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I had candied yams (complete with marshmallow!) for the first time this past [Canadian] Thanksgiving. Soooo goooood.

This isn't exactly a *baking* disaster, but it still involves the oven, so I think it counts... I was broiling some fish and the recipe tells you to put it as close to the heating element as possible. I heard some crackling while the fish was cooking, but thought nothing of it as I just thought it was the marinade/sauce sizzling on it, but then I opened the oven to find that the fish was ON FIRE! Fortunately I was just cooking for myself so I ate it anyway (and after you got past the burnt crusty part the fish inside was fine), but I'm embarrassed to say that this happened twice with the same recipe...

My first cookbook was the Company's Coming Kids Cooking cookbook - Company's Coming is really big where I'm from (Alberta, Canada), but even when I venture to another province, no one's heard of it! I don't think I made too much from it... there was a pretty good fudgesicle recipe though :)

BEETS!!!

Ahh! Such an integral part of my childhood!

I was left home alone for a weekend two weeks ago and found myself making rice noodles with BBQ duck and Chinese broccoli. Yum, Chinese comfort food :)

Just a simple stirfry with tofu and whatever other vegetables I can find in the fridge!

Chopped up heirloom tomatoes tossed in olive oil, a touch of balsamic vinegar, basil and topped with feta or mozzarella. Yummy!

@Michele Humes - I totally know what you mean! I interned in Hong Kong for two months in the winter, and both subway stations (the one by my house and the one by my work) had a Mrs. Fields stand. I was always SO tempted to treat myself to a cookie after work, but couldn't spoil dinner!

In terms of my usual food court pick, it has to be Veggirama/Choices. They usually have a delicious veggie lasagna which I pair with beet salad and some other salad (pasta, tabbouleh, fruit, whatever mood I'm in) So good and makes me feel less guilty about eating at a food court (haha!)

I've always opened my bananas from the end-end (vs. the stem-end) and have had arguments about this with my friends from high school. I never knew the pinch trick though... would just sort of dig my nails in the black part and that end nubbin will come off with it! Glad to see people are embracing this as the "correct" way to open a banana now.

I could only think of one or two until I started reading the list and realized there were so many more! (Perhaps partly because we're Asian)

But yeah, we totally had spam (or "luncheon meat") with noodles... my dad still sometimes has slices of canned ham on toast. When we were younger my mom would sometimes feed us toast with butter and sugar... Salads with Miracle Whip as the dressing... Mixing sugar in with our ketchup before dipping our fries into it... Putting ketchup in our spaghetti sauce (my mom *still* does it and I think it's gross)... Using canned mushroom soup as "white sauce" on spaghetti...

Lemons, simple syrup, water, ice.

Egg in a boat... I'm sure I got it from somewhere...