trudysmom

I could only watch a few minutes, Katie's voice was so SHRILL. I hope motherhood mellows out that screech for her.

She could even do a scene from a show set in NY, Seinfeld ("I'm at 1st and 1st...oh man I'm the nexus of the universe!"), Friends' Central Perk, 30 Rock, something iconic that would immediately say NY, and be a touristy place to look for.

Maybe blind judging would be more fair. The judges aren't biased toward a baker based on past bakes and can judge each bake on it's own merits.

I think giving enough time to think about and incorporate the twist would be the fairest way to go. One season when Zack was a judge and a contestant said she didn't like working with something, lavender or rose, whatever, he told her but in a business you have to do what the customer wants, no matter your feelings. You can't make a bad cake and say well I don't like that flavor so that's what you get. And I agree, BUT, having worked in bakeries I know that there are times when a customer will add on to an order, and we always tried to comply as much as possible, but there were times it just wasn't possible. The cake was finished, boxed, ready to go, the customer decided they wanted filling. Maybe it was possible, I recall at least once when it was not. Or vice versa, take the filling out, or change it? Nope. Ordered chocolate frosting, decided the cake didn't look good brown, scrape that off and make it white instead? Nope. One of my managers was a master at telling people in a tactful way that they were full of crap. lol. I miss bakery work sometimes.

And she wasn't dressed as though she was standing outside in the snow. Her breath wasn't puffing out when she talked, and it has at other times when it was truly cold out there. I hate to say it but I just don't enjoy this show anymore. I guess I'm done if they are going to continue to with the current format. Nothing Sunny does interests me, Katie's homespun West Virginia my-grandma-made-it-but-here's-my-twist things don't look appetizing at all. Alex grates on my nerves. If I could just watch Jeff and GZ just cook it'd be ok.

Or they're just running out of ideas? I wish they would stop with the twists, that's sabotage at times for some bakers who are halfway through and a crazy flavor gets thrown in. It's definitely become very formulaic, even Duff seems to be phoning it in this season.

I have to respectfully disagree, Cheshirecat, except for the color choices on Madiha's cake. I thought the 'hand sculpted' flowers on a couple of cakes looked bad, borderline ugly, and I HATE those stupid piped swirls they want to call roses. Not roses. Maybe I'm too old school, but a rose is either sculpted from fondant or gum paste, or piped with a rose tip. What they want to call a rose is a simple swirl that goes on top of a cupcake. I didn't care for the look of Derek's cake so I was really afraid he was going home, but only because I didn't like that black tier. "Not springy!"

I re-watched (because I have no life) and now that the dark haired girls group has thinned a bit I think I can put a face to a name. Veruska has overbaked several things so far. Kardea wasn't happy with the crumble madelines. I thought her cookies looked a bit dark, but I did like the sort of spiral effect to got from the way she frosted and arranged them. I hope she isn't one of those that makes it to the final not because she's done amazing, but because someone has done worse and was eliminated so she makes it kind of by default. I don't dislike her in any way, she seems perfectly nice, but her bakes are just a tad shy of really good. Still rooting for Derek.

Unless I'm mistaken she's made donuts before. Maybe Kardea was saying that because she wants to see her branch out and do other things. I recall one of the competition seasons the baker made the same kind of cake week after week until one of the judges (Damiano, I think) told him he needed to show what else he could do. He was gone soon after, lol. But yeah, she did look surprised at the criticism.

Has Sunny gone completely 'semi homemade' now? Yesterday and today she's doing 'supermarket shortcuts' with frozen mashed potatoes and yesterday microwaveable rice. NOT there's anything wrong with that, I use microwave rice on occasion, I'm just wondering if she's always been this shortcut queen or if this is new?

And I would rather watch them and eat thier foods than most of the dreck this show turns out. I really like Derek and Jahmal. I thought Derek telling Madiya (sp?) how tall his cake layer was was smart, but she clearly didn't measure hers to match. Even if they, all the teams, couldn't see what the other was doing, little things like that, agreeing on a height, agreeing to use so many drops of a certain color to get them to match, those things could have made the cakes more cohesive. I mean, they had to have discussed the size of the pans they were using, right? Take it a step further and specify to trim the layers to a certain height. That alone, the difference in height of most of the cakes, made me cringe. Then the kitchen sink method of throwing everything inside it and see what works. Yuck. You're killing my spring buzz, show!

A tiny bit off topic, but years (and years) ago I worked in a bakery in a supermarket. Our cake decorator was phenomenal. Not only was she lightening fast but she would work an 8 hour shift and her apron looked as fresh as when she put it on that morning. Mine looked like a kid makin mudpies within the hour. I admired her so much and use to tease her about it, but she'd just say "I work with my hands, not my entire body." That confidence that GZ has in his cooking, I think that is what this lady had. Her talents were wasted in a little supermarket bakery. I love watching GZ cook, he's calm and soothing, doesn't need to yell, 'ya know what I'm sayin'?!'

I thought that too, dleighg, but with only 3 hours maybe that's all they thought they could do. I also thought this challenge really slammed home to me that a good cake isn't good enough any more. Every cake has to have texture, fruit, some kind of curd or gelee. Why though? The slices they showed of the cakes didn't look at all appealing. If they were to do just a really good cake, one filling, and a good icing, they may have had more time to coordinate the size of thier cakes and make them look more cohesive. I'm really over throwing every flavor, texture or technique at a cake in short amount of time.

Someone mentioned above thread about being fake. Alex's smile looks so phoney to me, maybe it's not, but it looks pasted on. I trust her as a authority on cooking, she didn't get Iron Chef for doing semi-homemade style food, but as a personality, she's not someone I want to watch. At this point I tune in to see GZ and Jeff. And Jeff wears on my nerves at times. Watching GZ is like watching those old episodes of Jacques Torres, the chocolatier. He makes complicated look easy.

Ever since I started watching after season 9, when I first saw Jensen I thought he'd make the perfect Roland Deshain from King's Dark Tower series.

I am enjoying Laurent, Derek and Jahmal. Although I wonder how long before one of the judges tells Laurent and Jahmal to make something besides an entremee. I really get rattled between all the women with such similar looks, I can't put a face to a name! They have made some pretty things so far though.

Also, another competition show I won't be watching. Saturday we binged the Kitchen through Hulu, nothing else on, and she really has evolved into a loud-mouthed know it all bully. If there's a catch phrase I hate it's "None ya business".

Oh my. Even covered with too much hair and clothes, Robert Redford (particularly as Sundance Kid) really did it for me when we were both younger. Le sigh. Jensen has that same magnetism. Not sure if it's the eyes, the smile or what, the whole package is just "where do I look?", it's all so pretty in a not-pretty-boy-way. Anyway, back on track, I really enjoy Chad & Samantha's back and forth Twitter stories about the Roadhouse, the Valentine's weekend was a welcome distraction from nearly freezing to death. Kim's ongoing crow exploits are hilarious as well, and of course, she managed to turn that into a fundraising venue. Sad that her second Covid vaccine kicked her butt, but I'm hearing that that's normal. (That's weird, 'butt but and that that's. Heh). Sorry, I'm punchy before coffee.

A comment about the sheet pan pies (or 'slab pies)) which I absolutely loathe, I can't imagine doing anything other than 2 different fruits or something similar just to keep the bake time between the two the same. I mean, if you put a filling, and then blind bake the other side, that pan is in and out of the oven, does that effect the crust? I'm not a pie baker so I really don't know how I'd do it. As to Bella, she reminds me of Violet Beauregard, the 2nd movie with Johnny Depp. She and her mom both so competitive. That competitive nature can be a good thing, healthy for kids in some ways, though it usually comes out in boys more prominently. I think it can seen unattractive in girls, which is a sad double standard but true. I think she could have taken the whole thing if not for the gelatin twist. Although I'm not sure why her icing was weeping off the side of her cake.

We do grow 'em pretty here, don't we? 💝

Looks like any guy you might see at the local WalMart. Which I have to visit today, dangit.

Gumbo is a spicy Cajun (south Louisiana) stew made with seafood or other meat, usually chicken and sausage. I make one pot a year, on Christmas, using leftover Thanksgiving turkey. James Carville said in an interview a few years ago that if you're roux wasn't the color of deep crawfish mud, your gumbo didn't stand a chance of turning out. My mother in law taught me to make it. I loved reading about Samantha and Chad's Valentine's Day party at the Roadhouse today. So fun. Le sigh. Not really off topic since Daneel posted about gumbo weather, but it's snowing here, in HOUSTON!! 🥶❄️

The only segment I was able to watch was Sunny's pretzel-peanut butter-caramel-chocolate thing. It ended up being huge, not a small serving at all which is what I, for some reason, thought they were going for. The more I see Alex here, the more phony she comes across to me. Her smile just looks pasted on, camera-ready, fake. Geoffrey seems beyond bored. I have to say I enjoyed the pandemic episodes so much more. Like another show that I had pretty much given up on, but the quarantine episodes are so funny and genuine that I find myself hoping one of the several that run back-to-back on Saturday mornings are from that bunch. Can't mention any other shows here but the host lives on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. With her kids in the kitchen, she's a totally different person, a really likeable one. I wonder if that's how it is with Alex. I'll have to pay closer attention if they rerun one where she has her daughter in the kitchen with her.

I fell like Nemo is maybe a perfectionist and when things started to go south he kind of spiraled and couldn't recover. I've seen it lately on re-runs of Spring Baking Championship, sometimes an idea gets stuck in a baker's head and if it doesn't work, instead of plan B, they keep on trying plan A but it doesn't change. The time factor doesn't help either. I'd go crazy if people were constantly yelling at me how much time I had left and "Get it done!", crap like that. Kudos to any of these kids with enough guts to put themselves out there.

Home this week and saw some season 4 episodes were airing yesterday. I was struck, again, with how raw and gritty and real the show was before dabb got his meathooks on it. Sam stitching up his arm, Dean's dislocated shoulder. They were dirty and sweaty and the show didn't clean them up or comb Sam's perfect hair. These little details, are they all dabb's fault, or did overall values fall over time? Anyway, I watched part of an episode and switched off. Heart still hurts over the epic fail of the finale.