Friday, November 30, 2007

St. Andrew

Well, today is the Feast of St. Andrew. I have no idea what that entails, I'm just proud of actually knowing that.

Every year the team from work goes out for a Christmas dinner. This year's dinner is tonight: yeah, it's a little early, but everyone (except me, of course) has their weekends booked from all through December, so we thought we'd just go early this year. So tonight we're going to the Capital Grille for dinner. The kids will be spending the night with some close friends, and we'll enjoy the best onion soup I've ever had.

Sounds promising.

In other news, I'm trying to learn to properly sharpen our knives. I purchased the Spyderco Sharpening System a few weeks back (a close friend has one and loves it), but I've been hesitant to mess with my Endura until I figure out how to do it right. My Endura has the "combo blade": the blade is serrated for about half it's length, and I don't want to ruin the serration. So I started on the kitchen knives yesterday: they're more expensive than my Endura, but they're also a much simpler blade: less opportunity to wreck something.

So far, it looks like we're getting the hang of sharpening: the Henckels seem to work a lot better, and I haven't actually hurt myself yet. Bonus!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh the joy of sharpening knives!!! I know that well! :) I thought Capital Grille was less than exceptional last time???

clumsy ox said...

Well, it wasn't quite perfect last time: this is true. But I actually didn't vote on the destination for tonight.

Last year's Christmas dinner with the team was at McIntosh's, and we were all a little disappointed with the service. So it was decided to try the Capital this year without my input.

I'm actually extremely interested to see how it goes tonight.

Very observant, by the way.

Gwen said...

I'm starting to think it's about time we got good kitchen knives. Our cheapies are working, but maybe a Henckel's chef's knife would be nice.

Tabatha said...

If your Church or if you were named Andrew you would be celebrating your feast day. If it was your Church you would probably go to liturgy today, and sing St Andrew's tropar and kontak (hymns):

Troparion - Tone 4

Andrew, first-called of the Apostles and brother of the foremost disciple, entreat the Master of all to grant peace to the world and to our souls great mercy.

Kontakion - Tone 2

Let us praise Andrew, the herald of God, the namesake of courage, the first-called of the Savior's disciples and the brother of Peter.
As he once called to his brother, he now cries out to us:
"Come, for we have found the One whom the world desires!"

If it was your names day you would probably celebrate some way or just get a few phone calls. Someone might even sing "Many Years" to you.

Note of interest or perhaps not but we went to St Andrew's Seminary in Winnipeg.

Tabatha said...

Button happy, I forgot to add that I have a brother named Andrew too.

Anonymous said...

Ah... no input, I see. So, how did it go? Did cruel fate give you the same port stingy waiter??? :) Are you feeling okay??

Other thought of interest: we got a Henckles set for our wedding and I love it, but not for everyday use.

clumsy ox said...

Tabatha, Thank you!! I looked up "Feast of St. Andrew" on WikiPedia, but it didn't lend much enlightenment... your explanation was very helpful.

Lauren, the whole reason to get good knives is for "every day" use. If you don't use them every day, you'll never come to use and appreciate them appropriately.

The service last night was decidedly better than the last visit, and the food was likewise improved. So that was really good.

Shan said...

I love Tabatha.

Anonymous said...

Hey, glad to hear it was better!

btw, by "everyday" I mean for spreading peanut butter. :) I'm hardly an everyday vegetable chopper. I also don't like using things that I don't want to put in the dishwasher. So, my knives stay in the block unless I'm cooking something special.

Tabatha said...

You are welcome, Mark.

Shannon, RIGHT BACK AT YOU!!

clumsy ox said...

Henckels would, in fact, be wasted as peanut-butter spreaders. But they're fabulous for piecing a chicken, slicing a beef tenderloin, or chopping vegetables (as you mention). And forget a pizza cutter: nothing works better than my 9-inch Henckels chef knife.

I love good knives.

Speaking of cooking, it was a poor Thanksgiving without seeing you guys this year. We'll expect to see y'all at Christmas.

Chuck Hicks said...

St. Andy is the patron saint of Scotland and Russia -- hence both use the "St. Andrew's cross" (x) as an embem.

Same for the CSA...

Anonymous said...

We'll definitely be around at Christmas!!! We missed you guys too.