A little Zen makes it all better...
One of my current food-crushes (if you can call such a thing that) is the "Zen Party" trail mix that Archer Farms (Target's house brand) makes. It's wildly expensive and I've only been able to find it in the small foil packages (as opposed to the giant tubs-o-trail mix. They have a rice cracker one in the big size, but it's also got wasabi peas in it and I hate wasabi peas).

I have to say the whole naming concept amuses me. I mean, I can kind of see their point - most of the ingredients (rice crackers, those little fried green peas, sesame crackers) are basically Asian in origin, but you don't want to be un-P.C. and call it "Oriental Trail Mix" or some such thing. I suppose "Zen" as a hallmark of Asian-ness is probably as un-P.C. in some circles as "Oriental" is, but whatever.

But the name is just amusing: Zen Party. Now, I know, the Dalai Lama has a particularly good sense of humor and is one of those transcendent humans who seems to be just more bemused than angry or sad at the vagaries of human existence. But I kind of don't think he parties much. At least not in the Western connotations of "party."

I don't know, the name just makes me think of all kinds of jokes. Like "What is the sound of one guy dancing?" or, when the neighbors come over to complain about the noise, do they just say "There is no noise. The noise is within you."?

I will say one Zen joke I don't get, and I'm not sure if there's a "get" to it. It is the one about the Zen monk who walks up to the hot dog vendor and says "Give me one with everything." Is the implication "everything = the totality of the universe"? Or is it kind of a koan thing that doesn't make sense to the linear Western mind? I mean, I always get hung up on the issue that I thought Zen Buddhists didn't eat meat...much less putting something as spiritually muddy as a hot dog into their systems.

Still, stupid name or not, I like the stuff. It's got nice crunchy salty rice crackers, and those little fried salted (NOT WASABI!!) peas, and sesame sticks, and nuts that have been roasted 'till they are just this side of burnt (which is how nuts are best) and just a few - not overpoweringly many - of those little hot crescent shaped red crackers. I've got two more unopened packages at home, and I have to go down to where the Target is this weekend, so I'll probably pick up more then.