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Pull up a seat at our table, where badass women from all walks of life—fashion, beauty, design, music, philanthropy, art, and more—come together to share honest stories, serve truths, and dig into the realities of modern womanhood.
Johanna Almstead:
Hello, everyone. Wow, that was aggressive. For those of you who are used to my nice calm voice, did that freak you out? We are super excited. We have something extra special today because it's the holidays.
We're calling this a stocking stuffer episode because it feels like just a little extra something to make your day brighter, answer some of your questions and just have a moment of brightness during this time of merry and cheer. So the big surprise is we have actually The Wizard of Oz of Eat My Words here on today. Our amazing incredible producer, Sophie Drouin is here, the woman, the magic behind the scenes who makes everything happen here. This podcast actually a hundred percent would not happen if she wasn't here. So we decided to bring her in today and maybe torture her or maybe just have a really fun time talking about holiday questions. So Sophie Sophie Drouin, welcome to Eat My Words.
Sophie Drouin:
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is so fun.
Johanna Almstead:
This is fun. So guys, instead of girl dinner and instead of menu planning, because we're too tired to eat, you know what we're doing? We're popping bottles. So we've got our bottles. So we're actually going to just have cocktails tonight because it is actual nighttime. I can't figure out how to open this though. I got myself a little bottle of champagne. She's got herself a little canned cocktail over there. I'm sure we do this. I'm going to do it into the mic and so if we can make the pop sound, because it's going to be so fun. Okay.
Sophie Drouin:
I know. I wanted to get the little fizzy sound, but ...
Johanna Almstead:
I like the ASMR.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Wait, hold on. I'm going to do the pop. Okay. That was the little metal cage. I'm going to let ... Oh, yes.
Sophie Drouin:
Yay.
Johanna Almstead:
That was fun.
Sophie Drouin:
It's just happiness, that sound.
Johanna Almstead:
I know. It's such a good sound. Okay, maybe you can hear it. Can you hear it? Oh, that's good. Ooh.
Sophie Drouin:
Yay, I love it.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. First, we're going to raise a glass. We're going to raise a glass to a really good year. This is going to be our last episode that we tape for this year. It's going to air right before the holidays. And so Sophie, cheers to you for making this podcast happen. Cheers to our listeners who actually keep tuning in, which is just crazy to me. And cheers to 2026, which is going to be banging. All right. I'm taking a big sip.
Sophie Drouin:
Absolutely. Cheers.
Johanna Almstead:
Cheers. Oh, yeah, that's good.
Sophie Drouin:
Yum.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. Okay. So I might be hammered by the end of this.
Sophie Drouin:
That's fun.
Johanna Almstead:
I think this is a first. I don't think I ever drink on these.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah, I don't think you ever have.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, this is new. Okay. So we thought it would be fun to start with some listener questions that we've gotten. People ask us all about holiday gifting, holiday entertaining, obviously, ways of making life easier. So I am going to torture Sophie with some ideas. I'm going to ask her a bunch of what she likes to do because she's from Canada. So perhaps there are different traditions. I'm not sure.
Sophie Drouin:
It's really funny. It is torture because I'm the worst gift giver, so I might turn the questions back over to you, but I'll try to answer.
Johanna Almstead:
You're the worst gift giver? That's very weird to me.
Sophie Drouin:
If I see something that really speaks to me for someone, I'll get it. But if I have to manufacture something in the moment, I go blank.
Johanna Almstead:
Do you get paralyzed? Do you get decision paralysis?
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah, yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh. Okay. Well, we're going to come up. We have a lot of good ideas. So if you don't have them, I'm going to tell you because-
Sophie Drouin:
Perfect.
Johanna Almstead:
... that's what I like to do is tell people what to do. That's the whole purpose of this podcast. Drink up.
Sophie Drouin:
We need it.
Johanna Almstead:
This is so good. Okay. So since we popped cocktails, one question from a listener was, what is your favorite holiday cocktail?
Sophie Drouin:
I think it would be a negroni.
Johanna Almstead:
Ooh. And are you a negroni like all year round person, or are you just a holiday negroni?
Sophie Drouin:
I think mostly holiday. I think I'm a margarita all year round, but then when it gets cold and we're just going to be sitting around somewhere for a while, negroni just feels right. You also can't have seven.
Johanna Almstead:
I was just going to say, how many negronis can you actually have? Because I can't have more than one or I'm on the floor.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. It's like one or two, but it makes you sip it slowly and just kind of enjoy it. It feels so luxurious. So, yeah, I would say that's what it is. Is yours champagne, or different?
Johanna Almstead:
I think mine is champagne. Normally, we host Christmas Eve and I used to ... I kind of stopped this the last couple years, but I used to do a fun signature cocktail every time. And I like an old school champagne cocktail. It has the bitters and a little bit of sugar. Or like a Kir Royal is really nice. I do like a champagne based cocktail. I do recognize that it's a bad headache the next day for most people, but it just feels festive and it just feels like exciting and effervescent to me, so I go champagne.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. I mean, a Kir Royal is kind of the negroni of champagne.
Johanna Almstead:
I agree, but it's like sweeter, no? I guess a negroni is kind of sweet too. It's just got the bitter part as well.
Sophie Drouin:
Have you ever done a really bad holiday cocktail? Was one of the years kind of like, "Ooh, miscalculated that one?"
Johanna Almstead:
I tried to do the French 75 and that I felt like people didn't like. I actually thought it was good. I also realized that my audience was not that into champagne cocktails. I think that's why I stopped. They're much more of a vodka drinker or just a red wine and I was force-feeding the cocktails, so I kind of stopped.
So now, I just have champagne usually and whatever, pour that. But, yeah, I felt like the year I tried to do the French 75, it was just not very popular. It wasn't like a dud, I would say, but I used to actually pour them all and have them ready when people walked in the house. And so you are sort of force-feeding people and that year a bunch of those went to waste, which was kind of sad.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Are you an eggnog person?
Sophie Drouin:
No.
Johanna Almstead:
Me neither.
Sophie Drouin:
No, absolutely not. And last, over Thanksgiving, we were at my in-laws in Vermont and my father-in-law came into the room drinking something out of a cup and we're like, "Oh, are you having a beer or something?" He's like, "No, I'm having eggnog." And it was just the strangest thing. I was like, "Oh, that's-"
Johanna Almstead:
People actually drink that.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah, it was very casual.
Johanna Almstead:
Just slugging back some eggnog.
Sophie Drouin:
I'm like, "Cool, that's great." But yeah, no, I don't like very sugary drinks aside from a negroni apparently, but yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Right. It also just feels like a stomach ache to me. How much eggnog can you drink really? I can have a sip. I think it's kind of tasty for a sip, but that's like eating an ice cream sundae to me.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
But I have people, they drink that all season.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. Well, I went to Trader Joe's the other day and they have gallons of it.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Sophie Drouin:
And it's not in the fridge.
Johanna Almstead:
Really?
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. I'm going to pass on that. That's not my jam.
Sophie Drouin:
No.
Johanna Almstead:
Also, how do you feel about ... I feel like I just went to a restaurant the other day and they had seasonal cocktails and there was some gingerbread martini. And I was like, "I don't want that. I don't want you to mess with my martini. I want my martini dirty and salty and boozy, not cookie flavored."
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. I think we're very much aligned in the alcohol consuming habits. I never go for the little add-on page on the cocktail menu. I'm always just like I know what I want and that's just, it's a classic.
Johanna Almstead:
I feel like every once in a while I'll get a little bit wooed by one and then every time I regret it, I'm like, nah.
Sophie Drouin:
That's the thing every time.
Johanna Almstead:
I guess that's very on brand for the Eat My Words. We just don't do sugary cocktails.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. And it's not even about the sugar. Because I'll go salt. I eat way too much. I'm just a salty lover, but it's really just-
Johanna Almstead:
Salty lover?
Sophie Drouin:
A salty lover.
Johanna Almstead:
Guys, she's a salty lover. What does that mean?
Sophie Drouin:
I don't even know. That's a whole other episode.
Johanna Almstead:
That's a whole other episode of Sophie's sex life. Woo. Okay.
Sophie Drouin:
But no, all this to say, no shade to the sweet cocktails. I'm a classics kind of person.
Johanna Almstead:
I understand. Me too. Me too.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. I also have worked in restaurants for so long like I know that most of the time the special cocktails are made from the things that we don't sell throughout the rest of the year or like-
Johanna Almstead:
And like the cheap booze. It's always from the well booze.
Sophie Drouin:
Things that we're trying to pass and just get out of the inventory, so I just don't trust it.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, yeah, that's such a good point. I never really thought that through. I've thought about the well drinks because you don't necessarily always want to have the really cheap booze in your cocktail because that's an worse hangover than lots of champagne.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Now, holiday food, what's your holiday tradition? Let's talk about what your holiday tradition is. What did you grow up with and what do you do now? Because that often changes when one gets wed into a family.
Sophie Drouin:
Yes, it does. And thank goodness because we used to eat cheese fondue, me and my family and the bowl of cheese with the bread. So basically, just bread dipped in hot cheese with scotch or whatever you put in there, like brandy.
Johanna Almstead:
Why are you saying thank God you're not doing that anymore? That sounds delicious.
Sophie Drouin:
I know, but we didn't have all the lactose and gluten intolerant conversations back then. And so every single Christmas, like about half an hour after we ate, I would be on the ground paralyzed. Absolutely paralyzed. My mom had to do the bicycle with my legs to try to create [inaudible 00:10:31].
Johanna Almstead:
Help your digestive system.
Sophie Drouin:
Now looking back, it's very clear that I was just lactose intolerant and I was eating literally a pound of melted cheese on bread. But, yeah, so we let that be a thing of the past. And now, it's just a very classic roast with like potatoes, meat, veggies.
Johanna Almstead:
Now, is it a beef roast or is it like a pork roast or a turkey, or what is it?
Sophie Drouin:
Beef roast.
Johanna Almstead:
Beef roast. Okay.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. And just the more sides, the better. I'm a sides person. I will eat all the vegetables and just like a little piece of meat, but I just want everything else on my pick.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. So what are the sides? The sides are like veggies?
Sophie Drouin:
Veggies, there's always like some sort of bread, like a corn bread or something. And then there are potatoes and then there-
Johanna Almstead:
Mashed, or like dauphinois or like-
Sophie Drouin:
No, mashed. But that would be really good to try a little dauphinois.
Johanna Almstead:
That doesn't really help you though because doesn't that have cream in it too?
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah, but less than like a bowl of cheese. The problem with the bowl of cheese was it was all I ate. So my stomach was just like literally a pot of cheese and bread.
Johanna Almstead:
14 pounds of greasy cheese.
Sophie Drouin:
I can't even think ... I don't know. Anyway, it's a thing of the past, thank goodness. But, yeah, so dauphinois would be nice because you only eat a little bit. And then what else? Now, I'm going to be so hungry. There's always-
Johanna Almstead:
Do any sort of like ... Oh, I guess stuffing you wouldn't do, because it's not like in the roast. Okay. And what kind of veggie? Do you do carrots? Do green beans? Do you do-
Sophie Drouin:
Brussels sprouts. Green beans, yes. Carrots, I just had at a friend's house. We did a roast on Sunday and that was a great addition, so I think I'm going to pitch that in this year.
Johanna Almstead:
Like glazed carrots, roasted carrots?
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
What are you doing with these carrots?
Sophie Drouin:
So my friend's husband is like a brilliant chef. He's not a professional chef, but he's just great in the kitchen and he glazed them in maple syrup and sauteed them and then somehow steamed them, but in the same pot, I don't know. It was just fantastic because they were soft on the inside, but nice and sticky and glazed on the outside. So it was just phenomenal. And then a salad, of course, a massive salad. We do kale, goat cheese, cranberries, walnuts, and then a big dessert of some sort.
Johanna Almstead:
Is there like a traditional dessert that you guys do?
Sophie Drouin:
We actually change it every year. How very daring of us.
Johanna Almstead:
You guys are racy.
Sophie Drouin:
I know. We're pretty racy.
Johanna Almstead:
Pretty and are racy.
Sophie Drouin:
But my mother-in-law recently found out that she can't ... Chocolate makes her not feel good, so we used to go-
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, how sad.
Sophie Drouin:
I know. And she was a chocolate lover. So we used to go all out chocolate cake or anything, like brownies or whatever. But now it's actually kind of nice because we have to expand our horizons and we've made some excellent alternatives. A nice angel cake with berries and whipped cream, always 100% love that or like a lemon olive oil cake.
Johanna Almstead:
Ooh, yum.
Sophie Drouin:
Yes.
Johanna Almstead:
Have you ever made a pavlova?
Sophie Drouin:
No. But is that with the meringue?
Johanna Almstead:
Yes.
Sophie Drouin:
I don't like meringue.
Johanna Almstead:
I don't like meringue either, but I like pavlovas. It's weird.
Sophie Drouin:
Okay.
Johanna Almstead:
There's something about ... I don't ever want to eat a meringue by itself, but there's something about the meringue, like a proper good meringue. Again, I'm not making this because I don't really ... I'm not a great baker, but a good, fluffy, light meringue and then the fruit that kind of like dissolves the meringue a little bit. And then you have the fresh whipped cream and it's ... I love a pavlova. And again, I am not a meringue person. Anyway, it's a nice alternative for people who can't do chocolate and who can't do gluten and who can't do ... It's a nice alternative.
Sophie Drouin:
It's why it's just like whipped sugar, cream, and berries basically.
Johanna Almstead:
And egg, I guess. Or egg white. I think that's how you make it.
Sophie Drouin:
What's your holiday meal?
Johanna Almstead:
So ours is totally weird. Well, mine is very different than when I grew up. So I grew up the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, so my dad had to work on Christmas Eve. So Christmas Eve was never a big meal for us. Christmas Eve was usually between services. So my dad would do an early service and a midnight ... I don't think it was actually midnight. I think it was like 11 o'clock or 10 o'clock, but with a candlelight service with the whole nativity scene and the whole story of Jesus and Bethlehem and the whole shebang.
So we would usually eat dinner at home casually between the two services. And so my mom usually ... That was usually kind of like some sort of yummy like stew or soup or something. She had this gorgeous ... Actually, I have it now. It's this beautiful hand made soup tureen. It's like a big pot with a pottery ladle that her friend who was a potter made and she would have this like big beautiful pot of whatever, yummy, stewy situation and just like crusty bread and cheese and usually a little salad. And so that was our Christmas Eve.
And then Christmas day, it was sort of weird. We would do sort of breakfasty brunch kind of, and then it would kind of be like eggs and bacon and ham and then like shrimp cocktail and salads and ...
Sophie Drouin:
And cocktail.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. And when I was little ... This is funny. I was little and I didn't like the shrimp cocktail. So I would eat a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios for Christmas dinner or Christmas lunch, whatever it was, because I refused to eat the shrimp cocktail that my mother splurged for. What an asshole I was. I mean, what's wrong?
Sophie Drouin:
I always go for the shrimp cocktail, number one.
Johanna Almstead:
Give it all to me now with extra horseradish in that cocktail sauce. But no, when I was little, I did not want to even try the shrimp cocktail, which was sad. So, yeah, it was kind of more of like a breakfasty, brunchy meal. And then I think we just sort of picked the rest of the day. We would eat chocolate from our stockings.
Sophie Drouin:
I love picking the rest of the day.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Sophie Drouin:
Yes. That's the best part is when you cook so much food and then the next few days you're just like, "Oh, I'm going to have a little bite of this and a little bite of this." Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
I feel like there was always like a honey baked ham, which we actually do still do now. So that was my growing up. And it was always like a very quiet, cozy, pretty casual Christmas because my dad was working. It was like a big deal. So Christmas day, we always just stayed in our pajamas. We didn't go anywhere. We had no guests. We had my family who would come and stay with us overnight and stuff, but we didn't have guests, like we didn't entertain on Christmas day and we didn't have like that big formal dinner.
So, yeah, it was like a very cozy, casual Christmas. And then I married into a very, very big Italian American family and it is literally the opposite. So we now normally host 25 to 30 people on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is the big party. We do the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Are you familiar with the Feast of the Seven Fishes?
Sophie Drouin:
No.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. So this is an Italian, American ... Italian, I don't know exactly. Italian tradition where you eat seven different kinds of seafood on Christmas Eve.
Sophie Drouin:
What?
Johanna Almstead:
Yes. So it is full on. My husband does most of the food and I do most of everything else. So I do the bar, the booze, the table, the linens, all the rental. I mean, we rent ... I mean, it's crazy. It's a whole production. So we normally, for Christmas Eve, serve ... Guys, get a pencil because it's long. Write it down.
We generally serve a bit of caviar with blinis and crème fraîche, or cucumbers, or potato chips, little bit of caviar. It's hard to do caviar for 30 people because it gets a little pricey and not everyone loves it. So I'm like, in my mind, people are only allowed to eat caviar if they love it. Don't just like dabble in caviar, right?
So we get a little bit of caviar to have. And then we do a raw bar seafood tower situation. So we'll do shrimp cocktail. We usually do some oysters as long as my husband doesn't like slice his hand open trying to shuck all the oysters. One year, we were able to get really good stone crab claws, the little fat ones. Those are so good. So shrimp. Sometimes we'll do clams. I don't love a raw clam, so I don't always push those, but we'll do a little raw clam.
Sophie Drouin:
I didn't even know you could eat a raw clam.
Johanna Almstead:
You can. It's like a raw oyster, but I just don't like them. I like clams cooked, but I do not like them. So that ticks off like several fishes. So we have that and generally not much else. That's sort of the starter. And we sometimes serve salad then, because if you don't, then no one eats a salad later. So we'll have salad. We'll have a little bit of a charcuterie board or something, but because there's some people who don't eat fish, even though the whole night is fish. So we put a little bit of cheese and salami and stuff out just for the people who don't want any of that raw bar. So that's like the start and that's like cocktails, champagne, dah-dah-dah.
Sophie Drouin:
Oh my God.
Johanna Almstead:
Then formal dinner, we sit down. We have a full sit down dinner.
Sophie Drouin:
Are you wearing gowns?
Johanna Almstead:
I'm not wearing a ... Well, I wouldn't say gown. I'm wearing definitely like ... We are dressed, yes.
Sophie Drouin:
Wow. That's so fun.
Johanna Almstead:
We are dressed. This is not cozy soup in between services. This is a different thing. People are showing up and we are doing the things. So I generally rent giant long tables and rent proper banquet chairs and cushions and the whole thing. And we do a sit down dinner, which includes this flounder francaise that my husband makes, which is like battered in egg and flour. And then it's kind of like a lemony, buttery deliciousness. And it's like one of those fishes that people who don't eat fish still eat because they love it. It's all good.
And then we do a linguine frutti di mare, which is like a linguine with mixed seafood. So that generally has mussels, calamari, cockles, little baby scallops. If we can find the nice little baby baby scallops, I like those. Shrimp also in that. And that's more like a white wine, garlicky sauce, whatever with cherry tomatoes. It's really, really yummy. And then we serve that with some sides. So we'll have some, usually sauteed broccoli rabe or broccolini or something. Salad sort of goes there too. And then we usually do also do another pasta with just like a red sauce because there are kids who don't want to eat the fish sauce. So that's the dinner.
Sophie Drouin:
That's insane.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Sophie Drouin:
And Michael cooks it all by himself?
Johanna Almstead:
Well, I'm definitely like sous chef, but he does ... Yeah, he does a lot.
Sophie Drouin:
Of course, but meaning for 30 people?
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. We don't cater it, which is funny because now we're going to be guests this year. His parents actually are going to host us this year and they're catering it. And he looks at me earlier and goes, "I never even thought about catering." And I was like, "What have we been doing wrong this whole time?" It's a lot less work.
He loves it. It's like his favorite night of the year. He loves it and he loves cooking and he loves the tradition and it's like a thing. It's a thing. So maybe as we get older, we could outsource some of the catering, but I think he'll probably, to the day he dies, be the man with the flounder, making the flounder, because it's like everyone calls it like Uncle Michael's flounder. It's like his thing. So that's Christmas Eve.
Sophie Drouin:
Oh my God.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Sophie Drouin:
Okay. Okay. I got to turn my paper over. I need to go get another sheet of paper.
Johanna Almstead:
And usually, I do outsource dessert for that because I'm not a good dessert person. I don't really eat a lot of dessert and so I always forget about dessert and people want to bring something. So I always feel like that's a nice thing to tell people, just bring dessert. And I really don't plan anything. I'm like, "Whatever they show up with is what we're serving." So that's really nice.
People bring too much, right? People bring 17 times of Christmas cookies and brownies, whatever. So we have that. So then everyone's bombed, by the way, also. It's very boozy night. Everyone stays super late. And then Christmas magic happens at like 2:00 in the morning. Get my drift, wink, wink.
Sophie Drouin:
Yep, yep.
Johanna Almstead:
Yep. So that's always hilarious after many glasses of champagne, that's happening. There's sorting, there's schlepping, there's hiding places, there's a whole thing that happens.
Sophie Drouin:
Is there a costume?
Johanna Almstead:
There is not a costume because the people are in bed, but then we have to leave out. We got to make sure we take care of Santa. So we leave out cookies and carrots for the reindeers and milk. And a few years ago, one of my daughters started leaving him vitamins and Advil because she thought that he would probably have a headache from working so hard. So we do that.
Sophie Drouin:
Absolutely. That's just good care-taking right there.
Johanna Almstead:
Right. Wellness. You got to focus on your wellness. Santa, we've got your back. So we got to make sure that happens. Then kids go to bed, then more magic happens. And then we wake up and everyone's hungover and our house is trashed on Christmas morning.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. Do you do dishes night of, or the next day?
Johanna Almstead:
It's hard because ... Okay, so one thing, this is a tip, guys. If you are hosting a lot of people, I know you all want to use your fancy wedding china if you have it, but most places, if you rent china, you can send it back dirty. In fact, you're asked to because they're going to clean it under there and sanitize it and do their whole thing. So it's actually kind of amazing because you cleared into these crates, but then my house has dirty crates in it, which always makes me a little bit sad on Christmas morning. Try to get those into the garage or somewhere far away, but it does cut down on the dishes by a lot. But we've used 975 pans and pots and all the other things, serving things to-
Sophie Drouin:
Cutting boards.
Johanna Almstead:
Yes. So we try to get through that, but it's not great. It's not a pleasant way to wake up on Christmas morning, I got to be honest. That's a thing where I keep, and I haven't ever done it because I just can't bear the idea of asking someone to work on Christmas Eve for me, but I have thought of the idea of having someone help me. I know people do this. I just never have.
Sophie Drouin:
Well, some people don't celebrate Christmas, so it's like a day like any other.
Johanna Almstead:
Right. That's true. And my dad had to work on Christmas and he was a man of God. So there you go. So I have always been like, it would be really nice to wake up to a completely clean kitchen. I would pay lots of money for that.
Sophie Drouin:
Can you imagine just walking down and it's like spotless?
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. I kind of want my own version of Santa and his elves just to clean my kitchen.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
And then Christmas day, we're all kind of shot. This was a carryover for my childhood. We were always allowed to open our stockings before breakfast, but we're not allowed to open presents until after breakfast.
Sophie Drouin:
Okay.
Johanna Almstead:
I do not allow the run down the stairs and rip over everything. I'm very psycho. This is where my waspy OCD stuff comes in, which is like, "No, we're going to pay attention when everyone opens a present. We're going to write it down. We're going to make sure we send a thank you note. We're going to pay ... One person opens a present at a time." So it goes on for days.
Sophie Drouin:
Okay. Wow.
Johanna Almstead:
But stockings were allowed to open and everyone kind of opens them all at once. And you can eat whatever chocolate and whatever stuff is in your stocking. Who cares if it's 8:00 in the morning? We do that. Then we have a pretty simple breakfast. We usually just do scrambled eggs. We try to get some protein into everybody, scrambled eggs and some nice bread and toast or whatever.
And we also do a panettone. So a panettone is an Italian tradition, which is kind of like a fruitcake, but it's like a loaf of yummy, kind of almost like a cross between challah and like ... What are those like a popover? It's like a cross between a challah and a popover.
Sophie Drouin:
Oh, okay.
Johanna Almstead:
So it's a big loaf of bread that's like tall and then kind of the shape of like a cupcake, but it's bread and it has usually sort of like dried fruits and things in it. And that's a tradition actually I brought back from when I lived in Italy. That was like a big thing that we would do. And so that my husband and I, since we started dating, that was always our Christmas morning breakfast. So we have that toasted with butter, a little bit scrambled eggs, maybe some bacon. And then we go an open presents and that takes 375 years, because I still have small children and I have very, very indulgent relatives. They are very generous and very kind, but it is a lot. So many, many, many, many presents happen and-
Sophie Drouin:
What's the best present you've ever gotten on the 25th?
Johanna Almstead:
Ooh, probably my watch. My husband bought me a watch that I had been lusting after for years. It was something that I have wanted since I was like in my 20s. And a couple of years ago, he surprised me with that, which was very unexpected and very exciting and very like, "I don't need anything else."
Sophie Drouin:
I think I'm good.
Johanna Almstead:
I'm not like a lot of things person at all. I'm like a very specific thing person and nothing quite ever matches until it's the specific thing. And so that's how it was with watches for me. And actually he's gotten me ... The only two watches that I ever wear basically are the two he's purchased for me and they were both very, very, very generous gifts and that's all I wear.
Sophie Drouin:
That's a really nice gift.
Johanna Almstead:
It was really nice. It was very thoughtful and it was very like he was like paying attention. Yeah. What about you? What's been your favorite gift you've ever gotten?
Sophie Drouin:
Oh, I should have known that the question would come back.
Johanna Almstead:
Come on. We even heard it in our reader's questions, but you just asked it anyway. Come on, girl.
Sophie Drouin:
I don't know, but I was just going to ask it to you. Oh, you know what? I'm just going to say the first thing that came to mind, which is a laptop, but this was more than 15 years ago. And when I was little, I used to love going to school supply stores and-
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, yeah, 100%.
Sophie Drouin:
... I would just go to the aisle with the cash registers and just decide which buttons I love the most. So I was like obsessed. I just love clicking on buttons. And, yeah, my parents got me a really old ... And just laptops used to be so big and they had-
Johanna Almstead:
They were like 100 pounds. Yeah.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. And so, yeah, they got me a laptop. I hadn't asked for it or anything, or maybe I don't know. I don't remember. But anyway, I remember just opening it and being so shocked and then immediately just starting to fake type on it. And, yeah, that was-
Johanna Almstead:
Wait, do you remember the Emmie Strommen episode when she talked about how she just liked to click, click, click on the keyboard, and then she ended up writing a terrible letter and caused a whole big drama in her elementary school?
Sophie Drouin:
Yes. I did not write a terrible letter. However, I did click a lot on the buttons.
Johanna Almstead:
A lot. Yeah.
Sophie Drouin:
And then at midnight, I was just like, "It doesn't work," because I didn't even know how to turn it on. So I was just like ... Nothing was happening. But, yeah, that was a pretty good one.
Johanna Almstead:
I remember, this just reminded me of a time. I had an uncle who was not in the restaurant or food business, but at one point he opened a pizzeria. I don't know. It was in Ohio. It was very strange. Anyway, but I remember going to the pizzeria and the only thing that I cared about was the fact that there was a cash register there.
Sophie Drouin:
What is it about a cash register.
Johanna Almstead:
And it wasn't even the money in the cash register. It was like the buttons and the thing that you could push and it would go bing and it would open the drawer and like it was so satisfying.
Sophie Drouin:
Oh my God. And some of them, I remember the cash registers at the pharmacy in the town where I grew up had the best buttons. And I tried to get a job there just-
Johanna Almstead:
Just so you could go on the cash register?
Sophie Drouin:
Just so I could go on the cash register and I didn't get the job.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, man. Were you overqualified?
Sophie Drouin:
But still now-
Johanna Almstead:
You might've been overqualified.
Sophie Drouin:
No, you know what? Well, I shouldn't say this, but my first round of trying to get a job at 15 or 14 or whatever it is, I put my social security number.
Johanna Almstead:
Why'd you do that?
Sophie Drouin:
My resume.
Johanna Almstead:
Could someone could steal your identity?
Sophie Drouin:
I was like, my name, my address, my house phone and my social security number just kind of made sense as a combination of things that you would give your ... Because I thought they would do a, I don't know, maybe like a background check or whatever that is.
Johanna Almstead:
To be a cashier at the pharmacy.
Sophie Drouin:
And I'll always remember this woman, I think it was like a vet office or something that I wanted to be like a receptionist or something like that. Oh, no, it was another pharmacy. It was the competitor to the pharmacy with the good cash registers. And I always remember she called me and she's like, "Miss, you didn't get the job, but also, please immediately delete your social security number from your resume." She was so concerned and she was almost upset. She was almost mad at me.
Johanna Almstead:
She was mad at you.
Sophie Drouin:
And I was just like, "Ma'am, I'm 14 years old." I didn't have Google at the time. I couldn't AI a perfect resume. But anyway, so all this to say, I love buttons.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. So guys, if you're looking for a holiday gift for Sophie, it's actually just get her a cash register.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah, just get me. Imagine just a bunch of vintage cash registers. But the ones from the 2000s, not before that. I don't like the metal one.
Johanna Almstead:
Not the like cool vintage. The pretty vintage ones are beautiful, but I don't like those buttons. Those are too hard to press.
Sophie Drouin:
No, they don't. I need the plasticky, really clickety, bouncy buttons.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. Okay.
Sophie Drouin:
I don't know what it is about it that's just so fun.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. So wait, what was the favorite gift you've ever given to someone?
Sophie Drouin:
Can it be for a birthday?
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, totally.
Sophie Drouin:
Okay, I'm going to pretend.
Johanna Almstead:
Because we're just giving people ideas. Because we had a lot of requests for people wanting to have gift ideas for people.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. Okay. So my best friend, early 30s, she is a huge fan of the Real Housewives of Bravo in general. And I go to Sundance every year to volunteer for the festival. And obviously, Meredith from Salt Lake City has a store on the Main Street in Park City.
Johanna Almstead:
Why did you say obviously? Because that's not obvious to me at all. Is that because-
Sophie Drouin:
It'll be obvious to the people who will know.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay.
Sophie Drouin:
And for the people who don't, you can still use this example. Basically, I went into Meredith's store and bought a sweatshirt with all of her most famous lines from the show and I mailed it to her. And, yeah, it kind of comes back to what I said at the beginning. I'm not good at pre-planning a gift, but-
Johanna Almstead:
You know it when you see it.
Sophie Drouin:
... when it hits, I'm just like, "Okay, that is perfect." So I was really proud of that one and she loved it. So if your loved ones have a show or a writer or a store or anything that they really love, I would say just getting something that has to do with that is really fun. And even if it's not super nice or super expensive or whatever it is, it's just fun. It's just kind of silly and it's worth the laugh, I think.
Johanna Almstead:
I think personal and silly is always great.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
It's always great. I think that's always so fun.
Sophie Drouin:
Wait, tell me yours.
Johanna Almstead:
The best gift I've ever given?
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Actually, my husband and I were just talking about this the other day. This was early on when we were ... Maybe we were engaged. I definitely do not think we were married yet. We might not have even been engaged. We might have just been dating. And my husband is a very avid home chef. He's not a professional chef, but he loves to cook. He's very good.
And this was so expensive for me at the time. It's still kind of expensive. I don't know. I haven't looked it up right in a while, but it was definitely the most expensive gift I had ever gotten, but I found this thing. I actually think, did you ever ... I mean, you probably didn't because you were probably like 12, but DailyCandy was like a newsletter that used to come around. No?
Sophie Drouin:
Mm-hmm. No.
Johanna Almstead:
Blank. Look at it. Nope. See, these people. This is why I'm old and she's not. Okay, this was like the pre-Substack. This was before Substack was ever a thing. This was this thing that was called DailyCandy and it was like pop culture and a little bit fashiony. In the beginning, it was just DailyCandy, but then it would be like DailyCandy New York, DailyCandy Chicago, Daily whatever. And they would do these promos and whatever.
Anyway, they had this experience that they sold that was with the New York Culinary Institute. And it was around the same time as the James Beard Awards. The Culinary Awards were going on in New York. So all these chefs would be in town, into New York for the weekend. And you could buy basically a two-day cooking school intensive and you would get mornings, you would do knife skills with some famous chef or not necessarily famous, but like a James Beard-
Sophie Drouin:
Renowned.
Johanna Almstead:
Renowned chef. Right.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
And then in the afternoon, you would do a full prep meal with somebody else. So you had two full days of like really amazing immersion and you were only like ... I think it was only like six people per chef. So my husband still to this day ... Oh, we've talked about it on this podcast, the roasted chicken that he makes that I don't even try to make because I just outsource it to him because I don't even want to bother because his is so good, is a recipe that he learned at that experience.
And I think it was called like the New York Culinary Experience. I have no idea if it's still going on. But when you left, you got a proper, like a really good quality chef knife as part of your gift and then you got like an apron or something. But the chef knife is one we still have literally 20 years. I mean, it's been probably 15, 20 years and he had so much fun and it was so specific to him. If someone gave me that, I would love it, but not in the way that he loves it.
Sophie Drouin:
You'd be like, "Oh, thank you."
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. I'd be like, "This is fun." But for him, it was like the perfect, perfect gift. It's been hard to top that.
Sophie Drouin:
It's nice when you can give or receive a gift where you feel really seen and celebrated. Like, "Yeah, this person just nailed it."
Johanna Almstead:
I know. I just actually nailed it. I'm going to say this. I just nailed it the other night. It was kind of like a birthday/holiday little get together with two girlfriends. So one was like a belated birthday and one was closer to birthday, but it was also sort of our get together for the holidays. So we went to this very, very cozy German place actually that's near me. It's like lots of schnitzel and strudel and all kinds of things. But it's cozy and it's like low ceilings and it's pretty lights and they decorated really nice for the holidays, so it's really nice.
Anyway, they both love champagne bubbles. They love Prosecco. They'll order Prosecco anywhere they go. So it's like nice to get them a bottle of champagne. Obviously, that was lovely, so I got them both a beautiful bottle of champagne. But then I went and found, there's this beautiful store near me and they have like the most unique and funny Christmas ornaments.
And so I found one was a gold sparkly Venus de Milo, like the blonde, like the naked blonde and the seashell. Isn't that Venus de Milo? It is, right? With the pearl and the oyster shell. Guys, correct me if I'm wrong. I think it is. And my one friend, she's like beautiful and she's got this long blonde hair. And I was like, "Oh my God, this is her in a Christmas ornament."
And then the other, I did this like really ornate, crazy. It looked like, I don't know if it was actually Marie Antoinette, but it was like a portrait. This crazy glass portrait with feathers coming out of this. And I wrapped it around the beautiful bottle of champagne. And I was like, "Now, this." Because they literally, they looked like both of them. It was weird that I could find it. And the woman who I gave the Marie Antoinette, she's like very much like the matriarch of the group and sort of the queen of the group. And I was like, "This is so good." I was like, "Nailed it. Nailed it."
Sophie Drouin:
And they loved it?
Johanna Almstead:
They loved it. And it was festive and it was fun. And it was money because we got good champagne and my friend and I split it and whatever, but it wasn't like extravagant. It was just very thoughtful and fun.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. A homemade gift too goes a long way.
Johanna Almstead:
I have a friend who ... Okay, she's going to be on this podcast actually and she makes the most delicious granola and she also makes pottery, beautiful, sick, ridiculously gorgeous pottery.
Sophie Drouin:
Great combination.
Johanna Almstead:
But she, last year, gave me one of her pottery bowls with her homemade granola in it as a Christmas gift, as a holiday gift. And I was like-
Sophie Drouin:
Anytime. Anytime.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, it was so lovely and so nice and something I am not particularly good at, the home craft. I'm good at the assembling really cool things together to make a cool gift, but I'm not like spinning pots and baking granola necessarily.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah, no.
Johanna Almstead:
So I felt so loved. It was so nice.
Sophie Drouin:
It's just two of the greatest things, like pottery and granola.
Johanna Almstead:
Dude, it was lovely.
Sophie Drouin:
I love that.
Johanna Almstead:
And it's like the bowl is like my favorite bowl ever. In fact, I tried to make me a whole set. So okay, I think thoughtful. So my thing with gift giving ... Okay, well, we should talk because somebody asked, this is sort of specific to hostess gifts also, because I totally like those trip people up a lot.
Sophie Drouin:
Yes.
Johanna Almstead:
Do those trip you up?
Sophie Drouin:
Yes. Okay. Well, okay. My default is always just like a bottle of wine.
Johanna Almstead:
Which is lovely.
Sophie Drouin:
Which is fine.
Johanna Almstead:
It's fine.
Sophie Drouin:
But actually, so my friend who hosted us for a roast on Sunday-
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, were different.
Sophie Drouin:
... they actually reverse hostess when we arrived, they had a homemade Christmas ornament for us-
Johanna Almstead:
That's so nice.
Sophie Drouin:
... that they made with their kids. A little orange.
Johanna Almstead:
That's so sweet.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. I would say something like homemade is so nice. Okay. Maybe actually this is ... I'm so bad at gifts that maybe you should answer this question and also maybe a three-tiered question. So what do you get if a family member is hosting you? What do you get if a close friend is hosting you and what do you get if it's like a business, like it's your boss or your partner's boss or something?
Johanna Almstead:
Okay.
Sophie Drouin:
And also, is there ever a time where you don't get a hostess gift?
Johanna Almstead:
No.
Sophie Drouin:
Okay.
Johanna Almstead:
No. This is something my mother instilled in me, never show up empty-handed. Even if it's the tiniest little thing, do something. There's been times when I've gone in the summer when I've gone with a basket of fresh kale from my garden. It doesn't have to be expensive. It doesn't have to be extravagant, but it has to be something.
Sophie Drouin:
Something that you add.
Johanna Almstead:
Something that you add.
Sophie Drouin:
Yes. Okay.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. So I think it's always nice to bring something that takes the ease off hosting. And I always think it's nice. I happened, it's come up on this podcast that I happen to be a psycho about things like beautiful cloth napkins and really nice ... You don't have to have fancy silver or anything, but I don't do paper napkins in my house.
And so I think something like that is a really lovely gift, because those can be expensive. You don't really want shitty cheap ones that are made out of weird acrylic or something. You want nice ones and they do add up. And so I think that those are really like a lovely ... If I'm going to someplace where I want to bring sort of a heftier gift, I would bring a beautiful set of napkins and maybe even a really nice set of napkin rings for that certain napkins.
Sophie Drouin:
How many? Six?
Johanna Almstead:
Six. Yeah. Depends. Sometimes they come in ... It's hard because it's like you don't really want to do four. I've done four and then I was embarrassed. I did her one time because the pack was four. They were sold as a set of four. And then I did four lovely napkin rings and then I got to her table and I was like, "Shit, she's got eight set. I owe her one."
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah, that's really disappointing.
Johanna Almstead:
It was so annoying. I was like, "I thought she had five or six seats at her table." Whatever. Anyway, so that was annoying, but they were really nice and expensive. And I was like, "It's kind of like a lot." So I got to fix that. I'll do that the next time I get invited. I'll bring the second set.
Sophie Drouin:
There you go. Do a half hostess gift and then you get two for one.
Johanna Almstead:
Two for one. So I do usually bring wine, but I don't bring that as my hostess gift. I usually bring wine as just sort of like a, "Hey, we're here. We're going to drink. We're going to help you restock whatever's happening." Or I'll bring something. My husband and I tend to travel and buy wine. So we actually have a lot of wine in our house. So I tend to find something that I think would be fun in our house and bring that and say like, "Either save this for yourself for a special occasion or let's open this later when everyone's not here," kind of thing, like a nice thing.
Sophie Drouin:
Right. So when you bring a bottle of wine, are you bringing it to drink it that night, or is it kind of like, "Here is this wine, you are now deciding what happens with it?"
Johanna Almstead:
If I'm bringing it just to throw on the bar and for me to drink and whatever else, I don't go fancy. I go just nice, yummy wine, but not something fancy. If I go fancy, if I pull something that's really nice and really ... I'll say to them, "This is for you. Don't put this out on the bar tonight. Save this for a special occasion or you and I will drink this another day or something like that." Usually, if that's the case, I'll put it in an actual wine bag with a card.
Sophie Drouin:
Right. So like don't open it.
Johanna Almstead:
As opposed to just rolling up with my bottle. If I'm rolling up with my bottle and this is going on the bar, then that's just sort of like, that's what it is. And again, that is a totally nice gesture and I think there's nothing wrong with that. And if that's all you do, that's totally fine. I think that, that's fine.
Sophie Drouin:
Well, I like the rule of thumb of what you're doing is either replenishing or making their lives easier.
Johanna Almstead:
Right.
Sophie Drouin:
That's a great base to start from.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. So then I think we have three categories because I would say the three categories that I have are replenishing, making life easier or super personal and just funny.
Sophie Drouin:
Right.
Johanna Almstead:
So the other day I was invited, actually, this is a funny story. I was invited to one of our guests from this season. Lorenza Golden, had us over for dinner and she's a lovely hostess and she kind of ... She has a beautiful house. She has beautiful things. I bought her beautiful ... I'll show up with a beautiful candle. I'll show up with other things. But this particular time I was like, "This would be really funny." Because it was right after her episode had aired and she had just talked about how her comfort food was Takis.
And so I actually enlisted my nine-year-old and we went to 10 different grocery stores and found every flavor of a Taki that was possible. And then we put it in this huge, very, very fancy gift bag with tissue and made it seem really, really fancy. And then we showed up and that was ... I brought a nice bottle of wine, but I also brought her this very funny, very fancy bag filled with Takis. So I felt like that was ...
Sophie Drouin:
Did she loved it?
Johanna Almstead:
She loved it. She thought it was hilarious. And she was like, "Oh my God, I'm set." And it just made her laugh and it just either lighten it up, make someone feel really seen and laugh and whatever, or lighten their load or really give them a treat, right?
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. Something they wouldn't buy.
Johanna Almstead:
Something they wouldn't buy or they'd be annoyed at having to buy. I also have this little bit of rule of thumb where if you're going to do something small, it can be very small. And again, it doesn't have to be expensive, but if you're going to do something small, then do the best version of it. I would rather someone buy me a beautiful, tiny little votive candle that's really nice quality than some shitty ... I'm not going to name brands, but some shitty, stinky, whatever, big giant candle that's gross, right?
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. I'm not going to name a brand either, but I feel like we're thinking about the same one.
Johanna Almstead:
We might be thinking about the same brand and it might smell like ... I don't know.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. Yeah. So no, I totally feel like ... Because you don't want to bring a hostess gift that then they're going to have to throw away.
Johanna Almstead:
Or regift. No, it's like-
Sophie Drouin:
Wait, you can't regift a hostess gift, can you?
Johanna Almstead:
You can regift anything technically, but no.
Sophie Drouin:
No.
Johanna Almstead:
But this is a perfect example. So I can't remember the brand, but there's these little ... Literally, it's the size of almost like a smaller than a big matchbox, right? And they're these little French scented papers and you light them and you burn them. They burn really fast, but they make sort of an incense. It's not really incense. It doesn't go as long, but like a little scented paper.
I don't know how much they are. They're like less than $20, I think buy a lot, probably $9 or something for a little thing. But that is the kind of thing where I think it's like they're so lovely. They're so high quality and they're so unique and they're so luxurious where it's like something like that. You could put that with a little card just saying, "Thank you so much for having me." Call it a day. I think that's really nice.
I also think candles. Again, I am definitely a candle snob. So I would say if you're going to do candles, it's got to be good. I think this is more in the realm of like if you were staying there for the weekend, I think a beautiful coffee table book is nice. I feel like I would love to receive that.
Sophie Drouin:
I would have never thought to bring that. That's genius.
Johanna Almstead:
Right. If you're coming for the weekend, you want something a little more substantial, I would say. I've bought even a beautiful ... I had someone who was hosting us, several of us for an entire weekend in the Hamptons. We bought a beautiful serving board and we split it between ... There was like four of us staying, and so we bought a beautiful serving board with some cheese knives and a couple little things. We made it whole setup and that we came for the weekend.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Thank you. One other thing that I think is nice for the weekend, if you're staying, like some people I know will do, they'll send a case of wine ahead of time, which is so nice for the weekend. They'll say like, "I'm covering drinks for the weekend or something like that." I think that's a very nice gift or like a group gift that you can do. A couple people can gather together and say like, "We're going to cover the wine and send like a few bottles or half a case or something."
Sophie Drouin:
That's classy.
Johanna Almstead:
Classy. Stick with me, kid.
Sophie Drouin:
Sending something ahead of time, that's classy.
Johanna Almstead:
That's classy. There we go. So stick with me, girl. We're going to make you classy yet. Here we go.
Sophie Drouin:
Oh my God.
Johanna Almstead:
I also think if you're going in the treat them to something nice thing, it's always nice to do a little beautiful body oil or like cashmere socks or just like a little ... Like something that's just like a treat that you don't want to buy yourself. You don't want to be like-
Sophie Drouin:
Yes. Oh my God. Who wouldn't want cashmere socks?
Johanna Almstead:
Right? Right.
Sophie Drouin:
Okay. You're blowing my mind.
Johanna Almstead:
Right? And all you have to do is put them in a little cute little peg. It doesn't have to be a big thing. I would be so happy. I would take one pair of cashmere socks over like 47 shitty bottles of wine or shitty smelling candles every day.
Sophie Drouin:
Oh, a thousand percent.
Johanna Almstead:
Right?
Sophie Drouin:
A thousand percent. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
I also think that like a little thing of nice stationary, like little note cards, just simple note cards where you would scroll a little thank you note or something. A nice box of high quality stationary, which is probably 25 bucks, 30 bucks. I mean, you could go really high quality, it could be a lot more, but you could get a nice quality little thing for 20 something dollars, but like just a little lovely box of simple, not occasion notes, just they might have a little flower or they might have a little emblem or something. That is something I feel like is so nice.
Again, this is tricky because some people are not incense people, but they're right now out in the world, there's so many beautiful little like a little incense holder with some cheap nice incense. Astier de Villatte makes a beautiful incense. It's very expensive, but they make a very beautiful incense, but you could maybe find like a little cheaper holder with a nice incense or a little more expensive holder with ... I think there's just like fun ways to do it that are just, again, just very simple things that would add to the luxury of their life without it being expensive, but it feels expensive if you're going to buy it for yourself, right?
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
I don't know. Not all of us are splurging on cashmere socks for ourselves, many pairs of cashmere socks, but couple pairs.
Sophie Drouin:
I will say there are some affordable cashmere socks out there. Shout out Everlane.
Johanna Almstead:
Everlane?
Sophie Drouin:
Yes.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Everlane, are you listening? We're telling people to buy your socks, Everlane.
Sophie Drouin:
So I don't know. I'm not a cashmere professional, but I do like my Everlane socks.
Johanna Almstead:
You know who else? Uniqlo makes a lot of not expensive cashmere socks.
Sophie Drouin:
Yes.
Johanna Almstead:
If someone got me like, "That's cute too." I bought the really cute mittens from Uniqlo and a little scarf and they're not expensive. That I think is just, I don't know, just things that make your life easier.
Sophie Drouin:
But see, this is why it's important to have this conversation because I would never think of those things and yet there's such good ideas and unexpected too. Because when I think hostess, I think flowers or wine and that's kind of boring.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. So not boring. I mean, wine is always great. If you're somebody who entertains often, wine is always great. Flowers I find trickier because ... So number one, if you bring them not cut, this is a lesson, guys, don't bring not cut flowers because then you're giving the hostess a job. As beautiful as a bouquet is, have a plan for it when you get there because otherwise you're giving a person who's hosting people in their kitchen.
Sophie Drouin:
I need to find a vase. They need to plant-
Johanna Almstead:
You got to find vase, you got to find these. You got to find shears to chop the ends. You got all the ... So again, if you're going to bring flowers, I would say either have a plan. If you know their house and you know they have the perfect Dartington vase. Great, I brought you some beautiful flowers, plop them in the vase and do it for them, but I wouldn't bring a big thing.
I do think a nice little plant is nice because they don't have to deal with it in the moment. But I also think flowers can be hard because sometimes for bigger occasions, people have already done the flowers in their house or on the table. And so then you get this other random thing of flowers and you're like, "Ugh, what do I do?" Right?
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Again, there's nothing wrong with flowers. They're lovely. I would say better flowers than nothing, better flowers than showing up empty-handed.
Sophie Drouin:
We've learned never show up empty-handed.
Johanna Almstead:
Yes. The other thing I think is also really nice, and this is hard too because it gets very specific, but I do think if you're going around the holidays, showing up with a beautiful ornament is also very nice.
Sophie Drouin:
Yes. We're back to the ornament.
Johanna Almstead:
We're back to the ornament.
Sophie Drouin:
Excellent gift, but a personal one.
Johanna Almstead:
Yes, exactly. So back to my Venus de Milo, Botticelli, whatever, I feel like that was very specific to my friend. The other thing, so this is something ... Because we have another question actually that I was going to ask you and we'll get into, but this is sort of a segue to that is like a holiday tradition that we love. So I've weirdly sort of mistakenly started a holiday tradition for myself of gifting myself something.
Sophie Drouin:
Love that.
Johanna Almstead:
And it goes back ... The story's kind of cute. So I'm going to tell people, but I think this is also a really nice idea for a gift. Sorry, before I get into this story, another thing is if you listen to people who are, if they're at your house and they like something that you have.
Sophie Drouin:
Yes, yes, yes.
Johanna Almstead:
So they're like, "Oh my God, I love those coasters." Coasters are also cute. I love that bread basket that you have or those candlesticks that you have or whatever. Again, sometimes they're pricier than you want it to be, but that I think is always such a nice thing. If someone buys me something that I noticed at their house that I loved, that feels very meaningful to me. That's really nice.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. I started keeping a gift list.
Johanna Almstead:
Very good.
Sophie Drouin:
So when people say things, I just write it down so I remember when the time comes.
Johanna Almstead:
Yes. The other thing, I'm sure maybe a lot of people do this, but I keep a full on spreadsheet for the holidays and specifically. I don't do this year round. I should do it year round and we could probably merge your gift list with my gift list, but I keep a gift list of everyone that I gift every holiday and then what I give them so that every year ... Yeah. So every year you can go back and you can look and see what you got them last year and you can see what you want to make sure you don't double.
Sometimes people are like, "You know they're going to love a cashier blanket." And then you look back and you're like, "Oh, I gave them one two years ago." You forget. When I feel like as you get older and you have kids, you start to get like, there's a lot of people.
It also helps for people that you tip during the holidays to make sure you keep track of how much you give everybody or bonuses that you give. But if you live in a doorman building, you're tipping lots of people. If you have people who work for you in your house, you probably are tipping lots of people. So that's a really nice way to literally just keep a spreadsheet, names, put the year in the top column and just write it down every time so that you always have it.
Sophie Drouin:
I would've never thought of that.
Johanna Almstead:
Always have that as reference. And you can go back and be like, "Okay." Because sometimes I forget, I'm like, "What did we spend on them last year?" You kind of want to stay in the same budget or it's like a big year, you want to go bigger. It's nice. So that I would say do that.
So I was going to go back to my little tradition that I started for myself, which I kind of love and I kind of wish someone else had started for me, but I did it for myself. So here we go. So this goes back to maybe the first Christmas my husband and I ever had when we weren't married yet. We lived in our apartment on 11th Street. We had a tiny little apartment, got our first Christmas tree. And I remember this moment of panic where I was like, "Oh, we don't have anything to put on this tree."
We had both moved out of our family homes. Our family homes were still putting up their Christmas trees. We had nothing to put on the tree. And so I remember going to, I don't know, Michael's or one of those places and finding stuff, but just none of it felt meaningful. So that year I happened to be working ... I mean, this is a real shout out for the oldie people out there. Does anyone remember Lucky Shops?
So Lucky Magazine used to throw this event called Lucky Shops. They would have all of the brands that advertise with them all year round would come and they would do this big shopping event at the Metropolitan Pavilion off of Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District and you would buy a ticket, then you would get discounts from all these brands, right? But I was working there. I was working for Kate Spade. At the time, we got invited to be a part of it. So I was working.
And at the end of ... It was like crazy. It was crazy. You would load all this crazy merchandise into this place. There'd be brands. It was almost like a trade show, but then like a shopping ... But then you're dealing with customers, like actual consumers, not like business to business customers. And it was bunkers, people would line up outside. And as the days went on, the discounts would get bigger and as the night went on ... It would be like later in the day, we would be like, "It's 50% off, whatever." It's just nuts. But it was incredible because it was all these amazing brands and amazing designers and all this stuff.
And so it's something I would've never gone to as a consumer because it would've given me a full-blown anxiety attack, but I had to work it. And so we became friends with all the other vendors and it was like in early December and I became friends with the people who were at the Jonathan Adler booth. And it was so funny by the end where we'd be like, "I'll swap you an ornament for a handbag and whatever."
Anyway, so Jonathan Adler makes these very, very, very simple little porcelain. They're white porcelain. They're always white porcelain animal ornaments. So I bought two that year because it was like all I could afford. They were giving me some crazy discount. And I think I ended up doing some Christmas shopping there and bought some pottery bowls for my family and stuff.
But I was like, "Well, I'm going to have ..." I have my kind of crappy stuff that I bought at whatever craft store or whatever. I had the lights and some sort of filler ornaments. And then I was like, "I'll have two special ornaments." And so I bought them for us and it felt like a giant splurge. It felt like so fancy to me at the time.
Sophie Drouin:
That's so nice.
Johanna Almstead:
And so now, it's been probably 20 years and every year I now go to Jonathan Adler and buy myself one of his porcelain animal ornaments.
Sophie Drouin:
Oh, that's so cute.
Johanna Almstead:
And it's something I look forward to and it's sort of my little treat to myself. And I did it this year and I was like, "This is so crazy." And I'm like, "Eventually, I'm going to have to have an only animal tree. That's going to be on there." But it just is something that I really love. It's not super expensive. I think they're maybe like 40 bucks. They're usually on sale around now, whatever, Black Friday sale or something. I think they end up being like $28 to $40. But it's just like my little treat and it's like this thing that I've now been doing for myself for 15 or 20 years and now I have this gorgeous collection that I'm going to pass down to my kids and I'll start buying them theirs when they're old enough.
I don't know. So I think there's something really lovely about kind of creating a tradition. And again, it doesn't have to be expensive or fancy. Maybe it's like some friends you always bring a panettone to or you always bring Italian rainbow cookies to or something, but it's just like sort of starting this tradition that you become known for and that you always sort of show up with something delightful. Like my friend with her granola and how everybody at Christmas is like waiting for her granola.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. Yeah. That's really nice.
Johanna Almstead:
So I think that's a really nice one. Okay. Wait, so we have another question about ... Oh, this is a fun one. Favorite holiday soundtrack. Do you listen to holiday music?
Sophie Drouin:
Oh, we have a soundtrack. I don't know if the listeners will know about NTS Radio.
Johanna Almstead:
What is that? Tell us about it.
Sophie Drouin:
I'm not the right person to describe this well. I think it's based in the UK, but I'm not sure. There are DJs from around the world who play it. It's basically just a 24/7 radio that DJs play on.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Where does one find this? Is it on Spotify?
Sophie Drouin:
It's literally ntsradio.com I think. What is it?
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, it's like a website. Okay. I'm like, "Do you do it on the AM transistor radio?"
Sophie Drouin:
Okay. So sorry, it's nts.live. And yeah, it's just really great because you'd find just new music all the time and it's not like Spotify music. And so you can have more curated holiday playlist. Anyway, there's a holiday playlist on there that we only listen to in December and we listen to it on December 1st and then every day thereafter, and it's really good.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. I need to listen to that because I feel like I'm a little bit already worn out from the holiday playlist that I have.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. So we do that and then once I'm with my mom and my sisters, it's a lot of Celine Dion.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. I'm not mad at Celine. I'm okay with Celine.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. I mean, she's my hometown girl. She grew up where I'm from, where my mom's from. So we just kind of have a communion with Celine every year and celebrate her and honor her. Yeah, those are the soundtracks. What are yours?
Johanna Almstead:
I do enjoy me some Michael Bublé Christmas album. I don't listen to him for anything else. No offense to him. I don't listen. I do like his holiday album. I like me some ... I love Last Christmas by Wham! I mean, I don't know if even know what that is, but it's-
Sophie Drouin:
No.
Johanna Almstead:
Really? << Last Christmas, I gave you my heart >>
Sophie Drouin:
Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
That's a Wham! original, George Michael.
Sophie Drouin:
Not as musical as you.
Johanna Almstead:
<< The very next day, they gave it away >> And then Taylor Swift covered it a long time ago. Not as good. I'm a Wham! original. So I like that. I actually weirdly do like Justin Bieber's Mistletoe. That's been playing because my kids are Bieberlicious fans.
Sophie Drouin:
Nothing wrong with the Justin Bieber tune.
Johanna Almstead:
I love that one. There Won't Be Snow in Africa this Christmas that will like We are The World people one, whatever that one was. That was very good. I do love me some John Lennon, like old. Is John Lennon the one that's like << So this is Christmas >> Or maybe that's Paul McCartney. (singing) I like that one.
Sophie Drouin:
I do love that song.
Johanna Almstead:
I like a little Frank Sinatra. I like little Mariah. I'm not mad at a little Mariah holiday.
Sophie Drouin:
For me, it's just kind ... Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. I think you can only be ... If you are a Celine person, you can only probably be a Celine Dion person and not a Mariah person.
Sophie Drouin:
True.
Johanna Almstead:
So I'm like fair weather for both of them. So I can get down with like one or two. I don't need an entire album by Maria. It's hard because it goes through the filter of a 9 and a 12-year-old over here.
Sophie Drouin:
Of course. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. But I like some old school like Bing Crosby too. Just give me some good classics.
Sophie Drouin:
I think we need you to make a playlist.
Johanna Almstead:
A holiday playlist?
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
I could do that. Do you think I would give NTS Radio a run for their money?
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Probably not.
Sophie Drouin:
You might. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
They're probably a lot cooler than me if they're like European DJs. But listen, I'll throw my hat in the ring.
Sophie Drouin:
Throw your hat in the ring.
Johanna Almstead:
I'm not proud. I can do this.
Sophie Drouin:
Who knows what might happen? Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. And then I feel like one of the other questions that people asked, which I thought was very sweet, was dream holiday scenario. What would be your dream? As you get married and as you have kids and as your family expands, traditions change or sometimes they don't. And so I think it's interesting to think about, because often you are ending up doing a holiday that you might not be your dream scenario. I think a lot of people are in that position where they're like just trying to make it work. They're trying to make everybody happy. So I would love to think about if you could make up your own perfect holiday, what would it be?
Sophie Drouin:
I love a cozy Christmas morning. My sister has a beautiful home in the town where we grew up with big windows that go onto a beautiful lake and trees and lots of snow. So dream holiday scenario is being there in her living room with my family, my nephews. I mean, this is my dream. So throw in my girlfriends as well. Why not?
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Sophie Drouin:
And my in-laws and just kind of sit there, drink our coffees and then hot chocolate and just like watch the kids read, chat, and then the hot chocolates turn into a little cocktail. Just like kind of an endless day of just coziness.
Johanna Almstead:
Endless day of beverages that then ... Cast the booze. Yeah, I'm into it.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. And then it just kind of slowly turns into like a party and we're playing games. There's some backgammon, there's some card games.
Johanna Almstead:
Wait, are you going to teach me how to play backgammon this year? Because didn't we talk about this?
Sophie Drouin:
Yes, yes. Yes, I will.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. That's on the 2026 list, by the way.
Sophie Drouin:
You will teach me how to be a better guest and gift giver, and I will teach you backgammon.
Johanna Almstead:
Check, check done. We just did this episode. You know it all.
Sophie Drouin:
Boom. Listeners look forward to an episode about backgammon.
Johanna Almstead:
You're just going to teach me on the podcast how to backgammon.
Sophie Drouin:
You're just going to hear like, "Okay, now you do this." But, yeah, that's pretty much my dream.
Johanna Almstead:
Right. But, yeah, it would be like games and coziness, and is there snow involved, and is there a fireplace?
Sophie Drouin:
Tons of snow, there's a fireplace. And then maybe a little afternoon ski.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, yes.
Sophie Drouin:
For sure, a little afternoon ski. The food is just like toast chips.
Johanna Almstead:
Toast.
Sophie Drouin:
Well, toast in the morning. Oh, you know what it is? It's like the little eggs that you cut the top and you dip your toast in.
Johanna Almstead:
Like a soft-boiled egg in an egg cup. Ugh, I love egg cup.
Sophie Drouin:
In an egg cup.
Johanna Almstead:
So chic.
Sophie Drouin:
Love those.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay.
Sophie Drouin:
And then yeah, just for lunch, like some sandwiches, chips. I mean, clearly I want some chips.
Johanna Almstead:
Chips. Chips for Christmas.
Sophie Drouin:
And then at night, we just kind of-
Johanna Almstead:
Eat more chips.
Sophie Drouin:
We eat more chips and then do the roast. Yeah. We all start cooking together and some people are cooking, some people are cleaning, some people are setting up the table. And yeah, then we just drink and eat and just go to bed.
Johanna Almstead:
Bed.
Sophie Drouin:
We've been together all day. We finish eating. We're cleaning. Have a last drink. And then we're like-
Johanna Almstead:
Bed.
Sophie Drouin:
Goodnight.
Johanna Almstead:
I like that cleaning is actually in your dream scenario because cleaning is definitely not in mine.
Sophie Drouin:
I know, but there's something so fun about being around the stink. We're all working together. I like it. And I also think as the non-chef, cleaning is like my contribution.
Johanna Almstead:
It's like your love language.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. I'm very good sous chef.
Johanna Almstead:
So that makes you a good guest though also, by the way.
Sophie Drouin:
Yes. If anyone wants to invite me over, I will always help you clean.
Johanna Almstead:
As someone who hosts a lot, I'm very appreciative of the people who are like stellar cleaners and who just get up and do it and who are like ... I don't ever expect anyone to do it, but it's always a lovely surprise when someone does it joyfully.
Sophie Drouin:
Okay. But here's a question that I've faced the last two times I've been a guest is like, I am literally happy to clean. I will do the dishes. It takes 15 minutes and it's just like easy, peasy, and we can keep chatting and all of that. But the two hosts were adamant that they did not want me to clean. It was to the point, like sometimes it's adamant and then I push one more time and they're like, "Okay, whatever. Yeah, sure." But it was to the point where I was just like I feel like they just don't-
Johanna Almstead:
They're getting upset.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. They're just kind of like, "No, I'm going to do it."
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Sophie Drouin:
So what do you think is the appropriate amount of imposing the help versus just being like, "All right, you don't want me to do it, I won't do it?"
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. I think it's a case by case scenario for sure. I think it depends on how close you are with the person. I also think it's their level of comfortability. Is this someplace that you go and you know their kitchen and you're in there all the time? Or is this a little bit more formal? Is it your boss? If it's like your boss, maybe not. Or like a business associate, I wouldn't storm into the kitchen.
Sophie Drouin:
No, fair enough.
Johanna Almstead:
I think it's also like, it could be cute when you walk in, you're like, "Here's my lovely French smelling papers for you as a hostess gift and I do dishes, so don't fight me on it." If it's something cute like that where you sort of give them a heads-up, that that's part of your plan. I think that could be very sweet.
So I have an incense in my family. So I grew up in a family where no one ever got up from the table when people were still talking. My dad was a talker. You sat at the table for hours and hours and hours and no one got up. And no one especially would get up if the host or hostess did not get up and start cleaning, right? You just wouldn't. You would leave it all there and let it ...
If you got up to go to the restroom, you might grab a couple plates or whatever, but you left the table. And in my house, surprise, surprise, the name of my podcast is Eat My Words, the food and the words, the conversation were the important part of the night. That was what the goal was, was to have lovely conversation and beautiful food. So you just didn't fuck with that at the end of a meal.
And then I married into a family that that was very different. And it was very expected that, in this particular case, the women would jump up and start cleaning, which to me is not the jam. That is not the vibe I want. And for years, I used to get upset because I would say, "Please, please, please don't. Please, let's just sit. Let's just sit." And then I think it took me having my second baby where I was just like, "Fuck it, I don't care. Go ahead, do dishes."
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah, yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
I had a moment where I was like, "Okay, this particular guest, this makes her feel useful and this makes her happy. Also, I'm not going to get up at the same time." So that was the difference is because when she would get up before, or there's a couple of them, would get up, I would feel the need to get up then because I'd be left sitting at the table in my own house and that felt weird. Took me many years and probably some therapy to get to the point where I was like, "You know what? The way I host is that I'm going to sit at the table while conversation is happening. If I'm fussing or trying to get done and we're trying to wrap things up, of course I'm going to get up and I'm going to clean when people are there. But most of the time, I'm not going to do that." But if this particular guest feels happier, she's fidgety, she doesn't want to sit at the table and lab our faces off, let her clean. It's okay.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. Let us clean.
Johanna Almstead:
Let us clean. So that actually ...
Sophie Drouin:
We want to clean now.
Johanna Almstead:
I have two specific people in my life who are very much that person. They're just like, they're busy bodies, they're kind of anxious, they get fussy. They don't want to sit at the table that long. I could sit at the table. This is the joke actually, and I have it right now. See this tiny sip of wine? I could make this last 14 hours.
Sophie Drouin:
Yep. Yep.
Johanna Almstead:
So I would just happily blah-blah-blah-blah, and just sip my less little sip of wine. So there's people that don't want to do that. And now I finally, it took me probably, I was like probably 40 by the time I was like, "You know what? You go ahead. I'm not coming in until I'm ready and do your thing."
Sophie Drouin:
And I'll never be like, "Oh my God, the host is not cleaning." I want the host to sit down and just enjoy the drop of wine.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. There's nothing nicer though. And at the end of the night wearing heels, having hosted all night to be able to finally sit down, put your feet up and have a glass of wine and sit and sip my last sip for 42 years and have someone else do that. That to me is like lovely. I'm not going to argue with you ever. But there are people who would, and I think you just have to like, "Oh, this is interesting and this is for people who have kids."
So in our house, I very much believe in everyone. This is more for like a casual dinner. It's just sort of Sunday night dinner, we're all here, whatever. Everyone takes their plates to the kitchen and we're not talking fancy, nine course dinner. We're talking just like family dinner, whatever. So in my house, my children are expected to get up, take their plates to the kitchen, they scrape their plates, they put it in the dishwasher, they rinse it, they put it in the dishwasher. So that's my expectation when kids are at my house. And that's not always the expectation.
And it was interesting, we were staying at someone's house, very good friends of mine. The husband is a little bit more formal and it was like a casual ... It's a beach house. It was a summer beach house. It was like a casual dinner or even lunch. I think it was like a lunch and the kids kind of got fussy and the parents were like maybe drinking glass of wine or whatever. We weren't quite ready to get up. And so I gave my kids the like, "If you're going to get up, you're taking your plate in."
And the husband actually was very much like, "No, no, no, no, no, don't, please, please don't." And I was like, "There meant to do." And he kind of was a little bit like, and I was like, "Okay, that's fine. No problem. You guys can leave your plates and you can go." So that was a moment where I had to read the room and say like, "Okay, he's not feeling this." That's going to stress him out more, the fact that my kids are going to walk into his kitchen, I don't know why, but whatever, to each their own, then it stresses me for them to leave it on the table. So I think you just have to read the room.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah, I agree.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. So I think it's like push-pull. I have one friend that I know who when she comes over, she's always going to do dishes and she's like a whirling dervish and just goes in there and is like ... And I'm like, "Great." And then I have another friend who I know will never get her ass out of the seat. She will sit and drink the last sips of her wine every time, which is fine also.
Sophie Drouin:
You got to love people for who they are.
Johanna Almstead:
Right. And just don't let it be stressful. If you're like, "I love to help clean," and someone's like, "That's freaking me out," then like, "Okay, I'm just going to sit down." Right?
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
It just needs to be easy.
Sophie Drouin:
Definitely.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Speaking of talking for a really long time and my last sip of wine. I'm going to do it. Cheers.
Sophie Drouin:
Cheers.
Johanna Almstead:
I don't know, do you think we've given people tips? Do we feel like this has been successful?
Sophie Drouin:
I think it has been. I think I would love to know in closing.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay.
Sophie Drouin:
What is your favorite gift to give? And I will allow you to choose three different target audiences for this gift. Or you could even help. If you had a really busy year and you don't know what to get your husband or your partner, or if you want to get a gift for yourself, or if there's a particular brand that you like. And don't think about it too much. Three favorite gifts to give.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. I would say probably a very sort of no-brainer one, a very luxurious candle. And I've started adding a beautiful ... What the hell is it called? A snuffer? It's like the little metal thing.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
And then sometimes it comes with a little trimming, like you trim the wick?
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. Oh, that's so nice.
Johanna Almstead:
But a good ... We're talking an expensive candle. Those are expensive. For a candle, they're expensive. Candle and a beautiful trimming little set that sort of fits their décor, I think is always ... To me, I love to receive that. If it's a good high quality something, I think that's really, really nice. And I think people always appreciate it.
Okay. What else do I like to give? I like to give ... This is going to sound so duchy. I like to give cashmere if I can. In the smallest, even if it's the smallest little thing. Again, it's not like ... You know what? Actually, someone ... I actually thought this was such a lovely gift. They had an old school water bottle. What is it called? Hot water bottle? A hot water bottle, but it came in this beautiful little cashmere sweater.
Sophie Drouin:
Wait, like a period? Like a heat pad?
Johanna Almstead:
Well, you can use it for your period or back or headache or whatever. I thought that when it was wrapped in this beautiful little cable net cashmere. I mean, that's not my favorite gift, but I thought it was really nice. It was very pretty.
Sophie Drouin:
That's a great gift.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. I really like to try to give experiences. If we're talking a bigger, not just a hosted gift, but we're talking like a bigger ticket item for somebody who you really love, I love an experience. I think that is really, really nice. And if you think through a day. And again, it doesn't have to be fancy, but plan a day for somebody or plan an evening for somebody or say they love pastrami. Take them to Katz's downtown deli, get them a pastrami sandwich and go to a movie. It's just some sort of cute, personal love. And again, you don't have to go dining and dancing at the crystal ballroom. You don't have to go to the top of the rock or whatever.
Sophie Drouin:
I don't have to buy something. One of my best friends this weekend just randomly brought me to a bookstore and then we went for lunch and she's just like, "I just know you like books, so I figured we'd stop here before we went for lunch." And I was like, "That's so nice. That's so fun. It's true. I love being here."
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. I had a friend who was in town and she had a very quick little moment. She didn't have a lot of time. And there was this one store in town that I knew she was going to love. And I was like, "You know what we're going to do? I'm going to take you to this one store and then we're going to go to this very chic restaurant across the street and we're going to have a martini." And that was the moment. That was the gift. I was like, "It's my treat. We're going to go do this. We're going to have this very expensive, stupid martini." But again, it's expensive for what it is, but if that's the gift, that's the gift. It's the fact that you thought about their time and what they would really like. And so I think that's always really nice.
Sophie Drouin:
So candle, cashmere, experience.
Johanna Almstead:
Experience is really nice.
Sophie Drouin:
I love that.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. I'm going to tell this is totally, and this is at the full end of the other spectrum, which is the Dutch side of my family. So my godmother and godfather were very Dutch, very, very Dutch. And we have Dutch heritage. And so there is a tradition of writing songs, usually two songs that already exist. So they would take the melody of another song and then write a personalized song to that about the person. And so for every occasion ...
Sophie Drouin:
That's so cute.
Johanna Almstead:
So again, it doesn't cost any money. It costs time and a musical ability, which I don't have, but my brother is actually amazing. My brother and my mom were amazing at it. And so for my wedding, like at my rehearsal dinner, they busted out a full on song about me, my fiance and the whole thing. I think that is just like ... My husband and I was just talking about it the other day, like dying, like sobbing, laughing, crying. His relatives were like, "Who the hell are these people? What is happening?"
So I think something, again, it doesn't have to be money spent. It could be a little poem. It could be just a little ... If you can draw, like a beautiful little drawing on the back of a napkin. To me, that means more to me than anything else. Yes, cashmere is beautiful and I'll take it all day long.
But if you were like, "Hey, I thought of you when I was at the bar," and scribbled this on the back of a napkin and you gave it to me, I would fucking frame it. I'd pay hundreds of dollars to get it framed and put it up in my house. I would love that.
Sophie Drouin:
A thousand percent. A thousand percent.
Johanna Almstead:
I think it's for me, the stuff that gets in ... This is horrible to say. Should you ever say there's gifts that you don't want? But I don't want mediocre things that nobody has thought about. Just don't give me anything. I don't need it.
Sophie Drouin:
Or gain, draw a heart on a bar napkin.
Johanna Almstead:
On a bar napkin. I would take a drawn heart on a bar napkin before I would take some weird thing that you bought at some strange place that has nothing to do with me. That's sort of like, "I don't need those, but thank you."
Sophie Drouin:
Impersonal. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. If it's impersonal, that feels like I don't really want that. But if you know someone's like ... I've seen lately, there's all these really cute, beautifully designed decks of cards, like playing cards.
Sophie Drouin:
That's a great tip.
Johanna Almstead:
Like $12. They're so beautiful and there's so many nice ones. And if you know someone likes to play cards or you've talked about playing cards or something, that to me, it's great. It's like $15.
Sophie Drouin:
And you can never have enough decks of cards because you need one in every bag everywhere, so you just always have it when you're on the go.
Johanna Almstead:
Right. I think that's beautiful. Or like a little cute little set of dice or I don't know. Again, it has to mean something to them, but anything like that to me is lovely. I think it's very nice. I think the only other thing I would say is like, I also love like for women ... Actually, this is a beauty/wellness thing for men. One of the best gifts I ever gave, my brother actually told me he still uses it and it's literally been 20 years. If you guys are in New York, Bigelow Pharmacy sells these beautiful wooden shaving soap.
Sophie Drouin:
I'm looking it up.
Johanna Almstead:
And it's in this like lovely wooden case. It has like a round shaving soap inside and you buy like a really lovely little shaving brush.
Sophie Drouin:
That's genius.
Johanna Almstead:
And my brother still has his. I gave it to him 20 years ago. I'm not joking. And you can just buy the refillable disc of soap that you put back in. Something like that. Again, it wasn't expensive. It's just so much nicer than like a can of Barbasol or whatever.
Sophie Drouin:
The oldest apothecary in-
Johanna Almstead:
Have you never been there?
Sophie Drouin:
No.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh my God, Sophie, you need to go there.
Sophie Drouin:
Okay. Well, I'm going now. Bye.
Johanna Almstead:
Go tomorrow. Okay, bye. It's been good. Cheers. For stocking stuffers, they have all these little European brands. They have all this little apothecary stuff. It's so nice. And again, I mean, there are some things in there that are expensive, but you can find a lovely little, just a little thing of beautiful body oil, just something that feels ... To me, I always like things that feel luxurious even if they're not expensive.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah. Well, now, I'm completely lost in this website.
Johanna Almstead:
Now we've lost her guys. She's shopping.
Sophie Drouin:
I'm just shopping.
Johanna Almstead:
She's like, "My cart is full, I have to go."
Sophie Drouin:
I have to go.
Johanna Almstead:
Well, my cart is full too. My heart is full after this year. What a good year we've had, huh?
Sophie Drouin:
It's been so fun.
Johanna Almstead:
It's been so fun.
Sophie Drouin:
So, so, so fun.
Johanna Almstead:
We as a team wish you all, our listeners wish you the happiest, happiest holidays. You guys are the biggest gift we've had all year long. Sophie is the biggest gift I've had in my life.
Sophie Drouin:
You are.
Johanna Almstead:
And I hope this was helpful. I hope you had a laugh. We want you to know how grateful we are to you that you guys keep tuning in, that you send us your questions, that you make little comments, that you like us, you share us, you do all the things. It means the world to us because this is just like our funny little engine that could trucking along. And so we just want to say thank you. And this is meant to be just a little bit of a thank you episode to all of you. Sophie, thank you from the bottom of my heart for being my guest today.
Sophie Drouin:
Thank you. Such an honor.
Johanna Almstead:
We're finally coming out from behind the curtain.
Sophie Drouin:
Oh my gosh. I'm going right back. Don't worry.
Johanna Almstead:
For all of the ... Now, you're going shopping. For all of the work that you do, the beautiful light that you shine on this project every day and for making this happen on a daily basis, I am forever, ever grateful. You are a huge gift in my life. And I'll take you wrapped in a bow any day over a shitty candle for sure.
We as a collective, Eat My Words team, want to say happy, happy, happy holidays to all of you.
Sophie Drouin:
Yes. Yes.
Johanna Almstead:
May you find some joy, may you find some light, may you find some nourishment, may you find some cozy, and may you find some delight in your days. And we are going to actually take a couple of weeks off.
Sophie Drouin:
Yes.
Johanna Almstead:
So this is going to be our last episode before January. And then we're going to play a couple, what do you call them, like all time hits, like greatest hits? We're going to play some greatest hits.
Sophie Drouin:
Yeah, absolutely.
Johanna Almstead:
Some of our favorite episodes from this past year.
Sophie Drouin:
I mean, they're all our favorite episodes, but-
Johanna Almstead:
They're all our favorite episodes.
Sophie Drouin:
... we had to pick two for now.
Johanna Almstead:
Right. We had to pick two. So we've picked two that we hope you guys enjoy and that are inspiring and hope to round out your one year and kick off your new year. And we will be back in January with Season 2 of Eat My Words, which is so crazy. We're going to take a beat. We're going to take our own advice and we're going to take a minute. We're going to rest. We're going to recharge. We're going to eat good food. We're going to have lots of good conversations. Sophie's going to do so many dishes.
Sophie Drouin:
Oh, yeah. All the dishes.
Johanna Almstead:
And we're going to give good gifts. We're going to receive good gifts. We're going to receive all the goodness that we deserve and we are going to check back in with you in January.
Sophie Drouin:
Season 2.
Johanna Almstead:
Season 2. So happy, happy, cheers, cheers, chin chin. Mine's empty. And we wish you all a beautiful holiday, a beautiful new year, and we will see you next season. Thank you.
Sophie Drouin:
See you next season.
Johanna Almstead:
Bye.
This Eat My Words podcast has been created and directed by me, Johanna Almstead. Our producer is Sophy Drouin. Our audio editor is Isabelle Robertson, and our brand manager is Mila Bushna.