Hello Blog Friends!
Climate change seems to be causing havoc, at present all over the globe. We have had another week with heat warnings although I am thankful it has not been as bad as what the poor souls in Europe are suffering. It was a real blessing when my phone rang on Tuesday evening and it was family friend Brian saying he would be dropping by in 10 minutes with my newly refurbished back door screen. Yay 😊. He had taken it away last month as it had a number of holes in it and after the disappearance of Mario (the very talented handyman who Brian had sent several years ago and who had done lots of small and fairly large repairs, including installing said repurposed back door but never replacing the old screen) Brian had kindly said he could do the screen for me.
The week began with a day of torrential rain through which Jessica nobly slogged in order to visit with me, share dinner, and discuss the ongoing topic of “Day Camp Grants”. We had a good long visit, so she had plenty of time to dry out as we enjoyed a supper of Soft Black Bean Tacos, Melon, Orange Chocolate Cookies and Orange Infusion. She had returned a few days earlier from a visit to Houston Texas where her husband, Tyler, is on a 6 month training at NASA. He is an aeronautical engineer and was hired by NASA during the pandemic but was unable to travel to the USA for his required training until after restrictions were eased. Jessica will be heading back there in August for a longer stay and then they have worked out a schedule of visits over the next few months until Tyler returns home permanently in December. During our discussions over the pros and cons of grants Jessica remembered someone she worked with at Christian Direction who has some expertise in marketing and since one of our biggest concerns is trying to ascertain if there is still a market for our program she offered to contact this friend to see if she might be willing to help us and to offer some advice. Hopefully Jessica will be able to speak with her before the next committee meeting.
Tuesday and Wednesday evenings I had some extra “office” work as I held 2 Google Meet sessions at which I instructed 5 Junior Youth Camp Staff members in filling out Police Records Check forms. There was supposed to be just one session, on Tuesday, but when everyone logged onto the Meet it turned out that one young girl had gone to a concert and that another had not been able to print out the form, due to printer problems, sigh, so I had to reschedule and meet with them separately on Wednesday evening. Now I just need to wait until the forms arrive in the mail, after which there is a section I need to fill out before parcelling them all up and sending them to the SPVM (Montreal Police Department). Sadly they cannot be sent via email but must go by Canada Post.
There are no Day Camps happening this week or next but the last one, which is here in Montreal, will be happening the first week of August, so there will be one more “Postcards” post coming up fairly soon. Meanwhile I have continued with the ever-present task of editing blog posts and am currently at August 2016, so I’ve been reliving a very different Day Camps Summer 😊. Early next week I will need to be preparing and sending out the committee meeting agenda. With holding the July meeting a week later than usual, the 2 meetings do seem rather close together but we really need to deal with some of the “big questions” so it seems important to meet again.
Outside of office hours there has been plenty of gardening and not much crafting, except that a good start has been made on my shawl that I’m knitting with gorgeous, locally produced, hand dyed yarn 😊. Thursday afternoon I made a second batch of Soba Noodles and am quite excited to have added this new item to my list of “made from scratch” staples.Today I’m taking another stab at using my dry sourdough starter and hope the loaf I produce will be a better texture. The second one was definitely better than the first so I’m fairly optimistic. Also on the list are pizza dough, oatmeal raisin cookies and ginger scones so I think it is time to end off here.
The Soft Black Bean Tacos that Jessica and I shared last Monday evening were particularly tasty. The original recipe called for corn tortillas but, despite having a tortilla press brought from Mexico by my Mum’s by her dear friend, known to me as Auntie Mary, I have not been able to make any corn tortillas since the organic grocer is no longer able to source any Masa flour; thus I made flour tortillas, which worked successfully 😊.
Soft Black Bean Tacos
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 cups cooked black beans (or 1 15oz. can)
- 1 tsp. each ground cumin and chilli powder
- ½ cup salsa
- 2 cups finely shredded cabbage
- 1 cup grated cheddar
- 6 flour tortillas
- Hot sauce
Heat the oil in a skillet and sauté the spices for a few minutes, until fragrant. Add the black beans and a small amount of water. Cook over medium-low heat for approx. 10 minutes, pressing down the beans with the back of a wooden spoon and stirring to make sure they do not stick to the pan, add a bit more water as necessary. Stir in the salsa and heat through. Warm the tortillas in a dry skillet. Arrange the beans, cabbage and cheese in serving bowls and allow diners to fill their own tacos, adding extra hot sauce if desired. Serves 2 generously, easily doubled.