Masterchef

I have a strange relationship with this show. I want to like it. I watched the first season with a passion - recorded every ep for when I was on arvo shift. But then wasn't able to watch the final week because we were on a ski holiday and the house only had Foxtel!! So three months of solid viewing to be robbed of the last week.

I didn't watch Celebrity MC because it didn't interest me. Same for Junior MC. Same for series 2. But I wanted to watch this one. Even made a Facebook critique group.

But 7.30 is a bad time for me, channel 10 no longer works in our kitchen where I'm trying to clear up after dinner. Mark has an xbox, so he's in the lounge room where channel 10 does work.

But two weeks with my mum in Melbourne and I got hooked. It was New York week. But it was stupid. One of the challenges was making a 3 course meal, but they had to do a treasure hunt to find what the recipe was within Times Square, then make their way to that restaurant, then to the Four Seasons Restaurant, then cook a very intricate dish all within 3.5hrs. Another challenge was Harlem Soul food that they had to reproduce within a ridiculous time limit and were not given recipes. If someone told me to cook "collared greens" or "gumbo" after one taste I'd be screwed. And I'm 10-15 years older (ie more life experience) than most of the contestants.

Why give them time limits, make it you have a day (like real chefs do - they prepare in the morning, cook at the time) and the producers can do their thing and EDIT the footage. There is no reason that anyone should have undercooked chicken because they spent most of their time peeling potatoes.

In the soul food episode they should have shown us how to make the roux for the Mac & Cheese. Where are the recipes?
Fried chicken, someone should talk us through it.
Ribs... what was in the sauce?

Frustrating!