Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Rub chicken, pork or seafood with it right before cooking, or use as part of a marinade with a little citrus juice, spices, and salt.

Mix a tablespoon with a 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, 1 tbsp soy sauce (to taste), 1 tbsp honey (again, to taste), and a bit of chili oil or a pinch of cayenne pepper. Serve over cooked noodles or with shrimp or chicken.

Replace some of the olive oil in a vinaigrette with sesame oil.

Stir-fry some veggies, meat, and/or leftover rice in sesame oil.

Use as a facial moisturizer (yes, really) or massage oil.

Another one scared of the pressure cooker. My mother exploded one when I was a little kid; since then, I've had a more than healthy respect for the thing. Canning may be my eventual downfall on that issue, as I love to preserve food and covet my mother's pressure canner.

No fear of the mandoline, but I don't use mine much, either.

I also have a healthy respect - I wouldn't call it fear per se - of large serrated knives. I don't know why, but I can't seem to use a bread knife without injuring myself. I own knives of all different shapes and makes, all properly sharpened and honed, and it's always the serrated knife that gets me.

I watched it. It was on ... last Sunday, I think? Perhaps Monday. Not entirely sure, as I was nursing a cold earlier this week, and was just sort of staring at Food Network in a haze.

I concur, it was awful. I don't care much for reality TV (other than a Top Chef addiction, natch), and this is why. Prima donnas and drama drama drama. Spare me the gargantuan egos.

The first time I tried making pie crust, I used so much water that the waxed paper I was using disintegrated into bits and got mixed in with the dough. The pie was tasty, but we were all picking waxed paper out of our teeth while we were eating it.

It's okay - the basic bread from that book is a little too salty and yeasty for my tastes, but it improves as the dough ages. It really is as easy as the book makes it out to be, though, and the texture is quite nice.

I hate breaking down raw chickens. It always bothers me, having to dislocate joints and crack bones. If it's already broken down or if it's been cooked, no problem - but raw whole chickens creep me right out. Pity whole chickens are cheaper and are more useful than their broken-down counterparts.

Scallops. Tried some on vacation last year, and thought they were the best thing ever.

Pity "hot buttered rum" doesn't fit. ;)

I like Celestial Seasoning's Mandarin Zinger in a mixture of cranberry and orange juice. It's very tasty.

Bullocks!

Way, sort of. I don't like them plain, but I enjoy the flavor in Caesar salads, Worcestershire sauce, and other such things.

My mom makes the BEST pork chops. I've spent years trying to get close. I used to request them for my birthday dinner when I was a kid (oh, who am I kidding? I still request 'em). She's a pretty good cook all around, and definitely encouraged my early foodie leanings.

I can't remember anything particularly terrible, other than the thing she had for Chef Boyardee pizza kits. I suspect that was mainly because she's not much of a baker and couldn't really afford pizza for us kids any other way. The dough and sauce weren't that bad, but all we had was the included Parmesan to top it with. I haven't seen one in her house since my brother and I both left the nest.

Brownies! OMG so good.

Love me some Bullocks!