Last night, Season 5 of The Next Food Network Star premiered and to keep it nibbly and interesting like a zesty tapas dish, we're gonna serve up our thoughts on Epi One tweet style.
btw, spoiler-ish alert...If you don't wanna know, how about a mosey over to check out our recipe for a Mojito Guacamole with Cassava chips.
Meet the cast of 10. I have two clear favorites already but I'll keep you guessing on that one.
Overall: Will this cast be more exciting to watch over Law & Order Criminal Intent in same time slot? Magic 8 ball says: Cannot predict now.
Flay, Bob, and Susie are back. We liked watching the culinary point of view on TV like season 4. This time gotta watch the web vids.
First act: Impress A-Listers of the Food Network at FN's Sweet 16 party. Access Hollywood in the house. zOMG! Toss the newbies in the pit.
Red team: Shitake happens when you have no list. Likey the David Copperfield with zucchini. One makes us want to shimmy with Go-Go boots.
Green team: Bubba, seriously? High 5 for mango & jicama but not the shrimp. Everybody loves sweet tarts. Dimples can't save the taterfail.
Our guess for the final 4: Jeffrey, Jamika, Michael, Melissa/Brett. Melissa is more reachable but Brett is more entertaining. Toss up.
The one who gets sent home was not a shocker. Wish the judges would add a bit more heat to their assessments.
Feel it in our bones. One of them will end up on the new Food 2.
If you want full play-by-play of Epi One, Foodie in Disguise has the meaty deets.
Quaker Oatmeal held a private "Living Proof" blogger event at their HQ in Chicago and we got the special treat of meeting Stephanie Izzard the winner of Top Chef 4. See here I am with her. Yay! I'm a huge fan of Stephanie's and was so happy when she won. In person, Stephanie is very warm, kind, and has a great inviting vibe. I have a bigger girl crush than ever before! In fact, lucky me, got Stephanie to say something special for you my lovely noshers:
And not only did we get to schmooze with the Top Chef, she made us some awesome oatmeal pancakes with a pomegranate sauce. Here is the recipe, and it is soooo easy to make. Quaker is also very cool and has offered up some coupons for your next oatmeal purchase. Please enjoy!
Ingredients for pancakes
3 bananas
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup oats
1/2 cup ground oats (take regular oats and grind them in a food processor into a flour)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 egg whites, whipped to soft peaks
sliced banana for garnish
Let's start cookin'
Blend bananas and milk together in blender.
Transfer to bowl and stir in vanilla, oats, flour, baking powder and salt.
Fold in egg whites.
Spray nonstick griddle with pan spray and heat over medium heat.
Add in a few spoonfuls of batter, leaving room for when they expand.
Cook on each side until lightly browned.
To serve, top with banana slices and drizzle with pomegranate syrup.
Ingredients for syrup
1 cup pomegranate juice
2 Tbsp honey
Let's start cookin'
Pour juice and honey together in non reactive sauce pot.
The final 4 are now in Vegas with Paula Deen as the guest palette this week. Did you know that Paula started her first food business, a Lunch delivery service called, "The Bag Lady" when she was 42 years old. That inspired a whole wave of hope in me, and was a good reminder that you're never too old to start something new.
Throw down 2 dishes in 75 minutes
The competition between Lisa and Adam was fun to watch because seriously I wanted Adam to stomp Lisa which he did with his Mac-n-Cheese. I'm going to have to try that Panko trick next time I make that cheesy comfort food. When Lisa put Goat Cheese in her Mac-n-Cheese, that really showed some of her food snobbery. Adam stuck with the Velveeta approach and that got him his Black Jack. I don't even know what that bean dish is but Lisa won and sadly it did nothing to help her warm up.
Next up, holey chicken wings Batman! Aaron created a beautifully plated Chicken Parmigiana dish for 4 people in 18 minutes, and not only did he finish the dish on time, all the judges loved it. Truly, Aaron impressed this nosher.
When Kelsey explained to the judges why she made her pork tenderloin dish so petite and the words "Fancy Schmancy" came out of her mouth, I thought, "Oh, that dun did it. Mini-me Elle Woods is gonna be packing up her pink Barbie suitcase."
There is a clear winner now
Unless, Adam or Lisa can pull a rabbit out of the hat, Aaron is clearly going to win The Next Food Network Star competition. Judge Susie Fogelson totally gave it away when she announced that "our pal Aaron" was the first to move onto the next round. When the judges start calling you their "pal," you know you're a shoe in.
Aaron still has a problem being comfortable in front of the camera but I think he can quickly overcome that as he gets more coaching and just starts to relax with himself. Out of the remaining 3, Aaron does have the best cooking skill and personality combo.
Next week, I predict that Lisa will be out the door because I think the judges would rather have personality over skill. Adam has the skills, I think he just has a confidence issue after his restaurant failed. He's starting to shine now when it counts.
This week's episode of the Next Food Network Star has so far been the most enjoyable I've seen in the whole show, and yay! finally. This week the contestants got to do a 4 minute gig in front of a live studio audience on Rachel Ray's show. The task was to make a healthy kid friendly dish and each contestant was aided by a Brownie, those girls that sell those divine cookie Thin Mints and Tagalongs. The girls were so cute!
Yikes! Someone calls Rachel "Rach"
One person is going home and the final four are going to Las Vegas so the stakes were high for this last task. Upon hearing the news of where the final 4 were going, Kelsey reacted like she jetting away to a foreign land, and to her Vegas probably is an exotic adventure. Vegas is cool and all but it's not like going overseas to somewhere exotic like Puerto Rico, Paris, or Thailand. Kelsey is really adorable but I'm with Bob in that she doesn't drive home any kind of authoritativeness, and when she called Rachel, "Rach" ye gads, I was almost expecting a little "bad Rachel" to yum-O all over Kelsey's behind.
Lisa uses Jedi Mind Tricks
The contestants created a dish based on what their Brownie liked, well, except Lisa and her girl. Lisa used Jedi mind tricks to convince her Brownie that what the kid really wanted to eat was horseradish sauce on steak, and cous cous. It was like watching the new wicked step mother convince the kids with that fake dastardly smile that they needed to upscale from their low class McDonald's eating ways. And Lisa justified her actions by suggesting that she didn't have to change her culinary point of view just to please a kid. Well Lisa, if your judge is a kid, um yeah, some mac-n-cheese or chicken fingers seems like the way to go.
Aaron and Adam would be a blast at kid's camp
Which is what Aaron and Adam did brilliantly. I have to say that Aaron finally let his true self out of the cage and wow! it was so fun to watch him and his Brownie make pizza. When he dabbed some of the flour on her face and his and blew some to the audience, he scored a 10.0 in my eyes. Adam was really warm and engaging and I totally wanted a bite of that barbecue Pita sandwich. Adam was hanging by a string in this competition, and he did knock it out of the ballpark this episode so that he could go onto Vegas.
Bye-bye, hugs and kisses
And poor Shane, it was kind of a no-brainer that he was the one to be going home. What did him in was the fact that working with a kid seemed like getting a root canal for him. But Shane is only 20, and he does have some really good cooking skills so I doubt that this is the last we'll see of him on TV.
And oh yeah, there was crying again. Six shows and six crying episodes. But, by now, I've reached the 5th stage of grief "Acceptance". Crying is just part of the Next FN Star. It is what it is.
Next week is Vegas with Paula Deen. Oooo my Paula! I love her, and can't wait to see what the contestants get to whip up for our Southern Divaliciousness.
I'm finding it utterly fascinating that the two youngest contestants on Next Food Network Star, Kelsey, fresh out of culinary school, and Shane, fresh out of puberty, are kicking ass in this competition.
Theories on why the youngest ones are doing better
I'm wondering if the kiddos are doing better simply because they are less caught up with what other people think. As any of us get older, we can start developing more hang-ups and fear simply because we've experienced more. For example, Aaron keeps losing his personality as soon as he goes on camera because I think he's getting too hung up on trying to "impress" the audience which ends up with him coming off as more boring than Vanilla. Aaron totally should have used that "Changing a Hooptey into a Deville" line to the Bon Appetit staff. That was hilarious and very entertaining.
Good for the Dynamic Duo, Kelsey and Shane for their Bon Appetit "No Nightmare Wellington" win. Kelsey is still a bit too Stepford Cotton Candy for me but at least she's getting less sugary. That Wellington dish looked like a fancy dish that you could easily whip up on a Thursday night for a dinner party at home for friends. I loved their idea of stacking the dough, beef, and mushroom sauce on top of each other versus having to do all that wrapping that traditional Beef Wellington requires. I also like the idea of smaller controlled portion sizes so that your guests won't overeat and feel stuffed before dessert.
What up with Lisa and her Veloute? The Veloute, Veloute! It sounded like she was talking about some decorative vellum paper for plating. And yeah, Aaron, you should have put tighter reigns on Adam at the very beginning when he first saw him put those honking huge pieces of chicken on the grill.
Describing "the senses" on camera
When everyone had to describe a dish on camera, Shane was clearly the winner. I loved how Shane described his dish as a Mediterranean delight he'd enjoy eating outdoors. He made me feel like going on a Greek vacation. I did find it interesting that when Chef Cat Cora mentioned "describe the senses" that no one but Shane did that. Watching a food writer do that task would have been like watching a maestro with his symphony....Okay, I'm working the descriptive thing too much like an overly sappy Hallmark card.
And speaking of bad Hallmark cards, yup, uh-huh, we had crying again. Lisa cried but I'm not going to be too tough on girlfriend this week because it was frustration tears resulting from her teammate Jennifer completely hosing their dish with that "what were you thinking" glass breaking incident. In fact, I thought it great composure on Lisa's part that she didn't go off on Jen at all because I probably would have. I have no idea what Jennifer was thinking banging that jar of juice on the counter near the grilling squash. Lisa put her overbearing Perfectionist side in hibernation like the judges asked, and she did a good job of it, so I'll give her slack.
Who is the least bad of the worst two
Jennifer and Adam both really, really, blew it this week. In fact, when it came down to the two of them standing at the judge's table, I couldn't decide who was worst, but if I had to pick someone to go on, I'd pick Adam because as poor as his cooking skills have been so far, he is entertaining and more confident in himself. Jennifer just can't stop apologizing, and Food Network stars need to at least appear like they know what they are doing if they don't. So, bye bey this week to Jennifer, and honestly, I was surprised that she didn't hug anyone goodbye or stop and say thanks for the memories to any of the cast. Guess Jen just wanted the hell out of Dodge and back to her little girl. I'd be homesick too.
This week on the Next Food Network Star was all about the sea; fish, Red Lobster, and the Coast Guard. I was excited because my dad served in the CG for 22 years, and I was born at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.
Fish and White Chocolate
We get to see the contestants creativity as they had to pick a fish like Tilapia, Mahi Mahi or Cod, and cook it with one funky ingredient like Fruit Loops, marshmallow cream, coffee, or caramel. The winning fish dish would be featured at all Red Lobster restaurants in the US. I must say you really have to be creative to make Fruit Loops work with fish. Kelsey won with her Macadamia Tilapia with White Chocolate Beurre Blanc which you can learn how to make over at Red Lobster head Chef LaDuke's blog.
Tilapia with a side of obesity sauce
I know I'm being rough here, but awhile ago, I asked if the Food Network (in general) is trying to make us all fat and unhealthy because if you notice most of the dishes we see on the FN are loaded with fats, sugars, and frying. Kelsey's Tilapia dish is no exception. Her White Chocolate Beurre Blanc is made with cream, lots of butter, coconut milk, and white chocolate. On top of the Tilapia is toasted Macadamias which has about 21g of fat per 11 nuts, but at least, it's the good mono-unsaturated fat. The health conscious part of me kind of winced at this Tilapia dish because of all the fat and sugar. I did however, enjoy a more toned down Kelsey, although I still think she is still a bit too much like Elle Woods in Stepfordville.
Two fall down: One is lame. The other shows professionalism
This week, Adam's risk taking failed miserably, but at least he's getting it now that he's coming off as a joke instead of funny. Aaron was having a Murphy's Law day. Shane is stepping up. Like the judges, I'm enjoying seeing more of Lisa's humanness, and I totally developed a new respect for her when she fell and had sauce all over herself, but girl did not flinch. She kept going, stay focused and did not complain. That was being a Pro!
It's about time
Finally! Nipa goes home. No more Debbie Downer. The second she tossed
that good piece of fish into the garbage, game over. I agree with Chef
Michael Symon in that throwing that fish away was insulting, and I
might add really disrespectful. Too bad Nipa couldn't get over her
Divaness long enough to show us how to fuse Indian spices with everyday
foods. I would have enjoyed that very much.
Still with the Kleenex
And, yes, I saved it for last, the crying. We STILL have crying. zOMG! I'm dying here people. Aaron and the story about his son made everyone cry like an after school special, and Jennifer cried not once but oh at least three times during the show, and she even called herself an idiot. That was Jennifer's "perfect girl" side beating herself up.The judges are so right. Jen needs to stop apologizing and just beef up the confidence.
Yeah, I'm going to go Simon straight away because the crying on the Next Food Network Star is absolutely ridiculous now. Last week, I was just kidding about the 2 for 2 crying thing. In last night's episode, not only did we have one cry baby, we had three cry like some bad Hallmark card commercial.
So now, we've had 5 people cry in only 3 episodes. There's nothing to cry about on the softie FN. Now, Hell's Kitchen, there is something serious to cry about. I'm honestly getting annoyed to no un-end with all the boo-hooing. This is TV for Pete's sake, and I wanna see some toughness, some cajones, some panache. Martha didn't become a billionaire foodie by crying. Can you imagine Bobby Flay in tears? Oh hell no! Even Giada, I couldn't see breaking a tear even under half a dozen onions.
I was really looking forward to watching Martha Stewart on the show, and par the course, seeing Martha's face as she visited each of the contestants with their food product was priceless. Seriously, you can tell right away where you stand with Martha just by looking at her facial expressions, and when she asked Kelsey for a spoon for her Sloppy Jane, oh snooty Martha came out, and game over.
Martha's favorite ended up being Aaron, and you know that Lisa was sooooo jealous. Yeah, the food buyer's loved her product the most, but Martha is Lisa's idol, and you know she wanted the Domestic Queen's kudos more than anything. But hey, a win is a win. And Adam, right on for putting yourself out there dude. The singing was a huge risk!
At the end when the judges asked Martha if she would watch Kelsey on TV, when she paused you know that Martha was thinking real fast for an honest yet PC response, and the one she came up with had me on the floor because I thought the EXACT same thing. Kelsey needs to turn the sweetness way down because she is coming off like Elle Woods on smack...did I just say that out loud.
I seriously thought that Nipa was going to go home, or perhaps that's just me wanting her to go packing. The lack of enthusiasm and creativity is getting dull, and I was surprised that the judges did not slam her harder for that 2-ingredient spice mix. Jeffrey wasn't stellar but at least his personality is far more enjoyable. As the show goes on, I'm leaning towards one of the final two being Aaron. I'm not sold yet on who'd be #2.
Woo-hoo! Last night Stephanie Izard became the first woman to win the Top Chef title. And really, there was no suspense in who would win because Stephanie has been so strong and consistent through the entire season. Lisa and Richard made some really outstanding dishes and were creative, but overall, if you put together talent, skill, creativity, personality, and consistency, Stephanie was without a doubt the Top Chef.
The TV Viewer's had a clear favorite. It was a landslide. Stephanie won 65% of the TV viewer's vote followed by Richard with 32%, and then Lisa with 3%. I almost felt a bit bad for Lisa because her Asian flare is pretty remarkable. That dumpling soup and rice pudding she made just looked absolutely heavenly, and if some of the top foodies in the world wanted seconds, you know it had plenty of game.
Unfortunately, what did Lisa in was her negativity and defensiveness. She's not likable to her fellow competitors, and as a viewer, she was not fun to watch most of the time. At the end when she was working with Chef April, we got to the see best of her good side. It's too bad she couldn't let "cool" Lisa out sooner.
Richard needs to beef up his confidence. Like Judge Gail, I too was shocked that Richard went on and on about how he choked on his performance. I yelled at the TV, "No Richard! zOMG! Stop it! Stop! Zip it!" If you're gonna be top of the heap, you have to end with head high even if you did feel like you didn't bring your A-game.
I do have to say that watching Richard play with that liquid Nitrogen was pretty fascinating in a Science Fair kind of way, and I totally wanted a bite of that banana scallop dessert. Although, the health freakazoid in me was wondering how nitrogen gas affects the food's composition and my health.
That wraps up Top Chef Season 4 in Chicago. The best part of the season for me being Filipino was seeing Dale introduce Filipino foods to a mass US audience. When I saw him make Chicharon and Halo-Halo, I jumped up and clapped. I would love to see what kind of fusion concoction he could come up with for Pancit or Bibingka
Okay, I think the Food Network should have left Nipa on the train. Yes, I'm starting off grouchy but Drama Queens really do irk me, especially when they aren't home run hitters. I'm okay with the tempermental artist as long as they got the goods to back it up and so far, Nipa hasn't been knocking any socks off.
Want a side of Drama Queen with your Lamb?
Last night, I really don't get why the judges did not send Nipa packing home pronto because of that Drama Queen stunt of hers. Bob said a FN Network would be fired if they pulled something like that, so why is it that a show contestant gets a pass? I scratch my head. Kevin's dish wasn't packed with all kinds of romantic pizzazz, but he was still a professional and he stood there and took the criticism like a pro. To me professionalism trumps marketing uniqueness for the Next Food Network Star title.
I know reality TV needs some dramatic flair but come on, Nipa and her "I don't want to cry in front of anyone" and "just look at me I don't fit in" was just nails on chalk board annoying. Girlfriend, you got this spot over thousands of other hopefuls because you are different and you know that Ms. Marketing Maven.
Who's gonna crumble under the Martha Stewart pressure?
But the cherry on the irksome sundae was her, "I can just go home to where no one criticizes me." WHAT! Actually, that one line, gave me a better understanding of her high maintenance. I'm throwing down $20, that Nipa is gone next week when faced under the pressure of Martha Stewart.
Oooo! I can't wait for next week's show with "The Martha" as a guest judge as the next challenge is to create a packaged food product. The marketing person in me would be all over that challenge!
The judges need to turn up the tough volume
I don't know about you, but I'm needing the judges to be a bit tougher. I need some more teeth. They are a bit too sweet and need to lay it on a bit thicker mainly because it will help these contestants sharpen their TV skills and yes, give us some TV dramatics. Alton Brown was pretty tough last week when the group had to do their on camera culinary point of view one-liner, but if you noticed, each one of them is learning from that.
Some redeem themselves and some need yolk advice
Lisa's one-liner in particular is so much better, and she has certainly shapened up from last week's Divaness. I really liked her crostini french toast dish, and boy the way she hand whipped that fresh creme was truly impressive. I'm still wondering what Adam was thinking with those under-cooked eggs. And really, Kevin, how could you bogart the olive oil. I wonder who will be on the edge of crying next week, as so far we are 2 for 2.
Next week, Martha Stewart! Reminds me of The Apprentice: Martha Stewart which btw I really did enjoy because all the tasks they got to do were so fun and creative. The packaged food product the Next Food Network Star contestants have to do next week will be really cool to me as they will show us their business/marketing talents.
This should be the theme of round 4 of The Next Food Network
Star (NFNS): “There’s no crying in Food Network.” In the premiere episode, barely
out of puberty Shane is cute as a button at 19 but at the end of the show when judge Bob Tuschman said, “I’d like to see
more of that young 19 year-old come out” I don’t think that he meant for the
kid to start lower-lipping like a baby. You can see a glimpse of Shane's sweaty tear swelling in the video at min 2:19.
I was seriously expecting Bobby Flay to
pull a Tom Hanks and look the guppie in the eye and bark, “There’s no crying in
Food Network. Man up and find your cojones.” Instead, Flay nodded in agreement
with Shane as if to say, “I feel your un-done tenderloin pain.”
What I find fascinating about this NFNS competition is that
you have to be both a good cook AND entertaining. You have to have your "culinary point of view" burned into your brain like a tattoo, and you have to keep your
personality engaging so that bazillions of people feel like they would spend half an
hour of their precious time watching you create a mouth watering quiche or pan seared tilapia. Just doing videos for YouTube, I can
tell you how not-easy it is to show both your proficiency and your engaging-ness
with the pressure of a little red camera light glaring at you. Forget about
your arugula wilting, you’re worried about your personality going flat.
I totally felt for these 10 contestants, and I could
understand why comedienne Cory just buckled under the pressure. It seems that she couldn’t translate her
stage presence to TV. You could tell that Cory was so nervous about making a
good impression that it over took her and sucked the funniness right out of
her.
Granted, who wouldn’t be terrified presenting in front of a table of
famous food network celebrities judging your 3-dish cuisine. The scene felt like
watching little Nemo standing in front of a whale contingency. I thought it
priceless that we got to see a bit of Giada’s testy claw side as she is always
perky-nice on her show. Lesson learned: Be yourself. Be yourself.
And oh boy! What about Lisa, the one I like to call, “The
Devil Wears an Apron.” Her three C’s to me were more like Cold, Condescending,
and Climber. Oh you know it. If put in the situation to choose between getting
ahead or doing the right thing, Lisa is going to jump on the climb. Team her
and Nipa together and watch the live crabs in a boiling pot scratch to the top.
Good times, reality TV style.
Having been a former marketing person, I had a good idea of
what the judges were looking for and I nailed the first six who got to move
forward, and new immediately that Cory was the one going home. My prediction
for the final 4 will be: Aaron, Jeffrey, Adam, and a tossup between Kelsey and
Jennifer. Kelsey has that sweet Reese Witherspoon type persona, and Jennifer
has the very appealing and sign-of-the-times single mother culinary catch. As of now, Kelsey has the overall “Fan
Favorite” lead but I’m thinking Aaron might pull it off. It will be fun to
watch!