Kim Shook

YAY! we love love LOVE spaghetti and meatballs. perhaps the definition of comfort food. ummm garlic bread. I know what I'm doing for lunch. or dinner. Well, crap. I didn't realize until just now that I forgot to make the garlic bread. I had some really good long breadsticks in the freezer that I was going to use, too. Next time.

Dinner two nights ago: Spaghetti and meatballs. All but the pasta was frozen and just needed heating up. I’m not big on leftovers, but spaghetti sauce is different!

Catherine, frozen bananas are a boardwalk tradition in the US and I love them dearly. A trip to the beach would not be complete without one.

Lapping myself. Dinner tonight: Leftover mini frittatas with cornmeal griddle bread and country gravy. Good combination.

Bruce – gorgeous burgers! I feel the frozen patty pain – Mr. Kim is always buying them and cooking a gross to feed us all week. Ick. Mrs. C’s cabbage salad looks and sounds wonderful! I make something similar and it is a favorite around here. deensiebat – I love knishes, but I’ve never made them myself! I’m impressed. Dinner last night was Buffalo wings and veggies:

Kim, as usual, the recipe sounds divine, but when do you put in the cranberry sauce? I would think it would go in at step 2, but maybe I'm nuts or did I miss something? Thanks! Doh! Thanks so much for catching that. I've been making this dish for more than 30 years and I guess I just mentally inserted the proper directions! Yes, it goes in at step 2, like you thought. And you would sprinkle it with GINGER rather than the less known spice, GINER (which sounds vaguely obscene anyway). I'll be updating it on my webpage! Thank you, again!!

Chris - I don't know if casseroles are your thing, but this one is really good and actually goes from freezer to oven for 2 hours, turning the pieces once after one hour.

Hi Kim, Nice looking dinner. Have you ever made Arancini with your leftover risotto? Thanks, Nick. Well, that's leftover ORZO risotto (my daughter and I can't eat rice - both have had gastric bypasses) - do you think it would work? I adore arancini! For interest's sake Kim, have you ever tried farro as a substitute for rice in your risotto? No, I haven't ever thought of it, Nick. I'll make a note to grab some next time I see it and try it. Thanks!

Someone at work ordered a giant cupcake cake to give to a friend: The cake was a weird recipe – Melted Ice Cream Cake. It’s one of those Ann Byrn cake mix fix-up recipes. I still haven’t found a yellow cake recipe that I love, so when someone requests yellow cake, I tend to tart up a cake mix. This was actually pretty good – you just add melted ice cream in place of any water and oil to the cake mix and then add eggs. The cake was very moist and dense and rich flavored. The frosting is my usual Fudgy Chocolate Buttercream. I used a yellow-dyed white buttercream on the bottom to mimic a paper cupcake cup.

Our breakfast this morning was Mini Ham and Cheese Frittatas – a Taste of Home recipe: We also had Kerry Cornmeal Griddle Bread from Darina Allen’s Forgotten Skills of Cooking: The griddle cakes tasted great, but I think that I did something wrong. They were too thick, I think. The recipe was unclear, but indicated that you were to use all of the batter to make one cake and maybe I should have made 2 or more.

Rico – we had the salsa again tonight on tostadas – still so good! Bella – we really loved it. I wondered if the dressing would be too sweet with the OJ and maple syrup and it isn’t at all! I’ll be making it again, I know and I’ll try the pink lady apples. They are one of our favorite apples. Dinner tonight was Mexican Shredded Pork Tostadas from the March/April Cook’s Illustrated. The pork after simmering and pan frying: Plated w/ pineapple salsa, cojita cheese, avocado, cilantro and lime and black beans on the side: Close up:

Seriously, no one has cooked since Sunday?? Dinner tonight was Ina Garten’s Cape Cod Chopped Salad – arugula, apple, bacon, bleu cheese, toasted walnuts and dried cranberries with an orange juice vinaigrette: before tossing plated I don’t know why it’s called a ‘chopped’ salad – the only chopped stuff are the walnuts and the bacon. But it was really good!

percy – that lobster roll looks fabulous! Dinner tonight was chopped salad w/ balsamic vinaigrette and shrimp quesadillas. Salad: quesadillas in the pan: Plated w/ Rico's pineapple salsa and black beans: Rico, that pineapple salsa was wonderful. And perfect with shrimp. We had some leftover and I think that we'll just be eating it with a spoon! Dessert was Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace cookies:

dystopiandreamgirl – your panna cotta is just so lovely and the pan you used is just perfect. Inspired by emmalish’s gorgeous picture, I made Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace cookies today: Truly some of the most divine cookies I’ve ever tasted.

Hi Kim, Nice looking dinner. Have you ever made Arancini with your leftover risotto? Thanks, Nick. Well, that's leftover ORZO risotto (my daughter and I can't eat rice - both have had gastric bypasses) - do you think it would work? I adore arancini!

Gail, I found them a one of those 'party' stores. Party City, maybe.

HappyLab – love the egg on the pasta. That is such a great idea and something that I never think of doing! nickrey – I love the combination of the figs, pork and pancetta! It looks delicious. Dinner last night was very simple: Cheeseburgers, baked beans and leftover risotto. The risotto saved very well – not as creamy, of course, but the texture and flavor were great.

Dinner tonight was (inexplicably dry) slow cooker country ribs, vermouth artichoke hearts, mashed potatoes and cloverleaf rolls:

For anyone who is interested in my full report on our trip, I've finally posted it on my blog.

Gail - I'm astounded at such ambition! I do lots of large group entertaining, but only up to 50 or so. I'm sure that the folks here that cater have lots of ideas for you, but probably want more info from you. Where are you doing this? What will the kitchen facilities consist of? How much help do you have? That kind of thing. One thing that I've done with great success is shot glass desserts. I've done key lime pie and chocolate mousse. With the pie one, you just mix up gingersnap crumbs and butter and put that in the bottom of the glasses (I used disposable plastic ones - very inexpensive), fill a giant piping bag with key lime filling and squirt away. These can be done the day before and topped early with stabilized whipped cream. I've had these with cheesecake, fruit and cooky crumbles. When you start thinking about it, the possibilities are endless. Good luck! I'd love to hear a running report of how things are going.

That looks great, Darienne! I think that it should freeze just fine. You're doing a test freeze anyway, right? But, as long as its cooked first, I can't imagine that it would be a problem. The only thing that might happen is some drying out, and I always find oven French toast a little too damp anyway - I prefer it leftover rather than fresh out of the oven.

Pam - Thank you! Here's the method. Its really Fat Guy's method and really our favorite way to cook steaks, especially thick ones! Your pie is lovely. I think the spinach variation sounds great.

emmalish – well, I’ll say thank you here for all the nice comments you’ve made everywhere else! All I can say is cooking is what I love to do and it’s how I show love (yes, we are a family of fatties). Also, I cook everything I can ahead of time and no one is allowed to actually EAT in the dining room for up to a week before the Big Day – because I set out all the serving pieces and put little indentifying stickies in them (I’m a wingnut, I know). crowdingthepan – Love the banh mi sausages! Rico – I passed on the lamb compliment to Mr. Kim – he was pleased you noticed his contribution. I LOVE the combination of shrimp and pineapple salsa! I’ll be trying that! Dinner tonight was oven roasted steak (NY strip for Mr. Kim and 1/4 of a rib eye for me), orzo risotto and salad w/ balsamic vinaigrette and herbed goat cheese rounds: A friend on another board brought that orzo recipe to my attention. I adore risotto and since rice gives my tummy trouble, I’ve missed it so much. This was absolutely delicious and I’ll be making it again and again! I have lots of risotto recipes that I’ll be adapting now! This was supposed to be our wine tonight: It went in the risotto and we were just going to drink it with dinner, even though it is a white. But our little fridge that we keep wine in went kerflooey and it was all but frozen – like a Chardonnay Slurpee. I have no idea what freezing does to the taste, but most of the wine went down the drain in flowing foam – there was just enough left for the risotto. It tasted ok to me – not great.

Rico – that is some beautiful fried chicken! Pam – I was drooling over that roast pork and the cracklings, too! We had 16 guests for Easter dinner. Nibbles: Olives, Liptauer cheese, crackers Dinner: Mr. Kim’s wonderful smoked lamb and yogurt/garlic sauce (which he talks about here), Russian deli pickles My friend, Lisa, made the beautiful ham – really moist! Better than mine EVER is! Rachel’s incomparable chicken salad! (She also sent me the lovely serving dish). My favorite chicken salad. Ina Garten shrimp salad. I managed to find wild NC shrimp and it was worth the extra cost. Deviled eggs. Croissant and bread to go with. Mr. Kim’s best friend made his family’s famous potato salad. Salad w/ balsamic vinaigrette and herbed goat cheese. Fruit salad – I just got what looked good at the store and threw it all together. Dessert buffet: Carrot Cake Cooky Bars, Pink Meringue Cupcakes - all meringue – and gluten free (for my niece who is gluten intolerant). I served them with macerated strawberries and whipped cream. Very good and very popular! Coconut cake. And sugar cookies: It was a lovely day - the first guest arrived at 3pm and the last left after 10:30! The mark of a good party, I think!

emmalish – what gorgeous, crisp, brown waffles! I am just loving all your stuff lately (see my response to your cookies on the dessert thread!) Easter breakfast: Baked eggs w/ cream and Cheddar, Neuske’s pepper bacon and my MIL’s hot cross buns.