Our little discussion about knife skills reminded me of the videos we did with Wendy Carroll, the private chef behind Seasoned to Taste.

If you're cooking Thanksgiving dinner, now's the time for a short course on handling knives. The following eight videos will list the essential knives for your kitchen, tell you about Epicurean cutting boards (love them!) and teach you how to care for your knives.

You'll also see techniques for cutting onions, garlic, red peppers, carrots (into a julienne and a batonette), spinach (into a chiffonade), tomatoes and herbs.

These videos accompanied my story about knife skills. Enjoy!

UPDATE: As promised in this week's food pages, here is the Valley's ultimate guide for the lazy Thanksgiving dinner. These supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and delis allow you to dine out -- or take out the entire meal.

Check out the story for the full list, then browse through the menus below. (I'll add more of them as they become available.) And if you have more places to add, drop them in the comments.

Supermarkets

• Whole Foods Market, Fig Garden Village


• Vons


• Save Mart


• The Market, Herndon and West avenues