carrps

Do you mind me asking why? It's not an overtly religious holiday (and besides I know lots of Jewish families who celebrate a secular version of Christmas), and nearly all my friends in high school were Jewish, and they ALL celebrated Thanksgiving. It wasn't something I'd heard even a whisper of being a holiday Jews don't do.

My BiL is from Maine, and he had the same stories. Only the poor kids "had" to eat lobster back in the day. Me? When I visited them when they were living there, I scarfed up as much lobster as I could. I loved that I could get lobster rolls at the hamburger shack in their small town.

Justin's dress was just another boring, simple silhouette with one more gimmick. It looked like a cat had stepped in tar and walked all over his fabric. And enough with the tears. Sweet Jayzuz. Both my sister and I said "cheerleader" when we saw Dmitri's dress. To me it was a 60s version of futuristic (think "2001"). For a cheerleader. Impeccably made, but oddly frumpy. I also kinda liked Michelle's to my deep surprise. Although I HATE that shade of fuchsia. Very old lady. I rather liked Sonjia's. THAT was a dress you could party in (I'm assuming the blue was stretchy). Benjamin's (wasn't he always Ben in his season?) was cheap looking -- that lame is so tacky -- and that flimsy blue (looked dingy grey to me) "lining" looked like a mistake. Gunnar's was AWful. Ugh. Chaotic, my ass. He has very minimal skills. Everybody's already said what I thought about Helen's. Why didn't any of the judges ask her model to raise her arms? I'm sure she couldn't. And what was with those cutesy little looks between Nina and Helen as she left the runway? The Travelling Sisterhood of the Latina Bitches? Is Nina angling for Helen to be the winner and be her intern? Weird and icky. Please put Sam out of her misery. That dress was worse than either Kate's or Gunnar's. Although I'm pleased Kate is gone. For good, it can only be hoped. I was unmoved by ALL the sob stories. Please. No more.

P.S. I also have eaten at JAR (Suzanne Tracht from Masters). I just noticed a commerical on TV that had been filmed there. Very good. She found her way into my heart with fried clams (I have a weird obsession with fried clams). And the butterscotch pudding is to die for. Be sure to leave room for it if you go there. P.P.S. I almost forgot about Campanile (Mark Peel's -- another Master). I took my brother there for his birthday about five years and went about four times before they closed, because it was so comfortable with yummy food. I will always fondly remember his grilled prime rib with olive tapenade. I haven't been to the airport location yet (even though I live in PDR), because you have to go through airport security and pay for airport parking. Also, a lot of the Yelp reveiws say it isn't as good as the original restaurant. Bummer.

I ate at the Langham when Michael Voltaggio was still there, and it was awesome. As someone said about their husband above, the two items on the tasting menu that I thought I'd be iffy about turned out to be my favorite courses (marrow; foie gras). It was super tasty, but the venue is a little formal. I can see why he wanted to move to a place of his own. The sommelier was awesome, though. When he realized we weren't the stuffy type, he was very funny and really was a highlight of the dining experience. I still remember one wine that he said smelled like kerosene, but didn't taste it. And it did (and didn't)! It was amazing. I think I still have my menu around somewhere -- I'll have to see if I can find it. The couple seated next to us asked to go back to the kitchen, so I felt a little inhibited about asking, too. But I had the most recent copy of Los Angeles magazine with Michael's picture on the cover, and he very graciously autographed it with a short message. I want to go to Ink now, because this was such a good experience. Michael Cimarusti was on Top Chef Masters, right? My birthday dinner at his Providence (in West Hollywood) two years ago was, hands on, the best meal I've had so far in my life. It was a three hour meal, but the time flew by. Service was perfect -- attentive, but not obsequious-- and the food was so, so good. It's primarily a seafood restaurant, so appropriately enough, my least favorite course was the veal filet (a little bland, but still good). There was a super cheese course, and the appetizer of 3 molecular "cocktails" was so cool. My favorite was the Screwdriver which was a globe that just dissolved in your mouth. Not Top Chef, but last year's birthday dinner was at a Chopped winner's -- Ado in Venice on Abbot Kinney. Best veal chop I've ever had. And the beet linguini with quail ragu was soooo delicious. I was so happy the server suggested that we share some of the courses, which worked out really well. I actually had room for dessert (yummy panna cotta)! And the house Prosecco was excellent. Maybe I'll go to Ink for this year's bday!

I know that people often use a pillow tied to their belly to simulate pregnancy. But AM is ALREADY pregnant, so why did her stylist have to tie a pillow to HER stomach??? That runway outfit was heinous. But less heinous than her two cupcake horrors previously in the episode. I like Sonjia's dress all right, but thought there were dresses worse than Chris's out there last night. Justin's was fogeyish and had another ill-fitting bodice. Damn. He should take model-molesting* lessons from Zac Posen and learn how women's breasts actually are made. Dmitri's was definitely a dance/skating costume. It was mainly the feathers and bling. Michelle's was head-scratchingly odd. And ugly. Helen took a bathmat from Jayne Mansfield and attached it to bolster from a Golden Girl's sofa. And I don't watch Modern Family (I tried but found it dull and un-funny and too sit-commy), but whoever she was would put me off it. She was very annoying. *I know he's really not molesting them, but I liked the alliteration.

I think it's because she's pretty. DVF likes her just because she's pretty. Other than that, she's pretty useless. Kier reminds me of Allie Wentworth in "Office Space." Or in anything else Allie Wentworth has done.

Not a Justin fan. When others aren't slobbering all over him, he's slobbering all over himself. I also saw a lot of his pipette dress in last night's dress. And I thought the pipette dress was just a basic flapper dress with dangly bits. Not so impressive. It's like his glue gun "lace" -- gimmicks stuck on uninteresting shapes. I think Chris's arm was twisted to come on this show. Also, agree with whomever (sorry, didn't notice the name) who said Kate was probably the last one they could get to fill out their roster. And she will always say yes (to the dress). Why can't they just use a smaller amount of contestants for these All Star seasons and give them more time to impress us? I've got to think they're scraping the bottom of the barrel (to the extent of having TWO previous winners on) because so many former designers don't want to enter the monkey cage again. Michelle is really weird. Really, REALLY weird. But? Mostly obnoxious. I mostly like Alexandria. She has the driest sense of humor and a distinctive pov, so I was sad to see her go. I've been spoiled, so I don't know if I'm going to watch after next week. This episode was bad enough.

After that TH, I had an extremely visceral urge to slap his face. Also, it seemed to me that Katsuji was blaming Greg to a certain extent for what he (K) served as gluten-free. He didn't have to take Greg's suggestion, and it wasn't necessarily Greg's place to pull K's butt out of the fire. Makes me less impressed with K's skills. He only seems to do well when he's in his wheelhouse.

I've always hated pretzels. I think they're like overly salty dog biscuits. Yum??? Anyone watch "The People's Couch?" That's the only non-Top Chef show on Bravo that I watch anymore. This past week's episode showed them watching "Top Chef." One of the "people" on the couch made some comment about Aaron being at Bow and Truss and saying she wanted to go back and order his bad dishes from that episode. Made me laugh.

Heh, her personal "style" is ridiculous and about five years out of date. She just tries waaaaaaay too hard.

Yes, she did. Which is part of the reason I thought she should be the winner. She deliberately traded off with Nicole on the sculpt and with Stella on the starfish shield because she wanted every piece to have her hand in it. There were times when Drew seemed more like a coordinator than the primary designer. And I loved Rayce basically tell Drew "no" when Drew was trying to get him to change the painting. Oh, and octopussy. Mr. Westmore! One last thing: Lois is a very petite tiny lady, but she dresses SO well. I wonder if a lot of her clothes are custom, because they always fit beautifully, complement her figure and are appropriate for a lady of her, um, age. She looked spectacular last night. Yay for Dina!

I absolutely agree that Joy didn't need to take the bone off those chops. I've NEVER had a veal chop off the bone, and if I was served one that way I'd think it extremely odd. As others have said, she needed to pound them, then grill them. Did she volunteer for the chops or was she stuck with them? It looked like she didn't know how to cook them. However, I'm sad she was eliminated so soon. Haven't the slightest number of fucks to care about Mei's language. I'd have been worried to be stuck with Mr. 20 ingredients and Ms. Brussell Sprouts salad. Not a Swayze fan so I thought it was really odd to get a tatoo with his face. Maybe because I only know women who are Swayze fans because they saw "Dirty Dancing" at an impressionable age. Heh. Blech, Aaron looks like an equal opportunity jerk. Previews show him being an ass to Katsuji next week.

Just saw Tiffani win the Top Chef Duels, and there's someone who has completely redeemed herself. It can be done.

It was more than likely the next day. Could have even been later the same day.

Sasha is 22. Rachel is 24. Two years difference is a LOT at that age. I don't mind Sasha as much as some others (there was an Asian girl who annoyed me much more in an earlier season 2? or 3?), and she is very talented. If she can get more life experience and confidence I think she can have a decent career. As much as I like George's personality, I think he should have gone this week. That was a complete nothing. ETA: I loved Dina's Goblin band nerd, but then I love Megan!

Ha! A Sister Wives' production of Chicago!

I can overlook the plug holes issue, because, to me, most of their issues with anatomical problems are more related to how a make-up would work on set --- impeding movement or expression. I think of the plug holes as more of a decorative facet in this situation.

I loved Sasha's. Totally on board with her win. I think there's as much (if not more) skill in restraint than in piling on details, so I think that's why she won over Cig. I have not been a fan of most of his work at all, but I was pleased by what he was able to create from just 'dark water' and 'clowns.' Nice. George's was horrible. HORRIBLE. I don't know why they didn't do a bottom 3 and have only 2 safe. I'm glad he wasn't eliminated, but he should have had to face the wrath of Glen for that really poor work. I was happy that Dina was able to pull out such good work when she was struggling so the first day. I'm really hoping she makes the final. I think an all female finale would not be out of the question. None of the guys have impressed me consistently. But, yeah, just gag Sasha. Listening to her is painful.

I think Glen was wearing a British military sweater. I watch a lot of UK TV shows, so I've seen a lot of 'em. Guess it was a tie-in with the G.I. Joe theme. My choices for the winner and loser were Dina and Keaglan (I've been calling her Kegle), so I agreed with the judges since they agreed with me!