Episode 8: "Common Threads" Options

[partsgirl]

DO NOTICE CONFOUNDUS

HAD NOTHING TO SAY ABOUT "SEEING"

AND.................................

AREOLAS

THEY GET PERKY DON'T THEY

TAKE CARE OVER THERE

ALOHA

HAVE FUN

Apparently he was the younger brother of Confucious and only have as bright.

Yes... perky, perky, perky.

[partsgirl]

I'M TAKIN THE FIFTH................

JUST GONNA SAY

SHE HAD ME HYPNOTISED WITH HER DANCE STYLE

TAKE CARE OVER THERE

ALOHA

HAVE FUN

[partsgirl]

Parts, last things first. Corn bread isn't packed with protein - but corn bread served right along with beans in chili, that specific combination is.

On its own, corn is just a cereal grain. All grains have *some* proteins in them, any *seed* of any plant does whether its a grain or a nut or a legume. Corn is an incomplete protein in that, by itself, it doesn't have all the essential amino acids humans need. But when corn is consumed in the same meal with beans, viola. Corn has the amino acids the beans are missing, beans have the amino acids the corn is missing. Serve corn and beans combined, and you're serving a complete protein. A combination that has kept people all over the Western Hemisphere fit and fed for around 10K years, even when they don't have access to a bit of meat or seafood.

Thanks for the explanation. I know about corn's nutritional values and wasn't quite sure what you meant on the first post.

As for the Uncle Ben's... I don't know if I have even tried even their regular products. Probably some of the wild rice stuff they make, but not microwave rices. There is one kind of "Rice in a Box" I like, it's the Rice-a-Roni Whole Grains Blend. It has brown rice, pearled barley, and pearled wheat, combined, and it is quite savory. What makes it convenient for me is that each of those 3 grains actually has a different cooking time, and making an identical side dish at home that combines the 3 grains is a true pain in the butt. I tried. The manufacturer does something to process the grains before they go in the box, so they finish cooking at the same time. Works well enough for me.

I see what you mean about trying to get several different grain types to cook evenly when they are inhabiting the same pot. It is no fun when one is just right, one is too hard, and the third has long since gone mushy. Even though I do not have sodium problems I still cannot abide the amount of sodium that goes into processed foods. Especially something like rice.

[Radyms13]

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

GOOD NEWS RAD

PERHAPS BAD FOR ME

CAUSE I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT FINE LIVING CHANNEL IS

BY THE WAY JUST READ YOUR LOCAL STATEMENT..

I LIKED THAT MOVIE

SOMEWHERE IN TIME

ONE OF CHRIS REEVES BEST

TAKE CARE OVER THERE

ALOHA

HAVE FUN

I love the movie. It was filmed at the Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island.

So sorry if you don't get Fine Living...I'm kinda ticked off that I don't get the Mojo channel. After hanging around hulu.com I find they have lots of good programs I can't get. Sigh!!

[partsgirl]

Next week Wedding Wars---preview is called Pointing Fingers----Ain't gonna be pretty. Looks like Lisa and Dale have to work together again. Dale goes off yet again!!

But it also looks like the quickfire challenge is mis en place. I love that challenge and I really hope it's not over by 10:05.

It will be neat to actually see what kind of skills these CT's have but, I don't think anyone is going to beat Hung.

[River1]

As well you should . . . as anyone should.

What's your avatar? What riverbend? It's so beautiful and peaceful!

it's from Queensland, Australia. A girl can dream, eh?

[River1]

OK, my late husband's favorite appetizer: bacon-wrapped water chestnuts.

Whole water chestnuts. Wrap each in half a piece of bacon. Secure with toothpick. Place on baking sheet.

Cook 20 minutes at 350. Drain.

Sauce: barbeque sauce base. I always added plenty of dry mustard, soy sauce, brown sugar.

Serve in sauce.

Fabulously successful.

Myself, I don't like the sweet sauce, so I always keep some for myself before all are dipped/served in the sauce.

Yum!
Techie question here (lovable geek still asleep--Prom last night): Why can't I copy and paste these recipes into Word? I can print them, but then they come out in teeny tiny print

[SimonBao]

[/color][color="#2e8b57"]I see what you mean about trying to get several different grain types to cook evenly when they are inhabiting the same pot. It is no fun when one is just right, one is too hard, and the third has long since gone mushy. Even though I do not have sodium problems I still cannot abide the amount of sodium that goes into processed foods. Especially something like rice.

Parts, I don't often purchase any prepared foods. I'm not ideological about it, I just don't care for them or don't know what to do with them. Which is a pity, cause it's the prepared foods that are 90% of the supermarket weekly specials!

But you might try that Whole Grains blend, it's proven popular with everyone I've served it too. And serving a pile of whole grains isn't often very popular, LOL. But it's never about the quantity of carbs, it's always been about the quality of the carbs.

It can be reproduced at home, but then the task has to broken into so many steps and stages, ehhhhhhh.

Ever try a barley risotto? It's different and can be quite good. Stick some peas in it.

[Radyms13]

It will be neat to actually see what kind of skills these CT's have but, I don't think anyone is going to beat Hung.

Hung is the master---beautiful knife skills!!

I love this challenge and I'm hoping, now that they are down to 8, we actually get to see what they can do.

[River1]

Here is a great parody of Top Chef featuring Hung's Monkey!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMkRt1gXKiI

Fun!
Putting on my n00b hat: What is/was/could possibly be "Hung's Monkey"?

[WhataJoke]

You know, it's funny. You're acting as if he were blogging about events that hppened last week.in real time. He's taking time out of running his empire to wirte about events that happened half a year ago instead of last week (sometimes we forget that). It's as he says, he does Top Chef for about 3 weeks a year and the other 48 months, he's in a kitchen cooking or running his restaurants (and maybe he does an occasional personal appearance for Bravo).

Is it any wonder that he might accidentally substitute the name of a similar contestant (two skinny scruffy somewhat crazy white dudes) or misremember the way a rather convoluted challenge went down after probably just scanning a broadcast of events that happened 6 months ago? Maybe he's doing it on an airplane flying to Vegas to meet with some of his investors. Maybe he was actually in the kitchen the night before helping runn service for 300 people. Maybe he's just like the rest of us and gets a bad cold around Thursday but feels he has to blog anyway. Or even more likely, could it be that the editing fairies created something that's so far away from the actual reality of what went down that even he gets a little confused?

You'll probably just pooh pooh this and say I'm reaching, but I think you're expecting too much for someone to remember all of the exact motivations and discussions and nuances of the judges discussions from events that happened half a year ago (or even not be prone to slip up and substitute Andrew's name for Spike). I'll bet that when he walks away from the set the last time, in a couple of weeks it's all ancient history as he plows back into to running his restaurants. And when the televised show comes around, he probably has to carve time out just to force himself to sit through the show so that he can fulfill some contractural obligation to Bravo to blog about the show. These chefs and judging events are almost ancient history to him at this point, plus, he might even be as baffled at some of the editing as we are. Even if he were able to see the final product before it airs, it's still months after the event. And if this is the case, I doubt that he sits down with bated breath every Wed. to watch with the rest of us. Maybe he watches it again, maybe he doesn't (many actors claim not to watch their own movies and TV shows). So he might even blog weeks after seeing a finished copy that's airmailed to him. Who knows?

Finally, let's not forget that he's actually in the presence of these chefs for a grand total of about half an hour per episode. He only has about 30 seconds one on one with them when he does his walkthrough, and that's the only one on one contact he has with them (unless he's telling one of them that they have to leave because they assaulted someone). These guys and gals as individuals are barely blips on his radar at this point.

You know what else is funny? He's getting paid to do this, it's his job to post a blog and, for better or worse, what he writes in these blogs impacts the shows credibility. Don't try and make it sound like he's doing us a favor being on the show or is some food missionary sacrificing his time to convert the culinary heathens.

And you know what? He probably gets paid more in the 3 weeks it takes to filem Top Chef than most people here make in a year so forgive me if I expect a little more from him.

Is it any wonder that he can't remember who wins what on the show he hosts? Uh yeah it is. Take some notes. Have a production assistant take some notes. Be a Professional. Tom isn't stupid and didn't get to be as successful he is today by being sloppy and this is sloppy & lazy.
He didn't get to where he is today by mailing it in. So if he's doing it on a plane or after a ngith of service or after a triathalon, it has no bearing on his responcibility to get it right. If its such a burden for him to write a accurate blog each week then don't do the show.

And he didn't just swap a name.
"Spike served a colorful and nutritious carrot soup that all the kids loved, and his pasta delighted everyone, including the adults."
Which then became:
"Andrew served a Chicken Paillard that delighted everyone, including the adults."
Sorry but that's plain lazy and deleting the blog and everyones comments is the result.

And lets not forget that he is in the presence of the Chefs for a reason. He's respected in the industry. All the chefs on the show seem to look up to him. How do you think Andew feels that Tom doesn't care enough to give him the credit he earned? I'm sure he feels like less than a blip on a radar now.

[SimonBao]

Hung is the master---beautiful knife skills!!

I love this challenge and I'm hoping, now that they are down to 8, we actually get to see what they can do.

Rady, on the preview it looks like we may get to see what they can't do.

I know it's edited for maximum drama and suspense and misdirection, but it does look like most of our heroes are pretty unhappy at Judges Table. Dale saying something to the judges like, "Well you ought to have liked it, it took him 3 hours to make it..." No smiles anywhere, on any of them, but I don't recall them showing Stephie? Omen? Probably not.

Thinking I won't enjoy this challenge, catering a wedding reception just sounds like an invitation to hell.

[dcjewbear]

Rady, on the preview it looks like we may get to see what they can't do.

I know it's edited for maximum drama and suspense and misdirection, but it does look like most of our heroes are pretty unhappy at Judges Table. Dale saying something to the judges like, "Well you ought to have liked it, it took him 3 hours to make it..." No smiles anywhere, on any of them, but I don't recall them showing Stephie? Omen? Probably not.

Thinking I won't enjoy this challenge, catering a wedding reception just sounds like an invitation to hell.

The wedding challenge was my least favorite show in the first season. I would hope that this current crop of chefs would have seen that debacle and made adjustments, but I don't think so.

The last two challenges were so wonderful that I'm truly worried about this upcoming show. I think it will be yet another disaster.

[johnw]

Hey good idea.....But of course.
Just wondering Simon...... Do you ever
get to go home at all???
You were born there....... right???

deleted per johnw

This post has been edited by johnw: May 3, 2008 - 12:17 PM

[teleburst]

You know what else is funny? He's getting paid to do this, it's his job to post a blog and, for better or worse, what he writes in these blogs impacts the shows credibility. Don't try and make it sound like he's doing us a favor being on the show or is some food missionary sacrificing his time to convert the culinary heathens.

And you know what? He probably gets paid more in the 3 weeks it takes to filem Top Chef than most people here make in a year so forgive me if I expect a little more from him.

Is it any wonder that he can't remember who wins what on the show he hosts? Uh yeah it is. Take some notes. Have a production assistant take some notes. Be a Professional. Tom isn't stupid and didn't get to be as successful he is today by being sloppy and this is sloppy & lazy.
He didn't get to where he is today by mailing it in. So if he's doing it on a plane or after a ngith of service or after a triathalon, it has no bearing on his responcibility to get it right. If its such a burden for him to write a accurate blog each week then don't do the show.

And he didn't just swap a name.
"Spike served a colorful and nutritious carrot soup that all the kids loved, and his pasta delighted everyone, including the adults."
Which then became:
"Andrew served a Chicken Paillard that delighted everyone, including the adults."
Sorry but that's plain lazy and deleting the blog and everyones comments is the result.

And lets not forget that he is in the presence of the Chefs for a reason. He's respected in the industry. All the chefs on the show seem to look up to him. How do you think Andew feels that Tom doesn't care enough to give him the credit he earned? I'm sure he feels like less than a blip on a radar now.

Let's not forget that he's a professional - a professional food person, not a professional media or internet person. I'm sure that he's getting a serious education in it after four seasons, but I'm pretty sure that this doesn't come all that naturally to him.

Deleting the comments when updating a blog sounds like a syndrome of the same thing that gets us a board for every other episode - sounds like a possible IT issue. The laziness and sloppiness might very well be in that department. Of course, it could be censorship <shrug>

I'm glad that you hold Tom up to such standards, since you seem to think that he's a liar and a fraud some of the time. I think it's just brain farts and understandable when you're blogging about long past events. Since this show is done on a relative shoestring (it appears) and with a very tight production schedule, I'd be surprised if they have production assistant time to provide Tom with "blogging notes".

As to the normal person's yearly salary thing, yeah, that's about a half a week's sales in one of his restaurants. I'm sure he's well-paid for his 3 weeks (and ancillary stuff that he's required to do). He probably gets far more boost in his income and business success from the publicity than he does from actually getting a paycheck.

He's not doing me or you a favor by doing the show. But don't try to make it sound like his little tiny blog should be perfect or all-emcompassing either. It's probably almost as much of an afterthought as it is a little tiny portion of the contract. But you should be thankful that he seems to consider it a bit of an afterthought. Otherwise, you would have very little ammo to support your theories.

He's NOT in the presence of the chefs for the most part. Do I care about whether Andrew might be upset that he's not Tom's drinking buddy like Sam is? Not in the least. Am I glad that the blog was corrected to give him the credit he deserved? Sure.

I'd certainly give Tom and Bravo a suggestion. He (and all of the bloggers) should submit his/their blog/s to a continuity person before it/they gets posted. that way they could correct errors without having some intern do it after the fact. Of course, that's assuming that they have the script supervisor available on the clock to do it. Of course, you'd probably consider that person "spin doctor" so it's probably a no-win.

[WhataJoke]

The wedding challenge was my least favorite show in the first season. I would hope that this current crop of chefs would have seen that debacle and made adjustments, but I don't think so.

The last two challenges were so wonderful that I'm truly worried about this upcoming show. I think it will be yet another disaster.

Bear I'll even go so far as saying that it was my least favorite challenge ever on the show. Awful premise for the quickfire, completely unrealistic time frame and just all around cruel to the couple who were most likely hoodwinked into going along with the idea. There was not one chance that these chefs were going to do well let alone excell.

And aside from going to Whole foods with only 10 bucks (completely unrealistic, not the $10 part but the Whole Foods part) I thought the last challenge was one of the best ever on the show.

I think this will be a complete cluster bleep and the sad part is that its exactly what the producers want.

[dcjewbear]

Bear I'll even go so far as saying that it was my least favorite challenge ever on the show. Awful premise for the quickfire, completely unrealistic time frame and just all around cruel to the couple who were most likely hoodwinked into going along with the idea. There was not one chance that these chefs were going to do well let alone excell.

And aside from going to Whole foods with only 10 bucks (completely unrealistic, not the $10 part but the Whole Foods part) I thought the last challenge was one of the best ever on the show.

I think this will be a complete cluster bleep and the sad part is that its exactly what the producers want.

I know you're aware that this last challenge was one of my favorites ever. As a man with a 12 year old grandson, who I actually do cook with, I loved every minute. Sure, the $10.00 was unrealistic, but many of the chefs did great things with the little amount of cash they were given.

When Denny saw it he pointed out that we, together, had made variations on what Antonia and Spike made. We've even made dishes that utilized peanut butter, though we never had the bright idea of pairing it with tomatoes.

This is beside the point, but I can only imagine how lonely Antonia is without her child. Denny is on a school trip to New York, and when I woke up this morning, and he wasn't here, the house was so freaking quiet. All my friends have said that Drew and I should enjoy this time by ourselves, but I think Drew is just as lonely and miserable as I am. Denny is the light of our lives, so being without your child would seem to be untenable. I hate it.

Okay, Bear, back to the freaking subject.

Can anyone remember any dish from the wedding challenge on season one? The only thing I can remember is they used a boxed cake mix, and that several people got shells in their slice of cake. I'm not a pro, and I've never had that happen. It was sad, and I expect no better this time around.

[WhataJoke]

Let's not forget that he's a professional - a professional food person, not a professional media or internet person. I'm sure that he's getting a serious education in it after four seasons, but I'm pretty sure that this doesn't come all that naturally to him.

Deleting the comments when updating a blog sounds like a syndrome of the same thing that gets us a board for every other episode - sounds like a possible IT issue. The laziness and sloppiness might very well be in that department. Of course, it could be censorship <shrug>

I'm glad that you hold Tom up to such standards, since you seem to think that he's a liar and a fraud some of the time. I think it's just brain farts and understandable when you're blogging about long past events. Since this show is done on a relative shoestring (it appears) and with a very tight production schedule, I'd be surprised if they have production assistant time to provide Tom with "blogging notes".

As to the normal person's yearly salary thing, yeah, that's about a half a week's sales in one of his restaurants. I'm sure he's well-paid for his 3 weeks (and ancillary stuff that he's required to do). He probably gets far more boost in his income and business success from the publicity than he does from actually getting a paycheck.

He's not doing me or you a favor by doing the show. But don't try to make it sound like his little tiny blog should be perfect or all-emcompassing either. It's probably almost as much of an afterthought as it is a little tiny portion of the contract. But you should be thankful that he seems to consider it a bit of an afterthought. Otherwise, you would have very little ammo to support your theories.

He's NOT in the presence of the chefs for the most part. Do I care about whether Andrew might be upset that he's not Tom's drinking buddy like Sam is? Not in the least. Am I glad that the blog was corrected to give him the credit he deserved? Sure.

I'd certainly give Tom and Bravo a suggestion. He (and all of the bloggers) should submit his/their blog/s to a continuity person before it/they gets posted. that way they could correct errors without having some intern do it after the fact. Of course, that's assuming that they have the script supervisor available on the clock to do it. Of course, you'd probably consider that person "spin doctor" so it's probably a no-win.

Yes I'm sure blogging is not his main professional arena. It's part of the job he took however and like it or not it absolutely impacts his credibility.

Deleting the blog and the comments to edit one sentence is absolutely censorship. If a e-impared clown like me can figure out a way to salvage old posts on a deleted thread then I'd like to think the guys they pay to run this site can figure out a way to edit one sentence on a blog without [expletive deleted] canning the whole thing. If not I'll be sending the BBB my resume tomorrow.

I do hold Tom up to high standards. He's obviously a very successful and respected business person and aside from thinking he holds grudges I can't say a bad thing about him. Do I think Tom is a liar and a fraud? No. Unfortunately being invovled in a reality show does not lend itself to maintaining high moral standards. And aside from one show I have seen, It comes with the territory. However he's not exactly complaining about it either. Again it's just a reality show. And trust me if Tom and the other Judges blogging wanted notes taken there are hundreds of kids out of school that would jump at the poverty level salary and experience that being a production intern would provide.

I have said before that the PR form this show has been invalubile for Tom. He's gone from being well known to mainly foodies to being well known. That's huge.

And I'm not saying that the blog should be all encompassing, but damn at least get the names of the people who won right. If he can't rememeber that how the hell do we expect him to remember why they eliminated someone. And believe it or not I'd enjoy the show much more if there wasn't anything to have to gather ammo about or any theories to back up.

Did I say anything about Andrew wanting to be Tom's drinking buddy? Wanting to be TC's friend and expecting to get credit when you earn it are two very different things. These people take a big risk putting their reputations on the line in a less than ideal cooking environment. Yes only one person gets to take home a prize but when you excell in a challenge you should at least get a public pat on teh back from the respected host.

Oh I'm sure the Pravda Wing of Top Chef is already in the works.

[Radyms13]

Fun!
Putting on my n00b hat: What is/was/could possibly be "Hung's Monkey"?

Hung---winner last season---made a couple of comments about things being so easy even his monkey could do them! Guess you had to be there.

[Radyms13]

Rady, on the preview it looks like we may get to see what they can't do.

I know it's edited for maximum drama and suspense and misdirection, but it does look like most of our heroes are pretty unhappy at Judges Table. Dale saying something to the judges like, "Well you ought to have liked it, it took him 3 hours to make it..." No smiles anywhere, on any of them, but I don't recall them showing Stephie? Omen? Probably not.

Thinking I won't enjoy this challenge, catering a wedding reception just sounds like an invitation to hell.

I was talking about the quickfire challenge ---which I think is mis en place. I love that challenge just hope it merits more than 3 minutes air time.

Wedding challenge is like they are setting the cheftestants up to fail.