Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 67 - Sara Singer Schiff

Episode Date: August 17, 2021

Tom gets Canadian treats from Sara Singer-Schiff, his co-host on the new podcast of Stars, Stripes and Maple Leafs. And we get a Quick Bite with Canadian super comedian, Ian Bagg!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Insurance isn't one-size-fits-all, and shopping for it shouldn't feel like squeezing into something that just doesn't fit. That's why drivers have enjoyed progressives' name-your-price tool for years. With the name-your-price tool, you tell them what you want to pay, and they show you options that fit your budget. Enough hunting for discounts, trying to calculate rates, and tinkering with coverages. Maybe you're picking out your very first policy. Or maybe you're just looking for something that works better for you and your family. Either way, they make it simple to see your options. No guesswork, no surprises.

Ready to see how easy and fun shopping for car insurance can be? Visit progressive.com and give the name your price tool a try. Take the stress out of shopping and find coverage that fits your life on your terms. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. It's time for breaking bread with Papa. Hey! Don't you know?

Hey, it's our goal. Hey, it's time for Breaking Bread with Papa. Hey, don't you know? Hey, it's also a show. Hey. Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Breaking Bread with Tom Papa. I am Tom Papa. Thank you for being here at the table once again.

We have a great show for you today. We have Sarah Singer Schiff, who is my good friend and the co-host of my new podcast, stars, stripes, and maple leaves, where we take everything from the United States and put it in front of everything from Canada and we go to war. Actually, no. Sarah's a great friend of mine, and whenever we get drunk and hang out, our Canadian and our American sides come out. And it just was always so funny at how distinct our perspectives were. and I think mine are probably more right than hers because I'm American and we're number one. But I give her the chance to defend herself and kind of shine a light on some of the things that maybe we're doing wrong. It's definitely a sibling rivalry.

We love each other. Our countries love each other. But there are differences and it's really fun to explore. So I decided let's have Sarah come on to this podcast. sit and break bread with us. And it's a really great interview. We have a really fun time and we get to eat some really weird stuff. So Sarah Singer Schiff on the show. And then we're going to grab a quick bite with Ian Bagg. Ian is a great comedian and he grew up north of Vancouver, basically where the earth turns to frost permanently. And I met him in New York. We were very, very much. We were

been great friends for a long time and I figured we're doing a Canada thing. Let's get a quick bite with Ian Bagg. So we'll get to that a little bit later. I'd like to thank the good people at Greensmith Farms CBD. They are a great partner for our podcast. They sent me some CBD and I'm telling you for somebody who's been wrestling with how to sleep and unwind at the end of the day. This was really, I wasn't looking for it. They sent it. I tried it. And I am so excited that they're now sponsoring our program. Greensmith Farms makes all natural full spectrum craft CBD tinctures and gummies. I went with the gummies. And right now you can get 20% off your order with the code Papa PAPA at checkout. Go to Greensmithfarmshemp.com and enter the code Papa at checkout for 20% off of your

order. Good product, happy they're around. Also, I'd like to thank our good friends at Wild Alaskan. Wild Alaskan company. I love Wild Alaskan. My freezer is full with treats from Wild Alaskan. They sent me a whole big box of salmon and other wild-caught seafood, and it just sits in my freezer,

and in between making any kind of like pasta or any other going out or ordering, I can just go and pull it out and know that I'm going to get this fresh, seafood. I just, I can't say enough good things about wild Alaskan. You're used to having a lot of choices when it comes to what you eat, but it matters where your food comes from and you can get your nutrition from nature. A great source of protein. The Wild Alaskan Company sources wildcaught seafood from Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. And right now, you can get $15 off your first box of premium seafood when you visit wildalaskan company.com slash papa, PA, PA. PA. That's wild-alaskan company.com slash papa, P-A-P-A for $15 off your first box.

Go and do it. Trust me, try it out. You're going to love them. More about them later as well. All right. So, as I say to Sarah Singer-Shiff, my good friend, there's very few times you will ever have a friend or a family member say to you, do you want to go out for Canadian tonight? It doesn't happen.

But there are some good culinary things that Canada has. Are they odd? Yes. Are they strange? Sure. Are they delicious? Fine. Yes, they are. They're really great stuff. And Sarah's great.

And I'm really excited for you to get to meet her. She's very funny. And you'll see why we decide to do the Star Stripes and Maple Leafs podcast. together. So enjoy now my conversation with Sarah Singer-Shiff. Well, this is very exciting. Just so, I mean, there'll be a big intro to this beforehand, which I'm sure I've set it up completely, but this is the Star Stripes and Maple Leafs edition of Breaking Bread. It's a podcast mash-up crossover. And thank you for being here, Sarah. This is so exciting. This really went from us just being on the beach like, we should do a podcast about America and Canada.

And now, uh, and now we're full bore. Here we are. Here we are. Not only talking about Canadian stuff and Canadian American stuff, but eating and drinking it too. Well, this is why my podcast is a little better than our podcast. Because mine comes with treats. I can bring beer and treats to our podcast.

That'll make it fun. Well, this was exciting. I ran around town. First of all, I went to, uh, the internet, and I said, give me Canada foods. I did too. I did the same thing. And the first thing that comes up is Canadian restaurants.

Yeah. And did you find any? Because there was like one liquor store. There was a couple like in Glendale. Oh. It wasn't like a, you know, Canadian restaurant. Right. It was a Poutine place.

Right. That's what I found too. A million Poutine places. Cheers. Cheers. LeBats. I mean, Labats. Oh my God.

You almost insulted our beer. Ah, that's pretty good. See? How good is that? It's so good. How good is that? Beer is kind of the only thing I thought of as a child connected with Canada. It's kind of sadly apt, appropriate.

Bob and Doug McKenzie were drinking beers and putting on their tukes. And I was just like, that sounds like a wonderful place to be. Aside from the cold. Yeah. It's a great place. to be. I know. Beer is something Canadians do really well and I don't know why that is but you know

when you compare like Piss Budweiser sorry to any Budweiser fans out there but like come on. It's funny that you say that because when I was in the store so I couldn't get to the place with Poutine and that and those things so I just went to the supermarket and I figured

I'm gonna I'll just look for the Canadian things that I know there and I'm looking and I had Molson on my mind and they didn't have it, but they had Labatz. Labats. Like bat, like a whir-whir. And I was, and I passed the Budweiser.

And I thought, maybe I should bring Budweiser as like the, you know, the American thing. Into a taste test? It's a Dutch company now. Oh. Inbever, whoever that, like the gigantic thing bought them. And it was like this controversial thing because that was such a, an all-American beer. Still looks it, still has the flag and the whole thing, and it's not us.

It's not even American anymore. Ain't that the story of today's world? Nothing's what it seems. Now, what about these guys? Do you think that they sold out, or would they never? No, I don't think they did. I feel like I, well, I mean, to be fair, I don't. Canadian Pilsner.

I don't know. Here's the only problem with drinking this. I think I am going to have to burp. It's all right. You can burp. We're allowed to burp. All right. Yeah, I mean, I feel like I remember seeing Labat's plants, you know, brewing breweries around the city, around Toronto or outside of Toronto.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that it is owned by a Canadian company. So I don't know. I'm sure it is. I'm imagining it well, yeah, maybe not. I mean, somebody might have, let's just say it is. Let's just say it's Canadian. It has the little leaf on it, your little maple leaf. Right, right.

And that's the other thing I brought you. maple glazed donuts. When I saw it at first, I got excited and thought it was Tim Hortons, but Tim Hortons has all the printing all over it. There's no way you could have brought Tim Hortons from a local place, but that's pretty great. It's kind of funny that Tim Hortons has not made any inroads into the U.S. It has.

It has. It has. I want to say in northern states, like somewhere around Michigan, I feel like you can get, you can buy pre-packaged stuff, Not the actual store, but you can buy like timbits or, timbits are like donut holes, basically. Right. I mean, they're not like. They are donut holes.

Uh-huh. Um, I feel like you can get packaged stuff like that in certain grocery stores in the border between, you know, the northern border, like, between the U.S. and Canada. Right. Oh. When you said you had to burp, I thought you were just going to burp like a normal person. I didn't. Like you mean keep it inside. Was that a Canadian burp?

That was huge. And now you're really at home. Maybe it's just... Maybe it's because I haven't had Canadian beer for so long, you know. My system's like, whoa, what's this stuff? Yeah, it's celebrating. It's shooting off fireworks. So far just from one end.

So that's good news. Okay, but I brought you a very Canadian treat. Because when you asked me if I was bringing anything, I, of course, also went online and started looking for stuff. Yeah. This is the noise of the tinfoil crinkling on top of the plate. Ooh, what's that? Niimo bars.

Nimeo bars. Nenimo. Nino. I went and tried to find stuff, Canadian food, and it was all going to take two weeks to ship. These are dense. Yeah, they're dense. They're like five pounds each. Wow.

They're butter, sugar, and chocolate, basically, just butter, sugar and chocolate. It's like a brownie with frosting on top. Yeah, kind of. And a lot of sugar thrown in. Yeah. So you want to tell me exactly. We all to tell you exactly what it is.

Mm-hmm. Okay. So first of all, they come from Nanaimo, British Columbia, which is a city, town in British Columbia. Right.

And I don't know who came up with them, Mr. and Mrs. Nanaimo. Oh, the Nanaimo family. The Nanaimo family from Nanaimo. I don't know who came up with them, but they are quintessentially Canadian,

like literally as Canadians as Putin. I know, right? How good is that? So good. Right? You made these yourself? Yeah, yeah.

Nice work. And so the one thing that you need that is hard to get, and I happen to have as a staple in my pantry, is custard powder. And I think that's a British thing. And I guess if you were to use it in the traditional way, you would make custard with it. I don't think it adds any flavor. I think all it does is make the yellow filling that's butter and powdered sugar, just bright yellow. It makes it brighter. Really? Just brings the color around? I don't know. Maybe it gives it a thickness, maybe. Yeah. That's really good. So it's got coconut. Okay. So the base is graham,

Cracker Crumbs and chocolate, like cocoa powder, a little bit of sugar, butter, and that's pretty much, and coconut shreds, yeah. Wow, that's good. And so you push that, press that into the pan, and then you refrigerate it. And then each layer, you just refrigerate each at a time, you know, one at a time. Uh-huh. The next layer is the butter and sugar and custard powder, icing sugar. Uh-huh.

And you blend that together and a little bit of milk or half and half or cream. And then the last layer is chocolate, melted chocolate. And you refrigerate each individually? Well, I like to just because it firms it up. And then you layer them all one on top of the other. And this didn't harden enough. The top chocolate layer got a little. Oh, I see.

I think it didn't harden long enough and it melted on the way over. Right. And you have to take a Canadian dish and drive it through 120 degree Burbank summer. But for how dense it is, it's not like overpowering sweetness. Well, it's funny. you say that because I was worried every time I read that recipe and I make I'm like two cups of icing sugar that is a lot of icing sugar yeah and the butter too it's like just chunks of butter but somehow it works doesn't it totally works I know it's just magic it's magic so this is a recipe that

I might have to give your wife even though I know she's cutting out sugar she's trying to cut out sugar is she again yeah I know she this it's not going to happen it's a lifelong battle well she's done better with the sugar than I have with the alcohol I'll tell you that much. She told me that. She told me that you were going to stop drinking for a bit and then you got through an afternoon. And now I can't even say I'm getting through an afternoon because I'm drinking beer. That's how I always know when I'm drinking more than normal, when I'll like replay in my

head like what I did that night or that day. And I'm like, wow, I didn't have anything. Not counting beer or wine. I was like, wow, I didn't drink. Oh, well, wait. Aside from the beer and wine. Except for the beer at lunch. That doesn't count.

Yeah. It doesn't count. But do you think that, do you think Canadians drink more than Americans? That's a good question. I think Canadians possibly drink more beer than Americans. I think maybe the go-to is beer more often. Right. But I wouldn't say so.

Yeah. I mean, that's a, I wonder if there are any studies. about that. We're all drinkers. I think we're all drinkers. Yeah. I mean, in some places the colder it is, I think probably the more you drink. Right. And I have

friends in Montreal. That's where I know most of my Canadians. And the people that I do know from that area are really into wine. Yeah. Maybe the French influence, yeah. The French influence, that may be. And there are tons of great wine

places. Well, what am I saying? There are no, not at all, tons of great wine places. Well, you mean wineries? Well, no, because it's completely different in Canada. So there are no private or independent wine sellers. It's all through the government. So there's something called the Liquor License Board of Ontario and Ontario, the province of Ontario. So it's all provincial.

Each province has its own government regulated and distribution outlets for liquor. So you can't go. there's one place that sells wine. I forget, you know, one little private company, and I don't know why they have a, they're the only ones allowed to do it, but most, almost every other liquor is through, and wine is through the LCBO.

And then there's the beer store, the beer, same equivalent for beer. And why is that, just so the government can make more money off of it, or they can control it more? Why would they do that? Probably both. Right. Probably both, because, I mean,

the other part of this, is that Canada is so much more regulated than the U.S., which, you know, comes back to what we've talked about before in our podcast about how, you know, in Canada, it's just kind of expected that the government's going to be involved in controlling things and regulating things. And there isn't this resistance to it in the same way? There isn't, um... Because you guys hate freedom? No, actually.

It's because we don't fear the government. We're not, we're not fear-mongering. Right. You're not afraid your government's going to turn on you. We're not afraid our government's going to. Certainly no more so than corporations. Why would corporations have our best interests at heart? You think Facebook and Amazon actually give a shit about us? Don't they?

They help me see all my old girlfriends from high school? Jeff Bezos the other day when he thanked us. I felt like he was thanking me personally when he thanked me for helping him go into space. Yeah. It was kind of nice. At first I was like, well, that's a weird piece. Pneas copter that he's going up into space with. But then they'll know that I'd help pay for it.

It made me feel. It made me you feel warm and cozy, right? And then somebody, I talked about it on my radio show, and then somebody called us and said, why are you surprised that his rocket chip was in the shape of a penis? Do you see the Amazon logo? The Amazon logo is a penis. I never even noticed that. It's a smile.

This is what they say. It's a penis-shaped smile. But you see that little emoji that? See the Amazon? Oh my God. Right? Oh my God. It's a curved penis.

It's a curved penis. Wow. Yeah. Wow. He's got penis issues. I was like, how did we not know that? How did we not know that? We're thinking smile.

And this guy's like, guys, why are you surprised about the penis copter? Take a look at their logo. It is a penis. It's a penis. It's a penis all the way. It's amazing. Oh, man. The little treat that you find out.

Yeah, seriously. Although, I mean, you could probably find penises and anything, really, if you want. Well, I'm excited. It's been fun recording the episode so far. We've recorded a couple of them. Yes. And it is really fun. It's funny.

And I announced it on my radio show. And I'm going to be interested to see the response of it next week because I have this running thing of I've gotten in trouble a couple times with Canada on my radio show. How so? Because Sirius XM goes up there. And I just, I may or may not have made some comments. You mean about Canadians hating their freedom type of thing? About the newfis.

And I, I, I, I, How did you even hear about the newfies in the first place? Like, where did you even get that information from? Well, here's the, here's the secret is I love Canada. I know. I love Canada. And I love going up and. visiting and and and and to be fair to call me out for attacking the newfis is like come on the whole

continent the whole country the whole country mocks the new fees they're like you know they're like the new jersey they're the new yeah except except the difference is honestly i remember when we talked about this one of the first times i don't think i've ever met a new fee because they never leave right Maybe because they never leave. They probably know something we don't. They're like, we've got the best set up here of anyone. Yeah. No, it's a really small province and it's a very big country.

And yeah, I don't know how many people move around, you know, from land to the other parts of the country. But that may just also be because I haven't lived there for a long time. But they're not as ubiquitous as New Jerseyites, I would say. Right. You're painting from New Jersey all over the country. country. The new piece just stay there. But I feel like it's probably, and obviously you don't want to talk about it. I have a feeling like a lot, the rest of Canada doesn't let them leave. That's the Quebecers. Actually, the Quebecers, I think the rest of Canada wants to kick out. So no, I don't even know.

What is it with the Quebecers? The Quebecers want to just be France. The Quebecers want their own independence and they want to speak French and be left alone. They want to have their cake and eat it too. You know, it's a touchy subject. Because that's the capital, right? No. What's your capital? Capital is Ottawa, which is where I was born. I thought you were born in Toronto.

No, I lived in Toronto, but I was born in Ottawa. Oh. Which is, by the way, like, as far as it, two and a half hours from Toronto. Uh-huh. But it is the nation's capital. Oh, that's the capital. And that's the capital. And Montreal is also about two and a half hours from Ottawa.

I want to say, maybe a little closer. No, it's actually. closer to an hour. It's probably like three hours from Toronto and about an hour and a half from Montreal. But Montreal, so Quebec, yeah, it's mixed because it is a really unique place. It's a beautiful city. It feels much more European. It does. And in some ways, much more sophisticated than the rest of Canada. Right. More than Montreal? Well, I mean, when I talk about Quebec, I'm not talking about Quebec City. I'm talking about the whole province, the whole province, although technically I really should be talking about

Montreal because it's the, it's the city center. It's the big metropolitan area. Oh, because I always thought it was Quebec City that wanted out. There is Quebec, the province, and then there's also Quebec City within the province of Quebec. So, no, it's the whole province that wants out. Yeah. So Montreal would be not part of Canada. Toronto would be part of Canada, because that's Ontario. That's Ontario. So the line is right there. It's really the eastern part. Yeah. Oh, that's so funny. I really hadn't. I was really ignorant to that. Well, most people don't know about it.

They just know about Quebec as like the cool place because everyone speaks French. Yeah. And it is a great place. It is great. But this whole history of separation is just exhausting. Is it kind of like us with Texas? No, because I think everybody in the U.S. wants to get rid of Texas. At least I don't mind if they leave.

It's almost like they're just like, all right, already. If it's that important to you, whatever. Just go. Just go. Do it. Yeah, but the problem is, I mean, Texas is at least the south of the country, you know, the southern part of the U.S., so it wouldn't really break up the country. Totally. You could kind of go around it.

Yeah, you couldn't. No. I mean, Quebec, you can't go around. No. You can't really go around. And is this kind of like when people talk about, you know, taking like Arcadia in the West, people want to go from Vancouver down to like Mexico and create that country, including California and Washington and all that? Like, it's all, it's kind of just a thought exercise. No, because there was a very strong separatist movement at one point.

Very strong. And they even had like, you know, their own homegrown terrorists blowing up things and people being kidnapped. And there was a lot of political unrest in the, was it 60s, early 70s? I should know this. Anyway. So, you know, and they were given a lot of liberties or freedoms, I should say, things that they wanted. They wanted more independence. And they've been given that.

They wanted, you know, I think they get extra money for this and that. And I think the rest of Canada is kind of like, come on, enough. Like, just get over it. Right. Enough already. Really? Is it really that important to you? And why does it matter that much?

Why does it matter that much? I don't know. What do they? Is it making a lot of enemies in saying this? But I don't know. Is it a French culture thing? Is it like that? Yeah.

It's just purely, we're better. But you also, I mean, you have a substantial English population in Quebec. So, especially Montreal, mostly Montreal. Not so much outside of Quebec. I mean, outside of Montreal. Oh, really? It's, yeah, the more rural areas are very French, very French. And that's like, there are places in Quebec where you can go and nobody speaks English.

Oh, interesting. Because I toured, I toured the whole country and went from the east all the way to the west. And I don't remember running into that. I guess because we're probably in the east, we were probably going from the big city to big city. It got a little more rural when we got out west. Right. Right. London was like the big city, you know, which is not that big. London, Ontario? Yeah. Oh, funny. And then like smaller. That's, that's in Ontario though. That's, that's still. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm saying like as I was heading west. Right. Then it started to get more rural, but then there was no French there. It was still all English.

Right. Right. Right. Yeah. No. There isn't. I want to say there's like one other pocket. There are a couple pockets of French in Manitoba, the province of Manitoba. But mostly Quebec. is really the only French place and French-speaking place. So if I walked into like a rural place in Quebec province and I was like trying to be friends with them and I held up my Labats, so they'd be like, phtouille, because that's more Canadian and they would hold up their burgundy or their Bordeaux and say something mean to me in French? I don't think so. I think they would be open to raising a glass with you, regardless of the spirit of the alcohol. I don't, I don't, I haven't had that experience. I really haven't spent much time in rural Quebec, so I can't say. I do know that

whenever I try as a, even though I'm an English-Canadian. Yeah. And I happen to speak French because my parents sent me to a French school, so I'm lucky enough to actually be fluent in French. Right. And, um, and, um, every time, we see, yes. It's very fortunate. Oh my God, now I'm losing my French. Bueno, sad. I have. I've got a lot of fortune.

Anytime I try to speak French when I'm in Montreal, they come back at me with English because they can tell from my accent that I'm an English-speaking person. They won't even give you the E for effort? No, no, no. Really? They won't.

They're kind of like, all right, whatever. I mean, I don't know if there's a condescension in it, but there may be some appreciation, but there's definitely. you have to really, you got to work that French-Canadian accent to try and make yourself sound like a local. And that's, that's not so easy. Man, I, you know, visiting there and going there all the time in Quebec and Montreal specifically, it does feel, that is one of the greatest appeal for me is that I do feel like I'm in a European country.

Yeah, like it feels different and I like that they're mean to me. And the women are beautiful. The women are beautiful. beautiful and the clothing and like and like so much more sophisticated to like I would shop every time I went up there I would buy a jacket or at least from this small shop because they just their clothes were better and I and I even like during the off season would be like oh I should try and get that and I couldn't get it here yeah I know like that is interesting I wonder if that's still the case because I feel like everything is American now everything is everywhere and American and all the Canadian stores but maybe there's interesting I wonder if that's still the case because I feel like everything is American and everything is everywhere and American and in American and it's still man. but maybe there are local ones. Like, for example, there's a store that was very Canadian called Le Chateau. Yes. And that is...

It's like a big department store. Yeah, it used to be sort of like... It was a bit like a top shop or like H&M or one of those types of stores. But it has fancy writing, so the Americans think it's fancy. And it's in French. Right. So they think it's fancy. But I saw Le Chateau here.

I don't remember. Oh, really? But somewhere in the U.S., I remember seeing it. And then I think... So I think that may have been bought. Also, Club Moni. That was originally Canadian. Now it's American by Ralph Lauren or something.

Right. So all these things that were, you know, and then at the same time, you've got like pottery barn and, um, Gray and barrel and Target and not actually, no, Target no more. Target actually was a little too arrogant and ambitious and went up to Canada, opened way too many stores and they got to shut them all down. Pre-COVID. So no targets there, but, um, yeah, everything else feels the same, same everywhere.

I know, but you know what, as much as it is, it isn't. You know, you still feel like out of your element. Cynthia always gets, my wife always gets angry about that, that, you know, that there's pottery barns everywhere and all the shops are the same. But, you know, you hang for a little bit and you're right. You still feel like you're an outsider for sure. You do. And you go to a grocery store and you actually find different foods, right?

Isn't that funny? Like, as we're talking about food. Isn't it funny, like, as we're talking about, that you, don't want to be a tourist, like, especially when you're young, you don't want to be a tourist, but as you get older, you're like, you don't want, you want to feel like you don't belong. Right. Like that makes it exciting. Totally.

You don't want to be accepted and belong. You want to be kind of on the outside. You want to feel like there's something new and different that you don't know. Yeah, and it takes the pressure off. You're like, I can bumble around and I don't have to be as responsible here. That's right. It doesn't count. It's kind of like your wine and beer, you know, in place of, uh, um, you know, in, uh,

any hard liquor that it doesn't count somehow. Right, exactly. It doesn't count if you are eating, you know, too much sugar or whatever, you indulge. So when I was on the internet looking up Canadian restaurants, which there are none, except for the Poutine places. Right.

And then they said the maple glazed donut. Right. Brought to you by Canada. Right. And you can take these home to your family. Oh. it. I'm going to give you a Canadian food fact that I'm guessing you wouldn't know. I'm curious. I'm very curious. And maybe it's wrong. This is the, but it seemed like a legit site.

Where did you get it? It was like a Canadian food site. Right. Heralding all the great Canadian things. Right. Maple syrup and Poutine and a couple other things I didn't know. Hawaiian pizza. Is Canadian? Is Canadian? Yes. Actually, I'm not sure why I'm saying that. I don't even like it. I've never even had it actually. And it's Hawaii. Oh, it's pretty gross, actually.

But because it was because it was pineapple and as they said on the thing, ham. Or was Canadian bacon. Canadian bacon. Right. That that was the original. Isn't that funny? Isn't that funny? That's up there with all the celebrities you didn't know were Canadian.

Right. It's like, gosh, all these things. Yeah, a little surprise. Hawaiian pizza. And I was actually thinking if I had more time, that would have been fun. funny to show up with the Hawaiian pizza and then it would ruin our day. I know, I know. We would have fallen asleep by 3 o'clock in the afternoon. All right, so now I'm going to pour you something that is uniquely Canadian.

Oh, seriously? Yeah. I'm getting wine, too? Let's have your glass. Okay. Because, well, since we're having wine, I'll have a donut. Because this is... I don't know that they go together at all, but...

Because this is something that you only get in Canada. Oh, Clamato juice. I know I was getting wine. I was going to give you wine, but no, that's Italian. This is one of those strangest things that I've, that I learned. Why? You guys like this as chips. You guys like this.

You actually have potato chips. Clamato, oops, clomado potato chips. Yeah, I can't see around my mic. That's pretty nasty looking. I don't think I've ever had this without alcohol. Yeah, you have to put booze in this. Yeah, there's no. real reason to drink this without booze.

No. Okay. Smells like V8. Yeah, it smells like V8. Mm-hmm. It just tastes like tomato juice. Tastes like a little like the inside of a clam shell. Which you've licked before?

You actually know what that tastes like? Yeah, like when you're down at the beach or you get a clams on the half shell. You taste clam in this because I don't. I taste salt. Yeah, I taste salt too. Maybe it's just because I had the maple donut. which somehow goes quite well. Let me see if there are even clams in it.

So you grew up on this stuff, though? Not really, because it was drinks that, you know, my parents would make bloody mary's. Yeah. I guess with climato juice. Okay, so dried clam broth. Oh. Vinegar. Dry clam broth.

Dried clam broth. Wow. It's really sugar. It's tomato, hyperdentil. corn syrup. Yeah. And you want to know something crazy? I mean, not crazy, but this is kind of like the global thing that we're talking about.

Oh, boy. Produced under the authority of Mott's in Plano, Texas. That makes me want to drink more beer. Yeah, this is pretty gross. Yeah. I mean, to me, it just tastes like tomato juice, but I don't know why you would use this instead of tomato juice. Yes. It is, there is a, the clam broth, there is a little something to it. It's just the saltiness. It's salty, but it's also fishy. I don't taste it. It's funny. I really don't taste it, but I guess my palate is not particularly refined when it comes to. Well, yeah, that's a real, that's a real, that's a real honor that I can, that you can taste the fishiness, the clam and the, I'm sure it has nothing to do with clam being in the, in the title. Clamato, C-L-A-M-A-T-O. You see, this is, this is, this is. just one of those things that I think you grow up with. You don't even realize the rest of the world

doesn't have. Yeah. There are so many things I didn't realize were not part of the rest of the world until I left. Like what? Like, huh. Okay, I knew you're going to ask me this. Um, well, just things like, um, the Nimo Bars and Poutine or like ketchup chips or like, you've talked about that. Or, um, yeah, I mean, the beer, the beer thing was a big surprise to me, not, not, you know, finding that American beer was nowhere near as good. It didn't used to be. I mean, now I think it's pretty fair to say there's some great American beer as good. Oh, yeah, for sure.

But, you know, the funny thing about beer, just getting back to that quickly. Yeah. There are actually, even though Labats and Moulsons are the big main brands and they're very Canadian, there's so many microbreweries now. Oh. Ah! Yeah. Oh, it's a good one.

Oh, you were saving that one up. That really good. Much better than I expected. Do you think that's a different carbonation? Yes, it is, because I don't burp like that normally. I wish I could say I don't. I felt like a kid. I actually do.

So I can't say it's unique to this beer, but I'll take it. I'll take it. So you were saying that microbrews up there? A lot of microbrewery. That's a hard word. Brewery. Microbreweries. The Clamato is the Clamato is getting to me.

The Virgin Clamato is getting to me. Yeah, microbreweries that produce some incredible beer. Well, that's happening all over North America. That's true. That is true. I mean, I remember my brother-in-law getting into it way before it became popular. He would make his own beer? Yeah, he would make his own beer.

And then he just, like, he loved finding, like, these little small places. And it was pretty, you know, pretty rare. Right. And now every state is just turning out amazing stuff. That's true. Yeah. I'm trying to think of what else is Canadian. that I realized was uniquely Canadian.

Anyway, Clamato is just one of those things that I think I never even realized or thought twice about. My parents would probably make Bloody Marys for themselves, and I didn't realize that nobody else drank Clomano shoes. You know, it's funny about that, the last Bloody Mary I had was your husband made me one. Oh, funny. And it was definitely an American version of it. I'm sure it was. Because I don't know if you remember, but it had like, it had a giant, like, slab of bacon hanging out of it.

Of course. 17 olives. It was like the American complete explosion. Oh, the top. Yeah, everything excessive. Your parents are making it with Clamato and maybe a dash of salt. A little sprig of parsley. Right, yeah, a little celery stick.

I don't know. I don't know if my parents would drink Clamato juice. But yes, Hans, my husband does tend to do things over the top. That would be his gourmet version, I guess, but also very American. Yeah. So when you came, so like when I would buzzer, up for the first time of learning about Canada and buzz up to Montreal and be like, oh, I didn't know they had Putin. I didn't know what that was. Was there any surprise going to the States the same

way that you would come down there and be like, well, I didn't know this thing existed? Or was it America's just so great that you knew all about it already? Sorry, my eyes itchy. No, I get it. No, I can't say there were any surprises. Not that I remember. I mean, I remember noting small differences, you know, the McDonald's here was slightly different than the McDonald's and, you know, back at home. So certain things that were the same, but slightly different. It's kind of like what we were talking about before where, you know, the slight differences in grocery stores and stuff and you walk in and slightly different vibe, different products. I remember being asked by Americans. I knew Americans could be

dumb, but I remember I'm asking. I was surprised by how dumb some of them were. Remember, I'm married to one, and I have American citizenship, and I got three American kids. You don't have to make excuses. You said it. Okay, I said it. And I didn't fight it. So,

they asked, because when they found out that we were Canadian, they asked if we all rode sleds. They asked if we lived in igloos, no joke. sincerely. Sincerely.

Yeah. If you lived in igloos? If we lived in igloos, if we all rode sleds. And they asked if we had caught, well, if, you know, because of the sled thing, they assumed we didn't have cars. They're like, wait, you have cars? They couldn't believe that. And then when they found out we had McDonald's, I don't know why McDonald's keeps coming

up. Yeah. I don't know. It wasn't a big thing in my life. But that was one that came up several times. Really? Oh my God, you have McDonald's? That's the barometer of culture somehow for Americans.

It's kind of nice and it's kind of upsetting at the same time, not because they're dumb, but because you ruined this ideal of what was going on up there. I know. I kind of wish I had kept it going. Like, yeah, we all live with the nuke of the north and we all ride sleds. And the Mounties. That was a big thing. And the Mounties, that's right.

Did I ever tell you my first role in a play was playing a Mountie? What play? I was in fifth grade. Oh. I was in fifth grade. And I got to play a Mountie. I forget the name of the play. I know it, but I'm just spacing on it.

Is it a well-known play? Something Do-Better or Do, I think Colonel Do-Better was my name. Colonel Do-Better. And I was the Mountie. My friend played the dog. And I had big wooden snow shoes. And I had the whole, I had the uniform. I had like a.

The full-on. I had my mom's, my mom's kind of, not velvet, but a different kind of material snow pants. They were big in the hips so I could pull them out and make them look like Mounty pants and boots. And then I had the wooden snow shoes. I'm like, you know, in a cafeteria. Right. And the hat and the kind of jacket. I don't remember where I got the hat.

Someone must have given it to me. Didn't come from my family. Yeah. And I got to play this Canadian Mountie. That's great. Yeah. I've, that's a good cost to do better, but I think they're still talking about that role back in New Jersey. I remember a reading review of that somewhere now that you mentioned it is. Yeah. Yeah. I actually looked it up online one time to, because I remember when I remembered what the play was and I looked it up and I actually found the play.

You actually found it. Yeah. It was like a one act kind of thing. What you mean like you found the script or do you found recording of the? No, the script. Okay. Okay. Okay. Funny. Yeah. Wow. No. Back then I was very, I was very against people recording. me. I was like, I didn't want it to just spread without me getting paid for it. So I made sure everybody, cell phones weren't invented yet, but there was one guy with a VCR. We had to kick him out. And I came out there as Colonel Do Better and then somebody played a bad guy. That's great. Yeah, but that was my image as a child. I wasn't so out of it that I thought you were in igloos on sleds everywhere. Well, you were a little closer to Canada. Maybe you'd even met some. Yeah, maybe. Maybe. No, I mean.

Like, I still feel like if I, I've never been to Belgium, but I do still kind of feel like they live in chocolate homes. You mean they don't? I don't know. It's unconfirmed. I've never been. We stick to North America on this show. That maple glazed donut, by the way, no joke.

Damn good. Yeah. Can you give a shout out to whoever made these? Yeah, this was the donut hut on Magnolia in Burbank. And holy cow. You just pull up, and it's like a 1950s open window kind of place, and just lean up, and he's got all these donuts. I was like, do you have maple glaze? You looked at me like, what?

No, of course. Who doesn't have maple glazed? And then I was going to get a bear claw, because I felt like that would have been Canadian, but I wasn't sure so I didn't do it. But it sounds like it would be Canadian. It should be. Right? Bear claw. It should be what all Mounties eat.

Or on their sleds. The donut. hut and it's spelled D-O-U-H-d-O-H-d-D-O-H, not D-O-U-G-H? Not D-O-U-U-W-G-H. D-O-U-G-H, do, like do, right. N, with an N on it. That's one word. Don-don-D-O-T-Hut.

Oh. Oh. That's weird. Don't. Don't-N. Don't T-Hut. Hutt. Yeah.

California does do donuts. I mean... They do. When I was literally on my way here, I was thinking, okay, so I've got the beer. I've got the Clamato. I've got to get a maple glazed donut. I didn't even have to look it up on the GPS. I'm like, I'm going to pass...

In five miles, I'm going to pass 200 donut places. Oh, right. And that place is just that. That was just luck. That place is gorgeous. These are good. Right? They may spell their name strangely, but...

They make good donuts. Dip it in the climato. Then you're really back to your childhood. Yeah, no, I think I'm... It is very sweet, though. Sorry. Well, thank you so much for doing this. This is so much fun.

Our podcast is Star, Stripes, and Maple Leafs. And we're just going to keep going until we... We're going to just keep exploring it until we run out of gas or run out of Canadians that want to come on. But so far, it really is interesting. There's a lot to learn. I'm learning a lot. I know, me too. I'm learning a lot about my country.

Yeah. that I should have known, things that I wouldn't have known and couldn't have known, but that I'm discovering. Yeah. So, yeah. And the bottom line is we love each other. We do. But we just have an opinion of which one is better and we won't spell out which one.

We won't argue about that right now. Yeah, that doesn't. Because I might have to take away your Nanaimo bars and then what would you do? That's for another time. We want to have to discuss that. Well, thank you, Sarah. I'll see you at the next podcast. Cheers, Tom.

Cheers with all our drinks. Cheers. We got it, Aaron. We all know we should be eating more fish to get our omega-3s and protein, but the seafood counter can be intimidating. Which fish taste the best? What type of cut? What's going to have bones in it?

What's going to be weird? What's the guy behind the counter's going to say when I pronounce the name wrong? Wild Alaskan company takes the guesswork out of buying wild caught seafood. You love to order seafood when you go out. It's a good thing to have. It's healthy. It's always much better. than you think it's going to be when you get Wild Alaskan company,

it comes right to your doorstep, high quality, sustainably sourced wild caught seafood. Choose from salmon, white fish, or a combination, and every month there are different specials to explore. Each shipment contains premium wild caught individually wrapped portions of delicious seafood. It really is great. They come individually wrapped and you just pull it out of your freezer.

You take a couple out if you're in love or if you're hungry and you just open it up. I put it in a little baking pan, a little olive oil, a little lemon on top, maybe a little dill, maybe a little butter, whichever way you want to go, and in 20 minutes. And you can do it frozen too. He doesn't have to defrost it. It's fish. It's not like a big thing of steak. Trust me, get some today. You can adjust, pause, or cancel your membership anytime, and they offer 100% satisfaction guaranteed or your money back. Right now, you can get $15 off your first box of premium seafood when you visit wild alaskan company.com slash papa p a pa pa that's wild alaskan company dot com slash papa for $15 off your first box wild alaskan dot com slash papa make sure to use

the urall to tell them that we know that you that they know that we sent you and that really is important they need to know that our good friends here at breaking bread are the ones buying their fish. So make sure you put Papa in there and let the good people know that Tommy didn't steer you wrong. We'd also like to thank our good friends at Green Smith Farms, CBD. These guys are great. I mean, I've been, you know, we live here in L.A. We get a lot of these products coming around. And Greensmith Farms makes all natural craft hemp CBD products, including CBD oil and gummies. If you just want to take the edge off and you just want to feel good about yourself, You maybe want to sleep better.

These are all things that I've got from it. Do it. I went with the gummies. You get the tincture also. Every Greensmith Farms package tells you exactly how much CBD and other cannabinoids you are getting and how much in each serving. So you kind of like figure it out for yourself and then you get the right combination. And I took it around, like I like to go to bed like around 11. So like around eight, I ate a couple and ate one.

then it just kind of like cruised in, then ate another one when it wanted like a little half to kind of boost it up a little bit. Just so naturally relaxed without any high, it was great. All Greensmith Farm's CBD products are made from hemp grown on their family farm in West Virginia. Free of pesticides and other chemicals, it just feels like a good product. The company was founded by veterans to provide the world's best CBD products at an incredible price. All natural, full spectrum. them, they're just better. So for listeners, you can get 20% off your order with the code Papa at checkout.

Go to Greensmithfarmshemp.com and into the word PAPA at checkout for 20% off your order. Greensmithfarmeshemp.com slash Papa for 20% off at checkout. You will enjoy it. It'll make your life better. What have you got to lose? All right, now it's time for a quick bite with our good friend Ian Bagg. He's a hilarious comedian. Make sure you look him up on all his social media.

You've got to see him live. He's one of those comedians. He's so funny off the cuff. He, I've never seen him do the same set twice. And I know you hear that about comedians once in a while. And some of it's true. It's really true with Ian. Naturally funny.

Rapid fire. Great mind. As you'll see when we grab this quick bite with Ian Bagg. Ian, good. How are you? You, bud. It's been too long since we've hung out, you know? I know, I know.

Isn't that the way about comedy, though, as you get a little bit more successful, you lose kind of touch with friends? Yes, you completely do. It's very strange because it's the blessing and the curse of being friends with comedians is that, you know, the most fun thing that you can have, but you end up headlining and you end up always on every night. of the year in a different city than your friends. It's because you both strive for the same thing, right? Yeah. So you can't be together because you're signing for the same thing. You've got to go opposite ways.

Right, right. Well, we'll fix that. Enough crying. Enough crying. We'll fix that for sure. Ian, I'm actually in Dallas. I just went through customs coming in from Mexico. And as I was doing it, looking forward to calling you,

I was like, this is why Ian probably stayed in the state. because there's just too much of a hat. To Canada, and they just said to me, why you're here? Even though I have a Canadian passport, they say, why you're here. And then I came back the other way with a friend going to the American side. They said, welcome home. And I was like, well, this is confusing. Did we lose each other?

Yeah, so I was thinking to myself, this is why Ian probably stayed in the States just because he didn't want to go through customs anymore. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. You don't. They scare you. what, you know, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how nice of a person you are. They scare you. I know. It's very stressful. Ian, tell her, tell her this is where you grew up.

I grew up in Paris, British Columbia, which is what you do is you go to Vancouver, right? And then you drive 12 hours to Prince George, then you take a left. And then you drive another nine, nine hours to Prince Rupert. and then you come back an hour and that's Terrace. Oh, my God. That's amazing. That sounds cold. It's a rainforest, but it's a cold rainforest. So the bottom of your feet are always wet.

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Oh, my God. That's amazing. So did you have an attachment to the rest of Canada when you live up there? Did you feel like you were even part of the, same country? Yes, I felt like we were the people, we were doing God's work by getting work.

No, I had an attachment because it just wanted to go to all the other cities. I wanted to go to Vancouver. I remember hearing about people going to Vancouver and I'm just like, oh, it sounds fantastic. Have I ever told you the story? I've ever told the story about how people used to, when I was a kid, people would go to Vancouver. They'd fly to Vancouver, which is an hour and 20 minutes. and they would pay people to bring Big Macs back for them? No.

Because there wasn't a McDonald's anywhere near there. It was like, I think 12 hours was the closest McDonald's, so they'd pay people to bring Big Macs for them. Oh, that's hilarious. So what were you guys eating up there in the middle of the woods? Like, it was all, it was always just a no-name restaurant. You know, the biggest chain restaurants we had was ANW for the winter. It's pretty fancy.

I wouldn't think Dairy Queen would even find their way up there. Yeah, my friend's mom and dad owned it. It was pretty, it was pretty. And then when your family was eating, were you, like, hunting wild animals? Well, you know, we used to, my dad and his friend used to go hunting every so often. When I was about 14, he stopped going. He took me out once hunting, and I never got anything. but I remember they used to butcher the moose in our garage.

They would be just a full moose and then there would just be a head. I just remember, I feel bad. That's a big animal. That must have filled up the whole garage. Yeah, they would hang it from a motor block chain. So the chains that would take a motor out of a car. That's what they'd hang it from in the middle of them. Wow.

Oh, that's amazing. Oh, my God. And then you guys are like, no, that's why it's a little odd. Find your way through Montreal and then ultimately to New York. You must have just been like, I never, you know, I always knew that you grew up in kind of a remote place spot experience must have been going from that to that. It was, it was insane. So I went from, so I ended up. in Australia when I first graduated high school.

I ended up over there for about four, about a year I ended up in Australia in Sydney. So I'd gotten a taste of the city. And then I went back and I was working in a gold mine. And then when I finished that, I ended up in Vancouver. And then I ended up in New York. And New York was just, it was mind-blowing. It was just stupid. Right.

You know, it was everything I heard about. I'm just walking around, you're like, huh. Yeah. I wonder how I ended up here. This doesn't make sense at all. It doesn't. And you have all that food everywhere. I remember the first, when I first moved there, I went to, I stayed at a youth hostel.

And just down the street, so I go to, I go to a set at the comic strip, and they'd give me $20. My youth hospital was $16. And then I think it was like a dollar on the subway up and a dollar on the way back. And then I had $2 to spend and I'd spend it at a donut shop because they had this. You know what I think flavors of donut that I'd never heard of like, I'm like like a whole wheat donut? All right. I'll try it.

And I'm just like, this is insane. I remember like, oh my gosh. If you put icing on top of whole wheat, it's a donut. That's amazing. And all the big Mexican you can talk for it. Back to the people. That's amazing.

Now, is there any that you eat or is that not really? My mom made these cookies that were, I don't know what they're, they're Canadian or not, but she'd make these shortbread cookies

and I make them every Christmas. And they're just stupid. They're just butter. It's butter, a little bit of flour, sugar, more butter. It's just stupid. Oh, that's the best.

Oh, so good. Oh, my God. But they send us, my friends send me care packages every so often. Of, like, really fun, fast, not fast food, like junk food, like potato chips

and stuff like that. And there's a potato chip called Anallies. I don't know if you've ever heard of it. No. And they make an all-dress chip. And there's all these different flavors from flying at you. And they're like, oh, they're really good. And they're on a ruffle chip.

Oh, my God. That sounds amazing. It's different from just a flat chip to a ruffle chip. Like, it's something about a ruffle chip. No, it's true. It gives a little bit of glass. Class chip. Yeah, it doesn't make sense.

You go from white trash to live in life within seconds just because it's got a little bit of a wiggle to it. meet me at the studios way too much, but I had to get you into this, into this episode. Is there any, any tour dates or anything that you want the people to know about? Yeah, so I have, you can go to Ian Bragg.com, but I'm doing a new podcast where we've gone separate ways, Tom, you're talking about bread. And I'm on a show called Sorrentale Rewind. Sort is a true crime murder podcast.

And I do a rewind going over murder and making fun of. of it. Oh, hilarious. That's so funny. All right, Ian, you're the best. No, you're the best. When I get back to L.A., I'll get you in the studio and we'll hang more. I love it. Let's make them bad, br-bye. All right, Ian, talk to you soon. Love you, Tompapa. All right, that's our big show. Thank you to our Canadian friend, Sarah Singer-Shiff, and thank you to Ian Bagg. This is a Canada-heavy show. heavy. I also like to thank the good people at Wild Alaskan Farms and Greensmith Farms. Two good sponsors look for the information in the bio. And also make sure you like and subscribe, tell all your friends, keep spreading the word about our beautiful podcast. We thank you guys so much. Also,

take a look at tompapa.com. All my tour dates, I'm heading out all over the country. Next one is in New Jersey. We just added a late show in in New Jersey on August 27th, and then we're often running around the rest of the world if you keep getting your vaccines. And also go to my YouTube channel because also there we have a new video that we just posted. We have my Getting Baked series where I actually show you how to make this gorgeous bread and we just did scones that's available now. So go to the YouTube channel and check that out as well.

You guys are the best. See you next time.