Author Archive: My Kitchen Wand

What to do on a wet and cold afternoon? Few things make you feel cozier than fresh baking, warm from the oven. I even got to go out for a short time so I could come back into a house smelling of melting chocolate and rum. ( It was worth a second trip out. ). […]

We have a new store in town with lots of not so easy to find items, one being amaranth, an ancient grain growth in warmer climates like Mexico and Peru. My introduction to amaranth was a picture I saw of Day of the Dead Skulls from Mexico. The cooked amaranth was mixed with honey and […]

Like many of you enjoying the bounty of the earth at this time of year, I was gifted more zucchini that we are going to eat. Here is a simple recipe for a chocolate zucchini loaf with a couple of modification suggestions. The pictures may look like a lot of batter for the recipe, that […]

Welcome Back! and if you followed all the posts through to today…..thank you. After some consideration and a watchful eye on the forecast, I decided that Lammas Harvest Tea could be celebrated outside, giving wriggly toes the chance to touch the Earth. In order for anything to continue living on our planet, something else must […]

Welcome back! We are at the last day of our preparations for Lammas Tea. The tradition of “tea” be it high or low dates from the mid 18th century. Prior to that time most people sat for two meals a day, breakfast and an evening meal around 8:00pm ish. Anna, the Duchess of Bedford is […]

Welcome back! Avalon, Glastonbury, England; Earth Mother, the Arthurian legends, the mists of Avalon (and at the right time of the year there really are mists), Katherine Maltwood and the Glastonbury Zodiac, labyrinth, the Michael and Mary aspects of a leyline, Gog and Magog, an underground entrance to the land of the Fae, the healing […]

Welcome back! The next three posts will all be in the kitchen. Wheat is a primary symbol of Lammas/Lughnasa and we have covered all the other preparations, taking a few simple steps each time. Leaving the baking to the end will keep these items fresh when stored in an air tight container and the honey […]

Welcome Back! The story of Lughnasa’s origins are varied. The thing that they all agree on is that Lugh was skilled in many areas and known for his craftsmanship. The games themselves began and developed as part of the celebration to honour his foster mother, Tailtui. Many of the games played required a large field […]

Welcome back! Chocolate, where to we begin? The food of the Gods, do we really need to say more? There is evidence that the heritage of the cacao bean in South American culture goes back over 3,500 years but it was not until the mid 1800’s that what we today view as chocolate was invented […]

Welcome back! Today we are going to create our magical place cards. Cards that we will use with the candles made last time to go a little deeper into the meanings of the season. On a practical level as host/ess there is a responsibility for the emotional safety of your guests. If levels of trust […]