Recipes for Ancient Rituals and Modern Celebrations Honoring The Dead

October 31, 2024.Reading time 14 minutes.

This recipe round-up of Hallowed dishes, sweets, and treats is not meant for October 31st but for November 6th when the traditional Celtic festival of Samhain (Summers End) was celebrated. On this night the veil between the worlds was at its absolute thinnest and carving ghoulish gourds, donning scary costumes, and trick or treating were […]

Sunny Lemon Tart : Midsummer Floral Reverie

June 19, 2024.Reading time 12 minutes.

Tomorrow I will gather blossoms in my garden as part of my annual summer solstice ritual. Each year I preserve these in magical floral extracts which I use in baking and cocktails and others will be consumed directly in cookies, cakes, or tarts later that evening during a Midsummer picnic. This floral-infused lemon tart is […]

Lutzelfrau & St. Lucy Tarts: A Tale of Winter Solstice Food Magic

December 12, 2023.Reading time 15 minutes.

Soon the blessed Winter Solstice will be here, and thank Goddess for the return of the light! For the Germanic and Northern European peoples from which I descend these dark days were preoccupied with the old winter magic known as holiday baking. Cakes, breads and buns, tarts, and strudels were prepared to celebrate the imminent […]

The Glorious Rose Hip: Celebrating Old Word Culinary Tradition

September 20, 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.

One of the most abundant, nutrient-dense, healing, and beautiful foods of autumn, is the wild rosehip. Why is why over at Gather Victoria Patreon I’ve devoted an entire mini cookbook to the ruby red fruit of the family “pomme’. Once a staple in cuisines around the world, I find many people today aren’t quite sure […]

The Magical Deviled Eggs of Spring

March 21, 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

Ah, deviled eggs. For me, the snow white beds filled with mounds of rich whipped golden yolks are not only a thing of voluptuous beauty –but possibly a perfect mouthful. So imagine my delight last year when I discovered Chef Jacques Pepin’s technique of browning them to caramelize and crisp their fillings. Pure culinary genius. […]

Ancestral Spring Greens: “Viva La Italia”!

March 7, 2023.Reading time 19 minutes.

I am passionate about ancestral foods and none are more ancient than the wild greens known today as weeds. So in honor of International Women’s Day, I’ve decided to share these spring recipes from Gather Victoria Patreon, Wild Green “Erbazzone” Pies, and Wild Green Pancotto Soup. What, you may ask, do wild weedy greens such […]

The Cailleach’s Red Ale Cake: An Imbolc Tale of the Darkness & the Light

January 20, 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

I’ve been celebrating Imbolc for over a decade and each year I discover more layers to its mythology and food lore. Last year over at Gather Victoria Patreon, I created a Cailleach Ale Cake (the oldest spirit in the world) in honor of the dark counterpart of Brigid, the Gaelic Cailleach, one of the oldest […]

The Goddess Feasts: The Magic of Gratitude, Pleasure and Plenty

April 17, 2022.Reading time 13 minutes.

This post is a sneak peek into Gather’s Patreon Cookbook which explores the “culinary goddess” found throughout history, folklore and myth. By this, I mean the “Lady of Life” who likely inspired cuisine itself. Whether she was called Isis, Inanna, Ishtar, Asherah, Astarte, Artemis or Cybele – to name but a few – the first […]

A Toast To Ukrainian Christmas: Wild Winter Berry Uzvar

January 6, 2022.Reading time 9 minutes.

I shared this lovely healthy Uzvar recipe with my Gather patrons last year, but I’m sharing it tonight in honor of Ukrainian Christmas and my beloved mother-in-law Rosie who passed away late November 2021. For the many, many years I’ve been married, I loved hearing her remembrances of this holiday, how the house was full […]

Bewitching Maibowle Cream Cake For Beltane

April 20, 2021.Reading time 12 minutes.

Soon May Day Eve will be upon us – so I’m sharing this recipe posted last year at Gather Patreon. This Maibowle Cream Cake – made and glazed with Maibowle Wine – is infused with sweet woodruff, a pretty unassuming little forest herb linked with May Day fertility magic for literal ages. Said to bestow, […]

The Incredibly Tasty Tulip: Chèvre Cheese Balls

April 11, 2021.Reading time 13 minutes.

I’m not sure about you but Vancouver Island is awash in tulips! From pale yellows, crimson reds, pumpkin oranges, deep purples, lustred pinks and snow-white, their luminous colours are stunning. The most unsung of tulips many spring charms, however, is her edibility. With flavours and textures as diverse as her colours, her blooms offer not […]

Holiday Snake Cake: An Ancient Offering

December 19, 2020.Reading time 13 minutes.

Moroccan inspired M’hencha with spiced chestnut, chocolate and candied clementine filling. This year I decided to try my hand at a Holiday Snake Cake. The question was which one? Many versions of snake cakes are baked across countries from Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Morocco and Algeria, some are sweet and some are savoury and many […]