I’m afraid I don’t have a picture, but it’s metal, circular, filled with holes and fans out from almost a closed cone to a nearly-flat bowl shape, with a metal rod sticking up in the center.
Any idea what this is? I think it’s for use in the kitchen, but beyond that I haven’t the faintest idea what it is or how it’s used.
Steamer basket. You put some water in the bottom of a saucepan, put in the steamer basket (it opens and collapses to fit the saucepan), and put vegetables in the basket. Then you put the lid on, apply heat, and end up with steamed veggies.
I have it on good authority that, if you happen to be four years old, it’s a UFO.
It’s even got a little ring on that rod so’s you can tie a piece of twine to it and swing it around like a loon, going “OoooOOOOOooOOOOooooOOOOooOOOooOOOOoo!”
Okay, maybe I was a weird kid.
Somewhere in the kitchen should be a small length of metal with a “J” curve at the end, (perhaps split into a fork at the bottom of the curve if the top of the center shaft is notched). This is used to grab either a ring or a notch in the top of the center shaft to allow you to remove the basket from the saucepan so that you do not steam your hands while trying to serve the vegetables that have been steamed. Once the basket has been lifted from the saucepan, you can grab one of the legs (you didn’t mention legs but there shoud be three legs beneath the basket to keep the vegetables out of the water) and tip the basket to pour the vegetables into a serving bowl or mixing bowl.
Or you could use a fork.
Or a chopstick. 
That’s it. Thanks for the help, everyone.
OoooOOOOOooOOOOooooOOOOooOOOooOOOOooOoooOOOOOooOOOOooooOOOOooOOOooOOOOoo!
