Masterchef

“A franchise that has been stretched a year too far with John and Gregg, whose credentials for judging brilliance in the kitchen have always seemed somewhat sketchy, becoming ever greater parodies of themselves.”

John Crace, The Guardian

Masterchef New Zealand - The Final

Watching Ross, the rude fat bloke and the scary bloke in glasses judge the final... And all I can think is... I miss Gary, George & Matt from the Australian show.

Masterchef New Zealand #2

Finding the New Zealand version of Masterchef hilarious, but for all the wrong reasons. And by 'hilarious' I mean 'crap.'

My wife summed up the experience of watching the show really well, despite having watched every episode of the series so far, it still feels like you are are joining it in the middle and don't know or care who any of hopefuls are. 

And none of them can cook. I mean... at all. 

Not doing the image of New Zealand food any favours.

And why does Ross Burden talk like an out of control Speak and Spell? He makes William Shatner's famous stilted delivery sound flowing and natural. 

So why watch? 

I guess because like with any car crash TV its difficult to look away. There is a strange and morbid fascination with just how naff it can get. It's not bad... just feels like it's a version of Masterchef done by a load of media students.

Masterchef New Zealand is on Watch. 

Great Carrots

Went down to the farmers market this morning. It was pretty quiet thanks to stinking North London weather but there was some fantastic produce to be found. 


Vegetables covered in mud, clearly fresh out of the ground, begging to be cooked. There is something very exciting about seeing a knobly carrot, a parsnip or a potato covered in mud, wet from the rain and just waiting to be taken home and cooked. Well, there is to me anyway.


Compare that to the carrots that you get from a supermarket. All the same size, all the same shape, straight, boring... dull. Of course I've bought carrots, and other veg, from a super market just saying I prefer the ones from the market. 


Also managed to get a smoked ham hock... which is also very exciting and I might well post about tomorrow when I've worked out what to do with it. Is it a little sad that I get excited by pork and carrots? Probably... 

New Job

So I got a new job. Which is great, but already Confessions has taken a hit. It's difficult to keep up this very high level of writing and insight while doing a job. He says... coughing... Ill try and keep the posting up because I love it, just need to juggle the cooking, eating, digesting and posting with the job.

Angry Dumplings

We are having a long slow cook beef stew tonight, which my wife is cooking. It was my job to make the dumplings... According to my wife they look angry. I'm not sure what an 'angry dumpling' looks like... but to be fair she is probably right.

Valentines Day Lunch

A long walk and then into the Rose & Crown. Simple, uncomplicated, good proper pub food.

A couple of pints and the woman I love.

What more could a man ask for on V Day?

A sharing sausage platter of four distinctly different sausages, one a white chicken and three pork, sparky sauerkraut, a selection of mustards and hot, crunchy, properly salted chips. Perfect with a beer... perfect to share... perfect lunch.