Kim Shook
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Posts posted by Kim Shook
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dcarch – you caught a joke that I didn’t even realize I’d made
! Coconut and mint ice cream! What a fantastic combination.Paul – I really love the idea of roasted tomato soup and basil gnocchi!
Dakki – poor you! I hate when that happens. I always have more success with coatings than with batters, but I love a good batter fried fish fillet!
Mark – what gorgeous char siu! My mind is literally racing to try to figure out how I can get some soon!
Prawn – lovely squab! How big were they? Since basically squab = pigeon, and we thought that the pigeons in England and Paris were the biggest we’d ever seen, I’m curious.
Scotty – the squid looks amazing!
Heidi – I’d like some of those stuffed grape leaves, please! One of my favorite things. And if you have any left, how about a picture of the inside?
The only cooking that we’ve done for the past week, besides breakfast was the annual Geekfest, which is what I call Mr. Kim’s fantasy football draft party
. Mr. Kim did a pork butt and a smoked turkey earlier in the week and I put the rest of it together. The menu:Ranch oyster crackers & Cinnamon pecans:
BBQ pork w/ slaw:
He neglected to take a picture of the pulled pork, but he got a great smoke ring!
Smoked turkey sandwiches
Lovely moist, smoky turkey!
Ann’s corn custard:
Extremely well received!
Salad greens w/ Marlene’s bleu cheese dressing and Daddy’s paprika dressing
Pintos w/ chow chow
My plate:
The pintos are at 3 o’clock. They loved everything, but the pintos where the hit of the evening. Even with all of the other food, 12 guys ending up finishing what was supposed to be 16 servings of beans. It’s always interesting to me to see what ends up being the most popular item in a buffet of food.
‘Hostess’ chocolate cupcakes:
I thought that my ‘squiggles’ were a little messy, but one of the new guys didn’t take one and when someone asked him why he said he thought they were actual Hostess cupcakes!! Mr. Kim said, “you don’t know my wife very well, do you?”.
Filled with marshmallow Fluff.
Dream cookies (basically shortbread) w/ and w/out Nutella:
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Do you ever sleep or do you simply bake wonderful goodies 24/7?
I DO sleep, but I admit that I sometimes dream of baking 
.PC – the torte is absolutely gorgeous and I love the flavor combination!
Genkinaonna – oh…my…goodness! That ice cream sounds incredible. I just finished a pint of just ok toasted almond gelato last night and I’m already missing it. Toasted almond is one of my very favorite flavors. I Googled the recipe and will be trying that as soon as possible!
Rwood – what a beautiful, beautiful gallette!
Something I made for a coworker’s birthday back in July, that I just realized I never posted:
This was a yellow cake with caramel icing by request. The recipe was from the newspaper. The cake was very, very good – as a matter of fact, I’ve designated it my current ‘go-to’ yellow cake. The icing was weird – it tasted great, but was the consistency of Play Doh. I had a very hard time spreading it – I actually ended up picking up gobs of it and tamping it on to the cake. My fault, I’m sure. I probably got the caramel too hot – the directions are a little vague. A close up of the frosting:
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Genkinaonna – just tell me the date – I’ve always longed to see Oregon; everyone I know who has been has fallen in love with it.
Soba – that tomato and yogurt salad is one of the most beautiful things you’ve ever posted (and that’s saying something).
My mother was up last weekend looking at apartments – we ate out every meal except breakfast on Sunday, which was a repeat of Mr. Kim’s birthday breakfast since we are still getting really good stone fruit:
Roasted white peach stuffed croissant French toast, bacon and grapes.
Breakfast yesterday morning was eggs, sausage and biscuits. Mr. Kim’s plate:
I added a tomato biscuit to my plate:
This morning was basically the same meal before hitting the yard with rakes, brooms and a chain saw. Irene blasted through last night and left us with a huge tree limb through our shed roof, but nothing else, thank goodness! Hope everyone in her path here at eG can say the same!
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I liked it. Of course, I love her blog and the kinds of foods that she makes. She's a little rough edged, but if you watch any of the early shows from any chef on television you'll see the same thing.
She used nothing but REAL food in every one of her dishes - nothing to criticize there. It looks like they will continue to feature her family and ranch activities in future shows, but that is exactly what makes her blog so incredibly popular. I kind of like watching someone who is really just a home cook that has managed to teach herself good technique. Will I continue to watch? I'm not sure. I watch very little FN anymore - I hate the competition shows and the pure cooking shows are few and far between. But I find Ree intelligent and attractive (no cleavage - I mean attractive in the original sense of the word
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Kim, I'll never get there, barring a miracle, but one can always hope! In my dreams maybe? Did you see anything "witchy" in the New Forest? It's suppossed to be a hotbed of the Old Religion...
Actually Burnley seemed to be a veritable center of 'witchy' activity - in a very commercial, showy way. That kind of stuff makes my teeth itch, so we stayed away. But driving through the quieter areas you could see how sincere folk (not 'folke'
) would be inspired by the atmosphere. I always find it odd how tourists are drawn into the Crown and Anchor pub in Winchester - it must be my least visited pub in the town (Nothing particularly bad about it mind you - just not a lot of positive either!)
No - it was only 'fine' - not great. Honestly, we were SO tired and worn out and sad to be finishing up our time in England and we just needed to eat. It was on the way to the car park from the cathedral and handy. Not the best choice for our penultimate meal, I agree.
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KA – We didn’t have a little cooler, but we really should have had one – it would have made life much easier. The candy bars weren’t a problem because we found them everywhere and we ate room temperature cheese for days – it just kept getting richer and gooey-er! But it would have helped with the strawberries that we bought – they were SO ripe that they were mush by the next day. And we did NOT follow the cream feast with gateaux! I think I would have rolled right down into the sea
!Days 10 & 11 The New Forest, Winchester and Back to London
The drive from Dorchester to Winchester is only about an hour and a half, but we took most of the day wandering. We had read about Corfe Castle and since we hadn’t seen a castle yet, we wanted to stop there. I am so glad that we noticed that little marker on the map, because the castle and the village were gorgeous and ended up being one of our favorite places. The castle is a classic ruin and we clambered around it for an hour or so. The village is picture-perfect. Just outside the gates to the castle was Dragon’s Bakery:
23-78k by ozisforme, on Flickr
23-78k1 by ozisforme, on Flickr
There was also The Sweet Shop – selling tons of candies, many ‘penny’ types. Old fashioned ‘boiled sweets’ to the newest sour varieties.
We drove down to Swannage and then over the ferry to Bournemouth (the busiest place that Mr. Kim had to drive the entire trip – kind of crazy) and entered the New Forest. The New Forest is beautiful – windswept vistas, wild horses wandering around and tiny villages. So close to the seaside villages and resorts and so completely different. We had lunch in Burley at the Old Farmhouse. The building was built in the 16th century and has been a tea rooms since 1904:
OldFarmhouse008 by ozisforme, on Flickr
We started with the rustic pâté and red onion jam (served with a nice salad garnish):
23-106k by ozisforme, on Flickr
The pâté was delicious. I need to learn how to make red onion jam, because I want to serve this myself.
I loved the sauce packets:
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I had Tatchbury ham and eggs with chips:
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Perfectly gorgeous ham and another perfectly cooked egg.
And Mr. Kim had lasagna:
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This was our first taste of British lasagna. It was quite different than what we were used to, but very, very tasty. I now understand what my English stepdad was about when he made us spaghetti for the first time – I remember it was very meaty, but not very tomato-y! More of that goopy slaw there.
We stopped in Lyndhurst, basically the capital of the New Forest. Still a pretty small village, though. They do have a couple of food shops and we found these appalling things:
23-119k1 by ozisforme, on Flickr
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23-119k2a by ozisforme, on Flickr
I’m glad they have a ‘Customer Quality Guarantee’
. Seriously, who eats this stuff?And what do you suppose this is:
23-119k4 by ozisforme, on Flickr
We were a might raggedy and weary by the end of the day:
23-106m2 by ozisforme, on Flickr
Note the crazy woman hair.
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And the glazed stare.
So when we drove up this half mile long drive:
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Through these gates:
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And saw THIS:
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Well, we felt abashed and country mousey, indeed.
This is Lainston House – near Winchester and our last hotel in England. We have decided that our travel agent must have something on the owners because this absolutely gorgeous place didn’t cost us any more than any other place we stayed. It was truly luxurious – with a helipad, a spa, endless grounds, gardens, a chapel ruin and a resident falconer!!! As I sank my tired self into the 6 foot tub that night, I told Mr. Kim that I wasn’t leaving EVER.
Dinner that night was at the Old Chesil Rectory:
23-177k by ozisforme, on Flickr
I have to say thank you to Mr_meanor for the recommendation. It was absolutely wonderful and the folks couldn’t have been nicer. We wandered in without a reservation and they accommodated us even though they had a large party coming in soon. We never felt rushed and had a beautiful meal.
I had steamed halibut, crisp ham hock, marrowfats, potato puree and red wine sauce:
23-187k by ozisforme, on Flickr
Gorgeous, delectable fish. I am not sure that I’ve ever had halibut before and this was incredible. And I want to know how restaurants manage to serve such smooth, silky mashed potatoes HOT. By the time that I got mine that smooth, they would be at room temperature.
They were featuring a special menu of New Forest asparagus dishes, so Mr. Kim started with asparagus with truffle dressing:
23-188k by ozisforme, on Flickr
I am not an asparagus fan, but the sauce was gorgeous and Mr. Kim said the asparagus was perfect.
His main dish was Blackmoor estate venison, potatoes fondant and creamed cabbage and bacon:
23-189k by ozisforme, on Flickr
This dish was spectacular. From the delicious venison – perfectly cooked – to the supremely potato-y potatoes (never had them before, but I want to try to make them) to the gorgeous cabbage and the winey, rich, deeply flavored sauce.
We had the full English at the hotel the next morning – plus the cold buffet!
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The buffet was the usual things that we had come to expect – pastries, fruits, breads, juices, yogurt and the absolute best muesli I’ve ever eaten. There were at least 4 different blends and they were all fantastic with huge pieces of dried fruit and nuts:
24-18k2 by ozisforme, on Flickr
Those are whole macadamia nuts and huge nuggets of granola – not the powdery stuff that usually passes for granola.
At Lainston House, a full English is bacon, sausage, black pudding, Portobello mushroom, broiled tomato and egg (no beans here, as Mr. Kim took pains to point out):
24-18k1 by ozisforme, on Flickr
I still didn’t care for the sausage, though it was certainly better than the ones we got in London. But we both bravely tried the blood sausage:
24-18k3 by ozisforme, on Flickr
And…we liked it. I think we were expecting something…well…clotty. But it was mealy and rich and well, dry-ish. Quite tasty, in fact. I think we’ll be ready for haggis if we ever get to Scotland.
Another perfectly cooked English egg:
24-18k4 by ozisforme, on Flickr
As I said, Lainston House made us feel a little like we should be scurrying down the backstairs with a load of coal, but the staff was wonderful and made us feel welcome and comfortable. They went out of their way to make sure that we saw all there was to see. While we were wandering around one of the gardens, a gardener told us to make sure to go through the door in the wall to the kitchen garden and told us that since everything was organic to feel free to taste anything that appealed to us:
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While we were in the kitchen garden the falconer introduced himself and asked if we would be around for the falconry demonstration the next day. When we told him that we had to leave that morning, he told us all about the birds and suggested that we wander over to their cages to see them. He cautioned us that if we were squeamish, we might want to wait a bit since he’d just fed them. Nomming falcon:
24-23k3 by ozisforme, on Flickr
We reluctantly left Lainston House and drove into Winchester to tour the cathedral. We had lunch at the Crown Anchor – fairly decent fish and chips:
24-184k by ozisforme, on Flickr
24-185k by ozisforme, on Flickr
This was our last night in England – we drove to Heathrow, dropped off the car and took the train back to London where we were again spending a night at our friend Craig’s. He took us to an Italian restaurant that he had been wanting to try called Stuzzico. It’s within walking distance of his flat (God, I hate living in the ‘burbs). It was good, but not fabulous. He says he’s found another place named Cristini that he likes much more.
I had the seafood and tomato sauce risotto:
24-201m by ozisforme, on Flickr
Really nice seafood in it, but since I’m not a big fan of fish and tomato sauce, probably not my best choice.
Mr. Kim had chicken with a creamy mushroom and truffle sauce:
24-200m by ozisforme, on Flickr
This was very good – tender chicken and a lovely sauce.
Craig had gnocchi baked in a creamy tomato sauce:
24-202m by ozisforme, on Flickr
This was my favorite, actually. The gnocchi were tender, but not mushy and the sauce was tangy and smooth with cream.
Our last meal in England. I went to bed excited about Paris, but ineffably sad to be leaving this wonderful country that felt like home before I ever set foot on it.
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Scotty – that is quite the compliment coming from YOU!! I’m honored.
Prawn – that spaghetti is gorgeous!
percyn – I want some of that Peking duck bun!
Morkai – thank you! The butterbeans are just brought to a boil, simmered until the water runs out and then I add a ton of butter and let them just stay warm for a little while. Salt, pepper and a tiny bit of cream if I have it finishes them up. We like them creamy.
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Well, Mr. Kim is back and thanks all of you for the information. They went to exactly NONE of the places recommended in this or the other thread. Suffice to say that it was an utterly bizarre trip - two EXTREMELY controlling people called all of the shots. They were oddly averse to going anywhere that was recommended by my connections, no matter what he said. He ended up just sitting in the car with the GPS in his lap - navigating and enjoying the scenery, at least. VERY glad I didn't go - I suspected as much.
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Other than being better ice cream, aren't these just Dixie cups?
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Soba & Scotty – gorgeous tomatoes! I haven’t been at all thrilled with the tomatoes this summer – even from the farmstands or the markets.
Shelby – that PB pie looks stellar! One of my favorite desserts and almost the only one that my dad likes! And that pasta is downright swoony!
percyn – I loved the look of your garlic steamed shrimp so much that I asked Mr. Kim if we could go to our favorite restaurant for dinner on Friday when my mother comes to visit – they have a similar dish and your picture caused a CRAVING!!
Scotty – so glad you are enjoying the bacon jam and I need those ‘crackers’. Lord, those look good.
Sunday was Mr. Kim’s birthday. Dinner was all by request of the birthday boy. Fried chicken:
This was easily the best fried chicken I've ever made. I used the recipe I usually use - it has some interesting ingredients including Sazon seasoning mix and lemonade Kool Aid mix!! I did brine it and I fried it in pure lard (it was a birthday, after all!). But it was just amazing!
Sliced tomatoes:
Mashed potatoes:
Butter beans:
Yeast rolls:
These were supposed to be homemade sweet potato rolls, but with drop in guests Saturday night, it just didn’t happen – so Sister Shubert rolls stood in.
And lashings of really good gravy:
Dessert was a chocolate/chocolate cake filled with peanut butter frosting:
(more details in the dessert thread)
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PC – your Nanaimo bars look luscious! And the fleur de lis mold is adorable! I prefer the one in the bottom left, too (the idea of splitting it is great).
Sunday was Mr. Kim’s birthday and he asked for a chocolate/chocolate cake with a peanut butter element. I made the cake with the recipe for Chocolate Bar Cupcakes, filled it with the PB frosting from Tyler Florence’s Jelly Filled Cupcakes with PB Frosting and iced it with my Fudgy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
Those little melty discs taste God-awful, but they make cute decorations:
Gluten free cupcakes for a niece (from a mix):
I am madly in love with my huge new round decorating tip – big, billowy clouds of icing!
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Sunday was Mr. Kim’s birthday! Breakfast was roasted white peach and cream cheese stuffed croissants French toast style with Benton’s bacon:
Topped with maple/caramel syrup:
I've made this with bananas and strawberries before - this was the first time I've used peaches and I think it was the best.
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Shal - that's great! I am actually using marshmallow Fluff in the filling, just like they suggest.
Darienne - I meant a tub of frosting - Duncan Hines, Betty Crocker, etc. I have a couple of those pens and will try them. Royal icing would probably work the best, but I don't really feel like making a batch of it for a dozen little squiggles. Thank you!
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I am faking Hostess cupcakes for a party and want to add that iconic little white squiggle. I'm icing with ganache and wanted to know what to make the 'squiggles' with - I was thinking either white chocolate or a white buttercream (probably purchased, to make life easier). I'll let the ganache firm up before adding the white. Thanks!
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Kim, I can't beleive you wen to England and didn't bring back Little Scarlett preserves!
I know. I could have kicked myself when I got home! They are $17 a JAR at amazon and almost $10 at a specialty store an hour away.
percyn - I should have been more specific - the sausage I was talking about was the pretzel sausage from farther back. BTW - that is one gorgeous poached egg!
Ahh...my error. When the weather cools, I can mail you some of those pretzel dogs if you like. I am sure one can make it at home, especially easy if you find pretzel dough.
The eggs I used were from an organic, open pasture farm and the yolks seems to be more orange and hold their shape better. Bought another dozen yesterday, lets see how the new batch turns out.
That would be great, percyn - there is a store in Williamsburg (just 45 minutes east of us), so if we don't get there in the next month, or so I'll let you know. Thank you!
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percyn - I should have been more specific - the sausage I was talking about was the pretzel sausage from farther back. BTW - that is one gorgeous poached egg!
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Oooh - what do you have planned for the chillis i can see hiding just out of shot there Kim?
Those will go into various things this week for Mr. Kim - he's the chilihead in the house. There are actually less of them that it looks like - lots of little bell peppers there too. A patient brought them into the office from her garden and we all shared them out. Mr. Kim's breakfast was a chile filled omelet!
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Roberta – I know, I just love that stuff. I am an absolute sucker for pressed and cut glass and the fact that they are family pieces just makes them that much more wonderful.
Darienne – how utterly clever that pan is. What a great find!
A recent find at an antiques mall in Danville VA:
Wolverine metal kitchen set. These are supposedly from the 1930’s. I think it’s probably more likely 1950’s based on similar things I’m finding on ebay and the style of the pieces. The tallest stands one and a half foot tall. Most of the doors actually open. I don’t think that the sink piece is part of the original set since it is so much larger and I’m sure that the pink paint was done at a later time (the paint is chipping some and underneath it’s white). I’m not at all sure of what I’m going to do with these, but they will somehow figure into my kitchen. They were going for $45 and I talked them down to $30 – again, looking at ebay, I think I got a good deal. My favorite part is inside the refrigerator door:
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percyn – it looks like they have stores in Yorktown and Williamsburg – not too far to go. I’d love to try those sausages.
RRO – I love the looks of that avocado and salmon breakfast!
Breakfast this morning for Mr. Kim:
an omelet with tomatoes, hot peppers, onions and cheese – nectarines on the side.
Mine:
Egg and bacon on toast. In the background is toast with the last of my beloved Little Scarlet strawberry preserves
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I've been MIA recently. Mr. Kim was in Ireland this past week with his mom and sibs (the blog of THIS trip is NOT for public consumption - suffice to say it's been was strained
) and I was in NC visiting my grandmother. Jessica decided to assuage my loneliness by allowing me to take her out to dinner Tuesday and Wednesday, so I've been doing no cooking at all. Mr. Kim’s birthday is Sunday, so I'll be cooking for that - if I can still remember how!Toliver – great idea about using the cinnamon and sugar Ritz crackers. I can get them here, too – I’ll be trying that. People at work are still talking about that pie!
rotuts – I remember that dessert with the cookies and whipped cream. It was delicious – I loved how the chocolate wafers got soft and tender! Those cookies are made by Nabisco and are called Famous Chocolate Wafers. They are usually with the ice cream toppings and not with the cookies around here, oddly enough.
percyn – I am intrigued by that addition of balsamic vinegar to the bacon jam. We just got a shipment of Benton’s bacon and I’m going to use one package to make bacon jam. I’ll be adding balsamic to that one!
RRO – that snapper is gorgeous! I love whole fish.
Prawn – sorry about the finger – we have a dear friend who suffers from gout and I know how debilitating it can be. Nice that you got past it in time to produce all of that lovely pork! When I’m finally ready to start my sausage experimenting (I have everything I need but the time), I’ll know who to go to for advice! And those rinds are swoonworthy! Your Tea made me a little sad – that was the one thing that we didn’t get to experience on that trip. But you inspired me – a ‘tea’ dinner is something I can surely make and I will do that soon.
Paul – that pork belly BLT looks fantastic.
Rhonda – the deviled eggs and shrimp are a perfect pairing and I adore the serving dish!
A couple of meals before Mr. Kim went on his trip:
Open faced chicken sandwiches with gravy. Probably my very favorite chicken application!
Chicken tacos, marinated cukes and rice and beans.
With the tacos, I made some pate with some leftover fried chicken livers from a recent restaurant meal:
odd combination, I know, but I didn’t want those livers to go to waste and that’s the only way that Mr. Kim will eat liver. The recipe worked surprisingly well with the already cooked livers.
The welcome back from Ireland dinner last night was BLT’s with a fried egg and tomato consommé:
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I love RB and Coke floats, but when I was a kid, I was in love with purple cows - grape soda and vanilla ice cream! I haven't had one in years, but I still like grape soda, so I'd probably still like them.
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Thanks so much, Simon! I printed out all the info on the other thread and will give it to Mr. Kim.
He leaves Thursday, so he'll be glad to have this.
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Dejah – that is a gorgeous pie!
Rhonda – all this NOLA food is torture! We absolutely fell in love with boudin balls when we were there and I just found out that a new restaurant in town makes them. Can’t wait to get there!
Dinner was the most enormous chicken I’ve ever cooked. It was 7 1/2 pounds. At just over $5, I couldn’t pass it up. I salted it and let it air dry all day – not long enough, because my skin was still a little soft, but it roasted up lovely:
My gravy turned out especially well:
I also did a panzanella-inspired salad:
Plated with Brussels sprouts, Marlene’s Crispy Smashed Potatoes and leftover spoonbread (which was helped by the gravy):
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percyn – did you buy that pretzel wrapped sausage or make it? That looks so good! And what is this leftover crab cake of which you speak? I’ve never heard of such a thing
. Seriously, though – what a perfect poached egg!Andie – I Googled Bourbon Bacon Marmalade and all the recipes that I found were basically the same as Bacon Jam. I was hoping for something different – something clear with bits of bacon suspended in it. Someone should get right on that
.Parmhero – love, love, LOVE fried salami and rye toast! I sometimes spread some cream cheese on the toast and make a salami sandwich with it!
Rhonda – I SQUEALED out loud when I saw the Stanley sign! We had breakfast there twice on our trip and loved it. I thought that the hollandaise was some of the best I’ve ever had – and I loved the ‘pourability’ – especially since mine always turns out the consistency of mayo
!Breakfast this morning:
Scrambled eggs, bacon, orange, croissant and Nutella.
eG Foodblog: SobaAddict70 - Of Hobbits and Hurricanes
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
Soba – so glad to see the re-do! As always your food is as gorgeous as it is delicious! I always love the care and thought that seems to go into your prep and cooking and I admire your ability to LEAVE GOOD STUFF ALONE – to let good food shine by its own merits. As a cook who has to physically restrain myself from adding just one more thing, I really love your discipline!
Scrambled eggs with ricotta is something that never occurred to me, but sounds fantastic. And they may have been ugly, but green garlic pesto deviled eggs sound wonderful!
20 layer jello mold?
