Serving out of a Mai Kai Mystery Bowl

I got a Mai Kai Mystery Bowl off Ebay a few years ago. It is very similar to the Dynasty bowl made recently, but I am not 100% it is the same. I wanted to share my experience for anyone else wanting to try this.

I got it to use it. I have a few Orchids Volcano bowls, but wanted a more special thing than those. This bowl seemed the right fit.

My first task was making the ice volcano. Used the Oster Sno-Flake to make the fine crushed ice. Looked around the house for a cone shape that was the right size. Found a metal shaker was just right. Dropped an empty tea candle tin in the bottom for the 151 reservoir and packed ice around that, then packed the rest of the shaker trying to make sure there were no air pockets.

Put that in the freezer so it set up. Then set it out in the sun for a bit to loosen it up from the shaker to get it out.

That's when we realized our Mystery Bowl was "defective." I have a real vintage bowl, used in the Mai Kai to compare and that showed the problem. The real bowl has a round hump in the bottom that held the ice volcano in place. The Dynasty does not. In fact, there is a sort of dip instead of ridge.

So, the solution was to put the volcano in place and pack crushed ice around it to hold it in place and keep it from sliding. Put it in the freezer to set up.

Then the time came and we brought it out to our guests. I filled it with a Kraktoa, and got out the long straws and started feeding them through the little guys mouths, and oops! they hit the ice volcano! And we could not put them in the bowl at all. Just bent too much to drink from! So, now we have another fail...

Who knew there was so much in making the Mystery Bowl usable?

Well, not I have a Mystery Bowl for sale if someone wants it to display. I want one to drink from...

Working on our own version to solve the problem.

Your key to Beachbum Berry's books. Login and start concocting!

[ Edited by: Swanky 2010-03-28 10:50 ]

On 2010-03-28 10:46, Swanky wrote:
I filled it with a Krakatoa, and got out the long straws and started feeding them through the little guys mouths, and oops! they hit the ice volcano! And we could not put them in the bowl at all. Just bent too much to drink from! So, now we have another fail...

And that is the case with one of the ORIGINAL ones? I had noticed that the angle on the newer ones mouths would never allow the straw to hit the bowl, but it seemed to me that in the classic postcard with the raven-haired Mystery Girl I have in BOT the angle of the Tikis heads is more tilted back, so it should have worked. (?)

No the old, real ones are correct. The opening in the back of the head is wider so you can angle the straw around the ice volcano. The Dynasty version is a straight shot that confounds the straw placement. And yes, the very oldest version the heads are much more angled down.