Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Hello, everybody. We are well, well, well into February at this point. Can't believe it. Can't believe how fast the time is going by. I am Jan Arden. I am the host of the very popular Jan Arden podcast. And our slogan here at the Jan Arden podcast, Caitlin Green and Adam Karsh and I have all agreed on this. Well, maybe we haven't. We're no Joe Rogan, but we're still fun. Yeah.
Yeah. Our guest today, Julie Van Rosendahl, joins us from her beautiful home in downtown Calgary. Always a little bit warmer down there than it is out here in Springbank, Alberta. Julie, why is that? More people around to body heat, right? Yeah, that could be it.
It's pretty chilly this morning, but not as cold as out there, I imagine. It is. Caitlin, how's things in Toronto? It's chilly. We're dog sitting. And so now, like normally we wouldn't have to go outside for a nice chunk of the day. But now that we're dog sitting for a friend, we have to take her out to do her little morning pee. And it is brisk.
Is that the dog you were looking after a few weeks ago? The same little dog? Yeah, same little gal. She's here again. And the good news is she's a complete couch potato. She doesn't move. It's essentially like watching a cat. So other than having to go to the bathroom, she has no interest in going outside or doing anything. So it's the perfect dog. That's my kind of animal.
Uh, Poppy, my new little puppy is slightly slowing down. I had some work to do in Toronto, so he stayed with a friend for a couple of days who has dogs.
And he's much chiller. He has grown up since I haven't seen him for 70 hours. Really? I mean, Julie has a new dog. Ramon is what? Five months old now? Six months. No. June 30th. Yeah, about six months. Yeah, he's growing. He's like doubling every day almost. He's like...
They grow so fast. He's like sourdough. He's like a sourdough starter. That's a good comparison. I was trying to think of a comparison. He is like a sourdough starter. I need to just stop feeding him and put him in the back of my fridge for a while just to slow him down. Let him go dormant for a little bit. And yeah, no, it's puppies. Honestly, last time I had a puppy, I also had a toddler. So I was sort of in that mode. I forgot how much work they are.
Yeah. They're so... What was more work, your toddler or your puppy? When Willem was little and Lou was little, like... Well, they were both toilet training at the same time. Oh, God. And so Willem would go outside to pee outside because...
That's where Lou was peeing. And so I had to like reteach him. He'd get up in the morning and go to come downstairs and go into the backyard and pee. They killed my rhubarb plants, by the way, which I thought was impossible. With urine. I wanted to like bottle. If I could bottle child and dog pee, it would be like an organic thing.
weed killer and i could make a kajillion dollars if i could i can already picture your kiosk at the next farmer's market at the blackfoot i can i can picture listen i stumbled onto this combination of dog and human pee and you will never have aphids again right it's getting it into the bottle like just pee into this bottle every day and i'll sell it for yeah anyway
Okay, first, well, I'm telling you, you have a very cute dog. And I just, I love Caitlin when I see the little pup show up on your Instagram feed because I'm telling you...
maybe you and Kyle will nudge towards, you know, having, getting a rescue or something at some point. But it's also nice when you're the babysitters to somebody else's dog and you can give them back. So I see where you're going here. We said, I think it was yesterday, we said to each other, you know, we're not ready for a dog. And especially not when you live in a condo because taking her out in the condo is such a pain in the butt. And she's not, she doesn't love every other dog. She doesn't like dogs that are bigger than her. So she's a bit
like skittish around bigger dogs. And there are a few in our building. So all in all, not quite the right time. And like, as we're like, it's a two person job to get her little winter boots on. Oh, for sure. It's wild. And she's very, she's very sturdy and she's very stubborn and she doesn't like doing any of these things. So we were like, you know, we're not quite there yet. I think we need a backyard and then we'll be all set.
Well, if you've ever been through a Canadian winter and have to put your dogs out to pee, it's some of the most hilarious. Like if you're down in Florida listening to us right now or California or somewhere warm, it's the most hilarious.
You just have to like punch into YouTube, like just dogs peeing in winter. You will see some of the most classic dogs disappear under the snow. Like right now in Eastern Canada, they're expecting another 50 centimeters. And for those of you that do not do the metric system, 50 centimeters would be the equivalent of, I would say close to 22 inches of snow per
And that's a lot of snow. It's a lot of snow. Let's remember that a foot is 12 inches. I'm just reminding everybody about, you know. That's a lot. You know, it is. Six inches is a lot to shovel. But I laughed. I somehow got on the plane the other day because I had free Wi-Fi on my Air Canada plane.
And yeah, I was just watching Dogs in the Snow. Anyhow, I wanted to get to the story right away. I could talk about dogs all day, but they might, I don't know what they would do. They would probably remove us. People would be removing their music from something because of, yeah. So Calgary Baptist Church right here in my city has voted in favor of denying membership to the LGBTQ2S plus community.
The sign on their door initially, you know, because I've been by this church many times, this Baptist church, 4th Street, Southwest. Everyone welcome. And I remember seeing that sign many times. Recently, though, there was a memo sent out to the church members, whoever they are, outlining their future plans to deny membership.
to the LGBTQ2S plus community. And the pastor, Norm Dirksen, let's just say his name a few times, Norm Dirksen, Norm Dirky Dirksen. They're very thankful for their longtime partnership with the Canadian Baptist of Western Church affiliation, but they disagree with these churches about accepting those with non-heterosexual lifestyles.
Because it goes against their interpretation of scripture beliefs. Thoughts? I just woke up reading this this morning and I'm like, you bunch of a-wads. Dierks? You bunch of dierks? I had not heard that. Yeah. It's just unbelievable. Unbelievable. Yeah. It's funny because I'm like, oh, I just never look to churches to be the moral compass on anything, which is hilarious. But I don't.
Every time there's a story where it's like another horrible thing has happened through organized religion. I'm like, yeah, that's kind of why I feel like I'm always off to the side being like, you know, I'm just going to put together a composite of nice things that I choose to take from religions and then build my own. It's like build a bear and then leave the rest of you guys to not pay any taxes and consistently offend people and do terrible things.
How out of touch is this messaging? It's terrible. Oh. It's, yeah. No, it's 2022. Get with the program and lose that attitude right now. Yeah. I was kicked out of Sunday school when I was a kid. Ooh, why? Do tell. Because one of the kids, I was like seven.
And one of the kids said, was asking a question about who is this Jesus guy anyway? And I said, he's like a cross between Santa Claus and Superman, which I think is a pretty good analogy as a child. That's nice. I wouldn't follow him. So they sent me out into the hallway, you know, and we didn't go to church very often. My mom sort of thought that she should, you know, give us the option and expose us to all these. Anyway, we never went back. She had some words with a Sunday school teacher and that was it.
Yeah. Well, you should be super proud of that. I just think in 2022, you know, we have been so slammed, I think, on many levels just this last couple of years. But for this church at this time in our history of community, helping each other, you know,
stepping up into your best self and to send this kind of a message out early in the year, you know, we're just out of the gate in a brand new year and to basically tell millions of people,
globally. And I'll tell you right now, there are hundreds of thousands of LGBT community. And I'm one of those members in the city. That's my category. I'm, I'm out of the plus or the L or the, I'm one of those things very proudly. Yeah. Okay. And, um, that means what they're saying to me and to Julie and to a lot of my friends is,
who are not queer people who have kids, they're in a heterosexual relationship, they're just appalled as well. Anyway, I just wanted to bring that up. I wanted to say the man's name. I wanted to get your thoughts. Please drop us a note at the Jan Arden pod. It's on Twitter. And I just would love to hear from you. So when you're listening to this, take a second to just write us in and support the community, not only here, but across the country. They're hoping that this catches fire, that other churches will follow in their messaging,
They say that while the vast majority of churches would not affirm the practice of these few, the number of churches choosing to welcome and affirm these members is growing. And as a result, to the point of tension is on whether the denomination has any right to bring correction on individual churches. So they don't know if the actual Baptist Church Association will do anything to stop this. Mm-hmm.
But they're basically saying it doesn't follow along with their biblical principles. There's a really funny little passage in the Bible somewhere too. And I remember learning about this when I was a kid. And basically Jesus has said to people, you know, when you go to the bathroom, make sure you cover it up with dirt because you don't want other people going out in the middle of the night and stepping in it. So this is also things that we learn from the Bible, which really makes me laugh. So if we're following along in the Bible,
You know, make sure when you walk out your front door to crap on your front yard, you know, put something over it just so the postman doesn't come along and step in it. This is how ludicrous this messaging seems to me sometimes when people...
just pluck things out of this book written thousands of years ago. And most of these stories were told two or three or four or 500 years after the fact. And interpreted over and over and over. It's like that game when you pass the message, right? And it's passed on and on and on. Broken telephone, yes. Well, anyway, this was upsetting. And we here at the Jan Arden Podcast support
this community 1 million percent and we're so discouraged by this kind of messaging and we hope that it gets I hope that you know anyone listening to this today will get on board and stand up and be vocal about when things like this start happening because you know it's just it's just not right and it's a very small group of people and we're seeing that in Canada right now we're a very small group of people anyway you're listening to the Jan Harden podcast I'm with Julie Caitlin and Adam we will be right back
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Important things and we're glad that you're... Let me stop. Keep going. We're going to just go right into this. Julie Van Rosendahl has been tirelessly trying to find the secret to the muffins.
And the marvelous muffins. And I remember these so clearly. I remember the signage with the long M and the muffins. And I remember the squared giant tops that made a cast a shadow over the little paper cup. Like if you set it on a table, you could literally eat off of the top of the muffin. Yeah. It's like an umbrella. I digress.
It was like a muffin coffee table. It was its own mini coffee table. So what prompted you? I mean, Caitlin loves these muffins. I just want to say we have been talking about the chocolate chip muffins. Yeah.
Caitlin prompted me. Okay, let's just dive in to how you think you've created the muffin. The marvelous muffin. So it was my first job, by the way, at the kiosk in Scotia Center. I lied about my age. I was 15. You had to be 16 to get a job there.
To get a job at Marvelous Muffins and Michelle's Baguette because it was like a... Oh my gosh, I love Michelle's Baguette. Oh my croissant. Yes, yes. I remember that place. Right? Yeah. No, this is...
I just, I love the excitement that we have when these things pop up. Like those memory things are a safe place, guys. Yeah, yeah. Muffins are a safe place. So I saw on Caitlin's Instagram and she posted a photo of like the original chocolate chip muffin with its giant muffin top. I appreciate a good muffin top. I have a two-tiered muffin top. I have a muffin top that goes over the bottom, actually. Same, same. I have like a wedding cake muffin.
Anyway, so I saw the photo with the napkin, right? The original napkin, original logo. And everybody, like everyone was just like flooded with nostalgia. And then people started talking about the butterscotch pecan one, the cheddar one. I'm now getting bombarded with requests for the cornmeal muffin, which I don't really remember, but I think I could take a guess based on the flavor. But the flavor is like burned into my memory, right? Like I ate so many of those muffins.
I wasn't in charge of baking them, unfortunately, but I seem to recall the batter came out of a tub, which is pretty common in, you know, in food service. Not a bathtub for those of you that have just joined the program. Although that's not a bad idea. But yeah, so I mean, in order to make sure they're consistent across the country. Yeah, yeah.
They are usually made in a commissary kitchen and distributed. Anyway, so I set about trying to recreate the muffin, which is a good distraction from everything else. And I ate so many muffins. I think I ate my weighted muffins in two days. I just kept baking them. That sounds so fun. What a great part of your job. I know. I know. I have a good job. But I actually learned a lot about muffins and muffin tops and leaving the batter...
to sit. This was like a revelation for me because I always sort of believed that you should mix the batter together quickly and, you know, the baking powder or baking soda starts to activate when it comes into contact with the liquid. Sorry, I know I talk too fast. No, no, I love it. When I get excited, I need to calm down. And I discovered because the batter in
in, in these sort of, um, industrial, you know, tubs of, it sits for a while. So I let it sit for a while and the muffins peaked like dramatically differently than the muffins that I baked right away. So that was number one, then making the lid, making the big top, right? Cause they kind of, like you said, they grew together and then there were square cut them.
Yes. Okay. And I remember the pans, they were normal bottoms. A lot of people are like, no, they had little tiny bottoms. No, no, no. They're just disproportionately. Yes. It's like me, right? I'm like very top heavy. And so you're,
So your bottom part looks smaller. So heaping the batter. Whoever eons ago set the standard in recipes for fill your muffins three quarters of the way full. Fill your muffin cups three quarters of the way full with batter was 100% wrong. You should fill it to overflowing. So if you fill it – and then I further discovered – sorry, I'm very excited about this –
If you don't use a muffin paper, you get more spillage. So you can achieve that. So spray your tray. And so instead of getting the little paper inserts and popping the 12 of those in, just spray it or use your butter and your flour. Make sure that you have the entire surface covered, correct? Yep. Now put the batter into that pan without the papers. Yes. Okay.
And let it all just be like moss on the bottom of a forest? Pretty much. Chocolate chip moss. So, yeah. Okay. And it worked. I mean, you can use papers and just fill them really full, but I got more of it. There was sort of more ability for the batter to grow over the sides. Did you get them out okay? Yeah. 100%. Yeah. Because, you know. So you took a knife and cut down your little pattern, right? Yeah. Of your 12 muffins. Yeah. Yeah.
Muffins. I also like, were you not like shocked? I was shocked at the outpouring of love for this brand and for going to a mall in the 90s and getting a muffin and an Orange Julius. And I just felt like everyone's collective safe space, a safe space apparently, was a mall in the 90s.
Because my DMs, I've never had so many DMs in my life than when I just simply posted. Because initially I'd posted like a photo, an old photo of just the exterior of a Muffin's kiosk. And I just said, mentally, I'm here. And everyone exploded saying, yes, oh my God, I remember these. And I posted the photo of the Muffin. And then everybody freaked out. And then a bunch of people thought that it had actually come back.
and they got really excited thinking that there was some sort of a pop-up happening. And then when Julie undertook this task of being like, I am going to come up with the ultimate make your own muffins, then I've just, the excitement around this was unparalleled. I really do think that this brand does need to do some kind of a pop-up. And I learned from all my DMs that they actually have a few locations still left and functional in Quebec.
Well, it started in 1979. So my memories are for, I had a job in 1985 there. And that was when malls were at their peak too, right? Like malls were the place to go. And so now, so Caitlin started texting me like, do you remember treats, cookies and all these other like mall kiosks, right? People are, I had the same response from people who were just like that. I feel like we're hanging on to these nostalgic memories.
food connections especially more than ever during this pandemic you know like everyone's so do you remember laura secord ice cream yes i do remember laura secord ice cream and and all the chocolates it seems so fancy i'm actually related to laura secord long long long distance it's like my my grandmother's i can't remember i have to ask text my mom and i
I have no financial benefit from this connection. But my grandma, her maiden name is Bebe. And she was connected to the Bebes in some way. My grandma's cousin or something like that. Yeah, I'll have to text my mom and ask. We need to do a show where we just all discover our lineage. Like we just pick a direction, whether it's the...
maternal grandmother or paternal grandfather. Let's think about that going forward. I think it would be fascinating to find out if Julie is supposed to come into some money and if we can get our hands on it. I remember my mom and dad packing us in the car. My older brother was long since gone, you know, out in the world. He left home at 15, but Pat and I would go with mom and dad and it was such a treat to go to the food court. And I remember getting a $5 bill
And going, you know what? It wasn't even a $5 bill. It was probably two $2 bills and a single. I don't even think $5 bills existed. And we, with five bucks. And they had New York fries. I remember I was so torn between doing that and like Chinese food or the KFC kiosk or. Joggenfroes? Joggenfroes? Joggenfroes. Joggenfroes. Okay. Did you guys have cultures there?
Oh, I remember that. Yes. This was an Ontario thing. I think that was an Ontario thing. Was it salads? Yes. It was like a full salad bar, but they also did a really good like ham and Swiss croissant. And it was their smoothies that I remember. I would get a strawberry smoothie. And this was back when muffins and smoothies were still considered health food. So I thought I was being like very healthy to have my breakfast cupcake and then a smoothie. Yeah.
And again, this was something I ended up posting about on my Instagram and a woman DM to me and said, I worked at cultures for years and she worked at the Eden center, which was the one that I would go to when I would go shopping with my girlfriends on the weekend. And we figured out the years and she was like, I definitely made you a smoothie at some point. I was like, wow, I love this about social media. Me too. I miss salad bars. I love salad bars. The white spot, mother tackers.
White Spot. White Spot was great. Mother Tucker's was great. And right up until, I know we have to go to break really quickly, but just before COVID, there was a restaurant, Smuggler's Inn, Julie, in Calgary. Had a salad bar under glass, cottage cheese, beans, sliced beets, all of that stuff. Pickles. I think we have to wrap it up. I think we have to go to the next segment. Listen, you're listening to the Jan Arden Podcast. Julie Van Rosendahl, Caitlin Green, Adam Karsher here. Don't go away. We'll be right back.
Welcome back, Jan Arden Podcast. As per usual, we just really start chattering when we go to break because that's what we just need to do. We need to go to break to sell stuff.
Adam, go. Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut. Dining in experience. I did not know that this was a thing, but Caitlin is assuring me that it was. Oh, yeah. It totally was. So this is early 90s. I'm in high school. And then for lunch, my friend, there was a Pizza Hut close to our school. So they used to have this. This is, again, early 90s. Back in the day, a lunch promotion.
personal pan pizzas in five minutes or it's free. Do you remember this, Kate? Does anyone remember this? I do remember this. And they actually put a timer on your table, right? So that they would take your order and they'd take the timer, put it on your table so you'd count down. And usually it would come in five minutes. But one time, a friend of mine that we used to go with, we left with the timer. We took it. So that when...
I'm going to get in trouble for this. We're all going to go to jail. So every time we would go to Pizza Hut, he'd hide the timer under the table and start the clock a couple minutes early. And then when the waiter put the new timer on, we'd replace it. And then... Adam Harsh. No, you're going to personal pizza prison. Wow. And we'd always get free pizza because they'd bring it after five minutes because we'd start the timer like two minutes early. Sorry, Pizza Hut. Oh, this is...
Pizza confession. You ruined my personal pizza for the rest of us. That's what happens. Am I going to get in trouble? No, but if we're going to be telling things right now and coming clear, because I feel like I want to clear my conscience as well. I once got arrested for
What? For, I did. I was caught by the store security. I drank chocolate milk in the store. Oh. And you didn't pay for it? It wasn't the small, small one. It was like the half one. You know, when you get the little, little guys and then you get the half ones. Well, I drank a chocolate milk as fast as I could. And then I was walking out of the store and I had an arm on my shoulder. It was the worst day of my life. I was far too old and I knew better. I was 19. Oh. Oh my gosh. Yeah.
That's a quiet day at the police department. I had to do 120 hours of community service. That's not to scale at all. So this was 40 years ago. I did 120 hours of community service. But I remember singing. I brought my guitar and I sang at long-term care homes and things like that. That's nice. But I got it done. I got it done. But it still embarrasses me terribly. And it's on my record. So when I went to get...
you know, when you do anything because I was fingerprinted. What in the world? This seems like a massive overstep. I think they were just scaring me. And anyway, that's my criminal history. That's crazy. I've never been arrested for anything.
I've also never, I've never tried to get a free pizza and I've never. I am. I'm actually really, that is really quite innovative. You're like Ocean's 11 material, Adam. I can just, I'm seeing the movie version of this. We'll have a duplicate timer. Yeah. Bob, you take it out when the pizza order goes in. We'll do the swap. And we didn't do it once. We did it a lot. At different ones. You must have gone to different ones because they would have seen you and said, there's the little shits. Yeah.
Yeah. That's brutal. Yeah, we did it a lot. I remember the personal pizzas. I also feel like though the real joy of going to a dine-in Pizza Hut back in the day was the DIY sundae, the ice cream sundaes. That is fun. That was so good. I was just like racing to get through the pizza so I could make it to the sundaes. And then also they had a really killer salad bar. I mean, I never thought that that would be like the main deal at a Pizza Hut, but it was. It was delicious. Yeah.
Will salad bars come back? Julie, will they come back? Oh, I doubt it. I mean, all the buffets. What are they doing in Vegas? What could happen? You're not breathing it in. Like food, we know it's not ingesting food. We're not getting COVID-19 from eating food. Yes, you can still get E. coli and things like that from eating crappy food, but I don't see why that couldn't come back.
I agree. I totally agree. I feel like people are really sensitized to this sort of thing now. Like people just will not, the appeal of the salad bar may not stay around. I think if you put enough Thousand Island dressing on it though, everything will be okay. Wow. Okay. Just like that would be your safety measure.
Make sure it's swimming and dressing. Like a safety coating, protective coating. Yeah, a protective layer, a buffer, a buffer. Well, they always had the glad. Has anyone been to New York since all of this broke out? Because, you know, I was, and we've talked about this a few weeks ago, just...
All those delis in New York that, you know, had the glass and probably 50 or 60 items in some of those smaller stores. And that was their bread and butter of people coming home and putting their dinners in a cardboard box and taking it home to eat. But that must have all been shut down during this. I wonder if it's up and running. I'm trying to think that the last time I've been to a salad bar, like Whole Foods has a pretty decent salad bar. So expensive. So expensive. Whole paycheck is like what I jokingly will call it. But sometimes if I'm starving...
That's funny. Yeah. So, but that's the last one I went to and that was pre pandemic. So I don't know. I've never, haven't even tried. I went to a buffet, which is not a salad bar, but it is, uh, you know, it is open and people are walking around and scooping things. You've, you've done a buffet recently. Yeah. I did a buffet over the holidays. I did. Tell me. I did everything. Well,
Well, everyone has to wear a mask. So there's the, you know, so you're going to mask, which I kind of liked. I was like, okay, I feel good about this. If everyone's going to like try to like lean in and smell the lobster or something, at least you're wearing a mask. So it was good. It was a bit of a fancy buffet. It was when we were away over Christmas in the Bahamas. Okay. So it wasn't just like your, it wasn't, you know, your run of the mill buffet. This wasn't like Cracker Barrel or something. No hate for Cracker Barrel. I love that stuff anyways. Love Cracker Barrel.
Yeah, this felt clean. So it was good. I felt good about it. Also, it was maybe also because it was outside. These were like outdoors. I don't know if that helps anyone, but there weren't any sneeze guards. There was still people, you know, working the stations and I don't know. You're wearing your sneeze guard, basically. You're wearing it. 100%.
I felt okay about it. I liked it. It was okay. Well, here you are talking to us, Caitlin. So it all went well. Do any of you, maybe Julie might, maybe this is an Alberta thing, Bonanza?
You take your tray and it was a steak place. That was a huge treat. And you'd get your steak place and then if you had a well-done steak, you got a little black cow on your tray and then pink was for rare, red was for medium, and I think like purple was for medium. Anyway, you got this on your tray and then you –
You got your potato. You literally got your tongs and picked your big, and I remember going through the big bin of foil-covered baked potatoes and trying to find the biggest one they had. And then you, the copious, whipped butter and sour cream story. Go ahead, Julie.
I think they were $1.69, like the cheap, the steaks, the really thin, thin. Thin. What? But for $1.69 or like $2.19 or something like that, you got the soft serve, you got the salad bar, and then you got to pick fries or the baked potato, or maybe it was like hot baked beans as you went through on your plate. And then five, six minutes later, with the use of Adam's timer, they would come and bring you your steak on a separate plate. Yes.
So the chefs were back and they were like paper thin and they were probably all meat from Argentina. God forbid they should use Alberta beef or Canadian beef. Is that the same as Ponderosa? Yep. I don't know. I don't know if they're on the same, but it was the exact same concept.
Because I remember Ponderosa as a kid, and that was like you're describing the same situation and the same memories. Same thing. And the foil-wrapped potatoes, which is a crime against potatoes. Okay, tell me why. Well, because it makes them steam, right? It traps all the moisture. And so people forever since have thought you have to wrap your baked potato in foil to bake it. So explain how should we be baking our potatoes now? You put the holes in it?
You poke, yeah, let the steam escape, poke it with a fork, rub it with some oil. I like rubbing it down with oil. So this is like a Tinder date, basically, what you're describing. Oh, I think, I imagine, maybe. Poke me with a fork, rub me with a little oil, like wake me up. Put me in hot, you know, and rub me down, sprinkle a little bit of salt. Oven should be at what?
poke 350 400 400 is like ideal but if something else is in the oven you can just put them in to bake while you're baking your lasagna well i've seen you chuck squash into your your bonfires at the end of the night and you wake up and pick them out in the morning tell us about that and they get well just using that residual heat right as your fire cools down you have the coals overnight they sort of
cool overnight and you can roast whole onions, you can roast eggplant, you can roast squash, you can roast anything, sweet potatoes, and they get kind of smoky and charred. That's such a great idea, like as your fire is burning down. Yeah. You know, I wondered why I was waking up after some of these dates that I had over the last couple of years and my lover was like frying an egg on my back, you know, just that residual heat. As she cools down. I'm like, sweetheart, what are you doing? You're listening to the Jan Arden Podcast.
Whoops, my microphone fell over. We will be right back. Don't go away. Welcome back. Where did you go? What did you do? Did some of you go to the bathroom? Did you get a cup of tea? Food shortages. Heard a lot about that last few weeks ago. Our premier here,
I'd put pictures up on the World Wide Web from somewhere down in Texas. He stole a picture from them from like 2019 and there was some other random stuff that had nothing to do with anything. I had to laugh because...
You know, food insecurity is no joke, let's be honest. But there was no and continues to be no food insecurity on grocery shelves. One guy wrote in, he goes, hey, Jan, yeah, maybe not for you, but when I ordered my stuff from Superstore, I wasn't able to get my Jolly Ranchers. So think about, just let that sink in, he said to me.
But he wanted all watermelon-flavored Jolly Ranchers, and they didn't have it, and they offered him the assortment. So anyways, that made me laugh. So thoughts. I mean, it's kind of misinformation, big time. Yeah. Yeah, it's alarmist, you know. And every January, we start out with these studies that predict an increase in food costs. And
And they're always in keeping with current inflation rates, right? And guess what? Food should cost us money. We spend less on food than anywhere, you know, almost anywhere in the world. So that sort of set the, yeah, yeah, in Canada. And so anyway, so everyone was talking about, you know, inflation and rising food costs, potential rising food costs, etc.
uh, and, uh, and then everyone starts in with these food shortages. And, um, you know, we are so spoiled. Those of us who live with food security, who don't live with food insecurity, uh, to be able to have access to anything we want all year round, right? Strawberries in January. Like we can get blueberries in the dead of winter. And we're not used to seeing even one empty shelf. So, uh,
And we are able to say, what are we in the mood for? What did you see on Pinterest? What do you feel like having for dinner? What do you feel like having for dinner? That's just the norm, right? That you have a choice other than sorghum mushed up and thrown into a pot. I'm serious. When I was in Africa, their main part of their diet was sorghum. And I was just like, the stuff you're supposed to be feeding livestock?
And they're like, yeah, we, they make a, uh, uh, an, uh, porridge out of it. Yeah. We, we have no idea. I've been talking about that a lot this last few weeks of, I've traveled all over the world because I've been very blessed to have a career in the arts and I've just been able to go. And, um, I come back here and I'm just like, wow, we have so much space, so much liberty, so much, um,
I mean, the outdoor options that we have and the abundance of water, we have 20% of the world's fresh water, 20%. When you think about that, it's awe-inspiring. And we just have things that are, we just, there's some people, not a lot, just a few that don't appreciate that.
Yeah. And it felt like they don't. Yeah. It felt like almost, I don't know. I felt like I was living on a different planet because there was like this, there was this whole tirade of people going, Oh, look at these empty photos of shelves and I can't believe it. And then it was like you'd pan down and there was a ton of other options. And I was like, have none of you gone somewhere and they're out of your favorite thing you wanted? Like that happens all the time. And it's just,
It was bizarre. And it became this talking point. And then when I would ask people, I was like, have you gone to a different store than me?
me? And then everybody's like, no, but you know, it could happen if you are looking around. Maybe you won't be able to find this or that. I was like, I don't know. I don't know, man. I'm on, I must be on a different planet. I don't see this. This is not a pressing issue for me. And if something is not in stock at the store, don't you just get a substitute? Like even Instacart offers you a substitute option. I don't, I don't get it. It felt really like we have a lot of things that we are justifiably upset about right now. Yeah.
This didn't feel like one. This did not feel like one. I haven't noticed at all. A temporary shortage in choice, right? And someone messaged me, I could not find chicken breasts. Think about that.
Let me think about it. Yeah. Like, okay. So maybe, and someone tweeted, I, you know, I went to the store today and there was no celery. So did I take a picture of the gaping hole where the celery once was? No, because no one ever died of no celery. And it's like, yes, exactly. I'm,
And do you remember back in the day, Julie, when celery juice had taken off on the internet as some kind of dietary miracle and people were juicing celery by the hundreds of billions of tons? You couldn't find celery anywhere. So, you know, this is very trend driven as well. We went through the whole thing with yeast. We went through the thing with flour, hoarding, toilet paper. You know, there has been a few things.
that, you know, have been affected. But listen, when I was a kid, I remember being very disappointed of getting up to the ice cream line, finally waiting 45 minutes in a line in the summertime with my 40 cents in my hand and the chocolate was out. No chocolate's gone. What else would you like? There's four other flavors. Take your pick.
Well, and I hope it makes people think about how our food gets to our plates, where it's coming from, how it travels to get there, right? Willem ordered some books and they were supposed to arrive a few days ago and he was, you know, really upset that they were supposed to arrive on the first. And I was like, well, it's coming from the U.S. They're probably stuck at Coots, right? I mean, think about the route, the processing, the distribution, the harvest. Like, where do our bananas come from? You know, like, where does our chocolate come from? Where does our coffee come from?
So I think it's an opportunity for everyone to really think about what they're supporting when they're buying various ingredients. How did we get to be living in a world where the focus is on what we do not have? And I know that I live my life. I know this for a fact. And it's probably my age. I'm almost 60. I want what I have.
And I don't sit and lament what I do not have. And certainly not when it comes to, you know, a bunch of bananas or something like that. It's just, it's not part of my DNA. Um, and, and the way it works and we've, we've heard this, this whole conversation in different, um,
put to us differently the last few weeks, but, you know, responsibility, there's a lot of responsibility with freedom. There's a lot of responsibility with democracy. And it's caring about each other. And it's not that whole thing of...
Our demands must be met or, you know, we're going to do this, this and this. I mean, I was tweeting this morning. I said, gosh, if someone would have told me that all I needed to do was, you know, build a wooden shack in front of the House of Commons and demand that live horse export ended immediately, I'm not leaving until...
these demands are met that these horses don't get flown to Japan anymore. So when these are met, I'm going to leave. That's not how democracy works. It takes years even for laws, serious laws about protecting children, domestic abuse. It takes countless tens of decades sometimes for these things to go through the House of Commons to become a law. That's not the way it works. Anyway, that's
That's all I'm going to say about that without naming anybody. Well, also too, I think that- One minute, I'm giving it to you, Caitlin. On the thing with the food insecurity, like, you know, actual food insecurity versus the imagined food insecurity that's happening on social media. I also felt like, what happened to good old fashioned stoicism? Like, where did this go? How have, how are we so- Well, I think it left with the Boer War.
I was like, what's, where, where is it? Because how is this, how are our emotions so up high all the time? So quickly. Because it gets attention. Yeah. I mean, that definitely is what it is. But I was like, if you are going to view your energy in life as this like golden ball that you want to just really protect and, and,
You're only going to give away a little piece of your golden ball to things that actually matter. It's like the imagined food shortage. Let's just keep it together, everybody, please, for the love. If you've talked to a doctor or nurse lately, they're going to tell you, put this in perspective. It's just, it's too much. Everyone needs to calm down. Go have a muffin. Yes. Have a muffin. And Adam, I'm looking at my clock and it says I have one minute left. It says that I'm at nine minutes and one second right now. The clock has changed. This is a nine minute segment.
Oh, well, okay, everyone. So send your letters to Adam. Listen, Jen Arden podcast, Julie Van Rosendahl has been here. Go get your, go make yourself a muffin. Darn right. And you can probably find the recipe on Dinner with Julie on her Twitter page. It'll be there. Caitlin, good luck with the babysitting of the dog. Thank you. Adam, I'll never get over your timer incident, but I'm going to try it. I'm going to try it somewhere that times food.
Anyway, thanks for listening. We appreciate it. Hit the subscribe button. Send us a review. We appreciate your patronage. Look after yourselves. The best is yet to come. Totally do. Hey, you guys, we tried to leave. We tried to leave. And I did. I said goodbye. And then we are still...
I'm absolutely enchanted by the nostalgic of a lot of these food brandings, a lot of these fast food chains, the standalone building places that we went to. And we've all just been chit-chatting about all these things. So Adam, you were telling us about the Fairview Mall in Oslo.
Toronto. Fairview Mall in north of the city. They had a pretty good food court back in the 90s, if I recall. They had a McDonald's. So if your food court has a McDonald's, you're at the top. So they also had a Taco Bell. And my friends, this is back in the 90s when you could get a soft taco supreme for 69 cents or 79 cents. Oh, I know. It's just lunacy. And I thought that was the pinnacle of Mexican food because I didn't know any better back
then. So we would get so many tacos and oh my God. Isn't it? It's pretty good. I mean, a Fry Supreme was so good. Like Fry Supreme was the move. Was that the tater tot thing? Well, yeah, I mean, it was French fries, but they, a lot of people have at restaurants because of the love for Fry Supreme, they have recreated Fry Supreme using tater tots. And so there is a really fantastic taco place that also does like
really great Mexican food in Collingwood here called Bent Taco. And they do a tot supreme and it is so good. It is legit. I'm like, are you putting addictive substances in this? It's so good. I think they did actually put addictive substances in the Taco Bell cheese sauce because you, I dreamt about it. Yeah. Oh my God.
Caitlin, you were talking about the New York fries that had that kind of a ranch topper on it. Yes, they used to give you those shakers. The shakers. That was an option. And I think it was called the California...
It was like a, it was a tangy ranchy kind of California. I forget, maybe it wasn't called California, but it wasn't Cajun. It wasn't like a regular one. It almost felt like it was exclusive to New York fries. And it really reminded me, and I want to know who started it was Cool Ranch Doritos, a thing before this shaker sauce, because if this New York fries proprietary shaker blend happened before, it was a thing.
I actually think Doritos owes them some money because it was really similar in flavor. Fucking people. Stealing, just stealing ideas right, left, and center. Adam brought up McDonald's. Was there pizza at the McDonald's in the 90s when you remember? Do you remember the pizza at McDonald's? Yes. No, there was not. Yes, there was McDonald's pizza. This was a kiosk, so I don't think there was pizza at the kiosk McDonald's. How did they serve that?
They were like individual personal pan pizzas. Around the same time, hamburgers at 7-Eleven, right? Speaking of the cheese sauce, we used to go and get burgers at 7-Eleven. We had a friend who worked there. So at the end of the night, at midnight, she was supposed to throw them all in the garbage. But we would like hang out and she would bring us a garbage bag, like a literal garbage bag of burgers, 7-Eleven burgers. And we would put that neon sauce. I'm doing the pumpy, pumpy motion with my hands right now.
now uh on the burgers and just like make ourselves sick out back with our with our super big gulp ryan cokes right in our 7-eleven the hoagies yeah the hot dogs on a roller they had so many different submarines that you'd microwave and if you did it too long it got really hard and you literally couldn't bite through the bun do you remember sailor steamer's hot dog
No. Okay. Speaking of microwaving, sorry, I have to jump onto this like tangent, which is how my brain works. My grandmother in the 80s took a microwave cooking course because microwaves were like the thing, right? So she got all the microwave baking pans, which we have since learned is a terrible idea. And she made a Bundt cake. So she had this Bundt cake pan. She put it in the microwave.
She took her cake out. It felt kind of moist and wet. So she's like, that's not quite done yet. She kept putting it in, taking it out, putting it in, taking it out. Finally, she's like, it's got to be done. She let it cool. She frosted it, left it on the table. My granddad came home, tried to cut it, could not cut it because it was rock hard. And so they gave it to the dog. The dog played with it for like three days before they threw it away. Well,
It was maybe the precursor to 3D printing. You can put something, you could make like an axe by just having a mold and just keep, keep, ding. 20 more seconds, 20 more seconds. Speaking of nostalgic McDonald's food, like the pizza, it was actually decent. I mean, they don't have to bring it back. I love the McRib. Bring that back. But one of my favorites, and it's been ages, I was a fan of the McDLT. Oh, I forgot about that.
Keep the hot side hot and the cold side cold with the double styrofoam packaging. Please bring that back. That burger was fire. I am so into this. She's knocking over her microphone. Sorry. I get excited and it just hits the floor.
I think the McPizza has to come back because it was that rare moment as a kid where you got pizza and fries sometimes, which never happened. It was like you either had a burger and fries because that's what you were getting with your parents or you had pizza. Those worlds never collided. So having pizza and fries was like that was the tops for me. And I remember I used to always get it at the Sky Dome when I would go to a Jays game. And so it would be a McPizza and then I would get the McDonald's ice cream sundae and they put it in little helmets.
They used an overturned helmet. Yes. That was the best. That was living. And you got to keep the helmet and then you'd collect the different helmets. And I'd go back to your little seat and you'd have the little sundae and your McPizza and I'd cheer for Kelly Gruber. And that was as good as it got in life. And I didn't even know it at the time. Then you'd go home and go to a blockbuster video. I need a time machine. Right? Yeah.
You do need a time machine. I was in my 20s when the pizza was out and I lived in an apartment across the street from a McDonald's. So the pizza was a regular dinner. How much would that have gone for? I can't remember.
Was it a round, single-sized pizza? Caitlin showed me a picture when we were talking. She held it up to the camera. So it looked like it came in a little cardboard box or styrofoam, and it was what, a little cut into four slices? Four slices, yeah. And there was like pepperoni and just cheese and maybe like a vegetarian or sausage or something like that, little balls of sausage. Yeah.
But I still remember the styrofoam containers at McDonald's, the little tiny ashtrays, the little aluminum foil ashtrays on the tables, the orange drink that you'd get at all the sports days at school. You'd get the McDonald's orange, like, beep. It was like beep. And that was the place to have birthday parties, right? Oh, my God. Like, you'd go to a birthday party, and the parents were smoking by the big grimace. They're hanging by the big grimace.
the big cement grimace having to smoke while we had our I miss the McBurglar and the Hamburger I miss like all those characters the Hamburger what did I call him the McBurglar we knew what you meant we knew what you meant yeah
But I mean, I loved all those commercials where there were all those characters. It just seemed like Disneyland to me. That's why they entice kids to want to go is because of Ronald McDonald. I mean, they were kind of horrifying. Because I don't know if you guys remember the McDonald's playground. The whole concept was also like there was a very like a police scene.
burger jail presence in all of these playgrounds. And they would have these little burger jails set up. And then you had the Hamburglar. And a lot of the Playlands back in the day, did you guys, I don't know if you remember this, but this was how I feel like we knew that everyone's parents who then later designed these Playlands did acid.
Because they all looked like someone was on LSD. Yes. Yeah. So Caitlin is holding up a picture of a tree. So obviously it's made out of concrete or thick plastic or something. But it looks like the scream face on a tree with cement tree stumps around it where you would sit and have your lunches. I do remember the 29-cent burgers and the 39-cent cheeseburgers. Yes.
And that's what we had with the little tiny paper envelope filled with fries. And I just remember lamenting, you know, if there was a few fries that fell into the bag at the bottom, we'd fight, like literally have fist fights in the back seat because if they fell out of the bag, it was anybody's game to get the loose ones out.
And then there was tears. There could be tears with my little brother. She got more. She had way more than mine. But I'm thinking of my mom, and I remember her counting the change out of her little stamped leather coin purse.
And we went in. There was no drive-thru. We didn't drive-thru. Mom parked her Epic. It was a beige Epic. And I don't know if it was Russian or what the hell it was. And we'd go in there and mom counting the change out. I just had that memory now flashing back of what that meant to her and to have the right amount of money. And it's no wonder that's what we got.
We got a small drink. We got the small fries and a 29-cent hamburger. And mom would say, you don't need cheese on it. Yeah. And now I know why. Same. Yeah.
It was extra money. We would go in our wood-paneled station wagon that had the back seat. Yes. The back seat that faced out the back window. And my sisters and I would fight about who got to sit. But the commercial was keep your eyes on your fries, right? The Hamburglar would keep your eyes on your fries. So we would all do that to each other. Keep your eyes on your fries and steal. And then it would devolve into like...
He's crying. A fight. Okay, question while we're on the subject. Does anyone know what Grimace actually is? Yes. The character of Grimace. Do you know? Don't say it. Don't say it. Is he a potato? What was he? I always viewed him as being like a genderless animal of some kind, but I could be wrong. Grimace is a taste bud.
Yep. Come on. This is what I'm saying. Okay. It's a taste bud. I'm saying this loud and clear. So everyone understands that the people who developed the marketing and all the branding for McDonald's back in the day did a ton of acid. This is just the truth. A taste bud. Like purple. Who came up with that? Right. And why Grimace? Why did they name him Grimace? Yeah. Is there another, why did you go to jail for burgers? Like he stole the fries. He stole your French fries.
And you go to jail for that, right? Or you do community service, I guess. You remember the Shamrock shakes? Yes. Around St. Patrick's Day? Yeah. I do. And they had a Shamrock character. I feel like they had someone who was a little bit Irish. I think so. Is McDonald's going to sponsor this show? Good God. No, they won't. Oh, wait a minute, guys. I looked up the etymology of Grimace.
And originally Grimace was an evil Grimace with two pairs of arms with which to steal milkshakes and French fries. And then evil Grimace was too scary. And so they quickly changed that and had to make him one of the quote good guys. And his number of arms was reduced by two.
Really? Yeah. So I don't know why they thought that he needed a double set of arms. But anyways, I'm telling you, a lot of the original McDonald's stuff was actually kind of scary to look at. I wonder what the marketing meeting was behind that. A whole lot of drugs. And everything was kind of fast motion. Their commercials, everything moved kind of like the Benny Hill show where the little characters were moving really fast and chasing people. It was like a Bobby, cops and robbers. Yes. Yes. And sort of, yeah, you're right.
Interesting. And even Ronald McDonald, right? Like Ronald McDonald, the big clown. Was that pre-scary clowns? Because clowns got creepy probably in the 2000s. Before that, I don't know if they were considered that creepy. Yeah, growing up, I don't remember that. I think they were always scary. We just didn't realize it. My sister had a clown marionette hanging on her closet and I was afraid in my room that it was in her room. She was afraid of nothing, but yeah.
Shriner Circus, anybody? Maybe that was, yeah, that was maybe a Western thing. I know what you're talking about, but I never witnessed one. I mean, I can't really remember, but it was a three-ring circus in the Corral building in Calgary. The Corral was where they used to have the NHL hockey, tiny. It probably fit 7,500 people in there, maybe. And then the NHL just got bigger. But I was always, as a kid, wanting the concessions and not, we just couldn't have them.
Like it was enough that we were there, but the Shriner Circus, they'd go along with like birds that were on these sticks with long feathers and cotton candy and all the stuff they sold in conjunction with that was the big ticket. Anyway, we had to just carry on and keep talking about food and
and feeling nostalgic. And I still think smoothies and muffins are health food, Caitlin. I don't care what anybody says. Fine. I'm going to go eat one right now. Yeah. Well, anyways, thanks for hanging out, you guys. And just a little extra for everyone. It's very, very generous of you because I, I can't afford to pay you guys over time. That was really fun. And now I'm absolutely starving and I want McDonald's. I'm going to go, I'm going to go work out. I'm going to go pedal or ellipticize or whatever.
Do the Suzanne Somers Thighmaster. Yeah. She's still on Instagram every Thursday or something at four o'clock. Her and her husband, Alan Hamill, they've been married for like 55 years. I don't know. I'm exaggerating.
But they're on from their Palm Springs pool, and Suzanne is still selling stuff. She looks absolutely fantastic. Hi, Suzanne. I know you're listening. God love her. And the Alan Hamill show, speaking of nostalgia, it was Alan Hamill and the Alan Thicke show in Calgary. They were like the daytime kings. But anyway, look after yourselves. We're getting there one little step at a time. And patience, patience, patience, but patience.
Don't take any shit from anybody. Just don't. You don't have to be mean, but just walk away. Don't even engage with these people. And I mean, just mean people, like people that aren't lifting each other up, that are kind of like, it's us. It's all just us guys. Anyway, I probably will get in trouble for saying that, but.
I still have love in my heart. I just want to go up and squish some of these people and hug the doubt out of their bodies. Just have them stay the course. Like, it's okay. We're going to be okay. We're not...
We all have the same agenda. We all have, right? People keep saying, stop pushing your agenda. I think we all want this to end. I think we can all agree on that, right? Yeah. What did the Bible teach us? That Santa Claus and Superman do not equal Jesus. No. And Santa and Satan are spelled with the same letters. No, that can't be right. What a way to end the show. Okay, bye. Okay.
Caitlin's like walking away slowly from the microphone. Getting a muffin. Just walk away. I'm going to go get a muffin too. I'm going to make something today. I'm going to whip open Julie's probably her first cookbook and I'm going to make maybe those trash can cookies. Cause I got a lot of shit that can go in there and I think cauliflower could work. I started making a vegan version of the cheese muffin. Oh, and the other two I've made very vegan versions of. Yes. I've been following along. I've been very interested in that. Uh,
Well, the Miyoko's butter, vegan butter is so good. You can get it at Blush Lane here. Miyoko's butter. I can't even remember using real butter, but it's really good. Okay. But oil works really well in muffins. Oil does work well in muffins. In cakes and everything. Yeah.
And at Ikea, they have butter flavored oil. Let's do an Ikea show. Okay. Okay. Next time we're going to do an Ikea show. Adam, just cut any time you want. Cut any time you want. No, this is good. Goodbye. Just mid-sentence. Just mid-sentence. Just like ka-chung. Toodly-doo. Sorry. And don't forget to buy my record. The Descendant record is out. That's right. It's been out. And I was number one for like a day ahead of Adele. Amazing. Amazing. Yeah. I have a screenshot.
Anyway, it's a really good record. That was fun. Ross Broom, Bob Rock. Okay, bye. Goodbye. I'm leaving the studio, but I have to wait for this to populate, don't I? Okay. I do. Okay. Thanks for listening to the Jan Arden Podcast. Julie Van Rosendahl, Caitlin Green, Adam Karsh. I'm your host, Jan Arden. The show must go on. Toodaloo doo. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.