Ep. 141: Himalayan Salt

[00:00:16] Welcome to Ink Drinkers, a literary tea party podcast where we discuss books and drink tea.

[00:00:29] Remember how last week I started the podcast by saying, good morrow, and then I was like,

[00:00:34] what did I just say? Well, last night I started a new book, which I'll probably talk about next

[00:00:40] week because I'm really enjoying it. But, um, so I started a new book and like not even that far in

[00:00:47] someone was like, good morrow. And I was like, what? What is that?

[00:00:51] That's so bizarre. That's what we talked about. The universe.

[00:00:54] Yeah. It's was letting you know that that was coming up.

[00:00:57] Right. I don't know why. Because it's just a little phrase.

[00:01:02] But it also went along with my Romeo and Juliet book.

[00:01:06] Yeah.

[00:01:07] And you didn't know. I mean, literally things just work for us.

[00:01:12] Where were we?

[00:01:13] Um, hmm.

[00:01:21] Wait, did I say?

[00:01:22] The, the morrow. And then we talked about.

[00:01:24] Yeah. I'm moving on.

[00:01:25] Yeah. I was just trying to give you a point of where we were.

[00:01:28] I know. Thank you. Sorry.

[00:01:29] I'm moving on. I know I just asked you where we were, but.

[00:01:33] Stop talking. Stop talking.

[00:01:35] Um, did I tell you that my dad wants to start another podcast with me?

[00:01:40] I think you told me he wanted to start another podcast, but I didn't realize it was with you.

[00:01:43] With me. But then I found out that it's not so much a podcast he wants to do as like

[00:01:47] a YouTube channel. And what he wants to do is like each episode will last about 10 minutes,

[00:01:56] I guess. And we play songs for each other and then like discuss them.

[00:02:06] Okay. And apparently there's like a thing that people do on YouTube and now he really wants

[00:02:10] to do it. Do you really want to do it? I'm like, whatever, dad, I'll do it with you. Except that

[00:02:15] it, all the editing falls back on me. And.

[00:02:19] Did you tell him that we are still in the works with our Gilmore Girls podcast and that if we're

[00:02:25] going to be doing extra editing, that that's what it's going to be?

[00:02:28] Yeah. Well, anyway. And he was like, well, what do you have to edit? And I was like,

[00:02:32] dad, I'm not putting a crappy product out there that's unedited. And he was like, well,

[00:02:39] my podcast is unfiltered. I don't edit it. And I was like, I was like, yeah, but I'm not

[00:02:44] doing that. Like, I'm not doing that. And he was like, well, what do you have to edit out of your

[00:02:48] podcast? I was like, sometimes Marissa and I have side conversations that I have to edit out.

[00:02:53] Sometimes I have to cough in the middle of the podcast. And he's like, well, if I have to cough,

[00:02:57] I just pause it and then cough and then keep going. And I was like, okay, whatever. I can't,

[00:03:04] I can't do this. Thanks. I didn't even think about that. We'll do that next time. I'll time my

[00:03:10] coughing next time so that I'm able to pause. Yeah. Well, you know, that's about right.

[00:03:18] I have like a list of songs to play for him. Okay. I have no idea what direction he's going in,

[00:03:25] but I have a feeling it's going to be. Taylor Swift. Air's tour. Yeah, for sure.

[00:03:31] I have a feeling it's going to be all songs that you can listen to on like the classic vinyl channel

[00:03:38] of Sirius XM. Yeah, for sure. And mine are all going to be Taylor Swift.

[00:03:51] I don't even think you like Taylor Swift. No, I can barely name any Taylor Swift songs. Teddy,

[00:03:58] I don't know what you want from me. Um, anyway, so you want to, we're going to be doing this, uh,

[00:04:09] listening to the song soon. I would like to know when your first YouTube videos out and what your

[00:04:16] channel is. Oh, I will update you. Yeah. God, we got to think of a clever name. You have to think

[00:04:24] of a clever name. I think it's just going to be me and my dad like fighting the whole time on the

[00:04:28] podcast. It should be called me and my dad listen to music. Um, we'll see. Kind of like the office

[00:04:38] when the sign was get it, get a birthday sign and the sign says it is your birthday period.

[00:04:44] Period. I really think he really, the first one he wants to do is some music video, like a live

[00:04:52] concert thing. And I feel like he's just going to pull out like a super long, ridiculous version of

[00:04:58] free bird on me or something like that, you know, totally some Neil Young and I'm just going to have

[00:05:03] to sit there and be like, yeah, okay. All right. What's happening outside? I don't know. You sounded

[00:05:10] slightly Irish. I didn't mean to. This happens sometimes. It's a past life.

[00:05:18] Okay. Anyway, I don't know. Are we here to talk about books? Yeah. Okay. You want me to go?

[00:05:24] I'll go. I think it's my turn to go first. Okay. Okay. Um, this book came out in like 2022,

[00:05:33] but I haven't read it yet. And it was really good. Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson. Have you read this?

[00:05:40] I don't know. Tell me about it. I'll tell you about it. Like it seems familiar and I think I

[00:05:45] maybe thought about reading it, but I don't know if I ever did. Okay. So, um, this was a debut at the

[00:05:50] time. I haven't read anything else by this author. Um, but it, on the, um, description, it says the

[00:05:59] bookish life of Nina Hill meets younger and a heartfelt debut following a young woman who discovers

[00:06:04] she'll have to ditch the dream job and write her own story to find her happy ending.

[00:06:09] So the main character is Nora. What if that was your whole thing? Like you just read it. You just

[00:06:14] read the description and you're like, so that's the book. Yeah. So interested. Yeah. Sounds good.

[00:06:19] I'm going to read it. Sounds good. I mean, I like the bookish life of Nina Hill. All right. Let me tell

[00:06:22] you about mine. So Nora is, um, overworked, underpaid. She works at a publishing house. Um,

[00:06:31] she thought this was going to be her dream job out of college. She was super excited,

[00:06:35] had a lot of enthusiasm and it's just slowly descended in to misery. Um, Parsons is a publishing

[00:06:46] company that's been around forever. Um, they have some really famous authors that have published

[00:06:52] with them like Mark Twain and like, does she get paired with an author? No, I'm thinking of a

[00:06:58] different book. Yes. She does. Kind of. Okay. Okay. Let me get there. See if it's the

[00:07:01] same way. Okay. Um, they basically a year prior to the start of the book, they have let go of all of

[00:07:08] their top executives in her branch. So the people that she worked under who she loved and the only

[00:07:13] reason she liked being at this job are no longer there. Um, her best friend Beth at the company

[00:07:21] just took another job and she's leaving. So Nora basically has all of these additional tasks that

[00:07:28] she has to do. And instead of giving her more compensation, they tell her, uh, actually we're

[00:07:34] cutting, we're cutting your, your salary. Yeah. That's awesome. She already could barely afford

[00:07:41] rent and she rented with a roommate that she met on Craigslist years ago. So safe. Um, it's like a

[00:07:48] nice girl. So it wasn't a problem, but, um, I mean, I guess people used to do that in real life.

[00:07:54] Yeah. Crazy. Um, and right now Parsons, because they're kind of restructuring and,

[00:08:03] and trying to get new authors and they really only publish, that was one of the things they publish

[00:08:08] like a business manuals and business texts. It's like nothing interesting to her. She's really

[00:08:14] would love to be in like a fiction realm and an editor and she's like an assistant editor,

[00:08:18] but she's also just like doing admin nonsense. Um, she's been there for like 10 years and so

[00:08:25] she's never had a promotion. She's never had a title increase. She's doing all these things,

[00:08:30] but she's still listed as like an assistant. Yeah. Um, this is sounding very familiar.

[00:08:37] So the Parsons group is trying to sign this new author who's young, who's writing business

[00:08:45] manuals, but trying to like mix it up a tiny bit without being too out there. His name is Andrew

[00:08:51] Santos. Um, one thing to note also is that Nora is half black, half white. And that's a big discussion

[00:09:00] that there's really no color within the publishing community. And that's talked about a lot. So Andrew

[00:09:07] Santos also is half Hispanic, half white, I believe. So they discuss that a lot. Like that's talked

[00:09:13] about that, um, being biracial and how that has affected like the whole work situation and how

[00:09:21] they feel about the people they interact with and just that there's not a lot of diversity in that

[00:09:28] realm. Right. Um, so they kind of have this really cute, cheeky, meet cute. At first it's not a fun

[00:09:38] meet cute because I'll just tell you this one little antidote because it kind of sets the tone.

[00:09:43] So she's already just like done with this job. Right. It's been a really rough year. They ask her

[00:09:49] to, they don't ask her to sit in on the meeting or to be in any way involved, but they ask her to

[00:09:54] order lunch for everyone and for this meeting. So she has to email him and ask him what he wants

[00:09:59] for his lunch. And she's just kind of like, this is ridiculous. You know, I'm 95% sure that I've read

[00:10:06] this. Okay. So she, um, gets him a sandwich and he's like, is there avocado on this? And she's like,

[00:10:14] yeah. And he said, I'm, I'm allergic. And I had asked for no avocado. And she was just like,

[00:10:19] I'm pretty sure it was no tomato. And he was like, well, so she has to like give him her sandwich.

[00:10:24] She's super ticked. Um, that's kind of how their situation starts, but he's like super nice. And she's

[00:10:29] like, he's trying to be nice and he's probably not really a nice guy. And like all this stuff to get in.

[00:10:34] She's just in this headspace. Yeah. She's in a very negative. Yeah. Um, over the period of time,

[00:10:40] she has to go to a conference and he happens to be there and they start talking and she's trying to

[00:10:47] sign him. Right. But at the same time, she has met with her old boss who is now at a different

[00:10:54] publishing house. And that boss has told her, look, we're always looking for freelance editors

[00:11:00] and it's not a full-time position. It would be more of like a 15, 20 hours a week. And there's

[00:11:05] like one call a week. But if you're interested and you want to leave Parsons, you know, I'd put in a

[00:11:10] good word for you. So she also gets this other job, but does not quit Parsons. So she's doing both of

[00:11:17] these jobs. She's miserable. She's trying to have this relationship with Andrew or see how things go.

[00:11:27] But, um, there's a lot of themes, trigger warning for everyone listening of suicide, which I did not

[00:11:33] realize that it was going in that direction initially. Okay. I just thought she's unhappy in

[00:11:38] her job. It's one of those things. She's going to meet him. It's going to be like this maybe love

[00:11:43] story that has some type of conflict, but instead what, what it turned into was that she talks about

[00:11:50] past feelings of suicide and thoughts of suicide and feeling like maybe if I just didn't exist anymore,

[00:11:57] you know, I wouldn't have to worry about any of this. And she talks about, I don't remember how

[00:12:02] she words it, but like the monster within, like it's, you know, a physical person almost

[00:12:11] in herself that she is dealing with. So it was, um, you know, it, it was a little hard because you,

[00:12:20] you really are trying to root for her because she's so down in the dumps and you get it because we've

[00:12:24] all been there. And then to hear that, and I wasn't thinking that it kind of made me think,

[00:12:29] you know, you never know what someone is going through. And she kept trying to glaze over it

[00:12:34] with her friends and you could tell that they were concerned, but they didn't realize,

[00:12:38] and they were trying to delve in like, well, what do you, what do you mean by that? You know,

[00:12:41] and she'd blow it off. And then they're like, okay, you know, cause it, she doesn't have deep

[00:12:46] enough relationships with anyone, which is part of the problem. Um, yet people care about her and

[00:12:51] she doesn't quite see it. Um, so one of the things when she ran into Andrew, they were having drinks

[00:12:59] and it's like before really their relationship takes off. And she tells, he asked her, well, I know I

[00:13:04] read an article about, um, the happiness project or some study done. And he said, I'm about a 10.

[00:13:13] And she's like, you're a 10 on the scale. And he's like, well, where are you? And she was like,

[00:13:17] in herself talking, like having self-talking, she's like, I can't tell him, you know? And she kept

[00:13:21] going back. She's like, I'm a three, I'm a three. And he said, you know, um, most of the people

[00:13:27] statistically in the United States are like a six and a half, seven. And she just kept,

[00:13:32] it was like seriously bothering her. Right. So, um, we kind of see how that feeling and her

[00:13:40] wanting to feel better and her situation and her job and relationships and how she really feels like

[00:13:48] if I could just get back to who I was, maybe all this would go away. And you can see how much she's

[00:13:55] struggling with it and how much she's pushing people away and she's still in it and she's trying

[00:14:00] to get out of it. And it was just very relatable, um, in regard to just seasons of life and how hard

[00:14:06] they are. Maybe not to that extreme. Um, but, but that there are people around us that if we ask for

[00:14:14] help, there's good people that care about us. And I think that she just didn't, she wasn't realizing

[00:14:20] that and she wasn't realizing how deep in the depression she was. Um, yeah. I mean, that's the

[00:14:25] problem with depression is you are living in a fog and you don't realize what's around you.

[00:14:31] And it was written really well to explain, like she talked about that, how she felt like she was

[00:14:35] in a fog, how she felt like just the, it was a really good explanation of that feeling. Right. Um,

[00:14:42] but I also loved them together and just like how he, he, it was just wholesome. Like he was just,

[00:14:50] he's great. Like he's just a great, solid guy. I love it when the, the main hero is just like,

[00:14:55] yeah, a really good person. Yeah. But it wasn't over the top. You know, a lot of romance,

[00:15:00] you're just like, okay, that guy doesn't fully exist. Right. You know, he wasn't really like that.

[00:15:04] He was just a nice guy looking for connection. He really liked her, you know, she's trying to

[00:15:11] downplay it. Right. Um, and he really just wanted to help and be around her. And there,

[00:15:16] it was just really cute, like how they kind of were back and forth with each other. And, um,

[00:15:22] I really liked it. I thought it was a really good, good read, but I would be aware of that.

[00:15:28] Right. That it's pretty heavy. Yeah. Um, spoiler alert. I looked it up and I did read this book.

[00:15:34] Okay. Well, some of the stuff you're talking about, I was like, that sounds way too familiar

[00:15:38] to be like a coincidence. Yeah. Um, so yes, I did read it. So my book just came out on October 8th.

[00:15:46] Okay. And, um, I got an advanced copy through the Macmillan audio influencer program. So be sure to

[00:15:54] tag them. Okay. Do the hashtags or whatever. I'll send you what you have to do. Okay. Um,

[00:16:00] and it's called the love elixir of Augusta Stern by Lydia Cohen Leugman. Man, that was a mouthful.

[00:16:07] So it takes place in two timelines. It takes place in the 1920s and the 1980s, which is considered our

[00:16:14] present day innocence. Not like, you know what I mean? Okay. So Augusta Stern, um, in the 1920s,

[00:16:22] she's a young teenager and she is working in her father's pharmacy. Her mother has just recently

[00:16:32] passed away, unfortunately from diabetes. And I say unfortunately, because like right after she

[00:16:38] passed away, they invented or discovered or whatever insulin. Yay. Yeah. So she's like really

[00:16:45] angry about that. I mean, how could you not be? Sure. So she's working in her father's pharmacy.

[00:16:52] Her sister, Bess, also works in the pharmacy at the makeup counter. She's an older sister and she's like,

[00:16:57] you know, popular and lovely and all these things. And Augusta does not really feel that way.

[00:17:03] Well, since her mother recently passed away, her great aunt comes to move in with them. They live

[00:17:10] in Brooklyn, by the way. And her great aunt, um, considers herself, what's the name of a person

[00:17:22] who has an apothecary? Um, um, the term for someone who owns an apothecary is a pharmacist and apothecary.

[00:17:32] Oh, yeah. So, okay. She's also called an apothecary, I guess. Okay. So her aunt considers herself an

[00:17:43] apothecary. Okay. Which is a little bit magical. Like there's a little bit of magical realism in this.

[00:17:50] And she like makes this soup that seems to really help people. And, um, when people have problems that

[00:18:00] can't be solved by medicine, they go to her and it's kind of funny because she and Augusta's dad

[00:18:07] are like constantly butting heads because he's like, this is ridiculous. This doesn't make any

[00:18:11] sense. Why are you like, no, you can't sell your soup at my store and you know, that kind of stuff.

[00:18:16] But Augusta is really into it. She wants to learn everything she can from her great aunt. Um,

[00:18:24] she, her great aunt has this like special mortar and pestle that she uses and Augusta is just fascinated

[00:18:30] by all of it. Meanwhile, there is a young man who works as, um, almost like a delivery boy for the

[00:18:38] pharmacy. And his name is Irving Rivkin. And Irving, um, and Augusta kind of become best friends.

[00:18:47] They're both pretty young at this point, but the older they get, they start to form an attachment to

[00:18:53] each other and they start dating. And one night they go out and Augusta is convinced that this is

[00:19:01] going to be the night he's going to propose, but it doesn't happen. And a couple of days later,

[00:19:08] he announces that he's engaged to someone else. So she's devastated.

[00:19:13] Her sister.

[00:19:13] Obviously. No, her sister's already married at this point. Um, what? Yeah. Okay. So she's obviously

[00:19:22] devastated. Now we get to, and it goes back and forth between present day, 1980s and past 1920s.

[00:19:30] But in the present day, she, Augusta has moved down to Florida to a retirement community.

[00:19:39] And who is one of the first people that she sees when she goes on her morning swim?

[00:19:44] It is Irving Rivkin.

[00:19:47] No.

[00:19:48] And he is driving her crazy. She still has all these unresolved feelings. She never got married.

[00:19:57] She, yeah, she's lived kind of a lonely life, but she's very close with her niece and her,

[00:20:03] she calls her niece often and they talk about what's going on in the community.

[00:20:07] And Irving is there and calling her by an old nickname that she never liked. And yeah.

[00:20:14] Get out of here, Irving.

[00:20:16] I know. So we go back and forth, obviously don't learn.

[00:20:19] Is he a nice guy?

[00:20:20] He seems like it.

[00:20:22] Okay. Because I already don't like him.

[00:20:23] He seems like a nice guy.

[00:20:25] Okay.

[00:20:25] But obviously we go back and forth to learn what happened and why he all of a sudden announced

[00:20:34] that he's engaged to this other woman. So it was, um,

[00:20:41] It sounds good.

[00:20:41] Yeah. It was a little dramatic, not like dramatic, like, you know, but there was drama.

[00:20:47] Sure.

[00:20:48] Um, so it was entertaining in that sense. And it was just, I don't know, a little bit

[00:20:52] different from the typical type of book that we read, I think.

[00:20:56] Yeah.

[00:20:56] Um, and I enjoyed just like the older Jewish community and I, it just, it was a fun, interesting

[00:21:05] read.

[00:21:06] So you want to talk about the tea?

[00:21:08] Let's talk.

[00:21:08] I'll tell you about it if you want.

[00:21:09] I was actually, I was at CVS and I walked by the tea section, not on purpose, but then

[00:21:20] I was like, Oh, let me just look at what they have. And surprisingly they had Harney and

[00:21:25] Sons, uh, at CVS unexpected. Um, but it was one that I, I don't know if I've ever seen

[00:21:32] it before. Like I'm surely I must have, but it's their salted caramel. And, um, I'm

[00:21:39] it is, this tells us really nothing. So the character is prominent notes of caramel

[00:21:47] atop a base of decadent black tea and the ingredients are black tea, natural caramel flavor, Himalayan

[00:21:54] salt, or is it Himalayan?

[00:21:57] Himalayan.

[00:21:58] I think in America we say Himalayan, but like over in India, they say Himalayan.

[00:22:05] Well, we're not in India, so.

[00:22:07] Yeah.

[00:22:09] Well, no, but I would like to say the word properly.

[00:22:12] Himalayan.

[00:22:12] Okay. Himalayan salt and natural vanilla flavor. Do you like it?

[00:22:22] I am okay with it. It's not my favorite, um, dessert tea, but it's good. I taste the salted

[00:22:29] caramel. I think it smells really good. I think the taste is a little less bold than I thought

[00:22:35] it was going to be. Yeah, that, that was my same thought, but like, I'm okay with the fact

[00:22:39] that it's not super bold. Yeah.

[00:22:40] Because I think if it were any more bold, like it would just be too much in my.

[00:22:46] We'll never know.

[00:22:47] In my humble opinion.

[00:22:48] I think it's good, but it's not my favorite dessert tea by them.

[00:22:52] Fair enough. Um, what if this isn't supposed to be a dessert tea? What if it's just, just

[00:22:57] a tea. And you shouldn't judge it that way. I don't have any rebuttal to that. Okay. Okay.

[00:23:08] Maybe. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is the best regular tea ever. Um, I'll try to hamper

[00:23:18] my judgment in the future of the tea and not make such rash decisions. I mean, really?

[00:23:24] Sorry. It doesn't need to be pigeonholed into a category. Okay. I'm sorry. You must apologize

[00:23:32] to the tea. Um, okay. Well, on that note until next time, cheers. Okay. Cheers. Thanks

[00:23:52] for listening. Be sure to check out the show notes for the full list of books we discussed

[00:23:55] today. You can find that in your podcast app or on our website, inkdrinkerspodcast.com.

[00:24:01] And please support us by subscribing anywhere you listen to podcasts and leaving a review.

[00:24:07] You can find us on Instagram and on Twitter at inkdrinkerspod. Cheers.