Episode 32: Uncle Eddie Eats, The How U Doin Foundation & A Gen X Nostalgia Trip

This week, Rob and Rachel welcome Eddie Fischer, better known as Uncle Eddie Eats, for one of the most entertaining and inspiring episodes of Out Loud yet.

Eddie is the Founder and CEO of the How U Doin Foundation, a nonprofit building a one-of-a-kind clubhouse for teens ages 13 to 17 in Northlake, Texas. The foundation is creating a safe, engaging place where young people can connect, build confidence, strengthen their mental health, and discover their purpose through experiences such as podcasting, pizza-making, mentorship, creative projects, homework support, and more.

After sharing the foundation's incredible mission, the conversation takes a hilarious turn as the three dive headfirst into Gen X nostalgia. They debate the most overrated and underrated candies and snacks from the '70s and '80s, relive mall culture, childhood memories, and discover just how much things have changed since growing up without smartphones.

This episode is equal parts meaningful conversation and laugh-out-loud fun. Whether you're passionate about supporting teens, love hearing inspiring stories, or simply want to relive some classic Gen X memories, Episode 32 has something for everyone.

Topics include:

• The story behind the How U Doin Foundation
• Building a clubhouse for teens focused on connection and mental health
• Uncle Eddie Eats and his mission to give back
• Gen X childhood memories
• Retro candy and snack taste tests
• Mall culture, pizza, and growing up in New Jersey
• Why connection matters now more than ever

Learn More About Eddie & The How U Doin Foundation

Website
 https://howudoin.org/

Facebook
 https://www.facebook.com/howudoinfoundation/

Instagram
 https://www.instagram.com/howudoinfoundation

If you'd like to support the mission, learn more about the upcoming teen clubhouse, or make a donation, visit https://howudoin.org/. The How U Doin Foundation is building a 10,000-square-foot clubhouse in Northlake, Texas, designed to help teens ages 13–17 connect, strengthen their mental health, and discover direction through fun, community, mentorship, and hands-on experiences. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Out Loud with Rob and Rachel. This is what happens when two ADHD brains come together and think out loud.

SPEAKER_07 0:07

Hey everybody, thanks for tuning in to the Out Loud Podcast. We have a very, very special guest, a dear friend of mine.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

Welcome back. Thank you so much. And this is an episode you do not want to miss. Like I don't even know what's going to happen right now, but I'm buckled up and ready for Eddie.

SPEAKER_07 0:23

Eddie Fisher from the Hell. How are you doing? Hi.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Thank you so much for coming.

SPEAKER_07 0:28

Oh, I'm so grateful.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

This has been so long in the making. I have wanted to meet Eddie for a really long time, so I'm really excited. And I know you are a huge Eddie fan.

SPEAKER_07 0:37

Now Eddie's no stranger to podcast, but but but he's always uh, you know, he's he's he he he has an expertise in recovery and addiction. I I consider him an expert. Um and then um I always see him very serious, you know.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Actually, my first interaction with you was about a very serious topic. Thank you very much for offering your uh amazing wisdom, insight, and you know, advice. Um so yeah, so this is on a different this is on a different level.

SPEAKER_07 1:04

Yeah, because I always see him because he's always very serious and professional, which you know that's the kind of guy he is, but he's one of the funniest people I know. So so when I see him always like so serious, I was like, oh man. I want to see the real Eddie and the not the real, you know what I mean, the goofy Eddie.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

The other side. The goofy Eddie.

SPEAKER_06 1:21

To let loose a little bit and have fun. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

We have we have um an an interesting episode for Eddie. We wanted to bounce off of last week's um our version of F Marikill and uh our clean version of it and springboard more into an overrated, underrated because you have three Gen X um, I'd like to say experts. I I'm gonna go out there. I'm gonna say we're experts. We all would you agree that we fully dove into the Gen X experience while we were there, right?

SPEAKER_07 1:58

Absolutely. You're only an expert if you know what the fun fountain is. Oh, geez, the fun fountain. We the sprinkler with the clown and the hat went up, and you run through the stream of water, the hat dropped up. I had a fun fountain.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

With the balloon. You ran into that.

SPEAKER_06 2:14

No, it was a clown and it went up that. It was with lawn jarts, the steel missiles we used to throw at each other.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

No, you're talking about it. Until somebody lost the freaking amusement park.

SPEAKER_07 2:28

Oh, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

I was thinking the gun with the balloon, and then the that's where I went. I went to the ball. I love the seaside board. Yes. Yes. It's exactly where I I know what you're talking about. Oh, you know, okay.

SPEAKER_06 2:39

Did you go to Kingsburg?

SPEAKER_02 2:40

No, I never did.

SPEAKER_06 2:42

We were on nickel Tuesdays. We used to. That's a real genetic.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

My dad used to actually take us down to Asbury Park. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 2:49

We would go into there was I didn't think our generation, our my parents went to Asbury, but that skipped us.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

No, my parents took us down into that in there, and there I'll never forget it. There was like indoor bumper things or something like that. Yes. And uh there wasn't a lot inside. No. But it was where now they have all the rows of restaurants. Yeah. Have you been? Did you go down to Asbury yet?

SPEAKER_06 3:14

I've been, you know what? It's just at the Jersey Shore, right? You get programmed to where you go. Yeah. You need to go before. Totally. So Asbury was never on my radar.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 3:27

I think the only time I went to Asbury was, well, I think we had our one of our reunions there for high school. All right. And then um I ended up, I think I was 28. Oh, geez. I was at at a rave.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Wow. You ended up there. That is.

SPEAKER_06 3:44

We went we started in Seaside. And we ended up at a reasonable. We ended up from Asbury.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Middle of the night, clearly, right?

SPEAKER_06 3:57

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

But you're on the other side and doing unbelievable things. Do you want to tell us the how you doing foundation? And give us a little bit of um totally tell the world what you're about.

SPEAKER_06 4:09

This is good because the first core element of the foundation, the how you doing foundation, is fun. It's fun connection, discovery, and direction.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

Awesome.

SPEAKER_06 4:17

And it's a 501c3 nonprofit for teenagers, ages 13 to 17, for families and our community facing challenges with connection, mental health, and substance misuse. And it's going to be a six-day-a-week access clubhouse, 5,000 square foot indoor, 5,000 outdoor for teens to come after school and on Saturdays and have a ton of fun and connect. And of course, you know, the Jersey thing, right? It's pizza's always been a connection and divine a thread. So we're putting in a state-of-the-art, legit pizza kitchen. That's gonna be the hook to get the kids to want to come and show up.

SPEAKER_07 5:04

And it's for all children, too. It's not just for kids struggling with No. Yeah, I know, it's for everybody.

SPEAKER_06 5:09

I always lead with connection because what we had as kids, yeah, what we're gonna talk about, right? Us Gen Xers, right? We're the last of the innocence. I know. I know. We connected in a lot of different ways. You're absolutely right. The last innocence, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:25

Yeah, the last is such a great way to put it.

SPEAKER_06 5:28

So, and then we're gonna have a podcast studio, which I can't wait to have you guys out. We'll bring out loud there. Editing suite and greeting room for the kids that don't want to get behind the mic and start their room. Right, because that's really important because there needs to be people. Do that, and then I think for everyone's flex room, uh for movie nights. We're gonna do like breath works, yoga. Uh there's a uh a wonderful company that's gonna come in and do homework for kids that had ADD and ADHD, take the friction out of the house. Wow. So they're gonna be able to from Monday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. come out and do homework. Wow. And so that's wonderful than to have pizza. This is what we always talk about, Rachel. Like what's needed. Needed everywhere, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

So that's my that's my age group that I've been working with my entire career. And we always talk about the fact that there's so little for these individuals to do. And everything's so expensive. And that's the thing. Like you may say, okay, but there are, you know, like the our people in our town always say, but there's this place and there's this place, but they're pay.

SPEAKER_07 6:34

Yeah, it's like 50 bucks. Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

Like you go to the urban air or the jump and jungle or the whatever rock and air they want to call it, yeah. You're dropping $60 just for one kid to enjoy a day, one day.

SPEAKER_07 6:46

Then your kid wants an eight dollar hot dog, and you're like, no.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Exactly. And and and also those places aren't even always so safe because they're not as monitored as they should be. So you go as the parent, and we always say there needs to be a place where these kids can go and just be, and not have to map out the entire afternoon, but be able to pick and choose. You know what, I want to do this for 20 minutes, and I want to do this for an hour, and I want to do this.

SPEAKER_06 7:11

Well, I just want to be bored with people around. Or just people. You know what we're gonna do, you'll appreciate this. In the flex room, we're gonna do a quiet room sometimes. I love that. And I'm gonna have a basket. That's where I'm gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Drop the phone in the basket.

SPEAKER_06 7:26

I love that, and then we're gonna start with can you stay without your phone for five minutes? Yeah, yeah. Right? We'll just challenge it. Can you do that? But nervous system regulation is something we're gonna tackle. It means uh it's something that I really never knew about, no one really talked about in the 70s, 80s, uh-uh. But now it's so important. It is I I saw how my life taking a snapshot back, how things would get away from me so quick from trauma, from experiences in life, and I never understood how I couldn't reel myself again.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Right.

SPEAKER_06 8:01

So now there's all this stuff, so let's use it. So we're gonna put in the in the outdoor space uh two coal plunge tanks. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 8:09

I don't know much about I I've seen a lot, like I like they come comes up in my algorithm a lot. People do that in the morning to like jumpstart their day. And so what what's a dopamine push. Is that is that what it is? It's like a dopamine, it's like a rush.

SPEAKER_06 8:22

What science is is showing and what it's showing is you can change the neuroplasticity in your brain by doing some practices. Okay. Like yoga, meditation, breath works, and coal plunge. And it's really regulating the the vagus nerve that runs through your whole body, right? And uh something that really can help you maybe change a habit, yeah, right, really, get focused and centered and and make a shift. So why not use everything like that? Yeah, and bring that into it because the teenagers adolescents today are not what the the adolescents that we were. No, it's a different wiring, I truly believe in that. A little bit of old school, right? But staying current.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Right.

SPEAKER_06 9:11

Right, have a little bit of both and and but have fun, a place that kids actually want to show up to. Yeah, they're gonna have a lot of experiences where they're never would have maybe experienced in their life, whether it's podcasts or coal plunges or and the exciting thing too is right, the community piece of it, the collective of all wonderful people, both local, national, and international, that are gonna be visitors, yeah, right. Rob's gonna be able to come out and do a drone demo, right? Photography, right, and incubate these ideas for kids and then let them run with it.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

So that's my my neck w how is that run? Like, are these volunteers that are coming in to help you? How are like the people that are gonna be tutoring after school?

SPEAKER_06 9:56

I'm gonna be there every day. Obviously. I mean, that's right. Like tutoring is all like plug and play. They have the tutors and monitors for that.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 10:04

A lot of volunteers. I'm getting people like messaging me. We'd love to volunteer. Sure. I run through this, I do this, or I'm a retired tutor. Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

You know, if I lived in the area, you'd have me every day.

SPEAKER_06 10:16

I honestly like that's a great people. So amazing. It makes you like, all right, I'm on the right track because the markets expand.

SPEAKER_07 10:25

What's really cool about it, especially with the what you you mentioned, like the ADHD with the tutor is like focusing on people at ADHD. Yes. For me, as an adult, and I think it would have been the same as a kid. If I knew I had a certain problem, I would have I would have been okay with that problem and then have the tools to fix it. Like I wouldn't have felt, you know.

SPEAKER_02 10:45

Because I feel like I did it as an adult.

SPEAKER_07 10:46

Yeah, you're right. Yeah. Once once I knew I had an issue, I was able to fix it pretty easily. I just didn't know what the hell was going on. So you're gonna bring alightment to these a lot of people with that. That's gonna be I think there's gonna be a lot of unintended benefits that even all you guys aren't aware of yet. I agree with you.

SPEAKER_06 11:02

Yeah, yeah. I uh because some people say, well, what about this? And what about I don't know. Yeah, yeah. But it's the curiosity of it all that's fine, right? Because it's such an out-of-the-art.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

I love the out-of-the-box thinking about it.

SPEAKER_06 11:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:13

I think there's not enough out-of-the-box thinking.

SPEAKER_06 11:16

To have all these things, you know, you know, for kids to be able to learn. And there's a lot of kids that feel they one don't fit in because they can't figure that out. Yeah. Right? Same thing. Like back in our day, if you didn't learn a certain way and fit in to the circle, well, right, right, you were outside the circle, you know, which is great. And, you know, also um, you know, besides the the that, it's like offering different things for kids is just super important and make them feel comfortable to learn and you know, expand on on what they want to do in life and not be like it it's it's more of a come and figure it out. Because a lot of kids are getting kicked out of stuff. Yeah. Yeah, I know. And that's something so people are asking me, well, what if no other supports? Yeah, well, that's the thing, right? No other like whether it's sorry, religious group, right? We can't help smoking weed, you gotta go.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

Or if the behavior is a little bit more aggressive than the rest of the you know, and kids feel uncomfortable near the child, and that child is the one that goes.

SPEAKER_07 12:21

I mean, it's I coached a uh I coached travel basketball, and we had this kid that that comes through all the time, great kid, like like I stayed connected with him, and uh I guess he had some uh um behavioral issues, he did, and the whole community in the town that we live in wanted to kick him off the team. Yeah. You know what I mean? And I refuse. I actually had to start a new team. One of the reasons why I started a new team got out of the league was because of that. So then you're gonna be able to get it. One of the reasons that was about half 50%. That's a big deal. Yeah, that is a big deal. But it's even like uh so you know, it's great. I mean, that's really important. I think that happens more than it's more of an unwelcome, not even kicked out.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

I let me tell you something.

SPEAKER_07 13:04

Making them feel unwelcome.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

As a as a special education teacher, I I can tell you it happens so often. There are so many of my students who can't find the appropriate karate class or any extracurricular activity because nobody wants to go above, you know, above and beyond just everybody's status quo. Yeah, like if I have to do a little bit more, if it means that I have to cater it a little bit more to this one child when I have 13 others that are following the rules, I don't want to do it.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

And then that children use it as a learning experience.

SPEAKER_07 13:40

Exactly for everybody, right?

SPEAKER_02 13:41

Like the right you know, I love that. So how do the student uh student I say, I'm sorry, uh kids come to you? How do you find them? How do they find you? And is it a membership?

SPEAKER_06 13:52

Like what do they so we're gonna ask for like $50 a month, reoccurring, but it's taxed right uh to donate to the nonprofit. Got it. I have with the pizza kitchen, we're gonna do pizza fundraising drive. So everything will be like revenue generation too, because I want to also teach the kids that you can't sit back and wait for someone to donate. You gotta be in action, right? So the podcast studio we're gonna rent in the mornings to local businesses. Very cool. So, like, you know, for a donation, you can use a podcast studio, we'll have pot packages like for editing and all of that. So that's a lot of fun. The the school's gonna partner with us for for the homework. Very cool. Um so that's a lot of fun. And so all these different, you know, uh like revenue generators will be very helpful.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

That's really awesome.

SPEAKER_06 14:43

You know, when we do a pizza drive, we'll have a QR code on the box, and we'll just tell people donate what you want.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

Are the kids gonna be making the pizzas?

SPEAKER_06 14:50

Yes. So everything is designed, one for the hook, right to show up and enjoy, two, to learn. Yeah. Right? And then three, I have all these pizza people, pizza, my pizza pals. I my wife says, You're pizza pals all the time. Cell says that. So they want to come in and share their stories and teach.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 15:13

So it's gonna be kind of like a a cathedral, so to speak, of right? Like teaching and learning and enjoying and eating.

SPEAKER_07 15:22

And the doors are open in September. And and I I don't know if you want to share this, but he he raised a tremendous amount of money so far.

SPEAKER_06 15:29

So we crossed over 200,000 with no building.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

With no building, you raised over $200,000. Wow, hats off to you. That is unbelievable.

SPEAKER_07 15:41

The framing's being done now.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

And we're gonna link on there. We're gonna link on our episode so that if you want to donate to this unbelievable cause, you can make fun of us all you want. We love that. We bring it on, we always get made fun of because I call the Statue of Liberty Brown and not copper. But along with your insults for me, please donate to a really good cause. That's totally fine. I can handle all your insults as long as you back it up with some uh, you know, some good stuff. Yeah, totally this is amazing.

SPEAKER_06 16:13

Yeah, it's um you know, I got laid off like three years ago.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

And that was your catalyst? Wow.

SPEAKER_06 16:22

What's exciting is you know, all the different wonderful people we have in our lives and the different circles. Some people have heard like I remember you sharing this six years ago and you're doing it.

unknown 16:36

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 16:36

Right? And then that's powerful. I just got the chills. I mean, it's it's wow. So what what was and it's so interesting because Rob said to me when I got laid off, he goes, This is the best thing that's ever happened to me.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

I have to say, you he is a really good tapping. You know what? Make lemonade out of lemons kind of guy. You are, you're really good like that.

SPEAKER_06 17:00

And he's he's true. So you know what, you know what's the greatest thing? I I wanted to share this on the podcast. Uh-oh. Right? Don't worry. All right, are you no? This is actually really awesome because we have to, you know, social media, it's like whatever, right? I think what has a good and bad, right? The greatest friend request I ever got was Rob Wilson.

SPEAKER_07 17:23

No, what happened was uh he Eddie Eddie data a good friend of mine, and uh That's how we met.

SPEAKER_06 17:29

Yeah, that's how we met at Cocktails in South River.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Talking about cocktails. I was a cocktails regular, by the way. We would pre-game at the South River pub and then.

SPEAKER_07 17:40

You two don't try to connect too many dots, you never know.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

No. I was very introverted, and I have no game, so there were no dumps.

SPEAKER_03 17:48

Oh, and he had a lot of game. That's all right, that wouldn't have bothered me.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

Okay, let's not connect any more topics.

SPEAKER_07 17:55

But he uh so uh uh then like I guess like 10-15 years after that, right? I had a me and Nettie hung out, they broke up, so we stopped hanging out. We used to go to Jinx together. She was a jinx girl and all this stuff. I used to throw the bit. I used to pick up tell her about Henry. Henry from the love pumps.

SPEAKER_06 18:14

He used to pick them up and throw them off the stage.

SPEAKER_07 18:17

Yeah, I was pretty well. So I used to pick them up and carry them around the stage because I was what happened to all those guys.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Henry's still around. I'm friends with them on Facebook. They were good back then at Good Live music. Brian Kirk is still around.

SPEAKER_06 18:30

Yeah, it was epic. And we would go to all the different Borelli, I loved Barre. And uh Tuesday night. Wow. When I left for Arizona 26 years ago, they actually had a go-in-away party.

SPEAKER_07 18:46

That's the amount of money he was spending.

SPEAKER_06 18:47

I'm sure they were probably very sad. I mean, it's really neat, but I'm thinking to myself, it's sometimes like, oh gosh, you know, I mean, when a bar has a going away party for you.

SPEAKER_07 18:55

But so uh I reached out to the girl you was dating because I'm good friends with her, and I said, Who is that guy you dated? What was his last name, Eddie?

SPEAKER_02 19:02

How many years later is this?

SPEAKER_07 19:03

That's like 10, 15. Wow.

SPEAKER_06 19:04

Well 10? I'm I was thinking about this the last couple of days. I think I was about 26 when when when I met you. When you were when you met with that.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

So then it was like 37. You were 37 when he gave you that. Well, maybe later. Oh.

SPEAKER_06 19:22

Well, I know I was sober, and I was at the timing. You're you were coming here. My grandmother's birthday, I a couple of summer trips.

SPEAKER_02 19:33

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_06 19:34

And I got this friend request, said Rob Wilson. I'm like, Rob Wilson. Then we met at the baby. I always liked them.

SPEAKER_07 19:41

I always liked hanging out with them, and then I then we just lost connection. Yeah. And thank God we lost connection when we did, because I had a house right across the street from trade winds, and and that was a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

That's a good location, too.

SPEAKER_07 19:54

So it was good that we disconnected. I was in my heyday, he was in his heyday. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

So you didn't heyday at the same time with each other?

SPEAKER_07 20:01

Well, you had a girlfriend, so it was a little different.

SPEAKER_06 20:03

Okay, but we were, you know, yeah, I was well on my way to heyday. I had a drinking problem even in high school. I started drinking at 13.

SPEAKER_02 20:12

All right.

SPEAKER_06 20:13

That was my first beer.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

That was your poison of choice drinking?

SPEAKER_06 20:16

I started in fourth grade. Got it.

SPEAKER_02 20:19

You started drinking in fourth grade?

SPEAKER_06 20:21

Yeah. You said that.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

I wasn't a drinker.

SPEAKER_06 20:23

So yeah. Yeah, I was always a drinker. And then it's then it progressed into weed, but it's beer was always my gateway drug.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 20:33

Because I grew up, you know, Sarah was a Polish, Irish, blue collar, bars in every neighborhood.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Right.

SPEAKER_06 20:40

I I loved bars. I loved those neighborhood bars. I thought I'd die in one.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

You know, it's so interesting because East Brunswick didn't have bars like that. We weren't allowed. There were no bars, so it wasn't that kind of thing. And that was always the battle thing.

SPEAKER_06 20:54

Slayerville. We had Bon Jovi, we had the guy from Skid Row. Oh, and all that stuff. But Serville was actually. I remember you. That was great to be. There was a label because when I even baseball, we always had good baseball teams. But beyond that, what I found out was like everybody was scared of Searville kids because they were all drinkers. Wow. We were. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 21:16

So it's interesting how a culture of a town, right? And we would always fight with East Brunswick. You know, they would call us Slayerville, and we would be like, What's your SAT score? or something. It was always a like a funny the rivals.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Uh-huh. Oh, there were so many lines.

SPEAKER_06 21:35

And then when a kid went to St.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

Joe's Monroe. Oh, I know.

SPEAKER_06 21:38

Right. It was like the Exodus piece.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Well, that was, yeah. Even in East Brunswick, St. Joe's, that was a big that was a bad back in the day, but it was a clash, definitely. It was a clash. I know like there were kids who were uh East Brunswick residents that went to St.

SPEAKER_06 21:54

Joe's, like there was like a you know, like the little bit of a we had a couple from Sarahville that left. It all started I remember like in the early eighties there was a really good quarterback in Cerville. And his parents pulled him out of Cerville.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

To go to Saint Joe's? No, Edison.

SPEAKER_06 22:08

St. Joe's didn't have football when they still do they now? Yeah, they do, yeah. They pulled him out. It was a bit controversy, but you know what I come to think about is the smartest move they ever did because the kid ended up at Penn State. Yeah. Wow. And back in the day, Careville football was horrific.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

And he would have never They wouldn't have even seen like a diamond in a rough kind of thing.

SPEAKER_06 22:25

No.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

Interesting.

SPEAKER_06 22:27

No.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 22:28

It's funny you say that Diamond in a Rough.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

Why?

SPEAKER_06 22:31

Because I used weird sayings like that often. Back in the day when we had the home news and the news tribune. I had two paper routes.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

The home rag, my brother calls it. He does, the home rag.

SPEAKER_06 22:43

The Haleys, Gene Haley and his son, they were all sports writers, and they wrote an article on me, and that was the headline, A Diamond and a Ruff. How do you like that? I don't know. I remember it. My dad always cut out everything. And it was a diamond and a rough. You are a diamond in a rough.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

You are a diamond in a rough. They knew it back then.

SPEAKER_06 23:04

You still are.

SPEAKER_02 23:05

They knew it back then. Look at you doing good.

SPEAKER_06 23:08

Let's see how Eddie does with uh my chess king basis.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

Chess king. Chess King. We talked about that a little bit off camera. Eddie, Rob came in telling me that um Eddie knows more about East Brunswick than I do. I I'm okay with it. I am okay with East Brandon.

SPEAKER_07 23:27

East Brunswick, for those that don't know, is uh the town we grew up in. Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

And I'm okay with that because you were in the mall, and the mall back then, you just just by malls all over the country, really. You knew everything about exactly. So you just by sheer geography would know everything. So I'm gonna actually, I'm bowing to you. Giving you, I'm gonna give you the crown. You'd probably do know more about East Brunswick than. Were you one of those, like as soon as the people walked in? Come on, can I help you? Is there anything you need? Like the Merry-go-Round people? Do you remember the Merry Go-Round?

SPEAKER_06 24:12

Merry Go Round worked on commission and we didn't. My starting salary, our starting hourly wage was $335 an hour. That was the minimum wage. In 1985, I started. And would you and would you know $3. $335 and we got a dime raise in six months? Wow. But we weren't on commission. Merry Go Round was. That's why they were hard. Merry Go Round. It's a Merry Go Round. But Chess King, no, we weren't on commission. It was they were rough. Back in the day when retail, like we learned a lot of responsibility.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

I know.

SPEAKER_06 24:47

We were all stationed, a greeter, someone Roman, and then someone that worked a dressing room. Right?

SPEAKER_02 24:52

I know.

SPEAKER_06 24:53

Yeah, you learn systems and buildings work, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:57

I was thrown into, so my first job, we were talking again in the mall, was Lynn's Hallmark, and I was thrown into it. My best friend Denise and I at the same time got the job. Literally, I think it must have been like December 5th, not even no, it was early. Like December 1st, they were hiring for Christmas.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 25:17

And I do you in back in the day at the Hallmark stores, you wrapped the gifts for everybody for free.

SPEAKER_06 25:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 25:26

And like Nortramstray. Back in the day, they sold the, it was called Department 56, and they were the Nativity sets. Yes. And they were up in the rafters of Hallmark. So you say they taught you everything. You literally got we got thrown into three weeks before Christmas, having to memorize every single goddamn figurine that that place sold and wrap it without ruining it, and wrap it nicely enough where those people were not embarrassed to bring that gift to their friends. The pressure that we felt as like and we locked and opened that store, by the way, at 15 years old.

SPEAKER_07 26:12

Outside flea market in the cold. I remember my hands so he's gonna be one of those. I remember my hands so cold I couldn't count the money. I couldn't count the cash, you according privilege.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

What what did you get paid more than $3.38 an hour to do something?

SPEAKER_07 26:27

I was I was like 12. I wasn't even 15 yet.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

How much did you get off that? Was that under the table, right? Yeah. It must have been an under the table kind of.

SPEAKER_06 26:34

Well, at that age, I had two paper routes, and when it snowed, it didn't matter. Oh, I babysat.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

I was a babysitter from 10, from 10 years old. I was making money. So uh uh we're not gonna spend too much time on the East Brunswick Mall because as Rob just reminded us, we're international. So you don't want to bore anyone with too much about our local local. But we do love a Gen X fun deep dive. So I we were talking a little bit off camera and I made us stop because we Eddie and I both agree, and I've spoken about this many times, that the world would be a better place if Farrells was brought back.

SPEAKER_07 27:11

Oh gosh. Farrells. And Farrells was all over, too. You know the last one just closed like five years ago. I'm surprised you didn't take a trip there.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

I do bel I think it was it was West Coast without a doubt. And I just think, and you we said it in it in its exact like a replica of the way that it looked back then. The piano nothing should change, and the uh the clown sundays, the the the drums.

SPEAKER_06 27:42

What about the zoo?

SPEAKER_02 27:43

Yeah, like I just think the big I don't think anything could change.

SPEAKER_07 27:48

Rachel's friends with the person that has the East Brunswick Farrells drum.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

The East Brunswick Farrells drum.

SPEAKER_07 27:53

Are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_02 27:54

No, it's still in existence.

SPEAKER_07 27:55

Maybe that for the clubhouse. Maybe they'll donate it. Yes. Gosh.

SPEAKER_06 27:59

It's interesting. Wasn't that for birthdays they would do that? Yeah, they'd come.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

And they would gong and they would come out with the clown Sunday. I used to like the hot. So that's what I want to do. The hot meter was awesome. And I did they also have that other thing from Big? Remember the thing from Big that turned him little or big or whatever it was? With the guy, ha ha ha. And the fortune teller person. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, did they have that there too? I think so. So um the candy though, when you paid, for anybody who doesn't know anything about Farrells, first of all, you can Google it, and there are very good pictures that show you exactly what it looks like. But the candy, when you paid, there was a candy store, and it was all nostalgic candy, and it was the greatest thing in the world.

SPEAKER_06 28:47

And it just made you feel with the twirl lollipops, and the everlasting gobstoppers, the big it was bigger than your head.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

So in true Eddie fashion, and because I am obsessed with candy, and one of his handles Uncle Eddie eats, too.

SPEAKER_07 29:03

So that's the other thing.

SPEAKER_02 29:04

We knew we couldn't do pizza because that's just your you coin you corner the market on pizza. So we didn't want to do that.

SPEAKER_06 29:11

I am up five pounds on pizza.

SPEAKER_02 29:13

What I oh you are, yeah, because Jersey has really good food. Yeah, I mean we do. We really do. We got some good stuff. I like to call myself a candy connoisseur. Okay. So I went back in in the spirit of Farrell's and the spirit of East Brunswick and Gen X. Okay. And I tried to find as much as I could.

SPEAKER_06 29:33

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 29:34

Some of it's a little bit out of the box. You didn't know some of it. So maybe you do, I'm not sure. But if you didn't, we'll try it.

SPEAKER_06 29:40

I am the oldest of the three.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

So that is true.

SPEAKER_07 29:43

Eddie's four years away from being a boomer, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:47

So like that's true. Yeah, the earlier Neko candies.

SPEAKER_06 29:50

Do you remember the wafers that you didn't find Neko candies?

SPEAKER_02 29:55

I do remember that.

SPEAKER_06 29:56

I think that's the old candy in the America.

SPEAKER_03 29:59

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 30:00

Those wafers, yeah. No well.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

All right, so then there's no order, no, no specific order.

SPEAKER_06 30:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

Just things that I found. Chico sticks. Did you ever eat those? I never ate them.

SPEAKER_06 30:12

I never ate them either. What what are they peanut butter?

SPEAKER_02 30:15

Crunchy peanut butter. Are you pee allergic to peanuts? No. Okay. Actually, my kids were like, what do you think? I wish we were allergic to some things. Because what I learned is that so much of our candy has peanuts in it.

SPEAKER_07 30:28

Yeah. Really? Yeah. Well, that was the thing.

SPEAKER_06 30:31

But there wasn't such a thing.

SPEAKER_07 30:33

There was a move. No, there was a movement to not give your kids peanut butter, so they never developed that. Right, which was dumb. Along the peanut butter line. Skippy.

SPEAKER_02 30:42

We have Mary Janes.

SPEAKER_07 30:44

Oh, yes. Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

I did.

SPEAKER_07 30:48

All right.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

And you know what? You can bring them all home afterwards.

SPEAKER_07 30:51

And we're going to do what? Overrated, underrated? Okay. We're overrating, underrating. We're always going to be able to do that. Rachel has to be careful. She keeps losing teeth.

SPEAKER_06 30:57

I always thought Mary Janes were better than bit of honey.

SPEAKER_07 31:00

Um bit of honey. That's a little controversy. Low-level friction, we call that.

SPEAKER_06 31:07

Bitto honey! Yes. That is a classic, though. That rap, those rappers. Like you can see them in your sleep.

SPEAKER_03 31:16

Pop rocks.

SPEAKER_07 31:18

Need some coke. Yes, Coca-Cola.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

You know, I was driving here and I was like, oh shit, I forgot the drinks. Which would have been what? What was this? That's how Mikey died.

SPEAKER_06 31:30

What was the urban legend that Pop Rock? Mikey died. Mike. Yes. He had that in Sprite or something.

SPEAKER_02 31:37

Now these I never tried.

SPEAKER_06 31:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:39

But I know that they were definitely around back then.

SPEAKER_06 31:42

Boston Bacon. Have you had these? You know what? No. Like what's the hype? Right now, right? They're always in the um uh Walgreens always has all right the boxes, but I never got to do it.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

I've never had Boston Baker.

SPEAKER_06 31:55

They look 80s. I always like this box looks like 80s. Lemon heads.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

Oh. Lemonheads are good. Oh, that's my favorite.

SPEAKER_06 32:06

The dippers are the pressure version. Yes. That's very good.

SPEAKER_02 32:11

But not to be upstood by the regular breadstick version. Oh, you like the breadstick version better?

SPEAKER_06 32:19

If I remember that that's that's the original. Oh, okay. It is the original.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

The breadstick is definitely there.

SPEAKER_06 32:24

Yes, those dippers, even the rat. Oh god, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:27

I remember the Did you make wax retainers? Oh my goodness. Did you? Were you like, or was that Arthur?

SPEAKER_07 32:34

That was probably my first addiction.

SPEAKER_02 32:36

Were we wait? You said earlier.

SPEAKER_04 32:43

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

Yes. And you made like, we used to make retainers, and then it made you talk weird. Yep. So you thought you were really cool. And then this was a little bit later, but and for our audio audience, uh Compost.

SPEAKER_07 32:56

We got we we have a uh we we just remember that we have a nickel nips, which are the um wax mini drink bottles.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

So bite them, drink them, chew them. Yeah. Now I have full disclosure, you didn't see last week's episode, but there was um an incident that Rob shared that involved um fruit roll-ups and a certain summer.

SPEAKER_07 33:23

Fruit roll-up treatment.

SPEAKER_02 33:25

So I had never known about this. Exactly.

SPEAKER_07 33:31

It's the most recent reel, too, right now. It is the most recent reel. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 33:35

And the funny thing is, there is now a thing, a TikTok trend where you wrap a frozen like um ice pop in a fruit roll-up and then it gets crunchy and it's delicious, and whatever.

SPEAKER_07 33:45

I had a girlfriend that wrapped it around something else.

SPEAKER_02 33:47

So that's where that came from.

SPEAKER_03 33:52

That was Monroe in spots. Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 33:56

That was Monroe.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

So the funny thing is when I was.

SPEAKER_04 33:59

That was Monroe before Monroe was a good one.

SPEAKER_02 34:01

I mean, exactly. That's before the mansions. That was before the mansions came into Monroe in school. So I chose not to get the fruit roll-ups as a taste test for today.

SPEAKER_03 34:15

Even though it suggests I can't ever eat another one again.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

They're done. I'm done.

SPEAKER_03 34:20

You're done.

SPEAKER_02 34:20

The next one is combos, but I chose the pizzeria version and not the nacho cheese version because really, I mean I don't know if Eddie agrees, but I think they're the best beach snacks.

SPEAKER_07 34:31

That is a great totally. Because even if you drop it in the sand, you don't even notice.

SPEAKER_06 34:36

You were eating those snacks. You were telling me I thought they were gone. No.

SPEAKER_07 34:40

Oh, that's my favorite beach snack.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

But you can't find these in Texas? They don't show up in a convenience store.

SPEAKER_06 34:46

Oh, oh no. I I've kind of like they exited out of my brain.

SPEAKER_07 34:50

No, they're great.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

They are great. I'll tell you another reason why they're good. I'll tell you why they're another great because they don't melt.

SPEAKER_00 34:58

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:58

So you like this, because this is a great commuter snack also in my car, because they don't melt. So I can have, yeah, I mean, it's something I think.

SPEAKER_07 35:07

You can buy the big the good sized bags at Wawa, by the way. Yeah. Really?

SPEAKER_02 35:10

So combos, pizza for those people who are just beach day. Are just toning in an audio.

SPEAKER_06 35:17

You know, but you got our area, we were spoiled.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

In Middlesex, you mean like in our area of Jersey?

SPEAKER_06 35:24

You gotta think about it, right? We had Sunshine Biscuit.

SPEAKER_02 35:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 35:27

Right? Hostess. Hostess. Do you remember going to the hostess store and they would put the the black magic marker on the bread, the wonder bread, because it was a day old and it was like a quarter.

SPEAKER_02 35:39

So my mother, that's what we gave out for Halloween candy. Oh. We gave, we were drinking everything. My mother would go and get all of the individual and she would have pies. Everything. I ended up working at hostess for a little bit. All of that stuff. And I worked at Twinkies. Oh, I forgot to get, we were gonna get Snowboard. Yeah, the Snowboards are buying. Shit. That's right. I forgot. Damn it. I should have.

SPEAKER_06 36:04

I think they still have the I thought only. And then we had Drake's. We had Drake's because Drake's. Yeah, it was right there. It's all apartments now, by the way. Entomens.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

It's Paul Apartments.

SPEAKER_06 36:13

Entamins.

SPEAKER_02 36:14

Yeah, it's all apartments.

SPEAKER_06 36:15

The Entamins coffee cake. That's where bonessa is.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

That was on every grandmother's grandmother's face. You ate at the hostess factory.

SPEAKER_06 36:22

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

Bonessa was is the oh however you have to.

SPEAKER_06 36:26

We were just there. What a great place.

SPEAKER_02 36:28

And then the last thing that is truly, and this is where the entire thing started, because Rob mentioned this last week. The True Gen X. Okay. Totally processed snack. Easy cheese. Easy cheese spray canned cheese. Yeah. Now, if you did not, and I I wrestled with which version to get? The cheddar or the American. I did. And I first of all I was not buying both because they're $5.37 on Walmart now. So I refused to spend $10 on processed cheese. But I went full in. And you may have tried these. Rob and I, neither one of us.

SPEAKER_07 37:11

No, I think I remember that.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

I have never ever tried this. Chicken biscuit original crackers, which the internet told me.

SPEAKER_07 37:23

Chachi GP.

SPEAKER_02 37:24

Yes. Cha Chi P T told me was the OG combo. Really? The American Cheese, easy cheese spray, and the chicken in a biscuit. I'm sorry, not chicken biscuit. Chicken in a biscuit, original baked snack.

SPEAKER_07 37:42

I can taste it a little bit. You know why?

SPEAKER_02 37:46

It's on the back.

SPEAKER_07 37:48

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 37:49

Oh, wow. So that's the thing. It's on the back of the box, so they are.

SPEAKER_06 37:55

I would have never had that in my house growing up. Me neither. Because my aunt worked at Sunshine Biscuit. So we could never.

SPEAKER_02 38:03

Did they have their own version?

SPEAKER_06 38:04

Yes. They had.

SPEAKER_02 38:05

Did they have their own version of this?

SPEAKER_06 38:06

Well, the cheese, I don't know. But if that wasn't on sale at Shopping, were you a string cheese guy as a kid?

SPEAKER_02 38:11

I was. I was. Oh. Then maybe not. Maybe they didn't have that. So what are you? Have you ever had that?

SPEAKER_06 38:16

No.

SPEAKER_02 38:16

You never had this? Are you a string cheese version right now? What the hell? Let's pop this cherry, yeah. Oh. My God, that makes it even better.

SPEAKER_07 38:24

Uncle Eddie hasn't eaten something.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

Oh, I am.

SPEAKER_07 38:28

Uncle Eddie's gonna be eating this on the beach and all the crumbs are gonna be gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 38:32

Oh my god. You know what? This is fantastic. You never had string cheese?

SPEAKER_06 38:36

No. You know what I mean? Holy shit. Rappels. What? Rappels.

SPEAKER_02 38:41

What the hell are rapples?

SPEAKER_06 38:44

This is like sheets that you would put on an apple and make your own like because during a winter you couldn't go down and my hands are clean. That's alright.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

Here, you have to put it on the right side.

SPEAKER_03 38:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 38:55

Do it right so that you don't ruin the.

SPEAKER_06 38:57

Yeah, do it right. Yeah, you do it.

SPEAKER_02 38:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 38:59

I don't want to get yelled at.

SPEAKER_02 39:00

Well, because you have to make it pretty.

SPEAKER_06 39:02

Oh, you're gonna make a design for me? Oh shit.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

Yeah, like you gotta.

SPEAKER_06 39:06

Look at this. Look at this.

SPEAKER_07 39:07

So Eddie's trying the uh chicken biscuit with string cheese or first.

SPEAKER_02 39:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 39:14

I have to apologize for eating a non-sunshine biscuit.

SPEAKER_02 39:18

I don't know. You think this is a good beach snack? Because this is hard to keep in the sun. Here you go. I made your own.

SPEAKER_07 39:25

So it's like an overrated underrated. So this is like the best thing when I was a kid. Now we're not going for gourmet, we're going like spaghettios good. Oh, that's nice.

SPEAKER_02 39:34

Was it overrated? Okay.

SPEAKER_07 39:38

So you know what?

SPEAKER_02 39:40

You pop it.

SPEAKER_07 39:43

Just like I remembered. That's nice. This is not a disappointment at all. I'm a salt guy. I'm a salt guy. Yes. Oh, I need a. I want to make a sandwich. I want to make a string sandwich.

SPEAKER_01 39:57

Alright. What?

SPEAKER_03 39:58

Oh, we gotta kick. You know what? You should put that on top of a combo, too. Yeah, that'll be good.

SPEAKER_02 40:05

Alright.

SPEAKER_03 40:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:06

Next. Alright, here's my I have to tell you.

SPEAKER_07 40:10

Yeah, Eddie wants another one.

SPEAKER_02 40:12

I don't know that I like the cracker. I don't know if I like the cracker. Wow, look what you got going on here. The cracker is very chicken soupy.

SPEAKER_07 40:22

Yeah. I love chicken soup. I love it. No, like this is like this is worth getting sick over. Like it's worth getting sick over. Like I would get sick over this. Well, if you got sick, I love it.

SPEAKER_06 40:36

What would be on the television while you were eating those?

SPEAKER_02 40:40

Oh, the love boat. Um, well, price is right. Well, right. So if I'm eating that, it's probably during the day.

SPEAKER_06 40:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

Which means that I it's probably four o'clock in the afternoon after school, and I'm watching a an after school special.

SPEAKER_07 40:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 40:58

An after school special. Here you go. Here's the combos. Or all my triggers.

SPEAKER_07 41:01

Well, first, Eddie, the stream cheese where you went to the soaps.

SPEAKER_02 41:04

I was, but General Hospital was only three to four. And then after four o'clock was the after school special from four, either four to four thirty.

SPEAKER_03 41:12

Remember? Right.

SPEAKER_07 41:13

An after school special. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:14

Yeah. On who did you put it on a combo yet?

SPEAKER_07 41:17

No, but I'm chewing right into the thing.

SPEAKER_02 41:19

This is like double cheese, though.

SPEAKER_07 41:21

Overrated or underrated, or are we just trying it?

SPEAKER_02 41:23

I'm underrated with the biscuits.

SPEAKER_07 41:25

What about you?

SPEAKER_06 41:26

What are you going to change that out to? A rit?

SPEAKER_07 41:28

I guess it's overrated.

SPEAKER_02 41:30

Actually, here.

SPEAKER_07 41:31

Or what is it? Over underrated, then it's it's it's as you remember. Right.

SPEAKER_02 41:36

I never tried this, but it says that it comes with it, and I'm gonna say I would pick a risk or a club. Remember the club? Keebler Club?

SPEAKER_06 41:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:46

I would take the chicken.

SPEAKER_06 41:48

I had worked for Sunshine, so she's those damn little elves.

SPEAKER_02 41:51

Oh, she hated the elves too.

SPEAKER_06 41:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:53

But then what happened was- Wait, you were banned from some really good shit then.

SPEAKER_06 41:57

So listen, we couldn't have Oreos. I know. We had Hydrox. It was Hydrox.

SPEAKER_02 42:03

Oh, Hydrox. Which, by the way, sounds artificial automatically.

SPEAKER_07 42:08

But you know what Sunshine crushed? Now I know where all Eddie's trauma came from.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

Oh my gosh. Yes. Did you go to other people's houses and you were like Oreos? And be like one of those kids.

SPEAKER_06 42:19

You know what Sunshine nailed? Sugar wafers. Yeah. Sugar wafers are I should have gotten those. All those years later, I'm working. I'm working. And remember those, well, when you drove by when they were making them, you can smell it.

SPEAKER_07 42:32

No one's cool back in there.

SPEAKER_01 42:33

Right on Bordentown app, right? Over there?

SPEAKER_07 42:35

Yeah. As you're talking about your aunt and your father, I think the coolest thing was how many people like they they stood up for their company. Not everybody's fashioned for where they're working. Like there was a certain amount of proxy. Because they were being taken care of. That's the thing. You were you were going to be able to do that. You got your pensions, you got this.

SPEAKER_06 42:53

Absolutely. Well, what happened then? A couple of places in Sayerville, too. When that started going, and then the Bisco bought. For those who can't see, I'm loading up with the string.

SPEAKER_02 43:04

Okay, so wait, let's talk about the combos and the cheese. Combos are underrated. Combos are totally underrated. I think they're the most we talked about that there.

SPEAKER_07 43:12

There you go, Eddie.

SPEAKER_02 43:14

Combos are exactly.

SPEAKER_06 43:16

You know what though? Like, I could still now, if I go back into the memory bank, I it brings stuff up, right? The nacho cheese had that like that little sharp I it you could I can remember that on the palate.

SPEAKER_02 43:28

I didn't like the combo and the cheese. Because I feel like the combo and the cheese, it takes it takes away the pizzeria taste, and I like the pizzeria taste. Yeah. Yeah. And you want more?

SPEAKER_07 43:39

No, I agree with that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't like that. Okay. Combos don't need help.

SPEAKER_02 43:44

Do we want exactly they don't need help? They don't need help. Do we want to go sweet now? A little bit? Or do we want to try the dippers and go total cheese and get that out of the way?

SPEAKER_07 43:56

Up to our wonderful guest here. What would you like to do?

SPEAKER_06 43:58

You know, let's clean our palate with. A Mary Jane.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

Okay. Oh, let's do you said the Mary Janes were better than the what?

SPEAKER_03 44:07

Than the bit of honey.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

So we have to.

SPEAKER_03 44:09

Alright, yeah, yeah. I'll be the judge of that.

SPEAKER_02 44:11

Alright. Alright.

SPEAKER_01 44:12

So you gotta be careful with this. You do have to be careful with the Mary Janes regards.

SPEAKER_06 44:17

I know I'm on an international podcast. I know.

SPEAKER_02 44:20

International.

SPEAKER_06 44:21

I'm gonna go super hyper local. Here, open that one, mom. You're you're probably too young for this, but. By the way, we're only like two years younger than him. My grandparents. Three, right? My grandfather, they they grew up in South River.

SPEAKER_01 44:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 44:36

So my grandfather.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Oh, Rom.

SPEAKER_06 44:40

That's why Kefaro's pizza was a big deal. But Becker's. Do you remember Becker's on Mill Street?

SPEAKER_01 44:46

What was that?

SPEAKER_06 44:47

That's where you got the newspaper. Yes. And they have all you used to get the candy cigarettes. Oh, cigarettes. Candy cigarettes and the cigars. All right, here we go.

SPEAKER_02 44:56

They're big.

SPEAKER_06 44:57

That's what she's saying.

SPEAKER_02 44:58

Your bit of honey, huh? That's what she said.

SPEAKER_07 45:02

Alright, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 45:03

All right. Oh, these are small.

SPEAKER_07 45:05

Yeah, the Mary Janes are much smaller. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 45:08

All right, so we're taste testing.

SPEAKER_06 45:11

Heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_02 45:11

Yeah, we're taste testing. It's like a bit of honey.

SPEAKER_06 45:15

It was okay. Bit of honey first.

SPEAKER_02 45:17

Mary Jane. You're going bit of honey first? Okay.

SPEAKER_06 45:19

No, you know what? What are we doing first? I'm going Mary Jane because I can't believe the size of these. What a oh, that's heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_02 45:29

Yeah, these are small, huh? And soft.

SPEAKER_06 45:31

They were Mary Jane's were the same. They were bigger than us.

SPEAKER_07 45:36

These are interesting because there's no punch to it, right?

SPEAKER_01 45:40

It's very mild.

SPEAKER_06 45:41

Food quality has gone down even in candy.

SPEAKER_07 45:46

But the fact that there's not a lot of punch makes you just want to eat it until you get that punch punch. You know what it is.

SPEAKER_01 45:50

Oh my god, so that's why you're addicted.

SPEAKER_07 45:53

Yeah. Back in the day, one was good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:56

Because it has now you gotta eat the whole bag. Do you know what's interesting?

SPEAKER_07 46:01

Well, maybe our palates got stronger and we're used to more powerful foods. That could be it too. In the 80s, you weren't used to powerful foods.

SPEAKER_02 46:08

Yeah, everything was more muted.

SPEAKER_06 46:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 46:10

I have to say, the Mary Jane has gone down the hill.

SPEAKER_02 46:14

Yeah, I'm disappointed in the Mary Jane. It's not worth the catalyst.

SPEAKER_07 46:16

Look at the disgust on Eddie's face. I mean, you get total disgust. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 46:21

Oh, these are interesting.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

You cannot bite into the this, whatever. This one is the bit of honey. Oh, this is gonna take forever.

SPEAKER_06 46:29

My filling just shot out. Gotta go to Dr. Anderson. Oh yeah, he's retired.

SPEAKER_02 46:34

I don't know if I could eat this one to fruition because this might really hurt my teeth. Oh, come on. My dentist is gonna kick my ass. Or love me.

SPEAKER_07 46:43

Mm-hmm. They are a little similar, no? Well, the bit of honey has a little bit more punch to it.

SPEAKER_01 46:50

Uh-huh. Well.

SPEAKER_07 46:53

I'm gonna go with bit of honey. Me too. You know what?

SPEAKER_01 46:56

Bit of honey, hands down.

SPEAKER_04 46:59

The Mary Janes were horrific.

SPEAKER_01 47:02

Real honey and roasted almond bits.

SPEAKER_07 47:05

They both taste a little chemical y, but chemically.

SPEAKER_01 47:09

With real molasses and peanut butter.

SPEAKER_03 47:11

So that was Mary Jan's.

SPEAKER_07 47:12

Yeah, you can taste the molasses.

SPEAKER_03 47:15

Yeah, he tasted the molasses.

SPEAKER_04 47:17

No way. There's no molasses. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

Oh yeah, it's all the way down.

SPEAKER_06 47:24

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 47:25

It's literally like that and the peanut flavor are like second to last.

SPEAKER_06 47:31

Gosh, I don't even want to read these ingredients. Yeah, don't.

SPEAKER_01 47:34

Don't, because it wasn't part of it.

SPEAKER_06 47:37

All of our doctors will be calling us.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

Alright.

SPEAKER_06 47:40

That was good.

SPEAKER_01 47:41

That was good. That was good. But you know what?

SPEAKER_06 47:42

The bit of honey's pretty good. Uh-huh. The bit of honey still has a nostalgic taste. And you know what I like? Maybe James.

SPEAKER_01 47:51

This is a lot of work. You only want one.

SPEAKER_03 47:53

Yeah. Well, that's good.

SPEAKER_01 47:54

Right? Like, I'm exhausted right now.

SPEAKER_03 47:56

I never had one in anything.

SPEAKER_02 48:00

Like, say we go Boston baked beans.

SPEAKER_07 48:03

Yeah, I don't know why these are intriguing me. I'm not sure. What are they?

SPEAKER_02 48:07

What do you think it is?

SPEAKER_07 48:08

I think it's the packaging.

SPEAKER_02 48:10

No, but what do you think they're gonna taste like? So it's Boston baked beans. Yeah. It's been around forever. Always next to the sweet tart box. And you said the lemon heads. You were a lemon heads person. I did almost buy Oh hot Somali's and the Mike and I's and the good and plenties and all of that. But those stayed around, and I feel like they've been they've had like resurgences. The lemon heads they now make in the um those um air, the the crunchy, the freeze-dried ones. Yeah, they are really good. So they don't need to be taste tested because we can get them. These are these definitely caught my eye. I wanted to, I figured I'm a Boston baked bean virgin, and I'm I figured today was as good a as good a day as any.

SPEAKER_05 48:56

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

I won't put my hands on yours.

SPEAKER_05 48:58

It's okay.

SPEAKER_02 49:00

So um, my first impression is they look like jelly beans.

SPEAKER_07 49:03

Jelly beans, yeah. Totally. But they look like baked beans for real.

SPEAKER_02 49:07

They do look like baked beans. They look like pinto beans. Oh that's weird.

SPEAKER_07 49:11

They're hard. You can't bite them.

SPEAKER_02 49:13

You can't, but they're not like MMs, they're coated peanuts.

SPEAKER_07 49:18

Oh no, you can get through them. Yeah, coated peanut.

SPEAKER_02 49:22

Are they like MMs? Oh, I'm excited for this actually.

SPEAKER_07 49:28

What's the coating?

SPEAKER_02 49:30

Oh my god. I was not expecting it.

SPEAKER_07 49:32

Yeah, I probably do. Yeah, but then it softens up and you can bite through it. So again, these are the Boston baked beans candy coated peanuts. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:44

What are those?

SPEAKER_07 49:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:46

Who likes these? Do you like them?

SPEAKER_07 49:49

It feels like your teeth are just breaking out.

SPEAKER_02 49:51

Do you know what it tastes like inside? What New York City streets smell like. Yeah. The roasted peanuts.

SPEAKER_07 49:59

That's not a bad. That's not a that's pretty good. It's not a bad peanut. Wow, you dug deep there.

SPEAKER_02 50:03

Are there any peanuts in this? There's no peanut in it. It's totally artificial.

SPEAKER_06 50:09

What the heck's an artificial peanut?

SPEAKER_01 50:13

Is there a peanut in this?

SPEAKER_07 50:15

Must be.

SPEAKER_01 50:16

You think?

SPEAKER_07 50:17

It's interesting because it seems really hard, like hard candy. Yeah. Then you take a bite through it, then you go right through it. And there's a peanut taste, but I'm not getting any peanut.

SPEAKER_02 50:26

That's what I mean. It's disintegrating. It's like melting.

SPEAKER_06 50:29

It's an old peanut.

SPEAKER_07 50:31

Oh no, look, here.

SPEAKER_02 50:32

It looks like what are we going for next, guys? We're gonna stay on a stay on a cake. All right, go with the chicken sticks. Let's just continue.

SPEAKER_07 50:40

As we are peanut butter.

SPEAKER_02 50:42

Everything was peanut butter.

SPEAKER_07 50:43

I I I see Eddie keep looking at the cheese and not us. Yeah, gotta give another one. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 50:49

Here you go. I think string cheese won over today.

SPEAKER_07 50:53

Eddie loves the chick biscuits.

SPEAKER_06 50:55

While we're doing all this, right? I think like the the the size, like the size of this that's so small. Ilio's. Ilio's frozen pizza. Yeah, I still eat that.

SPEAKER_02 51:09

I have to tell you, I love Ilios pizza. I actually prefer Ilios pizza.

SPEAKER_03 51:14

I'm not disgusted with us. But you gotta doctor it up.

SPEAKER_07 51:20

We used to doctor up.

SPEAKER_02 51:22

How do you doctor up Ilio's?

SPEAKER_07 51:24

I told you he doctors up pizza. Remember, he didn't listen to the last podcast. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:28

Oh, be prepared.

SPEAKER_07 51:31

So, no.

SPEAKER_01 51:32

Wait, that's not what you think this is. This? Mmm.

SPEAKER_04 51:37

Yeah? Mmm. Oh my gosh. It looks like a.

SPEAKER_01 51:41

I thought it was gonna be a hard candy. You know what this looks like?

SPEAKER_06 51:44

Let me say it out. Um uh what is this? A butterfinger without the chocolate. It is? It looks like a butterfinger without the chocolate.

SPEAKER_02 51:55

It is the inside of the butterfinger.

SPEAKER_07 51:59

What is this called again?

SPEAKER_02 52:00

It's the inside of Oh my god. This one. This one on the internet today.

SPEAKER_07 52:05

Oh wow. Did you put it in your mouth? That's exactly what it is.

SPEAKER_02 52:08

That's exactly what it's Oh my I might buy these, crush them up. This is a fantastic blend in Thomas Sweet. Have you gotten there? Have you gotten years ago.

SPEAKER_04 52:19

Oh is it still next to stuff your face?

SPEAKER_06 52:22

You should take a ride. That's good.

SPEAKER_01 52:24

If you want another one.

SPEAKER_06 52:26

I mean, I still remember my grandmother saying penny candy.

SPEAKER_02 52:29

Oh my god, I love candy. Right? They do have at five below, they have, they sell that, but it's the same candy. We had good candy back then.

SPEAKER_06 52:36

Swedish fish back in the day. Delicious. When they were actually the size of a trout.

SPEAKER_02 52:40

Right. Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 52:41

That are like minnows. It's just funny, right?

SPEAKER_02 52:44

Everything is so much smaller. Even the Twinkies are smaller. Like you get any of those pies we were just talking about hostess and Drakes and all of that, they're half the size.

SPEAKER_06 52:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 52:55

Crimpets are a necessary butterscotch. Are a necessary in this world.

SPEAKER_06 53:04

They used to be like a sandwich.

SPEAKER_02 53:05

And they literally are like two bites. It's a two bite. It's a two biter. A crimpet is a two. Are you why you say very?

SPEAKER_07 53:13

Never had crimpets? No. I don't think so.

unknown 53:16

Damn it.

SPEAKER_07 53:17

I think I have my.

SPEAKER_02 53:22

See, now I'm getting all fechated.

SPEAKER_04 53:26

Fechotted.

SPEAKER_02 53:29

I come up with words.

SPEAKER_06 53:30

I was thinking you were going to say fatutzed.

SPEAKER_02 53:32

Nope. But we're going to go on. I am fechated.

SPEAKER_06 53:34

Alright, I am.

SPEAKER_04 53:35

Now because I believe you're Nelly Fachat.

SPEAKER_02 53:38

Now, these are the I am Nelly Fachan. That was a good one. We have Lil Dipper, Lil Lil Dippers. Junior Dippers. Sorry, not Lil Dippers. Junior Dippers. But we have two kinds. So we're actually going to open both. The OG, you said the OG, you said the OG were the bread study said it was. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 54:00

I feel like the pretzels was like when my sister was born.

SPEAKER_02 54:02

Like it do you think the pretzels were their response to combos?

SPEAKER_03 54:09

Oh, maybe.

unknown 54:11

Right?

SPEAKER_02 54:12

But this cheese is.

SPEAKER_03 54:15

This cheese is the best.

SPEAKER_02 54:16

I would think that these are pretzels.

SPEAKER_03 54:19

These were pre-combo.

SPEAKER_02 54:22

Oh, the pretzel ones were?

SPEAKER_07 54:24

Yeah, probably. I think so.

SPEAKER_02 54:27

Interesting.

SPEAKER_07 54:27

All right, here's your um here's your I think combos is one of those things that better long longer than we think. Probably.

SPEAKER_06 54:34

Ah gosh, I can remember them coming out though.

SPEAKER_07 54:37

I do too. Like Cool Ranch Doritos. Remember when that came out?

SPEAKER_02 54:40

That was a big deal because there was just the regular red ones for a very long time.

SPEAKER_06 54:45

But even before that, it was like a brown. It was like a 70s couch color.

SPEAKER_02 54:50

Wait, they came in, they came out with a retro bag.

SPEAKER_07 54:52

Wasn't it like the taco flavored? Yes. Cool Ranch was like late 80s, I think. Yeah. Okay. This is great.

SPEAKER_02 55:01

Cool Ranch.

SPEAKER_07 55:02

I love bad cheese.

SPEAKER_02 55:04

You like fake cheese.

SPEAKER_07 55:07

It's a salt content.

SPEAKER_02 55:08

Wait, so let me ask you, your grilled cheese sandwiches have to be American cheese, correct? Yeah. Of course. He's like. What about you? Grilled cheese sandwich. What's your cheese of choice?

SPEAKER_07 55:17

Velveeta.

SPEAKER_02 55:18

Velveeta for the grilled cheese sandwich?

SPEAKER_07 55:20

Eddie's more into the finer things in life.

SPEAKER_02 55:23

How do you use a Velveeta? Like slice, you slice the chunk of Velveeta and you put it.

SPEAKER_06 55:29

Pick out that box.

SPEAKER_02 55:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 55:31

You slice up that Velveeta.

SPEAKER_01 55:33

It doesn't ooze out of your grilled cheese sandwich.

SPEAKER_06 55:36

Well, you want to ooze out.

SPEAKER_01 55:37

I know, but then you can't contain it.

SPEAKER_06 55:39

Then you put tomato and bacon on it. Now Velveeta.

SPEAKER_02 55:42

This is so salty.

SPEAKER_03 55:44

Yeah, I love it. Velveeta's the best grilled cheese. Wow. My weakness is salt for sure. You know what you gotta do too?

SPEAKER_06 55:50

You gotta with the bread. Yeah. You have to put mayonnaise on it. And oh. You gotta do mayonnaise fr uh instead of butter? No, both.

SPEAKER_02 56:02

So hold on a second. Where does the mayonnaise go? Inside before the Velveeta?

SPEAKER_06 56:07

You put the bread.

SPEAKER_02 56:09

Right.

SPEAKER_06 56:10

The white bread.

SPEAKER_02 56:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 56:12

You lather both sides with mayonnaise and then put it in the butter and it browns beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 56:21

Oh, you do a layer of both. Inch. I thought you meant one goes inside, one goes outside. No, you put the cameis.

SPEAKER_07 56:30

I think I like the breadsticks better. I think that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 56:32

That's very interesting. I'm not loving the breadsticks. Salt's the best.

SPEAKER_06 56:36

You know what salt's great on? It's like watermelon.

SPEAKER_07 56:40

Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh. Gino's uncle used to do that.

SPEAKER_02 56:43

Well, I love um watermelon and like balsamic vinegar in a salad.

SPEAKER_06 56:46

Like, I think that combination is so delicious. Um, a little mint or basil.

SPEAKER_02 56:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 56:54

We're growing up now.

SPEAKER_02 56:55

I know. I know, I know. Our palates are growing up. I like that though. But we can still go old school and be very comfortable.

SPEAKER_07 57:02

Right now? Apparently, my palate has stayed the same because I love fake cheese and I cannot lie. Rob is still cheesy. It's not easy.

SPEAKER_02 57:11

I tried to find dunkaroos for you. Yeah. Because Rob has never have you ever had dunkaroos? Do you know what they are?

SPEAKER_06 57:17

Those um cookies?

SPEAKER_02 57:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah. With the icing.

SPEAKER_06 57:21

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 57:23

Are these stale?

SPEAKER_06 57:25

Yeah. The breadsticks are better. Yeah. The original.

SPEAKER_01 57:29

But are these stale? Did I get stale?

SPEAKER_04 57:32

Well, I need from 82. You know they're from 82. They haven't moved. They haven't rotated the stock. There's no stock rotation at the dollar store.

SPEAKER_01 57:46

I won't say that. Rachel goes to the dollar store.

SPEAKER_03 57:49

She wonders why they're stale. My mother does that. She gets the red hots.

SPEAKER_01 57:54

Oh my god, I love the dollar store.

SPEAKER_03 57:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:56

They have the best candy.

SPEAKER_03 57:57

My kids go in there all the time.

SPEAKER_01 57:59

And they have the best ice.

SPEAKER_03 58:00

Ice cream too. Cheap ice cream. Alright, you know what?

SPEAKER_06 58:04

You didn't get fun dip.

SPEAKER_02 58:06

I didn't get fun dip. I saw the fun dip. I also was gonna get the straws with just the straight up sugar in it. But then I figured that might cross the line. Because for those of you who aren't privileged enough to be Gen Axe, sorry. There's an urban legend that we all lived through. Yes. And his name was Mikey. Mikey. He likes it. Mikey likes it. And that was the life commercials he was famous for. But then if you um, you know, if you hung around the um Tiger Beat Teen Beat uh magazine thing, and you know, the um You used to read those at that time. I did. Oh my god, I had the posters all up on my walls. It was John Samos. John Samos. Because you know why? He was blacky on Deborah.

SPEAKER_07 58:59

He's finally getting old. He's finally getting old. Finally.

SPEAKER_02 59:01

He is fine like wine. No, he is, but he's a big thing. He is a handsome devil.

SPEAKER_07 59:06

Oh yes.

SPEAKER_02 59:07

Who who would you say is your person that from back then that's still around who is still fine like wine?

SPEAKER_07 59:18

I don't know. What about you? I had a crush.

SPEAKER_02 59:20

A star like that you followed back then.

SPEAKER_06 59:22

Alright, so it was mostly um like sitcoms or TV shows, I would say. Oh. So right, of course.

SPEAKER_02 59:31

Like a Farah Fawcett and like those kind of people you mean.

SPEAKER_06 59:33

What I I loved Kate Jackson. Oh wow. I was a Kate Jackson.

SPEAKER_02 59:38

What?

SPEAKER_07 59:40

I'm embarrassed to say who I had a crush.

SPEAKER_02 59:43

Wait a minute. You were the anomaly. Everybody hated her as the Charlie's angel. I don't know. You know why? She was so smart. Maybe that's maybe you like brains. I mean, I didn't know I yes.

SPEAKER_06 59:55

Right? And you can go both ways with that. I like her hair. Maybe because it was like the Darthy Hamlet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then it was like that look. She was athletic. She was. She was a bad athlete. And Jacqueline Smith, I don't know, I never got that.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:14

I like I had weird tastes. I like Jamie Lee Curtis back in the day. Like Mary? No. What?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:20

Wait, wasn't oh no, that was what's her name? Like Halloween.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:23

No, remember she was an aerobic uh outfit.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:26

That was the re that was the same. That was um uh staying alive. Um maybe that was the second version of Saturday Night Fever.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:37

Yep, it was yeah. Oh, Saturday, that was such a classic man. When the guy jumped off the bridge, that was awful. I'll never forget that. I drive over that prison.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:47

That place just closed two years ago, I think.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:49

Wait, you went in?

SPEAKER_07 1:00:50

What's that? You didn't No, no, I no, I didn't.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:53

So uh you know I ruined it for the pop rocks.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:56

I I ruined fruit low fruit roll-ups for uh for Rachel. So I'm not gonna tell you what what another girl did with the pop rocks.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:03

So I'm not gonna ruin the did she put it in her mouth and then go to town? Is that what she did?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:07

You know who the other it was. Christy McNichol. Remember?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:15

That was a um um Bunny. Yeah, and then and then Tatum.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:21

All of a sudden she came out with five years ago.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:23

And then that was there was another sh what movie was she in that it was very risque? Um with Tatum O'Neill when um Oh gosh. Um McNichol.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:38

Yeah. All right, I'm gonna raise.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:40

Did you do the whole thing?

SPEAKER_07 1:01:40

Yeah, yeah, good.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:42

So Mikey They're not as poppy. There were oh there were rumors that Mikey combined pop rocks and Coca-Cola and died.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:51

In a bathtub.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:52

In a bathtub.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:53

Yeah. Oh, in a bathtub. I didn't know that bathtub.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:55

I don't know if I knew the bathtub either. Yeah, interesting. So we I forgot the Coca-Cola, but we would have done it just to reincarnate the situation. But you said it's it was like anticlimactic.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:07

It's definitely a week on the pop now. Yeah. I mean, what's wrong with everything?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:11

All right, I'm going in. I'm going the whole thing. No, apparently not. I mean, come on.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:19

Oh, still popping, and I thought I'd you gotta like have all of it. No, that's alright, that's right. Oh god, you gotta go the whole thing.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:38

Oh, okay, then why you let it sit? Let us I maybe I didn't let it sit.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:42

I let it sit.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:45

Wow, that's pretty loud. I know.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:50

Oh, you do?

SPEAKER_07 1:02:50

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:51

I know what the key to candy was at the Little League field after the game. Oh I'll tell you, Amazon's really good for this stuff. It is because they have a lot of their retro can.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:04

But you know what? We didn't have time. We thought of this last minute. Oh, we forgot something. What do we got? Oh shit.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:12

Okay, I feel uh better?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:15

Better experience.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:18

Gosh, I feel like with this collection over here.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:22

Oh man, you look like yeah, look at that.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:24

Did you hear me still?

SPEAKER_07 1:03:26

I feel like everybody be quiet, so our our audience can hear the pop rock. Oh, I have a big pop.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:36

You can see his face right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:39

Oh my god. I was done. I feel like I just should be watching Tom and Jerry or something.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:44

I gotta in front of, or like a schoolhouse rock. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:48

Oh conjunction. Conjunction junction.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:50

What's your function? Hooking up words and phrases and clauses. We're going in for the nickel nips, which by the way, I think is a the name itself is a little bit of a problem.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:03

Yeah, a little slip nip.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:04

It's a little sexual sexual in your end of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:08

No?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:09

Nip. Nip? Nip. We didn't think that back then. Never had a nip I didn't like. Wait, now they have the nips individually wrapped. So what color do you want? I know. You had four of a row of four. Exactly. They were attached by the side.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:24

I'm surprised these are like stole evil.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:26

I mean, really?

SPEAKER_07 1:04:26

You had to get a stuff has to be a few. For those who don't remember, why don't you explain them? For those who don't remember, that there are the wax uh here you go. Is this orange in here?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:37

They're a wax container filled with litch. But we just would I think we got cheated.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:46

It says three colors, four colors.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:49

Was this like a stem thing?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:50

You know, like unless maybe is there red? There's no red in here.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:54

Yeah, these springbacks. This is why I mean we ate everything.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:59

We ate what the fuck is in these? What's in these? It's just colored water, right? With a little bit of sugar.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:06

I mean we can eat the whole thing, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:09

I don't think you can eat the wax. Oh.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:19

Robert wasn't like the other kids. My mom wrote bibs in search of the We read about you in school, Robin.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:39

We read.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:40

We read. Robert has the Robert Robert. Why does Robert have a hair today?

SPEAKER_07 1:05:49

It's a container. He can eat the wax.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:52

Why does Robert have the wax?

SPEAKER_07 1:05:54

Why does Robert have wax?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:56

A hair today. You can have to

SPEAKER_01 1:06:00

Oh my god, Ryan. You ate them.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:03

It's good.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:04

No wonder why.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:07

Of course you could eat it, bite them, drink them, chew them. Well, throw them, you ain't eat it. Well, well, you gotta chew it and spit it out. What's the purpose?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:15

Wait, mine's not coming out.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:16

That's what she said.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:23

Oh my god, this is so hard.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:25

That's what she said. I mean, Rachel just sets her up. She dies one after the other after the other. I guess they do they do call them six mini drinks and not six mini meals.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:41

So then why would you want what where's the other one?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:50

Did you shit it out drinks? But in honor of Kool-Aid, Kool-Aid, because Kool-Aid was an 80s drink with the big guy in the jumping in the pool and he would splash and going through the brick wall, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:07:04

You know what? I know that I was a Hawaiian punch kid.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:09

Oh. Hawaiian punch.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:11

Oh, was oh, I don't know what I was. I think we were both mixed and matched, maybe. Oh, actually, we were a country, uh, Country Time Lemonade. And elliptic iced tea and the powder. So these are loud mouth.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:24

Shopright brand was better.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:26

I am and I know we're international. Yeah, you know, we're international, so you know. Here you go.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:32

We're an internet.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:35

I don't really know what these are. Oh, there's a red one, too. If anyone.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:38

I am having so much fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:39

I know. This is okay. There's a red one if either of you would like to taste the red one, too. Oh, thanks. Some of us are.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:49

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:49

Some of us are a little uptight. I'm not gonna lie. I'm glad I'm a good representation of the E B girls. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:57

These are interesting.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:59

Oh, you know what? It's like a nerd, right? Is it? Isn't like nerds on the outside? Are kind of what I thought. Loudmouths?

SPEAKER_07 1:08:07

Are they popping or do I have pop rock stuck in my mouth?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:11

Oh my god, they the loudmouths, get it? Wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:16

It's a pop rock.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:25

Robert wasn't like the other kids.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:28

Mom, how come Rob gets to get out of school? Oh. Oh. I don't know if I like this.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:41

We have to get past the. You know what?

SPEAKER_06 1:08:45

When I first opened them up, the way the item. You know what they remind me of Razzles.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:50

Oh Razzles were good. Did you did you? I never made it past the candy part. They never made it to the gum station.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:56

So these are loudmouth bites. I chewed them until they were gone. At the dollar store. And they have a little bit of a pop rock.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:04

Interesting.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:05

Yeah, it's good.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:06

You know, there's nothing on the inside of it. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:14

One of, I think, six only left in the country. A family-owned candy store. It's out in Lyndale, where um the country western singer where she's from. Miranda Lambert. Uh-oh. And they still hand roll like a candy. Oh, well, yeah, yeah. But they make they make the lollipops like ferrils. Wow. Oh nice. Right? But they do it all by hand. Wow.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:43

If there was one thing we could bring back from the 80s, Eddie, what would it be? Like one, one. It doesn't even have to be a thing. It could be just like a uh a cultural kind of uh you know, riding bikes. It could even be something like that. Gosh.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:59

Riding bikes were great. The Huffy. Yeah. You have a Huffy or a Schwen? I had a Huffy. I had a Huffy.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:05

See, that's that's our age difference. Our little bit of an age difference. You were the Huffies and I was the mongoose.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:12

Oh just that little age difference.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:15

It's just it's just you probably had a sissy. You had a sissy bar.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:20

BMX. BMX, right?

SPEAKER_07 1:10:21

You probably had a sissy bar at one point. Like the black. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:26

Did he call you a sissy? He might have just called you a sissy. But you know, you you were in as a fighting horse.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:31

He was borderline of uh because my sisters, because I have sisters that are your age and older, and so you know it. I got that bike.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:39

What more?

SPEAKER_06 1:10:40

Before 1978. Yeah. Oh. Because I remember being in our other home. It was under the Christmas streak.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:47

I'm all that's nice. No, you're good.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:52

You know.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:52

Um, all right.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:53

A simple outside sports for me. Kickball, just touch football, like just just organizing the dead field. You remember you play baseball? Right feels dead field today, left feels dead.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:04

I would say wiffle ball. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whiffle ball was Yeah, that's fun. Whiffle ball and parachute pants. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:12

I don't know. I'm I'm having a really hard time narrowing it down.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:16

Of like the one thing.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:18

Yeah, it doesn't even have to. It could be.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:19

You know, it's it's out just so the ability, the ease of hanging out with your friends.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:26

You think about like, I remember we would have uh a bunch of kids, everybody, like there would be one.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:34

I feel like I'm so loud right now. Do you hear me?

SPEAKER_06 1:11:36

One section of the town would meet up with another section of the town. That's what I mean. And we would have actually eight we would field two full baseball teams and play all day in a in a rundown in a park to skin feeling. If you built it, communication either. You had to organize it. You just knew they're to show up. Or you found out there's some smoke signal or something. No, it's true though.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:59

You did. You found out. These days kids don't want to go out of their way to make their own.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:04

The e-bikes are changing that a little bit though. Kids are getting together more.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:08

Yeah, but now they just said they can't ride them under 15. Yeah, yeah, I know. That's yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:12

I mean That's the other thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:14

Yeah. That's yeah. And then you make these rules and you don't make it.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:20

Um, that's true too. They don't want to pedal a bike. Okay, a lot of these kids should be able to pedal should pedal a bike.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:25

So the last thing that I wanted to taste test, I this is Rob's.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:30

Oh, Eddie's eyes just lit up. He saw it.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:32

Do you remember Malamars? I remember Malamars. So these are the dollar store, Dollar Tree, sorry, brand Malamars. And I thought it would be fun to see if they hold any kind of weight. You are the Malamar expert.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:46

I are Malamar.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:47

So would I.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:51

But you know what's interesting? The supermarkets don't sell these except in colder months because they melt.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:59

So I find it interesting that the Dollar Tree doesn't seem to have a problem selling them in um My version of that in my cupboard was scooter pies.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:10

Yes. Very yes.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:11

They were very similar.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:14

And by the way, when I when I rate these, my my expectations are where the I have realistic expectations when I try these. Yeah, I'm not looking for a crystal bakery donut when I buy it. No, but this is smaller.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:27

It looks smaller than the malamus.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:28

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:29

Right off the bat, I see that it's smaller.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:31

Is it half? It's like a third smaller.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:34

And it seems like darker chocolate.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:40

I remember it being more puffy. Not as good. No. The cookie's terrible.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:49

Is there coconut in that?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:55

There's coconut in this. You don't taste coconut?

SPEAKER_07 1:13:58

I do. I don't know how these are terrible. And it's it just seems stale too, right? Rachel's gonna throw up.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:06

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:07

Wow. Like it's not even like it's not even close.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:13

I don't know if it's coconut or if it's like the alcohol that's something based. Like fake.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:20

Some fakeness. That was disgusting. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I subjected both of you to that. That was a bad ending.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:27

That looks like like too much lip filler in a woman, you know? Like it just doesn't look like it's so fake.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:33

Ew, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:34

Like ew.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:35

Ooh. Maybe that's why I like Kate Jackson because she was more natural. Here I go.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:38

I think you're right. Honestly, I do agree. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:42

Well.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:42

Wow, you went right in?

SPEAKER_07 1:14:44

I gotta get that taste out of my mouth. I know.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:46

That's why I thought this. So, Eddie. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:54

That was a lot of fun. That was a lot of fun. I could, you know what? I could not wait because while I'm in Texas, I've been listening to you guys by the pool on my breaks, and um I am I I find myself like interjecting myself into the conversation because what you're talking about resonates with me very much. So I'm like, wait, wait. When you were going around 18 and the local stuff, right? And you're going, and then when you're going down to East Brunswick Square Mall, I mean where you went to Mickey's Donut. I mean, I go back to two guys coming out, two guys with the bowling alley with the chili hot dogs and chili lady and then the stores in the mall like that I grew up with. Yeah. I mean, if you could, if you could say, right, I could put myself when you talked about Christmas Eve, working Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve 1985 or 86. If you put yourself in the mall, oh my God. You would have never thought it'd be closed. Never. You would go, there's no way. Never. No way.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:56

I mean, I you I can close my eyes and put myself in it very, very easily anywhere in that mall. Yes. At that time, and have just unbelievably amazing memories. It's very sad.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:07

Um But what you said, um, you know, what I said about interjecting myself into your conversations. You guys have such great chemistry. It's so much fun. But I did want to say that about Rob's friend request.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:20

I love it.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:21

Because I was coming up, I think we met at the bagel store. Yeah, yeah, we did Brunswick Bagel. I don't even know how old the the boys were. I uh they were young, yeah. But I remember, and then we have been on such an incredible adventure since that.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:35

Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Awesome. And he's one of the few people that I talk to.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:39

I know. I know. It's hard when you're getting, you know, when you get older, I feel like it's more quality over quantity, right? It's like you gotta well, right.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:47

If you if you can earn the consistent conversation with Rob. No, that's true. And he picks up, I know. We pick up each other's phone calls.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah. When you call, you it's not like always asking for something. Like, not that I'm the scary uh, you know, I have all this knowledge people always ask.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:10

But I also like that the time isn't wasted, it's not small talk. When our conversation's over, it's over. We're like, all right, I'll talk to you later, and that's the end of it. And it's not like a long drawn out, like I like that. I like the directness, I like the you know, the efficiency.

SPEAKER_07 1:17:24

Maybe because we all have ADHD and we're still.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:26

Honestly, there's something to be um I I'm Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:30

Yeah. I love that you came to visit.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:32

You know what? You're gonna get on a plane. Okay. Because you're gonna take the podcast on the road.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:38

On the road. Thank you so much, Eddie. It's gonna be awesome. We'll see you next week, guys. Bye everyone. Bye.