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...

Growing old gracefully

I really am becoming old.

It was my birthday yesterday, and the day before I went to the shops with the intention of buying myself a modest present. What did I get?

A vacuum cleaner and a frying pan.

Look, I really needed both items, alright? The vacuum cleaner we have here at the apartment is broken and the one frying pan we own is still with all my belongings up in Inukjuak. I tried to cook French toast in a saucepan last week and thought 'enough's enough.'

Needless to say, I still haven't used either item yet.

Then, just to confirm the age thing, I took myself on a nice Sunday drive yesterday, during which time I became one of those old folk that hold you up when you've got far more important places to be. Whilst on the road I decided to search for a Tim Horton's that I hadn't visited before, and my quest eventually took me to the town of Perth where I enjoyed a very pleasant, and educational, couple of hours.

Whilst there, I discovered the site of the last ever fatal duel in Ontario...

...and I also discovered one of the biggest cheeses in the province.

Now, whether Perth ever witnessed any cheese-based duels is not on record, but if there ever were any, my money would have been on the Brie. I rounded off my day with a visit to the Cineplex to see Angels & Demons - the movie, not actual angels and demons - and after such an action packed start to the week, I really don't know where to go from here.

Perhaps I could unbox the vacuum?

Nah.