Ep 109: Balsa II Men

• Food talk kicked off with favorite pasta dishes featuring Jess loving lobster lasagna and steak gorgonzola pasta while Ross schooled everyone on orecchiette pronunciation and shared that Barilla has Spotify playlists timed perfectly for cooking each pasta type
• Jess struggled through another brutal week including failed coquina shell stucco work that had the customer's wife gasping and walking away after just one wall plus dealing with electrical problems and eight foot six mahogany doors that needed refinishing
• Ross finally finished his nightmare pocket door project that took nine years to complete properly and built a gorgeous walnut cabinet with traditional dovetail joinery using his Harbor Freight jig that worked perfectly on the first try
• Colton became the go-to lacquer repair specialist for Tony's shop after successfully fixing blush damaged cabinets using super blush retarder spray and got called in as their on-call finishing expert
• The guys shared serious summertime survival tips including keeping cooling towels in coolers plenty of fluids sunscreen and aloe vera plus Colton discovered that thirty percent vinegar works amazing for getting smoke smells out of furniture
• Colton started planning his metal roof installation over existing shingles and learned that roofing supply companies often beat Home Depot prices with much thicker gauge materials that last forever
• Wood of the week featured the bizarre monkey puzzle tree from Chile that looks like AI designed a Christmas tree and gets its name because it would puzzle a monkey trying to climb the spiny branches
• Italian food trivia had Ross crushing questions about risotto osso buco and arancini while Colton admitted to completely guessing on most answers but somehow nailed the gnocchi question by pure luck
• Ross shared his sandwich building wisdom about never letting cold cuts touch bread directly and emphasized the importance of taking lazy river style mental breaks to reset from work stress
• Colton introduced the barn cat Squanchy who showed up desperate and friendly and already proved his worth by catching a lizard though the guys debated proper feeding schedules to keep him hunting