Valerie Jarrett catches figure skating and celebrates Chinese New Year in Vancouver

President Barack Obama's senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, closed out her time in at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver with a dinner party. But instead of Canadian specialties, the fare was Chinese food.

Jarrett (shown here in the stands with Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill) spent the afternoon with other members of the U.S. Delegation watching Pairs Figure Skating short programs, and in a blog post, she marveled at the first time she saw 1968 figure skating gold medalist Peggy Fleming, who made Jarrett feel like she too could skate, which she couldn't.  

The director of the White House Office of Olympic, Paralympic, and Youth Sport was particularly impressed with U.S. pairs Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett, and Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig, neither of whom are in medal contention.

At the end of the day, Jarrett had dinner with her sports idol, Peggy Fleming, as well as U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson and his wife Julie, joined former Olympic figure skaters Vonetta Flowers and Mike Eruzione for an Asian feast at Lok's Chinese restaurant to help celebrate the Chinese New Year, and the star of the year of the Tiger.