terrymct

I was a bit worried during the segment at the bar when Joao said that he had to be careful not to let his drunk self (forgot the name he gives his drunk alter ego) come out. If this was fiction, that'd be a big old Chekhov's Gun plopped right down in the middle of the table. Hopefully if he does slip it won't be until right at the end of the season. I also hope the stews are smart enough not to start having sex with the deck hands. That never, ever goes well. I've said this in past seasons, but it bears repeating. I work on boats. I have relatives who manage high end charters. In neither case is fraternization among the crew allowed. Nor is bringing a one night stand back to the boat allowed. You'd lose your job on the spot. Edited to add an additional thought. In addition to not being able to cook, Mila isn't meal planning and ordering off that plan. Is someone going to notice all that extra food? The fresh stuff that's going to waste? If she planned, she could order fresh seafood...or order very high quality frozen seafood. That is actually a thing. Any provisioning company in these ports can get you pretty much anything for a price. Instead of using her budget to buy high quality items, Mila is ordering everything but the kitchen sink and hoping something occurs to her. Those deliveries look like she did her ordering at 2am when she was drunk and hungry.

Outside of Mila, it’s a pretty good crew this year. One deckhand who’s a weeee bit lazy, but overall a decent group. Hopefully Sandy cans Mila at the end of this trip. Sandy’s friend is a piece of work, a loud and demanding person who gets more rude as she drinks more and more. She was right about the crummy food but I swear she’s like a cast member of The Jersey Shore.

Agree on all your points. She can't even follow a recipe. There was clearly a piece of paper to which she was referring (and the 3rd stew had one, too). I'm not knocking using a recipe, for baking you have to unless you've made the same item enough to have memorized it. Baking is science. After looking at the video someone linked last week of her trying to do a cooking show, I'm thinking more and more that she has no interest in cooking at all. Probably saw a few cooking shows and thought she could do that sort of thing, that it looks easy. An experienced home cook could have planned out a better meal and followed a recipe. Mila can't.

She said that she didn't study baking...which seems like it would be hard to avoid at least the basics of baking if she did actually go through a full program at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. More and more it's looking like Mila's "studies" there might have been short lived. Even a chef who hates baking should be able to put out a basic cake if need be. I wonder what the passengers think when they see these episodes air. This group was a genuinely nice group of people who treated the crew well and was there to enjoy themselves. They'd have to be giving second thoughts to that tip.

As imagined by a Japanese teenager

If Hester would listen to significant input, it’d be great to see her to a stint under a hip and young-ish or avante garde designer who doesn’t do accessories at all. She could Improve her construction skills and maybe bring some fresh ideas to her Clueless Goes to Japan style. The Blonds? Alexander McQueen?

...and Hester used hers to dress herself and still her own creation looked bad on her. She should have stayed with one of her more usual silhouettes for herself and a more resilient fabric since she’d be wearing it for hours rather than just down the runway.

Hestor would have to make some significant changes. DvF's wrap dress won’t work well with a Plz Die beret and a teddy bear purse. Hester would be better off with Betsy Johnson. Or Juicy. Or a website catering to young women who attend anime conventions.

My BF watched the runways with me, first he’s seen of the show this season. His comment about Hester: Why is she ripping off Japanese street and anime style? Second comment: Why are the judges acting like Hester's stuff is unique. I said others have wondered that as well. Garo was profoundly bad at time management. I don’t understand why he didn’t abandon that gown that was too big. It’s a nice dress, but he had better in his collection. Glad that Sebastian won. His outfits were outstanding. Nina gave a nice little speech at the end, too. A well deserved win.

Hester’s third outfit was as much Christian’s as hers. He gave her specific advice repeatedly that saved her. Bishme got “Oh I’m sure you’ll think of something”. No brainstorming or suggestions of any real use for him.

I’m hoping that someone on Twitter asks the judges if they’re seen the movie.

Oh dear lord, that’s horrible. Tie back your damn hair for a start. If she really went to Le Cordon Bleu Paris, they should rescind her degree.

Hester is clearly getting the sympathetic winners edit, but I think Sebastian had the far superior mini collection. His outfits were gorgeous, flattering, and looked runway ready. Hester’s sewing improved when she was given more time but she’s still passing off cosplay as something original. Bisme, poor soul, fell apart and for understandable reasons. He didn’t even arrive with a complete collection. He deserved to go home because of that if nothing else. Sending him home is also a mercy to him so he can be with his sister. Garo, wtf? The suit was crappy. The judges were right. That was a hard extra assignment but why didn’t he make a jacket and mini skirt rather than pants then put the saved time into the jacket? The sequined mini dress was pretty mainly because of that sparkly fabric.

I like her, but I wish she'd make some better decisions. Hooking up or starting a relationship with someone when you're living in such tight quarters is asking for trouble, especially when you're in a leadership position. When Hannah is firing on all cylinders, she's very good at her job but she undermines her own position.

You're value judgement of "serious" is a problem. No, not all serious cooks would. It's not necessary although it can be fun or interesting depending on where you hope your career takes you. Not all serious cooks would or could jump from a community college or other program to the LCB Paris or CIA. It'd be a potentially great experience, particularly the CIA, but not a needed one. What you're saying and what I'm relaying from my family is a good demonstration, though, of the differences in attitudes of people who went to LCB and those who chose not to or weren't able to afford it. I'm glad you found your experience at LCB worthwhile.

That's how I interpreted the snippet in the preview, but it's hard to tell. And with this bunch, who knows.

I was invited to the wedding of a fellow student when I was in grad school. Sitting at the reception, I kept looking over at the bar wondering when they'd start serving and if we'd have to pay. Eventually, the maid of honor came over and asked me why I wasn't bar tending. She and the bride decided that I'd tend bar for the reception as a gift to the happy couple (in addition to the gift I gave them)...but they forgot to ask/tell me. I should have walked out, but instead went along with it. I was possibly the worst wedding bartender ever. Didn't know how to make many of the drinks people asked for, so I'd ask them to describe it and I'd give it a try. That day ended my friendship with a couple of people.

If you have a long torso, a jumpsuit tends to give you a continuous wedgie, too. Regarding the comments about "your girl", I was part of a focus group for a new-ish clothing company from whom I've bought several items. The group was fairly diverse from young fashion bloggers to me, an middle aged broad who has a physically active life. At one point, the company folks mentioned that they were thinking of getting into lingerie including panties. Comments around the table mostly centered on making the pieces look beautiful and sexy. When it came time for me, I said that I needed underwear that look nice but more importantly that came be washed multiple times without the elastic falling off or losing it spring. The panties also can't walk up my backside during the course of the work day. OMG, you should have seen the looks the young women gave me. Let's talk again in a couple of decades, ladies. lol

I asked some follow up questions about Le Cordon Bleu (American) and culinary schools more generally. The opinion of the chefs was that LCB's biggest downfall (or co-biggest along with cost) was that they were terrible about job placement. Other culinary schools, from the Culinary Institute of America down to the community college programs, usually offer really good job placement opportunities. In many of them, including the CIA, students do rotations through restaurants that have long standing relationships with the school. That gets you real kitchen experience and some references as well. Some people can get a job after graduation at one of those kitchens, too. Culinary schools (other than LCB) also have pipelines into jobs with hotel chains, which gives you a decent paying job right off the bat but also means that the hotel chain is likely to move you from place to place around the country which sucks once the novelty wears off. Unless you are already known in a kitchen (such as through a previous rotation), a culinary school grad has to start out on the lowest rungs to prove that he/she knows the basics such as knife skills, sauces, and so forth. Then they're given a test on the line to see if they can handle stress and if they can work their short term memory quickly as orders come and go. Once those tests are passed, just like people who come in without a culinary school diploma, you could be moved into a more interesting position. I also described Chef Old El Paso's meals. The former and current chefs laughed their butts off, as we did. They said that either this woman went to just a vanity short course or she's lying about having gone to any culinary school at all. Food safety is stressed from the get-go (no licking raw steaks or your fingers, this was met with looks of true horror when I described it). Structuring a menu and timing courses is stressed, as well, both in culinary school and coming up through kitchens. There was a long discussion on how easy it is to cook the things she was trying to do. Oh, and using old ranch dressing from the back of the fridge for people who paid beaucoup bucks, that elicited gales of laughter and a comment that maybe it was her own cooking that made her throw up.

Has there been any update on how Norman is?

Not a surprise really. She doesn't have degrees or experience that might support the kind of career service she's advertising.

Gretchen was about my breaking point, too. Coochie shorts interspersed with shorts and pants that sagged so much in the back that they looked like those canvas bags they put on horses that pull carriages through city parks. Miz Gretchen is apparently out of the fashion design business and now advertises herself as a business advisor and strategic consultant. Of what and to whom remain to be discovered. https://www.gretchenjones.co/

I think it's going to become significant this year that one of the new stews has chef experience. Miz Old El Paso is on greased skids out the door.

Poor Keith, Monty, and the whole family. Keith has serious anger issues, but they're obviously a close family who care about each other. Keith and Monty's reactions were a testament to the importance of their Dad in their lives. The Cornelia Marie is more of a cheap sideshow than a real fishing operation. I wish they weren't on the show anymore. I wondered about Edgar running the boat. There is a crane operation station on the NW above the working deck, so it'd be easier to reach from the bridge, but that still seemed like a lot of running up and down ladders/stairs for a man who had a heart attack a year ago. If Edgar wasn't ghosting on the ship, Sig would have just picked up another crew person in Dutch, like we've seen so many other boats do. Jake A thinks about morale and treatment of his crew until he's been out to sea a while and is tired and stressed out, then his bad behavior kicks in.

I have family members who are or have been professional chefs in the US and Caribbean and make/made good money at it. None of them or any of their contemporaries went to culinary school, in fact they make fun of people who do so. They all started in entry level jobs in kitchens, cleaning and chopping, then worked their way up step by step until they were running or owning the operation. I asked their impression of LCB. Responses: Expensive. Not worth it. Graduates come out with massive attitudes but lack skills and experience. Hiring one means that you have to reteach him/her, which can be slower than teaching someone who is motivated but knows little.