CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
After a year-long divorce process, Bianca Paladino (43) says she’s excited to see some of these other fish that her friends keeps telling her are out in the sea.
The recently single local mother has today revealed to The Betoota Advocate that her online dating experience has been full of surprises, as she navigates her way back into the dating game after a two decade hiatus.
“I guess I wasn’t expecting so many grown ups! haha” says Bianca.
“But I guess the last time I was dating it was all about jagerbombs and Lil Jon”
“Nowadays I’ve been chatting with real men”
Bianca says after a couple months on the dating apps, she’s been absolutely blown away by the amount of confident men in their late 30s and 40s who have offered to cook her the highly complicated Italian meal known as spag bol.
“I guess it’s a fun way to show someone around your house and let them get to know you”
“But last time I was dating the boys would be lucky to know how to turn on a barbecue! Some of these guys I’ve been matching with are the real deal in the kitchen”
On top of the dinner-at-home dates, Bianca says she’s never seen more Marvel movies in her life – and as a mother of young sons, that is saying something.
“I guess that’s the standard thing to do nowadays. There’s no pressure. You just meet up after work and watch Chris Hemsworth destroy a city of skyscrapers for three hours”
“I’ve seen some of these movies three or four times now”
But it’s when the spag bol is boiling on the stove that Bianca finds she best connects with a possible suitor.
As an executive HR manager from a major employer in Betoota’s Old City District, Bianca is used to being wined and dined.
But as she points out, it’s a bit different seeing a man spend an evening in the kitchen with two bottles of passata and a kilo of beef mince.
“I find it really attractive” she says.
“I mean, I’ve got kids, I definitely know how to whip up a spag bol for a quick weeknight dinner”
“But now that I’m dating, I’ve seen some real chefs at work haha”
Having witnessed at least eight grown men carefully slice the garlic like they do in the movie Goodfellas, before throwing $39 worth of produce in a wok and cooking the shit out of it for four hours while they polish off a bottle of red – Bianca says she’s starting to feel the pressure for when it’s her time to cook dinner for a date.
“I have no idea what I’ll do…” she says.
“The other night I had a spag bol with corn and cucumber in it.”
“One guy even gave it a couple squirts of sriracha hot sauce”
“I’ve never been that creative in the kitchen haha”
