Another performance night is over for American Idol. The top 11 performed Elton John songs last night and most of them did a fantastic job, in my opinion.
My top three based on the performance:
1. James Durbin
2. Casey Abrams
3. Lauren Alaina
Note: I don't know what it is, but Pia Toscano has started to rub me the wrong way. Is it her perfectionist way of singing? Is it her ballad heavy repertoire week after week? Is it her perfect teeth and lovely face and silky long hair? I don't know. But she just fell off my fave wagon.
The bottom three based on performance:
1. Stefano Langone
2. Naima Adedapo
3. Thia Megia
Note: I hate to see Thia in my bottom three but she has not shown any personality in the contest so far. Her voice could only carry her so far. She needs to bring in a total package. I hope that the votes will save her, but for now and until she develops a go-get-it attitude, she will be off my fave list :)
In another Wednesday show, TOP CHEF ALL STARS had their finale last night and Richard Blais was crowned the TOP CHEF. Good for him.
It's hard to be totally happy, since my fave chefs, Dale Talde and Angelo Sosa, were eliminated earlier.
Showing posts with label top chef. Show all posts
Showing posts with label top chef. Show all posts
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
I Haven't Rambled in A While
So here is my rambling in bullets:
- Last Friday, March 18th we had a full blown storm - ala PI - with thunder, lightning, hail, strong winds, and power outage. Hubby was ecstatic to feel the home feel again, reading newspaper by flashlight. Buster was freaked out. Could not figure where all the rumbling was coming from. Backyard went white from all the hail.
- Went to see BATTLE LOS ANGELES. Wanted to see the new Matt Damon movie but changed our minds at the last minute. Wasn't bad, in fact quite entertaining for a war/action movie.
- Had adobong pusit and plain white rice - take out lunch from local Pinoy resto, CABALEN. Totally enjoyed my lunch yesterday.
- Looks like our friends are dragging us to the Central Coast soon. I haven't even posted the photos I took from our 2 night 3 day stay from November and here I am about to go. We'll see they might change their minds and opt for Yosemite instead. Either destination, I would not care. Both are spectacularly scenic in their own rights.
- Would be very busy at work. Looks like I'd be putting in OT for a few weeks in the coming days. I can almost feel the heavy weight of that Canon DSLR in my hands. Husband warns me not to spend the OT money before I earned it. Wise guy, isn't he?
- I am just loving the new batch of judges on AMERICAN IDOL. Jennifer is so insightful and so supportive of the contestants. I heart her!
- And I just adore Steven Tyler's beautiful eyes when he listens to the contestants perform.
- James Durbin's for real, isn't he? Easy on the eyes too :)
- Antonia just got sabotaged by her "cousin" Mike. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you ain't watching TOP CHEF ALL STARS.
- The radio just played HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN, the version by Rod Stewart. I really really love that song.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
It's Thursday Again
And I suppose I need to write something here again, right?
My offline life is getting busy - work is getting hectic - and other extra-curricular activities start piling up, and with two other blogs aside from this, something is bound to be neglected.
Unfortunately, this blog is the one victimized by my busy schedule.
I'd like to rectify that today. And fingers crossed my next post won't wait another week to be published.
Anyway, I can't remember what exactly we did over the weekend. The weekend was a blur, especially now that another weekend is upon us.
I'm going to be riding a plane this weekend, which will take me to a place where I'd catch another ride to my week-long vacation destination. Oh, the much-needed get-away is here. Thank heavens!
I didn't intend to tell you that, it just slipped into the post.
Last night I went to dinner with "friends". Why the quotation? I don't know if I'd categorize them as friends or they belong to the gray area where they are more than acquiantances but less than friends. But for the sake of this post they are friends. They are my husband's colleagues, they have been to the house and eaten my food more than once, so I guess friends is not an exaggeration.
January is California's Restaurant Month, wherein the Visitor Bureau encourages you to patronize local businesses by going out to dinner. In return, the business gives special deals, like lower prices for prix fixe meals/3-course meals for $30. Oakland has it's Restaurant Week this week. After work last evening, I met with friends for dinner - to Mezze - which is about 5 minutes from my work. Isn't that mighty convenient?
Anyway, there were 3 girls and 4 boys that went to dinner - and no one brought a camera; I don't know how the photos of food taken by cell phone turned out. 6 of us ordered the 3-course meals. The menu is quite limited, and on a Wednesday at 7 pm we were told that the tuna is sold out and they only have 2 orders of scallops - that went to our table, I ordered one with butternut squash soup and bread pudding for dessert. M ordered the salmon entree, which we all agreed was overcooked. Two ordered the steak entree which was according to both who ordered it was too spicy and that the pepper crusting is too overwhelming. My husband ordered ala carte of Morroccan lamb shank. The portion is huge and delicious. I ordered the scallops. The order consists of three huge scallops over parsnip puree and some veggies with pancetta.
I like my entree. It is flavorful. I always like anything pureed - even parsnip. The scallops weren't as flavorful as I'd like, but if you bite into the pancetta, you get the maximum flavor. The accompanying corn succotash looks like it came from a frozen veggies bag. All in all I enjoyed the dinner.
However, we were all united in saying the highlight of the dinner was the chocolate croissant bread pudding - so delicious and rich. It will make anyone happy.
On Wednesdays they waive the corkage fee so we brought two bottles - which were both Bordeaux, a pleasant surprise.
We chatted all through the three courses sipping wine and agreed to dine about town every month. M assigned me to pick the next restaurant. I'd like to choose one where the entree prices are under $20, because this dining out can get very heavy on the pocket too :)
And because I went out last night, I missed American Idol and I failed to record it. I also missed Top Chef, but I believed that there was no new show last night, so no harm there.
Happy Weekend everyone.
My offline life is getting busy - work is getting hectic - and other extra-curricular activities start piling up, and with two other blogs aside from this, something is bound to be neglected.
Unfortunately, this blog is the one victimized by my busy schedule.
I'd like to rectify that today. And fingers crossed my next post won't wait another week to be published.
Anyway, I can't remember what exactly we did over the weekend. The weekend was a blur, especially now that another weekend is upon us.
I'm going to be riding a plane this weekend, which will take me to a place where I'd catch another ride to my week-long vacation destination. Oh, the much-needed get-away is here. Thank heavens!
I didn't intend to tell you that, it just slipped into the post.
Last night I went to dinner with "friends". Why the quotation? I don't know if I'd categorize them as friends or they belong to the gray area where they are more than acquiantances but less than friends. But for the sake of this post they are friends. They are my husband's colleagues, they have been to the house and eaten my food more than once, so I guess friends is not an exaggeration.
January is California's Restaurant Month, wherein the Visitor Bureau encourages you to patronize local businesses by going out to dinner. In return, the business gives special deals, like lower prices for prix fixe meals/3-course meals for $30. Oakland has it's Restaurant Week this week. After work last evening, I met with friends for dinner - to Mezze - which is about 5 minutes from my work. Isn't that mighty convenient?
Anyway, there were 3 girls and 4 boys that went to dinner - and no one brought a camera; I don't know how the photos of food taken by cell phone turned out. 6 of us ordered the 3-course meals. The menu is quite limited, and on a Wednesday at 7 pm we were told that the tuna is sold out and they only have 2 orders of scallops - that went to our table, I ordered one with butternut squash soup and bread pudding for dessert. M ordered the salmon entree, which we all agreed was overcooked. Two ordered the steak entree which was according to both who ordered it was too spicy and that the pepper crusting is too overwhelming. My husband ordered ala carte of Morroccan lamb shank. The portion is huge and delicious. I ordered the scallops. The order consists of three huge scallops over parsnip puree and some veggies with pancetta.
I like my entree. It is flavorful. I always like anything pureed - even parsnip. The scallops weren't as flavorful as I'd like, but if you bite into the pancetta, you get the maximum flavor. The accompanying corn succotash looks like it came from a frozen veggies bag. All in all I enjoyed the dinner.
However, we were all united in saying the highlight of the dinner was the chocolate croissant bread pudding - so delicious and rich. It will make anyone happy.
On Wednesdays they waive the corkage fee so we brought two bottles - which were both Bordeaux, a pleasant surprise.
We chatted all through the three courses sipping wine and agreed to dine about town every month. M assigned me to pick the next restaurant. I'd like to choose one where the entree prices are under $20, because this dining out can get very heavy on the pocket too :)
And because I went out last night, I missed American Idol and I failed to record it. I also missed Top Chef, but I believed that there was no new show last night, so no harm there.
Happy Weekend everyone.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
What's The Verdict?
Or is too soon?
You don't know what I'm talking about?
It's about the new season of American Idol, silly.
Oh you no longer care for AI!
I came to this new season with the attitude of "well I have nothing better to do" so why not watch. I don't think the show has much staying power beyond this season, unless something earth-shattering thing happens. Let's say they find that one superstar in the making. Still I thought the show is really showing her age.
Now what do I really think? What grade do I give?
Too soon. After all, only one show has aired and it's the auditon part of the search.
But, I did find J.Lo's cringing at her reluctance to crush the aspirant's hopes pretty refreshing and elicited giggles on my part and my husband's.
That's a good sign.
And I liked the fact that all three judges are singers/musicians and that they can put themselves in the auditioner's shoes.
I'm still weighing my feelings for Steven Tyler.
And Randy? I though he should be playing more of a "lead" role, but well, he continues to be....Randy - the third judge.
So I am taking a wait-and-see-what-happens approach to AI this year. That is until a more interesting show comes up somewhere in the same time slot.
ON TO ANOTHER SHOW
Wednesday is also the day my other favorite show, TOP CHEF, airs. And the All-Star version is midway to the season.
I have jumped into the bandwagon pretty late in the game. I believe I have been watching the show 3 years now. They have been on air longer than that.
Which only means that many of the chefs participating in this All-Star version are all new to me, including Dale, who I googled because I had serious questions about his heritage. Yes he is of Filipino heritage and I am happy that he's doing fine so far. But the fortunes on Top Chef are fickle and they change pretty quickly from one show to the next. So no one is really safe.
I have come to this season with Angelo as my "bet" to take it all the way. You see I have seen the season where Angelo was one of the top three in the end. And while his morals and ethics are in constant question on the show, I still thought that he makes good food - I would love to eat what he's cooking on the show.
I just previewed this post and read what I've written so far and I thought I'd come out as pretty much a couch potato with nothing better to do on a Wednesday night. You are right in that assumption.
So with this I end this post. But be certain I'll be sitting on the same couch come Wednesday night and tuning in to these 2 shows :)
You don't know what I'm talking about?
It's about the new season of American Idol, silly.
Oh you no longer care for AI!
I came to this new season with the attitude of "well I have nothing better to do" so why not watch. I don't think the show has much staying power beyond this season, unless something earth-shattering thing happens. Let's say they find that one superstar in the making. Still I thought the show is really showing her age.
Now what do I really think? What grade do I give?
Too soon. After all, only one show has aired and it's the auditon part of the search.
But, I did find J.Lo's cringing at her reluctance to crush the aspirant's hopes pretty refreshing and elicited giggles on my part and my husband's.
That's a good sign.
And I liked the fact that all three judges are singers/musicians and that they can put themselves in the auditioner's shoes.
I'm still weighing my feelings for Steven Tyler.
And Randy? I though he should be playing more of a "lead" role, but well, he continues to be....Randy - the third judge.
So I am taking a wait-and-see-what-happens approach to AI this year. That is until a more interesting show comes up somewhere in the same time slot.
ON TO ANOTHER SHOW
Wednesday is also the day my other favorite show, TOP CHEF, airs. And the All-Star version is midway to the season.
I have jumped into the bandwagon pretty late in the game. I believe I have been watching the show 3 years now. They have been on air longer than that.
Which only means that many of the chefs participating in this All-Star version are all new to me, including Dale, who I googled because I had serious questions about his heritage. Yes he is of Filipino heritage and I am happy that he's doing fine so far. But the fortunes on Top Chef are fickle and they change pretty quickly from one show to the next. So no one is really safe.
I have come to this season with Angelo as my "bet" to take it all the way. You see I have seen the season where Angelo was one of the top three in the end. And while his morals and ethics are in constant question on the show, I still thought that he makes good food - I would love to eat what he's cooking on the show.
I just previewed this post and read what I've written so far and I thought I'd come out as pretty much a couch potato with nothing better to do on a Wednesday night. You are right in that assumption.
So with this I end this post. But be certain I'll be sitting on the same couch come Wednesday night and tuning in to these 2 shows :)
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Blond Moment or Senior Moment
Yesterday after a very very long day which was punctuated by my car breaking down just when I was in my street at the foot of the hill, about 7 small blocks from my driveway, I had some sort of a breakdown - or a senior or blond moment, you be the judge.
So when the tow truck came (I rang hubby first who happened to be home from work early) and told me and hubby that he believed that the reason why the car stopped running was that the battery was dead, which was what I suspected all along since we haven't replaced the battery since we bought it 6 years ago.
We told the young (was he even legit to drive yet?) tow truck driver to just bring the car home. When that was done, it was nearing 8 pm. Hubs and I sped to Costco to get the warehouse brand battery. Costco closes at 9 pm daily and they close the gate before that. We got to Costco about 8:30 and I was running, hubs went to park the car. When he got in and saw me admiring the tv selection, he questioned why I didn't have a cart with me. I ran outside to fetch a cart and the door is starting to be shut. I asked them to let me grab a cart first.
And so we managed to locate the aisle where the car batteries are located. Honestly I didn't see these before now. Selective memory? Husband suggested we do a little bit of shopping, but I was really exhausted and stressed both from hard day at work and the car's breakdown that I threw my brand of tantrum (nothing scandalous) and I reasoned out that I really need to see TOP CHEF and it starts at 9 pm. I am recording it, he said. But I didn't budge and so we hurriedly paid our purchase and was greeted at the door by the same employee who grinned at our purchase and smiled saying she understood now why the urgency in my step.
Anyway, we got home and I immediately turn the tv on Bravo and lo and behold some other show is going on. I went to fix dinner and still no TOP CHEF coming on. I checked SyFy and WAREHOUSE 13 is on. Since that is one of hubs fave shows, we watched that while changing back to Bravo during commercial breaks. NO Top Chef.
I was still fuming and suddenly I realized that Warehouse 13 is on the wrong day of the week. I ask my husband why Warehouse 13 is on a Wednesday. My moment came when hubby said it was Tuesday that's why Warehouse 13 was on and why Top Chef wasn't because the latter goes on Wednesdays. Boink! Senior Moment or Blond Moment? You be the judge.
So when the tow truck came (I rang hubby first who happened to be home from work early) and told me and hubby that he believed that the reason why the car stopped running was that the battery was dead, which was what I suspected all along since we haven't replaced the battery since we bought it 6 years ago.
We told the young (was he even legit to drive yet?) tow truck driver to just bring the car home. When that was done, it was nearing 8 pm. Hubs and I sped to Costco to get the warehouse brand battery. Costco closes at 9 pm daily and they close the gate before that. We got to Costco about 8:30 and I was running, hubs went to park the car. When he got in and saw me admiring the tv selection, he questioned why I didn't have a cart with me. I ran outside to fetch a cart and the door is starting to be shut. I asked them to let me grab a cart first.
And so we managed to locate the aisle where the car batteries are located. Honestly I didn't see these before now. Selective memory? Husband suggested we do a little bit of shopping, but I was really exhausted and stressed both from hard day at work and the car's breakdown that I threw my brand of tantrum (nothing scandalous) and I reasoned out that I really need to see TOP CHEF and it starts at 9 pm. I am recording it, he said. But I didn't budge and so we hurriedly paid our purchase and was greeted at the door by the same employee who grinned at our purchase and smiled saying she understood now why the urgency in my step.
Anyway, we got home and I immediately turn the tv on Bravo and lo and behold some other show is going on. I went to fix dinner and still no TOP CHEF coming on. I checked SyFy and WAREHOUSE 13 is on. Since that is one of hubs fave shows, we watched that while changing back to Bravo during commercial breaks. NO Top Chef.
I was still fuming and suddenly I realized that Warehouse 13 is on the wrong day of the week. I ask my husband why Warehouse 13 is on a Wednesday. My moment came when hubby said it was Tuesday that's why Warehouse 13 was on and why Top Chef wasn't because the latter goes on Wednesdays. Boink! Senior Moment or Blond Moment? You be the judge.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Padma is Back
TOP CHEF started its 2010 season last night. Don't ask me the number of season this one is because I don't know. The reason why I don't know is I've only started watching it last season where the Voltaggio brothers, Bryan and Michael, ended up fighting, er cooking it out in the finals. That finale I saw coming.
This year though, I don't see anyone yet that would be outstanding, well except for Angelo something who won both the first Quickfire Challenge and the Elimination Challenge. Can't wait for this season to play out.
In related news, Food TV's THE NEXT FOODNETWORK STAR is also underway, only a week's episode ahead of Top Chef. This year's group of aspirants doesn't seem to be as brilliant as the past years, but we'll see.
So this summer, I am dieting, dieting, dieting - but watching only cooking shows. Go figure!
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