Thanksgiving Special with Jennifer and Cam!

Join us for Pumpkin Pie and a chat with Jennifer and Cam for our Thanksgiving Special! Dive into Thanksgiving traditions, rate pumpkin pies, and express gratitude. There is no better time to listen than a long weekend!

Transcript

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Well, good morning, everybody, and welcome to another edition of the ABA Coffee In The Park Podcast. My name is Cam Milliken, and I am here with my co-host extraordinaire, Jennifer Herrick, the executive director of the Acheson Business Association. Good morning, Jennifer. Good morning, Cam, how are you today? I'm doing great, it's a great day today. I am really excited about today. Well, looking outside, the leaves are falling. For those that live in Alberta, that live in Edmonton, fall is definitely here. Although today is going to be a lovely 21 degrees, and I think this might be our last official nice day. Yes, so, you know, I'm wearing the short sleeves today because I'm figuring I may as well enjoy this last day, but it is going to be a beautiful day today. And by the way, we're coming to you from the Wall Coffee Roasters in the heart of beautiful downtown Acheson. That's right. So if you hear some noise in the background, people talking or those coffee machines working, that kind of stuff, it's because we are right in the Wall Coffee Roaster. And Cam, I want to say something. I know we talked about this on the podcast a little bit last week, but we have merch. That's right. I'm so excited about our merch. I know. We have our beautiful downtown Acheson t-shirts, which are amazing. And we've always had our Coffee In The Park coffee mugs, which are awesome. And we introduced our merch at our gala. We did. And it flew off the shelf. Literally flew off the shelf. And we sold a whole bunch of it. And so how can people get our merch? Well, we are currently in the process of setting up an account on the ABA website. So people will be able to order it online. Yeah. And it's really awesome. Our t-shirts, I think, are awesome. Who wouldn't want a beautiful downtown Acheson t-shirt? I know. And so they did a good job of them. And they're nice to wear around. They're good quality, made in Canada, produced right here in Edmonton. So we're really excited about it. And so we'll let you know when that site is up and running. Should be soon. It should be soon. And then you can go and buy some of our merch. And the way it's selling right now, we're going to have to put another order pretty quick. And we have a little surprise. Well, we have t-shirts and mugs. Stay tuned for something else. That's right. For our merch department coming soon. That's right. We'll give you a little hint. It has to do with cold weather. That's all we're going to say. That's right. That's right. That's all we're going to say. We're not going to say anymore. So anyway, we're excited about that too. So hey, Jennifer, tell us about some people that make this happen. We would like to thank our gold corporate sponsors, which include the MyShak group of companies, Genics and Parkland County. These individual businesses do so much for the Acheson Business Association, and we really want to thank them for all their continued support. Yeah. Thank you so much. They do a great job. And like Jennifer said, we get to do this because of you. And you know, our numbers just keep growing. I really actually can't believe it. I know. It's kind of incredible, isn't it? Like we've said it before. I think when we started, we thought maybe like a few people would listen. Our families. Yeah, that's right. And now we got literally people all over the world. All over the world. We should tell them what we did at the gala for how we got people to engage in our podcast. Well, we did a tutorial. That's right, because a lot of people didn't know how to get a podcast. Well, we asked the people in the audience if they had listened to Coffee In The Park, and I'm sad to say the results were a little disappointing, Cam. I know, they were. But it's because they didn't know how to get a podcast. Honestly, they didn't know how to download the podcast. So we walked through that with them. We did. And we thank you, Mike Myshak, for bringing it to our attention, thinking that you could listen to this on CFCW. No, you can't listen to it on the radio, Mike. But everybody downloaded it, so now everybody knows how to listen to it. And speaking of the gala, what an event it was. Fantastic. And you know what? I actually just want to give a shout out to all of the nominees, but also the winners. Can I share who the winners were? Please do, because it was a great night. It was so much fun, and we have some great winners. Tell us who they are. So we had a number of categories, so bear with me everyone as I run through these categories. So we had Large Business Of The Year, which was the winner, Standard General here in Acheson. Yay, Standard General. Great business, great supporters of the ABA. Happy they one. Medium Business Of The Year was Nucor Environmental Solutions. Go Nucor. Small Business Of The Year was Rimex Supply Limited. Yeah, Rimex. Great people. Associate member of the year, ScotiaBank. ScotiaBank. They're good supporters of the ABA. They are great supporters of the ABA. The Innovation Award went to Northgate Modular. Yes. The Community Award. Now, we had these two individuals on our podcast. That's right. Mprint sign and printSolutions, Jan and Don. Yep, fantastic. And they are so deserving of that Community Award. They sure are. They do so much. They really do. We announced a new award. We did Podcast Guest Of The Year, Cam. That's right. It was so much fun. Podcast Guest Of The Year, and this year the winner was... Felix the Cat. Felix the Cat. Bushell Transport. Listen, if you have not listened to the Felix the Cat podcast, you need to download it because it's awesome, but we gave Felix the award. We did. Unfortunately, he was double booked. He was. So his social media manager, Cheryl Glattacker, aka owner of Bushnell Transport, accepted on his behalf. I think Felix was at another cat convention or something like that. He travels and does cat things. So yeah. So that's kind of cool. That was that was another very well deserving award. It was. This next one was, I know when the committee met to make the decision, it was so tough. And that's the Women in Leadership Award. You know, that is such a great award. And I love that the ABA, we are so connected in promoting and encouraging women in leadership. It's fantastic. And the winner is? Tamara Sanderson, RST. Another podcast guest. That's right. Funny how that happened. It was not, full disclosure, the ABA does not pick the winners. You're right. It's an independent panel. Independent panel. That's right. But I mean, it's just so cool that we've had them on as guests and they won and that's really awesome. And to top off the evening, the Lifetime Achievement Award to Mr. Wes Wall. Wes Wall. And it was great. That was a great evening. We had lots of fun, lots of people thanking Wes, lots of people paying tribute to Wes. Even the Premier of Alberta sent a great video for Wes. And so it was a great night. Jennifer, you did an amazing job of the gala and you always do an amazing job of our awards. And so folks, next year, you won't want to miss this event. You won't. And Cam, we even had some international guests join us at this gala. That's right. Crockett, Texas, the mayor of Crockett, Texas. That's right. We had a delegation from Crockett, Texas, led by their mayor, and they presented Wes with the key of the city, which was really cool. Do you think Wes is going to let me borrow that key when I want to go down to Crockett? To get into Crockett? I think he will. I think he's probably getting it cut right now to hand out to a bunch of people. But that was such an amazing event and a lot of fun. So that was cool. That was a lot of fun. Jennifer, we need to get into it today. And you know what? We don't have a guest. So, don't turn us off. No, don't turn us off. Because today is going to be our Thanksgiving show. Because this weekend, coming up, is Thanksgiving in Canada. That's right. That's right. And so, there's lots of things that build up to Thanksgiving. That's right. It is different than American Thanksgiving. And we're going to talk a little bit about that. Yeah. So, why don't we just talk about that for a second? Because most of us know about Plymouth Rock and, you know, that guy that came. What's that guy's name? Christopher Columbus came, and, you know, the people met him on the shore, and they had turkey and all that kind of stuff. And people often say, well, where did Thanksgiving start in Canada? I want to know. Okay. So, I'm going to tell you. I'll give you a brief history lesson here. The story goes that in 1758, an English explorer named Martin Frobisher. Now, that may sound familiar if you know your Canada junk. That's right. He landed, came in to the bay there, Frobisher Bay, and they wanted to celebrate. So, they had a really big celebration and a really big dinner, and they had salted beef and biscuits and mushy peas, and they gave thanks for arriving in what was now Canada safely. And that was considered sort of to be the first Thanksgiving in Canada. But then that wasn't the end of it. In 1606, Samuel Champlain, he held a huge Thanksgiving feast between the Mi'kmaq and the French in Eastern Canada. And they had a great big feast, just like we do now. And you know what the number one food was? Cranberries. Cranberries? That's right, because they used cranberries in those days that were rich in vitamin C, or are rich in vitamin C to help to avoid scurvy. And so to celebrate Thanksgiving, they had cranberries and turkey and all kinds of things. And it became this big thing that they did year after year after year. But here's the interesting part, Jennifer. In Canada, the Thanksgiving that we know, the Thanksgiving Monday that we know today in October, Parliament declared it to be a holiday on January 31, 1957. Wait a minute, 1957? I know. We went all the way from the 1750s to 1957. That seems a little late in my opinion. I know. We came to the table a little late on that one. So anyway, that's the history of Thanksgiving in Canada. And I don't know what your family does on Thanksgiving. I know our family gets together and we have a big celebration and we eat. That's what we do. You know what? I always say that Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Yeah, me too. And there's a number of reasons, I think, because it's really the first big holiday. That's right. After the summer is done. Yeah. Family always gets together. And it's just a time to kind of reflect and take a break and give thanks for everything. Yeah. Because there's so much going on today in people's lives, in the world today, that I think it's good to pause and reflect and be thankful for what you have. Yep, I agree with that. But you know what? You know why I like Thanksgiving? Because it's the first official holiday of the year we get to eat turkey. And gravy and stuffing and mashed potatoes and all the stuff that goes with that. And man, I can hardly wait actually till Monday because that's when my family is getting together. Let's talk about turkey for a minute. Have you noticed the price of turkey has like... Turkeys have skyrocketed. Inflation in turkey is ridiculous. What's the deal with that? Because the turkey is eating the same thing he did like 20 years ago. I don't know what's going on. I don't understand. My turkeys have skyrocketed in cost. I say my turkeys because I usually buy my turkey for our family. But it's unbelievable what's happened. It really is. I mean, I remember going last year and buying the turkey thinking, I just spent what on a turkey? I know. It's incredible. I mean, turkey, everything's gone up. I mean, everything's gone up. Potatoes have gone up, all that kind of stuff. But the turkey, for some reason, I mean, that's becoming an expensive bird. Sure is. Yeah. I didn't know it would cost a lot to raise a turkey, but I guess it does. I don't even know what they, I mean, they feed them stuff, but I don't know what they feed. Any turkey farmers out there, send us an email. No kidding. What are you feeding them? You must be feeding them pretty expensive stuff. But anyway, I don't care. I'm going to pay it because it's good and I love turkey. And so there's a lot of things, there's a lot of issues around the Thanksgiving dinner that families have. For example, do you put the stuffing in the bird or do you make it out of the bird? Oh, that's controversial. I know. Yeah. It could cause- What does your family do? Debates. Oh, it's in the bird. Yeah, we're in the bird too. Yeah. Yeah. No, stuffing in the bird. Stuffing in the bird. I know. And there's a lot of people who say, no, no, they make it outside the bird. But I'm telling you right now, folks, stuffing in the bird is the way to go. I agree. It's the way to go. So, you know, that can become a family issue. Well, it could. Yeah, I know. Sometimes in family, and they change up. That's the other thing. When families start changing up traditional recipes. Leave it alone. No, I know. The new generation comes in, we're going to try something new. Don't do anything new. The way it was is the way it was. That's the way it's to be. It's written in the Thanksgiving law book. Stay with it. Stay with it. Try something new another holiday season. Make up a holiday. National gopher day or something like that and have new food. But not on Thanksgiving. Stick with the traditional stuff. That's what I say. So your family, do they have all the big deal? Yeah, we have. Everybody comes together and of course, it's the big traditional turkey and stuffing and potatoes. Usually my mom makes homemade buns, which is the best. Homemade buns? Homemade buns. Come on. Serious. It's fantastic. I'm coming to your house. If I show up, don't be, I'll sit in the corner. I'll sit at the kids' table. I'll bring you some if there's any left. Usually there's none left. Yeah, I was gonna say, how can there be any? I mean, we're, you know, ours are cobs, but they're good too, but I'm telling you, homemade buns, that's incredible. And do you have a big, long table that you all sit at? Well, there's usually a big, long table plus a folding table to fit that many people. Right. Yeah. Do you have a kids' table? Not really. No? Everybody kind of mish-mashes together, so it's okay. I mean, in our family, when I was little, we had a kids' table, but I had to sit at the kids' table, but it's okay. I didn't mind, as long as I got my food. And so let's talk about that for a minute, because our family too, we all get together. We got a whole bunch of us going a couple generations now. And you know, great conversation, but there's some things you should never talk about at the Thanksgiving table. Listen, folks, if you want to have a smooth Thanksgiving, you are right. So we're giving you a tip here, folks. This is our Thanksgiving tip to you for a successful Thanksgiving. What should you not talk about? Oh, number one, politics. Do not talk politics at the Thanksgiving table. I agree. Not the place to talk about politics. People get mad. It ends up in a food fight. It gets ugly. Potatoes going across the table. You know what I'm saying? People storm out of the room. Don't talk about it. No, no, there's lots of other stuff to talk about. You don't have to talk about politics. Anything else you shouldn't talk about at the table? Probably religion. Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah, these days, just avoid it. You know, you don't want to get into those kinds of arguments. And so you want to have fun. There's lots, and like I say, there's lots of good things to talk about. You don't have to talk about those kinds of things. No, no. But I love getting together with my family. It's always a blast. There's great conversation, great fun, and it's good to see everybody. And well, Jennifer, we have turkey, we have mashed potatoes, we have gravy, we have dressing, but then when that's all done... Pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie. And for our listeners today... All right. This is so exciting. We've never done this on our podcast. This is exciting. It is. Cam and I went out and sourced three different pumpkin pie. That's right. So we're going to do a pumpkin pie tasting. We are. We're going to tell you where we got these pumpkin pies from and share a little bit about, as we're eating the pumpkin pie, what we think. Right. So, okay, folks. So now I know we don't do a video. We just do a voice podcast. So you're going to have to use your imagination a little bit. So we're sitting here in the wall coffee roaster. We're sitting at our table where we always do our podcast. And in front of us, in front of Jennifer, and in front of myself, we have a plate with three pieces of pumpkin pie. Okay, now, and we've got whipped cream, Jennifer. So here, so we're going to put some whipped cream. So what we're going to do is we're going to taste the pie and give you our sort of impression of each piece of pie from each place. So we're just going to put a little whipped cream. Now hang in there. I don't know if you can hear that. We'll put a little bit on Jennifer's here. A little bit of what you got to have whipped cream on pumpkin pie. Of course you have to have whipped cream on pumpkin pie. There you go. Okay, there we go. Pumpkin pie. All right, so we're going to do a little bit of a critique here of the pumpkin pie. This is a taste test. Now, how do we want to do this, Cam? Because this is new for us. Do we want to go individually and then tell everybody where the pumpkin pie was from? Okay. Or do we just want to say, hey, here's where we got the pies from, and here we go? Well, you know what? Let's do that. Okay. So we got the pumpkin pies. Right. Number one, Costco. Costco. You can't go wrong.$6.99 is a deal for pie at Costco. I'm just telling you right now. And if you've got a giant family coming, Oh yeah. Seriously. I mean, really. I mean, $6.99, it's a giant pie. You can cut it into like 37 pieces, whatever you need. It's amazing. It really is. All right. Freson Brothers. Freson Brothers. Go to your grocery store and get a pumpkin pie. The cool thing about Freson's is you can get half pies. That's right. They have a deal. So say on your Thanksgiving, there's only like two of you or three of you, which is good, but you don't need the whole pie. You can get a half a pumpkin pie. Which is so cool. I know. So yeah. And for those who aren't in Alberta and aren't familiar, Freson Brothers is like a grocery store. Yeah, a locally owned grocery store. So yeah. And they do all Alberta products and stuff like that. They're really good. And they bake everything right there. It's really good. All right. The third one. The third one comes from our friends over at Gather Bakery. That's right. It's Spruce Grove. And were they not nominated for an award this year in our gala? They sure were. They were nominated for Associate Member of the Year. Now there's a story. We're going to have them on our podcast because they have a great story. We are. So yeah. So okay. So we've got a piece of pie from Costco. We've got a piece of pie from Freson Brothers, and we've got a piece of pie from Gather Bakery. So are we going to take a taste of each and give a little critique on each? Okay. Which one? Do we have to say which one we're doing first or no? No. Okay. Just go. Okay. I'm going to go with this one here. All right. All right. This one here. Here we go, folks. Now just imagine. All right. You're all getting really hungry. I know. Oh, man. That's good pie. That's really good pie. Oh, this one has a really nice creamy texture. That is really good pie. Which one did you have? I had the Costco. That, you know, silky smooth, you know, very good pumpkiny flavor. You know, do I sound like Bobby Flay yet? Silky smooth, very good pumpkiny flavor. You know, it's really good. Which one did you have? Freson Brothers. Freson Brothers. How was that? It's delicious. Yeah. Okay. It's different than the Costco. Yeah. I don't know if it's nutmeg, but there's something really good. I don't even know what they put in pumpkin pie. So I don't know whether it's nutmeg or cinnamon or, okay, I'm going to try the Freson Brothers. Outstanding. Oh. Oh yeah. Nutmeg, yeah. Oh yeah, nutmeg. There's something. It has hints of nutmeg roasted over an open fire. I don't know. It's really good though. So I've had Costco. I've had Freson's. Which one do you have? I've also had Costco's. Okay, so are we ready for the last one? Ready for Gather. This is Gather. This is Gather. Wait, I'm going to put more whipped cream on my Gather. I'm going to just put a little more whipped cream. Okay, there. Okay. All right. Ready? One, two, three. Oh, hang on, hang on. That's Gather, right? Yeah. Okay. Ready? One, two, three. Oh, that's very good. No, that's very good. Gather Bakery, you've outdone yourself. Yeah, pumpkin-y. Very pumpkin-y. Light. Light. refreshing. Fluffy. Fluffy. No, it is really light and fluffy. It honestly is. Oh, it is. I know that's silly for pie, but it is. Folks, this is amazing. I'm telling you right now, you would not go wrong with any of these. Oh, I agree. And so, you know, I'm just gonna, I just need another bite of this one here, if you don't mind. Just. Oh, my goodness. Unbelievable. That's incredible. Jennifer, we didn't get napkins. We did. Oh, you did. Good, good job. I'm glad. See, this is, man, this is why Jennifer's here. Okay, folks, now there you go. We had pumpkin pie from Gather Bakery, pumpkin pie from Costco, and pumpkin pie from Freson Brothers. And I'm just going to say, Jennifer, I think you wouldn't go wrong with any of those. I 100% agree with you, Cam. They are all very good. Fantastic pies all around. Kudos to all the pie makers. Absolutely. Gather Bakery, you did an excellent job of your pie. Folks, phone them up if you want one from there, because I think you have to order them ahead of time. I think you have to pre-order. Costco, you can just go down there. They put out about 9,000 pies every day. Because I think they're gone by the end of the day. And Freson Brothers, probably you'll want to get your pie there. And again, that's a good deal, because they do half pies. That's right. So if you need the half pie, you don't want the whole pie. But I would say all of those pies were excellent. Outstanding. Yeah. So a good way to end your Thanksgiving dinner. It is. Yeah. Pumpkin pie, whipped cream, any of those places. Support them. And I think that's really great. And you know what, and then you get to just, I don't know about you, Jennifer, but after I'm done eating, after I've had my turkey and my dessert and all that, I just need to find a place to crash. Sit on a couch. I know. And hopefully you're wearing stretchy pants. That's right. Because like, it's really important, people. Don't get dressed up for Thanksgiving dinner. Come in your sweatpants. That's totally acceptable. Yeah, come as you are and just eat. Yeah. And you know that tryptophan in the turkey? Man, oh man, oh man. Makes you a little sleepy. Knocks you out for a while. And so I know at our house after dinner, you look around everywhere and there's people find their, their chair or their sofa or whatever, and they're out. And that's Thanksgiving. And it's great. I absolutely love it. It's fantastic. No, I do too. It's just again, it's a great time to get together. And if you can't get together with family, that's OK, too. Yeah, that's right. If maybe your family is out of town or away and you're not able to get together with them, listen, you know what? Hey, just spend a day, find some friends, lots of people like that. That's right. Hang out together, go to a restaurant, do whatever. Lots of restaurants have Thanksgiving meals. Absolutely. And then go buy your pumpkin pie at one of these places and come back to your place and play a little cards and eat a little pumpkin pie. Exactly. It's fantastic. It is fantastic. You know, and it is. Thanksgiving and holidays like this are about people just getting together and hanging out. And maybe you know somebody who's doesn't have anywhere to go on Thanksgiving, why don't you invite them over and bring them over to your place? And you say, I don't know if I'd want them to meet my family. Hey, listen, it'll be the best time of their life. So bring them over. Bring them over. And they'll have a good time. And it's really cool. Jennifer, we always ask our guests a question, a final question on our podcast. And I think we have a good final question for you and me today. I think so. So I'm going to ask, can I ask you the final question first? Sure. And then you can ask me, but I'll ask you first. Jennifer, what are you most thankful for? Oh, what am I most thankful for? I'm thankful for a lot of things, Cam. But for me, I'm so thankful for my family. And whether, you know, my husband, my son, my parents, my siblings, I'm so thankful that everybody's around and everybody's healthy. I'm really, really thankful for that. Yeah. Yeah, you know, and that's the greatest answer you could ever give. It really is. And we are thankful for those people in our lives. Fantastic. And you? Well, like you, you know, I'm thankful for many, many things. And, you know, unfortunately, sometimes it takes Thanksgiving or holidays like this to actually take a step back and reflect. I am extremely thankful for my wife who puts up with me. That's amazing right there in itself. I'm so thankful for my daughter, who is just absolutely incredible and the light of my life, for sure. And I'm most amazingly thankful for my mom, who's 93 years old. You got to meet my mom. She came to the gala. She did. I love meeting your mom. What a lady. She had the best time. She went shopping for an outfit for a whole day to find the right outfit for the gala. And she's 93 years old and never really told the story. Maybe one day we'll tell our stories. But my mom is a single mom. My father died when I was two years old, and my mom raised me on her own. I'm an only child. Well, that says it all right there. But I'm an only child, and I'm so thankful for my mom. And I'm thankful for my friends. I'm thankful for my job. And you know what else? You know what I'm thankful for too? I'm thankful for you, Jennifer, because you and I get to do this and work together. And a year ago, I never ever would have dreamed that we were doing this. And I'm really thankful for you and that you put up with me and some of my crazy, stupid ideas. And so you know what? I think it's a great year to be thankful for a lot of things. I agree, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. We live in a great country. We live in a great province. We have family around us, thankful for our family, and never take them for granted ever. And so folks, I know this is a different one. We didn't have a guest. I guess our guest was Pumpkin Pie. Our guest was Pumpkin Pie. That's right, we had Pumpkin Pie as our guest. It was like a little food critique. That's right, we should do this more often. Maybe, so if you own a restaurant or something and you need somebody to do a critique. Hey, we're happy to give you a shout out. We'll come do a live, a live spot from your restaurant. Of course we will. And we would be happy. I thought we did a pretty good job of critiquing the Pumpkin Pie. I think so too. And so, yeah, that was our guest today. So everybody, thank you for listening. And thanks for tuning us in to our Thanksgiving special. It was great. Hey, Jennifer, we're done. We're done. But don't worry folks, we'll be back with another guest next week. We will have a guest next week. We promise. We're not going to make this a regular event of critiquing food. But we have a great guest next week. And so wherever you get your podcasts, we can download them. Bye. Oh, sorry, just saying, bye to some people walking out of the coffee shop here. Wherever you get your podcasts, or you can go to www.Achesonbusiness.com and you can download it off of there as well. And so thanks everybody. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Thanks for listening. See you next time. See you next week.