Speaker 1: Welcome back to Excuse My Grandma. It's Kim and my cohost. Grandma Gail. Grandma, there's a lot going on in the pop culture world right now.
Speaker 2: Okay. You better fill me in because I have no idea what's popping.
Speaker 1: Okay. So, you know Summerhouse on Bravo? One the shows that I watch on
Speaker 2: the Hamptons. I've heard of that one.
Speaker 1: Okay. So the backstory is there was a couple that have been on Summerhouse the last ten years or whatever, ten seasons, Kyle and Amanda, and they were married the last few years, having issues, announced they were getting divorced a few months ago.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: And people were happy about it because they didn't really think Kyle was the best husband.
Speaker 2: Alright. Okay.
Speaker 1: Then another girl on it, Sierra, she's good friends with Amanda also because they're all friends. And she used to casually date this guy West, who's also in the house.
Speaker 2: I can't believe nobody who's watching this podcast knows who these people are.
Speaker 1: I think that's why I'm explaining. Okay. You wanna be filled in, you're gonna see it all over now.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Okay, so Sierra and West used to casually date. They're both still talking about it, it's a plot point on the seasons even now. Okay. This was last year or the year before that they dated, maybe two years ago. So now Amanda, the one who just got divorced and West have been seamed together.
Uh-oh. And they made a joint statement on their Instagram this week that they are in a relationship, figuring it out, whatever. And I was thinking because of our column on the New York Post, excuse my advice, we were talking about dating a friend's ex and everything like that. It's complicated. It's complicated.
Yeah, the joint statement is kind of crazy. That's a lot to be like, We are feeling like they're already a we.
Speaker 2: Well, this happened on television with several of the commentators, really national commentators who really did this that are much more well known than these cats. I don't know about that. But the truth of the matter is you sometimes cheat or go out with the person who's closest to you and they knew each other from this show. So this is very common. It's like when couples get divorced, they tend to find a new companion from one of their inner circle because that's who has common interests, that's who they feel most comfortable with.
Not always, but it very often is the story.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like that show Your Friends and Neighbors on Apple, the one with John Hamm.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Like how he, after he gets divorced with the wife, he's with the other girl who lives in the community.
Speaker 2: Well, because that's who they're friendly with. I mean, know, don't think that's, it's when it's done behind people's back at the same time that they're Or either married and we don't know that when they're in a relationship and they're cheating with somebody else, that's where it gets very sticky and I don't love it. But because somebody is, after the relationship is over, they're entitled to date whoever they want
Speaker 1: as long
Speaker 2: as they're not taking it away from somebody.
Speaker 1: Those two girls are really good friends.
Speaker 2: Well, but maybe the other ones, you know, I don't watch the story, I'm being right upfront right now, but perhaps that relationship was over And therefore, you know, anything is fair game. But it is always a problem and my advice is try not to do that, but sometimes that's just life and it happens.
Speaker 1: Want to see if you were listening. Can you try to describe back the summerhouse drama that I just explained?
Speaker 2: I can, I don't need an Alzheimer's test,
Speaker 1: I'm But very I want see if you get the people right?
Speaker 2: No, I don't really care. These people have absolutely no interest. I don't know their names, I don't care.
Speaker 1: But I just explained it.
Speaker 2: Well, you explained that the original couple is getting divorced and the friend's got another partner and he's there, they are now having problems and now one of them is going with the other partner. I don't really care. It's absolutely boring to me.
Speaker 1: Oh my God, Well, every people can
Speaker 2: they should be more worried about what's going on in the world and the price of gas than they should about this couple. But you know what? That's what these programs are all about. They're not realistic programs that people are really suffering day to day with their children, with their parents, with serious issues. This
Speaker 1: But like an I don't wanna watch Serious Issues. That's a huge point of like, actually we
Speaker 2: were- It's escapism, it's escapism. Yeah. I'm not sure, in small doses, it's fine, but when you live your life through these reality programs, then it becomes a sort of an illness. So I think you have to
Speaker 1: Okay. Just because you watch something and you like wanna be filled in in the tea and the drama doesn't mean like you're basing your life off of something.
Speaker 2: Well I hope not. I hope everybody who's listening is not basing them because these things are so made up. It's like what happened with The Bachelor, all those people on the, the producers and everybody knew that this bachelorette was bad for two years, so why would they put her in this show? So all this stuff is really, really nasty and becomes, really, I think actually one of the bad things that are coming out of these programs, that, bad behavior is allowed and unless it's outed to the public, it goes on. And I think that's too bad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, mean, The Bachelorette thing is a whole another conversation and I think it's kind of unfair to blame Taylor, even though it was obviously a horrible video and children were about, No, obviously.
Speaker 2: We don't throw chairs. There's something mentally wrong with her.
Speaker 1: She needs major help. Like, obviously producers, ABC, whoever, knew that she had this like, was part of the Hulu plot, like on Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. And they were aware of can't just put her in that position and be like, oops, now people know, let's
Speaker 2: get Well, her realize that public is not gonna stand for that.
Speaker 1: But by the way, every person then you have to pull the NFL, the NHL, like, all Some guys are
Speaker 2: doing players should of be pulled.
Speaker 1: Right. And
Speaker 2: it's like what's going on with Tiger Woods at this particular moment that they're trying to get him into a program. Bad behavior has to be helped. You have to step in. Somebody has to step in and say, Listen, this is not right. And certainly the people at ABC should have stepped in
Speaker 1: and
Speaker 2: never But that allowed was years ago. Yeah, yeah, but they were coming out with the show now with the knowledge that this was there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So they she should have also never
Speaker 2: hired her to begin with
Speaker 1: Don't have to her do this time, like can people not redeem themselves?
Speaker 2: Not on television. We don't have to watch the nonsense from the program thinking that she's so wonderful when she really isn't. And the same thing with Tiger Woods. We can say he's a great, great athlete and admire him as a superstar, but he's flawed. And therefore, know, somebody has to step in and try to help.
This woman needs help, Tiger needs help, the NFL players who do bad things either with their violence with their girlfriends or what's the guy, Combs, whatever the music star, Right, we can't excuse bad behavior. It has to be said for what it is. It's inappropriate. It's bad. So either they get help or they should not be adulated by the public because I think it's just wrong.
Are too many wonderful people that can talk the
Speaker 1: truth though, and it's acknowledged on the show and at the end they're like, if you need a domestic hotline number, here's I what to think that's the way to do it versus just putting some, nobody is perfect. I know the skeletons aren't that bad for most people, but it's like, you're not gonna We're kinda sick of TV that's just like, and she's from a perfect Midwest family. Nobody is And she's like, from this, you know, he's a family oriented guy and they're all Like, that we're kind of over. Well I think
Speaker 2: the problem is that it doesn't sell unless something is, people are either drunk or misbehaving. And that's too bad, that's a culture issue right now. And I think, I don't know, I don't find it interesting.
Speaker 1: Speaking of reality TV, Grandma and I, if you guys are following on social media, we got to do a Bravo red carpet for The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, which is a new series coming out, I believe, the day this podcast comes out on April 2, so you can watch it now. It's on Bravo and Peacock. And we I'm a big Bravo fan. Like, Grandma knows I watch it, anything from Bravo. Every single morning with my oatmeal, like I have my routine, watching it like, I watch everything.
I've showed you some stuff, but I'm more of the fan than you.
Speaker 2: For sure.
Speaker 1: But it was It was fun
Speaker 2: because it's always fun to be on a carpet and talk to these people and you realize they're just human beings. They all have families, most of them have families. One of them is a grandma, just became a grandma. So what you see on the television is little clips and pieces of somebody's life that they're making theater out of. Most of them are just, you know, housewives, which they are.
They're very glamorous, Would not
Speaker 1: be The outfits were crazy.
Speaker 2: The outfits were awful. They all need stylists. There was one very, very pretty dress that
Speaker 1: The jewelry though. Well, some of
Speaker 2: the girls, but those were not their jewelry. Like the Oscars, know, that they give them the things. A couple of the girls had very pretty rings on, engagement rings and wedding rings. It was fun. The best highlight was meeting the woman who really started the franchise, the creator of Bravo, the thinking behind it.
And I sort of got you talking to her and I liked that because, you know, here's a very, very bright woman who came up with a very, very new concept. She was
Speaker 1: one of the early
Speaker 2: Yes. Bravo And so that was interesting. And of course you met your idol, Andy Cone. I mean, God.
Speaker 1: We got to interview him, was so He liked my hair. He was obsessed with you.
Speaker 2: Except my hair was no good that day. Immediately I went to have my hair colored yesterday because I looked at the pictures and I said, Oh my God, I'm so blonde, I can't stand it. So that's what happens in Florida. You get blonder and blonder. So I came back for a little New York fix.
But we had a good time. It was fun. And the other people on the red carpet who were interviewing, the people were very nice too. We all had a very lovely time. But I'm glad, it's a new thing when we go to these things, you have to wear flats because you're basically standing on your feet for two hours, And two and a half one of the girls, one of the women, and they all wear heels, I don't know, they're six or seven
Speaker 1: inches Halfs,
Speaker 2: And those thick chunky things, they had to take them off. I don't know, it's almost like being in a torture chamber with
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you actually don't like after you take some cast photos, when they're being interviewed you us by by don't see their feet, so it's fine to take their shoes off. Ashley Iconetti, who used to be on The Bachelor
Speaker 2: and She was was now so nice. On the
Speaker 1: took her heels off and And then
Speaker 2: then gold shoes. I don't even know how they came out, they're almost like on stilts.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then I remember when we did Dancing with the Stars, Whitney Levitt, who's also having a moment right now, she took her
Speaker 2: shoes off too. Yeah, because it's really torture. I think the person who invents these shoes for these people, I mean, you do look beautiful when you come out here, like Yeah, I
Speaker 1: was you it saying though, for a red carpet?
Speaker 2: Well, I guess, but you know what, it really is hard. And it's hard for these actresses. I mean, the one time I wore little kitten heels on one of those things we did, and I think after an hour I said, Kimmy, I'm dying. Yeah. It does really take a strain on you because you're really standing and standing in the same place because basically that's your spot.
So, but it was a fun night. And then you went to the after party, right, Kim?
Speaker 1: Yes, I did, which was fun. It was at this yacht club? Well, it's at the
Speaker 2: It like
Speaker 1: Starlight or something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Starlight Street or something. It was a very pretty building.
Speaker 1: So it was all kind of nautical, then they had a guy
Speaker 2: Across from the piers downtown.
Speaker 1: They had a character guy. Oh really? And then they had a guy with oysters around his
Speaker 2: Oh, for Rhode Island. Yeah. Oh that's cute.
Speaker 1: So that was fun.
Speaker 2: Did they
Speaker 1: share food or just They had pass arounds. Okay. Andy spoke.
Speaker 2: Well, someone was a Everyone
Speaker 1: was a
Speaker 2: launch this show, so
Speaker 1: they Brands Family Press kind
Speaker 2: Right, of very, very much.
Speaker 1: Then they had a giant oyster shell? No, no, clamshell that you could take a picture in holding a pearl because I'm pretty sure, you know how like all the housewives they, for example for New York, they hold an apple like this.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: They all kind of hold the thing, like whatever their thing is, like forward.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: And so everyone was doing that pose with the All right, with the shell. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Okay, for Rhode
Speaker 1: Island.
Speaker 2: Rhode Island is a very pretty place. You went to a I went to graduation there for my other granddaughter this past year and you went to several weddings in Newport. So I mean that's really my favorite part.
Speaker 1: Oh, forgot Newport.
Speaker 2: It's Rhode Island.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no one from the show is from Newport.
Speaker 2: No, Newport is just beautiful. That's one of my favorite destinations. It happens to be beautiful. Those big old stately mansions are just fabulous. Especially in the summer or the fall.
Speaker 1: So that was like a busy night. What else did I get up to the last week? I did another mahjong night with the girls. Fun. Ceremony.
Speaker 2: You have a thousand sets here that they keep sending you all these things. You I could have a mahjong party.
Speaker 1: That's so nice, I
Speaker 2: do. Right.
Speaker 1: And Sarafina should just sponsor us at this point because we've been ordering so much every week.
Speaker 2: Okay, well that's fun. And I like
Speaker 1: that it's like a ritual now. We put it on the calendar with our friends to do it like every few weeks at get to get
Speaker 2: the new card. Yeah. 2026 is out by the way. I got mine.
Speaker 1: Where do get it, Amazon or?
Speaker 2: I'm sure you can get it on Amazon. You should definitely do that because everybody now is playing. I'm gonna play on Monday when I go back to Palm Beach, but I'm playing with the new card and some of them girls said it was very hard.
Speaker 1: Oh, interesting.
Speaker 2: I thought the old card was hard.
Speaker 1: It's all hard.
Speaker 2: I do the same hands, like numbers or north, south, east, west, or I have one on the with the flowers down on the lower left. But some of the girls really go for very interesting hands. They really try to go for it.
Speaker 1: And you know I entered my new era, which is Grandma Core and I'm just dragging all my friends there with me to be a part of it. Playing That's cards, going to bed early.
Speaker 2: It's the age, hon.
Speaker 1: I don't know, going out for dinner late downtown, I mean, it's just like rough.
Speaker 2: Well, you've got the same restaurants now or similar restaurants uptown.
Speaker 1: But my friends aren't live downtown.
Speaker 2: Well, that's too bad. Out with Make new friends. Go out with the friends who live uptown. There's plenty of restaurants to go to. I was just passing.
There are a million That restaurant that used to be down the block from your old apartment is across the street here that I always liked, that Cora Bianca. Cora Bianca. Yeah. I love the pasta there. We have to go there one day for lunch once I come back up.
Speaker 1: I also went to a Broadway show. I saw Titanique. Oh, you loved that. It was very silly and fun and campy.
Speaker 2: Well, that's what's so great about New York.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it's on Broadway. And it's like a
Speaker 2: Oh, it's not downtown, it's uptown now.
Speaker 1: No, yeah. It was off Broadway.
Speaker 2: Yes, it was.
Speaker 1: Now it's on Broadway. The week I saw it, it became on Broadway. Okay. And it's fun, they
Speaker 2: Any stars in it that anyone
Speaker 1: Yeah. What's his name? Parsons or whatever from Big
Speaker 2: Gay Oh, love him. I love I him. Jeff Moore, Jim Parsons. Jim Parsons. He's so funny.
From Sheldon.
Speaker 1: You're Sheldon. Yeah, right, exactly. And then Ariana Grande's brother. Oh, so they have Okay. The other ones, I think they did some tea.
I didn't really know them.
Speaker 2: But is it a comedy? It's a comedy,
Speaker 1: not a musical. No, it's a
Speaker 2: musical It's a musical comedy. Oh, how much fun
Speaker 1: that's It's a also great a Dion songs. That's what it is.
Speaker 2: Oh, and you know what? I'm thinking about it because I'm really thinking this fall Celine Dion is going to Paris. Can't get the words out. Celine Dion is going to Paris for three night concerts in the fall.
Speaker 1: Oh, she never do concerts?
Speaker 2: She used to, of course, but she's had this rare illness in her throat. So she hasn't done anything and they're promoting it now and I'm really, I'm actually thinking of going.
Speaker 1: Just for that?
Speaker 2: Yeah. And you go to Paris for four days and then listen, if you can get tickets for that.
Speaker 1: That's pretty great.
Speaker 2: Yeah, could be cool.
Speaker 1: When is that?
Speaker 2: Sometime in the fall
Speaker 1: they That's fun. Yeah. What else did you do this week? Well, just got back to New
Speaker 2: York No, I just for the got back. I really didn't What did we do? I haven't done anything. I played some cards. I went to some lovely dinner parties last weekend, which was lovely.
And I went to one of my favorite restaurants. I love this polo down there, which is, it's very simple food, but the crowd is fun. It's mostly young, lot of noise, but I don't mind the noise. It drowns out after a while, you don't even notice it. But they make the most delicious corn pudding and steak and a baked potato.
Speaker 1: It's It just simple
Speaker 2: is my favorite place because it's food I really like. So that Yeah. Did was
Speaker 1: you have any airport drama on the way back?
Speaker 2: No, the airport, actually I came back on Monday. I was very nervous coming back because I thought, oh my gosh, it would be terrible
Speaker 1: to But yes, everyone panicked.
Speaker 2: Was
Speaker 1: it
Speaker 2: came right through. The only thing I couldn't, they have a lounge in Palm Beach that from, I came on American and you could not get into the lounge. And the woman says to me, there's a forty five minute wait to come into the lounge. I said, I don't really need to do that. So I went and sat at the gate and I had a lot of people came up to me, said that's always fun, and loved our content.
So wait, who
Speaker 1: said that?
Speaker 2: Some people, random people get always over
Speaker 1: wear a mask, so I feel like that never happens.
Speaker 2: And I believe in getting germs, then you can fight germs. If you don't have a little bit of dirt in your system, you get sick.
Speaker 1: Grandma's
Speaker 2: That's grandma's rule. And then everything was fine. And I got to LaGuardia, which was very crowded on Monday, but we got out. Of course my gate was all the way at the end, so you have to walk 25 miles to get
Speaker 1: to Oh the wait, taxi wait, flew home from Miami when we did the rest
Speaker 2: airport's terrible.
Speaker 1: That's the worst thing I've ever done in my life.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's terrible.
Speaker 1: I went to the Amex Club or Centurion Lounge or whatever, they were like, It's a three hour wait.
Speaker 2: Well, was the same thing. Like, had three hours. The barn was forty five minutes, the plane's leaving. Yeah. Well, I think that there's either not enough capacity for these clubs.
That's
Speaker 1: Well, why how does these everybody have access? Everybody a car, I guess, can get
Speaker 2: in or if you have a
Speaker 1: certain But amount then should of make the club bigger or whatever.
Speaker 2: I don't know. Agree. So Miami is I've used that Miami
Speaker 1: Airport I walk not like having 10 miles. Yeah. With like the heaviest And bag
Speaker 2: it's very bad. It's a bad it's a bad airport to go in and out of. West Palm's great. Well, West Palm's great, but it's not Bristol is not as big, let's face it. And it's not international either.
It says it's international because you get something, I think, from Well, the
Speaker 1: it's Palm Beach International now. I don't know what it'll be in
Speaker 2: I the don't know. Might.
Speaker 1: I think he's changing it, Trump.
Speaker 2: So Trump, well that's good, I don't care what he does, everything he does.
Speaker 1: Oh, I wanted mom to get me on the way home. Wait, you're going back?
Speaker 2: Yes, I am going back.
Speaker 1: Okay, I need this because I don't know if she got it for me. What? A hat or a t shirt that says PBI because if they're changing the airport That name would
Speaker 2: be a classic hat. Oh my God, Kimmy, have a
Speaker 1: whole have an entire I saw your hats the other day come out of a bag. You have like 30 hats. Because they're like, I like to collect hats that are like souvenir memento kind of things.
Speaker 2: Oh my god. You're like your grandfather. He collects the plastic shopping bag I bags the mean, what do you he has drawers full of plastic shopping bags. What can you possibly do with all those hats?
Speaker 1: First of we have our own Wear them.
Speaker 2: We have our own Excuse My Grandma hat, is the only thing you should be wearing.
Speaker 1: Available on Amazon.
Speaker 2: But I will get you that hat if you want.
Speaker 1: Yes, please.
Speaker 2: Well we're having Passover this week.
Speaker 1: We are.
Speaker 2: So no bread in the house for a You don't
Speaker 1: keep Passover?
Speaker 2: No, but I don't eat that much bread. I eat matzo all the time. You
Speaker 1: literally eat bread every day.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I eat matzo twelve months of the year too. Yeah, like matzo. So when I have a specific bread, I like the straights matzo. I don't like some of the others. I don't like Goodmans as much as straights.
For some reason they're just perfect. Yeah, so I'm excited. I love all the back roads and your uncle's been cooking, so I'm going eat the leftovers from the seder. Yeah. And so it's great.
Speaker 1: I like seders. Yeah. It's fun to do like that routine tradition. It's
Speaker 2: just nice being all together, I think. Well, but we're always all together. Yeah, but not, yeah, but all in one room. It looks like, it really actually, my dining room looked like the last Seder. My grandsons invited two friends, which we had before our Breaking of the Fast as well.
Well, they're alone in New York and his roommate lives in Miami so he's not going back with his family, so So it's we have a large group, we have a large group, which is very nice.
Speaker 1: You did a good job with the table. I came and saw it yesterday. Right. And can help Well, set up
Speaker 2: lot a little dishes because you have so many different courses. So I laid it all out.
Speaker 1: Are doing like a cocktail hour?
Speaker 2: I just have some chopped liver and some wine. Bar. Don't eat it. Nothing else? No, that's it.
I because there's tremendous amount of food for dinner. We don't need anything else. I can't look at one more thing. Alright. It's only if somebody even and most people don't even take a drink, but I wanna I
Speaker 1: have it out You have here in the to have it. You can't just have people sitting for like an hour with nothing.
Speaker 2: Well, they're not sitting for an hour. Sit Yeah, down for but not everybody comes in exactly the same That's what that is.
Speaker 1: What are the order you think people are gonna show up in?
Speaker 2: Well, know your mother is going to come first.
Speaker 1: Wait, think Jeff first. Well, Jeff is there. Jeff is
Speaker 2: coming at 05:00. Well, he's done. He's bringing all the food. Right.
Speaker 1: Okay. So he's
Speaker 2: Then he panicked at the last minute that the two briskets weren't gonna be enough. So now he made chicken. So, I mean, he's got the poor guy.
Speaker 1: He likes it. He loves it. He's coming first. Think then mom. Right.
But not with dad.
Speaker 2: Right, he'll make an appearance. Dad will come
Speaker 1: later. I think I'll Matthew probably may come come first. Matthew might come here first, because he might want to see the apartment.
Speaker 2: I don't think the apartment's ready for guests.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know. I said the same thing, and mom texted me and was like, How dare you not invite Matthew over I was like, It's literally boxes everywhere.
Speaker 2: Don't think any he can look at the apartment. The apartment's pretty.
Speaker 1: I think we'll be middle. Okay. My other grandparents will be last.
Speaker 2: They're last because they're Well, they're coming And I don't know about Zach's parents. They're pretty in time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're very
Speaker 2: timely. So everybody by five or seven, I told Jeffrey, get the food in the oven all heated
Speaker 1: up, We're make sure it's all supposed to be
Speaker 2: because first you have this We have to have the soup, then the filet of fish. And all that has to be taken off. And it's very I have to say one thing. This is what I say about this apartment. The table, it's very tight in my dining room.
So you have to very carefully walk around. And as a matter of fact, I moved two of the chairs at the end so he can come in with the food into the kitchen because it's really, really tight in there. I don't know. Somehow, I haven't I've had 23 people at that table. I have had it in the past because I've dinners in there
Speaker 1: for I also 20 feel like we've had more family members. Sometimes we have Well, have No. The other cousins.
Speaker 2: Yes, but then we don't have Zach and his family.
Speaker 1: But then we also had your brother. And his wife. His partner. And so And
Speaker 2: it's very, for some reason the table got very long now. And I've got and also, I think the big difference, and I was laughing about it this with with your uncle this morning, there are no children. So everybody's big. Right. So they're gonna be sitting on little chairs, and Charlotte is 14.
So she's gonna I'm just gonna Jeffries was right. He said, just put the Afrocoman underneath her seat.
Speaker 1: At that point.
Speaker 2: So there's no point to I
Speaker 1: want to to search for it. You're not gonna hide it?
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna hide it for a 14 year old. Think I'll That's put fun. Look for it. Oh, you're not entitled
Speaker 1: to Can you look hide it so I can look No. For
Speaker 2: Why? You cannot. You're 30 years old. We're not doing an aficomen for you.
Speaker 1: That's so rude.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you. It's over. You're over.
Speaker 1: All right. Fine.
Speaker 2: Have to be under 18 to How look for an can
Speaker 1: I be helpful tonight? Like should I
Speaker 2: work You the could help with the sweet potatoes. You like to make that.
Speaker 1: I'll help the prep cooking.
Speaker 2: Only for that because chef And then is what in about that
Speaker 1: yeah, I'll have to say yes Yeah,
Speaker 2: exactly. Well, you could always help me set up the macaroons and stuff.
Speaker 1: Like dessert you mean?
Speaker 2: Yeah, the desserts are sort
Speaker 1: of mediocre. I'm not
Speaker 2: Alright, thrilled with the good. I'm not thrilled with the desserts because it's Passover and they can't use flour.
Speaker 1: So,
Speaker 2: we've got flours, chocolate cakes, which are probably all I
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 2: Well, we'll see. Mom got it from Russ and Daughters, so it came.
Speaker 1: That's good.
Speaker 2: Then we have loads of different kinds of macaroons, which I bought. And then I have fresh fruit, which I think is the best part of it. And then I got a coconut roll that's Passover because the Passover stuff is sort of not great because it's made with, I don't know, I guess, matzo meal.
Speaker 1: Right. Also for everyone watching this podcast right now, we're podcasting on the infamous couch that everyone thinks is too big.
Speaker 2: It's not only too big, but I'm gonna just say it quietly because she's gonna freak out. It's not that comfortable.
Speaker 1: It's the mushiest best couch ever.
Speaker 2: I need more pillows here for support. It's a very deep couch.
Speaker 1: Well, we're gonna have a different podcasting couch in the other room.
Speaker 2: Right, maybe.
Speaker 1: That will be stiffer. Okay, well whatever this I fall asleep on this because
Speaker 2: this I don't know how. Well, maybe you should have put a bed near if you need to go to sleep.
Speaker 1: Healthier than my bed, I Okay.
Speaker 2: Oh, this is definitely too big. This sofa took over this apartment.
Speaker 1: Everything else is coming in. I'll show you guys later because I actually haven't done updates of the other furniture that has come in.
Speaker 2: It's hard to update when you have old televisions all over the place and stuffed animals from the dog. Mean, and electric Because equipment that's all over the
Speaker 1: we have to set it up in the console and that just can't.
Speaker 2: How do you do that? Then you have to drill holes.
Speaker 1: We did already. That's how it's hanging on the wall. Do you see a wire from the TV?
Speaker 2: No. Right. But what's that stuff?
Speaker 1: That is gonna go in there. There's a hole in the console.
Speaker 2: Alright, that's more than I need to know. I can't even get my television working, so I can't criticize.
Speaker 1: You couldn't even turn yours off.
Speaker 2: I couldn't turn mine on. Goes to sleep, which is some what annoying.
Speaker 1: That doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 2: If Verizon puts my TV to sleep when I leave
Speaker 1: That to makes go to makes sense.
Speaker 2: So in six months I have to come back and wake up the television. It's a disaster. Old people can't go with all these new appliances.
Speaker 1: I'm still figuring out the neighborhood spots. I haven't spent that much time yet. But did you hear that, this whole saga about Metzel Luna? No. Okay.
So Metzel Luna, they said it was closing.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: And it's like, I love That's great. Everyone's been going forever. It's like an institution at And this then there was a lot of people posting on Instagram being like, We love Metzaluna. Let's not let this happen. And then there was a whole thing and now they're staying open.
Speaker 2: Oh, so good. I know. And then you have to use it. You know, the people who make a big fuss, they may have to go in Right. And spend money
Speaker 1: That's a good point.
Speaker 2: Because institutions are only as good, but you know, look at that little luncheonette on the lunch place, soda fountain place became a TikTok sensation. Lexington candy shop. Exactly. And they wait online and all it is is a milkshake and a sandwich. So Mezzaluna, if the people are protesting, then hopefully they're staying open and people will utilize it.
Speaker 1: I mean, pizza's really good. I feel like they Don't they have a brick oven? I can't I can't remember. I used to go a lot in high school, but I honestly haven't been since.
Speaker 2: Well, should really.
Speaker 1: But now I live close to it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and what your fancy night should be, Wednesday night at Elio's, you should start going there as a regular because And give them some credit so you can get a table. Cause they have the best meatballs in town.
Speaker 1: Oh, maybe.
Speaker 2: And they're right up the block from you. You could fall out of your apartment and go right into Helios.
Speaker 1: But did I tell you that the subway's underneath, so it was like really uncomfortable?
Speaker 2: Underneath Helios?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it vibrated the whole that's good. So I don't know if I will be going back. Oh, that's And it's
Speaker 2: Oh, great so delicious. That's terrible, I didn't
Speaker 1: realize that. Yeah, and it was like all too long.
Speaker 2: Well, that haven't been there subway station opened.
Speaker 1: All right, forget it. I'm really sensitive to vibrations. I know, not everybody. Nobody likes to sit
Speaker 2: at Right, the table when it's
Speaker 1: but then I had the waiters bring over like six cushions, and I sat on it, and I was like, I'm the princess Like, and the I can feel one little thing.
Speaker 2: Alright. So forget that.
Speaker 1: If there was a restaurant that were to close, what would you petition to stay open?
Speaker 2: My restaurant, Nicole's. I have to stay open. That's been my mainstay for twenty five, thirty years. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: close to you.
Speaker 2: But the owners are getting as old as me, so whatever. I don't ever want them to close because their veal parm and their chicken parm is just the best.
Speaker 1: Okay, so to get to the second part of the episode, I know people, the last few have been writing in questions that they wish they asked And their so this theme is kind of family history and traditions. You all wish you asked your grandparents these questions about family history, and so I'm gonna ask Grandma. Somebody asked, when did your family come to America? I know you've mentioned
Speaker 2: it before. Well, one side was here in the early 1800s. The other side came sort of in the 1890s when Eastern Europe was having issues, late 1890s to 1900s, when so many were thrown out of their places because they were Jewish and their communities were decimated by pogroms. So it varied, but one side of my family came over on the late side, one on the early side, and that's it. And they all made America their home and loved it and became citizens and people who contributed back to their communities and loved America.
Speaker 1: Do you know if our last name was changed? I know we have different last names.
Speaker 2: Yes, not my father's family, but my mother's family changed. Was an unrecognizable- Who
Speaker 1: it was?
Speaker 2: What the original name was, I don't know, but he changed it to Preston. He didn't change it. When they came through Ellis Island, he gave them the name, but first of all, English was he was a tiny and his English was nonexistent. I don't know if he spoke any
Speaker 1: English. You don't know what the longer version No. That's kind of crazy. There had to
Speaker 2: have long time time to
Speaker 1: have told
Speaker 2: I think there were records somewhere. If I really was that interested, I probably could look What kind tell us interesting?
Speaker 1: I don't know about the Myrstein side.
Speaker 2: Probably it was a longer name too. Right. Because they all had skis at the end and the long, you know, if they were from Poland, it was an unimaginably long name. If it was Russian as well. So anywhere in that Eastern European block, the names would not be sound anything like what they they made them to fit into America.
Everybody wanted to become Americanized. Nobody was looking to have self identity in those days. They wanted to be absorb the culture of America because they were running away from where they were. Certainly like the Cubans when they came here in the 50s and 60s, nobody was relishing to stay in their old country. They were looking to run away.
Speaker 1: Who in your family was the first to go to college?
Speaker 2: Who in my family? Well, I guess my father and mother, both.
Speaker 1: They were first generation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were, yes, they were. College, graduate. Right, yeah, my grandfather, even though he was born on my fraternal side, was born in America but he didn't go to college.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, my parents. But educational
Speaker 1: values was always important in
Speaker 2: Oh, of course and they all, don't forget, they all were prolific readers. They all read because their tradition was reading. So they had to first of all teach themselves English, the ones who were here as a first generation.
Speaker 1: Because they spoke what?
Speaker 2: They either spoke Yiddish or Polish or Russian.
Speaker 1: Oh, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2: Most of them spoke Yiddish and read the Yiddish newspapers, which I don't There might still be some,
Speaker 1: but That'd very cool to frame a Yiddish newspaper or something.
Speaker 2: Oh my father used to love it because he spoke to his grandmother in Yiddish, I remember that. My mother never did. My mother never spoke because her family basically didn't Didn't have hear longer. No, they were here less. Her parents came over and didn't want to speak anything like that from the old country.
They completely wanted to be absorbed in the culture and they came over very, very young.
Speaker 1: What's the farthest we can date back from
Speaker 2: our Not far from my side. Your grandfather's side goes back on one side, on your fraternal side goes back.
Speaker 1: But why is that? They just didn't know their grandparents?
Speaker 2: They weren't here.
Speaker 1: No, but how far it dates back knowing, like if I ask you who your great great great grandparents are, would I you wouldn't know, no. You know your great I knew my
Speaker 2: great grandparents, But very only some of them because most of them had died by the time I was born. You know, the age of how older people lived then, if you lived to be 60, that was a miracle. So, you know, I go to my cemetery plot now to visit my parents and I see my great grandparents, but they were dead before I was born. Were usually named after them.
Speaker 1: No one else is buried there before them?
Speaker 2: No, my great grandparents were the first one. Those were the, no. Yeah. No. We did not come over in the Mayflower.
We came over in a migration of Yeah,
Speaker 1: right. Is there a family recipe? I feel like you said no, that has been passed down.
Speaker 2: Well, can't cook. So, I mean, my grandmother and my mother was a fabulous cook. My grandmother was, my mother's mother was the most fabulous Hungarian cook. She made stuffed cabbage, she made all those delicacies from her old country that she remembered from her mom.
Speaker 1: That was not passed down though, didn't do it.
Speaker 2: No, my mother really didn't do that. She made certain things that my grandmother made, but never as good. And my mother was a wonderful baker. She made the most delicious baked goods. When I knew she was having a canaster and marjang game when I was growing up and came home from school, from high school, if I smelled the baked goods in the entrance way, I knew that my mother had friends over.
So, you know, no, They didn't pass down those things because they weren't easy to make. My grandmother used to make her I remember my grandmother making her own kafilter fish, making grinding each of the different fishes into a puree and making the balls. Now none of us are doing that now, either buying it or getting it out of a jar
Speaker 1: in But some many families do that. Well, have to
Speaker 2: be, yes, some very, very orthodox people do it and who are very good cooks. You have to be a good cook to do it. It's very difficult. So it's easier to get it from PJ Bernstein.
Speaker 1: What's a family tradition that our family does that you don't know of any other families that do that? Nothing. We don't really have anything No, that
Speaker 2: I think every family gathers together and is joyous together and happy to be alive together.
Speaker 1: Were there any family scandals or drama?
Speaker 2: No. There was always drama.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: There was always drama, but no.
Speaker 1: But nothing from like, a hundred years ago this happened. No. I'm sure there are and we just don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't really care. They've been dead for so long I wouldn't
Speaker 1: even Yeah, if
Speaker 2: you were like I wasn't the Rockefeller, so we didn't have to worry about that. And when my mother passed on, I looked at her albums and I didn't know any of the people in the albums. History is not that long.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's end We
Speaker 2: can make history.
Speaker 1: I like that. Make history. And we will. Let's end the episode with a game, rapid fire family tree, and we can name anyone dead or alive from our family. Okay.
Who in our family was the most popular? My brother Kenny. Oh, but I didn't meet him. So for me, guess you.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Who in our family would win Survivor? Is anyone like outdoorsy?
Speaker 2: We'd all be
Speaker 1: dead. We
Speaker 2: would all Do we'd all be dead?
Speaker 1: Actually don't Melanie? Oh yeah, Melanie. My aunt runs.
Speaker 2: I'm That's not sure she's such a surprise. She's always getting a cold, so I'm not sure she would survive either.
Speaker 1: Oh, who in our family is the biggest shopaholic? Probably me. Probably. I was gonna say though, you don't shop as much as I do. Yeah, but mine's better shopping.
Yeah, true. Who in our family did you trust with a secret? My brother Kenny. Who do I trust with a secret?
Speaker 2: No one. Okay.
Speaker 1: No, I do.
Speaker 2: Definitely not your father. Mom? Yeah, she probably would keep it.
Speaker 1: But she does, if you say, don't repeat it. Who in our family do you not trust with a secret? Andy. Probably not. Yeah.
Who in our family would be most likely to be in the Olympics?
Speaker 2: Melanie, I guess. Or Charlotte. Maybe Charlotte for jumping or for high jumping.
Speaker 1: Yeah, my little cousin with gymnastics.
Speaker 2: And she's not so little. She towers over us.
Speaker 1: Who in our family was the best at going on dates?
Speaker 2: Me. Not me? No. Okay. Your dates sucked.
Speaker 1: Who in our family observes Passover the whole duration? My other grandparents.
Speaker 2: Yes. And your father?
Speaker 1: No. He says to me, he's like, pizza and pasta don't count. Oh, alright. Yeah. It's just regular bread.
Speaker 2: Oh, alright.
Speaker 1: Which is ridiculous. Ridiculous. Who in our family would sneak a piece of bread at Passover Seder?
Speaker 2: Oh no, we don't have it in the house for the Seder. Not at Seder. None of us would do that at the Seder. The next The
Speaker 1: next morning
Speaker 2: we might.
Speaker 1: Who in our family would randomly change career paths at the drop of a hat? Entire paths? No. I mean, I guess yours came out quite randomly Yeah, that's when on a
Speaker 2: starting career path. That's the only career I had. So I don't know if I'm changing the path.
Speaker 1: Okay, and who in our family could run for president? I think you.
Speaker 2: I think me, but I would really be strict. Would be no going
Speaker 1: back Vacatorship.
Speaker 2: It was just authoritarianism
Speaker 1: at its height. Authoritarianism at
Speaker 2: its height. Thank you, Kim, for helping. But I need you to by my side. You could be my VP.
Speaker 1: Would be the best first lady ever. Chanel Tweed suit every I would be like Jackie O reincarnated. Oh, poor Jackie. But like in And hopefully good good way. Right.
So I can be that. Okay. The granddaughter of the the the what is it?
Speaker 2: Grandmother of, no, the mother of John John.
Speaker 1: The first granddaughter, because it's like the first lady.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you would be the first granddaughter, right.
Speaker 1: Another great episode of Excuse My Grandma. Be following us, please. First of all, if you're listening to the podcast right now and you're not following, so you make sure those episodes pop up every week, make sure you press the follow button where you're listening. You can also watch on YouTube and on social media, see what else we're up to. Follow Excuse My Grandma.
My personal is Kimmerstein.
Speaker 2: Have a happy Passover and a wonderful Easter please, everybody.
Speaker 1: Yes. Happy holidays.
Speaker 2: Bye. Bye.