Week Ending 11/15/2009

Top Chef 6 - Las Vegas:

The guest judge this week was Nigella Lawson who is sexy but I've never been a big fan of her cooking shows. The Quickfire Challenge had the 6 remaining cheftestants prepare breakfast in bed for Padma and Nigella (they were in separate beds, perve.) Robin's breakfast of course sucked and as usual she was all "I was unhappy with my dish." Of course you were, you blow. Bryan's dish also ended up in the bottom but only because he added vanilla to it which Nigella didn't like. I dunno, it looked and sounded great and I'm not sure how vanilla could have ruined it. For reasons unknown, Jen made "Shit on a Shingle" and actually CALLED it that! WTF!?! Michael made a nice dish, and Kevin made an interesting twist on "steak and eggs" by adding coffee beans, but it was Eli's Reuben/Eggs Benedict sandwich that won the Quickfire, and earned him the one and only slot from this season to be including in the new Top Chef Quickfire Challenge Cookbook. Good for Eli, as that will probably be his last honor in this season.

For the Elimination challenge, the chefs were each sent to various casino/hotels in Vegas to be "inspired" and then turn their inspiration into a dish for 250 guests. That's a LOT of work for each chef, but you just knew who would do well and who wouldn't.

Jen again tried to sabotage herself and in the "stewing room" where they wait to find out their fate she just kept saying, "Just send me home already." Nice. Nothing like giving up.

Eli went to "Circus Circus" and somehow decided that meant peanut and popcorn soup. WTF? Sounds gross. Chef Tom blogged that he actually kinda liked it, but ultimately Eli failed to pull it all together. Padma said that she NEVER wanted to try to eat it again. Nigella was afraid to even try, but ultimately did after the other judges gave it a go.

Michael won by making a nifty chicken wing dish inspired by firefighters of NYC. It had a little sweetness and a little heat and had a semi-frozen blue chees mousse on top.

FINALLY getting the boot was Robin who tried to make things that she'd never done before (again) and failed at it (as usual.) She claimed that she had been an artist and I think she should do everyone a favor and go back to doing that as she just sucks as a chef.

*******

I went and saw Michael Jackson: This Is It and it shows how he was involved with all aspects of the show from auditioning backup dancers to watching the shoots of the little videos that would appear on stage during the different songs. He looked to be in good shape, danced well, and for the most part his voice was in fine shape. I do think they "augmented" his voice by playing the album version of the song at times 9probably as the audio was poorly recorded when he sang it live (remember, these rehearsals weren't supposed to see the light of day) but when he did sing live that were obviously live, he sounded really good.

*******

Fringe was pretty decent although I saw the first "twist" a mile away. Next week should be amazing as it is about the "Observers." Yes, that's an "s" at the end. Stargate:Universe was kinda boring, and Sanctuary wasn't very good (again.) Smallville was quite good although the "Wonder Twins" weren't really given much to do. Lois believed Clark to be "The Blur" and showed him that she was ok with the idea (so why Clark continued to lie to her is a little odd) but this episode did mark the appearance of "Clark with spectacles." Lois also realized, fully, that she is madly in love with Clark and when he risked her life (or so she believed) to try to save her, that just cemented it. Survivor had one of the best Tribals ever as Evil Russell found a Hidden Immunity Idol for the second time WITHOUT A CLUE! Amazing. It led to a great tribal where the "other tribe" cast 7 votes to evict him (although Shambo's was a sham vote...just for looks) and they were all nullified by Russell playing the HII. It was awesome.