S03.E06: Puddings

[Athena]

Quote

The bakers go all out to impress Mary and Paul with two types of delicious sponge puddings. The technical challenge sees them face a Queen of Pudding, a recipe direct from the archives of the Queen of Bakes, Mary Berry. The final test is a showstopping strudel that stretches the bakers to their limits.

[dubbel zout]

How can Paul complain American pies are too sweet when the first two bakes this week were very sweet puddings? Shut up, Hollywood. He also seemed meaner this episode than he has been.

Was the Queen of Pudding meant to be served hot/warm? It didn't seem as if the bakers had quite enough time.

Brendan was his usual delightful self. I love how the other bakers talk about him with such admiration.

Poor John! I think he's the first baker who's had an injury, at least as far as I can remember.

Sarah Jane got a reprieve, that's for sure.

[Kohola3]

Wow, that was intense!  And while they got a reprieve there will be two going next week so talk about pressure.

While some of the pudding flavors sounded good, I am not sure I'd enjoy the consistency.

I am sort of surprised that they showed all of the blood!  Didn't bother me (retired ER nurse) but I can see where it might freak out some people.

I'm unclear on that Queen of Pudding thing.  And after Paul bad mouthing American pies as too sweet that thing sounded like it would make my teeth ache.

[backgroundnoise]

That decision surprised me.  I guess I'm so used to American competitive shows where if you don't finish a challenge, you're out.   I'm glad they did that.  

Spoiler

I was getting a little confused because I assume John will make the finale since he won bread week

[mlp]

I didn't understand the logic behind sending no one home and then two the next time.  If they needed to lose three in two weeks, why not count John as one and send one more home this time and one more the next?  Maybe I'm missing something obvious but I don't see it.

I wonder if John ever applied for a subsequent season.  Poor guy.

The post above came in while I was typing.  I didn't realize that John wasn't eliminated.  I'm still not sure why they didn't send anyone home though.  It's not like everyone's bakes were perfection.

Edited July 21, 2018 by mlp
Add comment.

[backgroundnoise]

To me it sounded like John would be back.

Edited July 21, 2018 by backgroundnoise

[Sharpie66]

When Ryan said he had never made custard nor jam, I was wondering how he even made it to the tent. But, I started watching the show with Nadiya’s season, and the skill level of the bakers was higher by then. 

Loved seeing Mary and Paul arguing over Danny’s day 1 results.  

[Rinaldo]

3 minutes ago, mlp said:

I didn't understand the logic behind sending no one home and then two the next time.  If they needed to lose three in two weeks, why not count John as one and send one more home this time and one more the next?  Maybe I'm missing something obvious but I don't see it.

The thing you're missing is that John wasn't eliminated either. They didn't want to either eliminate him for not finishing, or let him though and eliminate someone who might otherwise have survived. (His injury needed attention but wasn't so severe as to prevent him coming back another day.) So this seemed the fairest way out, but it means they'll have to make up for it next week.

[Winter Rose]

Maybe I'm still salty from last week but I also thought Paul was particularly awful this week. Though it did sound like the first round was a disaster almost all around but that wasn't constructive criticism.

It was fun seeing Sarah Jane and Cathryn having fun with the dough slapping, even though Cathryn accidentally threw hers. She doesn't bother me actually, I don't think she's another Ruby. I'd be nervous to be professionally judged too, especially when Paul gets on a roll with the criticisms, but I don't think she has a bad attitude.

I'm glad no one got eliminated, I've seen other shows make accommodations for injuries. And even though John was towards the bottom, I don't think he incidentally weaseled out of elimination. Personally I thought James was the worst this week.

[mlp]

Quote

The thing you're missing is that John wasn't eliminated either. They didn't want to either eliminate him for not finishing, or let him though and eliminate someone who might otherwise have survived. (His injury needed attention but wasn't so severe as to prevent him coming back another day.) So this seemed the fairest way out, but it means they'll have to make up for it next week.

Thanks for the explanation.  It makes sense now.  I somehow didn't catch that part of the discussion.

[dargosmydaddy]

I think this is the most acrimonious I've ever seen Paul and Mary get with one another in terms of disagreeing. It was pretty funny!

Cathryn and Sarah Jane are hilarious together. "I can't serve dough with green carpet in it to Mary Berry!"

I was spoiled on the John incident, but wasn't expecting it to be quite so... bloody. I suppose if PBS gave it the Call the Midwife graphic warning treatment, that might have been a bit of a spoiler (though their description for next week's episode did spoil that there was no elimination this week). I thought it was sweet that Danny came over to help him (do they not have a medic on set? I know one came eventually, but John was seriously bloody by that point) and was telling him not to look at it. And I cracked up when Sue made the "O Positive" joke in the judging tent and no one else reacted.

[rhys]

2 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

How can Paul complain American pies are too sweet when the first two bakes this week were very sweet puddings? Shut up, Hollywood. 

Preach it! Gah he was so goofy about last week's too sweet American pies but A-ok with this week's layers of custard, jam & meringue! SMH. Can a Brit on this forum explain that?

[Rinaldo]

42 minutes ago, dargosmydaddy said:

Cathryn and Sarah Jane are hilarious together. "I can't serve dough with green carpet in it to Mary Berry!"

They really were delightful in that sequence. Even in the first moments after the carpet incident, when it must have seemed most dire, Cathryn was bubbling over with laughter more than anything. Not to correct anyone, but just because it's one of my favorite quotes from all the seasons of the show, I have to quote Cathryn verbatim: "I'm not serving Mary Berry green carpet!"

And a minute later was cute too: "Cathryn, do you blame me?" "Completely. But I'll get over it. ... 'Course I don't! It's fine!" I have a lot of respect for someone who can see the funny side of a (sort-of) crisis.

[HHSScot]

I am happily surprised that they did not eliminate anyone.  John not being able to finish made it unfair to only judge him on two bakes while everyone else was judged on all three.  When Paul mentioned about having the injury affecting the judging being unforeseen, I wonder if they made guidelines for future seasons.

Plus on a personal note, strudels (the German savory strudels, not the pastry ones) have always been a favorite in my family with a recipe passed down from my grandmother.  So, having a non-elimination round would go with the family feeling that strudels give me.  Since I have had friends clueless as to what I meant by this type of strudel I have included (internet) pictures similar to what we had.  I never made the dough, but helped with stretching, rolling, and cutting of it.

[J-Man]

Can someone explain what exactly is included in the British meaning of "pudding?" Obviously there are things like custards and steamed puddings, but I don't understand why strudel would be considered a pudding and not a pastry.

[rhys]

That's ^^ a good question. I watched master chef pro UK & one of the hosts talked about liking his pudding & I gleaned in that series anyway, pudding just meant dessert.

[GaT]

Yeah for Brendan, I'm still rooting for him. Not sending anyone home seems fair to me, but I'm going to be pissed if one of the people eliminated next week is Brendan.

OMG!, I nearly died when Cathryn's dough went flying!

Strange to watch Paul actually giving tips & demonstrating how to do something, he doesn’t do that anymore & even says he can't. Mel was stretching out Cathryn's dough with her, is that still allowed?

John’s whole hand was covered in blood, how did he cut it through the glove?

[Quilt Fairy]

1 hour ago, J-Man said:

Can someone explain what exactly is included in the British meaning of "pudding?"

I'm not British, but I have picked up that in the UK "pudding" = "dessert".

1 hour ago, GaT said:

John’s whole hand was covered in blood, how did he cut it through the glove?

John cut his finger early on when he put his hand into some appliance with a sharp blade (I think he said Vitamix but I don't know what that is or why they'd have one).  He apparently thought it was a small cut and instead of taking the time and getting it attended to (we've seen multiple people with those blue band-aids over the years), just stuck a blue glove over it.  The cut bled so much that it filled the glove and his whole hand was bloody.  (From personal experience, fingers can bleed a lot.  It's very easy to hit a vein or artery.  I've cut my fingers a few times (knife, garden shears, quilting rotary cutter) and they're the only time in my adult life I've gone to the ER. )

[GaT]

10 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

John cut his finger early on when he put his hand into some appliance with a sharp blade (I think he said Vitamix but I don't know what that is or why they'd have one).  He apparently thought it was a small cut and instead of taking the time and getting it attended to (we've seen multiple people with those blue band-aids over the years), just stuck a blue glove over it.  The cut bled so much that it filled the glove and his whole hand was bloody.  (From personal experience, fingers can bleed a lot.  It's very easy to hit a vein or artery.  I've cut my fingers a few times (knife, garden shears, quilting rotary cutter) and they're the only time in my adult life I've gone to the ER. )

Well, that was stupid, all he had to do was stick a bandaid on it before he put the glove on.

[biakbiak]

12 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Vitamix but I don't know what that is or why they'd have one)

A vitamix is a blender but I thought he said magimix which is the food processor that they use.

[Quilt Fairy]

1 minute ago, biakbiak said:

A vitamix is a blender but I thought he said magimix which is the food processor that they use.

That would explain the extra sharp blades.

[Rinaldo]

5 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I'm not British, but I have picked up that in the UK "pudding" = "dessert".

That's true, but it's also somehow more complicated than that, and despite my Anglophilia I don't always understand. Yes, as a general category UK "pudding" means what "dessert" means in the US. But there's also a specific sort of UK dessert called a pudding (which isn't the smooth mousse that the word means in the US): a molded, often steamed textured item like the things they call plum pudding, Christmas pudding, suet pudding... this is the subcategory that they made for the Signature Bake in this episode. And I noticed that it may be confusing enough, even to the British, that Sarah-Jane made something that Paul informed her didn't fit the definition.

But then Queen of Puddings seems to refer to the more general meaning, as if it meant "best of all desserts" (it actually seemed not far removed from a trifle, with its layers of different elements in a transparent container). And strudel likewise, as if the week's theme was a catch-all "things we couldn't fit in elsewhere."

Edited July 21, 2018 by Rinaldo

[Kohola3]

6 hours ago, GaT said:

OMG!, I nearly died when Cathryn's dough went flying!

 

I was holding my breath to see what she'd do and when she dissolved into giggles, I had to laugh along.  And picking out the green carpet was hysterical.

[AZChristian]

57 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

I was holding my breath to see what she'd do and when she dissolved into giggles, I had to laugh along.  And picking out the green carpet was hysterical.

I lost it when she stood there with her porcelain British skin, not a hair out of place, and declared, "I am NOT serving green carpet to Mary Berry!"

[Blergh]

Two things we got to see in this episode with John's injury:

 

 1. An on-sight doctor who evidently normally stayed directly off-camera who immediately tended to his injury and took him away for further treatment.

2. The INSIDE of that manor house the marquise tent is pitched next to.

[skipnjump]

Paul seemed like he was suffering from PMS this episode.  He was really cranky.  I am wondering how strudel fits in with pudding.  It's not steamed.  I have helped make a strudel before.  It was the activity at a friend's birthday party back in grade school and it was a lot of fun stretching the dough paper thin and, of course, eating the strudel once it baked.

[AZChristian]

From Wikipedia:  "Pudding is a type of food that can be either a dessert or a savory dish. The word pudding is believed to come from the French boudin, originally from the Latin botellus,meaning "small sausage", referring to encased meats used in medieval European puddings."

Maybe strudel was included because of the "encased" factor.  But if you look up strudel on Wiki, they list it as a pastry.

Regardless . . . I - as always - want to die and come back in my next life as a judge on GBBO.

[Kohola3]

45 minutes ago, Blergh said:

 1. An on-sight doctor who evidently normally stayed directly off-camera who immediately tended to his injury and took him away for further treatment.

 

I believe that was a paramedic.  But I loved how Danny, the ICU consultant,  immediately left her baking to come and help.  I have seen the competitive shows on Food Network and that just doesn't happen.  Someone might mention "Gee, that's too bad" but nobody offers to help.

29 minutes ago, skipnjump said:

Paul seemed like he was suffering from PMS this episode.  He was really cranky. 

It was ridiculous.  Hardly a single good word from him, arguing with Mary, sniping at everything.  I think even Mary was surprised but she stepped up to give positive feedback.

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, Blergh said:

An on-[site] doctor who evidently normally stayed directly off-camera who immediately tended to his injury and took him away for further treatment.

The thing is, the person (looked like a paramedic to me too, @Kohola3, or whatever their equivalent is -- the helpful person who'll show up when you call for an ambulance) appeared far from "immediately"... because John (foolishly) tried to soldier on after cutting himself by just putting on a protective glove, assuming that would take care of it. It was some minutes later that he realized the blood was now all over the inside of the glove, and then Danny and Sue made him sit down and be looked after. (I'm thinking that's when the call went out.) And after that, the medic (whether on staff or specially called) showed up and took John away. So it all lasted a while.

It's another example of the kind of denial that the bakers sometimes go into, under the pressure of time and competition. Someone will decide to make a whole new batch of puff pastry or whatever, when it needs to be already in the oven. Or they'll convince themselves that 20 minutes at a slightly higher temperature will achieve a bake that really takes 45. And here, "I won't be stopped by a cut finger, therefore I'll just ignore it and the blood will stop." It's a strange kind of "I must do this, therefore the universe will bend to make it possible" bubble that must happen under those intense conditions.

[dubbel zout]

8 hours ago, GaT said:

Well, that was stupid, all he had to do was stick a bandaid on it before he put the glove on.

The cut was much deeper than he realized, so his glove would likely have filled up regardless. There's probably someone on the crew who is trained in first aid, but it seemed like John's cut needed more than just a good wrapping of gauze. I wonder if he ended up with stitches. That's a good cliffhanger for next week, LOL!

1 hour ago, skipnjump said:

I am wondering how strudel fits in with pudding.

It fits in with the generic meaning of "dessert," though given that filling could be sweet or savory, pushed the definition a bit.

[butterbody]

Did I miss the technique behind that lattice topping? It looked so cool when it stretched out as he slapped it on his strudel, but I never saw him cutting it. Would have loved to have seen more of how it was done.

[AZChristian]

16 minutes ago, butterbody said:

Did I miss the technique behind that lattice topping? It looked so cool when it stretched out as he slapped it on his strudel, but I never saw him cutting it. Would have loved to have seen more of how it was done.

Probably used something like this little plastic utensil.  Costs less than $10 online, but the effect is impressive!!!

[meep.meep]

11 hours ago, GaT said:

Yeah for Brendan, I'm still rooting for him. Not sending anyone home seems fair to me, but I'm going to be pissed if one of the people eliminated next week is Brendan.

OMG!, I nearly died when Cathryn's dough went flying!

Strange to watch Paul actually giving tips & demonstrating how to do something, he doesn’t do that anymore & even says he can't. Mel was stretching out Cathryn's dough with her, is that still allowed?

 

Maybe Paul can't demonstrate anymore because he is under contract to do that on the Masterclass episodes.  He is magnificent with handling dough.

Anyway, I propose that we just refer to him as "the male judge" for the rest of the season.  Or until he gets over his PMS.

[Rinaldo]

The regulations got gradually tightened up from year to year over the first few seasons, no doubt partially as a result of events in the tent. Judges helping out the bakers so blatantly became disallowed (though Paul and Mary would confess in interviews that they still felt the urge). In Series 1, the judges even hung around during the technical, then proceeded to judge "blind" despite having watched everyone's progress. Clearly that needed to change, and it did, the next year, to the form we know now.

Edited July 21, 2018 by Rinaldo

[Athena]

1 hour ago, Rinaldo said:

Judges helping out the bakers so blatantly became disallowed (though Paul and Mary would confess in interviews that they still felt the urge).

Mary continued to be bad at this and the producers allegedly would shuffle her off when they realized she was being too helpful with the contestants during the interviews. Paul has to cover his urges by asking rhetorical questions.

[Eliza422]

I’m not sure why this grossed me out so, but seeing Brendan oil and then use his really hairy arms to stretch out the dough was awful .

 

???

[Quilt Fairy]

3 hours ago, meep.meep said:

He is magnificent with handling dough.

 

1 hour ago, Athena said:

Paul has to cover his urges by asking rhetorical questions.

I remember an episode (don't remember if it's a PBS aired season as I saw the early ones on YouTube) where Paul actually takes over and starts kneading the bread dough of one of the contestants.

Quote

The regulations got gradually tightened up from year to year over the first few seasons, no doubt partially as a result of events in the tent.

As far as I'm concerned, they can make up rules for exceptional situations as they go along.  There's no monetary prize.  I think the primary consideration would be "What does everyone consider fair?"

Edited July 21, 2018 by Quilt Fairy

[dubbel zout]

4 hours ago, AZChristian said:

4 hours ago, butterbody said:

Did I miss the technique behind that lattice topping? It looked so cool when it stretched out as he slapped it on his strudel, but I never saw him cutting it. Would have loved to have seen more of how it was done.

Probably used something like this little plastic utensil.  Costs less than $10 online, but the effect is impressive!!!

Could Brendan just have made slits in the strudel dough and stretched it to open them? The dough is so thin I wonder if a tool wouldn't wreck it. I wish we'd seen him do that, too.

47 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

As far as I'm concerned, they can make up rules for exceptional situations as they go along.  There's no monetary prize.  I think the primary consideration would be "What does everyone consider fair?"

Same here. I think the right choice was made not to bounce someone from this episode. If John couldn't have returned, he would be the one eliminated. Next week will be rough for the bakers, knowing two of them will be gone. 

[Kohola3]

15 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

I think the right choice was made not to bounce someone from this episode.

I agree especially since we've seen Ryan have a disastrous couple of bakes and then win the Showstopper and become Star Baker for the week.  John could have done the same thing but they didn't know because he never got a chance to finish his strudel.

But next week will be hard to watch!

[dargosmydaddy]

6 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

The thing is, the person (looked like a paramedic to me too, @Kohola3, or whatever their equivalent is -- the helpful person who'll show up when you call for an ambulance) appeared far from "immediately"... because John (foolishly) tried to soldier on after cutting himself by just putting on a protective glove, assuming that would take care of it.

Are we sure he didn't also have a band-aid (or "plaster," as the British call them...) on as well? Because that seems really weird just to put a glove on. I think the glove was more meant as a sanitary thing (if he realized he was bleeding somewhat badly and was concerned about not getting it on the pastry) and/ or to help keep the band-aid on if it was in an awkward spot. Yes, maybe he just wasn't thinking clearly, and the way it was said in the episode didn't make it apparent if this was the case, but I'd be really surprised if anyone's first thought, even in a stressful situation, would be to think, "This glove is more effective than a band-aid!"

[Kohola3]

2 minutes ago, dargosmydaddy said:

...but I'd be really surprised if anyone's first thought, even in a stressful situation, would be to think, "This glove is more effective than a band-aid!"

I would be surprised as well. I think he probably had a deep enough cut that a band aid wasn't doing the job or he took a few layers of skin off and that bleeds like mad.  If it was a simple cut I doubt they would have hauled him off to a clinic.  I bet he needed stitches or something hemostatic to staunch the bleeding.

[Mystery]

18 hours ago, Winter Rose said:

Maybe I'm still salty from last week but I also thought Paul was particularly awful this week. Though it did sound like the first round was a disaster almost all around but that wasn't constructive criticism.

It was fun seeing Sarah Jane and Cathryn having fun with the dough slapping, even though Cathryn accidentally threw hers. She doesn't bother me actually, I don't think she's another Ruby.

Yes and yes, for me. Paul is not quite out of the doghouse, and I listened to the description of what the bakers had to make and thought, "And American pies are too sweet?"

Apparently I hold on to grudges for longer than I thought!  :-)

I loved Sarah Jane and Cathryn. I didn't blame SJ, because she was trying to share a new trick that Paul had taught her, to give Cathryn a competitive edge. But if I'd been a baker, I'm not sure I would have seen that as quickly as Cathryn did, or been as gracious right away. I really like her. 

I *was* surprised that Paul was giving so much help (well, relatively) to SJ without her being eliminated. It seems like usually, that's the kiss of death. 

 

7 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

I believe that was a paramedic.  But I loved how Danny, the ICU consultant,  immediately left her baking to come and help.  I have seen the competitive shows on Food Network and that just doesn't happen.  Someone might mention "Gee, that's too bad" but nobody offers to help.

I appreciated that, too. And I think it was James who stopped working and started to go over to Cathryn when her dough went flying. 

I *was* surprised that Paul was giving so much help (well, relatively) to SJ without her being eliminated. It seems like the kiss of death. 

I enjoyed Mary referring to Brendan's "notes" about how he was going to deal with the dough. I never realized, though I should have, that the bakers would give Mary and Paul (Paul's name is never coming first again!!!) notes about what they planned to do, so they'd know what to ask about in front of the cameras.  

I was happy with the show's decision to eliminate two people next week instead. I was wondering if they might poll the bakers and ask if anyone objected to that. Then I thought, "John would be the first baker to want to let an injured person stay." Then I thought, "Stop thinking that you know these people just because they're lovely people on a lovely show."  :-) 

[dubbel zout]

3 minutes ago, Mystery said:

I loved Sarah Jane and Cathryn.

They are my least favorite bakers at this point in the season. 

5 minutes ago, Mystery said:

I was wondering if they might poll the bakers and ask if anyone objected to that.

I was thinking, In the States someone would threaten to sue because now things aren't fair anymore, what with John not completing the strudel bake. 

(Yes, I'm in a cranky place tonight.)

I wonder why the bakers had to tell Mary and Paul what their strudel filling was, instead of getting the drawings and Sue's narration the way all the other bakes go. Did something happen to the artist?

[ombelico]

5 hours ago, AZChristian said:

Probably used something like this little plastic utensil.  Costs less than $10 online, but the effect is impressive!!!

I didn't catch if Brendan used such a tool or not, but I would think that if the lattice on his strudel was just the result of using a pattern-producing gadget that's commercially available, the judges wouldn't have praised the effect so much. Anyone can run that thing over a sheet of dough without any skill involved.

[Kohola3]

I think that watching later seasons first has made watching this a little difficult at times.  For example, I wonder if using a can of sweetened condensed milk (as Ryan did in his show stopper) would fly in later seasons when it seemed as though using "conveniences" was frowned upon.  So maybe Brendan did use a tool.  Although it does seem like they would not have praised it so much if he did. 

It was pretty perfect looking to be done by hand, it seems to me.  But then I wouldn't get anywhere near that kind of dough - mine would be a lumpy, hole-y mess.

[Destiny74]

I think John probably did use a plastic bandage (tm...?). I think his cut was deeper than originally thought and then was taken out to have it looked at.  I can't imagine that much blood was just a simple cut.

The "male judge" didn't really come into play until series 5 (I think...now they've got me all turned around with the numbering).  Nancy was talking to Sue or Mel and spaced Paul's name and called him the male judge.  From then on it stuck.  I think Paul even uses it as his Twitter handle or something like that.  It was actually a really funny gaff.

Strudel dough.  Um, no thank you.  What an overly delicate thing to mess with.  Kinda like when they had to make their own filo dough during a later season.  Too fussy for me.  I'd have lost my mind if it tore or broke!  As much as GBBS makes me want to try my hand at certain things, it makes me want to steer clear of so many others.  ?. Years ago, in high school, I made "crossiants" but my family used margarine instead of butter so that's what I used.  They tasted fine but came out more like cresent rolls than croissants.  Those, I'd like to try again.

I like the people in this series.  I like Cathryn, Brendan, James, John, and Sarah Jane the most.  But, there are no real "loves" for me.  Love is saved for Martha, Builder Richard, Glen, Tamal, Naydia, and, of course, Selasi ?.

[Mabinogia]

22 hours ago, Winter Rose said:

It was fun seeing Sarah Jane and Cathryn having fun with the dough slapping, even though Cathryn accidentally threw hers. She doesn't bother me actually, I don't think she's another Ruby. I'd be nervous to be professionally judged too, especially when Paul gets on a roll with the criticisms, but I don't think she has a bad attitude.

The thing with Cathryn is, though she can be a bit woe is me, she can also be quite humorous. I loved when Sarah Jane asked her if she blamed her for the dough throwing and Cathryn very dryly said "yes, I blame you," then immediately laughed and said of course not. Ruby was just a drain all the time. I think Cathryn is just very hard on herself, but also realizes this is just a friendly competition and her life will go on if she doesn't win. She has grown on me since the start. 

11 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

I believe that was a paramedic.  But I loved how Danny, the ICU consultant,  immediately left her baking to come and help.  I have seen the competitive shows on Food Network and that just doesn't happen.  Someone might mention "Gee, that's too bad" but nobody offers to help.

I loved her for that. She was in full on medic mode. Didn't seem to be thinking about the competition at all at that point, just making sure John was okay. So sweet. 

I am so very happy they decided not to eliminate anyone. It made sense in that John was in danger of leaving, but not so fare behind that his strudel couldn't have saved him. It would be a shame to lose him to an injury but also a shame to kick someone else off if he had tanked. It also fits with the feel good, this isn't a cut throat competition vibe of the show. So yay!

Brendon is still my favorite. I love how please he looks when they praise him. He looks like a schoolboy. I also love the almost flirty thing he and Mary have going. it's sweet and innocent, but very cute. 

In other news, I really crave sticky toffee pudding now, never had it, no idea what it is really, but it just seems so very British. I want it. 

[Toothbrush]

Sarah Jane & Cathryn were really cute & funny flinging the dough around, and Cathryn's response to SJ was hilarious. 

The Queen of Pudding sounds awesome, but sans meringue which I don't care for. But custard & jam? Yes please!

It will be hard losing 2 bakers next week :-(

On 7/20/2018 at 9:00 PM, Kohola3 said:

I am sort of surprised that they showed all of the blood!  Didn't bother me (retired ER nurse) but I can see where it might freak out some people.

I covered my eyes, but my husband, a doctor, was like, "Hm. That's a lot of blood; he'll need stitches. Pass the Oreos"  But Sue's O+ joke made me literally lol 

[Lovecat]

Quote

But then Queen of Puddings seems to refer to the more general meaning, as if it meant "best of all desserts" (it actually seemed not far removed from a trifle, with its layers of different elements in a transparent container)

Because there is a Friends quote for every situation:  “Custard? Good! Jam? Good! Meat? Gooooood!”

[Red Bridey]

I think poor SJ is going to have a nervous breakdown!  She's got that pale English Rose complexion and she justs gets soooo red when she's trying not to cry.  I want to hug her and say it's going to be all right...her family and friends will still love her and eat all her delicious Granny-inspired bakes, when she has time to correct the mistakes that really aren't that bad!  I would prefer her soufflé-like pudding to the sticky-sweet banoffee puddings on offer by the others.  You're going to be FINE, Sarah Jane! 

I'm slightly irritated by Brendan.  He just seems so unhappy.  I guess it's the stiff upper lip of the former military man, but he can have some fun too!  Crack a smile once in a while, dude!