Kim Shook

Thanks to everyone for the input. I may put the small IP on my wishlist, but for now I've ordered a 4-cup (cooked) Aroma rice cooker. And it's PINK! 😁

We have two very large and one smaller Asian markets within a couple of miles of us and another 2 or 3 a bit further away (yes, we are very fortunate). I will check with these. Thank you!

These are all amazing and wonderful!

Welcome to eG, @Miss K! I'm looking forward to your contributions!

Bumping this up to get the latest information and opinions. I am rice cooking challenged. In my 45+ years of cooking, I've mastered many things but rice is not one of them. No matter the method, rice cooking is still a hit or miss mystery to me. So, I'm thinking of trying a rice cooker. I'm usually only cooking for 2 or 3 and Jessica doesn't really eat much rice. So, I'm hoping there is a small, decently dependable and not too expensive model out there. Thanks!

I'm used to eating steamed crabs like this. I think I might balk at a tableful of hummus or something saucy.

@Ann_T - those are some gorgeous biscuits. I believe that you've earned honorary Southern Lady status with those! I just had toast this morning: As long as there's raisin bread in the house, I'm going to be having it at least once a day!

@OlyveOyl - your array of sandwiches looks so wonderful! Fresh and delicious. How I'd love to have access to that incredible spread. Now this looks much less yummy 😂. I'm really kidding. It was really good and something we hadn't indulged in in quite some time: Jersey MIke's #13 (the official Shook family Jersey Mike's sub). We were out early trying to beat the holiday weekend grocery shoppers. Mr. Kim is working from home today and took his lunch hour to go with me, so we succumbed to a craving when we drove by!

Breakfast this morning was fried eggs on a buttered and toasted milk bread roll: I got the egg slightly overdone, but it was still good: It would have been especially good with a slice of country ham and a little béarnaise! 😁

😄😄😄 Many of my pantry items are less reliable it seems.

When you pick a steamed blue crab, there are some parts that you eat and some you don't (at least I don't). You don't eat the "devil's fingers" or gills. There is a long, white, wormy looking thing that no one I know eats - I'm not at all sure what it is. Something that IS edible is that "mustard" - called that because it actually does look like mustard. There is some disagreement about whether it should be eaten or not because it is a filtering part of the digestive system. I know, but it's really delicious. Analogous to sucking a crawfish head, I guess - gross, but good. 😁 When you pick crabs, it's there and you can eat it or not. But when you eat a soft shell, it's been cleaned inside and some places just snip off the eye area and then clean out all the innards, including the mustard. A place that really respects crabs (and crab lovers) will be more careful and leave the mustard behind. There. I hope that helped and that anyone who has better information than me will step in!

It's funny, but what I see in many American sections in other countries are what I would consider "craving" foods. I.E. - food you know is not great cuisine, but stuff that you just want every so often. The stuff that most Americans I know (and I ARE one 😉) eat on a regular basis are probably available in the other sections of the stores - fresh meats, produce, bread, crackers, cheese, etc. I know that the food in the "international" sections of American grocery stores don't truly represent the foods of those nations.

Thank you all so much for the good wishes. I’m definitely improving. Trying hard to get back to cooking after being sick/recovering since basically the beginning of the year. I’ve managed to make myself a few lunches, but we’ve also eaten out a LOT! A fried bologna and cheese grilled sandwich and clam chowder: The sandwich was great, but not so the soup. It was a brand that was highly rated by a website I usually like, but I think that they were impressed by the down east design of the can: The soup was bereft of clam flavor and the texture was grainy and gelatinous. One morning, I woke up thinking of egg salad. I’d been wanting to try a new-to-me method of hard cooking eggs – the hot start method. You bring enough water to cover your eggs to a low boil and quickly and gently slip the eggs in. Bring to a boil, then lower to a slow boil, cover and cook 12-14 minutes. Supposedly easy peel, no green, and perfectly cooked eggs. Worked great for me – I’ve now peeled the entire batch and they were all fine: With pepper, mustard, relish, and Dukes: Lunch: Jessica and I went down to Petersburg VA (about 45 minutes away) last month to pick up something and had dinner at a locally owned restaurant that has a wonderful buffet – a meat and threes kind of place. Nearly everything is housemade. Mr. Kim is NOT a big buffet fan, but I got him down there recently to wander in the historic section of the city and do a little antique browsing. AND talked him into that place, Nanny’s, for lunch. I think he liked it. Hard to tell because he tends towards prejudice 😁. My plate: Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, collards, pulled pork, hamburger steak, and fried fat back. Also hush puppies and chicken & dumplings: Post doctor’s appointment lunch at an OLD favorite, Joe’s Inn. Their in-town location was one of our college hang outs – great pizza, huge sandwiches, and cheap beer. This was their suburb location, but it’s just as good. I had a meatball sub and onion rings: Mr. Kim had baked spaghetti and their wonderful house made bread: On Mother’s Day the three of us plus Mr. Kim’s mom did a little road trip to tiny Topping VA (about an hour away) on the Rappahannock river for lunch at a place called Merroir. We’d been once before and were impressed with their location, food, and service. This visit was the same. We ordered a ton of food and shared and took some home! We had the bread service: Oyster stew: which had gorgeous, sweet whole oysters in it, as well as the entire thing tasting beautifully of oyster. Jessica started with raw oysters: We shared the burrata toast – baguette, burrata, roasted tomatoes, pesto, and balsamic glaze: We also shared the Stuffin’ Muffin: Oyster stuffing with a bacon and peppercorn cream sauce. Mr. Kim had the shrimp cocktail: and grilled halibut with blistered green beans: My MIL had the crabcake with slaw and remoulade: My main was scallops with smoked corn, cotija cheese, paprika, and cilantro lemon sauce: Jessica’s was the oyster po’ boy: with slaw and house made pickles. For dessert, my MIL had the Key Lime Pie: and we all had a bit of this dessert: Caramelized bananas with some custard and candied pecans. Everything was delicious and perfectly prepared. We brought a lot home. A friend was having surgery. I thought I’d kill two birds: take them some food and have something on hand for lunches for the week. So, I made a batch of my mother’s vegetable soup and a couple loaves of No-Knead Peasant Bread to take to them. My mise: I attempted to make one pot of soup – enough for them and us to have a couple of meals. Instead… 🙄😄 The bread: Another morning I woke up craving hot dogs. So, lunch: It is soft shell season now, so after church this Sunday we went to a place called Halterman’s in Manquin VA (about 30 minutes from us). We’d been a couple of years ago for Mr. Kim’s birthday and loved it. When you sit down, they bring a basket of house made chips and creamy sauce: We shared a wonderfully ooey, gooey crab dip: The dip was fantastic, and the pita chips were exceptional, too. Instead of just being served as is or baked to crispy, they were deep fried. They ended up being crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. I’d never had them done like that and they were perfect with the hot, creamy dip. Mr. Kim had fish and chips: All of this was SO good. The hush puppies were crisp and tender and full of corn flavor. The chips were really like chunky British chips. I think the fish was cod – firm, moist, and sweet. It was breaded rather than battered, but it was excellent. I had the soft shells with fries and deviled eggs: The crabs were exactly what I wanted – simply made with a light batter and such great quality: They were full of moist, sweet crab meat: And they left the mustard in – so many places don’t, and it drives me crazy. Today: A bologna sandwich with excessive amounts of mustard and baked BBQ chips (an odd recent craving of mine).

Slowly getting back into cooking. I’ve been missing it! A few recent breakfasts: A toasted croissant with strawberry jam. Ham and egg on a croissant: Greek yogurt, granola, and honey: Mr. Kim stopped by a wonderful bakery near his office yesterday and brought home these Japanese milk bread rolls: I had a couple for breakfast this morning done in the CSO at 300F on bake/steam and slathered with butter. Also eggs 😁.

A couple of recent purchases. I found the first two at an antique store and Mr. Kim surprised me with the Duncan Hines "Bake Shop in a Book" off my wish list.