All Episodes Talk

[ariel]

5 hours ago, grisgris said:

I will say that at least Ree had the balls to call the event, "S**** B***" and not "big game" like all of the others. NFL be damned! LOL!

I hope she gets sued for it but maybe she has so much money, she doesn’t care.

[maggiemae]

I'm confused - what is S**** B***?

[chessiegal]

Super Bowl. The NFL owns the rights to the term and charges a licensing fee to anyone who wants to use it. They've been known to sue people who don't pay for using it. That's why you hear so many people use terms like "The Big Game" and so forth.
 

ETA: By using it, I mean in the media - TV, radio, print.

Edited January 30, 2017 by chessiegal

[maggiemae]

Thanks Chessiegal - Perhaps I was confused because the (repeat) show I saw today was about their college rival teams. I thankfully probably missed the new show perhaps what with the Super Bowl coming up next Sunday.

[nkotb]

I watched the last few episodes in succession this weekend, & this was my takeaway on all of the recipes: it made me so sad to see sweet Charlie, alive & well, knowing that he's now up in doggie-Heaven. What a good, sweet boy. As a dog-Mommy, I feel for Ree having to watch episodes with him in it. My k-9 baby girl has been gone almost 2 years, & there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about her. :-(

[Lura]

nkotb, I'm sorry for your loss. I've been there, as I'm sure many others on the board have, too.  It takes time and patience with yourself to get past the grief, but it does happen.

Has anyone made Ree's MIL's chocolate cake?  I wondered how you liked it.  In one episode, Ree made a sheet cake, and I have an event coming up that I need a sheet cake for.  Was that the same recipe of her MIL's?  I was a bit confused when I watched the episode, and Ree also didn't say whether the batter was the same amount as for a two-layer cake.  I've never made a sheet cake, as you can probably tell!  :)  Thanks to anyone who recalls that show and can enlighten me.

[VioletNevermind]

This show has become little more than a glorified advertisement for that "Merc" of hers.  The fact that I live 1,239 miles away from it is only one of the reasons why I wouldn't visit.

[ariel]

13 hours ago, Lura said:

I've never made a sheet cake, as you can probably tell!  :)  Thanks to anyone who recalls that show and can enlighten me.

If you live near a Costco, go there for your sheet cakes.   They make good ones.

[Calibabydolly]

Lura; I am not sure which chocolate cake Ree made but if it was the famous "Texas sheet cake", it may be worth making! There are many variations of the recipe out there, but its basically a thin cake made in a jelly roll pan topped with chocolate home made icing that is to die for. You can buy a good cake at Costco or Sams Club, but this is a GREAT cake! The secret is buttermilk and some people also use coffee in it. We like ours with nuts on top but it's good any way! Google "Pioneer woman texas sheet cake" and see if this is what you are looking for?

[Lisin]

@Lura the batter amount for a sheet cake will also make a 2 layer round cake or at least 24 cupcakes. I use "her" chocolate sheet cake recipe (as @Calibabydolly says it's what most people would call a Texas sheet cake) for the cupcakes I make for everyone's birthday. It's a great recipe. Here it is. My personal favorite part about making it as a sheet cake is that you pour the icing onto the still warm cake so it's a fast recipe to make. Also I never have buttermilk so I always just use 1/4 cup sour cream and 1/4 cup milk. I know I could "make" buttermilk but this is faster and always turns out great for me! 

Also I did some googling and it looks like in an episode Ree says it's her MIL's recipe so it seems like it is the same cake. 

[Qoass]

Three questions about the latest Merc episode:

1.  That butternut squash mac and cheese actually looked good.  If someone makes it, can they report back?

2.  Where did all those people in line park?  Apparently the whole street was closed off.

3.  To quote an episode of Roseanne, who gets drunk and cuts this family's hair?

[anneofcleves]

On 2/6/2017 at 8:42 AM, Qoass said:

Three questions about the latest Merc episode:

1.  That butternut squash mac and cheese actually looked good.  If someone makes it, can they report back?

2.  Where did all those people in line park?  Apparently the whole street was closed off.

3.  To quote an episode of Roseanne, who gets drunk and cuts this family's hair?

I'll bite!

1. It did look good, and I'm curious as well.  The only thing I didn't like was the way the caramelized onions looked in the finished product.  I'm sure they taste good, but they detract from the appearance of a good butternut squash mac & cheese.  Maybe if they were less brown?  I know, I'm being really picky on this one. Taste is really what matters.

2. Based on the size of the place, I'm assuming that parking for the Merc is like 10 miles away, with non-stop shuttle bus service.  Like Disney.  In fact, I'm surprised there wasn't a Ferris wheel and a bunch of creepy cowboy cartoon characters running around the place posing for photos.  And a parade down Main Street at 5 pm.  And fireworks.  Like a pan of Ree's candy bark, I apparently can't stop embellishing.

3.  Great question.  Ree and her daughters do not have great hair to work with, so I'm guessing that's the issue.  All the men have buzz cuts, which seems like a good idea for the work they do.

Overall, I enjoyed the episode because of the opening day material.  I'm flabbergasted at the size of the place and wonder how they will keep it filled once PW's star fades a bit?   They're pretty savvy business people, though, so I imagine they have contingency plans in place.

The food was barely memorable, which is typical for her now.  I caught up on the last two shows last night and pretty much all I walked away with was more burgers, more quesadillas, some super sloppy and greasy, savory Italian style rolls (that would be impossible to pick up), chili that can be used in 1,000 different and equally unhealthy ways, an odd-looking spicy bean soup (Tuscan and spicy just don't seem to go together), and her stupid almond bark that would make Willy Wonka blush.  

I'm glad the Merc seems to have come together and hope for her family and the community that it thrives and generates good jobs, but the woman continues to be a lousy cook.  She's a savvy business woman, but the cooking on her show is pretty sad and uninspired. Even if she did cater to new cooks, by now they surely must have a hankering for something a little more inspired than a chili cheese dog?

[grisgris]

I always thought that butternut squash mac & cheese had it's origins in trying to lighten up the regular version and the butternut squash was supposed to substitute for some of the cheese sauce. I honestly forgot by now what all was in Ree's sauce but I do recall butter and cheese.

Kale + white beans (not even cannellini) = "Tuscan"

Here we go again with more bland chili featuring chili powder, cumin and oregano and cayenne.  Although I frequently eat my chili as a bastardized version of "Cincinnati" (over spaghetti) shouldn't a good chili be able to stand alone and not serve as a condiment?

I really didn't pay much attention to what was going on inside of the Merc other than chaos and a selection of fugly ponchos and "flowy" tops.  (They aren't going to look good on anybody under 5'7" -- not that anybody of right mind and average height is going to care. ) What floored me were the PEOPLE who were there. A couple who drove 800-900 miles from up north. A group who came in from Pasadena and it was another woman's birthday. Most of them looked like what you'd see at the local Walmart on a Saturday morning. The testimony that made about the sad state of affairs that have now become reality was glaring as well as jarring.

Re: Hair. It looks like Paige is at least trying to do something with her hair most of the time on the show. I think it looked a hot mess because well, she was hot, running around and preparing coffee drinks. I can tell ya from experience that having fine hair really limits your options, but her blunt cut usually looks OK. Alex looks like she got some type of spiral perm gone bad and has "filled out" since she's been away at school. Maybe all along she HASN'T been eating Ree's food at home (or in the dorm.)

[Lura]

 On two reruns lately, Ree has made her two-ingredient Eggs in A Hole.  After all the talk she has done about having to have sugar with her tomatoes, where is the sugar?  She hasn't added any either time.

I'm mildly concerned that sweet Edna Mae hasn't been getting a food run since before Christmas.  Ree is preoccupied with her Merc.  Maybe we could form a caravan of cars filled with soups, baked saltines and cakes to brighten up a beautiful lady's day, 

[grisgris]

I also noticed the glaring absence of any people of color at the grand opening.  I could totally see Ree standing a wooden Indian out front to add "authenticity."

Edited February 10, 2017 by grisgris

[maggiemae]

Yikers - I don't know what possessed me to watch. sigh

Golly - wouldn't this be the time to pull out a frozen dinner, or do a 16 minute meal? Do you ever stop and taste the food for seasonings? 

A nickle lemonade stand and split the profit among 3? 

Not rinse the canned beans for the "Tuscan" soup? And do the stupid .com crap for the 12th time?

Not a fruit or vegetable in sight.

[grisgris]

Ugh.  I was busy ripping out needlepoint stitches while today's episode was on, so maybe I missed something.

Let me start out by saying that I absolutely could not take my eyes off of Ree today.  She looked truly like a clown. I don't know who did her makeup, but good golly, Miss Molly! Her foundation was way too pale and she didn't have on any type of bronzer or blush to add the slightest touch of color or warmth. On her eyes, along with the usual heavy black liner and mascara, Ree had on this orangey-brown eye shadow that went right up above the crease and just ended. No blending, no nothing. Toward the end of the show the change in lighting made it take on an almost acid rain green hue. Truly hideous. Then to top it all off were the freshly dyed extensions in the most retina-searing shade of red. That was jarring against her dark blue blouse that had some type of fussy orange/earth toned/lime green embroidery down the placket.

Triple chocolate tiramisu. I'm not a huge fan of tiramisu, at least not to make it for myself at home, so my disclaimer is that I haven't tried it. I did look up several recipes for the classic dessert and none of them came close to what Ree made today. I was immediately put off by the combination of white chocolate and marasala wine which was the creamy base for the whole thing. Then she drizzled the ladyfingers with coffee and I think with more marsala added to it. (Remember, I was pulling stitches!) She layered all of that with strawberries then dusted the top with cocoa powder and garnished with chocolate shavings.  To me, that really wasn't "triple" chocolate, but who cares?  It sure looked like Hyacinth didn't. Her reaction to receiving this token of payment for all the time she spends working at the Merc was an askance look and a slow, "Uh, it's a work of art." Maybe next time she won't be so quick to turn down cold hard cash.

Chuck was equally underwhelmed with his gift of some type of bar cookie with a layer of caramel and topped with Spanish peanuts, butterscotch and chocolate chips. He looked at the bars and said, "I've never had these before." (It was like, "If you can't bring me CHOCOLATE, just get out of here, OK?" During the preparation of the recipe, Ree kept reiterating how much Chuck loved chocolate; so much so that at one of the boy's birthday parties, he had to have his own chocolate cake. So why choose that to make for him? It had a handful of mini chocolate chips on top.

Who cares about dipping random salty processed food items in melted almond bark and rolling them in sprinkles and jimmies?

The WTF moment came at the end when Ree and Todd made "crazy shakes." First Ree made chocolate ganache and put part of it in the freezer. She had her usual arsenal of insulin-coma inducing sweet garnishes in dozens of small bowls. I think I heard her have Todd swirl the remaining ganache inside of the soda glass and drop in assorted sweet bits. She also encouraged him to roll the rim of the glass in ganache and then repeat in sprinkles or M&M's or whatever he wanted. THEN, she made a  milkshake with milk, vanilla ice cream, chocolate ice cream and the frozen chocolate ganache. WHY???? She poured that into Todd's nearly already full glass then dropped a huge scoop of ice cream on top. Then Todd added whipped cream from a can and cherries.  I don't know what you'd call the end result. Actually, it reminded me of Aunt Sandy and the episode where she piped canned/food colored frosting onto an upside down pie pan then set the cake on top. Or, her tendency (well, actually constant) to rim her drink glasses with all sorts of strange liquids and "enhancements." This mess didn't even look fun to try to eat (or drink?)

I'll tell you who's crazy?? Ree!

[anneofcleves]

Quote

Who cares about dipping random salty processed food items in melted almond bark and rolling them in sprinkles and jimmies?

Good question, grisgris.  Serious yuck.  I really love tiramisu, and it's one of the simplest things in the world to make.  I like the classic, very simple version that is not too sweet.  Ree's looked predictably, cloyingly sweet and over embellished.  I had to laugh at her comment about how she just loves real white chocolate, or something like that.  What is real white chocolate?  It's a confection, right?  Is there a real white chocolate versus a fake white chocolate?  I don't use it much and guess I don't know the difference.

I really hate the obligatory chocolate shows on FN, but Ree kind of amazes me in her ability to make chocolate look like dog food.

[Lura]

Lisin, thanks so much for replying to my question in such good detail!  You are a friend in need.  All I need now is a jellyroll pan, and I'm all set.

[Lisin]

13 hours ago, Lura said:

Lisin, thanks so much for replying to my question in such good detail!  You are a friend in need.  All I need now is a jellyroll pan, and I'm all set.

Anytime! Also (because it happened to my step mom) they're also called Half Sheet pans so if you can't find something called a jellyroll pan that's why. I actually bought a few of mine in the baking isle of the grocery store and they've been shockingly resilient! 

[Lura]

Quote

They're also called half sheet pans....

Ahhh!  I have a stack of those!  I didn't know they were one and the same.  The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know!

Ree's kids must have stomachs of iron.  If their stomachs were ever x-rayed, doctors would see stomachs that looked like big trifles -- layers of chocolate, gummy worms, ice cream, whipped cream, maraschino cherries, cookies, pie filling, brown sugar, peppers of every hue, jalapenos, hot sauce, chocolate curls and Mexican you-name it. 

My mouth hung open in disbelief when Ree made those little chocolate desserts, topped with whipped cream, spooned them into her fancy cups, and set them on a tray in the fridge.  She didn't say who was coming for dinner.  When those boys filed in, went straight to the fridge and helped themselves (aided by her note), I couldn't believe it.  THAT'S what they eat for snacks???Doesn't she know that sugar amps people up, that it's addictive?

THEN comes the reason for her excess in her own words -- she's going to be a popular mother!  It's all because Ree wants to be popular, and whatever Ree wants, Ree gets!

[film noire]

On 2/11/2017 at 9:43 PM, grisgris said:

Her reaction to receiving this token of payment for all the time she spends working at the Merc was an askance look and a slow, "Uh, it's a work of art." Maybe next time she won't be so quick to turn down cold hard cash.

LOL

Ree has never figured out how to style herself -- her make-up, clothing, hair (and hair color)  have never clicked. All these years on TV and she still looks like a "before" on What Not To Wear.  

[IOU Payne]

We Canadians were treated to the episode called Fixin' Fence, Wastin' Great Ribeye Steak in a Nasty Quesadilla last Saturday.  I wanted to cry when I saw those perfect hunks of beef - and I definitely don't mean Ladd and Cowboy Tim.  That amount of steak would have fed a family of six.  What happened with the leftover meat?  Did it make its way to another sad steak salad with gratuitous ingredients that were initially popular in the 70s?  Fed to the crew?  The dogs?  It's the dead of winter, we've just gotten a huge dumping of snow, and the idea of eating that steak on the patio in summer is kinda keeping me going!

[bc1795]

Ree  used to give me the creeps.....until I watched Westworld.  And now all of my questions have been answered.

[Natalie68]

My takeaway from this episode was Ree sure was trying to convince someone Hy worked for free.  Wonder if they have had issues with the tax man?  How many times did they say it?  

[grisgris]

On 2/13/2017 at 11:29 PM, film noire said:

LOL

Ree has never figured out how to style herself -- her make-up, clothing, hair (and hair color)  have never clicked. All these years on TV and she still looks like a "before" on What Not To Wear.  

It takes a very skilled hand to combine boho hippie chic and western wear.  Ree obviously doesn't have it.  For starters, she needs a completely different color of hair and a lighter hand with the makeup. Ah, who GAF? Maybe she thinks she's the "mature woman's" answer to Hannie Caulder.  Sorry. Ain't buyin' it!

[film noire]

2 hours ago, grisgris said:

 Maybe she thinks she's the "mature woman's" answer to Hannie Caulder.  Sorry. Ain't buyin' it!

LOL (second time you've cracked me up in this thread -- thanks, GrisGris, I needed the laughs).  If she's Hannie...is Ladd Billy Jack? 

Edited February 16, 2017 by film noire
primavera spaghetti western!

[txvoodoo]

@grisgris I just realized that your avatar is Aunt Sandy. LOVE.

[film noire]

25 minutes ago, txvoodoo said:

@grisgris I just realized that your avatar is Aunt Sandy. LOVE.

I just realized that too   -- always thought it was a showgirl.

[grisgris]

Thanks. I don't remember where I found that photo, but it's SOoooooo Aunt Sandy!  I miss her old shows terribly.

[anneofcleves]

She's runnin' out of ideas faster than than a cowboy jumps when he finds a rubber snake in the freezer.  I can't remember the "new" cowboy's name, but I felt kind of sorry for the way she shoved the food at him at the end when he stopped by to pick it up.  And then cowboy and his girlfriend awkwardly standing at the kitchen island, raving about the food, while coming up with the idea for a selfie to send to Ree. 

I hope Ree doesn't offer to cater the wedding. 

[ariel]

47 minutes ago, anneofcleves said:

 

I hope Ree doesn't offer to cater the wedding. 

Don't give her any ideas.  She might start a tacky wedding chapel/banquet hall at the Merc.

[grisgris]

Kudos to Cowboy Cameron for not going along with that ridiculous bumbling of the requisite, "For these recipes and more ... " stupid spiel  that we have to endure every week. He seemed a tinge put out by the whole debacle and spat it out in one take like "Bitch, please ..." OK, not really for the latter part.  This one seemed smarter than the average cowboy.

We've seen short ribs before and those brownies were the same ones Ree made a few seasons ago with the six-inch blanket of frosting, only last time it was mocha.  Was the butternut squash salad just the squash and greens? Another jug of embellished lemonade. Lather, rinse, repeat. Yawn@

She's just not going to let go of this "meal kit" notion. WHO needs instructions* on how to put together a sandwich or to toss a salad? She also left off instructions to add the toasted pine nuts to the salad before serving.  Were there instructions on how to stir up the lemonade/tea hybrid or to cut the brownies?

I foresee some type of meal kit kit coming soon to a Walmart near you.  It will have a sheet pan, various plastic containers and assorted Mason jars for dressing and an instruction book that you can copy from to customize your meal kits.  What made the whole discussion even more head-scratching was when Ree said that there are already other sources out there for meal kits.  So, if you can buy a meal kit from some place like say, Blue Apron, who already did all of the work, WHY would you want to make one up from scratch just to take up space in the refrigerator? That makes no sense to me and sounds like Ree's grasping on to a concept that 1. She didn't invent and 2. Is presently available in the form in which it was originally intended.

OK, I'm making myself crazy and thinking way too hard about it . I need to make myself some meal kits coming up for when I have knee replacement surgery.  I'm using a novel concept called the freezer! LOL!

*Whenever Giada or Nigella make up labels or instructions for food products, at least they write them neatly on nice labels or paper. They don't scratch words out with a Sharpie on a legal pad! So there!

Can we have a meal kit episode for new Cowboy Hunk? (I forgot his name.)

[maggiemae]

I go to pinterest a lot for recipes - rather than kits it seems like sheet pan meals are very popular now. Throw the protein (meat, seafood, pork, chicken) on the sheet pan along with veggies - and roast! Done. Little clean up. 

I am always astounded on the number of pans, bowls, mason jars etc that she uses to prepare a meal. Well - her meals. I get real chefs use a lot but I think the end justifies the means.

Oh - I'm also so disappointed she is allowing her production company from copying the Barefoot Contessa's format more and more. Good grief - just invite the cowboy and his girlfriend over for dinner and be done with it rather than having him drive over for his/their meal.

[anneofcleves]

7 hours ago, maggiemae said:

I go to pinterest a lot for recipes - rather than kits it seems like sheet pan meals are very popular now. Throw the protein (meat, seafood, pork, chicken) on the sheet pan along with veggies - and roast! Done. Little clean up. 

I am always astounded on the number of pans, bowls, mason jars etc that she uses to prepare a meal. Well - her meals. I get real chefs use a lot but I think the end justifies the means.

Oh - I'm also so disappointed she is allowing her production company from copying the Barefoot Contessa's format more and more. Good grief - just invite the cowboy and his girlfriend over for dinner and be done with it rather than having him drive over for his/their meal.

I had the thought when I watched this episode and thought about how formulaic Pacific Productions is, because this is an episode Ina Garten has done, right down to the selfies, at least once.  And probably a decade ago.

The whole "sheet pan dinner" thing that Ree and others have glommed on makes me laugh, too, because I remember my parents doing it when I was growing up.  Fish sticks and tater tots, anyone?  Ketchup as vegetable.  Lol.  But seriously, I grew up eating baked chicken, with roasted potatoes and carrots, all in the same pan.  I did it with my family, too, before Ree came around.  Granted, my parents didn't have much access to sesame oil, Sriracha, pink salt, fresh herbs and all sorts of exotic stuff to fancy it up.  They probably used Lawrys or garlic salt.

[grisgris]

Word to all of the above! I'm a fan of sheet pan meals; in fact, one of my favorite recipes of that type is "Squishy Chicken Thighs, Potatoes and Tomatoes," by Jamie Oliver. 

What I was referring to was Ree's method of storing all of the ingredients (assorted containers, Mason jars, etc.) for a meal on a sheet pan in the refrigerator. That seems so unnecessary and a waste of shelf space.  I'm fine with mise en place but can't you just group the containers of whatever together in the fridge? Why drag out another item that you may or may not need to cook with? Also, wouldn't sticking a cold metal pan into the hot oven affect the cooking temperature of the food?

Why am I wasting a balmy (close to 80) mid-February day trying to figure out the inner workings of that red-headed clown's mind? Ha! Ha! Outside, I go!

Edited February 19, 2017 by grisgris

[ariel]

Sheet pan meals have been around since at least the 1960's maybe longer.  Once again, Ree is not inventing the wheel, just ripping it off & calling it her own.

[SoCal Mema]

Meal kits already exist...Blue Apron anyone?  Again, as said upthread, she is not inventing anything.

[Qoass]

So this Cameron fellow... is he a cowboy or something?

 

I kid, I kid.  They mentioned that over twenty times.  No seriously... over twenty times.

[imjagain]

OK just watched kit meal/ date night episode..... Ree thinks date night is her going alone , drinking wine with friends , while hubby is outside for a chunk of the night??? That sounds good to me, but I'm in the middle of divorce,so, don't take my advice.

On 2/20/2017 at 5:25 PM, SoCal Mema said:

Meal kits already exist...Blue Apron anyone?  Again, as said upthread, she is not inventing anything.

I love Home Chef.

[txvoodoo]

On 2/18/2017 at 9:58 AM, grisgris said:

Thanks. I don't remember where I found that photo, but it's SOoooooo Aunt Sandy!  I miss her old shows terribly.

They still air them sometimes in the very-early morning. I have my DVR grab them whenever they do!

[ariel]

28 minutes ago, txvoodoo said:

They still air them sometimes in the very-early morning. I have my DVR grab them whenever they do!

If someone had told me 10 years ago that I would miss Aunt Sandy & she was one of the more talented "chefs" on FN I would have said you were crazy.  Fast forward to the lineup they have now & she just might be.

Edited February 24, 2017 by ariel

[patty1h]

Yahoo has news about Ree's store on their home page - it details how The Mercantile gets approx. 6000-15000(!!) visitors a day, in a town of only 3500 people.  People in the midwest must be starved for entertainment if this is what brings the crowds out.  This is a store where you can get some basic food, coffee and gander at Ree's shoddy knick-knacks.  Yes, ma'am, that is good times.  

At least it brings more $$ into the town, which always looked like a ghost town when Ree was shown driving through it to get to the building while it was being worked on.  https://www.yahoo.com/news/ree-drummond-oklahoma-restaurant-gets-182151910.html

I went and read some of the comments on Yahoo:  90% seem to be fans and the others seem to be folks like us who post in this thread.

Edited February 24, 2017 by patty1h

[ariel]

2 hours ago, patty1h said:

Yahoo has news about Ree's store on their home page - it details how The Mercantile gets approx. 6000-15000(!!) visitors a day, in a town of only 3500 people.  People in the midwest must be starved for entertainment if this is what brings the crowds out.  This is a store where you can get some basic food, coffee and gander at Ree's shoddy knick-knacks.  Yes, ma'am, that is good times.  

 

Maybe those numbers account from hungry people who attended a Trump rally.

[Lura]

9 hours ago, patty1h said:

The Mercantile gets approx. 6000-15000(!!) visitors a day, in a town of only 3500 people.

Those numbers amaze me!  They make me wonder where all the people are coming from.  It also shows me how little I know about Oklahoma.  I looked at a map of OK the other day, and Pawtuska was on it but no towns near it.  I'm wondering whether the state is peppered with even smaller towns which don't show up on a map, and people are coming from them.  Ree is definitely a bigger celebrity in her home state than it would appear.

[film noire]

11 hours ago, patty1h said:

Yahoo has news about Ree's store on their home page - it details how The Mercantile gets approx. 6000-15000(!!) visitors a day, in a town of only 3500 people.  

I bet she's cooking (; ) those numbers. No way in hell are 36,000 to 90,000 people a week traipsing through that town. The roads couldn't handle it, nor would the locals be able to cope with that level of traffic. I bet (at most) she's slyly including online visitors who drop by  (and not necessarily buy from) the Merc website.

Edited February 25, 2017 by film noire

[txvoodoo]

8 hours ago, film noire said:

I bet she's cooking (; ) those numbers. No way in hell are 36,000 to 90,000 people a week traipsing through that town. The roads couldn't handle it, nor would the locals be able to cope with that level of traffic. I bet (at most) she's slyly including online visitors who drop by  (and not necessarily buy from) the Merc website.

Yeah, something's going on. But in that town, who's gonna contradict her? Big fish, tiny pond.

In other news, I'm watching today's new episode and had it paused and my husband walked by. "I don't know who that woman is, but she looks like she's wearing Kabuki makeup, and it's scaring me." 

He's perceptive. :)

Also, re this ep. Using the letters? "R is for remember because nostalgia." She needs new writers. 

Edited to add:

1. That is NOT toast. Toast DOES get made in a toaster. You've made fried bread.
2. You've finally discovered avocado toast after every food blog in the country has gotten over it.
3. I get that it was comfort food, but toast that isn't fried is still comforting. 

Edited February 25, 2017 by txvoodoo
added stuff

[Lura]

I would be concerned about living on an isolated ranch with four kids and being known as the wealthiest folks in town before releasing numbers to the press like that.  The show gives the impression of the family buzzing here and there as free as birds, but I hope there's some serious security in place for the house, ranch, cars, etc.  Even if huge wealth is not a part of the picture, the parties, picnics and other activities give the perception of it. 

[peacheslatour]

According to the googles they are worth 8 million dollars. Not even close to Ina money.

[txvoodoo]

12 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

According to the googles they are worth 8 million dollars. Not even close to Ina money.

Totally true. 8 mil, in OK and TX, is "oh, you had a little oil well, did you?" money. Or maybe did well with some stocks.