Dear Tina,
I successfully prepared dinner for my weekly gathering in the city. I spent a good portion of my afternoon getting the meal in order and after I was done, I took some time to reflect and decided that had the menu been in the hands of one Rachel Ray, she probably could have finished it in 30 minutes. But at least I can say I honed my chopping skills a bit more through the experience.
When it came time to eat, we realized that all of the usual entertainment around which we gather was no longer on the air. Luckily we remembered that tonight was the season premiere of Top Chef. Now I’ve been a big fan of the show since season 2 when they fired the original host who had the on-camera presence of a blank green screen and replaced her with Padma who has the ability to make contestants feel really bad about themselves while smiling. A quality you can’t help but admire.
As someone who considers a well-prepared meal one where I perfectly toast my sandwich bread, I find it fascinating to see the creativity involved with cooking when you know what you’re doing. If, for example, someone told me to create a “yogurt foam,” I would stick a straw into a container of Dannon Light ‘n Fit and blow bubbles. But these people can foam just about anything and when they do it, it looks delicious. Just the sheer speed at which they think and move with so much consideration put into pairing the right flavors and textures, it has given me secondhand appreciation for the culinary arts.
The current season, season seven, takes place in Washington D.C. and if you weren’t already hooked in, I’m sure the promise of a Nancy Pelosi guest appearance during a Quick Fire Challenge will nab you. I was in and out of listening tonight so I missed some of the contestants’ biographies, but I can tell you that this competition has progressed to professional levels unheard of on most reality competition shows. Last season one of the contestants was the Chef de Cuisine at an Eric Ripert restaurant (I wouldn’t have even understood what that sentence meant until this show). This season one of the contestants is an assistant professor at the Culinary Institute of America where many of the chefs trained and only three out of the seventeen contestants are not the actual owners or executive chefs of restaurant where they work. This is no paint store employee with dreams of making it big kind of situation. It appears the more seasons they produce, the smaller the gap between Top Chef and Top Chef Masters is going to get.
On tonight’s episode, contestant John Somerville committed a cardinal sin when he used store bought dough instead of making it himself. Not a good move especially when the challenge is to create a dish that describes you and where you’re from. For this rookie mistake, John was sent home. The first challenge—that has to be brutal. This guy has been nominated for a James Beard award twice and is the chef de cuisine at fancy pants Michigan restaurant The Lark. You would think this means that the show lost a superior talent but again, the standards this season are high and every single contestant has the resume to backup their right to be on the show. Tough break John.
By the time we finished watching the recording of this episode, we were able to tune in for the last ten minutes or so of Bravo’s latest reality adventure, Work of Art. Which Bravo desperately wants you to know is executive produced by Sarah Jessica Parker. I’m sure she lost a bet to Andy Cohen or something. I don’t know how else you explain the association. In any case, my ears perked up when I sensed that we were about to hear the dismissal line for the show. It’s hard to top Heidi Klum’s “Yoh owt. Auf Wiedersehen,” but I love to see these shows try. I’m not sure how many ideas were thrown around at the production meeting but I can tell you that the producers landed on, “Your work of art is not working for us.” … … What is that? That’s what you say to your friend when she’s trying on a romper one size too small, “It’s not working for me.” I imagine there aren’t many puns involving art that could also relate to reality TV, but if that’s the problem than you should have gone the Padma route and given simple instructions. “Please pack your easel and go.” Simple as pie. Take it back SJP. Take it back and fix it.
As of right now I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get into Work of Art which is unusual for me as I can embrace virtually any program that has Andy Cohen’s stamp of approval. The whole artistic vibe just feels a little forced. Like I said, we watched for ten minutes, and even in that short amount of time there was more man-handled hair and form fitting gender neutral jeans than I’ve seen in an hour spent at Espresso Royale in Urbana. For those that don’t know that reference, think Williamsburg hipster meets middle America. It’s all very passive aggressive.
30 Rock Quote of the Day:
Liz: Why are you still here?
Tracy: I love it up here. It’s hot. It’s loud. There’s no pizza. It’s like Miami.
Dear Tina 