Latest / Laugh Love Law / Jessica Eats: Going Viral, Raising Kids & Doing It Her Way

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Jessica Eats: Going Viral, Raising Kids & Doing It Her Way · Laugh Love Law

• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to Last Love Law.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Heather Kaplan, and today we have Jessica Roberts with us.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: Jessica is a 33-year-old Long Island mom, content creator, and business owner who has turned her everyday family life in the kitchen into content that thousands of people connect with.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: From packing lunches and making dinner to sitting down and genuinely enjoying the food.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: She gives viewers a funny, realistic, and unfiltered look at motherhood, meals, and just about everything in between.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: But her short videos do not show the whole story.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: Jessica became a mother at 21, built a home and a family with her husband, spent years working exhausting schedules, and posted consistently for five years before content creation became a meaningful source of income.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: Jessica, welcome to Laugh Love Law.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: Hi.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: Hi.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so happy to be here.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: It is fun to have you here.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um one of our one of our production people, Chelsea, said that she felt like she was in the presence of greatness.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh like you are a real a real online celebrity.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: And we're fangirling over you a little bit.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: That feels so weird to me.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: Does it yeah?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm I'm like so good with the camera, like at home.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then when I go out, if someone recognizes me, I'm like, wait, people do watch me.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: People watch your videos, yeah.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: So your most explosive video was I think your chicken cutlet tasting video, right?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there's one that hit like 22 mil with my husband.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: But that had nothing to do with like my niche.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: So that one I actually have pinned.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: That was like trending.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's why.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yes, the chicken cutlets are.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: If I post chicken cutlets like daily, I probably would have hit a mil already.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Every time I do chicken cutlets, it sores because everyone gets, it's still it's like controversial with the thin and crispy.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: So I have to tell you, I've been making chicken cutlets for years, but I figured I was doing my research because you were coming on the podcast, and I decided to make my chicken cutlets the Jessica Roberts way.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I will quote my husband your chicken cutlets have never been better.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_02: So there is no going back once you go thin and crispy.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: They're delicious.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like I could eat a thick cutlet if it's like out, like at a restaurant, like I don't discriminate a chicken cutlet.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: But at home, out of the fryer, like thin and crispy is the way to go.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: And they to get them like that crispy, they do have to kind of be dark.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And people like make jokes in my comments and they're like, is that um beef jerky or whatever?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: They don't put in the pan.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And um, or like someone said if it was bacon, and I'm like, you it it needs to get that dark to get that.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, crisp.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: What I love about making them thin and crispy is that you don't have to worry whether or not they're fully cooked or something.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm always like, do you know that?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm always cutting my chicken cutlets in half.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I don't know, what if the center's not right?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: Not with yours.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just like done.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: So good.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you for fattening us all up uh with your chicken cutlets.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: Something that's not in your professional bio that people should know about you.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh boy.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Not in my professional bio.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I feel like a lot of people don't know that we had kids so young.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, obviously, you know if you know my age, and then you could put it the math together.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: But when I'm around people older than me, and then I give my age, they're like, you're that young?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, then they start putting it together.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I feel like I've always just been in rooms with older people, even from the age of like 15.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: I was managing a store, then I was managing at my other job.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And when I'm around people, they always just assume I'm so much older.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: And when I was younger, I was like, like when I was 20 and managing a bakery, the when I would get like new staff in, they would be like, they would think I'm like 30 at that point.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I would be offended.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm like, oh my gosh, do I look 30?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: But looking back, I'm like, I really was moving just so like No, you have a very young face, but you're probably an older sister.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: You're probably like a very have you an older sister?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're not.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Me and my brother are so close that it's kind of that vibe.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're only like 16 months apart, and I mean I was cooking for him.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: I was so yeah.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Technically, no, but yeah.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I got it.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: I got it.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so people see the food, the trips, the family life you have now.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: What they don't see is how early the grind began.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: So you didn't become an overnight an overnight success.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, and it took five years of posting everything.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: The first I would say two years, I was posting once a day, every single day.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I reached like maybe 15k after two years.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it was like, okay.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then um I was like, I need to post more.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I wasn't gonna give up.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: It didn't like if I stayed at that, I was gonna stay at that forever, but I was just gonna, you know, keep going.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then I would say by year four, so like about two years ago, it really took off after the lunch packing videos.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: The lunch packing videos testing ramen.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Every the out of there's controversy over ramen too.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like ramen is a food like everyone eats everywhere.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: So there's so much controversy about making it, and it just catapulted really from there.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I went from posting once a day to four times a day, every sing I mean, I'm posting on vacation.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: I will not give up every single day.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: And now that I have like my little behind the scenes account, I'm posting like anywhere from four to six times a day, and I'm still going.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm still going.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_02: Do you ever say to yourself, why do people care about what I'm doing?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I did, but then I got to like a point where I'm like, well, one, it's kind of cool because you're like, it's almost like home videos that you're making a little bit, so I can look back at moments, especially the vacations.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like after vacation has closed, I'll go back and watch all the vacation videos.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I typically don't watch my lunch packing videos again, but vacation, I get to like relive it and like all the vlogs.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's not like I don't care that people care, but I'm not even like worried about if people care or not.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: But the relationships are like amazing.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I have some followers, or I don't even know if they follow me, but they comment so often, and I recognize their and I'm like, oh my gosh, like thank you so much.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I see those people that are con I there's someone I swear they've been commenting since like the first year when I would get maybe two comments a video, and I'm like, I see you, yeah, and I really try to like respond.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's good, and I think that helps you connect with them, but I think you have fans.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: I I feel like I like to say that I'm like, oh my gosh, I don't know.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: You know what?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it didn't happen overnight, so yeah, I think that's why it probably takes a little time to realize like what's going on.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: But you were a hustler, you started working at 14 40 hours a week while still attending school.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: Why did you feel the need to work that hard so young?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, well, both my parents worked very hard, and we were very much like I would say it didn't feel like we were middle class, but I understand like that was middle class.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like Long Island is like a different hustle out here.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up in a neighborhood where not even just the neighborhood, but I grew up in a community, like within the neighborhood where like it didn't have a gate, but it was practically like one of those neighborhoods.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to blow that neighborhood up because I don't know how it is now.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: But I lived in that community not because we had money, like my grandma built a house in there from the ground up, and we had an apartment in that house.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I was around a lot of like money.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I grew up with people coming back from Christmas breaks with their hair braided, going on vacation, and we never did that.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then they had nice cars, big sweet 16s, like a life that I wanted that I knew as much as my parents work would never be able to give me.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: So you had to hustle.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like I knew from a very young age nothing's gonna be handed to you, and you need to work for it.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: And once I got the taste of my own money, you loved it.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: It was like I'm gonna work as much as I can.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, all of high school, I missed like looking back now that I have kids in the school and in sports, and all the I didn't go to one football game in high school.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you missed your prom.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I didn't go to prom.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't because I didn't want to spend the money for prom.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I did go to after prom because we did my friends did it at Jersey Shore, and that's when like Jersey Shore blew up, and I was like, that is worth the money.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, that's worth the money, right?
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right, I did do that.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I mean looking back, I missed a lot of like that high school childhood, but ultimately, like it was worth it.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: That was my next question.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: It was worth it.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: I I mean it was worth it because if I didn't have that strive, if I didn't have like the hustle to say I had to save for my first car, like I knew that what and and my first car isn't even what I wanted it to be.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: I had dreams of having cars, like everyone in the senior lot was driving in with Mercedes and Lexus, and I had a hoopty, like a$2,000, I don't, it was like a Kia something.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: And people used to make fun of me because there was bullet holes on the side, which we don't know if they were that.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: I have no clue what they were, they were dense.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: But um, so I would park really far in the lot.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I that was just motivation.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, there's no way I'm keeping this car.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like we gotta, and then I hustled to like just working like crazy.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: I went to uh college up in Rhode Island at Johnson and Wills, and I would drive home because we didn't have class from thirty or Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and I would cut my class at 1 p.m.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: on Thursday, drive home, work like 12 hour days here on Long Island, drive back on Sunday.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: I saved as much money as I could, and then I bought at the time, it was like a brand new Scion TC.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like that was like a trending poop.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: I when I drove out of that lot, I felt like I was on top of the world.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like I had roll, I had like electric windows, and I was like, that was very big.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I was like, oh my was worth it.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was worth it.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so back up a little bit.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: If I heard you correctly, you drove home from school, Johnson and Wales, every weekend all the way back to Long Island, yeah, to work.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I didn't do that in the winter.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so it was a seasonal, so by the like November it ended, and then I was just at school, and then I picked up a job at school.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: I worked in the administration office, and I had meanwhile, like I'm just not like a people's person, or like like I had to answer phones and like redirect for um people signing up for their masters in business.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, which I didn't I went to school for uh pastry of science.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like I it was so out of my realm, and I'm over here just like winging it.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And meanwhile, they offered me like a summer position, but I'm like, how much are you paying?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: And they weren't paying that well.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, You work yeah, I gotta go back home.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I was I just like I got a job there, I was working there, and then again in April when it started back up here on Long Island, I was back driving the four and a half hour doing it again, yeah.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then I worked the summers, and I mean I miss I missed a lot, like even those summers, like fourth of July.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I missed a lot of parties, but the goal was just to keep going, like save money and and hustle.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like I knew after college, I'm like, one, there's no way I'm living back home.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: So then that was the next grind.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how am I gonna afford rent?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: And at that time, I think one bedrooms on Long Island were going for like 14.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: I know that sounds so low now.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's very ridiculous.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, now it does.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: But um I was like hit the ground running like when I finished college and you bought your first house at 21?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: So me and my husband, we were saving literally like anything we could.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I had my stuff at like my mom's still, so it's not like I was paying rent, so it was a little bit easier to do that.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and originally we were gonna rent.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: We started looking around to rent because we weren't engaged yet or married or anything.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we saw like how much the rents were.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think by that time they went up to like 2,000.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And at that time, you can get a mortgage around two.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: So we got pre-approved, shocked.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how who got us pre-approved that young kids.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: Your husband's the same age.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he's three and a half years older than me.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: But still, yeah, I mean, his job at the time, he was working.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he still had it was a decent job, but he was working for um a rental car company at that time.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, and I had my two jobs, like for small businesses, and I'm like, how did we get approved?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, we got approved, like let's go.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then we started looking.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm originally from like Comac area, and I wanted to stay kind of there, and then I realized real quick what we got approved for wasn't happening.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: No, it wasn't Comac approval.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't, we weren't gonna get.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, not that I had wanted to live there, but yeah, I'd imagine to be like no further out east than I don't know, like maybe exit 58.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then we realized we kept seeing more and more the further we went.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then we our first house we actually bought was in Selden, which is right around the corner from where we are now, anyways.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that house we always said was gonna be our starter house.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then shortly after I got pregnant in eight, we bought the house in January, I got pregnant in April.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: So we had all our milestones in that house.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: We had both our kids, we got engaged, we got married, and then right around COVID, my husband's like, like, we were busting out of this house.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: And my husband's like, if we don't move now, like we have to move now.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I was so against it.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, the kids were so young.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I was like, we can't move now.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what do you mean?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's no way.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: And he like pushed it, and now looking back, what happened with this market, I'm like lucky to move when you did.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank goodness.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I listened to him all like we talk about it all the time.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like, he was so right, we moved right when we needed to move, and we stayed in the area because we ended up loving the area anyway.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, that's uh that's a good story though.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: But you hustled your way into a home at 21, which is pretty I know when I was that age, it didn't feel like I was that young.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, but saying it just seems yeah.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: So, how did becoming parents right out of college change your plan?
• 16:05
  unknown: Oh gosh.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like for women especially, it could it's like the whole, you know, it you feel it more than the men typically.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, that's not for everybody.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, and I really wanted to be super present, like as soon as oh my gosh, as soon as I had my son, I'm like, how am I at first?
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I was gonna go back to work 40 hours, 50 hours.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: I always worked a lot.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as I had him, I'm like, there's no way.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to leave him.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: But the money was so tight that I was like, I had to go back.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: So he was, I think it was si he was six weeks, and I had to go back.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was running out.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: And my husband was working two jobs as well, like he wasn't even just working the one.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I went back and never really had a stable sitter.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, thank goodness my boss, so I ran I was the manager of a bakery in Huntington that's no longer there anymore.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: Absolute angel, she is, would work with me.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like if I had to work overnights because I didn't have a sitter, I would go in at 7 p.m.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: and work till 4 a.m.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Go home, sleep for two hours, and be up with my son.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we just made it work, and then I worked there pretty much until she closed, and then that's and again because because of her flexibility, yeah, I'm like, I have to stay here.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like my dreams of I mean, when I was little, I had dreams of like being on Food Network.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't even do people even watch Food Network anymore.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't you know, I I still think people watch cooking shows, but I think, and I'm gonna say this with confidence, I think it's more like watching shorts, like watching people do what you do.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_02: That's true.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like I mean, that's what I can do.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: Packing lunches, creating meals, like making fun things.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: I like to make charcuterie boards.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: I like watching those videos too.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like giving you ideas.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that was like one of my dreams.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then right out of college, I really wanted to either work at like the high, like I worked for a little bit at the Ritz Carlton in White Plains, and I was a pastry chef there.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I wanted to be fancy, yeah, it was cool for a little bit.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't know, I wanted to work in like big hotels and just I wanted to make a lot of money.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: The the the strive for money was there as well.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: But literally, as soon as I had that baby, I was like, oh no, like I'm not leaving him.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I at I shifted into what's gonna be flexible, what's gonna keep me home, or be especially also like I just it was hard for me to like trust anyone.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: I was so overbearing as a mom.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I probably still am.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: First time were you different with your son than you were with your daughter?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Not that much.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Some people will say I was, but I'm like, I swear I I wasn't.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: So and it was I was 24 when I had her.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I feel like I was I was a little more overprotective with my son because he had so many allergies.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, his food allergies.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like so scared someone was gonna shove a bean onto his mouth.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Or like, you know.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: But besides that, I feel like I was similar with both of them.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty yeah, overprotective.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: We have three girls.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_02: My oldest, also, she's almost 21 now.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: She had food allergies too.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: So, and it was weird.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: There were weird food allergies like peaches, cherries, apples.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, the first time she said she felt funny eating an apple, I yelled at her because I thought she just didn't want to eat her fruit.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, There's nothing wrong with you.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: And she's like, No, no, my throat feels funny.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, bad, bad fruit allergies.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_02: But I think I was more cautious about everything with her.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: And like we joke around all the time.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: This is like the three-kid joke, but like, first kid eats dirt, you run to the emergency room, second kid eats dirt, you like wipe her face, are you okay?
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_02: Third kid eats dirt, you like that's laundry.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's just totally different.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_02: You eat up as well.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: Right, that is true.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: I can see that.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: Totally.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: So how long has uh content creation been your sole uh I'll say occupation?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: I would say within the last like two year two or three years, um TikTok kind of shifted with um the creator program.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: At first it was like pennies, and then it drastically changed to like I mean thousands people were making.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's really when I when I hustled with those videos.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, wait, what?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you could really make money with it.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, yeah, so I was like and then now it's like it shifted, I think, after the ownership shifted.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um but it's still it's still like pretty pays pretty well.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um how do you deal with um criticism?
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like online comments.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: I literally don't care.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: You just ignore them.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: I uh the first like year I would read them a little bit, and then after that I was like, I literally don't care because I I don't know who you are.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like the only one I would care about is if I posted something and my husband was like, eh, like what like he said something, right?
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um other than that, I don't there's a part of your comments where it it I don't know if you know it says like um flagged.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have to click that to view I would never even click that.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't know.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: I really you have thick skin, you don't care.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: No, and I wonder like if someone said that to me in person, would I care?
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, because you don't really get that in person.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: Nobody's gonna come up to you and be like, you look terrible or I don't like the way you do this, or people are keyboard warriors.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_02: So they say whatever.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um what was the first piece of content you put out that you said, I'm gonna do this?
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like this is what I can do.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like was it one of those videos we talked about earlier, like the one with your husband or the chicken cutlet video?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Or was it I think I had that mindset when I had a thousand followers.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was like I do that with a lot of like a lot of stuff in my life.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like like I feel like everything happens for a reason and I don't know if you believe in like manifesting.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: I do.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I like so I'm just like I see this I feel this I believe it.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now a lot of things I manifest or believe doesn't happen on my timeline.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like why is it not yet not yet but I'm not gonna give up and so I feel like the day I decided to start posting was the day that I was like I'm doing this and I don't care how long it takes me to like succeed in it whether that was monetary or honestly I really don't like look at my follower account like crazy like that.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's really just the success it brings you like the brand deals and stuff like that.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_02: What was the most exciting brand deal you've gotten so far?
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh honestly yeah KFC oh my god crunchy chicken I mean I so any of the fast foods is like exciting because they're huge companies huge so it's like they really don't need marketing like they're huge companies.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: KFC was I don't know something and then they oh my gosh and then I went to that event in New York City they invited me to it was just like a whole immersive experience like with between the the brand deal collab going to KFC and then they followed up and sent me like a PR package that was just like so thoughtful.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: Was it full of chicken?
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: It was um it was like a beatbox play it was like the most creative like PR yeah so I would yeah I would say KFC out of all the yeah the deals yeah does your family love the content creation and all the perks or do they find it to be distracting or a combination of both I think my kids love it.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Especially my son's in middle school now.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: So mom's kind of famous he yeah he'll say that I'm like mom's not famous and he's like my friends are saying a lot of his friends have TikTok.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um this may be controversial but I don't let him have TikTok it's not controversial and I'll tell you a story in a minute yeah I don't know I'm like I'm on there and like you were saying about comments like I have thick sin.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't need my kids to see or read comments so he's not on there.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah my kids they love it my husband I think loves it now okay in the beginning because like this is so bad because people these are people in my comments that say this you know when I record like what we got for for the food and then I'm recording all the food and like they're waiting to eat because they are waiting for you to take so at first he wasn't like used to waiting to eat because who waits to eat you get your food and you all eat.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah so at first it was like can I eat or can I now he's like go ahead like he literally is like here he was like to the kids like don't touch the food yet mom's recording like so I think now like we all love it.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_02: But um and that has to feel good because now it's sort of recognized as a it's it's a career it's it's a source of income and it it helps you to enjoy the things you like.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Right exactly and to be there really with the kids like so hands on.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah yeah so our girls are twenty one almost twenty one seventeen and almost thirteen and and our 13 year old wanted TikTok really badly and we said no and my regular law office account has about thirty thousand followers.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_02: Not not a lot but decent yeah that's good usually you know the videos will get anywhere from you know a couple hundred to a couple tens of thousand likes so when my daughter was like two she counted to 10 in Spanish on on a video and I posted it and years later when she was asking for for TikTok she was like if my video gets a hundred thousand likes can I have TikTok now none of my videos had gotten a hundred thousand likes so I said sure her video hit a million no way and my husband said you're still not getting TikTok oh my son would have worse than me so then then last summer she's still asking and now her older sisters have it whatever so she's very musically inclined and she was playing with a harmonica and she was playing Billy Joel piano man on the harmonica.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: So my husband says to her learn how to play the whole song and sing it and perform it and then we'll let you have TikTok and she goes but I need to know I need to know like a hundred percent about a month later she invites us to a school program she's at the piano doesn't play piano she taught herself piano harmonica and vocals and got her got herself a TikTok we couldn't say no I mean we said no the first time but I'm like well deserved clearly you can use TikTok as a motivation at some point because this kid was willing to do anything.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah that is awesome that is so you have some reality TV obsessions oh yeah all right give give us your specifics well really all the housewives okay but jerk New Jersey housewives like those oh I mean it's so close to New York it's like you feel like they're your like aunts or cousins like depending on the age.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then the new Rhode Island one I love.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen the Rhode Island one oh it's just like Jersey I loved it plus I went to school over there so some of the areas I kind of knew so it's cool.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: What else do you binge?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: Kardashians literally everything people are gonna say is like junk TV it's just mindless.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like this I want to listen to and I really have not well thankfully now I don't have much drama in my life and I I love that so I want to watch it on TV.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: You should not yeah right so um so you like listening to other people's drama yeah like Kardashians Mama June oh you you like the good bad stuff yeah all right all right I like the prison shows too oh yeah I do yeah I I'm not I used to like more of like the reality competitions like the the performance stuff like I loved American Idol back in the day but now we're I'm into like more of like binging series like I love like Apple TV and but do you do you watch Love Island?
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't but everybody in my family does so I know like obsession um and it's funny because um you met one of my sisters out there and my other sister and I work together and everybody in the office watches Love Island and they just talk about it incessantly and they're like you need to just give in already and watch I'm like I I'll find the time yeah I mean it does get a little um I guess X-rated ish um but yeah Love Island is great when it's on I mean like you said everyone's talking about it so it's like you're like in the I'm 50 and I grew up on like soap operas so that was like X-rated and really trashy.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: That was like the original trash T I used to watch with my grandma she would record it.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_02: Oh we used to record it on a VT and then when I'd come home from school she let me watch was it um All My Children One Life to Live General Hospital uh wait was it One Life It wasn't all my children I feel like it might have been one life to live yeah I mean it's probably it's the same story like you marry somebody sister oh yeah you know it's like what but it it's like the original trashy TV no yeah it wasn't but it's good it was it was so good so we're gonna play some games okay are you in yeah all right so first we'll do our laugh love law game right if you've watched the podcast you know I'm gonna give you a completely random topic if you love it you hold up the love paddle if it makes you chuckle laugh and if you hate it the law paddle all right now if you have a story you can tell it but you don't have to are you ready yeah all right grab those paddles oh all right this is actually these are totally random but these are actually perfect for you only you can eat buffets it's a it's a middle one it's a middle one so I give it like a laugh I feel like like ten years ago I would have said love.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah but the older I got the more like germaphobe I got yeah and they have to be really really clean like high end yes or like a cruise but even on the cruise I don't I go like once in a blue.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah okay so mix so it's mixed all right still having a home phone like not a cell phone but an actual what is the law one so law is like you hate it.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah yeah no home phone no like I think at one point we got one again just to like get like the Verizon but we never plugged in yeah no okay cheap hair blowouts we don't have a lot out by us but like in NASA you get like$22.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_02: I guess all right like so like somewhere in the middle.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I wouldn't I wouldn't put love or hate is your hair naturally straight no it's actually curly but I when I blow it out and I so this is like a thing I've been doing since I was like 12 and anyone who knows me or went to high school with me okay I blow it out and I twist it as I blow it out and then that's how I get these so if I just let it dry it's curly but it's not like super curly.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay in between yeah you can like manipulate it when you blow dry it okay so that's why it kind of looks straight now.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the next one's a good one for you too cruises.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: Oh oh oh love okay so I love cruises too and I actually saw you had posted a video a week after we got off a Norwegian cruise.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_02: No way we were on a Norwegian cruise it was a different ship we were on the giant one of Chipmuda and a lot of what you said I related to like I had so many mixed feelings about the food.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like some things were delicious like the Mexican restaurant amazing um but like what was the place with the pretzel bites?
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um oh the local local like it's so hit or miss which is so sad.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_02: I like I just don't know yeah I I I love the concept so the local is a place on I think a few of the Norwegian ships well it's all all so it's either called O'Shinigans or the local okay and it's like a 20 right it's a 24 hours and they have a really limited menu but it's like fun like bar food like bar food yeah yeah so like wings pretzel bites yeah and it's so like hit or miss.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes it was so good and others I'm like oh this is like yeah the pretzels would be like a little bit hard or I know but I was so upset with if it's like one in the morning and you need a snack it's there.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: That is cool about Norwegian because the other like companies it's either pizza like just pizza or like they don't really have much options.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that was always so cool and yes it used to be amazing every time.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes but now I don't it's almost like like they're the ships are just so big and they're like busting them out every year.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: Do they not have enough workers?
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I feel like I don't know but I I tell you what I did like food wise I love that there was ice cream all over the ship.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and ice cream's actually pretty good ice cream is delicious.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah and like I feel like especially when we're on a cruise my kids think that and my kids are big they think that ice cream is dessert after each meal.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like this is lunch dessert this is dinner dessert oh my god and you come home feeling like an oompaompa oh my gosh I was so hungry that whole every time I cruise I'm like oh my gosh I don't like I'm so hungry that next week I need to like snap back.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: I know because it's you get used to eating so much more.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh all day I know like I it's like every meal and every snack.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_02: So so I'll detour for a minute you just had like a really big weight loss right well I've had many.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: You've had many many up and down yeah but you're you said you lost like nine like 90 pounds overall so n the most I lost I think was 80 but and I lost it twice with each kid pretty much.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh okay um but when I was younger I was really heavy like really heavy growing up and then I believe it was ninth grade I begged my mom can you please give me your Weight Watchers books because at the time they were like books.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah I know I did it as much as like a hundred times.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yes I learned the point system because the doctor wouldn't let me sign up my doctor was like no and at that time I lost like 70 pounds.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: Wow and then but I was like severely restricting like okay so then I gained it that I stayed pretty thin senior year of high school I stayed really actually the thinnest I ever was was freshman year of college.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: I was going to the gym like two hours a day and like not eating really trying to achieve something that wasn't there.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then when I got pregnant I shot right because I was like enjoying life.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and then I lost it and then I got pregnant again and then I lost it and then I lost so after my daughter we got married I knew a wedding was approaching so that was the motivation motivation.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: Went on my honeyroom honeymoon gained fit we went to Italy and Greece gained 15 pounds in two weeks because I went yeah yeah like restrict so and then I after that by I got married in August by January I was back up like 50 pounds.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: Wow and I and then the following year I was like pushing I was like 28 I think at that point I'm like I can't do this anymore.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like I can't yo-yo anymore and I kind of just tried to like slowly rewire my brain and I was just I never counted calories again to lose weight because I knew it would like send me in that like if I wanted to drop 50 right now I know exactly what to do but I didn't want to keep going with the back and forth.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: No so I just worked out I know what what the calories are in from dieting so many times in my life and I'm like let's just see if it'll come off and it like I'm not as low as I ever was I've maintained my weight now I would say give or take 10 pounds in the last three years.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: So finally I'm finally never counting calories again just working out and now when I go on a cruise I don't gain 10 pounds in a week because your body not surprised for two weeks before you just it's it's it's all about moderation.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I think you're right I I am a proclaimed Weight Watcher failure.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: I did it a hundred times like I would go to rejoin and they'd be like really oh you again I mean I I I was never super heavy I got heavy after I had my kids too um and I dropped 60 pounds I had for me I had to like almost completely give up carbs.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_02: For me I'm just I can't do bread and pasta.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_02: I I love bread and pasta but it doesn't do well for me like so I now now I've maintained for like the last year and a half but I do everything in moderation.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: So like I can have a slice of pizza I want another one but I just stop that's exactly that's exactly it and even like my eating videos yeah I'll literally try every single person's thing and people are people always comment and they're like how do you eat that and you look so good it's like exactly what you said like I'm biting every single one but I'm not finishing and that I mean sometimes it is hard.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you're like fighting in your head but that's what it is and I think you just staying consistent and not depriving yourself you don't like binge like I'm never gonna see this cake again.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yes you know it's in the fridge.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_02: So but sometimes the inner fat girl still wants everything oh yeah sometimes I'll like be over the edge and I'm like oh my stomach hurts you just like oh I'm done yeah okay ready one more paddle question for you tweezers oh I say love do you have tweezers everywhere like I have them everywhere actually yeah kind of actually now that you said that you know you need your tweezers yeah I feel like tweezers now back then it was all like what do you like waxing do people get waxing?
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_02: Totally totally everybody got waxed but yeah tweezers are like you know you got a little straggly here and then you're young but then the hairs start popping up in random places and you're like while you're driving but tweezers are are my case yes all right you did very well with laugh laugh thank you all right we're gonna move on to capsule confessions all right and as we have been doing recently you pulled the capsules before we started recording because that machine and I are no longer friends.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_02: So pull your capsules out and then I'll just go over the rules with you one more time.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_02: So you're gonna pop open the capsule you can either answer the question ask me to answer the question or save the question for the next guest completely up to you no pressure you ready all right go for it the key is like a crack and pop yeah what is the best love song of all time I want to ask you this one.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_02: Oh see again so I'm like a kid of the 80s so like give me like a little almost paradise or like I love uh air supply like making love out of nothing at all something cheesy yeah that was good that was good I wasn't gonna have a good one that's why I was like no that's okay took a green one tell us about a time you took the road less taken wait did I tell us so you know the the road less traveled the road less taken like when did you make a choice that wasn't atypical I think you kind of already told us about that when you stopped your like full time regular work and you started doing content creation.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think you're right.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_02: Alright this isn't fair I answered that one for you all right the last one is all you can't answer you have to answer pressure.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: Alright all right go for it hopefully I'm nervous now don't be nervous it'll be a good one oh gosh let's see what I got what is what is one setback that ended up becoming a blessing one setback I would say when the bakery I managed and was so flexible with the kids she decided to close and I was so because she moved to Florida and she's retired as she deserves.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: Love her um that like devastated me because I didn't know what direction I was gonna go in.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I would say that setback ended up being a blessing because it catapulted me into where I am today being able to make money and be at home with my kids.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah it changed the whole trajectory.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I am such a loyal person to literally like anybody I love anyone around me if she never closed I would probably still be there.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like I I'm so loyal I probably would still like I it even if I'm only working one day a week it'd still be there.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'd probably be still working with Jessica you did very well with capsule confessions even though the first two were pretty easy for you right they were so we're gonna do something with Jessica that we haven't done with any other guests because she's a foodie right so if one of you gentlemen wouldn't mind passing up our three food containers we're gonna move this we've got some plates for us Jessica yeah all right so we have three containers all containing chicken cutlets one right here two right here and three they're each from a local restaurant here in Nashville County now I know normally you review restaurants and food from from restaurants out by us so this will be a little different for you.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_02: So you'll take a fork and take a bite of each one and I have some questions for you we're looking for the crunchiest the tastiest the juiciest and overall the best chicken collet wow the pressure yeah it's a lot of pressure but it's chicken.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah so yeah so grab a grab a fork all right grab one of those containers starting with number two and I do have a cheat sheet I know what where they're from how does it look that looks pretty good yeah it does look pretty good seasoned well it I can see the parsley yeah um it looks pretty thin actually for not like Jessica thin.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: No but that that middle looks pretty th I feel like I don't I don't know if there's a place out by us that really does thin cutlets.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: I like um in Rocky Point I like Pompeii.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_02: Oh I don't think I've been there.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_02: Pompeii has really chicken millinese like a thin chicken colour.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um but I think that's it.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah they're typically I mean like I said I don't discriminate but go for it.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: There was a little crunch there.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: Little crunch.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like you two.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: The flavor's there.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_02: Out of ten.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_02: Overall.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_02: Ten being the best, one being I'm gonna say an eight.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's pretty good.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because of the flavor.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, because of the flavor.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: But it could be crispier, like you know, like right out of the fryer.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: But this is right.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, alright, keep going.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, let's see.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: The next one.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_02: This looks like that looks good too, but the seasoning looks a little different.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: The breading looks like maybe flour, right?
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_02: I was just gonna say that.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: You read my mind.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like maybe um or like a wet yeah, there's definitely do you use flour and so no, I don't.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like I think like that's more like a franchise, right?
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like when you when you coated in flour.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_02: That that looks more like a chicken franchise to me than a chicken cutlet.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_02: But it they call it a chicken cutlet.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_02: I heard the crunch that time.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_00: The chicken is juicy.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't taste like a chicken cutlet.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: It tastes like more like a so I'm gonna give it a five out of ten, only comparing it to a chicken cutlet.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, I got it.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: But it is good, like if you had it in sauce or pasta.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_02: Alright, alright.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_02: And then let's do number three.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: Alright.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see what it looks like.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that one looks like a classic chicken cutlet.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's pretty light, but I feel like restaurants do light cutlets.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because they want to keep the chicken juicy.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and they don't want to burn it.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's pretty thick.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_02: Thicker than thicker than number two.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's thicker than number two.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_00: Alright.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I think number two had more um like parsley.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_02: Number two did have more parsley.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is darker too.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: That looks kind of close to like a homemade one.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_02: See, that sounds too thick already.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wait.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: This just tastes like chicken.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_00: I the breading, I don't think it has pecorino or like cheese in it.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_00: No, you need the cheese.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's lacking parsley.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: And the the chicken is juicy though.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_02: So out of ten.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give it a six because I think it's closer to a chicken cutlet than number one.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'll give it a six.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_02: So number two is our winner.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: So number two is the winner.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_02: So number two is the chicken from La Piazza.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_02: Have you ever heard of La Piazza?
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_02: So they have them all over the island, but La Piazza's really good.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_02: I think this one is from like Merrick, Belmore area, but this is La Piazza, really good.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh number one was from a place called Chicken Holiday, but it wasn't bad.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_02: You just it wasn't really a cutlet.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't think anything was bad.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_02: It was just, yeah.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_02: And number three is from a local place called Stella's.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_02: All like in the Belmore, Merrick area.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_02: So we'll say La Piazza was numbered.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would say number two for sure.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for that.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_02: All right, we have one more game because that's what we do.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_02: We play grown-up games.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_02: You ready?
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_02: So don't look.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_02: Oh high schoolist.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so this is our objectively speaking box, right?
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_02: It has a whole bunch of really random stuff in here.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_02: So you're gonna close your eyes and you're gonna pick something out of the box.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_02: You're not gonna look.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_02: That is a um oh how cute.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_02: That is a wine uh sweater.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_02: Very cute.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so your assignment though, don't you're not gonna like it.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_02: So let me just give it to you.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you have 30 seconds to review this object as if it were the newest, hottest menu item on Long Island.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_02: Describe its appearance, invent its taste and texture, tell us what it should cost, and finish with a rating out of 10.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_02: You may not eat it.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_02: Your time starts now.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we have here, we have here um an edible fondant cake.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and it's actually made with rice crispies actually in the middle.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it has this bubblegum flavor outside that's textured like a real sweater.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have sprinkles here that give it some more sweetness because you know you you need more of sugar in there.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm gonna rate this a seven out of ten.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_02: And what's it gonna cost?
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it's gonna cost fifty dollars because this took a lot of detail to do our our edible sweater cake.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_02: That was impressive because I didn't know where you were going with the sweater.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's the only thing I could think.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm like, what other food would be?
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, now when you were into pastry, did you did you design and decorate cakes?
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_00: You did, yeah.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_02: That was like what you did.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I did um, I mean, I I still do all my kids' cakes.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_00: I actually did my wedding cake.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_00: You did your own wedding cake.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_02: What's the best cake you've ever done?
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_00: I would say my wedding cake.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_02: What did it look like?
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_00: I did eight tiers.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_02: Eight tiers.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_02: You have a huge family?
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_02: No, you just wanted a giant cake.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_00: So me and my husband were together for eight years.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, which it was because after my son, then we got engaged.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_00: And finance-wise, like money-wise, he was like, All right, at this point, we either can get married in a year, or I was really pushing to have another kid so they'd be close.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oh no, we gotta wait for the wedding.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why it took so long.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we were together eight years, so I made it eight tiers to represent that.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I also did I baked all our favors.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_00: I know this is like psycho to do right before your wedding.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_00: I was insane.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and what were the favors?
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: Cookies?
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: They were like frosted cookies with me and my husband's face on it, and then everyone got a frosted cookie and then uh chocolate chip and an oatmeal cookie, like in a bag.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, people were very happy at your wedding.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then I made the cake, and I we got married at Jericho Terrace, and they were so nice to let me make the cake because Yeah, they didn't have to let you know, even if you're a home baker.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, on Long Island it's like you need oh my, what policy of insurance.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_00: So leading up to two months before our wedding, they told me I couldn't make my cake.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I told them, I'm making my cake, you don't have to serve it.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_00: So when I was telling we met like two months before for whatever walkthrough, I was like telling what are they called?
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even remember the case.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, This is what I'm making.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if he was like, What in the world?
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_00: And he went and talked to somebody, but he was like, he gave me a call like the next day, and he was like, You can serve your cake.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like so, whatever strings he pulled, or maybe his pastry chef didn't want to because at the end of the day, I was like, if I paid for a cake, you're gonna make one too.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_00: So then he pulled that, and then we ended up getting like a chocolate fountain in replace of awesome, and he let me, yeah, it was so nice to do it.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_02: And you make your kids' cakes too.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I make their cakes every year, and my daughter, she like expects the world because she Well, mama knows what she's doing, so what did she want this last year?
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_00: So this last year, her theme was on cloud nine.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_00: She's turning nine, so it was rainbows, clouds, and actually it was the week, so we had a party for and it was the weekend before vacation.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_00: I was absolutely insane.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to scale back a little on her.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_00: It was still a two-tier cake, and she had the topper and everything, but she wanted this like rainbow drip going down, cascading, and I was like in the thick of it doing the cake, and I'm like, girl, I like showed her the cake.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_00: I said, This cake looks beautiful.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_00: I would like convince because I'm like, I can't tell her I can't do it.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I can't do that.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I convinced her that it was gorgeous, and I didn't have to do perfect.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a little mommy manipulation.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, thank goodness.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_02: So if people want to continue to follow you and see you pack lunches and cook things and bake things and do all the fabulous things you do, where can they follow you?
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm at Eating Through Life Happy.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_00: So you could spell it T-H-R-U, and it's one word, Eating Through Life Happy on TikTok and YouTube.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then my nickname on there is Jessica Eats.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then my behind-the-scenes account on TikTok is Jessica and Rob.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_02: Jessica and Rob?
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_00: Ann A-N-N-N Rob Middle.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_00: I know that's another name that everyone has, right?
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm all my friends.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's like Anne Marie.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I'm older than you, but like my generation was all like um, we had a lot of rose.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_02: Do they still do the rose?
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_00: And like um Was it Lynn?
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's Lynn.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_00: Lynn.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_00: Lynn.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_02: Lynn was a big one.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_02: But anyway, can you give us a signature on that laugh love law token?
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_02: You can use the silver marker.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_02: This way we can keep track of all of our fabulous guests.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I have a little merch for you.
• 54:04
  unknown: Oh.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_02: I have a laugh love law hoodie for you.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_02: You're welcome.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_02: So cute.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_02: So you can take it and enjoy it.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I want to thank you so much for joining us here.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_02: You're so down to earth and fun.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_02: This was incredible.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, obviously, check out La Piazza and their crunchy beauty chicken color.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_02: And thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of Laugh Love Law.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_02: Make sure you're following and subscribing and doing all of the things.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks as always.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_02: See you next week.