Top Chef Finale

The finale of Top Chef Chicago just ended, and I think this is the first time that a Bravo contest show goes the way I want it to go. I usually feel like as soon as I take a liking to someone, they get cut. And in a couple of cases, the person I dislike the most ends up winning (Top Chef seasons 2 and 3, Project Runway the to most recent seasons).

I was a little disappointed in the twist in this episode. Last season it was "make another course" half an hour or so before the meal started, and this time it was "your sous chef isn't showing up." I realize that removing the sous chef doubles the work that they have to do (or cuts the opportunities), so it is probably harder to execute than the extra dish. But the drama just wasn't there, I was expecting something else. Though it is probably a good thing that they are allowing the chefs to really show what they are like with minimal interference, even if it is one of the few times that it happens throughout the season.

I wish the Tabasco Ice Cream for the oysters would have gotten made, I'm really curious what the judges would have said.

As for who won... I won't ruin it for the one person who I know is actually reading my blog but didn't see the show :)

Fresh Start

So... its been a while. A long while. And for that, my (few) readers, I apologize. Matthew and I went to Per Se for his birthday, and I planned to gush about it in a few thousand words here about the exquisiteness that is Thomas Keller's kitchen. But, it turns expressing enthusiasm on paper is hard. Really hard. I did a few drafts, but I felt I wasn't getting across how much we anticipated the lunch, so I eventually gave up. And then I didn't post anything for a month and half because I felt I needed to get Per Se done before I did anything else.

But, this weekend Matthew inspired me. He was reading "Writing your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day," which among other useful advise, said to start writing in small amounts (10 minutes every day) in order go get used to the process of writing to think, rather than thinking to write. I had also read somewhere that to really become a food blogger, the process of cooking and writing have to fuse, which doesn't just happen, it takes progress.

So here I go again, I'm giving this blogging thing another try. No extravagant promises this time, I'm just going to write about what is bouncing around in my head. This way I can write about the things that I'm thinking about (the cute kids on the times dining section on 6/11 who will eat anything, the meaning of salad, the best food picture I've seen in a while) versus the things I've been eating (take out Chinese, yogurt, the deli of my office building).

(About that last extravagant challenge, I've basically become vegetarian at home, primarily for budget and environmental reasons, and its hard to do Mexican food without meat. Not a good excuse, not even a true excuse, since it is perfectly possible to have vegetarian Mexican food, I know, but planning is hard and time consuming, and not really how I eat or even think about food. Which I guess is then really my real reason :) )