Sharpening up my Knife Skills

Not long ago I went to a launch event for the Culinary Showdown, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's Cook for the Cure Event.  They were trying to recruit foodies and food bloggers to sign up to join the Culinary Showdown by raising funds that go towards the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.   The event was held at Cirillo's Culinary Academy, a beautiful cooking space that is used for events, classes and team building.  If you signed up that night for the Showdown you got a free Knife Skills Workshop at Cirillo's, so I signed up because I thought if nothing else at least I can say I actually took a Knife Skills Class.   Tonight was the night for the class.  There was about 25-30 people there, all comprised of people that signed up and have started fundraising.   Unfortunately I am nowhere near my goal of $2500 to be able to participate in the showdown but I am trying to raise as much money as I can.  If you want to help me out and DONATE a bit of money to the cause here is the link to my page: DONATE HERE

When we arrived we sample a bunch of tasty bites and beverages that they had ready for us to try and get warmed up and ready for the Class.

The owner of Cirillo's talked about the importance of sharp knives and how to sharpen them and did a couple of quick demo's of how to cut an onion and zucchini, herbs and mushrooms properly.  I think the Knife Skills class is more of a pre emptive safety class before some people compete in the Showdown because he told a couple of stories about how a couple of people got hurt at the showdown from lack of experience and I think a lack of common sense and skill.  I think it's in their best interest to have everyone have at least basic knife skills and then the rest is up to the Celebrity Chefs.

It was a really fun night.  After the quick demo we hit our own stations to cut up some vegetables.  The 2 girls at my station were really good and according to the chefs we were the pros.  I took my time because the last time I went to a Cutco event I actually cut myself because I wasn't used to the knives.  I made sure I didn't repeat that again.  One of my station mates is also a Gastroposter and I think we recruited the third person into becoming a future Gastroposter as well.

And Here are the results of our labour:

I would totally recommend going to an Event or Class at Cirillo's on Dundas St. West at Islington Ave. It's a beautiful place and you can learn a thing or two and have a great time.

Everyone should learn basic Knife Skills and in fact basic Cooking Skills never hurts anyone.

Go cut and cook... and don't forget to sponsor me for the Culinary Showdown....