Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I live in Florida and grill out year around. And, as Pete clarified, I recently started learning to BBQ. I am looking forward to perfecting/improving my BBQ techniques.

I picked up a book a couple of years ago called "Get Grilling" from the Foot Network. This is a book written by the team on the Food Network that supported Emeril. I suggest you pick this up if you are looking for interesting and different types of food to grill.

In the book they show you how to grill everything from Halloumi Cheese, Scallion and Mint Flatbread to Duck Salad to more traditional items.

@PeteEgeler: good call to avert an all out war over terminology :-)

On the grilling side, there are few things more satisfying than grilled fresh pineapple (brushed with a bit of oil or butter, sliced into wedges, not rings) with vanilla ice cream.

I might be a bit late for this food tour of chicago and fun things to do in chicago thread. You mentioned three words of chicago food tour and nobody responded with Chicago Food Planet Food Tours! We had a great guide: knowledgeable, personable, fun, efficient and human! Some of the places we visited were truly exceptional. We loved the oil and balsamic vinegar, the spices, the teahouse. We went back three times to the Old town, ate at two of the recommended places, shopped for oil and vinegar (but forgot to use our discount voucher!!). We loved the fact that Jessie told us heaps about the houses and streets we were passing through. She was definitely better informed than the Chicago architecture tour guide we had a few days later in the city... We learned about areas of Chicago we probably would otherwise never have found (on our last visit we didnt go much further than Michigan Avenue) and we had life-changing experiences with oil, vinegar and cinnamon!! You said you're a college student; the whole experience last 3 hours on either the Bucktown/Wicker Park Food Tour or the Near North Food Tour and costs only $42; over the course of the tour you have lunch and eat at 7 places! Buy early, they always sell out. Find them at http://www.chicagofoodplanet.com. Good luck!

The meat could be used in chili w/ your usual ingredients.

Omelette w/ whatever you want -- mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, etc. Don't forget the Cholula. :)

I make beef fajitas with leftover steak. Slice your leftover steak into thin slices and season with salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of chlli powder. In a small amount of oil over fairly high heat, stir fry a few slices of onion and green or red peppers. Add the sliced steak to the skillet for 30 seconds or so, just to warm the meat. Spoon the steak mixture into a warm flour tortilla and add your favorite toppings. Sometimes all I add is bottled taco sauce and sour cream.

Make a pot of Black bean soup with steak slow cooks in it....yummy!!!

slice it thin, saute it with onions and put it on a bun! My dad was a firefighter, and would work overnights, so my mom and I would do this on nights when he was on duty!

Hostess Pudding Pies.

ZOTS! I had forgotten about Zots, I loved those things!

I miss apricot fruit roll-ups, strawberry fun fruits, and above all other things, Carnation Breakfast Bars in Peanut Butter Crunch. I miss those so much. Wonder if they'll ever bring them back? My college roommate and I lived on those.

they are closed now, but in their heyday, anything from korb's bakery.

Oh, god, root-beer flavoured candies. Heck, root beer in general! The sole drawback to living in the UK. I'd kill for a bottle of root beer from a small, local place. Or even better, sarsaparilla. Good stuff.

And a few more:

Rock Cornish game hens - the height of elegance in the early sixties, when I first encountered them at my parents' table. I've always loved roast poultry, and still do - and to have a bird all to yourself was utterly charming.

My grandmother's Swedish meatballs and fruit soup, a feast she served to our family at least twice a year for many years.

My mother's deviled eggs, which she made with curry powder and garnished with Major Grey's chutney.

Almost any version of ham sandwich. I ate ham every chance I got when I was young - but the best had Durkee's Famous Dressing on them.

Oddest of all, the afternoon when I was playing with my best friend in her immense overgrown backyard. We stirred together ripe blackberries with plenty of sugar and (maybe) a little milk. Sheer ambrosia, that was, and blackberries and sugar have never tasted so good since.