Outrageous Food Advice, Our One-Minute Cooking Tip, An Interview With An Olive Oil Producer, Candied Orange Peel, Lunch Out & More!

Bruce: 00:00:01

Hi, I am Bruce Weinstein and this is the Podcast Cooking with Bruce and Mark.

Mark: 00:00:05

And I'm Mark Scarborough, and together with Bruce, my husband, uh, we have written, I don't know,

Mark: 00:00:17

Air Fryer Bible, which can get you using your air fryer in every way imaginable.

Mark: 00:00:24

In this episode of our Food and Cooking podcast, we wanna talk about tips for a healthier new year, or at least outrageous, insane

Mark: 00:00:39

We wanna have our one minute cooking tip.

Mark: 00:00:41

As always, Bruce has an interview with David Garci Aguirre master.

Mark: 00:00:46

Olive Oil Miller, and we're gonna talk about what's making us happy in food this week.

Mark: 00:00:51

So let's get started.

Bruce: 00:00:56

It's the new year and Mark and I have decided for a resolution not to make any resolutions

Bruce: 00:01:03

They're silly.

Bruce: 00:01:03

They are.

Mark: 00:01:04

I'm way too old.

Mark: 00:01:05

I, you don't really, you know what?

Mark: 00:01:07

The only renovation that's gonna happen to me is a coffin, so,

Bruce: 00:01:12

oh well maybe a knee or a hip, I don't know.

Bruce: 00:01:14

Oh, maybe.

Bruce: 00:01:15

I don't know.

Bruce: 00:01:15

But you know, we had this thing when we'd lived back in New York and we could walk to our gym.

Bruce: 00:01:20

We never went the first two weeks in January.

Bruce: 00:01:22

No, that was a resolution we made.

Bruce: 00:01:24

Not to go the first two weeks cuz it was so crazy, crazy.

Bruce: 00:01:26

I needed it.

Mark: 00:01:26

We belonged to Chelsea Pierce in New York City and it was only a block and a half from

Mark: 00:01:33

When Chelsea still had, oh, prostitutes on the corners at night, and so I, I just made this whole

Mark: 00:01:46

And by 15th they were all gone.

Mark: 00:01:48

All gone.

Mark: 00:01:49

Nice.

Mark: 00:01:49

Okay, go back.

Mark: 00:01:50

Now we can go back to the gym.

Bruce: 00:01:52

So here's the thing.

Bruce: 00:01:54

Every year I like to take a look at what the big media outlets say you should be doing to make your life better in the new year.

Bruce: 00:02:01

I ran across some absolutely outrageous advice, tips, and we wanna share some of those with you.

Mark: 00:02:06

Yeah.

Mark: 00:02:06

Here's what we wanna do.

Mark: 00:02:07

We wanna talk about three or four tips, maybe four, right?

Mark: 00:02:10

Yep.

Mark: 00:02:10

In which we found that are just absolutely bogus and crazy.

Mark: 00:02:14

We wanna talk about why they're bogus, and then we wanna talk a little bit about how you.

Mark: 00:02:20

How to adjudicate what you read in the media.

Mark: 00:02:23

So course a little bit about food media literacy.

Mark: 00:02:26

Mm-hmm.

Mark: 00:02:27

in this first segment.

Mark: 00:02:28

So let's start off with the mm-hmm.

Mark: 00:02:30

venerable New York Times that ran a feature about.

Mark: 00:02:35

Coffee.

Bruce: 00:02:37

Yeah.

Bruce: 00:02:37

This was part of their how to like be healthier in the new year, and one of the things they said is,

Bruce: 00:02:45

Why?

Bruce: 00:02:46

They say, well, a study found that people who drank three and a half cups of coffee each morning, I love this.

Bruce: 00:02:51

We're 30% less likely to die.

Bruce: 00:02:54

To die to die from a whole list of things than people who don't drink that much coffee.

Bruce: 00:02:59

Okay.

Mark: 00:02:59

I'm gonna say something before we even start into this, about drink three and a half cups of coffee

Mark: 00:03:06

, I want to say that one of the ways that you can be media literate is anything that says, a study says, or scientists say.

Mark: 00:03:16

Is bogus.

Mark: 00:03:17

I can almost guarantee you it's bogus.

Mark: 00:03:20

The, it doesn't mean that there aren't a collection of scientists who don't think certain things.

Mark: 00:03:24

Like for example, the earth is round . Of course scientists say the earth is round, but in just random,

Mark: 00:03:40

And what does that mean?

Mark: 00:03:42

There are thousands of kinds of scientists, thousand.

Mark: 00:03:44

Different scientists who studied different things.

Mark: 00:03:47

Biochemists, physicists.

Bruce: 00:03:49

What does scientists mean?

Bruce: 00:03:50

And the thing is, I found this same advice given in a lot of media news albums just slash the New

Bruce: 00:04:01

No one said, so I had to do a lot of Googling and research to find the study and I finally found it.

Bruce: 00:04:07

It was a, okay, here it is.

Bruce: 00:04:08

Here it is.

Bruce: 00:04:08

It was a UK study and it followed 200,000 people, which is let's

Mark: 00:04:13

just.

Mark: 00:04:13

That's a great sample.

Mark: 00:04:15

200,000 is a giant study.

Mark: 00:04:17

Mm-hmm.

Mark: 00:04:17

. Bruce: But let's also say it's just the uk, right?

Mark: 00:04:19

So, okay, wait, well go on.

Mark: 00:04:21

We'll get to that.

Mark: 00:04:22

But what they were looking at was not how much coffee you drink in the morning.

Mark: 00:04:26

They were looking at the difference between people who drank sugared coffee and black coffee.

Mark: 00:04:32

So people who drank the black coffee were more likely to stay alive than the people who drank the heavily sugared coffee.

Mark: 00:04:38

And when this got picked up by the US media and the Canadian media, both, we should say, the story suddenly became

Mark: 00:04:49

But the study was about Brits who drank sugar coffee versus sweet coffee, and right there is a problem, right Brit?

Bruce: 00:04:56

It's because societal influence.

Bruce: 00:04:58

where you live, the environment around you, the rest of your diet, behavior, what kind of medical care you get in your That's right.

Bruce: 00:05:04

Community.

Bruce: 00:05:05

That's right.

Bruce: 00:05:05

All has a huge impact on whether you live or die.

Bruce: 00:05:09

Not whether you're drinking three cups of coffee in the morning.

Mark: 00:05:11

That's right.

Mark: 00:05:11

There was a study out not so long ago, and this isn't.

Mark: 00:05:15

To mean to pick on anybody.

Mark: 00:05:16

Oh, it was a couple years ago.

Mark: 00:05:18

I remember this study very well, and it came out that basically said that, you know, breaded, processed

Mark: 00:05:26

Okay.

Mark: 00:05:27

That's all right.

Mark: 00:05:29

But the part of the problem of the study is the study was done.

Mark: 00:05:32

, almost a hundred percent in the Bay area of California, where physical fitness is a true fad.

Mark: 00:05:39

Mm-hmm.

Mark: 00:05:39

. And it didn't take into account things like the difference between the Bay area of California and West Virginia

Mark: 00:05:47

Right.

Mark: 00:05:48

Where there are plenty of super obese people.

Mark: 00:05:50

Yeah.

Mark: 00:05:51

Who.

Mark: 00:05:52

In fact eat a lot of processed food.

Mark: 00:05:54

It is a complete, it's so bogus because you've taken this, this kind of microcosm, the Bay

Mark: 00:06:02

It's not true.

Mark: 00:06:03

And in this case, you can't make the UK stand for all of the planet, right?

Mark: 00:06:09

No, because, and he stretches.

Mark: 00:06:10

Victoria tried to, queen Victoria tried to do that, but you can't do it.

Bruce: 00:06:13

Okay, well now you take the health and.

Bruce: 00:06:16

Dietary behaviors, the people living in the part of the uk, and I didn't even say which part.

Bruce: 00:06:21

My guess is that they picked one county somewhere.

Bruce: 00:06:23

Yeah.

Bruce: 00:06:23

Or, and now you London.

Bruce: 00:06:24

And now you say, let's compare that to the people that live in Bangladesh.

Bruce: 00:06:28

Yeah, exactly.

Bruce: 00:06:29

You can't make that comparison.

Bruce: 00:06:30

Or,

Mark: 00:06:30

or you, you, you, you know, you use a sampling from, I don't know, bath England, but that doesn't take into account

Mark: 00:06:41

No.

Mark: 00:06:42

, it's, it's really suspect, even as a study of Brits.

Mark: 00:06:46

But then to be extrapolated out and to drop the sugared part of the study and just say, well, coffee makes you live longer.

Mark: 00:06:53

That is exactly what happens now.

Mark: 00:06:55

One media outlet runs it New York Times, and then everybody picks it up.

Mark: 00:06:59

Yeah, everybody runs with the story.

Mark: 00:07:00

Oh, look at this.

Mark: 00:07:01

This is so good.

Mark: 00:07:02

Here's another one.

Mark: 00:07:03

Here's, here's another thing, and we're gonna pick on the New York Times lot.

Mark: 00:07:05

Here's another one.

Bruce: 00:07:05

The same.

Bruce: 00:07:06

They say, think about hydrating with foods.

Bruce: 00:07:09

Oh, instead of water.

Mark: 00:07:10

Okay, I'm gonna hydrate with a steak.

Mark: 00:07:11

Seriously?

Mark: 00:07:12

, Bruce: I'm gonna hydrate with a steak.

Mark: 00:07:13

No, but they go on to explain the kinds of foods that you can hydrate with.

Mark: 00:07:17

Oh, okay.

Mark: 00:07:17

So here, what's wrong with this scenario?

Mark: 00:07:19

You come in from shoveling or gardening, you're sweaty, you're really thirsty,

Mark: 00:07:23

And you're only talking about me because you hate gardening and shoveling.

Mark: 00:07:26

So,

Bruce: 00:07:27

but I shovel too.

Bruce: 00:07:28

So we come in sweaty, we come in thirsty.

Bruce: 00:07:30

Do we turn on the tap and hydrate with a glass of water?

Bruce: 00:07:33

Yes.

Bruce: 00:07:33

Or do we eat a cucumber.

Bruce: 00:07:34

No, we're a cantaloupe.

Bruce: 00:07:36

No, because these are the foods they're suggesting you can hydrate with.

Mark: 00:07:38

No, I mean, I'm an avid, avid gardener.

Mark: 00:07:41

Bruce enjoys the gardens but does not garden.

Mark: 00:07:44

And I have gardened, oh gosh, well over an acre of our property here in New England and.

Mark: 00:07:50

You know, I mean, I, I work really hard at it spreading metric, tons of mulch, and I come inside and the first

Bruce: 00:08:01

I think next summer when you come in, the first thing I'm gonna do is hand you a cucumber.

Mark: 00:08:04

No, I, you know what?

Mark: 00:08:05

No, that is so dumb.

Mark: 00:08:07

Of course, there's a lot of water in cucumber or watermelon or cantaloupe or honey do, or tomatoes,

Bruce: 00:08:14

but you know what?

Bruce: 00:08:15

Hydrates really well, water..

Mark: 00:08:16

Yeah, the no . I don't want to come in and eat a tomato or go to the gym or go for a run and come in and eat a tomato.

Mark: 00:08:24

That is absolutely insane.

Mark: 00:08:26

I don't know.

Mark: 00:08:27

I don't know what they're thinking except they're just thinking that, oh, we wanna say something

Mark: 00:08:33

Vogue Magazine, here's another one.

Mark: 00:08:34

They approached a bunch of celebrities.

Mark: 00:08:38

This, I should tell you is another red flag.

Mark: 00:08:40

Just like studies say or a study says, and scientists say, another big red flag for me is celebrities say because

Mark: 00:08:53

Years ago when Bruce and I reversed together, he worked for an advertising firm and they did, uh, they specialized in.

Mark: 00:09:00

Publishing advertising.

Mark: 00:09:03

And there was a diet book that came out from Mary Lou Hener.

Mark: 00:09:08

Oh, do you remember this?

Mark: 00:09:09

God, yes.

Mark: 00:09:09

I remember.

Mark: 00:09:09

And Bruce had to work on the companion and she had this whole thing that you want to eat and I'm not making this up.

Mark: 00:09:16

Mm-hmm.

Mark: 00:09:16

So that your poop is floaters, not sinkers.

Bruce: 00:09:19

Yeah.

Bruce: 00:09:20

She said if floaters are a healthier body than than sinkers,

Mark: 00:09:23

and I remember.

Mark: 00:09:25

Being so outraged.

Mark: 00:09:27

I think she's Mary Lou Hener.

Mark: 00:09:29

Exactly.

Mark: 00:09:29

I remember screaming at Bruce, how can you end good conscience even work on this advertising

Mark: 00:09:36

But, um, , I was just so obsessed with it because I thought, who is Mary Lou Hener to give me diet advice or to give anybody now.

Mark: 00:09:44

I'm not saying that you shouldn't eat more fiber, you should, because scientists say that you should, Mary Lou Henner says,

Mark: 00:09:56

So in Vogue Magazine for example, these are some of their tips and one of them was,

Bruce: 00:10:01

Smoke more weed.

Bruce: 00:10:02

Thank you.

Bruce: 00:10:03

Seth Rogan, uh, g I mean, two wine.

Bruce: 00:10:05

That was it.

Bruce: 00:10:05

So they had this whole list.

Bruce: 00:10:06

Some of it was actually good.

Bruce: 00:10:08

One of the, I, I don't remember who they were, but one celebrity was like, get lots of sleep and one is drink lots of water.

Bruce: 00:10:13

And that's great.

Bruce: 00:10:14

I mean, I, I don't need a celebrity . To tell me that, but, Smoke more weed.

Mark: 00:10:18

Uh, now I have to tell you this.

Mark: 00:10:20

Okay.

Mark: 00:10:20

And see, this is a perfect example.

Mark: 00:10:22

When I was a freshman in college, yes, this is true, and, and we're talking here the late seventies.

Mark: 00:10:28

So I was a freshman in college and this was all still pretty new stuff.

Mark: 00:10:32

And there weren't gyms around the as there are now.

Mark: 00:10:35

No, no, not at all.

Mark: 00:10:36

As why that was the better it.

Mark: 00:10:37

So I had a roommate who.

Mark: 00:10:41

Oh gosh.

Mark: 00:10:41

Who was just addicted to his bong and he would smoke that bong like crazy.

Mark: 00:10:47

Oh, maybe insane.

Mark: 00:10:48

It stank so bad.

Mark: 00:10:50

Anyway, but he was the most unhealthy human I have ever seen.

Mark: 00:10:54

He laid around in a bed and smoked weed and drank like crazy.

Mark: 00:10:59

Yes.

Mark: 00:11:00

At Baylor, a Baptist university.

Mark: 00:11:02

Meanwhile, the guy next door to us.

Mark: 00:11:04

Also smoked a lot of weed back in the early seventies, but he jogged back when jogging.

Mark: 00:11:11

Chris was crazy, but he jogged 5, 6, 7, 8 miles a day.

Mark: 00:11:14

So of course he was in great shape

Bruce: 00:11:17

and he might say, see, smoking weed kept me in shape.

Bruce: 00:11:20

See, once again, you have to look at the weed, every aspect of the people involved in this study.

Mark: 00:11:26

Yeah.

Mark: 00:11:26

Okay, so the Today Show offered it seven.

Mark: 00:11:28

Good for you.

Mark: 00:11:29

Transfer 2023 recently, and that included a plant.

Mark: 00:11:33

Based ranch dressing.

Bruce: 00:11:36

Oh, I love this.

Bruce: 00:11:36

So you have to add this ranch dressing to your life to make you feel better in the world.

Bruce: 00:11:41

That is so ridiculous.

Bruce: 00:11:43

So ridiculous.

Bruce: 00:11:43

Just because it's plant-based ITT make it healthier.

Bruce: 00:11:45

Well, no, Dina Champion, who is a registered dietician or Ohio State says it does not necessarily a common misconception.

Bruce: 00:11:53

She says, is that a label that states plant-based or vegan automatically equals healthier.

Bruce: 00:11:58

But remember a vegan.

Bruce: 00:12:01

Is still a donut.

Mark: 00:12:02

Yeah.

Mark: 00:12:02

Yeah.

Mark: 00:12:02

There's the lesson for life of vegan donut is still a donut.

Mark: 00:12:05

I think that that plant-based is another one of those things that is a red flag for me in media literacy doesn't

Mark: 00:12:24

As a general rule.

Mark: 00:12:25

Now listen, when I was up with my family over Christmas and with Bruce's family over Christmas,

Bruce: 00:12:35

And we went out for tongue taco lunches.

Mark: 00:12:37

Yeah, there.

Mark: 00:12:38

And there was no way, and I wasn't gonna be the idiot who was like, no, I can't go to the Taco Illa because you

Mark: 00:12:45

I wasn't gonna be that person.

Mark: 00:12:47

So it's not a hard and fast rule for.

Mark: 00:12:49

I would prefer to eat meat or fish, and I count fish as part of meat no more than once a day.

Mark: 00:12:56

And so, yes, of course.

Mark: 00:12:57

Do I think plant-based eating is healthier?

Mark: 00:13:00

Yes, I do.

Mark: 00:13:01

But do I think plant-based gets thrown around as some kind of moniker for bad advice like plant.

Mark: 00:13:08

Based ranch dressing is somehow healthy.

Mark: 00:13:11

. No, I don't.

Mark: 00:13:12

It's like Bruce and I talk about this all the time.

Mark: 00:13:14

Vegan cheese.

Mark: 00:13:15

It sounds great and it does sound great.

Mark: 00:13:17

We went to a North Carolina restaurant in Asheville Plant and it's a vegan restaurant and they do their own vegan cheeses.

Mark: 00:13:23

And the vegan cheeses there were delicious.

Mark: 00:13:25

Mm-hmm.

Mark: 00:13:25

, they even have a vegan.

Mark: 00:13:27

Cheese aging cave for their vegan cheeses, but the vegan cheese that gots put on pizzas, let's say when you order the vegan cheese,

Bruce: 00:13:37

oh, it's not the kind of vegan cheese we have in that restaurant.

Bruce: 00:13:39

That stuff is made from nuts and yeast.

Bruce: 00:13:42

This stuff that you get when you order vegan cheese on a pizza is basically just congealed oil.

Mark: 00:13:48

Uh, yeah.

Mark: 00:13:48

Now I'm sure there are high-end pizzerias who are doing, you know, cashew cheese instead of ri ricotta.

Mark: 00:13:54

I'm sure.

Mark: 00:13:55

For a general rule.

Mark: 00:13:57

Yeah, the general, the vegan cheese is, you might as well just eat Crisco.

Bruce: 00:14:01

It is pour some oil on your pizza.

Mark: 00:14:02

Right.

Mark: 00:14:03

It's the same thing as eating Crisco.

Mark: 00:14:04

It's just an emulsified, hydrogenated, and stabilized oil product.

Mark: 00:14:09

It's not necessarily healthier verse So how do you know who to trust?

Bruce: 00:14:12

Well, the North Dakota State University website.

Bruce: 00:14:15

Offers up this advice North Dakota

Mark: 00:14:18

State.

Mark: 00:14:19

Yeah.

Mark: 00:14:19

Do you know that of all, we had had this discussion of all, all,

Bruce: 00:14:23

no, we haven't had it on the podcast.

Bruce: 00:14:24

We've had it with our nieces who

Bruce: 00:14:26

are going to college next year.

Bruce: 00:14:27

Year.

Mark: 00:14:27

All public universities.

Mark: 00:14:30

I believe North Dakota State has the highest admission to.

Mark: 00:14:34

Ivy League business.

Mark: 00:14:36

Graduate programs of any state college, state run college.

Bruce: 00:14:39

If you're going to college, go there.

Bruce: 00:14:41

. Okay, so North Dakota, Dakota State.

Bruce: 00:14:43

So here's three things from their huge list.

Bruce: 00:14:45

Are the recommendations made that you read based on a single study?

Bruce: 00:14:50

Because one study may not prove anything.

Bruce: 00:14:54

It might, but it probably doesn't.

Bruce: 00:14:56

It takes several studies where evidence accumulates it's compared, and bit by bit the truth is uncovered.

Mark: 00:15:02

Okay, and does the advice cast doubt on reputable scientific organizations do.

Mark: 00:15:07

Don't be skeptical or fearful just by implication and listen.

Mark: 00:15:12

There's a lot of ways that you cast doubt that actually begin as doubt and then reform scientific theory when thinks of string

Mark: 00:15:26

But however, if it's sensationalized mm-hmm.

Mark: 00:15:30

as the doubt, like, oh, we've always thought that blank, but now we know bla, we always thought that oranges

Mark: 00:15:38

If you hear such things.

Mark: 00:15:41

Just be very skeptical of them because one voice screaming aloud doesn't necessarily mean it's true.

Mark: 00:15:51

Sometimes the voice in the wilderness is right, but oftentimes the guy standing on the corner

Bruce: 00:16:00

he's usually insane.

Bruce: 00:16:01

Right.

Bruce: 00:16:02

And does the advice include recommendations drawn from studies?

Bruce: 00:16:06

That ignore the differences between groups and individuals.

Bruce: 00:16:09

That's, this is, that's like the thing about the coffee study in just the uk.

Bruce: 00:16:14

That's just the UK and it's not the rest of the world.

Bruce: 00:16:17

Animals and people are different.

Bruce: 00:16:19

So was the study about giraffes and now they're telling you how to treat your dogs and cats, men and women are different.

Bruce: 00:16:25

Was the study all about women and giving men advice from it?

Bruce: 00:16:28

Yeah.

Bruce: 00:16:28

Age, economics, race, many other factors are really important when you look at the results of . Studies.

Mark: 00:16:34

And you should know that there's a lot of research these days that, uh, for economic reasons,

Mark: 00:16:48

For example, they'll go to the Azores or they'll go to the Canary Islands.

Mark: 00:16:54

Or they'll go to, um, I don't know, they'll go to Dubai and only, uh, do this study amongst East Indian workers in Dubai that there's

Mark: 00:17:09

But what you're dealing with then is an incredibly non diversified population.

Bruce: 00:17:14

That's a wonderful study.

Bruce: 00:17:15

And the results should be taken seriously by the East Indian workers in Dubai.

Bruce: 00:17:19

Correct.

Bruce: 00:17:19

It is not a worldwide.

Mark: 00:17:22

No, because the cow I eat, or the beans I eat or the carrots I eat or the cabbage I eat has different chemical signatures,

Mark: 00:17:35

Everything about it changes across low cow.

Mark: 00:17:38

Mm-hmm.

Mark: 00:17:39

, this even goes when comparing, say the food groups of New England and the dietary health of New

Mark: 00:17:47

Yeah.

Mark: 00:17:48

And I'm not casting as versions in Oklahoma.

Mark: 00:17:50

There are things about Oklahoma that would make New England look sad, and there are things about

Mark: 00:17:55

So you have to take into account the actual population that was studied.

Mark: 00:18:04

Okay, so enough about.

Mark: 00:18:07

All the problems with the outrageous food tips that come out in the new year.

Mark: 00:18:13

We hope you'll subscribe to this podcast.

Mark: 00:18:14

We hope you'll rate it.

Mark: 00:18:15

It'll be really great if you could drop down on the Apple list.

Mark: 00:18:19

If you could look up at the top of the Spotify page, you'll see ways to rate this podcast.

Mark: 00:18:23

I'm dropping a comment in Google or Apple is even better, even something as Emily as great podcast.

Mark: 00:18:29

Thank you so much for doing that.

Mark: 00:18:32

Up next segment two, our one minute cooking tip.

Bruce: 00:18:37

Buy a pastry brush, keep it with your everyday tools based meat with it, instead of using a baster.

Bruce: 00:18:44

If your recipe has you breading chicken breasts or cutlets and you have, you have to dip them in flour

Bruce: 00:18:51

Use the pastry brush and brush them with flour, and then you could save a whole dirty bowl.

Mark: 00:18:56

It's true.

Mark: 00:18:56

Buy your pastry brush.

Mark: 00:18:57

It's true.

Mark: 00:18:57

Pastry brushes are amazing tools in the kitchen.

Mark: 00:18:59

Mm-hmm.

Mark: 00:19:00

And there are also tools, uh, once you've finished for, uh, wiping crap off cutting boards, um, you know, I mean,

Mark: 00:19:12

Up next on our podcast, Bruce's interview with, David Garcia Aguire, the Master Olive Miller at cor.

Mark: 00:19:20

Olive company in California.

Bruce: 00:19:22

Today, I'm talking with Master Olive Miller, David Garcia Aguire from Corto Olive Company.

Bruce: 00:19:29

David is an olive oil guru who's dedicated to the advancement of high quality olive oil production, research and education.

Bruce: 00:19:37

Dave is gonna talk with me about what it takes to make great olive oil and what we need to look for when we buy some.

Bruce: 00:19:43

Hey, David.

David: 00:19:44

Hello, Bruce.

David: 00:19:45

Thanks for having me.

Bruce: 00:19:46

Oh, my pleasure.

Bruce: 00:19:47

Hey, let's just start right up the top.

Bruce: 00:19:49

What makes olive oil different from all the other oils we eat?

David: 00:19:53

Anytime I have these kinds of conversations, this is how I start these conversations for a very simple reason.

David: 00:19:59

One of the most unfortunate things that happened to olive oil is that it got lumped into the edible oil category.

David: 00:20:05

I say that because all edible oil.

David: 00:20:08

Olive oil aside, but the rest of the edible oils, all of 'em, I don't care what it is, uh, they all are

David: 00:20:16

These oils from the very beginning are destined to become odorless, colorless fats, and in order

David: 00:20:28

Uh, you're bleached, they're deodorized and the refining bleaching, the deodorizing process

David: 00:20:35

So you're basically left with an odorless, colorless fat olive oil at its best is the exact opposite of that.

David: 00:20:41

The best way to think about olive oil, and this is a kind of a, a really important thing, is we have to forget everything we

David: 00:20:48

And the best way to think about it is not like an edible oil or a fat, but more like a.

David: 00:20:55

Because essentially olive oil is fresh pressed juice.

David: 00:20:58

It, it's not refined, it's not bleached, it's not, deodorized isn't a, it's an expression

David: 00:21:06

Like any juice, the olive oil is only ever gonna be as good as the fruit that it came from.

Bruce: 00:21:12

Is that why not all olive oils are created equal?

David: 00:21:15

I'd say there's two main reasons why olive oils are not created equal.

David: 00:21:19

Number one, we have a tasting that we use at Cordo, which, uh, we have divided into two flights as two parts of an equation.

David: 00:21:27

You have to have both of these parts of this equation in order to have a high quality product, and the

David: 00:21:40

The second part of the equation is the oil itself has to be fresh as well.

David: 00:21:45

So if you could start off with a beautiful olive oil and if it's not taken care of, right, it's going to

David: 00:21:55

So, you know, what we typically see on the shelf is something of either of those where the, it's either made from poor

Bruce: 00:22:10

How do I know when I go to buy a bottle of olive oil in the supermarket that is not rancid?

David: 00:22:15

I mean, honestly, like this is, this is the question I get asked the most is how.

David: 00:22:20

, you know, I'm in the supermarket how, and you're looking at a hundred bottles on the shelf.

David: 00:22:24

Right?

David: 00:22:24

Because it's a crazy category where it's just, you know, there's overwhelming amount of bottles.

David: 00:22:29

How do I know what's good and what's not?

David: 00:22:31

You know, from my point of view, you know, my, my job is a master Miller is not just making high quality oil.

David: 00:22:37

It's making sure that my customers get high quality oil.

David: 00:22:40

Hmm.

David: 00:22:40

I don't know that I could do that in retail at through supermarket.

David: 00:22:45

So honestly my answer would be don't buy it at the supermarket.

David: 00:22:50

get it from the maker if you can exactly get it directly from the maker.

David: 00:22:55

Um, someone, you trust someone or there's a face behind the product.

David: 00:22:59

You know, we joke here that olive oil is the ingredient that farm to table forgot.

David: 00:23:03

Hmm.

David: 00:23:03

All these ingredients have gone through this rebirth of getting to know where it came from and how it's made, and

David: 00:23:16

And, uh, you know, unfortunately olive oil is just it.

David: 00:23:19

Nobody knows where it came from or who made it.

Bruce: 00:23:21

Take me through the process of how you make.

Bruce: 00:23:25

From the tree to the bottle at Corto,

David: 00:23:27

I'll reinforce this message.

David: 00:23:28

We have to remember that olives are a fruit, and like any fruit, there's a very short window.

David: 00:23:33

When that fruit, it's at its peak.

David: 00:23:35

I, I like to use the analogy of an orange tree in your backyard.

David: 00:23:39

And you know that orange early on it was a blossom, and then it became a fruit, and that fruit grew

David: 00:23:46

That perfect moment, and that's usually sometime in December.

David: 00:23:50

And that orange is sweet.

David: 00:23:51

It's beautiful, it's gorgeous.

David: 00:23:54

If you go out to your backyard and you juice that orange, it's gonna taste like really high quality, fresh.

David: 00:24:00

It's gonna be like that orange.

David: 00:24:01

Now, let's say on your way back there, you got distracted by something and you forgot about your orange.

David: 00:24:06

Say a dog runs through your, your screen door or something and you forget about that orange.

David: 00:24:12

And so December turns into January, turns into February, turns into March.

David: 00:24:17

, what happens to that orange on the tree?

David: 00:24:20

It continues to ripe into the point where it becomes over ripe, and then eventually it's, you know, it starts to ferment.

David: 00:24:25

It starts producing alcohols, and eventually it falls off the tree.

David: 00:24:28

Now, the important thing to understand is that most of the world's, and I'll put it in quotations, quote unquote, extra virgin

David: 00:24:40

They've gone through a long, they, they've missed that pinnacle moment that, that perfect moment to harvest.

David: 00:24:47

It's sat on the tree until they begin to ferment.

David: 00:24:50

They start producing alcohols which produce defective oils, and that's probably about 70 to 80% of the oil that's made worldwide.

David: 00:25:00

. So that's the first part of this is it has, the fruit itself has to be harvested within that really short window

David: 00:25:10

Yeah.

David: 00:25:10

And then the second part of all of this is once you have that oil, all of your energy, let's talk, we'll talk about the good oil.

David: 00:25:17

Once you make that beautiful olive oil, all of your energy has to change and it you have to shift to protecting

David: 00:25:28

From storage to the type of package you choose to how you distribute the product to where you sell.

David: 00:25:35

It's a totally different mindset.

David: 00:25:37

And so at Cordo, in a nutshell, we've embodied that philosophy in the way we make olive oil.

Bruce: 00:25:42

Talk about that process and how you put that philosophy into action.

David: 00:25:45

Sure.

David: 00:25:46

So, uh, about 20 years ago, a new planting method was developed and this planting method through the entire industry upside.

David: 00:25:54

because up until that point, everything was hand harvested.

David: 00:25:57

And as you can imagine, the volume of extra quote unquote extraversion olive oil consumed

David: 00:26:05

Right?

David: 00:26:06

So this technological advancement, you know, 20, 25 years ago, really flipped the industry upside down.

David: 00:26:11

Cause it's the first time we've been able to produce high quality olive oil is scale.

David: 00:26:16

So we call it vineyard styled high density, super high density, but basically it's a mechanized

David: 00:26:23

So we do.

David: 00:26:24

That's what we do.

David: 00:26:25

So we went all in.

David: 00:26:26

So our harvesters go out.

David: 00:26:27

They're harvesting 24 7 in a 40 day period.

David: 00:26:31

So that window's very short, and the moment the fruit comes off the tree, they're rushed here to the mill.

David: 00:26:37

A mill is basically a giant juice plant.

David: 00:26:39

As I said, , it's it.

David: 00:26:41

My job, I don't like to tell this to too many people.

David: 00:26:43

My job is a master.

David: 00:26:44

It's actually pretty easy.

David: 00:26:46

As long as I start with good fruit, I can make a good oil.

David: 00:26:50

So the olives come in, uh, in trailers, they get unloaded.

David: 00:26:54

We remove anything that's not high quality fruit, so that could be like leaves or sticks or maybe some damaged

David: 00:27:04

We have equipment that removes all of that.

David: 00:27:07

So all we're left with are pristine olive.

David: 00:27:10

Okay.

David: 00:27:11

Those olives then get crushed through what we call a hammer mill or a blade crusher.

David: 00:27:16

They're different kinds, but they essentially get crushed.

David: 00:27:19

And this is, this is why I love being a master Miller, is this moment.

David: 00:27:23

So the oil that's in the olives is actually distributed through the flesh of the olive and teeny tiny microscopic drop.

David: 00:27:32

and this oil at this point, it doesn't have color.

David: 00:27:35

There's no aroma, there's no antioxidants, there's none of these health benefits, there's no flavor, there's nothing.

David: 00:27:40

It's just oil.

David: 00:27:42

All of that beautiful stuff that we end up with in a great bottle, all of that happens in the milling process.

David: 00:27:48

And that's, that for me is, uh, that's what gets me going.

David: 00:27:52

So how does that happen?

David: 00:27:53

Yeah.

David: 00:27:54

So the moment those olives are crush, Then the, the oil is exposed to the rest of the olive of the water, the, uh, you

David: 00:28:05

And that's when this crazy biochemistry starts happening that produces these beautiful aromatic compounds.

David: 00:28:11

And, and these really healthy polyphenols move into the oil and these wonderful flavors and everything happened.

David: 00:28:18

And that happens in about a 20 to 25 minute period, which we call mal.

David: 00:28:23

So we go crushing.

David: 00:28:25

Then it's mal relaxation.

David: 00:28:26

And mal relaxation is really just a slow agitation of this paste that we have now in a very controlled environment.

David: 00:28:33

So we don't want oxygen in there.

David: 00:28:35

We don't, it can't be hot, so we do it as cold as we possibly can because that's how we retain all of those flavors and nutrients.

David: 00:28:42

Once the oil has all the flavor we want, and once we're confident that it's good and ready to separate.

David: 00:28:49

Then what we use now is we use centrifuges and then that separates all of the heavy things, so the water and

David: 00:28:59

So what you're left with is you're left with fresh oil and you're left with the palm, which is the the paste.

David: 00:29:04

Once the oil's extracted, we call it PMUs.

David: 00:29:07

That oil then goes to one more centrifuge, a finisher polisher, and that's it.

David: 00:29:13

At that moment, you have your fresh.

David: 00:29:16

High quality olive

Bruce: 00:29:17

oil.

Bruce: 00:29:18

How do you then package it and transport it to retain its peak freshness?

David: 00:29:24

So the moment the oil's out of the olive, It goes into our sellers.

David: 00:29:29

And our sellers we've determined are about the the best environment you can have to slow down oxidation.

David: 00:29:35

You can't stop oxidation.

David: 00:29:36

That's why the human body ages, right.

David: 00:29:38

We haven't figured out how to stop it yet, but we can definitely slow it down by doing things like.

David: 00:29:43

Keeping the oil cool, right.

David: 00:29:45

Keeping light, heat, and air away.

David: 00:29:47

So in our sellers we have stainless steel casks.

David: 00:29:51

Uh, they're kept under nitrogen to keep the oils kept under nitrogen to keep all the, the oxygen out.

David: 00:29:56

Mm-hmm.

David: 00:29:56

and it's all climate controlled.

David: 00:29:58

So that's great.

David: 00:30:00

It's in our cell and it's protected, but what happens next?

David: 00:30:03

Right?

David: 00:30:03

What about the real world?

David: 00:30:05

So the decisions, you know, what we've decided to do is we only package enough to fill the orders that are coming in.

David: 00:30:11

And that way the oil spends the least amount of time in the real world, but the, it's going into the real world, right?

David: 00:30:17

Yeah.

David: 00:30:18

So that's when the packaging choice becomes critical.

David: 00:30:21

What package is out there that protects it from light, heat, and air.

David: 00:30:25

And after extensive testing, we found that the best package to protect olive oil from light, heat,

David: 00:30:33

It's basically a bag in box.

David: 00:30:36

Hmm.

David: 00:30:36

And if you think about it, the cardboard blocks the.

David: 00:30:40

The cardboard acts as an insulator, and then the bag itself protects the oil from oxygen.

David: 00:30:47

Not just until you open it, but the entire time you use it.

David: 00:30:50

Right?

David: 00:30:51

And so that's how we're able to guarantee fresh oil through the last drop.

Bruce: 00:30:54

David, you threw out the words extra virgin earlier.

Bruce: 00:30:57

So let me ask you, are those terms extra virgin and virgin still meaningful in the US olive oil market?

David: 00:31:03

I describe it like.

David: 00:31:05

extra Virgin is like getting a D in school because there are two components to an oil being extra virgin.

David: 00:31:11

Number one, it has to go through a chemical analysis.

David: 00:31:15

And number two, it has to go through a sensory analysis.

David: 00:31:18

So a trained sensory panel tastes oils blind, but all they are looking for is any defect.

David: 00:31:26

So in order to be extra virgin, by the, by definition, the definition is the oil must have zero defects.

David: 00:31:32

Okay?

David: 00:31:33

And so why do I say that's like a D in school?

David: 00:31:35

Well, that doesn't mean you did anything well, right?

David: 00:31:39

All that means that there's nothing wrong with it.

David: 00:31:41

and we deal with a lot of chefs and I always, I always joke with the chefs when we were talking about this and

David: 00:31:54

And you tell your fish monger, you say, you know what?

David: 00:31:57

Gimme some fish that's got nothing wrong with it, and he goes into the back and grabs some fish that's been there for three days.

David: 00:32:04

It's not quite rancid yet.

David: 00:32:05

Right.

David: 00:32:06

So, you know, and he brings you that fish.

David: 00:32:08

It's just, it doesn't make sense.

David: 00:32:10

And that's how we think about olive oil for some reason.

Bruce: 00:32:13

So you are not labeling your oils as extra virgin?

David: 00:32:17

So we do.

David: 00:32:18

So California has its own extra virgin standard and it's the strictest standard in the.

David: 00:32:25

And that's great.

David: 00:32:26

The pro, so it's like, it's like a C minus . The problem with that is that all of the testing happens at the time of production.

David: 00:32:34

Hmm.

David: 00:32:35

. And as we know, olive oil, you can't stop oxidation.

David: 00:32:38

Right?

David: 00:32:38

So that has very little bearing with what's actually on the shelf.

David: 00:32:43

So, you know, the reality is if we could take the words extra virgin, if we could, if we could just

David: 00:32:50

I mean, extra virgin has become a commodity at this point.

David: 00:32:53

Right.

David: 00:32:54

If we could just get rid of that and start new with some new language, I would be all over it.

Bruce: 00:32:59

Let's talk about cooking with oil.

Bruce: 00:33:01

So now we, you've made this beautiful oil, you've packaged it in a way that will keep it as fresh as can be for as long as possible.

Bruce: 00:33:07

I get it home.

Bruce: 00:33:08

Should I saute with it?

Bruce: 00:33:10

Will it lose its flavor?

Bruce: 00:33:11

Nutrition over high heat?

David: 00:33:12

So the answer is a very simple, fresh, high quality olive oil is the most stable cooking oil there.

David: 00:33:19

and there's a very simple reason for that.

David: 00:33:21

We've talked about what makes olive oil different from all the other oils, right?

David: 00:33:25

It's mm-hmm.

David: 00:33:26

. It's essentially, it's fresh pressed juice, so it retains all of the flavors.

David: 00:33:30

It retains the aromas, and it retains all of the antioxidants from the fruit itself when the oil is fresh.

David: 00:33:37

and high quality than the oil itself because of these antioxidants won't break down in a pan like refined oils do.

David: 00:33:46

Now we all get tripped up on this smoke point deal, so I'll, I'll address that.

David: 00:33:50

Smoke point is kind of ridiculous because you can't just say that an oil has a smoke point because it depends on the batch of oil.

David: 00:33:58

It depends on how fresh it is.

David: 00:34:00

I mean, smoke, like any oil, is gonna have huge ranges of smoke point.

David: 00:34:04

Mm-hmm.

David: 00:34:04

and olive oil is no.

David: 00:34:06

So we were talking earlier about our orange, right?

David: 00:34:10

That really beautiful orange.

David: 00:34:11

Mm-hmm.

David: 00:34:12

. So the, and so start with a premium olive.

David: 00:34:15

If you extract the oil from a premium olive, it's gonna have an extremely high smoke point.

David: 00:34:21

Now as that olive hangs on the tree in ferments, right, it's rotting, it's becoming over ripe.

David: 00:34:27

It starts to ferment.

David: 00:34:28

The actual fats are breaking down in that olive.

David: 00:34:32

So when you extract the oil, if you juice that rotten orange, right, that oil is going to have a much lower smoke point.

David: 00:34:41

and because most of the oil in the United States especially is from over ripe olives, most of the extra quote unquote

David: 00:34:53

That doesn't mean it has to.

David: 00:34:54

That just means that it's very low quality.

Bruce: 00:34:56

Well, the quality of the fruit determines the quality of the oil.

Bruce: 00:34:59

Exactly.

Bruce: 00:35:00

It determines the qual.

Bruce: 00:35:01

Exactly.

Bruce: 00:35:01

Exactly.

Bruce: 00:35:02

Smoke point.

Bruce: 00:35:02

And then we shouldn't be worried about sauteing over high heat.

David: 00:35:05

Not only should you not be worried about it, you should be excited that not only does it have a

David: 00:35:14

which make it a really healthy and stable cooking oil.

Bruce: 00:35:17

David, as a cookbook author, I'm always looking for new, exciting ways to use great tasting products.

Bruce: 00:35:24

So I'm gonna ask you, what are your favorite ways to use olive oil?

Bruce: 00:35:29

Aside from salads or simply using it to dip bread into, let's talk about.

David: 00:35:34

Baking, for example, people always shy from using olive oil in baking because it has a strong quote unquote

David: 00:35:49

because the, the olive oil in baked goods in, in, in, in, as a, as an ingredient in things has such

David: 00:36:01

Hmm.

David: 00:36:02

And, and so, like, for example, uh, in California we used to have a really big table olive industry and the variety,

David: 00:36:13

And Osco this giant olive, it is a pain in the butt to get the oil out.

David: 00:36:18

However, when you do get the oil out, it is extremely unique.

David: 00:36:23

It, it really smells like melons, like someone's just chopping up melons, canop, uh, Honey doo, and it's

David: 00:36:34

And when it's in baked goods, it's remarkable.

David: 00:36:37

It's just, it adds a whole layer of depth to the flavor that you'll never, ever get with any other kinds of fats.

Bruce: 00:36:44

At Corto, do you sell different varietals of oils?

David: 00:36:48

So we use different varietals in our blend.

David: 00:36:51

So we, we deal mostly with, with chefs into food service.

David: 00:36:54

So really high-end restaurants across the country.

David: 00:36:57

And we have one product we call truly, which is a blend of aina and arana, which are two Spanish varietals.

David: 00:37:03

Mm-hmm.

David: 00:37:04

and uh, koi, which is a Greek varietal.

David: 00:37:07

And we blend that for a consistent product for chefs.

David: 00:37:10

Mm-hmm.

David: 00:37:10

. And when I talk to people now, it's like I can take my cordo hat off.

David: 00:37:14

Right.

David: 00:37:14

And I'll tell you, once you open the door to the world of.

David: 00:37:18

High quality olive oil.

David: 00:37:20

I encourage people to go try other oils, find other varieties.

David: 00:37:24

You look at oils from other countries, uh, different terroirs that you just have to understand that it has

Bruce: 00:37:34

So aside from baking, if you want to have a really exciting, uh, use for the oil, something that'll

David: 00:37:44

Another one, another great pairing is olive oil and chocolate.

David: 00:37:47

Whether it's just a truffle sitting in olive oil with little salt,

Bruce: 00:37:50

chocolate, and olives sound like a fantastic combination.

David: 00:37:52

That's one of the parts about my job that excites me the most is like, once people start under, like, once you think about

David: 00:38:03

That we can do with, with fresh, high quality olive that we're not currently doing because we

Bruce: 00:38:09

So we need to just be getting our hands on fresher olive oil made from better fruit, like what you're making.

Bruce: 00:38:15

A Corto Olive Company Master Olive Miller, David Garcia Aguire.

Bruce: 00:38:20

Thank you so much for spending some time talking about all things.

Bruce: 00:38:24

Olive oil and what you're doing at the Corto Olive Company.

David: 00:38:27

Yeah, my pleasure.

David: 00:38:28

Bruce, thank you so much.

David: 00:38:30

I,

Mark: 00:38:30

I, I have to tell you a story.

Mark: 00:38:31

Well, Bruce knows the story, but I'm gonna tell you a story.

Mark: 00:38:34

When I was in grad school in Madison, Wisconsin, I, this is the mid eighties and olive oil is

Mark: 00:38:45

Of course, it's a thing in Italy.

Bruce: 00:38:46

Oh my God.

Bruce: 00:38:47

It's been a thing in Italy for hundreds of years.

Bruce: 00:38:49

Greece

Mark: 00:38:49

and other places, but anything.

Mark: 00:38:51

And so I found a recipe in Bon Appetit.

Mark: 00:38:54

This has to be like 1986 in Bon Appetit for something, and it called for olive oil, and I had never actually a good southern boy.

Mark: 00:39:02

This is 86.

Mark: 00:39:03

I had never heard of olive oil, so we went to the supermarket to buy some.

Mark: 00:39:07

They had none at the supermarket in Madison.

Mark: 00:39:10

They sent me to the drugstore, and olive oil was sold as a.

Mark: 00:39:17

Ointment called Sweet oil, and I am sure it was not food safe olive oil, but I bought this little bottle

Mark: 00:39:28

I dunno.

Bruce: 00:39:28

I'm surprised it wasn't sold as a laxative.

Mark: 00:39:30

Well, it could have been for all I know.

Mark: 00:39:32

I don't know.

Mark: 00:39:33

They ta, they said, go to the drugstore.

Mark: 00:39:35

That's the only place they have these things.

Mark: 00:39:36

And I was like, Okay, and I bought it Sweet Oil.

Mark: 00:39:40

Isn't that funny?

Bruce: 00:39:41

Well, my big takeaway from that conversation though is how oil is packaged.

Bruce: 00:39:45

I am going to be looking for the bag in the box now because that is really clearly, according to David.

Bruce: 00:39:51

The only way to make sure your oil stays.

Bruce: 00:39:54

Unoxidized until you finish it up.

Bruce: 00:39:56

And so start looking in our pantry mark for the olive oil, the bag in the box with the spigot.

Bruce: 00:40:02

And we . That's how we're doing olive oil from now on.

Mark: 00:40:05

Yeah, the box also keeps the, uh, the light away from it, right?

Bruce: 00:40:07

It does.

Bruce: 00:40:07

It's a brilliant, it's a brilliant thing.

Bruce: 00:40:09

It is.

Mark: 00:40:10

Okay, so we wanna tell you a little bit of news information before we go onto the last segment of the podcast.

Bruce: 00:40:15

For our knitting listeners out there, many of you know that I am also a knitter.

Bruce: 00:40:20

I've written some knitting books and many of my patterns, in fact, almost all the patterns I have knitted and created are

Bruce: 00:40:32

I also have opened an Etsy shop where you can find all my patterns and you can go to Etsy shop and it's

Bruce: 00:40:43

I couldn't believe that name was available.

Bruce: 00:40:44

See nice knitting patterns.

Bruce: 00:40:46

Okay, so you can go to bruce weinstein.net or nice knitting patterns.

Bruce: 00:40:49

So take a look at my knitting patterns.

Mark: 00:40:50

All right, our last segment as is traditional.

Mark: 00:40:53

What's making us happy in food this week?

Mark: 00:40:56

You get to start.

Bruce: 00:40:57

I love chocolate covered orange peel.

Bruce: 00:40:59

We bought a ton of it when we were in Toronto.

Bruce: 00:41:02

We did over Thanksgiving and No, no, we didn't.

Bruce: 00:41:05

I did, and I thought we had finished it all and I found a little bag of them hidden away in one

Bruce: 00:41:12

So I've been enjoying them.

Mark: 00:41:13

We were in Toronto and Bruce was craving chocolate, and I have to tell you that we

Mark: 00:41:20

Afternoon, we would go, we had this Airbnb on the 40th floor of this building with this gorgeous view of Toronto.

Mark: 00:41:26

And so every day we'd go out and we'd walk miles and miles and miles around Toronto.

Mark: 00:41:30

I mean, it was crazy how much we walked and exploring the city and having lunch and going various

Mark: 00:41:39

And then we'd come home about four in the afternoon, and dinner would be seven or eight at night.

Mark: 00:41:44

And for the intervening time, , we watch Rings of Power on the Lord of the Rings thing on H B O, right?

Mark: 00:41:51

Or something.

Mark: 00:41:52

Mm-hmm.

Mark: 00:41:52

. So anyway, we, or.

Mark: 00:41:53

Prime.

Mark: 00:41:54

I don't know where it is.

Mark: 00:41:55

Anyway, it doesn't matter.

Mark: 00:41:56

Bruce, in the middle of watching all the strings of power was like, I want chocolate.

Mark: 00:41:59

So we paused it and he went out and went across the streets to some chocolate place and bought candy covered orange peel.

Bruce: 00:42:05

It was a Swiss shop.

Bruce: 00:42:06

I don't remember which one boat it was one of those Swiss chocolate companies and oh my goodness,

Mark: 00:42:14

Yeah, it is a good thing.

Mark: 00:42:14

Okay, here is.

Mark: 00:42:17

Uh, well, what's making me happy?

Mark: 00:42:18

The food is this week and it is lunch out in the middle of the week.

Mark: 00:42:23

. I love this idea of going out to lunch in the middle of the week.

Mark: 00:42:26

We both work at home, of course, because of our career.

Mark: 00:42:29

We are around a lot.

Mark: 00:42:30

We're, we're recording podcasts, we're writing books, and I'm teaching a lot of literary

Mark: 00:42:38

Uh, we go out for lunch midday, and I have to say it is one of the nicest treats there can possibly be if

Mark: 00:42:53

But you know what?

Mark: 00:42:53

Every once in a while I would take myself.

Mark: 00:42:56

Out for lunch and sit at the bar or sit at a table by myself.

Mark: 00:43:00

It's fine.

Mark: 00:43:00

It's a lovely thing.

Mark: 00:43:01

It's a lovely thing.

Mark: 00:43:02

I go with Bruce, we sit, we have lunch out.

Mark: 00:43:05

It's just, it's just, I dunno whether there's something about lunch out.

Bruce: 00:43:08

It's treating yourself.

Bruce: 00:43:08

That is a good self-care wellness.

Bruce: 00:43:11

Tip for the new year is once a week take.

Bruce: 00:43:14

If you can do it once a week, take yourself out for lunch.

Mark: 00:43:17

Yeah.

Mark: 00:43:17

And it doesn't even have to be once a week.

Mark: 00:43:19

It can be once every other week.

Mark: 00:43:20

And it doesn't have to be anything Makes fancy.

Mark: 00:43:21

I don't mean take yourself out to a five star restaurant.

Mark: 00:43:23

Mm-hmm.

Mark: 00:43:24

Mm.

Mark: 00:43:24

Yesterday we went out and I literally had a Thai salad at a place.

Mark: 00:43:29

Oh, I don't know.

Mark: 00:43:29

About an hour away from us in New England.

Mark: 00:43:32

It was just lovely.

Mark: 00:43:33

I sat there and had my Thai salad and my iced tea and we talked and it was, it was like this kind of mini vacation.

Mark: 00:43:40

It was nice in the middle of my week and it was really, really nice.

Bruce: 00:43:44

The only thing that would've made it a real vacation is if we'd had a drink at lunch.

Mark: 00:43:48

Oh, I, yeah.

Mark: 00:43:49

No, I can't do that anymore.

Mark: 00:43:50

, we were talking about that last night cuz we, we were watching White Lotus on HBO O and they say drink, they

Mark: 00:43:58

And I said to Bruce, I remember when I could go out and split a bottle of wine with Bruced for lunch at, you know, we'd be on

Mark: 00:44:09

And I said to him, I just can't anymore.

Mark: 00:44:11

I can't.

Mark: 00:44:12

Mm-hmm.

Mark: 00:44:12

In fact, when I went out and had my Thai salad yesterday, I thought about having a beer and then I

Mark: 00:44:18

You gotta call him work, not sleep.

Mark: 00:44:20

Right.

Mark: 00:44:20

I'm, I gotta come home and I gotta get ready for this class.

Mark: 00:44:23

I'm teaching on Gerard Stein, Marcel Prust, and.

Mark: 00:44:26

Freud, I gotta get ready for that and I'll just be wrecked and not be able to do that.

Bruce: 00:44:30

A lot of people would need a beer to do that.

Bruce: 00:44:33

. Mark: No, I need all my brain cells going, uh, together.

Bruce: 00:44:36

Okay, so that's our podcast Cooking with Bruce and Mark.

Bruce: 00:44:39

We hope you enjoyed this episode of the podcast.

Bruce: 00:44:41

We are certainly grateful that you are on this journey with us.

Bruce: 00:44:44

Thank you so much for being there.

Bruce: 00:44:46

We.

Bruce: 00:44:46

Love doing this and talking about, I don't know what's hip and happening in food, but also we love the

Bruce: 00:44:57

and we hope you will subscribe.

Bruce: 00:44:59

You leave a comment and please go check out my knitting patterns@bruceweinstein.net and at nice