Hello Blog Friends!
Welcome to the month of May 😊. In the world of Day Camps this month can bring a sinking feeling to the stomach of the Day Camp Director when I think that, technically, summer starts NEXT MONTH and the reality is that, despite daily efforts we still only have 4 fully completed forms, 2 “promised” and 2 “maybes”. Hope for the goal of 10 camps is sadly waning.It can be very hard to remain upbeat but I continue to forge ahead and to follow up on every possible lead “just in case” it pans out 😊.
I have often mentioned that this work takes place, largely, in a vacuum and so the monthly DC committee meetings do provide a welcome opportunity to connect with a cohort of dedicated groupies who do really care about all that is going on in this little world. Wednesday evening we had a super meeting with an almost full turnout of members. As this is the month that Gillian is stepping back from her replacement role for Annie, who has returned after completing a university course that conflicted with our meeting dates. The only member missing was Jeff, who apologised the next day for “having lost track of time”.
We had a productive meeting and spent a chunk of time finalising the Kick Off schedule as that event will take place June 1st, before our next meeting. Hopefully, prior to that date, we will have received forms from the “iffy” communities since it will certainly be a very small gathering if reps from only 4 churches are participating.
On a brighter note, this week the final version of the program manual was circulated to those 4 Day Camp Coordinators and I’ve already received “Thank yous” from a couple of people who had been eager to get their hands on the details of this year’s program 😊.
The saga continues of trying to organise Police Records checks for the Junior Youth Camp staff. One of the two staff I had contacted was free to meet with me last evening but it turned out that the other person who needs a check is currently in Germany for 3 weeks, sigh, so we are going to reschedule when they can both join a Meet. The trouble is that the Montreal Police Force (SPVM) prefers to receive several forms at a time, which is obviously more efficient for processing so, as we will need to wait at least another 3 weeks, it is doubtful CTM will receive the responses from the SPVM before camp happens in August. Oh well, there is nothing I can do about it.
Outside of office woes, I have done a bit of work in the garden but we have had quite a lot of rain, which has meant that it was impossible to stain the front stairs. They always look appalling after the ravages of winter but it is no use painting or staining until they can have a few sunny days in which to cure and dry properly, so I wait 😊. Sunday afternoon I completed the quarterly task of cleaning the pantry shelves and I’m pretty happy with the results. Another wet afternoon was spent refurbishing the dining room floor stencil It gets quite a lot of foot (and PAW!)traffic and so needs touching up every 2-3 years.
Monday afternoon a friend came by for a cup of tea. She only makes her Kombucha in the warmer months and so, as she was ready to start up production, had asked if I could provide her with a SCOBY. Fortunately I had plenty on hand so now she is all set to start brewing! Then Wednesday Jillian and baby Amelia came for lunch. They were quite a bit later arriving than originally planned as baby had a particularly long morning nap, however we still had a good visit before Jillian had to hit the road to avoid rush hour traffic on the bridge back to their home on the South Shore.
Not much time for crafting this week although the baby pullover is coming along nicely and I made 2 furoshiki , one to wrap the stripy baby outfit and the other for a friend’s birthday gift and now the parcels look pretty cute!
This morning I did get out in the garden for a while, but as tomorrow’s forecast is for more rain, I shan’t be doing any outside paint or staining touch-ups yet and might just tackle the living room floor stencil, which is also in need of refreshing 😊 . Right now it’s time to finish up the Saturday Bake- dinner rolls, carrot muffins, raisin scones and baguettes, so we had better end with our recipe.
I was recently given some lovely wild-caught whitefish fillets and made:-
Thai Coconut Fish Curry Soup
- 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 1” gingerroot, grated
- 2 tsps. curry powder
- 2 tins full fat coconut milk
- 3 cups vegetable stock
- ½ lb. whitefish fillet, cubed
- 1 red pepper, julienned
- 1 small bunch broccoli, broken into florets
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
- 2 Tbsps. Asian Fish Sauce
- 3 blocks ramen noodles
Open the coconut milk and skim off the top fat. Melt it in a large saucepan and fry the garlic, ginger and curry powder, just until fragrant. Add the red pepper and broccoli and sauté for 5 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk and vegetable stock, bring to a boil then simmer gently for 20 minutes. Add the whitefish, fish sauce and green onions and simmer just until the fish is opaque. Add the ramen blocks and simmer for an additional 4 minutes, separating the noodles with chopsticks or tongs. Divide the noodles between 3 or 4 bowls and top each with a portion of the soup. Serves 3-4.