Yesterday was a "book homework" day for me, one in which I sat at my computer, participated in a marketing webinar recommended by my publisher, and generally worked on the behind-the-scenes stuff that is required of authors these days. Necessary but not particularly fun stuff, in other words. You know what makes it better? A new tea mug! Downstairs, I generally sip out of bone china. But upstairs in my office, where desk space is valuable real estate, I don't need a saucer taking up space and instead use tea mugs. I found a new one (or perhaps a new "old" one) over the weekend at Goodwill.
I couldn't quibble with the price. And hasn't Goodwill gotten fancy with their stickers! I just realized that I bought this tea mug the very day it is dated, so perhaps I got to it just before someone else did.
The two-piece set caught my eye immediately, and I love both the pretty seafoam-green color and the crackling, which I'm guessing is a design feature and not necessarily the result of age. And isn't that handle pretty? I love a handle like this because one finger can comfortably grip the inside while another perches on that little curve beneath it.
The infuser appeared to be in great shape, and when I got it home and untaped the set, I was happy to find the infuser intact, since I always wonder whether the tape and stickers might be covering some flaw. I made a cup of oolong tea in this new mug and enjoyed several steepings of it thanks to the mug, which did a fine job of steeping my tea and made my day of work much more enjoyable than it might have otherwise been.
Do you suppose this is a Chinese or Japanese character? I have no idea, but I'd sure love to know who made my pretty and efficient little tea mug!
