We moved to Davis in 1973 and Walt bought me a Kitchen Aid mixer before we left our house
in Oakland, so this machine has been in my possession for more than 40 years.
Today I decided to make some Christmas cookies and as the machine was
mixing the first batch, I thought about how much I have used this mixer, without more than
one or two minor problems (mostly needing blade replacement and nothing else) over the
past 40+ years.
The dough hook has disappeared now that I have a bread machine, but
in Oakland, and even here in Davis, I made a lot of bread in that machine. Before
the mixer came along, I made all the bread by hand, banging around on the kitchen counter
and scaring the skittish Sheltie, who thought I was going to throw it at him. It was
as big a difference going from making bread by hand to using a mixer and a dough hook as
it was from retiring the dough hook and moving to the bread machine.
I can't possibly remember how many cookies this mixer has helped me
make. I make cookies just about every Christmas. Some years I make lots and
lots of cookies and give them as gifts; other years I make one or two batches and share
them with a few people. But it's a rare Christmas when I don't make cookies.
40+ years of cookies in this mixer.
Then there were the cake decorating years. I learned how to
decorate cakes and for a couple of years, I was the only non-Safeway cake decorator in
town and made and decorated lots and lots and lots of cakes. I probably could have
covered a mountain with all the powdered sugar I used in those years. I used to buy
it in 5 lb bags.
This was one of my favorite cakes. It was made before I had
ever attended a Lamplighters cast party and I made it for the co-founder of the company,
who had the lead role in a production of Patience. It involved not only the
regular frosting, but also egg white frosting and that big stand-up Valentine at the top,
which took days to make because it required a day to dry between the various layers.
I was so proud of that cake and didn't realize until I actually became a part of
the company that the guy I made it for never attended cast parties and obviously never
even saw it.
Owell!
I don't make cakes any more. I made Ned & Marta's wedding
cake, Paul & Audra's and Jeri & Phil's (Tom and Laurel had a bakery cake). I
said I was finished making cakes, but I think the very last cake I decorated was the cake
for Brianna's first birthday. Laurel is a cake decorator too and was very generous
to let me make that cake. Now she makes the girls' cakes and does a much better job
than I ever did.
There were years when this machine was used at least once and often
many times during a week. It has made pumpkin pies every year for more than 40
years. I even take it to Santa Barbara now to use it there. But what it mostly gets
used for these days is mashing potatoes and the occasional baking project. When I
think of how many years it has lasted and how trouble-free it has been, it's a pretty
amazing product endorsement!
When we first got it, I felt a little guilty because it cost so much,
but it has certainly more than earned its keep and shows no sign of giving up any time
soon.
Two batches of cookies today and more to come throughout the week.
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