chiaros

It's interesting - the resistance of 'Murcans (and, to a lesser extent, "Western Folks") to bone-in meats. Speaking generally, of course; there are always exceptions. The reluctance of 'Murcans to have bone-on ribs in a Chinese dish, or a whole fish where you have to pick the flesh off the bones, or chopped-up chicken pieces where the bone is entirely left in --- it is curious how so many people resist these things. Cooking meat with the bones endows the dish with more flavor - and in many cuisines the resulting "separating of the meat from the bones at the table" is NOT an issue, and handled easily. Cooking steaks bone-in has even been thought by many 'Murcans to be desirable, yet just as many dislike it - perhaps because of the "inconvenience" of having to cut off the meat from around the bones. So interesting.

Perhaps it might be a notion to consider that paisley, tweeds, tartan, flannel, allblack, leather, frilly lace, whateverelseyouhaveinmind - are but artifacts of the suppositions imposed by *some* folks on what "fashion" or "tone" needs to be. "Fashion" is but an artificial construct lacking provable declarations about a person's (or, even, a FICTIONAL character's) idea of himself or herself. ETA: And, in this vein, I also note that it has been reported that Joe Sasto has several leisure suits including a banana/canary yellow one which he wears at certain functions, and revels in it too. Why not? It sounds like something that would make my lip curl at the corners in both amusement and delight - but I imagine fashionistas would recoil in horror at even the very notion of it. Because they wouldn't be caught dead (or alive) in it?

Yes, Padma didn't have a boobage problem this episode. What a surprise. You're right. I take it back. She DID have a boobage problem. And she definitely looks like Morticia Addams here, except that even M.A. did not spill her boobs out like that. But P.L. does resemble more this "hair wig model" as shown here, boobs and all. Somehow she managed to be more "covered up" in the early parts of the episode - maybe that was what I remembered when I made that post.

A couple of updates: https://www.eater.com/2018/3/14/17101836/sheldon-simeon-lineage-maui-hawaii-opening https://www.pressreader.com/usa/hawaii-tribune-herald/20180213/281986083020413

Titles of Season 3 episodes given here: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/comments/83nzja/season_3_episode_titles/ WARNING: The posts subsequent to the O.P. (where the titles are given) have lots of spoilers (all "blurred out", though, until you hover your mouse/cursor over the blurred text and brief outlines are given) of what is thought to happen in the episodes (or at least the main thrust of the episode).

Joe F did say "nine people" but I suspect he meant that plate #9 was the "Beauty Plate" for the camera shots.

Joe Flamm even called it by an "inverted" name, "Tonno Vitellato". :-)

https://www.google.com/search?q=paul+the+octopus https://www.google.com/search?q=octopus+intelligence https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-mind-of-an-octopus/ http://theconversation.com/octopuses-are-super-smart-but-are-they-conscious-57846 ...and regarding eating them... https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/eating-octopus

OK, you liked Adrienne more. I might just murmur, though, that one might broaden one's horizons to include folks who are non-white-non-black. Just a suggestion. As for "the douchey Voltaggio" – that is your opinion, of course, and you are fully entitled to it. I myself thought Michael Voltaggio was a very worthy winner, and he expressed his drive and reason for being the chef he was very well at Judges' Table in the finale of Season 6. His comments made clear why he was the person he was. If you skim TC seasons you may well have missed this. I never thought his reactions towards others in his season was "douchey" - rather, they were the result of his being driven to create excellent food, and folks who got in the way of that were liable to be caught up in his drive. His brother included, let alone people like Robin.

They were interesting vids. And yes, as you say, Adrienne was a "good egg" – but she did acknowledge that even she herself thought that Joe F was likely to win as dinner service proceeded towards the end.

Also Hung Huynh (S3), Kristen Kish (S10), Mei Lin (S12), and Brooke Williamson (S14) who were all also not white males. So that makes 7 out of 15 TC winners who were not white males. That's a 47%winning rate for non-white-male winners. That's not shabby at all considering the preponderance of white males in the higher echelons of the food industry in the USA at the restaurant level. (What one might think about that is a different topic) But I also suspect that those complaining about "another white male winning" don't see non-whites-non-blacks (of whatever sex) in their calculations (and only white or black females that they approve of). ETA: There were also eleven runners-up (out of 15 seasons, including S3-S7which had double-runners-up)) who were not white males. Coming in second isn't too shabby either, and the representation of talent in this pool shows that "white males" don't dominate Top Chef.

Yes, Padma didn't have a boobage problem this episode. What a surprise. Curtis Duffy looks a lot older than I would have expected, from what he looked like just a few years ago. (Yes, I ate at his previous restaurant and have seen him in person) I'm sure folks also know (or, for those who do not) that Grace (the restaurant that Duffy helmed in Chicago that got those three Michelin stars Top Chef "touted" on this finale episode) has closed, and Duffy is embroiled in a dispute with the owner of Grace. https://chicago.eater.com/2017/12/20/16803456/grace-closing-curtis-duffy-michael-muser-dispute https://chicago.eater.com/2018/3/7/17091032/grace-owner-alleges-chef-duffy-muser-took-truffles-wagyu-more https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/missing-wagyu-legal-beef-between-chef-curtis-duffy-and-grace-owner-heats-up/ https://chicago.eater.com/2018/1/11/16878848/grace-owner-investor-olszewski-interview-blames-chef-duffy-closure Of course, when they shot this season of Top Chef (in summer 2017) Duffy was still helming Grace. But since then......

I like John Tesar. His life's journey and travails and recoveries I find humanizing and affecting. His cooking chops, too, I think is not in question.

Joe Flamm on the finale: http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/season-15/videos/joe-flamm-reacts-to-the-top-chef-season-15-finale Adrienne Cheatham on the finale: http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/season-15/videos/adrienne-cheatham-opens-up-about-the-emotions-of-the-top-chef-season-15 Adrienne says that as the meal went along and as she was tallying it up she began to realize that Joe might take it.

Agreed for the most part. Glad Joe Flamm won. (I would also have preferred a Joe vs Joe finale - but that's water under the bridge) For myself, I would have preferred Joe F’s dishes every course, I think. I thought Adrienne's dishes were either somewhat overwrought or skated towards being mish-mashes. Including her 1st course. It also seems to me that a dish can be "innovative" or "inventive" but the question is does it taste wonderful? Do the ingredients make sense or are they just...innovative? Joe Flamm was also inventive but in a more subtle way, I thought - like his inversion and play on Vitello Tonnato in his first dish, and it seemed to be very tasty. Adrienne’s first dish was ooh and aahed over by the judges but it seemed different diners liked different parts of it, even though Padma and Gail loved it in its entirety.** Tom C mentioned the uni and ham worked well together, and for myself I’d like that too – but buttermilk dashi? Um…no. Joe F’s pasta dish brought together less-seen ingredients with vision and - thanks to Joe Sasto, who contributed to the conceptualization and was basically the one who enabled its reduction to practice - was quite, quite lovely. I would have just admired it for a while before reluctantly putting my fork into it, and them promptly ordered another round of it. But the octopus and inky grits? Not for me, thanks, but you’re welcome to it. Asparagus cooked in asparagus juice, plus bone marrow sauce - sounds like a sublime combination. OK, chewy ribeye was regrettable - but...why not just turn a chunk of it on the plate by 90 degrees and cut against the grain? In other circumstances, steak that still has texture and some resistance to it sounds nicer to me than meat so soft that it is mushy. The short ribs sounded nice, but the beans - half-mashed beans - um...I’ll pass; and Nancy Silverton also said it was dry. That chocolate cake and the fixings for it - glad they/Fatima finally got it right, and it looked very elegant and attractive and it seemed it tasted wonderful, if mis-named. The ricotta wouldn’t have bothered me. That not-banana-pudding with blobs and bits and pieces scattered over the plate - it looked like something that fell off the counter and smashed to bits on the floor. In this case, too, the mis-naming had to do directly with what one expected the tastes to be; whereas in the other case the mis-naming merely had to do with who would have made it. ** And that tuile, which seemed very important to the dish, was successful only because of her getting specific cooking advice and info midway through the 2-day cooking process from Chef Ripert.