I do sometimes wonder what I should write about when it comes to hints and tips. So many of the things I do instinctively now were once awesome little finds, bits of advice from well seasoned home cooks or experiments that turned out to be incredibly useful.

I also once saw a bit of advice (I actually think it was on Pintrest which only goes to show that it is a font of knowledge indeed) calling out people who are rude about (seemingly) obvious or simple tips and ideas. 

"Something is only obvious once you know it"

A tip, hint or piece of advice is new to everyone at some point in their life, that's not to say it's alright to tell all and sundry what to do and how to do it but it does make it alright to offer simple advice to those who seek it out. 

The advice I give is not intended to be ground breaking- you are unlikely to find any life changing hacks here! It is simple ideas that I have discovered myself or been taught by friends and family to make my cooking life a whole lot easier.

If they are new to you then I'm glad they might be of use. If they aren't then I hope I might have something else that is useful to you, or it reminds you that once upon a time you learnt how to do this for the first time so maybe pass on your tips to someone else.

Chopping Herbs:

Fresh herbs can be a bit unruly when you are trying to chop them finely. 

Best case they make a massive mess, worst case you end up hiding fingers under bunches of greenery and chopping the wrong thing!

I've found the best way to wrangle fresh green herbs is to pile them into as ordered a pile as you can manage then roll them into a fat sausage. Just keep rolling over and over to tuck in as many of the stragglers as you can. If the ends of the sausage are splaying out all over the shop then simply fold them under the sausage and roll them up until they behave.

When you have a nice fat, green sausage of herbs, use a sharp nice to finely slice through the sausage to get thin stands of leaves. These can either be sprinkled across dishes as emerald strings or chopped up further, it being easier to do the latter now as the strands are far easier to control than the springy full leaves!