LBC Me

And now, let's all jump into the Way Back Machine for this tune from my misspent youth. The year was 1973, and @LBC Me was rocking it in high school. The video is a bit cheesy, but I still love guys with long hair.

On another note, I've yet again changed my mind about what I'm going to read. I've started A Death In White Bear Lake, by Barry Siegel. This is a re-read for me, as I read it shortly after publication in 1990 and it's still in print. This book has a very special connection to me as I was born and raised not far from White Bear. I checked on Goodreads and was stunned to learn that 645 other people are currently reading this 35 year old book! Gosh, my reading is so all over the place. For that I can only say, "Leave me alone. I'm old!" 🙃

In the early years of their marriage, my mom made liver and onions for my dad. She gave us kids liver only once ("You need to give it an honest try") and one of us threw up and my dad got pissed and decided we didn't have to eat it. Mom had old school, cast iron frying pans and she complained that she couldn't get the disgusting smell of liver out of those pans no matter how much she tried scrubbing, seasoning, and re-heating them. From then on, dad got his liver and onions from a restaurant he passed by on his way home from work; when they were on special, we got to eat at a restaurant, which NEVER happened. @sATL this was in the upper Mid-west.

Ooooh. I'm not on Instagram. Which chef did this?

He also needs to stop relying on Sara when one of his ingredients is burning, which seems to happen Every Time. I hope that when it happens in the finale, Sara says nothing to Gabri. It's weird writing a post that no one will ever read. 🙃

Well, I just checked and it's not at my library in physical form, which I vastly prefer to others (no shade intended and JMO). They don't have it, which is quite irritating since I live in a city of ~500,000. I'm off to check the used book websites now.

Forgive me, @JustHereForFood for not answering your questions. Yes, it's all in one book. Je ne regrette rien. But seriously, I have used your technique of having a running cheat sheet of characters and their relationships before. I need it for every Jo Nesbø book I've ever read. Good grief, those are a mess to keep track of.

Wow, Murder of a Medici Princess sounds so good, and I'm not one that's put off by nonfiction. I'm fascinated with the Italian Renaissance in general, and the Medici rule of Florence specifically. Confession: I'm NOT reading The Count of Monte Cristo at this time. I'm overwhelmed with all of my unread books, and I think I'll be more comfortable plowing through those instead. I've finished One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and geez -- shivers. I've forgotten how bleak Russian literature really is. For a short book, this really packed a punch. I'm starting Sipsworth next, I think. I'm so much a mood reader that I can never really plan what's on deck.

I agree with @snarktini 100%. Why are we calling Buddha's anxiety about losing and going home "false humility?" Why is he not allowed to show concern about being knocked out of the competition, something the other competitors do in every episode. There's nothing "false" about what the cameras show for Buddha. He's incredibly driven and knows he's got a great, big target on his back. That's a lot of pressure. And if the man wants to show off and be a dick about his talents, he should be allowed to do that, too. Like my Dad used to say, "You can brag about yourself all you want, as long as you have the goods to back it up." And I think Buddha has the goods. Oh well. I'm still unspoiled about the S20 winner so time will tell.

I'm currently watching Season 20 of TC and I wanted to say, was this the episode where Gabri was explaining the social issue he wanted to highlight with his dish, and he kept going on and on and on about corn until Victoire (?) had had enough and said "Oh my god, shut up!" I thought it was hilarious. Gabri was left speechless.

I'm finally getting around to this season of Top Chef in early 2025! Anyway, the first thought I had when they mentioned Fortnam & Mason were suppliers to the queen was Hyacinth Bouquet being so impressed with foods with the Royal Warrant on them. Would love to go there but ... that whole money thing. As others have mentioned, for me the bloom has definitely gone off the rose for contestant Tom. I love the warm German salty/sweet/vinegar dressing drizzled over greens with bacon mentioned by @snarktini. OMG! My grandmother made the best. I remember searching for fresh chives along the creek near the abandoned railroad ties one beautiful, sunny summer day. Food is so evocative; this was probably 60 years ago.

Late to the party, but credit where credit is due. I can't imagine breast pumping in a strange land (she'd never been to London), and all of the logistics to get her breast milk -- FROZEN -- back to Kentucky successfully. I'm sure many accommodations were made to make this happen, but I had a new-found appreciation of Sarah when she mentioned she was doing this. And being separated from her [newborn/infant?] must have been brutal. Don't know that I could have risen to that kind of challenge.

God yes. And it looks like Bravo is trying to turn back the hands of time on their website. Look at Shep is this "picture" that has been heavily photo shopped / air brushed, whatever. https://www.bravotv.com/southern-charm He looks unrecognizable and ridiculous and cartoonish.

$15K is an incredibly low tip. The norm seems to be about $20K and upwards, right? But the crew seemed happy about it. Wihan is a disgusting sh*t-heel. He simultaneously breaks up with Marina and Tzarina, and then at the end of the episode, he's kissing Tzarina for several minutes. ??? I hope he gets sent on his way because he's also a crap bosun. I think I like the new sous chef so far. Seems as though she has a good head on her shoulders.

This has been playing on repeat, in my head and on my phone, for the past week or so. My big loss was John Lennon, my son's big loss was Tupac Shakur, the grunge kids' big loss was Kurt Cobain. MTV Unplugged, Nirvana, Where Did You Sleep Last Night

Wow man. I had no idea Snoop Dogg had churned out 33 albums. Regarding the comparison to the Rolling Stones discography, numbers are one thing, but I would consider quality as well. There are far fewer Rolling Stones albums that are meh, below average, decent, what have you. I love the '90s Snoop Dogg, and I've loved the Rolling Stones since they were, like, NEW. Great work, @Rushmorasand I for one appreciate it.

You guys, I just bought a stunning edition of The Count of Monte Cristo, and I'm seriously considering reading it after I finish Intermezzo. I've never read anything as long as this book, but it's a classic and it's a tale of revenge and god help me, I'm going to start it anyway. It seemed as though I was fated to read TCoMC as it kept popping up in the feeds of people I follow. Any suggestions about tackling such a massive book? 😱

I think she got exactly what she wanted; to be featured on Southern Charm. She had mentioned that her mother was a big fan of the show, and I guess everyone wants their 15 minutes. Look, I don't know the woman at all, and for all I know she is very kind and loving to others. I just feel that that side of her personality wasn't showcased during her Southern Charm experience. Wanting to be gifted a multi-million dollar home and clearly unable to hide her disappointment about her gift from Shep being a tooth (lame), it just didn't sit right with me, maybe because that's not me. Still, as many of you have already said, Shep got a taste of what it's like being on the receiving end of HIS kind of behavior, and he very much deserved it. So, Sienna is done with Shep and I'm done with Sienna.

It's my opinion also, @Sweet-tea because of course Sienna is pretty, but I wasn't seeing A Great Beauty either, on the show. She looked nothing like those Miss Bahamas photos, on the show. And beauty is only skin deep after all. She behaved horribly, and we were able to see that, inside, she was anything but beautiful, on the show.

Everyone already said what I wanted to say! This Wihan fool. If he spent half as much time thinking with his upper head and not thinking with his lower head, maybe he'd actually be good at his job. I don't know if it's editing or not, but almost every time they show him, he's leaning against a wall somewhere telling a random co-worker about who he'll make a move on next. So Wihan asks Harry to make a list of what tasks his crew needs to do on deck, and Captain Jason ends up complimenting WIHAN about the damn list. That kind of stuff really ticks me off because it happened to me in the workplace more than once.

I absolutely agree, @Sweet-tea. She's a real breath of fresh air and has a lovely figure. I hope she doesn't become Shep's rebound girl though, because those relationships just don't last.

@aghst If I'm remembering right, earlier this season there were words put on the screen that all of the video WAS reviewed and there was no evidence of JT calling Miss Patricia the b-word. But I'm not dismissing the possibility of suddenly-found video surfacing, either.

This is my first post and I hope I don't mess it up! I'm going to start my books where I'm at, which is reading Giovanni's Room, by James Baldwin. I started it a few days ago in honor of Black History Month. It's very short and I will finish it soon, but I really hate the main character, the narrator, David. Why can't HE get a dang job, making Giovanni and Hella the sole breadwinners and depending on his whatever money being held by his father in the U.S. And why the heck is he contemplating I know so many people adore this book, and shed buckets of tears about the ending, but I'm about 75% in and I'm not seeing it yet. Off to hopefully finish this novel now.