Rob & I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary last week.  It’s amazing how quickly the years go by and also amazing the things you accumulate over the years.

Earlier this year we had an opportunity to clear out some of the clutter when we moved but there are still plenty of things still boxed up around here that are being evaluated.  Also, in the midst of us trying to thin out our own clutter, we have had to bring in some of my brother’s things and my mother’s things.  Good thing we bought a bigger house!

As we were unpacking our kitchen a few months back, I started thinking about this post that I wanted to do.  Here we are 14 years later and we still have wedding gifts that we use on a daily basis.  These are truly gifts that keep giving, not to mention are well-made to hold up this long! I’ll bet the people who gave us these great gifts don’t even remember, but we do think of them each time we use these.

Here are a few of the best wedding gifts we received that’re still with us, all these years later:

• Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker
• Chicago Cutlery knife block set
• Giant Pyrex measuring cup/mixing bowl
• Pyrex Bowl Set
• Crystal candlesticks
• Ratcheting driver set toolkit

Although we no longer have it, I’ve gotta say that the most unusual wedding gift we received was an aquarium (thanks Buddy & Topper!) and most of the first fish we bought for it lasted several years.

What are some of your most-used wedding gifts?

image from istockphoto.com

While I’m away on my imaginary vacation, I’m leaving the pantry stocked with posts from Exit 51 that would have been part of the Flashback Friday series. The following originally appeared on 7/29/09 at Exit 51.

Sharp

We have accumulated an odd assortment of knives here in our kitchen.  Some were wedding gifts.  Others were random purchases.  We’ve even inherited a couple that are probably almost as old as I am.  My grandfather was a meat cutter and every so often some of his A&P work knives would find their way home with him.    After he passed away, two of those work horses found their way to our house.  Funny how that happens.

I wouldn’t say that I have any one favorite knife.  They are all good for different things.  The 10 inch chef’s knife is the only thing I’ll use to cut up sweet potatoes.  But the paring knife is the best tool I have for finely dicing shallots.   Knowing how important it is to take care of your tools, I decided that it was time to have them properly sharpened.  Sure, we have a home sharpener but it’s just not the same.  Somehow, I even managed to knock a chip or two into (or out of) the blade of the 10 incher.  My home sharpener isn’t going to fix that.  No, a professional was definitely in order.

Do you know how hard it is to find someone who sharpens knives?  Even more, do you know how hard it is to find someone who sharpens knives while you wait?  I scoured the internet and there were plenty of service providers but they all involved me sending my knives to them.  I don’t know about you but I tend to use my knives almost daily so shipping them off to Arizona to be sharpened wasn’t really an option.

The topic of knife sharpening comes up fairly regularly on the Washington Post’s Home Chat.  They often recommend Stronsider’s Hardware, which is a lot closer than Arizona.  But when I called to ask about sharpening services, I was told that it takes two to three days to get the knives back.  So in addition to being without a knife, I’d have to make two round trips from Baltimore to Silver Spring.  There had to be a better solution.

And there was - Frank’s Cutlery Service.  Located in a small shop in Baltimore,  Frank does his thing for many restaurants in the area.  He’s got boxes for his commercial customers stacked by his grinding wheel.  Of the dozens of boxes, the one that caught my eye was labeled Andy Nelson.  Yeah, that Andy Nelson.  So I figured that if the folks I trust for my pulled pork bbq trust their knives to Mr. Frank, then I was in pretty good hands.

Depending on where you are, he might be a little out of the way over in Hamilton.  And his shop hours are only Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and it’s advisable to call before you head over just to make sure he’s there.  But seeing him transform my beaten up knives back into precision cutting tools was worth it.  His grinding wheel alone was impressive.  I didn’t ask but it must have been at least two feet in diameter and two inches thick.  Of solid stone.

Best of all, I got to see a skilled craftsman in action.  It was the best $14 dollars I could have spent.

Frank’s Cutlery Service

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