Kim Shook

dcarch – the clam juice spheres are fantastic. Would they be hot or cold (I am completely ignorant in that area)? Nick – I was also intrigued by the sausages and grapes and your version sounds delicious! Dinner last night was an extremely easy and surprisingly good stir fry. Chicken marinated in Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki sauce overnight, stir fried with some Ramen noodles and topped with cashews and crispy rice noodles. This was done start to finish (except for the marinating) in about 20 minutes. A great weeknight dinner: I served it with sliced cucumbers and radishes with rice wine vinegar and black salt: A co-worker gave me a lovely gift: A baker’s dozen fresh eggs from her own free range (practically pet) chickens. I especially loved the greenish ones: And look at this cute little booger: So dinner tonight was, of course: Fried eggs, Benton’s bacon, Ann’s potato pancakes and toast made with some good, crusty bleu cheese and black pepper bread.

rarerollingobject – that first one you posted is an especially gorgeous salad and I am SO stealing that combination! With what did you dress it? This is a good idea for a topic. We eat a LOT of salads and I need some inspiration! I am so tired of the same old salads. I’ve been enamoured recently of extremely thinly sliced romaine tossed with a simple vinaigrette and piled up on a salad plate. But usually I could post pictures of the last 10 salads that I've made and anyone would swear that they were of the same salad. Actually, last night’s WAS a little different: Sliced cucumbers and radishes with rice wine vinegar and black salt.

David – gorgeous short ribs. I gazed at them in the store this weekend, but remembered all of the meat and poultry waiting for me in the freezer and resisted. But if I’d seen your picture before I went shopping, I think those ribs would have come home with me! Bruce – yes to the rice! Since discovering that I can eat (small portions) it after all, I am having a rice fest as often as possible! dcarch – those meatballs looks fantastic. I’ve been noticing meatballs all over the place on the different sites that I frequent – must be meatball season! Ann – my favorite kind of pizza. That crust looks perfect! Rico – thank you – that is a wonderful compliment coming from a Texan! But I have to confess that the jalapenos are on Mr. Kim’s tacos – he is the ‘never too hot for me’ guy. I am a big sissy – mild salsa is my speed! Lobster roll sliders !!! They look fabulous! Dinner tonight ended up being a rather monochromatic meal: Chicken with creamy pesto sauce and egg noodles, sautéed artichoke hearts and bleu cheese and black pepper bread. The sauce for the chicken was made with the new Philadelphia cream for cooking. We liked it a lot – not quite as tangy as cream cheese, but very thick and rich tasting. Not terribly gourmet, but good and fast for a weeknight dinner.

I don't think that I've ever cooked a ham any other way than with Co'cola! It works with a country or a city ham.

Thanks so much! I love big, fluffy pancakes so I'll be giving these a try!

Breakfast this morning: Scrambled eggs, sausage and Ann’s potato pancakes. Excellent pancakes. These are done with mashed potatoes, which I usually use. The only difference is that Ann separates her eggs and whips the whites to stiff before folding into the potatoes. What a difference to the texture of the pancakes! I am converted. One little confession . I NEEDED to have these this morning. I have been thinking about them since she posted them on the 8th. But I didn’t have any potatoes. I DID have some instant potato flakes leftover from Christmas (bought in case the slow cooker potatoes were too watery), so I made these from instant potatoes . I’m QUITE sure that real potatoes are better and next time I’ll do that. But these were still fantastic!

rarerollingobject – love the sandwich! We are addicted to HP in this house, but never thought to pair it with a bacon sandwich – thanks! Breakfast yesterday was buttermilk pancakes and sausage: The pancake recipe was a new one for me – from Fine Cooking magazine’s new Breakfast special issue. The flavor was good, but they were as flat as…well, pancakes: I’m pretty sure that my baking powder is fine – I’ve recently used it for cake, so I don’t understand why they were SO flat.

And I would join Darienne in the maiming. Fantastic kitchen! And I adore your toaster – it is EXACTLY the one that I grew up with. My parents got it as a wedding gift in the late 1950’s and I don’t think that my mother replaced it until the 1980’s. I would love to find one. I am really looking forward to your week!

What you said about gaining confidence and experience though the shared knowledge at eG was very profound. I cooked for years – out of books and magazines and it was truly hit or miss. Specific questions had to go unanswered because I had no one to ask. I was actually the best cook I knew – never a good place to be when you want to learn. When the internet ‘happened’ and I found eG, I suddenly had people to ASK! What a wonderful gift. And what a wonderful gift this blog has been, Roberta! As always, I’m impressed with the generosity that foodbloggers show in welcoming us into your home and life and kitchen. Thank you for your hospitality and for doing such a great job. I’ve loved your pictures and your writing so much. This is one of those blogs that I’ll come back to again and again!

MiFi – gorgeous steak sandwich! Cass – I love your pizza – those bubbles are perfect! rarerollingobject – lardo on bread…brilliant! djyee – love the looks of your sausage dinner – especially the soft, brown onions (Mr. Kim would love the kale) Ann – your pasta looks perfect, as does the meat sauce – great consistency. Prawn – gorgeous meat!!! I’m with you on the surf and turf. I love both, but not together – too much richness? The only version I really like is country ham and crab. Blether – not derailing at all – a picture of your kitchen – what could be more apt for eG?? Glad you are safe, my friend. Like Rico, my first horrified thought was for my eG buddies! Shelby – if Mr. Kim sees that picture, I’ll be making those burgers for dinner tomorrow. He’s been dying to try one since he saw them on some TV show. But where is the ‘money shot’ ? A couple of recent dinners – I did end up making carnitas with that overcooked slow cooker pork from last weekend. It turned out very well: Tender, moist pork with salty, crispy edges. I made tacos with the carnitas: And served some of the shrimp and pineapple fried rice that I fixed up from the other night. I added some ginger, fish sauce, pepper and extra soy sauce and it turned out great! Mr. Kim had some kale: Another night I just made some tunafish salad sandwiches and more fried rice:

What a wonderful, delicious and so very readable blog! I haven't responded much this week (sneaking in to do so from work today - can't do that much), but I've read every word and savored every picture and description! Can't wait for MORE!!!

Katie said everything that has been running around my head since I read this post earlier today and she said it so much better. I don't think that folks get a 'bye' on all their practices based on 'culture' and 'tradition'.

Wow. For some reason, I notice here at the breakfast thread more than the lunch or dinner threads just how international we are here at eG! Amazingly assorted and delicious looking breakfasts, folks! Simple breakfast this morning: Eggs, bacon and ET bagels.

Yes, we've said that often. If I ever get to retire, I'll be that peculiar woman walking up and down the streets trying to give away cupcakes and cookies!

Dejah – the ‘sauce’ for the lamb was a combination of sautéed onion, red wine, garlic and chopped tomatoes. The chops are braised in the sauce for an hour or so. It would be hard for it not to be good with all that, huh ? An extremely disappointing dinner last night: Two new recipes: Ginger glazed mahi-mahi, shrimp and pineapple fried rice and sautéed snow peas. The glaze for the fish was very good, but the mahi was extremely fishy tasting. The rice was fine, but bland – I’ll have to play with the seasonings a bit. We really liked the combination of shrimp and pineapple. And the snow peas were mushy. Blah. We ended up sharing a bag of Taco Doritos and watching 3 episodes of Jeeves and Bertie <_< ! Dinner tonight was supposed to be some country ribs with a hoisin bbq sauce. I thought I’d play with the bland fried rice a bit and use it as a side to the ribs. I put the ribs in the slow cooker before we left the house this morning to do some errands. I figured that we’d be back LONG before the 6 hours that the ribs were supposed to cook. Best laid plans. We didn’t get home until EIGHT hours later. The meat was literally falling apart. We ate a late lunch (at a chain restaurant called Café Caturra – awfully good soup, sandwiches and salad), so we weren’t hungry anyway. I’m thinking maybe carnitas for dinner tomorrow. <sigh>

cakemuse – I am utterly gobsmacked by those chocolates. What gorgeous work! I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen lovelier! And, more importantly, they sound delicious! I made an angel food cake drizzled with chocolate glaze for a work birthday: It disappeared faster than any other cake I’ve ever taken in before! It was really good. To use up the yolks, I made a 12 Yolk ‘Angel Food’ cake with orange extract and dried orange peel the next night: Fluffy white frosting w/ the same orange flavorings. I’ve made this cake before and the flavor is good, but it is a little dry and somewhat tough: Here's the recipe. Any suggestions for improving the texture and moistness of this cake?

I looked all over NOLA for this cookbook when we were there last spring and couldn't find it. I thought it was an amazing concept. Thanks for the reminder - I just added it to my amazon wishlist! Looking forward to your week!

Judiu – thank you! We love cheese soufflés – they are good for breakfast, lunch or dinner! deensiebat – that kale pizza sounds great and I don’t like kale! djyee – that strata is GORGEOUS! Dcarch – thank you. The razor clams look delicious, as does the naan. What is the sauce on the clams? It almost looks like salsa. robirdstx – the quiche is lovely. As far as getting your sunburst to brown, I have two ideas – brush it with an egg yolk wash. If it still isn’t browning up the way you want, cover the edges of the crust with foil and run it under the broiler for a couple of minutes. Dinner last night was a reaction to the warm day: Salad with an olive oil and orange muscat champagne vinaigrette, the last bit of Ann T.’s gorgonzola garlic bread and chicken macaroni salad with pineapple and shallots (I think that macaroni salad should have been on a colored plate!). As today was much cooler, I decided to braise some lamb shoulder chops that needed cooking: Served with yellow squash and onions and basmati rice.

Steamed crabs with Old Bay.

Jeff – just gorgeous! I assume that is polenta? My very favorite thing to serve with lamb shanks. Especially if there’s gonna be SAUCE ! I redeemed myself tonight and had a lovely time doing it! Dinner tonight: Rib eyes with sautéed mushrooms and a red wine pan sauce and broccoli. Cheddar cheese soufflés: And Ann T.’s (eG) delectable Gorgonzola garlic bread:

Rico – so funny you should say that. Sardines on saltines are one of my favorite pantry meals! The family hates sardines, though, so I hardly ever indulge! Your po’ boy looks fantastic. I have to say that I’ve never even tasted canned oysters (except for the smoked ones – another one of my favorite and lonely indulgences), but if they were good, why not use them? That is really the best factor to consider. Dakki – that picture of your chicken and mushroom taco is lovely. It could literally be a magazine shot! Ann – gorgeous chicken – what is it stuffed with? And on MY calendar, February 23rd was a Wednesday. THAT is a weeknight meal for you??? Or is the Canadian calendar different ? Blether – love the looks of that Mac/Cheese/Cod cassserole! percyn – lobster salad !!! It looks exactly perfect – simple and not too ‘messed with’! rarerollingobject – I really, really want lamb like that for dinner tonight! Dinner the other night: Still trying to work down stuff in the pantry/freezer/etc. This was a chili/cheese dog casserole. Leftover chili, dogs from a Christmas package from Omaha Steaks (???) that were in the freezer, a good amount of leftover Cowboy beans from a local BBQ place, a can of navy beans and the end of some Cheddar drying out in the cheese drawer! I served it on some Jiffy corn waffles with some leftover slaw: The casserole was definitely one of those “greater than the sum” things. It was really, really good and I always love corn waffles. The slaw, however, was a little tired! I’ve hardly cooked this week, other than that. We finally got Jessica moved into her new apartment yesterday. And now we are starting to get into the nitty-gritty of plans for the England/Paris trip in May, so I don’t know when I’ll be really cooking again. I did make breakfast this morning – we got our order of Benton bacon in the mail Friday, so it was bacon and eggs on rolls today!

I infuse honey with fresh cracked black pepper and then use the honey on cheese for a cheese board or cheese toast appetizers. This honey is also good drizzled on bleu cheese stuffed puff pastry pockets.

These are all about silliness and fun. I have one of these pans and the huge cupcakes are regularly requested by folks at work and by kids. There is something smile producing and ridiculous about anything absurdly large or small. It's a cake embellishment the same way that fancy piping or tilted layers are. Really, there is no need to bake anything but a sheet cake - it is much easier to frost, transports easily and tastes the same as a tall lovely layer cake. But everyone loves that tall, beautiful cake. Aesthetics count a LOT in cooking, I think.

Melissa - thank you so much for the recipes/instructions. It sounds heavenly and I can't wait to find an excuse to make it!

On the breakfast menu, the Chick-n-Minis are fantastic. Chicken nuggets (which are REAL chicken) on little yeast rolls brushed with honey butter. There is a Chick-Fil-A on my way to work and I have to talk myself out of stopping every morning!