It's getting down to the wire for the contenders on The Next Food Network Star and this week,some unexpected sparkle came from Tom. The main challenge was to make a meal that represented an emotion(Top Chef did that a couple of times,as I recall)and Tom wound up with envy.
The meal was to be served to renowned chef Todd English and Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria,along with the judges and Tom not only impressed them with his double take on tuna,he told them an amusing little story about the rivalry between two portions of fish that charmed everyone at the table to no end.
Tom rightly won this round and will be heading to the Final Four showdown in New York,along with Herb who is starting to merge his healthy food take with the Latino cuisine that he grew up with,a smart move for him to make.
Barely following the fellas there is Aria,who did fine in the earlier camera challenge and was rewarded with the opportunity to switch emotions with another competitor. She exchanged melancholy for joy but her dish was more mournful in flavor. The worst part about it was the potatoes gratin that turned out "crunchy",not something that dish is supposed to be at all.
Aarti's dish had some flavor flaws as well but it was Brad who went home,for his "surprise" surf and turf that didn't quite live up to that theme. Also,there was still some concern about his personality being able to shine on cue. Aarti and her mood swings were also a bone of contention but the judges seemed to be willing to give her one more shot there:
The Final Four won't have it too easy,as their big NYC challenge will be to face off against each other in Kitchen Stadium,home of Iron Chef America. The top ICF chefs will be giving their input on the edible results,which should heat things up even more than usual. Good luck,gang,you're going to need it!:
After a rough double elimination last week on Design Star,the remaining five contenders were reshuffled into two teams to create kitchens suitable for a photo shoot. Michael,Casey and Alex chose to do a French country style that looked fine but over cluttered in certain areas. The other team's kitchen was just as over done,so it was pretty much a tie between the both of them,with the team of three getting a slight edge over the Italian themed kitchen whipped up by Emily and Courtland.
It was actually more like a team of two here,since every time Alex made a suggestion or offered his opinion,Michael would immediately shut him down and Casey sided with him against Alex(she received special recognition from the judges for highlighting French bread in her design,something that I for one didn't see much of in the final look there).
Alex is one of those nice guys who are right on hand to help others out(which he did for Michael in the fire house challenge,who went to the hospital after injuring himself with a nail gun-how quickly we forget,there,buddy!)and as they say,nice guys finish last or in this case,get eliminated before the jerks do:
On True Blood,Sookie managed(with the help of Tara and Alcide)to get Bill out of King Russell's estate right after dispatching Lorena and making a even more vicious enemy out of Debbie Pelt.
Unfortunately,on the drive back to Louisiana,Sookie got Bill to drink some of her blood to heal him from the torture and drainage done to him while in captivity but Bill's vampire instincts took over and landed his lady love in the hospital.
During her brief coma,Sookie had an interesting out of body experience that linked her closer to the true origins of her bloodline(which I can not reveal,as a courtesy to those who haven't read the books). Hopefully,we will be seeing more of Claudine very soon,as she has a lot of answers to those questions that are troubling Sookie,plus maybe more dance magic moves as well:
RANDOM NOTES:
THE SOUP: Joel McHale,despite his day job on NBC's Community,is keeping the pop culture snark factor high during these dog days of summer,when cool comic relief is needed most. Thanks,Joel-we appreciate your efforts even if the Emmy nominating committee doesn't:
I'm so nervous about what Alan Ball will do to my favorite book series. I read somewhere he thought Sookie and Bill were soul mates or something like that and all I could think of was the Buffy and Angel drama... especially with the latest parallel of him landing her in the hospital. I adore Eric and I can't stand Bill.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry,Jen-Ball is too good of a storyteller to leave out such great dramatic tension like Eric and Sookie's growing connection to one another,even with Bill still in the picture. It may turn out a little differently than in the books but I think we'll be pleasantly surprised in the end.
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