Hello Blog Friends,
With the Feast of Epiphany now behind us, it is time to roll up one’s sleeves and dive into the work of 2026.
This past Wednesday, we held our first Day Camp committee meeting of the year and plunged right into all sorts of planning for Winter/Spring events and for the coming Summer’s programs.
The Candlemas Team Gathering plans are well in hand, as we have our Speaker (Jenna Smith, who works at Christian Direction, here in the city, and is a member of the Cathedral) and musicians, all lined up, now we just need to do A LOT of badgering to get a good number of Alumni to attend!
We also established the Theme for Season 11 of the Day Camps Cook-Along, “Soups & Stews for Snowy Days”. It will be taking place on the last 2 Saturdays of February and the first Saturday of March. Flyers have now been posted on social media, notices sent to all the families who regularly attend and pleas sent to prospective chefs, in the fond hope they will sign up to lead the sessions.
The CTM Board meeting is also coming up, next weekend, so the agenda had to be approved by Chris, our President, and then circulated to all the members. So, all in all, it has certainly been the ”back to work” week!!
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the house décor has morphed from Advent/Christmas to Epiphany/Winter. The task took several evenings to complete as there is a lot of “Advent and Christmas”!! I had such a beautiful Christmas tree given to me this year that I really hated to take it down, as it was still very fresh and green. It was exceptionally large and I was quite worried about getting it out of the stand and out of the front door but, thankfully, Deacon Alex came to my rescue and, between the two of us, in the pouring rain, we managed to wrangled it outside and leave it on the lawn by the curb side for the city to collect. They turn the trees into mulch that is used on the flowerbeds in all the municipal parks, which is a super way to compost them!
So now, the house has had a reset and looks calm and clean for the next stretch of the Liturgical Year. No time, this week, for more than a bit of knitting although, today, after getting my baking in the oven, there will be a little crafting as, next week, is the 8th wedding anniversary of some dear friends and I always give them a small gift. The material for the 8th anniversary is “bronze” but since I do not have a forge at hand, I had to cheat a bit and rely on polymer clay with bronze paint to achieve the desired effect.
This post may go out a bit later than usual as it has been impossible to take any decent photos, due to the torrential rain and general aura of gloom. It is supposed to brighten up this afternoon, so hopefully you will see the fresh house arrangements.
Before I turn this into the draft, ready for publication, I will close off with the weekly recipe. Here in Québec, throughout the Christmas Season, Tourtière is eaten. I have previously shared my Mum’s delicious version but wanted to make some individual ones this time, which will be more useful when eating alone. These are great if you need to make a packed lunch or supper; pickled beets make an excellent side dish, YUM.
Individual Tourtières
- 1 ¼ cups flour
- ¾ tsp. sea salt
- ½ cup butter
- 1/3 cup ice water
- ½ lb. ground pork
- 1 medium potato, washed and grated
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ½ tsp savoury
- ¼ tsp each turmeric and ground cloves
- 1 egg, beaten
Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times. Grate the cold butter into the bowl and pulse until combined. With the motor running, slowly pour in the ice water, just until the dough forms a ball. Flatten the pastry into a disk, wrap and chill, while preparing the filling.
Place all the filling ingredients, except the egg in a saucepan, and simmer for 30minutes. Allow to cool, then proceed by rolling out the pastry and cutting into circles, about 20cms in diameter. Pile a mound of filling on each circle, dampen ½ the rim with a little cold water, then fold the other half over former a turnover, crimp the edges decoratively, then place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and brush with beaten egg. Bake in a 400ºF oven until golden, about 15-20 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature, makes 6-8 turnovers.