Matt and Friends Drink the Universe
Welcome to Matt and Friends Drink the Universe, the podcast where comedy and great drinks collide! Join host Matt and a rotating crew of friends as they sample unique beers, wines, cocktails, and spirits, diving into the stories, history, and science behind each sip.
Packed with laughs, hilarious anecdotes, fun trivia, and drinking games, our show offers a laid-back yet enlightening experience for anyone who enjoys a good drink with great company. Tune in for “Stellar Sips” and “Cosmic Chugs” as we explore new flavors and share memorable stories along the way.
Whether you're a casual drinker or a cocktail connoisseur, sit back, relax, and let’s drink our way through the universe—where anything is possible! Cheers!
Matt and Friends Drink the Universe
Drinkables - "Hakuna MaWawa"
Drinkables! Aaron, Rob, and Siobhan join Matt for another gastro adventure! For Season 2 we've upscaled from the dollar store to... gas stations! For an added twist, Matt has asked that his friends create a vodka based cocktail with ingredients from their gas station of choice. Featuring Reyka Vodka, this fun-filled episode takes us on a wild ride as we taste-test the likes of chicken sandwiches, a Hershey's cookie and cream bar, and even some mofongo with our budget vodka cocktails! Who knew gas station cuisine could be this interesting?
Which cocktail and 3 accompanying snacks will come out on top? Aaron and Mobil? Rob and Sheetz? Siobhan and Wawa? or Matt and 7-11?
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10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. We have liftoff.
Rob:Welcome to Matt and Friends. Drink the Universe.
Matt:Welcome back to Matt and Friends. Drink the Universe. Today, the theme is Drinkables.
Rob:I have so many terrible flavors in my mouth right now.
Aaron:Three budget snacks, it's got like this fireness to your tongue. It's not good guys.
Matt:That go with a centerpiece drink.
Rob:Oh, oh, don't drink it. Don't drink. What is with you guys gargling your?
Matt:food and beer. If you're feeling brave, you can dip it. Got a hard pass on that.
Rob:Just stop getting meat. Wow, that really had a vaudevillian jive to it, you know.
Matt:It did like a horrific cooking show intro.
Rob:Yeah, well, I hope we can redeem ourselves from our mishaps in season one.
Matt:I really hope so. My only goal for today is that nobody makes any of the noises that were made in the previous two Drinkables episodes. Here's hoping Most of them were my fault though.
Rob:Like most of them were directly my fault. That is a fair assessment.
Matt:Once again. I have some great friends drinking the universe again with me today, so let's go around the table and have you all introduce yourselves.
Aaron:Hello, it's Siobhan.
Siobhan:Hey this is.
Matt:Aaron.
Rob:Hi everybody, it's Rob back again.
Matt:So for those of you listening to your first Drinkables episode, what we do is I send my friends out to a specific place and I say pick three things that will go with a particular drink. Today the centerpiece drink is Reyka Vodka from Iceland and we Eastland Eastland and we upscaled from last season where everybody was going to the dollar store. That did not, overall, end well.
Aaron:Almost everybody went to the dollar store.
Matt:Almost everybody went to the dollar store. Some of us went to Wegmans Not saying who. Everybody was assigned a gas station to go to to pick their three items. I'm very excited I saw in the kitchen before we got in here today what some of the items were. And I'm going to be the one that actually starts us off today because mine is a little temperature sensitive. So are we ready?
Rob:Are we ready? I'm hoping I'm ready for anybody who You've been dipping into the sauce before we got in here buddy.
Matt:I went bug's bunny there for a second, so we're going to start off with the cocktail quote unquote that I prepared. The gas station that I chose was 7-Eleven.
Rob:This looks lovely.
Aaron:Everybody loves a Slurpee. Can I ask does everyone get gas from 7-Eleven?
Matt:As in for your vehicle.
Aaron:Yeah.
Rob:I've never filled up at a 7-Eleven to my knowledge.
Aaron:Just curious, I don't know.
Matt:I've always stopped there for this one does have gas. I see what you're getting at. This one does have gas pumps.
Aaron:I'm just curious.
Siobhan:I don't think I've ever seen a 7-Eleven with gas pumps the gas station.
Matt:Okay, the one in Nazareth.
Aaron:Pennsylvania does indeed have gas pumps.
Matt:Oh does it really? Yes, it does.
Aaron:That's amazing. I was about to call you out Are the gas pumps a separate brand of gas.
Matt:No, they're attached and they have 7-Eleven logos on them.
Rob:You must post a photo evidence on our social media because I am a little Skeptical. Skeptical Indeed, All right. Well, let's get to this before it melts anymore.
Matt:So what we have here is a cherry Slurpee with vodka with a peach ring, varnish or garnish.
Rob:I feel like varnish might actually not be wrong. I'm not going to lie, I've never been so surprised by tasting absolutely nothing. Because it tastes like nothing, I'm not really getting the cherry. I actually think the peach ring helps a lot. Okay, yeah, I'm going to get into that.
Aaron:It sweetens it up a little bit, which I never thought I would have to say about a Slurpee.
Siobhan:Yeah, you got to dip the peach ring.
Rob:Oh yeah, I'll join you on that. Yeah, I never thought that we would need the peach ring to sweeten it.
Aaron:I am getting a little cough syrup. I'm not going to lie, yeah.
Rob:I warned you about this, Matthew. I told you it's a delicate thing. If you didn't go blue razz, you had a shot at making the cough syrup taste. All right, it's a tad medicinal.
Matt:So it is. It's a little Nyquil, so we're going to have to go ahead and dive into the first piece of food here, and the order I would like to do this in is chicken sandwich first. So I went for kind of a sweet and salty thing, like I have done in the past, but I tried to mix it up and get flavors that really went with the cherry. What we have here is chicken sandwich. We have some Hershey's Cookie and Cream Bar, and then I actually found a little cheesecake, a strawberry cheesecake. That was the surprise. I couldn't believe it was. Back there. There was only one left and I thought, okay, we're going to round it out with that.
Rob:It's not the worst chicken sandwich I've ever had in my life.
Aaron:It might be the driest.
Siobhan:Yeah, it is a little dry.
Aaron:I think it might be good he's dipping it in the Slurp.
Matt:I like it. Aaron just went right in what's the chicken sandwich to the Slurpee.
Aaron:Well, now I feel like I have to do that too.
Siobhan:Don't knock until you try it.
Rob:As I'm getting deeper in the Slurp, I'm getting more of the cherry flavor, which is making it more medicinal.
Matt:Okay, I mean actually, the dipping ain't bad. The dipping is really not bad.
Rob:Right, Really it's just rehydrating the chicken, which is kind of a necessity at the moment.
Aaron:You're right, though this isn't that bad.
Rob:It keeps and bounds above your offerings in season one.
Aaron:Oh my gosh, thank God.
Matt:We are 45 seconds into tasting and nobody's screaming bloody murder, so I'm ahead of the curve.
Rob:It's a bit of a aftertaste. I don't know what it's coming from.
Aaron:The gas pumps. It might be from that.
Matt:For those of you if this is your first drinkable. Half the episode is us chewing into the microphones.
Aaron:Indeed.
Siobhan:But you notice there's no aftertaste when you dip the chicken in the drink. That's true. You get a little aftertaste with both of them individually, but when you dip it they like balance each other out.
Aaron:I really think the peach ring saves this.
Matt:I remember those being a lot sweeter, like the cherry slurpee, is just not.
Rob:May I ask how much vodka is in this no shot Okay.
Aaron:You're gonna be all right.
Rob:Well, just before I slugged the whole thing, I needed to make sure.
Matt:So, now that you've slugged the whole thing, how do you intend to taste the other food along with it?
Rob:I don't need to.
Matt:Okay.
Aaron:Oh, can't dip. You're gonna dip the cookies in cream.
Matt:So next up, let's go cookies and cream. Here we're gonna dial up the sweetness as we go.
Aaron:Classic. I enjoy this because it's one of my favorites. Also, I should know better. I'm in the intro sounding like this I should not be talking with food in my mouth and my mom would be so mad.
Matt:That's okay. We want to have her on in a future episode.
Rob:I mean the cookies and cream bar, delicious, but I don't know what it adds. With cherry. It's like sweet on, sweet, on, sweet on sweet. My palate needs to break from that.
Aaron:Well, too bad, it's not gonna get one. It's a cheesecake.
Siobhan:Matt is just that sweet of a person.
Rob:Yeah, you know, thank you very much, I know when your tongue is also colorblind, like, but for taste, but for taste.
Aaron:Taste, blindness, taste blindness.
Matt:How do you test for that? You just lick different things Like how's that work you?
Aaron:tell me, bro, you come to the drinkables with Matt. You sure anybody.
Rob:Shots fired. Shots fired.
Aaron:Wow, you asked.
Rob:I am both excited and terrified for this tiny little cheesecake that you found in the back of a refrigerator at a 7-11.
Matt:It wasn't in the back of the refrigerator, but it wasn't exactly very prevalently displayed. Here you go.
Rob:Oh, it's got like some, it's got a fruity center Just like you, matt. Sorry, I'm sorry, it took a minute. Well done, well done, all right.
Matt:Let's see what we got. Is that a full graham cracker on the bottom there? Or is that actual graham cracker? I don't know. I think my fork is stuck in like glue.
Rob:I don't know, I get it out. Have you never used a fork?
Matt:You stick it in something, then put it in your mouth.
Rob:Tell me more about that, matt, tell me more. Walking into a butt.
Aaron:That fruity center Okay.
Rob:This is delightful.
Aaron:Is it? I mean it's good.
Rob:I would never believe this came from a 7-11 in my life. They've done something with like a cinnamon sugar in the crust. I'm definitely getting that. Is it strawberry flavored?
Matt:It is strawberry cheesecake.
Rob:Yeah Okay, doesn't taste artificial or medicinal. That's a delightful bite, but again, after the sweet slurpy and the sweet cookies and cream, it seems a bit redundant. I feel like you're beating us over the head with sweet things and that doesn't seem very balanced.
Matt:I thought these are flavors that would go well. I consulted chat GPT to try and get a little help after my epic failure last time.
Aaron:I think that solidifies that we're not getting replaced by AI anytime soon?
Matt:Yeah, definitely not. That's what I'm going to blame the loss on.
Aaron:Overall not a bad time.
Rob:No, no, no. I will say, matt, this is a win for you, okay. Not an overall win, but like a holistic win for you personally, thank you very much.
Matt:I appreciate that I'm going to throw a peach ring at your head.
Rob:Yeah, really. Hey, you know what I'm down. Whatever, let's get wild. You're next. Okay, guys, what I'm presenting to you today, I call it going down south. Okay, what I've done is a riff on southern comfort foods down south, some place he's never been really wants to visit a place that I visit often, my friend, I travel really please.
Aaron:Stop.
Rob:Yeah, please don't listen.
Aaron:So I've done a riff, save me.
Rob:I've done a riff on Yeager bombs with vodka and monster, but it is ultra peach, monster and vodka, so I'm going with the peach theme for the southern.
Aaron:Got it.
Rob:That's quite delightful, If you do ask me.
Matt:I ardently disagree with that statement. You don't like that? Yeah, peach flavored gasoline over here, I think it just needs a little ice If it would be a little cold.
Rob:Yeah, sorry, it was what it is.
Aaron:Temperature is a thing.
Rob:I'd love to start with a mac and cheese bite with a little bit of spicy jalapeno cheese sauce. I'm looking to combat the sweetness of this with heat for the first two courses.
Aaron:Courses.
Matt:We went from dollar store to courses Just get that in mind.
Aaron:I tried to get us there with Wegmans, but no, but that wasn't the rule.
Matt:Everyone hated me. I know Give you.
Rob:that's a lovely little bite, okay.
Matt:All right, it works, it's salty spicy PG.
Rob:Okay, the next bite. My friends we're going to. We're going to take a walk more towards the suite, but we're still coming. With the spicy. We've got a Nashville hot chicken sandwich on a waffle with maple syrup. Okay.
Aaron:Okay, for me.
Rob:What gas station? Oh, this is from sheets which I hope we don't all get tomorrow, the sheets I'm glad you said it so that we all got it.
Aaron:It's all right. Is this a schmawful Do they have? Is that what they call it?
Matt:could be, they have a schmawful schmonster, schmuffin and schmissket. I don't know if they have a schmawful.
Aaron:Yeah, so I'm curious.
Matt:Damn it, you have something going.
Aaron:Ooh, that's yummy Yep. Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Rob:Down south we go. Okay, creeping on down.
Siobhan:The food definitely takes a lot of the sweet out of the front of the tray.
Rob:Yeah, I agree, that's a lot See some of us try to have a sophisticated palate in which we pair things.
Aaron:Mac and cheese bites.
Siobhan:That's similar, we are as sophisticated as we can get with, but what kind of monsters is it's? Ultra peachy or the ultra sophisticated. That's right.
Aaron:It's definitely some ultra something. Yeah, I agree.
Matt:I hate you so much because this is working so well, right right, what's next?
Rob:so the the final course here like. Yes, I would love you to sample my nuts. They are candied praline pecans.
Siobhan:I was just gonna reach for them, and then we started talking about nuts.
Rob:Hey man. Well, here they are.
Siobhan:I'm going for get them in your mouth, man, two biggest ones right here.
Rob:See what it's about.
Matt:For the second time in show history for gratuitous testicle talk, black hole detected. Be aware of the event horizon, that's the wrong button. Nope, it's totally not.
Rob:Well, it totally is try to cosmic chug me, bro, damn it. And now you hit that button the second time for yourself. Fine, you want to finish mo well, finish your drinks.
Aaron:See, now I want to like your nuts, but I'm not sure if I do.
Rob:It's a little bit too much of the sweet on sweet. I'm Lance arm and I'm strong in it right now. I'm Lance arms trying to right now. I'm only doing one at a time here, okay.
Matt:When you chug. It's a very different vibe to sipping that second when you chug.
Rob:We're going off the rails real quick guys, oh man.
Aaron:It's going well. The nuts are quite tasty, you jackass think, oh see, and now we know, we'll see, then you're, you took a right, you took a left. Turn into, well, sir, taste bud territory.
Rob:Yeah, we just need sweet on, sweet, on sweet and Matt's gonna vote it to the top, I said.
Aaron:he said the nuts are tasty, I told you yeah, love, love my nuts. I will say, though, that chicken sandwich chop my nuts what chicken sandwich.
Rob:That was a revelation good.
Matt:Yeah, that was really good.
Aaron:I don't even like syrup, and that it's good. You don't like syrup?
Rob:no bitch Sorry what I once shrugged a bottle of syrup in a diner like super trooper style. That's right. I got 20 bucks for it. Never again Will I do that. The worst headache for three days.
Matt:Like was there a bathroom experience after that, did you?
Aaron:go to sheets.
Rob:I don't think anybody needs to know about that. Let's just say it was a strange color and Consistency.
Aaron:I like that. You said no one needs to know, and then you told us Use the word.
Rob:Anything about it?
Aaron:I can sure as hell did you? Told me enough.
Rob:Listen, I got to say I could describe it in great detail. It is burned into my retinas nope, nope, nope.
Matt:all the no, that's a lot of nops, all right.
Aaron:Well, listen, the nuts were a choice. Yeah, I Think. Not sure I would choose your nuts again, no, but no, not.
Rob:Not as tasty as my surprising meat from season one.
Aaron:I'll tell you yeah, I don't know that I chose that either, but okay, yeah summer sausage from a dollar store man.
Rob:Would you eat it Hell?
Siobhan:yeah.
Aaron:I tell you Definitely not what you expected. Yeah.
Rob:Wow.
Aaron:All right.
Rob:I feel like that was all right.
Aaron:I was a showing.
Matt:Yeah, it was a showing. We're on the way here. All right.
Rob:Next up is gonna be Aaron anybody remembered years ago when they used to do his compilation CDs.
Aaron:Now, that's what I call music.
Rob:Yeah, no, but except for this. One was like. It was like the tranquil mix or whatever.
Aaron:Oh yeah.
Siobhan:They have a pure moods, pure moods playlist on Spotify.
Aaron:Yeah, yes, why do we need that?
Siobhan:By every middle-aged woman in 1992.
Rob:I don't know why my dad loves anya, but he does never made any sense to me. Yeah, but he also.
Aaron:Like a capital D dad, I don't know. Okay, so I'm gonna hold on a minute.
Matt:I'm looking across the table at Aaron who has put more effort into a drinkable into this single drinkable that everybody else.
Rob:Let's get this back on track this, this man, this man right here. You could all see this he's got some explaining to do and I need to know what in God's name I'm looking at, because it looks like it's come from like. This is the middle of the road Mexican restaurant.
Aaron:Yeah, okay, the road, yes.
Siobhan:I mean I actually bought all these things from the gas station in the middle of the road. No, no, so I was born for this challenge, right? So I live off of gas station. I was born in a gas station for this challenge, because I've lived on nothing but gas station food for my late teens, through my mid-20s. Okay so you think gas station, you got pork rinds, beef sticks. Those are like the two main stages right, where did you go? The mobile on Main Street in Bethlehem Mobile mobile station.
Siobhan:We don't know fancy, you know sheets.
Matt:Okay, no fancy sheets here, okay, just mobile. Good old, he didn't need no maid to order, okay.
Aaron:He made it, so he made himself, he did. Oh my goodness.
Rob:Okay, so what's your opening course here? So?
Siobhan:we could just eat whatever. You, I don't know, you know, I don't even know what I want you to direct me.
Rob:We're gonna start with the car.
Siobhan:Let's start let's start with the, the centerpiece right here. So yeah, I was making more meals, but I wanted to pay homage to the og launchable, so these are plantains. Now. Mind you, the plantains are a little soft because they were packed. You know, transportation coming here, the plantain should be a little crunchy. But what this is? This is the original slim gym On Plantain chip with a little fried bean spread.
Rob:What is happening?
Aaron:Okay.
Siobhan:It's like you know you get a lunchable. Yeah, I was always random Cheap crap and you put it all together in sandwich. That's all I did. You got the sweet of the plantain. You got the spicy of spicy and the salty of the Beef stick and the I don't know whatever the refried beans, the gas.
Matt:Okay, so back in episode one how Shevon declared Very clearly that she did not like beef jerky and I'm assuming beef jerky like products and she just said this is delicious.
Aaron:Yeah, I mean I bit it, so we're good.
Siobhan:But I listen the plantain should be a little because it's cut up and looking nice on a.
Rob:I will say the plantain Is not as sweet as I was expecting it to be true. Don't mind that. Tell us a little bit about this cocktail, because this is like it might make up for this little cocktail.
Siobhan:Now I'm chewing my jerky as you do, so I'm thinking, you know, all the food we have is kind of a Spanish Influenced. We got yo. You know, you'll find out the other Spanish foods in a minute, but I wanted to make something like a chichi colada, so what?
Rob:a chichi oh this is unbelievable.
Siobhan:A chichi colada story has it. The Puerto Rican golfer, chichi Rodriguez, loved Peanut coladas, but he didn't like rum, so he would always ask for his peanut coladas with vodka, so they was called a chichi colada. So obviously the mobile doesn't have like cream of coconut and like pineapple, so I made a Chichi colada milkshake with vodka, some cheap peanut colada mix, some dull tropical fruit that I just threw in a blender and vanilla ice cream.
Rob:Very good. The fruit cup is stellar ship.
Matt:Yeah, there's, there's only one.
Rob:This is stellar. I'm getting the fruit cup. I'm actually tasting individual fruits. Refreshing, which is that's cuz. I didn't unreal.
Siobhan:Oh, I mean, I meant to do that, that was, that was perfect like it makes no sense why this is so good.
Matt:Fantastic.
Aaron:I love chichi. Thank you very much I.
Rob:Don't even know who that is.
Aaron:He's a golfer. He's amazing cool.
Matt:He's so refreshing after the, so a lot of the food is, you know, savory, salty.
Siobhan:I wanted to really finish it off with the nice refreshing Wow. So our main course here. Oh, you know when, like I said, when you think of gas station food, you have pork rind, so immediately thought of Mofongo. It looks fancy, but all it is is pork rinds and plantains. Well, mobile doesn't sell plantains so but they sell green bananas, so I just bought some bananas and I made Mofongo. I can't. This is so all I mean. Basically, it looks fancy, but if you just take a mind of.
Siobhan:If you take a bite of pork rinds and a banana, then you have Mofongo in your mouth.
Rob:So I just put it together first the chicharon texture.
Aaron:It has always been a bit tough for me at times.
Siobhan:Admittedly, this is a. There's some.
Rob:The taste is delicious. Yeah, the texture I'm struggling with a little bit.
Siobhan:Yeah, and you know why? Because I'm chewing while I'm talking. While I'm chewing, I got the smaller crunchier pork rinds instead of the fluffier ones. So that is what, guys. Admittedly, I should have gotten the fluffier ones.
Rob:I'm not saying that it's bad as I go in for another bite. Yeah, it's definitely a little chewy in there, yeah.
Matt:It's interesting when it goes with the koolada.
Siobhan:I'm going back to the drink, so on the side of this we have some roasted corn. I hope it's okay to be talking with my mouth full.
Rob:I cannot believe you made all this crap from gas station items.
Aaron:Yeah, this is pretty crazy Mobile.
Matt:This is pretty crazy.
Siobhan:So on the side of the Mofongo we got some roasted corn with some goya seasoning. I will swallow my food before I speak.
Rob:They have goya seasoning in a gas station.
Siobhan:You bet.
Aaron:I didn't know. They had pinia koolada mix out of a gas station Mobile yo Okay.
Matt:So when I instructed Aaron to pick three things, what Aaron did was take three and then multiply it by three and then multiply it into awesome food. So that means I am going to.
Rob:Math E equals MC Hammer. We talking about numbers. Did you really stretch in for these drops, Brad?
Matt:Well, I'm taking the opportunities I get. Wow.
Rob:I like it. I cannot believe this is from a gas station.
Aaron:I will say I wish the drink was a little sweeter.
Siobhan:True. True, because you know what when you hear koolada, you expect that sweet pineapple. Well, they didn't have any pineapple cups. They had just mixed tropical fruit cups.
Aaron:I still get it, I'm just you know.
Siobhan:But you know, you're absolutely right, it needs a little bit of that acidic sweetness of the pineapple, but I still enjoy all of these combos.
Rob:Yeah, I definitely think some acidity would brighten it up and just like a squeeze of lime.
Matt:When you get into the scoop of ice cream, though that is in there, you do get a blast of sweetness. So Yum. Yeah, yeah, I'm getting that.
Aaron:All right, good deal.
Matt:You can tell how good it is by how quiet we all got all of a sudden Like all right.
Rob:I hate to say I got to go back to this thing because the taste is so good it really is.
Aaron:Yeah, the texture is not for me.
Siobhan:That loses me, not gonna lie, yeah, but the taste is. Next time you got, I got to go for the floofy pork rinds.
Rob:The taste is so good.
Siobhan:But it's so simple. It's just basically two ingredients and some spice spice that I got from the gas station. That's amazing.
Aaron:I feel like we're on a real competition show right now.
Matt:I know I'm glad I'm serious already.
Rob:I know this is serious, real quick because if I didn't go already, I'd just be like don't even taste my food.
Aaron:This is ridiculous. Thanks a lot. Thank you, I appreciate your time.
Rob:I'm sorry In that comment. I really appreciate it.
Matt:I'm sure yours is wonderful yeah you're a.
Siobhan:I'm gonna let the intrusive thoughts win. Yeah, and I'm dipping the slim Jim.
Aaron:Whoa.
Siobhan:Refried bean plantain into the chichi colada.
Aaron:Okay, is this like a fras and a frosty?
Rob:kind of thing I'm going.
Aaron:I'm going there with you bro, you are all much more adventurous than I am.
Siobhan:I wouldn't say it makes it better, it makes a difference, it makes a difference.
Rob:That's a great. I do not prefer it this way.
Aaron:That is the best comment that has ever come out of this drinkables. I'm not going to say it makes it better, but it makes a different. Yeah, it definitely does. That's a theme if there ever was one that is displeasing to me.
Matt:So let's just say, drinking them in parallel works, drinking them in unison does not work.
Aaron:Right Ooh, which you know. I don't usually dip a lot in a cocktail. But I'm not saying that's no judgment, that's just a statement.
Rob:Now, this is just an original slim gym. Mm hmm, might ask, how are these refied beans packaged in a gas station?
Siobhan:In a can. I literally opened the can and took out a little butter knife and smeared it on.
Rob:All right, I was worried it was in like a ketchup packet situation.
Matt:I mean mobile refied beans.
Siobhan:It was in a five gallon bucket that a little old lady just reached in with her hands and plop.
Rob:You really taste the hand.
Aaron:Old lady hands have some beans? Oh no, that sounded like bluey. I slipped on my beans. Okay, nobody gets that except for me, it's cool.
Matt:Yeah, no, I've seen a lot of bluey.
Aaron:Well, this was great and a lot more effort than I did I could.
Rob:Well, let's, let's see how much effort you've put into things.
Aaron:Are we moving on?
Rob:I think that that's a fair transitional piece.
Matt:And what gas station did you go with?
Aaron:Okay. I went to Wawa. Weakmans doesn't sell gas Out of here Are you sure it wasn't Weakmans?
Matt:Do we have a receipt? Can we verify?
Aaron:Listen, everyone knows that Wawa sells gas.
Rob:That's true. Yeah, they do.
Aaron:Nobody in this room knew that 7-Eleven sold gas until we asked. So don't come for me, we still don't know, fair we still don't know. You're right. We don't know Until that photo goes up. We believe Matt and we don't know if we should we're on our Instagram at mattandfriendsdtu?
Rob:That's right, I'm plugging.
Matt:Thank you, yeah, it is Instagram Facebook.
Rob:Matt and Friends DTU and maybe, maybe he'll even tweet about it. I might, maybe you can, at 7-Eleven. At 7-Eleven, how many of your stores actually have gas attached to them? Maybe we'll get an answer for the people. We can try, we'll see. The world may never know, no.
Aaron:Okay, I am passing out drinks.
Matt:All right.
Aaron:All right. So I will say there's three items on the plate plus the drink. So only the chips on the plate are not Wawa branded things.
Matt:Okay.
Aaron:So half.
Matt:All right.
Aaron:So the drink is pomegranate, lemonade and vodka, with a little bit of sparkling water to make it fun and fizzy.
Rob:What kind of sparkling water did you use?
Aaron:It's liquid death. Oh my goodness, bird Crisher would be very proud of me. All right, chris would be very proud of me.
Rob:Go out and see the machine in theaters.
Aaron:Okay.
Rob:I'm not going to be timely right now, but this episode won't come out anywhere near when this is still in theaters, that's true, but I just say it smells very much like a watermelon jolly rancher.
Aaron:Yes, a little jolly rancher, but I don't think it does sweet when you drink it.
Rob:So I'm going to give it a try. No, it's not too sweet at all.
Aaron:Matt, are you okay with it not being super sweet?
Matt:Yeah.
Aaron:I mean, oh, that's actually love watermelon sugar. Thank you, it's like Bruno Mars in my mouth.
Matt:That's what it is.
Aaron:I was going to get blueberry but everyone I didn't, because Rob doesn't like blueberry. I would totally dig a fruit I appreciate you for that.
Siobhan:I'm going to get a freeze pop in this flavor.
Aaron:This is a great, or like a slush. Wow, not a slurpee, but like a slush.
Siobhan:I could drink like five of these.
Rob:I think we all just ignored Matt's comment about Bruno Mars in his mouth.
Matt:Oh yeah, you all really let that one slide.
Aaron:Did Bruno Mars slide into your mouth? What were we talking about? Is that what we said? What did we say?
Matt:I have no, I'm rendered speechless, are we?
Aaron:okay. No, I thought this is what we were talking about.
Matt:Okay.
Aaron:Moving on.
Matt:All right, let's focus on the plate.
Aaron:Okay, kids.
Matt:Focus on the plate.
Aaron:So the goal, so the main of this. I have two pinwheels which are basically wraps cut into pieces, but they're actually sold as these little pinwheels. So we have an Italian pinwheel and we have a chicken taco pinwheel, so you can either eat both.
Rob:I'm starting with the Italian.
Aaron:Yeah, do whatever you would like, if one is more preferable to you.
Siobhan:I'm going with the chicken, because I'm looking at whatever this baked good is here and I think this spicy chicken with the baked good that's good, that's a good choice yeah.
Rob:I agree with you. That's why I started with the Italian and I'm going to move to the chicken afterwards, because I like food.
Matt:I'm enjoying your drink, everything on my plate. I'm glad I really like the drink. It's nice, it's cool, it's refreshing.
Rob:This may be the most composed drink that we've had all night. I'd stellar sip this as well.
Aaron:Oh, okay, yeah.
Rob:I would, you think I would. Oh, and now to knock the drink that we had last round. It was very good but like towards the end I didn't get as much as those fruity flavors and that, and then I found myself asking where did they go?
Aaron:This keeps going.
Rob:So, like the first few sips. Well, we'll see once I get down to the bottom. Like I didn't stir this at all, so I don't know if all the good stuff's on top or not.
Siobhan:We'll see this drink, just like, opens up all of the flavors. It makes everything taste better.
Matt:Oh yeah, you had told me pregame that you had a theme. What was that theme?
Aaron:Well, it's loosely connected to nothing and very connected to a funny name, and it is basically you should just not worry while you eat all this food, because Hakuna Moawa.
Rob:Love it.
Matt:There you go, yep.
Aaron:Yeah, I couldn't think of anything better, because Rob had the down south and I thought that's a wonderful phrase. Yeah, it is.
Matt:And my theme was one, two, three don't suck, and I'm not sure if I didn't.
Aaron:So Matt was. I have no taste buds. Can you all tell, like I don't, who I am, but I'm not sure. Good, okay, so pinwheels, good, hopefully, a good savory situation. This is supposed to be picnic reminiscent, like what would you take from Wawa to have like a picnic.
Siobhan:It's almost summer here, even though it won't be when you all listen to this, but fine.
Aaron:Okay, then we have two chip choices. So again, choose your fave, go with both. I couldn't choose, that's why there's two here. The not-rigi chips are jalapeno and the rigi chips are fried dill pickle.
Matt:I was not expecting the jalapeno when I I've been going jalapeno first. Oh, it's not like overly, I'm gonna kill you spicy, it's pretty good.
Aaron:Yeah, they're supposed to be mild.
Siobhan:Yeah, I'm totally digging the jalapeno more Again with the spicy against the sweet.
Rob:It's just such a great balance of flavor.
Aaron:If it wasn't a chip, you could dip it into your drink.
Rob:We've seen that on three out of four attempts today. You know, not just going sweet on sweet but going a counter flavor with the sweet.
Matt:So Siobhan says because it's a chip you can't dip it.
Aaron:I'm gonna dispute that. Oh no, you can. Let's see what happens. You put the pickle one in there. That's a choice.
Rob:All right, oh boy, you know. They say that the acidity from pickle juice can cut down on the burn of alcohol.
Aaron:Oh, is that why people do picklebacks? That was actually really why yes?
Matt:The dip was good.
Rob:It's exactly the way that's right exactly the way. And I wish that I knew the actual science behind it, because I wish it did too, because then we could hit the button. It would be cool to give you that fact, but I don't.
Aaron:Okay.
Rob:I'm not sure why.
Aaron:You're the resident science guy. Resident science guy I'm worried about we're gonna in a future episode.
Matt:People we're doing rocket science trivia. I'm worried about this man.
Rob:Oh, this dill pickle is so dill. It's so good, it's so pickle it's good, but I was just not expecting it to like pickle my tongue.
Aaron:So it's actually fried dill pickle.
Rob:I heard you like a little pickle on the tongue.
Aaron:Yeah, did you hear that?
Rob:From Bruno Mars.
Aaron:Oh, no, I like these pickle chips. So part of the reason I couldn't decide is because I really like pickle chips. And I'll also be honest I do not like a flavored chip, because I usually think that they're overly flavored.
Rob:Okay.
Aaron:But I actually think both of these are very good.
Rob:Here's what's happening. The pickle chip, the dill, that ultra acidic dill flavor that I'm getting is actually souring the sweet.
Aaron:Okay. Well, let's move on to the next thing then, okay.
Rob:So the jalapeno and the taco, the chicken taco and jalapeno, would have been good combinations.
Aaron:Okay, we'll have another jalapeno chip, then I will.
Matt:Okay, good, I do enjoy this chicken taco very much. I go to Wawa a lot, and this is something that I probably just would have passed, see, and I will not pass it next time.
Aaron:I tried to scope out everything really, and I go to Wawa a lot, so okay, Last item, it is a glazed coffee roll. I went between this and like a tasty cake and I was like, no, I gotta go with the Wawa bakery item. Yeah, so it's just a glazed coffee roll. It's gonna be sweet. Literally it's a circle roll.
Siobhan:The knife is a circle, potato chips are circles.
Aaron:Yeah, see the pin. Look at this.
Siobhan:It's a circle of life. It's a circle of life Like a Kuna Mawa.
Aaron:Hakuna Mawa.
Siobhan:You know, the only problem, as you could probably tell by the level of drink in my little cup-a-cup here, is that this is very easy going down.
Aaron:Okay, and it is the type of drink where you can get really snookered. Those are usually the kinds of drinks that I make.
Siobhan:You were having those. That's the good kind of problem.
Matt:See you were having those outdoors on a hot day that would be. It's like juice. Here's an interesting thing that I'm noticing, so rehydrate.
Rob:Although the bun is very sweet, the cinnamon, I think, is saving it a little bit from being overly sweet and pulling back on it just enough that I don't feel like I'm getting hammered sweet on sweet, on sweet with the cocktail, with the break in the middle, with all that other stuff too, I feel like you're good, right?
Aaron:So cinnamon and pomegranate are actually really good flavor pairing.
Rob:Yeah, this is the first dessert that hasn't made me go too much sweet on sweet.
Aaron:No, we'll see. And I don't love sweet things, so here we are. I tried to balance it out for you all. Yeah, Uh-oh, what does that mean?
Rob:That's great showing's all around I think this is the first, except Matt, legitimate debate that we are going to have to have to determine a winner tonight because the first time in Drinkables history that we have more than one person who have actually made a good effort. Right, nobody's been egregious, you know what?
Matt:Even Matt, For that everybody drink. Oh okay, Stellar ship here it has some left.
Rob:Great job all around.
Siobhan:I drank all my alcohol. There's more.
Aaron:There's more outside. I have to go get it. But.
Rob:Well, I think we need to go around and figure out who is voting for what.
Matt:This is going to be like. This is going to be legitimately very tough and before we start that, like we went with gas stations this time, and in Pennsylvania there have been wars where people have fought and died over Wawa versus Sheets, and you know other.
Aaron:I'm not sure what wars there are, but yeah, probably where you went to college.
Matt:Oh well, where I went to college in Western Pennsylvania, there is no Wawa. There absolutely is, till to this day, no Wawa near IUP, like absolutely none. So when I was out there for me it was funny because I arrived and somebody said to me do you want to go to Sheets? And I literally said what the hell is Sheets? And they were like you've never been to Sheets. And we went and I got the two hot dogs special with mac and cheese and the Gallicur's lime tea. If you've never had the lime tea, oh my God, that sounds good, it's phenomenal. You know there used to be a lot more 7-Eleven's. There's not that many. I think Nazareth PA might have the last surviving one in our area. We can find it. Yeah, I've seen some like Salafiora, like driving through DC south of here. What did I say? What went?
Rob:wrong, I thought you said salad fur Salad the salad fiora.
Aaron:Yah Hakuna Mawa.
Rob:No, I'm telling Cause.
Aaron:you said salad fiora.
Rob:Loud noises, yep, lettuce, hitler, what the salad fiora. I'm sorry, that's terrible.
Aaron:That's questionable, at best Horrifying. Anyway, yeah, gettysburg was like that too. There's no Mawa there either, so thank God, there is here.
Rob:Hey guys, fun fact, great Turns out. Pickle juice helps reduce the burn and reduce hangovers because it's filled with electrolytes.
Aaron:Well, I mean, listen, it's cucumber, right.
Rob:So both the acidity and the salinity of the pickle water are harsher, more prominent flavors that will take away the burn because you have more taste buds that will react to those.
Siobhan:So then, why don't athletes just drink pickle juice instead of Gatorade?
Rob:Some do for cramps yeah.
Matt:That's 100% of the thing here in this one Science.
Aaron:Science.
Rob:That's right.
Aaron:He had to redeem himself. Yeah, you know.
Matt:I'm here, you are present. I feel, like we are agonizingly delaying the debate about.
Aaron:We really are. We're on our own. Where are?
Rob:we starting, are we?
Matt:starting with you first. Yes, I recused myself.
Aaron:Why Believe in yourself, Matt?
Matt:No, I was not near Aaron and Siobhan on this one. I wasn't.
Rob:I need you to vote, though you can't recuse yourself from voting. You need to vote for which one was your favorite.
Matt:I vote present. No, you can't do that, get out.
Aaron:Oh boy, you don't have to vote for yourself.
Rob:I'm not asking you to fight for your plate which was terrible. I'm asking you.
Siobhan:It wasn't terrible. That's to be fair. That's to be fair.
Matt:It was clearly the worst. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Finish your drink just because Toss me chug imitating.
Siobhan:I'm sad I don't get to chug.
Matt:You're sad you don't get to chug yeah.
Rob:Well, we'll get you next time, but you're out of vodka anyway I also have from Christmas City Spirits.
Matt:You're in Bethlehem, pennsylvania, some sipping vodka if you're feeling very Would you vote any vodka sipping vodka. No, as the host I invoke my right to say come back to me, so go ahead, you go first. Okay, all right, I do not want to discount my own performance, but I will not vote for myself.
Rob:I am going to vote for Aaron, who I think, out of his entire combo, had the most wins. You know what I'm saying. Maybe he didn't have the best drink, which I think does go to Chavon Okay, the best mixed drink goes to Chavon, because it's the one I would come back to again after this episode. But what he was able to do with gas station ingredients to make an actual journey through like a Mexican or Hispanic street food experience, never would have imagined that in my life from a gas station. So I'm voting for Aaron. That is my vote. Aaron, over to you. Oh dear, you can vote for yourself, by the way.
Siobhan:No no, no, no, no, no no.
Matt:I shirked my responsibilities as the host and told everybody to come back to me at the end.
Siobhan:See, I don't know, this is really difficult because I think that waffle chicken sandwich bangin, it was good, it was good with a capital G OOD, very good, thank you.
Rob:Thank you, so that would be good. I think, we all had at least one incredible bite on all of our plates.
Aaron:Even Matt, even Matt.
Rob:But some of us had more than one.
Siobhan:But this coffee roll. That just is the topping on everything. And then I have to vote for Chavon.
Rob:Okay, the drink. There is a vote for Chavon. Right on with the drink.
Siobhan:It just compliments everything across the board and it's simple, yet delightful and effective.
Aaron:Okay well.
Rob:Okay, friend, you're up next. How do you feel about things?
Matt:Do you love thyself?
Aaron:I do oh, but.
Rob:Oh, there's a but.
Aaron:I don't know, man. I mean like I want to vote for myself because I think this was better than I've did before.
Rob:That's fair, but would you consider going down south?
Aaron:I always do.
Rob:Yeah, well, that's very considerate of you.
Aaron:But I still don't think the chicken sandwich was very good. I can't sign on for the nuts. I do love going south. The nuts are maybe my least favorite part about going south, that's fair.
Matt:She's not going for the nuts. Hey, that's fair.
Aaron:Just so everyone knows. You know they're there and they're fun, but I don't know if they're enough to give me.
Rob:Yeah, it was too much the vote, it was too much I understand. So which way are you leaning?
Aaron:to myself Self empowerment.
Rob:Oh, wow, Wow. That's two votes to Chavon, one vote to Aaron Matthew. You cannot abstain at this point.
Aaron:No, you have to vote.
Rob:You must, as a host, vote, and if there is a tie, we must figure out a tie breaker. Oh, my God, and I don't know if we have a mechanic for that. So we're going to figure it out on the fly.
Matt:So, for those familiar with Star Trek, I've encountered the Kobayashi Maru here. This is, this is rough, because, wow bro, this is rough.
Rob:Wow yeah, nerd level.
Matt:Oh man, 15,000. Oh, absolutely At all times. There's. There's a reason. There's a space theme for this show, all right. I loved the taste and texture combination in all of Aaron's food. I thought it went really, really well together. There were things that I tried that. Those who know me know that I'm not a very adventurous or picky eater, and Aaron, you are a picky eater, right.
Rob:Yes, I apologize. Yes, I'm an incredibly picky eater.
Matt:Aaron, yours is very approachable and really good. The cocktail, on the other hand we talked about it lacking a little bit of maybe sweetness or something like that Pineapple juice. We're missing the pineapple juice in the kalata, and when I think about a complete set, what?
Siobhan:goes together, what makes things very well?
Matt:It is when I had what was Siobhan presented. It all went together very well it was. It was a symphony of good things that just seemed to all flow. If I was putting numbers on this, I'm seriously going to say that you'd be like a half a percent in front of Aaron. But with the drink I'm giving it to Siobhan, okay.
Rob:Great job, siobhan. I must just say, because I'm the only person who didn't vote for you Okay, I must clarify.
Aaron:We heard yeah.
Rob:I must clarify, I must have made his efforts.
Aaron:Oh absolutely.
Matt:The effort Absolutely.
Rob:And number two, had you given me just the chicken taco and just the jalapeno and I didn't have like the other things that were like making me like have to choose between two things, I think it would have been easier for me to just vote for you, but I was confused by the smattering of delights that you put in front of me.
Aaron:You don't like a choice?
Rob:Yeah, and I made some wrong choices along the time you chose poorly and that's my fault. No, I was not but, but. But. I needed to recognize what I needed, to recognize what this man did with gas station ingredients.
Aaron:Listen, I completely agree with that.
Rob:I and because Matt was a schmo. He didn't want to vote first, so somebody had to go.
Aaron:Listen, you don't have to defend yourself, it's really okay, I feel badly.
Rob:No, I don't know why you would. We're literally sitting at a table eating gas station food.
Aaron:I think we're going to be okay.
Matt:I mean sure is, but we'll determine that tomorrow whether or not we're all okay. So we're going to do this first of all. First, siobhan's victory.
Rob:I've got to say this is the most stellar steps. That has happened in a stable episode in the best way. So cheers to you, Siobhan. Thanks.
Aaron:Great job. I redeemed myself Kicking off season twos version of drinkables.
Rob:I actually I loved the the gas station twist on this. This was nice.
Matt:So we do have another one coming later in the season that's going to involve some seltzer and we're going to see what happens there. Who teaser? Yeah, a little, a little bit of a teaser, I'm also going to go ahead. And since this is a drinking game after all, when we press the button, you are supposed to take a sip if you're playing along with us. For the effort that came through and just for the fact that Aaron cooked some truly ridiculous food that I could never have expected, I'm doing it again.
Rob:Why not Steller's sip? You know, aaron, I really hope you come back for for more episodes with us. Absolutely Really enjoyed having you here for the first time and hope it's the first of many. Yes, sir, thank you very much, absolutely.
Siobhan:I think I would have won if I would have presented my platter with my napkin bra, Wow. So I've spent many those of you that don't know I've worked in country clubs and I learned many napkin folds, including my special little bra.
Aaron:So if I would have done this to present, I think I probably would have won I would have voted for you then.
Matt:All right, we'll go out on that note and on that bomb show Thanks everybody.
Matt:Toodaloo. The boozy quote for this episode comes from the man who invented penicillin, alexander Fleming. He said penicillin cures, but wine makes people happy. On social media, please like, follow and push all the buttons for us. That's Matt and Friends DTU. At Facebook, instagram Threads and TikTok For more information about the podcast, as well as links to our merch store, social media and all the places you can listen to us. Visit our website mattandfriendsdtucom. That's mattandfriendsdtucom. And to again for listening to. Matt and Friends Drink the Universe.
