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That sounds kind of dirty, doesn't it?

I was all set to write a really long post about what I thought about the Top Chef finale, but then Anthony Bourdain came along and put my thoughts into much better words than I would have come up with.

*Here be spoilers*

Overall, I was really disappointed. I think once Sam was kicked out last week, I knew it wouldn't have a satisfying ending. He was the best cook out of the bunch, the most creative, and had the dishes I was most drooling over. Marcel is a one-trick pony who is doing stuff that even I had heard about years ago, so I wasn't that impressed. And Ilan seemed a decent enough chef, if he could have just let go of his hatred for Marcel for one minute. So I suppose in the end I think that Ilan deserved to win over Marcel, if for no other reason than I think that he would put the money to better use. But really, any competition that didn't have Sam competing at the end wasn't really a competition.

I think I'm going to have to go back and watch the first season on DVD. Everywhere I read, it seems like it was much more about the cooking and less about the personalities.

There are some really cool photos here.

A couple months ago, the Big Damn Chefs: The International Browncoat Charity Cookbook was published, full of recipes and more submitted by fans of Joss Whedon's should-have-been-a-hit show, "Firefly." All proceeds are going to benefit Freedom from Hunger, an international development organization working in seventeen countries to help women with innovative and sustainable self-help solutions to the fight against chronic hunger and poverty.

Well, now the Browncoat Relief Corps have announced a second cookbook to benefit charity, and they are collecting submissions, artwork, essays and more. If you'd like to submit something, the submission guidelines are on the Big Damn Chefs Web site. (By the way, for non-"Firefly" fans, Big Damn Chefs is a take-off on Big Damn Heros, a reference to the cast of "Firefly" and "Serenity.")

According to the press release:

"The non-profit corporation which produced the original Browncoat cookbook, Browncoat Relief Corps (also known as the BRC), is working on coordinating the sequel volume, draft titled Big Damn Chefs Rise Again. The cookbook is a collaborative charity project, a collection of recipes submitted by fans (also known as Browncoats) and the cast/crew of Joss Whedon's Firefly television show and the movie Serenity."

I have to admit, I am a huge fan of Joss Whedon, "Firefly" and the Browncoats (fans of the show). I've seen too many instances of the Browncoats coming together to raise money for charity or raise awareness of other organizations not to be impressed, and I'm a big supporter of anything that could help Joss Whedon produce more stuff!

I would near sell my soul for a piece of chocolate cake and chocolate-covered strawberries by Ms. Kim Stacks Mills, our day desk chief. Luckily, it didn't take my soul, just a pair of handmade fingertip-less gloves for those cold copy desk drafts.

(Mine, however, was on a flimsy yellow paper plate and did not involve ice cream. Quite enjoyable, nevertheless.)

Of course, stuff like this just works against my New Year's resolutions. Ah well.

This, my friends, is why Rachel Ray's face is everywhere you go. Rather than spending all her time on how to make a bunch of complicated dishes, she goes for the basics. Like how to open a jar.

However, her audience is starting to resemble Oprah's -- they clap every time she does something, no matter what it is. Next thing you know, she'll start handing out cars to everyone in the audience while they scream like banshees.

So cool! I might have to attempt one of these geeky cakes. I especially love the penguin cake, even if I'm not that knowledgeable about Linux. I just have a thing for penguins.

I've been thinking about it for a while now, but turns out my sugar count was higher than it should have been at my doctor's visit this morning. Given the fact that my family is full of diabetics, I need to do something about it.

I'm going to try the online thing for three months to see if I can stick with it. I've got a couple gals in the office who have done it and are willing to help me make the adjustments.

Just for giggles, I plugged my veggie chili recipe into the tracker, and it turns out that if you say 1 gallon = 10 servings (about 1.6 cups per serving), then each serving equals 3 points. Given that they say I get 31 points a day, that's not too bad, I don't think. I'll let you know in a few weeks when I've been doing this for a while.

Any tips or tricks from people who have been down this road before?

So I made this today:

Looks scrumptious and divine, right? It was. Calorie-laden and diet-breaking? Not even close.

It's a Diet Coke cake. That's right, it's made with Diet Coke. I was skeptical, too, at first, but I decided to try it to satisfy the curiosity of my co-workers and all of you out there.

It's very simple. Buy a chocolate cake mix. Instead of adding eggs, milk, water, whatever it requires, you add a can (12 ounces) of Diet Coke. That's it. Then bake as directed.

To ice it, I mixed one 12-ounce tub of Cool Whip Free with a package of instant fat-free chocolate pudding. Once the cake was cooled, I spread it on thick with a spatula. If it's going to be around for a while, you'll need to refrigerate it. I brought most of it to work, so I didn't have that problem.

My husband and I, who both hate the taste of Diet Coke, couldn't detect it in the finished product.

Messages throughout the night from my skeptical co-workers:

"dude, it's amaaaaaaazing!!!"

"oh my! delicious! im totally making that at home. ... it tastes like real cake. i can't taste diet coke at all."

"man, there's cake left. i'm going in. again."

Chocolate cake mix (not prepared)
Calories per serving: 160
Calories from fat: 25
Fat: 2.5 g

Diet Coke
Calories: 0
Fat: 0

Cool Whip Free
Calories per serving: 15
Fat: 0 g

Jell-O fat-free chocolate pudding mix (not prepared)
Calories: Less than 6 (It's 35 at 4 servings, so at 24 servings, I'm figuring less than 6 calories a person. Let me know if my math is off.)
Fat: 0 g

Total per serving:
Calories: 180-181
Fat: 2.5 g
WW points: 3

Making a regular cake mix (before icing):
Calories: 260
Fat: 2.5

According to some message boards I read, you can also make this with any sort of diet soda. Make a black forest cake with diet Cheerwine. Make a lemon cake with diet Sprite. Or try any of the many diet sodas that are out there, combined with some fat-free Cool Whip and fat-free pudding mix. Let me know if you come up with any great combinations!

So my order from eBay arrived today, just in time for entertaining guests next weekend:

The head removes to allow you to add ice and cold drinks. As soon as the doorbell rang, I was up like Pavlov's dog running for it, making my husband wonder what was going on. I knew what it had to be, and I've been excitedly awaiting its arrival. How much of a geek am I? :)