My dad is a Southern Air Force brat, but he moved to hippie Berkeley, CA in the '70s for college and put his roots down here. I was born some twenty years later and even though my dad had spent two decades eating decidedly differently than he did growing up in the South, I grew up in Berkeley with quintessential Southern eats, and LOVED it. The quintessential Southern dining experience for me: cold sweet tea (made with Lipton), catfish and hush puppies, and a pile of bacon-lardon-laden collard greens alongside an ear of corn on the cob.

My favorite Southern dining experience, though: salting two halves of a watermelon and working through them on a lazy summer day. I take a half, my dad takes a half, we read separately or talk to each other while just eating salted watermelon for an hour. (Again, with a nice pitcher of sweet tea on the table to wash it all down with.)

Oh my gosh-- I would love to have a Paloma in ice cream form. Grapefruit and lime with a wash of tequila: I could definitely envision it making a great sorbet or gelato, too! Maybe even more so than an ice cream.

Are you talking main dishes, for something small like an intimate dinner for 6? I find that an easy but stunning winner for most occasions is David Lebovitz's French tomato tart:
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/05/french-tomato-tart-recipe/

Just make as many tarts as you need, use whatever tart shell you're comfortable with-- homemade, storebought, who cares. Serve a really simple but properly dressed salad on the side, and something rich for dessert. (Like Alice Medrich's cocoa brownies with a very good ice cream on the side. Or birthday cake!)

And here's a good appetizer/light dish for people to pile onto their buffet plates, if that's the route you're looking to go down:
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/06/sriracha-buttered-shrimp

Hands-down favorite: grilling halved carrots that have been coated in a mixture of cumin, salt, and olive oil. This is SO good in the summer!

Perfect simple lentil soup recipe. I bookmarked it when first published, and as luck would have it I came down with a cold not even a full day later! So obviously I had to have a good, comforting bowl of soup; thought this would be just the ticket. Even while sick and foggyheaded it was a breeze to cook-- it tasted great while sick, and two days after clearing up (and being able to taste normally) it was even better. Thanks for the cure Kenji!

I've made these bagels about two dozen times since I first tried the recipe last year-- they're phenomenal. And incredibly easy, AND incredibly impressive. People are wowed by the results. I've experimented with bagel sizes, malt syrup vs sugar, etc., and not once has a batch been a disappointment.

Thanks so much for the recipe!

Just a matter of minutes ago, I stuck a candy thermometer into my pot of molten caramel bubbling away on the stove!

My caramels and marshmallows. Bar none, those are my showstopping five-star desserts. Unwrap a perfect caramel or six after dinner, float a great big mound of marshmallow atop some hot chocolate-- those are my best desserts.

I can't take all the credit, though-- the marshmallows are David Lebovitz's recipe, and the caramels are my pastry chef mother's creations!

Watermelon-- my dad's from the South, and always cuts a whole melon in half, salts his half, and we sit down and eat with spoons for an hour while chatting. Summertime means watermelon to me!

Oh man: Pyramid Brewery in Berkeley has to be my #1, but I have long loved Stone Brewery in Escondido, CA!!

I love, love, grilling radicchio. Swear. That all charred up next to steak with beer! Grilled peaches afterwards with a little vanilla ice cream, and that's a perfect late afternoon early dinner.