Another beautiful and divine day in Diva Naples here, September 9th, Saturday, 2023, and this is episode 439 from this Mike Rich and from this Mike Matt, another Saturday, it is a Saturday, I'm so happy, how was your uh checkout, doctor checkout, it was great, you got a smile on your face, I told you yesterday that I was getting a checkup for for the insurance aspect of infinite banking, we'll talk about that some other day, uh but I had an awesome time, she checked all my blood, and what did they say, and then I had an EKG that came out perfect, oh good, hold on just a second, let me, hold on just a second, oh there you go, oh there's that German cake I had to diss yesterday, I felt really bad about it, but now I'm back to destroying my body, so I'll go ahead, destroy it, let's do it, let's eat this sugar, this looks awesome, I've been doing a lot of complaining for years about German cakes, so yeah, and since they say you are, you got a free pass, yeah, let's just destroy it, let's do it, yeah, yeah, what do I care about, exactly, any diabetes or anything else, it might be a result, you just close your eyes and say you never had it, right, it's the only problem I always tell people, like the only problem is gonna be in your head, you know what I'm saying, you're gonna have to figure it out, right, explain it to yourself, you don't have to explain to anybody else, oh my gosh, it's a little frozen, isn't it, it's absolutely delicious, is that blueberry, this is blueberry cream cheese, yeah, crumbled cream cheesecake, it's German, German, but you know yesterday was fresh and you said you don't want it, so I just shove it in the freezer, make an ice cream out of it, you know what's awesome though, because you probably had no idea this, but blueberry is my favorite berry for fruit pies and cakes, you know what, if this would have onion, you would say same thing, you mean if you put a chili dog in front of my face, you didn't have a cake for 24 hours, so everything would be your favorite, oh yeah, that's true, yeah, well speaking of that, do you know what they call train carrying bubble gum, choo -choo gum, yeah, no, choo -choo train, yeah, and in your case, you know, the dog is cheap, yeah, you will find out as soon as you talk to a lawyer, yeah, right, here it is, yeah, so be careful, all right, I will, so shove a couple more forks in your opening, yeah, and then, so you can be quiet, because I have essentials to do, I will do that, why don't you get to the essentials while I shove German cake down my throat, yeah, we will still hear it, it's gonna fall down so deep, because you have nothing there, that's right, I told you not to eat 24 hours, anything, but I've been eating all day since I got done with that EKG, yeah, it's 9 p .m and this is the perfect thing to put up there, you know, ending this Saturday, put it right on top of those burgers and things I ate today, oh did you, oh yeah, you didn't tell me that, onion rings do, oh my god, where's mine, I forgot, oh yeah, I'm gonna bring you this, I'm gonna bring you that, I'm sure, you know, loyal listeners now just laughing their faces and saying, saying yeah, he was right, he always promised him something, never bring him anything, all right, yeah, you are the one on the streets, I can barely get to the garbage can, you'd be all right, yeah, well today I had a, I closed my eye, I had a nap, no, one eye, yeah, close one eye, wow, can you believe it, three minutes, did you go past three minutes, yeah, three and a half, I think, well that's, it's a record, that's a record for you, yeah, I feel so guilty, yeah, you should, yeah, Julian Bruce, Terra Ketera, Apache music, thank you for all the music that you provide us with and the song that we start our podcast with, which is Divine Ables, very signature song for us and we are always tuned into this podcast, I hope everybody else that hears that as well and sponsor of this podcast is Divine Coffee and Wine Bar, our favorite place where we're getting all our Texas tea from and you know that this giving us the jolt and the energy that we can, you know, bring these voices to your ears, beachss .com, that's the place where you wanna go if you're interested, so 250 items available, just let us know what we can bring you, we will do our best to be there between 30 to 45 minutes, there's no charge for delivery if you order more than $15, which today it's, you know, two sandwiches and stuff, it's easy to do, yeah, easy, so, you know, we're still keeping everything very reasonable, salads from $12, organic salads, sandwiches, $13, I mean, we bring it to your beach, it's freshly made in our coffee and wine bar, not speaking of the alcohol, like the beers and, you know, cocktails and wine and everything, we have everything, now, weather, how about that? I got that weather today and we're gonna have a sunny day in the beginning, it's gonna be 99 it was today and we're gonna get down to a low of 78, a little bit of rain at 9 o 'clock, about a 70 % chance, then at 10 o 'clock 50 and at 11 o 'clock 40 % chance, so we're gonna have a pretty nice day, do you think we're gonna have rain? Yeah, we're headed towards, you know, seasonal weather, it's getting lower and lower, I mean, it's still pretty hot, my friend, during the day, but that's gonna start cooling down, well, that's gonna be so nice, just open windows and then we also see that that hurricane is out there, still, but they said it slowed down a little bit and so they're hoping that it's just gonna curve back up into the Atlantic, slow down a little bit yesterday, yeah, now, five miles an hour, yeah, back to the speed, it's picked up another five, uh -oh, but it is supposed to kind of turn it back into the Atlantic, right, until they throw the spaghetti on the wall, we really don't know, yeah, we don't know, I wish they'd throw some meatballs into that spaghetti, but the speed they said is back to 160, yesterday was from 160, that's crazy, so we are back from, you know, two days ago, so, doesn't know what it's doing, I think it's like driving with your wife, you know, it's just like, have you ever drove with your ex -wife when she said something, both of them, did she ever upset you and, and, you know, this is, you never drove like that, I tried to make sure that she never drove, I learned that in the army, right, when we, when you were out of the bunker, yeah, hold on, let me just give you another Iron Curtain story, they're the, they're the, my favorite of the day now, so, uh, we were, hold on, we were probably in the army for two weeks, you know, very fresh, you still don't know what, everything smells different, you still don't know what's going on, you know, they cut your hair, you have no hair, just look like a little, like, you know, freshly born, the little dog baby, yeah, and you just, you stick the head out of the bed, it goes like, what is today, you know, you just have no idea, so every day there was a surprise, so two weeks in, they just like, uh, you know, sound the alarm, everybody full gear, and they loaded us in this, uh, you know, very sophisticated army vehicles, you know, yeah, that has absolutely, absolutely no, uh, springs or any type of, you know, uh, no shock absorbers raining, no, no suspension, so you feel little stones on, on everything, so we're going in the road, and, uh, of course, you know, the, in the cabin, there were three seats only, and, uh, you know, the older soldiers, now we're gonna sit in the, in the, on the back, which we called pig house, you know, we call it pig house, like when you're transferring pigs to slaughterhouse, that's where you put them, that's where you guys were going, so the Russian front, so you're sitting, right, so you're sitting, uh, on a bench, very, like, a very nicely cushioned bench, which was jested from piece of wood, and you have all the gear on you, right, heavy, and now imagine you're sitting, uh, on a side, uh, towards front, so you don't, you don't sit, like, in the bus, like, facing front, right, right, you're sitting on the side, so we get out of the army base, and that soldier, that older soldier, no exactly, because they did same thing to him, when he was there, yeah, but he experienced it, and I learned it, and I later on did it to my ex -wife, she really liked that, you know, you hazed your own ex -wife, I was giving her the army special, you know, just the treatment, all the time, so she did something wrong, I just, so, so what he did, all the soldiers, like, he pressed the pedal, like, to the ground, right, the truck, it takes, like, maybe half a second to pick up, right, the speed, so just, like, move forward, and then he let it go, and press the brake, and just stop, and he did it, like, maybe 15, 20 times, some guys start puking, because they couldn't, like, you're sitting side to side, right, and you're hitting each other with this heavy gear, you got car sickness, yeah, yeah, so, you know, that's what, uh, I did to my ex -wife, oh, you're horrible, so when she was, you know, just, uh, the, you know, I'm, I'm, wouldn't it have been just better to be, do it my way, just don't let her drive, no, I was driving my ex -wife, when she was telling her where to go, and what to do, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm surprised the airbag didn't explode, oh my gosh, you know, she was really close with the face to the dashboard, it's not better than my friend from England, you know, what he did to his ex -wife, no, well, she started, I think, she got upset one day, because he forgot they had the tickets to the theater, and he came, uh, you know, what do you call it, uh, socially tired, he came from this, uh, place called restaurant, you know, after work, he worked for socially gathering, yeah, and he came home socially tired, right, yeah, so, uh, he didn't want to go to the theater, he went to social gathering, he didn't want to go, he was tired, I don't want to go anywhere, well, after a few beers, he got really tired, right, so he came home, yeah, she started yelling at him that they have to go, and they have to take shower and everything, and he's, you know, kind of like, I'm not going, and all this, so, right, he said it was so much fire in the house, that he had to dress himself, and all these things, and then when he was opening the door for her to get, uh, you know, seated in the car, he slammed the door when her hand was still between the doors, did he do it on purpose, oh my god, I guess we're staying home, so he saw her hand still holding when she was getting in the car, still telling him stuff, so he just shut the door, said we end up in the ER, I told her I don't want to go to the theater, oh, I'm surprised he didn't push her back in the car and say drive yourself to the emergency room, but yes, call me when you're, so next time, get all fixed up, when your wife is telling you stuff in the car, you just pretend you're in the army, press the pedal, gas, brake, gas, brake, and if that doesn't work, slam her hand in the door, that's the treatment, uh, but that would be the, that would be definitely, that'd be the extreme, yeah, well we're getting to our segment, which is our favorite segment of, uh, I'm thinking of it, it is my favorite segment, what do you call it, uh, decades, yeah, it is, it's of the century, maybe, we've been doing this for five years, but we just started this segment last week, but I love it for five years, I do too, I love this segment for whole five years, yeah, because it is what it is, and what is this segment, we know everything that the guy who knows everything doesn't know, so there you go, that's right, and if we, if we don't know it, we'll, we'll give the answer later, yeah, we will know it, there will be time, eventually, yeah, yeah, we will get to know it, because we're, we're on the mission on, on the know, it, I love I do too, yeah, so the idea is just to bring the news around the town, the Southwest Florida, what's going on, so you, your life is a little bit more educated, so you know, these days, there are fact checkers, and all kind of different things that are providing us from finding out what really is happening, so that's why Matt and I are dedicated, we eat cake over here, drink coffee, get fed, we have little doors, so I mean, this is, there's a situation we may not gonna get out of the studio one day, but for now, we, we are able to exit, so you know, if you're listening, you may be smarter, because, yeah, because you get all kinds of information, yeah, I mean, can I give you a couple, a little bit of information you got over a couple of decades? 1960, Yeah, oil is gone in 10 years, let me give you another one, 1970s was the ice age in 10 years, so we're gonna, that kind of didn't happen, 1980s, acid rain will destroy all crops in 10 years, what's the deal with 10 years, the 90s, the ozone layer will be gone in 10 years, what year is it right now, Rich? Did it start already? I guess, and then 2000 ice caps will be gone in 10 years, so when that started, that started in 2000, well, I think, I think Al Gore need to come back and explain that to us, so what we want to do is give you news that you can use in 10 years, oh, I love it, yeah, so let me just start with this, interesting fact that happened in Ecolier County and commissioners, they actually, I guess, start thinking, you know, what to do and how to, how to, maybe they use the crystal ball, how to plan the future here, yeah, maybe, and we've been preaching this for a while, we were always saying, yes, we were, Diva and Aprils, you know, we want to bring communities together because whatever, it's gonna be day, and it's not far, but federal government is gonna be thinking, we don't have much money left, what we're gonna do and how we're gonna distribute it, maybe we're just gonna skip some of the states and states gonna say, hey, we didn't get money, so some of the counties, and this is how it's gonna go, and counties to the cities and so on and so forth, so, all the way down to the local government, you have to realize that one day you're gonna have to be your own doctor, your own, you know, lawyer, and your own gardener, and your own everything, so let's just start practicing this, let's be independent, it's like our own community, and we're coming up with solutions, our own solutions as a community and coming together, and that's what we're all about, building community, and budgets obviously are a big part of that, and we live in Collier County, I believe the greatest county in all of Florida, that's my own opinion, but now you're gonna share some information about what's going on, I mean, we have some serious issues that we're gonna have to deal with, and this, let me say this, and we get there, okay, there's two things that could happen, you either gotta cut budgets to balance the budget, or you need to raise taxes to pay for that stuff, and we can do both, you can do both, but the real thing would be is to take an assessment and find out what we really need, what programs, where we can realistically cut the budget, and the federal government is in debt, we're all in debt, and they're gonna have to finally come to grips that you just can't spend yourself into wealth, and they're gonna have to make cuts, and the way they're gonna make cuts is doing exactly what you said, they're gonna cut their funds to the states and say, you guys are now responsible for that, and where are we gonna make up the shortcomings on that, is two things like you said both, either we're gonna cut the budgets, or we're gonna raise taxes, and as citizens, and people in the community, we should be involved in that discussion, because it's gonna affect every single person one way or the other, you may be somebody that relies on some of these programs that the county's gonna start talking about, you know, the budgets, and maybe cutting, and that type of stuff, so that's why we come here and tell you, hey, be educated, we're letting you know, they're coming up with this commission meeting to start talking about the budget, and this one's gonna involve cut, and they discuss that in accounting, what they're gonna be cutting, how they're gonna be cutting, which is smarter way to do it, because they still have time, right, so I think, you know, we're going a good direction, exactly, and here we are, Diwai Naples, we would like to educate you and everybody else, instead of cutting budgets, and you know, raising taxes, why we don't just spend a little bit more money with our local businesses, because we keep them, keep them in business, and today, you know, actually yesterday, Friday, seasonal week, or in our case, two weeks of restaurant dining, for $29, $39, and $49, depends what restaurant you go to, it's available to you, so you will support our local businesses, we'll keep people employed, you know, keep the money here in our community, local taxes going into the coffer, we don't have to raise the taxes, because we just naturally, stimulating the economy, that's what it is, that's exactly right, and you brought, that's the key point right there, so if we learn this right now, we don't have to worry about it later, right, and you know, we're gonna go as far as a school district has enough money to, you know, still have teachers, and have kids in the school safe, and learning the right things, and EMS being available to come to your house quickly, because they have a full tank of gas, proper funding, yeah, proper funding, so keep this in mind, because I think it's very important, and I'm really excited that our leaders in the county are taking initiatives, and they start already, you know, this conversation, because they can, they can see the devil on the wall, yeah, the handwriting's on the wall, baby, because that's coming, no matter what, and it's the day of reckoning, they call it, and we have a lot of programs that we are preparing, one of them is, for example, Divine Naples Club, that will be just for residents of Collier County, and once you prove your residence, there's gonna be a lot of benefits you're gonna be getting, so we wanna, you know, we're gonna participate in it, we're gonna be somehow leaders into this movement as well, so you know, just keep eye on our profile, social media, website, and on EARS on this podcast, we will bring everything to your ears, yes, so that's what I have to say about community budget, you know, budgeting, and being a community, we have 23 websites in 18 languages, so you can find a lot of information that we are passionately putting together, now, that would be the most serious stone, right, and now, since it's Saturday, and you're stuffing your face, I think we should, what else is new, yeah, we should stick to food, yeah, yeah, that's, why not, yeah, that's what everybody does this weekend, right, everybody's out, you know, dining, finding dining, they only ask two crazy people, you know, sitting here, well, we're finding a way to do it here, yeah, that's true, right, we always find a way, we do, so we don't left, where there's a will, there's a way, there's no left behind, even if we call in for takeout, so I just, you know, I have nine food dishes, signature food dishes, they are so symbolic for Florida, you have ideas, oh yeah, let me start with this, I'm gonna name them, and you give me an idea of what you think about it, okay, how about this, all right, key lime pie, oh, that is a signature of Florida, and it is probably my favorite tart dish, the key lime pie is so tart, and I just love the way it's made, and there's such a different variety, different, you can get that just about at any restaurant in southwest Florida, you know, I mean, it's a staple, bro, that's the dessert of the state, right, that, I mean, that's true, and you know what's interesting about this, this was invented in Key West, in the beginning of 19th century, before even a refrigerator was invented, what did they put in it to keep it, I mean, I'm just saying, you know, the key ingredients is pie to sweetened condensed milk, yeah, so, you know, that's just like a pickled, sugar, doesn't have to be refrigerated, yeah, exactly, yeah, just so you know, if you need to, sugar sausages, it's delicious, it's delicious, gator tails, how about that, I do, but actually, I like them better in what are called gator nuggets, or gator balls, and I like them in smaller pieces, and the way I like it, I mean, some make it and saute it and do other ways, but I like it fried, there's nothing like fried gator, and I dip my gator nuggets or balls in barbecue sauce, it's my favorite, and it is a staple, again, in Florida, it's tradition, oh, I think there's been a tradition forever, since Indians, they made them, fried them, they may just ate them differently, no, they did, they've ate it, like, I'm sure that he, he didn't have alligator sushi, did you, did you live with Indians, so, you know, no, I don't know, okay, so, you don't know, I don't know, but I want to know, because we're supposed to know everything, I know, I mean, you, you pretend, like, you know, right, but maybe they do it, like, we do marshmallows, maybe they put it on a stick and roast it over the fire, that's exactly how you would do it, with sausage, yeah, let me just correct you, I mean, you always pretend, like, you know, but I'm here to make you look like you don't know, but I know, right, yeah, and to make me look, you know, like, like, you don't know, I don't know, you're right, yeah, so, Indians were always doing it, but these days, it's kind of hard to access, or get access to this food, because it's only during the open hunting season, and people that hunt for alligators need to have a license, so it's a little bit more sophisticated, but they, from the tail, there's the pieces on the top of the tail that are used for this, you know, this delicatessen, and it's only during the certain, you know, months of the year, so unless you freeze it, then you're probably gonna have it fresh, exactly, in some of the places and restaurants, there's not many of them around, but it tastes like a chicken, yeah, everything tastes like chicken, although I never say that, because gator tastes like gator to me, yeah, well, it tastes like chicken, all right, everything tastes like cabbage, do you know what that is? No, and it's, I just learned today, so we're in the know, why don't you share that with me? It's called Heart of Palm, and it's been eaten for hundreds of years, the leaves of the branches of the palm were used to construction ever, historically known for being part of the many early folks, in fact, one group of early Americans was able to repel British army attacks because of really, yeah, so part of the palm that used for construction, they also eat and they make, you know, oh, that's right, it's, they have it in cans, right? Yeah, yeah, so that's, that's, you know, the palm is all around us, we just don't know which one it is, I know, and that's just, you know, I guess back to Indians, yeah, game, there you go, conch fritters, oh, I love crunk fritters, and those things are fried also, did you know what they call that? Escargot of Florida, that's right, because the actual meat is actually a snail, most people probably wouldn't eat it if they'd known that, but usually it's chopped up and put in a fritter, a batter and fried, it's delicious, you ever had it? I don't think so, because I don't eat seafood, I don't play the balls, and I don't watch TV, would you like me to bring it so you can try it one time, it's more like a hush puppy, let me bring it, you can have it, okay, no, I don't, I don't eat seafood, well I love them, and whenever I have a go to a restaurant that has them, I try to make that my appetizer, the dish originates from Bahamas, but it's, it transfers to the kivas, that's where it starts, you know, spreading north from there, so it just gives you an idea, fried green tomatoes, oh I love it, you ever seen that movie, no, which movie, it's a movie, fried green tomatoes, but anyway, they're delicious, you ever had those, you don't like fried food, no, I don't eat much, you eat fried chicken though, well the chicken tenders, you eat fried chicken too, not much, if I bring fried chicken here to you, you're gonna eat it, I'm gonna get you Popeyes, I don't think I've ever had it, yeah, well I think I'll bring you some Popeyes, you might like it, I'm not a big Kentucky fried chicken fan, well we're gonna talk about it today, remind me, okay, yeah, all right, when we're gonna go into the national days, something important you need to know, okay, public subs, that's really interesting, yeah, you know what, I really like their bread, because bread is a sandwich, and we are, we were able to even make better sandwich with our ciabatta bread, oh yeah, and we're getting, we're getting actually, reviews, I mean a lot of people just love our sandwiches, because the ciabatta bread comes out crispy, so crispy, and we balanced all these flavors, you know, we have, strategically, yeah, we have mustards, we have tomato, greens, pickles, European pickles, meat, cheese on the sandwich, I mean, you know, we just balanced it so nicely, the sandwich from Publix is good, but it's just, I think, too big, and also, you know, there's just a lot of bread in it, right, and our sandwich is not that much bread, but it's more crispier, so it's more like a baguette, crispier type of thing, and I just love our ciabatta, I love the little charred bit a bit on it, it's just, the flavor is great, yeah, well, then we invite people, oysters, yep, and then we have a lot of oyster bars around here, Pelican Larry's is known for it, I'm not a big raw oyster fan, I like them fried, and I like them on bread, yeah, well, a sandwich, a poor boy, somebody just posted something on the social media, how they were trying to eat oysters, and they see these little maggots coming through it, after they put lemon on it, I never had oysters, I don't like them, so if you are going for oysters, be careful, make sure you don't get it because they are raw, so it could be a lot of parasites and a lot of bacteria, so just be careful, you know, it could be a problem. Strawberry shortcake, yes, well, what do you tell me? I love it, you don't like it? I like it, I like the cake, it's usually a shortbread cake, little round circle, some people make them scratch, you can buy them in grocery stores, and you just cut up your strawberries, you can add a little syrup to it if you like, to make it a little sweeter, I like to just have mine fresh with the strawberry juice, and then whipped cream, now I would love to have your special German whipped cream on one of those, and a little touch for me is to sprinkle a little bit of nuts on top of it, that's my own personal way of doing strawberry shortcake, but I love it. Great idea, but you know what, it's really interesting to know that strawberry shortcake came from Florida, and it's from town that is called Plant City, and it's the smallest town in Helzberg County, about 15 minutes from Tampa, and they produce 15 % of the strawberries sold in the United States.