Kim Shook

I have to agree with you here, Janet. Someone once gave me a mint that had the flavor of violets - tasted like the bottom of an old lady's purse <shudder>. He was very offended at my comparison .

Here's what my onion keeper looks like. At least it didn't set Santa back too much!

I am a very adventuresome eater and will try almost anything - for lunch or dinner. But at breakfast, I am a total southern American - eggs, pork, potatoes and bread for me please.

OUCH! I love my onion-shaped onion keeper. I not only have the onion-shaped onion keeper, but the lemon-shaped lemon keeper, too . I don't know that they work any better than a ziplock bag, but they are cute and immediately identifiable.

robirdstx – beautiful bread! Peter – love the look of the potatoes and gooey cheese. I want to do that soon. percyn – I want all the specifics of that short rib, sweet potato soufflé, cornbread dish. That looks and sounds so amazing. We have a foot of snow, so I can’t go shopping tomorrow, but I want that very, very soon!! This is what it looked like at my house today: gorgeous, lovely, isolating SNOW! We had notice that this would happen, so I went shopping on the way home yesterday. Today I cooked ! CI American white bread Slice: I also made Bourdain’s boeuf bourguignon: Dinner was an iceberg wedge salad w/ bleu cheese dressing and bacon: and the bourguignon w/ some roasted red potatoes: A perfect warming, comforting winter meal.

percyn - love the look of that pancake breakfast! Last weekend – Mr. Kim’s breakfast: Gruyere and chive omelet, Benton’s bacon and navel orange slices Mine: A little of Mr. Kim’s omelet on an English muffin with Benton’s bacon

I assume that this is the correct thread for this? Good Lord. The commercial is hilarious - people just demolishing eggs all over their counters and stoves. This is something that NO ONE would buy for themselves, but that someone would buy for a cook thinking (or NOT thinking) "what a cool tool"!

Thanks for the kind words, everyone! Lior, I didn't make the chocolate squares - they were Ghirardelli white chocoate squares. Very convenient! ejw - gorgeous chocolate! I love the idea of including the pop rocks. I have some pop rocks that I'm planning to top some cookies with and was wondering how they will work on top of frosting. I'm guessing that if they work in chocolate, they will work on frosting.

robirdstx - gorgeous pizza! Jeff - love that fried stuff! Your catfish is really beautiful. powerplantop - everything looks wonderful, but I am mesmerized by that perfectly fried egg! Last night I made fennel soup gratin. It was so wonderful and warming. Mr. Kim came in from a late meeting after 10 o'clock and said that it was the perfect meal for that time of night. The caramelized onions and fennel: Is there anything prettier? The soup: Finished with bread cubes and melted Gruyere:

I love this thread and the pictures of all the wonderful glassware! I have some glasses similar to Katie’s that I just love: I have 4 of each and found them at a local flea market. I think that I paid about $2/stem for them.

For my SIL’s graduation party, I made cake and fruit tarts. The cake was three layers – two of the CI German chocolate and one of plain white cake w/ vanilla bean: Not the flattest cake ever. The frosting was my Fudgy Chocolate Buttercream – a combination of a fudge frosting and a buttercream. I think that it’s the perfect mixture of deep chocolate flavor and a good consistency for piping: The decorations: I made little mortar boards with mini white Reeses cups, white chocolate squares, Twizzler pull-off tassels and M&Ms all stuck together with melted candy coating. They were really cute, but I’d like to find something better for the tassels and I wish I’d had time to get colored candy coating. The decorated cake and a close up: Inside: I was really pleased with the cake. The flavor was good, everyone really seemed to love it. My decorating skills are amateur and the evenness of the layers of cake and frosting isn’t great, but it was cute and it was GOOD and I’m happy with that. The fruit tarts were so easy. I was very lucky to find this recipe, because when she requested fruit tarts, I was envisioning those little pastry tarts, brushed with chocolate, filled with custard, topped with sliced fruit and glazed with jelly. I only got the request on Tuesday, so I had no time and was freaking out a little about being able to do them properly and on time. So when the recipe I used turned up on a search, I was so happy! They start with a shortbread crust: You fill them with a mixture of cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon zest: And top with whatever fruit you like: I chose blackberries and blueberries. Crispy, creamy, tart, sweet. These were wonderful!

percyn – lovely omelet! Bruce – that chorizo omelet is just gorgeous – what a perfect color you got on it! Blether – that is my favorite breakfast, too. Great looking bacon! Breakfast yesterday: Rib eye strips w/ mushrooms, eggs & ET bagels

I share so many of these - casseroles, junk food, Beef and Cheddars. My most embarrassing one is that I adore Underwood Deviled Ham - on white bread with tons of Duke's mayo. But the shameful thing is that in spite of this - I make fun of my husband and daughter for liking Domino's and Pizza Hut . How I dare, I don't know.

Thanks so much. Mr. Kim is stopping on the way home for candy coating and thank you SO much for that link, Kayakado! It is amazing and I am doing basically what she suggests for the caps – except not the Reeses Cups.

Thank you! I don't have any candy coating, but I do have lots of chocolate - would it be alright to use regular melted chocolate?

Thank you all so much! I have found a recipe for some fruit tarts that I think will save me time and money and be more - from scratch! Like an answer to a prayer, huh? It is a shortbread crust, poked into mini muffin tins and baked, filled with a cream cheese filling and topped with berries/fruit at the last minute. Each batch makes 36, so I'll double it and have plenty, I think. Yes??? I'm going shopping as soon as I get off tonight and then go home and make the shortbread cups and maybe one or two layers for the cake. Whew! Mr. Kim says that since these are folks who don't really cook at all, they probably have no idea what is involved with what they are asking for. So I'm going to be very forgiving -

Mine didn't seem greasy, but the sauce is a little drippy for the same reason: without the bun, it doesn't have anywhere to go.

I actually had one of these today! I, too, like an occasional Big Mac, but since having gastric bypass surgery, I can't even finish half of one. So I thought this might be a good idea for me. They have all the regular Big Mac stuff - one patty, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onion, but no sesame seed bun . It was...ok. I would prefer a Big Mac minus one patty, one slice of cheese and the middle bun slice, but this was a pretty good substitute for a junky treat I've missed.

I need some advice. I have somehow obligated myself to making a giant cake and fruit tarts for 50+ people this Saturday. I offered to ‘bring something’ – figuring that I’d be asked to do a couple of dozen cupcakes, a big salad, etc. I know, I know . But anyway, it’s done and now I need to get BUSY!! It’s a graduation party and the graduate (my SIL) would like something appropriate for a cake decoration. I’ve already told her that I don’t do lettering, so she suggested mortar boards. I am thinking of doing a 3 layer sheet cake with chocolate icing and candy mortar boards placed on icing ‘poufs’ around the top of the cake – maybe one in the center and a few more scattered (artistically ) around. I was thinking that I could use Ghiradelli white chocolate squares for the board and ‘glue’ a tassel made of fruit roll ups to it topped with an M&M for the button. Does this sound good? Does anyone have a better (i.e. EASIER) way to do this? And what would you use to ‘glue’ this all together? As far as the fruit tarts go, I am really going to go Sandra Lee on this – purchased tart shells, painted with melted chocolate, a plop of prepared pudding, a couple of slices of fruit and then brush the whole thing with melted jelly. I am not happy with this, but I just don’t have the time to do the job I’d like to do. My real question here is how far in advance can I do any/all of this (for the tarts - I'm ok on the cake)? Mr. Kim (who’s stepsister this is! ) is having to work all morning on Saturday (new Governor and all), so I am completely alone in this. I do have half a day on Friday off, so I can get a lot done then. The earlier I can do stuff, the better. Thank you so much for your help – I’m feeling distinctly panic-y!

Kim, do you have a link for the burger recipe? I've missed reading that one. As for the salad dressing, if it's an oil, vinegar, herb combination it might taste good as a marinade for some roasted veg. I rub leftover salad dressing on chunks of potatoes, carrots, eggplant, peppers, zucchini, and roast the veg in a hot oven (400-425 F) until the vegs are tender and golden brown. djyee - Here's the recipe for those incomparable burgers!

kayb – thanks for the recipe link! djyee – I’ll let you know when I post the recipe for the burgers – probably tomorrow! That’s a good idea for the salad dressing – it would make a really good chicken marinade! Nick – that salmon is just beautiful! I love seeing such care and effort on a meal! Last night’s dinner was steak with mushroom cream sauce and Boursin potatoes: Both recipes are from friends at Marlene’s Cookskorner. I also did Brussels sprouts sautéed in bacon grease w/ bacon. Wonderful dinner – we LOVED the sauce (I ate mine without the mushrooms) and, as always, those potatoes ROCK! I got a craving tonight just as I was leaving work: Spiced shrimp and cocktail sauce. Crackers and Boursin And the inevitable salad : Mr. Kim’s with the still good paprika dressing and mine with 1000 Island, which, to me, is the only possible dressing with shrimp.

Not tomatoes, but tomato juice - This recipe for Quick Tomato Consomme is better than it has any right to be. It's a Camille Glenn recipe - I love her and always have success with her recipes.

Jmahl – that is one gorgeous pizza! David – what an inspired sauce! I adore stuffed green olives and can imagine how great that was with pork! kayb – lovely pork! I’d love to have the recipe. Dinner last night was a copy of an amazing burger that someone on Marlene’s made. He used the NYT method for the burger (packing the meat only enough to hold it together and cooking with a combination of searing stovetop and then roasting). I don’t think that I’ll ever use another method to cook a burger. They were perfect. Finished with cheese: That cheese is Saga bleu Brie, which was fantastic with the caramelized onions. Plated - on English muffins with bacon and caramelized onions: I cooked ours a little longer than recommended – we like them more med/med well – maybe an additional 3 minutes, but they were a bit pinker than this picture shows: Served with a salad topped with the seemingly never ending supply of my dad’s dressing: I made this dressing for Christmas and, obviously overestimated what I would need. We still have a TON of it, it still tastes great and we love it, so it is our house dressing until it tastes funny .

percyn – lovely pork! I really would love to try doing things sous vide, but just can’t justify the expense when I have so many cooking things that I already don’t use enough! The tart is gorgeous, too! Nick – those amazing looking ravioli are making my third night of roast beef in 4 days look really dull. Prawn – as always, every dish is just a perfect picture of culinary wonder! You are an amazing cook and photographer! powerplantop – I love lamb and lentils together – they are just a great combination. I have a great recipe for lamb and lentil stew that I will have to dig out now! Dinner last night was just leftovers: salad with my dad’s paprika dressing reruns from Monday – hot roast beef sandwiches, mashed potatoes and broccoli.

Oh, yes - the soaking method. My husband uses this method a lot. To get off all kinds of crud - oatmeal, baked on cheese, that pesky egg water after boiling eggs .