Happy anniversary!

It's been a year and two weeks (been too busy to blog) when a cadaver and I became one: I received its tendon for my left ACL. A year and two weeks ago (give or take a few days), I was in pain, sweating in bed or on the couch with my leg wrapped up in a bandage and forced to move and bend while strapped into a knee bending machine. When not in the machine, I had the brace that took as much time to put on as it did to get dressed. I remember the pain and torture of physical therapy over the past 12 months: being electrocuted to jump start my muscles moving, making a first full revolution on the bike, getting used to putting weight on the injured leg, having my leg forcefully bent to the point of tears, and then all the strength training that made me probably the fittest I've ever been. Throughout the year, I regret not taking pictures of the progression of my knee, from being swollen, atrophied, and stitched-up to having some of the stitches removed, to the swelling decreasing gradually, and then the strengthening.
The one year mark was when I was supposed to stop my thrice-weekly exercises, but in reality I haven't been doing them since my vacation two months ago. I haven't really noticed much difference, but I don't think things will ever be the way they were before the injury. I've come to accept that some days my knee will feel weak, or sore, or achy. I've also accepted that I may never be able to fully kneel and that I can't live my life completely inconsiderate of my injury and rehabilitation. For instance, if I want to go skiing or skating, I really should prep by doing my exercises six weeks prior. I am also much more conscious of my shoes now. Or I am at least conscious of the effect of my shoes -- I still wear "bad" shoes because you really can't just wear sneakers every day and I have yet to find comfortable, supportive shoes that are not sneakers or ugly.

But I am glad that I have the reconstructed ACL because most of the time I don't feel it or think about it. I do wonder, though, if I didn't get injured, would I have a better Wii Fit score, or would I have a better center of balance instead of shifting my weight to the right so much (a flaw that the Wii balance board has pointed out to me)? Or was I always like that, and maybe that's why I got hurt?

Sharp as a razor

My current obsession is my new (and first) Global chef's knife. I've never bought my own knife but I finally decided that you need the right tools for the right job and rather than buying lots of mediocre and inexpensive knives (something Dear has a penchant for), I'll just invest in a few good ones. I spent an inordinate amount of time testing out knives at Sur La Table and questioning the very knowledgeable salesperson. The Global felt very comfortable in my hands and I love how light it is. It is also cheaper than the Shun (my runner up) and the Wusthof, which is also nice, but not as comfortable for me as the Japanese knives.

So far my first "fancy" knife foray has been amazing. I now understand what Alton Brown means when he says you can cut faster depending on what your cutting surface is. I always thought that didn't apply to me because I am slow anyway, but when I used our plastic board (because it fits in the dishwasher), I felt like the board was working against me. I can't wait to try on the composite board.

I have to say that I loved shopping at Sur La Table also. It is to cooking what B&H is to photography. I love that I can get a good chunk of my research done in one place in person, rather than searching through the Internet reading anonymous reviews for which you can't read into whether or not they contain falsities. It is also great to be able to test things out in person too.

The salesperson reiterated a lot of what I've read/heard/watched on TV about knives, but I did learn some new things:
- You need to hone your knife with the steel specific to your knife. Since different companies use different alloys to create their knives, you can't use a steel from another company because that steel will be of a substance complementary to its own knives, which could be damaging/too abrasive to another alloy.
- Global knives are recommended to be honed only with ceramic. There is the option to get the ceramic steel for the same price as the knife, or as the salesperson suggested, to get a Japanese sharpener for half the price and just use the second wheel for honing.
- The harsh chemicals and high temperatures of the dishwasher could alter the chemical composition of knives, hence you should only hand-wash knives.
- The electric knife sharpeners (such as from Chef's Choice, which I had contemplated buying for Dear) can NOT be used with Japanese knives because the angle of the blade is so different between European and Japanese knives. It would be like sticking a different-shaped pencil into a pencil sharpener.
- The salesperson recommended storing knives with magnets because they allow knives to fully air dry and also keep them within easy reach.

On a somewhat related note, I have noticed more fallibility with Alton Brown lately (though he's still one of my favorite food information sources). His knife line with Shun is not all that. I don't see a real need for such a high-angled handle, even if you have large knuckles. Plus it looks weird. And I recently tried out his recipe for vanilla ice cream, which is quite good but still needs tweaking. I find it almost diabetic-coma-inducingly sweet. From the sound of this post, it seems like I'm cooking more. But, I'm really not. I do think I am more inclined to though....