My new drill.... er, beater! Bad ass, right? It was either "murdered out" matte black or a cheap-looking "chrome". I made the right choice, don't you think? She works like a champ--even has interchangeable bread hooks and a whipping attachment.
Considering that Kitchen-Aid stand mixers go for over 599 euro around here, I think this was 75 euros well-spent. (Can you imagine?! Almost $800 for a Kitchen-Aid mixer? They are not cheap in the states, but they're a steal compared to what they cost here.) I have my eyes on a "robot" for the kitchen, but that will probably have to wait until I get back. Um, yeah. They call those food processor-type choppers "robots". I just *have* to get a robot.
Nice, right?
Doesn't look like much, but this is roasted cauliflower with tomatoes, onions, olives, parsley and homemade breadcrumbs over pasta. It was good.
So, let's talk about baking for a moment. It's got me all in a tizzy over here. Everything is just more... involved. I need the computer around when I'm baking so I can do conversions (grams to oz, Fahrenheit to Celsius). Baking is a relatively precise endeavor anyway... you have to make sure your measurements are pretty spot-on, lest you end up with something that doesn't rise or is too dry, etc. So now I've got to work off the cookbook *and* a computer. Boo.
And then there's the issue of the products on offer here. I am still perplexed by the flours. I'm pretty sure I bought pastry flour last time... but is it the same as our "pastry" flour (i.e., finer) or is it just that is doesn't have a self-rising element, as the all-purpose flours (which are often dubbed as bread flours here) do? And the baking power comes in pre-measured packets of, like, 3 tbs at a time. Which is dumb, because when do you ever use 3 tbs of baking power in one bake unless you're in a commercial kitchen? And the butter! How I took for granted that butter is easily measured in tablespoons on the wrapper so as to correspond with a recipe's request? Butter here comes in big squares, so I've got to force it into my measuring spoons and scrape off the excess, making a mess of the butter in the process. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but it's a pain and I just miss having butter that was sorta measured out for me.
Oh! And my regular-sized cookie sheet doesn't fit in my oven. So I have to use the mini cookie sheet, which only bakes about 8 cookies at a time. So if I'm gonna bake cookies, I've got to have an afternoon to spare. Hurumph.
But I will not give up! At least my cupcake/muffin pan fits in the oven. And my first batch of strawberry and peach muffins was pretty good. A little dry, but pretty good. Hey, Fran and the cat liked them! :)
