Kitchenaid Lust.

[Summary: This post is about obsessing over Kitchenaid mixers. With lots of research links. Just to warn you.]

So I've been baking lately, mostly out of boredom. I've baked molasses cookies (that recipe) five times in the past month, and I'll need to find a new favorite recipe soon, because I'm getting bored with that fantastic spicy flavor. (Say it ain't so!) But since I've been baking, and that recipe makes a pretty sticky dough, I've become very good friends with two stand mixers, a Sunbeam from the 70's (Mom's) and an even older Sunbeam (Grandma's). Lots of coaxing and hand mixing, so the motor doesn't burn out. Grandma's mixer's on/off/speed changer switch no longer works, so you have to plug it into a power strip with a switch to turn it on or off. One speed only. We became very good friends.

So that explains why I've been obsessed with stand mixers. Today as I was procrastinating on the internet (I swear I'll get the car washed tomorrow!), I found a Kitchenaid that's on sale on amazon (sweet sweet amazon!), and told my mother about it. Even though I won't be moving out any time soon, she advised that I buy it. That's probably the longest, most interesting, and most civil conversation I've ever had with her. Over a kitchen appliance. (A lovely, calming, pistachio green one!) It's a step in the right direction, I suppose. I just found the whole exchange bizarre. Here I am, still unemployed, looking at a $250 stand mixer. That I don't need. I guess it's more practical than a pair of shoes, but still.

And just in case anyone else wants to benefit from my research, here you go:

Kitchenaid
Kitchenaid store (they really need both?)
America's Test Kitchen (a pretty good article--18 mixer test.)
Cooks Illustrated review chart (pdf companion to ATK)
Consumer Search reviews
Fanboy account of visiting the Kitchenaid factory

In a nutshell, Kitchenaid wins, hands down. Although they're pretty heavy. If you do bread a lot, a more powerful motor (pro 600) is better. The lower end Kitchenaids (classic, artisan) can handle it, but they kinda jump around, and take longer to knead bread. The artisan has a bajillion colors to choose from (Tangerine. Grape. And then the expensive metallics.) I'll stop there.

But honestly, it's like when you get a new car, or a trendy shirt. You start seeing it everywhere. I was watching Ugly Betty (I dig it), and her family had two Kitchenaid mixers. I always thought their family was supposed to be kind of poor (in one episode they couldn't afford a Christmas tree!), but if Kitchenaid pays for product placement, then I guess a struggling Latino family in the Bronx can afford two of 'em. Maybe they're refurbished. I hear those are a good deal.

Man, I should really look into that LJ-cut hack for blogger.

But wait! Pictures for dessert! I haven't abandoned my picture-a-day thing--although I've missed a handful--but I don't feel like organizing them now. Have some cookie photos instead.

Grandma's mixer. The piece of paper wrapped around the middle informs you that the dial doesn't work.

Batch #1. They're like a soft gingerbread. Or a gingersnap.
But with a big spicy punch.

Batch #3. Look how uniform and puffy!
I wish they always did that. So cute!

Batch #4. Not enough spice! But so pretty.

Grandma's scary old molasses. No one got sick, but still. OLD.

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Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu.

And Happy New Year to everyone else.

I'm back from the land of the dial-up modem and carefully deleted browser history, and doing pretty good. I read a good book (A Wild Sheep Chase by Murakami) and ate like a glutton. I made two batches of molasses cookies on my grandmother's surly mixer, one which turned out pretty and puffy, one which turned out mostly normal but without all the flavor. I really need to get this recipe down for consistency.

Plenty of other stuff happened, but I'll wait until I get my photos organized before I start posting the stories. You can get the other side of things from my sister (you know where she went, right?).

The new goal is to write 30 letters/postcards in the month of January. I haven't started yet, but that's incentive to write thank you notes for once. I stopped writing them because my mother made it torture, but I think I'm ready to behave like an adult (about that) now. Also, I ran across a pretty great how-to written by a respected internetter. It's pretty much the way my mother taught me, but of course it sounds better coming from an outside source.

Ah, right, and I stopped posting because I killed my computer's hard drive, took it in, had all the data recovered (sigh) and got it back. Remarkably easy considering how much it cost. But it was worth it. I hadn't backed up recently (ahem, ever), and there was a lot worth saving (to me). I got a comment about the amount of music I had (15 gigs, probably more), but bah on them. I like my music digital.

Stay warm J-folk, stay sane state-siders.

PS: Might be heading back north in a few days, which means no posts. Sorry for the teaser!

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