DancingOnMyGrave

These are all probably really stupid, but.... I will never again flip chocolate chip pancakes onto my plate with so much force that some of the chocolate flies out, leaving a round scar on my wrist for years to come. I will never again try to soften previously-refridgerated peanut butter in the microwave, even on a low power setting. See, the problem is that the inner seal is made of some kind of metal - and when you didn't get all of it off when it was first opened, the microwave sets it on fire with a loud BANG. I will never again bake during a snow storm, because when the power goes out and your oven doesn't work anymore, your lemon bars turn into an unidentifiable substance. This thread is making me laugh so hard.

Wow! Thank you so much for all of your advice, everybody. I'm definitely going to look into all the things you suggested. As for my mom not taking care of her knives -- it's really more a matter of her not knowing the proper care of knives than her being too lazy to maintain them. Part of the present was going to include a "how-to" section in the card... Just with basic knife care and what she should do to make the present last. Thanks so much for the wonderful advice, and if anybody has anything else to add, feel free! ~Grave

Hello everybody! Like I said, I'm terribly sorry if this is a very common topic; I didn't see any like mine on the front page of this forum, so I'm assuming it's not too much of a n00b-ish question. So right now, I live with my mom, and she has some random knives that she uses all the time. I don't know if they were part of a set or what, but she's had them FOREVER and they're pretty dull. I honestly don't think there's a sharp knife in the bunch. I have no idea what the quality of the blades were originally. My big plan was to buy her some good knives for her birthday (mid-March). Having absolutely no experience in the knife department, I almost bought her that info-mercial Ronco set. Then I googled it and was lead to this website, where I read in another forum that they're total junk. So I'm back to square one. I know I'm not looking to spend a huge chunk of change, but there are three people contributing to this present (maybe four), so as long as I don't break $200 or $250, I think it would be alright. I'm looking for a knife (or knives) that will be good quality, low maintainence, and worthy of everyday kitchen jobs. My mother is no professional chef, but she does cook almost every day; so the low-quality knives are a huge nuisance. What type of knife would you recommend? I read that a chef's knife and paring knife are good for starters, but it doesn't seem like those two alone would get everything done. Of course, I would like suggestions about brands, carbon vs. stainless, etc. I was also looking for some advice about storing them - I read in another thread that storing them all together in a drawer (what she's been doing for the past 15 years) is very bad for them. I read about buying covers of some sort, but I just need to know what to look for. Sorry for the long post, but thank you if you've read this far! I really appreciate any advice you can give me. Thank you in advance. ~Grave