Kim Shook

@BeeZee – I never thought about putting cucumbers in tuna, but what a great idea! I think I’ll try it with my marinated cukes! Yesterday, I grabbed a McD’s cheeseburger and took it home for lunch. Someone was interested: Today: Fondue, baguette slices, and a peach.

The distribution of your berries is excellent!

It could be, I guess. Hard to tell by just tasting the seasoning right out of the jar. I have a friend who is part of the Richmond Lebanese community, I've asked him. He doesn't know, but said he'd ask his mom. I need to nudge him again!

@lindag – the base recipe could absolutely be that recipe. But there’s the addition of some flavor – an herb or spice (?) – that sets them apart. This morning: ET bagel with cream cheese and bacon. Served with a really good peach from the produce stand: I love stone fruit season!

@rotuts – pretty much every Italian restaurant here offers baked spaghetti, but I’ve really been eating it all my life. It’s what my mother always made with leftovers from a spaghetti dinner. After dinner all the pasta was mixed with all the sauce (sometimes she had to make a little extra pasta) and put in a casserole. Then either slices or shredded mozzarella was placed on top, and it was refrigerated. Once it ‘set’, you could cut squares of it to reheat individual servings all week long. Mr. Kim likes it with added sausage, meatballs, and pepperoni. @weinoo – that porkchop looks gorgeous! @scamhi – I have never had Shrimp in Lobster sauce before and I can’t imagine why, being a Chinese-American food aficionado. Thanks for posting the link to the recipe – I actually read and enjoyed his “story”. @Shelby – I love how super-cheesy your cauliflower is! What are your ratios? @Owtahear – lovely shrimp rolls!!! Dinner a couple of nights ago (last few nights have been completely unremarkable) was some of my vegetable soup from the freezer – with added angel hair pasta and Parmesan cheese: Served with marinated cucumbers and some cheese pastry rolls from Trader Joe’s. The rolls were just some kind of mild cheese wrapped up in puff pastry. They were fine, but I’m thinking I could do better. I seem to remember someone (@blue_dolphin, maybe?) also being underwhelmed.

A (somewhat lumpy - I've asked for advice) lemon mousse and blackberries:

Yep. And every time a Monet print posts on FB, I think of her. Love of Impressionism was one of the many things we shared. ❤️

I did. I always do! 😞

@heidih and @blue_dolphin - thank you! That picture was after mixing in lemon juice, sugar, and vanilla, so it was loose. I'd whipped the room temp cream cheese by itself before that, though. I've always had the same issue - making cream dips and cream cheese icing, for instance.

I have had this problem forever and am wondering what the heck I'm doing wrong. This is about as good as it gets for me when whipping cream cheese: I bring the cream cheese to room temperature and whip it (I've tried both a hand mixer and the KA) for a good, long time. And I still have little lumps. I never get a really smooth texture and that affects whatever I try to make with it. Any tips or tricks? This is full fat cream cheese, by the way.

Wow, y'all! I'm impressed! All I've got is purchased BBQ sauce that I canned: 🤪

I don't know. I see two signs in the photo - one says $6.98 and the other says $1.49. Not sure what either of them is for and I didn't go over since I didn't have any interest.

@rotuts – I like your taquitos ideas. Your inventiveness reminds me of Jessica who turns all leftovers into giant breakfast burritos lately. @Shelby – I think you are probably right about the corn silk. Even getting it from the produce stand, it isn’t nearly as fresh as yours. Love the beans with potatoes! And bless that girl for having the heart to carry on in spite of her loss – best way I know to remember and honor someone❤️. Your big sandwiches always look so good – especially paired with your great looking fries! @Anna N – I think you are right about making sure that I am cutting far up enough on the cob to expose a few rows of kernels. @Norm Matthews– that is quite a spread! Like @Shelby, I’d love to sneak a few of those deviled eggs. And the fruit salad looks wonderful on a hot evening. Happy Birthday to Charlie! @lemniscate – that is a gorgeous piece of pork. I love char siu! I’ve never done it SV, but will try that next time! @MaryIsobel – It probably was me that recommended the fish sticks. They are really way better than regular ones. Even Mr. Kim likes them – he grew up a Roman Catholic kid with fishstick Fridays, so that’s a real recommendation! I love them in a taco, too! We went on a day trip on Wednesday to NC to get some BBQ sauce from the place I grew up eating BBQ at. It was a 7 hour round trip and by the time we got back to Richmond it was 8pm and we were all too exhausted to think about cooking, so we stopped at a favorite Italian/Greek (Lebanese, actually) place. Jessica chose a Caesar: I got the Shrimp Sparta – like scampi, but with tomatoes: Mr. Kim got his usual – the Chef Michael Special – baked spaghetti with all the meats and mushrooms: Everything was great – especially those damn rolls who no one but people of middle east extraction know the secret of. My favorite bread in the world. Thursday night we went to what’s been our go-to Vietnamese place with my MIL to celebrate our July/August birthdays. My appetizer – shrimp and pork wontons: Jessica got the fresh spring rolls: I got the chicken soup – it’s basically a mini bowl of pho broth, chicken, a few vegetables, and noodles. It’s the perfect size for me and this is the only place I’ve ever found it: Jessica’s main was Bun Thit Bi Cha Gio – grilled BBQ and shredded pork w/ egg roll. It’s a noodle bowl: My MIL had the pork claypot: Which, unfortunately, she didn’t seem to like. She didn’t finish it and for the first time Mr. Kim can ever remember, she didn’t take her leftovers home. He did taste it and said it was very good. I had my usual – Bahn Xeo, a Vietnamese crepe. It’s actually an appetizer, but big and I always make it my main course: I’ve had it here many times and quite enjoyed it. It was not good this time. Soggy on the bottom and not terribly crisp on top, badly trimmed roast pork and overcooked shrimp. I hope it’s just an aberration. Mr. Kim had the Pho Tai Nam – pho with flank and eye of round: The broth, as always, was delicious, but the meat was badly trimmed. Tonight (last night – Sunday) was tomatoes on toast and Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup: Because, sometimes you just gotta have what your momma would have made for you 🙂.

@heidih – the sauce turned out to be about 30 oz. more than a gallon 😄 Yesterday was our day to make the shelter lunches at church and deliver them (2nd time this month – happens about once a year that any group has 2 in a month because of a 5 Saturday month). Lunch afterwards at a place Mr. Kim picked and I was not thrilled about. Jessica and I had eaten there a couple of times and not been impressed and some visiting friends had had a lunch there with some family that was passing through Richmond and not had a great meal either. I was pleasantly surprised – we had a very good lunch and plan to go back. I had the Ferryman Cheesesteak: Short ribs, caramelized onions, cheese sauce, and onion straws (like Durkees) with cheese grits. Mr. Kim had the Freedom Fighter: Blackened grilled chicken breast, Swiss cheese, bacon, lettuce, and tomato with collards. Today (actually, yesterday I guess – Sunday) Mr. Kim was in Pennsylvania judging a BBQ competition. Jessica and I went to lunch at Bonchon Korean Fried Chicken. It’s a big chain, but we really love the food. The one near us closed down some time ago and we’ve really missed it. I love the fact that you can choose your heat level for almost everything and that there aren’t any spicy landmines. We shared the soy-garlic pork potstickers: And the seasoned fries: I had the soy-garlic wings and pickled radishes: And Jessica had the bulgogi tacos:

Label says "carbon steel" and it feels like it's non-stick.

This was breakfast on Friday: The most unassuming looking yeast rolls. But they are out of this world good. One of our favorite "Greek" (the family is actually Lebanese) restaurants here. They make them fresh all during service and sometimes you have to wait a bit if the oven gets crowded. No idea what the herb/spice flavor is that makes them so special, but most every "Greek" place I've ever eaten in that serves a yeast roll rather than a crusty loaf has incredible rolls with that special flavor. A few minutes of Bake/Steam in the CSO and they are perfect.

Saw this yesterday at my local (Richmond VA) Kroger: Not at all sure whether I believe it or not. It reminds me a little of the San Marzano tomato issue brought up in Stanley Tucci's Italy series - the person he was interviewing said basically that there is only so much land to grow these things - do you really think that there is enough to supply all that Italy AND the rest of the world demands? Even more true of Hatch chilies. I have a vague memory of someone here mentioning driving near Hatch and seeing trucks full of chilies heading into the area.

Found this perfect little baking pan for $3.99 at Aldi this weekend: It perfectly fits the CSO - 8.4X6.4-inches.

I am wildly envious of those curls. I've tried every method I can find and haven't ever had any success at all. They are just gorgeous! Well done.

I love the idea of a smaller serving being available and priced accordingly to those that want it. I remember going to a family-style Italian restaurant in Norfolk VA a few months after having my gastric bypass. I was recovered enough to be eating "normal" food, but still eating very small portions. I had been given a card by my surgeon that explained my situation and requested that I be allowed to order from the child's or senior menu. The choices of these menus tended not to be very good. This restaurant didn't have either of those menus - they just offered half of anything off their menu for half price. I never found another place with the same policy, but I wish I had. I often order a salad and an appetizer, but that really limits the options. Or I'll go ahead and get a main course and take most of it home, even though I don't care for leftovers.

Couldn't find anything on this topic when I did a search. Sorry if I'm duplicating. During a trip to NC Wednesday, we stopped in the village of Meherrin VA for drinks. The gas station/convenience store had a great selection of nostalgic candies. Lots of small sizes, so it was similar to an old-fashioned penny candy store. I can’t remember what these little boxes cost, but there were tons of different varieties – Lemonheads, Boston Baked Beans, etc.: They also had seemingly every Now & Later flavor made in little 25¢ 6-piece packets:

Mr. Kim thinks it's a gallon. I'm not so sure - I think it could be more. We'll see tomorrow when I decant them into canning jars.

Tuesday’s lunch was a sandwich I’ve loved since I was a kid: Regular old Oscar-Mayer bologna, deli American cheese, and yellow mustard on toasted white bread. So, we had a culinary emergency: we found that we were out of Short Sugars’ BBQ sauce. This is the sauce that I grew up on and is only available at Short Sugar’s BBQ in Reidsville NC (a 7 hour long round trip from us). It’s where my grandparents lived and where I spent every summer on their farm as a child. My local friends think we are insane for doing this. I know y’all don’t. Luckily, Mr. Kim is off this week, so we did a day trip. We had lunch at the restaurant. Stew and puppies: A chopped tray: A chopped sandwich and fries: A cheeseburger, a chopped sandwich, and fries: Mr. Kim with the sauce: I will be canning it tomorrow.

We took a day trip down to NC to pick up some BBQ sauce yesterday and wandered through a couple of thrift stores. I found this book at either Salvation Army or Goodwill for 99¢: I haven't even looked at a recipe yet, but I already know this is the most Southern cookbook I own. Look at the suggested menus and occasions: I especially love the ACC Party one. 😄