#242 When the mug you’re warming up in the microwave stops with the handle pointing towards you

Neil Pasricha

I own three bowls.

I don’t really know why I only own three bowls but when I moved downtown two years ago I only had three bowls and I never bothered to bowl up. One for my cereal, one for my soup, and a spare in case of Emergency Ice Cream Sundaes. It’s seemed like a solid plan.

But last night Leslie and her sister were over for dinner and we whipped up some soup and salad. Who loves soup? I do, do. And salad? Me, me, me. Yes, it sounded like a perfect meal, well planned, well tossed, and well … delicious.

It wasn’t until Leslie forked out three heaping bowls of salad did I realize the error of my ways. My delicious soup was getting cold fast on the stove without any bowls to pour it in. Passing around a pot and taking sips seemed a bit too Cavemany and waiting till the salad was done to wash the bowls seemed a bit too Slow.

But then it suddenly hit us.

Mugs!

Yes, mugs really are the backup bowl of the kitchen. Scramble an egg in there, soupify your ice cream, they don’t care. Nope, they are loyal and versatile Ceramic Warriors — ready for war, battle, or holding things, any time of the day.

So after quickly splash-pouring the soup into mugs I tossed each one into the microwave for some good ol’ fashioned nuking to warm them up. And when the ding dinged a few seconds later our dinnertime masterpiece was complete with the mug handle pointed perfectly towards us.

Yes, when the mug stops perfectly with the handle pointing towards you it really is a beautiful moment. Doesn’t matter if you’re heating soup, warming cold coffee, or hotting chocolate. It’s just a tiny sign that the universe is unfolding according to plan.

It means everything is good.

It means everything is right.

And it means everything is most certainly

AWESOME!

Thank you for making The Book of (Even More) Awesome a bestseller for three straight weeks!

— Email message —

“hi, Im from costa rica, and I just read your article about kids helping their little brother or sister across the street, I just want to share this pic with you, My kids running to the sea, I hope you like it.” -Melissa C.

Photo from: here

50 thoughts to “#242 When the mug you’re warming up in the microwave stops with the handle pointing towards you”

  1. When heating water for my tea, I know exactly how to place my cup so that it points towards me at the end. Awesome!

    1. That is awesome! I am not that advanced in the ways of mug-heating. I am forced to just leave it up to chance. Although, it does make it that much more special when it finally happens!

    2. My microwave takes exactly 10 seconds for the wheely thing to make a complete rotation. I learned that as long as I put it in with the handle facing me, if I put in a time amount divisible by ten, it’ll come out perfect! MICROWAVE SLEUTH!

  3. Melissa C. do you know Michael, Alecia and Rhya, by any chance???
    They own a surf and dive shop/day care! I always love to ask this question, when I actually know someone from another part of the world. The older I get, the more I realize no question is stupid. Maybe silly, but not stupid and who knows, you just might get an awesome answer in response, or align some people who should know eachother.
    Awesome picture of your kidlins on the beach at sunset for sure!

  8. I also loved ‘hotting chocolate’! But OMG, this is like my life. mission. It has never happend to me- well it might have but I probably had forgotten how i put it in to embrace the awesome. Ill probably forget to tell you when it finally does happen, but know that ill keep trying!

  9. Who eats their soup on a bowl?? I ALWAYS put mine in a mug, that way I can just sip at the soup and then eat whatever was inside last. Chicken noodle soup, heat in pot, put in mug, drink soup first, eat chicken and noodles last. Its great, it really is.
    I tend to stop the microwave myself when the handle is pointed toward me also. Lately I’ve been boiling water here at work to make my cofee and that’s the only way to do it. I can’t be reaching in there to turn the mug and risk it splashing all over the place.

    1. Yeah, recently microwaved liquids spilling on your hand is a good way to put a damper on your day. Good call on deciding your own mug-fate! :D

    2. And I totally eat my cereal in a mug too, always feels like there’s more of it that way! :)

  10. i usually don’t heat things in mugs in the microwave, but i like eating cornflakes, weetabix, soup,… out of mugs instead of bowls sometimes. :)

  11. This happened to me yesterday, and I immediately thought it belonged on this list. What a nice surprise to wake up and find it here! :)

  12. Handle pointing toward you.
    Mugs as stand-in bowls.
    Two awesome things in one. Woo!

  13. Why do bowls when you can do JUMBO MUG bowls?! I have an appropriate amount of regular bowls, but I almost always end up using my big mugs (http://www.worldmarket.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3596435) as my bowls.

    I totally agree that mugs are perfect as bowls — a bowl with a handle? Yes please!

    Having the handle stop pointing towards you is one of the only ways to perfect this already-good situation. Oh, and having whatever you’re microwaving come out to be the perfect temperature … that’s pretty good, too. Anyway, the handle pointing right back at you means you don’t run the risk of the awkward wrist-bent-reach-in to fetch your mug. Definitely awesome.

    1. I’ve almost stopped using bowls entirely, in favor of the big mugs – they’re great for soup, cereal, ice cream – so much! Love them!

      1. These are especially great when you’re sick, and trying to eat soup while lying on the couch.

  14. That’s one of the reasons I love my microwave so much. It makes one revolution every 20 seconds. As long as I set my microwave on a 20 second interval I always get the handle. Awsome everytime!

  15. Aaaaak! I spelled Awesome wrong. I hope that doesn’t get me banned from this blog forever!

    1. We’ve all made our fair share of typos here in comment-land … you’re good :)

      1. I even accidently posted under my daughter’s name last night! Oops! But the best part of that was that I was talking about how awesome my mom is, so now it looks like she was talking about how awesome I am. Heh.

          1. Yeah, before when she was GeekTWeen, her square was dark red, but now we’re both purple – which also happens to be my favourite colour! (and is much, much better than poop-brown, I might add)

  16. That happened to me just this morning, and I didn’t even notice. now that I think about it, it was AWESOME!

    Also, the picture of the two kids holding hands looks like it could be on a postcard. It is really beautiful.

  17. Yes, yes, and yes! I LOVE this one! It’s a great way to start the day off right. :-)

  18. Microwaves are harmful to the human body, and thus, you shouldn’t glory any microwave usage by labeling it “Awesome”. Shame, shame, shame.

    1. Your negativity is harmful to this blog, and thus, we don’t want to hear it. Shame, shame, shame.

      1. I disagree. The sheer awesomeness of this blog and its commenters makes it impervious to negativity! ;)

  20. call me ol’ fashioned…..sometimes the ways of cavemen seems way peaceful….perfect……AWESOME than the war zone we are living in……at least we shared for the same pot….instead of ruining each others pot or stealing someone else’s pot eh…….:)

    1. Sooo, back in the 900’s and 8oo’s, I see you occassionally dropped in a comment…Sooo, I was just checking?!*

  22. Love it! Reminds me of something else AWESOME – using a mug to make a chocolate cake for 1 person (I actually have a recipe for that). You can make it, eat it and hide the evidence before anyone comes home and catches you!

  23. i never knew a post on here could make me cry.

    a family friend of mine, Jim Fetro used to do this. on his first few weeks of retirement, he was so bored he counted the rasins in a single-serving box of raisin bran.

    he also spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out just how long it would take for his coffee cup to go around the circle of the microwave, be warm, and have the handle pointing towards him. it was something like 1:13.

    sadly, he passed away about three years ago…

  24. My mom would understand your mug logic. She drinks from measuring cups and eats off frisbees. Frisbees, by the way, make awesome plates [the raised rims prevent food from spilling].

  25. this is such a weird website. My teacher sent me to this to look up Vicksburg battle for history and now i am totally and utterly confused out of my mind.

    LOVE always,
    Confused?????

  26. My housie* does that!!! She’s perfected this fine Handle to the Front Art (HttFA). Also, she makes an Awesome Emergency Ice-Cream Sundae (AEI-CS).

    Ps I love your site, I will now endevour to fill in the rest of my Friday afternoon with enjoying it rather than working. Just joking**.

    *A housemate that you like, not a house-pet. Although, we do have a pet panda. He lives in our cupboard and I’m pretty sure he’s responsible for eating the family size chocolate block over the weekend. There’s no other explanation.
    ** Unless my boss is reading this then that part was a total lie.

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  29. Wouldn’t it be loverly?
    I came across this page when I was searching if there were microwave ovens that would always stop with the mug handle facing the user. So lets say you put your mug (or dish with handles on two sides) in and whatever time you punch in it rotates a complete number of revolutions. So the heating will stop at 25 seconds or whatever time yo set but the table continues to turn till it has completed the revolution.
    “Wouldn’t it be loverly?”

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