Very interesting! I like how for the past couple of seasons of Chopped, they’ve started including more context and a little bit of a wider perspective, where sometimes you can see more of the set, some of the crew, etc. It gives you a better idea of what’s actually happening.

My neck hurts like crazy if I watch TV at my parent’s house, where it’s mounted at least 3 feet higher than it should be. A couple of years ago my elderly father-in-law moved in with us, so my wife and I moved to an upstairs bedroom. I took the opportunity to get a new 4K TV and mounted it here, which is a really…

By that logic, why grind beef up at all? Why not just have a steak?

Being in the Midwest, I’ve never been to a Friendly’s, but the chopped cheese sounds like a cousin of our “loose meat sandwich.”

Clearly you need to be baking more cookies!

Galadriel as a sword-wielding warrior goes against my head canon, for one personal example

But as I mentioned above, I’m about an hour east of St. Louis in rural Illinois in a county with no single town over 10,000, and even here Obama got 49% vs 51% for McCain. The weird thing is, somehow in the same county Trump got 72%? I just don’t understand that.

Kind of. I live in rural downstate Illinois, and our county is—or was—pretty purple. Yes, it almost always goes R, but it did vote 49% for Obama to 51% for McCain. And then, somehow, voted 72% for Trump?!? I just don’t understand it.

I know what you mean. You should see some of the stuff I’ve found in my walls. Wallpaper, paint, and more wallpaper on top. Places old windows and doors were once framed in. Behind a mirror I found that someone had taken out an old medicine cabinet, and just papered over the hole! I could hardly believe it.

Kind of along these lines, I now just wash the board, knife, and whatever else I’m using immediately after I’m done with them. As you say, it’s exponentially easier to do it then, instead of after food residue has dried. If I do it immediately, it’s a quick scrub with soapy water and a brush, sponge, or rag, then…

Our house was built in the ‘40s and has (very!) hard batten and plaster walls. They’re also nowhere near flat and smooth. We used texture on them when we were remodeling, because it really helps cover up how uneven the original plaster surface is. Putting up dry wall, or—heaven forbid—re-plastering them, was…

I remember making one of these when I was a kid. Back then we used a Sucrets lozenge tin. If I remember correctly, it included a couple of bullion cubes for “food.” In about 3rd grade I read “My Side of the Mountain,” and ever since have had this small part of me that wants to go live in the woods. 

I guess you could probably do that with the “bagel” setting on your toaster (if it has one). When I was a kid, my mom made garlic bread by spreading butter on white bread, sprinkling garlic salt on it, and putting it under the broiler. It ended up crisp and buttery on top and still completely soft on the bottom. It…

I did the same with my SRT-4 a few years ago. None of them came with cruise from the factory, but they do have (almost) all of the programming in the engine controller. I got extremely lucky in that the parts car I bought after I hit a deer also had Dodge’s add-on factory cruise kit. I was able to get most of the…

My question is, are we getting an article about the cookie butter?!? I’ve had it only a few times. It’s pretty good. Rich. Seems like it needs to be combined with something. I’m interested in what you discovered.

I thought it was going to be instant mashed potatoes!

On the other hand, Famous Bowls are pretty tasty. It’s not really much different than a “garbage plate,” which has a pretty long and, uh, famous, history.

Seems like it might be a good filling for a cream puff or eclair?

Tomato ketchup is a fairly modern North American invention (early 1800's), but as late as 100 years ago, the Webster’s dictionary definition of ketchup was, “table sauce made from mushrooms, tomatoes, walnuts, etc.”

tangy, tangy, tangy, with a slight raisiny vibe