what will monkey do?

sometimes a little brainstorming with a pal is needed to come up with the best solutions. my guest brainstormer is lyn the proprietress extordinair of cake or death (the ultimate eddie izzard fan site).

me: welcome lyn. would you mind reviewing the problems at hand while i write them on the chalk board.

lyn: i'd love to! problem 1 - you have you have tickets to eddie izzard's show in dallas that you don't need.

me: right!

lyn: problem 2 - i want to help care raise money for their relief effort in burma.

me: as you can see by the diagram i have made using colored chalk and bits of string, the solution is obvious.

lyn: yes...we raffle the tickets off to benefit care.

me: brilliant!!!

we'll go rest our brain cells while you read the rules of the game.

4 june 08 update: the raffle has now ended!

hypothetical question

let's say you are a small terrycloth primate with an extra pair of tickets to eddie izzard's june 5th show in dallas, but, you will not be using the tickets. the tickets are nice box tickets that you could probably sell them on e-bay for wads of cash. then again, you could give them to a friend or possibly, you could sell them at face value to a hypothetical stranger. so ask yourself: what would monkey do?

(any offers to purchase these hypothetical tickets will be ignored as will any begging friends coveting them.)

oh! wow! chow!

can you imagine my delight to find that chows's aïda mollenkamp has mentioned cooking with monkey as one of her top 10 favorite cooking blogs! what an honor to be listed on a favorite site with the sites i love to persuse and what a delight to see the always entertaining and informative david lebovits. yes that's him whipping up a few treats in the photo.

could the tv show "there's a monkey in the kitchen and he has a knife" be far off?

think about this

on this day in 1990 the world lost great creative mind and warm heart; jim henson. he brought kermit to life, gave him singing and dancing lesson and even taught him to ride a bike. just think about the legacy he's left behind.

know your buddhas - tara

the buddha of compassion, chenrezig, took a vow to relieve the suffering of all sentient beings, but, things were not going so well. he was alone, overworked, overwhelmed and frustrated. it's no wonder that he just broke down in a fit of hopeless tears. i would have too. but, one of his tears hit the ground and from that spot the beautiful tara manifested announcing that she was there to help chenrezig accomplish his aspiration. she sure knows how to make an entrance, doesn't she?

arya tara or jetsuma drolma as the tibetans call her, is not exclusive to buddhism. hindus consider her one of the mother goddesses. way back when, she vowed to always be reborn as a female until she vanquished every last bit of suffering in the world. (and you though oprah was an over achiever.)

like every good mother, she has an array of colorful manifestations - 21 to be exact - ranging from nurturing to wrathful. of course, what mom doesn't go a little wrathful from time to time when protecting their child?

why-oh is it cinco de mayo?

on this day in 1862 the mexican forces triumphed over the french in the battle of puebla. this didn't deter the plucky french. they went on to invade mexico city and install maximilian the first (le premier) as emperor of mexico. luckily, the french were run out of town in 1867 or everyone would be speaking french and tex-mex food would include crepes and stinky cheeses.

today would be a good day to brush up on your tomato dicing skills as you whip up salsa for your queso dip, guacamole and nachos. oooh la la - i mean ole!