Work Potluck Week Eleven: Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and Taking Symbolism Too Far

Last week's theme was Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was also the first week Anna actively participated in the potluck. The theme was a lot more abstract than that of the previous potluck, but we are super smart people. Once again, we drew the Seven Wonders at random and then chose which course to make.

Anna: Lighthouse of Alexandria

Stuffed bell peppers with feta, (sausage), corn, onion, and cornbread stuffing. Anna didn't have a great explanation for the dish except that stuffed peppers are part of traditional Egyptian cuisine. I remarked that the peppers resembled stoplights, which is (tenuously) connected to the lighthouse.

Amanda: Great Pyramid of Giza

Egyptian style pitas, feta, and baba ghanoush
Amanda also opted for traditional Egyptian dishes. The Egyptian style pitas she made were denser than the typical pita encountered stateside, and their color was reminiscent of sand.

Duo: Statue of Zeus at Olympia

Watermelon limeade with pineapple and cherry garnish

Zeus, being the head honcho of the Greek pantheon, invented many things, including infidelity. While Hera was technically Zeus' wife, Zeus loved some of dat mortal ass. My original idea was a limeade because sour flavor had a shocking quality to it, which I made more obvious by adding lightning-shaped pineapple garnish and citric acid and sodium bicarbonate. The limeade turned into watermelon limeade (to emulate the all powerful presence of Zeus, I squeezed the juice out a watermelon with my bare hands), and a cherry garnish was added, because... well, remember what I said about Zeus, infidelity, and dat mortal ass?

Greg: Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Garden salad with mixed greens, peppers, tomatoes, and feta
Originally, Greg was going to bring an empty salad bowl because the hanging gardens' location has not been verified. Knowing that we would spite him for that, however, he opted to bring a huge mix of vegetables, some of which looked very much like each other. Tomatoes resembled peppers and vice versa, and who could keep all of the salad green varieties straight?

Jaycie: Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

Vegetable kebabs with zucchini, yellow squash, bell peppers, onion, and baked cheese
The temple of Artemis would have been a lot easier to execute if the potluck weren't vegetarian. So, instead of serving venison to represent the bounty of the huntress, Jaycie modeled her dish after the columns supporting the temple. The ingredients are also skewered because one of Artemis' signature weapons is bow and arrows, the latter represented by toothpicks to signify the act of hunting.

Sam: Colossus of Rhodes
Stuffed mushrooms with spinach, cream cheese, feta, parmesan, and garlic
The Colossus of Rhodes is a statue of the Titan Helios, the personification of the Sun. Do you know what comes from exposure to the Sun? Vitamin D. Do you know what else contains a lot of Vitamin D? MUSHROOMS. The connection is so clear I'm surprised you didn't arrive at it earlier.

Sarah: Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

S'mores of the Dead

Why s'mores? Because graham crackers are like the earth, chocolate is like the physical remnants of the deceased, and marshmallows are like ghosts. Plus, are you seriously going to turn down s'mores? I don't think so.

Tanuki is the Best and Cutest Sushi Restaurant in Lakeview

This is Tanuki. It's a small sushi restaurant by the Wellington Brown line stop. For those of you who do not take public transit, it's around the corner of Sheffield and Wellington. It opened on February 13th, 2013, and occupies a space that once housed an aggressively mediocre late night/hangover pizza restaurant.

Tanuki is my favorite sushi restaurant in Chicago. I first visited the restaurant a week after it opened, before it had the sign you see in the picture above. I didn't go there because I knew the food would be good: I went there because it was close to my apartment and because tanukis have huge balls. Yes, I'm a child.

This is what my friend Sarah and I had the first time we were there. No, Instagram did not do the food justice. In addition to sushi, Tanuki served robata, which is basically a collection of delicious morsels grilled on skewers. I was so impressed by the food and how nice the place was I went back there for my birthday.

However, as much as I was enamored with the food, I still didn't know why anyone would name their restaurant after a raccoon dog with giant testicles.

This is Warren, owner and head chef of Tanuki. I asked him why his restaurant was named Tanuki.

When Warren was taking a field trip in Japan, he happened upon a sushi restaurant with a tanuki statue in front. Curious, he went inside and asked the owner about the tanuki statue.

In Japanese folklore, tanuki are shapeshifters. One day, a tanuki caught the scent of delicious food emanating from a sushi restaurant, so he shapeshifted into a man and walked inside. He ate and drank and ate and drank and ate and drank until he could eat and drink no more. When it was the time to pay, the tanuki didn't have any money, because his only assets were his giant sacks of family jewels. So, the owner angrily chased the tanuki away. However, after the tanuki's freeloading spree, the restaurant became very popular and was frequented by many patrons.

So, tanuki was both part of Warren's history and a symbol of good luck. Warren was originally trained at Indie Café in Andersonville, but wanted to run his own restaurant. So, he opened Tanuki with the support of his friends and family, many of which work at the restaurant!

Eringi (king oyster mushroom) and bacon-wrapped enoki (golden needle mushroom) robata

Silver sushi platter (chef's choice)

Spicy tako roll

Terah's Fire Cracker roll: spicy tuna, cream cheese, avocado, asparagus, almond, and sweet soy sauce. The roll contains no rice, and the whole roll is fried before serving. Because it contains no rice, it's very light for a fried roll. Chef Warren believes it's a great summer-time roll: the flavors are fresh and crisp, and it won't weigh heavily on your stomach.

The hamachi pearl nigiri: seared yellow tail with truffle oil soy sauce, caviar, spicy mayo, and scallion.

The salmon ceviche nigiri: salmon, mango slices, chili, and lime zest vinaigrette. The acidity from the vinaigrette balances the richness of the salmon's mouth feel quite nicely. To give you an idea of the attention paid to detail, observe the "strip" of mango above the salmon. Each "strip" is actually composed of strips of thinly sliced mango so the finished product articulates with the natural curvature of the nigiri.

Even the salad looks meticulously made.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Dragon Pearl. It's a giant ball of tempura-battered and deep fried lychee ice cream. There's nothing not to like about this dessert.

It's not just the food either: the entire place is adorable.

From the decor...

to the super cute t-shirts...

to the lucky tanuki statue.

So yeah, the next time you're in Lakeview and want some sushi, visit Tanuki!

This post is not sponsored. You should feel bad for even entertaining that notion.

Work Potluck Week Ten: Welcome to Chicago Anna!

A few weeks ago we welcomed Anna, our new Lead Teacher to the School Programs team. What better way to welcome her to Chicago than to make dishes based on Chicago neighborhoods? We each randomly drew from a cup filled with Chicago neighborhoods, emphasis on randomly.


Amanda: Little Italy
Panzanella: bread salad with Italian bread, mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and olive oil. We love carbs, but I think she made a little too much.

Duo: Chinatown. IT WAS RANDOM I SWEAR.
Cold eggplant salad: chilled boiled eggplants with garlic, ginger, scallions, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, Szechwan peppercorns, and homemade sesame paste. I've been wanting to cook eggplants for a while, and since I knew people will be needing the stove for their hot dishes, I made the eggplants ahead of time. It's not the prettiest dish, but it is flavorful.

Greg: Lincoln Square
Assorted root beer: Lincoln Square is on the Brown line, and root beer is brown. Lincoln Square is a German neighborhood, and Germans make the best root beer. Square Roots Festival also takes place in Lincoln Square.

Jaycie: Andersonville
Swedish pancakes: Jaycie and Andersonville are both Swedish (randomness is not without a sense of irony), so she made slightly sweetened pancakes, rolled and served with jam.

Sam: Pilsen
Re-imagined churros: cinnamon sugar pitas with salted caramel and cream cheese sauce. Pilsen is famous for its multitude of great Mexican restaurants. Also, remember when I said we love carbs? We really, really love carbs.

Sarah: Lincoln Park
Bow tie pasta with garlic scape pesto: garlic scapes are the green shoots that grow from garlic bulbs. You may have seen them when you've had bulbs of garlic for a while. There's this great farmer's market called Green City Market by where we work, and Sarah picked up some garlic scapes on a whim. The pesto is made from said garlic scapes, pistachios, parmesan cheese, garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Even though garlic scapes are not as overpowering as raw garlic cloves, they still pack a punch!

Work Potluck Weeks Eight and Nine: Eat Your Feelings and Under the Sea

Week Eight: Eat Your Feelings

For this potluck, each participant drew from a random assortment of emotions and was tasked to create a dish that conveys the emotion drawn. Each participant's course assignment was chosen before the emotions were drawn.

My assignment was a passionate appetizer. Food and sexuality possess strong ties throughout human history, and the first thought I had was to look up a list of food that were supposedly aphrodisiacs. However, in my infinite wisdom, the google search string I came up with was "sexually charged appetizers." I urge you, dear readers, to run that search string and see what you get. Google tailors top search results based on your browsing history, but even for someone like me, who reads a lot of food blogs, none of my Page 1 results were remotely food-related. The only one that came close was a pun about a historical study of American sexual activities. Too much missionary, not enough Mission Street. Moving on.

In the end, I decided to create a cheese pairing. The non-cheese bits were homemade chocolate graham crackers (phenylethylamine yo) and vanilla candied cherries (According to the reputable food science journal Cosmopolitan, vanilla "mildly stimulates nerves, making sexual sensations feel even better." I don't think I need to explain the sexual connotations of cherries.)

The cheese on the left is the Robiola Rochetta. Made in northern Italy, this soft cow-goat-sheep milk blend has a great tangy finish. The cheese on the right is the Bay Blue cheese from Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co. It's a fairly mellow blue cheese that's modeled after English Stilton. It's not nearly as pungent as some of the other blue cheeses I taste tested, but it possesses enough earthiness and saltiness to balance the sweet cherries and chocolate crackers. 

I was very apprehensive about coming up my own cheese pairing at first, but after about 2 hours of online and in-person research, the conclusion I arrived at is this: it's very hard to get a cheese pairing wrong. Much like the subject of passion, cheese pairing is not a hard science. Sometimes, when you taste two things together, you just know they go well together. It's like making eye contact with someone across Intelligentsia and feeling an instant connection, only to realize later that she was reading one of your favorite novels.

Amber made a happy main dish: homemade mac n' cheese. It's traditional comfort food.

Amanda made a giddy dessert: 3-berry medley topped with mango sorbet and fizzy soda. Pinkie Pie would be proud.

Greg made a bitter salad: strawberry almond apricot salad with lemon honey vinaigrette and aromatic bitters.

Sam made a fearful side: spinach balls. The dish itself isn't very fear-inducing, but the story behind it was great. It's a family recipe, and once upon a time Sam successfully convinced one of her teammates that it was in fact cat poop, which most definitely scared the poor girl. As someone who enjoys food-based scares and psych-outs, these cat poop nuggets (actually made with onion, thyme, spinach, stuffing mix, and garlic salt) are greatly appreciated.

Jaycie made a snarky beverage. Snarky is a difficult emotion to put into food, so Jaycie channeled the great snarky role models of pop culture. Who is snarkier than Severus Snape? Drawing inspiration from the potions professor, Jaycie made an Arnold Palmer, a drink that is part sweet, part sour, and a little bitter. We also had some gummy frogs encased in ice cubes left over from Week Three, which made the drinks even more wizard-like.

Snape... approves?

My personal favorite dishes came from Sarah, who was tasked with making a sneaky salad. What better way to sneak vegetables into someone's diet than to disguise them as other food? Take a look at the picture below and tell me what you see. 

Did you guess cat poop, bitter salad, mashed cauliflowers, and mashed avocados? Why, what an astute observer you are. Cheesy mashed cauliflowers were disguised as mashed potatoes, and chocolate mashed avocados were disguised as chocolate pudding. Both were delicious.

Week Nine: Under the Sea

We were short a few people for Week Nine, which meant we had less dishes but more latitude: our dietary restrictions were downgraded from vegetarian to pescetarian. Not as much hyper-creative thinking went into the meal (at least not compared to Week Eight), but everything tasted superb.

The week's theme had Sarah thinking about relaxing on the beach, so she made (virgin) piña coladas.

Sam made SeaMonkey bread. It was loaded with butter, Parmesan cheese, and garlic. 

Seizing the opportunity to serve meat, Amanda made a delicious salmon pizza loaded with herbs, goat cheese, and smoked salmon.

I made a seaweed salad out of 4 different kinds of seaweed. The dressing is a pretty standard Asian dressing with soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and sugar. Roasted sesame seeds served as garnish.

Jaycie once again delivered. She adapted one of her favorite desserts from her childhood and to this week's theme. She made a delectable icebox cake using Nabisco chocolate wafers and whipped cream filling. Because the cake is black and white, she shaped the topping into whale tails and called her creation... the Orca-reo cake.

Admit it. It's pretty punny.

Next week, we welcome another new member to the potluck. She just started this Wednesday, and we made it adequately clearly to her that weekly potlucks are kind of a big deal.

Work Potluck Week Seven: Welcome Jaycie!

This week, the amazing Jaycie joined us on the 3rd floor. Since she was born and raised in Tucson, AZ, we decided on a Southwest theme.

Once again, I drew dessert. Researching Southwestern desserts online has led me to some awful atrocities that rival Sandra Lee in terms of half-assed awfulness. So, I decided to head south of the border and made dark chocolate truffles with cayenne peppers and cinnamon. Think of the truffles as tiny balls of Mexican chocolate. Well, they're missing cloves, but I didn't think to infuse the heavy cream with cloves at the time I was making the ganache.

I didn't spare any spices, so the truffles packed a punch. The cinnamon was immediately noticeable, but the cayenne peppers insidiously encroached upon one's taste buds. Sorry Amanda!

Other dishes include:

Blueberry lemonade. The lemonade was super tart and super refreshing. It complemented the cheese-heavy potluck and the sweet truffles very well.

Beer guacamole. I love avocados, and the guacamole was amazing. Unfortunately, because I'm such an observant person, I mistook the avocado pits for heirloom tomatoes and almost swallowed one! In my defense, they were very small pits.

Nachos! You can't go wrong with plain melted cheese on tortilla, but the one with black beans and jalapenos were extra tasty.

Strawberry salsa to go with, well, everything! Normally I up the contrast and saturation a bit because the photos I take usually look washed out, but this salsa was so vibrant that no contrast/saturation adjustments were needed.

Quesadillas! We had both chicken and cheese quesadillas, and they were both delicious.

Speaking of quesadillas, we pronounce the word really weirdly at the office. Amanda pronounces it as "kay-sa-dyllahs," and we snowballed from there. "Kway-sa-diyas," "kray-so-dealahs," and my contribution, "kay-so-dillos."

And then we discussed the recent research on how to pronounce "Taco Bell" based on this article, because apparently people from Arizona pronounce it completely differently from the rest of the country. Yep, we're the best.

Work Potluck Week Six: Sarah's Birthday!

This week, we made dishes that we think would make our birthday girl Sarah happy. A self-described regular twenty-somethings girl, Sarah claims her diet consists mostly of coffee and dessert. When she's not destroying her body with aforementioned deliciousness, she likes to eat "healthy" food (ah, the eternal struggle). However, her mention of quinoa as one of her favorites foods raised a few eyebrows.

One of the healthy foods Sarah said she liked was avocados, so I made some avocado ice cream. I had originally planned to make beautiful lime zest tuile cookies, but I botched the batch horribly last night. Next time, I'll use bigger pans and nonstick spray.

Instead, I fried up some flour tortillas and coated them in sugar, which served nicely as substitute garnish. Add some lime zest to top the ice cream and I've got the whole "dessert guacamole and chips" thing going on. Surprisingly, the extra tortilla garnishes became a huge hit in the office as no one can resist the siren call of fried carbs topped with more carbs.

Yes, the plate says "Twinkle." No, you shut your mouth, it's awesome.

Speaking of awesome, everyone stepped up their game this week for Sarah's birthday. Here's the rest of the menu.

Avocado bruschetta. Apparently I was not the only one who thought avocados were a good idea.

Strawberry rosemary punch. This delicious beverage contains pureed strawberries sweetened with honey and infused with rosemary, lemon and lime juices, and a base of sparkling cider.

Strawberry caprese salad. Fresh strawberries, basil, mint, and buffalo mozzarella balls.

Sarah's sandwich. Prosciutto and herb cream cheese (parsley, basil, chives, and scallions) sandwich on pretzel roll, topped with cucumber, green pepper, red onion, and arugula.

Next week, the potluck group welcomes a new member. Oh, we have such tastes to entice her.

Sitting Down with a Stranger for Lunch

Last Sunday, as I was waiting in line for June's installment of Here's the Story, I was approached by Makiko.

"Duo! Can I talk to you after the show?"
"Yes!"

I talked to her before the show, and that's how I learned about the audition for A Month of..., a new storytelling show masterminded by the folks behind Here's the Story. My audition task was to "sit with a stranger for lunch." Easy enough, I thought, my mind already turning.

At the show, Megan sat next to me. After the show, I asked her to eat lunch with me, sitting. Surprisingly, she agreed. We planned to meet on Tuesday, and I walked away feeling accomplished. The engineer bro part of my brain is high-fiving itself on arriving at the simplest and therefore most elegant solution.

On my way out, I ran into Dan, co-host of Here's the Story and general person-in-charge. I wanted to talk to him a bit more about the audition, and he happily obliged. So we walked and talked about the new show, and he gave me several examples of the ingenious ways people are performing the task.

We parted ways. As I was walking back to my apartment from the theater, I edged closer and closer to freak-the-fuck-out mode.

"The simplest way is most certainly NOT the best way!" the entertainer part of my brain exclaimed as it punched engineer bro in the kidney. "Life on easy mode? What is wrong with you? You call yourself a try-hard? Do you even want to get the part bro?"

And so, plagued with the nagging thought that playing the part of the straight man is for underachieving suckers, I went to bed and promptly failed to sleep. By the time 6 AM rolled around and the light of dawn diffused into my room, I had a handful of new ideas in my head:

• Sit down for lunch with my roommate and talk about the saddest, creepiest, most bizarre shit until he doesn't know who I am anymore. I would start the lunch as a friend and end the lunch as a stranger.

• Sit down for lunch with the people who work at the restaurants I frequent. I love talking to people in the food industry, and this would be right up my alley.

And so on. By this point I've calmed down a bit, and started planning something more elaborate than what I've set up with Megan. I started planning multiple lunch excursions for the week.

But then, as I was aiming for the fences of insanity, another part of my brain spoke up. It  was neither hyper-practical nor flamboyant. It was quiet and composed.

"Why do you invite people to dinner parties?" it asked.

"Because I love meeting new people." the answer came out without a moment's hesitation.

"Well then, I'll leave you with that."

And in that moment, clarity washed over me: the reason I dine with strangers is to learn about them, to share myself with them, and to turn them into friends. Megan was not merely the most elegant solution to the problem posed to me: she was someone I wanted to know better. I didn't need to deconstruct the task of "sit" "with" "a" "stranger" "for" "lunch" to complete the task. In fact, I'd probably hate myself if I did something stupid in the name of entertainment.

Megan and I met at Vegetarian Express on Tuesday. She ordered the lentil soup and a juice cocktail ("it tastes like health!" ~ Megan). I ordered a tofu sandwich and a shake. We talked about everything and nothing. 

Megan was born in Michigan and went to college in DePaul. There, she studied psychology. She is working two unpaid internships right now. She guides visitors and performs a multitude of administrative and clerical tasks at Illinois Masonic, and she works with cancer patients downtown as a counselor of sorts.

Did I mention she is a three-time cancer survivor?

She owns a beagle-husky mix (she calls it a busky), which looks like a beagle with stunning husky eyes. She had just started to bake, and brought her first batch of cookies to her first Here's the Story potluck. She loves her job and wants to help as many people as possible (though getting paid for it would certainly be nice). The conversation went on. Family. Vegetarianism. Restaurants. 

The encounter reinforced my belief that the task required no gimmicks on my part to make it interesting. Good food and good conversation go a long way.

As we parted ways, I knew I will see Megan again soon. However, the next time we meet, we will no longer be strangers — not really.

Bonus: my delicious tofu sandwich with sweet potato fries.

Work Potluck Week Five: Pop Music Guilty Pleasures

This week, we made dishes based on our favorite pop music stars and/or their music.

I made a lemonade based on Lady Gaga and specifically the music video for Poker Face.  I made lemonade from scratch and dyed it blue. The completely edible garnish is supposed to resemble Lady Gaga's face. It did not come out as well as I wanted, but the resemblance was there so I won't complain too much. Pineapple hair, cantaloupe face, lemon peel lightning bolt, and blue raspberry rock candy stone on the lightning bolt.

Prototype and planning:

Baked beans: inspired by Tim McGraw's Something Like That. Fortunately, none of us got BBQ stains on our shirts.

Corn and black bean quesadillas: inspired by Nicki Minaj's Beez in the Trap. The yellow corn and black beans represent the bees, and the tortilla and cheese represent the trap.

Depression era cake: inspired by Jay Z's Hard Knock Life. The cake batter contained no butter, which was scarce and expensive back in the day.

Creamy purple cabbage salad with raspberries: inspired by Prince's Raspberry Beret, Purple Rain, and Cream. 

Work Potluck: Inception and Previous Themes

Inception: Honey Humpday

A little over a month ago, I was sitting in the bibliothèque at the office, furiously  hammering away on the keyboard of my laptop. My single track mind was further railroaded by that special combination of too much caffeine and too little food, and I was oblivious to the movements around me. That is, until I heard the unmistakable sizzle of fat in a pan. A few minutes later I was offered a grilled cheese sandwich with Gruyère cheese, pear, jam, and honey. It was delicious. I shared the grilled cheese and other honey-laced dishes with my coworkers, which was a welcome break from searing my eyeballs with the laptop screen.

"Happy Honey Humpday," a coworker said.

"Okay, so what do I have to do to be a part of this?" I asked.

"Well, choose a color then pick a course at random."

A few minutes later, I had my assignment for the next week: a red side dish for Wainbow Wednesday (yes, we pronounced it that way for the entire week.)

Week Wone: Wainbow Wednesday

Everyone chose a color and picked a course at random. For my red side dish, I made a chilled red pepper soup topped with crème fraîche and thyme. Other dishes included currant scones (purple dessert), paella (yellow main dish), fauxjito (green beverage).

Week Two: Tiny Thursday

The week's theme was "small things." I drew beverage and made tiny virgin (can't daydrink at work :( ) sangria shots with mangoes, green grapes, pomegranate seeds, and white grape juice agar gels flavored with rose extract. Other dishes included mini pizzas, Waldorf salad lettuce wraps, and raspberry cheesecakes.

Week Three: Movie Wednesday (We Ran Out of Naming Mojo)

For this week, everyone picked a dish based on their favorite movie(s). Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from this potluck, but I can tell you all about the dishes and the associated movie clips we watched.

Atlantic Potion (inspired by The Little Mermaid): citrus soda, grapes, and blue ice cubes with gummies frozen inside

French salad (inspired by Moulin Rouge): homemade French salad dressing, lettuce and cherry tomatoes

Beans and rice with mango salsa (inspired by Jurassic Park, because the movie takes place off the coast of Costa Rica): watch the clip.

"Will someone please pass me the fucking" asparagus (inspired by my favorite movie, American Beauty): chilled asparagus with honey dijon dressing and lemons, the dish was a replica of the asparagus Lester requested and eventually threw against the dining room wall.

Persian style rice and tofu with walnuts and pomegranate molasses (inspired by The Color of Paradise, which I want to see now!)

"Choose Your Own Adventure" cookies and icing (inspired by multiple movies): choose from star (Star Wars), plane (Top Gun), football helmet (Remember the Titans), and T. rex (Jurassic Park). In true Calvin and Hobbes fashion, I put a T. rex on a plane.

Week Four: Hometown Wednesday

We put everyone's hometowns into a hat and drew randomly. I drew Stillwater, MN, and made a traditional hot dish with sautéed mushrooms and onions, cream of mushroom soup (from a can!), frozen vegetables, a ton of cheddar cheese, and topped the whole thing off with tater tots.

Beijing: my boss made dumplings from scratch. They were impressive.

Lexington, MA: lemon iced tea for the Boston tea party

Carmel, IN: unfortunately Indiana is kind of a culinary wasteland (someone prove me wrong), so we had a corn and cucumber salad because, well, corn and cucumber both grow in Indiana. The person responsible was tempted to make something that more realistically reflected the culinary traditions of Indiana by slathering canned corn with mayonnaise, but we were all very glad he chose not to pursue authenticity in this instance.

Berea, KY: cookie and ice cream sandwiches

Fort Thomas, KY: cat's head biscuits. The biscuits do not contain cat heads, or any parts of cats for that matter. Instead, they were named for their approximate size: the size of a cat's head.