No more “postcards” and suddenly my phone is no longer swamped with text messages and jpgs to save. But I’ve still had a busy “Day Camps-centric” week! From last Sunday evening to Tuesday evening Patrisha (Leader of Team 4) stayed with me in order to attend the evaluation meeting before flying to the Maritimes to meet up with her parents for a short (well earned😊) vacation.
Most of Monday was spent in preparation for the evaluation meeting, which took place from 3-6pm on Tuesday followed by a dinner for 11.We had been having showers and thunderstorms off and on but mercifully the weather cleared on Tuesday morning and we were able to hold the meeting and dinner on the deck, which was way cooler than indoors.I served Spicy Cold Noodles with Shredded Chicken and for dessert large glasses of Blueberry Pomegranate Bubble Tea. Sadly I was not able to procure enough Bubble Tea straws so everyone had to make do with parfait spoons. I recently discovered BAMBOO bubble tea straws and hoped to find some in Montreal but a search on Google only turned up one store that sells them and they were out of stock. Not being the sort of person to buy things on Amazon, which I am positive does not employ Fair Trade practices I had to admit defeat, although I did find a cool YouTube video with instructions on how to make your own bamboo straws, unfortunately I don’t think much bamboo is grown in Montreal either. Sigh.
Since Tuesday much of my time has been spent labouring over the Team Evaluations.Last year I decided to scrap the “fill in the blanks” form letter we had used for a number of years in favour of handwritten personal letters for each Team Member. So the past three afternoons have been devoted to this task.Yesterday, after seeing Mark and Alana off to Camp (they had both dropped by to pick up various pieces of equipment from the CTM office), I settled down with a mug of coffee to continue writing only to spill my coffee over the 9 completed letters. ARGH!!!!!!! What a mess,I have had to recopy each one onto fresh paper, thus slowing down the progress of my task.I really want to have them all completed by Monday as we are having a Day Camp committee meeting that evening and Jillian will be in attendance. She will be able to take the letters for the 7 Team Members who belong to her church, leaving just a few to be mailed out of province or otherwise hand delivered. The two letters for Lauren and Alexandra will need to be mailed to the Toronto area along with their Chicken Awards, as they were only able to attend Tuesday’s meeting via FaceTime. I’m a bit nervous about mailing balsawood boxes containing sugar cookies but am hoping to find some sort of shallow box in which to pack them.
As mentioned before, CTM’s two residential Camps will be starting this Sunday. The staffs are already in the Eastern Townships participating in their joint pre-camp training and the Campers will arrive tomorrow.Next Wednesday I shall be going down for the day to lead a couple of workshops. This year I’m doing bead bracelets that incorporate some beads made from recycled magazine pages and I’m also going to give a tutorial on the art of quilling. Later that afternoon I’ll be teaching a Liturgical Dance to a group of campers and staff. The song I have chosen has been a source of comfort to me since Wil’s death it is called “There is a Balm in Gilead” by Giants and Pilgrims. It paints a picture of how Jesus has come to be our “Balm in Gilead” and uses a lot of imagery with analogies around who He is for us. The Theme for both Junior and Senior Youth Camp is “How Big is God?” and I think sharing all these analogies will hopefully give the campers a glimpse of just how big Jesus is.
Besides all things CTM this week I have almost finshed knitting a pair of fingerless gloves with the lovely Icelandic wool gifted to me by Sarah and Alexander after their recent holiday in Iceland. I really like the pattern and think I might knit a few more pairs as Christmas gifts (using less luxurious wool from my stash 😊)I’ve also selected all the felt colours and made a pattern for William’s birthday crown and should be able to begin sewing that next week and last Sunday I completed my “Wil Book”.This weekend I’m feeding cats in the homes of two friends and so should be heading out to check up on the kitties but first we will close off with a recipe.I’m really enjoying “Summer Rolls” this summer. These Avocado ones are really yummy😊
Avocado Summer Rolls
- Rice Paper wrappers
- 2 ripe avocados
- 1 carrot
- 1 small cucumber
- 1 large Japanese radish
- sunflower sprouts
Cilantro Dipping Sauce-
- 1 handful cilantro leaves
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup lime juice
- 2 Tbsps. Rice vinegar
- 2 Tbsps. agave
- 1 Tbsp. Sriracha
First prepare all the vegetables by julienning the carrot, cucumber and radish and slicing the avocado. Drizzle a little lime juice over the avocado to retain its colour.Next place all the dipping sauce ingredients in the bowl of a small processor and blend thoroughly.You can either prepare the rolls yourself just before serving or have your guests make their own at the table. To assemble the rolls- place one wrapper at a time in a shallow dish of cool water for no more than 20 seconds. Shake off the excess water and place the wrapper on a clean surface. Fill with a few pieces of each vegetable (EXCEPT the avocado) and a sprinkling of sprouts. Fold the bottom edge up over the vegetables. Next lay one slice of avocado along the top of the folded section and fold in the side edges, Roll again once to seal the wrapper.The slice of Avocado should sit along the top of the other fillings and be visible through a single layer of wrapper.Serve accompanied by small bowls of dipping sauce.Makes about 8 summer rolls but can be easily multiplied or divided.