Cooking and Class

Hi and Merry Meet,
Yesterday I had my third Wicca 2 class. We are in groups now for our ritual presentations. My group is presenting Ostara. Our one group mate did a ton of prep for it and it is coming together really nicely. They had a few suggestions for my meditation, so I have some editing to do on that. However, overall, we are really close to ready. I think after next class we will be ready to present.

Yesterday's class was on spell work. It was how spells are not only constructed, but also what is your intent behind them. My homework is now to create a spell that I can teach to my group. I have to write it as if they have no knowledge of spellwork. It has to be completely my own. While I have written spells for myself, I have never had to present them to a group. We are not allowed to do any on money as that was the examples the instructors gave us. We also do not actually have to do it for the class, but just have it written out so that if they wanted to preform it at a later time then they could. I have a few weeks before I have to do this, so I have some time to think about it. Right now, I have no ideas what I should write for them. Safe travel? A love spell? House blessings? I don't know.

Recently, since I have left my second job I have been cooking more for us. I have always cooked for us, but the nights that I worked my second job we would just do whatever about food. Fighting for the leftovers or stopping for food was the norm two days a week. Now that I'm not doing that...  well, I'm cooking a lot more. I hated cooking before. Now that I have more time in my life, I am finding that I don't hate it, I don't love it, but I'm starting to enjoy it. I love to bake. Baking is an art since it has to be more exact that cooking or your cake could fall flat, the dough won't rise or any other thing that could go wrong if you don't follow the recipe. My good friend has always been able to cook with anything she has laying around and no need of a recipe. It always comes out good, and she always knows what to add by just tasting it. I've always been envious of this art. However, she can't bake to save her life. My coven is starting to learn how much I like baking. Every meeting I have something homemade to take with me. It's my love and time and I enjoy sharing it with others. Side note, most of the girls in the coven are into heath food and noted that my desserts will be the downfall of those diets that they are clinging to. Ha ha, that's why I bake! Desserts are sweet and full of love. The more I have thought about this the more I think I have more kitchen witch in me than I thought. :-)

Anyway, I'm learning to cook real dinners now. Before, my motto was "if I can't bake it, I can't make it." Hence, everything we eat goes in the oven. I'm not sure why my house even has a stove top range? Isn't that just for putting hot pans from the oven to cool on? This has been my thought for years!!! Now I am starting to take time to cook on that stove top that has been all but decoration for years here. Husband hasn't complained about my food, but I feel like I should venture into new places with my food. Husband, is the one who inadvertently started this whole ball rolling. He didn't do it on purpose. He has no idea what he has done. A few weeks ago, he bought me a turkey breast to cook (in the oven). After we cooked and eat it, he mentioned that we should make the caucus into soup. "Like cook it? On the stop top?" was my shocked reply to that. He laughed at me and said you can't make soup in the oven...  (I didn't point out that I do own a crock pot and know how to use that!). So, with small baby steps I managed a soup on my stop top.

The damage has been done. I am trying to set aside Sundays as stove top cooking day (only because I have time to learn what I'm doing on the weekend). Today I am attempting to make chicken and dumplings. I am armed with Paula Dean's recipe and a prayer to the Goddess that it comes out tasting like real food and not crap. I really want this to taste good....

Maybe, I should write a spell for my class about stop top cooking?
Blessed be,
Autumn