TAR 29, Recap Leg 0, 3/23/17

Welcome back to the Amazing Race!  It’s season number twenty-nine, and the gimmick this season involves single people!  Well, not people looking for love, like TAR Blind Date, but 22 people who want to be paired up to race around the world!  (Toyouke: “Did you realize the last season we had of this show was the internet celebrities season? It was that long ago. And now we have another gimmick.“)  Oh, and I brought Toyouke along for the snark. Aren’t you lucky?  Now, being that I had to wait for the first episode to find out the teams, this is a little late, but I’ll do my best to talk about them and rate them as unbiased as possible.  The teams were chosen via ranked school yard pick-em, based on the finish of a challenge.  Placement after the challenge is listed after each person’s name.  The eleven teams for TAR29 are: (click for more)

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Top Chef 3/2/17--"Comida Final" summary

Previously on “Top Chef”: a Quickfire with habaneros, which Brooke won, because clearly she's the favorite. Poor Sheldon bought a tamale thinking it was cheese, so that's how the day went for him. The Elimination challenge was cooking with “traditional Mayan ingredients and techniques”. That means over an open fire with just your knives and a mortar and pestle, and without a lot of ingredients everyone wants to use like garlic and onions. Brooke got really flustered and threw a lot of stuff at her dish, exactly the problem she was having when she was eliminated the first time. Sheldon saw his competitors cooking fish wrapped in leaves and decided they just decided to for whatever reason, so didn't use leaves and his fish stuck to the grill. Shirley did not make mistakes and won, and then the judges sent Sheldon home because clearly this whole season has been a way for Brooke to win because someone is mad she got screwed by that one weird finale set up. I like Brooke but it's so clearly obvious that I don't see why I should watch anymore. Let's hope there's a twist. But I doubt it. (click for more)

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Top Chef 2/23/17--"Trial By Fire" summary

Previously on “Top Chef”: Brooke returned from Last Chance Kitchen and then promptly won both the Quickfire (cooking goat) and the Elimination challenge (make a dish and margarita pairing). Are you surprised? I'm not. Tesar was finally sent home, for making his drink too strong or whatever. I actually like everyone in the Final Three, but I have the feeling this whole season was set up for a Brooke win, because she lost the one season they had a weird finale set-up that everyone hated. (click for more)

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Top Chef 2/16/17--"Cooking Away in Margaritaville" summary

Previously on “Top Chef”: the last challenge before the finale forced everyone to cook with loved ones. Only Sheldon figured it out, as he and his wife threw mushrooms at each other and were generally the best. You were supposed to tell your loved one how to make the dish you were making, so they matched, and Sheldon was the most successful. He won $10,000 and a sous vide machine. The final Elimination Challenge was to cook a dish that represented your journey on the show. Sheldon and Shirley both made Southern/Asian fusion cuisine, which resulted in a Sheldon win. Tesar at least referenced seafood and the complaint the judges had about his dish was something he explained pretty well. Brooke ran out of creativity and just bought a bunch of ingredients representing the challenges she'd done well in, and then crammed them all together. So in a surprise, Brooke was sent home. (click for more)

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Top Chef 2/9/17--"Adios Charleston, Hello James Beard" summary

Previously on “Top Chef”: a Quickfire with shrimp and the elimination of Casey. And then an Elimination challenge with brunch mashups for some reason. I don't know either, but it's late in the competition and people are tired. Shirley made cheeseburger pot stickers and won. Sylva tried to make a fritatta hiding fish and lost. I'm not sure what his mashup was supposed to be and no one really explained it, but the bottom line is there are no rookies left. (click for more)

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Top Chef 2/2/17--"Shrimp Boats and Hat Ladies" summary

Previously on “Top Chef”: the Quickfire was a blind taste test and Brooke destroyed everyone, which wasn't that surprising. Emily was terrible which also wasn't surprising. Then the chefs had to serve a charity cocktail gala, outside, and make dishes that were inspired by childhood memories. Sylva made fried beef patties which were light and super delicious so he was declared the winner. Emily made an icebox cake, sort of, and she thought she had elevated it but she did not. So she was finally sent home. (click for more)

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Top Chef 1/26/17--"For The Kids" summary

Previously on “Top Chef”: it was Restaurant Wars and that always goes down how you would expect. One team was great and one team was a disaster. Emily benefited by being on the great team (and to be fair, making a good dessert) so she did not go home. Brooke did both front of house and made a great salmon dish, so she won. On the other side, Katsuji turned down the executive chef position and said it was because Tesar deserved it and he deserved to win? But then Katsuji took on literally half the menu because he wanted to win? Anyway, the judges knew he had set Tesar up so Katsuji was sent home. (click for more)

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