Kim Shook

Some house guests brought a selection of Beehive cheeses for their visit and we really enjoyed them all. Mr. Kim loved the spicy ones.

I love Kirkland Champagne. It can sometimes be hard to find in our area Costco. Supposedly Costco has very 'hands on' people who choose their wines. We've been pleased with everything we've tried. To be clear, though, we are NOT oenophiles. YMMV.

I have never understood folks who do all of their cooking outside in hot weather. The last thing that I want to do when it it 90+ degrees is step one foot outdoors, much less stand over a grill. I just crank the AC and try to do things that won't require long oven cooking - stovetop, slow cooker and large toaster oven food.

Welcome! Can't wait to see your contributions! Lots of good home cooks here.

I will never forget Laura Calder (a Canadian cook that appeared on the Cooking Channel) who specializes in French food had an episode where she went somewhere in France and (I think) fished with a man and cooked with his wife. The wife basically made Rice-A-Roni. From scratch, but it was still Rice-A-Roni. Laura was so obviously perplexed.

Toast w/ butter and F.R.O.G. jam (figs, raspberries, orange peel and ginger) and a yogurt smoothie:

Fried shrimp, oysters (leftover from a recent dinner out), Rice A Roni (what can I say, we like it), and green beans: More restaurant dinner leftovers – pita w/ saganaki: Shrimp sauce, pita, hummus, octopus, and tzatziki:

We froze some in manageable chunks. The rest we just wrapped and refrigerated and sliced off what we needed. The petite ham does not need any boiling to get rid of excess salt. It is ready to eat as is. You don't even need to heat it. We did biscuits with paper thin slices, omelets with little chunks that were sauteed first, added it (unheated) to a charcuterie board, and sliced it fairly thick (almost 1/2") and fried in a iron skillet. You won't be sorry.

I didn't know whether to hit the "like" or "laugh" button after this! As I've said before, I love your writing!

I may be biased since I'm a VA girl, but I adore Edwards' products. The Surryano is truly fantastic. Like @rotuts, I also really love Bentons. ETA: Mr. Kim received one of the petit hams for Father's day last year and we loved it. It was plenty big - we even froze some. A picture:

I am loving this thread and have a huge urge for Schnitzel now. I love all the different versions. For those of you who are making the tonkatsu version I can vouch for @Marlene's 3 sauce versions to go on it: Tonkatsu Sauce Easy Tonkatsu Sauce Quick Tonkatsu Sauce Now, I need a trip back to the Hobo Hut in Batesville IN for a pork tenderloin sandwich - mayo, lettuce, tomatoes and pickles and always bigger than the bun: Meet me there @caroled? And bring your momma!

The sad emoji was not enough. We need a screaming and running emoji. Mr. Kim understands that if a snake ever makes it into our house, I will burn it to the ground.

That would have been my plate. But, the asparagus would have been passed off, too.

SO looking forward to this!!!!!

I sprained my toe night before last, so standing up cooking for a long time wasn’t an option. Salads with the never ending Napa cabbage (seriously, does this stuff never go bad? I bought it weekend before last!): And fast and dirty spaghetti and meatballs: Ground beef, Classico sauce, and purchased meatballs (we’ve actually found a frozen brand we like). I set the timer for 20 minutes and got up off the couch where I was propped up and iced down to stir. It tasted just fine!

I love the Lebanese food that I've had in the US, so I'm looking forward to this!

Thrilled to see you doing this! I adore the blogs and miss them, but they are admittedly exhausting to do. I'm looking forward to this!

Arrived from Amazon last night - a surprise from Mr. Kim (this variety not available in the Richmond VA area ). I will try to ration them:

That looks SO much better than my extra dark pretzels.

Breast of chicken with 'drum' part of the wing still attached. Sometimes it is scraped down to make it more "fancy".

You know that weird phenomenon where you don't hear a word or phrase for years and then suddenly it is everywhere? I haven't heard or thought of an airline breast in ages and I've heard it/read it at least 6 times in the last 4 days. I had to explain to Mr. Kim what it meant. Dinner tonight - the seemingly never ending “Chinese” Salad: Ham, Gruyere, and Havarti omelets, roasted cauliflower and fried potatoes:

We hated this. I am crazy about caramel, but didn't taste it. I am also not a fan of white chocolate or Hershey products, so that has to be considered. Very vague bar with no personality that I could detect.

I periodically clean off the fridge and attempt a clean and clutter free fridge. Things seem to sneak back on. And now it is loaded up again. My theory is that you are either a magnet and stuff fridge person or you are not. And all the effort in the world won't change me to a clean and clutter free person.

@kayb - My Italian-American family came from around and near the Delta area – Shelby and Rosedale Mississippi, Little Rock and Memphis, up from NOLA for jobs. They mostly ended up in the Washington DC area. I grew up in a tamale loving family and couldn’t figure out why none of my friends had even heard of them. Years later I discovered the tamale/Delta connection. @caroled has roots in the same area and (I think) great uncles who married Italian girls. Her mother (@racheld)and I have always hoped that we were related by marriage in some way! @Shelby – I’m having the best time looking at all the food you are making from your food adventure in the big city! @CantCookStillTry – I am enjoying the meals that you are posting and I have to say that I love your writing – your “voice” really comes through. LOL is an overused thing, but I truly have found myself laughing out loud at some of your posts. So glad you found us! @Paul Bacino – I agree with @cakewalk! That actually looks good. I don’t care for zucchini ordinarily, but I like it in fritters and that looks just crispy enough to pass the test. We have been mostly eating out for the last couple of weeks. We had almost every room in our house painted last week so I spent the week before clearing out things, then a week and a half basically sitting in the dining room (only large room NOT being painted) and now am in the midst of putting stuff back together. Thrilled to have the work done, but not conducive to cooking! I did make @caroled's baked beans for a church potluck. They are my go-to for baked beans now, if I don’t do them from scratch. Everyone loves them. I also made Paula Deen’s “Chinese Salad” (). I could only find incredibly enormous Napa cabbage heads, so we’ve been eating THAT for awhile. A couple of nights ago: Chili dogs and carole beans:

Episcopalian here. We are observing Lent again this year by giving up restaurant eating and donating what we figure we usually spend to the Food Pantry. We've done it for the last couple of years and it seems an appropriate abstention. We love to eat out, so it is a sacrifice, but it becomes a service with the donation. Since Sundays are excepted, we can still do brunch after church, too!