Posted September 19, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Link Up / 3 Comments
The complete manuscript for my cookbook is due mid October, so it’s currently crunch time at my house. Husband and baby have been very understanding of how much time I currently spend tapping away at my laptop as I make final edits to my manuscript, but I’ll admit I’m SO READY to be done with this stage of the process. I’m a rather detail-oriented person who I often likes editing, but I’ve been applying the correct abbreviation of “tablespoon” and rewriting ingredients in order of use for almost two months now. Needless to say, I’m ready to get back in the kitchen.
Even though editing process can be tough and tedious, I’ve been motivating myself with the promise that I can do some fun reading once it’s complete. Here’s my post-cookbook TBR, which I plan to dive into as soon as I submit my manuscript:
Read More
Posted September 12, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Link Up / 2 Comments
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt was a freebie, so I decided to cover a topic I’ve had on the brain for a while. When I made astronaut pudding for my Amelia’s Notebook menu, I loved how kid-friendly it was, and I got to thinking about how tough it can be to find fiction-inspired recipes for kids. Dishes like Turkish Delight or Deeper ‘N Ever Pie are fun recipes, but they can be intimidating for kiddos who are just starting to get curious about cooking.
I decided to do a roundup of quick, easy literary recipes for kids here on the blog, so here are ten of my favorites! These recipes require minimal cooking or cutting, and several of them are well known foods from history (sugar plums, hardtack, johnny cake, etc.) that kids are likely to come across in classic books. You can incorporate them into a homeschooling lesson, use them to satisfy your children’s curiosity about foods they’ve read about, or just whip them up for fun. The choice is yours! 🙂
Read More
Posted August 22, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Link Up / 8 Comments
The new school year is just around the corner! Now’s the time for what I consider one of the best parts of the back-to-school season: shopping for school supplies. I loved school shopping as a kid because every item was an opportunity to show my personality. I remember purple and teal composition notebooks, novelty erasers, highlighters in every color of the rainbow, and scented markers (but you wouldn’t believe how disappointed I was that my graphing calculator only came in black).
So when The Broke and The Bookish announced that this week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt would have an open-ended back to school theme, I knew I wanted to make a list of back to school items for book lovers. Below you’ll find everything from backpacks to study materials, all with a bookish theme. May they help you ace that classic lit exam…and maybe strike up a friendship with a fellow book lover!
P.S. Since we’re all book lovers here, I just wanted to note that your supply shopping can benefit National Novel Writing Month by shopping through Amazon Smile! (NaNoWriMo didn’t sponsor this post, I just think they’re really awesome. :))
Read More
Posted December 20, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Link Up / 6 Comments
When I was writing a Top Ten Tuesday post last month for literary Christmas decorations, I came across an amazing array of bookish Christmas ornaments. So many, in fact, that I decided to give them their own TTT post!
Read More
Posted November 29, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Holidays, Link Up / 12 Comments
‘Tis the season to deck the halls! As I started planning my Christmas decorations for this year, I thought about how great it would be to use wintery decor as a way to celebrate my love of books. I searched the interwebs, and it turns out there are TONS of gorgeous, festive literary decorations out there. Here are my top ten!
Read More
Posted October 25, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Link Up / 4 Comments
I’m actually really horrible at coming up with creative Halloween costumes, so I commend anyone who can dream up a clever, gorgeous costume all on their own. And if that costume just so happens to be inspired by a book character, then I’m pretty sure I’ve found my new best friend. 😉
Of course there are LOADS of awesome bookish costumes out there, but these are my ten favorites. Some are quick and easy to throw together, others are practically pieces of art. But they’re ALL super creative ways to use Halloween to share your love of reading! 🙂
Read More
Posted October 4, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Link Up / 4 Comments
I actually made this list a long while back, but I decided to save the idea for an October post, since villains and Halloween go so well together. Then The Broke and the Bookish published a TTT villain-themed prompt for this week—too perfect!
As I put this list together, it got me thinking about the difference between true villains and plain old antagonists. I realized I kinda have a “type” when it comes to my favorite baddies. I love reading about intelligent villains who lie, manipulate, and cheat to get what they want (probably because I consider this kind of villainy to be particularly difficult to overcome). So you’ll probably notice lots of characters on my list who fall into that category.
I also realized that, to me, a character doesn’t have to engage in grand, world-altering schemes in order to be a true villain. I base my judgement on the extent of the damage inflicted on the innocent, rather than the societal/global scope of the villain’s plans. So a character that devotes themselves to personally devastating a single innocent character might be more evil to me than a cold-hearted megalomaniac.
One final note before we get started: This is by no means a definitive list. I had to leave off some pretty famous names since I haven’t read the books that go with them. For example, almost every list of literary villainesses I’ve seen includes Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Next, but I can’t include her here since I haven’t read the book.
Read More
Posted September 6, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Link Up / 4 Comments
Whenever I find out one of my favorite books might get a movie or TV adaption, I’m filled with a mix of elation and fear. I’m told this isn’t unusual; most people have mixed feelings about adaptions. Maybe it’s because there doesn’t seem to be a middle ground. We might get to see our beloved books come to life in new and exciting ways…but we might just as easily see the source material butchered beyond recognition.
Whenever news of the latest adaption comes along, my greatest comfort is the long list of truly wonderful adaptions that have been made in the past. Here’s a list of my top ten favorites!
Read More
Posted August 9, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Link Up / 2 Comments
Intimidating books. No matter how deeply rooted our love of books may be, we’ve all encountered a daunting book at some point. Sometimes it’s a book big enough to rival the dictionary, or maybe the language is so complicated as to be overwhelming. Sometimes it’s just a genre we’re not sure we’ll like!
But all books were made to be read, even the intimidating ones, so I’ve resolved to read the ten books that intimidate me most. Here they are! 🙂
Read More
Posted August 2, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Link Up / 9 Comments
Unlimited money for books. It’s what every book lover dreams about, right? Just last month I published a post describing my dream library, so I was all set to continue fantasizing about more books when this Top Ten Tuesday prompt came up. In fact, I’ve been saving books on my Amazon wishlist for ages, so I just had to pop over and see which ones I wanted most. Here’s my dream book haul master list!
Read More
