Brett McGregor, Masterchef NZ

Last night, it was all over and we finally learned who had won the title of Masterchef New Zealand – past tense as the show was actually filmed in December last year. Personally, I’d rather see the final live (or as soon after as editing will allow) and not canned some four months later…big wows to Brett for taking the title out in a cook-off that was a nail-biter right til through with only two points in it at the very end…

TVNZ has already signed up for a second season and it will be interesting to see the hopefuls turn-out for this now that the ice has been broken…I don’t think this first NZ series was as slick as the Aussie version; for me, that’s mainly because the venue always felt like it was jammed in an abandoned warehouse somewhere, and that perception certainly wasn’t help by a Closeup item that showed the judges’ office where they make these life-changing decisions and it was a pokey thing where they could barely squeeze a guest judge…

On Breakfast this morning Brett said that he is about a quarter of the way through his cookbook (Christmas hint!!!) and that he plans on including a recipe from each of the other eleven Masterchef NZ contestants – a generous move – but has no plans to quit teaching and taking up cooking full-time…on ya Brett…!

Ray, Simon and Ross were great as judges as were the various guest judges (yes, including Mr Crayfish Rights!) and I have a long list of flash eateries around Auckland to work through when we head up that way…that’s one thing I do miss about living amongst the scenic splendour of Mt Ruapehu: ready access to more culinary variety than we have here. That’s not to say the eateries around here are not good, there are some exceptional ones here but there’s just not the variety of a larger centre….

For those interested in taking some of the Masterchef designs for a spin around the kitchen, you can find them in the Masterchef NZ Recipe Library.

Meanwhile @ Masterchef Raurimu, it’s hamburgers tonight…

In other news…

Sir Peter Jackson was knighted at Premier House yesterday…

“I feel incredibly humbled and the truth is making movies is not a solo effort – it involves hundreds of people, thousands of people, so I feel as though I’m accepting it on behalf of a huge industry,”

Sir Peter Jackson, 28 April 2010

I met Sir Peter during the making of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and a nicer gentler Kiwi bloke you couldn’t hope to meet…I’m really pleased to see him recognised for all his services to art and aviation…

That explains a lot

On Facebook, Michael Yon admits “…Major Payne is a big favorite. I just watch this movie over and over…”

Uh-oh

Gordon Brown discovers the joys of a hot mike which dumps him in the hot seat…

“Sometimes you do make mistakes and you use wrong words, and once you’ve used that word and you’ve made a mistake, you should withdraw it and say profound apologies, and that’s what I’ve done,”

His mistake? Getting caught, of course…