Flower Power Friday

"'Tis the last rose of summer

Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone."
~ Thomas Moore

Mabon Blessings

The wheel of the year turns again with summer giving way to autumn tomorrow. Mabon (aka the Autumn Equinox), is the second of the three harvest festivals and a time of celebration and thanksgiving for the earth’s abundance. It’s also a time of balance since day and night are equal in length, and a great opportunity for personal introspection when we can reflect on our blessings and achievements of the past year and how we can bring more balance into our lives.

I always feel a little melancholic at Mabon, knowing that the dank, dark winter is fast approaching. I guess I’m a summer bunny at heart, ceaselessly yearning for the heat of the sun and long, light-filled days!

Halloween Party!

Something wicked this way comes! Don your finest, witchiest attire and join us for a hauntingly magical Halloween Party on 16th October…



If you’d like to participate, just pop over to Vanessa’s enchanting blog, A Fanciful Twist, to find out more!

Back to Reality

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, we’ve been up in the mountains in Andalucia for a much-needed break. I’ve taken oodles of pics (over 850 in 2 weeks) and will share some here when I get a chance to go through them all!

Sadly, it’s back to reality now and boy am I missing the sight of Alpujarran villages clinging to rugged hillsides, starry nights spent chilling out under the linden trees at Bar 'El Tilo' in Capileira, and the wild, windswept Atlantic coast around Tarifa...

Sweet Treats

I owe Connie a big ‘thank you’ for asking recently about rosewater. It’s wonderful when lightly drizzled over a fruit salad, but I’d never actually thought about incorporating it in raw cookies or cakes before. Connie is a very talented artist and metalsmith, and if you have a spare minute pop over to the blog, Saschi and Squee, which she shares with her friend, Ashley.

I’ve had loads of fun concocting a few rosewater-flavoured sweets using ground almonds as a base (see recipes below). There are some other desserty things in the pipeline too that need a little more refinement, so I’ll save those for another day.

First up, Pistachio Rosewater Sweets (yeah, I know it needs a more inspiring name – all suggestions welcome!). I love the utter simplicity of this raw food recipe: just four wholesome ingredients that taste out of this world when combined.

Pistachio Rosewater Sweets

1 cup raw almond meal
½ cup pistachios (shelled)
2 dessertspoons raw honey
1 dessertspoon organic rosewater

Add all ingredients to the food processor and process until evenly mixed and binding together. Press into a silicone mould or use your fingers to form the dough into small, bite-sized balls.



I also made Pecan Pudding Sweets – these tasted remarkably like Christmas pudding and even had that warming, alcoholic kick thanks to a new organic vanilla extract I decided to try. Despite giving the bottle a good shake, I managed to add a dessertspoon of neat ethanol with just the teeniest hint of vanilla! It was potent stuff, I can tell ya! You might prefer to make these using an alcohol-free vanilla extract or vanilla powder so as not to overpower the delicate flavour of the rosewater…

Pecan Pudding Sweets

1 cup almond meal
½ cup pecans
1½ teaspoons orange extract (or a few drops orange essential oil)
1 dessertspoon organic rosewater
1 dessertspoon vanilla extract
1½ dessertspoons raw honey

Add all ingredients to the food processor and process until evenly mixed and binding together. Press into a silicone mould or use your fingers to form the dough into small, bite-sized balls.