A Kitchen Aid is worth the investment. I often use mine every day. Get the more powerful motor, even if it costs you an extra $40.00 or so. I got the "Ultra Power" with only 300 watts, and I feel the motor flagging a lot, especially if I'm making bread or really stiff dough. I wish I had spent the extra $35.00 or $40.00 and gotten the Artisan with the 450 watt motor. (I think it's the Artisan with the bigger motor.) This one also has the bowl lifter, and I wish I had gotten that one. But, the one I have had for nearly 10 years is not going to break down any time soon, and it's still a GOOD Kitchen Aid.

I think all good cooks need a Kitchen Aid Mixer, a good Cuisinart Food Processor (the BIG one, I learned my lesson) a good quality stick blender, a decent oven and some good pots pans and accessories and you can do just about anything with just that investment.

I can mix up a dough with up to 6 cups of flour in my Cuisinart, because I got the bigger one. With Fibromyalgia, I can't knead dough anymore, so it's worth the investment just for that. Not to mention the 100,000 other things you can do with it.

And a stick blender just saves on extra bowls and pots and things. You just stick in in anywhere and get the texture you want. I also think a good kitchen thermometer (I have the radio remote programmable two piece thermometer from Williams and Sonoma. (I can go out in the yard or upstairs or down in the laundry room hold the receiver is with me, and I can tell the exact temperature of whatever I am cooking where ever I am. No more burnt food!)It's a big indulgence (my dad bought it for me, he still spoils me) but every kitchen needs a good thermometer to prevent over or under cooking things. Even if it's just an instant read stick thermometer. You can't always tell my looking (which is what I tell My Man as he cuts into a completely raw-on-the-inside pork roast, which he would't LET me use the thermometer on, and swore was "done." *sigh*)

A good oven thermometer, to make sure your oven is putting out the temperature you think is a must, too. You can get them at Target for like, $7.00.

It's so fun to make food for people. Nom Nom Nom Nom!!!!

Avalein said: "Mexican fried sticks of cinnamony goodness"

Bunuelos are the ones you make at home like donuts. Churros are the extruded ones, sticks with lines on them which you get from the ball park or at the mall. Both YUMMY!

Food, SEX, Love, Libations, Travel, Experiences, Relations. We can circle the globe or the neighborhood as our market. In and as a quest for the best that we can afford in all aspects and levels of living. The backwoods lover can equival the aristocrat by broadening his horizons and treating his partner with and at his best. The variety, the time and the best ingredients combine in life. So savor, taste the flavor and cook it up. It can get hot, haute'r, and cold can be the hottest. Just get it; and ENJOY. And, don 't forget the spice rack of LOVE. The essence, texture, liquid are good to the last drop.

Toooootally thought this discussion was going to be about feeder fetishes, pretty relieved it's not...LOL