larapu2000

I have to photograph food frequently for work, and it is NEVER easy. We utilize professional photographers and food stylists for certain shoots, but often do recipe concepts blogger style, where you don't get to use tricks or professional studio lighting to get perfect shots. It's just me, a nearby window, and my best attempt at presentation and angles.

She also can't be bothered to find a REAL local joint for coffee. Cuz....Yolk's a chain, Amber, you absolute fucking idiot.

I would also submit the tart. However, the photo has a bit of a yellow cast. Any chance you can utilize more natural light to get a cleaner shot?

That someone might be me! My grandmother is 95 years old, and while she's in fantastic shape mentally and physically (she just stopped FARMING last year), something like a UTI could absolutely kill her if it went untreated! She has a pacemaker and has had kidney failure for years now (she tracks her sodium like a serial killer so that's why she hasn't had dialysis, etc), so a UTI could totally trigger other parts of her body and end badly. I had no idea that was such a problem in the elderly, and I'm glad I know now!!

As a proud Boilermaker with more than a few friends who had their in state kids waitlisted who were mostly A students with good test scores, I also assert that this is not the real Purdue University, but Global. And this is why alumni feared Purdue University Global would cheapen the brand.....

The tang you tasted is indicative of the preservation method used to can. In this case, it's usually hot fill that's used for glass jars. Hot fill uses heat and acid to make the product shelf stable. In products like tomato sauce, hey, acid is no problem. But in creamy, cheesy products, the tang is not as tasty unless it's a spicy queso with vinegary/spicy notes that kind of cover it up.

I think the best dramas also have the best comedy. Breaking Bad (anything Jesse does when he's not being the show's whipping boy, Hank and his embarrassing bravado at the office), Mad Men (NOT GREAT BOB), The Sopranos (Christopher and Paulie Walnuts together are comedic GOLD), The West Wing's impeccable balance of comedy and drama (actually any Sorkin project) etc, etc. The same thing can be said for good comedies that tackled tough drama (Cheers and Coach dying, Ned's wife on The Simpsons, Penny's abuse on Good Times, Edith's assault on Archie Bunker, every episode of MASH) Good writing transcends the genre, I think.

Totally agree on Better Call Saul. It's fantastic in its own separate way from BB. Saul is a character that doesn't even come into the show until later, so you aren't getting the full Saul Goodman show on BCS. It's incredibly good, there are so many great characters and storylines. One thing I always loved about BB was how tightly written it was, and BCS is the same. No loose end (for the most part) ever goes unanswered or unexplored. I think BCS is also very bingeable like BB is-great cliffhangers and season finales. Both series get into your head and keep you thinking and analyzing long after watching.

Right? And also-there are plenty of kids that choose to abstain from sex and alcohol, for a number of reasons (they don't like the taste, they don't want multiple partners, they want a genuine partnership and it's not entirely based on sex). I think she should have said she wanted her daughters to live a life that is authentic to them and not be restrained by the expectations of the Mormon church. That can include multiple partners and drinking, but it could also include not joining the church and drinking coffee every morning. I don't understand why Heather is obsessed with Lisa and Meredith's friendship, but I did like that Meredith was a good friend to Lisa when she pointed out that both parties refused to perceive anything the other person said in a positive way. We saw barely anything of Mary during the season, WHY do we have to endure almost an entire hour about her creepy relationship with her step grandpa? And her grandma's relationship with him was creepy, too. I don't care how successful those soul food restaurants were, restaurants are not cash cows that lead to a closet of Chanel. Maybe a closet of Ann Taylor.

I hope when they do Lisa's package during the reunion it's just a montage of "I love that."

I would disagree with you 100%. Craft beer and craft distillers are on the rise. Before Prohibition, almost every little town had their own local brewer, and recent trends have definitely moved back in that direction. Most of the more successful brewers also launch restaurant concepts with their tasting rooms, so it's a combo food/beverage mix, but breweries are growing, not diminishing. And whether it makes you "fat" or not also is at odds with movements that focus on a balanced lifestyle of activity and diet that includes indulgences like beer. Austen's crowd doesn't need to drink it if people like the high school football coach who was a lifelong Coors Light bro is now super into lambics and IPAs. How Covid will impact those businesses long term is definitely in question, but not in terms of trends. We are likely to see the local brewery trend for at least a few more decades. Rose also still commands a significant amount more shelf space and hasn't lost that shelf space. Wine trends come and go, and so do beers-if you would have said IPAs are not really a thing, I would have agreed-more brewers are focusing less on the IPA and more on stouts, porters, and American style ales to suit a wider variety of beer tastes.

Kathryn was so desperate to keep her job, it was painful to watch. There was no introspection, there was nothing she said that had any kind of gravitas. She just kept saying "I don't know how to make it right," meaning "I have no way to fix this without some kind of humility and I do not possess that trait." Austen is such a baby. He couldn't even keep up with Madison, he needed his attack dogs Craig and Shep to jump in. These 2 fucking guys just cannot stay out of their relationship. Let your friend drown in the misery, he's never going to truly be done until he's truly done. At Shep's advanced age, you would think he would have learned this by now. And I agree with other posters here-Madison was ABSOLUTELY being slut shamed. They were not accusing her of cheating, rather just the audacity of getting laid. Who cares if she's a star fucker? I would 100% rather watch her than Austen, someone who does NOT "brew his own beer" but gets a brewery to do his work when he could easily take courses in brewing and start his own business. He is so lazy that he doesn't even understand that Madison probably didn't even need him to be wealthy, she just wanted him to be ambitious, and he couldn't even muster the energy to do that. It's not some great accomplishment to get your beer into local grocery stores. He's not nationally distributed at all Publix stores. He doesn't have an exclusivity contract with Kroger. He's part of a group of "local and regional brands" that all grocery stores try to include in their mix. YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL, AUSTEN. I love that Leva threatened to cancel their meeting/agreement because he was a dick to her. No kidding, Austen. Grow the fuck up and be a decent person.

I think bullying and cruel come across as bullying and cruel. I think confidence comes across as confidence, no matter how misplaced you might think it is. My point was simply that we already have plenty of insecure women on our television screens who get cosmetic procedure after procedure to make themselves feel more beautiful, and there is an empty pit that they are trying to fill and the looks aren't the problem. I think Madison is one of the few women that got cosmetic surgery and was like "yep, I'm a babe now, look out, world!" and it's a nice change of pace, honestly. I was overweight for a number of years but still had (in my opinion) a beautiful face. I absolutely celebrated that because I felt so uncomfortable in my body. Someone feeling themselves and thinking they're beautiful is far from the worst crime, especially on a show which has featured rapists, drug users, absentee parents, and people with annoying dolphin laughs.

I found Craig's anger towards Madison to be very disturbing. Even Austen isn't as rageful and vindictive as Craig seems to be. If Craig is upset at Madison spilling the beans about his girlfriend banging Austen, did he honestly think that tidbit wasn't going to see the light of day? I think Craig IS angry that his girlfriend slept with Austen (even though it was way before they were together, etc), and he HATES it, and that's why he's so furious at Madison-he wanted to pretend it didn't happen that way, and she messed all of that up. I actually think Madison handles herself well in dealing with the kind of insane anger that Craig was spitting her direction. I think the men on the show absolutely slut shame the women and then pat each other on the back for the same kind of behavior. From what we know, Madison never cheated on Austen-she was only with people when they were broken up. Austen had video footage of Madison catching him in a threesome while they were together, and somehow, Madison sleeping with other men while she's single is some kind of hideous crime? These. fucking. guys. I was glad that Shep was pushing Austen to take accountability for the fact that he can't let go of Madison. I get that Craig is upset that his friend is obsessing over a woman that he feels isn't good enough for his friend, but his anger was so beyond reason. Either he was on some kind of substance, or his anger is misplaced and, quite frankly, scary as hell.

Ah, yes. Moncler. The brand that innovated puffer ballgowns. Ha ha, eyeroll. Of course Brooks Marks loves them.

I really liked that Whitney has a storyline about a family member with addiction, because I think it portrays the burden and the experience of the non-addict members of a family, but her dad is just the fucking worst. Give me Kim Richards all day over this asshole. Oh, Heather. I really want to like you. I do. But the dating version of you is TERRIBLE. Stop trying so hard. That goes for everything, not just dating.

If there is going to be a discussion about the types of people that should be on our television screens, I think Madison should absolutely be one of them. I think a woman that is beautiful and KNOWS and LIKES that she is beautiful is really terrifying to a lot of people. Sure, she's super vain, but vanity itself isn't a bad thing if other women see her confidence and emulate it. We need more of that, not less. Austen can miss me with his "attention" comment. I'm 100% willing to bet the farm that he absolutely adored the attention and the envy that HE attracted with Madison on his arm from other men and women when they were out together. Fuck you, dude. I also didn't have a problem with Madison not telling Austen she was okay with him dating other people. It was honest. It's absolutely none of her business and not her place as a gatekeeper, but it's not a crime to tell someone that you wouldn't be okay with them moving on quickly from your relationship. I think Madison's issue with Austen is that she actually does love him and care about him, and then she will be reminded of the fact that he has no ambition or drive while she is busting her ass at building up her own small business, and then she hates HERSELF for loving him, which she then takes out on Austen. At least that's my theory. Which she should, because she can definitely do better. In the time that Austen has been on the show, he could have gotten a master brewing certification (around $30k and 9-12 months) and invested in the equipment to start a small brewery and then he could make his own shitty Trop Hop and not be reliant on the brewers copacking for him, and also make more per case/can/keg sold of his product. The guy is so lazy that it hurts. I like Leva. I like watching people who work for their success. I also dislike Kathryn enough that anyone who wants to take her to the cleaners about her shitty, entitled behavior all day every day is welcome on my screen. She's a terrible person.

Well, having been to both, Carmel By the Sea is certainly THE aspirational enclave of aspirational enclaves, but Carmel, Indiana is the aspirational enclave of the state. It's a pretty nice little town, and if she's had that mansion for a while, the real estate market there is insane. The county it's in had one of the fastest growth rates in the country at one point, it might still. I appreciate a good single girl on the town storyline, a woman who has a great family and career that wants to find a real partner, but Heather is not there yet. She's still in the "I NEED LOVE NOW' part of her divorce. She has the means and the ability to look outside of Salt Lake City, AND she also has the means to date exactly who she wants. Is she looking for an uptight Mormon or is that totally off the table? It seems like she has real insight into the fact that she married for material reasons and was miserable, but she seems really confused. Also, she said she was on Bumble for like a month and had shitty dates. LOL, it took me 5 months to meet my fiance after I joined, after about 15-20 terrible dates, and those were the dudes that made it past just chatting. My sister, who has spent YEARS on the app, was kind of pissed that it happened so quickly. I think she thinks she's such a catch, she's the cream of the crop, but I don't know if anyone has told her yet the ugly truth about men in their 40's not really being into women in their 40's. They want the 20 somethings, the 30 somethings. (This is a TOTAL generalization, but just an observation from me and my friend's experiences on dating sites). Basically, someone less complicated and someone that they are financially superior to.

I also only make banana bread because I've frozen the overripe ones. Then I freeze the banana bread in slices because I'm single and can't eat 2 loaves (because I always have more than 1 loaf's worth of bananas!), so it will thaw quickly and easily just by popping it in the toaster or just microwaving for 30 seconds or so. I like the King Arthur recipe, it's pretty solid. Ina Garten's Banana Crunch muffins are also a great way to use up those bananas, but allow me to caution you to cut her recipe in half unless you want eleventy million muffins.

I work for a company that makes pudding (Not Con Agra, the Snack Pack makers), and you are correct-pudding does taste better out of a can. We have extensive blind product cuttings where the canned is pitted against plastic, and can wins every time. The minute you put the can in front of the customer, they immediately choose plastic. Related to this, compare queso from the jar against cheese sauce from a can (Frito Lay has a really good one). Can wins. It's just not as pretty. (In this case, it's the process, not the packaging, that makes the difference).

The one thing it looks like she's had done from that picture is her eyelids. She clearly has hooded eyes in that picture, and now she has a good amount of "hood space." That's a pretty common procedure for women with hooded eyes.

I think beets that are boiled taste like dirt. I think roasted and pickled are the best options for beets. Although, grocery stores are now carrying cooked beets in the produce section pre-cooked and they are pretty good and they save you the time it takes to roast them.

Don't let that stop you if you have a mixer. This is a shortbread base, so it's more cookie than pastry!

Millionaire's Shortbread This is the one I've used for years, but considering trying the one on the Cloudy Kitchen site I linked above for sandwich cookies. I would definitely use dark brown sugar and corn syrup-both flavor and appearance benefit versus the lighter one. I also use Ghirardelli chocolate chips for this instead of chopping up a bar and find it works just fine. (not recommending for other melting/tempering purposes).

New house, new city for Christmas this year with a new fiance. My kitchen is going to be renovated in January, so I am not going to even attempt my normal Christmas candy activities for good reason (electric stove, limited countertop space due to limited cabinet space), so I will be doing cookies to snack on Christmas Day (and to share with friends in the next week or so). I AM going to make my great aunt's toffee like I do every year or it REALLY won't feel like Christmas. Here is the cookie lineup I'm going to try: This is one of my favorite baking bloggers. I've tried several of her recipes, and they are some of the best bakes I've ever made! Hot Chocolate Sandwich Cookies-going to add mint extract Pecan Praline Pie Bark King Arthur Flour Gingersnaps-may do 2 batches, one with a pinch of cayenne, one without I'm also considering a Millionaire Shortbread because it is easy and everyone loves it.