Weather –As Bartholomew’s
Day, so the whole autumn.
If Bartelmy’s day be fair
and clear,
Hope for a prosperous autumn
that year.
St. Bartholomew brings the
cold dew.
If it rains on Bartholomew’s
day, it will rain the forty days after.
however
St. Bartholomew’s mantle
wipes dry all the tears that St. Swithin can cry.
[Yesterday was the last of St. Swithin’s Forty Days and the weather should be more settled now. Should be.]
Thunderstorms after
Bartholomew’s Day are more violent [compared
to what?]
If the day be misty, the
morning beginning with a hoar frost, then cold weather can be expected soon,
and a hard winter.
Saint Bartholomew
Brings the cold dew.
Saint Bartholomew shortens
our afternoons.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
There is more about Saint
Bartholomew, Apostle and Martyr, here.
In Belgium, servant girls
were told to stay out of the cabbage field today, with the reason being that
St. Bartholomew didn’t want their prying eyes watching him as he made the
cabbage heads larger. [I think it was to
keep the servant girls from meeting the farm boys out in the fields to make
whoopee. ‘Cause we all know what
that leads to… “Mom, where did I
come from?” “The cabbage-patch.”]
And for some reason, people in
Brittany and Belgium who suffered from catalepsy used to gather on St.
Bartholomew’s eve at their local church and trip the light fantastic. [And I will bet that there were more than a
few non-sufferers- or at least just-suddenly-came-down with the malady –
dancing the night away. Anything
for a party!]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Today is also dedicated to
Saint Ouen (Owen) of Rouen.
And today in 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted and shortly thereafter buried Pompeii and Herculaneum.
So, Fruit Leather for St.
Bartholomew and Periwinkles for St. Ouen.
For Vesuvius, LAVA CAKES. One of Saint Bartholomew's miracles was to move a volcano away from a group of very, very nervous people and send it out to sea, so the recipe goes with his day as well.
I found this recipe on the
inside of a Challenge Butter package, and is here reproduced with permission of
Challenge Dairy Products, Inc., on
whose website - www.challengedairy.com
- you can find more delightful recipes.
1/2 cup (1-stick) Challenge
Butter, melted
7 Tablespoons unsweetened
cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons all purpose
flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 400°
F.
Use approximately 1
Tablespoon of the melted butter to brush the inside of six 4-ounce ramekins or
custard cups; set aside.
In a large bowl, beat
together remaining melted butter, cocoa powder, sugars, flour and salt.
Stir in eggs until smooth. Stir in vanilla.
Pour batter into the
prepared ramekins and set the ramekins in a large baking dish. Pour hot
water into the baking dish to a level about halfway up the side of the
ramekins.
Bake for 14-15 minutes until
the batter puffs but the center is not set. The edges will be firm but
the center will be runny.
[How can you tell? Same as you would for a cake - with a toothpick
- except that this time, you want to see the toothpick come out "not
clean"].
Serve the cakes in the
ramekins or run a knife around the edge of each cake and unmold onto plates [the buttering previously helps a lot with
this]. Serve the cakes warm or chilled. Garnish with raspberry
sauce, fresh berries, vanilla ice-cream or a dusting of powdered sugar.
===============================================================
ARTWORK: “Saint Bartholomew”
from the Hours of Catherine of Cleves,
15TH century.
“Saint Bartholomew” woodcut
from The Golden Legend, 1489.
