Kim Shook

I was off today and I was able to cook. We ate early (for us) - not quite 7pm and we are all finished except for the dishes . Tried two new things today. Alton Brown's Slow Cooker Pepper Pork Chops w/ onions and dried apples: Tony Bourdain's Gratin Dauphinois. Marlene made this earlier this month and helped me with it. Thank you so much, Marlene. These potatoes were fantastic. I am seriously scalloped/au gratin potato impaired. They always turn out undercooked. These were perfectly cooked and tasted wonderful! I need to write a thank you note to Mr. B!: Plate with the addition of some Southern (USA) long cooked Italian green beans . A ham hock, a touch of brown sugar, lots of pepper and a couple of hours on the stove in my old club aluminum pot and they were perfect:

Oh, God, and it squeeks, too! <shudder>

I think that you could start with the peanut butter layer of this. Shape, dip into really good tempered chocolate and you'd have something seriously droolable. Kim

Marlene - thank you for the onion ring tip. We love them, but they are a pain to have ready exactly when everything else is. And I love anything in panko!! I didn't get home tonight until after 10pm , so breakfast seemed appropriate. Scrambled egg, bacon and cheese burrito and salad. Simple, but satisfying and I can sleep on it without a tummyache:

Wastin' Away Again in Manischewitzville This is hilarious! Kim

Live it Up, I confess to a love of artichoke/spinach gooey concoctions! Here's the best one I've ever had: John's Artichoke Dip. Let us know how things go and what you ended up serving! Good luck, Kim

Lamb Ham* Grilled Asparagus Le Halle Potatoes Dauphonaise Green vegetable* Salad* Colored deviled eggs Biscuits Hot Cross Buns* Coconut Cake Carrot Cake Bars Pastel Cupcakes w/ Tie Dye Frosting *Brought by others

Dinner tonight was Kill-the-grill-pan Bleu Cheese Burgers on onion rolls, tots and my Poppaws green beans (sounds better than it is - its just canned, whole green beans-unheated-with a oil and vinegar dressing on them): Seriously, the burgers killed our grill pan. Look: We have used it often, it is sufficiently seasoned, and I usually love cooking with cast iron. But this particular pan is a giant pain in the ass. Alton Brown recommends filling the grids with salt to make the pan easier to clean after cooking. It helps with cleaning the 'valleys', but not the 'tips'. So the pan is killed. I am going to start saving for this. Kim

I haven't posted here in forever - been crazy busy, but I have been reading insanely late at night and have been thoroughly enjoying everyone's food! little ms. foodie - Stuffed piled on polenta is my new favorite thing. sadistick - those scallops are amazing looking. What is involved in Pancetta crisp? shaya - I am in awe (and a little intimidated) by your adorable and incredibly gifted son. Shal - a second 'yay' on your knife skills! You really can read through the slices! And that tart had me feeling faint. Any chance of a recipe? Marlene - I see that the baking is coming along fantastically!! I finally cooked a meal tonight after a long time. It was simple: grilled rib eyes rubbed with sugar and Montreal steak seasoning, corn on the cob (a little tough, but surprisingly good flavor), baked potatoes, mixed herb salad and a purchased poppy seed yeast bread. Dessert (not pictured) will be leftover lemon pound cake.

Thank you all for your help! Y'all are much more informative than wikipedia ! Kim

We just celebrated our 25th anniversary on the 20th and I actually remember the first real meal that I made for him. It was my family standby roast beef, brussels sprouts, roast potatoes and Yorkshire pud. I told him about the menu in advance and he said it sounded wonderful. When he tasted the brussels spouts he said, "these are fantastic!" I thanked him casually and he said, "No, you don't understand, I was eating them to be polite - I hate brussels spouts! These are the first ones I have ever liked." His mom was from the boil-them-until-they-fall-apart school of brussels spout cooking! He even told her how good mine were and, to her credit, she didn't hate me and now cooks them the same way I do!

What I've heard is that this used to be true, back when cans were actually made from tin, but that it's no longer a problem, but that people still are afraid to do it. Of course, this may also just be a myth . Kim

I am confused about this. Several times at the store where I work, people have asked if we carry raw sauerkraut. I guess I don't really understand sauerkraut, because I thought that sauerkraut was basically pickled cabbage and that heat was applied to can it. At the store we have sauerkraut in jars and I have seen it in cans and even plastic bags. Is this cooked? I tried looking on Wikipedia and just got lost. Wikipedia made it sound as if the sauerkraut I am talking about is eaten out of the container, it is raw, but if you heat it, it is cooked . This can't be what people mean when they ask me, because they say that the Eastern European delis here have 'raw sauerkraut'. Please unconfuse me. Kim

I checked it out of the library and thought it was incredibly fun sounding and interesting, but I really don't think that I would cook much from it - it is a little 'fiddly' for me. But I would love to eat the food that someone else cooked from it ! Kim

Well, we are back and it was a wonderful and whirlwind trip. Everything was just exactly as it should have been from the touching and fantastic memorial service for my friend (short of an appearance by the Rockettes, it was everything he would have wished for) to every bite of food we put in our mouths. I have a huge party tomorrow night (actually tonight - it's 3:45am), house guests, laundry to do from the trip and have to be at the store to open in 3 3/4 hours, so my report will have to wait a bit. Should I post it and pics here or start a new thread? Thank you all so much for all your advice! You helped make this a once in a lifetime trip for Mr. Kim and me! Kim

Oh, Miz D! So glad to see you blogging again! I am late to the party, but enjoying it so much! I have been out of town and have a billion things to do this weekend - big party tomorrow night, out of town guests and work tomorrow morning at 7:30am and here I am avidly gobbling your blog at 2:23am! As someone who hasn't yet reached the 100 lb. mark in weight loss after having a gastric bypass, I am in awe of your achievement! I can see that I really need to get on the fish, soup and veg bandwagon! I am enjoying this so much! Kim

Ok, guys - here we come! We should be leaving tomorrow morning as the weather allows. We deliberately planned this memorial service for after the bad weather and now we get a snow storm. Don't forget that on the 20th we plan to go over to Pegu after dinner - should be there about 10pm, I guess. We'd love to meet some egulleteers. One more question re: Pegu. I am a big ol' sissy when it comes to drinks. One thing is having had the gastric bypass, it is like drinking with a two year old: two drinks and I am bombed, then sick in about 5 minutes . I am also a bit immature when it comes to flavors - no scotch or bourbon. If an umbrella wouldn't be out of place in a drink, you can bet I'll love it (to temper that a bit, I do love an absolutely perfect VT). Will they think I'm an utter dweeb if I confess all to the bartender/server and just let them surprise me? Can someone recommend something within those guidelines? Luckily Mr. Kim drinks anything and appreciates all kinds of flavors, so we won't be complete rubes. Hope to see some of you! Kim

Ann - I am so sorry that happened to you, but very glad that you and Moe are alright. That is a horrible experience - our house was robbed when I was in middle school and we felt so violated - kept finding stuff that the creeps had taken and we hadn't noticed right away! Don't stop posting, though! Even without the pictures, we all love your food so much! Kim

Also tomato sandwiches.

I made the Ginger Mascarpone Ice Box Cake - like Marlene did: Marlene's cake was prettier than mine, but this was a delicious and incredibly easy dessert - I wholeheartedly recommend this recipe! Kim

Doddie, what a fantastic journey you took us on! Thank you so much for your generosity! I loved 'meeting' your men and you and getting to see a bit of the world I never thought I would. Kim

Great info on the little tripods, folks! I will keep an eye out! Had friends over for dinner tonight and we had: Butter Lettuce Salad w/ Candied Walnuts (no picture - it's the same salad we had recently). Lamb Stew w/ Cipolline Onions & Potatoes on Sara Moulton's Creamy Baked Polenta, Brussels sprouts w/ Pancetta and Rosemary Focaccia: Dessert was Ginger Mascarpone Ice Box Cake w/ peach sauce: The polenta recipe was interesting - you bake it rather than cooking on top of the stove. The recipe is in Recipe Gullet. It wasn't quite as easy as the recipe indicates, though. After the initial baking time, I had a solid mass of mush and a lot of liquid. I just used a potato masher and a 'boat motor' and ended up with delicious, creamy perfect polenta - a real keeper recipe! I also substituted milk for about half the water called for. The ice box cake was the same one that Marlene made a few days back and it was wonderful. Everyone loved it. It is from The 150 Best American Recipes, a book that is being discussed in this thread. This was one of those (for me) rare meals where I was completely happy with everything that I made. The stew was delicious and was wonderful on the polenta!

I finally found someone who appreciates this cake: I tossed the cake outside for the birds and have come home twice to find her nibbling! We live in the suburbs, not the country and this lady has been hanging around for months!

Shellfishfiend - I think what you are doing is hitting the http:// button up top rather than the IMG button. You are linking to your photos (which, btw, are beautiful!) instead of posting them. Kim

Thanks! That makes sense. I have also wondered about putting the cake board in before baking and now I know that will work, too! Steve - I love your left handed pig avatar! Kim