I'm often in the kitchen alone, and I've wondered why. Could it be... (shudder!) ... I wonder... my poor knife skills??

There are so many things I need to do... when does one get to the really important things in life, like learning to use a knife properly in the kitchen? Nanette has cautioned me many times that I'm about to chop the end off one of my fingers, that I should learn good knife skills. Maybe she can't stand to work next to such an amateur.

In the interest of peaceful coexistence in the kitchen, then, I began my search on the Internet. And here is what I found:

How to Cut

This is part of Peter Hertzmann's beautifully designed website.

There appears to be no substitute for practice, according to the article. If I want to learn to cut basil, I'm going to have to find some basil and practice cutting it according to the directions given. Oh -- you've just got to visit this web page -- if just to see that Hertzmann gives illustrations for both left- and right-hand cutting. Yes.

Of course, I guess I could just have asked Nanette, "could you show me how to cut this basil properly", but I didn't. Most likely it's a guy thing.