Thursday, October 30, 2008

4pm: The Vessel

Now I've talked about the tea and talked about a biscuit so I suppose I should say something about the mug.

This is a major concern for the boy. He has rejected all but 2 of the dozens of mugs which came with our apartment, deeming them "unsuitable for tea".

At first I scoffed...

I mean seriously, are you that hung up on mugs for tea?

Then, as I began to drink my mug of tea, I realized just how right he was.

Our landlord has left us dozens of mugs but many of them just on the small side. As the boy rightly pointed out, they are just too unsatisfying. They contain just bitsy amounts of tea, not enough for 3 or 4 biscuits and to warm your belly and quench your thirst. It's also too easy to let it get too strong or too weak.

Luckily, a good friend in Hong Kong solved the problem for us with his and hers mugs. Customized no less. They were a wedding present and based on a themed surprise birthday party (Spongebob Squarepants if you must know) the boy threw for me where he dressed up in the said absorbent, lemon-colored cartoon character (complete with 3 pairs of vibrant yellow tights to cover the..uh... hairs) to present a self-made Spongebob Squarepants birthday cake in front of dozens of friends he had never met.

You can see why I married the boy despite his occasional quirks about his tea.

Anyhow, these two mugs are just the perfect size for a cup of tea and biscuits.

It also saves us from bickering over the mugs despite how awfully smug and silly we look toasting ourselves with mugs with our cartoon selves on the front.

4 comments:

Charmaine said...

Ah... never underestimate the importance of the type of mug! The thickness must be right - no thin china so that the heat escapes too quickly (resulting in sad, lukewarm tea), and it must be thick enough to warm your hands without burning them ;-) As such I also tend to like mugs that are curved rather than the straight up and down cylindrical ones.

What? Don't look at me that way...!

Sui Mai said...

um. ok.

I will silently judge you while the boy nods sagely in agreement.

Anonymous said...

It's not fair to write about the mugs without even posting a picture of them!

ttfnRob said...

I hate small mugs too. I have a very large Nightmare Before Christmas mug at work now. It is easily twice the size of a regular mug but this lets me have any volume of tea I can handle.

It is also thick - a property that is, as Charmaine suggested, important in mugs for warming hands.

It also earns me kudos with this select, geeky crowd.

Who knew there was so much to say on the matter?