This year Poh was at the festival (think Masterchef and Poh's Kitchen) for a vegetarian cooking display. I was at both that she did (at 4pm and 6pm) when I was there. Cooking was a stretch. She made a soup / broth. She would have received bonus points (and I would have peed my pants) had she referred to her broth as the Broth Of Vigor. Any Iron Chef fans will know instantly what I'm talking about :)
Cooking aside she was very entertaining and appears to be a lovely person. She was also pimping her new book "Same Same But Different". She will be in West End on May 13 to talk about her book and stuff.
I learned less about vegetarian cooking and more about Masterchef.
* She was in lockdown for four months - no phone, no computer, no contact with family or friend except for two (timed) ten-minute phone calls a week. They were driven from the house to the kitchen and back. The first time she went shopping after the show she left her wallet, house keys and phone at home. When it came to pay she had no wallet. When she got back home she couldn't get in, and she couldn't call her mother because her phone was in the house.
* They were mic'ed all the time. If you wanted to talk to someone personally you would put your hand over your chest (where the mic was) to prevent the producers hearing you. Poh caught herself doing this after the show when she was back at home.
* The last ten seconds of each challenge are staged. The challenge ends in the correct time then they film the countdown again with the contestants rushing around like mad. When they are asked to step away from the bench, the crew comes in to reset the station and set the plate back down before judging. Before they did that people would be sneaky and add garnishes or seasoning after time was up.
* There was a producer for each contestant or two. They would watch for people getting stressed or doing something silly. As soon as they saw that the camera crew would rush over and start filming up close.
* The food was often cold when it was tasted, especially in the early stages (they start with 20 people). Some contestants became strategic with cooking choices: they would not cook food that would congeal when left to sit for some time, or they would pick a dish different to others if there were many similar dishes. Poh's example was preparing a carpaccio or spicy salad when there were many other rich dishes thinking that hers would stand out simply because it was different to others.
* They did not practice and they were not instructed. They only cooked in the Masterchef kitchen.
* Her work experience consisted of five hours of skinning peas.Not shelling the pods. Removing the skin from individual peas. They were given cab-charge vouchers to get home because there were no minders to escort them. When they got into the cab and the driver asked "where to" none of them knew the address of the house. He told them to phone someone. They didn't have phones. He offered them his phone. They didn't have a number. They finally remembered a shopping center near a jetty (at Darling Point) so he drove them there. He asked if they were chefs (since they were wearing whites and had knife kits). They said no, since they weren't allowed to tell anyone what was going on. When they arrived at the shops they got their bearings and directed him to the house.
* The ingredients are not always in the same place in the pantry each time. This is deliberate. The ingredients are mostly based around European cuisines so she was often without what she would regard as staples for her preferred style of cooking.
[Some of the stories may or may not be true. I repeat here what I remember. There was probably more]
I found this information really interesting. I like to think about what goes on behind the scenes (also known as paying attention to the man behind the curtain).
Poh's visit was sponsored by Sunnybank Plaza. This is where we do a lot of our shopping, not least of all because it is the location of my favourite Zarraffas. As part of the promotion they were awarding three double passes to their Food Discovery Tours to people who could answer questions at the end of her demonstration. And because I have the amazing power to remember stuff that happened longer than a commercial break ago, I won one! Winner, winner, vege dinner!
The food stalls were all pretty good again, except that the place that sold me the Malaysian Laksa put ham in it! Inconceivable. At a vege food fair. By the time I realised this I had eaten about a third of it and the rain was coming down hard so I wasn't about to take it back. It was just a little disappointing. I went back to the nice people from Su Life vegetarian restaurant and bought some deep fried oyster mushrooms. I did not buy the pineapple mooncakes the little kids there were spruiking. I know where this restaurant is (in Palmdale shops across from Garden City) and I really want to go there one evening. The guys selling the coffee were really good too. Mrs Sage would have loved the sweet stuff but I was happy they knew how to serve a nice double espresso... twice =)
The welcoming ceremony was great too. They had the usual groups like the Southern Shaolin martial arts students and two performances from Queensland World Dance Academy. This year they had some students from the National Taiwan College of Performing Arts who were great. And there were two numbers from a group called Heart Of Spades - a modernized version of Pachelbel's Canon and a cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit. This is a duo featuring a violin and guitar. I enjoyed their performance, in no small part because the violinist is Katei :)
Speaking of violin, as I sometimes do, I managed to catch a little bit of a performance on the Performing Arts stage of a violin and cello duo who were playing Celtic music. I don't know who they were but they played well and were obviously passionate about their style of music.
If you have made it this far, thank-you for reading. I had a great time as I often do and look forward to the festival next year.
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