I’m back from New York and absolutely exhausted. This has been a productive (and fun) trip, but tomorrow it’s time to get back to work.

Dinner last night was nothing short of phenomenal. I had the best steak I’ve ever had in my life. It was an expensive steak and an awesome bottle of wine. I can’t believe how amazing the food was. What made it even better is that the software company paid for it.

Last night, I couldn’t sleep. Part of it was my Rebif and part of it was some stuff bothering me. The fact that I was sleeping in a bed that wasn’t my own without my own pillow certainly didn’t help.

I’m not feeling all that well. My hope is that I’m just tired. I’m afraid that I’m getting sick. This would be a really bad time to get sick for me. But if I do, I’ll just have to suck it up.

After today’s seminar, I have a feeling that some changes are going to happen for me.  It won’t be an easy decision to make, but when I do make it, it’ll be the right one.

Oh, and today was my two-year anniversary at work.

I’m having a good time in New York. Sunday night, I met up with some friends for German food. I also got to meet my friend Kevin’s black Pug, Lucy. I almost stole her so that Reggie would have a little sister.

Work has been crazy while I’m here, and I haven’t had a moment to do much of anything.

Last night, I met up with a net pal and had dinner in the west village. It was what I’d call Italian comfort food. I had penne with a tomato vodka sauce. He had gnochi in pesto. The best was the appetizer. We had warm goat cheese that was fried, served with arugula. It was divine.

Tonight, I’m having dinner with a vendor. We’re having dinner at a steak house that my company built. I can’t wait for that.

Tomorrow, I have a seminar and then we’re coming back on a train. I still need to get a t-shirt for Sarah. That should be easy enough.

It’s Sunday morning, and I was up at 6:30. WTF? Well, I need to catch and 11:00 train, and it was easy to just turn on the alarm clock instead of setting another time. I was up and moving by 7:00.

I have a really busy week ahead of me. Monday through Wednesday, I’m in New York. Thursday and Friday, we’re merging systems for two of our business units. My stuff is in really good shape, but two of our systems, which are completely out of my control, have me nervous. The developer responsible for these systems swears that we’re going to be ready. I have to trust he knows what he’s doing.

I should be getting to my hotel by 3:30 today, and then I’m meeting up with some friends tonight for German food in New York. This should be fun.

I’ve been cleaning my kitchen today and decided to finally take a few pictures of the knife rack. Here you go.

First is the Wüsthof chef’s knife my parents bought me for Christmas.
Second is the Wüsthof santoku knife Beth and Paul got me for Christmas.
Third is the Wüsthof paring knife that came with the new chef’s knife.
Fourth and Fifth are the Wüsthof paring and utility knives that I’ve had for several years. I bought them at Williams-Sonoma when I still lived in Pittsburgh.
Sixth is a Chicago Cutlery knife that’s been around for quite some time.
Seventh is a Henckels chef’s knife I bought at Target about six months ago. It’s certainly a low-end knife, but it has a nice feel to it.
Eighth is a santoku knife that my mom and I got at Sam’s Club in November. We split up the set of them. It’s not a bad knife but a bit heavy.

Of all these knives, the Wüsthof knives are my favorite. Beth and I were talking about this last weekend. She loves her Global knives, and they’re really great. But they’re too light for me. I feel like the Wüsthof knives are a man’s knife. Seriously, though, they just fit my hand better.

I think my older Wüsthof knives should be sharpened at some point in the near future.  I need to find someplace locally that sharpens knives or send them off to the Holley Knife company for sharpening.

Sometimes I joke that I am DBA, hear me roar.  Today, I realized that I actually do know my shit.

It’s a good feeling.

From the So Gay It Hurts department, Broadway’s Best on Sirius 77 is playing the entire Cats Broadway Cast recording today. I’m sitting here humming along, trying not to break into song with it.

There are a few things I’ve learned about cooking. These are all critical lessons.

1. Your best friend is a good, sharp knife.
2. Fat means flavor.
3. Season early. Season late. Season in the middle. If you don’t season early in the cooking process, your food isn’t well-seasoned. It’s just salty.

Last night’s dinner broccoli soup, was a reminder about number three. First, I had rendered prosciutto instead of pancetta. It’s what I had, and I wasn’t really paying attention. So I didn’t start with much fat in the pan. So I added olive oil. But I figured that the ham would have enough salt. I figured wrong.  Worse yet, I ran out of pepper.

The soup had decent flavor. It just was bland. That makes me sad.

10AM Okay, So Only That One Time

1PM Lousy Human Condition

I was reading about the Holley Knife company, and they have some awesome advice on buying knives.