Kim Shook

@Kerala – those grilled fish look amazing. Never can decide if I prefer fish fried or grilled. @BonVivant – I just said to @Kerala that I didn’t know if I preferred fried or grilled fish and then you post that amazing looking Churros de pescado 😄! And your limpits remind me a bit of what they call “suck rocks” in Bermuda. Though I don’t think people eat them much nowadays. @Duvel – your Halloween celebration spread is wonderful and adorable. I made chocolate cupcakes with orange frosting to give away at our church festival and to our grand nieces and nephews. I can only imagine what their response would have been at your creations. Lunch on Tuesday: Leftover soy and garlic wings from a dinner out at Bonchon (Korean chicken chain). Yesterday: Lazy person’s egg salad and ham. Sliced eggs with lots of mayo and mustard (sweet pickle on the side). I became enamoured of egg and ham sandwiches in England. Today was just some toasted baguette: Nothing is really appealing to me today.

@Ann_T – your French toast is gorgeous! I’m not seeing a recipe for it on your blog. Would you mind giving a little lesson? I know it starts with your bread, which I don’t have. But I have access to some pretty good bakeries. And that looks so fantastic, it would be worth a drive! @liuzhou – I love the looks of those bao and dumplings. Pork is my favorite filling! @blue_dolphin – those breads are amazing. Great crumb! And I love the pepitas on them. @Anna N – you are making some lovely eggs lately. Gooey yolk and seemingly snot-free 😁! Breakfast lately has been just a Lidl croissant: I have to eat something because of medicine I take in the morning, but I just haven’t been hungry for anything lately. Do Milk Duds and Snickers bars count as breakfast? Because I’ve got a LOT of them 😉.

Yesterday, I some of Michael Ruhlman’s Buttermilk Cluster Rolls to have on Friday when my MIL comes for dinner. NOTE: I’ve always had success with these in the past. The dough after the first rise: Bread is NOT my forte, but this seemed a little flabby? Not sure what that indicates. I ended up having to put the little boules in two different pans (everyone had this issue when we were all making them at Marlene’s website – just a bit too much dough). After the second rise: Not pretty and smooth like they should be, but a decent rise. I didn’t get a picture of the other pan at this point. Here’s a picture of the other pan out of the oven: They LOOK gorgeous and tasted great, but the texture wasn’t wonderful. They were a little dense and tough and didn’t rise much. I sliced and toasted them anyway to make sandwiches with. This is the crumb: Here’s the larger pan of rolls: These seem better. They certainly rose higher and feel lighter. I wrapped and froze them. I guess we’ll see on Friday. Any advice or observations would be most welcome!!

A little freezer gift: A Hot Cross Bun that my MIL made for us. Mr. Kim found a whole bag of them on a recent freezer dive and we've been eating them all week!

So glad to "see" you!!! I've missed you. @Marlene just recently started visiting again! It's like old home week.

YES! And many people don't have someone to bring them delicious, home-cooked meals. Or have the finances or availability to be able to order outside food.

And not peeling your tomatoes ( @Shelby )

@Shelby – Poor Ronnie! Hope he was able to eat those delicious looking ravioli! And thank you for posting the potato directions from @Mmmpomps. I am very much in need of those. Wow. What size were the potatoes? @&roid – can you direct me to that cabbage recipe, please? It looks amazing. @CookBot – I can vouch for @Ann_T’s gorgonzola garlic bread. It is excellent. @Marlene – that lamb is gorgeous. Mr. Kim has smoke a couple of legs in the past. Time for him to do another. Asking for some ideas in this post – regarding my merguez meal. Dinner on Saturday should have been very good but wasn’t and I’m a bit mystified by it. Mr. Kim got some merguez at a local Mediterranean market. It wasn’t spicy, so I was really looking forward to using it. I found a sheet pan recipe at Food and Wine’s website that sounded really good. Unfortunately, it really wasn’t. And I’m not sure exactly why. On paper, it sounds right: sausage, onions, apples, olive oil, S&P, thyme, garlic, and lemon zest. But it was flat and not terribly interesting. The onions and apples didn’t caramelize like I expected. The sausage itself tasted very good, but the rest was bland. So – any ideas? The sheet pan prior to going in the oven (425F): And coming out 30 minutes later: I also served salad, hummus, tabbouli, and pita: The hummus, tabbouli, and pita were from 2M also. They were what he went after – the merguez was extra! 😁 On Sunday we had a late lunch and no one was terribly hungry around supper time, so I made grilled cheese sandwiches: On Monday, my plan for dinner was to try a new recipe. I’ve been craving porcupine meatballs for a couple of months, but I’m not supposed to have tomato sauce because of the potassium issue. So, I searched and found a recipe online for a brown gravy version and planned to make that tonight. Unfortunately, I ended up being out of the house most of the day, so my thawed ground beef became hamburgers instead: Served with a salad and chips and queso. Last night it was Popeye’s fried chicken and various sides: Biscuits, mac & cheese, fried apples, rice & beans, and slaw. Tonight: Leftovers. A dry damn hamburger and some slaw. I am burger challenged. I cannot seem to make a juicy, tender burger to save my life. I don’t pack them tightly (as a matter of fact, I have a hard time keeping them cohesive) and I fry in butter and Worcestershire, exactly how my mother made crusty, juicy burgers. Sigh.

@kayb – that soup looks fantastic. I’m dying for some tomato based vegetable soup and that would be perfect. I am just blown away at the lunches y’all are having. Lunch out on Sunday with Mr. Kim and Jessica cheeseburgers and fries: Just good, classic hamburger stand food from a place open since 1961.

@blue_dolphin – that French toast looks so good, I’m about to go rooting around in my freezer for frozen waffles. And I finished dinner less than an hour ago! Saturday morning I wasn’t really I wasn’t planning on having breakfast, but a couple of eggs semi-exploded in the IP, so I peeled them and added butter and S&P: Reminded me of my mom. I was NOT a breakfast eater when I was a kid, but this was something she could usually lure me to the table with. Yesterday Jessica and I dropped by a new muffin bakery near us. I got a 3 pack of mini muffins: Cranberry orange, chocolate, and cinnamon crumb cake. The cinnamon one was pretty good, but they were bit dry and not a lot of flavor. Jessica got the almond cheesecake one: This one was much better – moist and more flavorful. They also have bagels and sandwiches, so we’ll probably give them another try.

Welcome to eG, Richard! I think you'll find lots of interesting people and content here. The best thing about eG is the support that you will find from others - people who are so generous with their help and expertise. And I'm not sure who @TdeV got the tongue info from, but it was definitely not me. I have never in my life cooked one. I still haven't built up the courage to even order a tongue taco from our local truck! 😂

I love having a freezer full of sourdough ET bagels from our favorite bagel place:

@Paul Bacino – your fried green tomato and fish dinner absolutely transfixed my daughter and me! What a perfect coating you got on both! Bravo! Dinner night before last was a prepared quiche from Costco: It was surprisingly good. The variety was spinach and artichoke heart and it was loaded with the vegetables. We would have preferred it to be a bit eggier and another inch or two high, but the flavor was very good. I also did a salad and everyone chose their sides from various leftovers.

@Ann_T - gorgeous sandwiches. I love a messy beef sandwich! @Anna N - I'm always surprised at how good those frozen potstickers are. My car is in the shop today, so I dropped Mr. Kim off at the office this morning and took the opportunity to stop at the “Up All Night” bakery. They are only open until early afternoon and I'd heard very good things about them: All croissants. From 12 o’clock: jalapeno & cheddar, chocolate, orange morning bun, and VA ham & cheese. I had the ham and cheese for breakfast: I got the top a little extra toasty in the CSO warming it up. Great country ham!

Nothing really appealed for breakfast, so I ended up with toast and jam, which always suits:

It's just these. They are very good and, of course, easy. I brush them with the honey butter when they come out of the CSO and it elevates them a bit!

Pork schnitzel (from frozen), green beans, kraut, frozen broccoli, and egg noodles. Served with whomp cornbread rolls topped with honey butter: The schnitzel got a bit scorched because my oil was too hot when I put them in the pan. Frozen broccoli is what I have to have when I want cooked broccoli nowadays with my potassium issue and we were pleasantly surprised. I haven’t made frozen in probably 10+ years and it is far superior to the kind we had then.

Out all morning, but this was the first thing I ate, so I'm calling it breakfast: Whomp cornbread rolls with honey-butter spread and the best scrambled eggs I've made in forever - soft and tender but not WET!

@BonVivant - love the beautiful food photos, of course, but I'm also truly enjoying the narrative. Thank you! Today: Dirty rice and olive and cream cheese spread on pumpernickel bread.

@Ann_T– that is beautiful looking salsa! We ended up at our favorite local “Mexican” restaurant (they are actually Honduran) last night. Mr. Kim had his usual Enchiladas Supreme: One beef, one chicken, one cheese, and one bean. I branched out from my usual ground beef taco/burrito/taquito order: Rib eye and onion tacos with beans and guacamole. It was all delicious.

@Ann_T – I am ever envious of your halibut. I’m not a huge fan of fishy breakfasts, but I’d eat your battered halibut any time of the day or night! @blue_dolphin – your eggs always look absolutely perfect. What I see are done whites and gooey yolks. Mmmm. Last couple of mornings:

@Shelby – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, my friend! How wonderful that you got to spend it with your mom! @Marlene – your brisket looks fantastic. Mr. Kim says to say hello. I’m betting he’s been inspired by your posts that I’ve shown him and that there is a brisket in our near future. Breakfast for dinner a couple of nights ago: Eggs on toast with bacon. Those are some seriously messed up eggs. I made the same breakfast for Mr. Kim and broke his yolks, too. My egg mojo was just off that day.

So aggravating! I typed out a whole thing - comments on other folks' meals, a welcome back, and my stuff and it just vanished. Here's what I can remember of it. I'm not doing much cooking lately. I've got either various or a single upper respiratory thing(s) that will not go away. It started weeks ago in my head and throat and a few days ago settled in my chest. I've been repeatedly tested and no COVID. Latest diagnosis is bronchitis and I'm just drained most of the time. So lots of easy meals and take out. I can tell that my family is getting a little tired of it. Honestly, so am I 🤪! @Marlene – I literally gasped out loud when I saw your avatar! I was so excited to see you. I really do think of you often. Fully 15 dishes on my recipe webpage are titled “Marlene’s…something”😁. Welcome back and hope to see more of you. RE: your turkey gravy. That’s what I’ve done for years. I actually make the gravy a month in advance sometimes. Nice to have it all done and in the freezer. I always hated that last minute chore. @Ann_T – those lamb shanks look so good. I love them roasted with Greek seasoning. Now that they are popular and expensive here, they are really hard to find. Well, Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian eG’ers. Now I want Th’giving dinner. Jessica made dinner one night last week. A casserole that she invented with Skyline chili, hot dogs, cheese, and cornbread mix: It was dense. The flavor was good (Skyline has a very distinct taste), but the texture and balance of ingredients needs some work. She served it with some green beans, asparagus, fries, crudité, and some amazing fry sauce/remoulade that she also invented: A few nights ago, I made Cook’s Country BBQ Shrimp: I was really happy with this. The shrimp turned out to be cooked the absolute perfect amount of time – I sometimes have a hard time judging that properly. Served with green beans and Dirty Rice – from Bojangles. Because they make it better than I do, so why not? And salad and a rustic baguette from Lidl: Hot dog dinner Monday night. Mr. Kim’s plate: Mine:

We had lunch after church yesterday at our favorite deli. I had the half sandwich and salad. Shrimp salad on marble rye. It comes with potato salad, which was actually very tasty (I’m not ordinarily a fan): Mr. Kim had the Italian Sub – ham, salami, roast beef (?) and provolone:

@BeeZee – I love Dave’s Killer bread. Mr. Kim objects to the price (though he wouldn’t even notice it if I got it at a local bakery – it’s paying $6 for sliced bread in a plastic bag that does him in, I think 😄). @blue_dolphin – gorgeous BATA sandwich! How the heck do you get your bacon so flat? And I startled Mr. Kim just now with my reaction to your grilled Gruyere sandwich. He’s working from home today and when I scrolled up and saw it on my computer, I literally gasped out loud! @Ann_T – eggs Benedict is probably my favorite breakfast. If it is on the menu, I’m almost guaranteed to order it. Beautiful. Am in complete agreement on TOASTED bread. Some places (and people) give you what looks and tastes like oven dried bread. Almost no browning and not truly crisp – just dirty blond and rough textured. I once sent underdone toast back at an upscale place and was brought what we’ve referred to as “revenge toast” ever since: basically burnt and tasting of charcoal 😂. Last week: NC sage sausage and some leftover restaurant hushpuppies. Saturday: Sausage and egg on an English muffin. This morning was a Lidl croissant: