She did. I would have done a cassoulet style dish, still has sausage and beans, but adds a lot of wonderful flavors.

Good idea!

I was amazed at how awful most of the dishes seemed to be (and I am a complete peasant who will happily eat mac and cheese and fish sticks and meatloaf and chicken a la king OMG YUM). Not to mention Tom's expression of complete disappoinment through most of it.

I'm liking CJ, even though that tuna casserole thing was just bizarre. I think Micah deserved to go -- she's all over the place, and one more word about missing her baby and I was going to barf.

Also? I had no idea lobster was high in cholesterol.

I was amazed at how awful most of the dishes seemed to be (and I am a complete peasant who will happily eat mac and cheese and fish sticks and meatloaf and chicken a la king OMG YUM). Not to mention Tom's expression of complete disappoinment through most of it.

the thing is, that those dishes can be good, they did not look well done.

I'm liking CJ, even though that tuna casserole thing was just bizarre.

Ah, see, here I think he got tripped up a bit by the artifical constraints of the show. His sauce broke, which is a fairly normal occurrence, and the options which he'd normally have at that point -- add butter or just bloody start over -- were unavailable to him. He made the best of it that he could, and didn't make any excuses at the judging table. So my gargantuan homeboy from the OC gets a pass from me on this one.

As to Micah ... sigh. TWOP has links up now to her yearbook pictures. So it's starting to look like she is something of a poser, Ah, well. There you go.

Well, I really didn't care that Micah was a poser -- if she had cooked well, you know? But she is a poser and a whiner so - - not too upset that she's gone.

I like CJ and hope that he goes far. One bad challenge isn't enough -- particularly when his attitude is so good.

ION, Bravo has a "where are they now" segment on their website and Perilla gets another good review.

As to Micah ... sigh. TWOP has links up now to her yearbook pictures. So it's starting to look like she is something of a poser, Ah, well. There you go.

Her accent has always seemed kind of wobbly to me. Although that could honestly be a product of having lived in different areas of the world at different times. The whole "Americans like ketchup" thing wa snotty, though.

those dishes can be good, they did not look well done.

Oh, definitely. They looked ... congealed. And possibly the product of cafeteria cooking, not the made-with-love-and-family-secrets versions you get at home.

His sauce broke, which is a fairly normal occurrence, and the options which he'd normally have at that point -- add butter or just bloody start over -- were unavailable to him.

That was the one thing I didn't get. What does it mean that the sauce "broke"?

Also, was it baked? Anything called a casserole I kind of expect to do some time in the oven before serving.

Micah was annoying the crap out of me with her all-over-the-place-ness and her hair-brained pseudo-hippiness. Plus, like Amy, if I heard her whine about being away from her daughter one more time, I was going to barf.

I was very proud of Howie last night, and glad to see him finally come through. It was pretty clear the boy could be a good chef, he was just getting tripped up by the time constraints.

And I agree with victor that CJ is a strong competitor, despite last night, and has a pretty decent shot at winning. I also agree with him that, despite his initial loss in the first episode, Brian is starting to look lik he has a strong shot at winning.

I was very amused that, despite his immunity, Brian got called on the carpet for using lobster, then dismissed him.

What does it mean that the sauce "broke"?

White sauces are made with butter, flour and milk (in general). You have to be very careful to get them to blend without getting lumpy and it's done at a very low temperature relatively speaking. If a sauce remains on the heat too long, or at too high a temperature, it will revert to its original components and you end up with lumps of flour swimming around in butter. That's broken.

As to Micah ... sigh. TWOP has links up now to her yearbook pictures. So it's starting to look like she is something of a poser, Ah, well. There you go.

I disagree. I think that it is very possible to still identify with your original nationality and have lived elsewhere for several years. Also, it is likely that she never ran into meatloaf, where would she have eaten it? She may have heard of it, but it is only in the last few years that it's been on menus.

I was very amused that, despite his immunity, Brian got called on the carpet for using lobster, then dismissed him.

LOVED this.

I was very amused that, despite his immunity, Brian got called on the carpet for using lobster, then dismissed him.

Boy, that was a poorly constructed sentence, though.

But you knew what I meant.

I have to agree with Vortex. Just because she spent a few years living in the US while in MS/HS doesn't necessarily mean that she should be familiar with US comfort food. My husband's idea of home-cooking is still cazuela or lentejas. And if he wants comfort food, he's much more likely to go to the Chilean owned pizza place all the way over on the west side to get some empanadas than to go to the diner on the corner to eat meatloaf even though we've lived in the US for five years now.