Wow! Lucky you! KitchenAid is expensive. I have a KitchenAid Accolade 400 mixer and I truly love it! All those recipes I have that call for constant hand stirring are now a breeze with this!! I also have a KitchenAid wide mouth food processor and the love affair continues! This was so helpful when I made pickles as it slices them in a matter of seconds! I love this food processor on Thanksgiving and even just for slicing potatoes to fry :) The mixer and food processor are the very best investment I ever made for my kitchen. As my sister said, "Every woman deserves a KitchenAid." Amen!

Congratulations Deanna. Lo-o-o-ve that green! I keep an eye out at KitchenAid's outlet for attachments and such. It's not the only place, but I recently picked up a refurbished bowl for my 6-quart for $19.00. Far better than $60 and who cares if it has a scratch or two since it'll get scratched anyway? (When KitchenAid says "refurbished" it might just mean the box was pierced or a customer might have changed his/her mind. It doesn't always mean "rebuilt.") My last purchase there was a refurbished grinder attachment for $29.00. The prices there aren't always the best, but it's worth keeping a look out. Carol Here is a link that might be useful: KitchenAid Online Store Outlet

Hi Frieda. Without being at all presumptuous it seems to me that you want from an historical novel exactly what I want - a tale well told. A tale that holds together both internally with a consistent voice and externally with some regard to that slipperiest of ideas - historical accuracy. It would be a trifle disingenuous of me to say that I care not a jot for the integrity of the historical framework that underpins a novel. I think I just allow the novelist a little more leeway than you in terms of the elasticity of the "facts" he might cobble his little tale together with. Of course egregious errors in the retelling of indisputable history will bring a novel tumbling down for me as much for you - perhaps we just differ in the definition of "egregious". Further to your dislike of "presentism" I suggest you never pick up Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire . Just finished reading this examination of Spartan society and the Battle of Thermopylae where three hundred plus Spartans plus a few thousand allies held off a Persian army of some hundreds of thousands, inflicting grievous losses and giving Greece time and inspiration to save itself and perhaps western civilization as we know it. Perhaps your mention of your own concept of "presentism" made me hyper aware of any examples in the text but it was riddled with it. Battle plans develop "new wrinkles", soldiers imbibe "snootfulls of wine", are exhorted to "dump 'em but be ready to hump'em" when they rest their shields. Despite speaking in a declamatory and formal style worthy of Homer most of the time and engaging in lengthy, philosophical conversations about the Gods and true meaning of courage, fear, love and warfare the Greeks at various times decide that a priest is "full of s--t", the enemy are a bunch of "d--k strokers" and "a-- f-----s"". In fact the "f" word is dropped so many times at times it reads like a novel of modern army barracks life. Worth reading for the battle scenes alone - I'm a sucker for blood and guts - but nearly ruined as a novel for me by that newly defined mortal sin of historical tomes - "presentism". Thank you Frieda. Larry

My M-i-L watches the TV evangelists-one that she watches enjoyed the movie, becuase "it is all fiction-not one true word in the book or movie-it's a good story, that's all." Another one was highly offended by both the book and the movie. What I find interesting is that in the first book written about the main character, Angels and Demons, the Catholic Church is the innocent victim-in the DaVinci Code she is the perpretator of all nefarious deeds...Brown clearly just wanted to write thrillers, not necessarily attack the church. But we hear little mention of the first book. Mind you, it was as much a strain to the logic as the DVC...how he escapes so many death-assuring situations without super powers boggles the mind.