Knifes can hurt

So one of the things I have always been curious about is knifes. I love their utility and their beauty. I have a wonderful knife that I purchased several years ago at the Freeport Knife Company. I don't have much info (I am looking into it because I think it is a great knife) about it.

The one thing that has been lacking is my up keep of the knife including my sharpening of it. To rectify this situation I decided to get a sharpening stone to bring my knife back to its former glory. So I stopped into Kiss the Cook and look at what was available. I stood there for awhile looking at the different stones when a helpful staff member started to give me a demonstration on how to sharpen and maintain a knife. His recommendation was on a very reasonable priced stone (I appreciated that he did not try to sell me the highest price item there).

Upon arriving home I decided to start sharpening knives. The first one I tackled was my knife and it took a little bit to get the burrs to form (it had been awhile since I had it sharpened and we do use them a lot). Once the burrs formed on one side it was pretty quick to get the other side to form as well. Then I started to hone the blade and all was going well until I went a little wild with the knife where I almost slit my left wrist.

This action scared Patti quite a bit, I was nonplussed since I had sharpened the knife well enough to cause a very clean (except for the stone grit) wound.

Another skill learned, and a lesson as well (don't go honing a knife like a madman).

The Thesis

Food is life. It can be so much more than that though. It can be an escape, a pleasure, an event or an expression of oneself.

Some might call me a foodie. It has taken me quite a while to decide if i am comfortable with that label. I was first ashamed/embarrassed by it because I felt it had such a negative connotation to it (bourgeois, dilettante, even a stuck up prick). Then I came to my own realization that while some might call it that, or feel that way. I was not that person. I have some expendable income, I like to eat (you don't get this body on grape-nuts and ramen) and I like to drink. I feel I am pretty adventurous when it comes to food and I want to try as many things as possible, because I don't want to miss out on that one thing that might change my life.

So my goal is to document my food and beverage travels (if we had been doing this since 2003 it would be a pretty good documentation of the tri-state area breweries). I also though this want to help improve my cooking skills (while Patti is an amazing cook, I would like to cook for her more often without getting frustrated).

So farewell for today, I have some thoughts about upcoming posts including my fascination with eggs and the different ways to cook them. Technology and cooking and of course beer.