The best part about road trips? Snacks in the car! We have a list of our favorites. Maybe you can add them to yours.

We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, veteran cookbook authors who are about to publish our thirty-seventh cookbook. We've got a passion for food and cooking that we'd like to share with you.

Plus, a one-minute cooking tip about coolers. And what's making us happy in food this week.

Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[00:39] Our one-minute cooking tip: keep a cooler in your car when you go shopping.

[02:22] Road-trip food: snacks to take in the car, the best treats to have on hand, and our favorites.

[15:22] What’s making us happy in food this week: loaded baked potatoes and an East Indian inspired trifle for dessert.

Hey, I am Bruce Weinstein and this is the Podcast

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Cooking with Bruce and Mark.

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Mark: And I'm Mark s Scarborough.

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And together with Bruce, we have

written three dozen now, plus one,

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three dozen plus one in cookbooks.

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It's going to be published this summer.

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We'll tell you more about that in

another episode of this podcast.

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But for now, this is our.

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Podcast about food and cooking

the passions in our life.

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We've got, as is typical,

a one minute cooking tip.

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We're gonna talk about road trip, food,

food to take in the car on a road trip.

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We just came back from one, so

perhaps we have some ideas about

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what to do, and we'll tell you what's

making us happy in food this week.

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Let's get started.

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Bruce: Our one minute cooking tip.

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Keep a cooler in your

car when you go shopping.

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It keeps frozen, things frozen

till you get home from the

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store, especially in summer.

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Now, mark already taught me that

Southerners know this, but I'm a Yankee.

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I didn't know this till I met him.

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So yeah, you do that and

while we're at it and Wait,

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Mark: can I just stop?

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You don't have to keep a

big ass cooler in your car.

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You can keep a little small.

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Mm-hmm.

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And so called.

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Beer cooler in your car.

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It doesn't have to be a big thing to

get ice cream home from the supermarket.

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Bruce: Well, and all

those frozen onion rings.

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And if you do a lot of frozen

vegetables, you want a frozen.

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Yeah,

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Mark: if you're gonna do a big box

store run, you need a big cooler,

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but you can use a smaller one

for just regular supermarket run.

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Bruce: And while we're at

it, here's another tip.

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Get all your frozen food last at

the store before you check out.

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Don't put all the frozen stuff

in your cart and then spend 45

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minutes going through the aisles.

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Mark: And while we're at it, if you pack

your own groceries, make sure you put.

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The frozen food in the same bag or the

cold food, like milk and frozen food.

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Mm-hmm.

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In the same bag.

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Okay.

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Before we get to our next segment,

uh, the podcast, the big segment about

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roadtrip food, let me say that it would

be great if you could subscribe or like

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this podcast or even write a review of

it on whatever platform you find this on.

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That would be terrific and

helpful in the analytics.

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As you know, we are otherwise unsupported

except for your help in doing just that.

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There's also a Facebook group

Cooking with Bruce and Mark.

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We'd be delighted to

invite you to that group.

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There you can find more talk from

this very episode of the podcast.

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Plus a series of cooking and lifestyle

videos that we are always posting.

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Okay.

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Up next road trip food.

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Bruce: Some people are road trip

people and some people aren't.

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Road trip people.

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Yeah.

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Oh, who wasn't?

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And they tend to marry each other.

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Who

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Mark: wasn't on road, road trip or

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Bruce (2): something.

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Tend to

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Mark: marry each other.

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Yeah.

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What Texas Boy was a road trip person.

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And what?

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New Yorker wasn't a road trip person.

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Person.

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I haven't, IT been in a car

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Bruce: for years.

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Yeah.

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When you met me.

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And why didn't you like car trips?

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Well, I took taxis, but why didn't I

like, because I get car sick if I'm

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sitting in the back or if I'm not driving.

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Mark: What happened when you were a kid

and you were sitting in the back of a car?

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Bruce: Oh, my mother would smoke

in the car uhhuh and I would spend

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the entire, and this wasn't just a

kid, this is up until I was in my.

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Thirties and I would spend the entire

time in the car with my shirt over my

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face and opening the windows and having

her yell at me to close the windows.

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It was disgusting.

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Mark: There's nothing like smoking in

a closed window car to just really,

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uh, give you the full experience.

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Mm-hmm.

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Okay.

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So we recently went on a road trip.

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We took a trip down to see our literary

agent, and then on to see Bruce's

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cousins who live in Washington DC.

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And then we did, uh, something

that I wanted to do probably for.

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40 years, and that is we went

to the Gettysburg Battlefield.

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I totally geeked out on history.

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I'd read a couple of giant six and 700

page histories of Gettysburg Battle.

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I was totally prepared for this thing.

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Bruce: I was just shocked that it was.

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As small as it was.

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You know, they were talking about

ridges and hills and I was expecting

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mountains and cliffs and No, it wasn't.

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Mark: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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It was really small.

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Anyway, and then we went on on the road

trip for a while and got back home.

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It was a big, long, big circle trip

back to New England, and of course

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you can imagine that our car was full.

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Of snacks.

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Bruce: Well, my sister has a theory

and she's absolutely right and

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'cause she does love road trips

and she says snacks are essential.

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They're are.

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It's Julie's theory of road trips.

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Snacks are essential.

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Mark: So here's the deal about snacks in

a car and we've got several tips about

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road trip food and snacks in a car.

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And you probably know this one,

but I just wanna reiterate it and

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that is snacks for a car trip.

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Do not.

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Needs silverware.

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You should not have to take out

a fork or a knife and for, for

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god's sake, a knife fork and a

spoon in order to eat in the car.

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Sometimes Bruce and I have stopped

and gotten a sandwich in the car.

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This is always less than

satisfactory because.

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In the end, let's say he'll be driving

and I'm sitting in the passenger

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seat and I'm having to wrap the

sandwich repeatedly in napkins.

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Mm-hmm.

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So it doesn't drip all

over him as he drives.

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It's never completely satisfying.

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And it's also, I have to

say, not completely safe.

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Bruce: It's not, and

sometimes you're lucky.

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Even though you have great snacks

in the car, you're lucky and you

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find a good restaurant because even

on a long road trip, a restaurant

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is often a nice thing to go into.

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We were coming home once from

QVC in western Pennsylvania.

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We were selling one of our books

and it was really bad weather.

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We were trying to get home, but

we were hungry and it was late.

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It was like 10 o'clock at night.

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And Mark.

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Was driving and he said, see

if you can find anything open.

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We're outside of Scranton.

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Mark: And

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Bruce: I asked, get

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Mark: Dun Mifflin country,

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Bruce: right?

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And I said, well, there's

a Mexican restaurant that's

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showing up with good reviews.

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Now I'm thinking a Mexican

restaurant outside of Scranton.

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I don't know.

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But we went.

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So we go and we're driving there, we're

following the directions on ways, and it's

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taking us into this neighborhood, right?

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These are houses.

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There weren't any restaurants here.

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Turned out somebody was running

a restaurant in their living

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room, and it was some of the

best tamales I've ever had.

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Mark: Okay, but that's

finding a restaurant.

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You promised a section on road trips.

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Well, that was road trip food.

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No, we were on a road

trip and we got lucky.

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I, I we're talking

about eating in the car.

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I thought, okay, fine.

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There are all kinds of restaurants

out there and I'm sure you know.

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How to find them.

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But it's always great to try to find

the local places because let's face it,

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in this economy and in this world, it's

great to support local and small, mm-hmm.

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Businesses.

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Mm-hmm.

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Rather than do the easy thing,

which is to pull off from the chain.

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You know how to find these places,

you know, all the apps and.

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Best to support a local business in

some way, although again, you are

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not gonna get exactly what you know.

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That's the, the beauty, the attraction

of the big chain places is you can

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get exactly what you already know

you're gonna get, but maybe you

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should venture out a little bit.

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Okay, so let's talk about

inside the car itself.

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Um, inside the car itself is

really, uh, difficult in some

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ways to get decent snacks for it.

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But at the same time, there's

all kinds of good things to try.

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And I think in our car, for Bruce

particularly, jerky is just the king.

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Bruce: Oh, I love it.

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No refrigeration.

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There are so many varieties.

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This last trip we went into a

little local organic market.

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We, and they had quite.

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An array of jerkies.

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And what did

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Mark: mark

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Bruce: it?

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You got the vegan jerky made from soy.

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It was actually better than the

Australian jerky that I bought,

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although mine was spicier.

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I liked that, but mine was

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Mark: cheaper as vegan jerky.

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It was much cheaper,

and I actually loved it.

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It was this maple Chipotle vegan.

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Jerky been formed, of

course, as it processed, yes.

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But it was a really

great treat for the car.

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And I should say, and you probably

know this, uh, better than I do,

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but when you get snacks for the car,

make sure you don't just get a bunch

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of carbonated stuff and make sure

you don't get a lot of, uh, flavors.

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Make sure you do have water.

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We learned about.

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Carbonation on this trip, didn't we?

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Bruce: Well, I bought two big bottles

of water in that same organic market,

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and I didn't know they were carbonated.

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Mm-hmm.

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I didn't read the label carefully.

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Mm-hmm.

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And so they were getting shaken

around in the back of the car.

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Mm-hmm.

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And then when I carried the bag

and then you were driving and

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I opened one uhhuh and it was.

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Like it was a shower.

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We had

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Mark: a little shower in the car.

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We

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Bruce: did.

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It was our own mini ecosystem

hurricane going on in that car.

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We lived in a

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Mark: terrarium for the next 50 miles.

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We

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Bruce: kind of needed

windshield wipers on the

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Mark: inside of the car.

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It was really disgusting.

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Uh, I should also remind you that

fresh fruit is always great on a car

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trip, and you probably know this.

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But, uh, let's face it, if you

don't have proper refrigeration,

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even berries will go bad on you.

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Blackberries will go in a day or

two in the, the car, and they get so

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Bruce: moldy.

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Mark: Yeah, blueberries

will start to get mushy, but

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Bruce: that doesn't mean

don't buy them, right?

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So buy them, but eat them first.

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Eat the fresh fruit first.

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Although oranges are fresh and

they last, so they will give you

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a good almost a week in the car.

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But go for dried fruit once

you finish up the fresh fruit.

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And also know that if you're on a

trip for more than two or three days.

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You can stop and replenish, right?

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Mm-hmm.

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Rather than looking for

a restaurant, right?

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Look for a small, little, uh,

health food store, organic market.

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Or even if you need to, you can go into

a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe's, and

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sometimes that's a lot better for you

than stopping at the fast food shop.

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Mark: Well, you know, to be

honest with you, trader Joe's.

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So set up for snacking.

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Mm-hmm.

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Because so much of it is

packaged food in various ways.

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So a Trader Joe's is a great

choice for our road trip.

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'cause you can really stock

up, and I think Bruce is right.

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Don't just stock up once.

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You should stock up over several days.

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Because the other thing is what

you want today is not necessarily

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what you want in three days.

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Mm-hmm.

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And it starts to look kind of.

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Icky, as you stare at that box of

crackers for three days, it starts

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to look kind of gross after a while.

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So it's best to to, to

kind of do this repeatedly.

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We did this with my brother and my nephew.

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Uh, when, when we went to bury my mom, uh,

after she died in December, we took an.

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Eight and a half hour drive from

where my brother lives to where

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my mom's cemetery plot was.

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We went on this gigantic road trip

and then eight and a half hours

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back the next day after her service.

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So it was an extensive road trip, but

we bought lots and lots of snacks and

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my brother kept saying, snacks are key.

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Snacks are key.

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'cause he was sitting there driving

and eating, I don't know, you know, um,

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cinnamon coated nuts out of a bag and he.

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Just kept saying

repeatedly, snacks are key.

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And I thought it was, and jerky was

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Bruce: key on that trip.

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We stopped at a truck stop in Missouri.

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No, no,

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Mark: no, no, no.

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We didn't stop at a truck stop.

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This tells for you what

a New Yorker you bar.

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What did we stop at?

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It was Bucky's.

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Uhhuh.

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Bruce: It's a truck stop.

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No, it's not.

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It happens to have 200 gas bump.

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It's a lifestyle.

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Mark: Bucky's is a complete lifestyle.

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So we get

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Bruce: into this thing that's the

size of four football fields at least.

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And.

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One entire wall is the jerky bar.

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Mark: Yep.

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Bruce: And they had dried meat from every

animal that walked or swam or human flew.

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Human,

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Mark: human.

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Bruce: Human.

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Okay.

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Go on.

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Interesting.

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That didn't even ask for that.

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Yeah.

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That would've been,

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Mark: I'm sure they sell it at Bucky's.

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They sell everything.

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Bruce: They sell everything

at Bucky's and we stocked up.

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They had the fudge factory there.

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I, I just

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Mark: wish you could have been at Bucky's

with me and watched my New York Jewish

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husband walk into Bucky's and it was.

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We were bearing mom on Christmas Eve,

so it was the day before Christmas Eve

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and the whole place is Christmas trees

and Christmas sweaters and people buying

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Christmas presents, going to Bucky's

to do Christmas shopping and pick up

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the stocking stuffers and all that.

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It was packed, and I wish you

could have seen my New York

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Jewish husband walk in there.

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I wish you could have seen the

look on his dumbfounded face.

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And there was this look of.

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Utter, um, astonishment and contempt

and revulsion and attraction.

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Mm-hmm.

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All at one second.

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Bruce: There were probably 10,000 people

in there, and I bet I could not have

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gotten a minion together if I wanted to.

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I

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Mark: bet you most people don't

know what a minion is, but

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okay, so it goes Google it.

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Bruce: Google

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Mark: it.

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Yeah.

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Um, again, let's go back to

shopping around for snack food.

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We often find that really great

snacks come from, let's say

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the Korean food market chain.

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Mm.

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H Mart.

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Oh gosh.

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Which is across the country, everywhere.

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Mm-hmm.

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And we find that the H Mart has great.

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Choices of interesting soy flavored chips.

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And I mean, listen, you don't

have to get those shrimp crisps.

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Bruce: Oh, what about the just

the dried fried whole fish.

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They're so fabulous.

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Or just like eating potato

chips, but they're actually fish.

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Bruce (2): Yeah.

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Bruce: And they're wonderful.

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You get eel that way.

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It's like there's some amazing stuff you

could try, but you have to be open to it.

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You'll also maybe find fruit

that you hadn't seen before.

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Mark: It's true.

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Bruce: Cut up.

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Beautiful hammy melons and other fruits

that you may not be familiar with,

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that you should try on your road trip.

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And

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Mark: you know, we took a road

trip in September to Quebec and we

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went out to the Gaspe Peninsula.

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And I don't want to tell you about the

Gaspe Peninsula because I don't want

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you to go there because I don't want

anybody else to know about the Gaspe

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Peninsula in Quebec because it was so

incredibly overwhelming and gorgeous.

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It was sticking.

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Out like a thumb into the Gulf of St.

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Lawrence with giant mountains in

the center of the chocks, and then

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these beautiful beaches along the St.

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Lawrence.

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Just, it's an amazing place.

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But we took this road trip

from our house in New England

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around the Gas Bay Peninsula.

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What, for 15, 16 days?

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Yeah, we were

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Bruce: gone a little over two weeks.

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Right.

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Mark: And we were Googling and

doing a lot of searching for various

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places along the way to pick up.

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Picnic and car food snacks.

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And we ended up at a

ton of small fish mies.

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They were

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Bruce: everywhere in

that part of the world.

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And they had standard smoked salmon, which

everybody knows about, and smoked trout.

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But we smoked

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Mark: mackerel.

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Bruce: Ah.

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We found things we've never tried before.

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Like marinated welks?

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Mark: Yeah.

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Bruce: Oh, they were just,

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Mark: they called it snail

salad is what they call it.

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C, yes.

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C

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Bruce: snail.

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They were so delicious and chewy

and vinegary and beautiful.

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We had smoked scallops.

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We had, uh, smoked cod cheeks.

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We did.

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They were amazing.

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We did.

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And

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Mark: because smoked cod cheeks in olive

oil, it was really kind of astounding.

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Now,

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Bruce: those were things that we had at a.

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Picnic, not, we did not

eat those in the car.

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They would've required,

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Bruce (2): that's messy.

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A

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Bruce: fork.

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And they would've required paper towels.

399

And let me say this about eating in the

car, you're eating with your hands, right?

400

You're also stopping every now and

then to fill the tank up with gas.

401

Your hands are touching things.

402

Yes.

403

Keep a lot of hand sanitizer in the car.

404

Because you're in stores, you're in

gas stations, and because you're eating

405

with your hands, it's a good idea just

to make sure your hands are always

406

sanitized because it's a road trip.

407

You don't want to get sick.

408

Mark: Oh, God.

409

Um, yes, it's always a good idea

that your hands are sanitized.

410

Consider that bait and

marriage advice too.

411

It's good advice to have

your hands sanitized.

412

Make sure, as Bruce says, don't

413

Bruce: limit it to your hands.

414

Mark: There's a cooler, oh God, there's

a, a cooler and the car is important.

415

As Bruce says, A big wide

range of choices are imp.

416

Or for road trip snacks.

417

All these things make a road

trip much more enjoyable.

418

And of course, don't forget your playlist.

419

Okay.

420

That's our road trip section

of this podcast episode.

421

We hope that you enjoyed it and we

hope actually that you'll tell us

422

what's making your road trips better.

423

You can do that in the Facebook

group cooking with Bruce and Mark.

424

We'd love for you to join us there

or find us on Instagram under

425

Cooking with Bruce and Mark up next,

as is typical, the last segment.

426

Our podcast, what's making

us happy in food this week?

427

Okay, so I'm gonna start.

428

Okay.

429

I never go first, but I'm gonna start.

430

And what's making me happy in food

this week is a loaded, baked potato.

431

And I know this really is funny

and downscale, and it doesn't

432

sound like the typical nine course

dinner party that Bruce makes, but

433

I love a loaded baked potato and I.

434

Ask for them for dinner every once in

a while, and we had them last night,

435

in fact, and it was so great to sit

there with the bacon scallion cheese,

436

sour cream butter, baked potato.

437

I notice the dairy emphasis here, baked

potato and have that for my dinner.

438

I love loaded baked potatoes.

439

In fact, my sister-in-law's mother.

440

What do you call your

sister-in-law's mother?

441

Bruce (2): Your sister-in-law's mother?

442

I, I guess so.

443

You call, call my brother's mother-in-law.

444

Mark: Yeah, I call her Suzanne

anyway, um, so my sister-in-law's

445

mother made a baked potato bar one

Christmas when we arrived in St.

446

Louis, where they all are.

447

And it was a really nice thing to

get off the plane and have just.

448

Tons of big baked potatoes and

then a billion toppings strewn out.

449

Mm-hmm.

450

Across the counter, things you wouldn't

even really imagine necessarily.

451

Normally, like salsa and beans, salsa and

all this stuff to put on baked potatoes.

452

It was a spectacular way to

start the Christmas holiday.

453

Bruce: Well, my favorite topping

from those, uh, toppings yesterday,

454

I cooked my own little red beans, and

then I sauteed them with scallions

455

and I put in pickled red onions.

456

And, uh, is this what's making

you happy and food this week?

457

No, I'm just adding that,

that was really delicious.

458

That's what made me happy on

the baked potatoes last night.

459

Oh, okay.

460

But what's making me happy in

food this week is something

461

that I'm going to eat tonight.

462

Mark: Oh.

463

Bruce: And we are having people over

for dinner and I'm making, I know that's

464

Mark: making you happy yet, but do go.

465

Well, it's making me

466

Bruce: happy making it, 'cause

I've already made parts of it.

467

It's a dessert, and I

decided to make a trifle.

468

Now, we've talked in the past

about how Mark and I come up with.

469

Recipe ideas and concepts, and

this is sort of how it worked here.

470

I wanted to make a trifle for dessert,

and because I'm doing a lamb curry

471

for dinner, I wanted to give East

Indian flavors to this trifle.

472

So I made the cake layers are a genis

sponge, and I put a little garam

473

masala in with the flour to give it

just a little bit of exotic flavor.

474

And then.

475

I poached pears in a chai tea syrup.

476

Bruce (2): Yum.

477

Bruce: And so the pears are gonna be

layered with a little bit of that syrup.

478

I made a coconut milk creme pat

that's gonna go on top of that.

479

What's it?

480

Bruce (2): Creme pat

481

Bruce: creme patisserie.

482

It's just pastry cream.

483

It's the French way of

saying pastry cream.

484

Okay.

485

I made candied cashews that I'm gonna

chop up and sprinkle in the layers.

486

So crazy.

487

And I'm going to put an Italian meringue.

488

On top of the whole thing, this,

489

Mark: this is so depressing.

490

Next to loaded baked potato.

491

But go on dude.

492

Go on.

493

So that is

494

Bruce: making me happy.

495

And I also bought a new ingredient

I'd never seen before and it was

496

called for in my lamb curry recipe.

497

And it's iris water.

498

There's an Indian name for it and

I'm not gonna remember what that

499

is, but just like you can get

rose water or orange flower water.

500

This is.

501

Iris water.

502

And what I've read is that you

can flavor desserts with it.

503

So I may put a few drops

in the Italian meringue.

504

Oh, to give a little floral

scent to the top of that.

505

Mark: There may be a

veto coming on that one.

506

Uh, I don't know that I want my,

my Italian meringue adulterated.

507

Oh, Iris Water.

508

Uh, we'll see.

509

But this is part of the

negotiation of food in our house.

510

Okay.

511

That's our podcast for this week.

512

Lemme say that we do have a newsletter.

513

You can sign up for it on

our website, bruce mark.com.

514

Scroll down the.

515

Opening page, you'll see a way

to subscribe to the newsletter.

516

Unfortunately, you cannot subscribe

to the newsletter via Facebook or via

517

Instagram, and I can't capture you there

in order to bring you to the newsletter.

518

And it's best in any event that you not

put your email address on social media.

519

So you can find that on our

website, bruce and mark.com

520

or clicking bruce and mark.com.

521

And you can sign up for our

newsletter there, which is.

522

Sometimes connected to this

podcast, but often not.

523

Bruce: Let me just say, you

should never put any personal

524

information on social media at all.

525

No.

526

And but you should.

527

Go to our Facebook group Cooking with

Bruce and Mark where you can tell us

528

what is making you happy in food this

week, just like we do every week.

529

'cause we want to know what is making

you happy here on cooking with.