So, I never followed through with making a blog post. The weekend I had anticipated doing that was spent trying to forecast and keep friends and family save from the tornado outbreak in NW Oklahoma and Kansas on April 14th. We actually had a tornado go through Norman, OK on Friday, April 13th. Luckily no one was severely injured and there were no deaths. But on Saturday, a significant tornado came way too close to one of my dear friend's houses. Luckily instead of trying to prep for the storm and ride it out, she fled the state and went to visit her mom instead. Her husband remained at home, so I kept a watchful eye out. Since then, my weekends have been filled with other things, and this blog continues to be neglected. I had intended writing about the tornado events, but that never happened either. So... onto something current and exciting (for me!).
I got my first Twin Cuisine knife (the 4" parer) way back in October 2005. My hubby (then boyfriend) went against all his upbringing advise to never buy a women kitchen or house things as gifts, and bought me my first professional knife that I had been eying for months. I was ecstatic! I fell in love with it when I first tired it out at a William-Sonoma store. They were surprised I like it with its heft and my little hands, but the grip was so perfect for my hand, and I liked the weight behind it. Even better, hubby liked it too and thought it felt natural and comfortable. A knife we both agree on... SOLD! To boot, I thought the handle was beautiful and unique. I don't care so much for the rivet look.
We were poor college students, so buying a block set was not practical for us at the time. We were also just starting to ease into enjoying cooking and experimenting in the kitchen. I decided to take this new, and very expensive I might add, endeavor to get a complete set slowly. I envisioned buying a new knife or two each year until I had my complete set.
For my birthday in 2007, hubby surprised me with the 7" Hollowed Edge Santoku. Sequels! In 2008, he got me the 6" Chef's. What a nice little tradition we have started here! It was the perfect size to get used to using a chef's knife and the skills needed. Keep in mind, this was my first time to ever use professional knives. It took some time to get used to using less pressure and being mindful of the super sharp blade. I got engaged in 2009 and everything is a blur after that. For some reason hubby stopped buying me knives, but I know he got me other kitchen goodies for my birthdays. With my new skills, I was now ready for a larger chef's knife.
My father-in-law and his wife got me the 8" Chef's knife for either my birthday or Christmas in 2009, with some coaxing from my dear husband of course. My father-in-law didn't believe him at first that I actually wanted a kitchen item for a gift. He then had to make sure I was OK with it after I opened it and called him to thank him. How thoughtful he is!
My brother, was out in the summer of 2011 and was trying to cut something with a thick skin... maybe a tomato? I didn't have any serrated knives in my set. I had been wanting to get one, and had been looking at two different ones. We discussed options (him being a big Wüsthof fan) and he recommended the 4" serrated parer. He surprised me on my birthday in 2011 with that exact knife. My little set was coming right along thanks to all my generous friends and family!
We were all set to host our 2011 2nd Annual Fritchie Thanksgiving, the 2nd Thanksgiving after we got married where we buy a huge 22 lb Turkey! The first year was last minute and went over so well, we decided we are now doing it every year! The first year was kind of a disaster trying to carve the bird with a huge ass chef's knife. I promptly went online and got us the 8" Carving knife at the beginning of November to ensure it's timely delivery. I had my heart set to get the carving set, but soon learned the fork was very difficult to find. I went forward to buy just the carving knife with hopes to find the fork later. The carving knife worked so well and sliced through joints like they were turkey meat, and hugged the curves of the bones to get every bit of meat possible.
My father-in-law was hellbent on finding me the fork for Christmas. He went as far as calling the manufacture, only to find out that it had been discontinued. I supposed they had already discontinued the whole line, but I didn't know that. I randomly keep an eye out for it every once and a while. I had just resigned myself to not having my Twin Cuisine Meat Fork and just buying one from another line.
Earlier this month I took a knife skills class offered by one of the Zwilling J.A. Henckels representatives who has been through culinary school. What a treat! Our local kitchen store that hosted the event didn't have any knives from the Twin Cuisine line. That was where I learned that the Twin Cuisine line had been discontinued.
I've since been trying to decide what knives (that I will actually use) I need to finish out our set and at the same time, not bankrupt us. At the class I learned the uses of a fillet knife and how to use it properly. I hadn't thought of this as a particularly useful knife that I, myself, would use often, but after that class, I changed my mind. Enter my Amazon gift card!
So, my first knife in my quest to finish off our set while we still can is the 8" fillet knife! I guess this means a belated happy birthday to me. It just arrived today, and as my husband would say, "Look at my new stick! {Tweet tweet. Tweet tweet}!"
