Kim Shook

I am still testing recipes for Mr. Kim's fantasy football draft party, so for lunch on Sunday, we had these: That's mini reubens - two ways. One is open faced and broiled, the other regular sandwiches wrapped in foil and baked. Both had the same ingredients - mini rye bread, corned beef, 1000 Island, Swiss cheese and sauerkraut. We preferred the open faced one, but both were very good.

yunnermeier & dystopiandreamgirl - fantastic cakes!! They are both gorgeous and delicious looking. What are the odds - two cakes made with currants. And they couldn't be more different! Bravo! I made these this weekend: Banana chocolate chip muffins - an old and easy standard in our house. I make a batch whenever there are enough past-it bananas in the freezer.

I could have written this post! I agree completely with everything you said. I am even more pitiful than you (re: the "need to get out more" comment) in that I actually emailed Reynolds about this. I got an email back that basically said, "go away, you plastic wrap geek" . I won't use anything but Reynolds, though, so I am out of luck. ETA: I will defend my love of the little cutter thingy by saying that with my hand/wrist issues (pain, neuropathy, weakness), it was easier to use than the serrated edge cutter.

I have been wanting dessert for the last few days and you folks are the reason why !!! Mary Elizabeth - you are a big part of my cravings! That pandoro is lovely - I don't know pandoro - is it sweet or bready? It looks more like bread. I like Rob's idea of French toast! And the Castella is beautiful - sinking and all! Joe - I love those frozen pies! You hardly see them anymore - kind of like good cream pies, but they are so perfect for summer! When I convert cream pies to springform pans, I usually increase the ingredients by half again. And I love the idea of pretzels in the crust. One of our favorite summer 'salads' is that goofy strawberry jello thing in the pretzel crust. Sugarplum - I will have to try the Ina Garten lemon bar recipe. The last time that I tried them, they were a major PITA. Someone had ordered them for a party and I was really unsatisfied with how they turned out. They just didn't hold up as well as I would have liked and were not very firm. Yours looked much better. I just went to the site and printed out the recipe. Lisa - your apple tart is absolutely GORGEOUS!!! I would love the recipe for the tart, the ice and the intriuging sounding cider caramel! I am envisioning serving all three after my favorite Beef Bourguignon on the first cool Fall weekend (can you tell that I'm tired of summer?). emmalish - your caramels and cupcakes are adorable. I am definitely going to try making those precious little flowers! A couple of days ago I did these ice cream sandwiches made with Tri2Cook's Toasted Marshmallow ice cream and Abigail Johnson Dodge's ice cream sandwich cookies. Tri2Cook , we are just addicted to this stuff! I made it on the weekend and Jessica had friends over on Monday and the three of them just stood around the ice cream with spoons scooping and scooping. I am catering Mr. Kim's fantasy football draft in August and these were a test for one of the desserts for that. I'm going to dip the sides of the sandwiches in graham cracker crumbs to get a S'mores effect. Mr. Kim took these to work and they vanished. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe! General question - you can see some little cracks on the tops of the sandwiches. I'm going to be more careful when I roll the cookies out and assemble the sandwiches next time, but I'm not sure that I can avoid the cracks. Do you think this is ok - do they look hopelessly amateur or charmingly homemade ? Thanks!

Susan - I, too, think corn that is old is not truly corn and I confess that this was older than I would have liked, but it was still pretty darn good! We are also getting fantastic peaches. Now if we could only get good tomatoes!! The prosaic dinner at our house last night was chili cheese dogs (with canned chili ), frozen fries and a big salad. I was trying to see if I could possibly butter and toast hot dog rolls the night before and reheat them to serve (testing things for Mr. Kim's fantasy football draft in August) - they didn't work out very well - they were just tough. Anyway - boring dinner, but I did make these for dessert: These are ice cream sandwiches made with Tri2Cook's Toasted Marshmallow ice cream and Abigail Johnson Dodge's ice cream sandwich cookies. These were also a test for the draft celebration and were a much greater success than the hot dog buns!!

Ok, I give! Where's the recipe for those ribs, please, Please, PLEASE ? They look SO good, and of course I don't see them in THE COOKBOOK. Are they braised or grilled and what is that beautiful sauce? ← Thank you! Here's the recipe. I am almost embarrassed to admit that they are slow cooker ribs (in the crock pot section - that's why you couldn't find it). I got the recipe from someone I trust at chowhound.com and they are really good. The sauce is an assortment of the usual faux Chinese suspects: catsup, soy, ginger, garlic, 5-spice powder . Don't forget the hoisin - I did and missed it. Last night's dinner was tacos, corn on the cob, black beans, salad and stir fried snow peas (I know, but they were in the fridge from the weekend and needed cooking). No pictures because I was on the first shift and Jessica was 2nd shift getting ready for her Bastille day gathering (baguettes, Brie and pomme frites with some Andrew Lloyd Webber monstrosity on DVD in French:rolleyes:). From slicing the lettuce to washing the last dish - 1 hour flat. I felt like I hadn't eaten one hour later .

One of my favorite things about the online life is the ability to live so many different vicarious lives. One day, I can be a world traveler, tagging along on Tracey's trip to Munich, enjoying Klary's sunshine filled home in Amsterdam, and seeing all the different places that our bloggers hail from. Another day, I can be a food professional - writing articles with Fat Guy, managing a catering business or restaurant with one of the many accomplished members here. I even try to imagine that one day I might grow up to be a writer like Rachel or Maggie . What I learn is not only how these things are done, but how awesome are the talents of eGulleteers. Thanks so much for taking us along on this ride of yours, Rob. I am having the time of my life and, as with all of the blogs and restaurant reviews and travelogues that I read, I only regret that I don't have the ability to travel as much as I'd like - I would be on the next flight to NM to enjoy the fruits of your labors first hand! And you would definitely be my caterer ! I can't give any advice from a professional point of view, but I love the idea of fresh marinated baby vegetables as a side - not a heavy marinade like those jarred artichoke hearts, but a light lemony one. And the wedding food?

Smithy - I, for one, take absolutely no offense at your question. It's a valid question and I wish I had been able to do it without surgery. But I couldn't. I was 44 years old when I had the surgery and had been fat all of my life. I tried every diet that existed and never really lost what I needed to and manage to keep any significant amount off. And every year found me just a bit heavier than the last. I was on diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol medications. I was completely out of control and ashamed of myself and my lack of willpower. The surgery is hard, but it is, at first, a FORCED change. It forced me to start what I couldn't manage to do for myself. Before I gained back any control over what I ate, I had already lost a significant amount of weight. And, 5 years later, I am still forced to eat smaller portions - just through the physical act of getting uncomfortably full so soon. I still struggle with food - I am stalled at a 100 lb. loss, because I eat too often. But while I would never recommend the surgery to anyone, I have never regretted doing it. Hope that gives you some understanding! Don't be afraid to ask me questions - I don't mind at all !

Has anyone been to Patina Grill? We went on July 9th for my birthday dinner and had a really bad experience. I had high hopes for this meal. I have heard nothing but good about Patina - both in the media and on the internet. The place is just beautiful and the menu impressive. The wait staff is very friendly and seemed knowledgable. The quality of the ingredients was top notch - I'd love to have the ability to get seafood where ever it is that they do. But... Start to finish the execution was seriously flawed. Most everything was overcooked to the point that it was dry and tough and chewy. Mr. Kim started with bresaola, feta and roasted pepper calzone w/ fennel-olive puttanesca. The flavor was wonderful and the rich sauce helped cover the over cooking of the calzone. You really could taste the separate ingredients and they were so well suited to one another. I thought that the fennel-olive sauce was especially good. Jessica's app. was seared scallops and spinach gnocchi w/ proscuitto & herb butter. The scallops were beautiful - sweet, obviously dry scallops and the gnocchi were beautifully light. Again, inexplicably and criminally over cooked. I started with fried oysters, cornmeal dusted & served with applemint remoulade. The oysters were NOT over cooked. They were delicious and sweet and briny. I thought that the 'dusting' of cornmeal was a little heavy, but that's a minor complaint. The remoulade was indistinguishable from tartar sauce - I couldn't taste the mint. As a matter of fact it wasn't until I reread the menu that I even remembered that it was supposed to be applemint. Mr. Kim's main was coho salmon with red dal, dosa and eggplant bringal. Again, the fish was so good and fresh and the over cooking had dried it out unforgivably. Jessica's main was butternut squash and chevre ravioli with rosemary-maple brown butter and asparagus, lemon & pine nut saute. The filling was delicious with a perfect balance of the silky squash and the more assertive chevre. The asparagus was crisp-tender and very fresh. The pasta (housemade - we know because we saw them rolling it out in the kitchen) was so tough that you couldn't cut it with the side of a fork. My main was rabbit BBQ w/ scallion-corn hushpuppies and grilled vidalia onion relish. The rabbit was so tough that not only did it not pull apart to pressure, it was actually hard to cut with a knife. The sauce and relish were tasty, but the hushpuppies lacked flavor and were just blobs of fried, heavy dough. I was the only one who got dessert - it was my birthday, after all! I got frangelico-lemon cheesecake w/ amaretto cookie crust. It was a large piece of creamy cheesecake - admittedly, I am not a big fan of cream cheesecake. I prefer the texture of classic NY-style cheesecake. Drier than creamy and one that, if you picked it up in two hands and bent it, it would break. So that's personal preferences. But the crust was soggy and I got no frangelico, lemon or amaretto flavors at all. It just tasted like a creamy, plain cheesecake. This was a fairly expensive meal - 3 apps, 3 meals, 2 cocktails, 2 coffees, a liqueur and one dessert cost $160. We sent back the rabbit and ravioli and they, of course, took them off the bill - very nicely and apologetically, too. I would have been much more forgiving if it had only been one dish that had this problem, but 2 of the apps. and all three mains? I hope that they were just having an off night. I'm not sure that I would ever be able to convince Mr. Kim to go back, though. I thought that it was odd, too, that we sent 2 of three mains back and no one in management came to the table. I would have expected SOME interest in that. The chef has a mixed background (Millie's and Havana 59) but really should know better. Maybe he wasn't there that night and his assistants were new. Honestly, it was as if someone had taken perfectly chosen, perfectly seasoned and perfectly prepared meals and set them under heat lamps for an hour. Whatever, we had a seriously subpar meal and what's worse - they took fine quality ingredients and ruined them - to me that's a bigger sin that using sub par ingredients in the first place. Mr. Kim's take on the evening: "Last night’s meal was reminiscent of the perennially disappointing Washington Redskins: A lot of initial promise with terrible execution. Beginning with my drink order, I should have known I was in trouble. My request for a “dirty martini” was met with a vacant look followed by passive acknowledgement that should have warned me. Instead of vodka, I got gin. Instead of olive juice, I got….gin. Just a portent of things to come. My appetizer sounded interesting. A calzone, featuring bresaola, feta, and roasted pepper calzone with fennel-olive puttanesca. Sounded downright yummy, in fact. And while the puttanesca was everything I expected, the calzone itself was charred excessively – I have a feeling by design, as it was quite obvious. While this did not ruin the flavor, it rendered the pastry tough, forcing me to crush it with a knife to get at it. This in turn rendered the calzone pretty much empty with its contents spilt into the pattanesca. The flavors were great, and it all went down well, but this could have been so much better with a more tender treatment of the calzone shell. Still, everything I note on this dish could be attributed to chef’s vision versus my preferences rather than inattention and ineptitude. These last terms I save for the Large Plate. My dinner was placed before me by a table runner – the first thing brought to me by someone other than our waitress. Perhaps this was because the kitchen was tired of seeing my grilled wild sockeye salmon over split red lentils and dosas with bringal and mint chutney sitting there dying under a heat lamp, I do not know for sure. In any event, it arrived much the worse for having been in that kitchen. The salmon itself was the driest piece of fish I have eaten, short of jerky. Not only was there no moisture on the top of the fish, but upon flaking it the interior was also a husky reflection of the usually moist meat. It was flavored gently and well, but required large quantities of water with each bite. The lentils beneath were very tasty, but any goodwill generated by this layer was swept away by the unforgivably dense dosas cakes beneath. These could not only be cut at all with a fork, but were so cold and dense that they could not truly be cut with a knife – they had to be ripped apart to be eaten. At $30, a very disappointing plate, to say the least. It would have been returned to the kitchen had it not been the best of the three entrees at the table." I hate to damn a restaurant on just one visit. But the faults were so all pervasive, that I was wondering if anyone else had an experience here that could explain this?

Daniel - fresh sardines <sigh>. I wish I could get those - I love them so much and no one in Richmond does them, that I can find. Bruce - I'm with Doddie - that sauce is gorgeous! Sunday dinner: tomatoes that looked good, but were only ok - we haven't had any really good tomatoes at all this year Chinese country ribs, slaw (the alarming pinkness is from some red cabbage that was in the mix), corn and sweet potato rolls

I have always thought that there was a discernable difference in texture between whipped cream that is shot from a charger and whipped cream that is whipped by a mixer or by hand. It seems to me that most restaurants would use the charger and that most home cooks would use the mixer/hand method (if not the can - but that's another topic/confession ). When I have whipped cream in most restaurants it seems airier and more insubstantial than when I whip it myself at home. It's possible that the restaurants are using better quality cream than I have access to, but mine feels better. Does this make sense? Am I right? Or am I just fooling myself?

Here's Mr. Kim's favorite: Squash Souffle You make it with a Chicken in a Biskit cracker topping !

I am just enjoying all the food here. I declared that I was going to cut down on all the elaborate cooking, but I have hardly cooked at all recently. Lots of pizza, cereal and foldover cheese sandwiches at the Shook house lately. We have been dealing with Mr. Otis, who's vet says he may be getting a bit senile and is getting up at 3am wanting attention and breakfast . We are the walking dead just now. Bruce - the ribs are just gorgeous!!! I have some crock pots ones in the fridge that we are going to eat tomorrow night and they looked pretty good until I saw YOURS ! David - the razor clams look so good. What is the flavor like? And I had Mr. Kim drooling over my shoulder at your steak. Thanks for the damp arm! Daniel - Happy Birthday! The pizza looks great - top and bottom!! (I love the bottom especially - no one ever gets the bottom done enough for me!). Mr. Underbite is some sweetstuff !!! Shelby - I wish I'd been at your house for the 4th!! Smoked chicken and pork, sausages, mac n cheese and those dear little parfaits <faint>. Well, we did have devilled eggs, at least !

Ted - that is lovely! I wish y'all were coming to dinner with us tonight. I think I picked a good one! Pille - I want some Eton Mess !!! If I could find any decent strawberries, I'd be having that for every meal for the next week !!! Just gorgeous!!

Rob - even a faux attack can be serious. Please take care of yourself - you have lots of imaginary friends (what a relative calls online pals) out here who care about you!!! I am very, very excited to hear this news. From here, you look ready and I can't wait to follow the journey. Best, best, best wishes and I wish I could be there to actually see it!

Thank you all for your help! I am rinsing, but just using straight mayo (with a little Ranch), so I think it is just too dry. I'll try some vinegar or a little sweet pickle juice. The recipe doesn't call for pickles, so I didn't think to use the juice like I usually do !

I love brunch! I love to go to brunch and I even like good brunch buffets. But I really love to serve a brunch. Breakfast-type foods are some of my favorites to make, but no one wants to come for breakfast and honestly, I don't care to start cooking quite that early anyway! I like making quiches, egg casseroles, pastries and, here in the South, at least, brunches usually include a savory casserole or two, green and fruit salads and some kind of juice cocktail. What's not to like?

I need some help with macaroni salad. Not fancy PASTA salad, just plain old American macaroni salad. The kind that I like has a creamy, mild dressing. The kind I always make (mayo-based) is clumpy and the elbows stick together. The kind I want to make pours out of a spoon individually, just barely clinging together. Mine thunks out of a serving spoon in one big 'splot!'. Does anyone know what I'm talking about and how to get what I want? Thanks!!

I promise you absolutely cannot do any better than our own Marlene's Panko Coated Onion Rings. They are among the best I've ever tasted! The link is to the recipe on my webpage, but you can also find it at her site, Cooks Korner. You can find pictures of them in this post.

Tri2Cook - thank you so much for the ice cream recipe. I've got Mr. Kim's fantasy football draft to cater in August and I'm thinking ice cream sandwiches! I'm sure the guys will love them! David - the raspberry tartlet is just simple perfection! Joe - gorgeous cheesecake bars! I am so jealous of your nice straight lines - not just the edges but between they layers!! Lovely job! Also, your blog is great! Yet another blog to add to my 'must read' list <sigh> ! Mary Elizabeth - just lovely pastries! Welcome and let's see more!!!

I'm back....I fell off my chair in a dead faint just trying to imagine toasted marshmallow ice cream ! Could you, would you possibly part with the recipe? Please, please?? I promise I won't go into business with it and become a multimillionare !

That would be great for the seniors!! ← That's so funny, Randi, because I thought about you and your folks when I was making this and even mentioned your thread to my friend!

Kim, I looked in your Cookbook, but could find the instructions for assembly of this beauty. Help, Please! I can see the folks I volunteer for going nuts for this at a party. They love stuff like this... ← Here you go! It's a hard one to find on the webpage, because the name doesn't have anything about ice cream sandwiches - which is weird because they are the most fantastic thing about this monstrosity !

David - oyster empanadas!!! That sounds like fun! I would love those, I know! monavano - I think that is the only reason to use the shredded stuff - the stretch. I use both - one for flavor and the other for the authentic 'streeeeetch' . Bruce - that is a beautiful steak salad - so much better looking than any I've ever seen in any restaurant! We had company for the weekend, so I got to indulge myself and do a lot of cooking! Dinner Saturday was proscuitto-fontina lavosh roll and fruit salad. We also had pickles and chips and tabbouleh. This was supposed to be lunch, but breakfast was so late that we didn't get hungry until dinner time (this happens a lot at my house): Sunday dinner started with the panzanella I learned to make at my lesson with Chef Roberto Donna last summer: It was delicious! Everyone looked askance at it, but loved it once they tasted it! I also did a pan sauteed flank steak with a red wine sauce, corn, Dana's boursin potatoes & roasted asparagus: The steak was supposed to be 'Light', except that the sauce seemed a little thin to me, so I swirled a little butter in at the last minute. That helped a lot ! Our guest just loved the potatoes especially! Thanks, again, Dana!! Dessert was this trashy delicious thing: It is a 'torte' made from ice cream sandwiches. More about it on the dessert thread.

We had company this weekend. I planned two lunches, but we ended up eating breakfast so late on Saturday that Sunday was the only lunch we had: Ham, turkey and Swiss panini on raisin bread with Dijon and fig preserves (and pickles and chips and tabbouleh).