Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

If I have a really bad day, I need Spaghettio's with meatballs and bread and butter. It's sacrilage, I know.

Sonny Bryants, Ft Worth, TX

I DEVOURED tonnes of these last year, and was crestfallen when they didn't show up in my grocery store with all the other seasonal goodies. Thankfully, I was able to liberate some from the drug store, and my newly-addicted roommate has fed my addiction by buying more. I'll miss them when they're gone, but my waistline will breathe a sigh of relief.

Bloody Marys... that's like food, right?

Okay, okay: pair the marys with a bagel overloaded with lox and onions.

One summer, my mother (Ellen) created a marinade for pork tenderloin that was so good, we ate it all summer and even gave it a vaguely French-sounding name: "Pork Helene." I think we ate it at least once a week for three months solid before we got sick of it. Everytime I think about it, I remember that summer: Dad heating up the grill, Mom magically getting everything on the table, and my sister and I leaving the pool for the first time that day for a dinner of Pork Helene.

no-knead bread: the absolute BEST way to get a bake-a-phobe absolutely obsessed with fresh, homemade bread.

I make a relish tray with good olives, watermelon rind pickles, stuffed jalapenos, and peppers.

I always thought the concept of "corked" was funny, even though it's an apt description of what happens when some wines go bad. Since I've also heard the word used to described someone's being drunk (i.e., "He's corked! Someone drive him home."), I always picture a woozy bottle of wine surrounded by empty, discarded bottles.