jenh526

Everyone was so funny in this episode. I loved Beca imitating Paul about her proving process. The part with Mary not knowing what hemp was and the others gently teasing her was cute. I'll miss Howard - he seems like a sweet soul.

Thanks for the recommendation - haven't read that one. I'm not sure how relevant Homicide is anymore. Back in the late 80's it seemed that Baltimore was a very violent place but now I'm not sure. I grew up in a tiny town in the southwest US, but made several trips to Maryland to interview at that time. I remember being astounded watching the news in a hotel room there - it was all murder reports. It was very surreal to a 22 year old kid who grew up in a town where no one locked their doors at night.

I missed this one on Sunday and now I can't find it on On Demand although the other episodes are there. Strange.

One of the documentaries addressed the reason why Kardashian stayed on the defense team. The show interviewed Kris Jenner about it, and she said she was questioning him about it at the time too. I don't remember exactly what she said but I got the impression that he felt that if he left it would send a strong signal of Simpson's guilt and would likely jeopardize his client's chances. And as was mentioned above, he signed on to defend him. I'm reminded of the movie Cape Fear where the villain's defense attorney had information that would've helped his client, but suppressed it because he believed he was guilty and wanted him to go to prison. The attorney violated his professional duty to his client. I think Kardashian was basically trapped, and the best he could do was hope that Simpson was convicted, while still maintaining his professional code of ethics.

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon. Never watched the tv show that was based on it, but this was an incredibly gripping, well-written book. The image of a young black girl in her red raincoat lying murdered in the street is permanently etched in my memory, even though I read this book some 25 years ago. I think he was the first to open my eyes to the difference in media attention that minority crime victims receive vs. white victims.

Oh, I forgot about those! May have to make a return trip... I wanted to try the bagels too, but couldn't find them. Good ideas about adding the canned pumpkin. I've been wanting to try some recipes using that - read somewhere that there may be a shortage of it this year.

Trader Joe's has everything pumpkin right now. I'd been wanting to try pumpkin pancakes, and was happily surprised that their flyer announced they had pumpkin pancake mix. Tried it this weekend and it was good! Debated buying the frozen pumpkin waffles but resisted.

Just last night I was looking at a recipe for caramel apple mini tarts. Just fill up some mini-phyllo shells with diced apples and drizzle with caramel topping. Optionally top with chopped nuts (my brother has a severe allergy to nuts so I'm always aware of that when I make stuff for others).

Say what?! How do you rationalize believing someone brutally slaughtered two people but shouldn't be punished for it?

"You didn't want all those items to fall into the hands of the Goldmans," Judge Glass said of the robbery. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20252103,00.html It's clear he has no intentions of paying for the killings in any way, shape or form, even if he has to resort to armed robbery to prevent it. He is loathesome.

This is great! I've always liked Penny's tops on the show. Sad to see I can't afford any of them though. :( Maybe I should get a job at the Cheesecake Factory...

I thought the Dalek thing was R2D2. Must start paying better attention. When they were mentioning Dalek I thought they were talking about the type of cookie. Hehe.

Kimberley inspired me to make my own caramel apple pie. Turned out ok - probably would've been better if I'd made the crust myself. And the apples didn't get as soft as I like them. Still pretty tasty though.

They aired a series of these on A&E last night. I remember the day I watched the verdict on tv and was stunned like everyone else at the outcome. I guess I learned a few new things from the documentaries. Robert Kardashian knew, and his face when the verdict was read showed he was just as floored as everyone else. Petrocelli was a hero - he did all the groundwork he was supposed to do and destroyed OJ with his meticulous attention to the details. If only he'd been the prosecutor in the criminal trial. I believe that OJ is a complete sociopath - it was really fascinating to watch his denial of anything that didn't match his own version of reality, down to denying the shoes he was wearing in pictures belonged to him. Also learned that he's scheduled for release in Oct. 2017.

Once when I was visiting my brother when we were both well into our thirties, we decided to bake a cake (yellow with chocolate frosting). It was so good we ended up eating it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He still talks about recreating that experience. I personally see no problem with cake for breakfast - I justify it as being a whole lot better for you than having it for dessert after a large dinner!

I'm glad this pie episode didn't include the meat pies from last year (memories of Martha draining the river of fat from hers). I thought the custard tarts would've been the easiest thing to make. Ruby was smart in putting paper handles in for ease of removal. Wanted to eat both Kimberly's showstopper and her signature caramel apple pie. Edited to add: sorry to see Ali go too, but it was so sweet how Howard broke down into tears. What lovely people on this show.

I had to laugh a few times during the series when they'd try to build up the dramatic tension with the music and then... nothing. Which of course means they're doing a good job - boring is good in corrections, I suppose. I still enjoy the psychological/sociological aspect of it though.

The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein. Slogging my way through it.

I've looked at a few of the recipes/websites for GBBO and other UK sites (like Jamie Oliver's) and none of them seem to have the US conversions. I know it can be done manually, but why can't they do what Nigella Lawson does on her (fabulous) website and have a button that automatically converts the whole recipe?

I can't think of English trifle anymore without remembering this episode of Friends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G08pqAaJi5k I want to try everything they make on this show (eat, not make). Still thinking about that Spanisch Windtorte thing they made last week. Have to say, the variety of desserts is opening my mind quite a bit - I've had petit fours but floating islands - nope. Thought Beca's (? the one from Wales) petit fours looked the best. I loved those teeny-tiny macarons.

A former boyfriend used to joke that they should make books in half-sizes for people like me who never finished them. I've gotten better about it, and I'm proud of the fact that I actually got through all of Moby Dick in college when so many others didn't (and all of Joyce's Ulysses as well). But as others have mentioned, I've never gotten through Catch-22, although I've tried several times. Didn't get through The Devil in White City either. I've never been able to finish any novels by Marquez. One book I'd really like to finish one day is A Canticle for Leibowitz. It has such a promising opening.

Just gonna make this a catch-all since I think there are only 2 episodes left, and looks like not too many people watching.

I've been under a lot of stress for a long time, and it is starting to affect me weirdly. The other day in the parking lot at the store, I moved the gear shift down to reverse and accidentally got it in neutral. Instead of moving it one slot up, I moved it down into drive and stepped on the gas expecting to, you know, go backwards. Heh. Took me several seconds to fathom why my car had just run into the curb. I backed up slowly, listening to the awful scrape of the underside of my car against the concrete. Today on the phone I was talking to a friend and said "Do you remember when..." and promptly forgot my thought mid-stream.

Rhubarb seems more popular in Britain than in the US. I'm a child of the 70's and rhubarb pie used to be fairly common back then, but now you rarely see a pure, unadulterated (with strawberries) rhubarb pie in the US. I die a little inside when anyone uses rhubarb (esp. from their garden!) on GBBO. Oh, and to pile on with the basil pronunciation.... what about oregahhhhno.

Many people have drunk the Kool-Aid...