Seasons Archives • The Rabbit Hole

Learn, Learning process, Make, Seasons, Tutorials, Winter

Beeswax candle and a note on waiting

February 9, 2023 No Comments

There are few things as comfortable and meaningful as a lit candle. As I mentioned in one of my last posts, we are expecting a baby soon. Until a few months ago the feelings were mainly of excitement for the novelty, preparation and enjoying the pregnancy. Now the greatest feelings are patient waiting, fear and expectation. It is a feeling that seems precisely like the flame of a candle that is kept alight, fragile, waiting. Coincidence or not, this period coincides with winter, a time that encourages us to slow down, stop and wait, clinging to a small flame in the darkness of the season.

Enjoying a candle light

A few years ago I would have been the first to want to get through these cold grey months quickly. But since a couple years ago, I’ve learned to enthusiastically embrace the comforts of the season. I let myself be enveloped by the atmospheres and crafts I associate with winter. The winter kitchen, the cold walks, the moments catching the rare sun that peeks through, the knitting evenings, the series and movies to catch up on, the piles of books to read, the candles lit at dusk. All these things propel me into a state of hibernation with very particular aromas, light and textures. All of those seem to be captured throughout history, as shown in films, books and stories.

In an attempt to honour this feeling that seems to extend over time, I decided to make some candles. The easiest, but also the most beautiful, I have ever tried: beeswax sheet candles.

Beeswax candles

To make the beeswax candles you only need:

beeswax sheet
wick
a hair dryer

First, cut the beeswax sheet to the size of the candle you want to make. I used the width of an A4 sheet for the lenght of my candle and the whole length of the A4 sheet for the thickness of my candle. Any measurements will work. I don’t recommend making a very thick candle though because it creates tunneling effect. This is when the inside of the candle melts but the outside doesn’t follow along.

Then cut the wick about 2cm longer than the height of your candle. Overlap the wick over one end of the beeswax sheet equal to the height of your candle.

Using the hair dryer, slightly heat the end of the beeswax sheet that the wick is on until it is soft enough to be shaped. Start rolling the beeswax sheet over the wick paying attention not to break the wax sheet. You can heat it a little more to prevent it from breaking. Continue the heating and rolling process until the beeswax sheet is runs out.

Cut the wick about 1cm from the end to be lit and close to the wax at the bottom end of the candle. And that’s it! You have the candle with the perfect colour, light and scent to embrace the last month of winter accompanied by a book, a cup of tea and under a blanket!

Bake, Christmas, Cook, Homemade Goodies, Make, Seasons, Winter

Biscoff Christmas chocolates

December 24, 2022 No Comments

Before Christmas goes, I wanted to share with you a quick recipe for Biscoff chocolates. I made them just yesterday because I needed to wait to make them as fresh as I could before I gifted them. After tasting these Biscoff chocolates I though I couldn’t wait to share it with you. It’s the perfect Christmas card for you right on Christmas Eve!

This year…

This year, my major efforts during Christmas time have been preparing a handmade home for our coming baby. Because of that, I didn’t share many ideas for Christmas gifts. But you can find a lot of Christmas crafts here. Lately I have been making efforts to offer consumable handmade Christmas. A baked good or other type of handmade goodie is the best idea for that!

Biscoff chocolates recipe

I adapted my recipe from the one from Madeleine although I didn’t use vegan chocolate. If you use vegan chocolate, this Biscoff chocolates are 100% vegan since both biscoff biscuits and the spread are vegan.

I followed all her instructions, but just adapted a little bit the ingredients and the quantities. For my recipe I used:

– 250g Biscoff biscuits (it is an easier amount since it corresponds to a whole package of Biscoff biscuits)

– 200g plus 10-50g of Biscoff spread. You can go further and add as much as 250g of spread but I find that the best idea is to add the last 50g carefully to adjust the dough to the right consistency. I find that, here in Portugal, the best result is around 220g of Spread in winter. In the summer I will just add 200-210g. This prevents the chocolates to melt too much after coming out of the fridge. The important thing is that the dough is moldable by hand. That is the sweet spot!

– 200g of good dark chocolate. I used culinary chocolate because we do have one or two good culinary chocolate brands here in Portugal. If I am not able to find one of those, I will opt for a the best dark regular chocolate I can find. If you want to make this Biscoff chocolates vegan just use vegan chocolate.

Then I followed Madeleine’s instructions and voila! The easiest chocolates in the world that are soft and spicy. A very festive recipe to try and to gift.

I hope you have the best Christmas in 2022! Thanks for keep following!

Knit & Crochet, Make, Summer

Crochet Amigurumi named Jeremias

September 6, 2021 No Comments

I grabbed another amigurumi pattern I found in the book Animal Friends of Pica Pau by Yan Schenkel and made Jeremias, the frog!

Jeremias is a very talented amigurumi frog named after Miss Potter’s character.

He had an amazing olimpic carreer as a professional swimmer when he was a young frog. He traveled all arround the world with his team! After retiring from the olimpic games he wanted to use the amazing vocal sacs he developed as a professional swimmer. So he started to sing and training his voice instead! He met Paul McCartney who invited him to join his famous frog choir. Today Jeremias loves to pop into his crochet swimming shorts and dive into the river with his yellow fins. And then he hums some music under the summer hot sun!

Materials and a pattern review

As usual, to make Jeremias amigurumi I used cotton Catona Scheepjes yarn and simply followed the crochet pattern. I love cotton yarn crochet in summer: it’s light and cool in your hands. And I like it specially for amugurumi crochets. Plus, they are very simple and easy projects to make anywhere you go on vacations! As with the ones I already made, this crochet pattern was very easy to follow. In fact I think all Yan Schenkel Animal Friends patterns are very easy and perfect for beginners too. The thing I love the most is that they always inspire me to create a story arround the amugurumi I am making. Since I usually don’t keep them, I love to add a small story to fill their soul.

Perfect summer crochet project

After so many ocean and river swims I had, Jeremias turned out to be the perfect amugurumi crochet to end my summer season. And just in time to meet his new baby friend Lucas who may arrive anytime soon. What’s your next amigurumi project?

Cook, Preserve, Summer

Easy Homemade Pesto Recipe: done and gone!

August 9, 2021 No Comments

Homemade pesto sauce is one of the most versatile things I know. And basil is one of my favorite herbs that represents summer like no other. Who has never had a pot of basil in need of a trim after several months growing in the kitchen? Basil is an annual herb, an ingredient that appeals and brings back summer memories. It can hold up until the first days of cold weather but it will die before the freeze arrives. It’s in its genes. My basil pot had been in my kitchen for months. I grabbed a leaf here and there. With summer in full force, I couldn’t resist: I had to use it all up before lit goes wild!

I used only the traditional pesto ingredients for my pesto recipe.

At first the quantities were a guessing game until I got the version I liked the most. The improved recipe only involved a few septs. In a food processor, add a cup of fresh basil, half a cup of pine nuts roasted for 5 minutes on the stove, two cloves of garlic, extra virgin olive oil and parmesan cheese to taste. Then you just grind it adding more olive oil until you get the right consistency. In the end I always taste to correct the salt.

The homemade pesto sauce is ready to go!

I can’t talk enough about how good this pesto sauce is with just a good dose of wholegrain spaghetti (or other pasta really) and a few shavings of parmesan. And nothing else! Any fresh pesto pasta can go the all way from a starter dish, but it’s so good that I insist on making it as the main dish. For the more demanding ones I suggest pesto with walnuts in your pasta and more basil leaves to crunch. It’s the best!

Pesto sauce can be used in many different ways and the second best is, without a doubt, is to add it to some beautiful tomato and mozzarella cheese to a classic pesto salad for a summer picnic. But it’s also perfect as a pesto dip for crackers or nachos, in a pesto pizza, pesto gnocchi. Add it to any stuffed pasta like tortellini to a pesto pasta salad, or to a baked pesto chicken or baked pesto potatoes with a touch of lemon.

Fresh pesto sauce recipes, especially homemade pesto, should be refrigerated with an extra layer of olive oil and must be consumed within a week or two. It is certainly superior to any pesto sauce you can buy at the supermarkets. Mine only lasted about 2 days, just because it was so so good. Anyone else with a basil needing a trim?