The Secret Ingredient

I don't know how long ago it was, but I got hooked on Iron Chef and then Iron Chef America. Not that I am keen to a lot of the dishes they make, mainly because I either don't like some of the ingredients or I just can't eat them. Sunday night has turned into my Food Network night.

I love to sit and watch the Iron Chefs wield their spatulas, knives, and other tools while they throw food into the blast chiller, steamer, blender, deep frier or other cooking device. Since I am not creative, especially when it comes to cooking, I get mesmerized just watching these chefs decide what ingredients to put together. They always use foods that I've never heard of before and would probably be too afraid to eat. While I love my sweets, there are so many foods I won't try.

There are times that I wonder about the secret. Who comes up with it and how? Here are some of the secret ingredients from past shows: Lobster, Fennel, Bacon, Eggplant, frozen peas (not just peas, but FROZEN peas), honey, chocolate, coconut, wild boar, lentils, puff pastry, onion, eggs, asparagus, goat cheese. The chefs are required to come up with 5 dishes that use and spotlight the secret ingredient. So how many things can you do to frozen peas, or honey, or even puff pastry to make you win this competition. I mean, honey is honey, frozen peas are frozen peas. They can use the secret ingredient to make the dish, but are they really making that ingredient "the star" as some judges so eloquently put it. I don't think so...I think this is more about the overall cooking technique and creativeness of the chef.

My favorite chefs are Masaharu Morimoto and Mario Batali. They both seem to be able to come up with original dishes that the judges always love. I've seen many a time where cocky "Mr. I'm the Best" Bobby Flay goes into his comfort zone and uses spices, spices and more spices to create his dishes. I've seen him do it on his Throwdown show. It's like he doesn't know what to do, so he says "I'll throw some chili powder or other "hot" spice in there and fool them into thinking it's original. There are times when I would love to be in the studio just to smell the cooking, because even though I wouldn't eat most of it, I bet the aromas are just amazing. Plus you can't gain weight by just smelling.

We found it in his bag

I have been watching Survivor since the first day it was on CBS. I fell in love with it and have watched every season. There have been some really good seasons and some that were OK, and I don't even remember the winner or runner-ups at this point. I still remember everyone from the first season. I have my opinions on Richard Hatch but I will not dare to elaborate on those.

Instead, I will speak of last night's episode. Whoa Nelly! Mookie and Alex went through Yau Man's bag! (Which is where they found the immunity idol) Dude, that is just sooooo wrong on every level. I understand they are all there playing a game, but to go through someone's personal bag is NOT "outwitting" OR "outplaying". I ws so happy that the others in that alliance were more upset over the guys going through Yau Man's bag than the fact that they didn't know he has the idol. Mookie and Alex tried to pull one over on Yau Man and he stood his ground! Good for him!

Then at Tribal Council Mookie tried to call out Yau Man in front of Jeff. Jeff's reaction to "We found it in his bag" was priceless. Again, Jeff was more shocked at that part than the fact that Yau Man has the idol. I often wonder if Jeff comes up with his own questions/comments or if he is coached before he goes out there on what to ask. He doesn't seem privy to anything that has happened the 3 days prior unless it happened when he was with the contestants for challenges. There have been quite a few mentions of "Rats and Snakes" when the contestants refer to each other during tribal council. I don't remember so much mention since the very first season when Sue Hawk snarled "This island is full of, pretty much, only two things - snakes and rats. And in the end of Mother Nature, we have Richard The Snake, who knowingly went after prey; and Kelly, who turned into the rat that ran around like rats do on this island, trying to run from the snake."


I was actually surprised to see Alex vote for Mookie, but Mookie not vote for Alex. I would have expected it from Mookie before Alex. Mookie seemed like a bigger back stabber, but then Alex IS an attorney and is right at home in shark infested waters. As you can see, I don't care for Alex...I mean, he doesn't even have the cute thing going on.

I would love to be on Survivor but I don't think I could get past the eating challenge(s), sleeping on leaves, the bugs, the snakes, having to use the bathroom in the middle of nowhere, the bugs, the snakes, starving, thirst, the bugs, the snakes, never changing my clothes and oh yeah, did I mention the bugs and the snakes?

Idol gives Back

So what can I say about the show last night? I don't like to watch the weekly results show because I don't want to sit through the agony of waiting to see who is voted off. On top of that I can't stand that they make the person who was voted off sing one more time. How do they expect someone to sing when they've just had the rug pulled out from under them? Seriously!

I sat down to watch last night since it was the "concert" for Idol Gives Back. My cable started having problems and the picture was all messed up for the first 30 minutes. I decided to go back for a little while but just wasn't all that interested in the performances. See, I don't feel that you need to have a concert so that people can donate. The stars don't need to give their time to a concert, they just need to give their money. Idol has been promoting this enough that all they have to do is ASK people to go to the Idol website and donate. Why do we have to be bribed with a concert to donate to a good cause? I donate without listening to a concert. I'm selfish in the way that if I am at a concert, it is for my enjoyment, and not because it's an incentive to donate.

As for the results...HOW HOW HOW could that do that to poor Jordin! If I was her, I would have a coronary right there on the stage! Then how would they feel? I still don't understand how Chris and Jordin were in the bottom. Phil has been good in the last few shows, but I don't think he can hold it up there with the likes of Melinda, Jordin and Chris. If you haven't guessed it by now, I DO NOT like Blake. I think he has such a monotone voice with no feeling. I don't understand where the judges said that he sang John Lennon's classic with feeling. He was putting me to sleep. All I could think was "How dare he sing a master like John Lennon like that". I think the judges were supposed to be supernice this week because of "Idol Gives Back". I've never heard Simon be so positive to everyone in one show, ever!

Now we have to wait another week for the results. I still like Idol because I think Ryan really lightens things up and is a good host. Some of the tit for tat between him and Simon go a little far, but for now Idol still has my interest.

My First Blog

I have a blog! Wow, I can't believe it. My first time blogging. I've commented on other people's blogs, but never had my own. So why do I have a blog now? Why after years of posting comments and reading others, do I have one? It all comes down to one reason.... Peer Pressure. That's right, I caved in to peer pressure. No, not from my fellow bloggers, but from my friendly co-workers. See, I have been having these conversations with my friends at work and we get to talking about TV and how I have turned into a media junkie. More specifically, a Reality TV junkie. We get to talking about the reality shows I watch and I of course give my unsolicited opinions. Many times it has been suggested that I have my own TV talk show to "give my opinion". Then the idea of a blog came up. With the help of those peer pressure firendly co-workers, I decided to blog about the reality TV shows I watch.

Now, I'm not one to blog every day and I'm not even sure if I'll be able to keep it up, but I am going to give it my best. So for my first entry...oh wait, I've already started my first entry. LOL Ok, so I'll keep this one short...I think.

Last night I was surfing the onscreen TV Guide that came with my new 47" flat sceen TV. I saw that ESPN2HD was showing the Met-Rx 2006 World's Strongest Man Competition. I LOVE watching it. I just think it's amazing how men from all over the world lift these objects (like a car) to win the title of Worlds Strongest Man. What hooked me even more last night was that there were 2 Americans fighting for the title. I hadn't seen a WSM where an American had won. Granted I have only watched for the last 5 years or so. Anyway, it came down to Mariusz Pudzianowski from Poland (I did that without looking it up folks), Phil Pfister from the US and Don Pope from the US. The announcers were saying that it was 24 years since an American won the title. So I was glued to the TV to see if Phil could pull it off. It looked hopeful but it would not be by a landslide. By the final event, Phil had closed to 1 point behind Mariusz. The Atlas Stones was last. They have to pick up different size/weight stones and place them on a platform. The men were neck and neck and then on the last stone Phil got his stone up there within a second or two before Mariusz had his settled. USA brings it home!

So there you have it. My very first blog about my Reality TV addiction. Thanks for reading!