The Summer Solstice.

When I celebrate the sabbats, I do it for three days. The day before, the day of and the day after. I could say how I think it's more natural and whatever, but it's because I want to have more time If I forget about it. What a real witch I am, huh? I think I read about it somewhere.
Anyway, this is what I did for the Summer Solstice, otherwise known as Midsummer, also otherwise known as Litha. If you don't know what it is, here's a quick rundown- around June 21st, in the Northern hemisphere, it's the longest day of the year and the first official day of summer. Shakespeare thought it was such a magical day that he wrote a whole play about. Well, newsflash. It is pretty special, man.
Okay, I keep getting sidetracked. On the night of 20th, I made orange honey butter and started my solar tea. Here are the recipes from both and where I discovered them:

Orange Honey Butter (http://www.unc.edu/~reddeer/recipe/rec_litha.html#honeybutter)

2 Tablespoons Grated Orange Rind
3 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon honey Combine the orange rind, powdered sugar, butter and honey in a small bowl and blend until well mixed. Chill slightly and serve with scones or biscuits.

Solar Tea (http://witchery.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/litha-recipes/)
1 large jar with a very tight fitting lid
cold water
2 tea bags for each quart of water
1 orange, unpeeled, well washed, and cut into small pieces
1/2 lemon, unpeeled, well washed, and cut into small pieces
Fill the jar with water. Add the orange, the lemon, and the tea bags. Place in full sunlight for two hours. Refrigerate immediately. Serve over ice.

Next day, on the 21st, I put my solar tea in the sunlight for the recommended two hours. I used that time to make my final Midsummer dish:

Apfelpfannkuchen (http://www.unc.edu/~reddeer/recipe/rec_litha.html#apfel)
2 large Apples, any cooking variety
1/4 cup Butter
1 cup Flour
1 cup Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg,
Confectioners sugar
Preheat oven to 475. Peel, core and very thinly slice the apples: you should have approximately 1-1/2 cups.
Melt 3 Tablespoons of the butter over medium low heat in a small fry pan, and sauté the apples until they are just tender. Keep apples warm while preparing the batter.
Place a 9 or 10 inch cast-iron skillet in the oven to heat for at least 5 minutes--the pan has to be very hot for this to work. When it is well heated, add the remaining 2 T sp. of butter to melt and put the skillet back in the oven; the butter should be very hot buy not brown when you add the apples and the batter.
Place the flour, milk, vanilla, salt and nutmeg in a blender and whirl until smooth. Remove the skillet from the oven, quickly arrange the warm apple slices over the melted butter, and pour the batter evenly over all. Bake for 15 min., reduce heat to 375 and bake 10 minutes longer. The pancake will puff and climb up the sides of the pan. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar, then cut in wedges and serve with maple syrup.

I didn't follow all these instructions because I realized last-minute that I did not have a cast iron skillet. I was not stoked whatsoever. Either way, it turned out pretty good. I regret that I didn't preform any ritual on the summer solstice, and my last day of celebration had nothing to do with the solstice. Again, I'm a superb witch. I did, however, make a prayer to the Horned God while consuming my summer feast. Litha is typically all about the God, so he was recognized. I'm usually all about the Goddess, so it was uplifting to be particular to Him.
Well, since Litha is over, hopefully next year someone will creep across my blog and use these little recipes- or find them at their legitimate location.
Blessed be. )O(