In Southern California the tap water is so bad it even tasts bad after filtering. I use it for washing and cooking, but when I drink water alone I like bottled distilled.

@cickert -- I live in Southern California and my dad has a fig tree in his back yard. The fruit can be eaten whole, just cut off the stem and pop it into your mouth. The flavor is uique; very sweet. It is hard to describe the flavor, but to me it comes close to pear. The texture is very soft, not really juicy, more like jello, with lots of tiny seeds that you eat, like the seeds in kiwifruit. There are several varieties, but my dad's tree is mission figs; they are the dark purple, almost black kind. I think it's very soft and tender nature might be the reason that the fresh figs are not shipped all over the US. They might crush too easily. Also they must be fully ripe with picked; they won't continue to ripen off the tree, so they must be cooked/used/consumed within a few days of picking.

Bake a couple different loaves of bread the day before, make your chili, and another soup -- bread and soup for dinner. How about some small apple or pear crostata for dessert? They can be made in the morning and simply served.

I am of the cream-in-first crowd. It mixes instantly, requires no spoon, and does make cream that is "on the turn" curdle. I would rather see the curdles and throw out a cup of coffee than take the first sip of souring cream before the curdles appear.

Mix mayonaise and garam masala in the food processor and use as a dressing for a curried chicken salad with maybe some cashews and a few raisins.

I have made this a few times, and it has always been a hit:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/who-loves-ya-baby-back-recipe/index.html

I love their ginger cashew granola; it's my favorite midnight snack.
They have the best pasta at the best price.
I like to keep a jar of their Indian curry simmer sauce on hand in the pantry for days when I just don't know what to cook.
Their chocolate can't be beat at the same price anywhere.
Two buck Chuck is my go-to table wine.
Nieman Ranch pork products -- no where else near me has bacon of the same quality.

Hummus is probably the top pick. Here's a link to a recipe that I like:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/spicy-hummus-with-grilled-pita-recipe/index.html

I like to cook the onions in olive oil until brown; then saute the garlic. I use tomato puree and I add a can of chicken stock. The stock seems to take the acidic edge off the tomato without adding sweetness.

I sometimes find that corn tortillas are brittle after thawing. They don't roll into taco shells or enchiladas or taquitos very well; so I like to make an enchilada casserole. It uses the same ingredients as enchiladas, but is layered flat instead of rolled up. I find that it saves a lot of mess and frustration. Put a layer of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish that is well sprayed with non-stick stuff. Add a layer of tortillas, then filling, more tortillas and more sauce. You can make this several layers deep. Make the last layers of tortillas and sauce, top with jack cheese and sliced green onions and bake at 350 until bubbly.

Make little meringue shells to serve the ice cream in

Those who feel that German food is not good might want to try Black Forest Ham. It is my favorite, and nothing at all like the cheap junk that domestic meat curing houses call Black Forest Ham. That stuff is just pickled pork leg with black spray paint on the outside. Real Black Forest Ham is dry cured and smoked for a very long time and adds a ton of flavor in very small quantities. It is also much leaner than any hams I ever ate in the US.

I have found, in these difficult economic times, that I actually enjoy getting back to the basics of cooking from scratch with simple, inexpensive ingredients. Much of the world's most famous and revered cuisines got their start from peasants who had to make the best of the bits that the upper classes rejected. I started baking my own bread from scratch when bread hit $4.69 a loaf at the grocery store. I buy bread flour in bulk from a warehouse store and I can put together a delicious loaf for about $1.00. Now that the summer heat has really set in, I started buying bread again because I don't want to run the oven and the air conditioner at the same time, and my husband has complained that store-bought bread tastes like cardboard compared to fresh baked at home. The moral of the story is that one need not be a food snob to enjoy delicious eats at home.