vera charles

Since they did a complete turn-around and changed the character 100%, yes, he's now likable. Does the change make any sense? Not really. Neither does most of the rest of the show, so it really doesn't matter. But they could have had the original Avery character leave town for Atlanta permanently and created a completely new character to be the nice guy, Bluebird employee, back-up guitarist, and most interesting person in the Zoe/Gunnar/Scarlet/Avery/Juliet quadrangle. Instead they did a total 180 and Jonathan Jackson got to stay on the show. Good for him, but it's not like there's a lot of consistency to the character.

Or how about their clothing in general? In pretty much every TV cop show, the male detectives wear suits and ties, hard soled shoes, and overcoats. The women wear jeans, sweaters, high heeled boots and leather jackets. What actual workplace would have such a discrepancy in the dress code?

My husband's William & Mary alumni magazine showed up and there was Chip Esten on the cover! Interesting insight into the process that made him into the guy who brings Deacon to life. http://wmalumnimagazine.com/2014/spring/feature/life-is-good-2/

No, Thanksgiving in a Pot is an actual Sandra Lee recipe. She demonstrated it on Good Morning America and the recipe is printed in one of her slow cooker cookbooks. Nobody could make this stuff up - with Aunt Sandy, truth is always stranger than fiction.

My copy of Forever Summer definitely gets the most use. There are several things in that one that I make all the time, usually from memory. I had it out this morning because I was watching an old episode I recorded off Cooking Channel. The Forever Summer series was only eight episodes,each one themed around a color. This one had lots of limes and mint and salad in it, so it must have been the Green episode. I looked up the zucchini fritters and the coronation chicken salad. They looked so good, I am going to have to make them soon.

Eric Braeden played a pompous theater critic who got a little too critical.

Poor Mary must have had terrible back pains, sleeping on that sofa-bed all those years! It's interesting that they did reuse a lot of the furniture and set decoration when she moved from the old place to the new highrise. Just like you would do if you actually moved into a new apartment.

I agree, the divorce just didn't fit in with the rest of the show. Priscilla Morrill was all wrong for Edie. She just didn't fit with the previous descriptions we had of Edie and she didn't seem like someone who would be married to Lou, especially for such a long time. In an early episode, Lou is auditioning sportscasters and makes a comment about maybe throwing the job to his wife, then later indicates that she actually auditioned and "she wasn't half bad!" I cannot image Edie as played by Priscilla Morrill humoring Lou by actually auditioning for a sportscaster job.

This is my all-time favorite crazy Sandra Lee innovation: Thanksgiving in One Pot. Boxed cornbread stuffing mix, canned chicken broth, butter, frozen green beans, frozen pearl onions, salt and pepper, poultry seasoning, a whole boneless skinless turkey breast, canned sweet potatoes, condensed cream of mushroom soup, white wine, and a packet turkey gravy mix - layer it all in the slow cooker, cook on low for five hours, let your family know what you really think of them and their expectations that you should prepare their Thanksgiving dinner

I was always kind of inspired by the fact that her food looked pretty good, even when you knew it would taste horrible. But you could always fix something edible that looked similar, so she was good for sparking those kinds of thoughts. Remember the time she iced some cookies with white chocolate from a plastic baggie with the tip cut off? She actually held the bag with both hands and leaned her entire body over the countertop and swayed from side-to-side, drizzling on the chocolate. I liked how the finished cookies looked, so I made some from a superior recipe, then I drizzled the melted chocolate on by just moving my arm from side-to-side, not my entire body. That's as close I have ever come to actually making something semi-ho.

Oh, my God! Is it really you? I haven't seen Formerly Amish in a looooooooong time! Back in the day, I was known as mkd and we were going to have a SLop-Con in DC! I had an Aunt Sandy moment this morning when I heard this on the radio, concerning Andrew Cuomo's office and racy ads on the NY subway: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/04/09/cuomo-aide-takes-aim-at-racy-subway-ads/ They don't mention Sandy's thoughts on the subject, but since she's a walking, talking advertisement for breast augmentation.......

They cruised around Manhattan with some friends on their boat. The boat had a professional crew - a husband and wife - so the owners didn't do anything except show up with their guests. That is the kind of boat Jeffrey should have.

One funny scene was when Mary, Rhoda and Georgette ate fondue together. Georgette kept losing her bread in the fondue pot and her sad face, looking wistfully into the pot, just cracked me up. Georgette was a funny addition as someone who Rhoda took under her wing but, I agree, she couldn't ever be a replacement for Rhoda in the grand scheme of the show.

Ina has at least two recipes for Beef Bourguignon on FN's website. No idea how many she's put in all of her books. I've made the classic version with chuck roast several times and it's always a hit. There is also a filet version which I have not tried. As always, her recipes make a huge amount, so serve to company or plan for lots of leftovers.

There is an interesting feature about the original opening credits on one of the DVD sets - probably season one, since it actually had extras on it. The credits were directed by the same guy who did the original credits for Hawaii Five-O. The hat-tossing bit was just about the only scene that stayed in the credits the whole seven years. There is even a statue depicting it in front of Macy's in Minneapolis!

Amazingly, the original intent was to have Mary and Phyllis be friends and have Rhoda as Mary's adversary. Glad that idea didn't last! Valerie Harper has said that Mary is who you aspire to be, Phyllis is someone you don't want to end up like, but Rhoda is probably the closest to who you are.

I have heard that the part was written as a one-time guest spot for the Lars Affair episode, then was expanded and made permanent for the rest of the show's run. I always liked the scenes where Sue Ann and Murray are insulting each other. Betty White and Gavin MacLeod really played well off of each other.

One story I've heard is that the Ted character was originally conceived as a romantic interest for Mary. I can't even imagine how that would have worked, but it must have been before there was any casting done or any of the other characters were really fleshed out. Another actor who was considered early on was John Aniston, Jennifer Aniston's dad, who spent many years on Days of Our Lives.

Amazon has both books available - Made from Scratch is $1 and The Recipe Box is less than $4. If someone starts a book club, I have an amazon gift card with a couple of bucks left on it, so I'm in. I also have a very small bottle of Goldschläger that my husband bought for me as a joke. I should make a Golden Glory and drink a toast to the new forums! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sandra-lee/golden-glory-recipe.html

Wow, I wouldn't even know where to start with a list of all the Ina dishes I've made over the years. Every Christmas, I make her rugelach. It reminds my family of a cookie that my dear departed great-aunt used to make, the recipe for which has been lost to the ages. I have a bottle of red wine that I'm going to use later this week to make Beef Bourguignon. I am one of the many who attempted the HVPoD. If I had been looking for a cake that was charred black on the outside, while remaining liquid in the middle, it would have been a rousing success. I keep thinking that I will someday make it with the oven set to 325 instead of 350, but that day has not yet arrived.

Hi, all. I am also coming over from TWOP. I've been active there since 2006, I think, under a couple of different names, and I'm looking forward to lots more discussion of all things Ina. By way of introduction, I'm a high school guidance counselor in Maryland. I'm married and have a 21-year-old son who is in his third year of college. My son is a much more adventurous eater than my husband, but we have consumed more than our fair share of Ina dishes over the years. I've been an Ina fan since the days when she used to appear in Martha Stewart Living magazine - back in the 90's. I remember buying The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook and making the chicken skewers with satay dip - my very first Ina recipe. Wow, how time flies!