This week's episode of the Wild Card podcast is brought to you by the Mothman. The Mothman! Able to soar through the night, ready to bring evil to justice. Evil to justice?
He isn't a superhero, Jared. Mothman! Shh! Get out of that tree, Ron!
He is a superhero! He waits in the darkness for his prey. Ready to bring ne'er-do-elles to justice? They so deserve.
I'm searching for evil in the night! X-ray specs don't actually work! You're feeding Ron's delusions! My delusions are full up.
Thank you, sir. Let him go! He spares fear into the hearts of all who stare into his fiery red eyes. Don't look at me!
If you see me, this has to be a fire! It doesn't work that way! He's gonna land on his head! You really think it'll make a difference?
Wait. I think he's speaking to me telepathically. Uhhh... Yeah.
No, they totally do. I know, right? No, no, no, no. They totally thank you, the Mothman.
Yeah, I think they're buying it. Don't try to dump onto the garage! Just stay in the tree! Totally!
Okay, I'll talk to you later. I know. I tolerate you too. Bye.
What did he say? This is weird. He totally thinks you guys think he's the Mothman. Hey!
Yeah, yeah, Mothman! Keep on watching for evil! He'll get hungry soon and come down. But Ron is the Mothman!
How else could he get into that tree? He's right for his age. What about the red eyes? Really, Jared?
Oh. But how about being able to talk to people telepathically? Oh, what about that smart guy? Oh, we've been able to do that since my bath.
Oh, if that must be awful for you. It's not too bad. Except every other Tuesday, and then it's just screaming and weeping for six hours. Oh, that's horrible.
Guys, I've got to eat ten, five bucks is five bucks. Look at him! He's about to jump! Don't look at me!
Look! His eyes are glowing! Don't look at me! Disaster will fire!
Look! Cooking ball! Fly, you crazy Mothman! Fly!
Yeah! My garage! Are you okay? I told you not to look at me or disaster would fall out.
This is dumb. Even for you guys. Rest well, sweet Mothman. Rest well.
Welcome to the wild card podcast. I'm your host, Jared Eaton, and my co-pilots on this journey to wherever are my good friends, Jeff Curtis. Hello. And he's been reportedly cited numerous times in the greater Elizabethtown area.
He was first witnessed in Miracorder, and the next in Sound of Music, and Little Mermaid, and most recently in Peter and the Starcatcher. Run Blair! Fuck you, buddy. Fuck you.
Do you like how to turn? You were so excited. I was thrilled for me. I'm the mythical creature on the damn Jeffers.
It was good. It was good. It was good. Speaking of Jeffers, Ron Blair, will you tell the deckheads out there, the ones who gather around their radios every Wednesday night, Thursday morning, waiting for a good, but it's really a family event.
Let them know as they drink their hot chocolates. What this podcast is all about. This podcast is about picking beans in Guatemala and singing in a quartet in Skokie, Illinois. It's about being Kaiser Sose and what that entails.
Yep. Okay. I don't even know what that is. I don't even know what that is.
Absolutely. Absolutely. That's from usual suspects. That's from usual suspects.
That's from my favorite moose ball time. Great one. Yeah. Let the deckheads know how prepared I was for this week.
We have a special guest today, Maura Taylor, say. Hey. Hey, everybody. There she is.
Not your first time on the podcast. No, second. Second. But it's been well-deserved.
You were one of the original deckheads. Yeah, right off the bat. I mean, literally, we were talking about episode one. You were there.
Yes. Yes. So it's great to have you joining us today and to have you joining us for the favorite question. Oh.
That has been, again, this is one that you guys are going to think that I planned recently. Right. I've had this one written in the notebook for a while. Ages.
I want to know your favorite cheeses slash cheese experiences. Oh, right. I think this is a perfect episode. Yeah.
Oh, gee. I wrote it down when Madeleine said the suggestion of the... So allow me to give you a history of cheese. Cheese has been in writings.
Wait, this is about hankering for a hunk of cheese. Cheese has been in writing. Like, it's been recorded as early as 6,000 BC. Wow.
Most authorities consider that cheese was first made in the Middle East. Although there have been reports of it in Europe, reports of it in Africa, reports of it in Asia, all over the place. The earliest type was a form of sour milk, which came into being when it was discovered that domesticated animals could be milked. A legend has it that cheese was discovered by an unknown Arab nomad.
He is said to have filled a saddlebag with milk to sustain him on a journey across the desert by horse. After several hours writing, he stocked two quenches first, only to find the milk had separated into a pale, watery liquid and solid white lumps. This is because the saddlebag was made from the stomach of a young animal, and contained a coagulating enzyme known as Rennon. This is often produced in the stomachs of animals.
The milk had been effectively separated into curds and whey by the combination of the Rennon, the hot sun, and the galloping motions of the horse. Can I make cheese, Derek? Can I make cheese in my body? Are you going to gallop?
I might. We'll see. I'm sure it's hot and nasty in there, so I think it could probably happen. That's one of my languages.
That's one of my languages. You can eat your own cheese after you've made it. No, I'm not going to eat it. I'm just going to die in everybody else.
Okay. It's my final sacrifice to you. Yeah, tauton style. Go get in there.
Go climb in. Eat some cheese while we're going to stay warm for a night. Cheese was known to the ancient Sumerians for the birth of Christ. The ancient Greeks credited Aristeus, the son of Apollo and Cyrene with its discovery.
It was also mentioned in the Old Testament. In the Roman era, cheese really came into its own. Cheese making its own skill and knowledge and reached a high standard. People were well known for their ability to craft cheeses.
By this time, the ripening process had been developed and was known that various treatments and conditions under storages resulted in different flavors and characteristics. It was often served in the peoples of Nobilities. It was occasionally smoked. That's going to make a special smoking process.
You know how to smoke cheese from? No, I'm not trying. I'm not trying. I'm not trying.
Is it harder to roll up in the river? During the Middle Ages, monks became innovators and developers and it is to them we owe many of the classic varieties of cheese marketed today. Like Chedarn? Yeah, definitely.
Definitely. Chedarn? I love Chedarn cheese. During the Renaissance, the period cheese suffered a drop in popularity to be considered unhealthy.
What? It regained favor by the 19th century. It saw the start of it move from the farm to factory production. There was a history of cheese.
Thank you, Jerry. That's one bad one. I'm very proud of you. Excellent.
We've had our cheese. The topic is that we've been eating them. So now what are your favorite cheeses? Yeah, let's start with one of them.
Yeah, I feel personally attacked. The favorite question because I don't like cheese. I'm not. I'm not.
I am not. I don't like a taste or a texture of cheese that is not melted. Okay. So melted cheese is a full.
Yeah, like I'll eat cheese on pizza. I'm burning cheese. Yeah, not my favorite but I'll eat it. We've been through this.
We've been through this like three times in the last 10 years. If it's melted and it's by itself, I don't eat cheeseburgers. I don't eat cheeseburgers. I don't eat cheeseburgers.
No. Or cheese on any sandwich. Or cheese on any sandwich. Like the other day, I've never eaten cheese on sandwiches and my dad was burning dinner to our house and got subway for everyone and put cheese on my sandwich.
It's hard not to. It's like what kind of cheese do you want? I don't like cheese. I don't like subway because I don't like cheese with certain meats but I don't like literally anything else.
Like cheese and meat and bread. Or just meat and bread. You should like turkey and turkey with cheeses with the exception of one of my favorite sandwiches that I've ever eaten before. And Ron has enjoyed.
Oh, yes. It is Cajun Turkey on wheat bread with provolone because provolone is incredibly mild. Those sandwiches were the best and what was so good is I'm eating this Cajun Turkey getting all stanky up in the mouth. Knowing that I'm going to be in Jared and Jessica Russo's face is like within a kitchen.
And just blah blah blah. Cheese. Why do you think I picked out the same question? If you've gone for pastrami, you guys would have said that.
I'm actually quite picky about cheeses as well. I don't eat most cheese. Like just regular cheese slices with the exception of provolone and mozzarella. But I do really enjoy melted cheeses.
I really do enjoy grilled cheese. I really enjoy macaroni and cheese. But I also... Cheese sticks.
Come back to cheese sticks a little bit. Fried cheeses. Personal favorite of mine. That's about as adventurous as I get with cheese.
Well, I like cheese. Yes. Although I'm not a fan of the extra sharp stuff. I like a...
I don't care for extra sharp as mine. I like charlotte. I like cheddar. I like uh...
Darlsberg. I really like... I don't know what it's about. I've never had it but just the name of it.
And it sounds like a pretentious cheese that is teaching history. Well thank you. I didn't say you so pretentious. It sounds pretentious.
Yep. I'll eat some y'all's burger and drink some of them. You can't get a stock. Yeah.
Now I'm a pretentious. Yeah. I like... But I like mozzarella and provolone.
I find the perfect blend of cheese for a making pizza is like two thirds mozzarella, one third provolone mixed together. I think provolone's great. And the provolone just gives an added flavor to the mozzarella on the pizza. Domino's really good.
You can actually provolone on the pizza and all these things. Okay, regular mozzarella. Not extra cheese there. And then put those up until provolone on top.
Now if you had provolone before you've been to St. Louis. No, I'm not gonna say it's a Missouri cheese. It's like a provolone.
But it tastes like a provolone that hates you. It's really popular in the cheeses. I found a place that makes pizza that is actually un-edible. Un-edible.
I think it's the word I was looking for. But it's their pride is this provolone. It's like a sour provolone. Un-edible pizza is their thing.
It's like little style pizza. Just bad pizza. Yes, it's the provolone. It's the mob thug of cheeses.
It's angry with you right away. It's got a bad attitude. It's a chronic shoulder. Provolone's a problem.
Provolo. Provolo. You know provolo. Which cheese are you identified in a lineup?
I probably could depending on what you're talking about. So what do you just give me a stand, guys? It sees you through the glass. The thing about provolo.
Provolo. Provolo. Provolo. It has a tattoo on it's neck.
That's true. I dropped it. It has that eye tattoo. I mean it's a skill tour.
It's got 2 or 3 tiers. No. Don't tell us about cheese. Man.
Alright. Here's the cheeses I don't like. Swiss sometimes. Not even all the time.
I don't like those. They're weird cheese. They don't like those. Sometimes.
I don't like shitty craft slices knockoffs. I don't like those. Those are awful. Belvina.
Belvina is the same thing as those lysons. Oh brother. Listen. I could melt Belvina.
real cheeses. Don't be doesn't make go cheese. You meant well. I'll tell you what, don't be the assistants.
And, uh, they'll be not on a baked potato. Is, is just, uh, just, uh, just be the best. Have you made some beautiful? Oh, I know.
Oh, I know. When I'm going to take a potato. Oh, yeah. Twice baked potato.
But I also don't like, I don't like chili cheese fries. I don't like chili cheese fries. I love those. That's got not your cheese on it.
That's me. No. I hate to ruin your life. But, uh, it's not cheese.
It's not cheese. It's called prepared at pasteurize to cheese product. That's how they have to label them. It's like cheese.
They should call it kind of cheese. Yeah. It's kind of cheese. It's fine.
That's the logo. I can't believe it's not cheese. I can't believe it's not cheese. Now let's talk cheese experiences.
Like a specific cheese experience. But I feel like there's more cheeses I really didn't like. No, I love the cheese. I love the party.
I love Buddha. I love cheddar. I like mild cheddar well enough. Oh, that blue cheese.
Shh. In the correct setting, yes. So, trekkins. Well, in a nice salad.
Don't you die today. In a nice salad with cranberries. Blue cheese is very lovely. I think it's just finding the pizza that works for you for cheese.
Because Swiss, I can only really eat it on a mushroom and Swiss burger. I was wondering what the... Right now, I'm with a Swiss. I can't even...
It's not Ruben. I love Ruben. So, you know, Swiss cheese gets a pass every once in a while. There's not a lot of chicken.
I tried Brie and I didn't like it. It wasn't angry enough at me. I think most things would be angry most of the time. I would think so.
But the Brie was like, I don't care. I don't care about you. So, I apologize for picking a question that doesn't affect you anyway. It's like our first topic.
You said it's just a... video game. It's not about chicken. It's just a...
It's just a... It's just a... It's not about chicken. I grew up in Creed Colorado.
50 miles from the nearest fucking package. Don't ask me about... She is. Don't ask me about...
Yes. So, these specific cheese experiences that you would like to share with the crowd, that is gathered. So, for example, you mentioned I love cheese sticks. I do.
Here's the funny thing is I don't need to get them every time I go to a place, but I also feel like if I don't, people are going to be like, Joe was wrong. So, I just kind of do it out of social obligation with the exception of... Cluckers. And what is the other thing that's also been the Cluckers?
Cluckers is Buffalo Wild Wings, Buffalo Wings are being style placed. It was originally in Indiana. There was one in Albany, one in Jefferson, Indiana, one in Corridan. So, the new one opened in Shepherds a lot too long ago in like a industrial complex.
They built a bunch of like strip malls. Cluckers has too many appetizers because they're all great. So, for example, I got a buddy we used together for Bible said, I taught. Me and me and Kenny, we would cross the bridge and go to Corridan and do our Bible say, at Cluckers so we could be at Cluckers.
And anybody like Mike who would always get their fried banana peppers, because he loved them. Fried banana peppers. No, I'm not having to eat these where I think. Whereas, and I know like, Billy, we'll get the beer cheese and pretzel.
Now, on cheese. Like that is one of my favorite snacks is pretzel's with melted cheese. Yeah. Or beer cheese.
But I'm not sure, does it happen with your cheese? No, I can do not judge you. So melted cheese, melted cheese. In fact, when I was in high school, I ate a soft brad'sle of cheese every day.
No. So, you don't have total hate for cheese. No, just not with it. I haven't even thought of that.
Yeah. And I love that cheese. Flavored snacks. Like Cheetos are my favorite.
It's a great... It's a great cheese. No, it's better. I think cheese is better than cheese.
I'm almost passionate about my cheese versus cheese nips. I mean cheese nips existing more. Good. They shouldn't.
Have they have you had cheese at grooves. Yeah. And I feel more... You are...
It's wrong. There's a wrong base day. It's building the lily. It's unnecessary.
It's astounding. Cheezits are the most perfect little crackers in the world. They have so much football. And they were made all perfect.
Yeah. By Cheezing Grooves. Oh. No.
No. Okay. So Cluckers offers Monster Relistics, which are my thing. But the Monster Relistics they offer are big.
They are cheese logs. I'm pulling up a picture for those of you in the studio at this moment. Allow me to introduce you to Monster Relics at Cluckers. You are.
Oh, well. Oh, well. Oh, well. That's a handful.
It's a handful. One is a handful. In addition to that, they also have one of my other favorites next. Now, I discovered these when I was in college at TGI Friday's.
It was fried macaroni and cheese. Oh, I've had them. We teach this at our house. TGI Friday's used to sell them where you could buy them at a Target store.
Yeah, I like the Target store. You could buy them at a grocery store. Yeah. I like the Target store.
Yeah. And then TGI Friday's stopped having them. Yes, that is an appropriate picture. Oh, the daughter.
I'm sharing a picture of my daughter eating a Cluckers cheese stick. That's a lot of cheese. Or cheese then. So, TGI Friday's stopped having fried macaroni and cheese but then I discovered old Chicago, the pizza place, which has some of my favorite pizza.
And they also bless you. Oh, I thought I was the whole house. He's cheesed all over the place. Yeah, I'm sorry.
It's all about beard now. Yeah, most things are. TGI Friday's had fried mac and cheese and then they stopped carrying them. So I was distraught with an inability to fried mac and cheese.
Cheaters also had fried mac and cheese. So when I got to Cheaters, I know I'm spending quite a bit because I'm getting an order of lost for all of the sticks, which are about eight bucks. Yeah. Because each one is huge and a fried mac and cheese is about six bucks, but it's also a good server.
It's cool. It's cool. It's cool. It has cool.
So it's no longer melted. I can't eat it. I do have a problem with tedious foods. It could be delicious, but if you get tired of eating where you're like, I'm not chewing anymore, this is bad.
I don't know. That was salad. That was a lot of go. Oh, that was good, but God, I'm tired of chewing.
That's something. That's why I don't chew gum. Why would you chew gum? I'm tired of chewing gum.
I can't even swallow it. I'm fine. Someplace is spit in that. Here's why I don't chew chew gum.
That's coming from this jaw. That's his jaw. That's what I chew. It's crazy.
What I'm saying is that it's about cheese sticks. I was a vegetarian for over 20 years, and everywhere I went out, it's very hard to find food, especially if you're a vegetarian like me who doesn't like vegetables. It's very hard to find something to eat, and so cheese sticks was my staple for eating out for like 20 years. That was your protein.
That was cheese sticks. I like a good cheese stick, but it's nice to eat and get the order of the thing up the menu again. It's good to eat. So when we become rich for the Walker podcast, the four of us.
When we become rich, the four of us are the same, the four of us are the more. Because now the more is here, we're taking off. Well, that's probably true. My spin-off podcast is going to be the Traveling the Country, eating cheese sticks.
I'm reporting on the cheese sticks I'm looking for. So there's Jared in the field? Yeah. Jeff will be a regular guest on the second.
I'm going to say, OK, I appreciate it. Ron, he'll know. After the face you made it. And when I said, she's a grooves, it's a no-for-me.
She's a grooves are an aberration of nature. They shouldn't exist. And so as the other aberration of nature, Ron Blair, you should be friends with them. I was in the only room for lunch.
I should, but they're horrible. All right, you're correct, sir. Oh, no, they're bad. You're coming to school and they were always had these.
All right, I'll try one. But all this being said, make that face. Moira is here for a reason, isn't she, Jared? Yeah, it's about cheese.
Oh, my daughter, my daughter actually, she brought cheesecake for everyone. I do not care for cheesecake. That's what it says. I didn't even look at those.
We have one fork for everybody. So if you're a germophobe, it's McKenzie's, though, germs, it's not mine. So you're safe. I'm not scared.
Yeah. Oh, it's from the cheesecake factory. You can find the novels of cheesecake from the cheesecake factory. I'll say, OK.
Moira, you know this podcast better than the three of us. Yeah. Because you listen to them when we know better than that. I guarantee you listen to more episodes in full than I am.
Ron's been here for them. He doesn't listen. No, I'm not. It is pretty funny when after I listened to the episode, which is, you know, on your own.
Yes, yes. And next time I see you guys, I'll reference it or something. You'll say, what? What?
What was that? What was that? I don't know. I don't know.
I don't know. I don't know. I listen to the episodes in entirety. I listen to most of the episodes when I'm making the show description.
And Ron forgets what we've said three minutes after the podcast. Absolutely. It happens all the time. They're like, oh, that was so funny.
What you said. And I go, what are you talking about? I say, a lot of my favorite revealing moments was when I asked you what, because we talked about the Mandela fact and I asked you what previous episodes were about. And you guys could go back a couple weeks.
And that was a point. Yeah. I brain dump it in the future. However, you were here because you were special.
Yeah. Well, I actually, when I was preparing for this, I went back to make sure you hadn't covered the topic. Okay. Yeah.
Well, we got part of you now. I feel like it's a pretty wild, Carty thing. Yeah. That's cool.
Do you have a question to open this? I do. I have three questions. They are somewhat hypothetical.
So you don't have to really feel like you have to answer them. I can answer them. You have to say my life. If you want to share, you can, but it's not necessary.
So my questions are, have you ever been accused of something you didn't do? Yes. All the time. No.
You've always done the thing. People accuse me of being a chef every day. More likely people accuse me of being you. That's true.
And that's even more unfair to me. What? You're being recognized for something you did. He's getting credit for it.
But I'm just running around life like a hobo ignoring the jazz. I've been running there. You're running right. The second question is, have you ever believed second hand information that you had no proof of?
Yes. That's how most people end up hating me. Really? Yeah.
Because I react. And then they go, oh, why are you beating me? I've never been around drama a great deal because I just don't keep people in my life who would be the way they live. But when I was in high school, it's high school.
Right. I could tell my parents, but I would always go to the person I heard something like, I heard this about you. Because I just, I don't know what's on my thing. Yeah.
And now that I work in high schools, kids talk about other kids all the time and you hear both sides of the story and they don't match up. So I'm just like, I had their little shit. Right. So I mean, I will say the first one, I probably haven't been accused of a whole lot of things.
I didn't do because usually I probably did the thing. Right. But the second one, I think, no, I don't tend to believe that without something. I think I'm a science, of course, I have evidence.
Right. And the third question is. I've lived a long time. I believe stuff second hand.
Oh sure. Most people think. We don't work in high schools. We can believe here, say, and act on it in a lynch mob sort of fashion, right?
We haven't done that. We haven't done that. We haven't done that. All right.
So the third question is, have you ever used this podcast to promote a show? Yeah. Every single show we've ever been in the last lot of years. I don't think that's the point.
I don't think that's the point. I don't think that's the point where we get to show our promoting our own. Well, if you build a time machine, don't forget to catch us in the elephant man. What about you in a show, right?
I am in a show right now. Is it a show now? People being accused of things? It is a show about people being accused of things.
I was wondering. I thought it might be. Today we are talking about. Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Death of a salesman. No. No. I thought Death of a salesman would be electric.
I like that one. Death of a salesman would be a woman of being a witch. And then they put him to trial. You're thinking about it.
Yeah. Yeah. That is what it is. When they all play in Sandy for being a witch and they drowned her in the house, that's what they say about it.
It's Danny drowning Sandy to see if she's a witch or not. It's so close. I thought I was right on it. Oh.
Sandy, you're a witch. I was in that show. They wait here against a duck. They wait here against a duck.
If the duck shall float, she has to watch. Morrie, you want to talk about it? No. No.
You guys have anyone who has to know what this is going to do? No. I have to know. I could get through this.
I actually sure had it we would behave. I totally forgot until just this moment. Right. I'm going to talk about the Salem witch trials.
Yay. I remember all I got was there. Yes. I actually did the Salem witch museum.
I was. It was fun. It was fun. I don't remember.
It was the cheese sticks up in Massachusetts. Up in the gift shop. It's 38 years ago. So probably not great.
Yeah. So tell us about the witch trials. Sorry. So this Salem witch trials is a period of 1692 to 1693.
So I'm going to start. Oh, that's it. It's short of the most relevant thing though. That Salem witch trial.
That's a good thing. Oh, yeah. Which is a big bird. It was mostly in the northern colonies with the purists and all that.
The Quakers, the first people. Yeah. Or was it all in the country? Yeah.
Well, it was a very European thing. Right. Yeah. So witch hunting had been going on for years and years.
Yeah. So I'm going to talk a little bit about the history that led up to the Salem witch trials. A good history. So in that time, the north east was going through the south of the east was going through what they called the little ice age.
Sounds awesome. Oh, sounds awesome. Temperatures are historically, yes. Temperatures are historically much lower than what they had been.
There was the coldest of that time was a 75 years span that began in 1645. Oh. So for 75 years in the court, they have pinpointed that because there were fewer sun spots. Like so they, yes.
So the sun itself was actually a little bit cooler. But that's a lifetime of cold. Yes. If you were born during this.
Oh, no. So I know. So witch hunting actually was much more common. In colder temperatures because crops were failing food supplies.
Yeah. Economic difficulties. So and at this time it was very common to believe that witches could control the weather. So therefore, which has caused all of these struggles.
Which is one of the control of the weather until all the crops. Well, they were leaving with a devil and they were being a thorn in the sun. They were selling this shit for a piece of pulp. Right.
So another thing that was happening at this time is struggle that they were experiencing were Indian wars. Yeah. So as the settlers would leave the Massachusetts Bay Colony, they would move farther up into Maine to settle. And what was coming down from the north was the French, the new France.
Right from Canada. Yeah. Yeah. From Quebec in that area.