How to Lower a Wedding Cake Price

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I recall how Mrs. Ingridman taught me invaluable lessons on how to lower a wedding cake price while still going for the classiest of cakes. After her successful wedding, she told me how she managed to treat her guests with a mouthwatering cake which was bought at reasonable price.

She told me the reasons why most wedding cakes turn out to be expensive are because the cake pans used to bake them are expensive. I will list some of the ways by which you can lower a wedding cake price and choose the best cake for your wedding:

1. Before you agree to give an order to the baker, make sure that the decoration and design is the right kind to suit your taste. Go through referrals and see what prices are being quoted. Look through the samples first before deciding on your cake. A supermarket could offer a wide range of cakes at a lesser cost than your bakery.

2. Decide on how you want to decorate your wedding cake whether you want to keep it simple and cute or splendid and rich. Avoid over decorating the cake. It is not necessary to have a five tiered cake. You can have your cake stacked if you want.

3. Bakers who are not specially into wedding cakes could still bake the best cakes and cost less. Home bakers too do not charge much and could make lovely cakes.

4. You can borrow the pillars. There are disposable pillars available with your local baker or rental companies which are a better alternative than those crystal pillars if you want to cut down on the cost of the pillars. Let the baker or your local rental company helps you with the disposable pillars instead of the crystal ones.

5. Another great idea would be to find prices at a cake making or culinary school near your place. Students have baking and decorating cakes as part of their curriculum. You can be assured that you will get gorgeous cake and have your wedding cake made at a very low price.

6. Investigate prices at a culinary school near you. If students are baking and decorating wedding cakes as part of their curriculum, the per person charge may be greatly reduced.

7. You can even save on your wedding cake topper prices. In Mrs.Ingridman's case her uncle asked her what she would like to have as a wedding present. Her quick answer was a wedding cake topper. Often relatives and well wishers would ask you to ask what you need as a gift.

8. Another good thing which Miss. Ingridman did, which you may want to do, is that if you buy a multi-tiered cake, see that you decorate it yourself or have the florist do it for you. If you want flowers on your cake but the cost of the artificial flowers isn't fitting in your budget, let your florist put real flowers on the cake. Just make sure that they are non toxic. Check the price of the organic
edible flowers.

As Mrs. Ingridman put it, before you meet with any baker, look around for the best samples. At http://www.cakechannel.com >Cake Channel you will find amazing and interesting varieties of wedding cakes.

Expect to pay per slice of the cake as the cake cost depends more on style than flavors.

Before sign up with your baker, shop around or decide what is the topper you would like, what style you would want for you cake, what flavor is the taste of the season for you and how tiered it should bebut the most important see that your mouthwatering wedding cake comes at mouthwatering price.

It is important to get what you want, at a price which does not tug at your purse strings.

How to Lose Weight at a Desk-Sitting Job

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Most contemporary money-bringing jobs are related to desk-sitting. While you can earn your leaving easier, its also much easier to get extra kilograms and youre your body shape. Statistics says that almost 40% of the country population suffer from obesity and more than 70% have overweight issues. If you dont want to become one of them then the time to act fast has come. Yes, it would be weird and uncomfortable at first to follow the rule of weight-losing at a desk job, yet if you follow all the rules you can be sure to see results over a month or two. So here are three donts and 3 dos to help you stay or get fit at work.

Donts

1. Soda. Even if you see the label diet, dont be fooled by it. Its still soda that contains sugar and additional chemicals that stay in your body and increase your size day by day. Several researches reported that daily soda drinking leads to higher risks of stroke and type 2 diabetes.

2. Chips. You may think that if the label says baked potato chips it means they are healthy. Forget it! These are still chips and thinking otherwise would be fooling yourself. This product contains too many carbohydrates that you will never get rid of, so they will transform into fat that you are so interested in getting rid of.

3. Energy shots. This is a complete taboo! They not only contain tons of sugar, but also lead to serious cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems damages. You risk having a heart attack of only two-three bottles of energy drinks and find gastric ulcer over only a couple of months.

Dos

1. Green tea. Stop drinking coffee and adding milk and sugar to it. Start getting your caffeine shots from green tee. According to personal trainers this is a great supplement because green tea contains even more caffeine than coffee. If you feel sleepy at work, there is no better remedy than a cup of fresh green tea. According to the Canadian researchers, regular consumption of green tea can even prevent you from getting colds. Furthermore, green tea is a great fat burner. So if youre aiming at losing weight, there is no better remedy than green tea at a work place!

2. Healthy snacks. Forget about sandwiches, hamburgers, and chips. All this food has extremely negative effect on your health not only in terms of weight gaining, but also damages your cardiovascular system. Replace all junk food that you consume during the workday with something healthy and tasty. For instance, chips can be replaced with nuts; dried fruits and banana chips are perfect supplements for candies. A piece of chicken with salad is pretty much the same hamburger. Think healthy and eat healthy to improve your appearance.

3. A small mirror. A small mirror on the desk is a perfect way to stick to your plan of healthy habits. If you feel the need to eat something bad, just look into the mirror and think if you want to get those perfect check bones or your second chin works well enough for you?

4. A bowl of fruit. There are several studies that proved that if you look at food and smell it before consumption for 10-15 minutes, you lose some part of appetite and as a result eat less. So instead of putting flowers all over your office, put there fruit bowls. During the meetings and discussions with your colleagues youll be able to look at this fruit and so eat less during the lunch time.

5. Gum. Though some people say that gum chewing is not a very healthy habit, it can and will help you lose weight. When you chew a gum in some middle-range stressful situation, you lover cortisol level and as a result influence on your bodys capacity to store fats. Furthermore, you know that gum chewing lowers stress level that also leads to obesity.

As you can see, there is nothing unbelievable in the tips from above, ye you need to follow them in order to lose some kilos. If you want to get faster result and more relief body check personal trainers in your area (now you can do it online with websites like hirerush.com) and start doing some exercises to consolidate your success.

How to Get Rid of Onion Breath by Natural Ways

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Onions have been used in culinary aspect for centuries in many different cuisines all over the world since they enhance the nice pungent flavor to various dishes and salads. Moreover, onions are beneficial since they contain vitamin C as well as vitamin B, dietary fiber and folic acid which can offer many health benefits.

However, one thing that many people complain about onion is onion breath. A nasty smell from onion can linger in the mouth for a long time and cause discomfort for many surrounding people. It is caused by chewing raw onion. The sulfurous properties found plenty in onion are the main culprits of this condition. When the raw onion is digested, the scent molecules will approach the lungs through blood stream and give rise to bad onion odor when you exhale. However, cooked onion will be fine. They can be consumed without causing any nasty odor.

Moreover, some factors such as smoking, medications gum diseases and mouth dryness may worsen the problem since they contribute to nasty breath. One of the best ways to treat the onion breath is to stop chewing raw onions. However, if raw onion is your favorite, you might seek for other home remedies which can significantly help you in treating the bad breath from consuming raw onion.

BAKING SODA

Baking soda counts for another very effective treatment for onion breathe. It is able to neutralize the onion breath, exterminate the development of harmful bacteria as well as maintain the pH balance of the mouth.

Mix some baking soda with sea salt into a cup of warm water
Use this solution to gargle for several times a day to treat onion breath effectively.

PARSLEY

Parsley is another effective remedy to fully treat bad breath particularly onion breath. It consists of chlorophyll which can counteract the bad breath.

Soak a handful of fresh parsley leaves in vinegar and put a bit salt on them
You can take them and chew them for several minutes so that they can help you to ward off bad breath.

Alternatively,

Add some coarsely chopped parsley in 2 glasses of water
You can add 2 3 cloves and boil the solution
Strain it and let it cool down to the room temperature before consuming it.

MUSTARD SAUCE

Mustard sauce is very effective remedy when it comes to treat onion breath. The powerful aroma of mustard sauce will cover the onion smell and keep it at bay.

Put some mustard sauce inside your mouth
Swish it for a couple of minutes and spit it out.
Take another spoon of mustard sauce and swallow it.
Rinse again with water
Repeat it as much as you need.

MINT

Mint is packed with chlorophyll, therefore, it can freshen your breath and cover the onion smell. In addition, it possesses mild antiseptic properties which can effectively treat the bad breath caused by germ and bacteria.

You can put some of crushed mint leaves into a cup of hot water
Cover and let it sit for about 10 minutes
Strain it and you might add some honey to enhance the taste
Consume this tea several times a day so that your onion will be fully kept at bay.

Alternatively,

Crush some fresh mint leaves and orally consume it
It will work effectively right after you eat raw onions.
You may opt for mint flavored candies or chewing gums.

LEMONS

The citric scent from lemons will neutralize the bad smell caused by chewing raw onion. In addition, it possesses antibacterial as well as antiseptic compounds which will ward off bacteria that are responsible for bad breath. Otherwise, do you know lemon and honey can grow thicker eyebrows as well.

Add some lemon juice to a glass of water and stir it well
Use this solution to wash your mouth thoroughly several times a day till the scent has faded away.

Alternatively,

Consume 1 2 cups of fresh lemonade to get rid of onion breath

APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

Apple cider vinegar can neutralize onion breath and it can destroy germ in the mouth which is responsible for bad breath.

Mix some apple cider vinegar into a glass of warm water.
Use this solution to gargle for several times a day.

Another option,

Mix cup of apple cider vinegar, 3 drops of clove oil, 1 tablespoon of honey and tincture of myrrh in a cup.
Add some hot water and stir it well
Use the solution to gargle and exterminate the onion breath.

How to Fall in Love with Your Caterer

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Catering is one of the most essential elements of any social event. Whether you are throwing a business party for top-notch guests, organizing the special wedding day, or just planning a family gathering, food is of utmost importance. People will never remember average food, but they will always complain about a bad menu as well as they will admire an excellent table. Of course, you may try to deal with everything yourself, but do you really want to spend the whole evening in the kitchen instead of having fun with your guests?

The most likely answer to come to your mind is no and it should be so. Your party should be fun for everyone including you, so look closer at catering services to ensure that everything goes smooth and appropriate. Here are five simple tips to help you find and hire the best catering chef and crew for your special evening.

1. Start from the Venue

It is very likely that you already have a venue for your party. And the important point for caterers here is whether outside service providers are allowed to participate or not. If in your case the venue offers its own chef and catering crew, then you will have to stick to what you have chosen or consider changing the venue if you are not satisfied. If your venue allows hiring people from other services, then you got the best offer! This means that you have already chosen the best place for your special occasion and now will get down to choosing the best caterer!

Photo by Wedding Wire

2. First Impressions Matter

When looking for a caterer, search for a company whose pamphlet will make you hungry. After the tempting piece of paper got into your head, call the service provider to meet in person and talk over the details that you are interested in. Make sure that you discuss not only menu, but also beverages. Some catering companies dont offer drink serving so in this case you will also need to look for a bartender and additional servers to serve non-alcoholic beverages.

Photo by Europa Catering Branding

3. Budget

Budget is the most decisive factor in the choice of a caterer. All professional caterers advise setting up a precise budget for the food serving before you head to the caterers office. This is the only way not to get tempted into something more expensive than you can afford. Try to cooperate with the chef in order to create a menu on your budget. Yet if there is something you liked a lot and you see that its over your limit, negotiate the price or maybe ask for a substitute. Experts will always find a way out!

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4. Special Needs

Today being vegan or vegetarian is very popular among people. This means that you have to think about this kind of fashion and be ready for it with your menu. Ensure that your table will serve some green food, some lactose-free food, etc. for people having specific food needs. In a perfect situation you should know about the food preferences of your audience to maybe even design specific meal packages. However, in most cases it is literally impossible to do, so just try to make the menu diverse and interesting. But dont get radical in this case, because you are likely to have meet-lovers too. Make your table balanced and unique with the help of a professional chef from a catering company.

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5. Tasting

And the final important step in finalizing your deal with a catering company is tasting. Dont get surprised if you would be asked for some fee to cover the charge, because this is a traditional practice for caterers. At the tasting choose several main courses keeping in mind food preferences of the guests and also listen carefully to the advice from your chef. 

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How to Enjoy Melbourne Cup Carnival to the Max

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Amidst food, fun and fashion, the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival is undoubtedly the ultimate racing period for Australia's Group One thoroughbreds. The event draws top-notch horses, jockeys and trainers from the international racing scene. As the country's greatest get together; it provides an opportunity to make new friends or meet up with old ones, enjoy delicious cocktails and sumptuous food, and celebrate in the boisterous and fun environment that always accompanies horse racing events. However, to make the most out of the Carnival, be sure to follow the tips outlined below:

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Take it Easy on the Alcohol

The Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival is the ideal time to indulge in some tasty cocktails. Nevertheless, you know what happens when several drinks turned into several too many: leave the event when you want to, not because you were invited to exit the scene due to serious intoxication. You should also take your 'selfie' before too many drinks take their toll on the classy look you waited all year to show off.

Be Respectful

Naturally, the bullpen is full of men and women showing off their outfits, some of which are even a bit outrageous. However, if you see someone alluring, keep yourself nice and strike up a conversation rather than attempting to maul the person in the middle of the event. Jumping all over your significant other is not recommended either, as it will attract the kind of attention you probably do not want.

Resist Pressure to Overspend on Clothes

Spring racing fashion is a big part of the Carnival and dressing up is half the fun, but do not allow yourself to be pressured into blowing an excessive amount of money on a new outfit you may never wear again. Of course, this does not mean you should wear a micro-miniskirt or show up looking like an unmade bed. Just be reasonable about how much you want to spend on your racing day attire.

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Avoid Arguments

If the day is getting long and you think some guy is greasing you off, do not let alcohol make your decisions. Just because someone pulls a face it does not mean he or she is picking a fight. Remember, most of the people at the event are drinking just like you, so instead of getting into an altercation, chug some water, cool off and do not grab the pepper spray unless absolutely necessary.

Avoid Your Boss

Unless you want to be the topic of conversation amongst your boss and coworkers, say hi and quickly move on if you run into business colleagues. Of course, you should not be rude, but it is best to put some distance between yourself and anyone who may enjoy telling tales about you at work the next day.

Leave New Shoes at Home

Hobbling around the carnival is not part of spring racing fashion. This goes for both guys and girls. Your new shoes may look terrific with your racing day outfit, but the pleasure is not worth the pain. In fact, it may be tempting to go barefoot to alleviate the discomfort, but the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival is a classy event, and going barefoot is a no-no.

Keep Your Distance

Leave the racetrack to the horses. If delays occur between heats, such as a late scratch, do not hit the track to 'perform' unless you want to be evicted from the event.

Food Warnings

Naturally, food is expensive at racing events, but if you pack a basket of goodies, make sure you follow safe food handling tips: you want to save money on lunch, not poison your pals.

Take the Day Off

Plan in advance to take off work following your day of fun at the Carnival. In this way, you can avoid the stress of pulling a sickie because you are too hungover to make it to the office.

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Avoiding Long Lines

Toilet lines are exceptionally long at such events, so be courteous and get in and out as quickly as possible. Also, bring enough cash so that long ATM queues can be avoided. If taking your ATM card to the event is a must, remember that the wait is typically longer than the bar and toilet queues combined.

Button Up

The open-shirt Armani lothario look does not work at the races, and therefore gents should plan to wear a tie. Feel free to snazzy it up, as even floral prints are a go this time of year. Additionally, men should always polish their shoes, as the girls definitely notice, but as always, white shoes are a no-no for such an event.

Wind Gusts and Wardrobe

Make sure you are prepared, ladies, as unexpected wind gusts sometimes arrive out of nowhere. Make sure you wear undies or you may be caught on camera in a way you will never live down.

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Be Considerate

The cleanup crew after the races have a monstrous task ahead, so bin a few cans and wrappers on your way out of the track.

Racing and Betting Tips

Placing a bet is easy, but do not get carried away. Take a few moments to analyse the bookie market prior to finalizing your wager. The payout for that hot tip you got may be higher from one bookie than another.

Check the form guide and ask those familiar with racing before you bet. Try to avoid wagering because you like the jockey's colours or the horse's name.

Do not bet it all on the first race. Being realistic helps your money to last all day.

Check the Melbourne cup odds before you pick a horse. You might want to try a place or show bet on a long shot rather than win a mere dollar or two on the favourite.

Of course you want to celebrate your winnings, but do not gloat too much: friends will be irritated if they are having a bad run and they may also think you should buy the drinks for the rest of the day. Gloating also makes you a great target for the nearest pickpocket.

Check out more information about Melbourne cup betting here.

The Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival is one of Australia's greatest events and by following the tips outlined above, you will be sure to get the most out of this fun and exciting occasion of Melbourne horse racing.

How to Design Your Own Whole Grain Bread Recipes

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You can make great whole grain breads! Often it's as simple as substituting a whole grain blend for part of the flour in your favorite bread recipe. You may need to adjust the liquid a little but other than that, it can be a straight substitution. If you want a 100% whole grain bread, start with your favorite whole wheat bread recipe. You can make great whole grain breads by starting with a white flour recipe and substituting the whole grains for part of the white flour. The result will be a lighter bread, sometimes an almost white bread, with a high fiber and nutrient content. Of course, you can use part white flour and part whole wheat flour.

And it's simply exciting, what you can add to your bread recipe, items like this:

- Rolled oats.
- Rolled grain blends. Use mixtures of rolled oats, wheat, barley, rye and others. These can be bought at natural food stores or online.
- Cracked grains. If you want chewy nuggets in your bread, choose a coarse chop. If you want the whole grains to blend, use a fine chop. Again these can be bought at natural food stores or online.
- Whole grain berries. You will want to soak these overnight before using them or cook them for 30 minutes.
- Whole seeds and nuts. Everyone loves sunflower seeds in bread and breads with walnuts or pecans. Consider also pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, and poppy seeds. A blend of these seeds along with rolled grains makes wonderful bread.

Rolled grains and chopped grains result in very different breads. Rolled grains almost disappear into the bread. The color changes, usually to a creamy color if you are using white flour, and you can see little flecks of bran in your bread. But what really changes is the flavor and texture. Whole grains add richness to your breads. They are moist and chewy. And they keep exceptionally well and are less crumbly. Chopped grains create chewy nuggets in your bread but the texture and color remains much the same.

So how much do you add? That's matter of preference. We make these breads professionally and for chopped grains, we use as little as 1/3 cup per loaf and for rolled grains, we use a cup or more per loaf.

The following recipe is a nice starting point. It has about 30% whole grain blend but is light enough in both texture and color that picky kids will eat it. For those of us that like a little substance to our bread, this fits the bill. This is a delightful bread.

Use this recipe as a base recipe for other breads using rolled whole grains. You might try the following combinations, adjusting the flour to make a soft, almost sticky dough of the right consistency.

- Instead of two cups grain blend, use four. Reduce the flour by about two cups.
- Instead of white bread flour, substitute half white and half stone ground whole wheat.
- Instead of white bread flour, use 100% stone ground whole wheat.
- Add 3/4 or one cup shelled sunflower seeds. The blend has sunflower seeds in it but at this concentration, it is not many. The seeds will absorb a bit of the moisture so be prepared to reduce the flour slightly.
- Add 1 ? cups raisins and 2 teaspoons good quality cinnamon. Double the honey.

This recipe makes two very nice loaves in 5 x 9-inch bread pans. The loaves weigh about 1 3/4 pounds each.

We have not tested this recipe in a bread machine. If you wish to use your bread machine, cut the recipe in half and use the dough setting.

Ingredients

2 1/3 cups water at 105 degrees
2 cups rolled grain cereal mix
1 7-gram packet of instant yeast, SAF or equal
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup Baker's Dry Milk (high heat treated dry milk) (see note)
5 cups high protein bread flour, more or less
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon quality dough conditioner or per producer's recommendation

Note: Milk contains an enzyme that retards the growth of yeast. High heat treatment destroys that enzyme resulting in taller loaves of bread. High heat treated dry milk can be purchased online.

Directions

Prepare two bread pans by greasing the inside of the pans including the rims.

1. Combine the grain blend, the water, and the yeast in the bowl of your stand-type mixer. Add the honey and the dry milk. Add about half of the flour and combine with the dough hook until the dough starts to come together. Add the butter and salt. Add more flour in several additions, beating after each, until a soft dough ball has formed. You should use about five cups of flour. Beat with the dough hook for four minutes at medium speed or until the gluten is developed. The dough should be soft (but not too sticky to handle), smooth, and elastic. Water absorption may vary depending on environmental conditions and the flour you use.
2. Place the dough in a large greased bowl and turn once to oil all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic and let the dough rise until doubled, about one hour.
3. Turn the dough onto a lightly greased work area. Deflate the dough by gently folding and pressing most of the air from the dough.
4. Divide the dough in two with a knife. Using your hands, form a cylinder by pulling the dough around the center and tucking the seams together on the bottom, thus gently stretching the surface of the dough. Pinch the seams together to keep them from opening as the loaf expands. Place seam side down in a prepared pan and repeat with the second loaf.
5. Cover lightly with greased plastic wrap or place the loaves in a large food-grade plastic bag and set aside to rise until doubled, about one hour. Rise times will vary with conditions, especially temperature--yeast is very sensitive to temperature.
6. While the bread is still rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
7. When the bread has risen, place the loaves on the center rack of the oven and leave as much room for the air to circulate around the loaves as possible. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the bread is done and well-browned. If you have a probe-type thermometer, the internal temperature should reach 190 degrees. Once baked, immediately remove the loaves from the pans and cool them on a wire rack.

How To Cut Vegetables Using The Tip Fulcrum Method

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I know how to cut vegetables. Trust me, I do. Early in my career I was a lowly prep cook. I was part of a very large system, at a very large kitchen, that fed 15,000 people TWICE a day! My job was to cut vegetables, all day every day. I did this for months! From six in the morning to five in the evening, nothing but onions, carrots, celery, peppers. I spent HOURS cutting.

When you spend that much time with a knife in your hand, you start to find the methods that work efficiently and quickly, as well as those that will give you elbow and wrist problems. With hundreds of hours holding a sharp blade, I was able to give this much thought.

There are specific methods for holding and using the knife that will give more consistent results with greater speed and accuracy, while saving wear and tear on your body. These techniques take into consideration the grip, the knife-hand, and the non-knife hand.

The Grip - The safest and most effective grip for using a chefs knife is not the way most people hold the blade. Most often, I see home cooks holding their knife like a club or a tennis racket, with all fingers wrapped around the handle.

The problem with the club grip is that the blade can spin in your hand. Its potentially dangerous to be cutting vegetables and have the sharp edge of that steel suddenly lunge for your non-knife hand. The blade should always be at a 90 degree angle to the cutting board and strangling the handle with all your fingers makes this difficult to maintain.

The correct way to hold a chefs knife is by pinching the knife between thumb and forefinger just in front of where the handle meets the blade. This part of the knife is called the Bolster. With this pinch on the metal part of the knife, your other three fingers can then wrap around the handle. The first bend of your index finger should rest on the spine of the blade and extend down the side.

Its an important part of knowing how to cut vegetables to have the safest and most effective grip on your knife, but its the motion or method of using the knife that will give you consistently cut items that will then cook at the same rate.

Consistency of cut is consistency of cook, Im fond of saying. One of the best ways to assure all your items are cut the same size is to keep the knife as steady as possible during the prep work. Instead of lifting the blade off the cutting board with each stroke, its better to employ the Tip Fulcrum Method.

The Tip Fulcrum Method simply means that you keep the tip of the knife in contact with the cutting board and use it as a balance point for all your cutting. This makes the knife hand dumb. Its only job is to keep the tip of the knife down, and cut with a circular motion. Up, down, forward, and return. Its like dipping water from a bucket with a spoon, not directly up and down, but slightly circular to take advantage of the sharp edge.

Now its the non-knife hand that becomes the brains of the operation. When the Tip Fulcrum method of the knife-hand meets the kung-fu grip of the non-knife hand, then the cutting becomes easier and safer.

All the fingers of the non-knife hand should be curled toward your palm, looking like some type of martial arts punch, thus the kung-fu grip as I call it. The knife will be guided by the middle knuckle of the non-knife hand, which will dictate the increment of the cuts.

The whole system works accurately and efficiently when given some practice. The proper grip on the knife, along with a circular Tip Fulcrum method, supported by the knuckle of the non-knife hand moving in the increment of the desired cut, becomes effortless after some practice. I can even do it blindfolded now!

Its not a fancy or expensive knife that will show you how to cut vegetables, its the method. While this two-handed technique feels awkward to many people at first, they eventually find that it is the safest and most accurate way to achieve excellent results.

See Chef Todds live culinary class on how to cut vegetables .