Say it ain't so

According to Yahoo! news gossip Kate Gosselin is going to return to TV. This time it's in the co-host seat.

Kate coming to "The View"
Anyone with half a brain could have seen this one coming from a mile away. Kate Gosselin, formerly of the super group Jon and Kate Plus 8, will sit in as co-host on "The View" for a few times in September. She with the spiky locks will apparently fill in for Elisabeth Hasselbeck while she's on maternity leave. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that devotees of Ms. G will want to tune in on Sept. 14 and 15 to watch their favorite supermom mix it up with Whoopi and company. And from the looks of Search, many are already programming their TiVos.

What the heck?! First off, I don't watch The View, so I guess it's not a big deal. At least she's not co-hosting an important show that I actually enjoy. But Kate Gosselin, really? The only thing that would get me to tune in to those episodes would be if all the hosts cut their hair to look like Kate's not-at-all-flattering do. That would be a site to see indeed. The whole Jon & Kate thing has REALLY gone to far. Anyone interested in that storyline is sick, just sick.

In search of a perfect burger

In this episode of "In search of a perfect burger" we headed to Ocean Beach's own Hodad's. The sign boasts "World's Best" so my expectations were high. Speaking of "world's best," I have often wondered how restaurants get that title. It seems like just about every town and every other street corner boasts a "world's best" of something. I'm just saying.

I had lunch with two friends of mine. None of us had been to Hodad's before. Typically while passing the restaurant I'm always amazed at the line; it typically snakes down to the street corner about 30 people deep. Two of us were fashionably late to lunch and the third in our party had already snagged a table inside, so the line was bypassed. Sweet way to start lunch.

The lunch special was any kind of burger/sandwich with cheese, fries and either an ice tea or lemonade. All three of us went for the special as it only set us back $7.75 each. Here's what it looked like:



The french fries were awesome. Jo-Jo-style potatoes perfectly crisp on the outside. Little slices of heaven. My first bite into the burger my taste buds were saying, "wow, this really is a great burger." Each of us ordered our burger differently. One with just no onions, another with only pickles, plus more pickles and mine with no onion, no mayo.

A few bites into my meal I was thinking, yes, this is a good burger, but the patty isn't all that thick and most of the moisture is coming from the tomato, pickles and other condiments rather than the meat itself. Yes, it was a satisfying, tasty lunch, but I wouldn't go so far as to claim it to be the "best burger in the world." My co-lunchers kind of nodded in agreeance when I voiced my opinion. We were not asked how we wanted our burgers cooked, so either they're all cooked medium-well or it's just known that you need to ask for something different.

The overall atmosphere of the place was great. There was good music playing that was loud, but not overly annoying. I was wrapped up in the company of my lunchmates most of the meal so didn't notice the clever license plates adorning the walls. Near our table a Montana plate read "PCP" and a California plate read "Pull my (finger)," which really started out as a full open hand but everything but the index finger was painted over. Funny stuff.

Final result: good burger, but not nearly the perfect burger. Still in search of....

Project Runway returns

Boy, oh, boy have I missed Heidi and her auf wiedersehen, but she has returned at last along with the rest of the Project Runway crew.

Lifetime had a BUNCH of Project Runway stuff lined up on Thursday and somehow I didn't end up recording the actual episode. But thanks to the wonder of reruns was able to record it last night and watch it today (I also found out that you can watch it OnDemand on Cox).

Not only did the show move to Lifetime this season, but it packed up and headed west to Los Angeles. The contestants settle into their apartments and there really isn't any one person that stands out to me personality wise. Of course, as is custom on Project Runway shows the contestants have a roof-top toast with Heidi and Tim to kick things off.

The first challenge was to design an innovative red carpet look. Sounded simple enough. It could be Emmys, Oscars, MTV, Kid's Choice, whatever.

We had our first breakdown before the first challenge day was even over. Johnny the recovering meth addict started babbling about how he doesn't know who he is or what he's doing there and doesn't want to fail. Well, I'm sure nobody there wants to fail Johnny, so suck it up and "make it work."

Other than Johnny drama (haha, get the Entourage reference?) the first challenge moved along quietly. I think at this point there are SO many designers that you don't get to see a lot of the garments and it's hard for me to make keen observations.

The guest judge for the fist challenge is Lindsey Lohan. Ummm, ew. I laughed when Heidi introduced her as actress, singer and clothing designer. Uh, she designs a line of leggings. Does that really count as being a clothing designer? And singer, really? Heidi, you're too nice.

On the runway Shirin designed a silver dress with some kind of hood/cape that could be released into a small train. Mmmmm, not so much. Ari's design didn't look like any kind of red carpet dress and actually resembled one of those big puffy quilted jackets you wear when it's like 20 below. Ra’mon had my favorite design even though it really wasn't all that great and he played it pretty safe. I think Qristyl designed a dress that would have been worn by Cha-Cha Diva at the Latin daytime Emmy awards.

In the end it was Christopher’s video-music awards show dress that was in. Despite her description that her dress was for an awards show in "like 2080", Ari and her silver, shiny puffy dress/jacket/quilt got aufed.

Top Chef Sin City

Top Chef Las Vegas looks promising for twists and turns and might actually live up to "biggest season yet" claims. Photo courtesy of Vegas Chatter.com

I have enjoyed watching Top Chef Masters over the past two months, but I am ready for the drama that comes along with the regular Top Chef and being that this season is in Vegas I'm sure drama will abound.

Within the first few minutes of introductions there are already some chefs that are standing out. First we have the Frenchie Mattin Noblia who is dressed more like he's headed for the street of Pamplona rather than the Vegas Strip (which is quickly mentioned by another of his housemates). I feel Mattin will bring some entertainment, but nothing compared to Euro duo Fabio and Stefan from last season.

Even in the first brief moments of the show I can tell that Michael Isabella is going to annoy me to no end. He's quiet frankly a jerk and extremely arrogant. Let’s see if his cooking can keep up with his mouth.

Then we have the brother duo Michael and Bryan Voltaggio. By far these two are the best eye candy on the show. The brothers live on opposite sides of the country and haven't lived together for more than 10 years. I can foresee some words and maybe even some food flying between these two. The first Quickfire Challenge dove right into the preparation relay. Teams of four had to shuck oysters, clean shrimp, clean lobster and prepare a rack of beef. To assign teams contestants drew different colored poker chips. Robin drew the lucky gold chip which won her immunity on the Elimination Challenge. After the blue team won the relay they had to face off against each other in a cook-off worth $15,000. Jen comes out victorious with her clam civiche.

The first Elimination Challenge was interesting. Each contestant had to cook a dish that represented their biggest vice, since they were, after all, in Sin City. It looks like there are a lot of alcoholic chefs on the show because the most popular vice seemed to be alcohol. The chefs would cook at CUT at the Palazzo with head chef Wulfgang Puck being the guest judge.

Laurine became my favorite contestant during this challege when she decided to cook bacon donuts with a Belgian beer sauce. Ummm, yummmmmm! Unfortunately, Wulfgang did not share my sentiments as he threw one of the tasty sounding spheres across the room saying it was more like a golf ball. Nice try Laurine, I still appreciate the idea. And because the judges did at least like her beer sauce, I have been inspired to bring donuts and beer to my morning softball gathering this weekend as treats.

Michael V. had the funniest vice of everyone: Plastic surgery. He cooked a rack of lamb and used some fresh coconuts.

All cooking aside I have to comment on Padma's outfit. Girl felt the need to bust out the shiny Vegas sequins and ended up looking like a majorette. Not a good look.

Anyway, who took the cake this week? Kevin with his procrastination vice and slow cooked arctic char. It was Jennifer with her hot temper and brick of chile rellenos who was sent packing. Can't wait for the rest of this season.