Try This At Home Show

We introduce Kris and talk about what he’s up to and how a small town newspaper provides a good amount of information to it’s subscribers.Snack 1 - Russell Stover Chocolate SantaWe jump into talking about movies from the 80’s and how PG was different than PG these days. Next we talk about living in a small town in Iowa and how people know each other, just like Cheers.Snack 2 - Hersey’s Candy CaneWe talk about our high and lows over the past year Check out https://www.kaleidoscopestoyou.com/Snack 3 - Little Debby North Pole Nutty Buddy We wrap up the show rating the treats we tried.

We try the vending machine challenge and we eat one item from each slot from the machine. That's 19 items people. The anticipation is high, the expectation for completing the challenge is low, and I really hope no one gets a Darwin award out of this. This crazy idea was cooked up by our one and only special correspondent Brian Miller.—————————————————Reese’s - 210Swedish Fish - 320Baby Ruth - 260Heath - 210Kit Kat - 210Milk Duds - 585Tootsie Roll - 23Mr. Goodbar - 260——(Miller and Teeg Tap Out, Ryan Moves On)——Butterfinger - 250York - 1503 Musketeers - 240Payday - 240—————————————————Snacks we didn’t get too……Chatty Cathy’s took over the “Challenge” show.Snickers - 250Ferrero Rocher (3 pack)- 219 Toblerone - 540Twix - 250Hershey’s - 220m&ms - 230MilkyWay - 240—————————————————Total items consumed by Teeg and Miller - 8Total Calories for Teeg and Miller - 2078Total items consumed by Ryan - 12Total Calories for Ryan - 2958Total Items - 19 ItemsTotal Calories - 4907

Try This At Home Show 33 - Rebecca CarlsonRebecca Carlson is someone we’ve all known for years, a longtime friend. She’s a singer, a poet and a writer who lives in Santa Monica. Her EP, Proof of Love came out earlier this year. If you like storytelling, we’re twisting her arm to tell some stories and she’s really good at it. We get caught up with Rebecca and what she has been up to. Snack 1: Classic Honeycomb PeanutsHard shell peanut butter flavored candy. Think of a hard bufferfinger that probably should be thrown away because it's too hard.Teeg jumps into a story about circus peanuts and trying to be the old grandpa that hands them out to anymore.We next talk about Rebecca's memoir and she gives us a short, part one, read. We were blown away and can't wait to hear more.We also talk about Rebecca's singing style and the types of music she feels comfortable singing.SNACK 2: CINNA-PIXCinnamon tooth picks that have a little heat. Great to picking out Honeycomb Peanuts.Teeg tells a gross story on why toothpicks are not allowed in his home and Rebecca delights us with a small section of part two of her memoir.Snack 3: Reland Flat Fillets of AnchoviesMarinated in Olive Oil and Salt........Nope....Nope....Nope... (PS Ryan is typing this they are soooooo gross!!)Of course Teeg loves them and the rest of us are a hard pass. We rank the snacks and finish the show with a song from Rebecca's new album "Proof of Love" which can be found on all streaming services and you can buy it from iTunes. Go Buy It Now!

Today we have a nice easy show with just the three of us talking stories and asking random questions.We start out by talking about Pocket Finds, items you find in your pockets days, weeks or even months after wearing a particular clothing item. Teeg wins this one…..hands down.Snack #1 Hitschler Soft Chewy CandyA safe for old people chewy candy. Bonus inside….temporary tattoo, which requires no water and sticks to your skin for days. OopsOur next topic…..Tattoos. We all talk about weather or not we have tattoos and what they mean. Of course this topic brings up some fun stories. Snack #2 Whistle Pops, the candy that you blow into and make annoying sounds to bug everyone around you. The upside.....they taste really good.Thanks to Rebecca for the idea we'll be starting a band very soonish.Teeg talks about being on TV for creating a keepsake idea that will let people remember the derecho that hit the midwest in 2020.Snack #3: Classic Chili Sauce from France.Holy Hotness.........Not a fan! Teeg actually likes it......he'll eat almost anything!

For this show we sit down with a few friends and do some beer tasting. Thanks to the guys over at Bit Brewery for allowing Teeg to come in and sample beers. Also takes to Slade for stopping by Ryan’s place and bring some Sours. Check out Bit Brewery at https://www.bitbrew3.com/

Our first topic we talk to Rose about is her house and that fact that it was in a Grant Wood painting titled Young Corn. A little more info is that Grant Wood is best know for the American Gothic painting.Snack 1: KitsA sticky taffy that can pull out a cavity in less than a second. Good flavor just takes longer to get it out of the wrapper then it does to eat.Our next topic with Rose about her being a Nuffield Scholar, which is an opportunity for around 20 individuals each year to research topics of interest in either farming, food, horticulture or rural industries.Snack 2: Simply GumAll natural gum that has a pellet looking shape and if you are looking for a lot of flavor we'd recommend putting 3 to 6 in your mouth at one time.We move right along into talking about local farming, meat eating and climate change.Snack 3: B&M Bread in a canThis one is best described by listening and viewing....It's hard to truly write what the experience is.We finish up our conversation with Rose discussing getting outdoors, hunting and being an outdoors women.Ranking the snacksRose: 1. Simply Gum 2. Can Bread 3. KitsMichelle: 1. Can Bread 2. Simply Gum 3. KitsTeeg: 1. Can Bread 2. Simply Gum 3. KitsRyan: 1. Can Bread 2. Simply Gum 3. KitsThanks for listening

George gives us some background on how he and the band got started as well as some history about Elvis becoming the King of Rock’n Roll.Snack #1Haribo Mega Roulette - Chewy Gummies that pack a good amount of flavor.Next we talk about the different types of food Elvis likes and the connection to Colorado. If you want to try one of Elvis’s favorite sandwiches stop into Nick’s Cafe in Lakewood and give the Fools Gold Sandwich a try.Another must do that we talk about is Graceland in Memphis. Ryan and George both have visited and admit it’s an experience you shouldn’t miss.Snack #2Abba-Zaba - Chewy Taffy with Peanut Butter CenterWe move our next conversation into some stories from George about his experiences being a tribute artist.George talks about going to someones house that is on hospice and singing a few songs to the patient and families as being one of the most rewarding thingsThe Hair……We talk about George’s hair.Snack #3Solely Fruit Jerky - the healthy version of a fruit roll-up. Truly kid friendly.We wrap up the show with George talking about why he is a tribute artist and bringing a smile to those that loved Elvis.

Show 28: Matt Roberts - Who wants a Haiku?Matt Roberts is a longtime friend. He co-founded a non-profit with Teeg and Ryan back in the early 2000’s. He’s an artist, a writer, a dad, he works in law … and he also lives with MS. In his writing, he lives somewhere between discomfort and hilarity.We catch up with Matt and talk a little about snakes and why Matt hates them. We also go into a funny story from Matt about Listerine Breath StripsSnack #1Pixy SticksOut first snack is one that as little kids everyone loves…..Pixy Sticks!Story #2 - Secret dungeonMatt’s second story, titled the “Secret Dungeon” is entertaining and scary all in one.Snack #2Plastic Fruit Powder CandyWe keep the theme of “powder” rolling along with our next snack plastic fruit powered candy. It’s the generic pixy sticks hidden in a plastic container/necklace.Story #3 - North PoleMatt talks about his MS and the stories about some people that just don’t understand how you should approach someone with a disability.Snack #4Grenades - Explosively, Strong GumOur last snack is a little extreme when it comes to gum. It does clear out all your sinuses….Story #4Access 2 Adventure (access2adventure2020@gmail.com)Our last topic is about Matt and his wife starting a new non-profit called Access 2 Adventure. Matt and his wife are building out a transportation bus with a ramp for people with disabilities so that they can go camping and enjoy the outdoors.Matt wraps up the show, after we rate the snacks, with a haiku!

Teeg talks about the derecho that hit Iowa and the stories of the midwest’s worst storm in history. This is one storm that if you’ve not heard of or seen photos of please do a quick search on google and you’ll be amazed.Next we move on to talking about previous shows and all the things our special correspondent Brian like to send. If you’ve not watched the “Surströmming Challenge on The Try This At Home Show“ head on over to Youtube and give it a watch. It’s so worth ithttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_mS1LiCGREAlso give Show 22: It’s a Bug’s Life with Brain Miller fa listen as we try more weird snacks. :/ https://www.trythisathomeshow.com/podcasts/show22With all these weird shows involving Brain he dives into the why he picks what he does and it mostly focuses on “Close dated fish/meat” snacks that Teeg loves.First Candy: Brew Candy, a hard candy with three flavors, Hoppy IPA, Honey Ale and Toasty Stout. Everyone agrees that these hard candies are great. Not so heavy on the “beer” flavor but good overall. Ryan asks if we can call it a show and not do the rest but Brian isn’t having any of that nonsense.Second Candy: EITT SETT, Icelandic candy. Black Licorice and Milk Chocolate combination. This is a Teeg love child candy for sure. The rest of the group isn’t much of a fan. The Google Translate of the wrapper came back with the following “Serious length and liquor rice table”Not much needs to be said that you won’t hear or see but this third snack is one of the worst things we’ve all tried….Letting the audio and video do the explaining is really the only way to describe this mess of a snack.

This week episode has everyone, but Ryan in their normal location. Ryan is on his way home to California and currently staying at a cabin in Colorado with no wifi or cell coverage. For this episode he is sitting in a van down by the town, unfortunately not a river just to get good cell service.Today’s guest is J.Roach, a comedian, speaker and leader who has earned the nickname "Mr. Hilarious Hope," because he's not just funny, he's inspiring. Today should be a lot of fun.Just a few of the topics we’ll cover with J will be trying out for a national tv show and also dealing with having Covid-19.Before getting into any big topics we’ve got to try our first snack. Lucky Charms Breakfast bar, the most American food every created, with convenient packaging and ready to go any time you need a snack or breakfast bar.Our first topic with J is how he and his family dealt with COVID-19 and that getting the virus isn’t cool like being bit by a spider and becoming spider man. It’s like being a villain who is part of the unjustice league.Our next treat, Sugar Babies, is one that brings with it some stories from J on his life in the military and easting MRE’s.J gives a great in-depth story on how America’s Got Talent tryouts go and how professional they whole thing is. Ryan’s talent for America’s Got Talent would making fart sounds with his arm pit?!?Last snack for this show is a #gushy good time. It’s Fruit Gushers….the snack full of gushy goodness.Teeg gets to enjoy a melted gusher and has a hard time talking while chewing a 1 pound ball of sticky gummy goodness.After cleaning out all the #gush from our teeth we move on to talking about J’s wife and her amazing chef abilities and catering.J goes on to talk about his role with the Grater Omaha Youth for Christ Chapter and helping the youth his area as well as traveling all over the world to help out.Our Gathering Place is our last topic of the show and one that everyone should check out. https://www.ourgatheringplaceomaha.org/Our Gathering Place is a community advocate for special needs families. Where the mission is to provide judgment free pop-up experiences for families with special needs kids, teens and young adults.Learn more about J and what he’s gouging on at the following:Facebook and Instagram: @jarellroachWebsite: jroachpresentations.com

Joining us on the Dad Deck: Matt Miskell, Herve Cantrell, Elliott Fridono, Eric Potter and Ken Kositzky. Joining Michelle in the Underground Producer’s Bunker, Shannon Day.We’re all pretty worried about these chips. Ryan sweats at anything hotter than ketchup, and Michelle won’t even eat restaurant salsa. Most of the dads like spicy food.Warmup act: Executive Producer Michael Mauro sent some Japanese chocolates, they’re all different types and flavors.Teeg has been catching flack for wearing the quick-dry zip off cargo pants. Truly the ultimate dad pant.Ryan insinuates that Cargo Pants went out of style.Michelle supports the cargo pant but thinks the cargo convertible is the worst of both worlds.Turns out the Japanese Chocolates were really good. They were surprisingly American. No weird flavors, plenty of sugar, bunch of tasty little flavors.For spicy food antidotes, we have an assortment of milk, fudgesicles, water, lemon juice, and beer.It’s Teeg’s 20th wedding anniversary. He shaves his head and his great idea was to do the Circle Beard to celebrate Amy … the secret to a long lived marriage is supposed to be if you can keep her laughing.* Stop what you are doing and Google “Circle Beard” *Teeg should have gotten her a trophy for our 20th anniversary.We got these from our friend Rick Riley and his friend Vijay who said they were like eating an electric fence soaked in kerosene.Ryan’s assessment … looks like a Dorito, smells like a Dorito … then you start to cough.Michelle & Shannon … Michelle’s eyebrows go up right away, Shannon is ready to eat them all up.Michelle switches to the fudgesicle after her first chip, “I’m crying uncle.”Shannon’s reco: these would be good in guac.Ryan: I now think we can do the One Chip Challenge. He’s a little hot and sweaty but it’s not that big of a deal.He’s been training all week. “I can feel it in my mouth and my throat and my tummy, so there is a heat factor there, but I might have a couple more.”Michelle, “I think my tongue has blisters.”Ryan thinks it’s not fair that the Dad Deck gets to warm up with with the Chile Limon chip. The dads all think it adds up, it’s cumulative. We’re building up our baseline.Chile Limon – not very spicy. Pleasantly spicy, but like a Spicy Cheeto, Spicy Dorito. They’re good. Any of us would eat that any day of the week.Michelle, who can’t tolerate anything, says that after the fudgecilce, the milk and half a beer, is still heat rising.Checking back in with Ryan, he gets to chip 6 and it’s getting discomfort, hot … Shannon is just grazing away. It builds up, but it’s not now, it’s later in the private room.Herve: My pores are open. My lips are burning.Ryan: Don’t touch your eye! He’s crying …His assessment: I won’t have these again, it’s a novelty.Michelle: Same – but Shannon is making her way through the whole bag.Herve says they’re a lot less scary than he expected.Miskell says the Taki Fuego is hotter, but it’s good.Elliott – Happy I tried it, Teeg built it up all wrong – this wasn’t as awful as any of us expected.Eric – good flavor, I’d eat this again with guac. I’m still scared of the chip in the coffin.Ken – I was expecting more, I feel let down.Teeg – I thought this would be funny because we’d all be in pain. But it turns out it’s no big deal.Ratings:Ryan thought the Japanese candy was standard candy. The chips win because they burned his eye and that made it fun.Michelle: Japanese Candy was middle of the road but ahead of the chips because they didn’t disappoint.Miskell: I was impressed with the Japanese Candy. As for the chips, a definite let-down. Big build-up, over-promised and under-delivered.Herve: I was a little nervous but now I’m a little disappointed. Give it to the Japanese candy. I’d try the One Chip Challenge.Elliott: Well, you brought a puke bucket and that didn’t get used, so …Eric: I would pick the chip – I was surprised that it had good flavor. It’s a let-down that it wasn’t hotter, but this chip has good flavor.Ken: This has nothing on the Buffalo Wild Wings Wall of Blazing. The chips were good. I had the lemon chocolate, it was very very good, and I’d put it way higher than the chips.Teeg: On the basis of expectation, the candy exceeded my expectation and Paqui didn’t.Next show: J.Roach – Mr. Hilarious Hope, he’s tried out for America’s Got Talent – inspires and changes the life of young people …

Ryan’s idea is that each of us picks three things. We each pick one thing we think each of the others would like, and one that’s just for us. Then we see how the others feel about it.First we all try our picks that we think Ryan would like.Teeg’s pick: couldn’t find anything like the Clark Cups – we all know that Ryan loves Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Teeg considered Reese’s Take 5 … but instead went a different way. For all the M&M’s we’ve ever had, we’ve never tried Peanut Butter M&M’s … and of course they’re good.Ryan’s verdict: Excellent choice. Probably #2 behind Reese’s for Theater Candy.Michelle’s pick: Michelle is on a cookie kick, and she saw Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Wafers, “The Peanut Butter Lover’s Cookie.” The idea seems good, the marketing is great, the cookie itself was totally disappointing. “It’s like a communion wafer that they tried to make taste like peanut butter.”Ryan’s verdict: It was a good idea. Not your fault that the actual snack was a total letdown.Ryan’s pick for himself: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup with Reese’s Pieces inside! Turns out that it’s basically just a peanut butter cup with some of the candy shell inside that makes it a little crunchy.Ryan’s verdict: “This seems like a shelf filler.” His love for the peanut butter and chocolate comes from his childhood for sure.Michelle: “Peanut Butter is candy gravy.”Michelle’s pro tip: Put M&M’s or Reese’s in your popcorn at the Movie Theater. Ryan’s reco: there’s a movie theater in Minneapolis that puts bacon in there. This is the ultimate offense to Teeg’s wife, Amy.Teeg tried an energy drink for the first time: Bang. The can should say, “For Millennials only, Gen X’ers or older, please just put this down.”Michelle and her family tried a little camping with their new camper. That will take more practice. Forgot a few basics like … toilet paper. But we had like 6 kinds of chips and an obscene amount of food.Ryan lived and traveled in an RV full time for a year, and now he’s a part-time RV resident, so he’s got what you need onboard totally dialed in.Ryan’s pick for Michelle: I know you’re into cookies, and definitely not into white chocolate. There’s a candy company in Iowa – the Palmer Candy Company – and they make what I’ll call an “Un-baked cookie” … The “Twin Bing”Better yet, Ryan ran across a local brewery – Ferson Brewing - who did a Twin Bing Porter beer.https://www.fernson.comTurns out that Palmer’s tried to do a Twin Bing partnership with Dairy Queen for a Blizzard in the Midwest, but they didn’t have enough rejects, which is what makes Blizzard ingredients.Michelle’s verdict: Great pick. I had one ages ago, and I loved it. Perfect mix of chocolate and peanut, but that cherry flavor is so good. Two big thumbs up.Maybe we should do a beer show one day?Maybe we should do an ice cream show, too?Teeg saw Black Licorice ice cream this week!Teeg’s pick for Michelle – Zoet Belgian Dark Chocolate Thins. Michelle used to live in Belgium, and she likes dark chocolate. White chocolate and sour apple anything is a definite no. These have a strong smell – they look like a Pringles made out of chocolate, and they taste amazing. Michelle says you’re supposed to not chew it. That’s hard to do.Michelle’s verdict: you knocked it out of the park. Belgian chocolate seems to be presented very well.Michelle’s pick for herself: she’s on a cookie binge. “I went whole hog and got the Oreo Most Stuff.”Quote for a T-shirt: “I’m more of a dunker and less of a twist and licker.”Teeg: “It looks like you’re holding up an ice cream sandwich.”Michelle’s verdict: It feels more whipped. I didn’t think I’d like it, but I love it!One of the things I’ve never been interested in is showing off what a badass I am by eating hot things. But. Our friend Rick Riley got like a case of the Paqui hot chips and he’s sending them to us!This is scary. Ryan thinks catchup is spicy. Michelle doesn’t even eat Salsa.Everything in the world is bad right now. And we just want to put out something that is a little fun, and that creates laughter.How you can help: stream the heck out of our show and share it!Michelle’s pick for Teeg: Dollar store Li’l Dutch Maid Oatmeal cookies. Basically the cheapest cookies you can get. “More coconutty than I expected.”This is quite a gift, because Michelle doesn’t like coconut. She thinks of it as eating fingernails.Teeg’s verdict: You know me so well!Ryan’s pick for Teeg: Spicy pickled meat! (Ryan’s hands are shaking.) Tijuana Mama! Made with chicken and pork, pickled in artificially colored vinegar. “It reminds me of Slim Jims … but a bad idea.”Teeg’s verdict: I LOVE THESE!Teeg’s snack for himself: My snack matches my shirt! Turquoise Hostess Snowballs – got these on a killer discount. 2 for $1! The wonder of these is that the springy stuff on the outside tries to get away from you. It’s like trying to eat something that you found growing at the bottom of the sea.

Ryan’s back in Iowa, and Teeg just ran across a cool Instagram account @werollwithit.Michelle talks “Boondocking” which is camping out on forest service land.We talk Winnebago stock – their stock hit the basement and weeks later it’s roaring. Why didn’t we all invest!?Fishing is booming right now because of the pandemic. Bikes too.The movie Wall-e was prophetic in a bad way. It’s a futuristic movie where even eating is too much work, and here we are, devolving more and more, but hopefully one good outcome from the Pandemic is that people will get outdoors a bit more.The Senate just passed the Great Outdoors Recreation Act which was a bipartisan bill, and we can all feel good about this.Brian got his start in the bike industry, and Ryan’s ridden all over – he’s a RAGBRAI guy, and he rode around some different places in Europe, so we talk about that.First snack: Old Fashioned Horehound Candy “Grandma knew about natural herbal candy.” This is their 100th anniversary.This is “if cough medicine was candy”Brewed in copper to bring out the horehound flavor. You can definitely taste the copper. It’s kind of like putting a penny in your mouth that’s been dipped in old cough syrup.This is hardware store candy, if you’re looking for it. This is the candy they’d be eating on This Old House.Brian’s jam: NECCO Wafers. Teeg thought they were out of production – not so. Brian corrects the record: they’re coming back!New England Confectionary Company – Brian likes mixing them, especially orange + black. NECCO Sundaes.Brian grew up in Brookline, MA so he could see the NECCO factory, and Charleston Chews, too.We talk “penny candy,” the Cow Tales, the little dots on the paper, and you could get so much candy for $1.Brian’s from Massachusetts and we try to figure out why he doesn’t have that accent.Teeg & Mike used to host The Fish Schtick, it was a podcast before podcasting became what it is now. We had guests like Shaw Grigsby, Richard Louv, Shane Davies, Bruce Condello, April Vokey.Shane had an amazing thing happen – he was kayak fishing in Texas, a rattlesnake tried to climb into his boat, he killed it, hooked it on, pitched it out, and caught a gigantic bass, so we tracked him down and got him on our show.Candy #2 – Smarties Candy NecklacesWe can’t get ‘em over our heads, Ryan manages to pull it off.Teeg can make a 1980’s tennis star headband situation happen.We all decide that they’re fun. Were they the rage when we were kids and they went away, or did we age out of them and they were always cool for kids of a certain age?They require a certain style of eating. Michelle said they used to taste like rubber, but not any more.Brian runs Moldy Chum which doesn’t mean he transports rotten fish. It’s a fly fishing website that started way back in 2005.It was right when blogging was becoming a “thing.” There were about five fly fishing blogs in those days, but in time there were zillions. It was pre-social media, and in those days, blogs sort of were social media.Conservation has always been a foundation of what Moldy Chum has been about. The site is more about that now than ever.15 years is an eternity in the internet world to keep something going. There have been maybe 3 or 4 days that it hasn’t had a live post. It’s become meaningfully monetized just in the last couple years.Back in the day there would be 300,000 page views a month, these days it’s more like 60,000 because so many more people live on social media. But people spend a lot of time on the website.Flyfishing is the petrie dish – the hyperfocus of everything that happens in the world.Brian had always wanted to do the podcast of fishing meets This American Life.“I’ve wanted to walk away hundreds of times – hundreds of times – over the years. Most of all because of the trolling.”Third candy: Another hardware store find – Dot’s Homestyle Pretzel’s Mr. Dot Bar. Pretzels and toffee with chocolate.We all agree these are amazing. If you’re not in a state that touches South Dakota, you’ve probably never heard of this.Like Nestle’s Crunch on steroids, or like a Heath Bar if it was 200% better.We get Brian talking about Christmas Island. Ever heard of it? Most people haven’t.There’s only one plane in and out each week.Really exotic place, and basically the only reason goes there is to fish. It’s a fishing paradise.The standard boat on Christmas Island is a standard outrigger, but they stumbled upon pangas and explored the blue water a lot more.You can catch tuna, dorado, sharks, barracuda, giant trevally …We get a true big fish story out of Brian … involves destroying every piece of fishing equipment they brought.They also helped with some research on Giant Trevally.Bonus candy: Chik-O-Sticks! We’ve tried them before but it’s worth another pass.Brian hadn’t tried one before. They’re like the inside of a Butterfinger – a naked Butterfinger.We all give the Mr. Dot Bar the top slot in the ranking.Brian wants to work a hustle and go to South Dakota to buy them by the case and resell them in Washington.Brian’s shows to know: Reel Pure Radio and Conservation From The Couch

The world is in an uproar, and our job is to keep things light, but we do stand in solidarity with those who are fighting for equality, we stand with those who are mourning, and all of those who are suffering losses.The last time Brian was on, we tried Surstromming. That was the most watched thing we’ve ever done, but it got cut off when the crew was just too grossed out to continue. So what happened next? Well, the boys nearly cleared out a hotel, and utterly confused the hotel cleaning staff. We start with the story of that debacle.Ryan’s worried about the snacks, so he started with a beer just to take the edge off his nerves, but the stuff he was hoping to get didn’t show up, so this should be not-that-bad. We talk about how Brian’s role as Special Correspondent means that he comes on when we eat the really challenging stuff.First snack: Hotlicks Ant Suckers. Brian got Watermelon, Ryan got Banana, Michelle got Green Apple and Teeg got Blue Raspberry. It’s a clear sucker with a bunch of little ants inside. Brian and Michelle, “It’s like a Jolly Rancher from China.” The sucker part is tasty. It’s a slow go to get to the ants inside. We hypothesize on how they get the ants to the center of the sucker. Seems like some would be on the outside. This had to be a make-good on someone’s mishap when ants got into the candy factory.Teeg’s wife Amy is a saint. Teeg tells the story of finding an old can of Kipper Snacks in the back of the cupboard this week. There was a turn of events that led the house to smelling pretty foul. It’s like Surstromming light. The oil got on Amy’s plate, on her, on everything.At around :30 this leads to hysteria, laugh until we cry mania.Brian commits to the fact that Teeg has to eat some Surstromming. Michelle’s vote of confidence is that “if anyone can eat it, Teeg can.”Second snack: Magical Unicorn Tears. We all got basically the same flavor as our first treat. It’s like a test tube full of goo with edible glitter in it. It’s like a “shooter tube” of loose gelatin that is insanely sour. Shockingly sour, so much so that it dries your mouth out and makes you salivate like crazy at the same time. Has a bouquet kind of like dish soap. Might cure covid. It’s a strange but positive experience.Michelle introduces everyone to a game called “first corn.”It’s played when you eat corn for dinner and then the first person who … finds corn later …We’re going to play “first glitter.”It’s sorta what it might be like to eat a glow stick. It looks like a glow stick. Which reminds Teeg of why glow sticks are banned at his house. It’s another “Amy is a saint” story.Every story ends with Amy getting hurt.The warning labels on products are specifically for Teeg.Snack #3: Jalapeno Garlic Roasted Crickets They come in a little tube, and there is a lot of them in there. Brian says he doesn’t want to eat anything that once had a soul. Brian thinks they smell like grass clippings on a hot summer day. Maybe the spice aisle at a grocery store.Allergy warning: if you’re allergic to shellfish, you might also be allergic to these.Michelle thinks they smell like fish bait.Teeg: eye appeal is bad. Looks like dead waxworms.Brian thinks it looks just like what you find in the corner of the garage or the basement when you sweep once a year.Teeg’s approach: make a handful and pop them in your mouth all at once.Michelle’s approach: cut one in half. Which seems ludicrous.Brian’s approach: pour the tube into his mouth.Ryan’s approach: Just eat one.They’re nutty. A little spicy. A mix between soy nuts and the seaweed on sushi. Maybe some corn nuts. Brian thinks they’re like the red skin on Spanish peanuts.Ryan says one is enough.

Ryan cut his own hair, and refuses to show it to us. The guard failed on his razor. It becomes the fodder for the whole show for both us and the online viewers.“I look like a chubby jelly bean.”First candy was something we’ve tried before … ZOTS!Ever wondered what makes them fizzy? Bicarbonate. Science lesson today. Ryan sent all the flavors.Michelle doesn’t like green apple candy – it tastes like body odor to her.Ryan and his wife Jess are headed back on the road in their RV – slowly making their way from California to Iowa.Candy #2 was a sugar free – a coffee hard candy – Coffee Rio. It was like a very dark roast Werther’s Original, and not gross like a lot of hard candies. Caffeine free.If Teeg would have started another podcast, it would have been called The #2 Podcast on iTunes and it would have only been about #2.Michelle has a newborn – what’s quarantine been like with a tiny baby? He was born right around the time the pandemic began. Really, it hasn’t been that much different … it’s mostly the same, because you don’t do much when you have a newborn.Michelle scored a background playground swingset thing and it’s a pretty sweet one … it’s been hard to get right now, stuff like that is totally sold out.For our final treat, Atomic Fireballs. If you haven’t had them, they’re an old school candy (1954) and they’re a tasty cinnamon treat. They come out of pop culture’s obsession with everything “atomic” in the 50’s.We talk about breaking your teeth on hard candy – people talk about not biting down on it, but who has actually broken a tooth doing it? This week, Teeg’s friend Tye.We circle back to Ryan’s hair, which he says looks like the butt of a monkey … he gives us a tiny little sneak peek as the highlight of the show!

Mike and Teeg had a podcast back before podcasts were cool – The Fish Schtick, a fishing podcast with Brian Bennett from MoldyChum.com.Now, Mike hosts Wild & Exposed – an awesome podcast for people who are interested in wildlife, photography, and for sure wildlife photography.Mike sent an amazing case of candy, and we dig into it today. We don’t try it all, but we give away a giant gummy hamburger that Mike sent to us.First candy is the Super Cola. Super Japanese. Smells like a cleaning product. Michelle spits it out immediately. Ryan is shocked. Tastes like a cleaning product at first. You have to power through that, and then it’s like having flat generic cola.Ryan, “It’s like an extreme lemon drop dipped in Lysol.”Michelle, “I can’t remember the last time candy caused physical pain.”Ryan, “On some of the trips we go on, you’re in the field for 10 or 15 days. If I had this, I’d gut through it on those trips because you get so hungry for sugar.”This candy came from an Asian market in Chicago. It’s like a bunch of little food trucks, but inside. You order by picture. But in addition to that they have a grocery store, and they have these crazy candy aisles. So Mike went through there, and got the funkiest stuff he could find.10 years ago, Mike & Teeg shot a TV pilot. Michelle helped with one of the early versions. Randy Joe Heaven, Marcia Rubin were the co-hosts.We were going to fish 50 states in 50 days, you’d see it as it’s being made with daily “webisodes.” There would be events every three days or so, so people could be PART of the show. We were before our time – the world wasn’t ready for that kind of thing. We had some network offers but they were bad offers.We were going to start in Hawaii and end in Alaska.The pilot: https://vimeo.com/4668897?fbclid=IwAR3wGAAyGz5ZUKQ8IeoZWKUcpzUzCjh3f_4Y12rcxOAMqe6Tu39-W5i8XYUDifferent Edit: https://vimeo.com/9728709Mike has shot other pilots and full shows – but rather than digging into that, we dug into one of his most recent adventures. He rebuilt a 1987 Toyota truck that he always loved. Then he drove the Al-Can highway from Denver to Anchorage by way of Yellowstone … that’s like 3500 miles. First breakdown happened by the time they reached Yellowstone.Canada is just so vast … and by the time you get to Alaska, you still have 10 hours to drive. You don’t see other people. You might see one car an hour up in the Yukon.There are two routes, they did the northern route because it has more settlements. The other way is prettier, but they wanted to play it safer with this old vehicle.They thought they’d camp along the way, but not knowing if it would have been safe, they ended up staying in little hotels.Mike’s advice: if you ever do it, give yourself three weeks minimum, one-way.Jumping into Candy #2 – another Michael Mauro find. Japanese Flower Kiss Candy. The wrappers are all different colors, but the candy inside all seems to be the same. This is Grandma candy dish candy. It’s good. It’s kind of like the strawberry wrapped hard candies. Fruity and good. Nice. Sweet. Sweeter than a lot of Asian candy. Like American candy sweet.Michelle: “I’ll carry these in my purse in about 20 years.”Mike: “Kind of like grapefruit, passion fruit, lychee.”Ryan: “Too bad it’s not Durian!”Mike started out in biology, and he tells his origin story at Mesa Verde National Park. He chaperoned a photographer in the back country.The gear changed a lot, he was shooting just stills when he went to Antarctica but back then, carried a mix of film and digital.Going to Antarctica on a Russian icebreaker crossing the Drake Passage, one of the roughest pieces of sea in the world. The crew didn’t speak English, so Mike just watched their faces “to see if they seemed nervous.”There were 110 or 120 people on the ship, and the first morning, only 10 showed up for breakfast. The seas are so rough that everyone has an upset stomach. Walking down the halls was like being a pinball in a pinball machine. Laying down in your bunk and looking out the window, you’d see sky … then sea … sky … then sea.Mike was hired not just to take photos there, but to teach people on the way there during the over-seas passage how to take good photos. He was a presenter.You’d expect Antarctica to be all ice. In reality, you see beaches, cobblestones, rocks, grass. The ship would be in the bay, and they’d run ashore in inflatable Zodiac rafts. They photographed all kinds of penguins, seals, whales and birds like cormorants.Since those animals see so few humans, they’re not afraid of us. But the fur seals will run you down.Beaches were surrounded in ice, and glaciers and icebergs calved off all the time. You could gauge if it was a big enough piece of ice to get you wet by if the penguins would run.Teeg can’t resist post-holiday candy, so Teeg had to get us into some after-Easter super discount candy.Russell Stover Truffle Eggs and Russell Stover Sours Watermelon Eggs.The Truffle Eggs are of course delicious.The Sours … it’s impossible to imagine that any company made this with the intention of producing pleasure.Ryan: “This is uncool. It’s white chocolate with sour watermelon flavor, but it’s extremely gross.”Michael: “THE AFTERTASTE!”Ryan: “It’s like someone said, ‘Hey, I got an idea!’ And now they’re fired.”Michelle: “You know how Super Cola started disgusting and then got OK? This starts OK and then gets awful.”Teeg starts out liking it … keeps on liking it … conversation about potted meat … STRUCK BY ABHORRANT AFTER TASTE comes later, and Teeg can barely talk.Meanwhile, Mike talks about eating food in Africa. “You never know what you’re eating. It’s some sort of meat in a sauce with noodles or something.”He gets sick every time he’s in Africa … but he doesn’t think it’s from the food. He thinks it’s from weird germs over there.Eating zoo animals: “I had elephant and I didn’t like it. They cherish it. It was dried meat. I wouldn’t search it out, but I’d eat it if I was really hungry.”The best eating is in Argentina. The best meat in the world.But Mike also lives in Alaska part of the time, so he eats moose, elk and bear. He doesn’t hunt bear, but he gets it from people. Favorite is moose. If you like bison, you’d like moose. It’s the most natural eating.Mike hung out with Sean James, the guy from the myselfreliance YouTube channel for a week. Sean follows the footsteps of Dick Proenneke. He has a cabin out in the wilderness of Alaska.Last show we had Teeg’s brother Ben on, he has the Benstown YouTube channel, he built a cabin and does antique tool restoration.Mike’s taken an interest to watching YouTube channels about guys building tiny experimental planes, and he’s had his share of time flying into the back country in small planes, landing on skis or floats.We rate the candy, talk about Sporting Dog Podcast, and Mike teases a potential future show: our friend Travis Ford recently shot a documentary about a chocolate maker in Guatemala.

Teeg just got invited onto the Mossy Oak Fishing Pro Staff, and we open the show talking about where our clothes come from. Teeg wears almost exclusively clothes-that-were-given-to-him. Michelle made it through maternity on hand-me-overs from other moms. Ryan’s style is shorts, T-shirts & flip flops, and he kinda has to buy them.It’s a shelter-in-place Easter, and we’re talking about how we’re planning our Easters at home.Brother Ben lives in Stuart, Iowa – kinda in the middle of the state. He lives in a turn of the century church, and he describes it as, “the house in Fight Club.” It’s a project that never ends.Ben and Teeg look similar, and Ben famously has a big bushy beard … which he just shaved. It’s weird in the livestream. Imagine if the guys from ZZ Top or Duck Dynasty shaved their beards. Teeg & Ben’s Dad couldn’t recognize him in a picture.When Ben bought the church, it had been vacant for 10-12 years. Dead birds, waterfall inside the building when it rained, stuff like that. But the building had stood in the town for over 100 years so everyone in town has some kind of connection to it, and they felt like it was an important structure to save. Best finds: old church literature, old advertisements, little bells – and bats that lived in the walls.There was a giant bell up in the bell tower, and the bell tower had gotten pretty rotten. He got help lifting it out of there with a telehandler and put it in his front yard – but he took out the clapper so that every kid walking by wouldn’t ring it and wake them up all the time.Part of living in a church is that sometimes homeless people stop by looking for a place to stay.Teeg,”So do you put ‘em up?”Ben, “W’shure! There’s one that’s still living here!”(No, not really, they gently send them on their way.)Ryan loaded our envelopes with easter grass, which is basically like opening an envelope full of glitter. But Ryan was trying to make up for Teeg not getting Easter baskets after killing the Easter Bunny.Bonus snack: Krabby Patty’s Gummy Burgers inside an Egg.Real Snack #1 in the All-Egg Episode is the Reese’s Egg. Nothing fancy about it, it’s just an Easter Classic. This one is truly egg shaped, and not their flat egg. This is kind of a step up. Ryan has to pick Reese’s because it’s his favorite. More peanut butter than chocolate in this Reese’s treat. Michelle: “There’s so much more to it when it’s round.” Brother Ben: “It’s what you’d expect. I like it.”We revisit the despicable Brach’s Easter Eggs from the week prior. They taste like sugar dipped in something made by Monsanto. Ryan tries to defend them, inexplicably.This week’s a CVS-specialty, mask-on, Easter Aisle picks. Michelle has a newborn, so she hasn’t been out of the house, and she misses the Easter Candy Aisle. Teeg awaits the day that it all goes to 70% off.Ben & Teeg lived across the street from Bernie’s Depot, which later became Scott’s Shoppe. Bernie was a crabby old man who was suspicious of all the kids. Scott was a real real nice guy, but he had a firm policy on can returns, which is how Ben & Teeg earned all their candy money.Ben & Teeg would get the Garbage Pail Kids there, but the candy ranged from nickel candy up to the fancy stuff, like the giant gummy rat.Ben & Teeg would ride up and down the alleys collecting cans on their bikes. Different times. Their co-conspirators were the Bradley kids next door. 9 kids. Greg was the naughty one, and he’d always have can getting schemes that were definitely stealing.Candy #2 – the extremely popular, classic Cadbury Crème Egg. Started in the 1920’s. Somehow they made the shipment without being crushed. The very best thing you could get in your basket at Easter. The only sad thing is that they seem to have gotten smaller.Brother Ben was always into cool stuff, like rebuilding VW Beetles and ripping around town in go-karts. One of his buddies had a long flowing mullet, and that poor kid’s hair got sucked right into the motor one day and a random stranger had to cut him free with a rusty old pocket knife.Anyway, Ben got a fascination with the failures of the major auto manufacturers. He had a Chevy Vega that was really nice, but one of Chevy’s worst cars ever. He had a Ford Pinto, a Plymouth Horizon, which is like a Dodge Omni. They had a Ford Grenada, which is an old dog of a grandma car. They’re all disposable cars, but fun thing about it is that everybody has a story from when they once had one. Michelle shares hers – her first car, that she saved on its way to the junk yard, and slapped in a $35 Pamida car stereo.Teeg’s favorite story is when Ben had to deal with the wastewater. The effluent. The outcome of “when we flush the toilet.” There are a lot of stories, this one is suitable for a show where we’re gonna eat chocolate.“Just your run of the mill sink hole.” Rick fell here.Candy #3 – Whopper’s Mini Robin Eggs. Lucky us! Nothing fancy, but it’s a “taste worth tweeting about.” We all love crunching them up. Ryan’s observation: every once in a while you get one that’s weirdly chewy and like, not ripe. Like a sunflower seed that a worm got into.

This week it’s the “Stay at Home” Show …Baby Max is doing great, but Michelle had to barter for diapers. Ammo in trade for baby wipes! True story.Jared’s a dad too, his daughter is five months old – and she takes after Jared’s wife; she’s a good kid.Ryan proves which one of the hosts is not a parent when he suggests that we could fashion diapers from duct tape and paper towels if we need to.First candy of the week: Peeps. What’s Easter without the Peeps?We live in the Golden Age of Peeps. So many amazing flavors. Ryan gets Sour Watermelon. Teeg tries Fruit Punch. Michelle gets Chocolate Pudding. Jared is rolling with the Party Cake, but he’s “not a Peeps Guy.” So we all like them, except Jared. These Peeps are super fresh. We debate if the Fruit Punch Peep has electrolytes and could replace Gatorade in certain instances.Jared’s released five episodes so far, has 20 in the can, and 7 in the pipeline to record.His favorite so far: Sydney Chardima & Hayley Allmon from Bark Avenue Pet Resorts. They were 22 and 16 when they started back in 2008 during the recession. They used their Dad’s Harley as the collateral to start their business, and it’s grown to three locations and 70 employees.Danny Strabil from Rackhouse Whiskey ships two bottles of whiskey to you every other month. They go around to local distilleries around the country, tell the story, and then you get two bottles from that distillery. The company is based in southern Iowa.Dane Cooper from Performance Beef is an Ag Tech company in Ames. They’ve got 45 employees and they’re growing like crazy.People don’t always think of tech when they think of Iowa, but Iowa has a lot of tech. Apollo Healthcare Technologies in Iowa City was created by a couple of medical students, and the company has pivoted to help with Coronavirus.What makes these businesses uniquely Iowan? The people seem to be uniquely hardworking and humble. Jared’s point in his show is to inspire people – to say, “if this person took a risk, so can I.”Snack #2 – The Reese’s Peanut Butter Bunny Rabbit. It’s sort of an Easter Classic, but we got it just for Ryan, because he loves Reese’s. Michelle’s came pre-broken. She thinks, “boring,” Ryan thinks, “delicious.” Jared loves it, he even gets the Reese’s peanut butter in the jar.Jared’s #1 snack choice: Combos. The pretzel pepperoni one. “I pump myself full of Combos.”We discuss whether or not Iowa is really the epicenter of the Hidden Valley Ranch scene.Teeg tells the story of when he stopped getting an Easter Basket. It’s when he killed the Easter Bunny. Michelle calls it the darkest Easter story of all time.What is it about Iowa that’s so great? Jared thinks that we have a level of energy for getting things done. We live in a place where neighbors help one another out. Des Moines is booming. One of the best engineering schools in the nation at Iowa State. The University of Iowa is in the top 5% of Universities in the World. We get four true seasons, too.Teeg takes a stab at disparaging the state and Jared jumps to its defense: Each city has a certain renaissance. People who are trying to build companies, people who are trying to transform their little cities. A core group of people who are trying to make troubled towns better. Jared’s fascinated by people who mortgaged their lives to create jobs, and that’s creating a renaissance in this state.Final snack: Brach’s Marshmallow Easter Hunt Eggs. Teeg is dumfounded that anyone even gets these, or that it’s viable for a company to produce them. Teeg thinks they’re shaped like an elephant’s toe. There’s nothing marshmallow about them. It’s like confectioner’s sugar mixed with something made by Monsanto. Jared, “I’ll never eat one of those again.” Stunningly, Ryan likes them.Jared always asks people “Hawkeyes or Cyclones,” so we go around the horn. Ryan is a full-on Hawkeye, Michelle waffles around and says Drake, kinda admits Hawkeyes. Jared went to the University of Northern Iowa and we won’t let him say “Panthers,” so we pin him down and he’s a Cyclone. Teeg too.On ranking the candy, we are a house widely divided!Catch Jared’s podcast, Built In Iowa: https://www.builtiniowa.co

Michelle is back from a little break, she had another BAAAABBYYY! Welcome Maxson Clyde, Mesa’s little brother.Teeg was on a podcast about the world of Experiential Marketing for the American Association of Event Professionals. If you’re into events, check out the Don & Mike Show.Ed sets up his story by saying that he hit life’s lottery: idyllic childhood, great education, incredible job – but rather than being grateful, he focused on “the first thing I ever felt good at, which was drinking.” That became heavy drug use and 11 years of methamphetamine abuse, but that’s not where he is now. Clean, sober, and realizing his life’s dream of becoming a writer.Ed: “I felt that the worlds of fantasy and imagination were more real than the world around me.”“When you reach the top of the mountain, don’t curse the path that got you there.”First snack: Puchao Ramune and Puchao Cola – kind of like a Japanese Starburst. Chewy, the Ramune is kind of like 7-up or Sprite, but this also has kind of a soap taste. Not like bar soap in the shower, but like car wash soap. We all agree that it’s kind of nice and refreshing. The cola one tastes like Tab or RC or something, Michelle had to spit it out.World Market find by Ryan. Since one was red and one was blue, Ed thought we were setting him up for a Matrix moment.We touch on Michelle’s baby cravings and the wild stuff that happens to moms. She couldn’t be in the same room as raw meat. Deli meat grossed her out, too. But now a lot of things taste different.Ed gets us into the story of how he got arrested by the FBI. It was the result of a methamphetamine psychosis. He used to tear apart electronics, punch holes in his walls, he was sure he was being tracked and followed. He developed a grand, global conspiracy and he was at the nexus of it.Ed’s point: comfort and happiness are often not the same. Are brains aren’t wired for happiness, they’re wired for the familiar. Sometimes we pursue the familiar, even though it’s not making us happy.How does a smart guy who has heard all his life, “don’t use drugs,” end up using drugs?Ed’s wisdom, “Addictive behaviors are a false solution to a problem. We’re using that behavior to solve our problem. And even though it’s a bad solution, when you stop doing it, things get worse, so you keep doing it.”Snack #2 Sesame GIM – it’s is a seaweed snack – Ed likes it, Teeg loves it, Ryan thinks you should crumble it up and put it on top of a fish bowl. Teeg: “It’s tasty, it’s just not satisfying.”Ed, “I liked them, but whether or not I’d buy them, uh …”How did Ed make his comeback? “Amazing people inspired me to a path of spirituality, self improvement and service to others.”Whatever I’m doing, if I can look at what I’m doing and find that it fits into one of those three categories, maybe it’s something I should keep doing. If not, maybe I should change what I’m doing.On quitting drugs, “I quit drugs a thousand times. Every morning after a binge, when I was in a state of demoralization and self hatred, I quit, but staying quit was the problem.”Ed’s turnaround moment? The only clothes he owned was a fithly tuxedo that he owned because he’d been working at a strip club. He stumbled into a wedding reception at a hotel ballroom to get some food, thinking he’d blend in. In that moment, he realized that he’d missed the wedding of five of his best friends in the prior year, and that was the moment when he turned it all around.Last snack of the day, Ryan’s supplied us with Gin Gins. One of Teeg’s favorite things! They’re like a Werthers Original made with Ginger instead of Coffee. Ed’s a raw ginger fan, so he’s up on the ginger candy. Ginger helped Michelle get through her pregnancies on settling her tummy. Ryan’s reading the package is worth getting to this point in the show.Ed tells the story of how he became honored in Washington DC by the FBI, and offered to help any listener who needs it.Ranking the snacks was fun – Michelle put seaweed at the top of the heap. Ed told us that he’d cut sugar out of his diet, so he picked the seaweed too! Ryan’s cutting them off his Christmas Card list.Take Ed up on some of his offers at EdKressy.com.

Ryan’s getting settled into his new home in Seal Beach, CA and before the boxes are all unpacked, he’s started a new “thing.” This thing? The Citizen’s Police Academy. What!? We bust his chops.Ever seen The Parking Lot Movie? That was basically Brian’s life when we met, but he ran a storage facility. They had a nice parking lot and it was just right for whiffle ball games, and that’s how Teeg & Brian met.Snack #1 were Moser Roth Privat Chocolates. Sea Salt Caramel chocolate bars – the caramel has kind of a toffee-like quality. We all loved it.Brian’s first story: waking up covered in thousands of ants. A real ant disaster. “They could have picked anywhere in the house, why did they pick me and my head?”Teeg tells the story of being a landlord and having a terrifying … infestation.Bryan writes an epic annual Christmas letter … where nothing is true. One year, he took it to the next level by having family pictures made with people who were not his family.A lot can be said for someone pulling off the shenanigans that the rest of us joke that we OUGHT to do sometime.Bryan’s life advice: surround yourself with people who will do that stuff.A failed T-Shirt company founded on the concept of “The Awe of Touching Big Corn,” didn’t lead to any sales, but did lead to someone encouraging them to get help for an assumed drug problem.Second snack: Lavriano Hazelnut Crème candy bars. Second tasty snack of the show. Big hit with Michelle. Ryan’s on the fence. Twix wafer with something creamy. Bryan ate the wrong thing and thought we were describing this candy bar horribly.Bryan treats us to a little reading, and we talk about his unusual sense of humor.Bryan’s pro tip on how he went about it: it’s almost exclusively a download of a decade of Facebook posts. He formatted it for bite-sized reading and published via Amazon.Unless you’re gluten intolerant, you probably never get gluten-free products. So Teeg decided to try one, it’s the Live G-Free Caramel Apple bar. Brian thought it was good, but Teeg, Ryan and Michelle weren’t into it.Bryan on feedback: it’s really uncomfortable.Analysis: This book is not for the masses. This book is for quirky people.Bryan’s advise to someone who’s thinking about writing a book: do it! It’s been democratized. We live in a time where if you want to be published, you can be.Final snack: Sim’s Jerky Trail Mix – glorious meat sniff the second you open the package. This leads to Ryan’s new nickname, “Spicy Sweetbeef.”All four snacks came from ALDI this week, and they were all really good! Teeg is shocked to hear that there is no ALDI in Colorado. Had to fact check it live on the show.

Ryan sent this week’s treats, and he’s settled into his home studio. We open the show debating the difference between “Sell By” dates, “Best Used By” dates, and “Expiration Dates.” Michelle wants to know why we play it so fast and loose with expiration dates, and we say that it’s all about the smell test.Ronica joins us after coming out of 8 weeks of bed rest – no kidding. How’d she end up in that situation? A terrible escalator accident at the Denver International Airport! Turns out that the scary stories that your mom told you were little about making sure that your shoes were tied when you get on an escalator are real.Ronica started her career as a “computer nerd.” Her first degree was in Computer Sciences. She was installing Windows 95 on computers and prepping for Y2K. That was so endlessly boring that she got a degree in Marketing and Communication, but went on to get a Masters in holistic heath and a doctorate in integrated medicine.First Candy was from the Underground Fudge Company, and the logo is inspired by the London Underground logo. Ryan can’t remember where he got it, and we guess that it’s tourist candy. This is something someone probably brought him back from a vacation or something. Maybe he got it in Canada. The package said fudge but the contents were caramel.Joke! Did you know that French fries weren’t cooked in France? Yep: they were cooked in Greece.Joke! What do you call cheese that’s not yours? Nacho Cheese!Joke! Why did the old lady fall in the well? Because she couldn’t see that well.Joke! How can you find Ronald McDonald on the nudist beach? He has Sesame Seeds on his buns.“We hear screams all day long, especially from men.”Ronica runs a medspa, and there is waxing. They use their own non-toxic, all natural sugar wax. But it’s still tearing hair out by the roots. As she puts it, “beauty is pain.”They can do it head to toe and every point in between. They do men and women, but men tend to be pretty private about it.Ronica offers to wax Teeg & Ryan on a show sometime. Ryan confesses that he had it done on his eyebrows.

Our friend Emily Baker is the “Crazy Flippin Mom” on Instagram, and she figured out that when a candy goes out of production, storing some for sale later can be very lucrative. We tried the old and new Butterfingers with her on a show that we called “The Butterfinger Hustle.”Jeff Kolodzinski is fishing’s “Marathon Man.” We broke into one of Take Me Fishing’s “Snackle Boxes” while we heard about how he set the world record for the most fish caught in 24 hours.Dadbod Snacks is one of the bigger candy reivewers on Instagram, but nobody had ever seen his true identity – he’d never shown his face, never said who he really was – until he came on our show.Teeg had a career producing events, and some of his past co-workers came on the show as “The Event A-Team,” and told some pretty funny stories – like the time Teeg flooded a hotel.Daniel from the Coffee Co-Mission blew our minds with his work establishing a better deal for coffee farmers, and the dark secrets of Fair Trade.Brian Miller is one of our best buds, and he’s always a super entertaining guest. We talked Surstromming while we tried the grossest candy yet: Durian.Tim Gallenbeck is The Bearded Border, an Etch A Sketch artist, beard model, former skateboard company owner, an Acro-Yoga instructor, and “multipotentialite.” He’s a fascinating dude and we talked about how he does his art.For our final guest of 2019 we talked to Hannah Stonehouse Hudson, whose picture of a man and his dog went viral back in 2012, and coupled with a few other events, changed her life forever. She’s the founder of The Life Is Short Movement, and she rounds out our show, and our 2019.

Ice fishing has gotten going in this weird winter, it seems to freeze / thaw / freeze, but we’d just caught a few fish through the backyard pond when we recorded this show. Teeg’s son Goody had his first time on the ice when he was two years old – it didn’t go great, but he’s warmed up to it since.It’s the holidays, so we’re trying holiday snacks – all candy this time around.Hannah lives in Milwaukee but she’s back from St. Paul and the St. Paul Ice Show, Fargo and Devil’s Lake with Wolf Pack Adventures.“I like to make my mother nervous.” – Hannah Stonehouse Hudson.Snack #1 is in honor of Hannah, who loves coffee. Kopiko Coffee Candy from Indonesia. They’re kind of like a real strong Werther’s Original, or like a Mocha. We all loved them.Hannah is an ambassador for Stormy Kromer – and other brands – and like that, we’ve started have candy just show up. Hannah loves Nutella and people flooded her with it back in 2012.“White Dress Syndrome” is what got Hannah started on photographing dogs – too many weekends shooting weddings.Her friend John had an old dog. On July 31 of 2012, John asked if she’d take photos of him holding Schoep at the Bradstreet Bathing Beach in Bayfield, Wisconsin, where he held this 17 year old dog in the water to help the dog’s arthritis. The photo session that day became a sensation. Her life and John’s changed forever.For the next four months, voicemail filled up 3-4 times a day, raised $80K for old dog non-profits, every major news outlet, Today Show, Good Morning America.This is also when she figured out that people on the internet could be “not so nice,” and began making bizarre and accusatory statements as well as just shaming the subjects of her photos. It forced Hannah to change how she viewed the world.“If I continued to focus on that aspect of things, I would have had to give up.” I had to change the way I viewed things.She did a TedX Talk on the topic: https://youtu.be/ninDNeey5B0If you consciously think about the positive things going on online, you can become positive.Paraphrasing Hannah: People don’t understand that when something goes viral, it’s good but it’s not all good. It can be completely overwhelming. In the four months that followed, my husband Jim and I were having a hard time connecting because we were both just always on our phones.“What I’m saying to people now is that if you’re with your significant other and you’re staring at your phone … stop it.”Hannah was getting caught up on work when she got calls, and then a knock at the door – it was the police, and Jim had been in an accident while guiding an ice fishing trip.Because Jim was a prominent ice fishing guide and personality, his passing went viral in a similar way that John and Schoep’s photo went viral.In the years to follow, Hannah has analyzed how things go viral, and how to manage these things. Most people are there to help, and then some people say really really mean things. Much of Hannah’s work now is how to deal with the internet when something bad happens.Hannah Pro tip: when people say bad things, “they’re just projecting their weirdness onto you.”One of Hannah’s take-aways is that bad things happen, but you can take something away to teach others. People were worried about asking me to talk about this, but I have healed by talking about what happened.Does Hannah hate ice fishing? No – an accident happened, and accidents can happen anywhere.Snack #2 comes to us from our Executive Producer Michael Mauro. “Super Lemon” hard candy – clearly the packaging was translated from some other language. Japan? A lot of engrish on the packaging.Ryan says this is the worst thing we’ve ever tried.The evil cousin of the lemonhead.Like being hooked up to a battery.It’s great once it’s out of your mouth.On to ice safety – Teeg poses that ice risks are the greatest now for people who are barely into ice fishing or are unfamiliar with it, because for people who are in the sport, the message has been so strong since Jim’s passing.We talk through how to be safe on the ice, and the main thing is to have the right gear, and go with people who are experienced. The right gear is a spud or chisel to check ice thickness, have a rope with a float, a floating ice suit, and in the case of someone who’s gotten in trouble or a pet that’s gotten in trouble, call 911.Hannah has always said, “Life is Short, Find an Adventure.” She and Jim lived that way, and over the past few years, she kept running into people who said, “I really needed to hear your story. I’ve been stuck and thank you – I needed to hear your pivotal moment to make a change.”That’s where Life Is Short Movement was born: https://www.lifeisshortmovement.comLife is way too short to sit around and wonder, “What would happen?” Just go make it happen.On to the next snack, Christmas chocolates – the Ghirardelli Holiday Chocolate Assortment. Eggnog, Pumpkin Spice, Peppermint Bark – they were all delicious.Michelle’s pro tip: Egg Nog becomes her coffee creamer in the winter, and it’s also good for French toast.We talked about the “One Thing” that Hannah has been talking about on social media.What’s your “One Thing?” It can change over time, but what’s the story you’re supposed to teach people, because you’ve been taught.For Hannah, she thought it was social media – but it’s something much larger.At the Hooked on Hardwater event in Rapids City, South Dakota, she discovered a bit more of what her One Thing might be.What is your story, that someone who came into your life and shared with you, and that now everybody you share it with says, “I needed to hear that?” That can change, but it’s your one thing.Deck the Halls B by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100368Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Teeg & Tim are live this week at “The Space,” a co-working space for creatives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Ryan’s back in Iowa, Michelle’s at her home studio in Colorado. Ryan’s beard is looking especially on point this week, but it’s no match for Tim’s. Tim comes from a long line of beard growers. Everybody called his grandfather “Curly,” for his big barbell moustache – and he got the wax at Sally Beauty Supply, which is a funny image.Tim’s daughters get in on the beard fun with “whiskerinas,” which is where girls craft beards to get in on the fun.They once all won their categories in a beard competition in Wisconsin – a fun family moment.Tim’s trophy said, “Best under 6 inches,” and if there’s one award you’d get for “best under six inches,” better that it be a beard contest.We went down the beard competition rabbit hole – Tim mentioned that most of them raise money for a cause, which is what he likes about them. The “freestyle” competitions make crazy shapes out of the facial hairs, they’re the ones you see in the memes. The ones Teeg & Ryan sport are “business beards.”If we were going to take a page out of the Crazy Flippin’ Mom’s book, we’d buy a few cases of these Mint Chocolate Twinkies, which are our first treat this week. They should have good shelf life, and we know they’re limited edition, so we ought to stock up on them now.Ryan got fudge covered Twinkies. He said it was good, but it tasted less like a Twinkie than just waxy chocolate. The film-inside the mouth, like when you eat a candle feeling.Tim’s take – the chocolate cake overwhelms the mint, it’s not very minty. The picture is a little deceptive. The box shows a ton of crème inside. Really it’s a little squirt of mint crème inside.Tim made us an Etch As Sketch of the Try This At Home Show logo, and it’s super cool. You can see the video on our Facebook.He got a 99 cent Etch A Sketch at a thrift store for his kids six years ago, and that’s when this started. He moved, found it after the move, and then in 2016 found it again. He looked it up online and found a few other people who do art on Etch A Sketch. He found a little community of people who do it and became a part of that community. He started getting commissions, and it went to another level.You can check it out @bearded_border.His first commission was from Snap On Tools through his etsy shop.Tim loves seeing people doing it too, so he brings Etch A Sketches to his shows so that people can try it.It seems like his finished works are one shake away from all going away, but he preserves them by cutting open the Etch A Sketch and taking out all the aluminum powder. Sometimes it takes him longer to do the preservation part than it is to create the image.Teeg & Ryan found these aweome little Oreo Crème Eggs – Michelle struck out on ‘em but found all these crazy Oreo flavors. These are kind of like Cadbury Crème Eggs that you’d think of, but the seam goes the short way around the egg, not the long way. The crème inside is thicker than a Cadbury egg. It’s more like the crème inside of an Oreo, if you ground up the Oreo cookie and put it in the crème, and filled a milk chocolate egg with it. It’s good, and kind of like a Crunch bar. Everybody loved it. But one’s enough. They’re strong. And moderately fancy. Not like fancy candy gift level, but like, stocking stuffer quality for sure.We get into the topic of Tik Tok, and Tim’s got videos that are going crazy on there. It is one of the most downloaded app in the world right now.Next year is the 60th anniversary of Etch a Sketch and there are some fun things coming out with some of the artists. There’s even an annual Etch a Sketch Day.So: ever heard of “Acro-Yoga?” It’s a two-person yoga where you do different movements together. Tim’s advice: just Google it.He takes Yoga into a lockdown juvenile detention facility in a method called “trauma informed yoga.” For a period of time he was one of those kids, and he loves bringing mindfulness and breathing to kids in ways that can really help them.“I like all the things,” Tim said – he’s also a juggler, skateboarder, slacklining – he’s a “multi-potentialite.” His encouragement: there’s so much we can do.RayGun is this cool midwestern brand that makes funny T-shirts about live in the Midwest. They make space available at their Cedar Rapids location to people like Tim.Have you seen The Kindness Diaries? Tim made a “Be Kind” Etch a Sketch inspired by the show, and got connected with the show by making that one.For our final snack, we did the Reese’s Holiday Lights. They didn’t look like lights to us, they’re eggs.Michelle had the Reese’s Christmas Mystery Shapes. Dadbod Snacks checked in to say that “mystery shapes” seem to be all the rage. He said to try the Shake & Break eggs.We all know that Ryan loves Reese’s. With them, it’s all about the ratio. Chocolate to Peanut Butter. These lights (eggs) are good, but Ryan thinks the ratio’s off.Tim’s take: overwhelming on the peanut butter. But still good.Teeg thinks that Reese’s just uses their Easter Egg molds and calls it a Christmas Light this time of year.Unbelievably, Ryan picked Oreo Eggs as his #1 pick this week, beating out the Reese’s.Tim and Teeg are in agreement, Michelle let Reese’s have the top slot.But everything was good this week!So: Tim tried one of Brian Miller’s Durian Milk Candies to finish the show. He described it as when they threw the pink powder on a kid’s throw-up when we were in elementary school. When he ate it, it filled the room with the smell of rotten cantaloupe.

Ryan’s back in Iowa, and we got a report on Brian’s leftover candy from the last time he was on the show. He used those Japanese Crème Corns for teenagers with lame costumes on Halloween, and it’s a miracle his house didn’t get egged. Teeg and Brian try to find the perfect word for how their wives look at them; it’s something like frustrated befuddlement. Teeg scored big on some close-dated ribs, and it went bad when he opened them. Much to his families horror - and his amusement.Candy stop #1 was for beer flavored Jelly Belly jelly beans, and good grief they smell horrible. Like a dive bar that has been closed up for a few days with no ventilation. They don’t taste as bad as they smell, but they aren’t very good. And they sure don’t taste like beer.Brian thinks they might be good for the binge drinker on the go.Candy #2 took us to England for Cadbury’s “Picnic” Bar. They’re supposedly popular in the U.K. and we think we know why – they’re pretty good! They have raisins. Why don’t more American candy bars have raisins? Anyway, we all liked them, but Teeg can’t believe that anybody doesn’t like raisins. We had several live Try This Tribe members watching the recording who said raisins are gross. Teeg never heard of such a thing.We went to Thailand for Candy #3 with tamarind candy – Brian says it’s like the Hershey’s kiss of the larger world. Or maybe like the equivalent of a peppermint disc. It’s a hard candy, and it’s good. It doesn’t really have a smell. Tamarind is a fruit that comes in a pod, and they’re great. Why don’t we have this in America? Brian says he’s started seeing this now.For Candy #4 Brian introduced us to Durian fruit. He described it as “a dumpster fire of fruit,” and he couldn’t be more right. Absolutely horrible. How bad does your life have to be if you eat this for pleasure?We took a detour to talk about Surstromming, which is that putrid herring thing from Sweden. It’s the smelliest food in the world, Vikings ate it, you’ve probably seen the videos on the internet. Brian has a can, and he showed it to us – all the rest of us were praying that it would explode, because the longer you wait to open it, the more the can bulges because of the fermenting of the fish inside the can.The Durian candy isn’t that bad, but it’s bad.For Candy #5 – Brian did as an homage to Teeg. It’s from Norway, and Brian brought it on because he was trying to prove Teeg wrong that black licorice isn’t popular worldwide. Turn out that people in Scandinavia love it – and this was Keline Zoot Drops, which is salted licorice. Teeg got some from someone else from Iceland but it was so much saltier. Ryan said this is not edible. It’s like eating a salty tire. Teeg said it wasn’t bad, but slightly reminiscent of when you clean a dog’s anal glands. Brian said it is “aggressively terrible.”Brian’s research turned up that black licorice came out as a way to flavor ammonium chloride as cough syrup.In conclusion, we all agreed that some of these were good and some were just varying levels of “which is worst.” A race for last.We ended on a good laugh about Teeg cooking beef heart at home.Michelle said that probably the only way some of these candies make it is that they’re local flavors like Vegemite that you get used to because you’re raised with it.Next show – Tim Gallenbeck, the Bearded Boarder!

Have we ever thought about where our candy comes from? Yes – Teeg has – but probably hasn’t valued it highly enough.Our pal Katie B sent a photo of the super-discount cart!Candy Corn talk: Teeg tried to surprise his wife, Amy, with generic “Harvest Corn” and she wasn’t having it. Michelle got some winning post-halloween discount Candy Corn. Ryan is winning with a mix of candy corn and peanuts – yum.Our guest this week – Daniel Ehrlich – is vegan. He’s at the heart of making change in our coffee culture.Daniel Ehrlich created the Love Co-Mission, Coffee Co-Mission and Blue Marble Chemical. He’s using his life to make the world a better place – after pursuing a career in auto racing, where he became a champion Formula One racer in Canada.This week it’s Teeg’s candy picks, and his first candy is Wiley Wallaby’s Red Licorice. It’s unbelievably good. Michelle said she’s disappointed that she’d never had it before and might never eat a Twizzler again.Daniel’s passion as a young man was to race cars, and that’s an expensive sport – so it made him an entrepreneur at age 23. The ups and downs of life shifted his perception, so he stepped back from his work as a bamboo flooring importer. After a sabattical, he decided he wanted to do things that were more selfless.The Love Co-Mission would help to raise money for other non-profits; a social enterprise to help worthy non-profits. It didn’t take long before he started to see issues with the supply chain in coffee, and wanting to make a difference there.We talk racing – one thing that was pretty amazing was that fractions of an inch can make a big difference between winning and losing.Daniel’s favorite piece of memorabilia from those days? The front wing from his car in one of his most memorable crashes.What’s tougher – racing an oval or a road course? Daniel says a road course, but that doesn’t mean an oval isn’t tough, they’re both tough.What’s tougher then – racing or changing the world of coffee? They’re both tough – but with coffee, we’re doing something totally different, and that would be like if someone figured out a totally different way to race a car.“It’s usually foolish to try and reinvent the wheel, but that’s exactly what we’re trying to do.”What’s wrong with a cup of Folger’s or Starbucks?It started with a disconnect between the source – where it’s grown – to the person drinking the cup of coffee. The supply chain was built on maintaining control of that disconnect. Exporters & importers like to keep a bit of disconnection between the opposite ends. Coffee roasters are starting to want more information about the growers, but exporters hate communicating things to the farmers.When we meet with farmers and tell them what people want in the U.S. or other places in the world, it blows their mind.When we think about coffee strictly as a commodity, we tend to just get the cheaper thing.We’re trying to connect people to the actual farmer because if we know the other person, it’s harder to tell that person, “give me your last nickel.” We want people to realize that there is a face on the other side of that commodity.I actually think there is more work that goes into a good shot of espresso than a good glass of wine.But we look at them totally different.Next trial: Mexican Jalapeno Peanut M&M’sDaniel the Vegan can’t eat them – they’re not vegan. These come in three colors, red yellow and green. These are part of the “Around the World” flavors – Teeg loves them, Ryan loves them – but he thinks they finish pretty spicy. Michelle: no so much. “Don’t put vegetables in chocolate, jalapenos are a vegetable.”Teeg tries to get Daniel to tell us why we should be Vegan – he said he’s not like that; he did it for health reasons, and he thinks it’s having heard an interview with Alan Iverson, who was vegan or vegetarian.What’s wrong with Fair Trade & Organic?Fair Trade can push farmers into producing a certain crop. That means I am buying coffee that is already on a container ready to come to me. I’m paying that money to an exporter. Fair Trade basically protects exporters. But it’s marketed as protecting farmers – and the money never really trickles down to the farmers.Fair Trade, as an organization, is a private for-profit company in the U.S. The exporter might get $1.90 per pound for coffee – and Fair Trade gets $.40 of that. The farmer might get $.65 per pound, and might lose money every year until they lose their farm.The only time Fair Trade would help a farmer is if the farmer is big enough to have his own export license, and at that point, they already have enough money.Daniel thinks that Fair Trade takes advantage of people’s trust. It’s like the charlatan preacher who has ruined people’s faith.Final snack: not candy. Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds. We all tried them. Ryan’s research: Blue Diamond has been around since 1910. Michelle’s memory is that as a kid, if she visited a liquor store for wine with her mom, she’d get either these or Corn Nuts. Ryan loves them, salt makes them good, the smokehouse flavor is a hit. Teeg likes them, of course, Daniel gives them 6/10 because they’re too salty to eat constantly.Boxcar Coffee in Boulder is the kind of roaster we want to support. Advice anyone can do: once in a while, buy a little more expensive coffee – let’s just push up the global ceiling on coffee. Right now everything is so skewed toward cheap, lowest possible price.Coffee farmers aren’t trying to save up for a new Lexus or a new swimming pool. They’re trying to put their kids through school, they’re trying to put a new roof on their house.We talk about adding Coffee Co-Mission to roaster’s bags – and where people can find more: CoffeeCoMission.com.

For years, Teeg has produced all kinds of events all over the United States. This week, we bring in a group of his former co-workers who know him, share his love for candy, and have pretty funny takes on just about everything.Ryan joins us this week from the Florida Keys, where Fantasy Fest is going on – but Ryan’s not participating, for good reason. It’s kind of a clothing-optional kind of thing.In Colorado, it may be just mid-October, but Michelle is expecting a foot of snow.We’re digging into some Halloween candy – and from what we hear, Halloween is NOT the #1 candy holiday of the year – Easter is, or so we are told.Gabe is good at magic, but we decided it wouldn’t translate very well to the podcast.First candy: those black and orange peanut butter taffy things, a real Halloween Classic. Gabe summed it up best, “It’s bottom of the barrel, but if you go to Grandma’s house, you don’t say no if she gives this to you.”Harley’s from Massachusetts but you can’t tell by her accent – she didn’t want to be a “Masshole.”The Reese’s Scary Ghost could be offensive to everyone, because Reese’s are Ryan’s favorite and this is a stretch to say it’s anything like the original peanut butter cup. It’s white chocolate – which Michelle holds is *not* chocolate. Ryan’s melted, but Michelle’s was in good shape – and she thought the ratio was right on. Ryan thought it reminded him of a Butterfinger that doesn’t get caught in your teeth, so he was cool with that. Among our event pros, Gabe & Harley were the biggest Reese’s Ghost fans. Teeg, of course, loved it.Was it 150 years of Hershey’s or Reese’s this week? Teeg thinks so, and maybe the governor of Pennsylvania declared it Reese’s day? Maybe? Who can fact check this?Kristan shared an embarrassing Teeg story that involved passing out in a bathtub and flooding a hotel. But who hasn’t had that happen, really? And in Teeg’s case, who hasn’t flooded a building more than once? Ryan and Michelle dredge up a similar incident from college with a Teeg-led scheme to make a hot tub in a dorm shower room that went very, very wrong.Next treat: Russell Stover Candy Corn Marhsmallow in white fudge pumpkin. Teeg, of course, loved it. Ryan was a “one bite” on this and then no more. Kristan described it as a jiggly tapioca pudding flavored drive-through breakfast egg.Gabe said it was a little more like biting into a promotional stress ball, but a little less chewy – but the taste wasn’t bad. Harley thought the inside was do-able, but could do without the white chocolate which goes against what she JUST SAID. Hayley’s take was “not that bad.” Michelle’s feeling was that she loves marshmallows and this wasn’t like a marshmallow to her, but the packaging was cute. Teeg said it was like a Cadbury Crème egg and replaced it with thin white chocolate, and then used flavored marshmallow crème that was like tapioca pudding, you’d have this, and that’s good. Real good. Nobody really thought it tasted like candy corn.Kristan’s quiz: is chocolate the same as candy, and do you give out chocolate or candy on Halloween?For the event pros: what’s the best event you’ve ever been to, that you produced or attended?For Gabe, it was Tomorrow World – an incredible EDM festival in Chatahoochee, GA. But the real first is his wedding. But about Tomorrow World, it’s a football field sized stage, and everything’s engaged. The entire area where people stand is wood, and not a big muddy field like a lot of music festivals. We put guesses on what percentage of people were on a mind-altered state. Gabe made it clear that “that stuff” is not his bag.Kristan didn’t want to get made fun of for her all-time favorite event, but Hayley outed her: Wrestlemania! We went deep down that rabbit hole.Harley’s A#1 is Monster Jam, “the greatest coolest thing ever.” But not a Grave Digger fan, since he’s the one everybody likes.Ryan’s first pick was the Hershey’s Candy Corn bar. Super sweet smell. White chocolate with candy corn bits. Michelle liked it enough that she could look past the white chocolate. Teeg naturally loved it. “This is all we will give out at our house this Halloween.” Harley’s feeling was, “I’m not enjoying it, but I’d eat it.” Reminded her of Ben & Jerry’s cheesecake ice cream. Hayley thought it was like eating just the coating on sugar coated animal crackers. It literally hurt Kristan’s sugar tooth. She said one square was plenty. Gabe said that growing up, the Hershey’s Cookie and Cream was his favorite candy bar, and this reminded him enough of that to be a winner. But this is more chalky, and kinda spoils it. He’d eat 50% now and then 50% an hour later. Ryan’s not onboard. But his melted.Ryan’s second pick was, and is, a killer find – the Tabasco Brand Chocolate. It came in a fancy little metal tin, and Ryan’s had kinda melted shut. But Teeg’s worked great, seemed super fancy and super cool. This was, and is, fancy candy – some of the fanciest candy we’ve had on the show. It didn’t start out spicy, but the heat comes out the longer it’s in your mouth. It turned up Ryan’s sweat level. Michelle isn’t a heat fan and had to go for more milk. Hayley thought it started out nice and then it was like if you put too much tabasco on your breakfast taco and you regret it. Harley said same. Kristan, native Texan, said this isn’t hot, and sometimes food that burns is GOOD.Gabe got his opportunity to brag: he and Harley took the official chocolate tasting class in Hershey, PA – they even got their diploma! The main thing is, you put a piece of chocolate in your mouth and you’re not supposed to chew. He said that 7 seconds in, he had to swallow – it was a weird amount of heat for him. Teeg loved them, of course. Fancy candy, high quality chocolate, these are right up the alley as a once-a-day candy.Hayley brought up the time that she had to rescue Teeg from the world’s worst food poisoning, while going through an airport.Ryan’s third pick is one that he described as a “Teeg favorite.” Something like a black licorice gel from some random candy store. Kind of a no-name thing. Everybody’s kinda melted. It looked a lot like tar, for real. Teeg loved it of course. Michelle thought it was less bad than most black licorice. Kristan thought it was less bad than other black licorice but still not OK. Gabe is not against this. Hayley couldn’t get past it. Michelle said, “more like root beer.”Ryan thought it was a week of more lows than highs, a real rough week, but the Tabasco chocolate was probably the best, and the worst was everything else. Michelle said same – that Tabasco tin.Hayley put the anise blob as the worst, but the Reese’s ghost at the top – but the spicy chocolate is growing.Gabe, Kristan - Reese’s ghost #1 and taffy last.Harley put the blob at the top, because it helped redeem black licorice for her. But the candy corn marshmallow surprise wasn’t her favorite.Teeg said everything was almost all tied for first, but Tabasco chocolate for the top slot, and peanut butter taffy at the bottom.

Ryan’s in Boston, and the @earlysnowbirds are making their way to the Florida keys, trying to escape rainy weather in the Northeast. Teeg & Ryan both share stories about weird Airbnb experiences – Michelle’s never stayed in one.Nobody has ever seen @DadbodSnacks face – he’s self described as “small potatoes” in the candy game, so he starts the live feed on Facebook Live wearing a mask.We start with Ryan’s envelopes, and the first treat in the mix was the T’frutti Gummy Burger, Gummy Hot Dog and Gummy Cupcake. Agreed: good, but not amazing. They don’t taste like burgers or hot dogs, and the Gummy Cupcake, which is what Michelle got, tasted like cotton candy. We talked about when food tastes like one thing but looks like another. And Gummy Corn, to which John mused, “If you like corn, you like corn, and there’s nothing wrong with that.” Let’s print that on a T-shirt.John did a Candy Bracket around the time of March Madness – it’s worth checking out on the DadbodSnacks Instagram – you’ll be surprised. Ryan was.John’s never shown his face – nobody knows who he is – so at about this point in the show, he takes off his mask and reveals who he is. The earth didn’t shake, glasses didn’t shatter, but if you’ve ever wondered who’s the guy behind the IG Profile, now you can know, at this point in the show – the video is archived on our Facebook feed.Ryan’s second pick: old fashioned gum, Black Jack and Clove. Teeg recalls doing a holiday craft in the 80’s where you’d stick a bunch of cloves into an orange. Anyone else do that craft? Michelle was in.We talked about how flavors are getting stronger, and how companies are always trying for ‘more.’ John brought up Oreos and ‘Most Stuff’ coming back. His opinion: that’s too much stuff.How many items does John share? And how many does he try? Just a percentage. One of the things he showed off was a new product called Yummallows, stuff like a caramel and strawberry filled marshmallow.John talks about the Sweets & Snacks Expo – heaven if you love snacks. He met @SnackGator, @CandyHunting and missed @ThreeSnacketeers, but loved getting into this industry trade show – he covered how he got in.Talked about the “Reaper Ranch” chips from Taco Bell, and the Paqui one chip challenge – John tried them at the Expo, and they were good at the expo but seemed hotter when he bought them later.Ryan’s third treat for us was Pop Rocks. Teeg got grape, (grape! yuck) John got Cotton Candy, Michelle got Tropical Punch. Teeg accidentally ate them all at once. Michelle too.Ryan’s pop rock hacks: Put them in your cereal, on your ice cream, yogurt, on chocolate, or onto baked goods, like frosting on Christmas cookies.Musings: why is candy so fun?Into Teeg’s envelope: Candy Corn M&M’s. The Candy Corn Controversy – good or gross?John’s mind blowing fact: White Chocolate comes from Cocoa Butter, the other part of the Cocoa Bean.Michelle is still firmly anti-white chocolate.Ryan proposes that Candy Corn is basically décor, you can get it out and put it in a seasonal bowl every year.We tried Clark Cups – Teeg sent them because they looked like they might get a rise out of Ryan, like a Reese’s Imposter. There’s a card inside the Clark cups, and you save the cards and you get $2 once you get 500 points. Kind of a cool 1950’s CRM tactic. They’re awesome. Ryan wishes they were a different shape so they didn’t seem like a Reese’s knock-off, because they’re good.John’s point: It’s not who’s first, it’s who’s best. Hydrox came before Oreo, after all.Michelle thinks they’re better than Reese’s – Teeg agrees. John says that’s a bridge too far.Superfood Grainola is Teeg’s final snack – ancient grains, dark chocolate – 25 cents a bag at Hy-Vee. Little clusters in a bag. Michelle thinks that it looks like bear scat. It’s bird seed plus chocolate. John doesn’t think healthy food has to look good, and he thinks this is a better choice after a workout than Clark Cups.Clark Cups topped everybody’s list this week!What does John think is coming next? Texture – like Trolli crunchy gummis. And bite sized. More bite sized favorites.

This week’s show comes from Teeg’s visit to ICAST and a friend from @takemefishingRyan and Jess @earlysnowbirds got a smaller RV – we cover life in a smaller RV, but for this week’s show, they got a hotel – that high speed wifi sure is nice! So is a hot shower.Jeff Kolodzinski isn’t our first Try This At Home Show world record holder! But he *is* the first guy who’s joined us from a boat.Kolo is a world record holder for the most fish caught in 24 hours. He joined the U.S. National Freshwater Fishing Team that competes in the World Championships. He fished in seven World Championships – “I never thought that some polish kid from Gary, IN would amount to much of anything, let alone something cool like that.”In World Fishing Championships, you catch as many fish as you can in three hours. Kolo developed that skill, then met a guy named Tom Goodrich who was a military leader serving in Afghanistan who had a God-given inspiration to start something when he got back home which became Fishing For Life.This last year was the 12th or 13th “Marathon Man” fishing event to raise money and awareness for Fishing For Life.The event takes place at @GiantGooseRanch in Canton, ILWhen this started, Kolo was catching 600-some fish a day, but set a Guinness World record with 2142 fish in 2010. This year he broke that record with 2177 fish!How long does it take to recover? Only a few days in terms of sore muscles – but his hands become a human pin cushion, it takes him weeks to heal from that.What’s bait? Fish candy is “eurolarvae – maggots.”This weeks’ treats: the @TakeMeFishing “Snackle Box” from our friend Rachel Auslander at the RBFF.Inside the Snackle Box: all the fishing favorite treats, Gummy Worms, Sour Gummies, Swedish Fish in several varieites, and Goldfish Crackers. MMMMM!The discussion of “candy newness,” candy that’s been on the shelf for a while versus the newly stocked stuff. This candy’s been in a tackle box, unwrapped for a while. So, there’s a bit of a candy crust.The Swedish Fish are close to bicycle tire consistency.Gummy everything is happy candy – Brian Miller checked in which is a reminder of the Gummy Corn sitting on the desk, which got us back into talking about Gummy Corn.Candy as an icebreaker – it’s great for making friends, and starting conversation.Some candy the color doesn’t mean anything – but colored Swedish Fish are flavored differently.The “gumminess” of a Swedish Fish versus the way that a Gummy Worm is springy.Ryan considers whether these candies could be handed down across the generations. He’s re-using the tackle box that these snacks came in for nuts & bolts in the RV.Why does fishing matter? For Kolo – it’s kind of a responsibility to pass it on.One study looked at people on death row – to a man, none had hunted or fished. Which is not to say that not doing it will land you on death row, but it is to say that getting people outside makes a difference in their lives.People who aren’t into fishing might not know that more people fish in the U.S. than play golf and tennis combined. Kids who spend unstructured time in the outdoors have lower rates of ADHD, do better in math and science, and research shows they tend to have better social skills.What Kolo shows off while he’s fishing is a way to fish that is so simple and so inexpensive – the tackle he uses to set a world record costs under $25.You can see exactly how he does it at Facebook.com/MarathonManFishing.Fishing is for everyone – it’s truly accessible. Just ask Clay Dyer, who is an inspiration to many.What Marathon Man fishing is all about is the Military Families and what Fishing For Life does. This isn’t just about setting a world record – it’s about raising funds for Fishing For Life and the Next Gen program. This year we set a record with over $15,000 raised.If you’re inspired to donate after hearing this, you could donate at MarathonManFishing.com.#SnackleBox

Ryan is in Canada, and if you aren’t following his amazing nomadic life, you should - @earlysnowbirds on Instagram. And speaking of Canada, we’ve probably never had more tech troubles than we did in this show.Emily Baker is the @CrazyFlippinMom and she “flips” everything from women’s clothes (a big seller) to discontinued cleaning products (surprisingly lucrative).You can get too much going on in the “reseller” world, and she actually had a high and low this year: kicked off of eBay, but contacted to consult with the Facebook marketing team.Ryan’s trip got off track when his GPS started speaking French - he’s doing his version of @myselfreliance and we’re hoping that by tagging Shawn James, suddenly the entire #MySelfReliance community will come flocking to our show and make us famous. (But seriously, we’re big fans of Shawn and his YouTube channel)First try of the week: Canadian candy from our friend Kristin Jenn (kj_trafalgar): Ice Wine, “These Little Maple Hard Candies,” and some amazing maple suckers. Oh, and Michelle speaks French!Canadian suckers have cool (maybe wasteful?) packaging, and it is hypothesized that Canadians cannot tell a lie. Emily’s take on Ice Wine: like a dull Jolly Rancher.Have you seen coffee ground chewing tobacco? Emily has, and considered it. Gross.So: what is Poshmark? What is Mercari?This summer, Emily made a lot of money on the side of the road, literally. Just hitting neighborhood garage sales, she scored so much free or nearly free stuff that she turned into about $6,000 in profit just through the summer months, just on stuff she found on the side of the road.Reselling is huge: some people are hitting the $1MM mark on reselling used clothing that they find in thrift stores and store closeouts.At 28 minute mark - literally learn the nuts and bolts of how you can do it, too.What’s Emily’s craziest “flip?” Clothing racks! She spent $200 buying the fixtures from a store that was closing, and just sold the last one - total profit, $1800.The real juice is in discontinued products. Like Off! Refils and Lysol. Off! Lysol! Who buys discontinued Off and Lysol!?It’s “a lot of fun” to vacation with Emily because she makes her family take the backroads, and stop at every dusty grocery store. Literally, if there is dust on stuff, she’s stocking up.The Butterfinger Hustle: We try the old and new Butterfinger - and learn what Emily uncovered about how much people want their old ones. Someone created a Change.org to go back to the original formula. And the One Star Reviews on Amazon for the new flavor! Hahahha.At this point in the show, Ryan appeared to become a JUNIORRRR UNIORRR HIGH IGH IGH SCHOOOLL STADIUM UM UM ANNOUNCER ER ER. (We don’t know what happened to his audio oh oh oh but it was funny!)The Try This At Home Show hosts and guests were on a freight train speeding into diabetes, so we started adding a salty snack instead of only candy. And in that vein: Pork Rinds!Pork Rinds are what happen when we don’t need to make any more footballs.We tried Epic Artisanal Pork RindsEmily: Like it, this is ketoMichelle: Pretty mild, my husband likes themTeeg: Not as bad as I thoughtRyan: These are for my dog WalterMichelle suggests putting them in the microwave. The rest of us are appalled.When does an Instagrammer become famous? Emily is in the 18,000 follower category, and the, “Hey, I know you!” has begun.

In today’s show:Vallomilk - it’s like if you replace the peanut butter in a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup with liquified marshmallow. Cool backstory on this depression-era invention that’s still around, beloved in Kansas.Chick O Stick brings back happy memories for Teeg, but it’s just confusing to the others. Brian puts everyone at ease about them being expired because “they don’t actually contain chicken.”Did you know that Butterfinger changed their formula? We gotta get @CrazyFlippinMom on the show - she’s raking it in by scoring the old recipe and selling them online.Big Cherry - a tasty candy that’s none too easy on the eyes. Plus, why we eat popcorn in movie theaters.The Great Depression seems to have given rise to a lot of enduring candy - we pontificate as to why.Abra CaBubble is this giant jawbreaker with gum inside. Brian reminisces about a classmate that made a killing selling them on the playground, Teeg - who likes everything - thinks they’re kinda gross.One Star Amazon reviews make everyone laugh hysterically: this needs to become a segment on the show. From Abra Cabubble, “I didn’t realize what a choking hazard these would be.”Helen Oh Jelly Corn is the most disturbing thing we’ve tried yet. Shaped like corn on the cob, smelling exactly like corn, tasting - bizarre. Nothing like what we know as gummy candy, Tribe Member Mike B. commented, “Nothing should taste like corn but corn.” So true, Mikey, so so true.

In today’s show:It’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup week; we invited the whole Try This Tribe to get a package before this week’s show to try these together during the Facebook Live recording of the podcast.We discuss the release of Krispy Kreme’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup donutRyan is on a Hot Air Balloon crew, and he’s recently returned from the National Balloon Classic. What’s it like to be in a Hot Air Balloon, and how do you land those things? #BucketListM&M’s is doing a series of internationally inspired flavors, and we try Thai Coconut. Michelle tries to ruin coconut for everyone by calling it ‘fingernail clippings,’ but the rest of us loved ‘em.We couldn’t figure out what we expected from Jelly Belly Jurassic Park edition, but it seemed like these flavors weren’t like, dinosaur-ey enough.If you saw the Facebook live, you saw the ridiculous yearbook photos. If you missed it, that’s why we have them here in the show notes!The four of us went to Oxford together … sort of. The untold story that we leave out when we go to job interviews.So what happens when you don’t speak French and you fumble your way through an ATM in France? It eats your ATM card, and you are stuck without any money!Remember when Brian almost killed Jeremy, like, for real?For our salty snack, we break open bags of Dakota Style Kettle Chips. Original, Jalapeno, Salt & Vinegar and Barbecue - all winners.We do a deep dive on Reese’s - including classic commercials and how they came to be.As a closer: insect protein. Did you know. That 2 billion people already eat insects as a part of their diet? Teeg has an insect protein chocolate bar on his desk that he hasn’t been able to bring himself to eat.

In today’s show:Eillien’s Butterscotch Discs - the official candy of little old ladies in church. The try-ers agree that society might be aging out of the butterscotch candy - Ryan got these at a small town hardware store. All agree: these are comforting candy.Teeg & Amy are celebrating 19 years of wedded bliss.Amy’s the Custom Coloring Mom, she’s making ‘road trip bundles’ for summer where she makes five little sheets that tells the story of the family’s vacation, and the kids can color them in the car to help pass the miles. Getting kids coloring is a big deal: kids are losing fine motor skills and dexterity, so it’s important to give them something to do that’s not on screens.A bunch of college friends hop on the Facebook live, and it makes the show feel like old home week in a fun good way. Except our kid keeps walking into the room while we’re recording the show.Salted Nut Rolls - a bargain, 2 for $1 - thrifty! A hardware store favorite. The try-ers all liked ‘em.Ryan surprises us with Candy Cigarettes and they were absolutely terrible. Not just morally terrible, but like, gross. Remember these tasting like the white conversation hearts? Now they taste like compressed baking soda and depression.Teeg’s first pick - Toffifay, which guest Amy calls a Northern Iowa farm favorite, but none of us had ever tried. Caramel, chocolate, hazelnut. We all loved them, and we all decided that the name is dumb.For our not-candy: Teeg loves preserved packaged meats. Larissa’s Kitchen Smoky Sweet Beef Sticks … Amy is a vegetarian and she refuses to try it. Teeg loved it, the other try-ers were not as sure. Teeg make’s the case for them.Ryan: “I’ve got greasy lips.”Teeg: “Let’s put that on a T-shirt.”Great minds think alike: Teeg ALSO sent Salted Nut Rolls, but bite sized. We pontificate on whether full size and bite size snacks of the same type taste different; probably so - the proportions change.Last candy: Milky Way original, full sized bar. Seems like this was MADE for a snack size versus full size bar.The difference between mom and dad:Dad observes that the kids are killing each other.Mom tries to prevent the kids from killing each other.Toffifay tops the list of our favorites for the week if we take all the try-ers on average, but Teeg puts Larissa’s kitchen at the top of the list and Ryan believes Teeg must have a side-deal sponsorship or something.The Try-ers ship an envelope out to one Try This Tribe member, and Lane L is first to raise his hand.

In today’s show:We do *not* try Dude, Sweet chocolate “Crack in a Box” chocolate bark, Nanette’s gift chocolate for Teeg - we save that for another day.Nanette & Matthew worry about the amount of sugar shock they’ll encounter from this much sugar entering their low-sugar diet.Hershey’s Cookie Crunch - an awful lot like Twix with nuts. Nanette said, “not so much,” but Matthew was licking the wrapper and Teeg ate like a hungry muppet.Story break: Teeg saw that the TSA was bragging about catching a gun off a guy coming through security in Cedar Rapids … Matthew was once that guy, sorta - and talked his way out of it. Only in Texas.Twizzlers Bites (low fat!) are a “brings back a memory” candy for everyone; Matthew’s more of a Red Vines guy, and Nanette has a lesson on how fat can be good. Bonus: Swedish Fish, just because we could, and it came up in conversation.Nanette gets into how Swedish Fish fueled her days during a portion of her professional skydiving career, and this led us to the story what can go wrong skydiving, how fast you’re going (180 MPH), completing over 9,000 career jumps out of an airplane including 21 jumps on one day, and BASE jumping off of a radio tower … while you have debilitating food poisoning.The not-candy for this week was Caesar Harvest Snaps Green Pea Snap Crisps. Our guest try-ers were a little worried about the length of the ingredient list, Teeg was making a case that Swedish Fish do not involve fish, so something made from peas is definitely OK. Matthew thinks they are definitely better than being water boarded. Nanette, “I’d probably prefer to fast.”

In today’s show:Jumbo Push Pops - spring loaded candy? This definitely looks dirty on camera. But it’s for kids.Ryan and Michelle dig NASCAR … Teeg is ambivalent to the auto racing. Let’s just say, he’s not a Mountain Dew drinker. But it’s hard not to love fast cars going braaap.Taking delight in horrible candy - like wax lips. Brian describes the dark corner of a convenience store (the place Teeg makes a beeline for).Knoppers - chocolate covered milk hazelnut wafer … the try-ers were all impressed. Maybe more cookie than candy but definitely a snack. Brian’s summary, “legit.” Teeg, “This is everything that we appreciate about Germany: in the category of everything we like from there like BMW and beer.”Snicker’s Creamy Peanut Butter - Brian’s reaction: “I don’t like bad smells, and when someone eats one of these fake peanut butter candies, they can’t help but start to smell like old carpet or like when you find a towel that got wet and sat in the dirty clothes for a couple weeks.”M&M’s Milk Chocolate Bars - Teeg’s first pick - “I got them on discount at a flea market.” (Not true, kidding, kidding.)Camo Beans from Jelly Belly - The Pandering Candy (but they were pretty good). Teeg’s favorite is the black jelly beans.Brian: “Nobody who is allowed to drive should be able to eat black jelly beans.”Teeg: “I love how they make your mouth a little numb, I love how you can’t eat just one…”The try-ers were just as divided on the topic of Juicy PearTeeg’s third pick: “Brach’s Pick A Mix Jelly Nougat.” I’m sure that no two are alike. Brian: They’re a collector’s item, they’re not for eating.The try-ers do a deep dive into Cadbury Creme Eggs and the creme amniotic fluid insideTeeg: The Brach’s Jelly Nougat is the flavor of the allied forces winning World War Two.

In today’s show:The Candy Hangover, how you feel a day after eating too much candy (where we resolve to send one another some not-candy snack in future envelopes)Mike & Ike – do you combine flavors to make your own cocktail?Grape is a gross candy flavor, if we’re being honest (so says Teeg – Ryan likes it). No grape tastes like grape candy – and while it’s true that banana candy and watermelon candy don’t taste like bananas or watermelons, they’re at least pleasant tastes.The Sour Meter for sour candyHow gummy candy makes you happy: if this candy was music, it would be steel drumsCandy con leche – at our advancing age, having a little dairy to go with an onslaught of sugar can helpRyan’s first time trying Craisins, and how they give you the toots (Ryan needs to eat more fancy salads)The anticipation of waiting to open the envelopes that we send each other