Kim Shook

I finally remembered to put hash brown patties on my shopping list, @robirdstx! I liked this a lot! Thanks for the idea!

@shain - mmmm, beans on toast. Must have soon! This morning: Toasted Wegman’s cheese bread.

The cauliflower looks delicious and all...but those EGGS 😮 ❤️!!!

Leftover OJ French toast:

@Toliver – I love Werther’s caramel and I adore caramel corn, so I’ll be looking for that! I seem to be here more often than anyone else. Hmmm. Yesterday Mr. Kim and I shared an afternoon snack: Crackers, fig jam, Brie, and mortadella. The “crackers” in the very back are actually oatcakes and those with the Brie and fig jam are so very good!

@robirdstx – that is an absolutely scrumptious looking bacon, egg, and biscuit & gravy breakfast. I, however, would need one additional biscuit for the egg to be dribbled on. Wow! Also, I just added frozen hash browns to my shopping list. Every time I see you’ve used them like that, I want it. @liamsaunt – I love the look of your pudding. Did you halve the recipe? It looks like a square baking dish and I was wondering how you got all of that into an 8x8 or 9x9 pan. Also, am I the only one who sees a line of blueberry birds down the right side? Yesterday: Benton’s bacon and ATK sandwich bread toasted with butter and strawberry jam.

@liuzhou – pork chops with HP is a perfect picture of my hybrid childhood – Southern US mother and British stepdad! Momma would make battered and fried pork chops and I’d have two little ones – one with her gravy and the other with HP! @Shelby – Mr. Kim would LOVE asparagus gratin! It never occurred to me to do it. Just a plain bechamel or a cheesy one? And did you blanch them first? It just occurred to me that this Boursin Potatoes recipe shortcut sauce would work really well for this, too. @scubadoo97 – your grouper looks wonderful! Would you share your recipe, please? Dinner last night was the same as the night before – Lasagna Soup – only last night I remembered to add the spinach at the end: Really good reheated. And a salad: I tend to be lazy when it comes to salad dressing and use bottled. And then I’ll shame myself into making my own. I even special ordered a fairly attractive container that I could mix and serve the dressing in: It is so much better than bottled and yet, I know I’ll probably get lazy again sometime soon 🙄.

Do you mean corned beef from a can? It looks like canned corned beef with added fresh potatoes, rather than corned beef hash from a can. And it looks really, really good! I confess to rather liking canned corned beef. My mom used to slice it up and fry it for breakfast.

But it's so much fun watching British people lose their freaking minds over Americans heating water for tea in the microwave. 🤣🤣🤣

@liuzhou – as always, I envy you the lovely, plump shrimp you are able to get! @mgaretz– every time I see you make a tri-tip, I vow to find one! @CantCookStillTry – I’m not conflicted at ALL about how to respond to your roast meal. That was gorgeous. And that sauce looks incredible. And you don’t have to convince this American about beans on toast. It is a favorite with me! Made Lasagna Soup for dinner: With a ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan quenelle and garlic bread: I was pleased with my first ever attempt at quenelles. Served with a lettuce and tomato salad: The soup was a new recipe and we liked it a lot. It came together really fast and then I simmered for about an hour before adding the pasta and serving. We felt like broken up lasagna noodles was specified only to justify the name and that some other shape would be easier to eat.

Today we did the 100 lunches for 3 homeless shelters alone again (if we pack and deliver them by ourselves no one else is exposed to one another. We got lunch to bring home from Hogshead Café - a local BBQ and seafood place. I got the Pork Wings and hush puppies: Braised shanks fried and topped with BBQ sauce. Mr. Kim got the steamed shrimp:

Welcome, Todd! I'm looking forward to your posts. Love your city. My parents lived there for a few years when i was in college and we all fell in love with the city. Haven't been in years, but I'd love to.

Mr. Kim is not happy with you, @md8232. 😁

Funny that both @Alex and @weinoo mentioned 2 Amys. As soon as I realized that we were going to DC, I looked up 2 Amys. Unfortunately they aren't open for lunch. I'm determined to make it some day, though. Those are some spectacular views, @weinoo!

@CantCookStillTry – I had to laugh at your post because I did see the bearded dude, but I need to tell you those burgers looks fantastic, as does the slaw. What kind of dressing do you use on your slaw? And do I see some radish slices in it? We went out of town on Tuesday (story here). Ended up at Mario’s in Arlington VA for dinner: Ham, steak, and cheese, of course. With slaw, pizza sauce, and mayo. Last night I heated up our leftover sandwich fillings in the CSO on bake/steam: Never had much success reheating the leftovers (and I can’t eat an entire sandwich), but with the CSO it was perfect. Subs, fries, and butter beans: Dinner tonight was French toast made with this bread we got at The Italian Store in Arlington: This was lovely bread – even good with nothing on it. On the griddle: I used a new custard – eggs, OJ, milk, honey, cinnamon. Gave a nice flavor to the bread – especially when paired with the fig syrup. Assorted syrups: Fruit: And Benton bacon:

@Shelby – Mr. Kim got the Corn Nuts from Amazon. We went out of town on Tuesday (story here) and ended up at Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington DC for lunch. A delicious mess of a classic chili-cheese half smoke and some fries: We had dinner at Mario’s in Arlington and I brought a couple of slices of pizza home. Popped one in the CSO for lunch yesterday: Really good!

Mmmmm: I love all things sesame. Except for sesame oil which I can take only a slight hint of in dishes. Odd, huh?

@robirdstx – leftover spaghetti was a common breakfast in our house – often cold right from the fridge. And sometimes on toast. @liamsaunt – your gorgeous bagel sent me off to find out if anyone here sells pumpernickel bagels and smoked fish salad. I can find the bagels, still searching out the salad! We left town for a day (story here) on Tuesday and breakfast was a steak biscuit from Bojangles: Yesterday: Sausage, no knead baguette, and some of the first cherries of the season that we’ve found. Today: ATK toast w/ an egg and sausage.

As, I’m sure everyone can identify with, we needed desperately to spread our wings a bit. But we are perhaps a bit obnoxious in our observation of safety. Mr. Kim is still having to go into the office a few days a week, where he has almost no contact with the few others who are also there (most people are working from home). We try to shop as little as possible and we mask (always) and glove up (usually) when we do. So, we knew whatever we did, where ever we went, we had to do it safely. Mr. Kim had a day off on Tuesday and decided to surprise me with a trip home. We live in the Richmond VA area – where Mr. Kim was born and raised. I was born in Washington, DC and raised in northern VA. I don’t think I’d want to live there again, but I love visiting. So, after grabbing a steak biscuit at the drive thru of Bojangles, we hit the road: We drove around the city for a while – just doing auto-sightseeing. We ended up near some of the embassies and Mr. Kim saw the spires of the National Cathedral and mentioned he’d never seen it. So, we took advantage of the practically empty grounds and ample parking and got some fresh air and a little exercise safely! Time for lunch. I have to commend the DC and NOVA governments/stores. They are much more stringent about safety than we’ve seen in Richmond. Masks EVERYWHERE. And we went to Trader Joe’s in the District (couldn’t think of anyplace else where we could use a bathroom) and they had a couple of National Guard soldiers making sure everyone was compliant! We went to Ben’s Chili Bowl in DC for lunch: Only 3 folks allowed in the store at a time. This fantastic mess is a classic Ben’s chili-cheese half smoke: We ate in the car and both of us literally had chili up our noses. Thank goodness I’d brought some Handi-Wipes! Great fries: Thank goodness for these – they helped cut the heat of the chili for me. I don’t remember Ben’s chili being all that hot, but with my recent “burning mouth syndrome” diagnosis, it was pretty spicy to me! More aimless driving and we happened upon Catholic University and the Basilica: We headed out to Arlington in a roundabout way: Stopped at The Italian Store on Wilson Blvd. Another place that was limiting shoppers and where every single person was in a mask. Our haul: Gorgeous sweet bread destined to become French toast, mortadella, and buccellati (fig cookies). And some peanut butter, chocolate, and almond nougat: And then to the destination that was always in our minds: I grew up on Mario’s and introduced Mr. Kim to it soon after we met. Mario’s food was my mother’s craving when she was pregnant with me and my dad remembers going over there at 1 or 2 am to get her a sub or pizza. So, my palate was trained to Mario’s in utero! This method may be necessary in order to appreciate the pizza: I got a couple of slices to take home. The only people I know who love this pizza are folks that grew up eating it. Mr. Kim doesn’t like it. Jessica doesn’t either (I was sick for 9 months solid when I was pregnant with her and was therefore unable to inoculate her). I will say that I heated it up for lunch on Tuesday using the CSO for the first time and I suspect that they could possibly be persuaded. But back to the main event. THE sandwich that surpasses all other sandwiches at Mario’s (at least in my family) is the ham, steak, and cheese. We all like it with “slaw” (really just angel hair cabbage – no detectable dressing) and various condiments (I like grilled onions, pizza sauce, and mayo). The sandwich: Only slightly less messy than the half smoke at Ben’s. We did NOT get pizza sauce up our noses. One last NOVA treat before making our way back home: Frozen Custard! I prefer frozen custard to all other ice cream type confections. I'd rather have it than any ice cream, sherbet, or gelato that I've ever tasted. What a great day Mr. Kim gave me. We didn’t get to see any family or friends but decided that it was better to keep everyone safe and wait for another time for that.

Mr. Kim and I offered to do the shopping, packing, and delivering of the homeless shelter meals for our church again this month. No one is supposed to do any mixed group activities at church and it is so much easier to do this as a couple. We are the youngest couple involved in the project. The shopping is done at Sam's and Walmart. We went last night when Mr. Kim got home from work. He likes to go with me because then he can help me carry. We got everything but the bananas, which I will go on Friday and get. We were again unable to get bologna at Sam's. I got turkey instead. With the warm weather we would have switched over to PB&J if things were normal. But with only me making the sandwiches, I am not about to do spread PB and then jelly on 100 sandwiches! We got right in both stores and people were being fairly observant of masks and distancing. But they were paying no attention to the directional signs on the floors. Most stores have a requirement of taking a cart and I like that - it creates a space at check out of a few feet, at least.

Welcome to eGullet, @willdabo! Looking forward to your contributions!

@Smithy - re: the citrus/basil seasoning mix - BIL says dehydrated and ground peel (no pith) of oranges, grapefruit, and lemons and dehydrated and ground basil. Blend is 1:2 - citrus:basil.

Will ask tomorrow!

@Shelby – what all is in your goulash? It looks like chili-mac, which I love dearly. @gfweb – thank you so much! Mr. Kim and I are very happy to have the directions for that great looking meal. The fish cakes from your last meal you posted look wonderful. What kind of fish? @mgaretz – I really love the look of your molasses bread. It is so much darker than any I’m seeing online. Dinner tonight – Beef Chow Fun and broccoli. Sliced flank steak: Mise: Chow Fun: Found this recipe online after reading about the dish somewhere. I’d never tasted it and it sounded like something I’d like. The flavor was really good, but I need to play around with the proportions a bit. It could use some additional vegetables, too. CSO baked/steamed broccoli with butter and lemon pepper: Dessert: 😁

CI’s Thin & Crispy Oatmeal Cookies: Very good. To me, they could have used a little cinnamon. Prettified: 😁 My BIL came east for a few days and brought some seasonings that he made with his citrus in AZ: The one on the left is citrus, cinnamon, ginger, coconut, and sugar. If I’d had them before I made the cookies, that one would have gone in them. (I'm still mad at him for making an unnecessary trip, but the seasonings are delicious).