my wierd food processor experience

February 1, 2010

I might as well laugh at myself for this story--it just goes to show that I may

have been cooking for a long time, but I still don't know everything!

A few weeks ago, I was out doing some routine shopping in one of those discount

department stores (not a Wal-Mart) and found a display of marked-down (and

relatively inexpensive anyway) small food processors. I didn't have one at the

time; my older daughter had offered me hers, then changed her mind when she

found out how much it would cost to ship it to me--gave it to a friend who was

going vegan instead. I still wanted one anyway.

So, here was this display of nice little processors--yeah, an off-brand that I'd

never heard of before, but who cares, I thought. It was better than just a

" chopper " --it had a slicer and a shredder blade, as well as the nice, sharp

whirly blade that does all the main chopping-mixing stuff. So, I got it.

(Husband said it was a tidbit of " late Christmas " for me and he sprung for the

price of the gadget.)

I took it home and didn't use it right away. Today, I had some cooked black

beans that I wanted to mush up for burritos or something similar, so I got out

the little gadget, wiped it with " warm water and mild soap " , as per

instructions--did NOT set it in the sink...I read ALL the instructions in the

little booklet (or so I thought) and put the thing together, had the beans all

ready, spooned some of the beans into the processor container, closed the top,

plugged it in, and....NOTHING. Tried again--nothing happened still! I was a

little (no, a LOT!) perturbed over this; I could NOT figure out what I might be

doing wrong and it would not start or even sputter for anything!

I dumped my beans into my old, old blender and " did " them that way. I had to

simmer them extra-long to get the added liquid out since my blender won't blend

something that's too dry. I dropped all the external parts to the little food

processor into the dish-pan and just let them sit there most of the day.

(Meanwhile, I called the discount store to tell them I wanted to return a total

dud food processor.)

So, I finally packed all the parts to the appliance into its box, got my receipt

and drove over to the place I'd bought the appliance. The customer service

" associate " was a nice young man who said to just get another processor and I

could exchange it easily. That was fine with me--I still wanted a processor. I

brought one to the exchange desk in its box, but asked the young man to take it

out-- " Test it first, please, so I can know it will work when I get it home. " He

was very willing to oblige.

Guess what! That " exchanged " food processor would NOT work! Neither did the

next one, and the next one after that--nor even did the DISPLAY appliance!

" Aaron " , the customer service associate, dutifully put together THREE food

processors similar to the one I'd returned, and they all were (we thought) total

DUDS!!! Finally, he gave me my purchase price back and I left to do some other

shopping in the store.

A few minutes after I'd left, I heard a page over the P-A system " Would the

customer with the food processor please come to the customer service desk? " I

guessed it meant me, so back I went. There was Aaron with a woman

associate--SHE had figured out that there was a certain little (additional--I

hadn't seen anything about it in the instruction booklet) " safety catch " on the

lid. If the lid were rotated completely so as to fit a little ridge into a

little slot--THEN the machine would engage and the processor would do what it

was supposed to do! There was Aaron, happily pulsing one of the machines he'd

earlier " checked " for me. ALL of them would work if they were set up correctly

with all the slots, catches, and snap-in-spots lined up JUST SO!

I happily gave " Aaron " back the exchange money and took my OWN little food

processor back with me. I had been leery at first because it WAS a little,

inexpensive " off-brand " gizmo. When it hadn't worked, I kind of said, " Well,

maybe that's why it was so CHEAP! "

Now I'm glad I got it--finding out about the safety thingie with the

lid/container that keeps it from starting if it's not completely locked

down--that actually makes me feel it was a good purchase. (I'm looking forward

to using it real soon, maybe on some of the recipes from here!)

That's my story. I gotta laugh at my silliness. Both Aaron and I were so

puzzled; why would a store carry a whole batch of BROKEN appliances? It didn't

make sense--well of course, they WEREN'T broken; we were just putting them

together wrong and they wouldn't run until we got it RIGHT! Ha!

Hope everyone's had a great day today--good night, now!

--Laura B., in Illinois

February 1, 2010

That is a good one, Laura! It is good when we can laugh at ourselves....I

have done it myself a lot more than once.

I have had two other food processors besides the 1970's Cuisinart that I have

now. This one was a $5.00 buy at a local thrift store and boy, what a buy I got

that day! But, both of the other food processors does what this Cuisinart

does....if you don't (and didn't) have the lid locked on just so and correctly,

it just sits there like a muddy thug. If I had not had the other food

processors when I got this Cuisinart, I would have been just as frustrated as

you were. I think that is a safety feature that is built into every food

processors I have seen. I have a food processor attachment for my Bosch

Universal mixer....its lid has to be locked on properly or it won't work either.

I'll tell you, there is ALWAYS something new to learn. I am sure you were so

glad to have it all figured out so you could go home with your food processor.

They are great to have.

Thanks for sharing that......a good tickle at the end of a long day is fun!

Nancy C.

I might as well laugh at myself for this story--it just goes to show that I

may have been cooking for a long time, but I still don't know everything!

A few weeks ago, I was out doing some routine shopping in one of those

discount department stores (not a Wal-Mart) and found a display of marked-down

(and relatively inexpensive anyway) small food processors. I didn't have one at

the time; my older daughter had offered me hers, then changed her mind when she

found out how much it would cost to ship it to me--gave it to a friend who was

going vegan instead. I still wanted one anyway.

So, here was this display of nice little processors--yeah, an off-brand that

I'd never heard of before, but who cares, I thought. It was better than just a