Aquarius

I could have written this. I know I didn't because I'm not so charitable as to say "He's such a talented baker and I would love to try the things he makes . . ." I hate that I can't because he's a kid. But he's an obnoxious sore-loser kid so I'm hoping my seat in Hell isn't too too close to the eternal fire. Justice for life. Even willing to forgive the lame-ass guinea-pig story because I'm rooting for him so much.

Yes, Kaniyah was FOS about seeing rabbits eating pineapple at a petting zoo. But Justice completely made up a story linking peach pie to guinea pigs, so I don't feel like that really matters. Apparently neither do Duff and Valerie because they are very inconsistent when it comes to enforcing the challenge rules. Random thoughts: How good could that pineapple upside cake be? It's not one of my favorites, but how would one differentiate it? And seriously, Black Forest cake is something from the Dark Ages but pineapple upside down cake is somehow cutting edge? Cole's spider looked like a tick. I can't believe he doesn't know spiders have eight legs. Also, that was a nice Charlotte's Web reference, but I can't help but think that Charlotte would have been HORRIFIED to be presented on a plate with bacon. I don't know, I was getting some sociopathic vibes from the whole mini-pig = bacon thing, and the reference to Charlotte's Web just added to it. Did Cole not read the book, or did he just really not get the book? I really don't like Cole so understand that my whole viewpoint is colored by that. Aiden's dessert was a hot mess. I laughed so hard when Duff pointed out that one of the turtle's legs wasn't even attached. He also made a comment during deliberations that Aiden stuck eyes on a blob of buttercream and called it a fish. Hee. It's wrong of me to get such glee out of these things, because Aiden is a kid and he does seem like a nice one. But I am just so tired of his histrionics and drama, coming as it does with fairly mediocre baking. I'm hoping Duff's comments this episode are foreshadowing for next episode and we can bid Aiden farewell. "I'd be amazed if that egg came out of that chicken." - this cracked me up. But c'mon, they are cake decorations (albeit not very good ones). Since when do fondant cake decorations need to be to scale? It was even mentioned during the elimination that this was one of the problems with Audra's cake. As much as I love Justice, that donut hole bore no resemblance to a guinea pig and I don't remember him being called out on that. And finally, what dessert would one associate with a guinea pig? I could think of ones for the rest but nothing came to me for guinea pigs.

Going back to Cheers, she was played by the even more incomparable Emma Thompson. "Nanny G-Spot" - Lilith. Hee. I hated Niles and Daphne as a couple. Yes, Niles was always obsessed with Daphne from the moment he saw her. But I never bought Daphne falling for Niles. They should have had Niles moving on from his obsession over time, IMO.

Yes, it is still debated. But what a lot of people don't realize is that today's soy bears very little resemblance to the soy that's been eaten for thousands of years (which is closer to edamame). The "soy crowd" often cites humanity's many hundreds of years of beneficial use, without knowing or acknowledging the extensive genetic modification that soy has undergone in modern times. From what I've read, much of the good has been stripped out in favor of a more robust, productive crop. Don't get me started on vegetable oils (olive and rapeseed aside). What a health travesty, that the public thinks they are doing their health a favor by eating oils that are created by vulcanization (a process first perfected for the production of rubber) rather than allowing something like butter or lard pass their lips. Vulcanization relies on a combination of temperature and pressure that does not exist naturally on this planet. You can make lard on your stovetop. I know what I consider more suitable for consumption.

Soy is (was?) considered an estrogen-mimicking substance, so that's the link. Similar to parabens.

I don't know about baking with it, but I've had cocktails made with rose water. It's a very interesting taste, sort of like the old fashioned Choward's Violet Mints, and not at all disgusting when done properly. I'm sure like anything else it's not a taste enjoyed by everyone but it's not like chewing a rose petal. Which I know, because as a child I did chew a rose petal. This challenge really annoyed me because WTF did coming up with stories for apps have to do with baking? And then they were so disappointed in Jason because he loves to talk, and yet didn't come up with any good stories? Uh, just because a person loves to talk doesn't mean he loves to extemporaneously come up with fake-ass stories for some stupid made-up apps. It's true that Jason was annoying and he didn't live up to the challenge but the part that they focused on had nothing to do with baking. Really, Audra should have gone home this week. Aiden presents an under-baked sugar cookie under a half-inch of fondant (removable, luckily) and he's safe? The mind, it boggles. I dislike Cole and love Justice, but I have to admit Cole did get robbed this week.

I agree. It also made me sad that my wedding cake was a Black Forest cake. And all this time I did not know it had gone the way of mutton and mead. Plus, Team Waffle had four members to three on Team Pancake. Why the hell did they do a two team challenge on a week with an odd number of contestants?

It totally pissed me off that Ree tried to co-opt the traditions of the Osage Nation by wrapping ground beef and pepper jack cheese in a frozen dinner roll. Like, seeing-red pissed off.

nevermind - apparently I'm too stupid to imbed an image

Get away from me with that shit!

I hear it as "Not since my sewing phase." Which makes perfect sense to me, as someone who went through one twenty years ago.

He is. And he's always been this way, since the "Prince of New York" days. He's an egomaniac.

I don't file using Turbo Tax. I e-file for free using the IRS site. My taxes are not complicated and my deductions are straightforward. I just follow the instructions on the electronic forms. Yes, I have to run some of the math myself but it certainly isn't anything I need to pay an accountant to do.

Dylin's "hot dog" was the saddest palest softest excuse for a hot dog I have ever seen. I have a fondness for hot dogs going back to childhood and I'm pretty forgiving about them in general, but I wouldn't go near that with a 10-foot pole, even knowing it was cake. It looked soooo gross! Aidan's meatball sub was pretty impressive. I loved how they could eat it like a sandwich. He also had some pretty decent looking fries and ketchup on the plate but I don't think they went into how those tasted. Cole needs to lay off the glitter. His plate looked fantastic on our SD TV . . . the glitter didn't really show up . . . so I can just imagine that if he had left it off he would have had a chance at winning the challenge. Duff and Valerie liked the taste, I thought. But I could be misremembering. That grilled cheese looked real. Is grilled cheese on Texas toast a thing outside of Texas? Or even in Texas? I can imagine that would be pretty unwieldy to eat. The best part of grilled cheese to me is all the gooey cheese; I would leave off the bread entirely if it was technically feasible. I love frico but it's just not the same. And YESSSS!!!!! Jason (CHOCOLATE!!!!) is becoming annoying. That burrito did look good though.

People watch all sorts of shows featuring unsavory characters doing things they'd never do (crime shows, reality shows, talk shows). That's how I view Ree's show. It's fascinating . . . how does she get away with so many crimes against cooking?

I hope this doesn't make things awkward, but I think I love you.

No way that after two months, with all the given evidence including the domestic violence allegations (or were they convictions?), that the mother should have allowed her boyfriend access to her daughter, or should be considering moving in together. But what gets me is those statistics. Dr Phool has shown those before, in what seems to me an attempt to shame single mothers into celibacy. What I object to is those statistics just glide on by the potential of abuse by a biological father or his associates. Like incest just doesn't happen, and being married to the biological father is a lock that no abuse will occur. Not so. If you're going to post alarming statistics, go all the way,

I work for a company dealing in privatized records. They don't come in that way. I don't have access to any of them, but I know people who do, and I wouldn't put my absolute faith in some of them. As for the point about limited resources and doing the job to the best of capabilities, I understand that's true on a local level. But I'm sorry, what happened with the Verizon phone records has convinced me that in the digital age, pigs in a poke are cheaper to find than they used to be. A search bot is not a huge drain of resources. All of the above is tinfoil hat notwithstanding.

I don't really go out of my way to watch Giada any more, either. Not because what she might be doing in her sex life (although I do hope she's enjoying herself and not acting out because of some prior trauma). I just find her so shrill and insufferable now. Every now and then, her "Entertains" show slips in when I have FN on for background noise. And, damn! All the shouting for attention during the lame-ass party scenes. "NANCY IS SO GOOD AT PICTIONARY!" "THIS IS FOR YOU, PATTY! I KNOW YOU LIKE CHOCOLATE!" "ASHLEY TOOK TWO!!! TWO!!!" Ugh. Even though these scenes are filmed and there's probably half a million breaks between takes, how these people don't just walk out because they can't take it anymore, I don't understand. And I've mentioned "Giada's Feel Good Food," wherein I learned just how Giada manages to be so fabulous by washing her face and brushing her teeth (with helpful photos lest my unfabulous self have trouble with the concepts). That pretty much did me in.

But who would care, unless they have something to hide? Said by the authorities about every breach of privacy or violation of civil rights, ever. As you may guess, I too wear a tinfoil hat.

Lidia Bastianich is ethnically Croat (which would probably be considered "Eastern European" - what a wide and useless classification). But she considers herself 100% Italian . . . again, with the culture vs DNA thing . . . It would even apply to our ancestors born of an ethnicity but raised in a different place. People have been emigrating and immigrating for a long time. This DNA thing seems more and more meaningless to me. I had a friend whose entire immediate family took the test at the interest of her sister, who is a genealogy fiend. She told me that she came up 20% Persian, apparently from her mother who came up 10% Persian, as her father had no Persian DNA. It's been a while since I took my Genetics class in college, and to be fair I don't know what algorithm they are using to calculate percentage, but I don't see how that is possible given how heredity works. So even before these annoying commercials, I've been a little suspect of the whole profiling idea.

Speaking of Yogurt Bitches, the two in the car repeating "Protein-y!" to each other must be the significant others of the Sonic idjits.

I took the beginning shot in the car to be on the way back from/to the grandfather's services. The kid seems like he's wearing a suit and his parents look dressed up as well. It's a sweet commercial.

And that stupid jack-wad who wears a kilt because his family thinks they are Scottish but trades it in for lederhosen when he finds out he's really German. Way to throw the culture you grew up in out the door. Which brings up a whole 'nother issue for me. Isn't your "culture" the one you are raised in? I mean, I was raised more or less as if I am a Polish-German American. If I found out that my German side was really Swiss, or Croatian, or Latvian - would I suddenly have a whole new "culture"? Does that come with awareness of your DNA, if you never even met the ancestors from whom it came? I just struggle with that concept, that you get a whole new understanding of your culture.

The Cheerios ad with "MORE BABIES, PLEASE! THEY'RE FUN!" Fuck you, Cheerios. They're not toys. They are human beings who require commitment and care for two decades or more. And this world does not need more of them created for simple amusement. Ugggh. So much hate for that commercial.