This post is coming to you a bit later than usual since I have just waved good-bye to Victoria and her boys who spent last night and most of today with me.
As we enter into the season of Advent it is SO difficult to take time to be reflective and to really “soak” in this lovely period of preparation. Everyone is terribly busy dashing around and the calendar keeps filling up with more and more important but time consuming commitments. Sigh. At least the only shopping I ever do is for groceries so I am able to completely avoid all the stores with tacky decorations and towering piles of merchandise that feed people’s insatiable consumerist urges (end of short rant).
Most of my commitments do entail buying more food! Not for myself but for several catering jobs, that need to be fitted in between the work of Day Camps, CTM in general, shovelling snow, feeding cats for friends who are away on vacation, walking the Brady children to school etc.
One of the vlogs I like to check in on is about a homesteading family in North Carolina, I’m not sure where the dad got the adage “Too blessed to be stressed”, but he uses it frequently when rushing through farm chores, wrangling chickens and pigs, as well as 4 small children and I have found myself saying it too when I’m frantically cooking a ton of dishes, or baking 5 things at the same time while trying to sew gift bags or arrange the candles on the Advent wreath 😊. It really is a truism and I need to be reminded that God has given me a ton of energy, good health and a community in which I can be useful and serve others, so I need to actually enjoy the chaos!!
All of which is a good thing when spending time with my Godsons, Ha!
This week we completed the HUGE job of emptying all the CTM paraphernalia from our Supply Room. Thursday evening Mark (co-Director of Senior Youth Camp), Alexander (also on SYC Staff), Steven (my current Boarder) and I brought over to my house all the tubs of Day Camp Supplies, plus a couple from SYC. The three men dismantled the wooden shelving and Jessica’s husband Tyler came and took another huge load of stuff to Innovation Jeunes and to their church from where the Rector’s wife plans to take it on to the inner-city elementary school where she teaches. WHEW!! a huge job done. We still need to remove the shelving and the big blue table but Mark’s work van was being repaired and so he didn’t have a large enough vehicle to transport those items. I’m still confident the job will be completed in the coming week.
Over the past few days I’ve also been trying to put together CTM’s Advent/Christmas Newsletter. We are still missing several pieces of content but I’m hopeful we can get it emailed out next week. Our constituency is made up almost exclusively of church–going people ALL of whom will be swamped with pre-Christmas activities and would be unlikely to have time to read the Newsletter if it is sent out after December 15th. AGH!! (too blessed to be stressed!!!)
Well I suppose I can no longer put off the task of stripping beds and starting to clear up from the recent visitors. I also need to get some of my baking in the oven, which makes a good segue for a recipe 😊
Last Tuesday evening we had a dinner of East Indian food, the main dish being Cauliflower Parathas. They are not hard to make and SO good, do try them!
Cauliflower Parathas
Dough-
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp. salt
- 2/3 cup warm water
Filling-
- 3 cups grated cauliflower (I do mine in the food processor)
- 2 tsps. grated fresh ginger root
- 1 tsp. garam masala
- 2-3 Tbsps. butter
Whisk together the flour and salt. Gradually add enough water to make a firm but elastic dough. Knead thoroughly then cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Combine the cauliflower, ginger and garam masala.
Divide the dough into 8 equal balls. Roll each ball into a 4” round and top with a large spoonful of filling. Gather the dough up around the filling to completely contain it and form again into a ball. On a floured surface, carefully roll out each ball into a 6-8” circle, trying not to press too hard, which will expose the filling.
Heat a cast iron frying pan on medium-high, add about 1tsp. of butter and when melted place a paratha in the pan, coat it on both sides with the butter and fry, flipping once, until browned. Keep warm while frying the rest of the parathas in the same way.
Serve hot accompanied by a salad and raita.