Hello Blog Friends!
Welcome to October! Those of us, in Canada, are now on the cusp of the Thanksgiving Holiday, happening next weekend, and once that holiday has passed we all seem to transition into “ludicrous speed” hurtling towards Christmas. EEK!!
This is when I am so thankful for being part of a Liturgical tradition which honours the season of Advent, hands down my favourite season. Advent provides a gentle and reflective “buffer” when the rest of the secular world is already putting up Christmas trees and installing “glow in the dark” reindeer on their front lawns. I don’t think I am a Scrooge but rushing into Christmas without adequate preparation for the birth of Christ, is, to me, almost as offensive as celebrating Easter, without journeying through Lent. It is good to think of St. Paul’s reminder to the early Church, that we are to be “in the world, not of the world”. End of mini rant!
Back to regular programming… This week began with distributing the Meet link for the Team Gathering, badgering people about registering for the upcoming Cook-Along series and preparing an agenda for the next Day Camp committee meeting, taking place this coming Wednesday, October 7th.
Tuesday a portion of my workday was spent on a video chat with Team Alumnus, Esther. Regular blog readers will, perhaps, recognise Esther, about whom I have written before, but, briefly, as well as being an alumnus from the early years of Day Camps (think 1980s) and daughter of former Day Camp director, Vina Sweetman, I have known her from the time when I was a teen and she was a pre-schooler, at St. Matthew’s church. Esther has lived in the UK for many years and now has 2 adult sons. We try to chat every few months and I never miss an opportunity to invite her participation in alumni activities. On this call, we discussed the upcoming Advent Study program and her potentially agreeing to leading one of the reflections for it. We had a very good meeting and she has promised to let me know if this invitation will fit into her full schedule.
By Wednesday, messages had arrived from three more families, registering for Cook-Along, woot woot!!! If everyone actually turns up on the same day, there will be a whopping 14 participants, a caveat being that a few of them are under 2 years old, and likely to simply add to the cheerful chaos, rather then be budding chefs, one cannot start early enough! That morning an email also came to say that the event, scheduled for next Thursday, at which I was supposed to give a short talk about Day Camps and other forms of Children’s ministry, has been postponed for 2 more weeks (giving me more time to be nervous and wish I had not said “yes”!!!).
Thursday, it was necessary to fit all my CTM work into a very early time slot, in order to accommodate an in-person meeting with the outgoing chair of a committee to which I belong and for which I was recently asked to serve as interim Chair. The Priest who has been the Chair has done such a great job for the past several years, that I feel highly inadequate, attempting to fill her shoes, hopefully “interim” is fairly brief!!! We had a good meeting, and then were able to return to just being friends over lunch, together. After our meeting and lunch, there was a quick turnaround at this, informal short-order “restaurant” as my friend Eli was coming after work (as office person at a nearby church) to bring me some lovely organic veggies from their family farm and, happily, the sewing elastic needed to finish several projects. YAY! We had supper together and I got to catch up on all their recent adventures. Alos on Thursday, I had a message from former boarder, Steven. He is currently living in Winnipeg but is on a rotation for a few weeks in Ottawa and was asking if he might come stay for the weekend. Since he hasn’t visited for over a year, I immediately said “yes!” and so he arrived last evening and will head back to Ottawa tomorrow afternoon, at which Time I will be heading to the Cathedral for an Ordination Service.
Yesterday, was less chaotic although fairly rushed as final preparations were made for last evening’s Harvest Team Gathering. Our Speaker, Bishop Mary, had a few last-minute questions so we checked over the slides together. She was not up to editing it herself, so that task was added to my Friday “to-do” list. The evening was very lovely. Bishop Mary spoke on a passage from Ezekiel 47:1-12, touching on parallels with both Harvest and the Season of Creation. Miriam had chosen very fitting Taizé songs and the prayer time was deep snd movingm with many heartfelt prayers being shared. The group included an age spread from 17 years to over 70, and yet we worshipped, together as the body of Christ. Ten minutes after the Team Gathering ended, Steven arrived! He enjoyed the hearty snack prepared for m and then we chatted for an hour or so before heading to bed as both of us had a full day.
This week, outside of the world of CTM, a small-ish job got squeezed in. The Deacon, whom I mentor, had asked if I would be able to embroider, on the “Deacons’ Stole”, the name of the young man who is, tomorrow, to be ordained. This stole is traditionally passed from Deacon to Deacon and kept by each person until the next Ordination. The job turned out to be rather time- consuming as the postulant has quite a long name, so it was a big challenge to fit the name and date onto a small piece of fabric. The only other handcrafting being continued , is the knitting of Christmas gift socks., now on the second-to-last pair, woot, woot!!!
This morning was the usual Saturday gardening, and Bake, with Steven joining me and sweetly offering to go to the local bakery and pick up the chocolatines which, with bowls of Latté and a platter of fresh fruits, we enjoyed for a “second breakfast” before he set off on a long walk to have lunch with some friends from the time when he was living in Montreal. He will be leaving, this evening, as there is a church he would like to attend, tomorrow morning. in Ottawa.
Time to take 2 loaves of Challah out of the oven, so here is a tasty ,early Autumn, dinner recipe!
Vegetarian Pho
- 1 recipe vegetarian pho broth (see below)
- 1Tbsp toasted sesame oil
- ½ pound firm tofu, cut in dominoes
- Tamari to taste
- 12oz. wheat noodles
- 1 broccoli crown, broken into small florets
- 8oz. Cremini mushrooms, sliced
- ½ cup basil leaves, slivered
- 4 green onions, chopped
- 1 cup chopped cilantro
- 2tsps chile flakes
- 6 mint sprigs
- Lime wedges, for serving
Pho Broth
- 1 large onion peeled and quartered
- 1 3” piece of fresh ginger, sliced
- 3 quarts water
- 3 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
- 2oz mushroom stems
- 1 head of garlic, cut in half
- Salt to taste
- 1Tbsp raw cane sugar
- 6 whole star anise
- 5 whole cloves
- 1Tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2Tbsps fish sauce
Broth- In a large pot, scorch the onion and ginger until blackened in some places. Add the water, carrots, mushroom stems, garlic, salt and sugar. Tie the remaining spices in a small piece of cheesecloth and add to the pot, bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour. Add the fish sauce and simmer a further hour. Strain through a fine sieve. Use immediately or freeze for later use.
To make the Pho- Cook the noodles, drain and set aside, tossing with 1Tbsp toasted sesame oil. Bring the Pho broth to a simmer. Add the broccoli, mushrooms, tofu, tamari, salt, sugar, green onions and chile flakes. Simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the fresh herbs. Divide the noodles between four deep bowls and ladle the Pho over each serving. Serve with lime wedges. Extra Pho may be frozen and reheated. Serves 4-6.