Lammas 2024

The other week it was Lammas (Thursday 1st August). Although some people may celebrate on 31st July or 2nd August. My main celebration was baking, I made gingerbread and also some bread (using a mix).

The gingerbread recipe is the BBC Good Food one that I've used for the past few years: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/gingerbread_men_99096

This Lammas I made bear and cat shapes as well as the "men"! I used cookie bear and cat cutters that my friend gave me for my birthday. :) I used ready made icing this year. Here's a pic:

Spring-Summer Update (2024) + Happy Lammas!

I planned to write this post last weekend but had internet problems. So I'm doing it this weekend instead. :) 

We're now more than halfway through the year, so it's time for my 2nd quarterly update of 2024! I write them in April, July, October and January (covering the previous 3 months), so technically they're not all in the same year, but never mind! lol. Anyway, here is my spring-summer update. :) 

You can see my winter-spring (2024) update here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/04/winter-spring-update-2024.html

 

I wasn't really up to a lot during April, apart from a Happy Café (Action for Happiness) meetup and walking in the park.

At the end of the month I went to Lancing Beach as part of my Beltane celebrations and then had my main celebration on 1st May. You can read my post about it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/05/beltane-2024.html

 

Here are a couple of pictures I took during April and May:  

Churchill Square, Brighton- April.

Litha 2024

On the Thursday before last (20th June) it was Litha aka Midsummer/the Summer Solstice. As I said in my Salads for Litha + Extra Ideas! post, I normally make salad and lemonade for this sabbat. 

This year I made my favourite tomato and onion salad (the recipe is from Soraya's book The Kitchen Witch). While in past years I've varied it by using red onion or a mix of brown/yellow and red onion, this time I just used brown. The lemonade is "Hello Kitty lemonade" (the recipe is from a Hello Kitty book).

I had the salad for lunch with some Dorito dippers and smashed avocado, chicken, seeded rolls, cheese and pickle, and stuffed peppers (with cheese). It was quite nice. Here's a picture: 

Salads for Litha/Summer + Extra Ideas!

It's nearly time for Litha/the Summer Solstice! This year it's on Thursday 20th June. The actual moment/time of the solstice will be 9.51 BST/3.51pm CDT. You can find your local time here: https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/summer-solstice.html

In the past I've written several posts with ideas for celebrating the sabbats. I decided to stop writing more in-depth posts last year (because I'd already covered them) but continue to share about my celebrations and write more sabbat themed posts if I felt inspired to.

This Beltane I wrote a post called Salads for Beltane and Extra + Ideas!. I enjoyed writing that, so I thought I'd do a similar one for Litha, since summer is starting and we're in "salad season"! I've called the post Salads for Litha/Summer because they would be good for any time during the summer. I'm also sharing some extra ideas for celebrating. :)

 

Here are my most recent Litha posts:

Happy Litha!: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/06/happy-litha.html

Shifting into Summer (includes some links about Litha): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2023/06/shifting-into-summer.html 

Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere,  it's almost time for Yule/the Winter Solstice! You might like this post:

Happy Yule!: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/12/happy-yule.html

 

My main celebration for the sabbats is making/having food and drink. As with Beltane, I usually have salad for Litha. It fits the theme because it's the beginning of summer and the days are (hopefully!) getting warmer and brighter. I like to drink lemonade as well. (If you're not keen on salad, you can find some alternative celebration suggestions in my previous Litha posts and under the Extra Ideas section below.)

 

Salads

All the salads mentioned in the Beltane post would also be good for Litha: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/04/salads-for-beltane-extra-ideas.html

 

Tomato and Onion Salad

One of my favourite salads to make for Litha is a tomato and onion one from The Kitchen Witch book by Soraya. You can see a pic here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2016/07/litha-2016.html

It's quite simple to make, the recipe is made up of tomato and onion, garlic, salt and black pepper, lemon juice and olive oil. I most often use brown/yellow onion but it's also good with red onion, which I've used for Litha some years. I was inspired to use red onion after making kachumbari for Beltane (see below). Last Litha I made it with both brown and red onion.

Beltane 2024

The other week it was Beltane (Wednesday 1st May). I normally make salads for this sabbat and this year, as mentioned in my Salads for Beltane post, I made one of my favourites, kachumbari (Kenyan tomato and onion salad). The recipe I like to use is from Precious Core: https://www.preciouscore.com/kachumbari/

I had it for my lunch with some shop bought food, chicken drumsticks, tortilla chips, guacamole and bread rolls. Here's a pic: 

 

Salads for Beltane + Extra Ideas!

It's almost Beltane! This year it's Wednesday 1st May, or Tuesday 30th April (tomorrow), depending on when you celebrate. (Many people consider it to be from sundown on 30th April to sundown on 1st May.) In the past I've written posts with ideas for celebrating the sabbats. While I stopped doing that last year (since I felt I'd covered them all and didn't want to repeat myself), I thought it would be nice to write something when I felt inspired to, so today I'm sharing some salads for Beltane (plus some extra ideas). :)  

 

Here are my most recent Beltane posts:

Winter-Spring Update + Beltane Round-up (2021, scroll down for the round-up): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2021/04/winter-spring-update-beltane-round-up.html

Happy Beltane! (2022): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/04/happy-beltane.html

I also included a Beltane section at the end of last year's winter-spring update (at the bottom after P.S.):

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

 

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

Samhain/Hallowe'en Round-up (my round-up post from 2021): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2021/10/samhainhalloween-round-up.html

Happy Samhain/Hallowe'en! (2022)): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/10/happy-samhainhalloween.html

Summer-Autumn Update (2023) + Happy Samhain/Hallowe'en! (section at the bottom): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2023/10/summer-autumn-update-2023-happy-samhain.html  

My main celebration for the sabbats is having/making food and drink. For Beltane I usually have some kind of salad, since it's a spring festival, moving towards summer. Salads are a lighter food that lots of us feel more like eating in the warmer months. (If you're not into salad though, you can find alternative ideas for food and celebrating in general in my past posts, and also in the Extra Ideas section at the bottom of the post!). 

I normally have my salad with some other foods like chicken, crisps (chips), dips etc., I also like to have some kind of sparkling drink, like elderflower or lemonade.

 

Salads

Chicken Salad

In 2014 I made a chicken salad sandwich. You can see a pic here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2014/05/beltane.html

Here is an Asian chicken salad from Julia of Lemon Stripes. I haven't made it but it looks nice: https://lemonstripes.com/recipes/asian-chicken-salad/

 

And here are a few more chicken salads that look good:

BLT chicken salad: https://natalie-mason.com/blt-chicken-salad/

Healthy chicken salad (can be eaten as a salad, wrap, or sandwich: https://www.eatyourselfskinny.com/healthy-chicken-salad

Honey mustard chicken salad with bacon and avocado: https://cafedelites.com/honey-mustard-chicken-salad/

Winter-Spring Update (2024)

For the past few years I've written quarterly updates (from "season to season"). I started out writing monthly updates in 2019 and then "two monthly" (two months at a time) ones in 2020, but found that quarterly was better for me. So I'm continuing that in 2024. :)

You can see my autumn-winter 2023 update here if you like: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/01/christmas-funfetti-sheet-cake-autumn.html

 

I didn't do much in January apart from my usual park walks and going to Happy Café (Action for Happiness meetups). 

In early February I celebrated Imbolg. You can read about my celebrations here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/02/imbolg-2024.html 

And at the beginning of March it was my birthday. It was actually my 40th which felt a bit strange! I didn't do anything particularly special, just celebrated at home. I'd planned to go out for a meal but haven't got round to that yet, due to various circumstances. 

Also in March, I met up with my belly dance friends at a pub. We don't have classes anymore and it had been ages since I'd seen them, so that was nice. 

Then towards the end of the month it was Oestara/Ostara aka the Spring Equinox You can read my post about it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/03/oestara-2024.html

 

Easter was early this year at the end of March (Easter Sunday was the 31st). I baked a Tres Leches cake this time , as a change from the frosted white chocolate Easter cake I've made most often in the past few years. I last made a tres leches cake 9 years ago (for Easter 2015)! You can see a post about it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2015/04/easter-cake.html

I didn't take a picture this time but it looked pretty much the same, except I put Cadbury Mini Eggs on top (which I had planed to last time). The sponge didn't cook that well in some places which was a bit disappointing. But otherwise it was ok. I think next year I'll probably go back to the white chocolate cake, lol.

I also had a meal at home (chicken) and got a couple of chocolate eggs! 

Here are a couple of pics that I took at the park:

Buckingham Park, Shoreham- Jan.