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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Friday, November 17, 2006 - 5:14 pm
I think Marcel looks like Wolverine. Sorry no pic, just remembering from when my nephew was young and liked those comics.
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Scout
Member
01-20-2005
| Friday, November 17, 2006 - 5:39 pm
LOL - Sugar. That's what my husband always says.
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Alisons
Member
01-10-2003
| Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 5:56 am
Well, IMO Carlos totally deserved to go. When you are in a competition like that, you really can't afford to hold back. HA - I only WISH that I only had to make a salad for Thanksgiving Dinner!! I thought that Marcel did the best and should have won the challenge, and I think he would have if he had actually said, "I should have done something to keep that turkey moist."
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Lexie_girl
Member
07-30-2004
| Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 6:20 am
Betty is really starting to annoy me with her attacks on Marcel.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 9:11 am
Interesting episode -- Carlos really didn't have that "killer" instinct, and I do agree w/the judges on choosing taste over "cutting edge." I realize that the latter was part of the challenge, but I'd serve good-tasting food any day over "pretty" food (as would most of the judges, from their comments). IMHO, Marcel acts like he thinks he's a better cook than he actually is.
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 9:26 am
I agree Lexie. Betty seems to be turning into a not very nice person. I also think Frank was WAY out of line. Marcel did not put his toothbrush on the floor. He put the bag with the toothbrush in it on the floor. And why didn't Frank put his toiletries in his room or the bathroom anyways? I think Marcel is getting a raw deal.
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 9:55 am
I'm starting to feel sorry for Marcel. I so wanted Betty to go last night in big part because of her attitude. And she always blames someone else for her things that go wrong.
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Dfng
Member
08-04-2005
| Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 10:22 am
I don't know but if someone touched my toothbrush or any of my belongings I would not be happy. They could have asked me to remove my items. That would have been the right thing to do.
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 11:14 am
I sort of liked Betty up till last night's show. She wasn't about to let anyone else submit an idea for the dinner. Too bad that didn't bite her in the butt. Marcel sort of asked for the backlash with his arrogant and antagonistic attitude. Now that he's dished it, he's gonna have to take it cause everyone else has declared open season on him. Frank did seem to over react to the toothbrush thing. Looked like the toothbrush was in the bag to me too. Not like Marcel scrubbed the toilet with it or anything! 
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Prisonerno6
Member
08-31-2002
| Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 2:48 pm
If you don't want someone touching your personal stuff, don't leave it lying out. Marcel didn't move it to be spiteful, they needed the space to work. He couldn't ask permission, because the "winners" were out having fun, not in the apartment (which was a pig sty). I'm no longer impressed with Betty. Marcel is growing on me -- he was the only one who got the challenge right, and he knew what he did wrong without blaming anyone else, as Betty did. Yes, he dished out a lot in the beginning, and now he has to take some in return, but Frank was way out of line.
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Lexie_girl
Member
07-30-2004
| Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 3:35 pm
What gets me about Betty, is TWICE Marcel has helped her get her dishes out (when no one else offered to help her) and she goes off and starts raging on him. Its almost like she's got a Jekyll/Hyde personality - smiling from ear to ear when the judges are around and going schizo on Marcel the next when there are no judges around.
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Trueheart
Member
09-12-2006
| Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 4:01 pm
I really like Sam but it kinda IRRITATED me that he "instigated" the Frank explosion. It's none of his business. I was almost wondering if that was part of Sam's gameplay. To keep other competitor's focus off of their food? I am soooo glad to hear the Marcel love in here!!! I have liked him since the beginning. He's so amusing and the things he says sometimes are so cute!! I also thought that Frank's threat was WAY OUT OF LINE. After he got threatened my immediate thought was that I wanted to give Marcel a hug! The thing with Marcel is that I really don't think he's a bad guy. He may seem a little arrogant but I think it is half-hearted at best. When Marcel was comparing his dish to the others' (according to how "cutting edge" they were) He WAS NOT being arrogant! He was only stating fact! And the judges ended up agreeing with him! His was the only plate that could actually be considered cutting edge.
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Trueheart
Member
09-12-2006
| Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 4:07 pm
I wanted Betty to go too. I could not believe that she started blaming everyone else in the 11th hour!!! She definitley looked crazy. And I think that the judges are starting to see her instability. She is normally so mild but you could tell that she was feeling the fire of elimination. When all that psychotic babble burst out of her mouth I was shocked speechless! She wasn't about to let anyone else submit an idea for the dinner. That bugged me too! Its almost like she's got a Jekyll/Hyde personality - smiling from ear to ear when the judges are around and going schizo on Marcel the next when there are no judges around. Very accurate description!
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 7:36 pm
Carlos definitely deserved to go... his "I don't want to win or lose but stay in the middle" 'tude kinda bugged me. And the fact that, yeah, he had four hours and he made a salad????? With storebought greens????? FWIW, weren't the winners in the "communal loft"? If I'd been the guys, I would've gone over there and to the girls' loft, and asked folks to come over and clean up. That was totally disgusting, the guys' space.
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 7:55 pm
Oh yeah. I liked Betty until this episode. She actually had the gall to blame the others for her failed Brulee? SHE was the one who garnished with ginger, yes? Which burned, yes? So she had to scrape it off, yes? Sheesh.
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Alisons
Member
01-10-2003
| Friday, November 24, 2006 - 4:43 am
I do not like them all ganging up on Marcel either. I think it is a competitive thing in part and not just what he has had to say to people about his talent. I would have picked him for the challenge because when you really try to fulfill the part about cutting edge, you are taking a risk. They said his turkey was dry, and yes, in part it was because he never made it before and did not anticipate well enough what would happen. Same with the cranberries floating in the sherbet. I am sure that Marcel could have cooked a better tasting entree if he had just gone with an old standard. So I am just saying if they want the contestants to stop playing it safe and really do what they are asked in the competition, they had a chance to make that point by picking Marcel. I do not like Betty and was very disappointed in Sam. Frank was a jerk. Why would you leave your toothbrush in the kitchen? That is disgusting.
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Gemma120in2002
Member
07-05-2003
| Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 6:06 am
I love this show. I like to play the Top Chef Home Game, meaning that after watching the show I take the challenges and I try to beat all of the chefs on the show. LOL! This time I did desserts. I took Betty's crappy dessert and turned it into something good and I think it's pretty cutting edge. I made some graham-ginger snap straws. I dipped them in Calibaut bittersweet chocolate and then I made chai tea. I made a dual sylabub to go along with it. One of the creams was a maple cream, and the other was a pumpkin cream. I put them both into a large piping bag fitted with a star tip, and piped the dual creams into small dessert cups. The chai and the gingersnap straws go together. You bite both ends off of the straws and quickly sip the tea through the gingersnaps. Then you eat the ginger snaps before they melt all over your hands. The straws are only about 2 inches long. I put them into the freezer after they set up and this way the tea didn't melt them too quickly. The tea with the gingersnap and the chocolate was amazing! The hot and cold components of the dessert were interesting and the complimentary flavors of maple and pumpkin really worked. The fun we had playing with the chai and gingersnap straws was great! I would have won or Tony Bourdain would have had me committed! LOL!
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Gemma120in2002
Member
07-05-2003
| Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 6:20 am
Oh yeah, I work with two guys who know Marcel. He actually is the way he is portrayed on the show. I don't think Betty was fair to him ths past week. Marcel did try to help her, and her dessert failure wasn't his fault. That crap about having a circulating immersion device was garbage. He could have created his turkey roll, then if he poached it he could have wrapped it in the skin of the turkey, tied it off at both ends and then poached it in a gentle water bath with a temperature probe in the center of the roll. When it hits 155 degrees, remove the roll and allow it to rest for at least 10 minutes before cutting. The temperature will continue to raise and it will come to 165 degrees. If he wanted to brown it off, he could have put it under the broiler or taken a torch to it and put a little glaze on it and caramelized it. (after removing the skin of course.) Molecular gastronomists should know this without thinking. Garde Mangers know it.
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Lexie_girl
Member
07-30-2004
| Sunday, November 26, 2006 - 6:06 am
Gemma, I'm not saying Marcel is my pick to win this show, I'm more on a rant about how Betty treats him. He may be this way in real life, but let's face it - they all think they are the best and deserve to win.
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Alisons
Member
01-10-2003
| Sunday, November 26, 2006 - 11:16 am
I am not fond of sylabub but that sounds better than the ridiculous dessert that Betty made. I was thinking that I would have made a sweet potato panecotta.
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Sadiesmom
Member
03-13-2002
| Sunday, November 26, 2006 - 5:00 pm
Sheesh, you guys can all cook! I just dabble and change a bit here or there. Marcel seems to have the imagination to get the job done and can listen to instructions, but he has execution problems. This leads me to believe he will not be in the final 3 or 4. Has anything he made been commented on as tasting well? Betty, I have no idea what she was saying or why she was blaming others - her criticism was as much on lack of imaginations whch seh demonstarted. On the other hand, many times people have liked the flavors she came up with, I wonder though if she was just making something she made before. I had a cooking class in college (come on, I was looking for a job and thought it was be a cinch class while I was spending a lot of time riding busses to different citties), in the beginning we cookedthings from a cook book, but as the clas got along, we were challenged to make new things and justify why we thought they wuld work, it ended up being a difficult course on the chemistry of cooking. I did OK, only because I cut a lot of labs and had t make them up. If I had the time, I would have found it fun. Is this normal for cooking classes, use things you are not used to and cook them?
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Allietex
Member
08-16-2002
| Monday, November 27, 2006 - 4:57 am
I had never watched this show and one day I was not feeling well, so I piled up on the couch and decided to spend the day watching something non intellectual on the tube. Flipping through the channels, I came across a Top Chef season one marathon. I sat and watched the entire season that day. By the time it was over, I was hooked. And my favorite even won. I don't know what they are talking about half the time, but I find it fascinating to watch them create great looking,(since I can't taste them, I can say about the taste) dishes, sometimes out of practically nothing and in very little time. I liked Betty earlier in the show, but lately, I have become very impatient with her. I don't know if it is the pressure or if she has just been hiding her real personality, but she is comeing across as arrogrant and overbearing lately. This can not go over well with the judges. They overlook that kind of stuff if the food is good, but they tire of it quickly if you are not producing. I am seriously considering taking a cooking class, but am not sure where to go. I would not like to pay a lot to take it, because it would just be for my enjoyment and to increase my cooking skills, not for a career. Guess I need to check out the possibilities in my city.
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Prisonerno6
Member
08-31-2002
| Monday, November 27, 2006 - 6:38 am
Try your local community college.
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Gemma120in2002
Member
07-05-2003
| Monday, November 27, 2006 - 7:19 am
Lexie-girl, I think Marcel is a big pain. He is not being edited to appear worse than he is, he is really worse than he appears! LOL! Very few people can stand him according to the two men I work with. I was disgusted with Betty for trying to point the finger at anyone else for the failure of her dessert. I am quite sure that one of the reasons Marcel didn't win the competition, is because of his respoonse to the question about what he would have changed about his dish. To blame the fact that he didn't have a thermal immersion circulator to cook his turkey was complete crap! He could have even poached his turkey roll in butter to keep it from going dry. There are so many different ways he could have approached this dish and come out with greater success. He could have dried the skin and seasoned it back and front, wrapped the roll in it and then roasted it until it was done. If he had it on a rack well out of the juices, he could have gotten some really crispy skin and very juicy turkey. If he has to rely on gadgets, he's not a cook. I am the queen of gadgets, but I use them for speed and better uniformity. I can do it all by hand, but sometimes it takes a bit longer to knock out a gallon of julienne carrots when you are doing it with a knife and not using a mandoline. Carlos did deserve to go this time. To spend four hours on a salad was pretty lame. He could have done so much with his salad. He could have made a cracker or crouton to go with it. He could have developed a killer cranberry dressing. He could have put toasted nuts, braeburn apples, smoked turkey or smoked salmon on it. He could have done so much more than he did. He's a Zagat 3-star chef and he produced that boring salad. So sad!
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Hukdonreality
Member
09-29-2003
| Monday, November 27, 2006 - 8:38 am
Gemma and others, ITA about Betty's finger pointing. I'm disappointed in her attitude since she was my choice to win this thing since the beginning. I am so impressed by the number of people here who have such great ideas regarding cooking. I am an o.k. cook, but I certainly have no imagination and would fail miserably at a competition like this.
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