Hello Blog Friends!
Here we are mid-way through Lent and starting a new month. With Easter being so early this year it seems that spring should be just around the corner, however, as the wind chill this morning was -21ºC it doesn’t feel very spring-like around here 😊.
Tuesday evening we had a terrible rain and wind storm with gusts to 90kms and then what is called a “flash freeze” when the temperature plummeted causing all surfaces to suddenly turn to ice. The farmer who, monthly, brings meat and egg orders to our area, messaged Thursday to say they had lost power in the storm and so had cancelled that evening’s delivery. I am so thankful that the young woman who takes Thomason for runs came and took him twice early in the week as I’m sure it would be too cold for her to go running on the mountain in the last couple of days!
There has been plenty happening in the small world of Day Camps. As of Tuesday, Acceptance Packages were shared with the 2 host communities already registered for Camps. We have a DC committee meeting next Wednesday so the agenda for that was created and circulated. Episode 2 of the current Cook-Along series will be taking place this afternoon so prep sheets and a Meet link were sent to all the families who will be participating and progress has been made in the planning of our Alumni Mini-Retreat, scheduled for March 23rd. I had hoped to see more registrations by now and so have been sending around various types of reminders as well as asking my “assistant badger”, Mikaela, to remind the alumni who attend her church 😊.
Work is chugging along in various areas of this year’s program. There is the group making craft samples, another group preparing the Liturgical Dance video and a third who will be recording the song files. Two people are putting their expertise into preparing the PowerPoints needed for both the Classic and the Backyard versions of the program and Jessica is still hard at work on Manual layout.
On Wednesday I sent an email to her dad, Rod, who for many years provided us with copies of all the videos, CDs and DVDs that formed such a vital part of the Team supplies. I have asked him if he still has files for the “One of Us” program (scheduled for 2025 in our rotation). This is the only one of our programs that does not include a puppet video for the “It’s Showtime” component. The person who crafted all the other videos is no longer able to create any more and so it looks as if we would need to fall back on the original slides. These were drawn and coloured by two gifted professional artists as part of our Millennium project to design a new Day Camp Program. The slides are very lovely and we could reuse them instead of puppet videos, however somewhere in the upheaval of losing our Isaiah 40 supply room we appear to have lost a copy of the DVD with those slide images . I am fervently hoping that Rod still has the master copy in his archives.
Yesterday was supposed to be the deadline for submitting content for CTM’s quarterly newsletter but, sadly, nothing has yet materialised so it looks as if additional badgering will be required in that area 😊.
Outside of the work schedule, every spare moment has been spent “Changing the Decorations” to those for Lent/Spring/Easter. As I still need to be cautious with my wonky knee, I spread the task out over four days, working for just a few hours in the late afternoons and evenings. All is now completed and I hope you enjoy the indoor transformation, since the exterior views still feature howling winds and frozen ground!
As mentioned earlier, this afternoon we will be airing episode 2 of the “Eat Your Veggies!” Cook-Along. My baking is just about completed with the sourdough boule being the last thing in the oven. So it is time to end off with our recipe 😊.
This one does fall under the “cold weather comfort food” category, as I’m certainly not yet ready for summer rolls or main course salads!
Amish Tomato Dumplings
- ¼ cup butter
- ½ cup finely chopped onions
- ¼ cup finely chopped red or green pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 28oz. can diced tomatoes
- ½ tsp. each salt, pepper, dried basil & celery seed
- Dumplings: –
- 1 cup unbleached flour
- 1½ tsps. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp. butter
- 1 egg, beaten
- 6 Tbsps. milk
- 1 heaping Tbsp. fresh parsley, minced
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and sauté the onions, peppers and bay leaf for about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and seasonings, bring to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, for the dumplings, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and cut in the butter. Add the egg, milk and parsley and blend lightly. Drop by tablespoonfuls (about 6) onto the simmering tomatoes, cover tightly and simmer for 20 minutes. Do not lift the lid while the dumplings are cooking. Serve in bowls, topped with extra butter and/or grated cheese. Serves 2-3.