IMHO, drinks are a necessary evil. Why drink when you can eat more?? Following on from the first post on SMK drinks in Season 1 and 2, we’ll get to the good stuff: with an exploration of SMK food 
.
Dangerous food
Food can be dangerous if you’re an intelligence agent (or civilian auxillary 
) It can also be a very helpful tool, as rookie Amanda found out The First Time. She made quick use of a melon and a box of oranges to divert attention and save the Agency from Mrs Welch and blabbermouth Francine.
Then Amanda stopped the baddies in their tracks by sneaking some sugar in the car engine (who said sugar was poison? This must have been what they meant). Hard as it is for me to admit it 
, we have Phillip to thank for this idea.
Amanda is meeting Lee at Milo’s Daffy Dog stand (I am not Now, Nor Have I Ever Been A Spy) and gets kidnapped by a baddie while Lee is on the phone (still relaxed from the eucalyptus steam) and she’s awaiting their chilli dogs.
When Amanda misses breakfast and brings an orange to eat at the office, Lee eats the orange
which results in Amanda eating Lee’s “chicken on white extra mayo” (Delirious on Arrival) – here is irrefutable evidence that fructose is bad for you (or at least your partner) 
!
Is the prospect of Francine preparing food dangerous? (or at the very least scary!) After her cooking lessons with Mrs Welch in the First Time and her loose-lips…
…maybe we should be a bit careful of food that Francine comes in contact with.
What else did Mrs Welch teach Francine in her private “cooking” classes? What really went into the sandwich which she makes Amanda while babysitting Amanda following the poisoning by chicken-with-extra-mayo incident (Delirious on Arrival)
Billy’s sneaky doughnut. Dangerous to his reputation 
? Dangerous to his health? Raul has it all captured on film in Filming Raul:
Baked goods not only cause long-term health damage but acute musculoskeletal injuries – as Lee and his toe found out when he had a close encounter with a the Bombers’ fundraising brownie made by Mrs Scott (The Mole).
As Jestress pointed out in her Improvised Weapons post, Amanda found a new use for canned cream in distracting and blinding baddies (You only die twice).
Lee has got into some rather icy spots (or should I say “jams” 
); first when he was left among the meat in the Freezer (but at least he was wearing a tux at the time – Charity Begins At Home).
And then a baddie mistook him for a piece of meat which needed to mature a bit longer (Life of the Party) – many of us would argue that this was an accurate portrayal of early SMK Lee 
!
Finally, baddies have a nasty habit of destroying perfectly good food.
Gunshot wreaked lunch at the Princess’s (Waiting for Godorsky)
And Lee contributed to the destruction!
And a delicious breakfast (with beautiful scenery and even better hair 
) exploded at Tegernsee (Our Man in Tegernsee).
Make sure you avoid “filler” because who knows what that might do to you..
.
Finally, any houseproud woman (ie not Learjet) would feel appalled at what happened when evil twin Karen got into Amanda’s kitchen (Odds on a Dead Pigeon).
Cake
Cake has an important part to play in Season 1 and 2 SMK. Amanda seems to spend a lot of time in the Maplewood drive kitchen during her early period of employment for IFF. We spot her baking a cake (Saved by the Bells).
To the surprise of Awful Eva, Lee (I-only-drink-coffee-in-the-morning) picks at Amanda’s cake for breakfast (Lost and Found).
Ever the attentive mother (well, until Season 3), Amanda produces Phillip’s birthday cake (Fearless Dotty) 
Did she bake this herself?? Any thoughts? It’s quite a work of art and beyond Learjet’s abilities.
She’s happy to share, giving Billy an apple pie which she’s baked.
(I wonder how it compares to Jeannie’s Christmas cakes? 
)
She even gives a cake to the Princess to follow her meatloaf, because she seems lonely and struggling financially 
(Waiting for Godorsky).
When she’s competing for Mother of the Year, she has to produce a cake to prove herself worth the title, but it all goes horribly wrong, thanks to “Officer” Tuggy (A Little Sex, a Little Scandal).
(Just wondering why being able to produce a good cake makes you an amazing mother? )
She even shares one of her Mother of the Year cakes with Lee (I’m assuming it’s not the one containing Tuggy’s cigar ash), thereby saving Randy from a ghastly fate: partly frozen cake (A Little Sex, a Little Scandal)
Sadly (or not so sadly, depending on your point of view), Randy doesn’t trust a man that receives cakes from other women.
Finally, Fake Joe survived long enough to appear in Season 3 when a cake cushions his fall from upstairs (although Learjet laments the waste of perfectly good cake – Murder between Friends).
So what’s the verdict? Is it safe to eat cake? Can you trust food around spies and baddies? What do you think about food in SMK? Next up: SMK characters and food! 
"Just walk with me.." 
Looks like I commented twice on this post haaaaa.. and both times I enjoyed it 🙂 it was a few months ago and I had no memory of reading this! haaaa!!!!
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Did you have a chicken salad sandwich for lunch? 😀
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No but I probably should have, it sounds fun 😉
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The memory lapse leading to two sets of comments, I mean 😉
Sometimes an alternate reality sounds like a pleasant alternative to RL though…
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I think if I’d eaten a chicken salad sandwich you would have gotten 10 different comments from iwsod responding to your fabulous post 🙂
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Hahaha… Good one, Learjet! I might start using that chicken salad sandwich as an excuse. Of course, only you all would understand. 😉
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Learjet I’ve been looking forward to getting back here to finally read your posts on smk food!!!
And as I read, I am of course eating!!! Some wonderful chocolates a very generous friend gave me for Christmas. Shipped them overseas to me, and they survived the Australian summer heat! Oh my.. so yuummmmmm…
Anyway, where was i?!
I’ll start by just mentioning – I’ll read through Learjet’s post.. share my comments.. then I’ll read everyone else’s comments (so if I say the same thing as you, you’ll know why )
Drinks a necessary evil?! Rofl! But I love tea and coffee!! [I just don’t ‘sip’ tea 😉 ahem]
Dangerous food? You weren’t kidding! What about Mrs Welch’s cooking show with the horrendous temperatures and cooking times that were basically contracts being communicated for which agent should die next?!!
All I can say is, thank goodness Lee was a dessert, and not a starter 😉
I love it!!!!!
Aha! So it’s the fault of the eucalyptus steam! Lee was too relaxed!!
Rofl!!! Too funny!!! I think we can throw in there gluten and wheat also! And vegetarians may want to throw in there the chicken meat too 😉
LOL. I figured the only thing Francine learned was to avoid tv cooks!
I’m guessing it wasn’t chicken salad 😉
Great catch with Billy’s sneaky donut- so a great early smk touch! Bit dangerous to his ego too 😉
I love this gag with the rock hard brownie!!! Thanks for the reminder!!
Whahahahahahaaaaaa!!
Hilarious! This must be another smk truism- when food is displayed at great quantity, it’s about to be destroyed/blown up/shot at.
Oh learjet. You know what I like!!! beautiful scenery.. ahem.. and magical eggs..
Yeah I’ll second that. I’m comfortable leaving a few unwashed dishes. But lol nothing like Karen! Honest!
Whoo you could have done a whole post just on dangerous food!! Fabulous Learjet!!!
Cake seems to be symbolic in smk isn’t it? Homemade it symbolises love and nurturing..
I love how Lee eats a little cake, just for Amanda 😉 very thoughtful!
Whahahahahaaa!!! We are just coming toward the end of Season 3 now – we MUST come back to this at the end of the season!!!!
Absolutely she did!
So true! Such a throw back this.. and in this day and age you’d get plenty of moans over this one! In smk land good mothers bake good cakes!
Hilarious! Love this!!! Hmm I wonder if Amanda would be happy if another woman was making Lee homemade cakes?! [other than the ladies at Birchwood]
I thought this was an excellent use of cake!
I can’t wait to read everyone’s comments!!! Fabulous post Learjet _ I especially enjoy being reminded of many fab earlier smk moments! So much humour!! and who knew? Dangerous food and cake!
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Chocolates are wonderful but generous friends are even better :).
Quote from fridge magnet at Learjet’s workplace “The only thing better than a good friend is a good friend with CHOCOLATE“
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Absolutely!!!!!!!! Well said Learjet!
Hey, we should have come up with this quote when Amanda gave Francine the ecstasy assortment! 😉
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Why is it that I was so focused on Lee holding that orange while I was reading that I read, “Delicious on Arrival” instead of “Delirious”?
I have to admit that back in the late 80s I took a Wilton cake decorating class and made many a cake for a while. I know how to put borders on cakes as well as make roses and other flowers. I also know how to tort a cake and add fillings such as fruit or pudding. I made many a specialty cake back then. For a while that’s what some people were doing taking Wilton classes. Some techniques I still use today when baking a cake. I even had special pans.
In my family we only had dessert on Sundays. On holidays we would go nuts with desserts, but that was about it. There was always 2 cakes and at least 2 pies. Desserts were special treats that we didn’t get every day.
A lot of schools and youth groups still do bake sales. Although some of what the parents send is not homemade. It’s mostly store bought and not worth buying or eating. Now I’m hungry for something sweet. I think I’ll have some grapes.
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Genius Valerie!!! haaaa
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Brilliant! And if being a great mother means being able to bake a great cake, then I fail miserably. Cakes confound me.
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What a fun post, Learjet!
I’m with you on the food vs. drinks bit…except…if I could find a way to make a really thick and rich and velvety warm chocolate drink, I might change my mind….
Hoo! Great screen shot of the exploding punch bowl! And exploding eggs!
Filler….eeewwww…. I do not want to know, like Amanda. Can you imagine the uproar filler would cause today on social media? Do food companies even still use filler? Again, I do not think I want to know.
My vote is that it is safe to eat cake as long as Amanda is not on drugs when she made it or being investigated in a murder plot. I do love cake, but I draw the line at poppy seeds. I know it is Amanda’s “Sistine Chapel”, but seeds and cake don’t make a logical connection to me. I’d much rather try the cake she made for Phillip’s birthday. And if I were Randy, I’d not turn down the cake with the chocolate frosting – even if it was given to him by a strange, frumpily dressed woman.
Hmm, I’m now strangely hungry for cake! Too bad I have none in my house.
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Thanks for the reminder of the “Sistine Chapel” comment 😀 That was Dotty wasn’t it? And nothing can beat a good chocolate cake – it’s the king of cakes IMHO.
Were you inspired to bake a cake after reading this post, BJo? I’m starting to think of baking myself now….
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Yes, it was Dotty. My cake king is good coconut cake. but a rich chocolate cake is a very close second. Alas, I was not inspired to bake a cake – more like I didn’t want to have to clean up the mess afterwards. But I am treating myself to a nice baked good this morning (the freezer to oven variety with no mess)! It’s all your fault, Learjet!
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Glad to be of service ….
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“Billy’s sneaky doughnut” – bwah hah hah!!!
Lovin’ it, Learjet. More, please! 🙂
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Great post Learjet. I love the humor of seasons 1 & 2. Seems like Karen would have been less of a slop as not to give away that she was there. That would be freaky to come home and find your house like that.
I can identify with Amanda liking to bake things for others. It’s a great way to have a little fresh sweets, but not too much in the house.
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Yup, I tend to bake for others to protect the waistlines of me and my immediate family….
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Sooooo Agreeeeeee Melissa R!!! Great to see you stop by and hope you are well 🙂
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Whooo hooo! It’s cake eating time 🙂
Lol what a start Learjet! Drinks are a necessary evil? Lol!!
I’ve been looking forward to this post!
Rofl!!!!
Lol. Don’t get me started.
Hilarious!! You’re on a roll!!!
Ah yes the infamous chicken salad sandwich! That moment where the scientist is viewing it under the glass dome is hilarious. Such an smk thing to do!
I’m convinced!
Oh rofl! I love that you included Billy’s sneaky donut!
Feels like I’m splitting hairs, as I’m lovin your post.. but it wasn’t Raul filming, it was Scotty 🙂
Oh man!! So many awesome moments involving food! I love the brownie moment! That gag about how it might have broken his toe, but the brownie is alright – is hilarious!!! I love season 1 humour!!!
Oh rofl! Love it! Yeah Lee did need to mature a little more.. I’m LOL’ing and Lovin this post!!
Ha yeah the magical Tegernsee breakfast. Those raw eggs spray in response to gunshot so much more dramatically than the cooked variety 😉
I don’t know, and I don’t want to know. I just know it can’t be good!
I’m with you learjet. I’m not houseproud either! I want a tiny house. So I can clean it in 15 minutes!
Whoooooo cake!
Phew.. so much cake! This takes the cake!
In smk verse cake seems to equal nurturing and love. Hmm.. this doesn’t fit with sugar being poison and fructose being dangerous!
I gotta say at this point Amanda’s baking was starting to get ridiculously irritating to me. Like I was being hit over the head with the fact she’s a ‘Mom’ in the suburbs.. and a nurturer.. I get it! Enough with the baked goods being given to random neighbours!
Nice to think it’s Amanda who ends up sharing it with Lee. Not Randi baby!
Oh whahahahaaaaa!!!! Finishing on the best gag yet. The face first into the cake moment!!! Whahahahaa.. ‘Fake Joe’?? I love it!!!
Iwsod will respectfully disagree with Learjet. Iwsod cheered at this excellent use of baked goods.
Reminds me of a horrible histories skit.. about Ordeal by cake!
I think it’s safe to eat cake in smk verse, if you are a goodie. If you are a baddie you may choke and die (aka Ordeal by cake).
The really risky food I think is sandwiches!!! Whoooooooo!!!! 😉
Thanks so much Learjet I have loved loved loved this fun ride!!!
[now I’m off to find some cake!]
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I like it that Randi-baby cares about whether Lee is seeing other women and accepting gifts from them. Lee calls her Randi-baby, but she refuses to be his baby if he’s not going to take her seriously. Good for her!
Recently, I saw a frozen coconut cake in the freezer section of the grocery store. I guess this is a thing people still do. I’ve never sought out frozen cake before. I usually make it myself or get something fresh from the bakery section.
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This must be the first positive comment about Randi on JWWM! Jestress, I salute you 🙂
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You know what Jestress, I agree with you! I didn’t love Randi Baby, but I did like that she wasn’t a total push over! lol..
I pondered this one and decided that smk was aiming for randi baby to be a game player – in contrast to Amanda, Randi was not genuine with Lee. [but to be honest, given at this point Lee is a bit of a player I can’t say I blame Randi baby for it.. and I can’t begrudge her wanting to keep some protections and boundaries in place when things are so new and unknown].
Oops sorry this has turned into a Randi discussion not a food discussion.. sorry!
I’ll just finish by saying the earlier scene where Randi says he’s on thin ice and then kisses him is the moment where I figured she was playing games with Lee and I suspect she was an expert at the ‘dating game’. I don’t condemn her character for that.. but it’s in contrast to what Lee already shares with Amanda.. basically – Randi doesn’t stand a chance 🙂
Okay gotta run! gotta get back to my work here!
Hey if anyone is interested, a blog post on Lee’s ‘women’ would be fun to explore!!!!
Actually.. so would one on Amanda’s men! 🙂
byee and have a great day!
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Now there are two fun posts to consider! Lee’s women and Amanda’s men…lol!
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That’s for picking up when Learjet’s little grey cells failed (Scotty vs Raul).
Maybe we can see baking cake’s contemporary equivalent as “making a meal from scratch” as an act of love and caring, rather than specifically “baking a cake” (much less processed that buying precooked meals/sauces/baked goods). Does that work better for you, Iwsod?
For me, the cigarette ash left by Karen bothered me more than anything else…. (is smoking a sign of being an SMK baddie?)
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(is smoking a sign of being an SMK baddie?)
IF it is a sign of being an SMK baddie, would that make Dr. Smyth a baddie? 😉
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I’ve always considered Dr Smyth an honoroury baddie 🙂
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snorting
Yeah, especially when it comes to his ‘special friend(s)’ – Lee
(& Amanda)…
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Hey Iwsod, I pretty much agree with everything you wrote..
Oh wait.. something isn’t right here..
rofl. Iwsod on 18 December has no memory of comment as iwsod on 18 September! whahahaahaaa..
Let me just say, its been a busy few months and much has gone in and out of iwsod’s noggin.. 😉
But bonus – I literally enjoyed Learjet’s post- TWICE! 🙂
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I’ve been wondering why Amanda seems to have set out a basket of raw eggs when she was fixing breakfast in Our Man in Tegernsee. They explode nicely when shot, but still, you can’t eat raw eggs on the patio like that. Was there a hot plate where she was going to cook them to order? That’s also a lot of food for just three people, especially when one of them insists that he doesn’t eat breakfast.
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Raw eggs for breakfast – maybe it’s a Tegernsee breakfast tradition to boil your own eggs when you want them, so they are just right ? (there are 3 egg cups beside them). And 6 lots of yoghurt, for the 3 of them ? Maybe this table is a sort of buffet at a hotel/guest house ?
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Considering the size of Amanda, and that Lee and Harry were both trim, I think your buffet theory is the only plausible explanation for the sheer volume of food, SilverCorvette.
Jestress’ theory about Amanda cooking their eggs on a hotplate while they looked on just horrifies feminists soul. These are work colleagues, not her family!! (Jestress, would you be prepared to prepare eggs to order on a hotplate for me in my backyard? The view isn’t as good as Tegernsee but I’d be very appreciative of your efforts 🙂 )
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Jestress only makes eggs either scrambled or over hard. No matter what other way she tries to cook them, that’s how they end up. It’s not exactly artful, but at least there’s consistency. Oh, and I don’t really do omelets. I call them that, but basically, they’re scrambled eggs with stuff in them.
Lee wouldn’t eat the eggs no matter how they were cooked. And how did Amanda even know Harry had breakfast items in his house? Did she check the fridge the night before or pick stuff up?
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Cannot imagine that high-living Harry “did” for himself. If I had thought about it at the time, I would have said that Lee and Amanda stayed at a guest house and Harry was having breakfast with them. I could not imagine that Harry’s place would have been a place that Lee would have asked Amanda to stay, even in Season 2.
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And the fact that Amanda knows Lee only drinks coffee for breakfast…I guess she was just rying to put out a nice looking spread. Maybe the raw eggs were for decoration? Maybe she thought Harry was like Rocky and might drink them?
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Reading this made me quite hungry ☺ I liked Amanda when she was baking for everyone – to me, it made her seem generous and warm. I hated the ash going into the batter, that still makes me feel sick (ALSALS).
There is a lot of fast food in SMK which I suppose does reflect life (although we never ate any fast food growing up and it always seemed cool when we saw it on tv – not so much when I experienced it☺)
grear post Learjet- it was like a mini (or fast food) synopsis of season 1 and 2
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num.. num num.. err me too!
Same here. To a point.. then it got too much and I started to find it annoying!
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Agree with Michele that it made Amanda seem more human when she baked for people. For me, the point was overmade. I think the “Waiting for Godorsky” cake was one cake too many…. Also, I’m not sure I’d be delivering a cake to my male colleague’s home (I’d be a bit freaked out if I was the male colleague!)
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Exactly!!!! I agreeeeeeeeeeee!!
bye 🙂
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Yes, the Godorsky cake was over the top ridiculous. Bringing the cake to Lee…… I hate to admit this but it always looked to me that she was staking her claim a bit (with the Randi threat). I suspect that no one will agree with me here 🙂
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I think she was kind of. The way she acted the times she saw Randi seemed calculated to make Randi think the worst. “You’ll like the wine.”
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Great post, Learjet! Food is such a big part of this show. Not so sure it’s safe to eat cake. Billy putting the donut in his pocket still makes me laugh.
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Sneaky donut moment was genius 🙂
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I always liked Billy’s not-to-secret sweet tooth. It’s one of the things that makes him a person instead of just a spy master who sends agents out on missions.
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The kind of thing you’d expect a 4 year old to do 😀
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Or Amanda’s boys. Just remembering Jamie with those 6 packages of cookies in Ship of Spies that he tried to sneak into the cart. With six packages he gets free baseball cards. Oh, and cavities. 😉
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😀 – I forgot about the dental consequences of cake. I think that cookies get a mention in the next post…
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