Culinary Reminiscing 

There's nothing like having really bad enchiladas from a cafeteria to make you think about what real Mexican food tastes like. Living in California, if nothing else, spoiled me on good Mexican food. I never eat at Taco Bell, and I rarely eat at Qdoba, though I do prefer Qdoba to Taco Bell if I have to make a choice. For those of you who think that there is no such thing as authentic Mexican fast food, I encourage you to go to Super Cuca's in Santa Barbara if you're ever in the area. They've been voted best in the county I don't know how many years in a row, and deserve every accolade.

Of course, thinking of Super Cuca's instantly reminded me of another Santa Barbara staple... The Monkey Flip. Unfortunately, I just found out from my sister Sarah, that Kysers, the natural food store that made them, went out of business. Kysers had a health food bar in their store where they made, among other things, protein shakes. The Monkey Flip had their protein shake powder, a banana, chocolate syrup, chunky peanut butter, and a couple scoops of ice cream all blended together. It was heaven in a glass. I did go searching around Google, and found this recipe for something similar by the same name:

1 medium banana
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 cups skim milk
2-3 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
6-9 ice cubes

First blend all other ingredients in blender until smooth then add ice cubes. Grind to blended milk shake stage.

The recipe I know of looks more like this:

1 medium banana
1 healthy squirt of Hershey's chocolate syrup
1 cup milk
1 scoop crunchy peanut butter (same scoop size as for the ice cream)
2-3 scoops vanilla ice cream

First blend all other ingredients in blender until smooth then add ice cream. Frappe until smooth.

The version I found is probably a little healthier than the one I know of, so pick the one that goes better for your lifestyle. Enjoy.