Katie Nell

My uncle won't eat anything that is white and creamy... mayo, cheesecake, ranch dressing, etc., etc.! I haven't read the whole topic yet, but... I'll jump on the hate coffee bandwagon (although it seems that that's not a weird dislike after all! Who knew?!?) I really only like a coffee flavor if it's about 90% chocolate, 10% coffee! I have a major gag reflex when it comes to fat or gristle (sp?) interrupting my meal... there have been many, many moments of discreetly spitting into a napkin in fine restaurants!! I ABSOLUTELY hate, hate, hate deviled eggs! Talk about gagging! In fact, I really don't much like eggs in any shape or form... I can tolerate them sometimes, but don't really like 'em! Not a big raw tomato fan either! And is it just me, (my boyfriend says it is) or do green peppers smell like body odor?!?

Hope you don't mind a Midwesterner hijacking your topic, but I had bookmarked their website for our trip in August! http://www.waterfrontwines.com/index.html

On LeAnn's question and answer session on Bravo, she said that both Stephen and Tiffani were completely and totally trashed. I finally got to watch the reunion show this weekend! I agree that it wasn't all that interesting... I would have rather them done the reunion after they had a winner... I thought that was the way it usually worked on these reality shows. Dave got on my nerves this episode, and I'm normally a Dave fan all the way... he was really too angry and bitter for my taste. Still a Tiffani-hater! And, okay, I'll admit it... I like Stephen better now! He looked much less cod-like in his jeans and t-shirt!

See my vote for best hamburger on our "Best of" thread... L.C.'s is definitely dangerous! What we found to be sad though is that Sonic next door will be packed and L.C.'s will have two people in line at the drive-thru! That's okay, we'll keep driving the 30 minutes to eat there!

Love reading this topic... I'm sad I didn't see it until now! My fiance and I are eloping to British Columbia in late August, and it will be just the two of us! So excited! We will eat dinner at a nice restaurant the night of and then there will be champagne in the room! We will be back for a few weeks and then have a "reception" in early October. We're having about 80 people, and it will be very casual. We were really wanting to do all the food ourselves, but I'm not sure we can handle it. I really want to do a dessert party, but my fiance is not really as enamored about that idea. I also have Martha's hors d'ouerves book (sp? I can never get that one right!) and would love to duplicate some of those ideas. At first, I wanted to do a "British Columbian" dinner, but we decided it would be too complicated and too expensive. I'm sure we will end up having part of it catered and part of it we will do ourselves! Geez... that sounds like a multiple personality post!! Yes, I'm indecisive!!

Jamie, where would one be able to purchase this guide if one did not live in BC? ← We'll have one waiting for you as a wedding present. ← Now that's my kind of wedding present!!

Jamie, where would one be able to purchase this guide if one did not live in BC?

I so want an "I'm not your bitch, Bitch!" T-shirt! Do they sell merchandise for Top Chef like they did for Project Runway? If they do I'll be first on line for one of these. Edit: I checked and they do have Top Chef merchandise, but no "Bitch" T-shirts. Just aprons and oven mitts and other tame stuff. Very boring. We need to start a write in campaign for the Bitch shirts! ← Yes, yes! I would buy one too!

This is really interesting information. I had figured that various editing tricks were being used to obfuscate and mislead, but I had never thought about the contestants being manipulated by the producers. I'm not surprised, though. ← I've heard of stuff like that before from other reality shows. I honestly think there's one clip of Dave crying and rubbing his eyes that they show over and over, but I could be wrong... it's hard to tell.

I really did not get it... it seemed like everyone had much more negative things to say about Tiffani's dish than Lee Anne's. Yeah, they said her stuffed gnocchi was innovative but they also said it was soggy and they said the cauliflower didn't pair well with the wine, which was the whole point of the challenge. I was really shocked at the outcome... I love Dave, but I thought for sure he would be the next to go! And what's that crap about her having humility and admitting when she's wrong... I've never once heard her say, "Yeah, I know I should have done better or I screwed up!" All she ever says is "I know my food is good. I stand by my food!" Blech! Humility, my ass! And how much do I love Dave's shirt in the next episode!!!

She kind of did... I think that was partly why she took the plates away! I wanted it to roll off her fork and across the room so bad!

Okay, so I got to go to lunch today! For one thing, I thought it was pretty difficult to find, at least if you don't know what you're looking for. The only signage is "Cassis" in gold letters on the door... other than that, you pretty much have to know it's there. Maybe that will change though... they are still doing some work; they were working on installing the soda fountain when we were there. It's right next to Han Shin Japanese steakhouse, for anyone who might not be able to find it like me! The restaurant itself is really beautiful, elegant, and cozy. I had never been in that space before, but I really love what they've done with it. The upholstery is modern and gorgeous. The space would really be a lovely space to sip your wine on a Friday night, but alas, I just had a coke! The one thing I would change about the menu is that it is not very descriptive. For instance, there is a seafood ragout on the menu but it doesn't say what kind of seafood... I don't know if this changes daily, but the waitress didn't know what kind of seafood it had it in either and had to ask. Also, I had a side dish with my choice, but it didn't give a description of the side dish. Minor issues! I do have to say that absolutely everything on the menu sounded good to me, and I would have been happy with any of it. I had the Beef Tenderloin Panini with the onion & dry cassis chutney, cambozola blue cheese, and arugula... it came with a potato, arugula, and cucumber terrine (this is my description of the side dish anyway!) Chris had the Berkshire Pork Loin Croissant with arugula, cassis jam, and it came with a sharp cheddar bean salad. Both sandwiches were very good, but not truly amazing. Mine was better than his... the beef was the most tender I've had in a long while and the chutney had really good flavor. My terrine was very good as well, even though I'm not a huge fan of cucumber (probably why I wished there was a description!) Chris' bean salad was really not that good... I couldn't taste cheddar like I wanted to and some of the beans were crunchy. At Hannah's, I absolutely adored the curry-spiced french fries, and I think I would have preferred something like that with my sandwich. Somewhere in my delusional mind, I thought I had read that the sandwiches came with housemade potato chips, but I must of just been crazy! I couldn't talk Chris into dessert, but the descriptions all sounded lovely, even though I am extremely tired of seeing creme brulee on menus! The hostess (she seemed more than just a hostess, maybe part owner? manager?) was extremely friendly and welcoming... the waitress was not. That was something that always put me off at Hannah's... the wait staff were never friendly or that competent. I thought, overall, it was a little expensive for lunch... it was around $38 with tax and tip. People in my office bitch about a $6 lunch, so I hope that there are more people to support it out there. Anyway, it wasn't the most stellar eating experience of my life, but still good, and I'm just happy to have another restaurant in my area to go to! It's only the first week, so I'm sure they will work out some of the issues and change some things around.

There's one in every class... it doesn't matter whether it's a cooking class or not! Along the trifle line... My best friend doesn't ever follow the recipes I give her... She had gotten a dip recipe once from me that has several layers to it, and she had been making it for a couple of years when I finally was at a function where she served it. She said she had made my dip and I kept looking for it, and looking for it, and come to find out that she had never read the directions... she had just mixed all the ingredients together! It tasted fine, but was definitely not recognizeable to me! Also, my grandma is a wonderful cook but very far from gourmet, so whenever she asks me for a recipe I've made, I sort of "dumb it down!" I had a recipe for lemon cookies that called for lemon zest, and I was sure she wouldn't know what lemon zest was, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt... sure enough, the next time I saw her, she told me she made the cookies but didn't know what lemon zest was and had bought a jar of McCormick's dried lemon peel and the end product was really too tart! At least she was somewhat on the right track! I didn't even know dried lemon peel was a product... nasty stuff!!

Knowing "reality" shows, I would honestly not be at all surprised if the Scotts had two commitment ceremonies... one real one, and one for the camera.

So, what are the totals so far?

It's in the same vicinity, but on the north side of Town Center.

I did too... I thought it kind of made for an impossible challenge and a boring episode.

Hey now, leave my Dave alone!! He didn't cry once this evening... I was very proud! (I just can't help it... he may not be the "top chef," but I like him, I really like him!)

What is the active ingredient that causes these conditions in the yogurt? On the commercial, it's basically saying it will help you stay regular, so I would think that your effects from it would be somewhat expected.

Cake, all the way... because there aren't as many kinds of chocolate pies as there are chocolate cakes... and that's really what it's all about.... CHOCOLATE!!

Huh! I didn't look up that far on my screen when I looked at the menu... must be a programming issue. Ronnie... Can we just delete this whole topic and start over?!?

Has Cafe Provence closed as well? ← Oooo... maybe not... maybe I'm getting it mixed up with Hannah's Bistro... By the way, Katie - what happened to the innaugurating post on this thread? your first sentence seems to come from the middle of nowhere... or maybe I'm not reading carefully.... u.e. ← It's just my continuing the subject line, because it's never long enough for my long-winded subjects! I had to edit my original post because it violated the Fair Use policy... I received the info in an e-mail, so I couldn't link it... sorry!

I was wondering about her just today... she has no upcoming shows on Food Network, and most of the rest are archived. ← She's busy being a mom to recently-born twins Good point on the twins, Ron... As opposed to Batali (Nearly a dozen restos), Flay (Need almost two hands to count between NYC and LVNV), Lagasse (NOLA... LVNV...), P. Dean (The Bag Lady... no comment... ) D. Lieberman (Who does he "personal chef" for? Do they need a personal sous chef? )? Oh wait, ronnie, you did say real chef -nevermind ... good point... u.e. ← snotty, snotty ... I just meant where is she on FN anymore? I knew she was at Tru (didn't know about the twins,) but is she not going to be on FN?

I was wondering about her just today... she has no upcoming shows on Food Network, and most of the rest are archived.

Yeah, Hannah's was always a much better deal at lunchtime, but it was definitely a favorite of ours. I loved their curry-spiced french fries and they had the best chocolate ice cream I've ever had!