When I first came across this recipe, I was excited to add a new sauce to my collection. But as I gathered the ingredients, I had a bit of a realization—this isn’t just any sauce. It’s applesauce, with apple cider simmered right in.

At first, I wasn’t sure how much of a difference that would make. After all, applesauce is applesauce… right?

Wrong. This turned out to be next-level applesauce. The cider doesn’t just moisten the apples—it infuses them with a deep, rich flavor. As the cider cooks down, it concentrates into a warm, almost caramelized essence that amplifies the natural sweetness of the apples. The end result tastes so complex and cozy, you’d swear it had spices in it—even though it doesn’t.

Yes, it’s technically a fall recipe. But trust me—flag this one for the next apple season. You won’t regret it.

New England Apple Cider Sauce
Adapted from the New England Cookbook, c. 1970s

Makes: 6–8 servings

Note: I halved the original recipe, and this version still makes plenty!

Ingredients:

• 5 lb. apples, cored and chopped (I used Cortland)
• 1 quart apple cider (4 cups)
• 1 cup sugar

Core and chop the apples. Peeling is not necessary—leaving the skins on adds color and a bit of texture, plus extra pectin which helps thicken the sauce naturally.

In a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, bring the apple cider to a boil. Lower the heat to a brisk simmer and let it reduce by about one-third (roughly 15–20 minutes). This concentrates the flavor without risking scorching from an overly long boil.

Add the chopped apples and sugar to the reduced cider. Stir well. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 1/5 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the apples are very soft. If it seems too watery, continue simmering uncovered for another 10–15 minutes until thickened to your liking.

Spoon into sterilized jars if you plan to preserve it, or cool and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

This summer, we’re venturing deep into the realm of the fae with Summer in Faerie 2025—a season-long creative journey filled with enchanted recipes, whimsical crafts, and a touch of garden magic.

I wanted to take a quick moment to clarify what patrons over on Patreon can expect this summer.

🌟 What You Get as a Patron:

All patrons, regardless of level, receive:

• Participation in polls & creative challenges
• Early access to recipes, lore, and behind-the-scenes posts
• Access to seasonal recipes, crafts, and wonders—exclusive to Patreon until the end of the season
• A say in the direction of my work—including cookbook content, seasonal events, and worldbuilding!

Paid members (any tier) also gain access to exclusive content from The Adventurer’s Cookbook—my magnum opus project. You’ll get behind-the-scenes insights, historical tidbits, fantasy lore, and a look at how I bring it all together. Essentially, you’ll be with me every step of the way as I build a cookbook from scratch. During this summer season, we’ll be focusing on the section of the AC that touches on elven foods.

🌸 Seasonal Rewards | Summer in Faerie 2025

Supporters who stay for all three months of the Summer in Faerie season (June–August) will receive:

• A digital Summer in Faerie thank-you badge
• An exclusive recipe PDF or mini-zine compiling the season’s best recipes & crafts
• Recognition in the final Summer in Faerie post or zine (opt-out available)

PLUS — For $15+ Tier Patrons (all 3 months):
Those who support at $15+ for the full season earn the honorary title “Bearer of the Summer Sigil” and A mailed Summer in Faerie sticker badge, and can choose a handmade reward from the Pick-a-Perk Treasure Pool, possibly to include handmade or found faerie treasure, such as:

• Sealing wax bead sampler
• Pressed clover or flower charm
• Small phial of Vermont river garnets
• Spice or herb blends
• Hand-pressed flower bookmark or card
• Decorative recipe card or mini print
• Historical herbal salves
• Herkimer diamonds
• …and more!

Your support—both financial and emotional—keeps the magic alive. It fuels my recipe testing, photography, research, and storytelling, and makes this cozy, whimsical world possible.

I hope you all will join us over on Patreon. Let’s make some magic this summer! ✨

“Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,
For I would ride with you upon the wind,
Run on the top of the disheveled tide,
And dance upon the mountains like a flame.”
— W.B. Yeats, The Land of Heart’s Desire

This summer, I’m stepping through the garden gate—and you’re invited to follow.

From June through August, I’ll be loosely guiding my creative work with a seasonal theme: Summer in Faerie. It’s a celebration of strange beauty, edible wonder, and stories that shimmer at the edges of the everyday.

Not every post will be about faeries, but the spirit of the season will be there—in every honey-drizzled berry, moonlit dessert, and flower-laced recipe. You’ll still find historical research, updates from The Adventurer’s Cookbook, and plenty of behind-the-scenes chaos—but this time, kissed by enchantment.

Expect:

🧚 Tiny treats and faerie-sized foods—tiny tarts, petal-wrapped cheeses, wild berries in honey syrup
🌸 Recipes with edible flowers, foraged greens, and ingredients from my garden
🧀 Experimental creations like petal-laced cheeses and glittering green wines
📝 Lore-rich nods to ACOTAR, The Folk of the Air, Redwall, LotR, and beyond
🌿 Craft projects for all ages—fairy garden furniture, twinkling windchimes, pressed flower lanterns, and more
🍷 Drinks both historical and fantastical—rosehip punch, glimmerwine, and dew-sweet cordials
🧺 Perhaps even a secret garden party… and a seasonal zine to bring it all together

For the duration of the season, all of the content will live on Patreon, where all supporters (paid or not) can access:

• Early access to recipes, with full-resolution photos
• Patreon-only posts, experiments, and lore
• Voting power and input on what we explore next
• A cozy spot in the story as it unfolds

If you’ve ever dreamed of sharing a twilight feast, or sipping something sparkling beneath the elder trees—now’s your moment. Come join me where the garden ends and the fairy tale begins.

👉 Join the faerie circle on Patreon

Pull up a toadstool. Stay a while. We’re just getting started… ✨

“Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,
For I would ride with you upon the wind,
Run on the top of the disheveled tide,
And dance upon the mountains like a flame.”
— W.B. Yeats, The Land of Heart’s Desire

This summer, we’re stepping through the garden gate and into something a little more magical. I’m excited to share that I’m starting a seasonal initiative, whereby June through August will be loosely guided by a new seasonal theme: Summer in Faerie. 

What does that mean?

It means that while not every post will be about faeries, the season as a whole will be inspired by the kind of strange beauty that might be found in a mossy glade or at the edge of a twilight feast. You’ll still see historical recipes, research tidbits, and plenty of behind-the-scenes peeks at The Adventurer’s Cookbook, but many will be infused with the flavors, flowers, and folklore of an enchanted summer.

Expect:

• 🧚‍♀️ Tiny treats and faerie-sized foods—tiny tarts, petal-wrapped cheeses, and wild berries in honey syrup
• 🌸 Recipes featuring edible flowers, foraged greens, and ingredients from my own gardens
• 🧀 Experimental recipes like salt-free cheeses, moon-pale desserts, and glittering green wines
• 📝 A special focus on the worlds of ACOTAR, The Folk of the Air series, LotR, Redwall, Tales of the Shire, and more!
• 📸 Dreamy photoshoots, reels, and behind-the-scenes chaos from my kitchen and garden
• 🌿 Craft ideas for both adults and kids – fairy garden furniture, pressed flower lanterns, and so much more!
• 🍷 Drinks both historical and imaginary—from rosehip punch to glimmerwine
• 🧺 And quite possibly… a secret garden party finale, and a zine to compile everything from the season! 👀

All Patrons, whether you’re able to pay or not, get some pretty cool perks:

• Early access to every recipe, with full-resolution images and styled shots
• Exclusive content only on Patreon
• Bonus lore and storytelling
• Patreon-only experiments and misadventures
• Input on how the season develops

So come join us in the part of the forest where the real magic happens.

Pull up a toadstool. Stay a while. We’re just getting started…

Thoughts:

I know it’s been a while since we visited the Seven Kingdoms, but while digging through some old drafts, I found this gem—unpublished for nine years! I don’t know how I let this slip so far through the cracks, but I’m delighted to share it now!

The silky texture and unexpected combination of flavors in this soup is a true delight. While it’s equally delicious served hot or cold, I love it as a warm welcome after coming in from chores or a crisp autumn hike. The apple and parsnip meld beautifully, and the gentle spices give it a festive, almost holiday feel.

The only thing I might change? Roasting the parsnips next time. Even better—roast them in the coals of a fire before adding them to the soup. That would lend an incredible smoky depth, and apart from the puréeing step, it would make a perfect campfire dish. I’ve bookmarked it for future experimentation!

Where in Westeros?

This is a decadent, profoundly northern-feeling soup. The basic ingredients are found across Westeros, but the spices suggest a well-provisioned kitchen in a wealthier household—Winterfell comes to mind instantly. I imagine it served beside a slab of crusty bread, toasted over the hearth and slathered with a generous scrape of butter.

Recipe for Apple-Parsnip Soup

serves: 2       prep: ~10 minutes       cooking: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs. butter
• 3 shallots, sliced thin
• 1 leek, white and pale green parts
• 2 parsnips, peeled and chopped small
• 2 tart apples, peeled, cored, chopped
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup apple cider or juice
• pinch each ground cardamom, nutmeg, and cinnamon
• 1 Tbs. juniper berries, crushed
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

In a medium skillet, melt the butter. Add the shallots and leeks, and cook until they are soft, 3-5 minutes. Add the parsnips and apples, tossing to coat in butter, then pour in the two liquids. Bring to a simmer, and continue to cook until the vegetables are very soft, 30 minutes or so. With a submersible blender, puree the whole mix until the texture is smooth. Add the spices, and place the juniper berries in a small mesh bag or tea strainer, which you then suspend in the soup. Simmer for another 15 minutes or so, then remove the juniper berries. If needed, puree again. Remove from heat and stir in the cream. Serve hot or cold, sprinkled with a little extra spice for garnish.

One of my quick fixes to get me through part of this winter was a pretty hefty binge into the worlds of the videogame No Man’s Sky. It’s an immersive, open world space exploration game, and one of my favorite parts is scanning new flora and fauna on unexplored planets.

And, I mean, how amazing would that actually be? At least on worlds a little less inclined to murder red-shirts… It’s something that has really struck me as I started watching Scavenger’s Reign, also. It would be astonishing to suddenly have literally out-of-this-world ingredients to play with.

At any rate, until that day comes, we’ll have to make do with Earth ingredients!

In-game, the jam is created in a nutrient processor by combining Fireberries (found on scorched planets) and Processed Sugar (made from a variety of fruits). The “berries” look a lot like chili peppers, so both image and name fit the spicy profile. It’s described as having a flavor profile that is “otherworldly, chromatic, vivid”, which is both really fun, and not a whole lot to go on.

For my version, I opted for a mango base and blended spices like Aleppo pepper, ginger, grains of paradise, and long pepper for a lasting and varied burn. The result is a thick condiment that balances sweetness with a slow-building heat. It’s amazing paired with cheeses, or on a slice of toast, or probably atop some yogurt and granola, although mine didn’t last long enough to test that particular idea. And that shimmer from the edible glitter does give it a dash of that interstellar pizazz.

Everburning Jam Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup mango, diced small (frozen and thawed is fine)
• 2 Tbs. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. dried Aleppo pepper flakes
• ½ tsp. long pepper
• ¼ tsp. grains of paradise
• 1 Tbs. honey
• 1 tsp. turmeric
• Pinch of salt
• 2 Tbs. candied ginger, diced
• dash of cinnamon oil
• pink food coloring (optional)
• ¼ tsp edible red glitter

Combine the sugar, mango, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

Add in the spices and salt, and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes, until the mango is quite soft, then stir in the candied ginger, cinnamon oil, and food coloring and cook for a final 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the edible glitter.

The jam should keep for several weeks in the fridge. If you wish to seal it into jars, follow all standard canning procedures carefully.

Here’s a recipe I made last month for my daughter’s 5th birthday. She is in a shieldmaiden phase of her life (the first of many, I hope!), and has been especially interested in all things Viking, including “old letters”, or runes.

So in addition to a rather stunning crow cake surrounded by sparkly edible crow treasures, I thought it would be fun to make her some rune cookies, as well! I made several of her favorite designs, and then brushed the runes with some edible luster powder to give them a shimmery magical flair.

She’s 5, and knows her own mind, so she wasn’t a big fan of the flavor, but I found myself sneaking cookie after cookie for days, especially with a mug of tea or coffee. The flavor is subtle, but satisfying, and that little touch of magic might just be what gave me the extra oomph to power through the holiday-packed month of February (3 birthdays, and Valentine’s Day, our second biggest family holiday!). So here’s hoping it brings a little magic to you, as well!

Rune Shortbread Cookies

Note: I found that the cookie crumbles gave the cookies enough interesting color, but you could also add food coloring, if so inclined, to give the cookies a little more grey or brown tone.

Makes: about 2 dozen   –   Prep: 30 minutes   –   Baking: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup crumbled chocolate cookies (I used Oreos)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• edible luster dust (optional, but looks like magic!)

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and powdered sugar until it’s light and fluffy, then add in the vanilla extract, salt, and cookie crumbles. Gradually mix in the flour until you’ve got a pretty soft dough that doesn’t crumble apart.

To form the cookies, begin pinching off pieces of the dough and forming into balls roughly 1-2″ across. Using a rolling pin or the flat bottom of a glass, press the dough flat into a roughly stone-shape, reforming any cracks that might appear. Set the cookies on a baking sheet.

To make the Runes, I used the end of a wooden chopstick to press the shapes into the dough. I went with Norse Runes, but you could make any shapes you like! Chill the shaped and stamped cookies in the fridge while the oven preheats to 350°F.

Bake the cookies for around 15 minutes, until just turning golden on the edges. Remove from heat and allow to cool until they can be handled. (it may take several batches to bake all the cookies, depending on the size of your oven and baking sheets)

Using a clean small paintbrush, brush the edible luster powder onto the runes to give them a magical shimmer.

It feels both strange and natural to find myself always coming back to The Inn.

It’s somewhere I’ve dwelt, at least partly, for over a decade now, and in my heart, probably much longer than that. This past weekend, I had the chance to remind myself why I do what I do, and how much it matters to me.

One thing you might not know about me is that I throw one hell of a themed party. For several years, I’ve thrown a Midsummer Fae party, with various sub-themes changing each year according to the fae court hosting: Flowers and Funghi, Ravens and Rivers, Moonlight and Forest Shadows, that sort of thing. Last year was the last of those in the old house, and it felt bittersweet because of it.

So it felt absolutely right, as the chaos of the last couple of years began to clear, amidst the lingering madness of renovating a new home and (STILL!) waiting for the old one to sell, of divorce and an old-friend-turned-new-partner, and of two clever and wildly strong-willed kids under the age of 5, to throw the most elaborate party yet: Corsairs and Sea Fae.

And because my new place has a barn that’s even longer than the house, I finally got the chance to start building out a tavern. A key difference between this location and the old house is that I have much less land/yard/woodland to work with now. But a properly cool barn from the 1800s that was one of the big selling points for me when it came to choosing this house for the next couple of years. I wasn’t sure of the theme of the party when I did my first walkthrough, but it radiated potential.

The concept: a shipwreck, where a former Corsair queen’s ship was driven against the rocks of Crackhull Isle. But the nearby Sea Fae, impressed by her courage, befriended the queen and began an alliance between their two peoples. The party was a meeting between both sides to strengthen those bonds of friendship. So the barn became the wreck of The Raven, with parts of it submerged and parts above the waterline. There was a vibrant reef with jellyfish, an alcove for a fortune teller, a quieter lounge adjacent to the noisier tavern, and the tavern itself; lawn games and challenges of skill and strength had been planned for outside, but were rained out.

Upstairs was my pet project: a ship’s deck with furled sails, fabric alcoves for whispering and mischief, a ship’s wheel, and a long feast table set for dinner. My cohost Ciel worked absolute wonders on the floral arrangements up there, with an installation of lights and fresh flowers, an explosion of dahlias, zinnias, gomphrena, hydrangea, verbena, sedum, and autumn wildflowers that dripped down over the table in an impossibly lush arrangement. And the best part was, we kept the entire ship’s deck a surprise from everyone. So the moment they all walked across the planks upstairs to the sound of a creaking ship, and ducked below a beam onto the deck with audible gasps, was a triumph.

But after all of that, the dinner and lush desserts, the heart of the party was the tavern. It’s where folks returned to again and again, where raucous games of Liar’s Dice took place, the grog flowed, and new friendships were forged.

And you know what? Despite the work involved, and the months of brainstorming, the weeks of setup, I can’t wait to do it all over again. We’re even toying with the idea of creating a side-business doing small specialty events like this. Or renting out all the crazy fun props and dishware I’ve acquired over the years to other stylists and photographers. Cobbling together multiple businesses is definitely a Vermont thing, from snow-plowing to maple sugaring, so this would be my version of that, I suppose!

But it’s tricky, in so many ways. We throw ourselves at the prep for an event like this (and it shows!) but we are only 2-3 people, and everything is so often right down to the wire that I don’t have time to play with food, which is something I’d love to incorporate into the parties again. I had a whole pinboard of food ideas I didn’t get to try out (a theme for October, perhaps?)

Putting magic into this world, and inviting others to step over the threshold between this world and another, is where I am happiest, I think. It’s what I’ve done with my cookbooks and recipes, and something that’s very important to me. I want to find new ways to do that!

So what do you think? I know there are many elaborate (and expensive!) Fae balls and such being thrown out there, but what about a smaller, more intimate sort of event? Or a tavern setting for gaming in the evenings? Or something wild and awesome I haven’t even yet considered? Is there something in all of that you’d enjoy attending or hearing more about?

Huge shout-outs to the teams behind the scenes: my co-host and partner Mark, who labored into the night so we had benches for dinner, and generally Got Things Done; my co-host and co-dreamer Ciel (@skyinfrench) who always brings such vision and stretch goals to bear on these endeavors; Nick (@nmj_pottery_and_gardens) for growing us such incredible flowers; Talia and Sarah for their annual efforts, Orion, and the slew of friends, grandparents, and neighbors who all pitched in to make this party happen.