Thursday, October 14, 2010

Top Chef:JD's flavorful fashion show,TAR's father/son bonding and Mad Men changes the conversation



For the Quickfire challenge on Top Chef:Just Desserts this week,everyone had to make a souffle which is one of the most delicate dishes to make. Most of the chefs decided to tackle the traditional chocolate souffle and Yigit was one of them,adding a scoop of passion fruit vanilla ice cream on the side. That extra touch meant so much to the judges who gave him the win here.



The Elimination challenge required picking a pair of stylish shoes to use as inspiration for making an edible dress,along with two petit fours to serve as culinary compliments to the outfit. As an extra incentive,this was a High Stakes Challenge as well,with 20 grand as the special prize.



Zac was thrilled with this challenge,having created edible ensembles before. He whipped up a " burlesque warrior princess" number that was actually wearable and got pretty creative with the whole process-he used bathroom plunger cups as molds for the bosom(don't worry,the plunger parts were newly bought items!).



His petit fours were nicely done as well and Zac snagged a sweet spot in the Top Three for this round. His buddy Yigit joined him,for a blue and white outfit that was Bjork inspired and had a raspberry and pinot noir "hair pin" ice cream pop and an olive oil with citrus cake "brooch". Alas,neither one of them was the big cash winner.



That glory went to Morgan,for his version of a little black dress that he was way too fond of(at one point,I thought he was going to rent a room somewhere for him and that dress,seriously)and a chic pair of petit fours.

His cinnamon macaroon "earrings" and spiced raspberry "ruby ring" were spot on,plus Morgan even had extra time to make a clutch bag cake for his display. Not only did he earn that money,Morgan also gained some major pangs of envy from his competitors. Watch your back,buddy!



In the Bottom Three was Eric,who really struggled with this challenge. His finished dress was basically a crumbling cookie disaster. Fortunately for him,his cherry cheesecake "pendant" and chocolate cake banana "clutch" were good enough to keep him in play.



For some strange reason,two of the chefs chose to make their dresses out of vegetables-hello,you're pastry chefs,ladies! Danielle was one of them and while her dress was a vegan nightmare,the whoopie pie "purse" and ice cream "watch"(that was pretty hard to make out there)helped her squeak by on this one.



So it was Heather C,who went home again and this time for good. Even the caramels that she made couldn't save her second chance. Oh,well,at least she tried but it's important to remember that when you're on a cooking competition that's focused on your specialty,work within your medium!

Next week,Heather H tastes some unfriendly competition during the mad rush for the Quickfire ingredients. Talk about right in the kisser there,so not sweet!



The Amazing Race extended their stay in Ghana and once again,the Express Pass was not used. A team that already has some internet presence is Keven and his dad Michael,who have a series of clips on YouTube about their cross generational ties.

A true test of their bond came about during the Detour,as Michael got overheated and needed to rest before finishing the task at hand. They did come in last,but luckily this was a non-elimination leg. The guys do have a Speed Bump to contend with for the next round but those usually aren't too bad.

One of the nice things about TAR is seeing folks reaffirm their emotional connections and in the case of Michael and Kevin,blood is truly thicker than water:





As this fourth season of Mad Men draws to a close,the odds on Sterling Cooper Draper Price still being in business in the next six months are going from slim to none. Tired of being given the brush off by everyone,Don does what he does best;gets creative with the imagery.

By taking out a full page ad in the papers declaring that the agency's break with Lucky Strike was a principled stand rather than a rejection,Don turned the talk around to what could hopefully be to SCDP's advantage. While only Peggy and Megan seem to get what he was doing,Don's boldness may yet pay off in the long run.

Giving Pete an extra helping hand there was also a smart move. The finale is this Sunday,so we'll soon see in what direction all of this will be leading to:



RANDOM NOTES:

PRIVATE CHEFS OF BEVERLY HILLS: Season two has just begun and while this look at high class hijinks in the kitchen may not blow the roof off,it is interesting to watch not only the clashes between the cooks and their clients but amongst the chefs themselves:

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