Kim Shook

It is a chocolate dipped strawberry with tiny little chocolate curls! It was good, but the piece at 12o'clock was outstanding!

So...um...do you know for a fact that the chain saw wasn't used on the then-hubby?

Gorgeous texture on that sponge, @shain! A delicious plain yellow/vanilla cake is my holy grail!!!

Our Valentine's dinner included a couple of experiments. I did a sous vide steak for the first time and also King crab legs: The steak was perfectly cooked: Texture, temperature and doneness better than any steak I've ever cooked before. Neither of us had ever had the crab legs before and they were delicious. We are not big fans of snow crab legs (mainly vehicles for melted butter) and thought these might be the same only bigger. They were not that at all. Full of flavor! I used ghee instead of clarifying butter and the flavor of the crab really came through. The crab legs were cooked by Alton Brown’s microwave method. You wrap the legs in damp paper towels and then in plastic wrap and cook on full power for 2 minutes. You can add herbs (though I didn’t). We also had a green salad, Brussels sprouts roasted in bacon grease with bacon and goat cheese and a baguette with some leftover olive oil/zaatar/sesame seed dipping sauce from our favorite Lebanese restaurant: Dessert was some lovely little pastries/sweets and a chocolate strawberry from Wegman’s:

This morning - quiche and bacon: The quiche is from a local producer that used to be a grocery chain. They were a beloved tradition in Richmond and natives lost their minds when they decided to sell out. They smartly kept up their production of prepared foods and bakery items that sold through the store that replaced them. Now that that store has been replaced by Publix, almost all of the stores in this area sell the stuff - including Walmart and Wegmans. Stores that cater to the local market are thinking ahead! Anyway, the quiche is very good. Light and creamy. We often buy one when they go on sale in the evenings and portion it out for breakfast for the week. I heated it in the CSO on convection/steam at 325F for 12 minutes.

I did my first steak. And I can say that if the only thing I ever did in the future sous vide was steak, it would be worth the purchase. We were both thrilled. The steak was just a regular rib eye from Kroger – 2 inches thick and nicely marbled, but nothing spectacular: I sous vide it at 127 for 2 hours and then seared it in ghee in a cast iron skillet. It turned out incredibly good: The steak was much pinker than the picture indicates and was that way all the way through, except for the sear on the edges.

Well, since no one else seemed to be any more informed about ghee brands as I did (😁), I went ahead with the Dellah. It was great. I used it to dip the crab into and also to sear a sous vide steak. Nice feeling to stump eG once in a while. LOL

Like @scott123, my first thought was Detroit-style pizza, which I had never heard of until fairly recently, but am intrigued by. (I guess Food Network is good for something, after all.) I think steel is the way to go.

I love those things, but I have to search out the "mild" and even then they are a tiny bit too spicy for me.

I have no idea of the answer to your question, but find it intriguing! I'm hoping someone responds with an answer!

The menu: Steak – sous vide (my first attempt - wish me luck) King Crab legs w/ ghee (I've never tasted these) Brussels sprouts – roasted in bacon grease and topped w/ bacon and goat cheese Green salad Baguette Pastries and chocolate covered strawberries (purchased at Wegmans) We never go out anymore - even good restaurants seem to serve rubbish on Valentine's Day, at least in our area. So we stay home and cook something easy and often in our pajamas! We are lucky because at almost 35 years of marriage, we are still pretty romantic. We always mark Valentine's day and our anniversaries. I can almost guarantee that Mr. Kim will walk through the door with flowers. This year, we've all agreed NO candy. We still have Christmas candy around the house and are trying to lose weight. But there will be some little sweet gifts to each other. I am giving him a framed photo of the two of us all dressed up for my sister's wedding a couple of years ago (I have a half sister less than one year older than our daughter).

So, I'm using ghee in place of clarified butter to dip our king crab legs in. I bought Dellah Global Kitchen Clarified Water Buffalo Milk Butter - Desi Ghee because that was all they had at Kroger. Does anyone one know if this is good stuff? If not, can you recommend some other brand that you know is high quality? I have access to Whole Foods, Fresh Market and Wegman's. Since we are going to be basically drinking this stuff, I want it to taste great. Thank you, as always!!!

Mr. Kim and Jessica were at the theatre last night, so dinner on my own was a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and chips: Perfectly hit the spot!

Here you go!

When Mr. Kim orders bacon, he gets it for a bunch of folks in his office. He took some in a couple of years ago and converted a bunch of folks to Benton's. Now we get this huge, smelly carton once every couple of months. Best thing is, we get to pick which packs we want before passing them on.

Love it when you post pictures, @rotuts! That toastie looks lovely!

I'd never heard of a Rachel until I moved to Richmond VA from the Washington DC area 40 years ago to attend college. Now, they are everywhere in the US.

Welcome, @MichaelB23! Looking forward to seeing your efforts! I have nothing to contribute right now. I've never made a cake without an oven. What appliances DO you have available to you? Might help with folks giving you ideas if we knew that.

We need a "WOW" button!

Took this weird, but delicious dish to our church potluck on Sunday: Apple/manchego cheese/marcona almonds dressed with poppyseed dressing. . Everyone who was brave enough to try it loved it and took seconds. Mr. Kim took the leftovers to work today and no one would try it.😒

@Shelby – you beat me to it. After seeing gfweb’s pork last week, I am determined to make it soon! Yours looks wonderful. While I was in Charleston SC last week, I made it to Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit shop and bought two frozen varieties. Dinner tonight was breakfast for dinner featuring the biscuits: On the left is the cinnamon biscuit with cinnamon butter the other two are Cheddar biscuits with country ham. These biscuits are truly amazing – there is no where here in Richmond that serves a biscuit like them. Luckily, The Fresh Market here carries them. We also had scrambled eggs and sausage:

@heidih - I've always used the flag fold. I was taught to make them by the cook at a restaurant in Alexandria VA owned by a friend's family. She added a little dill and a very little mint and always a few scrapes of nutmeg. Later, I started adding a little white pepper to the mix. They were my go-to appetizer in the 1980's, but I haven't made them for years. I need to do it again. I also loved making tiropita (just cheese, no spinach).

The omelettes at the Camillia Grill in New Orleans are done like that. We loved the texture. I whip mine very vigorously when I make omelettes (which is exactly wrong according to most experts) because we like them fluffy. Edited to say that the Grill actually does them with a milkshake maker, but it's basically the same technique.

A recent lunch - Cheddar, Brie, beef log, cheese balls and Wensleydale with cranberries: Pickly stuff: Campbell’s tomato: Spent a few days at a family gathering in Charleston SC to celebrate my dad and his twin brother’s birthdays. One day we had lunch at the Bay Street Biergarten. Table appetizers – Pretzel Bombs: Pretzel balls stuffed with sausage and white Cheddar over smoked cheese sauce with Lusty Monk mustard. Really good. My lunch was the Nürnberger Hoagie: Two traditional Nürnberger sausages, garlic aioli, kraut, pickled onion and mustard with cheese spätzle. Very, very good. The kraut was different from any I’ve ever had – really fresh tasting and just barely pickled. It was more like sharply dressed thin sliced cabbage.

@chefmd – I don’t even like cooked carrots, but I’d try those caramelized beauties! A few recent dinners - fixed up Manwich, tots and slaw: Last night - olives and stuff: Salad: Shrimp burger and baked potato: Tonight was BBQ night – the good stuff. I was in Charleston SC for a family gathering to celebrate my dad and his twin brother’s 80th birthdays. While there, I stopped Rodney Scott BBQ and got some stuff to bring back. He’s a James Beard award winning Pitmaster and one of Mr. Kim’s heroes. So, dinner tonight was pulled pork, slaw and baked beans all from Scott’s BBQ. The sweet potatoes were from Alamo in Richmond (a local favorite BBQ spot): No idea who did this, but it has to be someone from eG – I received a package in the mail from the “Spam Fairy” (???????): 😄😄😄What should I do with it? I’ve never tasted Spam in my life, so I’m thinking just fry it up and serve it along side my fried eggs!