Hello Blog Friends!
If you read last week’s post you will know from this title that we have a theme going here, as Lent approaches. Next Wednesday Christians around the world will be taking part in Ash Wednesday rites, including the Imposition of Ashes, which is a bit more challenging than usual in Pandemic times! But I’m getting ahead of myself since right now we need to be reflecting on the week that has just ended.
Last Saturday, when I was posting the recipe for Baguette Pizza, I hoped to link to the recipe for my homemade baguettes but when I ran a search through the old blog posts I found that I had never included that recipe, so that’s what you will be getting today 😊. It is super simple and makes 2-3 loaves depending on your baguette pan.
The reason I am mentioning this now is that, while scrolling through some early posts, I discovered that I am in fact able to edit them myself. Woot! Woot! During the protracted period when this blog was being migrated to WordPress from Blogger both our former and current communications directors had indicated that formatting the posts had to be done from the “backend” of the website so imagine my surprise when I discovered an editing feature I can access. Thus begins an extremely long journey painstakingly reformatting close to 850 posts that span 11 years in the world of Day Camps.
This week I have managed to deal with approx. 60 posts, I’m not sure I can handle that many every week but at this rate it looks as if, over a couple of months I should be able to manage the bulk of them. Guylaine, the current CTM Director of Communications, tells me that there are some posts where the photos did not migrate so it will take her expert website skills to (hopefully) retrieve them but meanwhile, I certainly have enough to keep me busy editing and formatting for many many hours.
I must confess that it is quite emotional revisiting the person I was 11 years ago and looking back into Day Camps “then” when so much has changed “now”. It makes me wonder if anyone other than myself would be interested in this archive and the stories told therein.
Of course, that work is sort of a sidebar to regular office activities as, over the week, I have been very occupied with the upcoming Day Camps Cook-Along course, which starts next Saturday, March 5th. Yesterday I sent around the supply list for our first episode that will be lead by “Chef Victor” and also worked on the extra “activity challenge” that will go out, following the session, along with a copy of that week’s recipe.
Gillian and I have been emailing back and forth sharing ideas and suggestions for the Team Alumnae Lenten Study Program, planned for three Saturday afternoons in the second half of Lent. Next Tuesday we will also be holding the March DC committee meeting so the agenda and minutes needed to be circulated this past Tuesday. That day we suffered a major pounding of freezing rain that left the city encased in a thick layer of ice. Jessica had been supposed to join me for dinner Tuesday evening but we postponed until Wednesday, at which time it was much colder with 70km winds but at least the sky was clear. I cautioned her that the only way to reach my front stairs was to walk on the snow next to the pathway, as it is at least an inch deep in ice, a veritable skating rink. Sigh.
Wednesday Thomason and I were practically trapped in the house, as the sidewalks had not yet been sprinkled with the gravel that the city spreads. I had to resort to taking him outside the back door and letting him do his business in the snow drifts there. By Thursday I managed to make it through the snow to the sidewalk and we took a couple of short walks, although conditions were still fairly horrendous.
Then yesterday a “Nor’Easter” blew though dumping 15cms. of fresh snow on top of the ice so this morning has been spent shovelling, a very scary task in these conditions. It is marginally better for pedestrians although one knows that a treacherous layer of ice is waiting under the snow. Shovelling the driveway this morning was going to be extremely hazardous but last evening I received a text from Wentworth (the former CTM Director of Communications and long-time fellow parishioner at St. Matthew’s) asking how I was managing in the storm and offering to come by this morning and shovel the driveway.!! what a tremendous blessing 😊. So once Thomason and I came home from our early morning walk I was able yo shovel the side porch, front walk and deck and was just finishing when Wentworth arrived and took over.As my feet were frozen by then, I was super glad to shuffle back into the house and begin today’s baking in the safety of a warm kitchen while he, suited up with proper crampons, tackled the sloping driveway!
No time for crafting this week although some progress is being made on my spring Gansey. I also established the colours of Birthday Crowns for 2 of my Godsons, one of whom’s birthday is in March and the other’s in early April so I’m planning to make a start by cutting out the main pieces tomorrow afternoon. When Jessica visited I was lamenting not being able to get the crowns to Ottawa, since postage is so expensive and even though Pandemic restrictions have loosened it is unlikely the boys’ Mum, Victoria, will want to drive down from Ottawa in nasty winter conditions. However, Jessica is going to Ottawa by train to visit her sister in mid-March and her husband Tyler will be driving up to bring her home so they have very kindly offered to do a delivery of gifts, which is why I need to get started ASAP on the crowns 😊
As mentioned earlier in the post, I’m going to share my baguette recipe this week. They are really best baked in a proper baguette pan, but if you haven’t got one a regular cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal may be substituted, although the crust will not turn our quite as crispy 😊
Baguettes
- 2 cups warm water
- 2Tbsps. yeast
- 5 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 2 tsps. salt
Dissolve the yeast in the warm water then beat in the flour and salt until the dough comes together and all the flour is incorporated. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.
Next day remove the dough from the fridge 2 hours before you need to shape it and allow it to rise again. Oil a 2 or 3 loaf baguette pan. On a well-floured surface, divide the dough into equal pieces and stretch each piece into a long tapered baguette. Place in your pan and allow to rise for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile heat the oven to 450ºF. Just before baking, spritz the loaves with water and snip several slashes along the top of each one, using kitchen shears or a sharp knife. Place the bread in the oven and reduce the temperature to 400º. Bake for 30-35 minutes until nicely browned. Loosen each loaf carefully from the pan and cool on racks before slicing. If well wrapped, the baguettes may be frozen.