kitchenaid arrived

Mar.28, 2005　

Finally!!!
I got my lovely Kitchenaid mixing machine today!!!!
Look at the picture!
Isn't it wonderful?! Doesn't it look cool?
I am so sure I will love it more and more every time I use it!!

I have been waiting for it since I made the top bid 10 days ago. ( I bid for it at eBay, the auction site.) Soon after I paid, the seller let me know the tracking number of the shipment. I was checking where the mixer was every day on the Internet and at last the website showed that its status was delivered.
I was waiting all day today but there was no sign of it. Disappointed, I took it for granted. I mean, "It's Canada! That's how guys in Canada do!!"
Listen up, people from Japan. You cannot count on anything or any one in Canada in terms of service either public or commercial. Everything always delays. Things that delivered are sometimes in bad condition. Clothing sold in high-end boutiques sometimes has buttons missing. If you wanna have the faucet fixed because it is leaking, you are going to have to wait for a repair man for at most 6 hours. They would say like, "Will you stay at home from 9 to 3? I will come by between the hours." You can't say "Come on!! Will you PLEASE be A LITTLE more specific???????" because it is Canada. That is how things go.

Anyway,
It was when I started to make dinner putting a hope on tomorrow that the door bell rang. I opened the door and saw an elderly man in glasses standing. Momentarily I thought it was a delivery guy but the man's appearance was far different from the kind. "Are you Yoshi?" the man asked and I said yes. ( 'coz Yoshi is my husband's name.)
This man turned out to be my neighbor across the street.
According to him, the stupid delivery guy left my mixer in a box at the backyard of his without a notice, BY MISTAKE! Can you believe it?? He should have gotten the receiver's sign when leaving a parcel but he didn't!! It would have been OK if at least the box was left at my front door but...
Where the hell did you think you left the box, you moron????? What, are you in the second grade, how could you misread street number 37 as 36? My mixer could have been stolen by anyone, couldn't it?! COULDN'T IT?!?!
--- ... short interval -----
(put myself together...)
... You see? That's what happens in Canada. ( Not everywhere, I guess, though. Especially Toronto?)
Meanwhile, I am so thankful that the elderly man came all the way across the street (grin) and told me. He let me in his backyard to pick it up. Really good guy!!! Thank you so much. I appreciate that!

It's already 9 in the evening, too late to start up baking. I just took the mixing machine out of the box and cleaned it. Mmmm ... how beautiful it looks... I was so stunned. Heh, heh..

つーいーに。
キッチンエイドがやって参りましたー
☆ゃほほ★ぅほほ☆

ぎゃーかっこいー！！！
なんですかこのセクシーなボディラインはー！！！！
(壊れてます。。）

なんかでもね
配達屋のあほたれが、間違えて向かいの家に配達しやがったですよ！
それもそれも
家の人がいないのに勝手に荷物を置き去りに！
どーいうことですかこれはっ！！
幸いにも、お向かいに住むおじちゃんが良い人で、わざわざウチまで知らせにきてくれたですよー。もーめちゃ感謝x２です。
だって、いっこ間違えたら誰かに盗まれてたかもなのに！！
は～＝３
無事で良かった私のまぜ太郎。。（←最悪のネーミングセンス。。）

kitchenaid on the way

Mar.24, 2005

My Kitchenaid mixer is in transit !!!
Right now, it is traveling all the way from North Carolina, US, where the seller is from, to Toronto, Canada.
Sounds like a missing dog walking long way back home for his loved one. ( ME! ) Lovely, isn't it?

Below is its journey until now.


Mar 24, 2005
1:39 P.M. FT. ERIE, ON, CA IMPORT SCAN
7:52 A.M. BUFFALO, NY, US DEPARTURE SCAN
6:11 A.M. BUFFALO, NY, US ARRIVAL SCAN

Mar 23, 2005
5:24 P.M. WEST COLUMBIA, SC, US DEPARTURE SCAN
12:29 P.M.WEST COLUMBIA, SC, US ARRIVAL SCAN
10:50 A.M. SPARTANBURG, SC, US DEPARTURE SCAN
10:37 A.M. SPARTANBURG, SC, US ARRIVAL SCAN
9:22 A.M. CHARLOTTE, NC, US DEPARTURE SCAN

Mar 22, 2005
10:39 P.M.US BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

banana layer cake

Mar.20, 2005

Yoshi is having an around-the-clock meeting right now.
… Oh, yes, I am exaggerating the “around-the-clock” part but it is still true that he is having a long-time meeting. Can you believe that they are stuck in a small class room from 10 a.m. to 1 in the morning next day?

I was going to bake a cake for them but …
I totally forgot it!!!
It couldn’t be helped, you know! I was going to do it on Friday night but I was too excited about going skiing the next day. I fixed the plan and was going to do it after skiing. BUT… I think I was so tired that I totally forgot it.
I was like “Oh, my gosh…!” as Yoshi asked me that if I made the cake this morning.

So.
I baked it this afternoon. I knew it was too late but I already have all the ingredients and nothing else to do.

Take a look at the picture above.(...I will upload later. Sorry!)
It is Banana Layer Cake.
It consists of two materials. Banana cake and German Icing. Banana cake feels like softer version of banana muffins, very rich in sugar, quite heavy, which I don’t like that much. And, what’s German Icing? It is made of coconuts, walnuts, eggs, sugar and evaporated milk. Hmmm …, tasty. I like this cake because of the icing.

Sorry, guys in Yoshi’s group. I will make it up someday. Heh, heh.

バナナレイヤーケーキ作りました
GBCのケーキ教室で習ったレシピです。
中身のバナナケーキは結構しっかりしてて、マフィンぽいですょ。
表面を覆っているのが、ジャーマンアイシング。ココナッツとくるみとエバミルクのペーストで、これがけっこうイケるんですよ～
ちなみに、ジャーマンて名のわりにドイツの発祥ではないらしい。。

bid on Kitchenaid mixer

Mar.19, 2005　　

YES!!! I made it!!!
I finally bid on a stand mixer I have been wanting!!!
YEY!!!!

It has been two weeks since I started to check eBay , America's biggest auction website. What I was hunting for was .... a Kitchenaid stand mixer!!!

As I wrote before, I had never taken part in those kinds of auctions. Bidding was to me just like bungee jumping!! It takes a long time before bungeeing but once you step off the cliff, anything goes.

It took me weeks to bid the first time. I was checking up on a lot of mixers like, how the prices go up. According to my research, The model called Artisan, which I most wanted, is bid off an average of US$160.00-. Setting my maximum bid price around there, I started to bid.

The first one that came in blue, I was outbid. It ended up being sold at US$163-.
The second one that came in white, I was outbid again. It was US$167.50-.
Between the first and second, I checked another one without its picture on the list. It was $149.99-, really a great deal!! No one seemed to be aware of it because of no picture. I mean, THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO BIDDER!! NO COMPETITOR!! It would end a few hours earlier than the second one and, at the moment, I was the high bidder of the second one who bid at the very same price of $149.99-. I had to give it up because I didn't want two mixers if I won the second one, you know. And then, someone outbid me...
Typical mistake, wasn't it?!
I never saw greater deal than that one. I lost the big chance...
Oh, by the way, I was hunting only new ones. Used mixers were cheaper and every seller said "like new" or "has carefully been used" but, ... Who can tell it is true?

And this evening, having learnt some lessons from those mistakes, I finally made it to bid off !!
I won Kitchenaid Artisan 5Qt Tilt-head Mixer White at US$167.50-!!
I have to pay for shipping charge and shipping insurance though, it is still much cheaper than the ones in retail stores. Fortunately, it will be duty free importing from the United States to Canada. I may have to pay GST (national consumption kind of tax) and PST (provincial of it), though.
(referring; Shopping and Shipping Across the Canadian Border)

I am hoping the machine will safely be delivered.
I found the seller reliable from the reviews but I am still a bit worried. The seller seems a tiny little retailer or maybe an individual merchant.

Above all, I am so excited !
I will be able to have the great mixer at last!!!


ついにキッチンエイドを競り落としましたー！！！

アメリカのオークションサイトeBayをチェックし続け数週間、
金額の推移や商品のコンディションをしつこくしつこくチェックし続け、
やっと狙いを絞り、ついに購入に踏み切りましたょー！

金額はこんな感じ↓↓↓
キッチンエイド　$167.50-
送料　　　　　　 $45.00-
輸送保険（？）　 $8.00- 締めて US$220.50- 。。

カナダの税金１５％（国税８％州税７％）かかるけど、それでもトロントのめぼしいどのお店よりも安いと思う。。多分。。
っでもね、同じ品物でもう＄２０－ほど安い商品を見逃したのがちょっとくやしいです；
ま、いいかー。
早く来ないかなー　…てか、ちゃんと送られてくるといいなー（笑；

whole wheat bread 3

Mar. 15, 2005

What I baked this evening was whole wheat bread again.
This is my third time to bake it at home. I think I am getting a hang of it.
I add a pinch of cinnamon and some raisins this time.

According to the recipe, you should dust with bran. I didn't have it for the first two breads so I substituted bread blour. It looked a little ugly.
I finally got some bran from bulkbarn and used it!!

Don't you think it looks fancier?