March/April Update + Baking Inspiration

Time for the March/April update! This year I decided to do updates every couple of months rather than monthly ones like last year, because I sometimes found it hard fitting them in with the sabbat posts.

I'm a bit later writing this because I did the Beltane 2020 post last weekend. This will be quite a long post because it's covering two months. Also at the end I've included a baking inspiration section because lots of people are baking right now! So if you're here for the baking, just scroll down. :)

Read Jan/Feb's update here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/03/januaryfebruary-update.html

These past couple of months have been hard worldwide with so many cases of the coronavirus and lots of countries introducing lockdowns/quarantines. Late Feb/early March was like the last "normal" time here in the UK (before lockdown).

March started with my birthday. I had a good day, I got some nice presents and had a red velvet cake again, like last year. Then a few days later I went to Nando's with my mum, the Brighton one this time rather than the one in Hove. I had my "usual" (although I only go about once a year! lol), chicken butterfly (plain-ish), chips and Coke. Then for a change I had frozen yoghurt for pudding (dessert) and bought some carrot cake to take home. Here's a pic of my food:

Beltane 2020

Last Friday it was Beltane and I celebrated by making guacamole and salad. I used my favourite guacamole recipe from The Kitchen Witch by Soraya, and the salad I made was this avocado one from Precious Core: https://www.preciouscore.com/simple-healthy-avocado-salad/

Last year I made her Kachumbari (Kenyan tomato and onion salad) for Beltane. As I said in the More Beltane Inspiration post, I thought it would be nice to add an African touch since I'm part Cameroonian (English and a little bit Scottish as well), and Precious who runs the site is originally from Cameroon. The salad was really nice and simple to make. I had both that and the guacamole with some ciabatta bread, chicken, tortilla chips and dip for lunch. Here's a picture:

More Beltane Inspiration

 

Beltane is coming up on 1st May, (a Friday this year). (Or Thursday 30th April, since some people celebrate from sundown to sundown on both days). The past few years I've written posts with celebration ideas and inspiration for Beltane. You can read them below:

Beltane Celebration Ideas:  https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/04/beltane-celebration-ideas.html

Celebrating Beltane/May Day: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/04/celebrating-beltanemay-day.html

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


Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere Samhain is coming! Check out my Samhain Celebration posts here:

Hallowe'en/Samhain Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/halloweensamhain-celebration-ideas.html

More Hallowe'en/Samhain Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/more-halloweensamhain-celebration-ideas.html

Celebrating Samhain/Hallowe'en: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/10/celebrating-samhainhalloween.html

Samhain/Hallowe'en Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/10/samhainhalloween-inspiration.html


This year I'm featuring more Beltane inspiration. :)

Note: Although this year's Beltane will be different due to to lockdown/quarantines because of the coronavirus, I hope you can still can find some things to inspire you. :)

Easter 2020

Last weekend it was Easter and I baked the frosted white chocolate cake that is one of my favourites to make. The recipe is by British chef James Martin and is a Madeira style cake with white chocolate in the sponge and cream cheese frosting. For more on the cake and the recipe link, visit this post: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/04/frosted-white-chocolate-easter-cake.html

 I made it on Saturday and then iced it on Easter Sunday (12th April). Some years I do it all on the Saturday, just depends.  Here's a picture:

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.goodtoknow.co.uk/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. :)

January/February Update

Last year I wrote monthly updates on the blog. I enjoyed doing that but as I said in the Christmas Gingerbread + December Update post, I still want to do updates but less often. I'd prefer to do every couple of months/quarterly updates because sometimes I found it hard fitting them in along with the usual sabbat posts. So here is the update for January and February. It's quite long (although I write long posts anyway!) since it's covering two months. :)


I tend to find January a bit of a struggle, adjusting to the new year and with Christmas over. It's often the coldest time of year too, and I don't like the cold, so that makes it harder. I try to be more optimistic though. It's not been as cold a winter as other years and we have had some nice sunny days. Here's a pic from Jan:

Shoreham-by-sea town centre- Jan.