The Empty Nest Kitchen

Kitchen Must-Haves with Marien Hornyak of The Kitchenette

• Christine Van Bloem • Season 1 • Episode 9

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In this episode of The Empty Nest Kitchen, host Christine Van Bloem delves into the world of tools for the Empty Nest Kitchen with special guest Marien Hornyak, owner of The Kitchenette in Downtown Frederick, Maryland. Get ready to discover the latest must-have gadgets and hear insights from Marien, who is also known as the @TheBlindKitchenLady on TikTok.

Christine and Marien touch on topics ranging from kitchen organization to marathon running, offering listeners a glimpse into Marien's multifaceted life. Marien provides valuable tips for empty nesters looking to streamline their kitchen and make cooking more enjoyable and efficient in an engaging conversation filled with insights, recommendations, and inspiration. Whether you're a seasoned home cook or just starting out, this episode is sure to spark your culinary curiosity!

Connect with Us:

  • Follow Christine Van Bloem at EmptyNestKitchen.com, IG: @theemptynestkitchen, FB: @emptynestkitchen
  • Connect with Marien Hornyak on TikTok as @TheBlindKitchenLady  and IG as @the_kitchenette_frederick and at www.thekitchenettefrederick.com. Be sure to visit The Kitchenette too in Downtown Frederick, Maryland.



Christine Van Bloem:

Well, hey there. I am here with someone super fun today. I am so excited. I have got Marien Hornyak from The Kitchenette in downtown Frederick, Maryland.

Marien Hornyak:

Woohoo!

Christine Van Bloem:

Woohoo. Hey Marien, how are you?

Marien Hornyak:

I'm well, Christine. How are

Christine Van Bloem:

Oh, I'm so good. All right. Now, I pronounced your name in a very Maryland fashion. What is the correct pronunciation?

Marien Hornyak:

Well, so I'm from Puerto Rico and my name is Marien. There's an accent over the E. When I got to the U. S. in, for college, I tried to get everybody to say Marien and many people could not. So it just kind of got, it got anglicized into Marien I'll respond to

Christine Van Bloem:

Yeah. Excellent. Well I am just going to keep going with Marien if that's okay with

Marien Hornyak:

That is

Christine Van Bloem:

Excellent. Cause we've known each other for a little while. Yeah, and Marien owns the cutest, and when I say the cutest, I'm not exaggerating, the cutest little kitchen shop in downtown Frederick, and I can't go in because every time I go in, I'm like, oh, I need all of these new spatulas, right? So, Marien, what made you open a kitchen shop?

Marien Hornyak:

that's a good question. I was, okay, so my background is not in kitchens or cooking or anything retail related. I have a bachelor's degree in athletic training and fitness, and I have a master's degree in sports management,

Christine Van Bloem:

that's the opposite of food. That's the opposite of working in anything related to food. Oh, so

Marien Hornyak:

in the fitness industry for many years and then I had kids and I stayed home with my kids and I needed to make money while I stayed home with my kids. So I was a Tupperware consultant and I sold Tupperware. Yeah. So I sold Tupperware for 14 years and then I worked while doing Tupperware. I worked for Frederick County Public Schools. I was a bilingual liaison at the high school level, helping Hispanic families connect with faculty and staff and yeah, so that it was a grant funded position and the grant ran out. So when the money ran out, it was like, what am I going to do with myself? And my husband and I always loved downtown. We always wanted to open some kind of business. And then I just kind of asked my friends, I was like, what is there a need for in downtown Frederick? And, you know, people said, gave me random. And I'm like, I can do a kitchen shop because I've never done retail. So I didn't want to do, I didn't want to deal with sizes like clothing or shoes. Cause I didn't know, you know, what size people are and what to carry. And, and I thought, I don't want to do anything dealing with the health department or things that expire or, I figured kitchen things would be the easiest because I, you know, I knew the Tupperware thing, I knew bowls and you know, spoons, and I like to cook and bake and I just kind of winged it.

Christine Van Bloem:

Marien, you seriously sound like John Cusack in that movie Say Anything, where he's like, I don't want to buy anything. I don't want to sell anything. I don't want to buy anything bought or sold or sell anything sold or bought or, and that's so funny how you came to it. Well, How do you decide, because I'm not, I'm a gadget girl, like I love the gadgets, but I am really judicious in like what I bring into the kitchen because I just have so much darn stuff. How do you decide what you're gonna bring into your shop? Like what's gonna be the cool thing? Okay.

Marien Hornyak:

consisted of things that I wanted in my kitchen. And then I quickly realized that it's not about me, it's about everybody else and what everybody else is going to buy. For example, I did not have any measuring spoons in my kitchen shop when I first opened my doors because I have the same set of Tupperware measuring spoons that I've had for 20 years and I just assumed that everybody has measuring spoons. Why would you need to buy more? I sell so many measuring spoons because, you know, the teaspoon falls into the garbage disposal and then the tablespoon gets lost and, you know, and of course everybody should have at least two sets, you know, you've got the narrow set and then the regular round set. So I now have, I have one, two, three, four different kinds of measuring spoons.

Christine Van Bloem:

have to. And I'm, I believe it or not, I am super particular about my measuring spoons. I only like the narrow set. I like the kind of oval. I don't know why I just prefer that over all others. And I like them to be really heavy. I like them to be really well made, like those little plastic ones. I hate those, but I, I love when they're kind of heavy and really good metal. It's so fun. We can talk about measuring spoons and measuring cups all day long.

Marien Hornyak:

Oh, that could be a whole other podcast. Yes.

Christine Van Bloem:

So you figured out that you had to know what your customers really wanted and

Marien Hornyak:

and they would ask for the most random things and then I would carry the most. Well, before the pandemic, people, some one person, just one person asked me for a proofing basket. And I was like, I didn't even know what a proofing basket was. Like, I don't bake bread. I eat

Christine Van Bloem:

yeah.

Marien Hornyak:

I don't, I've never, I've never made bread. And I was like, okay. I call, I call my rep and I said, what is a proofing basket? Where do I find one? Do I need to carry one? And he said, that's very esoteric. I would wait on that. And then the whole sourdough thing and I sell so many, in fact, I'm out of stock right now, but we have the round and we have the oval and You know, the, you have to figure out what the trends are. When I first opened, it was the the zoodling,

Christine Van Bloem:

Oh yeah, oh

Marien Hornyak:

here, the vegetables. So I had to carry three different kinds of spiralizers. And now they're all just kind of sitting there because everybody figured out you can just buy them already pre, pre done. So you have to, I mean, we go to the housewares Convention every year. We find out what's, what's new and what's great and the latest and greatest. And we also have, you know,

Christine Van Bloem:

is that the one in Chicago? My dad used to be a housewares buyer for a now defunct department store chain up in Pennsylvania, and he would go to Chicago for the show and always bring something back for my mom. I remember him bringing those glass pots, I think they were called Visions. I mean, this was the 80s, this was a long time ago, but I, I think I would go crazy if I went to the houseware show.

Marien Hornyak:

It's fun. It's exhausting but it is, it is really, really fun. You do, you, you have, the hardest thing is knowing that you have a budget and you can't, you can't buy everything and you have limited space. So it's like, yeah, I can't buy, you know, 7, 000 scrub daddies because I don't have any place to put them. So,

Christine Van Bloem:

That's awesome. All right, so what, right now, what are some of your biggest sellers? Like, what are the things that, aside from the proofing baskets, what are the things that you have to keep ordering them?

Marien Hornyak:

Let's see. There's the new fangled microfiber towel not the old fashioned microfiber that gets stuck in your fingers and it feels funny and nobody really likes the texture of. These are new. They're made of recycled water bottles and they're all the rage. I don't know if I'm allowed to mention brands, but I,

Christine Van Bloem:

you can totally mention brands. Heck yeah.

Marien Hornyak:

the geometry towel

Christine Van Bloem:

yeah, I have a geometry towel.

Marien Hornyak:

do you love

Christine Van Bloem:

Yeah, I do like it.

Marien Hornyak:

It dries

Christine Van Bloem:

It does dry well. It does. I'm really, okay, I'm going to sound ridiculous again. I'm really particular about my dish towels too. But you, I mean, you are too, aren't you?

Marien Hornyak:

I

Christine Van Bloem:

Because you get, you get exposed to all these different things. So, you know, a flower sack towel is good for this and a terrycloth towel is okay for this. And those geometry towels are really cool.

Marien Hornyak:

Yeah, they're good for drying your dishes. So, and everybody's everybody's buying them. So, yeah, those, and you know, the, they get it right spatulas. You can't go wrong with

Christine Van Bloem:

are those?

Marien Hornyak:

the, the ones that you

Christine Van Bloem:

Oh! And they're called Get It Right?

Marien Hornyak:

that's the brand, G I

Christine Van Bloem:

G I R. Okay, well let me, so if you're listening to this, you have to know that these stupid spatulas, I am in love with, well because I remember, you know, 150 years ago when they introduced the silicone spatula. right, and then you would pull off the wooden handle at some point and it would be black and kind of gross and, and those spatulas are so great because they were the first ones that you didn't melt, right? When you were cooking your eggs, you, cause how many times have you melted a spatula, right? Cause I've done it. And then if you, They've come out now with like these all in one piece spatulas. So there, are they coated in silicone? Is that what it is? Yeah, so they are, oh my gosh, I went in and I bought every size Marien had. I did because I was like, this is what I, this is what I want. Because you don't have to worry about any of that funk on the wooden handle or the wooden handle getting, you know, not frayed, but you know, starting to splinter.

Marien Hornyak:

Yeah, they got, yeah. Well, and we have a, we have a few restaurant owners in downtown Frederick who come in and that's the only thing they will use.

Christine Van Bloem:

it's because they're so good. And

Marien Hornyak:

Yes, they feel good in their hand.

Christine Van Bloem:

don't buy one. Buy them all. Like, really, just buy them all. Toss what you've got. The thing, I would like a bigger one. I, because I bought every one, I would like one that's Like the next size up,

Marien Hornyak:

Mega. The mega

Christine Van Bloem:

mega spatula,

Marien Hornyak:

will mention

Christine Van Bloem:

mention that I would like a bigger, a bigger one, but I also love the little tiny one because I never thought about it, but as an empty nester and you're an empty nester, right? So quantities have gone way down. And I always saw these, like, cute little spatulas and whisks and stuff. I was like, ha ha ha, that's ridiculous. And now I'm like, oh look, it gets my mustard. Oh, it does this. And I love it so much.

Marien Hornyak:

Yes. I love the mini one because it gets into the, the beater of your KitchenAid mixer. Yes. Okay.

Christine Van Bloem:

Ah! Alright, what else? What else is flying off the shelves right now?

Marien Hornyak:

I just started carrying gummy molds, like for gummy bears and gummy They're selling out every time I order them.

Christine Van Bloem:

Like people are

Marien Hornyak:

want to make gummy bears, I got

Christine Van Bloem:

Okay, are they making like, special gummy bears?

Marien Hornyak:

don't

Christine Van Bloem:

Alright, alright, okay, alright.

Marien Hornyak:

got the 10 bucks. I'll sell

Christine Van Bloem:

Yeah! Ha ha ha ha! And right there! That is why I love Marien. If you were like, Marien, I love your glasses, she'd be like, these are awesome. You should totally buy these from me. So, I love, so what's on the horizon for kitchen stuff? For kitchen tools?

Marien Hornyak:

More sustainable

Christine Van Bloem:

Oh, yeah.

Marien Hornyak:

You know, they're getting rid of all the Teflon things that cause you cancer and now everything is more ceramic coated and just a lot of alternative coatings and surfaces for cooking that aren't gonna kill you.

Christine Van Bloem:

Well, I'm a fan of that. Let me say that. Right? So, I, I love that. What else? Like, just, what's a new thing you're carrying? What's something new and cool?

Marien Hornyak:

I just brought in the, you know, the Silpat kind of liners, the silicone. Okay, so King Arthur Flour makes them for your loaf pan,

Christine Van Bloem:

Oh,

Marien Hornyak:

because you know how you can't get that loaf, that, the first slice of meatloaf out of the, so that I, I took one home and I tried it out and it was great cause you just lift it up like a little elevator and your bread comes right

Christine Van Bloem:

And it's reusable.

Marien Hornyak:

and it is reusable.

Christine Van Bloem:

Oh,

Marien Hornyak:

We sell them in packs of two, and I really only needed one, so my daughter's getting one for her birthday package that we're, that we're mailing out today,

Christine Van Bloem:

That's awesome. That's so good. That's so cool. I just took a class up there at King Arthur. And when you go, you know, they have a lot of mixes and things like that. So I try to avoid buying those things, but they have a new mixer that I saw because, and I know you don't carry the big stuff like the KitchenAid mixers, right?

Marien Hornyak:

The electrics, I don't know.

Christine Van Bloem:

that's, I mean, I just think that's smart, but KitchenAid. They changed something within the internal workings of the machine and it used to be metal and now it's plastic and now

Marien Hornyak:

I heard that, yes.

Christine Van Bloem:

they're not holding up as

Marien Hornyak:

Oh, I've had mine for 24

Christine Van Bloem:

Oh, I've, I've had mine. Okay. What year did I go to culinary school? 95. So I've had mine for 29 years, you know, and I have some that I had when I owned the cooking school. But as I'm teaching all these online classes, I was thinking, I really need to have the one that the people I'm teaching will have, right?

Marien Hornyak:

true,

Christine Van Bloem:

you, you know, you want to mirror what's going on in their own home kitchens and they're not going to have the commercial model of the KitchenAid. And now I'm always worried about it. But King Arthur had one, I forget the name of it, like Ackerstum or something like it. It was something crazy. And My goodness, it was a pricey guy, but I was looking at it and I was like, Ooh, that's a, that's a sexy mixer right there. I love that. I love that. That's so cool. I've got to come in and get one of those loaf pans. Are they different sizes for different loaf pans? Or do you

Marien Hornyak:

Right now they just have the regular, the regular size, but it's funny because yes, it's funny because as an empty nester, you know, I only needed, I only needed one and it was a packet to it. And then I realized all the things that I'm now sending to my daughter because you know, she's off on her own and it's like, Oh, you would love one of these, or Oh, she would love to have one of these. So I, you know, things that I no longer need because I'm only cooking for two.

Christine Van Bloem:

How are you finding, because I know you love to cook, how are you finding the switching, because you have two kids, right? How do you find going from cooking for four to cooking for two?

Marien Hornyak:

Well now we have leftovers.

Christine Van Bloem:

I think a lot of people end up doing that,

Marien Hornyak:

And yes, and then, you know, my husband is like, can we, can you cook a little less so we don't have so many leftovers? Cause you know, he's trying to eat healthy and, but you know, you go to Costco or Sam's Club and you got, you buy the big giant thing of ground turkey that we used to divide into three and now we divide it into four or five. So it's just a matter of portioning things out a little less.

Christine Van Bloem:

it's, you know, it's a tricky thing I'm finding for a lot of people. I feel really comfortable with it now because at the beginning, because my kids have been grown and flown for a couple of years, I think, and I graduated college like three years ago, so I feel Really much more comfortable and I'm using I use a ton of frozen fish And I know I can feel somebody trying to take my chef card away right now

Marien Hornyak:

I don't know.

Christine Van Bloem:

frozen fish But I gotta tell you if it is just you or you and someone else do you like fish?

Marien Hornyak:

I do.

Christine Van Bloem:

love fish. Does your husband like fish?

Marien Hornyak:

He's getting

Christine Van Bloem:

Yeah. I just find it thaws so quickly. It's individually packaged. I have become a stupid air fryer addict, especially when it gets hot out because I don't have the basket one. I don't like those. I have one that has like two racks in it and I love it. I could do a whole meal for the two of us and not heat up the entire kitchen.

Marien Hornyak:

But yeah, we do a lot of fish. I mean, cause you know, I, I'm a big Jose Andres

Christine Van Bloem:

I know you are.

Marien Hornyak:

We just went to restaurant number eight last

Christine Van Bloem:

Oh, he did? Where?

Marien Hornyak:

Yeah. We went to Chinat Chiricano down in DC. So it's the like, Chinese and Peruvian. So every time I go there, I get octopus because my husband doesn't like octopus.

Christine Van Bloem:

I love Pulpo, right? Yeah, yeah. Oh, I love octopus. I think Jose Andres and you say it because it sounds so much cooler pronounced correctly

Marien Hornyak:

Jose Andres.

Christine Van Bloem:

I, I seriously think that man should be up for sainthood. I, I just think he's so super cool, you know,

Marien Hornyak:

Yeah. He was up for a Nobel peace prize a couple of years

Christine Van Bloem:

was he?

Marien Hornyak:

He was right after Hurricane Maria and all the things that they did. In Puerto Rico for Hurricane Maria.

Christine Van Bloem:

he

Marien Hornyak:

And it's funny cause he came to Frederick after

Christine Van Bloem:

Yes! Yes!

Marien Hornyak:

him when he came to do his, his book

Christine Van Bloem:

didn't get to. I didn't get to because there was a snowstorm, I think. Like something

Marien Hornyak:

I, I got to go and he was at the Weinberg Center and I got to go and then he was wrapping up his presentation and I stood up like a crazy woman. I stood up and I waved my Puerto Rican flag and I was like, I just have one question. And so I told him, I said, I asked him, I said, what do I do? When a customer comes in and says they don't cook, because I do get that a lot, which to, which to me is unfathomable.

Christine Van Bloem:

That's so cool.

Marien Hornyak:

And he said, tell them to try a new recipe, and if it doesn't come out right, tell them to change the name of the recipe.

Christine Van Bloem:

Perfect! This is perfect advice! I

Marien Hornyak:

There you go.

Christine Van Bloem:

love it. People get hung up, I think, on a recipe. And it's gotta be exactly right every time. And I do this thing, I used to teach a lot of kids and teenagers. And they would get really knotted up when they would make a mistake, right? They, my goodness, they were such perfectionists. Bless their little hearts. And I whipped out my calculator one day. I'm like, okay, you're gonna live to be a hundred and the first two years don't really count. So that's 98 and they're 365 days in a year and then you're gonna eat three meals a day. That's a hundred and seven thousand meals. If you mess one up, nobody cares. If you mess a thousand up, nobody cares. You're fine. You know, don't worry about it. But people come into your kitchen shop, and they don't cook.

Marien Hornyak:

Yes,

Christine Van Bloem:

There must be a little desire there, though, if they're walking into your shop.

Marien Hornyak:

I don't know. Well, they walk in with somebody else, or they're walking in for air conditioning, or they just, you know, it's too cold out, and they just want to walk around, or, oh, I don't cook, and I don't get that, because you have to eat, right,

Christine Van Bloem:

have to eat.

Marien Hornyak:

and there's only so much takeout you can, you can get, so I don't

Christine Van Bloem:

I get so bored and tired of the takeout, right? And now, and I don't want to go out every night. I don't, you know, that's just not, I just like to be in my cozy house,

Marien Hornyak:

Yeah, but there are certain things I, I won't cook. And I reserve those things for eating

Christine Van Bloem:

octopus. It

Marien Hornyak:

don't make a good lasagna and that's okay.

Christine Van Bloem:

is okay.

Marien Hornyak:

Just don't make a good lasagna. It is what it is. Like I've tried. I do make a good skillet lasagna on the stove, on the stove with my cast iron skillet, but a regular 13 by nine lasagna, no, can't do it. And that's fine because when we go out, my husband will order lasagna and it's fine.

Christine Van Bloem:

That's so, that's, lasagna is not your thing.

Marien Hornyak:

It's just not my thing. Crème Brûlée. I'm, you know, I'm blind. I can't be trusted with a, with open flames. So I'll let somebody else make the Crème Brûlée for me. Best Crème Brûlée I ever had was at 200 Monroe. Made by, you know, the FCC students.

Christine Van Bloem:

FCC is our local community college here. So that's, they have a stunning kitchen at the community college. It's so crazy. That is a great program.

Marien Hornyak:

Yes, we go every year to their restaurant and

Christine Van Bloem:

so great. Okay, so Marien, you just brought up that you're blind. And I know that you do some TikToks. Yeah, tell me about it.

Marien Hornyak:

Yes The Blind Kitchen Lady. I started during the pandemic like everybody else did. It was June of 2020. And I thought, you know, it is time to educate people on blindness because blindness is not just, you know, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles. Blindness comes in a wide spectrum of vision abilities. Most, in fact, most blind people do have some remaining sight or you know, or can see shadows and light. And I thought it's time to educate the public on blindness. And I've got, I've gotten quite a following. I have like, I don't know, like over 15, 000 followers. And yeah, they, my followers went through the whole process with me for getting my guide dog. And it's, it's been interesting.

Christine Van Bloem:

Oh, that's so cool. Do they ask you questions ever?

Marien Hornyak:

They do. I, I've posted a lot of, you know, questions with with answers. And then a lot more blind people had joined TikTok. So we've built quite a a nice little community. From people, blind people from all over the country.

Christine Van Bloem:

Marien, that's so cool. What's the number one question you're asked?

Marien Hornyak:

And the people who aren't aware that blindness can come in such a wide range is, well, how do you read the comments? Or you know, how do you, cause on my video, like yesterday for example. My dog and I were walking home and I saw this woman in a pink dress and I made a video but it was the quinceanera so it was like the poofiest pinkest dress and she was taking up the entire sidewalk. It was just like a cloud of cotton candy coming at me. And so I did a little video about it. Cause you know, my dog was like, Oh my gosh, there's a big cloud of pink. What am I supposed to do? So, you know, the dog had to go around her and so, you know, people are like, well, how did you know it was a pink dress? If you can't see anything, or how can you read the comments? If you can't see anything. So questions like that, or people asking about my vision, how much I can see and, and things like that.

Christine Van Bloem:

That's so cool that you are doing that. Yeah, I would think if a big pink cloud of fluff was coming, you know, toward you, that, that's something. And then, I know, also, you're like, super athlete.

Marien Hornyak:

I'm, I'm, I was, I'm old

Christine Van Bloem:

Yeah!

Marien Hornyak:

weren't running this morning and I was like, Oh, everything hurts.

Christine Van Bloem:

Do you, you don't go running with the dog, do you?

Marien Hornyak:

No, we only, I only run in Baker Park because I have the route memorized and I run early in the morning and don't, try not to run into people.

Christine Van Bloem:

Yeah, so

Marien Hornyak:

I ran marathons, I ran, I trained with my husband and he, I, I did four marathons and he did the last three with

Christine Van Bloem:

four marathons. I did one marathon and I kid you not, I crossed the finish line. Cute Marine took the thing off my shoe, the tracker thing

Marien Hornyak:

Oh yeah.

Christine Van Bloem:

And I've not run another step since. And that was

Marien Hornyak:

Corps twice.

Christine Van Bloem:

years ago. You did, Marine Corps is good because it's flat. It was good for me as a non runner. Who was like, I need to check this off my list, but if you've done

Marien Hornyak:

That's a good first marathon. If you want to do one marathon in your life, I would do Marine

Christine Van Bloem:

Yeah. I like that you said first, I would like to replace that with only.

Marien Hornyak:

Oh wait.

Christine Van Bloem:

Only. So what are

Marien Hornyak:

That's a good one. And people are out cheering you

Christine Van Bloem:

Yeah. It was not too long. It was, I guess, 2003. So a million years ago. And when we ran by the Pentagon, because people were still super sensitive coming off of 2001. There were soldiers on top of the overpasses with very large guns and it was, you know, it was a moment kind of thinking about it just as I was going. I don't know, it was cool.

Marien Hornyak:

Yeah, I did that one twice, and then I did Vegas, and then I did St. Louis. That was my last

Christine Van Bloem:

Vegas?

Marien Hornyak:

Did you know Vegas was on a hill?

Christine Van Bloem:

No! Oh,

Marien Hornyak:

Vegas has a slight incline for 26 miles. It was awful.

Christine Van Bloem:

what time of

Marien Hornyak:

Well, because I thought it was December, it was record cold, and we started the Vegas line, which if you've never seen the Vegas line, it is underwhelmingly small.

Christine Van Bloem:

Really?

Marien Hornyak:

Yes, it's a tiny little sign and it's like, oh, okay. So then we go up and down the strip and I'm like, okay, great, this will be great. You go up and down the strip and then the other, that was the half marathon. If you wanted to do the full marathon, you had to leave the strip and go through the town. And I thought, oh, how, how bad could it be? There would be like a church and a post office and a school. No, no, desert,

Christine Van Bloem:

Desert?

Marien Hornyak:

desert for 13 miles.

Christine Van Bloem:

Oh no. Mm mm.

Marien Hornyak:

No, it was, yeah, it was bad. So we had to finish because we were stuck in the desert. We had no choice, but

Christine Van Bloem:

Alright, so how did you fuel up for your marathons?

Marien Hornyak:

I don't,

Christine Van Bloem:

Cause I was like PASTA. I have to eat all the pasta. Cause I think that's a very like 90's, 2000's kind of

Marien Hornyak:

The carbo loading. Yeah.

Christine Van Bloem:

Because I have been carbo loading for like 20 some years now. Just not running any races to go with it. So, what do you cook on a regular weeknight?

Marien Hornyak:

Last night I made a cranberry chicken,

Christine Van Bloem:

Nice.

Marien Hornyak:

is, it's, you know, chicken with a cranberry sauce and a packet of onion soup mix and some Catalina dressing and a crock pot kind of thing. Tonight we're having a Rachel Ray recipe. Which is a, it's a meatball pizza. Mondays are my, my days to cook like a real lengthy, time consuming meal. I'll make a quiche or, you know, something a little more involved. It's my one day off.

Christine Van Bloem:

the shop closed or is someone else in there?

Marien Hornyak:

We're closed on Mondays. It's my day to do laundry and groceries and podcasts and

Christine Van Bloem:

Yeah. And you're open, so you're open six days a week

Marien Hornyak:

Yes.

Christine Van Bloem:

during all the stuff.

Marien Hornyak:

Yes. Seven days a week during the holidays.

Christine Van Bloem:

Yeah, what do you, what do you like about being downtown? In a downtown area?

Marien Hornyak:

I like the cohesiveness of it. We all work together. We're all, I, I call it the sandbox. We all have to play nicely in the sandbox. We all have to, we all have our different personalities, but we, we still work well together. You know, we, if you come into my shop and you ask me, where can I find a nice piece of pottery? I'll tell you where to go. You know, who has the best chocolate? I'll tell you where to go. Where can I go for lunch? So we send people to each other and we help each other out. And It's just being part of a community because when you own your own business and you're stuck in your little shop all day long, it can be kind of isolating.

Christine Van Bloem:

can.

Marien Hornyak:

So it's nice to have, you know, the downtown partnership and our different committees and just colleagues that you can see on a regular basis and just collaborate with.

Christine Van Bloem:

That's so great. And Marien is about to become the board president for the Downtown Frederick Partnership. And, listen, I just can't cheerlead enough for Downtown Frederick, Maryland. And I don't care where you're listening from. If you are in this neck of the woods at some point, or if you're making a trip to D. C., we are just an hour from you. An hour from DC and it's a pretty straight shot and I gotta tell you it is a special place where we live

Marien Hornyak:

It is, and you know, if you have friends, let's say you live in Pennsylvania, and your friends are in Virginia, and you know somebody else in Delaware or in New Jersey, Frederick is the perfect place to meet in the middle. A lot of people do that. They all, they all come from all, you know, Ohio, and then Aunt Susie from New York, and then your cousin Steve from, you know, Virginia. And they all pick Frederick as a central location to meet and it's, it's wonderful. Two compliments that meant the most to me. One lady said, I love coming to Frederick because it's like a Hallmark

Christine Van Bloem:

It is like a Hallmark

Marien Hornyak:

Yes.

Christine Van Bloem:

It

Marien Hornyak:

And then somebody, somebody else said, it's always sunny in downtown Frederick. And I was like, aw, shucks.

Christine Van Bloem:

shucks. That's nice. It is, I just, I think it is such a special place. And I think the board is pretty darn lucky. I mean, it's a great board. I actually worked with the board when I was at the partnership. And I have to tell you, it's a fantastic board. Really good people and the mission is great. I love it. I want everybody to come to Downtown Frederick.

Marien Hornyak:

Yeah. And buy kitchen

Christine Van Bloem:

And buy kitchen things and buy all the kitchen things. So that's amazing. All right. Let me finish up with this. I want to ask you, do you see cool trends? I know you said you've got the more sustainable stuff coming in, but is there anything kind of cool or kind of funky that's coming out? Not the gummy bear molds, not the sustainability stuff, cause your, your shop is packed with all sorts of fun things. I mean, you've got all sorts of fun things in there. What's something if I'm coming in, what should I, what should I be looking for?

Marien Hornyak:

there is a brand called Dream Farm and they focus on solving problems. Basically, they will make, they, my favorite product in the whole entire shop is the Dream Farm silicone spoon. But they make items that are everyday gadgets. They just make them a little better. They kind of go above and beyond. Their new Citrus Squeezer. is a game changer. It's all over TikTok. It's all over social media. You know, the traditional, it's got the handle and you put the lemon upside down and you squeeze it. This one, you know, turns your lemon inside out. This one has two handles. You put the lemon in the middle and it has two handles. You have more leverage. You get way more juice out of your lemon. It's a game changer. It collects the seeds on the bottom. Any product by DreamFarm is amazing. They have new corn holders that go on the end of your corn and they, they lock in place, so they're not going to slide out. Just a lot of innovative products that solve a lot of problems. And everyone's like, why didn't I think of this before? Why, you know, why didn't I think of a product like this? So hopefully more products to help with common problems that kind of go above and beyond your typical gadget.

Christine Van Bloem:

Well now I love the idea. I'm going to have to come down and see that citrus squeezer because I, you know, I want every drop out of those puppies. So, that's awesome. Marien, I'm just so grateful that you took the time to do this with me.

Marien Hornyak:

Well, thank you for having

Christine Van Bloem:

Oh my gosh, you're a

Marien Hornyak:

thank you. Thank you for making empty nesting. Cool.

Christine Van Bloem:

I gotta tell you, I've been like, you know, I just feel this invisibility, right, that wraps around us as we are aging. And then we spend all this time with the kids and we're so invested, right? And your kids are cool. I think my kids are kind of cool. I mean, they're ours, so of course we think they're

Marien Hornyak:

Yeah. Oh yeah.

Christine Van Bloem:

Everybody just forgets about us and forgets about what we're doing. And I gotta tell you, Empty Nest Women, the coolest, like just the coolest. I have been meeting wonderful, cool, interesting people that are doing fun things and I just, I love it. So I want to have a platform for it.

Marien Hornyak:

There you go. That works. And people ask me, they're like, oh, was this bad to become an empty nester? No.

Christine Van Bloem:

I was reading a comment online and it wasn't on any of my stuff, but I was reading a comment online and the woman you could tell she was just devastated and she was flying solo and she had moved towns. And I, I mean, I think that's really hard, you know? So my thing is try to find connection, however you can, right? However you can find it, whether it's meeting the cool kitchen shop lady, blind kitchen lady, or, you know, Whatever. Like for me, I love to do the online classes. I love to teach'em as much as take'em or go somewhere. I just think it's about the connection. It's about not

Marien Hornyak:

very important. It is very important. One of the things I do is I make meals for people at church who, you know, are either recovering from surgery or whatever and it, it's an important connection, like someday somebody might have to cook me a meal, you know, because I'm sick or I had a surgery or whatever, and it's, those connections are important to

Christine Van Bloem:

They are. They are. It's, I, I think we need to remember that it's not always easy and that you do have to put a little work in sometimes. Right. Amazing. Amazing. Marien, you're a doll.

Marien Hornyak:

I'll

Christine Van Bloem:

No stuff. Oh, stop. So you are fantastic. I'm so grateful, everybody. Thank you so much for listening today. I hope that if you are in Frederick, you will stop by and say big ol hello to Marien and check out her geometry towels and her Crazy Dream Farm citrus squeezer. She is on top of All the cool trends that are happening, but also based in having those really great everyday items that you've got to have. And make sure you get the elongated spoons when you go and shop because those are the better ones. So, all right, thank you so much everyone, and I will see you in the kitchen.