Top chef and the lychees....

[VeraBlue]

I've been trying to follow the shows but generally, I seem to miss them. Either the rerun is too early or too late. I caught one last night at 8pm, which is juuuuuust right! (said like goldilocks, naturally)

The two teams had to shop for ingredients for asian dishes. A member from one of the teams commented that he thought they got the lychees for free. He mentioned it at the car, still in the parking lot, right in front of the store. Other teammates heard it, yet said nothing.....at least, not until it was destined to be some great and grand larceny issue. Eventually, he came clean, returned the lychees and further down the line, he disqualified himself.

Based on what I saw, I say the pippi longstocking chick was looking for a whipping boy because her panna cotta sucked. How many times has a cashier missed something in the cart, either because it was under your jacket (accidently) or because one of your kids was holding it?? Honestly, I wouldn't run back into the store...
I get that this is a show and reputations are at stake, so, yeah, the guy should have spoken up inside the store, or at the least, gone back in to pay for them. I don't imagine the money was out of his own pocket, yes? What I found disturbing is that other teammates let the confession outside slide...until it was needed to further their own personal agenda. Lack of team work and team spirit is a killer in situations like that.

I thought pippi should have gotten the ax...

What do you think? And, which episode was that? How many did I miss?

 

[auntdot]

Vera like you I try to catch it but the hours just don't jibe with my schedule.

Fell asleep and missed about the first 40 minutes of that show, but I do remember them saying that the lychees would have taken them over the budget and so they could not have gone back, paid for them, and used them.

At least that is how I remember it.

Take care.

 

[buckytom]

i caught last night's episode as well. i saw a re-run last week, and now i'm hooked.

i thought the guy said "i think we just got the case of lychees for free."
like you said vb, no one spoke up. anyone could have corrected the error when they heard him say it.
i wanted to smack the smirk off pippi-longstocking's face while the judges were grilling the guy about it. did she intentionally let him keep the lychees so she could use it against him if they lost? is she that cunning? or did she waffle about how to handle the situation, eventually realizing it's strategic value when they lost? i think they both got caught up in wanting to win.

the smarter contestants will learn from this. it's not exactly good sportsmanship, but it's how you win on reality tv shows. first you lose, then you have to attack your teammates. the next show should have the losers beheaded, and stuck on pikes like the mayans used to do. gotta amp up the ratings, ya know.

imo, the lychees weren't the cancer to the team; the booze was. the lychees were just a set back, but they didn't lose because of it. they lost because they didn't stay focused, and the panna cotta sucked, created by ms. longstocking and the cute chick with the accent (i love dark haired women with pettite accents ).



i have walked out of stores only to realize they didn't charge me for something under my cart a few times.
in leaner times, i've let it slide. but i've learned that you forget your tiny windfall very quickly.
on the contrary, when i've returned to the store to pay for it, i've walked away with a good feeling that is worth more than the few bucks i've spent. it's sort of a feeling of banking your karma, the by product being hope. you know you're doing right above and beyond what's immediately reasonable, so it raises your hope that right will be done by you.

 

[ChefJune]

How many times has a cashier missed something in the cart, either because it was under your jacket (accidently)

well, yes, but a WHOLE case of Lychees? That was way too big to have been anyone's mistake! and he knew he shouldn't take it in the first place, so at that point it should have gone back into the store. Returned. (Did he NOT know there was a camera recording everything he did and said?) Believe me, the "panna cotta chick" will probably be gone in the next episode!

Vera... that was just the 2nd episode. It hasn't gotten really exciting yet!

 

[jkath]

yep, Marissa (mar-eeeeeeeeeeeeee-sah) should've been slammed too. I agree Otto should have gone, as he's a really bad chef, imo. What I don't get is that he floundered in the first show (on both accounts), then did a nice sushi roll on the quickfire on the second (however, chef didn't say if it tasted good, only that it was a nice job of rolling) and then he could barely cut the cabbage for the elimination round. He specifically said "I've got no formal culinary training"....but he's an INSTRUCTOR at a Las Vegas Culinary Institute. How does that work? Looks like he may be out a job soon.

Marissa is a pain. She prides herself on being a great pastry chef. Her pannacotta looked like an adobe brick. I think they should've gotten rid of her, even though Otto ducked out.

I still like Betty. She's adorable.

 

[pdswife]

I shop at safeway all the time... same store... same cashiers. There have been so many times that they've scanned the same item twice, or missed using the coupons that I've handed them that...when they forget to charge me for an item ( it has happened a few times) I let it slide. I feel guilty for awhile but figure it all works out in the end. I don't mention when the double charge me ( I hate causing problems...I don't mention that they only charged me for five cans of cat food instead of six).

 

[Harborwitch]

I'm always the one in line buying the veggie or fruit that no one in the store, including the produce guy (?) can identify. Got a bunch of leeks once for the price of green onions. I will buy all ten packages of boneless skinless chicken breasts labeled "fried clam strips" @ .59 cents a pound. But I would never walk out of a store with a case of food I didn't pay for.

 

[ironchef]

I still can't believe Otto's an instructor. I can imagine all of the students at the Culinary Institute of Las Vegas withdrawing from his class after watching that episode.

JKath, too bad I didn't get picked. I would've rocked the house with the quickfire sushi and the Vietnamese/Korean challenges. For everyone who watches, do you guys find yourself thinking what you would make in each challenge?

 

[carolelaine]

Yes I do, and I can't help but think what it would be like to be on the show. It is probabally nerve racking with all the cameras on your every move, and having to deal with alot of personalities that you could more than likely do without. I couldn't stomach Marissa the tattle tale for my own benefit woman for very long.

 

[VeraBlue]

well, yes, but a WHOLE case of Lychees? That was way too big to have been anyone's mistake! and he knew he shouldn't take it in the first place, so at that point it should have gone back into the store. Returned. (Did he NOT know there was a camera recording everything he did and said?) Believe me, the "panna cotta chick" will probably be gone in the next episode!

Vera... that was just the 2nd episode. It hasn't gotten really exciting yet!

Thanks, I missed the first 20 minutes or so, so I wasn't really sure what the whole shopping expedition was like.