Bubba TasteGuard Mug

Unexpected discovery of the first quarter this year was the Bubba TasteGuard Travel Mug.  It is by far my wife’s favorite mug now for her hot tea. Coffee lovers will equally love the pure taste of good coffee.

The ceramic interior is unique in the travel mug space, and maintains impeccably clean-tasting beverages.  I don’t know about you, but there is a certain metallic taste with using stainless steel mugs that I can notice. Not bad, mind you, but with teas, any taste is going to be noticeable. There’s none of that with the TasteGuard.

She also loves how well the mug holds the heat.  Outside it’s durable stainless steel, inside it’s ceramic; but in between, there is some great vacuum insulation happening that really retains the heat. After four and six hours, she’s come back to a mug partially full of tea and found it still pleasingly hot.

Available in 12 and 16-ounce sizes, these dishwasher safe mugs can be found at many retailers including Walmart and Bed Bath & Beyond.

Hang-O-Matic

Do you dread when someone gives you a framed photo or piece of art?  Now, hanging can be a piece of cake with the Hang-O-Matic. This simple tool is a tape measure, a level and a marker, all built into one. But best of all, in just minutes you can measure the correct dimensions for your hangers and make sure you install them plumb and level.

Merely pull out the tape measure and match it up with the hangers on the back of your frame.  Now, without changing anything, merely walk over to the wall where you want to hang the picture, level the bubble in the center of your tape and push in on the two marking devices.  Two dimples will be made in your drywall and that’s where your nails or screws will go.

Perfectly measured and perfectly plumb, you should be hanging your picture in less than two minutes with no more out of level issues.  Check for more information on their website and discover how high to hang your pictures.

The best hot brewed coffee with AeroPress

Aerobie may be a company you never heard of, but they are the Made-In-The-USA makers of the acclaimed AeroPress Coffee Maker. Recommended by dozens of master coffee tasters and thousands of consumers, when you think of fine pressed coffee, the AeroPress is the unchallenged best of the best.

Secret to its success is that the coffee is brewed quickly (20 seconds) and uniformly, avoiding over-extraction and bitterness. You can make from one to three cups of coffee in under one minute.  You’ll also have your choice of regular brews, lattes, cappuccino or expresso. With a single use paper filter, you’ll enjoy grit free coffee every time.

Tired of trying to become an accomplished barista just to get a good expresso? Never quite got the hang of that magic 30# of tamping needed for the perfect expresso? Stop worrying, with AeroPress, just drop in the grounds, add water and press. The full  instructions are here.

For a list of retailers, click here.

The best cold brewed coffee with Bruer

Ready for a decidedly different and refreshing coffee treat – try cold brewed coffee in the Bruer Cold Bruer.  If you are a coffee aficionado, you’ll be able to taste the improved smoothness and absence of acidity that’s only available via cold brewing.

Making coffee with the Cold Bruer, you’ll use about 2/3 cup of medium ground coffee, 12 oz. of ice and enough water to make 24 ounces. It takes 4 or 5 hours depending on the rate of flow you select with the internal valve and you’ve got some fantastic tasting cold coffee.

One of the side benefits of cold brew is that it can be tightly capped with the supplied lid and kept fresh in your refrigerator for weeks.  As good as it tastes, my money says it won’t be sitting in your refrigerator for weeks.

Watch the instructional video here or see their website for more details.

Dump Desserts and Dump Dinners

While at the International Home and Housewares Show this year, I had the good fortune to meet Cathy Mitchell, author of Dump Dinners and her newest book, Dump Cakes. When it comes to making cooking easy, this gal is the real deal.

While moms have valued her books for quite some time, dads are now catching on that they can actually make quality meals for their families quite easily by following her recipes.  Watch how easy it is to make a Chicken Cordon Bleu if you don’t believe me.

Dump Cakes works just as well.  Many of the recipes are just as the name suggests, open a can or box and dump them in the pan. Some do take a bit more preparation or mixing, but nothing a dad can’t master.

My favorites:  Chocolatey Cherry Dump Cake (page 66) and Mug cakes (page 104) that you can microwave in a coffee mug in just a minute or two.

Get her books online at https://buydumpcakes.com/.

 

Got some other ideas for great Dad’s Day gifts, leave a suggestion in the Comments Box below.

Disclaimer: All the manufacturers of these products made samples available for testing for this article.