Charlie the Cockatoo and the Thermomix

Well, there is really no connection between Charlie the cockatoo and a Thermomix but I wanted to show you a photo of Charlie who was given to me by my family for Mother's Day while I was in Mt.Isa and I also wanted to share about the new Thermomix my girl has bought as you may not know much about these machines. I know I didn't before last week.

Hopefully Charlie will fit in alright and not scare the resident cockatoos too much. Then again, it would be good if he did chase away the ones that eat the macadamia nuts as they make such a mess. I am always slipping on the nuts that fall on the pathway. For Mother's Day I was also given a lovely box with cups and saucers inside as my girl knows I like them to drink my coffee and tea.

 

 Now onto the Thermomix ...the first time I heard about these machines was when I had boarded a QANTAS plane around the same time as now a couple of years ago and was putting my hand luggage into the compartment above the seats. It was a tad heavy and I mentioned to the flight attendant that my daughter had given me a pasta maker for Mother's Day and she said that the other flight attendant had just bought a Thermomix and how great it was. She also mentioned that it cost over $1000 which I thought was an incredibly expensive price for an appliance. Little did I realise that they actually cost over $2000. So I was a little surprised when my girl said she was buying one.

I really didn't know much about them although I had heard that they replace most of the other appliances that are used in the kitchen. I was concerned about how safe they are as there are so many dodgy brands of appliances around these days and when I heard that it was German technology I was assured that it was indeed a good quality machine. The consultant was due to bring the Thermomix around while I was visiting in Mt.Isa and I was quite keen to meet her as it was Sharon who was known as Shaz on the My Kitchen Rules show on which she cooked up a storm with her cousin Jac who owns a fashion boutique in town.

As it turned out I took my little grandson outside while Sharon demonstrated how to cook some stock in the Thermomix but I was able to watch through the window at times. She is a very nice person and a great demonstrator as you can imagine. She explained how the machine works and it is quite interesting technology.

When you buy this latest version it comes with The Basic Cook Book which is a hard copy. 

The recipes in the book are also on a recipe chip ....

...which fits into this slot on the side of the machine. There is a digital touch screen on the front and when you choose the recipe you want to use it takes you through the steps and you just have to put in the ingredients and click 'next'. There are also inbuilt scales. Quite amazing really!

If you are interested there is a short demo of how the Thermomix works in this video. 

 

This is the machine in action while my daughter was cooking meatballs with sauce. The meatballs were in the Veroma on top of the mixing bowl which is very securely locked on. There is information about this newer model here.

I think this is the screen that comes up when the meal is finished and ready to be served. 

Apparently there is a bit of controversy about using a Thermomix because of the cost I guess and I think that if you are wanting to learn how to cook it isn't the best machine to start off with but for busy mums who need to get a meal cooked quickly and who might be tempted to buy takeaway or warm up some pre-packaged meals for their family, this would be a great help if they could afford it. 

In Rhonda's weekend reading last week there was a link to an article about injuries that have been caused in the past by older models which may account for the pages and pages of warnings in the instruction manual featured in the second photo.  Before reading the article I was wondering why there were so many warning but I think that if you follow the instructions you should be fine. There was a problem with the way the lid was locking on in an earlier model I believe but it was recalled. 

So there you have it...a little explanation about the Thermomix if you don't know anything about them. It is not something I would personally buy especially at my stage in life but I can see the benefits for busy people who want to cook up a meal quickly for dinner or make some sorbet for the children after school and so on. Plus there isn't as much to wash up afterwards which comes in handy if you don't have anyone to help with that and you are just exhausted at the end of the day. 

I am off to our Tunisian crochet workshop tomorrow with our Simple Living Toowoomba group so I am looking forward to that. Have a great weekend everyone!