Hello Blog Friends!
As of this past Wednesday, it is now officially autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, although I personally wait until the first flock of Canada Geese flies over before declaring the official change of seasons 🙂
Pandemic life continues in Québec, albeit with fewer restrictions. With schools now all in session there has been an upturn in cases and the news this morning once again noted that hospitals are facing a shortage of nurses. All of the meetings I attend are still being held online, as are various workshops, conferences and other events. This past Monday, Canada held a Federal Election and for the first time I opted to vote by mail, principally as I have no one with whom I can leave Thomason. I was so glad I had made that choice after reading that many people gave up and lost their votes after waiting in line for hours. There were fewer in-person polling stations in each riding and of course many COVID restrictions were enforced, I was so thankful to have voted painlessly and safely.
As has been the case throughout September, there have been a number of meetings this week starting with CTM’s Board Meeting on Sunday afternoon. It was a long (2hour!) session and that always means many pages of handwritten notes to transcribe into typed minutes, sigh. Thus Monday morning was largely taken up sorting out 7 scrawled pages in order to circulate draft minutes to the other members. It was suggested, at the meeting, that perhaps we only need to meet bi-monthly in the autumn and early winter and switch up to monthly in the spring at which time we hold our AGM and also begin more intensive planning of various camps. Everyone was in favour of this suggestion so we shan’t meet again until November and then in January, less minute taking for me 🙂
This week I have also devoted a lot of time to rereading the whole of my e-book draft and making further edits. So far I haven’t found anyone else with time to do a complete read through and so am sticking with it myself. It would have been beneficial to have a second pair of eyes read it before it goes to Jessica for layout but hopefully between the two of us we will catch the worst errors!
Monday and Wednesday there were other meetings to attend.Wednesday’s was about the Children’s Ministry Event, in October, at which I shall be presenting the e-book; it was fairly stressful as I had to do a mini-presentation for the other panellists but fortunately that afternoon, prior to the meeting, I was able to have lovely FaceTime chat with Jillian, which always cheers me up 🙂
There hasn’t been much time for crafting but I did manage to sew 5 more furoshikis, this time as wrapping for several birthday presents and a wedding gift. I also completed the third pair of knitted socks that are destined as Christmas gifts for my Godsons- only one more pair to go now!
And of course this afternoon is the Day Camps Autumn Cook-Along Session 2 so this morning I have been hurrying to get my baking finished in time to take Thomason for a good long walk before login to the Google Meet. Today Jillian’s husband, Victor, is our guest Chef and he will be making Butternut Squash Soup as we continue with our Thanksgiving theme.
Right now I had better wrap. up this post and get ready for our walk.
Be warned! As the weather cools down we are heading into “soup season” so I’m kicking off a soup series with “Pak Choy Mushroom Noodles” they make a quick and tasty weeknight supper.
Pak Choy Mushroom Noodles
- 12 ounces brown rice noodles
- 4 cups pak choy, washed and coarsely chopped
- 8 ounces café au lait mushrooms, sliced
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 2 Tbsps. olive oil
- 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- salt & pepper to taste
- Tamari
Parboil the noodles, draining them 4 minutes BEFORE they are done. Set aside
In a large pot heat the oil and add the spices, pak choy and mushrooms. Stirfry briefly then add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add the parboiled noodles and cook for 4 minutes or until the noodles are al dente.
Season to taste with salt and pepper then ladle into deep bowls. Serve with Tamari on the side. Serves 3-4