Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Ketchup Cake

To thank Canadians for 100 years of support, Heinz has created The Great Canadian Heinz Ketchup Cake.


It looks ok in the photo, but I still think Ketchup goes well with French Fries... not dessert... ;)
I think alty ketchup and sweet dessert don't really go well with each other.


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GREAT CANADIAN HEINZ KETCHUP CAKE

The commemorative cake from Heinz tastes much like carrot cake and makes 12 servings.

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

2 cups (500 mL) All-purpose flour

2 tsp (10 mL) Baking powder

1 1/2 tsp (7 mL) Ground cinnamon

1 tsp (5 mL) Baking soda

1/2 tsp (2 mL) Each ground nutmeg and ginger

1/2 cup (125 mL) Heinz Tomato Ketchup

1/2 cup (125 mL) Water

2 tbsp (30 mL) Red food colouring

3/4 cup (175 mL) Butter, softened

11/2 cups (375 mL) Dark brown sugar, packed

2 Eggs

FROSTING:

6 oz (175 g) Brick-style cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup (175 mL) Butter, softened

1 tsp (5 mL) Vanilla extract

4 cups (1 L) Icing sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Grease two, 9-inch (23-cm) round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Stir the flour with the baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and ginger into a bowl. Stir the ketchup, water and colouring in a separate bowl. Set aside.

Beat the butter and blend in the sugar in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in the eggs. Add the flour mixture and ketchup mixture. Beat on low, scraping down the bowl as needed, until combined. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for one minute.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the centre springs back when touched lightly.

Cool the cakes for 15 minutes before turning onto a rack to cool completely.

Frosting: Beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla on medium speed for 2 minutes or until smooth. Gradually beat in the sugar on low, scraping the bowl as needed. Beat on high until fluffy.

Frost between the cake layers and over the sides and top of the cake.

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Source:
Canada.com

Vienna is best city to live and work

According to the Mercer's 2009 quality of living survey, Vienna has the best quality of living among the 215 world cities measured.

1st - Vienna (Austria)
2nd - Zurich (Switzerland)
3rd - Geneva (Switzerland)
4th - Vancouver
15th - Toronto
16th - Ottawa
22nd - Montreal
26th - Calgary
38th - London

Toronto ranked 15th out of 215 cities, which is not bad.

I've never been to Vienna. I guess it would be nice to visit Vienna to see it for myself that it is the best city to live in for 2009. ;)


Source:
The Guardian
Globe and Mail

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Police car chase

I have seen a lot of police car chase in movies or TV shows, but I haven't seen one in real life.

Yesterday, when I was driving to work, I heard police siren, so I stopped my car before the Steeles and Dixie intersection looking for the police car. Then, I saw a police car with siren on chasing a small white truck.

At first, I thought the truck was probably speeding and didn't notice that a police car was behind it. Ok... The police siren was loud... The truck driver should have heard it...
Then, I noticed something different:
  • The truck was going west on Steeles and turned north to Dixie on red traffic light.
  • The police car followed.
  • After police car went past the intersection, I continued to drive north on Dixie.
  • The truck, instead of pulling over to the side, was going left and right trying to get pass other cars. There were lots of cars since everyone was driving to work.
  • Then, the truck did an U-turn and drove south on Dixie.
  • The police car followed.
The truck driver definitely knew that the police car was chasing him/her.

I don't know what happened afterward. I just drove to work. The truck driver probably did something bad.

Oh well... It wasn't as exciting as movies, but it's a first time for me!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Wen 決志了

What's so special about April 10?
Well... Today is Good Friday. This is the day Jesus died to pay for our sins.
As usual, Church has a Good Friday program.
After worship... Guess what??
Wen 決志了!!! He 決志成為基督徒!!
Congratulations!



P.S. What is "決志" in english?

Sunday, April 5, 2009

The purpose of Daffodils

Yesterday, I was shopping in a big mall. I came across a booth selling daffodils to raise funds for Canadian Cancer Society. So, I went over there and asked the girl for the price of daffodils. She told me 1 bunch for $7, 2 bunches for $10, and 4 bunches for $20. This is perfectly fine except her next sentence made me kind of upset/disappointed. She said that if I only want to buy 1 bunch, she can give it to me for $5.

The whole purpose of selling daffodils is to donate money in support of the fight against cancer. This is not a flower shop where people bargain for the price of flowers. If people want flowers, they would go to a flower shop. People standing in front of this booth are here to support Canadian Cancer Society. This is the most important thing!!! Flowers come second or last.

I had to admit that it was the daffodils which first attracted me to the booth. However, I was there because I wanted to support Canadian Cancer Society. So, I put down $7 for a bunch of daffodils. The girl kind of looked surprise at me. She probably thought I would only put down $5.

I understand that people selling daffodils are all volunteers, but they represent Canadian Cancer Society. They should be asking people to donate more, not less. When we buy/sell daffodils, we should think about the fight against cancer, not about the flowers.

Anyway, if you see someone selling daffodils, please buy a bunch to support Canadian Cancer Society!