My mother had a favorite expression I remember her saying every time we sat down for dinner: You Are What You Eat (and she even had a cookbook by the same name!) I never forgot her words of advice and to this day I’m committed to creating healthy meals for my family (we even have our own organic garden, right in the heart of the city).

Like any chef, having the right tools is paramount to creating healthy and delicious meals—and it begins with a good knife.

THE CUTLUXE KNIFE

My son just got a job as a chef in one of San Diego’s premier hotels, so I had a perfect person to review this Cutluxe knife as it was used to chop a wide range of vegetables and chicken for a stir fry dish.

While this review may be a bit technical for those of us who just chop or slice with our kitchen knives, I think it is important to know that a professional chef endorses a product.  In this case, he mentioned all the positive attributes of this knife.

His first comment was that the knife was very well balanced. Most of the weight is in the handle, which allows more control during the cutting process (something I never even thought of, actually!)  He also mentioned that the bolster was slanted inwards, which makes it very comfortable to hold.

Finally, he noted that is quite sharp and “holds an edge” (another chef term that goes over my head) which basically means that you don’t need to sharpen it so often.

Bottom line is, if a professional chef loves this knife, it is definitely to be recommended. https://www.cutluxe.com/

Carbon Steel Wok

After seeing how easy it was to cut up all sorts of veggies with a good knife, I decided to buy a kitchen item I have thought about for years, but never purchased—an authentic wok. After doing quite a bit of research, I decided upon the Yosukata black carbon steel wok (available on Amazon).

My son immediately took charge and in minutes we had a delicious stir fry dish we served over the fried rice he had made in the wok earlier. Talk about a healthy, quick meal that far exceeded anything you could buy in a frozen package—at a fraction of the cost!

Disclaimer: I only review products that I have personally tested, and I am not monetarily compensated for any reviews. All opinions are my own.