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Just watched the first episode. I'm always amazed at how afraid people are of food and preparing it. I guess its hard for me as an experienced cook to understand why someone couldn't prepare that relatively basic breakfast in 60 minutes without getting flustered or being able to finish everything or why reading a recipe is so hard.
Its way too early to pick any favorites but I can choose my least favorites. Erica for one. That woman is so out of control. I was hoping she would go home first. I also didn't like Libby, the woman who wore sparkly tops and too much makeup. I think they made a good choice for elimination on the red team too. He didn't seem too serious about anything. I don't understand the long-haired Harley guy. He seems so down. I wonder why he agreed to be on the show.
Both of those pancake recipes looked really good! Maybe that was too complicated a recipe for this early.
I like everyone so far but was okay with the two that went home. What is with those enormous eyeglasses sported by the other finalist for last place? I'm seeing this style a lot more and it should have been left back in whatever decade it was resurrected from.
What I really don't get is the women that have been married for 20 or 30 years, have a bunch of kids, and can't cook a thing. How does this happen? Can't they take a local class or something? Or watch the Food Network? I think it is a confidence thing, they have themselves convinced that they can't do it and it becomes their persona after a while. My sister is like that. She can make a sandwich or a salad, a frozen pizza, but that's about it. I think she just doesn't want to do it.
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This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
...What I really don't get is the women that have been married for 20 or 30 years, have a bunch of kids, and can't cook a thing. How does this happen? Can't they take a local class or something? Or watch the Food Network? I think it is a confidence thing, they have themselves convinced that they can't do it and it becomes their persona after a while. My sister is like that. She can make a sandwich or a salad, a frozen pizza, but that's about it. I think she just doesn't want to do it.
My guess is they either get take-out a lot or they are the ones that buy those family sized lasagnes, etc, from the frozen food aisles.
My mother was an awful cook. She says its because she was never allowed in the kitchen when she was a child. I didn't have a teacher in her or my father (he's also pretty bad) but I'm an excellent cook and baker, all self-taught. I think, like your sister, my mother just didn't want to bother. To this day, she doesn't even own a stove. Her breakfast is Cheerios and bananas, her lunch is a ham and swiss sandwich and her dinner is something from the mircowave.
Btw... those glasses would have been late 80s, early 90s. I had big glasses like that back then.
Those glasses almost qualify for windshield wipers!! It's funny to look back at some of the things we used to wear. I have a pic of myself with sunglasses nearly that large, come to think of it. Must have been about 1992 or 3.
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This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
One of my favorite moments, was when one of the contestants says he uses the dishwasher to cook his salmon!
I've actually heard of that before. I seem to remember some cooking show where they talked about how that was possible. Don't think I'd ever try it personally.
I thought it was funny/odd when the one lady used the scissors to cut her vegetables when she made her signature dish. I read on the WCIA blog that she also uses a lady razor to peel potatoes and carrots. Seriously? She doesn't own a knife or a peeler?
Those noodles seemed like a difficult thing to do for only the second week of the competition. Even though the dough was already made I imagine it takes a lot of practice to get them even. I also thought the time limit for the first challenge was too long. Everyone cooked their vegetables to death.
I was surprised that in the second round that they let the contestants make up their own recipes for the meatballs. There would have been a lot of ingredients that they would have never heard of let alone used so I'm surprised that they were able to make things that the judges liked. I wasn't crazy about the look of the pink sauce that was on the swedish meatballs but I guess it tasted ok.
I was surprised how geographically clueless two of the contestants were. The one girl not knowing where Lebanon was and the one lady who said that she knew Sweetin (how she pronounced Sweden) was in Switzerland with the Alps and the skiing.
I was not dissapointed to see Rachel (red team) go home. She was such a disaster and I really didn't see much hope for her. I was sorry to see that they didn't eliminate Erica on the blue team. She is a whirling dirvish and it's amazing that she was able to cook anything let alone something that let her stay. I mean, she couldn't figure out how to open the food processor and was pouring sauce from the spout! I think the other lady (dont' remember her name) probably had more potential.
I think Bobby gets a big kick out of Erica which isn't really a fair reason to keep her on, I liked the lady he sent home much better too.
I think the things they are having them prepare are way too advanced also but maybe that is on purpose to make them look even more inept than they are.
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This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
I also thought it was funny when Erica couldn't understand why her tofu wouldn't melt. I agree with you about why she didn't get cut. I think that Bobby kept her because he gets a good laugh out of her antics. Then again, maybe the producers know she will be one of those "love to hate" characters that will bring viewers back like they did with the middle eastern lady on Next Food Network Star. Although Erica is much less despicable than Penny.
I think Bobby gets a big kick out of Erica which isn't really a fair reason to keep her on, I liked the lady he sent home much better too.
I think the things they are having them prepare are way too advanced also but maybe that is on purpose to make them look even more inept than they are.
I totally agree with you. I think that they are making the stuff very hard to do.
Some of the stuff I wouldn't even know what to do. I would never make my own recipe , especially with the spices too complicated.
It seems to me, that both Ann and Bobby, seem to explain themselves kind of fast, that I even have a hard time understand what they are saying.
I think the contestants need some one on one training, instead of the chefs either laughing or shaking their heads because someone is screwing something up. They need their confidence to build not to fear worse than they already do.
I...It seems to me, that both Ann and Bobby, seem to explain themselves kind of fast, that I even have a hard time understand what they are saying.
I think the contestants need some one on one training, instead of the chefs either laughing or shaking their heads because someone is screwing something up. They need their confidence to build not to fear worse than they already do.
I'm guessing that there is more instruction and at a little slower pace than they show. They probably edit those parts out.
I do not get the concept of this year's show. This is the second week in a row where they had the contestants make up their own recipes. Isn't that what got them on the show in the first place? The last two years' shows they taught them about using recipes and following directions. I think that would be a better path to go. Teach them about ingredients, knife skills, cooking techniques and traditional flavor combinations before you teach them extreme stuff. I'm guessing that the producers feel there would be more room to mess up, and therefore more drama/comedy, if they let the contestants make things up. I hope they start to focus more on the basics in coming weeks.
I'm sure they edit out parts of the show so maybe they just didn't air the complete instructions but I was disapointed that even when they were teaching them about a basic skill like making pizza dough that they said to add sugar to the yeast but didn't say why you did that, or what temperature the water has to be at for the yeast to grow or not to add salt to it. These are basics.
I felt bad for Bob when he was let go. He said that he learned a lot to take home to his family but I can't see that he did since they haven't yet learned basic ingredients or recipe skills. I was not sorry to see Erica go. What a disaster she was. And I don't even think she really wants to learn. She seems like a "I'll listen to what you say but then I'm going to do my own thing" type of person. The Asian girl ( I don't remember her name) needs to go to but I'm sure her time will come next week.
I think the three that have been in the top all along (Kelly, Melissa and Tiffany) are ringers. They seem to know more and have a better grasp of food than the others.
I love this show... I just can not imagine not having a clue about how to cook. Follow a freakin recipe is not hard. I made my first meal at 9 years old (mom in the other room for guidance). I have been loving cooking and baking ever since.
Anyway, I think I am the only one who liked Erica. Her comments crack me up. I told dh I wanted her around just for the comedy... I know that is not what the show is about. My oldest son was bummed when Bob was sent home.
I am not enjoying it as much this year either. I think the challenges are way past their skill sets and it feels like they are just being thrown to the wolves. Not really funny, it seems more sad and embarassing. But hey if you use Bobby Flay cookware you too can cook just like him!! Please. It's turned into a big merchandise promo.
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This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
...But hey if you use Bobby Flay cookware you too can cook just like him!! Please. It's turned into a big merchandise promo.
So many shows and movies are like that these days. Even if they don't mention the product by name, the directors make sure to cut to the product symbol so many times in the show that you get the idea that the company paid for the promotion. Like in "The Good Wife", I know Buick is a sponsor because every time the main character gets in her car, they make sure to zoom in on the car's emblem. And a movie I watched the other day was shot at a Pizza Hut and they made sure to feature the sign and the pizza boxes many times. Thing is the movie was really bad so does that hurt the ratings for the movie ?
I think I first really noticed the Food Network take on this product promotion with Rachel Ray's program. I don't care for any of her pieces of cookware/bakeware. Besides the odd colors, those cassarole dishes are wierdly shaped and don't look terribly functional because even though they have high sides for handles the center is really shallow and you can't use a lid of any kind. I saw a (non Food Network) show where they did a test on various brands of celebrity cookware and her saute pans did not rate well on heat conduction or durability. But I guess some people will buy anything if the celebrity they like has their name on it. My dad's second wife loved Martha Stewart (worshiped her was more like it) and if Martha Stewart had her name on a product, wifey would have it in her house.
I think they are working it for Sarina to win. She has the same mannerisms as the prior years winners. In my humble opinion.
Bonnie
I was figuring Sarina would be the next one to go home. She was in the bottom two with Erica last week. She doesn't seem to have her act together at all. I know that last year, Joshie, the winner, had some rough weeks but never as bad as Sarina has so far. I do believe that the producers have in mind who they want to come out on top as they edit the show but I wouldn't have guessed it would be Sarina. I guess we'll see.
Again this week with the creativity. It's really driving me nuts. I guess being able to cook a french fry or a tortilla is an ok skill but then to tell them to make up something to go on top without direction is not helping them any. I had hope for the dinner when the chefs told them to re-create the poultry dishes they made but then they told them to be creative with the side dish. The one girl even admitted that she was going to cook cauliflower but she had never eaten it so she didn't know how it was supposed to taste or how to cook it. How about a basic course on vegetables and starches and how to cook each one?
The two who went home said they learned a lot but I have to disagree. Sarina will continue to be a disaster in the kitchen because she can't focus on more than one thing at a time and she doesn't know what goes together and Bennett will continue to make things without flavor because he wasn't taught how to follow a recipe that tells him how much of what kinds of ingredients to add to a dish.
I think the front runners are Benjamin and Vinnie on Bobby's team and maybe David and Kelly (even though she didn't do well this week) on Ann's team.
I agree, Susan. Sarina was hopeless and didn't seem to take it seriously enough. I think the way they are making them do these challenges is way too difficult. De-boning and butterflying a chicken alone is not an easy thing. They don't know the first basic thing about flavor profiles so it's absurd to make them create around this with no teaching. Then when they try to do something creative they get a "what are you thinking?" comment from the chefs.
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This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
I forgot to add that Vinnie's story made me cry. He said that he was a poor schlub that wanted to do something nice for his wife that had breast cancer, to make life a bit easier for her. I think this made him the one I want to win.
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This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
I was glad to see the first segment about them recreating a dish that the chefs made. I think that's a good skill to be able to detect flavors and figure out knife cuts and such. Although they still didn't have all the knoweldge they needed about ingredients since Tiffany thought papaya was a combo of mango and tomatoes. The main dish challenge was also good since it gave them the experience of cooking for a party and (finally) using a recipe.
I never would have thought that Dorothy would have made it this far in the competion let alone be the challenge winner. Melissa being the winner was no surprise. She has done well from the beginning. When it came to the bottom two on the red team I expected that Anthony would be the one to go home. Kelly has been one of Chef Ann's favorites since the beginning. I was suprised about Benjamin going home. I really thought he would make it further but since it was his choice to go, it was the right choice. If he hadn't volunteered I would have chosen Tiffany to go. She really still doesn't have a handle on everything and she thinks that the chefs were overlook her flaws if she is being cute and charming.
At this point I'm thinking that Melissa will be the blue team winner and David will be the red team winner. I guess we'll see. Hard to believe they are down to 3 on each team. Seems like the show just started.
Learning how to clean and prepare seafood seemed like a reasonable challenge to give the contestants this week. Not sure what the idea was behind the raw bar. I can't imagine them going through all that work or expense when they get home.
I knew when Tiffany wouldn't touch the seafood and only made the sauces and then didn't even do that well that she was going home this week. I thought her excuse for tartar sauce that she didn't know what that was was lame. What kid hasn't had tartar sauce with the fish sticks they serve at school lunches? And Bobby (or Ann - can't remember) made the sauce right in front of them so she should have got it close at least. And she says, "I guess it should be tart, that's why they call it tartar sauce. Right?" I think she thought she could get by on her looks and even made a comment as such. And this week she said that her mother was a chef. So why didn't her mother ever teach her to cook?
It also didn't surprise me that Dorothy was the other contestant to go home. I'm surprised she made it this far. I do really see the progress she made since the beginning though and I think she really does have a shot to be able to make good meals at home for her family.
Looks like I'm the only one still watching this since I'm the only one to comment for a few weeks.
I'm not sure I got the concept behind the challenge at the school. Even though the contestants made vegetable side dishes, I didn't think they were all that healthy in the end. Batter dipped fried green beans and spagetti squash with cheese sauce would have a lot of fat and carrots with raisins and brown sugar would be over the top sweet.
I liked that instead of having the contestants feed their own family member like in past years that they had two of them eating both meals and commmenting on them. How funny that each family member chose their own loved ones meals. I guess the cooks know what they would like. I would have like to see the expressions on the family member's faces when they found out who made each meal.
I was not surprised at the choices for who would move on to the final. Although David has come a long way, he still has no time management skills and still makes some unusual choices (cucumber for a stuffing for pork chops). Kelly still falls apart but she was brave in making that entire seafood meal and pulling it off. I really thought Melissa would make it to the end, but I agree that Vinnie has come further and learned more and he really wants this so he was a good choice to go to the final.
I wonder if Anne and Bobby are going to have a loser's prize like Anne and Robert did last year when Robert lost and had to dye is hair platinum blonde (not a good look!).
I missed most of the beginning, we went to see The Hunger Games.
I like the two remaining contestants a lot but I think Vinnie has been my favorite all along.
I think this whole season has not been their best, sometimes I almost forget that it's coming on.
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This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
...I like the two remaining contestants a lot but I think Vinnie has been my favorite all along...
I don't know that I had a particular favorite but I do like Vinnie.
Quote:
...I think this whole season has not been their best, sometimes I almost forget that it's coming on.
I have it set on a 'season pass' on tive. It's usually repeated at least once during the week so you can catch up if you want.
You're right that it hasn't been as exciting or entertaining as last year. For me it's because they weren't really giving the contestants the lessons I thought they should be getting like reading recipes and following directions and having them be creative instead which is what got them there in the first place. That kind of bugged me but I was still interested enough to keep tuning in.
I was really surprised by the judge's decision since they seemed to prefer just about everything that Vinnie made and his technique skills. I'm happy for Kelly but really wanted Vinnie to win. It was a shame about his one brulee getting water in it. Can't you just top the tray off with water to the necessary level once you get it to the oven? It seems like it was such a long way from the counter to the oven to schlep that tray when it was filled so high.
Nice that they gave them both some new cookware though.
__________________
This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
For some reason tivo only taped 17 minutes of the show last night so I didn't get to see it. It re-airs later this week so I will watch it then. I'm not too concerned about knowing who the winner is ahead of time. I kind of figured it would be Kelly anyway.
I was really surprised by the judge's decision since they seemed to prefer just about everything that Vinnie made and his technique skills. I'm happy for Kelly but really wanted Vinnie to win. It was a shame about his one brulee getting water in it. Can't you just top the tray off with water to the necessary level once you get it to the oven? It seems like it was such a long way from the counter to the oven to schlep that tray when it was filled so high.
Nice that they gave them both some new cookware though.
I agree with you completely. The editing totally made it look in Vinnie's favor. Or thats what i am guessing. Other wise I dont know how they scored them. I was ok with whomever won. I like them both
Finally had a chance to watch the episode that repeated yesterday. Already knowing who had won took the suspense away but if I hadn't known, I would have guessed it would have been Vinnie.
Vinnie was really calm and cool in the kitchen. He seemed to manage his time well and didn't get flustered whereas Kelly was flying around and had to have Anne keep reminding her about getting certain things going. I know that judges couldn't see this though.
Overall it seemed like the judges liked more things about Vinnie's meal than Kelly's. They loved his appetizer, thought his squab was fantastic and except for the one that didn't turn out, they thought his creme brulee was restaurant worthy. The only thing they didn't like was the risotto. I think that was a mistake for Bobby to choose that for a side dish. Yes, if it had turned out well the judges would have been wowed, but risotto takes a lot of focus and Vinnie had to concentrate on so many other things besides the rice that it was bound to not be perfect. I've made risotto hundreds of times and when I make it, it is the main dish so I can keep my eye on it. The other thing is I'm suprised at is that Bobby kept having Vinnie fill the custard pan with water then bring it to the oven. I was taught to put the custard dishes in the pan, put the pan on the oven rack then pour the water in around the dishes. That way there is no chance of sloshing. The other thing he could have done is to put collars out of aluminum foil around the dishes to make the edges higher so water couldn't get in. I don't know if they set him up for failure by showing him the other way. That part really bothered me.
Kelly's appetizer looked pretty but the overall idea of it didn't appeal to me. I like sweet potatoes but I can't imagine them wrapped around crab, especially if they weren't cooked enough which the judges mentioned. And they said that although her cauliflower was good her steak wasn't cooked properly. That seems like that would be the more important aspect of the main dish. And they said her apple tart was good but didn't present well because of the dark color and less than crispy apple chip.
Sounds to me like they had three issues with her dishes but only two with Vinnie's but Kelly ended up winning. That did surprise me. And it made me wonder if Anne has it in her contract that her contestant be the winner. Or the producers wanted to have a person of color win since the last two season's winners were white. I don't know but after watching reality type shows like this I'm always cynical that they are rigged somehow. It was nice that Vinnie got a set of cookware and appliances though. I'm sure he will get some use out of them. And FoodNetwork will get all kinds of sales from viewers who run out to Kohls and buy those products.
Overall this was not my favorite season of WCIA because of the way they taught the recruits but I think it was also less exciting because there didn't seem to be as much competetive spirit between Anne and Bobby. I like Bobby and he did a good job on the show, but he's too calm and reserved. I liked the rivalry between Anne and Robert last year. I hope they bring him back for season 4.
Susan, I am sorry I ruined the surprise. I thought it would be okay since I waited until
the next morning to post anything so I didn't let out any spoilers.
I don't understand the final decision at all either. I think that the fairest way to have announced it would have been without the judges knowing at all who had which contestant or which dishes they were responsible for. Just judge the food they were presented with.
I wasn't really thrilled with the entire season, hopefully it is better next year.
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This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Susan, I am sorry I ruined the surprise. I thought it would be okay since I waited until the next morning to post anything so I didn't let out any spoilers....
You didn't ruin it. I think I saw something either on tv or on the internet that announced the winner before I read your post. I don't think I would have been glued to the edge of my seat even if I hadn't known. This season was kind of just ok and both final contestants were ok but I wasn't really rooting for either one. I was more excited by last year's contest not only because it was a good season but because I liked that Anne and Robert had a personal challenge between them for the winner. Even though I liked Joshie and wanted him to win, I was kind of hoping Robert's recruit would because I wanted to wanted to see Anne get a make-under.
I know they are planning on having a season 4 because I've seen the ads for people to nominate their family members to be in boot camp. We'll have to wait until next February though to see how that pans out. In the mean time, we've got Next Food Network Star to look forward to. That usually starts the first week in June.
Worst Cooks In America - Season 3
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