Tigger presented me with quite a challenge when it came time to include him in the Winnie the Pooh menu. He is a notoriously picky eater, turning up his nose at every food but one (extract of malt). So for this recipe, I drew my inspiration from Tigger as a character, rather than his taste in snacks. The result was a delightful batch of honeyed sweet potato fries with just a little whiskey kick, modeled after Tigger’s iconic stripes. Perfect for a day of bouncing!
Cottleston Pie is a bona fide Winnie the Pooh invention. Until A.A. Milne wrote a poem about it in Winnie the Pooh, it never existed. The playful little poem explains that every creature is unique and acts according to its nature, essentially saying that we’re all what we’re made to be. Simple enough, right?
I’m a huge fan of the original Winnie the Pooh books. I love the humble wisdom at the heart of each story and the timelessness of the characters.
And so ends the great month of May. I loved spending it on our Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy menu. After all, it’s not every day you get to make crazy food like Apocalypse Trail Mix, Petunia Bowl Salad, and Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters. But after all that space travel, I think I’m ready for something a little bit closer to home. For our next Book of the Month, I chose a book that celebrates the simple pleasures of summer without venturing far beyond the backyard.
I can’t wait to get started!
I’m a complete novice when it comes to mixing drinks, but the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster is SO cool, I knew I couldn’t finish my Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy menu without it. It’s said to contain Santraginean sea water, Arcturan Mega-gin, Qualactin Hypermint extract, and a host of other wild ingredients. Of course, most of these ingredients aren’t exactly “easily sourceable,” so there are many interpretations of this iconic Hitchhiker beverage, ranging from the very simple to the ultra-accurate. I chose this gin-based rendition developed by Mitch Hutts of Critical Hit Cocktails, because I think it has the best of both worlds. It’s complex and unique enough to be considered its own drink, but it’s not married to authenticity at the expense of flavor. It’s easy to make—even for a newbie like me—and I really love the flavor. It’s refreshing and easy to drink, but not too sweet. And check out that awesome neon color! The “gear lemon” garnish is my own personal touch (I learned the technique here).
“A towel…is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value — you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble‐sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand‐to‐hand‐combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindbogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you — daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.“
— The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
In Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the Heart of Gold is a state-of-the-art starship that operates on an infinite improbability drive (powered by a “nice hot cup of tea”). However, using the improbability drive can have some unusual side effects. Luckily, these cute, dainty cakes are just the thing to set you right after being turned into a sofa…or a ball of yarn…or a penguin.
Oddly enough, the petunia bowl is practically a character in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s one of the book’s most iconic story elements, second only to the towel. And no wonder! Who can forget that fateful bowl of petunias plummeting through space, consumed by only one thought: “Oh no, not again”?
I owe my love of books to my mother. I remember countless nights of getting to sit in the big bed while she read The Chronicles of Narnia out loud to us. She was the sort of read-alouder who always did the voices, and nothing brings a story to life like the squeaky voice of a mouse or the deep, booming voice of a giant…though she says the mole dialect from the Redwall books was particularly tough to master!
It’s an exciting day here at Alison’s Wonderland Recipes! MuggleNet has decided to feature my “Leeky” Cauldron Soup recipe, and they even did a Featured News writeup about it. Thanks, MuggleNet! 🙂