Hubby loves potato pancakes and also cole slaw & carrot salad. I used my Cuisinart for 25 years, nearly every night, for shredding and it was great. After it broke, I ended up replacing it with a KitchenAid FP, which I also love. It is an 11-cup model AND features a mini-processor inside of the regular one. So, unlike Cuisinart, which would require that you purchase a separate machine for mini-size work, such as chopping garlic and the like, mine was an all-in-one deal. It is hard to describe, so you should do a Google search and take a look at some pics. We have been very happy with it and like the others, I use it and then throw it in the DW. L

I don't have any but my daughter has a "Fat Daddio" hard anodized bread pan that's really nice. I like it because it doesn't have inside seams to catch bits of dough or cause things to stick and they come in several sizes. Norpro makes a stainless steel pan and USA Pans makes a silicone plated metal pan, supposed to not be harmful but I don't know anyone who has one so I can't tell you how it works. I did have a Pyrex loaf pan but I didn't like it, the darned thing stuck like crazy every time and the crust doesn't brown nicely. I know that was warned of on one of the on-line sites, probably The Fresh Loaf. A two pound loaf usually uses a 9X5 pan. Now, I know 9x5 should be just that, but there are differences of up to 1/4 inch in pans, so some are bigger, some are smaller. My KitchenAid 9X5 pans are actually 9 1/4 x 5 1/8. A pound and a half loaf is the 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch size, usually. I have KitchenAid pans and I like them, but they are non-stick. Annie

Last week while shredding yellow squash for kugel, my 1980's Cuisinart that I got second hand from my mom, kinda broke. The shaft cracked and now the shredding disk tube cracked too. I don't think I can replace the shaft, I can't see any way to detach it. I really hate the idea of replacing this thing. Newer appliances are even shoddier, IMHO, if that is possible. My newer Cuisinart blender/small food processor is almost completely broken up, the plastic on the bottom of the bowl broke so it doesn't lock in place, and the feeding tube is cracked. It's a different kind of plastic from the older Cuisinart one, more brittle. I use the Cuisinart basically to do things that calls for large batches--like shredding cheese, chopping nuts, making bread crumbs, pie crust, chopping up parsley to freeze, pesto and other herb pastes, hummus. I have never been able to finagle coleslaw.

The coffee decided to escape from the pot at some point this morning, and what a mess we awoke to! DH always makes the coffee at night, and the pot is automatically set to come on and brew shortly before 5:30 a.m. Not sure what happened (I have my suspicions that the previous grounds might not have been emptied before adding the new grounds, although I don't think DH would ever admit as much), but it was EVERYWHERE: All over the countertop, in the top drawers, dripped down the drawers and cabinets below them, in the bottom cabinets, all over the floor. It had even managed to swim underneath the drawer liners. UGH! Not a welcoming sight, first thing in the morning. To add insult to injury, I can now see two faint lines of coffee stain running down the front of one drawer (cabinets are white, of course), and although I tried lightly scrubbing to remove it, it won't budge. Guess I'll have to break out the touch up paint -- although I'm not even sure that what we have will match, as I think the sheen is different.