<snort>
What are the odds that I’m old enough to be her father?
I feel like a 20 year old. Problem is I can never find one. 
I thought the gentlemantly thing to do was not try to end up first.
Boy, my head is even more in the gutter today than usually. I’d blame the weather, but it’s snowing.
swampy - you are so sweet to offer but really my dad takes care of it all. He’s an AT&T suit so he just hands me the phone and I say “thank you daddy” and go on my merry way.
So, I am thinking that whoever wants SB#2 is going to have to go through me. I have no SD husbands I he sounds like a good place to start. Now, if you can find me someone that has that accent like Danny on CSI:NY I can start my harem. I’ll be the one standing out front like the little lady in Poltergeist saying “all are welcome! all are welcome!”
Woke up this morning and only got half a mile in before I had to get off the treadmill to keep from hacking up a lung. Aside from the fact that I have been trying to get sick for a couple days last night I smoked and drank bourbon so now I really feel like shit. Oh yeah, I’m supposed to be a grown up and not do that…
soul bro, I’m all on tenter hooks waiting on the knife. I googled the proper hold and came up with this. Oh, and, we’re glad you decided to join us. There’s no fear of being ignored here. 
rebo, don’t feel bad. It sounds like C never bothered to learn any social skills which is probably why he isn’t liked. If he keeps commenting, just tell him it was a private gathering.
I am taking an advanced excel seminar this afternoon. I’ve already attended an intermediate one and have probably forgotten most of the stuff learned and will never use what I’ll learn/forget today, but heck, at least I will “know” what the capabilities are.
Gah, can you believe Murkin Thanksgiving is only two weeks away?? :eek: I have a feeling the holidays are gonna fly by this year.
Tupug
That’s a good demonstration of technique. One word of advice, when you try it, go slow at first. It will feel strange and awkward. That’s normal. You will probably also find yourself forgetting to do it, and having to remind yourself to change your grip. That’s also normal. Give yourself a lot of time to get used to it. I started doing it a couple of years ago; it took probably six months for it to become second nature. During that time, I cut myself a few times, once pretty badly (took off a piece of my left index finger, at an angle across the tip, entering about halfway up the nail, while mincing herbs; parsley, I think), because I was pushing myself to go too fast too soon. It was frustrating; I felt like I had severely backslid in terms of skill and efficiency, and I wanted to revert to my old comfortable grip. I stuck with it, though, and given time, I finally got the hang of it. Expect yourself to follow a similar track; if you’re a B-grade knife user now, plan to feel like a D-grade when you change to the proper grip, and then slowly work your way back up. Sooner or later, you will suddenly realize you’ve surpassed your original level of skill, your speed and efficiency; the new grip will be comfortable and natural, giving you a degree of control you’ll wonder how you ever lived without.
Ditto this. Soul Brother is obviously a good cat and we’re a better place to have him around. 
I’m starting to think that the daily headaches that come on around hour 2 at work are related to my space heater. Too bad the alternative is freezing my buns off.
Hoping to sneak out early today so I can start cooking for my Big Weekend. Looking forward to having everyone over.
Should start Xmas shopping soon, seeing displays in all the stores is making me feel like I’m behind already…
:eek:
Right… I will go slow.
How do you find a good knife/blade sharpener (as in the person who does it), Soul Bro? I’ve never seen signs for anything like that here - I live in the soulless suburbs so it’s not really something you’d expect to find between the McDonald’s and WalMart.
Sounds like an interesting day, bobbio!
I had a good midweek mental health day yesterday. I got up late, had a nice long workout, did some knitting (well mostly spent almost 2 hours untangling my yarn and rerolling it into a nice big non-tangled ball), got a massage, reorganized 2 shelves in the pantry, baked cookies, and made a pork roast, risotto, and broccolini for dinner. Productive, but also relaxing because it was all stuff I wanted to do and I did it at my pace. No rushing around like on work mornings getting ready. I love midweek days off!
ETA: Here’s the recipe I used for making PB cookiesyesterday. They’re flourless so they’re kind of crumbly, but they tasted *really *good!
Rebo, intrusive co-worker C is totally in the wrong; he shouldn’t have let you know that he’d overheard the conversation even though it’s practically impossible not to. I’ve got several co-workers in nearby cubes, btw, who jump into what should be private conversations and it irks the hell out of me. Talk about intrusive not to mention totally rude! And please forgive me for mis-spelling your name yesterday. I didn’t preview the post or I would have noticed that a p had slipped into the place of the o. 
If anyone needs me, I’ll be asleep under my desk. Can’t seem to adjust to the stoopit time change this year… grrrr.
I’ve had minor SAD symptoms in the past, but it looks like this year I may be in for a full-blown case. I really don’t want to resort to drugs to deal with it - has anyone had any experience using alternative solutions like sun lamps or the like?
rebo, I wouldn’t be worried about his hurt feelings if I were you. C was rude and it bit him in the bum… his problem, not yours.
Cervaise, :eek:. I was thinking of taking a knife-skills course offered by the local culinary college as part of their part-time studies program, but I’m rethinking it now… I’m something of an injury-prone klutz, so knowing me, I’d probably amputate a finger instead of just taking off a piece. Gulp.
ETA: taxi, I don’t know if there are any kitchen supply stores in your area, but the one near us has a knife sharpening service - we just drop off our knives at the store and they call us back for pickup (usually a couple of days later - they do the sharpening once a week). Most of the other kitchen stores I frequent seem to have similar services available, but it might be a Toronto thing.
Hmmm… Die from carbon monoxide or shiver? Tough choice. Of course, if it’s an electric heater, there wouldn’t be any carbon monoxide, but thinking of next month’s electric bill could cause headaches.
Are there any butchers in the area? Supermarkets with in-store meat cutters? Ask them, and they’ll either say that they do their own, or they’ll tell you that “Joe” comes around every other week. If you’re a regular customer, they might even say “Bring 'em in next time you’re here.”
Around here, Raleys and Nob Hill stores offer free sharpening. From what I’ve seen, they’re not professional sharpeners, but they do a decent job.
Minor update on the achy-breaky back. My doc is fit to be tied that physical therapy is booked up into mid-December and beyond. He alluded to how it alsmost seems intentional that the PT places are understaffed to cause a backlog and entice people to give up and go away. We’re not going away, and next week, I’ve got an appointment with a specialist.
Come down to Pirateville on a Friday night. You’ll have to peel them off like pants. Of course they’ll all be sloppy drunk, but you know what they say about beggars and choosers.
d&r
Cervaise, great advice. The new grip will feel funny for a little minute. But Tupug and Mahna, please don’t worry too much. Your chances of cutting yourself will rapidly diminish. Holding the knife properly will give you a lot more control over the blade. The blade will not wobble anymore, and so you will in all likelihood cut yourself less.
Also, you are much more likely to cut yourself with a dull blade than with a sharp one. Dull blades can and will slip off cutting surfaces instead of cutting into them.
That said, there certainly is a greater danger of cutting yourself at the beginning, as Cervaise stated. This is largely because your new knife is a perfect machine. The weight, the balance and the sharpness will all combine and make the blade go further, sometimes much further, into whatever you are cutting than you are used to. Sometimes straight through the sucker into yer fingers.
That is why a knife skills class is a great idea, Mahna. Not only will you learn how to use a good sharp chef’s knife, you will also learn the right way to use your non-knife-holding hand so as to keep your fingers out the way. Just as big a part of knife skills as using the knife itself. I’m guessing that there are interweb viddys that cover that aspect as well.
Taxi, some great ideas have already been given. Also check the Yellow Pages, especially for barber supply stores. The guys that do lawnmowers and stuff sometimes aren’t the best for kitchen knives. But there very well could be a cutlery sharpening person around. I would ask around if possible. About half of the people I have taken my knives to have screwed them up but good. Best to ask around.
Soapy, I’m from Old Lyme by way of Colchester. Coupla CT Yankees we are. Middletown and Old Lyme share one very great thing–Vecchito’s Italian Ice! Is the Middletown shop still going? Vecchito’s usta drive up to the town beach in the summer. Blew the Good Humor man outta the water…
Lemon ice in a paper cup. We would pop the cup in our mouths and chew the last bit of flavor out of it. I can still taste the sand and salt stuck to the outside of the cup.
Have you ever been to Jerry’s Pizza? Or Rourke’s? Two places I have learned about through Roadfood well after leaving CT and have always wanted to visit. Screw the California chow. I think New England food is way better. Corn, apples, tomatoes, PIZZA, CLAMS… I could go on indefinitely. So many of the simple foods are better in New England.
And thanks again to everybody for the warm welcome. I can talk all day about eating, cooking recipes, and often do.
Neighbor!!!
We just came back from O’Rourkes for lunch an hour ago!!! We go for brunch on Sunday’s all the time and wait in the long line outside for our turn.
I love Jerry’s and they just opened one on our side of town. My kids get their lunch from Jerry’s on Thursdays- it’s delivered to the school as a PTA fundraiser.
Love Vecchitos. Two of the kids were on my son’s soccer team so their parents would bring ices to games. I had no idea they drove it down to Old Lyme. We are big fans of Rocky Neck State Park, so we head down your way a lot!
BTW- I’m in love with those oatmeal cookies. Hvae you ever made them with all or part brown sugar?
Where in CA are you? We lived north of San Diego briefly in the late '90s.
CT food- the only REAL lobster roll. No nasty lobster salad, but huge chunks of lobster slathered in butter on a New England split hot roll, toasted. That’s CT food!
Wow. Howdy!
I’d need that advantage.
:mumbles something about not getting laid in a monkey whorehouse even with a bag of bananas:
Thanks. 
Seconding this. And expanding on a couple of points.
Re the first paragraph: A large, heavy knife will wobble more than a small knife if it is held and used incorrectly; but it will wobble less than a small knife if held and used properly. It seems counterintuitive, but I have a lot more control over my big ten-incher (get your minds out of the gutter, people) in most applications than I would with a paring knife in the same situations. I can do very fast and delicate things with that big-ass blade, holding it correctly, and the weight is a big part of it. I learned the correct grip on an eight-inch knife, and I found it worked even better on the ten-incher. Again, counterintuitive, until you actually feel the difference in your hand.
Similarly, it seems counterintuitive, but a sharp blade is safer than a dull one. With experience, you know exactly what a sharp blade will do, and where it will go. A dull blade, by contrast, is completely unpredictable no matter how skilled or experienced you might be. Several months ago, I rented a beach house on a Caribbean vacation; I considered packing a knife, as usual, but assumed that what would be in the kitchen would be acceptable. As it turns out, most of the homeowner’s blades were barely sharper than a butter knife, and I felt like I was playing Russian roulette every time I picked one up. I’m about to go on vacation again, in a place with a kitchenette, and I will be packing at least one of my good knives on the trip. Not my very best knife (linked above) because I don’t want it to be stolen, but even my middling knives are all kept razor-sharp.
Oh, and one more thing, on the subject of cutting yourself: Even the most experienced cooks dig the blade into themselves on a regular basis. Watch Iron Chef and pay attention to the bandages that appear on everybody’s fingers over the course of the show, usually without any discussion. It’s normal and natural; if you ever talk to a professional chef, ask to see his hands, and look for the scars. Not just cuts, but burns, scrapes, and maybe the occasional claw mark from a crustacean that didn’t want to get eaten. I nick myself pretty regularly; I only mentioned it above because the frequency increased while I was learning the new grip. The rate has gone back down, and actually has decreased below the pre-new-grip level. So don’t fret; it’s normal and expected, and after the adjustment period, you’ll be working not just more efficiently but also more safely.
Me too. Obviously.
Thanks, **Muppet **, gotti, and SoulBro for ideas on finding knife sharpening. I’ll have to check those places out. My knives could really use sharpening. I think the last time I had it done was at least a year before I moved, and I’ve been here almost 2 1/2 years! :eek:
Oops. I do that sometimes. :o But I always say something like “Sorry for eavesdropping” and I only do it when I have something useful to add. (Like if person A is asking person B how to do something on our system and person B doesn’t know, I may jump in and answer the question.) I’d never to invite myself to someone else’s lunch!
Well, I can’t speak for the other ladies, but as a newbie, I think eight inches is more than enough, and I intend to practice that grip until I’m great at it.
Wah!! 
It’s different when it’s about work! That’s perfectly acceptable to me. It’s the private stuff, like commenting on what you were saying to your husband on the phone or something. Yeah, he does that. :mad: Thanks for all the support, you guys!