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Valentine's Dinners That Change Everything: Romance and Seduction on Your Plate! · Family Tree Food Stories

• 0:00
  Nancy May: Welcome everybody to another episode of Family Tree Food and Story
• 0:03
  where food carries our memories and our history, and sometimes a little
• 0:07
  heartbreak because this show's all about romantic love, friendly love, family
• 0:14
  love, and it's all woven into food.
• 0:16
  But before we start.
• 0:18
  I wanna let you know, you have to wait till the end because we have a
• 0:21
  very romantic Valentine's gift for you at the end from Sylvia and me.
• 0:27
  your secret valentine on the side, right, Sylvia?
• 0:30
  Sylvia Lovely: I love that idea.
• 0:33
  Yeah, I think they're gonna wanna hang on to the end.
• 0:35
  Anyway.
• 0:35
  There's a lot of interesting stuff in this episode.
• 0:38
  Nancy May: So let's kick it off with, something lovely and delicious, Sylvia.
• 0:43
  Lovely.
• 0:43
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 0:44
  'cause today is Valentine's Day show.
• 0:46
  it's all about finding love.
• 0:48
  Or not if you screwed up that crucial first date.
• 0:53
  Nancy May: Oh, been there, done that.
• 0:55
  Sylvia Lovely: Alright, let's just dive right in.
• 0:57
  you know.
• 0:57
  Many love stories don't happen because of the bad date.
• 1:02
  You never know what might have happened, right?
• 1:03
  If it hadn't screwed up.
• 1:04
  Or it could lead to some really great stories later on that you
• 1:08
  can tell your grandchildren, right?
• 1:10
  But let's talk about those first dates and, and I think
• 1:13
  you should go first, Nancy.
• 1:15
  'cause
• 1:15
  Nancy May: Oh, I've got one.
• 1:16
  I've
• 1:16
  Sylvia Lovely: Go, go, go, go, go.
• 1:18
  Go.
• 1:18
  Nancy May: I've got a couple of them.
• 1:20
  But honestly, I'll have to confess, and he knows this, I mean, we've talked
• 1:24
  about it before publicly, so it's not, now he's just going worldwide.
• 1:29
  But our first official date together, not on a matchup date with friends,
• 1:35
  was a bomb.
• 1:36
  Sylvia Lovely: Oh,
• 1:37
  Nancy May: Yes.
• 1:37
  And it was over a movie and a meal, and I thought if I never see
• 1:42
  this guy again, it won't kill me.
• 1:45
  Sylvia Lovely: What happened?
• 1:46
  Nancy May: we went to see a movie, which was not a movie you should
• 1:48
  go to on a first date, which was Children of a Lesser God.
• 1:51
  Great movie, but not terribly
• 1:54
  Sylvia Lovely: Hmm.
• 1:55
  Nancy May: cuddle, romantic, I guess you could say.
• 1:57
  Not that you have to go to a romantic movie on a first date.
• 1:59
  And then we went to dinner and he ate the string beans off
• 2:03
  his salad with his fingers.
• 2:05
  And it really like.
• 2:07
  Where's the fork?
• 2:08
  So I thought that's it.
• 2:10
  Maybe call me a snob, but . I'll have to admit they were cold string
• 2:13
  beans off the top of a salad.
• 2:15
  So it really wasn't a terrible food crime, but I just was not
• 2:19
  in the mood after that movie.
• 2:20
  So that was it.
• 2:21
  And guess what?
• 2:22
  He called me six months later after that.
• 2:25
  And the rest is history
• 2:27
  Sylvia Lovely: I love that.
• 2:28
  I love that story.
• 2:29
  Sort of.
• 2:30
  It's not perfect.
• 2:30
  I don't know Bob, I know enough about him ' but I know you and I can just imagine,
• 2:36
  'cause you know, can be a little exacting.
• 2:38
  I mean, you have things that you like and things you want to be the way they are.
• 2:43
  I know that much.
• 2:44
  I know that much about you.
• 2:46
  Okay.
• 2:47
  But that's a great story though, and it turned out to be a super great
• 2:52
  Nancy May: 37 years later, we're still going at it.
• 2:55
  Sylvia Lovely: I
• 2:55
  love it.
• 2:57
  Nancy May: because it is Valentine's Day,
• 2:58
  Sylvia Lovely: And by the way, is this R-rated, this
• 3:01
  Nancy May: I know.
• 3:02
  I think we should maybe, we should tone it down to at least gp
• 3:04
  Sylvia Lovely: Oh, there's some real zingers when you start talking about it.
• 3:07
  Right?
• 3:07
  Okay.
• 3:08
  But.
• 3:08
  Nancy May: how about
• 3:09
  you?
• 3:09
  Sylvia Lovely: okay.
• 3:10
  My first date was with a real hunk.
• 3:13
  And what could have been, and don't tell Bernie that.
• 3:15
  'cause you know, I, I ended
• 3:17
  Nancy May: I don't want it to go to his head.
• 3:18
  Absolutely not.
• 3:19
  Sylvia Lovely: I have a couple of really good stories, but, this is the kicker.
• 3:23
  I went on a date with a hunk and I. Okay.
• 3:26
  Is it better to stay silent and let him think I'm an idiot or
• 3:29
  speak up and dispel all doubt?
• 3:31
  I was silent.
• 3:32
  I didn't talk in the entire date.
• 3:35
  And I'm like, what did that guy think?
• 3:37
  I mean, it's like idiot alert.
• 3:40
  that and, let me see.
• 3:41
  Oh, quickly my other one.
• 3:42
  First date was with Bernie and I was in the library.
• 3:45
  I was a library nerd.
• 3:46
  I mean, I was, and, he came to get me and he had that kind of long hair of
• 3:51
  the seventies, you know, he was like an
• 3:52
  Nancy May: Oh yeah.
• 3:53
  Sylvia Lovely: guy.
• 3:54
  So we went across the street and I thought I was gonna go toward the beetle, the
• 3:58
  Volkswagen Beetle that was sitting there.
• 4:00
  And instead I looked up and he's going to this car that the engine is going.
• 4:08
  It was a sport car with those little wires on the front.
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  And I'm like, no, you're, you know, you're not fitting the stereotype
• 4:15
  here, Anyway, the rest is history.
• 4:19
  so there you go.
• 4:20
  Nancy May: did you ever go to the diner with him in that car where
• 4:23
  they put the, the trays on the edge?
• 4:25
  I could see you doing that with him
• 4:26
  Sylvia Lovely: No, that's an experience we missed.
• 4:28
  But anyway,
• 4:30
  yeah, that thing took wings when we got on the interstate though.
• 4:33
  I mean, it flew, it was quite a hopped up car.
• 4:36
  Turns out he's a car aficionado.
• 4:38
  And I don't know that, I just was going with the stereotypes.
• 4:41
  Right.
• 4:42
  But anyway, dates gone bad.
• 4:44
  What?
• 4:44
  What's some foods that we should stay away from?
• 4:46
  What do you think?
• 4:47
  Nancy May: Oh, stay away from, I would say stay away from spaghetti,
• 4:51
  because that can be messy.
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  And if you wanna be exacting, do you eat your spaghetti with a
• 4:56
  spoon like you twirl on a spoon?
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  Do you cut it?
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  you just just slop it so that when you take a big slurp, the end of
• 5:04
  the noodle goes up in your nose,
• 5:06
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 5:07
  Okay.
• 5:07
  I think, I think the solution to that problem, what's the movie?
• 5:11
  Oh, shoot.
• 5:12
  Nancy May: in the, tramp, lady in the tramp.
• 5:14
  So you grab the other ends, you know, and you end biting all the way
• 5:18
  through and then you kiss at the end.
• 5:20
  Sylvia Lovely: ah, and romance alive.
• 5:23
  I think my favorite not to do is French onion soup.
• 5:26
  I've probably tried that at some point that, and in a business meeting, you never
• 5:31
  want to eat french onion soup because it's gooey and the strings, you can have
• 5:35
  a string hanging, you don't even know it,
• 5:38
  Nancy May: That's soupy that you chew,
• 5:40
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, you do.
• 5:41
  So don't, don't do that.
• 5:43
  Okay.
• 5:44
  So what else do we have?
• 5:45
  Some people have ordered, everything on the menu.
• 5:48
  Okay.
• 5:48
  That's
• 5:49
  Nancy May: Oh, right.
• 5:50
  Or the most expensive thing I've, yeah.
• 5:52
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, that one.
• 5:53
  Yeah.
• 5:54
  Nancy May: I've, I've heard of guys saying well, let's presume in this case, whoever
• 5:59
  is picking up the check on that date.
• 6:02
  Usually it's not split.
• 6:03
  I mean, I don't know.
• 6:04
  Do you split a check on a
• 6:05
  first
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  Sylvia Lovely: don't know anymore.
• 6:07
  I don't know.
• 6:07
  That's
• 6:08
  kind of interesting.
• 6:09
  Yeah.
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  Nancy May: But if.
• 6:11
  if.
• 6:11
  one person or the other is picking up the check and you are the guest, it's,
• 6:16
  I was always told by my dad, you be polite and you order a lower priced item.
• 6:21
  You don't, you don't have to order the lowest price.
• 6:23
  Depending upon if you're dating a church mouse, but I'm not the type of
• 6:27
  personality to date a church mouse anyway.
• 6:30
  Sylvia Lovely: yeah.
• 6:31
  Nancy May: I've also heard of, guys in this particular case, when I was
• 6:34
  younger, who, when the girl ordered, let's say lobster, and he ordered
• 6:39
  the chicken, depending upon how hot the girl was, He either ran outta
• 6:44
  money or he just never asked her out
• 6:46
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  She had champagne taste.
• 6:49
  You know, one of my favorite, getting back to the screen Friend's episode
• 6:53
  is a hilarious one where Rachel is breaking up with Ross and her
• 6:58
  clearly disgusted date is calling.
• 7:01
  Check, please check please.
• 7:02
  And she's drunk and she's carrying on in this message.
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  She is leaving for Ross.
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  Bad thing, don't do that.
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  Okay,
• 7:09
  so what else?
• 7:10
  Let's see.
• 7:10
  Nancy May: Oh, when Harry met Sally, I don't think it was actually a date,
• 7:14
  but when Harry met Sally and she's having this episode at the diner,
• 7:19
  we'll call it to be, since we wanna be
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  PG rated, and the woman, says, I'll have what she's having.
• 7:27
  Sylvia Lovely: Oh, no.
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  Nancy May: I don't know if that classified as a data or not,
• 7:30
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 7:30
  that's pretty close.
• 7:31
  Yeah.
• 7:32
  How about green food in your teeth?
• 7:35
  Nancy May: Ooh.
• 7:35
  Sylvia Lovely: Gotta watch those greens.
• 7:37
  Gotta watch them.
• 7:38
  Nancy May: not good.
• 7:39
  Yep.
• 7:40
  or actually, like whatever it is, ends up on your front of your shirt.
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  Not good.
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  Anything.
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  Dribble or, or like,
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  Sylvia Lovely: yeah.
• 7:47
  some people say the safest bet is a coffee date, right?
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  Just get to know 'em a little bit and and then you can branch out and do
• 7:54
  whatever you need to do to be happy.
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  But,
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  Nancy May: I guess you can have a $10 coffee too.
• 8:00
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
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  Oh yeah.
• 8:02
  Trust me.
• 8:03
  And I remember our Terry Hall story in the book, Terry's dear friend,
• 8:07
  and he had slaved away making chicken cordon blue, and the mashed
• 8:12
  potatoes were lumpy and all that.
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  But he tried.
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  Turns out she didn't like chicken cordon blue.
• 8:18
  She didn't even like the dish.
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  So,
• 8:21
  eh,
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  but
• 8:22
  love bloomed.
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  Nancy May: I have to give any guy, or any, any gal, woman who's making a meal for
• 8:29
  somebody that they care about when they try and they do, even if it's not perfect,
• 8:34
  there can be a lot of fun and laughter and food can be an aphrodisiac, let's face it.
• 8:39
  But so can laughter and the mistakes that go along in the kitchen.
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  And I think that's okay.
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  And again, since we're GP rated here, everything can be fixed
• 8:47
  with whipped cream and a cherry.
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  Sylvia Lovely: your, wait, I've got a whipped cream joke.
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  I'm
• 8:52
  coming.
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  Okay.
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  Nancy May: right.
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  Sylvia Lovely: Alright, so you wanna do a quiz,
• 8:57
  Nancy May: gimme an aphrodisia quiz.
• 8:59
  Sylvia Lovely: Okay.
• 9:00
  all right, you gotta say whether you think it's true or it's myth.
• 9:04
  Now how do we start this?
• 9:06
  Every food has at some point been an aphrodisiac.
• 9:10
  Why is that, do you think?
• 9:11
  Why do you think that is?
• 9:12
  Food is primal, isn't it?
• 9:14
  Nancy May: well.
• 9:15
  it is, and every show we've done, it seems like there are always something
• 9:18
  that goes back to the Greeks, right.
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  And or the Romans.
• 9:21
  think of the orgies that they had.
• 9:23
  Now, this is not slight, this is not terribly off track, but the image of
• 9:28
  men and women laying down on big pillows, being fed grapes and I don't know,
• 9:32
  did they have strawberries back then?
• 9:34
  I'm presuming they had some kind of thing like that, but
• 9:36
  certainly they had grapes for sure.
• 9:39
  Or even olives, I would say.
• 9:41
  But being fed by somebody else is seductive,
• 9:45
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 9:45
  and, food is just about pleasure.
• 9:47
  That's what, when we talk about families, that's
• 9:49
  pleasure.
• 9:51
  Yeah.
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  And what we're talking about with romance is.
• 9:53
  Pleasure on steroids.
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  Right.
• 9:57
  Nancy May: Pleasure with a fork.
• 9:59
  Alright,
• 10:00
  next
• 10:00
  Sylvia Lovely: Okay.
• 10:01
  All right.
• 10:02
  Nancy May: Did I answer that one?
• 10:03
  I'm not sure.
• 10:04
  Sylvia Lovely: You're good.
• 10:04
  You're good.
• 10:05
  But I do have a spoiler alert on this one.
• 10:08
  . Oysters should be on this list, right?
• 10:10
  And we all think oysters is, oh my gosh.
• 10:13
  I mean, most Valentine's menus contain.
• 10:16
  it does, they're tasty.
• 10:18
  All of those things.
• 10:19
  They're really good for you.
• 10:20
  And there are people who say, okay, A X-rated here, R rated here, phallic.
• 10:26
  you know what
• 10:27
  we're saying here.
• 10:28
  but they're not scientifically aphrodisiac like some
• 10:31
  things are because some things have like.
• 10:33
  Testosterone boosters and natural kind of stuff, and we'll get to some of those.
• 10:38
  But anyway, oysters not on the science list, but what heck with that?
• 10:43
  I mean, if it makes you feel warm and fuzzy, go for it.
• 10:46
  Right?
• 10:47
  Nancy May: We'll be polite on that point.
• 10:48
  Sylvia Lovely: It will be.
• 10:50
  So let me see here.
• 10:51
  let's look at these.
• 10:52
  Okay.
• 10:52
  Pomegranate.
• 10:53
  Nancy May: Pomegranate is considered sexy.
• 10:56
  Sylvia Lovely: Oh yeah.
• 10:56
  It does seem weird.
• 10:57
  It's got seeds, right?
• 10:58
  Seeds,
• 10:59
  Nancy May: and you have to work at it.
• 11:01
  Sylvia Lovely: And they say it wasn't the apple that Adam and Eve.
• 11:04
  Chomped on it was a
• 11:05
  Nancy May: it pomegranate
• 11:06
  Sylvia Lovely: Aphrodite, well known for our love superpowers planted the
• 11:10
  first pomegranate tree and the seeds symbolize abundance and fertility.
• 11:14
  And some studies claim that the fruit flowers, contain cortisol,
• 11:18
  increases testo, testosterone.
• 11:21
  We all see what that's doing.
• 11:22
  There's a craze among women for testosterone enhancement.
• 11:26
  and then I've heard stories where the husbands are like hiding out in the house.
• 11:30
  Because
• 11:30
  Nancy May: No, I've heard those two.
• 11:31
  Yeah.
• 11:32
  Sylvia Lovely: her libido has gone wild.
• 11:35
  But a last, it was sponsored by a pomegranate company, so I
• 11:39
  Nancy May: Right.
• 11:40
  It's, it's like the nut research study.
• 11:43
  I have a pomegranate story, we found a pomegranate tree, A local flea market
• 11:49
  where they were selling plants and stuff.
• 11:51
  so we bought it and the flower is really beautiful on it.
• 11:55
  It's delicate and it's lovely.
• 11:56
  And they had little teeny tiny pomegranates starting behind
• 12:00
  the, the buds of the flowers.
• 12:02
  But we've had frost, I mean, really cold frost down in the twenties here.
• 12:06
  And I know you guys have had snow further north of us, but our
• 12:10
  pomegranate died because it got too cold and we left it outside.
• 12:13
  We should have brought it in from the pot and not planted it
• 12:16
  and brought it into the garage.
• 12:18
  So I hope that doesn't say anything
• 12:20
  about our relationship.
• 12:22
  Sylvia Lovely: that's not very romantic
• 12:24
  Nancy May: We got have to go get another pomegranate.
• 12:26
  Sylvia Lovely: okay.
• 12:26
  So what do you think?
• 12:27
  I think that's probably myth.
• 12:28
  Don't you think that pomegranates,
• 12:31
  Nancy May: Well, I think so too.
• 12:31
  They're, pretty and they're beautiful, but have you ever tried freezing
• 12:35
  pomegranate seeds in ice cubes and then putting it into, let's say, a cocktail
• 12:39
  Sylvia Lovely: that's one thing you can do as a champagne cocktail.
• 12:43
  they're pretty potent in romance as well, and so
• 12:46
  I think that's, they're very pretty.
• 12:48
  so you eat enough of it, ladies.
• 12:50
  You don't have to go to get one of those prescriptions.
• 12:53
  Nancy May: Oh, because it's high in vitamin C. Is that it?
• 12:56
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 12:56
  Oh yeah.
• 12:56
  It's got all kinds of wonderful things all these foods do actually.
• 12:59
  But how about asparagus?
• 13:01
  What do you think?
• 13:02
  Nancy May: Oh, I would definitely think that's certainly a sexually enticing food.
• 13:06
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 13:06
  Yeah.
• 13:07
  the Kuma, the Kama Sutra, which is the Hindi version of romance, right?
• 13:12
  It's written up and it, it's about the concept of sexuality and
• 13:17
  emotional fulfillment comes as a goal.
• 13:19
  And so they suggested in there drinking it as a paste.
• 13:24
  Now.
• 13:24
  but let's talk about that for a minute.
• 13:26
  Can you imagine drinking a paste?
• 13:28
  I can see licking a paste.
• 13:30
  Maybe that could take the place of whipped cream.
• 13:32
  Ha.
• 13:32
  Got my whipped cream joke in there.
• 13:35
  Nancy May: or frozen paste, asparagus as an ice cream pop or something.
• 13:39
  That also sounds disgusting,
• 13:41
  Sylvia Lovely: I know.
• 13:42
  I don't know.
• 13:42
  O.
• 13:42
  Nancy May: but, oh, wait a second.
• 13:43
  But you know, asparagus comes in different colors too.
• 13:46
  Sylvia Lovely: Yes sir, it does.
• 13:46
  Nancy May: In the springtime.
• 13:48
  In the springtime, the French Ula la, the French have tons and tons and
• 13:53
  tons of white asparagus, and they create the white asparagus by covering
• 13:58
  it with a lot of hay as it's growing.
• 14:00
  And so it usually gets thick versus long and stringy.
• 14:03
  So I guess it depends upon how you like your asparagus,
• 14:07
  white, green, or purple or
• 14:09
  thick or not.
• 14:11
  Sylvia Lovely: You know, a common theme , and I don't know if this is just
• 14:14
  a PBS kind of thing that I was reading.
• 14:17
  It was very interesting, but all about the phallic shapes and I'm
• 14:20
  like, asparagus, that's skinny,
• 14:23
  Nancy May: but, but you haven't seen a French asparagus, so, oh,
• 14:28
  Sylvia, I think we get, I don't know.
• 14:30
  Good thing they're not showing this on screen because we're blushing.
• 14:34
  Sylvia Lovely: Bottom line is the Pea is a turnoff, right?
• 14:37
  Nancy May: Yes.
• 14:38
  Sylvia Lovely: Eh, myth, eh.
• 14:40
  Nancy May: Yeah, peas.
• 14:41
  Peas are not sexy by any means.
• 14:43
  Sylvia Lovely: Here's one on beets.
• 14:45
  Imagine beets are real popular right now in recipes in things because
• 14:49
  we, like, we serve a beet salad.
• 14:51
  People just eat it.
• 14:52
  And, and maybe there's something going on out there because
• 14:56
  this is really interesting.
• 14:57
  Romans, oh, again, started so many of our food traditions love them and there
• 15:01
  are beet drawings in Pompeii, you know, the excavated Pompeii on brothel walls.
• 15:08
  Beets, and they're good for your heart too.
• 15:11
  I mean, it's like people take beet supplements and at least we think
• 15:14
  they take it for their heart.
• 15:15
  Maybe not, because here's the funny part, there's a couple of these that have
• 15:19
  tryptophan as one of their components.
• 15:23
  It slows you down.
• 15:25
  We didn't, know Thanksgiving could be so fun.
• 15:29
  Nancy May: The Turkey is actually a sexual food.
• 15:31
  Did we know that?
• 15:32
  I don't know.
• 15:33
  I don't think the Turkey knew that.
• 15:35
  Sylvia Lovely: but here's the kicker.
• 15:36
  It has boron, which is thought to increase sex hormones and
• 15:40
  support sex hallmark hormones.
• 15:41
  So, there you go.
• 15:43
  Turkey puts you to sleep.
• 15:44
  I always thought, now I'm gonna pay more attention to where people
• 15:47
  go on Thanksgiving when they say they're gonna go take a nap.
• 15:51
  Nancy May: I don't know.
• 15:52
  You know, I'm going to stop you a second because you mentioned that
• 15:55
  beets were depicted on brothel walls.
• 15:58
  Have you ever been to Pompeii?
• 16:00
  Sylvia Lovely: No,
• 16:01
  Nancy May: So I went to Pompeii and very interesting, you walk around and they,
• 16:06
  of course they show you the brothel walls and on the, the paintings, it's
• 16:11
  amazing that they're still even there.
• 16:13
  They have pictures of the different poses that you could order.
• 16:17
  And right loud mouth me raises my hand.
• 16:21
  I said, I guess this is how McDonald's got the idea of the different menu
• 16:26
  numbers that you could select from.
• 16:28
  So maybe McDonald's is a little bit more seductive than we realize.
• 16:32
  It's kind
• 16:33
  of the fast food menu.
• 16:34
  You'll never look at a McDonald's menu or a fast food me menu
• 16:37
  ever the same way again.
• 16:40
  Sylvia Lovely: birdcage reminds me of that movie.
• 16:42
  Remember where he passes out the plates, has the settings also, and then has
• 16:47
  to take them up real quickly because.
• 16:50
  Nancy May: Oh my goodness.
• 16:52
  Hey, listen, before we go forward, I think we need to take a
• 16:55
  great break.
• 16:55
  I think we need to take a break because I don't know, I'm
• 16:59
  getting a little hot in here.
• 17:01
  We'll be right back
• 17:15
  . Okay, Sylvia.
• 17:17
  It is getting hot for sure, but, maybe we should heat it up again because this
• 17:22
  time we're talking about coffee as an aphrodisiac which is not something I ever
• 17:27
  considered to be a sensual kind of coffee.
• 17:30
  I shouldn't say that.
• 17:31
  Coffee when you have frothy foam on top
• 17:33
  I like my frothy coffee.
• 17:35
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, I'm kind of a, black coffee girl, but, you know,
• 17:38
  Nancy May: It was
• 17:38
  never a turn on for me, other than, you know that and baking
• 17:41
  bread when you go into the grocery store, but I'm not thinking about
• 17:44
  personal things when I'm going into the grocery store smelling coffee.
• 17:47
  I.
• 17:48
  Sylvia Lovely: there's extra pep, right?
• 17:49
  Extra pep, boost your heart rate, blood flow, dopamine, all those good things.
• 17:53
  But the funny story on coffee, I gotta tell this story.
• 17:56
  magic Power Coffee was a company, actual company and it has now gone outta business
• 18:01
  in part because of what was happening.
• 18:03
  and.
• 18:04
  People would get that coffee because it would really increase
• 18:07
  their libido, and then they found out that it has these ingredients.
• 18:12
  This is hilarious.
• 18:13
  It has goji berries.
• 18:14
  That's okay, right?
• 18:15
  We know about that.
• 18:16
  But you gotta love this one.
• 18:17
  Horny goat cheese.
• 18:19
  Horny goat cheese.
• 18:21
  Nancy May: It has goat cheese in the coffee and horny goat cheese.
• 18:24
  I thought all
• 18:25
  Sylvia Lovely: Horny, horny goat cheese, and
• 18:28
  Ginseng.
• 18:29
  Nancy May: What
• 18:30
  Sylvia Lovely: Viagra.
• 18:31
  Nancy May: no, they actually put Viagra in the coffee.
• 18:35
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, that's alleged.
• 18:36
  I mean, and then if you Google it, FDA says, stop selling this coffee.
• 18:41
  they went outta business, so tell Bob he can't find that anymore.
• 18:44
  So, you know, I'll tell Bernie and you
• 18:45
  tell Bob.
• 18:47
  But you could try a rum and coffee rubbed brisket.
• 18:50
  You know, I've heard of coffee being used to,,
• 18:52
  Nancy May: Coffee rubs on
• 18:53
  Sylvia Lovely: coffee.
• 18:53
  Rubs,
• 18:54
  Nancy May: uh, meats.
• 18:55
  Absolutely.
• 18:56
  Sylvia Lovely: rubs, rubs.
• 18:57
  Get it.
• 18:57
  Rubs.
• 18:58
  Okay.
• 19:00
  Yeah, along with the paste of asparagus, , I
• 19:04
  don't know.
• 19:05
  Nancy May: Let's not go there.
• 19:07
  Sylvia Lovely: okay.
• 19:07
  What do you think of strawberries?
• 19:09
  Do you think science drives strawberries?
• 19:11
  'cause they're, it's universal.
• 19:12
  They're always served with chocolate covering on Valentine's Day.
• 19:16
  Nancy May: I would say that they're not necessarily an aphrodisiac
• 19:20
  or a sexual drug, but they are.
• 19:22
  are noted to be, and moist and oh, you know, all those,
• 19:26
  those words that go along with
• 19:28
  strawberries and, succulent
• 19:31
  goes on.
• 19:32
  But they are good.
• 19:34
  Sylvia Lovely: You keep talking like that.
• 19:35
  And I'm gonna say I want what she's having, are heart shaped.
• 19:38
  You know, if you look at 'em closely enough,
• 19:39
  Nancy May: Okay.
• 19:40
  There you are
• 19:40
  Sylvia Lovely: huge.
• 19:41
  They're red.
• 19:42
  The ancient Greeks banned red foods for a while, fearing their power.
• 19:47
  ', Because they're sweet.
• 19:48
  just.
• 19:48
  Good feeling, but not really science other than they're really good for you
• 19:52
  and they've got those kind of properties.
• 19:54
  And then of course, just getting them covered in chocolate,
• 19:58
  which we'll get to in a minute.
• 19:59
  By the way, so strawberries, and let's move to honey.
• 20:02
  I love this story of honey.
• 20:04
  And did you know, I mean honeymoon, right?
• 20:06
  If you think about it,
• 20:07
  Nancy May: Oh, you got Mead
• 20:08
  Mead
• 20:09
  Mead is, can be like an alcohol from honey, correct?
• 20:12
  Sylvia Lovely: It ferments, it's just honey water and yeast and it ferments.
• 20:16
  And in some cultures, the bride and groom drink mead to ensure
• 20:20
  their love life after marriage.
• 20:22
  Ah, this is fun.
• 20:23
  If a hive is abandoned in the wild, it will sometimes produce mead.
• 20:28
  So, you
• 20:29
  know, we'll send Yeah.
• 20:30
  On its own, it'll ferment
• 20:32
  and all natural mead, so, you know, we'll, we'll send armies of people
• 20:37
  into the forest looking for dead hives.
• 20:40
  Right.
• 20:40
  Nancy May: Right.
• 20:41
  Remember to wear your fig leaf, please.
• 20:43
  Sylvia Lovely: You know?
• 20:43
  But here's the kicker.
• 20:45
  It contains boron just like beets
• 20:48
  Nancy May: The, the honey, the raw the the mead does.
• 20:51
  Sylvia Lovely: the, mead, because it's made from honey wood,
• 20:54
  but boron is, is intrinsic in, thing, compo, composed in Boron.
• 21:00
  It's the same as beets.
• 21:01
  Nancy May: I did not
• 21:02
  Sylvia Lovely: kinda the same thing.
• 21:03
  Yeah.
• 21:03
  So
• 21:04
  Nancy May: we talked about honey in food as healing.
• 21:06
  You know,
• 21:07
  food is as medicine and, so, I guess it's a romantic healer.
• 21:11
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, I didn't know that.
• 21:12
  in ancient cultures, a bee sting was a welcome thing 'cause it was like a
• 21:16
  shot, like the GLP drugs or whatever.
• 21:19
  You can give yourself a shot and start losing weight.
• 21:21
  You give yourself a shot of a bee sting and it's the gateway to romance.
• 21:25
  Nancy May: Okay.
• 21:26
  No, no.
• 21:27
  You know, I have actually heard of, people taking bees and.
• 21:31
  so that they sting all around their lips so they don't have
• 21:33
  to get Botox or whatever it
• 21:35
  is.
• 21:35
  I know.
• 21:36
  So that their lips are all inflamed.
• 21:38
  Oh, That's painful.
• 21:40
  I wouldn't, I wouldn't do that.
• 21:41
  No.
• 21:42
  Sylvia Lovely: okay, now we got four, or five more.
• 21:44
  I dunno.
• 21:44
  If you wanna go through art artichokes.
• 21:46
  Nancy May: Let's go through artichokes.
• 21:48
  Sylvia Lovely: Avocados, but we still have them the best come,
• 21:51
  which are figs and chocolate.
• 21:53
  Okay,
• 21:54
  Nancy May: I can, I can see fig is,
• 21:55
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 21:56
  Nancy May: sure.
• 21:56
  So let's go, let's do avocados first because I love avocados.
• 22:00
  Sylvia Lovely: Okay.
• 22:01
  Avocados again if shape means anything.
• 22:04
  Right.
• 22:05
  So Aztec word, it's called addle, as best I can pronounce it.
• 22:10
  And you know what it means?
• 22:11
  It means testicle.
• 22:13
  Power
• 22:13
  Nancy May: An avocado.
• 22:15
  Sylvia Lovely: An avocado.
• 22:16
  Yeah.
• 22:16
  You know,
• 22:16
  like, think about it,
• 22:17
  think about it.
• 22:19
  Montezuma, who was legendary for his conquest of the romantic kind
• 22:23
  and had many wives shared them with his minions and he also ate them.
• 22:26
  and Aztecs would not allow virginal women to leave the house
• 22:30
  during the harvest of avocados.
• 22:33
  Nancy May: Okay, so I have a question for you.
• 22:36
  Sylvia Lovely: yeah.
• 22:37
  Nancy May: You know, there are different size avocados.
• 22:38
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 22:39
  Nancy May: Right.
• 22:40
  I wonder if they were talking about small ones or like the big ones from
• 22:43
  California, oh my god, like that sounds like it would've hurt,
• 22:48
  Sylvia Lovely: California dreaming, you know,
• 22:52
  Nancy May: right?
• 22:52
  I'm surfing in the us, eh, California.
• 22:55
  Here I come,
• 22:56
  Sylvia Lovely: No wonder there's such an appeal,
• 22:58
  Nancy May: right there is a song, California.
• 23:00
  Here I come.
• 23:01
  Maybe it was all about avocados and we didn't know it.
• 23:03
  Sylvia Lovely: It was big ones.
• 23:04
  Okay, let's move on.
• 23:06
  How about figs?
• 23:08
  Nancy May: Oh, we, we forgot about Otter chokes.
• 23:10
  Sylvia Lovely: Oh, artichokes.
• 23:10
  Let's do our artichokes.
• 23:12
  okay.
• 23:12
  You know, I don't know.
• 23:13
  Artichokes, I like them.
• 23:15
  Zeus created them that's the myth that he created them after rejection
• 23:19
  from a beautiful young woman.
• 23:20
  They're sort of tough on the outside
• 23:22
  Nancy May: they're they're beautiful.
• 23:23
  They're a thistle.
• 23:24
  It's a type of thistle.
• 23:25
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, and tender on the inside.
• 23:27
  So you know, they acquired that kind of myth, if you wanna call it that.
• 23:31
  But Catherine de Medici, who is the Queen of France and pretty wild
• 23:36
  known for her insatiable appetite for food and romance, do you notice
• 23:39
  how those things always go together?
• 23:41
  I mean father romance and, sometimes excess.
• 23:44
  And both of them, when she married, Henry ii, she brought them and
• 23:49
  the Swedish doctor said women would bring them to their husbands
• 23:52
  to improve their performance.
• 23:55
  Nancy May: Of the husband's improve the husband's performance.
• 23:57
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, they, let's
• 23:59
  feed them to their husbands.
• 24:01
  We
• 24:01
  Nancy May: why does a husband always have to perform?
• 24:04
  as a, woman, I would say, yes, he has to perform,
• 24:08
  but I do love artichokes.
• 24:10
  I think they're very
• 24:11
  seductive food
• 24:12
  have to take the bottom pieces off.
• 24:14
  And in the center you cut the choke out and you then you eat the stem and
• 24:19
  oh my goodness, maybe we shouldn't air this part of the show, but,
• 24:24
  Sylvia Lovely: I want what she's having.
• 24:26
  Nancy May: and all the butter and the goo and the, oh, they're,
• 24:29
  and they're great when they're
• 24:30
  stuffed.
• 24:30
  But anyway, I think we should move on
• 24:33
  to something else
• 24:34
  before
• 24:35
  Sylvia Lovely: Okay.
• 24:36
  Breathless.
• 24:37
  Breathless.
• 24:37
  Nancy May: artichokes,
• 24:38
  Sylvia Lovely: How about fig leaves?
• 24:40
  Fig leaves covered Adam and Eve, right.
• 24:43
  Got lots of things like antioxidants, fiber, potassium, but their seeds,
• 24:48
  signal, fertility, and ironically the leaves signal modesty.
• 24:52
  So put those two things together.
• 24:54
  Right.
• 24:54
  Nancy May: but was it all figs or is it just a particular fig
• 24:57
  that the seeds or that were that bee or that
• 25:00
  bug that got inside?
• 25:01
  We talked about
• 25:02
  in eating bugs.
• 25:03
  Sylvia Lovely: It's a female wasp goes into the fig and it's just a
• 25:06
  certain species, laser eggs and dies and there's a big controversy over
• 25:10
  whether you're supposed to eat it or not, or whether you're supposed to
• 25:13
  open it up first and hollow it out.
• 25:15
  Do you know
• 25:15
  enough about figs?
• 25:16
  Nancy May: I've never seen a dead bug inside of a fig. Have you?
• 25:19
  Sylvia Lovely: No.
• 25:20
  but they serve them at the restaurant in a lot of ways, but
• 25:22
  I've, I've never eaten them like where I buy figs, but they're good.
• 25:26
  And Fig Newtons,
• 25:27
  I know
• 25:28
  Nancy May: Right.
• 25:28
  And they're crunchy.
• 25:29
  They're on the, the seeds are crunchy, so maybe we're eating dead bugs and we don't
• 25:33
  even know it necessarily, but it is only a particular kind of
• 25:36
  Sylvia Lovely: It is, it is.
• 25:37
  it could be.
• 25:38
  Their bones are crunching on, they're exoskeletons.
• 25:41
  Nancy May: Mm. I know, right?
• 25:44
  But you said Cleopatra was also known for her romantic leanings,
• 25:48
  or leaning in love of them,
• 25:50
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 25:51
  Nancy May: which is, Hmm.
• 25:52
  Sylvia Lovely: Here's, a fun, fact.
• 25:53
  in ancient Greece and in other cultures, there's a. copulatory
• 25:58
  ritual that was performed.
• 26:00
  You see that in animals.
• 26:01
  You know how, animals will dance around, do all kinds of ritual
• 26:06
  things before mating, and I'm sure there's a human depiction of that.
• 26:09
  I couldn't find one, or I didn't look that hard, but you could just imagine
• 26:13
  what a Atory ritual was all about
• 26:16
  Nancy May: With figs.
• 26:16
  Yes.
• 26:18
  I think of fan dancers with big fig leaves, right?
• 26:21
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 26:22
  At least they'll cover themselves up.
• 26:24
  They won't expose themselves to the world.
• 26:26
  Nancy May: But fig leaves are actually small, so I guess, I don't know.
• 26:30
  Sylvia Lovely: Okay, now chocolate.
• 26:32
  Ah, of course.
• 26:33
  Chocolate.
• 26:34
  Crowd favorite, along with strawberries, right?
• 26:36
  I know around here, the candy stores start stocking those California, and
• 26:41
  they're big ones, big old strawberries, and they're covered in chocolate.
• 26:44
  They only last a few days, right?
• 26:46
  but , cacao is known as the Food of Gods, and that a few coffee beans could
• 26:51
  purchase a night in the brothel in history, and you're gonna love Montezuma.
• 26:55
  Was said to consume this is, this has to be myth 50 cups of chocolate a day
• 27:00
  to satisfy his wives.
• 27:02
  so, you know, who knows
• 27:03
  Nancy May: there's actually, remember the movie Water for Chocolate?
• 27:06
  Did you ever see that movie?
• 27:08
  Sylvia Lovely: parts of it?
• 27:09
  It's been
• 27:09
  Nancy May: Oh,
• 27:10
  Sylvia Lovely: ago, I don't remember.
• 27:11
  Nancy May: it was a good movie.
• 27:12
  if you're here with us, of course you're listening, but go watch the movie.
• 27:16
  it's a cute movie.
• 27:16
  It's a chick flick, but it's a cute movie.
• 27:18
  And I learned from the gals that helped take care of mom
• 27:22
  and dad that there's a type of.
• 27:25
  I guess it's a Mexican or Hispanic type of chocolate that is specifically a
• 27:30
  type of version of chocolate that you get to melt and put in the bottom of
• 27:34
  a cup and then make your hot chocolate So that goes in there first, and
• 27:38
  then you stir it and it's thick and it's gooey and you add your hot milk.
• 27:42
  But I don't remember of making hot chocolate that way as a kid.
• 27:45
  It was always.
• 27:46
  Nestle's quick that you
• 27:48
  made it with, and even if there was hot milk, but this melted gooey
• 27:51
  chocolate, the idea of doing that and making hot chocolate that way
• 27:55
  is really with whipped cream on top.
• 27:57
  That's
• 27:58
  Sylvia Lovely: Oh, oh, yeah,
• 28:00
  Nancy May: So.
• 28:01
  Have a cup of that while you're
• 28:03
  Sylvia Lovely: What was the other, oh, you could put asparagus, paste on top of that.
• 28:07
  Okay.
• 28:07
  Nancy May: No, Sylvia.
• 28:08
  And you're asparagus.
• 28:10
  Ugh.
• 28:11
  Sylvia Lovely: Okay.
• 28:11
  So here's the deal.
• 28:12
  It contains phena stimulant released when you fall in love
• 28:16
  and serotonin that comes from.
• 28:17
  tryptophan.
• 28:18
  Again, we didn't know Thanksgiving could
• 28:20
  be so fun.
• 28:21
  Yeah.
• 28:21
  It relaxes you, right?
• 28:24
  and if you're lucky you don't fall asleep.
• 28:26
  But most of the people I know do on the couch, so leads to love, we don't know.
• 28:30
  but science doesn't really say, but chocolate.
• 28:33
  And you know, I love chocolate.
• 28:35
  I mean, who doesn't?
• 28:37
  Nancy May: and what guy sits on the couch after Thanksgiving and
• 28:40
  doesn't undo the top button of his
• 28:42
  pants?
• 28:43
  So
• 28:43
  Sylvia Lovely: yeah.
• 28:43
  Hardly romantic
• 28:45
  Nancy May: that's actually seductive, but I am mentioning it.
• 28:49
  Sylvia Lovely: a guy.
• 28:49
  I do that.
• 28:50
  Okay.
• 28:52
  All right.
• 28:53
  But in the end, it's love, food, love that really lasts soon.
• 28:57
  It's whether it's with your honey or date, or whether it is with your
• 29:02
  family or with your friends, right.
• 29:04
  Nancy May: And I actually think that.
• 29:06
  The food is important, but the environment that you're in is also
• 29:10
  critical, And the lighting and everything else, they talk about candles.
• 29:14
  I have to share, years back, there's a, restaurant up in a place called Pocan
• 29:19
  Hills, New York, called Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and it was one of the big
• 29:24
  famous, at least in the tri-state region, I guess it's, you know, food organic.
• 29:29
  It's not the organic food, but food source, like you
• 29:31
  eat is like right from the farm.
• 29:33
  So they grew their pigs and their
• 29:35
  chickens and their, everything was right there in, in the space.
• 29:38
  And the food was delicious, but you couldn't get a reservation.
• 29:41
  And we were driving around one day and, I had heard about it,
• 29:44
  but never knew where it was.
• 29:47
  We'd go on Sunday drives and, oh, there it is.
• 29:49
  Let's go in and see if we can get a reservation for our anniversary.
• 29:52
  It was somewhere around the end of February, which our anniversary is,
• 29:55
  and they said, sure if you can be here next Friday for a, 5 o'clock seating.
• 29:59
  And we said, sure, People were amazed that we could get a reservation.
• 30:02
  'cause usually it's like six months to almost a year out to get
• 30:06
  it Anyway, the food was stunning and everything was food as art and
• 30:10
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 30:11
  Nancy May: Every, bite you took, the presentation was just seductive.
• 30:15
  However, the environment was all in candlelight, the entire
• 30:19
  place, even the bathrooms.
• 30:22
  And I remember coming back from the bathroom and telling Bob, you gotta love
• 30:25
  me because I look amazing in candlelight.
• 30:29
  Sylvia Lovely: Oh yeah.
• 30:30
  Oh yeah.
• 30:33
  Nancy May: And he looked pretty good too.
• 30:34
  So candlelight if Yeah,, even if you're serving TV dinners, make sure
• 30:38
  you're serving it in candlelight.
• 30:40
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 30:42
  We've got a record crowd coming and , the reservation started
• 30:45
  coming into Azure weeks ago,
• 30:47
  and yeah.
• 30:48
  So people are really kinda,
• 30:50
  I don't know.
• 30:50
  Mm-hmm.
• 30:50
  Nancy May: menu, like a, like a romantic seductive menu?
• 30:54
  Can you give us a hint?
• 30:56
  Sylvia Lovely: I don't know how romantic, and I know there's
• 30:58
  asparagus in there somewhere.
• 30:59
  Nancy May: Okay.
• 31:01
  Sylvia Lovely: I swear I didn't suggest it.
• 31:02
  beef wellington, tuna, duck breast.
• 31:05
  And there's one more entree 'cause they get to choose an entree
• 31:08
  and they get to, it's like a two four kind of thing, but each of them can
• 31:12
  choose an entree and you know, . So, red velvet cake, which I adore,
• 31:17
  but I won't make it.
• 31:18
  I mean, 'cause I don't need to eat that much.
• 31:20
  Right.
• 31:21
  Beautiful.
• 31:22
  And red and rich.
• 31:23
  So I will indulge
• 31:25
  , Nancy May: And I think of Red velvet cake as a southern thing.
• 31:27
  It's not something that I knew of much up north
• 31:30
  Sylvia Lovely: love it.
• 31:30
  I absolutely love it.
• 31:31
  But, yeah, so it's gonna be an interesting thing.
• 31:34
  We're offering it on Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights, and just a
• 31:37
  big crowd coming and so that's fun.
• 31:40
  Yeah.
• 31:41
  Nancy May: that is, And do you think that, Traditional foods.
• 31:44
  we talked about the asparagus and
• 31:46
  everything else as being regular foods that are considered aphrodisiacs or
• 31:49
  not, or they might be new one for you, but old fashioned things like
• 31:53
  clam chowder and ordinary meals.
• 31:55
  Do you think those are romantic?
• 31:57
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, not romantic in the sense we understand
• 32:00
  romantic, unless you wanna broaden the term to mean just lovingly.
• 32:04
  Like, I love your dad's clam chowder story
• 32:08
  that
• 32:08
  you, you taped a long time ago.
• 32:10
  You did that one a long time ago.
• 32:11
  But just you know, food brings that pleasurable sensation, whether it's
• 32:17
  in a bedroom or whether it's just sitting around with your family,
• 32:20
  Nancy May: if food brings back a memory of somebody that you love,
• 32:23
  then I think that is one of the sweetest ways to, bring caring of a
• 32:28
  heart together at the table.
• 32:30
  Or even if it's at the drive-in, there's food there too.
• 32:33
  Sylvia Lovely: and I had that image of my dad making that cornbread.
• 32:36
  That was his specialty, maybe his only one, but he would
• 32:40
  lovingly prepare that cornbread.
• 32:42
  And then I remember I have a visual in my head of him taking that cast
• 32:46
  iron skillet out of the oven with his cornbread, and it was so good.
• 32:49
  but it, was even better as a memory, you know, it was probably good,
• 32:53
  Nancy May: But it was the love that went into it, I think.
• 32:55
  So food is not always something that you need to think of on
• 32:58
  Valentine's Day as what it's gonna stir up in more intimate ways,
• 33:03
  but really the love and caring for the people that you, hold dear to
• 33:07
  your heart, which is important.
• 33:08
  Or you want to hold dear to your heart, like Merry Me Chicken, So
• 33:12
  if you're looking to get married, learn how to make Marry Me Chicken and
• 33:16
  give it to somebody that you want to
• 33:18
  Sylvia Lovely: Mm-hmm.
• 33:18
  Nancy May: seduce forever in life.
• 33:20
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 33:21
  Nancy May: that note, we do have a special gift for everybody, and we
• 33:24
  have created a romantic menu with some links to recipes for you as well.
• 33:30
  And those are gonna be in the episode notes.
• 33:32
  But.
• 33:32
  I think that's pretty much everything that we've got as far as romance
• 33:36
  goes in the kitchen, although there's a lot of romantic movies
• 33:40
  that happen in the kitchen too,
• 33:42
  Sylvia Lovely: Oh yeah.
• 33:42
  Yeah.
• 33:43
  Or un over.
• 33:43
  Food
• 33:45
  is
• 33:45
  Nancy May: Food
• 33:46
  Sylvia Lovely: endless.
• 33:46
  supply.
• 33:47
  Nancy May: So on that note, remember to share like, and maybe invite us in,
• 33:53
  into your kitchen on Valentine's Day.
• 33:56
  Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
• 33:56
  Don't, forget, the asparagus paste.
• 33:58
  Nancy May: That's right.
• 33:59
  we might be busy, so,
• 34:01
  Sylvia Lovely: Okay.
• 34:02
  All right.
• 34:03
  Nancy May: share, like, and enjoy the show.
• 34:05
  And don't forget to pick up your gift in the episode notes of a romantic meal
• 34:10
  that you can make or maybe have somebody make for you, because every meal is a
• 34:14
  story and every story is a feast and it's Podcast.FamilyTreeFoodStories.com.
• 34:19
  Take care.
• 34:20
  We'll see you soon.
• 34:21
  And bon appetit