And, wow, last week's ep. was pretty fun! First comment: how is it we've avoided talking about Padma's strange outfits heretofore? Cuz, dude, she's really smokin', obviously, but we think the ladies from Gofugyourself are missing out on a potential Fort Knox of comedy if they aren't taking advantage already.

You may remember our complaint back in week 1 that there seemed to be too many contestants. Well, we were down to nine for this episode, and man, it's so much better -- each chef-testant gets that much more face time; we really get to see what they are cooking.

And you can really go deeper into the show if you want. Bravo's Web folks do a swell job of backing up this show (as they evidently do with many other shows, but we don't watch those . . . our TV viewing dance card is full). You can read blogs by Chef Tom, Gail, Padma, former cheftestant Dave (he's not yer bitch, bitch), and season one winner Harold (but, jeez, Bravo, couldn't you have taken a better picture? This headshot of Harold is like one of those grade school pics where the photographer makes you sit with your body facing left, neck tilting to the right, head looking at some imaginary spot beyond the camera . . . [] nightmarish visions of our childhood whenever we log on).

You can also dig deeper by visiting CHOW magazine's Web site, which has a number of podcasts, mostly with exiled contestants, but one with Chef Tom C. They are all quite entertaining -- let us give you the short version. Marisa=came off better, a little ditzy, a little cute; Emily=still a snobby bitch (um, look who's commenting on Padma's cellulite? c'mon, M. Plimpton); Suyai=probably more interesting than some of those that lasted longer; Otto=seems okay, worth a listen; Carlos=about as bland as he seemed on camera. One complaint: one of the bitchy interviewers says Gail looks like she's always sucking lemons. I can see her point, but still . . . nobody insults our Gail. NOBODY! Okay, well, at least not without invoking our ire.

Okay, back to the recap/review.

shudder