Feasting With Our Ancestors
Hey there, witchy lovelies. It has been a MINUTE since we’ve seen you all, but we are very happy to say that we are finally back. We truly appreciate all of you for being so patient while we took this time. This much needed hiatus from the blog has been marked with huge blessings to our family in the form of a welcoming a brand new member into our family, our son Rowan.
As we’ve been taking the time to navigate the joys and pitfalls of becoming parents again, we have also experienced moments and events that have led us towards contemplating family and the presence of our ancestors within our daily lives and practice. The most formative of these events was as we welcomed Rowan into this world, we had to say goodbye to a cherished member of our family, my grandmother Vilma. While saying goodbye hurts, I wanted to spend a moment, if you’ll all allow it, sharing a small bit of her incredible spirit with you.
Remembering Vilma
Having a grandparent around when you are into your 30’s is really a blessing in my opinion and Vilma was one of the best. I can easily say that my grandmother was one of the most important and impactful figures in shaping who I am and what I have dedicated most of my life to. To say she was full of life would greatly oversimplify the true energy she possessed, but it is difficult to capture her level of vivacity I think.
Vilma lived her life with the mentality that every day, every moment, was a precious gift and an opportunity to accomplish something. While she was raised in a period of time when women were rarely in charge of many aspects of their own lives, she was fiercely independent. She was truly gifted with intense ambition; If Vilma wanted to do something, you better believe she would and equally if she didn’t want to do it, not a soul could make her.
She craved learning new things and loved a good challenge. She wanted to be a master of everything; in the kitchen at home, at the businesses she ran, and even in soaring to new heights during her time taking pilot lessons. On top of every accomplishment, I truly believe her greatest was her family. She raised four children, who in turn gave her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Vilma was truly the beating heart of our family; she loved each of us so intensely and was so proud to see us accomplish our own goals and dreams.
She was a wonderful hostess; always welcoming others into her home warmly. I myself had countless moments sitting in her kitchen with her; time that was spent talking, crying, laughing, and eating, over my 36 years. Every time I came into her house, her first words were most often “Can I get you a cup of tea?” or “Are you hungry?”. Being the fabulous cook and baker that she was, it was always well advised to say yes to this question. One of my favorite memories was a year that I walked in around the holiday season and she was in the midst of baking every form of Christmas cookie you could imagine as part of our family’s celebration. She promptly directed me to a large pile of cookies and urged me to help myself to some as she deemed them unfit for the celebration as they were “mistakes”. To this day, they were some of the best cookies I have ever had.
That was quintessential Vilma; if something wasn’t good enough, she wasn’t resting until it met her high standards. These standards applied for other people’s actions towards her or her loved ones as well. If someone treated her or those she held close with disrespect, she had no qualms bearing her fangs to let them know it. The example she set throughout her remarkable life is one has allowed me to live my life as someone who loves fiercely, always shows compassion, and is determined to chase my dreams.
Honoring our Ancestors
With my grandmother’s passing came the thoughts of how we honor our loved ones who have traveled to the other side. There are of course times throughout the year that we all focus more attention on this, especially Samhain. At least in my own personal practice, I felt like ancestor work was often lacking, due in a large part to how busy life can get.
This lead me to begin to think about ways that I could incorporate honoring my passed loved ones more within my daily life. I centered on the idea of offerings. We commonly set out food, drink, and other items on an alter or set a place at the table for our deities and ancestors as an offering of our devotion and love during rituals. In this mindset, it seems only natural to include some offerings to departed loved ones as part of our daily cooking preparations.
Another way is to incorporate beloved foods or recipes of theirs that have been handed down into your cooking repertoire. This has become one of my favorite ways to call upon my ancestors and has offered me the honor of being the custodian of some piece of my family history. These avenues of casual feasting with our ancestors are a lovely way to keep their memories close to us on a regular basis.
Recipe: Vanilla Poundcake
It seemed fitting that the recipe for this post originated from my grandmother’s repertoire. In fact, this could easily be considered one of her signature recipes; having been the one that she used for wedding and special occasion cakes in her time as the baker for the event hall she and my grandfather owned. After the hall closed, this legendary cake lived on as much anticipated holiday gifts from my grandmother to those she loved.
The magic of this cake is in it’s simplicity, requiring only 5 basic ingredients to make. The real secret to success is to very throughly mix your ingredients together; especially the butter, sugar, and eggs. When done right, this deceptively simple recipe yields a dense and buttery cake that is a wonderful base for all types of flavors and ingredients, so you can get as creative as you please when making it.
Today, I’ll be enjoying mine as is, with a nice cup of tea to accompany it for me with a slice and fresh coffee set out just for you, Vilma.
Love you.
Hail The Traveler.
Vanilla Poundcake
Ingredients
- 16 oz salted or unsalted butter, softened
- 16 oz granulated sugar
- 16 oz eggs, preferably at room temperature
- 16 oz all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. and prepare the loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray or softened butter. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer, cream the softened butter and sugar until doubled in volume and very pale, at least 10-15 minutes. Be sure to scrap down the sides and bottom of the bowl of the stand mixer with a spatula occasionally to ensure even incorporation.
- Once the butter/sugar mixture reaches this stage, slowly add the eggs one at a time, being sure to incorporate each before adding the next. Occasionally scrap the sides and bottom of the bowl well. Once all of the eggs are added, add in the vanilla and allow the mixture to whip for an additional minute. The mixture may look slightly curdled at this point.
- Mix in the flour slowly to allow it to fully incorporate before the next addition; again scraping often. Once all of the flour is added, scrap one more time and whip the mixture for a minute more.
- Turn off the mixer and use your spatula to do a final hand mix of the batter to be sure that there are no lumps of unincorporated butter or flour at this time.
- Measure out the batter into the prepared loaf pans; Each pan should have roughly 1lb 5 oz of batter in it and will be about half way full.
- Place the pans into the preheated oven and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out cleanly.
Notes
- You can feel free to get creative with the flavor of this cake to suit you! You can play around with adding different extracts such as lemon, almond, or orange or mix in chocolate chips, nuts, or dried fruits. Alternatively, you can use the cake as written as a base for fresh berries, sauces, creams, or other toppings.
