Kim Shook

"Prolonged exposure to a stranger’s kitchen otherwise happens only on holiday, where it joins a constellation of stressors, including other people, and having been drunk since lunchtime. So that’s something to look forward to this summer." That was hilarious. And true at the same time.

I am in love with your kitchen. I love the white and the space and the organization. So happy for you (and a little envious, I confess 😁).

I've had the same experience overall with her stuff. I've had better luck with her desserts, as long as I remember to back off the sugar a bit - they are almost always way too sweet.

Regarding the catfish discussion – I think that catfish is one of those fish that has really benefitted from farming. Favor-wise, I mean. I used to detest catfish – I thought it tasted muddy and dirty and funky. US farmed catfish is sweet and delicately flavored. If you haven’t tried it in years or at all, give it a go. I had most of the ingredients, so last night I tried out a recipe for a chicken cordon bleu casserole from Ree Drummond. It was ok. A little bland and very soupy. We decided that it needed to be served with rice. Layered chicken, ham and cheeses: Before putting in the oven - topped with buttered panko: Just out of the oven: The panko didn’t get very browned – even after leaving in an extra 10 minutes. Serving: It was very soupy – this is after letting it sit over 10 minutes after removing from the oven: Not sure why I was so underwhelmed with this. It needs something. I checked the other cordon bleu casserole that I’ve made in the past and noticed that it had dill, nutmeg, and dry mustard. Also no chicken broth – only milk and light cream and Cheddar instead of Swiss and Monterey Jack. I guess my old recipe is really just a creamy ham and chicken casserole – not so much cordon bleu! I’m wondering if this recipe would be improved with some really good, strong ham – like country ham? I served this with leftover Cobb pasta salad from a church pot luck on Sunday: This is pasta with an avocado/mayo/lime dressing topped with chicken, roasted corn, hard-boiled eggs, bacon, and bleu cheese. Singularly unattractive with the greenish hue to the pasta, but it was still very good. We added some oil and vinegar dressing to moisten and that woke up the leftovers.

I have this one. It has worked on every jar I've ever tried it on. Large or small. I have lots of pain in my wrists and the base of my thumbs and it doesn't hurt at all to open things anymore.

I like all kinds of slaw. When I eat finely shredded slaw I think it's my favorite. Then I eat sliced slaw and decide that's the best! I have tried the salting and decided I don't like that. I find that it makes the cabbage less crisp.

Hi! Got a couple of questions about this. I'm typing up your directions and want to make sure that I find out what I need to know before too long. First - do you know the approximate weight of the flat iron steak? And also, I don't usually have the powdered bouillon - do you think it would be ok to use Better Than Bouillon? Thanks so much. I am looking forward to making this soon!

Potluck at church today. I made "Sunny’s Grilled Cobb Pasta Salad" from the Food Network show “The Kitchen”. Bowtie pasta w/ sun-dried tomatoes and an avocado/mayo/lime dressing: Topped with bacon, grilled corn, chicken, bleu cheese and eggs: This was very good, but a little dry. I think next time I make it, I’ll do double the dressing and have that on the side.

I believe that I've said before that we need a "WOW" response button. Just freaking incredible. I am in awe.

Yeeeehawwwww!!! I can't wait.

I don't care for the taste of coffee, but that is absolutely GORGEOUS!!!

Wet, gloomy morning here, so I needed a little comfort: cheese toast and some bits of Edward's country ham.

Dark toast! Pale toast is my nemesis. I detest it when my toast comes and it resembles stale bread. I do hesitate to send it back since the occasion awhile ago when I did and the kitchen sent back what we dubbed "revenge toast". It was like a slice of charcoal! 😄

I mix catsup and malt vinegar for my fries when I can't decide which I want. And I like the combination of chili sauce and cream style horseradish when I'm too lazy to make cocktail sauce.

No apology needed. Seems pretty clear to me! Thank you for this. @robirdstx - thank you for the recipe. We'll love that, I know!

I wrote on the dinner thread about going down to NC for a good, but sad visit to see my grandmother. She is in hospice, so it is likely to be the last time to see her. I also made all my old rounds – went by the house and took pictures, drove all over the place, went by her church. And I ate at our two favorite spots – the BBQ place that my mom and I both grew up going to on visits with my grandparents and I had lunch at the Sanitary Café. I’ve written about this place before. It is just an ordinary southern meat and threes café. But the food is made with care and reminds me of how my grandmother used to cook. She loved this place and in recent years when she didn’t want to go out to eat any more, she would send me there to bring back her favorites. Pintos, green beans, salmon cakes and creamed corn. Everything was delicious. The green beans are canned, but I’m almost positive that they are home-canned. The texture is just perfect – a little firmness left. Commercially canned beans are a little mushy when cooked long enough to get all the flavor through them. Nowadays when I make salmon cakes, I do it from this recipe that @suzilightning sent me. These were certainly from canned salmon, but that’s what I grew up with, so that’s fine with me. Their wonderful squiggly hush puppies:

@gfweb – you are so inspirational! I did your pork loin with apple and mustard and now I plan on doing your flat iron. Care to share your sauce recipe? @shain – those are some gorgeous bagels! I promised myself that when I retired, I was going to learn to make bagels. @Panaderia Canadiense even sent me precise directions, but I haven’t done it yet. You’ve given me a push. I need to dig out that recipe! @Margaret Pilgrim – your shrimp post is one of the things I’ve always loved about eG. I love the backstories of our food and cooking experiences. I love hearing about how friends and families and travel influence us. Thank you for including that in your post. It elevates my experience here. @robirdstx – can you tell me a little about that avocado salsa? We are not huge avocado fans, but I love guac and Mr. Kim loves salsa. @Ann_T is that coq au vin the same one as on your blog? I Last Saturday, we went to Sugar’s Crab Shack in Richmond for dinner. It is a tiny little walk up place (we seem to remember the building was once a Rally’s) and the folks that own it also own one of our favorite fish places, the Croaker Spot. Jessica’s soft shell sandwich with cornbread and wonderful mac and cheese: My fried shrimp and a side of soft shell: The shrimp were huge and perfectly cooked. The soft shells were a bit small and a little too watery, but still sweet and the coating was light and brittle and perfect. Mr. Kim got the catfish: Lovely. Everything was perfectly cooked and pristine. We’ll be back. The next night was my leftovers from our last three meals out: Fried shrimp from Sugar’s (I stripped off the breading – it doesn’t reheat well), the shrimp and andouille from a shrimp and grits brunch meal and honey shrimp from our favorite Chinese place. I guess it isn’t hard to tell what my favorite food is! On Monday, I traveled down to Reidsville NC to visit my grandmother. She had been in a rehab hospital, but really went downhill and has been transferred to hospice. She’s stopped eating and drinking and mostly sleeps now. It was a sad visit, but I’m glad that I was able to be with her. She opened her eyes a few times during the two days I was there and smiled at me. I can always talk, so I shared my memories of spending summers on their farm and telling her that she was the inspiration for my love of cooking. My other two grandmothers (she is actually my step grandmother) hardly cooked at all and Grandma Jean certainly did. I had dinner Monday night at the BBQ place both my mother and I grew up going to – Short Sugar’s. It is the BBQ that I judge all other’s by. I know I’ve talked about it before. Started with the Champagne of the South: Some people think CoCola is, but I beg to differ. Chopped sandwich w/ slaw and crinkle cut fries: The truly unique thing about Short Sugar’s is their sauce. It doesn’t compare to any other sauce anywhere. It is thin and dark like Worcestershire, slightly sweet and addictive. It is in squeeze bottles on the table and I give each bite a shot. I buy this a gallon at a time every few months and can it when I get it home.

A friend came back from Greece with some gifts for us - fig jam: Olive Oil: And oregano: My question is what to do with the oregano. My gut feeling is to put it in a big plastic bag, beat the hell out of it and put the resulting leaves in a jar, leaving out the stems. What say you all?

Soft boiled eggs, toast, and bacon:

Redneck cassoulet! 😁

My English stepsisters swear by these for mixing Yorkshire pudding batter. I've never been able to use one without flinging stuff all over the kitchen. 😊

Thank you. I can never eat a whole baked potato and I always look forward to the leftovers.

Leftover baked potato and a slaw dog:

@Okanagancook – I feel the exact same way about onion rings. The batter coated onions always seem steamed inside of the crispy coating. @mgaretz - I adore beanie-weenie! Were those actual hot dogs, though, or did you tart it up with sausages? Either way, delicious looking! No one in my family really cares for it, but I have a kielbasa/great northern bean casserole that everyone loves and scratches my beanie-weenie itch! @CantCookStillTry - as always, I need to be able to "like" and "laugh" with your posts! That looks amazing. And since I am just one Brussels sprout over the line to avoid being a true carnivore, my kind of meal! 😁 We treated ourselves to an Edward’s Petite country ham when we were at Wegman’s last time. They are a great deal at either Wegman’s or Publix. We got this one for $10.99/lb. It was much more than that at the Edward’s shop in Surry and the website has a 2-3 lb. one for $64. This one was 2.75 lb. and we quartered it and are freezing 3 of the quarters (we’ve done this before and it freezes very well): We love this ham because, while it is definitely a country ham, it requires no soaking and isn’t tongue numbingly salty. Thick slices fried in butter, Parm noodles, green beans, slaw, and yellow squash: And cornbread, of course: The cornbread came out a little weird. I’ve made this recipe recently, but this time it was way too light – you can see in the picture how much it rose. And it was on the edge of underdone inside, but almost burnt on top ( can’t see that in the picture - I had to put it back in the oven after cutting into it b/c it was very underdone).

@blue_dolphin – I think that our next ham/bacon order will be Broadbent’s. Mr. Kim was very impressed! @btbyrd – that is absolutely gorgeous! Benton’s is our go-to bacon. Which of their hams is that one? I know this thread is for mail order hams and this was purchased in a store. This will frustrate folks who must resort to mail order. Anyway, I thought I’d share our last experience with an Edward’s petite country ham. We treated ourselves to one when we were at Wegman’s last time: They are a great deal at either Wegman’s or Publix. We got this one for $10.99/lb. It was much more than that at the Edward’s shop in Surry and the website has a 2-3 lb. one for $64. This one was 2.75 lb. and we quartered it and are freezing 3 of the quarters (we’ve done this before and it freezes very well): We love this ham because, while it is definitely a country ham, it requires no soaking and isn’t tongue numbingly salty.