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I had a really good authentic gyro today in the last place I'd expect to find such a thing - a bar in a one-horse town in the Midwest. Honestly, I had trepidations, because I wouldn't have expected them to even be able to properly pronounce gyro, let alone make one, but it was excellent.

My sister is an amazing cookie baker, so I rarely bother, since I can just snag some of hers. I can bake good ones, too, but with just me at my place, it doesn't make sense. Plus, I can bake a cake (minus the baking) in the time it takes to bake one sheet of cookies, and I'm lazy that way. That said, my favorite cookies of hers are oatmeal raisin, which I rarely get because my dad doesn't like raisins in cookies. (Weirdo. lol) I also love her lemon bars, crossface crinkles, and peanut butter cookies. I'd also give high marks to a family recipe we have for a sour cream cookie. They're really soft and pretty much WILL not get hard. (One negative is that they'll stick together in the cookie jar.) They're great because they're basically a plain, sweet cookie, so you can do tons of variations with adding cocoa or different inclusions. I've never had a store-bought cookie I thought was worth buying again, tbh.

Sorry, we try to steer clear of current political discussion around here. The politics of the era in which Downton Abbey is set and how they are or are not represented on the show are a different matter, however. Feel free to start a thread for that if you like, but we ask that it the topic remains politics in relation to the show.

I love to cook, but somehow still find myself eating the same things over and over. Lack of time, energy, and ingredients. Case in point, supper tonight was pancakes. Lol

I went to a wedding reception tonight, and the food was terrific. Not particularly sophisticated, just good old-fashioned comfort food. Pulled pork, twice-baked potatoes, green beans, and a really good baked mac and cheese. Salad had almonds and strawberries and an interesting house dressing that I couldn't really identify in the candlelight, but was very tasty. Instead of a traditional tiered cake, they had an assortment of cupcakes to choose from. (They had one smallish decorated cake for ceremonial cutting.) Mine was Andes Candies flavored, and so, so good.

This song is giving me life right now, and I wanted to share in light of the "too few women in country" discussion above.

There's an ad for some "all football, all the time" service for your phone that makes me want to scream. It has Drew Breese, and I think there's a whole series of them. The one that makes me especially crazy has a guy at a cooking class with a girl. DB questions why he's not watching a game, and dude replies that it's a first date. DB then tells him about this "awesome" subscription for his phone where he can watch the games while pretending to give a shit about this girl and what she wants. First of all, rude. Second, if you're more interested in watching football on a tiny screen than spending time with your date, perhaps you should just call it a day, because you're obviously just not that into her. Third, why would you schedule a date for the same time as the game, if it's so important to you that you apparently can't just watch it later? And finally, why not invite her to a game date? Some women - gasp! - actually like watching sports. I just get so tired of the stereotype that all men love football, and their wives and girlfriends are all long-suffering football widows.

You pretty much can't go wrong dining on The Hill. Anybody have a recommendation for downtown Indianapolis? Looking for something casual but distinctive, within walking distance of the convention center and the JW.

Frankly, half of them sound unhinged, and I fear for the safety of the other half.

The possibility of these two hookups is the only thing keeping me going with this show right now. And Shick 14.0, but we all know the damn SEKRIT is going to blow that to hell, so there's no suspense there!

It makes total sense to me that Alicia would no longer want to be Kalinda's friend. But it makes NO sense to me that they haven't shared a scene in months. Not even a work-related, everybody in the conference room together type of scene. LG and FA cross paths in court and out of it constantly, Kalinda is sleeping with Alicia's partner and Girl Friday to Alicia's potential partner, and they both lost a mutual loved one. And yet we never see Kalinda and Alicia in the same room together? That's what seems so off in my eyes. After all, Alicia hasn't forgiven Peter, but JM shares plenty of scenes with CN. Heck, she shared lots of scenes with JC when Alicia and Will were feuding. They don't have to be besties to have an occasional conversation!

Watermelon is the worst. I love the real thing, but I've never found watermelon-flavored anything that tasted at all like the real thing.

I'd rather see Amelia with Alex, too, but these writers seem determined to prove Jolex are MFEO. Ugh. At least if Owen and Amelia hook up, neither of them will be getting with an intern/resident. I'm so tired of that angle. Total cosign on loathing Derek and wanting to see Meredith have a strong career arc.

Thanks for the background, everyone! That's despicable. Makes you think people should go back to Polaroids and VHS tapes for this kind of thing... much more difficult to steal! Granted, nobody should have to be worried about such things, but unfortunately, there will always be people trying to take advantage of celebrities. :(

I was prepared to dislike Bri based on her "get my pick of the men" comments in her intro video. However, if she manages to speak about and work with livestock in an intelligent and realistic manner, she will become one of my favorite reality people ever. One of my biggest pet peeves when I still watched Survivor was how nobody ever knew (or learned) ANYTHING about chickens. I'm not anti-religion by any means, but I don't know what the minister realistically thinks is going to happen. I mean, I'm assuming if these people are open to religion in their lives, they already have a church. And while I've attended many different churches and respect other faiths, I wouldn't suddenly join The Church of Utopia just because my faith tradition wasn't available.

Brits, please correct me, but I believe surgeons in the UK go by Mr. instead of Dr. IIRC, at one time surgeons didn't actually have to complete medical school, and therefore weren't doctors.

What are you referencing, ZulaMay? I feel like I've missed something.

Hey, all, I just merged the Emmy thread with the already existing awards thread. Carry on!

You know what I'd like to see? Meredith growing up and being her own damn person. Or, if she's incapable of standing on her own (emotional) two feet, turning to her husband. (Even though I mostly think Derek is a jerk, she chose him, so...)

Does anybody have any good, simple ideas for eggplant? My niece has a bumper crop in her garden, but none of us have ever cooked it before.

To bring it back to Downton, I don't think they realistically have a chance for the big awards as long as it's in the drama category.

Besides being miffed at all the not-that-deserving repeat winners, the show itself was just boring, IMO. When the two biggest moments of the night are the (admittedly touching) memorium and a bit about a sitcom from two decades ago, you've got a problem. I thought Seth Meyers was fine in that he didn't try to make the night be all about himself (hello, Julia Roberts!), but he didn't really add anything, either. Of course, that's also my impression of him on Late Night.

Yeah, I thought Juliana Margulies looked awful. The blush was a bad match, the dress was trying way too hard to be edgy, and her hair looked like she was headed to the gym. She's a beautiful woman, but this was not her best look.

It was a thousand degrees here today, so supper was watermelon and sweet tea.