Thanksgiving Tidbits

I wish I could say that I reinvent myself every Thanksgiving, but that’s just not true. If you were at my house five years ago, you might very well have had many of the same dishes that you had TEN years ago.

I do occasionally add things, but I almost never take anything away, so that leads to quite a few things on the table. I change up the hors d’oeuvres and starters, but I could never follow Ina’s olives and nuts strategy. I always feel that Thanksgiving is SUCH a big blow-out and that that applies to EVERY part of the meal.

These Martini Puffs look like fun. I’m definitely going to be serving them for Thanksgiving and so much the better if I can persuade some young folks to assemble them.

I also love this Sun-Dried Tapenade recipe. I’m skipping the polenta and mixing it with sour cream and using it as a dip.

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This is how I’ll be cooking my green beans. They can be served hot, warm or somewhere in between. The hardest part is “topping” all the green beans.

Pretty Great Green Beans (serves 8 - 12)

Printable recipe here.

3 pounds of green beans, tops cut off (You can leave the tails alone)

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

(If you halve the recipe, you can still use 1 pint of cherry tomatoes.)

2 tbls. olive oil

1 tsp. Kosher salt

1 yellow pepper

To finish:

2 tbls. olive oil

1 tbl. red wine vinegar

1 garlic clove, center stalk removed and put through a garlic press

Big pinch of salt

Optional: 1 cup pitted kalamata olives, halved (I leave out the olives on Thanksgiving, but normally I add them)

Preheat oven to 425 deg F.

Toss the beans with the cherry tomatoes, olive oil and salt. Place on two baking sheets which have been lined with foil. They should be in one layer. Cook for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile cut the pepper in half and core. Cut each piece in half width-wise. Cut into thin strips.

Remove baking sheets from oven (stop the timer for the moment), mix well and add half the yellow pepper slices to each baking sheet. Place back in oven for another 15 minutes, cooking for 25 minutes total.

In a large bowl, mix 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, garlic and salt. Add olives, if using. Add green bean mixture and stir well. Taste for seasoning.

You can serve them immediately at room temperature. If you want the green beans hot, toss over hot flame for 5 minutes, stirring all the time or return to a hot oven for 5 to 7 minutes.

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Dessert is my most favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal to make. Even for those who can't eat one more mouthful of sweet potatoes or reach for another piece of turkey, there’s always room for pie.

My Pecan Pie crust is done. I’ll make the filling and bake it tomorrow. My Pumpkin Chiffon Pie crust is also done and will be filled tomorrow.

I don’t know where this Plum and Nectarine Crisp recipe originally came from. I’ve been making it for ages and I plan to make it with cherries and plums, maybe for the night before Thanksgiving.

My menu is just about there, but I still have lots to do and lots to decide. Time to go and make more lists!

NOTE:

How could I have forgotten to tell you about this? THIS Sliced Orange Salad with Sauteed Olives and Ricotta Salata of Michael Chiarello’s is going to be my first course.

Jamie’s American Road Trip – A Journey On Many Levels

Photo/David Loftus

I spent an evening last week with Jamie Oliver. In truth, I spent much of it WATCHING Jamie…on a large screen, but then I DID see the real-live Jamie Oliver IN PERSON and I even had a moment with him. Okay, there were 15 rows of seats separating us (as in…he was on the stage and I was in the audience), but, still, I locked eyes with him. (He might have a different story.)

I was seeing a screening of an episode of Jamie's American Road Trip, a series done to highlight Jamie’s new cookbook, Jamie’s America. (Or maybe the cookbook was done to highlight the show…whatever.)

Jamie takes a series of trips around the country and gathers recipes from all kinds of folks. The episode we saw featured former gang members and fabulous Mexican cooks (not necessarily the same people). In other episodes, there are Navajo Indians, alligator hunters from Louisiana and cowboys, who all cook for Jamie.

Jamie’s American Road Trip has the same feeling as Mario Batali’s Spain...On The Road Again without the nonsense. There were no scenes (in this episode anyway) of Jamie soaking in a bathtub (darn!), like there were of Gwynnie, soaking her tired Spanish-speaking body. It was all Jamie driving around finding cool people to talk to and unusual food situations to learn from.

What’s interesting about this book and show is that, unlike Jamie’s Food Revolution, America and American food come off really well here. Jamie isn’t bashing American fast food or our eating habits. (I’m not saying he shouldn’t be, I’m just saying he’s NOT.)

Much of the food he looks at is ethnic food and, I suppose, that’s one of the lessons. Our grandmothers from other lands cooked real food, which is naturally healthier and more delicious than much of what passes for dinner now. But Jamie doesn’t talk about the negatives. He SHOWS great food from a very diverse America.

He starts in Los Angeles at Maria’s house in a Mexican neighborhood. Jamie says the area is more “gangland than glamour”. She’s prepared a feast for her daughter-in-law Esther’s 40th birthday.

Jamie tells us that Mexican food is not good in Britain, but in LA it’s really authentic, because 160 years ago, it WAS Mexico.

Maria is making gorditas. Jamie is enthralled by the name, which means little fat girls. They’re puffy, miniature tortilla rounds. Maria tops them with queso fresco, beans and hot sauce. Jamie loves that they are a quick, fresh, hand-held, authentically Mexican treat that you can make at home. His gorditas are really nice and light and topped with an apple salsa. The recipe follows at the end of this post.

Maria’s party goes full blast, with lots of food, drink and dancing. Jamie makes the point that in this part of LA, when you’re inside your house, you’re fully Mexican. Outside, you can be whatever you want.

His next visit is with a former Blood. Somehow he’s happened upon this young man named Rico, who is making enchiladas and having a few people over to commemorate the death of his uncle, who apparently wasn’t the most law-abiding person. But he was the closest thing Rigo had to a father.

One of Rigo’s friends explains to Jamie, “Ain’t no American dream out there” for them, but Jamie tells us that cooking has been a way out of the gang lifestyle for Rigo. He’s working and learning new skills and he’s not wearing his gang color of red anymore.

During all this tough talk, Rigo grills green chilies, purées them and pours them in the bottom of a baking dish. He wraps up cooked (grilled?) meat in warm tortillas and sets them on the bed of chilies. Meanwhile Jamie chats with Rigo’s friends, who aren’t doing so well. One is in a wheelchair and jobs are hard to find.

Rigo talks about missing his uncle and how he was there for him. Both he and Jamie get choked up and before it goes too far, in a charming bit a business, Jamie clears his throat and says, “Let’s get these bastards in the oven.”

The four of them sit down to eat, after praying for Rigo’s uncle over the food they made. Helicopters are flying overhead. (The kind looking for perps? Probably.) Jamie tells us that in this city, your fortune is decided for you, depending on the neighborhood you come from.

There are more visits to more people and places - a wonderful café and bakery, Homeboy Industries, fully staffed by former gang members, where Jamie discovers a wonderful Mole made with 37 ingredients. “Food can break the cycle of crime,” Jamie learns here.

He goes to a baptism and a baptism lunch, which he's offered to cater; Jamie has a fishing trip with Rigo, who used to fish with his uncle. He shows Rigo how to make a delicious looking fish taco sandwich from freshly grilled fish, topped with peppers, avocado, sour cream, radishes, chilies and lime juice. Yum!

Jamie learns about fresh cactus, which will go in the baptism dish, which he cooks AT the party. He sautés garlic in oil and adds mussels, tequila and chilies, then seven different fish, coriander, tomatoes, lime juice and the cactus. And more lime juice. It’s served over white rice. Everyone approves.

Jamie’s also made a dessert tart with chilies and chocolate, inspired by the mole. He makes a shortcrust and puts caramel over the base and fills it with eggs, sugar and chocolate. Then he sprinkles over a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, dried chili and orange zest.

Jamie tries mescal (and apparently quite a few other things - off camera) offered by a sweet old lady in a marketplace.

Strangely, American Road Trip has been shown in 120 OTHER countries, but not in America. AND no American broadcast network has bought it…yet. I sure hope someone will.

This series is really a big pat on the back for America for all the wonderful cuisine that’s available in so many places. Jamie says he was amazed by the high-level artisan cooking that is happening all over. He tasted pork that was as good as in Spain or Italy. He found great cooking around every corner, he said.

What I liked best about Jamie’s American Road Trip wasn’t the food and the recipes, although those are terrific. It was the people he introduced us to; and the lives he showed us, which had been made better by coming together over a meal or celebration or the ability to make an (honest) living.

Jamie showed the redemptive qualities of cooking and what preparing fresh, home-based food can do for an individual, a family and an entire community.

Jamie Oliver’s Gorditas and Salsa (serves 16)

Photo/JamieOliver.com

Posted with permission

Printable recipe here

For the gorditas:
• 500g fine cornmeal or masa harina (which is similar)
• ½ level teaspoon sea salt
• 1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
• 700ml hot water
plain flour, for dusting
• olive oil

For the salsa:
• 1 red apple, halved and cored
• 3 large, ripe tomatoes, quartered and deseeded
• 2 spring onions, trimmed
• 1 red chili, deseeded
• a small bunch of fresh coriander
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
• 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
• 1 lime
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve:
• 200g Don Francisco Mexican cheese, or feta (which is similar)
• optional: 1 fresh red chilli, very finely sliced
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Put the cornmeal and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Mix the baking powder into the hot water and pour this into the well. Using a fork, mix the cornmeal into the liquid, and when it starts to come together use your hands to knead it. Divide the dough into 16 equal squash-ball-sized pieces and dust them lightly with flour. Roll each piece around in your hands, then pat and flatten into a small round roughly the size of the base of a wine glass. Put these on an oiled tray, dust with flour and put aside while you make your salsa.

Finely chop your apple, tomatoes and spring onions, and finely slice your chili. Put them all into a bowl. Pick the leaves from your coriander and put them into a bowl of water until you’re ready to serve. Chop the coriander stalks up nice and finely and add to the bowl with the other salsa ingredients. Put a large pan on a medium heat and add your pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Toss them around for a few minutes and toast them. Add them to your salsa with the juice of your lime, a good lug of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well, then have a taste and add a little more seasoning, lime juice or chili if you think it needs more attitude. Put the pan back on a medium heat and add a couple of good lugs of olive oil. Cook as many gorditas as will comfortably fit into the pan for about 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until they’re golden and puff up a little.

Serve the gorditas warm out of the pan with a tablespoon of your beautiful salsa, a little hunk of cheese, a couple of your drained coriander leaves and a few slices of chili, if you fancy, and with lime wedges on the side for squeezing over.

Top Chef Just Desserts - And The Winner Is...

I'm not going to make it THAT easy. You’ll have to read to the end to see who won.

We see a quick wrap-up of the whole season. Not a good idea. It just reminds me of what was so irritating about much of this series.

At the beginning of the episode, we see two out of the three finalists without their shirts. I’ll let you imagine which two I’m talking about.

THEN Morgan makes a stunning homophobic remark that I almost miss. He says, “Zac is an annoying little fairy.” I don’t care that Zac’s parting remark was that he left fairy dust under his station. I don’t care that he WAS annoying. JUDGE HIM ON HIS BAKING! That’s ALL I care about. Morgan has an ugly soul and that makes it hard to judge HIM only his baking. He really is a pig. He really should NOT have said that.

They get to the kitchen and there is Gail standing there like a little doll, thinking that WE should be thinking how cute she looks. Yigit LOVES what’s she’s wearing and the fact that her shoes match her dress. They’re both black, so, of course they match. Am I missing something?

Gail announces the challenge. They have to create a progressive four course dessert tasting. They’ll be serving some of LA’s top pastry chefs.

Then Gail tells them they’re going out tonight. They arrive at The Edison. Danielle is pretty sure their mommies will be there, but when they arrive they only see Johnny, who looks right at home in the shadowy, romantic space. Dang, he is REALLY good-looking. The chains don’t hurt either. I wonder if it will be Yigit or Danielle who pounces.

Johnny asks them if they were expecting to see their mothers. Danielle says yes. They have cocktails and Johnny orders some desserts, which turn out to be sensational. Yigit is thinking they are rather high caliber for a bar. He’s right. The creators of those desserts are revealed to be Sherry Yard, Elizabeth Falkner and Claudia Fleming.

THEN there’s a fantastic twist, not a mean, nasty one for once. And it’s not actually a twist, it’s a treat. Those three fabulous chefs will be the contestants’ sous chefs! They pick from the cookie jar to decide who gets whom. Danielle scores Elizabeth, Yigit is thrilled with Sherry; and Morgan gets Claudia, who it turns out has NO idea about the kind of molecular approach he brings to baking and she doesn’t really care to either. Hah! Good! That’s what we call karma. Morgan is ugly to women and gay folks and NOW he’s not getting all the help he could use. Oh well! He’s beginning to actually LOOK like a pig to me, too. Can you see it?

Morgan wonders (to us) if Chef Fleming will think he’s some “ass-clown”. Probably. Yigit is mad that Morgan left the air-conditioning on all night and now he feels like he’s getting a cold. He prays to Buddha so “there’s no sourness” in his food.

They shop. Danielle looks amazingly calm and good-humored.

They arrive at the kitchen and are greeted by their sous chefs. Morgan pronounces to Claudia that he’s been done first every single challenge and he’d “very much like to continue that”. Yigit says he’s “worried” that Morgan is working with the “calm and stoic” Claudia, while Morgan is a “complete dick”. WHY is Yigit worried? He should be happy. Maybe he’s worried for Claudia.

Morgan thinks Danielle is “an idiot” for getting Elizabeth to shell millions of pistachios. The other chefs have no problem with their sous chefs.

Yigit’s menu is going to be like taking someone on a date. He’s going to end with groping the judges in a parked car?

Morgan’s menu is based on primary colors. That sounds dumb.

Morgan is making a baumkuchen, the cake that’s made of many scary-thin layers, each baked separately.

Danielle isn’t doing a theme, just things that SHE would like to eat.

Johnny comes in. He doesn’t love Danielle’s idea of an ice cream sampler. He wants her to come out of her comfort zone.

Yigit tells Johnny that he created a “clever” menu and has taken all his past criticism to heart. Suck-up.

Morgan says he’s having one of his best days of cooking, ever. He proclaims boldly to Johnny that he’s making the 4 best dishes of his life and if THEY’RE not good enough, then HE’S not good enough. Hmmm, I wonder if that will come back to haunt him.

There’s a bit of drama between Morgan and Claudia. She does not understand all his chemical talk. Good!

Yigit tells Sherry he smells $100,000 and dinner for “you and I”. YOU AND ME!

The next day they get ready. Yigit wants to win for his father who passed away.

They walk into the kitchen and are greeted by all the former contestants. Three of them will be their sous chefs and not the famous chefs. Those gals will be at the table tasting, along with the judges and the contestants that aren’t chosen as sous chefs.

Unhappily (for Morgan) they pick their sous chefs by chance. He says if he gets Zac (AND if he wouldn’t get thrown off the show for it), he’d knock “his skull” off. I would say there are some rage issues there.

Yigit gets Tim. YAY! I LOVE TIM! Now, we get to see him again. Danielle gets Tanya. Ick, but she doesn’t seem to have problem with that. And Morgan gets…HEATHER! HAHAHA! Karma is totally at work in the Top Chef kitchen.

THEN Gail tells them they’ll now be serving 17 people, not twelve. Isn’t that a problem? Noone seems to notice or care.

We mostly see Heather and Morgan, so Tim doesn’t get much face time. Darn! After buttering Morgan’s ring molds for his tiny soufflés, Heather sprinkled sugar on them too. He didn’t want her to do that and he’s not happy. Oh well.

Here are all the dishes.

The guests arrive, including Suzanne Goin, Scott Wheatfill and Ron Ben-Israel. Claudia is talking smack about Morgan to James Oseland.

The three finalists walk out and talk about their first dishes. Johnny loves Morgan’s Passion Fruit Cannoli (although the recipe reads more like a science experiment). “It delivers strong flavors in different points.” Ron is intrigued by “mango carpaccio”. Johnny says it’s just sliced mango. Tricky. Susan Feniger says the tarragon gel makes the dish for her.

Dannielle (the judge) loves the brightness of flavor in Yigit’s Coconut Lime Sorbet With Yogurt Caviar Pearls. Susan loves the combination of the sweet and savory.

Elizabeth says she loved working with Danielle and that she likes that her first course isn’t JUST a cheese course, but a dessert too. It does looks sooo amazing. I could see this having this Hazelnut Cake And Goat Cheese in any great modern Spanish restaurant.

Susan says the flavors are quite nice together. Johnny notes that it might LOOK simple, but there was a lot of work in that dish. Claudia (or was it Sherry?) says she would order this.

The chefs come out and describe their second dishes. As they go back in. Danielle waves and grins wildly to some her fellow contestants, I guess. She’s so alive and normal and sweet and she’s not at all floored to be in the finale.

Claudia says the restraint in Yigit’s dish is a beautiful thing. (Didn’t he make sorbet for the first course though?) Suzanne also loves how he deconstructed a pavlova.

Hubert notes that Danielle’s sorbet has melted a bit. Susan says that “Danielle is making the most sense” to her at this point.

I have no favorites, except I don’t want Piggy-Wiggy to win. I LIKE Danielle the most, but Yigit’s food looks pretty great.

Ron says Morgan’s dessert didn’t take it far enough and it wasn’t blue in keeping with his supposed color theme. (Yigit said that too.) But Claudia says the texture was spot on.

Morgan’s little soufflés are falling apart and he’s losing it and Heather actually comes to his rescue and makes sure the judges get the good ones. Unfortunately for Morgan, Claudia’s falls over, even before the chefs come out to talk about their dishes. “Oh pooh,” she says. That CANNOT be good for Morgan.

Yigit describes his pineapple dish as really getting the date moving in a serious direction. Remember his menu is supposed to be like a date.

He’s braised pineapple for 5 hours, which Johnny says later, he was sure was going to take the nice tartness out of the pineapple, but it didn’t. (The recipe says the pineapple is cooked for 2 hours, but maybe that’s for the home cook in a regular oven.)

Again Danielle gestures big to someone as she’s leaving. She’s so joyful just to be there, plus her Baked Alaska, as part of her ice cream trio, looks awesome!

Ron loves Yigit’s use of herbs in desserts. Susan says they’re looking for new desserts and this one would be great one for them.

Claudia says Morgan’s soufflé cake collapsed. James says his didn’t and that Morgan must have felt Claudia’s true feelings about him. Sherry says, SO sweetly, that she wouldn’t be able to sell that soufflé in her restaurant if it fell like that. Eric, who is sitting with the other contestants tasting the food, says Morgan must have ran out of time.

“Thank God for Danielle’s Baked Alaska,” exclaims James Oseland. WHY didn’t I like him before? He’s making a lot of good points. Suzanne loves it. Susan says, “Conceptually, I love her dish.”

We get a three second glimpse of Tim in the kitchen.

Judge Dannielle notes that the next dishes are the very last things they are going to taste in this competition.

James says Yigit’s cake is “pretty brilliant.” There is nothing I love more than a dacquoise, and his does look amazing.

Ron says he doesn’t taste enough caramel in Yigit’s ice cream. Johnny agrees.

Sadly, Susan says there’s something lacking in Danielle’s dessert, like salt. Johnny agrees. Darn, has Yigit just won? James says Danielle’s Chocolate Pudding Cake doesn’t look that great, but it tastes “damn good”. I really don’t mind if Yigit or Danielle wins. I’m just happy she made it to the finals.

Claudia says Morgan’s last dessert was “an inspired combination”. James loves the way the sheet of caramel shattered over the Crème Brûlée so perfectly. Johnny and all of the judges admire Morgan’s baumkuchen and its many layers.

In the kitchen after the tasting, the chefs and their sous chefs are all hugging each other…everyone except Morgan. He calls everyone over for a glass of champagne while telling US that the others made boring food. I’m thinking he won’t win. He better not.

At Judges’ Table, they talk about Danielle’s ice cream sampler and Johnny says, “I don’t even know where to start on this one.” And Danielle gives us one of her crazy screwed-up faces until Johnny reassures her, “NO, not in a bad way.”

Thanks a lot, Johnny, for terrifying Danielle. He says she “harnessed the beautiful qualities of lavender…It worked well with the honey” and Johnny called it a nostalgic dish. Dannielle loved her root beer; Gail loved her honey candy. Johnny did say, though, that the garnish of pulled sugar was from the 80’s. Hubert says Danielle’s pistachio ice cream was great. (It must have been the way that Elizabeth shelled all those pistachios).

Judge Dannielle loved Yigit’s “date” metaphor. That’s good that she didn’t find it creepy. From Morgan it would have been. She thought it looked girly and frou-frou.

Gail asks with great seriousness why Yigit had the waiters pour the consommé at the table for his Strawberry Sorbet & Lemongrass Ginger Ice Cream. Yigit says he likes tableside service and that he thinks it’s elegant. Johnny was a bit miffed that the waiter poured the consommé right ON his meringue kisses, which of course would make them instantly soggy. Yigit looks alarmed.

Dannielle says Yigit’s pineapple course was exactly what she was in the mood for after his first two courses. Johnny says he Johnny) was “dead wrong” to think that the acidity would go away after cooking the pineapple for 5 hours.

On to Morgan, Gail instantly asks, “WHAT HAPPENED WITH YOUR SOUFFLE?” He says the top tray baked a little bit less. Hubert says for the 3 of the judges, “the soufflé had crashed”. The baumkuchen was a greaet success though. And Johnny says that Morgan promised him he wouldn’t make another macaroon, but that he’s lucky it was so good.

Hubert says they all did a good job. Dannielle loved Yigit’s progression. Johnny adds that Yigit just kept showing them more and more things that he could do.

Johnny says Danielle has showed them so much in the last few challenges and that he really thought after the first course that she would win. (Does that mean he doesn’t think so now?) Gail says she will always remember Danielle’s baked Alaska. For Dannielle, it was her pistachio ice cream.

Gail says Morgan went all out and “there were elements of brilliance in so much of what Morgan did”. Hubert says his first course of cannolis was probably the most attractive dish of the night. Johnny says “Morgan is a technician” and noted that he won the most challenges along the way.

Alright, already, who is it? I think it’ll be Yigit, just because Morgan’s soufflé really was a colossal failure and Danielle, unfortunately, didn’t end on an incredibly strong note.

Johnny says they’re really proud of them and they make him proud to be a pastry chef. And it’s…Yigit. Morgan ISN’T a jerk and gives him a hug right away. He kinda backs away and hugs Danielle.

The other contestants come out and Zac screeches and jumps on him. Oh, here we go, Morgan and Yigit hug it out for real. Yigit stands with Heather and we see Zac referentially gaze up at him with adoring eyes. The last scene is so phony with Gail and Yigit standing outside and she hands him the keys to some car or other.

So do you think the right chef won? I suppose out of the final three, the right one did, but along the way, other chefs should NEVER have been eliminated. I’m still holding a grudge about Tim leaving, but I’m happy I changed my mind about Danielle.

However, I REALLY resent my time being wasted in the first four episodes with Seth. That was casting at it worst. It wasn’t entertaining to watch him. It was annoying and pathetic and really ruined the first half of the season.

When we finally saw baking and tasting in some detail, the show worked. When we saw freakouts and frenzy…not so much.

TCJD - Ben And Silvia K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Top Chef Just Desserts - Ben and Sylvia’s 61st

I’m soooo sorry this is sooo late. There’s no way you’ll be able to read this before the finale tonight, but here goes:

Yigit wants to win because he’s from San Francisco. (???)

Morgan feels lonely. He misses his son and his friends. (???) (Who knew...that he had friends?) He thinks it’s the three other chefs against him, ”which is why it’s going to feel great when I beat them”.

They arrive at the Top Chef kitchen. François Payard is in the kitchen. That makes Morgan nervous, because François is Morgan’s old boss. I guess it didn’t end well. François is large and in charge. I like him.

Godiva chocolates are piled up high. The Quickfire Challenge is for the chefs to tell their life story through a box of chocolates. They have to make 4 unique chocolates to represent 4 milestones in their lives and one has to represent their crowning achievement. Hmmm, this is actually interesting.

Godiva will “develop a piece” based on the one winning chocolate and they will distribute it nationwide.

The chefs have two hours to do this. That’s always the laughable part. Tell us everything about yourself in two hours…in miniature chocolate form.

I couldn’t do that sitting at a keyboard. Heck, I couldn’t NARRATE my life story in two hours, much less make 4 chocolates to represent important phases of my life.

Danielle is making a baseball-like chocolate to commemorate her relationship with her father and their bonding over baseball.

Ew, Morgan is telling us about his marriage to a Brazilian woman and that THAT chocolate will be bittersweet.

Yigit tells us that he shared an almond croissant with his beloved when he first met him and that was the beginning of their relationship. One of his chocolates will represent falling in love. He’s so sappy.

Zac is mixing pretzels and chocolate, which represents his parents. They’re all rushing to finish.

Yigit is in trouble. His 4th chocolate didn’t set up.

François and Gail taste Zac’s first. How are they going to each taste the chocolate if each chef is only making 4? Oh, Gail and François each have a box.

François says about one of Zac’s: “Too flat.” About another one:”Very interesting, this one. “

Danielle is darling as she talks about her family. Again, what was I missing all these weeks? And Zac is nasty when he tells us that he thinks Danielle looks like Marilyn Manson (although 3 weeks ago, I might have said the same thing). François really likes “the playfulness” of the caramel corn one decorated like a baseball.

Morgan’s chocolates ARE beautiful. He gets all choked up as he talks about his son. Then he says his last chocolate represents his experience on Top Chef and all the stress that is crushing his soul.

“Good grief,” Danielle says, “Why is he complaining? He’s won more money than anybody.”

François glares when Yigit says his fourth chocolate didn’t set up. Yigit tells him, “My first pastry chef introduced me to BOSUM.” WHAT??? Because the chocolate is shaped like a boob??? Plus I thought he was gay. WHAT is going on?

Oh, he said BUDDHISM, not bosum. The one representing his relationship and great love is François’ favorite.

Morgan wants Yigit to pull it together because he doesn’t want to win by default.

François says Yigit cannot be judged because he didn’t finish. Zac’s are too sweet. So it’s down to Danielle and Morgan. He thought Danielle’s flavors were very interesting. He didn’t like Morgan’s green tea, but he did like the rest. Morgan wins again, but it was very close. Danielle thinks it’s annoying that he shows no emotion. He chooses Morgan’s Top Chef chocolate to be featured by Godiva nationally.

The Elimination Challenge features a cute elderly gentleman. Ben walks in to say he’s celebrating his 61st anniversary to Sylvia. The chefs have to make them an anniversary cake. Ben tells the story of first meeting Sylvia at a beach party. (She was wearing a yellow two-piece.) He says it took 2 years, but finally she married him.

The chefs shop and then start to bake. Gail walks in and says they’d love them to spend time with Ben and his wife. And in walks…Sylvia…Weinstock and Ben. She says,”Are you surprised?” They ARE!

They tell the chefs what they want in a cake and about themselves. Sylvia loves lemon, Ben loves chocolate. (Shouldn’t they have had this little chat BEFORE the chefs went shopping?)

Sylvia’s wedding dress was grey and she carried pink roses. They had chemistry, she says. Ben tells the story that after the beach party broke up, they ended up at her cousin’s apartment “smooching” under a grand piano. Something good must have happened, because they have children and grandchildren. She says they’re looking forward to their cakes.

Morgan says this is the most important cake he’s ever baked. He wants it to be Yigit, Danielle and him in the finals, because Zac would throw him under the bus.

Johnny appears. Where has he been all season? He does look dashing in his black chef’s coat. He says making a cake for Sylvia Weinstock would be daunting EVEN FOR HIM. That sounds a bit boastful.

Morgan hides things from the other chefs, because he thinks they are hiding things from him. “Why should I continue helping people?” WHAT?!! When did he ever help people?

Danielle says they’re heading over to Ben and Sylvia’s friend’s house, where the party will be.

They set up their stations in the backyard around the pool (of course). Morgan brags that he has 2 hours to get about a half hour of work done.

Zac’s cake looks really messy and kind of amateurish. Plus it’s a garish blue. Isn’t there some rule about no blue food? (Blueberries are purple.)

Folks arrive. Gail thanks the owners of the house for hosting the party. We don’t learn their names, but the gentleman has a huge white bushy moustache.

These are the tasters – Gail, Johnny, Hubert, François Payard and the happy couple - Silvia and Ben.

Morgan

Top Tier: Lemon Sponge & Raspberry Panna Cotta

Bottom Tier: Dark Chocolate Sponge With Ganache

Morgan says since they met at the beach, he decorated the cake with shells. It’s pretty…AND pretty plain. He went as minimal as possible bordering on almost apathetic, if you ask me.

Morgan did make a little piano and put it on top of the cake to commemorate the couple’s first romantic moment. There was also a miniature yellow bikini top lying across the piano bench. He brought in the pink roses of the wedding bouquet and put (piped?) pink roses inside the piano. Eh! I’m not that impressed.

Sylvia says he did a great job. Really? Johnny likes that Morgan made the cake very 3 dimensional. He did? Are Sylvia and Johnny looking at the same cake that I am?

Sylvia: “I like the texture of the yellow cake. I like the chocolate cake too, by the way and I’m not a chocolate lover.”

Danielle

Chocolate Cake With Sour Cherry Compote And Greek Yogurt Ice Cream

I’m really liking Danielle. I think she’s a trouper and suddenly all her little affectations are endearing, not annoying.

I think her cake looks beautiful. It’s grey (like Sylvia’s dress) and is decorated with black and white rectangles, representing the piano keys, arranged like a spiral staircase going up and around the cake. The initials on the cake look a little messy, but the icing is completely smooth and flawless (from this angle anyway).

Danielle says the keys were inspired by the kissing under the piano story. Sylvia doesn’t look that enthralled with this cake. Danielle also says she piped 3 pink roses and 6 grey roses on top of the cake to represent her three children and 6 grandchildren. Sweet. Oh good, that’s what Sylvia says. Sylvia tastes it and goes Mmm and she likes the filling.

François: “Zee chocolate sponge is very moist, you know.” But Sylvia says she doesn’t like the battleship gray color. Johnny says, ”Maybe that’s a reference to 61 years married.” Hardy har har. Gail says it’s more like the Love Boat. Good one, Gail.

Zac

Top Tier: Dark Chocolate & Fresh Raspberry

Bottom Tier: Lemon Sponge & Raspberry Jam

Sylvia goes up to Zac’s blue disaster of a cake with all kinds of chotches on it and says, “Oh my!”

Zac says he loved the story about Sylvia pulling Ben into the water to play. That may explain why he made the cake blue, but not why he made it all messy.

He added white and dark chocolate shapes, placed every which way on the cake, to remind them of the piano. Really unprofessional looking. Morgan says that Zac’s cake “is the Christmas tree he didn’t want his cake to be.”

Zac even admits that “Visually, this was a caketastrophe.” Well put.

Hubert expresses his displeasure in a low-key way. He says the cake reflects Zac’s personality (flamboyant, I guess he means) but that it’s not his favorite.

Sylvia:”The guy’s creative, but it’s not elegant enough.” Where is Shinmin when we need her? WHAT in the world would SHE say about this cake?

François: “You eat with your eyes first. If it’s not appealing… you never want to buy it.”

Sylvia says it would be a great Bar Mitzvah cake. Nah, I think it would be cake for preschoolers, because that’s who it looks like made it!

Johnny “appreciates” the fact that Zac added hazelnut praline to his passionfruit ice cream. What an awful combination!

Sylvia asks François if he likes the chocolate sponge. He says the cocoa powder tastes burned. Hubert says the yellow cake was nice and moist. That shouldn’t be enough to put Zac in the finale.

Yigit

Top Tier: Almond Cake With Chocolate Mousse

Bottom Tier: Sponge Cake With Lemon Cream

Oops, it’s impossible to cut the lemon layer nicely. And the Pâte de Fruits layer is hard to get through. It’s impressive that Yigit made that, but do you usually put that between cake layers? Also Hubert says the Pâte de Fruits (I just like saying that) is kind of tough.

François thinks the whole thing is too complicated with too many layers. Sylvia says,” It’s like a woman who wears all her jewelry to the occasion. Don’t do it.”

Hmm, but will they hate Yigit’s cake more than Zac’s? It seems pretty clear that either Zac or Yigit will be going home. Not that I like either one, but I think it should be Zac who goes home…although Yigit should have gone home last week, so whomever goes home (between those two), I’ll be okay with.

Hubert says he liked the presentation of Yigit’s cake. He says the chocolate replica of Sylvia’s glasses was a nice touch. Good point. It should be Zac who goes home.

The chefs walk into Judges Tables with Gail, Johnny, Hubert and François. The winner will receive $15,000.

Hubert says Danielle’s was imaginative with the piano keys winding their way up the cake like steps. “Pretty brilliant,” he says. Wow. François says the flavor was good and her cake was moist. Johnny says, though, that the gray is really unappetizing. Danielle says she likes the combination of grey with pink roses.

Yigit says he almost started to cry after he heard Sylvia and Ben’s love story. Oh please, don’t do the ugly cry again!!!

Johnny says Yigit overthought the cake and made it too complicated. François thought his cake LOOKED the most elegant. Gail says they all agreed that the pâte de fruit didn’t work. It was the texture, not the flavor that was bad. It made a “separation” in the cake. Yeah, I definitely get that.

François liked the simplicity of Morgan’s cake. He even liked the piano on top, but he thought the panna cotta (ice cream?) alongside it was missing some acidity. Hubert says Morgan’s chocolate cake was a little dry. HA! My girl Danielle made a better chocolate cake than Morgan. So there! Johnny says Morgan’s shell border was unevenly and not well done. Wow, is he in danger? Probably not.

Zac claims he was nervous about making a cake for Sylvia and that he didn’t want to insult her. So he made THAT cake? That makes NO sense.

Hubert likes the TASTE of Zac’s cake. Johnny “appreciated” the fact that he took them back to their childhood. (Doesn’t he mean infanthood?) But Johnny wishes he had found “a more mature way” to do that.

Zac says his cake was a mess, BUT at least he didn’t play it safe. THEN Zac says, looking at Morgan, that it really upset him that Morgan won $20,000 in the chocolate fashion show and had no reaction. He seemed like he didn’t care in the least.

Oy, Zac goes on and on. Hopefully, he is SO going home. None of this matters. We don’t care how enthusiastic Zac is or how robotic Morgan is. CAKE IS THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS! Zac's cake was a disaster and so was he. Byuh-bye.

Morgan (makes the mistake of answering him and) says that singing show tunes just isn’t his personality. Oh gosh, are we getting a disguised gay slur in here?

Morgan says he doesn’t think it’s polite to brag about winning. Wow, that’s the first decent thing he’s said all season. Gail says alrighty then (or the equivalent), ignores all of the drama and shoos them out of the room.

Back in the stew room, Zac says “It’s personality. It’s not personal.” Morgan says (to us), “Yeah! Yours sucks, go buy a new one.”

Hubert says Zac is “a flamboyant artist” and it just got away from him. François reminds them that the cocoa tasted burned and that it’s “all about the cake”. THANK YOU! My point exactly!

Gail says Morgan really held back and kept it too simple. François says it was the most appropriate for the occasion. Hubert rightly says that Morgan’s cake “was SO simple, it has to be perfect and it was not”. Johnny says Morgan’s cake really wasn’t his favorite and that it was too bland.

Johnny reiterates that he didn’t like the color of Danielle’s cake and even though she was referencing Sylvia’s wedding dress, she was making the cake for today. François says the taste of Danielle’s cake was incredible. “The flavor was really there.”

Hubert says Yigit made his cake with HIS (Yigit’s) mind on the outside and Zac’s mind on the inside. Got that? I guess he means that it looked elegant on the outside, but the inside had too many elements with some that just didn’t work.

François: “Too bad, he (Yigit) was much too complicated. To tell you the truth, I don’t remember the cake.” Johnny says he remembered the pâte de fruit and that he didn’t like it. It’s amazing that Zac may just slide through with his mess of a cake and Yigit may go home.

I’m thinking Danielle may actually win this week. Johnny says (incorrectly) that they ALL deserve to be in the finals. They show a close up on Gail who takes a deep almost painful breath as she announces the loser.

Oh, wait, she asks François to announce the winner. And it’s Danielle! She’s thrilled. Yay! She jumps up and down and then Gail says she’s in the finale. She runs out of the room.

Johnny says Morgan played it too safe. Zac put too much Zac in Sylvia and Ben’s cake and Yigit hasn’t learned the art of restraint. And the loser…(I think it’ll be Yigit)…is…Zac. Gail looks almost ill as she says it.

Zac says he wasn’t surprised to be eliminated, but that he WAS surprised that they didn’t mention how rubbery Morgan’s cake was. He tells the others there’s some fairy dust under his station if they need it. So long, suckah!

I can’t believe that Morgan ISN’T going to win. I'm guessing that if you put all of his creations up against all of Danielle’s and Yigit’s, then Morgan would deserve to win. But, of course, the decision isn’t made with commonsense. It’s all about what happens tonight.