Kitchen Stuff

I'd say that 2010 has been pretty good to us so far.

Weather was chilly earlier in the month, so we're fully aware that it's winter, but God has held the snow at bay for some reason.  I like to think that it's because Paul no longer works at Hal Leonard (thank goodness!!)...  Every year in mid-January, he always packed up to fly out to Southern California for the NAMM convention.  And every year, during NAMM week, Wisconsin would get pounded with snow.  I know this because I shoveled it.

This was the first year in a while that Paul didn't attend NAMM.  And wouldn't you know it? It didn't snow during NAMM week.  Coincidence?? I think NOT.

We also have some good news to report in the kitchen!  EVERY SINGLE cleaver, santoku, paring,  tomato, bread, carving, and chef's knife in the Burp! kitchen is officially razor sharp -- thanks to the Chef's Choice sharpener we were able to purchase with the gift card we got from Peef's parents for Christmas.

Using our lovely new tools, which were apparently exceedingly dull before we ran them through the Chef's Choice, took a bit of getting used to... as can be verified by the slice I took out of my left index finger with the first chef's knife I picked up.  Thank goodness sharp knives make clean cuts that heal quickly!

We were also very excited to receive meat grinder and sausage stuffer attachments for our KitchenAid stand mixer from Lo's parents.

It goes without saying that we're excited about the prospect of making our own sausage... in fact, my brain is busily thinking about all the possibilities even as I type. But I'm also pretty stoked about the idea of grinding my own meat in general.

Despite all the vegetables we eat around our house, we both love a great burger... and making meatballs is one of those therapeutic weekend activities that just makes the world a little bit better.

Unfortunately, most grocery store ground meat isn't worth the styrofoam tray it's sitting on. Having control over what goes into our ground meat is a huge advantage... and it gives us the opportunity to exercise all sorts of exciting quality control measures, right in our own kitchen.

Of course, we haven't used the meat grinder yet.  Gotta set aside some time one of these weekends for that.  And gather up some nice sausage recipes.

Anyone know of a good place in Milwaukee to get natural sausage casings?