Songbird says at RevGals today: In a minor domestic crisis, my food processor, or more precisely the part you use for almost everything for which I use a food processor, picked the eve of the festive season of the year to give up the ghost. A crack in the lid expanded such that a batch of squash soup had to be liberated via that column shaped thing that sticks up on top.
Can you tell this is not my area of strength?
Next week, I'm hosting Thanksgiving. I need your help. Please answer the following kitchen-related questions:
1) Do you have a food processor? Can you recommend it? Which is to say, do you actually use it? I have one that I bought a few years ago, when I got all jazzed on the idea of Once A Month Cooking. Yeah, right. So, I have the food processor and I almost never use it. I'm terrified of it.
2) And if so, do you use the fancy things on it? (Mine came with a mini-blender (used a lot and long ago broken) and these scary disks you used to julienne things (used once).) As noted above...I just don't use it often enough, even for simple things, to feel comfortable with the fancy ones. 
3) Do you use a standing mixer? Or one of the hand-held varieties? Hand-held. I've never owned a standing mixer!
(And isn't that color delightfully retro?) Yes, I LOOOVE it.
4) How about a blender? Do you have one? Use it much? Yes, but use it infrequently. It's Ken's from before we were married, and not young, but sturdy and it does all that I need in terms of smoothies, blending soup ingredients to cream them, etc.
5) Finally, what old-fashioned, non-electric kitchen tool do you enjoy using the most? Hmm. That's a toss-up between a whisk, an egg beater, and my little OxO mini chopper.
It is the usefullest thing I ever had!!!
Bonus: Is there a kitchen appliance or utensil you ONLY use at Thanksgiving or some other holiday? If so, what is it? Cookie cutters, to make gingerbread for Lessons and Carols after-party. Lorna at See-Through Faith sent me some wonderful traditional Finnish ones a few years ago and I love them!
