Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea

Chocolate Friday: Good for a Laugh

Some of my favorite chocolate quotes:

I'm not overweight. I'm Chocolate-Enriched.

The Chocoholic 12-Step Program: Never be more than 12 steps away from chocolate!

Chocolate doesn't make the world go around, but it sure makes the trip worthwhile.

I only recognize two food groups: fruit and chocolate.  And if it's fruit, it should be dipped in chocolate.

One of life's mysteries is how a two-pound box of chocolate can make a person gain five pounds. 

Man cannot live by chocolate alone.  But I bet a woman could.

Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done.

Say fast 10 times: A cheery chipmunk chucked chewy cherries in a cheap chocolate chip shop.

Chocolate is nature’s way of making up for Mondays.

There's more to life than chocolate ... I just can't think what.

There are four basic food groups: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and chocolate truffles.

I have this theory that chocolate slows down the aging process.... It may not be true, but do I dare take the chance?.

Chocolate Friday: TechnoChoco

Check this out -- chocolate for the techno geek, from Corporate Gift Showcase. 

They have chocolate cell phones (no, not this kind, the kind you can EAT!), chocolate computers, chocolate microphones, chocolate computer accessories, even a chocolate remote. 

I really want some of these, but you know, they wouldn't last more than about 5 minutes on my desk. Heheh.

Found via Chocolate Nerd

Note to Self for Mornings

Dear Self:

Important!

This:

is not the same as this:

One does well in the grinder. 
The other does not.

Finding Love, the Tea Way

I got a chuckle from this article over at the Samovar Tea blog: How to Spot Your Own Darjeeling.  You can tell a lot about a person by the stuff they consume and how they do it.    Tea Guru Julian knows all about that.  And this applies not only to tea, but to other foods as well: ice cream, coffee, dinner, dessert...   

When you're first getting to know somebody, the truth is, all the signs are there.  At the end of a relationship you can always look back and see it... how the signs were there from the very beginning, if only we had been looking and aware.

Does your date order like Sally, everything on the side and specially made?  Careful!  You might be going home with Mr. or Ms. High Maintenance.  That's not to say high maintanence people don't deserve love too, they certainly do.  And if you love them enough, you're happy to ... maintain them.  :) 

China's Really Big Tea Pot

Finally a tea companion to the roadside attraction / big coffee pot series!  This is definitely one to add to my travel plans.  If I ever get to China to visit the Tea & Horse Road, this will be on my list of other places to visit!

It's located in Changshu, in the Jiangsu province of east China.  A ginormous teapot (5.5 meters tall) is pouring "tea" into a bowl. Made of reinforced contrete, it took five artisans thirty days to finish. 

Pretty cool!

This Barista's a Doll

No, really, a DOLL. 

Remember when I blogged about the Jane Austen Action Figure?  I thought I'd seen it all with that one.  Well, here's another doll-ish oddity, this one for the coffee hounds.  A really truly Barista Action Figure.  Go figure.  Heh.

This is Nico, "the barista who pours your morning espresso."  According to the features list:

• No other barista in town makes a latte like Nico.
• Her beans are always freshly ground, she never tamps the filter basket too tight and her foam is perfect: thick and decadent, like a pillow of edible clouds.
• Each 5 inch tall hard plastic Barista Action Figure has moveable arms and legs and comes with two interchangeable heads and two different sized cups (tall and grande) that she can hold in her hand.
• Comes on an illustrated blister card with Nico's history and other valuable information on the back

Now, I could make a comment about the two-headed barista that works in that awful coffee shop up the street...  but I won't.

Found via Vancouver Coffee

Yule Fuel

Boo!

Coupla Coffee Quotes

Just to prove that coffee quips come in all shapes and sizes. 

Psychological:  Even the stain on the coffee cup seems not coffee but the physical manifestation of one's inner stain, the fatal blot that from the beginning had marked one for ultimate aloneness.  Jane Fonda

Anatomical:  I could serve coffee using my rear as a ledge.  Jennifer Lopez

Intellectual:  Science is, on the whole, an informal activity, a life of shirt sleeves and coffee served in beakers.  George Porter, British Scientist

Humoresque:  If I asked for a cup of coffee, someone would search for the double meaning.  Mae West

Confused:  If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.  Abraham Lincoln

Really confused: I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon.  Ronald Reagan

For the Jane Austen Enthusiast

I don't know why I thought this was so funny.  People collect all sorts of "action figures".  When I was a kid, "action figure" meant GI Joe with the strap-on gun, or that large-muscled stretchy guy that my brothers tortured.  Now, however, you can get almost anything in a doll... all sorts of characters from yer favorite comic books and movies. 

I don't know if these would even be considered toys anymore though.  They're "collectibles".  Anybody see "40 Year Old Virgin?"  What's the value of a Star Wars figure, still in the box, never opened?  It's unbelievable, big business. Go ahead, Google "action figures" and see how many returns you get.

Well, anyway, to the point.  While browsing through my copious catalogs, I ran across this -- a Jane Austen "action figure" from Signals.  I wanted to call this a figurine, but I'm not sure that fits.  Does a figurine have to be porcelaine?  It doesn't say what this one is made of.  Well, anyway, here she is, Jane Austen, standing a full 5 1/4 inches tall wearing a frilly cap and a dress much too long to be practical.

And what action figure worth its salt would be complete without some kind of accoutrement?  This Jane comes  complete with a copy of her own book, "Pride & Prejudice", a writing desk and a removable quill pen.

You know, as much as I laughed at this, I was almost tempted to get it.  Except that she's not very pretty, and there's no tea cup or teapot, and as far as I can find, no options to expand her accessories.  I guess I could buy a Barbie tea set and just fake it, eh? 

Oh, I'm just cracking myself up here.

Ahoy There Mateys!

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day!  Cute button, huh?  I stole it from the Wikipedia Pirate page.

For more information and lotsa good links about International Talk Like a Pirate Day, check my last year's Piratey post.  There's links for making grog, and plenty of other pirate stuff.

Arrrgh, swash my buckle, and shiver me timbers, it's hard to believe it's been a whole year. 

And stay away from my bootie!  Errr, booty.  Heh, but stay away from my bootie too.

Speaking of booty, you gotta see this video clip: Pirate vs. Ninja.  It's a mighty chuckle-fest and appropriate for the day.

To help you make it through the day, Jack Sparrow's Coffee is a must. 

And be it known that moderate doses of RUM help yer ability to talk like a pirate.  So get ye out there and celebrate, pirate-style.  Avast there!  Shove off and heave to.  Or something like that.

Kopro Shrumak

Any Myst-ers out there?  Got Uru?  Get a chuckle out of this: Kopro Shrumak, a rare and gourmet coffee from Teledahn that is made from spores passed through the digestive system of shroomies.  Read the details here.

For those who haven't played URU, a shroomie is a sort of sea creature that feeds on spores and oversized mushrooms on one of the "worlds" in the game. 

This is, of course, a nod to the rare and famous (or infamous) Kopi Luwak coffee that costs an arm and a leg (if you can even find any) because it passes through the digestive tract of a small creature called a Luwak. 

If you haven't played Uru, it won't be as funny, so ... whaddya waiting for?  Go get the game!!

ChocoFriday: Oddz-N-Endz

It's been a while since I've done a Chocolate Friday!  Bad Christine.  I shall punish myself with a chocolate voodoo doll.  Heheh, what fantastihorrible torture. 

Or maybe I'll torture myself by sending some virtual chocolate.  Seriously, I don't know if sending one of these would be considered a friendly act or really truly torture.  These are some mouse waddling pics!

Some other oddball chocolate stuff I found:

• Apparently somewhere in the Phillipines you can get chocolate toothpaste.  Heh, that's one way to get yer kids to brush.  But doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose?
• Kooki Sushi - Chocolate made to look like sushi.
• Chocolate Cheeseburger and Chocolate Spaghetti from Creative Chocolate.
• Chocolate Cigars - now here's an idea for Father's Day!
• Chocolate Condoms - What?

That's all I have time for today, I'm off to the store for apples and latte!

Improving Espresso, "Tim the Toolman" Style

Heheh, if you've never seen "Home Improvement", or Tim Allen's standup comedy routine, you won't get the joke here.  Ed Needham applies manly traditions for improving anything -- just add more power -- to the task of making better espresso.  [Insert Tim Allen's macho sound effects here "augh augh AUGH!"]  The result is ... ummm ... explosive. 

CelebriTEA News

Some interesting tea-ish oddities from FemaleFirst:

The Dangers of Porcelain - Sliced by a teacup?  Lindsay Lohan purportedly cut herself on a shattered teacup.  She fell on the stairs, dropped the cup, and cut her leg bad enough to need 10 stitches!  That's quite a fall.  I hope she got back on the horse and made herself another cup of tea, pronto!  Maybe in a safe plastic cup this time.  Or at least stay off the stairs.

Tea with the Queen - an intruder entered the Scottish Royal Palace, apparently after a night of heavy drinking, and when caught, told the guards he just wanted to have tea with Lizzy II.  What I'd like to know is how he got as far as he did before being caught.  He had climbed a fence, crossed a carpark, waltzed in through heavy doors, crossed a courtyard and climbed two flights of stairs, where he finally stopped to rest.  The guards found him sitting outside doors leading to a museum dedicated to Mary Queen of Scots on one side and locked apartments of the Queen Elizabeth on the other.  Good thing her apartments were locked, eh?

Tea Rose Lips - I don't think I would be tempted to buy a product just because it was used by Kelly Clarkson.  But I would like to smell this lipstick. 

Caffeine Makes You Wanna ...

At least, so this study shows.

Ok, now, wait.  Before anybody goes and tries to make caffeine pills the new "date drug", you should know this applies only if you're a rat.  More precisely, if you're a FEMALE rat.  They don't know yet if this translates to humans, although I could give an educated guess and say, yeah, probably. 

The rats with the highest return-for-more-sex rate had the caffeine equivalent of a couple shots of espresso for a human.  But then, they'd never had caffeine before.  It might take a bit more for those of us with high caffeine tolerance. 

Suddenly I feel the urge for a latte.

via WebMDBlog
Related: Sex and Coffee?
              Can't Get Enough Caffeine?

Sunday News

I used to enjoy the Sunday paper for one reason and one reason only: the comics.  Once I realized how much my puny preference was contributing to the vast quantities of paper waste and killing of trees, I stopped subscribing.  I now no longer have anything to wrap my fish in.  Plus, no more Sunday comics. 

Thankfully, there are online comic strips now.   Visit ineedcoffee.com's comic section to see regular installments of Inanimate Objects by Todd Zapoli, WYSIWYG by Jym Annear and Best in Show by Phil Juliano, plus a smattering of others.  We all need a chuckle now and then, and these are on one of my favorite topics.  Now I just need to find a tea comic strip.

CoR #74
In other news, the Carnival of the Recipes is up at The Common Room.  They've done a great job on this, the 74th Carnival, with lots and lots of yummy recipes for your tasting pleasure.

Mark the Date!  Get Yer Recipes In!!
I am really excited to be hosting the Carnival this coming week!  The theme will be coffee, tea and chocolate, and the recipes can be drinks or foodstuff made from coffee, tea or chocolate.  That doesn't mean other recipes will be left out in the cold, so please don't feel restricted by the theme.  But if you want to follow the theme and need some ideas, check out these sites:

Coffee Recipes (drinks and food)
Coffee drink recipes
Tea Chef
IMBB 17: TasteTea Roundup Part I
IMBB 17: TasteTea Roundup Part II
IMBB 17: TasteTea Roundup Part III
Holiday Recipes a la Java
Espresso & Coffee Recipes, from homecooking.about.com
Essence of Emeril, Cooking with Coffee episode
AllRecipes.com Tea Recipes
AllRecipes.com Coffee Recipes

There, that ought to get you started, at least give you some ideas of things to try.  Don't forget to post your recipes by Saturday noon, either by email to recipe-dot-carnival-at-neversendspam-gmail-dot-c0m, or you can use the Conservative Cat's Carnival Submission Form. 

More Music!
Lastly, for you music lovers, I'll be updating my coffee/tea music chart, adding more songs, mp3's and album links.  Kat  has been kind enough to help me fill in the blanks and add to the list, so I'll be sending her a little thank you.  I gave her the choice of old dog toy, a lifetime supply of dust bunnies, or coffee.  Guess what she picked?  Heh.

National Hot Tea Month

I had to post these, in honor of January being National Hot Tea Month (according to American Food & Drink Holidays) AND today being the birthdate of Louis Braille, the creator of the braille alphabet.  (After the recent derth of posts here, two in one day! Well, I had to do something to avoid working...)

Feel free to borrow/steal/use these, and if you post them somewhere, let me know and I'll link us all up as members of the National Hot Tea Month Club!  Oh, and please don't link to the images here, just right-click, save-as, and then put the icon onto your own blogspace.

UPDATE: Check here for a list of folx who have joined the National Tea Month Club!

New Year's Resolutions

I'm not ready for it to be a new year already.  I think we should adopt the Mayan tradition and celebrate the new year in July.  Did you know the French used to celebrate it on March 25, until 1582, when they finally adopted the "reformed" calendar? That would be fine with me, I'd have another few months to slouch around.

Oh well.  It's here, whether I'm ready or not.  Time for looking back, and for planning ahead.  A time for making fresh starts.  I wondered who it was that started all this New Year's Resolution stuff anyway.  According to infoplease.com's New Year's page:

It is believed that the Babylonians were the first to make New Year's resolutions, and people all over the world have been breaking them ever since. The early Christians believed the first day of the new year should be spent reflecting on past mistakes and resolving to improve oneself in the new year.

Lord.  A friend of ours declined to join our New Year's gluttony and debauchery this evening.  She's going to spend the night all by herself, reflecting, ruminating, revising and resolving.  Criminy, what a waste of a good Saturday night.

Ok, ok, I'll do a list.  But this year I'm going to be realistic about it.  I usually set impossible goals, try to climb ginormous mountains, and give up after a few weeks.  Why set myself up for failure yet again?

My 2006 New Year's Resolutions
1. Drink more good coffee
2. Drink at least one new flavor/kind of tea every month
3. Try a new decadent chocolate recipe at least once a month
4. Have a splendiferous fancy schmancy tea party once a month
5. See one new release movie each month
6. Do some exercises and yoga ... sometime or other
7. Eat something healthy ... once in a while, when I feel like it
8. Stop judging myself or comparing myself to others
9. Spend more quality time with my inner child
10. Do something creative - often

Now, there's a list I can live with. 

So, my friends and relations, here's a tip of the cup to you and yours.  I wish you all the best of all possible futures, and the warmest possible memories, for "auld lang syne".

New Year's History & Traditions:
   * http://www.fathertimes.net/traditions.htm
   * http://wilstar.com/holidays/newyear.htm
   * http://www.infoplease.com/spot/newyearcelebrations.html

Tuesday Tidbits

Think those coffee pots with timers are new and inventive?  Check this article, showing there truly is nothing new under the sun.

To the woman who thinks my Jingle Ball humor is sophomoric: Sophomoric vs. The Giggle Monster, or How I Found My Christmas Spirit.

Hadta laugh, speaking of sophomoric humor, when I stumbled across this blog: Darjeeling in the Teapot.  Is it just me or does that image look like a diaphragm?  I was hoping for more teastuff here but couldn't find any.

Cosmic Tea Story

This is a story of a strange little series of coincidences.  It's not really coffee or tea related, although it does have to do with my love of tea and history and tea culture.

In my early twenties I fell in love with Jane Austen.  My favorite was Pride and Prejudice, which came on tv as episodes in 1983.  This began my obsession with all British tea customs and culture, and having a proper tea party was my greatest love.  I even got into antique costuming for a while there.

That same year a friend and I were having lunch at a local restaurant.  She came back from the bathroom wide-eyed and giggly, and told me I just had to "come see".  I thought there must have been something really whacky in the potty from her manner, but she led me to a hallway and stopped before a row of pictures hanging on the wall.  I scanned them, confused, but then my eye stopped on one, and my jaw dropped too.  We stood there gaping, and a waitress came by to see what we were doing.  She gaped.  A few more patrons wandered by, and pretty soon we had a little gaping gathering in the hallway.

There was this portrait hanging on the wall, of a young woman in the early 1800's, that was the spitting image of me. 

The restaurant owner didn't know anything about the picture's origins, or the artist, or the subject.  Of course I had all kinds of youthful romantic imaginings of unknown ancestry or maybe even reincarnation breadcrumbs.  I begged him to sell me the picture, but he wouldn't.  He did, however, let me take it to a photographer to have it reproduced, and when we removed it from the frame, there on the back was the artist's name - Thomas Lawrence.

I was able to do some research from that little snippet of information and found the woman's name.  Rosamond Hester Elizabeth Croker, born Rosamond Pennell in 1810 in Ireland , later adopted by her sister and brother-in-law, John Croker.  This painting was done in 1827, when our Rosie-girl was only 17.  Sadly, there's not much more to be found about her, even with the advent of the internet.  She married Sir George Barrow, and as Lady Barrow gave birth to 8 children.

The portrait copy is now hanging in my dining room, right over my prize possession, a 1906 sideboard and silver tea set.  Of course, I don't look like that anymore, but it's still a fun story to tell when people ask me why I have a picture of a stranger from the 1800's hanging in my dining room.

And that's not the end of the story. 

A few years after all this happened, a new copy of Pride and Prejudice was issued, and the picture on the cover was ... yep, Rosie girl. 

Of course I bought a copy.  What delightful serendipity, to have "my" face on the cover of my favorite book.

Killed by Caffeine

Good for a morning chortle, this from Energy Fiend: Death by Caffeine.  Pick your poison, and this little doodad will calculate how much of your favorite substance it will take to kill you. 

I've got about 100 shots of espresso to go before I kick it. 

Found via Tea Guy Speaks

A Place of Work?

I love Opus, and not just because he reminds me of my dad.  This cartoon - Opus Getting Coffee - is good for a chuckle.

Via OpenCoffee.com

Waking Up IN the Shower

So, now that Halloween is over, I find myself looking down the slope to Christmas and realizing that I'm waaaay far from ready.  So I started browsing the net for interesting coffee or tea related gift ideas.  I was originally shopping for others, really.  No, really!

Anyway, I found this old post on Engadget this morning, complete with links to action photos. Caffeinated soap.  No, not for eating, silly wabbit ... for sudsing.  To be absorbed through the skin.  Apparently a lot of anti-aging creams use the same idea, adding caffeine to the product to stimulate blood flow to the skin.

This brand says it contains 15 servings per bar with 250 milligrams of caffeine per serving, and is wisely scented with peppermint, not coffee, otherwise the half-asleep might be tempted to munch.  But, the key question is ... does it give you a caffeine lift?  Not much, to go by the comments and reviews.  But hey, what a great novelty stocking stuffer for your favorite coffee-head!

Gettin' Ready for Halloween

Halloween is looming large, and I'm so not ready.  Here are some CTC offerings in honor of the creepy and scary:

I posted on this one before but it deserves special attention at this time of year: The Coffee Shop of Horrors, a horror-themed coffee and tea shop.  They offer teas with really appetizing names like Vampire's Kiss and Spider Legs, and coffee blends like Witches Brew, Shrieking Toad, Graveyard Shift, and Hallowed Grounds. 

I may have to buy some of the Re-animator blend.  Guaranteed to bring you back from the dead.  What a hoot!

Also on the menu, 3 flavors of Bat Eggs (candy), coffee mugs with horror pictures on them, a coffee shop cat that's trying to be scary but is just too cute, horror action figures & toys, and horror movie reviews.  And online ordering is now available.

If you're planning a trip, you might want to visit Hershey Park for a chocolatey Halloween.  They've got a whole passel of activities planned.  Check out Halloween in Hershey.

Looking for costume ideas?  Here are instructions for making a tea bag costume.

Adagio is offering a selection of holiday teas in honor of Halloween.  The package includes candy apple, candy cane, chestnut, cranberry, gingerbread & pumpkin spice. 

Lots of pumpkin offerings going on out there now.  Look around for Pumpkin Spice chai tea, for a seasonal treat.  Starbucks is apparently making money hand over fist on their Pumpkin Spiced Latte.   Bad Andy recommends going for a Tazo Chai Tea Latte with added Pumpkin Spice Syrup to avoid the bitter aftertaste he says he finds in the regular espresso-based latte.  I guess I'll have to go try one.  Or maybe I'll just get some-a-this Pumpkin Spice flavoring for my coffee.

We mustn't forget the fun/silly/gross recipes for those of you having Halloween parties.  Try Dragon Dirt, Cat Crap Cookies, Bat Guano and Pumpkin Seed Popcorn Balls for starters.  And be sure to check out last week's Carnival of the Recipes for more recipes, and links for places you can still pick your own apples, pumpkins, and order chestnuts.  The big holidays are sure coming up fast.  I guess I better put on my tennies, I'll have to sprint to catch up.

Another National Coffee Day!

According to several sources, today is National Coffee Day!  Now, from my previous post on coffee holidays, there's some confusion about the date.  It would seem that the actual date of National Coffee Day depends on what nation you're in.  But because I'm such a global drinker ... er, thinker ... I vote that we celebrate all of them.  I'm not sure in what country today's holiday originates, and frankly, I don't care.  Any excuse to celebrate the holy bean is alright with me.

Big apologies to Ireland, I missed your Coffee Day on Sept. 19, and Costa Rica, which apparently celebrates Coffee Day on Sept. 12.  Dunno what I was doing those days, obviously NOT checking my trivia notes...  oh yeah, well the 19th was Piratey, so I was distracted by that patch over my eye.  Heh. 

Upcoming, Oct. 1 is National Coffee Day in Japan.  You have two days to prepare.  Get yer espresso machines warmed up. 

On another note, according to Kid's Castle, Sept. 29 is also National Ham Day, National Pancake Day, and National Pumpkin Day.  Are they making this stuff up? 

It's a Tea Word Kinda Morning

I'm not usually the kind of person who reads dictionaries, but I found myself browsing around the Infoplease.com website.  There's a good section all about tea, including history, cultivation preparation, etc., but there's also a bunch of definition trivia type stuff.  I learned quite a lot, without meaning to of course.  God forbid I should overload my gray matter this early in the morning ...

Did you know that

• pink tea is an informal term for "a formal tea or reception"?
• cambric tea is a mixture of hot water and milk, with sugar and, often, weak tea.
• maté (also called Yerba or Paraguay tea) isn't really tea, but it is as much of a stimulant and restorative as real tea.  It's less astringent than genuine tea, and contains considerable caffeine.  I've seen this product but I've never tried it.  If it's got the same properties as good strong black tea, why aren't we drinking more of it? Does it taste nasty?
• hybrid tea isn't tea either.  In fact, it's not for drinking at all. It's "a type of cultivated rose originally produced chiefly by crossing the tea rose and the hybrid perpetual".
• tea money is a bribe used to facilitate any business dealing (esp. in parts of China)

The best thing I found was The Tea Party Crossword Puzzle - great fun for crossword lovers.  Which, having browsed through all their listings and definitions and synonyms, I aced.  :)

Swash My Buckle!

Ahoy, and avast there, mateys!  David of Third World County reminded me that today is Talk Like a Pirate Day (TLAPD), and I find from browsing the net that it's not just National TLAPD, it's INTERnational TLAPD.  So, I did some net swabbing, and found some semi interesting stuff.

I couldn't find an answer to my first question: Do Pirates drink coffee?  I did find a recipe for Real Pirates Grog, though.  Sounds nasty.  I always thought pirates just drank rum, but hey, if you're gonna rob and thieve, why not steal a ship full of tea or coffee?  Aye, that's the ticket!

Other than that, my search for coffee and pirates turned up very little.  Even Jeeves couldn't help.  I did find these though:

• "Attacking Pirates" coffee mug
• Coffee Pirates - a guy in NZ will bring coffee to any outdoor gathering in his custom built 4WD PirateMobile.  "Premium Espresso, Anywhere, Anytime..."  I wonder if he'd come to my neck of the woods.  Heh.
• Make Your Own Treasure Map - using coffee or tea to "age" it.

To learn more about TLAPD, check the Official TLAPD site, and these, for more piracy fun *aaarrrrrrrr):

• Yahoo Pirate Puzzles - this looks like just my speed.  Online piracy and puzzles.  Create your own pirate avatar!  Earn a pirate pet! 
• Take the Pirate Quiz
• Send a TLAPD e-Card
• Pirate Legends and Pirate History
• UPDATE:  Talk Like a Pirate Translator

Me, I'm gonna spend the afternoon with Captain Sparrow.  Splash a little Captain's rum in my coffee cup and let the swashbuckling begin!  That oughtta shiver me timbers, aye?  ARRRRRR.

Oh yeah, and I stole these pics from The Pirates Homepage.  (Am I violating some pirate code by fessing my thievery?)
         
    

Media Memory Lane

Faskanatin' stuff!  I found this via Cindy's Cuppa Tea links -- humorous old media snippets from the common domain.  (You'll need Quicktime to view these, but they offer several different file sizes and download options.)

Arranging the Tea Table - A short (5 minute) "how-to" film.  Looks to be from somewhere in the mid fifties? Talk about yer strict guidelines.  The result sure is pretty though. 

A search on "coffee, tea" turned up quite a few more.  Take a trip down memory lane:

Let's Give a Tea Party - A 20 minute "how-to" from the same source (Atlanta Board of Education?) and time period. 

Classic TV Commercials Part VIII - These clips contain several commercials.  First and second in this collection: 1. Maxwell House coffee (the perculator song brought back memories), and 2. Butter-Nut Instant Coffee (rather obvious subliminal advertising had me chuckling)

Classic TV Commercials Part IV - #27 - Another Maxwell House Instant coffee commercial (with "flavor buds"!) - if you download the file, jump to the 4:40 mark, and #28, a tea ad from Tea Council, Inc. - the lift that leaves you with a nice warm glow.

I sure got a laugh out of these.  We've come a long way, media-wise.  I wonder what they'll think of today's commercials 50 years from now.  There are many more collections for download.  I just picked the prominent tea/coffee ones.  If you like vintage stuff of all kinds, check out Internet Archive.

Oddz & Endz

It seems like a sacrilege to keep blogging about coffee and tea when so many people don't have coffee.  Or tea.  Or fresh water ... or homes to go to.  Although I read on another blog that some of the bars opened up and were selling alcohol and giving away water.  Bars open when nothing else is.  Doesn't that just sound like the Big Easy?  Good for you guys.  Party on.  My heart goes out to the Katrina survivors, especially those who are stuck and can't get out. 

Some oddz and endz from the link file:

• Tilt, Caffeinated Alcohol - coming to a store near you, a berry flavored malt beverage that also features caffeine, guarana and ginseng.  Too bad this isn't out now, we could send a few hundred cases in to N'awlins.  That'd keep folx alert, but happy.
• Puck's Self-Heating Latte - not brandy new stuff, but it was interesting reading the comments in this post.  Hey, a few hundred cases of this stuff could go NOW.
• 12-Volt Beverage Cooler / Heater - use your car adapter to heal (or cool) yourself a cuppa. I want one!
• Hovis Invisible Crust Bread - For those tea party sandwiches, no more cutting off the crusts!  How cool is that?

The Coffee Wheel

I'll be getting to Chocolate Friday in a minute here.  But first!  A handy little doodad you can take with you to Starbucks to help you figure out what to order:  The Coffee Wheel, from highbastard.com.

Largely useful when one is having difficulty speaking (asleep, drunk, high, or merely confused), the Coffee Wheel lines up the words you need to say.  All you have to do is read.  Of course, that's assuming you're not too asleep, drunk, or high to read.  And it's only good for basic drinks, but couldn't one modify the wheel for frappacinos and such?  If one cared, that is?

Destructions, illustrations and pdf template available here.

via growabrain.com

Starbucks DeMystified

I'm not really a Starbucks fan, but I do have a Starbucks cup in my cupboard from one Christmas when my brother in Seattle sent me a gift pack containing 2 kinds of coffee stuffed into this big green cup.  The coffee wasn't bad, but when I go out for coffee now, I go the the coffee nazi shop, so's I can get one of those killer bagels with my espresso.  But since I do get a lot of folx searching for Starbuck's information, here's some.   

For the serious ...

• Starbucks Drinks Simplified - ever wonder what the heck those drinks are?
• Make Your Own Starbucks Frozen Frappuccino
• Make Your Own Starbucks Coffee Frappe
• Starbucks nutrition info - Find the calories, fat content, vitamins, etc. for your favorite Starbucks drinks.  Yer basic grande caramel frozen frappuccino is 430 calories!
• Starbucks Copycat Recipes

For the devoutly not-serious ...

• Small, Medium, Large - a link I posted once before that's just too funny.  Visit Star-Schmucks but be careful how you order.
• Oracle of Starbucks - if you ever wonder who you are
• The Last Starbucks - they really ARE everywhere
• Starbucks in Heaven - joke
• That Starbucks commercial - the one that uses the actual Survivor members, singing a much modified version of Eye of the Tiger

More Coffee / Tea Quotes

If I can't have a proper cup of coffee from a proper copper pot
Then I want a cup of tea
Troutfishing in America

(Say it fast over and over, it's a tongue twister.  :) )

A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems.
Paul Erdos

You can tell when you have crossed the frontier into Germany because of the badness of the coffee.
King Edward VII

If it wasn't for coffee, I'd have no discernible personality at all.
David Letterman

Another novelty is the tea-party, an extraordinary meal in that, being offered to persons that have already dined well, it supposes neither appetite nor thirst, and has no object but distraction, no basis but delicate enjoyment.
Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
The Physiology of Taste

Coffee for Your Health

(Take note that today is National S'mores Day.  If you've never had a s'more, you've never lived.  A slab of Hershey's chocolate, toasted marshmallows - best if burnt and crispy and then dropped on the ground - pressed between two graham crackers and held in a grubby hand long enough for the chocolate to get soft and begin to melt, and then eaten as quickly and messily as possible.  Ahh, the girl scout days, the summer camps, toasting marshmallows over a campfire.)

Now, from the Hysterical Historical file: The Vertue of the Coffee Drink, a coffee handbill from 1652 on the health benefits of coffee.  I bet you didn't know that coffee can and will

• cure headaches
• aid digestion
• prevent drowsiness (for 3-4 hours!)
• help against fore eys (not sure what that is, but I don't wanna get it!)
• prevent & cure dropsy, gout and scurvy
• prevent miscarrying
• stop defluxion of rheums (thank god for that... whatever it is, I don't want it)
• prevent & cure consumption and "the Cough of the Lungs"
• prevent King's Evil (had to look this one up, it's an old term for tuberculosis of the lymph nodes in the neck)

See, now, I have a good reason for all the coffee I drink.  God forbid I should miscarry or deflux!

Thanks to Bloggle for the link.

Chocolate FUN RECIPE Friday

Nothing like a little novelty chocolate dish to liven up a party.  Check out these bizarre chocolate recipes.  (The Carnival of the Recipes #51 is up at Mountaineer Musings.  There are a ton of great recipes to try, not to mention the links to lyrics - fun stuff!  I kyped a couple of these chocolate recipes from the Carnival.) 

Cat Crap Cookies - from ArmyWifeToddlerMom
http://armywifetoddlermom.blogspot.com/2005/07/cat-crap-cookies.html
From the picture, this stuff looks very realistic.  If you're kind of warped, like me, you'll love this one.

Dragon Dirt - from MaryBeth
http://www.findercreations.us/randomthoughts/archives/000838.html
No picture, but the destructions sound pretty simple enough.  Nice and chocolatey, and gross fun, of course.  :)

Owl's Eyes - From Recipe*zaar
http://www.recipezaar.com/80661
This sounds really delish.

Chocolate Pancake Sandwich - From Mr. Breakfast
http://www.mrbreakfast.com/superdisplay.asp?recipeid=362
A seriously chocolately brekky recipe here. 

Ghosts in the Graveyard
http://www.youthonline.ca/recipes/blhalgstsingraveyrd.shtml
Great idea for Halloween, I'll have to save this one.

Grinch Poop
http://www.recipezaar.com/49644
Ok, this one isn't really a recipe, more of a holiday joke, but it made me laugh so I'm including it here.

Chocolate Friday: Fun & Games

For Chocolate Friday, some online chocolate-related games.  Gathering these links was a lot of fun.  I spent an ungodly amount of time playing the games ... errr, ummmm ... testing the links and validating the software functionality. 

Nothing terribly challenging here, just silly fun:

Cadbury - my favorite kind of egg - has a page of fun stuff, including a match card game (flash and non-flash), send an e-card, make chocolate w/ a chocolate machine, and something called splurge, that appears to be wallpaper and a game combined.

Hershey has quite a lot of fun stuff online.  First, their Hershey's Syrup Games page, where you'll find the Hershey's Syrup Blot Personality Quiz, a Historical Trivia quiz, Hershey's Syrup Solitaire, and the Squirt game.  All are flash games, but you can download the solitaire game for free.  Also find two Hershey's Kisses games:  - Way to Go and Word ladder.

Pemberton's Chocolate has two games: Chocolate Hangman and Chocolate Concentration.

Mountain City Elementary has a whole section on Chocolate Games including 3 match games, hangman, jigsaw puzzle and a crossword puzzle.

Nestle's Nesquik has a list of games and activities.  I tried to make my own music, but I guess I need more coffee to figure this one out.

The Character of a Coffee House

For those of us who find the historical amusing... two pamphlets circulated in London in the 1600's, one condemning the house of bean, one praising.

A coffee-house is a lay conventicle, good-fellowship turned puritan, ill-husbandry in masquerade, whither people come, after toping all day, to purchase, at the expense of their last penny, the repute of sober companions: A Rota [i.e., club room], that, like Noah's ark, receives animals of every sort, from the precise diminutive band, to the hectoring cravat and cuffs in folio; a nursery for training up the smaller fry of virtuosi in confident tattling, or a cabal of kittling [i.e., carping] critics that have only learned to spit and mew; a mint of intelligence, that, to make each man his pennyworth, draws out into petty parcels, what the merchant receives in bullion: he, that comes often, saves twopence a week in Gazettes, and has his news and his coffee for the same charge, as at a threepenny ordinary they give in broth to your chop of mutton; it is an exchange, where haberdashers of political small-wares meet, and mutually abuse each other, and the public, with bottomless stories, and heedless notions; the rendezvous of idle pamphlets, and persons more idly employed to read them; a high court of justice, where every little fellow in a camlet cloak takes upon him to transpose affairs both in church and state, to show reasons against acts of parliament, and condemn the decrees of general councils.
   Excerpt from The Character of a Coffee House,  1673

What's amazing is that entire paragraph is one sentence!  And what, pray tell, is "toping"?  Those coffee-slurping animals were toping, all day!  I hope they got paid for it.   

Then, a mere two years later, this pamphlet apparently circulated with praise, not only for the bean...

As for this salutiferous berry, of so general a use through all the regions of the east, it is sufficiently known, when prepared, to be moderately hot, and of a very drying attenuating and cleansing quality; whence reason infers, that its decoction must contain many good physical properties, and cannot but be an incomparable remedy to dissolve crudities, comfort the brain, and dry up ill humors in the stomach. In brief, to prevent or redress, in those that frequently drink it, all cold drowsy rheumatic distempers whatsoever, that proceed from excess of moisture, which are so numerous, that but to name them would tire the tongue of a mountebank.

but also for the coffee house!

So that, upon the whole matter, spite of the idle sarcasms and paltry reproaches thrown upon it, we may, with no less truth than plainness, give this brief character of a well-regulated coffee-house (for our pen disdains to be an advocate for any sordid holes, that assume that name to cloak the practice of debauchery), that it is the sanctuary of health, the nursery of temperance, the delight of frugality, an academy of civility, and free-school of ingenuity.

   Excertps from Coffee-Houses Vindicated, 1675

Source: The First English Coffee-Houses, c. 1670-1675

The Women Protesteth

Two very different protests, for very different reasons.

The first, a noble cause supported... The Edenton Tea Party wherein the women join the protest against the British rule by quitting tea.