hi my name is Ken offend I can I'm going to show you how to chop some things because nice skills in the kitchen make it easier to do cooking regularly especially with your kids over march break any time to cut something round we want to make flat surfaces because it's kind of dangerous so we've got a zucchini here so it's round so we always cut it down through the center first so you have flat sides okay makes it way simpler when you hold the knife grip the blade wrap your fingers around the knife and you want to try to keep the tip on the board as much as possible and roll your wrist the other thing you want to do is keep your fingers curled so they stay out of the way so you don't have any chance of cutting them off okay and then all you do is a simple rocking motion and use pull your finger back helps to adjust the thickness of whatever it is you're cutting the knife never leaves the board and it never rises any higher than the thing that you're trying to cut and then here's one thing people dull their knives cutting things like peppers and onions because they always cut into the skin cut into the flesh and it'll protect your knife a little bit longer so same thing with this you're going to grip it keep the knife tip on the board as much as possible what we're doing here is just a simple Julie addict okay thin strips just keep moving the pepper and keep the knife on the board as much as possible now one of the things that's really important to make sure that your knife is sharp so a lot of people have these probably in their kitchen they probably got it with a knife set that they got maybe for a wedding gift or something like that and then probably never ever use it this is called a hohner hey your knife should be sharp this helps keep it sharp so you're going to grip it tightly with your non-dominant hand you're going to grab your knife put it in the palm of your hand with the finger on the blade and a 22 degree angle roughly speaking that's what you're going to use to hone your blade and you would already start with the heel this is the heel a knife that's the tip and you go all the way along the blade and then you just twist your wrist pull the knife back you go up the other side and all you should need to do is five or six passes on the night before you use it and then when you're done using it what five or six passes across the knife before you put it away so you always know when you go to grab it in case you forget to hone it that it should be sharp every time and that's how you use your knife safely and effectively in the kitchen and it's a great skill to teach your kids and if you get your kids involved in the kitchen early then it's going to be much easier later on when they need to cook for themselves to feel more comfortable in kitchen I think a lot of people are afraid because they think there's children going to cut themselves to hurt themselves that's why they don't let them use neither often but I think if you let them you choose not to do it properly and you work with them and they go slow to start then there'll be no problems long as your fingers are curled in really hard to cut yourself