Apparently there is a substance in powdered sugar that turns into a pretty darn good solar collector when mixed with herb and fruit tea.  And, Tazo passionfruit seems to be the best.

Personally I find this to be just a tiny bit frightening. Why? Well…..here is the deal.
We all know policemen are addicted to donuts. I have seen a lot of the local officers in the various Starbucks. Now, what if they start drinking the tea and glowing in the dark? hmmm?
I mean, GMOs aside..isn’t this a little too Robo-cop for you?

Check out the video:

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Michel Kreuger of Amsterdam’s Studio Noach has come up with a unique way to deal with styrofoam coffee cups.

Make floating homes out of them. These homes are so cool.  They are made from panels that are created from recycled coffee cups, packing material, and the styrofoam thingies your hamburger comes in.

The homes are actually afloat on  a lake, connected to the shoreline by a winding walkway.  This sounded beautiful to me until I thought about the amount of groceries that I buy…first of all, the idea of carrying all of them from the car to the house down a winding walkway that floats on water is not that cool to me.  Second, I realized that you would  always know which one of the homes was mine..it would be partially submerged from the weight of said groceries..

However…

These homes are covered in vegetation which  I imagine helps to insulate them, as well as releasing oxygen into the air…and I guess a mound of green plants looks better floating on water than a giant coffee cup?

Water from the lake will be pumped through the stucture to water the plants.

You can read more about this and see a video at  Treehugger.

What do you think?  Would you live in one if given the chance?

Image:AnnHoltrop

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Do you work in an office?

Is there a designated person, the go-fer,  that goes to pick up the coffee? Or, do you flip pennies, throw darts or otherwise use some sort of scientific system to make sure it is fair?

This website is for you.  Now you can use this random generator to, completely fairly, figure out who goes for coffee.  Noone can argue, noone gets left out, and everyone gets coffee.

Can it get any better than that?

It isn’t a download..just a free, very helpful webtool!

Who Get’s Coffee Random Generator

Image:Morguefile

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How would you feel if you had to gobble up mouthfuls of powdered creamer while you had M-16s pointed at your head?

This is not a Frat initiation, nor is it a new method by our military to extract information from foreign spies…Nope. It happened to a

British tourist to South America.

So, he doesn’t trust the water..nor does he trust the milk and so the guy packs creamer, right.  Only he doesn’t leave it in the correct jar, he puts it in unlabeled jars.  And then he tries to get through customs with an unidentified white powder in his bag.

Yes, I am laughing, sorry.  I am totally without compassion here.  It has to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

So they are checking his baggage and pull out this powder and of course all of the security descends on the guy.  They speak, what else? Spanish..He speaks..what else? English.

Imagine the chaos.  They are yelling at him in spanish and he is yelling “Coffee Mate! Coffee Mate!” in english. They only understand the word “coffee” and they are like “yeah right, dude, that is not coffee!”

What else can they do? They make him eat it.  Not just taste it.  Eat it. Great honkin’ bites of it.

When he doesn’t spaz out they realize that it is not cocaine..so THEY taste it.

At that point they should have probably arrested him for bringing something so vile into the country.

And by the way, Einstein, don’t try to bring large amounts of oregano into the country either.

Image:Morguefile

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Another week of websurfing…seems to me things get stranger and stranger…

Look what Gayla found..this is serious cuteness right here…Whistling Duck Tea Kettle

Need more caffeine in you diet? 7 Caffeinated trends ….

Vote for the next Jelly Belly flavor…..Thai Iced Tea anyone?

If you smoke just be sure to drink your coffee….the coffee reduces the risk of stroke in smokers.

I don’t think so….Espresso Jello Cubes..

13 More Uses for Coffee (you mean drinking it isn’t enough?)

In Canada? Never be desperate for coffee again. Time Hortons Coffee locator..by Iphone…Apparently a large number of men are choosing a comforting cup of tea over a wild night of sex..too much soy milk? Or just really good tea?

More uses for tea from Reader’s Digest

Have a great week!

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O.k..I have a major dislike of McDonalds and we all know it.  But this…THIS is too much.  I need to create an award for stories like this.

Anyway, if you have never read the Consumerist and you enjoy wry humor then perhaps you should.

It seems that Someone ordered a sweet tea sans ice at a local McDonalds and was charged 69 cents more than the advertised price because they requested no ice.  So, being the easy to get along with sort, he asked that they put a single cube of ice in his sweet tea….and they said it had to be a full cup of ice or no go.

I would really like to see a youtube video of this.   The article id not say where this occurred.  I cannot for the life of me believe that it would have been possible for it to happen south of the Mason Dixon, and yet I can’t imagine it being called sweet tea up North.

I get cranky when they charge me extra for a cup of ice.  :/   Do you KNOW that Sonic charges 89 cents for nothing but a cup of ice, even if you bring your own Bubba cup??

Don’t you miss the days of S & H Green Stamps?  I mean stores gave you a little extra.  A little customer appreciation.

So…what do you think?  Was the Micky D’s acting  in a rational manner or not?

Makes ya wonder what they would charge ya if you asked for an empty cup!

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So the poll for last month was what you would like to see more of on Kettle and Cup.  The numberr one answer was……………………..

Coffee Recipes

and the number two answer was

Tea Recipes.

Noone wanted to see hot pictures of Mel Gibson and one of you is as smart alecky as me and wanted more X-files News.

I will try to fit those things in.   And just to show you how sincere I really am about making sure that you, my dear readers, are happy:

Julianne Moore may play Scully in X-files2

Happy now?

The new poll for July is:

How much Coffee or Tea do you drink per day?

If you don;t remember the image above take a look at: Red Espresso 

Image:Marye Audet 

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Chris noticed that he wasn’t getting any one on one time with mom so he opted to take me to lunch today.  He knows that I prefer organic and checked out the internet to surprise me with a trip to the Dream Cafe, in Dallas.

I haven’t ever been there before. And….I don;t usually write reviews on restaurants here.  Eh…so new experiences are good for ya, right?

I had a chicken sandwich. I cannot for the life of me remember what it is called but it was grilled chicken breast, sauteed mushrooms and brie on a baguette.  It was served with seasoned fries.  Chris has farfalle with capers and tomatoes.  We shared a started of hummus with pita chips. I had coffee and he had pomegranate and green tea, iced.

Sounds great doesn’t it?

The hummus was good.  The chips not as crisp as I make. On a scale of 1-10 it was a 6.

The fries were awesome! I am not sure how they make them but I can tell you I will e working to figure it out in my kitchen.  crackly crispy and seasoned.  On a scale of 1-10 I gave them a 12.

Chicken sandwich. O.k…Issues here. Chicken was undercooked, way too pink in the center and I doubt that it hit over 150F.  Had to salt it and I don’t use salt. Mushrooms were too chewy.  Brie was good.  Bread was good. Caramelized onions were only sweated. On a scale of 1-10 I give it a 4. and that is for portion size-very generous.

Chris’s farfalle..was…bland. He took a bit, and started pulling the rest of the greek marinated olives out of the hummus and cutting them up and adding them to the pasta.  He took a bite, and I took a bite. He looked at me…

“Needs fresh basil, more olives…” he paused and chewed

“…and porcini peppers,” I finished. That gets a 2.  Which is generous.
“Yeah.”

The coffee was adequate.  The cup was filled often and it was hot.  It was not great coffee, and my guess is that it came form restaurant supply and was not organic.  The tea was o.k. I am not a good judge of that since I dislike anything but a sweet tea and this was unsweetened. It just is not the same when you add sugar after it is made.I was also not impressed with the Heinz NON-organic catsup on the table. I thought this was organic?

The restaurant needed a good paint job and a thorough cleaning. It was not cool and anti-establishment, it was just dirty.   The waiter was polite and attentive.

I loved spending time with my son.  Next time we will forgo organic and head for Blue Mesa Grill.

Overall I would give it a 4 out of 10. I will take my chances with toxic chemicals and let someone else deal with the salmonella. Also the menu was not clear what was organic and what was not. I wish they had been more clear on that.

If you are in Dallas there are so many more restaurants that are so much better.

Image:Morguefile 

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I fell in love with this vintage black cup and saucer set…Very delicate with lots of gold trim.

I am going to guess late deco, maybe 1930s with this rose painted tea pot? What do you think?

I have the entire set of these late 1940s cannisters, including the cake plate. These are in much better shape than mine though. The seller is not very knowlegable about these because they have them dated as 1970 LOL!

Ansley cup and saucer…sigh..romantic rose motif with light blue..I could so go for this one! What do you think?

McCoy Pinecone teapot..I am not sure when this was done..but it is fantastic!

Incredible German Tea pot..so you are starting to see how my tastes tend to be, aren’t you?LOL!

I love this footed tea cup with the peaches on it.

Elephant collector? Look at this 1930s deco lusterware tea pot. It is so cute! I love the bright colors.

I love old photos. This vintage sepia of two little girls having a tea party is adorable!

I know I said I liked those other cups..but trust me..THIS one is my favorite..Lattice work saucer, amazing little cup…my favorite..until the nest one, right?

I love red and white kitchens. I think this vintage Noritake set would be so cheery for a continental breakfast with a croissant or brioche and tea…a few pieces of fruit…

Really cute Dutch boy and girl teapot. I haven’t seen one like it before. I would say mid 1950s?

O.k.. My feet hurt…see ya next week.

image: Morguefile

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Memorial Day weekend is always a fun weekend for us. Cookouts, horseshoes, maybe some horseback riding…hawk toss…

You don’t know what hawk tossing is?

Yes, we are just that redneck around here. A hawk is a small hatchet, or tomahawk. Marc made this target for the kids to use. You take several paces back, and throw. It takes skill and practice to hit it and get the hatchet to stick in. The older boys also use it to practice throwing knives. It is one of the things that Marc can still do with the kids since he can no longer run around tossing a football. although he is pretty good when he is in his wheelchair at catching a football…

My family is very into historic re-enactment, although they haven’t done a lot yet. Marc is a commander with Royal Rangers (a bit like boy scouts) and is working to become involved with FCF, a historic re-enactment group that focuses on frontier type history;trappers, mountain men, etc. Marc is also planning on getting involved in a group that re-enacts the Republic of Texas Marine Corps.

Anyway ..so we are pretty basic people here.   Memorial Day still embodies everything it always did..I wrote my thoughts on Memorial Day in an Old House last year. I hope you will read it.

One of the big things to have here is iced tea in the summer.  My recipe for sweet tea is the best in the universe.  No, really.   You can use any type of tea you like ( Tazo passionfruit is awesome!  ) flavored or unflavored.  Please do not use bags if you can help it. Let’s face it, loose tea is just sooooooo much better!

All right…

Make Mine Pink is a great resource for tea shopping.  There are great posts on this blog about different tea resources around the internet.    There are alot of links to other tea inspired sites and blogs…I haven’t looked around too much because of time but I did notice blog and bio of Karen(Sweet Necessi-teas) …so now I know a little more about her!!!  I really like this blog, sorry I can’t tell you  more but I plan on reading through when I have some off time this afternoon..(ha ha..IF I have off time)

If you want to smile read this post about Josephine Misunas, a 96 year old woman that is still serving others in a soup kitchen in Waterville, Maine…

Domestic Goddess in Training let’s us know the truth about cream tea and then gives a wonderful recipe for mixed fruit scones…

So sad, but the Gracious Hospital-i-tea Blog-a-thon is over.  It was such a wonderful event, so much fun, and I met so many of you that I now read on a regular basis. Quick, someone come up with a new idea!

Laurie at Rose Cottage has a beautiful teacup she uses for her morning tea.  Do you have a particular cup you like to use? I have one for coffee but not tea. I may be inspired to get one now…’

Tea Party Girl has a fabulous interview with Donna Collins of Party Wishes.If you want to know how to pull of a children’s tea this is the place to go!

Soo…big surprise. McDonalds specialty coffee sales are not competing with Starbucks. Umm, did the powers that be at McDonalds fail to recognize that the customer base was VERY different… Like…guys…seriously..most 8 year olds do not order coffee and most adults that are roped into taking small people to McDonalds just want to go home.

If you want a chance at winning some organic coffee you better head over and comment on the  Fidalgo Bay blog..you have until May 29.

Heather at Chocolate Bytes has a great recipe for…uh…grilled coffee and chooclate STEAKS?? Sure, why not. Fair trade, ethically raised, organic…go for it.

Have a great weekend….

Images:Marye Audet 

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