Hey, Sylvia.

Happy holidays.

Ho, ho, ho.

Don't get ahead of yourself now,

I know, right?

this week we're talking about regional traditions and, food gifts.

But before we get there, I have to share.

I think this is one of the most fun gifts we've had almost all year, Sylvia.

Mm-hmm.

Well, I was listening to a podcast driving back from a long drive

this morning, and I heard Christopher Kimmel from Milk Street talking

about eating your Christmas tree.

Well,

guess what?

We did it first!

No.

Busted.

And eating bugs.

So as they say, imitation is the finest form of flattery.

So we'll either pat ourselves on the back with a spoon.

I know, but I wanna tell him.

I know we, well, I think other people have been

eating that stuff first, but

and, you created a video about it, I mean, yeah.

did.

So anyway, that has been a lot of fun, but let's dive into our show about the

nostalgic and regional traditions, and of course you can't have the holidays,

especially Christmas without food gifts.

Oh, absolutely.

Got some really cool stuff on that.

. But first of all, , what we looked at were all these regional things and

it's like pages and pages of them.

'cause all the little sub regions and all of that kind of thing too.

But we start out with your neck of the woods, which is the northeast,

and , all the things that go on up there.

, Salt, cod, baked beans, brown bread.

The one thing I'd love to talk about a little bit is the Feast of Seven Fishes.

Oh yeah, there's a lot big Italian communities up there for sure.

yeah.

And it was formed, in southern Italy.

It's very obviously religious oriented, and it is a dinner held on Christmas Eve.

, Typically, although in modern days it's, it varies a little bit.

And the Seven Fishes, I was fascinated by this.

that's significant because it relates back to the Bible and seven

is a magic number in the Bible.

'cause it's, , seven days of , creation, sacraments, , the heavenly bodies at that

time, seven of them were able to be seen.

So that was the origin of the Seven Fishes.

And it's a variety of.

Fishes,, but I'm so proud of it because for several years now, Azure

has done a Feast of the Seven Fishes.

Well, wait a second.

I've got one for you.

'cause I think we figured out that alligator was considered.

fish at some point when you couldn't eat fish.

Right.

So maybe we can

I

love that.

fishy gator along the way and make it a southern deal

Uh, okay.

I think I will pass on that.

We used to do it as a big family style thing, like 40 people

around tables put together.

People didn't like that.

Isn't that interesting?

They didn't like sitting by people they didn't know, which I think is a

shame, except if you've ever been at a dinner party and you got placed besides,

have you ever been in a conversation where you did all the conversation?

Oh God,

it, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think you had a date like that once,

I did.

I was the perpetrator.

But you , to try to sit there and talk to someone who doesn't wanna talk to

you, but it's kind of a shame because it's supposed to be a family kind

Social.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So anyway, that's kind of one of the big signing stars of the

Northeast, miss Northeasterner, as opposed to a Noreastern.

Yeah.

well, we get those too in the wintertime with snow, but that's for another show.

But then we have the south, and there you are

in Florida with your Gators

That's right.

Go Gators.

all that kinda stuff.

What I'm most interested in there is the Hoppin' John.

And I have a recipe, that I sent to you and , it's everywhere.

I mean, we serve it here, , kind of health oriented restaurants, serve,

Hoppin' John, and sort of the major pieces of that is a ham hock.

And , different kinds of beans and a lot of wonderful spices.

And,, it comes out of, this is fascinating.

The Gullah Geechee, I, I, I have to almost look at it to say it, which is along

the coast of the US South Carolina being kind of the epicenter of that culture.

It's African American, , former slaves, , from.

west and Central Africa and they have created a whole culture

around, have you ever heard of the rice that's famous out of there?

Rice Oka collared greens, but it's, uh, Carolina Gold.

Yes.

Yes.

Very famous brand.

Absolutely.

And it, it's wonderful.

And , Carolina Gold is very expensive and they keep it that way.

It's like old saved seeds that they brought forward, and it's a

particularly delicious, nutty, flavored, creamy, all that kind of stuff.

So it sound

So it's like a heritage rice then.

It's a heritage, rice

gold, California Gold, or California gold.

Listen to me.

Uh,

Carolina Gold.

Carolina, I'm

your mouth girl.

It's not California.

Sorry, Carol Carolina.

Well, you've got Kentucky too.

You mentioned jam cake when we were chatting and, I have

never heard of jam cake.

Jam cake.

, I've seen it.

My grandmother would make it, and it has several layers, but the reason

it's called Kentucky is the Germans.

This is at least as the myth, I don't know if it's true, I wasn't along for

the ride, but the German population, they settled mostly in Cincinnati, but

as they came, so more south, which is where we are in Appalachia, is south.

Then they were looking for black walnut trees.

Why?

Because that meant the soil was rich.

Now, I know we have tons of walnut trees around here, because I've

had 'em clunk on my head when I've gone for a walk in the fall.

But , what Kentucky's is, , it's a spicy, kind of boozy, kind of juicy blackberry

jam layers, and the Kentucky Jam is really most famous for Blackberry.

It's our state.

Berry, ? So blackberry jam, it has to be the real thing.

Nuts and spice cake, obviously walnuts,

and put a little bourbon in there too.

Oh, I say if you are a good kentuckian, you

would, but it has that definite.

, And it says other facts about say that if you don't use homemade

jam, and this is like a warning, the jam will sink to the bottom.

Well, that's because if you go buy store-bought, you don't buy, store-bought.

You do the jam that grandma makes.

, And unlike a lot of other jam cakes, which are layered Kentucky

jam cakes, mixes it all together.

And

So you mix the jam into the batter?

That's what they say.

I'd love for our listeners to confirm that if they've actually made it.

, It says a sweet, tangy flavor and, uh, I love this part.

Covered in caramel,

Oh.

You know, I think we're going to have to give this assignment to Meredith to learn.

Oh yes.

I've checked in with Meredith, by the way.

Had a birthday dinner with Meredith and I said, are you still cooking?

Yes, she said, I'm a machine.

I'm cooking all the time.

A bread machine.

I am surprised that DoorDash hasn't gone outta business

since Meredith started cooking.

That's funny.

Oh, yeah.

So , we went to a restaurant for her birthday, but she's having a

Christmas event and cooking for it.

So I'll get a

Whoa.

Meredith is taking on the big challenge.

You go, girl.

Yeah.

For those who are listening and don't know Meredith, Meredith is our convert.

I'll call her who didn't cook.

She would always bring the paper plates to the party and well, we helped her

turn that tide or turn that page, and she's got a lot of stories to go along

the way, which I'm very proud of.

Does that mean we're influencers?

Oh, well, certainly on Meredith, but anyway, speaking

come on.

Take a walk of pride.

You're an influencer.

I love

Right, right.

Yeah.

Uh, what about Scandinavian influence?

I think that's kind of

an

well that is interesting.

if you've listened to our Hanukkah show, we talked with Madelena,

who is of Scandinavian Jewish descent, which is a, rather small.

Yeah.

Cohort.

Mm-hmm.

she does a lot of mixing of the Scandinavian foods and the

traditional Jewish holiday traditions.

So that was fascinating.

But I guess, Minnesota is also a big thing too.

It's not just Jewish,

Yeah, lots of that.

in fact, Duluth, where my son is, is why I'm more familiar with this.

So I got to talking one day in the hotel restaurant to a lady who

was there for the Scandinavian.

Festival and the foods that they served at the Scandinavian festival , and they

were from a small town in Minnesota.

They had traveled to Duluth, which is on Lake Superior.

And she talked about all the things like Swedish meatballs, you know,

this is interesting what they serve at holiday time, crisp pork belly.

I don't think of that as Scandanavian

Ooh.

No, , I would think fish more, right?

So I do know that I've got some friends over the years who were scan,

or are Scandinavian and Norwegian.

, Bob's cousin is from that, well, her husband's from that region north of

the Arctic Circle in Trumso, Norway.

In fact, when we first met him, , we asked where he lived and he, drew

the line in the Arctic circle.

He said, see that?

He said, yes.

I live way north of that.

So,

Wow.

Hearty soul.

but there's a cold water shrimp that I know the, Swedish people love,

and it's , tiny and, very, very sweet compared to the shrimp that we're used

to down here in, more of the southern region that are big, meaty shrimpy things.

Right.

You know, technical terms, shrimpy things.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Oh, tiny.

Oh, I

love that.

teeny tiny.

Yeah.

But

You wanna Uh, you wanna hear a preparation that

makes me like say, I don't want it.

It's dried.

white fish.

Soaked, soaked in lie Seriously.

yeah, that is that Luda Fish.

Lu Lu.

Well, it's called, yes, it's called Luta Fish.

Luda Fish.

Yes, I've heard about that.

Yeah.

No, it doesn't make me think that's good.

Kind of.

Gelatin kind of texture.

Um, and I'm like, no, I don't think so.

But , these Scandinavians look pretty healthy.

I know , I could maybe choke down a bite, but,

one last one I wanna mention because it's just

familiar to me, is Getta, and it's a, and a huge German influence.

Oh, by the way, uh, my brother did one of those ancestry things.

I'm part German.

oh

Huh.

ya.

You

are

German

me,

me.

I guess they're short and, you know, I don't know, you know that

'cause I am, well, well I am, Irish, Scots English and German.

but it's spam like, , but it's a combination of pork, beef and steel cut

oats, which we've already had a show on oats and it's in the Cincinnati region.

And it's pretty good.

It's like they cook it as in sausage patties, so serve it a lot with

breakfast foods and then have it on holidays too, because Getta just

real popular in Northern Kentucky and

Cincinnati.

they, make it like blood sausage 'cause I think they do

the same thing with blood sausage, with, oats in, it there as well.

But

Oh.

never, had that,

I don't want it.

yeah.

I don't want it.

Yeah.

Anything says blood in it.

I wanna stay away from

No, no, but, on that note, we also have the holidays.

Have you ever received a food as a gift

Yes, I've forgotten chocolates.

I've gotten big, giant hams.

I've gotten like two hams, in one holiday and gave the one of

them away because they're big.

Right.

but yeah.

Yeah.

And cookies.

And then my neighbor makes stolen bread.

Oh, that's a big deal.

I love,

stolen.

He learned how to make it.

At a festival in Germany that he was touring, they go and they

tour in, in Europe and it was really tasty and ,, it's related,

by the way, to the fruitcake.

That I didn't know.

So every Christmas morning growing up, we had stolen because my dad's

dad side of the family was German.

And we'd sing, well, he would sing the Christmas carols like O

Tannenbaum and things like that.

And some of the German.

, Christmas carols in German.

As he remembered, but it was always stolen and eggs in the morning,

and so I brought that tradition.

When Bob and I got married, I made it once, I'm not sure it was traditional,

so I have to get your friend's recipe

Yeah, it was really good and I had never had it before, but it

does have those little fruit bits in it,

and dusted with sugar and buttery and it's, yeah, it's delicious

Yeah.

so Fruitcakes . Panton, which is a sweet Italian bread.

Yeah.

Sweet bread.

But, um, you know, we could not talk about food gifts at holiday

time without mentioning the good old fruitcake, don't you think

I agree.

Oh, my parents once got a fruitcake as a gift from friends.

I guess they were clients of my dad or vendors in Texas, and

the fruitcake was in the shape.

Of Texas and a big old cherry, like one of those candy cherries was right in the

center where the capital was in Austin.

It was the best darn fruitcake I've ever had,

I like.

Fruitcake, so yeah.

I see I, my dad loved fruit cake, but there's a big

joke that started by Johnny Carson.

If you are under 40, you don't know who Johnny was, but he was

a big late night star, right?

And he famously said, there is only one fruit cake in the world, and

everyone just passes it around.

Yeah.

Well, , and it's probably well pickled with some sort of

Spirits.

Yeah,

they put ram in it

yeah, yeah.

It's real popular in the Caribbean, , for that reason.

But,, the oldest one though, it was baked during the Hayes

Presidential Administration at 1878, and it still exists.

I don't know if you can eat it or not.

where is it?

We gotta search right?

That's,

right?

, Sylvia Lovely: But the Romans invented fruitcake because it was an energy 'cause

remember, uh, what all it's got in it.

It's got all these fruit bits and all of that, and it's really

sustainable because it lasts forever,

So it was like your first granola bar with fruit,

Yeah, I, so it's a Roman, Roman energy bar, but, they say

it's declining here in the us but they still sell about 2 million every year.

I call it the default gift.

, That was started by the US Postal Service in 1896.

They opened up mail service to the rural parts of the country and

fruitcake, boomed as a result of that.

So I'm gonna have a theory that if the US Postal System promoted.

Well, they may not have promoted, but they did a lot of shipping.

A fruitcake if you're paying by the pound to move something.

I know.

Maybe it was a way to, , increase the pension rolls

exactly.

was,

So what do you think are the most popular, , gifts?

What do you think?

Food, gifts?

. There are two kind of food gifts.

One is the hostess gift and the other's just.

That you give people, right?

So what do you

Well, , we've got a few gifts that we have dealt with over

the years and Bob's grandfather, used to send us every year, apparently it

was a tradition before I got there.

Obviously Grandpa Dunn, the Hickory Farms,

Mm-hmm.

The sausage and cheese boxes, and when we first got

one I looked at this and said.

Really, are we supposed to like this?

My Dad loved them!

One before.

Then we waited till we had a party and we started to slice and taste it

before guests get figuring like, okay, let's see if this is really good.

I have to tell you, I was hooked.

I couldn't wait for every year thereafter to get the Hickory Farms gift box or the

gift box of cheeses and smoked things.

And then when Grandpa Dunn died at, I think he was just like a week or so away

from his hundred and second birthday, so.

I thank you.

Hillshire Farms or Hickory, Hickory smoke farms, whatever, Hillshire,

Hickory Farms, Swiss Colony, all those kind of companies that do that.

Then his stepmom, Barbara gave us the boxes came out and so, but when Barbara

passed and we had to go get our own.

Oh.

our own, so

Oh, ah.

You should have buried a box with him, but

yeah, you know.

Do you remember getting your Harry and David catalogs?

I don't get 'em anymore

Oh, I do remember the Harry.

I used to, I never bought anything for anybody, but I certainly,

I like looking at the catalogs,

Oh, they're so pretty.

And then they've expanded.

I've just seen them fleetingly, but they serve everything now, like meats.

And you can get anything.

You can get anything, you know, like Omaha steaks

Oh, and now I have done Omaha.

I have given Omaha steaks, so

How do you do that?

Well, it's pretty interesting 'cause I, we got one ourselves once from

Bob's brother, and here's what they do.

They, they basically send everything in this big styrofoam box.

It's very thick styrofoam, like a, like a cooler with some dry ice

and, or I think, I don't know if it's dry ice or regular ice, but it's

cold when it arrives, even if it's

down south.

And all sorts of delicious things that were in there.

We had mini sticks and things, but I would get them every year for all of the

aids that took , care of mom and dad, as well as bonus things that they got.

But my focus on this was they did so much to cook and take care of, and,

support my parents over those years.

That I wanted to give them something so that they wouldn't have to cook.

It was all sort of packaged that their family could put it on the

grill or would do whatever and they could just enjoy something special.

So yeah, I think they, I hope they enjoyed that.

But um, that was kind of fun to give.

So I'm a hosts

Okay.

Now do you watch, uh, okay, I'm gonna make a confession here.

I incorporate jokes from really good sitcoms

well wait a second.

Can we stop before you make

Yeah.

confession

am gonna make the confession after

and you're gonna make a confession, but we're going to

keep everybody on hold for just a minute because beyond holiday gifts, well

beyond holiday food gifts, you might wanna get a book and here's that story.

We'll be right back.

Okay.

Sylvia, I

Okay.

what your, you're confessing to Nancy and to the world of our listeners.

Yeah, I know.

Father Jim?

When we need him, right.

yeah, really, really,

I watch sitcoms, really quality ones where the acting is just amazing 'cause

you learn so much about comedy technique.

And one of them, though, I don't watch much anymore, but used to is Raymond.

Oh yeah, I was about to say, are there

well.

that comes?

I guess there are.

They really are Frazier, they're just beautiful little sitcoms.

But anyway, this one, there's two episodes dealing with the parents,

which who are real characters, real independent, crazy, all that

kinda stuff, and all their antics.

But one year they got a Harry and David Fruit of the Month.

and the show was just all about a fruit of the month.

Who would eat a fruit of the month?

We don't need that.

But the even better one is they got them a toaster one year and

they took it back to the store

and you know, and again, give it, yeah.

I mean they were that irreverent, right?

But then they found out that it had been engraved with

Raymond's family's names on it.

No.

And it showed 'em going through the warehouse

looking for this toaster that they had accidentally returned.

Anyway, those are funny kinds of gifts.

'cause some people like the Harry and David Fruit of the month.

I haven't ever gotten one, but you have pretty fruit.

And wine.

So , I will take the wine, , of the month, please.

Thank you very much.

So if you're thinking about me,

Yeah,

you can do that.

You know the interesting thing about wine of the month is that

when they do those, , Wall Street Journal and other companies, do

the, or predominantly publishers do that, here's how they do this.

This is kind of interesting.

So they typically work with small producers and you can't buy those wines.

Elsewhere.

You get them in your packages and when you try and go look for them, it's like,

oh my God, that was a really good wine.

You can't find it again.

Because they cater to those.

So we've had friends who've done that and we've had some great wines with that.

They've

gotten, but yep, yep.

that's fascinating.

Yeah.

So can I tell you about another gift?

So this is a gift that is , we're gonna switch to homemade gifts because not

everybody likes homemade gifts, but this is a homemade one and I mentioned

it, I think I mentioned it last year.

But this is Bob's gift.

It's Santa's secret flying sauce, he learned this, it's actually written up in

our book, but he learned how to make this, I think from one of his old, , police

captains when he was a police officer.

In days gone by, I think we make it better, but.

It's basically homemade Bailey's.

And then he didn't have a name for it.

It was just, he called it homemade Bailey's.

And then when he met me, I said, well, you can't just give that

away with the name Bailey's on it.

We have to create , a new name for it.

So I nicknamed it Santa's Secret Flying Sauce because this stuff is so potent

that this is all Santa needs to drink to get around the globe in 24 hours and back.

In fact, we've seen it work on attitudes of friends who have not had

such a good attitude end up leaving with a very good attitude at the end.

Ah, so it's a, it's a sauce or a drink.

it's a drink, it's homemade be, I'll put the recipe,

in the show notes, so we'll

Homemade Bailey's.

So you're a re you are a, uh, oh, what do you call those?

Um, you don't have a still out in your, uh, your making your backyard.

Bailey's

It puts a new word on, or a new definition , on the word stiff

Oh,

or relaxed.

Just relax and drink this.

Oh.

the sauce.

Yeah, well, you know, uh, hostess gifts.

This one I liked.

a jello mode, , was g brought by an aunt year after year and one year she said,

well, I don't know if I can bring it.

And everybody broke into cheers.

She brought two the next year

I love that.

That's hysterical.

Oh

I know.

careful what you cheer for.

right.

So, and then of course, chocolates, chocolates and wine are always

Chocolate and wine and, and together, uh, you know, they're great.

, I could not let this show goodbye though that I don't mention the

lowly orange, during the depression, the orange was a delicacy.

And I remember my mother and father saying on occasion they got an orange

for Christmas and that was all they got.

And people would send home an orange, , and send that back to the families

that were, impacted by the depression

So the orange.

don't care.

Yep.

The orange was always in the toe of our stockings.

And , my husband said that when growing up, they had them

in the toes of their stock.

I guess that's better than coal.

Or you know, the, the families that have the snowbirds in the

early days and send you back.

Boxes or the cartons of the oranges.

One year we had, some hunters, or some folks who wanted to hunt our

property up in Connecticut for deer, and we said, fine, because they were

getting a little un unruly if, if you were upset with hunting, I'm

sorry, , if you eat meat, then.

You know, so be it E Ex. Exactly.

But , that's not to put anybody down who does or doesn't.

So they sent us as a gift, not just , some venison, which they had gotten

enough of, but they also sent us a big carton, , one of those gigantic boxes.

Oranges from Florida, which was lovely except our mailman

crammed them into our mailbox.

Now we had a big mailbox, but are like trying to pry that thing out.

Don't ever try and pry, first of all, if you work for the postal system, don't cram

or just in somebody's mailbox, because we needed a crowbar to take it out.

I think we probably ended up with more orange juice than orange juice

had orange juice coated, uh, mail delivery.

I love that.

Um, you know, they're, uh, people re-gifting things.

That's another interesting thing.

food.

That's kind of hard though.

That's hard, but like a candle.

I mean, how many candles have you gotten?

How many coffee cups have you gotten?

And that's sweet.

It's a good gesture, but a lot of people will give those candles

away ' cause they get so many of them.

And, sometimes it's ended up with the person who gave the gift.

'cause

that's the cardinal sin.

You're not supposed to let the person know that it was, a gift.

So, that it was their gift you, that you're regifting.

'cause it's okay to regift if, you are very careful about it.

Like maybe a distant cousin or somewhere and you take the candle and give it away.

'cause you want something to be used, right.

we had a lot of dusty candles.

Yes.

Now, I don't know about you, but I don't buy new gift bags all

the time because they're so expensive.

So I read gift and gift bags, but I try to be careful to make sure

their name of the other person's not

Taken off of it.

Yeah, I've done that too.

Absolutely.

So there you go.

So I have one, story that,, needs to be said before we, wrap

up, but I know you've got one too.

But,, we had the story of traveling Jack now traveling Jack was this

container, you know, like sometimes they have round paper containers,

almost like tubes for wine and.

The name of the person who got traveling, Jack would go on the list and then

you'd send that traveling jack with a bottle of wine to somebody else's.

And apparently traveling, Jack is traveling the world.

So if you see my name somewhere along the line on this long lineup of a

carton that looks like a snowman called Traveling Jack, it was in our house.

So you might wanna try your own traveling Jack in Kentucky.

I love that.

That's Oh, yeah, so, so kind, kind of weird gifts.

Let me, let me get onto that.

my husband's, for some reason, he got a can of tomato soup from a relative

with a handkerchief.

soup.

A Campbell soup and it was given to him by this family member.

And they were really young and I think they just didn't know.

They knew he liked tomato soup, right?

But Bernie's mother was a tease.

So every Christmas thereafter for 10 years, he got a can of tomato

soup wrapped in the handkerchief.

So that was a good one.

But here's one of my favorite ones is, , the corporate gift.

You know, you don't look at it, you just order it and

have it delivered to somebody.

Right?

Well, it was delivered to all the employees.

And in the basket with all the fruit and meats or whatever was in it, A raw potato.

Oh,

Yeah.

So they started comparing notes and everybody got a raw potato, but they

were like, does it have a message?

Uh, you know, is it, is it, is it a, does that mean it's a spud, I'm a dud?

I mean, what does that mean?

So anyway, they found out it was packed at where the packing thing was.

Accidentally got a potato put in every one of them.

Is that

Yeah, a lot of

corporate, a lot of corporations give out turkeys and hams

and others at the holidays.

We've seen those as well, and I have given out food as, or given food as a

corporate gift in the past and one year.

For a Wall Street client, I found these, you know, the, the giant Whitman's

chocolates, you know, Whitman's chocolates that you get in the grocery store and

you just think like old fashioned, right?

It, it just reminds you of Grandma.

That's it.

Well, I happened to find one that was a 10 pound box, and it's huge.

It's like the size of my desk, but it's only one layer.

But the size alone just made me laugh hysterically.

So I'll see.

I thought, oh, let's see how much of a sense of humor these folks have.

So I sent them this giant box and then I got a call back.

with everybody was in laughter

thinking they, they thought that was the best guest they had ever gotten.

And they put it in the conference room and they were all

like, do we just take a bite?

And if we don't like it, put it back?

back

I love that.

So, , and we found some more of them.

So I've got a few folks that are gonna get some giant 10 pound

boxes of old fashioned Whitman's

I've never seen one of those.

I've seen the compact boxes.

Okay, so final story, final question.

What do you get people who have everything.

What would you get?

Elon Musk

isn't either world's

first billionaire.

I mean, what would you give him?

I, uh, you know, um, um, moon pies right

Moon pies.

to the moon, Elon to the moon.

How about Mars bars?

Mars bars.

Okay.

That's a good one too.

Right?

So Mars a little further, but I like moon pies and Mars bars.

I think we should get 'em a box of those.

yeah.

Put us on the map.

what about Bezos?

What would you

Oh, I don't know what to do with him.

Uh, one idea was three hot sauces, mercury Mind, , mild Mercury mind, Venus

Volcano or Mars meltdown with a note.

I think that goes back to Bezos and Elon.

We can send them to the moon doll and send them to the moon.

Yeah.

So anyway, that, I don't know what you do for those guys.

I mean, I,

don't think I'll be asked though.

no, no, and, and I I am not sure I'm gonna be going up with

either one of them anytime soon.

No.

I'll, I'll take care of my earthly traditions first.

I would agree with that.

So on that note, if you are creating some ideas or, lacking

ideas for gifts for the holidays, why not consider some food gifts?

Why?

Well, food gives carry history, right?

. We talked a little bit about the history of the food cake and the Romans, so

there is a tradition way back when, and the right gift is personal.

It's thoughtful and it's universal because if you put thought into anything, even

if it's a Whitmans chocolate box that's size of your desk, it makes you laugh.

And if it's wine or just something, it doesn't matter

the thought that you put into it

Absolutely

it versus just tossing one out

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I love that.

I love the idea of gifting.

I, you know, I've started my list, I go into my list and, it's just

a wonderful time of the year.

Yeah.

I love it.

And food gifts always come with a story.

They can be funny, they can be messy, they can be nostalgic, and that's what

we're all about because every meal has a story and every story has a feast, We'll

see you soon and we'll hear you soon.

Bye-bye.