Patricia Stoltey

Author

Monkey Balls and Book Titles

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I don’t talk about food too often on this site…well, except for chocolate…but I ran across this restaurant menu item from The Drunken Monkey in Fort Collins, Colorado and couldn’t resist continuing the name theme started by Alan Orloff at A Million Blogging Monkeys: Ptomaine’s House of Beef.

Monkey Balls (this restaurant version, anyway) are made from cheesecake, deep fried, then drowned in ice cream, whipped cream, and hot fudge. Sounds decadent, and I wouldn’t try it at home. But if you’re ever in Northern Colorado, you might want to check it out.

Death by Chocolate comes in many forms, but I tried one in a restaurant in Florida many years ago and it nearly finished me. I thought I really was going to die. Eventually my taste for chocolate returned, thank goodness.

Snickerdoodles are my favorite cookies of all time. I’ve been making them since I was a kid, and that was a really, really long time ago. When my own kids were little, I let them roll the dough and dip it into the cinnamon, sugar mixture for me. They saved me a lot of work, and they were having fun with no thoughts of actually being helpful.

Blueberry Grunt (also known as blueberry slump) is made with blueberries and a sweet dumpling dough.

My paternal grandmother used to make her In a Bowl Put cake for dessert. As far as we knew, it had no other name and there was no written recipe. It was always good, though.

What’s in a name? Well, I was interested enough in a dessert called Monkey Balls to read on and see what it was, more so than if the restaurant had called it Cheesecake Bites.

I’m just as likely to look more closely at a book in a book review or in the bookstore if it has an intriguing title, especially if it also has a great cover. Names and titles, just like presentation, are effective tools for attracting attention and making a sale.

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Comments

  2. Hi Donna — I’d forgotten all about Gooey Butter — we used to visit relatives in St. Louis and they always had Gooey Butter coffee cake for breakfast from a nearby German bakery. So good.

    Dirt Cake — is that the one with Oreo Cookies? Yum. Now my mouth is watering.

  5. While I’m sitting here laughing at all these great comments after this neat post, I’ve developed a taste for anything chocolate or maybe just anything sweet.

    Patricia, it’s fun to know another fan of Earle Stanley Gardner’s books.

    Mason
    Thoughts in Progress

  6. while my brain works – The I Hate to Cook Cookbook was by Peg Bracken and why I remember that shall forever remain a mystery! Blueberry Grunt is a big dish here in the Maritimes – it is called so because as the steam comes through the biscuity stuff on top it grunts! We are big on ‘ordinary’ cookies around here ever since my best friend’s son called some oat cookies this with grave disappointment many years ago. We LOVE ordinary cookies.

  10. Okay, now y’all are making me laugh out loud (especially Steve — how come a California guy even knows what Rocky Mountain oysters are?).

    Hi Margot — I loved the titles of Erle Stanley Gardner novels for just that reason. Think of “The Case of the Musical Cow”…or “The Case of the Curious Bride.” I must go back and read some of those stories again, just for the sheer fun of it.

    Jemi, that’s a terrible Snickerdoodle story — those poor kids, traumatized by a cookie incident. I’m surprised they were ever able to eat cookies again without suffering serious anxiety.

    And Lisa, I had the same moment of hesitation before using monkey balls in my post title. Sometimes I just do goofy stuff and hope for the best.

  12. Patricia – No doubt about it, names can really catch one’s attention and be appealing or off-putting. I think you’re tight, too, that book titles can do the same thing. I think the best book titles are relatively short and in mysteries, I like it best when they give a clue to the story.

  14. I always used to make snickerdoodles ALL the time with my kids too. One day I put a plate of them outside for all the kids. Bees and wasps from about 6 neighbourhoods came flying in, stung all the kids mutliple times. It was awful!!! It took years before they wanted snickerdoodles again.

  16. I’ll have to add Dump Cake to my list. Sounds like the little chocolate cake recipe I have. Fast and easy, all of the ingredients are mixed right in the square cake pan used for baking.

  17. Blog post titles, like book titles, are always a challenge — you don’t want to mislead folks, but you do want to attract their attention. I have to admit, when I glance through my blog rolls, I often read the posts with catchy titles first.

  18. Yes, I remember dump cake. There was also a nifty recipe in a cookbook my mom swore by — the “I Hate to Cook Book” but I can’t remember the name of the cake–so much for memorable titles!

    Me, I hate having to come up with titles for my books. Guess that’s why one of them is called “What’s in a Name?”

  20. I used to love chocolate but haven’t had any in years owing to lose weight, I did lose weight only to put on the pounds when I returned to the UK. but I have gone off of chocolate completely.
    I did smile at the Monkey Balls I wondered what I was going to read abou.
    I enjoyed the read Patricia after a hectic morning this made pleasant reading.

    Yvonne.

  21. I don’t think I’d try anything to eat named Monkey Balls, no matter how wonderful the ingredients. But this is a great post about catchy titles. It certainly got my attention.
    karen

  24. Monkey Balls, yes that would make me look more closely at a menu too. Great point about titles. I have to agree, a book cover and title is your first impression, and you know what “they” say about first impressions. I would tell you, but it has slipped my mind at the minute. Heyho!