For years, I stayed a vegetarian for 2 reasons:  ice cream and cheese… I didn’t want to cut those items out of my diet because I loved them too much.  However, when I finally “made the switch” to a full-fledged vegan diet in 2008, my ethics trumped my desire (for once!) and I cut dairy and eggs out.  There wasn’t even time for the ice cream-shaped hole to form in my heart; manufacturers were already producing dairy and egg-free desserts.  In recent years, this market has taken off – so clearly I am not the only one looking for quality vegan options.

With the help of two books - Veganomicon and The Vegan Scoop - I realized that I could take ice cream making into my OWN hands…

~Strawberry with Dark Chocolate shavings~

Armed with my two guides, I borrowed my mom’s ice cream maker – the Cuisinart Automatic Ice-Cream Maker.  This counter-top model is much easier to use than the wooden barrels and hand cranks and rock salt ones that I remember from summertime family reunions (although they were fun to hand crank for a while).  Simply mix up the ingredients (more on that in a bit…) and pour it into the pre-frozen cylinder.  It sits on this rotating base and slowly mixes up the ice cream.  It takes about 25 minutes start to finish.  So great that I am planning to buy my own after “test-driving” mom’s for the last few weeks.

As long as the chemistry of ingredients is right, you can make almost any ice cream flavor you dream up.  I tried a recipe from The Vegan Scoop and was disappointed when it did not turn out right – the base never “took” and while it was still good, it was more of an cold smoothie than an ice cream. This could be the result of a number of factors: this book instructs you to book the ingredients, let them cool, and then put them in the ice cream maker – so there are more variables. Perhaps I didn’t let the items cool long enough? or maybe the ingredients were not a good match for my appliance? The biggest plus of this book is the variety of ice cream flavors – it has over 100 flavors from fruit sorbets to decadent chocolate mixes, also includes novelty flavors like green tea and red bean … for that reason, I use it more for flavor inspiration than I do for following the recipes. I have had much more luck with the base written up in Veganomicon. It has 5 ingredients and doesn’t require cook/cool time. I pour the ingredients into my blender (VitaMix) and then pour them into the maker. Easy as … ice cream. This recipe cuts the time down and you don’t have to think about temperature control.

The recipe does use some soy products, but I am experimenting on how to eliminate them – with so many non-soy vegan ice creams on the market, I know there must be some way to get that consistency without it.  I am not sensitive to soy, but I know that it is an allergen to many people, and I like to find alternatives to it whenever I can.  The common substitution of almond milk in place of the soy milk works well, and one could also use more coconut milk than the recipe calls for a creamier texture.  The recipe also includes sugar and I haven’t made any substitutions there;  I am using cane sugar over refined sugar, but I have not tried using syrups or agave – perhaps another experiment is in order!

Here’s the Veganomicon base recipe ~ could be plain vanilla ice cream, or the base to  “dress it up” in different ways:

1/2 c coconut cream (the cream that forms at the top of coconut milk cans)

1 c soy milk (or almond, hazelnut, possibly rice, although I haven’t tried that)

3/4 c sugar

6 oz silken tofu

1 T vanilla extract

Puree all ingredients in blender or food processor and add to ice cream maker.  Yield is 1.5 pints of ice cream.

Following this recipe, I have made several variations – the strawberry chocolate above, strawberry blueberry sorbet, hazelnut, mint chocolate, and most recently, peanut butter.  I am interested in trying some others before I have to give it back… rum raisin is sounding good to me…

(*ahem* and don’t delude yourself… just because it’s vegan doesn’t necessarily mean that this is a 0 calorie/low fat health food.  I believe it is healthier than store-bought dairy ice cream any day – only 5 ingredients over the 20 or 30 unnatural additions you see in stores! – and the fact that it does not have milk or eggs makes it healthier – in my eyes – than the alternative.)

“Why not today?”

Blinker off. Drove straight ahead into the small lot.  Exploration time.

…

I pass the historic landmark road plaque nearly everyday.  The plaque refers to the grounds of Christ Episcopal Church, established in 1711, and the church that was constructed a century later.  “Old Brick” is nestled right alongside several busy roads – tucked back behind some large poplar and oak trees.  You pass by it on the way to the market… the post office… the library.

After a lovely day with my mom (we spent it searching for a few key pieces at local thrift/consignment shops), we also stopped by “Old Brick” to walk the grounds of the old church, and the adjacent cemetery. Luckily, I had my new camera with me to capture the moments.

I felt like I discovered a little gem – so close.  I had every intention of stopping *some day* but having lived in this area for nearly nine years, I still hadn’t done it.  What places are on your “someday” list?  Do you think you could find a moment to explore and document that place within the next few days?

]]> http://lollygirl.com/blog/2010/06/06/one-day-i-will/feed 21 http://lollygirl.com/blog/2010/06/03/picking-and-jamming http://lollygirl.com/blog/2010/06/03/picking-and-jamming#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 09:25:59 +0000 lolly http://lollygirl.com/blog/?p=2839 Larriland Farm days are back!  And this time, we went to the wonderful pick-your-own farm with the nieces.  It was all about the strawberries~

About 90 pounds of strawberries!  We had three rows (about 20 feet long) that were assigned to us – a group of 6.  They say it is the best picking that they have had in recent memory – I guess Snowmageddon was good for something!  Each plant had about 15 strawberries each, and they were like rubies under the dark green leaves.  So beautiful.

Since we had a clear plan for our berries, Kris and I took the most of them.  We split it 60/30.  It was an afternoon of washing, hulling, and freezer preparation.   The ripest and most delicate berries were taken out, cleaned and then sent through the juicer.  The juice is then frozen in popsicle holders and consolidated into plastic baggies in the freezer.  These little juice pops are used throughout the year for punches and sangria.  The majority of the berries were frozen whole – laid out on wax paper in the freezer shelf (so that they wouldn’t freeze together in one giant block after washing) and then consolidated into baggies.

…and with the others… we made some jam

My sister Sarah was in town for the long weekend, and she expressed an interest in learning how to can.  I picked up some jelly jars and pectin beforehand, so once she made it over, we were ready to go.

We made two batches of jam – the first was strawberry lime jam.  For this one, I used the Ball No-Sugar-Needed Pectin.  It called for apple or white grape juice for sweetener, but also gave instructions for adding some sugar.  Since I did not have the juice on hand, I did in fact add a bit of sugar to the recipe ~4 cups according to the recipe.  I found the recipe and adaptation on Ravelry’s Canny Crafters group page.  The original recipe was adapted from this one - just subbing lime juice and zest for the lemon.

The second batch used the same recipe as a guide, but a different flavor.  This was strawberry vanilla jam using Pomona’s Universal Pectin.  I saw several recipes for vanilla varieties and nearly all of them used a vanilla bean – but since I didn’t have one, I subbed 2 Tablespoons of vanilla extract.  I used the guidelines for sugars from Pomona’s box.  We had approximately 10 cups of strawberries, and I used a mixture of cane sugar and agave nectar for the batch.  And, it came out perfectly!  Such a nice gel and quite yummy too!

13 jars in all – 8 of vanilla and 5 of lime.  It was a great day.  Sarah, Kris and I had a lot of fun doing it all!  Now we get to enjoy the fruits of our labor over the whole year.  Planning to make more preserves, jellies, and canned goods this year – it’s fun to do!

I have been reading like a speed demon – and if you keep up with me on GoodReads, than you know that I have been devouring graphic novels… still loving this genre.  I read the newest Sookie Stackhouse guilty pleasure, Dead in the Family,which left me a little non-plussed, but entertained.  I have plans for much more reading this summer – I am going to the library once a week trading in the ones that I read for the new ones I had on hold! Another book review post will be coming soon.   I should be turning my eyes to the shelves full of books in my house…

Also watching season finales of some favorite television shows, name “LOST” and “Chuck”.  I was happy with both, for the record

The downtime would usually translate to more knitting time, but I haven’t been picking up the needles that much lately.  I am continuing my stashbusting efforts, but it seems like a lot of other things are vying for my time… and winning right now.  I did finish this scarf – a simple garter stitch number that was knit  side-to-side.  I used a wool/alpaca/silk blend (Elsbeth Lavold Silky Flamme).  I am calling it my Tree Bark scarf because of the ripply texture [Ravelry Notebook page].  The yarn has some thick and thin places which adds to the effect.  I threw in a couple of purl rows for some interest.  I like it, and it will be nice this next fall/winter.

I joined a new gym and am enjoying their “theater” room where you can work out on the equipment (ellipticals, treadmills, stair climbers, bikes) while watching a movie on the big screen.  What a novel idea!  They play fun movies too… I just got back from the gym and they were playing Mrs. Doubtfire, which I hadn’t seen since it came out.  So silly that I found myself laughing out loud more than once while on the treadmill!  I have a great friend who goes with me, so it’s fun to have that little standing date together each weekend.

My youngest sister is in town this weekend, and we are all looking forward to the visit from Mimi, Daniel, and Baby V at the end of June.  This coming Monday, my dad leaves for a 4-month assignment in  Juneau, Alaska.  …and you know me well enough to realize that the wheels started turning in my head planning a trip to visit!  We don’t have a date pinned down quite, but we have every intention of going.  Should be a great opportunity to see my dad, and for some amazing photography!

After a good deal of reluctance, I decided to join Twitter.  now I am wondering why in the world I waited so long.  I heard a lecture last week at a work-related conference that extolled this social networking tool and I realized that it could be a good thing… so, I gave it a try this past week.  And yeah, it’s great.  So, if you want to follow me… I am there.  It’s like mini-blog posts!

It is still in the experimental stages – Kris and I constructed this box back in April and it still needs some tweaks (specifically when it comes to even distribution of water) but we are getting some nice looking greens growing from it, so it seems to be working on a pretty basic level!  Here’s how we did it:

Kris bought some boards and constructed this case – about 5 feet tall and 2.5 wide – and divided it into three sections.  The backing was left open, but with wooden slats placed about 2 inches apart.  The dividers were placed in at an angle to keep the soil from coming out, and a hole was cut in the middle to insert this wire mesh tube through the middle the case.  The hole is also cut in the top of the case.  We lined the sections with coconut husk fiber and then inserted this mesh tube.  The tube was then filled with river rocks.

A top soil and compost mixture filled in to each section.

Another layer of the coconut husk fiber to cover the soil.  With a razor, we cut small holes into the fiber to insert the seedlings / seeds. 

 Landscape fabric was stapled on top of the frame, and wooden slats were screwed into the frame .  We cut holes in the fabric to match the holes beneath in the cocout fiber.

Seedlings inserted!  then we propped up the frame, and secured it to the fence.  No soil spills!

The seedlings were started indoors awhile before, and we just transplanted them into the vertical frame.  We used the same salad green mixture that we put in the adjacent bed.  The hope is that the plants will grow out and then up, filling in the blank spaces with greens.  We are planning some additional planting in this bed so that we can have a staggered harvest (Kris and I love salad!) 

The only thing we have noticed is that the watering tube (filled with river rocks down the center) does not distribute the water as well to the seedlings on the far right and far left.  The water also tends to flow out the back of the frame.  So, some minor tweaks are needed. 

 This concept of the “living wall” is so amazing to me – mixing function and art.  If you are interested, there is LOTS of fodder online:

• Inspiring Vertical Gardens for Small Spaces, Low Impact Living Blog
• Patrick Blanc’s “Vegetal Walls” – true works of art- so beautiful!
• Ping Mag’s Vertical Gardening: The Art of Organic Architecture
• A simpler and more accessible approach to vertical garden using flower boxes

I want to take this idea and RUN with it…

We tend to focus so much on our edible gardening, but over the weekend, we planted some ornamentals – I got these foxgloves and corabelles at the nursery.  They are a nice addition to the front yard where we have some gladiolas and lilies preparing to bloom. 

I got to meet up with some wonderful people – many of them for the first time, and re-unite with friends I have met in previous years. This year’s weather was extremely hot and shade was a very sought-out commodity. So, the meetings all happened under the shade trees, in the shaded pavillions, or standing in the cold drink lines!  One such meetup, near the lemonade stand, was the re-unite with Tania “Mikomiao”, a long-time Flickr contact.  We met briefly last year, but had the chance to snap a pic this time.  Tania was down from NYC for the day with several friends.   I also had the wonderful opportunity to meet Kim and Heather as well as Heather’s daughters.  Heather’s daughter Pia also happens to be a huge Penguins hockey fan – so it was wonderful to meet her!

She’s even wearing her “Got Evgeni?” shirt! 

I also got to see several Ravelry friends, and many more Flickr friends too.  Funny how it takes a big festival like this to actually see the local people!  I got to talk to Mai and Emily (who both live in the area, but we never meet up, unfortunately) and Tina who was down from NYC.  And many thanks to several people who said hello and introduced themselves while standing in lines, walking down the aisles ~ it’s so much fun to meet everyone!

On Saturday, my mom and aunt and I melted in the heat, but still had a lovely day.  My aunt is visiting from Alabama after years of hearing me talk about the festival – she finally got to experience it herself.  She knits a lot, and like my mom is also interested in felting.  They both bought a bag-full of roving, and my aunt bought this adorable felted animal book.  I can’t wait to see what they come up with!

Auntie with her felt book – first purchase at MDSW! 

 
Mom with her bag-full of roving on the scale 

I picked up Jenna from the airport – in from Seattle – and I think this is her fifth MDSW as well (four of them we have been together).  We enjoyed a fun night with Kris, Kelp Kelly and Allison at my favorite Indian restaurant… and although tiredness from all that heat (and sunburn) was hitting me square in the face, we also went to a pub for a few drinks.  I was such a lightweight and I nearly fell asleep at the table!  Nevertheless, it was great fun – and I only wish we had some photos to share!  (that happened last year too with no camera!)

Stashbusting has been forefront in my mind for several weeks, and while I did make some purchases at MDSW this year, I didn’t buy nearly as much as in previous years!  I tried to stick with unique fibers/designs that I haven’t seen in other places – as well as some very utilitarian non-yarn purchases…

Non-yarn purchases:  Kookaburra Wool Wash, Size 10 55″ needles, buttons from Jennie the Potter, a *wooden ball winder*, and two knit patterns from Noni (felted jacket) and ShiBui (mohair pulli)

The wooden ballwinder has been on my list for three years – I always look at it at Stonemountain Fibers – but this year, I took action!  Now, it is mine!  I haven’t tried it yet… but as you can see below, I have some new yarn to try it with! 

1. Farmhourse Yanrs Silk Spun Cotton, 2. Brooks Farm Acero, 3. Davidson Domy Heather – Sportweight, 4. ZWool Natural Dyed Wool, 5. Creatively Dyed Yarns Worsted, 6. Davidson Natural Bulky Wool, 7. Creatively Dyed Yarns Fingering, 8. Spun Monkey Handspun 

I didn’t realize until I got home that several of the yarns are in three distinct color families – neutrals, blues/greens, and golden browns.  I guess I am particularly drawn to these colors now!  I don’t have specific patterns in mind for many of them – but single skein projects are usually hats and scarves/cowls, so that is what these might become!  The Davidson Domy Heather in the periwinkle seems very well-suited for the Plain and Simple Pullover (Ravelry link) and may become that for a fall/winter layering piece.  The Creatively Dyed Yarns and the handspun were my splurges – I just fell in love with the color explosions!  The green CDY is  a fingering weight and seems very well-suited for some funky socks.  The worsted weight will probably be a hat.  The handspun will be a hat and cowl or mitt combo. 

For the second year in a row, we got to see all of Jennie’s lovely pottery pieces!  Last year, Jenna bought a mug, and I picked up a necklace and several buttons.  This year, I was thinking about a mug, but I held off.  She does have a particularly cute cookie jar that I had my eye on!  We met up with my friend Amy  and Little J at Jennie’s booth, and Amy got a mug and a little bowl – Jennie’s stuff is just too cute to pass up!  Here we are after the purchasing - hot, but happy!

Jenna and I enjoyed some downtime on Sunday afternoon over some potato ribbon chips.  MDSW is such a fun festival, but they are *severely* lacking any healthy eating options.  With the exception of drinks, this is the only food that I know of that a vegan can have at the festival – and that’s only after checking that is indeed fried in vegetable oil – and asking them to hold the cheese and sour cream.  Any vendor who offered some healthier fare would do so well there!  I do bring my own snacks – nuts, a fruit, etc. - but it’s another thing to carry in, and I would be happy to patronize a vendor that offered something other than meat-on-a-stick.   I don’t like to complain, because I know that MDSW is a big effort by lots of volunteers – and they remain admission-free to keep people coming in – but a local vendor/community group would do so well offering up something simple like sandwiches, wraps, or falafel.  I am wondering how a letter-writing campaign would go over… 

Nevertheless, MDSW remains a highlight of the year – both in seeing friendly faces and sweet animals, but also in taking the pulse of the fiber community.  Even with the down economy, it seemed like there were so many people out, enjoying the day, and buying lots of things.  It is always a pleasure to buy quality products from small businesses – with the proceeds going directly to them.  Even more of a pleasure to actually meet and converse with these vendors – and sometimes see the sheep/alpaca/bunnies/goats that the fiber came from! 

In preparation for the new macro photos – I enjoyed going through my Flickr photos from the past and pulling up some of my favorite macros shots from the past.  You can click on each for more details!

~ENJOY~

Photos from MDSW to come!

Kris and I have kept our vermiculture composter for about 3 years (I talked a little about it here in this post) we use the commercially available Can-O-Worms bin (there are several others on the market, all seemingly adequate) and it is a lot of fun to keep.  It’s a very easy set-up with the tiered system… easy to assemble, and once you get it, all you need are the worms.  We bought the two most common composting worms available in North America – “Red Wigglers” and “European Nightcrawlers”. 

Once all that is in place, it’s easy to start up… you simply put your natural scraps into the bin for the worms to digest… and natural scraps can be a huge list of things.  My worms get a steady diet of veggie and fruit scraps from my cooking and baking, as well as leftovers from the juicer, used teabags and coffee grounds.  I layer these scraps directly on the top bin and then cover it with a damp set of newspaper.  I add to the mix, just continuing to layer… and as time goes by, the worms do the work.  Once the bin is full of my scraps, I add a new plastic layer and start the process again.  The worms migrate up, leaving the scraps below – other worms stay down in the lower bin working on the older items, and the natural decomposition also takes over.  The best part about it?  It doesn’t smell a bit.  I keep my bin inside during the winter months (too cold in Maryland to be outside, and I don’t have a garage) and I have never had any problems with it being inside.  In fact, it makes it easier for me to toss out the scraps when the bin is right there in my kitchen.

And as we begin to prepare the garden, you can open up the lowest bin and mix this nutrient rich compost directly into your top soil – instantly making it better and more viable for planting.

Here’s how it breaks down – the photo on the left shows my top-most bin:  the one that is full of the newest kitchen scraps… grape stems, avocado skins, old lettuce, apple cores, beet peels… and the one on the right shows the rich dark soil in the bottom bin, ready to mix in with the top soil in the garden. 

The timing was perfect. On the very same day, Saturday, the seeds we ordered from Seed Savers Exchange arrived (we have ordered from them for a few years – and they are amazing! it’s an heirloom cooperative and they have thousands of varieties.)  

It’s still a little early for the big vegetables, but we are in prime time ( a little late, actually) for lettuce and green varieties.  Kris already planted some spinach and some beets, and we planted a few seeds of each of the lettuce/greens packets – we got an Heirloom Variety pack that had nine kinds, and also had a few others to try.  So, we planted eleven or twelve different types of lettuce in one of our raised beds.  I can’t wait till they start sprouting up… should be soon!  We have BIG plans for the garden this year – more veggies and herbs, and even some new and creative ways that we are using our small space.  Then of course, it’s gonna be some good eating (with scraps, no doubt!) and the whole cycle with the wormies will start again.  It’s pretty amazing.  Those little worms are amazing creatures. 

If you are interested in vermiculture composting – or composting in general (we also have a “heap” of outdoor waste – grass clipping, leaves, twigs, big scraps that won’t fit in the bin like cabbage and lettuce heads, celery hearts, etc.)  here are some resources to get you started!  It’s really quite simple and you don’t have to do too much – nature takes care of a lot of things for you!

• Vermicomposting on Wikipedia
• Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System (book)
• Let it Rot!: The Gardener’s Guide to Composting (book)
• Crazy for Compost Ravelry group

I started this cowl – the Tuesday Night Cowl (free pattern on Ravelry!) by Susan Lawrence - the morning of the Olympic Knitters meetup that Felicia and I coordinated on February 20th.  I brought along the Cascade Venezia from my stash and decided to  cast on this pattern because I wanted something bulky and simple – the antithesis of my recent knits.

“Van-COWL-ver” is what I am calling it – corny, but a nod to where it was made   The yarn was nice to work with – bulky, silky, and a lovely shade of blue.  I used big fat US 13 needles.  The cowl incorporates some tucking with large cables.  It’s really a cool pattern and I plan on making it again with some of the other chunky and bulky yarns in my stash.  Susan has put together the pattern for three different weights of yarn, so it can easily be used for stashbusting!

As far as the stash enhancement goes, you saw Felicia’s lovely studio in the previous post – and I picked up some lovely things from her:  A merino/silk laceweight in a gorgeous olive color and two balls of merino/kid mohair blend colored with natural dyes.  Christa, our wonderful hostess (her Rav profile!), works at one of the yarn shops in downtown Vancouver… so when she was scheduled to work one of the days last week, I decided to pay her a visit at Three Bags Full… what a treat!

In the top photo, Christa and I are modeling some Koigu goodies that are store samples.  The shawl I am wearing is one of  Christa’s own design, Colourflow Wrap (free on Ravelry!) that uses gradient Koigu colorways.  It feels amazing, and it got me thinking about how nice one of these would be around my neck… still contemplating.  Christa is wearing the ubiquitous (and beautiful) Charlotte’s Web shawl.  I asked Christa to help me find some yarns unique to British Columbia for my souvenir pieces – and I came away with these new hanks:

Gala Wool Naturals in Glacier Blue, Mustard Field, and Fern – all the colorwork possibilities!   The lovely lavender colored yarn is Unwind Yarns Beaujoulais Fingering weight Merino Silk – both dyed by BC area dyers.  So, when I knit them, I can think of British Columbia

…and last Saturday, Christa and I had the chance to sit down and have a little crochet lesson… over brunch with our guys, Christa taught me some of the basics, and by the time we had finished our food, I had managed to finish a row that included singles, doubles, and trebles. I need some more practice, but I love the way it feels to be doing something new with yarn. We’ll see where it goes from here!

Our afternoon/evening in Granville Island was one of my highlights of the trip.  Granville is home to several artist studios, including some very talented fiber artists.  I spent a lot of time in the felt shop Funk Shui, loving the artist’s aesthetic.  She does some amazing things with felt.  I bought a great leafy headband that will be perfect for yoga… and anywhere else I want to wear it.  No picture of it now, but soon!  Another artist was showcasing some artwork in one of the small gallery window displays in the Circle Craft shop.  At first glance, it was all about the felt dresses – so delicately adorned with silk ribbon embroidery and beads… but WAIT!  vintage hockey gear too?  Almost too good to be true!

Check it out!  vintage gloves on the left mannequin, and blocker pads on the right one.

Along with the historical photos of women playing pond hockey in dresses behind the mannequins, you can see the artist was going for the juxtaposition of the elegant dresses with the hockey gear.

Pretty ingenius, eh?

Many knitters are participating in the new incarnation of the “Knitting Olympics” that have been deemed the “Ravelympics” now on Ravelry.  Last I looked, there were over 8000 knitters and crocheters signed up for those events – with event names that run the gauntlet from the “Hat Halfpipe” to “Mitten Moguls”, there is something for everyone.  These Ravelympians far outnumber the actual Olympians in Vancouver.  It should be great fun to watch!

I have not participated in a Knitting Olympics, and I am not planning to this year as I feel that I have pressured myself enough with deadline knitting… but that doesn’t mean that I am not cheering you on wholeheartedly!  I would love to hear what you are planning for the Ravelympics – leave me a comment and tell me about your team, your event, and your project!

I hope many of you are planning to watch the events – you will be in for some real treats!  Since the Summer Games have such a ginormous following, they are

Here are a few tips and things to watch for during the Games:

•  Winter Olympic Sports are FAST.  Several of them involve icy surfaces, so this means that the action just *zooms* right by.  So, you may need to work on a project that doesn’t require large amounts of attention!  You look down to count your stitches or check your charting – and boom, you just missed the win!  Luckily, there are DVRs and instant replays – but you don’t want to miss the action!  …and in case you do miss it and have an accident, there are always commercial breaks for a little bit of frogging

• I don’t have to tell you that my anticipation for the Games is all about the ice hockey.  Because the Games are in Canada – the Home of Hockey – there is a HUGE HUGE amount of pressure on both the Men’s and Women’s teams to bring home the gold medals.  And honestly, both of them are so good that they could do it.  The most contentious matches will be between old rivalries (aren’t they always?).

For the Mens’ tournament, the match that has the most hype is Canada versus Russia.  Both of these teams are very deep and star-studded.  Both teams are fully made of athletes who do this for a living – both in the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).  Two of the undisputed “best players in the world” will be facing off – one leading Canada and the other leading Russia.  Watch for Sidney Crosby (Canada) and Alexander Ovechkin (Russia) – and if you watch the Games, you will hear their names A LOT.  However, because the Olympics are a one-stop shop, unlike many of the other “best of seven” style tournaments, there is a very distinct possibility that one of the other national teams could make a real showing.  The biggest “contenders” in addition to the two already named are the US, Sweden, Czech Republic, Finland, and Slovakia.  There could be a “dark horse” – and that’s what makes it so exciting!

As for the women’s hockey, the biggest rivalry is between Canada and the United States.  Canada won the Gold in Torino in 2006, with Sweden taking the silver and the US taking the bronze.  Women’s hockey is serious business with serious fans!  I watched one of the matches between US and Canada a few weeks ago and really got into the excitement in the game.  It was a nailbiter right to the end.  The Canadians took the game, but it was so close!  Women’s hockey doesn’t get much (if any) “air time” on TV and in the news media, so I simply don’t know that much about these athletes as I do about the men – but I will love finding out more about these amazing women through the course of the Games.

• Figure skating is always the soap opera of the Olympics, and I doubt this year will be any different – from the costumes, the judging, the relationships between partners… oh!  so juicy and exciting!  the figure skating consistently ranks among the most popular events on TV and in person (that is why the tickets were so hard to get – the price point was so high!  so, we will be enjoying the figure skating on the screen, not in person).

• In a weird turn of winter events, the Vancouver area has had a very mild winter – so much so that they are trucking in snow from the mountains to bring to the ski/snowboard courses north of the city.  Conditions are not really improving, and while there are some contingencies in place, everyone is hoping that things go off as planned.  Several of our events are indoors, but we do have a ski event in Cypress Mountain and we are all keeping our fingers crossed that it happens!  …I wish there was a way I could take the 4 feet of snow here in Maryland to BC with me!

I would love to hear about what events you are planning to follow!