Episode one, A Starry Sky

The first morning of the shoot, we must be up and ready to go by 7 AM. I wander to the breakfast room for coffee and food. I only met one of the competitors (Aristo) on the shuttle from the airport, so I look around carefully for others that might be looking around too. Sure enough we all spotted one another, some how, and sit at a table together. Introducing as we eat, we tell short versions of our personal stories. We notice a good looking guy just standing by the elevators with a placard around his neck hanging from and lanyard. It's now 7 and we all approach him asking if he is our driver and he confirms. We then notice the placard has all of our pictures on it. This way he can make sure he doesn't pick up some stranger. We all found this very humorous. We all pile into the long van and off we go to the studio. We get a quick tour of the green room where we hang out waiting for the next call to shoot or to interview, and where we eat our lunch and chat. As we walk around checking out the set (the back of the set since they want us to be surprised when we go into shoot) and meeting the rest of the crew, we all notice everyone on set has our pictures around their neck! Cool!

They escort us back to the green room tell us to go to makeup. Then we get into the clothes they picked out of our suitcases and put our aprons on and it's go time! OMG, this is real! I am doing this! Nerves are beginning to set in and my heart is pounding so loud I can hear it in my ears. We stand outside the door to the set, makeup checks our faces, sound checks our mics, they tell us the order to walk in and we line up, and wait. And wait. And wait. If I don't think too much the nerves die down but if I try to figure out what is going to happen when those doors open, my whole body shivers. So I just try to stay calm and breathe. The doors open, and we file in looking around at the amazing set with all the kitchens set up and the wall lined with equipment and food. The nerves are suddenly gone! This is my happy place in the midst of kitchens and food. Now I am getting excited and I can't stop smiling. Jesse Palmer walks out to greet us and he is more handsome in person than he is on TV! And tall! And very nice too. He is not super goofy like Bobby Dean but he puts us at ease and is fun to interact with. He fits right into this amazing group of competitors that have been chosen. As he explains the challenge, (Run up pick and candy cane and make a dessert reflecting the flavor and use the cane in it too) my head starts to spin with ideas...I want those red ones I tell myself. Go! We run up to the table and Ian's feet trip me on the way up, I almost fall but catch myself on the table, grab the red canes and run back to the table. We were instructed to shout out the flavor when we turn over the card with it written on it. "I got raspberry" I call out. The first thing that pops in my head is that chocolate goes really well with raspberry so I run around getting chocolate, fresh raspberries, raspberry puree, fresh basil and whipped cream. I make the brownie layer thin so I can put it on the bottom of a raspberry mousse. I run to the oven and barely get it on the shelf! I guess my nerves were not totally gone. I make the mousse cut out the brownies, assemble the dessert and begin plating. I still haven't found a use for the artificial raspberry flavored candy cane. I decide to cut it up and fold it into whipped cream and put a nice quenelle on top. The color bleeds a bit into the cream but it is way too late to do anything about that. Sauce, sprinkle and done, times up! I just completed my very first challenge on the show! YEAH! And it looks damned good too! 

I take it to the judges, they have a few critiques, which I knew like the cream and red food color bleed. Overall though, they loved it. 
Well that wasn't too bad at all and I'm feeling pretty confident going into the next challenge. 
We file out for more makeup, a set change and interviews. After a couple hours we return for the elimination challenge. For this one we grab a glass off a beautifully set dinner table and inside is a card with the name and ingredients of a holiday drink. We need to make a dessert highlighting the flavors in the drink. I grab one run back to my kitchen and I get Mulled Wine! Yeah! I love mulled wine and immediately think of poached pears. My strategy at this point is to stick with what I know and don't get too wild, yet. 
NONE of us want to be the first one off so we all try to play it a bit safe with familiar flavors. 
I make a classic poached pear almond tart. I poach the pears in a classic mulled wine concoction. 
It smells amazing as it cooks. I know this is going to be a good one! I cut out star cookies and sprinkle gold sugar crystals over each one and pop them in the oven. 
At this point, Jesse comes out to tell us about the twist. We all forgot about the twist. It is peanuts in their shell. What can I do with those?? Peanuts do not go well with my dessert no matter which way I incorporate them. "Peanuts are for elephants!" So since I over baked my first tray of cookies I decide to cut out another tray and put a peanut in the center of each one and then sprinkle the gold sugar over. The cookies are small enough and I hope the flavor spreads throughout the cookie. Then I reduce the wine for a sauce on the plate. Three minutes left I swipe the sauce with a brush, place the tart on the plate and then carefully place one large star and one small star on the plate. 
The judges love it, Lorraine says it looks like a starry night. They all say they taste the mulled wine and the only problem is that darned peanut cookie... well, no kidding. I was so excited I ran back to the green room burst through the door and shouted, "They Fucking LOVED IT!" Everyone turned around laughing and shushed me because there were interviews going on in the other room!
So I made it to the top three on the first round, I feel great and ready for next week!