When we found out Korean American When Kelly Choi was selected to be the host for Top Chef Masters, we were thrilled. Bravo TV's culinary spin-off reality show premieres tonight, with real-life top chefs competing for their favorite charities.

Some of the elite chefs that will be participating include John Besh, Ricky Bayless, Michael Chiarello, Elizabeth Faulkner, Tim Love, Hebert Keller, Art Smith and Roy Yamaguchi. “These guys are such maestros,” gushes host Kelly Choi. “I couldn’t wait to see how they took [each challenge] and reinterpreted it, made it creative, then made it delicious—or not.

Top Chef Masters judges consist of Gael Greene, a New York Magazine famed restaurant critic for over 40 years, a best-selling author and co-founder of Citymeals-on-Wheels. Joining Gael is Editor-in-Chief of Saveur magazine James Oseland. Rounding out the judges is culinary expert and British journalist, writer and broadcaster Jay Rayner.

Some of the guest star judges include Neil Patrick Harris, Jeff Lewis from “Flipping Out”, Zooey Deschanel, Morgan Spurlock as well as appearances from Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi and Gail Simmons.

Website: Bravo TV: Top Chef Masters
Wednesday June 10 at 10/9c

Season 5 of "The Next Food Network Star" premiered yesterday, and we have one of our own (Korean-American) represented. Debbie Lee, 39 (West Hollywood, Calif.) is a former Hollywood caterer, who now works as a restaurant consultant. Debbie calls her cuisine style “Seoul to Soul,” which represents her Korean heritage and her early childhood years living in the South.

In the first show, Debbie quickly took charge on the first challenge, nominating herself team captain and spearheading the all important shopping trip for ingredients. With 5 years experience as a caterer, I thought she would be the most effective and efficient for completing this task. Boy was I wrong. She was completely un-focused and un-organized, overspent and forgot key ingredients for fellow team members. She also made the executive decision to buy and serve store-bought angel food cake. (Say What?)

Her crab cakes dish were just average, but it was the spicy mayo that really impressed the judges. Luckily there was someone else who was worse in cooking, then Debbie was in shopping, so she barely made it pass the first round. I hope she can improve in the coming weeks, so people can learn more about Korean Cuisine.

Meet Debbie Lee:

Q&A's from The Next Food Network Star
Food specialty: Korean with a Soulful Edge

Favorite restaurant: Buddakan

Three foods you can't live without (other than bread or water): Bacon, fried chicken, and kimchee

Food you won't go near: Anything with stinky blue cheese

Weirdest thing you've ever eaten: Don't know if I have. Once I ate squirrel when I was young. My Aunt Frances told me it's like chicken. Got a little freaked out. But overcame the moment.

Interests: Anything with food of course! I also enjoy music, art, theatre, hiking and yoga.

Favorite Food Network chef: As far as a chef, it's a tie between Bobby Flay, Morimoto, and Michael Symon. In terms of food personalities, it would be a close call between Paula and Giada.

Favorite shows (doesn't have to be Food Network): Man v. Food (just got introduced to it and love it!), anything with Paula Deen, Grey’s Anatomy, American Idol, Top Chef, Project Runway, Iron Chef America, Everyday Italian, Barefoot Contessa

Favorite food destination: Anywhere in Asia of course. Want to go back this fall and travel through the Far East. I would also love to go to the south of France.

Culinary inspirations: Neil Perry, Bobby Flay, Julia Child, Morimoto

Three people, alive or dead, whom you'd like to invite to a dinner party: My grandmother, Neil Perry, and Oprah

Favorite books: Make a Name for Yourself, The Road Less Traveled, The Food I Love

Favorite movies: The Way We Were

Why do you think you should be The Next Food Network Star? I have the most unique culinary point of view and will rock your taste buds with a taste of "Seoul 2 Soul!" My passion for food is my journey on a plate, and I feel everyone watching will relate to my story and embrace it with some good old seoulful cooking.

Watch The Next Food Network Star
Sunday Nights, The Food Channel 9pm/8c
Visit: The Next Food Network Star

Brace yourself. Korean American actor /stud Daniel Henney is crossing back to the USA after setting hearts afire in Asia. In addition to coming off of the underwhelming Wolverine movie in which he plays baddie Agent Zero, he currently landed a gig on Three Rivers, CBS' new medical drama about an organ transplant team which is set to premiere in the Fall.

While Wolverine allowed him to step outside of his normal role as the sensitive romantic lead, no doubt audiences will embrace him as he treads more familiar ground as Three River's transplant doctor. What a shame, I was getting to like Daniel as the bad boy. Oh well - any significant role for an Asian actor is a step in the right direction but here's to hoping that our Korean American brothers get some tasty roles like the one Sam Worthington picked up as Marcus Wright in Terminator. Now that is a stud defining role!

Show Synopsis
THREE RIVERS is a medical drama that goes inside the emotionally complex lives of organ donors, the recipients and the surgeons at the preeminent transplant hospital in the country where every moment counts. However, dealing with donor families in their darkest hour and managing the fears and concerns of apprehensive recipients takes much more than just a sharp scalpel. Leading the elite team is Dr. Andy Yablonski (Alex O'Loughlin), the highly-skilled workaholic lead organ transplant surgeon, whose good-natured personality and sarcastic wit makes him popular with his patients and colleagues. His colleagues include Dr. Miranda Foster (Katherine Moennig), a surgical fellow with a rebellious streak and fiery temper who strives to live up to her deceased father's excellent surgical reputation; Dr. David Lee (Daniel Henney), a womanizing surgical resident who's broken as many hearts as he's replaced; Ryan Abbott (Christopher J. Hanke), the inexperienced new transplant coordinator who arranges the intricately choreographed process of quickly and carefully transporting organs from donor to patient; Dr. Sophia Jordan (Julia Ormond), the head of surgery and a dedicated medical professional; and Pam Acosta (Justina Machado), Andy's no-nonsense operating assistant and best friend. In this high stakes arena, in which every case is a race against the clock, these tenacious surgeons and medical professionals are the last hope for their patients.

CBS: Three Rivers

Paper or plastic? Answer yes to either one within earshot of Planet Green co-host and former MTV anchor Suchin Pak and you’re only asking for trouble. That’s what happened when Pak filled up at a local gas station and observed a customer accepting a plastic bag for her purchase of a single Gatorade bottle.

“I thought, ‘Did she really need that bag to carry one Gatorade bottle five steps out to her car?’” Pak says. Not one to keep her thoughts to herself, Pak confronted the woman. “I said, ‘If you don’t need that bag anymore, I’ll take it back to cashier for him to reuse.’ She looked at me like I was nuts! But then she realized she really didn’t need the bag anyway and gave it to me.”

Pak doesn’t mind berating her friends or even complete strangers about the simple things they can do to live more green. It comes with the territory of enlightening others about a topic she’s passionate about.

Although she doesn’t call herself an activist, Pak certainly thumps the Green lifestyle. Her proselytizing about all things sustainable has even her friends rolling their eyes. But for Pak, being Green is not the trendy in thing to do, it’s everyday life. She’ll carry trash around until she sees a recycling bin, she rarely uses her dryer and she even showers with organic floor soap. Yes, floor soap.

“I love Dr. Woods cleaning products. It works wonders for my house, and it’s great on hair,” Pak insists. “it works so much better than a lot of the cleaning and body products out there. Everything, my house, my bathroom, my hair—they all smell like peppermint.” “I don’t think of living a sustainable lifestyle as a choice,” says Pak. “We have no choice. There is no alternative. Just reading about some of the statistics and facts about what’s happening to our planet has me screaming! And here are just some simple things we can all do to make a huge difference.”

These simple things are showcased in Planet Green’s The G-Word, where Pak gets to explore and divulge green tidbits from sustainability experts and enthusiasts from around the world. No, the GWord is not a call to return to Little House on the Prairie days, preelectricity and running water. The show makes living more green look easy and, well, cool.

Take for instance one episode where Pak and co-host Daniel Seiberg host an eco-friendly bikini fashion show—pieces that look like they’re straight from high fashion summer collection. No longer are green fashions all about hemp clothing, unappealing shapes and fabrics. Now you can wear a chic bikini made of biodegradable fabrics such as organic cotton, soy and bamboo-based products.

So how did Pak get tuned into the Green lifestyle? Well, she is from Berkeley, CA.

“Hippy is in my blood,” she jokes. But you can also say it was engrained in her by her Korean parents.

“My parents were so not hippies, but they were greenest people I knew,” says Pak. “They always reused everything, and never wasted food. They’d take old water and use it to water the plants. Maybe it’s an Asian thing, but as I got older and started making my own decisions, I never really forgot those values.”

Listening to Pak praise the wonders of floor soap, it seems Pak should be dreadlocked and barefoot on Haight and Ashbury. But the petite former MTV anchor defies the stereotype of people who actually care about the environment.

“I’m pretty high maintenance,” Pak says. “I won’t use it or wear it if it seriously does not look that good on me or doesn’t give me the same kind of results as other products would. You won’t catch me wearing hemp clothes or tire sandals.”

While some of Pak’s green lifestyle may seem a little extreme for some, Pak insists that going green is actually a piece of cake.

“It’s all about tapping into a new routine,” says Pak. “Everyone knows how to throw something in the trash, but it doesn’t take that much effort to toss that item in the recycling bin right next to it. It’s also about becoming more aware about the products you use and how you use it. I think what’s great about the G-word is that it talks about living green in an easier and accessible language we can all understand, and how we can apply it to our everyday lives.”

Visit Website: Planet Green | G Word
Youtube: G Word Playlist