I made a determined attempt to keep up my flagging spirits, feeling left behind in my inability to secure a vaccination slot, everything here so fully booked with people with higher priority that they're not even taking appointments, and the failure of the Covid relief $$ to show up in my bank account. Deadline now past. IRS says they've finished doing direct deposit. If it doesn't appear, claim it on taxes. Meaning I have to file a tax return, despite being below the income threshold to do so.
So, anyway, I decided that a night of rain is better than a night of ice. And that the trees wearing diamond necklaces are worth noting.
Then, after finally realizing my knives were little better for cutting than chunks of cardboard would be, hauled out the knife sharpener and got to work.
I now have two decently sharpened knives and a resolution to do this more often, despite not liking it. Not a good cook if you don't keep your tools in good trim.
If you're asking why not get a sharpening steel and give the knife a few swipes before use? Or, like my mom, give it a few left and right swipes across the back doorstep? because that takes a skill I don't have, is why. You have to swipe at exactly the right angles on both sides or you knock the edge right back off the blade. And I'm a person who was very challenged trying to keep a violin bow straight on the strings, definitely can't be trusted to work a steel any better.
The point of this sharpener is that it has magnets which place the blade in the right relationship to the sharpening steel inside. And it's designed to make you insert the blade right each time. On the left is a presharpening device, which gets the worse of the blunt off before you proceed to the sharpening on the right, then the honing slots on the far right. For me this works. So I'm hoping for better cutting with fewer curses for the next little while.
It's safer to work with a sharp blade than a blunt one, anyway, because the sharp blade grips and doesn't jump up and bury itself in your hand. True of Xacto blades, too. And ice skates, if it comes to that. Although I was such a timid skater that I would lose my grip before the blades did, but moving along from there.
And another thing to be thankful about is that I have food to cut anyway.
Damn! It's so wrong that you haven't gotten your check and it's so wrong that you haven't gotten a chance at your vaccine. WTH?
ReplyDeleteI admire your attitude and realize that being angry is probably not very helpful but still...
My knives need attention. I HATE a dull knife. I cannot abide one. If there is any tool that I want to be in excellent condition, it's my knives. You are so right about the safety issue. I just don't have a very good method for sharpening them. I need to figure that out.
I keep remembering about the vaccine that the more people get it the safer we all are. And that's more important than the $$ really.
DeleteThat knife sharpener sounds excellent. I would never attempt to sharpen my own knives either -- you're right, it takes expertise to do so. I just use my kitchen knives until they're dull and then buy new ones. Wasteful, I know, but I guess that's me!
ReplyDeleteIf you notice the chef's knife in the picture, you'll realize it's a carbon steel one, expensive and worth sharpening. The wood handled one not so expensive but worth taking care of.
Deletemy knives are in constant need of sharpening, I do have a little knife sharpener which worked good enough, and a steel which I only rarely remember to use. my little knife sharpener only has one slot and it's not electric but I ruined it when I got the great idea to use it to sharpen my cheap dull machete. it didn't make that great a difference to the machete but now if only works half as good as it did.
ReplyDeletethat's a drag that you didn't get your stimulus. we got ours, direct deposit. and how do you take it off your taxes when you don't make enough to pay taxes? that's where we are too.
The vaccine seems to be humming along in our neck of the woods - so far. I do wonder though once they get in the 60's age bracket if the sheer numbers will slow things down. I'm sorry this is proving to be difficult for you. And not getting a stimulus check too?!? Frustrating all the way around.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a deduction. It's a credit. So I can eventually get it. I have a feeling that it's yet another blue state penalty. We're starved of vaccine, and the PPE, home sewers literally making gowns and masks for medics, we were hit with the property tax deduction removal by trump's design, our infrastructure grants have been held up for four years. We are experiencing trump's vindictiveness first hand.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait till Biden's (safely) in power.
I remember my grandfather sitting patiently at the kitchen table with a whetstone and a small can of oil, methodically working on my grandmother's knives.
ReplyDeleteSkill! You have to know what you're doing with a whetstone.
DeleteI try to sharpen my knives once a month or so with a steel. But, the type of knife (stainless vs carbon steel - carbon steel is best) and never putting it in the dishwasher are important things to keeping the edge sharp.
ReplyDeleteNot a danger since I dumped the dishwasher years ago. But one other caution: if you clear the peelings off the cutting surface do it with the back of the blade. And cut on wood, not glass, not plastic, they're deadly to the blade every time it contacts.
DeleteBottom line: know what you're doing!
I could not sharpen a knife to save my soul - just the thought of that sound it makes is enough to make my teeth ache. I'd sooner deal with fingernails on blackboards! Interesting about the stimulus and having to now file an income tax return in order to get it - you'd think it would be the same for all. Then again, things are definitely different between the US and Canada.
ReplyDeleteIt's supposed to be the same for all. If your direct deposit info is on file, eg if your social security is deposited directly, that's how the stimulus is supposed to work. If you don't have it on file, you're supposed to get a paper check. Last time it worked fine. This time the treasury gave them so little time to turn the money around that it's messed up.Good riddance Mnuchin, welcome Yellen.
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