Friday, January 28, 2011

Say Hello to the Kitchen Boss!

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Sunday:

Bridalplasty (S01E09):
Jenessa is already talking about getting Cheyenne knocked off, LoL. And she wants Allyson to think that she and Dominique care about her opinion, when they clearly don't. Jenessa was a nanny??!?!? Allyson can't stand Jenessa. The nose will take another three months to be 30-40% better?? Many brides and grooms go about 20% over budget, and the average wedding in America is $25,000. Jenessa doesn't talk about her budget, but she mentions that she knows that she can get twice as much in Indiana than she could in New Jersey, so she'd have it there. Allyson had a $25,000 budget, then a $20,000 budget, and now not much of a budget at all. It pisses Jenessa off to hear about it. An office building?? for a wedding?? Dominique would take out a loan for her wedding? of $7,000? A destination wedding? in this situation? Cheyenne already has a venue and date, but says nothing else. Jenessa comment about fearing that Allyson would take the money and run was odd. I'm sick of Jenessa at this point. Each bride will draw a question (mostly things that they learned throughout the past weeks), choose someone to answer it, and if she gets it wrong, she loses a rose. The first person to lose three roses goes home. Cheyenne wants it to be fair, Jenessa says something about taking turns, Cheyenne wants to study together. Jenessa gets out of the room and tells Dominique to use hand gestures to indicate whether or not she knows an answer ahead of time. Dominique and Jenessa tell Cheyenne that they plotted against her. But Cheyenne isn't sure she believes them!! DUMMY. Jenessa goes first - what does 'something blue' represent? Dominique gestures "no" so she gives it to Cheyenne. Cheyenne says "no idea" which was dumb. Answer: fidelity. Dominique goes next - which French monarch started the white wedding dress? Jenessa give the "no" signal so she gives it to Cheyenne. She guesses "Queen Elizabeth" who isn't even French. It was Queen Victoria. Dominique feels guilty. Cheyenne goes next - what sewing technique hides a belly? She chooses Jenessa, who says "ruching" which was right. Jenessa goes - What does a mermaid silhouette hide? Dominique gestures "yes" but she picks Cheyenne. Allyson knows there's hand signals going on. Cheyenne says "hips" which was right. Dominique goes - how do you slow things down on your honeymoon? Jenessa gestures "no" so she picks Cheyenne. Cheyenne says "foreplay" which is accepted. Cheyenne goes - what ancient Indian Hindu gives sextips? She picks Dominique, who says Kama Sutra, which is right. Jenessa gives "what is your mother-in-law's middle name?" and Dominique gives the "yes" gesture. She gives it to Cheyenne, who knows it's the woman's maiden name, but she can't remember what it is, so she just guesses "Ruth," which is wrong. It's "Lee." Cheyenne is very disappointed that the other girls played her like that. Allyson will select who she will compete against in the finale. She likes Dominique better, but feels she's a greater competitor. Dominique tells Jenessa that she hopes Jenessa wins. Dominique asks Jenessa if she can talk to Allyson, and they both go in there. Jenessa walks into the Recovery Room saying, "Hello, God," which makes everyone laugh. Jenessa leaves so the girls can talk alone, then she'll have her chance. Jenessa hears Dominique crying so she butts in to get her turn. Jenessa asks Allyson how she'll make her decision. Dominique wishes that she would have talked to Allyson second, and just keeps harping on the fact that this is really her only hope at a wedding in general. Allyson tells Jenessa that the way she treated Lisa Marie in the end wasn't fair (telling her that others were calling her a "cockroach"). Jenessa cries, brings up how she gave a surgery to Allyson, but Allyson still thinks about how she still means nothing to her. Jenessa thinks she'll go home so she tries to convince Dominique that she HAS to win overall. I don't think calling Allyson the "top bride" at the moment really fits... she didn't compete this week, LoL. But, at the same time, we know that she's in the finale, so I guess technically she IS a "top bride," LoL. Allyson chose to send Dominique home specifically so she could beat Jenessa at the last moment. She didn't want to "take the easy way out." I couldn't believe she did that!! Jenessa tries to play the "thanks so much" card," but Allyson doesn't want to look at her. Jenessa thinks Allyson is stupid for thinking she can beat her. Next week is the finale (which takes place the next day). We see some of the other girls in the preview... I had completely forgotten about Jessica! I think there were too many commercial breaks this time, but I guess there's not much substance left, LoL.

The Simpsons (S22E12):
Archer introduction was odd. ski-jumping in the opening was, too. "Prince is not the son of Martin Luther King" also wasn't that great. The newspaper/couch skit was just okay. Was that dentist show parodying something real? If so, I didn't get it. Bart's eyes popping out scared me. Marge irons garbage bags?? ::eyes wide open in shock:: I don't know what was funnier - Homer going to buy something from the catalog, or the fact that he was writing to the World Trade Center, LoL. The CIA, FBI, and ATF groups were funny... but I was still trying to get over what exactly Bart would have fairly traded while he wrote to those entities. How did they get a car in a bumper-car ring?? Vodka in a vaporizer?? The laser shooting Homer was frightening. How did Bart get the bike over the gates at the zoo? Homer going to China wasn't that amusing, but the subtitles were. The Actor's Studio thing at the end was dumb. "whammy bar," haha.

Family Guy (S09Exx): episode 10 to come.

Monday:
Cake Boss: Next Great Baker (S01E08): [season finale] Megan is ready to compete, Dana is ready, and Corina will go down fighting. The final challenge is to do Buddy's average day - all 24 hours and free-run of the bakery. It looks like this is the first time they saw Carlo's Bakery, since they get a tour. First, the Baker's Challenge: cleaning the grease trap. 1 minute to fill up a bucket as fast as possible - whoever gets the most in a minute gets an advantage for later. I was grossed out. It looks like Dana got the most. When they weigh them, Megan's is 41.1 pounds, Corina's is 38.8 pounds, and Dana's is 46.6 pounds. Man that's a big grease trap! Elimination Challenge: fill display cases with their own pastries and sell the most in two hours (whoever sells the most gets an advantage, too). 400 cookies, 20 cakes, 20 pies, 2 pastries -100 each, and do a big theme cake. They each get to pick a salesperson, a baker, a decorator, and a sculptor from the Carlo's staff. Dana picks first - that was his advantage. Megan will pick second. But, what do they really know about these people to make an educated decision? Dana chooses Grace for sales, Mauro for baking, Frankie for decorator, and Ralph for sculpting. Megan goes with Mary, Joey (tho Mary pushes her to pick him, LoL), Liz, and Tai. This leaves Corina with Madeline (which is an advantage since she has baking experience that the other sales girls don't), Danny, and two others (non-family, I guess). It's 6pm, 13 hours before opening. First, everyone talks about what they're going to make. Corina tells Danny to alter her recipes as he thinks would be better... I thought that was interesting. Frankie tells Dana that he has to go to Back-to-School night right then. Megan is doing Italian cream cake with cream cheese frosting and devil's food cake with fudge filling and chocolate buttercream. Praline cookies and chocolate chip cookies. Vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream and fruit tarts for her pastries. Lemon chess pie and pecan pie. Dana is doing 5 kinds of pie (only two were required): sweet potato, nutella, apple, blueberry, and cherry. For cakes, he's doing vanilla and southern lemon. For pastries, he's doing death by chocolate, eclairs, and creme puffs. Cookies - chocolate chip and pumpkin raisin oatmeal. Corina is doing chocolate-chocolate chip cookies with white chocolate chips and white-chocolate-blueberry-pistachio biscotti (um, that's odd!!). Cannolis and cream puffs. Red velvet cake and pina colada cake with a toasted coconut buttercream. Apple pie and Coconut cashew caramel tart pie. Mauro isn't thrilled with the recipes being done in cups instead of pounds and gallons, LoL. "lead with respect and encouragement and try to use others' strengths" was Megan's leadership style. Joey measures vanilla by how many seconds he has to pour it, LoL!! Megan thinks she has an advantage over Corina since Corina has never done high-production before. Red velvet gets its color from beetroot... cool. Grace doesn't know much about baking, but she wants to help so Dana is letting her. The mayor of Hoboken shows up, and Dana wants to meet with her first. She asks for a cake to celebrate the city, wants landmarks, baseball, public transit. Chocolate cake. Needs it by 1pm. Dana doesn't make the mayor's cake a big priority, but Corina sure does! Grace put too much pumpkin in the cookie batter so they have to scrap it. When Megan's Italian cream cake is done, it's supposed to sit in the pan a little longer, but Mary pops them out right away, and they're not done. The coconut stopped them from baking quickly or something. Joey thinks they'll be fine. Corina's Hoboken cake is vintage and layered and diverse in people on the cake. The look on Buddy's face when he sees that Grace is in the kitchen was priceless. I was surprised that Dana didn't tell Buddy that Frankie is still missing. Frankie shows up at like 11pm. Dana's cake has a lot of characters. Megan's cake is a map of sorts. Frankie announced he's going to sleep for two hours. Mauro goes, too. Mary and Madeleine peace out at like 2am. Joey, Grace, and Danny stay. 6-6:30am Frankie and Mauro get back and get right to work. At 6:30am, Corina panics, Joey says Madeleine will be there by 7am. At 6:52, Madeleine shows up. Megan has some extra items in case some things sell well. Dana has too much stuff for the cases. Mary asks Megan to make cut up some samples. Corina panics that the others have more variety than she does. Buddy gives the people coming in 10 tickets to buy what they want. Cakes and pies are 5, anything else is 1 ticket. Megan is happy with Mary and Dana is happy with Grace. Half an hour into selling, Corina goes to bake more stuff. Buddy questions her about not selling, then tells her to go out there, with 30 minutes to go. Megan is sold out of cakes with 20 minutes to go. That was a very long last 30 or 40 seconds, LoL. They tally up the tickets, and the lowest seller is going home right now. 432 tickets goes to Dana. 388 tickets goes to Megan. This leaves Corina with 244 tickets, and she gets sent home before ever finishing her Hoboken cake. Dana and Megan go back to work. Their cakes are very different, and the quality is very clear that the real bakers are doing it... not people hoping to work with them, LoL. I thought both cakes looked nice. Buddy tricked them... it's not a party for Hoboken, it's a party for their families and cake fans! Main judges are Buddy, his mom, and the Hoboken mayor. Taste-wise, Dana had a vanilla cake with buttercream icing and chocolate ganache - good, moist, sweet, it's not wonderful, and it's not chocolate. Megan had a devil's food cake with a fudge filling and chocolate buttercream. Heavy, sweet, delicious, moist, good texture and consistency. Dana's cake - captures a lot of Hoboken, great colors, nice water, looks grand, nice details. Megan's cake - captures things Hoboken stands for, very detailed, baseball-centered, prominent name, river is strange. Buddy's mom identifies more with Dana's. Mayor chooses Megan's. Buddy asks them each why they deserve to win over the other. Megan says that she demonstrated her ability under pressure, she can manage a team well, sell, and do what the client wants. Dana says that he's a fighter, is a team player, goes above and beyond, and is a go-to guy. Buddy goes with Dana in the end, and Megan truly looked thrilled for him. Megan is happy with how much she learned from competing. They celebrate with champagne. Buddy had a Dana bust cake that looked cool. Overall, I liked how close it was. And I was okay with either Megan or Dana winning (I didn't want Corina to win).

House, M.D. (S07E10): one of the many reasons I hate the military... all that meanness and doing this crap in the rain and mud. so sad. um, and when your head is bleeding, you may indeed be in immediate danger. haha, one of the girls from Chase's triple-girl-night put up a profile of him featuring someone else's genitals. oh, it wasn't real military. it was for bad kids... I don't really care about them. Chase's password was "password" ???!? "I want you to know how much your humiliation has eased my burden," hahaha. After House gets Wilson to inadvertently give advice about Rachel's situation, he really should have popped his head around the corner and said "thanks for playing," like in Dead Poets Society, which Wilson starred in. And no, I can't take credit for thinking of this, my husband gets the points for this one! "prison now or later doesn't make that big of a difference to me" ...interesting. I am in love with the fact that House is trying so hard to make Rachel "pass" her admissions interview, LoL. wow, that's a lot of pink at that girl's place!! A dog-training clicker? oh my goodness... high school??? "maybe you don't care if children shew on your caterpillar, but I do," was funny after I got the reference. hahaha, the drill instructor is the cut-up's father! I also love that House is proud of Rachel's lying. haha, the girl who WOULDN'T sleep with Chase.

How I Met Your Mother (S06Exx): episode 15 coming up.

19 Kids and Counting (S06E01): Slightly updated opening. It's Jessa's 18th birthday. It's fall. They got a new bus. It's November, since Josie is 11 months and 15 pounds. Nice montage of Josie. She's really cute now. Michelle said she'd go through it all again, because she got Josie out of it. "I would be happy to receive another gift." haha on JimBob saying that it won't be long until Jessa has a family of her own... she's #5 and only #1 is married, LoL. Shooting range, gun safety... everyone went but Josie, who stayed with Grandma, so they took 3 cars. Josiah driving was cool. No Duggars have a February birthday. Johannah was scared of the sound. I didn't realize they let younger kids shoot! Joy did better than JimBob. Michelle taking 50+ pregnancy tests was amusing... on one hand, you'd think that's pretty low, less than three per conception. On the other hand, I guess she's never not trying and she doesn't really do much that a pregnancy would affect, so it doesn't much matter, LoL. Josie gets to go to the airport to see the family skydive. JimBob was worried about the wind, but he calmed down when he saw the jumper was the same one who went with him. Michelle jumped first. Michelle and Jessa fist-bumping at the end was strange.

Tuesday:
Kitchen Boss (S01E01): The premiere features chicken sorrentino with fusilli, asparagus with breadcrumbs, chocolate-covered strawberries with tuxedo design. This was filmed at some point before "the holidays," LoL. always peel eggplant. he keeps breadcrumbs in a jar on the counter, LoL. Dip eggplant in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. add 1 tbsp salt per 2 qt water when boiling. crushed tomatoes with olive oil and garlic, salt, pepper, and a packet (tsp) of sugar, some torn basil. Chicken only cooks 7 minutes per side, and it's not quite done - finished in the oven. Eggplant went 5 minutes per side. Buddy repeating everything that Lisa does was funny.

so... I'm not sure how interesting reviews of this are gonna be. you can see all of the recipes here.

Teen Mom 2 (S01E03): It's summer 2010.
Jenelle: she applies for some jobs. She signs over temporary custody to her mom. She can't go with Jace to the grocery store without her mom? Now she's a waitress at a pub. Her mom got upset that she spent $3 on a skirt, LoL. She wanted to take Jace to see the fireworks, but her mom said no, not alone.
Kailyn: Jo's parents tell her not to forget about her priorities: career, school, kid. not dating. Sucks that she has to get Jo's brother to drive her to orientation. Her mom feels bad that she didn't go with her to the orientation, so she gives her an old car for free. She breaks up with Jordan, blaming it on the fact she can't date while under Jo's parents' roof. She walks around the neighborhood with one of Jo's cousins to see fireworks.
Chelsea: Dad's giving her money for groceries, too?? haha, she's trying to get Aubree to say "mama." She has to go to Orientation for beauty school, and she leaves the baby with Adam. She has 1 month to finish high school or she can't enter beauty school in September.
Leah: 2 months until they can do the MRI. She's blaming herself since Ali was squished in utero. She's struggling to act strong. bowling was awkward. Now she's back with the babydaddy. They go see fireworks on their own. They get on a boat to watch the fireworks.

Wednesday:
Kitchen Boss (S01E02): Today we have Street Fair Food. Buddy's cousin Frankie, who is a year or so younger than he is, is today's guest. We have sausage/peppers/onions sandwiches, calzones, and zeppoles. Boil sausages before cooking them on the grill, so the insides cook fine. Buddy pulls the middle out of the bread! :( Wow, he takes quite a few steps in allowing his calzone dough to rise, LoL.

Minute to Win It (S02E21): we're letting a guy named Mark come back, since he walked away empty-handed last time. I search my blog three different ways before I found his first attempt. Turns out, he was from the very beginning, and I didn't include contestants' names yet. Here he is if you want to read about his first attempt, it was carried into a second episode, and he never got past the fourth round.
Game 1: Hanky Panky: Using a single hand pull out 160 tissues from a standard tissue box in 60 seconds. Mark is excited about this one, LoL. He finishes with 27 seconds to go.
Game 2: Noodling Around: hold an uncooked piece of spaghetti in your mouth, and load up six pieces of uncooked penne on it, they're around a table. Don't break the spaghetti. He's only okay with this one. He struggles at the end, but wins with 7 seconds left.
Game 3: (Blueprint Bonus: this is new... if you get this one, you get an extra 10 seconds to use later) Bottoms Up: use a yo-yo to knock over soda cans... the yo-yo is tied around your waist, and the cans are spread out across various pedestals. He;s not great at this game but he's not bad. He finished with 22 seconds to go.
Game 4: Johnny Applestack: Red Delicious apples... stack 5 of them, one on top of another, to make a tower that stands for at least three seconds. He takes his time on strategy and rebuilds his 3 bottom apples several times. He ends up losing a life on this one. He tries again and gets it with just 10 seconds to spare!
Game 5: (Blueprint Bonus again - this time he'd win an extra life) Spoon Tune: Arrange 10 water-filled glasses in a row so that they play "Row, row, row your boat / Gently down the stream" when you clink a spoon against them. I think he's kinda off-balance on this one, but when he starts, he's sounding the tune, LoL. He gets it with 18 seconds to go, and was really sure of his memory or something with the middle glasses!
Game 6: Sticker Picker Upper: balance a round (only one hand) tray so that an egg rolls around on it and picks up four stickers... don't let it fall off for at least three seconds after they're all picked up. He's excited about this one. He gets the first two without a problem. At 30 seconds he's starting to get shaky, and has them all with 14 seconds to go!
Game 7: What a Racquet: hold a racquet with your thighs (just under your crotch) and guide a marble into a specific hole (no hands allowed). Once it's there, hold it for three seconds. You have a ton of marbles to work with. Mark says it's tough. His wife looks a little skeptical. He gets close, drops a bunch, was almost there, drops some more, ends up running out of time. I wouldn't think that this is a big one for using extra time, and Mark agrees. He goes again. He gets super-close but can't get it in the right place... the wife is looking worried... ends up running out of time. He adds the 10 seconds this time (it is his last life) and tries again... Now his wife looks like she is about to cry. This time he gets it in like 5 seconds, so a real waste of the 10, haha.
Game 8: they actually let the idiot look at the game before he decides to go for it! HATE THIS IDEA! it's Mag-Nutstacker: with a chopstick, create a hanging chain of nuts and move it to a pedestal. The wife gives him really, REALLY bad advice. I'm glad that he goes against her!
Overall - the little present rounds were cute with the Christmas episodes, but I'm NOT a fan of the "Blueprint Bonus" junk. The game was fine the way it was before!

Better With You (S01E12?): okay, so we're still having issues with determining whether "Better without a Couch" will keep its status of #12 or if it'll be #14, since chronologically it'll air then. And, no episode this week. But, I did catch the rest of "Better with a Cat" which is either #12 or #13. Here's the full review below, part of it carried over from last week:
"pajamas at a restaurant" being the dream was funny. Ben and Maddie trying to get the baby to stop crying was funny. Taking THREE entrees off the bill was ridiculous. "We don't take classes well together" and the fact that they almost DROWNED at a SCUBA class was amusing. haha, giving the baby a cocktail. Leaving Mia IN A STROLLER at a restaurant was nuts! haha, challenging Ben to make fake boobs out of anything. I'm confused as to why Joel and Vicki would want to be the guardians after they proved how bad they were with raising baby Mia, LoL.
I like how the parents are trying to win godparent status by taking the cat, while Maddie and Ben take an infant CPR class. Maddie asking questions and getting kicked out was funny. I'm actually surprised that Joel has an interest in being a guardian. I like how careless they're being with the cat, tho. Mia getting kicked out because she's Maddie's sister was funny. Mr. Meowgi was a cute name for a cat. I love that the parents can't even remember what color the cat was. I adored the "telling of grievances" between Maddie and her parents... very Friends. 4 guardians??!?!? hahaha, stealing a cat! haha, they're not the actual guardians, and Mia and Casey aren't worried about it because by the time the others find out, they'll be dead. "we saved nine" was funny.

Hot in Cleveland (S02E02): odd Victoria opening. Elka drunk was weird. "she had to, she's under indictment and his son's running for office," LoL. "8 or 20" hours, haha. I'm not in love with this Joy-greencard-marriage storyline. haha at the "'too skinny' - I like her" comment. haha on the "hand-me-downs from Hank" thing even pertaining to Melanie! haha, Elka spills the beans! "benderover" was funny.

Retired at 35 (S01E02):
Scotch at breakfast? haha, dumping the OJ into the plants. I love that the mom tried to act like she was still away while sitting in the SAME restaurant, haha. blah blah blah, this is boring. Onr more and I think it's getting the boot.

Thursday:
Kitchen Boss (S01E03): Aunt Anna and cousin Grace come by. Breaded chicken and vinegar peppers, spinach and mandarin salad, and manicotti (made with crepes instead of pasta). Grated potato to take out acid from sauce is interesting. Crepe batter can sit for up to a day before use.

Wipeout (S04E04): chimney sweep? today we have a blob, then the big balls, then a sweeper with snowmen heads, and the log jam. HumanGarbageCan wore a LOT of makeup. and she had some BIG lips. She panicked when she got to the end of the snotivator and bounded off the back of the first ball and into the platform, LoL. She actually did well on the log jam until the end, LoL. SuperstitiousGirl was funny. Blob caused some great wipeouts! That one girl flew 40 feet in the air! Round 2 today has the ski lift, which is the one where everyone stands on individual platforms that rotate. You have a handle above your ahead to pull yourself up on to avoid the sweepers, which keep going higher. SuperstitiousGirl fell off. Mikachu is the only girl left. DaddyLonglegs wins, which makes sense, given the obstacle and his strengths. Next we have the W-I-P-E-O-U-T, each with its own obstacle. There's now a costumed polar bear on the P, which is new. Mikachu was close, but DaddyLonglegs made it first. I don't remember the "I" swaying as much before. haha on the ad for According to Jim. I was happy that Mikachu made it over those giant hurdles on the U! Perfect10 had a really funny face-smack into one of the poles on the "O," LoL. HandTalker takes the third slot. Wipeout Zone tonight features the bobsled blastoff, the icy stairwell from hell, the frostbite sweeper, and the sinister snowflakes. HandTalker goes first. He makes the stairs on the first try - he's the first contestant to ever do that! He falls on the frostbite... twice. He falls off the first snowflake immediately, and I laughed pretty hard. Then he falls off the second one. Then he makes it, time of 12:10. Mikachu is next. She falls off from the top set of steps. She makes it on the second try. She gets knocked off the frostbite on her first attempt, but makes it on the second try. She jumps onto the first snowflake and promptly fell off. She makes it through with a time of 8:13. DaddyLonglegs He makes it across the stairs with no problems. He gets knocked off the frostbite, then doesn't quite make the platform as he fell the next time. He makes it the third time, and falls off the first snowflake. Next time, he falls off the second snowflake. Less than 30 seconds to go, and he catches himself from a fall on the second snowflake. He finishes with a 7:54, winning.

Friday:
Kitchen Boss (S01E04): Today we have Pasta Alla Norma (two kinds of eggplant, tomato sauce), Steak Pizzaiola (steak with onions, mushrooms, peppers), Granita Lemon (Italian ice, Buddy's personal favorite). They're all Sicilian dishes. Peel the eggplant, cut it in strips, then dice into large chunks, strain it with some sliced eggplant. Add a bunch of salt, let it sit for an hour so the eggplant isn't moist and bitter. to cook steak evenly, bring it to room temperature before grilling... interesting. 3 minutes per side for medium rare. Don't cut a steak right away - let it rest for a couple minutes so the juices don't run out. Granita has larger ice crystals than sorbet.
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Off season/Coming Up:

Cake Boss (Season 4 back January 31st)
Mr. Sunshine (premieres Wednesday, February 9th at 9:30pm on ABC)
The Secret Life of the American Teenager (season 3 continues March 28th at 8pm)
South Park (season 15 starts April 27th)
Melissa & Joey (some point in the Spring)
Futurama (Season 6 continues with episode 14 in the Spring)
Kate Plus Eight (not sure when season 2 episode 2 is)
Teen Mom (no idea)
16 and Pregnant (no idea)
Terra Nova (previewing in May; premiering in September)
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