I cannot even handle how great Monday nights episode of The Bachelor was. I kind of want to watch it again. And I just might. Thank the lawd the producers threw in some wrenches because things were feeling quite boring and slow week after week. Probably because Nick is the Bachelor. Ugh. The episode started off with Taylor throwing herself under the bus a second time by coming back from the swamps where she was left behind to talk to Nick and expose Corinne. But Nick is smart and he knows he should’t be with someone as boring as him. So he booted her, again. Pretty lame start. So you know what producers did? They decided that the rose ceremony would include NO cocktail hour and the women are obviously pissed. No 8 hour night of drinking and sitting in some sort of cold barn? DAMN YOU, ABC! They should honestly be thanking the producers for giving them a night off from uncomfortable dresses and high heels.
Let’s just talk about one thing here: What is Danielle L’s obsession with plunging necklines. Every single outfit of hers needs boob tape and nipple petals. And believe me, I get it, we should dress to show off our best attributes. But Danielle is beautiful and not just beautiful on the skin between her boobs. Her dress was awesome, but it was the 47th plunging dress she owns. We get it, you exfoliate daily.
Nick gets rid of 3 ladies, who all seem like upstanding citizens. Getting rid of Alexis (shark girl) was the worst decision of his life. I wish producers would have forced him to keep her for a while longer and then she could end up being The Bachelorette. We need a funny one to match up to Kaitlyn. I can’t handle someone as boring as Nick in female form, aka Danielle M. She seems like a kind human but she talks like she’s high on vicodin and xanax. Maybe that’s how she keeps herself entertained during this sh*t show. She’s a genius.
Ok, back to the point. After Nick rids himself of 3 females, they finally go somewhere worth traveling to: St Thomas. Totes jelly. So Nick decides to start his trip off with Kristina, the tiny doll human with a Russian accent. I honestly don’t remember anything that they did on the date, truly. But what I do remember is when she became the ultimate front runner, telling her story about becoming an orphan in Russian and being adopted by a family in America at age 12. F*cking badass story that had Nick, me and my dog all crying. She’s adorbs and I want to pick her up and put her in my pocket. Who doesn’t want her to win it now? Or at least become the next Bachelorette. I mean, COME ON!
Then…the group date. What a hot, sticky, drunken mess. Remind me that if a guy I’m dating (aka my husband) ever asks me to play sports with other women, while intoxicated, in a bikini…to shoot him. No one looks hot playing volleyball in bikinis unless you are in the olympics. Just plain fact. Especially when your makeup is smearing and bikinis are slipping. Not good. Corinne gets wasted and it’s the best. I like her. But after enough volleyball to make any person despise all ball sports completely, they all split off and all begin to cry to themselves. I find it extremely unrealistic that absolutely no one is hanging out with each other while they weep on the beach. Drunk sad b*tches flock together. Aka my college years.
By the end of the night the warm weather, volleyball and shots of tequila brings out frizzy hair and true colors. Jasmine, the dancer of some sports team that I don’t care about, begins to go down the rabbit hole of psychosis. Too bad Taylor was already gone because she probably could have pulled out some mental health. Or at least smacked her. But instead, Jasmine cried her face off until she exploded. And her explosion landed in the form of her saying she would choke Nick…to Nick. She probably said choke 60 times to him. Choke you. The chokey. Want me to choke you. No girls ever choked you? I can choke you later. This poor girl just couldn’t hold back the true psycho inside her. She really needs to take a kickboxing class. Or get laid. It’s safe to say that Nick wasn’t turned on and she got the boot. Raven had it right when she said, “If Jasmine was a vegetable, she would be a turnip, because she is turned all the way up.” Hell yeah, Raven, she is turned up and has been now turned down. I love Raven. RIP Jasmine.
Last but not least: the two on one date between Danielle L and Whitney. First of all, who the hell is Whitney? Did they just pull some Victoria Secret model on the show or something? I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen her. Whatever. They go on a 2-on-1 date and Nick quickly figures out that Whitney had accidentally walked into the wrong casting call, so he let her go by flying away in a helicopter. ABC’s signature move. Later on that night, Danielle L, who is still bursting out a few of her awkward laughs, decides to take things to the next level with Nick by professing her love for him. And how does he reciprocate? By looking like he’s constipated and sending her home, too. Savage.
The end of the episode is just the weirdest part. Nick comes into the hotel room with all the un-makeup’d ladies and begins to cry and say that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. And then leaves abruptly. It’s pretty much a smack to the face of all the women who quit their jobs to embarrass themselves on national TV while playing volleyball in bikinis. You don’t know why you’re here, Nick?! You’ve had 3 years and 3 slots of primetime television to think it over. GET YOUR LIFE TOGETHER!
And that’s all she wrote. Hopefully your love story is going a little bit smoother than this one. If it isn’t, call up Jasmine, I’m sure she can help you sort through your relationship ups and downs. But until then, make these scallops for yourself, your honey, or the person you hope to choke. Bad joke, guys, bad joke.
Valentine’s Day Seared Scallops Dinner for Two
- Yield: 2 1x
Ingredients
For the marinated tomatoes
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- pinch of salt and pepper (I used pink peppercorns)
For the chipotle cream sauce
- 1 (14 ounce) can of coconut milk
- 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce + 2 tablespoons of the adobo sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- salt, to taste
For the cauliflower puree
- 4 cups cauliflower florets (I use defrosted frozen cauliflower because it steams faster)
- hefty pinch of salt, to taste
- pinch of black pepper, to taste
For the scallops
- 2 tablespoons ghee
- 6–8 sea scallops
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- Place all ingredients for the marinated tomatoes in a bowl and toss to coat completely. Cover and place in the fridge to marinate.
- Place ingredients for the chipotle cream sauce in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour mixture into a large sauté pan over medium heat and let come to a low boil and reduce by at least 1/3. The sauce will thicken and darken a bit and this should take about 10-15 minutes. Once reduced, taste to see if you like it sweeter or if it needs more salt. Remember that the scallops are sweet so you don’t want the sauce to be too sweet.
- While the sauce is cooking, steam the cauliflower. Once fork tender, place in a high speed blender with salt and pepper, and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides when needed. If you use a high speed blender, you’ll be able to get this super smooth consistency. Taste to see if it needs salt or pepper. Set aside.
- Lastly, place another sauté pan over medium heat and add ghee. Wash scallops and pat dry then sprinkle salt on top of all of them. Once ghee is melted and pan is very hot, add scallops without crowding the pan. Once you place the scallops in the pan, use tongs to move each scallop around in a swirling motion. I do this to keep them from sticking in the pan. Once you swirl them once, you should not need to do this again. Let cook on both sides for about 3 minutes until browned.
- To serve, place a large plop of the cauliflower on a plate, place your spoon in the middle of the plop then slide the spoon down the plate. Serve 3-4 scallops at one end and some of the marinated tomatoes at the other end, then pour some of the cream sauce on top.*
Notes
*You will have lots of leftover cream sauce so use it on chicken or fish or as a hollandaise on top of eggs!
___________
More Valentine’s Dinner Date Ideas:
Lemon Basil Seared Scallop Pasta
Crispy Skin Salmon with Béarnaise Sauce
______________
Click Here To Get All My PaleOMG Recipes Into Your Meal Planner With Real Plans!
I may be compensated through my affiliate links in this post, but all opinions are my own. This compensation helps with expenses to keep this blog up and running! Thank you for your support with PaleOMG!
Hi Julie, I love reading your posts about the Bachelor. They always make me laugh and at times it’s better entertainment than actually watching the Bachelor. Keep the blog post commin!
Julie, I love your Bachelor posts! And this recipe looks amazing!!
I don’t watch the Bachelor, I’m more of an MTV – the Challenge addict (even in my old age), but I appreciate the entertaining recaps. KILLER recipe as well.
I used to love those and actually randomly caught it last night…. had to hit record when I saw CT was going to be on! Lol!
How, in god’s name, could you forget to mention Corine discussing her platinum vagine???????????????
Love your recap, Juli! Made me laugh. And yes… where the hell did Whitney come from? I think I thought her and Astrid were the same person. Who knows! 😉
Also, these scallops look amazing!!
Love your Bachelor recap 🙂 This episode was a hot mess. Did you catch the part where they brought in Lorna (basically for Corinne to have her own “nanny” in St. Thomas). I was dying. “She fixes my towel so I’m comfy…she gets me piña coladas by the pool…”
OMG seriously the only reason I keep watching the Bachelor is so I can read your wrap-ups.
lol that’s awesome!!
I’m with Liz. The one and ONLY reason I started watching this show (and continue to watch it) is so that I can read your recaps and know what is going on and you are SPOT ON with all of your thoughts. It makes me laugh and I love it. Who TF is Whitney?? I went to the Bachelor’s website on Monday to read the bio’s of all the girls (boooooooring), and I was like “Whitney must have gotten booted with the first 107 other girls that I’ve never seen” but then she was on the two on one?? What? Who is this girl. And I agree on Alexis – she was hilarious and I thought that she and Nick had fun together so this was probably a giant mistake on his part. And his little “breakdown” at the end??? Laughable. He probably broke down because he realized he booted a great pair of boobs and the funniest girl on the planet in one episode. Jasmine went off the deep end and fast and it was scary and I loved it.
i wish jasmine would have been THAT scary the whole time, it would have been great entertainment
Omg, you nailed it that Nick looked SUPER constipated at dinner with Danielle L. Sometimes his facial expressions really gross me out (or maybe it’s just that his man-child face makes me uncomfortable?)
for real. him talking about the women while he was on the beach just totally grossed me out
Sorry don’t know the Bachelor… I’m not a TV kind of person. These scallops look divine, thanks for sharing Juli!