Well, have you heard that Starbucks is closing 600 stores? It seems people don’t want to pretend that it is o..k. to pay huge prices for mediocre coffee anymore. The 600 stores closed translates into 12,000 employees losing their jobs and that is sad. The thing is? I don’t know where you are but here there are competing starbucks within literal FEET of eachother. There is a cross roads in a nearby town that has 4 starbucks. One in a grocers, one in a bookstore, one free standing. C’mon..that is ridiculous! Hopefully the guys that make the decisions will pull back and rethink their purpose rather than creating new, and more expensive hooks to get people in. This is a particularly interesting article about the whole thing from Boston.com.

Fort Worth Star telegram has a whole list of new medical reasons why you should drink coffee. Makes ya wonder if Starbucks is funding some of this research :::grin:::

If you are in the mood for a heartwarming story then read about the two sisters who had been separated and adopted by different families. They were reunited in a fascinating way…

Cooking with Gourmet Coffee has a coffee with espresso brittle swirl ice cream…I may have linked to it last week, if I am repeating myself chalk it up to old age. If I am repeating myself chalk it up to old age. If I am….

We are trying to schedule our annual family field trip to pick blueberries in East Texas but this summer has not been co-operating! Stephanie at Steph’s Cup of Tea has been picking and has the images to prove it~!

Frivolitea has a thought provoking post on slow food and craftism at her blog. I think she has a good point. Much of the angst in the U.S. right now about the economy and all has to do with the fact that we find ourselves unable to afford all of the junk we like to buy. I will not step up on my soapbox today but do read her post.

Do you remember the Marshmallow Puffs? They were sweet rolls baked around a marshmallow..the marshmallow disappeared during baking to leave a hollow, sweet treat. Alice has refreshed my own memory of them by posting a recipe and fantastic images at Tea In My Cup .

It seems to me that La Tea Dah is always up to something creative at Gracious Hospitality! She has made a beautiful Rose Syrup this week that looks wonderful and probably tastes even better.

I was visiting at Brenda’s blog, Coffee, Tea, Books, and Me and I kept reading thinking I will link to THIS post..no…THIS post..no..THIS one..and on and on..she is sharing pictures of her kitchen and some of her projects this week and I can’t decide which to direct you to.

A new blog that I am visiting is The Twice Remembered Cottage. It is peaceful and feeds my need for creative input and beauty.

That it for today. I know that I am not particularly chatty but I have somewhat of a troubled heart and I am not sure why. Have you ever just felt troubled inside but could not put your finger on it? Hopefully I will get some quiet time to review my thoughts today.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Image:MaryeAudet

Post from: Kettle and Cup

That is Sean.  He is 9.  He is one of my 8 favorite kids.  And that is a classic Sean pose.  He is a man of few words but a lot of determination.

You know, I realized tht while I CAN call it blog surfing on Baking Delights I can’t really call it that here because so much of the time it is news and items of interest from the web. So, in the interest of truth in advertising we are just going to call it surfing.

Good news for coffee drinkers, a higher coffee consumption seems to lower the risk for liver cancer. I hate these studies. You know that someone is going to come out with another one that says higher coffee consumption is going to increase the risk for something else and then we are all going to be doing a balancing act between the two..

If you need more than coffee to get you going then you might be interested in the Coco Cola company’s new energy drink release, Full Throttle Coffee. I don’t care for energy drinks. I think they are incredibly unhealthy and taste like…uh…really nasty. However, if you really want to give yourself a stroke this is probably a great way to do it.

Stephen Morissy of Dublin has won the title of World Coffee Champion. His signature drink is, ” built with a chocolate and espresso chantilly, a milk and cinnamon panna cotta, then topped off with a little blueberry jelly and ground freeze dried blueberries. It is served as a solid dessert until the last moment, when it is blow torched it into a liquid.”

I am sure that is all very cool to watch but I am starting to wonder if the popularity and chic-ness of coffee is starting to cause it to be very overdone. When being green became cool we moved from a good thing to greenwashing..so now are we moving coffee to coffee-washing? I mean if you can’t just drink a cup of coffee without the bells and whistles why bother?

Another case in point. Bikini Coffee Company. The baristas wear bikini tops and shorts. YAY. Just where I want to go to relax on a date with my husband. When it has to be this off the wall it just needs not to be done. I find this not only poor taste but…Hey, if your coffee is so bad you have to entice men in to the shop by barely covered boobs then maybe you better open a Dunkin Donuts shop. Or something. This deserves an award for the stupidest idea in coffee drinking.

Jamie Oliver Curry on the Epicurious Blog has a great post on 10 Ways to Make Office Coffee Better. For those of you that actually HAVE an office it has some great ideas.

Green tea yogurt? Hmmm..I am not sure about this one!

Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist is hosting a Mad Hatter Tea Party. The guests are amazing! Check it out.

Plow and Hearth has some cool stuff but check out this Tea Stick! It is a scoop, measurer and infuser all in one!

As I was stumbling tea sites (and if you have never used stumble you need to…just always give me a thumbs up! LOL!) I came across this Interview with God. Take a few minutes and watch it. It is awesome.

Adagio Tea’s Tea Chef blog has a contest every month. You send in a recipe using the tea flavor of the month.  This month’s is Masala Chai.  You can win gift certificates and stuff!

And there it is!

Have a great weekend.  And don’t forget that tomorrow is Daring Bakers reveal Day..so be sure to check Baking Delights to see my creation!

Image:MaryeAudet 

Post from: Kettle and Cup

SO, Chris got home yesterday afternoon and we are having a great time catching up.  He has been attended to with great devotion by Kyrie (youngest daughter)and  Amanda(granddaughter), who seem to be vying for his attention. At the end of the month he will be headed overseas for three years.

Don;t forget to register to win free coffee! I have changed the rules a bit .  You only have to leave a comment and then post about the giveaway on your blog. It is still dedicated to Marc, though, so you can wish him happy birthday in the comments!

Vee shares three links for blog events on A Haven for Vee.  They look like great fun!

At Tea in My Cup, Alice has some beautiful cucumber cups filled with crab. Just perfect for a bridal shower tea or nearly any other kind as far as I am concerned.

Gracious Hospitality has not only a new attitude (LOL!) but a fantastic post on the past and how it inspires us.

So, when you head to your local  Starbucks are you after brand recognition as badly as a teen that is determined to wear Ambercrombie and Fitch (or whatever?)  Dr. Chen says that you are! See if you agree.

What if you could have your espresso anywhere you happened to be? Now you can with Handpresso!

You have to know that I am extremely patriotic. My dad was military, my husband was military..I was military…my oldest son is military..and if you are married to a Marine of any age you understand that Marines, retired or not, take patriotism to a new level.  You also have to know that I am probably one of the most conservative people on the planet. (STOP LAUGHING). However when I read that Dunkin Donuts had cancelled ads that they had Rachel Ray do for them because in the ad she was wearing a scarf that seemed similar to the ones that Muslim extremists wear….well I will be honest. I am laughing. Still. First of all, I would like to encourage all Muslim extremists to drink Dunkin Donuts coffee.   I am quite sure that after the first sip or two they will quickly and quietly leave the country, feeling that surely there is nothing worse they can do to us than that. Second. Well, can we please stop sucking up to every single opinionated group of people?  Seriously.  The ease with which we in this country get offended is crazy. It is amazing how much we seem to WANT to be offended.  There are a lot of things that offend me. Violence.  Abuse. Prejudice. Ignorance. I am offended when I can’t evict a tenant that has not paid rent since February because she has it tangled up in the red tape of the court system, knowing how to use the system. (True, we may lose an investment home over this.)  I am offended at the hunger in my world.  The waste that goes on in terms of finances and foodstuffs.  Check out the dumpster behind your grocer sometime. Rachel Ray in a scarf does not offend me.  If I have to squint to make her look like a militant radical extremist Muslim then I have too much time on my hands….

ahem…carry on….

Have you been drinking pesticides? Here is another reason to head for the organic coffee!! Fumigation….EWW!

Kevin, a t Closet Cooking, is one of my favorite food bloggers.   He visits me at Baking Delights once in awhile.  His images are incredible.  Anyway he has some green tea macarons that you have to see to believe. Just wow.

I was checking out Stash and they have this oh-so-cute Scottie Dog tea for one set.  I fell in love with it on sight.

Have you visited TeaChef at Adagio? Lots of recipes using tea.  I am licking my lips over the tea glazed Irish Pound cake!

O.k..I am heading out. I won;t be doing the shopping post today because I want to spend some time with Chris. See you next time!

Image: Marye Audet through Meez.com

Post from: Kettle and Cup

Among the many things I collect is a particular type of vintage glass called Moonstone. It was put out by Anchor Hocking from 1941-1946. This is a dainty, and I mean DAINTY cream and open sugar set that was my mom’s. Just thought I would share this picture with you.

I have to say that I really like Peggy. She and Jennifer do some way cool stuff on Tree Hugging Family and I have been stalking her on My Junk Creation as well. Gotta love someone who makes cool stuff from junk. Well, she has the coolest bookmarks made from tea tags on her blog this week…and I thought that with so many of us liking both tea AND books…well, just check them out.

But does she stop there? Nope. She also posted about making Tea Tag Confetti. This blogger girl is a serious party animal.

Stop by Steph’s Cup of Tea and wish her a happy blog-a-versary. Her blog is THREE! That is ancient in blog years.

If you are a freak for beautiful dishes head over to Ivory Spring. She shows off some of her collection and the tea strainer is amazing.

Have you been keeping up with the Gracious Hospital-i-Tea Blog-a-Thon?

Well, this week is a whole new subject so head over there and check it out. I have had a great time participating!

If you have a lot of family treasures and you don;t want their importance lost on your kids, check out this post by Katherine at Yellow Rose Arbor. She shows off her book of family treasures and I think it is an awesome idea.

Alice at Tea in My Cup has some adorable flower pot cookies that would be perfect for a spring tea.

My Little Pony turns 25 this year, and the stage show is billed as the largest tea party ever! That could be a great tea party theme for a little one, even if you did not get to go to the show.

Adagio always has cools tuff, but with an order of $50.00 you can get free shipping AND a zarafina teacup and saucer.

The Republic of Tea is also a great site to find the interesting, the new, the Tea-mendous (o.k.that was bad, sorry). Well they have a line of Be Well Red Teas that are infused with herbal blends for specific things. I am a real freak about using herbs in health…we don’t go to doctors here …only very rarely. Marc is the only one currently and that is because his condition requires medical intervention. However, that aside, these teas sound amazing. Check it out:

Get Gorgeous-anitoxidents for healthy skin and listen to the ingredients: Rooibos (leaf), Orange (peel), Hibiscus (flower), Chamomile (flower), Red Clover (flower) Chaste Berry (fruit), Burdock (root), Natural Pomegranate Flavor.

Get A Grip- I could probably just buy them out of this one. PMS and menopause don’t stand a chance with these herbs:Rooibos (leaf), Licorice (root), Eleuthero (root), Parsley (leaf), Black Cohosh (root), Chaste Berry (fruit), Chase Berry (fruit) Extract, Dong Quai (root) Extract, Birch (bark), Roasted Chicory (root), Natural Honey Flavor. It will probably pick up your libido as well so you might want to warn the husband.

Get Happy- Balance those emotions and fight the blahs with this Kosher tea. Organic Rooibos (leaf), Lemon Balm (leaf), Lemon Myrtle (Bachousia citriodora) (leaf), St. John’s Wort (aerial parts), Rhodiola (root) Extract, Natural Peach Flavor.

There are a ton more.

It has not escaped my notice that the weather is getting warmer. Be sure to read my very own instructions for making real southern sweet tea, the ONLY iced tea worth drinking is made with sugar infused water. Never never add the sugar later. Trust me.

For you coffee drinkers, head over to Babylune for Eliza’s Coffee Break. Every weekend she has an open chat over there. Grab a biscotti and just GO.

Image:MaryeAudet 

Post from: Kettle and Cup

.I know that you guys probably don’t realize it, so enamored of my wit and coffee/tea meanderings are you, but there really are other blogs out there about coffee and/or tea. Some of them are pretty good.Man Seeking Coffee posts reviews about his favorite roasters, coffee, and coffee hangouts. The current one is about a place called Cafe Grumpy…which I find hysterically funny. I suppose it is because of the Monty Python style mental image that I get from the name..(.Remember the Spam, Spam, Spam, Ham, & Spam skit? )..so the mental picture of John Cleese as the barista at Cafe Grumpy made my day.

No life, here.

Julie Fletcher leaves some of the best comments anywhere. I can get into a whole comment conversation with her and laugh when I see that a post has 52 comments and 26 of them are hers..(I exaggerated, poetic license). Her blog is called, Not Enough Coffee and, altho it is often NOT about coffee, it is always entertaining.

Cooking by the Seat of My Pants blogger, Jerry, posted extremely important information today. It is…National Irish Coffee Day! . This is a blog I really enjoy and have followed from my food blogs, Baking Delights and Apronstrings & Simmering Things. Always something interesting to read! And really, I would not have known that it was one of the most important days of the year, you know, had I not read it.

So, get yourself another cup, sit down and surf for a bit.

And I want to leave you with this thought, it suddenly occurred to me… Isn’t the phrase “Relax with a cup of coffee” sort of an oxymoron? Wouldn’t it be better to say “I am going to twitch uncontrollably with a cup of coffee”?

Just wondering.

Post from: Kettle and Cup