(3:57 PM)
knives
- the knife I grew up with
- the knife I got this fall (handle fits my hand, balanced just right, has a delicate sort of heft, sharp. came with a precise little Japanese paring knife)
- the first knife I dreamed about was a Japanese vegetable knife, which I read about in The Book of Tofu. They are rectangular like a cleaver, but have a blade sized similarly to that of a santoku. This one, "Nakiri Hocho," is just about exactly what I imagined would be perfect—European handle, Japanese blade.
- one of the chefs at work brought this bizzarro knife by Global to a cooking class; it's angular and visually fascinating, though I shy away from metal-handled knives. were I to get a Global knife, I would go for the 5 1/2 inch vegetable knife.
- I have been looking for a simple one-blade pocket knife for a while; this summer I settled on a $1.19 knife with Elvis on the plastic handle: a light, handy little knife. I found my next step up in the MEC catalog last week: the Opinel OP6 (MEC has the OP7 and 8), which has a wood handle which should wear nicely and a carbon steel (rather than stainless steel) blade. It has history, is practical, made in France, and at $9.99 is fucking cheap (you can take it up a notch with the olivewood handled version).
- also, these Japanese garden shears are beautiful (from the same Japanese and German tools site as the vegetable knife above)
(file under shopping)
