Kim Shook

On Friday I made some breakfast for the In Laws to have in their refrigerator - Hash Brown Bake before going in the oven: Pie plate lined with raw shredded potatoes that are drizzled with butter and browned in the oven and then topped with chopped ham, cheese, and a seasoned egg/milk mixture. Baked: The closest I could get to showing the insides: This is a favorite of ours and is actually very tasty. Mr. Kim surprised me with breakfast on couch this morning (I fell asleep watching TV last night): ET bagel (from the freezer), Benton’s bacon. And a perfectly cooked egg:

But most of us in the US aren't ever going to get that Thai mango. So, if what we can get is, to our palate, lovely and delicious and something we'd eat again and again, what's the point of hearing how it doesn't measure up? I'm truly, truly not trying to be belligerent, but I don't ever get the point of telling someone that they aren't getting the "best" when they are perfectly happy with what they are getting and are unable to get to what is supposed to be "best".

Because mangoes are such slippery little suckers (dangerously so when you have arthritic hands), I use something like this and then score like @liuzhou. Folks with steadier hands probably would find that device superfluous.

CI sandwich loaf toasted – half butter, half strawberry preserves:

Well, that's weird. I distinctly remember "liking" this and typing a response earlier. Anyway - I think I will do the same. I love doing the rise in the CSO on steam, but I think I'll try doing the actual baking in the oven next time. Disappointing, though.

Unfortunately, even Clorox advises that these should be made up fresh every couple of days. The efficacy of the of the bleach to disinfect just doesn't last very long.

I myself am guilty of setting things on top of the fridge when I'm searching for something and forgetting to put them back inside. A few heavy treads across the floor and slams of the refrigerator door and down they come on someone's toes.

LOLOLOL! The only problem is that Mr. Kim and Jessica would slap the plate away from them and get food everywhere and, since I was the prankster, I'd have clean up duty! 😄

@robirdstx – you got me for a second! I need to get some of them to prank Mr. Kim and Jess. Also, every time I see lovely looking deviled eggs like yours I wonder why I don’t make them more often. @Shelby – your oven baked BBQ chicken really takes me back. That was the only “BBQ” my mother ever served. I adored the sticky sweetness of it and the char. I still do, but don’t do it very often. I’m putting that on my menu list now. It will come up soon. Did you do that in the CSO or did you take all the stuff you were storing out of the regular oven and use that?😝 @shain – I love your oval platter. My daughter would lose her mind over that! Tuesday night – salad with some lovely spring onions and tomatoes we got at a farm stand: The tomatoes were already better than anything we had all summer long last year. These onions are so sweet that even I, a raw onion hater, can eat them raw: Frozen schnitzel (from Aldi) with a pan sauce I devised, CSO bake/steam broccoli, and leftover sour cream potatoes. Also, some fairly good white corn: Wednesday – breakfast for dinner. Eggs: Edwards country ham: Messed up strawberry pie functioning as fruit salad: And these weird things, which were muffins masquerading as biscuits: Pretty sure that the mix was in the goody bag that my dad and stepmom put together for us at Christmas. The bag they were in: Which made me think that they were going to be biscuits. Until I turned the bag over and read the directions: Which gave me pause. Muffin? Biscuit? I added some black pepper and some chives (both of which I like in cheese biscuits). We never did decide exactly what they were. They weren’t tender like a biscuit, in fact that were a little over-firm. But they TASTED somewhat biscuity. We settled on calling them Mufscuits. They were ok. Nothing special. I wouldn’t seek them out again. But God knows with the jinx that seems to be on my cooking right now, I could have just messed them up completely and properly prepared maybe they are delicious. The bag DOES say they are “World Famous”😉. No plated picture because dinner was served family style and the only thing that was plated in the kitchen was the eggs. Last night - starting to use some of the vast store of emergency rations we have in the guest room. I have no idea if this is a good idea or not, but I’m tired of it being there. Not the salad, obviously: Spinach-arugula mix with the same good tomatoes and onions as night before last and @Norm Matthews' China Coast dressing, which we loved. Thanks so much, Norm! Canned salmon and leftover sour cream potato cakes with remoulade, canned corn, fixed up baked beans and those weird Mufscuits, which tasted much better warmed up the next day. Today, being Thursday, is cook for the in-laws day. Pictures to follow.

@Franci– I just love the texture of those pan de cristal! My cooking mojo is still impaired. This is my regular CI sandwich loaf. The last time I made it, I messed it up by forgetting to turn off the oven that functions as a proofing drawer and basically cooked the outside of it. I was very careful this time and didn’t make any of my earlier mistakes. But the bread rose much higher in the CSO than it ever has and actually TOUCHED the heating elements: Other than that, it was a lovely loaf and we WILL be using it: Sigh.

Welcome to eGullet, @xit! I would love to see your country and look forward to your posts!

I am going on the ONE time I had scones in England and also what my English dad, @Ted Fairhead said about American scones. The American ones are more cakey than British ones. And, because we tend to put the goodies IN them, we don't tend to put stuff ON them after they bake. Plus, sadly, we generally can't get good clotted cream 😞. I love them - even the store bought ones, but if I managed somehow to get some clotted cream and Tiptree Little Scarlet strawberry preserves, I wouldn't make them, I'd make British scones. Hope that helps.

Hi, @Jess_What! Welcome! You will find lots of help and like-minded people here, I'm sure. I, too, am a less confident baker. I get help here when I need it! Looking forward to your posts.

I was wondering this, too. I never rinse with disinfectant wipes, would I need to with baby wipes?

Hi, Lee, and welcome to eGullet! I'm sure you'll find all the help you need here. Love seeing people coming here from the UK - my favorite corner of the world (admittedly, the only place I've been besides US, the islands and France, but still...😁)!

Ok. Thanks! I think that 30 minutes might be too short of time. Hope the Bundt cake method work, because you're right - that mixture is delicious!

Are you talking about making the roasted strawberries cheesecake? If so, how long in total did you cook them? It sounds like you cooked them slightly longer than 10 minutes, but I might be misunderstanding you. I noted on my recipe that the person who did them cupcake size cooked them for 45 minutes. LOLOLOLOL! We were the same way when we found them. Jessica called us one night after the store was closed to tell us they had them and Mr. Kim went over at 7am to pick some up. Just one, but we were so excited.

If they are the puffy ones rather than the really crunchy ones, toothpicks work, too.

@gfweb – that skirt steak is exactly what I’d like to have right now! @Shelby – looking at your dinner, I am ready for some breakfast for dinner and banana cake. Can I please have the banana cake recipe? I always have some in the freezer! @Captain – lovely lamb, but I have to say how much I like that table. Such a great color! @Norm Matthews – thank you for posting that dressing recipe. I am looking forward to trying it. How strong is the sesame oil? I tend to halve whatever is called for in most recipes as we are all very sensitive to the flavor of it. @Ann_T – that strawberry roulade is lovely and certainly miles better than my latest attempt at a strawberry dessert (see the dessert thread). A couple of dinners to take to my in laws for the week – Brunswick stew: Cornbread: A pork chop and potato casserole. I took it out of the oven at about 2:30am, so I missed the final shot. Layered potatoes: Par-cooked in the microwave because I have a lifelong issue with crunchy potatoes in casseroles and gratin. Covered with creamy (ala Campbell’s Cream of…) sauce: Another layer of each and then browned boneless pork chops (just use your imagination). Smelled good and a little mouse-nibble of potato and sauce tasted good. Sunday night we picked up dinner from our favorite Chinese: Shrimp fried rice and fried dumplings.

I tried a Food Network Geoffrey Zakarian strawberry pie recipe and it was a complete fail. I have no idea if the problem was me or the recipe. My mise: The lovely finished pie: My problems started with serving – a “piece of pie”: And this is the pie after the “slice” was removed and all the wet stuff rushed in to fill the void: It tasted very good, so I was very disappointed. I really liked the little touch of St. Germaine. But I basically ended up with 3 lb. of macerated strawberries.😟

@liuzhou – those are some lovely little tiny clams! @blue_dolphin – looks like your egg salad passed the test with flying colors! 😁 More egg salad for the in laws’ lunches: Saturday - making 100 lunches to take to the shelters on Saturday morning. Turkey sandwiches: Bananas: Little Debbie’s and pretzels: Ready for stuffing: We picked up lunch at one of our favorite places, Salt and Forge. Mine was the brisket – madeira & caramelized onion braised brisket, Gruyere fondue, crispy shallots, whole grain mustard, arugula on a baguette: Mr. Kim got the special – a buttermilk biscuit topped with spicy Colorado-style pork, green chile, homemade queso, chimichurri and a sunny-side-up egg: With a side of brûléed grapefruit. The shot: On Father’s Day, Jessica and I kidnapped Mr. Kim for a day that she planned. We first drove down to Norfolk to a BBQ place named Smalls. We were planning to either eat in the car or find a spot outside somewhere, but got incredibly lucky, considering it was Father’s Day. There was only one other party on the opposite side of the dining room from us. We had not one person near us and the delightful server wore her mask the entire time. We started with a favorite – fried pork rinds with Old Bay – still crackling when they got to the table: Mr. Kim had the pork ribs, collards, and house made pickles: Jessica had the Alabama pulled chicken sandwich with baked beans and some really good boardwalk-style fries: I had the crab cake with beans: Every single thing was so good. The ribs were extremely meaty and not overcooked. The beans might have been the best thing on the table. And the crab cake was ALL crab. We thought it was definitely worth the drive and better BBQ than we have found in Richmond, though there are a few places we haven’t been yet. I used some of the leftover filling from the Breakfast Pockets that I made for my inlaws’ breakfasts to make a grilled sandwich . Used the leftover - starting to get hard - challah and put it in the CSO to steam for a few minutes to get everything warm and softened: Grilled in butter:

@Ann_T - I am deeply envious of your poached eggs. And that plate or whatever it is is absolutely gorgeous! Last week – Mr. Kim chose the challah with half olive & cream cheese and half butter: I had challah, IP hard cooked eggs, and sausage: I made some Breakfast Pockets to take to my in laws. My mise: The filling - eggs, sausage, hash browns, onions, Cheddar: Building the pocket: Clumsily folded: But they held together fairly well: I made the full batch (24) so we could keep some – we like them a lot and the CSO reheats them so nicely. Today: The last of the challah and some sausage.

Trail mix: Needs more nuts. I think they have a nut heavy one - I should get a bag of that and mix them.

Well, not today, but...: Some steaks we found on sale at Publix ($9.99/lb.), Vacuumed them for the freezer and a later day.

Thank you all for the help with The Case of the Stinky Seal! I did the dishwasher/sunshine method this time and it was ok. I'll try the bleach/oxyclean next time. A project last week – IP beef stock. The bones and veg roasted: Stock after cooking in the IP and resting in the fridge to get cold: Very beefy. Three quarts of beef stock for the freezer with very little time or effort: