knives, knives, knives

i'm a little slow these days, partly because i am sick (i tried to outsmart it, the usual "i just moved across the world and i can finally relax" cold, but it didn't work), partly because there is a bit of jet lag still bugging me, and partly because i am just in a daze.

i've been in and out of america enough to know that this, not everywhere else, is the unique place. only here does the norm include scarily humongous cars and eerily friendly customer service. it seems that it's only here that personal space, and lots of it, is taken for granted. here there are shops that color code their aisles, and things such as coupons and rebates exist. and so, though i grow more and more immune to the reverse culture shock i face each time i return, i still get thrown off when i least expect it. plus, southern california is a weird place, no matter how you put it.

i've been writing some stuff about italy, and getting my albums in order. a bit of serindipity brought many of my out-of-town friends here over the weekend, and before i leave for berk, i'll see the rest of my southern californians. i've been trying to organize my italian-iranian-pakistani mess of stuff.

i found my knife roll, or should i say, my complete knife roll, as i've been living with just three knives for the past year and a half, for the sake of traveling lightly. i am SHOCKED to think that i actually needed and used all of these different knives and thingamabobs at one point. though i must say, the reunion with my steel has been pure sweetness. over the past four years, i've collected:

1 steel
1 microplane grater
1 german 8" chef's knife (my first knife, my workhorse)
1 italian 10" chef's knife (a gift from my mentor. i leave it at home mostly.)
1 swiss 8" bread knife
1 japanese 6" vegetable slicer (my favorite knife)
1 swiss 6" boning knife (my second favorite)
1 4" mac knife (perfect for dicing shallots)
1 cute french 4" tomato knife (took that from the lost and found. it's not really good for anything, but it's really cute.)
lotsa paring knives
more vegetable peelers
and a ton of corkscrews

i am SO EXCITED to start working in the kitchen again. i am thrilled that so many of my friends from my old job are at my new job. i can't wait to be making salads and grilling things and making gelati and baking schiacciata.

BSB offered me her and the breadman's extra bedroom, so now i don't have to pay for a sublet till august. and i am pretty optimistic about finding a nice place to live. i just don't want to be stuck in a rundown hovel with a bad landlord, like all of my friends and i were when we were in school. i think the key is to get a little farther away from campus (but not too far).

anyway, i'm back to regular life (though, my life isn't really ever so regular), so i guess i'll have to think of a new description for the blog. we'll see.