ArtFossil

I just started watching the Lucca episode and I'm already rolling my eyes. Sixteen years to process a life-changing experience? Really? Sixteen years?

Breda, Netherlands couple: their hostility toward each other was hard to watch. I suspect losing a child may have caused this dynamic, but whatever the cause, I hope they get counseling because to me at least it didn't look like their marriage could last. Sigh. I just want to see the buildings, food, street life . . . .

Thailand: I "pre-hated" the woman as soon as she came onto the screen. The more she talked, the more I despised her. Too bad no one told her she's not "at home" anymore! Decided to care for my blood pressure by not continuing to watch. Real life is stressful enough. 😅

Oh Christ in a handbag, the woman is vapid. Another self-absorbed blogger with nothing original to contribute. "We can drive to so many picure spots!" "I can fill this room with my clothes!" "I'm going to try every Mexican restaurant here!""We have three bedrooms, says the realtor; "a little small," she says. Their poor child.

Yes.

St Thomas. I pre-hate anyone who says "If we have to stretch the budget to one million we'll probably have to rent it out some of the time." And I actively hate jet skis. And then the realtor doesn't know how to pronounce "cay." And those poor people in the open ceiling house when the next hurricane hits. But at least I got to see St Thomas (have visited St Croix several times but never St Thomas).

I'm catching up, having discovered that I can watch all the seasons on HGTV via my cable provider (never watch cable TV). I've done the current LA Hancock Park and then the SF one. LOVE Jonathan's SF house, BTW. For me, the Property Brothers shows fall into a very select category of "shows that always destress me and make me feel better." This includes Chopped and Worst Cooks in America. I love the dynamic that both brothers bring. They contrast (laid back vs up tight and more goofy vs more buttoned up) but they both share a dorky sense of humor and a genuine sense of good will. They play off each other very well and I find them delightful. While both brothers have good eyes for design and space in general, I nearly always like Jonathan's aesthetic better. In any event, I love to be transported away from everyday life into the world of design decisions.

Luxembourg: I don't get it. How does the wife's part time HR salary even begin to cover the salary and room of a live-in au pair? If she wants to work--great--and if she needs help with the three children, fine--but why not just get a local person to help out a few hours a day or join a play group or ? Does she have medical issues that they need full time live in child care? (Not being snarky. OK, maybe a little snarky.)

I love Bobby Flay as he always brings the flavor. (And the snarky humor.) I'm looking forward to all the episodes in this challenge, but especially the finale.

The parents creeped me out with their talk of grandchildren and girlfriends. I just found it so sad that the parents could not, or did not, acknowledge their son's true nature.

I'll bet you a virtual cocktail of your choice that Alton Brown will be back. Having done it once now, and gotten over the shock, I think his competitive streak will require him to come back. I for one will rejoice as he's hilarious.

Thank you, pagan gods, for sending us a Worst Cooks with Anne Burrell and Alex Guarnaschelli. Talented chefs + snark + inept competitors = all I could wish for in reality TV. This series just might help save my life. The only way I could improve on the current season is if it were a 3-way with Anne, Alex and Alton Brown.

Being able to break down a chicken or a whole fish is an important part of being a competent cook. It's not that hard and part of why it's useful is that you can get fresher ingredients at a lower price and butcher them the way you need them.

I have never hated a Worst Cooks cast as much as I hate this one. Hate. Hate them all. But, I still love Anne Burrell. 😄

Alton Brown's sidebar about his role on Iron Chef (basically, I look things up on my laptop and critique. I don't cook!) was, for me, one of the best moments ever on Worst Cooks.

I loved Alton Brown on Worst Cooks (this is a show guaranteed to make chefs who love precision and rationality uncomfortable) and I shall love Alex Guarneschelli even more! Thank the pagan cooking gods as I loathe him.

Her (painted on) eyebrows kept me from watching past the first few minutes. Will have to watch Escape to the Country to detox.

The Chopped judges have to eat so much bad food, I'm just fine with a "beat-the-judge" competition where the judges win. The competing chefs get so much exposure from being asked back to Chopped I don't feel sorry for them at all. And I love to see the judges cook! I learn something, and am entertained by, everyone who cooks on Chopped. That's all I ask.

After watching a number of International House Hunters with "travel blog" writers, I still wonder: who READS a travel blog? And how does it generate any significant income? I've come to assume that "travel blog" is code for either drug-dealing or an inheritance. And if you have to rely on your flat to "tell you where you are" then you probably should seek help.

London. Anyone who says, "We have to have an extra bedroom so friends and family can come visit" and who pays that extra rent for space that is used sporadically, if at all (instead of directing their guests to an Airbnb) is an idiot. And, undercurrents of animosity there. They are not going to last.

The poor daughter. This isn't going to end well. (The wife can choose. The daughter can't.)

Doesn't matter if it's "legal" in what is really a philosophical sense. His courtroom, his rules. There was a judge in Fairbanks Alaska in the late 70's who didn't want female lawyers wearing pants in his courtroom. Never mind if it was 30 degrees below zero. Good times.

Any one who applies to be on a reality TV show does not get any sympathy from me if they are cast and it is "hard."

Dear LaPaz Bolivia woman: Don't move in with anyone you don't know. Don't go off to Bolivia to live with this guy. Dump him and build your own life.

The St Thomas episode. The woman. As we used to say on Television Without Pity: I hate her with the fire of a thousand nuns. Narcissistic. Self-absorbed. Cold. I hope the man, who seems like a reasonable human, buys a place in St Thomas WITH a pool and dumps her.