Kim Shook

6ppc – what a gorgeous roast! Perfect! Lindsey – the lamb dinner sounds great. Let’s hear more from you! menuinprogress – your gazpacho is gorgeous – I especially love those glisteny, rosy tomatoes! Dr. J – those are awfully good pictures for a phone! And everything looks delicious! mgaretz – I love that you tested the testers! I was lecturing my daughter at the grocery store tonight about NOT shucking the corn until just before cooking it (while everyone around me was shucking it before they bought it – I was quietly lecturing, NOT being a boor ) and thought, “How do I know that for sure? I just accept what I’ve been told” and I wondered if it really makes a discernable difference with supermarket corn. Next time I buy corn, I’ll get twice as much and shuck half at the store and half just before cooking and then I’ll really know. Good job! Tonight I did something called Twenty-Minute Bouillabaisse from The American Diabetes Association cookbook. I don’t know how authentic it was, never having made bouillabaisse before, but it was really good. And FAST! Start to finish is really was only a little more than 20 minutes. I could do this on a work night, easy. I used cod, shrimp and canned clams. I got the shrimp at Whole Foods and they were wonderful – sweet, clean and fresh tasting. They were already peeled and deveined and smelled like nothing but the ocean. Very nice. We also had corn and a nice crusty sourdough baguette to sop up the soup.

I've always known Tuna fish to be tuna from a can and Tuna to be the fresh fish. I have no idea why I think that. ← Me too. Grew up with it called that - not gonna change now.

Breakfast this morning was soft boiled eggs – still don’t have the timing right – I did 4 min. 45 seconds and the whites were still a bit snotty. Next time I’ll do 5 minutes at a true simmer (I used my temperature gun this time – a good idea, I think). I also did sausage links and another recipe that Andie sent me: extra rich bread pudding for mock French toast. It’s a really good and smart solution to being able to have French toast on a weekday morning. A day ahead you make what is basically a bread pudding in a loaf pan. The next morning, you slice and just grill or pan fry it in butter and you have instant French toast. The loaf of bread pudding: Plated:

Everyone really should try making the andiesenji’s cake – it was so good start to finish – Mr. Kim finished it up last night and a week later, it was delicious. chocoera – those cakes are adorable and I loved the idea of the little one! dystopiandreamgirl – Goodness! You did it again! What an amazing cake. Just exquisite. For dessert at the 4th of July celebration that we attended, I made an absolutely delicious lemon-poppy seed cake filled with strawberries, jam and frosted with a white chocolate whipped cream: The cake was a pain to frost – as the whipped cream got warm, it slumped and ran off the cake. I wondered as I was doing it if it wouldn’t be better to just make a white chocolate buttercream, but the whipped cream was perfect. Next time, I’ll chill the cake and the whipped cream before trying to frost the cake.

Our 4th of July dinner and fireworks was spent with some old friends. They did burgers, dogs, baked beans and slaw. I contributed a shrimp, crab and artichoke dip, macaroni and cheese and a wonderful new cake. The dip: The mac and cheese: Lemon poppy seed/strawberry cake w/ white chocolate whipped cream:

Alinka!!! HI! Gorgeous borscht and perfect ribs! Dinner tonight was teriyaki pork, pineapple and onion skewers, Tangier Island corn pudding, tomatoes and marinated cucumbers:

Klary - I couldn't ever say pick one over the other - I was born and raised in Washington, and have spent some time in Baltimore and very little in Philly. I want so much to spend more in Philly - the things that I've read here at eG and other places have really interested me. One thing to consider (which may or may not be a real consideration for you) is that lots and lots of the sights and museums in DC are FREE. That said, what ever city you end up in, you MUST come to Richmond !

Last night – another VERY basic dinner: Sloppy Joes, yellow squash and onions, marinated cucumbers, baked beans, tomatoes and andiesenji’s cake for dessert: I’m sorry for the quality of the picture. It looked fine on the camera!

Thanks, Kim. Here is the recipe from the Chronicle a couple of years ago: CLICK. ← Thanks for linking that, tupac. It is the one I printed out. Of course, I had no idea where it had gotten to, so I appreciate this!

Hmmm. I have a recipe for that sandwich somewhere. I think it was from a newspaper article. It intrigued me, but not nearly as much as you have, tupac - beautiful essay.

Here I am with a couple of blurry pictures! We had a wonderful visit and an, as usual, amazing meal! We really always love this place. Mr. Kim’s starter was the scungili insalada. We get this every single time we go here. Like always it was tender and sweet and the sauce/dressing perfect. Jerry and Meredith shared the white bean, arugula and squid salad and I had some amazingly good oysters – among the best I’ve ever tasted. No pictures of our starters – we were talking so much that I forgot to take pictures until our mains – evidence of good company, no ? For dinner, Meredith had penne with…um…crap, Meredith, chime in here please – ricotta, red sauce, what else??? It was good, I know that: Jerry had the aforementioned lamb sausage, polenta and beans: Mr. Kim had a wonderful flat iron steak, unbelievably tender and juicy and delicious: in the foreground of the picture is what’s left of the dressing of the scungili insalada – we wouldn’t let them take it away and kept asking for more bread (the incomparable Billy Bread – a Richmond treasure) to sop it up! I had the spaghetti with puttanesca sauce: pungent with melty, lovely anchovies and really GOOD olives! I wonder how many folks noticed Jerry’s almost throwaway line: “my wife is moving to Kansas City” – yep, they’re married, folks! Newlyweds – got married last week in Savannah! Congratulations, Meredith and Jerry!!

That looks amazing. I'm probably one of the few people around who likes fruitcake and I love the idea of a chocolate fruitcake. Definitely on my list of things to make. I take it from the recipe that this is a cake of English origin. Is that true? ← andiesenji will have to answer that, but she says that the origins of the recipe are found in a family journal from 1690, so that is likely!

dystopiandreamgirl - I'm a little late with it, but your 'droopy' cake is just amazing! I cannot imagine ever being able to create something like that! Truly awesome! Marmish - lovely fruit tart - probably my favorite summer dessert! Rob - your latest efforts are fantastic! I especially want to taste the peanut butter one (my favorite flavor ever). cmflick - no need to apologize for your lovely marshmallows - they look wonderful. hansjoakim - I like the looks of your turnover and the apple points is just lovely! Yesterday I made andiesenji's Fruited Cocoa Cake. It's an extremely old family recipe - you should go to the recipe to read the history - it's fascinating. It was very good; not a fruitcake, but very moist and deeply flavored. You can use almost any dried fruit in it she says, but I had cranberries, raisins and figs, so that’s what I used:

Monavano – the chicken sandwich looks wonderful – I adore grilled pineapple! By ‘burger’ did you mean ground chicken, or just a boneless breast? Percyn – lovely pasta! I have no luck finding light cream anymore, so I usually use half-and-half. I’d like to try this. Prawn – that T-bone is gorgeous. I won’t get Mr. Kim out to eat cous cous tonight if he sees that! Bruce – as usual, your dinner looks incredible – both your cooking and your photography are always so perfect! Dinner last night was VERY basic – grilled hot dogs w/ kraut, French fries (frozen – too much going on to do fresh, besides, I’m a philistine, I like the frozen ones just fine), fixed up canned baked beans and sliced tomatoes: Tonight we are going out to Cous Cous with eG’s Zeemanb and Meredith. It’s a Moroccan restaurant – we haven’t been, but since Greek/Mideast/Mediterranean food is probably my favorite ‘foreign’ food, I’m looking forward to it.

Christine, that's a great idea! I'll be trying that! I started mine this past weekend and they should be ready for tasting/reseasoning today or tomorrow! Now if the tomatoes would just come in! ← let me know what you think, we think it takes them to a whole nother level, kind of almost a competely different dish. I've heard it called Russian salad. ← Christine, I did this tonight and it was wonderful! Thank you so much for the idea! I do something similar at Christmas with labne and mustard, but this was so easy and quick - with the cucumbers I have around all summer long!

Following myself again! Where is everyone? Stuffed potatoes for dinner tonight. Jessica’s was cheddar, chicken and broccoli: Mr. Kim’s was ham, Fontina and mushrooms: and mine was ham and Fontina: We also had corn, rolls, marinated cucumbers and Hanover tomatoes (I bought white bread just so I could have a sandwich !).

Dinner tonight was a family effort – we had mushroom, cheese and asparagus omelets, Marlene’s smashed roasted potatoes (leftover from Sunday and still really good) and a grilled ham slice glazed with pepper honey. Mr. Kim did the ham slice, Jess did the mushrooms and I did the asparagus and cooked the omelets:

that is the perfect example of 'one person's waste is another person's prize' - I adore my mango splitter and now have mango much more often than ever before. It is a 'worth every penny' item for me!

Thank you so much for your work, John. I agree with Magictofu that folks like you are what made me join eG!

Kim, everything looks great. What is the name/recipe title of this salad? Thanks! ← Thank you so much! That is Panzanella Salad.

David – for the tomatoes, I slice them fairly thinly, soak them in buttermilk for a hour or so and then dust them VERY lightly in cornmeal (mixed with S&P), then a quick egg wash (thinned down with water – it shouldn’t be too thick – and a little hot sauce), let the excess drip off and then a coating of panko. I like to let them set up for a few minutes in the fridge and then fry in bacon grease. Classic tomatoes are just given the buttermilk and cornmeal treatment, but we always have leftover and the panko crumb ones heat up VERY nicely in the toaster oven. Percyn – the garlic bread looks wonderful! Our Father’s day menu was mostly Mr. Kim’s requests. We started with bleu cheese shortbread w/ fig preserves and olives: The shortbread recipe was from Paula Deen. It called for strawberry preserves, but I thought that fig would work better. They were delicious and very popular, but I’ll try a stronger bleu cheese next time, I think. The table: There were eleven of us – it was a little tight, to say the least – thank goodness we all like each other! Dinner was rib eyes w/ sautéed mushrooms. Before: Crimini and shiitakes And after: All the fungus folks loved the mushrooms. The steaks were from Costco and Mr. Kim did a great job grilling them, but we had the memory of that gorgeous dry-aged steak in our heads and that interfered with our enjoyment a bit – educating one’s palate can get expensive :lol: ! I also made béarnaise and Mr. Kim’s favorite Bobby Flay sherry vinegar and piquillo steak sauce. (The hot dogs are for a teenager who STILL eats almost no meat but hot dogs and chicken nuggets - and her parents bring hot dogs to every dinner that they come to .) The sides were Marlene’s smashed roasted potatoes)which were a HUGH hit – I sent everyone home with the recipe), corn on the cob and Panzanella Salad: I learned to make the salad at a cooking class with chef Roberto Donna (this was also a huge hit, but everyone assumed that it was complicated, so no one asked for this recipe!) Dessert was this really country, but pretty and extremely tasty ‘Strawberry Shortcake’: I got the recipe from my mother’s lifelong best friend who is a wonderful country cook – everything from canned-good casseroles to from-scratch biscuits and the most delectable preserves and pickles. It consists of sour cream, 10X, angel food cake, evaporated milk and COOL WHIP ! The strawberry layer is fresh strawberries and that glaze that you can buy in the produce section to make strawberry pie just like Shoney’s !

Happy Father’s Day! Breakfast was Banana stuffed croissant French toast w/ caramel maple syrup and sausage:

Percyn – those sausages look so good and I don’t even like mushrooms (the breakfast below was Mr. Kim’s – I had a fried egg w/ bacon salt ). Breakfast this morning was omelets w/ mushrooms and ‘Picante’ provolone cheese and cheese toasts: I have no memory of any other food consumed. I’ve been on my feet ALL day getting ready for our father’s day celebration tomorrow! Don’t know when I’ll post those pictures, so a Happy Father’s Day to all the dads!

This was the first thing that I thought of. Not because it's a waste of money, it's just not my taste. I like a warm, farmhouse kind of kitchen and 'shabby' defines my taste and my pocketbook! I don't like anything to be too shiny!

I am not much of a breakfast eater at all, but when I do - it must be hot. Cereal has always been a bedtime snack for me. I love all sorts, but my favorites are the very sweet ones - Frosted Flakes, Lucky Charms, etc. - with extra drifts of sugar on them and just the BAREST dampening of milk. Otherwise, you might taste plain milk !