Next time you are bringing lunch to work, you can bring along this amazing portable hand-held toaster. Just this Wednesday, the Telegraph had an article explaining that the device is in its preliminary stages and should be available in shops in Britain at the end of the year. The concept was created by Korean designer Kim Been.

What appears to be a ceramic cake slice, is actually a device that spreads heat created thanks to nanotechnology. You know when the bread is toasted because heat-sensitive illustrations of vines and butterflies appear and multiply as the bread becomes browner. It takes two to three minutes to toast the bread. The only setback is that only one side can be toasted at a time.

This portable ceramic bread iron will be perfect for campers. As Daily Mail states, "You need never burn your toast in the office canteen again thanks to the invention of the world's first portable toaster." This portable device actually contains highly-durable CarbonNano tubes that will not over-heat and will protect users from any skin burns. The cost of this device has not been announced. Depending on when it comes out, this could be a great gift for the holiday season.

After a day of travel, Scott and I got home to our apartment last night just before 1 am. The changing time zones and the hours spent locked in a fast-moving metal tube had us totally thrown off and we were both ravenous when we walked in the door. Getting to bed was high on my mind, but I knew that we both needed to eat something or sleep would be impossible.

Opening the fridge, I saw that I had done a good job of emptying it out prior to the trip. Thankfully though, I had had the good sense to leave behind half a done eggs and the tail end of a loaf of bread. Pulling out a cereal bowl and a small frying pan, I quickly beat the eggs and poured them out into the pan. I shoved the bread bag in Scott's direction and said, "Toast, please." I stood at the stove, barely conscious, stirring the eggs with a silicone spatula. As I moved the eggs around the pan, I realized that it had been a week since I cooked a thing, a rare occasion in my life.

Soon enough, the toast popped and the eggs were done. We sat at the table for a few moments, eating eggs in companionable silence. It was a meal that took no more than 15 minutes from conception to completion and yet it was still warm, filling and lovely welcome home.

The worst things about religious portents is that they are so hard to interpret. When Mary shows up in a tortilla or Jesus makes Himself known in a sliced cantaloupe, are these divine figures endorsing the food or warning that we should probably not eat it? Is an Elvis portrait in a ham steak a sign that he wants us to enjoy pork or is it a veiled commentary on the King's acting skills? If Judy Garland talks to me through my Rice Krispies, is this a sign that I should become a female impersonator or just a warning that I need to start taking my medication again?

Tough questions.

These sorts of conundrums recently gained further relevance with the emergence of a slab of toast that bears the image of Sarah Palin. The starchy message from heaven, which is currently going for $31 on eBay, is not particularly easy to interpret. Does it mean that the famed moose-hunter and Republican vice presidential candidate is divinely inspired, or is it a sign that her message is full of empty calories? Are we supposed to consume her platform, making it part of us, or is the universe telling us that she is toast? Either way, I'm taking a good, hard look at my waffle tomorrow--just in case John McCain decides to make an appearance!

I love this picture. I love how the leaves on the toast mimic the pattern on the tablecloth. It's breakfast that also happens to be doubling as art. For more pictures of gorgeous, creative breakfasts, make sure to check out Cesca's entire breakfast set.

Thanks Cesca, for adding this beautiful picture to the Slashfood Flickr pool.

The more you get into food, especially the fresh stuff, the easier it is to go a little foodie crazy and buy too much. Unfortunately, for me, it's become something of a habit. I'm a sucker for tasty, fresh vegetables, but between busyness and impromptu dinners out, I am often faced with a fridge fool of food about to go bad. But at least I'm consistent, because the fridge-cleaning meal almost always looks like the picture above.

For me, it's always a collection of vegetables, some sort of cheese, and a pesto or similar topping that really needs to be eaten. Without fail, I'll whip up a salad, some toast with topping and cheese, and pull a beer out of my beer fridge. (I realize the Mort Subite doesn't go with the meal, but it was the only bottle that was cold.)

Do you have this same problem? What does your "everything is going bad!" dinner look like?

A product that I'm lumping into the same category as Mr. Bacon Vs. Monsieur Tofu solely based on silliness factor, Tic Tac Toast gives you a new reason to play with your food.

Simply press the stamper into the slice of bread, pop it into the toaster, and out comes the most delicious tic tac toe board you've ever laid eyes on.

The little illustration shows players using jelly and peanut butter as their playing pieces of choice, but we dare you to go crazy and find wacky pairs to play with. Hummus and mayo? Nutella and Marshmallow Fluff? Vegemite and...?

Really, I mean, the possibilities are endless.

OK, this is just plain freaky. When I sit down to eat a meal, I don't want to see its eyes. It reminds me of that Nightmare on Elm Street movie where Freddy Krueger's body had all those writhing faces of his victims. In this pic, all I can think about is the little cereal pieces screaming "help us!" in a high pitched voice.

Though I can imagine the pancakes singing and dancing in an animated Disney movie.

[via Cute Overload]

Mmmmm...toast.

We've all seen some interesting ways of advertising in the past several years, from people selling off their foreheads as a billboard to whole towns changing their names for money. Now comes...Toastvertising! The people behind The Book of Spam (the food, not the annoying e-mails) have created videos to market the book, and each one has clever animation featuring Spam's best friend, toast. Check out one of the videos after the jump.

I know what you're thinking: "toast? How many ways can there to make toast?"

Answer: a lot.

It's still morning and you might want to make something to go along with your coffe or tea, so check out Dr. Toast's Amazing World of Toast. It's a blog filled with great recipes that use toast, including Cinnamon Toast, Beans and Toast, White House Apple Toast, Mushrooms Over Toast, and even something called Toast Espresso, which sounds...well, you make it and let us know how it tastes.

Really fun site. It even has a section on toasters, and you can ask Dr. Toast questions.

I've always been fascinated by how other people live their food lives. This means that I really enjoy cooking with friends, love peeking at the shopping cart contents of strangers and always wanted to check out what my co-workers brought to eat for lunch. This slightly odd trait of mine is why I'm loving a recent addition to my RSS reader.

Simply Breakfast is a site that gets updated just about every weekday (and occasionally on the weekend as well) and features a single image in each post. Every day the picture is of what Jen is having for breakfast that morning. In concept it sounds sort of boring, but Jen is an artist who seems to carefully compose her meal before she snaps the shot. The result is something that is inspiring, appealing and addictive. She's got a new book out that gathers a bunch of her breakfast images together and also has an Etsy shop where you can buy prints of her photos.

Still only existing in concept, this whiteboard/toaster could become the wave of the breakfast future someday soon. Need to leave a note for your partner, but you leave for work before they do? Just scrawl it on the toaster. If they don't see that note, then they'll surely notice it when it appears on their toast (provided they aren't following a low carb diet). I do see a couple flaws in the plan though, like the fact that the writing surface seems awful close to where the heating element would be. So you'd have to wait quite a while between toasts to write a message if you wanted to avoid burning your hand.

This isn't the first time that someone has designed a toaster that leaves an imprint on the toast. This very pink and white Hello Kitty toaster creates toast that has Kitty's image baked in and has the added bonus of being available now.

Thanks KF!

Did you know that "Rarebit" also means "rabbit?" When I was a kid I used to joke around and call the meal "Welsh Rabbit." I had no idea I was actually right.

I also had no idea there were so many variations on the Welsh Rarebit recipe I see my roommate make all the time (and by "make" I mean "cook the frozen dinner version he bought at the supermarket"). A Buck Rarebit has a poached egg on top. The Irish Rarebit is topped with onions, vinegar, and pickles. And English Rarebit has red wine added before you melt the cheese.

Here's the recipe from Alton Brown's Good Eats show. And here's one from Cuisine du Monde. I don't think I've seen two Welsh Rarebit recipes that are the same.

The simplest thing to make for breakfast (not including cereal, since there's no real "cooking" there), is toast. Even if you're using plain old Wonder white, slipping it into a toaster, letting it bronze, then watching it pop out onto a plate, a toaster makes breakfast even the tiniest bit more special.

But! Now it gets even better with fancy toasters. Forget about the silver Oster that's sitting on your counter. Manufacturers and kitchen product designers are getting into toasters, with everything from the design on the outside, to accessories that allow you to "tattoo" your toast, to a concept toaster that's made of glass. Click through on each toaster to see what it's about.

A lot of good eats start out with a piece of toast - or, at least, they can start out with a piece of toast. In On Toast, author Susanna Blake shows us that toast is a great part of not only breakfast, but of many snacks, appetizers, lunches, dinners and even desserts. She also shows us that "toast" can have a broad definition, using bagels, ciabatta, sourdough, rye and many more. Since it is so simple, it is important to start with the best bread you can find, even if it's not quite the kind each recipe recommends, to produce the most flavorful results. Melting Ham and Cheese Croissants are a wonderful option for breakfast or lunch and Eggs Florentine on English muffins area classic. Other recipes include Fresh Fig and Goat Cheese on Walnut Toast, Rare Beef Baguette with Mango Salsa and Nutty Chocolate and Marshmallow Toast for dessert.

In addition to the recipes, the book has many gorgeous illustrations, making this book hard to resist. Make sure to have a loaf of bread on hand when you start flipping through it!

One of my favorite meals of the day is breakfast (my other two favorites being lunch and dinner, of course), both because I happen to love most of the foods served for breakfast, and they always seem to be easy and simple to prepare. "Simple to prepare" however, usually means that it's not all that visually stimulating -- that is, of course, unless you can get really turned on by the artistry of cold cereal in a bowl.

However, I came across Stephanie's Bacon and Eggs and just about fell over at how aesthetically pleasing she made such a simple, everyday dish. Creamy scrambled eggs and crisp crumbled bacon lounge together on a perfect square of toast, and are topped with fragile curls of Asiago cheese.

And what else is cool about this? Stephanie is vegetarian, so while the Breakfast Bite in the photo was served to her family, she made a few for herself with "facon."