Kim Shook

David - I love garlic custards. Everyone is so impressed with them, but they are so easy. Glad to know about the asparagus idea! Lisa - thank you so much for posting the bun recipe! nakji - that salad looks great. I can see that as a frequent meal at our house this summer. Daniel - I'd love to pull my chair up to that table! It all sounds fantastic! Dinner on Monday night started with a romaine and frisee salad with some kind of vinaigrette (I have a half a dozen leftover from the blog, but I have no idea which is which - so we just tasted them and put the one that appealed on the salad: I made Grilled Five-Spice chicken from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table. This was recommended by Bruce and I had intended to make it for my blog, but somehow I ran out of time . All three of us loved it. It is so fragrant and subtly spicy. You also make a Soy-Lime dipping sauce which was awesome! I served it with Coconut Orzo (like rice, but made with orzo) - it was good, but not quite what I expected. It didn't taste that much different from regular orzo. The chicken and sauce: Plated with the orzo: Last night, inspired by this thread,I thawed some Short Sugar's (a Reidsville, NC bbq joint) that I had gotten when I last visited my grandmother. I also got a gallon of their sauce and canned it - heaven on a plate! I also had some leftover baked potatoes from work, which I fried with onions and some corn, mustard slaw and Campari tomatoes:

Am I the only one who, roasting vegetables at 450 degrees, always opens the oven and immediately sticks my head way down to see how things are going? My mascara instantly melts forming my eyelashes into 4 distinct little clumps, my eyeballs dry up and threaten to melt down my face and my skin turns red and itchy. This happens every single time I roast something.

This is wonderful! Thank you so much for posting this. I am waiting with bated breath for your next report and hoping that you've visited my favorite spot. From my last visit to my grandmother in Reidsville, I have 3 lbs. of good NC bbq residing in the freezer and I canned a gallon of sauce from the same place. I love all bbq, from Korea to Texas to South Carolina, but having been fed, body and soul, from babyhood on NC bbq, that is my sine qua non of pork. The pork I grew up on is neither East nor West, but it's own smoky, sweet, haunting and unique 'que!

I love the weekend - breakfast is probably my favorite meal and I get to have two ! This morning was leftovers - I had some really good, but stale bread from Friday night's dinner and a couple of less-than-crisp apples. I did cinnamon French toast with maple fried apples and some of the Neuske's pepper bacon on the side:

Wow! Some amazing looking breakfasts lately! This thread is heating up! Percyn – your breakfast for dinner is just what I like for dinner and while the egg may be egg porn, that steak is protein porn – gorgeous! Marcia – I love them, too! And your scrambled eggs are just perfect. I love properly cooked (i.e. – still moist) scrambled eggs! Tupac – OMG – what a great picture! I just finished breakfast and if that was in front of me right now, I’d be digging in. Doddie - ??? how did you get your lovely omlette so perfectly square ? Daniel – chorizo, eggs and potatoes! Sounds wonderful and perfect! Breakfast this morning was baked eggs w/ ham, chives and cheese, Burnt Neuske’s pepper bacon (not really, it just always looks that way in pictures ), Campari tomatoes and store bought croissants:

Lisa2K – your pork buns are beautiful. Could you give us a recipe or some directions please? I’d love to make them! I can vouch for that meat pie of Ted’s! Meat pie is one of my favorite comfort foods and I was so glad that Ted made it! It sent me back to VA very happy! I also have one of those little blackbird fellows. Mine doesn’t get the workout that Ted’s does, though! Prawn – the monkfish is gorgeous! I am determined to try it sometime. I know that I will love it from the descriptions that I’ve heard of the taste and texture. David – we, too, remember Green Goddess fondly. No homemade, perfectly seasoned sauce will do so well for our annual decorate the tree crudités in December. Walmart still carries Seven Seas Green Goddess – we get one bottle every year and savor it! Bruce – I wish that I could get my roasted cauliflower that dark without being mushy. What temperature do you cook it at and do you start from raw? Last night I made a big pot of ‘Sunday Gravy’ – a meaty, rich spaghetti sauce with pork, beef and Italian sausage. I served it over some really wonderful pappardelle – not fresh, but it tasted like it. The brand name is Cipriani – has anyone ever tried it? I also roasted some garlic and spread it over some good locally baked crusty bread, topped it with some fresh mozzarella and broiled it: For those of you who visited my blog, please notice the sunshine that accompanies my dinner plate. I served supper before sundown. Proof that we don't always eat at 10!

Everything is so beautiful. I was excited to see you blogging, because I have wanted to visit Prague for awhile. Now it's a real craving! The architecture, signs, food, passageways! Yet another city that I have fallen in love with long distance and probably won't ever see. Thanks so much for the glimpse!!

How I would love to imagine I was Sophia Loren while cooking breakfast! Thank you all for your wonderful, kind words. I'm going to come back here and read all of your responses anytime I'm feeling down, or sad, or insignificant! Bless you all!

I thought so, from one of your PM's, so I didn't use it in the beef. Luckily, when I went to Penzey's on Saturday, they had the dried orange peel. I used that in the sauce and fresh orange zest in the marinade. I'm glad you approve of the scallion addition !! It really was delicious, Dejah - thank you for all your help and encouragement. I felt like I really made something authentic for once!

Erin, I'm so glad it's you! I am very excited to see this! Prague is somewhere I'd like to go sometime. Don't forget my neighborhood shots ! Have fun. I hope you sleep sometime this week !

I know exactly what you mean. 30 miles or so north we have been getting the same thing. No power surge things happening, thank goodness. Did see my first hummingbird today though so I am feeling happy in spite of the rain. BTW, made the recipe for your "ET" Bacon Crescent Rolls (from your website) this morning. My husband and brother loved them....as did I. Thanks again. ← I'm so glad you liked them! They are a favorite here, too - even with those that stick up their noses at 'whomp' biscuits! Lunch today was a Chicken Waldorf Salad from Bon Appetit magazine and White Cheddar Muffins from Paula Deen. Chicken Salad Dressing mise: pineapple juice, apple cider, mayo, honey whole grain Dijon, turmeric, olive oil Dressing: Salad mise: chicken, Granny Smith apple, red grapes, celery, red onion, walnuts and lettuce Before the dressing: Finished salad: Muffin mise: Muffin batter: In the pan: Finished muffins: Great lunch! We decided that the salad would be wonderful made with tuna or swordfish, as well as the chicken. The muffins got the best recommendation – Jessica said they were even better than Red Lobster’s garlic biscuits! Dinner was my version of Dejah’s Tangerine Beef (actually orange, since that was the only dried peel I could find!) – I have to say ‘my version’ because I’m sure mine was very different – it didn’t look the same, for one thing and I couldn’t find all of her ingredients, but she very nicely gave me some pointers! I also made Fried Orzo (like fried rice, but with orzo) and Stir Fried Baby Bok Choy w/ Garlic (a Gourmet magazine recipe). Tangerine Beef mise: beef , egg, ginger, orange zest, orange extract, bread crumbs, peanut oil, rice vinegar, sugar, dehydrated orange peel, red pepper flakes, flour, cornstarch, green onions, 5-spice powder The beef was from the Belmont Butchery. Dejah recommended bottom sirloin tip, which they didn’t have. The butcher recommended skirt steak instead. I was afraid that it might end up too tough, but it was perfect. He offered to cut it for me, but I think next time I will cut it myself. I’d rather have wide strips than the squared off pieces that I ended up with. The marinating beef strips: Breaded beef: Frying the green onions: Done: These were my own idea. They made a nice addition – crunchy and sweet. Frying the meat: All crunchy and good: I didn’t bother posting any pictures of the orange sauce because they all just looked like an empty pan, but here is the finished dish: This was fantastic. Of course, I have no idea what it is really supposed to taste like, but we loved it. Crisp and spicy and sweet and intensely orange all at once. Really special and I am so glad that I noticed it all those months ago when Dejah posted it in the dinner thread. Thanks for your help with it, Dejah! Fried Orzo mise: Orzo, shrimp, egg, soy sauce, green onion, red onion The egg: Hot enough?: The onions: Adding the shrimp and egg: Tossing: Finished dish: This was the first time that I did this, so I had the proportions a little off. Next time I’ll increase the add-ins. But it tasted really good and even if it wasn’t exactly like fried rice, it was close enough to satisfy my craving! Bok choy mise: chicken broth, soy sauce, cornstarch, oil, garlic, Shanghai bok choy, sesame oil Aren’t they cute?: In the pan: Finished dish: These were delicious. Ted had made baby bok choy for me one time and I really liked it, but hadn’t ever made it myself. Mr. Kim liked it a lot, too. Plated Meal: Yes, I do have pink chopsticks. This is a picture that I insisted upon tonight: This is the most normal time I’ve served a meal all week. Even lunches were staggeringly late. Poor Mr. Kim must have felt like he was suffering from jetlag with the time differences! Well that’s it. You would not believe how many leftovers we have. Our refrigerator is just bulging. Mr. Kim and I will be popular at our offices next week. No one will have to buy lunch for days! My last day! I can’t believe it. This has been an exhilarating, exhausting and incredibly fulfilling week. Thank you all for sharing this week with me. I’ve been touched, laughed in a most unladylike manner and learned a lot. I ran out of time every day – I guess that’s par for the course! I planned, but didn’t make a few things – I did no desserts/sweets. I was going to make cookies, Dorie’s chocolate pound cake and Ann T’s scones. I’ll do those soon! I was also going to make Bruce’s Grilled 5 Spice chicken last night and just ran out of energy. I am going to be out of town most of next week, so I’ll be making that the next week, Bruce! I hope I’ve answered all the questions, that I’ve interested and entertained everyone. This is the first time I’ve ever written for an audience and you’ve all been so kind. Thank you again!

Thanks, Margo! I guess that I didn't need to simmer them after all! Yep, that's it! Let me know the next time you come to Richmond! Maybe we could 'do' Tan A and the market together! ← Thanks for the offer. Our Trip in May will be shorter than usual. Hopefully I'll be out again around September. ← Wonderful - just PM me and we'll try to work something out! That strudel looks incredible. Did a google search and it looks like someone posted the recipe on REcipZaar. Will definitely be making that in my future! What great ideas you are giving all the rest of us, Kim. Thank you. ← Thank you! It was really good - it's easier than it looks, which is always nice! The recipes will all eventually be on my webpage, I promise! I've been trying to get on all day, but we have been having band after band of thunderstorms today and we've lost 3 computers in the last 2 years to lightning and we're not taking any chances. I'm uploading pictures now and I'll try to get everything posted as soon as possible!

Thanks, Margo! I guess that I didn't need to simmer them after all! Yep, that's it! Let me know the next time you come to Richmond! Maybe we could 'do' Tan A and the market together! Breakfast this morning was a breakfast strudel with eggs, ham, cream cheese and potatoes. Mise for strudel: puff pastry, butter, frozen hash browns, onion, ham, eggs, chives, cream cheese, OJ (it's supposed to preserve the color of the egg), parmesan cheese Rolling out the puff pastry: It was just 10”x12”, but it photographs like an acre! The cooked egg mixture on the pastry: My egg mummy: Finished: This was a Cuisine at Home magazine recipe. I think that my mom sent me the recipe. I don’t think that I managed the braiding quite that way that they wanted me to, but I think it turned out pretty. It tasted great and you can put this together way ahead of time (even the night before) which is something that appeals to me, especially with breakfast/brunch dishes. I also had some house made sage sausage that we got from the Belmont Butchery: They were so delicious! What a difference from the usual supermarket packaged stuff! I also served some of that good bacon, Campari tomatoes and some sweet bagels from Panera: Plate: Crap – it’s almost 1pm. Time to make lunch!

I have a Taste of Home magazine that contains nothing but recipes for cupcakes and muffins. From which I use about half a dozen recipes. Often. I feel like I'm cheating on James Beard. ← I actually took the time to submit a few of my cupcake recipes for that issue. They didn't publish one !

Bring it on down when y'all come! Especially the bacon See you soon, Love ← One package had already been earmarked for you ! See you tomorrow night! Mr. Kim loves spicy food. He wants to sweat when he eats ! Unfortunately that is one of the areas where we are mismatched. I guess I am a supertaster, because I just cannot tolerate spicy foods. The burn never stops and I can't taste anything after I've had something spicy. Even fairly mild bbq sauces bother me. I don't like really bitter things, either. They don't bother my stomach, though. Acidic things are worse than spicy. I have to really watch how much of an orange I eat, for instance. And I can only tolerate a couple of sips of OJ. Off to make breakfast. I'll try to post more often today.

Today was a long, fun day. I am going to bombard you with pictures. I wish I’d had time to post some of these earlier today because I always enjoy the shorter multiple daily posts rather than these marathons that I tend to do. Breakfast was great today – everything was good! I made Purplewiz’s Individual Ham, Onion and Cheddar Quiche on a Biscuit Crust, Surry Sausage and Buttermilk Spice Muffins. Marcia – the quiches were so good and so easy to do! We really liked the biscuit crust! Quiche mise: eggs, ham, cheddar, biscuit mix, milk, onion Before the eggs: After the eggs: The muffin recipe came from a restaurant that we’ve been to a number of times visiting friends in Jacksonville, FL. It’s a chain called Mimi’s and we just love it. The care they take is really unusual for a chain - we are getting one here in Richmond soon. Muffin mise: sugar, butter, eggs, flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, buttermilk, walnuts Grating the nutmeg: Dry stuff: Muffin batter: In the pan: Topping mixture: With the topping: Muffins!!!: Do we really need to see sausage cooking? If so, let me know, but for now – here they are all hot and sizzling and ready to pop: I am really confused about this sausage, though. I hadn't ever had it before, so I asked Fred, the meat counter guy, what to do with it. He said it was like bratwurst - to simmer and then grill or fry. So I simmered and fried. It was delicious. I googled it tonight and the only references to it that I can find are talking about a smoked, fully cooked sausage. You wouldn't need to simmer a fully cooked sausage would you? Just heat it up, if you wanted. Does anyone know anything about this? Also, the only information I could find seemed to associate them with Edwards meat products in Surry, VA. Anyone know if they are the only producers? Plate: Don’t those little springform pans make lovely little pies? Then we left the house!! Yay! By the way, here’s the house: Road trip!! First was the Farmer’s Market. It’s not the best market in the world and this was the first official open weekend so it was a little bare and we got there late. As a matter of fact, this was my only purchase: Well, its kinda food related. I don’t think I got a great deal – it was $8, but I really loved it. Now I just gotta find an insert. Market shots: That’s Mr. Kim inspecting the tomato plants. Next, we visited the Belmont Butchery, a wonderful real butcher shop. It is owned by Tanya Cauthen, who is truly passionate about food and eating locally. Her products are wonderful, since she is a chef she can offer advice about buying and cooking what she sells. This is the kind of place that gets an actual cow (a dead one) delivered and breaks it down themselves. They do a bit of their own charcuterie – and everything I’ve tried has been wonderful! Tanya didn’t want her picture taken, so this is one of her meat cutters: You’ll see what we bought tomorrow. Next stop was the new Penzey’s in Carytown. I was so excited that I forgot to take any pictures ! It is a beautiful store and I hope they do really well. This is what we got: I didn’t need a lot because I’d just recently gotten an order from them. The cinnamon was free and the total for the rest of the stuff was just over $5. Cheaper and better than the grocery store! I shopped at a couple of stores on the way home yesterday. I took the pictures surreptitiously with my phone, so it took me awhile to figure out how to upload and they are a bit fuzzy. Our biggest Asian grocery is Tan A supermarket. Not great compared to what I’ve seen in other blogs, but I can wander around in here for a hour, just fascinated. I would love to visit it with someone who knows what everything is: Some produce and quails eggs: Obligatory Pocky shot: My haul: Crisp candies – these are the little shiny, different colored candies in front and in the bowl. They are so good – kind of like a Chick O Stick or the inside of a Butterfinger bar. The flavors include coconut, coffee, black sesame, nut meat, almond, peanut and cream. I also got preserved tangerine peel, coconut milk, Rainbow popcorn (we love this stuff), Wasabi salt, almond Pocky and peanut Paripo. I also stopped at the Fresh Market, where I used to work full time and still work an occasional night: Produce: Seafood: Sausages: Bakery: Can you tell what my favorite department is? Oil and Vinegar Aisle: Back home for dinner. Dinner was soup and sandwiches. The soup was Roasted Garlic & White Cheddar Cheese w/ Cayenne Croutons. Soup mise: roasted garlic (I cheated and bought it already done off the olive bar at the Fresh Market), leeks, potatoes, chicken broth (Better than Bouillon), S&P, cheddar, milk and chives. Sautéing the leeks and potatoes: After simmering: Crouton mise: butter, garlic, parsley, cayenne, salt, hot sauce, bread Nicely spread: Finished soup: I have decided that I must just not really like cheese soup. It is just not ever cheesy enough for me. Mr. Kim liked this a lot, but all I tasted was potatoes, garlic and chicken stock. The croutons were tasty, though! Now for the BLT’s! Remember the bacon Mr. Kim surprised me with ? I had to serve it to the poor man – he’s been so good this week! BLT mise: I don’t really need to list the ingredients, huh? Those tomatoes are Campari tomatoes that I get at Costco. They are really good – even in winter. They are greenhouse grown in Canada. And I’ve been trying to cut down on food that has to be shipped so far, but I had the freakin’ bacon – what could I do ??? Bacon: This really is the best bacon that I have ever tasted. The package smells good when you get it, your house smells good when you cook it. The deep, rich porkiness of it just permeates your soul when you eat it. Amazing stuff! Heaven on a plate: OK, we went to Kroger, too, to get a couple of things. And I got suckered by this: Does anyone else share my compulsion to buy these things? The little ‘cookbooks’ at the checkout. They ought to be free, they are nothing but ads for the companies that put them out. But they aren’t. As a matter of fact, they are fairly expensive. This one was $3.99 – a lot considering there are no articles and I may use ONE recipe out of the entire thing. But do I think about that? Nope – into the cart it goes and I pore over it when I get home like I’m going to find culinary Nirvana. Seriously, I have an entire shelf on my island devoted to these stupid things. Now, some of them are really old and therefore retro and cool. But most of them are from the past 5 years. Why do I do this? Also, I want to know when everyone is getting here to pick up all the leftovers. You’re coming, right? Cuz, I certainly didn’t cook all this food for us. Two gastric bypass patients and someone trying to lose weight? Bring plenty of Gladware as Padma says! Good night, all! See you tomorrow!

Thanks for the help on the pronounciations! Is 'ton' pork and 'katsu' the preparation? On the menu it was listed as Katsu with the different choices (pork, potato or chicken) underneath it. Kim, just out of curiosity.....has sushi been something that you've never liked, or is it a post-surgery thing? The reason I ask is because I have found it to be one of the foods that I just can't chew to "babyfood consistency"...so I really don't eat it much anymore. It was never my #1 food, so I don't miss it too terribly. I've gotten so used to chewing each mouthful at least 30 times that I don't even think about it anymore.....and for some reason it just takes all of the fun out of eating raw fish! ← No, I just don't like sushi. I have tried it a lot and just don't care for it. We went to Morimoto in Philly, where Mr. Kim said that the sushi was the best he'd ever had and I still didn't like it - so I guess I'm just not a fan. That is a good point about not wanting to chew raw fish as much as we need to chew, though. I am getting my post ready for today's meals and field trips! We had a fun day. Back soon!

I made mine a little skimpier than the one I showed and I ate almost half of one.

Actually I ended up doing just that. You say in the recipe that you can reheat and I took you word for it. I made them first and then did the rest of the meal and reheated them just before serving and they were just as good as the ones right out of the pan! I'm wondering now how they would go with breakfast !

I thought about you when I heard about the quake and was glad there were no people hurt and no damage! It is amazing how much larger eGullet has made my realm of concern. I have always had the normal concern about other parts of the world when I heard about natural disasters, war, etc. But eGullet has made my concern much more personal. Oh yes, bless my Mike for all the dishes this week! Not to mention the picture taking, sous-ing, eating at 10pm and being willing to spend the money on 2 pretty expensive dinners this week! I told him tonight that we made a good team this week, but that, as usual, he's done more than his share! "I DID miss seeing the little round platter with the "log" handles, as I call it" - which platter do you mean? I'm not recognizing the reference. But then - it is 2am (later than our usual night owl outings ) and I'm a bit foggy! Good night, dear!

eldereno & judiu - thank you for your kind words. I really love my website - it's been fun to build. On to the report: No breakfast picture this morning. My tummy was too tender from last night and I didn’t eat. I had a graham cracker at about 10 ! I met Mr. Kim for lunch at Kobe downtown – it’s a Japanese restaurant that Mr. Kim and his co-workers frequent, but I hadn’t ever been to. We set at the sushi bar to watch the fun: We started with miso soup and salad: I am not a huge fan of miso, but Mr. Kim says it was good. A question the occurred to me about the ubiquitous iceberg lettuce salad with ginger dressing that is served at almost every Japanese-style restaurant I’ve ever been to. Is this authentic, or just a nod to US tastes? Does anyone know? Mr. Kim had some salmon and tuna sushi: and Beef Yaki Soba: I also don’t eat sushi, but he says the fish was great. The soba, I do like and tried and it was wonderful – really flavorful! I had the Pork Katsu w/ Gyoza (how do you pronounce that anyway?): I thought of you, Marlene ! The katsu was really good, crisp and juicy and the sauce was great and the gyoza wrap was so thin and tender and the filling moist. Very good. I’ll be back – and I don’t usually say that about sushi joints! Dinner was a fat and calorie orgy. I made a sandwich from a wonderful website called thepioneerwoman.com . It is so much fun. She is a city girl who married a rancher and the site is her fish out of water story. She is a great photographer and talks about her kids, her husband (nicknamed Marlboro Man), and cooking among other things. She is my third favorite on line writer (behind our Rachel and Maggie )! Anyway, the sandwich is her husband’s favorite. Mise for Marlboro Man’s Favorite Sandwich: cube steak, onion, rolls, BUTTER, Mrs. Dash garlic and herb blend (she calls for Lawry’s, but I have an aversion to that stuff), Worcestershire and hot sauce. Frying the onions in BUTTER: Frying the cube steak in BUTTER: Toasting the rolls in BUTTER: See how BUTTERY they look: Tossing it all together in BUTTER: mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm: Fresh mozzarella for the sandwich (I use plain dental floss to slice it): Building the sandwich: This was a good sandwich, really beefy and gooey with cheese and, by the way, very BUTTERY! For one of our sidedishes I tried Marlene’s Panko Coated Onion Rings. You can find the recipe at cookskorner.com , her website. Mise for onion rings: sweet onion, flour, water, hot sauce, salt and panko (note the Top Chef Glad wrap product placement ) Onions, batter and panko set up: The trusty and irreplaceable club aluminum dutch oven: Frying the rings: Is this beautiful?: These were just fantastic! You have to make these! They were the best onion rings I’ve ever had. Thanks for the recipe, Marlene! The next dish wasn’t so successful. I tried a Cooking Light recipe for “Unfried Green Tomatoes”. Only 4.2 grams of fat per serving, as opposed to about 22 grams in fried ones . Sound wonderful, huh? Well, until you taste them, that is . Mise for tomatoes: flour, cornmeal, S & P, sugar, green tomatoes and milk. Lovely green tomatoes: Soaking in the milk: Dredging: Ready to be baked: Yes, I said baked. I know, I know, but I am experimenting this week. This is what they looked like out of the oven: I was underwhelmed. See those uncooked spots? That can’t taste good. So I thought about it. I had this already hot from the gorgeous onion rings: So I just tumped them in: They looked a lot better: But they still didn’t taste very good. I think I’ll just stick to my regular recipe! Dessert was a little bit of this: It was from the bakery at The Fresh Market and called a Summerberry Stack – a nice little concoction of berries, cake, buttercream and custard. It was really good, but we were so full we only add a bite each! Oh, can’t forget Mr. Kim’s favorite part of the evening: Sleepy time – I have a lot planned for the weekend and Saturday morning is coming soon!

Hi, all! Sorry to be MIA today. We were very busy at work all morning, I went to meet Mr. Kim for lunch, shopped all afternoon and cooked all evening. Pictures are loading from my camera right now and I'll be back in a little bit to report. I am feeling just fine today. I was up most of the night, but just tired and tummy tender this morning. Thank you for the concern! Back soon!

We started that today!! Both Chris and I posted some our faves on an existing CI thread. I can't really say I have a list of duds because I've only had 1 from all the CI recipes I've cooked. Btw, Kim I just checked out your online cookbook. I'm flattered that you included my adaption of the Magic Brownie recipe!! You even quoted me ← Oh, Randi - those were the best brownies ! I still have a few in the freezer!! I will join in on the CI love - I have a lot of recipes that I've tried. My go to recipe for white bread is a CI recipe! I had a 7:30 meeting at work this morning, so I treated myself to a Hardee’s sausage biscuit: They are the one fast food breakfast that I really like. I ate half. I forgot to take a picture of lunch, but it was leftovers – a crabcake from the dinner on Tuesday night and Dana’s Boursin Potatoes. More of the dangers of doctor’s offices: A patient brought these in. Cinnamon Amish friendship bread. I heard it was very good . Tonight we had dinner at Verbena – a beautiful restaurant in our favorite area of Richmond – the Fan: The amuse was a black olive tapenade that was so good, we almost forgot to take a picture of it: We both got soup to start with. Mike got gazpacho and I had the Lobster and sweet potato chowder: The gazpacho was garnished with sweet golden beets and very sweet lump crab meat. The base tomato puree was taken to a perfect texture and had a hard acid bite. The beets were so very nice as a contrast, and their sweetness perfectly balanced the acidity in those bites that contained both. But the crabmeat, nice by itself, was completely overwhelmed and thus wasted as an additive in the soup. All in all a very tasty soup, but the crabmeat was better left off. My soup was wonderful – creamy and not too thick. The sweet potato chunks were roasted and beautifully sweet – a really great combination. As an entrée, Mr. Kim chose a cinnamon brined pork chop on a bed of sweet potato soufflé, pumpkin pesto, a supposed frisee Caesar, with a balsamic reduction. As the picture indicates, the frisee Caesar is overbilled – it is a bit of green and tomato atop the meat. Garnish overstated is still garnish. That aside, the meat itself was so well prepared, with an elusive wafting vapor of cinnamon that could never be quite located in the flavors themselves. Truly a nice comfy entrée. The sweet potato soufflé was a nice complement, and this is where we found the pumpkin pesto as topping. This combination would almost seem a redundant or overlapping mix, but the two were easily separable flavors that nonetheless worked together nicely. A great plate at $22. I had the lamb special. It was a lamb porterhouse with mint quinoa, grilled onions, rapini and carrot and ginger…blurbs – I don’t know, I lost track and was embarrassed to ask again . It was the special and I’d already gotten her to repeat it twice! This was delicious! Perfectly cooked and while I’m not a big fan of mint jelly or sauce with lamb, the mint in the quinoa was very subtle. The grilled onions were perfect. I could have made a meal with their house made bread and the onions alone – I love grilled onions! With dinner we had a bottle of Finca Sophenia Malbec from Argentina: We know nothing about wine – we’re like the rubes in an art gallery – we know what we like ! I just threw a dart, but we liked this very much. It got 90 points from Wine Enthusiast FWIW. It really enhanced the flavor of Mr. Kim’s pork and my lamb (and vice versa), and that’s what it’s for anyway! Dessert was a really good pistachio cupcake w/ an intense vanilla bean buttercream and raspberries on a grapefruit reduction. The cupcake was a little dry, but tasted good and the buttercream was fantastic – like I wanna make! I find grapefruit horky, so that part wasn’t so good. All in all this was a better experience than our meal out on Tuesday. The service was wonderful at both places and both places are attractive and comfortable places to spend a couple of hours. The food was better across the board tonight at Verbena. It was also a better value – tonight’s dinner was $115 and Tuesday nights was $140 – tonight’s wine was $10 cheaper, though, so it wasn’t all food pricing. I let Mr. Kim do his own reviews tonight (I think he did great) because I am not feeling too well. I guess since I am inviting everyone into my own little food world, it is only to be expected that you’d be around for the bad as well as the good. My dinner, though delicious, has just not been sitting well since I ate. I am hoping that I won’t be up all night, but sometimes I am. It is just a fact of life when you have had a gastric bypass. I am having a bad evening of it, but I’ll be fine tomorrow! Good night, my friends – thanks for being here!

It's nice to have confirmation that I didn't mess up the saltimbocca - it's just not a great recipe. I bet Chris is making that CI recipe, too. I know he loves CI and so does Randi - we should all do a CI recipe feedback thread. They are just amazingly good! I'm sure you're right about the type of potatoes - I used little yukon golds and they are thirsty little suckers! I got LOL'd!! Look closely at the picture of me with my glasses - I keep them on a granny chain around my neck at all times. I am so habituated to the chain that on the rare times I don't have it on my glasses, I am apt to remove my glasses, let go and have them drop to the floor ! I have posted the recipes for Chicken Divine , David's salad, French Onion Bread Pudding, Chicken Saltimbocca (for what it's worth ), Dana's Boursin Potatoes and Caramelized Pancetta & Fennel Salad on my webpage. My pictures for today are downloading from my camera right now, so I'll be back in a bit to post my meals today.

Suzy!! So nice to 'meet' you! I hear about you from Momma and Ted whenever we talk! How neat to make the real life connection, huh? I'm sure we'll meet sometime when I am down visiting them! I'm glad you're enjoying the blog! I hope you'll post here more!