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offcntrSo this couple comes into my booth at Market, last month. He's looking for small bowls, smaller even than my toddler bowls, though he buys one, but commissions another with a narrower rim. Russian name, noticeable accent. His wife also has an accent, though hers seems to be Chinese or Japanese. She's looking for something entirely different: a steamer basket to fit into the crock of her electric something-or-other.
As near as I understand her description it's an electric base that heats a crock, into which one can insert a covered bowl, which is pierced in four places, just under the rim. Steam comes in, cooks contents, presto delicious! I tell her about the steamers my professor used to make in Wisconsin, kinda like a bundt pan with a lid--steam comes in the central column. Oh, that's the old-fashioned kind, she says, this is what we use now days.
She could order one from China, but then she'd have to pay shipping, and maybe it wouldn't come at all because COVID, and thought she'd see if she could get one made locally. I say if she could email me a picture, dimensions, I'd see what I could do.
I really should know better than to say these things.
She does one better, comes back in mid-afternoon with the crock section of her utensil, tries fitting different pots into it--casseroles, batter bowls. We finally decide something like a covered batter bowl, large size, might work. No lip, she emphasizes, no handle. I say I understand, trace the lid and measure the depth of her crock with a piece of wrapping paper.
Here's what I've come up with, and I think it will work. Seems to match all the dimensions she gave me. I'm cautiously optimistic.
As near as I understand her description it's an electric base that heats a crock, into which one can insert a covered bowl, which is pierced in four places, just under the rim. Steam comes in, cooks contents, presto delicious! I tell her about the steamers my professor used to make in Wisconsin, kinda like a bundt pan with a lid--steam comes in the central column. Oh, that's the old-fashioned kind, she says, this is what we use now days.
She could order one from China, but then she'd have to pay shipping, and maybe it wouldn't come at all because COVID, and thought she'd see if she could get one made locally. I say if she could email me a picture, dimensions, I'd see what I could do.
I really should know better than to say these things.
She does one better, comes back in mid-afternoon with the crock section of her utensil, tries fitting different pots into it--casseroles, batter bowls. We finally decide something like a covered batter bowl, large size, might work. No lip, she emphasizes, no handle. I say I understand, trace the lid and measure the depth of her crock with a piece of wrapping paper.
Here's what I've come up with, and I think it will work. Seems to match all the dimensions she gave me. I'm cautiously optimistic.