What is there, really, to say about this episode but, “Awwwwwwwwwww…”? I mean, those kids! Their parents! Adorable. Tearz. Real waterworks. 

Well, let’s start from the top. And by “the top,” I mean, “the part where Ruth, James, and Francis risk their careers by cooking on the TeeVee.” Fun fact: The three of us did actually sit outside the kitchen before the challenge, saying things like, “No, really, I think this could ruin my career.” We were talking about our food careers, of course—fairly or not, who can respect a critic who cooks like a buffoon?—but considering Ruth was putting on her best French Maid-by-way-of-Greenwich-Village accent, James was trying to sound like an Oklahoma belle, and I dug back into my childhood to find my Deep Jersey Doofus (“Ay, yo, chef!”), our acting careers were certainly going to be smothered in their cradles.

And it turned out that we didn’t need to disguise our voices anyway, since the awesome hum of the ventilation fans, the desperate clacking of knives and clanging of pots made it almost impossible for the chefs and their remote-controlled cooking droids—that’s us—to hear each other anyway. By the time I heard Lorena tell me to put water on for pasta, Elvis had already left the building with a gaggle of groupies. But still, we at least crushed the sauce part of the dish. Big laughs, big hugs, mad respect, and let’s never do that again. Ok, I’d do that again. Next time, we’ll use cilantro, Lorena!