Like most people I have a list of dream jobs. In the top five of this list is chef and or food critic. I have an insane love for food. A great meal full of bold, exciting flavors is enough to put a smile on my face for weeks. When I come home from a day in the village office or school, whatever it may be, you would most likely find me de-stressing in my kitchen, cooking up my latest must try recipe or improvising with whatever ingredients present themselves to me in my fridge. I was hoping that there would be at least one opportunity this summer to blog about food and today the C.O.W bus rolled into the village and I found my moment.
The Alberta Prairie C.O.W. bus, which stands for Classroom on Wheels is driven across the prairies by Family Literary Facilitators. You can find it in many different communities throughout the year and when the C.O.W. bus is in town it is sure to be a good time. The ladies leading the C.O.W bus come bearing gifts of books to donate to the village library and spend the day outside the library with the bus doors open, ready for all the children in the village to hop and explore all the fun books and games that the bus is stocked with. It is a fantastic program that has alot of benefit for the children of the community and the library.
Now how does the C.O.W bus coming to Hay Lakes relate to having some good eats?! Today the village office was invited to join the Hay Lakes Municipal Library Society and the Family Literacy Faciliators aka the C.O.W. bus ladies to a wonderful luncheon to honor their time in the village. Here's where the food comes in...
The Library staff and board put on a delicious homemade spread for all of us. The lunch included homemade egg salad sandwiches which were the perfect mix of creamy and peppery bite, followed by a beautiful pot of minestrone soup which was packed full of beans, zucchini, carrots, swiss chard and fresh herbs all stewed together by homemade soup stock. The soup was followed by my favorite part of the whole meal. A hot out of the oven, raspberry coffee cake with fresh raspberry syrup made from just picked off the bush berries. I cannot tell you how good this cake was...With a crispy brown sugar crust and a warm, raspberry filled inside, it was all I could do not to take the whole pan back to the office with me. Needless to say, today was a good day to be a rural capacity intern. I got to learn more about the wonderful programs being offered to promote Family Literacy in our rural communities and indulged in not one, but two pieces of total raspberry bliss.
This week I also had the pleasure of meeting a regional intern who is working with the Alberta Municipal Internship program. She divides her time up between 9 different municipalities, Hay Lakes being one of them. We had a chance to talk about the projects I have been apart of this summer in Hay Lakes and all the things she has been working on and will continue to work on for the next year. I took her for a tour around the village showing her the new development, skate park, school, summer in the park crew, library, and fire hall. On our walk we had the chance to talk more about our observations, challenges and experiences from working in rural Alberta. Both having the experience of working in Hay Lakes it was nice to discuss this with someone who has more or less been in your shoes.
The remainder of my time this week has been spent putting together some of my final deliverables as well as getting ready for our big community wrap-up event on Friday. I cannot believe how fast the time has gone and that all the interns and community partners will be meeting again to discuss the results of our summer work. I guess I will see you all Friday and in the meantime, if you have a raspberry bush in your backyard that you keep meaning to pick and just havent found the time, I encourage you to pick those berries and turn them into something delicious. If you don't, I will!
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