LOL! I wish you and all your kitchen helpers a wonderful holiday season. Where would we be without them?

What a wonderful narration!! I can visualize everything. If your knife is anything like mine, it won't hold a snit for long. It will soon be in your hand glibly slicing and chopping.

I feel the same as you, about small appliances, gadgets. Not that I don't have any, but when I've got a knife in my hand, I'm not going to use a garlic crusher, if that's what they're called. I don't own one. Same as that small food chopper advertised years ago. By the time the food gets chopped small enough to fit, they could have all been chopped to begin with by hand.

All the best to you and your family Plllog

"----- I said all I wanted for Christmas was clean underwear, ----"

At first this sounds so funny. Clean underwear, do they also sell not so clean underwear?

Then, I realized that is not so funny. Because in fact, they do sell underwear that's not so clean. As I remember, Macy's was caught selling repackaged underwear which were returned by customers.

Merry Christmas!

dcarch

I love my Oxo garlic press, because hubby can't stand to see a sliver of garlic and it smushes it small enough to not see. I also like my Vidallia chop wizard. None of the other brands and copies, it must be this one.

https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/vidalia-chop-wizard-trade/1014556052?keyword=vidalia-onion-chopper

I am too impatient to chop that small and even, and tend to chop fingers).

Sherry, What do you chop with the Vidalla chop wizard?

Celery and onions mostly with the small cutter. Bell peppers with the larger one, sometimes the small. I have cut carrots with the small one. I cook a lot of Cajun, Italian, and Tex-Mex. Hubby likes it, but doesn't like big chunks of anything. Tomatoes don't work well, it just smashes them. I just used it to cut the celery and onions for the dressing.

One year my bell peppers did really well and I chopped them with the large one, froze on a half sheet, and put in a ziplock. I had peppers until after Christmas!

I will never be America's Next Masterchef, LOL. My knife skills will never get there and that is okay.

LOL, Plllog, my favorite Wusthof knife is the most used utensil in my kitchen.

Jasdip, I don't have a garlic press either, and if I want no chunks or slivers I just use the flat edge of that same knife to smush the garlic into a paste.

None of my appliances were jealous, I don't think. My AllClad saucepan got a workout just from the fudge, and the copper hung around the kitchen and looked pretty, as they are wont to do. The KitchenAid was in charge of the cookies and frosting, the food processor helped out with the cherry shortbread and the cheese thumbprints and Elery's Keurig even got into the act, making hot chocolate and hot cider and chai latte for the kids and Mother. The VitaMix stayed on the shelf and pouted because I hate to clean it, but Makayla wanted to make hot chocolate slushies, so she brought that out.

Even the meat slicer, which only gets occasional use had the pleasure of joining us in the kitchen, slicing 6 pounds of homegrown grassfed tenderloin.

The washer and dryer and the dishwasher never complain about being left out, they get more use than anything except the Wusthof, I think.

As Dishesdone used to say, "Happy Everything to Everyone".

Annie

Oof, I'm relieved not to read that your good knife got chipped or depointed.

DD brought home her good knife, which is a Shun Japanese design damascus blade. Really a lovely knife. Terribly sharp, the kind of sharpness that glides through food. She sharpens it on a waterstone and treats it carefully.

I've been comparing the Shun to my motley assortment of chef's knives, none of which would interest any knife afficionado. For example, if I have to dice two onions, I do one with the Shun and one with my old stained Sabatier.

The comparison doesn't flatter my knives. Compared to DD, I don't have a "good knife", just a bunch of mediocre ones.

But I've stopped reaching for the Shun because it stresses me out. I worry about knocking it off the counter, dropping it, carelessly chipping its edge.

So, dear plllog, take care of your Good Knife and don't drop it!

My daughter started selling Cutco about 20 years ago, so I felt obliged to buy some. They've been great (especially since I got them sharpened), but my hubby has hung on to the first big purchase we made together, a really nice SS knife! This thing is great, but the handle is falling apart, making it dangerous, and frankly, the wooden handle stinks!

Anyone have an idea how to get a handle replaced?

John, my "good" knife isn't anywhere near Shun good and totally replaceable. Most important, my toes are still all there. :)

PART II

There's a twin of my own good knife where I was cooking the actual dinner. I tend to use it because it feels familiar enough, even though I don't really like the angle of the edge they have on it. I think the flipping German knives have twin telepathy or something. The mixer and food processor were gone! They conspired to boot them out of the kitchen and I was way too stressed out to go looking for it. My pumpkin was stringy, so I ended up tearing the fibers by hand. I wasn't trusting that sneaky knife!

Then, we got out a carving knife for the goose. It's a distant cousin to the testy chef's knives but I guess not in the club. The twin knife got mad, and, you guessed it, jumped off the cutting board and onto the floor! I have to admit I was too focus on the obstreperous bird and didn't inspect the edge. Later I did wash it, having forgotten its snit, and I would have noticed if there were nicks. And if the edge needs truing, well the regular cook must know how to fix it.

I never thought they'd get jealous of other knives. It was my chef's knife, last night, that volunteered that I might rather chop the nuts with the spring chopper. :)

I do like some specialized tools, even though I can do just about anything with my chef's knife. The chopper is purpose made for nuts and is so much easier. I'm no good at the smush garlic with the side of the blade thing, though my knife works better for slivers than a garlic mandoline, which inevitably gets bent out of shape. I love a good, heavy garlic press. I can press the garlic right over the pot and let all the juice go right in. I also really like the texture of the garlic. That's not just any press, mind you. It has to be a good one. And I love the chopper. And my strawberry huller. And (hush!) my mandolines. (...and the new food processor...)

Very late to this, but what a wonderful 'story' - thoroughly enjoyable and put a huge smile on my face!

Plllog, try adding a little salt to the garlic when you’re smushing it with the side of the knife. The salt adds some “raspiness” to the process.

Thanks, Colleen. I'll try to remember that tip.