The Kitchen’s Open – More Than Baked Beans Edition

Good morning, Wisconsin.

Morning, world.

It's a new day.

Thanks for kicking it off with us at WFHR.

Got your host, James Bond.

The mic.

Join by Melissa.

Good morning.

Seth.

Good morning.

And the best listeners in radio.

Thanks so much for joining us, everybody.

Got some entertainment news coming up in a little bit.

Got some other fun topics for you.

Get into our schedule.

Some local good events going on in the area.

But it's a Monday and a 10 o'clock hour.

You know what that means.

Good morning, and welcome to the kitchen's open on WFHR.

It's hard to believe we are almost to the end of the month of May.

Wow.

And Memorial Day is just this coming Monday, a week from today.

One week from today.

Go Raptors.

Not only is it a day to remember those we've lost and who

fought to protect our freedom, it's a day to connect with friends and family for fun and food.

It's the unofficial start of grilling season.

Although with the weather last week, many of us may have already begun.

I had it a few times.

I know a few times already.

Yep.

Got you and got you.

Yay.

When it comes to food and Memorial Day, you know the grill will be involved.

Whether it's hamburgers or hot dogs, brats or chicken, there's something.

There's nothing like freshly grilled meat during the summer.

Those meals and those dishes are seldom served alone.

So I thought it would be a good idea to talk about the side dishes.

Beth, didn't you already do an episode on side dishes?

Yeah, honey.

That was on Thanksgiving.

Oh, that's right.

Now remember, yeah.

This is summer grilling side.

There are different options and there are ways to make a side that will make a statement

and possibly make it even the star of the meal for Memorial Day.

So sides can easily become that afterthought of the meal.

Like you choose that main dish and, okay, well, what are you going to have with it?

But when it's well done, these sides can steal the spotlight from the main dish.

Whatever that dish may be.

I found three websites that offer some interesting ways to elevate the sides.

And I took a recipe from each one.

So from delicious.com's article, 56 Memorial Day side dishes perfect for barbecues,

picnics, and more, kick off the summer with the best sides ever.

They share the recipe for broccoli Caesar pasta salad.

And I think their description of the dish is just as appealing as the dish itself.

Quote, if Caesar salad took a vacation to the Midwest, she would become this broccoli Caesar pasta salad.

Such a great way.

It's absolutely right.

Yeah, it's a bar.

Bright green crisp tender broccoli is tossed with kava tapi shredded parm and shards of crispy croutons

and a silky homemade Caesar dressing for an unforgettable spin on this classic cookout staple.

So the recipe has two components, the dressing and the side itself and the salad.

So here's how to make it for the dressing.

The first step is in a small bowl, combine one large garlic clove that you've finely chopped

with one tablespoon of lemon juice and let that sit for five minutes.

Meanwhile, step two, on a cutting board, finely chop three anchovy fillets.

They recommend ones packed in oil.

Sprinkle an eighth of a teaspoon of salt on top and continue to chop,

smashing the anchovies with the flat edge of the blade until a paste forms.

So be careful you use the heel and the palm of your hand on that end of the blade.

Right.

The dull end of the blade to be able to do that.

So you don't want to cut yourself making this salad.

All right.

Step three.

To the bowl, you're going with the garlic mixture, you're going to add a half a cup of mayonnaise,

a half a teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, a quarter teaspoon pepper and the anchovy paste.

Whisk until combined.

Taste and season with the salt and more lemon juice if you need.

Step four.

And anchovies, I don't think you're going to need much more salt.

I don't think so.

Well, and that's the salt is always to taste.

Of course.

So make sure it's where you like it.

It's a really important.

It is.

I appreciate whenever I hear somebody say that because I don't use salt very often.

Right.

And it's a nice reminder of that.

And that's a thing.

It's a personal taste.

Some of us like more salt.

Some of us don't.

So do it to taste.

Step four.

You're going to cover that bowl and refrigerate it until you're ready to use it.

You can make it ahead at least one day.

But try not to do it too far in advance.

You transfer that to an airtight container and you can refrigerate that.

You can also use, if you don't want to go through all of those steps,

a store bought Caesar salad dressing.

If you don't want to, or if you don't have the time to make that dressing,

you can go ahead and do that too.

Nobody's going to know if you cheated.

We won't tell anybody.

Right.

You're the only one that's going to know.

If you do make it, though, you will let them know.

It is true.

That's what I'm going to point.

So with a salad, step one that you're going to arrange,

a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat that oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl, you're going to toss four ounces white, country-style bread,

torn into three-quarter pieces, two with two tablespoons of oil,

and a eighth of a teaspoon of salt, again, to taste.

Spread that on a large metal baking sheet and reserve the bowl.

You're going to do this so that you can make your own croutons.

So step two is you're going to bake the bread into croutons.

So they're going to bake until they're golden, brown, and crisp.

That's about eight to ten minutes, and you're going to let them cool.

Again, if you don't want to do that step, you can always buy your favorite

store-bought croutons.

That works too.

Again, we won't tell.

Step three.

Meanwhile, bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil.

Add eight ounces of broccoli, cut into one-inch florets, and cook,

stirring occasionally, just until tender.

Three to four minutes.

Reserving the rest of the water in the pot,

transfer just the broccoli to the reserved bowl.

Okay, so you want to make sure that that water is still there.

Step four is you're going to return that water to a boil,

and you're going to use that then to cook the pasta.

So you're going to add eight ounces of cavatapi pasta,

and cook stirring occasionally until Audente, according to the package instructions.

Drain the pasta in a fine mesh sieve, then run cold water over the pasta

to watch the starshoff, and to stop the cooking.

Transfer to a bowl with the broccoli, and then add a tablespoon of oil and

toss to coat.

Refrigerate that until chilled, at least one hour, or up to a day in advance.

Step five is you're going to drizzle the pasta in broccoli with about three-quarters

of the dressing that you've made, and toss to coat it.

Coarsely crush half of the croutons, and add that to the pasta salad,

along with an eighth of a cup of finely grated Parmesan cheese,

and you toss that until combined.

Then the last step is you transfer it to the bowl that you want to serve it in,

and top it with the remaining whole croutons and some more Parmesan,

and you serve with the remaining dressing alongside of it.

So people can add as much or little of the dressing as they want.

Is there any cookout or potluck in the Midwest in the summer that doesn't

have at least one, probably several pasta salads?

Yeah.

And it is a staple for outdoor picnic-y type things in the Midwest.

And most have their favorite.

Yes, they do.

And Helen makes the best, or something like that, or what have you.

As a side note, I did not realize.

I think I was a teenager when I finally heard the furl term Parmesan,

because growing up, it was always grated parm.

Or just parm.

Just parm.

Everything was parm.

We had a lot of Parmesan in the house, and it was always parm.

I don't think I ever heard somebody say Parmesan.

Or in our house, you want to be silly.

It's permeasient.

Yeah, that's like that.

It's a tricky cheese.

Sounds like a really nice meal.

And there was some more on this.

There is.

There's another recipe from TasteOfHome.com's article,

44 Memorial Day Sides, to elevate your summer cookout.

And I found one that I am dying to try this summer Seth.

Oh, okay.

It's going to be a grilled one, so I'm going to need your help with this one.

Not that I can't do the grill, but you tend to take hold of that over the summer.

I found bacon wrapped asparagus.

Wow.

After all, doesn't bacon make everything better?

Yes.

Even asparagus.

Yeah, for somebody sitting beside me here that does not like asparagus?

I wish I liked it.

I really do.

Maybe this is your doorway and to start trying it.

Maybe the bacon will help.

Like I said, bacon makes everything better.

So the first step is you're going to wrap the asparagus in the bacon.

You place the asparagus on a sheet of wax paper and coat with cooking spray.

Sprinkle with pepper and turn to coat.

You wrap the piece of bacon around each spear then and secure the ends with a toothpick.

All right.

So you're going to oil and season the asparagus, then wrap it with a bacon.

Gotcha.

And you secure that bacon with the toothpicks.

The second step is you're going to grill the spears.

So you got to be careful with the toothpicks that are in there.

You might want to soak them in water first.

Yeah.

All right.

So grill uncovered over medium heat until the bacon is crisp for about four to six minutes on each side.

And then you discard the toothpicks before serving.

Yes.

Very, very important.

Beth, I'm sorry real quick.

I know the reason for this, but just so Seth does.

Why would you water the toothpicks?

Because they're made of wood and you're on the grill so they could easily catch fire.

And you soak them in water.

It's harder to burn wet wood.

Right.

I figured that was it.

Yep.

I also, when I assume stuff is usually when I get a drum.

So I just want to double check.

I mean I want to double check for Seth.

Right.

Just for me.

I was very aware.

Gotcha.

And you can actually do a couple of twists on this recipe as well.

If you want to sweeten it up, you can brush the bacon with maple syrup and dish on mustard

and you're going to need to introduce a sweet and tangy glaze that caramelizes beautifully on that bacon.

You can make it cheesy.

You can wrap a thin slice of cheese such as cheddar or mozzarella around the Sparigus before adding the bacon.

So you know, now we're getting into my wheelhouse.

Uh-huh.

And then if you want...

It tastes the asparagus anymore.

Or you can add a kick.

I know you like space.

That's true too.

To do that, to give it a little bit of heat, you can add a pinch of red pepper flakes or a dash of hot sauce to the asparagus before you wrap it.

All right.

I think I might be up for trying that.

I think that would be a good thing for us to try that.

Yeah.

Why not?

Give it a shot.

We want to follow up on that one.

Yeah.

How did that go?

We'll also let you know if any of the toothpicks could.

Yeah.

Please do.

I've got an article in writing about it.

And our last one is from Epicurious.com.

I love that name.

It's a great name.

Epicurious.com's article.

71 barbecue sides dishes to add some zing to your next cookout.

These spectacular sides just might upstage the main event.

I found potato rigonates.

It's a Greek lemon potatoes with garlic and oregano.

Nice.

Doesn't that sound pretty good?

Yeah, it does.

So here are the steps to make this.

You're going to step one, place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

Step two, you're going to place three pounds of baking potatoes.

Peeled, cut into one and a half inch cubes in a single layer,

in a 13 by 9 metal baking dish or roasting pan,

and pour half a cup of extra virgin olive oil over them.

Add four cloves of garlic, finely chopped,

one and a half teaspoon dried oregano crumbled,

and one teaspoon, either diamond crystal or a half a teaspoon of Morton kosher salt,

and freshly ground black pepper to taste,

and toss well to coat with olive oil.

So you want to make sure that's all coated in seasoned well.

The third step is you're going to roast those potatoes for 15 minutes,

and then you're going to pull it out and add a half a cup of chicken stock and toss to combine,

and then bake for 10 more minutes.

Then you're going to take it out, add a third cup of fresh lemon juice,

toss it again, and then put it back into bake until the potatoes are fork tender,

and that will take another 10 to 15 minutes or more.

Step four is you're going to preheat the boiler on high.

You're going to broil the potatoes until golden, brown, and turning crispy.

That will take two to three minutes.

And then your last step is to sprinkle two to three tablespoons of chopped fresh oregano on top.

Wow, I'm a sucker for roast potatoes of any kind, and that sounds really good.

Yeah, very yummy.

And there's a couple of variations you can do on this too.

You could add tomato chili potatoes, make it that way,

where you dissolve a tablespoon of tomato paste in the stock,

and reduce the amount of lemon juice to taste.

You could substitute a lepo-style pepper or crushed red pepper flakes for the black pepper.

It's a little spicier.

It gives you a little bit of heat.

A little kick on there.

Yeah.

Just what you want.

So these sounded yummy to me.

There are, like I said, one had 77 recipes, another one had over 40, another one had 55.

So there are hundreds of recipes you can go online.

If you're looking for something different, because we always go to the same one.

I know in our household we do the same side.

We tend to do that, yeah.

So adding something different into that repertoire and that bacon wrapped asparagus won't take too long,

and it sounds pretty easy to make.

So you just have to be careful of how long you grill it.

Something I was thinking about of taking a dish that you're familiar with

and doing something different with it, like macaroni and cheese.

That's another staple that you're going to find in the picnics and that kind of stuff.

I'm sure you can find different ways to spice that up,

and I don't mean chopped up hot dogs, like what we did with our kids.

I mean, the other way is to literally spice it up, maybe make it a little hotter,

maybe make it just something like that.

Yeah, you can always add a few sauce to it where you could add Frank's Red Hot,

so make it like Buffalo style.

Buffalo style mac and cheese, that sounds like a good idea.

So maybe some shredded chicken in there.

You can always add veggies to it,

and then it turns into more of that casserole thing that we're used to.

Yes, it's used me hot dish, but yes.

Well, it depends on what dish.

If I'm using a casserole dish, it is still a casserole.

Speaking of dish, thank you, Beth, for the links to the articles.

There are a bunch of good ones.

I know my mom is curious about one of them.

Oh, right.

She's going to be diving into.

Excellent.

And because I came across Kabuket, Duncan, Chocolate, and Munchkins.

Oh, those look good.

Yeah, they look really good.

They look really good.

I, yeah.

No, he goes to the desserts.

He's marking this one.

Yeah.

Can't hear you.

That's not a side change.

I can't hear you over the part of the game.

It is technically on the side of the plate.

Yes.

It is.

I love that.

You found it.

Sure.

We found a loophole there.

That is my wheelhouse.

I have loopholes.

Well, whatever side you do choose to make, make sure you stay safe as you prepare your

cookout and let the food be the star of the gathering.

We'd like to shine a light on your business as a sponsor for our segment, if you'd like.

As a sponsor, we will highlight your business during the segment and in our newsletter,

which you can sign up for on our website.

And then we could also share an interview with you or broadcast live from your business.

These are all options you can discuss.

So if you're interested in learning more about these opportunities, just give us a call.

715-424-1300 and speak with Pam.

She'll put you in touch with Ashley to work out all the details.

That number again is 715-424-1300.

And with that, we'll close the kitchen.

Very good.

Oh, now I'm ready for summer now.

It's a great one going.

Thank you, Beth.

That was fantastic.

Nice.

Be listening every Monday for another edition of the Kitchen's Open with Beth Habagger.

She'll be joining us next week.

We're looking forward to it.

We'll take a time out.

We'll come back and have some more fun on the morning show here at WFHR.

Welcome back, everybody.

Morning show here at WFHR.

Locally grown radio.

Melissa, Seth and James hanging out with you.

Thanks so much for joining us.

I appreciate you guys.

I appreciate Beth.

Appreciate her in the kitchen's open.

That was a lot of fun.

That was good.

It sounded yummy.

Yes, it did.

Be listening next Monday for another edition of that.

Let's dive into some entertainment news real quick.

And Netflix is getting its first facelift in 12 years.

Okay.

Last week, we were talking on Netflix a little bit here and there in a couple of different times.

But we wrapped up the week and was wanting something you and I were touching on Seth.

Of the migration of people kind of leaving Netflix and going to other streaming services.

Right.

Now Netflix had a jumpstart on this game.

They kind of invented it.

Yeah.

But they have not been able to hang with it.

They have not been able to keep up with it.

You see this in industries that blow up all the time.

It's almost the whole to me.

I'm not the person that needs the brand new phone.

I'm going to use this phone until it's dead in the ground.

But the person that needs to do that.

I've never understood like, you know, we all know how this goes.

It like three months later is when they work out all the bugs and everything.

That's when you want the new phone.

Right.

When they work out all the kinks and everything.

It's that the streaming industry has done that.

They let Netflix go out there and do their thing and kind of just almost kill that company.

Left and right.

And everybody else is just kind of like, okay, they did this one thing I like.

And 20 things that we're not going to do.

Right.

And one of the things that they've been really laid on is just figuring out what do people want.

They've lead a very heavy into video games.

And I have not heard anybody really getting Netflix for video games.

No, I just saw that recently.

I was like, really?

I was very surprised by that.

Yeah.

The streaming giant on Les Wednesday announced a major overhaul of its home page.

The first redesign since it unveiled its current home page back in November of 2013.

Wow.

Additionally, the streaming streamer announced it will begin testing generative AI boosting search

in a TikTok-like vertical video feed on mobile.

While Netflix emphasized that these will initially be considered, quote, small tests,

meaning that not all Netflix users will initially receive the tools.

Right.

The global scale of the test suggests a much larger undertaking.

The streamer's sleeker new TV home page will move its main menu from the left-handed side

to the middle of the page, similar to its rival Apple TV.

Content descriptions will appear more compact.

And recommendations will be more personalized in real time based on browsing behavior.

And the viewer time of day, the company said.

Signalling the streaming giants ambitious outside of TV and film,

the new menu will also emphasize more of Netflix's live events and gaming offerings.

So that's a lot of work they're going to say.

Well, that changes everything, James.

Now that they've redesigned the, I'm going to go right back to them now.

Right.

That changes everything.

Question.

How do you play games on Netflix with just a...

That's a great question.

You're going to have a controller like...

Great question.

I have no idea.

I just saw the thing, boy.

Wow.

Yeah.

I don't know.

This announcement comes less than three weeks after Netflix reported record profits

during its latest quarterly report.

They reported that.

They didn't show that.

Because they don't show.

They just say.

Yeah.

I don't believe a single one of these streaming services when they talk about their numbers.

And they could be giving you the literal honest numbers.

They could be rounding down.

And I still wouldn't believe them until I see the actual data.

Like, there's nothing to trust.

And I'm saying this like, if I was an advertiser,

if they were coming to me and like, hey, we want you to advertise with Netflix.

All right.

Show me the numbers.

Well, you just take our word for it.

Like, that really works for our business.

No.

That seems like a great idea.

Yeah.

I don't know.

First off, way late on this.

Yeah.

Really late on this one.

But also, I don't know what good it could do.

Because all of this talk in the hours that their CEO was up there talking.

Nothing about content.

Nothing about TV shows.

Nothing about new shows or new movies or anything about that.

Like, that's how they became what they were.

They had a, so we all remember, right?

Netflix was a DVD rental company, right?

You rented the DVDs?

It was the company in the mail.

It was actually a pretty cool service.

It was.

We had it when I was, when it first came out.

DVDs and return them.

And that's really cool.

But the thing that set them apart with the streaming was having a critically acclaimed television show

that they made themselves, which was orange as the new black.

That's what started it.

They had good content.

They were creating good things.

Keen listeners might have noticed the intro music we had.

It was the theme music to the Tracy Almond show.

The Tracy Almond show was supposed to be the benchmark show for the Fox network.

It was not.

It was a good show and it did okay.

But the ratings really weren't really there that much.

It took the spin off of the Simpsons.

The marriage with children got the ball rolling.

It was the first hit that they had.

But it wasn't the mega hit that the Simpsons was, of course, and where it would come to be.

And it literally made a network.

Not just one network.

But all the spin-offs of that, Fox Sports, Fox News, all those things.

It doesn't happen without marriage with children in the Simpsons, which is hilarious.

When you think about it, right?

But it's also something that Rupert Murdoch, whether I think he's a despisable human being,

but very smart when it comes to this stuff.

Because he knew that those two shows what happens.

They get attention.

They get attention.

Yeah, they're paying fines with the FCC.

What they paid in fines, they more than tripled in advertising dollars.

Right. People are watching.

People are talking about it, right?

So like him or not or whatever, very smart way of business model.

What Netflix could have done is something very similar with that.

And they not only had that set to orange as a new black, but stranger things.

They'd really save that streaming service and really keep it relevant.

Yeah. House of cards and a really good show, a couple of good shows.

They've gone away from that.

It feels like very far away from that.

They're not even trying anymore to do that.

And instead, they're kind of like grabbing shows from overseas and bringing them here and stuff.

It's cheaper to do it.

It's already made.

Yeah, I don't know.

I'm curious to see how long of a shelf like Netflix asks.

Yeah. It'll be around, but I mean, who knows what form it'll take.

Yeah.

Especially a year from now.

Yeah.

Next thing, Netflix gaming controllers.

You can rent them and then ship them right to your door.

Come full circle.

Yeah.

That's so good to be hilarious.

That's definitely going to happen.

Imagine meeting one of the Beatles.

So many questions would go through your head and things that you might want to ask and everything.

But it might not be this.

It probably wouldn't be what Larry David would have asked.

What would you would think of?

You guys Larry David asked the first, you know, since Larry David asked the first time he met Paul McCartney.

It happened earlier this year at a dinner during the Senate like 50th anniversary celebration.

He asked Paul, quote,

Have you ever been hitting the face with a fist?

Has anybody ever punched you?

And Paul answered the question immediately.

Larry says, quote, there was an incident in his youth when he was like 13 or 14 and somebody had buttered him.

He told them, ooh, out.

This revelation came on the fly in the wall podcast with Dana Carving, David Spade.

That they do one of the more popular podcasts out there.

Spade actually witnessed the conversation and said, quote, you were hilarious.

Paul was a good laugh or two. He was into it.

I think he likes having these goofball comics around because they always ask him questions and not everyday questions.

By the way, a little known fact, his brother, Mike, who goes by or used to go by the name Mike McGear, was a comedian.

He was on a couple of comic show.

I know what to call it.

Variety shows on the BBC for a while.

He had a comic trope that he was a part of actually.

I don't know what I would ask Paul or Ringo or anything like that.

I know I wouldn't come up with something as great as that.

There's gotta be people that, like everyone, has to have one of that group of, you know, one of those people that when you meet it,

you're just gonna be tongue tied.

Even though you know, this is like a normal human being.

You know, yes, but they had such a profound effect on my life.

You know, so you get up there and you ask like, oh, how many different kinds of fish can you name?

Or something like that, you know?

As these really bizarre questions.

So I've been very humbled and very spoiled in Mike.

A little bit of an acting career that I've had and gotten to meet a handful of people that are pretty darn noteworthy and pretty darn talented.

I've been able to not, I wouldn't say hang necessarily, talent wise.

I don't know about that.

But just in conversation and not be, you know, a, a blubbering idiot and just a fanboy and all that stuff.

Until I met Jimmy Hart.

Jimmy Hart a long time wrestling promoting a guy, a long time in the industry.

Somebody I grew up watching on, you know, wrestling and stuff.

And we, he's going to come down for a rafters game.

And, you know, we're promoting it and everything.

And Andy Francis at the time, GM of the rafters, is getting hold of me that morning as we're doing the morning show.

And like, hey, you know, Jimmy would like to be on the air with you and everything.

Oh my god, that's awesome.

So we're assuming he's going to call in.

Nope. Jimmy decides to roll in, man.

He comes in the studio.

And I am, I am 13.

I am 13.

We've still got the interview.

You go back and listen to that interview.

And I am such a gushing just a fool.

I like it.

He could not have been nicer or better.

He ran that interview.

I'm basic.

So you were born somewhere.

Where?

I don't know what it was.

I don't know what it was, man.

I've been around, I've been around Downey and didn't even feel close to that.

Right.

But something about him and being around him.

I even thinking about it right now.

I get all tongue tied.

Well, it's fun.

It's the weirdest people, right?

Yeah, like you said, you know, you could meet like one of the biggest stars in the planet.

You know, Robert Downey's Jr.

It's like, yeah, hey, cool.

You know, we're equals.

You know, we're both reacting together.

Yeah.

We're peers, that kind of stuff.

But you get stuff, especially for things when you were a kid.

I mean, and you do, you get transported back to that time.

And you're like, oh, I don't know what to say.

I was just a blubbering client.

This is me sitting in a jazz club in Kansas City.

Okay.

And I'm sitting there with my friend.

We're there, you know, just taking in the music.

And I hear from behind me, someone go, hey, is this seat taken?

And I turn around and I look and it's Bucco Neal.

Oh, man.

And I say, no.

And that's it.

That's all I said to him.

And he sat right next to me at this jazz club.

I'm like, ah!

Kind of thing.

Yes.

I didn't know what to say to him.

This is another one of those things.

I'm here.

They don't get right in the movies and TV shows.

Whenever somebody runs into a celebrity, they always have the perfect thing to say

or whatever.

That just does not happen very often.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We'll take a time out.

Everybody will come back and we're going to give me this fun topic.

I think it's going to be fun.

Things that foreigners like about Americans.

All right.

We'll get into that when we come back on Mornings at WFHR.

Welcome back, everybody.

Mornings here at WFHR, locally grown radio.

Lady Madonna, children at your feet.

Wonder how you manage to make ends meet.

I think it's my first favorite Beatles song.

It's a good one.

That's so good.

If you get a Paul McCartney.

Yeah.

Melissa, Seth and James here with you.

Thank you so much for joining us, everybody.

Let's get into an interesting fun topic here.

And I think, you know, prevalent for today's day and age.

Things foreigners like about Americans.

All right.

Good news.

Yes.

Beat American.

You're going to see plenty about, you know, the negative.

Yes.

When it comes to these things and stuff.

We are always going to be a bastion of a positive and, you know, healthy.

Good news and all that.

I think this is a great one.

So a website, a scoured social media to find things that foreigners like about Americans.

And there are some interesting random responses here.

And these are more along those lines.

They're not necessarily the verbatim survey that somebody is talking.

Of course.

People like the way that we are food or our music or something along those lines.

Which I think is pretty, most of that stuff.

You probably already understand or have known or have heard for a long time.

I would say that the Cold War really brought light to this along.

Any chance they got blue jeans, rock and roll music.

Right.

Things that are exported that aren't necessarily exports or imports of artists.

Or cultural exports.

Yeah.

Yeah. I think this is more along those lines.

Yeah. My favorite thing about Americans is how often football fields is used as a unit of measurement.

Yeah.

Oh my God.

You do hear that.

That is so true.

That is three football fields away.

Yep.

Oh my gosh.

A good one.

Quote.

I love how Americans say coffee.

Coffee.

Coffee.

Well, how else do people say it?

I don't know what they say.

Cafe or something.

I don't know.

I don't know what that one is.

Quote.

I love how Americans make a salad where the primary ingredient is pasta.

Yes.

Well, we were just talking about that.

I love salads.

Yes.

That's right.

That's so good though.

Remember in the South macaroni cheese is a vegetable.

Yeah.

It is called a vegetable.

Yes, it is.

Sure.

Quote.

I love how Americans call their dogs stuff like Cooper.

Tucker and Tanner.

I have no idea what any of these names mean, but the dog is very cute.

A dog by any other name.

I think they're right.

Americans use interesting names to call their animals.

I agree with that.

Well, just the fact that we give our animals, like human names.

Human names, right?

It's always been interesting to me.

And I don't know if we've talked about this, I apologize.

If nobody's noticed this, I can't believe that.

We have flipped this where our animals were giving like Bob, Joe, and our kids were calling,

you know, Frankenstein.

We're moving here.

Yes.

Yes, we're moving here.

Yes.

We're just giving, like, a flip this around.

What happened?

Our animals.

The most popular name in America for your kid.

Spot.

Hey, Rover.

How was school today?

Anybody seen Fido?

We're supposed to take up a garbage fight.

Where's Mint?

That's so good.

That's so good.

That's so good.

Quote, I love it when Americans say, I got you.

I do feel generally reassured.

I got you.

Yeah.

That's a good one.

I do use that quite a bit, actually.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love that.

I love how Americans have these mysterious unexplained food substances called things like hot

grits and sloppy jokes.

Food substances.

The idea that they does not describe it all what they are.

I think it's what they're getting, too, is it, right?

Yeah.

Well, but they have things like that, too.

Oh, yeah.

Black pudding.

Yeah.

There is nothing sweet about black pudding.

Well, that's the brits.

They do that thing.

They just do it to disguise how horrible their food is.

That's why they do that.

I can't prove this, but there was a sketch on the season finale of SNL where they're all focused

on, like, English cuisine back in Victorian days and stuff and, like, eels and stuff.

Oh, yeah.

And I was thinking about it the other day.

Was this, was this them trying to, like, keep people out of their country?

Like, oh, like, this wasn't the real food they were eating, but they just, like, let it

everybody think that that's what, hey, blood pudding.

That's all we eat here.

Yeah.

Right.

Like, those people went out.

It's delicacy.

Yeah.

The whole idea of having laws and rules and everything to keep people out of your country.

I think you're doing it wrong.

Like, all you got to do is do things like that.

I think the food is horrible.

Right.

Yeah.

There you go.

Yeah.

I love how Americans pronounce duty, like duty.

With two Ds instead of a T.

Yeah.

Duty, exactly.

Yeah.

One person, one person.

Who just said duty out there?

I thought it was waiting for one of us.

Speaking of 13-year-olds.

One person said, one of my, quote, one of my favorites is that they'll often say question

before asking the question.

I do that.

Or do you do that too?

And not in text.

Yes.

And another person said, I love it when Americans say period to finish a sentence.

Period.

Yes.

Full stop.

Sometimes we just have to speak our grammar or our punctuation.

Our punctuation.

Yeah.

Sometimes we got to do it.

I love the way Americans all have a favorite regional gas station.

Oh my god, that's true.

But it's true because we are such a ginormous country.

That's part of it.

Yeah.

It's a very large country.

Quote, my favorite thing about Americans is they're extreme disgust for line cutters.

Is that a problem in other countries?

That's what I can't.

Stream disgust for line cutters.

Line cutters.

Yeah.

I did not pretty read this, but every one of these is making me want to look into other countries

and see like, is this not a thing there?

Well, they have the cue.

You know, you get the cue.

Yep.

But maybe they're just a little more, I don't know, nice voter.

They just don't really care as much, I don't know.

I don't know.

Why are we so big about that?

I don't know.

I don't know.

That is really hate that.

Yeah.

You talk about universal feelings.

I'm telling you that everybody is a feeling.

Yeah.

If you want to bring together a group of people, have somebody try to cut in line.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And you're life in your hands there.

Yeah.

Like, I can't imagine this happening in a, I'm just thinking of a few circumstances where you

get a line of people, but they may not see eye to eye.

You know, voting.

You know, you probably see it for that.

Yeah.

And I just can't even imagine.

Like, you know, somebody trying to cut line voting.

Like, the way you would unify people in just a second of that.

Yeah.

Wow.

Here's some.

Next election, James, let's go out and do that.

No cutting party.

We'll bring people together.

Not only that, but I may even start, I might even run for office, everybody.

Just, and my only thing I'm going to run on is, is being against line cutters.

Yes.

That's a single issue candidate.

I'm not even going to say what party I am.

I'm just going to say, hey, I'm against line cutters.

Well, keep up.

Be pretty good.

Let's vote for him.

I really shouldn't joke about that.

I really, I really.

Let's see the headlines now.

Quote, I love when Americans say, whoop, do whoop.

Whoop, do whoop.

I'm guessing that that's more like the lines of just like freight, you know, voices we do.

Yeah.

Like random.

Yeah.

I'm on them on a poetic words, maybe, you know, something just random noises that we make.

We do that a lot.

I'm going to think about it.

Wow.

Quote, I love how Americans in movies just end phone calls without any further explanations.

James, we were talking about this earlier.

We have the way phones work in movies and TV shows that the other person's always there.

Always there.

Always answers.

Unless it sets up the next thing, was like, why didn't they answer the phone, right?

Now we have to find out what happened.

Every director does the same thing too.

It's got to ring a couple of times because that really makes it real.

That makes it really authenticity of it, everything.

Because if you only let it ring once.

If you only let it ring once.

If you only let it ring once.

We're anticipating that phone call.

Telling you.

Quote, my favorite thing about Americans is how much they generally enjoy discussing the weather.

That's actually pretty true too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's not just small talk.

But it is easy to go to small talk.

It is certainly easy to go to small talk.

It's the easiest, I think.

It's the easiest.

It's got to be by far and away.

Because it affects everyone, you know.

As we've learned with Melissa, not everyone follows sports, which was news to me.

You're welcome for broadening your horizons.

Two more for you here.

Quote, I love how Americans greet each other by saying,

How are you doing?

And then not answering back.

Yeah.

Just saying, how are you doing?

Not answering the questions.

How are you doing?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

Just question.

You answer with a question.

Yeah.

And I think we do that with a lot of things where we answer something with a question.

We're absolutely.

Or you respond with that.

I'm fine.

How are you?

Yeah.

And you know, they're just the platitudes and then you maybe talk about the weather.

That's why it's a greeting.

You're not actually asking them how they're doing.

It's just a greeting.

That's what it is.

Yeah.

And finally, I love how Americans decorate for every season.

Oh, yeah.

And they emphasize every season.

Oh, gosh, yes.

That's true.

That one I really do want to look into.

That one I, because I'm really curious.

Like, wow, so they don't do that in other countries?

No.

Even a little bit.

Maybe specific.

Like holidays.

Yeah.

But not every holiday, you know.

It's interesting.

Getting ready for holiday.

There's probably some like regional ones that people.

Oh, sure.

Yeah.

There are areas go all out for.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

That's a pretty interesting list.

But we know.

No.

No, we must.

We must have a flag day.

Yes.

Must be decorated for.

Yeah.

You need to do it.

We need a day about croutons.

We need a crouton day.

Let's decorate for.

I would, I would stand by that.

Yeah.

I did your little croutons.

The croutons are fantastic.

The croutons are great.

We make up holidays that we can get ready for.

So.

Yes.

Yes.

Do it.

Yeah.

Come.

I have some fun with that, everybody.

We're going to take our final time out of the day.

We'll come back and have some fun.

Wrap up the show.

Get into our schedule and some good things going on in our area.

Right here on the morning show at WFHR.

Welcome back, everybody.

Morning show at WFHR.

I'm coming home, baby.

Now you need to drink.

I'm coming home now right away.

Melissa, Seth and James wrapping up the show for the day.

But we'll be back at it tomorrow.

Mel and I are going to be hanging out with you.

You should join us.

A real quick programming note tomorrow.

One of the reasons we encourage people to be a part of things

with the Heart of Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce is showing the community

that you know you're supporting the community.

All the great things that they can offer there.

And of course, you get to hang out with us.

Yeah.

That's right.

Every new chamber member gets as part of being a chamber member.

It gets a chance to join us on these airwaves for 10-15 minutes to talk about you.

And that's not a threat.

No.

That's a good thing.

Think about it like that.

We, tomorrow morning, we'll be joined at 10 a.m. by Michelle Rogus.

And we're looking forward to that.

That's going to be a lot for him.

Very nice.

Our friends at Rapids Transmission are going to be here to talk about their business

and the history of the business, too, which I find is interesting as their business itself.

Yeah.

Very exciting.

They're reopening that, yeah.

Yeah.

We had an article in our last newsletter that came out about their business.

Be sure to join us and see how many times I call Michelle Melissa and Melissa Michelle.

And I'm just mortified by it.

Yeah, yeah.

We got it.

We got it.

Any right?

Sorry.

I want to touch on real quick.

A South Carolina resort sits.

It's already has a record 161 people signed up to run an annual 5K race.

It's an unusual twist.

Clothing is optional.

Oh, dear.

The Carolina foothills resort, a nudist resort in Spartansburg County,

said this year's a Buck Creek streak.

5K already has a record high number of people registered for the June 14 race.

Oh, my goodness.

Buck Creek.

Okay.

That's a really good name.

That's a great name.

The only...

The right part of this is that this is not more well known.

Yeah.

It needs to be talked about more.

That's the love it.

Yeah.

This year's race offers an option to go the extra mile and run the 7.3K in honor of the race founder Mike Ward,

who passed away at the age of 73 back in 2017.

People who register for that 7.3K will also be eligible to win 5K organizer set.

Oh, nice.

Okay.

This is a fun event.

But it's also got a lot of family people showing up.

Oh.

It's a lifestyle, everyone.

Organizer set first time visitors to the resort must pass a background check before being allowed on the resort.

Of course.

Yeah, that's very smart.

Registration includes a free lunch and a day pass to explore the clothing optional resort.

There you go.

Clothing optional resort.

Yeah.

Can you run faster naked?

That's a good one.

That's a good one.

That's supposed to science project.

Look, experiment.

We're trying here.

Where should this do you wear shoes?

Yeah.

I would still wear shoes.

I...

5K is a long way to wear shoes.

Yeah.

Because you're practice for it.

Yeah.

You can definitely run faster naked.

I will not be...

I will not be taking follow-up questions.

But, yes, of course.

We have to know what the motivation also was on that.

So, you know, take that with a grain of...

Earlier, earlier, you got it, Seth, what we were saying.

You know, you know, somebody can run fast.

You'll find out.

You'll find out how fast somebody can run.

And the nudity may make it.

Make you run just a little bit faster.

It may be.

Possibly.

And you said this is a family affair, but guys, it's just skin.

It's just skin.

Yeah, it is.

Yeah, it is.

It's not a really big deal.

Speaking of things that are different here

than they are around the rest of the world,

the way we are about that.

Oh, yeah.

That's kind of how prudish we are.

Prudish we are about just, you know,

the human body, right?

Our skin.

Yeah, literally.

It's our biggest organ.

Yeah.

We have our schedule and some good things going on in our area to get to.

Be sure to join us a little bit later today for your live sports call-in show Playmakers.

On 105, 5WRI from 4 to 5.

Be sure to join us with sports takes and feelings.

Big thinking to quality plus printing and family natural foods for joining us.

Very nice.

I think it might be a solo show for me today, but this Friday,

I'm going to be joined by a new manager for your Wisconsin Rapids or Rafters.

Coach Ziggy is going to join us.

Yes.

Looking forward to that.

Very exciting.

We are going to have meet your rafters back for a whole season

and get you ready for Rafter baseball and get some tickets to give away

and all kinds of cool stuff.

It's the rafters.

A week away.

One week away.

Very exciting.

Very exciting about some of the other things going on in their area as well.

One of them I wanted to touch on.

Lincoln High School has their spring concert series going on over the Performing Arts Center.