Sarah Maxwell took a plane trip and Mary posts OCC

[twin2]

2 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

@twin2, thanks for sharing the infamous Kwanzaa cake!  Did Sandra Lee actually say acorns? Is she serving that monstrosity to squirrels?  Acorns unless they are properly treated are not particularly edible for humans.  Those nuts look like peanuts to me although I suppose they might be corn nuts.

That was a store bought angel food cake.  There is nothing that is easier to make than an angel food cake -just stiffly beaten, sweetened egg whites folded into cake flour.  You do have to measure the flour  and separate the eggs, but you do not grease and flour the pan.

She says acorns, but my money has always been on corn nuts.

I remember watching that episode when it was on TV (I luved hate-watching that show).  She did the same cake 3 times!  Store-bought angle food cake, frosting where she mixed something and some kind of add in.  That episode was epic.

The one thing, well one of many things, that makes me scratch my head while watching that episode, who puts frosting and angel food cake?  Any angel food cake I have ever had or made has a glaze, or nothing and is just served with fruit and whipped cream.  It is such a light cake, all you would taste is that heavy frosting.  Also, it has to be hard to frost and angel food cake, it is so spongy and wobbly...

 

[Coconut Flan]

The written recipe has always said corn nuts.  I still shiver when I think about that mess.

[Anonymousguest]

21 hours ago, twin2 said:

No reference to Sandra Lee is allowed to be made without paying homage to the Kwanzaa Cake:

 

 

What the heck? Is this for reals? I've never heard of this show, is it supposed to be satire? That cake remind me of those wacky recipes from the 70s that you see floating around. Acorns/corn nuts? Canned Apple pie filling? Pumpkin seeds? So bizarre! 

Taste of home had a companion magazine called quick cooking or something, I got a free subscription of it for  a year and it had stuff like this, boxed cake mixed, canned soup, , frozen bread dough, etc. I did cook like that when I was first starting out. I didn't know anything else. I slowly learned to cook over the first 5-10 yrs of being out of my mother's house. By cooking and eating with other people, eating  at restaurants and thinking it can't be that hard, etc. The Maxwells ate with other people ask the time while they were on the road so presumably have been exposed to other people's cooking.

[twin2]

1 hour ago, Anonymousguest said:

What the heck? Is this for reals? I've never heard of this show, is it supposed to be satire? That cake remind me of those wacky recipes from the 70s that you see floating around. Acorns/corn nuts? Canned Apple pie filling? Pumpkin seeds? So bizarre! 

 

Oh, this is not satire.  It is indeed a for real show.  Semi-homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee.  Used to be on the Food Network a while back.

If you ever want to hate-watch a cooking show, this definitely is it.  Second is Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals (aka:  100001 Ways to Make a Grilled-cheese Sammy!".

[Handmaiden of Dog]

It's amazing that she didn't use her favorite word in the first sentence in today's entry, instead she saved it for the second sentence:   "Some took a bike ride today and enjoyed the amazing temperatures."

Some?  Some? What is wrong with using the customary  "Some of us"? Sarah's choice  is so passive, so distancing, as though she is a narrator describing the actions of characters who have nothing to do with her. I honestly don't know if she writes this way in order to be different or because she has been so poorly educated. I know her education has been sub-par but at her age she must have learned by now that using the same word over and over again makes for dull reading and cheapens the meaning. Amazing weather, amazing dinner, and now amazing temperatures.  I don't think that anyone can be that amazed all the time. Why not  enjoyable weather, tasty dinner, and delightful temperatures-- how hard is it to come up with more adjectives?

[PennySycamore]

@Anonymousguest, Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee used to be a show on Food Network. I don't know that they are producing any new shows. Sandra's schtick is using about 70% packaged ingredients although the Kwanzaa cake looks like it's 100% pre-made.  I can't believe some of the shortcuts she takes like using pre-sliced mushrooms.  (Unless you are going to use all the mushrooms, pre-sliced is a waste.)   Anthony Bourdain has written some scathing criticisms of Sandra as have other cooks.  Sandra was diagnosed a few years ago with breast cancer and is currently the unofficial First Lady of New York State.  She's Governor Coumo's girlfriend.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Lee_(chef)

ETA:  One of the customary features of Semi-Homemade was that Sandra always included a cocktail segment.  There are clips of Sandra on youtube where she seems rather drunk.

 

[twin2]

14 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

@Anonymousguest, Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee used to be a show on Food Network. I don't know that they are producing any new shows. Sandra's schtick is using about 70% packaged ingredients although the Kwanzaa cake looks like it's 100% pre-made.  I can't believe some of the shortcuts she takes like using pre-sliced mushrooms.  (Unless you are going to use all the mushrooms, pre-sliced is a waste.)   Anthony Bourdain has written some scathing criticisms of Sandra as have other cooks.  Sandra was diagnosed a few years ago with breast cancer and is currently the unofficial First Lady of New York State.  She's Governor Coumo's girlfriend.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Lee_(chef)

 

It's been off the air for quite a while now. However, after it ended she had another show on FN, called Money Saving Meals, or something like that.  I was watching it one time and she was chopping an onion, and had a comparison of how much a cheaper buying an onion and chopping it yourself, rather than buying pre-chopped onions so you should buy your own onions and chop them.  I was having a bit of cognitive dissonance as she used to rave about pre-chopped onions all the time on Semi-Homade Cooking!

And who can forget the 'tablescapes!

[mango_fandango]

44 minutes ago, Handmaiden of Dog said:

It's amazing that she didn't use her favorite word in the first sentence in today's entry, instead she saved it for the second sentence:   "Some took a bike ride today and enjoyed the amazing temperatures."

Some?  Some? What is wrong with using the customary  "Some of us"? Sarah's choice  is so passive, so distancing, as though she is a narrator describing the actions of characters who have nothing to do with her. I honestly don't know if she writes this way in order to be different or because she has been so poorly educated. I know her education has been sub-par but at her age she must have learned by now that using the same word over and over again makes for dull reading and cheapens the meaning. Amazing weather, amazing dinner, and now amazing temperatures.  I don't think that anyone can be that amazed all the time. Why not  enjoyable weather, tasty dinner, and delightful temperatures-- how hard is it to come up with more adjectives?

Fundies aren't very au fait with synonyms. They skip that bit out in homeschool, or, if they're a parent who went to public school, then the fundie brainwashing seems to affect all areas.

[FloraKitty35]

I never ceased to be amazed by these people in that for all their spiel about "stay at home daughters" and "homemakers" that they can't cook anything edible.  I also imagine Bible time in Maxhell to be comparable to the bean eating scene in Blazing Saddles. 

[Granwych]

29 minutes ago, FloraKitty35 said:

I never ceased to be amazed by these people in that for all their spiel about "stay at home daughters" and "homemakers" that they can't cook anything edible.  I also imagine Bible time in Maxhell to be comparable to the bean eating scene in Blazing Saddles. 

Oh good heavens, that mental image will have me laughing for hours---and I'll bet ol' Stevie's will be the most, ahem, fragrant and loud.

I really need a nap.

[church_of_dog]

3 hours ago, Handmaiden of Dog said:

It's amazing that she didn't use her favorite word in the first sentence in today's entry, instead she saved it for the second sentence:   "Some took a bike ride today and enjoyed the amazing temperatures."

Some?  Some? What is wrong with using the customary  "Some of us"? Sarah's choice  is so passive, so distancing, as though she is a narrator describing the actions of characters who have nothing to do with her. I honestly don't know if she writes this way in order to be different or because she has been so poorly educated. I know her education has been sub-par but at her age she must have learned by now that using the same word over and over again makes for dull reading and cheapens the meaning. Amazing weather, amazing dinner, and now amazing temperatures.  I don't think that anyone can be that amazed all the time. Why not  enjoyable weather, tasty dinner, and delightful temperatures-- how hard is it to come up with more adjectives?

They must be careful, lest adjectives become an idol! 

[socalrules]

Does Sarah actually partake in any of the activities? All she seems to do is take the pictures. For all we know, someone is taking most of them. She seems to be an observer of the Maxwell family. (Fringe reference for anyone that watched the show.) Rarely does she say we did this or that, it is almost always someone else was doing something. I wonder if she may have been battling depression or going through something which lead her to get Ellie. Maybe it was thought Ellie would cheer her up. Same with visiting the friend. It's so out of the ordinary for a person who seems to just watch her family do stuff and write bad books I am not even sure she enjoys. 

[CyborgKin]

6 hours ago, Handmaiden of Dog said:

It's amazing that she didn't use her favorite word in the first sentence in today's entry, instead she saved it for the second sentence:   "Some took a bike ride today and enjoyed the amazing temperatures."

Some?  Some? What is wrong with using the customary  "Some of us"? Sarah's choice  is so passive, so distancing, as though she is a narrator describing the actions of characters who have nothing to do with her. I honestly don't know if she writes this way in order to be different or because she has been so poorly educated. I know her education has been sub-par but at her age she must have learned by now that using the same word over and over again makes for dull reading and cheapens the meaning. Amazing weather, amazing dinner, and now amazing temperatures.  I don't think that anyone can be that amazed all the time. Why not  enjoyable weather, tasty dinner, and delightful temperatures-- how hard is it to come up with more adjectives?

Remember she's had practice writing about her family indirectly in the Moody books, so she's kept up the habit.

2 hours ago, socalrules said:

Does Sarah actually partake in any of the activities? All she seems to do is take the pictures. For all we know, someone is taking most of them. She seems to be an observer of the Maxwell family. (Fringe reference for anyone that watched the show.) Rarely does she say we did this or that, it is almost always someone else was doing something. I wonder if she may have been battling depression or going through something which lead her to get Ellie. Maybe it was thought Ellie would cheer her up. Same with visiting the friend. It's so out of the ordinary for a person who seems to just watch her family do stuff and write bad books I am not even sure she enjoys. 

September with the Moodys!

[johnhugh]

It looks like it's Superman-John's turn to wear the Cross Fit t-shirt. I have several pairs of Reebok Cross Fit  trainers for the gym, so I every time I put them on I now think of the Maxwells. Thanks Srevie.

Also Stevie, I caught a glimpse of John's upper chest in that picture are you turning  tits2 into a porn site? 

[VodouDoll]

The dazzling sunshine combined with warm temperatures of the 70s makes one feel like spring is almost here, well, almost.

The best writer in Maxhell, folks.

[MamaJunebug]

When actress Katie Holmes was first hooked up with Scientologist Tom Cruise, we who wished her free used to remark with derision how her only adjective was "amazing," and said with such condescension. It was clearly as if we mere wogs (non-Scienos) could never understand another description of Katie's life.

From one cult to another? Will Steve blow a gasket to see himself compared to a cynical charlatan?

[Granwych]

7 hours ago, CyborgKin said:

Remember she's had practice writing about her family indirectly in the Moody books, so she's kept up the habit.

September with the Moodys!

How about "Hell with the Moodys?"  With Mary's help, it could even be a coloring book!

[nausicaa]

14 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

@Anonymousguest, Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee used to be a show on Food Network. I don't know that they are producing any new shows. Sandra's schtick is using about 70% packaged ingredients although the Kwanzaa cake looks like it's 100% pre-made.  I can't believe some of the shortcuts she takes like using pre-sliced mushrooms.  (Unless you are going to use all the mushrooms, pre-sliced is a waste.)   Anthony Bourdain has written some scathing criticisms of Sandra as have other cooks.  Sandra was diagnosed a few years ago with breast cancer and is currently the unofficial First Lady of New York State.  She's Governor Coumo's girlfriend.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Lee_(chef)

ETA:  One of the customary features of Semi-Homemade was that Sandra always included a cocktail segment.  There are clips of Sandra on youtube where she seems rather drunk.

 

Wow, per that wikipedia article: 
"In 2012, Lee won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle/Culinary Host for Semi-Homemade Cooking."

[PennySycamore]

@nausicaa, that Emmy makes you wonder if the Emmy voters weren't at least a bit drunk that year, doesn't it?

[slickcat79]

17 hours ago, Handmaiden of Dog said:

It's amazing that she didn't use her favorite word in the first sentence in today's entry, instead she saved it for the second sentence:   "Some took a bike ride today and enjoyed the amazing temperatures."

Some?  Some? What is wrong with using the customary  "Some of us"?

At least it wasn't "a bike ride was taken by some"?

 

2 hours ago, nausicaa said:

Wow, per that wikipedia article: 
"In 2012, Lee won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle/Culinary Host for Semi-Homemade Cooking."

Aunt Sandy had a reputation for being pretty entertaining once she'd had a few. They weren't basing the award on edible cooking, after all

[ladyamylynn]

Did somebody say Aunt Sandy????

[Hane]

The Kwanzaa cake pales in comparison with her Hanukkah cake. Off to look for it.

[twin2]

8 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

@nausicaa, that Emmy makes you wonder if the Emmy voters weren't at least a bit drunk that year, doesn't it?

Clearly they were only fact checking the "Cocktail Time" portion of the show.

[PennySycamore]

@Hane, it wasn't the Hanukkah cake, but once she made a dish for a Jewish holiday with bacon in it.  That seems a bit inappropriate, no?

[anjulibai]

2 hours ago, Hane said:

The Kwanzaa cake pales in comparison with her Hanukkah cake. Off to look for it.

Didn't she use marshmallow fluff in that? I'm pretty sure that's not kosher.