Hello Blog Friends!
This has been a short workweek after the long Easter weekend. The lovely spring flowers got a rude awakening Tuesday as we suffered through a full 24 hours of heavy wet snow. That morning it was impossible to take Thomason for his usual long walk as, of course, the city didn’t bother to plough anything so both the sidewalks and roads were very slippery and deep in slush. It has melted off now and today I plan to get back into the garden for more spring clean up work, but it was strange to step back into winter during Easter Week 😊.
After the Monday holiday I dived back into the regular routine of office time each morning and it has been lovely to enjoy a “scented” workspace as a friend gifted me for Easter with a beautiful Jasmine plant, which is now gracing the living room mantelpiece 😊 . I’m trying to stay positive about Day Camps although no more application forms have yet appeared. Each day I go through lists of communities who have hosted Camps prior to 2020 and send off emails inviting them to apply, but only “radio silence” ensues. There have been conversations with coordinators from two of those communities both of whom have shared their own difficulties as the pandemic still lingers around the edges of our lives. One of them said she hoped to host a Day Camp again in 2023 and the other spoke sadly about how different her church was these days and that she was afraid she couldn’t manage a Camp this year.
During the week I wrote, for the second time, to the new contacts who have purchased Come Together, as I had hopes some of them might consider the Program. Possibly people still need time to regroup after the extra Easter Services but with the month of May on the horizon it is becoming evident we cannot possibly find another 20 or more communities eager to host a Camp this summer. Once again, I have also appealed for help to the diocesan communications person. Lee-Ann has many contacts and is always so kind in helping. She asked me to submit a blog post about my life long connection to Day Camps and she has also approached some other clergy and lay leaders asking them to contribute to her post. Even if nothing comes of this I do not want to leave even one stone unturned since, in my heart, I do truly believe that Day Camps has something of great value to offer to communities.
A CTM Board meeting is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon so during the week I finalised the agenda, had it approved by our President, and sent it out to all the members. One morning I also received a most unexpected email from a person who came from the UK to do Travelling Team in the early years of Day Camps. This was long before I was directing the Program but as she ended up marrying a young man from this Diocese who was also on the Teams and was studying at Theological College. After his ordination they were posted to a small rural Parish and I used to drive out and visit her during that time. They subsequently moved to western Canada and we lost contact but somehow she had recently found this blog and got in touch. She had read the recent posts about the Alumni Lenten Study Program and being a creative herself, has purchased a book for me about Art as Prayer, which is currently in the mail 😊. It was so lovely to hear from her and I hope we can stay in connected.
Afternoons this week I began work on two special dresses a friend has asked me to sew for her daughters to wear at a wedding in May. The pattern is quite complicated and the hardest part has been the hand sewing of buttonholes on the bodices. Today I will be sewing the matching sashes and then my job will be done. Woot woot!!!! Although besides the dresses I will also be making a matching bow tie for her baby boy, so cute 😊. My friend will be arranging for a courier to pick up the parcel once everything is wrapped so next I will need to figure out the size of package that will be required. I do hate having to fold up the freshly ironed dresses but that is the only way to get them safely to the Maritimes!
….Well I headed out and did some garden work, took Thomason for a long walk, completed the sashes and now it is time to make my supper 😊. But first we must have our recipe and then I can hit the “publish” button.
One evening this week I decided to make a Bibimbap. This is a tasty Korean dish that has many variations. It comes together in 20 minutes, great for busy weeknight supper 😊.
Bibimbap
- 2 cups basmati rice
- 8oz. lean ground beef
- 3 Tbsps. Tamari
- 2 Tbsps. brown sugar
- 2 Tbsps. tomato paste
- 2 tsps. Chipotle chilli powder
- 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 eggs
- 3 carrots
- ½ cup Kimchi
- 4 cups fresh baby spinach
- 2 Tbsps. toasted sesame oil
- ¼ cup sesame seeds
- 1 small sweet onion, minced
While the rice is cooking, sauté the spinach in 1 Tbsp. sesame oil, just until wilted, transfer to a bowl. In the same skillet brown the ground beef. Combine the Tamari, brown sugar, tomato paste, chilli powder, garlic and vinegar in a small bowl and mix well. When the beef is almost cooked, stir in the sauce and reduce the heat to low. Peel the carrots and use the peeler to shred them lengthwise. Two minutes before the rice is ready, move the beef to the side of your skillet and add a bit more sesame oil. Carefully crack the 4 eggs in the pan and fry until set. Scoop the cooked rice into 4 shallow serving bowls. Top each serving with ¼ each of the beef, spinach, shredded carrots, Kimchi , sesame seeds and onion, top each bowl with a fried egg. Serves 4, easily divided or multiplied. Yum 😊