Finally we are beginning to see a few signs of spring in the frozen north! This week has seen a couple of days with temperatures rising to +9C and the huge piles of snow have begun to melt.
Thursday I visited the local Iranian grocer and saw they had the pots of hyacinths they sell every year to celebrate one of their spring festivals. These pots of bulbs are locally grown and very reasonably priced and will bloom in the house for several weeks after which I let them rest and then plant them in the garden in the fall where they will flower again next spring, definitely a “win-win” situation!
Last Saturday’s Cook-Along was a huge success; we went from 2 families to 6 families participating and are expecting the same group for the final session this afternoon. Last week Syndi-Belle made Braided Greek Easter Cookies and today Josiah is making Banana Bread. Next Wednesday I will assemble a bunch of photos and comments and publish a special Wednesday Words blog post, it’s a very long time since we had one.
We have received a couple of tentative enquiries from Churches asking what CTM is planning for summer 2021 so I have been assembling some of the documents that will need to be sent out if we do receive applications.
Monday afternoon Gillian and I met to do more planning for the Team Alumni Day Retreat happening two weeks from today. So far 3 alums have signed up and both Mikaela and myself have been doing some more badgering. Gillian is working on a little prep sheet to send to those who register and I have been liaising with our speaker, Chris, to make sure we are all on the same page.
Tuesday I worked on pulling together the template for the Lent/Easter “Networks” newsletter. We use the Mail Chimp platform for it as it is sent out via an email list of subscribers. Of course only one person so far has sent in an article so it will be a bit of a rush this coming week to get it assembled. Sigh.
Afternoons there have been a couple of meetings, notably Diocesan Council on Tuesday. It was a full 2 hour meeting, which meant that Wednesday and Thursday afternoons I did a fair bit of work typing up the minutes.
The first dozen of my Pysanky is completed and the eggs are waiting to have the wax removed. I will be making a second half-dozen and have made a start on those too. It is also the season for Birthday Crowns for 2 of my Godsons. Yesterday I completed them and am hoping to arrange for one of their Godfathers to deliver them to Ottawa for me as he sometimes drives up there for work and has before acted as courier.
Today I’ve been scurrying around to get the baking done in order to be ready for the 3pm start of Cook-Along. I have made a second batch of Hot Cross Buns, 2 loaves of GF bread, a Miche and some oatcakes. As soon as the last things are out of the oven Thomason and I will take our afternoon walk and then it will be time to launch the Google Meet so we had better end off here with this week’s recipe.
Thursday evening I very much enjoyed a big bowl of Vegetarian Pho. This recipe is quick to pull together on a busy weeknight. Enjoy!
Vegetarian Pho
- 8 oz. cooked rice noodles
- 1 small onion cut into chunks
- 1 Tbsp. peppercorns
- ¼ tsp. whole cloves
- 2” piece ginger root, sliced
- 1 cup sliced button mushrooms
- ¼ cup Tamari
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 2 baby bokchoy, quartered lengthwise
- ½ cup green peas, fresh or frozen
- Sriracha
- Lime wedges
Place the cooked noodles in 1 or 2 individual bowls and set aside. Combine 5 cups of water with the onion, peppercorns, cloves and ginger root, bring to the boil then simmer for 20 minutes.Strain the broth into a bowl, discard the solids and return the broth to the saucepan. Add the mushroom, Tamari and green onions and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the bokchoy and peas and cook for a further 8 minutes.Divide between individual bowls and serve with Sriracha and lime wedges.Serves 1or2.