Last night we ate reheated lasagne and while I thought I pulled out the spinach lasagne I had made, it turned out to be the cheese lasagne which was supposed to be a side and not a main course. This brings into specific relief what happens when you break you own rules. The rule is always write on the tin foil what it is you are putting in the freezer. Lesson learned (again). So since I have no recipe for you, I present a picture of today’s lunch: left over bacon wrapped meatloaf on home made sourdough with spinach and Captain Toady’s Hardy Horseradish Sauce.

Captain Toady’s has become my condiment of choice because … well what’s not to like? Creamy sauce with a little kick of horseradish. Any meat sandwich is happier with Captain Toady’s. That being said, I’m going to have to make my own horseradish sauce because Captain Toady’s, in spite of being “hardy horseradish sauce”, does not quite pack the kick I am looking for anymore. Apparently the lizard on the label is a lightweight. More on that in another post down the road. Also on tap for lunch is one of my other favorite guilty culinary pleasures: last night’s episode of Top Chef.

I have been a faithful watcher of Top Chef since season 1. And like most reality shows, I think season 1 was the best because it was more pure. That is to say the personality conflicts seemed more genuine, the formula was less formulaic, and they needed to employ less silliness in order to keep us watching. That being said, of all the reality shows out there, Top Chef seems to have fared the best in terms of consistently presenting a quality product worth watching that even manages to convey some useful information. Today I suddenly found myself lusting after the whipped cream unit after Kristen used it to infuse the flavor of ginger into her Quickfire ingredients. Freaking genius.

On the other hand, I wonder why we are still being subjected to Josie’s inability to get her damned food out. I am not a big fan of the whole cooking to a clock concept but if those are the rules then there should be some penalties for screwing up. I also wonder if the only reason Stefan is still around is because his lecherous antics are good for ratings.  It’s hard to determine who should have stayed and who should have gone because we don’t get to taste the food but going by the comments from the judges it seems like if you serve cuban pork and people can’t get it on their forks, you should be on the next bus out of town.

This brings me to my ultimate question. For the record, I ask this as someone who has not only consumed every episode of Top Chef, but also Top Chef Masters and Top Chef: Just Deserts but has seriously considered taking the Top Chef Cruise as a vacation and would admittedly watch Top Chef: Pet Rock just to see what the hell it was all about. I also watch Iron Chef America and Chopped and I find myself wondering why? I know I’m not the only one watching these shows or they wouldn’t be on the air so this has to be a question someone else has asked themselves at some point: Why am I watching a competitive cooking show? Specific to Top Chef, the “personalities” generally give me a headache. I would sooner kick Marcel in the oysters than sit down and have a drink with him even if he was buying and don’t even get me started on Carla (from season 10, not Carla Hall). But more importantly, there’s no way I will ever be able to assess the legitimacy of the judging. I can’t taste or even smell the food so I have to rely on the judges and while they are all well respected culinary personalities, there’s that little disclaimer at the end about the judges making their decisions in conjunction with the producers that make me wonder if Micah lost out based on being more boring than Josie rather than because his food or his concept weren’t up to par.

That being said, I am really curious to see what the rest of Sheldon’s menu looks like. Kristen’s concept is right up my alley so I’ll be pulling for her but in the pantheon of fine dining, traditional Filipino food is not (undoubtedly undeservedly so) a well represented cuisine. Throw in Restaurant Wars and the the boys v. girls twist, and Stefan only having the guys to lech on and you have the makings of a Top Chef classic.