Kim Shook

At one point I had THREE copies of 'Ratio'. I have so many cookbooks, spread out all over the house that I could't find it and put it on my Amazon wish list - TWICE!

I love that you and your granddaughter IM about food!

Ever have one of those weird nights where leftovers didn’t get used as quickly as you anticipated and what you planned to cook can’t be refrozen and needs to be cooked? That was me tonight. So we ended up having basically TWO meals to choose from tonight. I used the last of the pot roast leftovers to make soup: Then with the thawed cube steak, I did smothered cube steak, rice and green beans: Very similar meals and LOTS of carbs .

I'd love to have the crunchy one, too, please ma'am!

emmalish - beautiful cookies! Especially the Valentine's heart cookies. I've been on a quest to find a sugar cooky that will hold it's edges when cooked and these sound perfect. I've printed the recipe and can't wait to try them. Your decoration is lovely, too!

Bruce – those Camarones a la pimiento look great. I’ll bet if I did them with roasted jalapenos, I could eat them! Would you mind directing me to a recipe? Shelby – that pastrami is fantastic looking! I’m totally impressed. Ann – both of those turkey dishes look outstanding. Open-faced hot turkey sandwiches are a particular weakness of mine. And I could eat that prime rib dinner once a week forever. Well, except for the peas…you could keep them . Basquecook – are those crispy sprouts roasted? I love the crusty edges. Franci – that deep fried snapper looks so great. I really need to try that method sometime. Kay – love your pork chop dinner! German potato salad !!! Aren’t you the one who shares my dislike of regular potato salad? gfweb – arancini look perfect. Plantes Vertes – I can vouch for Ann’s corn custard. It is a favorite in the Shook household. Night before last I made CI’s Simple Pot Roast from their 20th Anniversary All-Time Best Recipes publication: For years, I’ve made what we think is the world’s best pot roast. It’s called Italian Pot Roast and it’s from Ronald Johnson’s book Simple Fare. I’ve wanted to find an alternate beefier recipe for a while now. We still love the Italian pot roast, but occasionally want something different. This was really good and pretty easy to make. I’ll add more garlic next time, though. Served with parsley noodles, Brussels sprouts and Parker House rolls: Last night the pot roast leftovers made great French dips: Served with green beans, baked potatoes and, for Mr. Kim and Jessica, mushrooms:

I think the Crunchwrap sounds good - I'll probably give that a try. The idea of syrup and eggs touching is completely gross to me, so no waffle. Hardees is the only decent fast food breakfast in my area. Their biscuits are good and their sausage actually tastes like the kind I cook instead of some pre-cooked and frozen patty. It would be nice to have an alternative to Hardees for a quick breakfast.

What gfweb said. And, honestly, does anyone believe that half the host on Food Network say 'marscapone' because that's how its pronounced in their region? Is there a regional variety of pronunciations of mascarpone in the US?

Completely agree (in large part because we live in more or less the same place, and disagreeing would force me never to say "earl" again). The thing that bugs me is not regional variation, but incorrectness due to ignorance. If you want to say "mask-are-poan" instead of mascarpone, be my guest. Just don't say "marsk-a-poan", because then you sound illiterate. Thanks, Mike. This is more what I meant, but couldn't seem to get to! I am from the southern US and I have lots of words that I pronounce in a southern way: oil, mayonnaise, etc. I'm not going to change and neither should anyone else. AND I was really making the point about food professionals who are in a position to inform and show us something possibly new and unknown, not about US !

Food show hosts, while not necessarily chefs are supposed to be food professionals - especially if they actually COOK on the shows. So why is there so much mispronunciation? "Vinegar-ette" for "vinaigrette" "Marscapone" for "mascarpone" "carmel" for "caramel" (my own person bugaboo - literally makes me scream at the TV - especially when it is said by a so-called pastry chef. I know there are MANY more - these are just the ones that I've noticed in the last couple of days. I get that we all mispronounce things - even in our own area of expertise. But these shows have producers and directors and researchers. Are they all ignorant? Don't care (of course I am ranting about the Food Network - I know they don't care about cooking or teaching)? Too busy to do things properly? I'm not just ranting. I know there are food professionals here at eG and I'd really like to know why this happens on TV.

For the same reason you're keeping the useless silicone whisk that flings sauces all over the kitchen when you try to use it? Why keep either? Thank you! It's going back to Wms-Sonoma this week and the useless one to Goodwill! I'll get one of my beloved silicone spoonulas!

I have a few of the basic metal balloon whisks in a couple of sizes. Also a rigid plastic one shaped like the one all the way to the right in Kerry's original post. I have a tiny one that I use to stir hot chocolate. I have one useless silicone one (not silicone over metal) that flings sauces all over the kitchen when I try to use it. My dad gave me this one for Christmas: http://www.kitchenandcompany.com/kitchen-tools/cooking-utensils/whisks/_/Mini-Saucinator-Whisk?tc=gfs13&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=Norpro%20Mini%20Saucinator%20Whisk&gclid=CIuNg8er1rwCFW1nOgoddGoAMg. I was planning to return it. Can anyone tell me why I should keep it?

Here's the link, Shelby: http://www.recipecircus.com/recipes/Kimberlyn/SOUPSandSTEWS/Momma39s_Vegetable_Soup.html Be warned that it is mostly just a list of ingredients. And, though my mother uses no stock, I usually like to use chicken stock to thin it out. I like the flavor better with more than just water and tomatoes.

Bruce – your chicken with ginger sounds like something that I’d like a lot! Basquecook – could you please explain ‘golden egg potatoes’? They look delicious. Shelby – my house was very impressed with your egg rolls, soup and fried rice. I can make pretty good soup and rice, but I’ve never had any luck with egg rolls! Good job! Huiray – we also loved your wontons! So beautifully formed. Robirdstx – were those Trader Joe Korean ribs frozen? Franci – that mondeghili sounds and looks delicious. I’ve never heard of that, so I looked it up and found a recipe that I hope to make when I have two good hands again! That’s the kind of thing that makes me love eG. Ann – that pizza looks just perfect. I doubt my ability to produce such a pie and there is no restaurant near me that could either. gfweb – love the potstickers. I seem to be gravitating to Asian today. Time for a trip to my favorite Chinese restaurant, I think. A quick trip through our Valentine’s dinner - Roasted shrimp and olive-y pickle-y stuff: Mini pitas, toasted baguette rounds, hummus with lemon, pâté de champagne and duck liver pâté with Port: Cheese plate: From 12 o’clock: Hervé Mons le Chartreux, Fabes Fontal Qtrs Lombardia, Cypress Grove Midnight Moon (an old favorite) and Cabot 3 year cheddar (another favorite – we get it at Costco and think it is a really superior cheddar). Brie, chunked up and put under the broiler until soft and warm and topped with a little bit of fig preserves: Salad: Champagne and some silly little cupcakes from the Fresh Market bakery: Because of expected snow, I wasn’t sure that I would be able to get out on Friday to get some really good dessert pastry so I shopped on Wednesday. I figured that the cupcakes would hold up for a couple of days. My mother made vegetable soup yesterday: I served it with old school grilled cheese: White bread and American cheese .

Shel_B – lucky Toots! Those chocolates, that meal and The Thin Man! My kind of night. Shelby – I haven’t ever made those lava cakes either. I even have a special lava cake Pampered Chef pan. Your dinner looked wonderful. Do you know, I’ve never tasted King crab. David – I’d love to know how you make those Brussels sprouts. They are my favorite green vegetable. Robirdstx – your gender based meals made me giggle and remember a conversation with my daughter. She was telling me that her solo Valentine’s meal was a great steak, baked potato and red wine. I was teasing her and saying that she was such a ‘guy’! Basquecook – astonishing. I am so freaking impressed with what you all accomplish. Teagal – I agree, that appetizer sounds oddly sweet. Dcarch – I wish we’d have had some of that beautiful smoked salmon with our Valentine’s meal. And I LOVE clam pizza. I love Valentine’s day. We even decorate for it usually – not this year with all of the recovering that we are doing! We didn’t want to take a chance on a restaurant this year, having had less than great experiences in the past. With me still in a wrist/hand brace and it being a working day for Mr. Kim, we decided on mostly no-cook pick up items. Roasted shrimp and olive-y pickle-y stuff: Mini pitas, toasted baguette rounds, hummus with lemon, pâté de champagne and duck liver pâté with Port: Cheese plate: From 12 o’clock: Hervé Mons le Chartreux, Fabes Fontal Qtrs Lombardia, Cypress Grove Midnight Moon (an old favorite) and Cabot 3 year cheddar (another favorite – we get it at Costco and think it is a really superior cheddar). Brie, chunked up and put under the broiler until soft and warm and topped with a little bit of fig preserves: Salad: Champagne and some silly little cupcakes from the Fresh Market bakery: Because of expected snow, I wasn’t sure that I would be able to get out on Friday to get some really good dessert pastry so I shopped on Wednesday. I figured that the cupcakes would hold up for a couple of days. They ended up tasting better than I expected. My Valentine’s gift was an assortment of Leonidas chocolates, so the cupcakes were superfluous, anyway!

rotuts - I just heat the fluff for about 30 seconds in the microwave, then spread it on the brownies right out of the oven with an offset spreader (this is where the peanuts get sprinkled on normally). The chocolate is chopped and sprinkled on the fluff and then the whole thing goes into the oven again for a couple of minutes. It melts almost immediately and gets spread with a spreader.

Checked with Mr. Kim and it turns out that I was mistaken. No nut allergies - the guy just thinks that salty peanuts take away from the sweetness of the brownies. Um..yeah, they sure as sh*t DO! Without the peanuts they are toothachingly sweet!

It seems like they are catering to American expats. I know that if I lived in Shanghai, I would patronize this place. Even if I loved authentic Shanghai food, I'd miss my 'home' food. I think that if food is good, it is good. It may not be authentic, but there is nothing inherently wrong with "American-style" food.

Liuzhou – lemony pancakes sound delicious! How thick were the pancakes? Anna – beautiful potstickers! What were they filled with? Huiray – your ramen and roasted duck soup looks so wonderful! Snowed-in breakfast w/ Jessica and us this morning – CI’s cathead biscuits: With sausage gravy and scrambled eggs:

judiu - that's actually a good idea. I love those chocolate and candy covered sunflower seeds. I get Mr. Kim to check.

Kay – too bad about the pork chops. I agree, that sauce sounds perfect! Basquecook – the seafood/rice dish looks wonderful, but I’m with Miss K – that Caesar looks fantastic! Blether – beautiful pie! Robirdstx – thanks for the welcome and for the recipe. Can’t wait to try them! Dcarch – that hangar steak is so beautiful – it looks perfectly cooked and so tender. Ann – your bagels and smoked salmon would disappear with barely a chew in this house! So good. Dinner last night was leftovers from dishes made for a potluck at church: Paula Deen’s Oriental Salad – hugely popular at church – folks kept going back to it. And a casserole called Michigan Beans & Sausage: It just looks like baked beans with kielbasa, but tastes much better than that. It is really easy to make and can even be done in the slow cooker.

Blether – that tart looks wonderful. The custard looks almost like cheesecake. Made these brownies for a birthday at Mr. Kim’s office: They are just brownie mix topped with marshmallow fluff and chocolate. They are supposed to have a layer of salted peanuts between the fluff and the chocolate, but there are some folks with nut allergies, so I had to leave them off. Without the nuts they are just way too sweet.

Like phatj, I keep reading this topic as "Show us your ladies". I keep glancing at it and having a WTF? moment before remembering. No pictures, but I have an assortment and don't have issues with any of them. Some are 'good' ones and others are $ store ladles. Some metal and others some form of plastic. Lucky, I guess.

Thanks, D! I've got those molds and never thought to use them that way!

Ann – thank you! Your cocktail glass is ravishing! I so covet that! And lamb shanks – probably my very favorite meat. Yours look perfectly roasted and I’d love to have them soon! Mark – thank you for the recommendation for the char siu seasoning. I’ll look for that. The soup looks perfect! As does that pastrami sandwich. Robirdstx – I really like the sound of Asiago and almond meal chicken! Would you share the recipe? Norm – lovely, comforting brisket dish! That gravy ! Basquecook – what perfectly lovely little panna cottas! What were they made in? Still using as many short cuts as I can, so dinner last night was Stouffer's meatloaf: Served with 4 cheese pierogies and roasted cauliflower.