The Day All of My Baking Dreams Came True
The summer I turned 19, my mother enrolled in a history class to keep up her teaching certification. Her teacher was the absolute coolest, and planned the best field trips to interesting places in Milwaukee and beyond. We ended up in Illinois at an older military museum and property that was once an estate belonging to this huge newspaper mogul. While I wasn't totally keen on the military aspect of it all (though I will forever support the troops and appreciate their sacrifices!), I was super interested in getting a tour of the GIANT mansion that was in the exact center of the campus. The house was built in the 40s or 50s, and I of course was in love with the decor and felt right at home. It was a house almost exclusively built for entertaining, complete with one of those upstairs/downstairs set-ups where there was a separate set of quarters for "the help." The place was so big, and this family had done so much entertaining, that having not one, but TWO kitchens in the house was deemed necessary. And while the kitchen decor was definitely a shade of yellow that deserves to remain in the past, one of the biggest talking points was something you really might not expect: the KitchenAid stand mixer perched on the counter.
Let's just get real for a second: those mixers are BEASTS. They're machines! They're...beautiful, wonderful, amazing, etc. etc. etc.
And while I suppose most people on a tour of a mega-mansion wouldn't really want to spend much time talking about a common household appliance just taking up space on the counter of this huge house, I just couldn't get enough. And maybe that's when I should've realized that some day I would love cooking and baking more than many, many other things that I used to find interesting.
From that tour I remember just a few things, but the one little comment that stuck? In all of the years that KitchenAid has been producing the stand mixer, the design has never changed. And why should they change it? Classic lasts, and classic is forever.
OKAY, SO. You've stayed with me thus far, and you might be saying, "GET TO THE POINT, SYD. I'VE GOT A LIFE TO LIVE."
Well the point, dear friends, wonderful dainty dwellers, is that I am now the proud owner of a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. For years I patiently waited for my chance to make one of my baking dreams come true and finally, FINALLY, Macy's had the sale I needed to make it happen.
Someday, someone will take a tour of my home (probably not. It'll just be like...my grandkids maybe?) and sitting on that counter will be something I never want to part with. Classic lasts, and classic is forever.
I WILL BAKE UP A STORM, I PROMISE.
I've got my eye on a whiskey olive oil carrot cake recipe. You in?