Whoa, crazy busy week!
As of Wednesday I am officially launched into the pre-Retreat Week cooking & baking Marathon.
Today is round 2 and the plan to make 30 pitas, a double batch of giant chocolate-chip cookies and 3 loaves of oatmeal sandwich bread. That is a short list compared to Wednesday when I managed to produce- 3 dozen bagels, a large pan each of Cranberry Granola and Mango Coconut Muesli, 2 large pans of Prize Gingerbread, 2 large pans of Blueberry Breakfast Bars and 3 dozen Banana Muffins!
Monday Jessica and I spent the morning at Isaiah 40 taking Team Supply Inventory in our subterranean supply room We made really good progress as we also began to pack the supply duffel bags. On the downside, by the time I opened the office email in the late afternoon there were 22 new messages all in urgent need of a response. Now this is good news but a bit hard to deal with at the end of the day! Some new messages that arrived this week have ben very encouraging. Like hearing Thursday from the new Bishop’s Curate for the Diocese of Saskatchewan who is hoping we might be able to send a Team to do at least 2 Day camps in that area. WOOT WOOT! And some promising news of more potential host churches in New Brunswick, if we could fill those 2 spaces I would be a happy woman!
Sadly there is nothing new to report in terms of Team Applications arriving. I did send off to letters to Ontario since the 2 young people there who are preparing to apply need letters to take with them to their local police stations in order to procure police check documents. But oh it would be nice to have a stack of Team Applications to look through at next Monday’s committee meeting. Sigh.
Some more progress has also been made on the 2016 Song CD and there is a hope we will soon be able to offer it via Dropbox to all our host communities. Anna has also been hard at work and I believe has only one more Day of the Signposts Slideshow to film. YAY Anna! Here are a couple more sneak peeks to whet your appetite.
So there has not been a lot of time for activities outside the world of Day Camps (of course virtually every aspect of my life is inside that world!) but some funky Pentecost “wind wavers” are ready for children’s ministry tomorrow, and some embroidery has been completed as part of a birthday gift for a dear friend.And I FINALLY finished knitting a child’s striped cardigan, which has taken ages since the yarn was very fine.
Of course time has been carved out for a bit of garden work (a weeding war is being waged against invasive Campanula AGH!) and the lawns were mowed for the first time last Monday afternoon, plus come to think of it, I also stained the small porch floor, ready for moving my wicker chairs outside, hopefully on the coming Holiday Weekend.
There is certainly no time for such activities this weekend since today is Bake & Blog, with maybe a weensy stretch in the garden and the tomorrow… well tomorrow promises to be quite the zoo!
Early to church- Pentecost activities for the children/ Snack duty AND Lunch duty (Indian Red Lentil and Coconut Soup with homemade Naan Bread)/mad dash home to set up for the CTM Board Meeting/followed by a JYC Committee meeting in the dining room/Supper for myself and the Huyer Family (make your own wraps, fresh fruit and cookies)/mad dash to Crossroads with snack duty there too (melon with chocolate dip) and finally fling myself into bed. I had better eat a very nutritious breakfast!!!
Early to church- Pentecost activities for the children/ Snack duty AND Lunch duty (Indian Red Lentil and Coconut Soup with homemade Naan Bread)/mad dash home to set up for the CTM Board Meeting/followed by a JYC Committee meeting in the dining room/Supper for myself and the Huyer Family (make your own wraps, fresh fruit and cookies)/mad dash to Crossroads with snack duty there too (melon with chocolate dip) and finally fling myself into bed. I had better eat a very nutritious breakfast!!!
Speaking of eating, I need to have lunch and then launch into that baking list so before I go I thought I would share my Mum’s recipe for Prize Gingerbread. It was one of her favourites and thus a childhood favourite of mine too, especially toothsome with a big glass of cold milk. Enjoy!
Prize Gingerbread
- ½ cup butter or margarine
- 2 eggs
- ½ tsp. each cinnamon, nutmeg & salt
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp.each baking powder & baking soda
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup molasses
- 2 cups flour
- 2/3 cup boiling water
In a large mixing bowl cream the butter, add the sugar, molasses, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon, mix well. Pour boiling water over baking soda and to the batter, beating to incorporate. Add the flour, baking powder and ginger and mix again then add the eggs. Beat well. Line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper and grease. Pour in the batter and spread evenly. Bake in preheated 325ºF oven for 40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack then cut in large pieces and dig in!