Also, I hate to jump off the Radhika boat, but I think her clock is ticking. She needs to branch out with something unexpected and fabulous or Tom’s going to give her a stern talking to, I imagine. But then again, Ilan did go all the way with his one-trick saffron pony. Then again, nobody in this season seems that strong in the kitchen, so maybe she’ll end up in the final four…

Didn’t catch the last ep? Can’t wait to hear your feedback on that one…

We DID catch it, but the craziest thing happened– the wireless at Good Stuff was down, so I thought, I’ll just blog it from home, via DVR. Spike had invited me to sit at his table, again, when the place was packed so it didn’t exactly feel like a waste of a trip or anything. I realized he was live-micro-blogging the ep via Twitter, but his usual help wasn’t there, handling the laptop while he manned the blackberry; as a result, he looked a bit distracted/swamped.

I asked “Do you want me to help you?” He looked at me gratefully and said, “That would be wonderful, are you sure you don’t mind? It would be a HUGE help.” Did I mind? Are you kidding? I changed spots and went to the other side of the table, where the Bravo people were and helped him with Twitter for the whole episode.

It’s tough if you’re new to and not used to Twitter; the 140-character limit can be challenging, especially when you want to focus on what’s going on vs continually reword what you’ve said so that it fits. I’ve used Twitter for a while, so I’ve grown accustomed to it. Spike was so kind, he immediately tried to comp my/my friend’s dinner, for my help.

It was really fun to be sitting next to him, hearing him dish about what was real and what wasn’t (as well as what Tom and Padma are really like!). I had a blast, but SM suffered for it. I thought that since these posts don’t get a ton of comments anyway, no one would notice or care. Thank you for making my morning by indicating that someone besides me, Cherian and mutineer Rajiv (who was also at Goodstuff, albeit two tables away!) care about watching and obsessing over Top Chef.

Abacus is overrated in my opinion. The food is not bad but way overpriced. Definitely a Dallas restaurant for the botox and boob job crowd.

I think Radhika is really cute and I wish they’d show more of her. She seems fairly competent but the girl needs to speak up more. Now, I am not much of a cook, but it did seem to me that in an episode where her team “borrowed from her culture”, she was completely sidelined. At the judges’ table all the talk was about the other two contestants on her team (also because one of them kept talking).

I have known quite a few DBD women (myself included) to struggle with this concept of taking credit and being assertive. I wonder if this is a cultural thing where she is not able to speak forcefully for herself. Or just that they keep cutting her out because she is a no-drama personality.