kitchen MVPs- knives

my kitchen is not that big, but it functions well and i have everything i need. my absolute kitchen essentials are my chef's knife- a japanese one courtesy of my mommy- a paring knife, a serrated knife, and kitchen shears. i used to have a knife block full of fancy knives until i realized that i never used any of them. so i saved the serrated and paring knives and tossed the rest. my kitchen shears are by far my most used utensil. i also have a whetstone to hone my blades and that will last me into the eternities. i love my bamboo cutting board and have a glass one for when i'm working with raw meat. the glass board is also great when i'm working with puff pastry. i can put it to cool in the fridge and it helps keep my puff pastry cold while i'm rolling it out. this works until i can one day have a marble slab:)

i wasn't always great with a blade. after i cut myself for the umpteenth time, my husband insisted i learn some kitchen safety techniques since i was so terrifying. everything i learned, i learned from the tutorial videos i googled. isn't the internet wonderful?

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/mac-and-cheese-recipe2/how-to-slice-chop-and-mince-0154932.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/knife-basics-0152221.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/how-to-julienne-and-dice-0154931.html

http://allrecipes.com/video/38/how-to-master-basic-knife-skills/detail.aspx

thanks for reading! please post any comments or questions below!

until next post- maggie