Hello Blog Friends!
It’s been another bitterly cold week here in Montreal but since much of my office time has been taken up with thoughts of Lenten programs I am being encouraged by the old adage “If winter comes can spring be far behind?”
Of course the primary focus had been badgering for the Virtual Team Gathering, now less than a week away. Mercifully people have finally started to register so that we no longer need to consider cancelling. Mae Anne has done some badgering too and I have upped my game from emails (do young adults ever read, much less answer emails??) to text messaging, which has produced improved results 🙂
When not in “badger mode” I have been contacting potential chefs for Season Three of the Day Camps Cook-Along. We will be running a series of cooking classes for Day Camps campers and their families on three successive Saturdays in March with a theme of “Signs of Hope”. Our volunteer chefs are tasked with finding recipes and building stories around them that will reflect the theme. The DC committee also thought it would be special to include a pdf each week with instructions for an art project as an optional activity for campers to work on during the days between lessons and share their photos, which will hopefully appear in a future blogpost 🙂 .
The other Lenten project in the plans is a Lenten study program for Team Alumnae. It will run on three Saturday afternoons from late March to early April. Mae Anne, (who works with at risk youth) suggested that our Lenten program have an art-based theme since she has had success doing online sessions using art. Although our cohort of Alumnae is not “at risk” they are roughly in the same age range as Mae Anne’s group and no one ever needs to ask me twice to do something around ART so I have been busy making a poster to put up on social media and have been researching some videos we will watch as well as some prayer practices to build into our sessions.
Mid-week I also sent out an email thanking those who have purchased Come Together and giving them basic information about Day Camps, in case they are interested in exploring the programs we offer. Some of the book purchasers have already hosted a CTM Day Camp but there are about 8 or 9 new contacts and I hope some of them might be keen.
I continue to try and live in the hope that we will be able to see Day Camps happen this summer and that I will be given the opportunity to still be part of all the energy and enthusiasm of those young campers. Several kind friends have reached out in response to my last post and have offered prayers and encouragement, which has helped to lift my spirits and since my dog, Thomason, is a soul who only lives in the present moment his example motivates me to also adopt this practice 🙂.
Outside office hours there has been plenty of shovelling, plenty of knitting, and the dreaded compiling of documents for my income tax folder, the latter project being VERY daunting for this non-mathematically inclined person.Wednesday afternoon I also tackled my quarterly task of cleaning the pantry shelves and now all the jars and bottles look super shiny🙂,
Today I was very excited to be welcoming Mae Anne for lunch. I have not seen her in person since last July as she lives and works on the West Island. She is a member of First Filipino Baptist Church, which is in the Côte des Neiges district, not too far from my home but of course their services are currently still online so she has no reason to pass by and the bus trip from the West Island takes well over an hour each way. However, this afternoon a small group of musicians are meeting at her church to record the music for their Sunday livestream and since Mae Anne is part of that team she suggested passing by for a short visit. I countered with an invitation to lunch and so the plan was hatched 🙂. Sadly, yesterday I received a text from her saying that she and her whole family have COVID and so she is in isolation at present and our plans are now on hold.
This afternoon I will be baking but right now I will make a quick lunch and then take Mr. T for a short walk as it is -30C again today, with a brutally cold wind. So it’s time to end off with another cosy winter dish. I’ve adapted this recipe from one I saved on the New York Times Cooking App that was gifted to me a few months ago. It makes a super speedy weeknight supper 🙂.
Cheesy Black Bean Skillet
- 3 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 2 Tbsps. olive oil
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 1 ½ tsps. smoked paprika
- ¼ tsp. chilli flakes
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 3 cups cooked black beans (or 2 tins)
- ½ cup hot water
- 6oz. grated cheddar
In an oven-proof skillet, sauté the garlic slices in the olive oil for several minutes until golden. Stir in the spices and tomato paste and sauté until thickened and fragrant. Add the beans and hot water, stir well and simmer for 5-10 minutes until thoroughly heated. Meanwhile heat your broiler on low temp.Remove the skillet from the heat and sprinkle with the grated cheddar.
Place under the broiler and broil for 5-10 minutes or until bubbly and browned. Serve with flour tortillas (preferably homemade 🙂) Serves 2-3.