Chicago Cutlery's Survey Results of the Sharpest Cities in North America

In honor of its recent launch of a line of knives in Canada, Chicago Cutlery conducted a study in major cities of both Canada and the United States to learn about the residents' cooking habits, especially when it comes to using knives. This survey was used to determine which are the Sharpest Cities in North America.

Top Chef winner Chef Stephanie Izard, who will be launching her first cookbook in 2011, had been recruited by Chicago Cutlery to educate American cooks about the proper usage of knives in food preparation. This includes simple things like chopping, dicing, and even storing one's knives.

Here is a summary of the findings of this study . . .

•More Aspiring Chefs in the U.S.: Canadians cook more often than Americans, using knives to prepare an average of 21 meals per week, compared to seven meals per week in the U.S. This and other factors lead to Canadians indexing higher as “Master Chefs,” versus the U.S., where they index higher as “Aspiring Chefs.”

•Houston Outranks Top U.S. Cities: Houston edged out residents of New York, L.A., and Chicago when it comes to cooking and knife knowledge, making this city’s residents the sharpest among those surveyed.

•Pressed for Time or Not: New Yorkers indexed highest among cooks who are pressed for time, compared to Chicago residents who had more time to cook.

• Most-used knives: The most popular type of knife used is the paring knife (30% of Canadians use most often and 26.5% of Americans), while santoku knives round out the bottom of the list(2.9% and 2.3%).

This Chicago Cutlery Landmark Forged 8" Chef Knife was sent to us with the reusable StorEdge Edge Saver. These Edge Savers are perfect for us because, they not only keep our knives sharper, but they allow us to safely store knives in a drawer rather than in a chopping block.

To learn more about the Sharpest Cities in North America survey results or Chicago Cutlery products, visit ChicagoCutlery.com .

Thank you to Chicago Cutlery for sending us a complimentary sample product to base this review upon and for providing the survey results to share with our readers.

Review: Picnicking with Pyrex No-Leak Glass Storage Containers

July through mid-August is usually extremely hot and humid around here, but once the middle of August rolls around, relief is ours! We are lucky that we have several beautiful parks around all equipped with picnic tables. With great weather, a place to eat and play outdoors, good food, plus some picnic gear from Pyrex, we have all the tools we need for an enjoyable family outing.

We received an assortment of Pyrex glass storage containers and serving products plus a pair of chip-resistant plates from the Corelle Simple Lines collection, in addition to a rolling insulated cooler and a handled picnic blanket. Of all the items we received, the key to our picnic being so successful was the 6pc value pack of Pyrex No Leak Lids storage containers. One of our children's favorite side dishes is macaroni and cheese. Even though hot foods are not something normally considered as picnic food, these Pyrex containers allowed us to heat the macaroni and cheese, transport them without any leaks while keeping them hot in the insulated cooler, and serve them at our picnic lunch. We did all this without having to move the food from one container to another.

The BPA-free plastic lids have a built-in microwave vent, so that you can heat your food without worrying about any splatters or dripping condensation that you normally get with tilting the lid or using no lid at all. The seal on this vent is very tight. It is difficult to open, but it is worth it because it helps to keep the food hot once it is closed.

These containers are available in a variety of sizes and are sold both individually and in sets. The value pack I received includes a 2-cup, a 4-cup, and a 7-cup round containers with matching no-leak lids. There are also rectangular containers available in 3 and 6-cup sizes. I would love to see even larger size containers for transporting food for events and holiday parties.

Since we wanted to sit under the shade of the trees, my husband had the brilliant idea of using our Pyrex picnic blanket as a table cloth instead of putting it on the uneven ground. This worked out very well for us. We had a great lunch and then the children had a blast playing on the playground.

Although we did not use these two Pyrex gadgets for our picnic, I just wanted to highlight them because they are both designed with practicality in mind. These Pyrex measuring cups are magnetic so there is no annoying ring. It is so much easier to take the size you need and put the set back together after washing. The other gadget I wanted to point out is the Pyrex Medium Grater. It comes with a graduated 1-cup container, so you can grate cheese, chocolate, and more right into a measuring cup. The cup also comes with a lid, so you can use this product to store what you grated without having to move it to another container.

I think Pyrex did an excellent job designing these items with busy families in mind. To view more great Pyrex products, visit Pyrexware.com . You can also shop for Pyrex, Corelle, and other World Kitchen products on ShopWorldKitchen.com and many other places where quality kitchen and household products are sold.

Thank you to World Kitchen for sending us sample products free of charge to base this review upon.