cooking baking, cooking recipesI was really good to myself this holiday season by getting new knives before all the big cooking baking projects began. We had a wonderful holiday season, made easier for me by getting good knives and tools for all the special ethnic foods I prepared. Having the right tools makes it a great deal easier to do the cooking baking that the holidays entail, and this weekend, I'm going to be taking my knives in this case shown here to my sister's and helping her with her big Super Bowl party. She has a great kitchen to cook in, but doesn't have all the utensils that I've come to rely on to feed big crowds.

I got this Victorinox Executive 12pc Culinary Set online and have absolutely no regrets. This set includes everything I need to pull off just about any kind of cooking baking. I knew when I saw it online that it was for me. Victorinox has one of the best names in the business and when I saw this set being sold at a discount, I knew it was time to upgrade my existing cutlery and utensils. This set includes a paring knife, boning knife, offset spatula, chef's knife, carving fork, a 12" slicer, an 8" bread knife, a melon baller, a peeler, and a washable roll to contain all these pieces. I got the set at Good Galley at www.goodgalley.com/, a site with some great cooking gear.

I'm looking forward to cooking baking at my sister's house, but we do have different styles of cooking. She follows cooking recipes faithfully, and I wrote a cookbook with over 121 original recipes in it 15 months ago. So when she whips out her recipes for me to use, it's a little strange for me. I can follow cooking recipes, but it slows me down. Sometimes I ask her what she wants me to cook, and I'll just do at home in my own kitchen and bring the finished product along. I like to cook spontaneously and she likes structure which cooking recipes provide.

However we work out the cooking baking for the weekend, I know I'll be bringing my new set of knives and utensils along. They are the best, and it's no wonder Victorinox has such a good reputation. I can chop so much faster now and I'm really enjoying being able to chop food as finely and quickly as we see chefs do on TV. I've been cooking for many years and it's my first love, and having professional equipment really helps. I have first rate appliances, and I'm so glad I got some decent cutlery to reward myself for having had a good and productive 2009 with my solar cooking demonstrations and cookbook sales. I'm enjoying cooking so much with the new tools that I may undertake another solar cookbook this summer, too.