Bastet

I am blanking on the name of it right now, but one of my favorite simple soups is the one made with chicken, escarole, vermicelli or spaghetti noodles broken up, and a lot of garlic (add some freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano to the cup/bowl) . And, yes - homemade stock (made with plenty of bones, some parmesan rind, and allowed to cook for hours). I don't add miso, but otherwise mine is similar, Athena. And no two batches are ever the same, because it just depends on what vegetable scraps I've saved up in the freezer. Always mushrooms, onions, garlic, and celery because I break my seasonal and local rule to buy those year round, but the rest just depends. I only use chicken bones, but I use a lot of them. Herbs (and herb scraps) vary, too, but always bay leaves. I freeze it in ice cube trays and then put into a freezer bag; that way, I have 1/2-ounce cubes and can thus easily defrost a few when I need to add a small amount of stock to something.

I missed chunks of it here and there, so I'll have to catch the repeat next week. There was one thing I wanted to comment on, but of course it left my mind overnight. Why don't they stop having murders occur in the morning, so Jane and Maura can do their standard "Rizzoli" "Isles" opening scene while out to lunch, or doing something after work, instead of opening every damn episode with Jane at Maura's in the morning with no explanation? It mostly cracks me up that they don't even bother trying, but it also distracts me. I thought the witness was an endearing character, but otherwise the episode was rather plodding. And, yeah, that elevator scene went on way too long.

Yep. I correctly guessed engineer, but conductor may just as well have come out of my mouth; Alex acted like the contestant had answered pilot or something.

I do, too. Since this is set within the actual U.S. government, they pretty much have to address what we've learned in recent years.

Yeah, they chose death because that was their best option thanks to continually getting, as Harvey Keitel said, "fucked over." But you look at 99% of the male buddy movies, and they don't have to make that choice. That "just keep going" scene is fantastic. It's a good ending. But it's quite telling - and both Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis have commented on this as well - how different it is from the genre's usual ending.

Ha! My cat is slowly, but in roller coaster fashion, pulling through an illness. One of the behaviors I'm still eagerly awaiting the return of to let me know she's getting back to her old self -- following me to the bathroom. Who knew I'd miss it?

I missed Friday’s episode due to preemption by local news. So tonight was only my second exposure to Jennifer, but she still doesn’t bother me. I did laugh, though, at the interview segment (which I rarely watch), when Alex clearly cut her off. Bohemian Rhapsody as a sporting event anthem? For what, all of halftime? I don’t often laugh when Alex tries to be funny, but “a jigger of rum” as an acceptable substitute for pacifier did it. Persecution was a surprising TS. Same with Felicity Huffman, just because I’ve never seen Desperate Housewives yet knew it. I had no idea Jane Pauley was married to Garry Trudeau, though. I found the Bill of Rights category overvalued for DJ, but as a civil rights lawyer, my perspective may be skewed. But the sub-saharan DD? I had no earthly idea on FJ. Every once in a while I surprise myself with poetry knowledge, but for the most part is a grossly weak area.

My ultimate "not over it" movie death -- the titular characters of Thelma and Louise. I love that movie, and have watched it so many times I can recite it verbatim, but two male characters would not have had to die. (Well, there's also Bambi's mother, and all the other mothers Disney films killed off, but I learned early on not to watch those!) In the surprising category, Drew Barrymore in Scream. I have an odd affection for slasher flicks, so I was all over something sending them up, especially when directed by Wes Craven. So a friend and I saw that on opening night -- even though we were on vacation in Vegas at the time. I was totally unspoiled, and thus had no idea a star like Barrymore was going to bite it in the first scene. Even Janet Leigh made it further into the film (in Psycho). Speaking of slasher films, there have been some pretty great (for one reason or another) methods of death. But the curling iron in Sleepaway Camp? Ack!

Yes, I've seen both of those. The latter I watched only because of her, as I don't tend to seek out the romance genre (screwball comedy, I'm all over it, but romantic drama, take it or leave it), and I liked it.

Pretty much. Rocco played the married guy Dorothy had an affair with, much to Sophia's disapproval, and Coe played Rose's boyfriend who retired and initially bored her by doing nothing and then wanted her to sail around the world with him.

Yeah, I'd never put a picture of myself, especially with my name attached, online.

I am barefoot as much as possible, but I can't imagine being barefoot in public other than at the beach, a water park/community pool, etc. I take that back -- I did once walk barefoot down city streets late at night, because my new shoes turned out to pinch so badly I could not walk the few blocks to the car in them without surprisingly severe pain. And we all walk around the office barefoot from time to time, but that's our office; I wouldn't walk down to another department that way.

I really like her. I watched the '78 version of The Cat and the Canary a gazillion times as a child (and still watch it from time to time), and then I saw her in The Elephant Man and some early '80s TV movies and miniseries, soon realizing she was one of those actors I liked in just about anything.

Coe and Rocco were two of those "that guy's been in everything" kind of actors. I enjoyed them both, particularly Coe.

I hate TVs mounted up high, even with a tilt mount, and theirs would really drive me nuts because they had no furniture facing it, just two couches perpendicular to it. So, they're going to be lying down and looking all the way up at that TV?

That's been around for a long time, but maybe it's just now widely available. Anyway, they use more "natural flavors" than actual vanilla in some of their vanilla flavors, and generally have a bunch of unnecessary ingredients (although they are getting rid of many of those this year) and use corn syrup, so it's not my bag. But it tastes better than a lot of ice creams using similar ingredients, I'll give them that. And the old-fashioned vanilla and vanilla bean get their flavor from, you know, vanilla.

There's a whole series of these where someone sells an item for a low price, the buyers spruce it up with a coat of spray paint, and then turn around and sell it for much more. Which would be okay, if they weren't selling it back to the original owner. He comes off like an idiot for not recognizing his former possession, and they come off like jackasses who are pulling one over on someone that slow.

That taste testing cracked me up, too. I don't like cream cheese, so I have no dog in this race, but Chris being reticent to say he likes what he knows is the Philadelphia cream cheese the best, stalling by asking what the criteria are supposed to be, and Jack saying, "It's what you like best; this should be a simple question with one answer" -- great stuff. And then Chris turned from reticent to defensive, blathering on about respecting the bagel (by ... smearing it with an inferior product?).

The spoilers generally make me think "Meh" or even "I knew this was going to suck," and then every time FOX puts something out with short clips, the theme music, and the old logo, I get all excited. I can't quit you, XF! I see the lighting budget is still $5 per episode. The leg/foot look a bit smaller than Mulder's, but even if it is Mulder, it would likely be someone other than DD being filmed for that shot, so that doesn't mean anything.

This is a widespread misnomer, but the clue describing skinny as a synonym for slim pissed me off. Skinny has a specific meaning that is well beyond that of slim, thin and such. (And I thus find it rather repugnant to see skinny spoken of as a good thing.) My thesaurus lists as the synonyms for slim things such as svelte and lithe. Those for skinny reflect its definition – emaciated, skeletal, etc. (And, yeah, of course designers would call men’s jeans slim fit and women’s jeans skinny.) It was odd to title the category “She Married a Veep” and then have the clues require contestants to name the VP, not his wife. (The clues themselves were fine, I just think the category title should have been different.) I loved Jennifer’s “Do you want me to?” when Alex mentioned she didn’t have any theatrics for her final answer of the first round. I don’t listen to the interviews, so I don’t know what the drumsticks were about. Her apparent personality isn't really my bag, but she didn't bother me -- she seemed comfortable with herself rather than obnoxious (when someone else - perhaps almost anyone else - doing the same things could have easily come across as the latter to me). The Navajo clue was overvalued in DJ. As was the Titanic clue. And the lavender DD. And the Galileo clue. And the Papua New Guinea clue, given it showed it on the map and gave the initials.

To stay at home mothers, he expresses surprise they're smart enough to make it on the show and answer clues correctly.

I watch that literal video version with alarming frequency. It never fails to make me laugh.

I worked in an office where the whole staff (about 10 people) ate lunch together every day, at a big table in the office kitchen. I really liked my colleagues, and we had great conversations at that table (that perfect balance of weighty subjects and frivolity), but most days I'd hang out for about half an hour and then go take a walk. I got the sense a couple people thought it was rude I wouldn't hang out the whole time, but come on -- every day?!

It's very well done, the death scene itself, Tre screaming for help, Doughboy arriving too late, Ricky and Doughboy's mom freaking out (the girlfriend is played by a terrible actor, though) and, especially, later when she's sitting there looking at his SAT scores, the revenge killing (and Tre deciding not to be part of it), and Ricky and Doughboy's conversation at the end, followed by the revelation Doughboy was murdered within a couple weeks of Ricky.

I didn't know coloring was a craze; I've been doing that (to relax) for 20 years now.