Absence makes the heart grow......

Oh Possums! Please forgive our silence!

Contrary to public opinion, we have not:
1.) fallen victim to the Matt Lorenz drinking game and entered rehab
2.) joined (formerly Teflon) Don Imus in a crusade to bring civility and non-meanness to the airwaves
3.) joined the rogue gypsy bunch known as the "Travelers" to escape the wrath of Alexis Arquette

This Miss is completely covered-up (as we say in the South!) planning a permanent relocation back to California and Charlus is in the middle of an extended business trip.

We will see you all (y'all!) next week. Oh, how I love to make Charlus cringe with my abuse of the written word! Well, that's what happens when the "hourly" are in charge!

Top Chef and Adjudged "Top Chef" Winner Dish It Out

Alas, possums, if you were hoping this post would be about a quasi-sexual fantasy involving Top Chef Harold Dieterle, adjudged Top Chef winner Ilan Hall, and the rattan chair and whip from Casino Royale, you will be sorely disappointed.

Instead, we wanted to note that the charming and no-nonsense Harold, whose new restaurant, Perilla, is slated to open very, very soon, was featured at the Food and Wine Best New Chefs Showcase. As per Bravo blogger and boy reporter extraordinaire Raggaydy Andy Cohen, other Top Chef alumni in attendance were Ilan Hall, Josie Malave-Smith, Sam Talbot, and Season One's Andrea Beaman and Miguel Morales. Our haughty, lynx-like, Canadian schoolmistress pinup Gail Simmons (when we're feeling a little lezzie, we have fantasies of Gail in a culinary remake of Mädchen in Uniform) also was present.

So what was on the menu? Ilan "Mutton Dressed as Lamb" Hall ("What about 'Wolf in Sheep's Clothing' or 'Shorn Sheep'?" asks Miss XaXa) served "a fantastic lamb medley and Harold made some rock shrimp and mushroom with some Marcelian foam." Alas, no word from Raggaydy Andy as to what "Knock-Off King" Ilan was wearing.