Case in point:  Last nights episode of Top Chef found the contestants having to cook for roughtly 300 Airmen/(Airwomen??) at
Nellis Air Force base.  Two teams of chef’s made dishes that you normally find in more cool weather.  The dishes were a 3-bean
Chili and Clam Chowder.  Both dishes got rave reviews from the Airmen, but Padma found it necessary to quesiton the line of
thinking behind cooking those dishes when its hot outside.  Colicchio promptly replied, “Yeah, its 90 degrees outside and we’re
eating Clam Chowder…and its 90 degrees outside and we’re eating Chili.”

My point is, “So $%^&ing what?!?”  Hey Tom, did it taste good?  It was food after all right?  Food is supposed to taste good, yes?
Do you eat — and enjoy — ice cream in January, or do you hold off on that sort of thing until its hot outside?  Do you drink
a hot cuppa joe in the summer time to help you wake up or do you have it iced?  I’m sure that the wealthy folks like yourself
have a different standard by which you consume your food, but those of us with a “common tongue” — who thoroughly enjoy food for what it is, not for what it says, — apparently aren’t astute enough to realize that a given food should only be eaten during a certain time of year.  (Like wearing white after Labor Day I guess).  I can agree that hot soup isn’t the first thing I think of when its 90 degrees outside, but it sure as hell doesn’t keep me from ordering it at a restaurant, especially if its damn good soup!

I can eat any type of food at any time during any season and enjoy it.  If the food tastes good, hasn’t the chef done their job?
If they’ve pleased your somehow superhuman pallette, isn’t that enough?  Now they have to stimulate you intellectually?  There
are these wonderful things called “books” for stuff like that…

Look judges/chefs, I love you guys and all, and Top Chef is an awesome show, but its _very_ condescending to those of us that just love food for what it is.  I’d give just about anything to be on that show as a judge giving a “common man” opinion.  I literally salivate while watching the show and then I hear you guys say stuff that no doubt tells the viewing audience that something tastes good, but then to have you “dock points” because the time of year in which something was prepped, or perhaps a chef said it was one dish, but you felt it wasn’t traditionally prepared so its “not really” that dish.

I realize I’ve no professional training and likely not qualified to even comment on this sort of thing, but the problem is,
I LOVE FOOD, and I feel that indeed makes me qualified.  If it tastes &*#*ing good, eat it!  For the love of GOD, EAT IT!

Anyway, now I’m hungry…

So my daughter has this rubber frog that she plays with in the tub from time to time.  The thing has these huge white eyes that stare you down while you’re in the shower doing your thing.  (Not *that* thing).  Anyway, its been in there for over a year and I was fine with it until this season’s Top Chef.  One of the contestants, (my wife’s favorite — Carla), looked familiar to me.  Now I know that I’ve never met her or had even seen her before, but still I felt as if I’d seen her somewhere before.

It wasn’t until the next morning when I hopped into the shower that I noticed it.  Carla was staring at my junk!  Not the Top Chef contestant, but this wide-eyed rubber frog with its huge friend grin.  It was rather unsettling, (though I’m sure not as unsettling as it would have been for the real Carla to be staring at me in the shower, poor thing).

Anyway, while this isn’t the best picture of Carla to compare with the frog toy, it was the best closeup I could find of those wide eyes and big welcoming grin that we Top Chef enthusiasts have come  to love this past season, but here you go anyway.

Carla is in my shower

This morning, (the past two actually) our coffee has been horrible.  Upon closer inspection of the cannister of Folgers, we realized that the grounds smelled burnt.  And sure enough, in tasting the coffee, thats exactly what we were tasting.  (Don’t get me wrong, I still downed it –  I need my coffee — but its not been very enjoyable.)

I like to kick back with a hot cup coffee on the weekends and just soak in the morning.  Many times for me, you just can’t beat a french pressed cup of the blackened goodness.  It provides a very smooth texture to the coffee and it goes down easy, even if the stuff is burnt or a bit strong, the press helps.  However, we only have a single-serving press, so its only on a rare occasion that I make it that way.  Even the cheap stuff is good that way but I’m still mastering the whole process.

Also on occasion, I’ve roasted my own beans using the hot air popcorn popper method and that works quite nicely.  I managed to burn my beans the first few times (I like a dark roast) and it wound up tasting only slightly better than the stuff I’ve choked back this weekend.  I’ve gotten better at it and am down to my last batch of   raw beans and need to buy some more.  Combine my own beans with a french press and I’m in heaven.

One thing that I’m going to try the next time we brew a batch of bad coffee is to try to make an Arabian mix out of it.  Where I used to work, we would occasionally make a pot of strong coffee Arabian style — so I’m told– in the afternoon.  It involves 1 teaspon of Black Pepper and 1 teaspoon of Cardamom right in the filter before you brew.  The problem is, I’ve already got a bad pot of coffee brewed so I need to figure out how much to add to a single cup to do single servings, (since I’m pretty sure that my wife won’t like the stuff).  The Black Pepper/Cardamom combo really comes out and I’m wondering if I won’t notice the the burnt flavor as much.  The other problem I have is our local grocer doesn’t seem to carry Cardamom.  (I’m not sure that this is “traditional Arabian coffee” — according to some of the googling I’ve done, its not — but its very good).

I need my coffee in the morning, it doesn’t have to be caffeinated (but why?!?), I just need it.  I like in the evenings as well as I’m sure many people do.  I think hot strong coffee is the perfect match for piece of pie, or other after dinner treat.  I just love coffee!

So having said all that, I’m curious to know if there are any strange recipes for coffee that you have come across.  If you’ve got a  unique coffee brewing method or recipe, etc…please let us know  in the comments.  I’m always looking something new to enjoy.

I’m off to find Cardamom…

Anyway, the Top Chef Season 5 Reunion is on tonight and I look forward to watching these almost as much as the competion itself.  I’m very curious to see for instance how Hosea’s girlfriend and Leah’s boyfriend reacted to the on screen action from earlier in the season.

I enjoyed this season for the most part and while I’m not exactly sure the overall talent can match that of some of the other seasons, Stefan, Hosea, Fabio and Jeff seemed to really do some good stuff.  Jamie and Carla had their moments as well.  (Carla didn’t start out so well in my book, but she was cruising at the end until she let someone convince her to sous-vide sirloin, even I knew that wouldn’t come out well…).

All that said, I’d love to try any of their food and admire the creativity and spontaneity required to compete in such a competition.  My hats off to all of them, and again congratulations to Hosea for getting the ultimate win in the end.  Stefan won the battles, but Hosea won the war.