heavysnaxx

Yeah, I was strangely unexcited about the outcome. Michelle fried the lotus root chips. And it Michelle who warned Eric that they have a tendency to burn fast and he shouldn't go with a thicker slice because they'd have to be in the oil that much longer. A warning that Eric ignored. I'm not sure why but my first thought when they heard the assignment about cooking the meal of their lives was, "For gods sake, no crudos, no tartares." And the thought when we saw the minced tenderloin? "Oh Tom's gonna complain the spice overwhelms the beef flavor." TBH, tenderloin is awfully bland so while I get the choice, texture-wise, even I would question pairing jerk spices with it.

The idea of Ramona learning anything is...optimistic. Girl needs to get thrown into some deep body of water, thrash around, and remember to use her powers to summon The Magic Turtle of Time that she can ride across the waves to the land of Guacamola where the men are harassed all the livelong day and the malapropisms are all above asterick (sic).

I was born in the 60s and this was how I understood Ali, growing up. He wasn't just a legendary sports champion. He was a moral leader (which pretty much requires that some will oppose him) who had wit. Not just anyone can keep announcing, "I am the greatest!" and not come across as a buffoon. BTW - because of my age, he was always "Ali" to me but it seems that folks forget what a huge thing it was that he gave up his name of Cassius Clay to take the name Muhammad Ali. In the US. He always conveyed a sense of humanity so hearing how much this powerful competitor loved good food, the food of his family, seemed right and a good fit for a competitive cooking show.

That was the Sara-iest thing Sara has ever Sara'ed. If she were a piece of Emotional Pyrex, the resentment would be so baked in, no amount of scrubbing would get it off.

EXACTLY. Girl wants to have her BOXED waffles and eat them, too. She just annoys me when she snatches defeat from the jaws of victory - they loved her fried chicken a lot but all she does is keep people's attention on what she didn't do as well. Criminy, way to sabotage yourself. Hmm. I honestly see the opposite: Sara's behavior throughout struck me as the kind of bullying I enjoyed at the hands of a manipulative middle-school operator. Sara expects to call the shots ("Mama"), determine what's proper and what's not (how one behaves in a competition), talks big but is really insecure (oh, just own you took a strategic shortcut and quitting blaming your competitors, their violation of the Queensbury rules, and the rotation of the earth), and if you dare threaten her, then you're not just wrong, your character is. You'll notice she only really went after Adrienne because Adrienne was vulnerable to giving a s*@t about what she said, and being able to make Adrienne feel bad reestablishes her position of authority. Anyhoo, back to fried chicken.

YO ADRIAN! Got some news for you: The culture you're representing is "Back of the house perv who harasses female servers." It may happen in the Caribbean but you'll find your people in every skeevy entitled boss the world over. Oh -- and Laura did tell you knock it off. Multiple times.

I was wondering about pressure cookers and the lack of time some complained about. If they have them, that seems like a better strategy for tongue, cheeks, plate, etc. than liquifying, grinding, and so on. The great thing about those tough parts is their depth of beefy flavor and texture, if handled the right way. I'll take (properly cooked) well-done chuck over comparatively bland medium-rare filet.

The Root's a good place to see who this Lena Waithe is, though I'm most excited about her being Executive Producer for the reboot of my favorite Eddie Murphy movie, Boomerang. I figured Master of None's whole food-focus thing was reason enough to connect her to Top Chef. I was very touched by Eddie's win. And completely unsurprised, since they signaled it with The Touching Family Call From Home. Unfortunately, I'm unable to hear "cabbage rolls" without cracking up at the thought of the Schmenge brothers' Leutonian Christmas tradition of cabbage rolls and coffee. "And, of course, the egg symbolizes the breakfast." RIP John Candy!

No, egg white's in the original version of the drink from the 19th century. It was still in whiskey sours when I first starting drinking them in DC in the early 80s (the 20th century, hee hee) The purpose of the egg white was to give a silky richness to the drink without adding something like cream.

"Who are you wearing tonight, Padma?" "I'm wearing Edward Gorey for Dr. Suess." *** Nini was the kind of hot mess that thinks it's fire-proof. What bugged me about her was that she went from seeming confident to arrogant.

Yeah, Claire has street style where there aren't even any streets. And considering how quickly she keeps ending up with exquisitely tailored separates to go with her chunky knits, I'd say her new name is La Dame de Fast-Fashion. I so agree with you about Bree. She's FINE, the country is FINE (you know what I mean) and how often do you literally know that things will turn out FINE? You'd think Claire would get, like, a UTI and realize, "Uh, yeah, Bree's fine, I better worry about the various and sundry ills I'm now vulnerable to." I know it's mean but I'm dying for Claire to have epic hot flashes that [INSERT CONVENIENTLY AVAILABLE HERB] aren't helping with. Re cold: How exactly was Claire not shaking with cold after being out in last week's storm and weighted down by soaking wet woolens? Don't they all reek of mildew? Opportunity: Ok, I'm crabby but wouldn't, oh, CANADA be a better place to settle? There's room to avoid the colonial rebellion that spills into Quebec and it seems far safer, plus being a much better place, slavery-wise. Jamie's aunt wouldn't help them get set up? Almost forgot: This episode, with Claire hauling logs, etc., made me realize: How is all of the very-difficult "women's work' getting done? Claire's been in homes with servants, mostly. It's hard labor and time consuming!

I've found this whole story-line very frustrating. Supposedly, they're remaining in the colonies to build a better blah-blah for Bree (who is fine but whatever) but they're not. They're taking part in a land-grab and saying that theirs will be a "kinder, gentler" land-grab. I don't get it. Jamie's a laird, not a destitute peasant, in Scotland. Jeebus, go back and if you want to help the world politically, put your back into England's fight about ending the slave trade. But never mind that. What I can't figure out is: Why is Claire wearing PANTS in the last scene?

One of my spouse's proudest moments as a parent was when one his kids was little and stood her ground against an overbearing relative (egged on by my spouse's mother) who was demanding a kiss. They wanted my husband to literally push her into it and he said, "It's up to her who she kisses, not me and not you." Consent from a young age on is a good thing.

Granted, it's all YMMV but it really didn't seem like all that of a "brutal" fight (certainly by Outlander standards, heh). Seriously, I think taking the turn downward to the physical is a big deal and that's on Brianna. Both of them had just taken a different emotional leap - Brianna showed herself as DTF and Rodger bared his heart -- and they both behaved badly toward the other. I truly agree Rodger was being sexist. But it seems unfair to discount the risk-taking he had just done, just as much as Brianna had.

Brianna clobbered him right across the face. That's not progressive and makes her the The Biggest Loser, full stop. I'm totally on board with thinking he was being an ass but upsetting her doesn't qualify as bullying her, IMO.

Oh I saw it. After Rahul's TH mid-episode where he grumps that something bad always follows something good, I washed my hands of him. He's exhausting. When he popped a few more decorations on his technical challenge cake, it really pissed me off because, despite his I'm-such-a-failure mopiness, it smacked of someone who thinks the rules don't apply to him. An odd mix of inferiority and arrogance.

When Claire rode off as thunder rumbled and promptly got lost, I thought, "You know, that's the kind of thinking that reminds me of Jerri Blank," who is, in her own way, a kind of time traveler. She doesn't travel THROUGH stones as much as BE stoned but there it is. When Claire woke up, all I could hear was a Jerri voice-over, saying, "So who hasn't woken up wet and filthy under a tree, clutching a human skull, just to find somebody stole your shoes and you've been ghosted yet again by a guy whose name you'll never know?"

The Coneheads were Jacobites, posing as French yeast-activated liquid merchants. Obviously.

She sure did and I had the very same reaction. And how did she conceal the boots and the corset from the household slaves like Phaedra who would have been expected to launder their dirty clothes and clean their boots? It's like an 18th century Tootsie situation, when Dustin Hoffman had to unexpectedly share a bedroom with Jessica Lange. I'm waiting for her to stumble across some long-buried Hammer pants and not know they're evidence of time-travelers from 1990-ish.

Well, call me the Laird of Arrr Ewe Kiddingh Meigh because I thought this episode was more than a wee bit absurd. And not in a fun, hot way. How can Claire and Jamie be more concerned about making the as-yet-unborn US a better place for Brianna -- who has always been perfectly FINE so why the worry? -- than their merry crew who are following their (inexplicable) lead by staying where a war will likely destroy their lives? It just seems so obvious: Sending Jamie and Claire back to live among kin and clan - the plausible option - would require more effort in telling their specific story than frontier-sex and a new political back-drop that they have no real connection to.

I just watched Episode 1 of Season 4 (it went up at 9pm PT on Amazon) but there's no thread for it yet! I was really underwhelmed by a major decision that made no sense to me, given Claire's knowledge of future events. I also laughed out loud when a clearly labeled Robber was noticing Claire's two rings and mentioning how much he lurves such things. Subtle, this show ain't. Though I appreciated Claire's concern that her dress made her look like "mutton dressed as lamb."

“I get to be THIRD stew?! Threes are the BEST!” Yeah, I can imagine KS on this boat. And Jacqueline as the primary. Then Titus.

GET THE FUDGE OUT OF HERE! That’s exactly what I came here to post.

I'm waiting for Chandler to yell, "Could you BE on deck any later?" and for Ross to lose it when someone bugs when he's off duty: "I WAS ON A BREAK!"

Yup. Yup. And: Yup. Bethenny's behavior has been so wildly out of bounds that I feel like Carole's getting the Schuyler treatment from Breaking Bad. (ICYMI, Schuyler White was the wife of cancer patient Walter White, who, as the very model of toxic masculinity, chose lyin', murderin', and drug dealing over accepting financial help from a girl former business partner. According to many show fans, Schuyler was the problem because she did stuff like smoke a cigarette.) If it had been me, being the target of just one of Bethenny's tirades -- in the name of "friendship," no less! -- would have put my settings on Get the Hell Away, Physically, Emotionally, and Through Writing. I view pretty much all of Carole's behavior as defensive, in some way, and even when it was imperfect, it just seems minor-league transgression, compared with the MVP of Major League Lashing Out. No "friendship'' can function as a release valve for one person at the expense of another. Bethenny owes Carole a huge apology for trying to use her in this way and then saying ridiculously cruel things when Carole didn't let her.