It's the Small Things

 This is our table.  We love our table.  It is rather worrying how excited we are about our table.  It is all shiny and clean.  It is the prettiest thing shipping has ever seen.  We are all looking forward to the day we get to use our table.  No one but the Shipping Monkeys can understand how happy we are every time we see this table.  It doesn't take much to make us happy.  We take joy in the small things.  Which is good for us.  Because that's usually all we get.

Elephun Wednesday

This week our Elephun Wednesday picture is a two-fer.  Mostly it is a tribute to Bee Hee and his upcoming trip.  He says he doesn't get angry when getting ready to go on vacation but we have all met him and find that hard to believe.  It is also a metaphor for how we feel in shipping right now.  With all that is going on we are trying to cram too much stuff into too little space.  I know I would like to stomp on a few things myself.

More Pizza

You can never have too many good pizza places so it is the goal of the Shipping Monkeys to try as many as possible.  This time it is Crush.  They cook the pizzas in a 900 degree oven for 90 seconds.  So if you are in a hurry it's a good place for lunch.  The other Monkeys had tried it before and given it rave reviews but this was my first taste.

Everyone liked that it was cooked until the edges are black and crunchy.  Bee Hee went on and on about the great basil taste.  (And you doesn't like basil?)  Danny...Boy said the pepperoni was awesome because it was cooked until it was crispy.  The others liked it enough to get it several times when there are a lot of pizza places we have liked in the past.  So I knew it had to be good.

The pizzas are small so we had to get a lot of them to feed us all.  We got a pepperoni, two pepperoni and ricotta (personally, I thought the way they put the ricotta on was unappetizing), a spinach, tomato and feta, a tomato and pesto, a pepper and onion, and a roasted red pepper.  And there were seven of us (we had a special guest for this lunch, Burke.)  So we ate almost a pizza each because there were only three pieces left over.


It was very good.  I don't think I was as impressed as the other Monkeys.  Maybe I was expecting too much since they had talked it up.  From the toasted edge of the crust I expected the bottom to be crisp as well and it was not.  I liked the whole basil leaves and the crispy pepperoni just as advertised.  It is good pizza and stands up to the other pizza we have approved in the past but I do not think it is better than the others.





I would like to try the chicken wings some time.  I bet chicken wings cooked in a 900 degree oven would be really good.

Elephun Wednesday

This little guy heard one of our drivers had a flat tire and is running to the rescue.  He is also good at getting lug nuts off, which is a skill that might come in handy.

Elephun Wednesday

Our friend here has obviously had a slight accident.  Maybe he saw a lamb and got so scared he tripped trying to run away.  Oh, wait, that's mice.  I don't know what I was thinking.  Anyway, what I really want to know is what those crutches are made out of.  That must be really strong stuff.

Triple Elephun Wednesday

I've been away for a bit and have fallen behind in my Elephun Wednesday posts.  But fear not, I am back now and will try to keep up in the future.

 I don't care what the guys say I can't help but take this one as a comment on my babysitting skills.  I want to assure readers that no babies were eaten by elephants in my absence.  Well, no babies in my care anyway.  Other babies were not my concern.








Now, granted I have never been in a car wash of any sort, but I'm pretty sure I am accurate when I say that if an elephant was really hosing off my car that would make the experience so much more fun.  Of course then you would have the animal rights people all over you and they would probably throw fake blood on your car and you would have to go through the car wash again and it would start an endless cycle.




As you see this elephant went on a lovely relaxing vacation to wine country.  The good and bad news was that he ate all the grapes before any wine could be made.  That's bad for wine drinkers everywhere who will now have to drink beer but on the bright side I think it's best he got the grapes before they were fermented.  I have a feeling I do not want to meet a drunk elephant.

Dumplings For the New Year

So this post is a week late.  We actually ate these dumplings the day before the Chinese New Year.  (Happy year of the rooster, everyone!)  We decided to try something new and since some of the Monkeys are in love with dumplings, the Dumpling Palace sounded like just the place.

We all wanted to try a bunch of stuff so we went family style and just shared.  We, of course, got dumplings.  We got the chicken dumplings, the pork and leek dumplings and some pan fried wontons.  We also got the egg fried rice, the vegetable fried rice, the mixed vegetable lo mein, the sauteed Shanghai noodles, and the beef and basil.

Shanghai noodles

vegetable lo mein

When we opened everything up we realized that it was impossible to tell which dumplings were which.  Even after we had tried them all.  We enjoyed them.  They were all very good dumplings.  And some of the Monkeys had a favorite (especially Henry).  But there is no way to make sure we order the right ones next time.  Since we don't know which ones he was pointing at.  I liked the dumplings better than the wontons though.

vegetable fried rice

egg fried rice

 The noodles were a big hit with Danny...Boy.  And I think they were enjoyed by everyone.  But they were basically the same.  The Shanghai noodles had pork in them but the flavor was very similar to the lo mein.  I don't think we needed both.

We thought everyone would want some rice so we got two orders and decided to try two different ones.  But, again, they were so similar it wouldn't have mattered if we got the same one.  There were more veggies in the vegetable fried rice but not so much that you would notice in the flavor.

assorted dumplings

beef and basil

The beef and basil tasted just like it sounded.  Like basil.  Which is why I picked it, so that was good.  Bee Hee really liked this one too.  And it had a kick to it.  Which was expected since it had a pepper next to it on the menu.  It wasn't make you cry hot, but it had a good heat going on.

The consensus was that we would all try it again sometime.  Even Danny...Boy found plenty there to eat.  But we think next time we will get the beef teriyaki.  For some reason no one thought to get it this time around.