[Star Salvation & Episode Previews Talk]

Chad I'm indifferent about. He cleaned himself up this time around, at least. And he's another one who doesn't know as much as he'd like people to think, in my opinion.

Plus, "I'm going to be Food Network's Barbecue Guy!"  Does he not watch the channel?  They kinda have one already.

[All Episodes Discussion: The Daily Double]

I figured she simply didn't remember what the copy Sotheby sold went for, and didn't want to sound stupid by guessing.  (I didn't remember either, but it was a $12 million hammer price + 20% buyer's premium commission for a total of $14.2 million.)  It's an unanswerable question, anyway - only 11 copies are known to exist, and the last one sold on the open market before this one was in the 1940s.  You can't frame a market appraisal, even an off-the-cuff one, for something that gets sold once a century. A more interesting anecdote might be how the namesake and founder of her museum (A.S.W. Rosenbach) swindled their copy out of an English gentleman in the 1930s by insisting the seller name his own price for the book without giving him any indication that Rosenbach knew the real value of what was being offered.  He paid what would be in today's money about $15,000.

[All Episodes Discussion: The Daily Double]

I was probably the only one geeky enough to want to turn down all the FJ responses because nobody put in the exclamation point at the end of the title.  Probably best to keep me away from judging.

[The Shows of 2014: Because They've Been Pureed in a Blender]

Sorry, Jeffrey, Chopped win aside, you are not good enough, not smart enough, and doggone it nobody likes you.

[S10.E01: Hollywood Calling!]

I think LBH blackballed Donna because there wasn't room in the whole Chelsea Market to hold two such impressive kitchen racks.  Considered Cowboy Pah yet, Lenny? "We want him around for a while, give him lobster".  Luca needed an armed guard to keep LBH, Medusa and the ET guest "star" all from jumping him, but he won't win.  Not to be overly cynical about what I'm presented with as a competition, but I think it can be assumed they've already signed the contracts with (and done the background checks on) the eventual "winner" and I'm split right now as to whether it's Model Nicole or GND Emma.  The boys are all cannon fodder/eye candy.

[America's Test Kitchen - General Discussion]

I made the meatloaf with mushroom gravy for the second time last night, and while it certainly is time consuming (took me a little short of 2 1/2 hours all in) it really is super delicious - the ground mushrooms in the loaf base make for a wonderful texture.

[America's Test Kitchen - General Discussion]

I like Better Than Bouillon, too, but they're right that it can be salty. Unfortunately, there's no lower-sodium option.

 

That's odd - I was in Costco yesterday where they had some king-size jars of it.  I had seen them before but was afraid that it would go bad before I got around to using it, so when CK said it lasted two years in the fridge it re-sparked my interest.  I didn't buy it because I'm still working off the last of some home-made stuff from the freezer, but I could have sworn it said "Reduced Sodium Recipe" on all three variations (chicken, beef and veg).

[Small Talk: Tapas]

Considering how truly bad this show is, I was amazed to see when someone on another board posted the article below how many people apparently still watch it.  It's ratings are higher than Glee or The Simpsons and it outright mops the floor with hepcat viewer favorites like Community and Parks and Rec.

 

http://www.deadline.com/2014/05/tv-season-series-rankings-2013-full-list-2/

[Special Contestants: All Stars and Firefighters and Lunch Ladies, Oh My!]

OK, I hate hate hate theme episodes of any kind and quad hate hero/saint shows like firefighters, moms, and school employees the most. 

[Why are you here? What will you do with the money?]

When my Mom died, we hacked her up and put her in the freezer.  I want to win as a validation that I did the right thing in doing so, and also to travel to France to dig truffles. I'll bring them back home and make them into truffle oil to sprinkle on when we finally serve her up, because I know she's looking down on me right now and she'd be so proud if I did that.  I just hope my many drug convictions from my misspent youth, and my hobbling from the kneecapping I got during my years in prison before I turned my life around won't mean I can't get a passport and fulfill my dreams before freezer burn sets in.

[America's Test Kitchen - General Discussion]

I just about made their carnitas (the clip is on YT).  I used the same proportions of ingredients, but did the main cooking in a crockpot, so I used less water than they called for, since basically none evaporates - I put in just enough to barely cover the pork.  Even so, the penultimate step where you boil down the juices left after cooking to make a glaze to toss back into the shredded pork took about forever - at least a half an hour, maybe 40 minutes.  I found the end result tasty but a bit on the bland side. It made a good taco with salsa on top, but straight up the seasonings added at the beginning pretty much disappeared and the citrus juices left the barest trace of their presence.