This is going to be one of our weird posts. At least for those of you who come here for artsy photography.
Since Chris asked for it I present my new knives on this blog.
These are Twin knives (http://www.zwilling.com/) of the Five Star series. It's a Santoku-knife (the big one) and a veggie knife (the small one). The good thing about the Twin website is that there is a kind of guide to knifes, so that you can "choose" the right one for what you want to do with it. I needed a big knife for cutting things like cabbage, until yesterday I only owned steak-knives from ikea and they just don't cut it. ;-) Though steak-knives are perfect for cutting tomatoes because of their saw.
Anyway, I had narrowed it down to a cooks knife and a Santoku knife via the Twin website, so I went to Leipzigs Culinaris shop. Which is the place to go if you need any kitchen accessoiries. After looking around for a few minutes, which is always a good thing in this shop, because there is so much to discover, I asked for the knives and told them I couldn't decide between a Santoku and a Cooks knife. They were really helpful and showed me the knives and I could take them in the hand and weigh them, which is something you should to before buying a new knife. It has to have the right weight and size for you. Same goes for pans in my opinion.
Unfortunately they "only" had the japanese knives (Global, haiku). Japanese knives are unrivaled in sharpness, handling and so on. Chefs love to work with them. Japanese knives are the premium class for knives and they come at a price. And I simply can't afford a knife (big Santoku of Global) at the moment that costs 100 bucks, be it perfectly balanced or not. Besides that, I didn't want to have a steel handle (Global knives) and the wooden handle of the "haiku" knives simply felt wrong. Besides, I had more or less decided that I wanted a german knife (depending on the price). So after pondering all this for 5 minutes I've decided to get my knife somewhere else and left, feeling a bit guilty for not buying my knife there. However, I had bought other stuff there in the last months and I will go back there, when I need something else. Culinaris is such a fantastic shop.
I went to a big department store of which I knew that they had Twin knives, where I needed 20 minutes to decide which Santoku knife to buy. I tried different handles and took a good look at the blade. And then decided to get this set, because the handle felt right and the blades are fine. It isn't exactly the most inexpensive series of Twin, but it was on sale so I had to pay a few bucks less, then normally.
I've used the veggie knife yesterday evening for a zucchino and an apple, NICEEEEEEEEE. So far, I can recommend Twins veggie knife.
Since I'm back on the Paleo lifestyle (http://robbwolf.com/, http://www.thepaleodiet.com/, http://www.marksdailyapple.com/, http://evolvify.com/ ), I "needed" to get coconut milk. The best place to get it are Asian markets, they offer several versions of it, while you get only one version at the common grocery store and that isn't pure (carrageen and other stuff). It took me a bit of reading the ingredients lists, but I found this one, which was the only pure one (only coconut and water) at this store, the others all contained E-numbers and therefore aren't safe options. I mean, who except nutrition chemists know what those E-numbers mean and what those ingredients do to your body?! Personally I don't like to eat "food" that contains artificial substances, which sound like chemical weapons.
This coconut milk you can drink pure or use it like cream in soups or stews. It gives food a tropical taste and doesn't have the trouble that dairy products can give you. If you have an autoimmune disorder you should stay away from dairy. Also acne can be due to an dairy intolerance, according to Dr. Loren Cordain. Also the best fat to cook is coconut oil (cold pressed), because it stays stable at high temperatures, which olive oil for example isn't. And before you start nagging, the right kind of fat is good for you!! You can read more about it at the above mentioned paleo websites.
And as a reward for you to read on until this, a picture from Chris and my photography walk yesterday.
Take care.
Since Chris asked for it I present my new knives on this blog.
These are Twin knives (http://www.zwilling.com/) of the Five Star series. It's a Santoku-knife (the big one) and a veggie knife (the small one). The good thing about the Twin website is that there is a kind of guide to knifes, so that you can "choose" the right one for what you want to do with it. I needed a big knife for cutting things like cabbage, until yesterday I only owned steak-knives from ikea and they just don't cut it. ;-) Though steak-knives are perfect for cutting tomatoes because of their saw.
Anyway, I had narrowed it down to a cooks knife and a Santoku knife via the Twin website, so I went to Leipzigs Culinaris shop. Which is the place to go if you need any kitchen accessoiries. After looking around for a few minutes, which is always a good thing in this shop, because there is so much to discover, I asked for the knives and told them I couldn't decide between a Santoku and a Cooks knife. They were really helpful and showed me the knives and I could take them in the hand and weigh them, which is something you should to before buying a new knife. It has to have the right weight and size for you. Same goes for pans in my opinion.
Unfortunately they "only" had the japanese knives (Global, haiku). Japanese knives are unrivaled in sharpness, handling and so on. Chefs love to work with them. Japanese knives are the premium class for knives and they come at a price. And I simply can't afford a knife (big Santoku of Global) at the moment that costs 100 bucks, be it perfectly balanced or not. Besides that, I didn't want to have a steel handle (Global knives) and the wooden handle of the "haiku" knives simply felt wrong. Besides, I had more or less decided that I wanted a german knife (depending on the price). So after pondering all this for 5 minutes I've decided to get my knife somewhere else and left, feeling a bit guilty for not buying my knife there. However, I had bought other stuff there in the last months and I will go back there, when I need something else. Culinaris is such a fantastic shop.
I went to a big department store of which I knew that they had Twin knives, where I needed 20 minutes to decide which Santoku knife to buy. I tried different handles and took a good look at the blade. And then decided to get this set, because the handle felt right and the blades are fine. It isn't exactly the most inexpensive series of Twin, but it was on sale so I had to pay a few bucks less, then normally.
I've used the veggie knife yesterday evening for a zucchino and an apple, NICEEEEEEEEE. So far, I can recommend Twins veggie knife.
Since I'm back on the Paleo lifestyle (http://robbwolf.com/, http://www.thepaleodiet.com/, http://www.marksdailyapple.com/, http://evolvify.com/ ), I "needed" to get coconut milk. The best place to get it are Asian markets, they offer several versions of it, while you get only one version at the common grocery store and that isn't pure (carrageen and other stuff). It took me a bit of reading the ingredients lists, but I found this one, which was the only pure one (only coconut and water) at this store, the others all contained E-numbers and therefore aren't safe options. I mean, who except nutrition chemists know what those E-numbers mean and what those ingredients do to your body?! Personally I don't like to eat "food" that contains artificial substances, which sound like chemical weapons.
This coconut milk you can drink pure or use it like cream in soups or stews. It gives food a tropical taste and doesn't have the trouble that dairy products can give you. If you have an autoimmune disorder you should stay away from dairy. Also acne can be due to an dairy intolerance, according to Dr. Loren Cordain. Also the best fat to cook is coconut oil (cold pressed), because it stays stable at high temperatures, which olive oil for example isn't. And before you start nagging, the right kind of fat is good for you!! You can read more about it at the above mentioned paleo websites.
And as a reward for you to read on until this, a picture from Chris and my photography walk yesterday.
Take care.
