Past Seasons Discussion

[katisha]

10 hours ago, misgabi13 said:

I'm still here but not commenting as every time I say something it seems to annoy people and they post things that make me sad!  

I am sorry to hear that, @misgabi13. That's why I always apologise if I say anything anti-Tim. Different opinions make the world a more interesting place in my view, as long as they are expressed in a civil way.

24 minutes ago, babs1226 said:

This cook was a letdown altogether.  There wasn't one dish that the judges raved over.  I bet Simon's dish would have been a lot better if he stuck to his original plan.  Too bad the time pressure got to him. 

I totally agree, @babs1226. As always in these challenges, the ingredients which had to be featured were very unequal in terms of prep time required. Nicole and Tim didn't have proteins to prep at all and Simon had the fiddliest one of all, marron. They really should allow extra time for those who have a more difficult ingredient. I doubt a professional kitchen would operate by giving the person on the duck dish the same prep time as the person doing a cheese platter.

[retrograde]

13 hours ago, katisha said:

* tumbleweed *

Where is everyone? Has this season really been so dull everyone's tuned out? 

Kinda. I'm not not watching it, but finding it hard to get excited about anyone.

[Mellowyellow]

Mourning the elimination of Derek so I've got zero will to watch. 

He was a good adventurous cook, handsome and he was so nice 😭😢

[akr]

2 hours ago, retrograde said:

Kinda. I'm not not watching it, but finding it hard to get excited about anyone.

Like I said earlier, I'm finding this part of the season kind of frustrating, as some not so strong contestants are still hanging on & there aren't enough of the standouts left (a lot of good people left in the middle).  That's always true at this stage I think, but also I think I just get a little fatigued by it at the end.  Still, when there are 15 people cooking, someone is bound to do something interesting, for good or ill, & probably several of both; when there are only 7, and they probably aren't the best 7, too often the results are a little underwhelming. This last ep, with the bottom 5 of a not especially strong top 7 cooking, was inevitably going to include some mediocre performances, but I didn't expect the overall performance to be as weak as it was. 

Also, for what it's worth, there's a bit more conversation on reddit than here, and the overall vibe there is kind (although nobody was that impressed with the  latest episode), so I'm as likely to comment there as here. 

[eta: @misgabi13 - sorry you've been feeling piled on a bit - I hope I haven't contributed. I'm always interested in what you have to say 😉.]

Edited July 9, 2019 by akr

[misgabi13]

I apologise for my sooky post - it has been a hard couple of months and this was my vent!

Katisha and akr wasn't you!

I just reached peak 'not happy' and the posts of one or two people did my head in - I will try to do better!

[babs1226]

I thought today's challenges were good, but I felt so bad for the girls having to run up and down those stairs.  I also thought the outcome was fair.  I thought Nicole made a good point.  Tessa was definitely focused on winning, while Nicole, who probably thought she had no chance in hell against Tessa ,focused on making a delicious dish.  Good job, Nicole.

The team challenge looks interesting.  My only hope is that Simon gets to be on the winning team for once.

[katisha]

35 minutes ago, babs1226 said:

I thought today's challenges were good, but I felt so bad for the girls having to run up and down those stairs.  I also thought the outcome was fair.  I thought Nicole made a good point.  Tessa was definitely focused on winning, while Nicole, who probably thought she had no chance in hell against Tessa ,focused on making a delicious dish.  Good job, Nicole.

Yeah, Nicole certainly deserved to beat Tessa today.  But I tell you what, though I know we are all sick of the "dessert queens" and their constant parade of parfait/panna cotta/sorbet/ice cream, I'm just as sick of purees and particularly beurre blanc.  How many purees featuring leeks have there been this season, I wonder? So it's not like Nicole did anything earth-shatteringly original - she just did it well.

Spoiler

According to Sportsbet, the person eliminated this week should be Christina, since we know it won't be Nicole.  Interestingly, Simon keeps moving up in the market and he's now second favourite behind Larissa.  Tim is third and Tessa has dropped to fourth now, which disappoints me a bit.

Edited July 9, 2019 by katisha

[akr]

1 hour ago, katisha said:

Yeah, Nicole certainly deserved to beat Tessa today.  But I tell you what, though I know we are all sick of the "dessert queens" and their constant parade of parfait/panna cotta/sorbet/ice cream, I'm just as sick of purees and particularly beurre blanc.  How many purees featuring leeks have there been this season, I wonder? So it's not like Nicole did anything earth-shatteringly original - she just did it well.

  Reveal spoiler

According to Sportsbet, the person eliminated this week should be Christina, since we know it won't be Nicole.  Interestingly, Simon keeps moving up in the market and he's now second favourite behind Larissa.  Tim is third and Tessa has dropped to fourth now, which disappoints me a bit.

Yes this is also the year of grapefruit/tangerine/etc/etc beurre blanc, & beetroot molasses/syrup!  I think the other contestants are influenced by Tessa & Simon on these - they did them first, to great acclaim (with interesting variations the first time - I want to try Tessa's b.b., & possibly Anushka's, but I think I can just wing a basic one), but now it's just - oh! I could make a beurre blanc/syrup! - and off they go.

congrats to Nicole! I haven't watched yet but followed on twitter - not sure I need to see the whole thing since the fish dishes looked a little obvious - but it sounds like a deserving result. I would have been ok with anyone but Christina, as I think she tops out at solid. (I don't like rooting against someone & she seems like a perfectly nice person (although I roll my eyes at the naturopathy studies), but I'd hate to see someone stronger go home because she had a fluke challenge win due to everyone else screwing up.)

Edited July 9, 2019 by akr
typo

[Rosenrot]

2 hours ago, katisha said:

But I tell you what, though I know we are all sick of the "dessert queens" and their constant parade of parfait/panna cotta/sorbet/ice cream, I'm just as sick of purees and particularly beurre blanc. 

Me too. No matter what the dish is, there seems to be a puree involved. I get that it goes with a lot of things (and it's probably fairly quickly made, dunno, never made one 😄), but I just wanna see something… different. Different and innovative. 

26 minutes ago, akr said:

 (I don't like rooting against someone & she seems like a perfectly nice person (although I roll my eyes at the naturopathy studies)

… first I thought for the most of the season that Derek was gay, and now I learn that it's 'naturopathy', not 'neuropathy'. Such a thing as a 'neuropathy student' likely does not exist now that I think about it, but that's literally how I've always read it! Oops. Swiftly from medical to pseudo-medical. 😄 

[misgabi13]

Poor Simon is on the losing team again!

Not sure how you miss serving 12 plates of food and then have no pumpkin left!

You still cannot convince me Larissa wasn't 'kind of' stitching up Simon and Christina (who I think are better cooks than Tim and Anoushka) so she had Tim and Anoushka in finals week with her.  She was the one to mention Jerusalem artichokes but gave no advice on how to cook them (I NEVER peel them!), then spent hours 'smoking' her cream (which turned out to be over-smoked) all the time talking about using her pin to save herself.  

Maybe she would rather be in finals week with Tim and Anoushka!

Not the most exciting episode ever - not sure they got the bang for their buck they were expecting from WA!

[katisha]

2 hours ago, misgabi13 said:

You still cannot convince me Larissa wasn't 'kind of' stitching up Simon and Christina (who I think are better cooks than Tim and Anoushka) so she had Tim and Anoushka in finals week with her.  She was the one to mention Jerusalem artichokes but gave no advice on how to cook them (I NEVER peel them!), then spent hours 'smoking' her cream (which turned out to be over-smoked) all the time talking about using her pin to save herself. 

I thought the same thing, @misgabi13.  She's such a type A bossy boots that if she had really wanted to ensure that the huge stuff-up didn't happen, I'm almost positive it wouldn't have happened.  The fact she let the team career downhill towards a disaster is pretty damn suspect. And, yes, Larissa should have owned up to the fact that she made some contribution to the green team's downfall as well with all her messing around with smoking the ice-cream, which was a bust after all that.

Meanwhile, today's challenge epitomised what's been wrong with this season.  The contestants had pretty much free rein to do whatever they wanted for their courses, so how the hell did we end up with two scallop dishes with duelling purees, and two lamb backstrap dishes involving pumpkin?  This lot are seriously unoriginal and yes, Derek is very much missed because you never knew what to expect from him. 

[akr]

I can't really agree with the conspiracy theory because I assume she'd have preferred to hang onto the pin. That said, what a fiasco! It's bizarre that they didn't have enough lamb etc left to serve the diners what they'd originally planned & instead had to create a new dish on the fly. There must have been a ton of disorganized thinking going on, beyond just not keeping track of the plates. 

Congratulations, Anushka, on being the one person to put up a dish to meet the occasion. Tessa's seemed good, too, but a little generic. Not what you hope for at this stage!

An advantage to the foreign travel episodes was they shook people out of ruts. I think they don't have the Qantas partnership anymore, but they need it back! Maybe they'll travel next week but we've heard no inkling of it & usually we know where they went because people saw them there. 

Edited July 10, 2019 by akr

[limecoke]

Oh yeah, there was some gamesmanship going on with Larissa.  I haven’t seen her in a team challenge where she wasn’t super bossy and intense.  She seemed to yawn her way through this one in spite of what she said in her talking heads and it was obvious when she saw how things were going.  It’s greatly to her advantage to go against Tim and Anushka rather than Simon.  Of course, Simon has only himself to blame for the screw-up. I don’t look at it as some kind of conspiracy, it’s just the way it looked to me.  It was a weird episode.  

[Mellowyellow]

Spoiler

Looks like this season is going to finish off with a whimper and have one of the most unlikable winners ever. 

Larissa can cook (I side eye the desserts but I think she can cook on the whole) but she's got to be one of my least liked winners.  She's bossy and quite full of herself. You can be a decent leader and not sound like a turd (see Derek and Christina).

We've had very good winners in previous seasons I think this one is going to be a doozy for me. She doesn't compare to them in either personality or skill. 

I actually much prefer even someone like Georgia  who seemed nice even if she was a stress head. I really dislike what I've seen of Larissa's personality. 

[babs1226]

I wanted to smack the crap out of Larissa today!  She was downright obnoxious!  To announce that she didn't want the team to go into elimination because she is using her pin just blew me away.  She had absolutely nothing to lose today, and all she could do was complain how the other dishes kept her from her dessert.  Simon screwed up big time, and he owned it, but I really wish the judges had called out her crappy dessert as a factor.  They didn't hate the other two dishes.  I haven't had strong feelings about her one way or the other, but now I just want her gone.

[ReallyRealReality]

I thought yesterday's episode was bad... four deserts and three of them included fresh figs... really?!?  Today's episode really showcased how repetitive their ideas are.  Not only were the two teams incapable of coming up with a unique menu from each other, but why do the dishes always have to have the same elements?  Is that a judge preference?!  "Three elements done well", and at least one of them in several cooking styles.  *smh*  No wonder they can't be creative!  Tim, bless his heart, loved so many of the ingredients that he tried to use them all... but at least his dish was different!  Probably would have gotten high praises if he hadn't used the plum and made it sweet, but you have to try things to learn... you don't learn from making a puree, roasting, sauteing and pickling one ingredient.  Deserts, too... an ice cream, crumb and twill... seriously!?  My favorite has always been a banana split... it has ice cream, fresh fruit, sauces, nuts and whipped cream.  I know it's MasterChef, but give it a rest already... a GOOD dish doesn't have to be so regimental.

[misgabi13]

This was a disappointing result!  

As much as I love Tim and have stood up for him there is no way he (or Anushka) should be here over Christina!

I'm beyond pleased that Simon survived but am not happy about who made it to finals week. Has to be the weakest season ever!

I will also admit to grinding my teeth every single time Larissa shouted 'you can do it' or 'go for it'.  At least nobody (that I noticed said 'push it'!!!!!)

[akr]

How did Christina not look at that massive pile of espuma powder & think, "that can't be right"?  She must have been off by several orders of magnitude. And why not taste it before serving, so she could leave it off  if it was terrible?  The grainy mousse (because "I don't need to read the recipe") & over-reduced quail jus might have been enough to send her home anyway, but with Simon leaving off the tuile she might still have had a chance.

I think she was the weakest left, so it was the result I was hoping for (but would have come around if she seemed to outperform Simon.) It's interesting that her highlighted dishes were all savory Asian dishes rather than her self-declared strength of desserts. That may be her comfort zone, but I'm not at all sure it's really her strongest suit. (I also hope the degree she's working on is more mainstream nutrition than naturopathy, or I really won't want to hear from her again.)

i love banana ice cream - it may be worth borrowing just that one element from the dessert recipe!

[ppl]

Let's call a spade a spade here.

Simon sent his entire team into elimination. I can't believe he miscounted by half. That's a disaster of epic proportions. It doesn't how many mistakes Larissa or Christina made with their dishes. That should have never had happened. Let's not forget that Simon had mistakes of his own with his dish as well.

I really think 4 of the 6 people who made finals week should not have made the top 10. I'm only watching to see if Tessa wins.

[akr]

35 minutes ago, ppl said:

Let's call a spade a spade here.

Simon sent his entire team into elimination. I can't believe he miscounted by half. That's a disaster of epic proportions. It doesn't how many mistakes Larissa or Christina made with their dishes. That should have never had happened. Let's not forget that Simon had mistakes of his own with his dish as well.

I really think 4 of the 6 people who made finals week should not have made the top 10. I'm only watching to see if Tessa wins.

He at least asked if that was all the plates, & Christina assured him that it was. He shouldn't have trusted that, but I think they were both at fault & I think the reason the whole team was frazzled was due to the slow start on the first course. So - I see this as a team failure rather than an individual one, & think they both deserved to be in the pressure test.

[katisha]

I knew Christina was going because of reading the spoilers but if I hadn't known that I would have believed Simon was in real trouble, so hopefully his fans don't bite their fingernails down to the quick whilst watching this.

This season is really limping to the wire, isn't it?

[TVbitch]

I'm here @katisha! But I'm in the states and don't get to watch until the next day. And by then y'all are onto the next episode and I don't want to be spoiled, so I don't get to post along with you guys. *sniff*

Sorry if I have ever offended anyone. I am bitchy and foul-mouthed (and those are my good qualities), but I respect everyone's opinion and enjoy all of your posts. Having said that, duck and cover cuz I am about to fucking RANT! 

This week! WTF?!      I am so disappointed... in everyone! Their performance in that restaurant challenge was abysmal. So abysmal that Tim, who made a fucking piece of French toast (with bread he got from the pantry) and put cheese on the plate (that he got from the pantry) and dressed it with FAILED jam that he relabeled "sauce" ---was up for top two?! And what is with these absurd amateurs and their "I'm going to back myself! --by not listening to a 3-star, award-winning chef who has more knowledge in his pinkie than I have in my whole brain and only wants to help me be better, which is why I am here!" 

Then the team challenge. The hell? That poor chef having to serve those people that food! That should have been a magical night! I still remember that season they were by a lake or creek or something and people were bringing up beautiful, original dishes that looked like the water. Here the closest we got was Anushka's "forest" that looked suspiciously like the totally cliche rolled tuille "log" and some chocolate "soil". Ugh. 

And Simon, my beloved Simon, it pains me speak harshly of you, so I shant ...you freaking butthead! Oop, sorry. Your smile almost makes up for your inexplicable inability to count.

It did not even occur to me that Larissa might be tanking the team challenge to put the two better cooks at risk. Only she knows if she did. (And if she did, Gordon Ramsey would be proud.) At the very least, she knew she had immunity and was recklessly fussing about.

The Nicole/Tessa cook-off dishes were as bland and silimar as... Nicole and Tessa. Okay, wait, now I've gone too far! I keed! At least those two actually belong in finals week, and I wish them both well.    

[babs1226]

I'm in the states also,@TVbitch, so when there's an elimination, I make it a practice to avoid this forum and FB until I've seen the episode.  Then I am here too. 😊

I am still pissed at Larissa for her crappy attitude during the team challenge. I don't care whose fault it is that they lost, there was nothing "teamy" about her behavior imo.  The only satisfaction I have is that she just watched that episode and found out that the judges thought her dessert was crap.

[katisha]

As annoyed as I was with Larissa for basically all of last week's episodes, I have to (grudgingly) admit that she thoroughly deserved to win the mystery box because if she managed to make that bizarre lemon and olive dessert combo work somehow, more power to her.  Simon's dish also intrigued me as a fellow coffee-aholic, even though I'm down to max two cups a day these days due to some boring health problems...sigh.  Tim was the one I wanted to slap around during that first round.  ANOTHER roasted pumpkin puree?  MORE roasted fennel? Jeez, dude, mix things up a bit for the love of God! 

In the second round, given that the judges chose ingredients for the contestants, it was hard to get crabby with Tessa for yet another pan-seared fish dish (or fush dush, as a Kiwi might say!) We will just have to take the word of the judges that it was very well executed.  And given that every other dish had at least one issue, it wasn't surprising that she was safe from the pressure test.  Glad Simon's out of it too because he made two good dishes tonight. 

You Simon fans may be surprised to hear how unpopular he is on the Facebook page.  Most of the hatred seems to revolve around his "unwashed greasy hair" (huh? not that I've noticed) "flopping all over the food".  There's always one that the "hair police" have to focus on. 

[babs1226]

1 hour ago, katisha said:

You Simon fans may be surprised to hear how unpopular he is on the Facebook page.  Most of the hatred seems to revolve around his "unwashed greasy hair" (huh? not that I've noticed) "flopping all over the food".  There's always one that the "hair police" have to focus on. 

There are a few Simon haters on reddit as well, for reasons that have nothing to do with his cooking.  Yes, the hair police need a target 😊  When they show flashbacks from the beginning, it's obvious that he just hasn't had a haircut in a while.

I agree about Larissa.  She should get the credit she deserves.  However, I can't pretend to be happy for her.  I was happy for Simon that George said he would serve that coffee dish in his restaurant. 

[patty1h]

Every episode I say SHUT UP, LARISSA! at least 4-5 times.  Sick of the sound of her encouraging remarks to her colleagues.  

[katisha]

You know, I've always liked Anushka because she seems such a sweetheart so from that point of view it's a shame she was eliminated.  But it still jars with me somewhat that she outlasted better contestants such as Derek and Abbey, both of whom should have been top five IMHO.

That dessert looked absolutely scrumptious.  Nicole worked amazingly well in this challenge.  I think she's actually a pretty smart lady.  She did refer early on to the fact that she's from a super high achieving family and I really saw that tonight.  Tim did better than I thought but honestly, the editing certainly indicated he had his fair share of assistance from the gantry in the early stages.  I'm wondering if Anushka got as much.

Re Sportsbet..

Spoiler

The top four order has changed again.  Nicole should be the next to go.  Simon WAS top two but now he's back in fourth spot and Tessa has gone back to third.  Tim and Larissa are looking like our top two, dagnabbit.  I really want it the other way around.

Edited July 15, 2019 by katisha

[Myriad]

On 7/11/2019 at 11:42 AM, katisha said:

 (...) hopefully his fans don't bite their fingernails down to the quick whilst watching this.

WHAT FINGERNAILS??? 😉

[Rosenrot]

I've been on a Project Runway S17 binge and haven't had time for MCAU in the last few days, but man oh man. Sounds like Simon and Tessa will be my light in the darkness through this!

On ‎7‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 9:45 PM, TVbitch said:

Your smile almost makes up for your inexplicable inability to count.

LOL it almost does, doesn't it? Almost. (OK who am I kidding? It totally does.)

Spoiler

I will have a stroke if Tim and Larissa are the final two.

[Myriad]

On 7/12/2019 at 2:45 PM, TVbitch said:

I'm here @katisha! But I'm in the states and don't get to watch until the next day. And by then y'all are onto the next episode and I don't want to be spoiled, so I don't get to post along with you guys. *sniff* 

Same here, except in Canada, USA's best friend (that was until Trump, but we won't get into that, will we?) I don't even watch the previews at the end of an episode, and skip right to the opening song at the beginning of the next.  Don't even want to know in advance who's the chef I've never heard of that's going to have his/her TV moment.

On 7/12/2019 at 2:45 PM, TVbitch said:

And Simon, my beloved Simon, it pains me speak harshly of you, so I shant ...you freaking butthead! Oop, sorry. Your smile almost makes up for your inexplicable inability to count.

You DID go there?  Noooooo! Not only his smile, the constant twinkle in his eyes in his head talks when talking about food.  For his sheer passion only, which I find quite contagious, my vote goes for him over Tessa, who is quite an accomplished cook.  Just a bit less on the funny side of things, such as our Salmon is. 🙂

On 7/12/2019 at 7:53 PM, babs1226 said:

I am still pissed at Larissa for her crappy attitude during the team challenge.

I'm still pissed at her crappy high-pitched irritating voice.  She grates. And still cooked a parfait.  She seems to be a judges' favourite, even though she messed up her darn pana cotta in the first mystery box and didn't stop making the usual culprits all season long. When are we going to see a sweet soufflé omelette?  A sugar pie?  An angel cake? Something FUN?

On 7/14/2019 at 11:26 AM, babs1226 said:

There are a few Simon haters on reddit as well, for reasons that have nothing to do with his cooking.  Yes, the hair police need a target 😊  When they show flashbacks from the beginning, it's obvious that he just hasn't had a haircut in a while.

As a lover of longuish hair in men, having been raised in the 70's and not the 90's, I'll say frak you all, hair police people.  Although I would agree that he should wear a thing to put those lovely bangs back while cooking.

Funny anecdote completely out of topic, I was in the Air Cadets as a teenager, where clean cut hair was mandatory, whilst the rest of the men world had longuish hair.  In high school:  "She's hanging out with EARS!  RUUUUUN!" 😄

Edited July 15, 2019 by Myriad

[xchouchoutex]

Back again 

when this season just started i liked larissa a lot but now ugh i’m so over her bossy character/ her repetitive cold dishes and i’ll be pissed if she wins 

imho Tim’s avoiding elimination today was not very fair because he got a lot of help from the gantry 

[Myriad]

12 minutes ago, xchouchoutex said:

imho Tim’s avoiding elimination today was not very fair because he got a lot of help from the gantry 

I wish the gantry would shut up,  They are very bossy and I'd be pissed to no end having to endure their constant non sequitur - or awfully obvious and irritating - interventions.

Meanwhile, I've stumbled on the last of @katisha's post and have been spoilered (loving you all the same!)  I should know better than to read a Katisha post, since she's always the first one to speak up after an episode. 😞  I shall remain absent for the rest of the week as to avoid bits that are best discovered without previous knowledge.

ETA: I'm nonetheless happy with that elimination.  It was a long time waiting.  Nothing personal against the person, just not that good a cook and who happened to having slipped through the cracks, as is the case every season due to team challenges.

Edited July 15, 2019 by Myriad

[Myriad]

Oups!  Sorry.  It was a repeat. 

Edited July 15, 2019 by Myriad

[TVbitch]

@Myriad I am the same, NEVER watch the previews and skip over the opening bit where they pretty much tell us everything that is gonna happen in the episode! Also, I have always preferred men with longer hair, especially if it is charmingly disheveled. 

Tim put one piece of bone marrow on the plate with inedible crackerbread and a puree. I swear if he makes it into next week over one of the remaining people, I will  

Anuska's says her problem is she is "always short." She meant time-wise, but I could not help but . Ah, she loves "the kids" --you know you are middle-aged when you start referring to 30 year olds as kids. I found her post-show work --wanting to use cooking to help people with mental health challenges-- interesting.  

Edited July 15, 2019 by TVbitch

[ReallyRealReality]

I'm really hoping they don't hand the win to Larissa.  I am SOOO over her repetitive deserts.  Just change the flavor combinations and see how creative she is!  Puh-lease!!!!   Lemon and black olive?!?!  Sounds absolutely revolting to me, and who in their right mind wants a whole segment of fresh lemon on their desert plate?!  These judges have really lost the plot.

I couldn't stand to wait to see who went home, so I stayed up late and watched their twitter feed.  Nothing against Anushka, but I'm really glad she's gone.  Am I the only one who envisioned her in labor every time someone from the gantry would shout out "push Nush"?  😆

Edited July 15, 2019 by ReallyRealReality

[babs1226]

6 hours ago, Myriad said:

Same here, except in Canada, USA's best friend (that was until Trump, but we won't get into that, will we?)

Just remember us common folk are still your best friends 😊

6 hours ago, Myriad said:

I wish the gantry would shut up,  They are very bossy and I'd be pissed to no end having to endure their constant non sequitur - or awfully obvious and irritating - interventions.

I'm with you, but I think it must be part of their contracts to cheer on the contestants.  As if constantly saying "go faster!" will help.  I thought it was funny when the gantry reminded Tim AGAIN to read the recipe, and he said "I decided to read the recipe again." lol

Anushka is a sweet lady, and what she said about learning from the kids, and not just about cooking, was cute, but she was past her prime.  Of the 5 that are left, the 2 that I would rather not see in the final are Tim and Larissa.

[akr]

The gantry stuff is mostly cheerleading anyway. It's like a bunch of little kids cheering on their teammates at a sporting event: come on, Nushie, you got this! etc. 

I've decided to take as positive a view of things as possible going forward. I'm not finding nitpicking to be much fun. I like Larissa's boldness in  choice of flavors, & don't really care that much about the use of parfaits as one element of such desserts. Re Simon - although I don't always quite get why, for example, coffee & parsnips work together, I take them at their word that they do, & in surprising ways. Tessa is just damn impressive, & the latest butter sauce really wasn't similar to the two prior ones. Tim & Nicole have been more hit or miss, but the hits are strong, & Nicole seemed to be peaking late. She probably made a mistake in trying to do things to impress - shows a lack of confidence that what she does well will be enough - but I don't know if that's smart risk-taking because of who she's up against, or a tactical error that she can correct in time. Tim - I'll wait till tomorrow to come up with something to say. He  doesn't bother me but again the mistakes seemed to be more about editing (leave off the cracker) than fundamental lack of skill or ambition. 

They're not going to reinvent food, & I appreciate that the show  was trying to move away from gimmicks a bit the last few years.  Gimmicks can get tiresome & tend to detract from taste. If they're in the flavor business, though, they need to step up their descriptive game so that the audience better understands why people are doing well.  I'm not going to be more impressed if they go back to over-reliance on domes & foams & mirror glazes & tempered chocolate & so on. I do think they would have been well served by a trip abroad with ingredients, techniques, & master classes that could get some new ideas swirling in their brains, though.  

Edited July 16, 2019 by akr

[katisha]

Oh, dear.  Larissa is so getting a winner's edit now. And the judges are more in love with Tim than ever.  I honestly do get that he's a lovely, sweet guy and I think he's a good cook, but he certainly doesn't come across to me as accomplished as they're trying to say he is. 

Tessa seems to have peaked too early and is spinning her wheels a bit.  I think she is an excellent cook but I think what she lacks in her armoury is actual creativity.  I can't believe the dish on her "to do" list in MC Au was roast chicken.  Really? People make that all the time.  I see her doing a sterling job in a kitchen somewhere, but possibly as a sous chef, not a head chef.  Simon HAS the creativity, but sometimes his execution is faulty, like tonight.  Put Simon and Tessa together and you'd have the winner of the competition.

I'm glad George's eye thing was semi-explained tonight.  Now, I'm not really much of a fan of his, but he's been copping a lot of stick from the charming keyboard warriors out there about, for example, wearing sunglasses the other day when they were cooking in Perth at Optus Stadium.  Among the remarks were statements like: 

Please tell me people mocked George's attire during last night's #MasterChefAU. I have no words for how much he looks like a douche.

 Read about it here. 

[Myriad]

"Cook whatever you want".  I was a bit disappointed in this non-challenge, but decided to play along because it's fun.  So I went,

Tim: gonna cook beef.  wrong

Tessa: gonna cook fish wrong

Larissa: gonna cook pana cotta/parfait/ice cream right

Simon: gonna cook vege right

Nicole: gonna cook... er... hum... Well, I feel like I don't know her and her style of cooking at all!

@katisha  People write terrible things on the Internet.  I've personally have no beef (ha!) at all against any of the judges, including George who's always there to reassure a crumbling contestant, both understanding and encouraging and, if we are to believe the editing monkeys, it works every time.  I don't think any of the three are worth to be ridiculed, but especially when it's something as basic as eyesight going bad with aging.  I've seen nobody make any comments about Gary coming in with his glasses at the beginning of the season.

Those glasses, though.  They ARE ridicule, and I'd bet my last apron that Steph was licking her screen.

The prawns that Tim made looked like I'd eat a whole pool of them.  Yet, I'm often  amazed at how contestants seem to forget that there are actually three judges judging.  Two heads for three.  You got that right, Tim!

Edited July 16, 2019 by Myriad

[misgabi13]

2 hours ago, Myriad said:

The prawns that Tim made looked like I'd eat a whole pool of them.  Yet, I'm often  amazed at how contestants seem to forget that there are actually three judges judging.  Two heads for three.  You got that right, Tim!

I'm fairly sure there was an extra head lying on its side at the other end of the plate, kind of under the prawns themselves.  That dish looked amazing!

Edited July 17, 2019 by misgabi13

[misgabi13]

12 hours ago, katisha said:

Oh, dear.  Larissa is so getting a winner's edit now. And the judges are more in love with Tim than ever.  I honestly do get that he's a lovely, sweet guy and I think he's a good cook, but he certainly doesn't come across to me as accomplished as they're trying to say he is. 

I agree that Larissa is totally getting a winner's edit - with food that sounds horrible to me (and I eat all the things but hers just seem to sound 'weird' for the sake of it!).

I thought Tim did well in the pressure test and his prawns looked amazing but he was never going to beat whatever combination of dessert Larissa put up!  

I wonder if Nichole would have won had she shown more confidence and put more sauce and oil on her plate originally?

I am so not looking forward to Larissa with yet another advantage tonight - as that inevitably means that she gets to talk even more!

[katisha]

13 minutes ago, misgabi13 said:

I am so not looking forward to Larissa with yet another advantage tonight - as that inevitably means that she gets to talk even more!

I hate to say it but I just saw a preview of tonight's episode and apparently someone makes an ah-mah-zing ice-cream that's beyond everything else.  The one who's most likely to make an ice-cream is, of course, Larissa. 😣

[Myriad]

3 minutes ago, katisha said:

I hate to say it but I just saw a preview of tonight's episode and apparently someone makes an ah-mah-zing ice-cream that's beyond everything else.  The one who's most likely to make an ice-cream is, of course, Larissa. 😣

No, it's Tim.  A beef ice cream, weeeeee!

[Myriad]

20 minutes ago, misgabi13 said:

I wonder if Nichole would have won had she shown more confidence and put more sauce and oil on her plate originally?

I admit to have chuckled seeing George practically emptying the oil jug over the dish.  Not only the main plate, but in the separated portions as well.  Hahaha!  But really, tarragon oil sounds like something I need to make before Man lands on Mars.

[katisha]

As predicted, "Larry" wins again with yet another frozen dessert thingy.  And now we don't even get another episode until Sunday.  I can't believe we only have three left now. 😥

Even though I hate the idea of eating raw meat in any context, Tessa's dish looked just beautiful.  Re Simon's dish, why on earth did he put that pork with it once he knew it was overcooked? 

Amazing how many people on the FB page think the judges flavour the blondes (and let's face it, we've said the same here!) but Tessa and Nicole are not the favourites.  Larry and Tim SO are. 

[limecoke]

Sadly losing interest in this season as any same-old dessert with a wacky ingredient seems to send the judges into raptures of joy.  Something tells me I’m not going to be happy about the eventual winner.  

Not the most impressive group of finalists they’ve ever had.  

Five course meal at at George’s place.  First of all, the judges probably found it pretty easy to guess who cooked what. I don’t get the pre-dessert thing but maybe it’s my ignorance of fine dining.  Two desserts is one too many.  Larissa wins again.  Yawn.

Edited July 17, 2019 by limecoke

[Rosenrot]

14 minutes ago, limecoke said:

Something tells me I’m not going to be happy about the eventual winner.  

Something tells me the same thing. 

I hope I'm wrong, though!

[ReallyRealReality]

26 minutes ago, Rosenrot said:

Something tells me the same thing. 

I hope I'm wrong, though!

I'm joining the club.   Last year Sashi won and I wasn't happy, either.  I know a lot of people like him, but I couldn't get passed seeing his sweat dripping into the food.  The judges raved about his flavors, probably because they aren't as familiar with Indian cooking and wouldn't know outstanding MasterChef worthy Indian cuisine from a family get together staple, but I wanted to spew wondering how they could even eat it.

This year's contestants don't seem as masterful as I would have liked, but at least 4 out of the 5 cook something different each challenge.   Do we have any idea... or do the judges... if Larissa is capable of cooking a 3-course NON-desert menu?  Even asking that, it still puzzles me how she can fail so many times in her deserts... and have to fix them.  

Shaking my head at them rewarding her for hero-ing cucumber.  

[babs1226]

7 hours ago, katisha said:

Re Simon's dish, why on earth did he put that pork with it once he knew it was overcooked? 

If it was up to Simon, there wouldn't have been any meat.  That was George's idea.  What I can't figure out is that, considering how closely George was watching everything that was going on, he let Simon serve the meat.

I have come to the conclusion that the judges are terrible actors.  The night before, Matt was raving about Larissa's dish before they even tasted it.  Tonight, it was obvious that Gary knew who made the winning dish and had to remember to ask who made it.  At least he admitted that they "suspected." 

On a totally different subject...tonight Nicole mentioned that her partner is a woman, then later George said she is going to marry a Greek boy?  Is it possible that George just assumed that Nicole's Greek partner is a male?

One more quibble.  Why in the world did  they let whoever was interviewing talk to Tim when he was in the middle of service?    

I'm feeling pretty disgusted with this show right now.

[Myriad]

Wow, that was an emotional episode on my side.  George nearly  tearing up at the beginning, then putting heart like he's never done coaching the contestants.   It did bring some questions, though.  Gary having sold all of his restaurants, George closing down his most celebrated one.  It's none of my business digging up what's going on fir real, but from a different angle, I still wondered if after so many years of hard work amongst their many venues, they opted to enjoy their role on MasterChef, being mentors and teachers instead of restauranteurs - which could have been quite the weight, doing both.

Was I the only one getting eyes big like this O_O when Larissa started to call George "mate" non-stop? I sure know a mother of mine who'd have slapped to to the moon. Of course, we don't use "mate" here, but we have few versions of it, that's what I mean. And we don't use those words towards someone who's technically above, such as a chef welcoming you in his kitchen for the very last meal ever.

So Larissa lost points to me yesterday with that in-your-face-over-red lipstick (WHAT?  I'm an intellectual, hahaha!) and with the mate thing today. <-- Oh, that sounds dirty, sorry.

Otherwise, I thought Tessa, from my standpoint, had the toughest challenge. If was pretty brilliant of her to introduce tartar (tahtah, heee! @xchouchoutex) to ease on in (with?) the saltiness of capers,

8 hours ago, katisha said:

Amazing how many people on the FB page think the judges flavour the blondes (and let's face it, we've said the same here!) but Tessa and Nicole are not the favourites.  Larry and Tim SO are. 

Favourites conspiracies die hard, don't they?  I've never really bought into those because it's most like a case of "You don't like MY favourite, so YOU have favourites, yeah, the ones who get on my nerves!"  It's hard to tell, and they'll never ever admit to this, so I go with the flow.  Well, I'd say Reynold probably was a favourite, but it didn't distract them judges to give what they thought were fair points.  And if Emma was ever their favourite...  bwuahahahaha!  I want a divorce!

2 hours ago, limecoke said:

Sadly losing interest in this season as any same-old dessert with a wacky ingredient seems to send the judges into raptures of joy. 

Isn't that a new thing?  Again, I had eyes like this O_O when Larry Mate decided to throw black olive in her sweet thingie.  Got rave reviews, went on with parsnips in similar sugary concoction, then, yay!  Cucumbers, watatow!  Lady.  We all know that it's radishes and jalapenos that make the perfect funky sorbet/parfait/ice cream, and whatever ice floor you fancy to dance on.  Cucumbers is for when you've just learned that some ingredients taste nothing but what you pair them with.

1 hour ago, ReallyRealReality said:

Shaking my head at them rewarding her for hero-ing cucumber.  

Huuummpfweehee!  I gave your post a laugh for that sentence alone.  Questionable humour aside...  Pfweeheehee!   Ahem.  Yes, it was... hahahahaha! er... weird.  Cucumbers can be so tasteless.   (See, I became a lady and stopped...   ...  laughing.  Crumphfeeehahahee).

Edited July 18, 2019 by Myriad