Imbolc Par-Tay Plans!

Brunch for Imbolc is the plan for 4 of my friends and I on Midwinter morning this year.  I have some white linen cloths in the moonlight to give each person a Bride's mantle tomorrow to take home and the sideboard is all set up with a 3 tiered altar and seasonal items.  We have a narcissus bulb just sprouting roots, green and yellow candles and a glass winter mandala sun made by my friend. The bowl of yellow candles and holly sprigs is waiting for ice cubes, I would put snow in it if we had some. It is our traditional reminder that the snow will melt and the Spring will thaw and grow green again.

Sprouting bulb and bowl of salt int he background.

Also on the side are the wine glasses and pitcher for the OJ and Prosecco mimosas, the plates and cutlery and napkins.  I am not always this well prepared for a party but I kinda like this.

Also slated for the tiers of the altar are seed packets to bless and some offerings from the guests. There are some little onyx bowls for the offerings, mine is filled with calendula petals.

I nested two BIG bowls and sandwiched more holly sprigs between them.  I weighted the inner bowl with some heavy glasswear I have and sat it on three ice cubes and some criss-crossed holly sticks in the bottom.
When its frozen I will warm it up a bit and unmold it and place a nice big candle inside.  I plan to have it on the front porch to greet the guests as they arrive.  I'm sure I will bring it in later and watch it melt just like the bowl of ice and holly.  I wonder if it will take all day.

Water and holly sandwiched between two bowls.
Outside freezing into a candle holder for the porch.

I plan to lay a small fire in the woodstove and keep a kettle on for pouring tea water.  I have lots of tea blends already in glass jars on a shelf in the kitchen.  A burl bowl made from our fallen ash tree holds oranges and sits on the brunch table with some lovely flowers Bearded Bob brought me this week.  He does that a lot.

Our menu includes cucumber salad and a 3 cheese quiche.  It's been so long since I made a pie crust...

I thought about it all day, and in the end it came together and was a snap!  I spent far too much time thinking about it.  The three handy cheeses were smoked Gouda  cheddar and parmasean, so along with onion and spinach it will be a hearty kind of quiche.

I addded calendula flower petals to the custard and cheese mixture and sprinkled more on top of the crust before it went into the oven.

Quiche takes only 35 minutes at 375F.  I know it will be a hit.

I put a two little snakes made of crust along the fluted rim of the quiche crust!

Brigid, Hecate and I are all fond of snakes.

My assistant chef Zambonie lost interest when she realized that I wasn't going to be dropping any cheese for her to supervise.

I just moved this rocking chair to the kitchen two days ago and  she has already figured out how to sit on the cushion- she never paid this rocker any attention while it was in the living room.  I thought it was too rocky for her to feel safe.

Location, location location!


See more Imbolc revelry at The Bewitching Home blog-party-winter-redux-edition.

Mirrored snowflake in place of the real thing.