Sweets Talk: Exploring Dessert Favorites with the Fab Five

Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home Rants podcast . This is your special guest , host Fitty , and today we bring you the all things sweets and treats episode with a fabulous group of people . The Fab Five , as I'm calling them today , are going to be breaking down all things sweets and treats for you .

Like my man 50 said , mr , ask you , aka , you know , vampire coach ? Uh , the language I speak is english and english and english , uh , I speak all three of them , um , very fluently . Um , I would tell you the other language that I speak , but I can't , you know , do my tongue like that right now .

That was it . Those were the three things .

yeah , but I've been to Jungle Gyms in Cincinnati . It's pretty see the uh , what was the other one ? That was it those are three .

Those are three things , yeah , but I I've been to jungle gyms in cincinnati . It's , it's pretty cool . It is a pretty unique store , so I have been there , I have been there lando .

Hey everyone , this is matt lindowski here . Um , I speak english , a little bit of spanish and uh , I'm gonna go with publics down down south there and I always can go for a good pub sub head to the beach , so okay and make sure all of our listeners are checking out Sweet Hand Sports .

One of our sponsors of the show that is Lando's business . So definitely check them out for all your baseball and softball and golf needs . So I know some of us are baseball , softball and golfers I'm none of the three , um , but if everybody else is doing it , definitely check out Lando's sweet hand sports , andrea .

Uh , all right , my name is Andrea Um , the only other language I speak in English is scar sarcasm and I'm going to have to just go with basic all these Cause . Um , because there's not really much down here in Youngstown Ohio , so if I got to pick between Walmart , Giant Eagle and Aldi's , it's going to be Aldi's .

OK , how about you , Marsco ?

My name is Christopher Marsco , speak English , foul English and Italian slang Picked up a lot of good ones from you know Nona , nono , bubby , all them good ones . And then I'd say my store , I'd say Walmart . You know , growing up in Cortland all you really had was Walmart up the road , unless you really wanted to drive somewhere . So Walmart .

Okay , and Tony .

My name is Tony . I speak in addition to English . I speak some German , Took it in three years in high school and one in college , and I like Meyer , because you can get a lot of Meyer flies under the radar as far as deals on groceries goes .

Okay . So I can speak a little bit of Spanish , but mi Español es no bueno , pero lo estoy intentando . I can speak a little bit of Spanish , but me espanola es no bueno , pero lo estoy intentando .

Ice cream .

Okay , lando , ice cream . Okay , andrea .

I was muted Ice cream .

Okay , marsco Ice cream . Okay , tony , is it a clean sweep here ? Yes , it is Ice cream , okay . Okay , starting off a little bit easy , next one's a little bit more challenging . So what bakery or pastry shop do you recommend people should go to ? It can be anything that you've experienced anywhere in the country , anywhere that you may live right now .

Man , that's a good question right there , the one that I have to say . That comes to mind when you say cannolis . The one place I love to go to get cannolis at is at Jungle Gems in Cincinnati . That bakery there , man , it's really fantastic . You can get a good variety of stuff , so that would be one of my places .

It is like something you'll never , never experience anywhere else . It's like Walmart on steroids , if you can imagine that . So it's definitely eventful . So take a road trip to Cincinnati , get yourself some Jungle Gyms . All right , lando , what are you saying ? Cincinnati , get yourself some jungle gyms . All right , lando , what are you saying ?

Well , being right down the road from me is Oakmont Bakery . I'm going to go with that down here in Pittsburgh and yeah , man , they got the best cannoli cake . So it's just like a big cannoli with little cannolis all over it . So you can't really beat that .

So okay , and Andrea , what are you going to say ?

I've said it before , I'm going to say it again Jimmy's and Liberty . It's a fantastic Italian uh bakery restaurant , uh Italian store and they also , I feel like , have the best . Best can always .

I figured you were going to say that you know , being a fellow Italian from Youngstown , so we'll see what Marsco says right now , being the other Italian guy on the show here so I'm going to go ahead and double down with Andrea .

Jimmy's was teed up for me . You know I've worked with them for a couple things with football , and they're great people too . I think that adds to it . Great food , great people . You got to win there . I'll offer up a different one , though . Alessi's up on our way in between here in Cleveland . They've got real good cannoli too .

Alessi's is really really great . They are one of the staples here in Lake County . So good , call on that , marisco , I didn't know you knew about Aleshi's . It's a . It's a definitely a great spot . They got some really really good , you know , rolls in there as well , and they have the hot and cold food section too , so it's definitely awesome .

cider guy . I'm gonna go a little off the path here and say chagrin falls pop shop chagrin falls popcorn shop .

That's a good one , tony . That is a good one . The uh , the hallmark town , chagrin falls Falls . If you ever want to imagine going to a true Hallmark Town , go to Chagrin Falls and get some popcorn . Sit down by the waterfall . You swear you're in a movie there . So that's definitely a good one , tony . All right , we're going to go back to Mister on this .

Oh , my gosh Favorite flavor .

huh , Yep , and it they can be from like any , any place . You just can't say boozy ice cream here anyone , so just got to be a regular , regular milkshake hey , man

yeah , chocolate , vanilla , strawberry , you know it don't matter . Yeah , anything mixed together . Okay , you put it in a form of a milkshake . It's done , done-dada , it's gone .

What about you , Lando ? What are you saying ? I'm going to go chocolate Chocolate huh , Okay . Andrea .

I got to go basic . I like it simple chocolate .

Wow , we're simple on a three out of the first five on this . Uh , what about you , marco ?

I too that I can't really decipher because I don't really go with milkshake unless it's unique . So I'd say , uh , chocolate banana shake . I've like get cookout , or one of the places like that where you got a couple flavors you can mix . Or uh , what was my other one ? I can't even remember it now , they're all so good . I'd say the chocolate banana one .

But you can't beat the um like the , the mint flavored saint patrick's day ones , uh , the shamrock cakes from mcdonald's ? Yeah , they are . They are excellent with that . So but , tony , what's your favorite flavored milkshake ?

I have two actually I like a good peppermint milkshake and I like a good cookie shake okay , that's interesting .

That is definitely interesting . All right , this is gonna be a funny one now . Um , how would you describe black licorice and the taste of it ? So how would you describe licorice and the taste of it ? I'll start with this , as you guys all ponder it , and I'm gonna say if death had taste , it would taste like black licorice .

Man , that is absolutely perfect . If I was out in space and Mars , that's what I think it would be something from the third planet . Um , they dried just . Oh , that's yuck , I can't even put it into words . And how about this ?

no comment okay , what are you saying , lando ? Uh'm going to go with you on that one , fitty , I'm going to agree with you . It's not that good . And if you want something a little worse , go with the dark chalk with nothing in it . I mean , that's just downright pain right there , man . Okay .

Andrea , what are you saying about black licorice ?

I don't like black licorice . I don't know anybody that does , and if I did know somebody that liked it , they would not be in my circle .

They know it . I'm glad you don't like it , so I can stay in your circle of friends . I'm glad . So what are you saying , marsco ?

Yeah , see , now , if I see someone eating black licorice , I'm glad . So what are you saying , Marsco ? Yeah , see , now if I see someone eating black licorice I'm like I want that person to be my friend . They're a little on court , they might come in handy . I'm going to copy what my son says Black licorice is cucka Tastes like . I have never eaten poop .

I'm good what are you saying , tony ?

I will have to say I do not ever wish to eat black licorice in any way , shape or form . It was like one of those things where this somehow was flavored with strawberry . Just looks like black licorice , but it's flavored with like strawberry or something .

I , just I , I would , I would . I would eat this pen before I'd eat black licorice . If I was starving , I would eat that pen first . I would eat this dookie before I eat black licorice . Black licorice is awful , but going off of that , let's talk about this one . Though . What's your actual favorite candy ?

favorite candy man , I have to say man , candy corn , candy , candy , candy corn .

Give me the candy corn are you eating the candy corn that has , like the pumpkins in it , the little ?

oh yeah , absolutely , absolutely love the pumpkin , especially the pumpkins . Those are those , those are tops . Man , that was the best one right there . Give me the pumpkin .

What are you ?

picking Lando . I'm going to go with Heath Bar . Heath Bar yeah , I'm actually pretty hooked on these Heath Bar Blizzards right now .

Well , Lando , there's a difference between a Heath Bar Blizzard and eating a Heath Bar .

Well , the Heath Bar Blizzard is like the next level man . I'm telling you that's a lot .

well , the heat bar blizzard's like the next level man okay , that's that's fair .

Andrea , what are you saying ?

I go through phases where I'm like , oh , this is my favorite candy , but I feel like one that , like , always ends up coming back around , is a fifth avenue . I don't know if you've ever had one , but it's like kind of like a butterfinger .

But better you know those ?

those aren't . Those aren't bad , those aren't bad . I'll give you that . Those aren't bad . What are you saying , marco ? So reese's ?

enthusiast if I had to pick one out of what reese's makes . I'm a big fast break bar guy . That little layer of nougat in there making it a little chewy , it just spreezes on steroids . But I feel like you got to have a whole

Things are great , tony , what are you picking ?

I pick Twix man , just none like a good old Twix , you could just snap and eat . You got caramel , you got a little Twix bar . You can't go wrong with the classics .

Okay , that's fair . So we're going to bring up this one next and I'm going to shout out my friends Megan Steve and Coach Upton on this one . Shout out Myrtle Beach 2020 on the argument we got into about this Red Vines . Are you , guys , fans of Red Vines and if so , would you eat a Red Vine over a Twizzler ?

I've never had that , oh my gosh , you ain't missing too much . I ain't missing too much . I'm like a red vine . I'm trying to look it up . What in the world is that Red vines are life ?

Red vines are life , they're life .

When you said Andy Upton , I should have known it was something different .

Because he hates Red Vines . That's why I wanted to bring this up , because we were arguing playing cards in Myrtle Beach Five years ago , like right now , about Red Vines . So , lando , do you like Red Vines ? I'm unsure what Red Vines are man . They're like the For people that don't know what red vines are .

Have you ever had red vines ? No , but all I can think about is the licorice that has . Like the little things that you can like , pull off you know what I'm talking about . There's a bunch of them . That's like the superior licorice .

I've never seen red vines at a movie theater I guess I'm going to the wrong movie theaters than if there's red vines there . So what are you saying about red vines , Chris All ?

right . So I have eaten them Fitty and it's not the most diabolical candy . Like it's not my bottom five , I could sit down and eat some red

All right , tony , you saving me at all on this one man .

I like red vines and , don't get me wrong , I do like a good red vine . They're nothing compared to Twizzlers , though .

Man , everyone is missing out on the red vine train . You got to get on them . They're like I don't know , free 99 at the candy store if you find them . So I mean they're , they are pretty , pretty good . But shout out red vines . Shout out , coach Upton , steve and Megan .

So texture I'll give them that they are different . It's not like a mock off of the twizzler , it's kind of his own little thing yeah , and they're probably really unhealthy .

If you really look at what they're probably made out of , you's probably made out of like like probably I don't even know like some type of plastic coating and sadness or something they're pretty good but I , but I like them , but all right , no more red vines on that . So let's get into this , though . What is your favorite um pastry ?

Most definitely man . Cannolis . Man , that's my number one . Yeah , I love the cannolis . I can do those all day long . Yeah , either one that's like chocolate or one that's vanilla . I've been to different places . You know where they actually made it . You know where they made it , you know different flavors , so , but I love cannolis .

Okay , how about you , lando ? What's your go-to favorite pastry out there ?

Yeah , I'm going to go with cannolis too . I like them with the chocolate inside though .

Those are my jam man okay , how about you , andrea ?

um , I'm gonna say a cinnamon roll , if that counts as a pastry . I freaking love cinnamon rolls , especially molnars another thing down here in youngstown , but they have the best molnars , I never heard of that .

Where is that out in Youngstown ?

so in the summer they like post up down at the corner of the street over here where I live , but , um , they go to like the Canfield Fair a lot and they go around to like different festivals and whatnot . But that's like a really big thing in the area is Molnar's concession stand . So their cinnamon rolls are .

They're huge , they're , they're great are they north or south side based ? I'm from youngstown that's north or south youngstown uh , west side , but I don't know I cover high school football like north is the arsalan side , south is mooney , west is cheney yeah .

So , tony , next time you're in youngstown you'll have to get a molnars cinnamon roll and think about andrea and be like this is great when you eat it if I can find molnars , then yes , absolutely I got you , I'll help you out all right , perfect . So what are you saying , marsco ?

you know I wanted to try to offer up something to be a little diverse , but it's so far and away cannoli I can . I can't even BS you guys to something else . So the one thing I will do in saying cannoli , shout out to Muscarella's Cafe in Sharpsville .

So shout out to muskerellas dang marsco , you know everywhere , man . Yeah , you don't even know muskerellas , man , you know back in the old stomping grounds there . So you know , good for you , you must be well traveled on wanting to go to different italian places . I'm a foodie .

I go with the classic traditional croissant .

A croissant , anything in the croissant ?

Yes , like cream cheese , strawberry or a good Danish .

What's your go-to flavor ? On the Danish , though , strawberry . Strawberry danish is pretty good . I'll eat a cream cheese one , though you can't get down with cream cheese danishes if it has black licorice , I'm throwing it at the wall in a warning , okay I mean , that's , that's fair . So the next one , mister , we're gonna , um , you know , go to you on this .

As big , as big and as wide and as long as the table that is on .

Okay , what are you saying ?

Lando , I'm going with the cannoli cake from Oak Palm Bakery . Wow , it's a hit man .

Cannoli flavored stuff is the big winner on this show today , that's for sure . So , andrearea , what are you going with your , your favorite flavored birthday cake ?

um , I want to do a cookie dough ice cream cake from dairy queen that's a good one .

That is a good one that makes me think before answer this . Marco , does anyone remember when dairy queen had the pizza ? Like frozen pizza cakes that were ice creams . Anybody remember that ?

that favorite flavored birthday cake uh , probably aunt jean's chocolate cherry cake , the the icing's homemade whipped up it ends up being almost like a fudge texture when you cut into it and the cake's nice and airy . Underneath it's a , it's a good mix of dense and light and I don't know the chocolate cherry flavor when you beat up the cherries and adam it's .

Okay , that was a deep answer on that one . So all right , tony , what are you doing with that ? That favorite flavored birthday cake ? What are you doing here , mom ?

bought me one years ago cookies and cream cake and I especially like one from dairy queen . I've always been a big cookies and cream thing okay .

So if anyone's ever looking for birthday cakes that you want to get the fab five here , if there's significant others and family are listening to this , you know they just told you what they wanted for their birthday cake , so let's make sure that that happens . So , um , the next one is going to be very interesting , I think .

no , I might have some coffee , uh , but no , I'm not eating those sweets . If anything , man , it's gonna be an apple man . Yeah , because you know , as you get older , you know , hey , no sugar , and then calories add up and you got a bit of burning them off and it just ain't , it just ain't working , you know .

Yeah , okay , I think I used to love , I used to love just pounding like four cannolis and having some coffee in the morning and just out there vibing like I'm like it's like clemenza from the godfather , just being super fat and unhealthy but you know then I really then I got fat and unhealthy and then I , you know , had to lose some weight , so I cut that

Um , that that is real man . Like you start eating the sweets a little more , it it definitely hits you at a certain age , man . So I usually go every Sunday night get some ice cream with the girlfriend .

Okay .

That's about it .

Okay , what about you , andrea ? Are you eating sweets and coffee for breakfast ?

Definitely coffee and not sweets . I feel like it just starts your day off sluggish . But I consider a cinnamon roll like a breakfast treat . So like every once in a while I would do a cinnamon roll , I'd settle with that , but nothing else , not like cookies or anything like that .

Okay , okay . What about you , marsco too ? Banana bread , banana bread with chocolate chips in it , cinnamon roll biscotti , biscotti dipped in chocolate with nuts . I really teeter the line of is it as sweet ? Is it not as sweet ? It probably is as sweet , but I'm still eating it , so I'd say I'm in for it . I had terrible discipline . I've been known to .

What does your wife think of that , Marisco ?

I've got her all confused . She always tells me she wished she knew me a little bit longer before she got married . Jokingly but yeah , I'm a different bird . She raises her eyebrows .

You know , right . You know what that , that happens , All right , I mean , you know it is what it is . We all find out unique things about our significant others , and you know family as we , as we grow older . So you know things like that , my coverage .

I married up or so you know , things like that Get to my coverage . I married up , so I expect that .

All right , tony , you having sweets and coffee in the morning , absolutely .

Well , first of all , full disclosure . I will not drink black coffee . I need my cream and sugar , I need my creamer in it . I'm not going to drink black coffee for breakfast . As far as sweets goes , like I said , give me a good Danish , a good croissant , something like that . I need that breakfast to get my motor running .

And Tony , you're the youngest person I think on here , so you know you have a . You have a quite a while to go on . You know , enjoying the sweets in the morning so which actually tony brought this up brings me to my next point . So you know , pretty much america's all obsessed with coffee .

Nah , man , I just take that much straight up dark , straight up black . Man , you know , I have tried it with . You know , with different things different .

What about you , Lando ? Are you enjoying all the sweet flavored Creamers in your coffee ?

Not really man . I actually drink green tea . You enjoying all the sweet flavored um creamers in your coffee ? Not really man . Just , uh , I actually drink green tea . So , um , that's usually my go-to in the morning . But , uh , if I do have a coffee , I just go dark so okay , okay , what about you , andrea ?

I do . I like sweet coffee . I will drink like just black coffee sometimes , depending on where it's from , but I do like a good like caramel macchiato .

Okay , I was just going to ask you what flavor , but you answered it before I could even ask . So there we go . So what about you , Marsco ? Are you putting all the flavors in all at one time and dipping your banana bread in there and dancing around the house , the ton and dill and stuff you know , acting like your 1940s Italian person ?

Dark roast black coffee and it's funny how I got started with it . It's like you don't really drink coffee . Like high school I'd mix it and all the sugars and stuff . But I worked at a golf course at the Trumbull Country Club with a bunch of grown men and I asked them one morning before we got our jobs , like 5.30 , hey , where's the cream and sugar ?

I gotta have something in my coffee . Like I said , I'm not going to drink black coffee straight up . Even when I get to my 40s , 50s , I can't drink black coffee straight up . I don't know how y'all do it , but it's not , it's easy , man , it's easy .

Hey , just keep living , man , don't worry God don't that darn . Mr Askey was right .

You know , tony hopefully we'll keep the show going for like another 20 years here , so like when we're all old , you know , then you can really talk to us about how your your palate with coffee's changed over time with your taste . So we got two topics here before we end the show , everyone .

No , that's one place I have not been to , so that's one that's on the list to go out there and check out that . So no , not yet .

Highly recommend and go to the theme park . If you go out in the summer , it's pretty cool . So , um , what about you ? Lando ?

um , I have , I have been there when I was a young kid . Um , it was for , I think , a wrestling tournament out there and , uh , we stopped at the candy shop and stuff , and it's definitely something to see , definitely something to see . Now I'm thinking about it .

Yeah , for sure andrea I've never been okay , marscoe .

I don't remember , Ben , but I do have a question for the football people . Is that where they used to play the Big 33 game at ?

And the state championships yes , oh yeah , the Big 33 .

Yeah , they have a football stadium out there . It's very dated , but they used to do the state championships where they'd move them . But they also do like concerts and stuff . Actually , lady Gaga was out there like three years ago she performed out there , which was pretty , pretty unique . But , tony , have you ever been to Hershey PA ?

No , not for football , not for anything , but I would eventually like to go at some point . I think I'm going to end up finding myself going , whether I go myself or I end up going with somebody else it's pretty cool .

You know , we went out there a couple years ago right before thanksgiving and they , they did everything like decorated for christmas and I mean the chocolate tour was great . I mean the museums are great . It's just a lot of fun . There's like boutiques to go shopping at uh , the museum's a lot of fun . It's just a very , very cool experience .

So uh , last question , real question for you is it true you can smell the chocolate pulling up that people tell me you can smell the chocolate if you roll your window down . You can .

You can because , yeah , you can . It's , it's very unique , um , and actually one more cool thing about that is they actually have the Hershey like hotel , so that is actually like everything incorporated chocolate in there .

Man , I tell you what I love a good chest pie . So , mister , take it away . Man , I tell you what I love a good chest pie . I love chest pie , but overrated one I would probably have to say probably apple pie . I eat it , don't mind it , but I think there's so many other good pies out there .

Okay , what about you , Lando ?

I was actually just down in the Keys . I'm going to go with Key Lime Pie . Okay , I had a little bit of that down there and down the Keys in Florida and I'm going to say I don't know if there is a pie I don't like , okay .

Maybe you got to experience more pies to find one . More pies , more pies . So what about you , andrea ?

My favorite is cherry and I think the most overrated is pumpkin .

Wow , that's a hot take right there , I know .

That's a rough one . I don't like pumpkin pie . I don't think it's good do you like ?

not like pumpkin flavored anything or just pumpkin pie ?

uh , pumpkin flavor stuff is like growing on me a little bit but I'm definitely not a fan like I still don't really like . Like pumpkin spice coffee and stuff like that . I think it tastes too fake .

In the fall I'd go apple , which you guys think is overrated , which is fine , but that's my fall pick you know what , and it's like you know , spring's gonna be here by the time this show's released and that's great . Everybody's gonna have so much fun .

My favorite pie is probably a banana cream pie or like a peanut butter fluff pie . Something different with those Most overrated is tough . I mean I don't maybe blueberry . Just with that kind of the consistency it gets after it sits a little bit , I'd say maybe blueberry is a little overrated .

Probably what you're saying is , though you've never met a pie you don't like ? Yeah , come on just like lando , you guys have never met a pie , you don't like no ?

so tony , round us out on this one I've only had strawberry pie one time , but if I had it multiple times I know I'd like it . My favorite pie is cherry pie and I'm gonna have to go with andrea .

Most overrated pie is pumpkin pie wow , the hot take to end the show two people saying pumpkin pie is overrated and that's a heck of a way to end the show . But that's going to do it for this week's episode of the ride home rants podcast .