Burger King and Tim Horton's: It's a done deal!

Well it's a done deal. Tim Horton's has agreed to a takeover by Burger King in a deal worth 12.5 billion dollars. The deal should be final by the end of 2014 or early 2015 as stated at a joint press release earlier today. The deal will see the Burger King / Tim Horton's conglomerate become the 3rd largest fast food chain.

What a sad, sad day. Another American company coming into Canada and taking what little we have left that's purely Canadian. I know, business is business and I realize that. I sincerely doubt Tim Horton's was hurting for dough, pardon the pun, but yet I guess the deal offered by Burger King was too sweet to resist. I guess the investors are happy now, as they fill their already engorged pockets with even more cold hard cash. It would make your stomach turn.

So here I am, staring across the kitchen at my Tim Horton's coffee brewer made by Bunn (best damn coffee machine on the planet by the way,... just saying) with my can of Tim Horton's coffee sitting in the cabinet, and I'm just thinking when is the next merger going to phase all this out. It's time to rip the Canadian identity down and make way for the good ol' red, white and blue. Call it a day folks, the American's have invaded. They haven't only invaded, they are taking over and they haven't fired a single shot. I guess in order to qualify that as a statement, Target actually would have had to succeed instead of loosing money. Then again Wal-Mart moved in and they were pretty successful.

The US congress must be licking their wounds today, after the news of Burger King moving out. What an insult to our American neighbours. Burger King is not only moving out, they are moving to a  northern socialist province in Canada, at least that is what most American's think.

Well, for now I still have my Tim Horton's coffee brewer and my can of coffee. Who knows when the next big merger will change Tim's into Starbucks or some other God awful bog water. To be completely truthful, I'm a little pissed over the whole thing, but I'll get over it in a day or so. Canadian's in general, on the other hand, will be feeling the Burger King pinch for years to come. On the bright side, Tim Horton's had a good run I guess. Fifty years is not bad. There are still a few truly Canadian companies left,... aren't there? I'm not even sure anymore.

Tim Horton's: Loss of a Canadian Powerhouse

I'm sure most of you have been watching the news at some point in the past 24 hours, or at least you've heard about this. If you haven't already, let me enlighten you. Burger King is in talks with Tim Horton's to buy the Canadian powerhouse. I never thought I'd see the day, but then again people say "never say never".

Burger King, in an attempt to evade high US Corporate taxes, wants to buy Tim Horton's and move it's head office to Canada. Of course US Congress is in an uproar over the deal, but apparently there are no laws against such a move. The merger would see the Burger King / Tim Horton's conglomerate become the third largest such franchise in the industry.

I guess it's my Canadian pride that makes this whole idea just not sit well with me. There are some very serious questions to be answered here. What will happen to the Tim Horton's brand? Will Burger King change it's name? What if Burger King buys up another coffee franchise and decides to close Tim Horton's?  What will happen with the Tim Horton's partnership with Wendy's? Does this mean Wendy's is being bought out as well? Who the hell actually eats at Burger King anyway? Some of you are probably laughing at this point, but is it really that far fetched. It could quite well mean the beginning of the end for Tim Horton's.

Looking on the bright side of things, US congress I'm sure will not take this sitting down. There are already rumblings of changing the laws that govern corporate activities in the US. You didn't actually think the US was going to let little ol' Canada get the upper hand did you? No way, no how! Then again, we're bigger and we're on top. :-)

Fast Homemade Pizza: Is there any such thing?

Earlier today my wife and I were in the mood for pizza. We were first tempted to order out, but we resisted temptation. Instead I did a quick search on google and found a really nice recipe that we used. I thought I would share it with you. Please refer to the reference web page. I give full credit for this recipe to it's creator, Chef Rider. (Reference: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/quick-and-easy-pizza-crust/)

I'm not sure if you have ever tried to make your own pizza dough before. It's not that it's difficult, it's just the preparation that a pain. The recipe I'm about to share with you takes 30 minutes. It took us a little longer today, but I can see how you could do it in the 30 minutes. This recipe makes one 12 inch pizza crust. Carole and I hope you enjoy!

Here's a list of the incredients:

1/2 teaspoon  active dry yeast / .25 oz package
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

2. Stir in flour, salt and oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.

3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan or baker's peel dusted with cornmeal. Spread with desired toppings and bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let baked pizza cool for 5 minutes before serving.

(Reference: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/quick-and-easy-pizza-crust/)

Pork ribs on the BBQ

I don't know how many of you have tried cooking ribs on the barbeque, but it doesn't always turn out the way you'd like them to. You can always make killer ribs in a crock pot and slow cook them, but there's nothing like food cooked on the grill.

Like many good recipes for the grill, marinating the meat is always a great idea. Ribs are no exception. A good friend of mine, and work colleague I might add, gave me a recipe a while back. I tweeked it a little. It is a great way to prepare your ribs so I thought I would share this recipe with all of you.

So here are the steps to a killer feed of ribs:

1. Boil your ribs in a mixture of tomato juice and water. Cut your ribs in smaller portions, with 3-4 rib bones per portion. You then place them in the water/tomato juice mixture.  The mixture should be approx. 1/2 water and 1/2 tomato juice. I have used tomato sauce in the same way and diluted it a bit more with water. Boil the ribs for approx. 45 minutes.

2. While the ribs are boiling, mix up your marinate. Your marinate consists of mixing together your favorite barbecue sauce and maple syrup. The mixture should be approx. 1/2 barbecue sauce and 1/2 maple syrup. Depending on the thickness of your barbecue sauce, you may be able to do with a little less, or perhaps a little more, maple syrup.

3. After the ribs are finished boiling, you'll now want to remove them from the water and place them on a rack to cool.

4. Once the ribs have finished cooling you can place them in a container of your choosing and marinate them with the barbecue/maple syrup mixture. Use a brush and thoroughly cover the ribs in the marinate, ensuring you cover all surface areas.

5. Now you're ready to place the ribs in the refridgerator. Cover your container of ribs and now place them in the refridgerator for a minimum of 5 hours. Now the secret to really great ribs is to keep them in the marinate for a longer period of time, even up to 2 or 3 days. The longer the ribs stay in the marinate in the fridge, the better they'll be.

6. Here comes time to barbecue. Take your container of ribs out of the refridgerator and start the grill. It's always good to have some of the marinate on hand at barbecue time. What I like to do is brush the ribs with marinate again before they go on the grill. Ribs are best cooked at low to medium heat on the top rack. Place them on the bottom rack, and unless you have a really expensive grill they will burn up. It's better to cook them slowly on the top grill (with the barbecue closed of course). Flip the ribs periodically and brush them with the marinate, perhaps every 5-7 minutes or so. It usually takes approx. 30 minutes to cook them. It might take a little longer, it depends on your barbecue, and also the quality of the ribs you purchased.

7. The ribs are now cooked. Remove them from the grill and  place them on a platter to serve. A nice side of fries and veggies, and you're good to go.

Enjoy!