Kim Shook

Shelby – every single thing looked fabulous! And that burger is just incredibly juicy and delicious looking. By the way, your photographs just get better and better all the time! Country – I love that you noticed that charring in Shelby’s kitchen and cared enough to mention it. I used to call my daughter’s online friends her ‘imaginary friends’ and posts like yours make me realize how wrong I was – we are real friends who care about one another!

ET – your marshmallows are bee-you-tee-ful!!!! chocoera – that is some amazing work! And that cheesecake is my calling to me. I wish someone could explain how a place like Algona, Iowa has an incredible bakery like yours and the capital of Virginia has NOTHING comparable. DeliciouslyLekker – gorgeous crown on that loaf! I made an angel food cake for one of Mr. Kim’s co-workers: It looks perfect and he’s promised to bring me a piece tomorrow.

dcarch – Mr. Kim’s chin hit the floor when he saw your gorgeous pork and quinoa! Dejah - Here is the couscous recipe. And, by the way, those clams are perhaps the most beautiful I’ve ever seen! Dakki – I have to echo Patrick. Your tacos are gorgeous. I have never eaten tripe. I’ve never had or wanted the opportunity. But that picture is so wonderful that I’d try those tacos in a second! rarerollingobject – the picture of the oysters is beautiful! Also, your shaved zucchini salad is lovely. Ann – your ‘old standby’ looks delicious! Dinner tonight: Egg, ham and cheese muffins w/ sliced pears and not really photo worthy vegetable soup:

Well, I am MUCH farther along in my planning thanks to all of YOU ! I've created a Google map with just about every location of Ottolenghi, Sofra, Leon, Gail's, Lisboa Patisserie and polpo! We have 8pm reservations for Quo Vadis for Saturday night and The Wolesley for Sunday night. And we are going to Master's Super Fish on Monday night after a whirlwind bus tour (I know, I know, but we only have 2 1/2 days in London and my mother and English stepdad would KILL me if I didn't see EVERYTHING). The tour ends up at Victoria Coach station and I'm hoping that we can figure out how to get there with a combination of the tube and walking! My most recent question is re: dress at The Wolesley and Quo Vadis - does Mr. Kim need a coat and tie?

Dejah - Thank you! How I got that colour: Step 1 - preheat cast iron skillet to medium heat on my electric stovetop. Step 2 - add safflower oil to skillet. Step 3 - add chops to smoking skillet. Step 4 - have DH disable smoke alarm! Step 5 - open windows on multiple sides of house to allow smoke to dissipate (lame exhaust fan that sends exhaust back into kitchen!) I could make those lamb chops because I have that same stupid exhaust fan ! I wish someone could explain to me the point of an exhaust fan that doesn't, you know, CONNECT TO THE OUTSIDE SOMEHOW????

Thanks, again! We just ordered a gift card from Alchemy!

Thank you both so for the ideas (and the LINKS - incredible time saver for me). I'll look at all of them as soon as possible. I really don't know where he's going to be living - and neither does he. He's become this major rolling stone since he ditched the corporate world. He sold his house in Phoenix and rented an apartment there and then went off to New Zealand and Patagonia, came back to AZ and decided that since he'd spent the last few years weekending in San Diego anyway, he'd rather have his home base there. So he hasn't actually moved there yet, but will be doing that over the next couple of months. (Yeah, I know...I have to hold my mouth closed in order for the phrase "Must be nice" to stay in my head). Thanks again!

Is the fish and chips place you like called "The Beer Fish & Chips Shop"?

What an amazing trip, Nikki! Thank you so much for this! Greece is on my list of dream destinations, so I am thoroughly enjoying this report.

I need a birthday gift for my world traveler BIL who will be living in San Diego for the forseeable future in between trips to Argentina, Portugal, etc. He's late 40's, single, a bit crunchy (drinks green smoothies for breakfast) and very adventuresome in his tastes. Casual is fine, but probably not a real DIVE. It has to be somewhere that will sell us a gift certificate online or on the phone since we are in VA. In one of the posts Costa Brava is mentioned and sounded interesting. Thanks so much for the help!

sherrid – those pancakes look lovely and very familiar to me. My stepdad is English and those pancakes were a favorite of mine. I loved the slight crunch of the sugar and the spark that he always made with the lemon peel and a match! kayb – what a GREAT idea! I’ve done a French toast ‘bar’ with fondue pots for a brunch, but never thought to do pancakes. Hmmm – only have one griddle, would need to borrow more . Have a wonderful visit with your family! Breakfast this morning: Scrambled eggs, Benton’s bacon and THE Cinnamon-Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake. My layering technique obviously needs some work (seriously – how hard should it be to figure out HALF of something?), but this was delicious!

minas - I don't have any advice to offer, having never made anything but the simplest boiled break-apart candies, but I have to tell you how utterly lovely your candies are and how impressed I am with them. Good job!

Bruce – thanks for the information (and the compliment!). It must be pasta week (see below)! We had spaghetti with meat sauce tonight: Just a tarted up jarred sauce – but it cooked most of the afternoon and tasted so good. We needed some comfort food after watching our Rams lose to Butler in the Final Four ! I also made garlic bread with some excellent crusty bread from Costco and, of course, a salad:

Kerry suggested coating the Pop Rocks with cocoa butter to save them from melting. I'm not really sure what to do about the flavoring. I used the Lorann liquid and it was not like any cotton candy I've ever tasted.

Thanks for the cooky love. Kerry gave me an idea for maintaining the Pop Rocks power, so I'll be trying them again! The shrimp recipe is Dianne's - a member here at eG. They are a favorite of ours - such an easy preparation that I make them a LOT! Here is the recipe.

rarerollingobject – those roasted grapes look seriously amazing! Bruce – the stir fried salmon meal looks fantastic. I am stealing the cabbage/snow pea/mushroom idea. And how in the world do you stir fry salmon without it becoming hash? Dejah – beautiful scallops! What a perfect sear you got. Jem – you bet that’s a keeper – I can tell that even without a picture. I’ve saved your directions and description and will be trying that. Between you and Genkinaonna, I’m inspired to get out my pressure cooker and get busy. We had Mr. Kim’s mother over for dinner last night. I love cooking for her because she is so adventuresome and likes almost everything. We started with a chilled curry apple soup that an online friend who lives in China recommended: Served with Monica Bhide’s curry leaf bread made as rolls: And some goodies to spread: green olive tapenade, tomato jam and hummus. The jam and hummus were purchased, but I made the tapenade. We had a version of this at a party awhile back and the caterer told me what the ingredients were – I took her list and added some anchovy paste – very, very good! The main course included Dianne’s Garlic Shrimp: delicous, as always. With some crusty bread for sopping, of course: Couscous with shallots, currants and hazelnuts, cooked a different way than I usually do: The method was one from the February 2011 issue of CI. Instead of the standard – bring the water/stock to a boil, add the couscous, cover, let sit and fluff – you toast the dry couscous in the pan with butter for about 5 minutes and then add the liquid, which boils immediately. Then you cover and let sit. I’d never done it this way and it was a huge improvement over the other method – nice, separate grains and not too dry. A simple salad: Just greens with olive oil, orange muscat vinegar and S&P. Dessert was cookies. The (very) good: And the not-so-much: (Explanation here)

Thanks again for all the advice. My rolls worked perfectly. We had my MIL over for dinner last night and I wanted to make them ahead of time and freeze them. I made them on Tuesday night and thawed them yesterday morning. The dough worked out very well as rolls. Great crust and a good interior. Close up: I really love the color that the turmeric gives the bread.

Deliciouslylekker – that cake is fabulous! I just love the slightly collapsed center and the contrast of the dark chocolate with the drift of confectioner’s sugar! I’ve printed out the recipe to try. Genkinaonna – I adore your cupcakes. They are certainly girly enough for me! I made a couple of different cookies for dessert last night. One huge success and the other – not so much. I made Deena’s Almond Joy cookies: A fantastic success. Delicious macaroon with a dollop of dark chocolate and toasted almonds. Rich and gooey. The dark chocolate offsets the sweetness of the macaroon perfectly. The other cooky was a bit of a failed experiment and requires a little explanation. I love those Lofthouse cookies that they have in grocery store bakeries. They are tender and soft and very cakey. I am also in love with Brewster’s Cotton Candy Explosion ice cream. It is cotton candy flavored with Pop Rocks mixed in. I somehow became obsessed with the idea of making a Lofthouse-type cooky with the flavor of the ice cream. A coworker makes a copycat Lofthouse cooky and gave me her recipe. I put a little cotton candy flavoring in the cooky dough and in the frosting and topped them with Pop Rocks. Then my problems began – the cookies are lovely and tender and the frosting smooth and not numbingly sweet (better, in fact, than the Lofthouse frosting). But the flavoring didn’t taste at ALL like cotton candy – just vaguely sweet and fruity. The Pop Rocks worked just fine when we tasted the cookies immediately after topping the cookies – good explosiveness. But they fairly quickly melted away to nothing. Sigh. I’m sure that Brewster’s gets some special Pop Rocks that will stand up to being wetted with the ice cream. They are much larger than the ones that I got. Oh, well. My next idea for the cookies is to incorporate toasted coconut, which I’m sure will work much better. I also overdid the red food coloring and they are rather alarmingly PINK:

I don’t have much to offer – my breakfast was eaten at lunch time and consisted of leftover garlic shrimp and buttered saltines! BUT, I had to comment on Moe’s breakfast and Deena’s coffee cake (again). Ann, that breakfast is, to me, THE quintessential breakfast. It has everything that is necessary to me – perfectly cooked egg, pork and potato (I’d probably add one of those bagels in the next picture, but I’m a double starch girl). I went and searched out a source for peameal bacon and hope to have some soon. They offer it slice or as a roast. Which do you recommend? And I am making Deena’s coffee cake tomorrow. All those pictures were just too much for me.

Just dipped into your cookbook and now see that you have enough cereal to make Cap'n Crunch Peanut Butter Crunch Treats for your entire neighborhood. Indeed. Not to mention Crunchberry ones.

I have 4 GIANT boxes of assorted Cap'n Crunch cereals in my pantry. There was a rumor a couple of weeks ago that they were discontinuing production and in a panic, I stocked up. Oh, the shame.

judiu - I'm sorry - I should have said that that was also store-bought (in the interests of getting dinner on the table FAST). It was from Harris Teeter's deli section. We don't have a Harris Teeter here in Richmond, but found it in NC when we were at the OBX that weekend. It is one of our favorites and we always grab some when we get near a Harris Teeter. toolprincess - I love your meatloaf repurposing! I have the same infection and think that would be a GREAT dinner! Hope you feel better soon! Ann - Those halibut cheeks look positively succulent! Nick - beautiful pastrami. It looks so tender and perfect. robirdstx - I have been craving fish tacos lately and no one here has really good ones - those look fantastic and I love, love, LOVE the sound of the white sauce! Borgstrom - salmon souffle sounds lovely - I have the book, I'll have to look up that recipe! I am doing all of my food enjoyment this week vicariously - I'm battling an upper respiratory infection and trying to prep for a dinner party on Friday night. Last night I made two kinds of cooky dough and curry leaf rolls to put in the freezer and ate leftover Chinese take out! Thank you all for your contributions!

These folks need to be introduced to dcartch.

Thank you all so much. I'm going to be making these tonight and feel much better about my chances of success!

Thank you, ma'am!