- Love.

♪ Exciting and new ♪ Come aboard, we're expecting you ♪ - It's not that show, and it's definitely not that singer.

You gotta see this.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Welcome to our special Valentine's Day episode.

And what better way to start than with a story of romance?

- It's more than romance, truly.

It's about true love.

This couple has been together since the '60s, and they've been married for over 60 years.

That's a pretty good run.

Dean and Carol are from Morton.

Let's hear about their story.

(whimsical music) (whimsical music continues) - I am Carol, and this is Dean, and we've been married for 60 years.

(whimsical music continues) - So our night entertainment was go dancing and square dancing, and so each county had a group, and we always went to the other groups, 'cause that's where the good looking girls were, so I went from Tazewell County to Peoria County and found mine.

- I think we knew each other a couple months when he asked me for a date.

And then on our second date, he said he loved me, and I said, "You're nuts, you don't know me."

But he persisted.

(laughs) - [Julie] Do you remember what first attracted you?

Why'd you ask her out on a date?

- Yeah, I'd like to know that.

- Well, this in front of a TV camera, honey.

(chuckles) We just both loved to dance, and I just thought she was nice looking.

- And I liked to lead is what he would tell me.

- Yeah, she liked to lead, dancing, so that's been our life, she leads, and I follow.

Not really, but... (whimsical music continues) - [Julie] Where did you go on your first date?

- Oh, he stood me up.

- (laughs) Yeah, I did.

I did stand her up my first date.

I was working for this...

It was in the winter.

I was working.

- [Carol] It was in the end of January.

- End of January.

I was working for the township and I had got stuck in a snow drift, so I had to call my mother and tell her to call this girl that I was stuck in the snow.

And that was the honest truth.

It was the honest truth.

You're not gonna tell the story why you, didn't bother you from not having a date that night?

- Well, I'd been sledding with another guy that afternoon, and I had to get rid of him so I could go out with Dean.

(laughs) - I don't think this is going too good.

- [Julie] (laughs) Are you rethinking this all now?

- Well, mainly because the one she was going out with, she couldn't quite figure out how she was gonna get rid of him because I was coming that night.

But he had to go home, he was a farm boy, and milk the cows- - Which I knew he didn't own.

- That night.

Which she knew he didn't even own a cow.

Of course, he had another date that night too, so.

- And I knew the minute I met him, but I wasn't going to admit that to him.

- [Julie] So what made you, when you first met him, what attracted you to him?

- You know, I don't remember that.

And I've often asked him, "Why did you even come out to Silverleaf?"

He doesn't know.

So as I tell him, that was God's intervention.

We had our first date the 3rd of February, and we got married 23rd of November.

- [Julie] So what's the secret to staying together for 60 plus years?

- I told you that was a question they were gonna ask us.

- I told you to answer it.

- [Julie] Well, tell me the answer!

- Just life, you know?

- Love and understanding is what you said.

- Love and understanding a lot, love and understanding.

- And he is a wonderful understander.

- Oh, no, no.

Just life, we love life.

We love the farm.

You can't breed those grandkids back there.

- You have to respect each other.

- You understand each other.

You gotta help and pray with each other.

Help never hurt a person that helped the other one.

- I worked on the farm and he works in the house.

I told him when he retired, I said, "Well, you're retired, but I don't get to retire, my job goes on."

So he helps me now.

- [Julie] Oh, yeah.

What does he do around the house?

- He cleans, he bakes, he does dishes.

- He's told when the cookie jar is empty.

- Mm-hm.

He bakes all our cookies.

- None, none whatsoever.

Just every year, you be thankful that you still got love, companionship, enjoy marriage.

You got anything to add?

- No.

(Dean smooches) (both chuckling) (whimsical music continues) - So I see you got some sweets.

- I do.

- Perfect Valentine's Day gift.

- Mm.

Ah, smells great.

(Phil laughs) A lot like the place we went to.

- How appropriate for our Valentine's Day episode that you visited a specialized Peoria bakery.

- It is, it's called Voila Macarons.

I think I said it right.

- It's not macaroons.

- Macaron.

- Macaron.

What's the difference?

- We'll tell you right now.

- Bonjour, welcome to Voila Macarons.

(upbeat music) - [Julie] Meet Diana Natale.

Her search for an indulgent sweet treat has led her to an award-winning business here in Peoria.

- I have not gone to pastry school or anything, I just really knew what I wanted.

We moved around.

My husband works for Caterpillar.

We moved around quite a bit.

And I grew up in Europe, so I knew what I wanted, and I knew how they need to taste for me.

And the last time that we repatriated, 2019, just before COVID time, I was a bit in that phase where I was getting mad that nothing was in the grocery stores, and I missed the European taste and I missed the healthier dessert that's not full of preservatives and that's really handmade and artisan made, and it's fresh and not just frozen.

- [Julie] Through research and trial and error, she created her favorite recipes and ended up with more than 45 flavors of macarons.

- I like to do a lot of seasonal flavors.

Valentine's is coming up, right?

So we will have a lot of the white chocolate raspberries, the darker chocolate, milk chocolates, white chocolates, just in general, the heavier truffle flavors.

And then Christmas was beautiful, right?

Because you have all the gingerbreads and eggnogs and all the Christmassy mint flavors.

- [Julie] So why macarons?

It was a family decision.

- I think just because they're a unique little cookie with an attitude, and my daughter, Maya, likes to match that attitude sometimes, in a good way.

But yes, I think that Maya loves helping in the store.

She loves being here, giving me a hand on Saturdays.

And she loves explaining the flavors.

My son is the one who puts a lot of the boxes together and, you know, stickers on, and gets all that background stuff going.

And yes, they do absolutely love taste testing.

I really love these.

They're drizzled and have a nice little accent to them.

I do try to make my macarons less sweet, so I cut down on the sugar.

The original recipes did definitely have more sugar in them, and I try to cut down on that.

- Diana put the "You Gotta See This" team to work, and even had me decorate some of her delicious champagne macarons.

But something just didn't sound right.

I've noticed that you pronounce it differently.

Most people... Like, I thought it was macaroon.

- Uh-huh.

- And you say macaron.

- Uh-huh.

- What's the difference?

- Yes, so, macaroon typically is your coconut cookie, the little coconut dessert that's a mound, and then you dip it in chocolate, I think.

- Okay.

- The French macaron is just a different pronunciation, the way it's spelled, it's just that you pronounce it not with a double O, ooh, in a long macaroon.

- Macaroon.

- But you probably would rather say macaron.

But in the US, that's what we, I think, envision it being, it's sounding French.

- Because we're trying to sound French, you think?

We say macaroon.

- Maybe 'cause that's what we envision in the US, that it's a macaroon, right?

And we don't really talk a lot about the coconut macaroons.

- No.

- Which is sad, 'cause you know, we should talk more about them.

They're a fun cookie too.

So, macaron is your French macaron, the little cookies that we've been talking about earlier, and then this is your shredded coconut cookie.

- So, if you, like, had to explain to someone who's never had a macaron- - Okay.

- Like, how would you describe it?

- It's a dessert that's gluten free by nature, but it doesn't taste gluten free.

It's a dessert that is a little petite bite or two.

I make 'em a tad bigger than the French ones.

The French ones are usually really tiny.

So maybe that's a difference too, as you asked me earlier.

I make 'em a bit bigger, but I do feel that in times where, you know, we have at the moment, it's nice to get something a bit extra for the money you're spending and earning.

(upbeat music continues) It's therapeutic, right?

- Yeah!

Yeah, absolutely.

I think there's something about creating something pretty, and you know that people are gonna get joy out of it.

- Yes, I agree wholeheartedly, and that's what kept me going, I think, after all...

When I realized it's more work than just fun when you make more of them, right?

But the feedback from the community and the true joy that you see in people's faces when they come up to you and tell you, "It made my day, and it just made everything so much better," and it felt like we are making it special.

- Trust us, these macaroons will give a little luxury to your day.

Mm.

That's really good.

(upbeat music continues) And I'm gonna take Amy's and Kayla's too.

- Still with the candy box, huh?

- I mean, really, we're talking about sweets.

- And you licked every one of 'em, so none of us can have 'em, which was kind of a good strategy.

- I mean, it's genius, really.

- (laughs) Speaking of sweets, speaking of food, it is a holiday, Valentine's Day is.

Up to have some yum yums of different sort.

For this next story, we go all the way out to Virginia, Illinois, and this is a pretty far flung place.

They make tons and tons and tons of different types of sauces, relishes- - Pickles.

- Pickles.

It's delicious.

Check it out.

(upbeat music) From the Illinois State Fair to her at home shop... - Hello.

Welcome to Kathy's Kitchen.

- [Phil] Kathy Keylor keeps cranking out pickles and beets and salsa and dozens and dozens of other food stuffs.

- Actually, we make about 100 products under the Kathy's Kitchen name.

Everything from apple butter to Zinfandel wine jelly, from A to Z.

- [Phil] Aside from the 100 products, there are two other numbers important to know about the business.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Kathy's Kitchen, a testament to her skill and success.

Meantime, the lively woman behind it all is 80 years young.

- You know when you go to the doctor and they say, "Are you exercising?"

And I say, "Every day."

(laughs) - [Phil] The spry Kathy, along with husband, Daryl, and five employees, keeps things humming in her tight commercial kitchen.

It's in the back of their house in the village of Virginia, population 1,500, about 60 miles southwest of Peoria.

- Back in the 1960s, when I was a young farm wife with a family, and my mother-in-law got me started making pickles, and I just loved to make 'em.

- [Phil] That first recipe came from a family friend, and Kathy soon started tinkering with ingredients and veggies.

She found out that she had a knack not just for pickles, but beets as well.

- That started about in 1964, probably, when the lady that lived across the road from me said, "Why don't you take your things to the State Fair?"

And I did, and I took the pickle beets and what we call the blue ribbon pickles now, and they both got blue ribbons, and so then, of course, I had to do it year after year.

- [Phil] But she did too well.

The judges got tired of giving her ribbons year after year after year.

- And so then they told me not to come back anymore.

- [Phil] But canning remained a hobby for years, even as she went to work for the state.

- I worked in the Department of Child Nutrition and in the food distribution program that delivers commodities to schools.

- [Phil] Still, she kept dreaming of turning her canning hobby into a business.

So, in 1994, she and her husband started to look around for a spot.

They found an old two story home on the edge of town, a place with plenty of space to set up a commercial kitchen.

- We came and looked at it when it was for sale, it was just set up perfect.

- [Phil] The couple moved upstairs.

Even after all these years, Kathy doesn't mind living just steps away from her day job.

- I love it.

All I have to do is come downstairs and I am at work.

(laughs) - [Phil] Plus, the property has 10 acres of land.

For her canning products, they grow jalapenos, bell peppers, tomatoes, asparagus, and cucumbers, which are good for pickles, as well as exercise.

- Well, last year, I picked about 5,000 pounds.

A couple years ago, it was 8,000.

- [Phil] That's a lot of jars.

- That's a lot of pickles.

- [Phil] But there's so much more than pickles.

Jellies, jams, preserves, butters, relishes, and sauces to name just a few.

She is always interested in expanding her line to meet customers' tastes.

- For instance, I'd never heard of salsa back in 1960.

And we used to go around and set up at fall festivals and such, and people started asking about salsa.

So then we hunted up a recipe and developed a salsa.

- [Phil] Her pickles sell well, but not the most.

- The beet pickles have become very popular in the last couple years because there's a perception that beets are very healthy for you.

And so things kind of go in a wave.

The Vidalia onion relish, strange as it may seem, is probably our number one seller, and we get our Vidalias directly from Georgia.

- [Phil] You can make orders online through her website.

It also lists stores that carry her products in the Peoria area, as well as elsewhere in Central Illinois.

What's her secret in making so many popular products for so long?

- I think it's because we make things in small batches.

We really do.

This is where we make the pickles, the Vidalia onion relish.

And a lot of the relishes and pickles are made, small batches right here.

And we don't use preservatives.

The only thing that has any food coloring is the lime pickles and the red cinnamon, but aside from that, we try to keep it very natural.

- [Phil] And if you like to take a ride in the country, you can also get her products at her store, located on the Virginia Town Square.

- Virginia, being a very small town, we decided we needed to have a little bit of diversity, so we have a store up on the square called Now & Then, that features antiques as well as ice cream, coffees, lattes, espressos.

And at noon, we have soup and sandwiches.

And we have a lot of quality crafters that bring their products in.

- [Phil] Indeed, people notice her work.

Late last year, the Illinois Office of Tourism named Kathy's Kitchen to the roster of Illinois Made.

It honors entrepreneurs who make handcrafted products.

- I like the fact that I get comments from people saying, "This is just like my grandma made."

And that makes me feel good, because it just is a little bit of memories for everybody.

- [Phil] For all of those products, the owner says the biggest motivation is the part of the labels that says Kathy's Kitchen.

- It means that I better do a good job, 'cause my name's on it.

(laughs) (funky music) (funky music continues) - Hugs and kisses from romantic Worth Township, Illinois, for another episode of "8-Track Time Machine", where we talk about the stories and songs of the 8-track era, and I say romantic because it's Valentine's Day.

Notice the valentine.

(valentine whooshes) (glass smashes) (cat wails) Anyway, we have today no love love songs.

What do we mean by that?

These are songs or parts of songs that you thought were all about love, but you are wrong.

♪ Eight days a week ♪ Eight days a week - So, "Eight Days a Week", it's a simple and sweet love song, right?

Well, it turns out Paul McCartney, when he wrote it, the inspiration came not from his heart, but from his foot, as in a lead foot.

See, in 1963, he racked up a ton of speeding tickets.

So much so, he lost his license for a year.

So if he wanted to get around, he had to hire a driver.

So one day he's going to John Lennon's house to write some songs.

The driver pulls up, McCartney gets out, gets in the car, and Paul starts making small talk.

And he says, "Well, how you doing?"

Or however he talked like that in British or whatever.

And the driver says, "I'm working hard, working eight days a week."

And McCartney's like, boom!

Light bulb goes off, car stops.

He runs out of the car into Lennon's house and says, "I've got a great idea!"

An hour later, just an hour later, what do they have?

Boom, a hit.

"Eight Days a Week" the next year is released as a single, and it rockets up to number one.

It was the seventh number one hit of The Beatles' very, very early career.

And pretty soon, Paul McCartney didn't have to worry about driving or speeding tickets ever again.

("Total Eclipse of the Heart") In 1983 on the radio, you couldn't help but hear this hit.

♪ Fall apart ♪ And I need you now tonight ♪ And I need you more than ever ♪ - And in fact, the video was all over the place too.

It was a little weird and a little creepy, but in those early days of MTV, no one really thought too much about anything, they just like to watch these new things called videos.

And so what was the song all about?

Well, singer Bonnie Tyler said that she thought the song was about someone who's in love so badly, she's just lying there in the darkness.

Now, I don't know what that means or why someone would do that, but okay, Bonnie Tyler.

But as it turns out, this song wasn't about love, the song was about vampires.

The song was written by Jim Steinman, whose name you probably don't know, but he wrote a lot of power ballads, did a lot of work with Meat Loaf, and he really knew what he was doing back then, but he was working at the time on a musical about vampires.

So, this was the theme, gonna be the theme, for this musical.

With that vampire context, we probably better understand the lines of, "Forever's gonna start tonight," and, "I'm always in the dark," right?

In fact, the song was supposed to be called "Vampires in Love", but the musical never got made, so Steinman decided just to peddle it elsewhere, and Bonnie Tyler picked it up and did it.

She put it on her album, "Faster Than the Speed of Night, and you look at the cover and there are no vampires on it, probably 'cause there's no room with all that hair.

("Sweet Child O' Mine") Perhaps Guns N' Roses won't be on your Valentine's Day playlist, but the band's got a few love songs, GNR style.

The song was on "Appetite for Destruction" in 1987, which is kind of the tail end of the 8-track era, and the song came together kind of as a lark.

The band was getting ready for a rehearsal, just noodling around, and Slash got a little bit kooky, he started making faces at people, and started playing what he called a circus riff.

Just started going around with it.

And then one band member jumps in, another band member jumps in, and all of a sudden, they've got something cooking.

An hour later, they've got a pretty solid melody for most of the song, and Axl Rose goes off and writes the lyrics, which he based on his relationship with his then girlfriend.

And then it gets to the part toward the end.

They get there, and they're not sure where the song should go, how it should proceed, what to do, and Axl just starts going over and over, "Where do we go now?

Where do we go now?"

And it was kind of like this.

♪ Where do we go now, oh ♪ Where do we go ♪ Oh, where do we go now And they did it over and over and over, and finally, the producer says, "I think you got something there."

So, it sounds like Axl is pondering the uncertitudes of relationship, but what he really was doing was not knowing what to do with the song.

But it worked.

The song went to number one, the only number one hit in the GNR catalog.

So, here's to love, here's to hugs, here's to kisses, and here's to Valentine's Day.

Until next time.

(smooches) (funky music) - That episode was packed full of love.

It had love stories, it had love songs- - And your pockets are packed with all those chocolates that you're stealing to take back to the office on your own.

- I'll share.

Maybe.

But what I wanna share is that we love our viewers, and we're so thankful that you're watching "You Gotta See This".

We love you.

- And we'll have plenty of love next time on... - "You Gotta See This!"

(upbeat music) (tone beeps) - More of that next time.

More love next time on... (both mumbling) - Hey.

(Phil laughs) - And then you pull all the chocolates outta your pocket.

- Nom, nom, nom, nom!

- Ah!

- Okay.

- Okay.

(Julie laughs) - I forgot, are you starting?

You're starting.

(tone beeps) (Phil imitates music) That's the best.

The Kayla dance, whatever that is.

- Stroking the long cat.

- Oh, that's right.

But you need that long cat.

- I'll put my chocolate away.

Yum!

(upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues)