Food and books. They’re kinda my thing. So much so that my blog has changed the way I read. Now when I’m reading a book strictly for pleasure that won’t appear on the blog, I still reach for my pencil to make a note when the author mentions food. It’s made me notice a few things, most especially that authors can get really creative in how they use food to forward the story.
As a rabid X-Files fan girl, I cannot express in words how excited I was to make an X-Files menu this month. There is absolutely no joy like being able to marathon the first six seasons while still feeling like a responsible adult because it’s “research.”
Though to be honest, I was a little nervous about timing my menu to coincide with the new season. If the new episodes were terrible, there was a good chance I’d spend most of February sobbing into a pillow instead of cooking. And I’ll admit, the first episode didn’t help my nerves much (for those who haven’t seen it, it was…weird). Luckily, Season 10 got steadily better with each episode, and I was soon gleefully reminiscing over the good old days while I re-connected with all my favorite characters.
Now I’m SO GLAD I lined up my menu with the new season. It felt extra festive to watch new episodes while eating Mulder’s iconic sunflower seeds, Scully’s pizza from Bad Blood, and delicious alien sugar cookies.
But now it’s time to shelve our UFO hunting gear and move on to a new menu. If you’re not quite ready to tell X-Files goodbye, you can check out my X-Files marathon kit, my The Truth is Out There custom tea from Adagio, or Nifty Nerd’s X-Files workout routine. Then you can take a guess at our new Book of the Month! Here’s the photo hint:
Of course, Mulder and Scully never actually eat alien cookies while on a case, but concluding an X-Files menu without an alien dish felt just plain wrong. These green and gray sugar cookies are a great dessert to celebrate the conclusion of the new season or a wonderful gift for the person in your life who wants to believe. You can use whatever sugar cookie recipe you want (I used the same base recipe as our Fairy Dust Star Cookies from Peter Pan). The royal icing recipe is one I found by Julia M. Usher.
Making an X-Files themed tea can be tricky. Should I stick with something green in honor of little green men? Go with a blend meant to encapsulate the personality of one of the characters—but if so, which one do I choose? In the end, I decided to make a tea inspired by Fox Mulder’s perpetual tendency to keep an eye on the sky. I combined two aptly named Adagio teas, Lemon Cloud and Foxtrot, into a tea fit for everyone’s favorite spooky FBI agent. 🙂
This blend brings the delicate flavors of chamomile, mint, and lemon together in a flavorful yet soothing rooibos-herbal tea. Rooibos is a red tea with a taste all its own (warm and slightly earthy, brightened by its natural sweetness). It’s ideal for mixing delicate, herbal flavors that would get lost in a strong black tea. In this tea, I combined Rooibos Lemon Cloud with Foxtrot. Lemon Cloud is a straight rooibos with a lemony twist, and Foxtrot combines rooibos with chamomile and peppermint. I love the way the faint lemon undertone complements the gentle mint flavor. It’s also caffeine free, which makes it a perfect bedtime tea. I can just imagine Mulder and Scully sipping this during a stakeout!
P.S. I’m curious how this would taste with just a little more lemon flavor, so I’m going to make a test version that includes lemon grass. If I like the change, I’ll make it a permanent addition to the blend. 🙂
Last week I posted about Scully’s penchant for craving junk food during autopsies, but anyone who watches X-Files knows that Scully’s eating habits swing to the other extreme just as often. She’s a regular salad eater when it comes to lunch, and she’s been known to snack on yogurt with bee pollen. In fact, Mulder once teased her for eating an ice cream cone only to find out that it was a “non-fat tofutti rice dreamsicle.”
This January marked my blog’s second anniversary. I like to think I’ve learned a few things about food blogging over the past couple years, and one of those things is just how powerful the proper tools can be. However, it may surprise you to know that this dish:
….was made in this kitchen:
That’s right! Up until three months ago, I was making all my food in a tiny galley kitchen. It had two squares of counter space, two drawers, and no windows. Though it was bigger than my very first kitchen (a studio kitchenette), I was worried it would be too small to handle a food blog. In fact, I’d read posts about bloggers renovating kitchens that were already bigger than mine. In the end I decided to give it my best shot and see what happened. I was pretty surprised by what I learned!
Dana Scully’s ability to get hungry while performing an autopsy is the stuff of legend. In fact, she almost always finds herself craving whatever the victim’s last meal was! I like to think it’s because her work reminds her that life is fleeting, so—since she usually eats so healthy— she should order that bucket of fried chicken while she can. This combination of the macabre and the silly made me want to create an entrée that pays tribute to Scully’s autopsy munchies.
You may recall that last month I premiered a new type of monthly post: reading kits! I’m planning to do one for every menu I make this year, which I’m not ashamed to say has me super excited. I LOVE finding just the right mix of things related to my favorite books (or in this case, TV show). Since X-Files doesn’t involve much reading, I’m rebranding the kit as a “marathon kit” this time, but it’s basically the same thing: a compilation of 6 items inspired by our menu of the month. Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, so why not make a kit for that special X-Files fan in your life? I know I’d love one! 🙂
These alien bookends for storing all your abduction research
This gray alien to keep you company while you watch the show.
This mug to help you keep the faith
This rainy day X-files activity book for when it’s too cloudy to hunt UFOs
These totally rad Mulder and Scully plushies for you to cuddle during the scary scenes
This super-mega-ultra comprehensive set of ALL the X-Files seasons and movies!
Normally I wouldn’t have our first non-book inspired menu so early in the year, but I’m a wild X-Files fan. So you can only imagine how much I flailed when I heard a new season was coming out. I decided I didn’t care that it was only February and that it might be a bit weird to follow up King Arthur with a sci-fi show. I was making an X-Files menu, come hell or high water contaminated with a symbiotic black oil alien species.
GUYS. Do you remember last year when Chobani asked a bunch of food bloggers (including myself) to make recipes for their #deliciousbowl Super Bowl project? Well, they emailed me again this year to say they liked my Healthy Dessert Pizza so much that they want me to make another healthy Super Bowl recipe! On the outside I was all “Ah yes, my good people. I would be elated to oblige,” but on the inside I was all:
