Liveblogging Top Chef Las Vegas

The Thursday Night Smackdown Lady is liveblogging Top Chef Las Vegas. Read about it here.

You will need a legend for the cheftestants as she (and I) could not remember any of their names until just recently.

Shiv = Jennifer (the tightly wound blonde)
Robin = Robin (she's the sympathy chef "I beat cancer twice" blah blah blah)
Brothers Michael and Brian = one's an a-hole, one's cuter and nicer.
Weed = that other Mike with the bad tan
Beardie = Kevin (just give the title to him already)
Not Jonah Hill = Eli

Her blog is not family friendly.

More Stuff I Like

This album (back in the vinyl days),



a lovely bottle of wine,

and some long-forgotten, man-cooked dinner made for a very romantic evening.

Stuff I Like

Many years ago, some friends of mine served this snack at a gathering, and I've been eating it ever since. Somewhere in the healthy spectrum closer to crudités than chip and dip, and who doesn't get tired of eating carrot sticks dipped in ranch dressing?



Slice the pickles and cheese and arrange on a platter with the Triscuits. Farmer's cheese is pretty bland on its own but works well with the pickles and crackers.

Bon Appétit!

Donuts in my day

Someone from a research study here in the hospital kindly brought in Dunkin Donuts this morning. I wished immediately they had been Krispy Kremes, ingrate that I tend to be.

But as I sat licking the glaze off my fingers, it occurred to me that when I was a child, getting donuts was a big dang deal, not an entitlement, and happened only occasionally. Donut magic for me was Delta Donut in my hometown, Clarksdale, and because it's now the Blues Mecca (who knew?!), Urbanspoon has been there, eaten that, and written a review. Read about it here.

I think it looked like this 30 years ago too.

Happy Birthday Napoleon Dynamite

Happy Birthday to a guy with skills. Jon Heder is 32 today. What's he going to do on his birthday? Whatever he feels like he wants to do, gosh!