I have never quite understood the fascination and interest that people have in cooking shows such as MasterChef or My Kitchen Rules.
The contestants are portrayed as ordinary people who have above average cooking skills who go on a show and inspire others by letting them know that you don't have to be an expert to attempt to replicate your favourite meals from restaurants. But, the reality of it is, most of the participants have had years of proper kitchen training.
Having said this, it was not a surprise to find on the vogue.com.au forums many disgruntled MasterChef viewers complaining about their attempts at making some of the recipes.
Many complained that even after using the recipes on the website, their food didn't come out like it did on the show and others complained that their food didn't come out right because the recipes on the MasterChef website were incorrect
People need to realise that it is called 'MasterChef' for a reason - it isn't home cooking.
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But what if you could replicate the recipes and perhaps even make them better?
Mother and daughter team, Virginia and Lisa Hellier, came up with the answer to help people who wanted to be master chefs at home.
They felt that the average Joe should be able to replicate their favourite recipes from top chefs, so they came up with a cookbook, Top Chefs' Recipes Made Easy.
"We decided that it would be good to compile some of the recipes from these master classes into an easy-to-read cookbook at an affordable price," Virgina said.
"Top food shouldn't be the preserve of top chefs. We should all be able to do it."
The book contains recipes from 28 of Australia's top chefs, showing that it can be easy to bring a professional meal to your own table.
No more ordering food, like some of my friends do, and taking credit for the meal - the book contains all kinds of foods to keep you happy with dishes such as nibbles for drinks, entrees, salads main courses and desserts from Italy, France, Thailand and Vietnam.
No more traditional foods such as bangers and mashers - there are recipes such as Teriyaki Racks of Lamb.
"Now home cooks can whip up the same dishes as Shannon Bennett prepares for Vue de Monde in Melbourne or Jimmy Shu serves at Hanuman in Darwin. The recipes are step-by-step and foolproof," Virginia said.
Lisa and Virginia felt it was a smarter idea to replicate recipes not just from celebrity chefs, but also leading chefs from top restaurants without the celebrity tag.
"I wanted to feature recipes from the regular leading chefs, not just 'celebrities', but chefs whose restaurants are readily available to us all; chefs that foodies can identify with and those who understand what it's like to cook from a domestic kitchen without the full brigade to support you," Virginia said.
The idea for the cookbook, that took more than four years to become a reality, has translated into a financial success, too, selling fast in most bookstores nationally.
Maybe it is time to pick up the cookbook and see if I can transform myself into a master chef - I am prone to burning food, adding excessive amounts of salt and using random herbs and spices without a plan, so fool-proof sounds good to me.
Maybe I'll become the next Master Chef.
Or not, but hey, a girl can dream.