Sharpening My Knives

Guess what? I'm starting culinary school in Barcelona in October. The school I'll be going to is called Hofmann and it is owned by Chef Mey Hofmann who also runs the Michelin starred Hofmann Restaurant in Barcelona. It should be an amazing experience and I really can't wait! Of course I hope to write all about it on Barcelona Bites.

In the meantime, I am required to buy myself a ridiculously expensive set of knives. I could buy a plane ticket to somewhere very very far away with the money I will be spending on these knives and trust me, there are times when that idea seems tempting. The other day I allowed Nico to tie me by the neck to the sun umbrella on my aunt's front porch. It kept him busy and quiet for a good ten minutes and when I found myself weighing the pros and cons of the situation, I decided it was worth it.

Cons:

-I could possibly choke to death

-Nico could get bored and go inside, leaving me as an unwilling spectacle for any visitor who should approach the house. Several explanations could flash through their minds, none of which would do much for my reputation.

-Nico could fall off the edge of the front porch and since I would not be able to rescue him myself, I would have to scream and scream until somebody else came along and did it as I looked on helplessly.

Pros:

I would have ten minutes to quietly read my book.

But yes, the knives are expensive and this means that I plan to never ever EVER buy another knife again for the entire rest of my life. When I think about it, given that I have never owned either a car or a house, the knives might be the most expensive thing (outside of a plane ticket) that I have ever bought for myself. I can honestly say that I never predicted that at the age of 35, my most pricey possessions would be knives. If someone had told me this 15 years ago I'm pretty sure that I would have been seriously concerned.

It's also a good thing that I'm not living in Egypt thousands of years ago because if I died right now, my tomb would contain me, a bicycle, a second-hand vintage Gucci handbag, and a bunch of knives.

Speaking of knives, in Spanish cities there are men who ride around on motorbikes that have special knife-sharpening stones attached to the back. They blow a little whistle as they ride through the neighborhoods (Nico's friend Betty was convinced that the whistling meant fairies lived on our street), and anyone who needs their knives or scissors sharpened can run out and catch them. Some of them go door-to-door as well and back when I first moved to Spain, it would always freak me out a bit when my buzzer was rung by strange men babbling about sharp knives. 

Here is our local fairy/knife sharpener at work in Barcelona. There's a bit too much facial hair, duct tape and grease involved in the operation for my taste. A pair of diaphanous wings is just what he needs don't you think?

 

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Comments

[Sara]

Johanna! I just discovered your blogs and I loooove them! I'm from Barcelona, but I've lived in Holland and Ireland for the past 4 years, so I could say I don't really know Barcelona anymore (I got back less than a year ago and I start to re-discover it...).
I also have a cooking blog and I'll go to Hoffmann next year... So excited about it!
Good luck for all of it!

[LongStoryLonger]

:)

I think this sounds very exciting. It's so true and maybe best that our lives don't usually take us where we think and hope they will. What an adventure you're going to have!