Where to Aim

 For someone who goes on and on about the traditions I’d like to build and pass on, I sure don’t get around to talking about them much, do I? I’ve actually been outlining some things, trying to compile a personal path and all it entails in a manageable number of pages. Sounds daunting when I put it that way, but that’s fine. It is a daunting task. 

Being a kitchen witch, most of my traditions are centered around food and the magical purposes of the ingredients. Kitchen items can be used in other rooms and for other reasons, too, and I’d like to share some of the things I’ve learned through a combination of experimenting and intuition. 

One of my biggest problems, though, is having too many ideas and no discipline/focus to finish even one idea before I start planning the next. 

I have most certainly bitten off more than I can chew with the big cookbook project I’ve been slowly picking at. I think it may do me good to take a break and give some attention to things that are finished, or mostly finished, yet unorganized. That might provide me with some sense of accomplishment and perhaps even motivate me to make more progress on bigger things. We shall see. 

I’d ideally like to put together some printable planner pages for the witchy week. I’ve been working on things such as what room to focus on for each day, matching planets, energies, and ingredients. Those ideas and energies would also spill over into meal planning, naturally. 

Other things I would like to be able to share with others include the sundown-to-sundown observance of sabbats with an overnight vigil and ritual at dawn, followed by an appropriate breakfast. Have I been working on recipes for that? What, are you new here? Oh, you are? Pardon me. Welcome. Yes. Yes, I have. 

If there is anyone left to read this, let me know where you’d like to see me focus my energies: Biiiiiig book only (get on it, witch!), path traditions (+ breakfast/brunch recipes), witchy planner, or throw it all in the bin and find another way to waste time? 

Always Craving Traditions and Community

 It’s almost Yule. Once again, I feel kind of unprepared. Emotionally, I mean. I never seem to get my act together these days, leaving sabbats unobserved for far too long. 

I tell myself that things would be different if I had a group and could get together with my people. I tell myself I’d be more prepared if I had some time off during this part of the year, but this isn’t academia.

The reality: I’m lazy. I procrastinate. There are times when the darkness of this time of year combines with my everyday darkness to create a super clump of hopelessness and sadness that chokes me until well after the winter holidays have passed. Just in time for my annual Beltane depression, but that’s another story for another time. External motivation is pretty helpful, though. 

The point I am trying to make is my lack of celebration, my lack of food traditions and other witchy traditions for this time of year. Or any time of year, for that matter. I crave being able to build and share Sabbat traditions with my family, but...I don’t have one. I feel as though I’m the only one who really thinks this is important, and if no one else cares, why should I waste my time, right? 

In my witchy dream world, I do have a close community. We gather as often as we can. Wisdom is shared, spells are cast, the holidays are celebrated, and seasonal, magical foods accompany all of this. Also, I have more storage space and the kitchen cleans itself. It’s a dream world, after all. 

I’m not flashy. I’m rather boring. However, I do know my shit. Need traditional ingredients for a particular Sabbat? Esbat? Handfasting dishes? Croning? Hit me up, and I’ll totally hook you up. Hell, if you live in my town, I’ll cook it for you if you want. I just want to share my passions, and it hurts to think no one cares much either way, that my material is somehow unworthy of notice. I don’t know what to do to change that yet, but I’m thinking.

It's So Easy! (Not)

This came across my Facebook feed this morning, and I thought it was worth sharing. This is a topic that I try to keep in mind when I am planning sabbat menus, developing recipes for my own projects, or just thinking about what to make for dinner during the week. My kitchen is currently being packed into a U-Haul by my poor, sweet Aussie, along with everything else that is on its way to NC from WV.

The Myth of 'Easy' Cooking

This article, posted in The Atlantic by author Elizabeth G. Dunn in November 2015, discusses the promise of restaurant-quality, gourmet meals at home, in a snap! Except...not. Now, I don't have children, but I do have a full-time job, pretty shitty clinical depression, and chronic pain. These things combine to make me feel like absolute crap at the end of many days, with no motivation to even chop an onion, much less slap together a "simple" quiche or "instant" pasta carbonara.

Nah, fuck that. I'm almost ashamed to say we actually did a lot of takeaways. Obviously not ashamed enough to omit that information from my blog, however. And you know what? We'll probably do it here sometimes, too because even though I love cooking, the cleaning up process takes forever. We don't always have the energy to do a thorough job of it, and this place is...considerably buggier than WV. I'm not willing to deal with that. At least we have a dishwasher again. That's incredibly helpful, but I know that there are still evenings when I simply hurt too much to stand and move enough to prepare a proper meal. And I know I'm not alone in that.

Once I have a proper work surface again, I plan to go back into my notes and evaluate what I have planned so far. Is is truly simple? Does it take too much time? Too much effort? Can a busy kitchen witch, perhaps one with children and/or another full-time job prepare these dishes for their sabbat celebration? It's a valid point, I believe, and one I fully intend to address in some way.

Dreaming of October...

Don't I always wish it were fall? It's not that I'm not enjoying the summer. It's just that I long for the season of the witch, all year long.

We're almost ready for Midsummer! Well, y'all might be, but it's crept up on me again and I don't know if I'm going to have the time and energy to get prepared. I don't even have a menu planned. Can you believe that??

What I DO have, however, is a menu plan for every other sabbat through Yule. Yeah, yeah, I know...Priorities.

As usual, I will share the menus now and promise recipes later. I truly am terrible, aren't I? I will even attempt to get some decent photos. I'm just so ashamed to let anyone see how cluttered this tiny space is!

Anyhell, here are some sabbat menus:

LAMMAS

·         Pork chops (grilled) with orange, cumin, chipotle glaze

·         corn pancakes with whole corn

·         toppings: avocado, green onions, sour cream, shredded cheese

·         frijoles rancheros – pintos with bacon, onion, and jalapeño

·         garden salad with Green Goddess dressing: salad mix, spinach, red onion, orange bell pepper, shredded carrot, shredded cabbage, sugar snap peas, broccoli florets

·         cherries jubilee with vanilla ice cream  (cherries done outside)

MABON

·         Baked vegetarian kibbeh  (potato, onion, and bulgar with chickpea-pine nut filling)

·         Yogurt sauce

·         Lemon-herb roast chicken

·         Persephone’s salad

·         Ginger pear upside down cake

SAMHAIN

·         Cornmeal-dredged fried catfish with tartar sauce

·         Hoppin’ John

·         Cornbread

·         Apple crisp

·         Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet tea

YULE

First course:

·         Buckwheat blinis with with duck, red cabbage, parsnip, ginger-cranberry-orange sauce  - lightly sauté cabbage and parsnips

Main course:

·         Maple-mustard glazed pork tenderloin with fruit stuffing

·         Duchess sweet potatoes with garam masala

·         Stuffed onions

·         Swiss chard with curry powder and hazelnuts

·         Persephone’s Salad

·         Butternut Squash Flan