appliance lust

[cattygurl]

I am lusting after the new zojirushi breadmaker.

I love my Breadman Ultimate, but if I win the lottery, I'll be getting a Zo as well... the make awesome rice cookers, BTW...

Anyone in the market for a great breadmaker (and also pasta/noodle maker)- look into the zo.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000T6J3I/ref=pd_kar_gw_3/103-6410923-7426250?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=284507

The biggest benefit? The dual paddle. Admittedly, my Breadman does knead very well- but I do look in while it's kneading and help it along with a spatula.
One of the biggest mistakes ppl make is tha even with a bread machine- you have to watch the dough during the kneading process. a bread machine makes it easy on my poor delapidated hands- I have no hand strength. I'm also so used to the bread machine that I don't use my gorgeous kitchenaid for kneading, which I should.

Now, if I REALLY win the lottery, I want a steam-injected oven. Kitchenaid now makes a great one- but with a hefty and painful price tag (@4k). Nothing like a real steam injected oven to make gorgeous breads and roasts, though.

http://kitchenaid.com/catalog/product.jsp?src=RANGES&categoryId=115&productId=897

[Infectious]

http://www.thane.ca/products/housewares/magicbullet_quick/magic_bullet.php

I hate chopping onions because my eyes water up so much, this helps. It also works as a blender, juice mixer etc.

I like the versatility.

[MATHABA]

if i was lazy and had more money i'd buy an electric tiller for cultivation. but the work is already done and the blisters already healed. now to wait and hope for more rain.

[cattygurl]

Electric tillers are bad, bad, bad in my gardening opinion. It screws over soil structure, can fuck up aeration due to reducing soil clumping and structure, and wreck havoc on earthworm populations in the soil, because eartheworms are fucking solid, solid gold for the soil and your plants. If you can build some kind of a raised bed, it'll save you years of tilling later. also, you can fertilize soil and till at the same time (break up soil compaction) by planting green manure (as it's called).

[MATHABA]

that's interesting, i've never heard that before. but it makes sense.
the reason i thought about a tiller was because i was starting on some new land where the soil was already poor and it was clear that nothing had been grown there for a while. lots of rocks, very sandy soil. needed to work in better soil with it.

[cattygurl]

Well, the rocks need to be removed, but the soil can be improved greatly (if you have the time and energy to gather free stuff like old newspaper) without the use of tillers. Look up interbay mulch on google- if you have any problems, drop me a pm. An old gardening mentor turned his former compacted, neglected dirt lot into a green haven using this method.

Also, once you remove most of the rocks, green manure can also help break up soil without using a tiller. Many of the crops used for green mulching thrive under shitty conditions and really help break up soil at deeper levels than an electric tiller.

If you want to garden seriously, you gotsa compost and find a good source for compost. My most successful gardening attempt was when I was composting with worms, and I got basil that was almost 6' tall. The lime and lemon basil from that crop was the best I ever had.

I was a bio (botany) major and for a few semesters, spent a lot of time with local farmers (i had a keen interest in biodiversity preservation of food crops), especially speciality market organic farmers, and learned a lot from watching how they work. I'm not the best gardener but I still keep in touch with a lot of gardening folks so feel free to drop me a line- if I can't answer it, i'm pretty confident I can find someone that can.

[minbo]

For cooking I'm luddite. I have an immerson blender, a food processor and a stand mixer. I'm getting a meat grinder so that I can prepare my dog's raw food diet. I like the making bread by hand. I prefer to make rice in a cast iron pot over the fire. I use my stand mixer with an ice water bath for ice cream. I just enjoy the entire process of preparing food by hand and am willing to sacrifice convenience.

[cattygurl]

If I had hand strength and time, I would love to make everything by hand.

Good for you on making your dog's food. It's really the best diet. Do you need recipies?

[ellencho]

I want a ice cream machine that makes ice cream without having to pre-freeze your bowl beforehand. The really good ones cost more than I'm willing to spend, and I dont' even like ice cream THAT much. I mostly just want to experiment with different flavors, like Thai iced tea, red beans, and Korean shikhae (식혜) flavor. Also there's a korean drink that's made with dried persimmons and cinnamon that I don't remember the name of, and I always thought that would make a nice sorbetto.