Kim Shook

Great method and video, dcarch! Loved seeing your hands (one of my little idiosyncrasies) and wish you'd have narrated (I like voices, too ). Like Andie, I'm not sure that my left hand is up to the corkscrew trick, but I'm going to try it next time. Mangos are slipperly little suckers and even wearing gloves doesn't completely solve the problem. That said, I still love my pitter and will continue to use it. I peel with a Y-peeler (one of the few things I use that kind of peeler for) and then the pit is gone in a second. I almost always get the same kind of mango and they have always fit the pitter just fine.

That is some gorgeous pork belly, percyn! Here's the story of the preserves.

Breakfast this morning: eggs, Benton’s bacon and biscuits (leftovers from dinner at Cracker Barrel the other night) with my pear preserves.

I am SO ready for fall. We had lovely, cool temperatures here yesterday so dinner was a salad and lamb and lentil stew: It doesn’t photograph very well, but it’s so good.

RWood - thanks - I just ordered one of those tips! dhardy - gorgeous 'smores!

OK - blush, blush, blush...that's actually canned frosting with a little marshmallow Fluff and coconut extract added. I was planning on 7 minute frosting, but time got away from me on the weekend (not to mention the beginnings of a flu that still has me out of work this week - not to worry, I always cook in gloves and was VERY careful not to contaminate anything).

Keith – I forgot to say how much I love those ‘woven’ glass platters – are they new or antiques? Kay – thanks for the help on the shepherd’s pie. I like cheese on mine, too. For our football feast on Sunday, I made chili dogs with slaw, French fries and baked beans. Who says you have to light the grill to get good hot dogs: The beans were canned ones that I fixed up with onions, mustard and BBQ sauce because I was lazy and the fries were frozen because I was lazy and because I like them .

Curls – I like the look of your chocolate frosting! Did you just dip them upside down into the frosting and give them a little swirl or is there a trick? Genkinaonna – Love the 80’s themed cake! Your fondant work is gorgeous – such crisp, neat edges! Excellent. Rwood – I really covet the ‘ruffle’ edge on your chocolate cake. How is that done? Apparently coconut was the theme ingredient this week! A cake I made for a co-worker’s birthday on Monday: My standard chocolate cake (made with melted dark chocolate), coconut icing, coconut flakes and chocolate chips.

Well, then it's obviously not an Episcopal church ! I don't know how a cake would do in a hotel pan. I'm afraid that with a regular oven it would get overdone on the edges and still be soupy in the middle. But you could certainly do a sheet pan and there are plenty of recipes for those. And all of the mousse suggestions would work in a hotel pan, I think. If I'm understanding you, you just don't want to have to deal with a bunch of fiddly individual dishes. You could do one LARGE pan of mousse (or some kind of creamy thing) that could be scooped into smaller dishes by the diners.

percyn – your egg topped cheesesteak is making me a bit pouty. I had a cheesesteak for lunch from a usually dependable (for Virginia) place that was very sub-par and then I come here and see your gorgeous one! I did some cooking for a retirement breakfast at Mr. Kim’s office last Friday: Banana-Chocolate chip muffins Pecan streusel pumpkin muffins Orange-Ginger muffins Bread, egg, cheese and bacon casserole – kind like a bacon and cheese savory bread pudding – very good Breakfast this morning was very simple: Sausage biscuits and fried eggs. The biscuits were frozen ones, but I did fry the eggs in the sausage grease, so extra points for that, huh ?

Welcome back to travelers Dejah and kayb! And thanks, everyone for the nice comments on the Geek Feast! It’s always fun to do and, yes, Heidi, when given the choice every year, they vote for me ! Mitch – those roasted peaches were lovely. I’ve never seen smoked ricotta. Sounds amazing. MsDivinaLoca – those Peking duck tacos look and sound fantastic. They also sound like a major project for someone like me, but goodness they are making me drooley! And your meatball and noodles is just home on a plate! Lovely. Genkinaonna – the corn soup and fritters pushed every one of my buttons. I made slaw and hot dog chili tonight for chili dogs and fries with football, but what I really want is a bowl of that soup and a BIG pile of those fritters! Paul – your Caprese salad is stunning! percyn – gorgeous pork! And I love it in the ramen. The ‘battle tomato’ was beautiful – I’d have loved to be a judge for that one! How fortunate you are to have a group of friends that share your interest in and love of good food. I don’t have more than one or two local friends that I could serve any of those dishes to. dcarch – I like pollock a lot, too, but don’t see it very often as filets. What are the sauces on your ‘canvas’? Norm – those roasted tomatoes are beautiful and I can only imagine how wonderful they tasted on the pizza! David – I love the monkfish, but those oysters and grits are absolutely fantastic looking. My chili dog and French fry dinner is getting less and less interesting. Kay – regarding the pintos – the chow chow is for serving on top of the prepared beans. And I have to confess that not only is it store bought, but it’s from Cracker Barrel! We eat there every so often and Mr. Kim gets the pintos and cornbread usually. We discovered that the chow chow is VERY good and now keep a jar of it in the fridge at all times. BTW – that’s a beautiful shepherd’s pie – care to share the recipe? Bruce – please tell Mrs. C how captivating that glisten-y, gorgeous watermelon and tomato salad is! I can almost taste it. And that pulled pork of yours looks pretty delicious, too! Keith – lucky guests! Everything looks wonderful. If there is lamb on offer, I can usually take or leave steak, but I’d have to make room for both with your meal! Mark – good Lord, what delicious looking fried rice. Now I REALLY don’t want chili dogs. What kind of rice is that? It looks so long and spindly. And good. And, once again, not too much cooking this week – at least not for US! I did some cooking for a retirement breakfast for one of Mr. Kim’s co-workers on Friday and I have a chocolate cake cooling for a co-worker of mine for tomorrow. We spent Labor Day weekend at Momma and Ted’s helping clean up from Hurricane Irene and getting some things in order for the move. Mr. Kim came home a day early to do some cleaning up of our own from the storm and surprised Jessica and I with chili: A recent dinner: Lamb chops, couscous and spinach salad with orange supremes, candied pecans and bleu cheese.

No slice of Vidalia onion? No - I am, unfortunately, not a fan of raw onion. It's one of those things I've been trying my whole life to like and haven't succeeded in yet. Along with peppers, mushrooms, spicy foods and many, many vegetables, my life would be a LOT easier if I could just like them. Sigh.

It's odd how often this kind of thing happens to me on eG. I haven't bought Underwood in a couple of years. A few days ago I picked a can off the shelf at the grocery store. Had some white bread leftover from making a breakfast casserole. White bread, Duke's mayo and deviled ham sandwich for dinner on Friday. Tasted great. Then I come to eG today. Just another weird food coincidence!

My currently crazy life means that I missed the end of Soba’s blog and completely missed EatNopales’ blog, so I’m glad to get in at the beginning of this one. One of my step-sisters was actually born on Malta, so I was interested to see you’d lived there. My parents lived in Chicago for a few years while I was in college and I just adore that city. Mr. Kim, our daughter and I lived in Batesville, IN for a couple of years in the 1980’s. We’ve been to Philly a couple of times (cheesesteaks one trip and Morimoto the other) and really want to come back, so I’m very excited to see that. Seems like a tailor made blog for me! I love the handwritten shopping list - now, if you’ll make sure to get a shot of your hands cooking all my idiosyncratic blog tastes should be taken care of. Others want to see your pantry and fridge. Me…I want handwriting and hands ! The hand drawn noodles were amazing! Those and soup dumplings are on my wishlist for our town. I’m with you on the texture problem with tendon and cartilage. Loved the market pictures – that is one of the places that I’m dying to see when we come back next time. I can’t imagine having that diverse choice and that sort of quality. Very jealous here. Your rolls are gorgeous and I can’t wait to see the roasted pork sandwiches!

I can vouch for Andie's French toast! It was fantastic to have all of the work done ahead of time and to have only to crisp it up in a pan. We served it to weekend company and even made it one weekday morning from the leftovers for ourselves - I don't think I've ever had French toast for a workday breakfast before! I really liked the fact that the center wasn't wet - a problem with most French toast that I make.

Mr. Kim is not sure whether to be flattered or dismayed!

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?

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:

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:

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!

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 ), so I'm in for awhile, at least.

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. 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.

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: 23-105k by ozisforme, on Flickr I had Tatchbury ham and eggs with chips: 23-106k1 by ozisforme, on Flickr Perfectly gorgeous ham and another perfectly cooked egg. And Mr. Kim had lasagna: 23-106k2 by ozisforme, on Flickr 23-106k3 by ozisforme, on Flickr 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 23-119k1a by ozisforme, on Flickr 23-119k2 by ozisforme, on Flickr 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. 23-110k by ozisforme, on Flickr And the glazed stare. So when we drove up this half mile long drive: 23-124m2 by ozisforme, on Flickr Through these gates: 23-160k by ozisforme, on Flickr And saw THIS: 23-165k by ozisforme, on Flickr 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! 24-13k by ozisforme, on Flickr 24-16k by ozisforme, on Flickr 24-17k by ozisforme, on Flickr 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: 24-28m by ozisforme, on Flickr 24-30m by ozisforme, on Flickr 24-31m by ozisforme, on Flickr 24-33m by ozisforme, on Flickr 24-43m by ozisforme, on Flickr 24-46k5 by ozisforme, on Flickr 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.

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.

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.