, and it was very sort of herbs. Yeah. And I had a whole bunch of leftover pea seeds from last year that I was pretty sure had not work. Like, I'd left them in the greenhouse all summer, I knew that they'd gotten, like, frying hot. And I was like, I'm sure these won't work.

And I bought new pea seeds this year. But just for the, you know, sheer thrill of it all, I planted them in, like, a mat in a little bowl and put them in my kitchen to do as pea tips. And so they had they had gotten bigger than pea tips. It was like a mat of pea growth that had suddenly collapsed and looked like a teenage boy's hairdo because it was like all parted from the dead center and then kind of curling up at the ends. So anyway, we sheared off that whole thing of the pea shoots and threw all those in with the cucumber slot, and it just was so delicious.

And they grow so fast that I was like, that is something that I do feel is a hot tip. What did you put it in? I have, like, a old it's kind of like a small China soup tureen Okay. That I got an antique store in it. You guys put potting soil in it?

I did.

I just I think I threw some crocs in the bottom, so there was some drainage and then.

Some what?

Just like broken crockery things, terracotta.

Was weird that you called it crocs.

Crocs. Because I was picturing Like a a rubber croc. What you know, a rubber croc might work.

It would aerate and

Yeah. Etch.

Yeah. So maybe you have last year's if you have last year's crocks. Becca was really revealing her her time in England for that, calling it the crocs of potting.

I didn't even think about it. But then, yeah, just some potting soil, and they they were up in a week. I mean Oh. These were a couple weeks old, but it really is just this huge mass of beautiful pea shoots

that we threw in with I might trying those.

And so on. It was really delish. And I know that in England, probably because of their very weird passion for mushy peas, I'm not really sure why, but you can buy whole dried peas very cheaply. And I've struggled to find that here and because you can buy split peas in bulk, but you can't buy whole dried peas. So, anyway, I tried ordering them one time, like a box of dried peas, and then in the end, they said, oh, we can't send you those because we don't have them or something.

So, anyway, this was just a big bag of leftover peas that I just happen to have from last year. So I tried them out, and it's so good that I do feel like it's something you should keep on rotation in your kitchen windowsill. Well,

that's a good tip.

Theoretically, you can get two cuttings off of it. So we'll see if this comes back. I gave it a little buzz cut.

The pea shoots?

It's got a little flat top right now. And then we'll see if it grows again. And if so, we'll have another batch. But it was very delish. Fun.

Alright.

Yeah. Well, everybody, it's been nice chatting with you.

Do you have a tip, Rachel? I just I will have you know I just produced one,

right, without even thinking about And I thought I just ride upon

the Rachel's tip is you need to order spice tins because I'm so excited about spice tins. Vega is They're not here yet. So that's the only thing I can think about is, like Yeah.

Vega is consumed with the passion for

spice tins. I am. And Ben has built me a really fab little spice cupboard that I now need to caulk and paint. And so when I get that painted and then I have my spice tins Basically, she will have arrived. I will have arrived.

And you know what? I'll be coasting on the glory of that for a while.

Oh, man. That's funny. Alright.

Apparently a mess.

Well, I can't think of a oh, did I already tell you all to eat oat bran?

No. That's my tip.

Why? Okay. Weird. I just felt like I'm not sure why I didn't know this. We've eaten a lot of oats in our time, like, you know, whatever.

Yeah. We eat oats. Oat bran, which looks kind of like wheat bran, but is not. Okay. You know, you can buy it bulk.

It's not really it's not really hold on. I'm a look. Anyways, it's not really it's I don't know. I guess I just didn't realize people ate it as a hot cereal. Okay.

But I got this oat bran on accident. When I say that, I mean that what happened is that I needed wheat bran and Luke bought oat bran. And oat bran doesn't work

in, like, the bran muffins. I would

use wheat bran, not oat bran. So I was just looking about for I should just make something with this and get rid of it.

Yeah. But

if you make it into a hot cereal and you actually I put it dry in the pan and Right. You toast it. Okay. And when it is toasting, it starts it smells unbelievably sweet and really, really good. And the weird part is that it is it is like I think what I'm trying to tell you that is interesting is I did not know this.

So it is a one to three or one to four ratio with water. So it's which is very different than

Which way? Oat bran, like

a quarter cup to a cup of

water Yeah. Okay.

Or milk. And I've been making it with almond milk. And the thing that is crazy is it's higher protein, lower carb. It is so delicious that I make it for my boys who are we have different eating habits at our house. So there's a bunch of people in our house right now that are on what we call the fat track menu because they're running track.

Yep. So that we're looking for, like, nutrient dense Yes. Things. Yes. And so that is who is eating this for breakfast.

But I will cook it with just salt and almond milk and add vanilla and cinnamon and a big scoop of coconut mamma Oh. In it. And it is really delicious. And it's weird because regular oats, you don't do that much water to the dry ratio.

No. But when we lived in England, I learned the difference between porridge and gruel. And gruel is what we call oatmeal because it's just water. And porridge is when you make it with milk. And on the back of the package, it says it's three times as much milk.

It's a ton of milk. And then you cook it really slow or else it gets you can't stir it too much. It gets, like, gluey or it will burn. Like, it's Yeah. So if you cook it low and slow for quite a while, it makes the most glorious, incredible like, porridge with that much milk is, like, Very good.

To die for.

Well, this is the thing that I've experienced is that the oat bran is infinitely and I like oatmeal. Like, I think oatmeal is delicious. So Same. I am not coming from a place of dislike. Mhmm.

But I'm saying that this is like the next level of glory. Okay. And it's bizarre. It's higher fiber, higher protein, lower carb. It's actually and it is because of the ratio.

You're eating less of the like, it is a bigger, more filling serving for the anyways. Yeah. All I'm here to say is everyone should try the Oat brand. That was a good tip right there. Was weird to me that I didn't know about it.

Yeah. No. I didn't know

about it. Now I do know. I think the toasting is is important Okay. To the flavor. Alright.

Until next time. Alright. Goodbye. Bye.