A Glorious Sunday

It’s been a good day. First, there was church, and then there was football, with the Patriots, Packers, and Saints all winning. All the kids were here all afternoon. After that, we went back to church for our annual Christmas party, which was a rousing success. Now, we’re back home, and again, all the kids are here, hanging out and playing games, while I get to play with my Mady while watching the finale of The Next Iron Chef.

We had plenty of desserts, plus a pasta salad to take to the Christmas party. Nic even made a homemade chocolate cheesecake for the first time (it was a success, by the way). Once there, we ate a wonderful dinner; we were blessed with lots of leftovers to send home with folks. We were also blessed with a full house of folks to share the evening with. We sang a rousing rendition of “The 12 Days of Christmas”, with my role being the “nine ladies dancing,” and I probably should have refrained because my vertigo did not appreciate that at all. Next, we sang everybody’s favorite Christmas carols, followed by a few brief remarks from Mark, and then communion. We finished the evening off with our candle-lighting ceremony, singing “Silent Night” and then “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

I was very pleased that The Next Iron Chef came down to Amanda and Alex, and as I type, I’m waiting for the reveal. I’m hoping for Alex. It’s about time there was another woman on Iron Chef America. And if you haven’t watched yet and don’t want to know, stop reading now. I am very happy, though, because Alex is the newest iron chef. Had Anne Burrell been on the Redemption series, I would have been cheering for her, but she wasn’t.

Right now, though, I’m just enjoying my Sunday evening. Nobody has to go back to Lexington to be at school tomorrow. Neither Jimmy nor I have to get up and go to work tomorrow. Tonight, the kids are all in the kitchen playing games. I’ve spent a great couple days candy-making and baking with my daughter. Tomorrow morning, we’ll get up and I’ll fix a pancake breakfast. We’ll go see my grandmother after Byron gets off work (and even  he has a short day), and then we’ll come home and open our gifts here. I’m always excited about opening gifts, but this year has that extra element of being Mady’s first Christmas.

For now, it doesn’t get much better than this. I hope your holiday season is going as well as mine. Since I do have a goal of writing and posting a blog every day, I will attempt to get at least brief posts up over the next two days. However, if I don’t get a full-fledged blog out there, my prayers are that you have a most blessed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. May God bless you all.

It’s Hummus vs. Hubris on Next Iron Chef

As you already know, my husband and I are huge Food Network fans. We have particular hosts we love to watch, including Giada de Laurentiis, Bobby Flay, Anne Burrell, Paula Deen, Rachael Ray, Michael Symon, Guy Fieri, the Neeleys, and Robert Irvine, just to name a few. We also enjoy the competition shows, such as Next Food Network Star, Chopped, and Next Iron Chef. So, when this season of Next Iron Chef was being promoted, we anxiously awaitedthe  October 30 premiere of the Super Chefs. Of course, we had our favorite picked out the moment we saw the lineup. We’re for Anne Burrell all the way.

Ideally, I would’ve liked to see it come down to Anne Burrell and Robert Irvine in the final episode, with Anne winning. I like Robert Irvine, but I like Anne better, and I do enjoy watching her beat him, as she did on Worst Cooks in America and Chopped. I was hoping for showdown number 3, with Anne coming out on top again. Last week, when Chef Spike chose to put Anne and Robert together for a team, it was quite funny, especially for those of us who know their history. It was with great relief that we learned that they were not the bottom team and did not have to face off against each other in the premiere episode. There was hope that they still might get the chance to fight it out in the finale.

That hope died tonight when Robert Irvine was eliminated from the competition. I was speechless. Robert manages to complete Dinner: Impossible and Restaurant: Impossible challenges all the time. Robert is very well respected among the chefs employed by the Food Network. How can it be that it is episode 2, and Robert is gone? For what it’s worth, which isn’t really much since he was eliminated, the decision wasn’t unanimous. At least one of the judges wanted Robert to stay. And I’m going to guess that more viewers would have liked for Robert to stay than for Chef Michael Chiarello to stay.

Robert Irvine is such a popular chef, it was startling not just to viewers but also to the other Super Chefs that he was eliminated so early. And as Alton Brown pointed out, because his hummus was too thick. Personally, I thought Chef Chiarello’s attitude was too thick. Of course, since this is Super Chefs, there are going to be some Super Egos to contend with, and while the viewers get to see all the comments the chefs make after their food has been evaluated, I’m guessing that the judges don’t get to see all those comments. And that’s probably a good thing since if I were one of the judges and I heard one of the competitors dissing how I judged, I’d be more likely to eliminate them.

Tonight’s episode was a huge wake-up call to fans and chefs alike. If a chef like Robert can be eliminated so quickly, anybody can. As for this fan, though, I still have a preferred order for elimination, which simply calls for all the chefs I’m not really familiar with or that I just don’t like as well to go first. The next ones I’d like to see go are Michael Chiarello (didn’t like his attitude), Elizabeth Faulkner (just don’t really know anything about her), and Chuck Hughes (don’t really know anything about him). After that, Geoffrey Zakarian, Marcus Samuelsson, and Beau MacMillan would be the next three to go, leaving Anne Burrell and Alex Guarnaschelli to compete for the final spot. Since I can’t have Anne and Robert in the finale, then let’s have Anne and Alex and add a female Super Chef to the prestigious Iron Chef crew.

Of course after tonight, it’s hard to speculate about who will win this competition, but it’s certainly going to be interesting to watch, and it’s not going to be an easy task for the competitors. But since it is Next Iron Chef, it shouldn’t be easy for them. One thing I’m wondering, though. When this is over, will those who serve as Chopped judges be any more sympathetic to those competitors than they were before? That may be as interesting to watch as these episodes are.