Every solstice and equinox my husband and I host a large dinner party for our friends. Or, as near to the date as we can, usually whichever Saturday is closest.

This year was no exception, and though I failed to get a picture of it on Saturday, I did have a go at making Riz Aleister Crowley, Crowley’s recipe for pilaf.

Crowley’s original recipe doesn’t give quantities for the ingredients he lists, so I’ve made my best guess, and detailed my process here. It was delicious.

For the bakers among you, there’s also an awesome shortbread recipe you should totally try out.

This year my husband and I also woke up in the middle of the night to watch the eclipse. we had a great view from our porch, even with various wires strung across our narrow street, and streetlights ablaze. I was surprised to see that we were the only people out that night.

There’s been a lot of kerfuffle about this rare red eclipse occurring on the winter solstice, as it hasn’t done so for several hundred years. It was a beautiful night, and I hope you got to experience it.

Kensington Market is a small neighbourhood in downtown Toronto, and for the past twenty-one years there has been the Kensington Market Festival of Lights, a parade with music, puppets, paper lanterns, a stilt-walker, and crowds of people following along. I try to make it every year; I love it. The picture above is taken from this year’s Festival, with two more shared on my personal blog.

Dinner parties, good food, and a parade to celebrate the sun returning to the world are how I celebrate my winter solstice every year. What are your traditions?

Well, kind of.

The excellent blogTO reported on Mirko Daneluzzo’s design for the Canadian Malting Complex on Toronto’s waterfront, and it’s rather unusual (though nowhere near as bad as the ROM Crystal).

Click on the picture to enlarge, or click here for more images.

It’s unlikely to ever make it past the design stage, but it looks really nifty, and, as my husband noted, it looks like “some sort of giant temple to Cthulhu”. Which makes it kind of awesome.

This October Andrieh Vitimus is back for Toronto Does Magic 2010, a series of courses from Friday 15th, to Sunday 17th.

The courses will be held at the Naka Ima Dojo on 171 East Liberty St. Unit, #116 in Toronto’s Liberty Village.

Friday’s classes will focus on chaos magick, NLP and Andrieh’s experience as an exorcist, magickian and Vodou priest, Saturday will consist of an all day boot-camp, culminating in a brunch and book signing on Sunday and a Real World Boot Camp Practicum.

Classes range from donations to 165$Cdn for the boot-camp if purchased separately, but if you pre-pay by August 31st you can attend all six events for 175$Cdn. On-site the complete package will cost 205$Cdn.

Last year I had the pleasure of being Andrieh’s guest at L’Heure Noir in Hamilton, and can attest to his skills as an speaker – he knows his stuff, and as the last event was such a blast, I’m sure this one will be as well.

For more information see Toronto Does Magic 2010.