Pretty Princess

I firmly believe that all women deserve to feel beautiful.  Makeup, perfume, nail polish, and all those other beauty products aren't for other people--even though the other people are the ones who will be seeing it most of the day--make no mistake, these things are for you, for the feeling you get when you see yourself in the mirror, or smell your own perfume, or look at your hands and smile at your cute nails, and in that moment you feel pretty.

One of my first memories with makeup was with nail polish; my mom would put nail polish on me and I thought my hands looked so pretty that way.  It seems like in the past year I've started to neglect my beauty routine, and especially my nails, though... it seems like it's just too easy to get too busy and let the polish get all chipped up, and then once I take it off but don't have time to re-do it, then I just go around with unpainted nails for a few weeks.

But no more--My sweetie got me inspired by getting me started on Julep!  They have a 'regular' online store, but their primary offering is their "Maven" beauty subscription:  It's $20 a month if you pay 3 months at a time, and each month you get new nail colors and other beauty products shipped to you, default selections are based on your "Style Profile" but are customizable on the site each month.  I am a 'Bombshell', according to their quiz, and I got the little blog badge to prove it. :D

I haven't received anything just yet; after looking for a day or two, I finally splurged yesterday on the $60 3-month sub along with about $60 more in add-ons and sale stuff (you know, to get things kick-started).  I will be getting a "Welcome Box" along with the other stuff I ordered, but I'm going to have to wait until the end of August to do my first customizable "Maven Box."  They're threatening to send me a "Secret Sale" at the first of the month though, which will be hard to resist in my current mindframe.

I am excited!  It's a lovely feeling to feel pretty.  I haven't been having that often enough recently, but I think that is going to change now.

Semi-Homemade Witchery: Freebies!

As much as I prefer to cook from scratch, that isn't always the reality, especially with a full-time job and everything.  In addition, if I pay attention to sales, coupons, and special offers, stores will often just give me things. The main components of tonight's dinner, shown here, were both Free Special Offers from the Just 4 U program at Safeway (my personal favorite grocer); I was all too happy to accept them at this price, naturally.

I know that my Grandmother would never have turned down free ingredients either, just as I'm sure that in the old days, witches made magic with what was available to them, and in that spirit, I couldn't resist trying to put my own mark on the decidedly pedantic (but free) Hamburger Helper.  In addition to the ground beef (from the freezer), I added the rest of the slicer tomato that I had cut for the Mediterranean Turkey Burgers earlier, some frozen peas and corn that had been lingering in the freezer, and some leftover fresh herbs (parsley and thyme).  Also, I reduced the amount of water in the instructions, since I expected there would be some extra moisture from the tomatoes.

And to the free Crescent Rounds, we just added butter. (What did you expect?)

The resulting meal was actually quite good!  It was a nice compromise between being quick and convenient, and at least partially feeling as though I Crafted it myself.  I'm happy with it, and will be just as happy with the leftovers later in the week when I am working overtime.

Kitchen Witchery: Triple Header!

So, we're making up for the invisible (or at least undocumented) Kitchen Witchery of the past week--today I have been in my kitchen for a good portion of the day, and I have pictures to show for everything!

I think I often take breakfast dishes for granted; it's probably because they tend to be simple, as that's what we usually want in the mornings, and since breakfast is the meal I learned to make first when I began my relationship with the kitchen.  This morning I made a new variation of one of my standby weekend breakfasts:

These Corn & Cheddar Pancakes are based on the pancake recipe in my old Betty Crocker Cookbook: Whisk together 1 cup of buttermilk, an egg, 2 tablespoons oil, 3/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup cornmeal, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp each of salt, sugar, and baking soda for the batter, then stir in about 1/4 cup of thawed frozen corn and a small handful of shredded cheddar before frying them up.  Served with sunny-side-up eggs (cooked low and slow) on top, of course.

Today was my first day off that was cool enough to have the oven on since getting a Pullman Loaf Pan and lid for my birthday (Thank you Mom!) so then I just had to try making a loaf of Pain de Mie:

This was a recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Bread Bible, which I won't reproduce since I'm not the copyright owner, but I will certainly recommend the book to those who are serious about wanting to make better-than-bakery-quality breads at home.  I will have to make some tweaks to either the time or temperature on the next loaf, it got just a bit too brown on the outside, but it is still beautiful.

And last, but not least, for dinner I turned to the pages of Food Network Magazine again for some Mediterranean Turkey Burgers:

These were very nice, even if the only thing really 'Mediterranean' about them was the homemade tzatziki that the recipe uses for the condiment.  These were actually the second half of the recipe; on the first round, I layered the sandwich the way the recipe page shows, and the bottom bun got really soggy from the combination of the sauce and the meat juices.  This time, I put the lettuce on the bottom to protect the bun, but then the lettuce caught the meat juice and made it drip a lot, so it seems like in both cases the burger was easiest to eat if I held it upside-down.  For the calorie count (the 540 calories includes the ounce of potato chips), they were very delicious.  They could obviously be served with a different side--like maybe some hummus and pita chips, to play better with the Mediterranean theme.

All in all, it was a great day!  Now the only thing left to do is all the dishes... ;)

Spell of Invisibility

So, I've actually been able to get back in my kitchen this past week!  I've made at least two things that would have been worthy of a Kitchen Witchery post:  First, I turned to the pages of my trusty Food Network Magazine (at the prompting of my sweetie) and made a delicious Lemon-Garlic Tilapia with Spinach, which was great both on the first night and as leftovers*, and then I tried something ambitious from the Serious Eats "Food Lab" and made the pretentiously-but-accurately-titled Best Chinese Sesame Chicken, which was to die for on the first night, and still pretty good as leftovers.

And I didn't take pictures of either of them before we ate it all.  Food is such a fleeting thing, isn't it?  I suppose that is part of the magic. ;)

Oh well, tomorrow night I have some more Kitchen Witchery planned, and I will remember to take photos for the blog this time.


*It should go without saying that the part of the recipe that makes the spinach salad bedding should be halved and tossed together fresh each time.  The fish and pan sauce made it through the microwave just fine, though.

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. ;)