Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

@csbrown: my mom and grandparents did the smushed cornbread in milk thing - often as a before-bedtime snack - but preferred buttermilk to "sweet" milk for this treat.

@derfman: I am still obsessed with the sawdust hamburgers. You ATE sawdust? I have never heard of this! Not being critical, not one bit - just astounded at the possibility. Was this an early substitute for soy protein? And as far as "making" the buns: my sister and I loved to get fresh spongy white bread, tear the crusts off, then roll the bread into gummy little balls, which we then ate (but not at the same time as our fried vienna sausages.....)

I am learning SO MUCH from these posts!

Ground chuck, medium rare, with grilled Vidalia onion, sauteed mushrooms, cheddar cheese, and a giant slice of homegrown tomato on a toasted buttered bun. Heaven!

I am enjoying "The Food of a Younger Land" by Mark Kurlansky. Not a memoir, but a collection of essays from writers who were sent all over America to record our country's food traditions in the 1940s. Fascinating! Another fabulous foodie read is Diana Abu-Jaber's novel "Crescent" - one of the best audio books I've ever had the pleasure to listen to. You'll be craving Lebanese food for weeks! I can hardly wait to read some of the other posters' suggestions, as well. Thanks for the tips!!

I too love chilaquiles and a couple of the Mexican restaurants here in Savannah have them on the menu or will prepare them on request. I've also had Chilaquiles Verdes, using a green sauce prepared with (I'm assumng) tomatillos instead of whole red tomatoes and cilantro pureed in with the sauce in addition to being a garnish on top. Either way - major yumminess! Thanks, Nick, for a GREAT basic recipe!

Cranberries! I buy enough to freeze so we can have fresh cran-orange relish all year round. I also get very excited about delicata squash (try Laurie Colwin's squash tian with chopped garlic, olive oil and parmesan) AND Beaujolais Nouveau, which is just plain good fun.

Why go to all that trouble? IMHO, the best pb cookie recipe in the universe is this one that you can stir up in about 5 seconds!
Easiest Bestest PB Cookies
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
pinch baking soda
splash vanilla
Mix well until nice and smooth. Scoop cookies with small scoop and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment or sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 6-10 minutes until golden brown. Cool until they don't burn your tongue and serve with a lovely glass of cold milk. Pure heaven.

My hands-down favorite, if you have access to a freezer to store it until dessert-time, is lemonade pie with pretzel crust. Make a pretzel crust just as you would a graham cracker crust - except use pretzels, of course. Crushed pretzels, butter, sugar. Pat evenly into pie plate. Bake, then cool. Then, slightly soften 1 quart of vanilla ice cream and mix until smooth with one 6-oz. can of lemonade (or limeade, or pink lemonade). If you can stand not to eat the entire frosty bowl while you're standing there, pile the filling in the cooled pretzel crust and freeze several hours until firm. These are incredibly addictive and we eat them all summer long. They are PERFECT with cookout food. You can garnish with little puffs of whipped cream and lemon zest, or paper-thin lemon slices, or a little of the pretzel mix that you've held back. Enjoy!

Ice cream, please! Or in the summer when we have it, a lovely slice of frozen lemonade pie.

Chili Cheese Slaw Dog, please! Or a Varsity chili dog with good old French's yellow mustard and chopped onions. Hot-lanta here I come! YUMM-EE!

Rosezilla - how do you do your tri-tip? I'm a newbie to this cut -- have a couple in the freezer from a recent trip to Costco, and would love to do it right! THANKS!

Several years ago we moved to Michigan from Savannah, GA and stayed about 6 years. It was fun realizing the differences in food items that were and weren't available regionally. One time, I ordered a case of pickled peaches since none of the stores up there had even HEARD of such a thing. Whenever we'd return from a trip South, I'd return with coolers of ripe tomatoes and quarts of frozen Brunswick stew and local shrimp. We always brought back green peanuts in season, since "boiled peanuts" were another unheard-of food group (sound familiar, Matt & Ted Lee?), and had friends who regularly shipped stone-ground grits and our favorite BBQ sauces. There's nothing like a taste of home when you're living somewhere else, that's for sure!