MelsW

I’ve been on a kick lately, working my way through a backlog of ATK and non-ATKrecipes I have been meaning to try. Last night I made Pasta Frittata with Sausage and Hot Peppers (ATK season 15- the current season so you can get the recipes free online). It was really, really good. You cooked angel hair pasta in a skillet with water and oil. By the time the water boils off the pasta is tender and sizzling in oil. The pasta forms a crispy crust and on top of that you pour 8 eggs, ½ lb. Italian sausage, garlic, parm cheese, and chopped cherry peppers. Cover, let set, flip it over, cook another couple minutes and that’s it. I would probably up the cherry pepper amount next time, only because I do not have the sensitive palate of Chris Kimball and I like a little more zing in my food.

I do this too, mainly because FN's website is THE WORST. I try to avoid it at all costs and usually I can find BC recipes posted elsewhere. I'd love to know what herb you tried, stewedsquash. How did the cashews come out?

I made Ina's Rosemary Cashews for a gathering this weekend. Credit where credit is due: Ina says these are the "bar nuts" served at Union Square Cafe, so not her recipe. Anyway, they were a HUGE hit. They are slightly sweet, spicy (cayenne) and herby. They disappeared fast and were simple to make.

I always view scenes at Dre's company as absurd/over the top. As in, almost everything that happens there would NEVER happen in real life without serious intervention from HR and a flurry of lawsuits. I snickered at the "Grab us some coffee" bit since I work in a male dominated industry and am often the only female at the table. I haven't been asked to fetch coffee but I have been asked to go make copies! We didn't get the delicious payback of seeing the men face consquences for their actions but just the fact there is light being shed on such scenarios makes me OK with the way it all went down.

Agreed. We are entering Cousin Oliver territory now with Andy's confessional. The Hayley/Andy storyline is not interesting in the least. The writers are "Will they/won't they"-ing a couple that I just don't care about. If Andy never appeared on my screen again it wouldn't change a thing. As usual, I found Cam to be immature and insufferable. He would be so exhausting in real life. To end on a positive note, the highlight for me was the Jay/Alex talk in the car.

I loved that scene too. In fact, Black-ish addresses the wokplace gender imbalance/double standards so perfectly. I am recalling another episode (the one where Dre started volunteering at the school) where Dre walked in late to a work meeting because he was taking care of his kids in the morning and received all sorts of accolades and pats on the back for being such a good dad. When a woman did the same thing, she was met with eyerolls and disdain by the same coworkers. So incredibly spot on (unfortunately). Back to this particular episode, I loved how yet again, Black-ish took a familiar sitcom scenario and made it fresh again. The scene where Bow reveals the "pregnancy" and subsequent stepping in the rat trap was fantastic. The kids were all great in their supporting roles: the twins wanted to still be the babies, Junior wanted a sibling who would adore him, and Zoe was Zoe.

I felt the same way as soon as she started singing in rehearsals. Brooke was good but she was nowhere near as good as Preston Pohl's Electric Feel. I even prefer his to the original song! I couldn't believe how cringeworthy Lowell's performance was. Granted, Jacob wasn't going to make it far in the competition but yikes...I found Lowell's performance embarassing to watch. Hopefully nerves just got the best of him and he can pull it together for the Lives.

Quoting myself because I ended up making it this weekend. I couldn't find dried NM chilis that it calls for so I used dried pasilla peppers instead. The biggest difference is that my curry was brown instead of a vibrant orange color. Making the chili paste was pretty easy and I did it hours ahead of making the meal. That means the meal was able to come together in less than an hour in one pot with minimal bowls and utensils! The recipe says you can double the curry paste and freeze half for later. I think I will do that next time, as I really enjoyed it and will definitely make it again.

I really don’t enjoy watching Hannah. She is a little too intense for my liking. Not to mention those awkward dance moves to Higher Love made me have to watch her with my eyes half covered.

I'm so glad you liked it! I had pizza dough troubles for a while and finally settled on that recipe after much tinkering. Has anyone tried the Thai Chicken Curry with Potatoes and Peanuts from ATK Season 15? I saved the recipe after seeing it on my local Create TV channel. It looks delicious but I don't know if I feel like fiddling with making their curry paste for results that are only "meh".

The only thing I have ever seen Fran in previously was The Office (US). Mr. MelsW doesn't watch Girls but he walked in and saw the last 30 seconds and said, "Hey, it's Plop!" So now I am forever going to have it in my head that Fran = Plop.

I loved the Ray/Desi exchange. Cheap shots were thrown but it was nice to see Desi called out as the douche that he is. My favorite line of the episode came from Lairde: "I'm not a man, I am a jewish recovering junkie and I weigh 135 pounds."

Meghan Trainor is apparently the architect of all harmonies on Blake’s team. I am liking her as a mentor. I am still not feeling Ellie Goulding at all and think out of the four mentors, she’s the clunker in the bunch, though she could just be getting a bad edit. I lump her in with Stevie Nicks in the “MEH” category for mentors.

Wow, that is genius. Thanks for the tip! For some reason, I never thought about using a different cut that can take the long braise. Next time I get the craving, I am going to try it with chuck!

That reminds me, I have an older Cooks Illustrated recipe (5 years ago maybe?) for making corned beef. As in buying beef brisket and corning it in the fridge over the course of a week. It is really fantastic. I thought about making it recently but beef briskets are outrageously priced these days, at least in these parts. I bought a high quality corned beef from a local grocery where they corned it themselves for a much cheaper price than the plain brisket.

I agree with this. I really enjoyed the book and came to like Piper (Kerman- the real one). She is well aware that she is from a privledged background and clearly spells out how much easier navigating prison and the legal system is for someone like her who is supported by friends, family, money, and top notch legal representation. As stated above, I think a lot of the negativity Piper Kerman receives is from people projecting their own class issues on the situation. It shouldn't be held against her that she comes from a family with money and is well educated, just as one shouldn't hold it against the other prisoners who come from poor families with loads of other socio-economic issue. None of us can help what situation we were born into on either end of the spectrum. That's my long winded way of saying: read the book. I liked it much more than I thought I would, and this was before the TV show. Piper Kerman is much different than the fictional Piper Chapman. I read it for free (yay, public libraries!) and you can do the same if you are hesitant to fork over money.

I like a crispy thin crust pizza, so keep that in mind! I have a round pizza stone that sits on the lowest rack of my oven. I preheat the oven and stone to 500F. I stretch out the dough into a round(ish) shape (maybe 12"? or perhaps a little larger but not much), put it on a wooden pizza peel that has been liberally coated with cornmeal. I add my sauce/toppings/cheese, then slide the dough off of the peel and onto the stone. I let it sit on the stone at 500F for 7-8 minutes, pull it out with the peel, let it rest for a couple minutes so the cheese isn't so molten, then cut. If I didn't have a peel and stone, I'd probably make the pizza on a baking sheet on a lower rack, still keeping the oven temp ripping hot.

I found most performances to be unmemorable last night. Hannah Kirby and Sarah Potenza was probably the best one of the bunch even though I thought I would like that battle least. I tend not to like shouty singers and in rehearsal they were both getting a little screamy for my liking. I could have kissed Meghan Trainor when she said something to the effect of "you don't need to yell at me". Preach, sister. They both ended up reigning in their inner yelling and I enjoyed the performance. So far, I am really liking Lionel and Meghan as mentors. Ellie Goulding and whatever Jonas that is haven't impressed me yet. I remember reading or hearing an interview w/Ellie where she stated she has never had formal voice training and I know a big critique of her singing is she is more of a studio singer and can struggle live at times (no breath control and that type of thing). She would probably be at the bottom of the list if I had my pick of the 4 mentors and really wanted to step up my vocal game.

This is the recipe I use. I originally started years ago with a perfectly meh Bon Appetit recipe that I changed over the years with input from my bread baking fanatic mother-in-law, who gave me some pointers. Using half bread flour instead of all AP gives the crust a good chewy texture. You can use all AP but I much prefer using half and half. Letting the dough rise slowly overnight gives it much better flavor than just doing a room temp quick rise. This dough freezes really well. 3/4 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F) 1 teaspoon honey 2 teaspoons instant yeast 1 cup bread flour 1 cup all purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil 3/4 teaspoon salt Place all ingredients in stand mixer fitted with dough hook. Process on low until dough comes together, then continue kneading for 6 minutes or until dough is smooth. Transfer dough to large oiled bowl; turn to coat dough. Cover with plastic wrap (I press it down on dough's surface and up sides of bowl, ensuring it won't come loose as dough rises), place in refrigerator. Let dough rise 24 hours. Punch down dough. Divide into 2 equal balls.

Re: Shosh on the toilet, I assumed she was excavating an ingrown hair from the bikini line with tweezers.

The Lettuce Crop Kid was pretty disturbing looking. Seeing Nick Swardson was a pleasant surprise!

She was awful, I am surprised that didn't get thrown in the montage heap. Considering how many people audition for this show, I can't believe someone that bad would make it to the blinds. Though I suppose she could have completely choked up on stage (aka "pulling a Luke"). I was happy to hear Blake say his strategy this season was to not pigeonhole himself in one genre. We'll see if he follows through or if his team ends up being the Blake Country Show. Shallow end of the pool: I was completely distracted by Meghan Linsey's awful neon floral pantsuit. Whaaa???

Barry and his friends who call themselves the Jenkintown Posse, aka JTP. I forget what episode that was from.

I loved Adam having to be carried down from the water tower, swaddled by the fire department. I alo thought it was sweet that Dana preferred the Green Lantern ring and playing video games with Adam. However, my favorite part of the episode? CaCAW!

You summed up my thoughts perfectly. The character "Diane" is fantastic but I need her to be used sparingly. I feel the same about Charlie: less is more. I liked this episode. Both Bow and Dre were at fault and I loved the nuclear build up between them. The "pooping while giving birth" scene was hilarious, what with Dre apologizing on behalf of Bow and trying to clean up.