Almost sentimental

While making the delicious fruit and nut snacks there was a lot of blending. Most of it was done in larger food processors but I also had my stick blender with me for some of the smaller jobs. I've had this fella in my collection for years and you could say it is in my inner circle of cooking gadgets. However, in the course of its duty and while under extreme duress it made the ultimate sacrifice.   Its loss was felt not only by me, but over the years it had grown particularly close to a few of the knives and a couple of the spatulas who are pretty inconsolable. Please keep this to yourself though because I haven't told the garlic crusher yet, I just don't have the heart.   However, there's food to prep so we can't sit around moping. The very next day I did my research and went off to find a replacement. If you don't have a stick blender, you don't know what you're missing. Trust me when I tell you that a kitchen isn't complete without one. Or maybe it's more accurate to say a cook is unarmed without one.   You can see the one I bought above and though I obviously recommend it, you may find it a little out of your budget at about seventy quid. If that's the case, here are some criteria which I'd say are absolutely necessary. Firstly, the motor should be at least 600 watts. The bigger the motor, the less strain it's under and therefore there's less chance you'll burn it out by overworking it. Next, I like the shaft to be made of metal instead of plastic because they're more robust and finally, get one with a mini chopper attachment. I'd say that I probably use the mini chopper more than the blender, they are that useful. Mine gets used for everything from salad dressing to hummus to energy balls to pastry.   The one I got is the Kenwood HDP406WH but if you don't want to spend that sort of money you could go for the Bosch MSM6500 (or MSM6700 if you can't find one), which ticks all the boxes and can be found online at a slightly more affordable £40, including delivery. Now there's a new member of my crew I have to go and start making introductions and getting it settled in. I think I'll get it acquainted to the star of yesterday's blog, the ice cream machine. I've a feeling they're going to get on famously.    Kirk out Chefsebastian.com