#easter ham

The Couple That Grills Together…Makes a Double Smoked Peach Glazed Ham

As with many families, serving ham for Easter dinner is a beloved tradition. As The Couple That Grills Together, we couldn’t simply serve a store-bought ham, we had to put our touch on it.  We had planned to splurge this year and smoke a Berkshire ham from Wild Fork Foods, but sadly they had sold out when we went to place our order, so we will have to save that treat for another holiday. Seann…

Since it’s getting close to Easter now, I thought I would tackle one of the more... frustrating episodes of As Told by Ginger. Why is it frustrating, you ask? Because of that gremlin Dodie. But let’s start from the beginning. 

First of all, what the hell is Dodie wearing. 

But I digress. 

The girls are waiting on Darren, who is running late, because they want to catch their favorite soap opera, Our Loves Our Lives. You know, I never knew anyone who liked soap operas. I mean I know they must be around because those things have been ongoing for like thirty years but I’ve never met anyone who was invested in one. 

Anyway Dodie is all ready to ditch Darren even though he asked Ginger to wait for him because Dodie is the devil and wants to destroy everything good in the world. I mean, she’s afraid she’ll miss her show. 

Courtney and Miranda drop by and reveal that Ginger is planning a birthday party for Darren to take place on Sunday which is now the talk of the school and shaping up to be a real hot thang. I really don’t know why as it is a middle school party and everyone knows those are lame. It’s mostly sitting around staring at the TV clutching Solo cups full of Coke and eating Cheetos. 

Meanwhile Carl and Hoodsey have cooked up a new business racket with Brandon to sell last year’s Easter candy to unsuspecting customers. I must say his little Easter bunny song is catchy, but Hoodsey doesn’t like it because he says ‘jelly beams’ to rhyme with ‘creams. I doubt anyone cares but Hoodsey is a details man apparently. Brandon doesn’t like the notes given on his performance and quits, leaving Hoodsey to wear the bunny costume and fulfill the orders instead. I bet Brandon grows up to be a semi-success on off-Broadway but never moves up the ranks because he’s a nightmare to work with. 

The girls and Darren watch the soap opera and even for a soap opera it is over the top and cheesy. The main character (I assume) literally throws herself out a window at her daughter’s birthday party for no good reason. 

This brings the girls back to the party planning thing, and Dodie legit thinks maternal suicide is something they might have to plan for, just in case. I never thought I would hear the words maternal suicide in a Nickelodeon show. Also this takes place after Wicked Games where Dodie and Macie tried to break up Darren and Ginger on purpose so I’m surprised Ginger is even letting those two in her damn house. 

The whole Foutley family plus Dodie and Macie go shopping for supplies while Lois shops for Easter dinner. Carl and Hoodsey lay in the bottom of the carts and talk to each other on walkie talkies, which... how come I never thought of that? It’s genius! Genius I say! 

It looks as though Lois and JoAnn Bishop should have done their Easter shopping earlier because there’s only one ham left, and they both reach for it. The ensuing fight over the ham apparently causes JoAnn to have heart-attack like symptoms. Luckily Lois is a nurse so she probably knows what to do. Also I don’t like Hoodsey’s voice actress here, his mother has just collapsed and he just makes these really weird noises like “wha - hugh - hwa!” 

They take her to the hospital and Dr. Dave warns that JoAnn might have a pre-existing heart condition caused by stress. You know, this show has a lot of hospital drama for a kids’ cartoon. I dig it. 

JoAnn believes the stress is mostly caused by Carl and the rest of the Foutley family, leading her to forbid Dodie and Hoodsey to have any contact with Ginger, Carl or Lois again. This kinda throws a wrench in Ginger’s party plans as now Dodie won’t be able to come. She wonders if she should still even have the party at all. 

First of all Ginger, this party is for your boyfriend, not for Dodie. Second of all, Dodie tried to break you up with your boyfriend so she doesn’t deserve to come to your party at all. She’s lucky she was even invited in the first place. 

Carl (a little insensitively) calls Hoodsey on the walkie-talkies because they still need to make more Easter baskets to deliver and Hoodsey is the only one wearing the costume. Hoodsey refuses because he’s afraid it will literally kill his mother, despite Carl’s insistence that she’s faking. 

The next morning Macie sneaks into Dodie’s room via window even though she’s not banned from the Bishop house because she got a little too caught up in the drama. She tries to let Dodie down easy about the fact that Ginger is still gonna have Darren’s birthday party for Darren, but Dodie is all “WHAT? HOW DARE SHE HAVE THIS PARTY WITHOUT ME” 

Newsflash, Dodie, this is not YOUR birthday nor YOUR party therefore Ginger has no obligation to invite you. 

Back at the Bishop house, Hoodsey helps take care of his mom, which is kind of sweet. She’s also scandalized by daytime TV. To be there, those things can get pretty hot and heavy. Carl shows up in a disguise to ask Hoodsey to come help with the Easter deliveries, but Hoodsey denies him, as per his mother’s wishes. Carl, dejected, starts to realize this whole ‘can’t associate with the Bishops anymore’ thing might actually be happening. He really displays some real grief, which I believe gives me more evidence to my headcanon that Carl and Hoodsey grow up and get married to each other, but I’ll get into that.... some other day.

Ginger calls Courtney to ask for an unbiased opinion as to what she should do about the party. I wish Ginger would spend more time with Courtney -- unlike Ginger’s so called best friends, Courtney usually seems to have Ginger’s best interests at heart. Since Courtney actually remembers Dodie and Macie attempting to stab Ginger in the back, she makes it clear that if Ginger does not have the party just because of Dodie’s stupid feelings, she may ruin things with Darren since it is HIS birthday after all. Ugh. Stupid Dodie. I hate her. 

Dodie, being the annoying bitch she is, asks Darren to meet her at the pond so she can try to persuade him to ask Ginger to cancel his own birthday party. I can’t believe she thought that would work. Darren quite rightly tells her to fuck off and she runs off crying. Also she’s still wearing a stupid outfit. 

Lois helps Carl make the Easter deliveries wearing bunny ears and a tail, which I think is kind of cute that she decided to do that for her son. Dr. Dave shows up and tells them JoAnn was a big faker after all because there wasn’t actually anything wrong with her. Seeing an opportunity, Lois and Carl rush over to the Bishops’ to see if the ban on the Foutleys can be reversed. 

Meanwhile Darren, Ginger and Macie don’t have time for little things like permission and decide to break Dodie out secret-agent style and have her come to the party anyway. As if anyone would actually want Dodie at a party. 

Lois and Dave give JoAnn the good news and she admits she was a little hasty in banning the Foutleys from interacting with her family. The plan to bust Dodie out was completely pointless because her mom gives her permission to go to the party right as she runs out the door, and Hoodsey returns to Carl to do his Easter bunny routine (in French, no less!) 

Ginger’s party goes off without a hitch, and is the talk of the town. I really can’t believe that a middle school party is that cool, but that’s the magic of TV for ya. 

Thoughts: I find this episode SO FRUSTRATING mostly because of Dodie’s selfish behavior throughout the whole thing. Not to mention she doesn’t even learn anything, because in the end she would have been able to go to the party either way.