Hello Blog Friends!
Welcome to Advent, such a wonderful season of “Hope, Peace, Joy & Love”, the Theme for this year’s Alumni Advent Program!
Tomorrow afternoon, the program will be kicking off with the first session, based on “Hope”. All week, Michelle and I have both been working flat out on finishing up all the content and both of us are excited that it has come together so well. My only worry is that I will have technical issues in “presenting” it during the Google Meet. Usually, there is a techie participating and I can focus on leading the session and instructing the creative activity, I’m praying the slides will run smoothly and everyone will be able to hear and see all the content. Modern technology has given us the ability to offer these types of programs but it makes them so much more special if they also run smoothly!
Wednesday Guylaine sent the “go ahead” for me to publish the Advent/Christmas Networks and it was a huge relief to check that item off my very long “to-do” list. That same morning Jillian came for a short coffee visit with baby Clara and while we chatted, I was able to finish my very last Gnome! Then it was back to work on the Advent program slides.
Thursday morning, I enjoyed a short visit from Bishop Mary when she and her husband dropped off a HUGE bundle of Balsam and Spruce branches for me to use in the Christmas décor. We had not seen each other since they moved, permanently, to their newly renovated home in the Laurentians, north of the city, so it was lovely to catch up for an hour before her husband picked her up and they both went off to dental appointments. After she left I put in a couple of hours on the Advent Program, sent of some Birthday e-cards to Team Alumni and also sent more reminders about Carolos and Cocoa
Yesterday morning, was the long anticipated “Beeswax Taper” tutorial with Sarah. Of course, as a working Mum with two children in elementary school, it turned out she had to head off, after an hour or so, as the school is having a Christmas market next weekend and she had volunteered to help with that. But she did manage to make a set of tapers in all the correct colours, which was the focus of the tutorial and I was, also, able to provide her with extra fir branches, pinecones, ecclesiastical ribbon and a grapevine wreath frame.
In the afternoon, Jillan offered to do an online a test run, with me, of the Advent Program Slides. She was able to see and hear everything but we both use Macs and sometimes it is people who watch from PCs who cannot get the video and audio properly. After considerable editing, on Jillian’s part (and more, this morning, on mine!), lots of prayer will most certainly still be needed when we hold the first episode, tomorrow afternoon.
This morning, after an early walk, I made a start on a long “Bake” list- 2 GF loaves, a pan of GF rolls, an Apple Galette, a batch of Digestive Biscuits and a large Focaccia. Once the last things are out of the oven, I hope to turn my attention to stuffing a pair of small toy bunnies (more Christmas gifts!).
In between, there are the photos to add to this post and several emails to send out in the hopes of encouraging more people to register for Carols & Cocoa. All of which indicates that I should get today’s recipe typed and press the “Publish” button.
The Apple Galette comes from one of my Mum’s old Christmas cookbooks. It is too bad we cannot insert aromas into a blog because the smells of spices and apples is quite divine!
Christmas Apple Galette
- Pastry for a single crust pie
- 7 or 8 Empire apples, peeled, cored & cut into 1” chunks
- Juice of half a lemon
- ½ cup raw cane sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- A pinch of ground nutmeg
- 1 Tbsp flour
- 2 Tbsps. butter
- 1 egg
Roll out the pastry to make a 14” circle, place on a large, parchment lined baking sheet and chill while preparing the filling. Combine the apples, lemon juice, sugar, spices and flour in a large bowl and toss well. Pile the filling onto the pastry, leaving a 2” border. Carefully fold the border up over the edge of the apples, crimping as you go. Cut the butter into small bits and dot them over the apple filling. Beat the egg, brush it over the pastry border and sprinkle with a little more sugar. Bake for 50 minutes in a preheated 375ºF. Cool, briefly, before carefully transferring to a large, flat plate. Serves 6-8.