Start!

Last night Ben and I watched the series premiere of 'Next Food Network Star'. I had never watched the show before, but after a week or so of commercials, along with the fact that I am a fan of Guy Fieri's 'Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives' (he was the first winner of the show), I had decided to give it a chance.

Well, it was great. It fulfilled that henceforth unknown void in my life of food and drama ('Iron Chef America' comes close, but the characters aren't as entertaining). 10 contestants arrived on the scene, and I knew instantly who I was going to like (and hate). I won't bother giving a rundown on each person - that would take wayy too long, and most of the people are too nondescript at this point. I need to give them more time to distinguish themselves.
However, thus far, here is my list of people to watch:

Shane: prodigy who is the youngest graduate of the Culinary Institute of America (18). He has some potential, but might be too overemotional. He actually cried while Bobby Flay et al. were criticizing his dish (and not unkindly, I might add).

Lisa: holy crap. This woman obviously has no real friends, or else they would not have let her appear on national television with such a brilliantly orange skin tone. Both Alton Brown and I find her extremely irritating and her culinary "point of view" was quite confusing. Something to do with "fashion food" and her "3 C's". Yawn. Still, she could prove to be one of those people you love to hate. She was at the bottom two at the end of the first episode, so she may not be around long enough to grow on me.

Nepa: She was born in India, but for the first challenge, she made a curried potato dish that was curiously devoid of curry. She also seems astonishingly overconfident, to the point of arrogance (though Bobby Flay called her out on that!). She claimed to not be afraid at all when presenting her dish to a roomful of Food Network stars. Seriously?! I mean, if she wasn't nervous, she's either emotionally dead or just kidding herself.

That's all for now - those are the notables who stuck with me. The best part was watching everyone come in to present their dishes. Everyone (except Nepa, apparently) looked pretty nervous, and with good reason. Just about everyone was there - Sandra Lee (probably good to party with - a bit of a lush - but I wouldn't eat her food), Bobby Flay, Paula Deen, the Neelys, Morimoto, Alton Brown, and 2 other judges. I would have killed to be at that table.
I'd much rather have been seated than be presenting food. I like to think of myself as a fairly decent cook, but I don't do it often enough to where I could think of a recipe off the top of my head and make it within a half hour. "Hi, thanks for having me here. I'd like to present my dish....pepperoni Hotpockets."

Next week they are facing a challenge with Robert Irvine, which to me, would be one SERIOUSLY nerve-wracking challenge. He can be a very frightening man, and he's huge. Ben commented that he wouldn't want to face Robert because he could beat me up. I pointed out that Bobby Flay could probably beat me up, if he so desired (though he seems pretty laid-back and not all about the ass kicking), and that Robert was infinitely more scary.
I'll be following the show throughout the summer, so you'll at least get weekly updates!