For the last 16 years that we’ve been together, there are a few items that still have made it through the entire decade and half relationship. Our photo albums documenting our mischievous younger days still exist in the back corner of our bookshelf. Two fruit trees in pots that started off on our apartment patio balcony have survived 2 major moves are and are currently flourishing in their final garden spot. And then of course, our KitchenAid stand mixer has stood the test of time over all these years through a bazillion dozen batches of cookies, cupcakes, bread and other culinary concoctions.

Our KitchenAid stand mixer is like a part of the family. It’s one of the few kitchen tools that have and will always be, a permanent part of our life. When we were able to save our pennies together, the first thing we did was to outfit our kitchen with the fundamental tools. Yes, we did this before even ever buying a bed. We slept on the floor for the first 3 years together. But that’s another post.

Anyways, back to the kitchen talk…

When we finally grew out of our first black 5 qt. KitchenAid stand mixer because we had more people to feed, we graduated our kitchen to the Professional 6 qt. KitchenAid stand mixer. Back then, it took us 6 months of saving up our tips (from work) to buy the Cadillac of stand mixers. It was like having a trophy sitting on our kitchen counter top and to this day, it still has a permanent spot in the kitchen scene.

Now fast forward many years later, we are now thrilled to be partnering with KitchenAid small appliances in our studio. It’s like a dream to be working with not only with small appliances that we love, but also the people behind KitchenAid are wonderful. 

To be partnering with a brand we love and to know that the people who stand behind the product are amazing is certainly dream come true. Rachel Barbarotta is the KitchenAid Community Manager out of Digitas New York, responsible for managing the brands social media channels as well as working closely with bloggers. Miss Rachel Barbarotta is the rock star behind making all this happen. She’s amazing.

So, we partnered with KitchenAid at our studio to host a lunch to celebrate food and friends. We wanted to not only bring new and familiar bloggers together for an afternoon of community and friendship, but also to share the wonderful new KitchenAid 7-qt. Stand Mixer and 13-Cup Food Processor.

Group shot L-R : Todd, Joy, Cristina, camera shy Diane, Rachel, Alex

To make this afternoon even more fun, we invited dear friends Cristina Ferrare, Alex Thomopoulos and Joy Wilson to share a recipe demo. From Cristina’s book, Big Bowl of Love, Cristina shared her potato plates recipe and her daughter Alex shared a fabulous cucumber and zucchini carpaccio.

Joy Wilson’s  new cookbook was just released the day before (congrats Joy!) and she shared her cupcake recipes, along with her wonderful butter cream frosting and swiss meringue frosting. You must make her frostings and cupcakes. The recipes are wonderful.

We shared a little ourselves with a presentation on our journey through photography, video, storytelling and why there is no such thing as an perfect photograph.

And a celebration of food friends, KitchenAid giveaways, music, and great food wouldn’t be complete without cupcakes which everyone had fun decorating in their own personal style. Lots of sprinkles were included!

Thanks for listening to our KitchenAid stand mixer story. Do you have one to share? would love to hear.

Thank you KitchenAid, Rachel, Cristina, Alex, Joy and the rest of our guests for making this one of the most amazing days of our lives. You all left us energized, inspired and more in love with this wonderful community of online bloggers like never before.

Forever grateful for you all,

diane and todd

It was a crazy fun afternoon that all happened so quickly, we couldn’t absorb it all. Thankfully, some attendees shared their experience on their blogs, so please stop by and give them a visit to find out more about what the day was like! 

Fun album of pictures! ( lots of them, might be very very slow loading.)  *Joy’s Swiss meringue recipe is at bottom  *Photo credit: Anson Cu

day before Cristina and Nancy baked a gazillion cupcakes 

set up, calm before the storm 

Miss Alex kick starts the morning, before she’s had her coffee 

checking in guests & gift bags

morning mingle 

juicing fresh oranges & oro blanco from KitchenAid Citrus Juicer attachment 

pretty people

Todd & Diane present their photo talk on storytelling

 more gorgeous ladies

 glowing beauties 

Cristina gives the first demo to food paparazzi 

Cristina slicing up potatoes for her AMAZING potato plates from her cookbook 

Alex is up next…

…making her stunning cucumber & zucchini carpaccio

Cristina and Alex: mother daughter having fun in the kitchen 

Lunch: exceptionally delicious dishes made by Cristina and Alex 

Joy’s turn! 

Joy shares her stories as she makes swiss meringue frosting 

… and sharing her buttercream frosting recipe too 

… ta da! the money shot… swiss meringue frosting for the camera ready crowd 

naked cupcakes in need of frosting and sprinkle love 

sweet moment: Joy & Cristina signing books for one another. Awww…. 

rock stars 

Let the cupcake party begin

& the crowd goes wild for cupcakes 

nicest people. ever. 

Rachel, Todd & Diane teasing during the KitchenAid giveaways 

The End. Thank you KitchenAid for making this luncheon for making all this fun happen. xoxo 

Joy the Baker's Swiss Meringue Frosting

Total Time: 15 minutes
Recipe from JoytheBaker.com
5 from 1 vote
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Ingredients

  • 4 large egg whites
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup light corn syrup
  • large pinch of salt
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Instructions 

  •  In a large pot, bring about 2 inches of water to a simmer.
  • In a large, heat-proof bowl, whisk together egg whites, sugar, corn syrup and salt.  The mixture will be grainy, because of the sugar.
  • Place bowl over simmering water and whisk as it heats.  The sugar will dissolve after about 5 minutes.  Keep and eye on the mixture, it shouldn’t get warm enough to cook the eggs.  Yucky.
  • Transfer the egg white and sugar mixture to the bowl of an electric stand mixer.  With a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites, on high, until stiff peaks form (about 5 minutes)  The mixture will be fluffy and glossy and look like melted marshmallows.  It’ll be sticky too.  Beat in the vanilla extract last.   Cover, and set aside until ready to frost cupcakes.