Wednesday, August 1, 2012

An Olympic Occasion

It's the Olympics!!! and they're in London!!!

[Scuttle beating] DO YOU HEAR WHAT I'M TELLING YOU?? THEY. ARE. IN. LONDON!!!!!

ahem... I just happened to LOVE London. I don't know if I've ever mentioned that before. I wasn't planning on being in Idaho for the opening ceremonies, but due to unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances, I was there. Two of my sisters and I were going to watch it together. I suggested having an international dinner- just because we like to theme things in our family (it's a sickness, really).

My other sister happened to be in town with her kids going to the dentist, so I invited them- they wanted to stay. That doubled our party so we had to move to a bigger venue: mom's house. So that added the rents. My brother and his girls made a cameo appearance as well. So our party of 3 went to a party of about 11.

The ceremonies themselves had high points and low points- but it was LONDON so I just sat in my chair and cried as Kenneth Branagh quoted Shakespeare. I think the dream sequence with the Child Catcher, Captain Hook, Cruella De Vil and Voldemort was my favorite. When Mary Poppins saves the day? Honestly??? Awesome.

Anyway... The dinner we had was fantastic. I invested in international flags and a table cloth to set the mood.



We (I) threw it together quickly so some of the countries that were represented... well... it was a bit of  a stretch.

Represented were:

China- Take out from Mandarin house (Mandarin Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Sesame Chicken, Rice and Chow Mein)

Italy- Mozzarella Sticks and Marinara Sauce. Probably not totally authentic- but I *had* to have Italy represented and this was the fastest thing.


Mexico- Hard and Soft shell Tacos from Taco Bell (not authentic at all, I know- but still funny, eh?)

Greece- Baklava (it would have been a crime not to include the country from whence the Olympics originated, no?)


France- French Bread and Allouette Garlic Cheese Spread (if Escargot tasted that good I'd eat them everyday!)

Switzerland- Toblerone Swiss Chocolate

USA- American Easy Cheese and Wheat Thins. (hahahahahahah!!!!) My mom also contributed a shrimp veggie dip. I included that in USA because sometimes American's act a little Dippy (bu dum ksh).


Ireland- (here's where I really had to stretch) Lucky Charms and good Irish Stout! (which tasted remarkably like root beer)


And finally...

England.- I made my very first trifle! Strawberry Lemon. It was actually quite amazing!  It's not as pretty as I planned in my head- but it sure tasted divine!


Next time I think I'll make assignments out to people. It would sure make it a lot easier on me (and my bank account!) And oh yes, we *will* be doing this every opening ceremony of the Olympics- Summer and Winter- for the rest of my life. Wherever I am, it will happen. 


6 comments:

Rochelle and Jonathan Cardell said...

I want to come to one! I'll bring an Australian dish.

Amy said...

"Stout" - bahaha. Love it. But Taco Bell? Seriously? For Mexico? Oh Bakeshow (eye roll). :)

Bakeshow said...

Rochelle, Australia was supposed to be represented (you can see it's place card in one pic) but it ended up not happening, so next time we need you!!!!

Amy, it was cheap and fast. :-p

Cami said...

Super fun! What an awesome tradition. If I'm not with you, I might have to adopt that tradition myself! LOVE IT!

Kerri said...

Very cool. Rochelle could bring Vegemite but no one would eat it (my friend in Australia sent some one Christmas-yuck!).

Susan and Scott said...

That is a great idea. I'm going to have to steal this and do it also next time. You come up with great ideas to have fun.