Hey kids,

This past Labor Day I had the overwhelming pleasure of visiting one of my favorite cities in the U.S., New Orleans! This was the city that made me fall in love with food. My first time there was in 2002 when I took a road trip with two friends from DC to Texas, then over to the crescent city. It was the first time I’d been so far away from DC, but felt like I was home. I distinctly remember being fascinated by my little plate of fluffy gems called Beignets. And despite being only 19 at the time, I also discovered my favorite drink, the daiquiri. I returned in 2004 on vacation with my dad and continued to explore the cajun restaurants and local faves like Jacques-Imo’s where I tried Alligator for the first time. I had not been back since Katrina, so when my partner, Dan, and I started to plan a vacation back in july, talk of the big easy quickly came up. To my surprise, he booked the trip and 2 months later we were on our way!

As soon as we got our stuff into the hotel on Royal St, we put on our walking shoes and headed straight for Jackson square. There was a little restaurant that I wanted to return to because I knew Dan’s first creole meal had to be authentic New Orleans favorites, and there’s no better place to do it then at the Gumbo Shop, next door to the St. Louis Cathedral. Its a quaint little place with large thin windows and dark oil murals on the walls. You have to walk through a narrow brick hallway into a courtyard to get into the dining room, and it’s like walking back in time. Our waitress, friendly and humorous, immediately recommended the sampler platter which came with Creole Shrimp, Jambalaya, and crawfish etouffé. Of course we also had to order the andouille gumbo to start! The meal was a much needed moment of bliss after dealing with airports, tiny coach seats, screaming kids at 10,000 feet and all the other stresses of travel. My favorite was by far the etouffé, the crawfish were tender and succulent. For those who haven’t had the pleasure, you must try them! Imagine a little crustacean sent from heaven for the purpose of bringing happiness into your life. Their flavor is like a cross between shrimp and lobster, but even that seems to over simplify.

The next day we had to get our morning sugar rush at the world famous Café Du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait! Although it was 88 degrees with 1000% humidity, so I got the frozen cafe au lait! We spent the afternoon browsing the french market and window shopping the antique stores along the french quarter. Many of them more like museums than shops. For lunch, we went to one of my favorite cheap eats places, Johnny’s Po-Boys on St. Peter St. I’d been there back with my dad and could still recall the texture of the crunch french bread contrasting perfectly with the tender crisp of fried crawfish. Though the prices seemed to have gone up, the portions are huge (Dan and I could’ve easily split one po-boy and been satisfied). For those not in the know, a po-boy is New Orleans’ answer to the sub, hero, or hoagie. They are made with french bread, often a large baguette and are spread with a generous amount of mayo, lettuce and tomato, and your meat of choice. We tried to walk off more of our excessive calories, but we knew it was all in vain since we already had dinner plans.

That night, only about 4 or 5 hours later, we met up with Clare, an old friend from culinary school. She had moved to Nawlins about 3 months ago and we were lucky enough to get the red carpet treatment at her restaurant, Cochon. In a restaurant named for the french word for Pig, I knew I was in for something special. We ordered 2 appetizers for the table, Fried Gator and Braised Pork Cheeks. When they arrived, they were accompanied by a bonus charcuterie plate and oysters on the half shell compliments of the chef! The pork cheeks were perfectly braised, served with figs, goat cheese  and some sort of porky orange sauce that made me want to faint in rapture. For our meals Dan got an off menu Goat Special, which was what I wanted, and I got the rabbit and dumplings which was was he wanted. Both were divine. The rabbit and dumplings were hearty and homestyle, but there was an unexplainable sophistication to it as well. The goat was most impressive, cooked perfectly medium rare, it elevated goat to a status shared only by rack of lamb and poached lobster. It was goat taken to fashion week, given a makeover and made the belle of the ball. So tré chic! Although we were about to burst, Clare was the pastry chef there and we had to get dessert. So we shared the peach cobbler with creme fraiche ice cream. The peaches were fresh off the tree sweet, and the cobbler was crispy on top and tender flaky inside, perfectly paired with with sour creaminess of the creme fraiche. We finished our meal with a complimentary shot of moonshine and said goodbye, but not for long to our new friend Cochon. Of all the restaurants I’ve been to in New Orleans, this is hands down my favorite! To not experience it would be to deny yourself the very thing that makes life worth living!

At this point it becomes difficult to continue, because all else pales in comparison, but alas I will try. The following morning we had brunch at Brennan’s, the world famous institution of food. The mecca of Creole fine dining and the birthplace of Banana’s foster and many other iconic classics. Although it was rather overpriced, the experience was one I’ll remember and savor for quite sometime. My brunch started with baked apples in devonshire cream, followed by Eggs Hussard (Eggs benedict with a brown sauce added) and finally the beloved Bananas Foster! Flambeéd tableside, dripping in melted butter and brown sugar, drunk with rum and begging to go in my tummy! In that perfect little moment of bliss, I could’ve died and been happy.

We spent the rest of that day walking off our gluttony in the Garden District, visiting Anne Rice’s house, viewing the graveyards and riding the St. Charles Streetcar. That night we had tickets for the VooDoo tour which was awesome and finally finished our day with dinner at Redfish on Bourbon. I was hesitant to go there because it was on Bourbon, but against my better judgement, I had a great time. We ate with 2 friends we’d met while at a pool party, and it was a nice, relaxing evening after a long day of walking in the hot and humid air of the Garden District. I don’t recall much of the meal because I was so exhausted that day, (and because I had 2 abitas on an empty stomach…did I mention I’m a lightweight!?)  but I do remember a filet of beef that was outstanding.

The next morning we regrettably had  to pack our bags and head home. But before we could get back to BWI, we had a 6 hour layover in Memphis. Deciding to make the most of it, we hopped a cab to Beale St, the Bourbon St of Memphis. We were lucky to discover a street fair going on where we bought coconut snowcones, goat milk soap, and had true memphis bbq at Blues City Cafe. While walking around we accidentally discovered the Gibson Guitar factory and took a tour and then returned to the airport to head home.

All in all a great vacation! It was actually rather exhausting because every hour of every day was packed with something! Believe it or not, we did do alot more than just eat, but what happens in the Big Easy stays in the Big Easy!!!

(Pictures are on my facebook page)

Hey kids,

Its been WAY too long since my last post, and I apologize, but I’ve been as busy as a bee on crack. I recently started a new job at one of the top DC restaurants, Brasserie Beck, run by 2009 DC Chef of the year Robert Wiedmaier. I’m working as assistant pastry chef and I’m loving it. Though the hours are long and I’ve worn through my shoes for crews, I’ve been learning so much and acquired many new skills. For example, I can now write with chocolate! This might not sound as exciting as say…scuba diving with sharks, but for me it is! Now that I’ve learned the ropes I’m starting to get creative and work on developing new desserts for the restaurant. Since my main area of expertise is ice cream and sorbet, that’s where I’ve started. I’ve been testing some of my exotic flavors such as Turkish Delight, Strawberry Star Anise, and Salted Caramel. However the most popular flavor I’ve made is actually just Chocolate. But not just any chocolate, its like a cross between dark fudge brownie and pudding pop chocolate. I used 2 types of cocoa, lots of heavy cream, a pinch of salt and my secret ice cream ingredient: Sweetened condensed milk.

I started using it in ice cream while making Key Lime Sherbet, since SCM is used in the pie, I figured it made sense to use it in the sherbet. While making the sherbet, I was making the base for chocolate ice cream and put 2 and 2 together. I’ve since learned that you have to tweak the sugar level, cut back on the granulated sugar otherwise it won’t set up in the freezer. Everyone in the restaurant goes crazy for my chocolate ice cream now!

SCM is probably my favorite ingredient in my pantry, hard to believe that most people underestimate its potential. In addition to using it in frozen desserts, you can mix it with eggs and citrus juice for an easy pie filling. One of my favorite uses is to mix it with cream cheese and banana pudding for the ultimate simple party dessert. Its uses really are endless.

In other news, tomorrow is day one of my culinary vacation to New Orleans. I’ve been twice before, and discovered some amazing places to eat. I’m also excited to try some new places. As soon as we get into the French Quarter, we’re heading to Johnny’s Po-Boys for my favorite sandwich, the Crawfish po’boy. I’m also planning on doing breakfast every morning at Cafe du Monde, and visit my favorite Garden District local spot, Jacques-Imo’s. I’ll be sure to post when I return and share all my adventures!

But now I’ve got to finish packing,

Have fun,

Mikey

Hey Kids,

I know it has been awhile since I last posted, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to post about the finale of Chopping Block or not. After learning that the series will return on June 19th I decided to wait so as not to spoil it for anyone. In the meantime, I wanted to continue my adventures in blogging and realized it was only natural to blog about food and cooking. In the interest of expanding the site, I will be posting as much as I can about cooking, seasonal produce, new trends and anything else culinary!

Today’s topic: Summer Produce

Although my favorite season is Autumn, I can’t help but get excited at the idea of all the wonderful produce headed my way in the warm months to follow! Recently I took a trip to rehoboth and stopped at several markets on the way back. We picked up several different items, mostly sweet corn and tomatoes, however I was most surprised by a basket of tiny orange gems known as nectarines! I was really craving peaches, but the ones available were small and still a little shy of any aroma or color. (You can almost smell perfect peaches a mile away!) Somewhat disappointed, I continued to walk the muddy aisles of the outdoor market, when suddenly my nose embraced the gentle perfume of plump and juicy nectarines. I sniffed one closer and it might as well have been a yankee candle! I grabbed a small basket and happily bought it without even knowing the price. Moments later, my boyfriend Dan and I were standing on the side of the road in rural delaware with the juice of the most delicious nectarines dripping down our arms! When we got home, we grilled up the sweet corn and devoured our bounty! Nothing compares to produce bought directly from the farm! If you don’t go to farmer’s markets, I highly suggest you do! Not only are the selections fresher and tastier, but also usually cheaper than what you find at the grocery market because you’re not paying for transportation or any of the other overhead that comes with standard grocers. My only real advice is to bring your own reusable  bag!

Earlier today I took a short drive to Eden Center, a Vietnamese market near my house in Falls Church, VA. I’ve been feeling a little sick and wanted to make Tom Kha Ga, a sweet and spicy coconut and chicken soup. So I visited the exotic market cause I needed lemongrass and galangal, which I can find at Harris Teeter (my favorite regular grocer) however it is 3x more expensive there than at ethnic markets. (I always tell people who are interested in global cuisine to shop at ethnic grocers. They are usually much cheaper and have a wider variety. For example 2 stalks of lemongrass are about $4 at Harris Teeter, or I can get 3 stalks for $1 at the Vietnamese market. Spices are also great to buy at ethnic markets! I buy them whole and grind them as I need them!) Anyways, while I was shopping I happened to come across my favorite summer fruit…the elusive Lychee. Also spelled Litchi, they are small fruits with a tough red skin and a white edible portion and a shiny black seed in the center. They are easy to peel when ripe and I prefer to just eat them plain, although I often make Litchi sorbet towards the end of their season. The flavor is difficult to describe to litchi virgins, the texture is similar to a grape but the flavor is sweet and a cross between rosewater and subtle melon. (The ones I got had undertones of basil or gin…a very unique bunch!) Canned lychees are more easy to find, but pale in comparison to the fresh fruit. If you are lucky enough to find them, I encourage you to buy a few! They are a flavor that you may not instantly understand, but over time you may grow to appreciate. Everyone who I know that likes litchis gets almost as excited as I do in the early summer months! 

I still haven’t figured out how to include pictures in my blogs, so in the meantime, if you’d like to learn more check out

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litchi

Also, I’m putting together recipes to include in the website so keep an eye out for those!

Thanks for reading,

MIkey

Howdy everyone!

It’s been a slow couple of weeks for me, not to mention all the rain we’ve been getting has me a little less proactive than my usual self. As far as TCB is concerned, NBC has announced they will air the remaining 5 episodes of The Chopping Block starting friday june 19th. It has also begun airing in the UK, hopefully it will be a bit more popular there since Marco is more of a household name to the Brits. 

In other news, if you’re in the Delaware area, listen to Eagle 97.7 on memorial day (Monday May 25th), I’ll be live in the studio with Petch and Paula! For those of you who paid attention, I did a phone interview with them back in March and now they’ve invited me back! If you’re not in the Delaware area go to

www.eagle977.com

Click on the left side “Listen Now” around 8am, monday May 25th to listen.

Hey kids,

First I wanted to apologize for not posting about last week’s episode, I know I promised, but I had some family things to take care of. But no worries, cause I’m back now and really excited about last nights episode. BTW, you may have noticed that TCB is no longer on NBC on wednesday nights at 8. But you can still find new episodes at the same time on NBC.com/chopping-block or a few days later on Hulu.

The episode from 2 weeks ago wasn’t all that, I know because I watched it day before yesterday but don’t remember a thing about it. Sorry but its true, without me there’s just no comic relief! From what little I could remember it was just another day at Black Team’s space Soul, Angie was fighting with everyone, cursing like a drunken sailor, The brothers were arguing back, and poor Dean and Sherri are just crying about their kids and saying things like “Alls I knows” and “I pooored mah haat and soul inta this place! (sic, I poured my heart and soul into this place). I love those wacky Boston accents. They sound like cabbies and newspaper boys from the roaring 20’s. Meanwhile, over at Crimson, Vanessa is hanging up decorative things while Lisa and Kelsey cook and Lisa as usual is suprised by Kelsey’s inexperience. Now I love Kels to death, but some of the things she says seriously make my head turn like a confused dog. The service was a mad rush as always, black team lost and after yet another round of the “Angie VS Everyone else” hour, Marco sends Zan and Than home. Thank goodness I watched it with a cup of dunkin donuts coffee otherwise I might have passed out from boredom. Sorry guys…but I just wasn’t that into it.

Last nights episode was fun though, Marco sends the kids to the Italian district and they have to work together to cook a simple Italian inspired dish in 10 minutes. Kels takes it home with scallops but its not enough, and Black Team wins. Their prize is a fancy pants espresso machine and a barista for their next service. Marco explains that they will do a lunch service, or as I like to call it “Guido Happy Hour”. Don’t hate me for saying that! My grandmother is fresh off the boat from Sicily so I got rights! (BTW I’m also part Mexican, so you might hear the occasional comment about my ability to run really fast across state lines) Marco brings in his friend Mario Batali to enjoy lunch at the 2 restaurants. Mario’s first comment when he walks into Crimson is “Wow! I love what you’ve done with the place!” Hey Mario!!! Thanks! That was my work! I know, I know Panya told you she invented red, but I swear the design was mine! (Props to Van and Anapol though, it looked like they added a few touches)

Lunch goes okay, people wait a long time as usual, but Vinnie from The Soprano’s loves it so much he goes back into the kitchen to tell the girls. (Personally I thought it was presumptuous and rude of him to step foot into another persons kitchen, but I guess he does it all the time at the Olive Garden.) Over at Soul, Marco and Mario arrive, and are greeted by another Soprano’s actor, who looked like an out of work Express model, and was visibly pissed off that his lunch was taking too long. Now look, I totally understand how that can fuck up your day. I recently had the worst dinner of my life, I waited an hour and a half for my food, I ordered Chicken Piccata and when I finally got it, it better resembled a chicken abortion in a pint of lemon broth. So I totally understand how waiting for food can ruin your night. But give these people a break! There are only 2 of them cooking for 40 people all at the same time! You try doing that! The only major mistake was that there were families waiting for tables and the kids we getting hungry. I don’t understand why both Sam and Sherri are watching these poor kids gnawing at the metal railing of the bar, and not thinking “Hey let’s get them some food!” Its Hospitality 101!!! If you make kids happy, the parents will be happy and come back and support your business! I also don’t understand, if there were no open tables, why they didn’t just serve them at the bar!? On the second service, when people started getting sat, there were still people waiting, so I told them to have a seat at the bar and got them drinks and snacky things like bread and olives. When I realized no one was getting up, I got them menus and told them if they wanted they could order their food at the bar. It was a potentially bad situation, very easily turned around into something positive. Why Sam or Sherri didn’t think of this I don’t know. Also I thought doing Carbonara was a bad idea, as they should know by now the pressure of service and that dish has to be made to order, a la minute. Why…please someone tell me why you would do an a la minute dish for a service of that many people with only 2 cooks in the kitchen!?!?!?!

The critic was some guy from Gourmet magazine, I’m sure he’s got a very sophisticated palate but again, do the guests of these restaurants not realize that they are on a reality show. They obviously seem to forget that there are only 4 people per restaurant, they only have mere hours to prepare and a limited amount of resources for product! The critic blasted Lisa for “floury” store bought ravioli (what was she supposed to do, hand make 500 ravioli by herself with only a few hours!?) and overcooked veal, which is a more understandable complaint. Red team wins by default and of course, Angie goes on with her annoying and overdone rants and pointing fingers. Dean and Sherri compose themselves with humility and class while Sam rolls her eyes like a stuck up beauty queen. Hats off to D&S for taking responsiblity for their mistakes, and being honorable enough to respect Marco. Marco has obviously had enough and sends Angie and Sam home. Sam then has the audacity to say that red team only won because Vanessa was flirting or something. Sam needs to get the F over herself. She goes on about how she’s “cuter than Vanessa” I love how she said “I’m not even going to get into who’s cuter me, or Vanessa” but then goes on for another minute about the subject. Sam might have been Miss Pennslyvania, but she’s a hatchet-face on the inside. Vanessa is nothing but friendly, polite and respectful. Granted the red team did kind of win by default, but it had nothing to do with anyone’s looks.

I do kind of pity the remaining teams, cause it seems like every challenge just sets them up to fail. They are given impossible tasks with no prep time and no extra help. From experience, I can tell you the challenges are hard, but can still be fun, but barely resemble the real world situations I’ve faced in the restaurant industry. I’ve worked in a kitchen with only 2 people for real, and its hard, but you don’t have the same restrictions the show places on you. All in all, I think TCB was an interesting experiment, but fails to showcase the reality of opening and running a restaurant.

From what I can tell, NBC has decided to air the remaining episodes of TCB online. Check them out on www.nbc.com/chopping-block
I haven’t watched the new one yet, but I can’t wait! BTW, if you haven’t already done so, check out http://shirt.woot.com/friends.aspx?k=8562 to buy my shirt!

Thanks,
Mikey

Hey kids,

The first of many creative ventures has arrived! The first shirt in my “Fashion for Foodies” collection is here thanks to Woot! The shirt, inspired by my chef’s knife tattoo, will be available on http://shirt.woot.com/ for 1 day only, that is unless you help make it to the top 20!!! The shirts are super cheap at only $10 a pop, so buy a few and give ‘em to all your foodie friends! Despite the low, low price…these babies are high quality 100% cotton shirts by American Apparel. 

I’m also hard at work on the rest of my culinary collection, which I call ‘86 Couture’. Its a handmade line of chef wear and casuals for professional chefs who crave something a little more stylish and functional than your standard white chef’s jackets.  Check back in a few weeks for updates on that! Until then, buy my shirt!!! Help support starving artists!!!

Thanks,

Mikey

Hey Kids,

For those who haven’t heard, NBC announced last week that due to poor ratings, The Chopping Block has been cancelled after only 3 episodes. Apparently NBC thinks that reruns of Law and Order will give them the boost they need. (Dumb-asses!!!) NBC said that the would like to air the remaining episodes sometime in the future, but are unsure of when that will be. First of all, as excited as I was for the show to premiere, I knew it didn’t stand a chance against American Idol. But regardless, NBC needs to learn to finish what they fucking start! Don’t they pay people to think about these things first!? Especially since TCB was really just taking off, the last episode had everything you could ask for; drama, excitement, blood, and revenge! I’m sure Panya already thinks this was another plot of “The Alliance”! She probably thinks me, Lisa, and Vanessa have a secret underground lair where we plan strategic attacks against her and all the free world! (evil laugh: HAHAHAHA!!!!)

I just think its really sad for the remaining contestants who won’t be able to talk about the show again (we all have gag orders preventing us from discussing unaired events). Its almost cruel to have had all of us go through that experience, come home, wait 9 months for it to come out, only to 86 it prematurely without any closure. It’s pretty clear that NBC, like many big businesses these days, make really, really poor decisions. It reminds me of when I left Gifford’s, they started losing money, and instead of trying to really figure out why they just decided to use cheaper ingredients and increase the overrun in the product (overrun is the amount of air in ice cream, more air creates a higher yield but a cheaper product). Over time, the quality of the ice cream kept going down, and so did the sales. I left just as the decision was being made to have another dairy produce their ice cream for them. They never realized that people could tell their product had turned to shit, they took the customer for granted and without any respect or integrity they ruined their name for the sake of profit. It feels like NBC is making the same types of decisions, rather than looking inward and trying to give people better quality shows, they are just cutting corners and reselling old shows we’ve already disposed of. 

What’s the most pathetic thing is that the main critique of the show has been how Americans perceive Marco Pierre White. Many of the blogs and reviews I read, said that Marco was a drag to watch, he was too calm and didn’t make good TV. I think its a sad state of affairs when Americans only watch reality TV when people are being yelled at, exploited, humiliated, or made to look like idiots. I praise Julian and David (the exec producers) for making a show that wasn’t over-dramatized and sensationalized. If you watch BBC reality shows, they are much like TCB, even Gordon Ramsey, who Americans can’t get enough of on Hell’s Kitchen, is as calm as a kitten most of the time on BBC’s Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares. Marco’s interests were to guide us and help us become better restauranteurs, and to bring the reality back to Restaurant TV programs. In an interview with Fancast, Marco said he’d gotten fed up with the Hell’s Kitchen portrayal of the restaurant industry. “Well, firstly I only do TV if it’s going to be inspirational, educational and interesting. If it’s not those three things, then it’s not worth doing. And what is important about doing reality TV is to put as much reality into TV as possible. Not trying to turn it into a circus.” “The only reason a person loses their temper is because they’ve lost control. If you watch me do Hell’s Kitchen in the UK, I never lose my temper. I never swear, I never put people down. Because my job as the chef is to absorb the pressure and to distribute it through the kitchen. And the reason why I stepped back on to the stage is because I don’t like the way certain people portray my industry to the public.”

It’s just sad to me that some one like Marco, who I learned so much from, can be collectively dissed like that. I really hope NBC does the right thing, and airs the remaining episodes. But in the meantime, things here will still be active. I’m still working on new and exciting ventures, the first of which, T-shirts I designed for shirt.woot.com, will be out soon! Check back within a few days to find out when!

thanks for watching/reading,

mikey

Wow!!! Last night’s episode of Chopping Block was AWESOME!!! For those who missed it, The BOH chefs went to Central Park to meet a guy who seemed to be an expert on natural foods, as in foods that grow all around us that you can actually eat. They started picking grasses and leaves and the guy kept making terrible puns and really bad jokes. Thank God I wasn’t there, or I would’ve been cracking up the whole time! Not to mention I wouldn’t want to eat what’s growing in Central Park! (After hours it serves as a public restroom for New York’s homeless community) When the chefs returned to the restaurant, they had to plan their menus for dinner service, using ingredients found in the park. Meanwhile, FOH had the challenge of trying to set up the restaurant for an unknown amount of guests.

At the end of last weeks episode, after Panya rallied to get Chad and I chopped, like the shark that she is, she immediately went after her next prey, Vanessa. Needless to say, this resulted in a rather obvious tension between them, all the while poor Anapol was left to act as intermediary between them. From what I could tell, the service was chaos as usual. And although Panya claims otherwise, she really didn’t seem to be helping the situation. I really wished I could’ve been there, I wanted to help so much when I saw how bad they were struggling. At one point a guest was even seated with a dirty tablecloth. Now I’ve said before that this wasn’t the restaurant’s fault, as we only had enough linens for a few rounds of service. (We literally bought all that we could find!) Not to mention, that the producers failed to get a linen service the way any normal restaurant would have. Kelsey in a very ballsy move, decided to step up and play Head Chef for the night. Which at first frightened me, because she had to have known that if something went wrong, she would be held accountable (especially by Michael and Panya) But I think its amazing that despite that, she rose to the challenge!

The next day, everyone discovers that the diners were actually the critics this time and they were rated using a Zagat rating system. Long story short, the red team lost, however I believe it was serendipitous because even though they lost, it allowed them to eliminate the real problem. This time, Anapol stood up and revealed that Panya was a trouble maker and was the true root of the red teams problems. The sad part is that Michael (her fiancee) always seemed to get dragged down by her mouth. I believe that Michael is a good chef and despite his paranoia, has the potential to do well in the industry. However Panya disagrees with Anapol and starts going on about how no one respects her and she’s the only person who’s “honest”. The argument continues with Vanessa (and everyone else except Michael) trying to explain their reasoning to Panya, but she can’t shut up for one minute to let anyone else talk. Then the bitch does the unthinkable, she pulls the freakin race card!!!

Shut the F up!!! I can’t believe that she had the audacity to think she could get away with that!!! Panya’s desperation reaches an all time low, and the look in Marco’s eyes seems to be that of pure distilled 100 proof anger. Marco finally realizes that Hurricane Panya is truly a destructive force and makes the chop! (Even though I tried to tell him that last week!!!!)

I’m glad Panya finally got what she deserved, it just sucked that red team had to lose in order to win. Its like when you have to cut off a leg to stop the cancer from spreading. I hope that now they can work together to get back some of that momentum they had in the beginning. 

Cheers,

Mikey

Hey kids,

I’ll be doing a radio tour to promote The Chopping Block this wednesday the 25th. If you’re in the following areas, be sure to check it out at 9am EST.

Ocean 98.1 FM- MD,DE,VA, & NJ

Irieradio.com

Reality Check Radio with Allie

www.blogtalkradio.com

95.7 WBEN- Ben FM, Philly PA

www.957benfm.com

97.7 WAFL, Milford DE

www.eagle997.com

Be sure to tune in or log on to hear America’s sweetheart, Mikey Torres!

Also, I’m working out the details on having Vanessa and Lisa from TCB, come here to host guest blogs so you can continue to get all the juicy details and behind the scenes gossip on upcoming episodes!

Thanks,

Mikey