We received our second replacement mixer. It is a step up in size although it is last year's Limited Edition Model. I have only made one dish with it so far and it performed satisfactorily.
I have, however, been reading on-line reviews by other dissatisfied users who had the exact same problems with no power, poor service and gear box grinding. Two people who received my email as forwards wrote to me and thanked me for saving them from making the same buying error we did. Both wrote to say they were investigating the Viking Stand Mixer as a suitable alternative.
Good for them. I am pleased that our misfortune is helping at least someone else make a better buying decision. And it is manufactured in Italy. A thousand watt motor compared to our 575 watt upgrade. . .and it is rated for a full five pounds of flour although it does not say what grade or type of flour. The recipes for bread in their accompanying cookbook call for bread flour not AP flour as does Kitchen Aid.
After trying the pizza crust recipe in Kitchen Aid's book Joe said, "Even the dog was disappointed." Enough said.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Cucumber Raita Recipe
This is one of my all-time favorite summer recipes.
Cucumber Raita
2 cups plain low fat yogurt
1 red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded and grated
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon cumin seed
paprike
Line a colander with cheesecloth and place a large bowl under the colander. Scrape yogurt into colander and let sit, covered and refrigerated overnight. Discard the liquid that has drained into the bowl and proceed with the recipe. Add the onion, cucumber, lemon juice, mint and cilantro and mix well. Sprinkle a little paprika on the top if desired, or if you enjoy the taste of cumin you can add a teaspoon of cumin seed.
Cucumber Raita
2 cups plain low fat yogurt
1 red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded and grated
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon cumin seed
paprike
Line a colander with cheesecloth and place a large bowl under the colander. Scrape yogurt into colander and let sit, covered and refrigerated overnight. Discard the liquid that has drained into the bowl and proceed with the recipe. Add the onion, cucumber, lemon juice, mint and cilantro and mix well. Sprinkle a little paprika on the top if desired, or if you enjoy the taste of cumin you can add a teaspoon of cumin seed.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Kitchen Aid Sucks
A Poor Kitchen Aid Experience
I have a serious rant about Kitchen Aide and I am putting the word out in the best way I know how: the Internet through E-mail and blogging. A poor product is one thing: anything man made can have flaws . . .but poor customer service is a CHOICE.
I received a new stand mixer for Christmas made by Kitchen Aid and sold at Sam's. Joe saved up for a very long time to get it for me in appreciation of my making pizza for him for 18 years.
It's performance was pathetic from day one but we managed to limp along for six months before it quit altogether. It's elliptical orbit was supposed to make better contact with the food it was mixing, but instead it made contact with the bowl, scratching it and completely throwing the bowl off it's pins. You could not begin to hold the bowl on to the machine even with both hands! It would heat up, give off the 'hot electrical' smell and quit.
When we called Kitchen Aid, their first response was that it was 'operator error.' Sorry folks, but after being a professional cook, I am smart enough to snap a bowl in place over two pins and a button snap at the back. It was insulting on top of having to cope with a mixer that did not live up to even the least of my expectations.
Joe, my hero, called them and they sent a replacement. It worked one time,then the next Sunday night while making pizza dough, got hot and quit in the middle of mixing 5 cups of bread flour. And the same little snippy customer dis-service agent argued that a 5-quart mixer should not have to handle that load. For thirty minutes she tried to tell him that it was customer error.
She then had the audacity to suggest we make half a pizza, wait half an hour and make the other half of the pizza. What planet does she live on? A $300 machine can't make a single crust pizza? Does that mean I make a half of a loaf of bread at a time, too? That machine should make half a dozen loaves of bread every day of the week for years for that kind of money.
Joe asked to speak to a supervisor and read the instructions right off of page eleven to her. The book said no more than '12 cups' of flour. So five cups of bread flour is too much when the instruction booklet says 12? Hummph! and hogwash! And that the machine should not run for more than six minutes at a time. . .Six minutes? SIX MINUTES?
What if I had been making a really stiff dough like pasta? Oh, yeah, that's right. . .it wouldn't make semolina pasta dough at all when I tried it. . .that's right -- 2 1/2 cups of semolina would not mix and knead smoothly enough on a $300 machine to run through the pasta extruding attachment we purchased separately and it was an electric attachment, not the old hand-cranked one I have used for years.
The Oster Kitchen Center we had previously mixed 8 cups of flour for 3 loaves of bread or two pizza crusts at a time at least 3 days a week for nearly 20 years with no complaints from it or me (plus using the blender, ice cream freezer, food processor, shredder and meat grinder attachments daily) until I finally wore it out. . .not the motor wearing out, mind you. . .the connector that held the attachments to the motor was so worn down that it was unusable, but the motor fired up just fine. And, yes, it routinely made double batches of semolina pasta dough that I ran through my hand cranked Atlas pasta machine. And ground sausage for half an hour at a time. That's a bit more than the six minutes I am being told I can run this machine at a time.
The result? I am E-mailing and blogging my dissatisfaction in hopes that this spares anyone else from purchasing a piece of junk. Yeah, they are sending us a new machine, but we don't think we should not have had to put up a fight to get it plus they do not guarantee that it will be any better than the two we have had already. . .. Period.
Will I be able to make sausage? Pasta? Bread? Pizza crust on the new machine or will it just take up space on my counter top? I am so disappointed for both my sake as a cook and Joe's because it was a gift from him that he worked long hours at his second job to purchase for me.
Please pass this along to anyone and everyone you know that is a serious cook or knows a serious cook. Kitchen Aid does not equal quality in my opinion. Such a shame.
I have a serious rant about Kitchen Aide and I am putting the word out in the best way I know how: the Internet through E-mail and blogging. A poor product is one thing: anything man made can have flaws . . .but poor customer service is a CHOICE.
I received a new stand mixer for Christmas made by Kitchen Aid and sold at Sam's. Joe saved up for a very long time to get it for me in appreciation of my making pizza for him for 18 years.
It's performance was pathetic from day one but we managed to limp along for six months before it quit altogether. It's elliptical orbit was supposed to make better contact with the food it was mixing, but instead it made contact with the bowl, scratching it and completely throwing the bowl off it's pins. You could not begin to hold the bowl on to the machine even with both hands! It would heat up, give off the 'hot electrical' smell and quit.
When we called Kitchen Aid, their first response was that it was 'operator error.' Sorry folks, but after being a professional cook, I am smart enough to snap a bowl in place over two pins and a button snap at the back. It was insulting on top of having to cope with a mixer that did not live up to even the least of my expectations.
Joe, my hero, called them and they sent a replacement. It worked one time,then the next Sunday night while making pizza dough, got hot and quit in the middle of mixing 5 cups of bread flour. And the same little snippy customer dis-service agent argued that a 5-quart mixer should not have to handle that load. For thirty minutes she tried to tell him that it was customer error.
She then had the audacity to suggest we make half a pizza, wait half an hour and make the other half of the pizza. What planet does she live on? A $300 machine can't make a single crust pizza? Does that mean I make a half of a loaf of bread at a time, too? That machine should make half a dozen loaves of bread every day of the week for years for that kind of money.
Joe asked to speak to a supervisor and read the instructions right off of page eleven to her. The book said no more than '12 cups' of flour. So five cups of bread flour is too much when the instruction booklet says 12? Hummph! and hogwash! And that the machine should not run for more than six minutes at a time. . .Six minutes? SIX MINUTES?
What if I had been making a really stiff dough like pasta? Oh, yeah, that's right. . .it wouldn't make semolina pasta dough at all when I tried it. . .that's right -- 2 1/2 cups of semolina would not mix and knead smoothly enough on a $300 machine to run through the pasta extruding attachment we purchased separately and it was an electric attachment, not the old hand-cranked one I have used for years.
The Oster Kitchen Center we had previously mixed 8 cups of flour for 3 loaves of bread or two pizza crusts at a time at least 3 days a week for nearly 20 years with no complaints from it or me (plus using the blender, ice cream freezer, food processor, shredder and meat grinder attachments daily) until I finally wore it out. . .not the motor wearing out, mind you. . .the connector that held the attachments to the motor was so worn down that it was unusable, but the motor fired up just fine. And, yes, it routinely made double batches of semolina pasta dough that I ran through my hand cranked Atlas pasta machine. And ground sausage for half an hour at a time. That's a bit more than the six minutes I am being told I can run this machine at a time.
The result? I am E-mailing and blogging my dissatisfaction in hopes that this spares anyone else from purchasing a piece of junk. Yeah, they are sending us a new machine, but we don't think we should not have had to put up a fight to get it plus they do not guarantee that it will be any better than the two we have had already. . .. Period.
Will I be able to make sausage? Pasta? Bread? Pizza crust on the new machine or will it just take up space on my counter top? I am so disappointed for both my sake as a cook and Joe's because it was a gift from him that he worked long hours at his second job to purchase for me.
Please pass this along to anyone and everyone you know that is a serious cook or knows a serious cook. Kitchen Aid does not equal quality in my opinion. Such a shame.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Spiced Almonds
My mother made these at Christmas and they were pretty darned tasty.
CINNAMON SPICED ALMONDS Makes one cup
INGREDIENTS:
½ cup sugar
2 Tablespoons water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup whole almonds
METHOD:
Pour sugar and water into small saucepan over high heat and stir until sugar dissolves.
Stir in cinnamon, ginger, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
Add almonds and cook, stirring occasionally so the nuts don’t burn, until water dissolves and crystals form, about four to six minutes.
Transfer immediately to a buttered sheet of wax paper and separate with a fork.
CINNAMON SPICED ALMONDS Makes one cup
INGREDIENTS:
½ cup sugar
2 Tablespoons water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup whole almonds
METHOD:
Pour sugar and water into small saucepan over high heat and stir until sugar dissolves.
Stir in cinnamon, ginger, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
Add almonds and cook, stirring occasionally so the nuts don’t burn, until water dissolves and crystals form, about four to six minutes.
Transfer immediately to a buttered sheet of wax paper and separate with a fork.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Belly Bombers
Joe and I have made them. . .the recipe from the Castle:
Helen Mastandrea's Zepolli
Ingredients:
1# ricotta cheese, (drained well if watery)
2 cups flour
4 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
Beat eggs with sugar and vanilla.
Mix flour and ricotta cheese.
Add egg mixture to flour mixtures.
Drop by spoonfuls into deep fryer of hot oil.
When browned, remove and drain. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Helen Mastandrea's Zepolli
Ingredients:
1# ricotta cheese, (drained well if watery)
2 cups flour
4 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
Beat eggs with sugar and vanilla.
Mix flour and ricotta cheese.
Add egg mixture to flour mixtures.
Drop by spoonfuls into deep fryer of hot oil.
When browned, remove and drain. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Sugar-Powdered Belly-Bombers
I'm seriously considering getting myself a deep-fry vat and setting up shop at next year's Italian Festival here in Berea. How can you hold one of those events and not sell those things? I was so disappointed... I even wore dark-colored shorts so the powdered sugar would leave the obligatory trail-marks.
Anyway, last time I made anything resembling a zeppole it was using pizza dough (I think I was making fried calzone at the time and decided to drop a few dollops of the dough into the hot fat -- the end product was tasty and will kill you, but at least you'll die happy).
Does anyone have the proper recipe for zeppole dough?
Anyway, last time I made anything resembling a zeppole it was using pizza dough (I think I was making fried calzone at the time and decided to drop a few dollops of the dough into the hot fat -- the end product was tasty and will kill you, but at least you'll die happy).
Does anyone have the proper recipe for zeppole dough?
Sunday, June 04, 2006
The garden is officially planted. A major celebration is going on in my head! The last five rows of corn went in to the ground last night just before dark. And we had a real blessing last night: rain. Only a bit, but a bit is more than we have had for some time and I am truly grateful for every drop. Not grateful enough to shower in a bucket to use the water to water plants on our 'no watering' days, but close to it.
Since gardening is about the cycle of life, tomorrow I go hoe weeds then spread rabbit straw & manure in the vegetable patch. Next out come two rows of spring crops that are finished (bolting or setting seed) and in go two rows of zinnias. It's time for the second planting of Market Green Beans along the fence where the ornamental gourds failed to make any progress. Also in goes the replanting of marigold seed. I have never had marigold seed fail before, but with the drought anything is possible.
We picked 8 one gallon bags of broccoli yesterday plus a gallon bag of spinach and peas. There is no room in our refrigerator, but as soon as I can beg space in a friend's freezer, I will pick the remaining peas and collards and get those two rows ready for summer crops. I will try to wait for a night where rain is predicted before I transplant anything more. The dahlias I just planted were definitely saved by last night's rain.
And as always, I am hauling mulch around to cover the pots of flowers up that get moved in at frost: begonias, elephant ears, caladiums and calla lilies. All on the north side. The south side has two flower beds, one untouched and waist high with weeds and one done and redone after Tarka dug it up to wallow in the cool mud. She is such a blessing in our lives that I don't begrudge her a simple pleasure or two. I have now blocked her access to the flower bed with yet more fencing and flower pots.
(Four flower beds total that she has dug out. . .two are abandoned and two are replaced and blocked from her digging.)
Back to my well-deserved book reading. This time next year I hope to be the proud owner of a tiller. No diamonds and gems for this girl. Love me? Give me tools. More power. Ah, power tools. Power! Power! Power!
Since gardening is about the cycle of life, tomorrow I go hoe weeds then spread rabbit straw & manure in the vegetable patch. Next out come two rows of spring crops that are finished (bolting or setting seed) and in go two rows of zinnias. It's time for the second planting of Market Green Beans along the fence where the ornamental gourds failed to make any progress. Also in goes the replanting of marigold seed. I have never had marigold seed fail before, but with the drought anything is possible.
We picked 8 one gallon bags of broccoli yesterday plus a gallon bag of spinach and peas. There is no room in our refrigerator, but as soon as I can beg space in a friend's freezer, I will pick the remaining peas and collards and get those two rows ready for summer crops. I will try to wait for a night where rain is predicted before I transplant anything more. The dahlias I just planted were definitely saved by last night's rain.
And as always, I am hauling mulch around to cover the pots of flowers up that get moved in at frost: begonias, elephant ears, caladiums and calla lilies. All on the north side. The south side has two flower beds, one untouched and waist high with weeds and one done and redone after Tarka dug it up to wallow in the cool mud. She is such a blessing in our lives that I don't begrudge her a simple pleasure or two. I have now blocked her access to the flower bed with yet more fencing and flower pots.
(Four flower beds total that she has dug out. . .two are abandoned and two are replaced and blocked from her digging.)
Back to my well-deserved book reading. This time next year I hope to be the proud owner of a tiller. No diamonds and gems for this girl. Love me? Give me tools. More power. Ah, power tools. Power! Power! Power!
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