There it is, five dollars from Home Depot and fits not only on a sheet pan as a single slot, but in my locker too! It's my knife box, recently scrubbed and dried after emitting a suspicious smell--turned out it was a cheap spatula that collected muck where the wooden handle held the plastic scraper. Ew. I got rid of that and now stick with the all plastic ones. But first things first:
chocolate piping bags. I make them with parchment paper in advance so they're ready to be melted on top of the oven at the beginning of service. They're useful for anniversaries, birthdays, and marriage proposals, because yes, believe it or not people have me write "will you marry me?" in chocolate on their girlfriend's dessert plates. I always thought that only happened in movies.
one red plastic motorcycle of no particular use
one retractable Sharpie, one mini blue Sharpie, one regular Sharpie. Sharpies are fantastic for labelling your stuff and the retractable one is great because I only need one hand to use it.
one sachet of green tea. My chef gave this to me one afternoon to make but I always go straight for the espresso machine rather than the hot water tank.
one bottle of ibuprofen. For achy, crampy, crappy days that a double espresso won't fix.
three piping tips. A star, a small round, and a large round. Mostly they're just for whipped cream and piping macaroons.
one thermometer. For cooking sugar, often for the caramels with cocoa nibs that we wrap up as a petit four. Although I usually still use the ice bath test with my fingers because thermometers can't always be trusted.
one smiley face note from Glyn. Um, no comment.
one digital timer. When there's five or six things baking or boiling I need a timer going off every ten minutes or so to keep me aware of the speed at which the minute hand goes. This means that periodically, I open every oven door to peek and poke and stir all my pots and taste things, and then return to whatever I was doing. But without it, something will burn.
one set of tablespoon measurers. I only use the quarter teaspoon to measure fine powders like agar. Our kitchen scale isn't accurate to the gram so it's one quarter teaspoon to one gram.
two long teaspoons. For quenelling ice-creams, ganaches, and whipped creams.
one metal tasting spoon. I try to taste everything before service just in case something's off or needs adjusting, have to do this discreetly in the open kitchen though or it just looks like I'm snacking.
one pastry brush that smells of vinegar ever since I lent it out to garde manger.
a yellow Kuhn Rikon peeler. The best peelers ever! In my last kitchen someone saw me struggling with a normal peeler and a box of potatoes and felt so sorry for me that he gave me his. They're three for ten dollars at Perfect Edge so it's not a great loss to lose one. They come in all colours. They'll change your life.
a pair of scissors. You know, for cutting things. They're the kind that come apart and I always feel a little like a lab monkey trying to put them back together.
three heatproof spatulas. One small, one large, and one of those funky see-through ones with metal inside.
two step palets, or offsets. The small one is like an extension of my own hand during service and it's probably the tool I use most often setting up and spreading tuiles downstairs.
one Santoku. A present from Glyn's parents, it's the Wasabi by Kai, currently being sharpened on the stone. I love this knife--feels like it was made for me and the specific cutting jobs I do.
one chef knife. It's hard to sharpen, heavy and a bit bulky for me, the complete opposite of the Wasabi, but it's the knife I used through culinary school and I still like it.
one bread knife. The blade is a little too flexible, but I can't invest in a good one right now.
one office knife or paring knife. I don't keep this very sharp so I can cut straight onto my hands when necessary and mistreat it a little, using it straight on sheet pans to lift thing out, opening boxes and such.
one filet knife. I used to use it for fish, but now I use it for fruit because it's so sharp and flexible.
All my knives are covered in those slip-in plastic covers by Messermeister that come in various sizes. Most of my cuts used to be from reaching in carelessly to find what I need until I bought them.
And that's the tour.