snarktini

Absolutely. As far as I'm concerned, he's the only one in this competition who is bringing something genuinely new to fashion. His point of view is conceptual and artistic and inventive! I especially love his use of textiles and geometric constructions. Although it's because of that he won't realistically be a "global brand" / sold on Amazon, unfortunately. But I'm rooting for him! I hope he finds his way back professionally.

Overalls are really big right now! All over my IG and YT fashion feeds for the past year and a half. Mostly 20-somethings but not exclusively. Their cousin, "boiler suits", have also made a comeback and OMG WHY. Exactly. As a design school graduate, I can attest that critiques are constant. The best designer in the nicest program gets their work challenged at best and trashed at worst.

IMO she did everything better, except the "global brand" part which was the point. Her refusal to do color showed she would not compromise sufficiently for buyers. During judging she barely choked out that she would take their input into consideration, but I didn't believe her for a second. She was the more interesting designer but she was not who they were looking for. Not that I think he is either but he's more commercial. Do you think Esther wears that hat all the time or was it a show gimmick? Exactly! A dark muted purple would be have worked really well. It shouldn't be bright red or royal blue, but a moody, saturated, dark color would continue her "universe" and provide a little visual interest. Even print that is mostly black but has a little bit of dark color running through it. I try not to care for TV people enough to feel strong emotions about them, but this. I thought he was even younger than 24 based on his attitude. Also, he could stop calling people skank and biatch.

The best detail was the coordinated attack by evil Furbys!

I'm doing a rewatch because it's an excellent post-breakup distraction. Exactly the kind of silliness I need right now! I'm even willing to sit through commercials which is really saying something for me. What is not served by binging are some of Myka's verbal tics -- especially the way she yells "peeeEEEET!" in this ascending, slightly pitiful way that really undercuts her badassness. Every time she does that it's nails on a chalkboard for me.

I totally disagree that it should be an exact replica. Not on Top Chef! Not in the finale. They are tasked with showcasing extraordinary skill and bringing forward new dishes the judges haven't tasted before. The japanese curry his mother made was a beautiful inspiration and it could have been elevated so that it was both an ode to his mom and TC worthy. In his own kitchen, fine, but this was not a wise move for winning Top Chef. And I say that as a big Shota fan! I wanted him to win. I'd go the other way and guess it's because kitchen staffs have been fairly invisible to the outside world. It's undervalued service work that people ignore. We want our food and don't care how we get it. There are celebrities today and kitchens have achieved a higher profile, but the rough culture of kitchens predates that. That said, I don't know why kitchens ever became a place where partying and abuse run rampant. A couple of guesses about some of the dynamics...hierarchy is probably a big factors. Chefs have power and exacting standards, and other cooks/line workers have low status and low pay. That brings out a lot of abuse. And everyone is worked to the bone, which leads to lots of blowing off steam.

Often I put a parm rind in soup to flavor the broth and it doesn't make it gooey or even murky, so I am guessing it worked something like that. Infused but not melted. Shota said it would still be clear.

They had her say something about "forking" someone up, I assume that's why. Cutlery themed but not dull like a spoon and it gave them a punny line.

Right. And as Michaela was explaining "you just have to get through 3 more years" I thought...is this supposed to be a pep talk? That's 4-5 years total of this hellscape considering the time they're already into this. It's a lot to ask. (However, even if she bailed she's still got an 828 kid. She can't actually get away from it.) It really was awful. Somehow both boring and manic. The show's been "bad TV" all along but I've been willing to see it through. This time I thought maybe I can't do this anymore. Knowing there's two more hours, I'll keep going but that's probably it.

For the past 4 years I've watched Jeopardy religiously with my partner. It was our little dinnertime tradition! But this week we broke up. Tried watching an episode tonight, the first ToC -- I'm behind because of breakup stuff -- and it felt so sad. It wasn't any fun. I'll have to take a break and see if I can come back later. That said, I am not surprised that Ryan caught crap for his game. While I don't think he did anything objectively egregious, the J! community does NOT like anything perceived to be immodest or unsportsmanlike. He positively reveled in his victories and that never goes over well.

The best explanation I had for Earhart was that an alien looked like her to lure Sara and Gary in. Using... some sort of mind-reading so the alien knew what to look like? (Bear with me here, making it up as I go.) Gary had those notable women cards, and if felt beyond coincidental that they'd run into a person from the deck. The dog being similar, taking the appearance a familiar as a lure. Earhart didn't exactly fly with a dog so there's no other reason for her "character" to have one! Unless there's just some random real dog on some random planet and honestly I'll buy some sort of shapeshifting magic over that. And the alien does this to... try to pull in any travelers in the hopes of finding someone who can fly the home? I dunno, I'm reaching here.

Dang, I just checked his bio out and if half that's true we're seeing a very sanitized version.

I appreciated the shoutout from wife about wanting to beat "those brothers".

Huh, I was a little slow on the uptake. When they showed the chrysalis and Gary as an alien, I thought Gary had been body snatched and replaced by one. I'm honestly surprised they're going with "Gary has always been an alien".

What I like about that idea is that it would pay off Mo meeting the kids. Why in the world did Mo push for that?! Perry had the right idea -- a relationship should be rock solid before you do that. It bothered me that he was whiny about that. If Mo started hanging out with Brad, as a friend or lover, then at least that would dovetail. I think it's not really that a popup needs so long...it's that Rose and Max want a chance to stay together and solidify their relationship. He doesn't have to sublet anything or fully move...he's just going to crash with Rose and keep paying the rent for his empty apartment. That said, it also might take more than a week to scope out the local region, lock in a suitable location, make sure your business would work locally, and get contracts in place. Popups pop up in a day but they aren't planned in a day in a whole new city. The question was raised, why introduce Perry just to have it end this soon? (Assuming it does, officially.) I agree, this is why. There's a lot of fairytale-ness to the show, and I like it that way, but in reality Mo would have a harder time. And I live in SF. There's another reason why they might have introduced Perry, and that's to set up Mo's growth beyond fun relationships to complex ones. Mo initially didn't want to date a parent but explored it.

She had a blast and was def laughing at herself! During this episode my BF announced she's now his celebrity crush. Which isn't great news for me since I look approximately 0% like Padma! She was! See, Chyromaniac has it covered :D Though she certainly didn't intend for her chicken to literally taste rubber-y.

On the video he said he made arrangements for her, so they only had to call one place because contracts were in place and the home was "waiting" for this. (However, having lived through dementia placements, a good facility probably wouldn't have actually had a room available at that very moment! Unless he's been paying for an empty room. But that's Real Life and this is Fiction.) I would hope he didn't make Michaela her guardian without a conversation. That's a BFD. Also, un-fun fact: My grandmother's private memory-ward room in a good but not fancy place cost almost $8K/mo. That stuff's expensive.

There is a rhyme and reason.... it's all Fate. It's fate that they went to the time capsule that day and then the King Kone at that moment, so that she could drop her photo, so that he could find it and then be arrested just as she was coming back so they could meet. Fate led them to be there in that photo together years before. Every single thing that happens is following some sort of undefined but cosmic plan, the puzzle is following and interpreting the clues. Personally I don't believe in fate/god(s)/whatever. But the show believes in it :)

The pulled pork style jackfruit really made social media rounds due to Tabitha Brown. There was a few weeks where I saw that constantly! About the albondigas: The little caption said albondigas seca. Seca means dry. What element gave it that designation? They were still in sauce, obviously so not a dry presentation. In Tucson, where Maria cooks, there is a meat called carne seca, maybe they were made from that? Obviously not a big thing, just curious!

Avishar said he used lots of fruit, I think I heard him say there was fruit in the stock used to cook the risotto.

It's called injera, and yeah I'm not a fan either. The spongy texture creeps me out and since it's your utensil, you end up eating a lot of it. Ethiopian food should come with little signs telling me what's what! When eating a sampler platter, if I can't identify the individual items I don't know what to order next time! So I get another platter and we go round and round. It's not a cuisine I eat a lot of so I haven't learned it well. I'm always a little surprised to hear that chefs/cooks don't necessarily know all the world cuisines, but that's of course unfair as they are: a) human, b) tied up with very long hours, and c) not wealthy. I guess I just have this idea that chefs are very worldly and know everything about food. I had that reaction this time too -- how could I, a middle-aged white woman know more African food than some of them?! I first had Senegalese food maybe 20 years ago! And while I love food, I rarely eat out. But like I said, I know that's an unreasonable standard to hold them to. I also live in a big city that has literally everything so I have an advantage. But still I have only sampled a few African cuisines. Lots to learn!

Nothing to explain! Fun coincidence that my partner had just run up to the store for ice cream and brought back one of the Talenti layers. We've never even bought Talenti before, much less the layers! He had just dipped his spoon in when the show started and what he was eating was the QF star. The layers are hard to eat. You kind of have to eat them one layer, or at best 1-1/2 layers at a time.

I can't imagine how it would last. Going outside your comfort zone is one thing. Getting involved with a Dad of a 7 and 9 year old when you're still happily in your partying years is rough. Doesn't match Mo. Side note on Mo and Max: Who was running their not-restaurant on a Saturday night while they were at the party?! Same when Max left their opening night. Even with other managers, they would be there literally every day and night especially weekends. I wish I were better at waving these things away! It's not reality. The actor playing David did SUCH a great job there! Speaking of things I can't wave away! The triangle/tangle/etc doesn't bother me too much but her being his boss is such a sticking point for me. I don't care how much they are into each other, that's a no go.

Going into JT, I thought Chris was the one most likely to be knifed for his pasta. Dry, undercooked, thick pasta is usually a deal killer. And not even filled enough! When he was rolling it out I saw the excess flour on the dough, which Tom correctly called, and cringed. My parents make their own and that's not a good thing. But, geez, they really hated Sasha's components even more! And even one thing they went after Brittany for -- not enough vinaigrette -- was also Sasha's call even though they didn't know that. Brittany thought there wasn't enough but Sasha talked her out of adding more. Really impressed by the teams in this challenge. I thought this was an impossible challenge, a tough combination + surprise team + being stuck with the ingredients you already had on hand. They were set up to fail and except for two teams they knocked it out! B&S thought they had it easy by not having to create a new dish from scratch but that's what doomed them. Interesting to hear about their challenges with alcohol. This has been a big drinking time, on top of an industry that's known for it. Is Gregory sober as well? Not sure. My partner stopped drinking a couple years ago so I'm always interested in how open people are, how permanently they view it, and how they describe it. Sasha said she has gotten sober, whereas Shota is "not drinking right now". All valid!

That used to be my late night diner order! Never breakfast, but at midnight or 2a? Absolutely. Hash browns and corned beef hash for the win! ETA: I remembered I HAVE ordered that for breakfast! A little embarrassing but the heart wants what it wants.