Aww, love!

So happy about Hubert winning, although this is a man who has a mini burger, fries, and shake as a dessert on his Fleur de Lys menu (the burger is a beignet with ganache in the middle and the fries are made out of fennel ice cream), so I'm not surprised he rocked the Girl Scout challenge.

--Sutter Street represent! (FdL being 2 blocks down the street from me).

I like Masters more than I thought I would. I was worried about the format. However, I would have liked to see the top 2 advance to a semi-final round rather than just 1.

I liked that the chefs seemed to be enjoying it and learning from it. I agree that it may make them approach judging differently.

Top Chef: Masters

I really enjoyed this as well. More than I thought I would, especially since I was initially put off that there was no Tom and no Padma.

I was rooting for Hubert the whole way, and as soon as I saw his desert, I had a feeling he was going to take it.

Hey, little redhead girl, you stand up with your opinions, you rock it. I loved it because her critiques were specific.

I would bet every dollar I have that she watches cooking competitions at home, and wants to go into food in some way or another when she grows up.

I was a complete nobody and they were seriously the most gracious hosts I have ever met. He is genuine and a total gentleman.

Heart!

TCM was very fun. I think the challenges have to be kind of our there - given the calibre of chefs you're dealing with, making them really stretch themselves probably requires going pretty far outside the norm.

And I loved how much in the spirit of things they all were. (Though for someone who totally rolled with the punches all the way through, Tim Love had some serious bitchface going on when he got his scores.)

Brilliant:

I liked it that they didn't really give a shit, especially DJ Magneto, played by Hubert Keller, a cross between Patrick Stewart, DJ AM and Werner Herzog.

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TC:M - Ha, I know! I loved that bitchface because it was so unexpected. They were all just having a great time and playing along and then at judges table it was so clear they all really really wanted to win.

Hee.

I like Masters more than I thought I would. I was worried about the format. However, I would have liked to see the top 2 advance to a semi-final round rather than just 1.

I suspect that may have to do more with chef availability than anything else.

True, probably. Although when I think about the logistics, I'm amazed that they have been able to get this concept off the ground at all.

Oh, and I forgot to mention...how much nicer is the Masters' stew room, huh? Hee. No cheap metal shelves stocked with Glad products. Although I'm still endlessly amused at the product placement, especially when the products are made of fail. Oh, and there was all this footage using All-Clad in the chefs' own restaurants, and then Calphalon had the sponsorship. It wasn't as bad as the "no one should use this sponsored microwave" segment, though. Hee.

mac just watched the later dances from last night. after the last one and Mary's goings on he says "You are just crazy Mary Murphy lady". hee