Heartbreak

Oh, Carla, Carla, Carla. You broke my heart. And your own, I suspect. Why did you have that crisis of confidence and listen to Casey? I screamed at the tv when she suggested sous vide and you accepted. No, no, no. You do best when you do what you know.

The announcement of the winner felt flat after that. My indifference/distaste for Hosea, however, turned to more of an active dislike in the last 10 minutes of the show when he rubbed salt in Carla's wounds. "I cooked what I know," or something like that. Insensitive clod.

And I liked Stefan in that same stew room scene, comforting an upset Carla. Maybe he was edited to make us hate him.

Top Chef is getting better

So I finally vent about the mediocrity on Top Chef and dang, if it doesn't get better. I liked this ep as much as the last one. Why can't they have more like these.

And yay, one half of HoLeah is gone. I think she was as thrilled to go as TC fans were to see her go. Her defeatist attitude was very annoying, especially after she passively aggressively threw Ariane under the bus. (oh, no I'm using their cliches! gack)

So Fabio was at his most hilarious this weekend. Got to admire his determination. And he was full of funny quips. "I'll choppa offa da finger and sear ita on da flattoppa and worry about nine fingers tomorrow." Bet his wife appreciated that sentiment. 

And Carla, the tortoise. It's so cool she's gained her footing. And her back story is pretty interesting -- she lived in Paris while working as a model and started buying cookbooks to fill time. Follow your bliss, Carla.

And it strikes me that the most talented chefs are the most warm and gracious. That certainly was the case with the stellar crowd they had last night.

I'm glad Stefan had to eat some humble pie without actually going home. The elves made it look like it was a close call between him and Leah and that maybe they did give him a break, but Toby's blog definitely made it seem that the choice was between Leah and Hosea. And Jacques Pepin expressed his intense dislike for Leah's hollandaise sauce on the Bravo site.

So here's to a final 3 being Stefan, Fabio and Carla!

Quick Top Chef Post

Man, this is what Top Chef is supposed to be about. I wish they had had more episodes like this. Pretty please, Bravo? And more Eric Ripert! I could listen to him talk all day.

It's not over yet, but I'm hoping Leah goes home. Though Jamie p'd me off with her "boring" comments. That was over the top arrogant.

A little Stephan like crept in. He gave Leah a pretty good encouraging hug before she went into the gallows judging. And Carla is rocking the house!

Auuggggghhh! Wtf?! It should have been Leah. Man, the loser decisions have really sucked.

Aha moments

My mother loaned me a book about Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel. It's interesting to read about the fresco techniques and his genius. But there also was an a-ha moment for me. Michelangelo refused to use female nudes for his sketches. He would use a nude male as a model for his female forms. No wonder they were so....masculine. See here and here. 

The most feminine is the Pieta.

I had always figured that he used fishmongers and washerwomen as his models. Nope. Guys!

PS Fresco painting sounds amazingly difficult and he did much of it freehand, which is even more amazing. I just saw some amazing frescos from ancient Pompeii and have become fascinating by the painting technique.