Kim Shook

huiray – your wontons are just beautiful, like porcine origami! And the crispy pork looks so delicious, too. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten venison before and I KNOW I’ve never cooked it. Mr. Kim’s co-worker gave some to us awhile back and it’s been sitting in the freezer while I got up my courage to cook it. The first batch I decided to thaw was labeled “cube” and I got some advice from Shelby. She suggested that I just make chicken fried steak since the meat was already tenderized. I did the Roadfood method for chicken fried steak, green beans, whipped potatoes and freezer biscuits – without gravy: And with: This was delicious. It had great texture and was stronger than beef, but in a flavorful (not gamey) way. Good thing I liked it – we have enough leftovers for 2-3 more meals!

Welcome, Martin! And congratulations on becoming a dad! Looking forward to your input here!

Kay – I love that corn casserole! Tonight was steak w/ sautéed mixed mushrooms, long grain and wild rice and Brussels sprouts: The sprouts were the best we’ve had in ages – really tiny and tender. Got the steak a bit overdone, but it was still really juicy:

Too bad. They sound like a great 2am post-party food. Of course, I'm much too old for that, but I can remember!

Welcome, Alain! I'm looking forward to your contributions. The Dinner thread is a great place to start sharing!

Patrick – I’d heard that about the salt, so I tasted it before I bought it and we love it. liuzhou – So sorry about your camera! Lowlife, indeed. Those would have been some awesome pictures, I’m sure. Kay – ooooohh! I love sweet pickles on pimento cheese. Sometimes I even drizzle a little of the juice into the cheese when I make it! I am thoroughly enjoying the last of the cold weather and snow, but got the taste for a summer dish last night: Tuna noodle salad.

Your new favorite food magazine: http://www.eater.com/2015/3/5/8155773/heres-your-new-favorite-food-magazine-gout I would pay money to get a new cover every month!

Tonight we started off with some raw veggies and black salt: And then a very similar dinner to last night’s: With hot dogs instead of brats. Well, we had leftover buns and those never get used if you don’t have hot dogs!

I can't speak for Paul, but since I didn't like biting into onions (or thought I didn't), my mother would put a whole peeled onion into her long cooked sauce. I doubt it imparted much flavor into the sauce, but the sauce did the onion beautifully! Last night was brats with fried onions, sauerkraut and fried potatoes: Mr. Kim prefers the raw brats, but I like the ones that come already cooked – I like the smoother texture. Last night was my turn to choose!

I just heard about this and was so saddened. I hope that Tina knows how much a part of what is good about eG she has been and how much she was appreciated by us.

Yes, Darienne - sugar free. Sorry - I use the abbreviation SF and GF (gluten free) in my own notes all the time and sometimes forget to change them! Thanks, Shelby! emmalish - you are very welcome. Did I happen to mention how good some chocolate chips or (sweet Jesus) peanut butter chips are in this bread? Swoony, really!

Anna – your bits and bobs dinner looked perfect to me. My favorite meal out is 2 or 3 different ‘small bites’, so your meal would have suited me. dcarch – everything looks gorgeous, as always, but that shrimp on dirty rice was whispering to me. I’ve got a new recipe for BBQ shrimp that I want to try and I think that dirty rice is just the perfect side dish! Paul – my mother used to do onion bobbers, too, since I didn’t like biting into them. Then she’d pull it apart and drape it over some garlic bread and eat it rolling her eyes and moaning. Too much for me – I finally tried it and it became a favorite treat! Thanks for bringing back that memory! This supposed-to-be-a-snack turned into dinner the other night: We ate so much, we just never got hungry again! I went a little trashy tonight. We’ve been craving something that I used to make all the time when we were young and broke – Tamale Casserole: canned tamales, canned chili and shredded cheese. I hardly make it anymore, but when I do we devour it: The side dish was something called Corn Puppy Casserole: This recipe was from a book called The Black Family Reunion Cookbook. It was published in 1991 by the National Council of Negro Women and has an introduction by Dorothy I. Height. I’ve had it on my wishlist forever and Mr. Kim gave it to me for Christmas this year. It’s a wonderful read. I didn’t actually find many recipes that I wanted to make, but the stories and history make it special. I think that this recipe is the ancestor of that ubiquitous pot luck dish with canned corn, canned creamed corn, Jiffy corn muffin mix, sour cream and butter. And to be perfectly honest, I think that the descendant beats the oldster. This was stodgy and bland and not at all ‘corny’ enough. There is an odd thing about the cookbook. It doesn’t specify brands except for one – Crisco. Every single time that oil or shortening is called for they specify Crisco. There is no mention of it, but I can’t help but believe that Crisco sponsored the book in some way. Plated: I also served another one of those slaw/salad kits: This was the first one we didn’t care for. It was supposed to be bleu cheese and bacon, but the bleu cheese could have been ranch for all the flavor it had and the bacon was nothing but smoke.

Sorry to take so long to get back to you – I was tracking her down. It turns out that she is a food professional. Her name is Brooke Parkhurst and her website is: http://www.brookeparkhurst.com/ Her husband is James Biscione (a chef/instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education and a Chopped winner). They just published a cookbook together and are all over the place – news shows, magazines, etc. Duh. I thought she was just my friend’s friend. Anyway, she was happy to have you do the recipe on your blog. She’s a sweetie pie. Dessert tonight was a sugar-free recipe that a friend wanted me to try out. This happens to me fairly often. Someone will see a recipe and ask me to make it. Does this happen to other people? I think it is flattering, but a little odd. It is one of those dessert ‘salads’ made with Jello products. This one was called Dreamsicle Salad: Jello, pudding mix, SF Cool Whip and canned mandarin oranges. Perfect dessert to go with my trashy main course: It was actually not bad, for a SF dessert. Sometimes it’s nice to have something sweet when you aren’t really supposed to. I did make one really good thing today. The recipe was something that I wanted to try from the Black Family Reunion Cookbook - Benne Seed Wafers: A brown sugar cooky chockfull of sesame seeds. These were super thin and incredibly crisp: Sesame is one of my favorite flavors in the world (except for an inexplicable hatred of sesame oil) and I’ve had savory benne wafers, but I love halvah, so I wanted to give these a try. I’m so glad I did. They are a keeper recipe that I’ll be making again and again.

My question is do how much do they taste like kale? I don't care at all for kale, but I adore sprouts. Teagal?

I wouldn't mind it at all! I share everything! Don't know who to credit, though. My friend, Skip (internet buddy) my know who to credit since I got it from him. Would you like me to ask him? Here's the link to the recipe on my webpage: http://www.recipecircus.com/recipes/Kimberlyn/QuickBreads/Brookes_Banana_Bread.html

Dinner last night was a much better version of the previous night’s debacle. Salad: And just plain old eggs, ham and fried potatoes:

Matthew K – gorgeous cake! Can I ask about the buttercream type and what tip you used? Shelby – peanut and pistachio pie sounds wonderful. RWood – everything looks delicious, but I keep coming back to the caramel popcorn picture! Ann – I’ve never had a butter tart, being down here in the Southern US, but from the recipes I’ve seen, I know that I’d like them. You have more than one butter tart recipe on your blog – which one do you thing I should try first? Snow day yesterday, so of course I had to bake: Brooke’s Banana Bread – a recipe a friend gave me some time ago and still my favorite banana bread.

Shelby – why blah on the chicken and dressing dinner? The chicken looks perfect – nice, crispy skin. Dressing = good. And the sprouts look perfectly done. So why blah? Is it because there was no gravy ? Started dinner last night with a little nibble: Bleu cheese, apples, pears and Triscuits. Should have stopped there . I made a frittata with potatoes, Cheddar and ham: WAY over-cooked. Hard and dry and tasteless. Mr. Kim managed to finish his blanketed with Sriacha: But we both agreed that it was not a successful effort. Served beside green beans with a ginger-sesame dressing. Sigh.

So sorry to hear of this. I always loved her posts. Please pass on my condolences and tell the family that they are in my prayers.

We left all of our Pot Roast leftovers with our friends last week so we decided to have it again Friday night – on noodles: With rolls and green beans: Bite: Sometimes I think that this is why I make Pot Roast – tonight’s dinner: Pot Roast soup – made with all the leftovers and added peas. Served with a packaged salad/slaw mix – kale and cabbage with a creamy onion/citrus dressing and bacon and sunflower seeds: We are really liking these things. They taste good and last for a couple of days when dressed.

Shelby – that cracklin’ cornbread had my jaw hitting the keyboard . I haven’t seen cracklins since pork became “the other white meat”! CP – Don’t worry about coming up to standards. I used to worry about that myself, but others here assured me that the kinds of foods that I cooked were welcome and interesting and ‘worthy’. I have wondered whether I shouldn’t start a “Boring food that I make all the time” thread! I really like seeing both types of cooking. The regular, everyday is interesting to me because WHAT PEOPLE EAT ON A REGULAR BASIS is fascinating, I think. We have such a diverse group here that it makes for really interesting viewing. And the out of this world dishes and techniques that I will probably never attempt are interesting on a different level. I'm impressed with the skill involved and thrilled that folks will make a home meal that surpasses many restaurant meals I've had. Last night was doctored up canned Brunswick stew and tunafish sandwiches:

Darienne and Emmalish – thank you so much for the nice comments! Dave – is your morning bun recipe from Cook’s Country? That’s the one that I’ve tried and I didn’t get the beautiful rise that you got. Those are gorgeous! Ruth – Happy Birthday to you!

Beautiful meal, dcarch! I posted my Valentine's meal on the dinner thread, but it was 'fish-centric' - a NOLA salad with crab and shrimp and rockfish for the main course.

CP – I had to Google “Ants on a Stick” and most of what came up was the American classic “Ants on a Log” (peanut butter on celery – sorry rotuts – with raisins). I finally found the Chinese dish and it sounds really good. On the 13th, we took dinner over to some friends and played cards. Pot roast: With gravy: And green beans: They provided salad and bread. The pot roast was my regular recipe, Ronald Johnson’s Italian Pot Roast, but it was probably the best rendition I’ve ever done. Even their daughter who doesn’t usually like beef in any form except hamburgers was scarfing it up. Valentine’s dinner at home. Place setting: We started off with Galatoire’s (NOLA) Godchaux salad: Iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, NC shrimp, Gulf jumbo lump crab, chopped HB eggs and Cajun mustard vinaigrette. So good and incredibly simple. Main course was rockfish: Just oven roasted with butter, lemon juice, parsley and S&P. With dinner we drank Francis Ford Coppola’s Sofia Reisling: We are not knowledgeable wine drinkers, but we liked it a lot with all the fish. Dessert was a throw together. We’d just come from breakfast when we did the shopping for our dinner and nothing looked appetizing. So we got chocolate croissants, blackberries (even when I’m full, fruit always looks good) and whipped cream: Last night’s dinner was leftover crab and shrimp made into salad, stuffed into some Chicago hot dog buns: Minimalist salad – just a little mayo, lemon juice, parsley and S&P.

I have been wanting to try out the King Arthur No-Knead Harvest Bread since Anna did it last month and tried it last Friday. The recipe calls for a 14-15-inch long lidded stonewear baker, a 9x12-inch oval deep casserole dish with lid or a 9-10-inch round lidded baking crock. I only had a 7x10-inch Schlemmertopf and thought it would be too small. My mother ended up having the larger one and I used that. Turns out it would have been better to use my smaller one. The bread rose properly because it had great texture and flavor, but it was only 2-inches high: Inside: It makes really great toast: Breakfast this morning: Eggs (from a friend’s hens) on wilted spinach, Harvest bread and sausage.