The other night I was watching a cooking show on tv called Sam the Cooking Guy. As the title implies, he's just an average joe, cooking in his kitchen, making food easy and accessible to everyone. In this episode, Sam made garlic bread. He took the bread out of the hot oven, put the baking sheet on the counter, and tried to transfer the scorching pieces of bread onto a serving platter--burning his fingers in the process, of course. He then joked about how he should have used an old cooking show trick--waiting for the bread to cool, then moving it to the plate while pretending it's still hot (and editing out the waiting time). Or, I thought, he could have just used tongs.

Tongs are one of the most under-utilized kitchen utensils. I always keep a couple pairs looped over my oven handle, so I can quickly grab one in a pinch. You might think they're only for grilling or for hardcore chef types, but they have a ton of uses in any kitchen. Here's what I've used mine for:

• Grabbing spaghetti out of a pot and serving it on a plate (you can use the tongs to twist the pasta into a pretty little mound)
• Flipping pieces of food in a pan while they're cooking on the stove
• Turning over vegetables I'm roasting in the oven so they cook evenly
• Tossing salads and pastas
• Re-arranging hot sheets and pans on the rack in my oven
• Moving hot food--chicken breasts, steaks, potatoes, garlic bread, you name it--onto a serving platter

So if you don't own a pair of tongs, get some immediately. You'll be amazed at how much easier it is to cook in the kitchen.