A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - What's The Best Road Trip Snack? ft. Danny Palumbo

Episode Date: June 15, 2022

Today, we're joined by Danny Palumbo, a writer on Sporked, to discuss: what's the best road trip snack? Check out Sporked, Mythical's new website dedicated to helping you find the best food on the shelves! - http://www.sporked.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. People say that it's not about the destination, it's about the journey. I say, it's actually about how many snacks you packed. When do you say that? All the time, you just don't listen. This is A Hot Dog is a Sandwich. Ketchup is a smoothie. Yeah, I put ice in my cereal, so what?

That makes no sense. A hot dog is a sandwich. A hot dog is a sandwich. What? Welcome to our podcast, A hot dog is a sandwich. A hot dog is a sandwich. What? Welcome to our podcast, A Hot Dog is a Sandwich, the show where we break down the world's biggest food debates. I'm your host, Josh Ayer. And I'm your host, Nicole Inaidi.

And today we're joined by Sporked writer, Danny Palumbo. Sporked is Mythical's new website where tastes are tested. They want to help you make easy decisions when it comes to the best pasta sauce or frozen chicken nuggets, and Danny works hard tasting and ranking in order to bring you expert, authoritative opinions on the best packaged foods you can possibly buy. 100%. Yes. We have to break that down first. Yeah.

Of course, of course. You want to break down my face? No. Oh, God. Let's not. In, like, details, not, like, punching. Yeah, please don't break down my face. face? No! Oh god. In like details, not like punching it. Yeah, please don't break down my face.

Well, Dani, I'm really glad you're here in studio with me. It's nice to have a white man on my left shoulder. Sure, yeah. You don't get sick of that ever. Makes me feel safe. Makes me feel content. I love it. This is your safe place. A white guy on a podcast? Yeah. What do they think of next? Who knows? Well, today we're talking

about road trip foods, which Danny, you have written an article about something similar. Uh, yeah. You've written a few. I've written a few. I am well versed in road trips.

I have driven very long distances. I drove from LA to, I'm sorry, Pennsylvania to LA like a year and a half ago. And I've done that twice. How long did that take? Well, I made it like a two-week thing.

So it took a long time. But I stopped in, I'm going to name the cities, Cincinnati, Louisville, Birmingham, Alabama, New Orleans, Austin, and then I think just one night in El Paso, and then I ended up in LA. And were you alone? I was.

It was just me and my dog. Wow. So no one fought with you about what snacks to take? No. High five you alone? I was. It was just me and my dog. Wow. So no one fought with you about what snacks to take? No. High five! Yeah. Hell yeah. Wait, wait. Is that a big concern? Fighting over snacks with your road trip partner? I don't know

if it's like, well, maybe a little bit. If you're the one driving and it's like, I don't know, I kind of have my own thing going on. You know, I want my little bag to myself like in the front little, you know what I mean you know what i mean like open up the little front side compartment and stash like a bag of chips or something there and like you know that's for me that's my time i prefer a road trip alone to be honest with you i would rather no one be in the car what i feel like i'd be so bored by myself i can't be by myself for long. Oh, really? I need a companion, hence why you're here and Josh is here.

I like having friends and companions. When it comes to road trips, I always went on road trips with my family, like my mom and dad and siblings. Yeah. And my parents are from Iran, so they don't believe in snacks at all. Oh. So my road trip snacks were always, what, what, what? What do you mean? People from Iran don't believe in snacks, like at all. So my road trip snacks were always... Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean?

People from Iran don't believe in snacks? Dude, every time I go to an Iranian household, it's filled with snacks. Let me tell you what I mean. So like we had snacks, but our snacks were, for the road trip, a bag of fruit and a bag of roasted nuts. roasted nuts. And my mom would bring a knife on the road trip and she would peel fresh cucumbers and split them and hand them to my dad while he was driving and back like this to feed the kids. I love that so much. So my road trips might be a little bit different than your road trip snacks, but like that was just my, like when we would drive to Vegas, just a bag of tangerines and a bunch of cucumbers with

salt and limes. That was my snack. I love that, though, because it makes the car super aromatic also. Yeah, that helps. This is a little off topic, but I was on a flight recently, and there was a couple next to me, and the woman was just peeling an orange for her husband, and I was sitting next to them, and it was the most delightful smell.

And I was like, I think I believe in monogamy. I think I want to get married now. I'm telling you, man. It was delightful smell. Yeah. And I was like, I think I believe in monogamy. I think I want to get married now. I'm telling you, man. It was just beautiful. Exactly. And fresh fruit is great, yeah, because it's like super healthy. Again, the smell,

it's like not going to make you feel like crap. Like, that's a good one for sure. Yeah. I wrote an article for Sporked about why I like gas station eggs. Yes, I saw that. Which is a little, people, everyone thinks it's gross, but I don't know.

It feels like a safe bet. I used to go to, I used to take my best friend, Doris, to school. We would go to SMC together and she would eat hard-boiled eggs in the car and I would just be like, stick your head out the window, girl. Like, I can't, the smell of eggs, I can't handle.

But it is the best. Interesting. It is a good way to get protein in your body. I do agree. It's a handheld protein. How concerned are you with like health and actually sustaining your body using food as fuel during a road trip though? Like should you be? Is that part of it?

Well, for me, yes. So my road trip snacking philosophy is eating relatively healthy. So when I get to a place that I'm excited to be, I am there to eat the local like thing, you know. So unless because, you know, if you're in a specific place, it's like you got to try what they're good at. Of course. But like, you know, the only time I deviate from sort of a healthy protein-filled snack is I'm like, okay,

what are the bag of chips in this area? What is the, you know, jerky or the jar of weird hard-boiled eggs at like a general store or something? I'm like, I have to try it. So those are the things that I spring for, but like I do, and this might out me as like a food snob

or something, but I'm like, I think the saddest thing you can do is like eat at a subway at a gas station while you're on a road trip. I can't do it. Oh, that's all I do.

I can't do it. Is it? Oh, I can't. I can't. Well, because we use coupons. We're a big coupon family. Me and my husband. My husband has so many

subway coupons, you guys. So many. So we have him like just in the car in case like he's like, hey, do you want to stop? Like if we're ever on a road trip or like driving to like camping or something, it's always Subway. And it's consistent.

Wait, to confirm? Yes. I have done it many times before. Yeah. To confirm Nicole's extreme couponing, she once sent me a text and was like, yo, do you want to go to this revolving sushi bar tonight? And I was like, I don't know. I'm kind of busy. She goes, no, no, I have a coupon. It expires tonight. and i was like uh i don't know i'm kind of busy she goes no no i have a coupon it expires tonight and i was like i i don't know i'm still doesn't

change the fact that i'm booked and she's like fine i'll send you the coupon in case and it was like five dollars off on like spending a hundred dollars or more it wasn't like a free meal. It was $5 off. They come in empty. You get coffee for tomorrow. You are getting scammed in that situation, not the sushi bar. You're going to order so much. You know what? You say what you want, but I am hurtling towards becoming an extreme

couponer, and that's my greatest privilege. I'm happy to be that person. Who doesn't love savings, I guess? Josh, what person. Who doesn't love savings? I guess. Josh, what do you eat on road trips, my guy? What's your road trip snack du jour? Man, okay, so road trip snack philosophy here.

I do agree with Danny because if I'm going on a road trip, that means that I am going somewhere to eat, right? Like, I plan my entire vacations around whatever the regional specialty is. If I'm going up to Central California, I'm trying to find the best Santa Maria barbecue or whatever. If I'm driving up to like Sacramento, the Bay Area, and the time on a road trip, I'm just starving myself. I'm going pure austerity measures on the road trip. I have caffeine so I don't fall asleep and die at the wheel. But then after the caffeine becomes PM, which is piss management. Piss management is the biggest part of a road trip for me

because I have the bladder of a child. 100%. Yeah. And I never want to be the person who, one, inconveniences my road tripping partner by having to pull off and pee. And then two, if there's no available bathroom, I grew up learning that if you get caught publicly urinating, you'll be a sex offender for your whole life.

And so I am so scared to whip my dingle dangle out underneath my basketball shorts in public and take a pee pee. I'm with you. It's my biggest gripe with Los Angeles coming from like Pennsylvania. I'm like, I can't just pee outside

whenever I want. No. I can't do that here. You know, guys, this literally happened to me last weekend. We drove to Bakersfield for reasons.

I was with my husband and my mom and dad and we were at a very, we were in like really bad traffic and then Davidid's like yo i gotta pp and i'm like don't go outside you'll become a registered sex offender he's like shut up i'm going in the bush and so that happened and then we decided to stop for my dad to pee too

and there were no there was like no bathrooms they like couldn't wait and i'm like can't you guys wait and they're like no and i'm like I once I once urinated myself in the car. I just peed my pants because there was no other option. I was stuck. I was stuck going up. You didn't have a Gatorade bottle somewhere? I had a can and I was afraid of lacerating my ding dong. And so I was driving up to Santa Barbara and a tree had just fallen over and blocked when the freeway bottle next to two lanes.

And so we're stuck there for like four hours and there's a cop like right next to me. And I'm like, I can't just whip it out. Yeah. And so I just resolved. This is fully a nightmare. Yeah. I felt trapped, man. It was like a found footage horror film.

That sounds horrible. So wait, I have maybe a few additional questions. So you were driving. You just peed your pants right then and there. Yeah. And so seat soaked, pants soaked. Yeah, I mean, how did that feel in a moment? That sounds barbaric.

What I did is I found a gym towel in the backseat of my car, and I stuffed that. Okay, good. I thought you were just gripping the steering wheel like, ugh. Well, no, I stuffed that into my you were just gripping the steering wheel like I stuffed that into my pants like a makeshift diaper and then peed That's good You made a diaper

You made a diaper That is not that bad That is like resourceful Thank you I'm a very smart young man I don't think I would have thought of that I think I would have done what I said No you guys always gotta have a towel plastic bag, and a Gatorade bottle. Also, a knife in the car.

These are all things you need to have. I do have knives in my car. Good. For the cucumbers. To feed your children. For cucumbers only. You know what I really like, too? I like corn nuts.

Corn nuts is probably my favorite modern snack. Corn nuts and Chex Mix, I think, are like the top tier. Also Bugles. Big Bugles fan. Nicole, are you separating modern snack and like ancient Persian snack in your mind? Is that what you're like, what the dichotomy is? I guess. I'm thinking of road trip with my parents versus road trip with my friends.

That's like how my brain is like processing this. Would you ever eat corn nuts outside the context of a road trip with my parents versus road trip with my friends. That's like how my brain is like processing this. Would you ever eat corn nuts outside the context of a road trip? Like, would you ever buy corn nuts to eat? Because I have a theory about road trip food. Do you? When's the last time you bought corn nuts? But Bugles never. Okay.

When we had them on the show, I had a packet of the ranch ones and they were good. Ooh, that does sound good. Yeah, I know. Ranch corn nuts? I know those are bomb. I think going on a road trip, it it allows people freedom to eat random snacks that they never would even in their daily home life snacking. Or if you're stocking snacks for, say, a Super Bowl party or whatever, you're not going to

get corn nuts. You're not going to get weird pickled sausages. You're not going to get the loose beef jerky that's just in a drawer by a cash register in Barstow that's true road trip it's freedom there's nobody especially if you're alone then there's absolutely no judgment and it's kind of beautiful like i'll get a bag of like czech's party mix i'll get a tijuana mama spicy pickled sausage i'll get a loose sheet of beef i'll get trolley sour eggs those little gummies and then like yeah the biggest diet energy drink you can possibly

imagine. And I'll just sit there and just let all the sugar and gelatin and salt and caffeine and just gross artificial sweetener wash over my body, and I love it. I am big on the diet energy drinks as well for a long road trip, because at a certain point, you kind of get sick of coffee. You got to go to the weird zero sugar venom or whatever you know the thing that's really gonna take off a couple years of your life i i think as a whole i do eat like the road trip style snacks in my day-to-day life but but like you know i buy a bag of beef jerky maybe at the store here

when i'm on the road i'm like nah give me, give me like the giant, you know, three foot long. It's like a huge lollipop that you're, you know, you're kind of snacking on. Like that's, that's what I spring for because they sell them in like giant, like four foot sticks. Wow. Especially in like Texas or something. Yeah. Danny, explain your, explain your hat. No, this is, this is a Bucky your hat. This is a Bucky's hat.

Whoa. This is, do you guys know what Bucky's is? I think I've seen you talk about it or post about it. Yeah. So fitting for the topic, this is a gas station slash convenience store in Texas that is sort of branched out into the south. It is a massive gas station. Some of them, I feel like, have like 60 different pumps. The store is the size of a Walmart.

They have every like snack imaginable. They make their own brand of like dishware. I feel like it's a place where you can also buy like random knickknacks, like trophies or something. It's huge. It is gigantic. And it is like the iconic like sort of like road trip or gas station stopover in Texas.

Nice. I want to go to a Wawa. Yeah. Where's the closest Wawa? Well. Could not tell you. I mean, I think it's only east. It's probably eastern Pennsylvania

because in the western Pennsylvania, we have Sheetz, which is the Wawa sort of counterpart that it was a big argument over Sheez versus Wawa. Everyone says Wawa, Wawa, Wawa. I went to Wawa for the first time in Atlantic City at like two in the morning. I was getting absolutely just smothered drunk.

I was getting knackered. That's a good point. Smothered's pretty good too. Smothered's pretty good. Anywho, I had a couple adult beverages and I spent $40 trying to beat the top score That's a good point. Smothered's pretty good, too. Smothered's pretty good. Anywho, I had a couple adult beverages, and I spent $40 trying to beat the top score on a pop-a-shot machine that was right next to a blackjack table because I was in Atlanta City. What is going on?

I don't know how to gamble, but they had a pop-a-shot basketball machine. Anywho, point is, I was sweaty, I'd been drinking, and we found a Wawa driving on the way. I was not driving. On the way home, and I was like, Oh, my God, this is gonna be the best experience of my life. And Emperor's not wearing any clothes, Nicole. I'll tell you what. And this could be controversial.

People like they make good sandwiches. And I suppose they do. But I think it's like when somebody from the East Coast visits In-N-Out for the first time. They're like, it's just a hamburger. It's like, yeah, dude, that's the point. It's like it's a hamburger. And that was the same thing for me with Wawa. It was like, it was a 7-Eleven with

somebody making sandwiches fresh. It's a great, that's a great point. There is like, I don't think there's anything like overly spectacular about it, but if you're from the area, I mean, it just lives in your heart as like a super special place. That, well, Wawa for sure. I mean, I've been to Philly a few times, which is on the other

side of the state from where I grew up. But that is a place specifically for the inebriated, the drunk, the rowdy, like those types of people. Sheets to me on the western side of Pennsylvania feels like it's more like, oh, these are like truck drivers and people going to work in the morning. Yeah. It's classier. Yeah. It's a little bit classier. It's a step up.

But Wawa is a chaotic, wonderful place that we should protect at all costs. Fully agreed, fully agreed. I feel very protective. Like 7-Elevens, I know it's a big worldwide chain, but I love 7-Elevens so, so, so much. Because they'll have innovations, like the Crystal Light Diet Slurpee. They figured out how to take Slurpees and make them zero sugar. It's got a lot of other things in it that really make your throat burn and gives you a very upset stomach on a road trip. But sugar-free Slurpees, I highly advocate for.

I will also say this about 7-Eleven. For sports, when we can't find certain things, they're like, oh, they won't deliver it from Instacart. I'm like, I guarantee 7-Eleven has this bag of chips I'm looking for. And they do. They always carry like a wide array of stuff. They carry hers, which I love, like all kind of different hers flavors. And I know I can go there. And they like rotate it often.

So like their chip selection is like good and it's changing a lot. I love AMPMs the most. Oh, yeah. I just think they're cool. And also I went recently and they had wrap snacks. They had Little Boosie wrap snacks And I'm like that's awesome Free Little Boosie

Wait is Is AMPM Tungus is that the commercial Tungus It's an acronym for It's T-M-G-S Too much good stuff is the acronym Oh I didn't know that.

I think it's a very smart marketing campaign. Also, they have horchata, which is another I would advocate for as a great road trip drink. You got a 44-ounce horchata, and you just fill it up, and then you just get sweet, milky goodness like an IV running into yourself. Because that's another thing that I believe about road trip snacks is you need something to entertain you so i like foods and drinks that last a long time right yeah like jerky beef jerky is perfect that's why beef jerky i believe to be the ultimate road trip snack because like i said yeah it's healthy it gives you it i say it's healthy as if it's not just like dried processed red meat salt yeah but that, I mean, it's got protein. It's got electrolytes from all the salt in there.

It keeps you entertained and engaged because you got to chew it for so long. And then the salt helps dry up your pee. So it has a high piss management coefficient. Is that scientific? Does salt help dry up your pee? It's like Josh's pseudoscience. You just have to accept it sometimes.

He makes claims and you just got to accept it sometimes. He like makes claims. He just gotta be like, all right, we'll fact check that. Feels like something Dr. Oz has said. I don't know. That's a really good point though. I agree.

I agree with you. I love, I think my go-to now that I'm going back to it, like friend road trips are like, if I'm just like, not even friend road trips, if I'm just like out, like beef jerky and an iced coffee

is like my go-to road trip snack it is i like jerky i like a bag of chips and then i also like the sabritas the you know the uh flavored peanuts have you seen those oh yeah the salted lime the salted lime i have been pimping for years, and they cost like 50 cents. It's 50 cents, dude, for peanuts. And the lime flavor is good. Killer, yeah. It's killer.

There is so much citric acid in those MFers. Oh, 100%. There is too much. I love it. I grew up on those. They used to, thanks to inflation, they're now 50 cents. They used to be like 25 cents, and it was the cheapest gas station you could get. Inflation, they're now 50 cents.

They used to be like 25 cents, and it was the cheapest gas station you could get. Sabritas got into it once, like, you know. That's right. Snack chips started, like, really, like, pumping for the Latino market. But, like, it used to have three flavors. It was honey roasted, it was salted, and it was spicy. And I used to rotate between those three on road trips when I was a kid because they were so damn cheap, and it just fills you up. Dude, yeah, wait, peanuts.

Peanuts in general. Peanuts. Planes, trains, and automobiles. All three. It's good for- On all of those? Well, yeah, I mean, they're synonymous with planes, air travel. Not anymore, though, because everyone has peanut allergies.

Oh, that's true. Well, they ask you now, though. Well, I guess it's mostly pretzels now, you're right. Yeah, no? Or gluten-free snacks. That's right. I've been getting Popcorners. Popcorners.

Sure. On planes. Does anybody know what the hell a Popcorner is? It's like a Quaker chip. Same thing. It's like the Quaker chips. Well, it was Popchips. They're the puffed potato chip that are very low calorie and taste about 30% as good as an old potato chip.

But then they started making Popcorners, which are their tortilla chip equivalent. But then it's just still made out of popcorn. And they started putting a kettle corn sweet and salty seasoning on it. And that's a really good snack, man. That's a good airplane snack that translated into my own home.

Because we got two mini bags of them on a plane, ate them real quick. They gave us four more, ate all those, immediately went to Ralph's, bought the family-sized bag of Popcorners, started slamming them in the house. I know this isn't about air travel. We're talking about road trips.

However, when you are on a plane, I just didn't realize you could do this. You could be like, hey, give me four Biscoff cookies. And they're like, okay. I'm all about the Biscoff cookies. They just give you whatever you want, man. Yeah, Cheez- give me four biscoff cookies and they're like okay all about the biscoff cookies they just give you whatever you want man yeah and biscoff cookies yeah for sure that's the best biscoff also makes a cookie butter oh yeah yeah i know all about that cookie butter baby yeah all about are there any road trip snacks that like you think are missing like what do you want

in a road trip snack that you don't think currently exists? Ooh, that's interesting. Well, I think it exists, but this is just something I started dipping into. But thinking of foods that keep you active, I like a good lollipop. I like the Tootsie Pop. But maybe something that lasts longer. What's going on? I'm just laughing at you. Why?

Why? You're an adult man with a mustache eating lollipops. No, everyone. It's cool. I also wrote about this. All oral fixations are cool guy things. Lollipops, gum, cigarettes, toothpicks. Kojak had a lollipop.

That dude solved mysteries, I think. Nobody knows who Kojak is. I don't either, but someone brought him up and I Googled him. Danny, with your mustache, you have a very trusting face. This works against you in this. Yeah, such a trusting face. I think Nobody knows a toe jacket I don't either But someone brought him up And I googled him So Danny Danny with your mustache If you You have a very trusting face This works against you

Yeah it's such a trusting face If you were to go Next to a school And just suck on a lollipop With that mustache And glasses of yours You'd be arrested Full stop man

And they'd have reason to They'd have probable cause But this is This isn't a road trip context This isn't a Josh Road trip Yeah he's alone in his car

There's no children There's no children. There's no children around. You pass some schools on your way to a place. All right, you might be right. Just don't get out and pee near one. I'm going to put this to the test. You're going to see me walking around the office next week just with a lollipop here and there.

And just see what happens. Maybe see if someone says anything. I think on the subject of oral fixation and stuff, I think quench gum is also a great road trip snack. Do you all know about quench gum? My sister showed me quench gum at a very young age. We would go to Big Five and she would just get a handful of the orange flavor

and she'd be like, here. That was also a weird road trip snack that we had a lot too, was quench gum. It claims to quench your thirst, but all it does is just like draw a ton of saliva out of your mouth right yeah but it's incredible i do love it very very much it makes me salivate a lot yeah well is that a good is that a good pm strategy if you're drawing all the moisture out of your i guess you'd have to spit it i don't know if this is tmi but i i'm

very good at holding my pee i'm like a camel. It stays up there and it's not a problem. I don't have this sense of urgency that you two seem to have. I just take it. Like a lady, I just wait there until I see the blue sign that says rest station. And I say, hey, do you think you can pull over? That's not what I do. I'm driving 95 miles per hour. I'm pounding the steering wheel.

We gotta go now! No, no, no. I'm a lady and I am able to hold my pee pee very, very well. Think, knock on wood. That's a problem a lot of women have to deal with, not being able to hold their pee. Not me! Okay, quench. Let me throw in another one.

Pumpkin seeds. I like pumpkin seeds. We were big pumpkin seed people too. Salty, good protein. They have a butteriness or fattiness to them or something that's just really delightful as well. But that's something I will buy a bag of and keep them up front and eat pretty much the whole thing on a road trip. Worst road trip snack, sunflower seeds. A hundred percent.

Yeah. Messy, messy. Yeah. You don't want to be spitting in your car. You know, having a cup for sunflower seeds is bad news. Distracting. We did that. My family did that.

Because again, ancient snacks. Ancient snacks. Cucumbers. Just like, you know, it's a very common thing. It's a big road trip snack in our family. I kind of love the idea of bringing back ancient snacks, though,

to road trips. Amaranth! Puff some amaranth seeds and keep them in your car, you know? Have some sorghum cakes. Yeah, some carob sticks. And just spit out the seeds out the window. Then it'll become an invasive species. Now we can't have that.

That's right. Can't be spitting out the seeds like that. It's a problem. Danny making school children uncomfortable with his lollipop and introducing invasive carob species to the Palm Desert. I'm going to destroy Los Angeles. Not so trusting anymore. It's already doing it on its own

You don't need to help it I like agua frescas too When it comes to liquids I like a good agua fresca And I like a good Sprite Because fun fact about me Sometimes on road trips I get a little queasy I get a little bit seasick

Carsick So I like to have a nice ginger ale Agua fresca or a Sprite So I like to have a nice ginger ale aquafresca or a Sprite so I don't vomit. That's pleasant. If I'm not driving, I can get a little sick myself. Yeah. If I'm the one driving, all good. Now I don't feel so bad. Yeah. No, I get it. Thanks.

Milk. Milk all the way. Big, big old... I'm dead. Under Degree Road Trip. No no no You're not serious though Milk? I am

Well not plain milk Going back to the like Road trips are a time To eat things that you Normally wouldn't in your day to day life But you love Nesquik's Nesquik's strawberry milk

Or better yet I'll do y'all one better I'll do y'all one better With a milk adjacent product Yoohoo 100% Strawberry Yoohoo, there's Armenian bakery in my neighborhood

is one of the only drinks they have is strawberry Yoohoo and I'm like, I don't get it, but I love it. It's great. Yoohoo's fine, but I like the Yoohoos that are in the little boxes. I don't like the... Nope. Give me the glass bottle. Give me the glass bottle and I'm just gonna throw it out. No, I need the straw for control.

I need the straw for control when I'm going on the bumpy bumps. Yeah. What are you off-roading on this road trip, Nicole? Are you just ATVing out there? Sucking down yoo-hoos? I'm going off the beaten path on the road trip. I'm on Zizek's. Zizek's Road.

Going to Las Vegas. You guys know what I'm talking about. Yeah. Going to Barstow. Barstow. I'm on Zizek's Zizek's Road going to Las Vegas you guys know what I'm talking about yeah going to Barstow Barstow I mean the greatest thing to drink on a road trip

and this is a very hyper regional reference is a date milkshake because on the way you pass Hadley's Date Orchard Hadley's Date Orchard

oh and dates in general ancient snacks meat in the modern you're going out to Vegas you pass through the California Date orchards. Wow, wow, wow. Wait,

where do I get this date milkshake? Hadley's. In like Palm Desert. Oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would drive out there right now for a date shake.

Okay, because I love dates and a smoothie milkshake. Okay. Ooh, that sounds delightful. Wow, that is so good. That is the best answer.

Beef jerky and a date shake. Yeah. Okay. One more to eat, right? I guess the podcast is over now, huh? That is the best answer Beef jerky And a date shake Yeah Okay One more to need I guess the podcast Is over now Huh

We found The two things needed Cause then that That beef jerky It's soaking up All the piss Alright Nicole and Danny We've heard what you and I have to say. Now it's time to find out what other wacky ideas are rattling out there in the Twitterverse.

It's time for a segment we call... Opinions are like casseroles. Josh, where are you? I closed my eyes and everything... I wanted to let you shine, dude. You got the voice of an angel, Nicole. Thank you so much. That's so nice of you to say, and I know you're being honest.

I am being honest. Also, hey, what are y'all doing on October 28th to the 30th? Well, I'm going to Mythicon, obviously. Danny, how about you? I think I'll be also going to Mythicon. Yeah. Oh, my God. What a crazy coincidence. We're all going to Mythicon,'ll be also going to Mythicon. Yeah. Oh, my God. What a crazy coincidence.

We're all going to Mythicon, and you can come to Mythicon, too. It is the biggest live event Mythical has ever thrown. It is a portmanteau of Mythical and convention, just like Theranos is a portmanteau of therapy and diagnosis. Oh, my God. And you can get all the information at MythiconTickets.com. Seriously, come hang out. Austin, Texas, land of beer and barbecue.

I'm going to have such a fun time. I'm going to wear a hat, a 10-gallon hat. I'm just going to be plied with so much Lone Star and brisket, and God, I love Austin, Texas. Absolutely. Love Austin. I lived there for five years. I had my bachelorette party there.

Really? Yeah. I've been to four bachelor parties in Austin. Wow. That's fun. I've been to four bachelor parties in Austin. Wow. That's fun. I don't know how it's happened. Yeah, I know. A white guy on a podcast loving Austin, Texas.

What do they think of next? Y'all are funny. All right, let's get to it. Let's get to it. Nicole, first up, we got at bassoonist7513. Man, who's playing the bassoon in 2022? Love that for you. It's hot.

It's a hot instrument. As a kid at Sonic Drive-In, I used to mix Sprite with their chocolate flavoring. Huh. Nowadays, they put an Oreo in their mouth and have a swig of Sprite. That's very strange. Chocolate and Sprite. How do y'all feel? I feel less confident about the Oreo and the Sprite together.

In my mind, It's like two. In my mind, it's like sugary backwash or something. But maybe like, I don't know. When I tried the Pilk, I was like, I think I understand it. I could be better. But maybe Sprite and chocolate is like, I don't know. Maybe that's the way to go. I'd have to try it.

I grew up eating chocolate oranges my whole life. Like we used to slam it on the table and that was me and my dad's like thing that we would do together. And I understand it a little bit, the idea of citrus and chocolate, but the carbonation kind of throws me off. Yeah. Yeah. Chocolate soda has had a poor reception literally everywhere it's gone. It all just ends up tasting like a carbonated Tootsie Roll water. You know, because it's that

artificial chocolate flavoring. It's not real chocolate. Yeah, it's not pleasant. To get real chocolate, you're going to need some sort of fat most likely, right? And so then, like, it's a weird situation.

That said, Sprite doesn't exactly have citrus flavor, if you think about it. It's not sour. It's a lemon and lime soda. I know, I know, but it's not, like, sour. There's no acid to Sprite. think about it it's not sour it's a lemon and lime soda i know i know but it's not like sour there's no acid there's no acid to sprite think about it how do you know that well there's acid in every soda but i'm saying think about the flavor of sprite it's like just sugar and carbonation and then like there's a little bit of smell there's like a little bit of tang significantly less tangy than coke though? Think about that. Yeah, you're right.

Coke is more citrusy than Sprite, I would argue. No. Here's a question. Does Sprite list lemon or lime juice concentrate in it? That's a good question. I don't think so. Because you know, like, hint of lime, Tostitos, like, have no lime or whatever, and, like, other things like that.

I'm like, I wonder if it actually has citrus in the ingredients. I don't think so, but Mountain Dew does have orange juice. Does it really? Yeah, that's like the main flavor of Mountain Dew. It's like chemicals and a little bit of orange juice. That's wild. No thanks. Alright, next opinion.

At DDFilm underscore Ontario, they say I was making rice one night and had an idea i grabbed a bunch of semi-hot rice pressed it flat and put peanut butter in the middle then i wrapped it into a rice ball and spooned some strawberry jam on the top best pb and j variation i have ever eaten i'm into it i don't know that sounds good onig? Is this onigiri? Yeah. I was going to say, they're almost doing like a deconstructed mochi. Right? It's just a whole grain mochi.

You know what I mean? Sounds good. Instead of pounding out the rice, you just leave it whole. Rice is great in desserts, man. What a pleasant texture. It bounces off anything sweet and savory. I love this. I love it too.

Yeah. Did they fry the rice ball or no? Did they just? No, they just kind of made the ball and they just put it on the plate. And then probably, this is very, very creative. I'm a big fan of this. Me too. Yeah, super creative.

Wow. Good on you, DDFilm underscore Ontario. All right. At ZRS underscore 41, instant mashed potatoes, especially instant sweet potatoes, are far superior than scratch mashed potatoes. You never got to worry about lumps and it saves you loads of time. Wow. Well, I will say growing up,

my family, every time they made gnocchi, instant mashed potatoes, dude. That's, I mean, that was just like a thrifty Italian American like hack they use. Sure. I never saw them rice the potatoes from scratch. Always instant and they were always consistent and gnocchi can be like pretty finicky.

So that got me like into using and buying it more, and I like instant mashed. I'm not even a big mashed potato person, but when I do want mashed potatoes, I was talking about this with Jules the other day, I don't want any lumps in it. I don't want any skin on. I don't want those rustic, chunky, Rachel Ray-ass mashed potatoes. God bless her. She's an icon.

I want instant mashed potatoes. I want a smooth baby food like paste that is holding butter and chive, garlic, parm, whatever you're putting in there. I want it smooth, baby, so I can just slurp it with a boba straw. Uh, no. Instant mashed potatoes

are not good. Regular potatoes are good and they do a good job. And I mean, with your application, that's fine. The gnocchi application, I totally understand. Using it as a quick fix, I get. But side by side, you gotta go with a natural

potato, man. What are you talking about? I've never had instant sweet potatoes, by the way. Also, what is this person talking about? Instant sweet potatoes? They must exist. They must exist. Send it to us. Wait, is this guy from Canada? Was that one of the, was Ontario in his name or was that the last person?

That was the other person. That was the other person. Keep up, keep up, Danny. It feels like a Canadian thing. Also, hey, you know what a super unpopular opinion is? What? Is not liking mashed potatoes that much, which I don't really either. People think I'm crazy for that.

I don't seek it out. You guys need to shush your mouths. Mashed potatoes are the best potato application. I'm going to read the next one before you have any time to rebut. Vega Foxwolf says, I have had a Filipino dish called punset that was really amazing,

but the worst thing I've ever had that my stepdad made was called a poor man's punset. It was made with ramen noodles, ground beef, and frozen vegetables with a ramen flavoring and lime juice. That doesn't sound bad. Oh, the lime sounds excellent. Yeah, that does sound great. Are they talking about punset?

They spelled it punset, but are they talking about punset? I'm guessing it's punset. I think so. Yeah. Yeah, the delicious like rice noodle. I like punset, but are they talking about pancit? I'm guessing it's pancit. I think so. Yeah. Yeah, the delicious like rice noodle. I like pancit. It's not my favorite Filipino dish, but I do appreciate a good pancit. Yeah.

I would agree there. And the lime sounds delightful. Yeah. Squeeze a little lime on there? I think they need to give their stepdad a little bit more wiggle room on this. You know what I mean? I don't mean to dive into their family. I don't know the situation.

He's trying. He's situation. He's trying. He's trying. Stepdads are trying out there. Call him dad. No. Don't have to do that. Call him Carl or Dale or whatever his name is. You don't need to call him dad. You don't need to do that. Most people would kill for a stepdad to make

him frozen beef with noodles and vegetables and lime. You know, you can count yourself lucky out there. That's right. I hope the rest of your relationship is okay. Look, I'm team dad. Team dad. Danny, you can call him dad. It's the trusting face, man.

It's the trusting face. I'll call him dad. All right, at Fagonia2, peeling potatoes, ain't nobody got time for that. I can't remember the last time I peeled a potato, and I'm not sad. Well, I am sad on the inside, okay? I love potato skins!

A lot of things. I like potato skins, too. What is that time? There's much more time-consuming things than peeling a potato, I would think. You know, you get fast at it, you know, like, it doesn't strike me as a super time-consuming thing. It is like

grunt work, though. They're like the best thing to peel, I think. Potatoes are the best, most worthwhile thing you can peel. I like peeling carrots. Yeah, because you can just kind of angle it and just turn it. With a Y-peeler? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

No, that is so... And then you end up with a really long peel. How satisfying is that? Very satisfying. Yeah. But you don't have to peel carrots. That's the thing. An unpeeled carrot,

especially roasted, I think is just abjectly better than a peeled carrot. Whereas potato is not the case. I actually do. I think I am with you there. I eat carrots with the skin on all the time. Just wash it. Or don't even do that.

The heat's gonna kill it. No, no, no. You peel your carrots. Or don't even do that. Guys! The heat's going to kill it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You peel your carrots. You don't peel your potatoes. You are crazy, Nicole. You're out of your DD mind. Yes, yes. Correct.

You're a loose cannon, Maverick. Is that a Top Gun reference? You're dangerous. I think so. I've never seen Top Gun. I don't have strong enough teeth. Don't want to watch it. I don't have strong enough teeth to go like Val Kilmer does.

I can't want to watch it. I don't have strong enough teeth to go like Val Kilmer does. I can't make the noise. Cow Lady 1990 says, Craisins are vastly superior to raisins. Grapes are superior to cranberries, although cranberries are good. I love that they're working through their whole thought process. Right, yeah. I do like craisins, but grapes are good.

Don't hold me to this, but grapes are superior than... Yeah, I don't... I don't know that I've had a craisin in a long time. That's just a dried cranberry, right? I keep... Well, but, okay, it's not just a dried cranberry, though. Oh, what is it? It's a dried cranberry, but cranberries are so, so, so sour

that craisins are just like packed with sugar. It's dried with a ton of sugar. You know what I mean? So that's why they're saying grapes are superior to cranberries, of course, because they're both in their natural sort of state. Cranberries are damn near in it. Have you ever had a raw cranberry?

It sucks. So when you dry it, you got to put a bunch of sugar in it and then it shrivels up into nothing. I disagree with their assertion. I love raisins. I ate probably a quarter cup of them this morning, put them in my oatmeal, rehydrated them a little bit in some cinnamon tea, and it was a delight. I enjoy them.

Raisins. I'm a fan of Raisin Bran. I like raisins. Hell yes. I like raisins. I ate a lot of raisins. I've always had raisins. Every time my mom packed me lunch, I always had a little sun-made container.

Always. I think raisins get a bad rep. I don't know why. In popular culture, people are crapping on raisins all the time. Why are raisins in here? I don't know. It makes sense. Some fruits don't need raisins.

Sure. There's one person that is responsible for all the negative raisin press, and that's the super a-hole, crunchy, healthy parent who gives them out on Halloween. That's the whole reason. The whole reason people don't like raisins. Yeah. That's a good point. Mm-hmm. It's like why people don't like dentists because they give out floss.

Alright. I'm not even going to say it. J.M. Dizzle says, I never got ice cream as a child. So I would mix Nesquik's strawberry milk with my mom's Diet Coke and it tasted like a root beer float. I'm sorry

Pilk rises again This is Pilk Pilk is for you It's Pilk the remix Soda and milk belong together People act like I'm crazy You go to the Jewish delis, the soda fountains The druggists in New York City in 1903

And egg creams are all the rage They're mixing the heavy cream with the soda water with the chocolate syrup. This is a canonical good food that has been maligned through history. I rest my case. I think that's a good idea.

I would like the milk to be creamier, though. I'm just sad that this person never had ice cream as a kid. Like, what the frick? That was the saddest one we read. That's so unfair. What is that?

Lifestyle. Come to my house. I'll give you ice cream. I'm not giving you my address. kid like what the frick that was the saddest one that's so unfair what is that lifestyle come come to my house i'll give you ice cream i'm not giving you my address i was gonna say throw out your address no i can't do that i can't do that all right at pita bacon is the least important part of a blt let's go wow disagree it's the l oh uh Disagree? It's the L. No. No, no, no. I think the L is more important than the B. If you use the wrong L, you can use any bacon and make a good BLT.

I think if you use, say, romaine instead of either butter or iceberg lettuce, I think that makes a worse BLT than using microwave bacon. What are you talking about? I'm with you. What, what, what, why, wait, wait, wait, wait. But a bacon and tomato sandwich is as good as a bacon lettuce tomato sandwich. But a tomato lettuce sandwich, what the heck is that?

You're changing the field of battle here, Nicole, because they've established that we're talking BLTs, right? So we're saying that all the ingredients have to be there. We're specifically talking about the BLT. No one's talking about the BT sandwich. No one's talking about CBT. Don't Google that. Shut up. You know what I mean? It's a BLT. And I think any bacon can make it a good. I think the bread is incredibly important. I think the schmear of mayonnaise is incredibly important I think a nice sweet very crunchy lettuce either iceberg or butter Boston bib whatever you want to

call it and then the tomatoes of course got to be ripe and they got to be salted I want a BLT now you know what I like to do with my BLTs I like to I like to salt my tomatoes before I put them on the BLT 100% yeah I think that's like that's maybe one of the most important pro tip yeah pro tip for a good BLT.

Salt those tomatoes first. Salt your tomatoes. I'm with you on iceberg too. Crunchy, delicious. It's gotta be iceberg for me. People who say iceberg has no flavor, they have no palate. Iceberg,

Nicole, what lettuce would you use? Romaine. People say the same thing about parsley. Parsley has flavor. Tons. Bro, leave me alone. It's my opinion. What are you talking about?

Yeah, I like romaine on my BLTs. Get over it. Take a shower about it. Gosh. And on that note, thank you for listening to Hot Dog is a Sandwich. Thank you so much, Danny, for being an amazing guest. Danny, is there anything else you want to plug? Follow me on Instagram at Palumbros, P-A-L-U-M-B-R-O-S.

And also, Sporked. I write for the website Sporked. Read my things on Sporked. Thanks for coming. You were so much fun. Thank you. And if you want to be featured on Opinions Are Like Casseroles, you can hit us up on Twitter at MythicalChef or and hand us out with the hashtag OpinionCasserole. And for more Mythical Kitchen, check us out on YouTube where we launch new videos every week. And of course, if you want to share pictures of your dishes, hit us up on Instagram at Mythical Kitchen. See y'all next time. I gotta go figure out my PM situation.