Kim Shook

I am so much enjoying your blog. My BIL lives in AZ and spends lots of time in San Diego and just raves about everything there. He's not much into food (he seems to live on oddly colored smoothies), so I'm thrilled to get THAT aspect of the area! Everything you are making and buying looks incredible and please tell your husband that he's a wonderful photographer. Happy Anniversary!

Christine – Hey! Nice to ‘see’ you! Thanks for the compliment – it was a really good dinner and made me wonder why I don’t do main course salads more often. RRO – gorgeous bacon and that risotto sounds fantastic. I’ll have to nose around our Little Asia section of town and see if I can find some Chinese bacon. And the combination of jambon and fish? Genius! Dcarch – I actually made those little picks myself. Just beads and turkey skewers. Beautiful steak – you can actually SEE how tender it is. Kayb – lovely pie – it’s breakfast time, but I’d love a slice right now. Dejah – the lamb moussaka sounds delicious and I’m so jealous of the beautiful color you got on the top. Mine never gets that gorgeous browning. Bruce – the pulled pork looks stellar! Dinner last night started with a little shrimp cocktail: And salad (sigh): Steak with bleu cheese and port sauce, yellow squash and crusty bread with artichoke/spinach dip: The bread: This is one of my favorite things to do. The topping is just a basic artichoke or artichoke/spinach dip spread – you spread it on the bread and then broil it. It is a little more substantial than regular garlic bread and works well as a party snack, too. We also had some gorgeous corn that we got at the farm stand in the afternoon, shucked right before cooking and briefly cooked: Garrison Keillor made us do it. We were listening to A Prairie Home Companion while running errands and he started talking about those 5 or 10 ears of piping hot, just picked sweet corn, slathered with butter and salted that he was going to eat for dinner. We didn’t even need to discuss it – we just drove to the farm stand! Almost everything was stuff that was in the fridge. We are trying to finish up as much refrigerator stuff as possible in the next couple of days to prepare for a new addition to our family. I am very excited!

RRO – Except for the mushrooms, that sounds incredible to me! Is it served hot or cold? I dreamed this up for breakfast this morning: Breakfast bruschetta – toasted French bread slices, tomato jam and bacon. This is a keeper – definitely worth doing again and again. Served with poached eggs: Probably a little overdone for some folks, but perfect for us.

percyn – yay! Then my instincts were right! Last night we had my in-laws over for dinner and to look at the last of the trip pictures (we only got through England last time). Since it was a week night and really HOT, I wanted something easy, that I didn’t have to heat the kitchen up for and that I could mainly prep the night before. I decided on chef salads. We hadn’t had that in forever and everyone likes it around here. Basic salad – lettuce greens, scallions, tomatoes, cukes, carrots and radishes: American cheese, ham, Swiss cheese, salami and eggs: The pickle-y stuff – sweet and dill pickles, green and black olives and peperoncini: Topped with a choice of Marlene’s bleu cheese or my dad’s paprika dressing. I also served crackers and crusty bread. Dessert was just nectarines and blueberries (you do NOT want to know what that sugar free abomination is on top – I picked it up on the way home – I was just too tired to whip cream! ). Served with some cookies (the same kind, which, oddly enough turned up in one of our Paris pictures!):

Oh, Laurie, that BBQ looks excellent! Maybe we'll have to make a detour next time we come to NC! And those fries are excellent. I don't think I've ever been to a BBQ place that has anything other than frozen.

Soba - It must be rainbow trout season! Dianne on CK just had it, too. I love it and haven't ever cooked it. Panaderia Canadiense - thanks for the explanation. 120 degrees in the summer ? Goodness, I start cranking the air conditioner at 77! I don't think I'd cook at ALL if I had to deal with those temperatures! That tilapia is gorgeous and makes me want to delve into the leaves thread! Emily - you DID tell me about reheating - Mr. Kim tested that the next day for lunch and said they were still great. Paul - great looking pizza! I'm committed to chef salads tonight, but I'm craving pizza now. percyn - I know that is a very upscale meal, but something about that quail makes me wish I could pick it up and eat it with my bare hands. It just looks so GOOD! robirdstx - grilled onions on the fajita look so good. Actually, I could do without that (great looking) chicken, if I could have a big pile of the onions ! RRO - That's just amazingly beautiful and tender looking beef. Wow. Ben - That dressing is the one in this recipe Mr. Kim cooked last night while I did prep for tonight (we're having my in-laws over for dinner and picture viewing). He made bacon cheeseburgers and we also had sliced tomatoes and marinated cucumbers. He wouldn't let me take a picture because he said it was too 'ordinary'. I told him there was nothing ordinary about a bacon cheeseburger.

Panaderia Canadiense – I’m confused – I was wondering about your weather, so I looked at weather.com and saw that the temperature there was 68 degrees. That doesn’t sound like winter to me. Am I wrong about where you are? Well, no matter. Whatever the weather, that soup and bread look fantastic! robirdstx – I just finished dinner and I really, really want a Po Boy. kayb - Here's the link to the recipe on my webpage. They were so good – I really appreciate Emily linking to the original recipe. They will definitely go into our summer rotation! And I have one of those meat-focused 50-somethings that robirdstx mentions, too ! Tonight we started with some nibbles: Yodeling Goat Gouda (really, really good) and everything flatbread Lamb chops, leftover fried green tomatoes, sweet potato slices brûlée and green beans. Everything but the beans is the same color .

Oh, yeah! Nabs and a tab - the 'diet' lunch of my teen years! We actually took a box of Nabs to England with us on our trip last month. Just in case!

Panaderia Canadiense - that chicken and gravy meal is gorgeous! As hot as it is here, I'd love it for dinner tonight! robirdstx - uncooperative cheese makes for GOOD enchiladas ! And I LOVE the look of that pizza crust - exactly how I like it! percyn - I love those tomatoes and rarely find them here. And that teriyaki salmon is just incredibly gorgeous! kayb - I agree with Heidi - the pork looks like a sidedish with all those gorgeous vegetables! Dinner last night started with a salad: I tried a new recipe - the shrimp cakes that Emily made. We really, really liked these a lot. The cakes are served with a sauce that includes sour cream, lime juice and Thai chile garlic sauce - too hot for me, but Mr. Kim LOVED it! Jess and I made do with some cocktail sauce: served with yellow squash and onions and first of the season fried green tomatoes . Marinated cukes and leftover ham and cheese biscuits from breakfast: BITE: So good!!

Hi, Laurie - I'm very excited about your blog! I grew up spending every summer of my life at my grandparents' farm in Reidsville (just west of Greensboro) and still visit my grandmother there and my mom and stepdad live in New Bern, so I come close to you often. Can't wait to see pictures and hear stories!

Never use butter - I honestly can't taste the difference without it and don't need the extra calories (I also don't butter toast if I'm going to use jam). Real maple syrup. Toast dope, if I have some.

You.are.killing.me.

Well, it depends - did he lean over within an inch of the food, wave his hands in the air like a big, giant TOOL and sniff so hard the the food lifted off the plate? Sounds like NOT. I do sniff, but find that a discreet inhale of my fork when I lift the first bite to my mouth is sufficient.

OK, now you're just taunting me, aren't you. Sheesh.

percyn – nice ‘pizza’ – I will have to remember the naan trick! For breakfast this morning, I took a shortcut and made Bisquick ham and cheese biscuits: They were actually pretty good and lighter than the from-scratch ones that I made the other night for my strawberry shortcake ! Scrambled eggs, biscuits and we finished up the last of the gacky turkey bacon. I lie, actually – we didn’t finish it - after breakfast, we tossed the rest of it. It is really awful.

Ben – I think that I could have made a meal of a double portion of the Hors d'oeuvres assortment at Paris 1906 – just gorgeous! And it’s funny that turtle is such a polarized ingredient – you’ll find it only at truly high-end restaurants or divine dumps near the shore!

kayb – I am loving the idea of confit with polenta – what a great combination! Since I was taken up with the end of the week chores and writing (I’ve made a start blogging our trip – you can click on the ‘What Fresh Hell is This’ link under my name at the bottom of the post to get to it, if you like), dinner last night was a very modest affair. We started with some pre-dinner nibbles: Everything flatbread and dirty martini dip. Yummy dip, but SPICY! Salad and corn: Kielbasa with apricot jam/Dijon dipping sauce, leftover quinoa salad and some decent tomatoes that Mr. Kim got at the farmstand:

dcarch – THUNK. That was me fainting dead away at the utter gorgeousness of that Jello! We haven’t seen gelatin art like that at eG since the days of Rachel Perlow’s rainbow Jello dish! I know how you made it, but where did you get the mold??? robirdstx – lovely gooey cheesy enchiladas!!!

Genkinaonna - thank you, ma'am! The biscuits were good - I just need to be more gentle with them! The noodles have sour cream, cottage cheese and Parmesan. Combined with the egg noodles they are a silky, cheesy, slippy good dish! The recipe is here. Your shrimp sounded fantastic. I am not a fan of tomato sauce on shrimp, but LOVE it with tomatoes (odd, I know). Soba - I LOVE Nathalie Dupree! I remember watching her on TV pre-Food Network. She's wonderful. And with the quality of fruits that you are able to get you really should make some biscuits. Seeing your beautiful gnocchi, it's obvious that you don't have my heavy hands - I'm sure you'd make beautiful biscuits. And, again, I have to comment on your gorgeous chicken - beautiful texture and perfect doneness! RRO - thank you! The crust on those quesadillas is just perfect - wish mine looked like that (and I make them fairly often - no excuses).

We had our niece and her husband over tonight for dinner. We had the perfect summer meal (well, except for tomatoes) – BBQ Shrimp: This recipe always comes through for me – easy, delicious, with lots of good sauce to sop up! Quinoa salad: This was the first time I’ve made this and it was wonderful. I love that you make it ahead of time (a really great side for a work night meal) and really liked the texture – I sometimes have a problem with couscous clumping, but the quinoa grains stayed separate and fluffy. Salad and corn: And strawberry shortcake: The biscuit recipe for the shortcake was a new one for me, too. The flavor was fantastic – sweet, with just a hint of lemon. But, as usual, they suffered from heavy biscuit syndrome. I just don’t have a light hand with biscuit dough. Probably because I don’t make them often enough. The recipe is a keeper, though.

Ben - I am so enjoying your blog! The Modernist stuff is so fun to see - I've been reading the thread and it's great to see it in action. I'm very intrigued by your low carb method - I think you are really on to something there (I mean, obviously, since it's working for you!) and I'm giving it some thought. And I'm sending a big hug for Miss Deliah! We are 'pug people' (our Otis passed away some time back, but we still compulsively pug spot!) - no sweeter breed anywhere and so helpful at clean up time !

Dinner tonight started with a spinach salad with my dad’s Paprika dressing: along with some fruit salad. I also tried a new recipe – Suzi’s salmon cakes. They were fantastic. I’d never made them from fresh salmon before – only canned. I’ll never go back – we both loved them. Thank you so much for sending me the recipe, Suzi!! We also finished up the weekend’s cheese noodles and had some marinated cucumbers:

I have been out of things for way too long! You folks are making some amazing breakfasts! I’m embarrassed to post my little meal. Father’s day breakfast (by request) – Festival of Sausages: Spicy patties and regular links. Fried eggs and hashbrowns: (got those eggs a little overdone, huh? )

I made cupcakes for a dinner party Friday: Just Devil’s food cake, but I was really happy with my icing. It was a white chocolate buttercream. I started with my recipe for Fudgy Chocolate Buttercream frosting. It is a combination of two recipes – one that is too goopy and wet (but tastes great) and one that is too dry. I used white chocolate instead of the dark and a can of vanilla frosting for the buttercream to make it easy . It was so light and fluffy and easy to pipe. It lasted a long time, too. We ate the last of them at a Father’s day party on Sunday.

Starting WAY back since I’ve been lazy lately! Genkinaonna – those cola and jam ribs look spectacular! I’ve copied your notes and will give them a try! Dakki – never, EVER apologize for such gorgeous fried chicken! Prawn – that was some lovely BBQing! Love the lacquered look of the ribs! Soba – your roasted poussin on the 12th is lovely. You can SEE how tender and juicy it was. dcarch – thank you – I ‘cook ahead’ a LOT! I like to entertain on weeknights, because I’m selfish – I want weekends all to myself! Your xiao look so wonderful. If I ever want to taste those, I’m going to have to make my own – we don’t have anyplace here to get them. Shelby – is there any sandwich NOT improved by an egg? And Newman is gorgeous ! The other night was night was the frugalist dinner EVER: Noodles cooked in chicken stock (from the cabinet), leftover baked beans, rolls from our dinner the other night at a Greek restaurant and the ultimate save – wings. I bought the wings to make a sauce. They were browned then simmered in homemade chicken stock, lime juice, orange juice, the zest from both, onions, garlic and thyme. When I pulled them out before reducing the sauce, I just couldn’t bear to throw them away. They weren’t falling apart, but the skin was flabby. So I brushed them with honey and incinerated them under the broiler. They were delicious – crisp and tender and deeply flavored with the sauce. We also had salad: But, with us, that’s a given . We had family in from Florida on Friday night – there were some food issues, so I made a turkey breast: That seemed a little bland, so I made a really good citrus sauce from Food & Wine: We also had salad: Baby greens, spinach, red grapes, strawberries, candied cashews and my dad’s Sweet & Sour Paprika dressing. It was fantastic! Broccoli salad: Cheese noodles: And cupcakes: