My major award! I won, I won, I won!

I knew all those years of watching way too much Bravo and twittering (or tweeting?) way too often would eventually pay off. And boy, has it. Behold... my major award, courtesy of Top Chef Masters contestant (and runner up) Michael Chiarello.



I'd like to introduce you to my five new children -- chef's knife one, bread knife, paring knife, chef's knife two, and their big brother, santoku knife.

A few months ago, while on maternity leave (of course), I entered a giveaway for the knives -- which were part of the Top Chef Master's Tool Box giveaway promotion -- at Chef Chiarello's website. Imagine my surprise when the day before my birthday, I got an email from someone at NapaStyle, Michael's (yes, we're on a first name basis... he even tweeted me personally while I was bragging on Twitter about having won them. Seriously. Life = made) company that I had won the giveaway. Happy birthday to me!

They finally arrived on Friday after being on back order, and I'm so excited to use them, I'm deliberately thinking of recipes that involve lots of chopping for this week.

I'm already in love with my knives, and if you want to buy them, you can find them here (santoku knife), and here (chef's and paring knives). The others, I believe, are not sold separately, and thus I just consider my "major award" that much more special!

(Side note: Though I did not win this, and the cost of it would probably negate my freebie, check these out. I think this is the coolest invention since sliced bread -- I slay me! -- and just might ask Santa for them for Christmas!)