Let’s talk about The Great British Baking Show. I do not think a more perfect television show exists on this planet. I love every hour I spend watching Paul, Prue, and all those talented bakers in the tent.
We could fuss about different hosts – I know people have strong feelings on the topic – but I mostly don’t care. This show sums up cozy in every sense of the word.
I was two seasons behind and I get a jolt of joy every time I queue up a new episode.
Months ago my library card snapped in two. It wasn’t a big deal – I just asked them to look up my account each time I went to check out books. Most of the librarians know me and cue my account when they see me walk through the door anyway, but I felt a bit silly having to ask newbie librarians to search manually. Hassle Score: Low.
When I was explaining my broken card issue to one such new librarian (to get a replacement card would require getting a brand new number – not the end of the world, but I have all my online ordering set up with my existing number so Hassle Score: Medium), she mentioned that I could add my library card to my phone via an app called Stocard.
I downloaded the app, scanned a barcode, and Bob’s your uncle. I always have my phone with me at the library and I just open the app, they scan my card, and I’m on my way! Hassle Score: Zero.
Your turn. Do you like The Great British Baking Show? Favourite thing to bake? Would you ever want to compete on a reality show? If so, which one? (I think mine would be The Amazing Race – another show I haven’t watched in YEARS – though I think I’d be too stressed to do very well; John on the other hand would be…well…amazing.)
Header photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash
Grateful Kae
I have never watched the Baking Show and I don’t think I’d really be into that…but maybe I’m missing out and don’t know it? But we watched a bunch of the Amazing Race during the early days of Covid and that was so fun! I also went through a The Bachelor phase years ago with my coworker/friend which is so silly and brainless and yet was so delightful to gossip over and try to guess who’d get kicked off next. Hahaha. Totally not my normal style show, but was oddly… super fun (for a while/while it lasted!). I do not think I would be very good at ANY reality show- I think I would be highly stressed too!!! Especially in an Amazing Race situation… lol.
Elisabeth
I didn’t watch it for years and kept hearing about it. I love that it’s so calm and lovely. No one is yelling or screaming. It’s just such a civilized, relaxing experience. Yes, people get stressed but it’s just so different from any other cooking competition I’ve ever watched.
I haven’t watched The Amazing Race in years but when it was first on the air, I SET MY CLOCK TO THE NEW EPISODES.
Melissa
I haven’t watched the Baking Show, but I love Masterchef Australia, because food and it’s reality TV where they’re all nice and encouraging to each other even though it is a competition.
My library has an app which can do all the usual stuff (search, reserve, renew) plus it has my library barcode. I’m not sure where my actual library card is because I never use it.
Elisabeth
Masterchef Australia sounds lovely and a lot like the Great British Baking Show in that everyone is kind and supportive. I don’t want to watch people get yelled at while they compete.
J
I AM WITH YOU SISTER! GBBS is the perfect reality show. We have watched every season, and we LOVE IT. I worried when Mary, Sue, and Mel left that I wouldn’t like it anymore, but it’s still great, no matter who they have. The stakes are so low, the contestants help each other, everyone hugs at the end, what’s not to love?
Do you remember when the contestant got frustrated and threw his baked Alaska in the bin? DRAMA!
Elisabeth
Is it not PERFECT? It’s perfect!
I thought of that baked Alaska situation last night. In the season I’m watching someone wanted to throw out their dish and they didn’t in the end and I immediately thought of that guy!
There is drama, but in the my-heart-rate-never-goes-up kind.
Jenny
I’ve seen a couple episodes of GBBS but never really got into it- I don’t know why, because I love baking competitions. I’m currently watching the newest season of Summer Baking Championship, which I love. I think it’s a little more cutthroat and competitive than GBBS. But everyone I know loves GBBS, including my sister, so I should definitely give it another try.
I LOVE when there’s a simple solution to a problem! I would also be upset if I had to change my entire library card number (although I’m sure I could rally and somehow handle it.) I’ve never heard of Stocard but it sounds like the perfect solution!
Elisabeth
I didn’t get in to it at first either. But now I really do feel almost like I’m watching family? I’m so used to how Paul and Prue do things (I chuckle a little every time Prue says: That is really a triumph or Paul says: That bread is underproofed.) It makes me genuinely sad I’m coming to the end of recent seasons but I’m considering re-watching them all again.
I used to love the Christmas Cookie Challenges; we don’t get The Food Network, but I bet I could get some things like that on YouTube to supplement my baking show addiction.
Diane
My husband has a picture of my library barcode on his phone, which he uses when he needs to check out books for me. And- he actually generated the barcode himself by typing my library card number into a barcode generator. Isn’t technology amazing? Also a little scary.
I’m a slow adopter of the “everything on your phone” school, but I will say it was amazingly convenient when we were in San Francisco to have the transit card on my phone. Apparently it also works when your phone is out of battery, which is always my big fear.
I’ve watched one episode of the British Baking show and found it so charming and delightful, but we don’t have Netflix, so I haven’t watched any more. Though I hear there are past seasons on Hoopla (speaking of amazing library things…)
I would *totally* go on The Amazing Race! Now the question would be whom to go with????
Elisabeth
In Canada I can get them all for free on something called CBC gem, but I’m assuming that doesn’t work outside of Canada?
And you captured it perfectly: charming and delightful. Yes, yes, yes!
NGS
I love GBBO. I actually listen to a podcast called The Bake Down that reviews older seasons when there isn’t a current season and the co-hosts are bakers from the show and it’s delightful. I learn a lot about baking through osmosis in those episodes. I also really like the behind the scenes information.
We also have a library app that has an electronic library card and you can place holds, etc. on it. I love it so much and honestly don’t know how I libraried before this app came into my life.
Elisabeth
Okay, you know I do not make space for many podcasts in my life but I read this comment and ZOOMED onto Spotify to add The Bake Down. I LOVE behind the scenes stuff (like so, so much basically regardless of the context) and I LOVE GBBO.
Thank you, Engie. I think you have just pointed me toward a new source of joy.
Lisa's Yarns
I LOVE GBBO! I was hesitant to watch it but then was convinced to try it during my maternity leave after having Will. I would often be on the couch with Will and Phil would be upstairs in Will’s future bedroom that was our office at the time and he would hear me laughing and ask what was so funny. I laughed so much watching some of the seasons. I miss Mary as a host but also really like Prue.
If I had to choose a show, I’d also pick Amazing Race but Phil would be very good at it and I would probably be lost all the dang time. Ha.
I lost our library cards during the pandemic – they were in our book bag but disappeared into thin air. So I have to manually enter our libary card number to check out books. I have mine memorized so I usually use my library card. But Paul has a library card now, too, so I can use his as well.
Elisabeth
Isn’t GBBO just the best?
Kate
I watched a few episodes of GBBS when home on maternity leave with Victoria last summer – I needed wholesome TV the younger kids could wander past while I was feeding her! I have to confess I got a little bored with it though, so then my go-to show was Somebody Feed Phil. He travels to some beautiful places and the show is so sweet.
Greta has recently been asking me for a show we can watch together after the little ones are in bed — any ideas you have for the tween crowd? She wants something that feels grownup but obviously it needs to be age-appropriate. I feel like you and I have similar standards so would love your thoughts. I’m okay with an occasional swear word but not vulgarity. She likes intensity (she has watched all of the Jurassic World animated series on Netflix and some of the Ghostbusters episodes) too! Maybe The Amazing Race would appeal to her.
Yay for a hassle-free way to access your library card! I also would have been loathe to switch numbers!
Elisabeth
Ooof. Shows to watch. I’ll admit that my kids mostly watch movies, not shows. We also don’t have cable and at this point are down to Disney+ only…so options are limited.
– We’re currently watching The Chosen (I’m quite picky about any thing that involves dramatization of the Bible and tend to steer clear, but I’ve been very impressed) and you can access all the episodes free via the app.
– If you manage to get your hands on it, we’re also watching Road to Avonlea which is based off stories by Lucy Maud Montgomery (who wrote Anne of Green Gables).
– Our kids have loved KC Undercover (on Disney+), but I did not. I found it a bit snarky. They did watch the series twice, but then I pulled the plug. But they really adored this show.
– We watched The Rings of Power as a family; I didn’t love it and it is SCARY…but my kids absolutely love anything in the Tolkien world and were big fans.
– The Inbestigators was a BIG hit. I didn’t watch it with the kids most of the time, but they’re very cute stories about kids solving mysteries in grade school (Netflix).
– It’s a Canadian show and I’m not sure how you’d access it in the US (maybe YouTube), but we all watched Race Against the Tide which is filmed locally and is all about people building GIANT sand sculptures. The kids were obsessed with it and John and I really enjoyed it, too.
-Oh! I have another suggestion!!!! Sue Thomas F.B.Eye. My kids LOVED this show. Like LOVED it. It’s a detective show but completely PG. The lead is deaf but can read lips (based off a real-life woman who worked in the FBI), there is a dog that features prominently. And you can get all the episodes on YouTube!
– I don’t watch it, but my parents love When Calls the Heart. It is a romance, but I suspect it’s fairly PG since I think it’s based on the Janette Oake series?
mbmom11
I used GBBS as my go-to show for watching while folding laundry. And the kids liked it too. Now, I’m into “Farmhouse Facelifts” which is a gentle show by a Canadian brother and sister who renovate farm houses. I need something easy and not too stressful – and if I miss a bit here or there , it’s no big deal.
I lost my library card years ago, but I have the number memorized, so checking things out or putting them on hold is no big deal. With the newly opened beautiful new library, they are offering new cards with a picture of the building, but I’d have to get a new number. Nope – I’ll just keep using the old one. (And if I get stuck, I have a few of my kids’ cards as well.)
Elisabeth
Gentle shows are my jam – I literally cannot believe I watched some horror movies as a teen. I have zero bandwidth for that kind of this at this point in life. So, I will be on the lookout for Farmhouse Facelifts.
Lindsay
So, the Mr. and I love GBBO so very much – we constantly make references to contestants, bakes, and all of it. We came to it during the pandemic but have wildly watched every season at least 3x; we have the Mary Berry/Sue/Mel years on our Roku (such a sweet spot!) and the rest on Netflix. It was our before bed watch until about 6 months ago when we got worried we were going to ruin it so we are taking a forced break, haha! I feel that my intense loves of that and Taskmaster really capture a huge part of my personality…
Elisabeth
Rahul is someone we talk about REGULARLY. I need to go back and re-watch that season. Of course I know how things pan out but, still, it’s worth it just to watch that man in action for every episode.
It is currently my before-bed watch and it makes me so happy.
Michelle G.
I haven’t watched the baking show. My favorite show was “Making It”. The contestants did crafts! It was the best, it made me feel so happy, and it was funny. It’s not on any more, so I’m very bummed.
The Amazing Race would be HARD! I watched it one year when Penn and Kim Holderness were on it. I love them from their YouTube musical parody videos. I can’t imagine being on any of those shows!
Elisabeth
I’ve heard really good things about Making It (and I love Nick Offerman and Amy P) – I should check it out!
Maria
We love GBBS! Actually just finished the most recently available season on cbc gem last night. It’s been our date night go to so guess we will need to figure something else out. There are a lot of gems on Gem – Arctic Vets and High Arctic Haulers have both been fun and we have enjoyed Race Against the Tide especially since we have been to New River Beach a lot. It’s pretty fun to go there now and see the random pole (maybe part of an old weir?) where they tie that boat to etc. I also watched a lot of Bollywed on Gem this winter when I needed to stay awake when feeding the baby. There’s definitely a lot of stuff on Gem that’s not something we’re ok with watching (don’t like raunchy things for example), but also a surprisingly large number of things we’ve enjoyed. And the price of free is definitely right!
Elisabeth
CBC Gem is great. Agreed that some shows are very hit-and-miss, but I’m surprised the range of content they carry! We haven’t watched the last two years of Race Against the Tide and I want to do that this summer. We’re also watching Road to Avonlea as a family and that is such a blast from my Canadian past.
The price is very right 🙂
Shelly
I really enjoy GBBS. I only started watching more with Prue and Paul.
There is now a Canadian Great Baking Show.
I would take baking over The Amazing Race. Although I’m not sure how long I would last.
Elisabeth
I have watched 3 (maybe 4) seasons of the Canadian version. It is not as good – I don’t “click” with the hosts – but it is better than nothing and I think I will turn my sights toward that show when I run out of recent content from the GBBS.
Rachel
We discovered The Great British Baking Show (or The Great British Bake Off as they call it here) when Isaac was a newborn. It was the perfect nursing show – we could watch and pause at any time and it was just nice and super easy watching! The only problem was that I wanted to eat cake ALL THE TIME since we were watching it every 2-3 hours 24 hours a day. It’s such a lovely show – I liked the first seasons because of the history bits. But all the presenters are great and it’s just… nice!
Elisabeth
It is so nice…just relaxing and lovely and interesting and awe-inspiring and funny. I just love everything about it.
I’ll agree that sometimes I am VERY hungry for sweet treats after, though 🙂
San
I’ve only watched the British Baking Show once (a few episodes). I liked it, it was entertaining but I usually don’t have enough down time to make it a priority for me to watch. I myself love baking crumble cakes btw 🙂
The StoCard app is genius. Why have a physical card when you can have it all stored on your phone?
Elisabeth
The app eased a tiny pain point – and even tiny pain points feel good to relieve!
Tobia | craftaliciousme
I have never watched the Baking show. I may like it but than I probably want to bake all the time which would be counter productive my year of shape I fear. But I read somewhere that they include historic facts and that sure is intriguing.
What a great app. I wonder if it a) works in Germany b) works for all sort of cards so you don’t need to carry them around.