Screencaps from Brothers & Sisters Season 4 Episode 14

These three pictures are screencaps from Brothers & Sisters Season 4 Episode 14.
Although this is a little irregular for me to upload those pics, I would really like to share these with you.

Scotty wears only a towel!!

So gorgeous!!

Nothing to say!!

Brothers & Sisters S4E14

"The Pasadena Primary"

Shirtless Scotty!!!! Woot!

Side Dish - 1st Feb.

Side Dish - Scotty's Food Blog from ABC, Brothers & Sisters.

What do the following things have in common?
- A parking lot full of hybrid cars.
- A homeless man holding a sign: “Will Work for Organic Food.”
- Ads for a locavore speed dating service.
- A t-shirt that says: “Shake the Hand that Feeds You.”

Give up? They are all things I’ve seen at local farmers markets. I’m always struck by the amazing cross-section of people you’ll see strolling through farmer’s markets: yuppies next to hippies, the celebrated head chef next to the culinary weekend warrior. Take a minute and find the farmer’s market near you (www.localharvest.org is a good place to start) and taste the difference that fresh ingredients make.)

My favorite market is the colorful one held every Sunday in Hollywood where you get a free side of crazy with your persimmons. Last Sunday I met my good friend Kevin West (“the other Kevin” as my husband calls him) there. While we perused all the yummy freshness, we came across strawberries and rhubarb that were dying to be made into jam.

Now if you’ve never made jam I know what you’re thinking, but I promise making jam is no big deal. You’ll swear off Smuckers after just one spoonful. So in the words of the immortal Bob Marley: “We’re jammin’." And I hope you like jammin’ too.

SCOTTY'S STRAWBERRY RHUBARB JAM

INGREDIENTS
2 lbs strawberries, the smaller the better
1 lb rhubarb -- about 16-18 stalks
3 cups organic granulated sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 tablespoon lemon juice (approximately the juice from 1/2 lemon)
Optional: 1 tablespoon St. Germain elderflower liquor


TECHNIQUE
1 -- Quickly rinse strawberries, cut away the stems and quarter each berry. Place in a large mixing bowl, cover with the sugar and set aside.

2 -- Peel the rhubarb stalks, which have strings similar to celery. You can either use a vegetable peeler or run a very sharp knife just beneath the surface, or just grab the strings from one end of the stalk and zip them off, then repeat from the other end of the stalk. Cut the peeled rhubarb into 1/2" cubes. Add to the mixing bowl with berries and sugar. Stir the mixture well, then set aside to macerate for at least an hour.

3 -- After an hour's rest, the sugar will have drawn copious juice from the fruit. Pour the fruit-sugar mixture into a wide kettle like a stew pot, something large enough that the fruit-sugar mixture is no more than a few inches deep. (Make sure the pot is scrupulously clean.) Toss in the vanilla bean and bring everything to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring vigorously all the while to break down the fruit.

4 -- Once the mixture boils and begins to foam, reduce the heat to maintain a steady but manageable boil. Continue stirring and cook for 5-8 minutes as the syrup begins to reduce.

5 -- When the syrup has noticeably thickened, add the St. Germain liquor if you're using it. Cook about 5 minutes longer until your jam is thick and glossy. At this point, turn off the heat and test the consistency by dipping a chilled spoon into the mixture. Hold up the spoon and tilt it on its edge. The last few drops to fall away should cling thickly to the bottom edge of the spoon. You can also test for consistency by letting a single drop of syrup fall onto a plate you've chilled in the freezer. When your jam is ready, the drop will "bead" on the cold plate rather than flattening out. Or, finally, you can drop a teaspoon of jam on a cold plate and place it in the freezer for 90 seconds. If it comes out thick and with a slight "skin" on the surface, then you know you're achieved a "jell set." In other words, now you have jam.

6 -- Finally, skim any foam from the surface of the hot jam and stir in the lemon juice. Taste! You can add another drop of lemon or liquor if you want, but you can't add more sugar at this point. The finished jam will keep in a covered container in the fridge for 2 weeks (although it won't last that long – it’s too good!).
7 -- If you know how to can using the boiling-water bath process and want to "put up" your jam: ladle the hot jam into clean, hot half-pint mason jars (available at most hardware stores) and seal with the manufacturer's lid. Process the sealed jars in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes, then promptly remove and place on a clean dishrag on the counter for 12 hours. If the lids seal properly (follow manufacturer's instructions), the jam can be safely stored in the cupboard for up to one year.
The classic use for strawberry jam is of course on breakfast toast or a PB&J, but it's also delicious over ice cream, stirred into unflavored yogurt or served with a dollop of creme fraiche and an almond cookie as a simple dessert.

An interview on Daily Telegraph

Matthew Rhys on Brothers and Sisters

The Welsh actor discusses moving from Cardiff to California and starring in the hit US drama series.

By Neil Midgley
Published: 10:37AM GMT 21 Jan 2010

Luke MacFarlane, Matthew Rhys and Marion Ross in the US drama series Brothers and Sisters.

“Security will direct you to the Zorro parking structure,” says the email from the PR, explaining how to get to the set of the hit ABC show Brothers & Sisters. This is a Disney studio lot in Burbank, California: generously landscaped and sun-drenched, with its own gas station and murals featuring Donald Duck. It’s a long way – both literally and metaphorically – from the south Wales childhood of Matthew Rhys.

“I love and embrace the cultural differences,” says Rhys – now almost a California native, after four years’ worth of Brothers & Sisters (shown here on More4). “In some ways, they’re so profoundly different from Britain. In other ways, very similar.”

Rhys plays Kevin Walker, a glossily gay Californian in his mid-thirties, and one of the siblings of the show’s title. He’s sitting in a Disney conference room joshing with actor Luke Macfarlane, who plays his on-screen husband Scotty. Though Rhys’s American accent never slips on-screen, his voice now is straight from the valleys. “When I speak to people from Britain, that’s when I feel like a fake, speaking with an American accent,” he says, slightly sheepishly.

Macfarlane, who hails from Canada, joins in. “Matthew’s also exceptionally talented at all accents,” he says archly.

“Yes. Even neighbourhoods of Canada,” says Rhys.

“Not just neighbourhoods – specific hockey teams,” quips Macfarlane.

The pair’s good-natured off-screen banter is exactly how fans of the show would hope. Brothers & Sisters has no time-travelling cops, no jets crashing on desert islands. It rivets more than 10million American viewers with nothing more than the intertwined stories of one family. Warm, prosperous and sentimental, the show - and its high-octane, often tear-jerking emotion – is kept from descending into soap opera not just by polished scriptwriting, but by a classy cast: Calista Flockhart, Rob Lowe and, crucially, Sally Field as materfamilias Nora Walker. On Facebook, there’s a “Which Walker are you?” quiz – and, quips Macfarlane, “everyone just keeps taking it until they get Nora.”

As British viewers start season four tonight, they will catch up with Kevin and Scotty’s newest storyline: the quest for a baby. “We’re lucky that that storyline is relatively uncharted,” says Rhys. “The whole journey of going about it makes very interesting TV.”

“And so do the different ways one goes about it – adoption versus surrogacy,” adds Macfarlane.

Along with the gay couple on ABC’s new sitcom Modern Family, Kevin and Scotty are blazing a trail for gay parenting on American primetime television. But, says Rhys, he doesn't feel like a “poster child” for gay rights. “The press we’ve had has been very positive,” he says. “A very healthy, very nice response – that what we’re doing is on the right track.”

Macfarlane agrees. “The cultural significance is always surprising,” he says. “We just show up and do the work, and they tell us it’s groundbreaking – but it doesn’t necessarily feel groundbreaking.” Certainly Brothers & Sisters doesn’t trumpet itself as a genre-altering show. It is executive produced by Ken Olin, who appeared on screen as self-obsessed ad exec Michael Steadman in the Eighties-zeitgeist series thirtysomething. Brothers & Sisters reflects a more mature version of the same sensibility, with enviable suburban houses and beautiful knitwear as much on show as Rhys’s American accent.

Rhys himself is evidently having the time of his life. “I feel comfortable here primarily because I think Los Angeles is made up of people who don’t come from here, so you can find kindred spirits very easily,” he says. “It’s a town of gypsies.”

But Rhys has a more versatile CV than some TV actors, having played Dylan Thomas in the 2008 film The Edge of Love – and opposite Kathleen Turner in the West End version of The Graduate. “I definitely want to go back to the theatre. It is hard work, it is repetitive, but it is intensely rewarding,” he says.

His career as a chameleon extends even to talking to journalists. “You play to whatever publication you’re being interviewed by,” he says cheerily. So who is he being today, for The Daily Telegraph. “Upright Tory. Bring back Maggie!” So… does he hunt and shoot and fish? “I do, yes. I actually do! Well, I don’t hunt on horseback. In Wales, it’s a little more practical. It’s vermin control.” As Rhys is called back to the cavernous sound stage, it’s hard not to think: you can take the boy out of Cardiff…

Happy 30th Birthday!!

Happy Birthday!!

Side Dish - 18th Jan.

Side Dish - Scotty's Food Blog from ABC, Brothers & Sisters.

Last night I took my future Baby Mama Michelle (Barack and I have things in common, you know) out for a celebratory dinner at a fantastically unpretentious little restaurant tucked away in the corner of a strip mall. Their menu features a uniquely thoughtful wine list (no booze for Michelle though!) and dishes that have probably been described by adjective-loving food critics as New Southern, artisanal and sustainably-minded fare. Although here's what I think: This place simply rocks! I'm not sure I want to tell you all the name of it for fear of losing my little gem, but for careful readers I promise to pepper this post with subtle hints.

So the thing that hooked me on this place and made me want to write about it here in the first place -- was a little something they call Pig Candy. If you've never heard of it (and I hadn't), Pig Candy is thick strips of smoky bacon covered in brown sugar and broken into bits.

That sounds strange I know, but believe me: this stuff is better than a backstage stage pass to Wicked. (Don't tell Kevin I said that, he would divorce me immediately.) As I enjoyed the Pig Candy with Kevin and Michelle, it started me thinking about all of the other unexpected food combinations I've tried over the years. Some popular, some not so much. Have you ever tried:

- Pumpkin pie filling seasoned with bay leaves
- Watermelon and feta cheese
- Tomato and peanut butter
- Melon and Prosciutto (Of course! Yummmmm.)
- Cantaloupe with chili powder
- Oysters and Raisins
- Apple pie cooked with duck meat
- Strawberries and Balsamic Vinegar
- Nectarines and Basil
- And Justins favorite: French Fries dipped in a vanilla milkshake


As Kevin and Michelle raced to see who could eat more of the Pig Candy (Michelle won) I couldn't help but thinking that our lives are full of these seemingly random pairings. Who would have thought a handsome lawyer would end up marrying an unemployed and homeless cater waiter? Or that the biggest party girl I knew would end up not just as our surrogate, but laughing and joking with my husband. My own grandparents probably would have never thought they would see the day when guys having could have a kid.

SCOTTY'S PIG CANDY
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
1/2 pound thick-cut bacon, 8 slices

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Mix brown sugar, cayenne, and black pepper together in a medium bowl. Add bacon and toss. Line a baking sheet with a wire rack and lay bacon on the rack. Pat any remanding spice mixture on the bacon. Put the baking sheet on the top rack of the oven and bake until crisp, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven to a serving dish and let cool slightly before serving.

If using thick cut peppered bacon, omit the pepper in this recipe.

Brothers & Sisters S4E13

"Run Baby Run"

I actually love his gay owl.

Sometimes Kevin makes me learn clearly that he is his mother's son. I prefer him to be a lawyer.

From the very beginning, I really loved Scotty and I never stopped loving him. Sometimes he is too nice though. Lately he's got more involved with their stories, not only with the Walkers, and it's totally different from the way of involvement in Season 3.