Lammas 2018

For Lammas last Wednesday I celebrated by making Cornish pasties and gingerbread. As I mentioned in my Celebrating Lammas post, I usually bake for this sabbat. I normally make gingerbread but I don't think I'd made a Cornish pasty (or rather Cornish style pasty since I'm not from Cornwall!), for it since 2014. The recipe is from Kate West's The Real Witches' Kitchen. I couldn't post the full recipe online for legal reasons, but linked to similar recipes in this post: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2014/08/lammas.html

I had my pasty for lunch with some Bulmers cider. Here's a pic:

And here's a picture of the gingerbread. I made some men and two half moon shapes and they tasted nice. The dough was better this time, not as dry. I iced them but the icing got a bit messy, so here they are in their pre-iced state!

Got a bit broken off, but never mind!

A few days before Lammas I went for a walk on the Downs near me and took some sunset pictures. Here's one that I thought was really "Lammasy" with the hay bales!

I also went to my favourite nature reserve and took some more pics of the sunset on Lammas itself. When I got back I lit an orange candle as it was getting dark. Here's another sunset photo:

Lammas sunset on Mill Hill

Last Lammas I baked bread. I didn't make a loaf as the main part of the celebration this year, but I did make a bread mix yesterday and it came out quite nice. (I prefer brown bread to white, but the loaf types are nicer). Not the perfect shape but never mind!

If you fancy baking bread for Lammas but don't want to make it from scratch, a bread mix is a good idea. The one I used was Tesco Crusty White Bread Mix and you can make a loaf, rolls or a pizza base with it. Simple to make. There's also a sourdough mix in the range that I'd like to try sometime.

Hope you enjoyed the post. Lots of pics this year! It seems weird that's already August and we've only got one month of proper summer left. Not too long ago it was the middle of the year. Still, there's quite a lot of summer to go. We've had a hot one so far in the UK this year and in places like Spain it's been over 40C! I have been struggling a bit with the heat, but I like hot weather. I want to enjoy the rest of the summer because before long it will be autumn! The next sabbat will be Madron/the Autumn Equinox on 23rd September.


Hope you had a good Lammas (or Imbolg) if you celebrate! And that you're enjoying summer (or winter/whichever season it is where you are). :)