The Hidden Power of Everyday Food Rituals to Connect Family, Friends, and Colleagues

In this episode of Family Tree Food & Stories, Sylvia Lovely turns interviewer and invites Nancy May to reflect on and share her experiences in going home to New York and Connecticut. The interview turns into a food story about going home and finding new friends, while creating new memories and connections

Through treats (think chocolate) and meals shared with colleagues, long-time friends, and family, the conversation explores how shared meals create continuity between past and present—bridging professional spaces, personal history, and the comfort in knowing "you can go home" after all.

From a meeting in a New York chocolate factory with new collaborators, to a French dinner with a childhood friend, and tea with a mentor celebrating her 90th birthday, each experience and story illustrates how food serves as both anchor and bridge. Whether through the aroma of smoked mushroom risotto, the aroma of handmade chocolate, or the simplicity of a perfectly seasoned burger, each moments shared is is done so to help remind you that food and stories can awaken our senses and enrich every moment of your day.

Throughout the episode, Nancy and Sylvia share how awareness enhances connection—how important it is to slow down to notice the sounds, really taste the flavors (even of the day) and truly listen to the rhythm of conversation. Chance encounters can also transform the simplest moment of shopping into a new friendship and lasting memory.

As Nancy revisits the familiar towns of Connecticut, some she shares with her host, who had never experienced the region of New Preston, CT, from her new home base in Florida, she shares how the food shared throughout her trip enhanced every food becomes a way to re-engage with both past identity and present relationships.

This discussion underscores a central idea: food stories are professional, personal, and historical connectors. They link the boardroom (from her speaking event) to the kitchen table, the old neighborhood to new beginnings, and the act of eating to the art of listening.

Key takeaways:

• Food can strengthen even professional relationships: business and professional relationships are strengthened with a surprise introduction to the Moderne Chocolate factory and an introduction the founder, Joan Coukous and her husband, in New York City.
• Pay attention to the sensory details with each experience. From the smell of chocolate (in this episode example) to the rich taste of smoked mushroom risotto, at La Rivage, and a reconnection with a childhood friend. The episode highlights how sensory awareness transforms food from the action of eating into an act of mindfulness
• Food stories preserve legacy and strengthen belonging: Through recipes like syrup cake or transparent pie, hear how personal family food stories reinforce our understanding of family and friends.

🎧 Listen now at Podcast.FamilyTreeFoodStories.com — and in the kitchen with family and friends again - and, remember that every meal tells a story, and every story is a feast!.

Additional Links ❤️

• Book: My Family Tree, Food & Stories Journal Awarded #1 New Release on Amazon
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• 👇Share Your Story With Nancy & Sylvia!: Leave us a voicemail
• You can send us a DM on Facebook.
• 🎧 Subscribe now and never miss a bite or a good story.

Episode Links:

• Modern Chocolate
• Thorncrest Farm Milk House Chocolates
• Le Riage NYC
• Thai restaurant Georgetown CT Bannock Thai
• New Preston, CT
• New Preston Cafe: The Smithy Cafe at Nine Main.

About Your Award-Winning Hosts: Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely are the powerhouse team behind Family Tree, Food & Stories, a member of The Food Stories Media Network, which celebrates the rich traditions and connections everyone has around food, friends, and family meals. Nancy, an award-winning business leader, author, and podcaster, and Sylvia, a visionary author, lawyer, and former CEO, combine their expertise to bring captivating stories rooted in history, heritage, and food. Together, they weave stories that blend history, tradition, and the love of food, where generations connect and share intriguing mealtime stories and kitchen foibles.

"Every Meal Has a Story and Every Story is a Feast." (tm) is a trademark of Family Tree Food & Stories podcast and the hosts.

@familytreefoodstories @thorncrestmilkhousechocolate @modernechocolate @newprestonct #connecticutfoodies #connecticutwinetrail #foodies #familyfood #dinnerwithfriends #chocolate #chocolatefactory #newyorkcity #newyorkfoodie #bancockthai #thaifood #bestburger #simplefood #goodfood #friends #childhoodfriends #networking #networkwise #foodpodcast #podcastingfriends

Hey everybody, it's Nancy from Family Tree Food and Stories, and I am here

with my co-host, s Sylvia lovely.

Who is absolutely fabulous.

good morning,

or whatever of time you're listening to this.

Right?

Right.

3:00 AM at perfect.

Or in the shower like I do.

Alright.

TMI.

But well, maybe you don't wanna bring your food into your shower.

Hmm.

Don't bring my coffee into the bathroom.

For sure.

You can bring your stories.

They can bring your stories for, yeah, absolutely.

So before we start, I want to say that, , everybody makes a mistake, And . Yep.

I made a mistake and it wasn't in the kitchen.

Yeah, I made a mistake, Sylvia.

It wasn't in the kitchen.

It was with the upload of last week's show.

For some reason, only two and a half minutes managed to get uploaded.

That has been corrected.

, With every good story, there's a twist and a turn and a little

correction or stretching of the truth.

In this case, it was a correction.

So the show is up podcast at Family Tree Food and Stories, and that

one's all about World Food Day.

You know they want to listen to it.

Yes,

of course you do.

Everybody wants to listen to it.

So this week's show is a little different and we're gonna do another

show like it in the Near future.

And this is a way for hopefully us to share a little bit more about

who we are and for you to get to know us and we to get to know you.

Sylvia is going to interview me with a few.

Food stories that I just went through, and we hope that you enjoy the show.

Alright, well great.

I'm so excited about this, gosh, you know, to interview Nancy is a thrill for me

'cause she's one of my heroes and so, . I wanna introduce this by talking about the

small stories and how important they are.

I wanna make sure everybody knows that, , as we approach fall and

Thanksgiving, I remember trying to make a Turkey with my son in Madison,

Wisconsin, where he was at school in the University of Chicago and dropping the

Turkey, but that wasn't the worst part.

The brine all over the floor.

Ugh.

Yuck.

But I was bonding with my son.

That made all

the

difference.

So, what I want to do today, Nancy doesn't brag on herself,

so I'm gonna brag on Nancy.

First of all, you should come to know her and she does a lot of

video work on our Facebook page, family Tree, food and Stories,

and you should watch those videos.

She's entertaining and serious at the same time, which is a gift.

But Nancy just recently completed a trip.

She went.

Back home.

. In quotes.

She's home in Florida now and that's where her home is, but she has a whole history

of being somewhere else, just like me.

We're old enough to have histories and lives that we've led, and

I love this a set of stories.

It started out with something really not to do with food.

It was an event that Nancy was invited to conduct for people

who want to be on boards.

Did I get that right, Nancy?

Yes you did.

Yes.

, Over 40 years working in corporate governance and even those people have

to eat, so they have food stories too.

And I hope you served good food that day.

But what I hear is that she knocked it out of the park, which I could have written

that review even before she did it.

And I know she knocked it outta the park, . But here's the stories

that she's gonna tell us about.

Some of the things that she found because she started out in New York

and I think she traveled to her old home base, which is Connecticut, and

she's gonna chat with us a little bit.

And Nancy, I wanna start with something here.

I love this one.

Something about a . Chocolate factory in New York City where you

are introduced by some friends.

Tell us about that.

So , my host, , Jon , and Adam, who were hosting this event a masterclass on

boards, told me that they wanted to meet for dinner the night before the event.

And I said, fine, we'd love to go so we can go over the details.

But they said, meet us on the corner of 20th and sixth.

New York City.

Now I know these guys, but I've never really met them in person.

We, we built relationships online and over Zoom and many

times that feels like friendship

Yeah.

it was, , but I thought it was weird.

Adam said, meet me on the corner of 20th and sixth.

I sort of felt like it should be a black and white movie with smoke

and everything else, and you're meeting somebody in a slicker,

yeah,

but it was six o'clock , in the evening.

So it wasn't, so I did, and it was right in front of the old Limelight

Club that I remember from years back.

Oh, I bet there's some stories from

there.

are stories of the limelight.

, I'm not a clubby person, but yeah.

Anyway, so he said, we're going to a factory.

And I said, okay.

He said, do you like chocolate?

Who doesn't like chocolate?

Very rare, Well, we went to this chocolate factory and I'll put

a link to the chocolate factory.

I can't think of the name of it off the top of my head.

It's terrible..

, So we walk down the street on sixth and there's, just a nondescript.

Guy in an elevator.

Well, you know , the elevator like checkout guys, right?

And we go up to the third floor and they're behind.

One of the doors is the most amazing, tiny little, malicious, if

that's the word, chocolate factory.

Well, the woman who owns the chocolate factory are the c chocola tier.

Was a former banker and she quit her job like 15, 20 years ago and decided to go.

I'll say Ho Hog.

Ho Hog into chocolate

Wow.

went over to Europe, got the whole deal.

She makes the most interesting, delicious chocolate, and her husband helps her out.

They've been, shown on Oprah and NBC and the Today Show all over the world.

She has all these awards for the chocolate.

One of the most interesting chocolate samples that I had has a. Sort of cream

center that is made with olive oil.

Ah,

I would never think of chocolate and olive oil.

Right?

And you don't really taste the flavor.

It doesn't taste like, , olive oil, but there's just a soft, subtle

creaminess that is delicious.

Oh my.

So the guys, Jon and Adam were kind enough.

He said, pick the biggest box you want and, fill it with the

chocolates, you love the most.

So.

Wow.

and I will put the picture in the show notes too.

It's pretty amazing.

Delicious.

so they didn't make 'em back to Florida then, huh?

Oh, they did.

Yes.

So I have to say, I am a bit of a chocolate seir,

I'll call it.

And I will eat a chocolate like.

One little bite at a time.

It's in the refrigerator so I can cut it in

yeah,

it stays cool, but not too cold, and

yeah.

Well, let me tell you, I have a theory if you do it that

way, the calories don't count,

Ah.

so, okay.

So, but was that a dinner?

No, no, no.

That was not dinner.

that was the precursor to dinner.

But it was fabulous.

So, in fact, I think we should have our chocolatier on our show to explain

a little bit about what they do, because it really was very special,

I love it.

I, the only thing we can do is we can't put smells into it, but they

weren't in full production at six o'clock at night, but they were good.

I'm smelling that's the beauty of stories.

You are there.

You're smelling it.

Okay.

So then you did a French dinner with your childhood friend.

Is she from Connecticut?

Diane?

No she's not.

So what happened is, the next day was the big event, and

that night, that was Wednesday.

I met my dear friend Diane, who I have known since kindergarten.

We've had lots of food stories together, bake offs and girl scouts

and cookie sales and whatnot.

But, she came in from Long Island and the two of us had gone to

Paris with another friend for a big birthday celebration one year.

And of course, any time we get a chance to.

Dine over something fun.

It's gotta be French food now.

So she selected a restaurant that was French we had the

most wonderful time together.

, Food just brings people together and so many stories we got caught up on who

was doing what and what they were doing.

And her, , her husband passed away about a year and a half

ago, sadly, from a, an early.

Onset Alzheimer's.

It was very, very sad.

But we love Walter dearly and so we toasted to Walter and I had the

most amazing smoked mushroom risotto

Oh, yummy.

I'm not a Risotto fan, but, I thought I would be, adventurous,

try something different.

It was really, really,

I'm glad to learn to smoke mushrooms now.

I love that.

Well, you will.

I mean, you and your Olive Garden, tree Forest and your

rosemary, that's protecting your

No.

Olive Garden.

It's the olive trees.

Did I say Olive Garden?

No, we are not the Olive Garden!

I

Garden.

No.

, But the interesting thing is, I did ask , the waiter if he would

get the recipe from the chef.

I said, I'm not here, I'm not going into competition.

And so they came back out with the menu and the chef apparently just

said, just look at the ingredients.

That's what's in it.

I'm like, Hmm, okay, I'll

yeah, okay, so I gotta say one more thing about chocolate though.

You know what you had me thinking about Willy Wonka.

Well, there's more chocolate down the road in this trip.

I'll tell

Okay.

Alright.

but yes, this is so cool.

The French dinner.

So Jacques Pepin, did he ever that come up to your table and say, good evening

Jacques Pepin is in Madison, Connecticut, and that's a little further away than,

downtown Manhattan on restaurant row, which was kind of fun too

Yeah, but he, established a number of those restaurants there

because I read his bio anyway.

Interesting.. Alright, so then let's move on.

You meet up with another friend that you've known for some 30 plus years.

, Geez, you must be 150 years old, but I know you're not, you're younger than me.

You've lived a lot, but 90th birthday, tell me about that.

So I think one of the things that we want to bring home here, , no

pun intended, or home to the kitchen or the family, is, that keeping

friends, , were you ever Girl Scout?

Never.

Uh

All right.

So one of the, songs in Girl Scouts was, , make New Friends, but Keep the

Old Summer Silver and the other gold.

And I think that is something that we all have to remember.

And Sasha, AKA Alexandra Shali has been a friend for, oh, I'm g 35

years and she had a 90th birthday.

I went up to Litchfield to her home in Washington,

Connecticut, and the two of us.

Again, it's friendship.

And breaking bread together and remembering stories and catching

up on what's happening today.

And we did so, uh, it was chilly up there.

I was freezing.

I'm, I've become Florida soft, but, , some soft bri and crackers

and a warm

cup of tea

oh,

sitting, in the back dining room, just enjoying life and friendship and,

love over what's important, right?

Yeah.

You know, and that is one of the great advantages of growing older.

You cherish those moments.

You cherish that cup of coffee or that tea with a good friend and the sun

streaming in the way it is here today.

I mean, yes, , it's beautiful.

Sasha is a therapist, so

Well, I could use that.

for sure.

For sure.

Fly me up there today.

interesting because Sasha also is a hypnotherapist and has practiced

hypnotherapy in the operating room to help,, surgeons reduce the

amount of anesthesia that you need.

They, she's been in, in the OR for something like almost 10,000

operations and great case studies.

So if,

if anybody out there is a surgeon and needs to know how to do just drop me

a line and I'll make the introduction.

Okay.

Now Nancy, we, you didn't get hypnotized or anything up there with

that little thing, you know where you.

I don't.

I don't think I'm hypnotizable.

I had a boyfriend once who say, who tried to hypnotize me

and all I could do was laugh.

And he said, will you relax?

And I said, are you kidding?

Not with you.

I don't think I'd be easy on that either.

I'm too controlling or something.

now you have a meeting with a private chef who's working, and doing some fabulous,

stunning work you said in New Preston.

Where's New Preston?

Where's new

This was, just , the following day, my, who I stayed with,

my friend , Mary Liu and Mark.

we've known them for almost 30 years too now, and they're beyond family.

We always get, we always get into trouble with Mary and Mark,

I love those

I took Mary on a tour of Litchfield County.

No, she lives in Rowayton, the both Mary and Mark.

they had never been up that way.

Hmm.

I talk about food trail.

Oh my gosh.

But we're in this little town of New Preston, which I say is, it's a

little tiny one street town that feels like a little back road, European.

Ooh.

Alrighty.

I can see

it.

Hmm.

um, cozy spot and waterfalls in the back and up to the lake War mug over

the hill that overlooks the lake.

It's just,, very special spot.

But we're in one store,, and I found these earrings that had spoons hanging on them.

I said, Mary, look, it's props for the food story.

Now, if you saw the video for last week's show, I wore my food earrings.

Oh, out of central casting.

I love

right?

I know.

this woman turns around, she says, food podcast.

I'm a private chef.

And so she shows me your Instagram page.

I give her information on the show and she goes, I'm gonna share it and

I'm gonna listen to every single show.

But her work, she, the just exquisite the work that she's doing, truly, I would say

painterly in how beautiful her work was.

So maybe somebody else we need to talk to, to

bring on the

I'm making a list and

checking

I hope you're listening.

I love that.

Hey, you know, you mentioned something that makes it is very interesting

to me, I think as America ages.

Okay.

Just like us, right?

It gets better and it gets.

More appreciative of those small places, like when you're in

England and you're touring around and they're small and they're

intimate and they're little people.

I don't mean that in a derogative way, but just smaller stuff like the chocolate

factory, right in the middle of New York City, but just crafty and artisanal.

Yeah,

right, the conversations that we have and, it's interesting that if we.

Like you said, if we, if we take a moment just to, and , no pun intended,

really savor what's going on in front of you and, and not just see

things, but see the corners and listen

and

I

like that.

Yeah.

and slow the conversation down, just like over a good meal.

I think , we really enrich the moment of our lives in such a way that.

It makes every day better.

Right?

Even in the hustle and bustle of the city, or chaos of our jobs or whatever it is.

But on that note, let's take a quick break because I know there's more deliciousness

But I have to say one more thing.

Here's to aging.

Well, hey, if you're younger too, take the time to learn and understand how, just

to chill out for even if it's 20 minutes.

But we'll be back Hang tight.

Hey, Sylvia.

We're back

all right.

tasting chocolates

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

but one more note on that though.

The gen Zs, the gen, the younger group born after 1997, they

are actually reaching back.

So they're old souls kind of thing, you know, there's nothing

wrong with that, but, and let's go on with this interview, though.

I'm, fascinated by chocolate.

Oh, you got another chocolate

and, I found the name, of the Chocolate Factory in New York on 20th and sixth.

It's Chocolate Moderna, M-M-O-D-E-R-N, Moderna,

What does, what does Moderna Moderna's a

a, a name from either Latin or Roma.

Anyway.

Interesting.

anyway, I'll put a link to their, site in the show notes too.

Mother or something.

Anyway, we'll go on because you also visited yet another, you were

in a chocolate tour, weren't you?

Chocolate tier.

You're a C Chocola tour.

Cator.

I love that.. Yes.

So , I took my friend Mary up to Thorncrest Milk, house Farm, and it's,

that's up in Goshen, Connecticut.

And that is run by Kimberly and Clint Thorn.

Who have become friends over the years.

In fact, Clint has, a beautiful old, well, it's a hand, they, it's

a sawmill, and he takes the old trees of Connecticut and , he rough.

Une Sawmill.

So it, it's really beautiful.

We had, him cut wood for us for our old house and I made them look like Weathered

barn board and they went into our living room and was absolutely stunning.

So, there's a little bit of of Clinton Kimberly in our old house in Connecticut,

I love that.

Yes, Kimberly Thorn is a, an extraordinary chocolatier and.

Learned to make chocolates by going to Belgium and she

became an expert chocolatier.

I know it's not like a, it's not like a sommelier for wine, but I don't

know what they call that in Belgium.

Anyway, she makes the chocolates from the milk of their cows at the farm.

Which are all organic.

The cows are fed organic, everything.

There's no pesticide.

In fact, the cows are so pristine that they do not even use fly spray

in the summertime on their cows.

I love that.

I love that.

I have pictures of the cows too, but the cows are so clean,

and that barn is so clean.

Even the summertime, it smells sweet and fresh.

It's not like a dirty cow smell, and you , rarely see a fly.

That's how clean they keep it.

One question.. You've mentioned two chocolate places, factories,

almost,, with retail establishments.

Can you order from those places online?

Yes you can.

Yes you

Oh, cool.

so I, like I said, I'll put in links and one year at, Easter time for the

AIDS that took care of mom and dad, I got these large Easter eggs that

I. Kimberly made and in the, Belgian, or I guess it's French, I guess it's

probably French too, but Belgian way, the eggs are hollow and inside

the eggs are all little other sample pieces of different types of chocolate.

So it's like a gift, , you open up,, the chocolate outside of the egg is a gift

and you unwrap it, and then you've got all the other little treats on the inside.

I love that.

Golly.

Ooh.

So let's move on from chocolate.

I'm loving that.

But you had dinner with former neighbors,

We did.

Yeah,

So tell me more about that.

The food in Georgetown, Connecticut, where the owners of the restaurant go

back to Thailand every year for two weeks.

Is it a Thai restaurant?

yeah.

Okay.

Tell me.

So we didn't experience a Thai restaurant before he left, so it's been around

since, I guess just after COVID.

We've been gone for a couple of years, about four years now, and it

was great to see Jackie and Keith.

We'd mentioned Keith and his smoking of Turkeys.

In a pit in his house before.

But, yeah, the great neighbors, we, we've known them for well, since we were

there almost, 30 years in Connecticut.

And the four of us all got together to go to this Thai restaurant,

which was absolutely fabulous.

Oh my gosh.

Uh,

yeah.

Tell me about a dish.

Tell me about the dishes.

Oh,, we tried all sorts of things.

, Regular, traditional sate, which didn't taste like any kind of

sate like it ever had before.

Coconut, shrimp, trying to think of what other people had, but , oh, Jackie,

who's a vegan, had something with tofu that was also like a tofu lettuce wrap,

so we all did sort of a, a sampling of a potluck for everybody.

And,.

Of course, you know, a little sake on the side

Yeah,

makes a story

always a little bit better than it was.

Oh,

interesting thing is that Jack Keith had gotten to know the owners

of this restaurant, and they go back to Thailand for, I think she

said it was two weeks every year.

So the restaurant is closed for two weeks and when they come back, there

is a line outside the restaurant.

So

yeah, it's, it's pretty amazing when you have a restaurant like that

that's so tiny in a small community, Georgetown, Connecticut is pretty, tiny.

I think it all consists of maybe four corners and that's about it.

Four corners.

I love that.

And, and warm , and, and cozy it

Absolutely.

It was , sad to leave,

How many days did you pack this all into, by the way?

Well, believe it or not, I arrived on a Tuesday.

Tuesday night was chocolate number one.

, Wednesday was the event.

, The program that, I spoke at, Wednesday night was dinner with Diane.

, Thursday I went up.

Got a car, got my hair cut in New York, played with another friend in the city.

Hadn't seen for a hundred years it seems like.

and then, coffee with a friend when we sat down for coffee, there was.

One of those little coffee shops that there's, it's

like crazy, like a Starbucks.

There was apparently a guy sitting at the table and we, she asked if we could sit at

the other two seats that were next to him.

Well, he was an actor and I didn't know, and she says, oh,

that was like, Jeremy so-and-so.

I'm like, okay.

Ah.

Oh, there's some famous ones.

There was a famous guy that nobody knew.

He was sitting

He's probably kind of happy where he could have his coffee and

Interesting ladies sit down beside him.

I love

that.

Oh, New York is so full of that.

I mean, it's just, people being creative, it's just a wonderful place.

I haven't

I have, yeah.

I have to say what, I didn't realize that I. I appreciated at

the time, I always did, but it hit me almost square between the eyes.

This time around is the amount of art that's on the street everywhere in the

city, and you do not get that, whether it's the creativity from the food

and the stories and the experiences that you have to just seeing posters

and billboards and in the windows.

The amount of creativity in Manhattan is

Oh well, the

amazing.

I mean, the food is amazing.

Yeah.

And maybe I'll need a field trip for my restaurant.

. I'll meet you there.

I'll meet you there.

Okay.

But don't forget the chocolate factory.

, Okay then.

Here, you had an amazing burger.

tell me about how Mary makes an amazing burger.

Because burgers are an art form.

Well, Mary's a pretty special cook?

Nothing, I wouldn't say nothing extraordinary, fancy in any way.

Sorry Mary, if you're listening.

I didn't mean to say that, but not meant to derogatory.

I'm, I was meaning

it's a true talent.

A true talent to make something extraordinarily good in a very simple way.

And I asked her, and she says, , I just put salt and pepper on

the burger and that was it.

So I think it had to be the meat with, Some sauteed onions that

were cooked in the fat from the burger a salad and that was it.

But I have to say this probably one of the best burgers I have had in years.

And of course I think it probably tastes better 'cause I was with

people that I loved and cared about.

. I was gonna say, you know, , I'm so, strict , I only eat half of a hamburger

or whatever, but sometimes you just gotta let go and be with the moment,, it's

like they tell you that certain things are not good for you and all of that,

but like when you said that about sake, I love wine and, because of my age and

circumstances, I'm trying to cut way back.

Anyway.

Use a straw and don't stop so much.

so coffee was kind of your mainstay that was kind of consistent throughout the

Oh, I go back to the burger 'cause Mary said, we're putting this on a brioche bun.

I'm like, Ugh, I'm trying to cut back on carbs while I'm drinking a glass of wine.

Right.

And Marc like, you can't have the burger without the brioche.

I'm like, all right.

, It's a one-time thing.

, It made the burger.

Not that the burger was bad , but it was pretty good.

It all melds together.

That's what's beautiful about a great burger.

So yeah, this is all about, life food friends and the old neighborhoods.

I love it.

We'd love to hear more of the stories from our folks out there about their stories.

You know, those tiny ones, the ones that you, that don't make the headlines,

I have to say I did get a message from, , Sylvia, France, who , makes something

called Fred Bread, which is sourdough And her message to me the other day was

an image, text message of, , a recipe from her grandmother for syrup cake.

I've never heard of syrup cake, but it was in her grandmother's handwriting.

And then another recipe for instant mashed potato cookies, which actually

sounds pretty disgusting, but I'm think I'm gonna have to try both.

And I I took a moment because it , came from somebody that we know.

And, so you said if you have a recipe or a story that you wanna

share, please do share with us.

'cause we'd love to hear and share your stories with others.

But I looked up.

Syrup cake.

' cause Sylvia the other Sylvia said that, it was an old Florida

recipe, traditional recipe.

Oh, what syrup?

Which kind of syrup?

Well, it's like a sugar water type of thing.

And you put a maple syrup or flavorings, apparently syrup cake is not just an

old Florida recipe, sorry to burst your bubble Sylvia, but it's something that's

been around for a long time and came from Greek and, the early European middle,

even Middle Eastern and middle evil day.

So.

And very much in Louisiana, , in the early days, , which is a big sugar importer.

So, I'm think we have to do a, I'm gonna test a couple of

different syrup, cake recipes.

I haven't made a cake in probably since I was a girl Scout, so we have to try that.

Mm, I think that sounds delicious.

I, it's so dangerous for me to make a cake 'cause one we don't eat or nty

nesters, you know, but, but I give it away

or if

I,

ever

will make cake and give away to the neighbors for sure.

They're gonna love me.

You know, that brings me up at some point we'll do a show on pies, but Transparent

Pie, I've been talking to you about Maysville, Kentucky that we've had on the

show, talking about Freedom Merriweather, who's one of our dearest contributors

and Frida's mother, , is just a citizen.

Of unbelievable proportions in Maysville, but they have a

thing called Transparent Pie.

know, I, yeah, I just, it popped in my head when you were talking

about exotic kinds of , recipes for things that maybe we don't even know

Have you ever had transparent pie?

No, it doesn't sound good.

Transparent pie.

I don't know what it is.

So when I go to Maysville, I am unfortunately gonna be going to

Maysville because her mother, in mid nineties is on her last legs

and she's actually not on her legs.

She's in a, in hospice.

But I'm gonna be in Maysville.

And so maybe I'll try a piece of transparent pie

And we'll give a toast

to

Frida's mom.

Yeah.

So anyway, that's our interview today.

Nancy, you want any summary remarks?

Well, my only final remark is,, as we always say that every meal has a story

and every story is a feast and just where you go, what you do, even if it's at home.

Take a moment to remember where that food came from, what was the story

behind it, and you might be transported back to the days when you were a

girl scout or to see friends or just remember and give a toast to good

times and maybe just simpler times.

Well, times are complex now anyway,

They always were.

They always were, you're absolutely right.

You find your comfort in your small circles, and that doesn't

mean you don't care about what's going on out there, but you find

your comfort in your small circles.

It's just slowing down for a moment as opposed to gobble and gulp, because

again, as we always say, every nail has a story and every story is a feast.

on that note,

please.

Don't forget to share, like, and do everything that you wanna do,

all the good things with our show.

We hope that you'll come back and listen to other shows and share your stories with

us at Podcast.FamilyTreeFoodStories.com.

We'll see you soon and we'll hear

you soon.

Bye-bye.