DanteGabriel

Hello, fellow gardeners. Mrs. Gabriel and I spent a few hours today uprooting bittersweet from around our property. Some of it clinging to fences, some of it threatening the black raspberry patch in our front yard. It is endemic to the property. We're going after it before it seeds or flowers. We know we'll never fully eradicate it because it's just so deeply established and the more senior root clusters are so deeply anchored we'd need a backhoe to get them. Since we moved here we've been trying to name our house/land. The previous house was Dragonfly Dell because of the amazing dragonfly swarming behavior we'd occasionally see in the sky above our heads in late summer afternoons, and the house sat on a small ridge overlooking a beautiful little dell. So we decided today that this house will be named Bittersweet Farm. We hates the bittersweet, preciousss. Kill it with fire!

"The beatings and cover-ups will continue until our reputation is improved."

Holy Ghost of Unsent Replies, Batman! Please ignore the empty un-deletable quote box. So has anyone else seen the "Master Class" episodes? Watching PBS in America, my DVR recorded "remix" episodes of the previous season (with Nadiya) where Paul and Mary bake the things they'd had the contestants bake. They splice in footage of the original challenge and then they show the masters work. The second one was pretty riveting. Paul made baguettes and Mary replicated that (sorry I don't remember the name) hellishly complicated dessert with the French and Swiss meringues filled with fruit and cream and decorated with fondant violets. What a contrast to see them make one simple, perfect thing that's trickier than expected, and then put together something so complicated and daunting.

Mrs. Gabriel and I can't help but call him "The Male Judge" ever since a contestant referred to him that way a year or two ago. And "Paul Hollywood" sounds like a made-up name... I'm gobsmacked (did I use that right?) that there's such a long delay between British airings and American. It's also funny that PBS only seems to acknowledge three seasons of it in their listings. I appreciate the consideration re: spoiler tags, but I won't get bent out of shape if people don't use them. I was rooting for Nadiya a few weeks in advance too. And I really liked Tamal because his recipes were so creative and interesting. The nice thing about this show is that I've never seen someone I dislike and root against. For drinking games, you have to have "a good bake" and "good layers." Maybe two drinks if Mary calls something "scrummy."

I absolutely agree with you about American cooking shows, though I still cannot resist Top Chef. In general American reality TV shows tend to cast assholes, self-promoters, and narcissists who can supply drama and conflict. Which is why I'm such a fan of the humble, nice people they tend to cast on GBBO. I genuinely feel happy for someone like Nadiya when they win, or even just get a nice comment from Mary or a handshake from The Male Judge. I'll try to find episodes online, but please don't feel like you can't discuss episodes just because I'm around. If I want to avoid spoilers I'll just avoid the thread. I've successfully avoided spoilers so far, even though the results have been public for months.

Mrs. Gabriel and I are big fans. For the record, we find the American version with Nia Vardalos nigh unwatchable, especially with the douchey male judge's gross innuendoes to Mary, who is a goddamn world treasure. Are you Brits already getting a new season? The previous season (with Nadiya and Tamal) just aired a few weeks ago here. Lucky bastards.

Ha, I almost forgot about Eye of Argon. It's an apt comparison.

I'm a fan of adjectives and adverbs myself. But the way he deploys them it's like he's being paid by the word, and he jams so many adjectives and adverbs onto mismatched nouns and verbs that it reads like an overambitious English-as-a-second-language student armed with a thesaurus, trying his best to ape Clockwork Orange.

Ugh. "Randomly" is the worst adverb ever. There is definitely some Dunning-Kruger Effect at work in this thread.

Why the fuck are you still here defending your turgid hackery against a crowd of people with no taste that you profess not to care about?

I read some of his stuff. As much as I could bear. Someone bestowed with agile and monumental hands should take away his feverish and searing thesaurus.

Expat American? I am a Filipino-American who visits my brother in Manila about once a year...

Holy crap, congratulations! :cheers:

The Lady of Shalott is in the Tate Gallery.

For what it's worth, Renya, I love your avatar. One of the highlights of my last trip to London was getting to see that painting in person.