Our collaboration as Absent but not Forgotten is 13 years old this year so what better day to celebrate than Friday 13th! We have decided that this is our official birthday.
For a thirteenth birthday celebration we celebrated in teenage party food style with a spread of 13 party foods and toasted our coming of age with a bottle of WKD Blue…
13 mini pizzas; 13 cheese and pineapple on sticks; 13 cheese and pickles on sticks; 13 party sandwiches; 13 cheese straws; 13 mini cheeses; 13 cocktail sausages; 13 mini sausage rolls; 13 doughballs and aioli; 13 falafel; Hummus with 13 cucumber sticks 13 tomatoes and tomatillos; 13 eyeball chocolates; 13 ghost marshmallows.
Our birthday cake was a spectacular splatterfest by Kirsten embracing the horror of teenage angst and the teen slasher, coming of age horror genre.
The first of two Friday 13th in 2023 fell on Hen Galan, the Welsh New Year or the old new year as it was before Britain changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1752. Hen Galen is still observed in the Gwaun Valley not far away in North Pembrokeshire. Our thirteenfridays menu took a modern Welsh turn in celebration.
We made a 13 ingredient Haraira based on a recipe found in the book below. A Moroccan chickpea and lentil dish made with: Chickpeas, brown lentils, onion, tomatoes, fresh parsley, celery, ginger, turmeric, pasata, sunflower oil, salt, pepper, and a little pasta. Served with 13 slices of sourdough bread from the Bara Menyn bakery in Cardigan. Hearty and warming, just perfect for the cold winter season!
Our drink for the celebration was a nod to the Wassailing traditions that take place this time of year, a non alcoholic spiced apple punch made with Bardsey Island apple juice which is pressed just down the road in Abercych, Pembrokeshire. We added 13 cloves, 13 slices of apple, orange slices, cinnamon and star anise.
Our sweet course of 13 American style pancakes was also inspired by the Llwy Gariad book, served simply in stacks drizzled with a generous quantity of Maple syrup.
Only one Friday 13th this year that also happens to fall on international hummus day!
We decided to celebrate the date with a simple hummus based meal consisting of a 13 ingredient hummus (Chickpeas, Tahini, Garlic, Olive Oil, Lemon Juice, Water, Salt, Pepper, Sumac & four seed mix topping: Sunflower, Sesame, Pumpkin, Golden Linseed, Sumac). Served with a 13 ingredient salad (Little gem, Rocket, 13 Asparagus spears, 13 Purple sprouting broccoli spears, Cress, Spinach, Jack in the hedge, Pennywort, 13 pieces of Haloumi, 13 baby plum tomatoes, Wild garlic flowers, 13 Olives, Chive flowers), 13 crudités of carrot & 13 of cucumber and 13 slices of Bara Menyn sourdough bread.
For dessert we found a recipe for dessert hummus, using peanut butter and almond milk instead of tahini and lemon and with no garlic of course! Although the hummus recipe didn’t use 13 ingredients itself, we served it with a selection of 13 things – 13 ginger biscuits, 13 Strawberries, 13 Blueberries, 13 slices each of Pineapple, Apple, Banana, Pear, Melon & Fig. 13 chocolate buttons 13 walnuts, 13 Almonds and 13 Hazelnuts
Celebrating the end of the Covid19 restrictions with our first 13 themed meal in over a year we found that it is also International Left Handers day! (Sinister is Latin for left!)
Lefties have apparently had a really tough time over the years – For thousands of years, the Devil has been associated with the left hand in various ways and is normally portrayed as being left-handed in pictures and other images. In the seventeenth century it was thought that the Devil baptised his followers with his left-hand and there are many references in superstitions to the “left-hand side” being associated with evil. (from https://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/being-lh/lh-info/myths.html)
Resolving to create our celebration meal using our left hand, we found mention of a town in West Virginia called Left Hand and were inspired to draw on some traditional foods from WV.
We made a traditional cornbread sliced into 13 to accompany a couple of simple summer salads, both with 13 ingredients of course!
13 ingredient Corn and Cucumber Salad – Corn, Cucumber, Mini Cucumber, Capers, Chives, Coriander, Parsley, Basil, Olive Oil, White Wine Vinegar, Caster Sugar, Salt, Pepper
13 ingredient Tomato and Mozzarella Salad – Mozzarella, 6 types of Tomato, Cucumber, Mini Cucumber, Basil, Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper
Our dessert was inspired by a Blackberry cake recipe on the Sweet State of Mine blog with slight adjustments to make it 13 ingredients and egg free. The blackberries are just coming to a nice ripeness here in west Wales. Uncertain of how many we might need we gathered 169 (13×13) of them in the morning in preparation for the cake! Our 13 ingredients Flour, Butter, Sugar, Milk, Blackberries (13 in each layer and 13 on top!), Baking powder, Vinegar, Cloves, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Vanilla, Coffee. Slicing a round cake into 13 is always a source of amusement too! (Hint: divide the circumference by 13!)
Absent But Not Forgotten 