What Secrets Lurk Inside My Pantry?

Since I've pretty much been living on all those roasted vegetables and some fish I made last week, I haven't done much cooking in the last few days. So I thought I'd give you a peek inside my pantry just to give you an idea of the staples, the favorites and the down-right bizarre food stuffs I keep on hand.

1. The Root of All Dressings: I love making my own salad dressings, and I probably use champagne vinegar more than any other when it comes to whipping up a quick vinaigrette. Add some olive oil, chopped garlic or shallots, salt and pepper and you've got an easy and satisfying dressing for those lovely greens of yours.

2. Sweet Seeds O' Mine: While I love the flavor and little black specs that real vanilla beans add to a batter, I don't generally keep those $8-per-shot beans in my pantry. I recently found a great alternative in vanilla bean paste. It's more like $8 per bottle and there are probably a good 10-12 heaping tablespoons worth in each. The seeds are there, as is the flavor. Plus you don't have to cut yourself trying to scrape those little suckers out of the pods.

3. That's Hot: Sriracha goes on everything, in my humble opinion. I regularly add a generous dose of this sweet and hot sauce to my enchiladas, pizza, chili, soup, and sometimes, when no one is looking, just on top of a cracker with some cheese.

4. Good Things Come in Cans: Single people have more rotting food in their fridges than couples. Why? Because sometimes you alone can't get through a whole bag of Persian cucumbers or an entire pint of sour cream before the fungus steals it away from you. That's why I love these little cans of salsa (a bargain at around 89 cents each). I can have my salsa, and eat it (all) too!

5. On That Same Note: Port wine keeps long and well. So I can open up a bottle, have one glass (as if that ever happens, har!), cork it and come back to it weeks later and it's still lovely and amazing. Good wine for singles, unless you drink too much of it and start drunk dialing your exes. Step away from the port, put the phone down, and go to bed.

6. Like Caviar, But Not: I like grainy food...I'm a big texture person. So it makes sense that I adore stone ground mustard, with all those mustard seed bits and bursts of flavor. I prefer to use at least some stone ground mustard in foods like potato salad or cole slaw, because it's nice to see the mustard, not just taste it.

7. Miracles Do Come In Food Packages: Whole wheat couscous is pretty much the perfect food. I can come home from work, starving and exhausted, boil up a cup of chicken stock, throw in the couscous and some chopped spring onions and have a satisfying, healthy side dish to my microwavable chicken strips. Then I can toss it with a bunch of veggies and a quick vinaigrette and have a lovely salad for lunch the next day.

8. It's Like a Taye Diggs Candy Bar: I don't generally keep sweets around the house, but I always, always have a good bar of dark chocolate in the fridge. I prefer the 70% cocoa for eating, since 82% is not quite sweet enough. Two squares of this stuff and a bit of port wine and I am in heaven.

9. Hmm...Bugs: OK, so I don't always have these in my pantry, but I happen to right now and I cannot pass up an opportunity to expose these little critters. A while back I ordered some canned bugs from Thailand as a gag gift, and decided to keep a few cans for myself. Last Christmas, some friends and I wrapped the giant water bugs in bacon and baked them in the oven then gleefully ate them - wings an legs and all. Bacon really does make everything taste better. I'm saving the scorpions and larvae worms for a future special occasion. Yes, I'm being serious.