And now, the Iron Chefness.

[pearwaldorf]

This is my life. I came straight home from work and turned on Iron Chef. You may now officially call me sad (also because I have my RPG journal in the background, but anyways).

The first battle was civilized, and excellent. The challenger won, Sakai was a gracious loser, and the dishes were creative and original. Everything Iron Chef should be.

The second battle, on the other hand, was pretty much informed by everything that I hate about American celebrity. Whiny losers, uncouth behavior, loud annoying fans, and the nice people losing. And the fact that Bobby Flay should have lost so hard he'll never be able to cook again, and will thus remove his annoying presence from the Food Network forever and let Ming Tsai (who is terribly underrated, even though he exhibits scary whiteness half the time ^.^) have his time slots. For God's sake, everybody was sniping at him, from the announcers to the judges to Mirimoto to Kaga. And honestly, the way he utilized that lobster was just tragic and terribly unoriginal. Ooooh. Spicy lobster. Lobster and beef. Deep-fried lobster. Mirimoto, on the other hand, was awesome. He even imposed a ban on soy sauce so he'd challenge himself with new techniques and ingredients. And he stuck lobsters in sake. That's cool. ^.^

Another clear difference in Flay's and Mirimoto's demeanors are also reflected in their fans. Flay's fans are well, they're a bunch of fucking stupid Americans. I don't know if they flew over from the U.S. or if he has fans on the base in Okinawa, but there were a damn lot of them in Japan. And they were annoying as hell. They were loud and dumb and just generally not pleasant to watch. And Flay's girlfriend seriously needs a style consultant, coz she looks like a rich hoochie. </cattiness>

Mirimoto had the cutest fan. He was this eight year old American boy who saw him when Flay and Mirimoto squared off in New York. He was wearing a hat M gave him after the battle he won. If there was any justice in the culinary world, M should have won just so this child's face could light up in happiness. But noooo, Bobby Flay was probably a total prima donna and they gave him the victory to placate him, despite the fact that nobody wanted him to win. Grar. The judge from the American Embassy gave Flay 20 and Mirimoto 14, despite the fact that he raved about the food. Everybody knows who the real winner was, and that's what counts. *sniffs disdainfully*

Comments

[beccas.livejournal.com]

"Mirimoto had the cutest fan. He was this eight year old American boy who saw him when Flay and Mirimoto squared off in New York. He was wearing a hat M gave him after the battle he won."

Oh, I think I've seen that episode! What you just mentioned is the only thing I remembered from it... ;)

And if you think you're sad, you should see what my family watches. It's a mix of Iron Chef, Battlebots (or whatever the heck it's called), Trading Spaces, and anything on the Gameshow Network.

Becca

[nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com]

I've eaten at Mesa Grill and it was horrible. Southwestern cuisine is a bastard cuisine to begin with, but Flay's recipies are beyond the pale. I'm sure every one of them ends with "and then put out on the sidewalk to be stepped on for five hours."

Flay, during the first match, where he was rightfully spanked, also complained that he had been cheated due to an electrical problem. Meanwhile, on another episode, a challenger chef sliced her hand wide open and the only thing she did was stoically bind the wound in electrical tape and soldier on. Now that's cooking!

I also remember Gordon Elliot "hosting" the first show, including leading chants and asking stupid questions. Luckily, they kept cutting away from him and the host and commentator kept wondering aloud why he as being so obnoxious.

I was also very disappointed in the result of the 2nd contest; I think M took too big a chance with his soy sauce ban, especially with Kishi as a judge. She hates that fancy neo-Japanese shit. I was thrilled to see Akebono as a judge though!

Re:

[sonatine.livejournal.com]

I can't stand most seafood in general, but Mirimoto's dishes looked at least interesting enough to try. It was a really big chance he took with the soy sauce ban, and I think it worked out pretty well, Kishi and general nature of the contest being rigged notwithstanding. I was also pleased to see Akebono judging, although it really annoyed me they tried to make him come out in favor of one or the other. I think he was just happy at being able to eat all that good food (well, Flay's food looked like it would be passable at least).