Hey, I'm Maddie, and I'm Skylar, and you're listening to Butter Together, we're two friends who believe food isn't just about what's on the plate. It's about the people, the stories, and the little moments that bring us closer. Each episode, we'll share conversations, memories, and maybe a few recipes too, because the best things in life are meant to be shared. So come hang out with us and let's get to it. Let's talk about what her favorite things are right now. So your right now is, oh, better sour tart cherry gummies and, oh, where's the bag? Oh, crap. Like, oh, and then Dan Turtle chips, Korean fried chicken. Don't even talk about that right now. So it's butter. Better not butter. I thought we were talking about butter together here. Better sour tart cherry gummy stars. They are, um, this is the smallest batch. 15 grams, yeah. Of fiber. But how that is 54% of the total ingredients. No. 54. 54% of your total dietary need, need for fiber. Yeah. But like, look how many, oh, is that really what it means? Yeah. The little percentage say, yeah, that's what the percentage means. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, there's, it only weighs 50 grams. Okay. There's so 50 grams of gummies. I'm getting 54% of my dietary needs of fiber. Yes. Within this one bag. Yes. It's insane. That's why it's so easy to down 'em one 'cause they're delicious and then all of a sudden you have bubble guts. Yeah. And your stomach hurts. Zero grams of protein. Well fair. One gram of added sugar. Fair one. Are there total sugars are two grams. Wait, are there, are there two servings and a Oh wow. So that's crazy. Didn't know that. Sugar's not vegan. Oh yeah. Yeah. My boss the other day was like, I know this is a dumb question, but like what is vegan? And we all had a discussion about it because like dyes, that's a good talk. I didn't know that. Dyes, certain dyes aren't vegan. Oh, red dye from beetle, blood beetle, blood beetles. But they, okay. What about number one, number seven, die. Like what about the synthetic dyes? I don't know. From? Yeah. What, where are you getting red beetle from? It like starts with a C, like that was like the original. Oh, the original red dye. Like red dye beetle, blood red, crushed beetle. We're gonna crush up some beetles and make, who thinks of that blood into our cake? Yeah. Like it was like, yeah, that makes sense. Well, think about it. Go back to our hunter gatherer state before machines and. And the trains. Well, I wish to be there. And the industrial service, at least war was in like, there was just bugs and dirt and things. And if someone wanted to make a goddamn red cake, they would make it with beetle blood. You want that fucking red outfit bitch? Watch it. Yeah. Better gather up the Beatles. Everyone. They're like this big. Yeah, they're like little tiny. Well, isn't jeans like, like blue jeans was? That's indigo. Indigo. But that's just leaves. That's still not synthetic. That's a different type of dye that was made from the earth. These are not like crushing bugs. How are you gonna get red girl human blood? Yeah. You know what would be really gross? That would No, what you gonna say? We could collect it. It happens once a month. Ew. Not from that. Okay, let's talk about this because it really pisses me off like all of the ads and stuff for like these products, like lymphatic drainage and all this stuff. When you look at the science of it, like gua massages, like I literally saw someone trying to sell like where you can do a lymphatic drainage massage daily from this like machine for like so much amount of money, but that like. Why, why don't we realize that just doing like surface level like treatments mm-hmm. Only helps surface level symptoms. Like if there's looking at it a cellular, cellular level, the, the bigger issue is the blockage of what's happening at the cellular level. And unless you're treating that. Like, why are we spending so much money on symptoms? That's what I don't get. Or like products that only treat symptoms That I love that because that is American healthcare is treating the symptoms not the root cause of it. Well, and that's what I don't like about like how American food has become that. It's like everyone's obsessed with like. Getting a toned body. So now all these products with like high protein mm-hmm. Are skyrocketing. Like getting like, what did you pay for these, these little guys. My little fiber gums. Your, your 51 grams of gummies were $5 each. Right? Yeah. Which is insane. It is insane. And because it's 70 calories and two grams of sugar and it's vegan and gluten-free and it's vegan and gluten-free. So it's like. They're marketing all this like expensive Oh yeah. Products that is just tapioca flour. Yeah. And some citrus citric gasten. Yep. Like that's insane to me. I'm sorry. It's insane. And I bought into it and I will continue at least the better sour. I will continue to Well that's fine. I not knocking you for paying it. I'm knocking the companies and like the people that are like the way they're marketing it is me mad. So like when you think about like just eating protein, you are going to be blocked up, bro. Like that mass ain't going anywhere. Mm-hmm. Because it's not supposed to. Yeah. It's protein is supposed to be a long term digestible like food and it's building a muscle. Yeah. But without the proper, like, like no one looks at the body anymore as this whole thing like. We're always looking at each system. And not to bring this up in a mean way. No, no. But like earlier today, you were like, I just want this thing gone. Yeah. Or like, I wanna get this down. Yeah. So you're gonna try all these things just for that one thing, versus like treating your whole system as like everything I do. Mm-hmm. And the way your posture is, the way your stress is built, built up like that has to do with stress, that has to do with like sleep and all these other things. Genetics. Genetics. But also like. That's how I started working out and doing stuff. It was like, I want smaller this or I want this. But the more I did it, I was like, no matter how much I focus on one part, it's not gonna affect me in the way that I want it to unless I look at the whole, I think the way I'm looking at it is how can I work out every other part of my body and not that one part that well, and that's different. That's like, that's um, like form and adjustment of like how you like naturally do things. Yeah. When I first started running. It was like really uncomfortable. Like my, I can tell my posture was really bad, but when I started weightlifting and running mm-hmm. I felt stronger. Like my posture got better. I got, and I felt more confident walking into spaces. 'cause I held, I held my weight better. I held my, you know, because, because I knew how to do that certain form of things. Mm-hmm. I don't know how, what, what I'm saying makes sense, but. I, I just don't like that these ads, that these like popular things are targeting like one specific insecurity or issue people. Mm-hmm. Everyone has, everyone has those insecurities, everyone has those like issues. Yeah. Puffy face in the morning, you know, like swollen ankles at night and then they're telling you, well, your cortisol levels are high. Take this pill. But it's like your cortisol levels are high because it's a whole system issue. And because like, so why spiral issue? And they were saying, I read this one thing the other day that like if you treat this thing and low or heighten these levels, like at the age that some people are at, that is not healthy for them. Mm-hmm. And it could really mess up your entire like system just because you wanna stay thin for 30 years in a row. But I don't know. I think thinking about food and health and everything, I think we get this idea that like. We wanna be perfect at every stage in our life, instead of just accepting each stage as a different part of like our entire being. Mm-hmm. And like existence versus like, I wanna control it in some way. I think it's because regular, like us, regular people, we see the effect that that has on the ones that can afford it. Yeah. 'cause it's shoved into our face on daily. And that's what pissed me off even more, that it's like if you have more money, like. Like beauty is bought these days. Yes, my God. Like God, you can change any part you want about how you look in any sort of way if you have the right money. I say Emma Stone does not look the same. Yep. She looks gorgeous. Yeah. Like amazing. But she doesn't look like Emma Stone from ECA. She miss her Ani Taylor Joy doesn't look like Ani Taylor Joy that you see in the witch. You know? Where did her cute little cheeks go? Yeah, they're gone. They're gone. Uh, Kim Kardashian's face changes every five years, like Kylie Jenner and all the sisters and the mom, like everything that everyone struggles with, whether, whether it's from genetics, whether it's from lifestyle, socioeconomic factors, whatever, someone is able to control those things purely out of money. Yeah. And it causes an industry that creates the want and. Pushed on, so unquote, need to control these certain factors. Yeah. When in reality everyone's healthy is different no matter what. Everyone's healthy. Could be skinny, could be fit and strong. Could be a little on the heavier side. Like if your doctor says you're healthy, that's all that really matters. Or like, if you feel good, you know, and you can sleep at night and you make your body's functioning the way it needs to rest, rest. The body's functioning exactly as it should. That's healthy. Yeah, and that was something growing up I was told because I was overweight, I've always been over a little overweight, but like playing sports as a kid, I'd go to the doctor, I'd get my physical as you're supposed to. My doctor was always like, you're fine, you're healthy. Your lungs work. Your lungs are great. Your body's reacting as it should. Nothing's wrong. Yeah, like just keep doing what you're doing. It's fine. But then of course. It is outside sources. Mm-hmm. Outside influence that really affect a person. Yeah. Unfortunately, because that's how America brings us up. Ugh. People care about the external rather than the internal. But, and I, I think that is one way food has always like, brought me back to myself and it was, it was so interesting the other day, I, I found this account that like, it's a real estate account. Feel like I'm aging myself right now, but it was like real estate for like these manners and houses and almost castles like outside of England. And I was like obsessed because it would be like $1 million home. But I get to live in the cottage of my dreams. Okay. But like in Tuscany, they're like 300,000 for a villa, for abilla. And I was thinking about it and I was like, oh my gosh, I feel like every. White woman, like obsessed with like cottage core right now because there's this huge draw to, and I think too, with like different influencers that have come up, like there's this draw and I think especially with like food in a weird way towards this like rural living, like connecting with the land and connecting with like the seasons. The seasons of being like, like, you know, and all those things are good. But then you relate. You relate it back here and it's like, I still don't eat with the seasons because I can get all everything I want anytime I want at the grocery store. And like there is this draw to wants to like remove yourself from the society and like go and do those things on your own, but you're also living in a weird fantasy. Yes. Okay. That makes me think. I just watched Sophia Olas, Marie Antoinette. And how Maria Antoinette actually had that fantasy. Yeah. Lived out. Like she had her own fake cottage where she just like pretended she was a farmer and a shepherd s and she wore like, like peasant clothes made from like probably the finest linens or whatever that you could get in Paris at the time. And she had her ser draw milk into buckets so that she could pour the buckets into cups for her guests. So it's like. Yes. We're living that people live that fantasy out in 2026. Yeah. In the last probably 10 years. Been that resurgence of I want to like live off grid. Yeah. I wanna have my own cows baby. I'm part of that too. There is always that like want to escape. Mm-hmm. And I, and I feel like it's a weird form of escaping 'cause it's almost like returning like back to like. Something that feels very healthy, very familiar. Like of course, like having your own garden, doing all these things sound like really amazing. But it was like, you told me about a story about your friend who like never been camping mm-hmm. And was like, I really want to camp. Yeah. And then they get to camping and they see what it's like and they're like, I don't want to camp. Yeah. Like, I hate this, you know, with like another five days left of camping. Yeah. And I, I, I know that it's like a fantasy in this sense, but I think. We're not given a lot of choices about the way we can live. Yeah. Until we do something different. And of course it's like uncomfortable at first, but like I follow a few, few people's accounts for cooking or baking that are in those kind of like, I'm gonna forge for my own like stuff. And you have my own, well, like camp fire, like Yeah. Only like fire. Like fire pit only. Fire pit. Food. Yeah. And there's, there's a huge like, market for that right now because everyone lives in the modern society, the modern society now. So of course it's interesting and fun to look at, but I, I've been thinking about it a lot more lately that like, there's this huge, I mean, what was it? Um, the movie that just came out that we need to see together? Withering Heights. Withering Heights. But with Withering Heights, it was really interesting. I, I follow this like movie review guy and he's really into movies and, um, watched it and wasn't very like, pleased with it. Mm-hmm. But then like. It's been doing so well in the box offices and like people are loving it. Like the general public, not necessarily like movie gurus or like, you know, or Wooding Heights Aficionados. Yeah. They, they just enjoy the movie. Yeah. But I think it's because there's this, like, this like longing for like old things right now that I find really cool, but also like. Like a little misplaced because it's like you don't want to live that life. Mm-hmm. You no one would want to live that life and like, you don't wanna actually wake up at before dawn to take care of the animals and put them off the grid and on a farm. Yeah. You know, the weeks in advance of garden planning Yeah. To make sure you have enough food to last you through the preparing for winter. Like yeah. There's a lot more to just the like beautiful effects that we see on Instagram, but like. I generally think it would benefit most people from experiencing that lifestyle. But at the same time, I'm like, how? Why? I I, I just feel weird being a part of like consuming media that just plays off of people's fantasies. I think though it's because we are so far removed from the natural realm. Yeah. Sad that it causes sad. It causes a huge, it causes like a huge, um. Want and fantasy to return to these things. I have that. I still have that like it's like I wish that I lived more in tune of seasons. Is it attainable? Yes. Would it be a lot of hard work that because of modern convenience would I go for? Probably not unless you put me in that situation or I had the money to remove myself from the current situation. Yeah. It's like, yeah, okay. It's a big upfront cost. To get to the off the grid, to get to the, you know, building my own house out of Cobb, like in the middle of nowhere and then start from there. Yeah. Like, that's a lot of work. That's a lot of money. It's a lot of time that don't have, but do you see, what lifestyle do you see has more value? Hmm. One where I'm not living for the man. So yes, living off grid I think would have more value. Not in like, my value to society would be like zero, but my value for me and my immediate surroundings and my immediate people would skyrocket. Mm-hmm. Because every, every action that I would take would have a direct, immediate result. Whether immediate means like or effect a season Yeah. Or effect like. This has an actual output. Mm-hmm. When I've put in the work, you know, like, yeah. Then I can make compost. Like just from doing my day-to-day things. You're just making compost. Like gardening, you're jarring, canning, um, community, like we talked about community gardens you know, you're sharing your food back and forth between people and like creating a community that's a community. Yeah. Yeah. And so I really, really love that idea. And I've seen and know people that have made it work, but I also know the amount of hard work that they put in to make that a livable lifestyle. And even then, there is still a need for convenience and a need for a connection to just a modern life, you know? Can't make everything, can't make soy sauce, you know, like Jesus. C Christ. We don't have like three years. So, you know, it's give and take to protect. To protect. It's an interesting thought though. I think I, I get caught up more in the, like, the way everything's on a screen lately. Like, I don't like that I'm learning or like have to get information from like. A computer or, you know mm-hmm. Just, you know, trends or different things. but everywhere you turn at this point, anything that you consume. Is backed by someone putting their personal like perspective. It's all perspective. And the only thing we can really rely on is how we view the situation or any a situation. And with food, that's a beautiful thing because you have a direct input and control over that specific situation. You know, even if at the end like. So I was like, yeah, I eat kind of healthy. I had like veggies in my fiber and then I ate chicken nuggets because I'm human. Um, and then at the end of the day I was like, I'm really hungry still. Like, I really want freaking potato chips or something. And, um, I had those banana juice, but like, can we, it's like you can't say that anything. That we've created as people, like in our history doesn't have perspective. Yeah. As objective as we want it to be. Like I love a science book, you know, like I love science, I love history. That all has the lens. Mm-hmm. There is always someone backing the creation of that product. Yeah. And that means they have a say in what goes in and what doesn't. Mm-hmm. We don't know because we're just told. This is, this is fact, this is truth. And now Pluto is no longer on planet. Okay. I remember that being such a big thing. Yeah. We're like, wait, what? She's dwarf. She's dwarf. Isn't that a slur? Uh, yeah, food is definitely when I think too. Mm-hmm. The. Um, the best part about all this is that it's just life, health. Yeah. Like food, politics, like everything, people, human error, like that is a part of life. And I think what you're hearing probably today for me is that it's just frustrating mm-hmm. That we have to sift through it all. But at the same time, I know it's rewarding. I know it's rewarding to like have the conversations and to think about where, you know, like, because you could say at the flip side that is. The reason why we're here, like part of who we are is that we have perspective. Yeah. You know, that we can discuss like we're doing right now. Like everyone has a voice. Everyone has an opinion and a thought, and that's what created like all these great minds is because they voiced those thoughts and they backed it up with as much fact as they could until it was taken as truth. Hmm. You know, people literally killed Galileo because he thought that we revolved around the sun and not the sun around us. So, yeah. So we got gummies. What else are you into right now? Yeah. Woo. Um. Dude, that quesadilla, that was pretty good. I told you one day Tony came back from his little taco run and he got, he goes, you want anything? I was like, just gimme a quesadilla. I'm just like, when I am really low in energy and on life, I'll have a quesadilla, which is often, and he brought me this quesadilla and it was delectable, like it was the cheese. It's the cheese. Oh my gosh. Like I think eating it warm too, like after like right when it gets rock it was stink. Oh my gosh. Like usually I think like cheese is too much. You know what's different about that one too? Is it has a little bit of bean. There's bean. There's a little bit of bean in there. Yum. Yu yummy. Yeah. That was a good case to like, I've been feeling more of a pull lately to getting. Savvy was savory. Like I, I would love to be a savvy little savory girl, but you are, but I'm not. You literally made, you're like, I'm just gonna this pork and stuff together. And she made like a Thai thing, but it wasn't that good. I didn't eat it, but it smelled amazing. It did smell really good. And that was solely because you told me to cook things with ginger, so I put a full thing of ginger in there. That's true. And then I remember the one thing you gave me that did have ginger in. That was a lot of ginger. That was a lot. It was good. It was spicy, but you also get really cool ingredients. Yeah. Like that is true. That, that is the one thing I think why I think I'm so inaccurate or inadequate with, um, savory, because I work with really amazing chefs. Mm-hmm. And I went to like an offsite recently and just watched, basically. And I know a lot of it is just like practice intuition. And I, I could get to that point, but at the same time it was like watching like a magic wielder, just like. Do magic um, but yeah, there's, there's something like intrinsically so cool about a cook. Um, I feel like because I've just been obsessed with pastry, I don't really think about savory or like the chefs I work with, and I'm so obsessed with my own existence, which is like just natural. But I saw for the first time I literally just stood there and watched a lot. Like I couldn't help them with their five course, like plated dinner thing. I just watched and he was like, do it like this. I was like, okay, chef. And I just put flowers on top of things and it was just really cool to see like seasoned professionals create and like, I don't know, it was cool. It was cool to be like outside, but like in the team too, like pastry is so weird because it is one part, it's the the last course of the meal. And can really like bring everything together or just like be like what? Mm-hmm. But it is so minimal. Like I chose a very like small part No. Of the industry. No. But it is like, not everyone loves desserts. Not everyone will get a dessert when I go to eat somewhere. I don't buy desserts when I go out, like if I'm buying something, you know what I mean? Like it is kind of this like afterthought, but it is so integral and I was reminded of it the other day at work. Like pastry is what creates special moments. Mm-hmm. Like when they're trying to create like, um, at work, like, oh, we need a special amenity for this. Can we just add some cookies? Or like, can we just like give the, give people at this event like something to take home that's pastry? Can we just like add this like really cool experience that we're doing? Um, add something sweet to it so that people feel like special. And like those things are really cool that what I love about pastry, but at the same time, the savory part I've just ignored for a long time and I'm coming to a place where I'm like, as a chef, like it would be really great to learn pastry in that way because it is the entire meal until dessert. But also like there's something about it. That feels like a movement that I've never really done before, like in my own personal life, but also in professional life. Like there's a movement that like pastry has that's very like systematic, methodical, but also like intuitive and just like really fun. But at the same time, culinary, like when you're doing savory, it's its own beast in its own way because you have so much more. Like products, basically like you're choosing products. A protein, a car, like Yeah, like veggies, like yeah. There's so many different things you can pull from and there's so many different flavors you can combine. Yeah. Into savory, I think for both pastry and savory. Like that's, yeah. The beauty is like you can make a patient doesn't always have to be sweet. Yes. And it doesn't always have to be just savory. Yeah. Like it can be kind of this spool thing. The coolest things, combine the two. But I feel like I've always ignored the other side because I'm just so set on like pastry. I think that is where my upbringing makes it really fun, like growing up. Uh, like, yeah, I'm American. Okay. Like, I'm American guys. I'm a er. I'm a er. But I grew up eating and cooking a lot of Japanese dishes out of comfort and out of familiarity for my, my, my dad, but also because that is what I love. Like, I've never hated sushi. I've never hated, I ate. So much rice. My parents got worried. Okay. They were like, she eats a lot of rice. Okay. It was trauma that was stuck out in my brain. But like you, Japanese cooking is not just one flavor. It is always like sweet and savory, sweet and salty, more umami. You know? Like this is like not just one note. There's layers and depths and that makes me think, oh. One of my favorite dishes that I finally made the other day, which I love, it's the only way I'll ever eat eggplant ever again. Basically. Um, it's called naso Miso. Naso miso. Masu means eggplant. Miso we all know is miso. And it is a braised and like, yeah, pretty much a braised and sied eggplant and a miso, a sweet miso, soy, so like sauce. Not just soy sauce, but like there's sugar miso, there's mead, which is like a very sweet kind of sake, like cooking sake. And then, um, rice, wine vinegar. So you kind of hit all five of those taste buds, sweet, savory, salty, um, sour from that vinegar. And there's not a lot of heat in these, a lot of Japanese food. It's primarily like that mix of sweet and savory. And I just fucking dig it, man. Like it is so good. And it when you get the eggplant like to the right consistency where it kind of just like creamy, goopy, mush, oh my god. And then you like cook it just enough at the end so it hits a little high heat and it like caramelizes that sauce. Oh, you need to make me this. That's so good. I need to, I need to learn this. It is so good. It is so easy. Mm. And you think, it sounds like, yeah. You sound, you made it sound like very complicated right now. It sounds so complicated. You literally just cut up eggplant. Mm-hmm. Syrup it. Dump the sauce on, put the cover on and wait. Yeah. Mm-hmm. But you have, I feel like when you have thousands of years of history to back up who you are as a culture, that helps a lot when it comes to food. Yeah. Yeah. What do we have? Cookies, I think. I think cookies like cake wasn't from us, right? Ice cream was from us. Yeah. I'm pretty sure ice cream was from America. I hope that makes sense. Maybe like jello. No aspect has been around for a very long time. What is America?. Good at fusion. Kogi truck. Come on. Mexican, Korean taco truck. Yeah. How do you feel about fusion food? I'm for it. I mean that's kind of like a natural effect of crossing of cultures. Like Filipino food is Mexican and, oh, don't hate me Internet. Um, Mexican and or Spanish influence and Vietnamese maybe because I remember there's a lot and Chinese similarities. Yeah. And like Vietnamese has a lot of French influences and we in Filipino food right now, now. I guess to sum it all up. There's a lot of things we could be pissed off about. A lot of fantasies we can fall into. Mm-hmm. But we are where we are and we make what we make. Mm-hmm. And that's okay. We all have choice and we all have choice, and we can learn what we want. Thanks so much for joining us today. We're so glad you fold up a chair and stayed a while around here. We believe food is more than just a meal. It's connection and care and all the stories that make us who we are, and we hope this episode reminded you of the joy that comes from sharing something simple with someone else. If you liked what you heard. Follow us wherever you get your podcast, and then leave a review to help others find their way to the table. You can also connect with us on social media or drop us a note. We'd love to hear your own food stories. Until next time, we're so glad you're here because everything's better when we're butter together.