In our world of instagram Joanna Gaines farmhouse kitchens, I find myself lusting after the kitchenaid mixers sitting on the counters of everyone's kitchens. They are now available in so many colors that I cannot keep up, and each new color is more fabulous than the last.
Alas, I will never own one.
You see, once upon a time, way back in the dark ages, before Al Gore invented the internet, it was nineteen eighty something, and I decided to take a Wilton cake decorating class at my nearby JC Penneys. (I thought I might save a few pennies making my kids birthday cakes after a rather hideous fiasco for one of my girls second birthday...) That class changed my life, and before I knew it, I was taking orders, and decorating cakes while my little babies took their naps.
(Gawd! I miss those days!)
Anyway.
One thing lead to another, and after quite literally burning up my hand mixer, I decided I needed to get a real mixer. After some research, and seeing a friend's incredible machine, I bought a Bosch mixer. (It could knead dough, and all sorts of aah-mazing stuff!) The mixer cost a small fortune by our tight family budget standard and, if I remember correctly, I had to make payments on it.
Clearly, it turned out to be one of my finest investments, as we are sitting here at the dawn of 2019, and, although the mixing bowl has yellowed something awful over time, my good ol' Bosch is going strong.
Dammit.
No, really, I love it. It makes the best cookie dough.
Seriously.
(I think it's something about those wire mounted-over-the-middle-thing-ies that just blends ingredients like no other.) Each and every time I pull it out of the cupboard, I am reminded of when I first turned into a baker, and how I loved doing my kids birthday cakes.
And about how, on two separate occasions, two different children of mine, ate the roses off of someone's wedding cakes, and I had to whip up more frosting, and then I feel all warm and happy inside.
(Did I already say how much I miss those days?)
So, back to my Bosch.
It's just that....it never was a pretty machine, not even when it was new. My heart skips a little beat each time I look at those photos of white-subway-tile-backsplash-farmhouse-kitchens-with-gleaming-yummy-colored-Kitchenaid mixers. I would never showcase my Bosch mixer on my kitchen counter the way you can with a pretty aqua (or red, or stainless...or white!) Kitchenaid. Instead, my trusty Bosch sits tucked away inside my cupboard in between baking adventures.
I am quite sure my Bosch mixer will outlive me, and I am better than good with that. I love the way it works, and I wouldn't trade it for any other mixer. Looking good isn't the most important thing, after all.