Happy Trails For Us: My Reluctant Blog

And then there were three . . .

So who will win tonight? Still standing are Carla, Stefan and Hosea. There was an interview with Stefan in this morning's LA Times (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/02/top-chef-finale.html#more) and of course he was going to be coy about the show, tho he did reveal that he and Hosea are going skiing together in a few weeks, so take that Bravo drama editors!

I don't know about David, but I am on Team Carla this evening. She has come a very long way from the beginning, when truly she just seemed like a flaky, new Age kind of cook. The woman has some serious chops, I mean who knew that she had that classic French training?

My heart does still belong to Fabio, but all along in my head I could see that he just struggled with some of these challenges, and perhaps some of that can be attributed to not being part of the American experience. He is certainly one talented cook, and has already been quite successful in two countries in both cooking and business, at what many would consider a fairly young age. I think he is perhaps 31, 32 - I try not to dwell on the fact that he could be one of my children.

In spite of the attempts that Bravo always make in the drama department, I actually think that this season has been one of the more mellow ones, and that these chefs have gotten along quite well; some of the episodes have shown great team spirit as they have helped each other to succeed, in spite of the fact that this is a competition. I am going to overlook all of the ooky stuff that went on between Hosea and Leah in this regard.

We missed Season 1, came on board with Season 2, but this has been a show that both of us have enjoyed immensely. And it amuses me no end that our children have been watching as well. Our son has fantasies of attending culinary school, so he is no surprise, but his sisters are also fans of TC, and it's rather fun to have something we can all dish about when we get together. Fine, we all like to eat.

I hadn't planned on anything special for this evening's finale; we get an eastern feed on our satellite dish, so I think we can see it as early as 7pm (and I say I think because even after all these weeks, we always watch later, because fast forwarding through the commercials is what I like best). My sister now might come over since she has some taping issues at her house, so it is possible we could be having a small get together. The previews are promising some Hosea-Stefan drama, which will be amusing, and as much as I am rooting for Carla, my money would probably go to Stefan - last week's slip should bring back his "A" game is what I am thinking.

I think tonight does call for opening a bottle of the bubbly; I am sure most of you out there would agree. And we can now start planning our field trip to Fabio's Cafe Firenze in Moorpark.

So, editing to add: ah, it's over, no champagne here I'm afraid, and as Deborah has commented to me, our girl Carla took herself down in flames. I can see how they came to the decision, but I'm not sure I agree. I certainly do not think that Stefan's dessert was "pedestrian" but his decision to freeze fresh fish was not a bright one. Hosea was nothing but cocky in victory, but oh well, it is over for this season.