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Love, Lust, and Food Stories: Unveiling Valentine's Day Secrets · Family Tree Food Stories

0:00
Nancy May: Hello, everybody.
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It is our Valentine's Day special here at Family Tree Food and Stories.
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And Valentine's Day is, it's a rather interesting day.
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I think we all look forward to it and we all loathe it at the same time.
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But in any case, it is a delicious day.
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And there are stories, both food and family oriented.
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And before we got started, Sylvia and I were chatting with our guest Norma
0:25
Taylor about a story, and I'll share it real quickly, that although it wasn't on
0:29
Valentine's Day, but it's pretty close, that I was in college and I was dating
0:34
this guy and It was Parents Weekend, my parents came out, and we all had dinner
0:40
together, and my dad leans over to my date and says, She's a pretty great
0:44
gal, but she's not Gina Lola Brigida.
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I'm like, How could you do that?
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on that note, This non Ginalotobrigida is opening the Valentine's Day here
0:55
at Family Tree Food and Stories.
0:57
So, welcome Norma and hello Sylvia!
1:00
Sylvia Lovely: Well, hello.
1:02
You're a goddess.
1:03
You know, I mean, what can I say?
1:04
Nancy May: I know.
1:05
Sylvia Lovely: I'm too short to ever be a goddess.
1:08
Nancy May: Well, good things come in small packages, like chocolate, right?
1:11
Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, well heat enough.
1:12
I bet you're not a small package anymore.
1:14
But anyway, Hey, I love this holiday and I love it for a couple of reasons.
1:19
One, obviously the love vibes, and Norma knows there's a candy I like
1:23
for every one of the holidays, and she always would supply me with my addiction
1:28
she would bring from the candy store.
1:30
but I love it, one for the love vibes, but number two, here in
1:34
the north country, Ms. Nancy is.
1:37
It's the harbinger of spring.
1:39
You know, you've had the groundhog, and he usually comes back with bad news, six
1:44
more weeks of bad weather, but you get to Valentine's Day and hope spring's eternal.
1:49
Okay, we can get through this.
1:51
Right, Norma?
1:52
We'll get through this.
1:53
And we've had a very Harsh beginning to our winter up here, so we'll especially
1:58
look forward to Valentine's Day.
2:00
But what I want to do right now is introduce Norma and
2:03
get going on our conversation.
2:05
let me tell you a little bit about her and it's a big.
2:09
She has been the Lexington Area Manager for Edible Magazine.
2:14
I also know she was a writer and an editor.
2:16
She didn't write that down on her bio, but I know that she does that.
2:19
She was a contributor to Food News and Chews, and Nancy,
2:22
remember, that was my radio show
2:24
for years, and we ended it, but it still lives on, doesn't it, Norma?
2:29
does, it lives on, you can't get rid of it.
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Nancy May: Audibly delicious.
2:34
Sylvia Lovely: so she is also, is the Marketing and Food Safety
2:37
Manager at Ruth Hunt Candies.
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Now that's a big deal in Kentucky.
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It's one with great history and everybody knows refund candies.
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And Norma and I know it particularly well since we worked the line, didn't we Norma?
2:53
with bourbon balls.
2:54
Remember the Lucy and Ethel skit
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Norma Taylor: We did.
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Sylvia Lovely: we reenacted it and now we can't find the video.
3:01
So we may have to reenact that Norma,
3:03
Nancy May: please do.
3:04
Norma Taylor: We'll have to do that again.
3:05
That
3:05
Sylvia Lovely: you, you've got pull.
3:06
So, you just set it up and we'll, be there.
3:08
And Nancy, you might have to come up for that one.
3:10
That would be fun.
3:11
and finally, last but not least is her, expertise in bourbon.
3:16
And I'm sure she drinks a lot of it in order to develop the expertise.
3:20
You'd have to, right?
3:21
Norma Taylor: job research,
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Sylvia Lovely: I know it's important, but we'll talk about that later
3:24
because bourbon goes with what we're going to talk about here in a minute.
3:27
And here's what I'd like to start with.
3:29
We have to preserve our traditions, right, Nancy?
3:32
We have to take care of them.
3:33
We have to know that they're going to stay well and good and
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that, we can maintain them.
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And what I want you to do is pull back the curtain a little bit on the process
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it takes to put these delicious giant strawberries covered in luscious chocolate
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in front of us on Valentine's Day.
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But what happens?
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Where do we get those strawberries?
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Just give us a brief kind of look, behind the curtain of
3:58
those delicious strawberries.
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Norma.
4:01
Norma Taylor: sure.
4:01
To start with, the berries come from either California, which produces
4:07
about 88 percent of the berries that go throughout the United States, or during
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these colder months a lot of times Florida as well, because Florida obviously has
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the more temperate climate usually, not right now, but generally, and they
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are a big strawberry grower as well.
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So they come up from Florida.
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either California or Florida, to the factory, and you've got about
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three days, they don't last long, and particularly after you've covered
4:32
them in chocolate, you might think, that would preserve them a little bit,
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but they start to go, pretty quickly.
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So they come in, they get washed, and they get coated.
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Now, if you're doing, I don't know, four or five cases, That's not a big deal.
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If you're doing a hundred, two hundred cases, it gets to be a big deal.
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I've literally seen the factory look like strawberry fields.
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They're everywhere.
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Nancy May: like
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fun.
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Norma Taylor: Oh, it is very fun.
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And, fortunately we have chocolate lines and they go down the chocolate lines.
5:00
which is the process that covers them automatically, so you
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don't have to hand dip them.
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Nancy May: I want to go down the chocolate line.
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Norma Taylor: I with mouth open, right?
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Sylvia Lovely: Like a chocolate fountain at a party.
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Norma Taylor: So, then, obviously, pops into the boxes, and off they go.
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And, they almost always sell out.
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They're not the only one.
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Old Kentucky Chocolates makes them.
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In fact, they do them year round.
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and the big thing is really processing them quickly because they do go quickly
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and they use the big strawberries
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Sylvia Lovely: I was gonna say, they're great big ones.
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You don't see those in our little strawberry patches.
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Norma Taylor: no.
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And, they grow bigger in California.
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The weather's better
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I guess, but they probably get lots of good food and nutrients and great soil.
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And, some of them are almost as big as the palm of my hand.
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It's extraordinary.
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Sylvia Lovely: Has the weather ever interfered with the strawberry season?
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Norma Taylor: absolutely.
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I mean, like, right now.
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Nancy May: fires in California and snow in Florida.
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I
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mean, whoever heard of
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that, Hey Norma, I got a question for you.
5:59
So when you're talking about chocolate covered strawberries, is there a
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particular, type of chocolate that's better for those strawberries that
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people prefer, or, like there's some chocolate that just has a stronger
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percentage of cocoa butter in it.
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What, what works best?
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Norma Taylor: typically 60 percent for the darker, and, a good, good
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percentage for milk is about 53%.
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Of course, white chocolate is, is
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Nancy May: Just fat, basically,
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Norma Taylor: yeah, it's got the flavor,
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Sylvia Lovely: It's not real chocolate, huh?
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Norma Taylor: not real talk no., so they'll use that and, if there
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are a variety, I because you're buying it, you're buying it
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literally in big pallet sized cases
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Sylvia Lovely: I bet they have to back up a ways to get ready for this
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onslaught of strawberries that come in,
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Norma Taylor: Oh, and in a small.
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Processing plant, everything goes to that for, three days and you just have
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to plan accordingly to get your other, inventory made ahead of time, because
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all the production goes straight to that.
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Sylvia Lovely: was really fun, to go to the factory and see candy being made.
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And watching Junior, who started out, I think, moving boxes.
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And Junior had been promoted eventually to being the cream candy expert.
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And we watched him as he made cream candy.
7:11
I think he's since retired.
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But, it's just the small town Operations, which Mel Sterling
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is, which is where the factory is.
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I mean, it was just fun, Yeah.
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Nancy May: small, family owned chocolate company, See's Candies or See's Chocolates
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were big up by us in Massachusetts and, and that region and they're delicious.
7:29
I'm not sure if they're originally from the Northeast,
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but they were pretty popular.
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but I have a a pop quiz for the both of you.
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So the pop quiz is, do you know why strawberries are
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considered seductive fruits?
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Sylvia Lovely: Well, heart shaped.
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How, how's that?
7:45
Oh,
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Norma Taylor: to Venus, who was the goddess of love, due to the red color.
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and yeah, that goes back to ancient times.
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Nancy May: Oh, you're cheating.
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Well, I'm going to give you one other little thing, which I didn't know about,
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and I thought this was rather interesting, is that you know how strawberries
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have all those little seeds on them?
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Yeah.
8:06
Yeah.
8:06
And there are actually some devices out there that you
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can buy, like kitchen gadgets.
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You know how we all have
8:11
kitchen gadgets in our drawer because they were cool and we've never used them?
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Well, there actually is a strawberry deceiter.
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takes all those
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little seeds out.
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Yeah, uh, you know, I can deal with the strawberry seeds.
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It's fine.
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But apparently, the strawberry and all those little seeds were
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considered to be a sign of fertility.
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But when you're of a certain
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Sylvia Lovely: that.
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Yeah,
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Nancy May: care about that.
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So
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Norma Taylor: across that.
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Okay.
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Sylvia Lovely: well, you know, but I wondered why when I saw that.
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like almost making something up.
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I mean, I don't know.
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You know, little seeds.
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Oh, seeds.
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Okay.
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Got it.
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Duh.
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Nancy May: yeah, okay, Sibyl, you're a little slow this morning.
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I
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Sylvia Lovely: I'm a little slow.
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It's cold up here.
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Ah, yeah, so, so yeah, so, strawberries and all the things that they represent,
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um, You know, everything.
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And then we go to chocolate.
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Norma, you're a chocolatier.
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I you know a lot about chocolate.
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You made several appearances on Food News and Chews talking about chocolate.
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Tell us about chocolate.
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Because one of the things I want to note is chocolate's just not
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plain old Hershey bars anymore.
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your chips can come in all these varying cacao percentages.
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Nancy May: And
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chocolate is considered a health food now.
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Like who would have thought of that?
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Like, hello, my hips are loving you.
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Sylvia Lovely: yeah, because it's rich.
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Now, I try to gravitate when I'm doing my chocolate chip cookies and stuff.
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I try to go to the 70%, but it's just not quite the same.
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talk us a little bit about chocolate and how you came to
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become an expert in chocolate.
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Norma Taylor: Well, the higher percentage of cacao in the
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chocolate, the lower percentage of fat solids and sugars and milk.
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So that's why it does taste is sweet at the chocolate you were
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just traditionally used to.
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It might be the old Hershey bar, but it is definitely better for you.
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That's what's behind all of that.
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It is considered an aphrodisiac because it contains chemicals.
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Like, and this is a long one, pH lital Amin,
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Sylvia Lovely: Ooh,
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Norma Taylor: uh,
10:08
Sylvia Lovely: Scientist Norma, I forgot to put that on your resume.
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Yeah.
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Norma Taylor: kind of comes with the territory a little bit.
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and that's kind of a per perfect serotonin.
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and does, trigger pleasure and wellbeing in the brain, similar to
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those when you're falling in love.
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So they stay but it is, the sensual pleasure of eating it and
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the way that it's been presented over the years, obviously.
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Nancy May: So I had actually heard that there wasn't, so I'm
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going to be the contrarian here.
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that there was no scientific background on chocolate being an aphrodisiac,
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but it goes back to 500 BCE.
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When the Mayans used it in wedding rituals.
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So maybe that has to do with it.
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if there is some scientific background, great.
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I'm all for eating chocolate and, and I will be
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more
10:52
sensual, right?
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Norma Taylor: Well, right?
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Nancy May: But if not, maybe it's all about hooking up,
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Sylvia Lovely: Or, maybe, we don't know how far back it may have gone,
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but the marketing of chocolate to become the thing, But it is rich, and
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I think that's kind of, abandon your spirits and eat this really rich stuff.
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And
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Nancy May: What melts in your mouth.
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Okay.
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Sylvia Lovely: It's creamy.
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So it just makes you feel good, And isn't that what sex is supposed to do?
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So there you go.
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Nancy May: It's supposed to do that.
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Sylvia Lovely: And so there you go.
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hey, Nancy, there was a story about, Cadbury, which is one of the famous
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inventors of all things chocolate, right?
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I mean, I love their bunnies that come at Easter
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And,
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Oh, yeah.
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Nancy May: The bunny that clucks like a chicken.
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Yeah, I like that bunny.
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Sylvia Lovely: And those eggs that have the little yellow center.
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But anyway, we're back to Valentine's.
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So let's talk about Valentine's.
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Nancy May: Cadbury, so yeah, he was a Brit.
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if you're listening and you're British, please don't take this
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personally, but I don't consider the British to be overly romantic.
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I don't know why.
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it's that stiff upper lip thing.
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I think of the French or the Italian or even the Greek, right?
12:01
so Cadbury, Richard Cadbury, in 1861, started making chocolate
12:06
boxes with cupids and roses on them, on the covers and the top of the
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boxes, and they became a huge hit.
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So maybe, what happens behind closed doors in Buckingham Palace is
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Sylvia Lovely: more
12:19
Nancy May: know about,
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right?
12:22
And Chocolate Kisses.
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So we have, the Kisses with Hershey, Milton Hershey in
12:27
1907, which he started that.
12:29
But Russell Stouffer.
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So this guy really sort blew my mind a little bit.
12:34
But Russell Stouffer, he really took Cadbury on the challenge, and actually
12:39
created the heart shaped box in 1923, and that little devil added also black
12:46
satin and black lace to his boxes,
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Sylvia Lovely: No,
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Nancy May: know, right?
12:51
Sylvia Lovely: that's sexy.
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Nancy May: I want to know what Mrs. Stouffer felt about that one.
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Sylvia Lovely: Can you say that fast several times?
12:58
Nancy May: to know what Mrs. Stouffer felt about that one.
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Sylvia Lovely: Have either of you been to Hershey Park?
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Nancy May: I have been,
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Sylvia Lovely: Ah, the big giant kisses and all of that stuff.
13:09
Oh, it's so fun.
13:10
Well, yeah, you would have had to have been there, Norma, to be,
13:13
to get your PhD in chocolate, you
13:15
Norma Taylor: I was there, actually, a long time
13:17
ago.
13:17
I but it was still a lot of fun.
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Nancy May: So, speaking of going through the tunnel of chocolate love at Hershey's,
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we're going to take a quick break here.
13:25
How's that for the moment,
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Sylvia Lovely: sounds perfect.
13:44
Nancy May: So, we left off in the tunnel of chocolate love at Hershey Park.
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Sylvia Lovely: open, lapping it up,
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Nancy May: if that doesn't sound sexy, I don't know why, but
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Sylvia Lovely: with a glass of bourbon on the
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Nancy May: Are you a glass of bourbon or a glass
13:56
Sylvia Lovely: Although, let's not leave out wine, you
13:59
know?
13:59
Yeah, I'm a wino.
14:01
Normally, you may be a bourbonite, but red wine, which is supposed
14:05
to have all those same kind of properties that chocolate does.
14:09
Uh, just make you feel warm and loved, right?
14:12
Are
14:12
Nancy May: Well, and wine and chocolate, I guess the chocolate's supposed to be
14:16
more enhanced in the flavor of wine.
14:18
But there are some really interesting things that I think we've all
14:22
sort of grown up over Valentine's Day, especially as young kids.
14:26
So remember those little confection hearts that have
14:30
Sylvia Lovely: Mm hmm.
14:30
Mm
14:31
Nancy May: Right?
14:31
Sylvia Lovely: love them.
14:33
Nancy May: They were actually started by the New England Confection
14:35
Company and otherwise known as NECO.
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I didn't know that NECO actually stood for New England Confection Company.
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Sylvia Lovely: I didn't either.
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And those little NECOs are wonderful.
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Nancy May: Right, well, Necco sold out to another bigger company in, 2018.
14:48
So, I guess we get more of them, but apparently there's up to 80
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little sayings on those things.
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I think my box always got the same one, and, you pass those little chocolate,
14:58
wait, not chocolate, but the little candy
14:59
boxes around to
15:00
Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, yeah.
15:00
yeah.
15:01
Oh, yeah.
15:01
Oh, yeah.
15:02
They love that.
15:03
And they've changed every year.
15:04
They do go through a process, I believe, where they review what
15:08
the messages are, which is so it's kind of cultural traditions coming
15:12
to life on tiny little hearts.
15:14
I, you know, and I don't know that they do, but I do think
15:17
they do a review periodically.
15:20
Nancy May: they have the traditional ones.
15:21
Be mine, call me, kiss me, love you, miss you with a you kind of thing.
15:26
I think they perfected the art of texting before we knew what texting was
15:31
Sylvia Lovely: They did.
15:32
remember sharing those little things with folks.
15:35
I
15:35
Nancy May: Oh, absolutely.
15:36
just before we moved from Connecticut down to Florida, I was going through
15:39
boxes of stuff and my mom saved all sorts of things from when we were kids.
15:44
It turns out that she actually saved a valentine that I got from her.
15:48
From a friend of mine, who I still know today, since kindergarten.
15:51
Her and her husband actually introduced Bob and I, so I still have Diane's
15:55
Valentine, which is kind of neat.
15:57
Although it's not food, but it is a heart, and it's a card, and
16:00
I think that's kind of sweet.
16:01
Sylvia Lovely: all I have are memories, but,
16:04
Nancy May: Well, those
16:04
last two.
16:06
And what about oysters?
16:07
I mean, talking about memories.
16:08
we talk about foods and traditions.
16:10
We're sort of got to get back to those little things.
16:13
But oysters are kind of hard.
16:14
I don't know if they do chocolate covered oysters.
16:16
That kind of sounds disgusting,
16:17
doesn't
16:17
it?
16:18
Sylvia Lovely: does
16:18
them.
16:18
Norma Taylor: ever seen that.
16:19
No.
16:19
Oh
16:19
yeah.
16:20
Sylvia Lovely: However, they are doing very interesting things these days, with
16:23
foods like combining bacon with ice cream.
16:26
Norma Taylor: Oh yeah.
16:27
Nancy May: but I want to get back to the oysters.
16:30
Sylvia Lovely: always go
16:30
back to the
16:31
Nancy May: So oysters.
16:32
did you know that a Giacomo Casanova, first of all, I didn't know that
16:37
Casanova's first name, I didn't know Casanova even had a first name,
16:40
but it was
16:41
Giacomo, right?
16:43
Giacomo,
16:45
Casanova, he ate a, no, it doesn't, like, hey, Gio, right?
16:49
Or
16:49
Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, Tio.
16:51
Nancy May: maybe you just call him
16:51
Jock.
16:52
Sylvia Lovely: maybe if you have the Italian accent, as in, um,
16:55
yeah, uh, there you go.
16:59
You can kind of see him, dressed up in kind of a lounge lizard look, coming
17:04
up and using a pickup line on you at a
17:06
Nancy May: Right, we got some pickup lines too, but he used to eat 80 oysters a day.
17:10
I mean, oh, that sounds kind of disgusting.
17:13
But, talk about pickup lines.
17:14
Can we, can we talk about those?
17:17
I've
17:17
Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, let's talk about pick up lines.
17:19
We might pick something up.
17:20
If I want to sneak out and go to a bar at night, I need to know those, you
17:24
Nancy May: right?
17:25
If I want to pick up my husband, think we're MINT to be
17:28
Sylvia Lovely: Meant to be together.
17:31
Are you a donut?
17:33
Because I find you ado able.
17:36
Nancy May: How about a date, darling?
17:38
Sylvia Lovely: Oh, that is too cute.
17:39
We should get coffee because I like you a latte.
17:42
Nancy May: right, these are really bad dad jokes.
17:45
Can you
17:45
imagine your parents using these pickup lines?
17:48
I certainly can't.
17:49
Norma Taylor: Ah, no.
17:50
Nancy May: I have to say, in fact, if any guy used any of these things on
17:54
me at a bar, I think I'd walk around.
17:56
I'd go to the other side of the bar.
17:59
Sylvia Lovely: So, yeah, you've got all of those.
18:00
Hey, I want to talk about honey for a moment.
18:02
obviously, it's kind of Valentine ish.
18:05
It's on all the lists, and it's a name you call somebody that you're fond of, right?
18:09
Boron.
18:11
That sounds awful.
18:12
That sounds like a chemical you don't want, right?
18:14
Boron,
18:15
which regulates.
18:17
Estrogen, and Testosterone, and I'm like Boron?
18:21
isn't that odd?
18:22
Uh, because you know, usually you can't pronounce these names, but you
18:25
can pronounce Boron, and just imagine.
18:27
But, now, you and Bob were bee parents at one time, you said, and
18:31
then you told me something that robbed me of my will to live, that
18:34
the commercial honeys Are sometimes not what you think you're getting.
18:39
Nancy May: So, as I say, we were bad bee parents.
18:41
we tried very hard, but our bees died.
18:44
They flew away.
18:45
They swarmed.
18:46
They got eaten by mice.
18:47
They got eaten by bugs.
18:49
And yeah, you know, my, yeah, yeah, but, speaking of, of just quick foods that
18:56
bees don't like, because a banana is also considered a rather seductive food,
19:01
Sylvia Lovely: I wonder why.
19:03
Nancy May: Don't tell anybody,
19:04
right?
19:05
Sylvia Lovely: to say that.
19:06
Nancy May: But if you eat a banana and you go into the hive, it
19:09
actually creates an alarm signal.
19:12
So one year, I opened up the hive.
19:14
It was like the week before Christmas.
19:16
I had had a banana on some cereal that morning.
19:18
I didn't even think about it.
19:19
It was the end of the day.
19:20
And the bees are all quiet in wintertime up here.
19:24
Because, you know, they want to stay warm.
19:26
I opened the hive and I didn't have any bee contraptions on And I put my head
19:31
over the hive, looking in to see if we could find the queen and make sure
19:34
that she was there and safe and warm.
19:37
And All these million little eyeballs are looking up at you.
19:39
A bee came out and stung me just right in the
19:42
Sylvia Lovely: Oh, ouch.
19:43
Nancy May: Yes, my face blew up 24 to 48 hours later.
19:46
I called the doctor and he said, you got stung by a honeybee.
19:50
And this is December and he's client and I said, yes.
19:53
And he said, how do you know?
19:54
I said, because I did this, I stuck my head in the hive
19:57
Sylvia Lovely: Oh, Nancy.
19:59
Nancy May: He's like, okay, why did you do that?
20:02
But but bees back to the bee thing.
20:04
So commercial, They produce a large amount, and in order to get your bees
20:08
going in the springtime, when you've got your, they call it a new, a new, a new
20:12
hive, um, they don't necessarily start producing honey very quickly on their own.
20:17
They need a little help, so you put sugar water on the hive, so there's
20:22
your first batch of honey out of a
20:25
new hive.
20:26
It's kind of watered down with regular granular or powdered sugar and water.
20:31
So you'll see the difference.
20:32
You'll taste the difference when, a new crop comes out on your
20:35
own, if you're creating your own bees, and later on as it starts
20:39
Sylvia Lovely: Hmm.
20:40
Nancy May: all of the pollen from in the area, but it's kind of interesting.
20:43
So,
20:44
Sylvia Lovely: Well, that is, that is.
20:45
So, I got to be careful about my honey, because I want the good stuff,
20:49
Nancy May: Get your, make sure it's local honey.
20:50
Do not, yeah, it should be within 25 to no more than 50 miles from
20:56
where you are, but really 25
20:57
Sylvia Lovely: and I try to do that, and there's a lot more of that available, too.
21:00
you know, we are sort of in a golden age, and it'll probably get better, of food.
21:04
More choices.
21:05
Sometimes so many you can't stand it, like chocolate chips.
21:09
I mean, you can stand in front of the counter for an hour and try
21:12
to figure out which one you want.
21:14
There's chili peppers.
21:16
Nancy May: Well, chili is considered a seductive food for spicy and
21:19
you're raising your heart and excitement and pomegranate, right?
21:22
The love apple, they called it.
21:24
I don't know why they called it a love apple, because it's so hard to
21:27
get those darn things out, right?
21:28
Those little seeds.
21:30
Norma Taylor: Mm-hmm
21:31
Nancy May: Edible Flowers.
21:32
I asked a friend the other day, I said, so what would you add to the show?
21:35
And she says, how about Candy Underwear?
21:37
Well, did Norma, did, did they serve that at your, your candy store?
21:42
Sylvia Lovely: That's in the back room, right, Nora?
21:44
Norma Taylor: Yeah.
21:45
Now
21:46
Sylvia Lovely: she, she can't reveal that on a national
21:48
podcast.
21:49
Norma Taylor: that's, I think,
21:51
Nancy May: A T M
21:52
Sylvia Lovely: that's like in the old blockbusters, you had to go to
21:54
a special room to get the stuff.
21:57
I won't say the good stuff, but you know.
21:59
Hey, how about avocados?
22:01
Nancy, are we allowed to say the
22:03
Aztec translation?
22:04
Nancy May: We can say whatever we want.
22:05
It's our show.
22:07
Sylvia Lovely: It's a translation for the Aztecs was testicles
22:11
Nancy May: pendulous avocados.
22:13
Sylvia Lovely: I love that.
22:14
Nancy May: And then edible flowers.
22:15
So, as long as we're talking about expensive in Valentine's Day,
22:19
everything seems to be like, overly top as far as it goes from that.
22:23
And when the average cost of a dozen roses in 2025 now is at $94.99, you
22:31
know, it's like, Roses are edible.
22:33
Can you imagine, you come,
22:36
Sylvia Lovely: actual petals are,
22:37
Nancy May: yeah, oh yeah, absolutely, you can do all sorts of things with roses, but
22:41
can you imagine you get a dozen roses from your lover, your husband, they come home
22:45
and they see you eating the roses, I like, you just ate a hundred dollars worth of
22:50
flowers?
22:51
Sylvia Lovely: that's better than steak, I guess.
22:52
Nancy May: I don't know, you would think so, I guess, I'd be a cow.
22:56
Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, yeah.
22:58
Hey, one of the more interesting ones is garlic, That's supposed to be
23:02
for some reason.
23:04
Well,
23:05
Nancy May: you're Italian.
23:06
Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, it has a high allicin, A L L I S O N, allicin, and
23:12
yeah, so that's how you pronounce it.
23:14
Garlic.
23:15
It's thought to increase blood flow to sexual organs.
23:19
You could say that, right?
23:21
Thereby potentially boosting libido in both men and
23:24
women.
23:24
But
23:25
Nancy May: can do
23:25
Sylvia Lovely: can you imagine garlic?
23:27
Because it would almost be a turnoff, right?
23:29
Nancy May: Yeah, I'd have to put a clothespin on my nose and be like,
23:31
Oh, hello, it's nice to meet you.
23:35
I've met you before I'm in bed with you too.
23:40
Sylvia Lovely: Nancy, I know that you've got a strawberry salsa recipe,
23:43
but I wanted to ask Norma a couple of questions I want to go back to
23:46
the candy store industry in general, because we love to go to a candy store.
23:50
There's something traditional about every holiday going into whatever
23:54
you're, you know, local candy store is, and Nancy, you had one in Connecticut,
23:59
And
23:59
there's, every state has one, and I went in at Christmas time, and guess
24:03
what I found in Old Kentucky Chocolates?
24:05
I found a horse's butt.
24:08
That was
24:08
solid chocolate.
24:10
Did you see that?
24:11
I bought them as gag gifts for my boys.
24:14
And on New Year's Eve at near midnight, we made the official award of being
24:20
the horse's butt of the year awards.
24:22
Nancy May: you can use that to break
24:23
up with your lover on Valentine's Day,
24:25
Sylvia Lovely: Yeah, you get
24:26
that horse's butt.
24:27
A horse's butt.
24:28
But what's the future of candy stores?
24:30
Are they going the way of a lot of things?
24:32
Because the grocery stores are now selling everything, right?
24:34
Are they healthy?
24:35
Are our candy stores that we love to go to healthy?
24:39
Norma Taylor: seem to be healthy to me, and it depends on the type of candy
24:43
store, but I think, particularly like the Steve's and the gourmet chocolates.
24:47
Torres and Brooklyn has a fabulous store, Norman Love in Florida I
24:52
think what's going to be impacting is how much chocolate they do and
24:56
the price of chocolate, because the price of chocolate continues to rise.
24:59
The availability of chocolate continues to decrease, and climate
25:04
change is figured in there.
25:05
Chocolate's a very fragile crop, so that can have some impact.
25:09
But I think, to me, the, the candy store and, is like Starbucks,
25:14
Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
25:15
Norma Taylor: in general, it's, it's a treat.
25:17
And everybody can participate.
25:19
And so I think for that reason, they'll probably hang around where other, other
25:24
Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
25:25
They bring, life to the phrase kid in a candy store.
25:28
Norma Taylor: They really, do.
25:29
Sylvia Lovely: you are.
25:29
You're a
25:29
kid
25:30
Norma Taylor: really do.
25:31
if it's Cs, which is strictly candy, or if it's something like Replant, which
25:36
is, more notions as well as candy, as
25:38
well as, other things, I think people really enjoy just Coming in,
25:43
Sylvia Lovely: I do.
25:44
They're
25:44
Nancy May: Well, I think there's the nostalgia of the candy
25:46
store, too, as you grow older.
25:49
Those of us who are, let's say over 40, you probably remember
25:52
riding your bicycle down
25:53
to the, the local store and getting the, the five cent candy, well, or penny candy,
25:58
Sylvia Lovely: Candy.
25:58
Nancy May: anymore.
25:59
But even still, the, you know, the wax lips or
26:02
the, you know, The little wax soda bottles or even, even just bubble gum that
26:07
you
26:08
Sylvia Lovely: Okay.
26:09
I gotta weigh in on this.
26:10
I saw them in a small town in Kentucky just a week ago.
26:14
Maysville, Kentucky.
26:16
They sell candy cigarettes.
26:18
Nancy May: Oh my
26:19
Norma Taylor: Oh, I've seen those years ago.
26:21
Sylvia Lovely: Candy cigarettes.
26:23
No, no, they're just these
26:25
Norma Taylor: Oh, these are,
26:25
Sylvia Lovely: powder candies
26:26
that
26:27
are.
26:27
compressed.
26:28
Yeah.
26:29
Nancy May: you can be, a ten year old vamp
26:31
Sylvia Lovely: Yeah.
26:31
Nancy May: for Valentine's Day.
26:33
Sylvia Lovely: I talked myself out of it.
26:34
Nancy May: And give your boyfriend or your girlfriend
26:37
while you're smoking your candy cigarette the candy hearts with the text me
26:41
Sylvia Lovely: There you go.
26:42
Make a package and then your chocolate covered strawberries and all of that.
26:46
But you have a recipe for us, don't
26:48
Nancy May: I do have a recipe.
26:49
So talking about chocolate, or not even chocolate, but strawberries,
26:52
because strawberries seem to be like one of the main foods.
26:56
That we love around Valentine's Day.
26:58
And a number of years ago, Bob and I were invited through, friends of his.
27:03
Actually, it was his old high school girlfriend and her husband.
27:06
So how romantic is that one?
27:09
We won't go there.
27:10
Sylvia Lovely: Oh
27:10
Nancy May: Actually, she was lovely, uh, or is lovely.
27:13
we went to a vineyard called Pelletier Vineyards.
27:17
in, Niagara on the Lake.
27:19
And, of course, Niagara Falls is considered romantic, and it was cold,
27:22
so I don't know how romantic it was.
27:24
But we had this chef's dinner, and it was fabulous, where you're able
27:28
to go behind the scenes, into the kitchens, just a small amount of
27:31
people, and you could ask questions.
27:33
Well, one of the samples or things that they had created specifically
27:37
for the small group of us was this strawberry salsa, and it was delicious.
27:44
Oh, and they placed it on just a little piece of endive.
27:47
So the, the spice of the endive and the strawberries, and here's how you make it.
27:52
It's very easy to do.
27:53
You dice up a bunch of strawberries.
27:55
You add shallots.
27:57
I would say percentage wise, I'm not necessarily a measurer.
28:00
So I'm probably, an old Italian grandma in a past life, but not being a grandmother
28:07
or Italian, I don't know where that
28:08
came
28:08
Sylvia Lovely: You were Gina, Lola Bridge today
28:10
in a previously, Yeah, Yeah.
28:12
There you go.
28:14
She'll be a recurring theme, I think.
28:16
Nancy May: Right.
28:17
So you take the strawberries, you dice the shallots, you take some fresh
28:20
mint, you rip the mint, you don't cut it because the ripped mint actually
28:24
exposes the oils a little bit more so.
28:27
A little splash of ice wine.
28:29
For those of you who don't know what ice wine is, ice wine is when they
28:32
allow a certain amount of grapes to actually freeze on the vine and
28:36
they increase the sweetness of it.
28:38
So, you splash that on there, it's, you don't get a lot of it in the winter,
28:42
every year, and not every vineyard produces it, and then you add a little
28:45
chili pepper, just to add a little bit of spice, and some salt and pepper to taste.
28:49
Now, that was the chef's recipe, and was excellent, however, this
28:53
is what I would do, because I can never leave well enough alone.
28:57
I would add just a little bit of balsamic vinegar, add that little
29:01
spice, or maybe even a little lemon.
29:03
To give,
29:04
some
29:04
acidity to it and just bring some of these things out.
29:06
So that is my recipe for that.
29:08
And we'll put it in the episode notes or the show notes, but it's really so good.
29:13
And maybe you want to drizzle a little champagne chocolate on top of it too.
29:18
Sylvia Lovely: Oh, why not?
29:19
It reminds me, of strawberry, that are out there a lot
29:23
Nancy May: Right?
29:23
But it's just a little
29:24
bit, so if you've got it on a piece of endive, you can feed it to your lover.
29:28
Sylvia Lovely: Oh, so sweet.
29:30
So sweet.
29:32
Nancy May: On that note, how about we wrap up this show?
29:35
Because honestly, I don't think we want to keep everybody away from the
29:39
person that they love for too long.
29:41
And that said, have a little bit more chocolate, a little bit more strawberries,
29:45
perhaps some champagne along the way.
29:48
And yes, continue.
29:51
Oh, wine, right.
29:52
And if you haven't gotten everything else, go back to the beginning of this
29:55
episode with Norma, Sylvia, and myself, and have a wonderful Valentine's Day.
30:00
Take
30:00
care, be well, and ciao, bye bye.