I guess this comment doesn't quite fit with what you're saying, but it kind of does...

Did you notice on season 3, Dale Levitski didn't let an episode go by without mentioning he's gay? And similarly, wasn't it CJ who wouldn't let an episode go by without announcing he has one testicle? This season how many times has Anotnia mentioned that she's a single mom? What are we supposed to do with these random personal facts? The people who announce these factoids repeatedly must feel like they tip some cosmic scale in their favor or make them seem somehow unique, triumphant, plucky, or something. Or do they feel like that's the central thing that defines them?

SecondTry
TOP CHEF STANDINGS (THROUGH EPISODE 11)
[b]1. Richard (23 points, last week #1)
</FONT></FONT>[b]3. Antonia (14 points, last week #5)
[b]4. Dale (12 points, last week #2, eliminated this week)

[b]ELIMINATED: Andrew (12 points, last week #3), [b]Jennifer (2 points), [b]Manuel (-2 points), Valerie (-3 points), Nimma (-4 points), [b]Zoi (-6 points), [b]Nikki (-8 points)
[b]
5. Lisa (-9 points, last week #6)

ELIMINATED: Mark (-9 points), Erik (-9 points), Ryan (-9 points)

6. Spike (-16 points, last week #7)



Stop with the standings already. Who appointed you the gatekeeper? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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Wow, Ted Allen comes off just as smug and snarky in his blog as he does on TV. And he's a big fat liar, to boot.

Maybe I'm just bitter because he didn't address my blog comment, where I called him a collaborating wh0re who should be ashamed of himself.

Interestingly, I am a gay, single mom, with one testicle.

Sorry...but I disagree. Please keep up the good work,Jim.

Maybe this is more suited to the OT board...But gnats are BIG problem in the Midwest(I cleaned out my folks gutters last week-and I must have "swallowd" like 2# of gnats... ...Are other parts of the country having the same problem(they even mentioned the gnat problem on the local news the other day)?...

Yep. It goes to what a no talent lying sycophant he is. It's not surprising he won't own up. Why should he when he can be coy and bitchy?

Yep. It goes to what a no talent lying sycophant he is. It's not surprising he won't own up. Why should he when he can be coy and bitchy?

Yes, because we straights don't want to be raped by a gay man (as opposed to being raped by a confused lesbian, for example). Fortunately I'm not in prison.

I hope that my irony is apparent here...

I have only been propositioned one time in my life, although I've have been sniffed by wondering gays trying to finetune their gaydar (I'm in the restaurant business, after all). It was hilarious. There I was, at the Pretenders' hotel in St. Louis (in about 1981), hanging out with the late Pete Farndon, their bass player. He had every rainbow-mohawk-coiffed, tattooed, pasty-faced, pierced, thigh-high-wearin', 12 ring-fingered, snarling, torn-black-t-shirt-wearin', red-rouged misfit of every sexual persuasion (including straight, of course) in St. Louis hanging on his coattails and offering him all sorts of Persian/Asian/Mexican delights. It was a crazy scene, some of which I won't bother elaborating on because there were multiple non-sexual felonies going on. Anyway, I was called upon to get more beer (because I assume it was assumed that the fairly conventional-looking dude knew beer) and I got on the elevator to go downstairs to get more of the barley and a refugee from Heldwig and the Angry Inch got on board with me (in my mind's eye, he looks and dressed just like Michael Pitt). As the doors closed, he asked me, "Would you like a bl0w j0b? I turned to him, somewhat in shock and awe and said, "Thanks for the offer, but I'm straight". He said, (and I'll always remember this exactly as it occured), "Well, you know, a mouth is a mouth in the dark". I exploded in laughter and said something like, "Well, you might be right, but I think I'll give it a pass anyway. I'm flattered though".

And guess what? I wasn't raped in that elevator. We left the elevator as friends, although I let him leave the elevator first.

Hired help on Jazzie's porch! Does this mean I should get my tiara while I am over at my mother's house today?? Darn that is going to be fun taking through customs this summer, not. I am scared to death I will lose it but stupid me brought home all of my wedding dresses, shoes, formal wear and the tiara to show my mother I suppose A photo would have worked as well and given me less to worry about! Since I don't even get along that well with my mother. Come to think of it she *does* have over 1,000 photos so whyyy didn't I leave the stuff home?? NOW I need to figure how to brule my scallops in a top heavy tiara!

SecondTry
TOP CHEF STANDINGS (THROUGH EPISODE 11)
[b]1. Richard (23 points, last week #1)
</FONT></FONT>[b]3. Antonia (14 points, last week #5)
[b]4. Dale (12 points, last week #2, eliminated this week)

[b]ELIMINATED: Andrew (12 points, last week #3), [b]Jennifer (2 points), [b]Manuel (-2 points), Valerie (-3 points), Nimma (-4 points), [b]Zoi (-6 points), [b]Nikki (-8 points)
[b]
5. Lisa (-9 points, last week #6)

ELIMINATED: Mark (-9 points), Erik (-9 points), Ryan (-9 points)

6. Spike (-16 points, last week #7)



Stop with the standings already. Who appointed you the gatekeeper? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN>[/b][/b][/b][/b][/b][/b][/b][/b][/b]

Since you don't have your profile filled out, I don't really know anything about you--but I'm going to guess that you're a woman, based solely on your name. Are you telling me that that doesn't at least partially define you, as opposed to being a man?

We are all at least the sum of our parts; some manage to be more. Being gay defines me as much, or as little, as being Italian, a born-and-bred New Yorker, being male, being an ex-Catholic, being raised lower middle class, being a NY Giants fan, being a librarian, and being a whole host of other things do.

What brings one aspect to the fore over others? Well, in Dale's case, when you start talking about the restaurant industry, most of the gay men are going to fall under the heading of "waiter". Gay male chefs are few and far between--just like African-American chefs, as Tre noted during the Coldstone ice cream quickfire, are likewise few and far between.

When you're constantly outnumbered, it does tend to shape your perceptions a bit--and you can take that as true from someone who spent kindergarten through 3rd grade one of a handful of white kids in a predominantly black school.

Now let's take Antonia. She's responsible for a child--Stephanie isn't, Richard isn't, and Spike and Lisa couldn't be in a million years. It's a heavy enough responsibility when you're handling it with a partner; on your own, it's tremendous. So yeah, that's going to contribute to how you see the world--and if you'll notice, the first we hear about it is when Antonia is partnered with a child for one of the challenges.

Finally, as CJ, Lance Armstrong, Sam Talbot, or anyone else who's survived a life-threatening disease will tell you, that's not only a definer, it's a badge of honor.

Where did anyone say that it was frightfully hard to cook rice? I think I was about the only one who pointed out that it wasn't quite as easy as people make it out to be and that was about the strongest statement anyone made about how hard it is to cook rice.

Just so it's clear, I'm not saying it's that difficult to cook rice. I'm just saying that it's not as hard to screw it up as everyone seems to think it is, especially when you're cooking more than a couple of cups of rice. As I've said, cooking rice in a regular-sized saucepan isn't too hard and doesn't take too long. But when you cook a larger portion, it takes longer, measurements have to be more precise and the time that you do things (such as boiling vs steaming portion of the cooking), becomes an important factor. It's harder to "eyeball" things as you can do when you're cooking rice for 2 or 4 people and it's not that hard to end up with either gummy rice or undercooked rice. And it's pretty difficult to make corrections once you get to either state (although it's far easier to extend the cooking process than to salvage overcooked gummy rice).

When I worked at PF Chang's, it would take 45 minutes to cook a batch of rice. That's a far cry from the 10 - 15 minutes it takes me to cook the same rice in a smaller portion. Of course, they had a nice sealed 20 gallon (I think) closed kettle. And even with precise measurements and timings, the very occasional batch would have to be thrown out, mostly because it came out too gummy.And I've seen chefs have to start over on a large batch of conventionally cooked rice because the bottom got scorched, although this was admittedly rare.

Finally, I'm sure Simon will eventually come back on and clarify the difference between "sticky rice" and rice cooked to simulate sticky rice (I see that as possibly cooking rice until it's "gummy", but that's not quite the same thing as sticky rice, even though you might consider it "sticky" since gummy rice tends to stick together). I'm looking forward to cooking my first batch of long-grained sticky rice (the real thing) just to see how it comes out. I've eaten sticky rice in dishes before but I've never made it. However, if I tried to cook sticky rice as I did regular rice, it sounds to me from reading how you cook sticky rice that I'd completely screw it up, because sticky rice apparently has to be soaked for a long time. Rinsing it as you would basmati just wouldn't cut it.

Edited to say that if you were going to simulate sticky rice in terms of its "hanging together" quality (for lack of a better term, stickiness), you could certainly use short grain rice, which doesn't cook up fluffy like basmati but hangs together better with chopsticks, but it would still be different than true sticky rice. That rice does have a tendency to get gummy if you're not careful though. And, since it's not as "nutty" in flavor, it might work for a dessert type rice in terms of flavor. I still think they both should have just put on the brakes when they couldn't get the rice they needed for the planned dish and done some sort of rice pudding instead. Or just skipped dessert entirely since dessert isn't really that big of a part of a traditional Asian meal.

WTF does that have to do with anything?

What a great story!!! A mouth is a mouth in the dark reminded me of Dale from last season---beauty is only a light switch away!

I'm afraid that you will never be able to cook the "real thing" in reference to "long grained sticky rice" as it only comes in short grain. Short grain sticky rice appears different than regular short grain or regular long grain rice. Sticky rice has rounded ends and is whiter than regular rice which has sharper, sometimes squared off ends. The cooking time for sticky rice is longer because sticky rice requires more water than regular rice.

I agree that cooking rice in large quantities seems the be as difficult as pastry making among the cheftestants. I remember Frank messing up his batch of rice. Hung did his rice correctly in last year's finale but in a small quantity.

I'm afraid that you will never be able to cook the "real thing" in reference to "long grained sticky rice" as it only comes in short grain. Short grain sticky rice appears different than regular short grain or regular long grain rice. Sticky rice has rounded ends and is whiter than regular rice which has sharper, sometimes squared off ends. The cooking time for sticky rice is longer because sticky rice requires more water than regular rice.

Unfortunately, I'm staring at an unopened bag of long grained "sweet rice" as I type this (Rice King brand from Thailand). Sweet rice is the same as "sticky rice" BTW. It's the same milky white color and it's a long-grained rice because it's about a 5 to 1 ratio of length to width.

I do find the porch tiresome but I can see where others wouldn't. It seems to be a board within a board where fewer than 10 people can log on and discuss personal things that don't have to do with food or the show necessarily. And you feel like you can kick other people off of the Bravo board or put them in "ignoreville."

By the way, why hasn't deusxmac made anymore postings since one of the porch people told her to shut up and go away (only jokingly, of couse)? That's a hard one to figure out, isn't it? And what is a Troll? I gather you think some peple are using multiple handles in order to emphasize their points, and you refer to them as Trolls, but really, isn't a Troll just someone who disagrees with you porch people?

I loved that quote from Dale....

Yeah I have won in the battle Green Goddess!!!! I put in more Mayo and a little more sour cream now it balanced the anchovy past quite nicely.... now I get a nice avacado garlic and slightly anchovy after taste with a nice fire from the cayan.... hmmmmmmm love this dressing...

I do find the porch tiresome but I can see where others wouldn't. It seems to be a board within a board where fewer than 10 people can log on and discuss personal things that don't have to do with food or the show necessarily. And you feel like you can kick other people off of the Bravo board or put them in "ignoreville."

By the way, why hasn't deusxmac made anymore postings since one of the porch people told her to shut up and go away (only jokingly, of couse)? That's a hard one to figure out, isn't it? And what is a Troll? I gather you think some peple are using multiple handles in order to emphasize their points, and you refer to them as Trolls, but really, isn't a Troll just someone who disagrees with you porch people?

Floral? Moral? Whoral? Coral? Sorrell?

I'm confused.

I do find the porch tiresome but I can see where others wouldn't. It seems to be a board within a board where fewer than 10 people can log on and discuss personal things that don't have to do with food or the show necessarily. And you feel like you can kick other people off of the Bravo board or put them in "ignoreville."

By the way, why hasn't deusxmac made anymore postings since one of the porch people told her to shut up and go away (only jokingly, of couse)? That's a hard one to figure out, isn't it? And what is a Troll? I gather you think some peple are using multiple handles in order to emphasize their points, and you refer to them as Trolls, but really, isn't a Troll just someone who disagrees with you porch people?

Happy Memorial Day all ( Hmmm is that a oxymoron or what)

So what are y'all eating today? We are grilling Brats in a compliment to TC Chicago.. adding Swiss Cheese, Mustard and Sour Kraut on a nice Roll. Gonna make a nice salad to go with the Green Goddess Dressing.... plus plenty of beer.. going to be a hot and humid day!

Thanks to all of those who served and are serving in the military... and to those we lost. Here is a brat to you.

Zia Porch People... lol You make it seem like Jazzie is Ben on Lost and the Porch People are the others... Everybody Run....

As far as I have been on this board there is no Porch one can log on to it is not real it is a place one can go when it gets to harry on the board a Imagination if you will so that if you do not get caught up in a fight with a troll you can say I was on the porch. I think you are confuseing the porch with the grassy Knoll where you do have too log in and we talk crap about all the newbies and vote on who we are going to kick off the boards...
A Troll is someone who comes in a tries to start trouble by attacking the show as well as peeps on the board personally. A Troll is not someone who disagrees and puts up a valid post even here we can agree to disagree. A Troll on the other hand will shoot post to kill sort of and once they find their target will attack that poster untill the troll gets poofed.... or the poster runs away never to post again. We have had some great posters who have gone that way and I look forward to the day they come back.

Like you Zia I enjoy reading your post and you know we don't have to say we let you post because this is a open forum anyone who registers can post all are welcome. But to say anyone has power over anyone else in this forum... sorry the only one who dose is the BBB....

I'm still laughing over the Porch People....

OMG I just saw a commercial for next week's show----Harold, Ilan and Hung will be back!!!

Baking cookies and then off to a friend's for a barbecue. No idea what they are making, but I'll be bringing the cookies lol

Zia Porch People... lol You make it seem like Jazzie is Ben on Lost and the Porch People are the others... Everybody Run....

As far as I have been on this board there is no Porch one can log on to it is not real it is a place one can go when it gets to harry on the board a Imagination if you will so that if you do not get caught up in a fight with a troll you can say I was on the porch. I think you are confuseing the porch with the grassy Knoll where you do have too log in and we talk crap about all the newbies and vote on who we are going to kick off the boards...
A Troll is someone who comes in a tries to start trouble by attacking the show as well as peeps on the board personally. A Troll is not someone who disagrees and puts up a valid post even here we can agree to disagree. A Troll on the other hand will shoot post to kill sort of and once they find their target will attack that poster untill the troll gets poofed.... or the poster runs away never to post again. We have had some great posters who have gone that way and I look forward to the day they come back.

Like you Zia I enjoy reading your post and you know we don't have to say we let you post because this is a open forum anyone who registers can post all are welcome. But to say anyone has power over anyone else in this forum... sorry the only one who dose is the BBB....

I'm still laughing over the Porch People....

Zia Porch People... lol You make it seem like Jazzie is Ben on Lost and the Porch People are the others... Everybody Run....

As far as I have been on this board there is no Porch one can log on to it is not real it is a place one can go when it gets to harry on the board a Imagination if you will so that if you do not get caught up in a fight with a troll you can say I was on the porch. I think you are confuseing the porch with the grassy Knoll where you do have too log in and we talk crap about all the newbies and vote on who we are going to kick off the boards...
A Troll is someone who comes in a tries to start trouble by attacking the show as well as peeps on the board personally. A Troll is not someone who disagrees and puts up a valid post even here we can agree to disagree. A Troll on the other hand will shoot post to kill sort of and once they find their target will attack that poster untill the troll gets poofed.... or the poster runs away never to post again. We have had some great posters who have gone that way and I look forward to the day they come back.

Like you Zia I enjoy reading your post and you know we don't have to say we let you post because this is a open forum anyone who registers can post all are welcome. But to say anyone has power over anyone else in this forum... sorry the only one who dose is the BBB....

I'm still laughing over the Porch People....

Wait, there actually is a knoll like that?? I always thought it was made up by JustMe, just like the porch. Dang! Y'do learn somethin' new every day, I guess!