Hello Blog Friends!
Doesn’t Advent seem to fly by faster than any other season of the Church year? Here I am already typing “Advent 3”, which seems incredible.
This post is going out a bit earlier today as this afternoon we are hosting our second annual “Carols & Cocoa” event and I will need to be ready to log on in advance of the 4pm start. A large portion of my time this week has been connected with the final plans for “C&C”. Early on I sent a number of emails to various group lists with a final reminder, then on Wednesday afternoon I had a Skype meeting with Patrisha, who will be serving as MC for the event.
Meanwhile there have been many messages back and forth with Jillian who has been doing a yeoman job creating the video that will be a compilation of all the content submitted by the presenters. Guylaine has also pitched in by offering to do some readings about the origins of some of the Carols. She will be reading live, which adds another level of “tech” work for Jillian. It is such a blessing that, as an elementary school teacher, she has had to do a lot of online presenting during the pandemic and is giving up a huge amount of her time to craft the “C&C” program. We are all so grateful for her hard work on behalf of the ministry.
Tuesday afternoon I had a lovely FaceTime visit with committee member Gillian, in Halifax. She had missed our December meeting so I was able to update her on a bunch of stuff as well as hear all about how she is doing.
Outside of office hours there has been a fair amount of shovelling as we had some nasty wet snow (followed by freezing rain) dumped on us, early in the week, which has taken a while to clear up and in the last few days we have had more snow on top of the ice. The sidewalks are all very treacherous and all of us dog walkers commiserate with each other as we pick our way gingerly along the streets!
Afternoons I have also had some sewing projects on the go! I made 3 masks for Wentworth (former CTM Director of Communications and long time friend from St. Matthew’s Church days 😊). Then my friend Linda asked if I could make a Christmas skirt and a little purse for her 9-year-old granddaughter after the two of them had an unsuccessful crafting session!
Thursday a friend contacted me to ask if I would have time to do some Christmas catering so it looks as if next week is going to include a lot of intensive cooking and extra baking. I’m going to be producing 3 frozen cheesecakes,2 pans of brownies, a batch of Angel Biscuits and a large pot of Brunswick Stew.AGH!!!
Yesterday morning as I was doing office work I received an email from long time family friend Brian Lynn. The Lynns go back to St. Matthew’s days, Brian and his wife Jeanne-Marie have blessed my family in so many ways for close to thirty years. For about the past ten years one of those blessings has been a Christmas Tree! Brian was emailing to say that he had a tree for me and would bring it over at noon 😊. I scurried around moving furniture and brought up from the basement the tree stand and crates of ornaments. When he arrived I tied Thomason’s leash to the newel post on the hall stairs as Brian wrestled the tree in the front door and into the stand. I held it upright while he tightened the screws that hold the trunk in place while Thomason barked his head off in the hallway. It is truly a magnificent tree, I think it is the tallest we have ever had and very wide and bushy, so lovely. Brian stayed a little while to catch up on household news, as he is the one who offers me advice about repairs and all financial matters. He sat on the stairs stroking Thomason (who, by then, had thankfully stopped barking) and offered me his usual wise council.
After he had gone I gave the tree plenty of water and left it for a couple of hours so the branches could open and settle in place. Once Thomason had had his afternoon walk I spent an hour decorating it. This is always a bittersweet experience as I look at each ornament, some of them over 100 years old, and handmade. I think of the dear friends who gave them to us and of course remember Christmases with my parents. We always read the Christmas Tree Blessing once the tree was decorated and I still read it alone, and have a little cry.
We woke this morning to a horrid scene of freezing rain with ice coating every surface. It is so bad I have not been able to take Thomason for a proper walk but will try again after lunch. There is also a weather warning of high winds this evening so I am praying we do not lose power during Carols & Cocoa as that would be a major catastrophe, both for the event and more importantly for the whole city.
Meanwhile I’m preparing a small baking –just GF loaves for Sue, a miche for myself, and a casserole of Haloumi Bake for my supper. I will pop the latter in the oven before Carols & Cocoa and hope I can still enjoy a hot meal after the event ends 😊.
Right now it is time for a recipe before closing off. One evening this week I made a pot of Dal. I do love Indian food and this nutritious vegetarian dish is delicious with a batch of freshly made Chapati.
Dal with Tomatoes
- 1 cup green lentils
- 1 small onion
- 1 small bunch cilantro, divided
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3 Tbsps. sunflower oil
- 1 tsp. black mustard seeds
- ½ tsp. each cumin, coriander, turmeric, ginger
- ¼ tsp. fenugreek seeds (optional)
- 1 14oz. can crushed tomatoes
- Greek yoghurt and lime juice for serving
Rinse the lentils and place in a bowl with 2 cups of water. Leave to soak for 30 minutes while preparing the other ingredients. In the bowl of a food processor combine the onion, garlic and the stems from the cilantro. Chop the cilantro leaves and set aside for serving Pulse to chop fine but do not turn into a paste! Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add the mustard seeds. Fry until they begin to pop, then add the onion mixture and cook, stirring, over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the other spices and cook for another few minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and the lentils along with their soaking liquid. Bring to a boil, cover, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the lentils are just tender.
Serve in bowls topped with a spoonful of yoghurt, a drizzling of lime juice and a sprinkling of cilantro leaves. Serves 2-4