Kim Shook

Rotuts – I haven’t tried LOW pressure for eggs in the IP. I do them in the little rack and with one cup of water. When I’m not being lazy, I also do the ice water bath. How long at LOW pressure? I usually do 5 minutes on HIGH and do a quick release. Thank you! This morning:

We have a few decent Asian markets down here, but nothing like H Mart. Jessica and I stopped in at one in Northern VA and were SO bowled over. It was the first time we'd been in one and this was one with an incredible food court (including a French patisserie). We went twice in 3 days! We've vowed to never go up without a cooler and dry ice!

@liamsaunt -how does one qualify as both a red meat eater and a non-meat eater in your household? Because I want both the short ribs and the Boursin stuffed chicken cutlet! @Marlene – gorgeous roast meal! Happy Birthday to your son! Wasn’t sure where to post this, but since it will eventually be a part of a dinner…A few days ago I cut up a rib roast that I had in the freezer for our Tree Trimming fondue dinner and made stock with the scraps. Into the CSO: All roasted and into the IP for 2 hours plus a manual release: Seven cups of good stock: Dinner that night was from an Iraqi place that Mr. Kim hadn’t yet been to (Jessica and I had). I was craving Middle Eastern food, so we chose this place. Mr.Kim had the chicken tika with Iraqi bread and tabbouleh: The sauces he chose were amba (according to Wikipedia: “It is a tangy mango pickle condiment of Indian-Jewish origin. It is typically made of pickled green mangoes, vinegar, salt, turmeric, chili and fenugreek. It is somewhat similar to savoury mango chutneys”) and a spicy Iraqi sauce. This was lovely – the vegetables were perfectly cooked, and the white-meat chicken was so juicy. I got the Iraqi kabab (beef and lamb) with Iraqi bread, falafel, and jajeek (kind of like tzatziki) with garlic sauce for dipping: I hadn’t had the kabab before and it was excellent. Last night was just kind of a grab bag of what we had on hand, plus Mr. Kim stopping on the way home at Lidl for a baguette: Cheeses: Havarti, Cheddar, and Murray’s Roth Kase buttermilk blue. The salami is from Lidl. A really perfect pear and some honey-fig spread and horseradish mustard. Cut up veg because you gotta have some greens: (and reds and oranges 😁).

Bonv – I’d love to try both your “snails” and the quark balls. Kennetht – I’ve been craving dumplings since sampling one at Costco the other day. I’m quite sure yours were MUCH better! A couple of days ago: Very boring looking rice and chicken, but quite good and exactly what I wanted.

Yesterday: Scrambled eggs and biscuits leftover from a Popeyes dinner we had a couple of nights ago. I screwed up doing the weekly hard cooked eggs in the IP and ended up with the most lovely, tender textured eggs: I put the lid on without the sealing ring in. It never sealed, of course, and the water just boiled away. I don’t even know how long it was heating – I forgot all about it and when I walked through the kitchen, I noticed an odd smell and saw that the readout said, “burn”. I will, of course, never be able to repeat this on purpose 😄 (and wouldn't try). This morning: Toasted what was left of a Lidl baguette from dinner last night.

This is why I love when restaurants ask the question: "Have you ever been here before?". Then, if I haven't, they can explain things like that.

I've always bought the sardines with skin and bones intact, but recently opened a tin that have been in my cupboard for almost a year (they were in my stocking last Christmas!). It was a tin of very cheap Bumble Bee skinless, boneless sardines. I was surprised at the delicate, subtle flavor and would definitely buy them again. I guess I like both now.

Between @Ann_T's hen and @dcarch’s and @scamhi’s chickens, I am seriously craving some roasted chicken. I don’t have confidence that I can get one as gorgeous as those three, though! Calamity Jane strikes again 🙄. On Wednesday, the swelling from my injured foot was not getting better and was actually starting to affect my calf and thigh so my cardiologist sent me for an ultrasound. On my way through the hospital after the US, I stumbled and fell FLAT on the floor. HARD. I managed to avoid hitting my face, but every other part of the front of me is in pain – elbows, shoulders, chest, forearms, knees – even my stomach! Once again, I couldn’t manage dinner and we ended up at our favorite Chinese place. Wonton soup and dumplings: Mr. Kim had the Mu Shu pork: And I had the shrimp with lemon sauce: Jessica and I drove over to Staunton to pick up some of @Jim D.'s lovely chocolates that my MIL ordered from him. We thought we were going right back after lunch, but she got a surprise visit from someone who is getting one of the boxes for Christmas, so she asked us to delay coming by. We could have just driven back to Richmond and gone to our house, but what fun is THAT😁? We stopped at a couple of favorite shops/antique places and then it was almost dinner time. Our favorite restaurant in Charlottesville is a Central American place called Al Carbon and our family finds it impossible to leave Charlottesville without stopping there. We really weren’t all that hungry, so we shared about half of a rotisserie chicken cemita and elote: Oaxaca cheese, chicken, ham, avocado. Incredibly good, as always. I never understand how they get such good corn this time of year.

@blue_dolphin – I’ve saved the recipe for the sweet potatoes. Mr. Kim and Jessica will love them, I think. It looks to me that you used pepitas rather than peanuts. Is that right? Yours looks better than the original! Tuesday: Bologna and cheese on toast w/ pretzels. Yesterday Jessica and I went over to Staunton VA to pick up some of @Jim D.'s gorgeous chocolates that my MIL had ordered. We had lunch at Wright’s (same place as our last Staunton trip – a classic 1950s burger and soda fountain place): I was the one who went rogue and got the fish sandwich and it was surprisingly good. The chili needed more seasoning but tasted homemade. I forgot I’m not supposed to eat chili. The standout was, of course, the onion rings which I would drive to Staunton to get once a week.

@blue_dolphin - what a smart and delicious way to use up cranberry sauce. I'll remember that next time I have some leftover. This morning: Bacon butty and a mandarin orange.

Some friends gave him a gift card for his birthday and that was his haul. But he does order for us separately from having a gift card, too 😁!

Welcome to eG, @Safira! Always nice to see another Southerner join in. I'd love to hear a bit about yourself and where your interests lie. I'm looking forward to your contributions!

Well, you are "officially" welcome to eG. I completely understand - I lurked for probably a year before I finally joined. I felt like I knew everyone, but it was weird that they didn't know me 😄! Since you are already familiar, jump right in and share with us!

Hello, @akbarjan, and welcome to eG! Whereabouts in the world are you "visiting" from?

Nuts.com is Mr. Kim's kryptonite. We always seem to have a grocery bag full of assorted bags of goodies. Right now it's chocolate covered cashews, corn nuts, sesame sticks, figs, apricots, and Jordan almonds!

I always enjoy this so much and wish that I could some time at the Shelby & Ronnie B&B! Your house looks lovely and the food, as always, delicious. I haven't had one of those dried beef balls in years and I need to fix that.

@Dr. Teeth – I rediscover that fun fact about Cope’s every time I plan to make it. I think I’ve actually only cooked it a couple of times because of that. Lovely looking meals, folks! Thanksgiving dinner at my MIL’s: Turkey: This was the turkey that we got a picture of at 1pm – cooked and stuffed and sitting on the counter. We ate it at 6 – FIVE hours later. My niece’s poor boyfriend got the job of carving and ended up with a pile of shreds and crumbles. Cranberry sauce: Corn pudding: Green beans, turkey, dressing, stuffing, gravy, and corn: Sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes: I missed getting pictures of the pies – pecan, apple, and pumpkin. The pecan and apple were sublime. My MIL said that she messed up the pumpkin and Mr. Kim quietly agreed.

Thanksgiving breakfast while watching the parade and the dog show was a biscuits, gravy, sausage and eggs casserole. Cut up whomp biscuits: Breakfast sausage: Shredded Cheddar: Beaten eggs and milk: Added the gravy and baked: Serving: With sliced apples and clementines: This morning: Jessica was entrusted with making my MIL’s wonderful yeast rolls for the family Thanksgiving dinner this year. She did a wonderful job and with a few minutes of Bake/Steam in the CSO this morning they made a good breakfast.

Apologizing in advance for this endless post – it’s been so long since I’ve posted in the dinner thread! I have been dropping in and seeing everyone’s lovely meals, but I have a few that I want to particularly mention. @weinoo – your Gambas al Ajilo is one of the most delicious things I’ve seen. @Shelby – that gorgeous venison sauce over your pasta is just fantastic looking. I’m SO missing tomato sauce! @Dejah – that marathon of meals looked and sounded wonderful. Too bad about the corned beef, though. @Duvel – please explain raw Potato Knödel? I’m assuming you mean from raw potatoes (not already cooked ones) that are made into dumplings and then cooked? I have to be right. Right? And, good Lord, that porkfest! That unctuous sausage and even the KALE looked amazing. @Marlene – I adore your beef stroganoff and have made it so many times! @Tropicalsenior – I’d love that sweet mustard recipe! We’re planning on ham for Xmas eve and I haven’t been satisfied with any sauce I’ve made to got with it. @liuzhou – so great to see you cooking again. And that tenderloin looked delicious. I’m doing my Calamity Jane impression this Fall – an upper respiratory infection early October, bronchitis after that for 2 weeks and then a couple of weeks ago I crashed my ankle into the pointy end of a rocking chair rail. My entire foot has decided to swell up and turn into a virtual kaleidoscope of purples and blacks and lavenders. I’m supposed to be spending most of my time with my foot elevated, so I’m not doing a lot of cooking. If I owe you a PM, please forgive me! I promise I’ll get to them, but I’m having to limit the time I am at the computer since it means I have to sit up and not have my foot elevated! Dinners going back a while! Caesar salad with the Geoffrey Zakarian white anchovy Caesar dressing: and Miso-Teriyaki salmon with stir fried bean sprouts and rice: Some green would not have gone amiss with the sprouts, but I’d used all of that on a previous meal. The sauce for them was one that Jessica found on Instagram: oyster sauce, soy, sugar, white pepper, and cornstarch. The salmon tasted great, but was undercooked for me. Mr. Kim and Jessica thought it was perfect. Another night Mr. Kim brought home Thai from our favorite place. We shared their fantastic crab Rangoon: Mr. Kim and Jess both had curries – Jessica had the Massaman and Mr. Kim the red curry (American hot). I had their delicious shrimp and pineapple fried rice: We met our old neighbors for dinner one night at our local Chinese place. We shared the scallion pancake (new on the menu): It was obviously house made and very good. We also shared a Pu-Pu platter: Good as always. I got the Mu Shu pork (minus the mushrooms): The others got the chickens and string beans: …the orange beef: …and the Hunan pork: I’d been craving porcupine meatballs for a long time and now that I have to watch my potassium, I probably should avoid them. So, I searched online and found a recipe for them with brown gravy instead of tomato sauce. Served on egg noodles with broccoli: They were…ok. The rice (actually a package of Rice A Roni) didn’t get really tender and the sauce (a packet of brown gravy mix) wasn’t great. I’ve found another recipe that uses cooked rice and beef stock and I’m planning to try that and see if they are better. And a salad for Mr. Kim: Another night Mr. Kim was craving Mexican. Tableside guacamole: Which I sometimes find a tad overwrought, but they do it so well and don’t make a big to-do over it. Jessica had the fried shrimp tacos: I got the taco and burrito combo: And Mr. Kim got his usual enchilada supreme: Last week I did SV pork chops which had been rubbed with Penzey’s Ozark seasoning blend before being sealed. Mr. Kim’s plate with corn, steamed potatoes, and orange sweet rolls: I don’t know if it’s a southern thing, or a regional thing or just a Shook thing, but we love sweet rolls with pork: These are just Pillsbury whomp rolls, but we always fondly remember the long-gone restaurant in Richmond that brought a bucket of house made ones to the table with your ribs and fried chicken. I also served a salad and some good apple sauce we got at the apple orchard in Charlottesville a couple of weeks ago. A dinner of freezer and leftover food - mini quiche, potatoes, and yellow squash: Good, but not terribly satisfying. We were looking for a snack an hour later. More satisfying was this meal: Cheeseburgers with muenster and American cheeses, broccoli with cheese sauce (Velveeta), and rice. Friday was breakfast for dinner – leftover breakfast casserole from Thanksgiving morning: Whomp biscuits, sausage, cheese, eggs, cream gravy (packaged). And raw vegetables from the crudité plate I took to my MIL’s on Thanksgiving: No one but us touched it. So we have a lot of vegetables. Night before last – salad and sardines and saltines (very alliterative meal): Last night Jessica accidentally used Bake/Steam to cook some bao buns instead of Steam and didn’t want them, so that was dinner for me: They still tasted good to me.

I'm with your husband, @MaryIsobel! I finally tried Spam (when she heard I'd never tasted it, @suzilightning sent me a package of it - one of the many things she sent over the years ❤️) and I didn't care for it at all. The flavor was ok, but no matter how hard a sear I put on a slice, it was mushy and, to me, just an unpleasant texture. Canned corned beef, on the other hand, I grew up on. Sliced and fried in butter, it was a cheap, rich and tasty alternative breakfast meat. I don't try to pretend it has much of a relation to actual corned beef, but I really do like the rich salty BEEFINESS of it. 😁

We just received a photo from my MIL of her stuffed, cooked turkey sitting on her kitchen counter a full FIVE HOURS before we’ll be eating. 😱 Pray for me. and…HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I think I got in the Way Back machine for lunch the other day. College-style ramen (Soy sauce flavor - just as it comes) and a bologna and mustard sandwich:

Yep! Such a perfect combination - warm eggs, melty butter, shards of sea salt and freshly ground pepper!

@Senior Sea Kayaker – we bought our first of the season bag of clementines this week. They are really good this year. @blue_dolphin – that hash brown egg dish looks amazing. @Kerala – that exact egg on toast is one of my top breakfasts! On Saturday, we went across the river to a bakery that Jessica had heard of and wanted to go to. Called Di Gennaro, it’s a tiny Latin-American place with a surprisingly varied menu: sandwiches, pastries, empanadas, etc. Our savories: From the upper left: ham, cheese, & pineapple, cheese bread, fried steak, and ham & cheese. In the middle is a wonderful tangy chimichurri. The ham, cheese, and pineapple: The cheese bread: The steak: Our sweets: From up right: the Vigilante (custard and fruit paste on a crisp croissant), Nutella, and dulce de leche. Close up of the dulce de leche: While we were eating, they brought out a fresh bunch of alfajores, which we couldn’t resist: Every single thing was delicious. I just wish they weren’t so far away. Yesterday I was doing eggs in the IP for the week and took the opportunity to have a couple of hot, buttery hard cooked eggs: This morning: