Saturday, July 16, 2016

My New KitchenAid Mixer: the Call of Cthulhu

My new mixer, dominating my counter space. Luckily there's a big enough space
to store it in my pantry.
Not to go all introspective on you or anything, but there are some questions that I need to ask myself about the new red KitchenAid mixer in my kitchen. I'm answering them to the best of my ability.
  1. Question: Why did you buy a new Professional 6000 KitchenAid mixer with 1 horsepower? Why a mixer that you can't lift and that is much to big to leave on the counter all the time? With enough horsepower to propel a bicycle?
    Answer: Tuesday was Amazon Prime Day, and Amazon had decided that I was going to buy this mixer and no other. The offer was waiting in my email when I got up in the morning. Amazon is a dangerous and mysterious power like H.P.Lovecraft's Cthulhu: when Amazon calls you, or more likely emails you, you obey. 
  2. Q: Was this a completely new idea, buying a mixer? Didn't you already have one? Like, what did you do before Tuesday if you wanted to bake something?
    Ad for my mother's
    Sunbeam Mixmaster, 1950s
    (source: Janet Rudolph blog)

    A: Well, I've been considering a new mixer for a long time. The old one wasn't very powerful and I've had it for more than half my lifetime. The mixer before that was a Mixmaster that had belonged to my mother. She got it when I was around 10 so I learned to bake on it. In other words, my new KitchenAid is the third mixer ever in my life.
  3. Q: Did you really need it?
    A: I admit that I haven't been baking much lately, or using the old mixer much. Actually, I had more or less decided that I wasn't going to get another one. But Amazon decided that I would get it. And it really was a good deal!
  4. Q: What have you mixed in it so far?
    A: For my first bake using the new mixer, I made peanut butter cookies using the recipe from my old printed copy of the Joy of Cooking. It won't be long until I try something else, like pizza. Maybe I'll start baking bread some time.
    My stained old Joy of Cooking, Peanut Butter Cookie page. The check
    by the recipe is from some time in the distant past. As is the "NO GOOD" note.
  5. Q: Why peanut butter cookies?
    A: Because I didn't have any chocolate chips or nuts or whatever for other cookies. The PB cookies were fun, just like I remember from childhood and mixer #1. Especially that criss-cross fork thing.


  6. Fresh from the oven. Crumbly! Like a childhood memory.

  7. Q: How did the mixer do?
    A? It was fabulous. I hail my purchasing overlords. What will I have to buy next?
 
Old mixer awaiting its fate, which is to be taken to the basement.
Evelyn gave it to me as a Mother's Day present many many years ago.
She forgives me for replacing it.

12 comments:

Tina said...

I heard there were some great deals on Amazon Prime day. Good mixer, I have one in white. My food processor gets used more often but I sure love my KitcahenAide. And I also love peanut butter cookies, nice choice!

bermudaonion said...

I bought my Kitchen Aid mixer to make cheese straws but haven't used it in a long time. I don't bake like I used to now that we have an empty nest.

(Diane) bookchickdi said...

I bought an InstaPot pressure cooker/rice cooker/ slow cooker on Amazon Prime Day and I can't wait to use it.

Katherine P said...

The KitchenAid mixers keep tempting me! Amazon is bad about talking me into things that I hadn't planned on buying. Peanut butter cookies, however, are always a good thing.

Vicki said...

I'm so sad that I didn't see this for Amazon Prime Day! My daughter has been wanting a KitchenAid mixer for a few years. I wish I had seen it and bought it for her.

Jens Zorn said...

I also fell victim to the Amazon snakecharmer and bought a digitally-controlled ,1 horsepower pressure cooker. It's amazing what these modern devices can do!

Carole said...

Funny! I don't have a mixer - and manage with just a stick blender - but I'm not a baker at all. Have a great week. Cheers from Carole's Chatter

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

What to buy next...has Ms. Beth Fish talked you into an Instant Pot? There was a fabulous deal on them during Prime Day. I don't have a super duty KitchenAid like this one but I do love my KitchenAid mixer. I've also been tempted to get some of the attachments for it...like pasta maker! LOVED your Q&A and the peanutbutter cookies sound like a fabulous idea.

Debra Eliotseats said...

You don't have to rationalize with us! I could not live without my KitchenAid. It's over twenty years old and I would love to replace it with a cool color. (Mine is gunmetal gray.) I loved that old Sunbeam ad. I think my grandmother had one like that only MORE ancient. I remember we had to turn the bowl by hand. (We thought it was fun.) I do not know who else could pull off a Lovecraft analogy in a mixer review. Only you!!!! :)

Beth F said...

I too have had my KitchenAid for a hundred years. Love it totally! ENJOY! Sorry I was so late getting here this week -- we were off camping and had almost no internet connection.

raidergirl3 said...

I have it in my mind to get a kitchen aid mixer at some point. I love the red! I actually only just got a food processor this spring - my mother's old one. I swore I never needed one, but holy cabbage I love shredding cabbage and carrots for coleslaw. Also, I am new to pastry and it does a marvelous job.

It sounds like Amazon talks to you like the shoes talk to Mme Ramotswe's assistant, Grace.

Tonyiallard said...

11- I just bought as a wedding gift for my young friend. She and her new husband are comingling their kitchens and this is the must have item to bring the new kitchen up to chef's standards.