http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/masterchef/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/top-tips-for-becoming-a-reality-tv-star/ Christmas is over, the hangover from New Years has receded and instead of having a New Years resolution of giving up smoking or losing weight, you have decided you want to be a reality TV star. Whether it is to be famous, or just to have an interesting unique experience, here are some tips that will get you closer to hearing “lights, cameras, action”! Being sexy, humorous or able to cause conflict may help you get on the show, however, all shows need a diversity of people to make it interesting and to keep it real. 1. Decide which show you are best suited for. If you can’t sing or dance forget the talent shows like The Voice, The X Factor or Australia’s Got Talent. If you can cook Masterchef Australia, and My Kitchen Rules are possibilities. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/top-tips-for-becoming-a-reality-tv-star/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/top-tips-for-becoming-a-reality-tv-star/#item7482 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Just another night in suburban Australia and the natives are hungry. What’s on the menu? Stir fry, spaghetti bolognese, meat and three veg. Repeat. For a nation of smug, telly-watching food obsessives, we’re sure doing a bad job of actually cooking the stuff. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-to-save-dinner-from-mediocrity/ Just another night in suburban Australia and the natives are hungry. What’s on the menu? Stir fry, spaghetti bolognese, meat and three veg. Repeat. For a nation of smug, telly-watching food obsessives, we’re sure doing a bad job of actually cooking the stuff. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-to-save-dinner-from-mediocrity/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-to-save-dinner-from-mediocrity/#item6678 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Just another night in suburban Australia and the natives are hungry. What’s on the menu? Stir fry, spaghetti bolognese, meat and three veg. Repeat. For a nation of smug, telly-watching food obsessives, we’re sure doing a bad job of actually cooking the stuff. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/My-gleaming-stainless-steel-little-room-of-joy/ Bee Wilson stood transfixed in the fridge aisle; so many choices, so little time.  Did she want the ice and water combo or the stainless steel double door? And would either one go better with the splashback they’d chosen? If that scenario sounds familiar, you are not alone. The British food blogger who fell in love with her fridge, is just a product of a new generation. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/My-gleaming-stainless-steel-little-room-of-joy/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/My-gleaming-stainless-steel-little-room-of-joy/#item6518 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Just another night in suburban Australia and the natives are hungry. What’s on the menu? Stir fry, spaghetti bolognese, meat and three veg. Repeat. For a nation of smug, telly-watching food obsessives, we’re sure doing a bad job of actually cooking the stuff. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Save-your-empathy-for-real-people-with-real-problems/ “She deserves to be here,” sobbed Dani, with her big puppy dog eyes and glossy black hair. What a tragedy. Cleo, one of the most popular chefs in the Masterchef kitchen, had ignored the rules to prepare both her toffee dish and her chocolate ganache at the same time. Her elimination was inevitable. Her dream was over. And we all sniffled too, as the ever-stoic Cleo departed the Masterchef kitchen and returned home to her miniature poodles. Ad break. News headlines. Oprah. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Save-your-empathy-for-real-people-with-real-problems/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Save-your-empathy-for-real-people-with-real-problems/#item5948 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Just another night in suburban Australia and the natives are hungry. What’s on the menu? Stir fry, spaghetti bolognese, meat and three veg. Repeat. For a nation of smug, telly-watching food obsessives, we’re sure doing a bad job of actually cooking the stuff. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gangsterchef/ For years, I avoided The Sopranos because I thought it was a show about high-pitched singers. When I realised it was actually about mobsters, I never missed an episode. Who doesn’t love gangster shows? Until recently, I also avoided MasterChef, as I don’t much care for cooking shows. Then I learned that it, too, is in fact a show about gangsters. Now I’m glued to the thing six nights a week! What’s this, you say? MasterChef really is actually a cooking show? Sure. And Kyle Sandilands is a good bloke. Without question, MasterChef is a show about gangsters. Let’s examine the evidence… feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Lightweight http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gangsterchef/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gangsterchef/#item5946 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Just another night in suburban Australia and the natives are hungry. What’s on the menu? Stir fry, spaghetti bolognese, meat and three veg. Repeat. For a nation of smug, telly-watching food obsessives, we’re sure doing a bad job of actually cooking the stuff. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-sustainable-foodie-future-let-them-eat-bugs/ I have a challenge for the foodies of Australia. Yes, you - the ones out there who’ve been glued to Masterchef, thrilling the neighbours with your medallions of immature ovine, steeped in a garcon’s thimble of the reduced subcutaneous oleaginous lipids of the common or garden canard, garnished with a frisson of cresson. I think it’s time we stepped it up a notch. You may think you are adventurous, perhaps even original.  feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-sustainable-foodie-future-let-them-eat-bugs/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-sustainable-foodie-future-let-them-eat-bugs/#item4814 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Just another night in suburban Australia and the natives are hungry. What’s on the menu? Stir fry, spaghetti bolognese, meat and three veg. Repeat. For a nation of smug, telly-watching food obsessives, we’re sure doing a bad job of actually cooking the stuff. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/were-fooling-ourselves-if-we-think-were-real-foodies/ Chocolate is the latest product in our foodie, got-to-have-it, made-to-order craze. Arno Backes, a Melbourne based chocolatier says there’s growing popularity and interest in the way chocolate is made, with more and more us demanding fine European couverture and a specific cocoa content. “We’ve ended up with a real chocolate culture,” Backes told The Age. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/were-fooling-ourselves-if-we-think-were-real-foodies/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/were-fooling-ourselves-if-we-think-were-real-foodies/#item4597 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Just another night in suburban Australia and the natives are hungry. What’s on the menu? Stir fry, spaghetti bolognese, meat and three veg. Repeat. For a nation of smug, telly-watching food obsessives, we’re sure doing a bad job of actually cooking the stuff. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/theres-no-such-thing-as-junk-food-only-junk-diets/ At least once a week, when I open the newspaper there seems to be some fresh new panic about the tsunami of childhood obesity that is crashing on our golden sandy beaches which a generation or two ago were filled with healthy bronzed young men and women who were either training for the next Olympic Games or about to pull on a pair of battered Dunlop Volley sandshoes, borrow a beaten up old wooden racquet and fly off to win Wimbledon. Yep, every time a politician opens his or her mouth (usually on the way to a four course five star lunch at a taxpayer funded Parliamentary Dining Room) they sadly shake their heads, wobble their double chins and lament the rise of the TV obsessed Generation XXL. If you ask most people who they blame for this sad decline, they would nominate a man who might be best described as Richard Nixon, Colonel Sanders and Hannibal Lector all rolled into one. I’m talking of course about Ronald McDonald. He’s there, supersizing our kids against their better judgement till their belts burst open. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/theres-no-such-thing-as-junk-food-only-junk-diets/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/theres-no-such-thing-as-junk-food-only-junk-diets/#item4281 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Just another night in suburban Australia and the natives are hungry. What’s on the menu? Stir fry, spaghetti bolognese, meat and three veg. Repeat. For a nation of smug, telly-watching food obsessives, we’re sure doing a bad job of actually cooking the stuff. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-doesnt-anyone-just-eat-normal-food-any-more/ The other day I was at a pub, which is not unusual in itself. The pub also had a $10 steak menu, which is also not uncommon. Incredibly, I decided to have a steak. The woman behind the counter dutifully took the order and then asked what sauce I would like with it. “I’ll just have gravy,” I said. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-doesnt-anyone-just-eat-normal-food-any-more/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-doesnt-anyone-just-eat-normal-food-any-more/#item4278 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Just another night in suburban Australia and the natives are hungry. What’s on the menu? Stir fry, spaghetti bolognese, meat and three veg. Repeat. For a nation of smug, telly-watching food obsessives, we’re sure doing a bad job of actually cooking the stuff. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-to-fill-the-masterchef-void/ I was spending some quality time with channel 10 the other night. It was blathering on about how good it’s life is now, and I was only half listening. But I did hear it accidently say Masterchef’s name when it was talking about its new friend, Jamie Oliver’s Road Trip. You see, Channel 10 needs us, guys. In recent times it was on top of the world: Masterchef was the most watched non-sporting event in Australian television history, with the finale reaching a peak of over four million viewers. It was raking in sponsorship and commercial money, there’s book royalties to look forward to, it seemed like things could never go wrong. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-to-fill-the-masterchef-void/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-to-fill-the-masterchef-void/#item3671 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Just another night in suburban Australia and the natives are hungry. What’s on the menu? Stir fry, spaghetti bolognese, meat and three veg. Repeat. For a nation of smug, telly-watching food obsessives, we’re sure doing a bad job of actually cooking the stuff.