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Sorry...I prefer the traditional root beer float with vanilla ice cream. I must be too traditional.

I don't go for the diet sodas because of the taste that it leaves in your mouth. I tend to stay away from the diet sodas and go for the regular carbonated beverages.

Not really. During the France battles, they had Joel Robuchon and Pierre Troisgros. Some episodes had Julie Dreyfuss tasing, including Kandagawa versus Sakai where Kandagawa put whale tongue in one of his dishes...it didn't go too well with her. Tim and Nina Zagat also tasted twice during the show's run. And with the statement about the chefs knowing who the judges are, Challenger Mitsuru Saitoh (the first challenger from major hotel) even went as far as to specifically get the taster's preferences!

I knew Sakai had one, and I thought that Morimoto could speak English (but they dubbed his voice with some person).

Well, here we go. It was Iron Chef Japanese Masaharu Morimoto versus Mario Batali. And the lucky theme is...Spiny Lobster! Now, I believe that the lobsters were American, am I right? Anyway, my bets were already placed on Morimoto to take it, but I wasn't quite sure he knew what he was doing. You could clearly see that Morimoto was tense and wanted to get everything he had planned done. Yeah, the running around was a big clue when it was presented. But for the cooking perspective, he was actually going into the Middle East with one of his dishes. I didn't even know that the people over there have that kind of lobster dishes anyway. And speaking of Batali...now how can a chef pour a somewhat flammable liquid into a pot and not even look at what he/she is doing? Well, ask Molto Mario himself. One more thing to pay attention to: Batali was right. I think that the best way to cook lobster is to wrap it in something and just deep-fry the whole thing until it's just perfect. So, who do the judges agree with? Well, they agreed with someone, all right. Let me tell you, the results were "molto borno" with Molto Mario. I actually think that the judges were right on that one, to tell the truth. I think that Batali's dishes were clearly better than Morimoto's dishes. I also think my predictions are now at 0-2 at this point in the series.

Ooh...we could have our own little Iron Chef challenge here.

Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion. But somehow, I smell a troll... Ooh...where did he come from? I'm guessing from under a wooden bridge, right?

Dear God, more problems ensued. Mario Batali versus Morimoto. This was a better battle than Flay/Sakai, though. I actually enjoyed it. More to follow...I have to review tape before I can give you my full report.

Please, I could care less about Bobby Flay's win against Sakai in the Trout Battle. I'm guessing that his kitchen messups didn't interfere with his cooking. You remember in the beginning of the battle when a trout got away and was on the floor? The next second, it landed on one of Flay's cutting boards. It also knocked over the entire cup of salt. (Wait...or was it Flay who knocked it over?) Then you get Flay with a skillet-type pan filled with something (that I don't remember). He figures that it's a little too much to have and he attempts to dump some of the liquid out of it. Seeing the above incident, Flay almost dumps the whole dish down the drain! Great, he's at it again... Meanwhile, Sakai's about to forget a dish with about twelve minutes to go in the battle. He had four perfectly designed dishes at that point. But does Iron Chef America let chefs have less than five dishes? No. They make the chefs have five dishes...no less. (I'm figuring if he didn't have that fifth dish, he would have won. But that's my opinion.) I would have gone with the sweet trout ice cream over anything that Flay made any day of the week (and I could have another round of those dishes on Sunday as well). That's why I put my money on Sakai to win this battle. But with a score of 55-51, the winner was Bobby Flay. For this battle, I'm glad they had two professional food people (Kerry Simon and Victoria Von Biel), but I wasn't thrilled to see an actor like Brian Unger. Come on, is this turning into the Japanese version of the show? But for the scoring, I couldn't get my mind off of the fact that the Presentation and Originality categories were so close. That's why my rating out of five stars is **

Okay, you got me on that one. But it's just that I've been used to seeing the Japanese chefs battling others. I wasn't used to the American chefs stepping into the kitchen cooking their hearts out. But on another note, you see that the reruns are on. I'm just glad I have school during the week, because I don't think I could stand the action for another week.

Well, since I'm on the boards and I noticed this thread, I couldn't help thinking about my opinions about this new Iron Chef spinoff. I couldn't help noticing that I was wrong on my prediction picks, but that's not the only thing that was wrong. The whole show was one big flop. Seriously, I could see Morimoto and Sakai being Iron Chefs since I was a big fan of the show since 2002, but I could NOT see anyone else being in their shoes. (Okay, maybe I wasn't sure about Puck and Batali, but that's another story...) Flay wasn't cut out to be an IC. Remember the last two times that he was involved in an Iron Chef battle? Three words: CUTTING BOARD FLASHBACKS. I'm just glad he didn't do it this time. Seeing both the Japanese Iron Chefs lose was really saddening. They're the best of the best! Sure, I was ready to hear that Puck won his match against Morimoto and that Batali just squeaked by Morimoto as well, but I was not ready to hear that Flay won his match against Sakai. I couldn't believe that a person like him would be a better chef than the one called "the King of Iron Chefs". At least the tag match was something to look at. Fruits de mer was the theme, and I was ready to see what I was getting ready for since I first heard about this show...Flay and Morimoto versus Batali and Sakai. Seeing this battle made my mouth water. Okay, so I'm not that big of a seafood fan, but I wanted to jump back in time so I could get one of those dishes! They looked so good, to tell the truth. (In other news, this was the only prediction I got right. Thank you Flay and Morimoto!) Okay, time for a grade. I wasn't looking at the individual battles, but rather at the overall look of the show. Alton being by himself was kind of boring (even though he's another one of my favorite Food Network chefs), and the judges could have been a little bit more familiar (okay, so I know Paige Davis, but she's the only one I knew). Out of five stars, I rate this special ***1/2. I think that the whole concept of the show needs to be better. Enough said.

I drink Coke from anythink I can get my hands on. That includes cans, bottles, and travel mugs.

Please let the Iron Chefs win these battles. And when I mean Iron Chefs, I mean Morimoto and Sakai. They are rarely beaten. If Sakai gets a fish theme in these episodes, you will not see the Food Network chefs win.

Since everyone's putting down a list of all the Food Network shows that they will watch, I'll do it as well. Everything in blue will be something that I at least express an interest in, something in green is something I will watch if I find a particular episode interesting, and anything in red is something I try to avoid at all costs: $40 a Day 30 Minute Meals A Cook's Tour All American Festivals Barefoot Contessa The Best Of Boy Meets Grill Calling All Cooks Chocolate with Jacques Torres Ciao America with Mario Batali Cooking Live Cooking Thin Cookworks Date Plate Dweezil & Lisa Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello Emeril Live The Essence of Emeril Everyday Italian Follow That Food Food 911 Food Fight Food Finds The Food Hunter Food Network Specials FoodNation with Bobby Flay From Martha's Kitchen Good Eats Good Food Fast with Family Circle Happy Days Live Hot Off the Grill with Bobby Flay How to Boil Water Iron Chef Jamie's Kitchen Keith Famie's Adventures Low Carb and Lovin' it Mario Eats Italy Molto Mario The Naked Chef Oliver's Twist Passion for Dessert with Jacques Torres Paula's Home Cooking Recipe for Success Roker on the Road Sara's Secrets Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee The Surreal Gourmet Sweet Dreams Top 5 Trivia Unwrapped Tyler's Ultimate Ultimate Kitchens Unwrapped What America Eats with Parade Wolfgang Puck Wolfgang Puck's Cooking Class Damn, I have quite a lineup headed my way.

I actually thought about doing that in my backyard...Maybe we could have an e gullet Iron Chef event...oh that would be fun! eGullet Iron Chef? *pauses for a few seconds to think* Count me in (if this is really going to happen, of course).

Man, I practially missed the whole topic! But anyway, I'm done whining. I'll give my takes on what I read in about 5 minutes of my time: Battles: Dear God. Flay/Morimoto? Sounds strange to hear that for the first time. I thought I was going to fall into a dead faint, to tell the truth. Hey, but I think that they were able to pull it off. Seems impossible in other's eyes, but in mine...it was possible. I'll have to wait for that. Otherwise, I thought that I could live with the other scheduled battles. Stadium in Picture: Well, let me tell you...it's more than what I thought it would be. I never thought that I would be looking at a really nice set-up to a place that I always dreamed of being in. (Okay, that's never going to happen. So what?) At least by the panel photographs, you can't really tell if they have special costumes on or not. Maybe they're in their chef whites. Only time will tell. Okay, I guess that's it. I'll be watching when it debuts on Food Network!

Connecticut here, and yeah...I call it soda, no matter what the brand name is. "Mom, I'm getting a soda." "Yeah, okay." I saw what other people in my state decided to call this. Wow, there were some surprising call names: "what ever is on bottle (i.e. sprite, mist, or name brand)" And one person decided to give a lecture on how soda will decay teeth. Who really cares?

Great job. I loved it.

First off, I'm sorry for posting something like this again if you already have something like this. Okay, now onto business. Dessert's on the table, and you want to put the finishing touches on your pie (or ice cream, take your pick). You reach out for the whipped cream. Do you take out the spoon out kind or the shake and press can kind? And how would you go by eating it? I just eat it either in a cup or out of the original bowl. That's how much I love eating whipped cream.

Does anybody else other than me know that they have this Apple Pie Snapple? (It's a limited edition, right?) Two people I know had it yesterday and they said that it tastes like the crust. If you did have it already, what do you think it tastes like?

I had Cranberry Raspberry yesterday. Really good. Anyone else have it?

Uh, I admit to eating baby food once in a while. I also admit to liking a few flavors... Okay, I think someone's going to disapprove my liking to baby food.

Kiwi Strawberry. I had that once. I hope to try it again.

I just tried Snapricot Orange last night. Really good!

Maggie, add another one to the total. Over the summer, my mom picked up a Rachael Ray cookbook.