One Grill Pan, Two Sawbucks

Cooks who are, well, careful with their money are finding Ikea stores to be a great resource. This grill pan, sturdily cast from aluminum with handy raised sides to catch the grease and cooking juices, costs less than $20. If you were buying it someplace else, you could easily spend twice as much. And if you insist on a grill pan wth pedigree and want to spend a bit more, now is the time to buy at Bullocks, where grill pans are half price.

A Double-Edged Wheel

Choices, choices, choices: Do you want your homemade noodles with a utilitarian straight edge or with a more whimsical ruffle? This double-bladed pasta wheel from Cookin’ Stuff in Torrance cuts both ways. And its heavy duty stainless steel construction makes it easy to clean up afterward.

Carved for Caviar

One of the first things they teach you in food snob school is that one should never, ever eat caviar with a metal spoon. It simply ruins the flavor, darling. The material of choice is bone or horn. These Asiaphile spoons, from Feast in Pasadena, are cattle horn hand-carved in the Philippines and have a charming, almost folk-art quality. Just the thing for snarfing up a big scoop of Osetra.