New Toys for Christmas!

Andy and I have been putting off getting Christmas gifts for eachother. We agreed to place a spending limit, but we just kept putting off the shopping part because of other family stuff we wanted to accomplish first. So, after a week of celebrating with his kids and my family, and all the cooking that went along with it, we finally have the house to ourselves and time to splurge. We went to the kitchen porn emporium, Sur La Table. We bought ourselves two things we've been lusting over for months--a Mario Batali 4-quart cast iron enamel cooking pot and a Shun 8" santoku knife.



I have never had a really good quality knife. This is my first, and the first time I sliced through an onion with it I could feel the difference. The weight and balance of the knife combined with the incredibly sharp blade made for a beautiful chopping experience. Just for yucks, I went back to my previous favorite knife for a second and decided there was no comparison. So it was money well spent and I will have years of use out of it.



Andy is making a vegetable curry and cooking it in the Mario Batali pot. We had been looking at the Le Crueset line of cast iron enamel cooking pots, but when Copco came out with this Batali line, we determined that the Batali stuff is every bit as high quality and a fraction of the price. So there. It's a versatile 4 quart size that can be used on the stove top as well as in the oven up to 500 degrees. The finishing on it is so pretty, too, with the lovely brick red with a white enamel on the inside.

The curry is smelling so good, and I am thoroughly enjoying this dirty martini I've been slurping on as I've been typing this entry. I also want to mention that today is our Andy's birthday! Happy birthday, my sweetie.