'Top Chef' premiere recap: Washington DC, it's paradise to me

Welcome back, Top Chef fans! It’s been a while since we last spoke (Padma had a baby, if you hadn’t heard), but season seven kicked off last night and with it, we met a crop of new cheftestants eager to take home the prize and achieve reality show fame. Branded non-stick pans and barbecue sauce await!

Last season in Vegas, TC was all about gambling and casinos, so naturally with this season set in the nation’s capital, we can expect plenty of flags and Yankee Doodle music. Best of all, though, Eric Ripert has joined the panel as a permanent judge. Can I get a double amen? He was one of my favorite guest judges, thanks to his focused opinions and clearly prolific resume.

As for the contestants, after six seasons, it’s become our M.O. as viewers to categorize the chefs as soon as we meet them. You may say don’t judge a book by its cover, but I dare you to watch a reality show and not pigeon hole at least one person as “the shy one” or “the racist one” or “the skanky one.” It’s our voyeuristic right (and pleasure) to see if our picks really pan out.

Right now, it’s too early to know what the real deal is with all 17, but here’s the 411 on the lineup and some musings on those that got more screen time. Let’s get on with it and meet the cheftestants!

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Stephen, 40
Current gig: Executive chef of Seablue in Las Vegas

Angelo, 35
Current gig: Chef/owner of Xie Xie in New York City
Food for thought: Ego alert! Much like Stefan and Mike Voltaggio from the last two seasons, Angelo seems to talk the talk and, fortunately for him, walk the walk. But his insufferable chatter about Monte Carlo was pure torture!

Alex, 33
Current gig: Executive chef of Ivan Kane’s Café Was in Hollywood

Kenny, 36
Current gig: President/owner of Passionate Culinary Enterprises; chef/partner G’s restaurant group
Food for thought: Take Angelo’s talent, remove the bravado and you have strong but silent Kenny. But will his lack of a fiery personality hurt him in the reality-show long run?

Kelly, 33
Current gig: Chef/owner of Restaurant Kelly Liken
Food for thought: Right off the bat, she asks the other chefs about their style of food. She may crack under pressure (as evidenced by the potato peeling), but at least she’s a tenacious competitor.

Tracey, 34
Current gig: Executive chef of Table 1280 in Atlanta
Food for thought: In response to Kelly’s question about what her food, Tracey responds, “It’s good…?” Let’s just say I’m not holding my breath for her to crack the top three.

Lynne, 51
Current gig: Chef instructor of the Culinary Institute of America
Food for thought: She said she doesn’t have tattoos or crazy hair. Kids these days!

Jacqueline, 33
Current gig: Chef/owner of Jacqueline Lombard Events in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Arnold, 33
Current gig: Chef/owner of Cha Chah in Nashville, Tenn.
Food for thought: Arnold hired a personal stylist and got a facial before taping started. I think this guy’s going to add some much-needed sparkle to the season.

Timothy, 40
Current gig: Chef/owner of Prime Steak House in Baltimore, Md.

Kevin, 31
Current gig: Executive chef of Rat’s Restaurant in Hamilton, N.J.
Food for thought: That has got to be the most unfortunately named restaurant. Also, will he be this season’s Mike Isabella?

John, 43
Current gig: Chef de cuisine at The Lark in West Bloomfield, Mich.

Ed, 32
Current gig: Executive chef of Plein Sud in New York City

Amanda, 27
Current gig: Sous chef of Water Grill in L.A.

Tiffany, 26
Current gig: Executive chef of Go Fish Ocean Club in Dallas, Tx.
Food for thought: She barely flinched when Padma came out. “Hey Padma’s here.” It’s nothing against Tiffany, but it did make me realize the difference between a Padma entrance on TC and an entrance by, say, Tyra on America’s Next Top Model, where shrieks and tears ensue.

Andrea, 39
Current gig: Chef/owner of The Water Club, Talula Restaurant and Creative Tastes Catering in Miami, Fl.

Tamesha, 24
Current gig: Sous chef at the Oval Room in Washington, D.C.
Food for thought: One can never underestimate the youngins’. Just look at uber-successful Christian Siriano of erstwhile Bravo series Project Runway.

Things got underway with a back-to-basics mise en place quickfire challenge, where the cheftestants had to peel potatoes, dice onions, break four chickens into eight parts and prepare a dish with only the top competitors moving onto the next round.

In perfect TV dramatics, the challenge — and high stakes prize of $20,000 — eventually whittled down to Tim, Kenny, Kevin and Angelo. If the challenges continue to go head-to-head between Kenny and Angelo, the other cheftestants can kiss their screen time g’bye. The producers are clearly going to milk this rivalry.

And for good reason. Angelo is on a mission to win every single challenge, which would be a first in TC’s history, and frankly, very impressive. It probably won’t happen. But he’s clearly grooming himself for a post-TC career as on on-air personality.

When time came for the elimination, we got one of those great personality-based projects. In this case, it was to create a dish that reflected where each of the chefs was from. They were working in groups of four and from each group, a best and worst would be chosen.

But they didn’t draw knives for this one. Forming groups was a bit like elementary school kickball. The top four of the quickfire — Tim, Kevin, Kenny and Angelo — picked their competitors, naturally choosing the worst ones first. Tracey was none too happy to be a first pick, but that’s what they call survival of the fittest.

The gang was cooking for 300 Washingtonians attending the kick-off to the cherry blossom festival, and side note: one of the locals in attendance was Andy Baldwin from season 10 of The Bachelor. Local celebrity alert!

Upon first glance, everyone came out the kitchen relatively unscathed except for Jacqueline whose duo of chicken liver mousse looked more like red meat chocolate cake (…and now I’ve made myself sick).

Ripert didn’t have much good to say about it either, calling it coarse and bitter. Gail was more shocked that she nixed fat from the recipe, and she was right. Some things in life — gourmet coffee, ice cream and mousses — are best served with a nice, rich fat.

When time came to actually judge the dishes, it’s no shocker that her mousse didn’t place in the top four. No, that glory of the top four went to Angelo, Kenny, Alex and Kevin, an almost identical combination of the day’s top quickfire cheftestants.

Kenny made one of the evening’s most delectable-sounding dishes — cinnamon coffee-rubbed trout, which the judges loved for its flavor and balance. Kevin got the thumbs up for his tender Pennsylvania lamb that was simultaneously simple and complex — an interesting, if not confusing, description.

Personally I thought Alex’s deconstructed borscht showed the most creativity. Like the judges said, he truly honored what he intended, not to mention the premise of the challenge. But in the end, Angelo took home the win, and was thus one step closer to his win-every-challenge mission.

Based on his Connecticut upbringing, Angelo made an arctic char, marking the first appearance by the fish that got tons of play last season. I wasn’t there to taste his food and his dish probably was quite excellent, but there’s something really admirable about Kenny’s understated attitude. He doesn’t make for the best TV like Angelo, but he seems solid nonetheless.

In the bottom four were Stephen, John, Jacqueline and Tim, which was kind of embarrassing for the Baltimore chef, considering he had made the top four in the quickfire. I think this may foreshadow his inconsistencies to come.

Until then, it was John’s soggy maple mousse Napoleon that did him in. I once had a divine strawberry napoleon in San Diego, and I could see how balancing the creamy ingredients and crisp pastry dough would be tough. Taking chances can be a good thing, but this is the first episode, a.k.a. the weeding-out episode, and dessert was a risky move. Appreciated, but ultimately not smart. John said it himself: “I guess I was just being stupid.” Well, now, that’s just kind of sad.

Have You Been Waiting For Top Chef? Blame Padma’s Baby

Are you a Top Chef fan? Have you been waiting patiently for Season 7 to debut? Well, it will finally air on Wednesday night…better late than never, right? There had been a slight delay in the filming of the much loved reality show and who is to solely to blame? A baby…Padma Lakshmi’s baby that is. The series was supposed to start shooting in January but they had to change the schedule due to Padma’s pregnancy. Padma told George Lopez “I was going to be eight months pregnant. There was no way I could do it.” The production put on the brakes for six weeks before they started filming the series in Washington D.C.. Once they began, Padma said, “We all were like this big caravan of gypsies who moved from New York to DC and set up camp there. I had my mom there, I had the baby and the nanny.”

And motherhood has apparently made her less ambitious in a way, “My perspective has shifted, and I’m not as hungry anymore because my priorities have changed.” When asked if she meant ‘hungry’ literally, she corrected herself saying? “Oh, no, I’m literally hungry. I’m more hungry than ever.” She added that, “It’s really hard when you’re trying to lose the baby weight and you’re eating all day long on the set.”

Will you be watching Top Chef Season 7?

‘Top Chef’ Season 7: Recap of Season Premiere

Bravo’s popular reality TV cooking competition series “Top Chef” returned to our screens last night, for its season 7 premiere. And of course, being the premiere episode, it meant that we first had to meet to the new batch of contestants all hoping to win.

As reported by Archana Ram at popwatch.ew.com, the 17 contestants competing in season 7 includes Stephen, Angelo, Alex, Kenny, Kelly, Tracey, Lynne, Arnold, Jacqueline, Timothy, Kevin, Ed, John, Amanda, Tiffany, Andrea and finally Tamesha.

Things kicked off with the very first quickfire challenge of the season, where all the contestants had to dice onions, peel potatoes, break four chickens into pieces and then prepare a dish. Only the top contestants would then move onto the next round.

The challenge eventually whittled down to just Angelo, Kevin, Kenny and Tim. Angelo appears to be on a mission, which is to win every single challenge of the show. Next up, the chefs had to create a dish that reflected where each of them came from.

They had to work in groups of four, and a best and a worst would then be picked from each group. The top four contestants in this part, ended up to be Angelo, Kenny, Kevin and Alex. However, it was Angelo that the judges finally chose as a winner.

Stephen, Jacqueline, John and Tim unfortunately came in the bottom four. It must have been quite embarrassing for Tim, considering he was one of the top 4 in the quickfire challenge. Finally, it was John who was eliminated this week.

You can read the full recap and learn a bit more about the contestants here. What did you think of last night’s premiere? Did John deserve to go home?

Justin Bieber Breaks Neck!

Rumors spread all over the internet Tuesday morning, June 15 that pop star Justin Bieber had broken his neck in a car accident.

It has been reported by the unknown media sources that Young Pop Star Justin Bieber, had broken his neck in a motor vehicle accident.

According to the website, The Seven Sided Cube, a “reliable source from CNN” spilled the Biebs on this story. “From the updates, Justin Bieber and his driver were on their way to a local fast
food restaurant when the accident occurred. Justin Bieber’s driver, aged 35 years old, in the name of James Peterson, allegedly swove into the car the idol was in. He was suspected to be driving drunk” (The Seven Sided Cube).

Justin Bieber is perfectly fine as far as anyone knows and the rumor Bieber has broken his neck is just as false as that one the other day that he had syphilis.

Read more: Justin Bieber Breaks Neck! |

Chris Brown New Girlfriend Jasmine Sanders Images

Chris Brown New Girlfriend Jasmine Sanders – Jasmine Sanders is rumored to be the new girlfriend of Chris Brown. Brown had previously dated Rihanna, but was involved in a nasty break up with the singing diva after the two of them got into a physical altercation in the car that left her badly bruised.Brown has kept his love life, and other aspects of his life, fairly low profile since he arrived back on the music scene. Brown has found that it has been challenging, but his past problems have not affected him with the ladies, for the most part.

His current girlfriend is not all that known. She is a Boss Models Agency model. She is 5 feet nine inches, and measures 34-24-33. She is a gorgeous girl that has a real career in modeling. She was born and raised in South Carolina, but recently relocated to New York. She has been working on her career as a fashion model since that time.

Brown posted a photo of himself and her together on his Twitter page, which has since been spread around the Internet at an amazing pace. The two have reportedly not been together that long, but Brown seemed to be answering fans who have long clamored for more information regarding his love life after the incident with Rihanna.
Some have said that it is too soon for him to be moving on to a new girlfriend in the public light. Many of his former fans have still not forgiven him for his violent outburst, and he will likely have a hard time being regaining his trust.

It's official: Pac-10 announces addition of Colorado

The Pac-10 announced in a news release Thursday that the league has officially added the of Colorado as its 11th member.

Colorado becomes the league's first new member since 1978.

"This is an historic moment for the Conference, as the Pac-10 is poised for tremendous growth. The University of Colorado is a great fit for the conference both academically and athletically and we are incredibly excited to welcome Colorado to the Pac-10," said league commissioner Larry Scott in the league's statement.

Added Colorado president Bruce D. Benson:

"The University of Colorado is a perfect match - academically and athletically - with the Pac-10 our achievements and aspirations match those of the universities in the conference and we look forward to a productive relationship."

Scott and Benson will take part in a teleconference with media members Thursday at 1:30 ET to discuss the move and will hold a press conference in Boulder, Colo., on Friday.

Colorado's addition gives the Pac-10 a total of 11 schools, but speculation persists that the league will also look to bring in Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech to give the conference 16 teams.

Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe issued a statement in reaction to Colorado's decision.

"The Big 12 Conference has been informed that the University of Colorado has accepted an invitation to join the Pacific-10 Conference. I continue to work through the process that was agreed upon last week by our Board of Directors to address membership issues, and are working tirelessly towards the long-term viability of the Big 12. "

This news comes just shortly after reports surfaced of Nebraska planning to accept an invitation to the Big Ten, which the school's regents are scheduled to vote -- and likely announced publicly -- on Friday.

If by chance Nebraska's move to the Big Ten does not occur and the Corn huskers remain in the Big 12 and that league remains intact, the San Jose Mercury News reports that the Pac-10 would then invite Utah to become the league's 12th team.

2 Year Old Smoking Cigarette Video

A shocking video went viral Wednesday that might have you talking around the water cooler.Imagine your neighbor’s two-year-old smoking a pack a day. A Sumatran toddler from Indonesia was caught on tape puffing on a cigarette as if he were an adult.

The tot smokes up to forty cigarettes a day. The video shows the toddler puffing on a cigarette, holding it, and twirling it in his chubby, little fingers as if he were stuck with an adult smoking habit.According to news reports, his father gave him his first cigarette at just eighteen months old and now at two they say he throws a tantrum when they refuse to give him one.When ABC 4 showed the video to viewers in Salt Lake City, their reactions were relatively the same.“That's horrible, that is sick and wrong, he's basically got no chance in life for anything.”
“I don't think they even deserve to be parents.”“I think that's irresponsible, their culture is different from ours… so smoking may be more accepted there.”Take a look and tell ABC 4 what you think.

Scarlett Johansson Sandra Bullock

Sandra bullock made a brilliant come back at MTV Movie Awards by kissing fellow actress Scarlet Johansson. It was her first public appearance after split up with husband Jesse James. The last time she made a televised appearance, was at Oscars where she won the award for Best Actress and husband Jesse James had given her a big hug for that but this time he was not on stage to celebrate her victory that she earned after receiving the MTV Generation Award.

It is not her first kiss with any lady on award stage, as previously she kissed Meryl Streep at the 15th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards in January. The 45-year-old Sandra was looking the world’s most beautiful lady in her sparking black backless dress. She is indeed beautiful enough to call the world’s most beautiful lady. She is now a single mother of baby boy, Louis, she adopted. The two had planned to adopt Louis together but then, she herself took the baby alone after Jesse cheated her.

The nervous Johansson slowly moved to Sandra and then they shared a kiss which Johansson later referred as great kiss and Sandra agreed to her. She said on stage that now she wanted to become normal in her life and she wanted to forget all that what happened during these past three months. The kiss was actually an indication for her fans that now she was ready to make a come back in normal life and that she was not facing any problem.

Watch the 2010 MTV Movie Awards at MTV.com!

MTV Movie Awards 2010: Sandra Bullock talks about kissing moment (video)

On Sunday night's broadcast of the MTV Movie Awards, Sandra Bullock easily had one of the most memorable moments of the show when she kissed Scarlett Johansson during her acceptance speech for the MTV Generations Award.

Following the show, Sandra talked a little bit to Us Magazine about what it was like to kiss a fellow movie star: "Ryan is right -- Scarlett is a great kisser."

The MTV Movie Awards were Sandra's first public TV appearance since the Jesse James scandal broke in March -- she appeared on Spike TV's Guys Choice Awards on Saturday, but that ceremony will not air until June 20.

Before the awards, Katy Perry had this to say about Bullock to "Entertainment Tonight":

"I love a strong woman coming out and peacocking after a moment of silence."

To see video of a number of stars talking about Bullock, check it out below and feel free to share your thoughts with a comment. You can also view some photos below.

World Cup 2010: David James Losing Fight To Face USA In England's Opener

Goalkeeper David James is looking a doubt to start for England in their opening World Cup game against the USA, according to The Daily Mail.

James who will turn 40 three weeks after the world cup final, received his 50th cap as he played in the first half against Japan in Austria last Sunday.

But it now seems that he has fallen behind Robert Green and Joe Hart, who replaced James against Japan, in the battle to start in Rustenburg.

This will give Hart, who is considered to be one of the most talented goalkeepers in England, the confidence that Capello is ready to gamble on him.

However Green could also get the nod if Capello opts for caution as the West Ham goalkeeper has made fewer errors.

Nokia N900 mobile titled as internet tablet enters in India

Nokia has launched N900 mobile in India which is set to bring a new definition to mobiles. Nokia N900 termed at internet tablet will provide functionality of a tablet on a mobile. Nokia N900 is available at price of Rs. 30,639 in India. Nokia N900 specs and features are equally attractive and impressive.

With the Nokia N900 you can, for the first time get a high speed broadband that is as fast as an internet connection at your home. You can enjoy the rich interactive content at home the way they should be enjoyed with stunning full screen browsing. The web browsing is powered by Maemo browser powered by Mozilla technology. You can have 3.5 G and WLAN connectivity together with Quad band GSM with GPRS and EDGE. Youcan also transfer data over cellular network and over Wi-Fi. The phone offers Flash 9.4 support.

The Nokia N900 is a powerful hardware packed into a sleek, compact design with a3.5 inch WVGA 800 x 480 touch screen display with 65k colors support. It also has a tactile and onscreen full QWERTY key pad and works seamlessly with Ovi Maps. The other features of Nokia N900 are its Skype and Google talk VoIP integration, connectivity support that includes Bluetooth v 2.1 with A2DP and infrared port, FM radio, Adobe Flash Player 9.4 and photo editor.

N900 by Nokia offers you an opportunity to take high quality photos and capture wide screen videos with its 5 MP camera with Carl Zeiss lens. You can capture WVGA 16:9 video in higher than DVD resolution. You can also tag photos and browse them using the tag cloud, share them online. The N900 by Nokia is priced at Rs. 30,639 in India.

Obama nominates director of national intelligence

America's "most experienced and most respected intelligence professionals," President Barack Obama has nominated Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper to be the new director of national intelligence.

"He possesses a quality that I value in all my advisers, a willingness to tell leaders what we need to know, even if it's not what we want to hear," said Obama. He made the announcement in the Rose Garden with Clapper on Saturday.

Clapper, who retired from the Air Force in 1995 after a 32-year career, served as head of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency from September 2001 to June 2006.

Clapper, now a top Pentagon intelligence official, would replace Dennis Blair, who resigned at the end of last month. Obama said he'll be looking for Clapper "to ensure that we have the most capable and efficient intelligence community possible."

If confirmed, Clapper will become the nation's fourth DNI in the last five years. The position was created after the September 2001 terrorist attacks to oversee the 16 agencies of the U.S. intelligence community.

Obama said he's indicated to other Senate leaders that the confirmation should be carried out "swiftly", "The Senate has voted to confirm Jim for senior positions on four separate occasions, and each time it has done so overwhelmingly," he said.

"This nomination can't fall victim to the usual Washington politics."

Some political observers have indicated that Clapper's prospects for confirmation on Capitol Hill, however, are questionable. Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, recently said the "best thing for the U.S. intelligence community is to have someone with a civilian background in charge." Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Kit Bond, R-Missouri, said he has reservations about Clapper. "I believe he is too focused on the Defense Department issues and he has tried to block out efforts to give more authority to the DNI," Bond argued.

Bond's counterpart on the House side, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Michigan, also said he believes Clapper is the wrong person, because he is "not forthcoming, open or transparent" with Congress. But Obama said: "Jim also understands the importance of working with our partners in Congress. As he has said, not merely to appear when summoned, to keep Congress informed and seek members' consent." Blair, a retired admiral, was pressured to resign as DNI because of differences with the White House over the scope of his role and turf wars with CIA Director Leon Panetta and other members of the intelligence community. One source familiar with Blair's situation said that from the very beginning, "the White House did not have the same view (as Blair) of what the DNI should be."