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Golden moment in the Hockey House kitchen caps Olympic experience Lori Gysel was one of five head chefs selected to work in the Molson Canada Hockey House-- hockey headquarters at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. This week Lori concludes writing about her experiences this week. The Independent & Free Press is publishing her chronicles of this once-in-lifetime adventure, along with Lori and Gerry's regular What's Cookin' feature (below). It's hard to believe my Olympic adventure is all over. It's like a dream, floating off in the distance of your mind. We won the men's hockey gold-- of all the moments I will remember most clearly that has to be it. I was working in the kitchen, but with around 1:38 left in the third period, we all deserted the kitchen and came running out to the front of house to stand in the corner and watch the action. Then it happened-- with 24 seconds to go, the USA scored. The 4,000 people in the Hockey House became strangely silent. No one knew what to say. We ran back to the kitchen and worked for the next 15 minutes of intermission and then came out again to watch the overtime. Everyone was wound up so tight-- the whole building was holding its breath-- then we scored! (You notice that I say "we" scored as if I was there and had anything to do with it but that's how it felt-- WE scored)! People started jumping and screaming-- ticker tape and confetti started falling from the ceiling, everyone was yelling, hugging and slapping `high-5's'. It was a glorious moment. Then the band started to play "We are the Champions" and everyone put their arms around each other and started to sing. It was an amazing moment to be part of. On that last day at the Olympics, the kitchen was wild! We were feeding more people than we had fed before. The food was flowing out non-stop. We were really scrambling to keep the buffets loaded. Then all of a sudden the game was over and my replacements came in to work and I was done. Tears were running down my cheeks as I helped for awhile longer. 29 Independent & Free Press, Thursday, March 11, 2010 Lori Gysel & Gerry Kentner One of the other chefs asked me "are you okay? Did you burn yourself? What's wrong?" All I could say was I was fine but inside, I felt like I had been running a marathon for three and a half weeks. I had been working in a pressure-cooker environment, getting up at 4:30 in the morning, my hands and arms were covered in burns, long days, hardly any time off, we won the coveted men's and women's hockey gold and now it was all over. What a strange feeling. This was without a doubt an amazing Olympic adven- ture-- not necessarily what I was expecting--but certainly an adventure. I'm so glad I went. I stepped WAY, WAY outside my comfort zone, but that's what made it so exciting. I'm forever grateful to my husband and kids for being so encouraging about me going, to my best buds Bill and Matt for putting me up in their condo while I was there, to my fabulous staff at the Superstore for keeping things running smoothly while I was gone and to Loblaw Companies for being so great about me taking a leave of absence to go. Thanks to everyone! From my own kitchen in Georgetown, holding close the memories of the Molson Canadian Hockey House, Vancouver Olympics 2010, have fun and keep cooking! Email your comments and questions to Lori and Gery at whatscookin@independentfreepress.com What's Cookin' Blueberry Muffins Makes 12 Ingredients · 1 cup white all purpose flour · 1 cup whole wheat all purpose flour · 1 tbsp baking powder · pinch of salt · 1/4 cup sugar · 1 egg · 3 tbsp canola oil · 1 cup milk · 1 tbsp grated lemon peel · 2 cups blueberries Method 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray muffin tins with nonstick spray. 2. In a bowl, mix together flours, baking powder, salt and sugar. 3. In another bowl, beat egg, canola oil, milk and lemon peel until blended. 4. Using a wooden spoon, gently stir dry ingredients into liquid just until moistened. Gently stir in berries. 5. Pour batter into muffin tins and bake approximately 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.