Big Girls (and Boys) Don't Cry...

There were 6 contestants left on The Next Food Network Star last night. They were taken to Fort Dix to take the M.R.E.'s (Meal Ready to Eat) for the Marines. Paul pulled himself back from previous weeks to win the challenge, but it proved to be too much for JAG who had memories from his time in the Marine Corp. The smell of the chemicals used to clean their weapons brought it all back for him and he just didn't come through with his cooking. That and maybe being a little too over-confident.

The next challenge was to create a meal for the Marines that would make them think of home. They were divided into teams of 2 and Paul (being the winner of the challenge) picked his partner, the other teams and what they would make. Paul and JAG got the meatloaf, Amy and Rory got the lasagna, and Adrien and Michael got the Chicken Pot Pie. They were given 2 hours to prepare and cook their meals. How they could expect a chicken pot pie to be created in 2 hours for all those Marines is just beyond me! JAG and Paul's luck almost ran out on them in the kitchen when their ovens weren't working. JAG came to the rescue and deep-fried the meatloaf. Thinking it wasn't going to work Paul just went along with it because they had no other choice. Everybody LOVED the meatloaf and JAG and Paul won the challenge. The least favorable dish overall was the lasagna because it just lacked oomph. However, Rory and Amy's presentation to the Marines kept them alive.

At one point during the evaluations Amy started to cry because she been trying to find the line between private and public and she realized that there isn't one. Giada DeLaurentis (guest judge for this week) just nodded her head in agreement that your life is just an open book when you are a Food Network Star Then Rory started crying and then Michael started crying. Ok, ok, so JAG cried when the judges were talking to him, but he had a legitimate reason with being at Fort Dix and the memories of his time when he was enlisted coming back to him. The other 3 were just being cry babies. You don't sign up for a show that is going to be on national television and not expect to have everything out in the open. There is no privacy anymore. Which is why I don't do reality TV shows is because I don't want to put myself out there for everyone. As much as I want to be on Survivor or other reality shows, I know I can't do it. So wipe those tears and either go home or get on with it and try to be the Next Food Network Star!

Pack your knives and GO!

Season 3 of Top Chef kicked off last night and boy was it a doozy. The cheftestants were treated to a nice lunch, but then were immediately thrown into a quickfire challenge. The challenge required them to create an amuse bouche out of the leftovers from lunch. Only through watching the first two seasons have I come to understand what this means. It seems that at least one of the contestants (Clay) was one of those people who did not know what it was either. He created a large granny apple with fruit inside. Now while that may have tasted good, it was not what the challenge was all about. So he was at the bottom when it came to judging the quickfire challenge.

Clay then needed to redeem himself in the elimination challenge. That challenge was a protein challenge, or as Chef Tom Colicchio explained, it was a Surf and Turf. This was going to be different because they had more exotic ingredients like Eel, Snake, Black Chicken, Geoduck, alligator, sea urchin and more. Clay served up Pan Seared Wild Boar Chop and Cornbread Dressing with Scorpion Fish. Just the name makes me NOT want to eat it. The judges ripped his meal to shreds and said that it was the least desirable dish there. They also ripped apart Howie because he didn't get his frog legs on the plate before the timer ran out. Therefore, he only served half his dish. However, it turns out that the judges loved what he did get on the plate, and wish they had the chance to try his frog legs. He even "talked back" to Anthony Bourdain when he asked Howie,"What is your major malfunction?". Howie fired back with a quote from one of Anthony's books and Anthony called him a Son of a Bitch. I don't think he was being mean because he actually looked like he was smiling. This move was probably what saved him in Anthony's eyes.

Clay was finally told to "Pack your knives and go". I am a little sad to see Clay go, but of the other cheftestants I didn't see anyone else that should go. Of course I would not have eaten ANY of those dishes due to the "exotic proteins" provided, but the judges seemed to enjoy most of them. I can't imagine how they can do the judging and just not get fat from everything they eat. I look at it and gain 5 pounds! LOL