St Dwynwen's Day and Burns Night

Did you know that 25th January is not only Burns night but also St Dwynwen's Day?  No neither did I until very recently.  St Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers which makes her the Welsh equivalent of St Valentine. 

Welsh cheese and leek tart

For those who feel that Valentine's Day has become all a bit too commercialised then St Dwynwen's Day really is a perfect day to celebrate with the one you love as it is not at all commercialised.  I do sometimes hear people say they do not like the idea of being told when to celebrate their love and it should be spontaneous.  Life however can and often does get in the way so why not take this opportunity to show somebody you care.

Who is St Dwynwen?  Princess Dwynwen was the daughter of King Brychan Brycheiniog, and lived in what is now known as the Brecon Beacons National Park. She is said to have fallen in love with a young man called Maelon despite being betrothed to a prince of her fathers choosing.  The young Princess was expected to do the right thing and having no choice she ran away.

Heartbroken young Dwynwen begged God for help to forget Maelon and ease her pain.  An angel visited her and gave her a potion which would help her forget him, the only thing is it also froze him in time and turned him into ice.  God appeared before Dwynwen and granted her 3 wishes.  Her wishes were to unfreeze Maelon, she loved him and did not wish for him to suffer despite her own suffering; her second wish was for God to help those who fall in love and for her to never marry nor fall in love again.

After having her wishes granted Dwynwen became a nun and set up a convent off of the Angelsey coast, dedicating her life to God.  The remains of her church still stand today.  Such a sad but inspiring story.

So we have devised an gorgeous 3 course Welsh inspired meal for 2 to help you celebrate.  A Welsh cheese and leek tart, an equally gorgeous Welsh lamb dish and pwdin Eva, a beautiful apple sponge.

Pwdin Eva (Eve’s Pudding)

If you would prefer to celebrate Burns Night then we have a gorgeous chicken stuffed with haggis which you can serve with neeps and tatties.  I am not so fond of traditional haggis but I do really enjoy vegetarian haggis, the lovely nuttiness works beautifully with chicken and gravy.  I also made gorgeous Scottish inspired raspberry shortbread which are not only buttery and super delicious but so easy and quick to knock up.  I did also read yesterday that sticky toffee pudding as we know it originated in Scotland, any excuse to eat sticky toffee pudding works for me to be honest.

However you wish to celebrate tomorrow, enjoy.