The Top Chef contenders got abit of a rude awakening this week,as Padma tippytoed her way into their suite to wake them up at six in the morning for their Quickfire Challenge. The QF was to whip up a breakfast dish,using a blender to make part of the meal. Those chefs must be pretty sound sleepers,since the Bravo crew was able to move an entire mini cooking area,complete with supplies,into their living space undetected. Padma was the solo judge here and gave them twenty minutes to cook her breakfast.
Hung won the QF,with a steak and eggs plate that Padma enjoyed despite not being a big fan of that kind of morning meal. Good for him,but I can't stand how sloppy and thoughtless Hung gets in the kitchen. He knocked over a bottle of truffle oil during the mad rush to gather up ingredients and not only denied doing it,he made no effort to clean it up all. I also spotted some veggies dropped on the floor near the fridge after he grabbed something out of there. Hung is constantly spilling things and making messes as he runs around the kitchen like a chicken with it's head cut off and never takes the time to either slow down or clean up after himself!
OK,enough rant there-back to the business at hand. Hung recieved a cookbook edited by Padma as one of his prizes and got to hand out the plane tickets for the new location for the chefs to compete, New York City. Everyone was happy as clams about that,but of course,there was a catch;their plane landed in New Jersey where Padma was there to meet them and inform the group that they had to complete the Elimination Challenge before stepping foot in NYC.
That went over well,not! Anyhow,the challenge was to create an airline entree fit for Business Class that were to be tasted by not only the judges(which included two guest judges,Anthony Bourdain and Jimmy Canora,along with Padma and Tom)but a parade of Continental Airline flight attendants as well. The chefs got a crash course in how to put together an airline meal(small cuts of meat are best,to fit into the foil cooking trays for reheating onboard)and Hung had first choice of protein as the second half of his QF prize package.
Hung chose Chilean sea bass,which went over well. I was worried about Dale,since he miscounted his portions and one of the flight attendants was not served a meal. Fortunately,his steak dish was tasty enough to overcome that mistake. The big winner,however,was Casey for her veal medallions with cauliflower gratin. This was her second win in a row(I forget to mention her win last week,with all of the Howie drama. She recieved a MacBook computer as her prize)and was awarded two plane tickets to anywhere in the world,courtesy of Continental. Nice going there,Casey. She's not my favorite out of the remaining chefs(she's too inconsistant in her cooking and whiny at times)but she does seem to be on a hot streak there.
I love it when Bourdain guest judges on this show because he really know how to zing people for bad cooking. He was on fire at the Judges' Table,telling Brian that his lobster tail hash served with strip steak had the texture of a "doll's head" and that Sara's salmon was in"cat food territory"(poor Sara! I'm starting to warm up to her). His best slams were against CJ's halibut with broccolini,which made him exclaim on the plane that the broccolini looked like"something found in Bob Marley's closet" and that his food was so "wretched" that wasn't good enough to be served in prison. Can you say "OUCH!"? I knew that you could!
CJ was sent off to pack his knives by a reluctant Padma,who seem very sad to dismiss him there. Fine by me,since he seemed like a backseat driver in many of the team challenges,willing to criticize but not step up to take charge. On a truly sad note,former season 2 TC contestant Josie was assaulted recently as she and some of her friends by a group of ten people while they were leaving a restaurant. All of the ladies were injured and the case is under investigation at the moment. My best wishes to Josie and company,who I hope are doing and feeling much better. To the Gang of Ten who pulled this crap,the lot of you deserve to get smacked upside the head with the biggest iron skillet money can buy!
The big talk about the MTV VMAs(besides the Kid Rock vs. Tommy Lee throwdown and Kanye West whining again about not winning anything) was the opening act by Britney Spears that made Ashley Simpson's SNL screw-up and Roseanne's mangling of the Star Spangled Banner look like quaint fumbles in comparison. To be honest,I was prepared to have a laugh here since, after seeing Britney's Vegas concert on Showtime,I was expecting a godawful campy over the top number not the pitiful train wreck those of us who watched the show were witness to.
Some folks are peeved at Sarah Silverman for her jokes about Britney right after the performance(which MTV did purposely)but to be fair,Spears was not the only target of Sarah's mockery:
The only good thing to come out of this mess is that maybe this might help Britney realize the low point she's at and motivate her to straighten up and fly right. Listen,sweetie,when a guy like Criss Angel can legitmately pull out of your act at the last minute because he thinks you're not being "serious",that's a sign unto you. As Cherry Darling would say,it's go-go not cry-cry:
The voting is now closed for HGTV's Design Star and I'm hoping that Kim will be crowned as the winner this upcoming Sunday. The final challenge for both contestants was to re-design a hotel suite in Hawaii. Each of them had help from a former competitor(Robb and Will) for some of the time alloted and the judges took a looky-loo during and after the rooms were completed.
Kim's theme for the suite was Tropical Punch,with warm colors setting the tone for each space. I really liked what she did and her work resulted in an elegant yet relaxing atmosphere. Kim took the advice of the judges and tore up the hideous carpeting in the front room and used a good area rug that complimented the wall color much better. Robb peeped in on her while that was going on and kibbitzed to Todd about it(just the kind of sneaky move I expected from him).
Todd went for an ocean theme,with bright blue walls everywhere and a jellyfish cut-out to decorate the dining area. His biggest change was to switch the living room to the bedroom,giving someone a ton of sunlight in their face as they wake up in the morning and the added bonus of having the kitchen sink right at their bedside. Smart move,Surfer Dude! Yes, I'm biased here but if you want to decide for yourself who should win,just watch these clips:
GO,KIM,GO!
STOP! TODD TIME!
RANDOM NOTES:
RESCUE ME: Season four finished up last night and left alot of interesting loose ends to be picked up for the next go-round. My picks for the most dramatic plotlines for season five are Collen dating the new probie Sean and Sheila vying for Baby Wyatt/Elvis with Janet(Kevin Costner is seriously overrated,despite all the clamor for him from the ladies on this show). To send RM off in style,here are some of the best moments of this season, courtesy of YouTube:
HE JUST WANTS TO WATCH THE MEERKATS,ALRIGHT?!
THAT'S ONE WAY TO GET OUT OF A BAD DATE
THE NAME GAME
THE RESCUERS NEED TO BE RESCUED HERE
AN INSTANT CLASSIC
1 comment:
Hung is all kinds of annoying to me. I was sad to see CJ go. I think the winner will be Casey but don't count out Hung's spastic ass.
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