Halloween glee on Top Chef, checking in with AHS:Coven and some Big Bang Theory costume choices

Tricks and treats abounded on Top Chef last night, as the contenders walked into their kitchen to find that everything had been wrapped in foil(product placement alert!),including  all of the cooking implements such as pots and pans.

Then Padma and Judge Gail brought out their moms and set up two teams to make three dishes in thirty minutes. The winners would receive ten grand to divide amongst themselves and the extra big twist was that the moms would be selecting the ingredients and utensils for each group.

After some pretty weird food combos(including a soup made with cherries and chilies),Padma's team won. Then the big Halloween theme was revealed as Glee star Lea Michelle entered the room.

She's a huge fan of the show and was happy to be the hostess for the Halloween party arranged for the Elimination challenge. Since Lea happens to be vegan but is willing to go vegetarian on occasion(the big difference between the two is that vegans refuse to eat anything with meat or dairy ties to it),cheese was the best option given to the chefs here.

Lea also mentioned that she loved Italian food,so a good number of the teams of two made arancini(which is basically a cheese ball) with the best one being from Nicholas. He added lemon and smoked mozzarella that gave it a nice tang.

His team mate Patty whipped up a butternut squash cannoli  that complimented his dish well and earned them both a place in the winner's circle.

However, it was Carlos and Travis who won this challenge. They did display some nifty team work in creating dishes that paired well together.

Carlos made a cheese fondue for his fried zucchini that turned out to be like Goldilock's porridge and Travis' veggie ceviche evened out the richness of his partner's plate,plus tasted great on it's own.

On the chopping block were Brian and Bene who made two boring salads. Granted,a non protein challenge can be hard to jazz up but it's not impossible,guys.

Lea was disappointed with the quinoa in Bene's mushroom mess and the tomatoes in Brian's were far too watery. They also made the mistake of calling the salads "spa cuisine", which is not what the challenge called for.

The team that fared the worst,however, was Michael and Nina. Those two had trouble from the beginning, due to Michael hoping to ride Nina's coattails on this one.

Her candy corn inspired gnocchi with kale pesto was tasty enough but his arancini with saffron and served with black olives slices just didn't cut the mustard. So, it's off to Last Chance Kitchen for Michael where he has to battle last week's eliminated chef Janine. Good luck, guys and Happy Halloween!

Speaking of Halloween, American Horror Story:Coven has been quite the wild ride so far. While the main thrust of the plot is the battle for power between the Salem witches and a new vendetta arising from the NOLA natives,particularly Marie Laveau, it's the wacky witchness from the all star ladies of the cast that makes this series worth tuning into.

One of the best awful characters in this bunch is Madame Lalaurie(Kathy Bates),who tortured slaves back in the bad old days in order to make beauty potions for herself and was punished with eternal life.

 That immortality was mainly spent in a locked coffin that current Supreme witch Fiona unearthed,mainly to figure out how to get that deal for herself. Jessica Lange is the real queen of AHS but she does allow others to stomp on the regal red carpet with her there.

 Back to Lalaurie,having been awakened in modern day America, she has had a lot of culture shock to deal with and not much help in adjusting to the new day and age. Not that she deserves such consideration, mind you, but her angst is both funny and terrible to behold:

My favorite of the power divas amongst the older generation is Marie(Angela Basset). She too is an eternal who has kept a low profile by running her dark arts business out of a beauty parlor but still has plenty of mystical ammo on hand.

Fiona threw her weight around early on with Marie and judging by what happened last night,the truce between those two factions is no longer in practice. If it comes down to a major showdown by the finale between Fiona and Marie, all my bets are on Marie.

 It's a well known trope in magical genres that the one who holds the strongest power doesn't have to show it off until absolutely necessary and Fiona is not shy about slinging her spells while Maria can keep cool under pressure. When ever it goes down, I will be eagerly taking a ringside seat for this witch battle royale:

Since it is Halloween, I thought it would be fun to round this post out with a look at the costume choices made on The Big Bang Theory over the years.

While the guys mostly love to deck themselves out as superheroes or other trendy geek personae, Sheldon can get unusually creative with his seasonal get-up. Being the Doppler Effect is perfectly suited to his strictly scientific style,even if most people(including his friends) don't quite get it:

Adding Penny to their costume capers made things even more fun,as one episode gave the guys a Wonder Woman for their Justice League, along with Penny's goofy boyfriend of the moment Zack being their Superman.

While Penny resisted wearing the traditional black wig for Wonder Woman at first, she did join in eventually and Zack was a nice change of pace from the mean lunkhead types she went out with.

Zack even showed up a few times after he and Penny broke up, which was good to see,plus his likable nature played off the rest of the gang rather well:

Having more women on the show did enhance the array of costumes for the gang, tension still flairs up. Sheldon was more than agreeable to the idea of a couples costume with Amy, neither of them could agree on a duo of classic couples.

Eventually, a compromise was reached with amusing results although not as amused as mismatched Penny and Leonard were later on at the comic book store costume party:

RANDOM NOTES:

EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND: This isn't from a Halloween episode but it's a great creepy coda nonetheless. The set-up is that father Frank got angry at the truth telling dummy Robert was trying out for his night school teaching gig and he exacted some twisted revenge the next morning.
Peter Boyle is just delightfully demented here,so enjoy!: