Usually when an appliance breaks it’s annoying. Rarely is it heartbreaking. But this one made a big difference in our lives and we’d grown very fond of it so I offer this tribute:
Soon after we began watching the Food Network it became clear to us that we needed an immersion blender. We weren’t sure what for, but we needed it. So we got one. Karen used it every once in a while to make a choka when we’d have sada roti for dinner. But other than that it saw little use. Then Ben went to the feeding clinic. All of a sudden he went from being 100% tube fed to getting oral feeds during the day. We started getting canned soups at the grocery store and blending them in a Magic Bullet, and that worked pretty well. I can tell you what the most calorie dense soups are made by all the major soup brands. But in the back of our heads there was this nagging voice. “You can make it better than they can. It will be healthier, too.” So we started making soups from scratch for him. Recently we started making the stock as well. Now that we were making soups every week we had a lot of use for our previously underutilized stick blender.
Goodbye old friend. Think of the good times. The broccoli, the mushrooms, the onions, celery, chicken, noodles and beans. NO, not all in the same soup, that’s nasty.
It became one of the most used appliances in our kitchen. I LOVE this thing. It purees anything silky smooth. Carrots, potatoes, chicken, ham, squash, nothing even puts up resistance to pulverization. I remember when I got it thinking “It’s a little expensive, but it looks like it will last a while.” Last it did. It’s been five and a half years since Ben graduated from the feeding clinic, and there was no end in sight.
Then one day last month I was making a soup that was in the “What have we got around the house?” variety. It was actually pretty good. It had some potatoes, some navy beans, and even a piece of ham. It was simmering away nicely (With beans and meat I always let it simmer longer) and the time came to put it to the blade and feed Ben. Except one thing.
There was a bone in this slice of ham. I’d forgotten about that, and when blade met bone neither one wanted to lose. In fact, neither one did. Inside the motor portion of the blender there’s a plastic gear that the shaft portion snaps into, so it can drive the blade. Broke completely in half, it did. If you shake it now, you can hear it rattling around in there. Looking back, I’m kind of glad that the weak link was actually inside the housing. If the blade had sheared off it could have put my eye out.
But now I had a problem. Ben needs to eat and I just murdered my stick blender. So yes, I got the regular blender out and used that. But I gotta tell you, I am TERRIFIED of blending boiling hot liquids in a blender. I’ve never liked it; I always, always, always end up with soup on the counter, some on the floor, some on my pants, and also my hand. So very soon after breaking my beloved stick blender I did procure a replacement. Since Cuisinart worked so well for so long I figured why mess with success? Here’s my new weapon of choice, disassembled for easy transport (in a violin case, of course).
I call it THE PERSUADER.
…and this is the end of most concern to all the potatoes and beans in our house.
I considered dressing up in a tux for the full “Say hello to my little friend” effect.
The price has gone up by about ten dollars in the last six or so years, but there’s a good reason for that. This one has two speeds – useless and fast.
And what of the old stick blender? “With as much dignity as he could muster the old man gathered up the shattered remains of his major award. Later that night, alone, in the backyard, he buried it next to the garage. Now I could never be sure but I thought that I heard the sound of ‘Taps’ being played. Gently”
Perpetual Desipience 