Ever since I moved to Nanaimo in 2022 I have been without a quarter-cup measure. I am pretty sure I have used it within the last five years or so, but it did not move to British Columbia with me. Maybe it was left in a drawer or fell behind the stove. Regardless, I no longer have it. Even though I have two sets of plastic measuring scoops, neither of them has a quarter cup.

For some time now, I have been making do with guesstimating half of a half-cup measure when baking, and sometimes just scooping up a large serving-sized spoonful of whatever ingredient should be measured in quarter cups.

I did try to estimate slightly less than a third of a cup, but it was easier to approximate half of a half cup. The third-cup math was too much for me.

Yesterday, when I was dropping off some items at the thrift store, it occurred to me that they might have a quarter cup scoop. They have a whole aisle dedicated to kitchen miscellany and a large storage basket full of scoops and measures. “Wonderful!,” I thought. “I’ll just find a quarter cup scoop and be on my way.”

Not so fast. I spent a good five to ten minutes rummaging through that basket and blocking the aisle as I tried to find that elusive quarter cup scoop. Would you believe it? There was not a single quarter cup scoop to be had. Not one. I made at least a dozen apologies for blocking traffic, but I did not find the necessary piece of plastic even among whole sets of scoops.

Of course, I couldn’t leave without buying a couple of tee shirts to wear to my exercise class, but dammit, no scoop. Where have they all gone? Somewhere in the great beyond is a mountain of quarter cup scoops. It is right next to a pile of odd socks.

Word to the wise: there is money to be made here. When there is limited supply, the price goes up. Someone should start a quarter-cup measure industry. They would make a fortune.