Andrew Saunders (0:0.351)
One play. I did it! ⁓
Benjamin Brown (0:10.988)
Hey everybody and welcome in to a new episode of the dad verb podcast. we're starting over again. Technical difficulties. ⁓ We'll do it again. We'll do it live. ⁓ so first off, apologies to everybody out there. We did miss an episode last week. Totally my fault. ⁓ we'll found out why in the sick check because, what do we make it two episodes, one episode where nobody was sick, something like that. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (0:15.365)
⁓ But apparently it was on loop. ⁓
Muamer (0:18.200)
We're so excited, we're gonna do the intro twice.
Andrew Saunders (0:22.885)
Yeah, okay. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (0:36.858)
Yeah.
Muamer (0:39.348)
like one yeah
Benjamin Brown (0:40.350)
Yeah, but ⁓ let's let's actually just go straight into that. Let's let's do our sick check and then we'll talk about our topics for this week. ⁓ So right now, our house, everybody's good. Last week, ⁓ not so much. ⁓ Everybody was ⁓ mildly OK, just, you know, fall cold sniffles, all that and, ⁓ you know, taking care of everybody and kind of doing all that thing. I was so run down last Thursday when we were supposed to record that I just texted the guys and I was like,
I can't even focus. I was like, my eyes are going blurry while I'm sitting here. It's like about time to record. And I was like, guys, I'm so like, can't make it through even a 30 minute episode of recording the podcast. So apologies to everybody. That was my fault that you missed the episode, but let's go through and do our sick check. So mama, I'm going to start with you. I know you got the little man in the background.
Muamer (1:30.226)
Yep, we got little men in here hanging out building ⁓ something. ⁓ But sick check wise, we actually turned out that we were also sick too. both little men went down, fevers, cough, congestion, the whole nine yards. And then as soon as they got better, then I went down. So we're finally just on the up and up. So yeah, thanks for bearing with us guys on missing an episode.
Benjamin Brown (1:35.640)
You
Andrew Saunders (1:36.325)
Ha
Benjamin Brown (1:55.180)
This is real life. We're like moderate professionals, right? We get sick. We don't show up to work. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (1:55.269)
Yeah. ⁓
moderate professionals. ⁓ Look, we're like the amateurs hoping we win the Pro-Am so we can make it to the Masters on the like extra ticket junk. ⁓ Okay.
Benjamin Brown (2:5.706)
Yeah. Hey man, I just want my shot at that green jacket, right? Saunders, how about your household? How are you guys doing?
Andrew Saunders (2:10.041)
Yeah, yeah, exactly. We're good. We're good. No one's sick. No one's got the sniffles. ⁓ We keep bringing home wet coughs from random places, whether it be preschool or dance lessons or gymnastics lesson. Like, it'll just be like, you were fine 24 hours ago. Why do you have a wet cough? But it's a wet cough and then it dissipates in a couple of days. So I'm not calling that sick. And ⁓ other than that, on the other hand, I went to see the vampires today.
⁓ So that was a fun like day at the hospital and you know that was entertaining not sick just checkups but like my my hands don't work because They stabbed me in like four locations trying to get a quart of blood out of me. So
Benjamin Brown (2:55.086)
All right. Well, I'm glad you're alive. I'm glad you didn't pass out from blood loss. So far you're OK. So if you just slowly slump over in your chair while we're doing this, know what it is.
Andrew Saunders (2:57.541)
⁓ So far. Yeah, right.
Yeah. If, yeah, yep, exactly. If I'm just out, just, just hit remove and continue the conversation and it'll be fine. ⁓ Yeah, exactly.
Muamer (3:6.929)
call somebody, notify the authorities. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (3:9.164)
Yeah. We'll just continue the episode. Like, you'll be fine. There's other adults in the house. You'll be okay. All right. So this week, we're going to jump into this week's topic. So we are getting close. ⁓ It is the week of Thanksgiving here in the US. And every year we try to do an episode around Thanksgiving where we talk about traditions, favorite foods, stuff that we do around Thanksgiving that really just makes the holiday enjoyable. Things that, you know, create those core memories or
we argue about the food that we like or we don't like. ⁓ So in this episode, we're going to talk about our traditions. We're going to, think we're going to do a Thanksgiving food ranking or a like love it or hate it, something in that we'll, we're going to wing it. We're going to figure it out as we go along, but we're to be talking all things Thanksgiving today. So I want to start with, let's start with the softer side of things, and then we'll get into the fist, the cuffs of food rankings. All right.
Andrew Saunders (4:1.903)
I mean, if anybody's here from last year, they remember Ben and I went at it pretty hard at that, like, what's the best Thanksgiving food last year?
Benjamin Brown (4:8.940)
Yeah, I still hold, I'm still holding my ground. So we'll get there. But let's talk Thanksgiving traditions. So, ⁓ Mommer, I want to start with you since you're the newest to the podcast. ⁓ What's your, ⁓ and do you have any ⁓ traditions in your family for Thanksgiving? And if you do, kind of what's your favorite one? What's one that really sticks out to you?
Andrew Saunders (4:12.133)
Ha
Muamer (4:12.734)
Hahaha. ⁓
Muamer (4:30.526)
Yeah, for us, the biggest tradition that we love is we always host. So getting everyone together, it's a nightmare between my wife's family and my family. There's usually like 20 people that show up between us and all the kids and the adults. Just absolute chaos. ⁓ But we love it, right? Because one, we don't have to go anywhere. Everyone comes to our house, which is great. ⁓ But also at the same time, it's great getting everyone together, getting together for the holidays, cooking all the good food.
Benjamin Brown (4:46.189)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer (4:57.258)
My brother-in-law typically will smoke some meats on his big green egg, get us some really good selections. My mother-in-law does also do her version of the turkey and it's great. And then also outside of that, just get some good football on. Those are really the things that we try to just stick to is food, football, family, the real American way. I'm just kidding. Yeah. Listen, I have assimilated so well that it is
Benjamin Brown (5:18.508)
That's awesome. That's like the most American thing. ⁓ The ⁓ only fourth F you could add is fireworks. ⁓ You'd never know. You'd never know. But yeah, if you added some fireworks in the background, you'd be good. That'd be just if you wanted to take it over the top, just launch some fireworks at the end. Yeah, fireworks or firearms, need a fourth F in there somewhere.
Andrew Saunders (5:18.873)
the three F's. ⁓
Muamer (5:26.492)
Sure. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (5:30.469)
⁓ I love it.
Muamer (5:38.260)
Or firearms, fireworks, just throw all of them in there.
Andrew Saunders (5:39.493)
⁓ firearms.
⁓ I like how you're like, assimilated so well and I'm sitting over going, yeah. ⁓ I mean, so I don't know if this has ever come up, but I've traced my genealogy. We were actually on the second boat, not the Mayflower, but the second like boat across. And I'm like, I have abandoned most the Thanksgiving traditions like this turkey thing that's out. I'm like, ⁓ what's more American? Get rid of Thanksgiving, doing whatever you want on Thanksgiving. ⁓ Anyway.
Muamer (6:6.428)
There you go.
Benjamin Brown (6:8.950)
And for those of you that are not watching the YouTube video, just we say this over and over again, right? Like we are real parents living real lives and trying to record a podcast. It's helpful to other parents right now. Mom or son, his little guy is a, or ⁓ your oldest, his oldest young, his youngest, who's still wide awake and ripping is about to jump off a chair. And I'm really interested in who's going to make it. He's watching it. He's yeah, he's looking at it.
Muamer (6:12.905)
We gotta...
Muamer (6:20.774)
Yeah.
Muamer (6:25.602)
Youngest this is Leo. He's a two-year-old. He's about to have a death defying leap
Andrew Saunders (6:30.991)
Yeah.
Muamer (6:32.711)
I'm just like anticipating he's he's hyping himself up for it. I don't know if you guys can hear he's yeah. ⁓ He's thinking about it. Come on Leo. ⁓ You're be really careful. Let's see the big jump. ⁓ Yeah, no pressure.
Andrew Saunders (6:36.643)
Yeah, no, it's going. This is going to be good.
Benjamin Brown (6:38.360)
He's getting ready. ⁓ come on. Come on. He's thinking about it. ⁓ be really careful.
Andrew Saunders (6:42.606)
You can do it.
Andrew Saunders (6:46.703)
Don't bend over, you're gonna take a header, man. ⁓ Stand up straight.
The internet is watching. ⁓ Yeah, no pressure.
Benjamin Brown (6:57.397)
gonna do it?
Muamer (6:57.416)
Let's see it. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (6:58.085)
This is great. ⁓ See, I feel like half way we should just keep going with Momator to the side and then we'll just wait for the, ⁓ Yay! All right, you did it. That's gonna be a short on YouTube shortly, I'm sure. ⁓
Muamer (7:5.129)
⁓ Hey, here we go. ⁓ Good job, buddy. said I didn't get hurt. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (7:5.644)
There it is. ⁓ All right. I don't know. Nobody's crying. So was a good job. All right. ⁓ Awesome, dude. All right. Saunders Thanksgiving traditions.
Andrew Saunders (7:16.194)
Nice.
⁓ yeah, so, ⁓ when we were in Utah for 15 years, I hosted Thanksgiving. ⁓ I did a friends giving for extended family, extended friends, just all the people in my life who were my chosen family, not my, family family, right? ⁓ since I've been back in ⁓ Iowa and I went over this last year, actually, my aunt does something she calls open hearth weekend ⁓ and Wednesday night they bake all the pies. They do.
full Thursday, Thanksgiving, ⁓ all day long food feast, Friday, Saturday, same thing, and then brunch on Sunday and go home. And the reason it's called Open Hearth is because there's always a fire in the fireplace and the bonfire's always going and the door's always open and you can come and go as you please for four days, five days straight. And she'll have about 50 to 60 people, I think, run through there and she does a dinner every night and
mostly breakfast every morning, but there is ⁓ always food of some kind. ⁓ And it's just, it's a great time. Somebody's always playing cards. Somebody's always playing decent music. There's always a ton of kids running around. We're watching ⁓ basketball. I know the Iowa, Iowa State game is always a big watch at that event. I don't remember if it's Wednesday night or you can tell I'm a sports guy. I don't know what day it is, but I know it's always a big event. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (8:44.800)
Score the goal, do the thing.
Andrew Saunders (8:46.487)
Yeah, yeah, exactly. ⁓ So we do that one, then we do the football game, they do the parade. ⁓ And we, it's just a great time. This year I made ⁓ nine or 10 different sauces, because Saturday night we're ⁓ grilled meat and baked potatoes with like this sauce bar. So I've got a ton of just delicious barbecue sauces and like a truffle butter sauce. And ⁓ we did an Indian one and a Japanese one. So
Muamer (8:47.492)
You ⁓
Andrew Saunders (9:16.207)
That's ⁓ that is our Iowa tradition. ⁓ It interferes with my wedding anniversary when Thanksgiving is late. ⁓ It does it does. So my wedding anniversary is November 30. So when when Thanksgiving is late, that Saturday is usually my wedding anniversary and my wife gets upset because where they're doing stuff as opposed to having a wedding anniversary. So yeah, I didn't realize that the first year and gotten a little trouble. was like, God, oops, what did I do? ⁓
Benjamin Brown (9:19.086)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer (9:22.408)
⁓ It interferes.
Benjamin Brown (9:23.927)
Not long.
Benjamin Brown (9:37.838)
Fair, fair.
Benjamin Brown (9:45.390)
Did you forget or did you? Let's be honest.
Andrew Saunders (9:45.731)
Yeah, okay.
I did not forget it was our wedding anniversary. She got wedding anniversary presents. We just didn't celebrate the day on our wedding anniversary. I spent the day in the basement cooking food for the evening instead of hanging out with my wife at this event. So she got, she was a little hurt by it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Got to take responsibility for your mistakes boys. part of being a good dad.
Benjamin Brown (9:57.358)
⁓ gotcha.
Muamer (10:5.915)
Yeah, that'll do it.
Benjamin Brown (10:6.210)
Fair enough. Yeah, that's fair.
Muamer (10:11.912)
⁓ Hey, actually, ⁓ not to distract us and before we jump to Ben, we never talked about the elephant in the room of like Saunders card launching that they're expecting without telling his wife. Whatever happened.
Benjamin Brown (10:11.970)
Yeah, gentlemen, gentlemen, just take responsibility.
Andrew Saunders (10:26.598)
no, no. Okay. So ⁓ I told you guys on the podcast. No, no, no. So I told you guys on the podcast. I then went downstairs and I said, dear, the podcast goes live on Wednesday. You have to make the announcement by Tuesday. And we went out to a pumpkin patch that weekend. And if you're following me on Facebook or Instagram, I believe there is a photo of five pumpkins on our front porch. And there's a giant one for me, a smaller one for my wife, two for the girls. And then like,
Muamer (10:29.351)
You
Muamer (10:36.889)
Hahaha!
Benjamin Brown (10:38.958)
You
Andrew Saunders (10:54.990)
the world's smallest little baby pumpkin. Like I don't think it's two inches around in ⁓ on my side. And so there's like the biggest pumpkin and the tiniest pumpkin on one half of our front steps. And then like three pumpkins that make sense in size order on the other side of our space. Yeah. So we did a little his and hers thing.
Muamer (11:0.325)
Heh.
Benjamin Brown (11:10.062)
⁓ Well, hey, ⁓ it didn't end up ⁓ in a burn down argument. that's a big plus. ⁓ Yeah. So I think we, I'm sure we said congratulations on that podcast, but congratulations again. That's huge, man. That's the adding a ⁓ new one to the family is always a big deal. And we always appreciate that here. ⁓
Muamer (11:10.342)
That's fantastic.
Andrew Saunders (11:17.880)
No, ⁓ yep, ⁓ yeah.
Andrew Saunders (11:26.544)
You did. Yeah, we're excited.
Andrew Saunders (11:34.471)
Well, ⁓ it's also it's also very fun because we had two girls and now we're having a boy and my wife's pregnancy symptoms for the first two were very similar. ⁓ And this one, ⁓ they are different and it is fun. ⁓ Like ⁓ she didn't get super smell with the first two. ⁓ She has super smell now. And so like things are just driving her insane. And I'm like, I don't know what you're smelling. I'm sorry, like point it out to me. I will get the Kleenex and I will clean it up. But ⁓
Benjamin Brown (11:40.077)
Mm.
Benjamin Brown (11:45.314)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer (11:47.846)
Hmm ⁓
Benjamin Brown (11:56.886)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer (11:57.580)
Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (12:3.086)
So this is like a particularly hard time for my wife and I do I feel horrible. One of her pregnancy symptoms was she got ⁓ nauseated by the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg. So you can imagine and that has not gone away. So you can imagine like holiday season right now, like the candles, pumpkin pie. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (12:16.130)
⁓ man. ⁓
Muamer (12:16.206)
⁓
Muamer (12:20.259)
⁓ man.
Andrew Saunders (12:25.392)
How does she go into Target? ⁓
Benjamin Brown (12:28.014)
She just goes and gets what she needs and stays on the other side of the store as much as she can. feel so bad for her when this comes around because those are also all my favorite foods. Like I love pumpkin pies and apple pies and anything with cinnamon and all spice and all that. And, and she cannot, cannot do them. Yeah. Oh, am out of focus here. There we go.
Andrew Saunders (12:32.961)
Man. Man.
Andrew Saunders (12:43.750)
⁓ You're a pumpkin spice latte boy, huh? ⁓
Muamer (12:49.990)
That's great. All right, Ben, let's keep it on the pumpkin spice trend. What are your Thanksgiving traditions?
Andrew Saunders (12:50.384)
Sorry. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (12:54.304)
Yeah, so our Thanksgiving. Yeah, I bathe in pumpkin spice. That's number one. As soon as October rolls around, I'm in the pumpkin game. ⁓ But our tradition is slowly becoming that we leave. That's it. ⁓ Yeah, so our big thing right now ⁓ is ⁓
Andrew Saunders (12:55.270)
Yeah. Well, apparently he bathes in pumpkin spice. That's a Thanksgiving tradition.
Andrew Saunders (13:13.638)
Peace, I'm out.
Benjamin Brown (13:21.708)
You know, we've done a lot of the traditional thanksgivings, right? Like the food family hanging out, and we still do that. ⁓ But typically for us now, what we've been doing, because we ⁓ both have, like my mom is now here, ⁓ her family is all down here. So our holidays are a little tough in that we, for years, we split our holidays, right? Like we went to...
her family's house and my family's house, and we were going back and forth and back and forth. And then once we had kids, we decided, I don't know that we're going to do that anymore. like certain holidays, like Christmas and Thanksgiving, we try to spend them just together as a family unit, right? With, we don't invite anybody else or maybe it's like one other person, but it's very, very small. And now that the kids have gotten a little older, our new tradition is we leave, we go on a trip.
⁓ for our holidays. So that's our big thing. like this year, ⁓ next week, we're leaving, actually, we leave on Thanksgiving, and we're not back until like the first week in December. ⁓ So we're not going to be back until the eighth, but we're going on a family trip. And that's kind of our big thing. So we're trying to give fewer gifts, ⁓ you know, fewer material things and just trying to travel more with the kids because that's something we really enjoy. So we're going to be gone for about a week.
a little bit more than that. And that's really our tradition now, right? If we're not at home, ⁓ we're going to leave. We're going to go somewhere, go on vacation, go on a trip, go get a cabin, and just spend time together as a family. We really enjoy it. Yeah, ⁓ and that's the thing. I mean, I know it's disappointing to a lot of the family that we're not there for ⁓ these big family events sometimes. And we do our best to make those when we can. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (14:54.278)
⁓ I like that. Give the gift of experience, right?
Muamer (14:55.023)
That's awesome.
Benjamin Brown (15:11.628)
But for us, the most important thing is the experience with our kids. And we're so busy running two businesses and working full time and all that stuff. It's just the time away and together is more important than, ⁓ you know, driving from house to house to house to do ⁓ the Thanksgiving thing or the Christmas thing or whatever that is. ⁓ you know, we enjoy those. Those are fun. ⁓ But for us, it's more important to be together as a family and build that bond.
Muamer (15:41.341)
Then I think that's huge, right? Cause like people are going to be upset. And especially like if you have really, really little kids, like newborns around this age or in around this time of year where everyone wants you to come over and you might not feel comfortable, like do whatever you want and whatever works for your family and ⁓ try to focus. again, ⁓ a hundred percent relate that this is easier said than done, but try not to let it bother you if you're just like, no, I don't want to go to this.
Benjamin Brown (15:57.208)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer (16:5.955)
gathering of 50 people with a brand new fresh out of the oven baby. You just got to make those decisions for yourself and just realize that it's you and your little family unit now that matters most.
Benjamin Brown (16:15.874)
Yeah, yeah, that's our big thing.
Andrew Saunders (16:16.422)
⁓ And if you need an excuse, ⁓ they haven't had their, you haven't had your Pertussis shot. Like ⁓ just throw that one in there and you don't have to go in there for six months. Like it's fine. ⁓
Muamer (16:18.296)
Mic drop now.
Benjamin Brown (16:21.101)
Yeah.
Muamer (16:23.267)
There you go.
Benjamin Brown (16:26.958)
Yeah. All right. So Thanksgiving tradition. So I think we got some good ones in there. But let's talk Thanksgiving foods. And this this is where things things might get a little I'm just gonna things might get a little heated. It's okay, we're gonna get the mute button out. But it's alright. So we're gonna start let's let's go through the table, right? Most people have Turkey. Where do you guys stand on Turkey?
Muamer (16:39.107)
Let's do it.
Andrew Saunders (16:42.950)
gonna have to get the mute button now people. ⁓
Muamer (16:54.936)
Yeah, no, 100 % turkey's a must. But here's the though, it's a good turkey. Like, you just gotta get your butterball, get your whatever, cook it normally if you want. But if you can go for like a smoked turkey and something a little bit different, that's where I think it really gets nice.
Benjamin Brown (16:56.150)
Because I have some feelings. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (17:14.416)
Yeah, I could go without the turkey. I could totally.
Benjamin Brown (17:14.478)
100 % agree. So yeah, I could go without a turkey.
Muamer (17:16.835)
⁓ Without the turkey? Bro.
Andrew Saunders (17:20.122)
Yeah, I don't need it. ⁓ I will, ⁓ if I'm hosting Thanksgiving, I will cook a turkey because that's the tradition. ⁓ And I have learned to spatchcock a turkey, which is an amazing way to cook a turkey. If you've never done it, you cut the spine out, you break the breastbone, takes about three hours to cook. All the skin is crispy. It's absolutely amazing. Highly recommend it. But Andrew doesn't like the taste of turkey. So.
Muamer (17:31.049)
⁓ okay. Yeah.
Andrew Saunders (17:47.042)
Andrew can leave turkey off the table and have a great Thanksgiving. I would actually rather do a giant roast at Thanksgiving, but it's tradition. I cook it for other people and I move on with my day.
Benjamin Brown (17:57.390)
⁓ If I could, if I had my way, first of all, I think most Turkey is trash. Just gonna put it out there. Most of it's garbage. ⁓ Just because it's like, ⁓ it's, it's just, it's just like, unless you do it really, really well. ⁓ It just, it turns out dry, or just doesn't, ⁓ it doesn't do it well, right? Like there's, there's no, there's not a lot I feel like you can do with Turkey that makes it really good, except
Andrew Saunders (18:5.255)
⁓ Ben and I are over here like no more deli ⁓
Muamer (18:9.660)
You ⁓
Benjamin Brown (18:26.272)
Smoked turkey, fantastic. That's generally really good if it's done well. ⁓ Since moving to the south, we have a deep fried turkey now. That's like a big thing. ⁓ Like having a deep fried turkey is amazing. Deep fried turkey is really one of the only ways that we really do well.
Muamer (18:34.834)
Ooh, okay.
⁓ I've not had that because I feel like that just feels over the line to try. ⁓ Of things that are acceptable to deep fry.
Benjamin Brown (18:46.178)
Yeah, it's so good.
Andrew Saunders (18:47.879)
⁓ The good ones are amazing, the bad ones are absolutely terrible. Like you're either eating a fork full of fat or it's delicious. I can't believe you're not throwing the, Ben, you're not gonna throw the Disney World turkey leg like right outside of it. I mean, you're there every month, right? Every week, I mean. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (18:51.958)
Yeah, bad one bad ones will. ⁓ Yeah, my my uncle does want it's really good.
Muamer (19:4.406)
⁓
Benjamin Brown (19:6.498)
They're, they're, they're okay. They're okay. It's not something we buy. Yeah. It's not something we buy. It's cause I think they do it in mass. And so it's like, okay. ⁓ but I would.
Muamer (19:9.996)
They're not ⁓ good. Yeah.
Andrew Saunders (19:12.327)
Alright.
Andrew Saunders (19:17.346)
All right.
Muamer (19:17.879)
I've bought it and I buy it sometimes for the novelty of it, ⁓ not because it tastes really good.
Benjamin Brown (19:23.874)
Like I would rather, if I had my druthers for Thanksgiving, you know, if I had to cut Turkey out completely, I would do a brisket and ribs. That would be like my ultimate Thanksgiving, like a really good brisket, like a good, you know, 16 hour brisket on the smoker, some good five, two, one, five, three, one ribs. ⁓ And, ⁓ and you're good to go.
Andrew Saunders (19:34.631)
All right.
Muamer (19:43.010)
Yeah. See, my brother-in-law, he's done the spatchcock, he does the brisket. He is the master of the grill and the smoking, because he's got like five of them. And he doesn't use them, and I'm actually going to send him a clip of this to make him feel bad, because he should use it more often and he should cook me more food. Yeah. It's like at Jordan Majors. This one's for you.
Andrew Saunders (19:59.995)
Just tag him in the reel where you're like, I'm guilt tripping my brother-in-law.
Benjamin Brown (20:2.008)
Cook me more.
Muamer (20:7.382)
But no, he is phenomenal at it. Like he brought one Thanksgiving outside of doing the turkey. He had smoked some wings, like the best wings I've had. He will do the brisket. He'll do the spatchcock. He even does like spatchcock chickens to have like individual portions. Phenomenal. He just doesn't do them enough. So you should do them more. ⁓ But that, yeah, I agree. That makes the biggest difference. Because if you're gonna have a dry turkey, like it's...
Benjamin Brown (20:14.883)
you
Andrew Saunders (20:19.643)
Okay.
Benjamin Brown (20:22.456)
So good.
Andrew Saunders (20:28.175)
You know what I-
You know what I did do one year for Thanksgiving when I was in the military and I worked out amazing? Cornish game hens ⁓ on beer cans on the grill. ⁓ just, we couldn't find a turkey. We had a little like 20 inch Weber charcoal grill. And I was like, ⁓ forget it. ⁓ Just get me, yeah, just get some Cornish game hens. ⁓ And I think we did six of them on the grill over like some Keystone light. Like it wasn't good beer, ⁓ but.
Benjamin Brown (20:30.902)
It's the worst.
Muamer (20:38.304)
Yes.
Benjamin Brown (20:47.628)
All the old kettle joint.
Muamer (20:58.155)
Hmm ⁓
Andrew Saunders (20:59.756)
It was amazing how well they turned out because the beer boiled out and it was like, and everybody basically got their own little bird and they were like, this is an amazing turkey. And I'm like, it's a Cornish game, man, but sure. ⁓ Yeah, yeah, it's fine. ⁓ You're in the Marines, you eat crayons. Don't worry about it. ⁓ I love the Marines. It's fine.
Benjamin Brown (20:59.950)
You just need the moisture.
Muamer (21:6.965)
Yep.
Muamer (21:11.137)
⁓ You uncultured swine! ⁓
Benjamin Brown (21:13.166)
⁓ Don't insult my birds. ⁓ So let's let's talk. Let's talk sides now. So ⁓ do you guys have any like must have sides? Like what are the things that you see if you look at a Thanksgiving table table? If something's missing and you want to flip that table, what's the thing that has to be missing? Like what has to be there in order for it to be Thanksgiving?
Muamer (21:17.889)
Ha
Muamer (21:41.425)
I've got a list of three. Rolls, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole.
Benjamin Brown (21:43.822)
Alright, hit me.
Andrew Saunders (21:43.938)
man. ⁓
Yeah, all right, I'm with you. We can be on the same team. Ben's not on our team. I remember the list from last year. Ben is not on our team. ⁓ Yeah. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (21:50.913)
Hmm
Nope. Nope. No, I disagree. So I think, I think turkey and mashed potatoes ⁓ gone hot garbage. I think mashed potatoes are gone. I do not care ⁓ at all about mashed potatoes. However,
Muamer (22:2.048)
What?
Andrew Saunders (22:8.260)
For the record, the former power lifter doesn't like carbohydrates and turkey. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (22:10.798)
Yeah, don't don't like mashed potatoes. However, a sweet potato like casserole that that I'm in you get again, I told you at the beginning of the episode, right? Cinnamon nutmeg like that real. That is incredible. I love my wife makes an incredible sweet potato casserole. And it is one of my probably top five foods I've ever I love sweet potato casserole. So for me like that has to Yep.
Andrew Saunders (22:24.049)
Yeah. ⁓
Muamer (22:24.192)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Saunders (22:36.645)
with the marshmallows, right? Yeah, okay.
Benjamin Brown (22:38.594)
with the marshmallows. got to crisp them on the top. I got to have that. ⁓ let's see for other sides, like ⁓ most things I like ⁓ stuffing on the side. ⁓ not necessarily like in the bird, but my mom does really good. I ⁓ think, that's ⁓ like one of my things. love stuffing. And then, ⁓ it really is. And my third one is mac and cheese.
Muamer (22:41.821)
I can get behind that.
Muamer (22:54.100)
I think that's no, ⁓ I'll disagree with that. Stuffing is the worst. Like why does it exist? It's so bad.
Andrew Saunders (22:59.239)
⁓ This is great. This is like a recap of last year. I'm I'm loving this. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (23:8.366)
because I, I rush mac and cheese because I will, I will destroy mac and cheese. Like I do the whole thing. I start with a bechamel, you know, make a roux, make a bechamel, make your cheese sauce, uh, do the whole deal. And we do, uh, sourdough bread crumbs that are like a sage and Rosemary, a little bit of olive oil, get them crispy on the top. I still have like half a sheet pan of it in my fridge right now. And I'm, know, you walk out in the fridge, grab a little spoonful.
Muamer (23:8.552)
Okay, yeah, mac and cheese. I'll give you that.
Muamer (23:33.450)
You
Benjamin Brown (23:36.886)
And head back inside that is.
Andrew Saunders (23:37.413)
learning Ben is a Ben's a casserole guy he likes things served in a 9 by 13 pan that have been baked at 350 for 30 minutes to an hour like that's ⁓ that's ⁓ just need a pyrex and some cheese and a little brulee on top and Ben is sold
Benjamin Brown (23:41.238)
I ⁓ like casseroles. ⁓ That may be true. I ⁓ might be a casserole guy. Going in my bio. ⁓ Casserole. Just gonna be...
Muamer (23:44.170)
You
Muamer (23:48.026)
So, ⁓ there's the theme. We found it. Eureka moment.
Benjamin Brown (23:57.666)
You're gonna look at my Instagram and it's just gonna be like big casserole guy.
Muamer (24:0.480)
⁓ You ⁓
Benjamin Brown (24:4.002)
That's it. Yeah, I think that's it. Right. we got, we got sides. Yeah.
Andrew Saunders (24:4.967)
⁓ So the only the only other one that I would stick on there and I will swap it for Mommers roles is a good cornbread whether it be cornbread muffins or a cornbread like my my aunt
Muamer (24:5.408)
Bye!
Benjamin Brown (24:16.279)
⁓ yeah. ⁓ my God, what is wrong with you?
Muamer (24:16.352)
I don't like cornbread.
Muamer (24:21.408)
Okay, I like a jalapeno cornbread a little bit of spite, but just cornbreads Trash my wife makes chili and I'm like no
Andrew Saunders (24:24.015)
Yeah, yeah. My aunt does this thing. That's amazing. And it's a can of whole creamed corn, a can of just kernels, a box of Jiffy Pop and onion, sour cream. And there's, ⁓ I want to say, milk or water in there. And it ends up like cornbread pudding. Like it's just stiff enough that it holds its shape.
Benjamin Brown (24:46.350)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer (24:47.423)
That sounds so bad.
Benjamin Brown (24:49.582)
so good. It's another casserole. It's basically another casserole. It's a corn casserole. Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, you put all the types of corn and it's delicious. It's amazing. It's so good. All right.
Andrew Saunders (24:50.555)
but ⁓ it's not bread anymore and it's delicious. Yeah, yeah, it's another, it's a corn casserole. I mean, there's like four coats of corn in there at that point. Yeah.
Muamer (24:53.319)
It's another castle.
You ⁓
Andrew Saunders (25:1.339)
Yep. Yep.
Muamer (25:5.194)
I'm gonna send you guys a video of this Bosnian dish. It's called pura, but it's like a polenta mix. ⁓ you do it, ⁓ your little cornbread ⁓ casserole-y mash thing reminded me of it. But it's a very soft polenta type of thing where people will put smoked cheeses or like even goat and feta cheeses on there with it. And you guys would like it. I can get behind that. But it's not a Thanksgiving dish, but maybe it should be, because like it's better than cornbread.
Benjamin Brown (25:12.962)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (25:28.590)
⁓ I'm into that.
Andrew Saunders (25:28.711)
All right, all right. So it's like a step up above grits and a step below cornbread.
Muamer (25:35.803)
It's definitely better than cornbread, yeah, better than grits too. Grits is trash. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (25:40.462)
⁓ I don't I don't ⁓ I don't know about that hang on hang on now hang on now
Andrew Saunders (25:41.791)
Ben's about to come through that camera. ⁓ just ⁓ go to YouTube, alright? You gotta watch the kid jumping off the chair and you gotta watch Ben about to climb through this camera right here. Like, you do realize you live in Nashville, right? You might get beat on the street next week.
Muamer (25:43.407)
You ⁓
Yeah. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (25:54.252)
Bye.
Muamer (25:55.519)
⁓ I know, know. Wait till I say this next one. And collard greens suck too. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (25:58.028)
Yeah, somebody, someone's going to fight you. ⁓ my God. We are just, we're just crapping all over traditional Southern cuisine right now.
Andrew Saunders (26:1.287)
⁓
Andrew Saunders (26:6.969)
I hate collared greens too, it's fine.
Muamer (26:8.797)
Hahaha
Benjamin Brown (26:9.794)
You guys are the worst. All right, let's go. Let's let's let's move on before I quit the show and go to.
Andrew Saunders (26:10.919)
⁓ Okay, I will caveat this I will caveat this. ⁓ Collard greens are not bad, but they are often cooked terribly. And if someone cooks collard greens terribly, ⁓ it's, it's like eating a pile of chlorophyll, like it's not chloroform chlorophyll, like it is terrible or like, ⁓ it's the same as the guy who overcooks ⁓ cauliflower.
Muamer (26:12.065)
huh.
Muamer (26:16.593)
you
Benjamin Brown (26:23.446)
Yes, bad, bad collard greens are really bad.
Muamer (26:26.747)
Maybe, maybe I just haven't had any good ones.
Muamer (26:32.446)
Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (26:33.215)
Agree.
Andrew Saunders (26:40.859)
Right? They just get that nasty like chlorophyll taste. ⁓ well.
Benjamin Brown (26:42.542)
⁓ Mm-hmm.
Muamer (26:45.758)
I'm gonna add a southern trifecta here just to really make Ben keel over. Okra, fried okra, all versions of okra.
Benjamin Brown (26:45.944)
Thanks, Nick.
Andrew Saunders (26:49.154)
⁓ man. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (26:49.241)
boy, here we go. If you save pimento cheese.
I was gonna say if you say pimento cheese, I'm logging off right now. Okay, there we go. Okay. All right, so ⁓
Andrew Saunders (26:54.854)
Mm.
Muamer (26:57.379)
no, pimento cheese, I'll get behind pimento cheese. Yeah, yeah.
Andrew Saunders (26:57.863)
⁓ No! ⁓
Alright, do we have consensus on Okra's bad then? that, is that, we just agree on something? ⁓ Alright, let's move on before Ben gets truly angry here.
Benjamin Brown (27:4.488)
No, no, we do not have consensus that okras bad pickled okra, fried okra. It's delicious.
Muamer (27:7.131)
Okras
Muamer (27:11.576)
You ⁓
Benjamin Brown (27:13.344)
All right. Moving on. Let's move on to I'm getting I'm getting all red in the face. Let's move on to desserts. ⁓ Okay, so traditional Thanksgiving desserts or I guess your family's traditional Thanksgiving desserts because I know this can run the gambit because there's always like, my mom always likes to make something like kind of different. Like she's an experimental cook. She likes to try she does the traditional stuff and then try something new every year. ⁓ But for when you look at the dessert table, what do you expect?
Muamer (27:15.506)
Peace.
⁓ Hahaha
Benjamin Brown (27:43.052)
to see? What do you want to see? What are you hoping to see?
Andrew Saunders (27:46.919)
Pie pie and more pie. All the flavors. ⁓ Yeah, are almost always pies.
Muamer (27:49.074)
Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (27:50.742)
All pies. Cut.
Muamer (27:52.158)
⁓ No, honestly, there's two flavors. ⁓ It's a pumpkin and a pecan. That's it.
Andrew Saunders (27:57.672)
Yeah, but see when you got to serve 70 people, you need an apple, you need a cherry, you know, you need a strawberry rhubarb. I mean, when you got a lot of people, you can't just pile it all up with pecan and pumpkin, right? I'm actually excited this year. I found a recipe from before corn syrup existed for a pecan pie. And it's basically an egg custard pie with sugar and pecans. And I'm excited because
Muamer (28:5.906)
I can get behind a strawberry rhubarb.
Benjamin Brown (28:7.296)
Every bar is solid.
Muamer (28:10.684)
You can, you absolutely should. ⁓
Muamer (28:20.018)
All right.
Andrew Saunders (28:27.504)
I like a good pecan pie, but it drives me nuts that they're always just a giant baked pile of sugar. ⁓ I'm ⁓ pretty excited about this. I'm going to cook it up on Wednesday, actually. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (28:43.438)
All right, I'm going to step out on this one. I don't like pecan pie. That can go away. ⁓ Do not like the con pie. There's ⁓ I don't know if it's I don't know if it's the tech. think you know what? Honestly, I think it's the the sweetness. I think it's the I'm not a huge like ⁓ sugary like sweet like I'll have like a piece of candy every now and then or something like that. But I there's something about an entire pie that is just sugar that I can't get behind.
Muamer (28:47.109)
What? Pecan, what? What don't you like? Tell me what's wrong with your taste buds to where you don't like pecan pie.
Andrew Saunders (28:48.113)
Fine. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (28:54.545)
It's the okra.
Andrew Saunders (28:58.632)
Yeah.
Muamer (29:5.501)
Mm.
Benjamin Brown (29:12.480)
It just doesn't, it doesn't end up good to me.
Muamer (29:12.716)
man, ⁓ I get that.
Andrew Saunders (29:14.790)
No, that's what drives me nuts about it. Like I can do one or maybe two slices in a five day period. I cannot do like a lot of it.
Muamer (29:20.465)
Yeah, no, I can, I can respect that. I think I can like the rational part of my brain can understand it, but like the little fat kid that I was still talking through my head is still like all the sugar all the time. And that is like my, dude, I have, I have such a sweet tooth. Yeah. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (29:33.922)
Give me the pecan pie.
Andrew Saunders (29:36.040)
On the other hand, ⁓ I bet you Ben kills a whole pumpkin pie himself. Given- ⁓ yeah, yeah, see, yeah. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (29:40.406)
Yeah, I could. ⁓ love so that's that's got to be on the table. Like I have to have a pumpkin pie either my either my wife makes it or my mom makes it somebody's got to make me a pumpkin pie, or I'm a very unhappy person when I come to Thanksgiving dinner.
Muamer (29:41.428)
Yeah. ⁓
Muamer (29:50.685)
⁓ How about
Andrew Saunders (29:54.009)
Notice Ben didn't say, will make my own pumpkin pie if you don't know somebody has to make me a pumpkin pie.
Benjamin Brown (29:57.390)
I ⁓ have, I could, but I don't.
Muamer (29:57.787)
Listen, ⁓ I don't make any of my own desserts, so I'm with Ben. I gotta rely on everybody else.
Benjamin Brown (30:3.542)
Yeah, that's that's like my gift from everybody else is like if I'm cooking anything else, like somebody makes me a pie, because like, pumpkin pie, apple pie, but it has so the apple pie, though, has to be my grandmother's recipe for apple pie. That's like the way she did. And I know it's like a Pillsbury like pre made crust. It's not like a homemade crust or anything. But there's something about the way that it's a very simple apple pie.
Andrew Saunders (30:4.664)
I had to say.
Andrew Saunders (30:10.376)
Alright.
Benjamin Brown (30:31.490)
But there's something about it. And I think it's just nostalgia of like, it was the same apple pie growing up. So either my mom makes it or my wife will make that as well. ⁓ Pumpkin pie has to be on there. ⁓ And then one of the big things, it's usually around Christmas and sometimes on Thanksgiving. It's a surprise if it's on Thanksgiving, but my mom will make rougala. So if you guys have a rougala or like puppy dog tails, they're like, so it's like, yeah. ⁓
Muamer (30:36.996)
Yeah.
Muamer (30:55.544)
No, what is that? ⁓ the pup. It's like the OK. You like puppy shower or whatever.
Benjamin Brown (31:1.304)
Well, it's like a it's like a no, no, no, it's not puppy chow. So it's like it's a pastry. And there's usually there actually are usually I think either walnuts or pecans in it. And it's like a tiny. Yeah, it's like a tiny ⁓ almost like a croissant. Basically, there's usually like a little crystallized sugar on top, but it's kind of a crunchy jelly cookie. But it's like a tiny croissant.
Muamer (31:5.020)
Okay. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (31:8.496)
It's, it's, ⁓ it's the twisted thing, right? Yeah.
Andrew Saunders (31:19.240)
⁓ And you make them in a circle and the center's usually whole and then you pull apart all the edges.
Benjamin Brown (31:25.103)
No, no. So this is literally like it literally looks like a tiny croissant. So it's rolled up pastry dough. Those are unreal.
Muamer (31:25.724)
⁓
Andrew Saunders (31:29.128)
Okay.
Muamer (31:29.498)
Yeah, ⁓ I just did a quick Google. It looks like a crunchy cinnamon roll.
Benjamin Brown (31:36.524)
Yeah, kind of. Yeah. So it's a lot of like cinnamon. There's usually some kind of jam in it, like nuts. ⁓ But those I will, I sometimes I literally get those as a gift for Christmas from my mom. I'll just get a container of Rougla and I am the happiest boy in the world.
Andrew Saunders (31:37.704)
All right, Google it.
Muamer (31:42.011)
Yeah.
Andrew Saunders (31:52.060)
You're just fighting off the kids and the wife. Like, these are mine! Get away! ⁓
Muamer (31:54.214)
You know. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (31:54.631)
I'm slapping hands out of the way. Like, no, that's, that's, that's dads.
Muamer (31:58.161)
You know what I'm happy I haven't heard anyone mention? Like cranberry flavored things. Like, ugh.
Andrew Saunders (32:3.000)
⁓ so I it, it took me years. ⁓ Blood, blood orange cranberry relish. Absolutely amazing. It's blood oranges, ⁓ mandarin oranges, red onion, basil, peppermint, and cranberries. And it's it's chopped up ⁓ almost as fine as like a dill relish. And it is ⁓ absolutely amazing.
Benjamin Brown (32:5.026)
You guys don't like cranberry?
Muamer (32:7.184)
They meet one good cranberry dessert.
Benjamin Brown (32:9.943)
⁓ not cranberry desserts, but the cranberry. That is pretty good. Blood orange cranberry relish is good.
Andrew Saunders (32:32.648)
because the cranberries are still tart and pungent. ⁓ I think it's a Bon Appetit recipe, if you're a Googler, but cranberry relish, blood orange, absolutely amazing. I hate cranberry jelly, but that one's, you can fight me. You like it with the can lines in it still too, don't you? Yeah. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (32:48.116)
I will fight you. I can't there. Yes, I do 100 % there is something I'm very like, I like to experiment with food, but there is something about canned cranberry sauce with the lines in it just straight out of the can where you get your little slice lines. I don't know what it is. I know ⁓ genuinely that it's not like it's barely a food product. But I love it.
Muamer (32:54.236)
⁓ No. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (33:17.194)
And I don't, didn't like it as a kid. I never liked it until I got to be like an adult. ⁓ but that has been, can't believe I didn't mention that before that was, ⁓ in our like must haves. Like that's one of the ones like my mom always makes a traditional. Yeah. My mom always makes a traditional cranberry sauce, like stewed down over, you know, forever. Really good. And then the, the canned one is that's, that's my thing.
Muamer (33:28.485)
That's must have. ⁓ No, any cranberries. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (33:39.940)
Mama, can you can you drink cranberry juice? Like if you have to drink?
Muamer (33:44.409)
I yeah, can get behind a cranberry juice.
Andrew Saunders (33:47.058)
Alright, I was just curious if it was like the cranberries that drove you nuts or no.
Muamer (33:49.561)
No, no, I can do that. My wife is gonna try. She found an Instagram recipe ⁓ of cranberries, powdered sugar, and I forgot what else, ⁓ but it did look good. And she's gonna try to make that for this Thanksgiving, so we'll see. But usually, ⁓ like the cranberry sauce and that stuff for Thanksgiving, I avoid it.
Andrew Saunders (34:8.328)
Do you like craisins? Like the dried cranberry raisins? All right. So it's jam or jelly or something. There's a, all right, fair enough. What I'm learning is if we ever all end up in the same room and I have to cook, it doesn't matter what I make Ben as long as it's cinnamon and nutmeg, I'm golden. I could serve him a baked potato with cinnamon, nutmeg. Yeah, and a ⁓ nine by 13 casserole. Yeah. ⁓
Muamer (34:10.213)
I Craisins. Yeah. Yeah.
Muamer (34:16.185)
No, I love the jam and jelly. It's just the cranberry jam and jelly.
Muamer (34:25.595)
⁓ And it's in a casserole. It's a cinnamon nutmeg casserole.
Benjamin Brown (34:25.986)
Gotta have cinnamon and a bag ⁓ and a casserole dish. Honestly, ⁓ baked sweet baked sweet potato, a baked sweet potato with cinnamon and nutmeg and butter is like one of my favorite things to eat that I absolutely love that.
Andrew Saunders (34:38.876)
Okay, so this is the challenge folks. I'm gonna let you know when we get together, I might be able to get him to eat a raw sweet potato if I put enough cinnamon and sugar on it. That's great. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (34:46.082)
Yeah, you could. I would eat it. ⁓ That doesn't sound bad to me at all. Sounds crunchy and delicious. We got I think I think we have covered the spread on Thanksgiving. And before we get too much more contentious on this, I think it's a good spot to end the episode. ⁓ If you guys have Thanksgiving tradition, it's foods that you like, agree or disagree with our assessment of what's good about Thanksgiving. I'm hoping we get some arguments in the comments because I want to see it. ⁓
Muamer (34:48.356)
Yeah. ⁓
Muamer (35:0.494)
You ⁓
Benjamin Brown (35:12.852)
Let us know like let us know in the comments. You know, let us know what you guys like what you don't like if we're insane ⁓ or not, which you know, everybody's got their opinions and their traditions. But ⁓ one thing you can do and I always forget to ask this at the end of every episode, whatever platform you're listening on, whether it's Spotify, Apple, whatever it is, make sure to head over to the rating. So if you want this podcast to reach more people, go ahead and give us a rating.
Whether that's five stars, one star, whatever it is, we'd appreciate the five star. We work really hard to put this together and make the extra time out of our busy lives as dads to bring you hopefully entertaining and helpful information. So we want to help this reach as many people as possible. And the only way you can do that is with you guys rating the podcast. So we sincerely appreciate it from all of us here at the Dad Verb podcast. We hope that you have a fantastic Thanksgiving, whatever you're doing, traveling, staying home with your family, meeting up with friends, whatever it is. ⁓
We hope you guys have a fantastic safe help safe and peaceful and love filled Thanksgiving. We'll see you all in next one. Peace.
Muamer (36:17.637)
Peace.
