Month: January 2016

The Once and Future Reading Kit

Posted January 5, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Reading Kits / 2 Comments


Howdy, folks! Welcome to our very first 2016 book of the month: King Arthur! The theme is King-Arthur-in-general rather than a specific King Arthur book, since there are so many and I have no idea which one is my favorite. Since the bright and shiny New Year newness hasn’t quite worn off for me yet, I thought it would be fun to start things off with one of our new additions to the blog this year: a reading kit!

I posted a few homemade reading kits on Real Life at Home last year, but now my plan is to make reading kits here on the blog for every Book of the Month. What’s a reading kit, you ask? It’s basically a compilation of items mentioned in a book or related to the subject matter, often including a copy of the book itself (I first heard of the idea on Epic Reads). When I make a kit, I like to include a snack, three items related to the book, and the fanciest copy of the book I can find.

I’ve included links to each of the items below, making it easy to whip up a kit for yourself or an avid reader in your life. So grab your kits and read on, my valiant Knights of Wonderland! 🙂

 

What items would I include in a King Arthur reading kit? I’m so glad you asked…

 

This awesome Camelot mead to serve at your legendary medieval feasts

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This is actually the wine the Mister and I served at our wedding. We’re big honey wine fans, and this is our favorite brand. The Mister is actually working on brewing his own right now!

 

And of course you need something to drink your mead out of.

Dark Roast Dragon Mug
Well aren’t you just the cutest burninator of them all?

 

A dessert fit for a king: King Arthur Flour cake mix and a dragon cake pan

 

This utterly regal pen holder to remind you that you’re sovereign of all you survey

Executive Knight Pen Holder
Resist the urge to sign everything “Supreme Ruler of Everything the Light Touches.”

And don’t forget this gorgeous book to end all gorgeous books.

For the low, low price of $12,800 you can own this jaw-droppingly beautiful illustrated copy of Le Morte D’Arthur. That’s not too much to pay for a book, right? But if you’re like me and don’t have an infinite book budget, this hardcover from Barnes & Noble is pretty gorgeous too.

 

What would you include in YOUR King Arthur reading kit? 🙂

Changes and Goals for 2016

Posted January 4, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Blogging, Teas / 2 Comments

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My very bookish Christmas book haul: an Alice in Wonderland infinity scarf, Novel Teas, Irish pub and Downton Abbey cookbooks, and an olde book messenger bag! My mom and sister actually got me the scarf and teas after seeing them in my bibliophile gift post last year. I’m hoping I can work at least a few of these things into post pics for this year. Fingers crossed! 🙂

Now that we’re starting a fresh new year, I want to give you guys a heads up on some changes you can expect to see around here:

  1. DOUBLE THE POSTING, DOUBLE THE FUN. I’m planning on expanding my schedule and posting twice a week. In addition to my usual weekly recipe, I’ll also post monthly reading kits, Top Ten Tuesday linkups, new tea overviews, and one random post per month. Huzzah!
  2. AN UPDATED THEME AND TEA PAGE. You may remember that some unexpected side effects from a theme update had me shopping for themes last August. I love the theme I found (Tweak Me by Nose Graze), but I want to change the colors and fonts, plus add an awesome header a friend made for me. Some time this month I’ll shut the site down for maintenance for a day so I can make all the updates. In the process, I’ll update our tea page so that, instead of a gallery with just names, there will be paragraph descriptions and food pairings for each tea (much like the format of our 2015 tea review).
  3. WHAT DO WE WANT? A CONSOLIDATED PINTEREST PAGE. WHEN DO WE WANT IT? …PROBABLY SOME TIME TODAY, ACTUALLY. Originally I organized my Pinterest profile by having a board for each menu, but now there are just too many boards. Some time this week (maybe even before this goes live), I plan to condense all my menu boards down to one.
  4. MAKE WAY FOR 2016 NANO! As many of you may recall, I won National Novel Writing Month last November! I’m planning on taking part this year too, so keep an eye out for writing updates when November rolls around.
  5. I WILL FIGURE OUT YUMMLY. I SWEAR ON A STACK OF A MILLION COOKBOOKS. I signed up for Yummly last August and was all excited about it, since it was a streamlined way for me to add printables to all my recipe posts. Unfortunately, I’ve been having trouble getting my posts to upload. When I submit my post to the Yummly database, weeks go by before it’s processed (and sometimes it never gets processed at all). I’ve been working on the problem on and off since I signed up, but now it’s time to buckle down and truly devote myself to solving it. I’m determined to fix it soon…because you beautiful Wonderlings deserve printables! 🙂

 

Happy 2016, folks! Is there a change you’d like to see that I didn’t mention in the list?
Leave it in a comment below, and I’ll take it into consideration! 🙂

 

Most Popular Recipes of 2015: In Which A Burger Almost Takes the Crown in One Month

Posted January 1, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Blogging, Hints, Holidays / 5 Comments

Happy  2016, folks! Can you believe we’ve made 52 recipes this year? I can’t. I’m convinced cooking fairies came in the night and finished all these posts for me…mostly because I want to believe there are such things as cooking fairies. 😉

Last New Year, I made a review post detailing the most popular recipes of the year. Y’all seemed to like it, so I’m doing it again this year! In the spirit of the season, feel free to mix yourself up something to drink before we get started. I recommend Siren Notes on the Rocks from The Odyssey:

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These little beauties combine white rum, vodka, lime, coconut water, strawberries, and fresh basil into a refreshing accompaniment to homemade basil crackers.

Do you have your drink? Ok. Time to reveal this year’s most popular posts! The winners are…

 

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