Cutting the cheese

I've received a great deal of culinary advice since I wrote about my dalliance with Kraft Dinners last week, and in the breaks between updating my iPod I've really been going to town in the kitchen. Last night I went as far as adding a tin of tuna and a tin of mixed vegetables to my pan of mac and cheese, and it must only be a matter of time before I receive an invitation to take part in the next season of Hell's Kitchen.

I also still have two chunks of mystery meat in my freezer - could be caribou, could be whale - but I've been a bit wary about tackling them as they're both as big as my head and I don't possess a suitable cleaver with which to carve them up. If I can get round to borrowing one then I can expand my repertoire still further, but until such time we'll stick with more traditional fare.

Oh and speaking of cheese, which we were earlier, I read today about an employee of McDonald's in the Netherlands who was fired because she gave a colleague a free slice of the stuff. It seems that she gave a co-worker on a break a more expensive cheeseburger instead of the hamburger that she'd paid for, and as this contravened the company's rules that prohibit staff from giving free gifts to friends, family or colleagues, she was given the sack. She's now won her court case for unfair dismissal, but I don't think the $6000 she was awarded in compensation will make too much of a dent in McDonald's 2009 fourth quarter profit of $1.2 billion, which they announced last week.

Makes you think: if someone is fired for stealing a piece of cheese, I wonder what would happen if they stole a whole burger? Might explain why we don't see Hamburglar any more...

Coffee wars

It is true to say that Canadians have a very close relationship with both hockey and coffee, and whilst I can't yet confess any real affinity with the former, my love for coffee and, more specifically, Tim Hortons, runs deep. Consequently, any java-related story is always of great interest on both a national and personal level, and one such story hitting the headlines at the moment concerns McDonald's perceived declaration of war on our Tim's.

The House of Ronald is giving away free coffee at the moment, at least in the mornings, and this has been seen by many as a direct attack on Tim Hortons, traditionally the everyday-Canadian's (and my) coffee-stop of choice. Now, one would expect it to be the patriotic duty of any red and white blooded Canuck to defend the honour of Tim's at times such as these - to the death if necessary - so you can imagine my horror as I watched Global TV's take on the issue yesterday morning.

Global TV is based in Edmonton which, last time I checked, was most certainly in Canada, and they ran a report on the whole 'coffee war' issue on yesterday's breakfast news show. Come the end of said report we were handed back to the studio where the two anchors, Andrea Engel and Shaye Ganam, were to be seen with a McDonald's coffee cup. Ms Engel then proceeded to explain that this was the type of cup that you would get if you took your business through the Golden Arches, an action that she wouldn't blame you for doing, which led Mr Ganam to comment that that would be a good move, considering the horrendous line-ups at the 'other place.'

Now, whilst I fully appreciate that there are greater woes about which to worry than coffee, I was amazed, nay shocked, to hear such statements from a supposedly unbiased pair of news anchors (I shall resist the obvious rhyming slang connotations for the moment). Not only was this a flagrant endorsement of one company over another on what should be an impartial news programme, but this pair of anchors were actively dissing a Canadian institution live on air.

Global TV, you should be ashamed. Be assured, you have not heard the last of this; the real war starts now.