Today we check our porch and window sills for Meal Train Meals because we are people who need people. This episode is a roller coaster as we look for friends, put people on blast and save lives. Things get spiritual as we learn how a meal train is like Grindr and showcase some hidden talents.
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Molly 0:00
Hi I'm Matthew and I'm Molly.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:06
And this is spilled milk the show where we cook something delicious eat it all and you can't have any except today
Molly 0:11
actually we are talking about maybe foods that you can have we're talking about meal train meals which you know if you're if you're a friend of ours a friend of the show maybe we delivered a train to you
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:26
yeah, we have we had check your your porch or, or mailbox
Molly 0:31
Yep, see if we've delivered a meal train to you. So I was responsible for researching this episode and I did think for a minute about like researching the history of meal train as like a website and then I was like, Nope,
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:44
I was wondering the same thing like is this is this like a trademark term? Or what? Yeah, so I don't know if the meal train lawyers are gonna come after us or like if they're gonna come and and like jump like you know meal like money train boxes of money on us for promoting their website I guess. Money train
Molly 1:03
is that like a like a paycheck to paycheck lending or like a payday lender? That's
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:08
money tree money trained was a movie with try to remember who was in it. I did see it. It was like a like a fun like dumb thriller movie from the 90s. Oh, yeah. Wesley Snipes, and Woody Harrelson and Jennifer Lopez. Just some like minor actors that you've never heard of.
Molly 1:25
Yeah, for those who maybe are outside the US or not familiar with meal train as like a website or a concept. Basically, what we're talking about is the phenomenon where some people in need or the people who are going through a tough time, a bunch of friends, bring them food and generally sign up to do this, like on a certain schedule or whatnot,
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:48
so so that you don't like have everyone converge on your house on the same night all with the same lasagna?
Molly 1:53
That's exactly right. Yeah. So you know, like when you and I both had our first children, my first child, your only child? I don't remember there being your wedding. For this. I know I have two children. Now Matthew, isn't this weird?
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:08
It it is. It is weird. And like, I'm kind of jealous. Does that make sense?
Molly 2:13
Well, you're welcome to borrow my Oh, we will for you. We are going to get for sure. Anyway. So I really don't know when a website was created to make this easy because it didn't I didn't have one when June was born. And I don't know if it's just because we were kind of the first of our friends to need meal deliveries because of having a baby. Do you remember any any organized system like this when December was born? No.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:44
I know, people brought us stuff. I was trying to remember. I think if I could remember like anything specific that people brought us when December was born, and I don't like that was so long ago. And it was kind of a busy time. Oh, yeah. And also I like I don't remember what we said on the show like seconds after we finished recording it. How can I remember like which lasagna people brought to my house? 20 years? Well,
Molly 3:05
I do remember things that were brought to me when she was born. Oh, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:11
do too. Because I brought at least one. Yes,
Molly 3:13
in part I remember them because they were brought by people who are like still in my life and still cooking me the same delicious foods like you.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:21
Oh, yeah. Our friends from when December was bored like they are like they stopped being your friends. Right? Like like we put them on their canceled. Okay. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, they each each of them did a different bad. A different
Molly 3:35
bad thing that sounds like is that your next novel a different battle
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:39
for bad pigs? It's a really good phrase, isn't it? Yeah.
Molly 3:43
Anyway, so I kept a baby book for June. You know, unlike many parents who keep a baby book, you know, I kept it pretty well updated for maybe the first year and a half of June's life and then it's just got like a few plastic bags with like last teeth in it for the rest of the years. Did you say your December's teeth by the way? Oh,
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:03
no. No. And you know, you know, like, since since we're having like, yeah, which, which I don't regret at all. But like one thing one thing I do regret is like, Did you take any videos of June when they were young?
Molly 4:16
I took a couple we had just gotten iPhones. And so I did take some and I have a classic video I mean classic within our family of June around age two, that beloved to me.
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:29
So I took even though I like had the ability to take videos, we had a digital camera that could take videos. I took one like five second video of December when they were little and that's all we've got. It is of them saying the word bump.
Molly 4:42
Oh, oh, well, that sounds like a really good thing to have. Yeah, love. Yeah. Anyway, what I was going to say is in June's baby book, I wrote down what people brought us food wise and otherwise in the first couple of weeks because I remember you know, since we didn't have like an organized schedule for friends bringing us food. We did kind of have people just like calling the morning and being like can I drop off some banana bread or whatever yeah and it all kind of arrived in a flood and I remember just feeling i don't know i mean sort of a glow with feeling really cared for so I wrote down a lot of the stuff like for instance Matthew Yeah I have written down that you and Laurie brought over such one E's beef with celery and some rice which you recently brought us upon the birth of Ames. Yes, yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:34
no, we made it we made a double recipe both times
Molly 5:37
I was going to ask actually because I was like this is going way farther than a single recipe would Yeah, well okay, before we get into talking about things that we've received or cooked for meal trains, Matthew Do you have a memory lane of meal train?
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:50
I've just just a little bit yeah, so so definitely I do remember bringing that over when when Jun was born? Like I have one memory of receiving meal train like you know annual we did get some when when December was born but like I said I don't remember that very well. When I had surgery a few years ago and was and was pretty like down and out for town it out is not the right word like down for the count for for like a week or two like people brought over some some really nice meals I'm sure you brought something but what I remember was friend of the show Becky selling it made this twist on Mapo dough food that was served with like a charm on mushy like like the Chinese equivalent of chocolate and mushy like egg custard. And so you like spoon spoon the mapo tofu onto the egg custard and and eat it together? It was one of the best things I've ever eaten. And she's never brought it over for me again.
Molly 6:44
Wow. Wow. Well, it sounds like she you're putting putting
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:49
putting her on blast.
Molly 6:51
lasted a long time.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:52
I know. I was I was gonna add to the agenda. And then I was like, No, we can't actually talk about this like whether whether you want to put on blast anyone who brought you something you didn't like? Because everybody on blast for for Brady was like that was too good. And like I'm too lazy to make myself and have no reason to to ask her to make it for me.
Molly 7:11
I was just upstairs talking to ash and to a listener of the show, Sarah would shout out to Sarah Atwood, who just dropped off a meal train item for us this evening. In fact, anyway, and I
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:24
was really sounds like what you're leading up to is and it sucks.
Molly 7:27
No, no, I was I was telling them they. Sarah was like what? What's your topic tonight? And I was like, well actually meal train meals. And ash for a second was like, Don't I'm afraid this might backfire? Because I was like all right. I was like I feel a little bit nervous about talking about meal train foods that I've liked. Because then like the people like don't mention, are they going to feel sad? But you know, the truth is not very many of my friends listen to this show. So yeah, your friends
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:57
are watching the show. And like you can always just like blame baby brain like you know, I do like, you know, my mind is like a sieve. Like, I only remember these meals and the other ones were great, too.
Molly 8:05
Yes, that's great. I'll do that. And maybe that's just a disclaimer that I'm gonna have you say for me, like you just did at the top of the show.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:13
Like, yeah, like the big disclaimer at the top of the show, like any any meals that Molly doesn't remember, she liked those just as well as the ones that she mentioned.
Molly 8:22
That's exactly right. So you know, are you done with your memory lane?
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:25
I didn't. Yeah, that's it. Okay.
Molly 8:27
So I have to say that. I mean, I think my experience with like meal deliveries in times of need, let's say, dates back to when my dad was dying, like, almost 21 years ago now. And that was the first time that Edie Fretwell soup entered my life.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:47
Oh, which I'm sure you mentioned that in a homemade life, but I didn't remember Oh, yes. Yeah, I did mention it now. Homemade life. I feel like Ed Fretwell soup has always been with us. I know.
Molly 8:57
Right. But anyway, yeah, Edie and Barbara brought over a big like dutch oven of Ed Fretwell soup, and that was the first time I ever had it. And that was I still remember meals that people brought over when my dad was sick. Like I remember some friends of my parents bringing over a salad that had shaved fennel, kalamata olives, and like orange supremes in it. And what I remember about it is I had just started liking fennel, and I had just started liking olives, you know, I was like 24. And I remember also being really impressed that like they had separated out the different ingredients for the salad so that the oranges didn't make the lettuce soggy and like, I'm going to talk a little bit more about this in a minute. But I think this is like a level of meal train that I aspire to myself, like real thoughtfulness and care. And yeah, I feel like I had some really good early examples. Have what it means to cook for somebody who needs some help for a little bit. Yeah, Matthew. I was also going to mention recently when my mom had surgery last fall, my mom was really feeling ill because of the pain medications that they gave her. Sure. And it was nighttime and we I think had missed the cut off for ordering from the cafeteria. And I contacted you and you made Charlie Brigham soup, which is a really simple like chicken broth noodle like egg drop kind of soup. Yeah, ever,
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:37
by the way, going to remember that Charlie Brigham soup and Edie Fretwell soup are different things. And if you ask me to like, say which one each one is, I would, I would fail that test. Well,
Molly 10:46
it was a rainy night, and you live like a couple train stops from the hospital where we were, and you came and delivered this delicious, you know, really like, good convalescent food. Yeah, for my mom. And it was the only thing that she could sort of manage to to eat that night. And even though it wasn't a meal train, technically, I consider it
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:14
No, I think I think like, like, you know, it's spiritually it is spiritual. And would you say that I saved her life?
Molly 11:22
I would say that, I would say that, right. You know, I, you know, hold on, I want to go back to this idea of spirituality because I think a meal train
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:30
as our show always does,
Molly 11:31
yeah. This is On Being with Krista Tippett. Yeah, I'm a new host. Okay. Yes, it's a
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:40
pretty big promotion.
Molly 11:45
Yeah, it is. It is. Yeah. And I began by asking always, Matthew, what is the spiritual like, origin of your your what is the spiritual dimension of your background?
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:57
Yeah, yeah. Oh, you're actually asking me that? I don't know.
Molly 12:03
I messed up her opening question anyway. Either. Like, think about, like, you know, like, what was spirituality when you were growing up? Yeah. Which is how, which is what we talk about on all food and comedy shows. Yeah, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:17
think it was, for me, the answer would be it was it was matzah bride during Passover. That was that was it?
Molly 12:22
That sounds right. Yeah. Okay, anyway, but what I was gonna say is that I think that meal train is I was gonna say meal train is a state of mind. But me train it. Yeah, I think
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:35
you're gonna say no meal train is like,
Molly 12:38
you know, like, we try not to be, like, overly sentimental on the show. But I feel like this is maybe one of our more like, useful, maybe community affirming episodes. Yeah, absolutely. I'm just I think that the meal train is like a perhaps, you know, one of the few ways that we can regularly help out people around us.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:02
Yeah. And I mean, it's only for some of us is the point to to like, beat everyone else and bring the best thing. That's right. That's exactly right. Yeah, no, and probably this, this practice of bringing people meals when they're in need may have predated the meal train.com website? I'm not sure
Molly 13:20
it's possible. So Matthew, other than Becky's, a custard mapo tofu? What kinds of things do you want to receive? Do you think it like if someone were cooking for you in a moment of need? What kinds of things do you think you'd want? That's a
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:37
good question. Really, I would like what I would like most is to like make it easy for people and say, just like, bring me like, Whatever, whatever you feel like making that it makes me happy to like feel like I'm not inconveniencing people and like I'm definitely one of those people who like you know, will hesitate to ask for help because I don't want to bother people. But definitely like, you know, bread based things are really good. Like, you know, like a loaf of a big loaf of less I'd like once one time I had dental surgery and that really sucked. Oh, I
Molly 14:09
remember you ate a lot of those. Yeah, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:12
had a ton of pudding which was which was good but man like that was the worst that was that was like you know worse than getting major surgery. Because Because I couldn't eat normally. But yeah so so I would love like like a big like Grand Central low for you know, see wolf Baker's loaf or something. Something like that. And like bread and sauce like that's that's like some serious comfort food for me that I feel like it's easy for people to bring like you know, you know work up like any kind of, you know, braised chicken with sauce but also like if you just made some like meat sauce and brought it to me and with some bread just with a loaf of bread instead of pasta. You know, maybe bring some pasta that I can like cook with the meat sauce, but also some bread like just dip and bread and yeah, it's like if like I'm in like a tough spot. That's that Sounds really good to me.
Molly 15:01
Oh, I like that
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:02
lasagna. Absolutely. You know saying that
Molly 15:05
Liz Anya, would you want a meat lasagna? What would you want?
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:08
Like I don't really like ricotta in lasagna although I will eat it if I if I have to. So but like any any, like non ricotta lasagna. I'm all over it, which I know is a very popular lasagna ingredient. But I'm like, you know, I'm looking after me here.
Molly 15:21
Yeah, yeah. Well, and the beauty of the whole meal train website is that you can say like, what you're not into, kind of like, it's kind of like Grindr it is where? Yeah, like you can say what you're into and what you're not this reminds
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:35
me. Is there such a thing? Like I did a little googling it didn't get very far. Is there such a thing as tinder for friends? Like no, I think there is you don't think there is?
Molly 15:44
No I do think there is I think there are absolutely. In fact, I think that I think that somebody I know maybe my niece I have a niece who is like around 30 And I think that she mentioned using an app like to find like minded friends.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:01
I yeah, I want to I want to like Tinder up some some friends in the neighborhood and, and just like hang out and eat sauce and bread and pizza and eat sausage bread. Yeah, I realized recently like I don't really have like any friends like other other than like my brother and occasionally you to talk about indie rock with which is like my favorite thing. And like, I have Surrett like I live on Capitol Hill. Like there are like a million people like, you know, 5050 ish guys who want to talk about indie rock and like the people they live with our sick of hearing about it. Like we should hang out.
Molly 16:33
Matthew, this seems like something that maybe our Reddit could could help. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:37
maybe so. Okay. We're just like, yeah, if you live in the neighborhood, and want to hang out and talk and specifically talk indie rock contacted Spielberg podcast.com
Molly 16:47
Wow, this is like a meal train for friends.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:50
It's like a meal trade for friends. Yeah,
Molly 16:51
for your ears and your brand. I like it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:55
Yes. Wait, is there there's must be a podcast whose slogan is a meal for your ears? Oh, sure. There must be there must be we'll make a meal of your ears.
Molly 17:06
Yes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:07
Okay, so yeah, so like I want you to bring with you what's easy to bring? But But like, you know, bread bread and sauce sounds really good. Like you know, any any pasta that's going to reheat well?
Molly 17:18
Do you want any dessert or snacks? Oh, yeah. Apps. Okay, talk to me about dessert and snacks because these things are important and I think often overlooked on a meal train bring me like
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:27
a you know, a half gallon. It's not a half gallon anymore. They reduced the size but like, you know, the court plus size of private selection ice cream, any flavor is fine. Okay. Okay, and snacks like nuts. No, I need I'm gonna I'm gonna need like a like a hearty stack. Okay. Just talking about like, like at some future point. I mean, I mean, like in a few minutes.
Molly 17:50
Okay. Do you want any baked goods or desserts?
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:54
If you're making them? I'm taking them. Okay, so yeah, like if you want to make a pie, like I'm not, I'm not big on cake. Although I do like some of the snacking cakes from that snack and cakes book I do enjoy very much. But like, yeah, if you're gonna make like a, like a handmade double crust, fruit pie. And just like, just leave it on your windowsill? Like I'll come to you and steal it. But yeah, okay. I don't know, like, you know, I'm stumbling over this because like, I really want to be easy. Like, that's what I'm gonna put on my profile.
Molly 18:23
You know, I feel like it's something that I'm trying to get a little better at. I mean, we have so like I said, when June was born, we didn't have any sort of like organized and ongoing delivery of meals. And it has been so different this time around with aims. Who is it been better? It's been incredible. Yeah. So we had we had a couple we have a number of friends now for whom We have prepared and delivered meals, particularly after they've had babies. But you know, other things. Friend grinder I met them on friend grind, sir, was just to take your friends. You put them in a blender. Out of your old
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:02
friends. The end of the movie Fargo that was our friend grinder.
Molly 19:05
That's right. It's like a wood chipper. But if we're friends. Anyway, what I was gonna say is when when the time came, like we were getting close to having this baby. A friend said I will set up a meal train for you. And we were like, Oh my God, thank you because it is one of those things that feels weird to set up for yourself like sure here. We need food. So we basically just had a friend do it for us using all these email addresses we gave her Yeah, but we you know indicated how often we wanted food what time we wanted it delivered. And I kind of looked at other people's meal trains to get an idea of this because I was like what so smart. Like how often can I ask for food and we want to ask him for food every Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Okay, Since Ames was born on January 19, we have gotten a delivery of food almost every Monday, Thursday and Saturday. That's great. And it has been incredible
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:10
still rolling. Like as we're still rolling,
Molly 20:13
it's going to end. It's going to end actually, I believe it ends on the Thursday that this episode airs March 16.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:20
How did you how did you decide like, when to end it? Like, do you think how long do you think you could have dragged it out before people got suspicious?
Molly 20:27
You know, I was hoping I could drag it out for like, the first year. Yeah. But when I saw that other people sort of wrapped it up around two months. Yeah. Okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:37
Yeah. I mean, you are getting to that, that period where like, you know, you know, Eames is not a brand new baby anymore. And like,
Molly 20:45
I'm like, I'm back to work doing things like taping doing things
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:49
like like, you know, working and working in the podcast mines. And yeah, but like, like there's there's a really tough time like after like the everybody's coming over to see the baby and bringing stuff up days. Like that's real. That's really rough. And like that, you know, two to four month mark, maybe?
Molly 21:04
Well, it's been so hold on this episode is just going way deep on it really is. But we have so many segments coming what I what I wanted to say is that we bought a chest freezer on offer up for like 100 bucks before he was born because a friend was giving us some of her expressed breast milk and we needed a freezer to put it in because our regular freezer is very small. And I've been so grateful for this chest freezer, because well, let's head into the kinds of things that I like to receive. Yeah, that I have been receiving. Yes. And I will tell you about the ones that I have been like sort of frozen part of for Leah. Yeah. All right. So for instance, Matthew, you mentioned lasagna, a friend of ours made us a nine by 13 panel lasagna, and it was the ricotta based kind, but I gotta say lasagna is I think the perfect meal to give to someone kind of number one. It is absolutely number one because it reads beautifully. You can eat it for days. I think we ate off that thing for like four and a half days. Yeah. So yeah, I mean lasagna, another friend made us a big batch of arrabbiata pasta sauce. Yeah. And deliver it in it. We did not dip bread in it. But she delivered it hot with freshly cooked Cavatappi pasta that yeah, so still hot. No, get this Matthew, a little jar of the pasta cooking water. It this is like next level. Yeah. So that we just sort of dumped all this stuff in like a pan and just brought it all up to tempt together. And then she'd given us like some Parmesan. So smart. So smart. I would have never thought to do that.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:51
How did she keep the pasta from sticking with you? No, I
Molly 22:53
have no idea. She must have boiled it a little bit because yeah, it didn't stick. But then again, the other thing is the sauce was pretty oily. And so you know, even if we had just dumped kind of like a block of cooked pasta into a pan with the sauce. I think we would have been able to break it up. Yeah. The other thing is, and I've never had anybody go to this level, her husband mixed us little jars of cocktails. Oh lievable. So right now as we take this episode, I'm drinking a Negroni? Yeah, that was given to us as part of our meal train. Isn't that incredible?
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:31
That's amazing. Yeah, I know. We didn't get that. In fact, like, like nobody was drinking to cronies back then.
Molly 23:36
I would never like I am not that good of a meal trainer. Like I would never do that. I mean, maybe now I will. But that is some next level stuff. So that's been awesome. Because the pasta was sort of the gift that kept giving and it was delicious. And the perfect texture. Yeah. Okay, Matthew, you got me set 20s beef with celery.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:01
Yeah. So this can I talk about this a little bit? Yeah. So this is this is a set 20s recipe where you stir fry some ground beef, like like, you know, not too lean ground beef with celery. And I like like chopped celery so it stays you know, it's crisp because it's celery but gets a little bit tender. And like some hot bean paste and a little little soy sauce and vinegar. I think Black. Yeah, black vinegar. And so it's got some some acidity to it. Some spice and it's like it's made to be a dish that you can eat with a lot of rice. Yes. It's not like you would think of as like a stir fry. You know, like, stir fried chicken with some vegetables is more like a very tasty intense relish to put on your rice and it's
Molly 24:46
Yeah, and I think I tend to put more of it on my rice than is intended. Or then then maybe my such one province, but oh my god, it's so delicious. And it is one of those things where the flavors only sort of deepen and gel as the days go by. So I think that is an ideal meal train thing too, because you can eat off it for many days. Oh, yeah, soups. Oh my god. Okay. So for the first couple of weeks after Ames was born, some friends of ours would come and pick you up and take them to school. Yeah. Okay. Mornings like a kid trying to have those mornings. They texted him were like, look out on your porch special delivery. Oh, they
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:35
traded they traded soup for a child. That's exactly right. Is there a soup ideal for everyone? Yeah,
Molly 25:41
really good deal. One morning. It was a paper bag with two large glass jars of lentil soup in it. So delicious for lunch. Another day and this was like, over the top Matthew. It was a basket with a huge bowl of sourdough bread and still warm. And our friend Leslie makes homemade sourdough that is better than most bakery So yeah, this was her homemade sourdough at like 805 in the morning, with a stick of Kerrygold salted butter, a jar of peanut butter and a jar of strawberry jam.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:22
Wow.
Molly 26:23
I have never I mean, I I nearly wept. Oh,
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:29
it was beautiful. To make reservations for the 805 sourdough,
Molly 26:32
right. Yeah, it was incredible. I would have never thought I love that you mentioned bread as sort of something you would want to receive on a meal train bread and comforting things to dip it in. Because I could not believe how much just like creature comfort I got out of this freshly baked bread and salted butter.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:55
I mean it sounds like like a like a like it's kind of war. It's warm. It's round. It's got got some heft to it. It sounds it sounds like this. This loaf may have been better than the baby
Molly 27:04
it was. Yeah, it was Don't tell don't tell the baby. Okay, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:08
won't record that part
Molly 27:18
a couple of things that I want to mention that I think are standout things to give somebody for a meal train that we have received recently. We got a really good batch of white chicken chili from strands, white chicken chili with cornbread muffins and I'm pretty sure they were like Jiffy muffins because they were so good. Oh yes, of course that was fantastic and lasted us for multiple lunches. Another thing was so there's this recipe on smitten kitchen. That is for ginger pork meatballs. I'm looking it up now that our I think she calls them ginger pork meatballs in coconut broth. And basically you make this coconut milk broth that has turmeric in it and some Thai chilies and basil. And yeah, you cook these pork meatballs in there that have a lot of fresh ginger in them. You eat it with rice. And it also is one of those things that gets better as the days go by. It makes a huge batch because you start with like two pounds of ground pork. And some friends brought this to us i It's something that I had made many times and some friends brought it to us. It was even better when somebody else made it. This sounds so good. Oh my god, it's so good.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:29
You put on here that someone brought a big block of cookie dough.
Molly 28:32
Oh my god. So when I went to pick up June one day at school, this woman who I actually don't know very well our kids are in the same class, but we don't know each other very well. She handed me a bag. It was like a gallon sized freezer bag. And it was like a block of something heavy. It was a human hand wrapped in parchment. And anyway, she had written in Sharpie on the ziplock bag and it said oatmeal chocolate chip cookies bake at 375 10 to 12 minutes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:02
That's awesome. That is so smart.
Molly 29:05
Oh my God, it was so smart. Because we've just been like for like a week we baked off like a few cookies each night eat. Yeah, I would have never thought of that. So here's what I want to like really get to about this episode, which is that I feel like there is an art to cooking for other people, people who really like need people who need people, people who need people. And I feel like I kind of didn't I kind of feel like I hadn't been nailing it very well prior to being on the receiving end this time. Ah, and I think gonna do I think this is up to my game because the truth is in the past I have sort of defaulted to like I'll bring you DeLand, C pizza and salad and cookies, which I think people are excited about but I mean I wouldn't be excited about that. Yeah. But leftover pizza is really only tasty for like 24 hours. Yeah. So it's not something that you can like nibble on for lunches for a whole week like lasagna or such when he's beef with celery. Yep. I also think that I don't know in the past I've done like Marcela Hassan's tomato sauce with butter and onion. And like a bag of pasta. That's good. I think that's good. But I think that I would like beef it up in the future, like Be sure to deliver a vegetable and maybe delivered dessert. Like the people who have given us homemade desserts. We've received a lot of muffins and quick breads. And I never get tired of them. I get at least one serving of quick bread or one muffin every day and how it works. Yeah, so yeah, I feel like the Yeah, I want to be more generous in the future.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:55
I would love to be more generous in the future. Not like not not like right away. But like sometimes sometimes like far. Yeah, you
Molly 31:03
have to make up with your money. And just be with your it can just be with your
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:09
just be like the most the most minimal possible gesture. That's what I'm about. I would be curious to hear from from listeners about like, what what are the kinds of traditions are there around this, like in other countries and other cultures? Yeah, because I have a feeling that it is a lot more sophisticated and has been for a long time. Like, you know, that that is, you know, it has not been a thing like in the US, but I think I think is a thing that there are like, you know, traditions and strategies around in, in other cultures, that would be interesting.
Molly 31:47
Well, and I think that, you know, I don't know if this counts, but you know, I know that there are maybe it's like I think either Italian or German traditions. Like when you move into a new house. Somebody brings you such and such. Certainly there.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:01
Are there specific, like specific foods that everybody knows are like the local meal train food.
Molly 32:06
Yeah. Anyway, but it's uh, yeah, God, I don't know how I'm supposed to start cooking for us again.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:13
Oh, yeah. That's gonna be tough.
Molly 32:15
I don't want to.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:16
Yeah, no, I've been I've been on vacation for two weeks. And I'm kind of dreading getting back into cooking when I get home.
Molly 32:24
Yeah, I did make there's a new cookbook, or it's probably not even very new anymore at this point. But it's called I dream of dinner by Ali Slagle who works for the New York Times. And I made a really delicious like shrimp scampi stew out of that last week. And it was like the first thing I had cooked like cook cook like had to go buy ingredients for in a month. And I had really mixed feelings about it. I felt like it just felt like a lot
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:52
of work. Oh, good. Good for you. Good for
Molly 32:56
good for stew.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:57
Good. Very good for making sure that that scampi was not skimpy. Oh, should we should we move on to segments?
Molly 33:05
Let's move on to segments. Yes, Matthew. Hold on. So you're still in Tokyo while we're taping? That's right. I don't I don't think we've clarified yet in this episode. What just snack in.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:16
Hey, watch your snacking. Gotta tell me what you snack in. Or I'll release the Kraken. So what's your snack in cheese? I'm snacking on something that is seems to have gotten more popular here but he's definitely available in other countries as well. It is it goes into a few different brand names. The one I've seen is was a was a cacci wat ASAM Bay and it is Sen Bay rice crackers but that have been crunched into pieces like big like kind of hefty chunks before getting like brushed with soy sauce and toasted and so you get more surface area and so like more soy sauce flavor and now they come in spicy and the SimCity ones are so good. Is was a was a like a brand. So it was it was a means means like deliberately so so the the name Translate is like deliberately crushed or deliberately broken. And it seems as far as I can tell, like there are like a couple of different brands but what you're looking for is not like the brand name but a bought a bag of like a cellophane bag of what are obviously broken sunbae it's not hard to recognize because it's like chunks of busted crackers. And the spicy ones are in a red bag and they're like really good like great chili flavor.
Molly 34:36
Could I find these in the US? Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:37
so I have not seen the spicy ones at a watcher mild. I've seen the regular ones. I imagine if they don't already have the spicy ones. They're coming soon. And you Molly, I'm bringing you some from Tokyo.
Molly 34:49
I was gonna ask if you Yeah, okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:53
Like individual size bags at the compete.
Molly 34:55
Oh my god. That's brilliant. Okay, what's your snack and I've been snacking And in particular, I've been snacking at like three in the morning, of course, you know, I'm starting to figure out like why it is that we don't usually eat all night and it's because we're asleep. When we're not asleep, it turns out we get hungry and we is me. Yeah, we use me, right we and so I've been kind of vacillating between a spoonful of peanut butter which is always satisfying when you get a little tired of it. And whatever, muffin or quick bread we have recently been delivered. And I gotta say that the winner lately has been this pumpkin bread that was delivered by my mom's friend Tony. Okay, I know I have mentioned
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:40
is this Tony to or Tony three. This is Tony to Tony
Molly 35:43
three kind of fell off the face of the earth.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:47
That can happen to atone. Yeah, anyway,
Molly 35:51
she called it shaker cornmeal pumpkin bread with toasted walnuts. But basically, it's a pumpkin bread that has walnuts in it and cornmeal. And I would not have thought that the cornmeal would make such a huge difference. It doesn't make a huge difference in the texture. It makes a huge difference in the flavor. You get so much cornmeal flavor, along with the pumpkin and the toasted well
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:16
yeah, that sounds down for this awesome. I really love this is why for the show Laurie who loves pumpkin things and loves cornbread.
Molly 36:24
Okay, well, I spent some time googling the words shaker cornmeal pumpkin bread with toasted walnuts today and didn't really find anything that seemed like what Tony had given us. So he asked
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:36
me yeah, I'm gonna beg for the recipe. You think you think it's gonna be hard to get her to give it up?
Molly 36:40
I don't know. I don't know how she I haven't asked her for recipes before. Okay, it's gonna be a really good way to like, check back with us on this. I will. I will. Okay, I'm feeling you know, I'm really glad that I'm talking about it today because I ate the last bit of it at three in the morning this morning. Oh, yeah, you need to resupply. Oh, yeah. So I need to resupply and I am glad to have memorialized it here while it's still fresh in my mind.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:05
Yes, we need to set up a meal train for you now that you're going through this hard time. Where you're out of pumpkin bread. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Guess what we have breaking new segment. Really? Yes. It's called beak of the week. Ah. Oh, bird. Okay.
Molly 37:23
Wait, try look something up. Yeah, yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:26
So yet Google. Oh, wait,
Molly 37:28
I know. I found it. Oh, God. Oh, man. Okay, Matthew, tell us about this. And then I'll give you my impressions.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:33
So the beak of the week this week. And this may be the only time we do this segment or I might have one more next week is the common kingfisher. I'll sido athis, which is called the collar semi in Japanese. In our neighborhood in Japan, there is a wonderful urban park called Xin Mukherjee Park. It's got a really fascinating shrine. And it's got two ponds. And it is known like throughout Tokyo as like one of the best places in Tokyo for birdwatching. And so you go to this park, and what you do is you look for like a photographer with a long ass zoom lens, or like, you know, a few like old ladies gathered around peering at something and you like, see what they're looking at. And the most beloved bird of this park that attracts many different kinds of birds is the cow semi, which is a kingfisher, which is a name that I had heard, but if you'd asked me like, What is it Kingfisher look like? What does it do? I'd be like, I don't know. It probably lives near the ocean and it catches fish. No, it lives. It lives at this pond. And it is small bird like smaller than a pigeon. Like kind of between Sparrow and pigeon sighs kind of like Robin sighs I guess. It's got a big head and a ridiculously long sharp beak and beautiful coloring. It's a very silly looking beautiful bird. And like it is like a kitten in the sense that it is small and cute and program to kill. Because it will perch on a branch above the water peering down, and when it sees a fish like a like a minnow sized fish, it will like shoot down toward the water and it's not like it's diving. It's more like it's falling like like, you know, kind of but first at the water and like dives like you know a few inches snatches this fish and zooms back up to the branch and starts eating it. And apparently it always eat some headfirst. It's just it's just a remarkable creature. And everywhere I go now it seems like I fall in love with some local bird that is not particularly rare.
Molly 39:28
I love your enthusiasm for this bird. And I think it is well deserved. I mean, we should say that this bird appears to be like to have like a blue back and blue wings and an orange belly, which I think seems very unusual. And then it has this long beak and the thing with kingfishers as well. I've wanted to see a kingfisher for a long time, Matthew. So I share your enthusiasm. We have kingfishers here in Seattle belted kingfisher, which I have I have yet to see. Yeah, I haven't seen what either what I've always thought was so like, endearing about them is their heads are huge, huge hair for like their overall body size. Yeah. So anyway, I love that you've introduced the segment. I mean, you know, maybe introduced and and I don't know, close it out on the same day well we'll just have to find out
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:18
yeah I mean the the great another great thing this is this is one of my favorite parks in the world now I'd never heard of it before we before we stayed in this neighborhood, like posted in a couple places in the park. They've got bird boards where you can like look at, like, you know, figure out which bird you saw, because you're gonna see some weird birds and you're gonna want to know what they are and the breadboard is here for you. Oh, the cardboard. Okay, do we have any spilled mail? We do
Molly 40:48
this is from listener Casey. And is this Casey McMakin? Oh,
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:53
I don't know you want me to check?
Molly 40:54
I mean, I think I think the spelling of her name is
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:58
Yeah, it is someone I know. Yeah, it's case it's listener. Casey McMakin? Well, hello, listener
Molly 41:03
Casey. Here is the letter that you sent us, Matthew, I assume that was you whistling in an outtake of a recent episode. I am impressed. Any other hidden talents for each of you?
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:16
Okay, well, I mean, we're both we're both really good at sacks. Yeah.
Molly 41:21
Well, that was hidden under the covers. That can the dark
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:25
say. I think my like, my only hidden talent like that. That like might surprise people. I mean, it's not not because it's food related, I'm sure I've talked about on the show before is that I know how to hand sharpen knives. Like oh, that's nice. Japanese Waterstones. I don't know. Seems seems like it's the only it's the only like, thing I know how to do with my hands. correctly.
Molly 41:47
I guess that you said you were good at sex. You're right. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:49
Yeah. Those two things. Never. Never at the same time.
Molly 41:53
I hidden talent. You know, um, we know we know you can quilt we know you can. It turns out that I can quilt and I can so I can also can garden. But these things aren't hidden. But these things aren't hidden. I can ride horses. Yes. I don't know. Are there things that like I don't have a good singing voice? I think everybody knows that. I enjoy dancing. Yeah, I definitely can't do anything like, you know, touch my tongue to my nose. I mean, I think you know, stuff like that.
Matthew Amster-Burton 42:22
I do. I do think like, you know, like there's there's a difference between like, enjoying dancing and being good at dancing. And like if Molly is very good at dancing, so So I think I think that I'm wearing I think we're gonna call that your hidden talent. Okay, I am not like I will, I will happily like enthusiastically fling myself about the way I learned at like, you know, punk rock shows in Portland, Oregon, when I was when I was a teenager haven't progressed beyond that in terms of of dancing skills. But Molly has.
Molly 42:52
Thank you, Matthew. Thank you. Well, Casey, Thanks for writing in Matthew, do you have a now but wow, this week?
Matthew Amster-Burton 42:58
I do.
So this is a musical pick. And this is an artist called Shalom. Whose album should be out by the time you hear this. The album is called sublimation. And the two singles that I've listened to so far happenstance and soccer mommy and yes, soccer mommy is a song about the band of soccer mommy by a different artist which
Molly 43:26
Wait a minute there's a band called soccer mommy, here's
Matthew Amster-Burton 43:28
an excellent indie band called soccer mommy that I would also recommend but this is this is a song by Shalom about how but she likes listening to soccer Bobby rich I just I just love so shallow is a bass player primarily at write songs on bass. She makes like super like 90s influence like smart rock and roll with it's a little bit dancey and you can kind of hear the like bass playing influence even though it's not bass heavy music and to me like I think she brings a lot of influences but like what I hear a lot of is like throwing muses Juliana Hatfield three like that kind of like smart 90s indie rock is coming through and that makes me happy. And Shalom grew up in South Africa and is now based in Brooklyn and her debut album, sublimation came out on March 10.
Molly 44:17
To lightful. Thanks, Matthew. I think that wraps it up for us. I think it really does. Our producer is Abby circuit tele
Matthew Amster-Burton 44:24
Molly has a newsletter called I've got a feeling that you can find it Molly weisenberg.substack.com.
Molly 44:30
Indeed, you can hop on our Reddit with other spilled milk listeners and maybe you can find a friend for Matthew
Matthew Amster-Burton 44:37
Yeah, maybe you can hop on other spilled milk listeners
Molly 44:39
out there spilled milk listeners. They're a fun bunch.
Matthew Amster-Burton 44:43
Real Hop on Pop situation going on over there. Nice.
Molly 44:47
Nice. All right, you can do that at everything spilled milk.reddit.com
Matthew Amster-Burton 44:52
And until Until next time, we are feast
Molly 45:00
Ah, ah, oh my god, I can't believe we made it this far without mentioning a Moveable Feast.
Matthew Amster-Burton 45:06
What does that have to do with anything?
Molly 45:08
Nothing, but just seemed like what what a meal train is?
Matthew Amster-Burton 45:12
Uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess it is like, I don't even know what people like, like, did Ernest Hemingway say that? We will? Yeah, no, no. But a Moveable Feast. It's like a it's like a, like a religious holiday term that like it's like a holiday that can fall on different days, right? Oh, but then it's a show about spirituality. Yeah, so like, open open your mind and see what comes out.
Molly 45:37
That's what I did to come up with the closing joke. I'm Molly.
Matthew Amster-Burton 45:45
And I Matthew Amster-Burton.
Molly 45:53
Hang on. I'm saying I'm saying goodbye to a kid of the show. June. Bye, boo. Have fun while you close my door.