Hello Blog Friends!
Welcome to Advent 2022. Well, technically, Advent doesn’t start until tomorrow but maybe I get extra Brownie points for being ready 😊.
As usual, over the past week, there has been plenty going on around here.
The week began with a CTM Board meeting last Sunday afternoon, so my Monday workweek started with typing up the minutes and sending them off to our President for approval to circulate.
With that task out of the way I completed the wrap-up email to all the families who participated in the Christmas Cookie Cook-Along, sending out the recipe for Mariejoy’s Chocolate Crinkle cookies and the instructions for the final “challenge”- Cocoa Bombs. In that email I also took the opportunity to invite all the families to Carols & Cocoa, which will be happening on Saturday December 10th.
So much work has gone into finding presenters, their time and talent in recording videos and also the hours spent by a committee member editing all the content. It would be extremely sad if only a handful of people log on for the actual event. December 1st I plan to send around another reminder to a long list of Team Alumni, plus host communities, and hope that will bear fruit, time will tell 😊.
Throughout the week I have also been preparing the content for the first session of the Advent Study Program. I’ve uploaded the 2 short videos we will be watching and have tweaked the PowerPoint and sent a reminder to everyone who has signed up for the program, making sure they all have the necessary supplies in hand and the link to the Meet. At present there are 11 alums registered although I know some of them cannot attend all the sessions, which is only to be expected at this busy time of year.
Besides the deep dive into all things Day Camps, there are always some general office jobs to take care of. Early in the week I entered all the deposits from the JYC fundraiser and there has been more editing to do on the template for CTM’s Advent/Christmas Newsletter. I was delighted to receive a bunch more photos from the Cook-Along and so have added them to the article about that series.
Next week the plan it to do a Wednesday words post with quotes from the Cook-along families and ALL the photos 😊. Most afternoons a chunk of time is spent editing more of the older blog posts and that task is almost completed although I will have to go through them one more time to tidy up all the links that still take people back to the old “Lamb on Day Camps” site. Once that is done Guylaine should be able to delete all the Blogger content, which currently lingers on the back end of our website.
Of course every waking moment away from the computer has been devoted to the “Changing of the Decorations”. By fitting in small tasks each day I have managed to almost complete this big project and today am just adding the finishing touches, such as planting my Paperwhite bulbs.
At least this Saturday is actually free of online or in person commitments although there is always baking to do, including the regular order of 2 GF loaves for my friend Sue. She and her family are in Toronto at present and so the loaves will not be picked up until tomorrow, which means I can take the opportunity to bake in the afternoon and thus use the oven to bake dinner for myself. Having switched out a shelf of Autumn-themed cookbooks for the Christmas collection, I plan to celebrate the eve of the new Liturgical year by making myself the first Yorkshire Pudding of the season. This dish is not the sort of thing I ever think of making over the warmer months but is perfect on a dark and dreary November night.
So before I mix up the batter, we will finish off with the last of our November soups. This is a hearty winter soup for mushroom lovers. 😊
Mushroom & Bread Soup with Parsley
- 6 Tbsps. unsalted butter
- 2lbs. mixed mushrooms, sliced
- 2 onions, chopped
- 2 ½ cups milk
- 8 slices homemade white bread
- 4 Tbsps. chopped parsley
- 1 ½ cups whipping cream
- sea salt and black pepper
Heat the butter and sauté the mushrooms and onions for 10 minutes, until softened but not browned. Add the milk and remove from the heat. Tear the bread into small pieces and add to the soup, leaving to soak for 15 minutes. Purée the soup and return to the pan. Add the parsley, cream and seasoning. Reheat without boiling. Serves 6-8