Early Birthday

Since the birthday lands on the middle of the week this year, Amnie decided to spoil me early. 5 packages neatly lined up on the couch, with the "best" gift at the right.

1. Another beautiful piggy card from holland. If you look carefully, every piglet is different!

2. A NG Visual History of the World. It's obvious what he thinks of my knowledge of history.

3. A pair of hand-made shoes from Japanese designer! Very unique.

4. A large, flat, and heavy object. I guessed it to be something that one hangs on the wall. Wrong! It was a dashing hardwood chopping board with rubber legs, and of a most generous size.

5. So what would come after a chopping board.. hmmmm..

A SHUN KNIFE!

And not just a shun knife, the top of the line model, Shun Elite, the hardest steel one can buy. It is exquisite to gaze upon, surprisingly light in the hand, effortless grip, and when I took it out of the molded plastic casing, the edge momentarily caught and released, sang like some sword of legend. The man wrote an entire sheet of notes on the technologies that went into this Shun, but I have long been briefed by no less than Mr. A.B..

We did a trial on a poor stalk of celery. With the old Sabatier, the pieces had fiber sticking out. With the Shun? Like cutting butter! I may have to sleep with this baby for a couple of nights!