Awesome gift

I really enjoyed the white elephant gifting yesterday. We have some savvy shoppers. I hope Jeff enjoys the tools which he stole from me.

To whoever put together the Treebeard’s cookbook with the non-slip surfaced knives, I wanted you to know this is awesome. The bright orange Santuku knife has now assumed the position of official cheese slicer in my arsenal. It slices hard cheeses better than anything else I own. The non-slip coating is the secret.

Ah, the cookbook -- I have decided to exercise my latent desire to play a head chef role for some of our meals. I usually just play salad chef and dish washer. My first recipe will be Treebeard’s chicken breasts with mushroom cream sauce. If it goes well, I might host a family dinner. Isn’t that radical? I begin by actually seeking and laying hands on the ingredients in our kitchen. I am sure many of have experienced the sinking feeling of being half way through cooking a new recipe and discovering that you thought you had garlic powder in the pantry, but do not. That is how homemade mayonnaise gets made with olive oil instead of salad oil (Yuch!). I must admit that my career as a manager and planner will spill over to an attempt at cooking. I will probably drive Anne crazy. I am inspired by watching the movie Julie and Julia. Maybe I will write a short story called Bob and Treebeard.

Happy new year, everyone!