Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: All right, Shannon, are you ready for a super weekend?
[00:00:06] Speaker B: This is going to be one of those moments where you make a bunch of like soup word related jokes again.
[00:00:11] Speaker A: I think we have all the ingredients for a great podcast, apparently.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: So it's going to be one of those moments.
Yeah, I mean, you know, two different soup related events going on this weekend in the capital, Greater capital region. And so that's going to be exciting. Should bring tons of people here to both Amsterdam and Schenectady. So that'll be exciting to see. And we'll be in one place over the other. Unfortunately, the Stan and Shenzhou can't be in two places at once. Although we wish we could sometimes.
But. Yeah, I mean, you got a. The opportunity this week to really be able to jump out to Amsterdam to talk to them a little bit, you know, about that. Unfortunately, I can be out there due to some conflicts, but, you know, did get to listen in on sort of the conversations that you had. And they seem super excited about this. It is obviously a little bit later than usual, but they too, you know, Schenectady is expecting 31 soup flavors. They're going to have 30, 30, I believe, at 22 locations, if I'm not mistaken.
[00:01:20] Speaker A: Yep. That was the interesting thing about talking to Michelle Pollock and Rob Spagnola from City of Amsterdam Tourism was the fact that they were going. They had a couple different restaurants that were going with multiple entries and it was. They were all for it and they're very excited. So we're going to take you out to Amsterdam to talk to Michelle Pollock and Rob Spagnola.
[00:01:51] Speaker C: Still in Amsterdam, but I am joined by the dynamic duo of Amsterdam tourism departments, Rob Spagnola and Michelle Pollock. And we're actually at Lion Den.
[00:02:02] Speaker D: We are.
[00:02:05] Speaker C: I just wrapped up with Dan and literally you walked in the door like a vision that you are.
[00:02:10] Speaker E: And then I know you're not talking to me, right?
[00:02:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:12] Speaker C: No, no, you brought. No, you were in your Uber. Cause Rob was driving my personal drive.
So. And this just. I think this is all just happening for the great reason, because we're here talking about Soup Fest and all of this. And this has been such a big thing for Amsterdam and in January. So for you to. How many is this and what's the whole idea around Soupfest here in Amsterdam?
[00:02:37] Speaker E: So, you know, we started all of these events from scratch, you know, eight or 10 years ago, and we wanted to fill a calendar. We wanted to give everybody something to do. When I grew up here, you couldn't find a person that didn't say there's nothing to do in Amsterdam. And, you know, that stuck with me forever and since I was young and we wanted to do something about it and change it and, you know, hopefully we're moving in a good direction.
[00:03:03] Speaker C: And you guys, so many things do happen in Amsterdam because I'm trying to keep up with them, with my schedule and trying to get out here as much as I can for you. Michelle, how important is it to have Soup Fest in January, you know, other than warming us up when it's almost.
[00:03:21] Speaker D: Zero outside right now, it's the kickoff to our 2025 events.
It brings people to new restaurants that they didn't know existed here. It brings people to basically through three quarters of the city. Right. You have downtown, there's a ton of restaurants. Over there. You have the south side, there's a ton of restaurants. And now in the Rackton area, you have a ton of restaurants that people can just walk to and really enjoy the day. And they can also use the CDTA bus to go to those locations as well, because CDTA has a spot at every location, basically. So it's just to get people out walking around and really enjoying our situation.
[00:04:03] Speaker C: So I've. I've covered this a couple times. You know, not a hard gig for me to stop by and go, as you said, to all three spots.
[00:04:10] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:04:11] Speaker C: You know, I usually start at the south side and go downtown, and I finish up here on the north side and then head back, going through the menus and the locations and getting stuff for. For my. My stuff at the Amsterdam Recorder in the Gazette, there's some new places, like, places I wasn't aware of.
[00:04:32] Speaker A: How exciting is that?
[00:04:33] Speaker C: How challenging is that? You know, we've got some places that have gone, but new places have jumped on. So how exciting is that for you guys?
[00:04:42] Speaker E: It's really great to highlight people that are spending time and energy and investing in Amsterdam. So, you know, the least we can do is try to bring some people from out of town into town and people that live here, show them, hey, these are new restaurants opening up. So we love doing that.
But, you know, I think when you show anybody the list and, you know, for Amsterdam, they go, you have 22 restaurants in Amsterdam that are serving soup. I didn't even know there were 22 restaurants in Amsterdam. And, you know, so it's just a way we spread the word. We, you know, we hope people come to support local business people, because obviously, no matter where you are, local business can use as much help as they can get. And you Know, we're happy to highlight them. They're, you know, such good people that spend their time and money investing in Amsterdam and, you know, it's nice to help them out whenever we can.
[00:05:35] Speaker C: And then the voting, you know, we are sitting in the home of the two time most unique winner, Lion Den with the bacon mushroom cheeseburger, which again, I'm not a judge this year, I'm just a fan. But it's.
[00:05:54] Speaker D: You are a judge because you get to pick.
[00:05:55] Speaker C: Still, I'm a favorite. I mean, I love it. Dan first told me, I was like, what? And it's become, I tell everybody about it and if there's any disappointment, you know, Dan just has it on for one day and I'm like, really? Really? I'm like, I may have to come back down here like late Saturday and go, Dan, just put a quart aside just so I can take it home.
What's it like when we talk about the excitement of new people coming on, some new places coming on again, I wasn't aware of. And then you've got those solid standards like the south side standards almost with Herc's, Lorenzo's and Shorty's, which is old but new ownership. And then we come over and sharpshooters there. And then you got new, you know, Schwalbecher Brewery. Yep, brewery and Rug City. They're very excited. So what's that like for you when you see these people communicate and they're buying in?
[00:06:53] Speaker D: I think what we see is their uniqueness. Right. Of if you look on this list, there is not a duplicate of soups. Right. There might be one or two, the pasta visuals and stuff, but every single one is different and unique. So I think that's what brings people here because they want to try the food. And on top of it with Dan and everything, since he is a two time winner, he has a lot. He's got, he's got a lot of competition and ready for going for that third.
They want to come here, they want to try it, they want to see what that winning unique soup is.
So I think it's just very exciting for everyone and it gives them, them the opportunity to be unique in their own sense and having people come and see them.
[00:07:34] Speaker C: All right, so ready for the tough question?
[00:07:40] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:07:41] Speaker C: Creamy or brothy for soup?
[00:07:48] Speaker E: I'm not a politician, but I'm just going to say give the politically correct answer. How can you go wrong with either one?
Michelle's an elected official now, so I don't know if she can give you, you Know, I gave her preference.
[00:08:01] Speaker F: Personal preference?
[00:08:02] Speaker D: Yeah, personal preference.
[00:08:03] Speaker E: I like creamy. I would go creamy.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:08:05] Speaker C: How about you, Michelle?
[00:08:07] Speaker D: I was gonna say creamy, but I will go the opposite. Broth. Yeah. And the best part is, is that it's all, all 22 restaurants have a creamy or have a brothy soup. And there's over 30 different soups that everyone can try.
[00:08:22] Speaker C: And that's what I want to ask you about because again, you know, this is, you know, we're double dipping this weekend.
We have the Amsterdam event, we have the Schenectady event. But the one thing, again, something that was unique about Amsterdam is a lot of your restaurants are offering two totally different options. And like you said, you've got 22, but you've got 30 chances for tasting.
Did that surprise you or is that kind of been a thing that every. I don't think everybody's done that, but this is like kind of new this year. Like, you've got more double.
[00:08:52] Speaker D: Double offerings, I would say. So a lot of them like to do two to three soups because it gives them a chance of winning. Right. So. And there's two different categories. So I think that's the biggest thing is that there's the best soup in the city and the most unique soup in the city.
So I think they, everyone just wants to try and get that championship, get that win. What do you think?
[00:09:16] Speaker E: I think too that it's, you know, a lot of places have a lot of great soup and they want to highlight what they have. We thought about limiting it to one, you know, per restaurant, but we said, well, you know, there's no downside. Let them. If somebody wants to offer two or three, let them because, you know, they have a lot of great soup and it's nice for them to be able to show it off.
[00:09:38] Speaker C: All right, so we're going to go behind the stove. Not behind the butcher counter, but behind the stove. So I'm a first time judge out in Schenectady. So what are my tips for tasting? Because I know you guys make the rounds and I think you taste probably, probably gonna taste all 31 also. So any tips, like, is there any prepping? What do you, what's your Friday like? Do you lay low on Friday? Do you do the expedition bandaged stomach thing, like competitive eaters to, like today and tomorrow training? Rob, what do you do?
[00:10:11] Speaker E: I've never had a problem consuming any amount of food, soup or anything. So I have been prepping my entire life for events like this. So it really, it's just second Nature to me. So.
[00:10:26] Speaker C: All right now, Michelle, you are a petite flower.
[00:10:29] Speaker D: Oh, thank you.
[00:10:31] Speaker C: So, just like my broadcast partner, Shannon, you know, I have an affinity within the family and with a lot of women in my life that I've got a lot of small women that can eat like a fat person, which endears them to me. So what's your guidance for those, you know, young ladies that are out there that really want to partake in soup?
[00:10:52] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:10:52] Speaker D: Well, I mean, I love food, so my thing is we do try every single soup.
And, you know, it's. It's only three ounce, which isn't bad. So I take it as by the end of the day, I had a bowl of soup, right? And I take, obviously, little bites of it just so that we can try every single one, because that's what we want to do. We want to let people know how good they actually are and that people really need to continue the entire map and go to every single place because it's not a lot and soup isn't very heavy some.
So I think from 12 to 5, you have that time range where you can go and really enjoy every type of soup.
[00:11:37] Speaker E: Don't try to do one alcoholic beverage with each soup you try. I think we tried that one time and it didn't end well.
[00:11:47] Speaker C: The trip got cut short a little bit, so. And then one. One thing I do really enjoy, again, this is from being a sports writer for 22 years, is you have a pretty cool trophy. It's not the Stanley cup, it's not five feet tall. It's not the biggest thing, but it is so cool. Your trophy for most unique and best in the city. So who gets credit for that design and came up with it and. And on that trophy, neither of us.
[00:12:20] Speaker E: No, we were probably sitting around one day just trying to think of something, Googling things. And we'd like to give away unique, you know, trophies for Wing Fest as well.
Soup Fest. And so, you know, we give out the big plaque with the chicken wing on it for Wing Fest.
So, yeah, it's. It's nice. It's fun. When you go into a restaurant and you see it hanging on the wall, the bowl of soup or the chicken.
[00:12:47] Speaker D: Wing, and it actually looks like you can eat the soup. It literally looks like a soup that you can just eat. And it's so funny, people will come into my office and they'll be like, my God, what kind of soup you have? I'm like, no, it's a trophy. It's not soup. It's not edible.
[00:13:01] Speaker A: All Right.
[00:13:02] Speaker C: So we've got 22 restaurants vying for one of the most unique trophies in food sports.
[00:13:10] Speaker D: In food sports history this.
[00:13:11] Speaker C: This weekend. So I know Amsterdam's been known as Rug City for a long period of time.
Are we, like, kind of thinking from a tourism point, like, are we trying to go for rebranding Amsterdam as like, Food City or Yum Yum City or Num Num City or.
[00:13:28] Speaker E: We've been using the hashtag for six or seven years, I think, or maybe no, probably longer than that now.
[00:13:33] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:13:34] Speaker E: Fest City usa.
[00:13:35] Speaker C: All right.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: Because everything is a fest.
[00:13:36] Speaker D: Everything is a fest the whole calendar year.
[00:13:40] Speaker E: Yeah. So we, you know, we have a full calendar and it's nice to be able to celebrate Amsterdam on a regular basis. It's nice to have people that live here be able to point to something and say, oh, geez, I wasn't be able to go last month, but I know something else is coming up.
And, you know, you can do that throughout the year now. And we're really happy about the schedule of events that we have. And just, you know, with Soup Fest alone, it's not just about soup. It's about getting out and seeing people that you haven't seen in forever. It's about, you know, catching up with friends who you're going to meet out that day. It's about listening to live music and, you know, everybody has specials going on. So it's, you know, it's a really nice day to be in Amsterdam.
[00:14:20] Speaker D: And I'm just going to add one thing. We couldn't do these events without our sponsors.
It really is a full circle with working with the community and the business organization. If it wasn't for, well, now, urgent care, St. Mary's Hospital, Lorenzo's Rockton House, we could not put these type of events on. So we are very grateful for the partnership that we have secured throughout the years.
[00:14:45] Speaker C: All right, so 12 to 5 on Saturday, Festive City USA. Fest City USA. Come down and get your soup on.
[00:14:58] Speaker D: Get your soup on. Take pictures.
[00:15:00] Speaker C: Thanks, guys.
[00:15:01] Speaker E: Thank you.
[00:15:03] Speaker A: So they were a lot of fun. They really enjoyed being a part of the podcast.
They really want to come back again. And naturally, they have St. Patty's Day Fest coming up. And they are definitely excited about wingfest. And I think I was confident when I said, oh, I think Shannon is going to be out in Amsterdam for.
[00:15:27] Speaker B: Wing Fest, putting me on for a lot of festivals. I don't know if my gym regimen can keep up with all of this taste testing that I'm doing lately. I mean, we are very food heavy in this area, which is phenomenal at times and a little much at other times. But it's still great to see everybody get out in the community.
And I think, you know, I just love that during your conversation, you did ask for some sort of tricks and tips to prepare for Saturday when we're judges at the Schenectady Soup Stroll. And it sounds to me there's really no good way to prepare for this. I mean, just kind of go in and do it. But the one tip I did take away is no drinking while we do this, which is very easy for the two of us because we're kind of, you know, we're working.
But I did find it, you know, I laughed a little hearing them say that. You know, they attempted to do a drink with a soup. I don't know if I. I don't even know what you would drink with soup. I guess it depends on what kind it is. So I don't think that would be a problem for us.
We're a lot of fun without any alcohol. So.
[00:16:32] Speaker A: But you were saying we had this conversation, like, what are the plans going into our 31 samples on the Schenectady Soup Stroll? And I'm talking about, like, fasting on Friday. And you're like, I'm not fasting. It's a leg day. I'm going to the gym.
[00:16:47] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I mean, I don't sound like that again, but.
Yeah, no, I mean, I'm just gonna. I'm one of those people if I don't eat at certain times of the day. Cause I sort of have this down pat as someone who continuously works out all the time and lifts weights. But if I don't eat at certain times, you know, throughout the day, I get a little hangry. And me, hangry is not something you want to see. So, I mean, yeah, I'm just gonna have a normal Friday. I mean, in fact, on Saturday, I probably still get up and. And try to eat a little bit of breakfast because, like, I don't want to go on an empty stomach. Because I think you also run into that whole, like, eat on an empty stomach. Get full quicker too, because you've been so hungry for so long.
And I. Again, it's only 3 ounces, so I know you were doing some rough math with people, and so was I. I'm thinking, like, I think a standard soup can is about 24 ounces. So we're talking three ounce samples. That's about eight samples in a soup can. So we're looking about three soup cans that day is. Is where. Is where I'm kind of roughly mathing it. Three plus so.
[00:17:51] Speaker A: And a ton of walking.
[00:17:53] Speaker B: And a ton of walking. And I think that's gonna be. That'll be the interesting part because it is again still very cold in this area. But that'll. That might do us some good with the. With soup.
[00:18:05] Speaker A: So after I have covered both and last year I had the opportunity because the dates were. Were offset at the Amsterdam Soup Fest.
I was definitely there and very excited to partake with Dan Dan Nelly at Lions Lion Den. Lion's den. Sorry. And he is the two time winner most unique soup in the city. He's won it two years in a row with his. And I. And he again he as you. He said it's a, it's a mouthful. The mushroom cheeseburger chowder.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: No, you messed it up. It's the bacon.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: Bacon Bacon mushroom.
[00:18:45] Speaker B: You can't forget the bacon. That's like an important piece of this, the bacon mushroom cheeseburger chowder. Because like that's. The bacon is probably what's bringing out the mushroom flavor and. Or the mushroom flavor is bringing out the bacon in that. As I can imagine. I have not tried but I also too would love to try this.
And then they're going to have pasta faggoli. I'm going to butcher the names of all these pastas. I apologize ahead of time, everybody. You guys have fancy names for. For your. Not the pasta, but the soups. I'm going to butcher the soups.
[00:19:16] Speaker A: Pasta fazul. It's been around, listen much longer than even.
[00:19:20] Speaker B: I just call it soup. Okay? It's tomato soup. It's nothing fancy. Like it's just like it's, you know, it's tomato soup. It's.
It's chicken noodle soup. Like it's just soup.
[00:19:31] Speaker A: All right, well, here's Dan talking about his award winning recipe out in Amsterdam earlier today.
[00:19:39] Speaker C: All right, we're here at Lion Den bar and Grill in Amsterdam for talking to Dan Nelly, the two time, two consecutive time most unique city winner for the. My favorite unabashed favorite, hands down, the cheeseburger.
[00:20:01] Speaker A: Was it.
[00:20:01] Speaker C: So just what is it?
[00:20:03] Speaker F: Yeah, it's a mouthful. Bacon mushroom cheeseburger chowder.
[00:20:09] Speaker C: It's awesome.
How did you come up with it?
[00:20:13] Speaker F: You know, I'm not really too sure.
You know, it was just one of those things where I think me and the staff were just talking, you know, about something that would be unique, you know, and you know, cream of mushroom soup. There's bacon, ham. You know, there's all those ingredients and we never, we just really kind of put them together one day and said, you know, you know, I think, I think it was actually started, if I'm not mistaken, now that I'm thinking about it.
The day before that we actually made it and came up with the idea that we had. We don't do burgers here. But a few customers came in that day and asked for burgers. And I think that's what kind of kick started us off to. Hey, what about a, you know, bait, you know, mushroom, bacon, you know, cheeseburger kind of chowder. And you know, ever since it's really taken off. I only make it once a year. This is the only time throughout the course of the year I make it. It is not a cheap soup to make. There is a lot of ingredients, you know, going from the, you know, a case of bacon to, you know, 40 pounds of ground beef. The mushrooms, the tomatoes, you know, the cheese that we even put on top is very high end cheese. And then you got to think of all the heavy cream to make about 30, 35 gallons.
And the price of cream these days is not a, you know, cheap soup to make. So we do it this one time and, you know, we keep you. We already had people calling the restaurants to make sure we're doing it. There's a few people that you have coming to eat that make sure that, you know, I can't wait. Um, you know, it's one of my. Can I get, you know, people have asked if we could buy like a quart or something, you know, so it's very, it's very nice to hear the feedback from, from the people that, you know, have tried it.
[00:22:05] Speaker C: And then I think was last year, the first year you did two soups, like an option?
[00:22:09] Speaker F: No, that was the first two years we've only done the, the, the, the, the winner. It's so hard to say sometimes.
So then this year we're going to be breaking out. It's called Passive Zool 72.
[00:22:23] Speaker C: All right, so any of us who eat, we know pasta Fazul. What's the 72?
[00:22:29] Speaker F: 72 is the street address number of the building.
[00:22:32] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:22:33] Speaker F: We wanted to do that just to get people's curiosity. But being that we did, you know, Pasta Azul 72, it's gonna be an original soup. We're not, you know, going into a recipe book. We're not, you know, copying anybody. We're gonna make it for the first time on Saturday, you know, probably 5:00 in the morning. We'll start it to ready by, you know, 12. But it will be the first time we make this pasta azul, and this will be a staple here at the restaurant from now on to weekly soup. We will be offering pasta zul every week.
You know, so we just wanted to make sure people knew it was. It was something going to be original, something new. And, you know, when we get into it, we always like to put a little twist on, you know, things to make it a little bit more different and unique than just a standard, you know, grandma's recipe. So.
[00:23:23] Speaker C: So you're kind of going into this like. And again, being a Bills fan, this is hard to say. The Kansas City Chiefs, where you've got two super bowl wins, you're going for your third.
[00:23:37] Speaker A: Is it.
[00:23:38] Speaker C: How important is it to get the third most unique or you still want to get. Are you still striving for that best in city?
[00:23:44] Speaker F: Well, again, it's, you know, for the whole day in general. It's about to have fun. You know, we want to have fun. The recreation department does an amazing job putting this event on along with the upcoming wing, you know, Fest and St Patrick's Day. It really interjects a lot of money into the businesses this time of year when it's normally slow. So really, you know, at that, you know, we could all say, you know, it is for the fun and the community to have a good time. Yes. We would obviously like to win at least unique soup again.
Throughout the course of the last couple years, you know, we have gotten feedback that it's a lot of people's favorite soup. So it would be nice to get the title of, you know, the best soup in Amsterdam, possibly both. I really do believe it's that good. You know, I think the only thing sometimes that turns people away is, you know, they might like, you know, we hear you. We don't like the mushrooms in it. But even if you're not a mushroom fan, I would highly suggest trying it, picking around the mushrooms to try it, you know, because it really is. It's delicious. It's a very. And it's a very hearty soup. You know, you're not. It's not too much broth. You know, you're getting all of a, you know, very, very hearty soup when you. When you try it.
[00:25:01] Speaker C: And it really, as I said, I've. I've had this for two years in a row. It's what. It's my favorite stop. I usually make it my last stop because it gets Me back home. And it is kind of like a soup you can eat. You need to eat with a fork, you know, stealing some stuff from Chunky and things like that.
If you win the third, you think you're ever gonna take it off the.
[00:25:20] Speaker F: Soup fest, you know, because like I said, it's. It's one of those things that we like just doing, you know, yearly, you know, it would, you know, we. I might start thinking about running it in house a little bit more.
More as of a meal than a soup because that's really what it would be, is more of a meal, you know. So, you know, that's just something that's, you know, we, we did the first year, we had good success with it. You know, it's not going anywhere.
We are very excited about the, the pasta Azul. You know, that was one of my favorites growing up. There's so many different ways you can make it and flavors and I know a lot of people are doing it in the city. You know, we're not necessarily doing that soup to, you know, win a trophy, but to get some good feedback from customers as we are thinking about putting that on, you know, our normal menu as one of our featured soups, you know, consistently. Because right now we really just rotate through a bunch of different soups. So we would like to lock down, you know, a favorite, you know, and we wanted to go kind of with a classic pasta zool.
[00:26:25] Speaker A: All right, 12:12 to 4. Saturday.
[00:26:29] Speaker C: Lion Den, 72 Lion St. You.
[00:26:33] Speaker A: Can'T miss it now.
[00:26:34] Speaker C: You can't miss it now. So stop in for something hearty and for something. For something brothy and savory and good luck.
[00:26:43] Speaker F: Thank you very much.
[00:26:46] Speaker A: All right, Shannon, what do you think? I mean, I think it's worth a drive to finish up our duties after soup stroll to bug out there and see if I can get a court to bring home.
[00:26:56] Speaker B: Yeah, the only thing I ask is if you do get some, if you drive out that way, because I'm probably gonna go home and take a nap after. It's Schenectady that you just give me, I don't know, bring me a three ounce sample of that three ounce. We'll see. We'll see how it goes. I gotta start with 3 ounces because what if I, if I decide I don't like it that much? I doubt it.
[00:27:16] Speaker A: But like, there is no way there.
[00:27:17] Speaker B: Is bacon in it. There's but some others to look forward to that weekend. I mean, just from, you know, looking at the rundown here.
Always a fan of The New England clam chowder. So already love shorties. So. So that should be a good one. There's some fun ones in here, like a spicy Brazilian coconut shrimp soup.
That will be at 30 Main street and Shaobacher Brewing. I hope I pronounced that correctly.
[00:27:46] Speaker A: Yes. Yep. Young couple, we did a feature on them when they were first opening. They got the sign, got a new photo, so they're definitely identifiable there. And one thing Michelle talked about when I talked to her and Rob was that they're kind of broken up into three sections. You've got the south side, you've got downtown, and then you got the north side. So talking to Eden, who we think is going to be out at Soup Fest as our Saturday reporter picking up the soup spoon for me because I would normally be there with bells on talking to them. I kind of mapped out start on the south side. You're gonna make a stopover in downtown. And I'm gonna have Eden finish up at Lyon, at Lyon Street. And I think that'll be a good day for Eden and, you know, allow her to have a full flavor for her writing of her story.
So I think that's gonna, that's gonna be a lot of fun. And then we're at. So what do you, what do you think about Schenectady? What do you think about soup Stroll? Because now you have the menu which you wanted to get from Maureen.
[00:29:00] Speaker B: And I think although it's a City hall is still to be decided. What are you doing? City hall? We would love to know.
[00:29:05] Speaker A: I apologize for that. I actually was at city hall and I actually. It's going to be a beef and chicken.
[00:29:10] Speaker B: Oh, beef and chicken.
[00:29:12] Speaker A: Beef and chicken.
[00:29:13] Speaker B: That'll be interesting.
I mean, like again, running down this list, there is a lot of good looking soup on here. And this is gonna, this is where it gets hard because if there's multiple things that I like, I might want to go back and buy like a bigger thing of it, like a bigger container. And like that's where it's gonna get risky. But I mean like the backstage pub with a smoked brisket stew and a crispy, crispy potato Sriracha honey barbecue. Like that sounds, you know, phenomenal, as Shannon says, phenomenal. I say that a lot. It does sound phenomenal. But I mean there, there's just going to be so many. And I will say that I've been watching, you know, because we're, you know, I'm in the group. I've, you know, I've noted that I'm interested In going and will be going. So I see them post all the time on Facebook their updates about who's doing what. And every time I think I'm done saying, ooh, I can't wait to try that, there's another one that gets posted, like, five minutes later. I'm like, ooh, I can't wait to try that. And so it'll. It's gonna be a long day for us. Thank God. We have, like, four hours to do this.
[00:30:23] Speaker A: Well, again, we talked about we want to get an early start, and I've already mapped it out.
[00:30:27] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:30:27] Speaker A: Kind of our route breaking up into thirds to get this done.
Or quarters, I guess, because part of the Saturday is not only are we.
[00:30:41] Speaker B: Wait, does this one say s What?
[00:30:45] Speaker A: Escarole. What is sausage, escarole, and bean. Well, that's part of us going there and doing some Facebook lives and some recordings and the 31 sips of shenan.
[00:30:55] Speaker B: That's not like escargot, is it?
[00:30:57] Speaker A: No, no. I looked up escarole, and it's not. It is not escarole.
[00:31:01] Speaker B: It's not snails.
[00:31:02] Speaker A: It's not snails. Not snails.
[00:31:04] Speaker B: I had a moment there. I was like, I don't know if I want to try a soup that.
[00:31:07] Speaker A: Has snails, but we'll be good. Okay, so we want to get our tasting in. We want to get our judging in. You know, have time to digest our thoughts.
[00:31:18] Speaker B: We got to make sure we have water that day, and we've got steps.
[00:31:21] Speaker A: And we got water. Because what happens after we're done with the judging? Who comes out next?
[00:31:29] Speaker B: It's Newsy.
[00:31:30] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:31:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:31] Speaker A: Newsy is going to be on J Street.
[00:31:33] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:31:35] Speaker A: Newsy's very excited.
[00:31:37] Speaker B: I hope Newsy is warm.
[00:31:39] Speaker C: Newsy.
[00:31:41] Speaker A: Newsy's made a couple of requests for clothing options, and we will do our utmost to make sure that Newsy is Newsy's warm. Yeah, but the warmth of everyone there taking photos with Newsy warms up Newsy's heart.
[00:31:57] Speaker B: That it does. I mean, it's always great when we get to bring Newsy out to events that we like to do. We had Newsy down at the holiday parade, and that went stellar.
Expected to be back next year as usual.
But, yeah, I mean, up at the track, it's always been fun.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: New Year's Eve.
[00:32:17] Speaker B: Yeah, it's been a. You know, it's always great.
And someone who has a unique perspective of Newsy. I can't say how, but I do know a lot more than most people.
There is nothing like watching kids and seeing kids be so happy to see Newsy. And I think that says a message to the community about just how ingrained the Gazette has been for the past 100 plus years and obviously wanting to continue that and continue to just partake in all the different events in the city in other areas as well, you know, outside of Schenectady. I mean, this is our home though, right here in the city of Schenectady. And so, I mean, I know that we're excited to be judges and also, you know, representing both the sand elated static. What other e words are there to say Happy.
But, you know, we're just, we're beyond thrilled as you know, the Stan and Shenzhou to be there, you know, bringing our brand to that and having some fun and, you know, then also representing the Gazette at the same time. So.
[00:33:25] Speaker A: All right, you ready for.
We're gonna switch from fun and we're gonna go to news.
[00:33:31] Speaker C: Our.
[00:33:31] Speaker A: Our news segment. You ready?
[00:33:35] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:33:35] Speaker A: How was your weekend?
You know, TikTok was down for 16 hours. So did you survive?
[00:33:42] Speaker B: So was.
[00:33:43] Speaker C: What was the 6?
[00:33:43] Speaker A: I want to know what the 16 hours was like without TikTok.
[00:33:47] Speaker B: I got up the next day and I im in Tick Tock and I was like, wait, what am I gonna do?
Mainly because there is there and this is like they'll never see this. But huge shout out to Terry and Kiana I think is how you say her name. But they are like the two coolest people on Tick Tock who have been doing reviews of music. And Devin knows this and they do reviews of Taylor Swift. And a big, I'm a big. You know, I wouldn't say I'm the most swifty of Swifties, but I'm like, I'm up there. And I didn't get to see her in concert. And they even took us to her concert. They live streamed it. And so I always have a good laugh, but it was a little difficult because I got on, I was like, oh, now I got to go find them on Instagram. And I was just like.
So I just. I don't know. And also like Tik Tok. There's a lot of food recipes on Tik Toks and I just want to note this because this hasn't been talked about, but I've learned so much more on Tik Tok about things I should know in life than I ever learned in the barely there home economic class I had in my educational years or just in life in general.
So I don't know what we're teaching in school districts.
As far as home ech goes.
[00:35:02] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:35:02] Speaker B: But TikTok had me covered. Okay. Learn to change a tire from TikTok. Not I, but I know someone who did. But I did learn other things.
[00:35:10] Speaker A: Okay. And it's back.
[00:35:12] Speaker B: And it's back.
[00:35:13] Speaker A: For now.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: For now.
[00:35:14] Speaker A: As far as we know.
[00:35:16] Speaker B: Well, at least for the next 70.
[00:35:18] Speaker A: Something days, whatever days have been issued for that.
[00:35:23] Speaker B: And then obviously we're still on Facebook, so, I mean, if you haven't liked the Gazette and you want to see more of the Stan and Shen show, we'll be doing some live takes from Soup Straw on Saturday.
[00:35:32] Speaker A: We'll be doing Facebook Live.
[00:35:34] Speaker B: Yeah. So everybody can look forward to that.
[00:35:36] Speaker A: So coming out of this, we're going to do a recap next week.
[00:35:40] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:35:40] Speaker A: Of the soup stroll. And then we're going to. We may take a little bit of a break. A couple days break. And then we're going to look. Then we're going to fast forward to two huge events. One's very meaningful to us.
[00:35:50] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:35:51] Speaker A: As a podcast couple.
[00:35:55] Speaker B: You better watch your wife. My wife's in the other room.
[00:35:58] Speaker A: I know.
[00:35:58] Speaker C: And she.
[00:35:58] Speaker A: And, and she has the newsy spoon, so I have to be careful. But that's a one year anniversary for us being out covering Chocolate Fest. Covering Chocolate Fest.
[00:36:07] Speaker B: Yeah. And if you haven't watched the YouTube video of me berating people over their chocolate taste.
[00:36:12] Speaker A: No, the whole reason will go to YouTube because that channel is, is look up Shannon and Chocolate Fest and her disappointment when she was next in line and it ran out. That's worth it. So with that being said, do we need to be. Do we need to be on TikTok?
[00:36:28] Speaker B: I. I don't know. I don't know if we need to be on TikTok. Here's my thing.
[00:36:33] Speaker A: How about this? How about stay tuned because if we were gonna jump on TikTok, it'd probably be this weekend.
[00:36:42] Speaker B: Maybe. We'll see. I don't know. I. I'm more of a. I like to watch videos than I like to be part of the videos on TikTok kind of person. So we'll see.
[00:36:52] Speaker A: Yeah, but I'm always there doing videos and photos. So, you know, we've got, we've got the content.
[00:36:57] Speaker B: That is correct.
[00:37:00] Speaker A: 31 sips of Shannon. Yeah, it's coming to you.
[00:37:05] Speaker B: I don't know. I think if, if we're gonna get on TikTok, I might have to start having a drink with every one of the. The soups as we do this, so.
But no, I mean, it could be interesting. We'll see. Everything's always up in the air with us because I with you. Okay. With me because, I don't know, it's.
[00:37:22] Speaker A: Just, it's a thing.
[00:37:24] Speaker B: It's a thing. All right. It's a thing.
[00:37:26] Speaker A: But we're going to do our thing this weekend.
[00:37:27] Speaker B: We are. And it's going to be fun and we're excited to see people. And if you see us, please say hello. We always appreciate that. And, and please make nice comments to us, not mean comments.
[00:37:38] Speaker A: Yeah, we're good people. We're fun people.
[00:37:41] Speaker C: We like you.
[00:37:41] Speaker A: Hopefully you like us. And we know everybody loves newsy.
[00:37:47] Speaker B: Correct. So newsy, newsy.
[00:37:50] Speaker A: So look for us in Schenectady on Saturday and then we will recap it.
[00:37:56] Speaker B: Next week out there right around 11.
So that's right. Yeah.
[00:38:02] Speaker A: Soups on.
[00:38:04] Speaker B: Soups on.
