How to keep your knife sharper longer

I watch the food shows a lot. One thing that irks me to no end is watching people use their knife to scrape food off a cutting board. This dulls the knife prematurely. Knives are for cutting, not scraping.

Instead, try this quick and easy method: flip the knife over and scrape with the spine. It’s works just as well, and your knife will stay sharper longer.

Sugar Free, Fat Free Valentine Heart Candy

Guiltless Valentine candy hearts? What’s the catch? They’re only pictures of candy hearts, in a customizable design:

Personalized Heart Candy Travel MugTemplate by alinaspencil
Create ceramic coffee mugs on zazzle

This candy heart mug template has six Valentine’s day heart candy spaces for you to add your own message. Three hearts are on one side, three hearts are on the other side.

Create your own custom travel mug to keep or give away. Replace the words in the fields provided.

I love my travel mug. It keeps drinks hot or cold for a long time. Despite it looking like it is made of plastic, it is actually stainless steel; the white color is an enamel paint layer.

Don’t want a mug? How about a shirt?

Personalized Heart Candy Shirt by alinaspencil
T shirts from zazzle

You may want to make the font larger or smaller in order to fit your message. To do so, click on “customize.” This will take you to the Zazzle design tool.

Click on the appropriate bar. You’ll see a white box with a number in it. Click on the plus sign to the right of that number to make the font larger. Click on the minus sign to make it smaller. Use the arrow buttons to reposition the words if necessary.

If you have questions or need help, please email me at:
4alina@alinaspencil.com

Enter for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Zazzle

Here’s an easy way to sample what Zazzle has to offer…

Visit this blog created by another Zazzler. Enter your name and email address for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to any Zazzle store.

Zazzle has an enormous selection of artists; everything from scary cartoons to nature photography to fractal art. I love to browse other shops just to be inspired and amazed at the creativity out there.

If you win, you’ll get the chance to sample something yourself. So go submit your name!

A Quick Knife Cutting Tip

Knife danger
One of the biggest dangers when using a kitchen knife is having the blade slip and cut you. This often occurs when a piece of food gets under the knife tip, so when you rock the knife forward as you slice or chop, it slips.

To prevent this, here is a quick tip that can help:

Angle the top of the knife away from you. If you’re right handed, angle the knife to the right. If you’re left handed, angle the knife to the left.

Why does this help?
As you cut, the pieces of food tend to stick to the knife and get pushed upwards, eventually falling over the top of the knife. By angling the top away from you, they fall away rather than onto what you are still trying to cut.

This makes for faster chopping or slicing, plus reduced danger of knife slippage on a piece of food at the tip.

Try it and see! Just a slight angle will do.

From Service Dog Failure to Surfer Dog Success!

You’ve heard the expression, “Be yourself”?

You’ve heard that we should each develop those gifts and talents inherent within us in order to be the best we can be?

Richochet was born to be a service dog. His owner began training him from the day he was born. He was naturally gifted, and his future looked promising.

But as he grew, his instincts took over. He started chasing birds. He would be a danger to a disabled person. His life as a service dog would never be fulfilled.

Then his owner decided to nurture another one of his natural instincts…surfing!

Watch this heart-warming video to see how he was trained and how he is helping people in a different way.

Ricochet the surfing dog