Raise a Glass!

The other day, I read an article in the New York Times Magazine.  It was a little fluff piece where the writer was answering that age-old culinary question, "Why is my toaster so bad?"  Turns out it's because most toasters are cheap pieces of plastic crap, but that's not what matters.  What matters is how the writer discovered the answer to the question: She went right to the most reputable source, the latest in the ever-growing list of organizations-I-never-knew-existed-but-now-that-I-do-know-I-simply-MUST-join, the Toaster Collectors Association.

Established in 1999, the TCA is "a membership association of people who collect, research, document, conserve and restore electric and nonelectric toast-making devices."  I'd like to hear more about those non-electric toasters, myself; do they run on steam?  The only non-electric bread-warming device I've ever used is my armpit, and I wouldn't really call the result. "toast."

The website features a lovely gallery of toasterporn, and the organization's next convention (!) will be held in Joplin, MO, October 4-6 (so, if you're looking for a birthday present for me. . . Hint, hint).