Monday 18 March 2024

Easing into Spring


Spring is starting (or has already started depending on whether you go by the meterological or astronomical start).  I've previously written a few posts about getting ready for spring, which you can see below:

Getting Ready for Spring: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/03/getting-ready-for-spring.html

Preparing for Spring + Spring Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/03/preparing-for-spring-spring-inspiration.html

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

Winter Photos + Preparing for Spring (2021): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2021/03/winter-photos-preparing-for-spring.html

Saying Goodbye to Winter, Moving into Spring: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/02/saying-goodbye-to-winter-moving-into.html

 

Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, autumn is starting! You might like these posts:

Getting Ready for Autumn: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/09/getting-ready-for-autumn.html

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

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

 

This year I thought i would share a few links with inspiration for spring  And also for  the spring festivlsand Oestara aka Ostara/ the Spring Equinox abd Easter. which is on Wednesday 20th March this year, or tomorrow (Tuesday 19th March), depending on your time zone. Easter is 31st March.

I called the post Easing into Spring because the start of seasons are transitional times. Sometimes you might feel like going full steam ahead into the next season, and other times you might want to go slower. Often at this time of year the weather is still colder and winter lingers. 

As I mentioned in my Imbolg 2024 post, we had snow in the UK in January. Some parts of the country have had some more recently but we haven't had any more in Sussex, just a lot of rain. At the moment it's been warmer, about 14C (56F) during the day and 9C (48F) at night. There's meant to be colder weather again and more snow in some places next week though.

Monday 12 February 2024

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: 


Monday 22 January 2024

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 Tess 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:


 

Sunday 7 January 2024

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:

 

Monday 4 December 2023

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.  

Monday 6 November 2023

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: 

 

Sunday 29 October 2023

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.