My Great Day

Ahhhh...back from a lovely day of shopping, eating and drinking in Charlotte with my sister in law, V. She's my favorite person in my husband's family, the only one he isn't related to by blood. And it's a good thing I like her so much, because I would have left him many times by now, but that might make things awkward between me and V. One of the main reasons I went was to use the incredibly generous gift certificate to Sur La Table that my friend the Lady M and her husband sent us after the last time they stayed here. I hope they understand that we like having them here so much that I'd let them move in (in exchange for light cleaning and child care, of course), but we can't keep letting them stay here if they're going to be so obscenely generous in their appreciation. It's embarassing. But not so embarrassing that I didn't skip into the store like a brand new, thus unjaded, stripper in a discount lingerie store. After obsessively browsing the Sur La Table website (it's like porn for me, I swear), I had a long list of stuff I wanted to look at and I couldn't wait to see it up close.

Soooooo...this is what I got:

A Lettuce knife. Yes, a lettuce knife. This was one of the things I grabbed just to get more stuff. And because I think it's cool. You can also cut brownies and cake with it, perfect for taking on picnics, because it's plastic. I think I could even take it on an airplane, which is good because I hate it when they serve uncut brownies on airplanes.
A Stainless Steel Pie Server. Because we eat a lot of quiche and I only have two pie servers, one rusted one with a plastic handle and one sterling one with a hollow handle, so it can't go in the dishwasher. Guess which one I threw out?
Ceramic Placecards. Which is a stupid name, because they aren't cards. I'd call them place markers and, screw it, because I'm going to use them as appetizer labels. You can write on them with a pen, which came with them (Yeah! Free pen!), and wipe them off, so you can use them again. If you're like me and tend to serve the same things, you might not even need to wipe them off between parties.
Nine Inch Shun Classic Granton Slicer. Awesome knives are awesome. Like, totally. And I bought this one to replace an Oxo Good Grip slicer I've had for years. I would have kept it, but the Good Grip handle rotted. Safety Tip: If you have to throw away a knife, wrap the blade in a lot of duct tape, so squirrels don't steal it and knife you for your nuts. And, drum roll please, the item I've been lusting after for years...
An Oxo Mandoline. I'll be able to make all kinds of cool stuff, like those little skinny carrot strips for California Rolls. And waffle fries! And Crinkle Cut Cucumbers! And Julienned Stuff! I bet you can't wait to come to my next party. Prepare to be AMAZED!

So what should I make for dinner tonight?

Namasté, y'all!