Lust of the Knives

I'm not sure whether or not it is a hazard of the profession or just a personal quirk but I figured out recently that I have a bucketload of knives.
My husband says that if anyone ever breaks into our house, forget about a gun. He's just going to grab one of my "scimitars" and go with that. I didn't even know I had a scimitar until recently. But apparently I do.
When I began working as a professional chef, I realized that I needed a serious set of professional knives. I didn't initially attend a school like the Culinary Institute. (I'm a doctor by profession - go figure. Well, cutting works there too... nevermind.) My father did attend Culinary School.
When we were younger kids, my sister and I were taught how to cook by both parents, but the more formal stuff was by dad. My sister was always way better at the presentation end of things. She could make a peanut butter sandwich look like it belonged in Bon Appetit. Me, I was happy it made it on the plate. (good grief so much has changed). But after I started cooking professionally, my father gave me all his "gear" and this included all of his knives. Some of them were rather old, and realistically, not that well cared for over the years. But, since they were his I took them, and lovingly, restored them to all their original glory. Slice and dice. I will never part with them. But I found that what worked for him, a big burly man with big guy hands, didn't comfortably fit my needs. My arms were much smaller, hands smaller and my pivot of thrust for workability just wasn't the same. It made it harder to do some jobs. (some jobs were actually easier because these knives were just so honking big.) I knew that for me I needed something different.
I got knife set number one. I went for a really good set of Henkels, which I still use at home to this day. What I did find was that after a full day at the restaurant, my arms ached. The knives, although the right size, were weighted differently than I needed, so these caused that kind of problem.
I got the second knife set a few months later. I did get a beautiful set of Wustoff-Trident knives. These had the right leverage, but what I found was that for me the weight was off.
YOU ARE A BIG BABY.
That was my husband's statement after knife set number two. At this point, I decided to really try them out, and maybe, just maybe, purchase some knives individually. This began the collection. I now have 7 knife blocks and an unknown number of storage areas for knives. All are properly stored and accessible to my kitchen prep area.
We now have Globals (my pride and joy, the absolute knife for a woman with slightly larger than normal woman hands - perfect weight, size and leverage), I have a pair of titanium-coated Kasumi knives that were my 25th Anniversary present from my wonderful husband. And one, lone, Shun.
Until today.
I could not believe my good fortune on this one.
I was at T J Maxx Home store looking for an egg cup. Again I'm going to have to digress. I was watching Nigella Lawson's show on the Food Network and she was eating a soft boiled egg with "toast soldiers". I haven't had that in years. (primarily because I never have bread in the house that lasts until breakfast). I went and bought a wonderful homestyle white bread and made the soft boiled eggs. Until I tried to cut into them and watched them roll all over the table. Tried a pyrex cup, and out leaches the wonderful yellow egginess, into the bottom of the cup, amongst bits of white and shell and bread. What a mess. I needed an egg cup.
When was the last time you saw an egg cup in the store?
My poor husband was delegated to shopping with me this trip. We started at the usual home store in our area (which is now Bed Bath and Beyond since Linens and Things closed) and they didn't have it. They had a few plates to store deviled eggs, a whisk with an egg on the bottom that had feet, and anything to poach an egg. But no egg cup. We have a serious need in our area for a Williams Sonoma or a Crate and Barrell. I probably could have looked at Pier One Imports but I didn't even think of that place until I was writing this.
Then I remembered the Home area of TJ Maxx. That place has the weirdest eclectic collection of stuff I have ever seen, but I thought, they might have it. (my poor husband hates the place. People are known to rip things right out of your hands if they want it. Kind of creepy.)
We went into the place, looked around and no. But my husband, ever willing to look with me, suggested we look at the china and not just the cooking toys. Yes, we found it. In an area that had china (some of the stuff looks good, some is mismatched plates, serving dishes no one wanted for their sets etc.) My gain was their loss so to speak. And the egg cups came as a pair of two for only $3.99. Cool. A bargain.
But, I couldn't resist looking at the other things, and of course, I looked at the rack they keep knives on. If you were me could you resist? And there they were. Shun knives. Not just one. Three of them. Ken Onion ones. MORE THAN HALF OFF. I'm still doing the happy dance.
These are beautiful, well weighted, wonderfully constructed and sharper than....well most things.
AND THEY WERE HALF OFF. There was a slicing knife, a chef's knife and a utility knife. All really useable sizes and I couldn't get over the price. A WEEK BEFORE MOTHER'S DAY! Guess what I'm getting for Mother's Day!
He did ask me this after we got home - "Is this collection complete NOW?"
I didn't have the heart to say no. After all, can I be content without a flexible boning knife???

But, in reality, if you live near the TJ Maxx in the Mid Hudson Valley NY, there are some of the Shun knives still there, and they are more than half off the price at retailers I looked at online. It is a really good deal if that is your thing.

We did finally go home, and I made us a lunch of Soft Boiled Eggs with a light sprinkling of Fleur De Sel and artisanal white toast soldiers, in yes, egg cups. And it was worth the trip finding them.