Top Chef: Bye Bye Mike I

Mike Isabella was shown the door on Top Chef last week. It was a fair bounce: I would say to the remaining chefs and to anyone applying for a job that when you act like 'whatever,' that's how you get treated. He screwed up and his basic behaviour was, 'whatever.'

I am happy to see him go for another reason. I was so tired of the misogyny from him. Granted, as the season has gone on, his comments were more directed at Robin and her lack of skill. However I thought that he never consistently backs up his vast knowledge and skill. The leeks incident is but an example.

I've said it more than a little about Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen that I still can be amazed at the amount of female bashing that goes on with the male chefs of both shows. Hell's Kitchen can be more blatant, but Top Chef is usually touted as being the more sophicated show and that in 2009, a male chef would say something like "I'm not going to let a girl beat me," is disturbing.

It will be interesting to see how the remaining chefs deal feel about his departure.

Tonight is the first annual Top Chef All Stars Reunion Dinner. Because these are the contestants (think Marcel, Hung, Carla) and not the Masters (think Rick Bayliss, Hubert Keller), we are to expect sniping and some Meow Mix to be served with the cream.

Oh, did I mention it will be hosted by Fabio, last season's final four contestant who's still charming them with his fresh off the boat Italian accent complete with the required malapropisms.

24 HOURS TO THANKSGIVING

Well, here we are. 24 HOURS to Thanksgiving. Thankfully I am not travelling anywhere. To listen to news coverage, you would think that this was more important than anything else-traveling on Thanksgiving and shopping the day after. I will be making dinner this year. Unlike most people that I have been reading about, I have no worries. While I am not Betty Crocker, I was drafted into kitchen duty at a young age and can make some basic things. Thanksgiving and Christmas dishes were a required part of the curriculum. I did tell the person that will be joining me that he will not be sitting on the couch and watching tv or writing. While I was in bed sick yesterday, I automatically started mapping out his chores which will include dicing and chopping and mixing and table setting. We will be making more than two people should have for Thanksgiving. I don't expect us to eat it all. In addition to celebrating the bounty that we are able to have, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners also serve a way of providing easy to fix meals for at least two weeks. A harkening back to the days when people ate the same day in and day out-the days when you were just lucky to get fed, rather than fuss over what you got.

In addition to hearing on [insert the name of any morning show] about how to avoid taking in too many calories at Thanksgiving, Jasmyne sent out a bulletin on MySpace that covered her feelings about Thanksgiving and "Black Friday."

I agreed with a lot of the sentiments of her bulletin. One of my favorite animated avatars is an Indian clocking a Pilgrim upside the head. However, I see celebrating Thanksgiving as celebrating the idea that we have something to be thankful for, particularly the bounty that we have no matter how big or small and not the landing of those who would wreak genocide upon most of the Native tribes of Northeast America.

As we are on the topic of being thankful for bounty, I really can't take the annual segments on the morning shows where person acting as expert gives hints on new ways not to indulge at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I understand if you have something really wrong with you and you need help on how to cope with whatever illness (e.g. diabetes, lupus, etc), but that is not who these segments are aimed at. They are aimed at many of the women that are already insane with calorie counting and dessert denying to meet that mythical weight, while the menfolks shrug their shoulders and wash it all down. I don't know how many ways it can be said that these are two days of out of a year of eating more than a tablespoon full of food each will not kill you. If you have something wrong with you or if you are in training, sure, plan accordingly. Otherwise, be thankful that you have the opportunity to have what you have and when you have it because many don't. I always find it curious that for the most part, those who both preach the calorie counting and do the interviewing are women.


It is true that Thanksgiving has become a way station on the road to Christmas Shopping land. It used to be that attaching the word "Black" to any day of the week meant that said day was doomed. Now "Black Friday" means "last chance for retailers to get back in the black." Artificially lowered prices, tele and cyber bullying by retailers to get you into the store and spend your money.


I can tell you how my Thanksgiving will play out:
-Cooking (after shower and travel to the Thanksgiving location) to the tune of whatever is on-They Might Be Giants, New Order, REM, Stylistics, 80s and 90s stuff, Holday cartoons

-Calls to family

-Changing into "nice clothes"

-Saying a specially crafted prayer

-Eating-a lot

-Sleeping

-Some walking

-Some sports watching (football and figure skatin')

-Going online to see if anyone has signed up for next week's volunteer projects.

-NaNoWriMo writing

-No "Black Friday" mall trips. Period.