Top Chef

This week, the quick-fire challenge consisted of making a complete meal in 15 minutes, with the aid of Uncle Ben's microwavable rice pouches. Helllllllo? Can we say corporate sponsorship? I mean, seriously, aside from it being food, what does a ready-made pouch of rice have to do with testing the capability of a chef? In this world of Tivo and other DVRs with capability of speeding through commercials, we're now being forced to hear about products during the shows we watch? Talk about corporate America taking over everything! But maybe that's just me. Whatever.

So the challenge...a couple of things of note...Mark's miso glazed turkey...umm, it didn't look good. It was brown. He tried to add color to the dish with a few tomatoes and snap peas, but it wasn't enough...the brown glazed brown turkey on a bed of brown premade rice just didn't look good. Sorry Mark...you know I love you but that looked gross. And secondly, Mark...dude, you need to learn a thing or two about cooking for people...I saw you once again taste from your stirring spoon, and put the spoon back in the miso glaze. Yuck. Being germ-aware (and not even a germophone), that just grosses me out. It occurred to me that you haven't been taught how a chef should taste...I learned this in cooking school myself. See, there are "tasting spoons" in a kitchen....they look like the miniature spoons you put in a sugar bowl. You dip one small spoon in the sauce, and spoon it into another little spoon. After you taste, the one that went in your mouth goes in the sink, and the one that dipped in the sauce remains clean for your next taste. It's simple.

Also in the quick fire, Stephanie said her dish was an idea she just came up with and thought it turned out good but she didn't taste it...Okay, Stephanie, in the beginning of the show you talked about realizing that a lot of people were going home and it was really getting serious now, and then you served a dish that you didn't even taste...to the judges??? Where is your focus? Is something going on with you. Like Mark, you're one of my favorites that I'm rooting for, but did you not get enough sleep? Drink too much the night before? Are you homesick? Oh, wait a minute, you're from Chicago!!! Step it up girlfriend! I know you can do it...you've had some amazing dishes up until now and it's like you hit a wall.

Richard Blaze...your tuna and heirloom tomatoes and ponzu looked fantastic...and it was obvious the guest chef Art "Oprah's Chef" loved it too. I also thought Spike's rice and veal stuffed tomatoes looked really good...especially since there was a 15 minute time limit! Finally, I thought Dale's stir fry looked delicious...mainly because I love fried rice dishes, and also love Asian long beans.

So the bottom 3 of the challenge...Lisa, Stephanie, and Mark. Interesting...some foreshadowing perhaps? It seems to me that Lisa is living in the bottom three and her head will soon be on the block if we viewers are lucky...her face during her critique, her arms folded across her chest, her overall defensive attitude was just painful. On the flip side, Stephanie as always kept it together, was composed, and at least seemed to listen to what they had to say about her dense pancake that she didn't taste. And at least Mark had a great sense of humor...after they tasted his and asked for sauce and told him it "needed something", he reflectively said, "I don't think I'll be in the top of this challenge, will I?"

Finally, as if we couldn't tell, Antonia won the challenge. Okay, I'm going to say this again...I hate that they do all the voice overs after the challenges. Everything Antonia said up until the challenge told us that she had won it...she was going to pull out the stops, believe in herself, stop second guessing herself....she's here to win challenges! Very easily and confidently said if you know you've already won it! But I was happy to see both Dale and Richard back in the top 3, as I think they are really talented.

Finally, onto the main event...the $10 Dinner for Four challenge.

Okay, I actually warmed up to Antonia during the challenge...working with kids showed us her softer side and helps to explain her steely persona while away from her daughter....that said, they're sudden focus on Antonia this episode totally told me that she was going to win the challenge and kind of ruined the surprise at the end.

Overall, I liked that Richard introduced beets to the kids, Andrew introduced them to fennel, and Mark did a curry. These guys didn't dumb down food for kids, they just tried to make good food that anyone would like. What I didn't like was how all the judges kind of slammed Mark for giving kids a curry. My husband grew up eating all sorts of curries...it's his comfort food to this day. I was irritated that Padma kind of toed the line with the other judges and didn't say, "Hey, curry is a huge part of the diets of people in other parts of the world...just because the U.S. doesn't see it that way doesn't mean that this guy is off his rocker"...but she didn't.

On the other hand, I also thought the pasta dishes were brilliant. Serving Pasta Putanesca to kids was a great idea...they think they're getting "spaghetti" but they're being offered olives, capers, and all sorts of things that are typically not on their plates.

So in the end, the Bottom 3 were, once again, Lisa, Stephanie and Mark. I hope it's Lisa!!! Art "Oprah's Chef" mentioned Lisa's inability to take criticism as potentially harmful for her career....well said. Send her home. If she's not going to learn anything while she's there, clear the path for others! That said, apparently Mark's curry turned out yucky. And dude, looking more closely at your curry...what the hell? No lentils for protein? No tofu? I mean, vegetarian is one thing, but give your dish a little balance. You can provide people with protein without serving meat. And Stephanie...dear, what were you thinking...the combination of flavors was so poorly planned and my goodness, that's been one of your talents up until now! Your perfectly coordinated and well executed balance of flavor. But doughy couscous? I mean, seriously, who can't make couscous? And a peanut sauce with the acid of the tomatoes looked awful. How is it possible that this is what you came up with for a life or death challenge? Again, I love you Stephanie, but seriously, that was a miss. I think the error was thinking she had to dumb down what she normally makes when in reality she just had to simplify what she normally makes...does that make sense? Like rather than making something totally different for the home cook, she could have just simplified one of her more gourmet dishes to make it accessible...which is probably easier said than done, I suppose.

But in the end, it was Mark's day to leave. Poor Mark. I'm going to miss his humor and personality and accent and his slovenly kitchen etiquette. I'll miss seeing him taking bubble baths with Spike, walking around with his moppy hair pulled back in a scrunchy. I'll miss watching him closely while he's working to count how many times his tasting spoon goes back in the bowl. I'll miss wondering if he picks up food off the floor and applies the 3-second rule. Bye Mark. Good Luck. I'll miss you!