Kim Shook

Thank you all so much! I think she'll have lots of ideas to choose from now and shouldn't have any trouble filling the box up!

If someone were to send you a 'goody box' of food items from the US, what would you like to have included? My daughter has an online friend in Australia who is sending her a box of Oz goods and wants to reciprocate. I thought of Virginia peanuts and barbeque sauce, but am really at a loss. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

I'll be glad to share! Here are three of my favorites: Aunt San's Fudge This is just a classic creamy milk chocolate fudge (I've also made it with dark chocolate, too). It's the one that my great aunt started making as a young girl - she hated that WWI interrupted her fudge making - all the Hershey bars were gone! Apparently fudge making was an important part of a young ladies social life in those days! Chefette's Fudge Our own chefette sent me this recipe when I was lamenting the cruddy fudge that I was trying to make according to Shook family tradition. It is wonderful - rich and dark and complex, but not bitter at all (that was the lamentable part of the Shook fudge ). Cherry-Almond Dark Chocolate Fudge Let me know if you like these at all! They are VERY American, I understand . ← So Kim - do you have a recipe for the type that Mr Kim likes that is less sweet? That's what I'm always in search of. ← Well,sorta . If you read all my notes and the update, I haven't really mastered it yet. If you try and have success, PLEASE let me know. I find this stuff so frustrating that I have given up. Everyone in Mr. Kim's family just tosses it off with no trouble - I'm convinced they are hiding something from me !

I'll be glad to share! Here are three of my favorites: Aunt San's Fudge This is just a classic creamy milk chocolate fudge (I've also made it with dark chocolate, too). It's the one that my great aunt started making as a young girl - she hated that WWI interrupted her fudge making - all the Hershey bars were gone! Apparently fudge making was an important part of a young ladies social life in those days! Chefette's Fudge Our own chefette sent me this recipe when I was lamenting the cruddy fudge that I was trying to make according to Shook family tradition. It is wonderful - rich and dark and complex, but not bitter at all (that was the lamentable part of the Shook fudge ). Cherry-Almond Dark Chocolate Fudge Let me know if you like these at all! They are VERY American, I understand .

They weren't, but the ones I brought in today for Nurse's Week are - I think if I made any other brownies for my office they would throw me out the door!

Ann - those scallops are calling to me and mmmmmmmm Souvlaki! Robert - that sous vide experiment was fascinating! I wish someone would do that for me. I haven't gotten up the whatever-I-need to try doing it, but I admit I'm interested! Soba - that may be the loveliest soup I've ever seen. I just love all the great close-up pictures that some of you are showing - I gotta get that lens for my camera! I catered an event for Mr. Kim's office Monday. They got lunch as a reward for participating in a Food Bank donation drive. So this is what I cooked on Sunday: BBQ Chicken sandwiches. This is a DOZEN chickens , picked and shredded and sauced up with a couple of different commercial sauces and a special thin vinegar based NC sauce that I buy by the gallon at Short Sugars in Reidsville NC when I get there. My hands are still sore! We just bought roasted chickens at Costco. Smoky Beans. This picture was taken before they cooked down for 4 hours. Three different kinds of beans, onions, bacon, those little smoked sausages and a sauce made with ketchup, garlic, brown sugar and English mustard. Mustard slaw. 5 heads of cabbage, shredded - thank goodness for food processors! The sauce is a basic mayo sauce, thinned with vinegar so that it can be used as a side or on the BBQ, with a touch of mustard. Brownies. 4 pans. I just used the Ghirardelli mix. I wasn't about to make them from scratch - too much going on last weekend and it is the best mix I've ever found. I think you can guess what we had for dinner on Monday - can I say how little I was interested in chicken for dinner? Last night was a bucket of popcorn and a Mt. Dew (heaven) at the Springsteen concert in Charlottesville.

Thank you for the kind words about the 'cupcake' - I'm planning on making a trio for Mother's day dinner. I don't have a thing to contribute today (I made mix brownies for a party at Mr. Kim's office on Monday ), but I HAVE to comment. This thread and the Dinner thread are what I show people who are curious about where I spend my time online (those and the late and greatly lamented blogs, of course ). What you folks accomplish here just drops jaws and then shuts mouths! hansjoakim - both of those cakes are just stunning and I am so jealous of how perfect those strawberries look! Ann - my MIL made us a rhubarb pie just recently and it was wonderful. I hadn't ever had a JUST rhubarb pie, always rhubarb and strawberry and I was surprised at how much I liked it. Ilana - fudge is a dividing line in this country. Some folks like it soft and creamy (me), others like it a little dry and not-too-sweet (Mr. Kim) - we say we have a mixed marriage. I can give you recipes for the creamy kind, but seeing your lovely confections, I'm not sure they would be your 'cup of tea' - they really are just unsophisticated sweet goo. And I have never had any success with the other kind. dystopiandreamgirl - I just have no words - Ilana took them all! Just achingly lovely work. What an immense amount of love you put in your work - and thank you so much for the introduction to Goldsworthy - your desserts certainly share the serenity that is seen in his work. Pilori - the truffles looks scrumptious! DeliciouslyLekker - beautiful cake and wonderful photography!

menuinprogress – both the egg and shrimp dishes look fantastic! I finally recovered enough from our trip last weekend to cook on Wednesday night. It was half clean out the fridge and half run by the store on the way home from work. just some bits of cheese from the fridge with the end of the olives and a slice baguette. Scampi, pasta, salad and garlic bread:

Last week we had a wonderful trip. I got to redeem a Christmas gift from Mr. Kim – a trip for a long weekend to stay at a lovely B&B and, much more importantly, to visit our own racheld! To see her (much more wonderfully written) description of our weekend see her blog. We got to her house on Friday mid-morning and she served up a Rachel-ish smorgasbord: chicken salad, egg salad, PAMMINA CHEESE, hummus, pastries from Caro’s bakery, bacon, yogurt and fruit parfaits and ice tea, of course – Things in Dishes, indeed! All set out and served on a lovely flowered linen and pink dish set table in her yard. Dinner that night was at Hollyhock Hill: This was a truly classic, family place. It is an old house that has been a restaurant since 1928. Lots of families, older folks and children, everyone digging in to crisp fried chicken, real potatoes and REAL gravy. The serving ladies are all in long blue jumpers and they even serve what they call a party luncheon – you can just see it full of ladies in hats with little veils. They start you off with what used to be called relishes: Celery, carrots, radishes, pickled beets, cottage cheese and iceberg with their own sweet and sour dressing. For dinner, we all chose (what else?) fried chicken: That came with mashed potatoes, slow cooked green beans, corn and the aforementioned fabulous gravy: Also fluffy biscuits with some good old Indiana apple butter. Chris, Rachel’s husband, says that Indiana is the northern-most southern state and it’s really true. We noticed the same thing when we lived there – some of the best fried chicken we ever had was in Indiana. Dessert was also a classic – something that I remember from ‘nice’ restaurants I went to with my family: ice cream with toppings. Scoops of creamy, rich vanilla ice cream in those little footed metal cups with a twirly server of three sauces to share: chocolate sauce, caramel and a truly nostalgic Kelly green mint sauce – the same sauce that I remember on my oh-so-sophisticated crème de menthe parfaits at the Fisherman’s Inn in Kent Narrow’s, MD on our way to Ocean City. We talked so much that I missed a lot of pictures and I’m sorry because the dessert would have been a nostalgic snapshot. Our B&B was the Garden Retreat in New Palestine, IN. Just a wonderful, restful and serene place. Breakfast on Saturday started with fruit and muffins: And finished with some of the best French toast and sausage I’ve ever tasted: The French toast was really perfect – crusty and crunch and cinnamon-y outside and soft and almost creamy inside! Saturday was really ‘girl time’. The fellows went off to do man-stuff (including a gun show where Chris got me some wonderful kitchen things – a perfectly sized all-purpose knife, a fantastic vegetable peeler, a chopper and a flexible cutting board – all from Rada Cutlery – a company I hadn’t heard of, but Rachel and Chris use a lot of their products and I know why – I haven’t used another knife since I got home). Rachel and I got to do what I’d been dreaming about since I noticed her posts here: we talked, ate, talked, cooked and talked some more. I know that lots of eG folks will be jealous of me and you should be; never have I felt so welcomed and known. And well taken care of: Rachel even remembered that my drink of choice is Kroger’s version of Diet Mountain Dew – flat, because of the gastric bypass and made sure that I had all I could want – how gracious is that? Girl’s lunch: More delectable Things in Dishes: an amazing chicken salad (it’s on the menu for Mother’s Day), hot artichoke dip, deviled eggs, Pammina cheese, ‘cheater’ pickles, little pickled peppers and mozz balls and that dish at the top? Rachel called it ‘Redneck Gazpacho’, Caro called it by the more elegant moniker “BLT soup”, I think– fresh tomatoes, bacon, Saltines (!) and mayo, I think. It was delicious! A real punch of tomato flavor, with a hint of smoky baconness – the crackers seem to completely disappear and serve to thicken the ‘soup’! Me ‘helping’ to cook: And using the same kind of peeler that Chris got for me (Maggie, Rachel wants you to pay special attention to this picture). Dinner was at Fogo de Chao. It’s is a Brazilian churrascaria steakhouse. Mr. Kim and I have not ever been to one and it is amazing. For those that don’t know about them, this is a bustling, lively place for the true carnivore and also, surprisingly for folks who lean more towards a balanced omnivore-ism! The ‘salad bar’ (this is a serious understatement) consists of a boggling assortment of salads, vegetables, breads, cheeses, cured meats and fish: The steakhouse portion of the meal comes to the table on huge skewers carved by lovely, friendly young men: filet, sirloin, garlicky linguica, chicken, beef and pork ribs, rib eye, lamb chops and leg of lamb – all moist, hot, delicious and cut to your order. I didn’t take pictures of it, because I never had anymore than one piece on my plate at a time and it looked a little forlorn. But it was all wonderful and Mr. Kim and I kept thinking of family and friends who would love this place. Two of the best things of the entire night were kind of casual toss offs - they are set on every table without any of the flourishes that the other items are given: fried polenta and cheese gougieres - addicting and perfect. If I could have these two things and the 'salad', I'd be a happy girl, even without a bite of the delicious meat. For dessert we shared crème brulee and an amazingly good chocolate mousse cake that I will be trying to replicate: We wandered downtown Indianapolis (how I miss an ‘alive’ city) and then drifted back to our B&B, where in spite of Things in Dishes, endless roasted meat, salad, chocolate mousse cake and a gastric bypass, we still managed to eat the huge, chewy pecan chocolate chip cookies that our hostess left out for us. Breakfast at the B&B on Sunday started again with some nice fruit: It was nothing fancy – just tangerines, red grapes and apples dusted with 10X (without my glasses, I thought at first that it was topped with cottage cheese and thought “How very mid-western!”), but it was a really nice combination and one I wouldn’t have thought of. There was also a delicious and beautifully turned herb omelet stuffed with spinach and goat cheese, bacon and toast: Dinner (lunch to you Yankees ) at Rachel’s was an amazing, delicious spread. She and Chris graciously included us in a real family meal. Caro was there and a son and daughter-in-law and one precious, dainty, endlessly diverting granddaughter! Quiche: A gorgeous cheese plate that Caro did: Stilton w/ lemon peel, bleu, Morbier, Brie and Emmentaler with all the attendant dibs and dabs. Chris’ beautiful grilled ham: The best ham we’ve ever tasted – bar NONE. (Sitting on the gorgeous stove that we first saw in Rachel’s Thanksgiving blog – it is even more awesome in person.) Part of the spread: Ham, cake, Pink Salad, ‘Redneck Gazpacho’, ‘my’ asparagus (with Rachel’s excellent blender hollandaise), the quiche and Rachel’s son’s astounding contribution – honey drenched pigs in a blanket. This is one of those ‘greater than the sum of its parts’ things. Just regular pigs in a blanket covered with a honey, butter, brown sugar sauce and baked. OMG! Gooey, sweet/savory goodness. This is baked in a LARGE Pyrex dish and there were 7 adults and a BABY there and these disappeared ! We ate some remarkable food this weekend. But that was the least of it. As with the other times that I’ve made a personal connection with someone from eGullet, I was so grateful and amazed at the generosity and open hearts that we encountered in Indiana. I ‘met’ Rachel here at eGullet and it’s proper that I document our meeting, our cooking and our eating here.

Bella S.F. - Here's a link to the recipe for the Korean beef. Sorry that I didn't see this before - we've been out of town (visiting Racheld!!! I'll report about that somewhere more appropriate as soon as I wake up!). Soba - that cod and salad is just beautiful and very spring-like! nickrey - the ravioli is beautiful and what a perfect combination of flavors! tupac - gorgeous fennel. I love it so much and never seem to cook for folks that do, too!

A giant cupcake that I made for a friend to give to her cupcake-crazy gentleman friend: The coffee cup is for scale. It was, by request, German chocolate. Adorable and came out of the pan very easily, as I was afraid that it would not. I can't wait to try it out in a yellow or white cake with pastel frosting and some cute decorations.

Ann - how much I've missed you and your delicious looking meals and the remarkable light that you get up there! Those carnitas and tortillas are just amazing looking! That's exactly what I want for lunch. Think there's any chance that Taco Bell has them ? Dinner Tuesday night Korean BBQ beef done with skirt steak, ramen noodles and a salad – and the last of the Easter egg deviled eggs: This recipe was recommended by percyn. He did it with skirt steak, too. We really, really liked this a lot. I had it again last night as a sandwich on a grilled sourdough bun with some cilantro and rice vinegar (talk about mixing your cultures, huh?). Thank you so much, percyn!

Bruce - MORE rice !! It just looks so good with those lovely, glisteny vegetables! Meredith - Just gorgeous! A couple of recent breakfasts - fried eggs, ham (leftover from Easter), hot cross buns (ditto) and brioche toast: onion bagel with a fried egg and some of the good sausage that we got on our trip to the OBX:

tkassum - that is some good lookin' quiche! Shelby & Percyn - those burgers are wonderful looking! nickrey - how did that salmon taste? It looked gorgeous! Ann - I'm so glad to 'see' you! That pork is lovely and I could hear the cracklin crunch from just the picture - beautiful! Shelby - this is said with all my love and respect: is this weird week at your house? Our daughter, Jessica, made dinner for us on Saturday: Chicken enchiladas and chips. This is one of our favorites - really good!

OMG - where to start? Between Rob's utterly lovely mousse, Joe's delectable looking cheesecake and Ann and Amy's cookies, I would have a hard time choosing. Just beautiful work folks! This is actually not my pie, but my daughter, Jessica’s. She had a pastry lesson Tuesday night with my MIL, a real pastry expert. She makes some of the best pie crust I’ve ever had. Jessica is a pie filling expert – this is her apple, citrus and toffee pie filling in her very first from-scratch crust: Very proud Momma here – she’s 25 and has produced a shatteringly crisp, light pie crust. I’m almost 50 and still unroll the Pillsbury things !

Always, always, ALWAYS ! You are absolutely right. I have to say "very, very well done, please" and still isn't enough at some places. That's why I like places where I can get a slice, because when they put it back in the oven to heat up, it usually gets done enough (not always, though).

Is there a hardware store (paint) brush that would work as a pastry brush? I have so much trouble with shedding. I like the silicone brushes for some things but they do transfer too much butter and oil when you are using them for pastry. I haven't ever noticed much shedding with good paint brushes - even with repeated use. But are they food safe? If not, and I have to buy a regular pastry brush can someone possibly recommend a brand. I've bought dozens of them over the years and they last for a couple of uses and then we're pulling bristles off the food!

I don't have any feeling that wearing one is inappropriate. I have two - one from when I used to give cooking demos at The Fresh Market when I worked there and another that was a gift from my in laws from their Mexico cruise. I never wear them, though. I don't even like wearing long sleeves to cook in. T-shirts and a long apron (with pockets or, better yet really long ties that come around the front to tie) is all I can stand.

Shelby - what a great trip and what a wonderful report. It all sounds fantastic. Some of my family is from there and I've always wanted to take my mom back for a visit. Thanks for the pictures and the descriptions and everything!

percyn – more corned beef goodness. Mr. Kim and I have determined to do one of those soon. Lauriux – you certainly don’t need to apologize for using hot dogs for breakfast. I like them anytime at all. And I haven’t tried using grilled ones either – I’ll be trying that. Nate – even if the potato ‘batter’ was too heavy, it’s still a fabulous idea to use for eggs Benedict and I’m going to steal it! Easter breakfast: Fontina, Emmentaler and herb omelets, Benton’s bacon, home fries and my MIL’s hot cross buns.

tammylc – gorgeous stuff! I am especially amazed by those tulips! Lapin – Your bunny is adorable and the eggs look wonderful! Some candy I put together for the kids in our family for Easter: It’s called Jelly Belly bark. The original recipe called for white candy coating and I hate that stuff. So Kerry and Lisa Shock suggested that I just use good quality white chocolate. You just melt it and top with jelly beans. I am not a white chocolate fan (too sweet for me), but it’s pretty and nothing is too sweet for my nieces and nephews!

My daughter fell in love with Supermac's garlic cheese fries when she was in Ireland. She is dying to find a 'copycat' recipe. She says that they aren't just garlicy fries, but that the sauce is a "garlic sauce of wonders" ! Does anyone have any idea how they might do this sauce? Thank you so much!

Memories are regrettably short. FTV knows that. Howard Stern came back, so did the reptilian Don Imus.

Pastrygirl - those bonbons are amazing! They are so shiny that they looked like marbles to me, too! I am impressed! Dessert for dinner last night was a Figgy Apple-Mascarpone Tart with Green Apple Ice and Apple Cider Caramel that Lisa2K posted here sometime last year, I think. It looked so good that I printed out the recipe and finally made it. I'm so glad that I did! It was gorgeous and tasted so good. The tart: Plated: I have to say that as good as the tart was, the ice was even better! It was like essence of green apple. Everyone loved it! Thank you so much for posting that, Lisa2K!

Flotch - the Pissaladiere is just lovely! Bruce - that is such good chicken. We haven't had it since last summer - I need to put that on my 'do again' list! Nate - the chicken and ribs look perfect! Ktepi - gorgeous pizza - I like the idea of ramps on pizza! Prawn - lovely meal and I'm glad the new kitchen suits! (pictures, pictures!) David - those oysters !!! I will be trying the Wondra coating - I love a really thin, crisp coating. We had some friends over for dinner last night including eG's Zeemanb and his lovely Meredith (there would be pictures of them, too, but the ONE that Mr. Kim took was completely blurry ). The calm before the storm: Hanging around the kitchen snacks: Chili Lemon Rice Crackers, Green Bean Crisps, Smoked Oysters & OIives Apps: Goat & Fontina cheese puffs w/ black pepper infused local honey: I think maybe I won't do the slashes next time, it looks kind of gross, but they were absolutely delicous. Orange-Pecan Salad w/ Paprika dressing: Beef Bourguignon and Cheddar Grits Cakes: A shot of the grits cakes: I put them on a Panini maker and got some nice grill marks. Sauteed Sliced Brussels Sprouts w/ pancetta: Roasted Artichoke Hearts: These were absolutely tasteless. This was a recipe from some old PBS show called 'The Holiday Table'. I've made plain - olive oil, salt and pepper - roasted ones before and loved them, but the coating on these was just a sodden mush, the only crispy parts were just the very edges of the crumbs. Blah. Bread machine brioche: I've made this bread a couple of times and I really am happy with it. It's delicious fresh and leftovers make fantastic French toast. Cheese course: Cheeses were Supreme Brie, cave-aged bleu, Emmental, white Stilton w/ lemon peel (fantastic) and Morbier les Trois Comtois, the preserves were Rowena's carrot jam, Stonewall Kitchen Old Farmhouse chutney and Pepper Patch Jezebel sauce Dessert was something that Lisa2K posted on the dessert thread sometime last year I think: It was a Figgy Apple-Mascarpone Tart with Green Apple Ice and Apple Cider Caramel. Plated: This was incredible - a wonderful finale for the meal. The green apple ice was insanely good and possibly the best thing on the table all night. I was really proud to have made it! Thank you, Lisa2K!