I've been using a hand blender for literally decades and woe is me if it breaks! I go into a dither looking for another one so now I've started buying 2 at a time because I use it so much. Works wonders on all sorts of soups: lentil, onion, potato... Scrambled eggs? takes 5 seconds (okay maybe 8 seconds). One of the most useful items ever invented. And a snap to clean! Just stick it in hot soapy water, run the thing like you were making something and it's clean.

Anna,

Your new immersion blender is also useful when making batters, particularly cakes. The batter needs to be on the runny side rather than stiff. I bought one a couple of years ago and use it a great deal. I have a recipe for a Chocolate Rum Bundt Cake which is very runny. I found that the flour did not mix in well until I use the immersion blender. Makes it easy to get dry ingredients into the liquid very easy.

Sheila

I got talked into buying an immersion blender early last year. Why oh why did I wait so long?! Pea soup, protein smoothies, scrambled eggs, pesto you name it. There is dust building up on my old blender and food processor. Virtually no storage space required and clean up in ridiculously easy. Glad you are enjoying yours.

We have used an immersion blender for years and years; we are on our second one these days. We love it for fruit/yogurt smoothies, milk shakes, soups, sauces, etc. I don't use it for scrambling eggs unless I'm doing a ton of eggs at once. It's perfect for crepe batter though. And when a soup recipe calls for pureeing a cup of the veggies to thicken the soup, I laugh an evil laugh and just zizz it with the Boat Motor for a second or two in the pot and I figure it's about the same thing. It actually never occurred to me to blend basil into tomato soup though! Thanks for the tip.