Friday 7 January 2011

Out came the knives

Perhaps it was post-christmas shopping deprivation, or a need to spend a little on myself before the cost-of-living and tax increases suck my wallet dry, but whatever impelled me I had a wee buying frenzy on Amazon the other day.

Normally I'm extremely adverse to buying gadgets for the kitchen, as they typically end up gathering dust after the novelty wears off. Bread and ice cream makers, electric carving knives and pepper mills, fondue sets and chocolate fountains. Lets be honest, who doesn't have a little herd of white elephants looking sad and unloved at the back of a cupboard?

I started off innocently enough, looking for a handheld vacuum to do my stairs. Having picked one with dozens of glowing reviews I added it to my basket. This is where it all went horribly wrong. Amazon showed me one of those "People who bought this, also bought...." lists. Before I knew it I'd added two other items that I didn't know I needed to my order.

A big Amazon parcel arrived today containing all three gadgets.

The handheld vacuum needed constructing, which I did, but it also needs charging, so I have twelve hours of anticipation ahead of me before I can give it a whirl.

I also bought a citrus juicer, but that needs to wait until I buy some oranges before it can be tested out. I'll be off to Costco to stock up just as soon as I can. Why did I suddenly decide I needed a citrus juicer? I'm not entirely sure, but it might have had something to do with the delicious freshly squeezed orange juice I'd had with my breakfast in the canteen.

The third item is a knife sharpener, but not just any old knife sharpener, this one is billed as the "World's Best Knife Sharpener." How could I resist? I have five top quality Global knives that have all become as blunt as I am in the five years I've owned them, perhaps helped along the way by my inept attempts to give them an edge.

I was a bit disappointed to discover the new sharpener wasn't in any way electronic, and pretty similar in operation to the useless sharpener I already own. However I resolved to give it a fair trial. Out came the knives. First I tried running the knives lightly over a dried apricot to test their edge. A ripe tomato would have been better, but sometimes you just have to improvise when the cupboards are bare. This confirmed that my chopsticks have more of an edge than my knives.

I operated the lever on the sharpener that fastens it to the worktop via the miracle of suction, and followed the instructions to pull the knife lightly from base to tip through the sharpener a few times. I then tested said knife on the aforementioned dried apricot. Low and behold, a clean slice. Two of my knives needed a lot more than a couple of runs through the sharpener, but before long all my Global knives were once again dangerously sharp.

So I give to you the perfectly named "AnySharp - The World's Best Knife Sharpener"

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