Gifts, part 2

So as you know, I’ve been on this cleanse for the past 11 days which involves 2 liquid meals a day, and one solid meal.  The liquid meals are breakfast and dinner.  I am doing the “book” version of this cleanse rather than the “kit.”  The author, Alejandro Junger, sells a “kit” for $350 that gives you all the powders to make your 2 liquid meals, plus a whole bunch of supplements.

I really didn’t want to go that route, though.  I wanted to do it the old fashioned way and make my own juices and smoothies. That way, I figured, I wouldn’t be dependent on him and his “kit,” and would learn how to eat real food, like a real person, even though it is sometimes inconvenient (not to mention expensive).  ($350 is actually less than I have spent on groceries so far, so the kit is a bargain, if you can believe that.)

I already own a Champion Juicer, which is an amazing machine and I love it.  I swear that thing could juice a 2 x 4.  I also have a fairly decent blender for smoothies, but it was starting to whiz and growl after the second day.  I priced Vita Mix blenders and they started at $350 and went up from there.

$350?? For a blender??  You kidding me?

I put out a query on Twitter asking if anyone had one, and if so, did they recommend it.  I got mixed reviews.  Everyone who had one liked it, but some people said they really didn’t use it that much, and that I would be just as happy with a good blender.

But when I read the online reviews of the Vita Mix, and looked at the videos, then looked at the contents of my fridge and all the good stuff in there that I could really smoothie up if I had one of those puppies, I really wanted one.

But still, the price kept me on the curb.  I decided to limp along with my groaning Oster.  After all, it valiantly  saw me through 2 summers of fresh strawberry daquiries and other assorted high volume blending tasks.

I went over all the pros and cons with G, who is also on the cleanse, and told her of my decision.  She agreed.

Then, the day before my birthday, FedEx delivered a very heavy box.

Yup.  Vita Mix!

This beast makes my Oster look like a kiddie toy.  The motor on this thing!  Holy shit!  And the cannister is twice as big, and it purees and blends really hard things, like nuts.  It can even make ice cream.  The recipe book that came with it is chock full of amazing recipes I can’t play with yet, but once off this cleanse, I am going to be The Queen of Blending.

I can’t believe I am getting all rhapsodic over a blender.  And what is perhaps even more horrifying is that I wanted this blender.  I have always held that to give a woman an appliance as a gift is grounds for divorce, or murder.

Picture it. Christmas morning, husband to wife:

“Here honey, I bought you a Dustbuster!”

Sickening, isn’t it?

(You know that scene in Love, Actually when Emma Thompson gets the CD instead of the bracelet?  Yeah, sickening like that.)

But this Vita Mix was the perfect gift for me this year, my year of vibrant health.

I really don’t need another bracelet.