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Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Since I'm the only one of the lot of us working anywhere near the (Ottawa) picket line, I got to judge a baking contest today. Harsh, eh? It seemed like a good idea to compensate in some way for my complete lack of expertise, so I turned to plain old nerdry. Here's how it broke down:
Figure one: Excel sheets make life better(The ingredients scale is just a baseline; it got pretty subjective from there. It seemed wrong to penalize the use of healthier products, but, really, who needs raisins?)
Notes on the top three (they're not the three you think they are):
- The cheesecake brownies set themselves apart by their sheer decadence. No one who hasn't (holy awkward negation, Batman!) been walking in circles for 50 some-odd days should even consider partaking of one of these beauties (pictured below).
- Limes rule. The key lime squares were incredibly refreshing after a halftable of chocolate and condensed milk, and the contrasting textures were, uh, contrasting.
- To break the three-way tie for third, I sided with variety and picked the pumpkin squares over the other brownies. Pumpkin is a bold choice, a smart risk and seasonally appropriate.
I don't know what we'll be doing with this space come next week, but I'm pretty sure there'll be one last cake delivery before then.
12:48 a.m.
Another cake next week? Really? For us? Woo-hoo!
Signed,
Orange Brownie chef
Just in case everyone has been so caught up in our own little victory, I wanted to drop a line to say Thank you from all of us. Everyone is talking about how hockey solved this thing. I disagree. Hockey was instrumental to the timing of our deal. People like you solved this thing. Your letters, your phone calls, your bakeoffs and blogs brought attention to the whole sleazy mess. The politicians listened because voters were complaining and complaining loudly. So, as we CMG'ers celebrate our victory for workers rights, you should be celebrating too. You proved once and for all who really owns the CBC. It's not Rabinovitch, Smith, Stursberg or Chalmers. It's not even the people who keep the place running on a shoe-string. It's the audience, the people of Canada. Your actions have seized control of the agenda. There will be tough questions asked about what is going on CBC, how they're managing the place and how to move forward. I hope you will be the winners in the end with more distinct Canadian programming. With a revitalized news service with a truly Canadian spirit (not just a competitor with CTV or private radio). You have seized control of the agenda. Now let the people in Ottawa know what you want the CBC to look like and how much you're willing to pay for it.