Cook Naked: Celtic Feast of the Waxing Light

Happy Imbolc ! This post was originally a character blog from that beloved fictional Chef’s of the romance world, The Dungeon Gourmet–Jacques Bond. I’ve managed to recover access to our posts at the old Passionate Reads archive and this one celebrating Imbolc is just the right thing to share today. Enjoy:

From the Dungeon Gourmet

February, she is the dark heart of winter. It is easy to go flat, blah, and feel like the sun will never be back. The wait seems endless when we’re shut inside with the ice storms and howling wind rattling the windows. Have heart. We are at the turning point, yes? The light is on the way back. Today we celebrate the waxing light, the returning sun. Let’s use the day like a good spice to kick out the winter blues.

Even us kinky ones get weary and flat and have no energy as the winter grinds on. Now in the dungeon world, festivals of waxing — celebrated with candles — this makes our hearts leap. So, today we talk about how to take the simplest thing and bring it to life with the unexpected.

Let’s start with the name. Here in America you call it Groundhog Day. Mon Dieux! Rodents are not sexy, mes amis. I suggest you go back to the old ways, the Celtic Feast of the Waxing Light. Wax is sexy. Candles are sexy. Groundhogs? Mon Dieux.

So, to the feast. In the old times, cupboards went bare this time of year. Some flour. Some sugar. It’s hard to make a feast. Small wonder we celebrate the feast of lights with pancakes. The round cakes were cooked to golden, little gold orbs to honor the sun’s return.

I know you shrug. You think, blah. Only blah if you choose, mes amis. Only if you choose. It is true of cooking. It is true of writing. It is true of love. There is always a secret thing, a little something you can add to turn ho hum into mmm.

We keep it simple, because who has the energy for lots of ingredients and sifting this into that. So, take an ordinary box of the pancake mix you just add water to. Here is the secret: don’t use water. Use eggnog. You can get the ready-made. No need for big troubles here. And really, here is the other secret, that eggnog taste comes from the spice, the nutmeg. If you want to put milk instead of eggnog, you could. But, no skimping on the spice.

Get whole nutmeg. Ah, the scent of the nutmeg when you grind. You breathe and you taste it. This alone will chase some gray from your day. You don’t need a fancy nutmeg grinding tool. A little Microplane® like from your tool chest would do. Handy little toy. Keep an extra one in the toybag, a little lover’s footplay and peppermint lotion…sigh… Sorry. My mind wanders.

So, I like to put the nutmeg, just a sprinkle on top, after I pour batter on the griddle. What is it about watching hotcakes on a griddle that soothes a Dom’s soul? And the scent of the nutmeg as the heat reaches them is heaven. It is supposed to be an aphrodisiac, the nutmeg. I believe this. Yes. I believe.

When the cakes are just right, turn them. Make a big platter filled with cakes. This is a feast.

Now we have one more ho-hum to bring to life. The syrup. Get real maple syrup. We splurge here, but even so it needs more. It needs something to make the eyebrows pop up on the first bite, yes?

Bourbon. Warm the syrup, then add a splash of bourbon. You will know what’s right. To your taste. This little nip will warm her right to her toes. No Popsicle toes in the bed tonight.

Now fill your plates, light candles, look across the table into your lover’s eyes. Winter is for loving, yes?

Get extra candles, mes amis. They make good play when the meal is done and the feasting begins. The scent of candles, the sound of the match strike, drips that fall like velvet rain on your lover’s body, her sighs. Welcome the sun, mes amis, but embrace this last bit of winter together.

~Bond
The Dungeon Gourmet