Top Recipe
I just came across this recipe for Stephanie’s Mixed Fruit crumble thingy from Bravo that everyone went ga-ga over last night and thought I’d share. Honestly, I’d like to just snack on the Cinnamon Gyoza, but that’s beside the point. And for the life of me I don’t know what chiffonade is in this recipe. Oh well. Enjoy.
Mixed Fruit with Oatmeal-Pine Nut Crumble, Cinnamon Sugar Fried Wontons
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4Ingredients:Fruit:2 peaches, diced small1 pint strawberries, quartered1 pint blueberries2 plums, diced small1 cup sugar1 cup water1/4 cup basil, chiffonade3 limes, juiced, zestedCream:1/4 cup heavy cream1 cup cool whip1/4 cup coconut cream1t Mexican cinnamonCrumble:1/2 stick unsalted butter1/2 cup flour1/2 cup light brown sugar1/4 cup pine nuts1 cup oatmealGyoza:1/4 cup sugar1T Mexican cinnamon6 gyoza wrappersDirections:
Fruit:Mix all fruit in bowl. Add sugar, water, half of basil and lime juice in non-reactive pot. Bring to boil. Let cool until warm. Pour over fruit and place in fridge. Add in remaining basil when cool.Cream:Whip heavy cream until stiff, whisk in cool whip, coconut cream and cinnamon.Crumble:Mix all in mixer. Crumble onto the nonstick pan and bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned, stirring to break up every 5 minutes.Gyoza:Mix sugar and cinnamon together. Cut wrappers into 4 triangles. Fry at 350 degrees until lightly browned. Dust with sugar.To Serve:Add fruit in bowl. Top with a dollop of cream and with crumble. Serve with fried wonton (gyoza).If you try it. Please stop back and let me know how it turns out!Best,KwanaTopsy Turvy
What’s Jack up to? Wacky Jack is getting shots today. Shh… Don’t tell him.
Poor thing. Wish him the best.It was a Topsy Turvy Wednesday.
For America’s Next Top Model I was picking up my daughter from rehearsals so I actually was the ending of ANTM before the beginning so I missed all the drama and buildup and went right to the judging room. I was just as surprised as Claire to find her standing next to Aimee. Going by the pictures I thought it should have been Stacy-Ann. But I think the right girl went in the end. Buh-Bye Aimee.
Now I get to back track to the drama …
What’s up with Claire and Lauren and all the cursing at Dominique. I understand you’re mad about the clock but ladies. Really? I think the producers may have rigged that clock.
And wasn’t Claire being so 7th grade? She had better not win CoverGirl of the week this week.
Side bar: Wouldn’t the world seem better if the nightly news was read by Anya?
And we won’t even talk about Tyra’s all about me ‘pose with pain’ modeling class. Do they teach that at Barbizon? Oh, Tyra you crazy thang!Now onto Topsy Turvy Chef! Yay Wednesday!
It
starts out with towel smacking between Spiky and Andrew. Dudes this is not a frat house. Then Jennifer and Zoi (name does not match spelling) are all sweet together. I secretly think Jennifer (fauxhawx) is giving culinary secrets. I can’t help it. Too many seasons of Big Brother for me!
Quickfire Taco Challenge. Great love tacos. Bummers. I wish I had some now. Too bad I can’t get the DH to make a Taco Bell run but I know he’d call me nuts. Am I crazy or is Manuel’s accent suddenly thicker for this challenge? What’s up with that?
Sidebar: Wanna here something funny? This is the first time I noticed Lisa on the show with her bad skirt steak. Has she been her all along? Has she always had the eyebrow piercing?
Should we smack Richard the fauxhawk showoff with his “may I eat one with you?” Smack! Then darn it! Richard wins!
The intensity on this show is crazy. Thump Thump – Sweat Sweat. wish I had pictures. Ugh.
They are splitting into teams and I suspect some fights ahead did anyone miss the big time Toyota product placement? I didn’t think so.
Blue team- I’m nervous for them. And the Sexy Drink Lavender. It sounds sleepy to me.
I’m also nervous for Stephanie and changing up her dessert. Frying and moving? Wasn’t that a disaster last week for whatshername?
Time for the party. Hey there’s Ted Allen! Good to see ya.
Service is up. Did you notice, Manuel has no accent? I did. Accent doesn’t make the Taco.
But hey the blue team’s food is not looking too bad. I wonder if the sleepy drink is actually sexy. I’m surprised that Stephanie can cook. Her dessert came out good. Why was I doubting her?Now for the Red team.
Food’s looking food too and the guy’s are characters. Poor Padma dropped her Smore.
I wonder what the judges think of the dipping bar. I’m on the fence with that.We’ll find out. It’s time for the Judges table.
Ugh oh- Blue team is called in first. I’m nervous for the Red team.
We got bad cheese in the mac and cheese from Nikki, no good paella from Richard and I think the good Drink and dessert from Stephanie took them over the top. That Stephanie is Rocking!
Then Tom brings down the hammer and says, well you won but it wasn’t that good.
Ouch Tom! That hurts!
Now the Red team.
Man someone call for makeup and get these guys some powder. It’s sweat city.We got bad corn dogs from Erik, Wilty Waldorf salad from Ryan, bad pasta from Zoi and the whole Americana thing that I thought was good turned out to be pretty bad. Oops.
Dale is silently shooting daggers. Duck!
Andrew gets crazy defending his team. Security!Deliberation and nail biter time.
Man the Corn Dogs did him in. The lovable Giant is gone. Buh-bye Erik.Best,KwanaDropping like flies
What’s Jack up to? Poor Mr. Jack is a little under the weather. We’ll see how he fares today. It’s all about chillin’ today Jack.
So my first 2 reality shows were so sad lat night.
ANTM
Poor Marvita was out at the beginning. There was no mystery in the show. The DH said she was out-ski as soon as he saw her with the 40 ounce. Tsk, tsk. I still couldn’t help but feel sad for her and her very sad photo. I was hoping they would give me a top model twist and it would be Whitney gone at the end, but alas, no.
A few points: It is just me or is Dominique feeling a little Jade-esque?
Fatima? What up with the not shaving, gal? You knew Miss J would be all over that.
And who stole Lauren’s shoes? That poor girl can barely walk in shoes she knows. She’ll never be ale to break in another pair!Then it was Survivor. Which I had forgotten was coming on but thankfully I taped it fifteen minutes into it. Poor Kathy. The woman had a full Survivor meltdown and left the show. it was all those times on Exile Island that wore her down.
Then it came time for the deliberation and it was looking like Ozzy’s arrogance was getting the best of him. Half naked showers with random ladies won’t win you any point. Remember: Have Equipment Will Travel. But in the end it was Tracy. Ozzy is still running things or is it Cirie?
Then on to, wait for it… Top Chef.
What’s with Mr. Chill aka Spike stopping and listening to music? Work fool!
And Richard aka Mr. Smokey and the eucalyptus. How many times can he say, “molecular Gastronomy” in five seconds? Like fifty. We get it already Mr. Smokey. Yeech!And Runaround Marc sweating out of the box and messing up with the bags. Ugh. High drama in the kitchen. Good thing he can cook even with mistakes. Go Curly! Immunity.
Can someone tell me why is Dale always mad, no matter if it’s rainy or sunny? But, I’m starting to like it. He’s just so dark.Last thing on the quick fire, Andrew, can you can’t to five? Duh? Moving on.
Next up, Crazy zoo challenge. What?
Jennifer starts talking about butting heads with Zoi. My eyebrow raises, Joke’s too easy. I’ll leave it alone. You all get 5 seconds. tick-tock. tick- tock.
So the chefs had to come up with something using the diets of the animals they get assigned. Pretty cool except the girls who got the vegetarian diet wimped out and started adding meat? That doesn’t sound right to me. But it’s crab, not too bad.Is it me or is Tom smiling more than ever this year. Did he get a raise or is he just really enjoying torturing the chefs?
Time is ticking and mistakes are flying we got bad mushrooms and soggy chips. Antonia trying quickly to step away from Valerie’s blini dish.
Surprise Surprise the winner for the challenge was wacky Andrew and his Glacier. If Dale could kill with his eyes watch out!
Back in deliberation it was a Dale/ Nikki smack-down. Could she see thought those glasses? Then it’s Stephanie against Valerie and Antonia throws Valerie under the bus. Ouch.
End the end it was adios to Valerie. Buh-Bye sweet chef. See ya.
Best,
KwanaBlogging ANTM and Top Chef
What’s Jack up to? Oh Jack. You little stinker. Why do you waste our time with walks? Ugh. You’re over a year now. Time to get this thing straight please.
Ok, first up for reality roundup is America’s Next Top Model.
I have to say these girl did pretty good in this weeks runway show to be so green. All except Miss Fatima and the bad buttoning. And Lauren who was scared witless. It was surprising.
Now a Meat challenge? What tha-? Ewww….
I noticed Lady Ty didn’t pose draped in meat just holding a fork. Hmm.
I have to say Mr. J was really funny and the star for me this week. I love him.
The surprising drama this week was brought by Whitney. My lovely DH said she has to go and she thinks she’s on Rock of Love with all of that drama. Not that he watches that!
I’m not sure I agree with the eliminated girl this week. Sure Fatima and Amis were bad, but for me it should have been Amiee. What was she hailing a cab in this photo?
Oh well. For some reason poor Amis’s final photo was not up on the Top Model site. A final diss.? Good luck Amis with the crazy headbands. Later!
And so it began. Last night was the season premier of Top Chef. Hooray!! Applause, Applause!I really had a great time once I got Jack settled down and the kids out of my hair. Everyone was clear that there was no talking during Top Chef. Shhh!
Th
e show started out normal enough with the parade of chefs coming in off the planes. I was 
only mildly surprised by having not just one, but 2 chefs with faux hawks , but hey it’s obviously now a fashion epidemic in the culinary community. Who woulda thunk it?But the bigger shock for me and just about every one else was the fact that they decided to have 2 c
hefs th
at not only know each other, but are in fact lovers and are in fact lesbians. Wait. Hold the phone, Baby. Am I watching Top Chef or Big Brother? This thing can’t be good. My gut says it will end badly. Jennifer has to be the better cook. Clearly because she’s got the faux hawk! lol. It will be fun to see how this plays out.I was a
little nervous for the ladies after the quickfire challenge. Boy did they show poorly. And was it just me or was there a collective groan around the world when Rocco popped up. Boo! He cracks me up. Is it me or does he get botox? I’m just saying though. Ahem… Moving on.There seem to be some fun characters this season. I’m liking the big burly Erik with his 80’s cha
ins, the 
Austral
ian (oops New Zealand) , Mark for his unruly hair (not wise in the kitchen) and the wanna- be- ghetto, Andrew for his flip one liners. Holla!
Dale seems to be the intense, Hung of the season. He’ll be one to watch.Poor Ni
mma. The girl was doomed from the start. Parsley marinade for shrimp? What? I’ll say it again. What? Who does that? Then when she started talking cauliflower, I was already writing my goodbye post. There is just nothing more to say. They could have brought me in as a take home wild card and I’d have done better.In t
he end the ladies were redeemed and the cute, little, hands shaking, Stephanie brought it home with her duck dish. She rock it. I was happy.Now who told the Bravo folks to tag on an extra 15 minutes to the show. Man, that thing needs to come on earlier. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz…..
Best,
KwanaTop Chef- The wait is almost over!
What’s Jack up to? Sweet Jack is being a bit of a devil as usual. Biting slippers, stealing socks, jumping in and out of tubs-for reasons I don’t know why. Another day just, Jack being, Jack.
In honor of the Blog Party I thought I’d share my fun story of cute guys in the kitchen. (sorry to my buds who already heard this one a million times)
So last year I was in NYC on a gorgeous day for a doctors appointment. Now, I wasn’t thrilled because this appointment was way downtown and I had to take an extra train to get there. When I was leaving I decided to walk a bit through Union Square on my way to a yarn store to see what I could find.
As I come across the park I see a small crowd of people milling about and it being New York anything could be happening. Could be good, could be bad. I walked closer, squinted and saw there was a Bravo sign. Could it be the Bravo channel that I love so much? I had to see. I crossed over and like a good New Yorker just blended into the crowd and asked the eager looking gal next to me, very matter of factly, “what’s this all about?”She turned to me and said. “They’re doing a Top Chef challenge with Sam and Ilan out here today to promote the new season!”
What?! Needless to say any cool I had or dreams of new yarn went out the window as I eagerly anticipated seeing the sweet Ilan and the Way-to-cute-to-be-able-to-cook Sam do battle.
Padma starts off introducing them both.
Don’t you just love a man in the kitchen?
Work boys, work!
Sam filling out his sweater way too well!
The new cast was introduced. Now after analyzing this I was convinced that Tre would win since he was not there and my theory was they had the winner under wraps. Boy was I wrong! Check out Hung front and center. Ugh!
Then the perfect end to the day. Suddenly I was up front and Sam was right there taking photos and the normally shy me turns to the eager gal next to me, she’s now my new best friend. I hand her my phone. I look nervously at Sam and ask, trying to be cool of course, “can I get a picture with you?” (suddenly I’m 13). He smiled kindly, I’m about the 10th crazy women in the past 30 seconds to do this, but Sam smiles and says, “sure”. Sigh…Please excuse the goofy and grin (my DH can’t believe how wide my smile is) and bad hair, but what a fun day!
Oh and Ilan won the challenge, but you know who won my heart.
Best,
Kwana
Top Chef countdown
What’s Jack up to? Today he’s feeling a little nervous about going to get a long over due nail clipping and shampoo. Sorry dude, it’s got to be done.
So we’ve still got quite a few weeks until the new season of Top Chef. But just for a fix I thought I’d post this photo of Padma, Ilan and Sam from my Union Square encounter. What a fun afternoon that was! I’ll have more fun photos later.Enjoy the weekend!
