Jason Mastrodonato – The Virginian-Pilot https://www.pilotonline.com The Virginian-Pilot: Your source for Virginia breaking news, sports, business, entertainment, weather and traffic Mon, 16 Sep 2024 19:51:27 +0000 en-US hourly 30 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 https://www.pilotonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/POfavicon.png?w=32 Jason Mastrodonato – The Virginian-Pilot https://www.pilotonline.com 32 32 219665222 If you love ‘The Great British Bake Off,’ here are 7 more cooking and baking shows to watch https://www.pilotonline.com/2024/09/16/if-you-love-the-great-british-bake-off-here-are-7-more-cooking-and-baking-shows-to-watch/ Mon, 16 Sep 2024 19:46:48 +0000 https://www.pilotonline.com/?p=7370852&preview=true&preview_id=7370852 Hearts are sure to be as warm as a preheating oven when “The Great British Bake Off” returns for its 15th season.

If you can’t get enough of the show’s delicious treats, innocent vibe and adorable backdrop set at Welford Park in Berkshire, England, here are seven other shows you might enjoy, including a few Halloween-themed shows set to debut this month:

1. “Bake Squad,” Netflix

If your favorite part of the “The Great British Bake Off” is the camaraderie and good-natured love between the contestants, you might enjoy this Netflix baking competition that isn’t much of a competition at all.

Christina Tosi, founder of Milk Bar, hosts a show where four skilled bakers are asked by a client to come up with stunning creations for a specific event. At the end of each episode, the client picks the best one. It’s that simple.

“The squad is on a mission to sprinkle a little bit of happiness into big events,” Tosi explains during the show.

The bakers create masterpieces for a child’s birthday, an over-the-top wedding, a daughter who beats cancer and an array of other clients who have a difficult choice at the end of the episode. It’s light-hearted fun for the whole family with an emphasis on sportsmanship. The winner gets no money, just pride, and the results are as sweet as the desserts.

Streaming now.

2. “The Chef Show,” Netflix

Who can forget the scene in “Chef” when Jon Favreau cooks up the simplest, yet most delicious-looking grilled cheese ever before seen on the big screen?

Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) and Percy Casper (Emjay Anthony) in 'Chef.' (Merrick Morton/Open Road)
Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) and Percy Casper (Emjay Anthony) in ‘Chef.’ (Merrick Morton/Open Road)

Well, Favreau returned to the kitchen in this under-the-radar show from 2019-2020, where he was reunited with Los Angeles-based chef, Roy Choi, who was a consultant for the cooking scenes in “Chef.” The two bond onscreen as they teach celebrities how to make delicious foods while providing the most entertaining discussions.

Comedian Bill Burr, one of the guest celebrities, says the grilled cheese scene in “Chef” is the entire reason he’s on this show. Other guests include David Chang, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Holland, Seth Rogen, Sam Raimi, The Russo Brothers and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Whether new seasons of the show, which scored 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, will ever materialize is a bit of a mystery. But you can stream “The Chef Show” series on Netflix — and catch the much-loved, original “Chef” on Hulu, Amazon Prime and other streaming services.

3. “Master Chef,” Fox, Hulu, Tubi or Disney-plus

Back for its 14th season, “Master Chef” returned with a clash of generations, pitting chefs from Gen-Z, Gen-X, Millennials and Boomers against each other for a chance at winning $250,000.

Judge Gordon Ramsey during the 'Masterchef' finale. (Greg Gayne/FOX)
Judge Gordon Ramsay during a ‘Masterchef’ finale. (Greg Gayne/FOX)

This season’s theme may sometimes feel forced, but it also provides an interesting perspective on the culinary differences between generations. This year’s edition, which will crown a champion on Sept. 18 (no spoilers!), brought back judges Gordon Ramsay, Aaron Sanchez and Jose Bastianich while adding chef and food influencer Priya Krishna as a guest judge.

4. “Halloween Baking Championship,” Food Network, Max

One channel is going all-in on a certain spooky holiday after the Food Network reported drawing 28 million viewers for its 2023 Halloween programming, making it one of the top five non-news/sports cable networks among adults 18-49.

The “Halloween Baking Championship” returns for its 10th season on Sept. 16, bringing in 10 new bakers from across the country to compete in a haunted science lab. Weekly challenges include a battle of mummy-themed desserts, treats that look like broken glass and all things Beetlejuice. Returning host/comedian John Henson brings the fun while Stephanie Boswell, Carla Hall and Zac Young are the judges. New this season: immunity is on the line each week.

5. “Halloween Wars,” Food Network, Max

From the company that produces “Cupcake Wars” and “Cake Wars,” a 14th season of “Halloween Wars” will debut Sept. 22. New episodes can be streamed the next day on Max.

Jonathan Bennett (“Mean Girls”) returns to host the show, which will pit eight teams against each other to carve pumpkins and create their spookiest desserts.

6. “Outrageous Pumpkins,” Food Network, Max

If pumpkin carving is your thing, “Outrageous Pumpkins” launches its sixth season on Sept. 29, and this time, 14 new carvers will be paired up to make gravity-defying structures and mechanical monsters, according to the network. Host/chef Damaris Phillips, the former “Food Network Star” champion, will challenge contestants to bring their terrifying structures to life and create gruesome crime scenes, all from gourds.

7. “Harry Potter Wizards of Baking,” Food Network, Max

Harry Potter fans will be taken onto the actual Warner Bros. Studios set where the movies were filmed when the new “Harry Potter Wizards of Baking” debuts sometime this holiday season.

In this new baking competition, professional pastry chefs will create enchanting masterpieces themed exclusively with Harry Potter characters and events — with Fred and George Weasley, er, actors James and Oliver Phelps hosting.

Based on the teaser, the series promises to give bakers unprecedented access to the actual film sets, including The Great Hall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Platform 9¾, Gringotts Wizarding Bank and The Burrow.

A series premiere date has not yet been announced.

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How the SF Giants have become MLB leaders in mental health https://www.pilotonline.com/2023/06/01/how-the-sf-giants-have-become-mlb-leaders-in-mental-health/ Thu, 01 Jun 2023 19:31:08 +0000 https://www.pilotonline.com/?p=4992851&preview=true&preview_id=4992851 SAN FRANCISCO — Just down the hallway from the Giants clubhouse, about a 30-second walk away, is a tiny room about the size of a storage closet.

Walk inside and the anxiety of life drips off your shoulders. There’s a dimly lit lamp, a brown leather couch, a wooden coffee table with a sandalwood tobacco candle on it and a chair where Dr. Shana Alexander sits, ready to listen.

“I love talking to her,” Giants’ ace Logan Webb said of Alexander, the team’s sports psychologist and director of mental health and wellness. “It’s important to have this space.”

After signing his $90-million contract extension with the Giants in April, Webb pledged $450,000 to the Giants Community Fund in hopes to raise awareness about fentanyl after it took the life of his cousin, Kade, in 2021.

Since then, Webb has become an advocate for mental health. And he’s not afraid to say it: he loves therapy.

“I realized I had a lot of (stuff) I needed to get out and talk about,” he said. “Shana actually mentioned it. It was kind of forced like, ‘You need to come in here.’ I didn’t want to.”

Webb didn’t know much about therapy or mental health until he arrived in the big leagues in 2020. One morning that September, former big leaguer Drew Robinson spoke to the entire organization and shared details of his suicide attempt. Missing one eye due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Robinson is one of the team’s leading mental health advocates who is often seen wearing a T-shirt that says, “Strength isn’t always physical.”

After Robinson’s presentation to the team, “I broke down,” Webb said.

Since then, he’s spoken to Alexander once a week, even in the offseason.

“Life is hard, in general,” he said. “You add in the fact that we play this game. And as a kid you played the game to have fun. Now you’re playing it in front of millions of people.

“If you do (poorly), you’re the worst human being in the world, for some reason. And if you do great, you’re the biggest human being. You have these highs and these lows, these highs and these lows, and it’s mentally draining. As much as you want to drown that out, sometimes it just gets to you.”

Giants players often show up in Alexander’s office voluntarily. Sometimes, like in Webb’s case, she tells them it’s time for a chat.

“It’s OK to acknowledge that they struggle,” she said. “No longer do we need to be ashamed or hide that we may struggle with mental health at times because we’re all human. It doesn’t matter who you are.”

Alexander can be found at Oracle Park every homestand. She meets with players in her office or finds them in the lunch room, in the dugout or on the field. Maybe it’s just a few minutes, a casual chat to let them know she’s there to help. For others, the talks are longer, deeper and take place on a weekly basis.

“I can get a good sense if a guy is going through a tough time or I see a change in personality in the clubhouse,” she said.

When the team is on the road, she might be up until 2 a.m. supporting players after a rough game.

“A lot of guys come to me wanting to do better on the field,” she said. “I can help them with that. But I start out with mental health first. My strong belief is if you’re not balanced off the field, you’re not going to see the results on the field.”

She’ll ask about caffeine intake, alcohol and substance use, sleep patterns and diet.

“And they need to just be willing to open up,” she said. “These guys have had to stuff so much emotion, hold it and be tough for so long. The reality is, it’s going to come out in one way or another. If you don’t talk about it, it’s going to come through with anxiety, anger, irritability, substance abuse, something along those lines.

“You can’t hold that type of emotion forever and expect it not to affect you. Some of these guys have held it their whole lives. Because they want to be tough, unshakable and be a competitor. And I get that. But we don’t need that. We need a healthy, balanced person.”

In a rule that’s new to the collective bargaining agreement, each MLB team is now required to have at least one mental health professional on staff.

When Alexander joined the Giants in 2020 she was the only one and responsible for the entire organization. Now she’s one of three, along with Robinson and Emily Payette, a sports psychologist who is in charge of handling the minor league side. They were invited to speak to all 30 clubs last July.

“As an organization, they’re leaders in the promotion of mental health,” said Jon Coyles, MLB’s vice president of drug, health and safety programs. “That’s what we want to see.”

But for as much progress as MLB has made in this space, there remains a wide gap between resources committed to players’ physical health compared to those spent on mental health.

Alexander’s hope is that every team will soon have a mental health professional traveling with the club full-time. The Kansas City Royals have one, Melissa Lambert, whose role is unique in that she’s in the dugout during games.

Giants manager Gabe Kapler said the players’ attitude towards mental health has improved over the years, but he still notices a stigma attached in the macho world of professional baseball.

“It’s still really challenging for players to admit they’re compromised on the field for something that’s going for them off the field,” Kapler said. “We’ve talked about it a lot around here — you can’t just necessarily see it when you look at guys at the plate, so you need to be digging around a little bit to find out what might be going on behind the curtain.”

Said Webb, “It’s really cool seeing the teams who are supportive of it, I just hope the fans can be a little bit more supportive of it too. I think fans think they can say whatever they want to say. We’re all human beings too. Some of the (stuff) you say means something. You get guys who probably have some (stuff) going on. They just need a break. And people are clowning them and talking (trash) to them. That’s a problem, a problem with society in itself.

“I just wish more people were nice. I don’t think a lot of this stuff would happen if more people were nice.”

Down the hallway, Alexander sees Webb as a leader for speaking out.

“It helps so much with the destigmatization of mental health,” she said.

Webb wants to send a message.

“It’s all right to have feelings,” he said. “Everyone has feelings. We’ve all had feelings. So talk. That’s it.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with feelings of depression or suicidal thoughts, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline offers free, round-the-clock support, information and resources for help. Reach the lifeline at 988 or 800-273-8255, or see the 988lifeline.org website.

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