Sunday, July 18, 2004


la kitchenaid est morte; vive la kitchenaid

it's true dear readers -- let me request a moment of silence for the passing of my beloved kitchenaid pro 5-qt. stand mixer after 5 years of faithful service.

she was known as "blanche."

yes, this morning i attached the paddle beater to mix my pizza dough and slid the switch to "1" only to be greeted by an odd whirring-buzzing sound. no mixing.

there i was with a bowl full of ingredients ready to be mixed on the same time-honored schedule we've had around here (start pizza at 11:30am so it has time to rise and then rest in the fridge before 5pm yoga) since, well, the arrival of blanche herself.

i could knead by hand, but since i've started using first-clear flour, a machine is really called for. the first clear develops much better with a machine, i think.

plus when i knead by hand, i do get flour on the floor. lovely flour which -- by the time i'm finished -- the cat has completely tracked about the house in cute little paw prints.

and this annoys mr. right, who really dislikes seeing pizza flour on the bedspread. on the couch. on the rug. and on the desk.

while i find the idea of our ginger tom dangling his sweet flour-covered paws off the top of the computer monitor while he snoozes gently most touching, mr. right dislikes the fine sifting of the stuff down onto the keyboard while he's typing.

actually this couldn't happen any more, since we hooked a rockin' 21" flat screen up to the graphite mac. but you get the idea. . .

the day was saved by kitchenaid. i simply scouted about the chinese trunk and pulled out my trusty old kitchenaid hand mixer with dough hooks.

so i stood there holding the mixer for 12 mins., kneading the dough in the deep stand mixer bowl. which was better than having to vaccuum the entire house. . . .

kitchenaid is famed for its excellent customer service, and i'll be calling 'em tomorrow. i'm sure blanche will be speedily repaired.

in the meantime, the pizza goes on!

posted by fortune | 11:26 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments