Basketball Cookies

These basketball cookies were made for a young lady to share with her team-mates.  The same day they got picked up my daughter got a text from her good friend stating "someone beside me is eating one of your mom's basketball cookies!"  Small town living... that and a lot of cookies head out the door!

Olympic Cookie Countdown - today is the big day!

Well, this is it.  After years, months and weeks of anticipation, today is the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics.  It is a special time and in my family, we always seem to take a moment and reflect on our changes since the last Olympics.  The 2010 Olympics were especially incredible for us because not only were they on Canadian soil, we actually had the Olympic torch pass through our town, an event we witnessed!

Today's cookie celebrates my favourite Olympic sport - speed skating!  My loyalties will be divided as I cheer for both the Canadians and the Dutch!  A really special sport in my eyes, because speed skating can trace its history back to the Netherlands as well as Scandinavia and Northern Europe. (for a lesson on the Dutch/Holland/Netherlands confusion, click here).  It is the winter sport my parents talked most about and their love of the sport was certainly inherited by me!

The speed skating events begin today and finish on the 22nd.  All 12 events are taking place at the Adler Arena in Sochi and the only country that has an athlete in each of the events is the Netherlands.  Hup Holland!!

Olympic Cookie Countdown

Today's cookie is representing short track speed skating.  An official olympic sport since 1992, this event has multiple athletes (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track.  The most distinctive part of this sport for me is the way the skaters put their hands down onto the ice as they turn the corners and it almost defies logic how far they are leaning.  The gloves they wear help prevent injuries from skates.  I find this sport incredibly impressive.  The eight different events will be held at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi, Russia from February 10th until the 21st.

Olympic Cookie Countdown!

One week from today is the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics.  I plan an evening with snacks and cuddling on the couch to watch (even though I will be taping it earlier in the day and not watching it live because the actual ceremony takes place at 10am our time).  

Today we are highlighting the sport of luge, which is a small one- or two-person sled on which the athlete lays supine (face up) and feet-first.  Steering is done by flexing of the calves or exerting shoulder pressure.  The luge can reach speeds of 140 km per hour and because the sport is timed to a thousandth of a second, it is one of the most precisely timed sports in the world!

The luge events will be held at the Sliding Center Sanki near Krasnaya Polyana, Russia.  There are four events and they are scheduled for February 8-13.

The Continuing Countdown to the Olympics in Cookies

Aerials first became an official Olympic event in the 1994 games.  It is one of a number of disciplines of freestyle skiing, including the more traditional events which includes moguls and aerials and the newer branch called "new school" which includes halfpipe, big air, slopestyle and big mountain or free-skiing.

For aerials, the athletes ski off 2-4 meter jumps built out of snow and get propelled up to 6 meters into the air.  Once in the air, they perform multiple somersaults and twists before landing.  Amazing!

Beginning on February 14th, the competition will be held to the West of the Rosa Khutor plateau at "Rosa Khutor" Extreme Park.

And to get you even more excited, just 13 days until the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi!!

The 2014 Winter Olympic Cookie Countdown!

During the 1992 Winter Olympics my husband and I were living in our first apartment.  The TV Guide (a weekly magazine that had the television listings in it) had a feature article on the Olympics and I distinctly remember the cover had pictures of Canadian figure skating pair Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler on it along with other Canadian athletes.  We loved watching the events and when it was all over it was a bit of a let down.  I didn't even want to throw out the "Guide" because it seemed so magical and my husband made a comment about how old we would be during the next Olympics - it was hard to imagine being four years older!

Twenty-two years later (and older), my entire family has enjoyed many winter and summer Olympics together.  We gather to watch the opening ceremonies and our favourite events.  "When do the Olympics start?" is a common refrain in our house.  To help with that, here is the official Sweet Handmade Olympic Cookie Countdown!

Today it is 16 days until the start of the Olympics and today we are celebrating the Olympic sport of curling.  Curling has only been an official Olympic event since 1998 but has been a part of the Canadian sporting culture since as early as 1807!!  The events will be taking place at the "Ice Cube" and the curling will take place from February 10 - 21!