Isabella Parker

Mrs. Tatum

9 H Lit 2nd Period

April 23, 2018

Designer Rationale

For our project on The Night Circus, we made a Four Seasons Maze. The center of the

circular tent is a tree which spans across all four seasons. The colors of spring become brighter

when they turn to summer. When summer turns to fall, the colors become warmer and have

more of an orange, red, and yellow hue. Fall turns to winter when the colors turn blue and purple

and white. Winter turns to spring when, just like at the beginning of life, colors blossom in

shades of pink and pastel shades.

The colors of the tent sections are meant to capture the feeling of the season. Holidays

like Easter are celebrated in the season of spring. Colors that remind people of spring are pastel

like baby blue, light pink, and light yellow. Sometimes white symbolizes this season. Summer

will have shades of green with dashing of color to symbolize the blooming of summer plants and

flower. This will make the walls look like the trees are blooming. The next season is fall. It is

the colors of the leaves in fall, ranging from red to orange to yellow. The final season, winter, is

a season of cool colors. Colors like blue and white and even purple make people think of winter

and things like surrounding winter.

The changing of seasons often brings out different color preferences, according to an

article published by National Public Radio. They say, “the cool blues of winter give way to the
festive pastels of spring; the vibrant colors of summer presage the warm, leafy palette of fall”

(National Public Radio). A study mentioned in this article said, “Despite the modest sample size,

analyses revealed reliable, seasonal shifts in color preferences, with the most dramatic shift for

fall. Relative to their responses during the rest of the year, people liked dark, warm colors (such

as dark red, orange and chartreuse) more during the fall” (National Public Radio). People tend to

associate different colors with each season, and therefore like those colors more.

The outside of the tent is black and white, as to keep with the theme of the black and

white circus. The name of the tent is Le Labyrinthe des Quatre Saisons, or The Maze of Four

Seasons. The maze starts right when one enters the tent, in one of the four doors. Each door has

a corresponding season. The maze will eventually leads one to the center, where a large tree is

planted. The big tree looms over the whole maze. The branches cover the seasons, leaving the

only light to be found in the walls. The tree in the center radiates warmth even though it is

surrounded by each season’s temperature.

Each one of the four seasons has a food that captures the aura of that season. Spring has

Chocolate Covered Strawberries. I chose this food because in the springtime, strawberry plants

begin to bloom and produce fruit. Chocolate covered strawberries are a light and airy snack that

can be eaten throughout the day and can be enjoyed with multiple sides. Summer has “Surprise

Inside Cookies”. The surprise inside of the cookies is a salted caramel and Nutella filling. The

cookies are double chocolate chip. The food of choice for summer is this because summer can

have many aspects like thunderstorms and sunny days. Temperatures can go from hot to cold,

smooth to rough like the ocean on a windy, summer day. As for fall, I chose Cinnamon French

Toast Sticks as the food of choice. Spices that make people think of fall include spices like

cinnamon and nutmeg. These spices bring a homey feeling to dishes, especially sweet ones,
which makes the food have a warming quality. For winter, I made Hot Chocolate, a classic

wintertime drink. It appears in classic winter movies like “The Polar Express”.

The walls are twice as high as the actual maze walls because there has to be room for the

tree. The walls are far enough apart that groups can walk together and not get squished or split

up.

The name of the tent is Le Labyrinthe des Quarte Saisons because the name of the circus

is French. The words are cognates, so it is obvious what they mean. Even so, an English

translation will be included underneath the French words. The stripes on will straight up and

down to make the appearance of the tent look like bars and to match the original tents in the

book.

The ground is painted white and black to make the illusion of the tent continuing into the

ground. In the book, The Night Circus, the prologue says, “…what little ground is visible from

outside is black or white, painted or powdered, or treated with some other circus trick”

(Morgenstern, Anticipation). The ground of our tent is black and white as well to match this

theme.

The tent is circular to represent the changing of seasons. The seasons change based on the

Earth’s position on its orbit, the circular path it takes around the sun. For many people, the

seasons flow into each other like how a circle has no edges and continues forever. In history,

people have “for many thousands of years, (human societies) have responded to the circle of

seasons with ceremony and celebration” (Morning Earth). People have always seem the

changing of seasons as a circle and have compared it to the motion of the Earth around the Sol,

or sun.
Isabella Parker

Mrs. Tatum

9 H Lit 2nd Period

April 23, 2018

Designer Recipes

Chocolate Covered Strawberries:

Ingredients

1 pint (2 cups) medium-large strawberries (18 to 20 strawberries) SAVE $

½ cup semisweet chocolate chips or white vanilla baking chips

1 teaspoon shortening or vegetable oil

Steps

1 Gently rinse strawberries and dry on paper towels (berries must be completely dry). Line

cookie sheet with waxed paper.

2 In 1-quart saucepan, melt chocolate chips and shortening over low heat, stirring frequently.

Remove from heat.

3 Dip lower half of each strawberry into chocolate mixture; allow excess to drip back into

saucepan. Place on waxed paper-lined tray or cookie sheet.

4 Refrigerate uncovered about 30 minutes or until chocolate is firm, or until ready to serve. Store

covered in refrigerator so chocolate does not soften (if made with oil, chocolate will soften more

quickly at room temperature

Easy Cinnamon French Toast Sticks:

Ingredients

8 slices thick-cut Texas toast (See Kelly's Notes)

4 large eggs

1 cup heavy cream

2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Unsalted butter, for cooking

Maple syrup, for serving

Instructions

Cut each slice of Texas toast into four sticks. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, heavy cream, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla. Dip each

piece of bread in the egg mixture, turning to coat it on all sides so that it's well-saturated with the

custard.
Shake off any excess and place the coated bread on a large plate or baking dish. Repeat the

dipping process with the remaining pieces of bread.

Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat and add 2 to 3 tablespoons of butter. Once the butter

has melted, place several of the coated sticks in a single layer in the pan. (Do not overcrowd the

pan.) Cook until golden brown on one side then flip and continue cooking until the sticks are

golden brown and slightly crisped on all edges.

Serve immediately with maple syrup for dipping

Double Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Nutella Filled Cookies:

Ingredients

1/2 cup (110g) butter

1 1/2 cups (350g) light brown sugar

1/2 cup (55g) cocoa powder

2 eggs

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking powder

2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour

3.5 oz (100g) milk or dark chocolate chips

flaky salt/ fleur de sel/ maldon salt , for sprinkling

approx. 1/2 cup (8 tbsp) nutella

1 x recipe for Salted caramel (see notes for recipe) OR 15-16 caramel-filled chocolates

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C)

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Take off the heat and stir in the brown sugar and eggs.

Then add the cocoa, salt and baking powder and stir until well combined. Add the flour and stir

until no floury patches are left. Lastly stir in the chocolate chips.

Make the caramel, if using (see notes for recipe)

Take 1 heaped tbsp of dough, use your finger make a large indentation the centre of the dough;

fill the indentation with a small blob of nutella (like 1/2 tsp ish), and top it up with the still-warm

salted caramel, or a caramel-filled chocolate. Top with a flattened tablespoon of dough, and seal

the edges. (see video at top of page)

Sprinkle with fleur de sel and bake for 8-10 minutes

Hot Chocolate:

Ingredients

5 ounces powdered sugar

2 3/4 ounces white chocolate, broken into pieces

1 1/2 ounces cocoa powder

1 1/4 ounces dark chocolate, broken into pieces

Pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

1/2 teaspoon instant coffee

Marshmallows, crispy or traditional.

Directions

1. Make the cocoa mix:

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the powdered sugar, white chocolate, cocoa powder,

dark chocolate, salt, vanilla bean seeds and instant coffee. Pulse until the mixture is finely

ground. If the processor starts to get warm, take a break for a minute to let it cool. Continue

pulsing until no large bits of chocolate remain. (Don't run the processor continuously, as this will

cause the machine to warm and will start to melt the chocolate a bit, creating a weird clumpy

mixture.) Transfer the ground cocoa mix to an airtight container. The mixture will store

indefinitely at room temperature.

2. To prepare the cocoa: Whisk 3 tablespoons (about one ounce) of cocoa mix into 6 ounces of

boiling milk. Adjust with more cocoa to taste. Add marshmallows.

If you're serving a crowd and want to prepare all of the cocoa at once, start by bringing a half

gallon of milk (along with the reserved vanilla pod, if you like) to a boil in a pot over medium

high heat. Turn the heat to medium and whisk in all of the cocoa, a half cup at a time. Whisk

continuously until all of the mixture has dissolved.

Serve immediately, or transfer to a thermos

Isabella Parker

Mrs. Tatum
9 H Lit 2nd Period

April 23, 2018

Works Cited

Betty Crocker. "Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries." BettyCrocker.com, 2017,

www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/chocolate-dipped-strawberries/b8b85c58-e5b3-405a-889f-

9e997996738d.

Eats, Serious. "Homemade Swiss Miss With Mini Marshmallows Recipe." Serious Eats: The

Destination for Delicious | Serious Eats, www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/11/homemade-

swiss-miss-hot-cocoa-mix-mini-marshmallows-recipe.html.

Izy. "Salted Caramel + Nutella Stuffed Double Chocolate Chip Cookies." Izy Hossack - Top

With Cinnamon, 16 July 2017, topwithcinnamon.com/2013/09/twc-feat-sorted-video-salted-

caramel-nutella-stuffed-double-chocolate-chip-cookies.html.

Maze Generator. Maze Generator, 2017, mazegenerator.net/.

Morning Earth. "Life Lives in Circles: Seasons Cycle." Morning Earth Connects & Celebrates

Arts & Ecology, www.morning-earth.org/Graphic-E/CycleSeasons.html#seasons.

National Public Radio. "As The Seasons Change, So Do Our Color Preferences." NPR.org, 3

Mar. 2017, www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2017/03/03/517177552/as-the-seasons-change-so-do-our-

color-preferences.

Senyei, Kelly. "Easy Cinnamon French Toast Sticks." Just a Taste, 8 Jan. 2014,

www.justataste.com/easy-cinnamon-french-toast-sticks-recipe/.