Contest Tomorrow & Top Chef Masters

The Dahn Report Catchall Contest starts in less than twenty-fours hours. You are eligible to enter the contest if you have ever posted a comment on The Dahn Report since its inception in December of 2007. If you have never posted a comment here you can still participate in the contest by posting a comment anywhere on The Dahn Report before 7 AM Pacific Daylight Time on August 1, 2009. First place in the contest wins a fifty dollar gift card, second place wins a twenty-five dollar gift card. You can choose your gift card from several offered. For the official rules of the contest and to see your choice of gift cards go here:

http://thedahnreport.blogspot.com/2009/07/just-one-week-to-go-before-contest.html

I am postponing Update Day until Saturday or Sunday. I think DR is going to need us more then. Today is her last day with her Mom before her Mom moves to Arizona. That makes me think she will have more time and more to share then!

Today there is no trivia. You all need to get your game faces on for the contest starting tomorrow. It won’t be easy. Before talking about Top Chef Masters just some comments. I didn’t go to the comedy class this week because of the heat. At 7 the night of the comedy class it was 107. You just cannot imagine the difference in the heat and the body’s reactions to the heat when it is 107 instead of when it is 95. At 107 walking to your car you can dehydrate. Even though the car is air conditioned it is still hotter in the car than normal. It just didn't seem very smart to go out under those circumstances. Thank God it cooled down to 95 yesterday and 90 today.

The punch lines for yesterday? What is a computers first sign of age? Loss of memory. What is an astronaut’s favorite place on the computer? The space bar. What does a baby computer call his father? Data. What happened when the computer fell on the floor? A slipped disk. Or Pat’s answer, it crashed. The answer to the trivia questions? What company is credited with having the first successful computer with a mouse attached? Xerox but then Apple took to a new level. Which company is credited with the first laptop? Radio Shack was the company. The individual who invented the laptop was Adam Osborne. What does JPEG stand for? Joint Photo Graph Expert group.

This week’s Top Chef Masters started the championship round. The show started out with twenty-four chefs and now is down to six. The six are as follows:

Oprah’s personal chef Art Smith

America’s most noted Mexican chef Rick Bayless

Hubert Keller award winning virtuoso of both classic French cuisine and healthy cooking.

Asian fusion chef savant Anita Lo

Author and master of Italian cooking, Michael Chiarello.

Suzanne Tracht creator of the modern steakhouse.

The things I learned about life on Top Chef Masters this week was to respect your competition, be on time but don’t be too early, and it is hard to improve upon certain things.

The elimination challenge this week was to recreate the signature dish of a competing chef. That would be like an artist repainting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Art Smith had to create Suzanne Tracht’s signature dish and visa versa. Michael Chiarello had to recreate the signature dish of Rick Bayless and visa versa. Hubert Keller had to recreate the signature dish of Anita Lo and visa versa. The diners that would be judging the dishes were former Top Chef Masters contestants.

The winner of the week was Anita Lo’s lobster and truffle cappuccino with 24 stars, A close second was Rick Bayless with 23 stars. Hubert Keller was a little farther behind with 21 ½ stars. Michael finished fourth with 18 ½ stars. Art barely survived to live another week with 15 stars. Eliminated because she finished to early with her dish and the cold plate failed to impress either the judges or the diners, scoring just 14 ½ stars. Suzanne was sent packing.

I really liked Michael better this week, the sappy story about his mom won me over. I was glad a woman won this week however I am rooting for Hubert to win the prize. He won me over when he cooked the pasta in the shower. A little offbeat, being a little offbeat I can relate to him.

Hope this day brings you joy and happiness. What’s is cooking today? Are you ready for the contest tomorrow? Expect any surprises in the contest? Newbies don't be shy post a comment and give the contest a shot! The winner of the last contest was a first time poster!