Here we are at the first holiday long weekend of summer!! Victoria Day is Monday and I intend to cook for the Training Retreat all day while Jessica works on the Team Leaders Binders.
This past week I also did a baking day for the Retreat so by Monday I hope to be on Day 4 of my 5 “Cooking Days”!! Meanwhile the schedule of host churches and communities changes on almost a daily basis! The request for a Team to travel to Northern Saskatchewan has now been formalised so at our committee meeting last Monday evening we discussed how we could service the one church we currently have in the Montreal area requiring a Week 2 Day Camp so that a “proper “Team can be freed to travel to Sask. It looks as if one of our Committee Members can fill in that one week but of course she would need at least one other person to make a pick-up Team but at least the beginning of a plan is in place. Unfortunately, we still have not solved the large problem in New Brunswick, where we still need 2 host locations. I was counting yesterday and I’ve already pursued 12 leads, all with zero success. Sigh! We tackled a lot of those sorts of issues at our meeting along with all the usual topics like Program, Team Supplies the Kick-Off event and the on-going need for TEAM LEADERS!!! Amazingly we now have 13 Team Member Applications, but only 2 of those people are 18 and over so the need for Leaders is becoming extremely urgent!!
CTM work has taken up more and more time each day so there has been little opportunity for other activities although I have been keeping up with the garden and since we are now in the Season of Pentecost it was also time, this week, for the “Changing of the Decorations”. This changeover is bigger than most of the others since it also involves outdoor set up like washing all the deck furniture and arranging it on the deck and porch and also moving houseplants outside. But as I sit out on the porch on this warm May evening, all that work is behind me and the house is looking ready for summer.
This afternoon I managed to squeeze in a bit of sewing (after baking for the Retreat) and made a couple of new cushion covers for the living room as well as finishing a birthday gift I’ve been making for a special friend. I still want to sew a throw cover for the living room sofa but that will need to wait a few more days.
In all the cooking I’ve been doing I’ve made some yummy desserts for the Retreat Week. One favourite, which I baked today, is Filo Rolls, a really special Middle Eastern Dessert, so I thought I would share it this week.
Filo Rolls - 1 Package fresh filo dough
- 1-½ cups pitted dates
- 3 Tbsps. honey
- 1 tsp. ground cardamom
- 1 tsp. grated orange rind
- ½ cup shelled pistachios
- ½ cup melted butter
Place the dates, honey, cardamom, orange rind and pistachios in the bowl of a food processor and grind to make a chunky paste.
Open the package of filo and lay flat on a board, covered with a damp tea towel. Divide the date mixture into 8 equal portions and form each into a log about 6” long and the circumference of a pencil.
Place on sheet of filo on a clean work surface, brush ½ the sheet with melted butter and fold the unbuttered half, crosswise over the part with butter, to make a double layer of filo. Lay one of the logs on the shorter edge and roll carefully to form a cylinder. Lay the finished roll on a large parchment lined baking sheet. Make 7 more rolls in the same manner. Brush all the finished rolls with more melted butter and bake for 20 minutes in a preheated 375ºF oven for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a rack. To serve, give each person a small dish of Greek yoghurt that has been drizzled with a little more honey in which to dip the rolls as they eat them.