When you read and/or type the word "square" more than three times, it loses all meaning and looks like the weirdest word in the world.

square

square

square square square

Dinner:



A freshly picked eggplant from my friend's garden, sliced thin and fried crispy-tender in a little olive oil and garlic, topped with fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, and feta cheese.

Great googly moogly, that was amazingly good.

Thanks for the eggplant and basil, Anne!

I just made myself the weirdest sandwich:

Shredded chicken breast mixed with Miracle Whip and barbecue sauce, on whole wheat bread spread with homemade cherry jam.

It was SO good.

This mixer is messing with my head.  All I want to do is cook things.  And clean my house while they cook. And organize my kitchen.  I feel like Suzy Homemaker.

(HAhahahahaha. Yeah.... no.  I am so not Suzy Homemaker.)

I am having fun with the mixer, though.

Look what came today!



Pasta gizmos!  Back to front, that's the sheet roller, thick noodle cutter, fettuccine cutter, spaghetti cutter, and angel hair cutter, with the ravioli maker on the left.

And LOOK!  There is now pasta!



I did that, my very own self! Linguini and thin spaghetti!



I cooked some of the spaghetti for dinner. It went straight from the KitchenAid into the pot of boiling water, and literally took only two minutes to cook.  Then I topped it with chopped fresh basil, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. 

So very yummy.

Even Emma, picky eater extraordinaire, declared that it was the best pasta ever.  I feel that this is a real accomplishment on my part, since normally she only likes one very specific kind of pasta with one very specific kind of jarred tomato sauce. Broadening her palate!  Triumph!

Plus, I MADE PASTA!

Yep, it makes bread!



Easy peasy!  The second loaf from the batch went to the neighbors, because Emma and I won't eat that much bread in the next few days, and my freezer is full of fruit.

So yeah, that whole plan to wait until it wasn't 100 degrees out before turning on the oven and trying out the new mixer?



Didn't happen.  I couldn't wait.

This mixer powered through preparing chocolate chip cookie dough, which typically defeats my little handheld mixer (which is still very handy for light duty tasks, and is also a KitchenAid) that my mom got for me when I moved out on my own for grad school.

I love this stand mixer.

(I also ordered the pasta roller attachments last night, so watch for homemade noodles on Monday...)

Last night I acquired a new kitchen toy.



This was GIVEN to me by my friend Anne.

I'll say that again:

She.  GAVE.  Me.  A.  KitchenAid.  Mixer.

This was her mom's mixer, passed along to Anne many years ago, but since Anne is in mega clean-out-her-house mode and getting rid of all the things she never uses, she passed it along to me.

I've drooled over KitchenAid stand mixers for many many years, but could never bring myself to spend the money.  I can't believe I have one in my kitchen.  It's old, it's solid, and it weighs a ton.  Plus, it came with TWO bowls, a splatter shield, and the wire whip, dough hook, and flat paddle attachments!  And a cover, not shown.

Anne, you rock.

Now I want to...



...however, I may wait until it's not 98 degrees out before I turn on the oven.