Mama’s little kitchen helpers, better known as my secret weapons, make a tremendous difference in my ability to quickly prepare scrumptious meals much more easily.
My personal cache of little kitchen helpers, a/k/a my secret weapons, is kept in the basement closet in a giant plastic tub with lid purchased at Target. Perfect. There is just not enough room in a small kitchen for the whole arsenal. This arrangement works well, I know where all the ammo is kept and never have to rifle through all the drawers or guess where to find the things I need. Bulls-eye!
You just cannot properly prepare foods without your tools of the trade. Sharp knives are an absolute must for cutting and chopping. Why smash your vegetables or rip the meat on a roast when you can cut like a pro?
It really is not necessary to purchase expensive cutlery. Knives get dull over time simply from using them. One of the nifty little gifts received for Christmas one year was a Chef’s Choice Sharpener. My mother loves her kitchen gadgets too, and made it her business to find out if I had one. You know how moms are, always practical, and she probably got it on sale or with a coupon. That was certainly a much better and more thoughtful Christmas gift than wrinkle cream or a new coffee mug that welcomes me to the over the hill gang.
Knives are honed razor sharp and cut as well as when new. It takes a little practice, but the sharpener is certainly a necessity. There are many different brands and models on the market today. Prices range from simple non-electrics at $10 up to your budget limit and way beyond.
This sharpener was a real husband pleaser too, at least to start with – I always ask my husband to read the directions and then tell me what to do. He just groans a lot when he calls me and asks where I am – in the kitchen with the rest of the sharp knives.
