Kim Shook

I don't think anyone is really fussing. I know I wasn't. I think it's mostly interested chit-chat.

From looks only Opie's seems to win the pastry prize - flaky with no visible goo!

Perfect. A teaching moment, then. 😁

My last book order for a little while: It looked fun and was only $4.

I confess I had to look up "mange tout". I'm 61 and I've lived all in a few different regions in the US (including the Cincinnati area) and I didn't know what it meant. I'm not being condescending, but I don't know that your average Cincinnatian would know it.

I am not much of a hot beverage fan. An occasional cup of tea or cocoa - no coffee EVER. I so looked forward to becoming a grown up in order to appreciate coffee. I loved the whole business of adding sugar (and swore I'd only use cubes) and the swirling cloud of cream. But I guess I never did grow up because I still detest the taste of coffee in any form. I do, however live with a man who must start the day with at least 3 cups of coffee and who ends each day with a cup of tea. So, I do have cups. Here are my favorites. These went on my wish list many years ago and Mr. Kim made sure that his parents knew. They gifted them to me for my birthday that year: These I got myself at The Christmas Tree Store: This one is very special and no one drinks out of it: A good friend, who used to go to England every few months and knows my incurable Anglophilia, brought this back for me after the birth of HRH Prince George. It is the official commemorative china from the Royal Collection Trust and one of my sillier treasures.

Welcome! Looking forward to your contributions!

Not necessarily for yours, @MetsFan5 (which looked delicious, BTW), but just to add to the mix, the best Caesar I ever made was a Geoffrey Zakarian recipe. It is a fairly classic (though with anchovies and mustard, not perfectly authentic) recipe and the big difference it seems to me is the use of white anchovies. They were a bitch for me to find, but they made the salad. I'm not particularly picky when it comes to Caesar salad - I've enjoyed practically every version I've tasted, but this is a truly special one.

@Ann_T – I just showed Mr. Kim your Tourtiere pictures and a few minutes later he said, apropos of nothing in particular, “Do you ever think what it would be like to be able to drop by some of your eG friends’ houses for dinner?” 😄 @David Ross – I showed Mr. Kim and Jessica your lamb burger and they both have requested it. @Captain – I would give a LOT to be able to get short ribs that look like that. Wow. @Raamo – I’ve bookmarked that rib recipe. They look beautiful. @shain – that gallery of Focaccias is gorgeous! @weinoo - "Screw the grill". We said that some time ago. I know you were joking, but we probably haven't used our grill for 3 years, at least. 😄 A lot had to happen for dinner to come together last night. I made some bread in the bread machine: Then I made gravy. My roux: Before reducing: Finished gravy: Dinner also involved using up some leftovers – broccoli casserole from last night: I also had still more chicken leftover from the chicken spaghetti and the quesadillas, so: Open-faced chicken sandwiches with gravy, Stove Top (the dregs of a cannister – SO salty. Note to self: don’t buy the cannister pack anymore), candied sweet potatoes made from a can in our “stash”. And I also found a can of cranberry sauce in the stash: Open-faced sandwiches with gravy are a favorite of mine and I’ve been craving this for a long time. Nice to scratch that itch!

I made a decent 1.5 lb. loaf of the "Soft Bread" from the owner's manual of my machine: My frustration at this bread machine just grows and grows. I was in the dining room when I was using it to make the Milky Loaf on 8/28 and never heard the “beep” at the end. I think that the “keep warm” function allowed the loaf to overcook. So yesterday, I set my phone alarm for a couple of minutes before it was supposed to be done, so I could be beside it and make sure that the “beep” sounded. I checked the time left when my alarm went off by tapping the “Start/Stop/Pause” button less than a second (as the instructions seem to say). I must have paused it, though, because when I checked it again, it had the same amount of time on it. Sigh. I never heard the beep because I just took it out at that point. I really don’t know if I’m going to be able to make anything besides the basics. No matter how much I read it, I can’t seem to understand how to change it from the default settings.

Mr. Kim and I have watched it in its entirety for the past few weeks. Jeez, he can be a real horse’s ass. I understand he’s split with David Meecham and done the obligatory Mea Culpa Tweet, but still. In the New Orleans episode, it opens with him saying how much he loves Galatoire’s and then he proceeds to disrespect it by not following their dress code and mocking them on air about having one and being staid. Dave, if you love the restaurant so much, you have to know about their dress code. And, no, being a chef does not make you special and exempt from showing the respect of dressing as the restaurant requires (also looking at you, Duff Goldman and Antonia Lofaso). In the pizza episode he orders Domino’s pizza to be delivered to Lucali, an Italian-American pizzeria in Brooklyn where he and Meecham are interviewing the owner/chef Mark Iacono. He insists on both of the others tasting the Domino’s and excuses himself for liking it by saying it’s what he grew up with. In later episodes, he becomes visibly irritated at non-Asian-Americans cooking Asian foods. The shows were interesting and I loved seeing all of the places all over the world. We finished Somebody Feed Phil before starting Ugly Delicious and it was great seeing some of the same places in both shows. Watching the delight that illuminates Phil’s face when he tastes something really good is such an improvement over Dave’s, “That’s so f***ing good.” Having said all of that, there is something very engaging about Dave Chang and I loved seeing him with his parents and wife. And, of course, he's a Northern VA boy, so I have to root for him. 😁

Oh, NO!!!! I am so sorry that happened to your daughter. What a trooper to have to endure all of that. If it helps at all please tell her how sorry I am (or not if it would embarrass her to know others know about it) and that I think she's had to be very brave and I admire her!

I think that @dtremit and @blue_dolphin have given you some good feedback. I very much agree with @dtremit's comment regarding finding bitter melon in stores specializing in Indian ingredients. We have stores in my town that say they specialize in Asian, Hispanic, and Indian foods and I've had good luck finding things in these stores. Duck quarters may be an issue unless they go to a specialty butcher shop or a halal market. I think all the recipes that you came up with sound interesting and doable!

@andiesenji - If you can manage it, I'd love to see a picture of it in your hand.

Welcome, Carol! I'm really looking forward to seeing your food. Do you do any Portuguese baking?

Thank you, everyone. I think we're going with this one!

On Friday, I put together some Chicken Spaghetti to take to a fellow church goer and his mom (this is the guy who didn’t wear a mask and exposed us to Covid😠). Before mixing: After baking: This makes a LOT and so the plan was that half would go to them with bread and a vegetable to make 2 meals for each of them. And half would stay with us a become dinner and leftovers. Unfortunately, my MIL ended up back in the hospital and didn’t come home until yesterday. So, I wrapped up the other half and Jessica took it out to them. Mr. Kim made a good salad tonight – with nuts and apples and much more interesting stuff than I usually manage: Topped with Momofuko Ranch and fried rice noodles. We had some leftover chicken from the chicken spaghetti, so I went with chicken quesadillas: (Mr. Kim’s with jalapenos). Jessica is doing our shopping since we are seriously quarantining again, and she got tons of broccoli. I did @Marlene's Broccoli Gratin with Streusel. Before the topping: Out of the oven:

@CantCookStillTry – lovely looking crust on that quiche. Quiche is one of my very favorite foods and I hardly ever make it. @BonVivant – I believe I got drunk looking at your gorgeous figs. On Friday I was putting together casseroles for my in laws and a church friend and his mom (the doofus who went without his mask and exposed us to Covid so that we had to go back to serious quarantining for 2 weeks😠) and I realized at about 4pm that I hadn’t eaten all day. So, it was yogurt and grape nuts for lunch (I guess it counts as lunch):

@Ann_T – your Tourtiere has haunted me here and on FB. Seriously one of the most delicious looking things I’ve ever seen. This morning: “Biscuit Muffins” and a ham, cheese, and egg scramble. I found a bag of the muffins in the freezer and had no memory of making them. I looked at my website and nothing. Finally, I searched “muffins” on my Kitchen Journal and found that they were from a mix someone had given us for Xmas. We didn’t really care for them, but they dramatically improved by being frozen🤔. Turns out that they are sold at Publix. I’ll look for them next time we go there.

Those Carr's Ginger Lemon ones mentioned above. Three other favorites are Cadbury Fingers, Cadbury Crunchie cookes, and Petit Ecolier Dark Chocolate.

Does it have a cover? We are klutzes. I have run the tines of a regular fork up my fingernails multiple times.

Are you being modest? This is your award-winning burger, is it not? I can't wait to try this! 👏👏👏

I have two picks like this one. It claims to be stainless steel and perhaps it is, but the pick is coated with something silvery that is now coming off when used. Does anyone have a recommendation of a good, but not crazy expensive ice pick for me? Should I just go to Lowes and buy an awl? Maxwell's sliver hammer? Our ice maker is on the fritz right now, so we're buying bags of ice and with the hot weather the ice thaws on the way home and then we end up with a giant chunk in the freezer drawer, so we actually use one a lot. Thanks!!!

The problem with them, for me, is the problem that so many confections and snack cakes have - fake chocolate and oil-based coatings and fillings. I've had bakery-made Moon Pies that were dipped in real chocolate. They were very sweet, but delicious.