Kim Shook

I can never figure out why people care what I do. It's one thing if I am snapping away like Richard Avedon and causing bridal reception blindness with my flash. But I take one discreet shot of each plate, maybe a couple of my companions and never, ever use a flash. My picture taking would never draw attention. So why would anyone care? I get pleasure from looking at those pictures later. I am an inverdant memory keeper - I love keeping a record of the things that are special in my life - photos, matchbooks, letters, etc. I enjoy this. I have not a clue why that would annoy anyone else. Excuse my sentimentality, but I picture a frail old lady looking back over the special times in her life with the assistance of these pictures that some seem to hold in such contempt. I have this same thought when someone seems to care what I eat. Why does my friend care that I like oysters and she doesn't? Or that I don't like her favorite restaurant? Or that I like catsup on my scrambled eggs, for God's sake??? What does it take away from you when I am different from you? It's hard to express tone in a forum like this, I don't mean to rant, I am truly perplexed.

Shelby - your eggs have just been perfect! I am now planning on poached eggs for breakfast this weekend! Sunday breakfast this weekend: scrambled eggs, Benton's bacon, potatoes & raisin toast w/ mayhaw jelly

Thanks so much, everyone! The are on their way tomorrow morning and are leaning towards the Strip district location based on what y'all recommended!

Last night was salmon cakes, corn, roasted asparagus, tots and salad: Nothing special, but very satisfying on a hot summer night - and we weren't so full that we couldn't go on a 3 mile post-prandial walk!

Magus - I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. Don't get discouraged - you did the right thing and you have a great plan and a great product - you'll get it all back again and more. Keep in touch! You have friends here that are interested in you and your success!

I just got the CI American Classics 2008 issue. Out of 25 recipes, I've picked 18 that I want to try! That's a record for me - most other publications have a few I might like to try, maybe one or two that I actually will. Last week I tried their fish and chips and they were wonderful. The fish batter was perfect. BTW - has anyone heard about this little brouhaha? I like the magazine a lot, but, golly they take themselves seriously!

Mr. Kim and his friend are coming to P'burgh for the Steeler's game this Friday. They want to eat at Primanti Brothers, but not the one at the stadium. They are staying at the airport. I noticed online that most of the locations are open very late - so they could eat before or after the game depending on what time they get to P'burgh. They are looking for which location that would be between the airport (where their hotel is) and the stadium. Thanks for the help!!

Susan, I am enjoying my vicarious vacation very much, thank you! I'll have a slice of pie and then I'm going swimming !

← I'm so glad you liked them! It's one of my favorite cupcakes. I make them a lot after Christmas - we always forget whether we have chocolate or not for fudge when we are out shopping and see the bars on special. We always end up with extra bars to use up!

For dessert last night, I made pots de creme: I had never made this before and had no idea how easy it was! I got the recipe from Pioneer Woman. This is a no cook recipe - everything done in the blender. I'm not a coffee fan, so I used skim milk as the hot liquid. So good! I'll be making this recipe over and over again!

Shelby - the pimento cheese looks perfect. It's one of my favorites - especially homemade. With a sleeve of saltines, it's a perfect solitary midnight snack! adey - lovely meal! The crab dish with the blossoms was especially appealing! And the Homeric Merv is a darling ! Last night the in-laws came over. I made fried shrimp, fries, corn, slaw, 'panini'd' baguettes slices and assorted pickles and marinated vegetables: (Otherwise known as a beige plate ) I love my new toys ! And for dessert, I made pots de creme:

Prawn – I cannot bear hot foods, but that chicken would tempt me! It’s gorgeous! And that ham . I am a fool for all ham, but that one is just exactly what ham should look like! I have been wanting to make the Scallops w/ Miso-Mustard Cream Sauce that nakji made awhile ago – I even went out and got the miso a couple of weeks ago. But our wonderful seafood shop hasn’t had any scallops come in that they wanted to offer for awhile. Today, finally, success. They had large, dry scallops when we called this morning and we raced down to pick them up! They were gorgeous! Here they are after cooking: Here they are plated with the sauce and some couscous that I cooked w/ toasted almonds, saffron, onion and golden raisins: The scallops were just fantastic! Thank you so much, nakji for introducing it! The sauce was really tasty, but subtle and didn’t in any way overpower the sweetness of the scallops. I served it with marinated cucumbers and sliced tomatoes with goat cheese and olive oil:

I've tried the mint and the raspberry almond. The mint was quite nice, but the raspberry was filled with fake raspberry flavoring <ick>. The dark chocolate in all M&M's brings up a problem with me - I have always thought that dark chocolate melts more slowly than milk chocolate. That's fine with a piece of chocolate - you just let it melt in your mouth - nothing wrong with that. But when something has that hard shell coating, it's awkward - you chew a little then you have shards of coating and chocolate both in your mouth to let melt. I know I'm making chocolate eating more complicated that it needs to be. And then you add the further complication of an almond and it just doesn't work for me ! I'll just stick with the milk chocolate M&M's!

That looks great, Shelby! We aren't getting good tomatoes this year - not even out at the farm ! I love your cheery cherry plates!

I searched, but didn't find this. I have a bunch of oil that I deep fried fish and chips in. The directions for the fryer say that I can strain and save the oil for a few uses. Two questions: 1). Since I cooked fish in it, is it worth saving? 2). If so, how fine a strain do I need to do. Is a fine mesh strainer good enough, or do I need to put it through something like a coffee filter? It's trying to go through a filter right now and it's going e x t r e m e l y s l o w l y. Ta!

Ditto...plus those nasty little brocolli bites <very guilty pleasure>.

After making those fries the unusual way on Sunday (microwaving in oil before the first fry), I did them the regular way last night (just 2 frying times). It wasn't really a fair test because I cut them much thicker this time (we didn't care for the really thin ones) - around 1/2". But I didn't detect any major difference in the flavor or crispness. Honestly, we are philistines and while admitting that the potato flavor is more pronounced in fresh potatoes, we really prefer frozen fries for the crispness factor. I know, I know - heathens. BTW, we had leftover pieces of the fried fish and just dropped them in the fryer for a couple of minutes. They worked just fine - not quite as good as fresh, but not greasy at all. I think I like my deep fryer just a little too much . I am reminding myself that Costco has big, giant, juicy shrimp and that those would be really good fried with a cornmeal crust!

We went to Eamonn's back in February while on our Washington jaunt. We really liked it a lot. Only wish they were in a slightly larger space. I can't imagine trying to get in there on a weekend. But it's a great atmosphere, good service and, most importantly, really good fish & chips!

Thank you, Miss Lisa!!! Lettering are hard ! Thank you also for directing me to the recipes for the apple tart, ice, etc. I cannot wait to make them! We go apple picking every fall and this will be the first thing that I make!

menuinprogress - that beef looks amazing - I can't believe that was your first effort! Megan - I like the idea of using the plums with pork - I've done peaches, but plums never occured to me! Do you pickle the ramps or is that something you bought somewhere? Ce'nedra - I am just drooling over those mussels! They sound fantastic! Susan - I just decided what I'm going to use the grilling planks for that we have had stored beside the washing machine for 2 years ! This is what I got with a birthday check from my father: I decided to make fish and chips - one of my favorites - I never see batter-fried fish anymore: It was a CI recipe and everything was delicious and crisp and lovely! It called for an odd (to me) method for the fries: in addition to the regular double frying, you toss the raw potatoes with a little oil, microwave for a few minutes, rinse with cold water and dry for 10+ minutes. Has anyone else heard of this method? We had lots of fish left over, so I'll be making chips again tonight - I'm going to just do the regular 2X method tonight and see if there is any big difference. I'll also make the chips a little larger, we all thought they were too thin.

I wish! I am very embarrassed to admit that those are Little Debbies:blush: ! I don't know if you even have those. They are very cheap, icky packaged snack cakes consumed mostly by children . I did peel off the waxy, terrible chocolate before pressing them into the cake . Those desserts are just awesome! I am very impressed and now hungry, too! That gooey fudge over the banana parfait is so gorgeous and glisten-y and wonderful! And the Poached Plum Frangipane Tart is adorable - I especially like the little heart petals in the sauce !! Chufi - ohhhhhh! Those pancakes. I want pancakes for dinner tonight!!! Lovely!

Kim, The muffins look so good. I have tons of frozen nananers in the freezer. I checked out the recipe but I have a question. Does it have to be miracle whip? I NEVER buy that. ← I don't really know why it wouldn't work with mayonnaise as well as Miracle Whip, it's certainly worth a try. Do you think it should have been whipped longer before or after the addition of the butter? It always deflates a bit when you add the butter, but it just didn't seem to come back from the addition this time. It tasted just fine, but I just love the fluffiness of this icing.

This is a cake that I made for work. I'm not terribly pleased with how it ended up looking. The humidity made my meringue buttercream 'slump' a bit, I think. It tasted great, but wasn't as fluffy as it has been for me in the past. Also, I obviously need some practice with spacing my lettering! The little swirly things are slices of Swiss Roll. I thought they'd look cute. The cake is devil's food and the icing just plain vanilla - my idea was doing a Swiss Roll cake. Good idea, I think, but execution needs some work!

Randi - I have to confess that as a full fledged carb-fool, I am always disappointed in a meal without bread or rolls. It can be meatless or vegetable-less - that's fine. But I gotta have a piece of bread - even with dumplings, stuffing or potatoes. The other night for dinner I had 2 Yorkshire puddings doused with gravy and a roll on the side:blush:! I understand your perplexity, though. We carb fiends make no sense!

David - it's summer and I'm in the mood for seafood and your crab croquettes are just exactly what I want. They look and sound wonderful! Soba - lovely, fresh looking meal! I never thought of using the cippolini's with pan fried potatoes - good idea - I'm stealing that! I finally did some cooking this weekend! I must have been on the same wavelength as pickledgarlic . Saturday I did the America's Test Kitchen roast chicken: This little guy makes me want to put a top hat and a cane on him ! This was just delicious. You butterfly the chicken, do a compound butter and rub it under the skin. Then you roast it over sliced potatoes so that the potatoes get all the wonderful juices dripped on them. I served the chicken and potatoes with brussel sprouts, Marlene's Yorkshire pudding and gravy: Fantastic Yorkshire puds! Easy and the best I've ever made! The gravy was delicious - even though it was a really quick one - I used purchased broth and the backbone that I cut out to butterfly it, but it turned out really well. Sunday's dinner was milk-braised pork tenderloin, noodles, squash, corn and Parmesan-ranch pan rolls: Boring plate, huh? This was one meal that I should have served on my dark plates and maybe adding a green veg would have been a good idea ! I hadn't tried the milk-braised pork before and it was very good - sweet and gentle and tender. But even though you blend the sauce at the end and get it smooth, you still have some little curdled bits on the pork and it's not a very attractive dish. I don't think I'd serve it to guests who wouldn't "get" it.