The Unqualified Culinary Critics

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Hi, we're the Unqualified Culinary Critics, a podcast centered around food and cultural experiences. We want to not only share our own perspectives,

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but hope that these stories connect in some way to each one of you as well. In today's episode, we're going to be talking about comfort foods. I have a few on my list that I can already think of off the top of my head, and I'm sure the others do as well. But before we get into that, Ashley, do you want to just tell us pretty much what

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comfort foods are? So comfort foods, this is going to be paraphrased from Colin's dictionary. It's basically food that makes you happier, gives you a bit of a nostalgia feeling, but also may not be very healthy as well. And examples, one I would give is macaroni and cheese. Anybody else have examples?

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Chocolate chip cookies, for sure. I was going to say the same thing. But specifically, the ones that my mom makes, those are different to me.

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Nice.

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Yeah.

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Also, stuffing around Thanksgiving time, we usually get a few boxes to eat before and after Thanksgiving. But stuffing, definitely. So I've actually never really had stuffing before and I know you're vegan so I was wondering like is there a certain type of stuffing that like is a specific comfort food for you or just like the traditional kind I guess? Um so I'm gonna find the brand that we usually make but we basically I mean my mom's been making this for a long time. It's Mrs. Cubberson's, that brand. And then we get the herb seasoned. I mean, we use veggie broth and then we'll put celery and onions in it and then season it a little bit as well, but not too much because it's already seasoned. But it is so good. I don't know if that would qualify as like a different than the usual kind of stuffings but it's so good I love it yeah sounds great yeah and then trying to think of other things of course like little desserts that like my parents have made mainly my mom have made those are pretty good also chili. Chili. Because I don't have it too often so when I do I think it's so good. Yeah honestly I feel like I have a really weird comfort food like not that the food itself is weird but it's a weird thing to have as a comfort food but like plain white rice. Like I feel like sometimes you just need, you just need a plain white rice to like fix your problems. It's like, you know how, um, how whenever they're like, oh, your phone's like you dropped your phone in water, just put it in rice. I'm like, that's how I feel when it comes to plain white rice. White rice is so good.

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Yeah.

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What about you, Ashley?

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Oh, um, I kind of have a list, but we can get to that in a bit, but to Victoria's point about white rice and just rice in general I don't think it's a weird comfort food. I think that's a comfort food on everybody's almost everybody's list So, okay, I think it's pretty good. You're not alone Okay, that's my household Sometimes or most of the time we got rice. We don't really eat the jasmine rice because of the sugar stuff So we just get like basmati or brown rice I can remember the rest but there's like plenty of them. Have you tried black rice? There's black rice? I believe so. I think it's sweet.

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I'm going to have to Google this.

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Do you know what it tastes like? I don't remember. I don't know. Maybe it is sweet. It's like either I've learned that it's sweet from experience or it's been described as sweet. My memory is kind of funny right now, so I don't know.

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Okay. Also, question. What about the sugars in jasmine rice?

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Okay, I don't really know too much about that, but like from all I heard is that it's not really great to keep eating the jasmine rice, so as a result even in my household, we just stick to eating basmati because it's better for us, or brown rice, or anything that's not as sugary, because like sometimes that kind of rice can cause problems like diabetes and stuff, but Got it. I didn't even think about that. Yeah, if you want to look more into that be my guest Yeah, cuz now I'm curious cuz I had never thought about that before Yes, it's good to know maybe not experience for me But it's just what I've heard like from my mom or from YouTube videos and stuff. So yeah Anybody else want to keep talking about their comfort foods?

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Um, yeah, no, I just, with the rice thing, I'm glad I'm not the only one, especially because like, obviously we'll make rice and like have it with like meat or like chicken or whatever. But like, I will literally like, when I'm stressed out, I will go out of my way to just have like white rice, like not even soy sauce, like just plain. And for some reason, it just makes me feel so much better. I tend to put a lot of soy sauce on mine but sometimes if it's just plain like it'll still hit the spot. Yeah it does and like I usually don't eat it like plain too often like I'll put soy sauce or like I said we'll eat it with like chicken or whatever um but there's just times when you just need a plain bowl of white rice. Yeah I don't blame you at all. I really don't. Also, now that I'm thinking about it, my grandparents live in a different state and it's like if I go to visit or when they come to visit, they get, I don't even know the kind of brand of pasta that it is, but it's like every time they make it, it just takes me back when I would go over there pretty much like every day during the summer and after school and it would be like Thursdays were pasta nights too. Oh my gosh, takes me back. Even though it's something as simple as pasta like with your white rice it's just like yeah I think the memories make it taste better too. Yeah like that's all you need just me and my rice or you and your pasta against the world. Exactly. I'm not the biggest sweets fan. Like I like sweets but in very small doses. But certain things like, I don't know, homemade brownies or like you guys mentioned earlier chocolate chip cookies, things like that. It's just like different than going to a store and getting them too. Yeah. Takes me back to childhood stuff. Yeah Well, I mean with me with chocolate chip cookies, honestly, I'll eat any kind Oh, yeah them like I feel like I could give up anything in the world like I could literally give up like Using my cell phone, but I cannot give up chocolate chip cookies. There's just something about them If you go out to get chocolate chip cookies, where do you go? Like what is your favorite place to get them from? Honestly, I'm pretty basic. I like my, like, I'll be like, oh, like, okay. Like I'll ask my mom to get me like chocolate chip cookies and like usually she'll get chips at Hoya, which I'm just like, you know what? It's fine. These are so good, I guess. But like personally, I like getting like the ones that they make in like the actual bakeries of the grocery stores, like the bigger ones that come in like those plastic containers, and they're like kind of soft, those are my favorite. Like whether it's you get them at like Smith's or like Godman or Albertsons or whatever, like if they're from the bakery, like that's, those ones just hit different. Smith's has a great bakery. Yes, they do. Even their bread, like all their sweets, they have such great stuff. Mm-hmm. They bake it. Yeah, and I mean you wouldn't really expect that kind of thing,

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but they have the best stuff. Ashley, have you ever tried it or? I'm trying to remember. I think sort of, but yeah, I'd say sort of. I think it's the baguettes or the bread, since I actually abstain from sweets myself, except for fruit. But yeah, I don't have much of an opinion about the bakery myself because I don't really get stuff from the bakery at Smith's that much. But yeah, but if we're talking about chocolate chip cookies, have you heard of the Bagel Cafe off of the 95, like Summerland Parkway in Buffalo? Anybody?

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I've heard of it.

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The Bagel Cafe?

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Yes.

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I think I just saw a video on it a few days ago.

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Oh, nice. The reason I ask is they got portions, I believe it's like a Jewish deli place. So the owners are from New York and they come to Vegas and they open this restaurant and it's just basically, you know, you get sandwiches, you can get cookies, baklava and stuff like that. And they have it in huge portions, like they're generous with their portions. I don't know about the price. I think it's affordable. I mean, of course, it's affordable, but it's reasonable. But I think the chocolate chip cookies there, or like the cookies in general, they're big. I think you'd probably fall in love with the portions, or how big everything is. And I totally recommend going there, because their stuff is so good.

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Oh wow.

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Yeah, I'm looking right now.

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Yeah, same.

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I'm like, I have to do this right now. I just bookmarked it on Yelp.

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Yes, please go.

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There's another, like a subsidiary that's like related to the Big O Cafe and it's called Del Mar and that's in South Point and yeah you can get stuff from Del Mar as well if the drive is too far to Big O Cafe but if I gotta be personal right now I would prefer Big O Cafe over Del Mar but I mean same food though but I just think that the experience of Big O Cafe- Just probably make a little differently. Yeah yeah absolutely I just recommend Big O Cafe but do give Del Mar a chance and give it a try. But yeah, please try to Bale Cafe.

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They're good.

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I think everybody would be happy.

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I also will add too that at the Del Mar Deli, because me and my dad used to go there so much to the South Point for anything, they have a knish there. You guys really need to try it. It is so good. I've had queniche. What kind are you talking about here? It's pretty plain, like just, um, now that I'm thinking about it, I didn't know that there were so many kinds of queniches.

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There's spinach, there's potato, there's many...

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Oh, yeah, we just usually get the potato one. But they have a great one, I think. I don't know if I've... I think I've tried their bagels there as well but now that I know that they're attached to the bagel cafe maybe next time I'm up north I'll try

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that place. And like they make everything from scratch I believe even the bagels they're not going to go to this market and buy the bagels unless for the ingredients of course but yeah they won't make it. Yeah. And by the way

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Canishes try the spinach if you're there.

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Spinach?

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Yes, because I believe I had it before and it's good. It's flavorful.

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Yeah, because I usually just get the normal one and that one is pretty good on its own, but I do like spinach, so maybe I will try that.

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It's a must.

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Have you ever had one of those, Victoria? No, I haven't. I'm going to have to try them. It's very good.

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Yeah.

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Also, just bagels in general, too. I mean, if you go to, I'd say Einstein has some pretty good bagels. I don't know if you guys remember it was Brooklyn Bagels was here like years ago. They've all closed down here now too, but they weren't my favorite, but it's like homemade bagels like you said at the Bagel Cafe where they make them from scratch. Those are always the best versus like the mass-produced ones. I've only really gone to like Einstein. Oh that's, yeah, I've only really gone there like a few times, like once or twice, but yeah, I mean I like bagels. I'll usually get them at like Smith's. Yeah, their bakery's good, like you said. They have some good stuff. I mean like if I have to, I'll buy them in like that bulk kind of thing. Like Trader Joe's has good bagels, but they're not the best I've ever tried. But if I can, I'll go to like an actual shop that makes them because they just taste better, look better, all that stuff.

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Yeah.

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But Einstein is pretty good. What's your favorite thing that you ordered at Einstein's? with a sesame or poppy seed bagel. And then I'm very simple. I'll just keep it with the plain cream cheese or I'll get hummus on it, which I think is pretty good. But poppy seed is probably like one of my favorite variations of the bagel. What about you? I like cheese.

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So I'll have like the bagel with cheese on it,

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but really I don't mind as long as it's not sweet I can go for it but in terms of going to Einstein's the last time I went there was years ago I ordered a sandwich there and I mean it's good stuff they will warm it but like I said it's been years ago since I've been so I don't have like I don't know the

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particular meal or whatever I ordered thing. What do you usually get, Victoria? Same as Ashley, I like the ones with cheese on them and then I just get the regular plain cream cheese. And I feel like that's the perfect comfort food. Just a cheese bagel and cream cheese. Yeah, it's a classic. Yes, you don't have to overdo it. It's just two simple little things and yet they bring so much comfort.

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Since we're still talking about bagels, anybody tried lox and bagels? I understand that you may not be able to eat that, Sierra, but has anybody still gave it a try?

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I have not. I haven't either. No, but I need to now.

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I think I'm making both of you hungry.

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Yeah, like, can't wait to go and eat something. I just feel like with comfort foods like baked goods or like pastries or like bread or such like they're such good comfort foods like I don't like I feel like they just have everything you need. Like maybe like they might not have everything you need nutrition wise but like comfort wise. I found the place that I was thinking of when we were talking about bagels. And I wanted to ask you guys if you've heard of it or tried it. There's a place called the Bagel Nook. It opened in Summerlin and they have things where you can get an Oreo bagel with Oreo Oreo cream cheese and Oreos in the middle or you could do like Cinnamon toast crunch and like you could get hot Cheetos on it. Oh, no, not the hot Cheetos Yeah, you can it's I saw a video on this place, too

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so

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Insane. Yeah, that sounds crazy. What this sounds innovative though. Oh, yeah Never heard of them, but like give us the link to that place. Maybe we'll give it a shot. I will. I'm going to try and find it right now. Like the official site. Um, but yeah, I thought that was crazy because I had seen it, because I think my friend sent it to me not long ago. I was like, hold on a minute. It's like rainbow cream cheese, all this crazy stuff that just does not look right. But I mean, people get this stuff, so it's probably pretty popular. Yeah I just I can't get over a hot cheeto bagel. No. I feel like mixed emotions. Yeah they have cool ranch, Nutella, vanilla milkshake, s'mores, ghost pepper, cookie dough, maple, peanut butter fudge, like some normal ones and then some off ones like blazing hot ranch bacon cheddar and jalapeno cheddar ranch yeah and that's yeah I don't know maybe it's maybe it's good and I'm just judging a little too hard right now but yeah no I like like I said I'll try anything once. So I can't say anything until I try it. Let me send- I'll send this to you guys soon. Yes, please. Were bagels on your list of comfort food, Ashley? Uh, actually no, but come to think of it, I do like bagels, but I don't know if I consider it as like my go-to comfort foods. But like, I'll eat it. I have nothing against it, but I just don't eat it all the time.

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Uh, I guess we can go through my list, but I'm not gonna give the whole thing.

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I wanna hear what's on your list.

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I won't give the whole thing, cause it's like, eh. But I remember when I was sick, or like when I have a cold and stuff like that, my mom would make this dish, it's a soup called tinola. And it's a Filipino dish, and pretty much there's chicken and other vegetables that I can't think of at the top of my head but the thing that gets me is it's sour I think that- I don't know if it's the- I don't know what kind of vegetables that she really put but she has a way to make it sour and it's just- it tastes good I like the sour stuff but not- not too sour but I like that it's good to have when either it's hot- not hot but cold especially in December-ish. Probably when it's cold, cooler in general. But yeah, it's something that I remember eating or drinking. And I would put my rice in there. So I mean, rice is good comfort food too.

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Yeah.

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It's a good mixture.

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Yes. So I put my rice in my soup and I would just eat that and it's just really good. I mean, I recommend it. I think they can put, accommodate, it doesn't have to be like a meaty canola like chicken. I think you can kind of go all over and make it vegetarian vegan friendly if you want and stuff.

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Yeah.

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I've had congee as I mentioned in previous episodes. It's juk and basically it's rice mushed up. I don't know if I can say mushed up but I guess rice that's like really boiled and it's just you can put stuff in there if you want. But me, I'm kind of plain. And I favor my garlic. So she puts a lot of garlic. And it's just strong with flavor and stuff. I also have that when I feel like it, if I'm recovering from something like an illness or I just had wisdom teeth surgery like two months ago. So I relied on that as well.

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Easy to eat.

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Mm-hmm.

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So yeah, I mean, you can put meat in there if you want, but it's up to you you can put veggies I generally don't eat it with meat but I've had the exception of having some like minor chicken shreds and fish you can even put eggs on there do whatever that makes you feel comfortable with it it's just good stuff and then oxtail soup which I don't know if any of you have heard of oxtail soup has anyone heard I've heard of it I haven't tried it I give that a go it's beef and I remember having that growing up as a kid. And it's just the beef oxtail and then you have green beans or string beans. I don't know why I put green beans in here. I mean, it's the same thing. It's, I guess, maybe not. String beans, there's soup, of course, cauliflower, carrots, and noodles. And you just put all that together.

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You can have your sauces in there. I like soy sauce on mine. And I remember just eating that with family especially my grandma's in town and my mom would just cook that and then we would just eat it and it just

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tastes good and stuff so I know I've been talking about soup I mean I like

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soup no but soup is always good like yeah I can't go wrong with soup yeah exactly and you know I'm learning about more new foods too yes absolutely and I

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know soup is the best It one of the best I mean we can't just say like oh, it's number one I mean we got to have some solids in there. You know I

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Say it's number one. I don't mind

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I love soup

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See I go exam go ahead. Oh, no I was gonna say I used to go on like soup dates with one of my best friends like we would just go and like Try soups and like different places and stuff because that's just how much we love soup. Do you have any places that you recommend?

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I'm trying to think.

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So like for us, we would consider like all sorts of like stews and soups to be soups. Or like, so we would get things like, we would go to like Panera, get like chicken noodle soup and then like also go to like Ramen Sora and get like ramen, you know, so we had those types like we basically got all sorts of things. Um, but honestly, I think ramen is one of like my comfort foods too, so I would just say like my favorite place is um Sora Ramen, so I like that place. Nice. I would recommend that place, it's so good. Send us the link to that, I might go there one day. Yes, I will. While we're on the topic of it, I will say that I think it's the brand Amy's. They have a great soup selection. I did try their chicken noodle soup, but it's called the no chicken noodle soup. It had fake chicken in it, and it was pretty good, but it smelled way better than it tasted. It wasn't my favorite. Like chicken noodle soup just has that like smell to it. Like that, I guess you could say like comforting smell, but the taste of it was not my favorite. But they have other better soups, so I do recommend that brand, just maybe not the chicken one. Okay. Alright. That's totally fine. I'll look

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into that now. Were there any other things on your list, Ashley? Yeah, but I'll just like keep it at minimum. I mean, I mentioned earlier that an example of a comfort food is macaroni and cheese. And as I just said earlier, I like cheese. So macaroni and cheese is a good thing, like a good example of one of my favorite sides. I think I got that from my grandma. So it's good.

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Did you put anything in it? Or was it just plain mac and cheese?

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I prefer plain, like I'm not going to take the bacon. I'll take some breadcrumbs in it, it's okay. But I just like it plain, simple as that.

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Do you make it, like, from scratch yourself? Or do you just buy, like, the box ones that you just, like, make like that?

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Mostly the box. But I remember KFC's is, like, one of the best.

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Mmm.

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I'll admit that, but I'm not gonna go for the Kraft or the ones, like...

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Yeah, no.

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Kraft is no to me. I used to, favorite as a kid, but then I'm like, I just would like to go somewhere else. I don't really like craft anymore, so I just quit using their stuff. But yeah, mac and cheese in general is good. Cream spinach. I know some places that serve good cream spinach and it's usually steak houses. Some get it right, while some in my taste buds, it's like, meh.

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And yeah.

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They could do better. Oh yeah, for sure.

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And then potatoes.

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See, this is what we're talking about in this definition here. I mentioned that it's not always healthy, so we're talking starch. And yeah, there's mashed potatoes or scalloped potatoes and stuff, so those are good as well. I like my steak sometimes. I used to eat rack of lamb, but I gave that up for good because I just don't want to eat lamb anymore. But that's another example. And then I mean, we've got to have some fruit in there. So I like peaches. I like lychee, longan. Look this up if you don't know what I'm talking about. And I'm trying to think. I like cherries and plums. I mean, I like fruit in general. I prefer that to any pastry out there, because that's just me personally. And I mean, yeah, that's kind of what I have. Anybody else have their list of comfort foods they'd like to share?

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Um, I mean, thinking about it now, mac and cheese would probably be on that list as well. I feel like, um, like kind of warm meals too.

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Oh yeah.

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Kind of just go on the list. I didn't even think about fruit either, but stuff like strawberries, kiwi, those are favorites. But yeah, um, while I think, Victoria, do you have any? Yeah, I mean, kind of just getting back to rice. Arroz con leche is one of my comfort foods. My mom doesn't make it too often, but when she does, it just always hits. But yeah, I really like arroz con leche. It's like sweet rice, like a sweet rice pudding, kind of. I think that's the best way I can explain it. And it's so like you serve it warm and it's so good and like my mom does um she'll put like guava in it too sometimes. So like sometimes she'll just make it plain like the normal recipe and sometimes she'll add things like guava to it and like guava like since you guys brought up fruits too like I think guavas and like peaches and cherries like those are like good like comfort fruits too. Like I like eating those all like those are my favorite fruits too. And like with peaches, I feel like it's only during the summer, obviously during the time that they're like, you know, their season where they like are super like, they're like just extra delicious. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, like this last summer, I would get home from work, I'd eat like three peaches and like be so happy so content. I mean it's good comfort food too so it's like you know it's fine and I mean peaches are my favorite fruits in general because of the taste. I mean I have a peach tree in my backyard and I haven't grown any peaches like just one and it's kind of sad because they would grow a lot in the past couple of years but this year not really so hopefully I don't think it's dying. I just think it has a mind of its own. But, I mean, we're taking care of it.

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So hopefully it'll grow more next year.

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Yeah.

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While we're talking about like how you have a peach tree as well, I bought a lemon tree a few years ago and it was so good. Like it was a tiny little tree, but it was, it had great lemons and it was a good size and it lasted for so long. I think those are like super fun to do, especially because it's like a lot of people down here have desert landscaping, so you never really see that kind of stuff anymore. But I think it's super fun. But I've never seen a peach tree. Really? I think you can get it at Star Nursery if you want to plant your own or Moon Valley or something because I mean it's helped but the thing is archery the fruit it's really small like you can just hold it with your hand compared to the store-bought ones they're bigger but it also depends if it's organic or not so I think mine is organic and it's small but it's just a flavor and it's good flavor so yeah. Does anybody have comfort foods in general? Not that I can think of. I think I'm good. Same here. Okay. Well, that about does it for this week's episode. What are your comfort foods? Tell us on our Instagram and Twitter and please be sure to tell your loved ones

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to listen and follow us as well. On behalf of Victoria, Sierra, and myself, to listen and follow us as well. On behalf of Victoria, Sierra, and myself,

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thank you for listening and take care.

Transcribed with Cockatoo