Category: Hints

A Whole Month of King Arthur…and a New Menu of the Month!

Posted January 31, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Blogging, Hints / 2 Comments

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January is just about over, folks. What a month it has been! I was nominated for the Creative Blogger Award, took part in my first Top Ten Tuesday linkup, and continued taking part in the Beautiful Books/Beautiful People post series. Plus, I started two new types of posts here on AWR: reading kits and tea premieres! My plan is to post a new reading kit and custom tea blend for every Book of the Month from here on out.

But my favorite part about this month was how our King Arthur menu gave me an excuse to obsess over King Arthur for an ENTIRE MONTH. I marathoned the first three seasons of Merlin, read articles analyzing Arthurian myth (including an awesome one about the sophisticated humor in Monty Python and the Holy Grail), and posted my favorite modern King Arthur retellings. As you can imagine, I’ve been one happy Alison! πŸ™‚

In a way, that just makes it all the harder to move on to our next menu. My one comfort is that the new menu I have in mind involves something I love just as much as King Arthur! Ready for your photo hint? Here it is!

sky, space, galaxy

Our new menu is going to be a Pop Culture Corner contribution: our very first TV Series of the Month! Though I don’t plan on doing many TV menus (I don’t want to depart TOO far from classic books), I just HAD to make a menu for this particular show. And once you see what it is, I think you’ll agree that it definitely falls into the “classic” category. πŸ™‚

ANY GUESSES AT WHAT OUR NEXT MENU OF THE MONTH WILL BE?

 

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

HappyΒ  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. πŸ˜‰

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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‘Tis the Season for a New Book of the Month!

Posted December 1, 2015 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Hints, Teas / 6 Comments

 

Happy December, folks! How was your Thanksgiving? I was home sick from mine πŸ™ , but I was able to send the Mister with a batch of homemade applesauce I froze a few weeks beforehand. Yay!

In much more pleasant news, I FINISHED MY NOVEL FOR NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH! Not gonna lie, I spent almost 20 minutes last night dancing around and singing. I’m extra excited because this was my very first time doing NaNo. It was tough, but I made it!!! I definitely want to try it again next year. I already have an idea for the book I want to write! πŸ˜€

NaNo-2015-Winner-Badge-Large-Square

Of course, since we’ve come to the end of our November menu, we also have a new tea blend available through Adagio Teas. In honor of our Divergent menu, I created Tori’s Peppermint Tea. It’s the perfect blend of peppermint, spearmint, and lemongrass with a lemon balm and marigold inclusion: refreshing and full-flavored without the menthol sensation being too overpowering. I love it both hot and iced. In fact, it’s been one of my few comforts while I’ve been sick (nothing like mint tea with a touch of honey to soothe a sore throat). Totally my new favorite green tea!

What have we got planned for our December Book of the Month? Here’s a hint:

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All the items in this picture play important roles in our new Book of the Month (some of you may remember this picture from a guest post I published on another blog. If you can figure out which one, you’ll know the new book right away!).

It’s November! To celebrate, we’ve got new custom tea and a Book of the Month hint!

Posted November 1, 2015 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Hints, Teas / 2 Comments

 

Howdy, folks! The Mister and I just moved into our new house yesterday (!!!), so things are pretty chaotic around here right now. Still, I’m super excited because I’m doing this year’s NaNoWrMo, so a whole month of super intense writing is just beginning for me today. Oh, and my birthday was a few weeks ago! So lots of craziness…but good craziness. πŸ™‚

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On my birthday, the Mister came back from a week-long business trip in Germany, and he brought me some awesome birthday gifts: a stein from an abbey he visited, an Oktoberfest gingerbread heart that said “Never Far from You,” and chalkboard hearts and a butterfly ornament from a market in Munich. He also gave me the little novelty item his client company hands out at conventions: a wooden pencil-shaped case filled with tiny colored pencils!

In spite of my topsy-turvy life, I managed to get my last two Agatha Christie recipes posted: Delicious Death chocolate cake and Little Belgian Truffles! As is our tradition, we’re punctuating the end of our menu with new custom teas from Adagio. I actually made TWO blends this month, since I love Agatha Christie so much and couldn’t choose between the two I designed. The first, called Hallowe’en Party, is inspired by the book of the same name and features spiced apple chai and cinnamon tea. The second tea blend is inspired by Hercule Poirot: Chocolate Mocha Tea for Ze Little Grey Cells! It’s got indulgent chocolate flavor with subtle coffee tones and just a touch of hazelnut—sure to set your brain buzzing!

Now that our Agatha Christie menu is all wrapped up with a tidy little bow, it’s time to share the photo hint for our next menu! Our November book is actually a modern book series rather than a true classic. I decided to make a menu for it after loving the first book in the series. It was such a fun read and featured food so prominently, I knew it would be a great addition to Pop Culture Corner. Without further ado, here’s your hint:

Any takers? Post your guesses in the comments!

Holy Papal Visit, Batman!

Posted September 29, 2015 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Blogging, Hints, Teas / 0 Comments

 

Guys, I SAW THE POPE!

…moving quickly in a car past me and about a million other people. But it still counts.

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This is a pic the Mister got as the Pope drove by us!

You may have noticed that I’ve been mostly AWOL from the the interwebs since Thursday. That’s because I’ve been busy flying to Philadelphia and fangirling over Pope Francis all weekend!!! I walked more than 20 miles over the span of 3 days: first site seeing in Philly and then gettin’ down with my Catholic self at the Festival of Families and the Papal Mass. SO MANY PEOPLE! SO MUCH EXCITEMENT! πŸ˜€

Needless to say, this made blogging a bit tricky. In fact, I pretty much failed at sharing my last Monty Python post on Facebook/Twitter. So I decided to make up for it by posting the shares today and linking to it here (better late than never, right?). If it’s any consolation, we’re finishing up our Monty Python menu today by adding a new custom tea to our Adagio collection: Monty Python’s Coconut Camelot Tea! Click on the link or the pic below to see a description of the tea and details on how to order.

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Monty Python’s Coconut Camelot Tea is just the thing to help you remember whether you need to count to three or five when throwing a Holy Hand Grenade. In this blend, Adagio’s black coconut tea is paired with cream tea, coconut pieces, and cornflowers for a truly divine sipping experience.

Wow…with our Monty Python menu finished up, that means it’s almost October! HOW can it be almost October, guys? I could have sworn September just started yesterday. Then again, this month has been super busy for me, and not just with papal visit plans. I interviewed Jonathan Stroud about his new book tour a couple weeks ago, and I just finished my next Real Life at Home guest post. Plus, the Mister and I are moving on Halloween, and I’m doing NaNoWrMo this November. In short: CHAOS! It’s really no wonder October snuck up on me. Still, I’m SUPER excited for our new menu, especially since it involves one of my favorite authors! Want a hint as to what it could be? Check out the picture below!

Magnifying Glass
Any guesses at what it could be? BONUS HINT: Instead of focusing on one book, this menu will focus on several books all by the same author (not necessarily a series).

 

Now then, I’m going to find a lovely little corner of my apartment in which to curl up and sleep off my 7 am flight from yesterday (if I wake up and see my shadow, we get 6 more weeks of fall).

 

New menus, new teas, and food quote quizzes!

Posted September 1, 2015 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Hints, Teas / 5 Comments

Source: Guess The Book From Food Quotes // quiz

 

Howdy and happy September, Wonderlanders! I’m currently editing up a very special menu for our SECOND Movie of the Month! Remember when we made Star Wars food for our first Movie of the Month, and it was awesome? Those Dry Rub BBQ Bantha Steaks are still my favorite steak recipe, hands down. ^.^

The new menu premieres on Thursday, so be sure to swing by and check it out! If you want to take a guess at what the Movie of the Month will be, here’s a hint:

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Photo Credit: publicdomainpictures.net

Til then, try this cool food quotes quiz by Cait from Paper Fury where you match books to food quotes. I did ok (13 out of 19). The contemporary lit did me in, but I completely SMOKED the classic book quotes! ^.^ Question: Can I feel proud of myself for knowing the Game of Thrones quote…if the only reason I know it is because I have the GoT cookbook?

I have one last piece of news before I go finish my editing: we’ve made a new tea blend! In honor of our Odyssey menu, we’ve released Calypso’s Tea, our very first green tea. It has subtle hints of pineapple, peach, passion fruit, and oranges with an inclusion of hibiscus petals and coconut flakes. The tropical fruit makes it a great iced tea, but it’s also earthy enough to work as a hot tea too. You can order it through Adagio here or by clicking on the appropriate caption in our tea gallery.

 

 

NOTE: I’m a member of the Adagio Affiliate Program, which means I get a commission for every Adagio order placed as a direct result of a link from my site. If you see a tea you like but want to order it later, please come back to this site and click on one of our Adagio links to take you to their site. That way Adagio can track the order back to Alison’s Wonderland Recipes. Thanks for helping keep AWR up and running!

It’s All Comin’ Up Roses: New Theme, New Nephew, New Tea, and a New Book of the Month Hint!

Posted August 1, 2015 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Hints, Teas / 3 Comments

 

As you can see, we’ve got a new look around here! You may recall my special post a few days ago, where I explained that some unexpected problems with my previous blog theme had me hunting for a new one. This gorgeous new theme (courtesy of Nose Graze) caught my eye right away, since it’s so customizable. Unfortunately, it took me almost three whole days to get it set up, but I promise I have a good reason:

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I wish I could show you what a cutie he is when his eyes are open, but he’s a VERY hungry man when he’s awake. I seriously doubt he’d have much patience for a photo op if it meant he had to wait for food…he takes after his auntie! πŸ˜‰

 

This awesome little guy is my brand new nephew (and soon to be godson!). I’ve been staying at my sister’s place the last couple days to help out with the new baby, which hasn’t left much time for blogging…but it HAS left lots of time for baby cuddles and playing pretend with my 3-year-old niece. The toddler and I even colored some leftover sugar cookies (from my Candied Flower Cookie recipe) with some special food markers I had on hand.

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Here’s Comes July…and a New Book of the Month Hint!

Posted July 1, 2015 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Hints, Teas, Uncategorized / 0 Comments

Howdy, folks! I just got back from ringing in July in the best way possible: 5 days of cabin camping with old college buddies! It’s a summer tradition that started 5 years ago. Now that we’re scattered across 3 different states, it’s the most important way we keep in touch. Despite the mosquitoes and lack of cell reception, it’s the highlight of my summer. There’s just something magical about age old inside jokes, ice cream cone s’mores, and late-night discussions about how The Lego Movie is basically The Matrix.

On our way to get groceries for the cabin, we stopped at a Mickey D’s for wi-fi so I could post our final Tom Sawyer recipe: Tom’s Whitewashed Jelly Doughnuts. I brought the leftover doughnuts with me to share at the cabin, and my oh my were they popular, especially with blackberry jam (possibly more so than the original raspberry jam I used). If you’re looking for a drink to go along with your own jelly doughnuts, we just released our Tom Sawyer tea from Adagio: Becky’s Peach Tea! Click here or the image below to visit our tea gallery!

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Photo Credit: publicdomainpictures.net

 

But you’re REALLY here for your Book of the Month photo hint, right? No worries, I’ve got it right here:

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Photo Credit: publicdomainpictures.net

 

Any guesses?

 

Our June Book of the Month Hint is Here!

Posted June 1, 2015 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Hints, Teas / 4 Comments

We jumped outside of our comfort zone last month and made a classic MOVIE menu: Star Wars! It was crazy fun to make AND eat, especially the May 4th foray into molecular gastronomy: Raspberry-Mango Planets and Lemon Clouds. I definitely plan on doing more movie menus in the future, but for now we’re back to classic books. Can you guess what our June Book of the Month will be? Here’s your photo hint:

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Photo Credit: publicdomainpictures.net

 

If you think you know, take a guess below! Either way, swing back around on Thursday (June 4th) for the answer…and our first recipe of the month!

P.S. I’d also love to hear if you have any ideas for future movie menus!

May I Introduce Our First Movie of the Month?

Posted May 1, 2015 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Hints, Teas / 1 Comment

I make no apologies for the punny title. PUNNY TITLES FOREVER!

April was definitely a fun month for food. The Pineapple Ticking Crocodile was a particularly rewarding leap outside my culinary comfort zone. But now it’s time to say goodbye to Neverland and set our sights on somewhere even farther away…

I’ve provided the photo hint for our May menu below. NOTE: In keeping with my blogging goal for this year of including a few classic movies in our menus, this month’s menu will be based around a movie, rather than a book.

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Any guesses as to what our very first Movie of the Month will be, based on the picture?

If you need a final dose of Peter Pan before we head into the realm of sci-fi, swing by the book blog 101 Books to learn some Fascinating Facts about Peter! πŸ™‚

 

P.S. We wrapped up our April menu yesterday by premiering our new Alison’s Wonderland Teas page (so feel free to order some if your teacup looks lonely).