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In The Kitchen With Skarlett Mayday! Mayday!
Beltane, AKA May Day, falls on the first of May. It is the festival that marks the midway point between Ostara and the Summer Solstice. In Celtic traditions, it also means the start of the summer season. Other Earth-Centered Religions have celebrated this rebirth of the Earth in many forms: The Germanic festival of Walpurgis Night is a boisterous and beloved celebration involving bonfires and much, noisy merry making; The Greeks would have celebrated Protomagia, Summer’s victory over Winter by making and hanging flower wreaths on their doors. and Vappu in Finland honors the Earth waking up with raucous picnics and mead known as sima shared round. This is only…
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In The Kitchen With Skarlett: Bunnies And Flowers And Eggs..Oh My!!!!
As the wheel turns, we see the icy grip of winter is receding and the days frow longer and warmer. All around new life is blooming, chirping and hopping…yes dear folk Spring has sprung!! With the Equinox comes the need for balance as we shake of the sleepy days of winter to begin new projects, to plant our seeds to grow them to fruition. The chill in the air still warns us that we need to plan and not go off half cocked. Some of the things we can do is get out and breathe in the good spring air. So welcome after being confined for the winter. Take a…
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In The Kitchen With Skarlett
Apple Cider Donut Cake Apples are one of the sacred foods of Samhain. In Celtic tradition, apples were buried at Samhain to feed the dead as well as used in various forms of divination. Apples are good for faerie protection, abundance, protection, long life, health and creativity. Butter is there to bind things together and to ease transitions. Cake mix for happiness. Eggs for fertility and beauty. Sugar for attraction, love and romance. Now to the apple pie spice: Allspice for money drawing and good fortune. Cinnamon for protection, wealth and passion. Cloves for abundance, lust, protection and courage. Ginger for protection, power and prosperity. Nutmeg…
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Book Review – The Unofficial Wednesday Cookbook: Recipes Inspired by the Deliciously Macabre TV Show by Iphigenia Jones
Book Review The Unofficial Wednesday Cookbook: Recipes Inspired by the Deliciously Macabre TV Show by Iphigenia Jones Publisher: Ulysses Press 144 Pages Release Date: August 29, 2023 My inner child is Wednesday Addams. So when I was offered the chance to review The Unofficial Wednesday Addams Cookbook, how could I refuse? First, the book is in purple and black; those are so my colours. It is entertainingly written. It is not too cutesy, but kitschy enough to be cool. It’s almost too much to hope that the recipes are any good… The recipes are fantastic. They are presented in a simple, straight forward manner (so easy,…
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In the Kitchen with Skarlett
Slow Cooker Chili for Mabon With Mabon upons us, thoughts turn to goat’s horn bearing fruit, grain and other harvesty goodness. No..I did not eat the funny mushrooms. I am referring to the Cornucopia also called the horn of plenty. It is a symbol of abundance and good fortune. It is commonly pictured as a large horn-shaped basket overflowing with the fruits of the harvest such as grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts. Small wonder it is adorning American tables at Thanksgiving and various other harvest related celebrations. A possible origin for the cornucopia was in ancient Greece. When Zeus was a baby, his mother hid him away from Cronus…
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Living the Oily Life
Peppermint Peppermint oil is another favorite of mine for many reasons. It is also recommended as another oil for those starting to dabble in essential oils. I have peppermint in my own garden, but be warned it will grow wherever unless the roots are somehow restricted. I planted mine in pots and put the pots in the ground. Granted it smells amazing when grass is being cut and a few stray tendrils are ran over. Mint plants in general are fairly hardy and are perennials so once rooted they will keep coming back. Peppermint has a very long history, like 1000 BC long history. It was noted to be…
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The Kitchen Witch
“Doctored-Up” Pizza Whenever my mother was in a hurry and wanted to cut corners in the kitchen, instead of making her own marinara (for instance), she would open a couple jars of Ragu and add a can of crushed tomatoes, chopped onions, mushrooms, herbs and spices, red wine, homemade meatballs or cooked Italian sausage. By the time it was ready for the table, you never knew that this sauce had started out as an ordinary jar of Ragu. My mother called this “doctoring up” the sauce. She did this to all kinds of store-bought items. She was Sandra Lee long before Food Network. I think this is definitely a kind…
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Witch & Popcorn
Review of High on the Hog I started watching a docuseries last night and I cried so hard, my chest still hurts today. I can’t wait to watch the rest of it. This show blew everybody away in just one season, and another season is in progress. A 2021 Peabody Award winner, the show chronicles the journey of African slaves from their hometowns to America, and the show details how their food influenced American cuisine all over the South and into Texas. A trailer for this amazing show is here: As a white person, I can…
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The Kitchen Witch
The Humble Boxty Many years ago, I went out with a guy named Tim. We were just kids; I was a little older than he was, but we were still kids, basically. I was twenty and he was eighteen. At that time, the drinking age was eighteen years old in New York State. We went to a lot of concerts and to clubs that featured live music. Tim was a major Deadhead and I loved anything I could dance to. But like so many young people, we drifted apart. I didn’t hear from Tim for many years – not until I reconnected with him on Facebook around 2007 or so.…
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The Kitchen Witch
Air-fryer Chicken Wings I am just about the last person I know to get an air-fryer. My sister has had one for several years now. At the last family gathering – which was before COVID – there was a spirited conversation about air fryers, which brands cooked better, the trading of recipes. Recently, I was on a bus and I heard some people behind me talking about air fryers and what they cooked in them. I thought, I have got to get one of these things! But I wasn’t in a real big hurry to purchase one – I’m never in a hurry for anything. The day I went out…
