Monkey Business

With this impending hurricane and my dad making me feel all panicky, I felt like there was nothing better to do this morning when I woke up then to bake some good ol' comfort food. I decided to make monkey bread because I hadn't had any since I was a kid (well maybe once in college I think the track house boys decided to try their hand at baking) buttt anyway, I figured it would make me feel happier and it did. It actually served as another purpose, because the only thing I don't like about my studio is that the guy before me smoked. I feel as if there is this lingering smoke smell although some of my friends claim you "can't really tell." I've heard my studio smells like a "hotel room" oohh that's just what I wanted, niceee. So I figured the smell of cinnamon and brown sugar wafting through the small space might just freshen that "hotel room" smell into a homey one. I decided to keep it simple and tried Pillsbury's recipe. I didn't use the walnuts or raisins, and didn't have a fluted tube pan. Instead I used a caserole dish and baked them for more like 40 mins. (I'm just getting to know my oven, which just could be the reason I had to bake them longer). However, I realized halfway through that it makes the monkey bread that much more gooey and amazing if you move some of the middle stuff that isn't fully baked yet to the top. That way the outside doesn't brown as fast and you get a more even coating of brown sugar goodness--who wouldn't want that?

I couldn't help but include my lovely monkey piggy bank in this image. I think I originally had him in my nursery when I was a baby. But, there is something about tacky ceramic animals that draw me in. In 2009, when I decorated the kitchen of my apartment in Ridley Park I used a bunch of tacky ceramic animals and figureens to create a kitchenette type feel loosely inspired by Honey's Sit and Eat in N. Libs. In Manayunk, the ceramic creatures just weren't really going to function with our decor, but I decided to bring my favorites (monkey and unicorn) and a new addition of a zebra into my S. Philly place. Yup. My inner nerd truly comes out when I see ceramic animals.