Potato Pancakes (A Recipe and a Rant)

Yesterday was one of the many occasions I tried again to use the grating attachment for my Kitchen Aid Mixer. It sucks. There is no way to say this more delicately.
Look at it:
Seems innocent but figure this. The large conical shape sits on the mixer with the wide open side pointing sideways. So you can do the following with your two hands. One, manipulate the speed settings on the mixer. Two, hold a large bowl close to the 'exit' of the grater. Three, push the foodstuff into the grater at the top. Wait. What do you notice? Yes, I have indeed just counted to three. But that's not the only flaw here. The more significant flaw is that the grating or slicing does absolutely not work at all. I have tried nuts, almonds, cucumbers, carrots (my husband does anything for carrot cake), cheese and now potatoes. Half the foodstuff gets stuck in between the housing and the grating tool, and then gets pushed out and the large pieces fall into the bowl with your grated stuff. The mounting and cleaning of this item is also completely awkward.

I am comparing this set-up to my mom's mixer, which is a Braun and much less glamorous than a Kitchen Aid but I am so ready to 'upgrade' to it:

Well, now to the recipe for the potato pancakes:

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lbs potatoes
3 tbsp flour
1 large onion
3 eggs
salt
pepper

Peel and grate the potatoes with the kitchen gadget of your choice. Peel and grate the onion as well. Stir with flour and eggs, salt and pepper to taste. (In my case, I actually used my favorite - the immersion blender - after attempting to grate with the Kitchen Aid, which left chunks, so the resulting mix was rather finely blended). Done. Fry on low heat, very slowly, on both sides in a skillet. Serve with apple sauce (in my case, home canned without sugar). It's one of my favorite meals. My dad serves these with kidneys in beer sauce instead of apple sauce but that's probably pushing it for most people other than me and my dad.