Not to put too fine a point on things –this has been a difficult week!
First off a couple of Sundays ago I skidded while biking on a wet day and twisted my knee. It seemed to be improving but, I do a LOT of walking and I guess wasn’t doing much to help it get better, then this past Monday Wil and I were out and he suddenly veered to one side and the knee went “sproing”. Not a happy scene. Since then it has been a long haul to get it back to normal, as normal for me means walking really far and really fast, interspersed with biking, gardening etc. Sigh, sitting with an ice pack or a wearing tension bandage is not my style. But it is getting better, slowly and Wil has been super, walking more slowly by my side and settling for shorter perambulations.
Meanwhile there was also a bit of a CTM crisis and a difficult Day Camp problem. The situation has now been sorted out with good results and hopefully the “problem” will soon be rectified but they made for a rocky start for Nick, our new President and the glitches have meant quite a bit of extra work.
Of course the swirl of Day Camps continues to build up into a tornado of activity, culminating (for this week) in our Spring Coffeehouse, which will be starting in 6 hours. At present I’m at my summer workstation- the big table in the kitchen at Isaiah 40! Because we will be serving iced beverages this evening I needed to brew the Chai and Coffee early in the day so it can chill in time for 7pm. Thus I was waiting outside the CO-OP when it opened at 10am and am now “brewing”. Once the hot drinks are cooled enough the other ingredients can be stirred in and I’ll head home to batten down the hatches for the mid-afternoon Huyer “invasion”. They are currently at the SYC Staff meeting and Brunch and we will all have an early supper together before the Coffeehouse. Tomorrow I will post a few photos and we’ll be installing a Spring 2016 slideshow on the Blog sidebar as soon as we can.
Lots of other stuff has been happening this week- like hearing about 2 candidates from Toronto who are applying for Travelling Team, and also connecting with one more potential host church location for a Day Camp!
We are praying hard that all these small puzzle pieces will fit into the big picture! And on the horizon for the coming week is the start of Retreat baking and cooking!! Over the next 3 weeks I’ve marked off 5 separate days to devote to this special work with the hopes that this not a bit ambitious since the list is long and 5 days might not see all the jobs completed. However June is totally manic with an unexpected Synod, Changing of the Decorations plus masses of outdoor work, so it would be fabulous to have ALL the advance cooking behind me before the end of May, we’ll see.
Speaking of cooking, before I place the beverages in the fridge and head home to set up, it’s time for a recipe. With the warmer weather approaching I thought I would feature a few main course salads that we love having for lunch or dinner after months of needing hot meals. So this week it’s…
Wild Rice and Mozzarella Salad
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2/3-cup wild rice
- ½ cup white long-grain rice
- 14oz. vegetable stock
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 8oz. mozzarella, cubed
Dressing: –
- 3 Tbsps. olive oil
- 3 Tbsps. red wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsps. Basil pesto
- 1 Tbsps. tomato paste
- Pinch of dried chillies
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and gently sauté the onion until translucent. Stir in both kinds of rice until coated with oil. Add the stock, bring to a boil and simmer for approx. 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand covered for 5 minutes. Uncover and cool, then loosen grains with a fork.
Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl then fold, carefully into the rice. Arrange a bed of baby spinach in a large shallow serving dish and top with the rice. Sprinkle the diced red pepper and mozzarella cubes over the top. Serves 4.