sleep & apple pie

Was planning to double up on office days. Woke up at 6:40 am, ten minutes before my alarm. Turned off my alarm, went to the bathroom, reflected on my life choices, came back to bed, and slept for two more hours.

It’s fine. I’m not required to go in on any specific days, and I’m much better off getting a full night of sleep + an afternoon nap to fortify me for an early morning tomorrow.

(Also at 6:40 am my toe hurt, and in my sleep-deprived brain this seemed like an extremely valid reason to work remote for the day. It had stopped hurting by 8:40 am. Wild how that works.)

For lunch I had a toasted sandwich with smoked cheddar, mozzarella, and Dad’s homegrown tomatoes, and then a slice of Mom’s apple pie for dessert. It still ain’t Masterchef (did you make that pie crust from scratch? no???) but it was fantastic.

Just started the second season of Masterchef and I’m enjoying the series a lot. Masterchef is more of a food show, while Hell’s Kitchen is more of a drama show. In a typical Hell’s Kitchen day, the morning challenge usually involves cooking, but it’s followed by a long punishment/reward interlude, and dinner service is generally the same old risottos and halibut. I’m sure they taste good, when not screwed up, but they don’t look inspiring. The fun of Hell’s Kitchen is Ramsay screaming at the chefs for bringing up rubbery scallops and runny risotto, and kicking them out of the kitchen, and then them screaming at each other up in the dorm.

Masterchef is genuinely about food. “Make a cupcake.” “Make a pasta dish.” Then you get glamour shots of everyone’s cupcakes and pasta and they all look fantastic. The judges are more effusive with compliments (not necessarily a good thing if you’re in it for the diss tracks, but it does make you hungry hearing about the perfect balance of flavors in someone’s pasta dish). (It also helps that they only review the top three entries in mystery box challenges, so those weigh heavily toward compliments.)

Maybe I should recommend Masterchef to HGR. We’ve been doing a joint watchthrough of Hell’s Kitchen, but the formula is wearing thin for both of us (moreso him than me). On the other hand, I think he’s really in it for the diss tracks and I’m not sure the more wholesome atmosphere of Masterchef is going to grab him. Well, maybe we can watch an ep together and see how it goes.