Kim Shook

rooftop1000 – gorgeous pastrami! I really want one of those sandwiches. Dinner tonight was in front of the still-up Christmas tree. We spent all this past weekend getting Jessica into her new house instead of de-decorating the house, so I decided to enjoy it while it was still there: We had roast beef, mashed potatoes, broccoli with hollandaise, salad and yeast rolls. The beef was just a bottom round that I got on sale at the grocery store - $10 for 3.5 lbs. and I found a recipe for basically roasting it. I would never have tried that with this cut – in the past I would have only used it for braising, but the recipe was from epicurious.com, so I went ahead and tried it and it was wonderful. Before roasting: After: Sliced: The mise for my potatoes: The cheese is some Saga Brie bleu that I had in the fridge. All nice and riced: Done: Salad: Just romaine, radishes, rice noodles, almonds and Craisins w/ bleu cheese dressing. Plated w/out gravy: w/ gravy: The hollandaise was Julia Child’s blender method and tasted fabulous, but was not a sauce – the consistency was more like mayonnaise. These were just some thaw, rise and bake frozen dough that I fixed up:

I got some wonderful food-oriented Christmas gifts this year: I am very excited about this! I cannot wait to try it. That’s the Southern Living 2009 annual, the SL 2009 Christmas book, Gale Gand’s Brunch, Ad Hoc and The Pioneer Woman Cooks (this is by a wonderful blogger that I’ve been reading over the last couple of years and really enjoyed – both the food and the writing) and I also got the Michael Symons book which is already upstairs beside the bed in my ‘to read’ pile. The stuff below are various, self explanatory gadgets – on of the peelers is the kind that shreds/juliennes and I’m very excited about the giant tweezers! I’m very excited about these gifts from Jessica. The Good Housekeeper’s Cookbook was published in 1908, the BH&G in 1951, the Good Time Cookbook in 1973 and the Jello one in 1977 (the year I graduated from high school). A truly amazing gift. The first two have notes in the margins, recipes and articles torn out from newspapers and magazines and the oldest one even has a couple of pages from a German-English bible in between some pages. I love this – my imagination just wanders! Some of those crisscross racks (I really wanted these) and something that is intriguing – a rack made so that you can stack casseroles in the oven – I will either never use it or find it invaluable! And a set of the cutest dessert plates that I’ve ever seen !

percyn – oh, yum! That osso buco looks amazing – so rich and warming and perfect for a January evening! Last night’s dinner was just easy sit-out stuff: Assorted cheeses, beef stick, fruit Baked Brie with apricot preserves and toasted almonds. Augmented with bread and soup from Panera. We were helping our daughter pack for her move to her first home – she’s renting a house with a friend and (finally) moving out after finishing college 2 ½ years ago – woo-hoo!!

robirdstx – thanks for the recipe link. Can’t wait to try it and will watch the salt! Rico – lovely first dinner post! We love Greek food and don’t make it nearly enough!

I haven't had anything worth posting about lately, but y'all are doing such amazing work that I had to comment! dystopiandreamgirl - your buches de noel are just awesome. I think that my favorite is the white chocolate holly leaves - I showed it to Mr. Kim and he was truly impressed! I don't think that I've ever told you that whenever I see your name, my head sees "Dipsomaniadreamgirl"? I always imagine you as the toast of AA. DeliciouslyLekker - your choc chip cookies are beautiful. Are you an obsessive like me and top each cookie with individual chips so they will look prettier? Darienne - I'm sorry that your holiday wasn't what you had hoped for. Your galette is lovely and I hope the new year brings you better times. Richard - your dessert/cake/mousse thing is beyond my vocabulary! What an absolutely perfect, beautiful and deliciously looking thing that is! I would love to have seen a picture of a slice! And your little pastry trio is gorgeous! That mirror shine on the left one is making me all kinds of jealous - I've never been able to temper chocolate successfully and, for some odd reason, Mr. Kim hasn't ever picked up on my hints (amazon wish list and a direct - "I want one" ) to buy a temperer for me! Just lovely! I'm just starting reading your blog and am fascinated - it's beyond anything that I could ever imagine accomplishing, but I'm enjoying the vicariously 'learning'! Robyn - your raspberry tart is lovely. How perfectly your little berries are sunk! Steve - and now I want some cinnamon rolls. Wow! Ruth - that cake is beautiful. I am especially enamored of the chocolate ruffle since I never end up with anything but shards when I try to make ruffles or curls! David - what a lovely story! Now I want to make croissants for Mr. Kim, or him to make them for me, or just to eat some good ones! Carry on, folks - keep reminding me of why I come here, even when the closest I've come to baking is making cinnamon toast at midnight!

robirdstx - ok, that meatloaf looks perfect. I need some of that soon!!! Can you post the recipe, please?

David – that chicken and dumplings looks and sounds amazing . When you have time, I would love to have the recipe. percyn – your surf and turf looks great. After all the lobster you’ve made, I am hungry for some. I’ve never had sunchokes – what is the flavor like? Dinner tonight - salad w/ my dad’s paprika dressing: Rib eyes, tequila-lime shrimp, our friend Michael’s Potato Salad, scalloped tomatoes, Jessica’s lovely roasted potatoes, puff pastry Parmesan puffs:

NYE I just went to bed early with a hot toddy and tried to live through whatever was attempting to do me in. However...I would really like that recipe for 'those meatballs'. Something is pulling me towards them. And truth be told, I have never used my large cooker except for candying fruits. Thanks. Ms Kim Glad to! If you use homemade meatballs, this really is good. I just mix an equal portion of good BBQ sauce (homemade is great, but we also like Montgomery Inn sauce) and apricot jam (some folks use grape jelly, too - but we prefer the apricot). Cook the meatballs (or use a good quality frozen brand). They should be cold or frozen. Add enough of the bbq and preserves to generously coat the meatballs. Toss it all in the slow cooker and cook on low for 4-6 hours - until heated through. These are good with light yeast rolls.

lioness – Here's the bread machine brioche recipe. Hope you like it! Was the “made or bought” question for me? If so, made or bought what? judiu – yep, that’s them. Except I made them with puff pasty this time – the flavor is better and puff pastry is a lot easier to handle than those whomp biscuit Crescent things! percyn – thank you, sir! Your breakfasts always look wonderful, so that is a truly appreciated compliment!

percyn - lobster for breakfast! What a way to start the year! THAT is luxury! Breakfast this morning: fried eggs, leftover ham from yesterday’s dinner and little puff pastry/bacon/cream cheese things that I did for NYE

Beautiful meals everyone! Our New Year’s dinner was a carbon copy of what I make every year! As a matter of fact, I just went and looked and it’s identical to what I posted last year – the only difference is that this year I did cornbread and last year I did corn muffins! Ham slice w/ plum preserves and whole grain mustard: scalloped tomatoes: Plated w/ black eyed peas, collards and cornbread: This is Jessica’s plate: Garlic and ginger rice noodles with some of the shrimp that I made for NYE. She is not a fan of the traditional New Year’s day foods. See the little bits on the edge of her plate looking like some high end restaurant garnish? That’s her portion of each of the foods that we ate – which I insist she have for good luck !

Wow! Everything sounds so elegant and delicious, I’m embarrassed to post mine! We did what we always do - play canasta and eat '70s 'party food' with another couple. We've done this since our kids were all small and babysitters expensive and now we are too old and lazy and boring to change. We've tried going out a few times, but really didn't have that much fun. She makes crab meltaways, artichoke dip, Knorr spinach dip, pigs in a blanket, etc. I actually like all that stuff once a year. They usually request that I make ‘those meatballs’ – meatballs in a slow cooker w/ BBQ sauce and apricot preserves and ‘Taco Dip’ – salsa and Velveeta with ground pork and beef . No one said anything about them this year, so I ‘forgot’ to make them. Instead I did Tequila/Lime Shrimp, Deviled eggs and little puff pastry roll ups with bacon, cream cheese, shallots and poppy seeds.

Kim, That did bother me. It seems to be a recurring theme on the Amazon comments as well. Kurlansky did such a great job in the intros, and the pieces he picked were so interesting, that the end did seem abrupt. I'm probably also going to read this book, America Eats!. The author, Pat Willard, went to many of the places the WPA writers also visited and tried to find out if the same foods were available today. I'm hoping that it wraps up the project a bit more. I also have a secret, niggling little voice that makes me want to try and find the missing Missouri recipes that were to be saved for a separate cookbook. You know, when I have a lot of extra time to go searching through the MO Library/Historical Society! Oooh! That sounds like a book I would love. Thanks for linking it - I just reserved it at my library!

djyee – that duck looks so lovely and delicious! Prawn – as always, your food is awe-inspiring and beautiful. The ostrich burger, the sweet and sour pork, the gorgeous pigeon! David – love the calvados chicken – thanks for posting the recipe, too! Jeff – OMG – that perfect roast beast ! Dinner with my parents on Sunday: green salad w/ mango, cukes and lime vinaigrette Marlene’s balsamic glazed pork chops – everyone loved these, Marlene! Marlene’s glazed carrots. Incredible – even I liked these and I am NOT a cooked carrot fan! Cornbread

Bruce – we love that stilton and I’ve never thought to have it for breakfast, but how lovely it would be crumbled on a crusty baguette! percyn – gorgeous eggs and I really want some of that hash! A random breakfast that I made last week when Mr. Kim and I were both off work: toast, grapefruit and almost soft boiled eggs – I have them nearly right after working on them forever!

DeliciouslyLekker – what a lovely meal! Everything looks delicious! Baron – I’m just awed with that meal. The ham is amazing and even the garnishes are lovely. Well, we ended up with 33 for dinner on Christmas Eve, instead of the expected (and cooked for) 50, so I have lots and lots of leftovers. Mr. Kim’s Beer ‘Cooler’: Turkey and Ham: My version of Paula Deen's Oyster Dressing: Sour Cream Cheese Potatoes: Sweet Potatoes with Bourbon Syrup: My grandmother’s fruit salad, Orange cranberry sauce, Relish Tray w/ pickles, olives, celery & Rachel’s ‘Paminna” cheese: Mixed green w/ romaine, frisée, Bibb, spinach & sectioned oranges – My Daddy's Paprika dressing and Marlene's Bleu cheese dressing and HM croutons: I somehow missed getting a picture of the dessert spread, but I had: Lemon chess tarts Decorated Sugar Cookies: These are some cookies that I made that I was very excited about, but probably won’t bother with again. These were made with sugar cookies, royal icing, assorted sprinkles and some gorgeous edible wafer paper that I ordered. A big, fat pain in the butt. I am just not very good at piping and you needed to be perfect. On many of them, the icing didn’t ever truly harden. They took forever to dry during the various steps. And, on top of everything, the most impressive part of the cookies was something that I didn’t have anything to do with – the design of the paper. I get a lot more pleasure out of doing my regular cut out sugar cookies and decorating them. I was so wrapped up in these that I didn’t even decorate many regular cookies and just left them to Jessica and Mr. Kim. Peanut Butter Cookies w/ & w/out Hershey Kisses: I had a good idea – I sprinkled some of them with fleur de sel. Really fantastic – who doesn’t like salted peanuts? Sponge Candy plain and dipped in Cadbury chocolate: These were a happy accident, so that’s what we named them: I made them from the shards left from breaking up the sponge candy and the leftover chocolate that I dipped some of the sponge into. I just mixed it all together and rolled them into balls. Wow. I will be making these every Christmas from now on! Aunt San’s Fudge – plain, creamy milk chocolate fudge Reeses Cup Fudge – a layer of peanut butter fudge w/ a topping of chocolate fudge Cherry Almond Dark Chocolate Fudge Iced Almonds Peanut Brittle, Plain and Chocolate Covered pretzel pecan turtles White Chocolate Toasted Almond Fudge White Chocolate Gumdrop Fudge Christmas Breakfast: ET bagels and cream cheese, mini quiche Lorraine, sausage rolls, Whack-a-roll Orange Danish rolls (I don’t think Jessie ate even one this year, but they are just traditional) Mr. Kim’s mom’s Candy Cane and leftover fruit salad from Christmas Eve dinner.

Well, I finished it and really liked it a lot. All of the information was fascinating and I sure wish that we still used public money to promote and research the unique cultures that still exist and may not for long in our country. Was anyone a little jarred by the abrupt ending? The introduction was so interesting that I expected something similar to wrap up the book and it just....stopped.

Rhonda - I think your pralines are lovely! I have that cigar box on my worktable - it was my granddaddy's and I loved the artwork and him and the smell of his cigars, so I snitched it when he passed. Are you packing the pralines in it, or do you just love the artwork too? emmalish - I, too, am not a fan of gritty, hard fudge. That is the traditional fudge of Mr. Kim's family and the first time that our daughter tasted it (at age 4, having been raised on my family's smooth, creamy fudge), she exclaimed, "Momma, there's something wrong with this fudge!" I shushed her and said, "Yes, but they like it that way." Yours looks delicious - perfect texture and deeply chocolate! I've made that mistake myself with the wrong size pan. I've finally learned that I need to indicate which pot to use in my recipe - it has saved a lot of heartache over the years! Thanks for the link to the book - I've just added it to my wishlist !

nakji - what absolute delectable looking shortbread ! The drifts of salt across the top are beautiful! I cannot imagine what it took to take that to work to SHARE! You get major points for that!

Oooooooh, Chincoteague oysters! How I miss them for my stuffing at Christmas. When I was in high school, we had a place there and always went for Thanksgiving - oyster stew while we were there and took some back to freeze for Christmas!

psantucc – your torrone is just perfect – what recipe are you using? I love it and haven’t ever made it – as a matter of fact I just bought some today at the specialty candy store we went to today. I’m getting a VERY late start this year, but here’s what I’ve done so far (sweet and savory): Sausage rolls and mini quiches for Christmas morning: Croutons for salad: These were the best croutons I’ve ever made. I used a mixture of butter and olive oil instead of just oil and added garlic and grated Locatelli cheese. Pecan Pretzel Turtles: White Chocolate Gumdrop Fudge: Isn’t it pretty? Doesn’t it look luscious? Blah! It was awful – tooth-achingly sweet! I’m hoping that the children will like it, because we sure didn’t! White Chocolate Toasted Almond Fudge: This was not much better, but it has possibilities. I adore Good Humor Toasted Almond Bars and was hoping for a similar flavor, but it wasn’t almond-y enough or toasty enough. But I might work with it – chop the almonds up really fine and deeply toast them. Dark Chocolate Fudge w/ Almonds and Dried Cherries: Much better! This is Mr. Kim’s favorite fudge and when I took a bit to work for a holiday lunch, I had to print out 4 copies of the recipe! Now that the house and tree are decorated, I’ll be doing some more cooking tomorrow!

I've done Marlene's cream roasted potatoes and they are some of the best potatoes I've EVER tasted!

djyee100 – that roast pork shoulder is just gorgeous – worthy of a showcase dinner! jnash85 – your ravioli is lovely. That happens to me a LOT with prosciutto and it ticks me off, considering how expensive it is. Haven’t been cooking much at all – here’s a sample of my recent meal prep: scrambled eggs w/ ham and cheese and some pears ! The only real dinner we’ve had lately was our tree trimming dinner last Sunday. We always have fondue – beef and usually chocolate, though this year Jessica wanted Nutella crepes instead. Beef and sauces: BBQ sauce, Daddies sauce, Heinz 57 (Mr. Kim’s favorite ) and horseradish sauce Teeny-tiny little steamed potatoes and béarnaise: Crudités & Dips: A baguette and some wonderful cheddar rolls that I found at Whole Foods: The table and a plate: The Nutella crepes:

We had two different flatbread pizzas this week - the mushroom & cheese and the ham & caramelized onion. Both were very good - but the ham was the best. And we were VERY happy to see the chocolate covered peppermint Joe-Joes back. Mr. Kim bought 8 boxes ! I was, however, very sad to learn that they don't sell their all butter frozen puff pastry anymore. It was so much better than Pepperidge Farm and I will not pay the insane WF price for it. So it's back to Pep Farm, I guess !

I like the magazine a lot. My dad gives me a subscription every year and I make a lot of things from it. It's especially good for weeknight meals and their advice and techniques seem sound.