Travel Mugs

This is food related. Mostly.

It's about a really timely food-on-the-go issue because I really like my coffee. A lot. Granted, I like it a lot less than I did when I was juggling five classes, a job, and design responsibilities. But I still don't consider a day started until I've had my cup of coffee, even when it doesn't happen until six or seven in the evening. (Creating a "grown-up" schedule is extraordinarily difficult and I don't know how you all do it. Mornings. What are those? I'm still having trouble working breakfast into my routine. Meaning, it never happens.)

(Photo courtesy of amazon.com and foodbuzz.com)

Travel mugs are the bane of my existence. Mostly because I can never get them clean, no matter what I do. Handwashing. Soaking. Dishwashing (and I'm not even sure if they're dishwasher safe to begin with. I don't care, I need them clean.)

Regardless of what kind of inappropriate cleaning methods I use, they always smell like funky two-week old coffee that's been sitting in the sun coagulating, with a slight aftertaste of dish soap. So I was pretty excited when my foodbuzz email was profiling travel mugs. At last, I could read about a travel mug and maybe it would have some kind of crazy new feature that would actually allow them to reach some level of cleanliness that wouldn't ruin every pot of coffee we make.

But no, instead, it was discussing these travel mugs that look like to-go coffee cups. I'd seen them in Bed, Bath, & Beyond already (or similar product, different brand, I don't remember), there's also a faux iced coffee cup as well. I pointed them out to Dan because they are quirky. A novelty item. A "Hey, look at this, Honey, that's so funny but I'm not paying $19.95 for this!" item.

But foodbuzz described them as "stylish".

Really? Stylish?

Novel, yes. Cute, yes. Office conversation piece, yes.

Stylish? How? How in anyway are to-go containers in any sense of the word stylish? This isn't sleek or sophisticated or anything. It's a washable version of things that were made to give us the convenience of not washing them and thereby increasing waste and our notions of disposable commodities. You either don't think about them at all because they're a daily part of your routine and are not stylish because you are not given any kind of say in their aesthetics OR you do think about them and avoid them like the plague because you disagree with the notion of a disposable life.

Either way, they're still not stylish. How can something bereft of style be stylish (blah blah blah, questions our notions of style, blah blah blah Vassar sociology discussions)? And I know it's easy to discuss how the irony of non-disposable disposable-ware is a statement of style, but really, it's just a statement. Who is really buying this because they think it's chic, which is what I think the word "stylish" implies?

Don't get me wrong, I think this is a funny little piece. I wish I'd thought of it, because that's money in the bank right there. They are just not stylish. That is all.

To top it off, I got so distracted by all this that I never even learned if they are dishwasher safe (turns out, they are).

In other news, Spring is here and we are not going back to Winter.

We are going for long walks with the puppy.

And finding all of those nice signs of life that mean it's time for sunshine and not snow.

It has also made me want to move south, because this winter thing is not working out for me.