The cold wet weather of early September has given way to a gorgeous late summer week during which everyone spent as much time as possible outside, storing up the warm sunshine for the dark cold months ahead!
Monday, after an early morning with the Brady Bunch, I hurried home for an impromptu visit from Sarah, Crispin and Bernard. The previous evening Sarah had texted me to say she and her husband and 14 month old son were in Montreal for just 2 days and hoping to see me! This was a lovely surprise as I had not seem Sarah since 2007, the year she came from England to serve as a Day Camp Team Leader J We enjoyed tea and muffins on the porch and I got to hear about their little family and also about her older brother, Christopher, who had come twice to be on Travelling Team. Soon they headed off to squeeze in a bit of sightseeing and I settled down to work first sending off the agenda and minutes for the September meeting of the Day Camp Committee, coming up in 2 days time and then working on the running order for the Praise & Thanksgiving Gathering, happening tomorrow evening.
Throughout the week there has also been continued hassling of various contributors to the Networks Newsletter, the Fall edition of which is supposed to be published by Thanksgiving. On the Saturday of that weekend we will be having our Harvest Team Gathering so I’m hoping to do some badgering tomorrow evening although it seems to be virtually impossible to find out ahead of time who will be attending. Sigh. But here I am leaping forward to October… let’s review the rest of this week!
Tuesday morning involved various bits of office work then, after an early lunch and quick Wil walk, I biked downtown to the Synod Offices for a meeting of Diocesan Council. By next month it will be too dark at 7pm to bike back home so it was great to have the chance to get in one more long ride before the colder weather. Jillian and I had a late dinner together that evening, once again outside on the porch; we Montrealers really take EVERY opportunity to soak up these warm days 😊
Wednesday was another early start day followed by general office work and then an afternoon of baking since Jenna was coming for an early dinner and a Concord Grape Pie was planned. Yum!This week several friends have come by to collect bunches of herbs from my garden as it is now peak harvest time and it is great to share this bounty with others who enjoy cooking. I have already harvested oregano for myself but have yet to tie up bunches of mint, lovage, tarragon, lemon balm, chives, sage and sorrel, that will be a priority in the coming week.
Thursday after office, gardening and picking up my veggie share, Jessica joined us for dinner followed by the second instalment of my introduction into the world of Japanese animated films. We watched “Howl’s Moving Castle”, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I think it is sweet the way the Day Camp Committee likes to improve my education 😊.
Yesterday involved printing out agendas for the 2 upcoming meetings plus buying all the refreshments for the Praise and Thanksgiving Gathering then lots of preparation for the evening arrival of Victoria, her three sons, and one small Norfolk Terrier. Timothy followed by train later in the evening.It was too late for proper dinner when the children arrived but Victoria and baby Andrew had some soup while the others were contented with cheese and biscuits, juice and melon. Then we were all off to bed with much anticipatory excitement on the part of the boys as this morning the family all headed off to Granby Zoo for the day!
With Jillian back at her family home for the weekend I have had a clear field to prepare tomorrow’s dinner and the refreshments, garden, walk Wil etc. and am now enjoying the late afternoon sunshine on the porch.Before turning my attention to cooking dinner it is time for a recipe. The Concord Grape Pie was exceptionally nice and since they are now growing seedless Concord grapes it is certainly worth trying
Pastry-
Filling
- 5 cups SEEDLESS Concord Grapes, washed with stems removed
- 1 cup sugar
- 2Tbsps. butter
- pinch nutmeg
- 2 Tbsps. cornstarch
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Place the flour, salt and orange zest in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to mix. Add the cold butter and pulse until combined. Slowly drizzle in the orange juice and mix just until the dough comes together. Form into a flat disc, wrap and refrigerate while preparing the filling.Place all the filling ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring slowly to the boil, mashing the grapes slightly to soften them and bring out the juices. Simmer until thickened. Transfer to a bowl and cool to room temperature.Roll ¾ of the pastry into an 11” circle and fit into a deep 9” pie plate, trim and crimp the edges. From the rest of the pastry make a couple of bunches of grapes and cut out one or two leaves.Once the filling has cooled, fill the pie plate and decorate with the pastry cutouts.Bake at 400ºF for 30-40 minutes until the pastry is browned and the filling bubbly.