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toasted multigrain bread, slice of cheddar or american cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. i love a dill pickle on the side!

Sorry thought it was best foodie vacation you went on. I would like to eat my way across Italy.

As a Brit who's been to a lot of the places already mentioned (Japan, Lebanon, France, Italy) I would choose Chicago. Give me endless deep-dish and tavern-style pizza. Fill me with Italian Beef (cheesy, combo with peppers, dipped). Get the tamales at the ready. Start turning the gyros. Take the cheesecake out of the fridge. Hang the steaks to dry. Cast a net for the lake perch. Toss the sweetcorn on the grill. Heat up the pizza puffs. Grab a Vienna Beef, and drag it through the garden. Call Milwaukee, tell them we'll be needing a large supply of Bratwurst to be cooked in beer with hot mustard. A large bag of Jay's potato chips. Proper Kielbasa, on a soft roll; or better yet, small slices of the spicy sausage Uncle Jan used to bring at Christmas. Carson's Ribs, stand at the ready. And have the Strohs and the Old Style well-chilled.

Grew up in the city, now live 4000 miles away, and miss it like crazy a lot of the time. I want a burger from Schoop's and a dog from Boz's so much...and a Lou Malnattis pizza would probably kill me with joy.

Definitely Japan! I could eat anything and everything there...best foodie place I've been to so far.

Even though XH-3 used to call them "salty, hairy fish," I give a resounding WAY. Anchovies are little flavor powerhouses. If incorporated into foods correctly, they boost the other flavors in a dish. I love them straight from the antipasto tray on a nice crusty piece of bread. They're imperative to well made Caesar dressing and puttanesca sauce.

No way... sorry, but I can't stand them.

Somehow I've never tried anchovies. But seeing as I like fish and I like salty foods...I should probably try them.

That would have to be a hot pot of chicken n dumplins'!

Where to start?

1. Homemade pasta with homemade tomato sauce and whatever veggies are hanging around.
2. Big salad with whatever's in crisper
3. homemade dumplings
4. Omelets
5. Caramelized onion soup or just caramelized onions on just about anything
6. Dried beans (cooked) and then whipped up into delicious soup or sandwich toppings or chili
7. Can of condensed milk = homemade dulce de leche; not a meal, but a dessert for 4; on top of pan dulce
8. Quinoa pilaf with any stir fried veggies
9. Dal with homemade Chapatis
10. Fuul

@gumbolicious - You're absolutely right, Weaver battered chicken WAS all @ the batter, not the chicken! It was sooooo tasty! How to describe it adequately @cowprintrabbit? By today's standards, the batter was rather plain - most of today's battered chicken is incredibly overspiced, IMHO - but the weaver batter was... light golden in color. And it *looked* like a batter coating, mostly smooth, the exterior sloping and rounded. While thick on the chicken, it seemed to allow you to pull it off the chicken in very large pieces. And yes, gumbolicious, it definitely gave your mouth a sweetish aftertaste.

Revisiting this thread made me remember something else. It's not my confession, actually, it's something our friend Vince would relate @ graduation parties and the like. It seems that when he was @ college, to keep himself awake in giant lecture hall-type classes, he'd bring a large jar of instant coffee granules, and snack on them - dry and crunchy - throughout the lecture. (He was also working full-time @ the night shift @ a GM plant.) At one of the lectures, the girl sitting next to him put out her hand. Now, obviously, Vince would tell us, she had no clue as to what he was eating out of the jar, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. So, despite misgivings, and not wanting to appear selfish, he offered her the jar. She stuck her hand in, pulled out a fistful of granules, and popped them into her mouth. A few seconds later, choking, she spit them out, gave Vince an "I'll-kill-you-later" look, and ran out of the hall.

@beth1: I LOVE rice and stewed tomatoes!! Have since I was a kid. If I have a leftover pork chop from a past supper, I can heat that up and toss it in too.

Other ideas are: any type of pasta an homemade sauce
Omelets using up leftovers in the fridge
wraps - again using up leftovers
Making soups
Red beans and Rice

I make a big pot of chicken soup from chicken backs and wings (I buy whole fryers on sale and cut them up myself--so easy!), carrots, onion, celery and fusilli pasta--and that's more than just one meal.

For one meal, a frittata with peppers, onion, potatoes and eggs. I grew up with that and was blown away when Mario Balali made it on his show (reruns on Fine Living Network). And there's always the Italian peasant food I grew up with--pasta e fagioli (pasta fazool), escarol and beans, etc. Five dollars for two? Easy!

I love red lentil quiche. Make pastry (wholemeal is good), Boil up lentils with onion, garlic, chopped carrot until thick. Stir in 1T tomato puree and an egg (once the lentils have cooled comewhat), dump in some cheese and bake. Serve with salad. Used to make this a lot as a young mum with 3 hungry children to feed.