Today, September 28th … If you have any Scots ancestry, and wish to be true to any Celtic blood in your veins, today is the day to bake your “Struan Micheil” ready for blessing by the priest tomorrow, for today is Michaelmas Eve. In your ancestral land it is harvest time, and the traditions of the Christian feast of St.Michael and All Angels are heavily blended with much more ancient traditions of harvest time and the necessity to appease the harvest deities. In case you have forgotten, a Struan-Micheil (“St Michael’s Cake” or Bread) is a type of “bannock” or unleavened bread cooked before the fire on a stone or on a griddle. It is essential to get the ritual and method exactly right, for baking disasters portend all manner of evil falling upon your family in the coming year. I will therefore remind you of the details. The awesome responsibility of faultless production of the bread falls upon the oldest daughter of your house (or at least some other dependable female). The grains used must be in the proportion of those grown on your land (you probably have barley, oats, and rye). A peck (8 Imperial quarts) of flour from this grain (or two pecks if you have a large family) is to be mixed with an appropriate amount of sheeps’ milk into dough. This preparation is ideally done upon a lamb-skin. The dough is then placed on a “struan-flag” – a large stone which your menfolk brought in from one of yon bonnie banks earlier in the day – and is placed before the fire. During the baking three layers of a batter of cream, eggs, and butter is daubed over the dough to enrich and engolden it. Important: do not throw away the flour ("fallaid") remaining on the baking surface, sweep it carefully up and place in something like a small bag or sock, you will need it tomorrow for Michaelmas. Recipe for the Day … Here is a basic bannock recipe for you to adapt to your ingredients. Oatmeal Bannocks. Rub half an ounce of fresh butter into two and a half pounds of Scotch oatmeal, and stir briskly in as much lukewarm water as will make it into a stiff paste. Sprinkle some oatmeal on the pastry board, and spread the mixture out into a round cake, about half and inch thick and four inches in diameter. Bake in a moderate oven for one hour. Sufficient for ten or twelve persons. [Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery; 1870s] [Surely it means a number of cakes four inches in diameter, not just one?] Tomorrow’s Story … Michaelmas Day. Quotation for the Day … “ … an entertainment is prepared with primeval simplicity, the chief part is a great oatcake, called Struan-Micheil, or St. Michael’s Cake, composed of two pecks of meal, and formed like the quadrant of a circle, it is daubed over with milk and eggs, and then placed to harden before the fire.” Thomas Pennant, A tour in Scotland, and voyage to the Hebrides.; 1776.
Welcome to our foodie guide to Syros, where you’ll learn what to order and where to find the best local products in the capital of the Cyclades islands … from PDO-protected cheeses to melt-in-your-mouth loukoumia
It is Monday! Thanks be to God for another beautiful week. The weather has warmed up around here and I am really looking forward to more outdoor park days with my kiddos. My sister asked me to writ…
This crowd favorite is creamy and rich and everyone always comes back for seconds! Potato Casserole 1 ½ lb frozen hash browns, thawed ½ c. melted butter 1 t. salt 1 can cream of chicken soup 1 pt. sour cream 12 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded 1 tube Ritz crackers 1 stick melted butter Mix hash browns, ½ c. melted butter, sour cream, salt, soup and cheese and put in greased casserole dish. Crush crackers & mix with 1 stick of melted butter. Put cracker mixture on top of casserole. Bake uncovered 350 degrees for 45 min.
No, it's not a freezer-to-microwave meal.
Eat adventurously!
Quinoa & Tilapia Stuffed Zucchini So I think I should stop calling Meatless Friday, Meatless Friday. It’s sort of misleading. More than once I’ve been told if I eat fish it’s not a true Meatless Friday and, thinking about it, that’s kind of right. I think it’s much more a function of my Catholic grandpa’s …
Recipe VIDEO above. Tender, succulent pork fillet seasoned with a rub, seared until golden then baked in a Honey Garlic Sauce until sticky on the outside and juicy on the inside. Simply incredible! (And really, it's SIMPLE!)
When you set aside time to pray a daily Rosary, you create for yourself a real opportunity to help those in need of prayers.
Cod-based dishes are a Portuguese staple, and it is often suggested that there are more than one thousand recipes in which dried and salted cod is the star ingredient. This includes simple, everyday dishes, as well as more elaborate versions that are usually served on special occasions, including Christmas Eve and Good Friday
Where to eat in Seville? There are plenty of restaurants to choose from and in this article I compiled some of the tried & tested options.
Perfect texture and perfect flavor, these traditional German Spaetzle are just like you know and love them from the Swabia region of Southern Germany!
November 25th is known as Sainte Catherine's Feast Day within the Catholic Church around the world. Sainte Catherine was martyred in the early 4th century.
Marriage is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic church, signifying its importance in the life of a Catholic person. According to Augustine of Hippo, sacraments are “an outward sign of an inward grace that has been instituted by Jesus Christ.”
Dakjuk - Korean Chicken Rice Porridge. We’ve made a variety of Korean porridge over the years. But we forgot about the classic Dakjuk – Korean Chicken Rice Porridge. What I love about this specific Dakjuk recipe is its simplicity. No hard ingredients, no complicated steps!
Everyone that knows my wife knows that she’s an AMAZING cook! In addition to cooking incredible healthy Paleo meals she’s also made some Paleo desserts; however, she’s not the onl…
Make these three breakfast khachapuri recipes featuring farm fresh eggs any morning of the week to provide a great start to your busy day. Get the recipe!
Savannah, GA
"When the praises go up, the blessings come down" - Chance the Rapper