Tuesday, February 28, 2012

The Coffee Mug Mystery

The Coffee Mug Mystery

The Traditional Way

When Henrik took over my favorite cafe, Malmens konditori he made a visit to IKEA where he purchased 150 or so coffee mugs. They are called Färgrik, (colorful), and cost 4 SEK each. Now, two years later 120 mugs are gone. Henrik has no idea where they are. I suggested they must have the worst dish washer in history working in the kitchen. My friend Jim had another idea. Something similar to the vanishing socks mystery. No one can remember dropping a mug, or seeing any guest walking away with one. Weird. We have been discussing this at the cafe lately while enjoying more Samla buns. The one you see here is served in the traditional way in a bowl of warm milk.

24 comments:

Chrissy Brand said...

An amusing tale of the missing mugs, and the buns look delicious.

I worked for a shop once and we had 4000 mugs to sell in 2 years- we ended up having to give them away to customers...

Anonymous said...

I would bet they disappeared in purses carried by ladies. You could advertise and see how many people are offering them as memories.

Leeds daily photo said...

Strange! This bun looks delicious..
Funny though I was looking at mugs yesterday my friend has a cafe and the mugs I like all seem to have gone.

Unknown said...

The mystery of the disappearing mug! That is a really nice mug . . . But that bun - wow, that looks like some good eating! Is it sweet? Is that whipped cream?

Olivier said...

belles photos, et tout cela donne envie

Sharon said...

I love a good mystery!

Clueless in Boston said...

Missing coffee mugs? Sounds like a case for Sherlock Holmes, The Case of the Walkabout Mugs. The pastry looks delicious.

brattcat said...

with only 20 mugs left your friend must have to do the washing up every few minutes.

brattcat said...

ummm, that would be 30 mugs left, wouldn't it. maybe those extra 10 mugs provide the owner with an extra 10 minutes of rest between each round of sink duty.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Hmm very mysterious Steffe, the odd one here and there you can understand, but so many, mind you they are nice mugs, I might have just forgotten to put it down also haha! Only kidding.. I like the sound of Vindros!

VP said...

I know there is a place where half of my socks and many of my spoons are!

Luis Gomez said...

That looks delicious Steffe. As for the mugs it is truly a mystery that needs to be solved. ;)

Umepojk i Mason, Ohio said...

it must be that famous IKEA quality

Janet said...

I can't help you out with the missing mugs, but I DO know where the missing socks go! Check out my post at The 3R Ranch.
http://ramblingroundinruralalabama.blogspot.com/2011/03/letter-g-i-know-where-missing-socks-go.html

Lowell said...

Funny story. Now tell us how many of these mugs you have at home?

It could be they disappeared by growing feet and walking away, too. Because they got over caffeinated.

Stefan Jansson said...

I wonder how those mugs looked Chrissy.


Ha ha, I will tell Henrik about your suspicions Abe.

Strange indeed Paul.

I have a set of Semla bun photos at flickr Cathy, with links to a wikipedia article and a recipe or two in case you want to have a go at making a bun.

I have met and photographed a few local police officers, maybe I should inform them about this case...

The IKEA quality could of course have something to do with it. Do you have Kamprads phone number?

Believe it or not, but I have none! My coffee mugs are white. They cost 5SEK and the Swedish word for mug is written on them. The word us Mugg.

Unknown said...

At 4 SEK a piece, they should easily be replaced.

RedPat said...

I am sure they went out the door in purses and pockets. I have heard of t-pots disappearing that way! I need one of those buns!

Jack said...

Great post today, Steffe. By my math, he is losing about one cup per week. Whether broken or stolen, that seems like just a cost of doing business. It suggests to me that the patrons of the restaurant value the atmosphere enough to take some of it home with them.

Rae Walter said...

The mysterious mugs! Sounds like a good "whodunnit" mystery. That bun looks delicious Steffe.

CaT said...

i like to take mugs when they are special.
sometimes..
dont tell anyone

Stefan Jansson said...

Your secret is safe with me and the rest of the Interweb!

Scylla said...

Herregud vad mycket mandelmassa! Fick du i dig den? ;)
Finns Klenätt kvar förresten?

Stefan Jansson said...

Klenätt är borta. Jag tror att Pizzeria Handen finns i den lokalen idag.