So my father, the knife fanatic, thought there would be no greater wedding gift than a set of custom made H@sling3r knives. And, truly, he was right. My parents also gave us a couch, and I know Jeff loves the couch more (most of, I believe, any of our wedding gifts, even the Black Sabbath boxed set).

However, my heart's with the knives. 10", 8", and 6" chef's knives. A butcher knife. A paring knife. A meat fork! And one of those magnetic holders JUST LIKE Julia's.

There is apparently an old wives' tale about giving knives to people- it severs your relationship. I know this is not true, because my dad's given me all my knives. When I had my first apartment on my own, he got me the Ikea Kitchen Starter box, which had a utiliy knife and a bread knife (the bread knife I still use). The utility knife was serviceable, but when I started cooking more and more, it really wasn't up to the task. So around Christmas time, a year and a half or so ago, I mentioned to my dad that I could go for a decent chef's knife. He, naturally, in his closet happened to have a spare set of kitchen knives- Chicago Cutlery, I think, with the chef's knife and boning knife and carving knife and paring knife and steak knives and kitchen shears. (He actually had three sets, and gave the other two to my sisters, who complained that I got the nicer one. Well, I asked!) So I think it's unlikely these knives will sever anything. Especially since I think I may be calling him daily to make sure I'm caring for them properly.

Last night I used the 6" knife to dice some celery and a)why have I never tried a 6" knife before? It is perfect for my little girl hands! and b) holy cow, this knife is sharp. It was kind of like when I first got my food processor and it was exciting to see how fast I could chop things, but also a little sad that the chopping was over so quickly. I also used the 8" to coarsely chop up a bunch of pecans. And again, it was like choirs of angels singing for those brief two seconds.

Clearly, I need to learn how to sharpen knives if only because that's the only way I'll get to spend any quality time with them.

I put the celery and the nuts and some dried cranberries and chicken in to make a chicken salad- using a recipe from Stop and Smell the Rosemary, not because I need a recipe for chicken salad but because they included a "sauce" that seemed just like food processor mayonnaise, but with sugar. And it tastes like, well, sweet mayonnaise. I'd never made mayonnaise in the food processor before and can now report that it is a)super easy, b)just as good as handmade mayonnaise and c)vaguely less satisfying.