‘Tis the season for roasting turkey. . . carving the bird. . . and expressing gratitude
You can find dozens of tips on how to carve a turkey online. I found this one, on a website dubbed Webstaurant, demonstrating in 59 seconds flat a surefire way to handle the bird.
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This summer, our grandson Curtis, now a business/finance major at the University of Florida, served an internship with Cutco, a premier purveyor of cutlery and cookware, American-made and with a “forever” guarantee. Because as a dedicated Nana I had contacts he could use, I helped him set up appointments.
Here is my sales spiel:Â
My grandson is doing an internship with Cutco, a producer of high-quality knife sets. He is in the process of setting up appointments to demonstrate his knowledge of Cutco’s products. And I’m helping him do that.
The cutlery is of the highest quality and carries a “forever” guarantee. However, you should know that there is no obligation to make a purchase. Curtis gets paid for making the presentation regardless. However, by listening to his sales pitch, you will be helping a young man hone his skills in salesmanship. May he contact you about this?
As it happens, our own knives were miserably dull. The blades squished the veggies, making a dent in the tomato skin but not slicing through. And as you can see, our old knife block featured quite an assortment, with the white-handled knife near the bottom the only one to do the trick, a purchase from a college student in our neighborhood long ago. It was a Cutco brand, I noticed! And the blade was still sharp. We were a shoo-in as customers.
The new knives are pricey, but with the “forever” guarantee, we don’t expect replace them “as long as we both shall live.” The scissors itself is worth the investment: It cuts through wire and rope. I use it almost daily for simpler chores.
The new knives performed admirably!
Ben Franklin and others had thoughts about using knives too. Here are a few:
- Remember, it is never the knife’s fault.  ~ Daniel Boulud, chef
- There was never a good knife made of bad steel.  ~ Benjamin Franklin
- A knife is only as good as the one who wields it.  ~ Patrick Ness
References to sharpness appears in scripture metaphorically:
Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.  (King James Version)
Proverbs 27:17 in another version expresses the idea differently:
You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another.   (The Message)
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Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
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How sharp are your knives?
Do you have a turkey-carving story?
Another remembrance about Thanksgiving? Something you are especially thankful for this season?
Our knives are very, very dull, which is frustrating, but I’m too cheap to buy decent ones. My dad had a Thanksgiving tradition of inviting someone with no family to eat with us. At this point, I’m thankful to be alive; I don’t take it lightly.
Yay, you are # 1 today! Thanks for mentioning your dad’s benevolence and admitting that you are a dull-knife owner, no shame in that. Yes, we are fortunate to be alive now and able to engage with other creative souls. 😀
You’re welcome, Marian!
Good morning, Marian! Liz beat me today, as I was finishing up some work that is due today. 🙂
My knives are dull, too, except for one excellent bread knife that I bough about a year ago.
I look forward to getting together with family on Thanksgiving (and of course, the cranberry squirrel).
Merril, you juggle lots of projects; I don’t know how you do it all.
Bread knives are often serrated and work for lots of textures, so I can see how you value it. About Thanksgiving, I can picture your cranberry squirrel, such a good complement to turkey meat.
You’re welcome, and thank you, Marian. You juggle many things, too.
In my case, the cranberry sauce is excellent with stuffing and mushroom gravy, but others will enjoy it with the turkey. 😉
😀
Unlike everyone in my family, our knives are dull dull dull. Several years ago one of our kids bought us a knife sharpener. It was stored somewhere smart in our kitchen (?) and I have yet to find it. Ha. I use my one large serrated knife for almost everything – bagels, chicken, apples, etc. I’m thankful for that one excellent piece of cutlery. 🙂 Like LIz says, knives are so expensive and I’m so cheap. YOU, my dear, are a grandmother par excellence, using the promotion skills you’ve learned with your memoirs to help your grandson with presentations. I’m impressed and in awe.
We will celebrate Thanksgiving with family near and far – 14 or 15. My guy is roasting the turkey in our oven, but then we take it over to our daughter’s home, where she is hosting the meal. She has great knives. 🙂
Pam, as you may have noticed, Merril (above) confesses to using a trusty serrated knife too. Ha!
Thanks for mentioning your Thanksgiving plans this year: Roasting a turkey is a big job, but hosting is even bigger. About 10 years ago daughter Crista took over the hosting and I didn’t protest. She has a larger house and more energy. The kids are getting bigger and the adults a mite slower, so it all works out.
Oh, tee hee, I didn’t mention that my guy roasts the turkey, but then we bring it to our daughter’s house, where we all gather! 🙂
😀
I am a sucker for the college student selling almost anything, and I would definitely say yes to a grandma who asked so sweetly. Thankful for you, Marian.
Knowing your devotion to those sweet grandkids, you’d be a “Yes” Grandma too.
Blessings to you and your family this Thanksgiving season, Shirley. 😀
Our daughter has a friend who wanted to practice her “Cutco” speech (for a summer’s job) with us back when they were both in high school. We obliged. And learned things! We also bought one pricey Cutco paring knife which still serves us well. I talk my hubby into sharpening things that get dull, but he never does it just automatically, which might be nice, but then the cook would have to beware of sharp knives. So I’m happy to just alert him when one really really needs it. I also have taught him how to step up and carve the turkey, which I hated doing, and he’s doing well! But this year we’re not doing the turkey, we get to go to my daughter’s mother-in-law’s house. Yay!
Melodie, I wonder how your turkey carving lesson compares to the video here. Ha! The main thing is to get the bird carved quickly for all those hungry eaters.
And aren’t you happy you can be a guest, not a host, this Thanksgiving!
Our family all gathers at my daughter’s house and we each bring a side dish or dessert. 😀
This post tells me how involved you are in your grandchildren’s lives even when they leave home to attend college and begin to live independently. Grandparents are important!
We always have chicken for Thanksgiving because in Congo we couldn’t get turkey!
Yes, our children AND grandchildren never outgrow needing us–and us needing them too. I know your Thanksgiving this year (October in Canada?) may have been different. I know you miss your precious Hardy around the holiday table.
Chicken tastes a lot like turkey, so you had a similar menu in Congo for Thanksgiving, a fact I didn’t know. Blessings to you this season, Elfrieda! ((( )))
Our knives are not sharp like they once were. Kind of like the people who use them. 😉
That line sounds quotable, Ally. Ha!Ha! 😀
I have an eerily similar experience, Marian. One of my former students, a very sweet girl I taught in third grade, contacted me from out of the blue about Cutco. She was also trying to support herself as she worked toward her academic goals in college. I had no interest in the knives, but I’m always going to do what I can to help my students. She gave an excellent presentation, one she must have done many times before. She was just following the company script, but it was well over an hour of watching videos and answering questions. No one forced me to do it, but I felt it was a big ask from the company to expect someone to sit through all that. I had decided ahead of time I would purchase something in order to help her out, not really having a need for any of it. I purchased a bagel knife, which my wife later told me cost at least three times more than expected.
It may be a respected company, and their products are probably fine, but it reminded me of some of the Amway presentations friends gave back in the day. Still, supporting our family members and friends is an honorable thing to do, and I’m sure your grandson appreciated your kindness.
Pete, I believe we got an abbreviated version of the Cutco sales pitch. Neither of us could have listened to an hour-long + presentation. Of course, we were a shoo-in for sales, our knives being in a pitiful state. However, because of the price, we would probably have bought only a token piece, not a whole set, except it was our grandson as salesman and we truly needed new knives.
From your comment, it appears Cutco has been using this same strategy successfully for years, a new crop of youth available in the wings as their “sales staff.”
Early in our marriage, we succumbed to the lure of Amway too, but gradually we lost interest, giving rise to our true callings: teaching and performing. “Art is long and life is short,” has been true for us. 😀
Hi,
I don‘t have a carving knife. Maybe one day I will get one, but at the moment I don‘t need one because I celebrate Thanksgiving with veterans at a restaurant own by a veteran here in Germany, and he‘s a great cook!
I love the Message version that iron sharpens iron and a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. I think we could all have a couple of friends that keep us walking our talk.
Have a happy thanksgiving with your family and God bless.
Shalom shalom
Pat, my “sister” from afar: Thanks for telling us about your Thanksgiving plans. I’m glad you can be with a host of friends to celebrate.
Your benediction “Shalom shalom” means a lot in these days of unrest. Abundant peace and blessings this season. 😀
Unfortunately, my knives are dull!
My dad always carved the turkey when I was growing up. This year I’m going to the home of some friends and won’t have to carve a turkey! 😄😄😄
Lucky you, L. Marie! I’m happy to hear your will be celebrating with friends. Yes, indeed, let someone else do the carving, I say. 😀
My knives will be sharper by Winter Solstice because my North Carolina son always gets out Vic’s sharpening stones when he arrives and goes to work. He won’t be here for Thanksgiving, but I enjoyed a recent visit with him. There’s no turkey in my world because I don’t eat birds, but we had turkey when I was a kid. I remember facing the reality that dinner was the bird previously clucking and pecking with grandma’s chickens. And that’s farm life. Have a joyful Thanksgiving with your family and very sharp professional knives. Blessings and peace.
Your much-anticipated visit to your NC happened. And you are BACK. Great! Maybe we’ll hear more details in a future blog post. By the way, I’m glad you have warm memories of Thanksgivings long ago.
Right now I feel apathetic, with low energy, so thanks heaps for your wish for very sharp professional knives. Blessings and peace to you as well, Elaine. 😀
Marian — Thanks to Len, our knives are sharper than sharp (scary sharp). Happy Thanksgiving from me and mine to you and yours.
Laurie, I love how Len has contributed menus and wine pairings for EVERY book in your super-successful Sean McPherson thriller series. I’m not surprised his knives are super-sharp. No sharp chef with a dull knife! Readers: https://www.lauriebuchanan.com/lauriebuchanan-home
I cannot abide a dull knife. Curt keeps them sharp with a diamond sharpening stone. He usually does it once a month, but sometimes I have to ask. My Dad used to check the sharpness of a knife by shaving the hair on his arm. I listened to a Cutco presentation by a friend of our oldest son. I bought a very expensive scissors that works pretty well. Our son and DIL have Cutco knives and they are not very sharp. She has to send them away to be sharpened. Nope. Give me my hubby and his diamond stone and I’m good. A sharp knife makes such a difference, just like a sharp rotary cutter blade or a new needle in the sewing machine.
Cheers to you husband and his diamond stone sharpener, Sarah. I was fascinated with this statement: “My Dad used to check the sharpness of a knife by shaving the hair on his arm.” Makes sense.
Thanks too for connecting sharpness with sewing as well: “A sharp knife makes such a difference, just like a sharp rotary cutter blade or a new needle in the sewing machine.” I couldn’t agree more.
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As clumsy as I am in the kitchen, the more dull the knife, the better. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Marian.
‘Tis the season for you to be waited on, Jill.
Happy Thanksgiving with no carving tasks for you! 😀
Hi Marian – I just finished a discussion over dinner tonight about carving the turkey. I’m going to have to watch the video you linked. I always have trouble with the drumsticks! Glad you’re ready for the holiday with some sharp knives. Have a great Thanksgiving 🙂
NEAT and EASY are two words that come to mind as I watched the video. The chef doing the demonstration had sharp knives and knew what he was doing, but it didn’t take him long and he didn’t make a mess. It’s well worth the 59-second view.
Best of luck with your bird–and Thanksgiving blessings, Barbara! 😀
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, Marian. Good luck to your grandson and his sales career. I’m sure he’ll do well. xo
Darlene, I will tell Curtis a nice lady from Spain wished him well. Thanks for the good wishes. Soon it will be time for “Feliz Navidad” in your part of the world. 😀
😊🌲
“Dedicated Nanas” are wonderful. 🙂 This reminds me of a story years ago when another young man in our neighborhood called us requesting a time to meet with us about the knife sets he was selling. We agreed. We were home and waited, but he never showed! I guess he was not cut out for the job (pun intended, haha.) Selling is NOT easy, I commend Curtis for feeling comfortable enough to make these presentations. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving, Marian!
Curtis has always been on the cutting edge, pun intended also. Since he was old enough to be in the workplace, he has had a job, enabling him to buy his own car while in high school. Now in college, I worry that he is stretched too thin, juggling classes and work to supplement his scholarship. When I last talked to him, he said, “I like what I do so that gives me energy.” So I guess I rest my case.
I see you have a new post on your blog. I’ll skip on over there when my eyesight clears. (Eyesight fuzzy after treatment today.)
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving too! ;-D
Haha. I love everything you said about Curtis. He’s responsible, has a wonderful work ethic and is wise about how his work drives him. He is going places!!!
Young people need all the encouragement they can get these days. Thank you for your kind words! 😀
There’s nothing like a dull knife for prep. What a difference a good knife makes! 🙂 x
Yes, indeed! May your weekend be sharp–and fun, Debby. 😀
I’ll take that Marian. 🙂
HI Marian, great news about your grandson. You are a star for helping him. Have a very happy Thanksgiving.
Robbie, it’s always a labor of love when we help those near and dear. You’re a twinkling star too! 😀