UPDATE!!!!

We finally got the kitchen replaced by the company that installed it the first time. Let;s say that whoever did the original job is not working there any longer. Anyway, we now have a new set of cupboards, a redone floor and all table-tops reconditioned. Plus the insurance reimbursed us for all broken items. And we have a new, bigger, better and fancier induction cooker!!! All for “free”.

Ok we lost a LOT of un-replaceable stuff, but  we got something back afterall.

Hurray!!!!!

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Hi again and happy new year to all of you.

We ended 2010 with a clogged sewage pipe which caused the cellar to become a nasty “mud bath”. We started 2011 with another catastrophe. It’s January the 7th, morning. The kids are still sleeping and I am rearranging the kitchen, before preparing their breakfast. I decide to store that bottle of wine in the bar shelf, so that all drinks (well, those few bottles I have) are consolidated onto the same place. As soon as I let the bottle touch the shelf, armageddon! The whole thing collapses and crashes to the floor. All 4 of them shelves. CRASH!!!! I ended up trying to hold one of them, while all glass was breaking onto me. I could hear everything crashing and breaking on the floor, and I knew there was absolutely nothing I could do. Just wait for the noise to finish. Hanne came immediately and she saw me, in the corner, holding a collapse shelf with a hand, a glass jar with another, smelling of booze because of a bottle of wine and one of whisky broke and soaked me and bleeding quite a lot from my legs, as several glass objects cut me.

We are still making a list of all the damage, since everything will be covered by the insurance we have. Still, a precious bottle of wine, a cask strength Whisky, a crystal wine decanter, plates, glasses, one of my Global knives, the induction stove, plenty of stuff. DISASTER. Took me the whole day to clean that mess. Especially the floor, that was a mix of wine, whisky, cocoa powder and broken glass. Sweet. Pictures show the mess.

After a long time passing, I finally managed to take care of my knives. they were starting to get dull and almost “dangerous”. It was also getting frustrating as I don’t really like to let my good quality items to get neglected for too long. Not good for them.

I know I never introduced my other knives, but I basically only deal with “Global” blades. I like the design, the shape, the weight distribution, the handle and the sharpness of the blades (when properly maintained). If you want to be a good blade-owner, you need to know how to take care of them and, most especially, how to sharpen. I got a very nice tutorial from my favorite knife shop in Boston, Stoddard’s of Watertown, MA.

First fo all, you’ll need a stone. I prefer to use a wet one instead fo an oil stone. This might be a more expensive stone, but you use water instead of oil and I feel it works better. I got a double sided stone, where one side is a 1000 grit (coarse) and the other is 4000 (fine). Before using it I soak it in water for about 30 minutes. Now, and this is critical for Global knives, remember to always use the same angle when applying the blade to the stone. For normal knives, you would use a large angle, of ~ 30 degrees. Globals have a smaller angle, at about 15 degrees. Screw that and you might compromise your blade.

Well, I was about to start writing about how to do it, but I found this video that makes my life (and yours) easier! Follow the instructions for each side fo the stone, starting with the coarser side. I usually do 15-20 strokes per blade side per stone side. I finish it all with a quick shine-and-polish pass on a 18000 grit steel bar.

Enjoy.

Sharpening Global KNives

Well Christmas is over.

Was a fun two-days session and we had the chance to spend some time with firends and nice food

We had some frinds coming to our place on the 25th and I was eager to host, as it is the only time during the calendar year, were I feel free to use all the nice stuff for the table. We ahve some many wedding gifts that make a difference on a table setting but that we are “ffraid” to use on a daily basis.

I just feel like sharing my “happy” set up with you guys.

The table cloth was all hand made by my mom. Took her ages, but the  cloth and the matching napkins are just “adorable”. The dishes are maybe not the most beautiful ones ever, but they have been in the family for ages, thus they have a very strong sentimental value to me.

Cutlery and glass-ware are all new and “to be handled gently”. I like them a lot and still can’t believe that we got them. Thanks a lot guys!

On a similar note, we had a wee aperitif table set in the living room, so that we could have some prosecco to get the stomac moving I’d like to spend a few words on that tray. It comes from Cairo (Egypt) and it’s a hand made silver and colored glass “snack” serving platter. When we got it, we just could not figure out what it was. After putting all the glass bits in their respective holes in the silver tray, it became quite evident what it was. And we just fell in love with the thing. It’s an extremely simple yet detail-rich platter and you can clearly see that whoever created it, is a real artist. We are very fond of it.

Ok, so this was the setup of our lunch. Now, for what was served (next post).

Cheeriuss!

Let’s start with a description of my kicthen utensils. Any decent kitchen should have good knives. This is for a few very practical reasons:
1 – they are safer to the user: try to use a standard ikea bread knife. Then cut the same loaf with a real knife. See the difference?
2 – they live longer
3 – they keep sharp for a longer time
4 – they usually don’t rust as the crap ones do.

There are several excelent knife brands out there, all good and for all pockets and levels of expertise. The Germans and the japanese appear to be the best blade makers out there. I chose, years ago, a nice compromise between design, balance, makeshift, price and quality. I went (and still go) fro the Japanese Global.

I will start my little “blade” description with the one I prefer, form the ones I own. the Global G-3 carving knife.

This is a great 21 cm long blade, extremely sharp (cut myself a few times by just touching it). It handles great and makes any “roast-cutting” adventure easy as cutting through butter with a warm blade.