The Chat
The Chat
#30 Life's Sweet Chaos: Balancing Sugar, Self-Care, and a Side of Humor
Robert and Carlos chat: We've all had those chaotic summers where life feels like a whirlwind, and this year was no exception for us. Amidst dance recitals, in-law visits, and writing struggles, we decided to take a break and have a heart-to-heart about everything from navigating the dangers of sugar addiction to which movie to watch.
And we're here. It's summer, Man. It's been two weeks since we recorded our last podcast and we made one then and I think before that. I don't know if we've convened since school was out for summer?
Carlos:No, yeah. so how are things in the crane household because of that?
Robert:Holy crap, man, it's been a whirlwind. I texted you last week and I'm like got a call game called on account of chaos, basically. Enjoy the chaos.
Carlos:And of course I got no reply back.
Robert:Thanks a lot. I appreciate that My mother-in-law was here and I like my mother-in-law. I was funny. I was having a conversation this morning on Mighty Networks with one of my fans who was like my in-laws are moving like half a mile south of me. I'm like jeez, i wish my mother-in-law would move half a mile south of here. She's in Minnesota, do you?
Carlos:think she would ever move.
Robert:She wanted to. They looked years ago, but real estate prices have gone so sky-high and my father-in-law was more of the action component of that couple and so he was ready to move pre-COVID I think.
Robert:I remember that They looked at a house over in Nolan'sville and he's like let's go, Let's do it. And she's like there's just so much that has to be done beforehand. They still had a cabin at the time and they still got their primary residence and she's like just not ready. There's a process, There's an orderly process. She's a very structured person but yeah, And I would hope that eventually she moves down here to make her life easier. So she was here for a week and a half. Two weeks We've had two different dance recitals for two different dance studios. One of them did four recitals In town or out of town.
Robert:In town And this week is Dance Nationals, which I just found out last night. My daughter has won two different national title national champion titles on two of them. That's it, the Opryland Holy cow. But because of the times, she and Alicia are just staying up there the whole week So I haven't seen them. I saw them for like an hour on Wednesday afternoon.
Carlos:Oh wow, so they're there, they're there, they're there.
Robert:Got it. One of my other kids is at day camp. The other one's got cross country every morning in the mornings. So I'm just like I have gotten almost no work. I've written like 5,000 words in the last month.
Carlos:Yeah. So I finished a book last Friday, nice, and I admitted to Megan that you know my right hand. I was like I'm tired. Yeah, i just I'm creatively tired right now. I have a lot of business stuff I need to be working on, but then I think also the kids coming home, because they were at home for a week while I was writing, yeah, and I still I felt that pull, because you know me, i'm used to taking that, that's, those two summer months off, and then I'm ready to rock and roll again. Yeah, And it was. We were on our weekly call and she goes you know what, do you think it would be smart for you to go ahead and just take, you know, june and July off? And it was like it's so funny, i've done it how many times. But I needed somebody else to say, hey, might this be a good idea? And I ran to it like a, like a, like a beggar who hasn't eaten in a month, like, yes, please, oh, my gosh. So, so I'm not gonna be writing for June and July.
Robert:I've got plenty of other stuff to do, but yeah, so I'm excited about that I stalled out like 36,000 words on my new book series and there were issues with it And I didn't recognize it at the time. I kind of was like, oh, the next part should be fairly exciting And it's just, my kids were around, i'm doing so much with them, it's just I used excuses. Part of me was like I wanted to do what you've done. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna finish up over the next week, week and a half or so. I got some momentum this morning. I'm gonna finish this book.
Robert:But some ideas occurred to me of like what has been wrong with it over the last 24 hours that got me moving on it again. Yeah, where I was like, oh, this is kind of lacking some edge, like what I wanted to do with this is I'll never finish a book and be like, oh, this is the best book ever, you know. But I was finished. I was, you know, midway through. I was at the halfway point, the midpoint of the story where it turns, and I'm like this doesn't have enough Wham factor, you know, wow factor, something that makes it like why are you telling this book There's not enough gut punch to it. And I think I discovered the two or three things. Of course one isn't gonna do it. This is Robert J Crane. There's gonna be a lot more pain than that.
Carlos:Maybe like seven things.
Robert:Yeah, like you get to the midpoint and I'm just gonna start hitting the reader with a lead pipe and not let up until they're unconscious, bleeding in a puddle on the floor.
Carlos:No, leave me alone.
Robert:No, no, they beg for more at the end. Right, how would I rephrase this? It asks for the next book. Or else it gets the pipe again, or else it gets the pipe again. Actually, it gets the pipe again.
Carlos:Have you watched that movie with your kids, sons of?
Robert:Land. No, i did rewatch it myself not that long ago, and it's so good.
Carlos:It is really good. I haven't watched it in years.
Robert:Oh, it'll be banned within five years, but it's so good. I bought the Blu-ray of the special edition.
Carlos:I've never seen it before.
Robert:You know there have been so many spin-offs and products that have come out of that, Like there was a Clarisse series for a while and whatnot. Did you ever watch the Hannibal series?
Carlos:I watched a couple and of course I loved whatever that actor's name is Oh, mads Mikkelsen, I actually loved the movie Hannibal. Oh really, i thought that was super underrated because it goes more into his character, right, yeah, and some of the stuff he does in it too. And then the final scene of the movie I don't know if you've seen it Oh, he's having dinner. Well, in the airplane where the little boy wants to try his food, oh no.
Robert:I didn't see that. I thought the ending was and this is spoilers for like a 20-year-old movie. I thought, the ending is that he and Clarisse get romantically involved and he turns her into a cannibal. No, okay, that's the end of the book Different.
Carlos:So he traps, he gets like the lead FBI agent. he gets Clarisse there and by then it's not the same actress. Anyway, he has the cleaver in his hand and he chops off his own hand is what he does because he's going to. it looks like he's going to cut her hand off And then she screams, you know, and the screens go dark and everything. and then all of a sudden the FBI is there and he gets away. And he didn't want to do that to her Was it.
Robert:Clarisse Starling. Yeah, Oh, okay, Yeah. So the book as I understand it, I've not read it. I read the summation of it because I was like I don't think I have this one in me after I read kind of the objectionable points And it is Clarisse is sort of drugged or something and he, she like, bears her breast to him and he takes hold of it and like they together eat the brains out of a live man, or something I was like that is not for me.
Carlos:So I think they did See, and this is where I think in the film they probably did a better job of it, right? Because yes, that's what he was doing and it was Ray Liotta was the guy they were eating, You know, and it's funny because in the scene you see a little drip of blood going down his face and you're like what's wrong? And he's obviously drugged. And then he goes over there and he pries off the top of his head and you're like, oh my gosh.
Robert:Okay, yeah, that's not. That's not for me, that's too much for me. I am all about, as from our last like five minutes of conversation, i'm all about bludgeoning my reader with trauma, but it's not in a like totally gruesome, gory way.
Carlos:Yeah, it wasn't too bad. I mean, you know, because he doesn't like take a fork and start eating out of his head.
Robert:Yeah, in the book I'm pretty sure that's what happens. Oh really, yeah, i mean it's grody, it's disgusting, and I mean Silence of the Lambs has a little taste of that, but it's nothing compared to the like. I don't get me wrong. I've done some pretty gruesome stuff in Southern watch. I would say Probably some stuff sort of along the lines of that. I guess there's demons eating humans kind of stuff in there, but I don't know, Maybe, maybe that ruined me and I, after I read that description, i was like oh well, you know, since Thomas Harris is going to do that and sell a bajillion books, maybe I should do some right.
Carlos:Equally grody or gross, or in some some people would argue gross, or for some of the things, all right since we're on food, i have to ask you this is very, quite random, but you know me and I was thinking about this on the way up because I was listening to something else, that's what I want to talk about podcast always Yeah, sugar. Okay, all right, where are you on?
Robert:sugar these days. It's really bad for you and I shouldn't be eating it, and yet I still eat it. Yeah, i know me too. When I'm at my healthiest, i'm up five pounds since the beginning of summer. You're not talking about carb loading last time Yeah.
Robert:It's like, and the reason is because I just keep eating garbage at the end of the day. So when I got healthy, it's because I was eating almost no processed sugar Yeah, like at all, yep. And when I start to get unhealthy it's because, hey, what do you know? I just had five Hershey's kisses last night and that's the least of the bad things. We ordered Chinese last night from that place over by Publix. Oh yeah, have you ever? you ever? Oh, we see there all the time. Oh my gosh, they're, they're general sauce chicken.
Carlos:Yeah, Oh yeah.
Robert:There's some processed sugar.
Carlos:I've already had it.
Robert:I've had it. It's just a little bit. No, processed sugar is crack. I mean it is. It's super addictive and it's really bad Metabolically. I was listening to that one podcast I think I sent it to you, the one from Barry Weiss We're eating ourselves to death with Dr Casey Means And she says our consumption of sugar has gone up like a hundred fold in the last century, i believe it.
Carlos:I mean because we didn't eat it the way, the way we do now back then.
Carlos:It was, it wasn't readily accessible. The way it is now. It's become its own industry. I mean, i know, like I can see, i understand the, the effects of it. Yeah, like yesterday was, you know, kind of my, my cheat meal day, so to your point, like two weeks ago I think we were out to dinner or something. I'm like my jeans are not quite fit, and then I went and I hadn't been jumping on the scale And I did And I'm like, oh hello. But for me, you know, my mind can swing quite a bit because I drink a bunch of water and I just I have large swings, you know, five pounds from day to day.
Robert:Oh, i could gain five pounds in one day, depending on what you always have to weigh first thing in the morning, right after you.
Carlos:I do not like weighing myself at night.
Robert:No, I stick to the morning thing Yeah.
Carlos:So yeah, so I'm trying to get back on track and all that, but I had my, my cheat meal yesterday, you know, first, first one for this week. It's a good one. I'm going to get you a chip for you And I. At first I was good And then I was exhausted. In the afternoon Were you. Oh my gosh, it was like I took a car, you car bloated.
Carlos:Dude. Well, yeah, but it was. I mean I had eaten it like 11. And then I went for a walk with with Katie, at like four or five, and I mean I was going for a walk, walking hills, feeling like I wanted to fall asleep, oh yeah, and and I was like the only thing that we had changed was that. And so I know I need to be a little more careful, because I love, i mean I love candy, i love cookies, i love all that. You know I don't look like I'm, but but it's funny because I know I know skinny people who, you know, metabolically or just lab wise, are very unhealthy. Yeah, you know, like you look at them under the hood and they are less Skinny fat Yeah it's crazy And I don't want to be.
Carlos:I don't want to be that We. I just I'm trying to be smarter about it because I know I can bend sugar too. I mean, i love it Well.
Robert:I mean I have that problem with almost anything, not alcohol, because I get sick if I drink too much of it, but like if I'm an original sugar addict, basically almost all of the seven deadly spins I'm, you know I'm right there like I'll cruise all the way through. I enjoy gambling. If there wasn't the downside of holy crap where all my money go, i could do more of that. But like I mean I used to eat a whole pack of Oreos when I was an adult, a full grown adult, yeah, and I was like 240 pounds or so at my heaviest I might have made it to 250. I was afraid of the scale at that point. But I mean I would eat the most you know garbage diet of. You know all the sugar I could handle And and I loved it. It was great. But it's the same thing with, like an unrestricted diet of internet.
Robert:When you're trying to be productive, you know you you're, you're flaring the the short term endorphins in your brain and they, you know, they light it up. Oh my gosh, everything is so great, i feel so good. It's just that you know I would eat when I was stressed. I would eat garbage when I was stressed because it would give me that little, that little shot of endorphins, that little shot of. I feel like there's a different dopamine. Dopamine would give me a dopamine hit, you know, and there's a lot of ways in life that you can get a dopamine hit. Oh heck yeah.
Robert:And that's why people are so quick to be like I'm a this addict, i'm a that addict, whether it's, you know. You know people are porn addicts nowadays or they're. You know there are some and there's some truth that it's not near as hard as the. You know, like a heroin addict, someone who's on opium is truly addicted in a way that they absolutely cannot quit physically without going through withdrawal. And alcoholism is another one of those things where it's like, physiologically you can get so addicted that you know it's painful to come off of it. But for those of us in a cozy western lifestyle nowadays, there are other addictions that you can get that are just very comfortable addictions, where you can just sort of cruise through life And the consequences are not immediately obviously Yeah, because it's a slow slide, right, so you don't recognize it.
Carlos:Maybe you stop stepping on the scale, you stop looking in the mirror the way you used to, or you just say, oh, i'm getting old and I can't process. And then I look at somebody who takes the other extreme right And takes everything out And I, it's just no joy there. Yeah, i just don't know. Although I was listening to Rob Deirdic, skateboarder, who has produced Ridiculousness, i think is the show on MTV. Anyway, he's done very well for himself, especially in the last five years, and he has a very strict Not I wouldn't say maniacal, but like he's just learned to optimize his entire life. Yeah Right, and I think he's been smart about it. But really what he's optimizing it for is joy and spending time with his family. Yeah Right, but in the process he's making hundreds of millions of dollars.
Robert:Holy crap, that sounds like a great deal.
Carlos:Oh he's. This episode that was on My First Million was phenomenal, one of the best I've listened to. So anyway, he's talking about all this stuff, but one of the things that he does is one of the ways that he takes that friction out right Like he hasn't had alcohol or sugar in years. Wow. And I'm like, okay, how do you do that? And then I realize all his food comes from a local chef, brings all their food right. It's all pre-prepped. I want to get to that point. So I don't have the option right Now. I know I will still go out to Publix or Walmart and I'll get those For me. it's nerd clusters and it's those field twizzler things. Those things get me. And then on road trips, it's baby Ruth.
Robert:Strawberry lemonade, nerds, blackberry lemonade. Have you had nerd clusters? I don't know what a nerd is Like, just the big ones, or what.
Carlos:No, they're nerds wrapped around a gummy. Oh my gosh, yeah, it's like crack.
Robert:I still like. I take fiber gummies every day, do you? I do because they're so good for my kids.
Carlos:They are pretty good. We have them too.
Robert:So good Like, especially when I have no sugar diet. you know, it's like I just have my little gummies.
Carlos:I can see you sitting in the pantry like eating fiber gummies. And then that night, Robert, are you?
Robert:okay, in there, yes.
Carlos:That's what this episode is going to be called Dutch ovens Robert on fiber gummies.
Robert:They will tear you up if you're not careful.
Carlos:Oh my gosh.
Robert:What's the limit? How many can you have? I wouldn't recommend more than about six, six, six. You got to spray them out throughout the day. I wouldn't eat them all at one time. Oh my God. You have like two in the morning, two at lunch and then two at night.
Carlos:Which ones do you sneak and which ones do you eat in public?
Robert:I mean I don't go in public. What the hell is this in public thing? What do you think? I am an extrovert.
Carlos:Oh my gosh, i'm not going to be able to get that image out of my head. You chew on fiber gummies? Yeah, exactly, and then I say that, and then I'm going to go home and have fiber gummies, yeah.
Robert:Well, there's not really that much in the way of sugar in them. But I mean, when I'm on my diet regimen, I'm not having processed sugar six days a week And I feel really good about it at that point. Yeah, me too. The problem is after you get off of it for a while, which I have been off of it for, you know, almost 30 days. At this point it's a lot harder. It's like there is a craving at the end of every day where it's like, hey, man, you haven't given me anything yet. And even if you have, it's like okay, come on, I need a little bit more here. Yeah, You know, like I ate all that Chinese food last night And thankfully I have been working out like a fiend, like weightlifting, five days a week. So I've made some gains and I've still emphasized heavy amounts of protein intake to try and maximize so that all this weight gain is not fat just banding around my belly. But it's still very clear that, like, there's a decent amount of it that is not ripped steel.
Carlos:Let's say it's steel.
Robert:But I mean, you know, a heavy weightlifting routine can assist you in mitigating some of that weight gain.
Carlos:Sure, For me it's that one Extra. It's not even an extra meal, it's that extra half a meal Right now. You know that that added up over the months and it's for me. I actually I don't eat when I'm depressed or sad. Actually, for you, i celebrate eat right. So, man, i had a great day writing today. I earned a baby Ruth. Oh yeah, you know we're going on a trip up. Trips are huge for me, right?
Robert:So I plan my meals in advance totally.
Carlos:I'll have eat here. I want to eat, yes, yes.
Robert:I like I mean, i have a dossier made up for our trip that we're going on in a few weeks and it's like I mean, this will air. I probably be back by then, and so you someone asked me how much weight I gained on the trip, but it's like I've got the restaurants planned out in advance. I look at their menus and I'm like, oh, this looks amazing, we're definitely going there. There's a place in Myrtle Beach That's called the original Benjamin's Calabash buffet. It has 170 seafood items on it What I defy. You go, look at the menu, like fried shrimp, fried fish, crab legs, lobster and drawn butter.
Robert:I'm like, oh, i'm gonna gain some pounds there. What are you gonna eat first? Well, i don't know, it's gonna be a giant plate. Hmm, i go through a buffet line and it's like I want to try a little bit of everything. It's good, yeah. And then I go back after targeting and go for seconds at all the stuff I love best. I love buffets, and, and Myrtle Beach has a great-looking what you call it, a Brazilian steakhouse. Oh, really, because you know, ours in Nashville has been out of business since Christmas Day bombing.
Carlos:No, I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, the Rodizio on was on second Street, i got blown up. I didn't know that.
Robert:Yep Got gotten blown up by that. That guy who uh, oh yeah, whatever had, was it Christmas Day.
Carlos:It was Christmas day.
Robert:Yeah, two years ago. No, I think 2021, 2020. No idea, yeah, it was. I was like damn it. They took my favorite Brazilian steakhouse.
Carlos:Oh yeah, talk about meat sweats. I, i, i did never had meat sweats. I did not understand until we went there. And what was it? four of us, right? Yeah, me, lee and Nick, yeah, right, that was us. And we went and you know I Laughed at first with the whole little flip over the deal, yeah, and I'm like ha, ha, very funny. And then I get like 15 minutes into I'm like, oh, now I understand why, you have to tell them to stop. They're just like throwing meat in your face.
Robert:Oh my golly. I've never been that satisfied by having me throw That place is amazing though. I mean, it's a nationwide chain. There was one in Maple Grove where I used to live Mm-hmm, but I mean, one of the best things they bring you is those pineapple.
Carlos:Oh, I was the same thing.
Robert:Oh my gosh, caramelized on the grill. Oh yeah, that was really good That pecan, yeah, anyway. So every time I'm in a city that has a rodizio or a Brazilian steakhouse because we had two in Nashville And now they're both gone, one closed up because it just went out of business and the other one got blown up by some dipshit, so yeah, and then a leash and I are getting away and Chad and Nuga here in a week or two without the kids, yeah, and I've got my menu planned for that too. They've got this place called taco mama Sitas. I come on my seat and it's like a artisanal taco shop, really like, yeah, like. The menu is the best-looking taco menu I've ever seen.
Carlos:I like chat Nuga. We haven't spent a lot of time there, but the times that that I've gone or I don't know It's, it's growing and I think they've been pretty smart on how they've grown that area. She's never been to rock city?
Robert:Oh, I haven't been either. You've never been to rock city. All the barns see the signs in all of Tennessee And you've never seen rock city or seen ruby falls never. Yeah, we used to go. I used to spend a couple weeks every summer and at my parent and my grandparents Place in southeast Tennessee, and they were 40 minutes from Chattanooga. What is rock city anyway? It is a tourist trap. It is tourist trap.
Carlos:It's so cool.
Robert:It's. It's so kitschy. I used to go every summer like they would make a special trip down to Chattanooga And we would go to rock city every summer, because I loved it so much and I probably haven't been since I was 15 or so, so I expect I'll totally outgrown it or whatever, but I'm just excited. I'm gonna take Alicia to it because she's like what the hell is rock city? and I'm like, oh, we got us a rock city virgin.
Carlos:What is it like? cliffs and mountain?
Robert:well, it's on top of lookout mountain, which is the historic you know.
Carlos:I've been up there. Yeah, I'll flip there once so you can I didn't know there was a golf course up there. There is it's. It's crazy because, like, the edge is at the edge of the golf course.
Robert:Yeah, so you, you birdie, that one you're, or if you've got what you call it, play well that day.
Carlos:The guy at the at the pro shop goes hey, just so you know, everything rolls off the hill. Yeah, i'm like, yeah, thanks.
Robert:How do you treat that for scoring purposes? What's that? Is it a water? Is it a water hazard?
Carlos:Basically, Oh no, i mean, it's a lost ball, it's same.
Robert:Yeah, same thing, yeah, okay anyway. So I'm trying to think of all the stuff that rock city has. They got this neat little like Fantasyland Diorama. I think that's one of the last things you see. They have commanding views where you can see seven states on a clear day. That's a bit of a visual things.
Carlos:Is that why that one thing that confused me. We drove up there all the streets are named like Ferry Lane and like Robin Hood way, and I was like what are we in Disney World? It was.
Robert:It was bizarre it was like they tried to capture a little bit of that magic, but of course nobody can out magic the Magic King, yeah. So yeah, i'm looking forward to showing my wife and I'm sure she won't have the same reaction that I did when I. She won't have the same nostalgia factor, because I went when I was a kid and she's going when she's, you know, in her 40s. She's like this is what you've been talking about all these years. I don't think I've talked about it very much, but as soon as she mentioned that it was one of the tourist attractions, because we're gonna try the one adventure a day Thing and the rest of time I'm staying in the hotel and just going out for meals, basically where you guys you guys staying downtown.
Robert:Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then where?
Carlos:it's beautiful.
Robert:You know, i've heard about that place since it opened in 96 and there used to be like There's lines out the door when it first opened, yeah, and, and I never made it over there as a kid because I'm like I don't do lines, yeah you just get your time slot and even 12 in No, it was.
Carlos:They did a good job because a lot of I like downtown Chattanooga's a lot of its walkable. Yeah, you can walk across the river to the north side. I can remember what it's called. It's like a not an artist commune, but kind of that. That vibe over there. Yeah, also, the place of the best doughnut ever eaten was over there. I need the name of the doughnut. I don't remember what it was. I said. I said it's somebody. A couple weeks ago They're like, oh yeah, this place It's like Miss Mays or something like that. I don't know, but it was, yeah, glazed yeast doughnut, just oh, that's my favorite kind, that's mine too.
Robert:Yeah, just a plain glaze. You know who has good ones? Walmart, oh, i know, yes, they have, yes, the best. They do, they do. I've only met a few people that have believed me when I've said that I'm like and it's like I mean Duncan for a dozen. I've eaten Duncan.
Carlos:I've eaten yet I don't like crispy cream very much.
Robert:I do now Really.
Carlos:What have you discovered? I don't know I I somehow flip. I used to get it every Sunday when the kids were little little, yeah. and then for some reason, i went back recently and I didn't like them when they were warm Yeah for because I felt like I could taste too much of sugar. I had it about like two months ago, mm-hmm, it was one of the best things I've eaten a long time warm.
Robert:Oh yeah Yeah, those Walmart regular glaze doughnuts are just the underrated secret, the ones with the dark chocolate on them too, See, I don't do chocolate, i do.
Carlos:Yeah, those are so good.
Robert:You know who actually has really good doughnuts, though, and they're not underrated, they're perfectly rated, i would say. Is voodoo doughnuts is really good?
Carlos:I don't think I've ever have you were done a doughnut den up in Green Hills. No, oh Okay. Green Hills is so far doesn't matter, you need to make a run up there. If you like yeasty, i do glaze doughnuts, get the glaze doughnuts and their Their apple fritter is like world famous.
Robert:Why is Green Hills so frigging hard to get to? it feels like it's just so far Off.
Carlos:It's not far away, but it feels like it takes forever to get there, like middle afternoon, like two or three o'clock.
Robert:Yeah, oh, won't they be like stale and tired by them?
Carlos:Nope, mm-hmm, or you can go in the morning. Whatever we like will go. We'll go out to eat in Green Hills and then we'll go there for dessert. Nice, yeah, nice.
Robert:Yeah, i um, i like a lot of the stuff at Green Hills, but it just feels like it's a chore to get to it.
Carlos:And it's kind of hard to get in and out of sometimes too. Yeah, yeah, I feel you.
Robert:I really like the area like it's so much easier to get to downtown Nashville than it is to get to Green Hills. I know.
Carlos:I know that, coming down on what Hillsborough I guess it is yeah, hillsborough Pike I would live over there like about, if I was older and we didn't have kids, i could walk.
Robert:Yeah, it's a very walkable area, like there's a lot of stuff going on there. A buddy of mine who Lives on the street here is living over in that area. It's on the street like he's. He lives like a few doors down, so he doesn't live on the street. Talked about him before and yeah, he does not live literally on the street. This isn't San Francisco, carlos.
Carlos:Oh sorry, this is an Austin Texas. Sorry, it's Friday.
Robert:Like I've been on three planes this month. No, he lived. He he's the one I talked about before, who he had that huge leak at Christmas time that like destroyed his house, mm-hmm. And so he's been moved out for six months and he's living in a. He and his wife are living in a place over, not far from Green Hills, and he's, like I, eat at a different restaurant every single night. Yeah, brother, you are living the dream.
Carlos:Yeah, there's a lot of great food up there His, et cetera his rule was we don't go to the same place twice.
Robert:Wow, good for him, and so it's just like a different place every night. I'm I was asking him for some advice and he's like I'll give you the best of everything I've discovered so far. That's cool, which reminds me Have you ever did we talk about the best burgers in Nashville? Maybe, but no, i don't think. We have my neighbors and I. We have a, you know, a group here and We got into a best burgers in Nashville Competition. Sir thing, have you been to? what in the hell is the name of the place? It's like it's not jenny's, it's. It's up right not far from Green Hills, just right near the Armory Drive's. What's that? hundred oaks, yeah, it's in that area, but it's like a, it's like a hole in the wall. Diner looking place. Um Cripes. It's one of the best burgers I've ever eaten in my life.
Carlos:How did you go there.
Robert:One of my neighbors is long established in Nashville and he just knows all the best spots. He's total foodie. And so, yeah, we got, like you know, six of us going up there at a time. How did you get there? It's just right up the freeway 65 to what to armory?
Robert:65 Armory I think, and then you go over by hundred oaks, like where the big Vanderbilt's further north from there, i think it's um, it's in like that industrial park area almost, and it's um. Did you get off on Wedgewood? I know didn't quite make it to Wedgewood, i don't think I Can. Burgers in Nashville burgers. I'm like I know what this is. It's. It's got a girl's name on it. I think it was named after Gabby's. It's called Gabby's Gabby's and it is in Wedgewood, Houston technically. But Which would I think?
Carlos:it's called. Which would you?
Robert:still tell me about the burger. The burger is simply amazing. It's just done perfectly well. It's like the fundamentals done exactly right and Then on the side the fries are like perfect. It's. I mean this. This is a guy who was like a expert chef somewhere and he's like that's it. I've had enough of the grind of the restaurant world. He runs it during very specifically defined hours Wait is this in like a tiny little?
Carlos:Yeah, It's. Isn't it next to like a McDonald's and no?
Robert:but it's in a right on a little Avenue. Let me send you the address and you can figure it out for yourself, and I'll jabber while you look at it. Okay, well, i won't pick up my phone.
Carlos:I don't want to mess up our wonderful Oh fair enough.
Robert:It's at 493 Humphrey Street in Nashville, oh, okay, and it is freaking amazing, but no, it's like it's in this little like dead-end building. There's nothing really around it other than like houses, and there's like a baseball diamond across the street. I'm not even kidding you, it's. It's, yeah, it's like far from even the nearest exit ramp. You have to get off on, yeah, wedgewood Avenue and then it's like three or four streets north, yeah, on Chestnut Street.
Carlos:It's like it's so good, i know exactly where it is. Yeah, it's just, i used to knock on doors over there.
Robert:Yeah, it's just this little building like the parking situation is a nightmare. if it's full, there's a line off the door half the time and it's only open, like I think it. I don't even know if they're open. They're not open on weekends at all, i don't think. So what do you get when you go there? Just a basic burger. I mean, they have a special every month, but it's like it's open 10.30am to 2.30pm. closed Sundays Wow, really, yeah, so you get there early, you know, i mean, if you go during the week, it's not an absolute atrocity, but if you go on a Saturday, you're going to be Really You need to get there earlier. So what?
Carlos:other burgers made list. What do you mean For the area? You said you guys have been raiding burgers in this area.
Robert:Oh, yeah, yeah. So other places. Puckets has a really great burger. One of the guys is arguing that Martin's BBQ brisket burger is top shelf, which I haven't tried it. I've never gotten anything but the barbecue at Martin's. I'm not even a huge burger guy. What other places? I think we kind of agreed for the most part that, like Gabby's was the king of Nashville, but there's other places, like people have said, pharmacy burgers really good. Yeah, i'm not even.
Carlos:Like I said, i'm not even really a big burger Yeah, I'm not anymore just because of the bread. It's a lot to eat a burger nowadays It is. One of my favorites is Jay Alexander's has a phenomenal burger and Cork and Cow has a really good burger Cork and Cow does have a really good burger, yeah, but I mentioned that.
Carlos:That's a different level. It is, i feel like there's like two or three different levels of how I rate burgers. It's like you know, sonic level. There's categories, right, yeah, and then you've got kind of that maybe, where Gabby's is above that right, kind of that more a little. It's a diner burger, yeah, exactly, and oh, that's what it was. We were at the diner downtown before a show, that place called the diner. I was not expecting anything good and their burger was like you know, burgers that taste like butter I love that Oh yeah, And it was.
Carlos:It was really really good Yeah.
Robert:Oh, so the Tennessean can't tour up your Nashville or assembly food hall? a couple of weeks ago, really, yeah, they basically took them like one by one, every restaurant in the place and they rated them and they kind of like trashed a lot of the establishments there. They're like, oh, it's not as good as their establishment outside of the food hall.
Carlos:I'm like that's. That's kind of an obvious statement. I mean because you are taking a restaurant that is like a, usually a standalone, and making it basically into a food stall. Is what you're doing? Yeah, it's like. It's like throwing a regular restaurant into an airport. Yeah, you never get the same, same kind of food in an airport, although I will say that the food's getting better at Nashville airport.
Robert:Yeah, Yeah, I mean it hit a. It hit a real low after during 2020, when, like, there was only one or two restaurants open. Yeah, That was. That was dismal. Like I couldn't even understand what they were doing there. It's like I do not want to eat at Burger King. I hate Burger King more than any fast food restaurant in the world And that was all that was open. I was so mad at Nashville at that point. I'm like this is ridiculous. I would rather have the COVID than deal with the airport.
Carlos:It's because they're putting $2 billion into the airport to make it No no, no, that was during the COVID regulation period.
Robert:Oh like we are literally not going to open any restaurants. We're going to limit the number of restaurants that can be open. Oh, forgot about that. And so instead you've got a thousand people standing in one line for one restaurant, which, oh, that's so much fucking healthier.
Carlos:Yeah, But the nice thing was is there weren't a lot of people on the airplanes.
Robert:They're at. well, okay, So this was the time when there actually were.
Carlos:I like the, I like the time when there was nobody. It was just my family and some other weirdos. Yeah, i love that.
Robert:Yeah, this was I want to say because we traveled for July 4th that year. like COVID really didn't affect us After about the first two months.
Carlos:I was like, okay, it sped up our travel.
Robert:And so by July I think people were traveling pretty extensively again And so you would get that where it's like they just everywhere else had pretty much opened here in Nashville And they had just kind of decided Nashville proper was like airport. No, no, we're just not going to do that Like the opposite of if you build it, they will come.
Carlos:If you shut it down, no one will show up. My go to place now is the is the Greek place that they have in there, Just like the fast food Greek. Just get you know, get the Yerou meat on top of some French fries, Yeah.
Robert:So the boys and I since we're talking about food anyway have been eating a variety of different places this week, just cause, you know, are they eating everything. now, they're really good about eating a lot of different things. So, yeah, like Chinese food, last night, a couple nights before, we went to this Greek place called the Greek cafe grill in Cool Springs If you've ever been, oh yeah, yeah, they have really good Euro meat, really good euros, and then they also had really fantastic hummus. Just really blew me away. I love hummus. I'm a sucker for it. I'm still. I'm still fantasizing about that Iraqi restaurant I went to in London. That is still the greatest meal of the year for me, but this place was really, really good. I got like a shrimp, chicken and beef combo and it was amazing. And then my son got a Euro and it was absolutely fantastic.
Carlos:So I stick, i stick to the Euro meat Just because I it's, it's, i like going out for stuff I would never, i can't make it home. I can't make anything like that. So that's, that's one of my go tos when I don't want to go eat a burger or anything like that.
Robert:I don't do burgers very often anymore, but I'm a sucker for a good Euro. It's probably the same calories, but I just love euros.
Carlos:See, i put it on. I put them on top of fries Euros. I mean I'd get the Euro meat, oh meat. I put it on top of French fries.
Robert:Oh, so like a brisket fries, except with the Middle Eastern flair. It's delicious. That's interesting. Now, have you ever had the Puckett's brisket nachos? Probably when I was with you, yeah, probably. They're amazing. Everything with brisket and nachos put together is automatically awesome.
Carlos:Yeah, they just opened an Ed Lees down in Berry Farms near us.
Robert:Oh yeah, that's right, is it good?
Carlos:Yeah, i'll tell you what was really good. Yeah, they're banana pudding, i believe it. It was the best banana pudding I've ever had was at Ed Lees.
Robert:That's their first Williamson County location and they opened that one and I think they're putting another one somewhere in Franklin maybe.
Carlos:Yeah, they've had a line out the door since they opened like a month ago, but it moves fast. They have their system down. At first, katie was like hey, do you want to go eat at Ed Lees? I'm like man, i really don't like long lines, but it kind of breezed through How do you rate them compared to Martins?
Robert:Martins is a barbecue royalty to me. Their meat is amazing. I'm not as keen on their sauces. Their sauce game is not for me, but their meats are top shelf To me.
Carlos:I haven't had as much exposure to Martins as you have, but to me they're very similar, okay, yeah, to where even the whole system of how you order food and get all that is very much the same, okay.
Robert:I gotta try them. I mean, i had seen that they opened and I was like okay, i gotta do this.
Carlos:The only thing I didn't like was their cornbread. It was just kind of hard and dry, which.
Robert:I don't dig. Have you eaten very often at Jim and Nix? We used to a lot. Oh yeah, their cornbread.
Carlos:Oh, the cheese cornbread, muffin thingies, yeah, i would.
Robert:But I'm not endorsing it. but I wouldn't do much of anything for a Klondike bar but I'd do some pretty damn shady shit for Jim and Nix muffins. Those are really really good. They are, i have to stay away from those now.
Carlos:Yeah, i bet. Yeah, we used to go there quite a bit. Oh yeah, that was one of the first barbecue places in Nashville.
Robert:Was it really? Yeah, way back when. It's really fantastic.
Carlos:Because when we lived in Bellevue, that was one of the first ones that opened near us.
Robert:Whenever we have guests in town, we get the family meals from them. Their mac and cheese is amazing. Their potato salad is really good. Their beans are really good, But actually the mac and cheese is absolutely amazing. I used to really like their sauces. Their sauces were really good back then. They're solid. They're solidly good. My favorite barbecue sauce, though, is still Puckett's Sweet Memphis style barbecue sauce. I love it so much. It's just the right kind of barbecue.
Carlos:I like the. What is it? the Carolina more.
Robert:I'm not sure You're a vinegar person. I am.
Carlos:I'm not a vinegar person. I would have my barbecue in a soup of that if I could. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I can't In my mouth watering right now. Is it really? Yeah, i haven't eaten yet today, so it's like I'm At all. No, i'm not.
Robert:Holy, wow, i usually don't eat until usually one. I had a Chipotle bowl for breakfast at 9 am, oh yeah. And then I had a peach smoothie that I made right before you showed up. I always Chipotle would do breakfast bowls. That would be amazing. Would that be amazing? It would absolutely. But so what I do is I went and got Chipotle yesterday at lunch for me and Alex, and then I just bought myself a second bowl and knew I was going to eat it this morning if I didn't get to it last night.
Carlos:Man, that would be delicious.
Robert:It would Give me steak, i'll talk it, eggs And oh my goodness, oh man, i think they could make a lot of money doing that, heck yeah.
Carlos:I mean, don't they say that breakfast is? that's where, like, mcdonald's makes a ton of money, right?
Robert:And that's how the eating goes. If you're in a avoid process sugar kind of thing, chipotle is one of the best places you can go. Yeah, because I mean you can track every calorie very effectively, you can double the meat on the bowl, you can reduce the fat, you can reduce the carbs. I mean there's a lot of things that you can do that'll make it healthier and less caloric.
Carlos:My only bummer now is that you know we've talked about I can't eat raw onion anymore. Yeah, And all their sauces have raw onion, And so I can't put sauce on my stuff.
Robert:It doesn't bother me too much, crushes me. Yeah, i mean, even their rice has onions in it, does it really? I think so. I think even their rice has raw onions in it, like a little bit here and there.
Carlos:Oh, i know, No, no, no, it's from their salsa. Yeah, yeah, it's from their salsa Cilantro and lime in the yeah, yeah, that'll crush me. That's not a good day for me.
Robert:Yeah, you know what I found I could eat when it comes to the raw onions. Have you ever had pickled red onions? Yeah, can you eat those without trouble?
Carlos:I haven't tried just because I'm yeah.
Robert:You haven't tried that Cava place yet. I'm guessing that I told you about.
Carlos:No, not yet. It's on my list. It's on my list.
Robert:Okay, So they have pickled red onions that you can just add to your meal And you can't do that on the way home. Yeah, I was gonna say have them put it in a thing to the side. I was able to eat those without any trouble whatsoever.
Carlos:Really.
Robert:Mm-hmm, like no burp back. None of that, really, and it doesn't even bother me the way I think, though I think they're slightly cooked Okay, Because when you go through the pickling process, i think you have to pour boiling salt-filled water into the. Yeah, but I mean, their pickled onions are so good.
Carlos:I forgot about that place. Thank you for reminding me.
Robert:Yes, yes, you hit it on the way home And hopefully you'll enjoy it Apparently.
Carlos:I'm hungry because all we've talked about today is food.
Robert:It has been a few minutes of food. Do you wanna like move to a different?
Carlos:system. Yeah well, you keep looking at your list, so I don't wanna keep you from your list.
Robert:I don't really. I mean, i had this for like six weeks now and I feel like I don't know, most of this stuff isn't really germane anymore. Like the, we talked about the drone operator thing a week or so ago, which turned out to be a recanted thing, where they're like oh you know, actually it was just a scenario that they brainstormed. I'm like that wasn't how the guy presented it, but OK. The other thing on here is that Elon Musk put 44 billion into Twitter And now, according to Forbes, it's worth 15 billion. Yeah, ouch.
Robert:And then this last thing I've had here for two notes on here heavy marijuana use increases the rate of schizophrenia. This is from Nelly Boles. Does the weekly TGIF thing on on the free press. A new analysis of nearly seven million Danish health records found that heavy marijuana use correlates with schizophrenia. The study claims that marijuana played a role in 50 percent of schizophrenia cases And that one fifth of cases of schizophrenia among young males might be prevented by avoiding heavy marijuana use. Now note this is heavy, chronic, not, you know, light.
Robert:One new problem is that wheat has gotten too good IE too strong study was published in psychological medicine and its authors are clearly super lame and total narks. That's what the thing is. That's what Nelly Boles said. Yeah, she's so funny. That does not surprise me any of that. No, i mean, i read a book last year in which I try to tell people that And I mean it's we're really in a place where there is a desire to be like oh you know, this is just prohibition part two, and that there's some really bad social consequences. I'm not advocating for the outlaw of or deep, deep criminalization of, marijuana, but I think we should have an honest conversation about the pitfalls of it, which is that if you are a chronic marijuana user, you are increasing your risk of severe mental illness.
Carlos:Well, i mean we've already talked about if you're a chronic anything user or eater, whatever I mean marathon runner consequences.
Robert:And it's the same thing with alcohol. by the way, 60% of murders are committed by people under the influence of alcohol. Yeah, You know, not good.
Carlos:We don't want to put those two things together.
Robert:Well, i mean, this is the thing. Is that as a society this is the argument that we're in a late stage empire or republic, however you want to call it is that we just are so prosperous and so doing so well that it's like we have all this free time for essentially licentiousness Just do whatever you feel, man. It's whatever It's like whenever someone gets really prosperous. I mean, the general state of humanity for most of history has been like you're going to work your ass off in order to subsist. And now we're at a point where you know starving to death is not really much of a thing, unless you're deeply anorexic or have some other sort of eating disorder. In America, like even if you are a drug addict who's living on the streets, there are programs to keep you from starving to death, and that's good, that's civilized, that's the way it should be. But the downside of that is that we keep finding new ways to recreate that are not necessarily best for our souls, for our yeah self-actualization. I mean, i don't know, whatever you want to call it.
Carlos:But it's funny what we do as human beings when we're and I'll simplify it when we're bored right, we are a bored society. When I'm bored, i tend to eat more, i tend to do things that are detrimental to my mental health and my physical health I just do, whereas if I'm busy and engaged and working, i tend to do the right things. Right, i get up at the right time in the morning, i go to bed at the right time, all these things. But we have, yeah, thank you for summing up my summer Well there you go.
Carlos:You are welcome, but it's absolutely true. But if you have people that don't have to fend for themselves anymore, that worry is taken off the table. So all of a sudden they're worried about whatever else is in the headlines or they want in the headlines, and I think we've seen a lot of that recently. Which it is what it is. I can't stop it. So I tend to not bitch about it, but I don't know. I worry about people. Just I want them to worry about themselves, right. Think a little personal responsibility and think about you, right. Maybe be a little selfish, get a little healthier or go read a book instead of and I'm not saying, don't watch television, i love television, i think there's great television.
Carlos:I think you can learn a lot from YouTube, but at the same time, if we're going to overdo anything, we will really overdo things, and I know I think we're all wired for some sort of addiction. I really do.
Robert:Oh for sure Some of us from multiple addictions. I think I can't remember if I read it on the podcast or just saved it for conversation with someone else, but, like Nick Gillespie had said, at this point we have so much free time as a society that we are that that Maslow's hierarchy of needs the psychological concept about you know, you start at the bottom and it's like you have basic needs all the way up to the top is self actualization. We are at the point where we are self actualizing at scale as a society and we suck at it. Yeah, we're experiencing a lot of problems. Unrelated story Professor seeks males for testicle removal study at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. What are you volunteering? I am not. I have need for those. As a side note, you really can't cut those off without some severe consequences. Just as a note like people are like Oh, those are unnecessary. No, they're very necessary, in fact, to your hormonal regulation and bone density. There's a lot of stuff that those things do. They're kind of important.
Carlos:You don't want to lose them. if you don't have to, is a professor going to be reimbursing for those ill effects?
Robert:I don't know exactly what kind of reimbursement you would get.
Carlos:How did you find that?
Robert:That was I think it was in the same TGIF article from a few weeks ago. I just wrote it down on there because I was like that's a hilarious headline, except it's kind of not.
Carlos:Oh God, no, thank you, i think I'll pass on that one.
Robert:That one's not for me, But when you're a board society, I guess you look for things to do like cut your nuts off. Yeah, no thanks.
Carlos:But I don't know. It's funny, I look at did. They say Finland is the happiest country in the world. Is that right? It's one of those Nordic countries yeah, which really makes me want to go to Finland, but I also know that they spent a lot of time outdoors, right? So they are In the summer?
Robert:Well, no, in the winter time too, in the winter too, oh my gosh.
Carlos:They're very engaged. It was actually what's the dude's name? The dad from American Pie. Oh, i know who you're talking about.
Robert:I can see his face. Eugene Levy. Eugene Levy, that's what I'm talking about.
Carlos:So he has a show on Apple that's like adventures with Eugene or anything, oh no, and the whole shtick is so they approached him and I don't know how much of this is true. What he says is he was approached by a couple networks to do a travel show And he's like I don't travel, i don't like getting outside my comfort zone.
Robert:So that's what it turned into, eugene.
Carlos:Levy Yeah, well, i mean like I think you would get some good laughs out of this because I think you guys have some similar characteristics. But the first place he goes is Finland and they make him do all these uncomfortable things.
Robert:Oh, no Again he's in. He's a good sport about it.
Carlos:He is And he keeps that shtick going like, well, i don't know how he is, how he delivers, and they make him swim in water and it's frozen. They break the ice, but he's got the full suit on the survival suit and all that sort of thing.
Robert:I do it without that because I know I could survive it, but I mean they'd have to be paying me a lot in order to get me to do it.
Carlos:Yeah, but it was really interesting Just seeing the people in Finland. everybody seems pretty, i would say content, and I think that's where I want to be in my life is just content with anything. If something shitty happens, i can still be okay. Where I think a lot of people they just get thrown even by little things. You know why.
Robert:Because you and I have both been through so much shit in our earlier lives that now we are prosperous, it's like, but I think life's good.
Carlos:But I also know people who have done that and they've gotten to a place where they're doing okay and they just make up new drama. And I do. I find chaos in places that I don't need to find it, But being okay, but also continually growing and understanding that I do have these certain flaws or setbacks that I need to overcome or just leave behind or whatever it is. I just I don't know. I think it's cooler now. It's okay to talk about mental health and all those sort of things, But it's more of a whole wellness conversation of, hey, you know what People used to be really happy working on a farm and hanging out with family all day long. How can we tap into that now? How can we integrate what we're doing now into that? And I think part of it too, which we're seeing more and more of, as these CEOs realizing we can't have people working from home all the time anymore.
Carlos:Because, we're losing the magic of working long time. So I think that's part of it too is we have to be around other people? We just do? I mean, i've learned that.
Robert:Well, even you and I, when we worked all by ourselves, we would still get together with other writers sometimes and be like get that, and we unleash collaborative power by doing it.
Carlos:It was amazing.
Robert:Shares power, Which is not something a super introvert like me necessarily wants to hear, but it really does. There really is something to it. If most of our Andy Andrews said the thing about most of our opportunities and whatnot come from people, then you're not likely to find any of those sitting at home on your couch Totally.
Carlos:Absolutely. But it's uncomfortable to get off the couch. I know it is for me sometimes.
Robert:I will say. Now I'm daydreaming about a travel show in which not only do they take me to obscure corners of the world and make me do things outside my comfort zone, but they at least give me the benefit of allowing me to try exciting menus all over the place in those places He eats really well on this show, by the way Like damn it. That is my idea of a perfect travel show. You can get me to do just about anything if you promise me a good meal afterwards.
Carlos:He eats well, and one of them was in Venice. It was funny because they want him to look and feel uncomfortable, but I think they had kind of a hard time in Venice of all places. That's really How can he? He's going on a gondola ride and getting to know the gondolier and all this. I'm like he doesn't really look uncomfortable right now, which is kind of funny. So yeah, just as well, on that note, i think we're out. I think so. Thanks for watching.
