Summer-Autumn Update (2022)

It's already October, so it's time for my 3rd quarterly update- summer to autumn! You can see my previous updates at the links below:

Winter-Spring Update (2022): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/04/winter-spring-update-2022.html

Spring-Summer Update (2022): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/07/spring-summer-update-2022.html

 

In early July I went to a metal fusion belly dance workshop in Portslade with Lianna Greene, which was fun. It's been good to get back into dancing again this year (after the lockdowns and uncertainty due to the pandemic) although I'm not currently attending regular classes.   

I also went to Lancing Beach at sunset during July. It was more of a "gentle" sunset but still nice. Here's a photo:

 

Sunset at Lancing Beach.

Spring-Summer Update (2022)

We're more than halfway through the year, so it's time for my spring-summer update! I'm doing quarterly updates and you can see the winter-spring one here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/04/winter-spring-update-2022.html

At the beginning of April, I went to the new Wendy's restaurant in Brighton. I didn't know there were any in the UK (it's an American restaurant) but found out there used to be some here. Most closed down but they're now opening up again to the UK market.

I liked the food and the chocolate Frosty drink! Here's a picture I took on the way to Wendy's:

 

Churchill Square, Brighton.

 

Oestara 2022

Last Sunday (20th March) it was Oestara (more commonly known as Ostara) aka the Spring Equinox. As I said in my Oestara Round-up post, I normally bake for this sabbat. This year I made a Maltesers traybake slice (which is actually "no-bake!), using this recipe: https://www.goodto.com/recipes/maltesers-bites

It's very similar to Birdies Perch Malteser slice (my favourite thing to "no-bake"),  except that has digestive biscuits instead of Rice Krispies. I've made a recipe based on that for Oestara in 2016 and the usual recipe last year.

I used Rice Snaps (Tesco own brand) for the traybake bites and put Cadbury Mini Eggs on top along with the Maltesers, to fit the spring theme! They tasted quite nice. Here's a picture: 

 

 

Oestara Round-up

It's almost time for Oestara (more commonly known as Ostara) aka the Spring Equinox! This year it's on Sunday 20th March.

 

Note: For those in the Southern Hemisphere it's nearly time for Madron/Mabon aka the Autumn Equinox. You might like these posts:

 Madron/Autumn Equinox Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/09/madronautumn-equinox-celebration-ideas.html

Celebrating Madron/Autumn: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/09/celebrating-madron-autumn.html

Madron Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/09/madron-inspiration.html

Baking for Madron + Extra Ideas!: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/09/baking-for-madron-extra-ideas.html

Madron Round-up + Autumn Baking: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2021/09/madron-round-up-autumn-baking.html

 

For the past few years, I've written celebration posts for Oestara. Last year I started a series of round-up posts for each sabbat and am continuing that into 2022, so here is Oestara's! :)

Oestara (more often spelt as "Ostara" but I first came across it with the "e" added) is the 2nd spring festival on the Wheel of the Year and celebrates the "official" shift into spring. The name is thought to have come from the Goddess Eostre, so it's not surprising that this sabbat also has links to the Christian festival Easter! 

Update 15/4/26: I added a section in my Happy Oestara! post about the fact that there are conflicting opinions about Oestara and Easter being linked. For more on that, see that post linked below or click here.

Oestara comes after Imbolc/Imbolg at the beginning of February (which marks the start of the transition from winter to spring) and before Beltane at the end of April/start of May (when we start to shift from spring to summer).

Oestara 2021

Last Saturday it was Oestara, (more commonly known as Ostara) aka the Spring Equinox. As I mentioned in the Happy Oestara! post, my main celebration was baking. This year I actually did some "no-baking", since I made a Birdies Perch Malteser slice, which is one of my favourite things to make. The recipe is from Sam Stern. Read more about it and find a link to the recipe here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2013/09/birdies-perch-malteser-slice.html

I last made it for Oestara in 2016. That year I made it a bit differently, but this Oestara I stuck to my usual recipe. I put Cadbury Mini Eggs on top to fit the theme! Here's a picture:

Happy Oestara!

Oestara (more commonly known as Ostara), aka the Spring Equinox is almost here. This year it's on Saturday 20th March (tomorrow!). I normally post on Sundays or Mondays but wasn't able to get this finished earlier, so I'm posting today instead. :)

Note: For those in the Southern Hemisphere it's nearly time for Madron/Mabon aka the Autumn Equinox. You might like these posts:

Madron/Autumn Equinox Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/09/madronautumn-equinox-celebration-ideas.html

Celebrating Madron/Autumn:  https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/09/celebrating-madron-autumn.html

Madron Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/09/madron-inspiration.html

Baking for Madron + Extra Ideas!: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/09/baking-for-madron-extra-ideas.html

 

For the past few years, I've written posts with ideas for celebrating Oestara and spring. You can read them at the links below:

Oestara/Spring Equinox Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/03/oestaraspring-equinox-celebration-ideas.html

Celebrating Oestara + Spring: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/03/celebrating-oestara-spring.html

Oestara Celebration Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/03/oestara-celebration-inspiration.html

Oestara + Spring Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/03/oestara-spring-inspiration.html

 

Since I've already written quite a few celebration/inspiration posts, this year I'm just writing a brief background and sharing a few new links. :) 

 

Oestara 2020

On Friday it was Oestara (more commonly known as Ostara) aka the Spring Equinox. (At least in the UK, as I mentioned in the Oestara + Spring Celebration post, by US time it was Thursday). I celebrated by baking, which I usually do for Oestara and Easter too! Well, this year I made a white chocolate tiffin, so it was technically "no bake", lol. The recipe is by Jo Wheatley and you can find it here: https://www.goodto.com/recipes/jo-wheatley-s-white-chocolate-tiffin 

I hadn't made tiffin before but I had a look for a recipe a few months ago because a cafe at my local park makes really nice ones! This recipe uses cherries but I left them out because I'm not that into cherries. It has coconut in though. I put Cadbury's Mini Eggs on top, like I normally do for Oestara, to fit the theme of spring and fertility/new beginnings. Here's a pic:

Oestara + Spring Inspiration

Oestara (more commonly known as Ostara) is coming up and that means spring is almost (officially) here! It is on Friday 20th March this year (at least in UK time, by US time zones it will be Thursday the 19th).

Note: For those in the Southern Hemisphere it will soon be Madron/Mabon aka the Autumn Equinox! You might like these posts:

Madron/Autumn Equinox Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/09/madronautumn-equinox-celebration-ideas.html

Celebrating Madron/Autumn: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/09/celebrating-madron-autumn.html

Madron Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/09/madron-inspiration.html


For the past few years I've written celebration posts for Oestara and spring. You can read them at the links below:

Oestara/Spring Equinox Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/03/oestaraspring-equinox-celebration-ideas.html
 

Celebrating Oestara + Spring: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/03/celebrating-oestara-spring.html

Oestara Celebration Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/03/oestara-celebration-inspiration.html

 

This year I'm going to write about celebration ideas and inspiration for both Oestara and spring. :)

June Update

We're already halfway through the year and it's time for the June update!

Read previous updates here:

Jan: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/02/january-update.html

Feb: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/02/february-update.html

March: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/04/march-update.html

April (+ Beltane Inspiration): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/04/april-update-beltane-inspiration.html

May: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/05/may-update.html

This month I started a depression course with Recovery College. I've been going through a more depressive period lately, but I'm finding the course helpful so far. I also went to a meetup with an anxiety friendship group at Alcampo in Brighton a couple of weekends ago and that was fun. Yesterday was the local meetup of the Action for Happiness group I belong to as well.

I  also went to Mayberry Garden Centre with my mum (I bought my orange candle and lemonade for Litha from there; see Litha post) and had a drink in the coffee shop, a strawberry creme frappe. Here's a pic:

 

May Update

May's update! :) Read previous monthly updates here:

Jan: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/02/january-update.html

Feb: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/02/february-update.html

March: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/04/march-update.html

April (+ Beltane Inspiration): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/04/april-update-beltane-inspiration.html


May began with Beltane on the 1st. (Although some people celebrate it on 30th April). You can read my Beltane post here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/05/beltane-2019.html

It was also my mum's birthday this month and I made a Birdies Perch Malteser slice (one of my favourite things to "no-bake") since she likes Maltesers. I didn't take a picture but you can see what it looks like here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2013/09/birdies-perch-malteser-slice.html

I made it for Oestara 2016 (with McVitie's Disgestive Nibbles in as well. I also like similar chocolate fridge square recipes and for this year's Oestara (Spring Equinox) I made a Malteser slice.

I also did some baking this month, red velvet cupcakes. I've baked red velvet cake several times before and had trouble with it. The first time I made it, it tasted horrible! (Maybe I put too much oil in?). And it's hard to get it to actually come out red. This time I used a recipe for cupcakes which you can find here: https://insideoutsideandbeyond.com/the-perfect-red-velvet-cupcake/

I couldn't get them red again, but I realised it was because I should have used gel food colouring as well. The recipe uses both but I didn't have a lot of money at the time, so only got liquid.  I'll remember that for next time! Apparently unless you use gel colouring, baking the cake makes it go a darker brown instead of red. I also made my own buttermilk but that shouldn't make a difference since I've done it before and it usually works fine. If you can't get buttermilk or would rather make your own, here's the recipe (at the bottom of this recipe for One Bowl Chocolate Cake which I made in 2017): https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/one-bowl-chocolate-cake-made-from-scratch/

The cakes were nice though! And I liked the cream cheese buttercream. Sometimes it takes me ages to mix it right and stop it tasting too "buttery" but this time it blended easily. So I was happy with the cupcakes apart from the colour! lol. Here's a pic:

March Update

Here is March's update. :) Read previous monthly updates here:

Jan: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/02/january-update.html

Feb: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/02/february-update.html

March started off with my birthday. I had a good day, got some nice presents and had a red velvet cake! The next week I went to Nando's with my mum. I had chicken butterfly (plain-ish), chips and coleslaw with Coke, then carrot cake and ice cream for pudding (dessert). Here are a couple of pictures of the food:

Oestara 2019

Last Wednesday it was Oestara (also known as Ostara and the Spring Equinox). I celebrated by making a Malteser slice with Cadbury Mini Eggs on top! (I usually celebrate with food and drink). As I mentioned in my Oestara Celebration Inspiration post, it's similar to Birdies Perch, which is a favourite of mine to make.

I first made it last year; it was called Malteser Fridge Squares and the recipe was on the Red Nose Day site. The page with the original recipe is now gone but you can find the same (or similar) recipe here, called Malteser Squares: https://www.redonline.co.uk/food/recipes/a500554/eric-lanlard-s-malteser-squares/

Update 14/4/25: Recipe went again but here it is on another site: https://ironchefshellie.com/2011/04/30/malteser-squares/

It was quite nice. Here's a picture:

Oestara Celebration Inspiration

It's almost time for Oestara (also known as Ostara and the Spring Equinox)! It's on Wednesday 20th March this year.

Note: For those in the Southern Hemisphere it will soon be Madron/Mabon aka the Autumn Equinox! You might like these posts:

Madron/Autumn Equinox Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/09/madronautumn-equinox-celebration-ideas.html

Celebrating Madron/Autumn:  https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/09/celebrating-madron-autumn.html


In 2017 I did a post with ideas for celebrating Oestara and then last year I wrote one on celebrating both Oestara and spring in general. Read them at the links below:
 

Oestara/Spring Equinox Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/03/oestaraspring-equinox-celebration-ideas.html

Celebrating Oestara + Spring: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/03/celebrating-oestara-spring.html


This year I thought I'd share some more ideas for celebrating and general inspiration for this time of year. :)

Chocolate Fudge + Powerballs

Here are a couple of things I've made recently. :)


2 Ingredient Chocolate Fudge

Last weekend I made some 2 ingredient chocolate fudge for my belly dance group BD4U's hafla (dance party). (Well, I made it on Friday for the hafla on Sat). I've made it before and it wasn't that nice but this was better! It's very simple, just chocolate and condensed milk mixed together and done in the microwave, then put in the fridge to set. I used this recipe: http://www.mommykatandkids.com/2013/06/easiest-ever-two-ingredient-chocolate-fudge-recipe.html

It uses chocolate chips but I realised I didn't have enough, so I also used some Tesco milk chocolate I already had in. It was nice. Here's a pic. I'd cut a piece out, so that's why there's a space! lol.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Energy Bites

I've been into energy bites again recently. In the past couple of weeks I've made 3 lots, lol. The ones I made are based on a recipe for Chocolate Protein Bites from Butler, Party of 4. Here's the link: http://www.butlerpartyof4.com/2014/09/chocolate-protein-bites-how-i-started.html

Mine were slightly different because I didn't use protein powder or seeds, I just used what I had in the house at the time. I didn't have a lot of peanut butter so I added Nutella as well. The chocolate chips I used were Tesco's milk chocolate ones. You microwave them and they're nice to eat warm, as Danielle says in her post!

The first time they came out quite nice. I made them again a couple of days later and used peanut butter this time, but they weren't so good. I think the problem was that I didn't have enough of the wet mixture, so I added more peanut butter and Nutella and put them back in the microwave quickly which ended up overdoing them a bit. They had a really funny taste! lol.  Last Thursday I made some more and they were much better. I think they taste better with more Nutella. The first two times I halved the recipe because I wasn't sure what they would come out like but the last time I made the full one. It makes about 14.

Here's a picture of the third lot:

Chocolate Fudge

A couple of weeks ago I made some chocolate fudge. I wanted to get some condensed milk when I was at the supermarket and then I saw a recipe for the fudge on the back of the Carnation tin, so I thought I'd have  go at making some.

"Fudge" to me always seems like the traditional type with sugar, butter and milk but you can also make it with condensed milk, chocolate, butter and icing sugar which was the type I made. I did previously make some white chocolate fudge for Christmas (see below).

You can also add different ingredients to the traditional recipe. When I was a child I used to go the Roundstone Garden Centre (this was long before its makeover when it became Haskins Roundstone) and they did lovely fudge. They had flavours like strawberry and cream and mint. Their machine broke so they couldn't make any more, which was such a shame!

The fudge I made was Easy Chocolate Fudge and you can find the recipe on the Carnation website: https://www.carnation.co.uk/Recipes/64/Easy-Chocolate-Fudge

I wasn't bothered about the nuts, so I left them out. If you're from America, I think icing sugar is what you call powdered sugar. :) This is simple to make. It doesn't require any actual baking; you just put it in the fridge once you've made it. (I've categorised it under "baking" though because it's a sweet, baking type item).

It came out quite nice. Here's a pic:

More No-Bake Recipes

I'm feeling into "No-bake" recipes at the moment. A couple of weeks ago I made some Peanut Butter Energy Bites and added some Nutella. You can see them here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2016/05/peanut-butter-and-nutella-energy-bites.html

This reminded me that I'd had an actual recipe for Nutella Energy Bites saved on my Pinterest Recipes To Make board (for about a year! lol), so I had a go at making them. I used this recipe: http://www.thegunnysack.com/no-bake-energy-bites-recipe/

They came out really nice, tasted kind of like Ferrero Rocher. Probably because of the cereal which made them crunchy. (I used Rice Krispies). I think they were the nicest ones I've made so far. Here's a pic:

Peanut Butter and Nutella Energy Bites

Last weekend I wanted to bake something but since I'm having still oven problems as I mentioned in my Easter post, I can't do any proper baking at the moment. So I decided to make energy bites. I used the recipe for these Energy Bites from the site i should be mopping the floor but I added Nutella. (Just put it in along with the peanut butter).

They came out quite nice. Some were more Nutellary than others, lol. Energy bites are a healthier snack to have too, although the Nutella probably made them a bit less healthy! Here's a pic:

I've made the Energy Bites a few times and like them but I got a bit bored of them in the past, lol. Once I dipped them in Nutella, so I thought this time I'd put the Nutella in! I've come across Nutella energy bites recipes on Pinterest and saved them on my Recipes To Make board and I plan to have a go at different ones in the future.

Energy Balls

A few months ago I made some No-Bake Energy Bites which were quite nice. I got them from Pinterest and had pinned a few other similar recipes that I planned to make. So on Friday I decided to make Peanut Butter Energy Balls. (These are also No-Bake). The recipe was written on the pin but it links to two sites and the original recipe is called Peanut Butter Pong Balls. Here are the links: http://doitandhow.com/2013/03/08/nutty-peanut-butter-energy-balls/ and http://thediva-dish.com/desserts/peanut-butter-pong-balls/

Energy Bites

The other week I wanted to make a healthier snack and I had a couple of No-Bake Energy Bites recipes pinned on Pintrest recipes board, so I looked at them. I didn't have some of the ingredients they needed in the house at the time though, so I had a look for some similar recipes and found one that only needed 4 ingredients (peanut butter, oatmeal, vanilla and honey). I added some golden syrup because I don't like honey that much and I couldn't use vanilla extract because mine had gone mouldy! lol. So I used peanut butter, oatmeal, honey and golden syrup.

 Here's a link to the recipe: http://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com/2014/04/peanut-butter-and-oatmeal-energy-bites.html?m=1

They came out quite nice. I don't have a food processor so I just mixed them by hand. I'd like to make them again in the future with the vanilla this time! lol.

 I would recommend energy bites as a good snack because they don't take long to make and are healthier than other things. These are good in particular because they don't require hard to find ingredients. I'm planning to try more recipes in the future. :)