Ashforth

Of course! Both of us can.

Maybe that's part of the point. Does it matter?

Just changed the channel to find a rerun of a Chopped Ultimate Champions from 2014 with Fatima (from Top Chef). She was chopped in the first round and in her exit she said something like, "you'll be seeing me." 😢 RIP, Fati. You are missed.

Exactly. I wrote that post in response to someone who said something like, he's a chef, he would have already eaten.

She has looked more and more like an AI video game character over the years. If she would lay off all of the fillers and Botox, she would actually look younger. As it is, she resembles a wax figure in a really, really bad wig. Can't she afford a better wig?

About stinky towels... my towels started to smell really bad when they got wet. Not dog towels, my regular towels. I did a little Googling and the wisdom was that buildup of detergent and fabric softeners are a prime cause of that because (I think) they allow bacteria to multiply. So I washed all of my towels in hot water with no laundry soap (I generally use the pods that have a lot of scent and I think a fabric softener component) and dried them with no dryer sheet. It was immediately better. So from now on, I'll be washing towels that way. Yesterday, I found dryer balls at my local grocery store, so I got a set of them to use as well since I won't be using dryer sheets.

I think it means that one dose lasts for 8 weeks for the items you washed with it. The first Unstoppables ad that I can recall showed the teacher or principal or whatever she was pulling clothes out of the dirty clothes hamper and wow! They still smelled great! So she wore them. Taking this to small talk.

I'm tired of the Discovery+ ads - all of the shows that are already on cable, but you pay more to watch them! Which I will never do. Apparently, new Joanna and Chip Gaines shows will be part of the exclusive content. Good! I am happy not to see them again. But then on Food Network today there was an infomercial for Discovery+ and then an hour of "the making" of Joanna's cooking show and then TWO episodes of her cooking show. GO AWAY JOANNA GAINES.

Are we demanding realism from Hallmark movies? 🤣🤣🤣 I respect your point of view, I'm just sayin'.

Yeah, not happy with "back to the studio but Sunny is banished to the outside set". Is she living some dangerous lifestyle that we would love to know about? They did do a good job of social distancing on the set, but they still should have been wearing masks. As far as we know right now, and we're pretty far into this, Covid-19 is transmitted by air, not germs on food or plates. IMO, there was no reason for the other chefs not to taste the food cooked on-set. If so, JUST STAY HOME. I thought Katie's eggplant parmesan boats looked good, but too much. The eggplants were too large and there was too much cheese. Despite what we hear so often on these shows, there is such thing as too much cheese. ETA: Yeah, no GZ, I don't see turnips being the hot vegetable of 2021. If I'm wrong, I'll eat crow (with turnips).

I admit it, I liked Taking A Shot At Love. Sure, it was a non-Christmas movie in which our heroine had two Christmas trees in her living room 🙄. But there wasn't any talk of the magic of Christmas or the real meaning of Christmas (It's TRUE LOVE, for those of you who haven't already had that pounded into you). Things I liked: The lead couple were mostly friendly from the start - not the instant-enemies-who-fall-for-each-other baloney. I'm fairly sure there were no dead spouses or parents. It had some funny moments. Her hair wasn't constantly hanging in her face in 'beachy waves'. They were working toward a common goal that didn't have to do with saving the town (and its success lead to near-heartbreak! Hahaha). Ryan interacted with the students and with her friends instead of almost solely with her. I thought they had a nice chemistry and the progression of their relationship made sense. They hugged several times during the course of the movie (baby steps). Even when he made suggestions about how she could make changes to help her business, he wasn't terribly condescending and backed off when she shot them down. I liked it that at the end, neither was going to move or give up a huge career opportunity for the other. Of course, a lot of the story was silly - I would think that a big-time pro hockey team would not be clueless about rehabbing foot/ankle injuries. The friend who walked away from a pro career to take over his dad's business... sigh. I guess that's one of the mandatory storylines - one of the characters has to have done it or be choosing whether or not to do it.

I totally agree with this. One never knows what a person with an obsession might do. Someone mention recently in The Kitchen thread that they'd like to see more of Katie Lee's baby, and while it was sweet to see her a few times, I have a feeling that Katie and her husband have made the same decision to limit showing her on TV. I think it's smart.

"Hallmark After Dark"! I love it. Escandaloso! Depending on the actor, I might not mind seeing a bare ass.🧐

I didn't get into many of the holiday movies this season. I think part of it is because of the shitshow that 2020 was, and part of it is that the movies (especially Hallmark) are so formulaic that there is just about no point in watching them. I have some ideas specifically for Hallmark: Make some movies that are flat out comedies. There can still be romance. But let it be funny! Not constant angst over the fate of the family business or the town. Acknowledge how ridiculous some family relationships are. In this context, worries about careers, the villainous bosses, and some of the silly misunderstandings would actually work. Make some movies from the perspective of the kids. Give some depth to the limitless supply of children who have a parent who died instead of having it be solely a plot device to explain why the surviving parent is available for a relationship. Mom or Dad getting into a relationship with a new partner could be seen through the kid's eyes with the natural stress and trepidation that would be going on instead of the instant connection these shows always portray. Let adults be adults. Most of the actors in these movies are well into their 30's or 40's. Their characters are usually written with the emotional maturity of teenagers. Stop that! People who have been married and in serious relationships should not be agonizing over whether to kiss someone they're attracted to. You took some steps with diversity in casting. It's a start. Keep it up, make it bigger and broader and better. Include diverse hiring in behind-the-scenes roles.

The Hallmark kiss is a visual euphemism for doing the nasty, which is why it's the climax of every movie (and why it's really creepy when the kiss happens in front of a applauding crowd). But it strains credulity that all of these people in their mid-thirties or beyond, who have dead spouses or failed relationships behind them, and who have usually done what it takes to spawn offspring, are so straight-laced that kissing someone they're attracted to is forbidden fruit. I wish Hallmark would let a kiss be a kiss and a poke be a poke.

Well dog my cats, I guess I shouldn't go smoke cigarettes during shows. TY @aquarian1!

I have to admit that I had mixed feelings about this documentary. It felt a little bit like a vanity project for Guy. I would have liked for him to give details of how the money he's raised has been distributed to restaurant workers. I do think it is a good PSA to help people understand the effect the pandemic has had on the restaurant industry. I would have liked to see more of a focus on the millions of people who work in the F&B industry and the businesses that provide behind the scenes support, starting in the fields and going all the way to the delivery of products to restaurants. There could be an entire series of documentaries (and there are some out there) that focus on non-celebrity people in the supply chain - but if they aren't celebrities, would anyone care? I guess the reason this doesn't seem to be repeating on FN is that it isn't the mindless feel-good stuff they usually air. It wouldn't surprise me if Guy had to pull his weight and fight to make FN show this. I saw toward the end that World Central Kitchen was mentioned, but did they say Jose Andres' name? I didn't hear it and that pissed me off. So, mixed feelings, but overall positive for me.

I avoid all of the "royalty" romance movies, whether Christmas themed or not. They are just awful to me.

I work at a law firm, and we got a bunch of long, complaint-laden emails through our website during the time we were closed last week. In our team zoom meeting on Monday, we decided it was because of Festivus! The airing of the grievances!

Guy's documentary about the restaurant industry: https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/restaurant-hustle-2020-all-on-the-line I wonder how Maneet's Nashville restaurants were affected by the Christmas Day bombing?

Satan: "I just don't want this year to end" 2020: "Who would?" At some point, we have to find humor in this tragic shitshow of a year. Ryan Reynolds has done it. The toilet paper theft scene and use of a Taylor Swift song are genius. I forgive that it's a commercial for Match. In the other one, I think 2020's confident reference to "the poem The Road Less Traveled, by Shakespeare" is a scathing social commentary. I will leave it at that.

Edward Lee's sad prediction - it's the end of the restaurant world as we know it

Having worked in the food & beverage industry, I will say that it isn't at all unusual to be hungry at the end of a shift. The cooks and staff are generally not eating during service. That's why so many, at least in the Before Times, went out after work to a 24 hour place for dinner and drinks. I've heard of the "family meal" (served at the restaurant! Not at home by the helicopter mom!) but that's before the restaurant opens, not at the end of a grueling 8-10 hour stint. I never worked at a restaurant that had the "family meal". That being said, this commercial is just weird.

I feel like a woman should make her own money, if she can, so that she isn't dependent on her husband's income and largesse. One never knows what will happen in the future. I can't drag Ciara for signing on as a WW spokesperson. I haven't seen the ad, but I do have something of a concern if it's shilling WW prepared foods as being the best for little kids. Learning about fresh, healthy foods that taste good? Check. Learning that you don't have to be deprived to maintain a healthy eating lifestyle? Check. Learning about portion control? Check (I'm looking at you, Kraft, with your ads showing little kids ecstatic at being served enormous portions of your powdered mac & cheese). Learning that frozen foods are what children should eat on the regular? No.

I have always hated that awful song.