Tiny Monkey Industries

A New Bathroom for TMI HQ

2008-02-25T19:52:00.006-05:00

Tiny Monkey Industries headquarters recently underwent a much needed bathroom renovation. Before: peeling green pain, black waxy floor, ugly sink. After: glistening black and white tile, lovely blue paint, pretty pedestal sink.

BEFORE

AFTER

You can see lots more pictures here.

Baby Monkey

2007-07-27T08:11:00.001-04:00

Elmo is just four days old, but he has already captured the hearts of his keepers in the animal hospital at Taman Safari in Bogor, West Java. Read more.

Another Tiny Monkey

2007-04-25T14:30:00.000-04:00

We've adopted another stuffed monkey. He is a handcrafted amigurumi critter from Etsy sent to my by my dear friend Meg. (Oh, according to the handwritten tag, his name is Tommy.)

Monkeeee

2007-02-16T09:17:00.000-05:00

Meet my work monkey. I call him Jim.

Plastic Reincarnation

2007-01-29T18:03:00.000-05:00

What happens when a G.I. Joe guy loses a leg or your kid gets tired of the Happy Meal toy he just had to have? Most of these castaways end up in the junk drawer or the landfill, but a lucky few make their way to Toy Lab where they're given new life by "kids" of all ages.

A recent rainy Sunday found my husband and I picking out parts for our own Franken-toys.

I named mine the Interstellar Puppigator.

Ben called his Carl G. Benson (don't ask me why).

Virgin Births

2007-01-25T21:59:00.000-05:00

View full size.

The (gor)REAL(a) World: Prague

2007-01-25T21:51:00.000-05:00

"It was only just a few months ago that Czechs were first introduced - some would say subjected to - reality TV. In late summer two new programmes hit the commercial stations, Big Brother and the then lesser-known VyVoleni (The Selected), drawing a great deal of media attention. Millions have now tuned in - and a great number of young viewers watch regularly - but others were turned-off from the start, either unimpressed or offended by the exploits of the shows' overnight celebrities. Until now. A new reality show begun this month by Czech Radio has grabbed many of these viewers' attention, a show that can be said to be "truly different", even at first glance. The reason? The stars of the programme are gorillas.

The show, called Odhaleni - Unmasking, was put together by Czech Radio in connection with public broadcaster Czech TV. On November 7th a total of sixteen cameras began monitoring the exploits of four gorillas at Prague Zoo, and will continue taping and broadcasting on the internet for the next two months. Just like in other reality shows, viewers can tune in to see daily clips, or live action, and, just like in Big Brother or The Selected, one can send in phone text messages in support of their favourite star."

Flip This (Monkey) House

2007-01-25T21:39:00.000-05:00

In this photo provided by the Wildlife Conservation Society, a pair of squirrel monkeys cuddle in the Bronx Zoo's newly renovated monkey house, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2007, in New York. After being closed several months for renovation, the building reopened with newly painted murals as well as new rock formations and waterfalls. (AP Photo/Wildlife Conservation Society, Julie Larsen Maher) Credit: Julie Larsen Maher WCS

Oops

2007-01-25T21:33:00.000-05:00

In a mysterious bit of monkey business, a female at a chimpanzee sanctuary has given birth, despite the fact that the facility's entire male chimp population has had vasectomies.

More.

If We Were On South Park . . .

2007-01-22T19:09:00.000-05:00

This is what we would look like:

Created with South Park Studio

Guilty Pleasures

2007-01-13T10:05:00.000-05:00

Here at Tiny Monkey Industries, we are known to indulge in several guilty pleasures, which we usually keep to ourselves. But, sometimes, they're just too funny not to share. Case in point: The eating of raw cookie dough. Many people (and monkeys) enjoy the simple pleasures of cookie dough, but are ashamed to admit it.

That shame has now been captured in song by TMI faves Paul & Storm. The song, entitled "Pillsbury Cookie Dough," can be purchased for $1 from iTunes or from the Paul & Storm store.

If you are unwilling to part with $1, we've captured the uncommonly witty lyrics below. Imagine an earnest commercial theme song as you read (maybe that coffee commercial—was it Folgers or Maxwell House?—where the son comes home from the military and surprises his family at Christmas).

It's 4 in the morning, you sneak out of bed, and tiptoe down the stairs. You go to the kitchen and leave off the light, the Pillsbury cookie dough is waiting there. Yeah you open the door, take the tube in your hand, get the scissors down from the shelf. Peel back the label, give it a squeeze, you're gonna eat the whole thing all by yourself. There's nothing better than a whole damn tube of raw cookie dough. Go on and eat it all. Don't slice it, don't cook it, don't serve it, don't share it. Go on and eat it all. Hide the wrapper in the bottom of the trash and go back up to bed . . . filled with shame and cookie dough . . . from Pillsbury.

Howwwwwl

2007-01-13T08:28:00.000-05:00

A rare black howler monkey dangles from a branch in the Community Baboon Sanctuary at Bermudian Landing in Belize, Central America, on Dec. 24, 2005. Some 200 private land owners voluntarily protect 20 square miles of habitat for the monkeys, whose population now exceeds 2,000. (AP Photo/Vicki Smith)

Odd Adoption

2007-01-09T17:08:00.000-05:00

From The Daily Mail

She is the ultimate predator - a sleek and stealthy killer. Pouncing on her prey, she silences the baboon with one swipe of a vicious paw. Then, suddenly, something stirs in the dead animal's fur, and the law of the jungle is rewritten.

From the bedraggled pelt of her kill crawls a tiny infant - a one-day-old baboon. In that moment, this young leopard forgets she is a hunter, and nurtures the baby baboon as if it were her own cub.

More.

Creepy Cool

2007-01-09T17:01:00.000-05:00

These life-like sculptures by artist Tony Matelli both attract and repel me at the same time. I'd love to check these out in person.

Goodies

2007-01-09T16:59:00.000-05:00

Cute monkey products from Yoyamart.

The Christmas Stick

2006-12-04T19:52:00.000-05:00

Christmas trees are too big, heavy and expensive. Solution: The Christmas Stick. Just find a branch in the backyard and wrap it in heavy wool yarn. Put rocks and floral foam in a large vessel. Push the stick down into the foam and top with more rocks to balance the weight of the branch. Add ornaments and you're done. Happy holidays!

Little Langur

2006-11-22T19:31:00.000-05:00

Eleven-day-old Golden Langur Joon clings to his mother Sameli inside their enclosure at a zoo cum botanical garden in Guwahati, the major city of India's northeastern state of Assam, November 17, 2006. REUTERS/Utpal Baruah (INDIA)

Males Chimps Prefer Mature Mates

2006-11-22T19:29:00.000-05:00

A chimp rests in his cage in Berlin's zoo in this January 7, 2003 file photo. Chimpanzee males prefer to have sex with older females, U.S. researchers found in a study published on Monday that shows one of the biggest behavioural differences between humans and our closest biological relatives. REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz

I See Your True Colors

2006-11-22T19:21:00.000-05:00

Three different-coloured mouse lemurs – one with reddish-brown fur, one with grey fur and one with mixed colouration – actually belong to the same species, researchers have discovered after a new genetic analysis.

More.

Cute Even Without Monkeys

2006-11-18T17:41:00.000-05:00

I just picked up a set of Tord Boontje window clings and 3 paper garlands from Target. The world on the internet is that they're very hard to find and were only produced in limited quantities. Both are decorated with rabbits, bears and deer. Even without monkeys, I love them.

Save the Chimps

2006-11-16T20:25:00.000-05:00

I recently watched a great PBS special about chimp rescues called Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History.

One of the featured organizations, Save the Chimps, offers a program where you can "adopt" a chimp for $120 a year, a great gift for the monkey-lover in your life.

Too Much Monkey Business

2006-11-16T20:11:00.000-05:00

There are too many monkeys in Indian cities. The short term fix, guard langurs who frighten away the smaller rhesus monkeys.

Langur photographed by David Sanger.

Stolen Monkeys Show Off New Baby

2006-11-16T20:05:00.000-05:00

Two rare monkeys who were found during police raids 11 days after being stolen from an East Sussex zoo have been showing off their new baby

Monkey Fresh

2006-11-16T19:57:00.000-05:00

Monkey shaped soap from Unica Home.

98.4% Human

2006-11-02T17:27:00.000-05:00

via Reuters

A young bonobo ape, a primate unique to Congo and humankind's closest relative, clings to its mother at Lola Ya Bonobo sanctuary just outside the capital Kinshasa, October 31, 2006. Scientifically named Pan paniscus, but more commonly known as pygmy chimpanzees, bonobos share 98.4% of their genetic make-up with humans and are at risk of extinction due to more than a decade of conflict in Central Africa.

Monkey Alarm

2006-10-02T18:05:00.000-04:00

A pair of screaming monkeys have been brought into a zoo to scare off thieves who might try to break in.

The zoo lost 11 marmoset monkeys earlier this year when thieves stole the tiny creatures from their cages.

It's hoped the two howler monkeys, called Greeb and Wing, will act as an alarm system as they 'scream' very loudly if they're disturbed or upset.

A man from Exmoor Zoo in Devon said he hopes the bigger monkeys - which can also bite - will scare off burglars.

More

Men Smuggled Monkeys in Pants

2006-09-29T09:36:00.000-04:00

When the rare birds of paradise escaped from his suitcase and flew over the heads of U.S. Customs Agents at Los Angeles International Airport, Robert Cusack decided it was best to confess that, yes, he did have more to declare.

"I have monkeys in my pants," Cusack told the agents.

More

Monkey Vacations I'd Like to Take

2006-09-05T18:50:00.000-04:00

Monkey Forest and the Monkey Sanctuary Trust in England.

Monkey Jungle outside Miami, Florida.

Sacred Monkey Forest Sancutary in Indonesia.

Monkey Temple in India.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

2006-09-05T18:21:00.000-04:00

from NewScientist.com

Pier Ferrari at the University of Parma, Italy, and colleagues tested 21 newborn macaques by holding each in front of a researcher who made various facial expressions.

At one day old, none of the infants showed any imitation. By day three, however, infants started to copy the researchers’ expressions, including tongue protrusions, mouth opening and lip smacking – all typical macaque expressions.

Read more.

{I'm not sure what this footage proves, but it sure is cute!}

Chimp Culture

2006-09-01T17:11:00.000-04:00

Chimpanzees Can Transmit Cultural Behavior To Multiple 'Generations'

Transferring knowledge through a chain of generations is a behavior not exclusive to humans, according to new findings by researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University and the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. For the first time, researchers have shown chimpanzees exhibit generational learning behavior similar to that in humans. Unlike previous findings that indicated chimpanzees simply conform to the social norms of the group, this study shows behavior and traditions can be passed along a chain of individual chimpanzees. These findings, based upon behavioral data gathered at the Yerkes Field Station in Lawrenceville, Ga., will publish online in the August 28 early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Read more.

How Did I Miss This?

2006-08-30T18:22:00.000-04:00

Cincinnati Zoo Celebrates Gorilla Birth

Muke, the Cincinnati Zoo’s 24-year-old western lowland gorilla delivered a healthy baby gorilla at 11:37 p.m. Sunday night, August 13, inside her bedroom area at the Zoo’s Primate Center. Muke began showing early signs of labor around 7:00 p.m. Sunday evening and by 8:00 p.m. it was clear that Muke was in active labor. Primate Center Team Leader Ron Evans immediately notified the Zoo’s veterinarians and the rest of the Primate Center Staff. More than 3-1/2 hours later, Evans stood only a few feet away as Muke delivered her baby at 11:37 p.m.

Read more.

Can you think of a good gorilla name? Enter the baby naming contest!

Dinos Ate Monkeys!

2006-08-30T18:15:00.000-04:00

from Science Daily

A new study suggests that prehistoric birds of prey made meals out of some of our earliest human ancestors.

Researchers drew this conclusion after studying more than 600 bones from modern-day monkeys. They had collected the bones from beneath the nests of African crowned eagles in the Ivory Coast's Tai rainforest. A full-grown African crowned eagle is roughly the size of an American bald eagle, which typically weighs about 10 to 12 pounds.

Punctures and scratches on many of the monkey skulls have led some researchers to rethink which animals may have preyed on our human ancestors, said W. Scott McGraw, the study's lead author and an associate professor of anthropology at Ohio State University.

Read more.

Tiny Animals on Fingers

2006-08-28T20:44:00.000-04:00

As if two tiny monkeys on a thumb weren't enough, there's an adorable Flickr group called Tiny Animals on Fingers.

Two Thumbs Up

2006-08-28T18:27:00.000-04:00

From The Sydney Morning Herald:

A very rare pair of tiny twin pygmy marmosets were born this week at the Froso Zoo in Ostersund, Sweden. They are the world's smallest monkey, growing to just 35cm and weighing in at aroud 100 grams.

Read more.

Orangutans Explore Online Dating (Seriously)

2006-08-24T17:17:00.000-04:00

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Single male (red hair, long arms, interests include hanging in trees and grooming) seeks female for long-distance relationship and possibility of meeting up in future to help save species.

Zookeepers in the Netherlands are planning to hook up Dutch and Indonesian orangutans over the Internet and believe the link could at some stage be used as an online dating service where apes could get to know one another and keepers could work out whether they would be compatible mates.

First things first: A romantic dinner for two.

"We are going to set up an Internet connection between Indonesia and Apeldoorn so that the apes can see each other and, by means of pressing a button, be able to give one another food, for example," said Anouk Ballot, a spokeswoman for the Apenheul ape park in the central Dutch city of Apeldoorn.

She said the chance of two orangutans actually mating as a result of the online interaction was small due to the problem of transporting them between the Netherlands and Indonesia. "But I wouldn't rule it out completely," she told The Associated Press.

Read more.

Man Steals Monkey

2006-08-23T17:54:00.000-04:00

A 22-year-old man from south London has been charged with the theft of a squirrel monkey from a zoo in Surrey.

The monkey was reported missing from Chessington World of Adventures on 17 July but was found two days later playing with children in Clapham.

Unemployed Marlon Brown, from Bowater Close, Brixton, was released on bail following his arrest by the Kingston burglary team on Wednesday morning.

He is due to appear before Kingston Magistrates' Court on 14 September.

The two-year-old Bolivian squirrel monkey, known as SpongeBob, was returned to the zoo after a member of the public found it being played with by children in Clapham.

Fuzzy!

2006-08-22T23:20:00.001-04:00

DIY Sock Monkey

2006-08-21T17:33:00.000-04:00

The clever crafters at Craftster.org recently celebrated the sock monkey with a contest to see who could come up with the most creative sock/monkey creature. The winner was this Mr. T Monkey, but some of the others are just as funny.

Check out this Princess Leia monkey:

And my personal favorite, Zombie monkey:

Kitty Bling Bling

2006-08-21T17:28:00.000-04:00

From The Herald Bulletin via Boing Boing:

Gold teeth have become a popular fashion trend among hip-hop stars and rap moguls in Hollywood. Dr. David Steele may have just given this fad a whole new twist when he gilded his feline’s choppers.

Sebastian is a year-old Persian with a long-haired, shiny black coat. Upon first glance, he looks like any other cat. Bending down to show some affection, though, you can’t help but notice the two gold teeth protruding from his lower jaw.

“His lower teeth grew in sticking out, which is not normal,” said Steele, an Alexandria dentist. “They are supposed to grow in just like our teeth.”

Deciding they might be knocked off or become a problem, Steele devised a plan. “I wanted to strengthen them with gold crowns,” he said.

Baseball Monkey

2006-08-20T09:50:00.000-04:00

Ayla, a service monkey for the disabled, throws out the first pitch prior to a baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park in Boston, Wednesday evening, Aug. 16, 2006

No Laughing Matter

2006-08-19T18:28:00.000-04:00

Bad Time For Monkey Jokes
At Allen Campaign Event, McCain Jokes About Monkey Flying A Plane

(CBS/AP) Sen. John McCain was in Norfolk on Wednesday for a rally and announcement of a new coalition in support of Sen. George Allen's campaign.

During the event, however, McCain made a joke about a monkey flying an airplane, the Hampton Roads Daily Press reports. This comment came as Allen fights criticism for having called opponent Jim Webb's campaign worker "macaca," which is a genus of monkey.

Read more.

So Ugly, It's Cute

2006-08-17T19:59:00.000-04:00

A tarsier, the world's smallest primate, enjoys a crunchy snack.

Bad Monkeys

2006-08-17T17:13:00.000-04:00

From Wired News

Across the border from Chinese-occupied Tibet, the tech infrastructure in this high mountain village is a mess.

But a former Silicon Valley dot-commer and members of the underground security group Cult of the Dead Cow are working with local Tibetan exiles to change that using recycled hardware, solar power, open-source software and nerd ingenuity . . .

Some of the technical challenges they faces are unique. This may be one of the
only networks in the world where antennas must be monkey-proofed.

"Monkeys are everywhere," says Yahel Ben-David. "Often, you'll see a huge, gorilla-sized monkey hang on to an antenna, swing from it, eat it, try to break it. We lost a lot of cables that way, but now we use very strong equipment so that even monkeys can't break it."

Robots Are Your Friends

2006-08-16T18:41:00.000-04:00

It is TMI's corporate policy that idle hands cause mischief, therefore, CRAFT magazine will become required employee reading beginning in October 2006.

Chilled Monkey Brains

2006-08-16T18:25:00.000-04:00

Due to an unusually hot summer in China, zoo authorities have been offering chilled and frozen fruits to monkeys to keep them from getting heat stroke.

{A pair of golden monkeys enjoy iced fruits to prevent sunstroke at the Wuhan Zoo, C. China's Hubei Province on August 14, 2006.}

{Several squirrel monkeys cool themselves off with ice-lolly as record high temperatures hit Hefei Safari Park, E. China's Anhui Province on August 15, 2006.}

{This summer is too hot, thus Jinan Zoo prepared special summer feast of watermelons and peaches for the snub-nosed monkeys in the zoo on July 20.}

Just Some Oak and Some Pine and a Handful of Norsemen

2006-08-15T17:32:00.000-04:00

To celebrate the news that Ikea is coming to Cincinnati in Fall 2007, here's a little ditty by Jonathan Coulton.

IKEA

Long ago in days of yore
It all began with a god named Thor
There were Vikings and boats
And some plans for a furniture store
It¹s not a bodega, it¹s not a mall
And they sell things for apartments smaller than mine
As if there were apartments smaller than mine

Ikea: just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen
Ikea: selling furniture for college kids and divorced men
Everyone has a home
But if you don¹t have a home you can buy one there

So rent a car or take the bus
Lay your cash down and put your trust
In the land where the furniture folds to a much smaller size
Billy the bookcase says hello
And so does a table whose name is Ingo
And the chair is a ladder-back birch but his friends call him Karl

Ikea: just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen
Ikea: selling furniture for college kids and divorced men
Everyone has a home
But if you don¹t have a home you can buy one there

Ikea: plywood, brushed steel
Ikea: meatballs, tasty
Ikea: Allen wrenches
All of them for free
All of them for me

I'm sorry I said Ikea sucks
I just bought a table for 60 bucks
And a chair and a lamp
And a shelf and some candles for you
I was a doubter just like you
Till I saw the American dream come true
In New Jersey, they got a goddamned Swedish parade

Ikea: just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen
Ikea: selling furniture for college kids and divorced men
Everyone has a home
But if you don¹t have a home you can buy one there

Never Trust a Texan

2006-08-13T15:07:00.000-04:00

"I cannot endure this hideous wicked stupidity; to be at once cruel and a failure is too much. Our President is a disaster and will get worse; never trust a Texan farther than you can throw a rhino."

A pithy quote about W? Nope, a comment about Lyndon Johnson by Martha Gellhorn—a foreign correspondent during three wars and wife of Ernest Hemingway, among others—in a recently released collection of letters.

Wunderbar

2006-08-13T11:33:00.000-04:00

The archives of Wondermark gently awakened me this morning. It's always nice to find something good and established that's a complete surprise. No monkeys (so far) but a fair number of cat jokes.

WTF is Wrong with Local News

2006-08-11T12:42:00.000-04:00

Tiny Monkey Industries had to catch a flight to Boston yesterday morning. Yup, the same morning British authorities broke up a plot to bomb airplanes with liquid explosives. But instead of celebrating the fact that the threat was averted, the TV was wall-to-wall red-level terror.

In fact, all the local stations were camped outside of CVG wailing and gnashing their teeth. So, in a panic, TMI left early for the airport and drove 80mph to get there. So just how long did it take to clear security on this woeful day?

Exactly 4 1/2 minutes.

When we risk our lives driving too fast on the highway only to sit around for two hours with nothing to do but watch CNN repeat the same thing over and over again about this brand new threat, then the terrorists really have won.

TMI's favorite commentator/philosopher, Ze Frank, shared a similar outlook on yesterday's episode of The Show.

This is Tiny Monkey Industries, sitting around at the airport, so you don't have to.

Whiplash!

2006-08-11T08:30:00.000-04:00

Here we see Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey. Apparently a star of stage and screen and a good reason to visit Texas. It's his serious Marlboro Man face that really makes this work for me.

Update: BoingBoing was only slightly behind TMI in posting this important news. Although their original story on weird animals/plants was the reason TMI went looking for more information in the first place.

Micro Golden Lion Tamarin

2006-08-10T21:35:00.000-04:00

Via Fark and the Philadelphia Inquirer - here's a wee little GLT, and some more pics.

For reference purposes, the bigger monkey there is actually very small.

Face to Face

2006-08-09T17:58:00.000-04:00

Earlier this year, on a trip to Madison, WI, my husband and I went to the Henry Vilas Zoo. It was small for a zoo, but it wasn't crowded and the exhibits were designed to offer close looks at all the animals. Plus, it was free! The best thing we saw, besides a bunch of lions frolicking in the snow, was a family of tiny Golden Lion Tamarins. These mini-simians weigh less than 1.5 pounds and could easily fit in the palm of your hand (although I expect they'd bit your fingers.)

I was was watching one very small tamarin as it moved around its enclosure, jumping from branch to branch on a small tree limb, coming closer and closer to the glass. Then we were eye to eye. The tiny monkey looked right at me and cocked it's head to the side.

It was cold outside and my throat was feeling dry. As I moved my giant hand to my mouth to stifle a cough, the tamarin threw up its tiny hands, made a very funny face and jumped away.

The National Zoo Loves Golden Lion Tamarins

2006-08-09T17:39:00.000-04:00

This year, the Zoo marks the 21st year of its free-ranging GLT program. In June, a GLT family was released in Beaver Valley for the summer. The family includes a male, Eduardo, and a female, Laranja, who were free-ranging last summer, plus their female twins, who were born in March. The outdoor exhibit includes a nest box, ropes that mimic the jungle vines of the tamarins' native Brazilian forest habitat, and food stations. Learn more.

Rhubarb Soda!

2006-08-08T21:30:00.000-04:00

Check out Dry Soda. It comes in four flavors: rhubarb, lemongrass, lavender and kumquat.

Monkey Love

2006-08-08T20:45:00.000-04:00

In the Midst of Gorillas
from The Cincinnati Enquirer

While the rest of the world is sleeping or watching the late news, what's Arlene Thorwarth doing? Staying up until 2 a.m. watching a pregnant gorilla sleep.

She'll do it this week, and next, and many more after that, and considers every minute of it a privilege.

Thorwarth is waiting for a gorilla birth at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. Muke (pronounced MEW-kee), more than 8 months into an 8½-month gestation, is due Aug. 12. It will be the 24-year-old western lowland gorilla's third baby and the first for the father, Jomo, 15, a silverback on loan from Toronto.

He's also the father of the baby gorilla that Samantha, 36, is carrying. The mother of six and grandmother of 11 is due in mid-September.Both of the females spend their days romping around Gorilla World and are constantly being watched.

Thorwarth, 72, of Clifton retired from the pet-sitting business a few years ago. She is one of 50 volunteers who have maintained a 24/7 gorilla watch since late July, observing Muke in the final stages of her pregnancy. Working in four-hour shifts and armed with clipboards, she and fellow volunteers take note of everything they see.

Bunnies (the next best thing to monkeys)

2006-08-07T20:55:00.000-04:00

This animated music video has been circulating around the web for a while, but I never get tired of running across it.

I Love Kingdom of Loathing

2006-08-07T20:33:00.000-04:00

Yes, this is a screen from a real game. But Kingdom of Loathing isn't just any game. It's both silly and incredibly addictive, full of pop-culture and nerd-culture references. If you ever played D&D in grade school, KOL will bring back fond/disturbing memories. Plus, who doesn't love stick figures with attitude?

Monkey Mojo

2006-08-07T17:30:00.000-04:00

Illustrator Kevin Cornell has a wicked wit and talent out the wazoo. Mojo the sock monkey is one of several recurring characters that show up on his site Bearskinrug. Mojo is also the star of his very own book.

Rhubarb Redux

2006-08-06T11:23:00.000-04:00

After mixing up a batch of Rhubarb Liqueur, I still had a bunch of rhubarb left. So I poked around the internet and found a few Rhubarb Crunch recipes. I messed around with them and came up with this:

Rhubarb Oatmeal Crunch

Crust
2 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 cups slow cook oatmeal (raw)
2 cups brown sugar (packed)
1 cup unsalted butter

Filling
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups rhubarb (cut into half-inch pieces)

Mix flour, oatmeal, brown sugar and butter until crumbly. Press 1/2 of the mixture into a 9-inch-square pan. Layer rhubarb on top. Combine sugar, cornstarch, water and vanilla in a saucepan. Brin to a boil and cook until thick and clear. Pour sauce over rhubarb. Top with the other half of the flour and oatmeal mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.

Let cool before serving. Top with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

YUM!

Rhubarb is Fun to Say

2006-08-05T16:08:00.000-04:00

I bought a book about making cordials a few months ago and finally started to experiment with it today. The first recipe I tried was Rhubarb Liqueur.

1.5 cups water
4 cups fresh rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces (I found the rhubarb at a Farmer's Market)
3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 cups vodka (I used Barton Charcoal Filtered Vodka)
2 cups blush wine (I used Little Penguin White Shiraz)

Bring water, rhubarb, sugar and orange zest to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. When sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and let stand until just warm. Pour into a clean jar (that will hold at least 2 quarts) with a tight-fitting lid. Add vodka and wine. Cover and let stand in a cool, dark place for 2 weeks.

This is what it looks like at this stage:

After 2 weeks, use a fine-mesh stainter to strain out solids. Discard. Transfer liqueur to clean container, cover and let stand for 2 more weeks. Filter into final container.

Based on previous experience making liqueurs, they usually get better with time.