Three Guys Around a Table and The Best Of…
Three buddies sitting around a table debating the best of everything and discussing what is on their minds
Three Guys Around a Table and The Best Of…
A Colonel, Curling, And The Ultimate Soup Bracket
A fourth chair at the table changes the whole vibe. We welcome John—retired Army colonel, physician, helicopter pilot, and proud Minnesotan—and the night turns into a tour of sharp banter, surprising expertise, and a totally serious soup tournament. Fresh coffee sets the pace, with a decaf that somehow manages real flavor and zero bitterness, and that detail becomes the through-line for a conversation about care, craft, and what makes comfort food actually comforting.
John shares how he picked up curling after retiring in 2019, and he paints the sport in one clean image: putting the rock on the button. We dig into the culture of curling, the hockey overlap, and why grown-up hobbies matter more than we admit. From there, we swing into college football takes with no safety on—Alabama pride, quarterback concerns, coach skepticism, and the eternal SEC vs everyone else subplot. The debate is lively, informed, and just self-aware enough to be fun rather than tribal.
Then it’s bracket time. Chicken noodle faces down lentil, tomato wrestles split pea, beef barley scrums with French onion, and broccoli cheddar picks a fight with cabbage. We argue texture, aroma, and cheese thresholds. We endorse mayo-seared grilled cheese. We admit biases against cream-of-anything. We even settle a semifinal with rock-paper-scissors. The final? Chicken noodle vs broccoli cheddar, comfort classic vs creamy heavyweight. The winner earns its place in the Hall of Fame, and a doctor’s nod doesn’t hurt. Before we wrap, John walks us through the sacred geometry of Minnesota tater tot hot dish: ground beef, sweet corn or green beans, creamy binder, and a roof of golden tots that feeds a crowd and softens the cold.
Pull up a chair, laugh with us, and bring your own rankings—we want to hear them. If you enjoyed the ride, follow the show, share with a friend who loves food debates, and leave a quick review with your top three soups so we can read them on the next episode.
Three guys around a table. And by three guys, we're talking about three friends: a lawyer, an engineer, and a school superintendent.
SPEAKER_02:And just like our personalities, our opinions vary, and we certainly don't always agree. Whether we're discussing the best of or giving our tips and tricks of things in everyday life, you're sure to learn something if you stick around.
SPEAKER_01:So three guys around a table.
SPEAKER_03:Now I'm not the smartest one in the boat. That's true. I have my abacus for. But I mean, I count four. Plus it plus a dog. Is this Big Mud Math? Is this Big Mud Math? First of all, Big Mud was on the other side of the house. Little mud. Little better. Yes. Look, I didn't have to take my shoes off.
SPEAKER_01:But to me, I count four. There are four guys around the table tonight. We are blessed to have a fourth person with us tonight. It is a very dear older friend of mine. Are you saying that I am no longer the oldest person in this room at this moment? So we have over a hundred-year-old.
SPEAKER_02:You're looking pretty good.
SPEAKER_03:I gotta be honest, you look pretty good for a hundred.
SPEAKER_02:You guys sit around and watch talkies together and remember the old days for a nickel. Oh, you betcha. Oh my god. How were the fireside chats?
SPEAKER_03:Anyway, I should probably say this is Were Were You Were you around when Babe Ruth called a shot in Wrigley Field and you were listening to it on the radio when Mark was.
SPEAKER_01:I'm neither going to confirm nor deny. How about those talkies on the movies though? John Smirsky, retired colonel, the United States military, United States Army, uh a medical doctor. Doctor, doctor. So now we are uh and he flew helicopters in the military. Kind of a renaissance man. Welcome, John. Well, thanks. Good to be here.
SPEAKER_02:And John is from the not from eastern Kentucky, I can tell you that.
SPEAKER_01:Not from Pluto Mood. Just from the just from the, you know, the sound. You're you're sounding a little northern. I I oh you betcha. Yeah. John is from the great state of Minnesota, so welcome.
SPEAKER_03:Great state.
SPEAKER_01:Well, Minnesota. Tim Wallace, right? Never been.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I can't express an opinion on it. Never been. But um hey, they did have Jesse the Body Avenger as the governor. You know what they say about Jesse the Body?
SPEAKER_01:Hey, those are the good old days. Right, absolutely. As I said before, Jesse the Body had the greatest philosophy of all time. Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat. Absolutely. You ain't cheating, you ain't. Wait, wait, just a minute, McMahon. I I love Jesse the Body. So um, but welcome, John. We're happy to have you here with us. Uh we could we could have five people around the table. Uh, you know, we could bring in Rick, the producer, on a call, but uh, I don't want to disturb him on a on a Saturday night. We are recording this on a Saturday night showing our dedication to this podcast. Giving up a Saturday night at eight o'clock. It's the last Saturday before Christmas. It is. And here we are doing our podcast.
SPEAKER_02:You know, I would love a cup of coffee right now.
SPEAKER_01:You want you want an espresso? That'd be great. Okay. I'll I'll get right on that after we do the podcast. Okay. Well, I should have had it during the podcast. So Mr. No Coffee over there. Correct. John, coffee? You want an espresso?
SPEAKER_02:I love a coffee. Sure. Good. Why don't we just take a break right now and you go fix those so we'll have them when you come back? I'm being dead serious.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think we can just hit stop. So uh I guess we're back.
SPEAKER_03:So coffee was coffee's good. Yeah. I mean, I don't normally drink coffee, but I'll drink this coffee. That's pretty good, right? Pretty good. I've never had an iced coffee like this. But yeah, I like the little heat on the back end of the coffee. Yeah. I mean, not a big coffee. You know what?
SPEAKER_02:It's got a lot of character.
SPEAKER_03:I don't see how you got the bitterness out of the coffee. Yeah. Pretty good barista. Is this decaf? Uh I believe it is. I think it assists in sleeping sometimes. It all has to do with the aging process. Well, Mark's very familiar with the aging process.
SPEAKER_02:He has mastered that one, I can tell you. Has he been in Oak Barrel? Can't we talk about him? He probably went over Niagara Falls back in the 30s with an Oak Barrel.
SPEAKER_03:When they come across on the Pinton in the Santa Maria, he had a charred barrel with him.
SPEAKER_01:So, anywho, uh now that was funny. That was pretty good. I'll give you credit for that. I'll give you credit.
SPEAKER_02:So for a history teacher, that should have been funny. I liked it. Real quick, have you noticed since he has guests in his home, the temperature is no longer subpolar?
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_02:I still have on my blanket. It was freezing in here today. Did you complain?
SPEAKER_00:Oh well, look.
SPEAKER_02:Look, why is he wearing the Snuggy? Why does he get the Snuggy? Is that the electric Snuggie?
SPEAKER_03:Look, here's Boogie, Woogie, Woogie, Boogie. You have turned up the heat since your guest has been here.
SPEAKER_01:It is on 67 degrees.
SPEAKER_03:So as I said, you have turned up the heat since your guest got here.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe one degree is all. For years, Mark said that I've been so hot. I mean, what can I do? That's true. Hey, hey, you do.
SPEAKER_02:That's the first thing I heard about you when I pulled out. I said, Is that the hot guy Mark's always talking about? Exactly. Thanks, Mark. So tell us a little bit about yourself.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, we got to hear about John. Give us the lowdown, John. Nothing.
SPEAKER_03:Now we may be interrupted any moment. So just be prepared for that.
SPEAKER_01:You want to you want to talk about you know curling? I'd love to talk about curling. So I grew up playing hockey. Hard.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's about all I know about. Okay. Picked up curling when I retired from the army in 2019.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. And and love it. And and you can put the you know, put those rocks right in there.
SPEAKER_00:The rock on the button.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. Um, if if you had to put the rock on the button right now, could you do it?
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. I can do it. Especially after this coffee. I am not I am not falling for that one.
SPEAKER_01:Because it is cold weather sport, do they drink similar coffee while curling?
SPEAKER_00:Definitely drinking coffee while curling. Okay. I'd totally get behind trying curling. I want to hear it. They can do it in Cincinnati. We can go up there and do it. Two things about curling. One, they say it's it's not curling, it's actually a drinking club with a curling problem. Okay. First of all. And the second thing is if it was easy, they'd call it hockey.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I didn't think about it. It's a little bit of a for I'm a hockey player. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02:So you can do it in Cincinnati? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You can go up there.
SPEAKER_01:Um you can do it just about anywhere, from what I'm hearing. Curling. My bad.
SPEAKER_02:Cincinnati has a place that you can go up and do curling, and they have they have the rocks and the brooms and the and the quartz and the ice. And the ice details.
SPEAKER_01:We have some of that here. You know, curling on pavement would sure be fun.
SPEAKER_02:Well, you you know, the next time you can go to the old guy's place across the street and curl in his driveway.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, he was out mowing today. You know, because he was out mowing. So how many curling uh what are they called?
SPEAKER_03:Are they called lanes or are they called sheet? All right. How many curling sheets did you have growing up? You know what's bad about polo? Or was it just hockey rings?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we were more into uh polo.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, that doesn't surprise me.
SPEAKER_02:We enjoyed the horses and the sticks.
SPEAKER_03:Can I have uh can I have a match of polo for my polo club today? Bring out my secretariat for me, mommy.
SPEAKER_01:I must go uh play polo. So uh I'm glad that we got the heat off of me just for a minute. Thank you for for for Chris for having all the money in the world. So anything else you want to say, John, before we get into what we're gonna talk about today?
SPEAKER_00:Uh just 34 years in the army and uh I didn't plan on making a career out of it, but loved what I was doing and loved taking care of soldiers and leading soldiers.
SPEAKER_01:Well, thank you for your service. Absolutely. Um I wish that we could talk about when you got to, you know, take care of bad guys. That that would be a really fun episode. But every time I every time I've asked him, oh, he'll always say the same thing. He'll say, had to go over there, take care of some bad guys, and uh then we middle. I'm like, no, I want details, man. Oh, look at the time guy. I like I like details. I'm a detail guy.
SPEAKER_03:Details.
SPEAKER_00:But Mark had to clean the closet, so I couldn't tell on what I'm gonna do. Oh, see, and uh before now you're dropping out.
SPEAKER_01:Now you're was it was it what's iconic uh see uh John and his his lovely bride Meg, that was uh that was their their code for when they thought it was your code. Well it could have been. I can't I can't remember. It's been too many years, but uh you know when when you had to have some private time, uh that's what John would always say. I'm gonna go clean the closet. Why do you always clean your closet by yourself at work like four times a day? What are you talking about? It's weird. I've I've got a dog in my lap now.
SPEAKER_02:She is the sweetest little thing, yes, Bella. So you were a uh a general practitioner. You're right.
SPEAKER_00:I did a residency in family medicine and then a uh second in aerospace medicine.
SPEAKER_02:Why is it that every hemorrhoid you ever saw, you named it Mark?
SPEAKER_00:Well, you know what I mean? You see one that looks like one, you gotta call it.
SPEAKER_03:What's aerospace medicine?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I really want to know that too. So it took care of uh pilots, you can take care of astronauts. So whatever it's all about it's it's everything, everything medicine, but uh with with the the uh aerospace environment.
SPEAKER_01:Were there names like Maverick and Iceman?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, definitely.
SPEAKER_01:I'm just I'm just curious. John. I never saw the movie Top Gun, I s I swear. I just know that that was then a goose, right? That was a but you could be my wingman. Exactly. That's terrible.
SPEAKER_02:That was a terrible attempt at a joke.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, which is true.
SPEAKER_02:I don't care if you're not saying it was just terrible. So uh we're gonna do a little pop at the joke. So let's let's do this. Hold on. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Before we do Popo, I think each one of us should be able to ask a question to our guest. Yes. Oh, I like that. I like it. Yep. I mean, just just random questions. Okay. You want to begin? Uh, wrestling fan. Yes or no? I pretty fool. Yeah. I'm down. Everybody, everybody likes good wrestling. We we get into wrestling. That was Mr.
SPEAKER_02:T, though.
SPEAKER_03:Well, okay. Well, it was been in WrestleMania before.
SPEAKER_02:By the way, his birthday was just the other day, and he's uh 74. 74 years younger.
SPEAKER_03:Look, just think about that. That's almost as old as Mark. Mark was like 40 when he was born. That's true.
SPEAKER_02:That's true.
SPEAKER_01:Unbelievable.
SPEAKER_03:All right, of course. No, no, you're I'm not a I'm not a big wrestling fan. Yeah, it's okay. We won't hold that against you. Everybody's got a flaw.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, I I mean I got opportunities to learn.
SPEAKER_02:Sure. Yeah. Go ahead, Chris. It's a hot dog a sandwich. Well, is it on bread or on a bun? Well, I grew up, it was on a bread. Everything I've done.
SPEAKER_01:Where you grew up, it was on China.
SPEAKER_03:Hey, you know, look, I thought of Chris. Yes. Because my boys have been working at my pres the president of our law firm's house, polishing silver. And I was like, if you need to know how to do this, ask Chris's butler. Look, because my boys haven't been used to polishing silver at my house, but I was like, Chris's butler, he knows how to do it.
SPEAKER_02:I already told you guys I grew up having a pot of silver, and I didn't know.
SPEAKER_00:So Mark told me a little bit. So when they served it to you, did they serve it left-handed or right-handed with the opt the uh when they cut the hot dog and serve it through the fork?
SPEAKER_02:All right, is a hot dog a sandwich or not? Back to that. No, it is not. What makes it different than a sandwich?
SPEAKER_03:It's horizontal.
SPEAKER_02:What about a submarine sandwich?
SPEAKER_03:Um it's horizontal. Yeah, but it the meat's in the middle this way. It's not in the middle top down.
SPEAKER_02:You can I eat my hot dog.
SPEAKER_03:You can't you can eat a hamburger that way, too.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe if you sliced it right down the middle, grilled it. That'd be delicious. That'd be an awesome sandwich. Fried hot dog. Yes. All right, Mark.
SPEAKER_01:My my question is simple because it's going to deal with what we're going to talk about later, and that is is chili soup? No. Okay, well, that he's he agrees with producer Mellon on that one.
SPEAKER_02:You know what? I don't think chili soup either. I don't. I think it's more like a soup.
SPEAKER_01:That's that's a fair question. Does it does it have to be more brothy? I don't think so because you know, bean soup, I think we'll say is soup, and it is not brothy. It's pretty thick. It's thick. But it's bean soup. It's not chili soup.
unknown:Right?
SPEAKER_01:Well, why isn't chili called chili soup? Well, it's just like chili spectacular. Oh, chili is uh chili would beat every soup on our list. 1000%.
SPEAKER_02:I concur. All right.
SPEAKER_00:So what if it was very soupy macaroni and cheese? Would you call that a soup?
SPEAKER_01:No. No. No. Because that's two ingredients. That's that's macaroni and cheese. Soup uh, you know, has many more ingredients. That's what it's like.
SPEAKER_00:Like what? Well, it depends on water and a vegetable, broth, and sodium. Mashed potatoes. Our mashed potatoes soup.
SPEAKER_03:No. No. Not liquidy enough. Okay. If you like your mashed potatoes runny, get out.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, exactly. We'll get into a lot of discussions about mashed potatoes. But before we get into it, mashed potatoes is like big baller brand, undefeated, never lost. And I just spent some time with producer Mellon last week, and he was so upset about mashed potatoes being the championship. And he wants me to say, and you know, sweet potatoes is where it's at.
SPEAKER_02:Let me guess. He wants yams.
SPEAKER_01:What's wrong with yams? Are yams soup?
SPEAKER_02:Yams are disgusting, is what they are. No, they're not. No, they're not.
SPEAKER_01:All right. So do we have anything we need to say about college football with the playoff starting before we get into soup?
SPEAKER_03:My favorite bowl game now is going to be the sugar bowl.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Why is that?
SPEAKER_03:Because I just got a text that Reagan's going. How about that? Fantastic. Uh his special lady friend is uh huge old. I mean, she goes to Ole Miss.
SPEAKER_01:And they're just they're laying the smack down through the biggest.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, they beat it. They beat who didn't know they weren't gonna beat the car out of Tulane. Right. Look, I think John Summerall's a, as you know, I wanted him to be the coach at UK. Yep. I think he'll be a great hire at Florida. I agree. I think he's done great at Troy. I think he's done great at Tulane. Yep. Tulane didn't belong in the playoffs. Nope.
SPEAKER_01:As as you saw by today. Not a bit. John here is a big Alabama fan. Anything you want to say about their victory? Roll tide. Roll tide. Roll tied.
SPEAKER_03:So my daughter.
SPEAKER_00:They gave they gave uh Oklahoma Head Start last night. Look, whipped butt.
SPEAKER_03:My daughter is auditioning for Alabama's musical theater program. Great. And um that would be great. Oh yeah, absolutely. I would have no issue with her going there. But um we um yeah, I mean we're we're SEC. Well, the smart ones in the group, the more educated ones in the group are SEC fans. It just means more.
SPEAKER_01:We just win national titles.
SPEAKER_03:We're we're a volleyball school, dude. What are you talking about? We're up for the natty. But uh Alabama I actually thought Oklahoma would win the game. When it was 17-0, I knew Oklahoma was gonna win the game because honestly, Alabama was puttering coming into the playoffs. Yeah. I mean, they didn't play great against Auburn, they didn't play great against Georgia, and Oklahoma's defense is awesome. It's really good. Yeah and they made him look bad after the first quarter last night.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and John John Mateir, you can see why he was the worst quarterback in the playoffs. I you know, it's statistically ranked, he was the worst quarterback in the playoffs. Their offense is terrible. Terrible. I we said it, I said it to you last night. We were texting.
SPEAKER_03:I think it was a great environment last night. Yep, it was. I think Memorial Stadium is great. Yep.
SPEAKER_01:Uh, but I mean their offense is terrible. No. Uh Coach Venables, you know, congrats on a good year, but you gotta figure something out on offense.
SPEAKER_03:Well, look, he needed a good year. They he wasn't on the hot seat, but they haven't been great. Right. Not they haven't been Oklahoma great. Yep.
SPEAKER_00:You know, one of uh Alabama's Achilles heels going back a decade or so has been that dual threat quarterback. Yep. And that's that's that was a challenge. That was a challenge coming out of the gates last year. Sure.
SPEAKER_03:Kentucky's always struggled with a running a quarterback that can run.
SPEAKER_01:But when the dual threat guy throws a pick six, that that does that does tend to help a little bit. That's uh they're quarterbacks terrible, terrible, and he's terrible. So who do they have like an auburn in the llama? Terrible, terrible. It's not wrong. I mean, he's terrible. So who do they have next? Who does Alabama play next?
SPEAKER_00:Indiana.
SPEAKER_01:They play Indiana. Okay, that's gonna be a fun game.
SPEAKER_03:Uh I think that it's in the Rose Bowl. I think that game's closer. I think Indiana wins. I think that game's closer than what people think. Yep.
SPEAKER_01:I I don't disagree. That's why they play the games. Well, I mean, look.
SPEAKER_03:Indiana's Indiana deserves to be number one. Yep. That Alabama stretch in the middle of the season's as good of a four-week stretch as anybody's played. Yep. Uh their quarterback played better last night.
SPEAKER_01:Alabama played a much more difficult schedule. I still don't trust their quarterback. Right.
SPEAKER_03:Or their coach.
SPEAKER_01:I don't trust their coach. I don't trust Calen De Boer.
SPEAKER_03:I do not. And what do you think about De Boer being an Alabama guy?
SPEAKER_00:You know, uh, he's had some stretches this year and last that uh looked like things were coming together. Sure. And then then you got the head scratchers. Right. Yeah. What were they thinking? I don't I don't trust him.
SPEAKER_03:Yep. Uh I thought what's the rumors about him going to Michigan? I thought that he was gone.
SPEAKER_01:Uh he said he shut that down. He's not uh I thought last night when they were down 17 to nothing, I'm like, here he's gone. I did too. But them winning takes him out of that for sure. Kenny Dillingham's out of that. I don't know how who who they're gonna turn to.
SPEAKER_03:Condor stallions.
SPEAKER_01:I think he has a show called Hello, hello is this thing on. Um and vote for me. And and oh, and we do know that that reel today was spectacular. Don't you like that?
SPEAKER_00:Oh we'll give him Tim Walls.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Oh Tim Wallace for coach. Your buddy, your buddy. All right, let's move on to some soup.
SPEAKER_01:Let's go.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, what's good, but I think you just think on any other games?
SPEAKER_01:I was just gonna say Ohio State will be playing Miami now in the cotton. That was terrible today. That was just awful. And as you stated, Notre Dame beats both of those teams by double digits.
SPEAKER_03:Do you agree to that? I agree to that.
SPEAKER_01:The way they're playing now, the way they were playing at the end of the year.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. Notre Dame beat both of those teams double digits today. Yep.
SPEAKER_01:They figured it out as the year went on, as their young quarterback got more experience.
SPEAKER_03:And as we said on our last one, don't take your ball and go home. Right. I mean, don't be a baby. Yep. I think you deserve to be in it, but I mean, be the bigger person.
unknown:Yep.
SPEAKER_03:When in doubt, play the ball game.
SPEAKER_00:I think I think they need to expand it to 256 games. Absolutely. I could not agree more. Absolutely. D2 and D3 as well. I might as well throw them in there.
SPEAKER_03:Right. Eastern. Best one world.
SPEAKER_01:Does everyone have one of these? No.
SPEAKER_03:All right. Don't need it.
SPEAKER_02:You can read that loud. We don't need it.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, we're doing soup. Soup. No soup for you. This is from uh producer Mellon. He has created a bracket challenge for us. What's producer melon doing?
SPEAKER_00:All store-bought like from Costco, or is he homemade? See, help Hanukkah working for producer melon. Good.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
unknown:Good.
SPEAKER_03:Where's he at in the menorah right now? How many candles are left? I guess nine. Three? Maybe more? I really don't know. Well, I was in I was in Palm Beach at the end of the year. Of course you were. So that's where Chris usually goes for weekend getaways. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Let's think about this. He was in Palm Beach. I was in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Well, you're living here.
SPEAKER_01:Frank Town. We're living here in Allentown. I was on I-94. Yeah. So you got that going for you. Which is nice. I'd rather been there than Allentown. But anyway, they had a uh they had a menorah there though.
SPEAKER_03:You flew it, you were in New York City, basically. Pretty much. Right.
SPEAKER_01:I think that I think that they had their rocket. I think the the third candle was lit on the menorah two or three days ago. I don't know. All right.
SPEAKER_00:Here we go. I'd just like to raise my glass of I mean my cup of coffee to my hosts.
SPEAKER_02:As I concurve. Thanks.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for joining us.
SPEAKER_01:I had a hole in it.
SPEAKER_02:Mine did too. It's weird.
SPEAKER_01:Awesome. Coffee is pretty good. All right. Pretty nice. Me too. First round, we've got, and whether it's homemade or whatever kind you like the best. Homemade or whatever. Chicken noodle soup versus lentil soup.
SPEAKER_02:I have a confession to make.
SPEAKER_01:You don't even know what a lentil is.
SPEAKER_02:I have never in my life had chicken noodle soup.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Are you serious? Never. Wow. And I don't know what lentil soup is. I don't know what lentil noodles are. You were never sick? You had somebody who was sick for you? Right, right. The butler volunteered to be sick. Okay. I think that's a fun fact. I really think that that's a fun fact.
SPEAKER_02:I've never had chicken noodle soup.
SPEAKER_03:The butler got sick for him. Yes. When he needed a day off school, the butler said, uh, I'm sick.
SPEAKER_00:So would the butler prefer chicken noodle or lentil? Or lentil?
SPEAKER_02:I would say I'm not a big lentil guy, so I think I'd go chicken noodle. It's true. I'd have to go chicken noodle.
SPEAKER_03:Even though you've never had it, have you had lentil soup? I've had lentils. Well, then you gotta have you gotta go with that one. No. I didn't like lentil soup.
SPEAKER_02:It's gotta be better than a lentil soup.
SPEAKER_00:So what I heard him say is that he ate lentil soup over chicken noodle soup. Look, it's chicken noodle for me. Chicken noodle. Chicken noodle. Chicken noodle.
SPEAKER_03:What do you think about Campbell's old school add your add your can of water to chicken noodle fish?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, 100%. Awesome. What about chicken and stars? Can we have a fun and I got no issue with it?
SPEAKER_01:I'll allow it. Yes, chicken and with the stars. Oh, chicken. Oh, yeah. Come on now. Okay, can we have a fun fact? We we can.
SPEAKER_02:Hold on. Hold on. Hold on, please. Fun fact. I have never eaten a can of soup.
SPEAKER_03:Look, the butler. I mean, it started out with the miracles. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. It's been ladled out of a ceramic warming, you know, chafing dish.
SPEAKER_03:Look, it aged appropriately, and I mean hours to have the flavors come together. Every time I've had any Campbell soup. Fresh ginger.
SPEAKER_02:It's when it was like cream of celery or cream of broccoli with a recipe. I've never had a can of soup. Wait, does escargot count as soup? Ooh, I had that the other night.
SPEAKER_01:That surprises no one. Unbelievable. All right, round two, or the second matchup here. Tomato soup versus split pea soup.
SPEAKER_03:I vote for neither. I have had neither. I want to buy for the chicken noodle soup in the next round.
SPEAKER_02:I would take split split pea because I can't stand the smell of tomato soup. Are you serious?
SPEAKER_03:Look, I've never ate either one.
SPEAKER_02:I haven't had either one.
SPEAKER_00:Ooh, roasted tomato?
SPEAKER_03:I don't like tomatoes.
SPEAKER_01:I like me some tomato soup. I don't like tomatoes or peas.
SPEAKER_00:Wait, can you add the grilled cheese sandwich? Yes, have to. And the grilled cheese is.
SPEAKER_02:With pickles? You gotta have pickles? Pickles. You gotta have pickles with a grilled cheese, right? Oh no, you don't. I don't like pickles. I'm just my mother always had pickles with grilled cheese.
SPEAKER_03:Tomatoes. I have never in my life had pickles with a grilled cheese sandwich, first of all. Nor have I. No. And secondly, not to change the subject, but if you made a grilled cheese sandwich with mayonnaise instead of butter, you have mentioned that before. It's life-changing.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, it does have really nice. Oh, yeah. Life changing.
SPEAKER_03:Is it better than carry gold butter? 100%.
SPEAKER_00:Wow.
SPEAKER_03:Carry gold butter's.
SPEAKER_00:Carry gold butter. I I'm gonna draw the line there. Kerry Gold.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it's legit. See, I got him on the carry gold butter. Can you turn me on to carry gold but 100%? Can we have a carry gold? But a mayonnaise grilled cheese? It's right up there. It's up there just a little carry gonna be. Can we have another fun fact?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, of course we can. Let me reach it.
SPEAKER_03:You've never ate mayonnaise.
SPEAKER_02:No, I had never had a grilled cheese until not too long ago. But the butler has. My mother used to eat them all the time. I never had one. Mommy never made what I'm getting here is that you've never had normal people food.
SPEAKER_03:Hey, look, when he was sick, you know what he had? Filet. Yeah, you know when he wasn't sick, you know what he had? Bone-in ribeye. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly. You know what I had when I was sick? This is the God's honest truth. Truffles? Truffles. Truffle saffron infused rice. My mother heard this up until the day she died. I don't care what I had, how sick I was, if I had I was, you know, physically sick or had dental work or whatever. It was meatloaf and mashed potatoes, and to this day I hate meatloaf for that very reason. Look, meatloaf.
SPEAKER_00:What meat? Fish egg stuff?
SPEAKER_02:Did you have for breakfast? Bro.
SPEAKER_03:I love that the new guy's getting in on you. I like it. Because it's just easy. Hey, where's Larry?
SPEAKER_01:I need Larry on my side. That's true. Hey, shout out to Larry. Caviar. My starter will be Tiger Shrimp and Caviar. Next. So uh the next one is French onion versus beef barley. This sucks because these are two of my favorites. Okay. This is good. This is good. You've actually tasted these.
SPEAKER_03:Beef barley. All right. And I love French onion. I'm going to go with beef barley because I've never had French onions. Now it's not because I'm snobby, it's I can't afford the onions. Of course. Yes. And that Gruyere cheese.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Ooh, this feels like a nine versus eight uh contest. I agree. It really is. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I'm going to go with what about a 512? There's always no. This is like a one.
SPEAKER_00:6'11 usually has the upsets. But uh but yeah, sometimes uh what do you want? I'm gonna go with the uh beef barley.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's gonna be unanimous. I I can't I can't do all the cheese on the French onion. Beef barley on the cruise, you get French onion soup all the time.
SPEAKER_02:Every night. Yep. Except when they have beef barley.
SPEAKER_01:All right. The next one potato versus cream of chicken. Potato.
SPEAKER_03:I love it. I'm gonna go with potato too. And look, that's the only thing I miss about O. Charlie's. Oh. O' Charlie's potato soup. Now I miss their rolls. It wasn't really potato soup. It was cheese with big potato.
SPEAKER_00:Speaking of cheese, have you ever had potato soup with smoked gouda in it? No. Oh.
SPEAKER_03:Look, Chris, Chris probably has. I can't afford smoked gouda. But Chris probably has. I mean, the only cheese I know of is Velveeta. Potato.
SPEAKER_01:Potato, potato. It is potato all day. Not the way my mom, God rest her soul, when she made potato soup. I hope you liked it. I didn't like it. It was just potatoes in the water that she boiled them in. She literally put potatoes in milk on the in the pot. It was almost mashed potatoes. No, it was it was warmed up milk as broth with chunks of potatoes in it. It was the most disgusting.
SPEAKER_00:If you mashed them, they'd be potatoes.
SPEAKER_03:I would have mashed them, put a little salt and pepper in them, maybe a little cheese or lamb. I'm getting sick. I gotta be honest, it don't sound bad.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Broccoli cheddar versus cabbage soup. This is harder than you think.
SPEAKER_03:It really isn't. Janie would 1,000% do cabbage soup.
SPEAKER_02:Wow. I do like cabbage, period. I like the broth and all that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, because it's bitter. No question you like it. Yep. Nobody's confused by that. Just like buffalo sauce, just like vinegar, just like everything. Dark chocolate coffee.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, if it's bitter, you like a dark chocolate beer stout, please. I want motor oil in a glass. I did have a Guinness this past week. I'll go with the couple. The butler got it for you. Broccoli cheddar.
SPEAKER_01:Did you drink the Guinness that the king poured this week? Did you happen to see King Charles poured a Guinness? No, he was right beside of him when he poured. I know. I figured that would be it.
SPEAKER_02:I guess he did it right, right?
SPEAKER_01:So you went broccoli cheddar.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. Broccoli cheddar. I'm gonna go uh against the green here. Okay. Um cabbage, but cabbage roll. Oh. Cabbage rolls. Oh, right. Now you're talking yeah, guamky.
SPEAKER_03:I think when you say cabbage soup, you're talking about beef in it and all that good. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, it's good.
SPEAKER_01:I'm gonna go broccoli cheddar. I think that's a good solid choice. That's okay. You guys can all be wrong. Well, it's fine. Yeah because the next two, I hate both of these. I'm kind of like, okay, cream of mushroom versus clam chowder. Clam chowder. What variety? What variety of clam chowder?
SPEAKER_00:Is it Manhattan or is it exactly or New England? Or New England. New England for me. All day. New England clam chowder. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Uh I've never ate either one of them, but did you it's San Francisco? Oh yeah. Clam chowder's big there. Okay. Janie had some. Um she'll go clam chowder.
SPEAKER_00:Do they serve New England or I have no idea.
SPEAKER_03:So clam chowder. I'm not I'm not like Chris where I'm tomato-based or my buttons. Oh, cream based.
SPEAKER_01:Uh no. The clam chowder will win with three votes because I can't vote for either of those because they're both disgusting. They're like no big things. Mushrooms are fungus and clams are a fun guy.
SPEAKER_03:Look, you know me. I'm not opposed to mushrooms, but if it's cream of something, I'm typically against it. Yep. All right.
SPEAKER_00:It's surprising though, because Mark is a fun guy.
SPEAKER_02:He is a fun guy.
SPEAKER_01:Oh that's that's very clever. He's an aged fungi. So well. Kind of like a burger. We're in the very bottom bracket. Dumpling soup versus minestroni.
SPEAKER_02:Uh minestroni.
SPEAKER_01:Minestroni. Minestroni. What is the what protein in the dumpling? Uh, I don't know. It just says dumplings.
SPEAKER_00:Good chip and chicken dumpling soup is pretty tasty.
SPEAKER_01:I would say chicken.
SPEAKER_00:So if you want to go with a uh chicken dumpling soup.
SPEAKER_01:And you'll be wrong again because it's minestroni. Well, that's okay. You're the guess.
SPEAKER_00:Minestroni's good.
SPEAKER_01:Wait, wait, wait.
SPEAKER_03:But like chicken and dumplings?
SPEAKER_02:I love chicken and dumplings.
SPEAKER_03:Do you like cracker barrow's chicken and dumplings? I do. Janie does it. I do, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That's what Janie typically gets there. All right. Butternut squash versus vegetable. Who cares? You want some squash? Just vegetable and no beef? Just vegetable. There is no barley?
SPEAKER_02:I wouldn't eat either one of them. Did he pull? Where did he get this from?
SPEAKER_01:It was off a wasn't it off a what I thought he got this one off of uh that was the the movie one was and and they did the floor in Florida. They did the the thing. And guess which movie won? Christmas Vacation. Christmas Vacation, 100%.
SPEAKER_02:I'm going vegetable all day long.
SPEAKER_01:I'm gonna go vegetable because I wouldn't eat it. I wouldn't eat it. We just did that one. Oh I'm sorry. Yeah, I wouldn't either, Greg. I'm I'm going vegetable.
SPEAKER_00:I think both of these teams passed on the bowl game this year.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, 100%. But we'll go vegetable. All right, we're down to the final eight. Let's go. Can I ask a quick question? Yes. Being from Minnesota, where's tater tot hot dish? I have no idea what that is.
SPEAKER_00:What in the world are you doing? Tater tot hot dish.
SPEAKER_03:First of all, tater tot, I can get behind. I don't know what a hot dish is, but if it's got tater tots, I mean topic for another episode. Do you even know what tater tots are?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I go to Sonic.
SPEAKER_03:Yes. Mommy shaved my tater total.
SPEAKER_01:Made with the shaved truffles. Like on Landman, the shaved truffles, right? Yes. Oh yeah. Okay. What's tater tot hot dish? Yes. We got it. You can't just leave that sitting.
SPEAKER_00:Well, let's let's leave that hanging until we go through the grade eight here.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Rapid fire, because we're already at 32 minutes. All right, hit it. Chicken noodle versus tomato.
SPEAKER_03:Chicken noodle.
SPEAKER_01:Chicken noodle. I can't stand either one. Chicken noodle moves on. What about when the butler makes it? Yeah, that's true. French onion versus chicken. Wait, wait, wait.
SPEAKER_00:I thought it was beef barley.
SPEAKER_01:Beef barley, excuse me. Sorry. Versus potato. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Smirski. You know what? Potato. Beef barley. Beef barley.
SPEAKER_00:I'm gonna go with potato. All right.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, snap. So we have a rock, paper, scissors, shoot. All right, here we go.
SPEAKER_00:Who's doing it?
SPEAKER_03:Me and Chris. Ready? Yep. On three. Rock paper scissors shoot. I won. Beef barley. Beef barley moves on, baby.
SPEAKER_02:I'm happy with that.
SPEAKER_01:That's good. Broccoli cheddar versus clam chowder. Broccoli cheddar. Broccoli cheddar. Broccoli cheddar all day. Minestroni versus a bite versus vegetable. Vegetable.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, they're basically the same.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_03:Minestroni's got noodle in this. Yeah, I'm going to go noodle.
SPEAKER_00:Does Minestroni have stars? Like the chicken stars. I will allow it. Minestroni moves on.
SPEAKER_01:Now we're down to the final four. It is chicken noodle versus beef barley. Beef barley. Chicken noodle.
SPEAKER_00:Chicken noodle.
SPEAKER_03:Look, the doctor says chicken noodle. Chicken noodle. It's a classic.
SPEAKER_01:It's a classic. Chicken noodle. It's his prescription. It's health food. Chicken noodle. Alright. Broccoli cheddar versus vegetable. Vegetable. Broccoli cheddar.
SPEAKER_03:Broccoli cheddar.
SPEAKER_01:Broccoli cheddar moves on. If it would have been being the final. Broccoli cheddar versus chicken noodle.
SPEAKER_03:Look, oh classic. Chicken noodle's gotta take the day.
SPEAKER_00:I'm gonna go against the health recommendation.
SPEAKER_01:Broccoli cheddar. Okay. Broccoli cheddar. Chicken noodle. We've never done this. We've got to do a rock. Us two. Already? All right. All right, rock rock, rock, rock, paper, scissors, shoot. Oh chicken noodle. Chicken noodle is declared the victor. All right. Now what the heck is potato hash something rather than tater hot dish or something like that. Tater hot dish.
SPEAKER_00:The rest of the uneducated country call them casseroles, but in Minnesota it's a hot dish. Okay. Tater not hot dish. It's hamburger ground up, and it's gonna be some corn. Some people put like green beans in it with wye. And then like a cream of chicken soup.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:You mix all those up, put those in the pan, and then you top it with potato tots. The more the merrier. Throw it in the oven, bake it, it comes out, and it is delicious. That sounds actually very good.
SPEAKER_01:It does actually sound like that sounds like common food. But that is but that is common food.
SPEAKER_02:It sounds great to me.
SPEAKER_03:The only issue I've got with it is the tater tots may not get crispy on half of it.
SPEAKER_01:I would be a little concerned about that as well.
SPEAKER_00:You know the great thing. Concerned for uh salmonella from those undercooked undersides?
SPEAKER_02:Yes. You know the great thing about corn? It's never goodbye. It's always see you later.
SPEAKER_00:So my son went to the Air Force Academy. They called him tracers.
SPEAKER_01:That's funny. That's great. That's good. So uh, Dr. Smirski, your your uh appearance here. Thank you. It was great having you with us. Thank you for your service. Thanks for having me. Thank you for your service. Thank you for uh having your being the oldest person in the room finally. My pleasure.
SPEAKER_02:Thanks for beating me down. Larry, where are you when I need you?
SPEAKER_03:I I I can't believe you're getting around without a walker if you're the oldest person in the room. You got a wheelchair up front. Right. So it's because I curl. So look, we are here.
SPEAKER_02:We're past the date. Hey he needs to go.
SPEAKER_03:Do you know your South of Lima? I'm what? You are South of Lima. Do you know where Lima is?
SPEAKER_01:No.
SPEAKER_03:Lime is in Ohio. Chris couldn't go there for years, but now we're clear.
SPEAKER_02:I can go now. I just have to take my papers.
SPEAKER_03:Right. We got you covered. There's a story in there somewhere.
SPEAKER_02:If you go back to our first podcast, you'll hear it. Okay.
