June 25th, 2009
There was the usual amount of drama on Sunday night’s episode of the Next Food Network Star. It seems that this year, someone is always crying, but maybe they just hired better editors? Who knows…….
In this episode Tyler Florence met the contestants in a market in a market, where he gave them instructions for their next task. They had to shop for a dinner party for 12 people. The catch? They only had $60 to do so. Throughout the course of this challenge, the contestants had to stop at the camera where Tyler critiqued them as they gave a 30 second budget food tip to the camera. As usual some of the contestants did well, others not so much.
The next day, the contestants were driven to Ina Garten’s house in the Hamptons. This was the mystery setting of their BUDGET dinner party and their guests were to be Ina’s friends and the selection committee. Yet another “twist” revealed that the contestants would have to cook in teams of two. Each team would have one hour to cook an appetizer, entrée and dessert.
Jeffrey won the first challenge so he was the only contestant that could choose his partner and he chose Michael. He chose wisely because this duo won the challenge. Michael was a little off tonight, but Jeffrey saved the day. However, he really needs to think of something beside the “crepe story” because everyone is getting sick of it.
In the elimination room, Debbie’s fears about Teddy were realized. He made a terrible dessert and did not want to take credit for it. He actually tried to take credit for a dish they collaborated on and again throw someone under the bus, just as he did with Melissa last week. Even the judges were not buying it and he ended up saying he was sorry…..and crying. (What a jerk!)
In the end Teddy and Eddie were left. I think they both deserved to go. Debbie really carried the whole meal and the presentation and Teddy was still ready to try and take credit for something he did not do. And Eddie…..I just do not even know why Eddie was ever on this show. He was down right mean to Melissa and he obviously can not cook.
I do not know if anyone caught the fact that Eddie made a salad with raw onion, watermelon and feta cheese that everyone hated. In fact, Susie Fogelson said it was “inedible”. Guess what? He got the recipe from a Paula Deen cookbook. After he revealed this fact at elimination, no one criticized the recipe again. Interesting…….
Eddie was sent home, but I really think Teddy will be next. No one is ever going to trust him no matter how much he cries and apologizes. At least we are rid of Eddie Munster…… (I know it is mean, but the resemblance is uncanny.)
June 15th, 2009
Last week, we learned that catering a party for 75 people in five hours was not an easy task for anyone. No surprise. This week, we witnessed how difficult it is to prepare a recipe for the male readers of Esquire magazine and present that recipe on camera. Not easy either. Even more difficult is to be assigned a holiday and have to design a meal around that holiday and present it to be the selection committee and reps from Good Housekeeping. What could be worse on the nerves? Having Giada De Laurentiis as a guest judge. She is nasty! Giada’s attitude is getting bigger than certain other parts of her body.
Luckily, Brett’s food was not really good and he bombed on the presentation so it was his time to go. But it was not soon enough. Brett and Teddy manage to throw Melissa under the bus by blabbing to the judges that they helped Melissa plate her dishes. What nerve! They offered to help her, she did not ask. Due to creative editing, the viewer could not really get a good idea to what extent they helped Melissa, but it was probably only less than a minute. They both could have just kept their mouths shut. I think Brett knew he was on the way out and thought that by making Melissa look bad, it would help his chance of survival. Guess not Brett.
One final note about last night’s show. I am still up in the air about who I think will win, but at this point my top picks are Jeffrey, Michael or Jamika. Creepy is the only word that I can think of to describe Eddie and I think that Debbie is prasied too much, she will eventually fall. What do you think about who got voted off?
June 7th, 2009
Tonight is the premier of the fifth season of the Next Food Network Star, hosted by Bobby Flay. All of the contestant’s bios are covered on the Food Network website. I am just interested to see if a star will really emerge. Some of the past seasons have not been the greatest. Guy Fieri is the only true “star” that has come out of the show with Aaron McCargo, Jr. and Adam Gertler both coming in at a distant second. Season one and season three winners are no longer on the air.
The thing I love most about the show, is watching the other Food Network “Stars” really go at the contestants. I think this is one of the most difficult reality shows. These Food Network people can be nasty! Watch out when Giada is a guest judge!
Stay tuned for more after the show……….
June 7th, 2009
Last month, my husband and I went to New York for the weekend. It was my little niece’s baptism on Sunday and we were there for less than 48 hours; however, we did manage to squeeze in as many culinary delights as possible.
The minute we landed, we hopped in a cab and met my brother and his wife at Orsay; an adorable little upper east side French Bistro. Sitting there on a beautiful May afternoon, sipping a wonderful Sancerre, while enjoying a delcious Croque Monsieur, I did forget for a moment that I was in NY.
After lunch it was straight to our hotel, The London NYC in midtown. We chose this hotel because Gordon Ramsay is behind all of the food. He has two restaurants in the hotel and they handle room service as well.
We had reservations at the more formal Gordon Ramsay at the London for that evening. I was very excited. I am sometimes wary of these expensive, multi-course meals because they often leave me disappointed. But, being Gordon Ramsay fans, my husband and I decided to give it a try, despite the hefty price tag. I also had the opportunity to wear a gorgeous Philip Lim dress that i had been saving for the occasion.
We both chose to have the five-course tasting menu with the cheese supplement (why not?) and wine pairing. We began our meal with a glass of champagne, chosen from the lovely champagne cart that was wheeled over by a member of our wait staff team and then the meal began…..
Each course was paired with a delicious wine that was explained and poured by the sommelier. Even after four courses and as many glasses of wine, we did manage to polish off most of the wonderful cheese course.
Despite being unbelievable full and a tad bit drunk, we were delighted when the bon bon cart was brought over, as a prelude to our real dessert. . Each course was exquisitely presented and the restaurant was formal without being intimidating. It was truly a remarkable dining experience that my husband and I will never forget.
The next day, we woke up and you would think that we would be sick of food after a five-course+ meal, but no, not us!! We are in NY for two days and we were going to eat as much good food as possible. You can not come to NY without getting real NY pizza. (It is just not the same in Florida). We grabbed an early lunch, (late breakfast or just a pre-lunch snack maybe?) at the famous Ray’s pizza and then did some shopping along Madison Ave. We did have to work off some of the food we had been consuming.
That afternoon was my niece’s baptism and yes, we ate again. My brother and sister-in-law had a lovely lunch for family and friends at Centolire, a upper east trattoria that specializes in traditional Italian-American cusine.
Sunday evening, we had reservations at the infamous Waverly Inn with my good friend and her husband. The concierge at our hotel managed to get us reservations at the still apparently hard to get in celeb favorite in the Village. I am not really into restaurants that are famous just because they are impossible to get in, but The Waverly is different. The food is really good. The truffle mac and cheese is one of the best I have ever had and let me tell you….I am the truffle mac and cheese aficionado. It is one of my favorite dishes and I ordered it anytime it is on the menu. The Waverly’s is one of the best! I also recommend the hamburger, shorts ribs, and the tuna tartare. They are all delicious.
I could not ask for more than spending time with family and friends, while experiencing great cuisine. It was a perfect weekend!
April 6th, 2009
Last Sunday, I went to the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show again and attended the Paula Deen VIP supper and book signing. This event was sold out.
I have to say, I was excited to see Paula and I had high expectations after the Bobby Flay cooking demo the day before. Unfortunately, the “supper” was disappointing.
The Menu was as follows:
Georgia Cracker Salad
Chicken Boudine
Vidalia Onion Cornbread
Wilmington Island Marsh Mud Cake
Sounds good right? Well, it was not. I know that all of the recipes were Paula’s, but I am sure, if she had made them, they would have turned out quite differently.
Let me begin by saying the “supper” was $110.00 per person, so it was not cheap. (I put “supper” in quotes because it was at 4:15 p.m., not exactly supper.) All we had to drink was tap water. Not even ice tea, soda, etc. The room itself was terrible and not appropriate for a VIP lunch.
The meal itself was just awful. The salad was already on our plates and it tastes like a glob of warm mayonnaise with saltine crackers mixed in it. The chicken was cut into little pieces and mixed with dried out pasta. The whole thing was overcooked and drowned in bad cheese. Then, on to dessert It sounded promising. Who doesn’t like mud pie? However, this one was just a bad brownie with some chocolate sauce. Needless to say, the whole experience was disappointing. It was like being at a really, really bad wedding.
I know Paula did not cook the meal, but her name was on it. People drover for hours to attend and paid alot of money. Her people should make sure that whoever is catering a lunch for her should meet much higher standards.
Eventually, Paula came in with Michael and sat a table in the front and starting signing books. We were rushed up table by table and allowed to have 2 books signed while her bodyguard took a picture.
I actually had her sign a copy of my favorite Paula Deen recipe, Is it really better than sex cake? If you have never tried this cake, go immediately to the Food Network website and download it. You have to make this cake. It is a simple boxed vanilla cake batter and then pineapple, pudding, whipped cream and toasted coconut is added. It is delicious!
So, basically, my husband and I paid $220.00 for a signed Paula Deen book and a picture. Oh well, at least I got to meet Paula and Michael! Lesson learned: Attend cooking demos and not a lunch or dinner catered by the Metropolitian Cooking and Entertaining Show.
April 6th, 2009
Last weekend I attended the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show in West Palm Beach. On Saturday, I went to Bobby Flay’s cooking demo. He started with a Grilled Lobster Cocktail with coconut milk dressing. He gave a lot of great tips on how to grill lobster without overcooking it. The dish looked delicious. Then, he made a Spanish spiced ribeye with sherry vinaigrette and ended with a homemade butterscotch pudding.
Not only is Bobby Flay a terrific chef, but he is really funny. His presentation was not only informative, but very entertaining. After seeing him in person, it is easy to see why he is so popular. The chefs on the Food Network not only have to cook well, they have to be able to entertain an audience.
He also shared some juicy tidbits about Iron Chef. Someone in the audience asked him when he really finds out the secret ingredient and he said right when you see it on TV, as the lid is lifted. He did say, however, that they have about 5 minutes until everything is ready and they start cooking so they have time to make a game plan. That is something that I was always curious about because on TV, once the secret ingredient is revealed, it appears that both teams start cooking immediately. I always wondered how all the sous chefs knew what to do.
I sat in the sixth row for Bobby’s cooking demo so I had a great seat. I could really watch him cook and I could even smell the food. Unfortunately, I was not one of the lucky ones that got to taste it.
Then after the demo, I had tickets to his book signing. Let me tell you, he is really cute in person. I have never attended a book signing before and they really have it down to a science. You wait in line forever only to have about 5 seconds to get a book signed and take a picture. I know, some people would probably stand there all day so they have to keep the line moving. But, it was great because I did get to meet Bobby.
I highly recommend his latest book, Grill It. The receipes for the dishes above are in the book. His new book, Burgers, Shakes and Fries comes out in a few weeks. I will be looking forward to it.
February 26th, 2009
The Sunday night episode of Iron Chef this week was one of my favorites. I just got a chance to watch it last night and I was pleasantly surprised. Challenger Amanda Freitag took on Iron Chef Bobby Flay in battle Alaskan king crab. Bobby Flay is always great to watch and I LOVE Alaskan king crab. It is such a great ingredient; I was really interested to see how each of the chefs would handle it without overpowering the crab itself.
After Alton got Amanda Freitag to be quiet (I am sure she is a great chef but her constant comments were rather annoying), the battle began.
I did think Chef Freitag had a couple great looking dishes. The play on green eggs and ham with the crab pancake was very clever and looked delicious. I would have loved to try her spaghetti and crab with the fennel, leek tomato sauce. That is one dish that I am going to try to replicate. I really love the combination of crab and pasta. If anyone has a good recipe, please let me know.
However, Iron Chef Flay certainly did not disappoint. His crab cake with the pinot noir poached egg in a hazelnut butter sauce looked amazing and his crab gumbo with the fried okra looked like a great twist on a classic.
I was slightly worried because the judges had very favorable comments about Amanda Freitag’s dishes and were more critical of Chef Flay. In the end the Iron Chef prevailed, but only by one point. I predict that Chef Freitag will be back for a rematch.
Also, check out Chef Freitag on Chopped this week. This time she appears as a judge.
January 21st, 2009
One of my favorite new shows is Ted Allen?s Chopped, which debuted last week. I think it is really interesting to watch what different chefs can do with the same ingredients.
On the first episode, in the appetizer round, one of the ingredients that the inspiring chefs had to use in the dish was octopus. This is a very difficult ingredient to cook. I have been cooking octopus for a few years now because my husband loves cold Italian seafood salad. I am going to offer my tips for dealing with this unusual ingredient.
I typically boil the octopus for about 20-25 minutes. Then, I like to cut off all of the tentacles and purple skin because it is rather tough. On Chopped, the octopus looked smaller than the pieces I normally use for my recipe. So, just make sure to boil it until it is tender if you buy larger pieces. When making the seafood salad, however, I find that the octopus holds the flavor of the marinade better and becomes more tender without the purple skin.
My cold Italian seafood recipe is as follows:
pound octopus cut into pieces
pound shrimp
pound calamari
3 celery stalks
Juice of 2 lemons
Olive oil
1 tbsp. black peppercorns
5 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper
Fresh parsley
Fill a pot with water and add salt, peppercorns, 3 garlic cloves, and celery. Bring to a boil.
When water is boiling, add shrimp. Boil for about 3 minutes. Remove shrimp and put into a large bowl to cool.
Add calamari and boil for about 3-4 minutes. Remove and add to the bowl with the shrimp.
Last, add the octopus and boil for 20-25 minutes until tender. Remove and clean the purple outer later and tentacles as described above. Add to the bowl with the rest of the seafood.
Next I like to drain the water and remove the celery because I like to add it to the seafood salad.
Once the seafood has cooled, add juicy of 2 lemons, cup olive oil, salt and chopped fresh parsley.
Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours, preferably 24 hours. The longer the better.
This salad is really delicious and healthy. This is may favorite way to make it, but there are many different versions and you can add any seafood that you like and any other herbs you like.
Enjoy!
January 13th, 2009
There are plenty of other blogs where you can read about what happened on Food Network shows and read gossip about the hosts. So, I have decided to focus on the food. I will be talking about the food featured on my favorite shows and offering information and tips. I will be trying some of the recipes and will share how they turn out.
Recently, there have been a few shows that have caught my attention. I am a Ted Allen fan and I have to say I did not think Food Detectives would be good in the beginning but is quirky and amusing. However, his new show Chopped, starting tonight, looks promising. The show is going to feature challenges in which 4 new chefs must take ordinary ingredients and turn them into an exceptional 3 course meals. I also really like Anne Burrell’s show, The Secrets of a Restaurant Chef. She offers great tips and manages to make everything look easy. I am going to try her Pasta Bolognese this weekend and I will let you know how it turns out. (It really looked great when she made it.)
Sunny Anderson’s Cooking for Real, is a great show for people who want simple, affordable recipes that are easy to do. Sunny really loves her food and that makes you want to try her recipes.
Guy Fieri is like the new Emeril.(he may not like that analogy). He has several shows on the Network, as well as a best selling book. He is the new “star”. My favorite is the Ultimate Recipe Showdown. I love to see how home cooks from all over the country come up with these great receipes.
And…..last but not least, Iron Chef is still my favorite show. Every episode is full of information about all different types of food and it is always interesting to see how the chefs utilize the secret ingredient. I will recap Alton Brown’s amazing Food tidbits, as well as try to replicate some if my favorite dishes. Every time I watch Iron Chef, I think, “I should write that down” or “I need to rememeber that.” So, that is what I am going to do.
The Food Network has come along way and has gone through many changes lately. There are many new shows and new hosts on the horizon. I would be very interested to hear what shows are your favorite and who is your favorite new Food Network host???
Please stay tuned for more…..
July 29th, 2008
I did not write about most of this season?s Next Food Network Star because I was traveling a lot for work this summer. However, I just really have to comment on the season finale and the winner.
Let me begin by saying that I do not think Aaron should have won. I think Adam and Lisa were much better qualified. Aaron did not even perform well on camera except for the last episode when they shot the promo spot in Las Vegas. This was not at all fair because he had the easiest promo to shoot by far. He walked through a lobby at a hotel and rolled dice. All with the help of Bobby Flay as a coach! How did he do such a good job? PLEEEAASE!
Meanwhile, Lisa was suspended in the air while trying to remember her lines and Adam had to dance with show girls. I must say, although I love Guy Fieri, he was not the greatest coach in this situation.
In the end, all three went to the final and Aaron received the big title of ?The Next Food Network Star?. It is my prediction that he will fade into the night just like Amy Finley and the Hearty boys. I also suspect we will definitely be seeing more from Lisa.
I am not even going to get into the fiasco of the Food Network posting the winner’s video before the last show. What is going on over there?
What do YOU think? Am I the only one who was not won over by Aaron?s charm? Am I the only one that is becoming more and more disenchanted with the Food Network?
