Sparkling Adventures in Child Neglect: Now with Rats!

[FJismyheadship]

One of my favorite quotes from Dharma and Greg was Dharma telling about how her parents let her choose her own name.

"And when I was two, my name was 'NO!'"

I thought the same thing LOL!

[August]

But authentic sludge!

I don't have dreads. Is the dread authenticity part of the pyramid scheme?

[August]

Well, for example, I can cook an awesome risotto in my thermomix without having to stand there and stir for ages.

Oven baked risotto

I can cook soup from scratch and blend it until it's smooth as a baby's butt without having to get out another machine to do so.

My stick blender was $15 and my soup pot fits a gallon

I can make a perfect white sauce, hollandaise, gravy, whatever, effortlessly.

So can I, with a 50 cent spoon and $20 pot

I can weigh everything right into the thermomix so I don't have to get a bunch of measuring cups and stuff dirty.

Putting a pot on a scale is not hard

It's not like you can't do it in a kitchenaid, microwave and oven, it's more that you no longer *have* to do it in a kitchenaid, microwave and oven because the thermomix has it covered*.

For the low low price of $2000 per machine, and you'd need either four machines or you'd still need your fully equipped kitchen.

One of my favorite things about the thermomix is the one-pot meals you can make. You put ingredients in, push buttons, and 20 minutes later have a delicious pasta dish, or rice, veggies and protein, or a number of other things.

And a knife and a pot can't do that, but better, because you can cut everything a different size. And once you have young children one pot meals go out the window. Besides, rice cooked in the dish is nowhere near as good as seperately

These have been a lifesaver for me and have helped my family to go from eating out frequently to eating out once a month. It's about as close to a food replicator as I have ever seen. lol

So, you're saying you never knew how to cook, and were forced to learn to justify the $2000 outlay. That's fine, own it. Just don't pretend it's hard to cook a white sauce or gravy

*Ok you still need an oven because although you *can* steam cakes and breads in the thermomix, it probably wouldn't always be your first choice. lol

[Coconut Flan]

Is the website accurate and it's only sold by home demonstration? Wouldn't that be a red flag for ridiculous price mark-up?

[August]

Abigail, a seller also pays for their own in six sales, you do the math, I'm too lazy.

I have a thermomix, and it is awesome. Naan, rice + curry -- you'd make the naan dough first, then you would steam your rice and veggies for the curry, then you'd make sauce for the curry. Or something like that. It's not making them all at once but it does drastically cut back on the amount of time you spend making stuff. I have a breadmaker too, it takes at least 10 minutes to knead bread dough whereas thermomix kneads dough better in 3 minutes. Because we have a thermomix, I'm able to easily make all our bread, butter, mayonnaise, etc. and can whip up a really delicious and healthy meal in less time than it takes to get drive through. And I'm not selling them or anything, they really are just that amazing.

So the rice gets cold sitting there for two hours while the curry cooks? And the naan either overproves or goes cold after cooking? You use it for bread, so what happens if you need to weigh something while the bread's proving? Or grate the cheese while the taco meat's cooking?

The reason you can tell thermomix sellers never cooked before is that a person making a meal doesn't wait until one thing finishes before they start the next. If you're making mac and cheese you could make the white sauce, then grate the cheese, then cook the pasta, then go and brag about how you spent an hour cooking it. A real cook starts the water before chopping the onions, then grates the cheese while the sauce simmers. 20 minutes and you're done. The only things that can reduce cooking times are organisation and a pressure cooker.

I have a question for the Thermomix sellers who've posted. The thermomix talking points are saving time and eating whole foods. However, I can't find any example apart from a stovetop risotto where it saves time, and not a single example of where it makes the food magically healthier than food prepared with a knife/blender/bread machine/pot.

[ohnomoe]

I know a few people who have a thermomix and love it and I have little doubt that it is a useful appliance. It just doesn't seem to fit with the sparkling adventures idea, to me it is a beacon of a fast paced consumerist lifestyle. I get that Lauren is into technology but I would have thought that she'd value the handwork that goes into preparing food and showing food respect. On the other hand, Lauren cooking for her children? Ha! Moving on...

[splork]

I thought the same thing LOL!

I thought of 30 Rock:

Milton: We have a tradition in my family where we let the child name itself.

Avery: Oh, yeah, that’s hippie nonsense.

Jack: Absolutely not.

Milton: Well, suit yourself, but my son Spider-Man turned out just fine.

[FJismyheadship]

Can you cook bacon in a thermomix?

[August]

I know a few people who have a thermomix and love it and I have little doubt that it is a useful appliance. It just doesn't seem to fit with the sparkling adventures idea, to me it is a beacon of a fast paced consumerist lifestyle. I get that Lauren is into technology but I would have thought that she'd value the handwork that goes into preparing food and showing food respect. On the other hand, Lauren cooking for her children? Ha! Moving on...

You'd expect to see it alongside a pizza oven and banana slicer and an abtronic and a pie cooker and a juicer.

[ohnomoe]

You'd expect to see it alongside a pizza oven and banana slicer and an abtronic and a pie cooker and a juicer.

Yes. In a four bedroom three bathroom house with a double lockup garage and pool, in an mid-outer city suburb.

[August]

Yes. In a four bedroom three five bathroom house with a double lockup garage and pool, in an mid-outer city suburb.

FTFY

[Muriel Heslop]

I own a thermomix! I love it. Since I'm not making money off them, I don't feel the need to sell them to anyone. I thought it was too expensive, I thought a cutting board/knife/pot/steamer/oven was just as good. Then I moved to a house with a very small kitchen and guess what I don't have cluttering my cupboards? A mixer, a chopper, a blender, a rice cooker, or any other appliance. That right there is awesome. But aside from the many many many benefits to having the thermomix, (which you learn when you have one or closely observe someone who has one,) I notice that those who are looking down their noses don't own one and haven't tried it. I use mine on average five times daily. It *is* quicker and makes things much easier to process from whole food to meal. I've been cooking for 30 years, and I'm known for being a good cook. So all the ASSumptions about people who can't cook: wrong. You see the thermomixes all the time on Masterchef and some of the other cooking shows. If you can't afford one or don't want one, fine -- your prerogative, but you just make yourself look kind of ignorant by assuming so much about something you haven't had any experience with, and the people who use it.

Can you do what the thermomix does by hand/with 5 other appliances? Sure. You can also mow your lawn with scissors if you want.

[CheeseDeprived]

Is it difficult to convert/adapt regular recipes so they'll work in the Thermomix?

[Muriel Heslop]

Is it difficult to convert/adapt regular recipes so they'll work in the Thermomix?

No, it's so easy my husband can do it. :whistle:

[fancypants]

What a ridiculous bunch of assumptions, my frigging goodness. Oh well, if you want to continue your life with your knife, chopping board, big fat pot and ignorance, go right ahead. I'm sure the person who invented a round wheel had to deal with idiots telling him their square wheel worked just fine.

By the way, as I said, I don't sell thermomixes. They really are just that awesome. Oh and I have 7 children under the age of 12, and we *love* one-pot meals.

[Blahblah]

Holy thread derail Batman.

If anyone still has anything to say about Thermomixes could you please go start a thread in chatter and leave this one for our sparkly friend and her misdemeanors? Thanks.

[Muriel Heslop]

Holy thread derail Batman.

If anyone still has anything to say about Thermomixes could you please go start a thread in chatter and leave this one for our sparkly friend and her misdemeanors? Thanks.

Some of us can't get in chatter and I think derails are allowed. Plus, the whole thing started when someone was laying into Lauren for liking the thermomix, and seriously, for us in Australia, it's a great way to use whole foods, whole grains and save time and money. So....I don't see the problem here.

[Patsy]

Yeah, thread derails are the way at FJ. (One of us, one of us.)

[ladyaudley]

Thermomix: the peanut butter of appliances!

[Arete]

Oh well, if you want to continue your life with your knife, chopping board, big fat pot and ignorance, go right ahead. I'm sure the person who invented a round wheel had to deal with idiots telling him their square wheel worked just fine.

I am so glad I have been enlightened of my ignorance and will jettison my knives, big fat soup pot, and chopping board just as soon as 2000 USD frees up in my budget. :roll:

Seriously, everybody has stuff they can't do without if they do their own cooking, but I'm really having a hard time believing I am holding up the progress of civilization without a Thermomix.

[fancypants]

I'm sure you're not. I just found it pretty amusing/annoying/ridiculous the attitudes and assumptions that were displayed here. Having a thermomix must mean you have a five bathroom house an a penchant for stupid single-use appliances? No one I know who has a thermomix (and I know many) resembles that in any way. I personally had to put my thermomix on a payment plan but I did so because I saw it as an investment. It has since paid for itself several times over. It kind of surprises me when people who seem generally open-minded and intelligent make such uninformed grandiose generalizations about something like this.

My 11yo kid just made us dinner in the thermomix -- creamy tomato fettucine with salami -- because I'm not feeling well. Normally that would make it pizza night. Just saved at least $40.

[miffy]

I'm sure you're not. I just found it pretty amusing/annoying/ridiculous the attitudes and assumptions that were displayed here. Having a thermomix must mean you have a five bathroom house an a penchant for stupid single-use appliances? No one I know who has a thermomix (and I know many) resembles that in any way. I personally had to put my thermomix on a payment plan but I did so because I saw it as an investment. It has since paid for itself several times over. It kind of surprises me when people who seem generally open-minded and intelligent make such uninformed grandiose generalizations about something like this.

My 11yo kid just made us dinner in the thermomix -- creamy tomato fettucine with salami -- because I'm not feeling well. Normally that would make it pizza night. Just saved at least $40.

I think its just because to those of us who haven't used one before it seems like a $2000 food processor. I've got everything from a Kindle to a Nespresso to a Clarisonic, i'm in no place to dismiss the wonders of a Thermomix.

[SiameseIfYouPlease]

Some of us can't get in chatter and I think derails are allowed. Plus, the whole thing started when someone was laying into Lauren for liking the thermomix, and seriously, for us in Australia, it's a great way to use whole foods, whole grains and save time and money. So....I don't see the problem here.

You're terrible Muriel! :wink-kitty:

What do you mean? "for us in Australia" - cos Downunder we don't have knives/blenders/pans/whatever.....I don't doubt the wonders of Teh Thermomix at all, but this Aussie sure can use whole foods and whole grains without it.

[miffy]

but this Aussie sure can use whole foods and whole grains without it.

Only if you wrap your damper dough around a stick & hold it over the fire.......

[fancypants]

Well I could be wrong but I took that as meaning the americans might not get as much out of a thermomix since they don't always seem to prefer eating whole foods and cooking from scratch.