Kim Shook

Thanks!! That means a lot. I know the seniors don't know the effort I put into it. Its sad, but I get more complaints than praise from them. ← WE know and WE appreciate it, even if they don't. ← complaining is just what old people are good at... ← Just as working retail taught me what kind of person not to be while shopping, working in a doctor's office is teaching me what kind of old person not to become.

percyn - the lamb shanks and mashed sweet potatoes look fantastic. I usually use polenta under my lamb shanks and never thought of sweet potatoes! What a perfect idea! David - the Hellzapoppin rice looks so good! I can't each but a bite of rice and I wonder if I could do the same thing with orzo. I need to experiment suzi - your welsh rarebit sandwiches are wonderful and a special thank you for showing your recipe card - I loved seeing that MiFi - creamed spinach - mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Ann - rice balls sound so good - I've wanted to try making those for awhile. Again, I can't each much rice, but I might be able to manage one! Dinner last night was salad and Ravioli w/ Balsamic Brown Butter sauce: It is a Giada DeLaurentiis recipe. It was amazingly easy - just 10 minutes from fridge to table and really, really good. Last dinner for a few days. We are off to Washington, DC for the weekend. We are eating at Cashion's, Becks Brasserie and Mario's Pizza & Subs !

On the barbeque bandwagon, if you wait until Richmond for lunch, I would recommend Buz and Neds on the Boulevard. Really good ribs and sides. Locally owned. About 4 minutes off the interstate.

That's great! I need a giant one for the kitchen!

Thanks for reminding me. I used to have patty melts all the time in high school with gravy and fries on the side! I'll have one very soon! Lovely article!

I don't do fast food breakfast much, but when I do it's usually a McD's sausage biscuit. Tastes ok, filling and cheap. I don't ever eat at Hardees because every one I have ever been to has been incredibly slow (I actually had a car behind me in the drive thru overheat and blow up one long ago Halloween night ). But it was on the correct side of the road for me not too long ago, so I got a sausage biscuit. What a revelation! The biscuit was actually good - fluffy in the middle, crisp on the outside! The sausage tasted like pork - a little spicy and juicy! I am hooked. I've tried them at a couple of different locations since then and they were as good as that one.

We like both Stubb's and Sweet Baby Ray's. Our usual choice is Montgomery Inn BBQ Sauce. We got hooked on it when we lived in Indiana, near Cincy. We used to have to mail order it, but they have it (and Skyline Chili ) at Kroger.

They are there! I had to print out copies for my hostess on Sunday already!! Kim

Thanks for the compliment on the pictures - I did get a new camera and I am getting more comfortable with it. I need to read up on macro close ups, though! The recipe for the nut bars is here. They really are so amazingly good - and really easy, too! Kim

danf - lovely turducken! Bravo for trying it! Shelby - I love tortilla rolls ups! and the wings look fantastic. I am feeling your sadness. We rooted for the Giants, but I would have much rather been singing "Hail to the Redskins" kbjesq - your wings look great, too and I covet the bowl they are in My contributions to our friends' Super Bowl party: Crab Dip: Cornbread (she made chili): Devil's Food Caramel Torte: Rustic Nut Bars: Kim

David - good God, man!!! What can't you do???? That upside down cake is a work of art! Those glisten-y, plump fruits don't even look cooked. Gorgeous! Doddie - you and Billy did good! I'd love to have one of those lovely cinnamon rolls! I love the look of concentration on his face while he's sprinkling the cinnamon! What a cutie! meredithla - the cakes are adorable, but I especially love those penguins! They look just a little bit naughty. Is the prone one bobbing for goldfish? The fruits of my kitchen work this weekend: Devil's food Caramel Torte. It was just a cake mix fix up, but very good anyway! These are called Rustic Nut Bars. Freakin' amazing! A shortbread like crust with a gooey, glazed nut topping! So good. They were scarfed up at the Super Bowl party that we took them too. Glad I kept a few back for us at home ! Kim

Somewhere I have Clémentine in the Kitchen (my food books need a post Christmas reorganization ) and Perfection Salad is on my wishlist. Clémentine is wonderful fun to read. Its a great series, I think and I'd love to hear your opinion after you've had time to read yours! Congrats on your 'finds' - gotta love used book stores. I was so sad when our local one closed. Kim

That is too funny. I am an ice chewer (I prefer shaved ice) and have been since I had teeth, I guess. I didn't know it was odd, though. I thought everyone chewed ice. Vince Gill talking about the paucity of ice in Europe reminded me about my mom's first trip to England. When she got back to the states the first thing she did was go to a snack shop at the airport and say to them, "I want you to take the biggest cup you have and fill it to the top with ice, then fill it with coke". She says that and the hamburger she had a little while later where the best things she'd tasted in her whole life! Kim

Yay! I'm so glad to see you doing this! I love it when people chronicle their entertaining or trips! It's like a mini-blog and there can never be to many of them! And I love it that it's you, Rachel. I know I'm a broken record about this, but I love your writing! Years ago, we used to drive from Batesville to Indy to go to someplace called Orleans House, I think. Is it still there? Did you ever go? The Journey sounds like an upscale version of that. Happy Birthday to Chris and thanks for letting us share it with you!!! Kim

doctortim - I love that pizza. That's what pizza should look like in my book! Pierogi - now I want fish tacos for dinner!! scubadoo97 - wierd how things happen. I had never heard of sefaas/lahme bi ajeen before and then you post them and my daughter's brings home leftover ones from a new restaurant visit the other night. They were really good and pungent!!! suzilightning - that bread looks wonderful! I want some toast w/ my fish tacos, ok? Last night we had my MIL over for dinner - it was supposed to be someone else who bailed on us, and she came instead. She's a joy to cook for because she loves everything on the planet and I always do my exotic stuff for her, but the planned meal was for tamer palates. It was a good dinner, just not very exciting: Slow cooker pork roast with dried fruits. Those aren't carrot slices in the back, they are apricots. The dish was made with apricots, onions, prunes, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves and Dr. Pepper. It was a....ah....um....er...Sandra Lee recipe . I know, I know, me too!! I watch her to laugh and she made this one day and it sounded good....and it was!! Anyway, I also served Tony B. gratin dauphinois (I love the evilness of sandy and tony on the same plate ), our very favorite braised red cabbage and 'German style green beans' (an erzatz recipe given to me 25 years ago that we just love). I also served some lovely Billy Bread (recognized by everyone in the RichmondVA area): and gingerbread cake with lemon frosting: Leftovers tonight! Kim

Renka - gorgeous goodies, as always! I made this for dessert last night: It was a gingerbread layer cake with lemon frosting. I thought my top was pretty. I was inspired by Ling to do the 'nekkid' sides thing - plus, I ran out of frosting ! And I got lazy and used canned frosting because it was a weeknight - I won't make that mistake again. I honestly don't mind the flavor of some of them (and I love the texture - wish I could get that texture in a buttercream), but the lemon was awful - bitter and fake tasting. Duh, what did I really expect. But the cake itself was very good - I had some good spices and the flavors really came through and the moistness was perfect. Kim

I am the wrong egulleteer to ask about this one ! Unless that is a really bad picture that is exactly how I dream that my toasted things will come and never, ever do. I like really, really toasted things - too many restaurants bring me something that resembles stale bread - stiff and tan, but not what I call toast . Seriously, if you liked the place otherwise, what I would do is just remember it and order it 'lightly toasted' next time. She can't have helped seeing what it looked like when she put it in the box, so she might be like me - a 'dark toaster' (that sounds like a Seinfeld-ism ). Kim

I am just the opposite of eje - if forced to choose, I would always choose to go without a dishwasher if I could have my garbage disposal. Kim

We don't mind double dipping. But we only do it at home and when we aren't entertaining people who mind. Kim

I love the basset nose peeking into the ice container . Our pug patrols the kitchen diligently and he is in the edge of every picture we take. We say that he is always saying, "I could eat". Kim

plafield - that is gorgeous puff pastry. Puff pastry is on my 'to try' list because I don't really like the Pep. Farm kind and haven't been able to find any of the others in my area. Nice job! meredithla - OMG! That brownie is just out of this world! And I have to agree with Rob - what a picture! Brigid Mary - those cupcakes gave me a lot of trouble this time. I made them like I usually do and when I went to fill them, they were awful. Hard, chewy texture. I was up against it, and ended up using a cake mix (which I don't really mind - except for the extra work). They are just yellow cupcakes filled with the jelly of your choice and frosted with a peanut butter buttercream. Here is the recipe: clickity! CanadianBakin' - Here is a link to the cupcake stand: clickity! It is really nice - it assembles really easily and disassembles for cleaning and kind of disappears when the cupcakes are on it. Not too expensive, either! Kim

Kim - can I nose around ALL of the recipes on your page? I opened the appetizer index, saw good sounding recipes, but I felt like I should ask before looking farther. I'm starting to plan the super bowl party for next weekend! edited because I repeated repeated myself ← Nancy - I'd be honored. I keep all of those online for my own benefit, but also for anyone who would like to use it. It isn't private at all! For one of our Super Bowl parties, I did the Buffalo Chicken Dip Wontons and people just stood and ate them until they were gone - amazing things! Kim

Wonderful!! Fabby blogging. I will absolutely savor this week! I once knew two bassets named Morley and Edna Mae. I think that bassets deserve formal and almost stuffy names. This is definitely a blog I will be checking every few minutes! Kim

DesertCulinary - that is a beautiful cake! I love the layers! Tri2Cook - gorgeous dessert. Caramel and chocolate is probably my favorite combination and I would love that! Jmahl - what was the texture like on the cookies? How much did you cut the butter and sugar by? Yesterday was the party for my daughter's 24th birthday (today is the actual day) and she requested Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes: Kim

Well, this has 1 stick of butter, 1 c. PB, 8 oz. cream cheese and 1 T. milk to 4 c. 10X - that seems like plenty of sugar to me. Will the sugar really help 'preserve' it? Or am I grasping at straws here, because I really want to make this stuff and frost the cupcakes tonight ?? Kim