Munkee happenstance

My latest food network addiction is the show "Challenge," which is on Sunday nights and features cooking competitions.

I used to be an "Iron Chef" addict, but eventually I got tired of it... it lost its place in my heart to "Trading Spaces."

But anyway, now I watch "Challenge," which features everything from barbecue contests to cake-making and -decorating.

So on the holiday cake challenge, which repeated this Sunday night, there was a competitor named Elisa Strauss, out of New York City.

I recognized her, not just because her name is Strauss (same as mine), but because she had been a competitor before, in the birthday cake challenge - when she made a cake that was...

A sock monkey!

See, I'm not the only Strauss who thinks monkeys are cool.

But she didn't even place at the birthday cake challenge. I was disappointed. And so was Mookie, my stuffed munkee, who often watches TV with me.

(HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!)

She did win the bronze at the holiday cake challenge! I was very happy for her, and for another competitor, Michelle Bommarito, who just imploded at the wedding cake challenge, but won the silver at the holiday cake contest with an absolutely gorgeous cake.

Anyway, I thought I'd share this as cool random monkey happenstance of the day.

Links:
• Food Network's "Challenge"
• "Iron Chef," the Japanese version: "Allez cuisine!"
• Elisa Strauss of Confetti Cakes, NYC
• See the sock monkey cake here! Yay!
• Michelle Bommarito, of Detroit

By the way, the other day, I was at the Short Hills mall, and apparently Food Network star Rachael Ray was there signing her cookbooks. I didn't even know she could cook, since the only show I'd ever seen her on was "$40 a Day," where she eats at restaurants and stuff. But apparently, she's superpopular. My parents and some friends said she's like A-list Food TV. And at the mall, there was a huge, HUGE line. And I was at the mall for like three hours and when I left the line was just as long as when I first saw it. Yeesh. Anyway, coincidentally, I caught one of her other shows the other day, and she really is hyper - and kind of annoying. She calls extra virgin olive oil E-V-O-O. Girl has had way too much caffeine. Cute, perky, talks with her hands, can cook a whole holiday dinner in an hour. Hell if I know.

R-R-R-L (that's Random Rachael Ray Links):
• Rachael Ray
• A defense of Rachael Ray, who apparently needs it...
• ...perhaps from this
• Every Day With Rachael Ray, a magazine that rhymes