Monday, October 27, 2008

Karma's a bitch

They can be sneaky and dramatic at times, but Nick and Starr pulled out another first place this week. Photos from CBS.com

This week teams traveled from Aukland to Cambodia, Thailand. On the way to the airport Terrence got pulled over for going 17km above the speed limit. Karma's a bitch Terrence. But that little set back doesn't mean the pair missed the first flight. They sneak on with Ken and Tina.

Back at the airport, the divorcees are stirring up more drama with Dallas and his mom whispering together and saying that Dallas' hair looks like Teenwolf. On a kinder note, I think, Ty says he wouldn't trade Aja in, not even for a Porsche. I can feel the love.

When the teams get to Cambodia their first challenge to to use a hand crank to pump gas into a truck. Dallas and Toni manage to finish 2nd even though their driver took them to the wrong place. The always genius frat boys can't figure out how to fill their pump -- even from home I could tell that they didn't have the proper valve closed. Silly frat boys.

In the bad karma world Terrence and Sarah are struck down again when their boat breaks down on the way to the detour and Terrence gets out a stick to try and get them to their destination. He throws a few hissy fits on the way.

On the way to this week's pit stop, teams stopped at the beautiful Angkor Wat to complete a road block that gets poor Tina very lost.

Poor long distance couple Aja and Ty just couldn't pull it out this week.

It is the dramatic Nick and Starr that find their way to the front of the pack this week and Aja and Ty just can't make up for last week's lost time and are eliminated. As a final karmic intervention Terrence and Sarah were hit with a 30 minute time penalty next week as a result of Terrence's speeding. Maybe these two should learn to play nice with each other and they won't have such bad things happen to them.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Thanksgiving dessert?

Eli (not sure of his last name) is quite possibly my new favorite person and it's all because of this blog post: Proving once again that bacon really does make everything better

Anyone want to join me for Thanksgiving dessert?

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Chuck In Real Life

Poor Chuck still resides in his father's shadow. Photo CW.com

Here goes Gossip Girl using movie titles as the episode title. Can we get a little more creative people?

Bart is back in town and he's bearing gifts and household guidelines and the 'children' aren't happy about it. I mean 1am curfew on a weeknight?! Horrors!
Since Dan no longer has Serena he's decided to try out for the soccer team -- how very sporty of him.

Vanessa needs Blair's help to get signatures and hand out fliers to save a historic Brooklyn Inn that is going to be torn down. She threatens to blackmail Blair if she doesn't get a thousand signatures in 6 hours. Is this really something that you want to be pulling the blackmail card for? I think that card should be used in extreme situations only.

Blair brings Chuck in to help her take Vanessa down and in turn get back at Dan for becoming friends with Nate. The sexual tension between Blair and Chuck is reaching epic proportions. And while those two are busy conspiring, Serena is out to prove that nobody gives her rules to follow.

After Little J calls out Dan for only having girl friends, he calls up Nate to go play soccer at the park. When he shows up at Nate's he sees that the house has been seized and that Nate has been living inside on a sleeping bag. Dan invites Nate back to dinner at the Humphrey's to try to help him out, but Nate brushes him off.

At the Bass housewarming event Serena calls out her mom in front of a national magazine about how she was never around when she and Eric were kids. Quite the little pisser Serena has become lately.

At the urging of his dad, Dan does not back down from trying to help Nate and in the end, Nate falls for the Humphrey charm and succumbs to the offer of Scattegories. I mean who could resist Sacttegories?!

In the world of Chuck and Blair, they did manage to squash Vanessa and Chuck takes Blair up on her offer of getting to sleep with her, but before he'll do the deed he asks her for the three little words that she had previously wanted to hear from him, but she won't say them. Now Chuck tells Blair that it's her turn to chase after him. Teenagers these days. Oh and can I mention that I am going to have to go shopping for some lingerie tomorrow because of the fact that a 17 year old has WAY hotter lingerie than I do. TMI?

You know you love me. XOXO

Monday, October 20, 2008

Amazing Race

Tina, even though your overplucked eybrows total bug, I am growing to love you and Ken. Plus, isn't this win number 3 for you? Photos from CBS.com

Contestants were to travel from La Paz, Bolivia (which I learned is the world's highest capitol) to Auckland, New Zealand. Lucky. During the Bolivia pit stop, divorcees Kelly and Christy confronted Nick and Star telling them that they knew about their attempt to U-Turn them. These two teams are turning out to be high drama, and it's kind of fun to watch.

On the way to the airport this was Marisa and Brooke's conversation:
"I wonder if they like blondes in New Zealand."
"I wonder if they have blondes, so we're not like rare."
Oh dear, girls.

On the way from the airport to their first task in New Zealand, Aja and Ty get a flat tire and are both clueless on how to change it.

Tina and Ken were the first to untie their crazy knot followed closely by the frat boys and both raced to be the first to the fast forward. Ken and Tina beat out the frat boys and had to climb the tallest building in the southern hemisphere in order to advance straight to the pit stop.

Meanwhile, my favorite challenge thus far: teams had to search among a group of tribal Maori who were doing the ritual Haka dance (which is also performed by the All Blacks rugby team from New Zealand. I would be intimidated!) and match a picture of a tattoo to a tattoo on one of the men's faces. I love it.

Moving on, teams either had to go to a kiwi farm and smash kiwis like Ethel & Lucy stomped grapes in I Love Lucy or put together a wind kite kart and ride it around a track. Several teams found the kiwi smashing too difficult and changed tasks midway through.

Due to successfully climbing the building, Ken and Tina made it to the pit stop first and it was the southern Belles Marisa & Brooke that came in last. Guess they don't like blondes in New Zealand after all.

Poor pink southern belles Marisa and Brooke couldn't get through the kiwi smash fast enough and were sent home this week.

Belated Monday Night Meal

Bootleggers got decked out in American Diabetes Association colors.
A few weekends ago I went home for a friend’s wedding. While I was there my family hosted a fundraiser dinner at a local restaurant called Bootleggers. The owner of the restaurant, Ty Rowe, knows my mom because she had his kids in her kindergarten class and he opened the restaurant especially for this event and catered the entire meal.

The reason behind this fundraiser is to raise awareness and funds for the American Diabetes Association. I have been participating in this walk for the past 4 years (although last year’s walk was cancelled because of the San Diego wildfires) and my parents have traveled down to walk with me. As a family, we have raised close to $12,000 in those four years.

Why do we walk? In June 1999, the summer before my senior year of high school, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. I was rushed to the hospital when my blood sugar was found to be 560 mg/dl (normal range between 70-140 mg/dl) and was thrown into a life of blood sugar testing, insulin shots and carb counting. Over the past nine years I have learned a lot about this disease and the millions of people it affects. I have also learned a great deal about myself and my ability to overcome this disease. At the same time, however, I still worry about the long-term affects this disease could have on my body and fear the possible side effects, such as kidney failure, amputation, blindness and heart disease. So I now take it upon myself to be proactive and educate when I can and help raise funds that will go toward searching for a cure. To learn more about the walk or to make a donation of your own visit http://main.diabetes.org/goto/lesliehackett or to learn more about diabetes and whether you’re at risk for the disease, visit http://diabetes.org/
My family (from left) my mom Barbara, my grandma Elinor and my dad Steve.

To be excused to get dinner, tables had to answer diabetes trivia questions provided by me.

With that said, let’s get to the Monday Night Meal aspect of this blog. Ty made a fantastic meal. Appetizers included stuffed olives and mozzarella balls, which were paired with a wine tasting put on by a local wine shop. Dinner was Caesar salad; a vegetarian pasta option with pesto, pine nuts and sun dried tomatoes; a meat pasta option with Italian sausage, meatballs and a tomato sauce; and garlic bread. The evening was topped off by a new twist on tiramisu, which was served in individual cups as a pudding-type mixture with lady fingers on the side. Everything was fantastic.

The Italian buffet provided by Bootleggers owner Ty Rowe included Caesar salad, two pasta options and garlic bread.

By the end of the night, with the meal costs, raffle money and a silent auction, we raised about $3,500! My parents worked extremely hard on this event and pounded the pavement to collect great prizes for the raffle and silent auction. The community of Auburn really stepped up to help support our family and we are very thankful for that. With this fundraiser, this year we are on target to meet our team goal of $5,000 for the first time since I started walking in this event. We are set to Step Out for Diabetes on Saturday, October 25.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

So long, farewell

What's that Ana Torv? Your acting is horrible? Yes, it really is. Photo from Fox.com


The time has come to say good-bye to Fringe. I really had high hopes for this show and the premise seemed like it make for a really different, but entertaining show. With the amount of TV I already watch, I don't need to clog my life waiting for a show to get better (heck, I already waiting 4 or 5 weeks).

So, farewell to Pacey (who actually turned out to be the best acted character on the show, much to my surprise). Ana Torv you will not be missed and I hope to not see you on any other show. I will miss Cedric Daniels (have you noticed how many people from The Wire are on new shows this year. That might need to get its own blog).

Orevoir Fringe.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Too good to wait

I know I said I probably wouldn't be blogging, but my dad sent me an article about the newest cookbook. I don't want to spoil the surprise, but let me tell you, it's worth the read -- especially if you need a good laugh. I will, however, tell you that I don't think I will be purchasing this cookbook or making any of the recipes -- EVER.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

We'll be back...

...after this commercial break.



I know I've only been posting to my blog for a month now, but I'm on a writer's strike ... ha, that could only happen if I were getting paid. The truth is, I'm headed to a friend's wedding this weekend and when I return home I will be without Internet for about a week, so the blog will be on a short hiatus. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll still be doing lots of eating and lots of TV watching and will fill you in about it at a later date. Plus, I just got real cable hooked up, so there is so much more to blog about -- Bravo, Food Network, TLC, Discovery... the options are endless (well except for premium movie channels. See reason above as to why I can't have a writer's strike).


Anyway, if you have any dire TV, food or other news feel free to leave me a comment. Plus, getting comments makes me feel special. ♥

Natural Beauty

This week on America's Next Top Model:

The girls had a self styling challenge where they were given clothes that were too big for them and they had to use gadgets found in their purses to make them fit better. Poor Marjorie got extremely nervous having to complete the challenge in front of judge Paulina and had a minor panic attack. McKey was the challenge winner and was awarded 50 extra frames in this week's shoot. Is it me or is McKey kinda looking like a monkey these days? I never noticed how far her ears stick out until tonight. I'm not a fan of how she's styling her hair.

Back at home it's pick on Marjorie night. According to my friend over at I Watch Lots of TV girls who get a lot of face time on the show are getting the "I am going home" edit. Could this be Marjorie's time to go?

At the shoot, Monster Jay (here we go again with the acting roles) tells the ladies they will be natural disasters that occur in Los Angeles for this week's photo shoot. They are as follows:
Elina -- earthquake
Sheena -- sandstorm
Clark -- blackout
Lauren Brie -- snow storm
Joslyn -- rock slide
Analeigh -- wind storm
McKey -- heat wave
Samantha -- tidal wave
Marjore -- traffic jam

Ummm, since when did a traffic jam become a natural disaster? Have they gotten that bad in LA that FEMA needs to be called in? And speaking of natural disasters in LA, when was the last time there was a snow storm there? Where were the Malibu fires?

The girls were decked out in 60s-ish mod clothes. I liked how Sam rocked the wave and while I wasn't sure how her photos would translate, I loved Marjorie in that blond bob.

At judging Sam jumped from the bottom two to claim the top spot this week. Marjorie survived, but can she beat her fidgety nerves and stick around next week? Clark was the opposite of Sam and fell from the top spot to the going home spot. Joslyn, in the bottom two with Clark, was saved because of her bubbly personality (and after her scary photo this week, that's ALL that saved her).

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Arrival

Fringe, you've sucked me in another week, but can the "Arrival" keep me interested?

We start with Lex Luth....err, a hairless man that looks a bit like Lex. he's at a diner and orders a roast beef sandwich on a roll as rare as possible, water at room temperature and 11 jalapenos. He looks outside with some James Bond-ish binoculars at a construction site and is taking notes in some crazy looking language. His order comes and he pours the remained of a pepper shaker on it with a bunch of Tabasco sauce then seemingly imbibes the sandwich in one bite.

After an explosion at the construction site and hairless guy making a call saying, "It's arrived," we cut to Walter and Peter in a hotel room. Walter is spouting off a formula, which turns out to be that of root beer. Then Walter mentions how a root beer float would be good. He hasn't had one in 17 years. Which reminds me there were root beer floats today at work, and cupcakes, oh and I have a cupcake that someone gave me in the fridge, which sounds good. I'm already highly interested in this episode because of all the food talk.

Turns out the explosion produced some gadget that looks like a mini version of the gherkin building in London.

www.supinfo.com

Walter takes the gherkin back to his lab and after conducting several tests he exclaims that he needs to hide the devise. He sends Peter out to get aluminum to block the frequencies it's sending out. When Peter leaves he knocks out Astrid, hides the gherkin and goes to a diner to get a root beer float. Saw that one coming, must satisfy a craving even in a time of crisis. At the diner Hairless Man (HM) sits down with Walter and talks to him as if they were old pals.

Walter will not give up the location of the gherkin and says that he needs to keep it hidden because some one's looking for it. Could it be the guy who has been blasting people with his Star Wars-looking gun? Star Wars dude (SWD) abducts Peter and through an electronic torture device is able to read Peter's thought and finds out where the gherkin is.

Of course Olivia goes to save Peter without bringing backup. Luckily she briefly becomes a bad ass and actually takes SWD down. The gherkin disappears into the ground and HM appears. He makes another call saying, "Departure on time." Peter takes down HM and we find out that he can read minds without the crazy torture device that SWD used. HM is able to say what Peter is thinking before he can say it. Then HM shoots Peter with another crazy Star Wars gun (although maybe this gun is a bit more Men In Black looking).

In the end, John showed up. Say whaaaa?

OK. I just have to get over the fact that I HATE the Olivia character because otherwise the story lines in this show are pretty interesting. What are your thoughts?

Monday night meals


From Pillsbury.com
I've been craving pizza for some time and haven't made my own pizza at home for quite some time, so thought Monday night would be the perfect opportunity. I'd heard about ready made dough in the refrigerated section and thought that would be a good alternative to the Boboli pizza I've made in the past.
Ingredients used:
1 tube Pillsbury pizza crust
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup tomato sauce with garlic & basil
2 cups baby bella mushrooms, briefly sauteed in butter/garlic
2 cups artichoke hearts from the freezer section
1 spicy linguisa sausage
6 basal leaves torn
This pizza turned out really well. The dough was delicious. It was almost a cross between traditional pizza dough and a biscuit, which reminded me a lot of the dough used in the deep dish pizzas at Uno Chicago Grill, but not as greasy.
The final result:


I filled up on two slices after slicing 9 total pieces. I thought this would be the perfect leftover food for work this week, but after heating it in the microwave briefly the dough was REALLY soggy. It might be better re-heated in a toaster oven.

Recipe: ***1/2
Leftover stability: *1/2 (after heating in a microwave)
On TV: **** (Gossip Girl, Prison Break and Heroes -- great lineup)