In the movie Serenity, Fruity Oaty Bars are a snack food advertised in a bar the characters visit while on the run from the Alliance. Unfortunately, big bad evil government guys plant a subliminal message in the Oaty Bar ad, causing River Tam—a fugitive from an Alliance research facility—to go completely beserk and attack everyone in the bar.
As such, the Fruity Oaty Bar has become an iconic Serenity/Firefly foodstuff. But what exactly is it?
Of all the characters in Firefly, Hoban Washburne is my all-time favorite. “Wash”—as he’s known by the crew of Serenity—is the ship’s pilot and resident goofball. There’s lots to love about Wash, but I think the best thing about him is how different he is from the rest of the crew, who’re all hard-bitten warriors (including his wife, Zoe).
When we first meet Wash, he’s playing with dinosaur toys at the helm of Serenity, acting out a narrative in which a T-Rex horribly betrays a kind-hearted stegosaurus. Like many people, this was the moment when I knew I was going to love his character, so I decided to make a dish in honor of his dinos!
These homemade dino nuggets are made from thin-cut chicken breast cut into shape with dinosaur cookie cutters, coated in bread crumbs, and baked. The ketchup recipe is one I found in a Zagat video, and I LOVE it! It’s more tomato-y than storebought ketchup and super easy to make!
Howdy, folks! Today’s recipe marks the start of our first TV show menu of the year. It’s themed after one of my favorite shows: Firefly!
The show is set in a dystopian future when mankind leaves Earth to terraform the universe. The arm of the law doesn’t really reach the outer systems, which have taken on an attitude toward law and justice reminiscent of the Wild West. The show follows the travels of the crew and passengers of the spaceship Serenity.
In the first episode, the ship’s mechanic convinces a preacher named Shepherd Book to travel with them, and he pays for his passage with something unusual: a small box of strawberries.
Of all our Series of Unfortunate Events recipes, I think this was the one I was most excited about. I knew for sure I would be making Uncle Monty’s famous coconut cake from The Reptile Room as our dessert—it’s the food I remember best from the whole series! All the cakes I’ve made on the blog so far have been chocolate (like Delicious Death and Dauntless Cake), so it was fun to try something different. And you can bet the Mister was excited: he loves coconut! This particular recipe starts with a mix, but I used a few baking tricks to make it more like homemade. The frosting is my own invention too, but I used this BHG recipe as my starting point. The final result is a moist, fluffy cake with just the right amount of coconut. So eat up! If your life is anything like the Baudelaires’, you may not know when you’ll encounter such a delicious dessert again. 😉
“Would you like an adventure now,” he said casually to John, “or would you like to have your tea first?”
Wendy said “tea first” quickly, and Michael pressed her hand in gratitude, but the braver John hesitated.
“What kind of adventure?” he asked cautiously.
— Peter Pan
We’ve completed our Peter Pan menu, but since this month has an extra Thursday in it, we get to do a bonus post. Huzzah! This post also happens to be extra bonus-y because we’re announcing a new permanent page on the site. Double huzzah!
It’s hard to believe it’s been 4 whole months since I created a new book-themed tea blend for one of our menus. Fear not, tea lovers! We’ve got a new blend, this time with a Peter Pan theme: Second Star to the Right. It’s a bedtime blend composed of moonlight Earl Grey tea, vanilla, cream, and a sprinkling of lavender.
Which leads me to my announcement: See that new tab on the menu bar, the one labeled “Alison’s Wonderland Teas from Adagio”? Now you can find all my Adagio blends right here on the blog. SO MANY HUZZAHS! Please order as many as you desire, since the proceeds from the sales help keep the lights on around here.
They make for great Mother’s Day presents too!*
* That was my attempt at a shameless product plug. Am I doing it right?
April is just about over, which means it’s time for my final post in the #ReadingMyLibrary blogging challenge. For details about the challenge, you can check out my challenge sign up post.
In my previous #ReadingMyLibrary post, I reviewed the first book in the Lockwood & Co. series, The Screaming Staircase. Today I’ll be reviewing The Whispering Skull, the second Lockwood book.
Happy World Book Day! Today, our Peter Pan menu comes to a close, but no such menu could call itself complete without a dish dedicated to the second star on the right.
Last week we continued our Peter Pan menu with Pirate Map Pizza, and today we’re posting a tribute to the Ticking Crocodile!
Last week I announced that I’d be taking part in the #ReadingMyLibrary challenge for the month of April, because I love libraries…and any excuse to read more! 🙂
For those who didn’t see the announcement, the rule of the challenge is that you need to read at least one library book and discuss it in either a blog post, #ReadingMyLibrary main page comment, or social media post. Since I found out about the challenge just after my weekly library visit, I’ll be discussing the books I picked up that day: the first two installments in the Lockwood & Co. series by Jonathan Stroud.
Seeing as I don’t have an infinite book budget, I’m a huge proponent of libraries. So it’s not that surprising that I was downright gleeful when I discovered that Stephani from Caught Read Handed and Amy from Read What I Like were hosting a library-oriented reading challenge for the month of April. It’s called the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge, and all you have to do is read a library book and blog/comment about it! Considering I picked up two new library books just before hearing about the challenge, I was more than prepared. 🙂
Read More
