Saturday, September 02, 2017

Masterchef 12

So Pia, Pete and Ray are in an elimination challenge. Andy Bowdy - Sydney’s King of Cake - set this challenge and it is insane! They say this is where they hone their skills to win, but they’re still the weakest three, and Matt says today’s challenge is “terrifying”. The cake they are to make has multiple layers, involves 12 recipes and the decoration comes from his art school background. Too much! I wonder how many of the judges could make it.
I’d have trouble eating it, let alone making it, because it is so big and involved - meringue, salted caramel, ginger cake (4 times), passionfruit bavarois, brown sugar pecans, pineapple jam, toasted coconut cream, ginger crumb, pineapple crisps. They have 4 ½ hours. How long before someone messes up the recipe? Pia and Pete read it, promise to follow it. Ray has a lot of oil going on in his cake - should have added in parts. Pete might have a problem with his candied pecans: he took them off early to avoid burning them, doesn't like the result, does them again. Is he paying enough attention? People smell burning: “Pete watch your nuts.” Not seeing much of Ray, but he seems to be doing well. Pia uses the mixer to save time with the passionfruit custard: reason to worry? Cakes are coming out of the oven.

Two hours to go. Ray’s meringue looks good, Pia’s not so much - did she use the right number of eggs? She does it again, understands she can’t have it wrong. One hour to go. Hard to know what has to be done. Pete has all his elements - "time to make this bad boy". Ray a little bit behind, gets some guidance from Andy about keeping a straight cake. Pia’s custard is setting, which makes it hard to make a bavarois (custard needs to blend with whipped cream, so needs to still be runny). 30 minutes.  Ray’s cake won’t fit the structure - messy. Pete worried about his crane driver hands and lack of finesse. Seems to be doing OK, really. Pia in her element. All of their cakes actually look nice - no disasters.

Judging: Pete - everyone smiling. Gracious about possibility others have done better. Nailed it in terms of appearance. George loves the burnt pecans. Andy might steal the idea! How good is this! Ray - cake a bit bulgey in places. Happy he’s given this everything. Nice story about his wee girls. Andy: needs a bit more colour, stuff on top. Taste - done good. Pia - cake looks good, a "beautiful chaos". It has lots of ginger cake but does it have enough bavarois? Her cake is heavier, the meringue is not right. This is probably enough to see her go (although Ray had a couple of problems too, must be about the eating). Yep: Pia is eliminated.  

A Date for Mad Mary

I loved this movie: it is billed as a comedy and it really is very funny but has its sad moments as well. I want to say it is set in Dublin but when I think about it, I don't know where it is set. Ah - Drogheda, halfway between Dublin and the border with Northern Ireland. Mary (Seána Kerslake) is just out of prison - she bottled another girl in a nightclub and spent six months inside as a result. She is ostensibly chief bridesmaid for her best friend, Charlene, who is rather absent from the friendship. Mary can't really understand why and is hurt but still wants to play her part, even to the point of signing up to a dating site so she can bring a suitable plus one to the wedding. But she is a wild thing and has spent time in prison, so its kind of understandable that Charlene might have misgivings about the friendship and, indeed, to have moved on a bit. We spend most of the movie seeing things from Mary's point of view, who can't really see this. One consequence is that Charlene and her friends come across in a rather unflattering light.
There is a sequence of unsuitable dates but then Mary meets someone, the videographer for the wedding, as it happens. Mary becomes a sort of assistant videographer, one night they're put up in a hotel, they drink the minibar dry, one thing leads to another but they realise that they have a lot in common. I think it is fair to say it is a big surprise to both of them, but I really enjoyed the way they recognised each other, and how we got to see another side of Mary.

But, well, the path of true love does not run smooth and Mary manages to simultaneously get offside with Charleen and the videographer. Here the movie is following the typical plotline of a romantic comedy, so of course there needs to then be the possibility of reconciliation.

While Mary was a great character, the best line went to her Nan (Mary lives with her mum and Nan but family support is not particularly strong): "Fucking sniper wouldn't take you out".


 

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