Kitchen Appliance Reorganisation

A few months ago, Viola Man hosted a quartet night and I discovered we had matching coffee grinders and coffee machines.  His were side by side, which is nice and logical.  Mine were not.  My grinder was to the left of the sink, in the corner next to the stove.  My coffee machine was to the right of the sink, next to the microwave.  This irregularity has been on my mind ever since that quartet night.  This morning, I decided enough was enough.  I would move the microwave to the left of the sink, and the coffee grinder next to the coffee machine. 

After today's gig (playing for the official opening of the North Lakes Day Hospital), I had a snack and a cup of tea, then got to work.  The coffee grinder I moved to the bit of bench in front of the microwave.  The microwave is huge (the reason, in fact, I have it - my old neighbour redid her kitchen and it wouldn't fit in the new one), and it is heavy, so I kind of slid it along past the sink.  There I remembered why it's been where it's been.  It takes up almost the entire corner between the stove and the sink.  Hmm.  Plan B: keep the microwave in its corner, move the coffee machine to the left of the sink (keeping the grinder there, obviously).  This has the added benefit of not dripping water over clean dishes in the drying rack.  The drawback is, if it's to look all neat and symmetrical, it's a long reach to get to the switch on the grinder, but I think I can deal with it.

Yes, I bought a 'cappuccino shaker' about a week ago.  I love it.

Today's Daily Photo:

3 parts of this photo.  1 - it's at a gig (it's Saturday, after all), during the speeches.  2 - I'm wearing my new leopard print stockings, purchased yesterday, and feeling rather daring.  3 - I have my violin back!  Just before the staff concert, the fingerboard started coming off.  Yes, that was 2 months ago and I only just got him repaired (not by my regular violin repairer, who's on leave for a while).  I love having my violin back.  The other violin I play is lovely and I am so fortunate to be able to play her, but she's not mine, and I'm very conscious of her story when playing.  But my violin is my violin, and it feels so right playing him again.  And yes, the other violin is female (a 'strong woman' according to her maker), and mine is male.  A very French male.

The Food Processor

Today, I added a new member to my Breville kitchen family.  I promise I don't set out to buy Breville, but when I was unpacking the newbie, I realised it fits right in. 

I have never owned a food processor - I've managed with a blender and electric beaters without any problems, although sometimes the consistency is not as amazing as intended.  And, as I am not a fan of cleaning the blender, often I just avoid using it and leave soups unblended.  I know some readers are probably recoiling in horror at this point, so I'll move on.

One friend makes really yummy protein balls - all food processor.  The night of Cluedo, Jeannie made raw brownies - also food processor.  I have been wanting them ever since.  So today (no gig!), I bought a food processor.

Shopping for a food processor has always been daunting.  I knew you could buy super duper expensive ones that do everything except actually baking and serving.  I'm not that rich.  However, I wasn't keen on buying a cheap one that would break down in a matter of months.  Today, I looked in Kmart at the super cheap $15 version - tempting as a starter, and to see if I would really use it much - and also the $39 option.  I figured though that I would be racking up Myer One points at Myer, so I checked out their range.  I dismissed everything with 3 figures in the price, and had a few options left.  Still um-ing and ah-ing about what would be best, I then saw this (Breville) variety, and knew this was it. 

It hasn't had a test-drive just yet.  Like a conscientious consumer, I've washed the washable bits and they're still drying.  I was delighted with the environmentally friendly, egg carton-style packaging.  Now I'm just hoping that it does what I want it to do, inspires me to use it in many ways and recipes, and is not too hard to clean...