Ilovecomputers

It was interesting to see a prize given out for the baker who won the challenge. This makes me think they should give out prizes more often, like a stand mixer or a nice set of mixing bowls or a gift card from Sur la Table. Then everyone would have a chance at a prize instead of just one $25,000 winner. I don't know why the judges act as if it's some special talent to match confetti candy on top of the cake with confetti in the cake. Um, you know, candles usually come in primary colors, too. Wouldn't it be amazing to put matching colored candles on the confetti cake? Have to say, some of these children are quite talented. I would have loved to try the chocolate cake with the raspberry filling. This show is just too predictable. One of the kids always has a meltdown, "Mom" Valerie rushes in to comfort the kid and "Dad" Duff nods in a paternal way from afar. All the kids seem to have scripted THs and Brady the most rehearsed of all.

Glad Eric won, but his fireworks looked like broken condoms to me. I’ve seen macarons on other baking shows and they’ve seemed smaller. The ones last night looked as big as burgers. The guy from Boston—it was his championship to win. He caved under the pressure. Can we not call it “Best Baker in America”? Some of the best bakers I know can’t be away from home and work to participate on a reality show. It’s like my Uncle Jason used to say: “Why, if everyone could be on TV, we’s be as happy as two crawdads on a biscuit o’ butter.”

If I could give you bonus stars for this comment, I would. As it is, I can only say that truer words were never spoken.

Oh my gosh, I'd forgotten about Colonel Cornpone! "...and I brought sharp knives and lots of booze!" As the youngest child of four, I would be hard-pressed to have many photos of my childhood at all, much less pictures of me baking with anyone. Perhaps I could tell the more realistic story of my mother shuddering and refusing to eat concoctions I made in my Easy-Bake-Oven.

Those commercials about teeth enamel usually start out by saying we destroy our enamel by eating acidic fruits and drinking coffee, and "once gone, it can't be replaced." Then they tell us about this special toothpaste that helps restore and protect enamel. I thought it couldn't be replaced; I'm so confused. Every time I hear that screechy voice I wonder what Paul Hollywood saw in her. Yous.

My mother was adopted as an infant almost 90 years ago and we know very little about her family. My grandmother died of spinal meningitis two weeks after giving birth to my mom, and my grandfather put all the children up for adoption. Her adoption records were sealed, but her older sister found her (somehow) when they were middle-aged. (They never found their brother.) Her sister always said we were Irish. My mom and I did the Ancestry.com test and have very little Irish; we're actually Norwegian and Spanish. The Spanish part really amazed us.

That camera angle showing her big fish lips over the ball-like piece of chocolate is, um, odd.

Has anyone seen the revolting Aspercream commercial with the two women in the grocery store? The older woman tells the younger woman she smells “just like dear Harold” and tries nuzzling her around her neck. When the commercial ends the older woman is in hot pursuit of the younger woman. Creepy-o-Rama.

To me, and other anal people like me, yes.

Funny. Plus, she is not a happy camper unless the dessert is reeking of [insert alcohol here].

I watched last night and was thoroughly bored, so I don't think I'll watch the remaining episodes. Seems like it's Dan's year anyway. Hate the last minute, "You must include smelly gym socks in your dessert!" It looked like a couple of the bakers were going to have a meltdown and that isn't fun or pleasant to watch. They do the same thing to the kids, and the kids bawl. Why is this considered entertainment?

I don't drink coffee. Wouldn't its strong flavor mask a shortbread flavor?

That is exactly right! Totally unfair! Boo! Hiss! I wasn't a fan of hers, but she was in a no-win situation. If she had tried to mask the flavor or used it in a "subtle" way she would have been dinged for that. It would have been right to send the older white guy home. Yes, I know he lost his wife, and that makes us all very sad, but why does he get so many second chances? Last week in the preheat he made a cheesecake and it was awful. In the main run, he made another cheesecake "to show the judges I know how to make a cheesecake." This week in the preheat he makes a tart and the crust is raw, baby. So, like a broken record, he makes another tart "to show the judges I know how to make a tart." I'm not a professional chef, but I see so many of these bakers pouring ingredients on top of raw pastry. Do they think the underlying pastry will bake anyway? Wouldn't it be more probable that the raw pastry and the filling will just turn in to one big mashed up mess? Anyone who serves raw pastry should be shown the door; it could be a health hazard to serve that. Have to laugh at all the times I've seen the bakers pulling their desserts out of the oven without oven mitts or hot pads. Uh huh.

There are several wedding traditions based on that premise; e.g., the father "giving away" his daughter. Obviously, women can propose marriage, too, and no one thinks the man is someone's property to be handed off to the woman. Do you find it offensive if a man holds a door open for you? Do you suspect he thinks you're too weak to open the door yourself? There are lots of old-fashioned traditions that still crop up from time to time, and while I find some of them amusing, I don't think I could say any of them offend me.

Actually, the tradition of asking a parent (or other loved one) for a women's hand in marriage was always done AFTER first proposing marriage to the woman. My husband is first-generation American. He proposed to me and then days later asked my mother (my father is deceased) for my hand. She was charmed by it, and so was/am I. I don't know what you find so offensive about this. To me, marriage is the joining of two families, and this is illustrative of that. I couldn't stand the commercial where the guy asked his girlfriend's daughter for permission to marry her mother only because the guy talked in a breathless, panting, serial killer voice.

I want the recipe for the chocolate/banana/toffee/coconut/rum pie made by the two Jamaicans. They are both amazing bakers. FN should have the bakers wear nametags so we can all learn their names faster. Wasn't surprised to see the guy with the robe go home. In the preheat they had, what, an hour and a half to make four pies in one pan? With ten minutes to go they still didn't have their crust in the oven? What in the world were they doing? In the next go-round he was doing I don't know what and ran out of time. Then he put the Lincoln logs on the sides of his dessert again. Looked like strips of bacon. My only question was for the cake with the whole pears in the middle. It didn't look like the pears were cored and she left the stems on too when she put it in the oven. Would the pears cook down that much? Why would you leave on the stems on? I don't want a bite of stem or core, thank you very much.

I had an elderly neighbor and one day her newspapers were starting to stack up, so I rang her doorbell, and she said not to worry about her because she sometimes suffered from back pain and didn't always go out to gather her papers. A few months later the papers started to stack up again and I did nothing. Soon there was a bad smell. Her car was there but I thought maybe she'd gone out with family. Anyway, it turned out she'd had a stroke and laid there for many days before dying. I still feel really terrible about that. I remember running around peering in her windows (couldn't see anything), and my boyfriend at the time told me I watched too many Investigation Discovery grisly crime shows. She didn't answer her door either.

Why does she always wear a top with a plunging neckline and a Wonderbra? I can't stand her!! She grins like a hyena. Food Network always shows "amateur" female cooks with similar outfits and the camera zooms in on their cleavage when they're leaning over to pipe their dessert, etc. The worst offense, though, is that no one seems to tie up or tie back their long hair on their shows. Well, I am officially riled up now.

Oh my gosh, if that woman would have mentioned Canada one more time, I was going to shoot the TV ala Elvis Presley. "I'm from Toronto, you know." "Incorporating a maple leaf because I'm from Canada." "Have to use maple syrup because I'm from Canada." I thought she failed in the preheat and was sure she would be given the boot, but no luck. That blue hair on the booted one hurt my eyes to look at. Why would someone want to look like a smurfette? I've seen some purple hair that looks attractive but I have yet to see the blue or green hair look good on anyone but a troll doll I had as a child. Where I'm from, we say "pea CON" and "Colo ROD-o." Wonder how these regional variations ever took place... Duff is engaged now. He looks really happy. Thought that rocket-ship looking yule log was cool. I predict the next to go will be the twice doomed cheesecake guy. My husband was exasperated with the one guy. "Why is he wearing a robe?" I told him he has magical powers. They won't send him home anytime soon because he is so different.

We are the exhausted parents of two puppies, and my husband chases the puppies around like Frankenstein after dinner nightly. They have just started to run after him and bark at him when he does it. Before, they stood transfixed and would look at me as if to say, "What in the world . . .?"

One of the worst things about the drug commercials is their use of popular songs. One of 'em uses the Fleetwood Mac song "Go Your Own Way," and I wince every time the commercial comes on. Sigh, I still have a huge crush on Lindsey Buckingham.

I don’t know, Michelle just might be able to pull this off, except that the professional baker from Florida would have to have a really bad day like Jamal did. Carla always has a lot of positive remarks and constructive criticisms. So much better than Lorraine, who licks a crumb off a fork and says, “My problem with this is ...”. I did not care for Carla’s gum ball costume. My sinus problems lately make me think I looked like gum ball head, though. Can’t remember what Jamal made, but they looked like hard boiled eggs. Pretty much knew the other guy was going home. He said early on he didn’t like to decorate his stuff with blood and gore, but I guess he forgot it’s a Halloween themed show. I would not mind any of these bakers winning. Jamal should have his own cooking show with his son.

Stupid theme--wedding cake of wedding characters. I hate lavender flavor in anything and when the one baker said elderflower tasted like potpourri it made me gag. The guy that won--I'm glad he won, but that looked more like a children's birthday cake than a wedding cake for wedding characters. I did like the bandage, though. Go, Jamal!

Oh I know I could make worms and snakes out of fondant. When I was a child I made an ashtray for my nonsmoking parents out of clay by stacking clay "snakes" on top of each other on a flat base, so I have hidden talents. I'm done with the kids baking shows. Why in the world do they keep inviting Valerie Bertinelli back as a judge of anything? She talks about being raised in an Italian family as if that was the only requirement to know how to cook or bake. If I were a contestant, I wouldn't last long because I'm pretty focused when I'm tasked with a challenge. I don't think you get on these shows unless you show a certain amount of perkiness.

I think the home baker with pink hair does some impressive things. That long, bloody bone was cool, although it didn't read "crazy house" to me. Cicely didn't seem very happy and she perspired a lot. Glad to see her gone. The know-it-all woman talks a big talk but always seem to fall short. That jack-o-lantern pie top was really something. He just needed more time for it to bake. Virgin Island guy for the win. As an aside, I would like to have a job just once in my life where I would be professionally costumed and made-up for Halloween and have to judge chocolate cakes.