• Why. please. thankyou… a very special guest post from Julie Goodwin During my time filming the first series of MasterChef Australia, Julie Goodwin became something of spiritual beacon for me. Filming the show was tough…for a lot of existential reasons, which I won’t go into here. But every few days or so Julie and I would connect in some way. A wink, a hug, a quick more
• MasterChef and a fraction too much life friction A thought or two on MasterChef Finale. And life friction. Today I’m off to Hamilton Island to MC the Great Barrier Feast at Qualia, featuring Justin North from Becasse (we first met on MasterChef) and food writer Simon Thompsen (also done a cameo on MasterChef). I’ll try to post some tweets about the best flavour more
• stuff I’m not paid to endorse: transcendental meditation Note: this post has been updated. I follow the “vedic style” of meditation, not the transcendental style, or TM. There isn’t a lot of difference, but there is enough to cause contention and confusion. I’ve corrected this post to reflect things more accurately.  I’ve tried just about every form of meditation. None of them really more
• Mumbrella: on being a media whore and a square peg in the Masterchef hole The below popped up on Mumbrella today. If you’re in media, or interested in media, you should definitely subscribe the newsletter. Apart from anything else, Tim Burrows, who runs the site, is one of the industry’s good guys. Knowledgeable, kind, fair, smart. He’s also a wonderful example of what I talk about in the clip more
• sunday life: how gratefulness helps my life In the aftermath of the recent MasterChef finale, I want to share one special observation with you. Just after she was announced winner you’ll recall Julie told everyone – the contestants, the chefs, me, the judges, the crew – how grateful she was we’d helped change her life. On set we’d stoically held it together more
• sunday life: the masterchef lesson I should be honest with you all. This week I have not been out there treading the path to self-betterment I committed to in writing this column. Nope, I’ve been stuck in a kitchen overseeing amateur cooks whisk and flambé their way down the homestretch to become MasterChef, a term only months ago was confused more
• sunday life: my first column Years ago I dated a burly tradesman who committed himself daily to living by Eleanor Roosevelt’s mantra, “Do something every day that scares you”. He had it scrawled on a piece of Foolscap Feint, Blu-Tacked above the cistern of his toilet. And would use it to motivate himself to leave jobs when they became toxic more