OK, first off … last night’s dinner. As I mentioned, I’m busy working on my entry for the Burger Competition coming up. The burger I’m working on is a Black & Blue Burger topped with Avocado Butter. Tinkered with the recipe last night, and am pretty close to the final version. It’s thick, juicy, flavorful and most importantly, a secret until the entry gets submitted. With the burgers, I made a Caesar Potato Salad. A very pretty, colorful salad, but unfortunately with The Husband not liking potato salad (which, of course, I forgot!), I ended up with an awful lot of potato salad for myself.
Dinner tonight was Chinese take-out. We had someone coming over to meet with us tonight at 6 pm, so no way was dinner going to get made, tabled, eaten and cleaned up before he got here. To save my sanity, a call to the “man with the chicken and rice” (as Nicholas calls him) was made. Of course, no sooner did food get delivered, our appointment calls and reschedules for Wednesday. Ugh!
I did, however, make one homemade thing to add to the take-out … Italian Dip with Crostini as a starter. Delicious and so, so simple, you gotta try this one.
The Next Food Network Star had its finale last night, with Dan and Steve winning their very own Food Network show, debuting in September. I gotta say, I didn’t see them being a frontrunner in the beginning, but with their slant on “entertaining,” I’ll definitely be tuning in. I’m sorry Hans didn’t get it. Although I favored Susannah early on, I agree with the judges that Hans grew the most in the competition, taking all their criticisms to heart, and really applying them. I’m hoping that the exposure he got on the competition will net him something wonderful.
OK, off to work on my beleaguered computer. It’s pretty much back up and running, just a question of replacing missing software and tweaking it to get it back to where it was. If you haven’t backed up your stuff recently, DO IT. The irony is that I bought an external hard drive a few weeks ago to hook up, and just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I ended up losing six months worth of files and such, so you can bet I’m backing up regularly now!
Make sure to tune in this week … it’s going to be a busy one, office lunch and company on Wednesday, Supper Club Thursday, and who knows what else?
Until next time…
Italian Dip with Crostini
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup Fontina cheese, grated
1/4 cup chopped fresh spinach
3 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (I used basil and oregano)
Mix all together and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over the top and cracked black pepper. Serve with crostini for dipping.
Sweets and I were also sad that Hans didn’t make it through. He did so well in front of the press and on the morning show. Unfortunately the Iron Chef-esque component turned into show-n-tell with him instead of a cooking show. We were noting that the show’s editing didn’t clue the audience in that the result of the Iron Chef show would be for them to tv demo their dishes in front of the judges. I hope that part of it wasn’t a surprise for him as well… (if it was, I’d be one ticked off Hans).
Dan and Steve truely out-did Deborah in the last show segment (on Rachel Ray’s set). That was where we finally got to see the magic of working as a pair. Because there are two of them- they have to better prepare their script and their hard work really showed… their transitions were smooth and they had little or no filler words. Deborah didn’t have anyone to banter with, and her language wasn’t relaxed. She also tended to speak ala Bush Jr (use words in stilted unintended ways…).
I really like that it came down to two under represented social groups. Affirmative action discussion aside… Food Network really needs some non-gommer Black tv personalities (Al Roker… euugh). I also think Foodtv really needs a vegetarian or vegan tv show- a category they totally flaked on for this show off.
I thought this was a really enlightening show series- though it totally stressed me out as I watched it :)
I really enjoyed the show too, especially the behind-the-scenes stuff. I wish the series was a bit longer – it seemed to come and go in a heartbeat.
I didn’t really care for Deborah either. Although she seemed very warm and friendly, the “Deborah” she portrayed almost seemed to be a bit of an alter ego … like she had created a celebrity of herself.
Hans really seemed to have a rock-solid background and did so well, I hope they find something for him anyway. ;)
Didn’t get that show on Food Network Canada, so can’t comment. However, I just had to say that your dip looks so good! MMMmmm melted cheese:D
Hey, you’d better keep your burger ideas to yourself! Now everyone knows your idea. Shhhhhhh!!!!!
No worries, anon. I put tons of stuff in the burger to give it oodles of flavor, so I think just by the title, it would be hard to replicate. But I’m keeping further comments on the burger to myself … until the August deadline. :)