Amra Pajalic

I love Masterchef Finally a reality tv show that has a point and is actually educational. Masterchef is on every night of the week, but unlike tv shows of the past that bombed for me because of over exposure and lack of tension, Masterchef is so well structured that every nightly episode has an activity and is riveting. The best part is that you learn about cooking through watching the challenges the contestants undertake and then there is a weekly Masterclass for the contestants which also means we pick up cooking tips.

What I love most of all that because of all the challenges and activities there is no time spent dwelling on the participants personal lives, learning about the tension of living together or their cliques/frenemies. Also the challenges where they are tortured and put under pressure actually have a point. They are learning how it is to work in a professional kitchen and produce food in a time limit.

Yesterday I made a fried rice recipe we’ve made a few times before, but this time I was influenced by Masterchef’s focus on complex flavours and textures and bought sesame oil to add, and it was the best ever. I feel like my cooking is improving because Masterchef shows that to prepare a delicious meal means taking your time and being thorough. While I like cooking at the moment I need meals that are quick and easy, and have lots of vegies in them.

The only problem is that watching all that yummy food makes my cravings go out of control and I have to make sure to time my tea and bikkie during the show or just before so I don’t get tempted to raid the cupboards for something to eat.

On the bebe front-I’m having so much fun. Sofia has learnt how to make raspberries with her mouth and it is the funniest thing in the world. I’m just constantly laughing when she starts blowing them.

The writing is going well. I’m still writing in the notebook. Need to start transcribing at some point, but I also want to have a draft worth transcribing and all this notebook writing is really bringing me closer to the characters and story. The only problem is that all of the reviews I’m reading keep talking about humour in The Good Daughter and I start getting paranoid about making the book funny, then I pull myself up and focus on not putting the cart before the horse. First I need to have a draft, then can check that there is humour.

Also just read something that really disturbed on Simmone Howell’s blog:

“The librarians at Weeroona Secondary College were saying that when the new school gets built there will be no library – there will still be some books, and some space for kids to read, but no actual library. I’m hearing this more and more; school libraries as we know them are on the way out.”

To Simmone the library was a refuge and it was the same for me, but it was also a space where I had some deep and meaningfuls with friends that we couldn’t have anywhere else. It was a place where you could drop your guard and just be. It was a place where I dreamed of the life beyond. We had the careers computer in the library and I would spend hours scrolling through different courses and careers. It was a place where I could access resources for my school assignments and develop my research skills.

I’m just disgusted that libraries are on the way out. I feel like such a fuddy-duddy, but what is the world coming to. We hear complaints about the new generation losing their ability to think outside the box and learn the way we did. Researching these days consists of reading a few Wikipedia articles, but how is this going to be counteracted if we give the message from the word go that there is no place for intellectual life at high school. We’re dumbing down the students before they even have a chance to form their own ideas and we’ll reap the consequences in years to come.

Now that I have a child these things really hit home when I think about the world she’s going to grow up in. My daughter will have my husband and I to teach her to love reading and the skills she can learn from this, but students like myself who had no parents to encourage and nurture this will be the victims.