"morning" news and stories

I am by by no means a "morning person." Like many a sleepyhead, I often require a steaming cup of coffee to get my engine firing on all cylinders. Sometimes I overdo it, either due to quantity or strength. On those occasions, I wind up with a case of the java jitters by late morning. Which brings me to the subject of this post: Panama's leading coffee producer just brewed up what it hopes is the world's biggest cup of coffee. I assume the guys standing around the rim of the massive mug are wearing masks so that they don't die of overexposure to caffeine.

Once the folks at Cafe Duran stop shaking and sweating, they'll submit their results to Guinness for authentication. The company brewed up 750 gallons of coffee, placing it above the previous record of 650 gallons. As of this writing there's been no word of what kind of cup holder has been designed for the megamug.

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I tend to save cookbooks that are about breakfast foods for the weekend, largely because Saturdays and Sundays tend to lend themselves to more leisurely breakfast preparations than weekdays. Today, I'm breaking the tradition by talking about Morning Food: Breakfasts, Brunches, And More for Savoring the Best Part of the Day . This cookbook serves as a reminder that every morning is a breakfasting opportunity, whether you're going to work or staying in your pjs, whether you have 5 minutes or 55.

The book is full of easy to follow, well-written recipes, but the icing on the cake (or perhaps the syrup on the pancakes) in this particular book is the friendly, funny prose of author Margaret Fox. Her stories and histories (and the exquisite photos) keep you turning the pages, going from one recipe to the next, and wanting to try them all. With 150 or so recipes, this is no easy task. They range from waffles, eggs and muffins to salads, dips and sandwiches, covering the expected and unexpected: Caramelized Apple Sauce, Bacon Pancakes, Berry-Filled Custard Crepes, Egg Salad Sandwiches and Hot Chocolate with, or without, Mocha Whipped Cream.

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Burning your tongue on a hot drink is no picnic, but burning it while drinking from an insulated commuter mug is worse. Not only does the cup disguise the temperature of the beverage it contains, making you more likely to subject your tongue to overly-hot drinks in the first place, but they do not allow drink not cool down fast enough to prevent repeat burns. Combine that with a morning commute in rush hour traffic and you will probably discover the source of many cases of "road rage."

Fortunately, there is a cup that offers a solution. The Tip and Sip Cup keeps coffee hot at up to 205 degrees, which is the temperature that most coffee is brewed at. When it is tipped (for a sip), the coffee passes into a patented Temperature Control Chamber, which lowers the temperature of the coffee to the "Perfect Zone" of 150-170F, leaving you with a satisfying swig of coffee and no burns. The triple function lid has a spill-proof lock setting and a regular "sip" setting that bypasses the temperature control chamber, in addition to the cooling function.

It is available in raspberry, lime, orange, forest, black, or blue and is priced at $19.95. The cost of never burning your tongue again? Priceless.

[via book of joe]

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Although they are a little bit tacky, these "Undress me" mugs are still a fun idea to get your day started in the morning. No, it doesn't have anything to do with getting undresses. There are his and hers versions of the mugs available and each one has a naked man or woman on the inside which is revealed as you drink down your coffee. It's not going to give quite the same effect if you prefer lighter beverages, like tea, so you might want to stick with coffee, hot chocolate of a similarly dark beverage.

I'm not really sure which demographic they're targeting, but I suspect that there are a lot of college-age men and women who wouldn't mind having one at the breakfast table. And now that Folger's is targeting that demographic but seems to have renounced their claim to being the "best part of waking up," they have to have something to look forward to in the morning.

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While the idea of Nutella filled crepes is very tempting and crepes are not too difficult to make, they do take a bit more effort than more the thicker, American-style pancakes. Pancake batter is so adaptable that just about any ingredient can be worked into it, so I decided to work the chocolate-hazelnut spread into a basic pancake recipe for breakfast. There is just enough Nutella in the batter to give it a good flavor without being overwhelming or making the pancakes too heavy.

And yes, that is chocolate syrup on top of the pancakes in the picture, but I actually ate mine with maple syrup - I just wanted to emphasize the fact that they have an underlying chocolate flavor. By all means, use chocolate syrup if you are so inclined, but spreading the pancakes with a thin layer of Nutella or tossing a handful of chocolate chips into the batter might produce an even more decadent result.

The recipe is after the jump.