Kim Shook

I have a recipe that calls for ruby port and I have a bottle of Warre's Warrior Special Reserve Porto - is this tawny or ruby? Thanks! Kim

Gorgeous food, everyone! I am drooling and ready for dinner at 10:30 am! Since this is the place I am most active in, I thought I'd post this here: our computer was once again fried by lightening strikes - long story short, we unplugged the computer, but not the printer and apparently that was the path it took. Don't know when we'll be back on since we just spent hundreds on the last fix, and as I discovered last time, eGullet is not cleared to be access by our library system - so I may be awhile getting back. I'm sorry for that, because I really miss this place when I am gone. Eat well, everyone! Miss you!! Kim

I did something for my daughter's graduation party that was a huge hit with everyone. I did Key Lime Shooters. Just mixed up a gingersnap crust, pressed it in the bottom of shooter cups (I found plastic ones are a party supply store), piped in some key lime custard and stored in the fridge. Just before serving, I piped in some whipped cream and slid in a little sample spoon (about the size that you get at Baskin Robbins) and sprinkled on additional crumbs: You intrigue me with the mention of freezing key lime curd. I didn't know that you could freeze it! Any special concerns? Kim

As usual, through a fantastic blog here at eGullet, I have found yet another place that I want to visit at length! Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful state! I think I might just burst into tears of joy if someone set that lobster roll down in front of me! Kitchen pictures, please!!! Kim

judiu - No bacon (mmmm good idea though) just squash, onions, vegetable oil, butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mr. Kim says it was especially good this time - unfortunately, I cannot tell. I have no palate for any squashy things at all. I keep trying, but just don't like any of them. Sometimes I do the same thing, add some canned cream, throw into a casserole and top with buttered 'Chicken in a Biscuit' cracker crumbs and bake. Now, if thats not white trash, I don't know what is ! Kim

So many wonderful meals! Life is crazy just now in our house, so I am just periodically dropping in and reading and almost never have time to actually post! But I love all the descriptions and photos! Jason - I am really enjoying your contributions! Your photos are beautiful and the meals look delectible! I am especially enamored of your Butter-Poached Local Spot Prawns & Crème Fraîche Risotto & Spot Prawn Bisque <swoon>! Qwerty - doncha just love fried green tomatoes? I have a really hard time passing them up in the market, even if we've just had them recently - the season is so short! Bruce - 5 spice pork chops - what a great idea. We have been getting some great pork recently and are just making pigs of ourselves (groan, bad pun ) and I think that I will try that! percyn - how I want that lobster roll . I am determined to try Keller's butter poached lobster and I think it would be great topping a toasted, split top hot dog bun! Michael - Is that a gorgeous little sauce treatment almost hiding under the duck? It looks to me like you squirted some sour cream on your mole and ran a knive through it for a design. Beautiful! Here are some random meals from the recent past in the Shook house: Just your basic comfort meal - meatloaf, casserole mashed potatoes, Southern green beans and biscuits: Proscuitto, Goat cheese and Fig Quesadillas w/ Fig Preserves: With tharrison's Roasted Tomato & Garlic Bisque: Another night we started with a simple, but delicious Caprese w/ adorable little green striped Heirloom tomatoes: Some gorgeous, huge, super porky pork chops from the Belmont Butchery in Richmond. I just fried them like we used to be able to do with chops and they were fantastic: Also some fried yellow squash, awfully good baked beans and (like Bruce says) eternal cucumbers (these are kinda eternal, though - they are the ones I start in early summer - vinegar, cukes, onions, sugar and pepper - and just keep adding to over the season - same bowl all summer long, just dumped when the cukes let go of too much water and they get too diluted). The squash and cucumbers were from the Farmer's Market, as was the pretty ordinary baguette we had - why is good bread so hard to find?????????: Kim edited to fix dumb image gullet errors (or should I say dumb image gullet user errors? )

Bourdain wrote the introduction. I don't think he's a co-author. You're right, Steven! I just looked at it again and I must have read both names too fast. Too bad, though. That would be a fun read, I think! I still am really interested in the book - the chef series made me realize that, however much I love cooking, I am, at best, a capable home cook and it also made my respect for those who are chefs simply soar higher than ever. Kim

[shudder] I hate those creepy little things. Mr. Kim loves them and went through a phase where he played that commercial all the time [shudder]. Thank God thats done with ! Kim

Here's a link to the book on amazon. Co-authored by Bourdain. Looks like it won't be available until November. I, for one, cannot wait. I like everything I have ever read by either of them, and I think that they bring out the best in each other. Kim

I was actually in the process of making these as I asked the question, so I did it the way Steve suggested. They were very tasty, but the cherries turn the brownies very cake-like. I confess that I like extremely chewy brownies; I have been accused of trying to achieve chocolate jerky with my brownies ! But they were gobbled up, so everyone must have loved them! Thanks, everyone for the help! Kim

Amazing! I can't believe that I asked such a random question and got an answer and so fast!!! Bless your heart, Steve! Kim

I am trying really hard to do some cleaning out of our pantry/freezer/fridge. That should make for some interesting meal ! Anyway, I have discovered a brownie mix and a can of cherry pie filling and I think these would be kinda good together. If you were to add a can of pie filling to a box of brownie mix, what would you leave out - eggs, oil and/or water??? Ta! Kim

Jen, I've been out of town for a few days, so I am just catching up on your blog! I am enjoying it so much! I loved the CSA and wish I ate more types of vegetables, so that it would make sense to participate in one. Kim

When we lived in a town in Indiana with lots of Mormons, we had Mormon friends who would drink Coke (caffeine) at our house, but not with other Mormons. Similar thing, I think. Kim

Marlene - your meat pies are gorgeous! Doddie - your bibimbap looks delicious! Makes me wish I could eat rice (I haven't been able to eat rice since having a gastric bypass a few years ago - and I miss it!) Bella - Here's a link to the recipe for the salmon: Clickity! Bruce - those shrimp are scrumptious looking! eskay - now I want falafel! No one in my house likes it, so I never bother, but I should! Thanks for the idea! We went out for American Chinese tonight. Hot and Sour Soup and Sweet and Sour Shrimp. One of my (many) guilty pleasures is sticky, sweet ersatz Chinese sauces Kim

I have tons of cookbooks without pictures. And I use them. That said, I am an absolute child about pictures in books. I truly believe that all books should have pictures. I hate when travel narratives don't have photos or even maps. That said, I hate, hate, hate bad illustrations. I have had whole series of books ruined for me because of publishers who won't pay for decent illustrators/photographers. I do realize that I sound like a brat here. Kim

Ok, here's the last of the meals to catch me up. Who knows how long it will be before I cook more - I am working lots of nights and going out of town next week. Anyway - I had my first try at grilling fish. It was a recipe from Cook's Illustrated and I was sure that I was going to end up with salmon slivers on my plate and chunks stuck to the grill, but it worked really well and tasted fantastic. Grilled Glazed Salmon: I served it with a green salad with Feta & Tomato and a cream chive dressing: Plated with grilled ciabatta and sweet corn: I visited a wonderful, new butcher shop in Richmond called the Belmont Butchery and purchased some incredibly thick pork chops from Gryffon's Aerie farm in Gordonsville, VA: They were so thick that I just roasted them and served them with a Tangerine Marmalade sauce - really delicious meat - so incredibly tender and flavorful. With the chops, I made roasted cauliflower w/ onions and fennel - a really nice twist on the official eGullet sidedish : I also finally tried the Jacques Pépin Gnocchi Parisienne recipe. What an easy and fantastic dish! I am so glad I tried this one! Simmering: Ready for the oven: Done: Plated:

A few hours later, I am taking a well deserved break. Here are a few more past meals: I was inspired by Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle to visit our (rather limited) farmer's market. The book is about eating as locally and seasonally as possible. I am now making an effort to bring more local and organic foods into our meals. At the market, I found: Pork chops from Faith Farm in Green Bay, VA. This pork is pasture raised and actually had pork flavor: White Japanese turnips: Which I used in a green salad (no picture). They were very mild and sweet. I cooked the greens with a little side meat - they took almost no time and tasted wonderful - even greens-hating daughter liked them! Garlic Scapes - which I had never even seen: I used these to make a very good, but VERY strong pesto that I served with two different breads that I found; Bread for the People Asiago Baguette and Metro Bakery's regular loaf: The asiago is at the top. Pesto: Finished meal: I fried the pork chop (something that I haven't done in years, considering how dry most pork is nowadays) and also served sliced Hanover tomatoes. I have two more meals to post when I have earned another break! Kim

Everything looks so good! I am too hot and tired to cook recently, but I am so inspired when I look at this thread! Pille - your beetroot and potato pie is just lovely! Shelby - everything looks delicious and the plate that your salmon crackers are on is gorgeous - do you remember where it came from? Prawncrackers - I was scrolling through this thread last night and when I passed your crab linguini, my daughter made me stop and read what was in it. I think we may be having that next week ! MiFi - that chowder - ! Any chance of getting a recipe? Wendy - that entire spread looks scrumptious! My very favorite way to eat - small tastes of lots of different things. And those grilled oysters in your next post look delectable! Ted - the chicken is beautiful. Will you show me how you got the pastry to look so pretty when I'm there next week, please? saucée - the chicken with polenta sounds fantastic. I love polenta with gooey stuff! I have finally uploaded some pictures from when I was without computer (I had a hard time - I couldn't remember the whole process ). Here are a couple and I will post more later: Fried Green Tomatoes w/ Shrimp Remoulade Sauce: Corn Waffles w/ Pulled Pork and Succotash: BBQ Beef Sandwiches w/ Cabbage-Raisin Slaw and Cold Dressed Greenbeans: I also took the makings for Bahn Mi to a friend's house for dinner. They were received with deep suspicion by everyone except myself and Mr. Kim . My hosts 'fixed them up' by heating the meat in the microwave and setting out cheese and ketchup and mayo to add to my veggies and condiments ! I ended up with LOTS of leftover vegetables, so I made eggrolls: The mixture before rolling: Lots of rolls: The final product: They were pretty good and I made enough to stock the freezer, so we are having more of them tonight! It's my day off, so I have lots of chores - I'll give myself a break later and post some more pictures! Kim

Kent, I am so glad to see you blogging. I have never been to Texas, so this is another gift from eGullet for my armchair traveling! I'd love to see some more pictures of your neighborhood. Kim

Gustatory or even gustative would be the adjectives to use. Tut-tut; all that expensive education! Ted ← For those who don't know, Ted is my dad - and one of the sources of payment for that expensive education ! kim

Sweetie, you are hanging with the wrong people ! I positively worship chefs. I get actually starry eyed when I meet one. Surround yourself with people who respect what you do, so that when you have to be with the others you have a better inner monologue! Kim

Jessica - very excited to see your blog. I would like to see more pictures of your store. I wish I had known about it when we were in NY a few months ago - I'd have loved to have seen it and met you! Next time. I am really looking forward to this week - I always do when the blogger lives somewhere that I dream about living and NYC is one of those places. Now, if only Susan could find someone in rural England, I would have my own personal trifecta (you, Dave in France and England - the three places I would sell my soul to live in)! I think that Greek yogurt w/ honey is the official eGullet breakfast ! Kim

Hello, all! I am rather intermittently surfing again. The child is home (and graduated from college and employed – oh, joy!) and I am using her computer when I can, but I don’t want to junk up her computer with my pictures so I’ll post them when we get our computer back. But I am getting caught up on this thread so I thought I’d pass on some comments! Percy – your burgers on 6/9 are the very quintessence of ‘burger’ Shal – happy birthday! And, as always, an invitation to any gustorial (is that a word?) gathering given by you would be the most look forward to occasion that I can imagine!! “Potato Flavoured Butter” cracked me right up . Bueno: your carbonara reminds me that I want to do this soon. What a great comfort food! Shaya – Happy birthday to you, too! Both of your gnocchi dishes looked fantastic! I especially liked the “nekkid” ones ! I also loved the veal on 6/28 – the chop looked especially delicious. Ann - I am so sorry to hear about Stetson. My parents have shelties and they are just some of the sweetest dogs I’ve ever met. We had to have our baby girl (14 year old kitty), Banshee put to sleep last month. It has been hard to come back from it. Doddie – that pork pot pie looked luscious! Bella – that proscuitto/mozzarella thing sounds fantastic. I do a similar thing with proscuitto and goat cheese to top a salad. These are then sautéed. I do mine ahead of time and then microwave them slightly to warm just before serving. It helps with that pesky last minute serving problem ! Tarelki – that shrimp/artichoke dish looks completely swoony. I’d love to have the recipe, if you wouldn’t mind pm’ing me! Bruce – so sorry to hear about your dog. It has been a bad summer for egullet pets, Ann, you and me all in the past month. Wendy – we almost never have cocktails – especially at home (no reason really – weight, diabetes, gastric bypass and general laziness ), so I always have my vicarious cocktail time with you. It makes me feel very glamourous . Lucylou – BF’s lasagna looks fantastic and I am definitely making port brownies. LittleLea – your duck breast and pears is just gorgeous! Welcome – that is quite a debut! David – your bouillabaisse is fantastic looking. I would have loved a crack at just the juice and some of that bread to sop it up with ! Chufi – those egg stuffed meatballs are marvels!!! Marlene – good grief! Everything that you posted on 7/4 looked wonderful! It is hot as the hinges of hell here in VA and I am craving beef stroganoff ! Bleu cheese deviled eggs are just genius! I have missed egullet more than I would have thought this past month. I have been cooking, but somehow by not sharing the results with everyone of you, something was missing from the experience. I hope that I can get my computer up and running soon and can get my pictures organized so I can do a big monster photo post! Kim

I am so glad that I was able to 'get back' to egullet in time to respond to your blog. I have enjoyed this so much. If I never realize my dream of travel, I will have had a lovely taste of rural France thanks to you, Dave. I have taken lovely walks with you and Rupert. I have eaten your glorious apricot tart. I have smelled heavenly cheeses - both subtle and stinky! I have gone along on your road trips and seen incomparable views! Thank you so much for sharing all of this with us, Dave. And for enriching my life! Kim