My Precious!

One of the things I have always wanted,but never really felt was necessary,was a standing mixer. I have always used a hand held mixer,and for the amount of baking I did,it sufficed. Plus, after seeing the prices of Kitchen Aids and Cuisinarts,I felt it was too costly for the occasional cookies or brownies. It would be more of a luxury than a necessity.

Another thing I have wanted was a food processor. I had one,once,about 12 years ago. I thought it would be a great thing to have,since I worked full time. I never used it. In fact,it sat for two years,and when I tried to use it,it didn't work. It was a waste of money.

Now I am making my own bread,baked goods from scratch,and canned goods. I chopped more food this past summer than ever before,and my sore wrist attested to that! When making bread,the bread would ride up the beaters all the way to the bottom side of the hand mixer. It wasn't the best mixing job.

When I went to the Drs for my sinus infection,Rick and I decided to do a bit of Christmas shopping,since we were right in Newington where all the malls are. While I was there,I wanted to stop in the kitchen store and finally get a couple of pie rings. You know the rings,they stop the edges of the crust from burning. It's another item I always wanted,but one of the those things that I kept forgetting-until I had to struggle to keep the tinfoil from falling off the pie edges!

While in the store,Rick guided me to mixer area. "I was going to buy one of these for you for Christmas,but they wouldn't allow me to use the ATM card since it's in your name. Now that we are here, you pick out the one you want. It will be an early Christmas present,since I know that you can use it now." There before me, shiny and new,were Kitchen Aid mixers. I protested it was too much money ( I don't like people spending money on me,never have). Rick replied that this was also an investment. "We are also going to get the food processor attachment," he informed me. When I protested further,he reminded me,"Think of how much chopping you did this last summer. Think of the time this will save. Now you are making more from scratch,this will be a big help." He did have a point. And boy,they sure were pretty all lined up with the store lights shining off of them. Hmmm. "Which color would you like?" he asked. There was only one color-white. White goes with everything. Except....they were out of white. Damn.But wait...behind us were Cuisinarts. They were the same price...but they had them in white. So we looked at them a bit,and they were a bit more compact than the Kitchen Aids,which was good for our storage space. Rick started looking at attachments. There were more attachments than the Kitchen Aid. He said,"We will get the meat grinder and the food processor attachments." I started to protest again,but again he insisted that these were investments and will come in very handy. Plus,we can grind up some turkey meat when we harvest the turkeys,and any other meat we want to make into burger. And,we can make sausage,which will be a plus. I couldn't believe I was getting all these wonderful things.

We brought the items home,and I proudly put it on the counter to take a good look at it:

I jokingly started stroking the smooth,new top surface of the mixer and said in my best Lord of the Rings voice,"Precious,my precious!" which made Rick laugh. It is now known as "My Precious." So far it has served us well in the baking dept. I haven't used the attachments yet,but since the holidays are fast approaching,they will be used and highly appreciated!!!