Kim Shook

Dessert for my FIL’s BD celebration on Sunday: Michael Ruhlman’s Angel Food cake. And since it takes 10 egg whites to make the cake, I made 2 batches of lemon curd:

@BeatriceB – when you wonder if your meal is “good enough” to post, please look back at my post on 9/28. If I can post that boring looking, blah tasting meal, you can post ANYTHING! A few nights ago - Marinated London Broil and squash: This is an old, old recipe that my MIL and SIL and I used to make and we had all forgotten about it. The meat is marinated with oil, Dijon, soy sauce, lemon juice, onions, garlic, Worcestershire and black pepper. It is still SO good! On Sunday, we had family over to celebrate my FIL and niece’s BDs. We started with Evergreen Avocado Dip w/ tortilla chips: I got this recipe almost 10 years ago from @Toasted (who last posted in 2012). We really like it and you make it ahead of time – no browning! And Hot Bacon & Swiss Dip w/ Ritz crackers: Apple Cider-Glazed Pork Tenderloin w/ a cider jus: @Marlene's Smashed potatoes: Sautéed Snow Peas: Which got a little overdone. Red cabbage: My SIL made a spinach, dried cranberry, smoked Gouda, and apple salad with poppyseed dressing and my MIL made orange glazed carrots (not pictured).

Yup - that was good. A ciabatta that friends brought us from an Italian bakery at the Outer Banks. Since I don't eat squash, my plate included a small cucumber. That was good, too!

Well this sucked: Leftover Cheese Noodles, squash and onions, and chicken casserole from the freezer. Mike said the squash was good, but neither the noodles nor the casserole survived well. Bland, beige and boring.

It was on the show - one of the new ones with the Cutesy Twins. Here's a link to the recipe on my site: Pecan Bars

Yay! Someone else who likes candy corn. You or Ronnie? Try this: handful of candy corn and salted peanuts – mixed. Tastes oddly of caramel apple. Mike and I discovered this. We are peculiar. And yes, squishy white bread (toasted) for creamed chipped beef – Texas Toast is good, too. That must have been someone else you are thinking of, @Thanks for the Crepes. I don’t use Buddig – sometimes Armour in the jar and sometimes something in a pouch that Food Lion carries, but not Buddig. Though now, I’m remembering Buddig ham sandwiches on Wonder bread with nostalgia.

Made ATK Ultranutty Pecan Bars for dessert last night: These were really good and very easy. You mix up the crust and press it in the pan. Then you mix up the pecan layer and pour it on top. No need to bake the crust separately. Loaded with pecans and not too sweet.

Niece and daughter were over for dinner last night - two broke girls who needed a home cooked meal! Grilled Steak Rolls: Cheese Noodles: Broccoli and salad: And a really good brioche loaf that we got at Lidl: Dessert was ATK Ultranutty Pecan Bars:

They were delicious - an had a good texture. Some chew, but tender enough to be enjoyable.

Thank you all! THIS is exactly what I did. Mr. Kim is getting ready to grill them, so I'll post later and let you know what happened. They will taste good, I'm sure of that, at least!

I have a quick question about cutting a flank steak. I know that the general rule is to cut across the grain. I'm doing a recipe that I haven't done in years. The way that this is prepared is to cut the steak into 1/2-inch strips. The strips are coiled around to make a patty, if you will - about the size of a hamburger patty. They are then marinated for a few hours and grilled. My recipe directions say to cut the strips "lengthwise", which seems to me to mean WITH the grain. Like I said, I haven't made this in years and don't remember how I did it then. I know that it turned out very tender and flavorful. My instinct is telling me to cut the strips against the grain. What do you think? Is there something I'm missing with the coiling and the way that it will be cut by the person eating it that tells you the strips should be cut with the grain? Thanks!!!

Amazing share of the market! Thanks for the link!

@andiesenji - lovely scones. Makes me hungry even after my delicious breakfast! Breakfast this morning: Hazelnut-chocolate croissant from Lidl. This is a Germany-based grocery store - similar to Aldi. They just started opening these stores in the Richmond area. We went for the first time last night and were very impressed – prices, quality, selection. The bakery is wonderful. Tons of stuff that you can pick out as many as you like. Aldi (just down the street) may be in trouble.

@chromedome – re: brining pork. That is true. I honestly don’t know if it was pre-brined or not. It was not cryovaced – just the regular Styrofoam tray and plastic wrap. Does that make any difference? Tonight was salad (SURPRISE! ): Käsekrainer sausages from Wegman’s, sourdough rolls and green beans: Käsekrainer is an Austrian smoked pork and beef sausage studded with Swiss cheese. Really good!

I have a friend who makes a couple of dessert pizzas, both on a cooky dough crust. They are very good, if a little too sweet. I've linked them here: Pizza 1 & Pizza 2 . I've also had dessert pizzas made on actual pizza dough - sweetened cream cheese and what amounts to fruit pie filling. I really prefer these to the cooky dough ones. Like @shain, I really love the white pizzas with fruit (and NUTS!) - especially roasted pears or figs - but don't really consider them dessert pizzas. Hope this is what you were looking for @Theresa D!

@liamsaunt Oh, what lovely memories you are bringing back. Mr. Kim and I were there back in the late 1980’s. The trip was a gift from his mother celebrating him attaining his Master’s. We adored it! We were still broke from graduate school and so we did everything on a budget! I’ve never met such lovely people. We still order the sherry pepper sauce to make the fish chowder we loved at the Hog Penny. It was our first trip out of the US and we were told by another couple (who had started their Bermuda trips with their honeymoon in the 1950's) that we had done things in the wrong order. Coming to Bermuda first would ruin us for the other islands - we'd never be satisfied with them. It was true! Thank you for sharing!

Thank you all for your help. I had to look up "equilibrium brine". I now feel dumber than before. I confess it befuddled me. BUT - what I did manage to absorb sounds right - so I'll get Mr. Kim to look at it and explain it all in words of one syllable. You all are fantastic! I am lucky to have such a resource. (And no one mocked me! )

Not sure whether this counts as breakfast or lunch as it is 2:30pm and the first thing I've eaten today. I'll go with lunch:

Back with another question regarding brining pork chops. When I look up brining directions online, I find a wide range of times. Some say 4 hours, some say 12 hours. When I’ve done it for as long as 6 hours, I find the meat much too salty. Other directions say one hour per pound. That’s when I start trying to do math in my head. I was a theatre major. Neither my math nor my logic skills are up to par. My SAT scores were so lopsided I’m surprised I don’t walk sideways. I’m always calling Mr. Kim from the grocery store with moronic questions like “is a pint one cup or two” and “how many ounces in a pound” and the real tough one: “do you think they mean liquid or weight in ounces”. If I want to brine for one hour per pound of meat, does that mean: 4 half pound chops (2 lbs.) = 2 hours OR just a half an hour because each chop is only half a pound. See what I mean? My head hurts. Thank you!!

@Shelby – thanks for the peeling tip. I’ll give it a try! @Ann_T – thanks for the link to the recipe. I am always looking for recipes using dried figs. I adore fresh figs, but the season is so short and they are so perishable that I can’t make all the figgy things I want with fresh ones. Yesterday I made some Food TV Sweet Chili and corn muffins to take to the family of a friend who injured herself: Dinner last night started with the inevitable salad: And then a bit of serendipity – pork chops with wine and garlic: Yesterday morning the grocery store had these enormous, thick pork chops on sale – I got two 1 1/2-inch thick chops for $4. I put them in a brine like I always do grocery store pork as soon as I got home. I happened to watch “The Pioneer Woman” later and she did these chops. They were delicious. A little too salty, though. I think that I brined for too long. They were in there for about 6 hours. I’ve done some research and most folks recommend one hour per pound. Not sure how much these weighed, but nowhere near 6 lbs. What say you all? I did rinse them off before cooking.

Mine clumps, too. I chisel it out like you!

Welcome, Miss M! I second Nancy's request. Looking forward to your input!

Welcome! Like Nancy, I'd love to hear more about you and your interests!

Apple cakes can be VERY sticky. Mr. Kim makes one and if I don't remind him to line the bottom of the tube pan with parchment paper it is STUCK. If you decide to go with a Bundt pan, make sure to grease and flour it VERY well. Best of luck!!!

This is funny. I obviously live vicariously through my eG pals. I don't think I own ONE item that didn't exist before the turn of the century. Of course, I've replaced or bought new things since then, but nothing that was completely a new product. I don't even have a smart phone.