Friday, December 11, 2009

nothing says love like a sharp knife...

to quote deb of smittenkitchen fame (see her kitchen gift guide for the foodie in your life). and indeed, that's what i got for the holidays this year.

it's beyond exciting to have big girl knives. i have never previously had a what anyone could classify as a true kitchen knives. knives i've used in the kitchen - for sure. certainly none of quality or that made my life easier.

the knives i had now... wow, they are a dream. i went to sur la table to hold some knives, because after all the reading about various brands, it's what feels right in your hand... so, i went held knives... wusthoff, henckels, global... but i fell in love with Shun. not only are the blades beautiful (i honestly feel like they should be framed on my wall) but they felt so right to hold.

however, these knives are anything but inexpensive, and so i went home with lots to think about - if i needed a set or if just one really good knife was worth all the others. got home, was talking to tim about them, and it turns out that Kai USA (the distributor of Shun cutlery here in the US) also is home of kershaw knives, which makes some pocket knives tim happens to like. And to top it off they're located in a suburb of portland. so, that's exciting. but then tim tells me they happen to be having they're annual factory sale.

we go.

and well, here's what i came home with...

this is the mini 4inch chef's knife... a fast favorite with tim.

the 5inch utility knife... so far works great for everything...from cutting oranges to cheese.

the hollow-edge 7 inch santoku... now this is destined to become my favorite knife... perfect size for chopping... well just about anything. (i have to learn to keep my fingers out of the way, though...)


10 inch chef's blade - it's a beauty, and i am looking forward to taking some knife skills classes to feel comfortable with it.

9 inch serrated multi-purpose (bread) knife. and wow, it's a different world to have a bread knife that, well, cuts bread. instead of crushing it, like i'm used to.


and the cleaver. while not a very good picture, i actually think this is a beautiful blade, and would totally hang it on my wall.

before you have a heart attack, realize, please that i did not pay anywhere close to MSRP on these. it was the factory sale and things were priced extremely reasonably. which is not to say i didn't spend some money, but i think it was a good investment (and many thanks to mama and tim who contributed heavily to this purchase as my gift this year) and they make me happy!

in case you're wondering, these are the Shun Ken Onion set, which differ in the handles from the normal Shun line. The normal Shun line comes with offset handles for either the right-handed or left-handed user. I handled some of these and they were great. However, the Ken Onion line was on a deeper discount and has ambidextrous handles which is key in a house with different-handed cooks...

and honestly, i don't think the girl in the store was lying when she said they would change my life... as you can imagine, i can't wait to get using these and will chronicle my knife adventures for you in the future!


Wednesday, December 09, 2009

in dreams...

so i've been having kind of weird dreams recently. weird in a random mundane sort of way. they're all kind of real, me doing everyday things or with people i know. nothing fantastic or crazy, but weird in the little details.

for instance, i realized this morning, that i've now had this part of a dream several times. it's me taking out my contact lenses and putting them in a contact case (i know, fascinating - why is this even worth writing about?), except when i'm taking them out - i take out 3 lenses every time. i see them clearly in the case. in my dream this does not strike me as odd, however as i was putting my lenses in this morning i found myself looking for the 3rd one...

not that i have any idea where it was supposed to go.

thoughts?