Around the World in 80 Plates Recap: Thai a Little Tenderness

Recaps

By Foggywood | Saturday, June 23, 2012 | 6:00 am | 7 Comments
Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in: Around the World in 80 Plates, Recaps


Thai Lady Gaga Flash Mob – It’s 2009 all over again! 

Ah, Thailand. Where exotic spices flavor the air (or is that the Thai stick?), ladyboys populate the backrooms, and the coconut water flows like, well, water. And where comeuppance is a dish best served cold – or hot for that matter. Who the hell cares as long as it is served and it doesn’t run out too soon? Bring it on and serve it up!

We begin in Bologna. I think Jenna feels a bit nervous and knows the eliminations will be more personal. Yeah. Nicole knows she screwed up last week and would be gone without her immunity. She needs to watch herself. John is excited that for the first time, Jenna won’t know the language. I am also excited.

They arrive in Chiang Mai, Thailand and are greeted by the official reality show Thai ambassador/concubine who hands them their instructions. Teams of two must go to Ton Phayom market and get 2 baskets of coconuts.

John and Nooks team up, Liz and Nicole team up, and Avery is left with Jenna. John calls them team oil and water. This will not end well. They find taxis and head out.

The teams arrive at the market with the Black team in the lead. Nookie and John find the coconuts first and fill their 2 baskets. Red and White spy the guys and grab their baskets. The next clue is in Thai and they must find a translator.


Coco-whut?

Did you know, that in some parts of Thailand coconuts are harvested by trained monkeys? This appears on screen as the show’s trained monkeys attempt to balance their lovely bunch of coconuts on their shoulders. Oh Bravo. The vendors laugh at the monkey chefs, but Nookie and John are able to find a guide to lead them to the next location.

They must now grate 5 pounds of coconut and then head to the Mae Taeng rice paddy. John has experience in the world of coconut grating via culinary school. That John is full of surprises.


Every man should shave his coconuts once every 6 weeks

Liz and Nicole arrive, but Jenna and avery are nowhere to be found. Nicole wonders why John is the only one shaving, but then takes note that Nookie can’t fit on the Thai chair (Thaichair! HA!). Is the Thai chair necessary?


Did I hear someone making fun of my coconuts?

Anyway, Avery and Jenna are lost. Jenna and Avery arrive and sneaky sneak by adding the coconut water to their shavings thus increasing the weight. Cheater, cheater coconut eater! John and Nookie finish and are off! Liz and Nicole are 4 minutes behind! With the help of the coconut water, Jenna and Avery are immediately behind them.

When they arrive at the field crossing on the way to the rice paddy, John opts to cross straight through the treacherous terrain and reminds Nookie that he can do it – he’s a soccer player! (?!) Hilariously, Nookie admits that he was a goalie – only because he hated to run. More hilariously, Nookie disappears face down in the field. Once I finish this, I will search long and hard for a GIF of that moment. My weekend will then be complete.


Nookie?  NOOOOKIE!!!!

Holy jeez, Nicole and Liz are bookin’ it. At the rice paddy, they must plant 20 rows of rice, one at a time. They don their official rice paddy plantin’ hats and go to work. Jenna and Avery finally arrive and Jenna decides to put on some strange orange galoshes that everyone else has decided are too stupid looking to wear. And she’s sinking in the mud because of the boots and her weak ankles. Lose the boots, lady, or quit whining about it! Sheesh!


Maybe they’re orthopedic boots?  PS – if you look real close you can see steam coming out of Avery’s ears

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Foggywood
About

Jonathan Mallen grew up in San Francisco, went to college at Santa Clara, and has spent the bulk of his youth living and dying in LA.  Don't worry, mostly living.  He has worked as an actor, teacher, limo driver, waiter, personal assistant, office assistant,  script reader, retail associate, etc etc AND etc...  Very glamorous, he knows.  He is very happy to add blogger to his illustrious resume.

7 Comments

  1. 1
    TVKimmy TVKimmy
    Posted June 23, 2012 at 7:00 am

    We just watched The Hangover 2 last night, so this was a perfect morning accompaniment. Thanks for the great recap. Now, where’s that GIF? :D

  2. 2
    Homer
    Posted June 23, 2012 at 2:10 pm

    Nookie in the rice field was too funny! And I can’t believe how evil Jenna is. She cheated on the challenge by adding water weight, yet Nook waters down the drink and she is bent? I’m so glad she is gone. I’ve decided that Nook should win the whole think. Nicole and Liz are so outta there!
    As usual your recaps are spot on and I enjoy reading them more than watching the show. Now as I watch I think to myself,”What is Foggy going to say about this?” haha

  3. 3
    2muchbravo
    Posted June 24, 2012 at 11:06 am

    Frickin’ Jenna (she’s ruined that name for me forever!) was damn lucky she was on for that long. If that challenge was based on the dish and popularity alone looks like she and Avery would have won. Too bad for her. One wonders why, with all her 10 years of being in charge and being a know-it-all chef, she never won Most Valuable. Hmmm….maybe she annoyed the hell out of Curtis and Cat too!
    I think Nicole’s next. She has to be one of the most boring people on reality zzzzzzzzz….
    How does Avery get that stud up on her cheekbone and isn’t it irritating? Loving the Nookster and think he just may take the whole thing. Great recap, BTW!

  4. 4
    NikkiHughes
    Posted June 24, 2012 at 3:00 pm

    If you want to get TECHNICAL, Nookie didn’t cheat. That was their juice concoction, so if they decided that it needed more water, then that is their call. :P
    Adding the coconut water, however, was changing the weight without doing the work. So, yeah.

  5. 5
    Mummy Butterfly
    Posted June 26, 2012 at 5:17 am

    Great recap! I really can’t wait to see the Nookie-Gif! I DIED when he went down…

    Jenna makes me shudder. I couldn’t believe that Nicole would throw Liz “Under the Bus” (if there was EVER a time to use the cliche reality TV phrase…). Avery was on their side! They could have gotten Jenna OUT (without the lovely John’s help…thank you, John!)

    Did Jenna EVER have a “top dish”? I mean, I know she wasn’t MVC, ever. But was she ever close? Liz is a crier (I understand, it makes for a difficult time for the contestant, but it’s great TV), but Liz won MVC once and she was second under John last week – and wasn’t she called out in the top 2-3 before? Obviously, the girl makes good food. (And wasn’t it JENNA who added the “too much cheese”, in an attempt to get Liz out of the game last week?)

    Seems like Jenna just wanted Liz gone, and it backfired on her! :D YAY! SO glad she’s out of there! Now, Nicole can go – just because of her crappy move this week.

    (Also, why NOT spend all your money? Did they get to keep the extra baht and have ice cream?)

  6. 6
    Sel
    Posted June 26, 2012 at 11:31 am

    Yes! Mummy B, I agree with you. Why would you NOT spend all the money given to you? Do you anticipate people not liking your food? And if you have extra food, well, give it away… Throw it away. Whatever. These food-slash-game shows do their research and if they give contestants a certain amount of money, there is usually a reason. Maybe they get to keep extra money to use in the next leg like in Amazing Race?

  7. 7
    salvadoralexio
    Posted June 26, 2012 at 1:09 pm

    wait a minute, for me this episode made no sense because it seemed like nobody liked the winning team’s food, but they won. I know it was a money challenge but shouldn’t taste have figured in there somewhere? these eliminations are really “unique” alright….

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