Kim Shook

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!

I obviously can't speak for Kim, but as a weight loss surgery patient I know this subject comes up a LOT (and I tend to cook/eat out quite a bit....and not always the healtiest choices). The things you really cannot skimp on are your daily vitamins/supplements and getting enough protein in your diet. From my experience, as long as the fatty foods are "solid"...proteins, etc., there really isn't too much of a risk of overeating (I don't know how many times my eyes have been bigger than my stomach and I've thrown away 3/4 of a sandwich I thought I could finish). Your stomach is about the size of a large egg, and proteins digest slower, giving you a sensation of satiety that lasts for quite a while. However, when you get into your fattier carbs or what are often referred to as "slider" foods like mashed potatoes, gravies, chips, sauces, various starches, etc., they go through your new stomach really quickly and can eventually lead to weight gain because you don't stay full. There are some built-in safety measures even for that though.....the biggest one being "dumping syndrome". When you take in too much sugar or fat at one time, it can basically give you the sensation of having the worst hangover of your entire life hit you in about thirty seconds......it SUCKS. Due to the reconfiguration, the fat/sugar dumps straight into your system all at once and makes you sick. So you learn your lesson quickly with that......at least I did the first time I put way too much mayo into a tuna salad. Anyway, sorry to threadjack or speak for Kim, and I'm not sure that even really answers any questions. I guess the bottom line is you are always conscious of calories, amounts, etc., but it's easy to "splurge" one day and make up for it the next. AND you have built-in safety measures that keep you from going TOO crazy. The common misconception is that gastric bypass is the magic pill, which it is not....it's just a tool, because plenty of people have gone the surgery route and still gained a ton of weight. From looking at Kim's breakfasts/lunches, she's really sticking to the plan as far as amounts go. And this is only a guess, but I'd say this week for her is out of the ordinary due to the blog. The one advantage I have is living alone now......I can't imagine still having to cook for others! ← What he said. Seriously, thank you, Jerry - you put it very well. (I asked Rachel to ghost write my blog - If she'd only said yes, I would have already written this clear, informative response !)

For some reason the add key isn't doing it's thing making the mulitiple quotes work, so I'm just going to space them out - sorry: Here's the link

This was waiting for us when we got home from work: This was a surprise to me - Mr. Kim ordered this. We've had the bacon before, it's from Benton's Hams in Madisonville, TN. It is intensely fragrant. You could smell it through the box. I'm sure that everything in the whole town is permeated with that smoke! We are thinking of going to Costco for Campari tomatoes and having BLT's for lunch one day this weekend. Of course, I've made those before, but I'm not sure I would have a husband on Monday if I don't cook some of this stuff! DINNER LAST NIGHT: A couple of little snacks to tide us over: I found this stuff at our local Asian market, Tan A. I have NO idea why this was in an Asian market. It's made in CT and has not one Asian word on it. But it was pretty and girly and I had to buy it. It's kind of like Kettle Korn. Jessica found these leftovers in the fridge and heated them up: They are crab meltaways from Mr. Kim's poker party on Friday. I made Dana's Boursin Potatoes, which were amazing - I definitely overserved myself on this one. You can find the recipe on Cooks Korner - that's Marlene's website. One thing, though - I misread the recipe and added 2 c. of heavy cream rather than the 1 c. the recipe calls for and as you can see, it turned out perfectly. I must have been using especially spongy potatoes. Potato mise: potatoes, s&p, parsley, boursin & heavy cream Slicing: These are my tradional treats after peeling potatoes: It's the end of the potatoes that don't get sliced. I have always loved raw potatoes - Momma used to peel and slice potatoes the night before and put them in the fridge for dinner the next day. Sometimes by the time she got home from work, there would only be 10 left. I'd eaten my serving raw! I can only eat a little bit now without them hurting my tummy, but I still indulge! Before topping and bakings: With topping: Baked: Bite: I could eat: I also made two Giada de Laurentiis' recipes. The first was Caramelized Pancetta & Fennel salad. Salad Mise: fennel, pancetta, garlic, brown sugar, olive oil, s&p and salad greens Dressing mise: red wine vinegar, lemon juice, honey, s&p and olive oil The fennel, pancetta, garlic, brown sugar, olive oil and s&p after roasting: Making the vinaigrette: There always seems to be a cabinet door open in my kitchen - I live with little dents all over my head. Finished salad: This was wonderful. I will caramalize the fennel mixture even longer last time - that was amazing! The other Giada recipe that I did was her Chicken Saltimbocca. Chicken mise: Chicken breasts, s&p, proscuitto, spinach, olive oil, Parmesan, chicken broth and lemon juice. Otis likes cheese: Pounding the breasticles: Rather than a mallet, I find that a small iron skillet does best at this job. Topped with the proscuitto, spinach and cheese: Browned and simmering: Sauced, plated and a section: This was fine. I'd eat it again, but I'm not sure I'd bother making it again. I found a CI recipe for Chicken Saltimbocca that I'd like to try and I think I'll do that next time. I found some lovely local oyster mushrooms the other day and just did a simple saute in some clarified butter with a little salt and pepper: Mr. Kim and Jessica actually fought over them. I am not a mushroom fan, but in the I always try at least a bite of new things, so I tried them. They were the most mushroomy mushrooms I ever tasted, so I guess that's why mushroom lovers love them, but they gave me that familiar fungal shiver and I let Mr. Kim and Jess have them! We also had some bread - just a Three Seed demi with poppy, sesame & fennel seeds from Panera. We have a new one on the way home. It's not the best bread in the world, but we like it and it's miles from what the grocery stores near us have: Mr. K very sweetly took down a bunch of the glasswear and took pictures, so I'll post them later along with some random thoughts!

He's on his way!

Well, I beat my Monday time by 8 minutes - here's tonight's dinner time: I am wiped out! I will post tonight's dinner and more fun stuff tomorrow, I promise! But I gotta go sleepy-byes now ! But first - I need to tell you all how nice this week is, in spite of how tired I am and how crazy this week is! I am loving the interaction with everyone and the caring and interest that everyone is showing me. (sniff, sniff, I feel like Sally Field ). Smoochies to everybody!

ok, which exact one are you talking about? Did you see the picture that I took of the first thing that I thought he was talking about? Was it that one? Thank you, ma'am! The fat free stuff is really good. Not too 'lite', if you know what I mean. I won't sell it, but how about if I come and help you paint one ? Rachel wants to paint one, too! I could do a road trip! I noticed you up late last night, my fellow night owl and told Mr. Kim and Jessica that I often noticed your name when I was moonlight surfing and how old-fashionably companionable it felt in the dark quietness. I went and reacquainted myself with your kitchen - it does look a lot like mine! But I couldn't catch a good view of your floor, so mine still holds the title ! I will try to sweet talk Mr. Kim into getting down the glass stuff later in the blog. I don't mind taking the pictures, I just didn't know people would be really interested! And thanks for the compliment on my before picture - that was exactly how that dress felt! Today’s breakfast: Wednesdays are the day that I work in one office in the morning and another office 5 1/2 miles away in the afternoon. I usually stop somewhere and get something fast since lunch + travel time is still only 45 minutes. I figured that since I was blogging, I'd stop someplace I hadn't been before. It's on a very busy main road. I am embarrassed to say that in 5 1/2 miles (actually 11 miles, since I looked on both sides of the road), I couldn't find one fast food place that I hadn't been. So I said the heck with it and decided to stop somewhere I had been and have something I hadn't ever had. I went to KFC and had one of their new toasted wraps: It was fine. Just what you would expect. It was only $1.29 and very small - so it was perfect for me. It's nice - lots of fast food restaurants are serving mini sandwiches now - I guess most people would get 2 or 3 of them, plus sides. But one is just right for me. How I wish Little Tavern still existed. For those whose childhoods weren't blessed with them, they were a chain of hamburger joints that existed in the Baltimore/Washington area years ago. Tiny little shops, selling hamburgers by the bag. You could buy one or a dozen and I remember stopping after being out late at night in Georgetown for a bagful for the car. They were like sliders and in my memory, at least, delicious! I think that there might still be one or two open in Baltimore. Hmmmm. We haven't been to Baltimore in awhile. Might be time for a road trip soon! Anyway, I just munched the little chicken wrap (hee - I always think that sounds like a hen in a pashmina), spent a little quality time with dear little Father Brown and enjoyed the sunshine. It was 35 degrees last night, is 69 right now and will be 80 before the weekend. You know a doctor’s office is a dangerous place to work, what with rogue bacteria, germs, viruses and things like this: It was some kind of pie/cookie hybrid that a drug rep brought by. It was really, really good! It's 7pm and I still have to make dinner - see y'all in a little bit!

Alright, I give. Even though I own a gourmet store, I have no idea what the gadget is that is sitting in the lavender/purple vase with the orange flower, resting on the meat tenderizer. It looks like what would come out if a robot had sex with a lobster. What is it? ← ← Rob, I am falling off my chair! It's an ice cream scoop! You squeeze the handles together to scoop and release to release. I'll take a picture of it tomorrow. Goodnight!

Not at all. I would be honored that an engineer would steal an organizational idea from me!! My pig was white, I think – or beige. He got icky down near all the spills and dog food dishes and such and I painted him pink. It’s just the angle that flummoxed you. Here it is: It’s a serrated edge pie cutter/server with a blade shield. Ding Ding Ding!!! We have a winner. My favorite new online obsession and Noms are even on topic! Thanks for the link – I hadn’t seen that one yet! It isn't prohibited, exactly...except by my stomach which, um, rebels and forceably....ah....rejects it. Thanks, Bruce! Tell Mrs. C that more pug shots are coming - tomorrow will be a cooking night and he'll be around ! Oh, Miss Rachel! I wish you wuz here, too ! I wish we wuz all here. I'll PM you some shots of the stuff on the rail - I'll send Mr. Kim up the ladder with the camera next week! It's mostly depression glass and stuff left to me by Bomo (my maternal grandmother). I actually use it a lot to serve on. Breakfast today was a low fat piece of string cheese and some apple (zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz): Lunch was leftover from yesterday – some Greek salad and a 1/4 of a club sandwich and more apple: Dinner was at a restaurant called Six Burner: This place has gotten mixed reviews in the past, but the latest reviews have improved a lot. We started with a bottle Chateau de Lascaux 2005 Coteaux du Languedoc - no idea what any of that means, but it tasted good and went well with everything that we had: Mr. Kim started with Sea Urchin Custard, pepper broth and anchoy toast(are ‘anchoy’ and ‘anchovy’ interchangeable? I hadn’t ever seen ‘anchoy’ before, but I just googled it and found lots of references for both including one from Daniel Rogov): This was really interesting – very subtle and almost sweet tasting. I started with the foie gras torchon, rhubarb strawberry compote and grilled bread: The foie gras was wonderful – very silky and smooth and the compote and sauce was perfect with it. The dish would have been ruined by the bread if I had eaten it, though. It was way beyond grilled to burned. Mr. Kim’s entrée was rockfish, mascarpone polenta, braised endive, pickled apple, and truffle oil: We love rockfish and this was very well cooked! I didn’t care for the truffle oil, but the polenta was lovely. My entrée was crabcakes, grits, spicy cabbage slaw and a mustard vinaigrette: This was a mixed success. The crabcakes were great. In my opinion crabcakes are great or bad. They either have sweet, rich crabmeat or skunky, stringy crabmeat. They either have an imperceptible amount of filler or more filling than crab. They either have almost nothing but crab in them or they are crapped up with peppers. So there’s no middle ground. (I am very feisty when it comes to crabcakes ). These were great. The grits were very good, as was the slaw. But we felt like the flavor and the balance of the meal was sacrificed to the plating. The grits would have looked boring without the slaw, but the slaw made them cold. The grits and crab paired well. The slaw and crab paired well, but the slaw and grits didn’t go together at all. We shared dessert. It was caramelized banana and tapioca pudding, banana cake and pecan brittle: I thought that the luciousness of bananas and brittle sounded wonderful together. And I haven’t had tapioca in many, many years and perhaps it wasn’t as skeevy as I remembered. Bananas and brittle are wonderful together. The brittle was dark and amazing and one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. However….tapioca is still as skeevy as ever. Little bouncy balls of nothing. What is the point of that except to make something that should be smooth and creamy, anything but??? <shudder> Bottom line, it was a good, but not great meal. In the middle of the meal I started wondering what our favorite restaurant in the Outer Banks would do with the same menu - not a good sign, I'm thinking. Off to bed now. I had almost 2 glasses of wine and am very sllleeeeepyy……………zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I love all versions of Anne. Walter breaks my heart every time I read the books! Anne and Diana's feast for the visiting author is a classic. Is that the meal where both of them and Marilla all sugar the peas? I do remember those Alcotts! Also - in Little Men, did anyone else covet the mini cookstove that Amy's daughter received? I was pretty proud of my julienne - here's all three of them - parsnip, apple and pear: I remember those little cartons and they don't seem to make them anymore! I was actually looking for one this weekend for a retro congealed salad that I'm making in place of fruit salad for the weekend (jello counts for fruit below the Mason-Dixon line, right ?) Those Family Circle cookbooks are a hoot. I think that they are the ones that Lileks uses in the Gallery of Regrettable Food. They belonged to my MIL and I was so excited to get them! And your savory bread pudding recipe sounds wonderful - we love fennel; I'll be using it later this week! lucylou's bread pudding was just amazing. The only sweetness was from the caramelized onions, so it was really savory. I have had them in restaurants, but none as good as this one was! Thank you and Randi for the advice about the spinach - I'll put that in my notes when I type up the recipe and try that next time. I'm sorry for what I call my 'cadaver hands'! Everyone is wondering about my gloves and I meant to tell you about it before now and just forgot. I wear gloves almost all the time when I am cooking, cleaning, etc. I am not some phobic, Michael Jackson, mask wearing wacko. I've always had extremely dry hands and when I was working at the store it got really awful - cracked, actively bleeding fingers - just agonizing, plus folks didn't like me bleeding on their food. My doctor prescribed Kerodex cream and the gloves at work. It was like magic. My hands cleared up in a few days and I started wearing them at home, too. I've really gotten used to them - I've caught myself mid-meal still wearing them ! I'm hoping that the restaurants that we are going to this week will cover this and I am going to try to get up early enough to get to the farmer's market, too! Since my focus this first blog is on 'new to me' recipes, I won't be cooking my old standbys which are pretty regional - fried chicken, long cooked vegetables, biscuits - but I am making a congealed salad this weekend and if that's not regional, I don't know what is ! artisan02 - I do cook alot from Simple Fare - it is a wonderful cookbook and I think I found it years ago at a discount bookstore. My go to Pot Roast recipe is from this book. Doddie & Randi - I'm glad you like my shoe spreaders! Aren't they girlie? I love girlie stuff (as anyone could guess from my pink striped powder room)! I think they were a gift from my MIL and FIL. Rob - I adore my ceramic knives. I have the big one, a little paring knife and a peeler. They are all awesome. Mr. Kim gave me the set for Christmas - really because they have pink handles and I am all about pink - he really didn't know anything about them. Serendipitously, they are wonderful and my favorite knives. I have hand strength issues and they are so light and easy to use. I only use my Henckels now when the job is rough or could conceivably shatter the ceramics. And Dejah - re: the knives - I believe that they only have to be sharpened every few years - maybe someone else knows for sure? Sony - nice to 'see' you again! Be sure to PM me if you ever find your are going to have a couple of hours in Richmond! Otis eats little packets of Pedigree wet food topped with some Pedigree crunchies. Plus whatever hits the floor! I said the other day that my next pug was going to be named Roomba! He is a passionate omnivore and would eat until he popped, if we let him. We almost never feed him people food because of his puggy tendency towards...um...rude noises. He is sweet, but not bright and sees the entire outdoors as a giant smorgasbord - grass, twigs, snow, squirrel corn, etc. - all have an irresistable draw for him! zeemanb - I have just recently discovered your blog and am getting caught up reading it from the beginning! It's really great fun! We are definitely siblings under the skin - love of food, urban neighborhoods, politics, ethics, surgery, etc. I'm glad I found you! I know exactly what you mean about the doggy bags. I always want to explain why I didn't eat much in restaurants and am afraid the chef will be offended at my lack of appetite. Plus, I am still not exactly a small person, so when I say, "I have a small appetite.", I'm always sure they are thinking, "Yeah, sure you do"! I did the showing everyone how small my meals were, too. That will pass. What hasn't passed yet is when I'm folding laundry and see how small my underwear is! For everyone who wants the recipes for the things I'm making, I'll be posting them (properly credited, of course) on my webpage (link is below my name) as soon as I have the time. How about the promised explanation of my drinks and a house tour? In one of the shots of my island there were a row of 2 lt. drinks on the floor. These are "my drinks". When you have a gastric bypass, you are not supposed to drink sugary, carbonated drinks. Most diet drinks are still fizzy. And, believe me, when you drink one, you know it. That foam just crawls right up your esophogus and is nasty. I know some bypass patients who have worked at getting back on carbonated drinks, but I figure, why bother going through the surgery if I'm going to find ways to break the rules. My stomach capasity will increase naturally anyway, why add any other ways for weight to creep up on me? So after I had the surgery, I was drinking just water or tea. That got tired really fast. I am not a coffee drinker at all, so I used to get my caffeine from diet coke. Someone suggested drinking flat diet soda. None of the dark ones appealed to me, but Mt. Dew and the lighter drinks are less carbonated anyway. I tried different things and found that Kroger's house brand version of diet Mt. Dew was something that I liked. I used to just let it go flat, but that takes forever, so I started just bringing it to a boil, cooling it and putting it back in the bottle. I love this stuff and always have it on hand. Let's take a food related tour around my house. Here's the kitchen. Pantry/laundry area: Inside the belly of the pantry beast: Moving around the room: Counter Shots. Keep in mind that other than the island, this is all of my counter space. My newest toy - it's a very large toaster/convection oven. I love it dearly, but it takes up a lot of space - that's about a foot of usable space in front of it: The corner - cracker jar, Otis' NomNomNom (does anyone get this reference?) tin, the coffee bean suck machine (as opposed to the plastic bag suck machine which lives in the island and which I haven't used in months), the coffee maker/grinder and the beginning of the utensil forest (in one of the Oz books there actually is a village named Utensia in the middle of a forest and the inhabitants are kitchen untensils - lots of good food in Oz books, too - eeeek, another one of my mad, passionate collections I am confessing to): The Utensil Forest: The narrow little place between the stove and the fridge where lives the olive oil, garlic, sugar bowl, S&P, etc. - the stuff I need right at my elbow: Notice the instant coffee - does anyone else at eG admit to having any of this stuff around? Mr. Kim and Jessica use this when they are in a rush and only need one cup - I don't drink coffee so it doesn't reflect on me! Also - notice my bacon salt - percyn recommended this stuff and I keep it by the stove so I'll remember to use it since it's new. Here's the fridge - as you can see, we stick everything in the house on it. I really like a cleaned off refrigerator, but it just doesn't happen! That shot is an outside manifestation of the chaos within. The fridge: The freezer: This is what happens when you open the freezer: This is my freezer list - it is supposed to be an up to date list of everything in the freezer. It is usually current for about 3 days after I completely rehaul it: We call this Banshee's cabinet. Called that because it's where our late lamented kitty used to eat her meals so that Otis couldn't get it. It was an old cruddy thing that Momma and Ted found in the garage when they moved. I painted it and it holds all my food storage stuff. A good shot of the world's ugliest floor is also included for your viewing pleasure: Food Storage cabinets: The pasta/rice storage cabinet and the oh-so-up-to-date list of contents: Other stuff: (see the Penzey's bottles at the bottom? We just got a Penzey's - will try to fit a visit in on the weekend!) Spices: That's it for the kitchen; now let's visit the rest of the house. In the dining room I have dishes stored in the china cabinet, like normal people: But if you look closely, I also have a shelf that runs around 3 walls of my dining room that holds more dishes and serving pieces and pitchers (my wonderful FIL made this for me for my birthday one year). There is also more stuff in the sideboard. This is my coat closet. We took the coats out so you can see it's real purpose: Ok, now I feel really trashy. Also in the living room is a small sideboard: It's also full. Notice the teeny tiny little cake stand on top! Isn't it girlie ?? And just to show the full extent of my shame, if you lift the skirts of my side tables like Can-Can dancers: Actually, that wasn't the full extent of my shame, because in the attic there are big, giant things (juicer, canning equipment, bread maker, etc.), but you're not seeing that - we have to go in there with a flashlight and the camera wouldn't work! Whew! Well, no cooking for me tonight. We are going out to dinner - I'll be back later with a report!

Ted - the pork and apples look wonderful. Please add to my list of stuff I'd love you to cook for me ! eldereno - Hi to my slightly north neighbor! The Nigella dish looks wonderful. I was also inspired by that thread. Someone (maybe Maggie) said that eGullet supplies a great bunch of test cooks whose expertise we can draw on - she's right, I will probably try that dish now that I see how nicely it turned out for you! MiFi - I also want to know about your long roasted lamb! monavano - Ramps! I just discovered them last year and hope I can find them again this year. I really like the idea of the crepes! Were the ramps in the batter or just inside the rolled crepes? Chris - I love fish sticks! They are one of my guilty pleasures! They feel like a treat to me because we rarely had them growing up, but Mr. Kim grew up Catholic and had them almost every Friday of his childhood and detests them so I almost never serve them! Dr. J - I second what heidih said - that steak sandwich was amazing looking and the photography was beautiful! If you want to see what I'm eating this week, come on over to the Food Traditions & Culture forum - I'm blogging!

Smithy, that store doesn't just not sell alcohol on Sundays - they don't sell anything on Sundays - they aren't open at all. And they don't sell alcohol at any time ! I do love rice, but since the surgery it is one of the few foods that I can't eat at all and I miss it so much. I miss all kinds of rice and I don't think there is any kind (other than Minute) that I don't like! Ok – time for the dinner report. While I was putting things together we had some goodies that we bought this weekend at our favorite Richmond hippy crunchy store – Elwood Thompson: It’s rosemary crisp bread and two different kinds of chevre – Hot Pepper and Chives & Garlic from ‘Goats R Us’ – a goat farm in Blackstone, VA –about an hour from here. Dinner was an all eGullet affair. I made David Ross’ Apple, Pear and Parsnip Salad w/ Toasted Walnuts, Bleu Cheese and Apple Cider Vinaigrette, our own Kendra Bailey Morris’ Chicken Divine and lucylou’s French Onion Bread Pudding. Mise for the vinaigrette: Mise and prep for the salad: that’s some Point Reyes Blue – one of our favorites Finished Salad: Mise and prep for the chicken: Finished dish: Mise and prep for the bread pudding: flipping the onions: Finished dish: Otis ate much earlier than we did: My plate: Each dish was a big success – everything tasted wonderful and was easy to do. The bread pudding was particularly swoony. The next time I make it, I’ll do it with a roast so I have some gravy to spoon over top! I think it would be especially fantastic with lamb! The only problem with the chicken was that it had a flood of water in the bottom of the pan: but it didn’t taste watery at all ! Well, I’ve posted my first dinner on my first blog and it is 11:59pm . Mr. Kim insisted that I post the following picture, which he took as I served dinner: I really hope this isn’t too much information. I tend to run on when I talk and it seems that have the same tendency when I write and post pictures.

Thank you to Shelby, Priscilla and the divine Miss Maggie for making me feel positively loving towards my powder room ! This cracked me right up! And you named two of my favorite authors ever! I only recently met Betsy and Tacy but I've loved Anne-with-an-E and Heidi(didn't you always want to try goats milk and goats milk cheese when you read Heidi?) since before I could read - my mom read them aloud to me. I think that those books inspired some great bedtime snacks! I'll post everything up to dinner now and post the rest in a little bit - I am so late tonight! To my fellow bloggers - how in the hell did you manage to serve dinner before midnight when you were blogging ? You were warned – here’s my exciting breakfast: Oikos Organic 0% fat Greek yogurt w/ rosemary honey. Lunch was much better than usual. It was from a locally owned restaurant instead of the Olive Garden, the ersatz deli or pizza. Joe’s Inn provided: Greek Salad Club Sandwiches Chicken Kabobs Rice <sigh> Brownies & Pecan Bars My plate. I ate half of everything here and a bite each of the desserts (they were only meh). Stopped on the way home for some fresh things I needed. I ate this on the way so that I wouldn't be tempted by Dunkin' Doughnuts (do you know they have Buttercrunch doughnuts - they only doughnut I would spurn a hot KK for...sometimes...maybe ): Ukrops is a local grocery store that has really had a stranglehold on Richmond for years. They sell no alcohol and are closed on Sunday. They support a lot of community activities in the area, but insist on things being done their way. No other store has been able to keep much of a presence until Kroger – they really managed to break into Richmond and have done very well. We now have Kroger, Food Lion, Walmart, Costco, Sams, The Fresh Market, Tom Leonards and we are getting a Whole Foods and Trader Joes – but Kroger was the thin edge. Ukrops used to be fantastic – incredible customer service and great meats and produce. They have really been going downhill for the last couple of years (I heard this a lot working at the Fresh Market) and I don’t go much anymore, but it was on my way home. This is the Militant Old People Ukrops: (I won’t bother on inside shots – it’s just a regular grocery store.) Only grumpy old people seem to shop there. They seem to think that younger people should go to other locations. They come in and fold up their walkers and put them in the carts and go at it. I have been personally prodded in the back the walker legs that stick out. I hope I am that feisty when I get old. I am not a particularly feisty person, but it's one of my dreams !

Well, we certainly live, laugh, cry and gather in it ! We usually have 40-50 for Christmas dinner and this Easter with just 4 of us felt, honestly, a little lonely! And it has plenty of irregularities - like the family room used to be the garage and was made over by the original owner! I can drink a little alcohol. I really have to watch it with anything carbonated - my pre-surgery favorite cocktail was a vodka tonic and now I can sip one all night long. I am the world's cheapest drunk. One full drink and I am fully buzzed and two and I'm dancing with sailors! Mr. Kim says its like partying with a 4 year old - drunk-sick-asleep all within 10 minutes ! Sweetie - I wondered if someone was going to notice those! I should have known it would be you! Among my mariad of collections is my children's and vintage teen lit collection. The editions don't have to be old, but the text does. I don't hold with modern Nancy's flitting around in some sportscar instead of a 'roadster' . I can't imagine anything nicer than finding one of my eG buds curled up with one of my cookbooks ! Welcome and congratulations - 90lbs. in 3 months is awesome! I hope you are feeling good. Any questions you have, please ask away - I'll be glad to answer them. And once the blog is over, please feel free to PM me with anything anytime! Also - I hope you'll comment more from now on - this is a great place, with wonderful people and to get involved and feel a part of things, you just have to dive in! I love my cookbooks and have a hard time giving them up, even when I don't cook a thing from them. I use the old standbys like Joy of Cooking and Fannie Farmer and that sort for basic information rather than recipes. For recipes, I go to Heritage of Southern cooking and Simple Fare a lot. I especially love my Southern Living Annuals - I hardly am ever disappointed by them - you have to choose well with them, because there are lots of shortcut (in a bad way) recipes, but there is also lots of good, solid Southern cooking. When I get a cookbook or a magazine, before it goes in the bookshelves, I look through it and decide which recipes I would like to try. I write it down on a piece of paper that gets taped inside the front cover. Then, when I'm browsing, I can look just at the front to see what I liked. When I've tried the recipe and thought it worth saving - it goes in my online cookbook - you can access that from the link under my name. I also print out each recipe, so I've got it down on actual paper (did I explain that I'm nearly 49 and don't trust all this technology stuff? ) and keep those in binders in the island: I don't have some great cross-referencing system. Sometimes when I am looking for inspiration, I'll look in a magazine for the current month (but often for a long past year), or I'll just grab a magazine or book that doesn't have many recipes in it and just 'cook through'! I am at the office right now and will be on my way home in a few minutes. I'll try to post my breakfast and lunch pictures then, before starting dinner!