Everything Old is NEW Again!!!

 This past weekend Todd and I did something we haven’t done in a long time.  We went out in search of things older than us, to make us feel younger again.  What exactly am I saying?  We went antiquing.  Of course, while the plan is to find a way to feel younger, you have to be careful.  If you search out TRUE “antiques” it works quite fine.  But there is also the danger that you’ll only see “vintage” finds and start to wonder why things you remember from your childhood (which of course is only a couple of years ago) are being sold in an antique market.  THAT’S always an eye opening afternoon of fun for sure!!

Of course, truthfully, we were on a mission to find a “kitchen warming” gift for a friend.  As always though, it turned into more of a “how many interesting things can we manage to stuff in the truck” kinda day.  So it comes as no surprise that there are a few new items around our house right now.  We found some iron patio chairs that matched our vintage set, FOR A STEAL I might add.  We did find the gift we were after…..  a nice milk glass Fenton bowl, which now sits proudly on our friends table holding some bright lemons and limes.  There was also a pair of jadite fire king bowls.  All of these were wondeful finds.  But they weren’t THE purchase of the weekend.  What has captured Todd’s attention now you ask?

Well, it’s from the 50’s, made of ceramic and steel, robin’s egg blue and holds 4 eggs which it can cook to (hopefully) perfection.  It’s a Hankscraft Egg Cooker Number 874.  It was sold by Hankscraft Toronto, but as the dealer at the antique market was keen to tell us, it was produced in a ceramics factory in Georgetown which unfortunately has long since vanished.

I have to say this device is truly a little gem.  It has wonderful deco lines, is sturdily made and is a wonderful shade of pale blue.  AND it still works!  Of course, I’m currently waiting to see how it cooks eggs as I write this!  Hopefully it also cooks eggs as well as it beautifies my kitchen counter!!  That of course is the reason why we are having breakfast for dinner tonight!  And why the hell not!!  This meal has all the components of a good dinner.  There is protein…  back bacon AND eggs (soft boiled from our new/old gem), as well as a potato and mushroom hash.  Sounds complete to me!!

 Here is the SIMPLEST “recipe” I think I will ever take the time to write.  Take one Hankscraft 874 egg cooker, put 4 tsp of water into the bottom of it.  Place the metal “tray” in place and seat 4 eggs in their proper spaces.  Place cover over eggs, plug device in and allow it to cook until steam stops and device turns itself off.  Soft boiled eggs.  No fuss.

 Why is it that this device isn’t still being made and used in evey houshold across the country on a daily basis?  I really don’t know.  Maybe it’s the BAD RAP that eggs have taken in the media over their “aleged” cholesterol content?  Maybe it’s that people just don’t want to deal with cooking and just like to pick up an egg mcmuffin at the drive through?  Or for that matter…. maybe this device has a critical flaw in the design which has not yet become apparent to me and has burned down countless homes across the continent and was banned by those who “keep us safe.”  I don’t know  for sure….  and I don’t really care.  I just know it looks cute, is simple to operate and did I mention it looks awesome….  I may have forgotten to say that earlier.

In the spirit of fairness and honesty…  We’ve now finished our breakfast/dinner and here’s my assessment…  Cute.  Easy to use.  But maybe better for hard boiled eggs??  (just add 8 tsp of water instead).  Why?  Well out of 4 eggs two had perfect “soft boiled” yolks but undercooked whites.  One egg seemed to find a “hot spot” and was closer to hard boiled and the fourth?  That was the perfectly soft boiled egg we had wanted.  Maybe it was the cooker. Maybe the eggs (should they have been allowed to come to room temperature before cooking???) .  Or, maybe there is some sort of “human error” but really, who’d believe that I made an error!!.  I guess there is also the possibility that after being on this earth for possibly 60+ years my little gem is just not what it used to be.  Regardless it looks lovely on my counter and reminds me that despite my own advancing age I still have some usefullness left in me too!!

Thanks again for reading my ramblings!

Duane