How does he know this? Apparently the whispering among the other three. So if they are loudly singing show tunes Morgan's unhappy and if they whisper Morgan's unhappy. Just can't make the dude happy, perhaps he should eat some worms...Back in the kitchen all Pimping Hands on Deck!
Time for a Godiva Quickfire. Now I've cooked with chocolate, Valrhona or Callebaut, perhaps a Guittard or even a Ghirardelli but I don't remember seeing big brick of Godiva as a choice for making truffles or ganache. Maybe it's just a Midwestern thing. However here we are for the Quickfire.
Make four pieces of candy representing four great moments in your life. Sigh. OK. Top Chef, The Empire, seems to love forcing some sort of emotional attachment to challenges which, in reality, is kinda nutty considering the time frame doesn't really encourage developing and creating loving little pieces of your heart on a plate. So not only do you have to create 4 unique pieces of confection, in 2 hours, with a back story for each piece but you also have to have all of that judged by the Guest Judge...
Not exactly a happy little ray of sunshine is Francois since the French take their little chocolate nibbles very seriously. I'm pretty sure the pucker factor was mighty tight for our chefs....except perhaps for Danielle whose happiness in her own little world is turning out to be a blessing in disguise in these later challenges. She's happy doing her thing and for this Quickfire her thing is a cute little baseball bonbon with milk chocolate with caramel popcorn and peanuts.
Here's a bonus shot of Danielle when she's obviously had as much time as she wants in the bathroom.
Danielle is The Woman of a Thousand Faces.
Man, that is one massive chunk of chocolate. Just a hint, when you need imported cheese or chocolate this thick, you better hope you just got paid.
So because of the emotional attachments connected with each piece, we get lots of molding shots intermingled with family and loved ones.
Danielle's business venture, pretty gutsy for someone so young.
Yigit's incredibly cute boyfriend.
Zac's incredibly cute parents. Please note the simple anniversary cake. That Zac made for them. He can be restrained. Just sayin'. Now I've brought you all these touching human pictures so I don't have to deal with Morgan's Whine of the Challenge. Which was a hearty burgundy concerning pastry bags and said pastry bags not being in the place he expected them to be. Morgan, it can be said, has a massive Whine Cellar suitable for any and every occasion.So what did our chefs come up with for their final product? (If you'd like to see all chocolates and their descriptions you can hit Bravo's Rate the Plate for this episode otherwise I'm just going to share their collections.)
Morgan's collection. Pretty but a bit cold and sharp.
Yigit's collection. Gotta finish all four. Even if one is a failure, put it on the plate that way you're still in the running.
Zac's collection. Very restrained for Zac but not a big hit with the guest judge.
Danielle's collection. A very cute and heartfelt offering.What does Francois think of our chefs lives expressed in chocolate?
Well as best as I could make out...and really after years of trying to decipher both Eric Ripert and Hubert Keller's thick French accents, you'd think I'd be better at this...he couldn't judge Yigit because Yigit didn't finish the challenge. He then went on to say that while he liked what Zac did but he believes Zac had the Schweet Toot which is way more accurate than he realizes. For the top two he liked Danielle's popcorn baseball and the coconut ganache with pineapple jam and for Morgan he didn't really say what he enjoyed just that the green tea offering was too sweet. At this point I'm thinking Danielle has scored some more cash from the stern French judge but NO. Morgan wins. Again. Prompting Danielle to perfect her Morgan Winning Face.
Nice. I'm glad she can take it all in stride because I know Morgan is bugging the hell out of me. But then again, I'm not Danielle, Woman of a Thousand and One Faces.
7 comments:
Haha - suddenly I'm liking Danielle. Her apparent cluelessness in the earlier challenges comes off here as the ability to be creative under pressure. She may miss a social cue or two, but I don't think that's holding her back where it counts.
And she's ADORAAAAABBBBLLLLEEEE in her promo pic for her biz. Too. friggin. cute.
Morgan. I have more to say about him later. Tape.
A favorite activity this time of year is searching for totally outrageous and tasty chocolates for my girlfriends for Christmas.
I wish they would show just a bit more of the technique and methods the chefs use. Certainly more interesting than Morgan doing his Captain Queeg routine.
When I saw the picture of Yigit and his boyfriend, I actually thought it was his twin brother. They have the same hair.
Yeah, Morgan is a whiner but he's got some mad skills and I thought his chocolate looked way better (can't vouch for the flavor) than all of the others. He and Yigit seem to be the most emotionally stable (albeit wooden emotion in Morgan's case) of all of the cheftestants. I think it's a 2 horse race.
Danielle is starting to grow on me, but I'm not sure she can contain the whackiness in the finale to take down Morgan and Yigit. It should be a good show.
Everything about Morgan strikes me as cold and sharp, even when he's verklempting on his kid. My fave was Danielle's because the emotions rang true and sweet.
Danielle really does have a sweet personality. A little whacky, but harmless.
Dani, which Danielle are you referring to? Or is it an affection connection to the name?
Her. But It could easily be applied to me as well. ;)
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