Samhain 2022

Hi Friends! Long time not post, I know. I've had a few things going on. One, I have been having a big push for my PhD to get another paper published. Two, I have a really injured shoulder that makes everything very painful, and typing on a computer makes it worse. So today is just going to be a short and sweet post. I also have really been struggling to find much cooking motivation lately, in part due to my shoulder, so I have been relying more on easy convenience-style foods or delivery. I still make things here and there, but I am looking for things that are much simpler to make. I'm sure my cooking mojo will come back one day, for the moment I am taking it easy on myself. How have you all been?

Samhain (31st April-1st May 2022)

In the meantime, the wheel of the year just keeps on turning! Samhain is the new year on the wheel of the year calendar, and is the time when the veil between the world is thinnest. It is a time for honouring loved ones that have passed on. I lit a candle for my girls. Previous years, I have eaten in silence, but this year I ate in front of the TV because I was just so tired and sore and needed some distraction from my shoulder.

Pumpkin Ravioli: Pumpkin is a traditional Samhain food. In the northern hemisphere, samhain coincides with (and provided inspiration for) Halloween, so pumkins are everywhere! I was almost going to not have any pumpkin, because my shoulder does not want to chop or mash or anything hard at the moment, but Woolworths came through with these vegan pumpkin ravioli. I served them with a jar of stir-through pasta sauce, baby spinach, and FYH parmesan. The tomato sauce was a bit overpowering for the lovely pumpkin flavour, but it was the path of least effort. I would definitely eat these ravioli again!





Plum & Almond Cake from Cook Share Eat Vegan by Aine Carlin: I have been wanting to make this cake while plums were still at their best, and I saw some other plum desserts listed in Samhaim menus, so this was the time! The cake also includes a recipe for an Earl Grey pine nut cream, but I didn't make that. Just the cake! You can see the recipe went a little awry, with the cake burning a bit. The recipe calls for the cake to be baked at 210dC for one hour, with baking paper covering the top for the final 15 minutes. This is too much! While the very edges of the cake were black and crispy, thankfully the rest was fine and it was a great cake.
Rating: :) (not including burnt bits)





Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Abby would like you to know that she's doing great!