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....

Groceries

OK, so we're probably the only New Yorkers who've never tried FreshDirect before. I have a thing about it being environmentally unsound (every little thing packed neatly in cardboard boxes with lots of packing material to protect it from damage). But with my laziness, I probably would have gone that route long ago if Dear didn't have a thing about touching the food before he buys it. I think he also enjoys food shopping, seeing all the things in person, thinking of the meal possibilities, comparing items. And checking out the weekly ads for each market (Stop N-Shop, Pathmark, Waldbaums, Key Food) is like a sport for him. Like his parents, they spend hours looking at each ad, circling items of interest (even if they have little intention of buying the item). When we were dating, he'd seem distracted on the phone and I'd ask him what he was doing. His response: I'm reading [with the unspoken implication of "I'm really reading the fine print found in the ads"]. And of course, every supermarket ad whore knows that the markets in Manhattan have different items in their circular than the ones in the outer boroughs so somehow or other his father would go to the Pathmark near his workplace to pick one up every week. This obsessive behavior leads his mother to tease his father by calling the ads "his girlfriend" since he spends so much time with these printed materials. Not that she is removed from this obsession. Every Saturday morning used to be this uninterrupted time of "relaxation" where the ads would be passed from one family member to the next. I admit, I too fell victim to this on occasion (it's a great time suck, much like surfing the 'Net) but I usually only look through the ones for stores that I know I will visit and I also prefer the more organized and pretty circulars (such as Target). (Un)fortunately, this activity has slowed a little since our building absconds all the delivered ads before tenants can get to them (they think it looks uncivilized or some snobby thing like that). So Dear has had to resort to viewing the ads online, even though "it's just not the same." I prefer this method better though since he's forced to make a list and I don't have to shuffle through all the pages to remember what to get.

Anyway, this post has totally not turned out the way I thought because I really wanted to find out options for carrying groceries (not a worry for you FreshDirect folks). We recently decided to do the environment a favor by bringing along a few canvas bags with us (plus we have overflowing bags of plastic bags and don't need anymore). I think it works out pretty well except for when we have really heavy stuff (or we forget the bags at home). It is especially a pain to get from the car to the apartment. Things can get really heavy and so we also got an old granny cart (that is one piece of equipment that badly needs a re-design) which helps a lot. Unfortunately, even this so-called heavy-duty cart can't stand up to our burdens and it's on its last wheel, so to speak. We also had this portable folding hand truck that didn't last very long:
So, short of getting delivery or a donkey (not that pets are allowed), do we have any other options? How do you transport your groceries?

Floor planning

HGTV's furniture and room planner helped create:
Not sure if our living/dining room really will be laid out like this (don't have the exact dimensions of all our (future and current) furniture but it is much better to think about than the mess of boxes and painting and wallpaper removal supplies we currently have scattered everywhere.