Bastet

As do I. I love live shows - if I'm there. I have no interest in listening to recordings of them.

I'm lucky enough to have several great pizza joints and Italian restaurants nearby that deliver, so I never have to deal with the chains when I want to order a pizza (Round Table is the only one I find remotely worth consuming; the rest are terrible). And I make my own pizza sometimes, too. But every once in a while when one of the grocery stores has a really good sale on CPK frozen pizzas, I'll pick one of those up (the thin & crispy crust kind, because I am a thin crust person, period, and I especially do not want a lot of frozen pizza crust) and shove it in the freezer for a lazy night. My pizza peeve is pizza places that do not offer a wheat crust option. That - and a gluten-free offering - is such a standard thing by now in my area, that when a restaurant doesn't have it, I don't even bother trying them out (I'll eat a regular crust, I just prefer whole wheat), because there are so many other places that do for me to choose from. Oh, and also how few places know how to do a proper thin crust.

This is a small town where everyone knows everybody's business. So Katey Sagal's character not only knew Dan then as the HS football star she had a crush on and now as the guy she likes chatting with at the bar when he comes into Becky's restaurant, she knows that he's a man who was happily and faithfully married until his wife's death, who has never been a deadbeat, who's close with his family, and who has a good sense of humor - no wannabe trophy wife is going to have him in her sights, no, but someone his age who's hoping to find a companion would absolutely be attracted to Dan.

I don't eat bearnaise sauce because I hate egg yolks, but tarragon is a must-have ingredient when I make chicken salad sandwiches from leftover roasted chicken breast, so that plus the recesses of my brain knowledge of what's in bearnaise other than the dreaded yolks made it spring to mind. And then I second-guessed myself before checking the answer as I, too, have never made or been served tuna salad with tarragon. But the clue was specifically about tuna pasta salad, and I don't eat pasta salads (other than my mom's macaroni salad), so maybe that specific application is a traditional tarragon recipe we're both unfamiliar with.

As always, I love Becky and Darlene together; their entire pool game conversation is made of win. (I don't love how the fact Ben is her fucking boss never seems to occur to anyone questioning/mocking Darlene’s relationship with him.) Aunt Becky as the new Aunt Jackie is fun. And I love Darlene telling the cop, when she finds out what happened, to ignore the screaming that will later be reported coming from the house. Darlene sending a crossword puzzle and candy care package when Mark died is a nice bit of humor in the midst of the very real issue that Becky losing her husband to death caused Darlene to lose her husband to abandonment, so Darlene was not there for her despite Becky’s explicit request (which would have really cost Becky), but of course she wasn’t, because she’d been left with a kid and a baby on the way.The dynamic changing, and then changing again, about who needs who, was so well done, and so true to the original series. And there was fun stuff throughout; their “gross” reaction to the “I’m up for either” guy was great, and “There is no way to miss that shot; you should get a brain scan immediately.” Good for Jackie finally asserting herself against Peter’s abusive tactics, and in far less time than it took her to do so with Fisher. Progress! I liked Katey Sagal in this; I know who she is, but I’ve never really watched her in anything. I initially found her character tacky hitting on a man who just lost his wife of nearly 50 years, but then she handled herself very well when he said he wasn’t into it, and I turned around on her - she gave it a shot, and respected his feelings. They may further develop a friendship, it may transition down the road, it may never amount to anything more than shared interests and chats during her shift, and any of that is okay. I’m glad it’s way too early for Dan (I love him twirling his wedding ring while he turns her down); while it’s true that widowed men tend to enter into another relationship sooner than widowed women, I don’t want this show to go there too quickly. I loved Becky’s face while watching them in the initial scene at the bar, but I'm slightly conflicted on how I feel about Jackie, Becky, and Darlene all just focusing on how Dan is oblivious and cluing him in; there should be, from at least one of them, some reflexive push-back to the very idea of him dating, but, then again, maybe it's that they all know he's not there, so they're not worried about it, and they'll deal with their conflicting emotions when it does happen. Random notes: Why is Mary there as Dan makes the grandkids their breakfast and sends them off to school, when D.J. and Geena don’t live there? Maybe Mary just spent the night because they both had appointments in the morning or something. The “trading them zinc, nickel, and copper” joke should have been left alone; don’t hit us over the head with “someday they’ll be called coins” to make sure the masses get it. Harris keeping her coat on instead of coming in and hanging it on the old coat hook like the characters all routinely did in the original series distracted me. Becky did, too, later, although with her it could just be that she was coming in and heading right back out, but she did it yet again after that, although she was doing laundry that time so maybe it was just because she was out there in that less-insulated service porch, but then Harris also had her coat on inside the house later. It’s weird; are we supposed to infer they can’t afford heat?

If I ignored Chris Kimball's quirks to just enjoy the food and information, I can easily do it with Julia's; with her and Bridget, I don't even register them. Becky's I notice, but they don't distract me enough to bother me.

Quite a few “really?” TS and incorrect guesses tonight as the game got going. Thankfully, things picked up a good bit, because the first half of the first round was painful; I think Alex was wondering how the hell these people made it onto the show. Even though things were flowing much better, given their propensity for dumb guesses, I just knew one of them was going to guess vernal instead of autumnal equinox. I loved the de-cap-itate ‘em category; I love vocabulary categories in general, and that one particularly tickled me. I'd have, as always with anything related to religion, bet zero on FJ, but I actually knew a psalm was a hymn, so I got it.

I was out last night, so I just read the clues on the archive, and Will Hays as a TS surprised me. Charlie Parker as a TS made me sad.

There was a good bit of discussion in this thread about whether Jill grew up wealthy or married into money, and last night an old episode was on, where she returns from her retreat, refuses to keep paying for everyone's lunch, and winds up going to a different meeting. Her share is that she has always been rich, and thus never knew whether people liked her for her or her money; did her classmates really want to come to her 13th birthday party, or did they just want the free trip to Hawaii?

When you take her in for her follow-up, I would suggest finding out whether he is doing a culture, or just the urinalysis. If the latter, he only knows there is an infection, but not the source, so is just making an educated guess as to what antibiotic to use. In that case, I'd suggest a culture if this happens again, so you can find out if a different antibiotic should be used. (UA quickly says yep, there are bacteria present in the urine sample, while culture says okay, after being let to grow in this petri dish for several days, we can see that it's [specific type of bacteria]. And then there's a list of what antibiotics different bacteria are sensitive to.) But I hope you don't have to deal with YAUTI!

I love number 16.

Well, shit. I expected the Rams to play an incredibly tough game, and more likely than not lose, in Chicago, but this loss still stings for coming to fruition. And it's not lost on me that had the St. Louis Rams lost said game, I'd be thrilled as someone who has long liked the Bears and the Saints. Plus the fucking Cowboys won. But so did the Giants (go figure) and Raiders, and the Patriots lost, so it's not a total shitfest of a day.

Chronic UTIs are indeed frustrating! How long between UTIs usually, and are they doing follow-up cultures* a week or two after the antibiotic shot wears off each time to make sure there are no bacteria lingering? Because sometimes what happens is the antibiotic knocks out almost all of those little buggers, but the very few that remain reproduce and, voila, in time the infection is enough to cause symptoms again. Lather, rinse, repeat, because you're never truly eradicating the infection with a single course of antibiotics. Or, if they don't even run the original culture to determine the specific bacteria causing the infection, rather than just seeing the evidence of bacteria, period, in the urinalysis (or, at this point, just her usual symptoms) and treating based on an educated guess, that can also cause limited success. Because Convenia is a broad-spectrum antibiotic, which treats the several bacteria that are the most-common culprits in UTIs. But maybe her infection is caused by one of the less-common ones, and a different antibiotic is needed to eradicate it, because the one given only has moderate effect on that one. Maddie's UTIs were always caused by E.coli (well, after the first few times, I quit doing the culture to confirm, but it's a safe bet). That bacteria is sensitive to Baytril, so I initially gave her a course of those pills, but it's also sensitive to Convenia, so I switched to that injection for convenience with the next one, and so on. When I realized the timing suggested maybe we were almost but not completely knocking it out, rather than there truly being discrete infections, I gave her a triple course of the Convenia - one shot every two weeks for six weeks. Follow-up culture at two weeks and then at a month, I think, just to make absolutely sure. Always clear, and she never had another UTI, so it was either a tremendous coincidence or my hunch was right and she just needed a longer course than is normally adequate.

Lizzy and Tania.

He'll appear for the remainder of the season; it's not going to be one of those shows where the character gets a pet and then the audience never sees her/him again. Now, if they wind up doing a second season, we'll see how often he appears. But the dog is confirmed to be in the remaining episodes.

I make some sort of side salad with every* dinner, but I've long since stopped eating it as part of my meal -- like you, I usually eat it while I'm cooking. *Well, almost every. Not dinners like I'm going to have tonight, where I make a vat of spinach, artichoke & cheese dip, open a bag of tortilla chips, call that dinner, and plop down to watch football.

I'm more surprised with older, easily identifiable kids than with babies, who all look alike. I suspect we'll see less of the baby as he ages; if Lizzy is breast-feeding, she pretty much has to have him with her all the time, but later she can be more selective. Then again, people plaster their kids' photos all over social media these days, so if they're of that mindset, it may not bother them to have the kid filmed. We've seen a fair bit of M2's kid, but nothing that will embarrass him when he's older.

Oh, my – Go Go is aptly named! She’d be way too much dog for me, but adorable to watch. The first one, who just decided he was going to lie down instead of walking out the door, cracked me up in a completely different way. BFG is a terrific cuddlebug, and so sweet. Like Tia said, he knows how to sell himself. Kudos to the owners accepting that the trachea and leash issues will be part of the package – that’s a big, powerful dog to commit to handling when you absolutely cannot pull on his neck. “Seriously, way to show me up, Mom, thanks” was funny – Tia used to do a lot of training, and she’s still got it. I like that Tia did the home check herself. Heading immediately for the toys was hilarious. BFG likes the whole family and they all like him, but he is so going to be the woman’s dog; she adores him. He’s going to have a great life there. LOL at Tia acknowledging she does not look like she used to, and whatever. Tania’s hatred of technology always makes me laugh, especially because she's young. We finally got a mention of Perry; I like that he seems to be taking point on the daily care of Salem. Also that they’re mostly keeping her off the show. Marcel’s rescue of the dumped dog was really something to watch – the way he earned her trust when she wanted nothing to do with anyone else, how he beat himself up when she took off, having to start over with her after that, and “Hey, you want to snap into a Slim Jim?” Ha! Of course that becomes her name. She was really sweet once she got comfortable, so I hope she finds a home quickly, because I think she’ll settle right back into being a great pet.

It's been nice knowin' ya, @mojoween.

This was just on TV again, and I thus watched it again, and one thing I don't often comment on is that I like it's Louie - Truvy's loser, "What'd you hire her for?" son - who hops on his motorcycle and tells Sammy to get his tail hopping so he can give him a ride to the hospital at the end when Anelle goes into labor.

I missed a good chunk of the first round (after missing last night's entirely), so based on the abbreviated game I saw, Manolo Blahnik, lemongrass, and foxtail were the TS that surprised me (and they were all clues I got not because I knew the specific fact at hand, but because the category and/or the clue within the clue got me there). Lemongrass was the most surprising, because they're spotted the grass and then there's something pointing to citrus in the clue; duh. I liked the category about Alex's medical file; I love medical condition categories, and tying the clues to Alex's specific ailments was kind of fun. In the “dreaded opera category,” I always bet zero of my imaginary dollars, and that would have been a sound bet tonight for FJ. Now, this was actually one I could have come up with had I been given more time to think, but opera remains one of those things I'd have to study like crazy if I were going to compete against someone other than my cat. I liked the new champ's reaction to winning on a correct answer and big wager.

ZOMG, the combination of Avery’s mic drop and Murphy telling their adorable new disabled dog Avery is going to need support when he gets back, so don’t crap in his room, is adorable. A total dolt when it comes to having pets deciding to get one anyway does not generally go well for me on TV, but this one works – if nothing else, the dog will have Avery. But it's not even only reliance on the back-up, go figure; Murphy seems to be a good doggy mom (which may be necessary come next week). “Two American heroes under one roof, and their mascot, 256.” I love the Browns, mom, kid, and pet!

Oh, bless, to a large extent; I'll put WW over The Newsroom, which I hated, and The American President, which I was just so-so about. But, otherwise, yes: - Josh and Donna are a truly horrible combination, perhaps the only fictional pairing where I felt each party is too good for the other/doesn't deserve the other. They suck as a pair, even on top of the obvious "um, she's his assistant" thing. On every level. And while I so vaguely remember Donna and Reese I can't comment on that, I did like Josh and Amy (but regarded Joey Lucas as his only truly root-worthy love interest). - Zoey sucks. I hope the critical acclaim means the actor has grown and gone onto better performances as she matured, but I haven't seen them, so Moss is stuck in my mind as Zoey, quite the weak link except for that scene when Bartlet lays out the nightmare scenario (of Zoey being kidnapped) and she finally shows she has some acting ability. Pair her with Charlie, one of the other glaringly weak links (along with Donna), and I have no warm regard.

Ha; taken in the spirit intended - I'm used to it*, and my hatred of potatoes (other than as seriously thin-cut and crispy fries or chips and flavored plus dipped in ranch dressing so all potato flavor is eradicated) usually inspires even more "Seriously?!" reactions. *I'd never be described as a picky eater, yet some of my "no way, no how" ingredients are pretty basic and thus accepted by the non-foodie masses yet not me. So, come on over for some bourbon and I'll make a selection of treats we can both enjoy.

I’m so glad this show is back! (I could very much have done without the repeat of the All Stars finale preceding it, so I had to see the end of the Battle of the Asshats as I tuned in, but so be it.) It seems like a strong group. Their house is crazy; it looks like a governor’s mansion. I can’t ever keep names straight in this early stage, but I either was neutral on or liked all the introductions other than “I don’t want to be portrayed as the cocky guy.” And he continued to piss me off with every word after that; he is a total asshole and I want him gone, even after one episode. He’s horrible! (On the other hand, I LOL at the guy whose body is composed of bourbon, pot, and fried food; he was funny throughout. And I like that the two “feisty southern” women know and like each other.) The mise en place relay is always my favorite QF; I hope this sort-of mise en place team QF doesn’t replace it. It’s interesting the judges found all the QF dishes so good, because none of them looked bad but I didn’t drool over any of them, either. I lost my jar of ranch dressing the other night, only to find I’d put it away in the spice cabinet with the pepper, so I was all in with sympathy for the red team chef who lost her herb salad. I’m glad she was able to do it again and her teammates just laughed. Theirs would probably have been my pick. But I was happy the green team’s last-minute veggie and poached egg dish wound up working, and good for them winning. In the EC, among the winners, I don’t like deviled eggs (I hate yolks) or pimiento cheese (I hate cream cheese), but I like that the red chef won her round with such a dish, even if she didn’t make it into the top tier. For the white group, the scallop dish sounded better to me than the one that won, but that’s just because I hate potatoes. Among the blue group, I wanted anyone but The Asshole so badly I could hardly concentrate on the dishes; I seriously hate this dude. With the yellows, none of them excited me, but, even though I hate potatoes, I can see the gnocchi turned soup dish winning just based on the overall of what was presented. With the green group, I dislike coconut but sometimes like coconut shrimp, and hate grits, yet somehow that dish looked good to me, so I was not at all surprised to see it come in second despite my personal distaste. The first was a "yeah, okay" from this side of my TV screen. Among the losing cheftestants, I’d eliminate the beets, arugala, and cheese dish on boring principle, even though it worked, but biscuits – which aren’t my thing to begin with – done wrong, when the third potential elimination was salvaging Plan B into something not great but worked, mean I agreed with the decision. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go drink some more Maker's Mark and fix my own dinner.