Forum Thermomix
Welcoming Center, Management and General Chat => Chit Chat => Topic started by: Deeau on September 28, 2011, 04:11:44 pm
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I have been travelling round the USA for the last 3 weeks and have about a week to go and want to buy some "gadgets" here that we don't get in Australia ( or are much cheaper here ) On my list I have several size cookie scoops and a tortilla press...can you think of any must have that are only avalable in the USA?
Thanks
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There are some specialty whisks available here that I don't think have yet made it to OZ.(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h129/Basenjibabe91/Kitchen%20Essentials/3NewerWhiskscloseup.jpg)
I know some have but there are some silicone ones that haven't made it yet.
I can recommend the "Danish dough whisk" (http://www.amazon.com/Breadtopia-Danish-Dough-Whisk-Large/dp/B002C012OO) for mixing quick breads with as little handling as possible - to keep them from getting tough.
Also very handy for mixing a large batch of dried fruits and nuts together without breaking up the nuts.
I've shown only the Amazon link but they are available in most kitchen gadget stores now I've found them locally at the kitchen outlet store and a kitchen store in the mall.
They come in two sizes and I have both. (http://breadtopia.com/store/danish-dough-whisk.html)
I don't know in which city you will be in, but there are some incredible kitchen stores in most larger cities.
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I have a whisk with the balls on the end (we call it a ball whisk lol) like the one at the bottom of your pic Andie. It is the best whisk I have ever owned and now because I want to buy some more I can't find them there!! :-))
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I'd just keep browsing Deeau and buy anything and everything that you've never seen before. As fundj suggested to Hally who is about to go to Hawaii, a set of US measuring cups and spoons would be very handy if you convert things from US websites. Hope you are having a great time over there.
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Andie you are always a wealth of information and the pics are great as I have rarely seen anything like the whisks displayed in your pic - thank you!!! :) :)
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I have a few weird looking ones. i love the ball one and the baby one
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Welllll......I do have a few more.
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h129/Basenjibabe91/Kitchen%20Essentials/VintageOlderwhisks2.jpg)
The oldest one at the far left is from about 1910, the third one from the 1920s, the ones with blue and red/white handles from the 1930s.
See, I told you I love gadgets.
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Which one do you use the most, andiesenji ?
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Oh gosh Andie, you are truly amazing. :D
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Thank you for sharing with us Andie - you are a star!!!!!! :) :)
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Do you ever get anyone knock on your door Andie and ask to borrow a whisk or a toaster or something ;)
You really have all the utensils and equipment needed to start up a brilliant cook's museum.
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You have an amazing collection. Would love to look through your drawers.
You have all the toys :)
H :)
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Which one do you use the most, andiesenji ?
Since I got the silicone ones, I tend to use them most often for "normal" whisking, but I probably use the Danish dough whisks more than anything else when I am in a baking phase.
I really no longer use the "vintage" ones, although the one 4th from the left was my favorite for beating eggs, especially for scrambled eggs and using it to stir the eggs while cooking, for many years.
I actually have several identical ones because it is such a handy design. Also handy for scooping ravioli gently out of boiling water without breaking the pasta.
The large piano wire balloon whisk is one I use for whipping egg whites by hand when I don't want to use a mixer. With it I can get a particular texture I want for certain applications, a looser, softer meringue that is difficult to achieve with a mixer. I can "feel" when it's time to stop beating.
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Do you ever get anyone knock on your door Andie and ask to borrow a whisk or a toaster or something ;)
You really have all the utensils and equipment needed to start up a brilliant cook's museum.
No, just about everyone who knows me well also knows how I feel about my collectibles. I do lend my newer appliances - the Vita Mix is popular for party prep - but not my vintage ones. Before I moved up here, I used to rent some of my more unique appliances to a film and TV set designer as he insured them and carefully packed and transported them. Two of my fancy coffee brewers were used in The Great Gatsby back in the 1970s but I think those scenes were cut from the final film, I only watched the movie twice and really didn't pay much attention to the background stuff.
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andie your life must have been an amazing journey between all that you have done, those you have met, all the gadgets etc...intrigues me ...such a fascinating life you lead....
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Gosh andiesenji if you ever have an open kitchen please post details here cos I'll be there even though it is half a world away. I remember looking at pics of your gorgeous kitchen, beautiful copper pots and many other interesting bits and pieces that you have posted (the latest being all those whisks). Absolutely fascinating but I wonder how and where you store everything :) :) :)
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that was on another post djinni haha andie stores alot of her kitchen 'tools' in bags hanging from the ceiling in a corridor if i remember behind the kithcen that doesnt get used much
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LOL Frozzie. I must have missed that post coz I'm sure I would have remembered that :) :)
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well they have to be stored somewhere and with all the gadgets andie has im surprised she can move in her house !!
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I've got a really large pantry - used to be part of the old kitchen - and there many things hanging from the ceiling and in the corridor next to it I have bags of stuff hanging on the wall along one side. Keeps things dust-free and easy to find and away from the eyes of casual visitors.
As I sometime do my prep work, measuring of dry ingredients & such, in the pantry for just one batch, for instance, I don't have to move the containers of flour, sugars and such out into the kitchen. So I have extra sets of utensils for measuring, a scale and various mixing tools in there.
When I am working on multiple batches - such as for holiday baking - I have a wheeled cart that I load with the various containers of ingredients and wheel into the kitchen so I can spread out more.
It is easier for me to do all the dry ingredient measuring, for several batches of cookies at the same time, bagging them and putting each, with a printout of the recipe in a jumbo plastic bag.
Then when I am ready to do the baking, I just have to pull out the bag with the recipe and dry ingredients, add the perishables/liquids mix and go on from there. Saves a lot of time and really saves me from making mistakes, leaving out an ingredient, etc.
If I weren't organized, it would be chaos.
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oh it would be nice to do that if only i had the space...even our garage only fits our car and a small too area for DH...one major negative about europe....hard for an aussie girl used to space and plenty of storage area :)
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Thanks for the replies, ( I have only just got back to an internet area ) I will add those things to my list. I am amazed at Andie's whisks, never even seen most of them before. The shopping is great in the USA, will have to have a practice "pack" before I come home to see what else I can fit in.
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lol Deeau i have those often when away and end up spending quite a lot on large parcels being posted back home...im always over limit :)
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Frozzie, we are pretty lucky I am travelling qantas with my husband and two teenage boys, between us we can bring back ( size limited ) about 200 kilos free! I will be making the most of it, we have already bought jackets etc, so cheap, Levis, reeboks etc etc, picked up 2 leather (motor) bike jackets for my husband and I for $75 each!.....maybe all this should go on the shopping thread!
lol.
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Deeau, we have a collection of duffle bags from our trips to the US because every time we go to pack to come back to Australia, we needed more luggage. Duffle bags are good because they are light, and don't use up much of the weight allowance, and good for shoving clothes into. :D Like you we've traveled where it is 4 of us, so we get 2 bags each, and we've come back with 8 bags. Have fun shopping!
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then you are not travellig economy lol...we travel as four generally wich i love because i steel everyoe elses allowance lol...the luggage allowance is less and less but last time we travelled with emirates who have a much higher allowance ...30kgs each eco but really didnt like the airline...we normally travel singapore and its so much better...plus i love that airport but thats to and from oz..other destinations are usually other airlines! DS and I travelled business one trip to oz but honestly cant justify the cost diff :) my kids have been international jetsetters since a very young age :) :)
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I know that situation VERY WELL Sara - in fact I almost get nervous now weighing our bags on internal flights within USA, we have needed to rejig luggage and carry on so many times generally in the midst of half the population. :-[ :-[ :-[
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we have a couple of baggage weights ..one is even a fish weight i think lol..so we can weigh them wherever we are before flights and we send the excess by post or airport courier...depending on the airline and checkin staff and how many are on the flight you can get away with more at times....once with lots of tears etc i got away with a hell of a lot....but only because i was going back home to france..
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Do you travel with 2 passports frozzie ?and what about your kids? All of my kids have 2 passports
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Depends on the destination..in europe no just our french passports or if its an EU country our ID cards but kdis passports as they dont have ID cards yet..but yes we generally travel with two passports..myself and the kids but DH only has one...has to live in oz and a whole lot else for him to have an aussie passport... kids are french born and are aussie by decent...there are advantages to two passports and two homes ;D
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Nope only travelling economy, great luggage allowances.....maybe thats just qantas, we were lucky to buy really really really cheap tickets back in january, have been having a great time a week to go today, am currently inn Colorado Springs and will be cycling down Pikes Peak tomorrow !
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Nope only travelling economy, great luggage allowances.....maybe thats just qantas, we were lucky to buy really really really cheap tickets back in january, have been having a great time a week to go today, am currently inn Colorado Springs and will be cycling down Pikes Peak tomorrow !
how do you get to 200kgs...tahts not possible..the most any airline gives you is 30kgs each plus 7 to 10 kgs hand luggage so add that up and its still no where near 200????? Something we dont know???
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Frozzie, unless luggage requirements have changed economy gets 2 x 23kg bags for AUS/US travel. It used to be 2 x 32kg bags! I think the baggage allowance between Australia and the US is one of the more generous. :)
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i said MOST you will get is 30kgs (that is with emirates) not sure about direction US but your right most are 20-23 and it seems to be going down every year!!...and unless you have some special deal its only one time 23 or there abouts never two lots of weight!??? Maybe US is different that is one destination I havent been to yet! The reason I flew emirates back to oz last trip was because they had by far the most baggage allowance...did not like the airline or airport at all however so doubt i will be flyig them again...dont like qantas at all, korean, air france, british airways etc etc...in general prefer the big asian airlines, however they are not the cheapest :)
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Yep 2 x 23 kg + 7kg hand luggage and there are 4 of us, we came over with suitcases inside suitcases and about 40kg between the 4 of us, so lots of room for stuff to take back ;D Fortunately my kids are teenage boys and bigger/stronger than me so lots of carrying power too!
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damn two lots of 23kgs per person jplus the standard handluggage...53kgs per person ...heaven...we are planning to go to hawaii next year at soome stage so hopefully we can get that kind of baggage...;lucky you as usually that kind of allowance is only allowed for business or first class passangers...never eco...must be the US alone because I have never had that kind of allowance wherever we have travelled .. :)
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We fly Air Asia, they are a budget airline and we buy premium tickets this way we get the room benefits of business class without the expense. My DH is 6 ft 7,I am 5"8 so enjoy the space on long haul flights. Everything including baggage allowance is extra. Haven't found much to buy this time although the homeware shops (Lakeland for eg in UK very tempting). it would be nice to have a 50 kilo allowance though.
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We fly Air Asia, they are a budget airline and we buy premium tickets this way we get the room benefits of business class without the expense. My DH is 6 ft 7,I am 5"8 so enjoy the space on long haul flights. Everything including baggage allowance is extra. Haven't found much to buy this time although the homeware shops (Lakeland for eg in UK very tempting). it would be nice to have a 50 kilo allowance though.
Did you get your parchment cake tin liners at Lakeland Denise ;D
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We fly Air Asia, they are a budget airline and we buy premium tickets this way we get the room benefits of business class without the expense. My DH is 6 ft 7,I am 5"8 so enjoy the space on long haul flights. Everything including baggage allowance is extra. Haven't found much to buy this time although the homeware shops (Lakeland for eg in UK very tempting). it would be nice to have a 50 kilo allowance though.
we would go broke as i always have lots of baggage...most times im well and truly over and i use pretty much everyone elses as well...last time sent two large bags bag via the post and a medium suitcase via courier at the airport on top of all our other baggage...and we were at teh max lol I can travel lightish to a destination but always come back with lots and lots of shopping!! For me business is not just the space but also the service and everything else included...they basically have a restaurant menu and you can have things whenever you want them, they are alot more helpful and nothing is a bother etc etc plus the space and comfort and most being able to lie back like in a recliner...and the list goes on!! Well it is with Singapore airlines because thats the only international airline i have flown business class with.. :)
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Did you get your parchment cake tin liners at Lakeland Denise ;D
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Yes CC, and a nice thin spatula I hope will be good for TMX and a jelly bag for ricotta making and and and !
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We fly emirates because of the baggage allowance. They are fantastic when you are flying to Africa with aid and often provide an aid allowance with no extra charge. I wish other airlines were so generous. We pay huge amounts to get our aid across the Bass Strait to the international airport. >:(
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my opinion was more related to comfort..i didnt like the aircraft even they were the new 780 or whatever its called (theres that memory again lol), the staff werent that great either, the airport was horrible (not much there although paris is much worse ) and the worst i found was the having to travel 15mins standing up on a bus with a heap of handluggage and young kids...my father only has one leg so cant imagine people like him or those with disabiities being ok with that either...the only pro in my opinon is hte baggage allowance which is yes generous compared to other airlines..but again thats my opinion :)
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business class baggage allowance with virgin, to bali is 90kg
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Wow that is amazing!!! :o
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Did you get your parchment cake tin liners at Lakeland Denise ;D
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Yes CC, and a nice thin spatula I hope will be good for TMX and a jelly bag for ricotta making and and and !
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I'm glad to hear that you found what you wanted and a whole lot more ;) ;)
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Bedlam, what is Air Asia like to travel with?
We flew with one of the middle Eastern airlines when we were away earlier this year and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone - on at least two of the long haul legs they ran out of toilet paper and on one of the legs they also ran out of meals. They also did not reserve a vegetarian meal for me or a special meal for DH (who has a strong anaphylactic reaction to pine nuts). It is so hard to get a decent airline these days that doesn't treat you with contempt and pack you in like cattle in economy class. It's also very annoying if you book to fly with one airline which you like, but find yourself on a shared flight with another airline altogether.