You
know that feeling of exhilaration when you've challenged your brain, and you
think you'll never learn a new task but then all of a sudden, you think – I've
got it! It makes you feel on top of the world, at least for a little while.
Well, in the past couple of weeks, I've stretched my aging brain with learning
new databases – not just one but multiple very complex ones while at the same
time learning hundreds and hundreds of bits of information about four, new to
me, conferences and dealing with multiple complex spreadsheets. By the end of
this past week, I could (almost) easily breeze through the databases and do
pretty much anything that delegates were throwing at me over the phone.
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| Right -- 25 steps are intuitive? |
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| Chef's demo - not mine! |
To
top off my week, on Friday afternoon after work, I drove from Delaware back to
Maryland to take a 3-hour knife skills class – Knife Skills 101. Being a
self-taught cook, a proper “Knife Skills” class is something that I've wanted
to do for a long time and have signed up to classes three previous times, but
classes were cancelled due to lack of interest. I've been determined to learn how
to properly handle a knife like a chef. There's no particular reason for this;
it's just been on my bucket list for a while. I even wanted to buy a Japanese chef
knife while Steve and I were in Japan, but he told me to wait until I'd had a
class first because I needed to find out what I needed. Good move! I found out that
I need to find a knife that suits me.
I
was a bit worried before the class because I have a phobia about touching raw
meat, and I was concerned that I might have to cut meat during the lesson.
Thank goodness, the class was only covering vegetables, so I heaved a big sigh
when I saw the stacked bins of fresh veggies ready for our attack.
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| This was my choice |
The
class was excellent because in just a few hours we covered the A to Z of knives
from different types of knives and their purpose to the care of them and then
we had a demonstration of the various ways of cutting the basic vegetables
before we were turned loose to select our own knife. I was concentrating and
wanted to be sure that I was doing the procedure right – rocking motion using
arm and shoulder, standing over whatever I was cutting and keeping the cuts the
same size. After Chef had showed us two ways of properly holding a knife we
tried out different sizes of knives to see with which we felt comfortable.
This “hands on demonstration” was definitely an added benefit. I found that a 6 inch Japanese chefs' knife
felt just right.
We
also had the chance to have a one on one with the Chef so she could advise us
on our posture, proper use of a knife, i.e. instead of cutting straight down,
run the knife through the vegetable by sliding the knife away from you and use
your arm and shoulder to follow through. She also gave her critique on the
conformity of the pieces that we were cutting. I've never in my life diced
anything so fine, julienned such perfect carrots or peppers, nor cut potatoes
in so many different ways.
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| Correct finger position-my biggest challenge |
After
learning to hold the knife in a "choke hold" with my thumb and
forefinger on the blade of the knife; my biggest challenge was the way that I
need to hold my other hand that is holding the food. I need to curl my fingers
under so that my knuckles are closest to my knife. It's a method that is
counter intuitive because I want to hold the vegetable with my fingers sticking
out. This could lead to lots of cuts or if the knife is sharp enough, missing
fingertips. I finally remembered each time to curl my fingers under, and
although it felt awkward, I thought – yes, I did it! I guess it will take my
years of practice to undo all of my incorrect habits and learn new ones but I
now have a strong foundation to build on. Next step is practice, practice,
practice!
I
can't say that the evening would be classified as "fun" for most people, but I had a
great time and learned so much. The three hours flew by and I'm committed to
signing up for Knife Skills II that will take place in three weeks. I'll let
you know if I have all ten fingers at the end of that class! The first thing
that my husband asked when I returned home was “do you still have all ten of
your fingers?”. I do have and intend to still have them at the end of Knife
Skills II!
I
love challenging my brain and doing something totally different. It sparks an
interest in life. Being self-taught in both using computers and in the kitchen,
I still get a buzz when I learn how to do new things. Both my current work
contract which requires me to learn new software and all of the ins and outs of
new conferences plus trying something new with my cooking have checked the
boxes for now. Another mission checked off of my bucket list so now on to my
next one!
I’m
still continuing with my Spanish as well so my brain is fully taxed while I’ll be
deciding what my next bucket list mission will be.
I
love the quote below by Margaret Thatcher, one of my favorite people. Now she
was a lady who was constantly challenging herself!
"Look
at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not
a day when you
lounge around doing nothing,
it’s when you’ve had everything to do and you’ve
done it."
Margaret
Thatcher
