It’s time for the Obon Festival in Japan. (It usually is held in mid-August. This episode originally aired on August 15, 1997). The challenger is a buddhist monk who prepares what the chairman calls “Nouveau Vegetarian Cuisine.” She is the younger sister of the challenger from episode 237. The chairman announces the theme by talking about its “. . .purple color. Yes, that vegetable. . .” The chairman says to remember that Obon vegetarian dishes should have “light, simple flavor.” (淡味 or “tanmi.” I can’t find it defined but the kanji literally mean “light” and “flavor”. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.)
This episode does show the winner announcement, but we don’t get the see the scores.
New in the database this week: 531OA
tuthead
21 September, 2009
Tonight, the Iron Chef Collection served its 100,000th file.
A big thank you goes out to everyone who have enjoyed any of the clips and episodes on the site. Keep it up.
I still have more ICC Exclusives to add in the coming months. In fact, there is an episode uploading right now. It should be available to watch and download later tonight. (And I’m hoping to make another announcement soon about some possible episode acquisitions. Stay tuned.)
–Keith
tuthead
21 September, 2009
It’s time for another ICC Exclusive episode. This week, I present the second battle of Iron Chef Italian Kobe’s Kitchen Stadium career. Of course, he lost his debut in the Short Pasta Battle (522OA).
Iron Chef Kobe lost his first battle in Kitchen Stadium. Chairman Kaga was not happy. To challenge Kobe this time, the Chairman brings in a true Italian chef. He has cooked for many famous people, including Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bill Gates, and that 3rd tenor guy. He began cooking at the age of 13. At the time of this battle, he had only been in Japan for two months. (BTW, if anyone speaks Italian and can translate what the challenger says, please post it in a comment. Thanks.)
- You can tell it’s only Kobe’s second battle. He is quicker to the podium this time than in his debut, but he still isn’t at a full sprint like we are used to seeing.
- One of the guests/judges is named Sunplaza Nakano. I tried to find more information about him, but his website is down. And most of the search results were for the Sun Plaza Hotel in Nakano.
- The female guest Takahashi Hitomi likes cabbage and is happy that it is the theme. Unfortunately, Sunplaza Nakano said he hates it.
- Kobe told Ohta that even in his second battle, he is still nervous.
- I think the challenger said that he thinks Kobe’s costume makes him look like a clown. And at one point he calls the bald-headed Sunplaza Nakano “Tamago-san,” or Egg-man.
- The challenger’s dishes: Italian-style Cabbage Dango (dumpling) Soup, Handmade Cabbage Pasta, Cabbage Gnocchi, Cabbage Mousse with Vanilla Sauce.
- The Iron Chef’s dishes: Three Flavor Cabbage, Cabbage Soup Espresso Style, Cabbage Ravioli Gratin, Iron Chef-style Bonito Carpaccio, Cabbage Sherbet.
Will the new Iron Chef finally overcome the pressure to get his first victory? Watch and find out.
New in the database this week: Cabbage Battle – Kobe vs. Tabacci (528OA)
I’m going to try to get two more episodes posted before the end of the weekend.
tuthead
11 September, 2009
I’m always surprised at how frequently I come across Iron Chef connections in the other Japanese media I enjoy. While I now actively search for BKS videos, a lot of my early contributions to Beyond Kitchen Stadium were found purely by accident while watching other Japanese shows. Today, I present a few new videos that were found when my other Japanese entertainment interests intersected with Iron Chef.
I got this message not too long ago: “Just wondering if that guest judge on Chen bean sprout battle was the guy that Fujimoto Miki did the enka song with. He looked familiar.” I looked up the episode in question and found that it was indeed the same singer. Takao Horiuchi was a judge for three of our episodes. (Judge: Milk-529OA, Spanish Mackerel-612, Bean Sprout-717). Below are six songs that judge Takao Horiuchi sang with members of Hello Project. Most of these came from the Japanese television show Uta Doki! Pop Classics. (You know some of the girls from Hello! Project from Ryori no Tetsu-Kappa, Ryori no Tetsu-Musume, and these two BKS videos.)
Coming later this week, two new Japanese language episodes.
tuthead
6 September, 2009