This has been a real “Parka Week”. COLD! Oh so cold! But the hardy Day Camp Committee members managed to make it to the meeting on Monday evening.I warmed them with a vegetable stew topped with corn dumplings, followed by Rhubarb Crunch with whipped cream.
We had a most productive meeting and it seems as if the Day Camp “train” is starting to pick up steam as it chugs slowly towards summer 2014. The Manual Chapters are nearly all in, the Slideshow (this year for the very first time to be a video!) is moving ahead in Anna’s capable hands, Josiah has lined up some “voices” for the Soundtrack recording and we even set a date for Crafts Day & the Recording of the Liturgical Dance. And there are some encouraging prospects for Travelling Team Members (please pray for LEADERS), and even news of some new prospective host churches. God is good!
Every morning for the rest of the week I have been beavering (or should that be BADGERING??) away at contacting all sorts of people whose names came up at the meeting; everyone from overnight supervisors at the Retreat Week, to Clergy of Host Churches. We need to find people able to record the Song CD and I am very much hoping that the brilliant pair who did it last year might be persuaded to take it on again.
To wrap up the “work” week, Friday I completed the cutting and pasting of the “Follow the Leader” Manual Cover and emailed it off to Arnee; who reports back that she is having trouble connecting to Wi-Fi in Ireland. Sigh.
Afternoons have been spent trying to keep warm (well, actually the whole day is spent that way!) by cooking, knitting, preparing Children’s Ministry activities and taking very brisk, and parka-clad walks with a furry person who does not mind the cold at all!
My Tuktoyaktuk Parka is about 25 years old, seriously, and still going strong. I made it by copying one that was lent to me by a church friend at St. Matthew’s whose family had been living in Tuk. She had purchased hers from the ACW (Anglican Church Women) Ladies there who made them in the traditional way as a fundraising activity. Various areas of the far North have very distinctive parka designs and the ones from Tuk are affectionately known as “Mother Hubbards”. The Calico covers were sewn as an ingenious use for the bales of cotton sent up in the Mission barrels by well meaning people from the South who little understood how useless a calico dress would be in the Arctic but prudishly insisted that Inuit women wear “dresses” and not trousers! I have made several different covers for my parka and it is still the warmest garment I own.
The felting of my Norwegian mittens has worked! YAY! and they are currently drying on a radiator. The thumbs still look rather long but never mind; they also look warm which is all I care about these days!
Yesterday I made a huge pot of soup for my lunch duty at Church and, as I type, two- dozen bagels are baking in the oven to go with the soup. I’m also making cornbread and a batch of chocolate Whoopie Pies.
Since this is an unusual cornbread recipe I thought it would be good to include it today!
Anise Cornbread
- 1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
- ¼ cup warm water
2 Tbsps. milk
- 1 cup unbleached flour
- 1 ¼ cups yellow cornmeal
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ tsp. salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 Tbsp. anise seeds, crushed
- 6 Tbsps. margarine or butter, at room temp.
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in the water and milk. Add flour, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours. Into the yeast sponge, stir the cornmeal,
sugar, eggs, salt and anise. Work in the margarine. Turn out and knead on a floured surface until smooth. Generously grease a 6-cup soufflé dish. Place dough in dish, cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place for 2-3 hours.Bake in a preheated 375˚F. oven for 50-60 minutes. Cool completely before turning out.
sugar, eggs, salt and anise. Work in the margarine. Turn out and knead on a floured surface until smooth. Generously grease a 6-cup soufflé dish. Place dough in dish, cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place for 2-3 hours.Bake in a preheated 375˚F. oven for 50-60 minutes. Cool completely before turning out.