"cups" news and stories

I must have been living in a hole, because until yesterday, I never knew that there was a difference between an American cup and a Canadian cup. It can't be all that much, since I've used the two interchangeably for years, but it has ruffled my feathers and made me wonder if all of my baking would've been just a little bit better had I known this earlier.

It all came on the heels of me trying to transcribe a recipe that had everything by weight. Personally, I like weighing my dry goods, but I like to throw in a cup here or there when it's a liquid. But now I have to watch my cups, and figure weight, and be sure that my calculations are for the right ingredients. I get the differences between measuring systems, and I grumble my way through density and volume, but this is something different. A cup can't be a cup if the two sizes are different! That's just silly -- especially in an age where we get recipes from all over the globe.

And I wasn't even going to write about it until I read that Haagen-Dazs was shrinking their pints from 16 ounces to 14 ounces. You can't shrink a unit of measurement! What's wrong with people!?

A pint is not a pint unless it's a pint! A cup is not a cup unless it's a cup!

[via Serious Eats]

"Pick Your Nose" is probably not a headline you expected to see on Slashfood. Well. There's a first time for everything.

These are 12 ounce paper cups with various noses on them. Finally, you can pick your friends' noses. I know you've wanted to. A pack of 24 is $9.95, aka way cheaper than plastic surgery.*

As for clipping your friends' nose-hairs, we're still working on that.

*also somewhat less effective.

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This post will warm you best with a hot cup of something. For me, that's freshly roasted Gayo Mountain Sumatra.

We give hot tea when someone is having a bad day and needs to talk. We meet strangers over cups steaming coffee for first dates. We slurp on warm soups when we're sick. But why?

Reuters reports that a new study has found that simply clutching a warm cup can inspire warm feelings. We know this to an extent -- loving laundry straight out of the drier, clutching the warm cup on a cold day -- but there's more to it. John Bargh, a professor of psychology at Yale says: "Physical warmth can make us see others as warmer people, but also cause us to be warmer -- more generous and trusting -- as well." Along with Lawrence Williams (University of Colorado at Boulder) Bargh conducted a series of tests to coordinate reactions based on what liquid beverages the person was holding.

When people held warm cups of coffee, "warmth" became a personality trait they would list in other people, where people holding iced coffee wouldn't. When needing to choose between a gift certificate for a friend and a gift for themselves, the heating pad holders chose the former while the ice packs chose the latter.

Looks like there is more truth to "Ice Queen" or "Ice King" than we thought. Maybe all they need is a good, steaming cup of something tasty.

Del Monte's brand new Fruit Chillers line is sure to be a hit with both kids (and adults) this summer, even though it is a little on the cold side right now in most parts of the country. The Chillers are individual sorbet cups, but there are a couple of things that set them apart from the average individually portioned kids dessert. The first, and most important, thing is that they are made with real fruit purees, rather than concentrated juices that have artificial colorings and flavors added to them. In fact, there are no artificial flavors in them at all and they contain 100% of the recommended daily value of vitamin C (150% in the mango flavor) and 3/4 serving of fruit, based on the nutrition pyramid. The other interesting thing about these is that they are not found in the frozen foods section of the grocery store. They are packed sealed and unfrozen, so you can simply pop them in the freezer before you are ready to eat them. The Chillers are fat free and contain about 190 calories per 4.5-ounce serving.

We have seen a couple of interesting mugs in the past, but the design of this one really strikes a chord with me because I drink quite a bit of tea. This tea bag mug is designed with a pocket built right into it for your tea bag - a convenience when you prefer to use a sturdier mug for hot drinks in the evenings, rather than a cup and saucer. If you're not into tea, or brew yours with loose-leaf tea instead of bagged, you can put the pocket to use in other ways. It can be used to hold packets of sugar or sweeteners when serving to guests and can even hold a small cookie or two. But ultimately, this is a nice, large mug for a tea-lover and probably a must-have for those who really love Lipton or other bagged teas.

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