Media meal: Top Chef Chicago this week

You may notice that I've become a featured publisher for Foodbuzz. Rest assured, nothing will change, it's just another thing on my blog now.


Onward: Did you catch Top Chef? I'm a big fan of this season and wanted to hold off on writing for a day because of the cut -- they split up the couple! Not only was it Top Chef's first couple, but the producers chose a lesbian couple. Food brings people together like none other, but I don't know if I could ever work with my significant other, let alone cook with said person. Kitchens get rapidly small and cooking can be stressful when things go wrong.


The elimination challenge was to cook the first course of the Meals on Wheels celebrity benefit dinner. I think I caught that this was hosted at the old Marshall Field's building. I only know of one Marshall Field's and I think it's perfect for such an event. And it will ALWAYS be Marshall Field's to me.


The chef split into groups of threes and were assigned the elements of Earth, Water, Air and Fire as themes. I wasn't a fan, it's a little abstract for my taste. In the group that lost, one chef had immunity and nixed the other chefs' idea of having butternut squash, which the judges then said would be a great idea. Such a great idea that I can't wait for fall to make it ...


Anyhow, I was far more intrigued by the quickfire challenge, which was the taste test they do every season, except this year, the chefs had to pick the expensive ingredient. There were all sorts of examples: syrup, bacon, butter, crab, soy sauce, sake ... all tasty. I thought it was so interesting to try and distinguish the two, but my unrefined palate that has a taste for Taco Bell would not have passed the test.