A Foodies Life

Top Chef- A Week Late

Ok so I'm way behind in chatting with you all about Top Chef.  Do I think the right person won?  Better question, do you think the right person won?  Well it's  no secret that I would have preferred Carla to win.  Did she deserve to win, probably not.  Was she the best chef, probably not.  She has something that none of the rest of them have, an endearing personality.  The only other one that had any sort of charm, or was at least fun to watch was Fabio.  With that name how could you not be charming and a little pompous to go with it.  

Carla just made me like her.  The day or so after the finale I was browsing the food blogs and I came upon a post from The Amateur Gourmet.  He rants about a rant from Casey who was a past contestant on the show.  Actually I forgot who she was until she showed up on the finale.  You can read her rant here.  She puts down Carla pretty bad.  The thing that I don't understand is while she must feel good now that she's gotten that out of her system what good did it bring her?  Probably not much.  

Hopefully we'll hear more about it in the special that airs tomorrow night.  Check those rants out and comment below.  Let me know what you think!

Joanna Pacitti and American Idol

Ok so it's been a week since the big announcement that Joanna Pacitti was disqualified from American Idol.  I have lots of feelings about her being let go and it should be stated that a long time ago I worked for a talent management company that represented her when she was a kid.  I have had no contact with Joanna in years and was watching along just as the rest of America.  

Here are my concerns.  If you read this article it basically says that the producers do background checks on the contestants during the time they are in Hollywood.  Joanna was let go because she has close ties with two of the producers.  Did the producers not realize they knew Joanna? They had to do a big background check before they figured that out?  Sounds a little strange doesn't it?  

Now let's talk about a few of the other contestants.  Adam Lambert has previously been in the musical Wicked.  You can see him perform here.  How about Von Lee Smith, who according to Wikipedia has had a recording contract with Kon Live Distribution , can't seem to figure out when it ended.  You can watch him perform on The View here.   But one of the best connections we can make is Jesse Langseth, who is Jonny Lang's sister.  Jonny is signed with A&M records, the same company as Joanna.  His producer is Ron Fair, the same producer for Joanna.  Sounds like connections to me.  We could go on with more but I think that's enough for now.  

That all aside the biggest thing that irks me is Kara Dioguardi.  Something that is hidden deep in the depth of the internet is the fact that Kara shares a re-write credit on a song sung by Joanna for Coty Cool Water.  Go down to the comment section of this article and you can read all about it.   I can't find the song anywhere, wish I could.   Oh and there is also the fact that Kara co-wrote a song on Joanna's boyfriends album.  

Let me say that I am in no way defending Joanna.  Somehow I feel like this was all in a plan.  There are just too many factors that do not add up.  As Shakespeare said "something is rotten in the state of Denmark."

The best and most ironic part of this all you can see by going to the 19 Entertainment website.  After you get through their introduction their motto is "Redefining the Rules of Entertaintment."  Seems to me they are creating their own rules.  

The Biggest Loser is........

I can't tell you how happy I am that Michelle won on The Biggest Loser last night.  I have lots of thoughts on the show and what happened but not enough time this morning to truly write about them.  Last week I almost started a pick Ed campaign cause there was no way I wanted Heba to even come close to winning.  It's nice to know that good people win the show and not back stabbers.  Were you surprised that Ed was in the top three and not Heba?  Let me know your thoughts.....I'm off to work!

Big Daddy's House- The New Food Network Star!

I suppose you can't call Aaron McCargo Jr. from The Next Food Network Star that anymore, he's now the new Food Network star. He proves it in his new series Big Daddy's House. On his first episode his food looks delicious. Nothing on it seems like it should be too difficult but boy does it seem tasty. He had two dishes, a pork sandwich and a chicken tender salad. His incorporation of his kids was a nice touch. My favorite thing that he made was some oven baked fries, that he seasoned with a special seasoning and herbs.

I'm tempted to make them at work but we'll see. Just on a little side note, I was going to link all the recipes to this review but I just went on the Food Network website and could find an excerpt about the episode but no recipes. Hope they fix that soon!

Have a great day!

The Next Food Network Star is.............Aaron

Ok I woke up early this morning to watch The Next Food Network Star because I just didn't make it last night. I have a bunch of thoughts. Do I think the right person one? Well I think it could have gone between either Aaron or Adam. I would have preferred to see Adam win because I felt like he was the more polished, more professional. While I was watching Aaron's pilot episode I felt like they were making a point to show the camera in the live audience. It was almost like they were laughing on cue. It felt strange to me. Now I should preface this with I'm not in television so I don't really know but I imagine that with a good producer you can do anything. Gordon Elliot is clearly a well seasoned producer and he clearly made Aaron look very good.

I guess I wish if they were going to pick him they would have not focused on how bad he felt like he was doing during the pilot. Although I do have to say they threw me off a little. I liked the concept of Adam's show, especially using the web. Now that I think about it though there are a lot of shows on the food network where they take someone's recipe and kick it up.

Those are just some thoughts. What do you all think? Comment below!

Next Food Network Star

So tonight is the night! Is everyone staying up with the popcorn or other gourmet treats to watch? I hope I will be but I've been feeling like an old man and going to bed about eight thirty these days. If I can make it up until 9 central then I'll try to write about it.

Who do you think will win? I'm going to have to predict that Adam will win. He seems to me to be the most consistent. Lisa seems too emotional and all over the place, although the camera loves emotional and all over the place. Maybe they will pick her for that reason. It seems that Aaron has either really good days or really bad days.

Comment below and we'll discuss more tonight!

The Next Food Network Star- Back to NY

In a shocking twist all three contestants from The Next Food Network Star are on their way back to NY. Ok so maybe it's not that shocking. They all did a mediocre job so it was hard to pick who was the worst.

I've read other bloggers say that Lisa was too emotional and with that opinion and watching last night's episode I have to say that I agree. The fact is that she is not in high school anymore and she should have been able to get those lines out while she was being the wine angel with ease. Isn't part of being a star whether food or not being able to do quick takes? Didn't they only have three lines to remember? What I find most puzzling is that Lisa got up at the buffet challenge and sang beautifully. I would find that more nerve racking than anything else.

I think Adam did a decent job and was the front runner. He seems to be more comfortable in both arena's than anyone else. It was nice to hear that they liked his food this time.

Aaron has a great personality when he let's it shine but I imagine, since I've never been a star Food Network or otherwise, that you need to let it shine constantly. And I thought that Aaron's little speech during the buffet was just plain strange. Unless you have something like that better planned and rehearsed you should stick to something simpler. The reason that Lisa's worked is because she knew she had singing in her back pocket and hadn't shown us that before.

Those are just some of my opinions........comment below and let me know yours!

The Next Food Network Star

The other day I was thinking to myself. Self you haven't written at all about The Next Food Network Star on your blog this year. After I admonished myself about it I decided I would change that. Hence, this post.

I am a huge fan of another food blogger named Adam Roberts, a.k.a. The Amateur Gourmet, who know has a web based show on the Food Network website. It's called The Food Network Dish. On the show Adam goes through anything Food Network related. Which as a fan of The Food Network I love. Adam has always been an inspiration to be. He is hysterically funny and I love his blog. So check it out.

Anyway, tonight they are down to the final three so if you can watch and we can chat about it tomorrow. I probably won't watch it until the wee hours of the morning cause I always seem to fall asleep when it's on. Not cause it's boring but because I'm lame and go to bed early.

Reality TV

So this week has been full of reality tv for me, it seems to be the trend lately.  First we have our first ever female biggest loser!  I'm so glad that Ali won!  I love how they decided that they would throw that wrench in the plan for the top three.  Roger and Mark were voted on by the public and they decided, did you have any doubt, that Roger was the man.  There was something so matter of fact and not like able about Mark.  Or maybe it was that Roger has such great charm.  Regardless I'm glad that Roger got the chance and that Ali won!

Also this week a new show on MTV called The Paper.  It details a day in the life of a high school news paper.  All the drama that you would think ensues does.  People stabbing each other's backs, showing their true colors.  It also depicted high schoolers at a party doing, what looked to me, like beer pong.  They were tired, getting trashed etc.  It bothered me because if they were in high school they were underage and drinking.  Now I understand that all of that stuff goes on when your in high school.  I was in high school once and most of us had those experiences.  Once again, it upsets me that so much is being shown on reality television.  After this show these kids are going to go out in the world and they will be remembered by their roles on these shows.  I'm always amazed by how people will put themselves out there.  Of course in a sense that is what I'm doing when I sit here and type.  I guess I feel like you draw the line when your doing something that is illegal on national television. 

As I'm typing this, early on Thursday morning, I'm watching the last final moments of Hell's Kitchen from the other night.  There's not much to say about it.  It's the same drama mainly brought on by an egocentric chef.  Once again I'm amazed by the people that just give up.  Then the chef gave him another chance and he failed. 

Ok, I got to get ready and go in for a long day at work.  For those that haven't found it I did a pod cast on A Dieter's Life again.  I'm gonna get back into this stuff, and try to focus.  Hope everyone is well!

Bye for now!

The Biggest Loser

OK so The Biggest Loser is a little off topic here but not really cause I'm trying to be the biggest loser myself.  Those of you that know me know that I've been a faithful watcher of The Biggest Loser since almost the beginning.  I love the show, love what it stands for, love the results.  I've even been known to do interviews past contestants on the show. 

On last night's show which I watched this morning, I felt conflicted.  They had a contest where the winner would win $5,000.  That part I think is great.  What I'm having a problem with is that the contest was eating and searching through mounds and pounds of dough-nuts!  I don't know why that contest affected me more than any of the other contests but it felt repulsive to me. 

I know why I was conflicted because yesterday I had a rough day myself with my weight loss journey (sounds better than diet).  And I realize that just that one moment decision to do something or not do something is the difference between hundreds of calories, fat etc.  Now it is my job to taste everything that comes out of my kitchen while I am there.  There is no way around that.  Except all I need to do is taste, one spoon at a time.  But yesterday I walked in the morning and found myself starving.  The choices we had for lunch weren't very good, at least not to me.  They were fried fish or Italian sausage and peppers.  I should of tried the sausage and instead I ate two crab cakes with tarter sauce.  Then we had a meeting that I needed cookies for, so I made macadamia nut cookies, had to try one.  So basically yesterday I ate everything fried, or sugary, or fatty except for an orange.  I got on the scale this morning and I luckily didn't gain any weight.  So basically my problem is that I make bad choices.  Now I can understand the days that I go out to eat, I'm just not going to stop that completely.  But all the other days I have to get better. 

So that's why I was conflicted last night because I know what it is like to make the split second decision.  I was, and continue to be impressed with Kae.  She is just a powerhouse and won't make bad decisions.  While I'm talking about this, I have to say that I'm glad that Amy is gone.  I felt like she deserved it for turning her back on Kim.  She seemed to not be honest and faithful. 

All right I'm off to exercise and go to work!  It's a new day!  Bye for now.