The KitchenAid

Hey there-


The KitchenAid has been born again! Bob would be so happy.


The KitchenAid was Bob's thing. He registered for it and he used it for anything from scones to pound cake, although it got the most use for his famous pizza crust which he made a few times a month. It is not that I don't enjoy baking, I just prefer stirring with a wooden spoon, it seems simpler somehow, and less mess to clean up.


After Bob died the KitchenAid got shoved from a place of prominence in the kitchen to a back corner behind cereal boxes. I pulled it out and dusted it off once a year on his birthday to try and reproduce his pizza as a way of honoring his memory with the boys and Bob's family. Inbetween birthdays we settled with pre-made pizza dough from Trader Joes, at least we could still roll it out and throw it in the air, right?


Recently, my 12-year-old step-daughter, Natalie, has discovered the KitchenAid and has brought it out of hiding. She delights in all of it's parts and has used it for cookies, cake, and now pizza crust.


The other night I planned pizza for dinner and instead of purchasing pre-made dough I decided Natalie could help me use the KitchenAid. She removed it carefully from it's hiding place and inserted the instrument I told her would be best for mixing dough. We carefully read Bob's recipe (he has notes in the cookbook where he fiddled with the best measurements) and followed them as best we could. Natalie kneaded the dough until it was "smooth and elastic" and the crusts turned out quite well.

After we finished up Natalie carefully unplugged the KitchenAid before removing the mixing instrument. Upon my inquiry she responded that the directions say to unplug the machine before removing any parts.

Ah, reading the instructions, what a novel idea, Bob would really be thrilled now. Not only will someone use the KitchenAid but they will use it the correct way. Nice.

Who knows, maybe the KitchenAid might come out of the shadows behind the cereal and regain a proud place on the counter? Since Natalie was not the one who cleaned all of these parts that she handled so lovingly I doubt it will be any time soon. For now, I will stick with my wooden spoon.

Thanks for checking in-


Irene