Today starts the Ultimate Blog Challenge, and I welcome any new readers coming my way. I look forward to visiting some new blogs, although it will have to wait for this weekend.
I live in upstate New York, about a 3 1/2 hour drive south of the Canadian border, about an hour south of Syracuse, NY, near the NY/Pennsylvania border.
This is a "miscellaneous" blog, by way of a short introduction. On Wednesdays I blog about wildflowers, and on Sundays I blog about the American Civil War. (Sunday, I'll talk about the Civil War and the 4th of July). On any other day, I blog about anything that strikes my fancy. Lately, I've done a lot of gardening-type blogging, with occasional postings of pictures. I don't consider myself a true gardening blogger although I may evolve into one. For instance today I am going to blog about....cake. And not just any cake.
Today is Canada Day, the day Canadians celebrate the July 1, 1867 enactment of the Constitution Act.
I have visited Canada several times, and have always had a lovely time.
One thing I've never done, though, is to be in Canada on Canada Day. I have been in Canada on the 4th of July, our Independence Day, because...well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. On that 4th of July visit, a bit homesick, I watched postponed Canada Day fireworks in Saint John, New Brunswick. It's really strange watching another country celebrate its birthday. It's also a learning experience. I found out some of the things that weren't held due to the weather, which I missed.
It's too bad I wasn't there on Canada Day itself, because I probably missed a slice of birthday cake.
Birthday cake? Yes. In the United States we do many things on our Independence Day. We have parades. We listen to patriotic speeches. We have picnics. We have municipal celebrations. We enjoy fireworks. We drink beer. We go to baseball games. But we don't have municipal birthday cake. Not in any place I've lived in anyway, and I've lived in New York, Florida, Kansas, Arkansas and Iowa.
Canadians know that a birthday celebration should include cake. And that includes your country's birthday.
I learned that 4th of July about Canada Day Cake. A white cake with whipped cream frosting, topped with strawberries, is one way the Canadians celebrate their national birthday. The strawberries should be arranged in a maple leaf pattern on the cake. This may be served at a large outdoor festival. Coffee served might be Tim Horton's.
We Americans make flag cake for the 4th of July, but it isn't institutionalized in the same way. It's more of a novelty, something to serve to family and friends. Ours, also, is topped with something white. The cake is normally decorated with blueberries for the field of stars and strawberries for the stripes. However, I've never seen an actual Independence Day birthday cake served at a festival.
Are you a Canadian who would like to share your Canada cake recipe? Let us eat cake!
Friday, July 1, 2011
2 comments:
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Glad to be an Ultimate Blog Challenge buddy! Another good reason to keep enjoying your blog.
ReplyDeleteHi Alana,
ReplyDeleteWell, you really must make it up here some day to celebrate Canada Day. I live in Ottawa, the nation's capital, and yesterday there were something like 300,000 people in and around our Parliament Hill yesterday. It was mad! In part because of Will and Kate's visit.
Anyhow, I don't think I've ever seen a Canada Day Cake! Perhaps its specific to the east coast? Sorry I can't share a recipe...
Good luck with the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I'm not participating but will be reading you as usual.