stevenpiziks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stevenpiziks) wrote2025-01-13 08:43 pm
stevenpiziks) wrote2025-01-13 08:43 pm
The Little Mixer That Could
When I first got married thirty-five years ago, we got a small Black + Decker hand mixer. It was the only one in the kitchen for a long time--I didn't get a stand mixer until relatively recently. That little mixer made everything--cookie dough, muffins, whipped cream, pudding, pancake batter, you name it.
A couple days ago, it was just finishing a batch of mashed potatoes when it had a heart attack and dropped dead. It lived a brave life and I gave it a warrior's funeral.
The grieving period, however, was brief. Less than an hour later, in fact, I was shopping for a new one. I did think about just doing without a hand mixer, but no. Some dishes just don't do well in a stand mixer. And kitchen shopping is fun!
My stand mixer is a Kitchen Aid, and like all Kitchies everywhere, I love mine. It's powerful, sturdy, easy to use, and reliable. It also has a little thingie that lets you add motorized attachments, like a pasta roller or a meat grinder. I decided to see if Kitchen Aid also had hand mixers. And lo, on their website, it was announced that they did.
Hand mixers have come a long way in 35 years. My little mixer was good, but it couldn't handle truly heavy stuff like bread dough or cold butter. The new ones? Powerful! Apparently, they'll chew through wood chips.
Not only that, they have CORDLESS mixers! In many colors!
All my kitchen accents are red. My stand mixer is red. So are my dish towels, refrigerator handle covers, rugs, Instant Pot, and Air Fryer. I was happy to see that Kitchen Aid's new cordless mixers also came in red. Gleefully I ordered one. Darwin rolled his eyes at me and was about to say something sarcastic when I interrupted him.
"If you want to eat the tasty treats that the new mixer produces," I warned, "you'd better swallow that comment before you make it."
He swallowed and gave me a tight smile. He who controls the mixer controls the world.
But while I was at the web site, I thought I'd have a look at stand mixer attachments. Why not? And I found Kitchen Aid makes a peeler/corer/spiral cutter attachment. Ooooooo!
I have a peeler/slicer/corer already. Mostly I use it for pie apples. The design on this widget has probably not changed in a hundred years. You clamp it to the cupboard, stick an apple on a set of prongs at the end of a screw, and turn a handle to spin the fruit. The screw twirls the apple through a coring cylinder while a small blade does the peeling. I've had this doohickly for nearly as long as I had the little mixer, in fact. It's tricky to use, though. The clamp is stubborn, and if the apple isn't set just right, the peeling blade will gouge the apple badly. So when I saw Kitchen Aid makes a motorized version (with a nice, sharp blade) that whirls through apples and potatoes in a trice, I decided I HAD to have it. A few mouse clicks later, and it was on the way!
Now I'm waiting for my new toys to arrive.
I'd feel guiltier, but I know my little mixer would want me to be happy.
A couple days ago, it was just finishing a batch of mashed potatoes when it had a heart attack and dropped dead. It lived a brave life and I gave it a warrior's funeral.
The grieving period, however, was brief. Less than an hour later, in fact, I was shopping for a new one. I did think about just doing without a hand mixer, but no. Some dishes just don't do well in a stand mixer. And kitchen shopping is fun!
My stand mixer is a Kitchen Aid, and like all Kitchies everywhere, I love mine. It's powerful, sturdy, easy to use, and reliable. It also has a little thingie that lets you add motorized attachments, like a pasta roller or a meat grinder. I decided to see if Kitchen Aid also had hand mixers. And lo, on their website, it was announced that they did.
Hand mixers have come a long way in 35 years. My little mixer was good, but it couldn't handle truly heavy stuff like bread dough or cold butter. The new ones? Powerful! Apparently, they'll chew through wood chips.
Not only that, they have CORDLESS mixers! In many colors!
All my kitchen accents are red. My stand mixer is red. So are my dish towels, refrigerator handle covers, rugs, Instant Pot, and Air Fryer. I was happy to see that Kitchen Aid's new cordless mixers also came in red. Gleefully I ordered one. Darwin rolled his eyes at me and was about to say something sarcastic when I interrupted him.
"If you want to eat the tasty treats that the new mixer produces," I warned, "you'd better swallow that comment before you make it."
He swallowed and gave me a tight smile. He who controls the mixer controls the world.
But while I was at the web site, I thought I'd have a look at stand mixer attachments. Why not? And I found Kitchen Aid makes a peeler/corer/spiral cutter attachment. Ooooooo!
I have a peeler/slicer/corer already. Mostly I use it for pie apples. The design on this widget has probably not changed in a hundred years. You clamp it to the cupboard, stick an apple on a set of prongs at the end of a screw, and turn a handle to spin the fruit. The screw twirls the apple through a coring cylinder while a small blade does the peeling. I've had this doohickly for nearly as long as I had the little mixer, in fact. It's tricky to use, though. The clamp is stubborn, and if the apple isn't set just right, the peeling blade will gouge the apple badly. So when I saw Kitchen Aid makes a motorized version (with a nice, sharp blade) that whirls through apples and potatoes in a trice, I decided I HAD to have it. A few mouse clicks later, and it was on the way!
Now I'm waiting for my new toys to arrive.
I'd feel guiltier, but I know my little mixer would want me to be happy.