Kim Shook

Did you have any Neanderthal? We learned tonight in bible study (a unit on our responsibilities towards the natural world and how science and faith can coexist) that people of Northern European backgrounds have 1-3% Neanderthal DNA.

LOL. Funny, but I detest cooked cabbage. I only like it pickled or raw.

Dinner last night: Hot dogs made from brisket (dressed with kraut), hash browns, baked beans, and more kraut. The dogs were Private Selection (store brand) from Kroger and very, very good.

@scubadoo97 – I’ve been after Mr. Kim to smoke some salmon. That looks wonderful. Breakfast yesterday: Just eggs on toast, but it was exactly what I needed.

That is absolutely stunning.

Cheeseburgers again tonight, but this time with caramelized onions, bacon and pickles: Also fixed up canned baked beans and roasted baby potatoes.

I can vouch for this recipe. I have a hard time getting the meat to completely cover the sheet pan, but otherwise, it works well. We are going to hide out at home this year. We really don't have much interest - no one to root for. The Cheatriots? Nope. A team that hired Mike Vick. Nada. So we'll watch the commercials and the half time show. Jessica is requesting some retro snacks (artichoke dip, crab meltaways, etc.) and we made the mistake of going to Costco hungry and sampled those little bagel pizzas and convinced ourselves that we'd eat all 9000 of them. Sigh.

@rarerollingobject– Oh, dear. And they looked so wonderful, too. But those faces! So “sorry, not sorry”. We celebrated Jessica’s BD yesterday. She requested Bananas Foster cheesecake: Banana caramel sauce:

@Duvel – I confess that I don’t eat mushrooms or care for broccoli on pizza, but I’d eat around them to get that gorgeous looking crust!! @robirdstx – any chance you’d share the recipe for the Chicken and Artichoke dip? Sounds like something I’d love. Napa and cauliflower salad w/ Green Goddess dressing: I roasted some beets for Mr. Kim with sherry vinegar and orange juice: Cheeseburgers, leftover dirty rice and roasted cauliflower:

A few more. All three of these were gifts from folks going abroad.

@Dejah – Happy Birthday to your husband. What a gorgeous feast! @liamsaunt – Hope your husband recovers quickly. Love capons – I haven’t cooked one for years and need to! We had company this weekend. I only cooked one dinner – we went out the other nights. Dinner was CI’s BBQ shrimp: Bojangle’s Dirty Rice: No point in me making it, they do it better than I can. Good, crusty bread for soaking up the buttery shrimp sauce: And our favorite layered salad. Layers in an ugly plastic bowl: Napa, cauliflower, mayo, minced onions, bacon, hard-boiled eggs, Cheddar and sugar. Before tossing: And after:

Like, @kayb, I will occasionally take the time to do a huge slow cooker batch of caramelized onions. I pack them into small containers and freeze. What a luxury it is knowing that I have already prepared onions to add to anything I like. We had a guest this weekend. Saturday breakfast: Panettone French toast, country ham and eggs. For Sunday brunch, I made Breakfast Pockets: Whomp biscuit crusts with a filling of sausage, cheese, hashbrowns and eggs: Candied bacon: And some doughnuts from our favorite place:

Honestly, I think you could do it with almost any plain cooky. I do the Paula Deen one @Toliver linked above. It is our favorite.

Yes! If it is the middle of winter when my hands tend to be kind of rough, I can literally pick them up without actually grasping them. I do use them still to wipe out the bathroom sinks between real cleaning.

Jessica had a Christmas season job at Godiva and learned how to do the strawberries. Now she does them every year for our church's Easter Saturday vigil celebration. Chocolate covered strawberries and Champagne! Nobody breaks a fast like an Episcopalian!

Sardines in mustard and wheat Saltines. The wheat Saltines were an accident. The sardines were a choice. No one needs to see this.

Some of the ones that don't get used: Mr. Kim is now sure I'm crackers. He said, "are you taking pictures of dishtowels?"

We need a regurgitating emoji.

Damn. I hate when my knuckles hit! Mr. Kim deliberately uses knives that do that and it makes my teeth hurt. I can't figure out how he can stand it.

Not one pepper of any sort passes my lips.

Only if I can like it except for the pepper. Dinner tonight - Brunswick stew and hot rolls:

Last night we had my mother, our daughter and our niece over for dinner. Snacks before dinner: The cheeses were 18 month Gouda and triple crème. Mr. Kim made his spaghetti: He used the venison Italian sausage that a friend gave us ( @Shelby – be expecting a PM from me – he also gave us pheasant and wild boar) and some good meatballs we discovered at Kroger. Delicious. I added “Chinese” salad and garlic cheese bread: This is one of our favorite salads, despite the silly name. I’m guessing it is called that because it uses ramen noodles and Napa cabbage. We were underwhelmed by this. Too much mozzarella and too little garlic butter.

I’ve been waiting for this – Wegmans’ had their panettone half price this weekend. One half is in the freezer to make French toast when we have company staying next weekend and the other will be toast for this weeks’ breakfasts:

Mr. Kim surprised me with lunch at a new place on Saturday – Mesopotamia Delicatessen. Fantastic food. The owner insisted on us trying all the side dishes before deciding on what we wanted. He made us a little plate and everything was so good that we had a hard time choosing! He was a bit derisive about Richmond middle-eastern food choices, but very impressed about my having eaten this kind of food all my life – the result of having a Syrian aunt by marriage. I had the falafel: My sides were mdardara (lentils and bulgur topped with caramelized onions) and summer cabbage (cabbage, onion, bell peppers, carrots in a vinegar dressing). The falafel may have been the best I’ve ever had: Mr. Kim had the shish taouk (marinated chicken, onion and bell peppers) with Iraqi white beans and vegetable curry stew: Incredibly tender and juicy chicken – and it was all white meat. We took home a piece of baklava:

Almost never. Drip dry is my method, too. Even in the dishwasher, I choose the energy-save option, open the dishwasher at the end of the cycle and let them air dry.