You KNOW it's coming...

Top Chef 5 is just days away. And so is my live blogging thingy. I need a little release from grad school. And for the first time ever, there will be at least one person from Maryland on the show. The season premiere has not one but two Marylanders in the beginning lineup.

One is Latrobe, PA, native Jill Snyder (here's something about her appearance from The Sun), exec chef at Red Maple, a restaurant I have passed by on many an occasion since I just don't have the money to go in.


The other is Maryland native Melissa Harrison, now a resident of Boulder, CO, and sous chef at the Centro Latin Kitchen & Refreshment Palace. Both women are culinary graduates of the Baltimore International College.

Rumors have it that one of these cheftestants is the first eliminee, but I'll wait and see for myself.* This isn't election prognostication, people. It's just TV.

I wonder what the overplayed and/or creepy dumbass catch phrases will be this time? They can't be any worse than the fabled "I have a culinary boner right now". **SHUDDER**

Oh, does anybody know how Asshat's restaurant is doing down in DC?

* NOTE: please don't post which one here, so it can be more of a surprise if it really is true; I'll delete the comment if you do say, or at least hold off on publishing it until the first episode has aired Wednesday night.