Re: Knives
I got hooked on a good knife when my brother started borrowing from his butcher.
The butcher had a service that would replaces all their knives on a weekly basis; my brother made friends and took one of them home. He would simply take the knife back when the sharpening service was to come in and he would get it replaced. Voila! A perfectly sharpened knife all the time.
Eventually I went looking for a good one and found it. I can't remember now what the name is but it works really great.
The blade is wide and long and the whole tool is perfectly weighted so that it slices through the softest tomato and the thickest hunk of meat with the same pressure from my hand. I never get tired no matter how much I have to work.
I see people working with paring knives, struggling with their tasks and wonder why they haven't tried the knives that they see professional chefs using.....