Kim Shook

I'm sure that @chileheadmike is right. WOW! That beats Julia Robert's "slippery suckers" all to hell! Glad you had your glasses on!

One of my favorite versions of onion soup. And I'm ashamed to say that it's been so long since I've made it that I can't find a picture! I need to make this soon. It is dead easy and incredibly good.

Hello, Martha, and welcome! I'm looking forward to your posts! I always love when someone outside of the US joins.

Kay, are you sure you aren't Florence King? 😉

Honestly, I'm 60 years old and the first thing to pop into my head was chicken, too. I'm not young, just fat! 😁

Those potatoes are gorgeous, @David Ross! Thanks for posting. I will definitely be making them.

Imaginary "WOW" button pushed! I, like everyone else, am seriously impressed, @chromedome!

Bravo, @Matthew.Taylor! That is just lovely. Can't believe it's a first effort. Impressive!

Not sure if this counts as breakfast, lunch, or afternoon snack. It's 3:15pm and the first thing I've had today. I'm sitting here enjoying outrageously buttery toast and hot chocolate made from heavy cream and chocolate left over from making ganache with my niece's gorgeous homemade marshmallows:

Thank you! She's a dear - the best MIL and grandma! And Mr. Kim's chicken was fabulous. I have both the regular bowl and the footed bowl of the "Moon and Stars" pattern. They are family pieces and I seem to be the only one in the family that wants all that stuff.

We had my FIL and his wife over to celebrate her birthday. We started with spiced nuts, olives, crackers, and Boursin: Mr. Kim smoked a couple of chickens with a very unusual method. We love the flavor of smoked chicken, but not the skin – it ends up tough and flabby. He found a recipe called “Hot and Fast Chicken”, which is essentially quickly smoked/grilled chicken. It ends up juicy and tender with a subtle smokiness and delicious skin – not completely crisp, but not flabby either. Off the smoker: Served with a broccoli/orzo casserole: And salad greens with a lemon vinaigrette and homemade croutons: Black eyed peas: Cheese rolls from Wegman’s: And a cake-mix fix up chocolate bundt cake: Which I thought was just ok – a little tough and heavy textured – but was a huge success at Jessica’s office the next day. Unfortunately, the chicken and the broccoli casserole where not eaten at their best. We invited them for 6pm, intending to eat at 6:30. When Mr. Kim called them at 6:15, they were still at home and had obviously forgotten completely. When they finally got here and dinner was served, the casserole was a bit mushy (but tasted good) and the chicken had been reheated TWICE! But the chicken was still incredibly good. I can’t wait for him to do it again, so we can have it immediately!

This would be me.

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

Welcome! Looking forward to your input to eG!

Welcome! Looking forward to learning about you and your interests.

This thread has great promise!!!

Welcome, @Linh N.! I think you'll find lots of help with your chocolate adventures here - though not from me! I'll be an admirer! 😁

Any thoughts? Instant Pot to Air Fryer.

Welcome, @retired baker! Looking forward to your posts and I also,would love to see a link to your videos.

Please do share, if you can. My Morning Buns should look like that! I'd love to try again and get your results!

No. Just a Nordic Wear mini sunflower cake pan. Supposedly the finished cakes will look like this. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I've actually had really good luck with the large one that Mr. Kim gave me a few years back. It was the Jubilee bundt pan.

Thanks for the support about the tongue thing. I'll be going soon (I hope) to see a doctor. Someone (❤️) suggested it might be something that could be dealt with by a course of medication, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. As for the Christmas food, I had a LOT of help this year from Mr. Kim. I was really seriously behind and panicking about getting things done. So, he pitched in and did the drudge work while I did what I do - cook, wrap packages, etc. He did a lot of what I usually do - arranging the decorations, putting out the dessert buffet. Lots of things that my huge ego thinks only I can do. And he did it all just great. Now I know. But seriously, it taught me how important it is to do what I can ahead of time. If I want things a certain way (and I do - I am very particular), I have to plan and execute ahead of time. Thank you for all the compliments and the good thoughts and support.

Lots of food/candy this year: As always, my stocking was way too full of candy: Pretty much all of the actual candy was from Santa/Mr. Kim. I’ve asked that we back off from so much candy, but it doesn’t seem to do much good, bless his heart. I blame his mother. Every stocking and Easter basket he ever had was chockful of nothing but candy bars. No little toys or nuts or even a tangerine to fill the toe of the stocking. There were three little sugar-addicted monsters in his house and they only got candy on holidays, so he can’t seem to help himself🥰. Other food items things: Including an IP orzo mix which I will have to give away because it is flavored with truffles, the odor of which I find nauseating. The honey is local. This luscious pound cake is from Stocks in Philadelphia. To my mind, it is the best pound cake in the world. At least I’ve never tasted a better one. A dear friend who grew up in Philly got his mom to procure one for us (they are hard to get during the holidays). The most amazing texture and crumb I’ve ever seen: Non-food, but related: I just love the casserole and holder. Not sure if you can tell, but it is a very soft blue and the metal is a little dull – almost brushed. I love the fact that it is square and smaller. I think this will see a LOT of use.

@rotuts - thanks for the heads up. Not available yet at my library, but I put a hold on it for when they get it. Got a craving for some pasta the other day. It was too late to do anything but IP, so I decided to play around with the recipe that I made a while back that was fine, but not great. I added tomato paste, actual onion and garlic (as opposed to powder) and Penzey’s Tuscan Sunset herb mix. Much, much better than before: Could I do better making the whole thing from scratch with no shortcuts? Sure. But this was really good and took about 35 minutes total. For New Year’s day dinner I did two things in the IP – collards and black eyed peas. I’d done the collards before (I doubt I’ll ever cook them any other way), but this was the first time for black eyed peas. I did them basically the same way I do pintos – onion, garlic, bacon grease (Benton’s), chicken stock, etc. – 30 minutes pressure and 20 natural release. They maintain their integrity while being tender and creamy. We loved them:

@Paul Bacino - LOVE Smash Burgers! I need to make them again soon. I need to begin by saying that everything I say about food from now until I don’t know when needs to be considered suspect. My SIL (who is also my dental hygienist) suspects that I have Burning Mouth Syndrome. I need to see a doctor for an actual diagnosis, but she’s very experienced and is pretty sure of it. For me, it seems to mean that my ability to taste is very much compromised and that even slightly salty or acidic foods HURT my tongue (a LOT). I’ve never been able to tolerate spicy foods, so that won’t be a problem. And it is very frustrating because I don’t know if things really don’t have a lot of flavor or if it is just me. Hard to cook and adjust seasoning or judge something I’ve ordered in a restaurant. So, take what I say about food with a grain of salt – just don’t give me any of it. 😊 Going back a bit – for a Christmas dinner at Mr. Kim’s dad and stepmom’s, I made southern green beans (no picture) and Jessica did a corn casserole: After: Christmas Eve at our house. Brunswick stew: Columbus salami: Cheeses: (They were on a lovely platter, I promise, I just missed taking a photo!) Cheese/charcuterie rolls: Purchased at Costco. Smoked salmon and Boursin spread: This was supposed to be rolled up, but the salmon refused to roll, so I chopped it up and mixed in the Boursin (that’ll learn it). No one ate this. It’s the second time I’ve served smoked salmon to this crowd and taken a full dish back to the kitchen. I am a slow learner, apparently🙄. I’ve commented in my Xmas Eve notes that I shouldn’t serve it again. Ina Garten’s shrimp salad made with roasted, not boiled or steamed shrimp: Possibly the most popular thing on the table. Breads and crackers: Olives: Also on the table was a mixed greens salad with bleu cheese dressing and Daddy’s paprika dressing (not pictured) and cheese bread: This was from Costco and everyone seemed to like it. On the 28th we couldn’t face holiday leftovers, so it was grinders and oven fries at Bellacino’s (our favorite neighborhood pizza joint) for dinner. Mr. Kim had meatloaf (even good cold the next day) and I got them to make me a ham, steak, and cheese: Another night we got a craving for pasta. Salad: Salad greens with Daddy’s Paprika dressing and homemade croutons. IP pasta with meat sauce: Served with some of that cheese bread leftover from Christmas Eve. New Year’s Day dinner – ham cooked by the same method that my SIL did hers for Christmas: It was moist and very good. It was supposed to go in a slow cooker, but was too big, so I cooked it covered in the oven at 225F. The glaze ingredients are brown sugar, pineapple juice, and maple syrup. I think it was the first time in my life I’ve ever made a ham without Coca Cola! I torched it when done and it was beautiful and very tasty. Scalloped tomatoes: Toast points got a little dark in the CSO. Plated: Ham, scalloped tomatoes, collards (IP), mac n cheese, black eyed peas (IP), and cornmeal waffles. HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!! I've edited twice now and can't seem to get rid of the duplicate picture of the salad below. Just pretend it isn't there.