meemalee

I'm staring at the biggest box of onions I have ever seen in my life. And all I can think is, "Oh boy". About six months ago, I was chatting on Twitter, when someone asked me for a Burmese restaurant recommendation. I mentioned Mandalay as being the only place I knew of, and then someone else jumped in and asked if I'd do a Burmese night and cook for people. The next thing I knew, Mat Follas, the chef and owner of The Wild Garlic and winner of MasterChef 2009, tweeted to me, "Why don't you come and cook Burmese food at my place?" I am not a chef. I had never been in a professional kitchen. So I did what any normal person would have done in the circumstances, and I rang up my friend Kavey and screamed at her in excitement, " Oh My God - is he joking? I'd love to do it. Do you think I can do it? What the hell should I say? " Kavey is infinitely more sensible than me, and she said to me, " Play it cool and say yes ". So I said yes...

Asking me if I love MasterChef is a bit like asking if a bear sh*ts in the woods. I decided to write a blog because I'm working on a Burmese cookbook, and I wanted to know if people would like what I said, but the thing that actually got me started, the first thing I ever wrote about , was MasterChef. I've had some folk comment that me putting virtual pen to paper about MasterChef is a waste of my "time and talent", that it's low-brow and inane, but goddammit, I'm a big girl and if I think it merits attention , then who the hell are they to disagree? The fact is, I adore MasterChef with every fibre of my being. It's emotional, it's visceral, it's ludicrous, it's compelling. By the time you get to the final, you're right there with them, rooting for the competitors, wanting to adopt each and every one of them, to give them all a big hug and to tell them that everything's going to be all right (okay, this may just be me). But would I e...

I've had a blepharospasm for the past fortnight now. That's right, look it up. Lack of sleep is the usual cause, but ocular twitching is also triggered by stress. And what did I have to be stressed about? Well, you know how I've spent a lot of the past year taking the mick out of MasterChef ? Especially the beautifully be-cardiganed Toadie and the remarkable Mr Egg ? So, the other day, the lovely people at Miele invited me to the BBC Good Food Summer Show at the Birmingham NEC where they just happened to be sponsoring the MasterChef Experience . And they said "Would you like to take part in the Invention Test?" And I replied "Sure, why not?" as my brain temporarily disconnected from my typing fingers. Because John and Gregg were going to be there and god's honest truth is - I'm a little bit afraid of them. Scratch that, I'm a lot afraid of them. Like a naughty schoolgirl playing Knock Down Ginger , I've been happy to tease unseen, but...