I am rarely influenced by the media. One exception is the only episode I have ever seen of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. I happened to see the episode nearly a year ago, and have not purchased or eaten ground beef since. No more McDonald's double cheeseburgers, no more homemade meatloaf or meatballs.
Read more about Goodbye, Pink Slime
Worst Cooks didn't disappoint this week with a culinary tour of the world. By way of meatballs. I didn't know that learning to use a meat grinder immediately followed acquiring water boiling skills in terms of NTK, but I guess it does.
In recent years, I have developed a major beef-- no pun intended-- about grocery stores' approach to food safety. They simply do not get it; and two out of three have shown no concern for customers' feedback on this issue. The way it affects me personally is I live a distance from the major grocery stores, and time and time again shopping does not result in being able to cook and eat.
Read more about Food Safety is Necessary... 
One mistake I have made when preparing various foods from recipes was not reading the recipes in advance. This sometimes resulted in not having all of the ingredient on hand before starting preparation. In some instances, I managed to get creative-- ending up with an edible product, although it was not the way it was originally intended.
Read more about Errors Do Not Need to Become Kitchen Nightmares 
When some local people talked about cilantro, mint leaves, and herb gardens, I had nothing to contribute to the conversations. Later, when I commented that I rarely add anything to food, some seemed to think this was very unusual. I added that I figured it depended on what a person is familiar with-- their preferences in preparing, serving, and eating food. While I will add spices if they are called for in a recipe, I rarely have any in my kitchen cabinets except garlic powder and cinnamon.
Read more about To Spice or Not to Spice 
I admit it! I over-steam vegetables on a regular basis. This probably explains why my vegetable-loving son is eating less and less of them, and my vegetable-hating daughter is not coming around. I used to use an electric steamer which timed things right and controlled the steam levels to produce wonderful textures, but the toxins released in plastics when they are heated have me nervous. So, now I'm using a metal insert on the stove with very disappointing results. Hence the quest for better vegetable-cooking strategies.