It’s Friday, so Relax-a-Latte: An Extraordinary Fairy Tea Latte

Last night Jenn and I were working on the next Fable Tribe update, wirewrapping Glamourkins as Maddie prepared the bleach mixture for my hair (which was pretty exciting!  I never bleach my hair because it’s already blonde, so dyeing it pink is easy-peasy, but we’re doing Pink! Magick! to my hairs, so bleach was required.  ;D  <3).  Everything was so cozy in Sparkle Star Manor as we worked together, as enchanting things began to come into the world while we cut tiny bits of paper and bent wire.

“You know what would make this moment better?” I announced to Maddie and Jenn.  When I announce these sorts of things, my companions usually raise an eyebrow and give me an indulgent smile, because I’m probably going to announce something like “A VISIT TO A NATURE CONSERVATORY A HUNDRED MILES AWAY!”  But there is a time for adventure, and a time for cozy magick.  And this was a cozy magick moment.

And only one thing could make it better…

“I’m going to make us tea lattes,” I told the ladies with a mischievous smile.

We have a bit of a tea cult at Sparkle Star Manor.  I’ve been drinking tea since I was a little girl–nothing spells comfort to me more than a hand-made pottery mug poured to the brim with piping hot water, a tea strainer filled to bursting with herbs and tea leaves submerged into the warm depths.  There’s magick in tea, plain and simple, the kind of magick that can ease a hurting heart or an upset stomach, the kind of magick that can give you a brilliant idea for a novel or a piece of jewelry or a song.  As an artist and a writer, I can tell you with firm conviction:  there’s a muse in every cup of tea.

One of our favorite local tea shops last year, Taste in East Aurora, came out with a drink that the minute Jenn saw on the menu, she had to try.  And then I had to try to, because when the barista handed Jenn the steaming mug of soy milk and tea, I got a single whiff of it, and a sip, and I was hooked forevermore.

There’s something so deeply fairy about drinking flowers.  And this cup of tea was brimming with them:  chamomile and lavender and jasmine.  It was a bouquet for all the senses, with the swirling cream-color of the soy milk, turned honey-golden by the chamomile tea, the lavender and jasmine spiraling up with the steam as if an entire fairy ring was dancing on the brim of the cup.

We got home and set to work figuring out what exactly had gone into that tea latte, and after a little bit of tinkering, we came up with something that was spot on, and without the soy.  It’s a creamy, floral concoction that we drink a lot of in the spring, but is wonderful and bewitching any time of year.  Drink this to relax after a hard day or when you want some calm time for your brain to blossom open with an amazing new idea.

Relax-a-Latte:  A Fairy Tea Latte

You will need:

–  One and a half cups of coconut milk (or any non-dairy milk you prefer.  A note:  almond milk tends to separate when it’s heated, so I might shy away from almond)

–  One tablespoon of Jasmine flavor syrup (We use Monin–ask your coffee shop if they can order it in for you.  If they use Monin syrups in their drinks, they probably can!)

–  One tablespoon of Lavender flavor syrup (see above!)

–  Two bags of chamomile tea, or two heaping tablespoons of chamomile flowers

Heat the coconut milk on the stove in a shallow pan–you can also microwave it, but I love stirring the coconut milk as it heats up–it makes the act of creating the latte more magickal as I can set the intention while stirring.

Once the milk is hot (not boiling, but very steamy!), take off the burner.  In your mug of choice, place the teabags or chamomile flowers (if you’ll be using pure chamomile flowers, it’s going to be pretty messy, but very pretty when you’re done drinking!  Read those flowers like tea leaves!  ;D), and the tablespoons of lavender and jasmine flavor syrups.

Pour the milk over all of these, and stir well.  Add more flavor syrup to taste to increase sweetness or a specific flavor.

Drink the magick!  Enjoy!  <3

Sparkle Star Plague House!

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AND OTHERS, we apologize for the radio silence this week. I know, I know, we had the gall to launch a blog and promise to deliver sparkles beyond your comprehension, deliver only one recipe, and then NOTHING. But rest assured, this was a strange and unlikely week at The Manor.

It started on Monday–Dyngus Day, a Polish-Catholic holiday that involves pussy willow attacks and squirting water. As a non-Polish (that I know of), non-Catholic (by any stretch of the imagination), I don’t really get it, but I like a party. It seems like it has very pagan roots, probably as a fertility holiday since it falls between Ostara/Easter and Beltane/May Day which are both all about the fertility. (Although, Beltane is especially about what to DO with all that fertility. Ahem.)

Look at all these Polish people come out for pussy willow and squirt guns…

Before the parade was over, I was pretty sure that if I didn’t get home soon, one of these half-drunk parade goers was going to be covered in the delicious orange chocolate avocado smoothie I had for a late lunch.

I’ll spare you the details, but I haven’t been that legitimately sick (hang overs don’t count) since I was in kindergarten and had the stomach flu. I couldn’t keep anything down, could hardly stay awake long enough to puke, chills, fever–the works. It may have been food poisoning, but possibly a virus–The Ladies had some of the other symptoms throughout the week. It wasn’t until just this morning that my body stopped feeling like the bones and muscles were being crushed by some invisible external force, but certain smells and foods are still not acceptable to my body. It’s definitely messed with my whole “paleo thing.”

So, EXTREME illness is the reason behind the blog silence. That, and we don’t actually have the internet at The Manor for REASONS that we’ll probably cover in another post.

But there’s lots of lovely stuff we want to post about SOON, so stay tuned!

For now, I leave you with a very goofy picture of Lord Boofington (also known as Rusty).

So regal. So Boof.

The Tea Room, Plus Lemon Rosemary Shortbread Cookies (Vegan, Paleo)

It’s only been a few weeks since the Ladies moved in, but we’ve begun to develop a cozy little routine. As you may or may not know, Sarah and Jenn are full-time authors. They spend their days hard at work, fingers to keyboards, writing and publishing their own work. Most of the time, this means they work from home. I, on the other hand, am still a bit of an office drone–though I like my job well enough, and I’m treated fairly, it’s not my dream career (which is obviously telling stories in some capacity). I’m up and gone by 7:30 every morning, work a hectic 8 hour shift without technically taking a lunch break, and return around 4:30 every evening.

As the weather is still mostly cool (if not COLD) around here, we’ve begun a ritual of having tea on the front porch every afternoon when I come home. It’s not really a porch, per se, so much as a sun room, or a three-season porch, or whatever you call it in your neck of the woods; at The Manor, we’ve begun to call it the tea room. It’s quite possibly my favorite room in the whole house. When the sun does decide to come out, the tea room gets very warm and cozy. In the summer, it’s basically a sauna–but I love the heat so it’s still my favorite room, even at 100+ degrees.

Let me show you it:

I don’t know why that upper right picture looks so purple, but this is one of the few rooms in the house that is not actually purple. Also that is indeed an electric fireplace at the end of the room, and it is VERY cozy, thank you very much. And the cat snoozing on the chair in the bottom right is Jenn’s cat Penguin, The Elder (title given to him just now, by me).

Anyway, onto what you’re really here for: COOKIES.

Because I’m a kid at heart (another way of saying “emotionally stunted”?) I always enjoy a little “after school” snack, especially since we usually don’t end up eating dinner until after 8pm. But snacks are hard to come by when you’re grain-free, sugar-free, over-processed-garbage-free, and you try to keep your carbohydrates below a certain daily total so as not to anger the Blood Sugar Gods. And they’re even harder to come by when you want your snack to pair nicely with a cup of tea.

Enter: Lemon-Rosemary Shortbread Cookies (Paleo, Vegan)

I found the original recipe at Ruled.me, but tweaked it a little bit to fit our needs (replaced butter with coconut oil, replaced Splenda with 1/2 xylitol, 1/2 coconut sugar). The results? Blissful. (I’m sure they’d be even more mouth watering with real, pastured, delicious butter, but I’m willing to sacrifice my love of butter to share cookies with my vegan friends).

Ingredients:

• 6 Tbsp. Butter (OR coconut oil if you want these vegan)
• 2 Cups Almond Flour
• 1/3 Cup granulated sweetener (we used 1/6 cup xylitol, 1/6 cup coconut sugar)
• 1 Tbsp. Freshly Grated Lemon Zest
• 4 tsp. Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 2 tsp. Rosemary (we used fresh)
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

Alchemical Process (Alchemy was born in the kitchen!):

1. Mix almond flour, granulated sweetener, baking soda, and baking powder until thoroughly combined.
2. Zest your lemon until you have 1 tablespoon of fresh zest; juice the lemon for 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice; then finely chop 2 teaspoons of fresh rosemary.
3. In the microwave or over the stove, melt the butter or coconut oil. Combine butter/coconut oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, and rosemary in a medium mixing bowl.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the mix slowly, stirring as you go, until everything is mixed. Get in there with your hands if you need too and be certain there are no clumps or clusters.
5. When the dough is thoroughly mixed, shape it into a log about as thick as your wrist and wrap it up in plastic wrap. Place the wrapped dough in the freezer for 30 minutes, or until hard.
6. When the dough is hard, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. While the oven is pre-heating, unwrap your dough-log and, using a very sharp knife, slice the dough into 1/2 inch slices. If the dough crumbles, either your knife is too dull or the dough needs to go back into the freezer.
7. Grease your baking sheets with salted butter or coconut oil sprinkled with a small amount of salt; place your dough slices on the sheets, about 12 cookies per sheet.
8. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
9. When the cookies are done, allow them to cool for about 10 minutes, and enjoy with a nice cup of tea or coffee!

Stats: 93 Calories, 4g Carbs (3g net), 8g Fat, 2g Protein

These keep very well in the refrigerator for a long time, but they’re best within the first week.

If you try the recipe, let us know what you think!

(Alternative) Lifestyles of the Weird and Creative: What To Expect From This Blog

After much deliberation it has been decided that this is a lifestyle blog (try not to think of those blogs that give men advice on how to wax their mustaches and tie a bow tie and when to call a lady after you get her number). As with most lifestyle blogs, it will be fairly self-indulgent, highly voyeuristic, and hopefully at least a little helpful and/or inspirational. But mostly we (Sarah, Jenn, and I) will be posting about the hilarious/delicious/adventurous/ingenious things we partake in here at The Manor; Sarah’s posts will probably have the most squee! in them, Jenn’s will probably be the most graceful and delightful, and mine will probably be the most clunky and erratic. ;D

Here are some things you can expect to see on this blog:

• Recipe posts! Sarah and I are kitchen adventurers who love to experiment. We also have several dietary restrictions (some self-imposed, some due to food sensitivities): Sarah is vegan and gluten-free, and I’m primal (very similar to paleo but not quite) and processed-soy-free. When we come up with recipes that work for both of us they are made of real, whole, healthy foods and they are MAGICAL and DELICIOUS.
• Pet posts! Go ahead and call us all a bunch of crazy cat ladies. We don’t mind. With eight cats and four dogs between us, there is always something happening in The Manor to make us roll our eyes or go “dawww.” And we all know that the internet pretty much exists to host adorable pictures of animals, so it is our duty to contribute!
• Stuff We Love posts! As this is a blog that is supposed to be fun and full of sparkles, it’s also going to be a place where we can squee! about things we discover and love. Everything from nail polish to books, movies, tea blends, fabulous hats–whatever is currently making us even sparklier!
• Queen City posts! We live in the Irish Heritage district (though only one of us is even a fraction Irish) in Buffalo, NY and we love our little city. Buffalo gets a bad rap, but there’s a lot more to it than abandoned steel mills and a style of chicken wings. We would love nothing more than to show that to you through our own adventures in the city.
• Magical posts! Fair warning if you know yourself to be intolerant: witchcraft and magic is a part of our lifestyle as much as anything else. Pagans, heathens, New Agers, whatever you want to call us, the three of us have made spirituality a daily practice and a consideration in all things. You can expect some spiritual musings, magical experiments, kitchen witchery, and plenty of ideas about how to incorporate magic into your daily life.
• Pretty posts! Sometimes things inside and going on around The Manor are just so pretty we want to share them with the world.

I’m sure there will be more, but these are some of the basics that we’re most excited about sharing with you. I already have a recipe for vegan+primal tea cookies that I can’t wait to share; there will probably be a bike-ride-post category; we’ve even been talking about an occasional (terribly drawn) comic strip!

Basically, this blog is our playground.

So come play with us!

I leave you with this picture of a meditating garden gnome that I saw on a walk the other day. (Where can I get one of these?!)

photo by me

 

 

Welcome to Sparkle Star Manor

On March 28th, 2014, WORLDS COLLIDED and three awesome ladies (four dogs, eight cats, two fish, and one bird) changed their lives forever! This is their story.

The Manor

Maddie and Rusty (Lord Boofington)

There was once an author named Madeline Claire Franklin who enjoyed writing strange fiction about demons and ghosts and girls made of patchwork. She was obsessed with realizing the true magic in our world by any means necessary–through collecting Tarot card readings, traveling to foreign lands, and most importantly through the act of telling stories.

One day, she found herself in possession of a lovely yellow house in a lovely little town, with a lovely little dog and three lovely little cats. But the lovely yellow house was much too big for just herself and her lovely little family.

Sarah + Jenn

Meanwhile, in a land far far away, there lived two authors madly in love with one another: Sarah Diemer and Jennifer Diemer.  They wrote books about girls who love girls, who kick ass and take names, finding the courage to fight for what they believe in, while experiencing magic and monsters along the way. They had lived and loved in a little cottage that had been their perfect first home together, but now they wanted to move on with their lives, sell their home, and continue their journey together in the lands that they’d always dreamed of.

As fate would have it, Madeline Claire Franklin and Sarah Diemer were the best of friends! They had been through everything together, had helped each other learn and grow, and tell the best of stories. One day the obvious solution to all their problems was made clear: Sarah and Jenn would move into the lovely yellow house with Maddie for a year (or so) while they sold their cottage, and together they would tell more stories than they’d ever told before.

And so, these three ladies came together in the lovely yellow house and christened it Sparkle Star Manor. For beneath its roof there would be more sparkles than this world has ever seen–and they would share these sparkles (and their stories) with the world.

Welcome to Sparkle Star Manor.