Ep. 144: I'm a Pickle!

[00:00:16] Welcome to Ink Drinkers, a Literary Tea Party Podcast where we discuss books and drink tea.

[00:00:29] Can you tell me again what you just told me of what Lucia requested for Christmas?

[00:00:35] So we went to take pictures with Santa last weekend and I asked her what she was gonna ask

[00:00:42] Santa for when we went and she said, mmm, a tea party and real tea. And I said, okay. And I'd

[00:00:50] already gotten her most of her Christmas gifts and so I had gone online and looked at Harney

[00:00:56] and Son tea to see like, actually I looked at children's tea. Oh. Is what I had originally

[00:01:03] looked at. This is the one that came up. No. Well you could get her. But I didn't like some

[00:01:06] of the ones that I saw that were geared towards children so then I was like, let me look at

[00:01:10] Harney and Son's our go-to and see if they have anything that I think flavor-wise she would

[00:01:15] like. And then the birthday tea popped up and I said, well, I'll try that. And some of the

[00:01:20] reviews were good but some, you know, it doesn't taste like birthday cake or anything like

[00:01:24] that. It's, they said it's like a fruity blend and that it's a red, red in color. But anyway,

[00:01:31] so we will have to try her birthday tea when she opens it. I'm gonna wrap it for her birthday

[00:01:35] instead of for Christmas just because I don't have as many. Yeah. Her birthday is December

[00:01:39] 9th. So. Did, didn't we try like a tea that was geared towards kids from Red Stick Spice?

[00:01:45] It was like dinosaur something and it had candy in it. Yeah, you're right. It was, wasn't

[00:01:50] it something for Halloween? Oh, maybe it was. But we had that. And then Harney and Son's

[00:01:55] also has a line of Disney teas that she might like. Yeah. Well, I just, when I saw birthday

[00:02:01] I was like, oh, it'll be her birthday tea and she'll think the tea is like made for her

[00:02:05] birthday. Yeah. No, that is super cute. I'm just trying to give you ideas. Yeah, yeah,

[00:02:09] no. But. Well see, cause she always, when I make tea, she always wants some. And I actually,

[00:02:13] I told you this before. So Jamie got me this little cute miniature. Um, I don't know what

[00:02:18] you call that. It's like a little, it's, what do you call that? I don't know what they're

[00:02:22] called, but it's like the, the, um, it's like a little, oh God, what, why are words so hard

[00:02:27] right now? It's like a little, not pitcher, but something that you brew the tea in. Yes.

[00:02:33] And then the cup is on top. Yeah. And it, yeah, it fits on top and then you, but you use it

[00:02:39] as the cup or you can use it as a cup and she loves it because it's her size. And so when

[00:02:44] I drink my tea, sometimes I'll put it and she's like, that's her cup. Right. But she

[00:02:49] is a hot drink girly. She likes a hot beverage. I love that she loves hot tea. Last time Margo

[00:02:55] was over here, she wanted to try my hot tea and I was like, okay. And she was like, she

[00:02:59] loved it. And she'll take a sip. She goes, mm, good. Um, I don't know why this discussion

[00:03:05] made me think of this video I saw on Instagram and maybe you've seen it. Cause it's like really,

[00:03:10] I don't know. I think it's just keeps coming across my feed, but it's this mom. And she

[00:03:14] asks her daughter, like whatever her name is, I'm just going to say Lucy. Cause I don't remember

[00:03:20] Lucy, what do you want to be for Halloween? And she goes a pickle. She's like Lucy's age.

[00:03:26] And so she asked several times, like it's several different locations. And she keeps going

[00:03:31] a pickle, a pickle. And then the last shot is her like running onto the screen as a pickle

[00:03:37] and she's like, I'm a pickle. And she is so excited. And I just, I keep watching this video

[00:03:43] because it's so adorable. And like her level of excitement at being a pickle is, I'm like,

[00:03:51] is what you aspire to be in your daily life.

[00:03:53] Yes. Like if we could all bring this level of excitement to our daily lives, I just think

[00:03:58] we would all be happier. I'm a pickle. I did see it once. And I was like, that's really

[00:04:02] funny. It's amazing. I saved it. I had to save it. It's so cute. Anyway. Yeah. I'm just imagining

[00:04:09] Lucia going like, I got tea. And just being super excited. She's going to be very excited.

[00:04:16] We're going to see Frozen Junior. Oh, cute. At LSU. They're putting on a play this year.

[00:04:23] Oh. And when I told her that we were going and, um, I texted my, my first cousin's wife

[00:04:32] because they have two little girls that are close to OCSH and I asked her if they wanted

[00:04:36] to go too. Um, so anyways, we're all going to go. And so I was explaining to her that her,

[00:04:41] you know, Adeline and Eleanor are going to be there with their mommy and whatever. I mean,

[00:04:45] she was dancing around the room. She was all excited. So cute.

[00:04:49] And I don't think she fully understands because she'll be like, we're going to see Frozen. And I'm

[00:04:53] like, it's not the movie because I don't want her to get there and think we're going to watch a movie

[00:04:57] and it's not the movie. So I was trying to explain to her what a play is and what actors are

[00:05:02] way over her head. Well, she'll know after this. Um, yeah. Margo likes to sing. She like meshes

[00:05:09] together two of the Frozen songs. Like, do you want to build a snowman and then let it go?

[00:05:13] And she'll be like, let it go. Let it go. I want to build a snowman. That's too funny. I know Lucy

[00:05:19] is just singing Frozen all day, every day. We're, we're actually just going to switch to a podcast

[00:05:26] where we just say cute things about our kids and nieces and nephews. Yeah. Um, oh, really quick,

[00:05:34] quick before we end on this. So when she, she has it now, she's got it now, but she didn't realize

[00:05:41] what the phrase was. And so when she would sing, let it go, she'd say, let it go, let it go. And,

[00:05:47] um, how did she say it? She said, um, something about home, something about being bothered, but

[00:05:55] she's like, I didn't bother you anyway. Or like, and it's so funny. And she used to sing it like that

[00:06:00] all the time. And it's not exactly right, but, um, I used to just laugh. I love it. Now she knows it.

[00:06:07] So it's not that. Oh, bummer. I know. But it was something about her bothering some, like,

[00:06:13] it was so cute. When they finally figure out the words, like certain words, they say that it's

[00:06:19] wrong, but it's just so adorable. And then they finally figure it out. You're like, oh,

[00:06:23] I know. Man. Like when Margo used to say Foster is like Sasha. And now she's like Foster. I know.

[00:06:32] Stop. Stop growing up. The other night, sorry. The last thing I swear.

[00:06:36] But the other night I was helping out with the kids and my mom was in the kitchen helping Foster

[00:06:42] with his homework. And Margo and I were in her room, which is right off the kitchen watching TV.

[00:06:48] And Foster, he, it's a challenge to get him to focus, to do his homework. And so we could hear him like

[00:06:55] making noise and doing whatever. And Margo mumbles under her breast. She goes, focus Foster.

[00:07:03] I was like, okay. Sometimes they come out with things and they sound like just the little bitty

[00:07:07] adults. Yeah. She was a little mama. Focus Foster.

[00:07:14] Anyway, we can move on to books now because we're like seven minutes in and all we've done

[00:07:18] is talk about kids. Let's do it. Let's talk about books.

[00:07:21] Who's first? I don't know.

[00:07:23] Okay. I'm going to, I'm going to go first. I'm going to pick myself to go first. I'm going

[00:07:28] to try putting Teddy down and see if he'll let us podcast. Okay. Okay. So one, the book

[00:07:34] that I read and I'm telling you about was from my 10 before the end list. Great. So it's

[00:07:40] the Paris novel by Ruth Reichel. And so in this novel, um, Stella is, she's living a very like

[00:07:52] sheltered and structured life. She works for a small publishing company and she had some childhood

[00:08:00] trauma that caused her to kind of be this way. Um, I will just forewarning the trauma is described

[00:08:09] in the second chapter of the book. It was completely unnecessary. Like we, it didn't add anything to

[00:08:14] the book or her character. We, we didn't need that, but it's there. So I'm just warning you.

[00:08:19] Okay. It was like child abuse. Okay. Um, it really was such a depart. Like after I finished the book,

[00:08:25] I was like thinking back and I was like that one random chapter that had nothing to do with the rest

[00:08:30] of the book. Why? But anyway, outside of that, um, so Stella's mom is also kind of awful.

[00:08:37] Like she's just very selfish. She never wanted to have a kid, but she did. And so her mom has

[00:08:44] actually just passed away. And what she left Stella was $8,000, a note that says go to Paris

[00:08:54] and a one-way ticket to Paris. And Stella's like, this is not my jam. Like, I don't know that I want

[00:09:02] to leave my comfort zone and go do this. But after taking some time to think about it, she decides to go

[00:09:07] over there and on one of her first days there, she enters this vintage dress shop and she's just

[00:09:15] kind of looking around and she ends up trying on this dress that just fits her like a glove.

[00:09:19] And the dress shop owner is like, ah, I've been waiting for you. Like what? Um, and it turns out

[00:09:29] this was an original dress by Dior. Okay. And the, um, shop owner says it costs some ridiculous sum

[00:09:39] of money. I should back up and tell you this takes place in like the eighties. No, before that,

[00:09:46] it's gotta be way before that, like the fifties or sixties. Okay. Or something like that. It's

[00:09:50] post-war. I think it's like the fifties. Sorry. Just to give you an idea of when I say $8,000,

[00:09:57] how far that can go in the fifties versus today. Okay. Cause I was just like, okay. Oh, $8,000.

[00:10:01] That'll get you a plane ticket. No, I'm just kidding. Basically. Not really. Yeah. So yes,

[00:10:07] this $8,000 went a lot further, but this dress costs like $6,000. Okay. Anyway, she ends up buying

[00:10:14] it and the dress, the dress shop owner says, okay, now that you've bought this dress, it's, you know,

[00:10:19] it's yours, but you have to go on this adventure. And she tells her these places that she has to go.

[00:10:24] And she basically goes on this adventure around Paris. She listens to the dress shop owner.

[00:10:28] She spent six grand of the 8,000. Yeah. Okay. She listens to just, you know what? Quit being

[00:10:35] skeptical. Every time I tell you about a book, you start like, I don't know about that. Like,

[00:10:40] just let the characters do what they want. Do I do that? You do. Every book I tell you about,

[00:10:44] you like, look at me like, is this, did she really make this decision? Okay. Okay. All right.

[00:10:50] I'll be more aware. Thank you. Just let the book flow as it will. I will. I will. Thank you.

[00:10:57] So anyway, she goes on this grand adventure around Paris. She eats in these amazing cafes and

[00:11:04] restaurants and she meets people. She ends up in like the Shakespeare and Co. bookshop and meets what

[00:11:13] they call the tumbleweeds who live in the bookshop and work there. This was legit. Like some,

[00:11:19] some of this stuff was legitimate. Some of the chefs and the restaurants that she mentions in the book

[00:11:25] were real. But obviously a lot of the characters are made up. So anyway, she goes on this grand

[00:11:31] adventure. She meets these people and she ends up really kind of becoming good friends with different

[00:11:37] people and just finding herself through the people that she meets. She ends up like living with some

[00:11:44] of the tumbleweeds in the, in the Shakespeare and Co. bookshop for a while and just going on adventures

[00:11:49] and, and really, I don't know. It just, it was so fun to read because it was like, it takes you

[00:11:55] through Paris and then outside of Paris and other parts of France. Because Ruth Reichel is,

[00:12:01] or was a food critic. There is a lot of food in the book. So a lot of cooking, a lot of different

[00:12:08] restaurants that she goes to, a lot of chefs that she meets. So that is a central theme. And I really

[00:12:14] like that. Um, and it just was lovely to read other than chapter two. It was really lovely to read.

[00:12:20] So what would you rate it? Four stars. Okay. Yeah. I enjoyed it. Good. Okay. Well,

[00:12:26] I'm going to tell you about my book. Um, it is, let me pull it up. It's called The Lost Story by Meg

[00:12:34] Schaefer. This was also one that I put in my 10 before the end list. I recall. Um, it was a four

[00:12:40] for me as well. I enjoyed it a lot. I got a little tired towards the end. I was a little over it,

[00:12:44] but I really did like the premise of the story. Um, so it is inspired by C.S. Lewis's, um,

[00:12:50] Chronicles of Narnia. So it has that fairy tale, um, into the wild feel. So I'm taking back 15 years

[00:13:00] where Jeremy Cox and Ralph Howell are best friends. They're 14 years old. They go into the woods and

[00:13:10] they disappear and they're gone. Uh, people think, you know, stop looking for them after a while.

[00:13:15] They're in this, um, national forest and like they do a search and for a while and come up with nothing.

[00:13:23] Six months later, they come out of the woods and they are stronger and look very well taken care of,

[00:13:30] which doesn't make any sense. Um, and from that point on, Jeremy pretty much doesn't have any contact

[00:13:39] with Ralph and I'm going to start calling him Rafe because that is the name that Jeremy

[00:13:44] calls him throughout the book. So his real name is Ralph, but for reasons in the book, he's called,

[00:13:50] he's called Rafe. For reasons. Basically Jeremy is, I mean, he's British and I think Ralph is

[00:13:58] pronounced Rafe in, um, in England and he's, he's kind of British, but he's lived in the United States

[00:14:02] for a long time. So he sometimes has like a little bit of a British accent, but sometimes it's

[00:14:06] Americanized. His mom's like super British and they're very wealthy. So in, they moved to this town,

[00:14:14] his dad, um, died before he was born, like a couple months before he was born. His mom is very wealthy.

[00:14:21] They live in this town that I think there's not much going on. Uh, it's kind of like small town in

[00:14:26] America. Um, Rafe has a really loving mother. His dad is abusive and just not a good guy. Um, and so

[00:14:36] he takes to Jeremy and Jeremy's lifestyle and just, he never really had a close friend before.

[00:14:45] And, um, he leans on Jeremy a lot. So when this happens and Jeremy pretty much like leaves

[00:14:52] the town after this happens and doesn't have any contact with him for 15 years, um,

[00:14:59] he never understood why he cannot remember anything that happened during the six month period,

[00:15:05] they were gone, um, which comes into play later. So Jeremy now as an adult has this ability,

[00:15:13] I'm going to call it that. I'm not going to get into it, but he finds lost girls. Oh, so because of

[00:15:20] what happened to him in the forest, um, that we find out later, he has this just knack for finding

[00:15:30] girls and specific to girls for some reason. Okay. And, um, he has found like, I don't know what it

[00:15:37] is, 15 to 20 girls, whether it's the bodies of girls or actually found them. Um, and he's very well

[00:15:50] I don't want to say it's like, um, he's not exactly a celebrity, but it's, it has that feel to it.

[00:15:57] You know, people know him, they know his, who he is, um, which he didn't ever really want, but

[00:16:04] the, he couldn't not help when he saw those things happening, um, when he knew that he could,

[00:16:10] um, there, this is a fantasy story. So there is a fantasy element or a big fantasy element to

[00:16:19] what happened to them when they were in the forest that we find out later. Um, Emily is another

[00:16:25] character that comes in. She is a 20 something. She's recently lost her mother to cancer. She's pretty

[00:16:32] much isolated by herself. She doesn't have a lot of close family friends. She was adopted. Um,

[00:16:38] and she was very close to her mother and she lived a very good life. She reaches, um, she,

[00:16:45] when her mother passes away, she somehow gets knowledge from the adoption situation or from her

[00:16:53] lawyer with the mom's estate and finds out that she actually had a sister at one point. But the

[00:16:59] thing about the sister, she's like 15 years older than her or something like that. And her sister was

[00:17:05] kidnapped when she was 13 and, um, was brought into those same woods and never seen from, never heard

[00:17:14] of again. Her name was Shannon Yates. So does the guy go find her or something? So Emily tracks him

[00:17:22] down because she knows that he finds lost girls and she assumes that Shannon, you know, is dead,

[00:17:29] but she cannot get over this, that she needs to make sure that she's at peace and that they figure out

[00:17:35] what happened to her and that she's not just a lost girl in the world kind of thing. So she reaches

[00:17:39] out to him and he at first is just like, you know, whatever, you know, he doesn't want to have

[00:17:47] anything to do with her. And she says, just take the file on my sister that I've compiled in the last

[00:17:53] couple months. If it's nothing that you want to deal with, like I understand, but please, like,

[00:17:57] I need you to just look at it. Well, he looks at it. He ends up showing back up wherever she is,

[00:18:02] where, um, cause she had come to wherever he lives to, or he was in the area doing some type of show.

[00:18:10] And, um, she had a picture of Shannon in the file and he basically shows up and he says,

[00:18:16] I know your sister. I've met her. She was there when she was there when we were in the woods. Yeah.

[00:18:22] Um, and so it kind of goes from there and, um, they meet back up with, with Rafe after all these

[00:18:29] years and he's secluded himself in like this cabin in the woods as well. And like, he has a lot of

[00:18:36] trauma from his dad, but also not being able to remember anything that happened. Uh, he doesn't

[00:18:41] remember the night before or what happened and why they went into the woods the next day. So there's

[00:18:46] all this mystery surrounding what, what actually happened. Um, and it's just, I don't know, it was

[00:18:54] really interesting, just all of it. And when you get into the fantasy element of the story, it's so,

[00:19:01] um, thought out and everything kind of ties and you, you understand what happens. Um, and then the

[00:19:09] whole time you're like, is this real? Or do they have some type of mental issue? Like what's going on?

[00:19:14] Like I don't understand. And they even are just like, you know, is something wrong with us or, um,

[00:19:21] yeah, it was interesting. It was just a different, it was, it was a different take on the story. Um,

[00:19:28] so did, did you like this one better or her other? I liked this one better. Um, the other one was

[00:19:33] called The Wishing Game. Um, and that, that one also like a retelling of something. I don't know

[00:19:42] what it was. I don't know if it was a retelling, but it had a, or like inspired by. Yeah, maybe so.

[00:19:46] It had a fantasy element to it. This one much more so. It was more, I don't want to say Hunger

[00:19:52] Games because it wasn't intense like that. They weren't like killing each other or anything,

[00:19:56] but there were, there was a game aspect. Right. Um, and it was this author that lived on this remote

[00:20:01] island. So there must be something that she likes about that feel of like being in a remote,

[00:20:07] being a hermit, things coming to life, you know, like that must be her kind of her thing.

[00:20:12] Yeah. Um, but it was just really well done. I really liked her writing. I liked the characters.

[00:20:18] Um, I will say that they're just for knowledge there is where they, it's not in super detail,

[00:20:24] but where they discuss some of his child abuse situations, like what happened to him. Um,

[00:20:28] um, and then it is LGBTQ. Um, it's in that, that realm with the characters. Um,

[00:20:38] yeah, I mean, I just, I really liked it because it was different. Yeah. It wasn't like something

[00:20:44] that I typically read, but it had all the aspects. It had mystery. It had fantasy. Um,

[00:20:52] it was steeped in reality and not in reality. I mean, it was just, it was, it was neat. Yeah.

[00:20:57] It was good. I like that we're both, uh, that we've both crossed off a book from our 10 before

[00:21:02] the endless. Like it feels like we've accomplished something. Well, we have, that's awesome.

[00:21:08] Um, the one I'm reading now is also on my 10 before the end. Oh, so it's mine. Yeah. We're

[00:21:14] just killing it. We're killing it. We'll discuss those next week. We'll see. Um, do you want to

[00:21:19] tell us about this tea? Sure. Can barely drink? Yeah. It's, um, again from chapters, tea and coffee.

[00:21:26] It's called a dream within a dream. Chamomile, apple, mint, and herbal blend tea. Unwind for the

[00:21:34] night with this bedtime blend. As you sip, let the delightful flavors and soothing aromas immerse you

[00:21:41] in a captivating world of dreams and imagination. Taste chamomile and sweet apple notes tempered with

[00:21:49] light mint inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's hauntingly beautiful poem of the same name.

[00:21:55] Is all that we see or seem, but a dream within a dream?

[00:22:01] Well, wait, let me tell you the ingredients. Okay. Cause this will just change your opinion.

[00:22:06] Okay. Not really. Chamomile, valerian, apple, lavender, St. John's wort, super appealing,

[00:22:16] lemon balm, licorice, fennel, peppermint, and of course our favorite, natural flavors.

[00:22:25] Um, I can see how this would, would be good to drink at bedtime and now it makes sense.

[00:22:31] It's the title makes sense. Yeah. Or the name of the tea. Um, but it has all of the things

[00:22:38] in a tea that I don't like. Yeah. It doesn't, it doesn't bother me. I think at night I could totally

[00:22:46] get more into it than I am right this moment, but it's not something that I would, um, gravitate

[00:22:52] towards. I just feel like I'm, I know that tea is like leaves, like that is what it is, but I feel

[00:22:59] like I'm drinking plants. It's very herbal. Um, and some people love that and that's great. It's not

[00:23:07] my jam, but I will try it. We're all about the black dessert teas. Yeah. It's not, it's not what we

[00:23:14] typically drink, which is why I wanted to try it. Yes. We, we like to try to expand our horizons.

[00:23:19] It's a very strong smell and taste. Yes. I can definitely see how someone who likes this type

[00:23:27] of tea would think that this was delicious. I can see that it is good, but I don't have to agree.

[00:23:34] Yeah. Anyway. On that note, are we gonna say cheers? Yeah. I think, uh, oh, is that what we do?

[00:23:43] Yeah. Oh. So, uh, cheers. Thanks for listening. Be sure to check out the show notes for the full

[00:23:50] list of books we discussed today. You can find that in your podcast app or on our website,

[00:23:56] inkdrinkerspodcast.com. And please support us by subscribing anywhere you listen to podcasts

[00:24:01] and leaving a review. You can find us on Instagram and on Twitter at inkdrinkerspod. Cheers.