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.

Yes. When I was watching this happen on the show I was thinking, "Is this even allowed?"

Kevin Sbraga wasn't the only one dissing "Asian" cuisine on that season of Top Chef (S7). Kenny Gilbert and Timothy "Tim" Dean were even worse. The latter two were openly sneering (let me rephrase that – SNEERING with curled lip) at Angelo Sosa for cooking ONLY "Asian" (according to them), whatever they thought "Asian" to mean; and one of them - as an example - simply dismissed contemptuously a dish Angelo was cooking as another "Asian dish" because it had a few drops of soy sauce, never mind that everything else in that dish was European in nature. These two chefs (and to a lesser extent Sbraga) conveyed the impression, at least as portrayed by the show as I recollect, that they thought "Asian cuisine" to be beneath contempt.

Not JUST a princess. She played... Riiiiight......she is to be the MONARCH over all..... See here: http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Precious_Cargo_(episode) Heh. As it happens, I am playing Season 2 of ST:Enterprise - from my CD set of the whole series right now. I do this from time to time; I enjoy this iteration of ST quite a bit.

Thanks for the clarification. Indeed they ALL were using their bare hands.

Regarding "hands", contd: Chris (of Joe S and Chris) did have gloves on sometimes, like when peeling the yellow beets: ...but also did not, including when he was plating the dish - like with those green beans, as shown below: So – EVERYONE used their bare hands to handle AND plate their food, including RIGHT IN FRONT of both the judges and the diners. As previously noted, Adrienne was shown rubbing her nose (one of the largest depositories of bacteria and germs) with her bare hands then went back to prepping her food with those nose-rubbed-hands. It is unfair to Joe Sasto to single him out, if one were inclined to lean in this direction. ETA: All of them also shook hands with various people, like the judges and famous chefs (thereby transferring germs from the hands of those other people to their own hands) - then went back to prepping their plates with their food using those same bare hands. ;-)

Regarding "hands", contd...Here are some screenshots of Joe Flamm and Carrie: (The second and fourth shots also show their hands SLATHERED with the same food that went into the dish, replete with all their germs and bacteria and whatnot) There would seem to be a period when Joe F did have gloves on: ...but it would seem that wasn't done for all the plating of the zucchini - see Carrie woman-handling them in the immediately previous shot..

Hmm. Do you eat sushi, especially nigirizushi? Anyway, regarding "hands" in this episode: Here are screenshots of Adrienne & Bruce handling their food. Note the second shot where Adrienne RUBS HER NOSE (and then goes back to handling the food with those same hands; the third shot is not immediately after, though). Bruce is handling those chard leaves that were used to wrap that too-runny corn concoction.

Indeed, Kevin Sbraga skated by so, so many times. and escaped elimination by just being not quite the worst each time. Much like Adrienne this season. Kevin S also got the sheer luck of drawing Mike Voltaggio as his sous chef in the finale in Singapore, even if he had "studied up on" the local cuisine. IMO his "victory" was due more to Mike V rather than himself. As for Kevin Sbraga's culinary endeavors without Mike V to help him - ALL of his restaurants in Philly have closed. He is, currently AFAIK, out of the culinary scene for the time being.

Additionally, the best sushi is not always the freshest fish. It depends on the seafood component, but different fishes – besides being frozen, are also aged (yes, literally aged - like beef; or, for that matter, like game meats) for different periods depending on which fish it is. (Shellfish would tend to be served as fresh as possible, yes) Based on the above statement, one might suppose, then, that you would never eat sushi or sashimi, especially in a high-class restaurant? Unless, perhaps, if you sit at the sushi bar and "see" the tuna and other fish cuts and are allowed to smell it and poke at it? [One can see the fish, but anything more I think it unlikely the itamae in most places would oblige] See my comment above. If you go to the finest sushi restaurants in Japan or anywhere else (including in the USA) and expect to be served the freshest fish straight from the ocean and that had been alive just a few hours before you may be disappointed. Here are a few references for those who were not aware of this: https://www.thesushigeek.com/the-sushi-geek/2016/02/05/719 http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2052187/why-hong-kong-chefs-age-fish-used-sashimi-and-sushi-just-good https://www.quora.com/How-does-a-top-sushi-chef-age-different-fish http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/food/freshest-fish-doesnt-always-make-best-sushi And, in the vein of talking about sushi and sashimi, here's some stuff on the tuna that goes through Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, from which places like Sukiyabashi Jiro, one of the most famous sushi places in the world (and any number of other sushi places there), get their tuna. Note: the tuna has been frozen, for days, out of the water for days; and will be aged further by Chef Jiro Ono (and now his son) for days longer. https://www.google.com/search?q=tsukiji+market+tuna