The best gauge of what someone's concept of "comfort food" is might be the first dinner they cook for themselves in a new home. It is sort of the inverse of a last meal, but the two might be similarly revealing. Grilled cheddar with maple bacon, spicy pickled green beans (I found the ones that Stand includes in their pot of pickles - they're Rick's Picks 'Mean Beans') and garlicky dill slices, sunflower greens with a simple vinaigrette, and a Harpoon summer beer.
I always wonder about the 4 giant blocks on the Met's facade...presumably unfinished scupltures.
The Haenyo divers are a group of women freedivers who collect abalone, seaweed, lobsters, octopus, oysters etc in the very cold waters off the southern coast of Jeju Island in Korea.
Thinly sliced duck breast, wrapped around some Julienned scallions, with a drop of (maybe) wasabe/edamame puree. The duck was rare, but the fat had a nice prosciutto-like quality. In the background is some grilled Japanese squid with miso and raw ginger I laid waste to. This non-presupposing restaurant in midtown is like a less rarified Momofuku Ssam. Sakagura, 211 E. 43rd Street,
Sometimes considered the measure of a cook's mastery of the basics, a good roast chicken. This is a simple method adapted from Thomas Keller's Bouchon cookbook. He serves it with French green lentils, pearl onions, button mushrooms, bacon lardons, and sauce Chasseur (hunter-style sauce of mushrooms, shallots, and wine) . . . probably none of which are necessary.
1. Start with a chicken that weighs between 2 and 3 pounds. Rinse it really well under cold water, and dry it thoroughly (inside and out) or it'll end up steaming instead of roasting. Salt the inside and outside with a good amount of coarse sea salt and black pepper. 
2. Heat the oven to 450F; meanwhile, truss the bird: 
A classic paper by Yarbus in 1967 tracking saccadic eye movements when subjects looked at Ilya Repin’s The Unexpected Visitor (1884), and asked: 1) free examination of the picture, 2) estimate the material circumstances of the family, 3) give the ages of the people, 4) surmise what the family had been doing before the arrival of the "unexpected visitor," 5) remember the clothes worn by the people, 6) remember the position of the people and objects in the room, and 7) estimate how long the "unexpected visitor" had been away from the family.
Also see meatpaper, the magazine about meat.
My favorite nude, by Modigliani. Visit the face transformer, upload a picture of yourself, and see yourself as a Modigliani.
It's already a bit passe, but sous-vide ("under vacuum") is a method of cooking which involves sealing food in air-tight plastic and cooking it in a tightly temperature-regulated water bath, usually at a low temperature for a long time. The main advantage is that this method is basically the only way to cook something while keeping the integrety of the food completely intact. You essentially (in theory) end up with every molecule you started with in the final result.
Here is an experiment I did with sous-vide duck breast:
1. Start with a nice duck breast, with some garlic, orange peel, thyme, salt and pepper.
2. Seal it all together in an air-tight plastic bag that can withstand near boiling (I used a cheap Seal-a-Meal...but these machines can be ridiculously expensive).
3. Immerse in a water bath that is maintained at around 130F (a laboratory thermoimmersion water bath would be best, but I just balance a thermometer on the edge of the pot and adjust the heat). The larger the volume of water you can use, the more constant the temperature will be. Let this sit in the water for 2 hours..up to 12 hours (at maybe a slightly lower temperature).
4. Remove the breast and open the bag carefully. 
5. Essentially, it's done.
The next steps are optional:
6. Fire it in a pan to crisp up the skin.
7. Remove it to a plate.
8. Deglaze the pan with a little Gran Marnier. Set it afire.
9. Serve it with some watercress. Yumm-o!
