Saturday, May 18, 2019

Losing an Old Friend - My KitchenAid Mixer

FORTY YEARS ago Dan spoiled me by encouraging me to buy a KitchenAid stand mixer. At that time in our lives, that was an extravagant purchase, and it took quite a bit of convincing on his part. But baking has always been a passion of mine, so I gratefully brought my new mixer home.

My "Almond" colored KitchenAid has moved with us from Salem, Oregon; to Newberg, Oregon; to Juneau, Alaska; to Albuquerque, New Mexico; and, finally, to Temple, Texas. It helped me raise our two boys. It was there for me when I baked with my grandkids.


It has has been used to make tasty breads;

It has helped me make ountless cookies of every variety;


It has beaten batter for birthday cakes, potluck cakes and family dinner cakes;  

It has partnered with me in making gingerbread creations;

And it saw me through my happy years with the "Daring Bakers" challenges. Here are a few of them:
Macarons
Nazook
Pavlova
Strudel
Tuiles
But . . . last month I was mixing up the batter for a Southern Caramel Cake to take to a church potluck when my beloved mixer began making a strange noise. I continued beating the batter, but when I turned off the mixer I heard Dan, calling from the other room: "What's wrong with your mixer?" I was in a little bit of denial. "Nothing!" I insisted. But when I tried to use it again, a little later, to make the caramel icing, I knew that I was wrong. The metallic noise and jarring vibrations coming from it now were so bad that I had to turn it off and finish making my icing with a little hand beater.

It's six weeks later, and I've really been missing my old "friend." It has continued to sit on my kitchen counter, but as nothing but a memorial of times past. 

So today Dan and I drove to Sam's Club and bought a brand new, even fancier model of KitchenAid mixer. If this wears out in 40 years, like the old one, I'll be 110 years old and probably won't be needing to buy a replacement. Two KitchenAids in one lifetime. Not bad!

I can't wait to try it out with some of my favorite recipes.

Did I mention the new color is "Aqua Sky?!"


1 comment:

Geng said...

If I were you, I will miss my "old friend" too.