It's about kitchen appliances. And risotto. Because those are things I like.

So, by some amazing stroke of luck, I got on the invite list to attend a Blogger Ambassador event at the Whirlpool studios in downtown Chicago.  Like, seriously, there were important bloggers there, people who have written books and organized conferences.  And then ... little old me.

Little Old Me was nervous coming in, because that initial moment where you just step in and don't know what to do is awkward.  (No joke, I've also read that it's this sort of awkwardness that causes kids to sometimes cry, run away, or argue at the beginning of a playdate.  Unfortunately I didn't feel any of those options was socially acceptable for me.)

Fortunately the Whirlpool people broke the ice by offering us tours of their clock tower.  Which meant I could make a lame Back to the Future reference about a clock tower, and I'm sure that so dazzled the other bloggers that the ice had instantly been broken!  Or something.

Anyway, I am not as interested in architecture as I am in kitchen appliances, but from what I could gather, the Whirlpool corporation had renovated the clock tower when they moved into the building (which is the Reid Murdoch Building, which also houses Encyclopedia Brittanica.)  Whirlpool was founded in 1911 (hence their big 100th anniversary celebration), and the building was built shortly thereafter, so it was important for the company that the architecture reflect the style of the 1910s.  So you can see in this picture, which is an employee lounge under the clock tower, that they left some of the original brick exposed:

And this is inside the clock tower:

The clock tower floor had an amazing view of the Chicago River:

But finally!  Enough architecture, and onto the appliances.  This here is the very first Kitchen Aid stand mixer, produced in 1919:

The appliances in this next picture reminded me of the ones we had growing up (avocado green!), so my guess is they were from the 1970s era. 

And then we got a brief preview of some of their newer appliances.  This is a really nice slow-cooker that I kind of want:

This next photo shows the newest color of the Kitchen Aid mixer, Raspberry Ice.  (I really think it would make a nice fruit cocktail with my mixer, which is the Boysenberry color.)  The Raspberry Ice color was designed to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the Cook for the Cure Program, Whirlpool's commitment to raising funds for breast cancer research. 

The studio had multiple model kitchens, any of which I might like to have as my real kitchen:

There was another room that modeled the line of garage products.  They make a special refrigerator that is specifically designed to handle the extreme temperatures of a garage, and is energy-efficient.  Also it has a cool garage-style exterior:

After the garage, it was time to eat!  You can imagine that in a studio with state-of-the-art appliances and a fully scientific test kitchen, they weren't just going to bring in the sandwich tray from Subway.  Here's a shot of my meal:

I swore I would be a good Weight Watcher and not have any alcohol.  But then they had a mimosa bar, and one of the options was a blue raspberry flavor.  And you know my drink axiom: "blue is always better."  (That must be why I shoved the drink in front of my meal, instead of to the back right as is customary.) 

And because I know everybody loves multiple pictures of food, here are some close-ups.  Featured here are the macaroni and cheese with brie and bacon (umm, yeah), the risotto, and some items from the cheese/cracker/vegetable plate. 

I had to single out the Caesar salad, because the chef took a brush and painted the dressing on each plate, then on each separate leaf of lettuce:

 This was a turkey panini and the most delicious artichoke bisque (drizzled with olive oil and dehydrated kalamata olives), and also that mimosa again:

As you can see, none of this stuff was Weight Watchers-friendly.  But although the food was very rich, the portions were small, which I think is the principle behind that book French Women Don't Get Fat. (I didn't read it.)  And also, since I know you were concerned, let me note that I took all 49 of my weekly bonus Weight Watcher points for this meal. 

So, now that we were properly sated, we went for the cooking demonstrations.  This first woman had  a fancy computer hooked up to her oven, which showed us the rapid decrease in oven temperature when you open up your oven to put something in it.

 

 

That same woman showed us how cookies turn out when baked on different kinds of cookie sheets (bottom line: a reflective aluminum sheet is the best) and showed us how to clean a ceramic electric range-top stove.  It turns out that (shocker) my methods of spraying the range with Windex and using a metal spatula to scrap off crud are not the best way to clean a ceramic stove.  You are supposed to use a special cleaner designed for that specific type of stove, an abrasive sponge, and then a razor blade scraper where the blade is cut at a 30-degree angle.  (Obviously you should just buy a razor scraper designed specifically for scraping the electric range top.  Nobody's expecting you to bust out a sharpener and a protractor.)

Next we moved on to another demo kitchen, where we learned about induction cooking.  Truthfully, whenever I hear the term induction, I think about inducing labor, so I assumed maybe we might be cooking with Pitocin ... ?  No but really, although I had a vague recollection of my 8th grade science class lesson on different types of energy transfer, I couldn't remember what induction meant.  So I nodded along and smiled, and then later looked it up on Wikipedia.  From what I can gather, induction means that a coil below the surface of the burner generates a current which, while not heat-producing itself, induces heat production in a certain type of pot (a ferromagnetic pot, if you really wanted to know).  You could read the whole Wikipedia entry on induction cooking here, but the upshot is that the surface of your burner will not be hot to the touch when you turn it on.  (If you heat up a pot on an induction burner, the surface of the stove will be hot right after you remove the pot, because the pot will have transferred some heat to the surface.  I know this is way more information than you wanted to know, but I felt the need to provide this warning so nobody gets burned.) 

Induction cooking is also much faster than cooking on electric or gas stoves, like for example you can boil a pot of water 50% faster than on an electric stove.  It is, therefore, much more energy-efficient.  Apparently induction cooking has been all the rage in Europe for years, but it is just not becoming popular in America.  Here's a picture of the demo of the induction stove:

Next we visited the laundry studio, where we met a guy whose job it is to study detergent effectiveness and stain removal.  Also I think maybe he played the dad on Family Matters. 

Bottom line on the laundry demo: I'm doing everything wrong.  I use non-HE detergent with my HE washer, I use too much detergent, and I don't rub in my stain pre-treater before washing.

Following the laundry demo, it was time for that dessert I said I would not eat.  Hahahaha!  Behold, creme brulee, a chocolate-dipped strawberry, and a chocolate-chip cookie:

Before we left, we each got a gift bag containing a rubber spatula, a bottle of appliance cleaner, cleaning wipes for your washing machine (you have to clean a washing machine?), and a wine stopper.  Unfortunately, they didn't give me that washer/dryer to give away on my blog.  (Or, well, they did, but I couldn't carry them on the train.)  But they did give me a cookbook that I'm going to give away!  I'll announce that in a separate post so it stands out more. 

Thanks, Whirlpool Corporation, for a really fun and interesting day!