Kim Shook

I may be in the market soon for a new scale (after just having spent $8 on new batteries that still don't make my old one come on ). Are you still liking this scale, Shel? And can you zero it out after putting a bowl or container on it? I use that function a lot when baking. Thanks!

A new problem with the same scale 5 years later (not too bad, I guess). I was unable to get it to turn on at all. So I just put in new (and newly purchased batteries). Still nothing. No readout at all. Any ideas before I email Salter? It's only under warranty for 10 years and I have NO idea when I bought it.

Welcome, Lisa! We lived in Batesville for a few years in the early 1990's. We loved the area and miss it a lot! You will find lots of good advice here if you decide to go the pro route in cooking. We have lots of folks who earn their living in the food business. But there are lots of regular folks who just love to cook, so either way you've found a good place!

gfweb & catpoet – I confess to being one of those Southerners who love ambrosia and marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes (which otherwise taste like….sweet potatoes <shiver> ), but I have NEVER even heard of marshmallows being served on/with an actual bird. Neither has Google. Lots of turkey-shaped cookies/chocolates with marshmallow decorations. I’m wondering if something was lost in the translation ? Scuba – I agree – corn and scallops are a classic and wonderful combination. Nice browning on those scallops! Shelby – I think that you make the best chef salads I’ve ever seen. I don’t dare show them to Mr. Kim or he’d not be satisfied with mine! Mark – incredibly gorgeous BBQ! We’ve eaten all of ours and your picture makes me wish there was more in the fridge! David – just found some short ribs at the store on sale yesterday. I haven’t decided what to do with them yet, but I love how yours look. Soba – castelvetrano are our very favorite olives and the next time that I make green olive tapenade that is what I’m going to use! Norm – fantastic Italian feast! I'm embarrassed to post this meal after all of the lovely things that everyone has posted, but the other night it was Cincinnati chili for dinner. Spaghetti and beans: Chili on top: A blanket of cheese and oyster crackers on the side: Bite: I can’t take credit for the chili – we are lucky enough to have a Kroger in Richmond and they sell Skyline Chili, so I don’t make it myself very often. We always forget how good this meal is.

rotuts – a roast beef sandwich on an onion roll sounds like the perfect breakfast! jvalentino – that frittata is gorgeous! I’ve never made one, but just saw it in a new magazine and wanted to try it. I’ll definitely do it now, having seen yours! Ann – how long were the eggs in your next to last post cooked? They look perfect to me. Father’s Day b’fast: Eggs, sausage and some good nectarines!

Welcome, TIEI! You say you are currently in Japan. Have you lived in other places?

Oh, yes! I'd love to see that. If you are able, post it on the dessert thread here: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/147429-your-daily-sweets-what-are-you-making-and-baking-2014%E2%80%93/page-8

I agree with Andie. Drop biscuits are just biscuit dough that you don't feel like rolling out . They are perfect for having beside eggs and for ladling gravy over, but I find them a little 'unstructured' for sausage biscuits. I have a CI subscription, but can't view the page - are they similar to this ATK recipe: http://www.recipecircus.com/recipes/Kimberlyn/QuickBreads/Cat_Head_Biscuits.html

Gorgeous stuff, Jack!

I don't do the horizontal cut either. I honestly don't need that kind of precision. The layers of onion and the vertical cuts do the job just fine for me.

Welcome, Sal! Sounds like a perfect day - my husband would be in heaven! Can't wait to see your contributions.

Hello, Stuart and welcome to eGullet! I love your part of the world. My husband and I spent a few days in Gloucestershire a couple of years ago and could hardly bear to leave. I look forward to seeing your contributions here!

Jeez, chezcherie! I did that last September and I'm still not in the best shape! Take care of yourself and do your therapy! So sorry this happened to you! We saw it tonight and liked it a lot. It was a private screening - a food bank fund raiser - with lots of area restaurant/food/media types and it got lots of laughs and drooly sounds at all the right moments.

Anna – I do scallops with a miso sauce, but never thought to use it with salmon. I’ll be trying that. We love it and I can afford salmon much more often than scallops! Scamhi – your salmon was lovely, too! I love tzatziki with salmon. Elise – so good to see you here! Lovely meals – all of them, but the short ribs and quiche were my favorites! I learned about those potatoes from Marlene and they are fantastic. One of the best things about them is that you can prepare them ahead to the point of adding the oil and roasting and then roast them at the last minute. Tonight's pre-dinner nibble: Buttermilk bleu and poppy/pepper water biscuits. Dinner: TJ’s Korean ribs, marinated cucumbers, peas, Jasmine rice and corn. Someone here at eG recommended the ribs and they were pretty good. Our grill is out of commission right now (plenty of gas and won’t light), so I broiled them. They were a bit greasy, but I’m sure that on the grill that wouldn’t happen.

Welcome, Jon! Great to have you here and I'm looking forward to seeing your food. I do the majority of our cooking, but my husband smokes, so I'll let him know when you've posted something about that!

arifgph - Welcome! Wow, Bangladesh! I'm not sure we have any members in Bangladesh! Can't wait to hear about your food and cooking. I know that lots of folks here will be interested!

Anna – was there something wrong with the cherry almond loaf? It looks beautiful and I love that combination. Paula – thank you! That means a LOT coming from you!

CatPoet – I love your descriptions! Scuba – gorgeous shrimp! Dinner was salad and spaghetti Bolognese: Mr. Kim also had asparagus: He managed to find fat ones at Fresh Market and I tried peeling the stems for the first time. He loved them and said that he could really taste the difference.

Thank you to everyone for all the lovely comments on the cupcakes. Andie – thank you for the information. I’ll try roughing up the cooky before using an adhesive next time. And I’ll try royal icing, too. merstar – gorgeous brownies!

Welcome, CatPoet! Great to see someone from Sweden! Have fun here. We are a good group and a sense of humor is VERY welcome, you will see!

Ashen – your sunny side up eggs are so lovely! I still do them the way that you taught me when it’s just the two of us (they are a tad hard to manage when you are doing more than a couple at a time). Nakji – your muffins are beautiful. I’m glad you managed to choke them down, in spite of them being too sweet . Ann – eggs in cream….heaven. I am so suggestible. I was reading a book in which someone stopped at a café for a sausage biscuit. I put the book down, came into the house, got biscuits and sausage out of the freezer and made breakfast: Sometimes you gotta be TOLD what you want. I just wish all my culinary whims could be so easily satisfied.

Anna – I could not agree more – when you don’t know what you want, you can never go wrong with eggs on toast! Mark – thanks so much! I showed the site to Mr. Kim and we lost him for a couple of hours! Good stuff, he says. And I thought they were tiny Brussels sprouts, too. Patrick – that chicken, rice and cucumber dinner is just the perfect meal. Especially for summer. Norm – please tell Cassie thank you for the information. I went to her FB page. She is very talented! Soba – the Spaghetti con salsa di pomodoro is lovely and fresh! I can almost taste it. Shelby – lovely bugs! I would sit right up to either of those meals. Seafood enchiladas !!!! huiray – beautiful spring rolls. Love the sound of the filling. On Saturday, Mr. Kim spent all day smoking pork butt for our church potluck Sunday. So for dinner, he put some kielbasa on the smoker and I prepped some raw vegetables and opened a sleeve of crackers to go on the side: And for dessert I sliced a peach: For some reason Food Lion is again this year getting the best stone fruit in town. I’ve shopped at most of the other grocery stores and they don’t have anything approaching the quality at FL. This has happened for the past 3 or 4 years. Truly ripe, juicy, sweet and not a bit mushy. Bye-bye apples and bananas! Sunday was the potluck. Mr. Kim did the BBQ and I did the slaw. His took 12 hours and mine took 8 minutes (I adore my Vitamix). Look at that smoke ring: Ready to pile in the buns: With some slaw: I made an Aaron Franklin BBQ sauce to go with the sandwiches. It was an authentic recipe, because I actually saw him make it on youtube, but it really wasn’t very interesting. I made another one purported to be his a month or so ago and found that one way too heavy on the cumin (I’m not wild about cumin). I think I’m going to have to do some more experimenting. Or just keep buying Bull’s Eye !

Paula – I love the look of that blueberry cheesecake! It just screams summer. Shuba – I love the little meringue puffs on your lemon tart. They look lovely – sorry they didn’t ‘work’ for you. Your oven sounds like a real pain. I can’t believe that you get such great stuff from it! I volunteered to make cupcakes for a graduation party for our neighbor’s daughter. My BIL, who knows me so well, had sent me pictures of some cupcakes that looked like high heels he’d seen somewhere. So I gave it a try. It was easier than I feared and I was happy with how they turned out. The possibilities are endless! Naked cupcakes: Pretty nicely domed. I like big domes on my cupcakes and found a trick online – you fill the cups 2/3 full and preheat the oven to 400, lowering to 350 when you put the pan in the oven. Not perfect, but better. Milano cookies as the sole. You carve out a little half-moon on one edge of the top of the cupcake, dip one end of the cooky into candy melts at an angle and prop them up for a bit: Those little pieces in front are Pirouette cookies that will become the heels. The heels attached: Close up: This was where I had my only problem. On some of the shoes, even after sitting for 1/2 hour, the join between the bottom of the ‘sole’ and the melted candy melts came loose. It stuck perfectly to the cut end of the ‘heel’ and I’m thinking that it is because the end of the ‘heel’ is rough and the surface of the Milano that makes the ‘sole’ is smooth. There is nothing on the Milano to ‘hold onto’. I was thinking that next time it might be a good idea to rough up that area a bit with the end of a knife or something. Or maybe use another adhesive? Any suggestions? Almost finished: The color theme was pink and gold. So pink frosting with pale pink sprinkles and gold dragées. This is the first design option: Fondant flower, painted with gold luster dust and a little candy flower. We decided that the flower was too vibrant, so the final product is just the fondant flower: My mom said I shouldn’t show these to anyone because I’ll be inundated with orders for every birthday, shower and girlie party given! Hope not since I spent all of last evening with my hand in the heating pad !

A big Welcome from me, too, Cecilia! Have fun here - we are a pretty good bunch. Very diverse, so no matter what you are interested in, there is bound so be someone interested in the same thing!

Soba – the fish and pea potage dish is just lovely. Your photography is just getting better and better! Anna – that noodle soup looks delicious. I wish I could think what to do with all the seasoning packets I discard! I toss at least half of one every time I use the noodles! Ninagluck – those lamb shanks and potatoes look wonderful. Would you share the potato recipe? Shelby – great minds (see below). But yours is MUCH prettier than mine. And I didn’t think of it early enough to have the oh-so-necessary boiled eggs! Norm – Cassie decorates a heck of a cake! Would you mind asking her for a quick explanation of her method (including which decorating tip she used)? Dejah – that chicken soup looks really good. And I had to laugh at your mosquito appetizer. Last night I posted on FB that I have so many mosquito bites that shaving my legs has become hazardous . Ann – ooooooohhhh! French dip . My favorite sandwich in all the world. I have NO hope of getting such fabulous bread here, but would you share your jus method? Bruce – your fish and rice dish looks gorgeous. And now that I can eat rice, I’m not nearly as jealous! Mark – fantastic smoke ring. Mr. Kim is ready to tackle brisket again and you’ve made me hungry for it. Dinner last night was a chef salad, some cream of shrimp soup that my mother made and toasted pumpernickel: