Bastet

Jen is one of my favorites, I can't stand Marcel, I really like Kwame, and I like what I remember of Lee Anne (I remember liking her personality, but can't place her food), so I was a little bummed before the season even started, but still just excited to get going. So, as someone who doesn't watch online programming and thus relies on the LCK each season, if you might indulge me in understanding how LCK works this time with the previous contestants competing prior to the new season started: Did the four former cheftestants compete for three slots before the competition began (this seems to be yes), and then the three survivors matched up against the cheftestant eliminated in the first elimination challenge (again, that's what it sounds like), so that there are still three of them remaining - either the original three, as happened, or two originals plus the newbie? And (here's where I'm unclear) will each subsequent LCK consist of the cheftestant eliminated in that round's EC battling against three people? If so, when/how will LCK be whittled down to one person to join/rejoin the competition near the end? If not, how does it work? Thanks in advance.

I just watched it because the discussion got me curious, and they haven't even picked stuff up off the floor yet, nor is there fingerprint dust anywhere, so she may not have called the alarm company before the police, but she sure didn't wait long to call. Personally, even if I was going to buy a home security system, I'd have a lot more things to do first, and I would never make a purchasing decision on something like that in the emotional state you're in upon discovering that your house has been burglarized. I just think it's a stupid concept in general, because it's really not a big deal to be put on hold (for a reasonable time) when you call a company's customer service line. She's not calling 911 and being put on hold, she's calling to ask questions/buy something and being put on hold. That's not somehow egregious because the thing she's calling about is a security system. The only thing wrong with the fictitious alarm company that's supposed to be so horrible is the way the customer service rep is rather abrupt when saying she's called the wrong department and will be transferred.

"Who needs Google when you've got Scully?" I love it, and that compilation of lighthearted clips was by far my favorite promo thus far (with or without the relationship teasing that bookended it; just the collection of typical MOTW banter made me very happy).

When I want to cheer up a cat stuck in the cone of shame, I call it his/her party hat. They never buy it.

Is Gallant seriously proposing to Neela in the middle of surgery, in front of her colleagues?! So, once again, the man's desire to do something here and now is more important than the woman's request that it wait for an appropriate time. I think Abby struck a nice balance, as Neela's friend, between her duty to say, um, hello, you do not begin to know this guy well enough to marry him and to at some point back off and say, but, okay, if you're happy, I'm happy.

Those horns kicked in just in time, because I was getting pretty grumbly at the idea no one was honking at Neela and Gallant to have their reunion somewhere other than in the middle of the street.

I think they will, in a sense. Maybe he'll be mentioned - he's the Conner kid who finally went to college or otherwise got out of Lanford - or maybe the missing kid will even be a recurring joke, but my hunch (and it's nothing more than that; I haven't heard anything) is they won't bother to cast the role and have him be part of the revival.

Baxter was a fucking Houdini with the cone of shame, and I once had to take him back to get stapled up where he'd removed stitches. Interestingly enough, he quit escaping it after that. I don't recommend that as a technique, though! Have you seen him get out of the cone to see how he's doing it (e.g. if it's just too loose or if he's doing some crazy move like Baxter did, where he used a window handle to pry it off for him)? Sounds like you guys are in for a long day.

So, with John Stamos's character, that makes how many obnoxious men whose don't take no for an answer behavior has been presented as cute on this show?

There are very few applications in which I will eat cooked tomato (LOVE them raw, though, but only in season), which is why I only use half the amount called for in the original recipe. Tomato does go nicely with the other ingredients, so I left it in, but an entire large can just seemed like way too much tomato in what is supposed to be a turkey soup, even if I was more fond of cooked tomatoes. For me, the smaller can is perfect. You could always use diced tomatoes if the big chunks would cause hesitation on your son's part. And, yes, depending on how heavy-handed you get with the cheese, this can be quite a healthy soup.

Heh, you hit on some of the many changes I made. Basically, I loved the list of ingredients, but thought the instructions for putting them together were nuts. As for spices, I didn't change those; I thought I would wind up wanting to, because I love really spicy food, but they actually combined for the perfect flavor that let the turkey shine through. Here's my version: 2 cups shredded cooked turkey (mine was thigh meat) 4 cups turkey stock 1 14-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, quartered 1 onion, chopped 2 gloves garlic, chopped 4 oz. chopped green chiles (I used jalapeño) 1/2 tsp (generously scooped) cayenne 1/2 tsp (generously scooped) cumin 1 T fresh lime juice 1 T chopped cilantro 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese 1 avocado, diced In a large pot over medium heat, sauté onion and garlic with cayenne and cumin until lightly browned (I used turkey fat, as I had some left, but you could just use oil). Add tomatoes, chiles, and stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Add turkey. Simmer 15 minutes. Stir in lime juice and cilantro, season to taste with salt & pepper (and add any additional cayenne/cumin needed), and simmer another 15 minutes. When serving, add avocado and cheese to each cup/bowl.

Oh look, a bunch of guys on the top for the first QF, and two women in the bottom. All women in the bottom of EC (and only one in the top). Graham Elliot and his stupid white glasses can go away any season now. And, ugh, Hosea. I hate roommates, too, and left that behind long ago, so I understand that part of the show being an issue, even though it’s certainly not a revelation; it’s something to adjust to just like the rest. “The bear den” with a bunch of sleep apnea guys amused me. “He looks like one of those guys who used to tie ladies to the train tracks.” I loved that, because it was making fun of the mustache, but not at all in a mean way. Fatima looks so familiar; I think she was on Chopped? And I think people hated her? I don’t remember her beyond “Hey, I’ve seen her,” so I obviously didn’t get as strong an impression. In fact, I may have liked her; I'd have to go check the threads. Okay, moving onto the food: I’ve eaten at Union (Los Angeles) – the restaurant of the guy everyone knew, and who thus got helped out by Tu when he was in the weeds - and it’s quite good, but fairly indistinguishable from similar quite good restaurants (contrary to Anthony Bourdain’s belief, we do have some), so I’m curious to see how he performs – just based on my meal (I never went back, as there’s no full bar), I wouldn’t classify him a Top Chef contender (cheftestant, absolutely, but I wouldn’t have picked him to go far, so I’m curious to see how he does given his reputation among the judges and competitors). I’ve also been to Bar Crudo (San Francisco, the redhead eliminated in EC), Brown Sugar (Oakland, the nearly bald woman) and El Jardin (San Diego, the woman with funky glasses) recently enough to assume the cheftestants were still there at the time; I haven’t verified. My brunch at Brown Sugar was notably delicious, and dinners at the other two were pretty good – on the whole, same as Union chef; not “OMG, this is cooking at its finest” level reaction, but not surprising they'd make the cut to be on the show. I hate potatoes, so I wouldn’t eat the EC meals (other than where the components were separate), but I like the simple “elevate meat and potatoes” challenge to lead off the season. The stews looked like ass to me, but I hate stew and can’t be objective. If I imagined them without potato, the samosa and the (cooked) lamb looked really good, especially the samosa; I wanted Fatima to win.

Discuss this season's episodes of LCK here. (I don't watch programming online, so I never see this, and thus greatly appreciate posters taking the time to note who wins so I can keep up with who's still in contention.)

No, it's a separate thread, and discussion of it is verboten in episode threads, but instead of being a general LCK thread that stays from season to season, there are separate threads for each season. One for season fifteen hasn't been created yet; I'll go make one. I forgot this was starting tonight, so I'm going to catch the repeat in half an hour, but I wanted to check in and see what the general impression of this season was (it's so hard to tell from the first episode with eleventy cheftestants, though) -- I'm so excited to have this back.

I have taken to calling Riley "Civil Disobedience Kitty" -- when she realizes that something unjust - e.g. having her claws trimmed - is going to happen to her, she stops fighting and just goes limp. The time between struggling and going limp is getting pretty short; if she starts meowing protest songs, Mommy will be quite proud.

On a completely random note, spent this episode hoping for a close-up or extended shot of Tia Mowry's left hand, because she has rings going all the way up to the first knuckle, and I'm oddly curious whether she just has a really wide engagement ring and wedding band, or has extra rings. Because ever time she waved that hand around, all the hardware was distracting, but I couldn't get a good look. I hate when they make the lag between shooting and airing so obvious -- they're charged with making a winter holiday-themed dish, but they're doing so in spring/summer, which is typical, but having ramps as one of Bobby's ingredients reminds me of it. But, yum, ramps. I wouldn't eat either meal as a whole, but I'd love the ramp-based pesto and gremolata.

That's what I use, and the three markets (one local, two chains) at which I shop all carry it, but they don't put nearly as much of it out as they do the leaner versions, so sometimes I have to go to another store or the butcher shop in order to get it, but usually I luck out (I don't buy it all that often). The only thing I use ground beef for is hamburgers, and I don't want lean for that!

She got fired - by Sam, no less, although I believe the decision was Eve's - for violating overtime rules despite repeated warnings. It happened in one of today's episodes. But I just checked IMDb and she comes back.

Why, producers, why - Corday, Carter, Susan, and now even Haleh are gone, but fucking Frank is still around?

Kat Dennings in Guest Star Bingo. What wound up happening with Jessica Hecht's character - did she have cancer? She drove me NUTS with her obsession with finding a husband and having a baby. Dude, you can't do any of that if you're dead, so take care of your health, and then if you meet someone, great, if you don't, it's far from the end of the world, and there are other ways to become a parent if it's that important to you.

Good news! Especially that Bernhard is only coming back for one episode - a little Nancy goes a long way. So does Bev, but Estelle Parsons is fabulous, so two episodes is about right for her. Plus, unless they explained that she had died in the interim, never once seeing Bev would have felt odd, even if she lived elsewhere by now. I wonder if describing Bev as Roseanne and Jackie's "late-in-life-lesbian mom Beverly Harris" is based on actual knowledge of how she's going to be presented in the revival, meaning her sexual orientation is going to be another thing about the finale that gets ignored, or if it's just a misstatement of the characterization (since, per the finale, her coming out was just a fictionalized part of the book; in reality, Bev was straight [and Jackie was gay]).

Ray made me livid in the surrogate storyline. The biological parents were obviously no prizes, either; everyone treated the surrogate like an incubator rather than a person entitled to make choices regarding her body, but the parents viewing her that way was at least consistent with their role. As her doctor, Ray was appalling in doing the same.

WE HAVE ALL THE POWER. 1. Briefing from hell 2. "Who's been hit?" 3. Senior Staff confesses

Did anybody make any good turkey soups this year? I made one based loosely on this southwestern turkey soup recipe. I'd made it last year, with some alterations to the recipe, and then made it again this year with another tweak or two, and now have a final version I really like. I'm currently eating my final cup of it, which is what prompted me to ask. Next year, I'm thinking of trying this lemon turkey soup, minus the carrots (I don't like cooked carrots) or this creamy one, but since I'd be leaving out the potatoes (hate them) as well as the carrots, I worry it would be rather thin. Any you like beyond the standard turkey, noodles, and root vegetables combination?

I have never once in my life heard a mother asked, "Why did you have kids?" Yet it is somehow acceptable to ask the child-free why we didn't.