You guys, I went on a delightfully wonderful trip back home to Salt Lake and came home practically floating from spending so much time with My People (wedding, baby shower, surprise 40th birthday party, dinner with family, lunch with friends, hikes with friends). And then I got WHOMPED with a nasty cold, like, down. for. the. count! for days! With nasty congestion and coughing and a ridiculous amount of phlegm. TMI? Eh, I’m sorry. Kind of. I am so glad I’ve been able to work from home a few days, alone with my Kleenex and DayQuil and disgusting noises.

You’re welcome. I’ll be here all week. Literally. Here. On the couch. Various laptops on my knees and a small pharmacy at my feet. I also started watching The Great British Baking Show and I have THOUGHTS! and FEELINGS! about it.

Firstly, how do you have a CAKE BAKING competition in a CIRCUS TENT with inconsistent temperature and a dozen blazing ovens, and literally, buckets of rain right outside that is affecting your humidity. I mean, I’m not a professional bakestress or anything, but I do know that stuff like that effects BAKING stuff like pastry and cake much more than if you were sautéing veggies or grilling shrimp or something. (Also? Altitude, which is never a thing in England, but still, you know, if you’re keeping track of what affects baking, add altitude to the list.)

Secondly, in the first five minutes I started dry heaving because every single baker has messy and unruly hair, I swear not a single one knows what a health code violation is in. I can just imagine long frizzy hairs from every single one of them dropping into the batter and frosting. Like, I don’t need them to wear hairnets or anything, but a smooth ponytail, maybe a cute little braid here or there, a headband perhaps, and for the love, people, USE A BOBBY PIN! Ladies AND gentlemen of the baking industry, get your hair out of your face while you’re mixing, mmmmkay?

Thirdly, this show is absolutely not helping my resolve to not eat any sugar until Blue Eyes and I head to the Caribbean beach…I mean, I would like to dust off my baking skills, or at least spend a sunny morning in a little cafe with a delicious array of filled croissants and mini cakes and things. So good for my heart and soul, NOT a good plan for my beach bod aspirations (snortlaugh).

Are you a Great British Baking Show fan? Do you also obsessively watch fancy food shows? Jury is still out on the former, but I’m definitely guilty of the latter.