I am so happy that Fox has picked up the next Chronicles of Narnia movie! They appear to be signing up actors for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (great book
btw)!
All posts by NerdMom
Hell’s Kitchen Premiere 1/29!
Here we are for a new season of Hell’s Kitchen!!!! I decided that I am not going to live blog this one but I am planning on snarking;).
Supposedly this year’s Hell Kitchen is the strongest ever. Well, what else are they going to say? They all suck?Or as NerdDad says, the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked;).
Some thoughts on the signature dish round. Robert says he isn’t a Shrek, well Shrek is awesome so back off. Mahi gone bananas? Sounds gross. LA did maybe a version fish and chips. Who thinks serving Ramsay any fish and chips that aren’t perfect is a good idea? Who runs even a recreational cooking school without going to school for it herself?
I can’t believe that they have to come up with team names. So it ended up being Saffron versus the Blues Brothers. How is Ramsay going to use this against them? Lacey doesn’t have any line experience and didn’t want to take a station. Did she not know what she was getting into? She even said she quit but of course she went back. Gee, I wonder who will be nominated if the girls loose the 1st service. Of course the dessert station Lacey had been working on wasn’t set up and Ramsay had to go ref a fight. I say let them fight!
Giovani couldn’t tell a customer what polenta was. While he is just a waiter tonight, that doesn’t bode well for his cooking ability.
Colleen tried to change Ramsay’s recipe. What is wrong with her? 1-Does she not know how this works? 2- Who does she think she is? Then she uses a dirty pan to make spaghetti? I would say she is on the list before she trys to make more spaghetti than she needs.
I thought the women were really going to rock it out until Colleen got on apps and Lacey screwed up scallops. I think we make see some dead weight to cut. But the guys are stinking a bit too. But I have to say I was shocked when the men lost.
I can’t believe that everyone thought Will was the guy to keep after he couldn’t get out the apps. They really wanted to get rid of Seth, who I didn’t think was all that bad. I wonder how much the team’s support of Will would effect who Ramsay chose. But obviously not much because Will was kicked off. Will was honest that he screwed up big time.
This season is going to be quite interesting. See you next week!
Top Chef 1/28
Before we get going a couple of things. Carla has to get out of the pastry rut! Leah and Hosea need to keep it in their pants. So hold on for the live blog! (well, live to tivo)
QuickFire Challenge:
The guest judge is Scott Conant. The chefs have to pick a square then they will line up with both a food group and key ingredient. It ends up that everyone’s key ingredient was whole grain oats regardless of your food group. I am interested in how good or bad the eggplant in oats will be. The judge made fun of it. Oats in breading is so not original. I am a home chef and have known about it for years. Really, that is the best they could come up with? So on the bottom was Leah (that fish is biting her again), Fabio and Jeff. Doing to much got Jeff again, he needs to calm it down and pick one idea at a time. On top was Carla, Jamie and Stefan. The winner was Stefan. Again.
Elimination Challenge:
So everyone got Top Chef jerseys/jackets with their names on the back. So here come past season chefs. They are Andrew, Josie, Andrea, Spike, Camille, Nikki, and Miguel. There is a head to head cookoff where they are celebrating the regional cuisine for each team. Stefan gets to pick so he picks the Dallas Cowboys and is going against Andrea. Then everyone else had to choose their teams each. They will have 20 minutes to make a dish and will be doing it in front of culinary students using only the ingredients provided. They had 2 hours to plan their dish and test out some stuff. In judging the judges score a winner (7 points) and the Fan tasters vote for a score of 3.
Miami Dolphins: Jeff vs Josie
Packers: Fabio vs Spike
Seahawks: Hosea vs Miguel
Giants: Leah vs Nikki
49’ers: Jamie vs Camille
Saints: Carla vs Andrew
Looking at her ingredients, Jamie starts to panic a bit. Stefan is sure that Andrea can’t cook and so he doesn’t have anything to worry about.
Serving:
NY Giants: Leah(Strip Steak with Creamed Corn, Snap Peas& Arugula Salad) vs Nikki (Chicken Livers with Onions and Goat Cheese on Challah) Leah scored the touchdown and Nikki got the field goal.
Seattle Seahawks: Miguel (Cedar Plank Salmon with Noodles and Mushrooms) vs Hosea(Crispy Salmon Roll with Ginger-Blackberry Sauce) Hosea won the touchdown 3-1. He also won the field goal.
New Orleans Saints: Andrew(Crayfish Crudo with Spicy Lime Vinaigrette) vs Carla(Crawfish and Andouille Gumbo over Grits) Carla wins the touchdown but not the field goal.
Dallas Cowboys: Andrea(Tex Mex Chili with Fried Corn Chips and Guacamole Coleslaw) vs Stefan(Roasted Pork with Coleslaw and NY Steak with Corn Salad) I have to saw that both of Stefan’s dishes sounded so good. The judges were split so the whole 10 point sat with the fan tasters. And they awarded the full 10 points to Andrea. So Stefan is the 1st old chef to win.
SF 49’ers: Jamie (Crab Cioppino with Olives, Basil and Toasted Sourdough) vs Camille(Miso Sweet Potato Mash with Mustard Crab Meat and Salad) The judges were once again tied but Jamie won the tasters and won all 10 points.
Miami Dolphins: Josie(Warm Rock Shrimp Ceviche with Papaya) vs Jeff(Rock Shrimp Ceviche with Sangria Sorbet) Josie won the touchdown and the field goal.
Green Bay Packers: Spike (Five-Spice Venison with Port Reductions and Micro Herb Salad) vs Fabio (Venison with Mustard Sauce and Mache Salad with Cheddar) Spike won the touchdown due to Fabio over cooking the venison. But Fabio won the field goal.
Judging Table:
So first up are our winners! Toby tasted Carla’s love. Scott actually liked how Jamie cooked. The single winner was Carla! She won 2 tickets to the SuperBowl. Then the losers went in. Fabio said that the venison was done right before he said it on the hot cabbage. Fabio then started to argue about putting acid on salad with cheese. Jeff was angry he got beat by a hot ceviche. He then got told it was because it didn’t have enough flavor regardless of how many techniques he used. In the end Jeff was sent hope. After all Jeff’s talk about Josie not making a ceviche, he poached his shrimp. What a hipocrite.
Now is when it starts to get real exciting because we are getting close to the end. So I will see you all next week!
Journal Buddies Review
Today’s world tell us that it is important to focus on our external, what others have and what we aren’t or don’t have. Well, I think I speak for most of you when I say that isn’t what we want for our kids. This is why I was so excited to get the opportunity to review Journal Buddies (girl’s edition) by Jill Schoenberg. This interactive journaling system has won the Dove Family-Approved Seal and also won the 2008 Mom’s Choice Award. Dove’s review of the girl’s version said that it is:
“a very creative way to help
encourage self esteem in young girls. It is so important in this day and age to
help children with their self-image. This delightful ingenious journal will show
them a way to capture their imagination, ideas and thoughts and share them with
others. Giving the diary concept a different look. This is a perfect gift for
young girls.”
So as you can imagine, I had high expectations when I opened up the envelope from Jill Schoenberg. I wasn’t disappointed! Now I have to say, I have always wanted to journal but am very intimidated by the blank page so I was unsure how to get my kids into journaling. Journal Buddies completely takes care of that. First off you are looking for good traits in friends and in yourself. Then it gives you oodles of creative ideas of what else to put into your journal. I love the encouraging statements and words to focus on. I also like the fact that she encourages the kids to go to parents if they have a problem and to get input on their journals so it isn’t some secretive activity that sequesters the kids.
You can get this great system from Amazon or order from Journal Buddies for only $16.95. If you order it from Journal Buddies you will get a ton of extras:
-
You’ll receive a signed copy of the book!
-
Over $83 in free bonus gifts (listed here)
-
A rock-solid 45-day money back guarantee
-
A free pack of creative journaling supplies compliments of the author, Jill Schoenberg
So you know how much I love it. Now you need to get it for your child or any child that you care about!
(This is a Family Review Network review!)
Tiny Prints Contest!!!!
I love Valentine’s Day cards! That was one of the few things that I loved in grade school. You would have you little mailbox and then go home and look at all the cards you were given. I loved it so much that we do that here in our family and also have cards for the kids’ friends. So you can imagine my delight at seeing Tiny Prints new line of Valentine’s Day cards. They have cute kids cards, photo cards and even “green” cards for the environmentally concerned. So how would you like to win a $50 gift certificate that is good not only on Valentine cards but anything they carry? Well, here are the rules to our game!
How to enter:
- Go to Tiny Prints website and set up an account.
- Choose your favorite Valentines Daycare and add it your “favorites” located directly under “personalize” option.
- Tell me why you chose that card as your favorite.
- Leave your email address, make sure the email address the the same one you set up your Tiny Prints account with!
- Do all this before February 5th.
Need more ways to enter?
- Blog about this with a link back here and Tiny Prints
- Subscribe to my feed
Make sure to leave a comment for each entry.
* Fine print: This is open world wide. This contest is running on several other blogs, as you can & should enter on all of them, please know you can only win ONCE per Companies rules. Please enter all the contests available for the best chance to win! Good Luck!
Wordless Wednesday
Fresh Corn Fritters (Recipe will be posted soon)
Wordless Wednesday: A Good Start
There was another cpu on the floor but we were out of monitors.
All About Homophones
Those of you who read my blog may remember my love affair with All About Spelling. Well, they have created another obsession for me called All About Homophones. I received the e-book to review and I must confess that I was disappointed to not get the paper book. But my disappointment was quickly gone as soon as I opened the file. This book is full of awesome tools, ideas, worksheets, games and more!
I love the ideas they have for graphic organizers that your students can build their own collections of homophones. Also they have various worksheets and crosswords broke out by grade levels. This is where the e-book becomes extra handy. I can print out as many as I need for each kid and they are perfect (this is versus a photocopy out of the book). There are also various card games that you can just print onto cardstock. Then if the cards get bent or otherwise destroyed just print them again.
I love homophones because it really helps the kids to learn how to use context and logic in order to decipher the proper meaning of the word. So I am thrilled to say that I love this resource for teaching homophones from kids in kindergarten all the way to 8th grade!
Do I have a life? At 98 I assume not.
They say if you’ve seen over 85 films (or 85 of these particular films, anyway,) you have no life. Mark the ones you’ve seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own facebook account, paste this as a note. I will declare that if you have seen at least half of it and then stopped it because it stunk counts!
(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
() Pirates of the Caribbean
() Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
() Boondock Saints
() Fight Club
() Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
() Blazing Saddles
() Airplane
Total: 3
(x) The Princess Bride
(x) Anchorman
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
() Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
() White Noise
(x) White Oleander
(x) Anger Management
() 50 First Dates
(x) The Princess Diaries
(x) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far: 10
() Scream
() Scream 2
() Scream 3
() Scary Movie
() Scary Movie 2
() Scary Movie 3
() Scary Movie 4
() American Pie
() American Pie 2
() American Wedding
() American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 10
() Harry Potter 1
() Harry Potter 2
() Harry Potter 3
() Harry Potter 4
() Resident Evil 1
() Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
() Little Black Book
(x) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch
Total so far: 13
(x) Finding Nemo
() Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
(x) The Grinch
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
() White Chicks
() Butterfly Effect
(x) 13 Going on 30
(x) I, Robot
() Robots
Total so far: 18
() Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
() Universal Soldier
() Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
() Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
(x) KingPin
(x) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
() Eight Crazy Nights
() Joe Dirt
() KING KONG
Total so far: 23
(x) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
() The Lizzie McGuire Movie
() Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
() Dumber & Dumberer
() Final Destination
() Final Destination 2
() Final Destination 3
() Halloween
() The Ring
() The Ring 2
() Surviving X-MAS
(x) Flubber
Total so far: 27
() Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(x) Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
() Ghost Ship
() From Hell
(x) Hellboy
() Secret Window
() I Am Sam
(x) The Whole Nine Yards
(x) The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far: 32
() The Day After Tomorrow
() Child’s Play
() Seed of Chucky
() Bride of Chucky
(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
() Just Married
() Gothika
() Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
(x) Coach Carter
() The Grudge
() The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
() Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 37
() Bad Boys
() Bad Boys 2
() Joy Ride
() Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean’s Eleven
(x) Ocean’s Twelve
() Bourne Identity
() Bourne Supremecy
() Lone Star
(x) Bedazzled
() Predator I
() Predator II
() The Fog
(x) Ice Age
() Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
() Curious George
Total so far: 41
() Independence Day
() Cujo
() A Bronx Tale
() Darkness Falls
() Christine
(x) ET
() Children of the Corn
() My Bosses Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
(x) War of the Worlds (the ORIGINAL version)
() Rush Hour
() Rush Hour 2
Total so far: 44
() Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She’s All That
() Calendar Girls
(x) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
() Event Horizon
(x) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
() Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
(x) The Terminator 3
Total so far: 54
(x) X-Men
(x) X-2
(x) X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
(x) Sky High
() Jeepers Creepers
() Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday (the original version)
() Reign of Fire
(x) The Skulls
(x) Cruel Intentions
(x) Cruel Intentions 2
() The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 68
() Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street – ORGINAL VERSION, BLACK AND WHITE
(x) Old School
() The Notebook
(x) K-Pax
(x) Krippendorf’s Tribe
(x) A Walk to Remember
() Ice Castles
() Boogeyman
() The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 73
(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
() Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total so far: 78
() Baseketball
() Hostel
() Waiting for Guffman
() House of 1000 Corpses
() Devils Rejects
(x) Elf
(x) Highlander
() Mothman Prophecies
(x) American History X
() Three
Total so Far: 81
() The Jacket
() Kung Fu Hustle
() Shaolin Soccer
() Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
() Monty Python and the Holy Grail
() Shaun Of the Dead
() Willard
Total so far: 83
() High Tension
() Club Dread
(x) Hulk
() Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(x) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(x) 28 days later
() Orgazmo
() Phantasm
() Waterworld
Total so far: 87
(x) Kill Bill vol 1
(x) Kill Bill vol 2
(x) Mortal Kombat
() Wolf Creek
() Kingdom of Heaven
() the Hills Have Eyes – ORIGINAL VERSION
() I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
() The Last House on the Left
() Re-Animator
() Army of Darkness
Total so far: 90
(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
() Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
() Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
() Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 95
(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions
() Animatrix
() Evil Dead
() Evil Dead 2
() Team America: World Police
() Red Dragon
() Silence of the Lambs
() Hannibal
Grand Total: 98
Nana Star Review
We recently received the Nana Star doll and book to review and the NerdPie loved it! This soft doll is just precious and comes with her star and the twig he sits on. The book is sweet and well illustrated. The only bad thing that could be said is that is was a bit short. But it is so sweet and also comes with a cd. This is that perfect grandparent gift because NerdPie will have this doll and book for years! They also have a Moonman for boys and it is also very cute!
So go check it out!