Kim Shook

Ended up, after a couple of errands and doing the collection count and deposit for church last night, at 5 Guys:

I want one of those whisks. Should I get the wooden handle one or the stainless steel handle? After Wednesday’s utter failure with bread I’ve made many times, I had a great success with my first time making @mgaretz challah recipe. I wasn’t sure I was going to, though. After the first punch down: And after the second rise: I really thought it wasn’t risen enough and gave it another half hour, which didn’t change things substantially. But after dividing and braiding and doing the final rise, it looked better. The loaf: I overcooked it slightly (210F), but the bread tastes marvelous and has a lovely crumb: Thank you so much, @mgaretz, I’m thrilled with it.

The spray or powder? Strength? @rotuts - I've got bleach. What ratio? @robirdstx - will do this from now on. Thanks, everyone!

My IP seal is stinky. I'm sure that's been addressed, but I can't remember and I'm too lazy to go back 65 pages to find out. Any solutions other than buying a new seal? Thanks!!!

It WAS!!! Here you go!

We both loved it. Mr. Kim had it for breakfast this morning. I'm thinking on crackers with a drink tonight, if I can manage my time.

However, there is a difference between cooking over an open fire and actual BBQ. Just sayin'.

Actually, it was in the first one I checked, so I didn't know that it wasn't in the others. I stated it badly.

@Norm Matthews – I can taste that brisket! @chromedome and @heidih – yes – olives and raspberries, but also Bugles!!! 😁 @JoNorvelleWalker – I just got up and checked to make sure that one of my Joy of Cooking books had the recipe for the Sour Cream Apple Souffle Cake Cockaigne. One does and I’ll be trying that. @Shelby – the radish salsa looks great. I could probably roast a jalapeno to put in it and approximate what you’ve got if you’ll divulge the ingredients. @Duvel – can you put a frying pan on your grill to get a higher cooking temp? I admit to preferring a crisp taco shell over soft. But my very favorite is a fried FLOUR taco shell. I love the way the flour tortilla bubbles up and gets crunchy but not shattery. Dinner tonight was pure comfort: Braised beef and gravy, sour cream potatoes, southern green beans, and yeast rolls.

Lunch today: Delectable deviled ham recommended by @kayb. It is from chef Ian Boden at The Shack in Staunton VA. We got a Edward's Petite country ham this past weekend. I'm going to do Ronnie's next, @Shelby!

Bought another Edward's petite ham at Wegman's: They are $10.99/lb. at Wegman's and $22-$33/lb. at Edward's website. Crazy. Cut into pieces for the suck machine and freezer: With some of it I made the deviled ham from Ian Boden at The Shack in Staunton VA that @kayb recommended:

Looks good, but it is heavy as hell. Does not bode well. I'll update later. An hour later and just as I feared: 😟

I am apparently determined to screw up my bread today. I'm trying to make an ATK Sandwich loaf which I've made 100 times. Mr. Kim found some KA bread flour. First, I accidentally mixed the yeast into the flour/salt mixture instead of the warm water/milk/butter/honey mixture. So I ended up dumping 16 oz. flour, which I may not have had to do, but I didn't want to take a chance. Then I basically cooked the dough on the first rise. This recipe calls for heating the oven to 200F and leaving it on for 10 minutes, then turning off. Meanwhile, you are preparing the dough. After getting the dough ready in the bowl for the first rise, you put it in the oven. I realized when I went to take the dough out of the oven that I'd never turned it off of 200F.😠 It is now in the CSO for it's second rising. We'll see, I guess.

I need to stop coming to this thread. I keep looking at various ones at abebooks. So far, I've resisted, but I think it is just a matter of time.

This recipe is almost identical to the one I use, but yours look so much nicer. Could it be the difference in pans (I just use a standard metal pan)?

I like mustard and mayo on my BLTs and club sandwiches. Something about that mixture is just perfect to me.

I'll play. But I am seriously embarrassed. When I watch one of those House Hunters shows, the women always thrill at the walk-in clothes closets. Those are fine, but my swooning is saved for the big walk-in pantries. Sometimes the older houses even have butler's pantries where you can store serving pieces and sterling. I store kitchen/food prep related crap all over my house, but (except for the recent emergency food stored in the guest room) the things you can actually eat are in the kitchen. What the realtor called a pantry is really some shelves over the washer and dryer in the kitchen: A little of everything. The hanging bags hold small giveaway plastic containers, marshmallows (???), and stray socks (remember this is also the "laundry room"). The BBQ tongs are to help me reach stuff high up. Behind the bags: Upper shelf is most of the baking stuff. And I think that half of the things on the lower shelf turntables are weird jams and jellies that people have given us. Why do folks do that? ON the washer and dryer: All the giant sized stuff, apparently plus laundry supplies. The bin and other containers on the right are mostly crackers, chips, etc. Top shelf of the cabinet that holds all the plates/soup and pasta bowls/etc.: Pasta, rice, ramen, noodles, and a couple of big bags of spices from Penzey's that would NOT fit next door: Seasonings, spices, flavorings, some canned stuff. (I also have a spice rack on the wall for herbs). The "take one out and the rest will follow" cabinet of oils and vinegars:

Do you think this would be a good addition to the cookie installation: This is an almost full drawer of fortunes collected by us for a number of years. I suspect that it was started when Jessica (now 36) was a little girl and objected to her fortune being tossed (child was a born collector). 😁

Not me. My palate is simply not that sensitive. With the current burning mouth syndrome I'm experiencing, it is even less than it was in the past, but I've never been able to tell the difference between a lot of things that other people can. Makes me a frugal shopper, I guess! 😁

We rarely cocktail at home (I'm hoping to remedy that), but for company snacking and gifts, I make those David Lebovitz nuts. I also do them with just cashews, which is an Ina Garten spin. And @Dorie Greenspan's Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts. Thank you, @blue_dolphin for linking to the pretzel recipe! I'll be trying that one!

Here you go!

I'd love it! Thank you so much.

Made some stuff to take out to Mr. Kim’s dad and stepmom on Saturday. According to her two daughters and grown granddaughter, THIS is how they like their tuna salad: Tuna and mayo. Nothing else. Mr. Kim and I started calling it “tunnaise”. Well, upon checking with his stepmom, they actually like it with relish and maybe an egg. I chopped up some sweet pickle and they liked it just fine. LOL

I made these for Mr. Kim’s dad and stepmom. They are something called “Breakfast Platter Muffins”. It’s a recipe given to me by @Sunny Simmons Steincamp who used to post here years ago. Eggs, cheese, sausage, onions, S&P. That’s it. You can dress them up with vegetables, different meats, etc. They are very good and reheat well. To be honest, they are excellent on top of a large biscuit and smothered in sausage gravy😊: My breakfast today: Sausage, and fried egg on toast (one of my favorite ways to have any kind of egg). I must have been truly hungry because I ate every bite!

All of this middle eastern food is making me crazy! @mgaretz – gorgeous challah. The very first bread I ever made was a challah loaf. I was 19 and it was wildly successful – better bread than I’ve made in the ensuing 40 years. One of my friends was Jewish and insisted on taking some to his mom, who asked me to make it for her every so often from then until I moved away for good. No idea what the recipe was, but yours looks so good, I think I need to try again! @Franci – love the corn fritters. Perfect summer dish! @liamsaunt – those are perhaps the most beautifully grilled steaks I’ve ever seen! Made some dinners to take over to Mr. Kim’s dad and stepmom. I made enough that we’ll also be eating them this week. I realized that made more sense and cut down on the mountain of cooking I’ve been dreading. I love to cook, but you can have too much of a good thing. IP braised beef and gravy: Sour cream potatoes: Green beans: Pardon the solidified bacon grease – I forgot to take a picture while they were hot. The next meal was Apricot BBQ Chicken: Mr. Kim and I thought it would be better with thighs, but I am "shopping" in their crammed freezer, trying to not let all that food go to waste and they only eat boneless, skinless. Broccoli casserole: This was really good – it calls for using FRESH broccoli, which is unusual in a broccoli casserole. And I took a microwavable rice pouch – easy enough that his dad should be able to do it with his stepmom supervising. Dinner for us Friday night was roast chicken done in the CSO: Salad: Jessica requested roasted broccoli and @Marlene's Smashed Potatoes: Yeast rolls and gravy (freezer surprise): Not a great job on defatting! Plated – without: and with: Dinner tonight started with a salad: And some of the Apricot BBQ chicken we took to Mr. Kim’s parents, cheater creamed corn (a bag of frozen corn + a can of creamed corn), roast broccoli, yeast roll, and chicken rice a roni: