The Standing Mixer Has Entered the Chat
A new kitchen appliance
A few months ago, my 14-year-old, Q, asked for a standing mixer.
He’d used one in his Foods class in middle school. I’ve never owned one, and my knowledge of them is limited to “the good ones are expensive.” I told him no.
Yesterday, there was a Whole Conversation about the fact that our Ninja air fryer died. It was only two years old, so that was disappointing. But my husband, G, started to opine that he missed having an Instant Pot. We got rid of ours when we bought the air fryer.
I should point out that I use none of these kitchen appliances. G used the air fryer for meat, and I’m a vegetarian. He used the Instant Pot for rice and meat, and we have since gotten a dedicated rice cooker.
The air fryer sits on top of a small cabinet in our kitchen, so the question became: what is the best appliance for this spot? New air fryer? Instant Pot? Or… a standing mixer?
G said that he’d prefer a new Instant Pot over a new air fryer. Even with the fancy rice cooker, he would like the Instant Pot for meat. And the use of a standing mixer was somewhat theoretical.
But, by coincidence, Q received some money as a gift that day. Combined with his saved allowance, he could probably afford a used standing mixer.
I brought this up with him, and he seemed very excited by the idea. I went on Facebook Marketplace to find one within his budget. A few messages with a seller, a trip to the ATM, and a short trip across town, and we owned a standing mixer.
G went to pick it up. He said the former owner enthusiastically brought him into her kitchen to show him how all of the attachments work. He politely watched.
Meanwhile, I did a lot of rearranging in our kitchen to make room to store the new-to-us standing mixer. It was an entire game of Musical Chairs, Kitchen-Cabinet Style. Clearing out a single cabinet was impossible; it had a domino effect. But I was successful and by the time G got home, I had a space to store the standing mixer when not in use.
Q was so excited that he insisted we make brownies. By the time we were done with dinner and cleanup, it was after 7:00 pm. I looked at my watch and informed him I was too tired. But he told me that he could make brownies without any assistance.
Not only did he want to make brownies, he wanted to make brownies not from a box. We’re big fans of the Trader Joe’s Truffle Brownie Mix, but instead he went to the Stephen Colbert cookbook and found a recipe for brownies. We had all of the ingredients so he got to work.
I admit, the smell of brownies was enough to lure me back to the kitchen later.
Q had also carefully hand-washed the bowls and attachments for his standing mixer and put them away.
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