Ghost Hunters - Keep it in the Family

The team goes to the 200 year old Red Mill in Clinton, New Jersey. Reports here are the usual footsteps as well as the sound of a typewriter and the apparition of a little girl.

Steve and Tango start in the mill room and have an altercation with a spider. The spider gets on Tango and he tells Steve to get it off him. Did you forget who you are talking to? Steve is afraid of everything (except ghosts)!

J & G go to the 2nd floor and hear the footsteps. Grant tries to make contact with the little girl and tells her it would be funny if she would tug on Jason's pant leg. Across the room, Jason feels a pull on his pant leg! Later, Grant feels the same thing. Looks like the little girl just wants to play.

Nothing was caught on video but one EVP from Grant telling the girl to pull on Jason's pants yields a response of "come on". Jason says the mill has paranormal activity but stops short of calling it haunted.

The next investigation has Tango's dad going along to help. The investigation is at the Proprietary House in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Jersey has a lot of haunted places. They get UFOs too. Ummm....... The Proprietary House is the home of the last Royal Governor of New Jersey which just happens to have been Ben Franklin's son, William. The reports here are, you guessed it, footsteps, voices, a beam of light coming out of the walls and the figure of a little boy is seen playing with a ball.

J & G start in the drawing room telling the spirits it's customary to present one's self when someone enters your home. Right after that, they both hear footsteps and see a shadow. Well, they did say to show yourself! Grant also gets his ear flicked after provoking a spirit. That will teach you, you can't be rude to a ghost!

Kris & Joe to into the room where a man threw his nephew out of the window. When they don't have any luck, Kris suggests they provoke the spirits so she says, "come out you pathetic loser!" It's OK to be rude to a bad ghost.

Tango & Tango dad are in the tea room doing EVP work and dad asks "are you afraid of us?" and they hear a voice.

The team get the footsteps on audio as well as the response to Tango dad's question are you afraid of us, no.

Jason will not declare the property haunted but says there is paranormal activity. Double D

Hell's Kitchen-Battle of the Final Four

Let's do the Single D's analysis of the final four: Petrozza, the only man left standing. His chances are slim. If he were an animal he would be a rather large domestic hog not only in physical resemblance but in habits (although I heard swine are actually very neat, who said that?). His work stations looks like a herd of stampeding pork running amok. Jen the line chef would be executive chef, who is she auditioning for the Devil? Let's see, cold, calculating, heartless, non-team player, yeah, I would want her cooking in my kitchen. Did I mention heartless? I think her cornrows have been twisted too tight making her lose all sense of reality. Hey Jen, there are other cooks in the kitchen! Ok, she does know how to cook, but if she continually alienates people who is she going to cook for? Corey, a perplexing blend of bitchiness and low self esteem, a squishy lanky blond wrapped up in a chef coat straight jacket. She took a quick early lead and then started to second guess herself and offering herself up as a sacrificial lamb. Hey Corey, get a grip, focus, stop waffling and piss off! Do I sound like Gordon Ramsay? Christina, winner of the most challenges. Doe eyed, lispy sounding, how old is she, 7? Recent culinary grad, greatest potential but cries at the drop of a chef hat. I don't think she has the sass to command a kitchen and no one that young should make more money than me! She needs to wipe her nose, pay her dues and then maybe. Best bet to win, Corey. I think Chef Ramsay is trying to show his softer side by telling the chefs that this is the mother of all challenges. They will have one hour to cook up a lunch dish for 80 people. Christina makes an island chicken sandwich, Cory a salmon BLT, Petrozza a Monte Cristo (love those, hey anything deep fried!) and Jen with a grilled grouper. Immediately Corey falls behind and barely manages to get her food out when chef announces the arrival of the guests, 80 pregnant women. Ha ha Chef, mother of all challenges, who writes this stuff? The winner, Christina by two votes over Petrozza and earns her a $1,000 shopping trip to Beverly Hills! Whoo-hoo! Love it, but does Chef have to go? He acts like the doting father over Christina while she tries on outfit after outfit. Ah, Christina, you better start exercising, I can see all that taste testing is going to your hips! When Christina comes back, everyone is jealous and won't give her the time of day as she ask what can she do to get ready for the dinner service. Well, you can take those precious clothes you bought and put them down the garbage disposal! Come on people, grow up and Christina grow a set! Finally, Petrozza and Corey relent and start talking to her, while Jen is still fuming, I shoulda went shopping that girl's not no taste, like you have a figure, I'm thinking stock pot here! During the dinner service, Chef burns his hand not once but twice on pots that Christina gives him, while Jen is secretly enjoying her misery as her horns poke out even further. Corey asks Jen to help out with the eggs which Jen chooses to ignore. Hey JEN, anyone home? I would have taken the largest sauce pan and knocked her over the head with it, someone needs to bash in those horns! Dinner service ends with Chef saying that this was the best service ever, but someone has to be eliminated. Back in the dorm, Corey suggest that they each write two names down, but not the same two names. Read my lips here, not the same two names. When they tally the votes, Jen writes Christina's name twice. Jen's playing by her own rules I guess, either that or she doesn't know how to count. Chef ask which two for elimination-Christina lispiably says, Jen and Corey (there's that sacrificial lamb thing again). Jen because she has no sense of team playing, there is an I in team for Jen and Corey, because she is not living up to what is expected. For one split second, Christina (and I) thought Chef was going to have an Alzheimer moment and get rid of Corey, but he managed to snap back and remember that Jen is the nightmare from Elm street and sent Jen packing. Sorry Jen, if you would have just a little more soul and a lot more heart you might have made it to that top level, instead, you insisted on listening to that devil on your shoulder. Get an attitude adjustment and piss off!-Single D

Top Chef Finale

I have to warn you, this was the most boring finale Top Chef has had to date! No real excitement. With two really good chefs and one sour puss, the only thing to hope for is that Lisa doesn't win. With that said, the chefs have to make a four course tasting menu. They get help from some famous chefs that I don't know. Actually, I did recognise the one with the accent since he has been a guest judge. Our top chefs aren't too sure how to go about working with the pros and Stephanie ends up hovering over her chef and she thinks she is offending him. Richard pulls out some of his gadgets which impresses all of the chefs & Lisa is getting along with her chef which surprises everyone, maybe because her chef is a woman.

Day two and chefs find out they are on their own with no pro-chef help. Lisa says she wants her menu to reflect her personality, big, bold, spicy and sweet. What part of Lisa is sweet?! Big and bold, yes, sweet, NOT! Chef Tom comes in to check on the chefs who don't seem to want to talk to him. All Richard would say is that his menu is abstract. Does that mean we won't be able to tell what it is on the plate? Lisa says she is on track and Stephanie is nervous about her dessert.

The setting for the final meal/judging is beautiful. Crystal chandeliers, fine china, fresh flowers all in a mansion in Puerto Rico. The only thing that would have made it better is if it were all open air. That would make any meal taste better. As the chefs present their courses, Stephanie seems to have won the first course with seared snapper in fois gras topped with salad greens. Lisa takes the second course with her coconut soup with lemon grass. I thought sure (hoping really) that Stephanie would beat Lisa with her lobster ravioli and quail egg but chef Tom had to jump in and ask the judges what they thought about the leeks which did her in.

Third course and Stephanie shines again serving lamb with mushrooms, blackberries, pistachios and olives. That sounds just awful but the judges loved it. Richard, who hasn't even shown up on the radar, comes through with dessert. He made a repeat of his banana scallop with bacon ice cream. Bacon ice cream?! Again, sounds terrible but the judges loved it.

At judges table, Richard tells the judges he choked while Stephanie says her dessert could have been better and, of course, Lisa thinks she did no wrong. The judges tell Stephanie just when they think they have her figured out she surprises them. At this point, I'm on the edge of my sofa thinking that comment could go either way and talking to the TV saying don't pick Lisa, PLEASE don't pick Lisa! The judges crown Stephanie Top Chef and I jumped up cheering like I was at a football game! Thank goodness! I was so afraid that Lisa was going to somehow pull it off again. Apparently Lisa thought so to because the look on her face would turn the judges hair white. Get over your bad attitude self Lisa! Congrats, snaps and kudos to Stephanie! Double D

Tila Tequila-Shot at Love # 2-Cancun

Cancun, final three dates, Bo pouting cause he can't go jet skiing, Kristi pouting cause she doesn't like horseback riding, Bo happy after spending the night with Tila, Kristi and Brittany pouting, Kristi happy after spending the night with Tila, Bo and Brittany pouting, Brittany happy after spending the night with Tila, (isn't Tila exhausted by now?), Bo pouting, Kristi vexed, Brittany eliminated, Bo happy, Kristi happy, Single D vexed!-Single D

The Bachelorette-Mid Season Check Up and the Final Four

The first hour was devoted to DeAnna batting her eyelashes (maybe she has dry eye?) and telling Chris Hanson that she really doesn't want to keep guys around that she has no feelings for, like the chef Robert, (I would have kept him around so he could cook for me), Fred, (I would have kept him around because he would have been nice to me) and Brian, (I would have kept him around because he's eye candy, yummy!). I did like the two second bios on the remaining bachelors. My favorite was Sean, who knew that dude's high maintenance! What can I say, the guy's got a tanning booth and sauna in his home and as he says, the darker the thinner (isn't that the darker the deader-skin cancer?) He did score points being a mama's boy and lives one street over from her, which could be a good thing or a nightmare, depending on how mommie dearest she is. I thought it was funny when Ron (eliminated barber, er, hair stylest) gave Sean a hair make over. Looked good but what about Jesse's hair? Next it was Jason, who is a golfer, which never sits well with me. One of my old boss used to say, golfing is for guys that can't have sex! Jason claims he's a risk taker, how much of a risk taker can you be if you play golf? Jeremy on the other hand, loves taking risk in sky diving, bungee plunging, and fast motorcycles. I think he just has the need to show off how macho he is, not! He seems like he would be a control freak, careful DeAnna! Next it was Graham, does he remind you of a mechanic? Shouldn't he be looking under the hood of some car or something?

It's off to Palm Springs for the remaining 6 bachelors and Sean gets the first single date, a ride up the PS tram for a romantic dinner at the top. More like a frigid dinner, but it looked like DeAnna was warming up to mama's boy, Sean and she invited him to her room for dessert, no just dessert! The next day it's helicopter rides out to the desert for some ATV action. Self professed idiot Twilly got to ride with DeAnna alone in the copter, a perfect chance to get some alone time, if not for the fact the Twilly got motion sickness and DeAnna was just grateful that he didn't puke all over her. After riding in the desert and getting all dusty, it's back to the Palmer Resort for a dip in the pool. Jesse gets alone time with DeAnna and she really wants him to kiss her as she leans forward, her lips leading the way, but Jesse is oblivious. Yak, yak, yak. He's talking but what is he saying? Unfortunately he misses out of closing the deal when Graham snatches her away, which was surprising since he really hasn't made a move on his own. Did you noticed in the hammock how starry eyed DeAnna was gazing up at Graham, but Graham wasn't really looking in her direction making eye contact? His body language is just tense, could he be in the closet?

The following night it's a date with Jeremy. She picks him up in a vintage convertible about the size of a small Carnival Cruise ship, how do you park a thing like that? It's dinner at Frank Sinatra's old house. It's just what I would have imagined his house would look like, so fifties, but a bit bizarre. Having dinner at a house that is practically a museum piece was very strange. I think the whole date just looked so awkward, right down to the karaoke singing (I can hear the dogs howling) to taking a dip in the pool. Why does every date end with a dip in the pool? I wouldn't want to mess my hair and makeup, of course if I don't have any make-up on I look like Madame Mao grandmother-ouch!

Back to the mansion and it's back to reality, when the guys show up, Chris announces that there will be no cocktail party tonight, DeAnna has made up her mind. And when she makes up her mind, it's no party. So it's down to the business of getting rid of the two that she doesn't want, Twilly and Sean. Well no surprise there with Twilly, but Sean? I think she should have given him a chance, but then again, like she said, if she's not attracted to him, then it's off with ya. -Single D

Mid season check up. Translates into, we didn't enough footage and we are booked for another week so we will do a recap and sell it as a tell all by DeAnna. Oh no it wasn't! The only thing she told was that Ryan never told her he was a virgin. Like that would have made a difference, she may have gotten rid of him even sooner! And I still think she WAY over reacted at the BBQ. Come on girl, it was supposed to be a party. She really expected these guys to pour their hearts out at a function that was meant to be a kick back and relax time. Granted, I was surprised no one took advantage (Jeremy) but for her to react like that leads me to believe DeAnna may be a bit high maintenance and not the little sweetheart we think she is.

We get to see Ryan & Trista at home with their adorable baby, Max. Even Trista thinks Graham is hot. Will somebody please tell me what it is with this guy? He always looks like he is trying to grow a beard but it never gets any thicker. Surprises all around as we find out that Twilly is an artist and Sean is high maintenance. He puts more stuff on his face and hair than I do! However, he does like the finer things. Hey, as long as he has the money, great!

The group goes to Palm Springs for a week and Sean gets the first one on one date. They go on the tram to the top of the mountain. I've been on that tram and it rotates as it goes up the mountain so you get a view from all angles. They had dinner at the top and Sean starts talking and talking and talking. DeAnna didn't seem to mind since she invited him for dessert. After dessert they hit the hammock (she has a thing for hammocks) and Sean makes his move to kiss DeAnna. Looks like Sean will be sticking around after all.

The group date includes everyone but Jeremy. A helicopter comes to pick up the group and DeAnna says sorry but the helicopter is for her and Twilly much to his delight. Poor Twilly, he finally gets a chance to be alone with DeAnna and everything goes wrong. First he can't get the door to the helicopter open, then he gets motion sickness, then he can't get the door open when they land. I actually felt sorry for the guy. The only way it could have been worse is if he had actually puked on DeAnna!

The group go out to the open desert to ride ATVs. Jesse was showing off doing wheelies and falls off and Twilly, still cursed, couldn't get his ATV to start when it was time to go back. At the resort, they have a pool party and DeAnna quizzes Jason about how it would be to go on a hometown date with him. Jesse takes DeAnna away where she tells him she thought he was hot on the ATV. OK Jesse that's your cue! DeAnna was hoping he would kiss her and even moved in a little closer but Jesse was totally oblivious. Men! I swear you have to take the reins on some of them! Graham steps in and sweeps DeAnna off to, you guessed it, the hammock. Graham was talking and staring off into space, did he even know DeAnna was there? It's all about Graham honey. There's a reason he has never had a serious relationship.

Jeremy's one on one date is dinner at Frank Sinatra's house. Were they allowed to touch anything in the house? They went into the studio, put on a record and tried to sing. I really could have done without hearing that. I guess the editors had some time to fill in because they were both awful singers! Dancing pool side was romantic. I'm starting to get jealous! After dinner they get in Ol' Blue Eye's pool but there wasn't any swimming going on.

DeAnna decides to chuck the cocktail party since she already knows what, or who, she wants. She sends home Twilly and Sean. I was surprised she kept Jesse since he seems to have developed cold feet of late. I think she should have kept Sean. He came out kind of full of himself but ended up as a nice guy. Next week, home town dates! Double D

Ghost Hunters - Duped

The first investigation is in Cape Cod, MA. This is one place that is on my bucket list, it looks so quaint and the shopping potential....... The Colonial House Inn which was built in 1730 is the site of doors slamming, babies crying, apparitions working in the garden and shadows. The carriage house was the scene of a suicide and now people hear a man crying here.

J & G start in the widow's watch of the carriage house. Jason starts feeling cold while Grant stays toasty, so they change places and Grant gets cold while Jason warms up. Tango & Kris debunk the shadow in room 102 saying that passing cars are casting the shadows.

Room 208 is a room that can't be rented because people get such a creepy feeling that they request to change rooms. J & G found the ceiling fan medium speed was broken giving off a hum which gives people the sensation of being watched. To prove the point, they send Kris in while the fan was off and again with the fan in the broken position. She didn't have any problem while the fan was off but with the fan "on" she started getting that creepy feeling.

Nothing was caught on audio or video and Jason tells the owner there is not enough evidence to declare the Inn haunted.

Moss Beach Distillery in Moss Beach CA is the next investigation. The distillery is the supposed home of an apparition the owner call the blue lady. Reports are that the blue lady plays with the light fixtures in the bar, people hear her laugh in the ladies room and glasses clinking and voices are heard.

J & G go into the ladies room and immediately hear laughter. They find a sensor on the door which triggers a speaker in the ceiling. They also find a mirror with a film over. When they pull off the mirror they find a mask of a woman's face behind the mirror. It's beginning to look like the place is rigged like a fun house.

In the hallway of the basement, J & G find another speaker set up int he ceiling tiles. Suspecting the set up, they go to the bar to check out the light fixtures. Grant goes into the ceiling and finds timers attached to moveable arms which makes the lights move.

J & G are understandably upset for getting played and want to confront the owner. They meet with the manager and stay cool asking why didn't he tell them about the fake stuff. The manager claims it slipped his mind. I'm not buying that. If it slipped his mind, why would he tell the team about the lights moving and the laughter in the ladies room? Jason tells the manager they didn't get any evidence and says the distillery is not haunted. Sorry this happened to you guys, hopefully the next case will be a real one! Double D

The Next Food Network Star

As in the previous blog on the Next Design Star, I can't resist a good cooking show. I am coming in the third episode of this food competition to find that surprise, surprise, Martha Stewart is going to be on it. Love, love, love her! I've been a Martha fan way before she even went to jail. Only Martha could leave jail and still be on top of her game smelling like french perfume and pork roast. Bobby Flay gives the chefs a very Iron Chefseque task-your mysterious ingredient-the russet PoTaTo! Make a dish representing your culinary point of view and give a one minute TV presentation, definitely not for the camera shy. I love this kind of challenge, it's so food network stuff. I think Aaron's potato wrapped bacon thing looked so scrumptious I just wanted to sleep with it and apparently the judges thought so as well, as Bobby said he would put that on his menu. Now that's high praise. And Adam's bacon cheese fries, need I say more?-ok I'm getting hungry! Jeffery looked like a deer caught in the headlights when he went on to his presentation. I thought he was going to be totally prepared, he was writing a book in the green room. Lisa was all confidence before she went on, but when she went on, she must have misunderstood the directions (what's there to misunderstand?) and she used only 15 seconds of her time explaining her dish and point of view, something to this effect, "This is my dish and I made it, " with the other 45 seconds standing in stone silence as she stared at the judges (they stared back) with the TV camera rolling-can you say-awkward! And hey what's up with her makeup and hair style? Does she have a father named Ghepetto and a brother named Pinocchio? She has a very marionette look about her (where's her strings?) and would be perfect if she were auditioning for ringmaster for Cirque de Soliel.

The next challenge is to make a product for branding and packing. What's up with Nipa and her sugar and cayenne powder for peanuts? She kept saying that the portions is what makes it special, wooooo! It's two ingredients. Hey Nipa, it's not rocket science. And there's Kelsey-ok maybe she's a little young and not experienced any hardship, has not known the brutal cruel world, where you had to work and scrape your fingers to the bone. Maybe she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and had everything handed to her on a silver platter, can you tell I'm jealous of her sunny disposition? Can anyone be that happy? Even when she cries she still looks happy! The surprise judge was as I said Martha Stewart, love, love, love her! She sampled everyone's dish, liked Aaron's vinaigrette dressing the best, although he kept whining that it would have been better with cayenne pepper in it. Hey blame Nipa for buying out all the cayenne. Martha kinda of looked down her nose at Kelsey's saucy sloppy joes, which Martha says she doesn't eat much of that kind of food, probably reminds her too much of her prison days! ha! I wanted to cringe when Adam started singing to Martha, hey Adam, stick to cooking the bacon cheese fries! In the end, it's so long Jeffery he needed to put a little more soul or spice into his cooking and definitely lacked TV charisma. -Single D

The Next Design Star

There are two things that I love, love, love. All things cooking and all things interior design and that is why I watch Top Chef (which Double D blogs on), Hell's Kitchen (cause I think Gordon Ramsay is cute in a piss off kinda way) and now the Next Design Star and the Next Cooking Star. I love the Next Design Star/Next Food Star, because I am an HGTV junkie and Food Network junkie. Or as my husband would say, just a reality show junkie and that is why I am here and you are reading this. My absolute favorite designer is Divine Design star Candace Olsen. Her designs are truly amazing and no one can hold a taffeta curtain next to her. So with this show it's interesting to see if any up and coming designer can become the next Candace Olsen, seriously doubt this. Last season's winner, Kim Myles and her show Myles of Style is lacking style for me and what's his name, David Bromstad (I cheated, I had to look it up) also doesn't flip my ottoman. This season's lineup started with a limo ride to the Nashville countryside where the they are dropped off by a pile of suspicious looking lumber and toolboxes. Doesn't look good. Each one speculates that they might have to build their own living quarters, eeks! Designing and building a house, that would be a first, what is this Extreme Home Make Over?

Clive Pearse tells them that they will have $100,000 and 7 days to build a space where they will live. Tall order. He leaves the designers in a quandary as they scramble to decide how to do this when Clive comes back-ok punk'd, just kidding he tells them as they board a boat that takes them across the river to their house. Once inside they are shown rooms, dining room, living room, sun room and 2 bedrooms. Their mission, to divide up the space and design their living quarters. The house is really amazing, a stately mansion with old architecture. The designers divide themselves up into groups of two to four with only Scottie choosing to do one of the bedrooms by himself. What was he thinking? That could either be genius or disaster, in this case disaster. Doing a room by yourself, you have no one to blame things on if the room goes totally wrong. Who will you throw under the bus, point the finger at and tell the judges it was his idea, huh? huh? This decision eventually became his undoing and as Clive says, his show was cancelled. Vern Yip, the judge, was really harsh on him saying that his design, so seventies, was all wrong right down to the color choice (burnt orange) to the beds laying end to end, who wants to smell stinky feet? The best design was the other bedroom designed by carpenters Matt and Mickey V. with their unique 4 beds/loft bed design. Well, duh they are carpenters and know wood. I thought the living room was a beautiful room with dark blue grey walls and the silver insets in the bookcase. I wasn't too crazy about the dining room with it's beautiful fireplace mantel distressed brown or as judge Martha McCulley said, you turned the wood table white and the white fireplace brown, one word in my book, why? In the end, I guess the judges thought getting rid of the one that worked alone was the choice, so it's cut for Scottie, Mr. Bowtie, you look like you should be teaching a college course not designing rooms.-Single D