“Iron Chef America”: Oliver vs. Batali

OK, normally Christine and I are not huge fans of the U.S. version of Food Network’s “Iron Chef America”, but after last night’s epic throw-down with two of our favorite celebrity chef’s, Jamie Oliver and Mario Batali, well, we might just change our tune…

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Since they are both best known for their rocking Italian “sapore”, these two kitchen Jedis couldn’t be more perfectly matched. And watching them go head-to-head in that crazy-big kitchen stadium was downright thrilling. They were quick, informative and funny as hell!

And they weren’t the only ones that were funny. Mario’s sous chef, Anne Burrell, seemed to be smiling and/or laughing the whole time and to really shake things up, Jamie brought along his old-school mentor, the “Italian Rasputin” himself, Gennaro Contaldo, who was absolutely hilarious. You have not lived till you’ve seen this dude crack an ostrich egg with a hammer and a screwdriver…awesome!

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As for the food, I can’t remember what kind of fish they used as the “secret ingredient”, but I do know it looked way better cooked than it did when they first fished it out of that tank. Yikes…

And just when we thought things couldn’t get any cooler on this already amazing episode, the host revealed that one of the judges was none other than our favorite Asian robot, Julie “Chenbot” Chen!

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I’m not kidding, Christine and I were in geek nirvana…Jamie and Gennaro; Mario wearing his iconic orange Crocs (pictured below); and “Big Brother’s” Chenbot actually eating food! On the same show! Whoa…and they said the strike would ruin our TV prospects in the new year! Ha! Whatever Food Network genius dreamt up this “perfect storm” of a line-up deserves an Emmy! Big time!

I won’t give away the ending by telling you who actually wins the competition, but I will say that that sassy Chenbot did her fair share of drooling over Jamie’s dishes…and I’m not talking about his fried fish and chips with mushy peas…if you know what I’m saying…

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So, if you get a chance to catch this one in repeats (which I’m sure you will as they run these things non-stop) I encourage everyone to check it out. Even non-fans of the show will have — in the words of Señor Oliver — a smashing good time!

The Chenbot Revealed…

While searching for some cool pics of Julie Chen for the next post, came across this pair of amazingly bad pictures and simply had to share them with you.

Non-fans of “Big Brother” — and they are legion, especially on the picket lines right now — might not appreciate these warts-and-all pictures of Ms. Chen, but any true fan will tell you that the Chenbot is never seen in public without every hair on her shiny plastic head in place. Until now…

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Apparently, these screencaps are from a “Big Brother: All Star” gag reel put together by the crew at the end-of-season rap party. I have no clue what she’s saying, but the sight of a hot Asian robot in curlers is just hilarious to me…even if she is married to the mad robot king of CBS himself, Les Moonves.

Ah, well, nobody’s perfect…rock on Chenbot!