Posted July 21, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 3 Comments
In A Little Princess, Sara and Becky wake up in their attic room to find that a succulent feast has mysteriously appeared. The delicious dishes appear for many days, and a “spicy Indian soup” is said to be among them. Though the soup is not described, I like to imagine it was mulligatawny soup—filling and savory, with a perfect fusion of English cooking and Indian roots, heralding back to Sara’s background.
This particular recipe (developed by Emily from Favorite Family Recipes) is super complex and delicious. I love how the salty flavors play off the sweet and the creamy flavors play off the savory, creating a truly balanced dish!
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Posted July 19, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Uncategorized / 4 Comments
If you follow me on Pinterest, you may be familiar with my Lovely Libraries page, where I pin pics of all the beautiful libraries I come across in my blog research. I’ve always loved the idea of having a private library of my own, but it wasn’t until I started the Pinterest page that I started thinking about what it might look like.
It didn’t take long for me to discover I have a very distinct style when it came to libraries. I love the old-timey “power libraries” with ornate wood paneling, floor-to-ceiling shelves, and plush reading chairs. I started making a mental list of all the things I’d like to include in my dream library, so I thought it would be fun to share some of them with you!
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Posted July 14, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 1 Comment
Becky is one of my favorite characters in A Little Princess because she’s so genuine. As a young maid in a school full of little girls with large fortunes and influential families, it would be easy for her to get bogged down in resentment or jealousy. Instead, she’s open to friendship with even the most affluent student—little Sara—and proves to be a great friend in Sara’s time of need.
When Sara starts sharing food with Becky, these meat pies were Becky’s favorite, and I can see why. They’re hearty and heart-warming, with substance and simple goodness—much like Becky herself! 🙂
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Posted July 12, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Teas / 10 Comments
I actually designed this tea almost a year before I read the book A Little Princess. I’ve loved the movie for ages, so I thought it would be fun to make a tea inspired by it!
Masala chai originated in India, so I knew it would be the perfect starting point for my tea. But how to make it unique? I decided to blend it with chocolate chai to add some sweetness to the spice. Then I added a touch of vanilla to even out the flavors, and voilà: a chai reminiscent of spicy hot chocolate, perfect for a little girl like Sara Crewe! 🙂
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Posted July 7, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 9 Comments
Our new Book of the Month is A Little Princess, and we’re starting it out with one of my favorite foods in the entire book: Sara’s bakery buns! When the previously affluent Sara Crewe is suddenly thrown into poverty, she struggles with hunger every day. One day she finds a coin in the street, but instead of spending it right away, she tries to find who it belongs to. When she can’t, she uses it to buy six warm, fresh bakery buns…then the baker woman sees her give five of them away to a starving child on the street! The baker woman is so touched by Sara’s generosity, she takes in the child Sara helped and teaches her to work in the bakery. Who knew a little girl with a simple bun could do so much?
In the movie version of the story, the bun in Sara’s hands looks like a giant, delicious cinnamon bun, but I decided to take it a step further and make something special: blackberry buns! Today we’ve spiraled traditional sweet roll dough around rich blackberry preserves and drizzled it with sweet lemon icing.
A dish fit for a princess!
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Posted July 5, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Reading Kits / 4 Comments
There’s a lot of beauty to be found in the book A Little Princess. So many of the sentences are elegantly crafted with lush descriptions. I found myself reading several of them twice just to enjoy them over again (check out the sunset in Chapter 11—you wont’ be sorry!). But even if the descriptions had been sub-par, it would still be hard not to get swept up in the romanticism of vintage lockets, porcelain dolls, and dainty cakes.
Even so, the real artistry of A Little Princess is in how it showcases the beauty of the human spirit. Sara Crewe is gentle and generous while living in the lap of luxury, but this doesn’t change when she encounters hardship. Instead, she works even harder to live her philosophy that a girl is a princess because of how she acts, not what she has. As a result, she draws out the inner beauty of the people around her—from the baker woman down the stree to the ld man next door.
The reading kit below is designed to revel in the lavish lifestyle described in the book…but in true Sara fashion, remember to share it with a friend! 🙂
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Posted July 1, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Hints / 5 Comments
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July is here, and with it, summer is in full force! I’m loving how long the sun stays up now, but I could do without the 90° heat, humidity, and mosquitoes (Oh, Illinois, why must you treat weather like an intensity contest?). On the upside, I got to spend all of June making a menu I’ve been looking forward to for AGES! 🙂A
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Posted June 30, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 7 Comments
Today we’re wrapping up our Star Trek menu with a true trekky classic: Romulan Ale. Easily identified by its distinctive bright blue color, Romulan Ale is said to be highly intoxicating, which is part of why the Federation dubs it illegal through most of the series. This particular recipe was a collaborative effort between myself, the Mister, and our good friend David, who’s a bit of a brewing/distilling enthusiast. We toned it down a little bit from the ale described in the show, so you won’t suffer the same awful hangover as you would after drinking the original. 😉
I knew I wanted to use a blue curacao base to get that iconic blue color, and David gave me suggestions for beers that would pair well with it without diluting the color too much. The Mister was my primary taste tester, and after a couple rounds of testing we had the proportions down just right. The resulting beverage tastes a bit like orange cream soda, with just a little beer flavor thrown in. Three cheers for teamwork! 🙂
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Posted June 23, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 1 Comment
In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deanna Troi’s love affair with chocolate is the stuff of legend. She eats it almost every day, and even has a specific technique for eating ice cream sundaes (Hint: it involves a lot of slow bites and savoring). I always thought her signature sundae looked super delicious, so I decided to make it here on the blog! This decadent ice cream dessert features homemade chocolate ice cream, chocolate fudge, and chocolate chips…plus double chocolate Pirouette cookies, whipped cream, and a cherry for good measure!
P.S. I used the chocolate ice cream recipe that came with my ice cream maker, but feel free to substitute store-bought ice cream if you’re strapped for time. 🙂
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Posted June 21, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Teas / 2 Comments
Today we’re continuing our Star Trek menu with a trio of Trek-themed teas. Anyone familiar with the show might be expecting Captain Picard’s signature “tea, Earl Grey, hot,” but Adagio Teas (the site were I blend my teas) has ten versions of Earl Grey that are all super delicious. I honestly didn’t think I could improve them, so instead I decided to make three teas, each dedicated to one of the three service divisions in Star Fleet! The flavor profile of each tea is themed on its division’s signature color: Command Red, Sciences Blue, and Operations Gold.
Ready to boldly go where no tea drinker has gone before? 😉
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