caitmcg

The filling was a French buttercream (hence pouring the hot sugar syrup into the egg yolks), so the texture was probably fine on its own. I assume the addition of custard powder was to impart that classic flavor, akin to the filling in Nanaimo bars, which is American buttercream flavored with custard powder.

That almost looks like it’s embroidered.

You're right, I reversed her and Dan's places.

Tasha was eighth in the technical. I think you meab Abbi, who was second after Dan. Handshakes are pretty unusual in the showstopper, haven't there only been a couple? I know when he gave one to Rahul, that was the first. Overall, I thought the showstopper was a good challenge. The illusion seems like it requires a bit more than, say, making a biscuit board game, but it's far less ridiculous than having them make self-supporting biscuit mobiles, where there's as much concern on the contestants' part for engineering as for baking. This was all about the bakes and the looks.

A good article about Kwame Onwuachi in the New Yorker, that goes deep into his background, career (I had no idea he'd briefly abandoned cooking for a try at acting after his well-known setbacks), and current very successful endeavors.

He said cherries, which I found puzzling. I also could've sworn broken-buttercream-guy literally said outloud the butter was too cold, so it's not that he didn't know what went wrong... The cosmo-inspired cake was the lobster showstopper, per wikipedia, and yes, he said cherries. Cranberries would've worked just as well paired with orange and lime, though. I think you're right about the cold butter comment, so I assumme it was a case of rushing to try and get things done (and probably nerves) on the first challenge.

That's the ticket. For a similar recipe online, this is the one from Rose Levy Beranbaum's classic Pie and Pastry Bible. Or for a tart, Alice Medrich's recipe (I love the her tart crust, so easy and with a wonderful texture). Those first two were never broadcast in the US. You can watch the Roku channel free online, as well as via a Roku device.

They've been a bit of a thing for several years. If you search for vertical roll cake online, you will see many recipes, including on a lot of American sites. I forgot to mention in my earlier post that, as an Oaklander, I was amused by Amos's green-and-yellow 'A' sweater, as it's an A's sweater, down to the font, just minus the 's.

The signature was a little more difficult than most cake week signatures have been, when they're the very first challenge of the competition. Often they've been standard things like drizzle cakes, fruit cakes, and regular Swiss rolls, and the vertical swirl cake is definitely a bit more technically challenging. I did like that while the technical was a cake that has the iconic look for the show, it's also a very common layer cake where they were being judged on their mastery of the components and there were no big losers. I've always assumed it's something like 25% each for the signature and technical, 50% for the showstopper, more or less. Doing great in one of the first two can help you, but there's no coming back from really tanking the showstopper. He did great in the technical, was sort of middling in the signature (he had issues with his chocolate drizzle and the whole thing was a kind of messy), and his showstopper was a disaster. You could really see how very dense and heavy his cake layers were. Sign languages have their own grammar and vocabularies, and there is a huge number used worldwide, even at the local dialect level.

Unfortunately, with regard to the ADA, the way it's structured means the only real mechanism for enforcing compliance is bringing suit. (This is also true regarding other kinds of discrimination in many instances in the US.) I guess I should have guessed they'd do an abuse/control storyline before the show ended, since they haven't made a point of addressing it in their teen relationships before. (It didn't seem the show regarded Adam and Eric's relationship as having that dynamic, even if many of the viewers did.) I do really love Jackson and Viv's friendship, though.

They've always been accepting and supportive of each other and of one another's interests, but Otis looked very uncomfortable when Eric brought up that they never discuss his Christianity or talk about race, and quickly changed the subject. It's entirely realistic that he would be uncomfortable given that he's young, white, and probably a nonbeliever (or at least someone non-religious) given his upbringing. But these are issues that have become more front-burner for Eric lately. and that he's able to address with his new friends, so it is understandable that he would want to be able to speak openly about them with his best friend, too.

No, A-levels, which are subject exams based on courses of study. I think the closest US approximation might be AP exams, but these are required for university admission and it will be based on them, rather than on the whole body of secondary school grades. That’s my understanding, anyway (I’m American.)

The system us different in the UK; my understanding is sixth form college is the final part of secondary school for those who want to qualify for post-secondary education, basically equivalent to junior and senior year but not mandatory (which is why Adam could opt not to go). For this reason, Brits only refer to undergrad as university, whereas in the US a university is specifically an institution that grants graduate degrees. Almost everyone acted really obtusely. Jo certainly could have been more considerate, not just by not getting plastered but at the very least by not planting herself between Otis and Maeve, and Jackson knew how much Viv likes Beau.

I did not mind the Santos campaign storyline, but I always thought it would have been more interesting, story-wise, to have Vinnick win. That might not meet the WW wish-fulfillment brief, but it seeing how all the stalwarts adjusted to that transition might have been more compelling.

I know these as Francois Payard’s flourless chocolate walnut cookies, which I first made years ago (this version is all over the web). I also find your standard meringue cookies (like forgotten cookies) way too sweet.

https://www.gamesradar.com/sex-education-season-4-finale-feature-length-netflix/ Season 4 drops on September 21.

When Mimi, who could sell fire to Phoenix in August, doesn’t really try, you know your look is not headed for glory.

Also where the Obamas have their Chicago manse.

Gotta take advantage of peak summer fruit, so blackberry and apricot shortcake. I macerated the fruit with a sprinkle of sugar and a little peach liqueur while we ate dinner.

Rami was on S4 (with Christian), and Korto and Leanne were on S5. And Leanne didn’t do the “petals” all season, it was just the through-line of her winning final season.

Fun bit of cast trivia: I listened to the most recent episode of the It’s Not Only Football podcast, with Jesse Plemons (they’re talking about the beginning of Season 2 and the murder, among other things), and he kind of blew Scott Porter and Zach Gilford's minds with the news that the actors who played Devin and the Swede are married. Apparently, they’re both musicians in real life, and met some years ago at a music f3stkval.

Bagel-shaped quick breads, maybe. But the baking powder measurement has to be a typo. Four and a half tablespoons is more than a quarter cup. Teaspoons, perhaps? The writing on that whole post is pretty sloppy.

She uses the reverse creaming method for all her butter cakes, which produces a fine, soft crumb.

I’m of the opinion that Anya’s aesthetic was basically caftans because she didn’t know how to sew — in contrast to Uli in S3, who had a similar aesthetic, but had the skills to easily step outside when necessary. Anya stated she learned to sew specifically to enter, and she could not set a sleeve without help from her fellow contestants. What Anya had in spades was style, and she was telegraphed as the favorite from the get-go. Her coasting to the win was a big reason I stopped watching until the show returned to Bravo.

@annzeepark914, thank you!