Kim Shook

Dinner last night was just salad and spaghetti – the sauce was another freezer find:

Okanagancook – that crackling is incredibly gorgeous! I remember when grocery store pork roasts had nice fat caps and my dad and I would argue over the cracklings! Ann – your Kaiser rolls and fries look especially delicious. I’m fasting for bloodwork in the morning and those two things are what stopped me cold. I am a fool for carbs! David – the picture of the crab gratin just did me in. Can I please have the recipe? I’ll do whatever I have to do to find the crab! rotuts – I like your ravioli in broth. I do buy the prepared ones, but never thought to use them like that. I’ll be giving that a try. gfweb – I’d like to hear more about your chicken salad. I am crazy about most versions and that sounds and looks really good. We decorated our tree the other night and went with Mr. Kim’s family tradition – two fondues: Vat o’ Béarnaise, horseradish sauce, BBQ sauce and steak sauce. The only thing that I made from scratch is the horseradish sauce. I also did tiny little steamed potatoes, but no picture. Vegetables and dips. Pickly stuff. Good chewy sourdough. Dessert was, as customary, chocolate fondue. Didn’t take a picture of the actual fondue – it was melted chocolate – but the dippers were: Pound cake, marshmallows and coconut macaroons. Dried fruit. Bananas and maraschino cherries. Last night was breakfast for dinner – Benton’s bacon, egg and cheese biscuits and pan fried potatoes (left over from our fondue dinner): Pears, apples and tangerines: We ordered the fruit from Florida through our niece – school fundraiser. The apples were fine and the citrus good. But the pears were amazing. Tender and firm and fragrant and juicy. The perfect pear. I wish our stores got those.

Andie – I’d really love to have that bratwurst recipe! My panini maker is wonderful and I love using it. I adore my Vitamix. I have a pressure cooker that I’ve used a few times. An electric deep fryer – I’ve been dying for fish and chips for the past month, but can’t face digging it out. They are all in the attic and I don’t use them as often as I’d like because getting them out is such a PITA. I have a very small kitchen, very little storage and almost no counter space. I have to use the attic as an extremely inconvenient butler’s pantry. I’d love to use these more often and my New Year’s resolution is to organize the attic so that they are more accessible. I have a wonderful apple peeler that would be wonderful to use since I have arthritis in both hands, but it latches to a table top and I don’t have a proper place to latch it to, so it lives in the attic, too. Mr. Kim won a fantastic juicer in a radio contest and I use it maybe once a year to make Granny Smith ice. The electric knife that I have is useless. The base is designed in such a way that the hand holding it slides forward while slicing. But it is in the living room closet! I bought a pasta machine for myself a couple of years ago. Never got it out of the box. I have NO idea why – I love fresh pasta, it is easy to make, etc.

Hungry Caterpillar cake that I made for my nieces’ baby shower:

Hi, Julie! Welcome. What brought you to eG?

Welcome! I love seeing international member and I'm looking forward to your posts!

Welcome! Looking forward to seeing your posts!

Chiming in late, but I love the homemade bread and think Suzi's idea of including toast dope with instructions is wonderful. Personally my favorite basket is the one that includes the cat.

Norm – I haven’t ever browned the slow cooker turkey. But then I always make it the day before. I slice it, put it in a zip bag with a little stock and refrigerate. The next day, I put it all in a slow cooker and reheat on low for a couple of hours. Shelby – gorgeous dinner! I could make a meal of any one of those dishes! Oyster dressing!!! And I love carbs with carbs. Our Thanksgiving meal consisted of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dressing, corn pudding and rolls. I just wish someone had brought mac and cheese ! Anna – I JUST saw that marmalade and bacon sandwich on “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” on the Food Network and thought it looked so good. And I have no doubt whatsoever that it beats kale all to hell. Smells better too, I’d reckon . Dinner tonight started with salad: Then, a nice freezer gift – cheese soufflés: These are such great things to have in the freezer! Just 35-40 minutes in the oven straight from the freezer and you have a wonderful meal. With crackers, ham and Swiss and Cheddar:

Ann & Norm – I enjoy the ease of my slow cooker turkey breast and it certainly tastes great, but I do love the look of a whole roasted turkey (and I miss that fabulous skin!!!). Just lovely! Mr. Kim opted for a chef salad tonight: The eggs were from a co-worker who has chickens and were so enormous that they still weren’t completely hard boiled 18 minutes after covering and taking off the heat! I had the meal that makes all the work for Thanksgiving worthwhile: Hot turkey sandwich !

Thanks for the gravy love. To me it is the most important part of a turkey dinner. Yep - that's neck meat. I always search out turkey necks to make my stock with. My turkey gravy is a two-day process - I make it ahead of time and freeze it so that I don't have to mess with it on the day of.

dcarch – now, that is my kinda nigiri! Smoked salmon. What a genius idea. I am not at all a raw fish eater, but smoked is fantastic! Tonight we started with salads: And celery and pimento cheese: Noodles and beef: Just leftover pot roast and gravy. But very good!

We did Thanksgiving this year at Jessica’s again - a bit of a potluck affair. Starters – Liptauer cheese and pumpernickel loaf: Relish tray and pimento cheese: Turkey breast: You know, it’s funny – when I used to roast a whole turkey, it was good and folks seemed to enjoy it. But for the last few years, to save having to do it the day of, I’ve been cooking a breast in the slow cooker the day before, slicing it, refrigerating it and heating it up on the day with some stock. And they rave! “How moist, how tasty!” Seems like I’ve lazied myself into the perfect turkey! Baked Sour Cream Potatoes: Jessica’s Corn Pudding: Jessica’s wonderful Challah and dried fruit dressing: Jessica’s fantastic sweet potato latkes with Brie and arugula (dressed with a lemon/olive oil vinaigrette: THE gravy: Plated: Mr. Kim’s apple cake: One of nieces, who couldn’t join us this year sent this beautiful and delicious pecan pie:

Thanks, Anna. The magnet did stick to the bowl that I used. So it isn't aluminum. So I still don't know why my curd tasted metallic.

Anna – thanks for the potato information. I’m looking forward to trying them. Last night was pot roast sandwich, sweet potato and slaw: The sandwiches ended up being so sloppy that we ate them with a knife and fork!

The lemons were brand new and very fresh, so I don't think that would be the case. Is there some way of telling if a bowl is aluminum or SS? The color of the curd was perfect.

I am really not sure if the bowl is aluminum or SS. I bought it over 20 years ago at a Dollar General and it is VERY light. Maybe just use glass next time?

Dave – gorgeous morning buns! Yours look a lot flakier than my experiment turned out! The last time I posted I forgot to say thanks to everyone for the kind words about my bake sale items! Dream cookies (a rich butter cooky) for a party at Mr. Kim’s office:

Anna – your potato roesti is gorgeous! What’s your method? Ann – thank you for the Greek shanks information. It sounds simple and delicious! I’ll give it a try the next time we have shanks! Your Yorkshire pudding raises another question: what do you bake it in to get that shape? I love the idea of a Yorkie bowl! CatPoet – I hope you are feeling better soon! c oliver – that is definitely the perfect crab cake recipe. Having grown up on the Eastern shore and spending summer weekends with a family who had once owned a big seafood restaurant in DC, I am VERY conservative when it comes to crab cakes. As soon as I see bell peppers in the recipe, it is automatically discarded. Dinner tonight: Chicken Pillows w/ hollandaise, green beans with vinaigrette and corn. Working down the freezer in preparation for Xmas. This is just one of the trashiest dinners imaginable. The chicken pillows are a Pinterest recipe calling for Pillsbury Crescent rolls and Cream of Chicken soup. The hollandaise is a mix. The beans are canned and the corn is frozen niblets in ‘butter’ sauce. I can’t believe that I dare even post this meal. And I’m not even sick anymore !

Some early Christmas cooking – SF Pecans w/ Quattre Epices for a gift for my FIL: Cinnamon Pecans:

I made lemon curd last night to use up the yolks that I had left after making multiple batches of nuts. I am detecting a very slight metallic taste (though Mike isn't). I made it in an improvised double boiler - an aluminum mixing bowl set over simmering water - and whisked with a metal whisk. I've never noticed this problem before. Has this happened to anyone else, or is my 'taster' messed up?

The quattre epices recipe I found included white pepper, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. I used that and Splenda on some pecans and it was perfect. Melissa - I was actually at Penzeys yesterday and they had 3 different types of cinnamon. They really are different, too. Since I was using just a tiny little amount in another candied nut that I was making for him, I didn't bother buying the less fragrant kind, but it was a good idea that I'll remember!

BonVivant - gorgeous sausage and pork dinner! David – I can vouch for that cannelloni! You very kindly typed out and sent me that recipe SEVEN years ago and I’ve made it repeatedly to rave reviews. I need to make sure that I make it this winter! I also use egg roll wrappers. One of the BEST kitchen hacks in the world. dcarch – love the line-up of vegetables and meat! Those charred parsnips look especially delicious! Patrick – good LORD those baked beans look amazing. That is a whole meal in one bowl. Ann – please tell what makes those gorgeous lamb shanks Greek! I love lamb and Greek seasonings and I’d like to try that. Dinner tonight was a freezer meal – some Cincinnati chili that I made a couple of months ago and some slaw I threw together:

I couldn't find a topic about using nuts to make snack mixes, so I'm starting one. An experiment for sugar free nuts for my FIL for Xmas: A friend on another site suggested that I make Dorie’s Sweet and Spicy Cocktail nuts. I did them with Splenda and they are delicious – sugar, chili powder, cinnamon and cayenne. They are going into the freezer for Christmas.

Jeremy, welcome and congratulations on the CIA! Can't wait to see your contributions and hope you have time to play with us here!