Let the Games Begin!

The 2012 summer Olympics in London are only days away and Mike and I are very excited for the festivities to begin.  Not only do we enjoy watching all of the competitions and hearing all of the stories of triumph, we also really enjoy watching the always impressive and extravagant opening and closing ceremonies.  To kick off our two week Olympic watching marathon (that’s a sport of its own!) we like to pay homage to the host country and have a meal that reflects that country while watching the opening ceremonies.

This little tradition started back in 2004 for the Athens games when we had gyros.  For the Turin games we had pizza from our favorite pizza place.  The Beijing games had us ordering Chinese takeout (we think the whole area had the same idea as our food took forever to be delivered that night!).  For the Vancouver games we challenged ourselves a bit and decided to cook our own meal of Canadian walleye and venison; all washed down with some Moosehead!

Upon doing some research on typical British foods I found that much of it is heavy, winter type foods.  The English have a very meat and potatoes diet.   However, the 100 degree weather we’ve been having doesn’t really lend itself to wanting to eat that sort of food.  I did find out that fish and chips were a typical carry out meal for the Brits.  Since Friday fish frys are a very common in Wisconsin and fairly easy to find as a take out option we decided to take that route.  I will also be making an English trifle for dessert.  I scoured the grocery store for other items that were made in England;  crumpets, tea, Cadbury fingers, biscuits, Melba toast, Ambrosia devon custard, and spotted dick.  I always wanted to have a reason to buy a can of spotted dick (hopefully I don’t contract an STD)!  And don’t forget the Newcastle, Bass, and Pimm’s cocktail!  Over the course of two weeks we will sample these foods while watching our favorite every two year sporting event.  But, even though we will be eating like the British, we will be cheering for the USA all the way! 

Once these games are over we will start planning for the winter games in Russia.  We will only have a year and a half to figure out what the Russians eat; besides vodka!