I’m not planning on posting this until tomorrow morning since this evening is our spring Team Gathering PLUS a group of Team members is also coming this afternoon when we will be recording this year’s Day Camp Liturgical Dance.
Another insanely jam-packed week is drawing to a close. Yesterday as I was washing up the huge pile of bowls and utensils after baking 4 dozen Hot Cross Buns, a coconut cream pie, and a batch of gluten free chocolate chip cookies while Thomason chased his tail and the liturgical dance song played in a loop through my ear buds, I stopped and recited the little couplet I gleaned from one of the vlogs I follow. The vlog is about a homesteading family in North Carolina, which seems a world away from my urban environment here in a big city, but the dad, when rushing around trying to build hugel-kultur raised garden beds, wrangle 4 children and train a working sheep dog, frequently recites “too blessed to be stressed” and so even though I recite it in a very different context it rings so true.
Although I’m still grossly sleep-deprived I am still so blessed to be living this vibrant lifestyle, privileged to work with so many amazing young adults, surrounded by good neighbours and now with a new furry boon companion to share my days when working alone.
I thought of a very dear friend in the UK (one of our first Day Camps billets in 1981) who has been given only a few months to live. I am heartbroken to think I will never see her again and that she will not be around when her two young adults sons marry and have children of their own. Nearly three years ago she and her husband passed through Montreal on their way to visit family in New Brunswick. I had never met her husband but it was as if we had all been friends for years. We ate dinner outside on the deck and had such a lovely evening together. I am so thankful we had that visit.
So when I’m super frazzled when a ton of Day Camp problems need solving and there are not enough hours in the day to accomplish the myriad tasks at hand, I’m giving thanks for my own good health and recognising I am truly “too blessed to be stressed”.
Right now I need to stop typing and get cracking setting up for the Team Gathering and the Dance Recording. Furniture needs to be moved, the buffet table arranged, plus I need to set up for the House Eucharist, which will be central to this evening’s worship.
I’m also going to prepare vegetarian summer rolls as my contribution to the snack buffet.We had them for dinner one night this week with some mushroom soup. Yum!
Summer Rolls:
- 16-20 rice paper wraps
- 1 large zucchini, julienned
- 1 large carrot, julienned
- ½ each red and yellow peppers, in fine strips
- ½ mango, thinly sliced
- 1 head green leaf lettuce
- 1 ½ cups finely shaved purple cabbage
- ¾ cup loosely packed mixed fresh mint, basil and parsley
- 1 avocado, thinly sliced
Cashew Tahini Dipping Sauce:
- ½ cup cashew butter
- ¼ cup tamari
- ¼ cup tahini
- 1 Tbsp. maple syrup
- 1 Tbsp. sriracha sauce
- 2 Tbsps. limejuice
- 1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
- 1 clove chopped garlic
Dipping Sauce-
Place all ingredients in the bowl of a small food processor and blend until smooth, adding a small amount of warm water to create the right texture for dipping.
Rolls:
For each Roll, separately, dip 2 wrappers in a shallow dish of cold water for 20 seconds each then lay on the work surface slightly offsetting one on top of the other to make an oval-shaped base. Place a lettuce leaf next then fill the center with a mixture of vegetables and herbs, forming a log shape. Fold up the bottom third of the wrappers over the vegetables, them fold in the sides and roll and tuck to create a neat parcel. Cut each roll in half with a sharp knife and stand upright on the serving platter, accompanied by a bowl of the sauce.
Serves 4