Father Figures

My wife and I were watching The View yesterday morning, which I wasn't paying a ton of attention to, but it caught my attention when the guest host (one of the Wayans brothers?) started waxing on about Father's Day, and how to be healthy children needed to have both a father and a mother.  Needless to say, since the regular cast of The View are basically all single mothers at this point, this perked a lively debate and some backpedalling here and there; the whole thing came to rest just a little west of it's starting point, when they all decided on his behalf that what he really meant was that children need some sort of father figure, who may or may not be that person's actual, factual father.

It actually got my hackles raised a little too (to use a German Shepherd metaphor); as part of a same-gendered couple, I was immediately piling on, saying things like, "Oh, so if two women or two men are raising a child, the child automatically has issues?  That's just buying in to that right-wing business about Christian marriage being between one man and one woman."  The Oppressive Christian Theocracy is acting all oppressed again.  How obnoxious.

The thing of it is, now that I contemplate it, at the core of things he was probably right.

It shouldn't be that hard for me.  Pagans always think of things in terms of male and female.  The Great Divine is the union of the God and the Goddess.  Earth and Water are female, Air and Fire are male.  The Moon is female, the Sun is male.  We revere the dichotomy.

We define those masculine and feminine energies that we see everywhere in terms of parent figures, too.  The Sun is what is, the Moon is what could be.  There's an object in the distance.  Moonlight says, "I don't know, what do you think it could be?  Maybe it's a pirate ship!  Let your imagination take you there!" Sunlight says, "Let's turn on the light and see.  Oh look, it's a row of mailboxes in front of a tree.  Go back to bed."

What do you want to be when you grow up?  Moon says, "You can do anything you put your heart to, sweetie."  Sun says, "But make sure you choose a career with good income and job security."

We all have those masculine and feminine energies within us, and we all need to have both of those energies replenished and nurtured somehow.  I am as girly as they come, but that doesn't mean I can't be the disciplinarian when my dog gets into something he knows he shouldn't.  

As much as I personally find the idea of opposite-sex intimacy off-putting, I don't think men (or opposite-sex relationships) aren't needed.  I highly value the relationships I have or had with both my father and my grandfather, my own personal father figures, and I would be less if I didn't have or hadn't had them in my life.

Happy Father's Day.

Kitchen Witchery: Bratwurst und Spätzle mit Helle Paprikasoße

I've finally had the chance recently to get back in my kitchen and do some cooking!  We had a vacation to Leavenworth, WA to do some touristy-Bavarian stuff, which inspired Sunday's dinner, which was a pork schnitzel and some homemade spätzle, with some pickled red cabbage we got on the trip.  My sweetie made two suggestions following that meal:  One, that I should have taken pictures for my Elegant Cauldron blog and written about it; and two, that the spätzle really should have had some sauce over it to make it like she remembered from her childhood.

That conversation, in turn, inspired today's bit of Kitchen Witchery!  With the leftover spätzle, I decided I would make something that would have a sauce to serve on top.  I also thought it would be great to use the German-style bratwurst that we also bought in Leavenworth.  I decided that this Bratwurst in Sour Cream Sauce recipe from Food on the Table would be the perfect starting point, and the only alteration I made was to replace the black pepper with some onion powder and paprika, to try to turn it more toward a subtle goulash-style flavor.  I served it with some more of the rotkohl, for color, German-ness, and because it's good.
And, of course, this time I took a picture of what I crafted!

We enjoyed this quite a bit!  The cream sauce took a little longer than the recipe stated to thicken up, but it could be that I had the heat a little too low, trying to be sure not to break the sauce.  I just dashed seasonings in to taste, but I'm guessing there was probably about 1/8 teaspoon each of salt, onion powder, and paprika once I was done.
And, despite the appearance of decadence, we can indulge in German delicacy without ruining our wellness goals.  Maybe not exactly what you'd call "diet food," but healthier (and tastier, if I say so myself) than eating out, and besides, I don't remember ever saying I was on a "diet."

I have to say, I've missed being in my Kitchen.  I hope I can make this part of a new trend!

German-Asian Fusion

I feel a tie to Europe, especially Germany, which makes sense, because the largest share of my family heritage descends from that area.  I'm finding out, years later, that many of the things my Grandma would cook were actually German cuisine, and all of the German delicacies my sweetie has shared with me have struck a feeling of nostalgia with me, even though I don't remember having those things before.  We're planning a trip to Leavenworth, Washington with my sister-in-law in a month or so, which is kind of like a "Little Bavaria" tourist town in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, and I'm very much looking forward to the experience.

I also feel a strong tie to northeast Asia--Japan, China, and to a lesser extent Korea.  This is more unusual, since I have (to my knowledge) absolutely no Asian heritage.  I'm not just talking about enjoying sushi and chinese food, either, although I do.  My sweetie and I have talked about how we think I may have been Asian in some of my previous lives; she occasionally mentions to me that she can tell I must be happy because I start moving like a geisha.  There is something about Asian things--and yes, Asian foods--that just feel right to me.  I tend to keep a pair of chopsticks in my purse, for instance.  Many things I hear about Asian culture as opposed to Western, such as the tendency toward collaboration rather than competition, or the valuation of effort instead of the fixation on results, feel like an upgrade from the "dog-eat-dog," "sink-or-swim" mentality I am used to from the US.

I think I've been thinking of this dichotomy as a conflict, although now that I am thinking on it consciously, I don't know why it should have to be.  Who's to say, if I put my mind to it, I could blend the two things, even in the kitchen?  What would a German-Asian fusion dish end up like?  Maybe it will take a German-Asian kitchen witch to find out one of these days. ;)

Seclusion

You know, it occurs to me that there is a reason the "stereotypical" fairy-tale Witch is always depicted as living in a small, hard-to-find cottage way off in the middle of the dark black forest somewhere...
and, as a hint, it's not because we're known as social butterflies.

In fact, I might go as far as to say that part of my definition of what makes a person a Witch is that solitary nature, that desire and longing to go off somewhere private and do our own thing, separate from the group.  If one can find, as I have, that special person who can share in that life without compromise, that can be great, but otherwise, we would be content to live out our lives in solitude (though we would probably refer to it as 'peace and quiet').
It appeals to me to have "my own" holidays (or to omit the contraction, holy days) that I can honor the way I want, rather than having society (and rank commercialism) dictate the way I am supposed to mark the occasion, usually as part of some sort of perilously-stitched familial granfalloon.*
It similarly appeals to me to spend my time off from work in my home, rather than out and about at theaters, restaurants, or other such public places, much as the archetypal Witch might travel into town to trade her potions and produce for needed items but quickly returns to her cottage once her business is done.
Notice, in the stories, the Witch never does business out of her home, but rather travels into the public arena when interaction with people is required.  There are no signposts to a Witch's Cottage and no public address, and a private invitation is spectacularly rare.  The witch's Cottage is her safe place, and she takes pains to keep it that way.

So, if you stumble upon my Cottage-on-the-internet, I hope you will find me a gracious hostess, but please remember you have come into a private space of a private person, and be properly respectful.

*I admit this word borders precariously on actually being a real one, but given it's definition, in this case I think that's part of its charm.

Bright and Festive (belated) New Year

Carrying on from the last entry, the New Year's holiday was similarly pre-empted.  I am really starting to wonder why the World doesn't want us to be able to celebrate any holidays this year!  This time was a little different in that it wasn't my job that interfered... Despite our best efforts to clear the schedule and have the two days off, my sweetie got a rush project that she didn't feel like she could say no to, so the both of us were working on a huge and difficult medical transcription while the rest of the planet was having a party.

(Note:  Despite making for a lovely picture,
a box of chocolate-covered things and a
lamp that thinks it's a space heater aren't
actually compatible at all.  We didn't
leave them together for very long.)

It is done now, though, and we have our eyes on this weekend as a time to belatedly celebrate the New Year.  Tonight, we are enjoying our gifts to ourselves:  We lighted the Aladdin anniversary parlor lamp that was our major gift to ourselves and it is looking pretty on the bar at the moment.  Also, even though we had originally decided we weren't going to spend the money this year, after Christmas we found a clearance sale on the annual Lebkuchen-Schmidt Fettstags-Truhe {Holiday Chest} so I expect we will also be celebrating with either some cocoa or coffee and some delicious German lebkuchen, very soon.

I don't think I'll partake much in the "looking back at the past year" thing this time; there have obviously been many changes since this time last year, many of which we had no real control over.  I do have a few things I'd like to look forward to in the coming year--we could even call them resolutions, I suppose.

The first thing I will mention is to improve health, including losing weight.  As much as I hate to be 'on the bandwagon' with the masses, and as much as it is the most cliché resolution I could possibly make, it is something that I would like for us in the coming year.
After that, I want to try to work on having better focus.  My 'hobby-du-jour' was even more all-over-the-place than usual in the past year, which (now that I am being introspective) probably is an outward sign of being a bit unsettled internally.  I'm very much enjoying the Aladdin lamps right now, and given the fact that they are both beautiful and practical, and that my lovely wife can enjoy them with me, I think I'd like to stick with that for a while.
There are a few things that ended up going by the wayside as I adjusted to being back in the workforce; there is one of them in particular that I want to return to.  I think it's about time to get the wax off the back burner and get back to making candles, even if I never do end up selling any through the website and they are just for gifts and for us.  It occurs to me that the lamps and the candles tie together nicely into a larger "non-electric light" hobby, which feels nice to me.
I have a few other goals in mind to get our 'cottage' in order; there are some rooms that deserve to have their potential realized, and a few other things I'd like to get in better order to improve the flow of the house.  For the most part, though, I just want to keep our lives simple, elegant, and positive.  Here's looking forward to a blessed year!

Preempted

Or, "How the Holidays were Cancelled this Year."

One bad thing about having an atypical 'religion' is that the world is just not structured to recognize and/or accommodate your observances.  I expect even followers of Judaism, which is really not obscure in the least, run into this... whereas certain Christian holidays (like Christmas) are also national holidays, those "other" winter-solstice holidays like Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Yule aren't considered legitimate reasons to miss work.

I was thinking, ever since I started my new job, even though I only work an average of three days a week, I think I have been working on all the Sun holidays and maybe all but one of the Full Moons.  Lughnasadh?  I was at work.  Mabon?  Work.  The Blue Moon we had a while back?  Work.  Same for both the Blood Moon and Samhain.  So when I got my December schedule, I wasn't all that surprised to see I was working on Yule too.  I decided I would just move my celebration a few days earlier and celebrate the Night's Moon, and I was okay with that.  We planned to bake a ham and make the requisite trimmings, and have a nice little observance at home.

At 7:30 that morning, however, I got a call from work; one of my co-workers was in the hospital and I needed to go to work and cover for her.  So instead of the nice holiday in the kitchen that I thought I was going to have, I again had to work.  Oh well.  We'll still cook and eat the ham sometime, of course, but it won't be the same.


On the other hand, the good thing about having non-standard holidays is that your observances can be much more personal; I get invited for Christmas all the time, but I don't often have other people making plans for me for Yule.  I see other people requesting time off here and there all the time; I'm not sure why I don't feel like I can do the same thing.  Maybe if the powers-that-be know which days are special to me, they would try to accommodate them.  I don't even expect all twelve Moons and all eight Solar holidays, but a few of the special ones (like Yule or a Blue Moon) feels reasonable.  I'll never know unless I ask, right?

Preparedness

Well, the long-term forecast for the Pacific Northwest is for more winter storms than usual this year.  I'm still getting used to what a "winter storm" means here--unlike Missouri, where it's just piles and piles of snow, here, because of the geography of being between two mountain ranges it has much more to do with hurricane-force straight-line winds.  Beyond the direct threat of wind damage, more windstorms mean more extended power outages.

The normal state of our home is all-electric, both for heating and in the kitchen, which means that the house is pretty much disabled in the event of a power outage.  For lighting (and a not-insignificant amount of emergency heat), I do have a couple of Aladdin kerosene mantle lamps, and as a holiday gift from-us-to-us, we have a third one on the way, which we think is going to be the prettiest one so far.  I also have one flat-wick kerosene lamp, which if nothing else is nice for enough light to get the Aladdins warmed up by, along with a couple of mostly-decorative 'candle style' oil lights.

When the power went out a few weeks ago, I realized that while the kerosene lighting is nice, I currently have no way to cook without electricity, which is a major oversight to say the least.  I had originally looked at a butane single-burner thing, but the more I looked into it, I didn't like the short life of the butane canisters (only around 1/2 hour of burn time?) and how dangerous storing cans of the stuff around would be, and it started feeling like a highly inelegant solution.  It's the same reasons my sweetie and I are totally disinterested in having a gasoline-powered generator:  It's dangerous to store large quantities of gasoline, and between the engine noise and the limited amount of power produced, a generator is the very definition of inelegance, in our opinion.

Anyway, I finally found a solution that I was happy with--a kerosene cooking stove.  It has two burners of comparable power to my normal kitchen range, and both burners on full power can run for about 12 hours before it needs to be refilled.  Most importantly, the fuel of choice (kerosene) is extremely safe compared to volatiles like butane or gasoline.  I went with the wick-fed version... in a way, it feels like a kerosene lamp that you cook with instead of use for lighting.  I'm actually considering getting the big-burner one to use for canning even when the power isn't out, since it's not recommended to do it on my ceramic-top stove.  There's even an optional oven that would let me bake bread during an outage!  The basic two-burner one is on order and will hopefully be here by the next windstorm.

I don't think we'll actually need to worry about heating, with all those things running, but if it turns out we do, a kerosene radiant heater seems like the obvious choice, just to be using the same fuel for everything.

Next, I might need to think about making sure I have enough dry and canned goods, since in a truly extended outage the stuff in the fridge and freezer will eventually go bad.  A water filter would be smart too... but I feel like this is a good step in the right direction.  It feels nice to know that we are getting prepared to be able to just carry on in an outage, and nicer to know I am doing it in a way that feels simple, elegant, and true to who we are.