Imbolg 2024

It was Imbolg (more commonly known as Imbolc) the other week (Friday 2nd February). I celebrate on the 2nd but some people celebrate on 1st Feb, or from sundown on the 1st to sundown on the 2nd. Others may do it on 31st January. My usual celebration is making pancakes which 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/

I've made them a few times before (others years I make English pancakes, also known as crepes). As I've done other years, I didn't use oat flour, just plain flour. They were quite nice. I had them with butter and golden syrup. They would also be good for Pancake Day (see bottom of post). Here's a pic: 

Christmas Funfetti Sheet Cake + Autumn-Winter Update (2023)

I was planning to do a post about the cake I made for Christmas and since I haven't done my autumn-winter update yet, I decided to do a double post (like previous years). I started it last week, but I was also working on a post on my entertainment blog Star Sparkle Blog that took  lot of time. So I'm posting today instead.

Scroll down to read the update. :)

Christmas Funfetti Sheet Cake

For Christmas (2023) I baked a Christmas funfetti sheet cake. The recipe is from Handle the Heat: https://handletheheat.com/christmas-funfetti-sheet-cake/

This type of cake is called funfetti because of the sprinkles that go in the batter on top and is also called a confetti cake. In 2014 I made some funfetti cake batter "no-churn" ice cream, which I had for Litha that year.

I couldn't get any red and green sprinkles, so used the usual multicoloured ones instead. It would have been nice to have "Christmas themed" ones but never mind! When I first made a Christmas vanilla roll cake in 2013,  I used Sainsbury's Festive sprinkles, which were red, white and green. (Also put them on top of Easter biscuits the following April.) If I make this again, I'll try to get something similar.

I also just used plain flour because I didn't get round to getting cake flour as well. (Plain flour is the nearest equivalent to all-purpose flour in the UK, although they seem to be a bit different.) I couldn't get buttermilk so just used whole milk. Tessa (the recipe creator) suggests using whole milk instead of a buttermilk substitute. 

The cake was quite nice, although a bit dense. I think this is due to not using buttermilk (as Tessa noted, it changes the texture) so if I were to make it again, I'd do it with buttermilk. Overall though, I liked it. Here's a picture:

 

Yule 2023

Just before Christmas (Friday 22nd December) it was Yule/the Winter Solstice. I planned to post about it just after Christmas but I was working on year-end posts on my other blogs (Star Sparkle Blog and Falling Petals), so I'm doing it today instead. :)

I celebrated by having a chocolate Yule log, from Marks & Spencer this year. Occasionally I've made my own but I most often buy them because it's so close to Christmas (which I normally bake for!). 

The Yule log was quite nice. I put two candles on top to represent the light returning. Here's a pic:

 

Autumn 2023 Photos + Winter Links

I've previously written a couple of posts sharing autumn photos and inspiration for the season. You can see them below: 

Autumn Photos + Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/10/autumn-photos-inspiration.html

Autumn 2020 Photos + More Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/10/autumn-2020-photos-more-inspiration.html

 

I thought I would share a few pictures from this autumn today. I do post pics in my seasonal updates but as they're quarterly now, the season has passed by the time I write the post. So it's nice to be a bit more "up to date" as autumn comes to an end. I'm also sharing a few links to inspire as we move into winter. :)

 

First up, here are the autumn pics:

 

Hove Park- late Oct.

 

 

Hallowe'en/Samhain 2023

Last Tuesday (31st October) it was Hallowe'en and Samhain. I celebrated by carving a pumpkin and having some food and drink. I baked gingerbread skeletons and made some potato salad based on a recipe from the book The Kitchen Witch by Soraya. It requires rosemary and garlic, but I used chives and spring onion instead of rosemary because I prefer them.

I also made my favourite Demon's Blood drink (ginger beer mixed with apple juice and orange juice), which is a recipe from Kate West's book The Real Witches' Kitchen. I had the potato salad and drink with some buffet type food from the supermarket.

Here's a picture of the pumpkin: 

 

Summer-Autumn Update (2023) + Happy Samhain/Hallowe'en!

It's now October, so time for my summer-autumn update! You can see my previous quarterly updates for this year at the links below: 

Winter-Spring (2023): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2023/04/winter-spring-update-2023-happy-beltane.html

Spring-Summer (2023):  https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2023/07/spring-summer-update-2023.html

 

I went shopping in Hove at the beginning of July and to Caffe Nero as well. I also went to Wendy's during July. We first got one in the Brighton area last year and I like the food but had only been a couple of times since it opened, most recently last autumn.

At the beginning of August I celebrated Lammas. You can see my post about it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2023/08/lammas-2023.html

Later that month I went on a walk with my local mental health resource centre. We walked along the River Adur and went to Shoreham Beach. It was almost a year since I last went on a walk with them because the last one was a bit too long for me! But this was a mindful walk and I enjoyed it more. :) 

Here's a photo I took on the walk:

The River Adur and Shoreham view.

Madron 2023

Last weekend (Saturday 23rd September) it was Madron, also known as Mabon and the Autumn Equinox. My main celebration for this sabbat is baking and I usually make something ginger themed. This year I baked these frosted gingerbread muffins: https://simplytaralynn.com/2021/12/02/frosted-gingerbread-muffins-so-easy-to-make/

The recipe is from Simply Taralynn. I've previously made her pumpkin spice bars for Madron last year and her gingerbread cookie bars in January.

The muffins were quite nice. The recipe requires molasses but I used treacle, which I tend to use as a substitution because it's easier to get in the UK and is similar. Sometimes the treacle can be a bit strong but these were fine. I last made gingerbread muffins for Madron 2021 and those were kind of like ones I made in 2019, since both have banana in. I used applesace for those though, because I don't like banana!

These muffins don't have any banana in, so I didn't make any other substitutions apart from using mixed spice instead of allspice. They aren't the same but mixed spice seems to be more common over here, so I usually use it in ginger recipes. It already has nutmeg and cloves in it, so it's good if you don't have those individual spices (which I didn't). Mixed spice is similar to pumpkin spice though and I used it for the pumpkin spice bars I baked last year.

If you're looking for a substitute that is similar to allspice, here is a useful post: https://thekitchencommunity.org/substitute-for-allspice/

And if you want to make your own mixed spice, visit this post: https://fromthelarder.co.uk/mixed-spice/

The gingerbread muffin recipe has a frosting recipe made with powdered sugar (icing sugar), vanilla and milk but I decided to use my favourite cream cheese frosting from the James Martin white chocolate Easter cake I like to make. It goes well with ginger things. 

Here's a direct link to the cake and frosting recipe: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/frosted-white-chocolate-easter-cake

So, although the muffins would taste a bit different to the original recipe, I still liked them. Here's a picture: