That didn't go as planned

So Jennifer left Top Chef last week, but I think my predictions had some merit.  First, I think the time off did Jennifer well - she seemed to be much stronger (both in attitude and in hair) than she did at the end of the regular season.  She performed well in the quickfire and seemed* to do well in the elimination challenge.

Mike V. also lived up to my expectations, in terms of making ostensibly risky decisions (the 63 degree egg, which led to the awesome "it's up to the egg at this point" statement).

The big disappointment for me was in the show's editing.  Leading up to the final announcement, it seemed that Michael's dish was not strong (i.e., the risky egg decision had backfired AS I PREDICTED LAST WEEK) and Jennifer seemed to have done well.  When they announced that Jennifer would be packing her knives, I was a bit surprised.  Then, reading Tom's blog I read:

"It may not make sense to you but it was clear to us immediately that it would be Jen who would be going home. What it came down to was that both of her dishes were way too salty. Jen’s overseasoning of both her dishes stood out to the judges like a sore thumb. We had our conversation at Judges' Table about whom to send home, but it was pro forma; we already knew and were in complete accord."

OF COURSE IT DIDN'T MAKE SENSE TO ME AS THE EDITORS SEEMED MORE INTENT ON KEEPING UP A MYSTERY THAN ON PROVIDING AN ACCURATE CHARACTERIZATION OF THE JUDGE'S DISCUSSIONS.

Meh.  I still vote Kevin for the win, as does apparently ever other person on the internet.

Other notes:
This is a relative statement, but Padma didn't look nearly as attractive as she historically has.  The bangs looked somewhat ridiculous.

I had the Daisy Cutter Pale Ale, which gets insanely high ratings on beeradvocate.com, higher than Alpha King even.  I don't get it.  It smelled fantastic, like a thick and rich double IPA, but it tasted very, very thin.  I didn't care for the disconnect at all - for that taste, I wanted something much richer and velvety.