Olympic Opening Ceremoies

On Friday, I held a Canada party. It was the night of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics games being held in Vancouver, Canada. Over the previous couple of days, I started feeling a sense of deep Canadian spirit and wanted to host a night to celebrate being Canadian and the Canadian athletes. I invited a few friends and family members over and boy, did we celebrate! We ate, drank, and cheered for Canada-and what an opening ceremonies it was.

I even put up a poster with the question “who, do you think is going to light the final torch?”-and many guesses were made.

While getting ready for the party, I tried to make the food and beverages as Canadian as possible. But most importantly, make the evening GLUTEN FREE. I want to ENJOY the evening, like everyone else. I want to be able to relax, and not worry about cross contamination, if I have a “wheat” dish on the table. It can be done!

Here are some photos of the food and beverages…

Can’t have a “Canadian” party without KETCHUP chips!

Warm and gooey- Crab and Artichoke dip

Canadian Brie cheese and Hippie chips(great gluten free, full of nuts and fibre chips)

Vegetable platter

Fresh strawberries and blueberries

Shrimp and cocktail sauce

Stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon

Vanilla cupcakes with raspberry buttercream icing

Gotta have “Canadian” napkins

Bruschetta topped crostini(the crostini, is the gluten free bread I get from GF Patisserie bakery in Cochrane

A wonderful Canadian red wine from the Okanagan Valley

Can’t have a Canadian party without Canadian beer.

GO CANADA GO!!

On a side note, I do have to send my condolences to the parents of the luge athlete Nodar Kumartiashvilli who was killed on the luge track. My son David, was on the CANADIAN junior national luge team and did the sport of luge for 7 years. I am very greatful that he survived the sport with no major injuries, and my heart goes out to the parents of the athlete.

Let us celebrate the Olympics and pray that the rest of the Olympics go injury free!