thirteenfridays : Hen Galan – Traddodiad Newydd

Posted on February 4, 2023 by Jacob Whittaker

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.

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda i bawb!

thirteenfridays: August 2021 – A Sinister Special

Posted on August 13, 2021 by Jacob Whittaker

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!)

Blackberries too have an association with the devil, folklore suggests the evil one gets in them after a certain date!

To round off the meal we enjoyed a Left Hand cocktail! Bourbon, Sweet Vermouth & Campari with a dash of Chocolate Bitters and a cherry to garnish.

thirteenfridays: March 2020

Posted on March 13, 2020 by Jacob Whittaker

With the current difficulties surrounding us all with the anti Covid19 virus measures we created a simpe thirteenfridays meal for complicated times!

A 13 ingredient soup (Onion; Garlic; Carrot; Celery; Swede; Potato; Lentils; Tomato puree; Vegetable stock; Olive oil; Butter; Pepper; Pumpkin seeds) with 13 chunks of Bara Menyn sourdough bread, salad and 13 tomatoes on the vine.

Our thirteenfridays comrades, Kirsty and Sam, were isolated in their own home but made a batch of 13 ingredient brownies. We hooked up on FaceTime to enjoy our respective dishes together but apart, Absent but not Forgotten…

13MarchBrownie
13 ingredient chocolate brownies with 13 fruits (Unsalted butter; Dark chocolate; Plain flour; Cocoa; Large egg; Golden caster sugar; Brown sugar; Self raising flour; Baking powder; Salt; Icing sugar; Honey; Egg white)

thirteenfridays: Afon

Posted on September 13, 2019 by Jacob Whittaker

Absent but not Forgotten were very pleased to be invited to create a work for the opening event at the Afon microfestival in Abercych on September Friday 13th.

Continuing our ritual of making and sharing food to celebrate the date we baked a couple of batches of the 13 ingredient black pepper cookie cakes that we had made for our thirteenfridays picnic by the river Teifi in June 2018. These were offered to Afon visitors along with a postcard celebrating our outing to the river and listing the 13 ingredients. (recipe below)

13 Ingredient Black pepper cookie cakes
(makes about 40-50 small cookie cakes)

6oz Butter
8oz Sugar
1 beaten egg
3oz SR wheat flour
3oz Gluten Free or almond flour
3oz Cocoa powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1 1/2 Vanilla Essence
1/2 tsp Almond Essence
3/4 tsp Black pepper
3/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Clove
1/2 tsp Cardamon

Cream butter, spices and sugar together until smooth, beat in the egg & essences then seive in the dry ingredients and mix into a stiff dough. (I add the cocoa first and get that mixed in before adding the flour so that you can ensure you get all the chocolate in case it gets too dry to take all the flour. You can add a little water, milk, coffee, brandy to help get the flour mixed in).

The dough should be stiff and relatively dry so you can roll into 1″ diameter balls and flatten into greased bun tins or baking sheet. I like to use mini muffin tin, this makes nice bitesize cookie cakes, they are quite rich.

Bake at 190 for 12 min.

The cookie cakes were very well received by visitors who also got to watch the short video from the river presented alongside the dark chocolatey offerings.

thirteenfridays: Friday 13th July 2018

Posted on July 15, 2018 by Jacob Whittaker

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Our 13 week picnic marathon started on Friday 13 April, we’ll be visiting a haunted location every Friday until Friday 13 July 2018. Each week we set off armed with sound recording equipment, digital cameras and an original Polaroid camera – to take an unfakeable and unique Polaroid image at each location.

Invite 013

Our final event for the project brought together a group of friends to enjoy a feast of 13 in the garden. We decided that trying to get exactly 13 guests to commit and actually all turn up was a stress we could avoid so decided not to try and invited more. Slowly over the week before the event, our guests dropped out, one decided to bring another, our numbers were uncertain but no problem. By mid afternoon on the day we did of course end up with 13 of us!

We had a fantastic feast of 13 with a range of our favourite dishes from the picnics as well as a few more for the day and a couple of contributions from our guests.

Our collection of Polaroid photographs from the picnics went on to be exhibited in Bara Menyn, Bakehouse in Cardigan.

thirteenfridays: Pembrey

Posted on July 8, 2018 by Jacob Whittaker

This week was our 13th picnic out and about and we headed to Pembrey where there are reports of a number of different ghostly phenomena including ghost ships seen off the coast and ghosts of the “hatchet men” seen in the nearby woods . These were the wreckers who enticed ships onto the rocks, murdered the crews and robbed their cargoes. There are more stories of WWII soldiers, cursed airmen, cavaliers and even a poltergeist who grabs your ankles and piles up your camping equipment!

The popular TV show “Most Haunted” visited the area some years ago, highlighting these and many other stories spending the night investigating the beach, the woods and the disused military bunkers.

We took this photograph of the woods which shows a luminous green flare!

Finding shade in the picnic area near Cefn Sidan beach our picnic fest this week included special birthday treats for Kathryn, a bottle of champagne with strawberry liqueur and extra strawberry cakes!
We had a 13 ingredient salmon and asparagus pie (Egg, Flour, Butter, Cream Cheese, Chives, Parsley, Lemon Zest, Capers, Salmon, Asparagus, Spinach, Salt, Black Pepper); 13 ingredient tabouleh (Bulgar wheat, Vegetable Stock, Cucumber, Tomatoes, Red Onion, Flat Leaf Parsley, Mint, Red wine Vinegar, Olive Oil, Lemon Juice, Soy Sauce,Salt, Pepper); 13 ingredient fennel and courgette salad (Bulb Fennel, Courgette, Red onion, Lemon Juice, Olive Oil, Za’atar – Sumac, Thyme, Oregano, Nutmeg, Cumin, Black Pepper, Sesame seeds, Salt)
Our desserts were a four tiered 13 ingredient birthday cake from Kirsten (Butter, sugar, Flour, Baking powder, Margarine, Eggs, Milk, Cream, Vanilla, Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Chocolate buttons) and 13 Strawberry and thyme mini cupcakes with Fragoli wild strawberry icing.

thirteenfridays: St Dogmael’s

Posted on July 6, 2018 by kathryncampbelldodd

According to author Brian John in his ‘Pembrokeshire Ghost Stories‘ book after the Abbey fell, an inscribed stone was used as a bridge over a small brook in the abbey grounds. ‘While it was very handy during the day, it had a fearsome reputation at night. Many people saw a mysterious ghostly figure (referred to simply as “the white lady”) gliding over it at the witching hour of midnight.’.It was this reputation, it is suggested, that prevented the stone being lifted and broken up to be used as building material in the following years when the abbey ruins became a convenient source of stone for local buildings. Laid facing down the inscriptions on the ‘Sagranus Stone’, as it is called, are very well preserved and the stone can be seen in the nearby parish church of St Thomas. Read more about the stone here.

Photo By Llywelyn2000 [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons

After wandering the abbey ruins (and not seeing any white ladies) and being unable to identify the brook’s location, we decided the most appropriate picnic site was in the old abbey church crypt. The now exposed crypt was once underneath the floor of the presbytery, with a small stairway leading down into the space; the remains of the arches and columns are still visible around the edges. Somebody had been there before us and made symbolic markings on the floor…it reflected the original layout illustrated on the information board in the abbey…a midsummer ritual perhaps; all a bit Dennis Wheatley…

As we laid out our picnic feast in the late evening, the sky above us filled with swirling mass of corvids, we held our breath momentarily as they whirled around worried that they might take a fancy to the feast below.

Thankfully they settled in the trees beyond the abbey and we went on to enjoy our picnic of – 13 ingredient four cheese quiche (Flour, Butter, Eggs, Cheddar, Feta, Parmesan, Mozzarella Cheese, Salt, Pepper, Black Olives, Sundried Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Red Pepper); 13 Ingredient broccoli salad (Broccoli, Halloumi, Garlic, Spring Onions, Lentils, Walnuts, Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Chia Seeds, Olive Oil, Black Pepper, Lettuce, Rocket); 13 Ingredient grilled pineapple with marscapone (Pineapple, Butter, Soft Brown Sugar, Muscovado Sugar, Lemon Juice, Piri Piri Sauce, Black Pepper, Marscapone, Creme Fraiche, Vanilla Essence, Icing Sugar, Raspberries, Mint Leaves); 13 Pecan Nut Cookies.

thirteenfridays: Kenfig

Posted on June 22, 2018 by kathryncampbelldodd

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This week we visited Kenfig in the borough of Bridgend. Our decision to visit was guided by finding this article by artist Kristian Evans and reading about other hauntings and spooky goings on in the area. According to local folklore there are many phenomena to encounter in the area – ghostly music at the Prince of Wales inn; phantom funerals at nearby Porthcawl and Maudlam; phantom lights and the unearthly sounds of cyhyrraeth at Sker and Tusker – as Kritian suggests “Kenfig is plagued by ghosts. Things have reached epidemic proportions.”.

The dunes at Kenfig cover a wide area and an ancient village, the top of the castle keep can be seen poking out of the sand, perhaps the evocative idea of a lost village accounts for some of the stories in the area. Read more about the history of Kenfig and the abandoned village here.

Now a national nature reserve, we picnicked near the visitor centre with fewer dishes this week as it was just two of us. We enjoyed a 13 ingredient potato and fennel salad (Potatoes, Fennel, Onion, Garlic, Hard Boiled Eggs, Parsley, Dijon Mustard, Chive Flowers, White Wine Vinegar, Olive Oil, Salt, Sugar, Black Pepper); 13 stuffed baby peppers with 13 ingredients (Peppers, Rice, Cheddar Cheese, Walnuts, Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Olives, Capers, Onions, Black Pepper, Oregano, Thyme); A 13 ingredient courgette caponata (Celery, Red Onion, Courgette, Garlic, Baby Plum Tomatoes, Olive Oil, Red Wine Vinegar, Capers, Black Olives, Oregano, Thyme, Bay Leaf, Black Pepper) all served with slices of Bara Menyn bread and a green salad with nasturtium flowers.

For our dessert this week we had 13 mini lemon meringue pies, so lemony, so good…

thirteenfridays: Carmarthen

Posted on June 20, 2018 by Jacob Whittaker

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Our 13 week picnic marathon started on Friday 13 April, we’ll be visiting a haunted location every Friday until Friday 13 July 2018. Each week we set off armed with sound recording equipment, digital cameras and an original Polaroid camera – to take an unfakeable and unique Polaroid image at each location.
This week, to find out more about the ghostly sightings and stories of Carmarthen, we preceded our picnic with a Wednesday evening “Creepy Carmarthen” tour courtesy of Nick Brunger. Starting outside the guildhall, the towns court, we heard about the history of Carmarthen as a near lawless place akin to the ‘Wild West’, with many a highwayman and vagabond facing justice in the court before their final destination at the gallows in the castle.Walking from Guildhall sq up st Mary’s st we stopped outside the Andrew Price hair salon where Nick regaled us with the story of a contemporary haunting and an experiment in psychic communication. Using cards showing letters of the alphabet the spooky experiment revealed the name of the little girl who haunts the premises as Alice.The tour’s final destination is also the castle, which became the town police station and gaol. Over the years it has been the site of many spooky encounters, even as we gathered in the entrance room and listened to Nick telling the grisly history of the building a door to the upper floor’s old police barracks opened inexplicably.

The most frequent encounters, however, take place in the old gaol cells, where people have reported hearing sobbing, felt a hand on their shoulder and a presence in the room…our group crowded into the small, unlit, dank room to hear of these encounters but nothing was stirring in there that evening…

Having thoroughly enjoyed the tour we struggled to find a suitable location for a picnic in the castle grounds, the opening hours being affected by maintenance work. So instead our picnic destination was decided by unrelated stories of strange movements and encounters with an apparition of a soldier in the chapel of the former Bishop’s palace, now Carmarthenshire county museum in Abergwili.

For our picnic we had a 13 ingredient Pesto Pasta salad (Pine nuts, Pasta, Water, Pesto, Basil, Spinach, Tomatoes, Salt, pepper, Feta, Mozzarella, Cheddar, Olive oil ); A 13 ingredient Beetroot & Lentil salad (Puy lentils, Beetroot, Tomatoes, Red Onion, Fennel, Garlic, Flat Leaf Parsley, Kalamon Olives, Red Wine Vinegar; Olive Oil, Lemon Juice, Salt, Pepper); A 13 ingredient Cheese and Potato pie (Flour, Butter, Salt, Pepper, Water, Potatoes, Cheddar, Milk, Mozzarella, Mustard, Nutmeg, Oregano, Thyme); 13 mini Sosmix Sausages; A green salad with 13 baby plum tomatoes.

Following the savouries we enjoyed a 13 ingredient Rhubarb and Almond tart (Plain flour, Salt, water, Rhubarb, Butter, Caster sugar, Ground almonds, Egg, Brown sugar, Cocoa, Baking powder, Flaked almonds, Icing sugar) and 13 Strawberry and Cream sponges..

thirteenfridays: Craig-y-nos

Posted on June 8, 2018 by kathryncampbelldodd

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This week we went to visit the notoriously haunted Craig-y-nos Castle, a Victorian Gothic country house on the south-east edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park in the Upper Swansea Valleys. The house is surrounded by 40 acres of parkland, Craig-y-nos Country Park, which gives onto common land on the Brecon Beacons.

Craig-y-nos was once home to the internationally famous opera singer Adelina Patti who lived there from 1878 until her death in 1919.

We ate our picnic in the country park; 13 ingredient feta and spinach filo pastry pie (Filo Pastry, Feta Cheese, Spinach, Sorrel, Spring Onions, Pepper, Parsley, Pine Nuts, Walnuts, Nutmeg, Eggs, Olive Oil, Sesame Seeds); 13 ingredient salad (Spinach, Rocket, Red Gem Lettuce, Cress, Fennel, Radish, Tomatoes, Coriander, Sorrel, Sesame Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Linseeds); 13 ingredient potato salad (Potatoes, Green Beans, Black Olives, Gherkins, Capers, Caremelised garlic, Olive Oil, Coriander, White Wine Vinegar, Salt Pepper, Chives, Sesame seeds);

13 ingredient pistachio cake (Pistachio Nuts, Almonds, Flour, Baking Powder, Salt, Black Pepper, Butter, Caster Sugar, Vanilla essence, Eggs, Lemon Juice, Cream Cheese, Icing Sugar, Honey); 13 ingredient nut brittle (White Sugar, Cashew Nuts, Almonds, Hazelnuts, Walnuts, Peanuts, Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Sesame Seeds, Linseeds, Salt, Black Pepper, Cardamom).

We followed our picnic with a walk around the country park, once the estate of Craig-Y-Nos Castle, where we discovered an Oak tree planted by Adelina in 1914 and a games pavilion where Adelina would sometimes sing to entertain guests after a game of croquet. The ghost of Adelina apparently responds to the sound of her favourite song ‘Home sweet home’ which she recorded in the house in 1905. We played the song as we wandered the grounds but presumably Adelina was otherwise engaged…

Absent But Not Forgotten

Tag Archives: recipe

thirteenfridays : Hen Galan – Traddodiad Newydd

thirteenfridays: August 2021 – A Sinister Special

thirteenfridays: March 2020

thirteenfridays: Afon

thirteenfridays: Friday 13th July 2018

thirteenfridays: Pembrey

thirteenfridays: St Dogmael’s

Photo By Llywelyn2000 [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons

thirteenfridays: Kenfig

thirteenfridays: Carmarthen

thirteenfridays: Craig-y-nos