Lady Door’s Spicy Poppadoms

Posted July 20, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Poppadoms are a delightful, crisp mix between a chip and a cracker. Some varieties are super thin and fluffy, while others are more robust (like a pita chip). Originally popular in places like India and Pakistan, they are made with chickpea flour and are both baked AND fried. Sounds awesome, right? I first came across poppadoms while reading Neverwhere, when Door asks for spicy poppadoms to go with her vegetable curry at the Floating Market in London.

I was intrigued by the idea of these unusual little crackers, so I decided to make some for my Neverwhere menu! I tracked down a recipe from wikiHow that adds cayenne pepper to the list of ingredients (since Door specifically requests spicy poppadoms).

Munch on, Wonderlanders. Let’s get cooking! 🙂

Serpentine’s Restorative Drink

Posted July 18, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Teas / 0 Comments

I’ll admit I wasn’t sure how I felt about Serpentine as a character while I was reading Neverwhere. I got the sense that she was manipulative and maybe even cruel, but the air of mystery surrounding her kept me intrigued. I was especially fascinated by the green “restorative drink” she serves Richard when he has a nasty hangover from Islington’s Atlantian wine. So I decided to make a tea time tribute to it here on the blog!

For this tea, I wanted something subtle yet refreshing—and of course green! I whipped up a blend of Adagio’s Citron Green tea and lemongrass. This will definitely help you feel restored—Atlantian wine or not! 😉

Floating Market Vegetable Curry

Posted July 13, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 5 Comments

CONFESSION TIME: Before reading Neverwhere, everything I knew about making curry could fit in a matchbox. I’d never eaten it and certainly never made it from scratch. So when my favorite character in the book (Lady Door) chowed down on vegetable curry at the Floating Market and clearly loved it, I knew I had to learn how to make it. I’ll admit, I was pretty intimidated, so I sought out a recipe that was easy enough for little ol’ me but authentic enough to do Neverwhere justice.

A Neverwhere Reading Kit

Posted July 11, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Reading Kits / 4 Comments

As an Alice in Wonderland retelling set in modern London, Neverwhere offers lots of inspiration for my monthly reading kit! From the iconic key to Lady Door’s namesake, I was sure to include lots of little items devoted to the best parts of Neverwhere. There’s even a Mind the Gap magnet to remind you to watch out for the gap monsters! Happy wandering, fellow Wonderlanders. Stay safe in London Below! 🙂

Jessica’s Mushroom Vol-Au-Vents

Posted July 6, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 7 Comments

Our brand new Book of the Month is Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, and I’m super excited to get started! It’s hard to find time to read with a new baby, but I MADE time for Neverwhere. It was such a fun read—clever, imaginative, and an Alice in Wonderland retelling to boot! What’s not to love? 🙂

Even though most of the book is set in “London Below,” I decided to start things out with a fancy little dish from London Above: the mushroom vol-au-vents from Jessica’s gala. Vol-au-vents consist of puff pastry stuffed with (in this case) a creamy mushroom filling. They may look complicated, but they’re deceptively easy. Just bake some puff pastry shells, cook your mushroom mix in a pan while they bake, and fill the finished shells!

When I started looking up vol-au-vent recipes, I noticed that parsley was the most common herb people turned to for seasoning. To change things up, I decided to try fresh basil instead, and I loved the way it turned out! The basil flavor rose above the mushroom base without overpowering it, just how I wanted. I also noticed that a lot of people made their base from scratch, but I decided to take a little shortcut: cream of mushroom soup. The results were subtle, perfectly seasoned, and utterly delicious. Perfect for a sophisticated young lady like Jessica!

Red, White, and Blue 4th of July Desserts

Posted July 4, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Holidays / 4 Comments

As you can probably tell from the focus of my blog, I love making themed recipes. Themed desserts hold a special place in my heart, since they’re a great way to achieve that awesome visual wow factor. So I decided to round up all the red, white, and blue desserts on the blog and do a quick little post for anyone who’d like to whip up something fun and colorful for the 4th of July. Munch on, fellow patriots! 😉

Starfleet Punch: A Star Trek Bonus Recipe

Posted June 29, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 3 Comments

Last year when I finished my Star Trek Next Generation menu, I posted a Romulan Ale cocktail as my bonus recipe. I loved the idea of ending my Original Series menu with another drink, and I immediately thought of making a multi-colored layered drink as an homage to the different Starfleet divisions.

Turns out, I had no idea what I was signing up for! 😛 My first thought was to make a molecular cocktail in red, blue, and yellow, but I couldn’t get the drink to layer properly. I then decided to try layering plain juices and stumbled across a recipe from Katrina’s Kitchen. She uses juice and Gatorade to make an easy, delicious layered punch in red, white, and blue for the 4th of July. All I needed to do was add a little yellow food coloring to get Starfleet’s signature red, blue, and yellow colors and I was in business! 🙂 The final result was tasty and just plain gorgeous—I couldn’t believe how well the juices kept their layers, even after being jostled around!

Drink up, space travelers! We’ve got a final frontier to explore. 🙂

Star Trek Tea: Vulcan Mocha

Posted June 27, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Teas / 3 Comments

Though Vulcan Mocha isn’t mentioned in Star Trek: Original Series (or maybe it was and I just don’t remember), it’s a very popular drink in later series, and it’s considered to have been part of Vulcan cultural cuisine for centuries. The preferred drink of many Vulcans and non-Vulcans alike, Vulcan Mocha is said to be incredibly potent in its effects, yet sweeter than Earth coffee. I was intrigued by the idea, so I decided to make a tea for it!

I’ve made several coffee-inspired tea blends in the past (like Elementary: A Sherlock Tea and Chocolate Mocha Tea for Ze Little Grey Cells from Hercule Poirot), so I relished the challenge of making something new. Like most of my “coffee teas,” I started with Adagio Tea’s Mocha Nut Mate, a toasted mate blend with distinct yet subtle nutty flavor. It’s a great foundation for building blends, since it marries well with other flavors. For this blend, I wanted something subtle, faintly sweet, and complex—the perfect go-to beverage for the universe’s most logical alien race.

I added chestnut tea to the mate for a lighter, less dominant flavor. Then I put in just a hint of Tiger’s Eye, a unique Adagio blend with flavors of chocolate and caramel. I LOVED the result. Enjoy! 🙂

Star Trek Insignia Cookies

Posted June 22, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 3 Comments

I’ve been wanting to make these cookies ever since I saw on Pinterest that you can use a star cookie cutter to make Star Fleet insignia badges. So when the time came to whip these up, I got out my favorite recipe for royal icing sugar cookies (the same base recipe I used for my X-Files Alien Cookies) and went to work! There are several recipes about there for insignia sugar cookies, so to make mine unique, I did the detailing with food markers—a nice shortcut instead of making multiple colors of icing. And I decorated each insignia with the symbol and color of the three main Star Fleet divisions: Sciences, Command, and Operations!

Royal icing takes a little extra time than regular frosting, but you can’t beat those crisp, clean lines. Plus, the flat surface is super easy to decorate! 🙂

To Boldly Go: A Star Trek TOS Marathon Kit

Posted June 20, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Reading Kits / 2 Comments

This time last year we made a Star Trek: Next Generation marathon kit, so this year we’re doing one for Original Series! We’ve got everything you need to get you through hours of intergalactic adventuring. Let’s boldly go!