Top Chef's Padma Lakshmi's Scandalous Baby Custody Battle With Adam Dell

I remember being surprised when Padma Lakshmi got off a train at the finale of the Top Chef season in which Michael Voltaggio won Top Chef to see that Padma was hugely pregnant.

This sparked a lot of Internet speculation as to who Padma's Baby Daddy was. I remember one unlikely Baby Daddy rumor had him being Tom Colicchio.

Eventually it became known that the Baby Daddy of Krishna Thea was venture capitalist, Adam Dell, he being the brother of Dell Computer billionaire, Michael Dell.

Well.

According to records straight out of Manhattan Supreme Court, Padma refused to put Dell's name on her daughter's birth certificate. Adam Dell is suing for full custody, claiming, in court, that Padma has limited his time with his almost one year old daughter to only 7 hours a week.

Now why would Padma treat the father of her baby this way?

Well.

According to what Dell had to tell the court, Padma had told him that she had been sexually active with a billionaire named Teddy Forstmann at the same time she was busy baby-making with Dell. And that Padma "made clear . . . her hope that Forstmann was the child's biological father."

In the picture above, that is Adam Dell on the right, he being the young looking guy. The guy below, walking with Padma, is what looks to be a much older guy, Teddy Forstmann.

When one looks at those with whom Padma chooses to have her assignations, one must remember this was a woman who was married to Salman Rushdie.

He being the guy who's 4th novel, The Satanic Verses, upset Muslims in several Muslim countries, with death threats, including a 'fatwa' against Rushdie courtesy of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who died in 1989, while Salman Rushdie continues to live.

Without Padma.

Top Chef All Stars: Jennifer Carroll Has Angry Emotional Outbursts & Packs Her Knives & Goes

It took me a week, but I eventually got my DVR to successfully record Top Chef All Stars.

Usually I am not a fan of Reality TV All Stars shows. Not Amazing Race All Stars, not Survivor All Stars, not Big Brother All Stars, especially not Big Brother All Stars.

I never watched Big Brother again after the disgusting non-All Star Mike Boogie Man won, with him only being on the show only because the #1 Big Brother All Star, Will Kirby, would not be on BB All Stars if his non-All Star BFF was not on.

I digress.

I've now watched the first 2 episodes of Top Chef All Stars and I believe this is the first time I am going to like a Reality TV Show All Star iteration.

Angelo Sosa won the first two Elimination Challenges. That sort of seems familiar to how the previous season of Top Chef started.

The second episode really delivered, what with a spectacular angry outburst directed at the judges by Jen Carroll.

I think she may have been sleep deprived.

A pop star with very bushy eyebrows, who little kids seemed to recognize, named Joe Jonas, had the chefs making midnight snacks for kids for the Quickfire Challenge. It had been planned, obviously, that Jonas could not decide between 2 top treats for the win. So, it was off to a New York City natural history museum where 100s of brats would decide who made the best junk food.

The two contenders, Spike and Tiffani, chose teams. who then whipped out the goodies. Tiffani's won. The kids really did not like Spike's at all.

Ready to go home and to bed the chefs were not happy to see Tom Collicchio arrive to tell them their Elimination Challenge had begun, that they were spending the night in the museum. And cooking breakfast for 100s of brats and their parents in the morning.

Due to winning the Quickfire, Tiffani got to pick if her team was T-Rex or Brontosaurus. With T-Rex being a meat eater and Brontosaurus a vegetation eater.

Tiffani picked T-Rex, making an erroneous assumption that T-Rex ate everything, not just meat.

Tiffani's team lost. Jen Carrol was the worst of the worst and she was not happy about it. She argued with what the Judges were telling her, talked back sarcastically, sort of called them stupid. And then after getting told to pack her knives and get the hell out of there, Jen left the Stew Room and as the door shut could be heard yelling and swearing.

Who to? The Judges? No one?

Jennifer Carroll had been a favorite on her season of Top Chef, making it to the Final Four where she flamed out. Something seemed real off about Jen Carroll, throughout the episode. Was she exhausted? PMS? A combo of causes?

I am guessing this was not the last we will see of talking back to the Judges on Top Chef this All Star Season.

Top Chef D.C.: Cold War Sends Tamesha Packing Her Knives

This week's episode of Top Chef ended the cooking for Tamesha Warren after she made badly cooked cold scallops and covered them with hot peppers and a rhubarb based liquid, all of which sort of made the eaters gag.

The Quickfire Challenge was interesting. Chefs chose from exotic proteins, like rattlesnake, gator, duck testicles (or was it some other critter's testicles, with it being the tongues of ducks? I don't remember), llama and ostrich loins, emu egg and other delectables.

Knives were drawn to determine the order of picking the exotic protein. Then the cooking began. Then Padma arrived to throw a twist, shift to cooking the protein of the chef to your right. Or was it left?

This put Kelly Liken on the emu egg, which she turned into an omelet, which celebrity guest judge, Michelle Bernstein, determined was the winner.

Then, with Kelly having immunity, it was off to the Cold War Challenge. Chefs drew knives again, a 1 or a 2, that divided them into two teams. Each team would judge the other's dishes, picking one as the best, one as the worst. With Kelly, having immunity, sitting on the judging side with both teams.

Then it was off to the Presidential yacht, Sequoia to plot strategy. I mean work on their dish. I'm not quite sure why this required floating on the Potomac. Angelo was seeming a bit bizarre, giving advice to others about what they should be cooking. It was not a team challenge. This was offputting to others, like Kevin, who thought all should just concern themselves with their own dishes.

Then it was off to Whole Foods, then back to the kitchen. I think the final prep and serving the dishes took place in a Hilton, but I'm not sure.

The first team presented their dishes to the team over which Angelo acted like leader. Pseudo-girl friend Tamesha Warren was also on Angelo's team. They were all quite hard on their peer's food. Apparently justifiably so, judging by the comments and bloggings of the real judges.

The first group picked Kenny Gilbert's as the worst and Kevin Sbraga as the best. The second group was not as hard with the critiquing. After sampling the plates, Tamesha's was unanimously judged the worst, with Kevin's being the best.

The real judges concurred on the Kevin judgment and gave him the win. Plus a trip to Hawaii. The judges also concurred about Tamesha's disaster dish and sent her to pack her knives and leave.

Top Chef seems to be being a bit more imaginative with the challenges and twists. Very entertaining. That and this episode I learned one can make hummus from dried peas. I love educational TV.

Top Chef D.C.: Tall Skinny Angelo Flirts With Tamesha & Makes Sandwiches at Xie Xie in New York City

I had not noticed that Top Chef Cheftestant, Angelo Soso, was so tall and skinny. But, judging from the picture of him standing somewhere in, I think, New York City, that would appear to be the case.

Several Top Chef seasons ago there was a Cheftestant named CJ Jacobsen. CJ is 6 foot 8. CJ cooking looked uncomfortable. All that leaning over.

Some viewers, judging by what I've read, are not reacting well to what they perceive as Angelo being arrogant. But, I'm in aggreeance with those who think it's okay to act cocky when you back it up by doing well.

I thought Angelo showed his honest, fair, nature at the George Washington's Mount Vernon BBQ Picnic challenge, when he waxed poetic over Amanda's ribs. Telling the other chefs they were the best.

In the latest challenge, that being the Hilton menu challenge, Angelo was paired with Tamesha Warren. Tamesha is from Christ Church, Barbados, hence a charming accent.

Angelo also found his partner charming and went in flirting overdrive with Tamesha, which had Tamesha saying "It is not going to happen."

The Quickfire Challenge was baby food themed. During that challenge we learned that Angelo and others, among the chefs, had reproduced. Angelo has a little boy named Jacob. There was no mention made, by Angelo, of Jacob's baby mama.

Angelo owns an Asian themed sandwich restaurant called Xie Xie. Mandarin for "thank you". It opened in July of 2009.

Angelo hopes to open a chain of Asian sandwich shops. Currently, I believe Angelo has opened 2 Xie Xie's in New York City. One is located in the original Hell's Kitchen at 645a 9th Avenue. The other is a St. Marks Place
location at 32 Street Marks Place, between 2nd & 3rd Avenues.

I want to try Xie Xie's signature Cha Cha La Vong sandwich. Turmeric coated tilapia with cilantro, carmelized onions and dill.

I don't think Angelo is too happy being in New York City in summer, preferring to be back in his hometown of Durham, Connecticut. Angelo said, of New York in summer, "I think it's dreadful and stinks like a fish market."

I have not quite figured out who the top runners are yet, for this season's Top Chef. Angelo seems like he might be in the running. If he doesn't get distracted by too much flirting energy.

Top Chef D.C.: Baby Food Quickfire Hilton Hotel Double Elimination

You are looking at last week's Elimination Challenge winner, Arnold Myint and cooking teacher, Lynne Gigliotti. This week both were told to pack their knives and go.

This was a different sort of Top Chef episode. It confused me.

It started with a baby food Quickfire Challenge where the chefs had to make something that pleased Baby Daddy Tom Colicchio and new Baby Mama Padma Lakshmi as adult type food, and also have a baby pureed version that makes baby happy.

It was a high stakes Quickfire, with 2 winners, with Tom and Padma each picking one. With the winners getting no immunity. Instead getting $10,000. I don't remember who won. I do remember Alex Rezink saying if he won he'd spend the money on a hooker and an eight ball.

I understood the hooker part.

For the Elimination Challenge the chefs had to pair up, as in get someone to agree to co-cook with you. And then prepare a breakfast, lunch and dinner menu for Hilton Hotels, something healthy, easy to prepare, easy to transport. And tasty.

Now, here is where it gets weird. First up is breakfast. If you are the judges' favorites you are safe from elimination. If not, you continue on to cook lunch.

In addition to the regular judges we had returned cheftestants like the older Voltaggio brother, Bryan and that annoying Mike Isabella guy. Plus the sometimes amusing Spike from a previous season.

So, some were safe, the rest moved on to cook lunch. After lunch it was down to three pairs. Arnold and Lynne, Kevin and Kenny, plus Kelly and Andrea.

Dinner gets served. The judges eat. After that is where it got weird.

Now, did I miss something or was it not true that the worst chefs ended up cooking dinner? With the good chefs made safe from elimination?

So, Padma called the three dinner cooking pairs to the Judges' Table. A little discussion and then it's announced that Kelly Liken and Andrea Curto-Randazzo win.

Huh? What about all those who successfully cooked breakfast and lunch?

And then it got even weirder. Kelly and Andrea won very nice vacations for two. One to Italy, the other to Spain. Or was it Portugal?

Then after more discussion it was decided that Arnold and Lynne were the ones who needed to go.

Lynne was a first rate ass. Hard to believe she can go back to teaching chefs now. She was totally arrogant about her noodle cooking, Arnold wanted to get them boiling. Lynne insisted she was the world's noodle expert. In the end it was her undercooked noodles that did them in.

Or so it seemed.

Am I the only viewer perplexed by how a winner was picked on this episode?

Top Chef D.C.: Tracey Bloom Packs Her Knives & Goes

You are looking at Tracey Bloom. I don't know if Tracey is any relation to Orlando or Brian Bloom. I do know that on Wednesday's Top Chef D.C. Padma told Tracey to pack her knives and go.

Tracey had trouble making a pie for the Quickfire Challenge. Try one was a disaster. The rushed Try 2, also did not go well. If I remember right, blueberries were involved

Tracey's partner in a previous challenge, Angelo Sosa, made a really bad sounding pie. I think curry may have been involved.

When Tracey was Angelo's partner she gushed about having a crush on him. In the same episode, the one about making a healthy school lunch that kids would eat, Tracey said kids were close to her heart due to helping her girl friend raise hers.

I'm guessing this means Tracey is a girl who likes girls. Which is a fine thing. I only mention it because Tracey was, by far, the most likable girl who likes girls ever to be on Top Chef.

Tracey is funny, good-natured, self-deprecating and I don't think we saw any anger directed at anyone but herself. Very much not the stereotype. And I think Tracey is cute, in a Rosie O'Donnell can be cute type of way.

The Elimination Challenge, that sent Tracey home, involved making a grilled picnic type dish, to be served to D.C. interns, while doing the grilling at George Washington's Mount Vernon.

Was George rolling over in his grave over this? Who knows. But there was a moment of some sort of divine guidance when a bird attacked with a dropped projectile that hit direct on a chef's table while the judges were getting their plates of food from him.

Tracey's grilled picnic had some problems. She couldn't grind meat fast enough to make her intended sausages. So, she turned them into sausage sliders. Which were really big, and in which she'd stuck un-ground fennel, which overpowered a bite or two.

I thought it would be the annoying Stephen Hopcraft who was told, by Padma, to go, due to his disgusting looking fish wrapped with bacon, that apparently was cooked all sorts of wrong. I would have thought, all things being equal, and with both Tracey and Stephen not doing well, send Stephen home and keep Tracey, because she's funny and likeable, while Stephen is sort of a personality-less, annoying toad.

Another annoying toad, Arnold Myint, won the Elimination Challenge with his grilled meatballs.

It's only a couple weeks in, with this being an entertaining season of Top Chef. I'll keep watching. I always do.

Top Chef Season 6 Finale Part 1: Jennifer Packs Her Knives & Goes

So, it'll be the Voltaggio brothers, Bryan and Michael and Kevin Gillespie cooking in the Top Chef finale. One of Jennifer Carroll's Elimination Challenge dishes was too salty for the judges' taste and thus the pack your knives order.

Micheal won a latest edition Toyota Prius by winning the Quickfire Challenge of cooking some grape concoction in the onboard kitchen on the Napa Valley Train.

Kevin gets motion sickness, so the cooking on a train was not good for him.

Before the chefs got on the train, it had to arrive, while they sat waiting at the station. When the train choo-chooed in, off came Napa Valley Top Chef Masters finalist, Michael Chiarello and a pregnant Padma.

Jennifer remarked something like Padma is one hot pregnant lady, while Kevin commented on Padma's baby bump.

I am a little confused about the amount of time that lapsed between when we were in Las Vegas and now in the Napa Valley. Some reference was made to it being 6 weeks. Kevin made a comment about his beard now having its own Facebook page. So, does this mean the chefs went home and were able to watch themselves on Top Chef? It seemed like they were in Vegas in summer. The Napa Valley episodes take place during a fall Napa Valley festival called "The Crush."

Anyway, for the Elimination Challenge the chefs had to each cook a protein and a vegetarian dish for the aforementioned Crush Festival. In the end, Bryan won. He didn't get anything though, like a car, like his brother did.

Next week I'm guessing Kevin wins Top Chef. Or maybe Bryan. I suppose it could be Michael.

Top Chef Las Vegas: Robin Leventhal Packs Her Knives & Goes

Robin really was a bird with extra lives on Top Chef, outlasting many who seemed to be more highly evolved in the cooking ability department. I liked Robin. She seemed nice. I'm a little surprised she has a little bistro in Seattle called Crave that went under in the current bad times. She did not seem like a Seattle girl to me. Why? I don't know.

This week the chefs had to cook a dish for 185 or so, inspired by a casino. Robin drew Bellagio. She walked in and saw the huge Chihuly glassworks on the ceiling. Somehow that inspired her to make a dessert using gelatin and sheets of melted sugar. The sugar failed, as did the dessert bearing any resemblance to anything Chihuly ever cooked in one of his glass ovens.

I did not really understand why Robin was the one to go. Eli Kirshtein's Circus Circus raspberry popcorn white chocolate soup seemed so much worse and had both Padma and the nice English guest judge, hating it.

The Voltaggio boys and Kevin were on top again. Jennifer Carroll joined Eli and Robin at the bottom. Michael Voltaggio was once more acting jealous of the praise Kevin gets, even though Michael won this round with his chicken wings inspired by New York, New York.

A person claiming to be a friend of Robin's wrote an interesting blurb at one of the ubiquitous TV forums...

"As a "friend" of Robin's, I feel obliged to stand up for her. But I also know her, so I think a great deal of what you saw there...the scattered behavior, the inability to focus and find her footing is, pretty much, oddly, not her. I have been around her and yes she is a mover in a kitchen and is hyper. That said, she is a good cook. A cook, not a chef. I asked her why she went on (Top Chef) and (she said) she knew it would be something out of her element, but the money and exposure was something she needed. Her own place closed earlier this year and she is working, but not enough. She has huge medical bills, etc. And is genuinely one of the nicest women I know.

I have another friend who turned this show down because of both Tom and Padma. I have always hated Chef Kojak and with each passing episode I come to loathe him a little more. I prodded Robin about these two and she was gracious, and by the way she just calls the brothers intense and Eli immature. I am hoping to get her drunk and maybe she will be more forthcoming."

Top Chef's Padma To Be A Ma, But Who's Pa

Top Chef's sultry hostess, Padma Lakshmi used to be married to, despised by the Iranians, novelist, Salman Rushdie. That pairing seemed very odd to me. They divorced in 2007.

According to Padma's spokesman Padma is pregnant and the pregnancy is a medical miracle due to Padma having endometriosis, that being a condition where the lining of the uterus grows into other areas of the body, usually causing infertility.

There is no word as to who Padma's Baby Daddy is. I am fairly certain we can rule out Tom Colicchio.

In addition to Top Chef, Padma is also an author, a model, a jewelry designer and is developing a sit-com for NBC, along with developing a baby.

Padma is one of my favorite TV personalities. I hope this baby deal works out well for her.

Top Chef Las Vegas: Preeti Mistry's Pasta Salad Not So Pretty

This week's Top Chef started off with a spud Quickfire Challenge being judged by one of the Top Chef Master's Chefs, who's name I do not remember, but I know he is quite famous in culinary world.

With all sorts of spuds to choose from, the chefs came up with quite a variety of what looked like good things to eat. In the end Jen won again. The guest judge did not like Jesse's extra spicy sweet potato soup, or the potato thing that Ron cooked.

Jen did not win money, just immunity.

For the elimination challenge a military guy marched in and told the chefs they would be cooking for 300 returning and leaving military people and their families, out at Ellis Air Force Base.

The night before, the chefs had decided to pair up, with each pair cooking one dish. Jen was in charge of running the kitchen.

Jen did a good job. She is one sharp cookie.

In the morning the chefs were taken to the base where they learn they'd be cooking using mostly canned goods found in the mess hall kitchen. A poorly equipped kitchen with limited ways to heat food and no blenders. Somehow a variety of proteins were available, including shrimp and a slab of bacon.

It was interesting watching these talented, well a lot of them are talented, chefs come up with tasty stuff with their limited ingredients and means of cooking.

So, the food gets cooked and delivered, along with the chefs to a plane hangar, where they set up a buffet line.

The judges arrive, then the troops. The army guys are liking what they are eating.

There was a bit too much isn't this wonderful that we can do something so wonderful for these soldiers who are keeping us safe (fighting in 2 unnecessary wars). It all seemed a bit too self-congratulatory. I mean, all they did was cook a lunch buffet.

And why did Ashley not object to cooking for a military in which she can not openly participate?

With the lunch done, the chefs were dismissed by the military guy who had inducted them, but not before giving the Chefs a rousing well done and thank you.

Back at Judges' Table it was the team with the younger brother, Michael Voltaggio, teamed with the other Michael and the team with disturbingly bearded, Kevin Gillespie and Eli Kirshtein, who were the top teams.

Kevin and Eli wowed the crowd and the judges with their pulled pork, done BBQ southern style, with potato salad. They liked Micheal and Michael's take on pork belly, but they were not so keen on the shrimp salad.

After some questioning the guest judge picked young brother Michael as the winner. Then Padma told Michael to send back two of the other chefs, but for Michael #2 to stay. Michael #2 did not take this too well.

Laurine Wicket and Preeti were sent to face the judges, along with Michael. Michael was quite upset. Michael had made his shrimp mess all on his own, leaving the other Michael to get full credit for the winning dish. It was Michael's #2's dumb idea to do the second dish. And do it badly with undercooked shrimp.

But, in the end it was the bland pasta salad and Preeti's total lack of awareness of how bad it was, that got her told to pack her knives and get the hell out of there.

I read elsewhere that at the end Tom Colicchio and Padma seemed to be in major PMS mode. They did look pissed. Made me wonder if Michael #2 did not have a bigger hissy fit than what we saw.

And, back to those brothers. The younger one is starting to seem, possibly, the better cook of the two. The older brother, Bryan, seems so wooden, I read him described as giving off a serial killer vibe. They always show him acting so serious. And then there was that short bit when he was talking to the non-brother Michael, who was telling him about the guest judge commenting that he looked pissed off and Bryan was laughing and seeming to have a sense of humor. That's the first indication of that we've seen.

I am liking this edition of Top Chef. But where is the drama, the fighting? There is no Carla, no Fabio, even the lesbians are tame, usually the Top Chef lesbians are very angry, like most good lesbians are. The French guy can be a bit amusing. But he's not a lesbian and he never seems to get angry.

Top Chef Finale: New Orleans Part I

That's the Top Chef Final Four, I mean Five, in New Orleans, in front of Judges' Table after the Elimination Challenge in which they cooked for a large Mardis Gras type crowd under the watchful eye of celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse.

Now, you're wondering, if you haven't watched last night's new episode, how it was that the Final Four increased to 5.

Well.

At the Quickfire, Padma threw a twist. Out walked Leah, Jamie and Jeff. In their chef garb. The Final Four of Stephan, Fabio, Hosea and Carla, got to watch as the 3 who had already packed their knives and left, competed in the Quickfire.

The winner of the Quickfire got back in the game. With the added pressure of having to win the next Elimination Challenge, which would then send 2 of the formerly Final 4 packing their knives.

The Quickfire Challenge involved making something tasty with Mudbugs, also known as Crawfish. Nasty little pieces of Southern Seafood. Emeril liked Jeff's the best. And so he was back in it.

For the Elimination Challenge the 5 Finalists had to make a couple Creole type dishes and a cocktail.

Carla chose to make oyster stew. And an alcohol free cocktail. In New Orleans. At Mardis Gras. Risky move. All seemed lost for Carla as she found only oysters in the shell, that needed shucking, with Carla only shucking her first oyster the week before.

Stephan was more cocky than usual. Taking smoking breaks. How do so many chefs happen to be smokers, I always wonder?

Fabio seemed a bit lost with the Creole concept, but he was confident he was going to be Top Chef and be able to help his sick mother. I love a good sob story. But I already liked Fabio, he didn't need the sob story.

Hosea always seems lost to me. But then he manages to pull off a surprise.

And then there was Jeff. He had to win or be sent packing his knives and leaving again. Plus he had the added incentive of the winner of the Elimination Challenge getting a new car. Which Fabio said he desperately needed, due to the fact that he was currently driving a piece of, well, junk. Fabio said it more colorfully in that Italian way of his.

Everyone seemed to like all the Chef's food. Very little quibbles. With Carla, Jeff and Hosea seeming to get the most positive feedback.

At Judges' Table it quickly became clear that Carla and Jeff were the favorites, with Stephan and Fabio the least favorite. It was real close between Carla and Jeff, but Emeril picked Carla. I like Carla. I was good with either Carla or Jeff winning either that Elimination Challenge or Top Chef.

Then they sent Hosea to safety, guaranteed spot in the Final 3, with Team Euro being the Bottom 2. I was sure Stephan was going to be sent packing, due to his cockiness getting on the judges' nerves and the judges having issues with some of what Stephan cooked. But then they also had issues with Fabio, particularly his sickeningly sweet cocktail.

So, Padma told Fabio to pack his knives and leave. They should have kept Fabio around for the entertainment value. Then again, Stephan is also entertaining, just in a more perverse way.

Carla for the win!

Top Chef Final Four

For me it has been a season of the best Top Chef challenges ever. This Wednesday's episode was the last in New York City. The 5 remaining chefs had to prepare a Last Supper for 5 of the Culinary World's Top Chefs. With the Last Supper being what that particular famous chef would want as their last supper, I suppose in a they are about to be executed situation? I don't know, that wasn't made clear.

Okay, I'll totally tell the truth here. While I do know of some of the Culinary World's renowned cooks, and celebrity chefs, I really didn't know much of anything about any of these Culinary World's gods and goddesses on this episode. But the Top Chef contestants sure did.

The Chefs drew knives that had the name of the famous chef on it. Carla won the Quickfire, she drew first. Her Quickfire advantage was she could have taken someone else's knife and cooked that Last Supper. But she really liked the guy she picked, knew his stuff. She turned out to be right to stay with that Last Supper.

During the course of cooking, Stephan the Finn, was his usual cocky self. But this time the cockiness seemed to be a bit of foreshadowing. Maybe he'll get told to pack his knives and leave, I thought.

While prepping his food, Fabio, the Italian, hurt a finger real bad. A medic suggested he go to a hospital. But he wanted to continue. He drew an Italian food Chef's knife. The famous Italian chef loved Fabio's chicken, as did the other judges, including the constantly annoying new British judge, Toby Young, who they really need to tell to pack his knives and leave.

When it was all over, Fabio's and Carla's Last Suppers were determined to be the best. The guest judge, the really really famous guy who's knife Carla drew and who really really liked what Carla made for his Last Supper, picked Fabio as the winner. I thought, huh? Why did you not pick Carla? Carla is my favorite.

So, that left Leah, Hosea and Stephan on the bottom. Stephan screwed up pretty bad for once. I had some hope he'd be sent away with his knives. But in the end it was Leah who is not going to New Orleans for the finale.

So, it is Carla against 3 guys, two of them being Euros, and Hosea, who really doesn't seem as if he has a ghost's chance in hell of winning.

There is a lag time between the final New York City episode and the finale episodes in New Orleans. This gives the Final Four time to go home. For Carla to see her husband and Fabio his wife. I don't know who or what Stephan or Hosea have to go home too.

From the previews we saw that Carla came back from the break with a new hair do. As did Fabio. Carla's new do seemed a bit better new do than Fabio's.

Top Chef: February 4 Episode--Eric Ripert

Jamie got told to pack her knives and go this week on Bravo's Top Chef. I'd grown to like Jamie. She'd started out seeming like the stereotypical angry lesbian cook who's been on Top Chef before. But instead she turned out to be kind of cute, sweet and likable. Stephan, the Finn, was smitten with Jamie.

Jamie had to go due to having trouble replicating one of Eric Ripert's signature dishes from his Le Bernardin restaurant. Jamie made the celery way too salty.

The incredibly annoying, temporary, Brit Judge, Toby (Tubby) Young, had some sort of ridiculous analogy to describe how bad he though the salty celery was. Trouble with that Brit judge, his insults seem a bit like fellow Brit, Simon Cowell's, like he's pre-planned his little verbal flourishes and then waits for a spot to plug it in. He seems like a little weasel to me.

Stephan, the cocky, with reason, Finn, Fabio the funny Italian and Carla the very funny American, did the best job of replicating the Eric Ripert seafood dishes. Hosea, Leah were the other bad ones, besides Jamie's.

I don't understand why Leah and Hosea are still there. They seem way over their heads, botching their fish cutting, screwing other stuff up, giving up, and yet Jamie gets the boot. I don't get it.

Hosea and Leah, they of the moment of weakness that ended in a smooch, are still cooking, while the competent Jeff got told to pack his knives, the week before, and Ariane the week before that. Or was it Radhika the week before, for botching Restaurant Wars? All three seemed way more competent than Hosea and Leah. This is not the first time I've been perplexed by Top Chef.

Carla for the win. And then figure out how to make her a fixture on Top Chef. I'm sure she'll win fan favorite. But, then again, I'm usually wrong about such things. She's just so darn funny.

TV Or Not TV

I haven't written about anything I've seen on TV for over a week. Why, I do not know. Partly using a DVR is to blame, in that I've always had trouble getting around to watching something I've recorded. Also I've been enjoying reading.

Right now, this Wednesday's episode of LOST is sitting, unwatched inside my DVR. I'm liking LOST so far. Though it can be quite confusing.

The DVR works great for American Idol. I can fast forward through the commercials and anything that bores me, reducing the viewing time to less than a half hour. I am enjoying American Idol, for the most part, though the sad sob stories are getting a bit tired. But I guess that is just part of the new, kinder American Idol.

I did manage to watch Wednesday's Top Chef, last night, a day after the episode ran. I was surprised to see Jeff get told to pack his knives and leave. I was glad Carla finally won a challenge. Carla is one of my all time favorite reality tv show people. She's funny.

I also managed to watch Monday's episode of 24, a couple days late. 24 is being real good, so far, this year. But we are only about 5 hours into the day. 24 gives away too much info in its preview of the next week's episode. The preview showed the bad rebel leader terrorist guy who wants to take over Sengala and has taken over America's information infrastructure to try and stop America from invading his country and at the same time arranged to kidnap the current leader of Sengala.

Well, we learn in the previews that Jack and Crew find the bad guy. It appears he gets blown up. I would have preferred to be surprised.

Top Chef New York

This is being my favorite season of Top Chef yet. The challenges are difficult and interesting to watch. The Chefs are mostly likable, some quite funny. But, there has not been much drama or fighting. I like drama and fighting.

The guest judges are being very good. I even liked Martha Stewart. Usually I find myself perplexed as to why she is so popular.

And unlike previous seasons of Top Chef, this season's lesbian is not a stereotypical angry lesbian. The last season of Top Chef had 3 very angry lesbians, with the one who went the furthest, Lisa, being the most angry of any of the Top Chef lesbians, ever. She was scary. With body piercings in odd places.

This season's Top Chef lesbian is named Jamie. She is a cute little thing. Even if she has too many tattoos. One of the Europeans has a crush on Jamie, that being Stephan from Finland. He showers Jamie with gifts, constantly, and begs her for a kiss.

At one point Jamie said to the confessional camera, "What part of the word 'lesbian' does Stephan not understand?" Stephan may have directed his non-cooking passion in a different direction this week. He seemed quite smitten with guest judge Natasha Richardson, spewing out how he felt about her ending with the word, "Yum."

Jamie does get a bit tense at times and can have an angry affect. When Rocco DiSpirito was guest judge he found it offputting. Jamie explained she was mad at herself, not anyone else.

Jamie's the first lesbian chef that I would not be scared to have in my kitchen.

One of my other favorites is Carla. She does the goofiest expressions. Wonderful bulging eyes. She has quite a way with words, too.

The Italian, Fabio, is always good for some funny moments. He is a top notch flirter.

The cougar, Ariane, started off doing real bad. But has now won a couple times and has won immunity at least once.

I'm not able to tell which chefs are likely top 3 material. Usually, I have a pretty good guess. I suppose I'd go with Stefan, Ariane, Hosea. With maybe Radhika and Jeff thrown in. What I'd like to see is little Gene start cooking good again, like he did in the beginning. Jamie seems like she has potential, but she can make some pretty dumb mistakes. Like raw scallops. I'd like to see Carla suddenly turn into a winner, like Ariane did. She'd be fun to watch.

Top Chef Foo Fighters Thanksgiving

I'm liking Bravo's Top Chef 5 a lot. It seems like everything about Top Chef as been amped up a bit. Maybe it is due to being in New York City. I don't recollect the chefs being thrown so many curves and twists in previous seasons.

The guest judge in Episode 3 was this wiry little guy with a bad goatee, named Grant Achatz. He's an American chef who the James Beard Foundation recently named as Best Chef in the United States for 2008.

For the Quickfire the chefs had to make a recipe found in the Top Chef cookbook. Then part way in Padma threw them a curve and told them to make soup out of what they'd already cooked. We saw a lot of Swanson's Broth being opened and poured. Swanson's Broth was the sponsor of this episode. Leah's soup won the Quickfire, despite it containing white asparagus, an ingredient she did not like.

For the Elimination Challenge the chefs are told they will be preparing Thanksgiving dinner for the Foo Fighters and their entourage of about 60. As the Quickfire winner, Leah gets to pick her team. She picked both of the Europeans, the sort of annoying Stephan and the funny, likable Italian, Fabio.

Ariane cooked the turkey for the non-Leah team. Everyone liked Ariane's turkey the best, but overall her team was judged by the Foos and the judges to not be the winner. That meant the Leah team got to go to the Foo Fighters concert while the losing team washed dishes.

The chefs had to cook the Thanksgiving dinner at the concert location. With no kitchen. They cooked outside with only a single burner, microwaves and toaster ovens. Eugene made a makeshift BBQ. I like Eugene. He seems to be one of the better chefs. His BBQed pork went over well. As if all the twists being thrown at them weren't challenge enough, Mother Nature made it tough on the chefs too. By raining.

The desserts, as they so often are, were the downfall of the losing team. Richard made some twisted version of 'smores. I have never liked 'smores. No one liked Richard's 'smores. Carla, who is really amusing, made some sort of pie thing that the judges didn't hate. But they all hated Jeff's strange parfait. One of the Foos called it barfait. Those Foos are funny boys.

So, it ended up with Richard packing his knives and going home due to his 'smores. He cried quite a bit. This leaves only one member left of Team Rainbow. That being Jamie. So far one of the Top Chef staples has been missing. That being drama and fighting. There was some indication in this episode that the Top Chef staple of having at least one very angry lesbian might be brewing, with Jamie getting cranky at Dave for being a slob and dropping food on the floor.

Top Chef: New York's First 2 Episodes

I've now watched the first 2 episodes of Bravo's Top Chef: New York. So far, all the elements that make this one of my favorite Reality TV Shows are in play. Great hosts, great cast of chefs, great challenges, great editing, great cooking.

This time there are 2 Europeans in the mix. One from Finland, named Stephan, one from Italy, named Fabio. Stephan is a bit grating. Fabio is funny.

Like in the second episode when Fabio was called, along with 5 others, to the Judge's Table after the Elimination Challenge. Fabio had not watched enough Top Chef to know that the 6 called were the top 3 and bottom 3. When Padma directed her attention at Fabio he went into a long-winded verbalization of being perplexed as to why they didn't like his dish. Padma then told him to hold on, we liked your dish. Then Fabio was very Gilda Radner with basically an "Oh, well, never mind. Thank you, then." That's Fabio on the right.

Back in the Stew Room, after his win, Fabio, gloated that it was 2 in a row for the Europeans. Stephan, the Finlander, had won both the Quickfire and Elimination Challenges in the first episode.

Regarding the first episode's Quickfire. It was a Top Chef twist. The loser of the first Quickfire got sent home. Before that happened we saw the chef Lauren all excited to see that a fellow CIA (Culinary Institute of America) student, Patrick, was among the chefs.

Lauren and Patrick ended up being in the bottom two of the Quickfire, neither peeling, dicing or cooking their apples better than the other 15. Lauren got sent home.

Then 21 year old balding Patrick's bad Chinese food got him sent home in the Elimination Round of the first episode.

Before Patrick was told to pack his knives and leave we saw him and Richard form an alliance with Jamie they called, I think, "The Rainbow Group." That would make Jamie this season's lesbian. So far she doesn't seem to be a stereotypical angry lesbian. Last season we had 3 very angry lesbians who sparked a lot of debate as to whether or not all lesbians are angry. That debate has started up again in Survivor Sucks.

On the second episode the charming Radhika won the Quickfire. For the Elimination Round the chefs had to cook appetizers, entrees and desserts for 50 NYC Top Chef application rejects. And do the cooking in Tom Colicchio's restaurant, "Craft".

The rejects were tough critics. Arianne made something she called a Lemon Martini Meringue that caused Padma to spit it out. Arianne was sure she'd be asked to pack her knives and leaves. Instead it was Jill, due to her bizarre, gummy Ostrich Egg Omelet.

So far I'm liking the Italian and Carla, particularly Carla. She is very funny. She was in the top 3 in the 2nd episode due to the judges liking her apple pie pastry. She must be from the West Coast what with her talking to the food spirits and other such stuff. I'll go find out....

Well, as usual, I'm wrong. Carla is from Nashville and is currently cooking in Washington, D.C. on the opposite side of the country from the West Coast Washington. That's Carla standing on the right.

Top Chef Season Premiere Tonight

One of my favorite TV shows and by far my favorite on Bravo starts its new season tonight. Top Chef. This time set in New York City.

My favorite reality show personality, Padma Lakshmi is back. She used to be married to Salamon Rushdie, he of the getting the Iranians so mad at him they put a vendetta out for him fame.

Judging by the info on the Top Chef website the cast of cooks looks to be an interesting mix this time. Just judging by their photos I see no obvious psychos or perpetually angry lesbians. But since they are a Top Chef staple I'm sure we'll get at least one of each.

I've already set my DVR for tonight's new Top Chef. I've been up since 3am, so there is no way I'm going to make it up tonight til 10:00 o'clock Eastern, 9:00 o'clock Central.