Michael Jackson’s Bob Fosse Obsession, “Michael” Biopic, Pizzeria Mozza Meatballs, & Why the Car Buying Process Sucks

Grab a glass of wine (and maybe order some takeout) because Jen & Chris Fenton are back with another heartfelt, hilarious, and deliciously real episode of Plate & Ponder: Empty-Nesting with Jen & Chris Fenton!

Chris can’t stop geeking out over the brand-new Michael Jackson biopic Michael and Michael’s lifelong infatuation with dance legend Bob Fosse—complete with moves, music, and the kind of choreography that still gives them chills. Then the mood flips to pure family joy as they relive the epic Faux Father’s Day surprise Jen and the kids threw for Chris—full of love, laughs, and zero actual neckties.

Of course the celebration involved their forever-favorite restaurant: the iconic Pizzeria Mozza, where they’ve been loyal regulars for a jaw-dropping 19 years. They spill all the secrets on those legendary meatballs and the addictive spicy tomato sauce that keeps them coming back (warning: you WILL get hungry). 

They also cheer on Princeton’s fantastic college lacrosse season (huge congrats, Tigers!), vent about the absolute insanity of buying a car in 2026—why the process feels engineered to drive you insane—and share the highs, lows, and hilarious truths of empty-nest life. 

Food, family, pop culture, and zero-filter real talk… this one has it all. Press play—you’ll be smiling, craving Italian, and maybe rethinking your next car purchase before the credits roll.

#PlateAndPonder #EmptyNesting #MichaelJacksonMovie #MichaelBiopic #BobFosse #PizzeriaMozza #MozzaMeatballs #FauxFathersDay #PrincetonLacrosse #CarBuyingNightmare #EmptyNestLife #FamilyPodcast #FoodAndFamily #19YearsStrong

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Alright, here we are, Plate and Ponder, Empty Nesting with Jen and Chris Fenton. We are still technically in 72 nations around the world. We have not gotten to number 73 yet, but we will. We're gonna keep aiming high. Um, it is a beautiful Memorial Day weekend. It's a Sunday or a Monday, I'm sorry. We're quite exhausted. Dad's got a takeoff this week. We got kids that have filled the house with love and chaos and disruption. And um Jen, I think, has had a pretty long, exhausting weekend, but a really blessed one too, right?

SPEAKER_02 0:42

When you're so much fun with the kids, so much fun with you.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

And we're gonna do the normal bantering and a couple issues, maybe a few. Uh we're not gonna talk about um that other movie that we talked a lot about last episode, even though it was a pretty good episode, I gotta say.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

The Badassy movie?

SPEAKER_01 0:59

The Badassy movie. Yes. There was a Star Wars movie that opened up pretty decent this weekend. Not not like the Star Wars openings of old, but still pretty solid. And I keep hearing this Michael Jackson movie is worth going to see.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Yeah, my dad and uh his girlfriend said it was really good. And it was super nostalgic, and we also heard it from some friends of ours. Maybe we should go see it.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Um I would like to. I I I don't think they get into any of the uh molestation kind of stuff in the Michael Jackson. No, but it's all about the tunes.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Right, and sort of his life and no Macaulay Calkin in there.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

I don't know any.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Perhaps we can discuss it after we see it. I would I it is interesting that Do you think it's gonna get an Oscar Nom or is it released too early? Because isn't there some timing that goes into that?

SPEAKER_01 1:46

I don't know. I haven't heard are the performances particularly good or are people just watching it because of the music and sort of like the nostalgia component?

SPEAKER_02 1:53

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Um I will say that it was interesting during all that Michael Jackson time where um the documentary came out and all that crazy stuff was happening where it was where people felt like it was pretty obviously not good, the kinds of stuff he was up to. I don't obviously I don't know anything more than what I was reading about, but it did seem like there was a lot of circumstantial evidence that lit a lot of fires and smoke around uh what was going on there. And then all the music was pulled down from everywhere you would listen.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Right? You could not play Michael Jackson even at a club or at a bar. There was no MJ. And then all of a sudden it came back.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

It came back. I feel like it started coming back on like satellite radio and in bars or whatever, like two or three years ago, maybe something like that.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

Sure, I'll give you that time frame.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

And you gotta hand it to him. Like, guy's a heck of a musician and dance.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Okay, you showed me the craziest thing. You showed me a video of a movie of The Little Prince. Was that it that I guess Michael Jackson was obsessed with? And if you watch this scene, it's the star, and I don't I don't know the movie. I haven't seen it.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Yeah, I think it's an obscure movie.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

Maybe, but the star of the movie is effectively doing like the moonwalk and all of the like hip thrusting moves that Michael Jackson used to do, and it's almost as if he copied it like to the T. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Yeah, but I don't I don't know if he ever I mean, I think we just all assume that those were his like trademark moves that he created himself. Right. I don't know if he did he ever say he created those moves? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Like I don't really remember, but um some people are full-on Michael Jackson fans, like know everything about him. I like his music. I am a fan, but I'm not like diehard where I can answer that question. But I feel like he was the one who was like the inventor of the moonwalk, yet you you showed me that video and it was crazy because it looked almost identical.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

We should definitely um we should take a look at that one.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Well, it it definitely is unbelievably uncanny how similar the lead in the little prince dances to the way Michael Jackson does. Um obviously there should be if that is the case, the there should be huge shout-outs to that guy who like who was like a Fred Astaire type of dancer, I guess. Um and um anyway, let's move on. I mean, my Michael Jackson, we should go see. Uh, and that we're hearing good stuff about it. I actually hear they're actually putting a sequel into it. And actually, um, the film fun that um I I founded with a couple other partners at Lionsgate was involved with that movie too. So that was.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

Can I can I tell you some research that I just did? So Michael Jackson um actually copied, it says this according to my assistant, uh, copied and paid homage to the the dancer in The Little Prince. So the dancer that I'm thinking of is the legendary Broadway choreographer Bob Fossey. Who yeah, who played the snake in the 1974 uh film adaptation of The Little Prince. His musical number, A Snake in the Grass, it served as a blueprint for some of Michael Jackson's most iconic choreography and wardrobe choices and performance elements. So isn't that interesting? So I I mean, I've heard of Bob Fossey again, well, that's the crazy part.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

As I know nothing about dancers or but you've heard the name Bob Fossey, but you know that.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Yeah, so now I kind of want to go and and watch this. And it says that the direct influence at Jackson never hid his admiration for Fosse in later work like Smooth Criminal. Jackson explicitly directed his choreographer to study Fossey's signature style. Oh, okay. So there you go. Which is heavy in films like Cabaret and Chicago. So so there you go.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

So true Michael Jackson fans or true fans are orange. Obviously, knew this, and we didn't know.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Can I tell you what I don't feel wiser about?

SPEAKER_01 5:59

What?

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Okay, why is it? So, for everybody who's listening, we had to turn in a car and get a new car. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

And what I'm not wiser about is the maneuverings at car dealerships. Like, why is it that when you go to a car dealership, right, you walk onto the lot and it's sort of like ants on like peanut butter? Like, you know, they they flock to you. Oh my god, how can we help you? And you and I are probably the worst car shoppers. I'm not saying we're bad deal makers because I think that I've blown up several deals. You got a very good deal at the last uh with the last one. But okay, so we don't know what we want in terms of colors. We're not card out, we're just not big car people. But like, what colors do you want? I'm like, I don't know. Like, what do we have? I mean, I can tell you black on black. I like that, but tell me what my other choices are.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

We sort of dread getting a new car. Like a lot of people just can't wait for the moment they get to turn in a car and get a new one, or like the idea of like having the ribbon on the how many times have we actually bought at bought the car after we leased it?

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Because we're like, oh, means to an end. We like the car, just call it a day. It's a good deal.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

I mean I mean, we've done it a few times and we considered it doing with this one, but okay, going back to what we had.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

I mean, if I think about the cars that I like uh that I would get totally excited about, they're on like one hand. Like the one would be the icon four by four, which is like a they still make them and they're stupidly like so expensive, it's ridiculous. And then um, I think a 97 Defender that's completely redone and rebuilt, that would be killer too. But those are ridiculously expensive and just simply impractical. They have tiny little gas, you know, um gas tanks on them, so you gotta constantly put gas in it. You can't make a phone call in them, they're really loud, all that kind of stuff. And then I didn't like that Enios. Um, but uh we live down by the beach, and it's very hard to find a parking spot for that. Like you can't park it on your apron, it drives all your neighbors crazy.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

So okay, but let me let me set this up. And it's happened at a number of dealerships, right? This is not the first time we've talked about car shopping. What goes on is you sort of come to a consensus on a car, a style, two-door, four-door, you know, what you whatever it is. You want electric, do you want gas? You you come to some sort of consensus on what you are narrowing down. And then the man or woman who's helping you says, Okay, let me find out how much it's gonna cost. And they go to like the back window. I don't understand. It's this back window. Why can't they just say, hey, if you put down, like you've got good credit, fine, if you put down $3,000, approximately here's what it's gonna cost you. Like, why do you go through this song and dance? And then they present you with numbers and they're like, Don't get upset. Don't look at like we can negotiate from here. Then then why are we even starting from here? That is a waste of my time.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

No, it's so stupid. I remember there was uh it was called Saturn, I think, when they made uh this, I think it was an American-made car called Saturn. And when you went into the dealer, the dealer price is what you paid. Like that was it, like there was no haggling or none of it. And what was interesting is that like half of the people like hated the idea that you couldn't like negotiate a better price, and then the other half were like, Oh, thank goodness, like I don't have to go through that crap again. I just know what the price is and just get the car, you know.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

And um So is there like a whole psychological thing? Is this part of it? Right? Like the longer you wait, maybe the more worn down you are, and you're like, okay, fine, I'll just pay the extra, you know, three dollars a month.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

And which is so shady too. They have like the mirror the one-way mirror or the two-way mirror thing, and you can't see who's like the you know, the the scary, you know, person behind there going, We will not sell it for less than $100 million. And you have no idea what the person looks like or whatever, they just come out and they say, Oh, our godlike creature back there is telling us you can't buy it for that.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

Have we ever, I mean, I know I haven't, have we ever said, like, hey, can we just cut the BS and like cut the middleman out? Could you bring your manager, negotiator, like whoever? What what is their position called? Do they do they have a title? Are they the man behind the desk car? Yeah, like what is that?

SPEAKER_01 10:21

It's just weird. Anyway, the whole thing is is nutty. And then on top of it takes so much time. Yeah, and uh, I mean, I've bought cars that were like, you know, uh, you know, with the loaner car or whatever at like a dealership, and I thought that was great, but you know, one of the things that you always have to worry about then is like, do you have a lemon or whatever it is? And the used car thing is so crazy. That just buying cars is ridiculous, it's just a crazy thing. And at some point, I think we're just gonna all have Waymo's at our disposal, I guess, and they'll just park in our little parking lot and we tell the robot where to take us, and you know, and then our neighbor needs it and they borrow it or whatever. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Memorial day, from what I understand, and and this is what the dealership told us this weekend, uh, because we did in fact get a car. Uh, Memorial Day tends to be a big, a big car sale day or big car sale weekend.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Oh, I bet you there's some great stats about that.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

Oh, I'm sure there is, and I can pull it up. Um, but what's what's so interesting is um I asked a couple of the people at the dealership, like, what are what are people selling more? People going SUVs versus sedans, wondering if people still need that kind of large capacity. I mean, we were looking at a two-door for a hot second, and you and I realized even as empty nesters, we're like, yeah, I don't even think we're our life is at a two-door.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Such practical people. It's like, oh, uh, the golf clubs can't fit in. It's like, how do you get groceries in the backseat? Oh, you have to think about the trunk. And like, yeah, we were just literally like our parents.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Like, you know, like well, if the kids are gonna drive it, you know, if it's a two-seater, I mean, yes, there's a back seat, but like, are the how are they gonna get their friends in and out? So, okay, we ended up with the four-door, but I do wonder with gas prices the way they are, are people moving away from the SUV? And then the question is, are people doing more electric than they are gas? Because wasn't there that rule or some law that by like 2029 all the cars had to be electric? Am I making this up or is it for real?

SPEAKER_01 12:24

Uh, there is some law that's going into effect about the electric cars, but I think what they realized is that we don't have a power grid that is renewable and or can even handle everybody um, you know, tuning or charging up their car all at the same time, especially in the summertime when everybody's using AC. So I think that's getting pushed out. But I will say, you know, Southern California, it it's it's a pretty big car culture, and then, you know, depending on what zip code you're in, it's just insane the kind of cars you see driving around. And, you know, there's some zip codes I think where people are driving around in insane cars and they can afford it. And then there's other zip codes where you're like, you know, how does that person even afford half of that car? But the reality is it's not like growing up where I just remember majority of parents, majority of people I knew just had practical cars that they used to get from point A to point B. Every once in a while they got a new one, and everybody in the neighborhood would come over and see the new car with the cassette deck, you know, uh tape player in it.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

You just aged yourself.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Yeah, or or it had like a new ashtray like device in it with a better lighter or whatever it was. Remember, there were lighters and ashtrays and cars?

SPEAKER_02 13:37

No.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Oh, well, I do. Um, and then on top, oh, and then you had the Blau Punk pull-out stereo system so that it couldn't get stolen. Again, you are fully aged. Um, and then you know, every once in a while you had the doctor friend or somebody whose dad was pretty loaded, and and they would get like a car that was very uncommon, you know. And I you're talking about like maybe a Corvette, like an 84 Corvette, the first one with computer dashboards, and you're like, oh my god, his dad has that Corvette. We got to go over and see it. Uh, can we get a ride in it or whatever? But in today's day and age, no one has a special car. Like, if they do, there's a million of them all all over the place. So there's nothing really all that special about getting uh anything that's unpractical.

SPEAKER_02 14:28

Well, and then okay, going back to the practicality, you sit there going, like, well, I mean, am I really that much of a car person? Do I need to spend X, Y, and Z? Like, that just seems like a lot of money for a car that like I like, I really do, but I'm not gonna drive it that much. Like, do I really care all that much? I uh you and I have become practical people, I think.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

I actually wonder, does you know, a car? What one of the things about a car that was a big thing was like for guys when you're you know in your courtship age, in your 20s or your 30s or whatever that age is, depending on where you live, you wanted to have like a a car that said you were successful. Now, there were some guys that thought you had to have like a Porsche convertible to look successful. I always was like, oh, I want like you know, a Ford Explorer SUV with the ski rack on it and like the cool, you know, rail guards in front of the headlights. Like that looked really cool, and I could go up in the mountains and I was like the mountain man yucking.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

How often do you go up to the mountains?

SPEAKER_01 15:31

No, well, I did back then. I went up uh to Mammoth a lot, but uh you know, I guess that probably's still there because a girl, I don't know if the girl has to have a guy with a Ferrari that probably is a little cheesy, but I think they want to just know that okay, he's doing well enough that he has like a decent car, so maybe he has a decent house or a decent apartment or whatever it is, or like a decent decent savings and you know money tucked away in the bank and things like that can afford to take me to dinner. Or he's an influencer. I don't think girls want to date influencers. I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

I mean, maybe maybe maybe the younger generation does. Again, this is us being practical. I think that somebody my age probably wants a a partner or a spouse who has a steady income, who has health insurance, who has like an IRA and savings and ICDs and treasury bonds.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Well, influencers, I would think, could live by the sword and die by the sword. Actually, I was reading Tatiana Siegel's um uh page six uh report on cans to uh on the Cannes festival this this year, and apparently everybody was pinching pennies over there, you know, the from the publicists to the agents to like a lot of stars didn't show up. The parties were really lame, like there were some really big parties. I think she said the Vanity Fair party, like people were desperate to find like the tray of hamburgers that was making the rounds because there just wasn't a lot of food or whatever. And and but they talked about how but the influencers there, the influencer-led parties, the ones that had the influencers at them or whatever, those were money no it was money was no object. So it was sort of like uh it was this juxtaposition of influencers and the influencer creator economy taking over that you know that big splendor and glamour of of can and and the film business was like stuck in the back rooms kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

That's so sad.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

I it's just interesting. I mean, I'm sure it goes boomerang. So anyway, so we've been bantering about uh can and and buying cars and like what what else? I know you were like concocting something about today that we wanted to sort of have some fun with on the show.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Well, you know what we did yesterday? That was super fun. We did Faux Father's Day and Faux Father's Day.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Yes, thank you, mom, for my faux father's day.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Can I tell you what I did think about on your faux father's day? Like, we didn't do a makeup Mother's Day, so I only got one Mother's Day. You're gonna get Faux Father's Day and Real Father's Day. No, so you're gonna get two celebrations, and I only got one, and I sort of feel like I'm getting gypsy.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

No, I don't want but any anytime I get more than you is only bad for me. I know that's what that's what I was thinking. Like Father's the actual father's.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

We're gonna have to celebrate Father's Day. So the reason why we did Faux Father's Day is because both the kids are gonna be out of town on Father's Day. So we wanted Chris to have a celebration. He is an amazing dad, and he got some of the most wonderful cards from the kids that like totally made us tear up. So we wanted him to have a celebration. And uh we celebrated him in the morning. He went surfing, and and then what we did is we went to uh one of our favorite restaurants in Los Angeles, which was by our old house. Pizzeria Moza. So Chris and I used to go to Pizzeria Moza when I mean when I was pregnant, when we first moved to Hancock Park, before we lived in Manhattan Beach.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Yeah, if anybody knows the corner of Highland and Melrose, that has gone before the Pizzeria Moza, uh, Mario Batali, Nancy Silverton uh took over that whole corner there and made it like a like a restaurant industry have to be there um kind of stop and destination. It was like one restaurant after another that would open and close pretty quick. And we lived like three blocks away from there in Hancock Park, and um it opened right after we bought, and we were like, oh, this is gonna be another restaurant that comes and goes, who the heck knows? And and then of course I tried the pizza and I was like, this is incredible. Except we had kids that were like six months old, so I put them in baby bjorns and walk over there.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

You you didn't have two, you had I had one and you had one.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Yeah, well, yeah, that's true. Wait, did I do two at one time? I don't think so. One in the back, one in the front. Anyway, we walk over with baby bjorns and we'd be like, hey, you know, it opens at five. You have to wait in line to get get in there. And we were like, we want just pizzas, we'll be in and out really quick. And they're like, You can't come in here with those. Like, this is like the hot pizza place. And we're like, Well, we waited in line, we have a slot, like, you gotta let us in, please. And they're like, What if we start doing takeout where you guys can order the pizzas? And because you're neighbors, you can get it. And that's what we did, and we just started ordering pizza from there, and then next thing you know, uh, Moza to go opened up right next door, which was like the little walk-up, walk-out kind of thing. And oh my god, pizzeria moza is so good.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Yeah, so we went to Pizzeria Moza. I took you there, and we drove through our old hood, we walked past our uh our old house. Of course, the kids, you know, they have their revisionist history. They're like, oh my god, the backyard was so big. And we're like, no, it really wasn't. Oh my god, the house is so big. I'm like, uh, you guys, it was actually half the size of our old, like, no, it's not.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

And we walked down the dead end to like Wheelshirt. Yeah, where they learned how to ride their bikes.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

And it was just, it was so it was very nostalgic. And do you feel celebrated?

SPEAKER_01 21:05

It was a great faux father's day. Thank you so much. And oh, shout out to Pizzeria Moza's meatballs. It's just they have this little dish with like four meatballs in it with the most garlicky buttered bread that it comes with, with the perfectly like spiced tomato sauce with like some parmesan. It's just to die for. I literally could have had 10 bowls of those and just forgotten about the rest of the meal, but anyway, it was great. And then they have like the La Moza um that wine. Yeah, it's a Sangiovese, right? It's a sangiovese that's so good, but you know, it's economical, it's got a great name because it's La Mozza. And um, yeah, now we're sounding like foodies, but like it was really a pizza. It held up, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

Like there's some places that you go back to and you hope it holds up to the memory. We haven't been back there in probably about two and a half years. Uh, Chris, you and I did a day date of Couple years ago there, but we haven't been back and it a hundred percent held up. When we got there, it was a little quiet and slow, but by the time we left, it was absolutely packed. And then we walked to Osterio Moza, which is like around the corner, and that's more of like the pasta. It's a little bit of the fancier one. It's got a beautiful bar where you can get martinis. And and anyways, we walked in and it was like standing room only. It was super packed on a Sunday at like seven o'clock.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Yeah, no, it's a in in that whole area. I mean, Susan Feinger had a place there. There was patinas. There's it's it's a very sort of urban setting, that that corner and those handful blocks around there. I mean, it's you would never think of it as like this high-end restaurant destination, but there's um even Twaimech was there, which was like a Michelin star place right in the strip mall.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

Like it was a really next to yum yum donuts.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

Yeah, we I I miss the food up by there. That was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Here's my question for you, and I was just thinking about this. So when you go to Europe, like when we went to Copenhagen, we've, you know, Paris, uh, even when we did Barcelona for a honeymoon, there are I they're not restaurant chains, that's not what I'm looking for, but it's like a restaurant group that has, you know, five or six of the hottest restaurants in that city.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

And I think that Moza is probably one of the only like restaurant groups that I can think of in LA that may maybe patinas, because it wasn't it patinas and providence, and it's that group, but there's not as many as you find.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Well, the Sims family down here.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

Okay, the Sims, that's actually, thank you for reminding me, that's a great one. But uh do they do like the restaurant groups the way they do in Europe?

SPEAKER_01 23:41

I'm pretty sure, yeah. I I I think we're not thinking about it, but like I feel like even Mastro's has like um Mastro's seafood or whatever. That's not what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Like, no, but that's not really what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

No, I know what you're talking about, but yeah, um there was well, there was definitely the um SL when was it SLS? SLS Sam Nazarian and Brent Bold had the other thing.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

Isn't he on the cover of Los Angeles magazine right here?

SPEAKER_01 24:09

He is, he is. So he's back, yeah. And then there was also the McPherson brothers who opened they opened Jones and the Dime and a bunch of other places back in the day. Um, I think Randy Gerber had a handful of places too, outside of the whiskey bar.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Um okay, but again, this was like way back. I don't know if that restaurant group, that restaurant like trifecta.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

I bet you there is, I bet you it'd surprise us too. Like we are let's let's check it out.

SPEAKER_02 24:36

We could go out of the bubble. So that's another thing. Like, all right, I'm taking notes.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

We're that's gonna be on the next episode. I I would love that.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

So Chris, and we're both a little bit creatures of habit, but Chris loves living in Manhattan Beach, and so do I. But I'm always like, no, let's go out. Let's, you know, I want to put on heels, I don't want to put on my flats and and walk to town. I want to get dressed up. So I think sometimes we get um a little lazy and complacent in where we live, and we sort of just hit those same spots, which are great, and they I mean we have some tried and true favorites, absolutely, but it's nice to venture out, and yes, it took like 40 minutes to get there, and and Dylan drove him drove home. Uh, he locked in, is what he said, and he got us home safely. So thank you. Um, but I feel like we need to venture out. You told me when we moved to Manhattan Beach, what, 13, 14 years ago, that if I anytime I wanted to go out, anytime I wanted to to leave the bubble, that you would do it for me. And I sort of feel like maybe you're reneging on that promise. So let's do it again. Can we do that?

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Wait, we just went yesterday.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

I know, but that's the first time we've done it in a week. We'll do it whenever you want.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Whenever you want. I mean, I will say that it has uh we need a new leadership in Los Angeles because it is um definitely uh decaying a bit up north. We we could use uh roads and sidewalks and lots of tagging, um, you know, essentially cleaned up. But um hopefully that happens after this next election.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

So we'll the primary is June 2nd, and that's really interesting. Do we know any polling results what's happening right now? Like, do we know how Spencer Pratt is doing uh compared to Karen Bass? Is there any earlier?

SPEAKER_01 26:13

I think it looks pretty solid that it will be a Spencer Pratt versus Karen Bass run-off. Really? I think it looks that way, but then the blue wall of Los Angeles is is probably gonna make it a one-person race, which will just be Karen Bass, which is the first one. Just based on money? No, not even money, just the I guess the makeup of how how the voter construct is as far as but you don't think people are fed up enough that they want change? Well, I think the the I think the part that you know people have a lot going on, you know, and are they paying attention to you know the campaigns? I don't know, you know, and I mean people have a lot of things that they're worried about, and to to pay attention to campaigns sometimes is just a lot of noise that they don't need. And and I think what will happen, because I don't think Spencer Pratt is is necessarily a Republican. I think he's been a Democrat his whole life. I think his family is Democrats. Yeah, I just think they're pointing him as the Republican. Well, he had to pick a party to run in, and I think he realized like he had to run as a Republican to get on the ticket because the Democrat side he wasn't gonna be able to get through the primary. So um I think he made the right choice there, but obviously he's getting pigeonholed as as a Republican, whether he likes that or not. And I I think a lot of people will just look and see is it a D or an R, and they'll vote based on that. And I'm not taking sides, I'm just saying that's sort of the way it is. We don't even get the vote in that election.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

No, but we have spent considerable time talking about it.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

Yeah, it's an interesting one. So um that was Faux Father's Day, which was fantastic. And I really um I'm gonna give you one more applause for a great wife. Um, and the kids were fantastic, and it was really fun. So thank you for that. That meant a lot to me.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

Oh, good.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Um, what else do you want to cover today?

SPEAKER_02 28:03

I I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

I mean, we should. Didn't you weren't you looking up a couple questions, fun questions you wanted to ask?

SPEAKER_02 28:08

Oh gosh, let me see if I can pull them up while you're talking. Maybe maybe you should do some talking while I do some researching.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

Well, you know me, I can always do some talking, but uh, you know, I think um uh one thing that you're probably pretty excited about, as are some of our friends who don't want to talk about it as much as I do and a couple of my other friends, is that lacrosse here in the United States of America, at least college and high school lacrosse, has finally come to a really fun conclusion and it is done. So you do not have to worry about TV being on watching every college game. Well, yeah, good, because it's coming back to Canada pretty soon, which means we get to watch our son come August. He's gonna be heading back up there, which is pretty exciting. But shout out to the Ivy League. Now I went to Cornell, but and I went to Penn. And you went to Penn, but Princeton won it all this year, and I think it's really exciting when these teams that have no scholarships to give and can't offer the big NIL packages and all that kind of stuff can actually squeak through and win a national championship. And boy, did Princeton do it in a massive, massive way. Shout out to them over Notre Dame. I think they final score, I think they won by seven or eight goals, which is unbelievable. So that's Ivy League national champions two years in a row now. Cornell and now Princeton, and hopefully Cornell comes back and does it next year.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

Shout out why why are you discounting Penn?

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Um, because I didn't go to Penn, and I'm going by uh my heart, and also who I think is actually the best team in the Ivy League, which is gonna probably be either Cornell or Princeton next year.

SPEAKER_02 29:48

Well, I mean, okay. Could be it could be Notre Dame, which is an Ivy League, but they're phenomenal. They are always phenomenal. I mean, they are always in the top, what, three?

SPEAKER_01 30:00

They are, yep, top three. And as a Catholic school, um, they do have God on their side. Whoa.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

Why'd you just drop the pen?

SPEAKER_01 30:07

Well, because I think I think God was telling me that I need to go to Notre Dame Root for Notre Dame or Well, Dylan.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

I mean, for for those who know our family, Dylan has been a Notre Dame fan since uh like he came out of my body. This child has loved Notre Dame. This child um used to sleep with a Notre Dame comforter. He met a few of the lacrosse players uh when he was younger because you guys did a trip to Notre Dame and watched lacrosse and a kid. He's not even a kid. I mean, this this is a grown adult with children of his own by the name of Mikey Wynne, great player. Oh shout out, Mikey Wynne great, great, great player uh on Notre Dame, and he gave Dylan his helmet. So for the longest time, Dylan had that gold helmet on his nightstand and uh and a stick. And he had a stick and he had, I think, a ball or something like that. He had the gloves, he had the gloves, and it just sat on his bedside table. And I think Dylan probably went to sleep as a little kid, just like pineyway, like, am I gonna be as good as Mikey Wynn one day? And and I remember Mikey Wynne was such an incredible mentor to Dylan, and like during the recruiting process, he was really cool.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

Yeah, no, my well, Mikey Wynne was also an all-American, and and uh, you know, he got close to a national championship himself. And um actually he was a Nick Wynne and the rest of that Wynn family were like the cursed family, uh incredible lacrosse players across the board. So um anyway, so lacrosse is is over for the moment. Um Dylan will be back in Philadelphia playing a bit uh this summer, getting ready for the McGill season, which will start um probably uh well, the training camp is probably what second week in August?

SPEAKER_02 31:55

Training camp is after Badyssey weekend.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

Yes, it is after Badassy weekend.

SPEAKER_02 31:59

The bad counselors and Odyssey weekend. See, I gotta pull it back. I'm being a supportive wife.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

Well, you're a great wife. And then the first games with the the Molson beers being sold in Molson Stadium are gonna probably happen the first weekend in September.

SPEAKER_02 32:11

So maybe we'll celebrate our anniversary then.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

Um that could be celebrated there.

SPEAKER_02 32:16

We love it. I mean, I'm gonna try to do that.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

Do we want to stay in the house that Dylan and his friends are for the next three years? Hard no.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

I don't even know if I want to go into the front door. In fact, I was just about to say I may go to Phil not Philadelphia, I may go to Montreal um for a weekend this summer, hoping Dee can get some time off because we gotta set up his room, and I am just so nervous that we're gonna find like a dead body or a dead animal or something.

SPEAKER_01 32:40

Yeah, you might have to drain the swamp, as they say. That is um a bit of a sketchy house called the Dead End. It's uh a good name for it, too, I would say.

SPEAKER_02 32:49

Do you think I can do it on my own? Or do you think you're gonna need to come with, or do I need to get like a uh a task rabbit or like, you know, have have somebody come meet me at the at the house to put together furniture?

SPEAKER_01 33:01

That house needs uh, I would say 25 pledges uh working around the clock to fix it up. So yeah, I don't I don't think you can do that yourself. Uh I wouldn't do that to yourself, nor don't do it to me either, because if you go up there during yourself, it's gonna be bad, bad, bad news for me. Way worse than if we had 75 Father's Days versus one Mother's Day.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 33:27

It wouldn't be good.

SPEAKER_02 33:28

I mean, I like people celebrating me. Like I like birthday weekslash birthday months.

SPEAKER_01 33:33

I like celebrating you too.

SPEAKER_02 33:35

Oh, that's that's good. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 33:37

I love if I could walk around with the applause button and just stare at you all the time.

SPEAKER_02 33:42

That's creepy.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

Okay, sorry. Well, anyway.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

Um I hear some ruckus downstairs. I feel like we may have to wrap this because I think the kids are uh they're getting they're getting aggressive. They they need to they need our help. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

Uh well he's gonna need to be packed up and ready for Philadelphia. I know Kaylee's heading to a horror movie tonight, so shout out to Kaylee for getting some money into the uh box office, which is always good for the movie business. And um, yeah, I got the Stranger Things kind of theme song for her as a shout-out because she always loved that show and she's big into supporting the Hollywood industry. So I would say this was a good Plate and Ponder. We bantered back and forth, we carried a couple interesting issues into it, and we got a lot of Jen Fenton in it, which is really what everybody wants. And I think that's gonna get us over the 72 into the 73 market territory. What do you think? Hope so. All right, until next time, we are Plate and Ponder with Jen and Chris Fenton. We really appreciate you listening. Please follow, download, enjoy, engage, DM us. And until next time, we wish you a fantastic Memorial Day weekend week. The summer is here. Bye.