Life & Times

Running in Canada for 10years from 1985-1995 was the animated TV series Astro Boy. I remember watching this show when I was a small child and how much I loved it. I can remember sitting on the floor in front of the TV at my Nan & Pups house watching this show. It brings back a lot of old memories from my childhood that I miss a lot, like battling my grandfather for control of the TV in the afternoons so I could watch my cartoons instead of his soap operas.

Much to my surprise, when I was looking to see what’s new and what’s coming to DVD I discovered they had remade Astro Boy in 2009. I did a quick search on Google and it turned out that it was a new movie based on the cartoon.

I’m living in China so its not easy to get the latest movies in theatres or even on DVD. 90% of the time I’m better off to download the movie via the “evil” torrent network than pay for it because the “pirate” version the Chinese sell in their local supermarket is not always a good copy. I simply refuse to “pay” money for something of that poor quality when I can download it for free.

As one of the old Astro Boy fans, I loved this movie and it made me remember all those childhood memories. I’ll buy the official release on DVD when it comes to the local DVD shop that’s for sure. This is a great movie and I recommend it to anyone whose watched the old Astro Boy from the 80’s. The story has been updated and the new graphics are just so much better! It almost makes me wish that they would make a non-animated version with live actors and some super cool CGI.

**NOTE** I do not support pirating of movies just for the sake of being a pirate, I do have an extensive legal DVD collection both in Canada and here in China.

Who knows which hamburger this is? I’ll give you a hint, Its the worlds most famous burger and is the icon of American Style fast food. The truth is that the famous “Big Mac” is fattening, poorly made, and well does not taste very good. I don’t eat hamburgers everyday and when I visit McDonalds I seldom get a Big Mac.

In Canada, its very common during the summer months when we are on vacation or having a family party during the weekend that we have a BBQ. Hamburgers are the #1 most common food besides Hotdogs to eat at a BBQ but you can also cook them at home on the stove anytime if you want. according my personal cook book, food should be like a work of art, it should be prepared with care and should look, taste, and smell great.

The main part of the hamburger is the burger paddy its self, it can be think or thin but should always be a little juicy and not to dry. McDonalds tends to make their paddy very dry which is another reason why they need to sell you such a larger pop. Most of this has to do with cooking and we will get to that in time, first we need to start with the 3 major types of paddies and what goes into making a truly great hamburger.

According to my personal cook book their are 3 main types of burger paddies that you can make. They all start out the same way, with a simple bowl filled with ground beef. In Canada beef is cheap and ground beef is popular but here in China its a little more expensive. Always remember that the better quality ingredients you use is a direct reflection of your ability and your passion for cooking. Not only that but quality directly effects the flavour of what your cooking as well. For example, if you want to use fresh garlic or ginger it will always taste better than a powder or fresh vegetables for a meal over something that’s been frozen for several days.

Types of Burger paddies and ingredients:

The “Plain Jane”	BBQ Classic	Mega Burger!!

"The Plain Jane”

Is by far the easiest burger to make. It only requires ground beef and the cook to simply shape the meat into the size of paddy they want to cook. You do need to remember that when cooking the burgers they often shrink and become smaller so please take this into account when making your burgers. This burger is 100% pure beef, untouched and unflavoured. It should be noted that this is also the most common burger paddy made.

"BBQ Classic”

A slight step up from basic, the BBQ Classic combines some basic ingredients for added flavour as well as making it easier to cook on a “Western Style” BBQ Grill. To prepare your paddy you’ll need to mix at least 1 egg or 2 depends on how much ground beef you have. The egg helps to make the paddy “stick” together better when its cooking on the grill. I always like to add chopped onion along with some ground black & white pepper for just for a slight kick. You can also add Barbecue Sauce into the mixture for added flavour, personally I use “Hickory” BBQ sauce from Hunt’s while here in China.

Normally I allow the meat to sit for a few hours before its cooked but this time after leaving it sit i realised that my ground beef was too fresh. Normally we get ground beef which has had time for the blood to drain from it, this beef was so fresh that after it started to age I could see more blood in the meat. I held off the process of making the Mega Burger so I could drain more blood from the meat.

“Mega Burger”
Containing everything that the BBQ Classic does, this burger adds more to internal flavouring and aging. This burger is a more mature burger using beef that’s been mixed and allowed to mature in the fridge for 24hours. Along with everything added to the BBQ Classic, I add lots of garlic to taste, and some ginger for a snap. Worcestershire & Soya sauces are also added for flavour. I also add fresh chives into the mixture for a final touch. 

If I’m not going to cook the burgers than I prepare and freeze them. Something else I did notice along with the large amount of blood that accumulated during the aging process is that perhaps I selected the wrong quality of beef to be ground. This meat was custom ground for me out of the premium cut meat which I normally use for steaks, although it produced one of the best tasting “Plain Jane” burgers ever, I think its necessary to pick an older meat or something that’s not as expensive.

Thanks to the glory of modern technology I’ll now be using the official Olympic medal count graphic to show everyone not only how Canada is doing as compared to China but the rest of the world as well. Make sure you bookmark this post so that you can always recall the official count no matter when you want to check.

Today was China’s time to shine and finally get the chance win some medals at the 2010 Olympics. Pairs Free Skating ended in a spectacular finish for China, winning both Gold and Silver. Congratulations goes out to Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao on their gold medal win, a first for China so far. Congratulations should also go to Qing Pang & Jian Tong on their silver medal for China. Link

It should also be noted that Mike Robertson won yet another silver for Canada in the Men’s Snowboard Cross, bringing Canada’s medal count to 1 Gold, 2 Silver & 1 Bronze.

Congratulations to Kristina Groves who today took home bronze in the Ladies’ 3000m Speed Skating.

**Link**

Congratulations to Alexandre Bilodeau who today won Canada’s first gold medal on home soil in the Men’s Moguls. 

**Link**

I’d like to take this personal moment to wish all of my friends, co-workers, past and present students here in China a wonderful and prosperous New Year! Although is is technically my 3rd new years festival in China its my 2nd year of living here.

2009 was a year of mixed feelings and events. Highlights for the year have shown mostly sad or upsetting events, stretching from ending relationships to the death of a dear friend. One can only hope that this new year of 2010 will bring more happy times.

Congratulations to Jennifer Heil who today won Canada’s first medal of the Olympics, taking home silver in the Ladies’ Moguls.

**Link**