Things have been rather challenging around here this week as the City of Montreal has closed off the street in order to replace old lead pipes and there has been constant drilling right outside where I work in the house. Agh!!
One of my large Norway Maples is right where the water line enters the house and it has been “protected” with some rather flimsy looking pieces of board so I am frequently glancing out the window to see if it is still standing!
Meanwhile the laptop migration saga continues and I spent a good portion on Wednesday and Thursday mornings on the phone with some sort of tech person who handles Microsoft accounts for the Diocese, sigh, I can see this is going to be an epic saga. Of course, at the same time, I was trying to get everything finalised for today’s Kick Off event. Sadly, the response from the 6 communities that are registered was very small. We did have a good time of fellowship, but the handful of people who attended were all seasoned groupies and so not really in need of a training session.
The Day Camp committee will be meeting next Wednesday evening and we will debrief and see what wee can learn form this, going forward.
The possibility of Day Camps 2025 is still very much up in the air and it is very hard to discern what “going forward” should look like 😊.
On a brighter note, due to much effort on the part of Jillian (long time committee member who is currently on maternity leave but gets sucked into the vortex when her expertise is required J) and Mae Anne, who had a huge amount of difficulty corralling the helpers needed to record all the Day Camp songs, we did manage to finally send out the complete Resource Package in time for helpers in host communities to look it over prior to today’s Kick Off. I guess people will just resort to sending any questions they have directly to me, as we were not able to hold a session for everyone this afternoon.
Outside of office hours there has not been much time for gardening, and it has been awkward working on the north side of the house due to the city workers. As this also coincides with the annual deluge of maple keys, trying to mow the lawns at present has been quite stressful J. Happily, while I was out at a Diocesan meeting this morning, Tyler very kindly sharpened my lawn mower, which is a huge improvement, since had not been sharpened since Steven did it when he boarded with me five years ago!
The only sewing project I managed to complete was a darling sunhat for a little boy, about to turn three years old. It reminds me of Christopher Robin (the E.H. Shepherd illustrations NOT Disney!!!!!). I really hope it fits him, his Mum did send me the head circumference so it should be good to go 😊.
No Bake today as I left the house at 815am, squeaked back in the door at 1230pm The Kick-Off was supposed to take place from 1pm-230pm but sadly only the committee members joined on, so we had a short time of worship and prayer and then logged off after which I tidied up the general house chao, took Mr. T. for a long walk ,and did some work in the garden. (Never fear, the weekly Bake happened yesterday afternoon instead 😊).
So, before I need to turn my attention to dinner, I thought I would share the recipe for the dish I made on Wednesday evening when Jessica joined me for our monthly Korean Soap Opera episode.
Broccoli & Soba Noodles in Spicy Coconut Sauce
- 8oz. Soba Noodles (preferably Homemade😊)
- 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
- 1 head fresh broccoli, broken into small florets
- 1” fresh ginger, finely grated
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 Tbsp. Korean Chile Crisp
- 3 Tbsps. olive oil, divided
- 2 Tbsps. lime juice
- 1 tsp. each ground cumin and coriander
- 1 small handful baby spinach leaves
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup full fat coconut milk
- 1 tsp. raw cane sugar
In the bowl of a small food processor, combine the ginger, garlic, chile crisp 2 Tbsps. olive oil, lime juice, cumin & coriander and baby spinach. Blend until quite smooth. Bring a large pot of water to the boil and cook the noodles until al dente (2-3 minutes for fresh noodles). Drain and toss the noodles with the toasted sesame oil and place them in a large serving bowl. Meanwhile, steam the broccoli until crisp-tender. Drain well and add to the bowl of noodles.In a small saucepan heat the remaining Tbsp. of oil and sauté the chopped onion until translucent. Add the spice mixture you have blended. Stir in the coconut milk and sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes then pour the sauce over the broccoli and noodle and toss gently. Serve warm. Serves 3-4.