Ghost Hunters - New Hampshire

The commercials promised this last episode of the season to be the scariest, so I was really looking forward to it. The TAPS team goes to New Castle, New Hampshire and the Portsmouth Harbor. The light house, keeper's quarters and Fort Constitution will encompass this investigation. The fort was built in 1808 and there are reports of footsteps and voices heard. The keeper's quarters, built in 1872 is the site of apparitions, noises and footsteps. The light house is a working light house and people have reported hearing voices and seeing apparitions.

J & G are first in the light house and start communicating with the "captain" who is often seen there. They ask the captain to make a noise and he obliges. Just to make sure it wasn't coincidence, they ask a second and third time for him to make a noise and they are rewarded each time with a knock. Excited that there is good activity, J & G send in Kris and Amy to see of they experience the same things. Amy asks the captain to knock for them and he repeats the knock in the same pattern. Kris asks the captain to come up to them (they are at the top of the light house) and immediately hear footsteps on the stairs. The girls continue to hear the footsteps & knocking which is clearly heard on the TV.

J & G go to the fort and a shadowy figure and hear a male voice. They then go to the keeper's quarters and get a door slammed shut as soon as they walk in. When they hear a woman laugh, Jason tries to communicate by knocking and gets responses on the K2 meter.

The team catches the knocking and the laugh on audio. There were a lot of personal experiences but Jason would like to investigate further before calling the place haunted. Well, it wasn't the scariest episode like the commericial promised but it wasn't bad either. Stay tuned for Ghost Hunters International starting in January. Can't wait! Double D

Top Chef - 12 days of Christmas

This episode starts with Fabio & Stefan crying in their beer wondering what happened to them in the last episode because they are SO great, they couldn't possibly be on the bottom. Today is another day and another quick fire which is to make a holiday meal that can be made in one pot to be judged by the cooking diva herself, Martha Stewart. They have 45 minutes to make this one pot wonder so I was paying close attention. If something can be made in 45 minutes in one pot, that's for me!

Some of the dishes were Paella from Hosea (gee that rhymes), meatballs with mashed potato and pork loin with cabbage so I got a few ideas. Martha didn't like Fabio's polenta which Fabio couldn't believe and thought Martha was crazy. It was Ariane with another win when she made filet with cauliflower puree'. Talk about a come back, this girl is on a roll!

The elimination challenge is to make a dish based on the 12 days of Christmas to be judged at an AIDS fundraiser. What do you cook for 9 ladies dancing? The cheftestants (yes there is it again) prep their meals but the next day it was discovered that someone had left the fridge door open and Hosea & Radhika's dishes were spoiled. The other chefs pitched in and helped them both to make alternate dishes. Now there's team spirit! Stefan had the drummers so he made pot pie, OK. Fabio had the ladies dancing and made a "dancing" crab cake. Maybe he put in some Mexican jumping beans? Jeff with lords a leaping came up with potato risotto with pork and brussel sprouts. I guess the brussel sprouts with have you leaping the to the wash room. Ariane who has been on such a come back, makes deviled eggs which did not impress the judges and earned her a spot on the bottom. Hosea wins with his pork loin & chipotle mashed potatoes.

As the chefs are wondering who will be packing their knives, Chef Tom comes in and announces that everyones food pretty much sucked but since everyone banded together to help Hosea and Radhika, no one is getting sent home. So now it's off for some egg nog! Happy Holidays! Double D

Top Chef - Gail's Bridal Shower

We start out at the house where it's pretty clear Stefan has the hots for Jamie even though he knows she's gay. I guess he thinks he's so good that he can change her! Good luck with that Stefan.

It's the quick fire taste test with teams of 2 playing name that ingredient by bidding how many ingredients they can identify in a dish. Stefan goes in with his cocky self and gets all the way to the final round with Carla & Hosea. The final taste test is Mexican Mole' which Stefan clearly doesn't like. After Carla misses an ingredient it's down to an exciting finish in which Hosea & Stefan try out bidding each other. Hosea edges out sassy Stefan for the win. Go Hosea!

Here comes the bride for the elimination challenge. Gail is one brave woman to trust her bridal shower to the cheftestants, yes, that's right, cheftestants, kind of catchy you think? Gail arrived looking positively radiant. Even Padma couldn't outshine her this day. The challenge is to make dishes based on the poem Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. The cheftestants break up into teams with the "new" team going for a surf & turf sushi but Gene over cooks the rice and it comes out too sticky. So rather than making a new batch, he tries to make it work by adding chili pepper and calling it chili pepper sticky rice.

Chef Tom comes into the kitchen where he tells the chefs that since it's a girl thing, he has been banished to the kitchen and will do his tasting there. The "blue" team does a seafood theme, ocean, blue, get it? The "borrowed" team borrows from Radhika's Indian culture and makes lamb with French and Indian spices. The "old" team decides on an heirloom tomato theme and Jeff makes a tomato sorbet while Stefan keeps telling him it won't be good. Much to Stefan's displeasure, the judges say it was the one thing that made their dish. However, it was Ariane's lamb that wins her the challenge. I'm so jealous of her prize, she won a complete set of Calphalon cook ware as well as the new Calphalon electric ware.

It was the "new" team on the chopping block. Gene failed to tell the women that it was a build it yourself sushi and a lot of the women were wondering what the nori was for. Come on, they look like a bright bunch, I would have thought they would figure it out. Anyway, Danny's part of the dish which was a yuzu ginger granita, didn't sit too well with the judges. Danny stood by his dish and wouldn't budge even after the judges were hinting that if he would say, yeah your right maybe I could have done this or that, he might have been spared. But no, being stubborn earned Danny a pack your knives and go. Double D

Top Chef - Live on Today

The quick fire challenge is to make a one bite breakfast. One bite?! Bring on the bacon, bring on the eggs! One bite doesn't cut it with me, especially for breakfast. But this is not about me, so I'll continue. There were some interesting combinations like Fabio's bruleed banana and brioche (what's brioche? It looked like egg nog), Danny's cornflake crusted zucchini blossoms and Hosea's quail egg with sweet potato hash. A lot of quail gave their eggs for this challenge but it was Leah with the win for making quail egg, tomato and cheese bite. Jamie was a close second with her baby BLT but the judges said her portion was more than a bite. Picky, picky.

For the elimination challenge, the chefs have to make a 2 1/2 minute presentation for live TV. Everyone heads to the market and straight to the seafood counter for tuna. After the prep work, it was time for the presentations. Padma, Gail and Chef Tom were on hand to time the presentations and judge the food. It was hard for anyone to stay in the time limit and some of the food was less than pleasing judging by Chef Tom's reactions.

The top three that managed the time limit and had decent food were Fabio, Jeff and Ariane. They each had their dishes on the Today Show where the hosts chose the winner. After tasting Jeff's malfouf roll, Cathy Lee Gifford acted like she had been poisoned running around like she was choking then spitting out the food. I'm still trying to figure out what a malfouf is but it didn't look as bad as Ms. Gifford made it out to be. Ariane is on top once again when she wins the challenge with her tomato, feta and watermelon salad.

Now for the bottom three: Melissa made habanero shrimp which was so hot no one could eat it. My husband would have polished it off and asked for more, the man eats habanero peppers whole! Jamie made a green salad topped with a fried duck egg which was undercooked and Alex's creme brulee fell short earning him a pack your knives and go. Double D

Ghost Hunters - San Diego

TAPS investigates the Star of India and the steam ship Berkeley in this episode. I was excited because I have seen both ships in San Diego. The Star of India which was built at The Isle of Man in 1863 is currently residing, along with the Berkeley, as part of San Diego's maritime museum. Reports on the Star of India include objects that move, footsteps, apparitions and parties are heard. Now we know, spirits like to party too! People also report getting S's drawn on their backs. The history of the ship shows that a stowaway liked to play tag by drawing S's on the backs of people with his finger.

The steam ship Berkeley, which is next to the Star of India, has reports of footsteps, apparitions and a stall in the ladies room that locks itself. Privacy please! The Berkeley is first on the list. J&G go on board first and immediately hear footsteps. They send in Steve & Tango next and Tango gets sea sick. They find high EMF readings which would explain the feelings of dread that get reported. Steve can't keep his hands off of the ships bells and keeps ringing them.

J&G go on board the Star of India to do EVP work and hear voices and feel the deck creak like someone walking. They continue to hear footsteps then start seeing shadows. J&G send in Steve and Tango to see if they experience the same things. They don't but Kris & Amy see a shadow. Nothing was found on the Berkeley but the Star of India yielded several EVPs one of which is a voice that says "get off my ship". Thermal camera catches what looks like someone kneeling down and a gate that moved on it's own against the list to port (that's sailor talk for the ship was leaning the other way). Jason pronounces the Berkeley not haunted but says there is paranormal activity aboard the Star of India. Double D

Ghost Adventures - Scotland

Edinburgh Scotland. The team investigates the Edinburgh vaults under the city's south bridge. The vaults were first used as storage for merchants who had shops just outside Edinburgh castle. Later, the vaults where home to the cities not so fortunate citizens. There are three levels of vaults and the lower you lived, the lower your station in life. The vaults are now home to several spirits which include a woman who has lost a child, a boy named Jack and an evil spirit the guides call Mr. Boots who likes to throw rocks. Zak vows to confront Mr. Boots and make him angry. Any spirit that throws rocks already sounds angry to me! I'm also thinking right after Zak pisses off Mr. Boots, he will scream like a girl and run away like he's done before. During the tour before the lock down (and there are more people around) Zak issues his challenge to Mr. Boots and Aaron sees a shadow walk behind Zak. They also tour a local cemetery said to be the most haunted in the world and Zak offers the following insight: "This place has seen a lot of death". You think?! Nothing like stating the obvious.

Lock down begins and Zak immediately starts provoking Mr. Boots. Nick feels something touch his hair as Zak gets a spike on the EMF detector which turned both guys into drama queens yelling "it touched me!" and jumping around like a couple of teenage girls. After recovering from being touched, Zak goes into Mr. Boots room alone and gets creeped out. He hears a scratch on the wall and freaks out, I actually thought he would pee his pants he couldn't get out of there fast enough. Zak calls for Nick & Aaron who are in another part of the vaults when Nick asks "is that Zak?" Now I ask you, who else would it be? These guys never cease to amaze me with their quit wits. Zak's courage returns when he is joined by Nick & Aaron so he begins to taunt Mr. Boots again. They hear dragging noises but instead of trying to find the source, Zak keeps the camera on his face. The team had set up a camera in the room that the boy spirit, Jack, is often seen. They had put a teddy bear and a ball for him to play with and the camera catches the teddy bear moving on it's own while the EMF detector registered a spike.

I'm real critical about these guys because on one hand they don't come off as being too bright, buy hey, they are on TV and I'm not so they must be doing something right. On the other hand, the show looks to be on the up and up, nothing staged or faked. Since I am really interested in the paranormal, I guess I'll keep watching (and criticizing) Ghost Adventures. Double D

Top Chef - A Foo Fighter Thanksgiving

For the quick fire challenge, the chefs have to redo a recipe from the Top Chef cook book. Everyone picks their dish and are off and cooking when, 10 minutes into the challenge, Padma tells the chefs that they have to make soup with the ingredients they are working with. Poor Leah was making tuna tartar, I don't think that would make a very good soup. She thought so too and came up with a white asparagus soup which won her the challenge and immunity.

The elimination challenge is to make Thanksgiving dinner for the Foo Fighters and their entourage which includes 18 vegetarians. Everyone is thinking, no big deal right? Then they find out the catch is they have to cook the dinner using one burner, microwave ovens and toaster ovens. They divide into two teams with Leah picking her dream team of all of the best chefs so far. She's no dummy! Leah's team call themselves Team Sexy Pants while the other team is Team Cougar, apparently because of Ariane who is the oldest.

Eugene from Team Cougar doesn't waste any time and rigs up a grill using a chafing dish and a grill rack from one of the toaster ovens. The other twist was that they were doing all of the cooking outside and it started raining. You see the production crew trying to put up tents while the chefs are freaking out thinking they will be serving soggy food. I would have been more worried about all those toaster ovens shorting out in the rain.

Aside from the rigged up grill, everyone made do with the micros and toaster ovens and got their meals out on time. Ariane who has been on the bottom from the start, made the turkey for the Cougar team which turned out to be a crowd fave. The Foo Fighters kept going back and forth between the two teams liking dishes from each. In the end it was the Foo Fighters love of bacon and team Sexy Pants' vegan stuffing that won them the challenge and a trip to that nights concert while team Cougar cleaned up the mess. It came down to the desserts to decide who went home and the unlucky chef that heard Padma utter the words pack your knives and go was Richard. Double D

Top Chef - All American

The quick fire this week is to create a signature hot dog and go up against Angelina who apparently is a famous hot dog vendor in NYC. Fabio has no idea how to make a hot dog but that doesn't stop him from trashing everyone else. He gets knocked down a peg when Radhika wins with her Indian inspired lamb dogs.

Keeping with the all American theme, the elimination challenge is to create a three course New American lunch menu. The chefs divide themselves into threes, appetizers, entree and dessert with everyone responsible for one dish. The frenzied shopping begins and Jill decides to buy ostrich eggs to make quiche. OK. After everyone is back and in the kitchen, Chef Tom drops the bombshell. Not only will they be serving lunch in his own restaurant but the customers will be chefs that tried out for Top Chef and didn't make the cut. No pressure there!

Back in the kitchen, Ariane is making a lemon meringue martini and wants everyone to taste it. Did anyone bother to tell her this is a competition? Does she honestly think they are going to tell her what they really think? Actually it looked like most of them were honest but she still said, "if I don't win you all are going to hear it!" There's gratitude for you!

The "customers" come in the restaurant wanting to hate everything and they pretty much succeeded. They all said how they would have done this or done that. They talk a big game but I wonder if they knew how much time the chefs had to prepare. The only dishes they liked were Jamie's corn soup, Stefan's halibut, Jeff's chicken and Carla's apple tart. Everyone hated Ariane's martini saying it was way too sweet, even Padama had to spit it out. The judge's commented they could tell Radhika had immunity when they tasted her avocado mousse, avocado mousse?! Fabio lives to trash talk another day when he wins with his beef carpasco with olives and Parmesan cheese. Ariane dodges the bullet again when Jill and her ostrich egg disaster is told to pack her knives and go. Double D

Ghost Hunters - Clovis Sanitarium

The TAPS team once again heads to California this time to investigate Clovis Sanitarium which is an 8000 sq. ft. facility which was used as a convalescent home and the site of where thousands of people died. Should make for a good investigation. I know it has nothing to do with the investigation but I thought it was funny that the episode starts out with J&G doing their "day job" and the camera keeps focusing on the dish washer they are about to install. Maybe GE was giving a little extra for product air time? Back to the story.....reports here are of voices, objects moving and even though there are no working telephones in the building, 911 has been called from there several times. The basement is the location of a lot of activity as well as a bedroom called Mary's room since so many people feel a spirit named Mary. Kris & Amy go to the basement and within minutes a rock gets thrown into the doorway leading to the basement. In another attic room, Steve & Tango have papers fall out of a box. Thinking the papers were on the edge of the box and just fell off as they walked by, they reset the papers and try to get them to fall but the papers wouldn't budge. J&G go to the basement and clearly hear a voice say "I like the one in the hat". Jason was wearing a ball cap and, feeling a little freaked out, wanted to take it off after hearing the voice. Who could blame him? They decide to try and communicate with the spirit by asking it to move a door, light a flashlight (which was left on the floor for it's convenience) or play with Jason's hat. Just as Jason is offering his hat for the spirit to try on, or something, the flashlight on the floor lights up saving Jason from having to give up his hat to the ghost. Amy does some research on the house and finds out that even though there are no phones in the building, the phone system still works and will dial 911 if the system malfunctions. So even though the wires are cut, it seems that the "brains" of the system still work and, from time to time, lets the local PD know. J&G let the owner know it looks like they have a resident spirit that likes to play games and is nothing to be afraid of. We will surely hear more since the building is slated to be turned into a hotel. I think I could stay there! The second part of the show was an investigation of The Windward Grill in Essex, MA. Built as a farmhouse in the 1680's, it is now a restaurant. The owner reports hearing babies crying, plates moving, silverware that rearranges itself as well as apparitions. Steve & Tango immediately debunk the silverware thing when they find out a lot of pieces are magnetic. It was pretty much an uneventful night. The only thing caught on audio is a voice asking "where is the boy" which could be in reference to the owners son who helps out in the restaurant. Either way, Jason doesn't think there is anything to be afraid of and tells the owner to call if she feels the need. Personally, I think she felt the need for advertising! Double D