mlp

There are two here in my town in Central Illinois. They closed up a few years ago and the empty stores just sat there shuttered then, two or three years ago, I noticed they were open for business again. I have no idea what that was all about. Quizno's here went out of business a few years ago. I tried White Castle once when I was driving through Indiana and saw one. I don't get it. I guess you have to grow up with them.

I kept wondering the same thing. It was very distracting. And not a bit attractive.

That went just the way I hoped it would. Sequoia was, I think, the oldest of the competing teens but she acted like she was 12. Her carrying on was driving me nuts. She's very pretty and I'll bet she has daddy absolutely wrapped. I was relieved when she departed and the competition was suddenly not all about her. I think that Jason is probably a very intelligent kid based on his vocabulary and speech patterns but his superior attitude was off-putting. He has real knowledge and skills though. Dante lost me over the bit with the ice cream machine. I've never seen cleaning the machine become an issue before and I was surprised that Ted didn't step in. I was sick of Dante's bringing up religion all the time anyway. I was happy for Tommie Rae. She seemed like a very nice girl who needed some self-esteem which winning Chopped had to help with. I hope she does go on to college and much success.

Marc has done that more than once on Chopped After Hours. It's funny there because there's nothing at stake and he's cooking with friends. On GGG it looked like ego and showboating. I hated to see him do that and I usually like Marc a lot.

Cowboy Kent 2: Home Cooks 0 I'll bet Amanda is watching somewhere and is just tickled to death. I liked Nick tonight and I was happy he won a decent amount. They should have given him a special award for being the first home cook to get all the way through without cutting himself.

That sounds great. I wish Tate was going to be one of the returning contestants though. I really like Roy but Tate is just so darned cute.

Finally, Gordon helps nice people who deserved his help. I wish them all the best. I was about to give up on this show but now I'll give it another chance.

I finally watched this tonight right after watching the new episode with the nice couple. I wondered for the umpteenth time why Gordon bothers spending time and money on people and places that deserve neither. Surely he could find people more deserving of his assistance. Also, he seems to be channeling Robert Irvine. I can't imagine why.

I can't add anything to the general disgust about Lenny's win. It did, however, make me think that perhaps the voting is legit. Every poll I saw had Nicole a distant third and Lenny slightly ahead of Luca so I figured FN could easily make Luca the winner if they wanted to manipulate the results. No one would have believed that Nicole surged that far ahead at the last minute but Luca........could have happened. Should have happened. So maybe FN is legally constrained in some way to honor the poll results and they'll do something about Lenny after the fact. It'll be interesting to see what happens next. Loreal isn't at all attractive to begin with but that hairstyle she chose was just astonishingly awful. Nicole OTOH was stunning. I noticed that there were two parts of the usual finale that didn't happen last night. One was the solicitation of comments from the contestants. Other than the scripted Skype bits, no one addressed any of the non-winners about anything. The other was the complete absence of footage of friends and/or family coming out to congratulate the finalists. I'm inclined to think those omissions are significant somehow but maybe I'm reaching. I was hoping to get a glimpse of Luca's wife.

I would have accepted any kind of fish but I sure wouldn't have agreed with "fresh chicken." Fresh is just the adjective, not the item. And is there really something that's actually called "fajita sausage"? I don't care who Melissa is friends with. I just want her to go away. The problem is, I think she really is friends with Guy. So we're probably stuck with her.

I was so, so disappointed that Marcel didn't win - again. I don't dislike Alex as much as I used to but I've never really warmed up to her and I thought Marcel's dishes looked better. I was very surprised that not one of the chefs heard "F" and went for fish. That seemed obvious to me. Maybe they thought it was too obvious. I would be highly appreciative if I never saw or heard Melissa again. She is beyond obnoxious.

I guess I'm boring. I like pretty much everything but my favorite foods are the old American standards: steak and potatoes, meatloaf, fried chicken, ribs.

I really like the opening credits. Some weeks they're the best part of the show.

I'm not a fussy eater at all. I don't care for okra, cilantro or, gag, Miracle Whip but I'd eat all three if I was out somewhere and they were served to me. The one thing I absolutely won't eat is black walnuts. People pay premium prices for them but I can't stand them. I love English walnuts but black walnuts to me taste like they're toxic.

Salt water is usually considered an emetic. I can't imagine drinking it on purpose. Maybe you use just a teeny bit of salt?

It was. I didn't think that was Richard's fault though. The concept was OK and he had some legitimate chefs as judges. Most of the contestants had skills. What ruined the show for me was that sanctimonious dietician or whatever she was not Richard. Sorry for straying off topic.

My small city has a high % of restaurants per capita but we don't have many of the ones already mentioned. I don't think some of them even have stores in Illinois. We got a Sonic a year or so ago. I went once, wasn't impressed and never went back. I don't like to eat in my car anyway. What I really wish we had is a Boston Market. There was one near my mother's house in Buffalo and I loved to go there when I went home to visit when she was alive. We do have a fast food purveyor that is unique called Two Blokes and a Bus. Two fellows one of whom is a trained chef bought an old English double-decker bus, named it Victoria and converted it into a food truck of sorts. The bottom level is the kitchen and there are a few tables on the upper level although most people get take away. They post their menu and where they'll be each day on Facebook and there are lines before they get there, even in snow and rain. The food is absolutely great. The local paper has Reader's Choice awards every year and the Blokes have won the fast food category each year since they started up 3 years ago.

I agree. I watched Cook Your Ass Off which he hosted (and which apparently wasn't renewed) and he didn't manifest any of those tics. He was actually pretty calm and pleasant.

I hope someone has sent a link to this blog to FN. Better yet, someone should send a link to Ree Drummond's husband. Maybe he'd go ballistic and insist that FN do something about it.

I don't dislike Richard Blais at all except for the whining so I would have been rooting for him if he'd been cooking against someone I can't stand like Mike Isabella. However, I love Marcel and I really wanted him to win. I had the opportunity to meet him last year and chat with him for about 10 minutes. He was very nice and personable, not arrogant at all. And he's darling in person. He has beautiful eyes. Just for the record, I like Spike too. Obviously, I couldn't taste the food but, based on what I could see, I would have given the first two courses to Marcel and dessert to Richard.

Last week, the home cook had three fingers bandaged by the end of the show but there was never any time out for medical attention. I was watching closely this week so I noticed the bandage right away and wondered how and when she acquired it. She didn't have it on when they first started. I was happy to see Kent win because I like him but bread pudding isn't remotely a souffle. I don't understand how someone can win if they disregard the parameters of the challenge. Were we to believe that the producers decided to give that woman an expensive piece of equipment when the judging panel gave her the win and some gofer just ran down to Walgreen's during the commercial and grabbed one off the shelf? Or did they decide to invest about $20K in the thing just in case she won? Phooey. I'll most likely keep watching because I enjoy seeing the celebrity chefs (most of them anyway) but I don't believe this show is on the level.

Thanks. He just looked like a nice guy. I thought maybe he was someone of special interest because the cameraman kept going back to him.

I'm normally not interested in sports but I stumbled on ANW a couple years ago and was hooked. I'm beginning to recognize some of the regulars but not all of them. During the very exciting Kacy run, the camera goes to one fellow watching several times. He's wearing a red tank top and, while she's on the poles, he says, "She's going to have to jump." He looks happy for her and almost in awe of her ability. Can someone here tell me who he is? Just curious.

I've subscribed to FN magazine since the first issue and love it. I like everything mentioned above plus the feature articles about celebrity chefs with photo tours of their home kitchens. I also get HGTV magazine which is just the same but with a HGTV theme.

The sisters seem sensible enough so I can't think why they keep using orange. That's not a color apt to be high on some buyer's preferred list. It looked terrible in the bedroom and I wouldn't choose it for a kitchen accent although it was less odd there. The brothers have skills but their excuses are wearing thin. So far, the married couple are my favorites but I didn't understand the way they positioned those appliances. The problem, I thought, was screamingly obvious. I keep glancing at the guy with the red beard and thinking for a split second that he's Kevin Gillespie.