How to slice a watermelon and core a pineapple...

Besides learning patience in the restaurant business (crazy customers and even crazier cooks) I also learned some prep cooking skills that I still use today :) Slicing melons and pineapples are a couple of those skills. So here is the step-by-step easiest way to slice up a melon (works for all melons) and how to core a pineapple.

Cut your melon in half. If this were a cantaloupe or other melon then you'll want to scrape out the seeds at this point.

Next slice the top off. Make sure you're working with a nice sharp knife.

Then you take off the rest of the skin, starting at the top and slicing down.

Very carefully make your horizontal slices.

Keep them all in a stack.

And then make vertical cuts one way and then the other.

Ta da! A simple beautiful bowl of cut melon.

And now for your delicious fresh pineapple (great raw or grilled... mmmmm)

First you chop the top off, then using a serrated bread knife, cut the pineapple into halves, then fourths, then eighths.

Next, using the same knife, slice the skin away. It's easiest if you don't slice all the way through the end, leaving something to hold onto. Leave enough skin that you avoid the eyes (the pineapple's eyes, not your own... LOL, although you should probably avoid those too!). Then you cut away the core, slicing all the way through the end you had left.

Serve as spears or cut into cubes... enjoy!