I am not the world's best chef and I am certainly not the world's best baker. My culinary training consists of watching Top Chef, Top Chef Masters and Top Chef Just Desserts ... oh and playing drinking games while watching Paula Deen (do a shot every time Paula applauds BUTTER!) Unless I am entertaining, my culinary dinner creations tend to be such impressive dishes like a container of yogurt or some veggies and hummus. Despite my chef inadequacies, I do have to say that I have a deep and personal love for my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. It is pink - in honor of breast cancer awareness. (Between you and me, it was more in honor of my love for pink; but partial proceeds went to the Susan G. Komen foundation, so win-win!) I probably use my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer about 5 times a year, but each and every time I love that I have it.
So when I decided to go to India for vacation, I made sure to schedule a stop in Chennai, India to visit a former co-worker ("P.S.") and his family. I asked P.S. if there was anything I could bring him from America. His answer? A Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer! He was pro-cookie and hoped with a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, his wife would make cookies more often. I am also pro-cookie and pro-Kitchen Aid Stand Mixers. I could not blame my Chennai Friend for wanting a Stand Mixer, but man couldn't he have requested a lighter item? He said the mixer weighed 27 pounds, but I assumed that was before the box and packaging. Was this favor of bringing a stand mixer going to bankrupt me in excess luggage fees?
Given airport security and baggage weight limits, the thought of lugging a heavy stand mixer to a foreign country did not sound like a cake walk. Would the TSA even let me bring this through? Would Customs in India have a fit? Is it possible to deny a visitor entrance into a country because of a mixer? What if TSA thought I was a terrorist? Would I be known as the Stand Mixer Mayhem Maker? I'm too pretty to go to jail! What if the stand mixer broke from being bounced around baggage chutes from Tampa to Chicago to Delhi to Chennai? That's a lot of connections, a lot of flights and a lot of moving around. This adventure had "disaster" written all over it! This could be a very expensive mistake.
But my friend in Chennai is a great guy, so I was willing to try to get the Mixer to Chennai, India in one piece. Life without crazy adventures is just plain old boring. So I said "OK order the mixer and have it sent to my house." Operation Kitchen Aid had begun!
I purchased two accessories for the mixer as a Christmas gift (a splatter guard and the ice cream maker accessory) and my friend had the Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer shipped to me from Amazon.com. My first concern was whether I'd have a suitcase big enough to fit it all. Luckily, I had purchased a large rolling Nautica duffel for a one month trip to Malaysia that I took in March 2011. I danced around giddily when I figured out that the items did indeed fit!
Keep your fingers crossed for me that the Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer in color Cinnamon (a.k.a. Red) makes it to Chennai in one piece!
I'll keep you posted!
So when I decided to go to India for vacation, I made sure to schedule a stop in Chennai, India to visit a former co-worker ("P.S.") and his family. I asked P.S. if there was anything I could bring him from America. His answer? A Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer! He was pro-cookie and hoped with a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, his wife would make cookies more often. I am also pro-cookie and pro-Kitchen Aid Stand Mixers. I could not blame my Chennai Friend for wanting a Stand Mixer, but man couldn't he have requested a lighter item? He said the mixer weighed 27 pounds, but I assumed that was before the box and packaging. Was this favor of bringing a stand mixer going to bankrupt me in excess luggage fees?
Given airport security and baggage weight limits, the thought of lugging a heavy stand mixer to a foreign country did not sound like a cake walk. Would the TSA even let me bring this through? Would Customs in India have a fit? Is it possible to deny a visitor entrance into a country because of a mixer? What if TSA thought I was a terrorist? Would I be known as the Stand Mixer Mayhem Maker? I'm too pretty to go to jail! What if the stand mixer broke from being bounced around baggage chutes from Tampa to Chicago to Delhi to Chennai? That's a lot of connections, a lot of flights and a lot of moving around. This adventure had "disaster" written all over it! This could be a very expensive mistake.
But my friend in Chennai is a great guy, so I was willing to try to get the Mixer to Chennai, India in one piece. Life without crazy adventures is just plain old boring. So I said "OK order the mixer and have it sent to my house." Operation Kitchen Aid had begun!
I purchased two accessories for the mixer as a Christmas gift (a splatter guard and the ice cream maker accessory) and my friend had the Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer shipped to me from Amazon.com. My first concern was whether I'd have a suitcase big enough to fit it all. Luckily, I had purchased a large rolling Nautica duffel for a one month trip to Malaysia that I took in March 2011. I danced around giddily when I figured out that the items did indeed fit!
Keep your fingers crossed for me that the Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer in color Cinnamon (a.k.a. Red) makes it to Chennai in one piece!
I'll keep you posted!
Great thoughts you got there, believe I may possibly try just some of it throughout my daily life.
ReplyDeleteGift to Chennai