— MARK RAPPAPORT

So first Mark, you need to have a good knife. And my favorite knife right now is, um, by, well, I forget its name, and it's staring at me on the other side of the room. I can send you that name later. But you need a good knife. You need to sharpen that knife well, and you need to keep it in pristine condition, because without a good knife and a cut cutting board, that also provides the proper everything that you need. So the knife sharpener and, uh, your, uh, cutting board all come together, you need to have a really, really good pan or set of pans. As some of you may know, right now I'm using a brand called Caraway, which were gifted to me. And they are a super, super ceramic pan, and you don't need one drop of oil. But even when you make the no oil saute mushroom recipe, they caramelize beautifully, the garlic doesn't burn. And they work really, really well. I have the big, uh, sauce pan, and I also have caraway, uh, sheet pans, which I also like, and they have cut down on using parchment paper because nothing sticks to them. So there's that. And then the third thing, and maybe you can see it behind me, but I have a Vitamix. And, um, I cherish my Vitamix because it really helps to make beautiful sauces and gravy without any oil and delicious soups. And I will tell you that this machine behind me, I, uh, had purchased it at Dr. Joel Furman's office when he had an office here in New Jersey, and in his office, he had a little store. And so I thought, well, I'm gonna buy my Vitamix from a doctor because it'll even be better. And, um, one night I did something to it, and they're on the back of the machine. They give you an 800 number, and I called the number at 10:50 PM and the person on the other end of the phone said, good evening. Thank you very much for calling Vitamix. This is Jane speaking. And I was like, Jane, where am I calling you? And she said, oh, you're calling the factory, which is located in Cleveland, Ohio. And then she had me take the receiver of the phone, and she told me to turn on my engine, my engine, my motor. And then she said, okay, I know what it is. I'm gonna send you a replacement part, and when the replacement part comes, I'll help you, uh, put it in, insert it. So I was sold on a Vitamix from that very moment. So Vitamix knife and a good set of pans. How about you, Kathy? Uh, well, those are all great, uh, suggestions. And yeah, of course, a knife is, uh, is first and foremost on anybody's list. And I love Rouxbe's knife skills chapter. I think of all the things, uh, well, there were so many things, but that was, uh, that was just getting really comfortable, uh, safely using your knife. It's an extension of your hand, really, and it makes your life so much easier when you're, when you're breaking down produce and prodigious amounts. Um, let's see, what else? Uh, you know, stainless pans, you know, ceramic pans great for any non-stick. If you're making, uh, pancakes or, or flatbreads or other things that would, uh, you know, ordinarily, uh, stick or is a great way to go. I have, um, you know, again, there are nice to haves and needs to haves, you know, so on the nice to haves, depending on one's budget, and you can shop sales as well, if, if budget is an issue, it's really great to have a good, um, food processor. Um, for, I, I actually mix my, a lot of my dough in my food processor. I have a brel. It's a workhorse. The thing is a beast, and I've had it for many, many years. And that's great when you're using, you know, when you're making denser, um, um, batters or, or even dough, as I said, I don't use it for breaking down produce so much. Um, unless I'm making a slaw of some sort, then it's a real time saver. Um, and, uh, and instead of a Vitamix, I actually, I had the same problem where I kept breaking my vitamixes. I don't know what I was doing, but after two of them that I had to send back, I decided, well, you know, my needs were just two in my household right now. I went a little bit smaller and I, I got a Breville, uh, I don't really remember what the model is called, but it's a, a somewhat smaller, high, high speed blender. But blenders are really phenomenal for sauces. Uh, primarily, I, um, I use it all the time. Um, when I am, I am making either a vegetable sauce or a sweet sauce, you know, from fruit or, you know, date paste or sweetening paste of other dried fruits or whatever. It's, um, that, that's really comes in handy over the years as I, you know, grew as a chef and my needs and so forth. I've invested in a, uh, I have, um, I have a convection oven, air fryer, you know, that that's not a need to have, but it's a nice to have when you really want, when you're not cooking with oil and you really wanna brown, uh, uh, certain vegetables and so forth. And tofu, I make my tofu nuggets all the time. Uh, and other things, I, I, it's nice to have even a separate oven if you have other things going on in the oven to have this small other oven, you know, if you don't have a second oven, which I don't. Um, and then there are, you know, I have things still on my wishlist that I haven't gotten, but that's for another conversation. I think, You know, I'm kind of chuckling Kathy, and I'll tell you why. Uh, the Vitamix company has a very good, uh, refurb cell program where you can buy a refurbished Vitamix for $199 and you'll get a, still get a warranty with it. And I've always wondered who owned this machine before, and now I know who it was, you probably. So, um, but, uh, mark, I think that these are all, uh, very good ideas and, uh, it is exciting. Uh, you know, I'm a big fan of your work, so it's exciting to see you, uh, wanting to sort of, uh, expand your kitchen, uh, with some extra small appliances, utensils, et cetera, et cetera.