It’s a Holiday Conversation Pit to keep your Tuesday merry and bright! Hear us share our holiday traditions, gift-giving preferences, top-tier desserts, and favorite childhood books. And remember, you can watch the full video of this Conversation Pit for free at patreon.com/jointhepartypod!
We’ll see you next week with another brand-new, full-length Conversation Pit. Then, on January 7, 2025, weekly episodes of Campaign 3 continue until the end of the campaign. Keep your Afterparty questions coming: a jumbo-sized one will follow the last episode of Campaign 3.
Find Us Online
- website: jointhepartypod.com
- patreon: patreon.com/jointhepartypod
- instagram: instagram.com/jointhepartypod
- bluesky: bsky.app/profile/jointhepartypod.com
- twitter: twitter.com/jointhepartypod
- tumblr: jointhepartypod.tumblr.com
- facebook: facebook.com/jointhepartypod
- merch & music: jointhepartypod.com/merch
Cast & Crew
- Game Master, Co-Producer: Eric Silver
- Co-Host (Umbi), Co-Producer, Sound Designer, Composer: Brandon Grugle
- Co-Host (Chamomile Cassis), Co-Producer: Julia Schifini
- Co-Host (Troy Riptide), Co-Producer: Amanda McLoughlin
- Theme Song: Lyrics by Eric Silver, music by Brandon Grugle. Vocals by Brandon Grugle, Lauren Shippen, Julia Schifini, Roux Bedrosian, Eric Silver, Tyler Silver, and Amanda McLoughlin. Available for purchase here.
- Artwork: Allyson Wakeman
- Multitude Podcasts: https://multitude.productions
About Us
Join the Party is an actual play podcast with tangible worlds, genre-pushing storytelling, and collaborators who make each other laugh each week. We welcome everyone to the table, from longtime players to folks who’ve never touched a roleplaying game before. Hop into our current campaign, a pirate story set in a world of plant- and bug-folk, or marathon our completed stories with the Camp-Paign, a MOTW game set in a weird summer camp, Campaign 2 for a modern superhero game, and Campaign 1 for a high fantasy story. And once a month we release the Afterparty, where we answer your questions about the show and how we play the game. New episodes every Tuesday.
Transcript
Amanda: Hello, it's Amanda. Quick schedule reminder, this is a free, full length Conversation Pit instead of a regular episode, because we felt kind of weird about releasing episodes so close to the end of the campaign on Christmas Eve and then New Year's Eve, so we have this for you instead. Which, by the way, you can listen to in full right here, or watch the video of this Convo Pit for free on our Patreon, patreon.com/jointhepartypod. Now, next week, you're going to get another all-new Conversation Pit on New Year's Eve, followed by brand-new episodes of Campaign Three weekly starting January 7th, 2025. No Afterparty, no breaks, not a single bad Tuesday until we hit the end of the campaign. Then, we're gonna do a jumbo-sized Afterparty answering all of your questions, so keep them coming on social media and in Discord and on the comments of our Patreon posts. And don't worry, as usual, we're gonna have some fun with One Shots before we begin our next adventure once Campaign Three is concluded. Sounds good? All right. On with the Convo Pit.
[theme]
Amanda: It was the night before Chirmbas and all through the pod, not a question was stirring. I gave it a nod.
Julia: Oh.
Amanda: I said, "Little question, it's time to come cuddle. In the Conversation Pit. We're going to be one big puddle—
Julia: Oh.
Amanda: "—of Join the Party hosts."
Julia: Yay.
Eric: Yay.
Amanda: Hello. It's the Conversation Pit.
Brandon: Holy shit. Amanda, did you just make that up, or did you write that?
Amanda: Raw dogging it, babe. Just right off the dome.
Brandon: Holy shit. Well done.
Amanda: Thank you.
Julia: You know, I'm bad at rhyming because you said cuddle. I'm like, "How is she gonna come back from this?"
Amanda: Welcome, everybody. This is a special Conversation Pit, because this year, on account of Tuesdays, we have both Chirmbas Eve and New Year's Eve as Tuesdays that you're probably doing things. Eric and I are, like, getting limbered up to go have a Feast of the Seven Fishes at a local diner and that's—
Brandon: Okay, that’s where that went.
Eric: I'm gonna be stretching for at least two hours.
Amanda: Oh, yeah. We have to get ready for it. And then tomorrow, we have movies to see. We have Chinese food to eat.
Brandon: Ooh.
Amanda: Julia and Brandon have family to spend time with. There's so much going on. And so we thought, "Why not bring you all an unlocked public Convo Pit?" My favorite thing to do for our patrons over on patreon.com/jointhepartypod, in addition to a video that everybody can watch for free. One of our little gifts to you.
Eric: The Ghost of Christmas Past came to us and said, "Hey, let everyone fee—"
Amanda: Don't be stingy—
Eric: "Let everyone feel like they're $10 patrons. You can check out the video of us doing this for free, free video over at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. Link always in the episode description.
Amanda: Yes. All right.
Brandon: Well, that's a good three's a crowd or whatever we called it.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Is it the—
Julia: Past, present and future?
Brandon: —past, present and future specifically?
Eric: Oh, I like that. Julia, which of us is the Ghost of Christmas Present? Which of us is the ghost of Christmas Past? And which of us is the Ghost of Christmas Future?
Julia: Am I allowed—
Brandon: But specifically specially the ones from The Mother movie?
Julia: Okay. Am I allowed to—
Amanda: OF course.
Julia: —not elaborate, whatsoever?
Eric: Yes.
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: Okay. Eric is past, Amanda is present, Brandon is future.
Brandon: Hell yeah.
Amanda: Okay.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: I'll take it.
Eric: Amanda does resemble one of my co-workers who died recently.
Julia: Fair.
Eric: From negligence.
Amanda: Now, speaking of ill-portance, okay? And bad news, Julia, when we got on the call today to, like, figure out when we're recording. We're recording this about, you know, a week and change in the past for you, listeners. Julia said, "Oh, that's the day I dreamed about." Now, Julia, tell me what you mean.
Julia: I'm not exactly sure what Past Julia meant by this, but in my calendar, as—
Amanda: It's like little modern magic once more.
Julia: As an all-day event on December 19th, I have an event that just says in my phone, "You had a dream about this day."
Brandon: What the fuck?
Eric: I think this is extra scary, because we were going to record something on that Thursday, but we're like, "No. Brandon has to get on a flight. We're busy. We gotta shore up the rest of the stuff before the end of the year." So now, Julia's day is free.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: And I wonder if this is when you're going to walk into a wardrobe and never come back.
Julia: It's very possible. I do have a hair appointment the next day, so I'm a little worried about that. But, like, who knows?
Brandon: Julia, is my plane going down?
Eric: Julia, imagine you go to your hair appoint
Brandon: Is my plane going down?
Julia: No, I don't think so.
Eric: Julia, imagine you go to a hair appointment and you're like 10 years older.
Amanda: Yes, yes, yes.
Eric: And you've been queen of Narnia for five years.
Amanda: Exactly.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Julia was on the Dawn Treader and now she needs a haircut.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: I will look like the White Witch if I come back 10 years later without having done my hair, though.
Amanda: Yeah. And you're only like— the very fringes will be blue, and then they'll be like, "Whoa."
Julia: "Whoa. What happened to her?"
Eric: I want you all to know that if you come to me with a Turkish delight, I will think something's terrible has happened to you.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: I— that's the universal sign that I have been magically whisked away.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Fair, fair.
Amanda: Completely agree. Now, folks, just because it is air of Chirmbas or Chirmbas Eve, depending on how you refer to it, doesn't mean that we are not sort of attending to our Conversation Pit beat. Okay? It's important that we stay up-to-date on all the latest innovations in Conversation Pits. So this was a comment from SneakySloths, who said, "I went to a Sabrina Carpenter concert, and y'all, she had a conversation pit on stage. Made me think of our Join the Party hosts." Julia, comment.
Julia: I went to the Sabrina Carpenter concert for my birthday this year. It was a joint gift between two of my friends and my husband.
Brandon: Ooh.
Julia: And she did, in fact, have a conversation pit that was shaped like a heart. But not only was it a conversation pit, because she did like a whole song, actually my favorite song of the show, in the conversation pit. But it also not only sank into the ground to create a conversation pit, it also raised her up at certain points in the concert.
Eric: Hmm.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: So I like a conversation pit that can do more, personally.
Eric: I get that.
Amanda: It's like a conversation pedestal.
Julia: Hmm. Yeah.
Brandon: That begs the question of transitions. If you were to raise the conversation pit out of its pit—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: —is it a conversation hill?
Julia: I think Amanda brought up a good point of the conversation pedestal, Brandon.
Eric: Conversation pedestal, yeah, for sure.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Pedestal, pillar, platform.
Julia: Because hill requires there to be sloping edges to bring us to the top.
Amanda: Hmm.
Julia: I think a— like a column or a pedestal is the correct term for that conversation, no longer pit, now raised.
Amanda: It's like when you jump up on a piano bench to make an announcement, or, like, on a counter, or chair.
Julia: Hmm. Uh-hmm.
Amanda: I said piano bench for all of our rich friends out there.
Julia: Yes, of course. Naturally.
Brandon: My question— I guess it's like— if it's a conversation pit when it's below ground.
Amanda: Uh-huh.
Brandon: If it's on ground, it's just a couch.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Right?
Brandon: So it's like Pokemon Evolutions here.
Amanda: Uh-huh.
Brandon: What does it— once it goes above the ground, what does it evolve into?
Eric: That's just a stage, Brandon.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Basically.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Basically, a stage.
Eric: A conversation raised pedestal, that's a stage, my man.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: I also have these curtains that I use to tell people when they can come onto the Conversation Pit or not.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Oh.
Amanda: Very helpful. And a little hook, you can yoink them off if they’re not doing a good job.
Eric: Yeah, exactly. I have a proscenium arch in my house. I am in Architectural Digest.
Julia: That makes sense. That checks out.
Amanda: It does check out.
Eric: The whole time I was thinking about how if we could split Christina— Sabrina Carpenter up into four distinct parts for all of us. Like Julia could be small. Brandon could do the music. Amanda— I could be incredibly perverted. And I had one for Amanda and I forgot about it while thinking about the stage.
Brandon: Left arm.
Julia: I was gonna say, like, clever lyrics is Amanda.
Eric: Oh, yeah, she rhymes.
Amanda: Thanks.
Eric: Right, yeah. She rhymes.
Amanda: Oh, thanks.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Thank you. That's great. I really thought for Brandon, you were gonna say blonde. And he's also a musician, but that's where my mind went at first.
Brandon: I mean, definitely bald. Like, we're both bald, so it makes sense, yeah.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: Oh.
Eric: Yeah. Sabrina Carpenter notoriously bald.
Julia: Well, no, Sabrina Carpenter notoriously wears a wig.
Eric: Oh, she does?
Julia: Oh, yeah, yeah. Hotly debated, but people are pretty sure—
Brandon: Oh.
Julia: —it's a wig on stage.
Eric: Oh.
Brandon: I was just making a joke.
Eric: But is this like Stevie Wonder being blind?
Amanda: Oh, no.
Brandon: Whoa.
Julia: What? Hey, what?
Amanda: People think that's a conspiracy theory, but they're idiots and wrong.
Julia: Oh.
Brandon: Oh, okay.
Julia: I'm gonna ask a question that I probably already know the answer to, but did anyone else watch Sabrina Carpenter's Christmas Special?
Amanda: You know the answer’s no.
Julia: Yeah, no, that's what I thought the answer was going to be. it's pretty funny. Pretty funny.
Eric: I'm sure it's good.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: I think she is very talented and you know she was an actress when she was a kid, so that's pretty cool.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Amanda: That is pretty cool.
Julia: She's very funny and talented. Anyway—
Eric: Last night, I was—
Julia: —I'm a Sabrina Carpenter stan, in case anyone didn't know that.
Eric: Last night, I was watching football, and then afterwards, it was like 60 Minutes talking about Damascus. But then after that, it was A Night with Dua Lipa.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: And I'm like, "We're just giving nights out to whoever we want, huh?"
Julia: Yeah. Why not? Why not?
Brandon: What a whiplash of programming.
Julia: She's levitating.
Eric: That’s really wild.
Julia: Who cares?
Amanda: Seriously. Damn.
Julia: Damn.
Brandon: Damn.
Eric: Here are the new rules for Damascus. All right. Here we go.
Amanda: All righty. We have a question in from Emily who wants to know what your favorite winter holiday tradition is, what a good time to answer that, Emily.
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: I would love to go first, because—
Julia: Go.
Eric: —I've been looking forward to this for weeks. Especially because my dad tried to schedule something on this day, and I said, "No, I have plans already." A new thing that I've been doing as a Jewish counterpart to the Irish Catholic McLoughlins, is telling all of them that you can do whatever you want around Christmas.
Julia: True.
Eric: Because no one's around.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: The newest thing I've been doing for the last few years with Amanda's dad and with his girlfriend, Noreen, who is really lovely and generous, is that I've been saying, "Hey, you guys love going to steak places, to steak houses in New York City. You know what a great time to go to a steakhouse that's really busy is? Right before Chirmbas
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: So now, two days before Christmas, around that time, we've been going to steak places lately, and we're going to a very famous steak place, Peter Luger's, on the 21st.
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: Ooh.
Eric: My dad was like, "Hey—" like sometimes my dad shows up and is just like, "Hey, we're having dinner." And it was really funny to be like, "Actually, I'm busy."
Julia: You're like, "I can't."
Eric: "Sorry. You should have asked me instead of just telling me we have dinner." But I've been looking for this so much. I know Peter Luger is like— for those of you, it's like a very famous steak place in New York City, but in the way that, like, nothing's changed in there for a 100 years.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: No, the food is also very good.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: I— Brandon, I spent a lot of time on New York City Food Reddit with people— this is the main thing they complain about and debate if Peter Luger has good food or not anymore.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Well, I'm outside of Reddit, and I'm here to say that it is good.
Julia: When was the last time you went?
Eric: Absolutely.
Brandon: Probably a— it's been years, but 20—
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: During the last 10 years.
Julia: I have heard that it has gone downhill, but I also have never been there, so I cannot be the person to—
Brandon: Gotcha.
Julia: —make that decision or judgment.
Eric: I asked my brother too, who's, like, very plugged into restaurant stuff in New York City, that it's like some people still go, like, once a quarter forever and will do it.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: People who are like, going for the first time would be like, "Oh, I like others take places more." But it's a hotly debated thing of— if institutions in New York City can stay— Nothing Gold Can Stay, Ponyboy, I would like a really big steak.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: So I'm very excited about it.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: And it is my new favorite winter tradition.
Julia: Hell yeah.
Amanda: I love that.
Brandon: I love that, yeah. That's awesome.
Amanda: So cute. Brandon, you—
Julia: I forgot what the question was, and I was like, "What steakhouse do I like?"
Amanda: There you go. I mean, you can answer that, too. That's fine.
Julia: And Sam's really good in Manhattan.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Big fan of that one.
Eric: That was the first one we went with them, because we're like—
Amanda: First and second, I think.
Eric: —"Don't worry. We know a really cool place."
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: "It's Steakeasy."
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Which is something that your daughter's husband would say to you.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: As I can imagine Amanda's dad was dealing with.
Brandon: Here's a— not a hot take, but a take that like— it's like a lukewarm take. It's like a Peter lukewarm take.
Amanda: Okay.
Brandon: It's like— steak restaurants are like an older people restaurants.
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: They get a bad rap because they keep their tradition around, but like—
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: And the status of them make you not want to necessarily go there. But we went to this place in— God, where were we? Zurich.
Eric: Ooh.
Brandon: That was like— Zurich is not a crazy good food city, but it was one of those places where, like, Laura's dad went when he traveled there, and blah, blah, blah, that older people— like, it's like, you have to have a jacket kind of thing.
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: Because it's stuffy.
Eric: Sure.
Brandon: You know?
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: But the food was fucking great.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: I ate— like, I felt like I was in fucking Mar-a-Lago because of all the trappings, but like, the food was very good. So, like, yeah, I think people on Reddit are maybe steak build for—
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: —modern, nice places.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: I 100% agree with that. And, like, you know that the service is going to be incredible. You know that stuff's all going to come out exactly the way that it's supposed to.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: And hot— and it's going to come out hot. As someone who lives in Brooklyn and has various friends in various places in Brooklyn, I love to go to a new coffee shop that is so affirming that I can bring my dog, and I can be whatever type of person I am, and they're gonna accept me, and I'm gonna have a good time there, and it's gonna feel nice. But I beg them to be good at business one of these days.
Julia: But they also have to make good coffee.
Eric: It's like, "Hey, can you give me a coffee and a soup in more than 30 minutes. Is that good for you?"
Amanda: Possible.
Eric: You're gonna charge me $22, the least you could do is bring it out to be in less than 30 minutes.
Amanda: I know. Like, truly, I'm so glad we're all vibing, but, this claims to be an establishment where I pay for goods or services. So please.
Julia: Eric liked that one.
Amanda: Please.
Eric: Julia, that's something I would say.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: I'm like— there you go, you know how it is.
Julia: "You claim to be an establishment, sir."
Eric: "I would love to exchange my money for goods and services. Can that happen? I would love that."
Amanda: This could just be a storefront that you rent to hang out with your boys, gender inclusive. I think that's wonderful, but don't sell coffee, if that's what you do." There is a place in our neighborhood. I won't disclose exactly the block, but there is a place that I think is just like a private storefront for many people to go in together on renting space for playing Warhammer.
Eric: Like Warhammer miniature games. I think that's what it is.
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: And also minis.
Eric: I think that's what it is.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Kind of fun.
Brandon: Hmm. Uh-hmm.
Amanda: It is really cool. Like, everyone has like a key fob. There's like eight or ten tables inside. It's like very deep. And so they're have no set hours, except occasionally, like, when one of us is walking to home or to the office, we'll be like, "Oh, there's 40 people in the Warhammer place." And I think that's great.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: But Warhammer place does not claim to, like, be selling me an avocado toast.
Julia: Yeah. Is there, like, a business name outside of the, like, storefront?
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: It's just like—
Julia: Oh.
Amanda: —the club with like a noun in there.
Julia: That's very funny.
Amanda: So it's— it is tight as hell.
Eric: If I knew anything about these minis games, I would go in there, because I'm like, "Oh, yeah. For sure."
Amanda: Tell me your thing.
Eric: But it's more fun keeping in a mystery right now.
Brandon: Yeah, that's fun.
Julia: Yeah. Yeah.
Amanda: Good stuff.
Eric: Hey, what's everyone else's winter time traditions?
Julia: Yeah, we're not talking about steak. Got it.
Eric: Hey, what's everyone's favorite steak time traditions?
Amanda: Well, Julia, you brought up one of yours, which has become a tradition of Jake making homemade eggnog.
Julia: Yes, which he—
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: —did the other day as a surprise. I came out and I was like, "Hey, you said you were making dinner." He's like, "There's eggnog." I'm like, "Okay, I take back everything. I want eggnog." It was very good.
Brandon: After we had talked about it on the stream, on the-- for sure, yeah.
Julia: Which was so funny, because he had like gone to the store already to get the ingredients, and I just hadn't seen him yet, because he had arrived home while we were on the stream. And it was just very funny.
Brandon: I love that. That's great.
Eric: Did you dream that, Julia? Was that part of your dream?
Julia: No, I didn't dream that one.
Eric: Hmm.
Brandon: I'm legitimately scared about something that's gonna happen on the 19th.
Julia: I— we'll see what happens. It might be a great day. It might be a terrible day. Who fucking knows?
Brandon: I really don't want it to be a terrible day.
Julia: Past Julia really kind of kept it vague. Who can say?
Eric: Oh, dang, I scheduled the purge on that day. Dang.
Julia: Dang. Dang.
Brandon: Can you push it back maybe like 20 minutes?
Julia: Maybe like 20 minutes.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: I think one of my other favorite, like, winter traditions is Jake and I will put on a bad Christmas movie, usually a Hallmark or, like, Netflix trying to do a Hallmark Christmas movie. But sometimes it's like, you know, Moonstruck, or, you know, something that we associate with winter that isn't necessarily like a Christmas movie. And then we make cookies. And that's, like, one of my favorite winter traditions is Jake and I make the thumbprint butter cookies filled with either apricot or raspberry jam. And that is, like—
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: —the cookie that we make and we experiment, but that's the every year cookie that we make. And they're already gone. We made them out last weekend. They're already gone.
Brandon: That's great.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: That's very cute. I don't have a ton of, like, set in stone traditions. The ones that are definitely set in stone with my family are, like, we— every year, we always have— there's a local bakery called Casa Linda Bakery, I think it's called, around where I'm from. And I didn't knock myself, we live far away from it, so it's fine. But they make a cinnamon roll— they call it a coffee cake. They call it a coffee cake.
Amanda: Okay.
Brandon: But it's a cinnamon roll, but in the shape of a Christmas tree.
Amanda: Oh.
Julia: Cool.
Eric: Ooh.
Brandon: And they do like— so it's a Christmas tree with, like, frosting or whatever you want to call it.
Amanda: Wow.
Brandon: And then they have, like, sprinkles and little, like, candied cherries.
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: They're not like maraschino, it's hard to describe, but they're very good. So we always have that. And so we sort of always have, like, Christmas brunch after opening presents.
Amanda: Nice.
Julia: Cute.
Brandon: But— and then we have Christmas Eve brunch at my dad's. A lot of breakfast foods, for some reason. I don't know why. But no hard traditions. You know, normal Christmas stuff, like stockings and stuff. But, you know, things change.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Brandon, where does Santa come in on— in Texas? Like, does he need to announce himself with a barrier? Does Santa have conceal and carry?
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Now— well, conceal and carry? Yes, for the gifts. I— Eric, I know you don't celebrate Christmas, so I don't want to spoil the mystery, the mystique for you, but—
Eric: Okay.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: —Santa's not real.
Julia: Brandon, children listen to this podcast.
Eric: Brandon, that's really rude for you to lie to me on this podcast. It's pretty rude.
Brandon: I just thought it was funny that all Jewish people don't know Santa isn't real.
Julia: Do you have kids—
Eric: That would be the only reason why you guys care about this shit so much.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Is if a magical man was looking out for you, keeping track of your morals.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: And then dropped free presents down on you.
Julia: Basic.
Amanda: Looking back, I have a lot of respect for all the Jewish kids who didn't ruin the secret for all their Christian classmates growing up.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: It's just not something that came up.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: I didn't know it was something I needed to say or not say.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Like, LOL. Sounds neat. I'm gonna sit on my hands for two weeks, waiting for school to start again.
Brandon: My biggest question— I don't remember exactly what my sister does, but at least, they also— they do gifts from them, like my sister and my brother-in-law, and also Santa, I want to say.
Amanda: Yeah. My parents do that, too.
Brandon: It's possible that they don't do Santa or they say it's Santa, but then they say it's from them.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: But if they keep it a secret, I'm— my gift to myself for the next few years is how long Emma is gonna keep the secret to the twins?
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: So funny.
Amanda: Yeah. Those are fresh babies, too. She— Emma has a lot of time.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Those babies are like, "What do you mean?"
Julia: "What do you mean?"
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Now, Brandon, are you gonna prank your siblings back for all of the time that they spent pranking you by looking in those babies' eyes and telling them there's no Santa as quickly as fuck?
Amanda: You know, that's a great idea.
Julia: Right.
Amanda: That's a great idea. Nope, they're too young to remember. You should do it now.
Julia: See, my problem is, this is where my only child energy comes in. I'm like, "Oh, no, that's mean." And you guys are like, "Perfect."
Brandon: Yeah, that's how— that's what it should be.
Amanda: Yeah. It's really good.
Eric: It's like, "Well, Santa has that thang on him. That's why he showed up and dropped those presents."
Amanda: My favorite winter holiday tradition is definitely making latkes. It was one of the first—
Eric: Yes, let's go.
Amanda: The first, like, fusions of Eric's and my households and traditions, was using—
Brandon: Hmm.
Amanda: —my grandma's old KitchenAid mixer, a meat grinder attachment that Eric's dad got us for Hanukkah one year.
Brandon: Hmm.
Amanda: And chipping the potatoes. So they go through a meat grinder and they come out, like, chipped coleslaw, if that's everything that you've had.
Brandon: Oh.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: They're in, like, little like snowflakes of potato, which means you don't have to use a leavening agent, like baking powder, which we learned the hard way, because we did. And then we were like, "Why are these so fluffy? They're like blintzes." But no, it's amazing, and it's so much fun. And it takes a lot of the annoying grating and, like, losing your knuckle skin out of latke making, and—
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: —I love doing it.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: So do they— are they not shredded when you do it that way? Like how does it--
Eric: No, they're not shredded.
Brandon: Oh.
Eric: But imagine you're making your own ground beef or ground pork—
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: —and, like, you freeze. you know, how you, like, you freeze it, and you keep everything cold as possible. You chop your onions and potatoes up, and then you try to get them as cold as possible, and then you put it through the grinder.
Brandon: Cool. Okay. Yeah, that sounds good.
Eric: So it comes out— I've been describing it almost like corn— like corned beef hash.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: In terms of texture, and it's tight as hell.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: That sounds good. Yeah. Almost like a mix between a latke— like a traditional latke, and like a potato pancake situation.
Eric: Yeah. I mean, that's really what you're going for. I think that the more and more people have been making food content of latkes.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: You see a lot more shredded ones.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Like, I never remembered my grandma's being shred-y, although she obviously just used a box crater. It was, like, whatever. But it's— there's something about, like, getting it all mixed together. And she also used matzo meal and then—
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —and a leavening agent to, you know, fluff the whole thing up, so I'm feeling really good about that.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Nice.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Sounds great, yeah.
Julia: Hell yeah.
Amanda: And every year, I've experimented with toppings. I've been working on my dairy tolerance, not to brag. So this year, I'm gonna, like, try some Creme fraiche.
Julia: Brag.
Amanda: I think that'd be really good. And—
Eric: We're gonna get locks and we're going to get caviar this year.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Ooh.
Eric: We're going to.
Amanda: That's like our present to each other is to, like, have some very good caviar with our latkes.
Julia: Hell yeah.
Brandon: That's the whole fish.
Eric: There is, apparently, a very popular caviar distributor in Long Island City in a neighborhood near—
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: —next to Greenpoint, and they have sales people there. So we're gonna go and they're gonna—
Amanda: It's a showroom.
Eric: —just show us how to buy caviar. It's gonna be awesome.
Julia: Damn.
Brandon: That's cool. Like a—
Julia: That's wild.
Brandon: Yeah, yeah. That's awesome.
Amanda: Right.
Brandon: Please take a—like a secret shopper video and, like, let me see what goes on.
Amanda: Ooh. That'd be really fun.
Julia: Yeah, make a TikTok of it, actually.
Eric: A good reveal.
Julia: Just a thought.
Eric: They also— they have caviar tastings there, like classes you can take where you just do it.
Brandon: That's fun.
Eric: And I almost wanted to do it, but then we were going to PAX U instead and I'm like, "Nuts." But I'm just—
Amanda: Next time.
Eric: I'm so excited to go. I called once to be like, "Hey, what do— can I just come and do it?" And they're like, "Yes, we're an establishment."
Julia: You can trade us money for goods and services."
Amanda: It wasn’t clear.
Eric: Yeah, that's what they—
Amanda: Right.
Eric: —said on the phone. And again, the most Queens woman you've ever heard in your entire life describing it. I'm like, "I'm gonna ask you a weird question. Can I just come in and buy things?" And she's like, "Yes."
Amanda: Do I have to make an appointment?
Brandon: I walk and I talk!
Eric: Well, I didn't know if it was, like, wholesale—
Julia: Right.
Eric: —plus only, like, the classes or whatever.
Amanda: Right.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: If I could just, like, show up. Because they're only open 9:00 to 5:00, too. Like—
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: —they're only open during business hours.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: So they ostensibly have people who are allowed to come in, but you need to be, like, not at your job to do it.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Or have non-traditional working hours.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: I totally get it. There's a— you might— you guys might have one. I forget where— they're everywhere, but I forget where exactly they were in the northeast, but a store called Restaurant Depot, I think it is.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: And you can't shop there unless—
Julia: No.
Brandon: —you have a— at least online and—
Julia: No in-person too, Brandon.
Amanda: You can't just walk in.
Brandon: Well, hold on. This is exactly my point. I haven't tried it yet, but you're supposed to have a business license, right? You're supposed to have a commercial distributor license or whatever to shop there. Apparently, I've read that they definitely have done it. I'm unsure if they have continued to do it, but you can go there in person and say, "Can I have a guest— like a day guest pass?"
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: Hmm.
Brandon: And they say, "Yes." And you can go shopping.
Amanda: Ah.
Julia: I—
Amanda: Huge for Brandons.
Julia: I used to have to do Restaurant Depot runs when I worked for the cheese shop that I worked for.
Brandon: Oh, cool.
Julia: And I think they had, like, almost like a Costco card or something like that.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: That you had to show upon entering.
Brandon: Right.
Julia: Which is the only reason I was like, "I don't think you can just walk in there." But—
Brandon: No, no. I—
Julia: —maybe I just didn't know you had to ask for the guest pass.
Brandon: Yeah. I— absolutely that's all correct.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: And that's why I was like— my treasure find about that. And they definitely did it during 2020.
Julia: Uh-huh.
Brandon: I don't know if it was a thing beforehand.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Or if they started it in COVID and they continued it.
Julia: Got it.
Brandon: It's unclear.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: But—
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Well, a new thing they're doing next year, I saw this on Eater, is that whenever you buy a burrata, you can find a golden ticket at the bottom.
Brandon: Oh.
Eric: And they'll let you into Restaurant Depot.
Amanda: God, I wish.
Brandon: So moist.
Amanda: Okay.
Julia: Do I become the owner of Restaurant Depot if I outlast the other four children?
Eric: Yeah. Only if you're pure of heart.
Julia: Oh, of course.
Eric: And you stop eating the everlasting spider and—
Julia: Spider?
Eric: You don't like the thing?
Julia: Oh.
Eric: I couldn't think of the thing.
Julia: Sorry. I was like, "What?"
Brandon: The frying thing.
Eric: The everlasting bain-marie.
Julia: Oh, okay.
Eric: Is that better?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: That's—
Brandon: Shit. Is Squid Games just a dark Willy Wonka?
Eric: Yes.
Brandon: Fuck, man.
Julia: Probably. Hmm.
Brandon: Fuck.
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: I love Season Two of Willy Wonka.
[theme]
Amanda: Hello, everybody. It's Amanda. Thank you so much for giving us the time to take a vacation. I am being brought to you right now by the electric blanket that I am no doubt curled up under. I love, like, setting three out of four. That's my favorite. Thank you. And welcome to our newest paid supporters on Patreon, if that's you and you've joined in the last week, we so appreciate you, and we'll name and thank you in January, since the aforementioned blanket is preventing me from being here with you in real time. We're only able to make the show and to take vacation while supporting ourselves through art. What? Because of your support on Patreon. So if you want to show your love and get goodies like Discord access, Party Planning, like this Convo Pit. We post stuff like this all the time. We post a— other entire biweekly podcast called Party Planning on Patreon only, and you can listen to it or watch the video, get ad-free episodes and so much more at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. There is so much happening here at Multitude, and even though we are doing our best to take some vacations, we're also bringing you hot content and not skipping any weeks because you rely on us to help get through your life. And so I would love if you check out Spirits, the history and comedy podcast I host with Julia Schifini, who you may have heard of before. Every week, Julia brings me a new story from somewhere around the world. And sometimes that's the inspiration behind franchises like Lord of the Rings and Wonder Woman. Sometimes it's, I don't know, a review of Netflix's Hot Frosty and sometimes it's modern urban legends. You can listen anywhere in the 415 plus episodes we've released over the last eight years at spiritspodcast.com or search for Spirits where you download your podcasts. And finally, we are sponsored this week by Catan, which is not just an incredible board game to get for your friends and relatives or to bring with you on vacation, but also the studio that made Catan Starfarers, which is an epic science fiction board game that brings the space adventure to life with custom ships, detailed figures, intense fate-deciding roles that we here in TTRPG land know and love. They have event cards that throw you into thrilling encounters like alien diplomacy or pirate ambushes. And seriously, Starfarers is perfect for adding a role-playing twist to every game you play. If you have what it takes to journey into the unknown, you can gather your crew and conquer the stars with Catan Starfarers by using the code Join the Party for a 10% discount before they're all gone. Starfarers does legitimately sell out, so please go to catanstudio.com and see if it is there. If not, buy something else. They're so nice and so good to make a discount code just for you. The code again, Join the Party, the website, catanstudio.com. And now, back to the Conversation Pit.
[theme]
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Amanda: Now, this could be a very good time or a very bad time to ask the following Conversation Pit question from SharpSnooter, which is, "What were your favorite books as kids and what was the most recent book you read and loved? I'm a librarian, so being nosy about people's reading choices is basically my job."
Julia: Ooh. Nice.
Amanda: And this reminds me, or it reminded me of this question, because I loved Roald Dahl, author of Matilda and the Witches and James and the Giant Peach.
Brandon: Hmm.
Amanda: And Charlie and Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, people don't know about that one.
Eric: That was really good as well.
Julia: I was gonna say to Brandon, I was like, "There is actually a sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: But I didn't want to be like that.
Amanda: And I have almost an entire collection. I also had some short story collections for adults that I, again, read as a child because I didn't have a lot of supervision, and so, you know, there's some, like, disturbing stuff in there. The drawings are, like, etched on my mind, as you know, like that era of my childhood. So I very much enjoyed reading those books and lots of other, like, fantasy collections, but just like the sense memory of, like, those, you know, 20 very skinny books lined up on my shelf all in matching, you know, bindings. They're one of the few books I've kept from childhood to, like, have in a future library.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: I love that.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: So the question was, what was our favorite in childhood and what's ours today? Sorry, I missed—
Amanda: Favorite books as kids and a recent book that you read and loved.
Brandon: Okay.
Julia: Ooh.
Brandon: Well, as a kid, I was a voracious reader.
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: I— there— so I went to like a— I'm gonna say normal. I don't mean this derogatory. I went to a normal school for first and second grade.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Or maybe just first grade, before I went to, like, the magnet school.
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: And so—
Eric: Right before you have super powers.
Julia: Before they were like, "This child is too smart. Get him out of here."
Amanda: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Brandon: I'm too gifted and too talented.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: And your superpowers developed.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: And my superpowers developed. Yes, I like that one better.
Julia: And Charlie Xavier came for you.
Amanda: Pencil filings kept sticking to you. You're like, "Ow, ow, ow."
Brandon: But my teacher would literally just give me the work for the day and— in a little packet and be like, "Here you go," because I'd finish it in 20 minutes and then I would go to library. So in first grade— did you guys have accelerated reader? AR?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Oh yeah.
Eric: Something like that.
Brandon: So for anyone who's— yeah. For anyone who's not from the US or didn't have it, you would read a book and then there'd be a little quiz on a computer, and you get points for every book you read. And then you could trade in your points for like, you know, erasers and shit. But our school— I'm sure probably most schools have, like, a contest to see if who get the most points and we had a wall where it was like, you know, "You're in the 100-point club, the 200-point club, 300-point club," or whatever it is. And then all the way at the bottom right, there was, like, the Brandon Club.
Amanda: Aw.
Brandon: Which was like a bazillion points.
Eric: Brandon donated $10 million—
Julia: They named the library after him.
Eric: —to this synagogue.
Brandon: I was in first grade, and I had the most points out of anyone in the school.
Julia: Wow.
Brandon: I got a signed— I still have it somewhere, a signed football from the, let's see, '90— ooh, '98 Cowboys.
Eric: Wow.
Amanda: Wow.
Julia: You know the gift the kid that read the most books want, signed football.
Brandon: That's true, Julia.
Amanda: Listen, Julia, some people like sports and reading, and their names are Eric Silver and—
Julia: I know, I know. I'm just teasing.
Brandon: But, yeah, it has like Aikman and Emma Smith and stuff on it. But—
Eric: That's crazy, Brandon. You gotta— you have a signed '90s Cowboys football. Julia, you have to understand. This is like Brandon got—
Julia: Do I—
Eric: —a football from the Justice League signed for kids—
Julia: Okay.
Eric: —in the '90s and in Texas.
Julia: Sure.
Brandon: Yeah, yep.
Amanda: Wow. That's crazy.
Brandon: But anyway, point being my favorite books back then were a lot of things, but I loved— my— I think my favorites were probably the Magic Tree House—
Julia: Hmm. Good ones.
Brandon: —series of books.
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Amanda: Good stuff.
Brandon: I think I read them all. I loved Goosebumps. I love like the Redwall series.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Ooh. Yeah. Those are ones that come to mind. But I did like to read. And now, barely read ever.
Amanda: You read lots of manuals and lots of web pages.
Julia: Hmm.
Amada: And lots of articles.
Eric: I think about how a lot of the stuff we do is reading, just not in a book.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: And I'm okay with that.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Multiple times a week, we look at an email together and go, "Now, what the hell could this mean?" That is simply critical reading.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Brandon: I do read, like, news and other types of articles every day. Like, I— like, there's a great website called the conversation or— yeah, The Conversation. I almost said the Conversation Pit, but The Conversation that has a lot of, like, articles from academics, like people who— professors, whatever, who work and then write articles.
Eric: Oh, that's cool.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Really fun, and I read a lot, so—
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: That's sick.
Julia: I was also— just because Brandon reminded me, I was also a Big Magic Tree House kid. I was also a big Goosebumps kid. I was a Warrior Cats girly pop because, of course, I was.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: And then I think that, like, when the— you first asked the question, the book series that I thought of immediately was a series called Bloody Jack. It's about a girl that gets orphaned on the streets of London, and then cuts all of her hair off, and poses as a boy to get on a, like, British warship.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: And then—
Brandon: Hell yeah, dude.
Julia: —all of the things that happened to her after that.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: That's awesome.
Eric: Hell yeah, dude.
Julia: And it really, like, formed a lot of my feelings about, like, gender. And I was like—
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: —"Okay. Yeah. That's fine."
Amanda: The C, piracy.
Julia: C in piracy and stuff like that. And then I am a pretty voracious reader nowadays. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that, like, I got more into ebooks than I used to be as a person.
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: Like, I feel like I was definitely, like, a snobby hipster being like, "Oh, I only read, like, hard covers," and like, you know, that's just annoying to carry around, you know, when you want to go to the beach and stuff like that. And also when you want to read in the middle of the night because you can't fall asleep, so I definitely—
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: —read a lot of ebooks nowadays, though my current read is a hardcover book, because I got intimidated when I opened the ebook and saw it had 900 pages.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: I was like—
Eric: Hmm.
Julia: —"Hmm, I actually think I need to read this like, you know, physically," so—
Brandon: And then you picked it up and went, "Oh."
Julia: Yeah. I was like, "Oh, that's a thick boy. That's a thick boy." I'm trying to think of like a book that I really enjoyed recently. There was a really good kind of, like, Gothic, kind of low fantasy style book that I really liked, and I'm gonna forget. It's called A Study in Drowning, and I thought—
Amanda: Hmm.
Julia: —it was very interesting and very cool. It's kind of, like, vaguely British folklore, but in— like, set in an alternate universe sort of thing. And it's about a girl who really wants to study literature, but the only school she can get into is an architecture school because of sexism. And she decides— and she gets in—
Eric: Wait. Wait, wait.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Wait, wait, wait.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Are— women are allowed to draw buildings but nothing else?
Brandon: Yes, Eric.
Julia: Yes, because this is a like fantasy world where, like, writing is— like they believe that when writers die, they become saints that protect the country.
Brandon: Oh, that's cool.
Eric: Sure.
Amanda: Cool.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: They call them the sleeping authors.
Brandon: Oh.
Julia: And so the most recent sleeping author is one that this girl is, like, really obsessed with and then they put out a call for someone to read— like, basically fix his decrepit house in the countryside.
Eric: Sure.
Julia: And so—
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: —she manages to get it and, like, has to solve a mystery around it. And it was a very satisfying ending, so I very much enjoyed it.
Brandon: That's a cool premise. I like that.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: That's cool.
Julia: A Study in Drowning. I'll say the title again so people can look it up.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: How about you, honey?
Eric: Oh, man. Yeah. I also read a lot as a kid. I once got lunch detention in fourth grade for reading, and then I ended up reading the entire time in detention.
Brandon: In detention?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: My mom being— brings that up a lot. Fuck you, Mr. Deaver, definitely listening to this podcast. So yeah, I also don't read that much anymore. I feel like I should, because I was just thinking about this because I finished the last two volumes of Delicious in Dungeon.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: I have all of them, and I just read all of them. I just— I needed to bring myself to read them. I don't know why. But, like, the screen on my phone broke, so I had to, like, just wait around for 30 minutes. So I just brought them— the two copies with me when— sat in a bagel shop and just read them. It was really good. It was really good.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Did you get your phone fixed in a bagel shop?
Eric: Next— there was— the bagel shop was next to the place where my phone was fixed.
Brandon: Oh, okay, okay.
Julia: He just went next door, Brandon, come on.
Eric: Brandon, I can't go into an Apple store, so I'll go anywhere if they'll fix my phone.
Amanda: Hmm.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: True.
Brandon: You can't go into an Apple store, so you went into a bagel store.
Amanda: Exactly.
Eric: Yes. It's next in the alphabet. So I did that and I read it, and it was great. I'm like, "I should read books more." Actually, Julia, I feel like I want to read paper books more now—
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: —and not have it on my phone. Amanda— I mean, Amanda's shown me Libby for such a long time.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: And I've had the app, but it's just like— I don't like reading on my phone. I don't like reading long things on my phone.
Julia: Valid.
Eric: I'm just like, "Oh, I'm just gonna keep scrolling." And I don't want a Kindle because I think it's lame. So—
Julia: Fair.
Eric: —I feel like I gotta bring back books like that, but—
Brandon: I'm with you on that, yeah.
Eric: So— and I have books, too. I just didn't read them. I have a bunch of books that I just haven't picked up, but I feel like—
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —I need to, like, get more stories back into my body, more full, large— full, completed projects and not just, like, tweets, Bluesky.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah. Yeah.
Eric: Because really now that Bluesky is just turning into Twitter again. I'm like, "Oh, this is just where you all put your Trump anxiety." Like, I need something else. I need—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —other stuff.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: And I'm getting a lot of, like, my news and basketball analysis from podcasts, so I need, like, other stuff. So I think—
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —I gotta bring more books back. Book that I read a lot as a kid, I think I read the Phantom Tollbooth like 50 times.
Amanda: Aw.
Eric: Definitely.
Julia: Cute.
Eric: I have other ones that I kind of got, like, into more stuff that I read all the time when I was in high school. Like, I think I've read Love Is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield probably 20 times as well. And some Michael Chabon books I read a kajillion times, so—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Hell yeah.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: Did your mom give you, like, more, quote-unquote, "literary" books than average because she was an English major, like person who loved reading?
Eric: Yeah. I think I read The Great Gatsby very early. That was my mom's favorite book, and it is one— is my favorite of the canon, for sure. Also it's short—
Brandon: It's my favorite, too.
Amanda: Aw.
Eric: The Great Gatsby is good. You should reread it now. It's so resonant right now. Everyone go read The Great Gatsby. It's a 150 pages. It has never been more resonant right now than it is than— you— the most adult you've ever been, but also the more into the future we go, the more like— you know from the beginning that the main antagonist is a guy who believes in phrenology. At a dinner party with a guy he doesn't know, he brings up this new book he read about how white people are better than other people. Like, go— just read it right now. It's incredible.
Julia: Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.
Amanda: That's so great. I realized I didn't say my newer book.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: I read, like, dozens of romance books every month on my phone. It's really nice, when I'm just, like, chilling on the couch or trying to fall asleep, or on the subway or whatever. But I recently read and recommended it on Spirits, if anyone listens to that podcast.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: This book—
Eric: I don't know that show.
Amanda: —Lavender House by Lev A. C. Rosen. It's like a historical mystery set in, like, 1950s San Francisco and the sort of, like, underground queer community.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: And there's sort of like, you know, a cop, that is— basically, the premise is, like, the cop was caught cruising, kicked out of the police force, and then, like, has to come to terms to the fact that, you know, he was a cop and didn't really stand up for the people in his community that were around him. Now that by force, he has to, like, live in that community for support. And so it sounds like a bummer, but it's really good. And it's like great pros, it's got a great mystery. It has a really fun cast of characters. It's a complex about, like, historical queer stuff, because often, obviously, sad.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: But sometimes really lovely and heartwarming. I'm like, "Oh, no. There have been people existing and making lives for themselves in whoever— whatever ways they can forever." And so this author, Lev A. C. Rosen, has a number of books in that series.
Brandon: I spoke over your title.
Julia: Amanda—
Brandon: Say the title one more time for people.
Amanda: Lavender House by Lev A. C. Rosen.
Brandon: Love it.
Julia: Amanda, I've got a romance novel recommendation for you that came from Maggie Tokuda-Hall, who we had as a guest on Spirits.
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: It's called Under Lock and Key, but, like, lock like the waterway in Scotland.
Amanda: Ooh.
Julia: And don't read anything about it. Just—
Amanda: Okay.
Julia: Just go into it.
Amanda: You got it.
Julia: Because it takes a turn.
Eric: Julia, if this is the one about Wordle, you have to tell us.
Julia: It's not Wordle. It's not Wordle.
Amanda: Dude, for a minute there, every romance book I got press releases about featured a podcaster and I was like, "No."
Eric: Yeah, can I—
Julia: You're like, "I can't do it."
Eric: Can I ask you a question in Amanda's romance book corner?
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Yeah. Sure.
Eric: Brandon, what— can you play the theme song for it?
Brandon: Oh, yeah. It goes like—
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: It's a book and there's sexy people in it.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Brandon: It's time for Amanda's Corner.
Julia: Nailed it.
Eric: They're gonna kiss.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: So is there like a Netflix vacation of romance books right now? Because I feel like Hallmark movie— we're bringing up what Julia said before—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —like Hallmark movies and the Netflix simulacrum of Hallmark movies—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —people have admitted to themselves more that they actually like them and want some level of quality, even in the so bad it's good genre.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: Similarly, romance books in a different way, I would say more and more people are admitting to themselves they like it and are— want higher quality of that, or at least things that are a little more niche.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Or a little more realistic, instead of the bodice ripper, so many the— classically associated with that.
Amanda: Uh-hmm. Yes.
Eric: However, I think in both of those, they have dealt with the slop sort of thing—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —where it's just getting churned out as much as possible and trying to be relatively relevant to the current times.
Brandon: Hmm.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: I'm thinking about Hot Frosty.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Okay.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: We're like— Hot Frosty— I don't know if it's good, but it sure is something that someone made in 2024.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: And it feels similar in romance books to me.
Julia: Just also, if you're listening to this on the day that it comes out, check your feed for Spirits Podcast tomorrow, because I'm doing—
Amanda: Eyes on the prize.
Julia: —an episode on Hot Frosty.
Eric: I need to tell you all, I've seen so much criticism of Hot Frosty, and your criticism is much better.
Amanda: Thank you.
Julia: We were just like, "It's pretty fun."
Amanda: Pretty fun.
Julia: Don’t take it too seriously.
Amanda: And good question.
Eric: So many people have had very bad takes about Hot Frosty, I’ll tell you that.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Yeah. Well, Eric, I think that's a very apt observation, something that has definitely happened is romance has historically been a— for the last you know, let me say, like 80 years of, like, mainstream publishing of genre fiction, a genre dominated by women, typically women in their 30s and older, and especially around, like, 40s to 60s. And where there is, like, some kind of change with perimenopause, then you start reading thrillers only. A thing I look forward to. And so now that millennials are in our 30s, and in some cases early 40s—
Eric: Hmm.
Amanda: —they are rebranding, literally with the illustrations branding and how it appears romance books to look like an inoffensive, sort of like, you know, cartoon illustration of, like, two figures, like, you know, looking playfully at each other across an elevator, and it's like the steamiest—
Eric: You can—
Amanda: —like, doesn't tell you anything about the novel. Like, you don't want to read this in public. Like, trust me.
Julia: Like, there have been several people who have been, like, "I picked up this thing about ice skating because I thought it would be sweet for my 14-year-old who was ice skating."
Amanda: That specific one, yes.
Julia: And, oh, it fucks.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah. yeah.
Julia: Oh, it fucks. So—
Brandon: Yeah. They look like YA books now.
Julia: Yeah, they look like YA books.
Amanda: They do look like YA books, yes. They're trying to appeal to those of us who grew up with YA. YA was new in, like, 2002.
Eric: Oh, the adult who listen, who read YA, right.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Yes, yes. Yes.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: And so that's a big part of it, but there have been two other important things. One is called Kindle Unlimited, so we talked about Kindle earlier. You can pay Amazon $10 a month and take out an unlimited number, basically, of ebooks from the, like, Kindle library. The good ones you have to pay for, the self-published ones you don't in most cases.
Eric: Ah, the slop. The slop.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: And so there is a lot of slop, a lot of just like erotica, that people publish because you make sense on the dollar from Amazon, if somebody, you know, takes out your book. All that's perfectly fine, but that has been like a— like that was before my time, whenever that program rolled out in, like, the late 2000s.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: People were, like, decrying the end of romance, because now you could, like, publish, you know, the erotica and romance unfiltered. And then lastly, there's also been the rise of, like, extremely specific. They're marketing the book on TikTok with, like, two images and an X in between.
Eric: Sure.
Amanda: So like, how on a— for a startup, you would say, "Oh, it's like the Uber for dogs."
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Like, I guess the thing that comes to mind all the time. Someone really—
Eric: Brandon, write that down, Uber for dogs.
Julia: Uber for dogs.
Eric: Brandon, write it down. Uber for dogs.
Amanda: There's a lot of pressure on authors to both, like, formulate and sell and market their books with that, like, very PAT formula.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: So the rise of, at first, Bookstagram, where, you know, reviewers are, like, do the same thing and now BookTikTok.
Julia: BookTok.
Eric: BookTok.
Brandon: So it's like—
Amanda: It is a thing.
Brandon: What— not premise. What do you call them? Like a trope, X trope kind of thing?
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Oh, sure.
Amanda: Which, again, been the thing in romance for decades, but not, sort of like, flashily marketed to millennials, nothing.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Amanda: So, like, there's great stuff. There's more to sift through than ever before, and there is certainly some slop of, you know, people seeing publishers saying, "Well, romance is hot. Write it for millennials and write a watered down version of this other thing that's sold because it's not— because, like, of reasons that they're not actually, you know, grasping."
Julia: Yeah. Like, keep in mind that— using Hallmark and Netflix as an example, Hallmark puts out 40 Christmas movies every year, 40 new Christmas movies every year.
Brandon: That's impressive.
Julia: You maybe hear about two or three of them.
Eric: Sure.
Julia: You know?
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: And that's kind of what, like, I think romance and— publishing and romance is like nowadays.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Where it's like— there's a lot of shit out there, and I mean that both in, like, terms of quantity and also quality sometimes. But, like, there's a lot of stuff out there, and it's really just kind of narrowing down and finding, like, the niche that you're very into. Like, Amanda, I think you're more of a modern romance person. I like a historical romance. That's more like my bread and butter. I can't stand when I'm reading a book and they're like, talking like a person that I know and, like, have problems that I think about, and like, mention podcasts. I'm like, "I have to suspend the disbelief somehow."
Amanda: I'm out, I'm out.
Brandon: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: So I'm, like, a fucking Bridgerton, you know, historical romance—
Amanda: There you go.
Julia: —kind of girly.
Amanda: And, again, there's been, like, five out of five star— stuff being churned out by authors—
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: —like Julia Quinn for, like, literally 40 years.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Like you can read like the Bridgerton— there are, like, 40 Bridgerton stories—
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: —by the time you get to, like, all the, you know, universe ones.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Because she's been publishing since the early 90s.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Amazing.
Eric: So did you read the Wordle romance novel?
Amanda: No.
Julia: No.
Eric: Do you remember the summary of the Wordle romance novel?
Amanda: No.
Brandon: Do you have to guess the title of it when you picked it up?
Julia: That's very funny. Let me see if I can find it.
Eric: If I remember correct— I think— someone sent us in the press release, and I don't remember the name of it, but it was like— it was all set in, like, British Columbia, too. It was so wild.
Julia: I think Ralts was the one that was talking about it recently.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: I'll see if I can find what her comments were, but go on.
Eric: Yeah. It was like— someone's just working, like has some dreams of having a creative job, but has like this regular job in British Columbia, and then they start doing the Wordle— and then she starts doing the Wordle with a guy at her job, and then they fall in love in British Columbia.
Amanda: Incredible.
Julia: Oh, yikes. Yikes-a-rooney.
Amanda: Glad that we are past the micro trend of podcasters, though, because that was really something, for books that were like greenlit in 2019 and then published 2020 and '23.
Julia: I found it .
Eric: Okay. Please.
Julia: The title is A Five-Letter Word for Love. A heartwarming—
Brandon: Is the five-letter word fuck with two K's?
Eric: Two U's, Brandon.
Amanda: Listen, this person got their book proposal greenlit and, like, that's not hard, that's easy.
Julia: This is also their first book.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: I want to stress to you, this is not like someone who's been writing romance and they're like, "Oh, no, give us a wordle book." No, this was this person's first novel. So a heartwarming—
Amanda: Or this is like when I would submit my fan fiction and just Control F for the names and then replace it with original names and then submit it for creative writings class.
Julia: Correct, correct. We all did that. It's fine.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: A humorous and heartwarming romance in which an unlikely couple fall in love over Wordle. 27-year-old Emily doesn't have a lot going well in her life right now.
Eric: Nice.
Julia: She dreams of a creative career, but works as a receptionist in an auto shop.
Eric: See?
Amanda: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: It was in an auto shop.
Julia: She longs for big city life but lives in a small town on Prince Edward Island. She craves a close group of friends, but is stuck with irritating, car-obsessed coworkers. What Emily does have is a 300+ plus day streak on the New York Times Wordle. But one day—
Amanda: Wow.
Julia: —with only one guess left and no clue what the answer is, she's forced to turn to one of her irritating car-obsessed coworkers, John, for help, and in doing so, realizes he might not be so irritating after all. As they make their way word by word, toward a 365-day streak, Emily is drawn into a surprising romance that will take her outside of her comfort zone and challenge everything she knew about happiness, success, and love.
Eric: Do you think she stopped when the New York Times Tech Guild went on strike? Probably not, right?
Julia: No. Absolutely not. Absolutely not.
Eric: No. No way.
Julia: That streak broke.
Amanda: I was surprised—
Julia: If that's a plot point at the end, that would be incredible that she--
Eric: No, she's Canadian, Julia.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: They didn't care about the—
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: —the needle during the election.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Did y'all know there was a Canadian postal strike going on right now?
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Julia: Oh, yeah.
Amanda: It's big in, like, holiday shopping, small business Instagram, of like, "We cannot ship to Canada right now. Don't be a dick."
Brandon: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Julia: "We just can't do it. I'm sorry."
Amanda: Yeah. That's amazing.
Julia: Yeah. Wow.
Amanda: Another question for the Times, this one's from Tess. "Do you like giving gifts or receiving them more?"
Julia: Oh.
Eric: Sorry, just snapping my fingers.
Julia: Whoa. It was so snappy.
Brandon: That was actually really nice. It sound— like good foley.
Eric: Thank you, folks. It's time for Eric talks about giving gifts corner. If you want a—
Brandon: Wee.
Eric: —gift from Eric's stuff, he's a good rhymes, and this is Eric's stuff. He likes giving gifts. Thank you to The Roots for doing my song.
Amanda: And thank you to Jon Batiste.
Julia: They gotta get better at rhyming.
Eric: No Jon Batiste was busy. I—
Brandon: They went really far downhill.
Julia: Amanda, I thought you said John Tesh and I was like, "Oh."
Eric: Basketball, Eric's time. He's gonna give gifts now. I wish I had thought of that. Thank you, Julia. That was great. Folks, it's gift-giving time.
Brandon: What gifts Julia gave you?
Eric: It's my favorite time of year, where I give gifts to other people. I love giving gifts. It's great. It's a way for me to show that I know people— how people do stuff. It's a way for me to justify all the time we spend on Instagram. You know, also, the best part about giving gifts is that I start buying stuff, like months in advance, so I don't put the pressure on myself to do it. And I think I only kind of backfill it once all the gift guides come out. Like, when Helen Rosner puts her gift guides out, then I'm like, "Oh, this is what I'm gonna do for all my food people."
Amanda: Mwa.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: The other thing, though, is that I'm getting to the point where I know all of this stuff that I'm getting ahead of other gift guides.
Julia: Damn.
Eric: Like my mom's definitely one for, like, Food and Wine Magazine. I'm like, "Dawg, I own 25 of these already. Like, I'm sorry, mom. I don't know what to tell you."
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: But no, I love giving gifts. It's the best.
Julia: Yeah. I'm also a very pro giving gift. I— much like food is my love language. I like giving things to people to see how they're going to react to it and, like, you know, seeing, like, the delight and joy in someone's face when you give them something, that they're like, "Oh, my God. That's crazy. I would have never thought of that." That is—
Amanda: Like my anti-griddle.
Julia: Yes. It's a very enjoyable experience, you know? And I also just like the feeling of, like—, I do a lot of the, like, holiday markets with, like, small businesses and stuff around the— around this time of year. And, like, going and, like, looking at someone's little booth and being like, "This will be perfect for this person." It's always a delight.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: I'll say it, I like getting presents. I especially—
Julia: That's fair.
Amanda: —getting pressy, no reasons.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: One of Eric's patented forms of giving gift as just a little thing that made him think of me, or, you know, his friends, and then gets it for no reason. I feel some pressure as a recipient around, like, my birthday or—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: —you know, a gift-giving holiday. Like, it's the— it's my worst-case scenario to, like, open gifts a la a bridal shower or something, and be like, "Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, I don't want this."
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: But I have gotten far more into giving gifts, starting from when I, like, moved out of the house and had siblings that were still at home and, like, got my sibling CC tickets to see Hair with me on Broadway. That was the first thing where I was like, "I can save at that time $45 to get us to, like, back of the orchestra tickets for Hair." And they were like, "What? Like, we're doing this?" Like, it was— it just felt like an incredible way to like, you said, Eric, like, show someone that you, you know, would do something, especially something they wouldn't do for themselves, whether it's like a nicer version of something that they would buy, or just like a, you know, a sentimental thing or a commission thing, all of that is very cool.
Julia: Yeah. I think my issue— expounding on that a little bit, Amanda. I think my issue in receiving gifts is I'm the kind of person that if I really want something, I will just buy it for myself or, like, if I want something and I haven't bought it yet, it's because it's too expensive, and then I feel like a terrible human being if someone else gets it for me.
Amanda: Sure.
Julia: Because I'm like, "How dare you spend a ton of money on me?" I— I'm gonna, like, just go hide in a cave somewhere now, but—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: In a cave?
Julia: In a cave, in a cave, you know? A sea cave, perhaps, I don't know. But, yeah, I just—
Eric: Just Julia and the barnacles. The barnacles will never get you a gift.
Julia: Just me and the crabs just hanging out. Yeah. But, like, there's just something about, like, when receiving a gift, then, like, "Okay. This is either something I never thought I would want." And now, I'm like, "Do I— am I actually excited about it?" Or is it like a thing where it's like, "How dare you be so thoughtful in giving me a gift that I wouldn't buy myself.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: If I didn't think I deserve it, why did you think I deserve it? That kind of thing.
Brandon: Yeah, that's real.
Amanda: You think you're better than me?
Julia: You think you're better than me?
Brandon: You think you're better than me?
Julia: You could buy the thing that I was too expensive to get for myself?
Brandon: I have very complicated feelings about gifts, on both sides. Like I— on the giving side, I stress out about a lot because growing up, it wasn't like a competition in any way, but like, our focus was always on coming up with the most, like, creative and, like, thoughtful gift—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Sure.
Brandon: —amongst the sibling— like amongst our siblings. Like, we always would sort of, quote-unquote, "compete" to get the best gift. Not explicitly, of course, but—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: And my brother is just, like, 100 million times more creative than both me and my sister, so, like, it's— we always lost, and we still do continue to this day. And now, to—
Amanda: Except when you ask Eric for help, and then you do a very cool present.
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: I mean, it's— yes. It's always great, but unfortunately, Eric, Seth is better than you.
Julia: Damn.
Eric: That's not true. I've just not— I just have not revealed my true power.
Amanda: You've not gone hand-to-hand.
Julia: Ah.
Brandon: Yeah, yeah. That's true. But also Now Seth is, you know, 30 years into his career, so he has a lot more money than I do.
Eric: True, true, true, true, true, true, true.
Julia: Damn. That's tough.
Brandon: So that's also part of the problem now. So it's difficult to give gifts. I've started now doing— taking a line from the Eric Silver playbook, and instead of focusing on Christmas, I do pressy no reasons more frequently now. So, like, I got my sister a couple gifts this year, throughout the year, because there's, like, no pressure and, like, no one's expecting it. I don't need a—
Amanda: The bar is zero.
Brandon: Yeah, the bar is zero and so it's much better. And on the giving gift side— or the getting gift sides, obviously, I like getting stuff. I'm a consumer. I love getting— I love stuff. But it's so stressful to me. It makes me so anxious to have to perform emotions—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: —in any way. Even if I— even when I— which is most frequently, even when I genuinely think the gift is amazing, and I love it, and like, it's such a great one. Like, I— it's so anxiety inducing to be, like, "I have to show the right amount of excitement or whatever." Like, I—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: It's just so stressful for me.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: So I am not a big gift person. Like me and Lauren don't do gifts for each other, because we both think it's just so stressful. So—
Julia: Meanwhile, I'm like, "That's crazy."
Brandon: I mean, like, we'll do pressy no reasons.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: But pressy no reasons is different than, like—
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: —mandated gift-giving.
Eric: I need to tell all the Christians out there, all the Christmas celebrating people, pressy no reasons will do the one thing that will fix your Christmas, which is not pinning every emotional moment, especially with family, on one holiday where you see each other for three hours.
Brandon: Yes. I agree, yeah.
Eric: God. I— that— now that I am integrated into Christmas traditions, it stresses me out.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: I don't understand it.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah. No, I agree.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: I completely agree, and I— it's been a wonderful gift that I've given myself. I've been thinking—
Julia: Wow.
Brandon: —about— they will all listen to this, so they all know. I've been thinking about starting International Siblings Day, which I know it's a fake holiday. But starting International Siblings Day as being like a thing, because we don't give each other sibling gifts during Christmas either.
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: But I know my siblings best, I give the best gifts to them.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: So I've been thinking about giving that— my siblings gifts on International Siblings Day as a tradition.
Julia: Cute.
Eric: Brandon, that's so funny, because you're gonna prank them by making them feel bad—
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: —by not getting it to you for the first year.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Brandon, that's awesome.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: They're never gonna be able to come back from that.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: And so they buy you something extravagant in year two, and then you bought them— and then you made them something—
Brandon: Hmm.
Amanda: —homemade and thoughtful.
Julia: Oh.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: And then they're like, "Fuck, I did it again."
Eric: Exactly.
Brandon: And on the third year, I sacrificed my life for them.
Eric: Exactly.
Julia: There you go.
Eric: Jump in front of a train.
Julia: Now, they can't beat it. Now, they can't beat it.
Eric: Brandon, I totally see where you're coming from. The thing is, is that my brother and my parents are bad at giving gifts.
Brandon: Hmm.
Eric: So, like, I'm the only one who's good at it.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: So it's like I'm— it's like I'm playing with myself.
Brandon: You're the Seth.
Eric: I'm not— I'm playing against the— I'm playing ping pong against the half of the ping pong table that's flipped up, you know?
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Just fold it up. Just fold it up.
Eric: Yeah. It's like—
Julia: Playing against yourself.
Eric: It's me. I'm the Tom Hanks says the guy from the thing. I'm Forrest Gumping myself.
Julia: Forrest Gump, yeah.
Eric: I'm Cast Awaying myself.
Julia: You're in love with the beach ball?
Eric: Yeah, exactly. But that's—
Julia: Volley ball?
Eric: —unrelated to presents.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: So it's like— yeah, I'm just doing it to do at this point, but I get what you're coming from.
Julia: Okay.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Fair. Cool.
Eric: Sure.
Julia: Cool.
Amanda: And final question prompt here, because I think a lot of us are probably going to have some celebration meals over the next few days, or maybe because you have some time off of work, you have some extra time to make stuff. Tess wanted to know about the best cake or cupcake you have ever had, or best dessert if you dislike cake and more cupcakes.
Brandon: Ooh.
Amanda: I'll go first, because I had a chance to prepare for this, which is from— there— there's like a local bakery chain in Brooklyn called Ovenly. There's a location right next to the office. When Brandon, Eric, and I went to see the office for the first time, we met there, and the barista was like, "Oh, 10% off. You need this office because you need to be here." And we were like, "Okay." And then she was right. It was incredible. And they did, during COVID, like a cake of the month club that we sent to Eric's mom's house when we were finally able to see her for the first time post-lockdown, and it was—
Eric: For Thanksgiving?
Amanda: Exactly. And it was a carrot cake with a lemon curd, like, layered in with the frosting. And now, carrot cakes are her favorite cake, that's why we were excited for it. But, like, that lemon curd, y'all, like it brought out all the fruitiness of, like, the raisins and, you know, the actual carrots, the cream cheese frosting was so good, but, like, not that rich. And the cake was packed, like, no one's business. Like, it was— it arrived, and Eric's mom was like, "Okay, it's gonna be, like, crush in a box." But no, it was, like, a space age delivery.
Brandon: That’s amazing.
Julia: That's very cool.
Eric: That's also sick.
Amanda: So that's the thing that, like, I can't recreate it. I had no expectations, and it was so good. And even Eric's mom, who doesn't, like, love dessert and doesn't like sugar, was like, "This is so good."
Julia: Yeah. I am in the same boat as Rita in that I am not a huge sweets person. I'm usually not—
Brandon: I literally don't understand people that say that.
Julia: I just— I'm not. I don't like it. It makes my, like, mouth itch, you know? Like, I, like, immediately need water the minute I take, like, a bite of something sweet, you know?
Brandon: You know those people that— look, I respect you and I love you, and I don't— wouldn't change you, but you know those people that say, like, they don't like music? It's like that to me.
Julia: No, it's different. It's different. I don't know.
Brandon: I know it is. I know it is. But the feel— the— it is different, I agree with you, but the incongruity in my head is the same.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: I agree with Julia more than I do Brandon, if only because Brandon, you— Americans love sweets so much, especially with, like, the new soda— Mormon soda culture thing that's been going on and, like, with the dirty sodas. Like, I don't get it. I don't like sugar as much as America does.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: I love— I do love desserts, but not— I think there's something inherently wrong with me that I don't have, like, a Diet Coke addiction.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Well, soda's not a dessert, so I know it is, but, like, it's not so, like, I don't think that's relevant.
Amanda: Overall, like, sugar-based.
Eric: No, I'm saying sweets in general.
Julia: Right.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: I think that there's a sweetness thing that I don't understand.
Julia: So I think that, like, the ideal dessert, then, is kind of like a savory, sweet combo. I also would order a cheese plate as dessert, but I'm—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: —me, so that makes sense. But I think if— like— and my issue as well with— so, like— I like a pie because there is a savory, sweet element there. I don't like cake and I don't really like cupcakes, if only because one frosting and icing is almost always way too sweet for me.
Brandon: That is true.
Julia: Like, again, it, like, coats my mouth, and I just hate it. And also, almost every single cake I've ever eaten in my entire life has been too dry. So—
Eric: Sure.
Julia: —the two things that I would say that are, like, the better options for me, if I'm going to say I'm going to have a cake or a cupcake. I had a incredible tres leche cake with—
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: —strawberries at a friend of mine's wedding.
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: And it was the first time I've, like, liked a wedding cake.
Eric: Wow.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Which is wild to me. And then I also am a big fan of, like, citrus-forward olive oil cakes.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Julia: Like a— like, lemon rosemary olive oil cake, I'll fuck that shit up whenever.
Brandon: Hell yeah.
Amanda: Nice.
Julia: Because it's just not as sweet as it could be, so—
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: For those of you watching the video, I think you can see the moment where I thought this, but when Julia said that, "I'm just me, I’ll just order a cheese plate."
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: And I imagine Julia then saying, "I'm 40% ricotta."
Julia: Yeah. Yeah.
Brandon: Ricott’
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Right?
Julia: Ricott’
Brandon: Ricott’
Amanda: It's pretty good.
Brandon: I learned that that was a specifically American, like, New Jersey— Italian-American— New Jersey, New York, Italian-American accent thing. It's not from Italy, anyway.
Julia: It is but it's also kind of Sicilian and Southern Italian.
Brandon: Well, that's where— yeah, where it came from. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: But, like, it's not— yeah, it's like a uniquely American accent, which is interesting.
Eric: I didn't realize that no one knew what gabagool was outside of New Jersey for a long time.
Brandon: I still think that's made up.
Julia: It's not made up.
Eric: Brandon, it's—
Amanda: It's not. It's not.
Brandon: It's made up in that a group of people made it up.
Amanda: But it's a known phenomenon.
Eric: Yeah, but it's real. Yeah.
Amanda: All right, stand out desserts. Who else?
Brandon: I love desserts. I agree with y'all in that, like, I want my desserts to be desserts. Like, I love savory food, like crazy, but like, when it's dessert time, I want a dessert. I love ice cream. I love cookie— cookies are my favorite food, favorite group. For cakes, I'm not the biggest cake fan, but I do like cake. The best cake I've probably had—
Amanda: Well, no, then tell us your— the best cookie.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Well, the best cookie I—
Julia: I mean, I also want to hear the cake part, but—
Brandon: Yeah. Well, the best cake, I don't have a great answer. The— my best answer and the one that sticks in my head is because I made it for Lauren, and she said it was the best cake she's ever had.
Amanda: Aw.
Julia: Ooh.
Eric: Oh.
Brandon: Which, you know, she loves me, so I don't know, whatever. But, like, it was a Texas sheet cake from Serious Eats, which is like a chocolate cake with, like a chocolate fudge frosting.
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Julia: It sounds like I'd hate it. Go on.
Brandon: With pecans on top as well.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Ooh, nice.
Brandon: But try it, go try it. It's really, really good. But favorite cookie— I mean, my favorite cookies, I always say, are— and don't go get them because they suck now, but for milk bar, the recipe—
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Brandon: —the blueberry cream cookie and the corn cookie are my two favorite cookies.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: I knew that, because we got free ones for some reason, and we gave all of them to you when you were still living in New York.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Yeah, I remember that.
Brandon: They used to be really good.
Julia: They made those corn cookies last year, Brandon, and they were awesome.
Eric: Oh, right. They sponsored Spirits in, like, 2018.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Oh, yeah, they did.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: That was wild.
Amanda: In many ways, that was our peak. I'm not gonna lie to you.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: I— when Mrs. Fie— when you were sponsored by Mrs. Fields.
Amanda: Like Mrs. Fields, Assassin's Creed, and milk bar in the same year and I was like—
Julia: It was a good year.
Amanda: —"Roll it up, folks."
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Nice.
Eric: Okay. For me, I— we were just talking about this. I was ranking my favorite desserts, and on top is soft serve ice cream, my friends.
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: Oh, I love soft serve so much. I love any soft serve. I don't even want to rank it necessarily. There are places I like, places that have really good frozen yogurt, only because I love the tang.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: So I want to shout out Marvel, which is in Long Island that I've been to with Amanda. That place was really good. We went to a really great place in Philadelphia called 1-900-ICE-CREAM. That place was great.
Brandon: That's a good name.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: And had really, really good soft serve. It was a cheesecake, strawberry swirl and the cheesecake one was, like, very, very tangy, which I loved.
Brandon: That's nice.
Eric: But if I'm gonna shout out, I'm gonna shout out to one ice cream and one piece of cake. The ice cream is cake-related. Folks, I had a yellow cake ice cream that was so good. It made yellow cake my favorite cake.
Julia: Wow. Wow. Damn.
Eric: It was from the Screen Door, which is in Greenpoint. I had it a few summers ago. It was so good. Just the yellow cake ice cream and then so much fudge in it. It was just absolutely incredible. And then Amanda, for my birthday, made me duck egg yellow cake with homemade chocolate espresso frosting.
Julia: Damn, dude.
Brandon: Hell yeah, dude.
Amanda: I told these guys about that, and I was like, "Just you wait."
Julia: Just you wait.
Brandon: That sounds good.
Amanda: He liked it. I was prepared for him to be like, "That's sweet. Nothing's different." But it was good.
Julia: Hell yeah, dawg.
Eric: It was so good.
Brandon: I love that.
Eric: I loved it so much. I want to give a special shout out to— in Amsterdam, we went— Amanda and I went to—
Amanda: That's right.
Eric: —an Australian place that was only— it was only open for breakfast and lunch, and we got there, like, 2:15.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: And we got this chocolate peanut butter banana cake that they had that I still think about.
Amanda: We just, like, panic ordered something because they were, like, currently rolling up the restaurant.
Eric: They currently were closing. We were like, "We're closing."
Amanda: They were like, very closing.
Eric: "We don't live here. It's so cold."
Amanda: It was so cold, we needed somewhere to warm up, like, urgently. And so—
Eric: It was during the polar vortex and we did not have the right jackets.
Amanda: Yes. And so we were just like, "Aah." No.
Brandon: Oh, shit.
Amanda: And so we— yeah, we just, like, panic ordered a piece of cake. And it was, like, early on and hanging out. And now, you would be, like, "Classic Amanda wants to order a piece of cake." But then—
Eric: No. I would have ordered it. It was incredible.
Amanda: Right. Right. But it was so good.
Eric: It was classic Amanda because we were there for Euro VidCon.
Amanda: Yeah. Uh-hmm.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Amanda: That's fair.
Brandon: I have a very important— not to change the subject slightly, but I have very important news for Eric that I need to share.
Eric: Please.
Julia: Right now, live on the podcast.
Brandon: I found a little musso ice cream machine used for a third of the price.
Eric: Then buy it.
Brandon: It' not the 4080, it's the 5030. It's a big boy.
Eric: Oh.
Julia: Whoa.
Brandon: I'm going to buy it today.
Julia: Get it.
Amanda: Yay!
Eric: I mean, you have a place to put it, just buy it. Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Eric: Those appliances are so good. I think the big— biggest thing— because Brandon and I talk about making ice cream all the time. I finally made— I told Brandon this, but I finally made my first ice cream— like high-level ice cream. I made pumpkin pie ice cream for Thanksgiving, and I use xanthan gum and all that stuff. And it came out so good. I'm so happy with it. The difference between the frozen bowl stuff that you might know for making ice cream and, like, the ones that have the compressor in it are so— is such a jump in technology that—
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —getting, like, the high-end stuff like you're getting, must give it another jump forward.
Brandon: I'm excited to try it.
Eric: It's gonna be incredible.
Amanda: Yeah, dude.
Brandon: We'll see.
Amanda: Incredible. Well, thank you all for gathering on this wonderful Chirmbas Eve where there are little pitters, patters of hooves overhead, saying, "What is the matter?" It's the gift of conversation, and we've given it to you today.
Julia: Ah.
Amanda: And thank you everybody for joining me. Thank you, Join the Party listeners, for listening. And we're excited to bring you another hot, fresh Convo Pit next week, followed by the end of the campaign.
Brandon: Wee. Wee!
Eric: Woo!
Amanda: Woo-hoo. Not immediately, because there's, like, a few, but like, damn. It's gonna be great. Don't worry.
Brandon: There's at least enough to get to 69.
Julia: The last arc of the campaign.
Eric: Nah. Oh, no.
Amanda: Uh-uh.
Julia: No.
Eric: We're not doing this, Brandon.
Amanda: No.
Eric: We are— I'm gonna tell you right now, there will be 68 episodes of this campaign. I do not want to get to 69. I refuse.
Amanda: The last one is gonna be three hours long.
Julia: It's gonna be 68 and epilogue.
Eric: Maybe. Maybe I will not write the number 69 in any form
Julia: But we'll all know. We'll all know.
Amanda: And that's all she wrote, folks. Say farewell to our audience.
Brandon: Ho, ho, ho.
Julia: Later.
Eric: I have a little question.
Julia: Ooh.
Eric: I have a little question.
Amanda: Bye, everyone.
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