Whew. Close one. Stephanie and Jenn found themselves on the chopping block in tonight’s Second City improv-inspired challenge for their failure to fully capture the essence of turned-on orange asparagus. (Apparently, it’s harder to, er, prep a piece of asparagus, than one might think.)

There was enough foreshadowing that we knew a full 15 minutes before her departure that Jenn was going to take the hit for the team’s failure, courtesy of her soggy, oversized bread. Still, it was nerve-wracking. Our hands were shaking a la Steph in Episode 1. We saw the whole season flash before our eyes. We even thought we heard Nimma calling us toward the light.

In the end, Stephanie survived to sear another log of goat cheese. Nonetheless, uncertain times like these call for a stiff drink—or at the very least, a stiff drinking game. That’s why this week we’re launching our own version of the “Top Chef: Chicago” drinking game. We’ll start out simple and progress by adding a new element weekly until we have a total of 10 rules.

This week’s rule: “Every time Lisa curses, you drink.”

In case you weren’t keeping track, tonight’s Total Lisa Curse Count was 9.

(For comparison’s sake, Total Curse Count, All Contestants, was 13.)

Are you with us? C’mon, it’ll be fun!

Granted, nine sips of beer is really not so much. So we recommend you start off with strong beer. (We went with a Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre, at 8% ABV. It’s a sipper anyway.) Feel free to step it down as we add more rules.

Speaking of which, we’d love to hear your suggestions. What should our next rule be? We’re thinking maybe “Drink every time Richard unabashedly compliments himself” or “Drink every time Spike appears wearing a different hat." Check in next week to find out.

Don't forget to visit our friends at The Stew for an episode recap and commentary. For the record, we couldn't agree more: The wrong team lost this week--the judges should have come down much harder on Antonia and Lisa for abandoning their assigned ingredient. This is Chicago, ladies: Embrace the Polish sausage!

We've always been kind of skeptical about Chicago Fashion Week. It has touted itself as the "official fashion week event in the city of Chicago," when in actuality, it's ran by private entertainment and development company MW Productions, booked more non-Chicago designers than local talent for its two shows and has no relation to the City of Chicago-sponsored Fashion Focus Chicago event run every fall.

Since it took us several calls and e-mails just to get the details about their events to list on Metromix.com, we weren't too surprised when we received a vague e-mail announcement last week that Chicago Fashion Week was indeed cancelled.

Today, Chicago Tribune reported on how the event fell apart:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-fashion-show-wedapr23,1,1811157.story

Can't wait until April 29 to buy Madonna's new album "Hard Candy" in stores? Head to Minibar's (click for location) listening party tonight to hear the record in its entirety. In fact, DJ Jon Roberts will play it consecutively until close, beginning at 10 p.m.

Drink specials have yet to be finalized for this week's installment of Minibar's Wednesday powerHour, during which a whistle is blown every hour on the hour to indicate a change in the special (for example, from a cocktail to a shot). No cover.

How excited are you for a new Madonna album? Or is it time for the ol' gal to hang up her mic, not to mention her leather?