Category: Blog
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Field Trip: The Olive Garden
My partner is Brazilian, and we have a fairly constant stream of friends and relatives from Brazil through our house year-round. It’s a delight, and I especially love the gifts of honey, guava jam, cachaca (Brazilian rum), and other treats that keep my pantry fairly well stocked. My season of MasterChef just finished airing in…
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MasterChef recap: Michelin Stars and Walmart Steaks
(Please note that my blog is not endorsed or approved by MasterChef or Walmart, and that they would probably both prefer you not read it. The information below consists solely of uneducated opinions and assumptions and should not be considered factual. I have no inside information on how MasterChef is judged or produced.) Please also…
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Anniversary Follow Up
This amazing theme has developed over the past few months when a particular blog or Facebook post will elicit a fabulous debate amongst my fans, and I’ll sometimes get a particularly stunning message from a fan, and then I have to feature it as a follow-up post. Yesterday, I got one such message from a…
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Today: 10 Years
Today my partner and I celebrate 10 years together. 10 wonderful years filled with travel, food, and amazing friends and family. Most people who look back on a decade of a relationship tend to say, “We’ve been through good times and bad times.” But I have a hard time pinpointing any bad times along the…
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My Interview in Italy!
Several months ago I did an interview with the Italian magazine Intervistato. Maria, the interviewer, was SO delightful! We chat for half an hour about my life, MasterChef, cooking, and travel. There are many stories in this interview that haven’t appeared anywhere else, including one of the most amazing moments in my life where I…
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My Weekend with Monti and David
Last week I went to Phoenix to help out with a fundraiser for the Phoenix Children’s Hospital that was initiated by Monti Carlo. I’ve been wanting to meet Monti for awhile, and when she invited me to help out, I was ecstatic. To make things even more exciting, David Martinez and his wife were going…
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MasterChef: David’s Response
If you haven’t yet read my blog about the last episode of MasterChef, you might wanna check it out! I’m about an hour from posting my blog about my weekend in Phoenix with Monti Carlo and David Martinez, but David just submitted a response to my blog about that episode, and it was so raw…
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MasterChef recap: Prawns and Sweet Corn
Please note that my blog is not endorsed or approved by MasterChef and they would prefer you didn’t read it. This blog contains opinion only. I have no inside information about the judging process, only assumptions and uneducated guesses… Thanks to the very bizarre (and potently unfair) get-your-apron-back challenge, Josh is back, so we’ve got…
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MasterChef recap: Stacey gets robbed
Please note that my blog is not endorsed or approved by MasterChef and they would prefer you didn’t read it. This blog contains opinion only. I have no inside information about the judging process, only assumptions and uneducated guesses… 6 contestants are left, and today they get a day off. They don’t have to cook. …
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20 Essential Kitchen Skills
One of my fans asked me an interesting question on Facebook yesterday. “Ben, I’ve always considered myself a good cook, but in the past few years watching shows like Masterchef, I keep running across things that other chefs refer to as being necessary skills to “belong in the kitchen.” If you don’t know how to…