A new kitchen toy

After relying on arm power for a couple of times, I finally decided to pamper myself with a mixer. After my experience with the Steamed Sponge Cake, any mere thought of having to hand-beat or hand-whisk another bowl of batter really scares me off. Since I intend to embark on a conservative plan to bake at least once in two weeks, it may well be a reasonable investment considering the bargain price I got it for.

A cursory browse in any of the larger electrical stores will boggle your mind with various brands and their myriad of functions. Most of these high-end models will easily set you back by a couple of hundreds or even a thousand dollars. It will be madness for a novice baker like me to go for one of these Rolls-Royce mixers - I can hardly justify the expenditure! Brands like Kitchenaid and Kenwood will sit well in kitchens well-fragranced by the aroma of frequent bakes. My budget will instead be something less than $60, with as many functions as possible and made in an as-reliable-as-possible nation.

It had taken me a few weeks of researching functions and plenty of price checks before I decided on the Philips Handheld Mixer HR1561. However, a quick pop into Best Denki today showed that the Philips Stand Mixer HR1565 was on sale at $62. When I next checked in with my regular electrical appliances supplier, I was offered an even better price than that.

And you know what? The best thing is that in the end, my mixer was gifted to me by my mother :)