Hello Blog Friends!
Alleluia, Christ is Risen!
It seems amazing that Easter Day has passed and that during this same week, we have also experienced a full on winter blizzard! Sigh. I am thankful that the Church celebrates the Easter Season for 40 days and not for 1 or 2, as do many secular people who only seem to celebrate in order to eat vast amounts of chocolate J. At least, by the end of 40 days there may possibly be some signs of spring around here in the frozen north!
It was very lovely to enjoy a 4 day weekend and, on Easter Monday, to welcome three of my Godsons and their Mum to an Easter High Tea. The weather was decent so Victoria was able to make the round trip drive from Ottawa to Montreal and back in about 5 hours, that’s an awful lot of driving for a 2 hour visit but she said it was worth it J.
Although this has been a shorter work week, there was plenty going on as Wednesday evening we held our monthly committee meeting and that morning I also assembled a Wednesday Words post about our recent Alumni Lenten Mini Retreat. When we have a meeting scheduled there is always prep work ahead of time and then follow-up for a couple of days after, so I was kept pretty busy. It was also time to send reminders to all the volunteers who are working on craft samples. I would like to have the photos added to the Resource Package before sharing it with the host communities, although I suspect the first item that want to get their hands on will be the Program Manual J. I did also check in with Jessica, who is busy working on the layout and it looks as if the Manual should be completed by mid-month, which would be great!
The snow started in the night on Wednesday and by Thursday afternoon more than 20cms of heavy wet snow had fallen, bringing with it many fallen tree branches and causing a number of power outages. Two quite large branches fell on my property but ,with some effort I was able to drag them to the edge of the road and our immediate neighbourhood did not lose power.
All Thursday morning, as I worked on my laptop, doing follow-up from the committee meeting the snow mounted up around the house. I went out 2 times and shovelled the front path but it soon filled up again. And then I had a text from Jessica who was meeting a friend in my neighbourhood and would stop by and shovel for half an hour or so. Jessica made a great start, doing the side path by the garage and about half the deck. Afterwards I went out and was able to finish the deck although more snow continued to fall. I then came inside to dry off and warm up and, in the late afternoon, headed back out for a final push to finish the driveway, the husband of my neighbour who rents the space for her car, had done part of it but had, sadly, left some massive banks of snow to still be cleared. I am very worried that some of the small spring flowers, which had already popped through the earth, will have been crushed but there is nothing to do now but wait and see as everything slowly melts off.
Yesterday, Jillian and baby Amelia were supposed to join me for a lunch visit but there was absolutely nowhere on my street where she could safely park, much less carry a chunky baby in a car seat! Also her Dad is in hospital not far from my home she and Amelia were going on to visit him before driving back to their home on the South Shore (Thankfully the hospital has a large, indoor parking garage 😊). So we had to settle for a FaceTime visit, which happened after she got home from her adventures
This morning I’m baking and sewing at the same time. All the baby outfits have been completed but I needed to sew furoshiki to wrap them and then turn my attention to a pair of Moon Pants for Serena (another Day Camp Alumni child J) who will turn 5 later this month. At present I have a batch of Lemon Squares in the oven and am also making 2 GF loaves, dog biscuits, a sourdough Boule and a dozen chocolate chip scones.
Time to finish off with our recipe. I made these one night this week for a light supper and found them super tasty!
Cheesy Kimchi Noodles
- 6oz. dried instant ramen
- 1½Tbsps. olive oil
- 2 eggs
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
- ½ cup kimchi
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
- 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds, plus more for garnish
- ½ cup grated Cheddar
- 2 Tbsps.Hot Sauce
- 1 to 2 Tbsps. Tamari
- 1Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
- 1 Tbsp. brown rice vinegar
Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil over high, add noodles and cook until tender but springy, 3-4 mins. Rinse with cold water until cool, then toss with a splash of sesame oil to prevent the noodles from sticking together. Set aside. Meanwhile, prepare the sauce: In a small bowl, whisk the hot sauce, Tamari, sesame oil and rice vinegar; set aside. Set a skillet over high heat and add ½ Tbsp. olive oil, crack in the eggs. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the whites are done and the edges are browned, transfer to a plate. In the same pan, heat the remaining oil and add the green onions, kimchi, garlic and sesame seeds. Cook for 1 min. stirring frequently. Add the noodles and sauce, and toss to combine then stir in the cheese until it melts. Transfer the noodles to serving plates, top with the fried eggs and garnish with extra sesame seeds and green onions. Serve immediately, serves 2.