Maija Dambis Collins
Greetings! There are two interests that are sure to light up my life. Those being a hobby turned avocation, astrology, and stemming from my Old World Latvian roots, an insatiable appetite and interest in international cuisine. Inexplicably and joyfully, they come together in this popular non-fiction genre book, Dining by the Stars, An Astrology Cookbook!
This is not a technical book for students of astrology, although the provocative theme of creating recipes from foods generated for each specific zodiac sign, Aries to Pisces, or collectively, according to the elements (of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth) is worthy of more attention in Western astrology. Initially, each zodiac sign has been classified, and listed for the reader are dominant foods and condiments with which it is associated. Each sun-sign’s tendencies are then described from five different perspectives:
…the personal habits of the sign
…the sign and love
…the sign and family
…the sign and friends
…and its seasonal celebrations
In category by category, you will find recipes
created for each sign, foods that would naturally attract it
The moment I stopped working as a public school teacher, essentially in the tri-city Albany, NY, area, my memoir, “Sveika, Amerika, A Displaced Person Remembers” knocked at my door. Only afterwards could I devote my time to astrology counseling, hiking and travel, and more writing. Publishing became addictive and the next writing venture manifested a dream come true: to combine a metaphysical subject with nurturing our needs via publishing an astrology cookbook! First translated overseas, the 2nd English ed., with 36 enticing pictures of international recipes, adds information and visuals about the five talented young chefs and their-- also my former--homeland, Riga, Latvia!
Prior to retirement, I spent 33 years following my calling, specializing in teaching English and social studies to disadvantaged youth at risk of failing. I was drawn to these youngsters because I knew what it felt like to be an outsider. My former status as a refugee from war-torn Latvia and facing the cultural shock of coming to America at age eight had at a basic level prepared me to view life as a marginal person, one foot in each culture. I wanted to broaden the involvement and good citizenship for my charges. In the process, I felt like an ambassador between the two countries: thus this souvenir book with astrology wisdom!
I was enticed to study astrology because of a personal crisis at age 29. By the 70s I had joined the NY State Division for Youth as a trainer of staff. Here I met my astrology mentor, NYC psychiatrist Dr. Eileen Funch, a consultant-trainer of the Race Relations-Human Interaction workshops that I directed for staff in training schools, camps and residential homes of court-placed troubled youth. Dr. Funch, who used astrology with her clients, modeled experiential techniques for the astrology workshops I would present upon retirement.
Still looking to improve myself, at age 47 I began practicing Japanese/ Korean martial arts, receiving from two brown belts, one level before the Master’s black belt. The practice of mindfulness and meditation, from studies of Buddhism, I also undertook. A searcher in life, I always wished to share what I had gleaned with others.
Dinner for the Scorpio
Once home, femme-Scorpio loves to take to a bed already piled with the latest mysteries, dinner on a serving tray, fluff up the pillows, drink a glass of sherry or red wine and unwind! Or some Latvian Black Balsam liquor in tea or coffee is nice, too. The glass of sherry or wine often is replaced with a non-alcoholic drink. Experience will have taught Scorpio to restrict its indulgence in alcoholic beverages. Natives of the Water signs, including Cancer and Pisces, more easily become addicted to substances than other signs. While, let’s face it, sexy Scorpio may at some point decide to concentrate on eating its calories, rather in drinking them. As years advance and the body’s metabolism slows, some self-indulgence is curbed by the wise. For this evening, private Scorpio may even disconnect the phone. A sign intolerant of undesired intrusions, it usually screens calls. A favorite recipe gives Scorpio a chance to pamper itself:
Brie Cheese Round in Filo Dough, with Fresh Basil, for two
6 oz filo layered dough (found in most frozen food sections)
5 oz Brie cheese
2 tablespoons olive “tapenade”/ mashed olive puree
2 tablespoons basil pesto sauce
1 egg
6 cherry tomatoes
2 basil sprigs
Salt, pepper
Roll out dough, making it ¼ inch thick. Take your Brie and place it on the dough to measure the diameter of the circle you’re about to cut out of dough. The circle should be another ¼ inch wider than the Brie. Place the dough on a greased baking pan and brush with beaten egg. All around the circle, place a strip of dough ¼ inch wide; and brush that also with egg. Bake in preheated 350 degrees oven for 10 minutes. So the dough does not rise up a lot, you may need to dock it all over by pricking it with a fork
…Taking the baked dough out of the oven, cover it with the olive puree. Cut the cheese in half horizontally and place it on the baked dough, with the open cut-side on top. Halving the cherry tomatoes, top cheese with them—each portion gets 6 pieces. Return pan to the oven for 3 minutes to melt the cheese…To serve, allow to cool for 10 min. Then top with pesto sauce on cherry tomatoes and cheese. Top with chopped basil.
