This year, instead of saying that we’re not giving each other gifts – but we always end up exchanging gifts anyways – we simply decided to upgrade our knives. And when I say upgrade, I mean really upgrade. Our knives were 15 year-old no-name bought at Wal-Mart type knives. They really had to go. The difference between the knives we had and the new ones is tremendous. Funny how we kinda knew we had crappy knives – I’ve been complaining about them for at least the past 10 years – but now that we used a real knife we will never go back to the other knives. Plus they look great!
Beautiful, right?
We went with MAC Knives, because those are the knives Ricardo uses. LovelyWife loves Ricardo, so she naturally wanted the same knives he is using. Actually, we had been trying to figure out which knives he was using for the past year, but he never mentions the name and the brand is never seen in any shots. Until last week’s Christmas Special (in French) where he did mention the name. Turns out they are based about 30 minutes from here – in Kanata. I phoned the place to ask if they had some stores in downtown Ottawa carrying them, and was told that there was a demo on Saturday at Chef’s Paradise.
We went with the Professional Series and got a chef’s knife, a paring knife and a bread knife. We also got a nice knife block (one with the fancy spaghetti-like insert) and a sharpener. We’ll keep adding a few knives over the next year, not because we need more than those three knives, but because there will be less fighting if we can both have a great knife to work with. 
Also, I’m a sucker for weird things, so I must get their cheese knife and black sushi knife.
Anyways, I have not been paid to do this post, but there was a 20% discount on the knives because we bought at the demo. Honestly, we didn’t need the demo to convince us, but getting a great deal is always a plus.
What about you? Are you a knife enthusiast? What kind of knives do you use?
Hubby is a bladesmith, so I have a lot of knives. Some are knives that hubs has made, but he’s not doing stainless anymore and I like stainless in the kitchen. When I buy knives I only buy the Shun brand. The Ken Onion chef’s knife is my go-to for just about everything. My other faves are the Kaji chef, boning, bread, and paring knives. Can you tell I have a thing for knives?
.-= Lisa´s last blog ..Christmas Cactus =-.
Oh my gosh, I don’t even remember where ours came from or what kind they are. We’ve had them for years. Except for the free knife set we got from Omaha Steaks, lol.
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Very pretty knives. And I don’t mean that in a serial murderer sort of way.
.-= kapgar´s last blog ..Back to that same old place… =-.
@Lisa: Duh, I should’ve married a bladesmith! I’m sure getting really awesome knives would make up for all that gay sex i’d have to have, right?
@BlondeBlogger: I hear ya. Like I said, I kinda knew ours were crappy, but as soon as we tried the new ones, it was mind-blowing – there was no turning back.
@Kapgar: If you like these, you should take a look at this video: Coutellerie Nomade. Those are truly the knives I wanted, but they’re still out of my price range… For now.
lisa turned me on a little bit and now i am having trouble remembering what i wanted to comment.
oh yeah…i bought the miracle blade knives from an infomercial once (like 15 years ago). loved the damn things until i was WAY drunk one night a few years ago and bought the miracle blade series three from another infomercial so i gave the first set away. i still love my miracle blade knives (and the stupid block i got from the “but wait! there’s more!” portion of the infomercial).
.-= hello haha narf´s last blog ..Gypsy =-.
My favorite knives are from Global out of Japan. Real light weight and real sharp, but I only use them for special occasions like carving a turkey or cutting up a hooker.
My every day knife, believe it or not, is from Rachel Ray’s East/West line. It’s incredibly sharp and works great as a chopper too. I hate the stupid orange handle, but the knife kicks much ass.
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@Hello Haha Narf: Well, she has that kind of power! I even considered gay sex for a bit. But wait there’s more!
@B.E. Earl: I looked at the RR knifes. Not a big fan of the orange. Maybe if it was less “safety cone” and more “Halloween” it would work for me…
i always giggle when they say “BUT WAIT!” because in my head i hear butt weight.
.-= hello haha narf´s last blog ..Gypsy =-.
@Hello Haha Narf: And now I will always hear that too. Damn you and your funny stories! ::fist to the sky::
So you used to have P(retty)C(rappy) Knives … and now you have Mac Knives?
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@Delmer: Dude, you just blew my mind. Well done.
I don’t really do much with knives. That would mean that I was cooking.
.-= Avitable´s last blog ..Tugging =-.
@Avitable: I know you don’t cook, but somehow I keep dismissing this information. I’m sure you’re a secret cook of some kind…
That is one kick ass knife.
As the main cook at the house, I like a good set of knives. I’ve tried to throw out the shitty ass ones that don’t even cut flesh very well and replace them with decent ones.
Kitchen Aid and Calphalon make decent knives. I’ve actually used a Ginzu knife at once point, which does work quite well.
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@MartyMankins: Sweet! I find good knives are a must.