蛇と川 （へびとかわ）
この前の雪 （このまえのゆき）
鶯の歌 （うぐいすのうた）
豆投げる （まめなげる）
幸運招く （こううんまねく）
鬼捨てる （おにすてる）
南々東見ます （なんなんとうみます）
恵方巻食べる（えほまきたべる）
===========
Hebi to Kawa
Konomae no Yuki
Uguisu no Uta
Mame Nageru
Kouun Maneku
Oni Suteru
Nannantou Mimasu
Eho-Maki Taberu
==============
Snake and River
The Last Snowfall
The Song of a Bush Warbler
Throwing Beans
Inviting Good Luck
Casting out the Evil Spirits
I Face the South-Southeast
Eating Uncut Sushi
=============
The snake is a reference to this year; year of the snake, 2013. The river is a body of water, and this year's feng shui element is water. The last snowfall is a sign that winter is ending. The song of the Japanese Bush Warbler is heard often around early spring (beginning around Setsubun).
Throwing beans, inviting good luck, tossing the oni out. This is a major theme for Setsubun. Spring is the season for planting crops, and Setsubun marks the first day of spring (though it still feels like winter in most of Japan until mid-spring). Prayers for good harvest are common as is the practice of Mamemaki (throwing roasted soya beans to drive away evil spirits, either tossing them out the front door, or at a family member who is wearing an Oni mask).
This being the year of the water snake, the lucky direction is South-Southeast. So we look South-Southeast while eating Eho-Maki (uncut sushi roll) in silence. This promotes good luck in the coming year.Aside from being a spring festival, Setsubun is also a sort of New Year's Eve for the Lunar calendar.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Friday, December 21, 2012
Bri's Caldron 2 (Winter Solstice 2012)
Today's recipes are all wonderful winter drinks!
Mead
Spring Water
Organic Filtered Honey (I use my uncle's black honey)
Yeast (1 packet of fast rise is good enough for a gallon of wort)
You need a 7:1 water:honey ratio for proper fermentation with bread yeast. If you're using wine yeasts, you can make it stronger up to a 5:1 ratio. You need a fermentation lock too. I suggest buying one online or at a brew shop, but failing that; you can make your own.
Here's how you do it:
Measure and boil your water, add the measured honey, and stir to dissolve. This mixture is called wort. Pour the wort into a sterile fermentation vessel. Food-safe ceramic and glass vessels are the best. Allow to cool and add yeast. Seal and add fermentation lock. Allow to ferment in a closet or under the counter where it won't be disturbed. It's done when it stops bubbling and all the yeast settles to the bottom. If you want it to be beer-like, pour mead into sterile 1 pint jars with a teaspoon or two of honey and seal it up. Wait 2 weeks to let the beer-mead age. Wine mead is ready after fermentation is complete. Can be served warm or cold. The sediments are quite gross, be careful to only pour off the golden elixir for drinking. The sediments can be added to the garden or orchard for better soil health.
Hippocras and Bochet
Hippocras is mead that has been spiced with cinnamon sticks and cardamon. You add it at the same time as you dissolve the honey, and remove it after the wort cools. Bochet is mead that is heated after fermentation with a bundle of spices in the pot. It's served warm in a mug. Don't serve warm mead in a horn or it will taste like glue.
Brianna's Famous Spiced Hot Chocolate
Per cup:
8 oz scalded whole milk
1 tbs mix
whipped cream and a sprinkle of grated nutmeg for the top
Warm mugs by putting them into a pan of hot water. (you dry them off before pouring in the chocolate) Whisk scalded milk and mix together until frothy, ladle into warmed mugs, top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg.
Spiced Hot Chocolate Mix
1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa
1 tbs cinnamon
1/2 cup fine sugar (put granulated in the blender if you can't find it)
Hot Nog
1/2 gallon of apple cider
2 cinnamon sticks
4-6 cloves
3 allspice berries
4 quarter-sized slices of fresh ginger
2 cups whiskey
Bring the cider and spices to a boil turn the burner down to warm. Add the whiskey right before your guests arrive. Stir it well
Chai Masala
Chai means "tea" in Hindi. Masala means "spice". Chai Masala is Spiced Tea. I kind of cringe when I hear Americans say "chai tea" because it's redundant. Here are 2 recipes, 1 is from India, and the other is my own spiced tea.
Bri's Yuletide Chai Masala
bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add 1 dried orange peel, 1/2 stick of indonesian or mexican cinnamon, a drop of vanilla, 2 cloves, and 6 tea bags (orange pekoe from Sri Lanka is the best)*. Brew until a bit darker than golden, strain out spices and teabags but don't press the tea bags. Add 1/2 cup of raw sugar (you can change this to your liking). Pour into tea cups and give a little splash of half-and-half.
Indian Chai Masala
Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add 1 cardamon pod, 1 cinnamon stick, 4 cloves, 1 pod of star anise, a slice of fresh ginger,and 6 tea bags of any black tea. Brew until dark, strain out spices and teabags but don't press the tea bags. Add 1/2 cup of raw sugar (you can change this to your liking). Pour into tea cups and give a little splash of half-and-half.
Mocha Latte
Make strong coffee. Heat milk until it begins to froth in the microwave. You gotta watch it or it will end up everywhere. Add coffee to a mug, stir in a tbs of hot cocoa mix (my spiced one works), and pour in the milk. The foam on top of the milk goes on top of the latte.
Wassail
My Wassail is a 1:1 ratio of hard cider to virgin cider with no spices. This is oldschool.
Make the hard cider below, combine it 50/50 with a good cider with no additives of any kind (the same cider you used for the hard cider). You now have an old Saxon classic. Enjoy warm or chilled.
Hard Cider
Buy a good cider with no additives of any kind. Boil it for 2 minutes. This is now a wort. Pour the wort into a sterile fermentation vessel. Food-safe ceramic and glass vessels are the best. Allow to cool and add yeast. Seal and add fermentation lock. Allow to ferment in a closet or under the counter where it won't be disturbed. It's done when it stops bubbling and all the yeast settles to the bottom. The sediments are quite gross, be careful to only pour off the golden elixir for drinking. The sediments can be added to the garden or orchard for better soil health.
Heating and Drinking Hot Sake: A Brief Tutorial
heat a small saucepan half-full of water, pour the sake or other alcoholic beverage into a ceramic tokkuri (it's a type of small Japanese decanter which can be heated in this manner). Place the tokkuri into the hot water. Put a chef's thermometer into the top of the tokkuri and heat until the sake is 140 degrees F. Remove the Tokkuri from the water and dry the outside. Serve immediately in small sake cups or fill shot glasses halfway.
* I'm kind of a tea aficionado. I collect a wide variety of single source teas. Sri Lanka produces orange pekoe tea of the highest quality. Though in this recipe, it doesn't really matter how much it cost, it matters more the location it was grown and the variety of the tea. The Chinese orange pekoe isn't nearly as good in my opinion. Though Huo Yuan Jia is rumored to have said that "No one tea is better than any other, but every man has their preference." I tend to agree.
Mead
Spring Water
Organic Filtered Honey (I use my uncle's black honey)
Yeast (1 packet of fast rise is good enough for a gallon of wort)
You need a 7:1 water:honey ratio for proper fermentation with bread yeast. If you're using wine yeasts, you can make it stronger up to a 5:1 ratio. You need a fermentation lock too. I suggest buying one online or at a brew shop, but failing that; you can make your own.
Here's how you do it:
Measure and boil your water, add the measured honey, and stir to dissolve. This mixture is called wort. Pour the wort into a sterile fermentation vessel. Food-safe ceramic and glass vessels are the best. Allow to cool and add yeast. Seal and add fermentation lock. Allow to ferment in a closet or under the counter where it won't be disturbed. It's done when it stops bubbling and all the yeast settles to the bottom. If you want it to be beer-like, pour mead into sterile 1 pint jars with a teaspoon or two of honey and seal it up. Wait 2 weeks to let the beer-mead age. Wine mead is ready after fermentation is complete. Can be served warm or cold. The sediments are quite gross, be careful to only pour off the golden elixir for drinking. The sediments can be added to the garden or orchard for better soil health.
Hippocras and Bochet
Hippocras is mead that has been spiced with cinnamon sticks and cardamon. You add it at the same time as you dissolve the honey, and remove it after the wort cools. Bochet is mead that is heated after fermentation with a bundle of spices in the pot. It's served warm in a mug. Don't serve warm mead in a horn or it will taste like glue.
Brianna's Famous Spiced Hot Chocolate
Per cup:
8 oz scalded whole milk
1 tbs mix
whipped cream and a sprinkle of grated nutmeg for the top
Warm mugs by putting them into a pan of hot water. (you dry them off before pouring in the chocolate) Whisk scalded milk and mix together until frothy, ladle into warmed mugs, top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg.
Spiced Hot Chocolate Mix
1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa
1 tbs cinnamon
1/2 cup fine sugar (put granulated in the blender if you can't find it)
Hot Nog
1/2 gallon of apple cider
2 cinnamon sticks
4-6 cloves
3 allspice berries
4 quarter-sized slices of fresh ginger
2 cups whiskey
Bring the cider and spices to a boil turn the burner down to warm. Add the whiskey right before your guests arrive. Stir it well
Chai Masala
Chai means "tea" in Hindi. Masala means "spice". Chai Masala is Spiced Tea. I kind of cringe when I hear Americans say "chai tea" because it's redundant. Here are 2 recipes, 1 is from India, and the other is my own spiced tea.
Bri's Yuletide Chai Masala
bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add 1 dried orange peel, 1/2 stick of indonesian or mexican cinnamon, a drop of vanilla, 2 cloves, and 6 tea bags (orange pekoe from Sri Lanka is the best)*. Brew until a bit darker than golden, strain out spices and teabags but don't press the tea bags. Add 1/2 cup of raw sugar (you can change this to your liking). Pour into tea cups and give a little splash of half-and-half.
Indian Chai Masala
Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add 1 cardamon pod, 1 cinnamon stick, 4 cloves, 1 pod of star anise, a slice of fresh ginger,and 6 tea bags of any black tea. Brew until dark, strain out spices and teabags but don't press the tea bags. Add 1/2 cup of raw sugar (you can change this to your liking). Pour into tea cups and give a little splash of half-and-half.
Mocha Latte
Make strong coffee. Heat milk until it begins to froth in the microwave. You gotta watch it or it will end up everywhere. Add coffee to a mug, stir in a tbs of hot cocoa mix (my spiced one works), and pour in the milk. The foam on top of the milk goes on top of the latte.
Wassail
My Wassail is a 1:1 ratio of hard cider to virgin cider with no spices. This is oldschool.
Make the hard cider below, combine it 50/50 with a good cider with no additives of any kind (the same cider you used for the hard cider). You now have an old Saxon classic. Enjoy warm or chilled.
Hard Cider
Buy a good cider with no additives of any kind. Boil it for 2 minutes. This is now a wort. Pour the wort into a sterile fermentation vessel. Food-safe ceramic and glass vessels are the best. Allow to cool and add yeast. Seal and add fermentation lock. Allow to ferment in a closet or under the counter where it won't be disturbed. It's done when it stops bubbling and all the yeast settles to the bottom. The sediments are quite gross, be careful to only pour off the golden elixir for drinking. The sediments can be added to the garden or orchard for better soil health.
Heating and Drinking Hot Sake: A Brief Tutorial
heat a small saucepan half-full of water, pour the sake or other alcoholic beverage into a ceramic tokkuri (it's a type of small Japanese decanter which can be heated in this manner). Place the tokkuri into the hot water. Put a chef's thermometer into the top of the tokkuri and heat until the sake is 140 degrees F. Remove the Tokkuri from the water and dry the outside. Serve immediately in small sake cups or fill shot glasses halfway.
* I'm kind of a tea aficionado. I collect a wide variety of single source teas. Sri Lanka produces orange pekoe tea of the highest quality. Though in this recipe, it doesn't really matter how much it cost, it matters more the location it was grown and the variety of the tea. The Chinese orange pekoe isn't nearly as good in my opinion. Though Huo Yuan Jia is rumored to have said that "No one tea is better than any other, but every man has their preference." I tend to agree.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Forgivness
I am a different person today than I was yesterday. I will be a different person tomorrow than I am today. You are a different person today than you were yesterday. You will be a different person tomorrow than you are today. Why is this so? People are constantly adapting to new conditions and ideas. We are always learning new things and coming to new conclusions. So, we should forgive the sins of yesterday, because the person that committed them isn't here anymore.
In the past; I've had a LOT of anger, hatred, and bitterness. I admit that I'm not perfect. In fact, I'm quite far from it. Recently, I've resolved myself to strive fora better me by adopting Guanshiyin / Kanzeon into my personal Pantheon.
Altar to Kanzeon, Goddess of Mercy and Compassion
This is my first indoor altar and my first statue of a Goddess... Kanzeon-sama. The mirror represents truth and sincerity, the magatama (comma-shaped bead in front of the mirror) represents benevolence. The rice, salt, tea leaves, sake, and incense are all offerings. The fan and suzu bells are ritual items used in kagura (sacred dance). The nusa (wand with paper streamers) is used to drive away negative essences in purification rituals. The sword on the left is a Yorishiro (item which attracts divine essences and can act as a place for them to rest).
Wikipedia article on Kanzeon-sama
Kanzeon-sama is a very powerful deity. I already feel a difference in my mood though I've just begun using her mantra and praying to her. I began doing this because I want to cultivate in myself, the qualities which she exhibits. I want to be at peace, hating no one, loving all, and to be free from bitterness, anger, and aggressiveness.
Kanzeon's 8 sylable mantra (in Japanese): Namu Kanzeon botatsu.
The English translation is: Hail, Regard the World’s Cries, Bodhisattva.
Friday, November 23, 2012
A Witch and Two Miko, in Teacups
Thursday, November 22, 2012
The Christians and The Pagans....
So . . . I went over to Mum's house for Thanksgiving . . . And she didn't figure out that I was pagan when I failed to say "Amen" at the meal's grace. Good. I can save it for later. She and her husband are Evangelical Christians. They flipped out really bad when they found out I was Transgender. I don't want that event to repeat itself. They made a huge deal out of it and were saying I was an "idolator" and stuff just because I want a sex change. Brianna isn't my legal or birth name. It's what I go by. When I stayed the night, they had me sleep on a separate floor of their house so my queerness wouldn't infect anyone. Nevermind that I'm also Pansexual. That part went right over their heads. I'd rather them not know that I'm not Christian anymore. They'll find out eventually, but I'd like it to be in a few years rather than soon.
Bri's Cauldron I
Being an Eastern style Pagan, I only use my cauldron for cooking... So um. The sections entitled "Bri's Cauldron" will be cooking stuff... Here's a few things for Thanksgiving:
The Fire God's Green Beans
fry 1/4 lb chopped bacon until crisp, remove from oil, saute 3 cans of drained french-style green beans in the bacon grease, add 3 tbs shiracha chili paste and 2 tbs minced fresh garlic, saute until the beans are well blended and hot, serve with a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds
Bri's Blackeyed Peas
cube and fry 1 cup lean ham in a little bacon grease until browned, add 2 lbs of frozen or fresh blackeyed peas, saute for 5 minutes on medium heat, add 2 cups of beef stock and simmer on low for an hour, stirring occasionally. Serve with a little chili vinegar (recipe below)
Calcifer's Chili Vinegar
(Yes, I did just name a condiment after a fictional Fire Demon from Welsh literature...)
in a 8 oz bottle combine 3" (skinny) or 1" (thick) of lemon grass, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 2 pepper corns or 1/4 tsp green pepper (Sansho), a sprog of rosemary, 2 basil leaves, 20 or so each of Japones (aka Yatsufusa) peppers and d'Arbol peppers, add vinegar slowly so that it trickles down. when the bottle is full, put the lid on tightly and give it a thorough shaking and let rest until it's time to use it. The loger it sits, the better it gets. good on greens, beans, salads, seafood, fries, and roast pork. You can just top off the vinegar after each use for years of herbal vinegar awesomeness.
Last Year's Thanksgiving Dinner: Hot German Potato Salad, Tea Roll, The Fire God's Green Beans, and Roast' Turkey.
The Fire God's Green Beans
fry 1/4 lb chopped bacon until crisp, remove from oil, saute 3 cans of drained french-style green beans in the bacon grease, add 3 tbs shiracha chili paste and 2 tbs minced fresh garlic, saute until the beans are well blended and hot, serve with a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds
Bri's Blackeyed Peas
cube and fry 1 cup lean ham in a little bacon grease until browned, add 2 lbs of frozen or fresh blackeyed peas, saute for 5 minutes on medium heat, add 2 cups of beef stock and simmer on low for an hour, stirring occasionally. Serve with a little chili vinegar (recipe below)
Calcifer's Chili Vinegar
(Yes, I did just name a condiment after a fictional Fire Demon from Welsh literature...)
in a 8 oz bottle combine 3" (skinny) or 1" (thick) of lemon grass, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 2 pepper corns or 1/4 tsp green pepper (Sansho), a sprog of rosemary, 2 basil leaves, 20 or so each of Japones (aka Yatsufusa) peppers and d'Arbol peppers, add vinegar slowly so that it trickles down. when the bottle is full, put the lid on tightly and give it a thorough shaking and let rest until it's time to use it. The loger it sits, the better it gets. good on greens, beans, salads, seafood, fries, and roast pork. You can just top off the vinegar after each use for years of herbal vinegar awesomeness.
Last Year's Thanksgiving Dinner: Hot German Potato Salad, Tea Roll, The Fire God's Green Beans, and Roast' Turkey.
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