Live Blogging Top Chef, Week 12
Hello Top Chef lovers, wherever you are! With Valentine's Day just around the corner, why not join us in posting a few hundred sweet nothings to the reality-show object of our viewing affections?
As usual, the group-live-blogging festivities get underway at 10 Eastern. Until then, I have a novel time-filler this week: In keeping with the spirit of the season, I've decided to offer a selection of "Valentine's Day Gift Suggestions for the Top-Chef-Lover in Your Life Who has Everything." First up: Why not a Wunder Boner? (What's a Wunder Boner, you may ask? Click here to find out!) Judging from Leah's recent challenges, she'd probably really appreciate one of these. (But Jamie? Probably not so much.)
Don't think that'll tickle your Top-Chef-lover's fancy? OK then, how about food-mixer flame decals? Or a banana hanger? Or an edge brownie pan? (Because who says every brownie can't be an edge brownie?)
OK, enough with servicey stuff. Time to serve up a few highlights from last week:
- Jamie complained that chef Eric Ripert's dishes were boring, and said she preferred more innovative cuisine. In Jamie's case, "innovative" probably means something like "scallop scaloppini in scallop sauce, served over a bed of warm scallops and sprinkled with scallop powder."
- Tom Coliccio shared this pearl of culinary wisdom: It's critical to let your eel "rest" before you hammer a nail through its head. (At least, I think that was it. I'd had few drinks by that point, so I'm a little hazy on that.)
- Stefan won. And then he won again! Even I'm getting tired of seeing Stefan win — and he was my preseason pick to win it all, remember? (Of course you do. I won't let anyone forget!)
- Padma told Jamie to pack her knives, proving the old adage that "there's a pot-lover at the end of every rainbow team."
As for tonight's episode, the preview clips were kind of boring, so I don't have many "things to watch for" this time. Fabio suffers what looks like a fairly serious injury, but — considering Bravo's typical preview-editing tricks — it's probably really a hangnail or a paper cut. And the final four will be selected tonight, which has me shaking my head over how quickly this whole season has just flown by. Nothing good lasts long in this lifetime, I guess. Except maybe … if we're very lucky … love.
And the Wunder Boner. It has a lifetime guarantee.