Last Thursday (20th March) it was Oestara, (more commonly known as Ostara), aka the Spring Equinox. My main celebration for this sabbat is baking and this year I made carrot cake bars with vanilla cream cheese frosting. The recipe is from Simply Taralynn: https://simplytaralynn.com/2025/02/12/carrot-cake-bars-with-vanilla-cream-cheese-frosting/
They were quite nice. Here's a pic:
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| Taken before I cut them into bars! |
Last Sunday (2nd February) it was Imbolg, more commonly known as Imbolc. I celebrate it on the 2nd, but some people celebrate on 1st Feb, or from sundown on the 1st to sundown on the 2nd. And others may do it on 31st January. I normally make pancakes, which as I've said before, are a good fit for this sabbat. This year I made oatmeal pancakes again, using this recipe from Don't Waste the Crumbs: https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/oatmeal-pancakes/
Pancake Day is later this year (because Easter is later), it's not till 4th March. Last year it was 13th February. I normally make English pancakes (similar to crepes) for that, but the DWTC oatmeal pancakes recipe would be good too. (See the bottom of the post for a few links with inspiration for that day.)
I used little pots of instant oatmeal again and plain flour instead of oat flour. had a bit of trouble getting the mix to come together this time, but never mind! lol. They still tasted quite nice. I had them with butter and lemon. I just remembered that I normally eat them with golden syrup, but I forgot this year. Here's a pic:
As with previous years, I'm doing a double post about what I baked for Christmas/New Year and my last seasonal update (autumn-winter) of the year (2024). Scroll down if you just want to read the update. :)
New Year Gingerbread Cookies
I'd planned to bake something for Christmas but I was going through a bit of a stressful time and also had problems with my cooker. So, I ended up buying a Christmas fruitcake. However, I was able to bake for New Year. I made gingerbread cookies (or biscuits as we call them in the UK). The recipe is from Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons: https://kitchenfunwithmy3sons.com/gingerbread-cookies/
They have a cream cheese frosting and sprinkles on top. I used rainbow sprinkles from Tesco. They were quite nice. Here's a pic:
The Friday before last (21st December) it was Yule/the Winter Solstice. I celebrated by having a chocolate Yule log from Tesco. I occasionally make my own but it's easier to buy one, especially during the busy time just before Christmas!
The Yule log was quite nice. I put two candles on top to represent the light returning. Here's a pic:
I normally post on Sundays or Mondays but was a bit behind with this post, so it's on a Tuesday instead. :)
Winter is starting or has already started, depending on whether you go by the meterological or astronomical start. Earlier this year I wrote two posts about moving into the next season,. Easing into Spring and Easing into Autumn. I didn't write one for summer this year but last year I did a post called Shifting into Summer, so this post will be the seasonal equivalent of that one. :)
Note: If summer is starting where you are, you can see the Shifting into Summer post here (or click on the link above): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2023/06/shifting-into-summer.html
As I've mentioned before, I find moving from winter into spring an easier transition than going from summer into autumn, because summer is my favourite season. I feel sad to see it ending and I find the colder weather of autumn and winter depressing.
And I find the time of year when we move from autumn into winter quite sad because autumn is a beautiful time with all the leaves changing and different colours. Also, it's not too cold and bleak yet. But although winter is my least favourite season there are still good things about it, such as Yule/the Winter Solstice and Christmas, and "cosy vibes"!
Back in 2017 I wrote a post called Getting Ready for Winter. You can see it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/12/getting-ready-for-winter.html
In that post I mentioned that there are two "official" starts to winter- 1st December and around 20th December, which is the day of the Winter Solstice. The exact date varies each year.
On Thursday the week before last (31st October) it was Hallowe'en and Samhain. I celebrated by carving a pumpkin, putting up decorations and making some food and drink. Unfortunately I wasn't well on the day itself, so I had a slightly delayed celebration!
I put the decorations up on Hallowe'en (I like to decorate then and keep them up until the beginning of December!). And I made my favourite Demon's Blood drink (ginger beer mixed with apple juice and orange juice), which is a recipe from The Real Witches' Kitchen book by Kate West.
Then the next day when I was feeling a bit better, I made the food and drink. I baked gingerbread skeletons and made some potato salad (one of my favourite types to make, which is based on a recipe from the book The Kitchen Witch by Soraya).
I normally use spring onion and chives for the potato salad rather than rosemary which is in the recipe, since it's quite strong. But this year I decided to use rosemary for a change. It was quite nice, I didn't use too much. I didn't take a picture but if I make it with rosemary again next year, I'll take one then. :)
I had the potato salad with some buffet type food from the supermarket (cheese and pineapple, paella arancini balls, halloumi fries etc.).
Here's a picture of the pumpkin:
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It's October once again and time for my summer-autumn update! You can see my previous updates for 2024 at the links below:
Winter-Spring Update (2024) https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/04/winter-spring-update-2024.html
Spring-Summer Update (2024) + Happy Lammas! https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/07/spring-summer-update-2024-happy-lammas.html
I've also included a section with Samhain/Hallowe'en inspiration, so scroll down to the bottom for that. :)
In mid-July I went to a belly dance event called Yallabina!, which was co-hosted by Nadia Undine whose classes I've been to. I watched performances and danced a bit at the end. It was the first time I'd danced this year, so it was nice to get back to it.
At the beginning of August I celebrated Lammas. You can see my post about it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/08/lammas-2024.html
Then in mid-August I went to Five Guys at Brighton Marina. I got a burger and chips (fries), Coke and a chocolate milkshake.
Here are a couple of photos I took at the marina:
