...Set: Supernatural 6x06 "You Can't Handle the Truth"

In an episode about revelations, I think the most horrific one of all has to be the fact that Bobby watches Tori and Dean. Perish the thought! Who would even think that Bobby has cable? He totally seems like a rabbit ears kind of guy. But Bobby's terrible reality show secret was not the only one coming to light, as people all over some town were suddenly having the terrible truth dealt to them, which lead them in turn to kill themselves. The string of suicides brings the Winchesters around to investigate, but they don't figure things out before probably one of my worst nightmares comes true - a dentist drilling some dude to death! AAAHHH!!! I am not a fan of the dentist. So... no. Just no.

While Sam is very much into the case and doing the job, Dean is thoroughly distracted by his misgivings about Sam. As you'll remember from last week, Dean saw how Sam just stood there and watched him get turned by the vampire. Dean hasn't brought it up with Sam since then, but he is thoroughly convinced that Sam is not his brother. He calls up Bobby to see if he can figure out anything, but Bobby has found exactly bupkis on the subject. We even get a brief visit from Castiel to reaffirm the fact that no one knows what is wrong with Sam. Dean's like thanks for all of the non-help, friends, and takes another shot of whiskey. I think it's whiskey that he's always drinking, right?

And that's when he says the magic words that went something along the lines of "I want the freaking truth." And voila! Suddenly people are spilling their guts, whether it's about their fake breasts, or Bobby's aforementioned confession about watching Tori and Dean, and other sordid little things I'm sure our Dean never wanted to know. Sadly, though, this truth stuff also leads to what appears to be the big break up of Dean and Lisa, since she calls and is forced to tell the truth about how she feels about their whole situation. The truth? She hurts. She hurts bad. Lisa says they're dunzo.

Sam, meanwhile, has found out who was the first one to die from whatever this truth thing is, and has Dean meet him at the dead lass's apartment. Before they can investigate further, however, Dean would like to ask Sam a few questions, since he should have to tell him the truth. Right? Well. When Dean confronts him about why he didn't stop the vampire thing, Sam claims that he just froze. LIE. And if he's lying, that means he's not affected by this truth business, so something is really, really wrong. Only Dean seems to believe him. For now, anyway.

They find out that the girl who started this whole thing summoned a god by the name of Veritas. She infects people with the truth stuff, they eventually off themselves, and she takes their bodies as tribute. And who should this Veritas woman be? Why, the conveniently placed in the background newswoman Ashley Frank of "Frank Talk." They track her down and get ready to make with the killing, but she manages to get the better of them and ties them up.

And that's when the real truth is forced to come out. She makes Dean confess not only that he hasn't been sure about Sam, but also that he knew it was never going to work out with Lisa, because deep down he's a killer, not a husband or a father. Sad. Veritas then turns her attention over to Sam, but guess what! Sam is able to straight up lie to her. But she can at least tell that he's lying, and as such claims he must not be human. She doesn't get to live too long with this knowledge, though, because Sam had surreptitiously been knifing his way out of his ropes. Battle, battle. Death to the Truth Lady. Also, her cat face? Totally freaky. Also freaky and just downright gross? When she ate that tongue. Ugh!! Nasty! So much nasty mouth stuff tonight!

But then Dean turns his knife on Sam. He wants to know what's really going on. The actual truth, now, please! And, FINALLY, Sam actually tells him. Or at least, tells him that he knows something is wrong, but that he doesn't know what. Ever since he's been back, he's been a better hunter, because he can't feel anything. His emotions just aren't there. Dean sets down his knife, and Sam thinks it's all going to be hunky dory. BUT then Dean just full on starts beating the crap out of him until he's unconscious! Wow. Way to handle Sam asking you for help, Dean. YEESH.

Random thoughts:

- I loved Lisa's call out of the weird relationship Dean and Sam have. So true. So many people have been saying it lately, too.

- They were probably trying to be subtle with the news lady in the background being the clue, but it was just so blatant, particularly in the bar. It's sort of like "oh here you go! we wouldn't care what she was saying if she wasn't some sort of clue!"

- How many times was the word "creepy" or some variation thereof used this episode? At least probably four.

- Hello, preview! Give away much? The end of this episode left it a question as to what's wrong with Sam, but the preview basically just told us. I hate when they do that. I'd like a little snippet, not the whole shebang. But at least we're getting answers.

Quotes:

"A dentist drilled a guy to death." - Sam
"You mean the non-sexy kind of drilling, right?" - Dean

"Sorry, mittens." - Sam

"She's creepy. I mean, the hair alone." - Dean

"Looks pretty normal, right?" - Sam
"I'm sure inside it's chock full of creep." - Dean

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Glee 2x05 "The Rocky Horror Glee Show"

I'm sure a lot of Rocky Horror fans probably loved the homage in this episode, but to be perfectly honest, I was not feeling it. Perhaps that's because I've never seen Rocky Horror myself (the horror!), but it also could be because there was so very, very little story actually going on. It was all about the performances, yet again. I'm sick of the overload of songs!
Now that I've got that off of my chest. What was this week's show even about? Pretty much it was all just to teach Will a lesson about how he was using the glee club as a way to get close to Emma in a rather creepy way. He was being narrow-sighted about whatever and whatnot, which is his usual storyline. He gets called on it, and supposedly learns a lesson. Since Carl has started to help make Emma less OCD, he decides that if he loves her, he will let her go. For now. He made sure to add in a for now in there.

Otherwise, there were really only a couple of tiny side stories. Finn was worried about having to strip down to just his underwear, which, by the way, he called tightie whities, but they were in fact just plain white boxer shorts. That is not what a tightie whitie is, okay? Anyway. He spent the episode worrying about it, while Sam spent the episode reveling in his awesome body. Which, it turns out, is rather awesome. Hello abs! I'm kind of loving Sam, by the way. He's unexpectedly cheesily hilarious without knowing it. Finn ends up going down the school hallway in his underwear to try to prove a point of some kind, and almost gets suspended for a month.

The other main side story was that Sue was secretly going to undermine the show while pretending to be a proponent of it. She was approached by some cable dudes to run an expose on it. It doesn't happen, in the end, because Will decides not to put on the show. Wah wah.

And I mean literally, that's like all the story there was. Snooze.

The Songs... which I'm not linking this time. The links are taken down half the time. I'm sure if you're a fan you've downloaded them.

Science Fiction Double Feature
Damn it, Janet
Whatever Happened to Saturday Night?
Sweet Transvestite
Touch a Touch a Touch a Touch Me
There's a Light (Over At the Frankenstein Place)
Time Warp

Quotes:

"So what are you going to be for Halloween this year?" - Kurt
"I'm going as a peanut allergy." - Brittany

"I have no idea what's going on in this script, and it's not in a cool, Inception kind of way." - Finn

"Halloween is that magical day of the year when a child is told their grandmother's a demon who's been feeding them rat casserole with a crunchy garnish of their own scabs." - Sue

"It's gonna be ab-ulous." - Sam

"I should've known. People that dress like librarians, all sex addicts." - Sue

"I actually started showering with my shirt on." - Finn

"Oh wow. Damn those cool ranch Doritos." - Sam

"This play has incredible pacing problems." - Sue

"Get me some chocolate or I will cut you." - Becky

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Chuck 4x06 "...vs. the Aisle of Terror"

Man feet! Otters! Old people! Black licorice! Public showers! Interspecies relations! Babies in costume! Those images are apparently what send crazy people (like Jeff) over the edge, and sent me laughing. Did I miss any? I think those are all of them. I'm getting way ahead of myself here, but I loved the randomness of that, and how Jeff's crazy demented head full of hay-like hair ended up being Chuck's saving grace.

But what did Chuck need saving from? That requires us to back up to the top of the hour, during which Chuck received a phone call from his missing Mama Mary (you like my alliteration there?), who wanted to meet with him, alone, in Griffith Park, at a creepy children's playground. Riiiight. That instills confidence, Lady Frost. Chuck was smart, though, and had Sarah accompany him as back up, which led to a tense standoff between Sarah and Mama B that Chuck was forced to get into the middle of. So what is Mama B's story? She wants to hand over this deadly terror gas stuff called Atroxium that this Dr. Wheelwright dude has made, and has come to Chuck to facilitate said hand over as his alter ego Charles Carmichael.

And that brings us to the main dilemma of the evening - whether to trust this suddenly reappearing ghost from Chuck's past or not. She claims that she went so undercover back in the day, doing something called Project Isis, that she was expunged from CIA records, and therefore could not contact her family again, and that the only reason she's doing it now is to make them safe again. Chuck wants to believe her, but the other spies are more skeptical. The episode teeters back and forth with trying to make us believe her or not believe her, as her actions prove rather devious sometimes, caring others.

Case in point: she shoots Chuck at the meet to pass over the atroxium, but she then later claims that she had to do it because Volkoff was watching the meet and she had to make it look like Charles Carmichael was taken out for good. Okay. Chuck then tries to get her to agree to meet up with Ellie before she disappears back into the spy ether again, and while at first she seems rather reluctant to do so, in the end she agrees. BUT! This is only after Casey has done a little digging of his own to discover that, according to CIA records, Mama B went totally off the reservation, aka rogue, and that she really is bad. He and Sarah assemble a team to capture her right before she was going to see Ellie. Dun dun dun! But oh, Chuck does tell Ellie that the reason she couldn't show up is because she's a spy. I guess I forgot she never knew that, so it wasn't that big of a reveal moment for me.

Meanwhile, back in the poison plot, the nefarious Dr. Wheelwright works it so that Chuck gets doused with this special neurotoxin that makes people see their worst fears manifest. Since it also happens to be Halloween-time at the Buy More, this is particularly bad for Chuck, who confesses he already doesn't much like scary things. He ends up getting the better of the good doctor, however, when he uses the aisle of terror that Jeff and Lester previously set up with screens that show images that are supposed to make the most insane minds lose it. Because it turns out, it does actually work on truly crazy people! This is the thing I was talking about at the beginning, if you didn't already figure that out. Duh. Chuck and Sarah manage to get him to tell them where the anti-toxin is, and Chuck is put back to his right mind.

And in side-plot-ville, Devon's mom has come to town to help with the baby stuff. This side story was mostly used as a way to contrast Ellie's mother-in-law with her real mom, and didn't have a lot of meaty story material otherwise.

Next episode it looks like we are going to find out more about maybe misbehaving Mary and whether she's good, bad or otherwise.

Quotes:

"It's gonna be scary! Good scary, though, like pumpkins and ghosts. Not bad scary, like war and bears." - Morgan

"You are not a rhyming monkey, you are a manager." - Big Mike

"So sorry I'm late." - Morgan
"You weren't here already?" - Casey
"Ha ha, nice. I love our little give and take. Classic Ross and Rachel." - Morgan

"I know a morgue that gives good discounts on unclaimed merchandise. Maybe we could sprinkle some cold dead ones in here." - Jeff

"We gotta tap into a place that is so scary, so demented, that it'll change Halloween as we know it. We gotta tap... into your head." - Lester
"Okay." - Jeff
"Yeah, you gotta start using conditioner. Your hair feels like hay." - Lester

"Nothing I won't do for $30 and a sandwich. Or just a sandwich." - Jeff

"This is exactly why I don't see scary movies, and I stick mainly to the PG13 region!" - Chuck (I feel ya, Chuck!)

"Is it a baby, or is it a snail?!" - Jeff, then later, Dr. Wheelwright

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Supernatural 6x05 "Live Free or Twihard"

I would just like to begin by saying how absolutely hilarious that opening scene was. Man oh man. If I'm being honest, it took me a second to clue in to the practically word for word interpretation of a certain vampire series phenomenon, because at first I was wondering at the slow pace. But then it clicked and I could not stop laughing. The slow pace? Exactly like that aforementioned series. There was a paper cut, much brooding, and general merriment had by yours truly. And the characters' names? Kristen and Rob! Ah, love it.

Meanwhile, the boys have cottoned on to the vampire shenanigans, and are tracking them down in town. Dean has got a bit of a spring in his step because they happen to be nearby wherever be moved Lisa and Ben to, so he can shimmy on over for a visit after they're done with the case. Of course, the best laid plans... yeah. I just realized I don't know the second half of that saying. Oh well! You know what I mean, right? Of course you do, you may even know the second half of the damn saying! Tangent alert!

Sam and Dean figure out that there is a nest of vamps in town, and that they are luring pretty people to join them fairly easily thanks to vampires being all the rage lately. They track down the usual haunt for victims, and just when they think they've tracked down some likely candidates, things go terribly wrong. Dean follows a faker out into some dark alley, then gets jumped by an actual real vampire. Sam runs around the corner, for what would be a just in time moment, except that he just stands there and watches as the head vamp dude (did he ever get a name? If he did, I never registered it!) drips some of his blood into Dean's mouth! What in the world, Sam! I think we can all agree that if anyone was on the fence about there being something wrong with Sam, this confirmed it. Something is not right when Sam gets a creepy grin when Dean's being turned into a vampire.

Yep, Dean gets turned into a vampire! And with that comes a sensitivity to light and sound, and a big ear for blood pumping oh so smoothly through Sam's very calm veins. Sam suggests they call up Papa Campbell for help, even though Dean wants him to just get it over with and kill him. Obviously that's not going to happen, Dean. Dean decides that before he goes, though, he wants to say goodbye to Lisa and Ben. Dude! What a terrible idea, which he soon finds out once he's there. Because though he wants to get close, that hankering for the red stuff is getting the better of him. But he does manage to get out of there before drinking either of them.

Which, it turns out, is essential. Because when Papa Campbell shows up, he informs them that his grandfather knew a way to change vampires back, but it only works if they haven't fed on any blood. How does this knowledge not get around, I ask? You'd think someone else would've known that and spread it around. And how does Papa Campbell have access to his grandfather's journal when he was dead for however many years? Apparently some safe place that no one disturbed for all that time? Clearly they do not want me to be thinking this much about it, but hey. Hey! That's what we do.

Anyway! To get this magical mystery potion to work, they need some blood from the vampire who turned Dean. Dean decides the best way to do it is for him to go into the nest, since he's now one of them. At first, things seem to be going rather well. The head vamp dude is welcoming him with open arms, and exhibiting some not so subtle hints that he rather, ahem, fancies Dean's pretty prettiness. Well, don't we all? Dean is ready to stab the dude with some dead man's blood, but apparently gets a little too antsy about it, because he manages to let a drop of it splat to the floor, which leads into a full blown vampire hissy fit. Only, that gets cut short for some random vampire psychic message thingy, apparently sent from the alpha. Some sort of plans to take over the world or something? It was vague.

When Dean starts to awaken, though, the other vampires are ready to tear him limb from limb. Lucky Dean's not so easy to take down, because he manages to machete chop a lot of their heads off, including the head vamp dude.

They brew up some of the magical mystery let's-make-you-a-human-again potion, which has the interesting effect of giving Dean a reverse view of the last hours since he was first turned, including a special long pause on Sam's creepy grin while he was getting dosed. Dean's worst fears? Pretty much confirmed. And when he awakens, Sam's first concern is not about his well-being, but rather about what he saw and learned in the nest. Yeesh! Laying it on thick, aren't we? Even Papa Campbell was wondering whether Sam let Dean be turned on purpose. No need to wonder, dude, it's true. Sad but true.

The ending scene is sort of a mirror of the first with the boys, with Dean trying to call up Lisa, but getting cut off on her voice mail. Awww.

Random Thoughts:

- WHOA machete action Sammy!

- Any and all references to Twilight and general teenage pop culture were hilarious. Though, how does Dean know so much of it? Yes, he lived in the regular world for a year, but he lived with a tween boy, not a tween girl.  

- Was that the last we're going to see of Lisa and Ben? Rather a shame.

- What exactly is up with Sam? I read something, but I don't remember if it was a theory or like an interview snippet. Hmm. I won't spoil anyone, but it does look like we're going to get some answers on it all next week.

- How long until we meet that alpha vampire? I've seen that actor who was playing him in quite a few other things, so you know he'll be coming back in more than just some hazy dreamy vision thing.

Quotes:

"Hey, ice cream comes in lots of flavors, Sam." - Dean

"These aren't vampires, man. These are douche bags." - Dean

"That's just uncomfortable." - Sam
"What's he so bummed out about?" - Dean

"Look at this, he's watching her sleep. How is that not rapey?" - Dean

"Newsflash, Mr. Wizard, vampires pee." - Dean

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Life Unexpected 2x06 "Honeymoon Interrupted"

I have to admit up front that this episode was much better than I had been anticipating. That's not saying a lot because my expectations were rather low. Perhaps I should just always go in with low expectations?

This episode was all about revelations and relationships, and for the most part, our three protagonists were mostly kept away from one another, which was actually a rather welcome change. So let's just talk about each of them, shall we?

Let's get the most annoying one out of the way with Lux. I'm sorry, but Lux has become my least favorite character on the show. She just gets so whiny and upset about the most ridiculous things. I suppose that is perhaps a by product of teenager-dom, but come on. So what's her story this week? She's getting all upset about Eric/Mr. Daniels again, particularly after she not only sees him come out of Paige's room in the morning, but also after she gets another F on a test. He decides to try to help her understand the material in a new way by bringing over the movie version, but this all somehow leads to yet another fight, wherein Eric has to admit he likes her, and that tutoring is the only way he gets to spend time with her. Later, her also tells her that he thinks she might have a learning disability, and that he'd like to help her in whatever ways he is legally allowed to do so. But then when she heads off for their next tutoring session, he's assigned some new lady to be her tutor. So... huh? That was a lot of bluster for nothing, dude. Also, he broke up with Paige because he "has feelings for someone else." Inappropriate, seriously.

Moving on to Cate and Ryan. Cate decides that since they never got to have a real honeymoon, that they should have a stay-cation. Meaning, they take a vacation in town. They head out to this new hotel, but the honeymoon is not meant to be. There are Baze shenanigans, and then mysterious women named Julia in photos that quickly derail the mood. It turns out, this Julia was Ryan's ex, who he hooked up with while he and Cate were broken up. Julia also showed up the day before the wedding to inform Ryan that she might be pregnant, but then she came to the wedding to tell him it was a false alarm (but was it really? for all we know she's secretly having a bastard lovechild somewhere. Cate did it, after all.). Cate finds all of this out and appropriately freaks out. But then, Baze happens to also let slip to Ryan that Cate was having doubts about their wedding and came to him the night before too. So, their relationship is left all in a shambles. I suspect they will make up, at least until Julia shows back up. You know she will.

Meanwhile, Baze is trying to get all lovey dovey with his boss lady Emma after last week's concert bonding, but she is having none of it. He maneuvers his way into going on this company retreat thing to try to flirt some more, but it turns out she's there with a guy. Some passive aggressive comments ensue between the dudes, which Baze later apologizes for during a poolside talk with Emma, wherein he gets all seductive-like and almost kisses her, but she puts the kibosh on it before he can. He thinks all is lost, but then sees her supposed boyfriend leaving with another guy and finds out he's not actually her boyfriend after all. He tries to convince her to go for something again, but she again puts him down. Well, Baze is really taking the bull by the horns here, because he goes back to her one more time back at work, and manages to work his magic into a kiss. As if we did not see that coming!

The next new episode features some kind of camp shenanigans. Cheesy cheese cheese!

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Chuck 4x05 "...vs. the Couch Lock"

This week we thankfully got to take a rest from all of the romantic melodrama between Chuck and Sarah to focus on other things. Those things being some more developments in the Volkoff/Frost department, as well as Morgan, Alex and Casey. You see, a team that has since gone rogue, which Casey used to be part of, comes back on the radar with links to Volkoff. Don't you love the coincidental links everywhere you look? I know I mention this every week, but seriously.

Anyway, Chuck devises a plan to get the team to come out into the open. They need Casey's hand print to get into a vault holding a bunch of gold bars, so to draw them out, Chuck suggests they fake Casey's death, so the bad dudes will show up at the funeral. The plan seems to be going well, until the bad guys throw in a little twist of their own and manage to take Casey, who had been incapacitated by some kind of tranquilizer to appear dead.

The bad dudes are about to cut off his hand, but get distracted by a pizza delivery, which is great for Casey because he manages to stir himself from his paralyzed comatosis of sorts and escape. But not before one of the dudes shoots him with another syringe of the stuff. Casey manages to get one call off on his phone before he passes out - to Jeff and Lester. They pick him up and take him back to Chuck and Morgan's place, where Morgan is put on Casey-watch.

Meanwhile, Chuck and Sarah have tracked down the abandoned warehouse location the bad dudes were hiding in, and manage to get themselves caught. The bad dudes give Casey an ultimatum - he must show up at the gold hiding place and open it with his hand print, or they'll kill Chuck and Sarah. But he's still paralyzed! Morgan has to figure out a way to get his heart pumping and the drug out of his system, so he finally comes clean about something he's been hiding all episode - his burgeoning relationship with Casey's daughter Alex. That works like a charm!

Casey and Morgan head out to Iran to save Chuck and Sarah from the bad dudes, and this time it's actually Morgan who gets to save the day. After some bungling and bumbling of course. But in the end, he nearly kills himself to save everyone else, which earns a pass in Casey's book. For now, at least.


In the ongoing story arc regarding Volkoff/Frost, Chuck manages to get some information out of the bad guys while they are locked up. Frost isn't a prisoner of Volkoff's, but more like a partner. Their boss, in fact. Maybe Chuck's mom is actually a bad guy. This has been hinted at so blatantly that there is probably some sort of double twist going on. After Morgan almost gets killed, though, Chuck decides he's going to give up searching for his mom. Of course, right when he decides that is when she calls him up. What timing!

Also, Devon and Ellie are going to be having a baby girl! Awwww!

Quotes:

"Pesky dress uniforms get a little tight when you haven't worn them in a while." - Casey

"What's it called? Fake-a-death-i-nol?" - Casey

"I'd like a little alone time before I die. Pay some bills." - Casey

"Whoa. That's freaky. I didn't know he could do that. Did you know he could do that?" - Morgan
"I knew he could do that." - Chuck
"Stop doing that. Don't stare at me!" - Morgan

"Don't worry, Casey, I know that dumpster." - Jeff

"Holy Goldfinger." - Chuck

"Ow!" - Morgan
"Is that a little girl?" - TI

"We wake up in some of the best dumpsters in the city." - Jeff

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts

After last week's pumpkin bread, I still had some pumpkin left over. Side note, whenever I type pumpkin, I almost always inadvertently add a "g" at the end to create pumpking. I don't know why. It's some sort of nervous tic, I guess.

 

Moving on! So, I had this extra pumkin(g) that I needed to use up, and lo! What should grace my google reader than this recipe from Joy The Baker? It was something I had never really seen with pumpkin before, so I decided to go for it. I could've baked up some tried and true soft pumpkin cookies but, you know, new! Exciting and new! Exciting and new and... kind of a hassle! Well. Let's just get to it.

Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts with Maple Glaze

makes 9 tarts
recipe from Joy The Baker

For the Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 large egg (for brushing the dough)

For the Filling:
3/4 cup pureed pumpkin
1 large egg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Maple Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons milk

To prepare the Crust:
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and salt.  Add the cold butter and break it up in the flour mixture using your fingers, a pastry cutter or a food processor.  There may seem like there’s a ton of butter in your flour.  There is.   Work it in until only pea sized lumps remain in your mixture.

The mixture should also hold together when squeezed into a ball.

In a small bowl, beat the egg with the milk.  Add the mixture all at once to the dry ingredients and stir to make sure that moisture is introduced to all of the flour mixture.  Lightly dust a clean counter with flour and knead the dough on the floured counter for a few turns until it really starts to come together.  Divide the dough in two, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.  I find that the dough is just a bit easier to work with when it’s chilled.

While the dough is chilling, prepare the filling:
In a small sauce pan, heat pumpkin puree and spices over medium heat.  Just heat through until the spices become fragrant.  This helps to bring loads of flavor into the filling.  Remove from heat and place spiced pumpkin in a medium sized bowl.  Whisk in egg, salt and sugar and place in the fridge to rest while you roll out the dough.

On a well floured work surface, press dough into a 3×5-inch rectangle, roll the dough out to about 1/8-inch thickness.  The dough should be slightly larger than 9×12-inches.  Trim dough with a pizza cutter, creating a rectangle that is 9-inches tall and 12-inches long.  Using the pizza cutter, cut each side into thirds, creating 9 squares.  Place dough squares in the fridge while you roll out the second piece of dough in the same way.

Brush one set of 9 squares with beaten egg.  This will act as the glue for the top layer of dough.  Spoon about one tablespoon of pie filling into the center of each brushed dough square.  Top with a piece of dough and use a floured fork to crimp the sides closed.  Use the tines of the fork to create vent holes in each tart.

Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Let tarts rest in the fridge for 30 minutes while the oven preheats.

Remove tarts from the fridge and place in the oven to bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

While the tarts bake, whisk together ingredients for the glaze and set aside.

Let baked tarts rest on a cooling rack to cool completely before glazing.  Best served within 2 days.

In pictures:

Here is the flour, sugar and salt mixed in with the butter. I used my hands, as I don't have a pastry cutter or a food processor. But you can bet both of those are on my Christmas list this year!

This is with the egg and milk concoction mixed in. I used a fork to incorporate it all together. It was sticky.

And the dough is ready to go into the fridge.

Meanwhile, I made the pumpkin filling. I'm not sure it's strictly necessary to heat it on the stovetop, though it does smell delicious.

You do not get any photos of the process leading to this point, as it was very messy and included a lot of griping from yours truly. Also, I only ended up with six tarts rather than nine, but I suspect I made them bigger than intended. You know what? I don't have a rolling pin either. So how did I roll these? I covered a can of cooking spray with parchment paper. Creativity!

Here they are all filled and in the oven. I apologize for any blurry photos this time around, the whole process was taking ages and I was not going to be bothered.

And, out of the oven. The recipe does not mention brushing the tops with the egg, but I did. I suspect there would have been very little browning had I not.

 

And, the final product. I didn't make the glaze. One, I wasn't sure how much I would've really needed since I only made six tarts and not nine. Two, I didn't have any maple syrup. It tasted good anyway, though I suspect the larger size made me end up with too much crust. The crust to filling ratio was screwy. My fault.

So, these are good. But, I doubt I will ever make them again. Not that I don't enjoy eating them. But they aren't begging for me to eat them, and they were an extreme hassle to make. While not necessarily difficult, it took forever. Hours. I suppose if you just bought some pre-made dough ready to go, it wouldn't be so bad.

...Set: Supernatural 6x04 "Weekend at Bobby's"

Who knew I would enjoy a Bobby-centric episode so much? While I have always appreciated Bobby as a character throughout Supernatural's run, much like the boys, I think maybe I took him for granted. Because suddenly he came into sharp focus for me in this episode, which he somehow had not done for me before (considering I sort of hated the last Bobby-centric episode from last season). I think we can thank not only Jim Beaver for his continued excellence, but also writers Daniel Loflin and Andrew Dabb, AND! Jensen Ackles, who made his directorial debut with this episode!

This episode was all about Bobby working to get back his soul from Crowley, who had "leased" it in his efforts to help stop the Apocalypse. A year ago, Bobby summoned him to get it back, but apparently Crowley had put in a little disclaimer of sorts, saying he only had to try to give it back, not that he actually had to. So, Bobby was stuck. But our favorite truck-hat-wearing hunter was not going to rest easy for 10 years before getting sent to Hell himself. No, he will find a way! Because he's just that good.
We really got to see a showcase of just how involved and knowledgeable Bobby is in the hunting world here. He has his bank of telephones that people are constantly calling, not to mention Dean and Sam calling on his personal line. Then Rufus shows up with a body he needs to bury (of some new creature called an Okami, a Japanese something or other that likes to kill single white females in their sleep). And Bobby takes it all in stride, even when he's got a body of his own downstairs. You see, he had a crossroads demon tied up and tortured it to get the name of Crowley when he was a human. The demon finally came clean - his name was Fergus MacLeod - and then Bobby killed her anyway. By burning her original human body's bones. Spoiler? I mean, we didn't know for sure that's what he was burning, but what else could it really have been?

Before he can start digging up more information about the dearly departed, and now demon King of Hell, MacLeod, Bobby had to deal with the Okami not really being dead. It woke up and he knew it would go straight for his cute, flirty neighbor, Marcy. He saves her from the thing, but unfortunately she gets covered in its blood, so it looks like this flirtation is over. Ain't that the breaks? On top of that, Dean calls up to start whining about Sam and Lisa and Ben. But this time, Bobby has had enough. He gives the boys some hell for always being whiny bitch babies to him and asks them to help him for a change. Well, all you had to do was ask!

Meanwhile, Rufus has turned up some information on Crowley/MacLeod. It turns out, he had a son, Gavin, who sailed across the Atlantic, but ended up dying along the way or something. But he had a signet ring that Rufus manages to steal from a museum in Massachusetts. Of course, he also managed to get the fuzz on his tail, so he swallows the ring for safekeeping. Bobby has to call in a favor with the local sheriff to get him back to his place so he can use the ring. He calls up the ghost of Gavin MacLeod, Crowley's son, to have a little chat.

Bobby then summons Crowley back again. When Gavin shows his ghostly face, it looks like all is going to be lost because he doesn't give a whit about his son. But it turns out, it was not Bobby's plan to trade Gavin for his soul. He just wanted to get the dirt on Crowley from Gavin. And that dirt included just where Fergus MacLeod's bones are buried. And what's this? Dean and Sam happen to be in Scotland with the bones just waiting to be burned if Crowley doesn't give Bobby his soul back! Crowley decides to do the deal, and Bobby gets his soul back, and gets to keep his legs. Way to turn the tables!

Random thoughts:

- I believe this is the first time we have ever heard of the Winchesters going abroad. I loved that they brought up Dean's fear of flying, because I was totally wondering how he would survive such a long flight! I also loved how Sam accidentally hit the horn in the tiny car they were driving in Scotland, even though Dean was the one at the wheel.

- I loved the scenes where Dean was calling Bobby for help, and we just saw Sam being tossed around in the background. Hilarious.

- The running thing with the peach cobbler was fun. Every time Bobby goes to eat some, the phone rings. And he always answers.

- OMG, the preview for next week! What in the... how in the world are they going to fix that?! I won't say any more for the spoiler-phobic out there.

- BTW, please go vote in my poll. :)

Quotes:

"Balls." - Bobby, about 10 times!

"Okey dokey. Wood chipper. That pretty much trumps... everything." - Rufus

"Sometimes you two are the whiniest, most self-absorbed sons o' bitches I ever met!" - Bobby

"Well you look like hammered crap." - Bobby
"And you're a vision, as always." - Crowley

"I don't need you to fight my battles for me, Moose. Get bent." - Crowley

"He white knuckled his way through four puke bags." - Sam
"Well at least I was sober. Some nut job decided to try something, I was ready. I had a fork." - Dean

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

An Important Question

Today I need to ask something important. Life changing. Earth shattering!

Okay so it's not really going to change my life, but it would change this blog.

Get on with it, you say? Fine! Basically, I've been thinking about buying a domain name, to make it easier to get to the site. But this brought up a second question that I have also been pondering. And that is: Should I change the name of the site? Because obviously that would require a different domain name, and why go around buying multiple domain names? Silliness.

Therefore, I am putting it to the masses (or the handful) of people who actually may care: you! Let your voice be heard! Or, your mouse click, anyway. Poll time...

Should I change the name of the blog?

• No! Keep "Fresh From The..."
• Yes! Change it to "Fresh From Jen"
• Yes! Change it, but to something else.
• I could care less.

View Results
Create a Blog Poll

...Set: Life Unexpected 2x05 "Music Faced"

My favorite part of tonight's episode was when Baze and his boss lady, Emma, were chatting about ideal mates and she was guessing his and said something like, "looks like that chick from Roswell." HA. I love in jokes like that.

Anyway, tonight also featured the "big" crossover "event" with one of the The CW's other resident soap opera melodramas, One Tree Hill, in the form of Kate Voegle and Bethany Joy Galeotti guest starring as their OTH characters Mia and Haley. Haley and Cate got to commiserate over high school pregnancies and valedictorian-ness (another valedictorian in the house here, what what) but on the whole they were just used for some musical performances, along with Ben Lee, Sarah McLachlan and Rain Perry, who is the woman behind the Life Unexpected theme song "Beautiful Tree." But on to the stories!

Cate & Ryan - Cate is still taking birth control pills even though she told Ryan they were trying for a baby. Apparently Ryan let slip to Cate's mom that this was happening, so she shows up at their place with an inappropriate baby-making basket. Cate confesses to her that she doesn't want to have a baby, and Ryan also finds this out later when he spots her pills in her purse (crack job at hiding those, Cate!). Cate has a tiff with her mom about their relationship and how it has affected her relationship with Lux and any future child. Yada yada, they get over it in the end. Cate figures out that she didn't want to have a baby because she felt guilty about leaving Lux when she was a baby. It's not clear whether they will be trying in the future or not, but Ryan basically told her she has to start being honest in their relationship if it's going to work. As if that's news!

Lux - Lux finds out about the baby thing, but is far more ensconced in her romantic drama to pay a whole lot of attention. Because, despite his many ways of telling her he can't date her, she is still trying to get Eric/Mr. Daniels to hook up in one way or another, this time by inviting him to the concert thing. He, of course, has already been invited by Paige, which is a surprise to no one except for the people on the show, who don't realize that they only seem to know people within their own small circle. She gets huffy about it while at the concert, and therefore pays no attention to Jones, who Tosh invited to go along with them because she thought Lux liked him. But, it turns out that Jones is tired of waiting for Lux, and makes a move on Tosh instead. Lux, for some reason, gets all pissy about that, wanting to have things both ways, and the two ladies get into a fight. I'm sure they'll get over it soon enough.

Baze - Baze is the most shaken by the news that Cate and Ryan are trying for a baby. In an attempt to move on, he tries to invite a random office worker to the concert, but ends up having to take his boss Emma instead, who wants to try to sign Haley for something or other. What the heck does their company do, exactly? Whatever. That was basically all just a set up by the writers so that she and Baze would get stuck alone together when the supposed backstage passes Cate was supposed to set up for Baze did not come through. They ended up bonding, and it's quite clear that there is going to be something romantical developing between these two in the coming weeks. My guess is sooner rather than later with the way this show works. In the end, Baze tells Cate that by seeing her move on, he was forced to move on himself. Right-o, cheerio! Except that Cate clearly does not want him to be moving on at all, no matter how much she says it. Mother and daughter have that in common - they like to have it both ways. Well, ladies, it just doesn't work like that.

And the next episode preview? Oh my gag. A coincidental next door hotel stay? Really? How many coincidences can this show run on?

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Glee 2x04 "Duets"

Guys, I'm a little burnt out on how many songs they've been doing each week. Seven. It just seems extreme. At least this time the songs were part of an assignment/competition in class and not just random. The competition was a duet for a chance to win a dinner at Breadsticks, which apparently everyone loves even though the breadsticks we saw there at the end look nasty. I do think they handled the songs with the stories a little bit better this week. Pretty much all of the teenage storylines were serviced in some way tonight. Let's just do a rundown, shall we?

Rachel & Finn - At first, they think they have this competition in the bag, but then Rachel starts to wonder if that's a good thing. If they win, then new member Sam (who has just decided to actually join) may not want to stay in the group, and they need him to win Nationals. Therefore, they decide to help Sam and purposefully lose the competition themselves. Bing, bang, boom. Easy enough when they decide to make their song overtly religious, particularly after last week's hoopla over everything religious.

Kurt - Kurt is immediately smitten with the new kid, and wants to be his duet partner. Finn, however, tries to talk him out of this, reasoning that if Sam sings with Kurt, he's going to be basically an automatic pariah, which is bad for everyone. Kurt is upset by this, but after lamenting to his dad about it, Burt basically tells him that while it may not be right, what Finn is saying is nonetheless true. Kurt withdraws as Sam's partner and does a "duet" with himself instead.

Sam & Quinn - As already mentioned, Sam was supposed to do a duet with Kurt at first. He didn't seem to have any real issues with that, so we know he's not a homophobe. But, when Kurt backs out as his partner, he and Quinn gravitate toward each other. And things are looking mighty steamy between these two. Quinn puts the kibosh on it when he tries to kiss her, though, because she's already been through so much and doesn't need that kind of crap again. But, they do end up doing a very cute duet together, and end up winning the competition thanks to the votes of Rachel and Finn. They have dinner at Breadsticks and it looks like there could be more brewing for them. At least until Puck gets back from juvie! Are you guys liking Sam? He's kind of goofy and a little bit weird in an endearing way. I'd be fine with him sticking around.

Brittany & Artie - After Santana is a bitch to Brittany and basically dumps her to partner up with Mercedes in the competition (and if anyone had any lingering doubts that there was more than just a friendship between Brittany and Santana, I think that was cleared right up in this episode!), Brittany goes to Artie for partnership. Which apparently means automatic relationship in her world. They end up doing the nasty, but then Artie gets hurt when he finds out that Brittany was just using him to win the competition. It was a brief but rather sad scene where he explained to her how it meant more to him because he wasn't sure he would even be able to do it at all. We also got to see some rare emotion from Brittany, who actually seemed to feel bad, and also lonely without her Santana (or Satan, as someone wrote on their voting form! Loved that!).

Tina & Mike - Mike was really unsure about doing a duet with Tina, as he said he's really only there for the dancing and not for the singing. Tina was also upset because apparently all they do together is eat dim sum with his mom. Then he suggests going to Asian couples therapy ("Why does it have to be Asian?"). She tries to re-team with Artie for the duet, but he rebuffs her. This results in a fun duet back with Mike, where he doesn't really have to sing at all, but dance around a lot. Ah, Mike. Love him.

That's pretty much it in terms of story. Now on to the songs and quotes... As for the song that I am most likely to listen to, I would have to go with Lucky. Too much Broadway/showtunes for me this week in the songs otherwise. And also, random note: Rachel/Lea Michele needs to stop making such horrendous faces. I know a lot of people mention this, but damn. It was crazy-face central tonight.

The Duets:

Rachel & Finn - Don't Go Breaking My Heart
Santana & Mercedes - River Deep, Mountain High
Kurt - Le Jazz Hot
Mike & Tina - Sing!
Rachel & Finn - With You I'm Born Again (can't find this one)
Sam & Quinn - Lucky
Kurt & Rachel - Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy

Quotes:

"He may be the dumbest person on the planet, and that's coming from me." - Brittany

"Hi everybody. I'm Sam. Sam, I am. And I don't like green eggs and ham." - Sam

"What's a duet?" - Will
"A blanket." - Brittany

"For a while I thought you were a robot." - Brittany

"Welcome to glee club, lady lips!" - Football dude

"All I want is a normal salad that doesn't have chicken feet in it." -Tina

"How can you do a duet by yourself? That's like, vocal masturbation or something." - Santana

"I'm mad at you, but you're still so hot." - Brittany

"I thought I was over somebody, but I think I still have feelings for them." - Artie
"The Clintons?" - Brittany

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Chuck 4x04 "...vs. the Coup d'Etat"

I should've started a running count at the top of the episode to see how many times the word "communication" was used. I'm thinking it would have ended up somewhere around, oh, twenty. Maybe more. Because yes indeedy, that was the theme of tonight's episode! A theme so bludgeoned and battered into our collective brains you would've had to be really dense not to get it.

Of course, the main two people having the communication issues are Chuck and Sarah. They are the central couple, after all! After a fake out non-proposal thanks to a wayward coincidental engagement ring falling down an air shaft, Chuck's a bit worried about his relationship with Sarah. Morgan only compounds this worry, and suggests he look to this self help book about conversations to have before you get married. I feel like I just saw something really similar in another show. Oh yes, it was Life Unexpected. Snooze. Anyway. So Chuck starts bringing up all of these random questions to start the flow of communication between them, but, like usual, it gets a bit derailed by the spy action at hand. OR DOES IT?! Because you know that the spy action at hand, while seeming like a derailment from the emotional story, always somehow connects back. This time it was even more blatant.

Because the spy story had to do with the Generalismo from Costa Gravas being usurped by his wife during a party, which Chuck and Sarah happened to be at, because the General had so conveniently invited Devon and Ellie to come down for a vacation to thank him for saving his life (and how long ago was that? Plot device, mayhaps??). They escape back to LA with the General in tow, but that doesn't last long, because the General's top guy has been secretly plotting with his wife to complete this coup, so they take the General back down to Costa Gravas. There is a lot of flying back and forth on this show lately. Tax payers dollars at work, clearly.

Once back in Costa Gravas, things are about to go nuclear (literally, because Chuck also saw this nuclear device thing in the Palace while they were on the vacation part of their trip before) between the General and his wife, so Chuck decides to step in to try to mediate the situation, because he believes they still love each other. Sarah also joins the fray, and their conversation has so many "hidden" meanings that they become generally not hidden at all. In the end, the General and his wife make up, Chuck and Sarah disarm the nukes. Happy dance for them. EXCEPT! In what continues to be a trend, right as they're about to leave, Chuck happens to notice something on the nuclear device linking it to Volkhoff, and therefore his mom. Because naturally since that is our new big bad, they are going to be linked to every single thing, no matter how out of the blue! There's not really any new information learned, except that these nukes were part of that Operation Beacon thing we heard tell of last week, or the week before, or whenever.

In side plot land, Ellie and Devon had a very tiny plot that served mostly to get Chuck and Sarah to Costa Gravas. Ellie is getting a little sick of Devon going crazy over the baby and wants to take a baby-cation. They go to Costa Gravas and get "caliente" after seeing a giant statue of Devon, but when their vacation is cut short, decide to continue it in Malibu. Also, Chuck tells Ellie that he's looking for their mom, but not that he's still a spy.

In the other side plot, Casey finds out that Morgan and his daughter Alex have been spending some time together. Morgan has to decide whether to try to pursue something with Alex because of the Casey connection, and Big Mike advises him to just go for it. He's still not sure when Alex shows up and goes for it herself. The girl who plays Alex either really reminds me of someone, or I've seen her in something before. Hmm. She does look sort of like Emily Blunt (and is therefore way too hot for Morgan, but whatever).

Anyway, as I predicted, it looks like we're going to be meeting Mama Bartowski in the next couple of episodes. Is she good? Is she bad? Some combination of the two? We shall see.

Quotes:

"I needed some fresh air." - Casey
"In an underground bunker..." - Chuck

"A little bored, Casey?" - Sarah
"Dead God, please give me something to do." - Casey

"Way to go, marble me." - Devon

"Keep heading down the hall. Follow the stink of Commie." - Casey

"Dude, they blew my head off!" - Devon

"Yeah, well, that's a daddy you don't want giving you a spanking." - Big Mike

"What is that smell?" - Chuck
"That is the stench of tyranny." - Casey

Previous Episode -- Next Episode 

Streusel Topped Pumpkin Bread

Let me just start by saying how much I have come to love pumpkin anything. I remember when I was a kid I always turned my nose up at pumpkin pie because it seemed weird. I don't know where I got that impression, but suffice to say, I am no longer so foolish. Pumpkin = delicious. I'm glad there is not supposed to be a shortage this year. Last year, it really messed with my baking plans. Anyway, the pumpkin recipe I bring to you is one I saw on Tasty Kitchen, and I just had to try it. Pumpkin and bread, two of my favorite things.

The below recipe is the one taken directly from the aforementioned Tasty Kitchen, though I did not follow it exactly. I only have one bread pan (which I had to actually go buy because I didn't have any). So, first off, I halved it. And secondly, I hate flax seeds with a passion, so did not include those in the streusel topping. I also did not put in the pecans out of sheer laziness and not having a food chopper. And being kind of sick of them after the pecan pie muffins. I also did not have some of the spices called for in the bread recipe. It turned out fine, but I suspect would've been even better if I had had those spices to add.

Streusel Topped Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

* ¾ cups Butter, Softened
* ¾ cups Granulated Sugar
* ¾ cups Dark Brown Sugar
* 1 teaspoon Vanilla
* 4 whole Eggs
* 2-½ cups Pumpkin Puree
* 3 cups All-purpose Flour
* 3 teaspoons Baking Powder
* ¾ teaspoons Baking Soda
* 1 teaspoon Salt
* 1-½ teaspoon Cinnamon
* ¼ teaspoons Ground Ginger
* ¼ teaspoons Allspice
* ¼ teaspoons Grated Nutmeg
* ⅛ teaspoons Cardamom
* ½ cups Buttermilk

* FOR THE STREUSEL TOPPING:
* ¼ cups Butter, Softened
* ½ cups Brown Sugar
* ¼ cups Oatmeal
* ¼ cups All-purpose Flour
* 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
* 3 Tablespoons Ground Flax Seed
* ¼ cups Chopped Pecans (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350º F. Grease and flour the bottom of two 8″ loaf pans. To make the topping, mix together all the topping ingredients using a fork or pastry cutter until combined thoroughly.

In a large bowl or mixer, cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Add vanilla and eggs and mix until incorporated. Stir in pumpkin puree.

In a separate bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, nutmeg and cardamom. Whisk together until no lumps remain. Add half of the flour mix to the pumpkin mix, blending well. Beat in buttermilk. Add remaining flour mix and beat lightly until smooth.

Pour batter evenly into the two prepared 8″ pans. Cover each with half of the topping mix. Bake at 350º F for 70-80 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Slice and enjoy.

In pictures:

 

Here is the streusel topping. As you can see, I just used a fork.

 
And here is the butter and sugars mixed together. I just did it by hand, again out of laziness for not wanting to get out my hand mixer. And a bonus tip! If you don't have dark brown sugar, don't worry. You can either add two Tbsp molasses to 1 cup white sugar, or 1 tbsp to 1 cup brown sugar and make your own!

 
Vanilla and eggs added.

 
And the pumpkin! Oooh it's turning orange!

 
And now the flour mixture is added in as well.

 
And it's about ready to go into the oven! This pan was a 9" pan, so if you have an 8" pan, it would fill it a little bit higher.

 
And, out of the oven. As you can see, it doesn't rise a lot. That's how sweet breads tend to be. Dense and delicious.

Mmmmm.....

The verdict is: yummy. I would say the only thing is that I definitely think it's probably better with the added extra bit of spices. It's fine without, just might add that something extra. And I could've used even more streusel topping. And on the bottom I can taste some of the egg, but maybe I just didn't cook it quite long enough. But I was afraid of over-cooking since the pan was a slightly larger size. ANYWAY. It's good. If you like sweet breads and pumpkin, you'll love this.

And the winner is...

And the winner of the Party Down Season 1 DVD giveaway is...

Lilly, who said... "Tough question. There are so many good shows out there right now. I'd have to say Community though. It's the only show I watch at least twice in order to catch all the things I may have missed because I was laughing so hard the first time."

Thanks to everyone who entered! Lilly, go ahead and email me at freshfromjen@gmail.com to claim your loot.


In case you're wondering how I chose a random winner, I used the very sophisticated method of literally choosing a name out of a hat. I know there's some way to use random.org to do it, but it required too much figuring out. 

...Set: Supernatural 6x03 "The Third Man"

I really think I should start fast-forwarding through the "THEN" segments. They really give entirely too much away. Oh, Raphael is in the "THEN," might we maybe, possibly, see him at some point in the episode? Why, what a preposterous notion to think up with your brain! In case you hadn't figured it out, this episode brought back the angels and what's been up with them. Which means the return of our favorite trench-coating wearing socially awkward buddy, Castiel. And who knew I missed him so much!
Before Castiel re-joins the party, however, we have some other business to take care of. In the form of some really nasty grossness that made me literally put a hand up to block the screen. The first of which came in the opener, with some cop dude having strange nicks on his face that eventually turned into him pulling skin off and generally bleeding everywhere until he like, full on just plopped down into a big splooge of bloody pulp. A fellow cop dude was there to witness the whole thing and that actor gave one of the most hilarious reaction shots I think I have ever seen. Sorry man, that reaction made me laugh my head off.

Meanwhile, Sam is somewhere working out, shirtless, and HOT DAMN. Can we just take a moment to worship at the body of Jared Padalecki? I mean, whoa. Whoa whoa wow whoa. Pardon me while I collect myself. Phew. But, Sam! Why in the world are you paying for a woman? You do not need to pay. Seriously, you don't. But in any event, he's totally acting weird anyway. All mysterious drifter dude who says but one word and has a body like whoa. But! Okay. I am moving on from the body, really. I promise. In a sec.

So! Sam and Dean meet up to work on this new case Sam's been scoping out - which has to do with the previously bloody pulp cop dude, and also another cop who started having boils bubble up all over his body in the second of the gross out moments that made me run for cover. They go to talk to that witness cop, who we learn is named Ed, who saw the first cop go ka-plop into a puddle. This Ed dude is acting peculiar indeed, but he does let slip that there was something with some Christopher Birch kid that went wrong. He had no face or some such, and they shot him even though he didn't really have a gun, so this is some form of justice. But suddenly, Ed starts dribbling blood from his head, and we find out he's got locusts emerging from inside of his brain!

Sam and Dean wise up to the fact that these particular deaths are sort of similar to biblical plagues, though on a much smaller scale. Dean decides they need to get Castiel all up in this biz-natch. Sam is all, "But he completely ignored me! Why would he come for you?!" Because it's Dean, silly. And Castiel does show up, though he claims it's because it was about the plague stuff. But we all know better, wink wink. Sam gets all prissy about being ignored, but Castiel just tells him he didn't have any information to give him on why or how he came back from the dead, so meh, what was the point?

Back to the matter at hand! Castiel informs the boys that Heaven is in chaos. Raphael wants to take over and re-start the apocalypse while Cas and others are like hellz to the no. Also, a bunch of angelic weapons are missing, and the one causing these particular biblical like symptoms is the staff of Moses. What! Yep. In order to find it, they figure they should go find out some more about this Christopher Birch kid, since Ed had mentioned it being like some kind of retribution. Turns out, Chris' little brother Aaron had sold his soul to an ANGEL to get a piece of the staff to wield his revenge on his brother's killers. Now angel's are buying souls too! What! The team is confused indeed by this, and need to find out just who did the selling. This requires Castiel to like, shove his hand inside the kid to find that out. Dean is very against hurting the kid, but Sam and Cas? They need to get this bitch handled like now, so in the hand goes. It turns out, the angel who did the bidding is one by the name of Balthazar, which disturbs Cas, because they were friends, and he thought Balthazar was dead.

Unfortunately, one of Raphael's minions hears this bit of news and there is a bit of a scuffle before Cas & the brothers Winchester can pay Balthazar a visit. They eventually do have this visit, only Dean and Sam wait outside while Cas has a more private chat. They blather on about angel stuff for a bit, Cas tries to get him to hand over the many weapons he has apparently stolen, but then Raphael shows up and gets to the fighting. As it turns out, though, Balthazar has some kind of crystal thing that basically disintegrates Raphael's host body, so they're rid of him for now. Balthazar's about to make his getaway, but then Sam and Dean show up with a special ring of holy fire to get him to release the kid's soul. He does, and they want to make him do some more stuff, but Cas lets him go, presumably because he had some former debt to him, which has now been paid.

Wow, there was a lot going on in this episode. But we're not done yet! Castiel wings off to points unknown, leaving Sam and Dean to have one of their patented end of episode roadside chats! A Supernatural episode is not complete without one of these angsty chats! This time, it's Dean questioning what is up with Sam, who we can all agree has been acting different. Sam chalks it up to being out on his own hunting for a year, but Dean thinks there is something more going on. He tries to talk to Sam about his time in Hell, but Sam gets kind of rude about that, basically saying that just because Dean was all tortured and broken after getting out (and he insinuates that it still haunts him, which I would think so too), that doesn't mean that he, Sam, has been affected in the same way. Wow. I mean, sure, but he said it in kind of a douche-y way, though he didn't seem to intend it to come out like that. Hmm. HMMMMMM.

Is there a new episode next week? Because they did one of those "SOON" thingies rather than a regular next episode preview, which is usually reserved for when they go on a break. But it surely cannot be a break already! Either way, episode four is the one that Jensen Ackles directed!


Random thoughts & whatnot:

- About halfway through this episode I thought to myself, "This is a good episode. I bet you Ben Edlund wrote it." And then I checked, and wouldn't you know it? He did indeed.

- I accidentally read the TV Guide blip for an upcoming episode that totally had a huge spoiler, which I find upsetting. I won't post it here.

- The "SOON" segment looked kind of awesome. I had my doubts after the first episode, but it looks like things are picking back up.

- How often will Dean actually go back to see Lisa and Ben? Will it eventually have to come to an end or can they actually make it work?

- I hope we don't get too bogged down in angel business. Some is fine, but as Dean raged at one point tonight, there is such a thing as "Too many angels!"

- Where's Adam? Is he still down in the pit? Poor thing, if he is.

- Could Grandpa Campbell be working for Raphael? He was up in Heaven, after all. Castiel said he didn't know what brought Sam back, but what about Samuel? Conveniently not mentioned. I am probably completely off, but who knows.

- Jared. Padalecki. Shirtless. The END.

Quotes:

"Who died and made you boss?" - Dean

"You. Molding the minds of tomorrow. Who knew." - Sam

"Oogh. Bad news." - Dean

"We're the Fed, Ed." - Sam

"So, what, you like him better or something?" - Sam
"Dean and I do share a more profound bond. ... I wasn't gonna mention it." - Castiel

"I think we can rule Moses out as a suspect." - Castiel

"Sam. Dean. My 'people skills' are 'rusty.' Pardon me, but I have spent the last year as a multi-dimensional wavelength of celestial intent." - Castiel

"Suck it, ass clown." - Dean, always classy. He also said douchewad earlier. Like I said, classy!

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...Set: Life Unexpected 2x04 "Team Rebounded"

Let's see, was there anything surprising about this episode? I'd say only one thing: that Lux apparently once lived with a woman for almost two years who wanted to adopt her. For some reason, it looks like Lux purposefully made that not happen. Who knows why. I am also betting it is involved somehow in why Lux hates the schooling as much as she does. But how did this mystery woman come back into Lux's life? Why, because another blast from her past came blasting back! That would be Tosh, who I had not missed in the least, but who apparently the writers felt they needed to bring back rather than have Lux make any new friends.
Because not only does Tosh come back, she also joins right up with the basketball team that Lux is on, which also happens to feature Math as coach and now Baze as assistant coach. They have their first game, they suck, they all get happy because by the end Tosh is able to score their one basket of the game. There were speeches flying about being winners even if you're not winning, all rather a big yawny yawn yawn to me.

Meanwhile, Cate is still butting heads with Kelly at the radio station, but decides to try to take the high road. And by the high road, she means taking Kelly out and getting her drunk so that they can be "friends." Of course, Cate lets slip some of her own issues with Ryan that, surprise surprise, Kelly uses while on the air! SHOCKER. This causes some more fighting between Cate and Ryan, this time to do with kids. He wants to have some, she is less than open to the idea. By the end, she's agreed to try, but when he leaves the room, she continues to take her birth control. SHOCKER x 2!

And, in the itty bitty sideplot department, we had Math crushing on Paige. They go on a date of sorts, he thinks it's gone well while she of course does not. It turns into this big hullaballoo that seemed rather exaggerated - do guys really get so huffy about girls? And, also, Paige sat down next to Eric, so you know they're going to start dating. Because apparently everyone in the cast can only get involved with each other!

I'm not sure I can continue watching if things are so predictable and cheesy. Sigh.

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...Set: Glee 2x03 "Grilled Cheesus"

I seem to remember reading somewhere that they were going to focus less on the songs and more on the story in this upcoming season... Um. I'm really not sure how that translates to seven, count 'em seven, songs in one episode. And for the most part, they were the complete songs too. That was a whole lot o' singing, and not a lot of story.

What there was of story basically boiled down to two plot points - the big one being Kurt's dad Burt having a heart attack. Everyone in the club tried to rally around Kurt to give him support, but when that support started to turn religious, hackles were raised. Kurt does not believe in God, and does not want such belief shoved down his throat. So everyone starts going on about spirituality and what it means to believe in a higher power, but most of it was done through song. Throughout the episode, it's not clear whether Burt will eventually wake up, or if he might possibly die. In the end, though, once Kurt has a bedside confession, he does stir. That confession came in the form of Kurt uttering the rather cheesy and predictable line something along the lines of: "I don't believe in God, but I believe in you."


Meanwhile, Finn was having his own religious epiphany of sorts. After making a grilled cheese sandwich, he noticed part of the grill looked like Jesus. This prompted him to pray to the grilled cheesus a few times for such classy things as winning a football game, being able to touch Rachel's boobs, and getting his spot back at quarterback. He does end up getting all three, but he only gets to be quarterback again because Sam gets hurt, which makes him question the whole thing.

The other, teeny tiny, subplot was Sue having a problem with the club expressing any religious views, because she herself does not believe in God. Which stems from her praying when she was a child for her sister to get better, but it never happening. This story doesn't really amount to much, though. She sees her sister at the end of the episode and they have a small chat, but as there is hardly any sort of arc, it honestly was kind of lame and pandery.

These sorts of episodes are tough, I grant you that. Asking big questions that don't have answers, or have too many answers from too many different people, is a big job to tackle on TV. But maybe if the focus had been put more on the story rather than showcasing performance after performance, it wouldn't have felt so frivolous. I did find the grilled cheesus hilarious, though.

The songs:

Only the Good Die Young - Puck
I Look to You - Mercedes
Papa Can You Hear Me - Rachel
I Want to Hold Your Hand - Kurt .... by FAR the best song of the night. This one actually almost brought me to tears.
Losing My Religion - Finn
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Mercedes + church choir
One of Us - whole club

Quotes:

"Whenever I pray, I fall asleep." - Brittany

"I'm a total Jew for Jesus. He's my number one Hebe." - Puck

"What up, grilled cheesus. I need to ask you for something. I didn't go to Sunday school, so I don't know if God works the same as a genie and I only get three wishes..." - Finn

"You can't prove there isn't a magic teapot floating around on the dark side of the moon with a dwarf inside of it that reads bromance novels and shoots lightning out of its boobs, but it seems pretty unlikely, doesn't it?" - Kurt
"Is God a dwarf?" - Brittany

"I realize you're only half orangutan, but I'm still allergic to your lustrous, ginger mane." - Sue

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...Set: Chuck 4x03 "...vs. the Cubic Z"

Tonight's episode of Chuck was, while still solid entertainment, a little bit of a let down for me. Here's something I've noticed. Each season we've basically had a new big bad for the spy guys to fight that we have heretofore never heard of. But as soon as we've heard of them, they're literally everywhere and everyone is somehow connected. Tonight was no exception, with two returning antagonists now suddenly involved with this Volkoff dude who is also involved somehow with Chuck's mom, which has probably been going one for some time. I find it hard to believe that Chuck's dad would not have been able to find any of this out.

Anyway. The two returning antagonists in question are Heather Chandler, Sarah's former high school nemesis played by Nicole Richie, and Hugo Panzer, that dude Chuck beat up on a plane played by Steve Austin. They are both in custody and have to get re-routed to Castle for a temporary lock-up until they can come get them later, or something. Basically it was just all a set up so Heather could needle Sarah about her relationship with Chuck. Sarah's a consummate spy, she can't settle down, yada yada yada. There was a WHOLE lot of that talk a going on. And most of it was done in giant, beyond human-sized air ducts. Really, are air ducts that large?

But why were they in the air ducts? Because the Panzer dude escaped from his cell with the help of a newspaper (yes, a newspaper) and proceeded to lockdown Castle. Casey managed to magically open a fire escape right into the cell Sarah, Chuck and Heather were locked in, and thus began the great air duct crawl and escape attempt, complete with mid action fighting and eventual re-routing to the roof, where the CIA was supposed to have sent a chopper for the criminalies. Only, they weren't CIA, they were Volkoff's men come to kill Heather, who had apparently wronged him in some way. There is much shooting and action, Casey even gets shot. Panzer escapes down another air duct, and Chuck goes after him. Heather and Sarah must work together to defeat the evil dudes. They do, and Heather is sent back into custody, but not before telling the duo about how Volkoff and Frost (aka Chuck's mom) always seemed to be together, and that they were working on something called Operation Beacon. More on that in the future, to be sure.

Meanwhile, down in the Buy More, Morgan is preparing for a big game premiere. Big Mike returns to the scene, asking for Morgan's permission to ask his mom to marry him. Big Mike gives him the ring to think it over, and also asks for a job at the Buy More, which Morgan gives him. Things go awry with the premiere when the games don't show up, and Big Mike ends up saving the day not only for Morgan, but also for Chuck. Because! Panzer had escaped down into the Buy More proper, but Big Mike had a stun wand thing out and buzzed him with it. Morgan offers Big Mike the assistant manager position, and also tells him he's okay with Mike marrying his mom, though he did sort of lose the ring in all of the rioting masses.

And where did that ring go? Why, it went down an air duct! AIR DUCT! So many air ducts. While it bobbles down the air ducts toward Castle, Chuck and Sarah are having their big relationship moment of the episode, where Sarah says that while she used to be like Heather, a consummate spy not ready to settle down, she isn't totally like that any more. So long as they take things slow. And what should happen then but that ring plops out onto the floor, Chuck picks it up, and it looks like he's proposing. Dun dun DUN!

Maybe I am being too hard on the show, but.... eh.

A few choice quotes:

"You're beyond DeNiro. This is Russell Crowe serious." - Chuck

"I've been locked in enclosed spaces with this guy before. I handled it fine, but he got very agitated." - Chuck

"Shut it, convict!" - Casey

Song choice of the night: Beat the Devil's Tattoo by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

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Pecan Pie Muffins

Often, when I get the urge to bake, I want to make something new, but only with what ingredients I have on hand. I have a serious dislike for going grocery shopping, mostly because I feel like I have to do it all the dang time! So I was looking through recipes that I had starred for future use, and found these that I had saved from Tasty Kitchen. Pecan Pie Muffins. I like muffins, I like pecan pie. Combine the two and...

I'm not sure how to describe these. Are they a dessert? Are they a breakfast? I suppose you could do either. I was wishing I had some whipped cream or even some ice cream, because that would have been a good topper.  As it is, they are pretty sweet and also very filling, so in that respect - a good breakfast. On to the recipe...

Pecan Pie Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
• ½ cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 cup Chopped Pecans
• ⅔ cups Softened Butter
• 2 whole Eggs Beaten

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Grease your muffin pan or use silicone cups.

In a medium bowl, stir together brown sugar, flour and pecans. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and eggs together until smooth. Stir into the dry ingredients just until combined. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Cups should be about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on wire racks when done.

Here are the dry ingredients all mixed together. I broke up the pecans by hand so they might be smaller bits if you use a food processor or some such.

The butter and the eggs all whisked together.

Mix the wet ingredients in with your dry until just combined.

Greased muffin pan. As you can see, for me it made eight.

And, voila! I let them sit in the pan for a bit, then just turned it over onto the grate and flipped them over. They came out of the pan just fine.