I have both, a basic model Cuisinart made in Japan and a Robot Coupe made in France. Both vintage. Both machines are heavy duty and should be able to handle any duties required in the home. Interestingly the parts from the Cuisinart fit and work on the Robot Coupe but not vise-versa. I suggest that all parts and blades be washed by hand. Do not place these parts in the dishwasher. The heat of the dishwasher drying mode will weaken the plastic of the parts. Also be careful when twisting the lid on and off the bowl to prevent the locking/power engagement pin from breaking. Most importantly DON'T DROP IT! If you have a machine with a malfunctioning locking/power engagement pin you could manually depress the button using a pen or knitting needle. Be careful though as you no longer have the safety measures of the power engagement pin to protect you. The question about 3D printing your own bowl....This is not a viable solution for many reasons including: the plastic used has to be food safe. The bowl needs to be strong enough to handle the torque and stress of day to day use. And the plastic needs to be able to handle heat especially if you use the machine to puree hot items. Finding parts for these machines is difficult. Take good care of them and you should be enjoying your smoothies etc. For many many years. Happy cooking!

I have the new large Zojirushi bread machine and I feel it works great. I'm not much of a bread eater (just don't care for it much, hardly ever eat sandwiches) but I love to bake it and love the smell in the kitchen when I'm making it! So I always ask everyone else's opinion of the bread and I get very enthusiastic responses when I ask about the bread made by my Zojirushi. It makes nice 2 pound horizontal loaves with two paddles for mixing. The bread is a little high but looks fairly "normal". The crust could be a little better, but it is decent. There are a lot of useful cycles, including "Dough Only" and "Sourdough". It will also preheat the ingredients to the proper temperature before starting the bread if you want it to. I find that to be very useful, as I usually store my flour in a very cool place and I can use my water straight out of the tap without worrying about the temperature. I also don't worry about leaving it unattended if I need to go out to the store for something, as it does not "walk" off the counter. It is actually very stable and doesn't move at all, even when kneading. I always felt my old bread machine got awfully hot on the bottom and I wouldn't use it without a tray under it to protect the counter. This one has no such problem. I have never had a problem releasing the bread from the pan. The only downside I can think of is that it is more expensive than any others I have seen. But I guess, in this case anyway, that you get what you pay for! If need be, I wouldn't hesitate to buy another. I wouldn't even consider another brand. Overall, I LOVE this machine, just wish I liked bread just as much!

Well, Glad Paulines made it! My dinner party went GREAT!!! So great in fact, that today DH and I have reversed roles. He was nagging me about making a list of all the kitchen things that still have to be done, and email them to our kitchen guy. (For those that may not have followed all my posts, I am doing the GC of a total house reno, and our kitchen has been one fiasco after another, dealing with a supply company, and DIY most of the work.) HA, usually it is me frustrated with delays and chomping at the bit, and my hubby is "Alan is doing his best, don't bug him...". Today I am so mellow, even DH harping can't get me down! And that was entertaining in a LR with plywood floors, no granite on the pony wall, and drywall sheets leaning against the fireplace 'hole'. But to me, with ALL the walls painted, (we were still applying the final coat late Sat afternoon!), and all the mess cleaned up, furniture polished and drywall dust vanquished, I felt like I was in Shangrila! But kitchen (even though not 100% done), was the shining star, and it was so much FUN!!! I am so excited about this new phase of our lives, sharing meals with friends and family is going to be so much better! (And our house has always been the 'place' to host parties, but usually in summer, cuz I have a pretty fabulous garden and a huge deck) Sorry for the gushing- but it's such a neat feeling to have all the planning and work come to fruition. Feel kinda bad that it was still a shambles when kids were home for Christmas.

As usual, I find Rachelellen's post full of wisdom. It gives me some of the guidance I want. Cooking the same cuisine (not the same dishes) for one week straight would be no hardship at all for me. When I returned from a one week trip to Italy I cooked nothing but northern Italian food for at least three weeks. There was nothing monotonous about it. That experience has faded. I need another trip to Italy for a refresher course. I don't see the need to limit the experiment to a single cookbook, although that could be an effective way to do it, given the right book. Books I would recommend are: Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji The Key to Chinese Cooking by Irene Kuo Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni The Cuisines of Mexico by Diana Kennedy These books are similar in approach and format although about different cuisines and by different authors. They provide a solid foundation for cooking each cuisine. Again, I say that switching to another ethnic cuisine for an extended period of time is a fine idea. Those for whom that is their native cuisine eat it daily year after year don't they? Jim