... a monastery as I train volunteers in a church and visit a few nonprofits in Northern Virginia. According to Wikipedia, monastery denotes the habitation and workplace of a community of monks or nuns or other people set apart for a religious purpose. Mine is peopled with nuns. Curfew is 8:30, but apparently the luxury suite has been reserved for me. (It has the en suite bathroom.)Dahlings, when I made the announcement at work, people snorted coffee through their noses from laughing. "Where are you going to hide your medicinal wine?" asked one thoughtful person. "How you gonna keep your mouth clean?" asked another.
"What will I do about Top Chef?" I lamented. Ah, the things we do in order to bring home the bacon! See y'all on Saturday. Thank Gawd Bravo provides endless reruns.
9 comments:
WAIT!!! I wann go wif' ya!!
Is ya goin' ter Mont St. Michel?? Gotta take Henry Adams wif' ya then...or is ya goin' ter a convent stateside?
A few weeks back I post a pic on Front Porch of Abbaye Notre Dame de Senanque , a place Aunty likes fer visitin' monasteries-
Well, I jes' cain't wait ter hear all about it on yore return.
Convent stateside, Aunty. Tho I visited Mt. St. Michel years ago and adored the experience. The walk up those steep steps through a medieval town (now filled with tourist trap shops)made for a truly unique memory.
oh ms place!!! how absolutely divine! i have a whole list of monasteries to visit for spiritual retreat. haven't made a date yet, but i'll be anxious to hear what your experience is like. those places seem like an oasis of peace in this crazy world.
i'll keep an eye on top chef for ya. oh wait, here's a summary: hung will stab someone; howie will throw down on the judges; same old stuff.
I need a trip to a monastery, but living with my mother is quickly veering me off course and I'll probably end up in an asylum instead.
How far north chick? East or west? Happy to hook up for some much needed medicinal wine before you head home! If you happen to be in the general vicinity it would be a blast!
I would like to go to St. Michel as well! I'd even tag along to the stateside monastery, lol!
That place looks fabulous. And yes, I too thought it was Mt. St Michel. Have a good trip!
And don't let the monk thing fool you - every heard of Frangelico? Franciscans all the way!
Bad News Bears rise to the challenge while the all-star team suffered from over-confidence. Could this be a theme for this season? Personally, I have to wonder about matching relatively raw salmon with pesto. I mean, I could eat pounds of those things separately, but together in my mouth... no. Like those two ingredients, the talented members of the Restaurant April just didn't compliment each other, and their leader underwhelmed while serving up two flops. Sorry Tre. Playing it smart and conservative can sometimes leave you in the dust if imagination is what is called for. A little more creativity and I saw you in the finals.
Now, how about that cameo. Part of me really wanted to eavesdrop on Stephen's didactic and verbose tableside seminars, but he's not part of the competition this time around, so it's probably appropriate that they edited him down. Nonetheless, he nearly stole the show, certainly whetting our appetites for that certain something that we're not quite seeing in this season's line-up of chefs.
Okay, the quick fire challenge. It was really painful watching Casey muddling through those onions. Foreshadowing for sure. She'll get the ax soon, unless the producers want to preserve some element of gender equity. Anyhow, she used the a chopping method that I've seen on countless cooking shows (leaving the end of the onion intact), but she never got a rhythm going. In fact, she never looked confident or competent with the knife. Really weird. Meanwhile Sara, Howie, and Hung stepped up and knocked out their prep tasks. But I don't remember Dale's role. I just keep seeing him dressed like he's shopping at Target when in fact he's competing in a fine dining contest that is broadcast on national television. Yeesh, he musta shaved a little too close to the scalp this week.
One last thing... Ms. Place asked me and one other coworker to drop in and guest-blog. So, I'd like to mention one or two more items.
Tom dropped a bomb on the chefs when he announced that he'd be looking over their shoulder during the whole service. I thought that was great. Tom's reserved inspection is one of the weekly highlights that I enjoy most. This time, he was all up in their... business. Too bad the producers didn't highlight his behind the scenes observations during the judging. He looked so serious throughout, he shoulda schooled them about XYandZ. Hats off to Sara for exhibiting commanding leadership when the chips were down. That's what it's all about in the kitchen (according to the Bourdain books, anyhow). It just goes to show that you can do better with a well led group of second choice scrubs than a bunch of prima-donnas running in different directions.
Okay, I forgot to mention the Dale diss on Stephen during service. He asked him not to over-talk the guests and basically keep it pithy. That was a long overdue critique that probably spoke for scores of viewers who reluctantly love Stephen's refinement. Of course, Dale could learn a few wardrobe tricks from his fellow redhead.
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