I'm Too Old to Be a Thermominx...

But I can continue to be a Thermobore...

Thermomix (Shutterstock image)

I was thinking recently about what I had missed and was grateful to have back in my life since we came home from Helsinki. And, being the sad person I am, my Thermomix was up there towards the top of my list. For those of you who may not be familiar, a Thermomix, according to the blurb, is a revolutionary kitchen appliance that combines the functions of more than 20 appliances in one: it can chop, beat, mix, whip, grind, knead, mince, grate, juice, blend, heat, stir, steam, and even weigh your food. It’s a kitchen gadget that is not only a food-processor, but one that also cooks, crushes, emulsifies, blends, simmers, grates and mills.

For me, it is the one kitchen appliance that I use all the time that takes the hard work and the necessity to think out of cooking. I find a suitable recipe, add them to my shopping list, follow the instructions on the screen, put in the ingredients, turn the dial ... next, next, next, next ... and – boom! – an edible, and often very tasty dish, is ready. I'm sure that passionate and creative cooks would dismiss it as constraining the chef's individuality and artistry. For anyone like me who likes an easier way to chop an onion finely (put in the onion quartered and turn the dial), to blend a soup (turn the dial), to grate hard cheese (you get the idea by now), it is a gift.

"Life is too short to stuff a mushroom" is a famous catchphrase coined by Shirley Conran in her 1970's bestseller 'Superwoman' and I'm firmly in that camp of time-poor or not-enough-interest-to-spend-time cooks.

Speaking of gifts, I gifted it to myself in a very roundabout way. I had heard about it a numbr of years ago through my friend Laura O'Hagan, a gifted ceramic artist, who used to be an ambassador for Thermoomix in times past. I had heard about its capabilities but could not justify the cost (they are very expensive) with just two of us living in the house. Then, through a strange and convoluted set of events, I came to be in possession of two unwanted VIP tickets for the Taylor Swift concert in Dublin in 2024, and my close friend and distant cousin Anne Hennessy came to be in possession of not one but two Thermomixes. Fair exchange is no robbery and the deal was done.

When the Irish Times columnist Róisín Ingle put a Thermomix to the test, she said if she ever won the Lotto she would buy a Thermomix for each of her siblings. As for me, I'd like to time travel and gift one to my late mother. Cooking for five children in a small back kitchen with a tiny counter space, in between working in the shop and doing the rest of the never-ending housework, must have been an awful chore. Then again, I've been unable to recreate her apple tart or her brown gravy, no matter what recipe I try or fancy gizmo I use.

My Writing Life

It was thrilling to see a wonderful review for 'Love, Lycra and Tattoos' in the Easter edition of the 'Knocklyon News' newsletter. Thank you Mary Stewart Cleary for your kind words.

It was also gratifying to see my local bookshop Book Haven promote my book in their new window display, above a display of Fiona McCann's debut novel 'Love & Other Liabilities' with whom I share a writing table in Writers' Café Atop a Hill on Wednesday mornings.

Another development this week is the news that libraries in Ireland can now purchase and stock my book if there is a demand locally. Be sure to ask in your local library if you have not read it yet!

And, if you live in Galway or Limerick, it is also now in stock in O'Mahony's Booksellers and Kenny's Bookshop.