Gaian Tarot Artist's Journal

Advent-of-the-Sun Calendar: Day 10

On the tenth day of Advent, my true love sent to me:

To Die-For Chocolate Peppermint Cream Candies . . .

I first made these chocolates for the first Lucia Party I hosted back in 1997. (I remember, that Saturday fell on St. Lucy's Day, December 13th, just like it does this year — and there was a full moon.)  Anyway my mermaid sister Nora's teenage daughter Alta fell madly in love with them and asked for them every year after that.  I stopped making them a few years back because they are so! rich! and! decadent! But I decided to make them again this year, for Alta.  She's expecting her first baby in February, and I think Mother & Child both deserve the best at Yuletide, don't you?  So I'll be making these on Friday.  Will you?

(Looking at these ingredients -- sheesh, I never eat this stuff anymore!  Dairy, sugar and non-gluten-free crackers.  Still, it's only once a year.  Think I'll leave off the graham cracker crumbs though and will buy all organic ingredients.)

1 cup butter

2 cups confectioners sugar

16 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted

4 eggs

1 tsp. peppermint flavoring 

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups crushed Graham cracker crumbs

Garnish:  maraschino cherries

Cream butter and sugar.  Add melted chocolate.  Beat until mixed well.  Beat in eggs. Add peppermint and vanilla flavorings and blend well.

Line muffin tins with paper liners. Sprinkle bottom of each cup liner with crumbs. Spoon in chocolate mixture. Sprinkle additional crumbs (or crushed peppermint sticks) on top.  Place in freezer until firm. Garnish each one with a maraschino cherry.

(Did I mention these are rich???)

The Bounty of Summer

The morning's stash from the Farmers Market — who could resist?  An island friend was selling his produce and said he'd be stir-frying up new potatoes, sugar snap peas and garlic tops for dinner — we moaned and bought his peas and garlic to go with the potatoes and salmon we have at home.  Radishes for Craig's tacos and Rainier cherries from the other side of the mountains at $10 a pound — ouch.  But oh, so sweet. With every bite we remember we're supporting an organic farm family who've had a rough spring.

And this has nothing to do with summer or good food but I just want to thank Arwen for such a lovely review of this blog.  It's really something, sometimes, to "see ourselves as others see us" (a nod to Robbie Burns).  Thank you Arwen!

More Lavender

My friend Waverly Fitzgerald writes a great e-newsletter for her website, School of the Seasons. I thought it quite interesting that she describes lavender as an herb of Lammas, because it is always blooming in Seattle right around August 1 (although, as she says, everything in Seattle seems to have bloomed three weeks early this year). I love this place-based way of celebrating the seasonal holy-days. Lammas, as we know, is the festival of the First Fruits of the Harvest and the celebration of the Transformation Mysteries of Grain into Bread and Beer. Now, thanks to Waverly, lavender will always have a place in my Lammas celebrations too.

She has some intriguing recipes for Lavender Methlegyn (an herbal remedy) and Lavender Ice Cream in her latest "Living in Season" Newsletter. So as I'm harvesting the lavender from my garden this week, I'll set some aside for the Lammas altar, and even more to test out these recipes. Thanks, Wave!