O' Canada

I love holidays and any excuse to bake tasty treats for other people to enjoy. And since I am Canadian (born and raised for more than a decade) I had been thinking about how to celebrate Canada Day for a pretty long while.

It started with my sweet hookup from the Canadian Embassy. When I first moved to DC I found the Connect2Canada booth at a local festival and signed up to be on their mailing list. For two consecutive years now I've registered on their Canada Day party site to receive a free Canada Day party pack.

The excitement for Canada Day started when I received my party pack a couple of weeks ago. It contained balloons, temporary tattoos, a 16ft flag banner, Tim Horton's coffee, a trade and partnership map, a t-shirt, a tote bag, beer koozies, bottle openers and a bag of tiny Canadian Flag toothpicks. Perfect party starter.

To crank it up to 11 I decided to bake homemade maple cookies as well as the always delicious Nanaimo bars. I've made these insanely good bars before, but the maple cookies were a new recipe. They turned out pretty tasty and fooled me into thinking I had just eaten pancakes.

(om nom nom, so good!)

To make everything even more of a spectacle I brought in an Olympic bear as well as Canadian plates and napkins (courtesy of both my aunts). I completely decked out my pod. And to top it off I compiled a list of trivia questions for co-workers to answer for prizes. I'd like to think today was a success. (And also a really great way to *almost* start the 3-day weekend ahead)

Happy Canada Day!