Kim Shook

How nice! Thank you! I cannot tell you how glad I am that I saw your post about this. It was such a hit with everyone who tasted it. I will be making this again and again!

Met some Florida friends who we coming to visit us in Charlottesville VA for some wine tasting. We were planning to take them to our favorite restaurant in Charlottesville – a South American rotisserie chicken (and MORE) place. When we drove up, they were closed and moving to a bigger place next door. So, we had lunch at another nearby favorite - Crozet Pizza. This place opened in 1977 and we discovered it when Mr. Kim was in grad school at UVA. It has remained one of our favorite pizzas, even though we live in Richmond. We started with house-made hummus: Excellent! They still do great pizza: Another lunch with our visitors - The Black Sheep in Richmond. This place specializes in ENORMOUS 2 foot long (you can order 1/2) subs – named after Civil War battleships. Two of us shared the USS Lafayette - Spiced shrimp loaded into a French baguette with marinated artichoke hearts, tomatoes, green olive tapenade, chopped romaine, pickled red onion, & sherry vinaigrette: I adore this sandwich, but I think that next time, I’ll have it as a salad with the baguette on the side. It is just overwhelming! Mr. Kim and our friend had these – USS Brooklyn - Spicy jerk chicken loaded into a French baguette, with shredded cabbage, roasted banana ketchup & peach chutney: USS Congress - Chipotle roasted pork shoulder loaded into a French baguette with tomatillo barbecue sauce, grilled pineapple, & Mexi slaw: We all shared an order of the amazing Brussels sprouts - Shredded & quick sauteed with fennel, orange, tamarind & honey glaze: Lunch at home one day was Mr. Kim’s brisket. It turned out a little dry, so we had it as burnt ends: I made some sides and ‘go withs’. Slaw: Fried pickles: These are fantastic with BBQ. @caroled's Baked Beans: Sandwich with fixings: One day, we went BACK to Charlottesville to take our friends to Al Carbon – the place that had been closed. We ordered LOTS of things. Incomparable chicken: Chicken cemita w/ avocado, fresh Oaxaca cheese, and a slice of ham: Steak cemita w/ the same toppings + red onion: Same sandwich with the addition of their spicy sauce: Tacos – not sure of the fillings: Plantains: Street corn – with mayo, cotija cheese, chili powder and lime zest: Sweet corn seasoned with fresh epazote and jalapenos topped with mayo or sour cream, cotija cheese, lime, and chile powder: Nopalitos – roasted cactus: Sweet potato - baked over charcoal and topped with sweet cream: Green poblano rice & pinto beans with chorizo, bacon, cilantro and roma tomatoes: Just amazing food, as always. The fact that we were not just willing, but anxious, to drive over an hour for lunch says it all.

@ElsieD - that is the Stretch-Tite brand now. Available at Costco and on Amazon.

@robirdstx – your scrambled eggs look different and interesting. Almost like chopped up soft boiled eggs. How are they done? We had friends come and stay with us for a few days. A couple of breakfasts – ET Breakfast Crescents w/ Bacon Jam & scrambled eggs: Normally, I stuff these with cream cheese and crumbled bacon. This time I used bacon jam. Our friends had never tasted it before and I wanted them to try it. These rolls are really good, but bacon jam just puts them to a whole new level! And everyone had a slice of @Norm Matthews Pineapple Upside Down Bundt Cake: Another day I did Leige Waffles w/ all kinds of toppings: These are fantastic. I’ve made them twice now – both ways: refrigerator rise first/room temperature rise second and vice versa. Either way works wonderfully. I’ve discovered that while they save just fine – even freezing – the big pebbles of pearl sugar dissolve. I love the crunch of the sugar so for company, at least, I’ll be making them fresh every time. After our friends were gone: Leftover Leige waffle with strawberries and whipped cream. A weekend breakfast for the two of us – bagels, fruit and Neese’s (Greensboro NC) sausage: Mr. Kim’s – salt bagel w/ chive cream cheese. Mine – pumpernickel bagel with lox cream cheese (and maple syrup for my sausage ). I have despaired of finding good lox cream cheese and pumpernickel bagels in my city - they were common in the deli I grew up going to in Northern VA and lo and behold, I found them at Wegman's. Pretty dern good versions of both!

We had company for a few days and I made @Norm Matthews Pineapple Upside Down Cake: It was really delicious! Everyone loved this and it served as dessert, snacks and also a breakfast sweet the whole time they were here! Thanks for the recipe, Norm! An old HS friend came for dinner on his way through town. I did a Kentucky Brown Sugar Poundcake w/ peaches and plums: We have been getting wonderful stone fruit. Except for apricots. I haven’t had a good apricot since I was a little girl. Cinnamon Toast Cupcakes for a birthday celebration at Mr. Kim’s office: They turned out just ok. They sunk down a bit in the cups. And I tried a new butter/marshmallow crème frosting that wasn’t what I hoped for. I was kind of expecting an easy 7 Minute frosting-type. Too much butter for me.

Welcome! I am really interested in your passion! I adore old cookbooks and the pamphlets that used to be handed out with appliances - a little before mid-century, but it is all fascinating to me. Can't wait to see your posts!!

So sad to hear this. I've loved reading his writing for years - back to the Chowhound days, I think. He made huge contributions to my travel eating!

Another Stretch-tite lover here. I especially like the optional slide cutter - I have poor tearing-off-the-plastic-wrap skills.

Too funny! I had the same thing plus bourbon dulce de leche and toasted almond the other morning!!!

Saturday lunch with Mr. Kim at Metro Diner. My lunch: Eggs Benedict and wonderful hash browns with cheese and onions. Mr. Kim had a chicken salad sandwich w/ tomato bisque:

Ahhhhhhh! Of course! And thank you, @Anna N! I was a bit foggy last night.

@Kerry Beal - is that chocolate coconut pound cake a Bon Appetit recipe? It looks just like the one that I make. Need to make one again soon.

@Thanks for the Crepes - thank you! I actually buy those Campari tomatoes all the time. They are great all year long, it seems. And, yep, I get them at FL. I love grape tomatoes, too, but they are hard to make a tomato sandwich out of, so I was thrilled to find the Campari when I was jonesing for a tomato and Dukes sandwich in December! Last night started with salads w/ ginger dressing: And, as Bruce (eG) used to call them, eternal cucumbers (in summer, at least, we ALWAYS have marinated cukes in the fridge: Sloppy Joes – just fixed up Manwich – and corn:

?????? I am lost.

That is some good looking bacon. I love the curliness. The only time my bacon gets that curly is when I deep fry it. Yum!

@Kerry Beal - you can send those caramels to me. I adore super chewy ones - Storck Riesens are just about perfect for me. I have a hard time finding them chewy enough for my taste.

I looked it up, too, but only got people named that and an asteroid. So what is it? Looks intriguing!

Had to giggle at this. I have a plastic grocery bag with assorted marshmallows hanging in my pantry at all times! When I am in need of something simple and sweet, I'll grab a couple of the big ones.

@ElainaA – I have a half a container of ricotta in my fridge right now. No idea what I will do with it. Probably nothing! @Thanks for the Crepes – I always cook steaks in an iron skillet. I love the crust I get. Glad you liked the experiment! The other day I found what was supposed to be a local tomato and had to have one of these: It was ok. Really too early for good local tomatoes, I guess. Sigh. Mr. Kim’s Father’s Day gift was an Edwards petite country ham: Sliced: It is fabulous. This little guy is going to last us awhile. I could make an entire meal of it with nothing more than a sharp knife. Called for breakfast for dinner: Two biscuits – one with the addition of a friend’s fig preserves, tots, scrambled eggs and another go at that tomato from the night before: Helped by a big clop of Duke’s, but still not great. Tonight was salad, chicken Kiev (frozen – a guilty pleasure) and the bits and pieces from the fried rice that I made the other night – more like snow pea and bean sprout stir-fry with rice:

Pop a large marshmallow in the container of brown sugar. Never had a problem since I started doing this.

I wanted to let everyone know that Rebecca Salame, who posted on eGullet as Rebecca263 has passed away. She hasn’t been active here in over a year, but I’m sure that I’m not the only one who remembers her sweet and generous contributions here and I know that I’m not the only eG’er who has kept in touch with her. Rebecca battled Cutaneous Lymphoma for a long time. Her sister posted this on Facebook: “Rebecca has passed away and is finally free from pain. She was surrounded by family and close friends. We were greatful for the outpouring of love from everyone, it made this difficult time bearable. Rebecca's father is in poor health and has not been told of her passing, we appreciate anyone who may visit or speak with him not to mention it. Thank you all for your compassion and love during her life, it truly meant the world to her.”

Meat and bread. I think maybe I was Russian in a former life. Hope the trip goes well, Chef!

@chefmd – so sorry for your dad’s health issues. Will be thinking of you! @rarerollingobject – oh, how horrible! That happened to us (BIL, also) and there is just nothing anyone can say or do to fix things. So time and some good liquor are not bad ideas! Love and light right back! Company for dinner last night. I did @Norm Matthews' Korean Chicken as thighs instead of wings: These were just delicious. I brined them for one day and they were very, very moist. The crunch of the coating is amazing and the sauce is sweet, tangy and just barely spicy with ginger, soy, brown sugar, vinegar, and a little hot sauce. Thanks so much, @Norm Matthews! I served it with a slightly too starchy, but still good tasting fried rice: With eggs, snow peas, onions, bean sprouts and Wegman’s Peking Pork. A Napa and hearts of palm salad with Benihana (ginger) dressing: Soy, teriyaki and ginger marinated grilled pineapple: Garlic naan:

So sorry to hear this, Liuhou! Hope you are better and home soon! I think that the under seasoned food you mentioned is endemic to hospital food the world over. The whole "sick people need bland food" mindset seems to cover all cultures!

Tonight’s dinner was assorted leftovers and refrigerator clean out stuff: Fresh corn, baked beans (NOT black beans – they just got incredibly dark), Fig & Pig Pizza (fig preserves, prosciutto and gorgonzola) from last night’s dinner out, the rest of the Shrimp and Prosciutto pizza sans shrimp, bread from last night.