Kim Shook

Lord, I love Rachel. Kim

Jamie Lee - love your soup - I really need to make that ! Susan - I am so glad to see your 'pretty' food and great photos again! Please stay and keep posting - I have missed you! Marlene - the lasagne is gorgeous - I love that browned, cheesy crust! Pasta for me tonight again! Tagliatelle & Meatballs, salad and garlic rolls: Kim

We pretty much just wait for someone to invite us and offer to bring flowers and make a pie . So far no one has offered this year - Mr. Kim, the child and I might just be on our own. Kim ← Kim Now you know that's not gonna happen! I am already working on our list... Flowers Mince meat for pies Oysters for dressing Turkey Gravy mixings Cranberries (Twice baked potatoes to be made by Kim and wine from Mr Kim) Gas up car on Tuesday for Wed drive. Pack on Tues night for early start ← Yay! See my PM! I will definitely make the twice baked potatoes! New list: Potatoes Cheese Cream cheese butter Fresh Chives Vacuum Bedroom ( )

I want a cornball. (I could never imagine, prior to eGullet, ever making that statement ). Lunch today was a Sunday football feast. Boring and frustrating games (Redskin fan, 'nuff said ). Pot stickers and egg rolls and what our house calls 'chippydip' (say it out loud ) and some fun Asian goodies I found at the Asian market this morning while I was looking for Potsticker sauce. Meltykiss from Japan - these were little cubes of melt-in-your-mouth chocolate that were covered in cocoa. Pretty good - kind of like an 'Ice Cube' when it began to melt (for those of you who know what an 'Ice Cube' is). The other is Barquiron (w/ cashew nuts) from the Philippines. Little tube shaped things with a crispy, wafery outer shell. Inside is almost powdery and crumbles in a second. Odd thing was that the first one that we opened was crushed and the second one whole and they tasted different from one another. Hmmm. I tried to take a picture of each one of the goodies, but just got a boxy shaped brown blur and a tube shaped tan blur ! Kim

I haven't made cupcakes in a bit. Thought I'd add the Halloween cupcakes made for nieces and nephews: Cupcakes are orange. The little bits on top are bone, pumpkin and skull shaped candies. Hard to see, but on top of the icing 'webbing' is a little plastic spider. Crappy pictures. Kim

We pretty much just wait for someone to invite us and offer to bring flowers and make a pie . So far no one has offered this year - Mr. Kim, the child and I might just be on our own. Kim

From your avatar I assume Otis woke you up by giving you indigestion? ← Believe me, at 5 am, we do threaten to fricassee him! David - the cannelloni is beautiful. I have meatballs and sauce in the pot right now and I'd trade it in a minute for those! Do you make your own pasta sheets? I can't imagine that I would do that, but we do have a pasta store nearby and they might sell the sheets. Would you possibly be willing to PM me the recipe? I have made cannelloni before, but am intrigued by the chicken liver addition. doctortim - I am so envious of your pasta making abilities! They are all gorgeous. And delicious looking. Lots of pasta making lately. Cool weather, I guess! Kim

My English step sister used to butter a piece of white bread and then spread it with Hershey's syrup. I thought at the time that this was gross (I was four years younger than her). This was before I had tried pan du chocolat ! I'll give fairy bread a try (as an inveterate Anglophile and Fairyphile, I am obligated), but I am kind of a mind with Dianabanana. Somehow the idea of the sprinkles with the soft bread against my teeth gives me the heebeejeebees. I love them on cookies, but even as a kid didn't sneak handfuls of them while decorating Xmas cookies. Kim

Another early bird, huh? I couldn't get back to sleep this morning (thanks to my pug, Otis ) so I jumped on here! I froze the egg rolls before cooking them and then I shallow fry them while still frozen. By the time they are brown and crispy, the insides are done. The texture suffers a bit from being frozen, but it's nice not to have to make a run to our favorite Chinese restaurant when we need a little Asian greasy/crunchy fix ! Kim

Steven, thanks so much for posting this! What a thoughtful, affectionate, but also honest essay! I would never have thought to try Tavern on the Green. I just figured any place so famous couldn't be good (dumb me, huh?). I don't get to NYC very often, but when I do one of the things that I want is at least one 'event'. I don't know why it never occurred to me that this could be my 'event'. I am printing out your post and putting it in my NYC file. Thanks again! Kim

Here are the shopping lists that begin to haunt me this time of the year: Christmas Goodies Christmas Eve Christmas Morning These are the bare bones lists for our Christmas food celebrations. We host a Christmas Eve dinner for friends/family every year (we have done this with only a few misses for 25 years). Most years now it involves 50 -/+ people. You can see why it haunts me just now! I love doing it, but it is daunting! Oh, well, I'll get to it just as soon as I finish frosting my Halloween cupcakes ! Kim

Marlene - those biscuits have this Southerner full of envy! I wish mine looked like that! yunnermeier - are those little things in the back potatoes? It all looks so crunchy and good. Bruce - as usual, that fried rice looks absolutely delicious. And where are you getting such gorgeous tomatoes? I have started the annual clean out the pantry and freezer meals in anticipation of the holidays. It makes for some weird meals ! Last night was: Egg rolls from the freezer that I made awhile ago. I have a bagful, so they will probably be our appetizer for a few days. I am still trying to use up and disguise that boring chicken and potatoes dish from the other day. Last night I used the chicken in a casserole with gravy and cornbread dressing, served with those potatoes (I added cream and butter - pretty good), Southern green beans and some Sister Shubert yeast rolls from the freezer: Kim

I second (third?) poundcake and gingerbread. Also, shortbread. These cookies are similar to shortbread, but very, very simple. They are our favorite family cookies and every single time I have ever served them, people are bowled over and can't believe that they are as easy as I say. Kim

I have a really great microwave recipe for Caramel Corn that uses a paper grocery bag. Think he'd like that?

Doodad - thanks for the report! I have marked that recipe to make soon! Percyn - gorgeous meatballs. Now, I have a craving! Tonight's dinner was much, much better. I started with this: That's bacon from Benton's in Tennessee. Fantastic stuff! Then these heirloom tomatoes: Finally dinner: BLT's with corn and skillet potatoes. The potatoes are those blah ones from the other night that I rescued by mashing them up with lots of salt and pepper and fried up in the bacon grease from the Benton's. Much, much better results! Oh, and another slice of this for dessert: Kim

Not just her baking times. I have had lots of trouble with timing of things with many of her recipes. I tried some meringues recently that called for beating them for something like 20 minutes - I ended up with a very odd texture. The baking/sitting timing was really off, too. Kim

Prawncrackers - gorgeous chop! I would have loved that whole meal! Doodad - would love a report on the pallet du porc. Sound very good! Doddie - Your cinnamon rolls are beautiful. I love 'Ree' - I read the blog every day - I think I found it through you, actually! I will be trying these! Ce'nedra - I, too, thought the prawns looked luscious. Thanks for posting directions! Well, I guess it is only honest to post failures as well as successes. This was a failure: It was a slow cooker recipe for chicken thighs, potatoes & leeks. And it was as dull as it looks. Incredibly bland and boring. I am sorry for the picture quality, but I took the picture after I tasted and I think my dissapointment colored my photo . I am going to bone the mountain of thighs left today to make a good old comforting chicken and dressing casserole. Even the brocolli was bitter and stinky. Kim

You don't like your house smelling like bacon???? If Yankee Candle made a bacon candle, we would have one in every room ! Kim

I am enjoying this so much - I envy your job, your travel and your home country! I am a devout Anglophile - don't know if I'll ever be able to afford to visit, but England is on top of my travel wishlist. I would also love photos of a pub and any other pictures you might like to post from home ! Kim

Thanks! Looking at the recipe, did you find it too sweet at all? I'm wondering if I should cut down on the sugar in the pie--maybe 1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup. Normally, I'd think it would be OK, but the sugar in the streusel topping plus in the chocolate-covered toffee bars might put it over the top for me. ← It might be too sweet for you. I have a very immature sweet tooth - it developed backwards for me - as a kid, I was not a candy fiend, preferring salty snacks above all others. As a middle aged person, I've discovered a strong urge for sweet stuff in myself. Odd, no? I would cut back on the sugar for yourself, seeing as how you seem to be normal (unlike me ). Also, I usually just use the broken toffee bits, not the chocolate covered bars. Kim

And where's the recipe for that pie?????? That's a fine looking pie, and I really need some!! ← Ditto. Recipe please! I just stocked up on apples at the local apple festival and need to make a pie. Thank you! ← Here you go: clickety! Kim

tracey - I would give my next vacation for that 'shore dinner'! Jamie Lee - I thought your pancakes were lovely. Tasty looking, too! And I was also mesmerized by the short ribs on the magazine cover! I'm glad that it worked so well. David - I am so glad that you posted the directions for that gorgeous Apple, Pear and Parsnip Salad. It is just beautiful and sounds perfect to go with pork (which I am craving daily now that fall weather is almost here). A couple of nights ago we had Pan Roasted Pork Chops w/ Creamy Gorgonzola Polenta and broccoli (the sauce on the pork chops is a nice little pan sauce made with a purchased Caramelized red onion and Fig savory topping): Tonight was crabmeat au gratin, (that same) polenta - pan fried, baked chili beans and sauteed summer squash and onions: Hmmm. Plate was a little bland looking, huh? Kim

Tri2Cook - that glaze is awesome! So shiny and.....glazey ! Mark - that lemon cake looks so good! Is the frosting whipped cream or what? And the red velvet is beautiful. Howja do the little hearts? lexy - I, too, love banana bread and can find all reasons to make it. I secretly love it when the bananas in the bowl are overripe and I can throw them in the freezer for banana bread! I always add chocolate chips to mine, but next time I will use chocolate chunks and top with cinnamon sugar! Thanks! Hosinmigs - I'm with you. I am so envious of the skill that so many here at egullet show in photography. I think that I am going to have to bite the bullet and invest in an SLR digital camera, some classes and Photoshop ! Latest effort was three of these: That's caramel apple pie. All that oozy goo is from a streusel topping that you put on before the top crust: Slice: Kim

This is a rather surprisingly fascinating topic! I have always been a bit voyeuristic about other people’s grocery carts and this is similar. Really fun! Here is the list that lives on the fridge. We add things as they come up, even if they are long term needs (i.e. – the crock pot). Some things stay on the list for weeks. Then, on shopping day, I make a list on the computer and print it out. I divide it up according to the store (we usually have a Costco stop, a Kroger stop, a drug store stop and a Fresh Market (the specialty food store where I work) stop – today I needed to add Dollar Tree, Michael’s and Office Depot: Sorry for the fuzzy pictures! Kim

Thanks so much! Now, one more question (or maybe its two): I assume that when I cook it, I do not thaw - correct? How much longer and at what temperature? Thank you again! Kim