SUSAN LOESCH

Barney and Shadow and I have found our new favorite place to shop: Eggshells on Kavanaugh in the
Heights! It is a wonderful store full of neat cooking items: pots and pans, small appliances, knives and all kinds of cooking utensils as well as kitchen towels and oven mitts, just for starters.

To top it off, Eggshells is the home of Oliver, a huge, beautiful black-and-white cat who works as the shop cat.

Oliver was rescued from a shelter in Batesville, and we have it on good authority that his nickname is Handsome, for obvious reasons. This is our kind of place to shop!

The owners, Sara Ort and Heather Smith welcomed us one recent afternoon.

Oliver was in the back of the store, probably sleeping, when we arrived.

Barney and Shadow had invited two friends, Ms. Moira and Ms. Hannah, to come with us and hold their leashes — and to keep them out of trouble!

The guys sure didn’t need to come nose-to-nose with glass items, and they were sure to want to.

Ms. Heather brought Oliver out, and we took some pictures before he got down to roam around. He
wasn’t the least interested in meeting Barney and Shadow. … He immediately went through his cat door back into the office area.

Ms. Heather explained that that is his escape hatch; when he gets enough attention from customers he can just slip through his door to safety and peace and quiet.

Both Barney and Shadow were quite intrigued by the door; they knew something interesting was on the other side. Bet they wish they had such an escape hatch in their library so they could disappear from time to time!

Shadow first checked out a sale sign. “You better watch out, Shadow; you might be sold for half
price,” I told him.

Barney made his way to the front of the store; he seemed interested in looking out at the people passing by.

Both guys stopped at the wall of cookbooks. What an amazing selection
there was!

“Umm, guys, maybe the cookbooks aren’t for us.” My cooking vocabulary contains two words: frozen and microwave.

I do love kitchen things, though, to display and enjoy.

Shadow checked out some kitchen towels. That is more my speed. He found some purple ones and
then found a set of cat-print towels. We decided that we just couldn’t live without them!

He also found some really cool magnets, measuring cups you can use and then just stick on the fridge.

Pretty ceramic quiche dishes caught my eye; I could just see the finished product and imagine eating it. Guess we will leave the cooking to someone else, though.

When some customers came in the store, both Barney and Shadow headed their way for attention.

The ladies were quite impressed with their leash-walking talents and the fact that they were happily
wearing bandanas. Barney modeled his Harley-Davidson cap.

We were talking about the fact that he still has some remnants of a recent skin allergy visible.

“Maybe he is just allergic to funny outfits,” said one lady. She turned to Barney and said, “I am just trying to help you protect your dignity!”

OK, so off came the cap, much to Barney’s relief. He wouldn’t be too unhappy if I lost it.

Before we left, I spotted shelves filled with all kinds of relishes, salsas, sauces and other goodies.

Here is another thing I could sure enjoy. The guys were interested, too, but their leash-holders made sure they didn’t get too close to the glass jars.

They did enjoy a treat break, and for that they didn’t have to worry about breaking things.

Barney got up on the counter to help me pay for our kitchen towels.

I asked Ms. Heather what the good smell in the store was; it was sort of spice. She told me that it was likely left over from the cooking class they had that morning. So not only can you find wonderful kitchen and cooking items at Eggshells, you can learn how to use them! I’d like to know how to cook whatever left that wonderful smell! I bet it was yummy.

We had such a good time on our visit and we left some interesting smells, I am sure, for Oliver to
check out later.

I imagine he keeps pretty busy running the shop, but I know that he would be glad to
answer your questions about Eggshells and about their cooking classes.

You can go to their website, www.eggshellskitchencompany.com or email Oliver eggshellskitchencompany@gmail.com.

Bon Appetit from the Library Cat staff.