Listerine, Groceries, & Wine Making | Peaceful Bedtime Listening for Deep Rest

Looking for a sleep podcast to fall asleep fast, reduce anxiety, and quiet an overactive mind? This calming episode of The Insomnia Project is designed for insomnia relief, stress reduction, and gentle nighttime unwinding through slow, soothing conversation.
Marco Timpano and Nidhi Khanna settle in for a relaxed discussion that moves from Listerine and everyday household uses to grocery shopping habits and the small rituals of daily life. With low-stimulation, easygoing topics, this episode creates a cozy, familiar atmosphere perfect for bedtime listening.
The conversation also drifts into garage winemaking, exploring the charm of homemade wine and creative hobbies, all delivered in a soft, meandering style that helps ease racing thoughts and promote relaxation. With unhurried pacing and gentle storytelling, this calming podcast episode is ideal for sleep, stress relief, or quiet background listening.
Whether you’re searching for a sleep podcast for insomnia, calming background noise while you work, or a gentle way to unwind at the end of the day, The Insomnia Project offers a comforting, reliable escape.

​Listerine, Groceries, & Wine Making
(Original airdate: Sept 7, 2016)

Welcome to the Insomnia Project. We hope you will listen and sleep as well as rate us on itunes

Marco:  Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax and listen as we have a conversation about the mundane. One thing that we can promise is that our conversation will be less than fascinating so that you can just feel free to float away and drift off. Thank you for joining us. We hope you will listen and sleep as well as rate us or comment on itunes. We love reading what you have to say about our show. I'm your host, Marco Timpano.

Nidhi: And I'm your co host, Nidhi Khanna. Marco. We've been receiving some wonderful, um,

Marco:  feedback,

Nidhi: feedback, comments, uh, communications from some of our listeners. And I wanted to take a moment on this episode to kind of do some shout outs really. Um, particularly to Brent who, who mentioned that listening to our podcast has changed his life.

Marco:  Oh. So hopefully, hopefully for the better.

Nidhi: Hopefully. Um, and hopefully that means he's getting a good night's sleep after listening to us. So thank you, Brent.

Marco:  You know, Nidhi, um, my life changed when I found something that helped me sleep. And uh, you know, when one can't sleep and you find that sort of key that allows you to at least relax. We're hoping that if our podcast doesn't allow you to find sleep, it'll at least allow you to listen and relax and focus on something else.

Nidhi: Agreed. And, uh, it seems that that's sort of what's, what's happening in terms of the feedback we're getting. So, um, Steve also sent in an email and he mentioned that him and his wife are our avid listeners and they even download our episodes because playing them on repeat doesn't seem to be an issue because they seem to be falling asleep, except when the topics are too interesting, which I'm fascinated by because I'd like to know maybe what topics have been interesting.

Marco:  We try not to be too interesting, but you know, sometimes Nidhi, conversation will bring you to an, uh, avenue that uh, sparks an interest for certain people. And uh, I apologize if at any point this episode or future episodes becomes so interesting that one can't find their way to sleep. But at the very least, I'm hoping that if you do follow this a particular episode to the end that it is at the very least relaxed you

Nidhi: so clearly maybe given you a tad bit of information about something mundane.

Marco:  Sure.


Little Goose on Twitter offers to take us around Ann Arbor if we visit

Nidhi: Um, uh, and with that, my last shout out goes to um, Little Goose on Twitter, who has been wonderful with uh, the offer to take us around Ann Arbor if we're ever visiting and recording from there. So maybe he can take us to some of the places that we met or she.

Marco:  Do we know if Little Goose is a.

Nidhi: You know what? That's a good point. Not sure if it's he or she or.

Marco:  Well, thank you Little Goose.

Nidhi: They. For now.

Marco:  Fair enough. You've never been to Ann Arbor though, right?

Nidhi: I have never been to Ann Arbor.

Marco:  I loved Ann Ar. Ann Arbor when I was there. I remember being there and, and thinking, I remember driving through there and saying to Amanda, oh, this is Ann Arbor. And I wanted to explore. So we kind of drove around and I saw the beautiful homes and how green it was and I was like, oh, um, this is a place that, you know when you see a place nitty and you're like, I could live here. And yeah, it was like that for me. It really resonated with me. So thank you, Little Goose.

Nidhi: Thank you, Little Goose. Goose. And little, uh, Goose also mentioned a particular staple brand.

Marco:  Oh, that's right. Because we talked about staples.

Nidhi: Exactly.

Marco:  So I'm going to, I'm, I'm going to find a stapler.

Nidhi: That particular brand is the swing line stapler.

Marco:  So I'm going to find a swing line and I will give some feedback on how it works for me with that.

Nidhi: That closes off our shout outs for today. Please do continue to send us all this great, great, ah, feedback. We're thrilled when we receive it.


Nidhi: I've always liked Listerine because it's antiseptic

Marco:  We've also received feedback from certain um, products or companies that we've mentioned, which is kind of neat on our, on our Twitter and I was just talking to you about Listerine.

Nidhi: Yes, you were.

Marco:  So Amanda and I, uh, on the last episode were talking about toothpaste and then I started to, to, to talk about Listerine. I start to read up on it. Listerine. And it's a great antiseptic, right Nidhi? And so when you use, you know, there's different types of mouthwashes but I've always liked Listerine. I don't like things that are too

Nidhi: like brand like you like listering the brand.

Marco:  The brand. I like listering the brand versus its competitors. I won't, I won't mention what they are. But I've always liked Listerine because it's. Has always left my mouth feeling very clean. And what I've noticed is that if I've had a cut in my mouth and I often I'm an inside cheek biter.

Nidhi: Oh, I Do that, too. Sometimes it's the worst.

Marco:  Ah. Yeah. So, um, using Listerine has helped to heal.

Nidhi: Yeah.

Marco:  And clean the inside of my mouth. So I've always been a fan of Listerine, but there's a lot of different uses that one can have for Listerine.

Nidhi: You know what, Marco? It's very true. It's actually, uh, quite a versatile product. So, um, some of the more interesting, I guess they call them life hacks for Listerine.

Marco:  Sure.

Nidhi: Uh, if you've run out of deodorant, you can dip a cotton ball into some Listerine and dab it under your arms, which I guess, you know, when you think about it, it's an antiseptic maybe takes sort of gets rid of the sweat bacteria underneath your arm.

Marco:  Sure. And, you know, it does come in a mint flavor, too. So if you use the minty one, it's going to give you a refreshing sort of smell. Zing. Sure.

Nidhi: And to that point, you could also take it, you can use it as sort of an aftershave. Did you know?

Marco:  Sure. Like, uh.

Nidhi: Yeah, it's pretty cool.

Marco:  The other thing, with Listerine, you could probably dilute it in water and put it in a little spray bottle so that, you know, Nidhi, sometimes you are at a, let's say a cabin, um, or you're at, um, a hotel and the pillows don't smell fresh. Well, dilute a little bit of Listerine in water and spray it on the pillow. It's going to kill any bacteria that's on that and it's going to leave a fresh scent. And that's a great thing. When you're in hotels or motels and you're kind of like, I don't know about these pillows. Pillows, or I don't know what this particular bed or sheets or whatnot.

Nidhi: Marco, that's a great idea. Um, I'm actually. That. That's actually a really great idea. I never thought about that before.


I can tell you my most unique time that I use Listerine

I can tell you my most unique time that I use or my. My most unique use for listening.

Marco:  Sure.

Nidhi: Uh, I've used it as a foot bath before pedicure.

Marco:  Oh.

Nidhi: So particularly, um, if you've walked a lot during the day or you have tired feet, if you put it in a bath of Listerine and water, it actually.

Marco:  Say if you put it in a bath.

Nidhi: If you put it in a bath of Listerine and water, you can actually, uh, make your feel. Your feet feel very, um, refreshed and tingly and clean, obviously, because you've pretty much killed anything that could possibly go in there. So that's the most unique way that I've used Listerine.


Listerine is used to kill bacteria and to kill odors

Marco:  And now I'll tell you the most unique way that I've used it. So. And this actually comes from something that Amanda and Dale, who've both been on our episodes, uh, told me about. So when you're a mascot, so you know those people who are inside the suits of your favorite cartoon character, whether it be Mickey Mouse or Scooby Doo or one of those types, what they do is they spray the, uh, Listerine inside to kill the bacteria from the person who wore it before and to keep it smelling fresh. I took that advice and I use it for my helmet. So, you know, you wear a helmet when you're riding and you get sweaty in it, and over time it's going to start to, I guess, stink. Right? Well, I dilute some Listerine in water in a little spray bottle, and I spray it. And I would recommend this to people who are doing a lot of sports. So, for example, if you have a hockey bag and you've got your hockey equipment in there, just spray Listerine in there. It's gonna kill whatever odor, whatever odors in there. And the bacteria, it's an antiseptic. So it's not gonna be like, um, you know, it's something you can, you can ingest and it's not gonna be harmful. Whereas if you use something that is like a Lysol type product or something like that, you don't. It's not meant to be, you know, put onto your skin.

Nidhi: Right.

Marco:  Or to be ingested. So if you have like, you know, padding and stuff that's close to your face or that stays on your skin, you don't want that.

Nidhi: It's funny you say that because one of the uses for Listerine is actually, um, clearly to kill odors. And so if you soak, um, sort of like a paper towel with Listerine and put it, um, in your garbage can underneath the actual garbage, uh, bag, um, it will kill the odors of the garbage.

Marco:  Oh, that's great. Because, you know, I find the organic. So in Toronto, we have organic waste, and I know a lot more communities are having organic waste that you can have, but oftentimes you have the organic waste and when you remove the bag, there'll be some debris that goes on the bottom and it'll, it'll have a bit of a, you know, an unpleasant odor to it. So I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna actually do that.

Nidhi: Uh, please let us know how it goes.

Marco:  Yeah, I will.

Nidhi: Because I wonder if that works as it. In theory, it should work very well.

Marco:  Well, because what I do is I put a newspaper. So when I use my organic waste. Right. I will take, you know, how you get those flyers delivered to your home. I'll, um, take one of those flyers and I'll put it underneath so that if the bag should rip or if something should fall out of the bag, oftentimes it's organic waste. So it could have some liquid to it. Let's say the rind of a watermelon or whatever, peach pit or something. Right. And the newspaper will kind of soak that up so it doesn't remain wet on the bottom. And so because I already do that, it wouldn't take much for me to get a paper towel and put it on top of that. And I'll let you know how that goes because I think that's a great idea.


You can use Listerine to clean television or computer screens

Thank you for that little tip. Full Life Hab hack tips. And it's so funny. Who would have thought?

Nidhi: Who would have thought? And here's my last tip. Listerine. You can actually. And this is something that, um, I think I'm going to try. You can use it to clean the screens on your television or computer.

Marco:  Oh, really?

Nidhi: So if you put Listerine on a song soft cloth, you'll be able to clean it. And I find that helpful because you can't use the same products on your screens as you do to normally clean.

Marco:  Right, right. I always buy like, um, at a computer store, one of those things. And they're not cheap. You know, they're not. That'd be interesting to PE for people who use touch pads. You know, when you use touch pads for your line of work, whether it be, let's say you work in a restaurant or somewhere that, um, you share an iPad and people are always touching it.

Nidhi: Sure.

Marco:  Someone's sick, they touch the iPad and then you're touching it and you touch your face. Well, it'd be great to use that between each person using that iPad or that touchscreen to kill any sort of, um.

Nidhi: I just think we solved the world's problems when it comes to germs.

Marco:  Little mouthwash goes a long way. In particular if you have holitosis. That's his primary use.

Nidhi: This true.


Nidhi: I recently discovered my local grocery store

Marco:  So, Nidhi, um, you were telling me about something that happened to you just, uh, recently that was very interesting.

Nidhi: And, uh, yes, Marco, I, I mean, I recently, um, discovered my local grocery store.

Marco:  Right.

Nidhi: Um, and in the area that I've moved into, there's like a store, grocery. Grocery store that's sort of a, um, like a discount, more sort of. I don't want to say lower end because that's not true. It's still got very quality food. But it's the type of grocery store where you go in, you know, lights are kind of dimmed halfway. Like there's not a lot of extras that you get.

Marco:  Okay.

Nidhi: Um, and I thought it was really interesting because then I also, on the other side, side of the street, um, had a food co op.

Marco:  Oh.

Nidhi: And so it's an interesting.

Marco:  What exactly is a food co op? We should, we should explain that.

Nidhi: Good question. That's a good question. So a food co op is. From what I understand now, I haven't yet become a member of a food co op, uh, or this particular one. Um, but I'm considering it because. So I think you buy a membership to be able to take advantage of discounted goods. I mean anyone could go in there and purchase something.

Marco:  Sure.

Nidhi: But they have special deals. Let's say if you're a member and the idea is to sort of create community around these grocery stores. Um, and it's all local and organic and very healthy foods. And um, the meats and everything, the vegetable are, are locally, ah, sourced and I don't know, properly raised, etc. Um, so it's interesting to kind of have both those options. But here's where I kind of go. You know, when you have both food co op and then you have the more discounted grocery store.

Marco:  Right.

Nidhi: Sometimes I feel guilty because it's like, which one do I choose? Because the part of me that wants to be all holistic and zen and only put clean things, um, and meats and whatever foods in my body is like, go to the food co op because you're also, you know, um, um, helping local farmers and businesses, etc. But then the other part of me that is like, food's so expensive.

Marco:  Right.

Nidhi: It's like I want to go to like the lower end grocery store.

Marco:  Sure.

Nidhi: And it's starting to actually make me feel very guilty. I don't know what to just hide.

Marco:  Well, here's what we do. We get a, um, organic food box delivered to our home once a week.

Nidhi: Right.

Marco:  So it's really interesting. It was something we wanted to try and we're like, let's just do it and see what it is. And it's actually quite fun because you never know. Or at least we don't know what we're gonna get in our box. It happens to be whatever's in C and sometimes not like, we consistently get organic bananas in our box, which is great because I love bananas, so it's never. But then every once in a while you'll get something like, oh, no, we got these. And it might be something that I'm not a big fan of, but they happen to be in season.

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Nidhi: Like I said, this isn't a joke.

Marco:  So the knock knock was just you knocking? Yeah, that's how doors work. Get the new iPhone 17 Pro delivered and set up by an expert wherever you are. Delivery available for select devices purchased at boostmobile.com, terms apply.

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What has been, um, the oddest thing that you've received

Nidhi: What has been, um, the oddest thing or the thing that you've received that you're like, I don't even know what to do with this. Like, how do we make something out of this?

Marco:  I think it was, um. Oh, I wish I could remember exactly what they called it, but it was like grape. Grape skin flower. Oh, so they made like a. Oh, I don't know if it's called grape skin flower, but it was like a powdery substance made of grape skins and, um.

Nidhi: Sounds like grape skin. Um, great. Well, let's just. Now. Grape skin powder.

Marco:  No, grape skin flower. Does that make sense? Grape skin flower. Grape skin. Oh, um, it's gonna.

Nidhi: I didn't know that you could.

Marco:  Oh, maybe I'm getting this wrong. Anyways, clearly I didn't know what to do with this. It was like this purpley kind of powder, and that was in the box one time. But it was kind of fun. It was kind of like, oh, this is pretty cool. Um, I never like the oranges we got from it. The oranges were always, like, not my favorite, and I love oranges. They just weren't the oranges that I'm used to. So maybe they weren't the sort of varietal of orange that I like. Valencia or. Okay.

Nidhi: You know, did it look like this image?

Marco:  Yeah, it looked like that.

Nidhi: Okay, so, um. So it is. Oh, interesting. So in the last few years, grapeseed flower has kind of been on the eyes.

Marco:  Okay. Oh, so it's grape seed, not scrape skin.

Nidhi: Grape seed. Yes, grape seed, flour. And it's, um. Actually, it's produced from the pomace, so the seeds and the skin together. Um. Um. And it's actually the. The waste that's generated during, uh, winemaking.

Marco:  Okay.

Nidhi: And so I guess they found a way to take whatever it is they. After they've extracted the juice from the grape and make it into sort of a flower form. And it has so many great antioxidants, apparently. So it seems to be very good for you. One of those.


My family growing up, my grandfather and father would make wine

Marco:  Have you ever made wine?

Nidhi: Made.

Marco:  Sorry, wine. Have you ever made wine?

Nidhi: No, I haven't.

Marco:  My family growing up, my grandfather and father would make wine.

Nidhi: Really?

Marco:  Yeah. Yeah. And so what we would do is the grapes would come from California in these crates.

Nidhi: Okay.

Marco:  And you would take the crates and you would put them in this giant. Well, as a kid, it seemed giant. It was this kind of like. Oh, my goodness, masher, for lack of a better word. So it looks like two cogs that rotate in unison, and they sort of have grooves that fit in almost like the gears of a clock. But imagine them as if they were thrashers. Or you would put something in, and it would. It would. It would, um, crush the grapes, the seeds, the skin, and parts of the vine that would be.

Nidhi: But what would I want to imagine more? That it's you and your family in a barrel, crushing grapes with your feet?

Marco:  Well, that was never how we made wine. And I don't think people have made wine like that for probably centuries, unless you watch reruns of I Love Lucy.

Nidhi: There you go.

Marco:  Um, Though I will say my buddy Mark DeAngelis has some photos of him and his brothers as kids doing that. Family would do that. Not that that's how they made wine. But that was certainly what they made the kids do for fun and whatnot. And you'd end up with purple feet, I guess. But we would take it. You throw the grapes into this grinder of sorts.

Nidhi: Sure.

Marco:  It always reminded me of. Because it had. It was big and metal and it had like, handles that you could put on your shoulders. So it reminded me of like, you know, when you see images of Cleopatra being carried by her strong, uh, carry guys, slaves or whatever they were. Like, it always reminded me of that. It had that look to it. But then you would throw the grapes into it. Somebody would turn a wheel and it would grind the grapes, which would fall into a giant barrel. And there it would sit, um, the juices, the grapes, the skins, the seeds, the

Nidhi: whatever waste is generated.

Marco:  It would be in this thing. And then you would take it and you would put it into this other contraption. And it looked like. Oh, niddy. Like it's so distinct. But it is. It had two wooden pieces that were slats of wood in a concave. So two half circles that you would put together. And you'd kind of like latch them so they would secure. And you would put the grapes inside this. And through the slats, the juice would sort of drip into a little round. Um, it circled the two. The two pieces of wood that are now, um, together. So it was kind of like a barrel, but a barrel that allowed liquid to drip out of it. So it was kind of like slat, a slatted barrel, let's say. And it would drip into a. Like a cup or holder that would go around the barrel and it would have a spout at the bottom or at one end, which would drip into a holding barrel. Because you would get more juice this way. Right. Wine juice or so grape juice, I should say.

Nidhi: How much? Sorry.

Marco:  Oh, it doesn't.

Marco:  It doesn't end there? No, no. Then. Because that would just be the juice. But you'd still have skins and flesh of the grape that's been crushed in this sort of slatted barrel. Then you would take wooden blocks and they were sort of half moon wooden blocks or half circles, and you put them on top. Then you take another two and you put them on top of that and they were pretty heavy. Another two.

Nidhi: Isn't that how you play Jenga? Ish. Yeah.


The grinder was pretty big. I remember it being pretty. How big was this contraption

Marco:  So you do that for maybe three or four. And then on the top of this barrel would be a, um, like a metal thing. And you'd put a metal rod in and you'd Click it back and forth. And as you clicked it back and forth, it would send, like a vise. It would kind of circle and would push these Jenga blocks or these blocks down and down and down, thus crushing what's inside the slatted barrel. And I'm sure it has a name to it. It would crush it. So that, uh, French press, kind of. Kind of. But, uh, you'd click it back and forth so they would. It would slowly go down and it would crush the grapes and push the grapes and the skins and the seeds until it flattened it and caused almost all of the juice to drip out the sides into this little moat that would cause the juice to go into another barrel. And then you would be able to use this. This grape juice to make wine.

Nidhi: So this was in your house?

Marco:  This was in our garage. In your garage.

Nidhi: How big was this.

Marco:  This contraption? The contraption was the size of a barrel, let's say.

Nidhi: Oh, wow.

Marco:  And it was like, kind of raised on. On metal legs with a little sort of moat around it. And I know they have words for this, but anyways, I digress. But the actual grinder that I mentioned earlier, that was pretty big. I remember it being pretty. Pretty monstrous.


How many grapes would you need to make, like, a bottle of wine

Nidhi: And how many, like, how, um. How many grapes would you need to make, like, a bottle of wine?

Marco:  You'd never just make one bottle of wine. So you'd have. You'd have crates and crates and crates. Right. So I'd have to ask my family how many crates they would order. And then we wouldn't bottle our wine.

Nidhi: Okay.

Marco:  So we would put them in what's called a demijohn.

Nidhi: Okay.

Marco:  Do you know what a demijohn is? It's an old term for a cask, a large cask. Okay. M. And we'd allow it to ferment the demijohn. And then you would have wine. Right. So then from this large cask, and you'll often see them. It's kind of the interesting thing about a demijohn is that it is a round circle of glass that sits in a straw basket.

Nidhi: I know which ones you're talking about. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Marco:  And so what my family would do is the wine that we had in our demijohn, we would then transfer into a gallon.

Nidhi: Okay.

Marco:  Jug.

Nidhi: Sure.

Marco:  And then we would use the gallon jug as our wine. Not that we would put a gallon jug on our table, but we would take the. The gallon jug that we would have and we'd put. Pour them into liter leader glassware, not bottles, but you know, those little flasks type things. They're more like, uh, they're not flasks, but they're the leader.

Nidhi: I know what you mean.

Marco:  Yeah, they kind of have a, a really beautiful shape to them that a leader. Like a liter, bottle, glass, whatever you want to call it, flask of flask that you would put on the table. And that's what we would drink our wine out of.

Nidhi: Um, so that.

Marco:  That's.

Nidhi: Wow. And was it good?

Marco:  It was great. Like we would get different types of varietals of grapes from California. California has fantastic wines, so clearly they have fantastic grapes and we would use those grapes to make our wine.


Marco: This show has life hacks from list into winemaking

Nidhi: Well, Marco, this has been a show full of information. It certainly has life hacks from list into winemaking. M. Um, so we'd like to once again thank all our listeners out there, uh, particularly, uh, the ones who took the time to write in and rate

Marco:  us, rate us and write comments.

Nidhi: We're always happy to receive, um, feedback. Oh, look at that.

Marco:  There you go.

Nidhi: Um, so thank you to everyone. And tonight's show was actually broadcast from Toronto, as always produced by drumcast Productions, and we hope that you continue to listen and sleep. Mhm, mhm. Sa.