Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Christmas in March

Our Kitchen Aid Mixer turned Fatal earlier this month. The maintenance department was able to fix it the first time it broke so we called them when it went wonky. They got it running again but warned us that the next time it died they really couldn't do anything for it. This is the 2nd mixer that has died on us in the 28 months I've been at this job so we went looking for something slightly more industrial. Meanwhile we limped along for a couple weeks with the help of a meat mallet but eventually gave up.


We have been without a small mixer for the past 3 weeks. We have a 30 qt  mixer in the bakeshop that will whip as little as 1 cup of cream or egg whites  plus a 12 qt & a 20 qt in the far kitchen. (By far I mean it takes 25 steps to get there) And yet one of the bakers is whipping cream by hand everyday then complaining that her wrist is hurting. DUH!! If there is a long way or a hard way or way to turn a 5 minute project into 3 hours she'll find it. I keep telling her to "work smarter not harder" but I think that the point is lost on her.  I have even outright ordered her to use the other mixers but apparently it's too much work to mise en place, put it on a sheet pan and carry it across the kitchen?!?


Anyhow... back to the mixer. We ordered an 8 qt Univex countertop model, it's industrial and the planetary head is attached to the gear thingy rather than just kinda stuck up there without any hardware to hold it in place. (I understand the difference but not sure exactly how to explain it) Plus it's still made in the USA. I've seen a picture in the catalog but still wasn't prepared for the actual size of this thing. It's a beast compared to the KA models, but it's OUR beast!

This morning I realized that we had set it up with the window open and the window won't close with it sitting there :/ It's one HEAVY sucker. Oh well, guess the window stays open til the outside temps are hitting the mid 90's.

FYI: what you can see in this photo is our entire prep area in the bakeshop. We are currently scheming to change that but still in planning mode.

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