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Hell’s Kitchen 5/6 Live Blog

So here we find ourselves yet again. So strap in and let us go!

For our challenge we find ourselves at the Original Farmer’s Market. The chefs will be cooking for a Sweet 16 party. Each team had 25 minutes and $100 to come up with 2 appetizers and 1 entree. When they get back to the kitchen they had 45 minutes to prepare and serve their food.

Matt suggested a sushi pizza on a tortilla. It was quickly shut down. Back at the kitchen Matt said he would peel the sweet potatoes but he needed a peeler. Ben suggested that he just use his knife (Duh). Matt appears to be getting ready to throw a fit but I am not sure. Matt then says to Ramsay that he was at a 16th party and that it had no influence on their dishes. Petrozza seemed a bit shocked that it wasn’t just Ramsay tasting but the girl and her mom.

The women were talking about how picky 16 year olds were. I wonder if they were actually considering California teens. In California we tend to be a bit more interested in foreign cuisine because it isn’t that foreign. Now I have to take back my previous statement. This girl hadn’t even had shrimp before.

How the judging worked was dishes would go head to head and which ever team had the most dishes chosen would win. The guys’ wing dish won out over the womens’ shrimp dish. Round 2 was the girls’ halibut with rice vs guys’ sweet potato mash with asparagus and shrimp. The girls won round 2. Round 3 was the entrees. The girls had a flank steak with fries and the guys had fillet mignon. The young lady had never seen pomegranate seeds and thought they looked odd and unappetizing. The guys won the 3rd round and there fore the whole challenge.

The girls’ punishment was to decorate for the Sweet 16 party and worse yet had to deal with the party planner. The guys go to go be like teenagers by starting their day at the go cart track. Then the guys got to Kerry Simon’s (one of my favorites from the Food Network) for desserts!

That night, Corrie sets her sights on taking Lou Ross down. By what ever means needed (hot tub anybody?). But there was no romance between them.

Service this time will be for the party. It was the normal menu plus the winning dishes.

Shayna was focusing on her salsa dish completely during prep. The girls were complaining about her. Christina is on the hot appetizer. I wonder if this will spell her final demise because that seems to be the most vulnerable position. And when she forgets the mushrooms in the birthday girl’s dish and then the parmesan it isn’t looking good. But 45 minutes in and almost all the appetizers were at so apparently it wasn’t too bad. Rosanne had to do the birthday girl’s entree again after she had got it. Ramsay ends up getting Rosanne out of the way and made the birthday girl’s food himself. Shayna was taking a long time on garnish and then Corrie said it might be her weight because she can’t move around the kitchen very fast. I am more over weight and I dare Corrie to come into my kitchen and see if my weight prevents me from cooking efficiently (Yes, hit a nerve;).

Matt was holding up the guys’ and their entrees. Then the fish on the birthday girl’s mom dish was over cooked and sent back. Then Matt made it under cooked. When Bobby took over the fish station Matt said, “Your acting like I am doing a bad *** job”. To which Bobby said he was. Ramsay accused Matt of hiding because he let Bobby run it.

Dinner service was completed! Then Ramsay had a surprise for the birthday girl. He had arranged a performance by her favorite bad.

98% of the guys’ customers said they would return and 99% of the girls’ customers said they would return. So there was no loser so both teams had to put up someone. Of course Matt was put up for the guys. The girls had to evaluate and didn’t have such a clear decision. Shayna said Rosanne and Rosanne said Shayna. In the end Matt and Shayna were nominated even though Ramsay said that under cooking the birthday girl’s steak was horrible (Rosanne). So Ramsay called up Rosanne, Shayna and Matt. Matt asked to stay and be put on the girls’ team. Ramsay put Matt back in line. Then he sent Shayna home and put Matt on the girls team. The girls are already not happy. I think next week we may see Matt go over the edge.

Technorati Tags: Hell’s Kitchen, Fox

Top Chef 4/30

Quick Fire Challenge:
The guest judge is Art Smith(Oprah’s Chef). The quick fire is a 15minute entree but they could use the Uncle Ben’s products, including the microwavable rices. I am already predicting that Mark isn’t long for this competition. Dale, Richard and Antonia were the top 3 with Antonia winning.

Elimination Challenge:
Inspired by the group call Common Threads, they are to devise a meal for family of 4 that is simple to prepare at home for $10. The key term is so simple a child can do it. They are shopping at Whole Foods and that would be hard. The only way I keep my per meal cost down is by using an ingredient in many dishes. Therefore you use it all.

So after all the whining and moaning at the grocery store all the chefs finally bought all their stuff. So each chef got a kid to assist them. I saw Antonia’s assistant reach out to shake her hand and she gave him 5. Then she tells him that he will “get” to cut all the veggies with the big knife.

Mark says he is concerned because he is doing a curry and his assistant has never had one. Duh! We are in America and most people here don’t eat curries all the time. In the “British Empire” it is considered a comfort food but not here. He needs to either trust the food or change it.

Menus:
Lisa- Roast Chicken with Edamame and Black Beans, Peanut Butter and Apple French Toast
Spike- Pasta Puttenesca, Carrot Soup and Roasted Apples
Richard- Roast Chicken, Apple, Avocado, Beet Salad and Black Beans
Dale- Turkey Bratwurst with Potatoes, Onions, Cabbage and Apples
Andrew- Chicken Pailliard with a Shaved Fennel Salad
Antonia- Chicken Vegetable Stir-Fry with Wheat Noodles
Mark- Vegetable Curry, Cinnamon Rice and Cucumber Salad
Stephanie- Couscous with Veggies, Chicken in a Peanut Sauce, with a Apple Yogurt Granola Dessert
Nikki- Roasted Chicken with Mixed Vegetables with Tomato and Cucumber Salad

Judging:

Mark got dinged for not enough protein. Dale got dinged for to strong of flavors. They were saying that Antonia’s food was real life for her and they loved it. Stephanie’s couscous wasn’t well cooked and the judges thought that tomato and peanut wasn’t a good combo.

Andrew, Nikki and Antonia were up in front of the judges first. Nikki’s one pot was a big hit. The judges loved the combo of orange and fennel salad in Andrews. They just loved Antonia’s and she won!

The judges then saw Lisa, Stephanie and Mark. Mark claimed the reason he was in the bottom was that Tom didn’t like him. Mark was slammed for just using sweet potato and cucumber, especially with out enough protein. Lisa’s edamame was bland and under cooked. Lisa’s beans were also under seasoned. I totally seconded Art Smith’s comment that couscous just isn’t that hard to cook. Stephanie’s dish was also just to complicated. In the end Mark was out.

Preschoolers and Pedicures

Over at Silicon Valley Moms Blog there is quite a discussion going on about preschoolers and pedicures. Is it appropriate for a kid who is still sucking her thumb to be getting a pedicure? My gut says no way in the world but… Now the NerdPie (4) would love for me to paint her toe nails but NerdDad and I have always agreed that she isn’t old enough. But some of the commenters had some great points. How is this different than getting a toy as a reward? Or ice cream? But on the other hand, girls who start things this young start to feel entitled to certain treatment and I don’t want to have to deal with that issue. So what do you all think? Chime in here and let me know!

Hell’s Kitchen

This week is going to be another real brief summary. The kids all had big events this week and I got sick. Hopefully next week I can be more detailed;).

The girls won the challenge to make an expensive gourmet pizza with a pizza created by Jen. As a reward the girls got to go to the home of the $90 burger in Santa Barbara. The guys got a 2 part penalty, first was to prep the pizzas and the second was to deliver pizzas. Vanessa’s hand was pretty bad so she chose to leave Hell’s Kitchen. During all this the guys seem to be fighting each other.

During service Matt seemed unable to make the quail eggs properly so Bobby took over. Rosanne seemed to single handedly knock off the entire red team’s mojo until Jen too over.

Both teams actually completed service! So no one lost but they both had to put up a person. The girls put up Christina and the guys put up Lou Ross. But as a reward for completing the service, Vanessa was the only person to leave this week.

Technorati Tags: Hell’s Kitchen, Fox

Favorite Books?!?!?

I think I am in love with some new books! Everyone knows that I love The Well Trained Mind and use it as a guide for my homeschooling. I also use Story of the World for my history spine. So this is all well and good for your kids but what about those of us who missed out on this type of rich education? I personally am reading along the kids but I would like my classical education to not take another 12 years.

Well, it seems I am not alone. Susan Wise Bauer has written The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had. This goes over improving reading skills, creating a reading schedule, and book lists. To complement this, she has also authored The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome. This is written in the same delightful style as Story of the World but just a little more maturely. I checked it out from the library to see if it was worth the buy and it is! It is easy to just pick and read a little, go chase the kids (or whatever you all have to do) and then come back and read some more.

So if any of you feel a bit ripped off in the education arena, do something about it. After all you are a responsible adult;). Go check out these books!

Matzah Casserole

Welcome to Freezer Friday. The goal here is to make our lives easier. Due to the fact I have 4 little ones and homeschool, I need all the help I can find. Simply post a recipe that can be made, frozen and then later reheated(thawed, etc) and consumed. Make sure that you include freezing and reheating instructions in your post. Then come here and add you post (not your blog) into Mr. Linky.
Now for some disclaimers:
If it isn’t a recipe, I will delete it.
If it can’t be made ahead, I will delete it.
If you don’t have a family friendly site, I will delete it.
Now onto the food fun!

Matzah Casserole

Just because Passover is over, we can all eat matzo all year. I came up with this recipe quite a few years ago to use up leftovers. I don’t know if I would call it a recipe or more of a method.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lube up (with fat of your choice) a baking dish (of your choice).
2. Take a couple of eggs and come water and mix it up to make a dredging liquid. I would also add any herbs, spices or seasonings you would like. At this point don’t make the liquid to thin, you want it like a batter(ish).
3. Pick the leftover meat of your choice. By picking (a southern term) I really mean shred. Now, I have done this with cornish game hen and beef roast but I am sure it would work with anything.
4. Put a layer of meat in the bottom.
5. Now dip so matzo (what ever will qualify as 1 layer across) into the egg mixture and place it on top of the meat.
6. Continue until you have used all your meat, ending with a layer of matzos on top.
7. Top with oil and cover with foil.
8. Bake for 30 minutes (for 8 by 8) to an hour (9 by 13) or until matzos are set and everything is warm.

**To make this totally not kosher but extra yummy, you could also add cheese into the layers.

I would put it into the freezer before baking and then take out and thaw. Then cook according to directions.
I am sure that you could also add root veggies but I have always had them on the sides.

Technorati Tags: Leftovers, Freezer Friday, Make Ahead, Kosher