Still shaking my head over this one…

Years ago my late husband’s auntie died and we were the recipient of some of her things. Among them was a kitchen timer, circa 1935, made of yellow bakelite plastic in an Art Deco design. It was fully functional and I added it to my collection of kitchen gadgets and thingies.

Well, last week it finally turned up its little toes and died, so I took it upon myself to find a replacement. I went to Boardman’s, a store specializing in housewares, and walked up to a clerk and asked “Do you have kitchen timers?”

She looked baffled by my question.

“You know, a gadget you time food with when you are cooking?” I elaborated

She brightened “Oh, you mean an egg timer!”

I shook my head. To me, an egg timer runs three minutes for timing boiled eggs. I needed a real kitchen timer for timing things like boiling potatoes or baking bread.

“No,” I said, “A kitchen timer…you can set them for up to an hour to time stuff you are cooking…”

She shook her head. “No,” she said “the ones we have only go up to 60 minutes…”