Qoass

@EllieH, would you recommend the TJ's Turkey en Croute? I tried to buy one for the holiday and they were out but I wouldn't mind getting one for New Years. Especially if they made one with ham.

I was told bagels should be grilled, never toasted. If they're getting stale, I nuke 'em in a damp paper towel for a few seconds. As for doughnuts, it's been ages since I've had one because Dunkin' Donuts is all about the coffee discounts/deals/coupons and never the doughnut deals. No wonder they're dropping Donuts from their name in some locations. Boo.

Trisha has her own cooking show that airs in my market right after Pioneer Woman. For awhile Yearwood concentrated on healthful recipes but not so much now. I was surprised by how much weight she's carrying this season but she seems happy and healthy.

That's my top three as well. I'll give some of these folks a pass about the looks of their finished products because they're really not looking for the "best" baker. They're looking for the baker who can think on their feet and slap out something fast. Useful in some situations but not a credential I'd seek if hiring someone to make, say, a wedding cake or a gingerbread house.

OT/ I keep a pants hanger in my kitchen so I can clip a book open without it flopping shut.

This is amazing. Back in the Fametracker days there was a Christmas thread and a poster said he was making his annual Holiday Music CD mix. I facetiously asked if I could have a copy and he mailed one to me! On it were Christmas Wrapping, Christmas in Hollis, Fairytale of New York and Merry Christmas from the Family and more. It's still one of my favorites. My general rules are no country, no Elvis, no pop tarts.

My yoga teacher always said to make sure your knees are in line with your feet. If you can't see your toes, you're overdoing it. But what do I know; I tend to tip over sideways.

I checked out her latest cookbook this weekend and posted my thoughts in Off Topic/Food/Cookbooks and Food.

Is it still a double post if four months go by? Somebody come play with me! I checked The Pioneer Woman: Come and Get It out of the library this weekend. If you've watched the most recent season of the show, you've already seen all the recipes in it. The paper is of good heavy stock but the bright, bright colors of the print and page borders and pictures are all reminiscent of a child's pinata. Also, you know how annoying it is when you go to a cooking website and there's a photo of every step as if you need to know what two cups of flour in a bowl look like? Well, that's how every recipe is except the pictures and the font are really small and there's no "just show me the recipe" to page down to. Mostly, the list of ingredients are on one page and the instructions are on the next two or three. There are also several pages dedicated to her husband and kids (not many cows, horses or landscapes this time) and there's a full page picture of her recently deceased dog with a full page original poem about him opposite. For rabid fans only. I also checked out The Smitten Kitchen Every Day and liked it much, much more. She cuts right to the chase instead of page after page of what kind of pans, equipment and pantry items you should have and she includes everything from meals to snacks to desserts plus a drink or two. Lovely pictures of everything on heavy paper. Again, ingredients on one page, method on another which bugs so my plan is to go to the website and download as many of the recipes I like as I can print. Fancy food that looks not so hard to make. Recommended!

@bosawks, I notice that even though Alli is peeved at you, she still has her tennis ball at the ready just in case you wanna play.

I'm contrary in that I go to Amazon to see reviews of things I'm interested in buying and then once I've made my decision, I usually buy it at a local store. I do love free shipping though so I will buy gifts for my parent and have them sent from Amazon. When I get a robocall I hang right up but if it's a person, I just put the phone down on the table and go back to what I was doing. It's amazing how long those people will talk to nobody.

I don't mind the interviews so much but the advertising masked as commentary feels more intrusive every year. I remember when there was an Underdog balloon because yay, Underdog, not "this balloon is brought to you by some subsidiary of a huge scary company". I loved seeing Chrissy Metz from This Is Us in the opening number because she's always so miserable as Kate on the show and she looked so happy singing here. I just don't understand what Whoopi Goldberg was doing there since her show is on ABC and they had to abruptly change the whole key of the song just to be in her limited "singing" range.

As I recall, back in the day they cut the scene of Charlie Brown and the gang throwing snowballs at tin cans on a wall. They then restored the scene with great fanfare so now they're probably cutting it again. We'll see. Meanwhile, I'm recording the stuff I like on my Beloved TiVo but can someone explain to me in Santa Claus Is Coming to Town how Jessica and the newly flying reindeer broke Kris and Winter out of their cells before flying away?

Let's hope they are reserving Peter for future opportunities given that they tend to recycle contestants on other shows. Then again I'm biased because a friend of mine got her wedding cake from Pete's Sweets.

She performed on some holiday thing this weekend and up until the opening credits I'd forgotten she even existed. Then again, I've also already forgotten what show it was.

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Except I don't drive around the block again. If oncoming traffic is going to dick with me, I'm taking the whole line down with me.

waves @TattleTeeny. My driveway is about ten yards away from an intersection with a four way traffic light. It's bad enough that people block me from entering it because they really, really, really have to be just six feet closer to that red light they're waiting on but if I had a dollar for every person who made a great show of adopting a blank look and then ostentatiously turning to look at the driveway with a shocked look as if they've never noticed it before, I would have enough money to move someplace else.

The lacework was awesome but the purple palette looked awful to me. I hate to go all Nancy Fuller on y'all but purple isn't Christmas-y. Peter totally should have won and all I could think was that the producers were short one brunette woman baking her heritage or one over on young guys.

I am so gratified that many people did not find this charming. I can be described as a "gatekeeper" in one of my jobs and I get this all the time: "It's my kid's birthday and I promised her." "I'm a vet just back from Iraq." "I'm undergoing chemo because I have cancer." Yes, I feel terrible for you but you know what? The person making low wages at the door is not the person who decides when to break the rules and making that person feel like an asshole for doing their job makes you an asshole.

Speak for yourself, BeachyWave. After a crap day at the office, infantile bouncing around and ridiculous dance segments make me happy.

I made spaghetti sauce over the weekend and added sausage meatballs. I think sauce tastes better after it has been sitting in the fridge for a couple of days so I'm looking forward to having it over spaghetti tonight.

Hasn't she gone vegan lately, hence the tofu in the pie? That would make me gaunt.

@JAYJAY1979, I have Maupin's Logical Family: A Memoir on my bedside table. I haven't started it yet but I'll be interested in finding out whether it covers how he came to be such good friends with Judd and Pam from MTV's The Real World: San Francisco.

I figured once everybody got chi-pot-le right, they needed a new word to butcher.

Val and Ree both have new books to shill so get used to seeing them around for awhile.